The Girl with the Scar (Dark Connection Saga Book 1)

by Stadler, William

  She couldn’t see the over side of the river, and who knew how far it stretched across. Swimming through it was impossible, and that didn’t even account for her freezing to death midway, or probably as soon as she dunked her head in.

  Heading south, the fog let up, giving way to a few beams of sunlight. The grass felt stiff, crunching under her boots, but her feet were sore and certainly blistered. Every step ground into the same spot, gnawing in her flesh. Her belly rumbled, upset that it had not been fed, so she gave in to the fatigue and the hunger by sitting in the freezing grass.

  Why not just sit here and die? The question felt good, soothing her. Sitting down and letting her hair swing down her back, she set her hands behind her, staring to the south, seeing nothing but a horizon with trees and emptiness.

  After a few moments of sitting, she had to turn her head a bit from a glare. She squinted, but the glare did not go away. Repositioning herself, she slid to the right, away from the river, not wanting to stand up on her throbbing feet again. The glare continued to beam, and now there were more lights flashing across her eyes, mimicking the sun.

  Hating the pain, but overwhelmed and intrigued, she picked herself up, boots grinding against the blisters. The dazzles did not disappear, and when she glimpsed down at her jacket, oval lights decorated the brown leather. She peered down the river to see where the lights were coming from.

  Seeing the origin of the brilliance, her eye’s embraced hope. Down a ways from where she stood, she could barely see a Water Walker bending over at the bank. Eva clamped down on the hope like a horse chomping a bit, and she hurried down to the walker, wind swooshing by her face.

  As she approached, she screamed, “Hey!” Still being too far off, the walker did not hear her, but Eva did not stop running and yelling, feet rubbing raw from the boots. “Hey! Wait!”

  Coming closer, the walker had already gotten into her carriage and snapped the reigns, carting off away from Eva.

  “Wait!” Eva found speed in her thighs that she didn’t know she had, and her lungs felt the brunt of it, forcing air out of her mouth with the faint taste of blood on the back of her throat. “Wait! Please!”

  The carriage continued on, and then halted, the driver finally realizing that she was being called.

  “Wait!” Eva called again, slowing down now that she’d been heard.

  She came up beside the cart, placing her hand on the tire. “Wait,” she said through breaths, overtaken by exhaustion. She dropped to her knees, hand still grasping the sturdy, wooden tire for fear that she might faint or worse, have a seizure.

  “Genevieve?” the driver asked.

  Hearing her name, Eva cut her eyes up, catching a glance of the woman. “Stasis!” Ecstatic, she tried to scream, but her shortness of breath sliced off the peak of her yelp.

  Stasis looked over the side of the cart, her pale golden hair dangling across the sides of her face. “What are you doing out by the river?” Before she finished her question, Stasis gasped, wanting to inhale the words before they had escaped her tongue. “The Raiders attacked Green Planes.”

  The tears in Eva’s eyes gave Stasis all the acknowledgement that she needed, so Stasis reached down and pulled Eva into the cart. “If you’re out here all by yourself, then I fear that the worst has happened.”

  Eva wiped away a few more tears. Now that she felt safe, the grief that stalked her pounced on her, wrestling her spirit to the ground. The shriek of her mother screaming as she hit the kitchen chair tore through Eva’s mind, and the thunk of Maria’s body falling against the wooden floor thudded in her innards.

  She wept in her hands, buckling over and shaking, wishing that the pain in her feet would overshadow the emotional agony in her heart.

  Stasis lay her hand on Eva’s back, and Eva could feel the heat of the touch even through the jacket. She wasn’t as alone as she had thought she was. Someone cared.

  “Where you headed?” Stasis asked, tugging the reigns gently.

  The cart started off, rumbling over the patches of grass as they traveled south. “Nowhere. Anywhere.” Eva shrugged and sat back, eyes still red from crying. Though the tears had left, the sorrow remained.

  “How about you stick with me for awhile, at least until you’re ready to move along?”

  “I couldn’t do that. I hardly know you, and you probably have a family to get back to.”

  “Walkers don’t have families, at least the successful ones don’t. We travel too much. There’s no way we could make a living with—” Stasis stopped herself, seeming to realize the sensitive topic of family. “Either way, the choice is no longer up to you. You’re with me, and that’s final.”

  Eva nodded, pushing her hair behind her ear. The horses veered to the right, headed to the beaten path that Eva had not seen, probably used by Water Walkers for her particular region of the Connect.

  The path was wide enough for two carriages, and possibly a third if they were touching one another. The sun looked in through the leafless trees, and the ride became smoother as the tires trailed along in tracks that had been made by the numerous carriages that had come this direction.

  The trail winded through the forest, taking turns that seemed too sharp for the cart to make, and the water jostled about in the back, making gulping sounds as the ripples crashed against the metal that sealed the water inside.

  Feeling better about the trip, Eva reached down to untie her boots, dreading the damage done to her soles.

  “There’s no need for that. We’re almost there,” Stasis said.

  Eva let her fingers drop the laces, but she twiddled her toes to bring back the feeling, sweat squishing between her appendages.

  As they rounded a bend, Eva could see red cloaks through the cracks in the trees, and the forest lit up with laughter as they entered the clearing.

  A flat, filled with Water Walkers, stationed itself in the center of the forest. This must have been where the walkers came together to pass along the news to one another or to just to retreat from the line of the Connect. Women, all dressed in crimson with oval looking glasses attached to their hems, chatted noisily, fixing their headdresses and their bosoms to look more appealing to the male travelers.

  Some walkers were leaving while others were coming. Eva stayed close to Stasis to keep from getting lost in the crowd. They stopped to speak to a woman with deep brown hair, the same color as her eyes, but her voice was light and fluffy. This woman had not yet put on her headdress.

  “Brought a filler with you today,” the woman noted, tilting her head towards Eva. “Where are you headed?”

  “This is Genevieve. She’s not filling in for me, but she and I are going to cross the river together.”

  “I’m Carolyn,” the woman said, extending her hand to Eva.

  Eva did not greet her at first, still stunned that she would be crossing the river with Stasis. She had only ever been to the river once with her father when she was younger, but she had certainly never crossed it. This new life was turning out to be more disheartening than she first thought. She didn’t want to cross the river. She wanted to be home with her mother, doing her chores, which she had once dreaded.

  Nearly forgetting that the woman’s hand was extended, Eva released her closed coat and shook Carolyn’s hand.

  “Can you tend to my cart for a season, maybe two?” Stasis asked.

  “That’s quite a long while.” Carolyn placed her hands on her hips. “I wouldn’t normally ask you this…”

  “Whatever coins you collect are yours,” Stasis said. “I have my Essences with the hope of getting some more if I can mingle with the right people. Just don’t abandon the cart.”

  “Thank you,” Carolyn said. Something in her nodding showed that she knew that Stasis was a better walker than she.

  “Make sure you get a good filler who will take care of my horses.”

  “Of course.”

  Stasis unhooked her belt and set it in her cart, and then she removed her robe, revealing a
form-fitting, brown, leather suit. The suit seemed to clench her body, and a seam ran from her wrist down to her ankles on both sides where the suit had been sewn together in two pieces. Buttons lined the front of the suit. A design of three daggers, pointing in different directions and connected at the butt of the blade, was seated just beneath her neck bone.

  Stasis grabbed her belt from the cart and picked up her satchel also, tucking the crimson robe inside. “I need to buy a sleek for Eva.” As she spoke, she tied her blonde hair in a ponytail in the back.

  “Eleven copper,” Carolyn said, sighing.

  “That’s quite a discount.”

  “You’re going to double my earnings over these next two seasons, I have to do something to show my gratitude.”

  Stasis pulled out a pouch from her satchel and counted out eleven king’s copper and handed it Carolyn. Closing her bag, she said to Eva, “We need to get you out of that dress if you’re going to be traveling with me, and get rid of that pendant.” She motioned to the eagle medallion around Eva’s neck.

  This woman had already been so helpful to Eva that Eva didn’t feel right neglecting the request, but abandoning the pendant that her father had given her was the one thing that she could not grant. “I would much like to keep it, if I may,” she said, fumbling over the words.

  Stasis looked her over. “It’ll get in the way of the sleek, but if it means that much to you, then hold onto it.”

  “You’re into eagles, huh?” Carolyn asked, grinning.

  “My father gave this to me.”

  Carolyn reached in her cart, sorting through the few sleeks that she had left, examining Eva to find one that would fit her. “We don’t sell these to just anyone,” Carolyn said, looking out the corner of her eye. Finding the right one, she let it drape down Eva’s body to test the height. “Black looks like it’s the only size that’ll fit you, but I think you’ll like this one.” She folded it over her arm and handed it to Eva. “It’s yours now.”

  Eva took the sleek. It was tough like unwashed pig hide, though polished and crisp. Then Carolyn handed her some black-heeled boots that matched the sleek. Stasis took the sleek and opened a pouch of the Essence from her belt.

  The Essence was invisible, and Eva squinted mockingly, thinking that Stasis was pretending to do something that she was not.

  Stasis dabbed her finger into the invisible dust and touched the inside of the sleek. Nothing happened. “This will keep you warm,” Stasis said.

  Eva frowned and took off her jacket, not realizing how much that thin coat had been protecting her from the winter. The cool air slipped up her sleeves, blowing her dress off her skin. She shivered. Quickly she changed into the tight, black sleek.

  It squeezed the breath out of her, and the leather tugged on her skin. She squirmed to pull herself out of it, but it seemed to entrap her. Then a warming sensation oozed over body, starting at her shoulders. The cold air became warm and manageable, and the sores on her feet felt as if they had disappeared, her toes settling into the heated sheep’s wool.

  “What’s happening?” Eva asked, holding her arms out to her side, feeling lighter.

  Carolyn glanced to Stasis, and Stasis answered, grinning. “I told you that five gold was much too cheap for a container of Essence.”

  As Eva twisted from side to side, the sleek rubbed against itself, squeaking. Her orange hair swirled down to her shoulders, contrasting the black. Her eyes lit up. “What else can the Essence do?”

  “I’ll let you know on the way.”

  “On the way to what?”

  “To meet up with Wolf.”

  CHAPTER 9

  THE JOURNEY

  The cedar-carved canoe, polished with a wavy engraving that wrapped around the hull of the boat, had been carrying them for nearly half a day, and the evening was near.

  Eva had heard that this particular engraving was a sign for people to know that the boat belonged to either a Water Walker or a merchant, and those who imitated the marking or damaged the boats were arrested by the consul.

  The sleek kept her warm, so she had gotten rid of her dress and coat, leaving behind the few things that reminded her of home. She had, however, convinced Stasis to let her keep the eagle pendant.

  Stasis rowed and Eva watched, feeling like she should help, but there were only two oars. Stasis didn’t seem to mind.

  As they approached the shore, there was no dry ground for Eva to step into. Stasis jumped out of the canoe near a wooden hut hoisted on stilts, and she tied the boat to a beam outside of the house with a thick piece of rope.

  Hesitantly, Eva peered into the murky water where dead leaves and clouds of mud swirled around, bothered by Stasis’s movements. Eva stepped out of the canoe, expecting for the cold waters to take her breath from her, but she could hardly sense that she was in the water at all. She could only feel the vibrations of the waves sloshing against her. Even her neck and ears were warm

  Moving towards Stasis, arms out of the water, Eva’s heel sank into the mud, and she splashed forward.

  “Watch yourself. The Shady Peninsula is not a place to lose your footing.”

  Eva felt that her heels were being grabbed by something below, but it was the thick mud that sucked her feet into the muck. “How far away is Jevar?”

  “Not sure. The walkers said that the last they’d seen him, he was here, selling.”

  The swamp became easier to trudge through as they continued southeast away from the tip of the peninsula.

  Huts on stilts on either side of the marsh puffed smoke into the sky from their chimneys, lighted by candles from the inside as the evening came. Evergreens, sprouting from the dirty water, hung over them, their leaves dripping water onto Eva’s head, splattering in her hair and matting it down against her skin.

  As the darkness invaded the peninsula, the fears from before crept upon her, even with Stasis nearby. The huts disappeared, and only trees remained. Eva’s shoes squished into the mud as she walked, pushing plants out of her way, and she jumped as unexpected limbs brushed against her cheek.

  “How much farther?” Eva asked, following not even two steps behind.

  “It’s hard to tell. He said that he would be taking the path through the peninsula, but someone had to have seen him.”

  “Could we find a place to rest for the night?”

  “We’d best take our chances out here in the foliage. The people of Shady aren’t known to be the most hospitable.”

  Eva hadn’t even considered resting in the marsh, and even the possibility of being stranded in the darkness of this boscage made her liver tremble. Every sound stuck in her mind as sure a threat of death. She treaded lightly, fearing that any root that she stomped on might have been a viper at rest.

  Sensing Eva’s trepidation, Stasis caved in. “There’s a hut up here on the right, maybe we could stay there for the night for a few coins. Whoever lives there also may also have seen Wolf.”

  “I don’t have any copper,” Eva replied quickly, shaking her head, fearing that her poverty might lead to her death if she could not summon the money to pass the night.

  “While you’re with me, don’t be concerned about those things.”

  Relieved and embarrassed, Eva didn’t respond.

  Approaching the clearing where the solitary hut stood, Eva shuddered at even the trees that leaned backwards away from the house, seeming eerily afraid. The marsh felt denser, and the shutters were closed on either side of the door so the shack seemed to be sleeping. Every few moments, a single shadow passed by the windows, making the hut appear to be following Eva with its shut eyes.

  What kind of person lived inside? She didn’t want to discover the evil within, especially after the warning that Stasis had just given. Perhaps walking through the night and looking for Wolf would not be as bad. She thought to mention her angst to Stasis, but the woman had already accommodated Eva by choosing to rest for the night.

  Eva let her passive nature take advantage of her, and she did not
request to continue on. Instead, she wiped the filth off her black sleek and followed Stasis up the rickety wooden stairs as the house’s shadowy windows kept watch.

  Stasis’s voice followed her confident knock on the splintered door that seemed to be a replacement for a door that had been there once before. “Is anyone home? There are two of us. Both women, from the Western Planes.”

  Does it matter that we are women? If the person who dwelled inside was as vile as Stasis had mentioned, then what if the declaration of their gender only gave the criminal more assurance than an attack would be both be effortless and effective.

  Eva moved down a step, keeping her hand on the banister, prepared to escape through the forest as soon as the door opened.

  “What business do you have in Shady?” called a woman in a voice that was shaky and sharp, every comment an insult.

  “We are seeking assistance from White Wolf.”

  The door whined opened, exposing a pointy nose that seemed to have been extending for years, trying to escape her dark eyes. Blowzy gray hair covered her forehead in oily strands, and the uneven fingernails had either been bitten or torn – probably the latter – because she had only a few teeth, and the ones that remained must have stayed as a courtesy, not wanting to abandon her as the others had. But they waited for their time, as was shown by the black and brown spots.

  “You aren’t the first who have come seeking, wanting to rest in my home.” The woman held out her hand through the crack in the door, exposing yellow stains that smelled like urine. “Two silver, one for each of you.”

  Stasis reached into her bag, looking for the coins. Eva closed her eyes, shaking her head. She had made some awful decisions in her life, but this was one of the worst. Never before had she chosen to pay money to die, and all those other travelers who had stopped by this woman’s place before, where were they now? Dead? Mangled to pieces and tossed to the crocodiles?