“Sorry, what?” she interrupted, her small voice barely breaking past the sound of the summer bugs chirping in a nearby bush. “No one’s been transferred here for the past few…” she trailed off, scrunching her brow in confusion.
“No,” he replied, eyeing her carefully. “Not since two winters ago. I’d know. It would be in my ledger.” He cleared his throat before asking, “You’re not regretting your decision to stay here, are you?”
“What?” she asked, looking up to him and trying to clear her head of the hundreds of questions and worries that were going through it. “Oh, no,” she finally answered, giving him a sweet smile. “There’s a lot that I love about Breccan.”
Hunter’s gaze shifted behind her for a moment, eyeing a man that had just stepped in line. Realizing that he had to go back to work, he looked down to his ledger and put a checkmark next to her name, quickly labeling the time. As he did so, a small smile formed at his lips, and he commented quietly, “Well, Breccan is lucky to have you.”
His words sent a strange sensation through her body, and for the first time in her life, she felt her age. This was what it felt like to be a twenty-one year old woman. These were the confusing and exiting feelings that went with it.
Before she could stand there any longer and make a mute fool out of herself, she gave Hunter a brief, “Bye,” before passing through his gates and hurrying for home.
*
Mason, Logan, and Archer had all gathered by the meeting tree in Valor Wood soon after they got off work, and were each leaning against the trunk of a tree, waiting for Norabel.
“Drat it! How much longer do ya think she’ll be?” Archer asked, snapping a thin branch off the tree behind him and putting the broken end up to his nose.
“Maybe someone at work held her back?” Logan reasoned.
“Or maybe girls are always going to be slower than guys,” Archer commented, dabbing the broken twig up to his neck in hopes of capturing the scent of the tree’s sap. “Maybe we should think twice about letting another one on our team.”
“I’d say we’ve already got two,” Logan joked, snatching the stick from Archer. “And why don’t you try real perfume? It works better.”
“Girls aren’t inherently slower than guys,” Mason said, crossing his arms over his chest and looking disapprovingly at the road. “Norabel’s probably just stopped somewhere, looking at an ant pile.”
Archer chuckled in agreement. “Yeah, or standing with her ear to a tree, trying to hear it talk.”
“Or maybe she’s coming down the road right now,” Logan said, pointing Archer’s stick in that direction. “And you two better shut up before she hears you.”
Seeing that Norabel was making her way down the path towards them, Mason kicked off from his tree and started towards her.
“You’re late,” he mumbled, throwing her a glance as he walked up the road.
Norabel stopped and watched his retreating back in confusion. She had tried to get there as fast as she could. Of course, she couldn’t move too fast, but she thought she had been rather prompt.
“Don’t mind him,” Logan said, joining her on the road. “He’s just on edge because of this whole Ashlin thing.”
“He told you?” she asked, starting to walk with him at an easy pace.
Archer ran up from behind them, his heavy footfalls pounding up from the ground and striking against the soles of her boots. He bypassed them and chose to walk with Mason.
“Yeah,” Logan answered. “I was a little angry with him for lying to me.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you,” she apologized quickly.
He smiled and bumped her arm with his, putting her at ease. “I’m not mad at you, Norabel. In fact, there’s not one time in my life where I can say that I have been.”
“Thanks Logan,” she said, linking her fingers together in front of her and staring down at them. “That means a lot.”
Up ahead, they could see Mason stop in the road and bend down to pick something up.
“I hope my brother didn’t hurt you yesterday,” Logan said, bending to whisper into her ear.
“Sorry?” she asked.
“He told me he had to dive on top of you to save you from what he thought was a flying arrow.”
“Oh. That,” she said, giving out a soft laugh. Logan chuckled as well.
“Are you two coming or not?” Mason asked in impatience, waving a small stick with a few leaves left on top.
“How’d ya know that isn’t just a broken stick on the road?” Archer questioned, pointing to it in suspicion.
“Because it’s the same one I shot at him yesterday.”
Archer nearly jumped in shock as Ashlin appeared to drop down from nowhere and stand in front of them on the road. Her auburn hair had been let down to her shoulders, blowing in the whisper of a summer breeze, and the elegant green bow she carried was carefully poised in her hand.
“Please tell me this is the girl,” Archer said, staring at her with wide, hopeful eyes. “Because, if it’s not, I’m voting we put her on the team anyway.”
“What happened to ‘girls are slower than guys’?” Logan reminded him, playfully hitting his arm. “We should think twice before letting another one on?”
“That was before I saw her,” he whispered, loud enough for everyone to hear.
“Guys,” Mason cut in. “If you’re finished ogling, we should get off the road now.”
“There’s a clearing not too far from here,” Ashlin suggested. “It’s hidden from any traffic that might pass this way.”
“Hey, you lead and I’ll be right behind you,” Archer responded, grinning.
Ashlin gave him a brief look-over before swiftly spinning her bow and pointing it to a spot in the trees. “Come on,” she said. “It’s this way.”
Travelling into the forest about a half-mile north, she led them to a grassy clearing that had a circle of large, thick trees encompassing it. Walking to the center, they saw that a target sign had been pinned up to the bark of several of the trees.
“What is this place?” Logan asked, turning in a circle to catch a glimpse of each of the targets.
“It’s where I’ve been training for the past few days,” she answered. “Though, to be quite honest, I’ve been training for a lot longer than that. I used to be part of the Noor Summit Harbingers before I was transferred.” She flipped her bow deftly in her hand in a few, mesmerizing turns, saying, “I asked you out here today so I could prove myself to you. To put it bluntly, I’d like to be on your team.”
“Well, that’s good enough for me,” Archer said, putting out his hand for her to shake. “My name’s Archer.”
Ashlin gave him a smart look before digging her bow into the ground and taking his hand.
“I’m Ashlin.”
“I know,” he responded, not letting go of her hand.
“His real name’s Gillian,” Logan offered helpfully. “He catches fish for a living.”
“That would explain the smell,” Ashlin commented, drawing her hand away.
“I don’t smell!” Archer defended. He shoved Logan in the arm, adding, “And nobody calls me that.”
Seeing that there was no getting around the introductions now, Mason came up to her and offered his hand. “I’m Mason,” he said, his voice embodying the ever confident leader he longed to be. He then motioned with a flick of his head, saying, “That’s my brother Logan, and that’s Norabel.”
“Norabel,” Ashlin said, turning to address her. “What a sweet name.”
She had given her a smile when she said it, but Norabel wasn’t sure if she was making fun or her or not.
“Well, now that we’ve got that over with,” she said, grabbing her bow once more. “What’s say I show you what I can do.”
Without waiting for a reply, she grabbed an arrow from behind her back, placed it in her bow, and let it fly. She had done it so fast that Norabel didn’t even think that she had looked at her mark. But, sure enough, a m
oment later, the arrow came thudding right into the center hole of one of the targets.
“You might want to duck,” she warned them, before she took out another arrow and let it fly to her right, and another and another, all in quick succession, so that she had made a complete circle and had hit every single mark smack dab in the center.
Archer gave a low whistle in admiration from where he had quickly dashed to the floor. Mason, however, did not give out his praise so easily.
He rose to his feet, saying, “That’s great and all, but how is firing arrows going to help us steal cargo?”
“Alright,” Ashlin said, walking over to the trees.
Moving like she had before, she swung up into a tree and disappeared behind its leaves. A moment later an arrow shot out, landing nearly on top of another arrow that had previously been struck in the center of a target. Then, in the span of a few seconds, arrows shot out from different angles from the tops of the trees, landing squarely on their marks. If Norabel hadn’t known any better, she would have thought that five or six men were hiding up in the trees instead of just one girl running through them as easily as if she was walking on solid ground.
This show earned an encouraging clap from Archer, and she dropped down from the trees right behind him.
“You’re still firing arrows,” Mason pointed out.
“And you’re not getting the point,” she defended. “I can hide where no one can see me. I can move so quietly that even the mice don’t hear me coming.”
“Well next time we take on a band of mice, I’ll be sure to enlist your help,” he said sarcastically.
Ashlin clamped her jaw tightly in determination, and then turned to where Archer stood, telling him, “If you’d care to blindfold me, I can do it that way too.”
“Alright,” he said, thoroughly amused by the whole situation. He searched his pockets, taking out several pieces of dried fruit, the remnants of a squished pinecone, and the crust of an old slice of bread, but could find nothing that would work as a blindfold. He was about to take out a knife and cut off a piece of his shirt, when Norabel stopped him.
“Here,” she said, taking off the sash of her dress that tied around her waist. Holding it out, she offered it to Ashlin.
Ashlin gave her a smile as thanks, and then took the sash to Mason, saying, “Will you do the honors?”
Mason eyed both the cloth and the girl in deliberation. No doubt he was impressed, but he seemed to be working extra hard to appear unfazed by the whole thing. Then, relenting to her request, he took the cloth in his hands and stepped behind her to wrap it over her eyes and tie behind her head.
“Would you all mind standing perfectly still for me, please,” she ordered.
Norabel held her breath in suspense as she saw Ashlin reach behind her for an arrow. She positioned it in her bow and moved slower this time as she pulled back on the string, searching for her target. Then, taking in a deep breath, Ashlin let the arrow fly, and spun to claim the next target. However, her first display of taking her time with the shot appeared to be nothing more than an unnecessary show, for she let the rest of her arrows fly with barely a moment’s hesitation between each one.
Taking off her blindfold, she smiled as she saw her success. “Do you see now?” she asked. “I can hit targets without even looking at them. You do all of your operations in the night. You need someone that can work just as well in the dark as they do in the light.”
Instead of responding to her, Mason walked over to a tree with a target pinned to it. Unlike the other targets, which all had three arrows embedded inside them, this one only had two. He pointed to the target and threw her a questioning look.
“I ran out of arrows,” she said with a shrug.
“Okay,” Archer announced. “All in favor of Ashlin joining the team, raise your hand.”
He shot his hand straight up in the air, but Mason stopped anyone else from joining in by saying, “We aren’t putting it to a vote.”
“What do I gotta do to impress this guy,” Ashlin joked.
“We aren’t putting it to a vote,” Mason continued, extending his hand to her, “because I am impressed. Welcome to the Breccan Harbingers.”
“Um,” Norabel stuttered, not able to keep the protestation from her mouth.
“Something wrong?” Mason asked her, his expression turning confrontational.
She knew she should say something; tell the guys what she had found out about there being no new transfers to Breccan. But they would never believe her if she did. A commoner wasn’t supposed to know that information.
“Oh,” Ashlin said before Norabel could make up her mind. “Hey, Belly,” she said, throwing her sash back to her. “Thanks a bunch.”
The sash had travelled so fast that it wrapped around Norabel’s neck before she could reach out to grab it. “No problem,” she said, her voice muffled from the fabric as she tried to detangle it from her head.
“But, I want you to know,” Mason added, “you’re on a temporary probation until we’re sure we can trust you. And you still need to prove to me that you’re a valuable addition to our team.”
“Of course,” Ashlin nodded. “So when’s our next job?”
He took a few steps away, giving her his back as he thought it over. Then, glancing back to her, he announced, “Tonight.”
“Tonight?” Norabel squeaked. “Don’t you think that’s a little early?”
“It’s never too early for a job,” Ashlin remarked. “At least, that was our motto in Noor Summit.”
“Don’t worry,” Mason said, coming over and patting Norabel’s shoulder. “We’ll be fine.”
But, as she looked from his face to the girl with the bow, she wasn’t quite convinced. She could tell that things were going to change with Ashlin there now; they were going to change quickly. And for a girl that looked almost exactly the same as she had at fourteen years old, change came hard.
Chapter 7
Hunter stared out the window of his rooms, looking to the tiny yellow lights that dotted the very edge of the western rim of the city. The stronghold that he and all other Pax officials lived inside was a great stone castle that stood in the center of the village. His room was one of the highest in the castle and faced out to the north, but he was so far up that he could see easily to the west with a turn of his head.
In the dark, it was impossible to make out the shapes of buildings, but for him the lights were enough. Sometimes he wondered what the people inside of these homes were doing. He saw so many of them during the day, that at night he would imagine them at home with their families, talking at the dinner table, pulling a loaf of bread out of the hearth, sitting in front of a fire; just simple happy moments.
He also wondered how many of them were sitting alone like him, forced into solitude. Under the Pax, anyone over the age of eighteen was forced to move out of their parents’ home, leading many young people to whittle away their evenings in lonely isolation. Though Hunter’s mother and father were no longer alive, he wondered how many kids were sitting by their windows, wishing they could go back to their parents.
A knock at his door drew him out of his thoughts, and he reluctantly got up from his seat by the window to answer it.
“Uncle,” he said, upon seeing who it was at the door. “Sir,” he corrected himself.
“May I come in?” his uncle asked.
Hunter opened the door up wider, and Lorcan promptly strode inside. He walked right over to the window, and Hunter was almost afraid that his uncle could guess what he had been doing, what he had done nearly every night since he had joined the Pax.
“I’ve got good news, Hunter,” he announced, turning from the window to study his nephew.
“What’s that?” he asked warily.
“I just spoke with Auberon.”
“He’s back from the capital?”
“Just this evening. And he informed me that some things are going to start changing. I can’t say exactly what yet, but I can tell you
this: he’s asking me to keep a mental list of all the men I think should benefit from this change.”
“Meaning?” Hunter asked, growing uneasy.
Lorcan chuckled and shook his head. “What do you think it means, Hunter? You’re my nephew. I told you I would look out for you.”
“I mean,” he said, taking a step forward and gulping down hard. “What does that mean for my current position?”
“Well, you didn’t think you’d be at that little checkpoint forever, did you!” he exclaimed with a proud smile. “The Pax rewards those that have worked hard for it.”
Hunter ran a charged hand through his hair, suddenly feeling like there wasn’t enough air in the room. “I…I…”
“Alright now, calm down,” Lorcan said, coming over to put a hand on his back. “The world isn’t going to start changing all at once. You’ll be given a carrier job in a week’s time, and we’ll see how you do from there.”
He started to walk for the door, but Hunter called him back. “But, wait, uncle! What if I don’t want…”
“Don’t want what?”
“Well,” he gulped again, trying to build his courage. “It’s just, I’m happy where I am now, is all.”
“Trust me,” Lorcan said, giving him an encouraging smile. “You’ll be happier where you’re going.”
Before Hunter could make any more arguments, he turned and closed the door behind him.
“But…” he stuttered.
He bunched his fist up to the wooden door and rested his forehead against the rough surface. He banged his head on the wood a few times, trying to drown out the panic he was feeling with physical pain. How could he tell his uncle that his idea of happiness was much different from his own? How could he explain to him what truly made him happy?
*
Norabel’s arms ached as she sat, balanced on the limb of a tree, waiting for the Pax cart to come. When they had all gathered at the extraction sight a few minutes prior, Mason had taken the rope and newly sharpened dagger and handed it to Ashlin.
“Sorry, but she’s the better choice for the Shadow,” he had said, hardly even directing his explanation at her.
Chasing Shadows (Saving Galerance, Book 1) Page 7