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

by Stadler, William

  “Grown? He wasn’t grown. Jevar only had about eleven years at the time. Besides, as thin as he was, I could have carried two buckets to his one. We would travel to Winter Hills ever so often, and Jevar would make passes at me, and finally I accepted a few, though I knew I wasn’t supposed to. I finally fell for him. The walkers left and came back to Winter Hills after a few months. That’s when it happened.”

  Eva tilted her head slightly, meeting eyes with Stasis who had drooped her head. “What happened?” Eva asked.

  “Jevar was coming to get water, empty bucket in one hand...beautiful woman on the other.”

  Eva melted. How could Jevar have betrayed Stasis? How could he have promised her his heart when it belonged to another woman? “Did he say why?”

  “Said the same thing he’s been saying. Nothing different. He said that he could never marry me because the walkers would always be my groom.” She crossed her arms over her chest, blonde hair waving in the breeze. “I still haven't recovered from that.” Then something took over Stasis. The muscles in her jaw trembled, and her nostrils flared. Her fingernails dug into the arms of her sleek. “And now he has betrayed me again!” she hissed. “Left me to die while the Kibitzer tried to send me to the netherworld.” Her body eased, muscles relaxing. “You cannot trust him, Eva...Jahn either. Get to the Black Lands. Lift the curse and be free.”

  Eva nodded her head in quick jerks. She had heard enough. If Jevar could hack up the heart of the one he loved, then what would he do to Eva? What if something happened to her and he abandoned her like he had done with Stasis? She would go to the Black Lands, and she would leave those adders to slither in their holes.

  CHAPTER 23

  THE DEPARTURE

  The wind had picked up, and the warm night felt cooler from the sporadic gusts. The music of the fiddle rang into the night in a rhythmic foot-stomping melody. “If I make it to the Black Lands, how do I get rid of the curse?” Eva asked.

  Stasis leaned forward, tossing her eyes back and forth as she gazed at Eva. “Enter the Black Lands, then head north. You will find the Vestige of the Tear shining through the rocks, though which rock, I am unsure.”

  “Vestige of the Tear? What is that?” Eva asked, sounding flustered, heart pounding against the bones of her chest.

  “The people say that when the light beamed down from the moon, a glitter of that light got caught underground. The Empyrean was so powerful that the remnant of that light still bursts through within the Black Lands, and even an untrained traveler could spot it if he were close enough.”

  Eva was starting to seem less certain. “When I see the Vestige, then what?”

  With the same intensity as before, Stasis grabbed Eva’s shoulders and beamed at her. “Find the light and repeat these words in the ancient tongue. ‘Malaphau Kinitri Salantasay.’”

  Eva repeated the words slowly, stumbling over the misplaced syllables and the strict accent. “What if I get it wrong?”

  Stasis’s grip on Eva's shoulders weakened, and her eyes lost their fire. “You mustn’t,” she said solemnly.

  “But what if I do?” Eva asked again, not letting Stasis retreat so easily.

  “Then you would have risked your life for nothing.” Stasis fumbled through her satchel and stuffed a few chunks of dried bread into Eva’s bag along with a handful of king’s silver that she neglected to count. “You have what you need, now go!” Her forceful hand shoved Eva forward nearly making her stumble.

  Without looking back, Eva kept on, her legs churning one over the other, cutting her way through the festive-drunk town and heading east to the Black Lands. She had to leave Wolf and Jahn behind. She couldn’t let herself be manipulated any longer, and if she could rid herself of this Beast, then just maybe the king would stop looking for her.

  Even if he did continue hunting her, the king’s draw to her would have been stifled since she would no longer have the Beast within her to attract the Haunt or the Raiders. She would be able to live peaceably for the rest of her days.

  The thought of living in peace tumbled in her mind gracefully like a leaf floating on the breeze. I could live peaceably, she thought. Her strides became more intentional. The lack of rest seemed to seep from her joints, being replaced by a revitalized invigoration that raced up and down her limbs and settled into her appendages.

  She did not want to be bound to Jahn and Wolf anymore, concerned with wars and fighting and the king and legends. She would be rid of this curse, and she could live. She would find Edward, and the two of them would find a nice home somewhere and be free from it all.

  Then the reality of her reverie set into her heart. Edward would never go with her, not while the Raiders were still around slaughtering the people. She would undoubtedly be alone. Her movements slowed by the thickness of her realization, and she pushed herself forward again, passing by the fence that surrounded the city and heading to the east into the darkness.

  What would she do now that she was alone? She was unsure. She would have to find a way, somehow. Stasis had become a Water Walker, and she had survived. Perhaps Eva could do the same. Regardless of what Eva chose, she knew that she needed to rid herself of the curse, and she did not want risk her life with the two betrayers, Jahn and Wolf.

  The trails in the night sliced through the trees that swayed back and forth making sounds as if they were shushing a child. The leaves had already begun to grow, but Eva could barely see more than a stone’s throw ahead.

  The rocks on the path ground against one another as she walked, and the coins in her satchel jingled with each step. She felt that she could be heard from miles away, so the rather loud wind gusts gave her an eerie sense of safety.

  Days passed with her living off the land as Wolf had taught her the many months that she had traveled with him. She had learned to kill squirrels by slinging her dagger end over end until the hilt crushed against the rodent’s cranium. She did not want to kill the creatures, only to stun them. That way she could enjoy more of the meat, though she would not have called it enjoyment. The squirrel meat was tough and stringy, tasting more like chewy acorns rather than anything else.

  The path that she traveled had now become thick and overrun with greenery. The bright spring sun made its way overtop the juniper trees and the shoots of grass that towered above Eva’s head. Twigs popped and snapped as she crushed them beneath her boots, and limbs like fingers clawed themselves into her curly hair.

  The thoughts of eating the fuzzy little rodent made her stomach rumble. Hunger had a way of tricking the mind to replace nasty flavors with ones that were more desirable. She could nearly taste its disgusting flesh on the sides of her tongue.

  She grabbed the hilt of her dirk, fingers gliding easily over the black handle. Her ears heard a rustle in the trees, and her eyes locked onto the little beast that sprang from one limb to the next, gathering tiny nuts and jamming its teeth into their shells hurriedly, fearing that it would perhaps never eat again. If Eva threw her dagger as accurately as she had learned, then the squirrel’s assumption would indeed be correct.

  She kneeled down slowly, never unlatching her eyes from the squirrel. The tall shoots of grass covered her nose and mouth. She slid the dagger out of its sheath and clasped the tip of the blade between her thumb and index finger.

  Months ago she had thrown Wolf’s tomahawk at him, intending to hit him, but it had spun off wildly, never even nearing her target. Now with a trained eye, she watched the squirrel, not lacking confidence in her ability to strike the creature, but unsure if the squirrel would duck its head or leap away just before the hilt smashed into its skull.

  She raised the dagger above her head, the hilt dangling just above her shoulder. The muscles underneath her arm tensed. As she started to release the blade, a powerful hand clamped around her wrist. The dagger dropped to the ground. From within, a scream rushed its way into her throat, but it was muffled in her slender jaws by the hand that covered her lips.

  Her eyes flicked back and for
th, as she breathed in the horrid warmth from the fingers that were underneath her nostrils. “Let me go!” she demanded, but only a suppressed murmur was released.

  “Shhhhh….” The hand that restrained her wrist loosened, and a finger, covered with a black glove, pointed to the west at a clear silhouette that seemed to be watching them.

  The sunlight barely illuminated the silhouette of the creature’s aura, light running off its side like rainwater. Eva could see clearly through the creature, even as it stood on all fours, glaring at her. Now the panic from the hand that had silenced her had changed over to a more intense panic mixed with fear and death, a recipe that was too thick for her to swallow.

  The beast stepped towards her, sniffing the air in quick pants. As it swung its head from left to right, she could see glimmers of its physique. Its ears were flabby and rounded, and its nose was thick and wide, matted flush against the beast’s face. Though it walked on all fours, its arms were long, and sunlight seemed to get momentarily caught in the groves of its powerful muscles that lined its limbs.

  She could see no teeth or claws, but something within her knew they were there, hidden under the cloak of its camouflage. She stood still, not certain where her safety rested – with her captor or with this beast.

  The creature sniffed the air a few more times and then made pitchy, gargling growls that sounded like it was choking on the syllable “er” many times over. The gargling ceased, and the beast thudded away through the thicket.

  Depleted and shaking, Eva turned her head slowly to face her captor who now seemed more like a savior. Her gaze stared at a familiar face. The black armor and the falcon on his chest gave way to the gentle smile and the brown sugar colored hair that sweetened her gaze as she drunk in his countenance. Ian? she thought, not daring to speak for fear that the beast would return. Her eyes must have given away her horror and her adoration.

  “The beast is gone,” he said, swooping her heart up with his glance as he turned her around fully to face him.

  She broke herself free from her thoughts. “How did you…? I thought the Raiders killed you.”

  Ian grinned, barely showing the whites of his perfectly lined teeth. “It seems that I have somehow gained the elusiveness of your brother.”

  “What was that thing?” she asked, stepping back, lowering her head and looking through the boscage from the direction from where the beast had retreated.

  “You must have no idea about these parts,” he said. “That was a Dissenter, named because every part of him dissents away from the light.” Ian pushed his hair off of his brow with his black-gloved hand, wincing. “No one has actually seen what they look like…and lived.”

  “It seems that we just saw it,” Eva replied.

  “Those were its reflections. Hidden somewhere underneath the light was a beast more fierce than a Helion.”

  Eva raised an unbelieving eyebrow with one hand on her hip. “I can’t imagine that.”

  “At least with Helions you can see them coming. Dissenters are like adders. You never know that you’re near one until it’s too late.”

  “Then the beast should have ripped us apart,” Eva said, voice vibrating.

  “While it’s in its dissented form, it cannot see. It relies on its nose and its ears to sense its surroundings. But if it finds you, you will certainly have your first meeting with the gods.” Ian grabbed his side above his ribs, face painted with pain.

  Eva stepped closer, hands out to touch his arm. “Are you hurt?”

  Ian moved his hand, exposing an open wound in the cloth of his armor where the metal separated underneath his arm. Dried blood had caked the material, leaving a deep crimson hue that had already begun to flake off.

  Eva rustled in her satchel and pulled out her canteen, pouring splashes on the wound. Ian gritted his teeth, eyes closed, and let out a grunt that hung in his throat.

  Eva grinned. “It seems that you might still need lessons from Edward on your elusion.”

  He chuckled through the pain in forced coughs. “It seems,” he replied.

  After she had cleaned the wound, Ian struggled with his breastplate, removing it and slamming it forcefully to the ground. All that remained were his hefty leggings, wrapped in metal, and his tan leather vest that lay opened over his torso, exposing his muscled, hairless chest.

  Lines of sweat dripped down his arms in streams. Somehow, his hair had remained dry, though now that Eva examined it, she could see dark places in his brown hair where a few beads of sweat huddled together on his forehead and near the sides of his ears.

  “I suppose I won’t need that anymore,” he said, kicking his armor over the hill where it scraped against the ground as it slid down the decline.

  “How did you find me, and why were you looking for me?” Eva asked.

  “You’re the only one outside of the Raiders whom I knew I could trust. I don’t know who has defected to the king’s cause and who remains loyal to the people.”

  “Did you follow me?”

  “I tracked you down. I followed the trail of the Beast after you escaped from the Raiders, then I found your tracks which finally led me to you.”

  “My tracks? What might have happened if you had mistaken them for the tracks of another?” she asked slyly, shaking her finger at him.

  Ian smiled and rested his hand on his belt. “I cannot imagine that there would be too many women traveling along the open lands wearing heels. Finding you was simpler than tracking a bleeding bear back to his cave.”

  Eva blew her hair out of her eyes. “What happened to you?” she asked.

  “Commander Dreyshore happened. Somehow he found out that I helped you that night.”

  “How could he have known? There was no evidence,” Eva pleaded, shaking her head swiftly.

  “Evidence is a luxury, not a necessity when dealing with Lord Sekah.” Ian rolled his eyes and coughed a few times, straining from the pain. “Dreyshore saw me as a threat and he wanted me out. I tried to convince Lord Sekah otherwise, but she wouldn’t have it.” He touched the edge of the wound with the tip of his finger. “In her fury, she ran me through and left me for dead.”

  Eva’s head swirled. Thinking that Ian had died and now to see that he had saved her life spun her thoughts within her. She touched her temples with her fingertips, forgetting that she was hungry, not caring if the squirrel had managed to get away.

  “Why have you come this far north? Where you headed?” he asked suspiciously, tilting his head to the side and squinting.

  Eva hesitated, cutting her eyes away from him. “The Black Lands.”

  Ian stepped towards her, grabbing her shoulder quickly and leaning over slightly to meet her gaze. “For what?” he asked forcefully. “What could that place possibly have that you need?”

  Tears jiggled on the edges of Eva’s eyelids as she remembered the seizures and the Beast, the monster inside of her that could be released at any moment. “An answer,” she said solemnly.

  “To what?” he demanded, voice filled with anger and sympathy as a father would scold his child. “There is nothing in that place for a young woman such as you.”

  “I can handle myself,” Eva flared.

  Ian laughed through his comment. “I’m certain you can. You survived the Raiders. But the Black Lands, Eva? Even if you survived the beasts, the Deceased would gladly exchange their souls for yours.”

  “The Deceased?” Eva asked, lip trembling, afraid to hear the answer to the doubt in her heart.

  “The men and women who found the lands but then were stuck there and died there.” His brow rose with his inflection then fell into compassion. “Will I have to chase you to Black Lands also?”

  Eva looked away and pushed her hair behind her ear. “I can’t let you do that.”

  “I don’t recall you letting me do anything,” he replied, stepping casually to her.

  She backed away. “As long as you don’t try to stop me,” she said.

  “I do not intend to stop y
ou.” He paused and stared at the ground. “But it seems that I may need your help.”

  “My help? What possibly could I do for you?” she asked.

  Ian rested his gloved hand over his falchion, tapping the guard with his fingertips. His eyes crept dangerously up to meet hers. With a heavy sigh, he spoke the words that pounded in her chest. “Help me rescue Lord Sekah.”

  CHAPTER 24

  THE REQUEST

  “Rescue her! Have you been moon gazing? Why would I ever risk my life to save the woman who has sought to kill me for years?” she asked, smacking her chest with the flat of her palm.

  Ian kept his dangerous grimace stationed on Eva. The breeze lifted his hair and placed it softly back. “Because if you don’t…we might all be dead.”

  Eva folded her arms, jamming her fists into the holes between her ribs and arms. “If we rescue her then we would certainly be dead! I was there when she ordered that brute Dreyshore to lop of the head of my mother!” Her voice rushed out of her, uneven in her high-pitched fury.

  Ian paid no attention to her outburst. His dangerous eyes fell back to the ground, sifting through the blades of grass, searching for something that he knew he wouldn’t find. “I was with her.”

  Eva inhaled a deep mouthful of air, inflating her features. Her eyes bulged, and her chest flared. Her shoulders rose, and she held her fist above her head, ramming the base of her hand into the bone of his chest. “You murderer!”

  Her powerful blows smashed into Ian’s torso, smacking against his skin, scattering his sweat in all directions. He tried to push her off lightly, but she was too strong, forcing herself after him like a ravaged animal.

  “You killed my mother!” she screamed, the vein in her neck thickening, traveling up to her chin where her incisors gritted together like fangs. She pounded him again and again and again. Her hair jolted at every blow.

  She reached to hit him again, and Ian caught her fist in a gloved hand and flung it to the side. Eva swung her other hand, and he picked up his boot and shoved it into her belly, kicking her to the ground. Before his foot landed, he whipped out his sword from his scabbard, slicing it through the air with a silver metallic shrill that almost made Eva’s teeth chatter.