Prints_Birth of The Demon

by A N Martin

  “Sort of?”

  Hemrick led her to the cave, but again she stopped him.

  “We can’t go into the cave.”

  “Why not?”

  “You just taught me not to box myself in and now you want to hide in a cave while the Elect Elder of Fire comes looking for us?” It wasn’t her own safety she was concerned with; it was his. She still had every intention of turning herself in.

  “Good point.” Hemrick looked around and pointed to a higher ledge. “Stay low, we can hide up there and watch them pass.”

  Quickly climbing up to the ledge, they lay flat on their stomachs and waited.

  “What did you mean when you said Tivock is sort of the Elect Elder of Fire?”

  “Tivock took the place of the previous Elect of Fire, but he isn’t nearly as strong. For an Elect Elder, he is actually quite weak. He forces the heat to appear stronger than he really is. That’s why he looks so tired all the time, but don’t let that make you underestimate him.”

  “There they are.” Dominaze shrank closer to the rock as she watched three figures approaching. One walked ahead, while the other two followed. Dominaze peeked over at Hemrick. She still wasn’t sure how to make certain Hemrick was safe when she turned herself over to the Elect.

  “Brike?” Hemrick leaned over the rock to see better. “It is. It’s Brike.” He just about sprang to his feet before Dominaze pulled him back down.

  “Hemrick, stop.” She shook her head. “I don’t trust him.”

  Hemrick laughed, “I trust him. I’ve known him for years.” Hemrick tried to pull away from Dominaze, but she refused to let go. “I trust him with my life.”

  “Well, this is my life, my call. I don’t trust him. Marinetta said he’s done horrible things.”

  “Dominaze, please. If Brike had really done something so horrible don’t you think he would have been locked up or on the run instead of attending Talom Celebrations? And if you don’t like him so much, why are you wearing the glass armband he gave you.” Hemrick flicked the band.

  Dominaze shrugged, looking at the armband.

  Hemrick pulled free from her grip. “I promise you can trust him. Besides, do you really expect to survive and learn everything you have to learn with just me helping you? There isn’t a better Print than Brike to do that for you.”

  Dominaze thought about it and though she still wasn’t convinced, she decided Hemrick was right. She definitely needed more help. “Fine, but I’m staying back until I know for sure. And I want to hear what he says so make the wind carry the conversation to me. If he does anything suspicious the next apple tree I create will grow out of him.”

  “Brike apples. Yummy.” Hemrick slid down the rocks. Dominaze followed, but stayed back as he ran out onto the salt. “Brike!” He waved his hand high in the air to get his attention. “Brike!” A slight breeze blew toward Dominaze. She concentrated to hear the words it carried.

  “Hemrick?” Brikes voice echoed on the breeze. “What are you doing here? Is Kyro here?” Brike suddenly sounded alarmed and scanned the area for anyone else. His eyes stopped on Dominaze crouched against the rocks.

  Hemrick shook his head. “No it’s just Dominaze and me.”

  “Is she hurt?” Brike took a step toward her, but stopped when Hemrick blocked him.

  “No, just…resting.” Hemrick looked at the two men following Brike. They were large in stature, but neither of them had markings—both Manicks. “What are you doing here?”

  “We were with the Season Travelers. They’ve picked up quite a few vulneration victims recently and are heading to Caba for help. I got word that I should arrive before the Travelers.”

  “Dominaze and I just came from Caba.”

  “Really?” Brike folded his arms and eyed Hemrick. “I wasn’t aware you even knew it existed. Why are you here?”

  Hemrick looked toward Dominaze and back at Brike. “Well, we got in a bit of trouble at home.”

  Brike let out a loud booming laugh that echoed so loudly Dominaze needed no help from the wind to hear it. “You got into trouble? Hemrick, the Perfect Pierce? I can hardly believe it.”

  Hemrick shrugged. “Actually it was Dominaze.”

  Brike nodded and looked around Hemrick at her. “Figures. No princess is perfect.”

  “I could actually really use your help.” Hemrick looked at the two Manicks and motioned for them to step back. He didn’t want them to hear. “Do you mind?”

  They each backed up until they were out of hearing range.

  Brike put his arm around Hemrick. “What’s this about? How much trouble are you in?”

  “The Elders want Dominaze dead.” Hemrick whispered so quietly, Dominaze could barely hear his words on the wind.

  Brike looked at her. “Who did she kill?”

  “What? No one.” Hemrick shook his head.

  “Hemrick, as much as I hate the Elect and their over-controlling power, they don’t sentence a Print to death unless they’ve done something serious. If Dominaze hasn’t killed anyone, she would be sentenced to the Penitentiary or be turned Manick. The Elect find the Penitentiary or a Vulneration to be a crueler punishment than death. You only receive the death sentence if you purposefully take a Print life.” Brike patted Hemrick on the back, but then paused and looked directly at Dominaze. “Or…if one Printed…” He didn’t finish. Letting go of Hemrick, he started toward Dominaze.

  Again Hemrick stepped in front of him. “I promised her I could trust you.”

  “You can’t.” Brike pushed past him. His eyes flared like red hot coals and the air suddenly got hotter.

  Hemrick grabbed him and forced him to turn. “Yes, I can, and I do.”

  “Hemrick, no you can’t.”

  “Brike!”

  “Hemrick!” Brike turned and faced him. “You know me. You know how I feel about Prints with too much power. Why would you think you could trust me? If she is what I think she is, you should have kept her farther from me than from the Elect.” He spat with disgust.

  Dominaze stood and looked around. She had been right not to trust Brike and now he was going to kill her. She needed to find something to defend herself. Finding a large rock, she picked it up and debated whether she could do any damage with it.

  Hemrick’s voice came through the wind. “It’s Dominaze, Brike. My sister.” Hermick turned Brike around and paced with his hands in fists. “Of everyone I know, everyone, you knew best what it meant to get her back. She knows nothing of Domicile, nothing of who she is now and it was you who told me to watch out for her the night of her Talom Celebration. So, yes. I will trust you and you won’t give me a reason not to.”

  “Stop your rant, Hemrick.” Brike put both hands on Hemrick’s shoulders. “I said you can’t trust me. I’m sorry, but you can’t change my mind. Sister or not, I’m not a nice guy.” He shrugged.

  Hemrick was about to argue, but a loud thud interrupted him and Brike was suddenly cross-eyed. He teetered for a moment and then collapsed at Hemrick’s feet. Dominaze stood in front of Hemrick holding the large rock she had found.

  “I told you I didn’t trust him.” Dominaze glared at Hemrick. “You’re going to get me killed.”

  Hemrick dropped to Brike and checked his pulse. “What did you do?”

  “Oh, he’s fine.” She picked up a bag Brike had been carrying. Maybe there would be something they could use inside. Looking up, Dominaze saw the two Manick men running toward them. “Um…Hemrick.”

  Hemrick stood and held his hand up. “Stop.” Both men stopped, but looked like they were ready to attack. “Take Brike to Caba for his head injury. When he wakes up, tell him I will no longer call him my friend. No longer will the wind be on his side.”

  The two men looked at each other, confused. Dominaze stayed behind Hemrick and kept her head down to avoid drawing attention to herself. The fewer who knew she existed, the better.

  “Go!” Hemrick yelled and his winds bill
owed forward.

  The men quickly lifted Brike’s large limp body from the ground and dragged him away.

  ~12~

  THE LETTER

  Hemrick hadn’t said anything since Brike was dragged out of sight. The sun was setting and Dominaze watched his silhouette pace back and forth in front of the cave. She snacked on a nut mix she had found in Brike’s bag and dumped the rest of its contents onto the ground in front of her. Everything smelled burnt. There were shreds of clothing and a dozen pairs of leather gloves, some worn and falling apart and others still in their unopened packages. Dominaze put one of the large gloves on and looked at it. Hemrick came in and sat next to her.

  “Snooping?” He nodded to mess of clothes.

  “Payback for wanting to kill me,” she shrugged. “I guess I was hoping to find something to help me, or something useful.”

  Hemrick took Dominaze’s hand and shook the oversized glove. “It would be a good idea to get you some gloves.”

  “Why does Brike wear them?”

  “Brike can’t turn the fire off that flows through him, he can only repress it. His touch burns.” Hemrick held out his hand for Dominaze to see. There were red burns on the tips of his pointer and middle finger. “When I checked his pulse,” he explained. “I believe his cooled body temperature runs close to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.”

  Dominaze’s mouth dropped open. “All the time?”

  “I believe so.”

  “So, Brike can’t touch anyone without burning them? Ever?” Dominaze shook her head as she thought of living a life without another person’s touch.

  “Not without the gloves on.” Hemrick pointed to the glove on her hand. “As you grow stronger you may find it hard to turn off everything. Wearing gloves may protect those around you. You don’t only have fire running through you, but ice, water, light, darkness, and more. You don’t want to hurt those you care about. It can turn you into someone you don’t want to be.”

  “That’s what happened to Brike, isn’t it?”

  Hemrick was about to answer, but stopped. Something had caught his eye. A paper stuck out of the pocket of Brike’s burnt shorts. He pulled the paper out. It was an envelope and on the front it read:

  Director White

  To the Sky

  Dominaze took the envelope, “To the sky? Just like Tistine wrote on the apple tree. Is there really a place in the sky?”

  “Of course not.” Hemrick snatched the letter back. “And if there is, and Brike is a part of it, it’s not a safe place for you.” He crumpled the letter, but Dominaze snatched it back and began opening it.

  “What are you doing?” Hemrick tried to get the letter back, but Dominaze held it out of reach.

  “If there is a place in the sky and Brike returns to it, he’s going to tell them I exist. That means this Director White guy will know about me. I want to know who he is and this letter may be able to tell me.” Dominaze finished opening the envelope. She pulled the letter out and unfolded it.

  Director White~

  The Vulnerations continue to escalate. The Manick travelers are off course and are becoming overwhelmed with the increase of their numbers. Meanwhile the Elect show no mercy as they seek to speedily create their weapon. Not many survive their attacks now. Brike travels south to Caba to pick up more provisions, as ours have all been garnished. The Manicks struggle to be codependent. There are 11 times more Manicks than last year and far 2 little food. I have relocated as I’m needed more elsewhere.

  ~T. S.

  Hermick took the letter and reread it a couple more times. He thought in silence for a moment before turning back to Dominaze. “Dominaze, I think it’s safe to say there may be a place in the sky.” He put the letter back into its envelope and tucked it into Brike’s pocket. “Why would the Elect be creating a weapon? They have been charged with keeping the balance and safety of our worlds. And who are they attacking? I don’t understand.”

  Dominaze put all of Brike’s belongings back into his bag and knelt in front of Hemrick. “Perhaps the Elect aren’t anything like the Prints you thought they were. You said Tivock was weak for being the Elect Elder of Fire, right?”

  “Right.”

  Dominaze looked at Brike’s bag. “Tivock took the place of the previous Elect of Fire, but that Elect didn’t die, did he? He stepped down.” She leaned forward, “Brike was the Elect of Fire, wasn’t he?”

  Hemrick nodded. “You’re pretty smart.” He stood and said, “Brike never told me why he stepped down, but he always made it clear that he thought Prints with too much power couldn’t be trusted. He’s had a distaste for the Elect since then and has been on the move ever since.” Hemrick looked out of the cave toward Caba. “I rarely got to see him after he stepped down, and on the rare occasion he did come around, he looked more and more beaten and worn each time.”

  “So Brike’s on the run. Like me.” Dominaze stood and went to Hemrick. “And there’s a secret place in the sky supporting whatever cause he has started.”

  Hemrick looked to the sky. “We can try and find out more about the place in the sky, but for now we need to find a new place to hide. Get some rest. We should have already left, but we’ll leave during the night so no one sees us.”

  “Really?” Dominaze grinned from ear to ear. “We can leave? Where are we going?”

  “Where do you want to go?” Hemrick asked.

  “Somewhere with life. I want to see trees, plants, and animals. If I don’t get out of the Dead Zone, I am going to lose my mind.”

  Hemrick took a deep breath. A place filled with life meant there would be Prints nearby. “Fine. I’ll think of something.”

  Dominaze cheered.

  “But,” Hemrick pointed his finger at her, “you better keep your thoughts in check. It will be harder to hide there.”

  “Promise.” Dominaze held her pinky finger up toward Hemrick.

  “What are you doing?” He wrinkled his forehead.

  “It’s a pinky promise.” She took his hand and pulled his pinky up. Linking her pinky with his, they shook.

  “Pinky promise?” He smirked. “Alright, well if you break your promise I’ll have to break your pinky.” He smiled to show he was kidding.

  Warm chills filled Dominaze and she shivered. She really liked the relationship she was building with Hemrick. She couldn’t have hoped for a better older brother.

  Hemrick looked at the now darkening sky. The stars were beginning to shine. “You better warm some rocks to sleep by. It’s going to be cold tonight. I’ll wake you in a few hours.”

  Still smiling, Dominaze gathered some rocks and thought of the warm sun. Warming the rocks seemed easier tonight than in the past. She lay with her back against them and watched Hemrick sit at the cave entrance. Her smile grew bigger as she thought of a life-filled forest covered with trees and roaming animals. Soon her eyelids grew heavy and she couldn’t tell if the bright orange butterfly fluttering in front of her was real or the beginning of a dream.

  ~13~

  DESPERATE TIMES

  “Dominaze, what have you done?” Hemrick’s voice startled Dominaze.

  More asleep than awake she sat up. “What do you mean? Ow.” Dominaze grabbed her head. It was filled with pressure and her body felt weak and achy. “I think I’m sick.” She put her hands over her head.

  “Hardly.” Hemrick grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. “You just exhausted yourself while sleeping.” He dragged her to the front of the cave. “Look.”

  She teetered unsteadily in place. At first Dominaze couldn’t see anything but blackness, not even the starry sky. She was about to ask Hemrick what was going on when she heard an owl and the chime of a million crickets. As she steadied herself, she recognized countless animals calling in the night and scurrying across the ground. Her eyes adjusted and in front of her was a large tree wrapped with leaves and vines. She stepped back and realized there was not just one tree in front of her, but an ent
ire forest.

  Gasping, she backed into Hemrick.

  Hemrick grabbed her and turned her to face him. “So much for your pinky promise. You broke it before we even left.” He went to the cave entrance and sent small bursts of wind into the new dense forest. “I’m really reconsidering breaking your pinky right now.”

  She put her hands into her pockets, though she was sure Hemrick wasn’t serious.

  “My winds can’t even make it through,” he growled. “How far does it go?” He turned and glared at Dominaze.

  “Oh, umm…” Quickly closing her eyes, she felt everything around her.

  The mountains and rocks were all the same, but to her horror, the Dead Zone was not so dead anymore. Extremely tall trees shot up toward the sky. Vines wrapped themselves around every trunk and dangled from the branches above. Overgrown bushes filled in every open space on the ground. It was so thick there was no path through it. Birds and wild animals could be heard from the tree tops and deep within the forest.

  “It covers the Dead Zone.” Dominaze’s legs wobbled and she sank to her knees.

  “How much of it?” Hemrick stood over her.

  “All of it.”

  “All of it?” he gasped. “The entire Dead Zone?”

  “I’m so sorry.” What else could she say?

  Hemrick grabbed Dominaze and lifted her to her feet. “We have to get out of here. The Elect will be here, if they’re not already. Come on.”

  Grabbing Brike’s bag, Hemrick started forcing his way between the brush and the rocky cliffs. Dominaze followed closely behind, trying to ignore the orange butterfly that insisted on flying around her head.

  “I’m sorry.” Dominaze repeated. “I thought of a warm tropical forest before falling asleep. I didn’t think it would actually exist when I woke up.”

  “Well if you can do all this in your sleep, when you’re barely conscious, just think about what you’ll be able to…” He paused and put his hand up warning Dominaze to be still.

  Hemrick didn’t move, just listened for something.