The Bonded: The Allseer Trilogy Book I

by Kaitlyn Rouhier

  There were multiple points of pressure in her mind and she reinforced the wall. If that thing got in… she didn’t want to think about the results of such an intrusion. She stepped over the bones, shuddering at the thought that they might soon be joining them.

  She found the next weaving corridor and pulled them through, ignoring the pain that flared up as the cave wall scraped her face. She caught a flash of movement from her right and flung herself forward, breaking her grasp from Garild just as a man dove through the space where she’d been standing.

  As the man turned back around, she could see how terrifyingly thin he was. The dirt streaked clothing that clung to his bony frame was tattered and stained. His cheeks were gaunt and covered in long, thin scratches, the bones protruding out with more emphasis than they should. She could see madness in his eyes, an urgent violence that flung itself against her senses. He gave a sickening smile, showing a row of blackened teeth, a few of which were broken or missing entirely.

  He let loose a sound that wasn’t entirely human and flung himself at Kirheen. The weight of the packs kept her from keeping her footing on the slick surface and she was pulled down to the ground by the man. The ground behind them must have sloped because before she knew it, she was rolling down an embankment, the fingers of her captor digging painfully into her arms as they fell. She landed on her back, the contents of the pack poking against her spine. Her breath left her in a rush and she gasped for air, though each attempt sent shooting pain through her sides. The man was above her and he quickly found her hands, pinning them at her side. His face was inches from her own, his foul breath filling the air around her.

  “You can’t get out,” he laughed. “The buzzing will keep you here. You can’t leave. You can’t. You’re trapped. Stay. Stay. Stay here with us.”

  “Get…off…me,” she struggled. Despite the look of him, he was freakishly strong and he kept her pinned easily.

  “No! No! The darkness will take us all. The darkness will find us, even here. You can’t leave. No. You can’t leave. Never. Stay with the buzzing. It’ll protect you!”

  The fall had shattered her concentration and she could hear the buzzing louder than ever, cutting through her skull like it was butter. The smell of the man’s breath, the sound in her ears, it was almost enough to drive her crazy. She pushed hard against him, trying to free herself before he pulled her into madness with him.

  As the pressure in her skull grew stronger, the figure above her changed. No longer was the man a stranger. Now it was Tomias, his eyes and teeth dripping with black goo. His white hair was streaked with black and it tickled her face as he leaned close. “Stop struggling, Kir. This is what is meant to happen. This is how it ends.”

  “No! It isn’t real,” she screamed, flailing wildly. She could feel her walls begin to crack, could feel the buzzing oozing into every fiber of her being. There was a feeling of fading, of being pulled into a comforting pool of water. She was about to let herself go when there was a loud crack above her. The illusion shattered and the skeletal man slumped to the side, eye wide with surprise.

  Garild stood in front of her, hand holding a rock that was now slick with blood. He closed his eyes, stretching his mind out to protect her. The buzzing retreated and she pushed herself up off the ground quickly. Garild dropped the rock and ran to her side, grabbing her hand tightly.

  “Are you okay,” he asked, brown eyes wide. “Did he hurt you?”

  Kirheen shook her head. “I’m okay, Garild.” It was a lie. She didn’t feel okay and she suspected she wouldn’t until they were free of the cave. She regathered her strength and patched up her mind, helping to keep the noise at bay. “We’ve got to get out of here. Now!”

  “Not going to argue about that,” Garild said.

  The slope had led them to the entry way of another room filled with light like the first one they’d entered. Kirheen had thought that first room was welcoming, but the illusion of it had been shattered and she now saw the truth of the cave. Across the room from them, another round door glowed in the far wall. As they approached, Kirheen could make out the same delicately carved face of the first door, the one that had spoken and called itself Akra. As if sensing her thoughts, the eyes began to glow blue.

  “Ah, children of the mind. You’ve survived your trials. I am pleased,” the door whispered, and her voice was genuinely excited. Garild looked to Kirheen, his eyebrows high.

  “I told you,” Kirheen said, keeping her eyes on the door before them. “You seem surprised we made it through.”

  Akra was silent for a moment. “Many of your kind have passed through my halls unscathed, but there have been those that chose to let go. They’ve stayed here where it is safe. Protected by the buzzing. As for those unlike you… they’ve never left this place. They aren’t welcome here. Not like you. They are vultures. Hunters. Despicable.”

  “What do you mean, unlike us?”

  Akra scoffed, the sound echoing through the cave. “Empty minds and corrupt hearts. They aren’t like you. They cannot feel, cannot hear, cannot see or share. They are empty, empty…Husks. Unworthy of power. You’ll find many beyond here. Turn back before they corrupt you too.”

  Kirheen shook her head. “We’re not staying another minute here,” she said firmly. “Open the way for us.”

  “Are you certain? The world is unlike what you’ve grown accustomed to. The place beyond isn’t safe for you. Swinging…picked clean. Hunters. Don’t go,” Akra sighed, her voice husky and seductive, like that of a lover whispering secrets into her ear.

  “Open the door, Akra,” Kirheen demanded, trying to keep her resolve. Her words were toying with her mind, killing her desire to flee.

  “I warned you,” she sighed. The blue glow of her eyes faded and the door rolled to the side with a loud grinding whine. Day light filtered through the cave, forcing them to both squint as they crawled out of the cave. The sun was high in the sky overhead and it was a welcomed change from the chilly air of the cave. As soon as she reached level ground, Kirheen swung the packs from her shoulder and lay down, letting the sun warm her face.

  Her ribs ached from her encounter with the mad man, her body covered in scratches and ugly purple and yellow bruises, but at the moment she didn’t care. Garild had sunk down next to her and he pulled a pack close, digging through. His face turned into a frown as he did, his hand coming up with a cracked water jug.

  He tossed it aside and pulled the other pack to him. Luckily, that jug had survived and he took a few cautious sips of the water before handing it to her. She pushed herself up on her elbows and tipped some water into her mouth. It was refreshing but part of her was disgusted knowing it had come from that cave. She handed it back, unable to stand the thought.

  “We’ll have to make it last,” Kirheen said. “I’m not sure we’re going to find any place to refill it.” She stood up, hugging her ribs as she did. The land around them was similar to what it had been on the other side, though it was entirely devoid of wraith wood trees. The rocky landscape went on for a time before dipping down into a lush forest that she could see far ahead. “We better get moving while it’s still light. Are you feeling okay?”

  “Well enough for now,” Garild said. “Let’s just get away from this place.”

  Kirheen couldn’t have agreed more.

  Chapter 28

  It came to a point that everything began to look like food to Kirheen. Her stomach rumbled, her legs sluggishly carrying her body forward as she watched the world around her with hungry eyes. She couldn’t remember how long it had been since they’d left the cave. They’d found water in a stream, a stream they now followed, but food wasn’t readily available. It wasn’t as if they could hunt and every squirrel that passed she had to watch scamper off with drool pooling in her mouth.

  Garild was faring even worse. His condition combined with a lack of food had left him exhausted and fevered. They stopped often, giving Garild a chance to catch his breath before setting off. His hand w
as looking worse by the day, the skin colorless and peeling away from the bites. She’d tried to clean it, but it didn’t seem to help.

  When Kirheen saw a wooden structure far in the distance, she had to stop herself from running towards it. Surely hunger had driven her to imagine it and thinking so, she raised her hands to her eyes and rubbed at them. When she lowered them again, her heart began to hammer in her chest. There was something there and just slightly beyond it she could barely make out the tops of other houses. She reached over and tugged on Garild’s sleeve.

  “Do you see that,” she asked, pointing in the direction of the structure.

  Garild squinted. A moment later his eyes went wide and his jaw dropped. “Is that…”

  “A village.”

  “I don’t…Have we…”

  “Garild, I think we’ve found help.” She realized at that moment that tears had sprung to life in her eyes and she wiped away at them with a dirty hand. A village meant food, shelter, warmth. They’d gone a while without such comforts and the thought of having them back again filled her with happiness. But there was a devastating realization that seeing that village confirmed what she’d been told, that the Darkness wasn’t real, that it had never been and the childhood she had known had been nothing but a lie. She realized that outside that cave, she knew nothing of the world beyond. It sobered the drunken happiness she’d felt and she found herself frightened. “Garild, I think I should go alone.”

  “Why is that,” he asked, inclining his head towards her.

  “Because we don’t know what to expect. Just let me go see what is there and I’ll come back for you.”

  “And what if you don’t?”

  She winced. “I’ll come back, Garild. We’ve made it this far, I’m not leaving you behind now.”

  “Just come back,” he said. His mood had darkened and he took the packs from Kirheen, laying them on the ground next to the stream. He sunk down next to them, his eyes wandering to the forest. He didn’t watch her leave but she could feel his doubt follow her, clinging to her back with desperate hands.

  As the distance between her and the village dwindled, she began to hear noises drifting towards her, could smell baking bread and the curls of wood smoke hovering lazily over the town. There was another smell though, something closer. It was sickly sweet, like meat left to rot in the sun. As she passed through a thicket of trees, she found the source of the smell.

  Three bodies swung from a post at the edge of the village, a rope holding them around their necks. Two of them were male and a third was a female. They were in various states of dress, one of the males being completely devoid of clothing. His pale skin was covered in crisscrossing bloody red lines and the fingers of his left hand were all missing save for his thumb. The woman was missing an eye and her clothes were scorched. Her hair had been burnt and what little remained stuck out from her scalp in a disarray of frizzy locks. The third man had a dagger through his chest. All three had a bloody ‘X’ carved into their foreheads.

  The sight made Kirheen gag and she turned away, using a tree to steady herself. She could feel the corpses at her back, their fingers reaching towards her pleading for mercy. She would have fled to Garild had she not had an overwhelming need to be in the village.

  Forcing herself to move, she stepped around the bodies, giving them a wide berth. She could feel their lifeless eyes follow her and she shivered as she passed. She took a path in between two buildings and found a road alive with people. Giant wooden carts pulled by large muscular beasts rolled up and down the street, many of the carts laden with supplies. Weaving between them were people going about their daily business.

  Doors along the street were flung open and people went in and out of the buildings at their leisure, some coming out with baskets of supplies. A woman to her left walked by with a basket of fresh bread and Kirheen watched her wander by, her eyes intently fixated on the bread. She felt her stomach twist into knots and she had to stop herself from bowling over the woman and stealing the contents of her basket.

  Nobody paid her any attention as they passed. They were focused on their duties and they scurried past without a glance. The few that did notice her simply sneered down at her as if she were dirt, worse than dirt. And she supposed in her current state, she was. Her robes were torn, bloodied and streaked with dirt and she imagined her hair and face didn’t look much better.

  She looked up and down the street, trying to find something familiar, something that could help them. She found it in the form of a small, rickety wooden house just a few doors down. Though hungry as she was, Garild getting help for his hand was the first thing on her mind.

  She stepped into the street, trying to dodge past the carts that wheeled by while avoiding running into anyone on the street. She failed miserably and a man shoved her roughly to the side and yelled something about filthy beggars over his shoulder. She caught the hand rail of a set of stairs and she steadied herself, glaring back over her shoulder at the man that had shoved her.

  Nobody around her stopped to ask if she was okay and she found herself feeling very out of place. Hurrying along, she slipped into the small building she’d seen, relishing in the quiet the front room offered. The room was dark and cramped. The walls were of a dark wood and the floors were covered in faded rugs of gold and red. A set of stairs sat off to the right and the left hand wall was covered in rows of shelves with a variety of bottles and tinctures. Two chairs sat by the window to her right and in front of her was a large wooden desk.

  Behind it stood a tall man, dressed in the same odd manner as those outside. He had a thick head of gray hair and a moustache hovering over lips that were pulled down in obvious distaste. His bright blue eyes watched her closely. “Is there something I can help you with,” he said, but his voice didn’t sound friendly.

  As Kirheen went to speak, she realized how strange it felt to talk to someone other than Garild. She felt her palms grow clammy and her voice broke as she spoke. She had to clear her throat before the words would come out. “I have a friend…he’s hurt. He was bit by something, some kind of snake but…”

  The man raised a hand and shook his head. “I don’t mean to stop your tale of woe, but let me get straight to the point. I don’t cater to beggars. If you don’t have the money to pay for my services then please leave.”

  Money? The word was foreign to her. From what she could gather, he was asking her for something in return for his help, but she’d never heard of what he asked for. “Money,” she asked. “I… what is it?”

  The man clucked his tongue against his teeth in disapproval. “I’d laugh if I hadn’t heard it before. Just because you’ve never seen a copper piece in your life doesn’t mean you can come in here and demand services without paying. Now, if you’ll follow me, I’ll escort you out.” He moved past her, swinging the door open and sweeping his arm out towards the street. “That’s it, girl. Get out of here.” His blue eyes bore into her own and she saw he was in no mood to argue.

  The second her foot was out the door, the man slammed it shut behind her with enough force to rattle her teeth. She turned back, fixing him with a glare before stepping back into the street. She was so distraught by his treatment that she nearly got herself run over by a cart. One of the great beasts whinnied, breaking her out of her cloud of anger. She dove forward, narrowly missing being crushed. The driver of the cart spit at her as he passed and she looked at the bubbling pool of saliva on the ground next to her hand with disgust. Suddenly the cave didn’t seem so bad.

  Leaving Garild behind was the best thing she could have done. There wasn’t a friendly face to be seen in the crowds around her. How was she supposed to find help in such a place?

  As she went to take a step forward a hand latched onto her right shoulder, strong fingers digging in painfully to the hollow above her collar bone. Lips moved next to her ear, the voice low and gritty and edged with warning. “For the love of the Lightbringer herself, stop using your powers.”

 
Kirheen whipped her head to the side to see who the voice belonged to. The man at her side was tall and thin and there was something very familiar about him. He had startlingly blue eyes under wild grey brows that were pulled together in concern. He had a strong, curved nose and a bushy beard that filled in his otherwise thin face. He had but a crown of grey hair left on his otherwise bald head. He looked down at her with a flash of anger.

  “Are you trying to get yourself killed? A seeker finds you here and you might as well go find the nearest cliff to fling yourself off of.”

  “I don’t know…”

  “Guard your mind, girl.”

  Kirheen realized she had been using her powers to keep a pin point on Garild. She’d been afraid of getting lost and so she’d latched on to his mind before she’d left him. She quickly dropped the link and threw up her guard. The man next to her scoffed. “That’ll have to do, I suppose. Follow me.”

  He began walking but Kirheen planted her feet. He whipped around angrily but she held her ground. “I don’t even know who you are and you want me to just go with you?”

  He looked from side to side, giving a small grin to a woman walking by as if everything was just fine. When she passed he leaned forward and grabbed her shoulder, speaking so only she could hear his voice. “Listen to me, I’ll explain everything until I’m blue in the face, but not here. We need to get out of here before we both end up strung up like those bodies on the edge of town. Got it?”

  Kirheen opened her mouth to argue but thought better of it. This was the closest she’d come to finding help and she wasn’t going to let the opportunity pass. She couldn’t leave Garild behind though. “I have a friend in the woods. He’s injured. I came here to find help and I’m not leaving without him.”

  The man looked surprised. “A friend?” He was quiet for a moment as he mused over her words. “Can you get him here?”

  “I think so.”

  “Then go fetch him and meet me at the edge of town.” He pointed to the place he’d be. “Don’t use or speak about your powers, understood?”