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

by Stadler, William

  Jahn coughed out a few throatfuls of smoke, fumes swirling around his head. He touched his neck slyly. “Do my words scar you…Madam Genie?” he asked, orange eyes settling on her.

  “No.” Eva dropped her gaze to the table.

  “Oh, Madam Genie, how I do beg your pardon.”

  “No, Kibitzer.” She spoke the word that he had prodded her to find.

  “Your pardon has been granted,” he replied, taking a few more tokes on his pipe with smoke pouring out his nose. “I heard about the raids near Green Planes. News travels faster than a storm, especially when it’s the storm that’s traveling. I don’t take it that your caretaker survived, being that you are alone?”

  Eva’s chest nearly caved in as she absorbed the blow. Is this what Maria had felt all these years he had come to visit, spewing his gunk in their home? “You are correct, Kibitzer,” she said, not wanting the four guards to find about her.

  “How pitiful her fate must have been. My grief goes out to her poor soul, wherever it rests, if it indeed found any.”

  Hidden behind his words were hints of sympathy, but Eva kept her mouth under control, though the fluid in her veins raged with madness.

  Heavy footsteps stomped on the stairs, descending. Eva looked behind her to see Wolf. A warmth blanketed her. She felt safe and protected, staring at the man whom she had sent away. If only he had been there, he might have stopped the raid, or at least he might have protected her mother.

  “Genevieve?” The molasses voice soaked his lips. He wore the wolf pelt around his shoulders, and he looked as powerful as he had before. “What a distance you have traveled. Do you come with any news?”

  Stasis sounded concerned. “Her mother did not survive the raid.”

  “But Genevieve has,” he said. He put his heavy hand on Eva’s shoulder, and she could feel the heat from his palm even through the sleek. “Loss is a painful matter. Honor your mother with how you overcome.”

  Eva wrapped herself in his words, for the first time feeling that she had been cared for after her mother’s murder. “She was a fine woman,” Eva said softly.

  “Aye.” Wolf sat at the table with the others, nearly three heads taller than them all.

  “We’ve come looking for you, Wolf,” Stasis said.

  “For what cause?” Wolf asked.

  “If the stars are correct, and they always are, Madam Genie would much like to train,” Jahn replied.

  “To train? For what?” Wolf asked, chuckling.

  Forgetting her manners, Eva said, “For once the stars have lied, and you have listened. I didn’t come here to train. I came here because I was asked.”

  The cracked lines on Jahn’s forehead bunched together, and he pulled his pipe to the side, irate. “Madam Genie, do watch your tone.”

  She sucked in her breath, expecting to win the support of Wolf and Stasis, but neither of them dared to speak. She bowed her voice as humbly as Stasis had done. “It was a minor slip, Kibitzer.”

  “A slip that I certainly hope would not cause you to fall.” He tilted his head to her, beret nearly toppling off.

  “Yes, Kibitzer,” Eva replied, clenching her teeth, eyes as hot as the fire.

  “What of this training?” Wolf asked.

  Jahn drew in a few breaths from his pipe. His mood altered, casting away the offenses he had with Eva. “I dreamt of an eclipse,” he said. “One that never ended.”

  Wolf shook his head. “So the raids are only going to get worse.”

  “Unless they find the Girl with the Scar,” Jahn replied, not insinuating Eva’s identity. A few puffs proceeded. “But I can’t fathom that they’d ever stop the killings, even if they did find her, hence the darkness of the eclipse.”

  “This has to end,” Stasis said, the light of the fire sparkling in her eyes.

  “That it does,” Jahn said, wide-eyed and nodding. “And there is one in our midst who can end it, but sadly, she has refused to train.”

  Unable to keep her tongue any longer, Eva sprang to her feet and slapped the table. The guards whipped out their blades, the sound of metal ringing off the walls. With a grunt, she rushed outdoors, pushing the guards aside, heading towards the well in the town center.

  “Eva, wait!” Stasis yelled, running after her.

  Eva whipped around, orange hair spinning. “I don’t care about the Raiders or the Strikers or the king or eclipses!”

  “I don’t know why, but the Kibitzer has chosen you. This could give you the means to avenge your mother.”

  Eva scrunched her face together, redness filling her cheeks. “I don’t want revenge! I never wanted this. I just want to find my brother.”

  “The Strikers have been warring against the Raiders for years, and they have nothing to show for their dead, only a few gold and an empty promise that things will get better. Coins and words cannot buy the sacrifice of those men who are now in the nether. A sacrifice that probably none wished that had made.”

  “They have claimed my mother, and they are hunting my brother. I have nothing left to give,” Eva replied, less harshly, tears sparkling in her eyes.

  “Perhaps you could stop them before they found your brother.”

  “How?” Eva threw her hands to the side. “By drowning them in my tears?”

  Stasis’s sweet nature returned, and she tilted her head, speaking softly. “What you have with your family is more than I can say my own.” Stasis had ceased her persuasion, and she looked away, attaching her eyes to the well. “My mother threw me out to die with the wolves before I had thirteen years.”

  Eva wanted to walk away, but her compassion compelled her to stay, if only for a few moments more. “What did you do wrong?” As soon as she said it, she wanted to take the words back, not intending to sound harsh.

  “I wanted to be a Water Walker.”

  “With only thirteen years? How could you have managed?”

  “I couldn’t have, at least I didn’t think that I could have. I only mentioned it as something that I wanted to do when the time came,” she sighed. “My mother wanted me to marry and to have children, like she did.”

  “What did your father say?”

  Stasis grimaced. “Not a word.” Her voice was hot with pain and a quiet rage that was hardly noticeable. “He sat in his chair, staring at the fire, reading…and sipping a cinnamon spiced tea.”

  Eva could tell that the odor of the tea still lingered in Stasis’s soul by the way that Stasis had drifted away when she mentioned it. “Did your brothers or sisters to try stop you?”

  “My two brothers were stillborn, both younger.”

  “What kind of mother throws her daughter out just because she wanted to become a Water Walker?”

  “One that has been struck by the moon.”

  “She was mad?” Eva asked.

  “In every sense. Insane and angry,” Stasis replied, shaking her head. “As one who has no family left, hear me when I say that you must find a way to rescue your brother.”

  “I can’t. I just can’t. I’ve already seen what the Raiders are capable of. My stomach shrinks at the thought of coming near them again. Maybe the Kibitzer is wrong. Maybe there’s another way.”

  Stasis caught eyes with Eva, staring sharply. “The Kibitzer is never wrong.”

  Eva suddenly felt that her pleas were becoming as futile as when she begged her mother not to have to retrieve water. Eva’s excuses were thin, having no substance, and her mind forced her in the direction that her heart refused to go. Still reaching for an escape, Eva replied, “But Jahn didn’t say that I had to fight the Raiders to keep Edward safe.”

  “He didn’t say that you had to fight the Raiders at all, only that you must stop them.” Stasis grabbed Eva’s hand, tugging her back to the cabin. “You need your brother, and whether he knows it or not, he needs you. We are nothing without our family.”

  Stasis’s last words seemed sharp, slicing through her own heart as she spoke them, and Eva did not respond. Instead, she reluctantly
followed Stasis back to the house that she had just barreled out of, dreading having to face those who were inside.

  Her body felt weak as she crossed over the threshold again. What could she do to stop the Raiders? They were searching for her, or were they? When they had captured her last, the Dark Queen had said that the Raids would not ever stop, and the queen had even tried to kill Eva.

  The four guards on the inside had repositioned themselves to man their posts, resetting their hands back onto their hilts. The fire snapped behind the table, but Jahn and Wolf did not look back at her. A portion of her was glad that she would not have to face her humility from their swift glance, but then she also wondered if they wanted nothing to do with her.

  Before she could labor the thought, a stale grin crept onto Jahn’s face. “Madam Genie has chosen to align herself with the stars. How delightful.”

  The demeaning tone of his voice stationed Eva back into reality, reminding her how much she hated him. “I do not intend to fight,” Eva replied as stale as Jahn’s smile.

  “You mustn’t worry yourself with these things,” Jahn said.

  “Then what must I do?” Eva asked.

  Wolf rose to his feet, one hand on his hip next to his tomahawk. “You and Stasis are to come with me to my home in Winter Hills.”

  CHAPTER 11

  THE SPARKS

  Leaving High Oaks behind, Eva trekked along the wide-open dirt trails with Stasis and Wolf. Vast terrains, with hills that rolled like waves, drifted underneath her feet as she kept pace with the others. Many of the trees had held onto their leaves through the winter, while others seemed to anticipate the next season as empty branches extended towards the gods.

  They had traveled west for several weeks. The river was long behind them, and so was Green Planes. Cold shivers quaked like tremors down past Eva’s elbows. What had the Raiders done with her mother’s body? Was she still there on the floor, rotting? Eva cast the thought out of her mind, but it kept coming back, whispering to her.

  The sun had set, and Wolf started a fire in the midst of an open field of dead grass surrounded by smooth hills, void of vegetation. Sitting down in the dust, he tucked one leg underneath the other and hunched forward, staring into the flame. The gentle lines on his face remained, though Eva knew that hiding behind his pleasantness lay a ferocity that she hoped she’d never see again.

  Stasis fiddled with the edges of her satchel aimlessly, more concerned about keeping warm than opening the bag, though her sleek shielded her from most of the winds. She had been messenger from the gods, and Eva was grateful.

  “When does the training begin?” Eva asked. She was getting nervous that they were getting closer to the Raiders and she had not swung one sword or learned in the slightest how to defend herself.

  Wolf pulled a few pecans from his hip pocket that he had gathered on the way. He cracked them in his hand and chewed on the core. “It started weeks ago.”

  “Why was I unaware of it?” Eva asked, nearly demanding

  He spat out a few pieces of the shell. “I can train you to fight, but I can’t train you to be a fighter.”

  “Well I am most certainly not a fighter,” Eva replied.

  “So you’ve said.” He cracked a few more of the nuts and threw the shells in the fire.

  Eva’s dry tone retreated to one of concern. She stood up, and the cool winter breeze pushed against her face. “How am I going to stop the Raiders if I can’t fight?”

  Wolf didn’t respond.

  “Answer me!” She stomped her foot against the hard ground. She flared her lips and ground her teeth. Without thinking, she rushed over to him and snatched out one of his tomahawks.

  Wolf kept munching his pecans.

  “You will train me!” Eva demanded.

  Stasis remained silent. Only the crackle of the fire could be heard.

  Eva pulled the tomahawk behind her head and launched it at Wolf, sending it flailing like a skewered quail. It thudded against the ground and slid across the dead grass.

  Wolf glanced behind him. His deep laugh seemed to be caught in his chest. “Seems like you don’t have much left to learn.” Turning back to the flame, he clenched his wolf pelt together.

  Eva crossed her arms. “I do not see the humor in this.”

  He tossed his other tomahawk to her, blade tip up. Eva jumped out of the way, and the weapon pounded on the ground.

  “You could throw two thousand axes, and you would never be able to withstand one blow from a Raider.”

  Eva’s heart of fire fizzled out to chunk seared coal, a black mass thumping in her chest. Wolf’s eyes were like stones, hard and cold. This was the man who was supposed to train her, and now he didn’t even believe in her. “Then why did you bring me all this way?” Eva asked.

  “You came on your own.” Wolf stood and gathered his two weapons, fixing them back onto his belt.

  “On my own?” Eva asked, leaning forward, smacking her chest with the flat of her palm. “Stasis dragged me out here!”

  Ignoring her outburst, Wolf stood tall, fire blazing beside him. “Your training began when you decided to come. Every step for the past few months has given you strength. You could have turned back, but you didn’t.”

  “How can you be sure that I won’t leave?” Eva asked, shifting her weight on either leg.

  “I’m not, but you’ve come this far.”

  Eva’s calmness returned, though her arms were still neatly folded across her chest. “I’m not much on axes,” she said, scrolling her eyes up and down Wolf’s frame.

  A small grin lined Wolf’s lips. “For my sake, I’m glad.”

  Eva’s brow wrinkled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “He means that you nearly lopped off his noggin,” Stasis replied. She set her satchel underneath her head and stared into the night sky.

  Wolf’s grin evened out, and his face became heavier. “The night that I took you home from the Connect, I knew that there was something different about you.”

  Eva swallowed hard. Her stomach melted, hoping that Wolf would not expose her scar to Stasis. Her heart pounded on the door of her chest, trying to escape. She could have spoken up to cut him off, but she feared looking suspicious. Instead, she left her secret to his discretion. Eva rubbed her arm nervously. “What was so different?” She could feel him probing her soul with his eyes.

  “Just before the seizure, Essence spilled out of you.” He showed her the palms of his hands that had burns on them. “I tried to gather it, but the Essence was scalding hot, for days even.”

  “What does that mean?” Eva asked.

  Stasis interjected with a sigh. “It was the Fresh Essence, never used before. Almost as potent as Empyrean.”

  Eva dropped her arms to her side, wanting to hide her surprise, but the wrinkles on her face spoke contrary. She moved her lips, but no words came out until finally she mumbled, “I’m not a Wielder.”

  “And may it never be so,” Wolf replied, grunting.

  Stasis looked away from the fire, staring at the ground. “Wolf intends never to let what some call the dark Empyrean influence you.”

  Eva snapped, pointing a sharp finger at Stasis. “I don’t want any magic to influence me!” Then Eva became quiet. Her head drooped, and her eyes stared at her interlocked fingers. “How do I train?” Eva asked, defeated.

  Wolf’s grin returned. “Aye. The Kibitzer will be in the next town. He should be able to assist us, but first, we sleep.”

  The sun peeked over the horizon onto the meadow. Eva had not rested much. Her mind was attached to her conversation with Wolf, and her gut still churned inside her.

  She picked her head off the satchel and stretched, orange hair matted to the side of her head. The fire had gone out except for a few lasting embers and a thin line of black smoke that seeped into the sky.

  The air was cool and dry. With every gush of wind, ashes spewed out of the fire pit. Stasis was still asleep, but Wolf was gone. Only his tomahawks remained
with the blade of each one lodged into the ground, the handle pointing skyward.

  “Stasis,” Eva whispered, still sitting on her hip from waking up. “Stasis.”

  Stasis inhaled a full breath for the morning. “Where’s Wolf?” she asked, though her words were captured in a yawn.

  “No idea.”

  Stasis snapped out of her drowsiness and pulled her dirk from her satchel. She sprang to her feet and cut her eyes to the left and right.

  “What is it?” Eva asked, standing up and backing away from the fire pit. Hard, dead grass crunched beneath her black boots.

  “Quiet!” Stasis said in a hushed whisper. She hunched over, swaying her weight back and forth ready to strike.

  Eva grabbed her eagle pendant, forgetting about the icy morning breeze. Her head remained still, afraid to look in any direction. Only her eyes moved. Soft whispers breathed on her neck. She jumped and turned. No one was there.

  The threat of the Haunt raided her. What if the Haunt had come to slay her again? Her face lost its color. Her breathing was uneven.

  Beyond the fire pit, a faint jade vapor appeared, materializing in the form of a man. Eva’s eyes peeled open. She threw her forearm across her mouth, screaming. She stumbled backwards, nearly falling.

  Stasis stood straight and dropped her dagger into its sheath with a sigh.

  From the vapor, Wolf appeared, his white pelt draping past his belt.

  Eva grabbed her heart, ensuring herself that it had not leapt out of her chest. “What is wrong with you?” she spouted out between gasps of breath.

  His sweet, thick voice overpowered hers. “Empyrean comes in many forms. You must know the kinds of Empyrean you will face.”

  Still huffing, Eva replied, “You scared the spirit out of me. How can I know any kind of magic if I’m dead?”

  “Aye.”

  “Is that all you have to say to the woman?” Stasis asked, dusting off her brown sleek.

  Stepping towards Eva, boots digging in the ground, Wolf asked, “What did you see?”

  “I saw a lunatic appear out of nowhere!” Eva yelled, hand still over her heart as she flailed the other towards his face.