***
Yara stole back to her dwelling, avoiding all the usual paths. She knew it was a risk even to go back there, but she couldn’t just leave her Tribe parents. They needed to know she had gone, and they needed to know why.
She entered quietly even though she knew they wouldn’t be there. Her mother would be out selling the mushrooms she had gathered. Her father would be in the middle of his day’s work, building and carving.
She searched the dwelling and soon found a blank scroll and a feathered quill. Her hands shook as she began to write.
Mother, Father,
I am so sorry that I have to leave, but Malek and Pekone are after me. They are convinced I am of the Skotads and a danger to our Tribe. But they aren’t what they seem, Father. Mother, Malek planned the attack on you, in the Greens. Pekone knows. I heard Pekone say that it was a Skotad who saved you. I don’t know what it all means but please don’t trust them. I love you… and my thoughts will be with you, always,
YaraStar.
Yara paused, and then wrote one more line.
Also, please tell Kristos I’m sorry for everything… and I love him.
She placed the letter beside the glass wares that her mother would go to when she came back to prepare the meal. Then, she looked around for any food she could take. She opened the doors to the little storage her parents kept. In it were just a few items. It had been a hard few months.
Yara sighed and closed back the doors. She couldn’t take the little food her parents had even though she knew they would want her to have all of it. She would find more than enough food in the Greens. She felt a hint of dread as she considered the perilous stories of the Greens told by the warriors. She shook it off. There was no time for second thoughts now… not with Pekone after her.
She gathered her dagger, bow, and arrows alongside a few other things. She walked towards the door. She paused, surveying her father’s beautiful dwelling creation one last time. She looked towards her room and the fresh swaddling her mother had placed. This place had been her solace for all of her life. As she reached for the door’s handle, she stared for a moment at its sacred markings. She wished she could understand what they meant.
“What am I…?” she whispered to herself.
She opened the door and stole quietly out to the shrubbery nearby. As she turned to make her way through them to the old paths, a shadow flashed before her. A cry of capture sounded in the air.
“IIIIII GOOTTTT YOUUUUUUUUUUU!” shouted a triumphant Mila, clearly thrilled by the look of fear on Yara’s face.
Yara swiftly grabbed her and pulled her into the shrubs, covering her mouth and looking around desperately.
“Shhhhhhhh, Mila… stop shouting, please!” she hissed.
Mila nodded with wild eyes. Yara gently removed her hand from Mila’s face.
“What’s wrong, YaraStar?”
Mila’s exaggerated whispering made Yara wince.
“Okay… I need you to listen, okay? Listen and don’t say a word. Can you do that, Mila?”
Mila nodded silently to show she could.
Yara sighed and sat back a little. She had no idea how to explain it all to Mila, or how much she should even explain. She didn’t want Mila to get in trouble… She also didn’t want to break Mila’s heartstar by leaving without an explanation. She had forgotten how much the little one looked up to her with all that had been happening.
“I have to go, Mila… I have to leave the village…”
Mila’s face echoed with confusion. She pointed at her head to emphasize it even more.
“I know… it is a confusing time for me too. The Elders… they think my fighting style is similar to the Skotads… and they think I’m a danger to the Tribe…”
Mila savagely shook her head in disagreement. She had been spying on Yara’s training for so long that she knew it just wasn’t true.
“I know… but the Elders won’t believe me. They are trying to capture me now, so I have to leave… I’m so sorry to leave you, Mila…”
Mila’s eyes filled with tears, and she grabbed Yara, squeezing her tightly while forcefully shaking her head.
Yara felt her heartstar pang and her eyes water.
“I’m so sorry, Mila…”
Soon, Mila looked up and pointed at her mouth, asking if she could speak. Yara nodded, reminding her she needed to be quiet.
“I don’t want them to capture you, Yara. So, I know you have to go. And I know you’re not a Skotad… but… even if you were a Skotad… I’d still think you’re the best. You’re the best, Yara. No matter what.”
Yara felt passionately moved by Mila’s innocence and loyalty.
“I hope I get to see you again one day, little one…” she replied, kissing Mila lightly on her forehead.
As Yara snuck away, Mila looked out to make sure no one had seen her. Their eyes made contact one last time. Yara proudly nodded before disappearing into the bushes.
***
Yara walked north towards the Greens from a different path. She concentrated solely on her mission. She needed to leave the village undetected, and she needed to put as much distance between it and her as she could before the day ended. As she neared the edge from the side the Photaks never used, she looked back in the direction of the village. A forlorn look crept over her face.
She knew that the moment she stepped into the Greens would be the moment her Photak life would be over. It was the price of her freedom, but it was at the heaviest cost imaginable. She allowed herself to think once more about her Tribe parents and their undying love. She thought about Kristos and the pain he must be feeling trying to save his father. She wished she had the time to tell him the details of Pekone’s betrayal, but she was afraid of risking making things worse for him.
Yara took a huge breath and looked ahead into the Greens. She looked down, touching the Guiding Thread in her pocket. She took it out, gazing upon it nostalgically. For years, she had been excited for the day she would finally have one. She reached out her arm and dropped it into the bushes.
“I won’t be needing you anymore…” she muttered as she walked into the Greens.
***
For the next few hours, Yara headed further and further away from the village. She deliberately chose directions that she heard had sparse sustenance. While she knew food would be harder to find, she also knew there would be a smaller chance of stumbling into anyone. With the gravity of her circumstances weighing down, she knew it was worth the risk.
The further away she got, the more she looked ahead, instead of behind. Soon, she felt confident that she had not been followed. Only then did she allow herself to acknowledge her awe at the beauty that surrounded her. Despite the shadowy darkness, there was something about all the new sights, sounds, and smells that made her feel alive.
She felt a surreal sense of gratitude that her eyesight availed her to see in the Shadows. She could not imagine doing any of this while disabled by the Blurry. Still, it wasn’t quite how she had imagined she would have experienced the Greens. She allowed her thoughts to run over the events of the past couple of days and shook her head in disbelief. A couple of days ago, her biggest problem had been the new voice that tortured her dreams.
The voice!
Yara felt an immediate surge of rage. All of this, everything bad that had happened, started because of the eerie voice. It had left her dreams to torture her in real life. While she knew that she would have lost if it hadn’t helped her in the inner fight, she also knew that she would at least still have had her old life. Yara’s jaw clenched the more she thought about it.
“So, where are you now, you eerie nuisance!” she said out loud. “Come on! Speak up! You sure know how to make an entrance. In the inner fight, in the middle of my first kiss!! So, make your entrance now, seeing that you’ve ruined my ENTIRE LIFE!”
She paused and listened for a moment. She almost expected it to respond. There was silence.
“ARGHHHH!!”
Yara kicked at a red glass-sharded stone and dropped down next to a feathered tree. She sighed and held her head. She felt like she was going quite mad. The voice probably wasn’t even real, and either way, there was nothing she could do about it now.
Focus, Yara, she thought to herself, you need to focus on surviving. So… what do you need to survive?
She looked up at the furs of the feathered tree. She could make a mini swaddling with them. She just needed to find food and a safe place to rest. The very thought of sleep made her body ache. It had been a long day.
She pushed herself up and went searching the area. She found a low-lying canopy of branches a little way off. After a quick perimeter sweep, she felt confident that it was adequately safe. She built the makeshift swaddling. Then, she hydrated herself by a nearby Saptree and found a tiny mushroom patch for sustenance.
She returned to the swaddling and lay down for the day. She would have never known that the last time she had slept in her own swaddling would have been her very last. Yara’s life had changed, drastically and mercilessly. She was drained beyond words.
Yara closed her eyes. Within minutes, the exhaustion took its hold, and she drifted off to sleep.
***
“WHAT ARE YOU?!”
“SHE’S A SKOTAD!”
“We always knew it!”
“She’s such a freak!”
“Cursed abomination!”
“She’s a weapon!”
“She isn’t even a real person.”
“She has no markings!”
“She was MADE by Skotads!”
“She doesn’t belong here!”
“She doesn’t belong anywhere.”
“YaraStar…”
“YaraStar…”
“YaraStar… ARISE!”
Yara shot up from her swaddling, the furs falling from her as she hit her head into the canopy. She held her forehead and groaned, feeling disoriented.
What did I even hit…? she thought, trying to figure out what it was in her room back at her dwelling.
Then, it all came back in a rush. She remembered where she was and felt a shot of panic. Instinctively, she peered out from her hiding place and surveyed the surroundings. Everything looked the same, peaceful and beautiful. She calmed herself. She had taken a lot of care in choosing this place of rest. She lay back down, sighing with her hand still on her forehead, damning the voice for its continued torment.
In the distance, a steady hand that pulled back a taut bowstring with an arrow paused its release…
Chapter Ten
Toler stared in shock as he lowered his bow. His brows furrowed in confusion. Perhaps, his expertly skilled eyes had somehow deceived him, but he could have sworn the Photak had…
Blue hair…
He rubbed his eyes and stared at the place where she hid. She had lain back down now, and he couldn’t see her head anymore. The low canopy kept her well concealed.
It’s a brilliant hiding spot, Toler thought smugly.
He knew because he had fashioned the canopy himself. He had been returning when he saw a person wearing Photak garb had inhabited it. It seemed similar to those of the warriors. He thought, perhaps, the Photak was some kind of spy.
Regardless, a Photak of any kind was a threat. Photaks had been brutal to his people. His Tribe had lost many innocent people as a result of their hate. Photaks hunted them like animals and committed gruesome acts of torture upon their skin with weapons of light. While he never attacked or initiated fights with them, he couldn’t just leave the Photak there to harm his people.
He decided to poison the tip of his arrow and graze the sleeping Photak. It would release a dosage that would be enough to disable but not to kill. He had been about to fire off the arrow when she had jumped up. She had hit her head so hard that the thud could be heard a far way off.
Nope, not a warrior, he had thought, slightly amused at her self-deprecating mutterings that followed.
As he observed her now, he wondered where she had come from and why she was so far away from her village. This wasn’t an area known for large amounts of food. Perhaps, she was lost. It was more likely that she was Light Blinded. There were a few of the Light Blinded who dwelled in the Skotad mountains, but no one had heard of any new ones for quite some time. He wondered if it was nearing the three days since she had been in the shadowy darkness.
Toler felt a bit torn. If he shot her, he could carry her back to the mountain so that his Tribe could question her. For some selfish reason, he felt like he wanted to question her first. Perhaps, it was to understand why she was there. More than anything, he wanted to get a closer look at her odd tuft of blue hair.
Either way, it's not like she’s dangerous… She’s way too clumsy and loud…
“Or maybe it’s a trap,” he muttered softly to himself.
Erring on the side of caution, Toler snuck around the natural encampment with his arrow trained upon her at all times. He was immensely skilled at stealth even though he was only eighteen years old. He had surpassed even the greatest warriors in his Tribe.
Still, despite his expertise, he noticed that the Photak girl’s body stiffened. He knew he had been made. Adapting his strategy, he immediately called out.
“Don’t move, Photak! My arrow will puncture your flesh before you could reach for your bow.”
He heard a little sigh. She must have calculated the distance to it herself, and she seemed to acknowledge that he was right.
“Come out from under there!” Toler commanded. “Slowly…”
He saw her lean body shift as he had instructed. She rolled out from under the canopy with her back facing him. Toler was a little thrown off by how calm she seemed and how even her breathing was. Something was not right. She didn’t seem afraid. He wanted to see her face.
“Turn around, Photak!”
Slowly, she turned to face him, raising her head last.
Toler gasped. She was the most unusual girl he had ever seen… and she was beguilingly beautiful. He immediately searched her skin for her origins. A sense of terror struck him as he looked over any unconcealed skin she had. How was it possible?
She is… unmarked?!
She seemed to initially mirror his shock before concealing it with a cold stare. Her iridescent eyes narrowed as they rested upon the tip of his arrow.
“What… are you…?” Toler stammered.
A sly grin crept up one side of her face. Suddenly, she spun into the air in a pure Skotad attack filled with more power than Toler had ever seen. Shock ripped through him.
It’s a TRA—
The world went black.
***
Yara stood over the Skotad, dagger held tightly. She had knocked him unconscious with its blunt end. She stared at him, genuinely perplexed at his appearance. It was her first time seeing a Skotad. She had expected silvery-white hair and pale skin. She even knew of their vividly blue eyes. This, however, was nothing like she had imagined.
Yara willed herself to focus and looked around for something with which to tie him. She found some strong vines a short way off. She dragged his body to the trunk of a tree and wrapped the vines around him. Testing her strength on the binds, she gave a satisfied smile before perching herself on a nearby boulder. Her eyes ran over his face and body.
He’s so… beautiful…
Yara hated herself for thinking it, but this was no ordinary beauty. His skin glistened in the Shadows, and his long, silky hair looked like it was softer than the most expensive furs. And his face… his face was what she would imagine the face of an angel of Sunstar would look like. It was perfect, ruggedly handsome, but also so…
Kind… he looks so kind…
She wondered how he could even be evil. Then, she reminded herself that he had been the one to initiate the attack. Still, she hadn’t been very careful. Technically, he could have shot her, killed her, with his arrow. She felt her curiosity grow as to why he hadn’t. For that reason, and that reason alone, she had s
truck him with a nonfatal blow. Now, she didn’t quite know what she would do with him once he awakened.
“You could have left me a little room to breathe, you know?”
Yara jumped, startled that he was awake already. She shot him a glare.
“You have some nerve being so cheeky, especially as you’re the one tied to a tree,” she retorted.
“Perhaps, it's because my tribesmen are close by.”
Yara felt her heartstar skip a beat, but she refused to let herself show it. Plus, she figured if that were true, he wouldn’t want them to lose the element of surprise. He was trying to intimidate her.
“Well, let them come then… There are more vines and more trees all around…”
The Skotad seemed to assess her a little. Then, he changed his approach.
“I could have killed you, you know…”
It was effective. Yara couldn’t help but feel a tinge of uncertainty. She had been taught that Skotads killed without hesitation. She had to admit to herself that the events over the past couple of days made her less confident in what she had been taught. Now, the Skotad seemed to have a reason he didn’t kill her. She decided, given that he was tied to a tree, she had nothing to lose.
She jumped off the boulder and walked over to the tree. Lowering herself to his level, she faced him directly looking straight into his blue Skotad eyes.
“So… why didn’t you?”
The Skotad smiled, and Yara felt her heartstar warm a little. She mentally scolded herself for it, remembering that he was still very much an enemy.
“Because I am not a senselessly violent Photak,” he responded, eyes narrowing.
Yara balked at him and then responded with anger.
“We were never the senselessly violent ones! You Skotads have always been jealous of our ability to walk in Sunstar’s light. You hated that we are the chosen ones! And you killed us for it. You killed our warriors, our gatherers, our children—”
The Unmarked Girl (The YaraStar Trilogy Book 1) Page 7