by Meg Bonney
“Onward.” Jason pointed at Ren.
“Onward,” I echoed with a nod.
We shadowed Ren closely through the labyrinth of trees and brush for what felt like hours. Ren moved effortlessly, as if he had traveled this way frequently. The trees thinned out and the clammy, moist air of the thick forest gave way to the heat of the sun as we continued. Bushes and flowers dominated this part of the path as the trees spread out, offering very little shade.
Ren hopped onto a fallen tree trunk and slipped off the other side, falling to the forest floor in a spectacularly clumsy move. Quickly, he jumped up and brushed his clothes off, then turned to offer me his hand to help me over. I ignored him.
Seriously?
“No, no. I’m good,” I responded, declining the aid of the guy who had just wiped out.
I thought I caught a glimpse of his smile when I hurdled over the trunk without his help. At times, I felt like Ren was watching me from the corner of his eye.
Jason jumped over without help, too. Back home, he was a top athlete: the captain of our school’s baseball team and the best hitter by far.
We kept pace with Ren, who showed no sign of slowing down.
“What’s his story, huh?” I leaned over and asked Jason as we continued.
“Mysterious, hunky stranger?” Jason replied.
“And a jerk,” I added.
“A very attractive jerk.” Jason laughed.
“Perhaps.”
“Where did you guys run off to before?”
I shot him a smile and winked. “Are you jealous, Mr. Vega?”
“Puh-lease. If anyone were to steal you away from me, they’d bring you right back,” he snickered. “There aren’t many who know how to handle my Maddy like I do.”
I nodded. “True story.”
“Maddy, did you see his eyes back in Greenrock? They were almost glowing,” Jason continued softly. “They aren’t here, but they’re still so green. Like fanfiction green.”
“Yeah, I don’t know what that means.”
Jason scoffed. “Yes, you do.”
I smirked. “Okay, fine, I do, but I’m not proud of it.”
“Maddy?” Jason’s tone was serious now. I looked over at him.
“Yeah?”
“If you want to talk about it, your family stuff, you know I’m here.”
“I know. I just…not now.”
I passed my sword from hand to hand, and the blue light went on and off like a light switch. The sword was starting to feel heavier and heavier as we walked, and my hands were starting to ache.
Suddenly, Ren stopped. “Hide, quick!” he ordered.
Jason and I followed Ren off the path. The three of us ducked down behind a large bush full of sharp thorns that pricked and poked at me.
“What is it, guys?” Jason asked nervously. I bit my lip as the panicked look returned to his face.
“The Cloaked,” Ren said pointing to the right of us.
“The what now?” I looked around.
“Maddy, your sword,” Jason nudged me.
“Right.” I set the sword down on the ground and the blue light disappeared.
“The Cloaked,” Ren said again, in a disgusted sort of way. “They patrol the villages, looking for Magics. They work for a bounty from the king. They should not be here. They do not usually frequent this stretch of forest.”
Moving the thorny branches of the bush we were hiding behind, I was able to see them. They were wearing ankle-length cloaks, some dark, some light-colored, all with giant hoods. Each of them wore a different shirt beneath their cloak. Various weapons dangled from their belts.
“The people who took Aunt Ruth had cloaks on,” I whispered to Ren.
“Those were not the Cloaked. That was the King’s Guard. They wear cloaks when they leave the Ember Isle so that they can blend into Everly. It is not too often that Strongbloods mingle with the people,” he clarified.
The Cloaked stopped. They were closer to us now, so I tried not to make a sound as I reached my hand through the bramble and moved another branch to see them better. Sitting on a rock was a giant man. My jaw dropped slightly. He was a foot or two taller than the standing people, and he was seated. He was shackled at the wrists, and his ankles were bound with a large rope.
“That man―” I started.
“That is no man. He is a mountain troll,” Ren whispered.
“A mountain troll?” Jason asked.
I peered at the giant again. He had an out-of-control beard that covered a little too much of his face to be a normal man’s. His frame was huge, his shoulders wider than the shoulders of any person I had ever seen. And on the top of his forehead, within a tangled mess of white hair, were two horns.
I gasped.
“What is it?” Jason whispered as he leaned over to look through the bush with me. “Holy crap.”
I held my hand over my mouth as Jason and I gawked at the mountain troll. He clearly wasn’t human, but he also wasn’t an animal. He was something you would see in a movie. Yet here he was, right in front of us, and I still couldn’t believe it.
“How―”
“The Cloaked take them from the mountains as workers to carry the carts and for protection in the woods,” Ren explained. The way he said it made it clear that giant furry men like this were common and nothing out of the ordinary for Everly.
“He’s a slave?” Jason asked.
Ren shifted and pulled a slender-bladed dagger from his boot and spun its handle in his hand.
“Yes. Stay down and let them pass. They outnumber us greatly. It is best if we just—”
“Porter!” a voice growled behind us.
Before we could turn around, Ren was knocked to the ground, away from the protection of the bush that hid us. I looked back to see one of the Cloaked towering over us. He jabbed his boot into Ren’s back, pinning him to the ground.
We had been spotted.
CHAPTER 11
“Hey!” I yelled in a deep, growling voice.
The Cloaked raised his dagger in the air, but before he had a chance to lower his weapon to strike Ren, I lunged toward him with a grunt.
I knocked the Cloaked off Ren and we struggled, rolling around on the ground. His dagger grazed my jaw, missing my throat, which seemed to be his target. I cracked his cheekbone with my fist repeatedly as my body heat rose. I did not stop hitting the Cloaked until I heard Ren yell my name.
The Cloaked slumped over on the ground. I had done more damage than I intended. His cheek was already puffy, and blood dripped from a cut above his eyebrow.
I stood up. “Sorry, I—” I stopped when I saw Ren and Jason out of the corner of my eye. Ren was fighting with another one of them. Jason, too. It seemed that all the defense classes that he had attended just to hang out with me were being put to good use.
I turned back to my Cloaked attacker, but he was no longer a threat to me or anyone in his current state. My sword was still on the ground. Grabbing it, I backed away from the man I had beaten to a pulp as the blue light on my sword glowed bright.
Just then, I felt someone grab my arm.
“It’s me,” Jason said breathlessly. I turned to see two more Cloaked down and writhing on the ground. Neither was as badly injured as the man I had just finished with.
Jason wasn’t looking at me. He was staring at the bloodied Cloaked a few feet in front of us. He looked back at me and didn’t say anything, but I could see the worry hidden deep in his brown eyes.
“We need to get out of here,” Ren said, jogging over. He quickly looked me over as he panted loudly, sweat collecting on his forehead. “They will have seen Madison’s sword by now and will be sending for backup. Witches are not easily taken.”
“Obviously.” Jason motioned to the man I had beat up. Ren peered at the man and then back at me, but he didn’t look surprised or even worried like Jason had. He simply gave me a nod.
“What now?
” Jason asked.
I looked back at the only Cloaked still standing and the mountain troll next to him. The Cloaked wasn’t looking at his fallen men; he was looking at me. No, he was looking at my sword. Then he raised his hand and pointed at Jason, Ren, and me.
“Run!” Ren commanded in a low, gruff voice. Seconds later, the mountain troll charged at us, bellowing. The other Cloaked that Jason and Ren had taken on managed to get to their feet again, and they ran at us now, too, weapons in hand.
“Stop, Witch!” one of them hollered.
“Um, yes. Running. Running sounds good,” I sputtered.
Jason, Ren, and I turned and bolted. I quickly outpaced them. As I sped through the trees, I whipped my head back. Ren was coming up right behind me now. He was fast, too, but I remained slightly faster. My eyes flitted over the brush and trees, looking for Jason. He was farther back now, still ahead of the Cloaked and the mountain troll, but too far back from Ren and me for my comfort. I stopped suddenly, sliding on the slick leaves beneath my feet.
“What are you doing?” Ren yelled as he stopped and sprinted back to where I was standing. He pulled my arm. “Madison, run!”
“Jason!” I shouted, ignoring Ren’s pull at my arm.
Ren grunted and sprinted away, leaving me to retrieve Jason alone.
“Hey! Ren!” I called after him in frustration. No time to plot his murder. I needed to get Jason out of danger. These guys weren’t messing around.
“Holy shiz…” Jason exclaimed as he reached me. I grabbed his hand and kept his pace.
“Don’t stop!” I ordered.
I pulled Jason along with me and held my sword out in front of me as we ran. Ren was nowhere in sight. I could hear the Cloaked and the thunderous stomps of the mountain troll behind us. We weren’t moving fast enough. I felt my heart beat frantically, but I ran with focused determination. I scanned the area for something to hide in or behind, but the rows of bushes had given way to more trees that were spread too far apart to provide any type of coverage for us. The path we ran on was getting wider, making us even more visible to the Cloaked. We were coming up on a giant rock formation near where a few large willow trees were mixed in with the dark-barked oak trees.
Another fork in the path. I pulled Jason to the right, with me. The new path cut around the rocky formation, blocking us from our pursuers’ view for the moment.
Just then, without warning, someone bashed into my shoulder, knocking Jason and me through thick layers of low-hanging, vinelike branches to my right. The branches whipped me in the face.
Jason stumbled and fell a few feet away, within the shielding cover of the willow’s crown. I spun around and swung the sword in my hand at whomever had pushed me.
It was Ren. He ducked, just narrowly missing being struck with my blade. He dove forward to put his hand over my mouth, and then I realized why. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the giant shadow just outside the thick layer of wispy willow branches.
The ground trembled slightly. The mountain troll. I shuddered, and my eyes darted to Jason. He hadn’t moved.
Ren took his hand off my mouth and held his finger to his lips. He slowly reached down and grabbed my sword by the blade, pulling it from my hand with a wince, and the blue glow faded immediately.
We stood motionless, our faces inches apart. I swallowed hard, loudly. My heart raced as the voices grew in volume and quantity just on the other side of the branches. I could hear the troll panting loudly.
“Check by the spring. They could not have gone far. It was Ren Raker, I am sure of it. Find him!” the low, gruff voice said firmly.
I watched Ren as they spoke.
“He will fetch no bounty,” another voice said. “We just need the Witch.”
Ren looked at me when they said this, and my eyes widened. Surely they were talking about me.
“Did you see what she did to Monty? That was no Witch. She was a Strongblood,” a lower voice answered.
“A Strongblood would never keep company with a Porter. She must be a Witch with a strong punch. Her sword was glowing,” the voice said. The man said Porter as if it were a slur, or something so disgusting that he couldn’t possibly say it any other way. Ren’s gaze dropped to the ground, and he bit his bottom lip.
“Just find the Porter and kill him,” another voice responded. “Take the Witch if you can.”
I shivered. I heard more mumbles and shuffling, and then it got quiet. Ren walked to the thick wall of sagging willow branches and looked out.
“They are gone,” Ren whispered, and ran his hands through his hair. He didn’t look me in the eye but stood there for a moment, making the silence feel incredibly awkward.
“Jay?”
“I’m fine. Just catching my breath.” He held up his thumb as he laid sprawled on his back next to the trunk of the willow tree.
I looked back to Ren. “Why do they want to kill you?” I asked him softly.
Ren didn’t answer me. “Ow,” he said instead, and looked at his hand.
“What? What’s wrong with you?” I asked.
“I cut my hand grabbing your sword.” He clutched his hand into a fist and held it to his abdomen.
“Let me see it.” I held my hand out to him. He hesitated for a second, then placed his hand onto mine and flattened it. Squinting in the dim shadows of the tree, I saw that he had a thin red cut in the middle of his palm and another three on the base of his first three fingers.
“It’s not that bad,” he said. I raised an eyebrow at him. I ripped the sleeve off the left arm of my black T-shirt.
Ren shifted like an impatient toddler. “You do not have—”
“Shut up.” I didn’t look up at him as I wrapped the cloth around his hand and tied it in a knot on the back.
“There you go. All set,” I said, my tone dry.
I met his gaze. He looked almost surprised, but he was gracious as he opened and closed his hand. “Nicely done,” he said delicately.
I nodded as I reached down and grabbed my sword
Inside the cover of the willow tree, I felt a little safer for the first time since we got to Everly. I stepped over Jason and slumped down to the ground, leaning against the trunk. I turned to rest my cheek on the rough bark, which felt oddly comforting.
Jason sat up slowly and groaned like he was doing a really strenuous sit-up.
The glowing blue grip of the sword offered additional light now that the gently swaying branches had blocked out most of the sunlight. Jason placed a hand on my knee.
“You okay, Maddy?” His voice was raspy, the way it always got when he was really tired.
I nodded. “Are you?”
Beads of sweat collected above Jason’s lip and on his brow. It was much cooler here under the willow tree, but we had been moving quickly through the woods. Both of us needed water.
The ground felt almost fuzzy beneath my hands. I heard a noise above my head—Ren lit a red lantern that hung from a nail in the willow’s trunk. The little flickering flame of the lantern cast a soft light in the area beneath the tree as I looked around. The ground wasn’t fuzzy after all. I was sitting on a rug on the ground. I ran my fingers over the worn patterns of maroon and beige swirls.
“Have a seat,” Ren said, gesturing to the oriental-style area rug. Jason scooted over onto the rug next to me. I leaned over to see Ren rummaging through a large brown chest on the ground on the other side of the willow’s trunk. I looked back at the lantern.
“Where did this stuff come from?”
“Greenrock. The rug was quite a pain to lug back,” Ren replied.
“It’s nice. What is this place?” Jason asked.
“This is my home of sorts, I guess,” Ren answered as he closed the lid of the chest.
“Home? You live here?” Jason asked, sounding unintentionally judgmental.
Ren looked to his feet and rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. “I am not very welcome in the villages
.”
“Um, water. Do you have any water, Ren?” I interrupted him in an effort to switch the subject.
Ren met my eyes, and the corners of his mouth turned up briefly. He reached back into the chest and pulled out a satchel and three canteens. He tossed two canteens toward us and plopped the brown satchel on top of the wooden chest. I started chugging my water immediately.
“They might be a little warm,” Ren said. “I filled these up a while back.”
“Thanks, dude,” Jason replied.
While drinking, I watched Ren walked back over to us. He met my curious stare. I did not look away as he lifted the lantern from the nail on the trunk of the willow and set it on the rug between himself and me.
Who is this guy?
He seemed so confident and powerful when he first brought us here, but the Cloaked hated him enough to want to kill him. And he lived under a willow tree?
“Rest up, and we will head back out,” Ren said softly. He, too, sounded wiped out from that chase.
Jason put the cap back on his canteen and set it on the rug in front of him. “What in the hell was that all about?” he asked, looking up at Ren.
Ren fiddled with the makeshift bandage I had wrapped on his hand. “My admirers, you mean?” He chuckled to himself before drinking from his canteen.
He caught me staring, so I quickly turned my head away from him and looked down at the round, faded black canteen. The water was more warm than chilled but still refreshing. My limbs tingled with exhaustion as I repositioned myself.
Ren put the cap back on his bottle. “That was the Cloaked and their mountain troll trying to kill me,” he said, a little too calmly.
“I’m sorry, is that a normal occurrence for you?” Jason asked.
“I am not as well liked as most around here at the moment,” Ren said, bowing his head a little.
I scoffed.
Jason raised an eyebrow at me.
“Why is that?” he asked Ren.
Ren sighed. “People think I am not a true Everlian because I can walk between the worlds. I am not really a Magic, but my father was a Strongblood.” He cleared his throat and repositioned himself on the rug next to me. “Right. Yes, well, as I have said, I am Ren Raker, Strongblood and Porter to Everly.”