Exsanguinated

by D. K. Holmberg

  Somehow, Marin managed to free herself. Something came flying out, and for a moment, Alec hoped she had somehow managed to jump, but he realized it was the barge pole.

  “Go!” she screamed.

  “Not without you,” Jalen said, standing near the bow of the barge.

  Marin was dragged again, and once more, she managed to kick and got free long enough to make it back to the edge of the forest, and Alec thought that perhaps she might get herself free, but then she was dragged again away. “Go,” he heard, though her voice was weak.

  Alec took the barge pole and stood at the end of the barge, staring into the forest. He kept waiting for Marin to return. She was augmented, and there was no way she should’ve been able to be dragged away like that, but she never returned.

  “We have to go after her,” Jalen said.

  “How?” Alec asked, turning to him. “You saw what they did to her. You saw the way they were able to drag her. What do you think you and I can do?”

  Jalen rounded on him and reached for the barge pole as if to jerk it from Alec’s hand. “We can’t leave her!”

  “I said the same thing about Sam, and Marin forced us out of the forest. Do you think you and I can do anything to rescue them? Even with your armor and your sword, do you think either of us is equipped to go after them?”

  Jalen glared at him before turning and facing the forest. “I need…”

  Alec rested a hand on his shoulder, trying to reassure him. “I need the same, but I don’t think either of us is skilled enough, or strong enough, to go after them.”

  “I thought I’d lost her once, and I didn’t want to lose her again. Not this way.”

  Alec studied Jalen. “You care for her.”

  Jalen looked over at him. “Of course I do. We have known each other for nearly my entire life. When I believed that she had died, I…” Jalen shook his head. “Why would she not have come back to me?”

  “The chamyn took her. I don’t think that she could—”

  “I’m not talking about now.”

  Alec swallowed. “I don’t know. I think she was doing what she thought was necessary to protect Tray.”

  “If she was trying to protect him, she could have come and found me. I would have helped.”

  “Could you?” Alec asked.

  Jalen shot him a hard look. “I could have.”

  “You weren’t willing to reveal that you were a Scribe. How is it you think you would have been able to help her?”

  Jalen stared at him, and then he took a seat on the deck of the barge. “Is that it? She didn’t tell me because she thought I was too cowardly?”

  “I don’t think that’s it, not at all. All I’m saying is that there is more to Marin—much more—than what we know.”

  “There was more to Marin,” Jalen said in a whisper.

  “She’s not gone. Not yet.”

  “You saw those creatures,” Jalen said. He pointed toward the forest that was growing increasingly distant. They seemed to be drifting even without using the barge pole.

  “I saw those creatures, but I also heard what Marin said about them. If they serve the Thelns, then it’s possible they will drag her to the Thelns.” Alec had to hope that was what would happen. He had to hope that was all that would happen with Sam. If they were lucky, Sam would reach Tray, and he would help her. She’s as much his sister as he is her brother. Surely, he would help, and she could return, and…

  And what?

  Alec had no idea what Tray’s standing was with the Thelns. If they had Sam, there might not be anything Tray could do. Alec wasn’t even certain how Tray felt about Sam, not after everything he had been through. He had been in the Theln lands a long time now, long enough he might even consider it his home. He had his father now, and he knew nothing of his Lyasanna, not like a son should know his mother. He only knew that she had wanted him dead for merely existing.

  But Sam might be alive.

  That was what he had to hope for. Alec needed to believe Sam still lived. He needed to believe the chamyn hadn’t killed her.

  He took the barge pole and began to push. What choice did he have? What choice was there but to return to the city, maybe find help, and wait to see if Sam and Marin returned?

  Jalen looked over at him, and Alec hated the hopelessness in his eyes. It matched the fears in his heart, but he was determined not to let them overwhelm him. He had seen Sam survive much worse, and he had to believe she could survive this too.

  But in truth, he worried this might be something more than she could survive. He feared the Thelns would take revenge for what she had done to them. And he worried Tray wouldn’t be strong enough to oppose them.

  21

  Captive

  Sam flew through the air.

  It was a strange sensation. She had been standing on the soft, spongy forest floor, and the next moment, she was soaring.

  Something had grabbed her and carried her.

  She tried to determine what it was, but she couldn’t. All she knew was that it had grabbed the back of her cloak, but it had done so in a way that didn’t hurt her.

  At least she still had her canal staff. She thought about swinging it, but as she was flung from branch to branch, jumping with whatever creature carried her, she wasn’t sure she dared do that. If she did, she could end up falling from a great height and dropping down to the forest floor. Without Alec with her, she wasn’t sure she would survive it.

  Instead, she focused on trying an augmentation.

  Her first since being injured and nearly dying at Lyasanna’s hand. She was hesitant, but if she was ever going to do it, now had to be the time.

  What would Alec do? How would he document an augmentation for her? His style had changed somewhat since going to the university. He was just as diligent with his documentation, but there was something to it that had changed. He used less embellishment. Everything was simple.

  Strength. Speed. Bones that wouldn’t break. He likely would have a combination of medicines he would administer that would ensure the augmentation was effective, but Sam didn’t think she could use that herself. Instead, she wanted only those augmentations and hoped they would take hold.

  Had anything changed?

  Alec had worried about the poisoning affecting her. The fact that he was still affected by it bothered her, but she didn’t think that was the reason for her weakness. She didn’t think his poisoning was the reason she felt different. Maybe it was just that she had lost so much blood and had nearly died.

  As the augmentation took hold, washing up through her with a flash of cold, power surged through her.

  It was almost unexpected. The strength she managed was more than she ever had before, at least when creating an augmentation alone. This was almost overwhelming.

  Whatever creature had grabbed her landed on a branch, and Sam spun, jerking herself around. The force of it freed her.

  She twisted while getting free and landed on the branch, grabbing it and holding tight, afraid she might slip and fall.

  An enormous cat stared back at her.

  The creature crouched on the branch, holding on to it with long claws. As Sam studied the creature, she realized it wasn’t merely a cat. The nose was longer, and the ears flopped forward, and the eyes were wide and gleamed with a soft, almost greenish light. Fur was dappled and blended in with the tree branch.

  Sam hesitated, freezing in place. Was this what Marin had warned her about, the creature she feared?

  And yet, the creature hadn’t tried to hurt her. It had only grabbed her, carrying her into the upper branches, but hadn’t harmed her.

  Not yet.

  She crouched on the branch and glanced down, trying to gauge how far up she was, but it was difficult to determine. The forest floor was little more than darkness, a blur beneath her, and far enough away that she wasn’t sure she could reach it safely were it to become necessary.

  The strange creature watched her, almost as if trying to predict wh
at she might do.

  She gripped her canal staff, but would it be enough if the creature tried to attack her? It was better than nothing but by how much? If she were attacked up in the trees, her precarious perch would make using the staff a challenge.

  The creature rested its head on its paws and stared at her, almost as if trying to decide what to do with her.

  “Well?” Sam said. She felt more than a little ridiculous attempting to speak to the creature, but the way it looked at her was almost as if it wanted her to say something. “Now that you have me here, what’s your plan for me?”

  The creature’s ears swiveled, almost as if trying to listen for something, and then it stood. Before Sam could react, the beast lunged and grabbed her by the back of her cloak and started running.

  This time, she did fight. She tried to thrash, but the way the creature had bundled her cloak kept her trapped within it. There was no way for her to escape, no way for her to get free, and the only thing she could do was go along for the ride.

  The creature jumped from branch to branch, carrying her through the forest, high above the forest floor, and moving with much more speed than Sam would have managed. With each jump, Sam braced herself for a jarring landing, but it never came. She felt the speed as they soared through the air, jumping from place to place, and struggled to maintain a grip on her canal staff. Wherever they landed, she needed to be prepared for what might come next.

  Would this creature bring her to a pack of others? She wasn’t about to become lunch for some strange forest cat, but as much as she struggled, trying to twist her way free, she wasn’t able to do it.

  Kyza, but she felt stupid.

  She tried bringing her arm around, but every time she tried, the creature jumped, carrying her farther and farther from where the others were.

  Was Marin even coming after her?

  If she did, there might not be anything that Marin could do. There were limits to her ability, even though she was as skilled a Kaver as any Sam had ever encountered.

  In that case, Sam wasn’t sure she wanted Marin coming after her. She didn’t want the others to risk themselves and end up getting captured—or worse—by these creatures.

  The only part she cared about was that Alec wouldn’t know what happened to her.

  Light filtered through the trees.

  At first, Sam thought it was imagined, but the longer it went, the more confident she was there was light in the distance.

  Was the creature carrying her to the edge of the forest? Or had they returned to the swamp? Maybe this strange cat had decided it didn’t want her in its forest and was trying to push her out.

  With two more jumps, the creature soared down, landing softly in a field of tall grasses.

  It was the end of the forest, and it wasn’t the swamp.

  Kyza. Was this creature going to drag her into the middle of the field and eat her? Why bring her here? Why not have his meal in the forest?

  There was another possibility, but how likely was it that the creature would drag her all the way to the Theln lands?

  It broke into a run as soon as they landed on the ground. On and on they ran, and Sam was little more than baggage, little more than something the creature kept clamped in its jaws as it continued to carry her across the plain. At one point, she bounced off the ground briefly, long enough that she struck her head, and Sam was sure she lost consciousness, however briefly. It didn’t slow the creature at all, and it continued to run, moving with terrific speed.

  There was something different about the air here. It was almost… clean.

  Sam was so accustomed to smelling the swamp or the canals or the overall dankness of the city that having the air smelling of flowers and grasses and earth was unexpected.

  She tried twisting so she could look around, but she couldn’t see anything, not with as quickly as the creature was moving. All around her was a blur, nothing else.

  The grasses tugged at her canal staff, and she struggled to hang on to it. There might not be any use for the staff, not the same way there was in the city, but Sam was not about to lose that weapon. If there was one of these creatures, there were undoubtedly more, and she had to be ready.

  As the time stretched past, the landscape around her started to change. It became almost a rolling sort of hillside, and sunlight shone down. A heavy wind began to gust, tousling her hair even more than the movement from the creature did.

  Were she not so worried about what was happening, she might have almost enjoyed this, but she wasn’t able to enjoy it. She worried about Alec and Marin and Jalen. Were they looking for her? How would they find her? Or would they have to save themselves and retreat to the swamp and back to the city?

  It might have just been her imagination, but it seemed as if the creature began to slow.

  Maybe it was getting tired. Or, more likely, it had arrived wherever it was taking her. As it slowed, Sam started to focus on trying to pull on an augmentation. If she could manage that, if she could do anything that would get her free, she would use this opportunity to escape.

  Finally, the creature came to a stop.

  It dropped Sam in a heap and bounded away, leaving her in a clearing. She stood and checked to make sure her canal staff was intact and looked around.

  The forest wasn’t visible from where she was. Even the grassy plain was little more than a memory. She was on a hillside with a massive city in the distance.

  Sam’s breath caught. That had to be a Theln city.

  How? Why?

  The creature had brought her where she was planning on going, but now she was here without Alec and Marin and Jalen, and she wasn’t certain it was safe for her to remain.

  Returning would be difficult. It would force her to walk back the way she had come, if she could even figure that out. As she looked around, she realized she had no idea from which direction the strange creature had come.

  Kyza!

  Could she figure it out based on the position of the sun? Even that was difficult to do. When she’d been in the forest, the sun had been shielded from her, preventing her from determining which direction it rose. The creature could have gone in any direction, other than south which would’ve taken her back to the swamp.

  And from where she was, could she even get free?

  Where was the cat?

  It troubled her that the creature had left her here. If it intended to come back for her, if it intended to turn her into some sort of meal, she wasn’t about to stay here and wait. No, she would be ready to fight.

  Only… now that she was here, she was curious.

  Could she learn anything about the Thelns? She didn’t want to endanger herself without knowing exactly what was down there, but she could observe and see what she could learn. If this was where she had intended to go, shouldn’t she take advantage of it?

  And it was better to keep moving than to remain here. It would be better to get free before—

  Something thudded toward her.

  Sam spun, looking for what she heard, but there was nothing.

  She paused and listened. There was no doubting what she heard. It was a thundering, practically coming from beneath her.

  There might be a way she could see.

  She used her canal staff and propped herself up, climbing to the top of it to look around. It made her visible, especially in a landscape otherwise open, but if she didn’t, she would have no way of figuring out what was coming in her direction. She wasn’t about to be surprised again.

  She’d made a mistake.

  A dozen of the strange creatures bounded toward her. And they weren’t alone. Thelns.

  Kyza!

  Sam flipped off of her staff and began running, trying to get away, but she couldn’t outrun the creatures or the Thelns. Even with augmentations, she had no chance.

  They reached her near a wide, hard-packed road leading into the city in the distance. Sam spun, trying to use her staff to prevent them from getting too close, but one of the
creatures simply grabbed it and jerked it from her.

  Sam struggled, preparing to attempt an augmentation, but she wasn’t quick enough.

  Two of the Thelns grabbed her and held her.

  She was trapped.

  22

  Asalar

  A sound startled Sam, and she jerked her head around. It was the sound of footsteps, and she had heard them often enough over the last few hours that she was convinced someone was coming for her, but they never did. She was left alone in this room, staring at the blank walls, nothing but the surprisingly ornate door keeping her confined.

  Her eyes traced an outline around the door, and it hadn’t taken her long to recognize the markings. They were the same sort of markings Helen had used to break the princess out of the prison cells beneath the palace. Sam imagined they created some kind of augmentation for this door and some way for it to resist any method she might have of opening it.

  It didn’t surprise her that the Thelns would have those markings. She had been convinced Helen had stolen the knowledge from the Thelns, and this was even more proof of that. What did surprise her was the color splashed on the walls. It was far more than she had expected in these lands, and it gave them a sort of vibrancy. One wall was a bright orange while another was yellow, and still, another was red. The only wall that wasn’t quite as vibrant was the one with the door, and it was painted a pale blue, the color the sky had been when she was captured.

  She was unharmed. That surprised her as much as anything. When the Thelns had captured her, dragging her with them into the city, they had merely confined her. They didn’t beat her or knock her unconscious, and they hadn’t made any attempt to harm her.

  They had covered her face. Sam saw nothing as she entered the city, nothing that could help her know what a Theln city was like, and nothing that would reveal to her where they had brought her. She had noticed sounds, but it was nothing more than the sound of voices, murmuring sort of noise that reminded her of the streets of Verdholm.