by Ryan Wieser
He sighed heavily, holding her stare. “I thought the whole reason you were sent on this mission was so that your loyalty could be tested.”
She ran her lip against her teeth, astounded that he would speak to her in such a way. But she had pressed him. She looked over her shoulder, feeling Kohl’s hazel stare on her. She smiled at him softly before turning back to Trax. “My loyalty is intact and without question, with the ones who matter most.”
* * * *
Jessop had experienced no issues falling right asleep. She didn’t know how many hours had passed, although she knew true darkness had not yet fallen. She could hear Trax snoring in the adjacent tent, as the wind from the early day had clearly settled. She turned over, readjusting her position on her bedroll, bringing her knees up to her chest.
She blinked slowly, staring at the pale green canvas as the gray sky seeped through its worn fibers. She thought of Trax’s words earlier, questioning her loyalty. He was tired, and he held high affections for her, so she anticipated comments of an inappropriate nature from time to time… but not questions of her loyalty. She thought that he, of all people, would know her better than to question that. She would speak to him later, when they had a spare minute.
“You truly trust her?”
Her ears perked up at the sound of Daro’s voice, carrying on the remaining light breeze.
“Of course. She saved my life, she’s… she’s magnificent,” Kohl answered, his deep voice travelling from where he stood outside her tent with Daro.
“Sure… but that doesn’t make her trustworthy. You’ve never wondered about the timing of it all? Her, Bevda, Hydo…”
“Daro, we all know you suffered a great loss, but it’s not Jessop’s fault and Trax confirmed that then and there. You were wrong to speak to her as you did.”
Jessop sat upright. She needed Daro to change his line of questioning. She didn’t want to deal with him, but she didn’t need him putting any more thoughts in Kohl’s mind.
“They are just friends,” Kohl spoke, his voice tight. She imagined the look Daro had given him to warrant a reminder of the nature of her relationship with Trax.
“I’m sure they are. But he looks at her the same way you look at her.”
Jessop knew this had to stop. She crawled towards her tent flap, pulling it open and crouching through the exit. To her surprise, as she stood, she saw it was not just Daro and Kohl, but Trax had also just emerged from his own tent, and stared at his subordinates with a dark gaze.
“And how, exactly, do I look at her, Daro Mesa?” Trax asked, his voice deep and filled with anger.
Daro looked from Kohl to Trax to her. She glared at him, watching him stand awkwardly beside Kohl, a knife spinning in his hand.
“Answer me, Hunter,” Trax pressed, taking a step forward. Jessop moved quickly, touching his arm to calm him.
“Leave him to play with his knives, Trax, he knows nothing about this,” she advised.
“About what, Jessop?” Kohl snapped his gaze back to her, crossing his arms over his chest.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” she answered quickly, pulling her hand back.
Before she could say anything further, Daro spoke. “You look at her the same way O’Hanlon does—like you’re in love with her.”
They stood in silence, forming an awkward, angry square in the sand. She narrowed her eyes on Daro, certain she could kill him for pointing out the last thing that needed to be pointed out. She could see Trax’s heaving chest in her periphery, his fists clenched so tightly she could hear the air attempting to escape between his fingers.
“So what if I do?”
His name escaped her mouth without any thought. “Trax!”
Kohl took a step forward, his hands dropped down, one landing on the blade on his hip. “What did you just say?”
Trax took a step towards him.
“Bevda was right, you’re all blinded by her…”
“Enough,” Jessop hissed.
Kohl held Trax’s stare, his voice shaking with anger. “She doesn’t love you.”
Trax flung his arm out, gesturing to her. “You don’t know anything about—”
“TRAX!”
Slowly, the three men shifted their gazes to her. Daro shook his head with clear disgust, but remained silent. She looked from Trax to Kohl, and held her hands out to motion peace between them. “Enough of this. We didn’t come to Okton Radon to discuss me. We came to hunt. And last I checked—you all were Hunters.”
Kohl slowly crossed and uncrossed his arms; Trax dropped his gaze to the sand beneath their feet. Daro flipped his dagger in hand, pointing the hilt at her menacingly. “You’ll be the end of a brotherhood, woman.”
He continued to point the end of his blade at her, looking up at her from under his furrowed brow. She stared at him, holding his dark gaze without concern, and with a great deal of self-restraint. “Watch yourself, boy.” She issued the stern warning, and in her mind she imagined how quickly she could best him.
He flipped his blade and caught the hilt, staring at her darkly as he began to walk off. “Yeah, I’ll do that,” he sneered, the words slick over his tight lips.
He gave her a wide berth as he passed by, quickly disappearing into the ship, and leaving her in the middle of Trax and Kohl.
* * * *
She had lain with Kohl until he fell asleep, but she couldn’t stay in the tent. She couldn’t relax. She had walked the perimeter of their camp, always keeping one eye on the doorway of the ship, lest Daro made his exit. Trax had gone to speak to him, to reassure him of the solidarity and unity of the Hunters’ brotherhood, to assure him that he needn’t worry about him, their Councilman.
She stopped pacing, a small cloud of dust forming about her boots, as the ship door opened. Trax emerged, rubbing the back of his neck as he closed the door behind himself and walked down the ramp. He approached her slowly, as if looking to see if anyone else was near her.
She looked as the last of the gray light began to fade into true night, and immediately felt more at ease, knowing that soon, it would be completely dark. “How did the talk with Daro go?”
Trax nodded slowly. “Could have gone better.”
“What am I supposed to do here, Trax? What was that with Kohl and you? You know how I feel.”
He shook his head, lost for words. “I don’t know.”
“Well, rein it in. Whatever is going on with you and Kohl, we will deal with it in Azgul. We have too much to worry about tonight.”
He looked at her as though he would protest, but he remained silent. Whatever he and Kohl felt, they knew that they had come to Okton Radon for a reason, and it wasn’t to fight it out over her. The last thing Jessop wanted to worry about was the two of them, not when they were in a territory loyal to Falco Bane, with a potential threat looming against Kohl, and Daro Mesa waiting for any good excuse to go for her neck.
“Night is falling. As soon as Kohl wakes, we will begin the descent into the city and make our way to the weigh station,” he spoke. It amazed Jessop how quickly he could rid himself of the emotional tones and glances, and return to his prominent position of objective Councilman. He amazed her—but not enough to change anything.
“I’ll go wake him.”
Before she could turn from him, he had grabbed her hand. His glowing eyes held on to her for the longest moment before he spoke. “I am sorry, Oray-Ha.”
She squeezed his large hand softly before pulling away. “So am I, Hasen-Ha. I truly wish things could be different.”
* * * *
When Jessop entered the tent she was surprised to see Kohl sitting upright, his arms wrapped around his bent knees, his brow furrowed. She crawled over the rough ground and sat beside him. He looked at her, his amber eyes trailing over her face slowly, as if searching for something; perhaps for whatever it was that
had made him fall in love with her in the first place. Jessop didn’t know what he looked for, but she did know he was unhappy.
He exhaled loudly before speaking. “I don’t know how to deal with this, Jessop. One brother has fallen in love with you, whilst another threatens your life. What am I supposed to do here?”
She shrugged softly. “Nothing. You do nothing and let me handle it.”
He shook his head. “No, I must speak to them both. Daro needs to understand that you—and the way I feel about you—won’t bring about the end of the Infinity Hunters. I mean that’s nonsense. And Trax needs to know how you feel.”
She studied his frustrated eyes and felt a pang in her chest. Loyal first and foremost to the Hunters, to his brothers, he was still the same boy she had met that day fighting in a tavern, no matter how many times she had tried to tell herself otherwise. “Trax knows exactly how I feel. But this mission has been too concentrated on me and not enough on the raiders. We have to go deal with them, Kohl.” She tugged his hand, urging him to get up.
“We should speak with Daro first,” he began, pulling her towards him.
She tugged her hand free from him with anger. “No. We shouldn’t. You just keep Daro away from me, and I will make sure the raiders don’t get the best of you or your beloved brothers.”
He stared at her with reproach, confusion pulling at the corners of his lips. “You have always known I was an Infinity Hunter, first and foremost. You know my loyalty must be to my kin first, and they are my kin, however misguided some of them may be,” he spoke, his voice low and soft.
She took a deep breath, calming herself. She needed to stop this, she needed to control her emotions, and to get rid of that nag in her voice, the one that made it seem like maybe she was the one who had lost sight of the mission. She was beginning to believe her own lies, and she knew that doing that was to walk a path much more treacherous than any she already roamed. She studied Kohl’s golden brown eyes and took a low breath. “You would do anything for them, right? Absolutely anything for the ones you’re most loyal to?”
He reached out to her slowly, and softly ran his hand down her arm. “Yes. I truly would—and they for me. You have to understand that, Jessop. It’s not that I love my brothers in the same way that I love you, because I obviously don’t, and it’s not that I love them more, because I have now begun to realize that that is not true either. It’s simply that I loved them first. I swore fealty—and that means something to me. Do you understand?”
She blinked and saw a body of scars, a shared history of pain. She cupped his hand with hers, and offered him a small smile. It was the first time she had felt as though they did understand one another. “I really, truly do.”
CHAPTER 13
Jessop restrained her swift steps, as she knew Trax did, during their trek down the desert escarpment, towards the small town of Okton Radon. The dark was too easy for them, but it was not just herself and Trax navigating the space with ease, she noticed. The Oren mystic, Teck, with his hood pulled low over his face, even in the cover of night, seemed to glide over the jagged rocks and across the deep dunes, as if his feet, concealed by his long robes, never touched the ground.
Kohl remained at Daro’s side, keeping him from her, as Jessop had requested. She kept an eye on the two of them as they trailed adjacent to herself and Trax. She wasn’t nervous for herself—she was nervous for Kohl. She knew, better than most, how many would jump at the opportunity to please Falco Bane through an act of violence. She knew that lurking behind the next boulder, or perhaps outside the weigh station, there would be someone who recognized the star scar and remembered the threat made by Bane years ago. His followers were everywhere, hiding in plain sight, ready and willing to fight and die for their Arantholi Lord.
He is safe with us, he is safe with you, Trax pushed the thought across her mind softly.
Any who anger Bane forsake their sense of safety in doing so, including him.
Trax turned his golden gaze on her as they descended down a steep dune. You have the power to keep him safe.
Jessop shook her head, digging her heels into the fine sand as she slowly slid down the slope. He knows nothing of my power.
But Bane does, Trax added quickly.
She shot him a knowing glance. And we both know he does not fear it. He does not fear me.
Before Trax could push any further thoughts, the Oren Hunter came to a halt, silently yielding before them, raising one cloaked arm out to the side to indicate they stop behind him. They stood in silence, and only then did Jessop realize how loud the screams of the winds were as they shrieked through the dunes, circling their small Hunter pack. The Oren’s cloak billowed around him, but he remained steady, his arm still outstretched.
Jessop used her keen eyesight to look out ahead of the mage, to scan the desert around them, but she saw nothing. She glanced back to Kohl, knowing he could not see what she could, or in this case, couldn’t, and took a slow breath. She feared for his safety so much it pained her, she could feel the fear and the caring she had for him, like a glob of thick grease, in her chest. It traveled around her cavities, it seeped over her heart, it dripped thick into her lungs, and spread, everywhere it rolled, a sense of concern, of anxiety. She needed Kohl O’Hanlon to be safe; she owed him his life, as she had been the one to endanger it.
“We are not alone here,” Teck spoke, his clear voice cutting through the wind with a mystical ease.
And although neither Jessop nor Trax could see what the mage Hunter foresaw, they could both sense it. She could feel the tingling of her skin, the fine current of electricity travelling from her fingertips, through her hilt, into Falco Bane’s Hunter blade. The mystic knew what he spoke of—they were not alone, but who accompanied them, they did not know.
“We carry on, with vigilance,” Trax ordered, and she saw the way his own hand had curled around the hilt of his blade. She could hear Daro’s spinning knife, but she would not concern herself with him, not when whoever neared them could be after Kohl. She knew Daro would take any opportunity he had to strike at her, but not at the cost of a brother. He would be fierce in his defense of Kohl, this she knew.
“Kohl should stay in the center of us, for greatest protection,” she suggested. He kicked up sand as he walked over to her, quickly wrapping a hand around her arm, his thumb gently rubbing her skin.
“No, you should, we will protect you first,” he explained, and she could, even in pitch-blackness, see the love in his eyes.
She shook her head. “We are in territory where the threat is directed at you.”
“An equal threat lays against you—you have been the one to anger Bane most recently,” he reminded her.
“There is no death threat against me amongst his followers though,” she rebutted.
Kohl shook his head, confused. “How could you possibly know that?”
Jessop glanced to Trax, and back to Kohl, chewing the inside of her cheek. “Because…” she began.
“Because the Council would have heard if there was a credible threat, and we haven’t yet,” Trax explained, answering for her.
Kohl nodded slowly, his grip on her tightening. “Okay, well, just because it hasn’t been confirmed, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. We will both stay in the middle,” his voice lightened with his soft smile.
“Fine,” she conceded. They repositioned themselves, and began their trek once more.
Teck waited for her and Kohl to pass him. I’ll take the back, with Daro, he explained in silence.
She nodded to him approvingly. She trusted the mage far more than his knife-wielding brother. They both saw too much, she knew that to be true, but the way they interpreted what they saw was what determined her opinion of them, and the extent to which she valued their lives. She had learnt a long time ago that life was easier when you could identify threats and opportunities quickly. Daro did not trust
her place in the Blade, he resented her position beside Kohl and her effect on Trax, and he both feared and underestimated her abilities.
Teck, on the other hand, was smart enough to know that she was different from anyone he had ever encountered, and she was smart enough to know that, despite whatever protests she made, she truly was. His thirst for knowledge, the driving force behind Oren mysticism, was what set him aside. He wanted to know what she was, and for that, he wouldn’t just let her die. Daro was a threat; the mystic, an opportunity.
They continued on, in silence, on alert, until the dunes panned out and the sand began to turn to hardened rock, flattened by footsteps of those who traveled through Okton Radon. They knew Teck had been right, they had not been alone, but whoever would cross their path had kept a safe distance, watchful from afar. It could have been someone interested in Hunters, or specifically Kohl, or it could have been Kuroi, keeping an eye on an Oren in their lands. It could have had nothing to do with them, or it could have been someone plotting an attack. Jessop did not know, but what she did know was that, despite her fears for Kohl’s safety, being in Kuroi territory allowed her to feel more at home than she had in the longest time.
They could see the lights from the weigh station, not far ahead, but her eyes made out more than the building. Coming up in the road, there was a small group of people, maybe four or five. She concentrated on them, until her keen eyes could make out the telltale glow of a Kuroi tribal person.
“Seksu’da Kuroi.” She pointed them out to Trax. He nodded slowly, seeming much less comforted by the sight of his people than she was.
“We are coming up on Kuroi tribesmen, Teck, you stay in the back,” Trax ordered, his voice low and strong in the darkness. She took a step forward, leaving Kohl behind her, to stand beside Trax. This was her role, after all, to be a translator and assist in relations with the Kuroi. They were a people she truly loved, having been cared for by them for many years, but she knew how they felt about Oren, and she knew how they felt about Falco Bane—Teck and Kohl needed to stay behind them.