Amber Eyes

by S. D. Grimm

  He took a breather leaning against a tree, and Scout settled next to him, head on his paws, eyes closed. Ethan reached into his pocket and curled his fist around the stone before he even realized what he was doing. He pulled the object from his pocket and drew his arm back to throw it. But it seemed to whisper his name. He stilled his arm and unwrapped the stone. Two round, blue eyes peered back at him. Then he saw a familiar face. “Took you long enough, Soldier. Don’t say his name.”

  How could Thea know he planned to seek out Connor?

  Her smile was sleek. “You look terrible.”

  “I’m not in the mood.” He almost said her name but stopped himself.

  Golden eyes appeared in the rock followed by Connor’s face. “I don’t know how she does it. Are you going after the girl?”

  “I don’t need anyone else to protect.” Ethan’s voice broke on that last word.

  “Well, she needs you.” A picture of the poor girl surfaced in the stone. Her hazel eyes met his through the stone. Did she know he was there? She sat curled in a corner, dirty. Scars covered her arms. Every protective instinct swelled in his chest. He had to find her. The pull started yanking his heartstrings.

  “I can’t protect anyone else. If I do, those in my care are in trouble.”

  “Her name is Quinn.”

  Quinn. She had a name now. Ethan closed his eyes.

  “You need her,” Thea whispered.

  Ethan covered the stone. No. He couldn’t even keep those in his care safe. How could he add another? But he looked at Kinsey’s blood on the ground. Another innocent girl didn’t deserve to die. “I’ll do it.”

  Connor stared back at him. “She’s at a place called Castlerock. Do you know it?”

  “The old ruins. I thought that place was fiction.”

  “It’s just well hidden.”

  Something warm and soft brushed his hand. He fondled Scout’s ears and snuck the stone back into his pocket.

  “Thanks for sticking with me, buddy. Tell Logan I’m catching up now.”

  “Ethan?” Jayden’s soft voice sounded behind him.

  He didn’t want to face her. He’d seen how she looked at him after he’d killed that man. He’d scared her. All of them. He’d made a decision. Scarface had a potion that took him who knew where. He couldn’t risk another person who’d seen them getting away. He—it didn’t matter.

  “Ethan?” She touched his back.

  He swallowed and faced her. Dried blood from a scrape on her face reminded him of the battle. Of Kinny. He squeezed his eyes shut, but her lifeless expression still stared back at him.

  That ache crushed him from the inside.

  Jayden’s warm hand cupped his cheek. Creases marred her forehead as she stared at him. She pulled him in and hugged him close. “I’m sorry.”

  He hugged her tight, but the words “thank you” got caught in his throat and never made it out.

  Chapter 24

  Life and Death

  Serena moved a moss-covered vine and stepped through a cluster of trees, eyes scanning her surroundings. No one would see her coming, of course, since she walked in her invisible form, but if anyone was watching, they might notice random vines swinging. This very spot had been the foundation for a healing house sometime in the past age. Now it was a group of abandoned stones stacked in the center of a copse of trees.

  But that didn’t stop the people from coming.

  She didn’t sense anyone else. It seemed all those who had come here for healing today had left, but there were more than there had been last time. It seemed word had spread that this healing house had a guardian Healer again. Hopefully word would not get back to the leaders of her clan. She stilled a shudder. If her Circle found out, what would they do? Ban her from coming?

  At least this place was far from the Forest of Legends, making it more difficult for word to get back there.

  Dash sat beside her and nuzzled her. “You need a moment? I can make you invisible so you can rest.”

  She snuggled into his silky fur and stared at the ruins, recalling the first time she’d ever been here. It wasn’t that long ago. A few months. Dash had also been with her then. The house had called out to her, sensed her somehow. When the people came here, the remains of the house had reached out to any willing Healers in the area. Like a seedling growing beneath a stone, searching for the light, these people hoped a Healer would come to their aid.

  And she and Dash had answered the call.

  “I found them.” Dash’s voice had carried over her bond.

  “How many?”

  “Serena, I don’t know how you’re going to help them all. I’ll have to help you.”

  “No. Dash, people finding out that Healers still exist is one thing. But unicorns? I don’t think they’re ready to keep that a secret. Your kind was just as hunted as mine.” She followed the pull of his bond up a hill and looked down to see the group of people camped below. There had to be two dozen. And the pain inside her throbbed. Some were sick, others injured. They had come here looking—no, hoping—for a Healer.

  Had any Healers visited these poor people in the last hundred years? Not likely. And yet they still came here, seeking hope.

  The Circle might have her head for this, but she wasn’t about to back down. “Maybe I should build another healing house here.”

  “The Circle would keep you confined to a cell if they knew this was your secret thought.” Dash made himself visible. “I’m going to help you.”

  “Dash—”

  “Someday you’ll understand how much you mean to me, young one.”

  There he went calling her that again. She stared into the unicorn’s wise eyes and made herself visible. “You’re the only family I have.”

  He nuzzled her arm. “You’ve gotten good at hiding yourself.”

  “Your insistence that I can do everything you can has come in handy. At least the other Healers don’t know about that trick.”

  “You’d think, since we reside in the Valley of the Hidden Ones, that they would have figured it out.”

  She smiled. “Oh, the trouble I’d be in. All those nights in the kitchen after hours.”

  “Not to mention all the books you’ve borrowed from personal collections.”

  “I gave them back.” She suppressed a giggle.

  Dash snorted. “Come on, we have some travelers to heal.” He trotted down the hill and Serena followed him.

  A few people looked up at his shimmering form and pointed. Murmurs spread through the trees like a hushed wind through leafy boughs. Then gasps, pounding heartbeats. Women pressed their hands against their chests. Some approached Dash, others withdrew.

  As they walked nearer, the people pawed at them, cried, touched Serena’s cloak. Her hair. Her face. The hope in their eyes warred with the sorrow.

  “We’ve come to help you, but we need you to keep this a secret,” she said.

  All of them seemed to agree. One by one, Serena and Dash healed the sick and injured women and children. One by one, they headed home with smiling faces and dancing steps. All vowing to secrecy. All with glimmering eyes that touched Serena’s heart.

  One cloaked figure seemed to back away from the clustering crowd of women and children. Serena tilted her head to try and get a better look. The person looked left and right, likely about to bolt. Serena moved closer.

  “Serena, tread carefully.” Dash’s warning resounded in her head.

  “I feel your pain,” she said to the person. “Your wound is . . . older.”

  “I—I didn’t expect to walk in on this.”

  Serena gasped. “It’s a man.” She stepped closer, her heart pounding. Nothing drew her to this man like she’d been drawn to Ethan, but the urge to heal was stronger than her fear of him.

  “Serena—”

  “I don’t think he means to harm me. He’s scared.” She held out her hand to stop his retreat. “Please don’t run. I can help you.”

  “No one can help me.” He held o
ut his hands. Both were wrapped in cloth.

  She breathed deep. “I can.”

  “Please, don’t come any closer.”

  They were out of sight of Dash and the others now. It could have been his plan to lure her out here. “Are you going to hurt me?”

  “No.”

  Truth.

  He shook his head and backed away another step. A stick snapped and he fell backward. One arm went back to catch his fall, the other he held tight to his body. A flicker of pain flared in the arm he’d used to catch himself.

  Serena blinked back tears. Compassion flooded her. She risked another, closer step and held out her hand to help him up. “I can help you. But you have to let me.” Or be unconscious, but that wasn’t a detail she was going to share.

  He let out a shuddered breath and removed the hood from his head. Serena gasped at the sight of him. Tight, scarred skin covered half of his head. Distorted his features. A patchwork of scarred skin and scattered clumps of dark hair covered his scalp.

  Serena reached for the ruined limb. “You’re not fully healed. Not everywhere, at least.”

  “What does that mean?”

  Serena knelt next to him. “Your skin here isn’t healing.”

  “But here?” He touched his face.

  “That has scarred. Your body completed the healing.”

  “So you can’t do anything about it?”

  “We take a vow to never harm with our powers. If a Healer breaks her vow, her life is forfeit. In order for me to heal the effects of this wound, I’d have to reverse the damage. I’d have to make you feel it all again so I can take it away.”

  “That’s considered using your power to harm me? Look at me. I lost my whole family. Fire nearly killed me, and you’re worried that making me feel it all again will do harm? Not if it heals me in the end, it won’t. So tell me, what makes you so different that you can help me?”

  The truth of his words seemed to strike something in her heart that resounded like a plucked lute string. “Dash, I’m about to do something I’ve been told not to.”

  “Wait for me, please. The last of these people are leaving.”

  She held her hand out for the young man. “What’s your name?”

  “Luc.”

  “Well, Luc, I’m not like other Healers. I tend to make my own decisions.”

  “I thought you would die if you broke your code.”

  “I will. But I think you’re right. If you’re willing to relive the pain, I don’t believe I’ll be using my powers to harm you.”

  He breathed deep, tightened his jaw. His eyes focused on something behind her, and Serena felt Dash’s familiar presence. He pressed his nose against her shoulder. “I don’t know how much strength you’ll need for this.”

  “What if I’m sentencing us to death?”

  “Is it worth saving his life? These burns won’t heal on their own.”

  “It is.”

  Luc unwrapped his left hand and placed dark, swollen fingers in her hand. “Do it. Please.”

  Serena closed her eyes. She delved deep into the memory of the wound. Past the death and the crumbling. New skin started to regrow. Tendon and muscle began to repair. The infection blazed. Dash pressed his head harder into her back, filtering his strength into her. Heat seemed to course through her whole body. All around her. Luc’s skin regrew as ugly, diseased, broken, and seared flesh.

  Further back into the wound’s memory she went until she felt two strings pulling her. One led to more pain, to the ultimate reliving of this terrible nightmare. The other led to a place she knew—healing. She’d reached it. But she felt so weak. Her strength waned.

  Luc screamed. The pain filtered into him. That wasn’t supposed to happen during the healing part. She was losing her hold on him. If she lost it, he’d be slammed with the full injury again.

  “Don’t let go now, Serena. If a Healer leaves someone unhealed, the damage cannot be reversed by anyone but you. He’ll die of his wounds before you can get your strength back. You have to finish this now while you’re here.”

  Here. As in the door of the healing.

  It took so much energy to pass into this threshold. She had to keep her presence here, with the wound. She gripped tight to the string that pulled her toward healing, and the pain flooded into her. Luc stopped screaming.

  All she had to do was hold on until she reached the end.

  Bright light encompassed her. She . . . wasn’t . . . going to . . . make it. The world snapped into a harsh reality. She was back in the forest, surrounded by the trees, and they spun. Then darkness.

  Serena’s eyes opened to a dusky sky. Red darkened to blue through leafy tree cover above. Where was she? The Forest on the way to Salea. She was supposed to be headed to Salea to . . . Luc! She sat up and saw no one. “Luc? Dash?”

  “Whoa, it’s okay.” Someone crouched beside her and touched her arm.

  She jerked back. “Who are you?”

  “It’s me, Luc.”

  Serena grabbed his hands. Both hands. His hair had grown back in, and his face was so different. No more heavy rasp plagued his voice. “You . . .”

  A huge smile lit his face. “You healed me. I—I don’t know how to thank you. I didn’t know you were going to faint. Your unicorn friend seemed worried.”

  “Where is he?”

  Luc shrugged. Absent the scars, she could tell how young he looked. Younger than her. She grabbed his hands again. “I didn’t think I’d be able to do it. I thought it might kill me if I tried.”

  He stared at her with his eyes wide. “You thought you’d die? And you healed me anyway?”

  She bit her lip.

  “Really, I don’t know how to thank you. I’m—I’m whole again.” He stared at his own hands, turning them over.

  “You can thank me by keeping this a secret.”

  “Absolutely. I have no home to go back to anyway. I’ll keep heading east until I find a place to work. No one will ever know.”

  “Thank you.”

  “It’s nice to see you’re awake. This young one wouldn’t leave your side. He kept pacing and worrying about killing you. I stopped him from taking you into town to see a physician.”

  Serena stood and walked over to Dash. “Where were you?”

  “There are some Royal Army scouts headed this way. We need to move.”

  Serena’s eyes widened.

  “What is it?” Luc asked.

  “Royal Army. Of all people, they must not see me.”

  “I have no qualm with them. Go. Hide. I’ll make sure they don’t find your trail.”

  “I can’t ask you to—”

  “Go.” He touched her shoulder briefly and offered a smile. “It’s the least I can do.”

  Serena mounted Dash, and he cloaked them both from view.

  “I hope you can forgive me for performing such a dangerous healing.” She stroked Dash’s mane.

  “There’s nothing to forgive. You did no wrong.”

  “The Circle would not share your sentiment.”

  “No, and they can never find out what you’ve done.”

  The sound of hoofbeats reverberated against the forest floor. They were closer to Salea now. Out of the cover of the woods, it would be harder for Dash to remain invisible. She still wasn’t at her strongest. But they couldn’t remain here.

  “You there.” A deep voice boomed, and for a moment Serena’s heart thumped.

  “Yes, sir?” Luc asked.

  “I’ve heard reports of a Healer in these woods. Have you seen anyone?”

  “A Healer? You’ve got to be kidding me. Aren’t they extinct?”

  “He’s very good at lying.”

  Dash didn’t respond. He remained frozen, ears trained on the soldiers.

  The soldier dropped off his horse and circled Luc. “Did you know that they feel pain? That they’re drawn toward it?”

  Luc touched the sword at his hip. “Have I done something wrong?”

  “Where are
you headed, boy?”

  “To the palace, actually. I want to learn to be a soldier.”

  “Really?” The soldier lunged with his weapon, and Luc brought out his sword in time to block.

  “I can’t let this happen, Dash.”

  “There’s more at stake than just our safety this time. The palace finding out about Healers puts too many lives at risk.”

  “Quick reflexes, boy.”

  “My name’s Luc. My brother Daniel was slated to join the Royal Army this year. He was killed by Feravolk. I wish to follow in his footsteps.”

  Truth. Serena’s heart shuddered. Who had she saved? The enemy?

  The soldier narrowed his eyes and leaned back. “Healers are Feravolk. Did you know that?”

  Luc’s sword tip dropped. “I didn’t.”

  Truth.

  She held in a gasp. Dash’s nostrils flared. Her heart wanted to explode. If the palace found out about her, every Healer in Soleden would be hunted.

  Chapter 25

  Loose Ends

  Thea crept down the hall to make her final stop—Kara’s room.

  She stepped inside. Everything was in its place. Assassin neat. She approached the mahogany wardrobe against the back wall. Stopping and stilling her breath, she listened. No sound touched her ears. She was alone. The vial she lifted from her pocket was a weight in her hands. Not because it was heavy. She was leaving Kara on her own now.

  Thea took the note she’d written her sister and rolled it around the vial. The heavy scent of wood rushed out as she opened the wardrobe. She ran her fingers along the rear inside panel and found the secret compartment. Here she placed the vial and note. Her final instructions. Farewell. Her apology for everything.

  She began to close the compartment, but stopped and took out one of her knives. With it, she cut a lock of her long, blonde hair. Then she grabbed her dart shooter. These she laid in the secret compartment as well.

  Warmth and wetness crept down Thea’s cheeks. She wiped it away. When was the last time she’d cried? Kara would never understand. Never forgive her for what she was about to do. But she would never forgive herself if she let Kara die instead.

  The fate of Soleden and the whole Forest Lands now lay in Kara’s bloody hands. It was a lot to leave her little sister to deal with. Alone.