by Abby Dewsnup
“And I’m glad you’re here too, Jay. Even if you can be dim sometimes,” I smiled a small smile. “Besides, Lynx and I need someone to set up a tarp, don’t we?”
Jay chuckled. “Get some rest,” was all he said.
For once, I followed what he said and turned over in my cot, closing my eyes and sinking into the dark.
I get that Maddox didn’t imprison Anya, but why wouldn’t he still take the other two? Why didn’t she demand the 4 he’d already taken back? I don’t understand why he took them to the tavern, just to leave again. Nothing happened in that scene at all. Why doesn’t he have them tied up, to make sure they don’t escape? There’s no reason he should trust them to come along. Why take them to Kincho?
6
An Awakening
Night had fallen when I stirred awake. The world was quiet, disturbed only by nature sounds outside.
I was about to turn over and sink back to sleep when a rustling sound stirred my curiosity. It came from outside the window, as if a creature had slipped past. I had never seen a jungle at night, much less a jungle creature.
I sat up and swung my legs over the cot, taking care not to wake Jay. As I stood, a board creaked below my feet, but he didn’t stir. I grabbed my staff from beneath my bed.
I glanced over my shoulder. Lynx was sitting up, her wide eyes on me.
I held a finger to my lips as I grasped the door handle, waiting for her to say something and end my expedition. Her expression was curious, lacking the usual fear she seemed to possess in the day. Without making a sound, she sank back into her cot and vanished beneath the blankets. Lynx was letting me go.
I opened the door and stepped over the threshold, letting it close behind me. It was only when I had turned away from the hut that I fully registered the world around me.
The glowing tendrils of light I had seen earlier now riddled every branch, much like veins within a living being. Mushrooms sprouted along the trunks, and the leaves looked as if they had been dipped within the stars. Blue and purple and other colors I wasn’t familiar with blossomed before my eyes in the bioluminescence of the night.
A breeze rippled through the leaves and caught the ends of my hair, causing the smell of rain and earth to linger in the air. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I felt as if the trees were alive, stirring awake in the night as the people sank into their dreams.
A shadow detached itself from the tree where it had been perched. I could scarcely make the creature out through the leaves, but I heard it part the hanging leaves and slink away.
My staff in hand, I stepped through the leaves, resolving to follow the animal. I wanted to glimpse it at least once — how incredible a creature must be to exist within a glowing night. Jay would tell me it was a stupid idea, but he wasn’t here. I sprinted down the tree limb.
My footsteps lingered on the bark for a long while after I left, glowing like stars in the sky. The water dripping from the leaves reflected a gleaming blue, as if it was made of fireflies and all things of light. All my life the night had been a time filled with darkness. This light -- the euphoric, bursting blue -- filled me with wonder.
I slid down a hanging vine and landed on the lower branch. The creature had vanished long enough for me to hesitate, unsure of which direction to go.
Without warning a dark beast strode forward from a covering of leaves, its eyes reflecting the bioluminescent night around us. The creature’s pelt was dark and rippled with muscle as it walked. I knew I should be afraid, but I couldn’t look away.
“What are you?” I asked, more to myself than anyone. Slowly, I lowered my staff and reached my hand out towards it. I placed my other hand against the tree branch to keep myself from falling over as I knelt.
At my touch, a faint flash of light ran through the length of the tree. I pulled my hand away in a panic, clutching my fingers as if it had burned me. But the jungle cat had stopped its stalking and was gazing at me with deep eyes, and I knew it was willing me to try again.
Slowly, I touched the tree a second time. The same flash passed through it, and then another. I felt as if the glow around me brightened when my hand was against the trunk like, I was giving light to an orb back home.
The light stuck to me like glue. I tried pulling my hand away, but some sort of substance clung to my fingers and stretched and expanded when I tried to tug my fingers free. I sharply yanked my hand away and broke the connection, watching the glow fade back into the tree.
The jungle cat bowed its head slightly, and I lowered my palm against its head. I felt my breath catch in my throat as my fingers vibrated from its deep purr. Its eyes had yet to leave mine, and within them I could almost understand what the cat wanted to say.
It was then that I noticed the marks across my skin. The only other time I had seen them was in the sunrise, where the vine-like shapes had spread across my skin in golden light. Now they were back, only this time they glowed with the same blue and green that surrounded me. I studied the marks closer, and traced my fingers across my skin. They reached my upper arm and snaked down my back, but I wasn’t sure how far. The lines were symmetrical and loose, wrapping around my fingers and joints like a flowered plant.
The oddest part was their disappearance during the day. What could be inside me that created such a glow, and in the same symmetrical shapes? I couldn’t make sense of it.
The cat pulled away, turning its head toward the covering of branches. I followed its gaze and watched the leaves rustle in the breeze.
“Can you help me?”
I jumped back, startled, and realized the jungle cat had disappeared. In its place was a small girl, and for a moment I mistook her for Lynx. She had long dark hair, a pelt of black fur covering her like a shawl. A spray of freckles covered her nose, and her eyes were dark. She looked solemn, her hands curled at her side as she gazed at me.
“Where did you come from?” I asked, taking another step back from her.
“Can you help me?” She asked again, covering the distance I had departed from her in a single stride forward.
“I’m not sure I understand,” I responded, my staff grasped tight in my hand and inches from her neck. “How can I help you?”
“Touch my hand,” she said, her voice raw and choppy. “You can help me.”
An eerie feeling had begun to work its way through me. I wished Jay was there so I knew I wasn’t dreaming. Despite myself, I reached a hand forward and grazed her outstretched fingers.
Light passed between us, and my glowing marks grew brighter. She took a deep breath and smiled, as if my touch had filled her with energy.
“You seek the Dark One,” she said, pulling her hand away. “I felt your mind when we touched. And you need to understand that you cannot slay her.”
“Why not?” I asked. “I don’t know much about Coppice, but I’ve heard the creature has caused trouble.” I realized what I was saying and shook my head, saying, “Wait, who are you? Where did you come from?”
“The Dark One is a Death Bringer, a destroyer of worlds,” the girl said, her mouth trembling on the words. “You cannot slay her, Anya. Your blood cannot be the one to shed hers.”
“Thanks for the warning,” I said. “But I’m not sure I completely trust a strange girl in a glowing forest.”
“One who calls you friend will betray you, that is my warning.” The girl took a step back, retreating into the underbrush. “Just as the Dark One was cast off, so shall you be, when your people see the marks that stain your skin. if you slay her, you shall follow.”
She spared me a final glance before vanishing into the underbrush.
Rattled, I climbed back up to the hut. A small part of me wanted to trust the omen, but I also knew that the Coppice jungles must be full of spirits. After all, the people here summoned them for fun over bubbling cauldrons.
Inside, Jay was turned over on his side. His face was calm, lacking the guarded expression he usually wore. I sat on the edge of my cot and watched him for a momen
t, listening to the night sounds outside.
I tugged my sleeves over my arms. The marks were gone now, and I couldn’t see a trace of their previous existence. I would have to ask Jay about them in the morning.
You will be betrayed by one you call a friend. The line stuck with me. Jay had no reason to betray me — he wanted his brother back as much as I wanted mine. But then again, he was hiding a number of secrets. What could the strange symbol on his collarbone mean, and why did he conceal it? Another line of her warning came to mind — would Jay and Lynx freak out if they saw that I could, without consent, glow like the night outside?
I noticed Lynx watching me as intently as I was staring at Jay. I nodded to her, and she returned the gesture. In the silence that followed I had two thoughts come to mind as I laid back down on my cot.
One, that the girl in the trees implied that someone I knew would turn out to be a traitor only if I killed the Dark One.
And two, it was possible my traveling companions — Lynx and Jay — were more than they seemed.
7
Dark One
The rain had finally ceased in the morning, leaving dripping branches and a soaked earth behind. I missed the glow from the nighttime, the way everything had been lit up like the stars. And when I stood next to Jay in the mud, my staff in hands and the looming jungles ahead of us, I missed the silence of the night, too.
“The mud is a good thing,” Roland said in his husky voice. “We can see tracks easier this way. Do you know how to track?”
“I do,” Jay said, his hand clasped on the hilt of his sword. “But if we’re being honest here, Roland, we are only helping to get information from Kincho.”
Roland met Jay’s gaze, his jaw flexing in irritation. “I know all about your group’s dealings with Kincho. And I have to warn you, Jay,” he deliberately said the name with venom in his voice, “What makes you think Kincho can give you more information on the fabled Light Kingdom than I can? I’ve traveled to the outskirts of the Fringe and back. I’m not sure the Coppice chief can say the same.”
“What do you know about it?” I interrupted.
Roland looked down at me. “I know that the High Prince issued a declaration four years ago that outlawed the discussion of such a kingdom. And I know that most who seek it out are gold diggers who have heard tales of a city of gold and riches. It’s a fable, but an ancient one.”
“That’s not much to go off of,” Lynx said.
“But I know a gold digger myself, kid,” Roland replied. “And he could help you, with a price.”
“Would you take us to him?” I ventured.
“Perhaps after we slay the Dark One, we can negotiate our own terms,” Roland said as he pulled the bow off his back. He strung it and notched an arrow, and clasped the string with his gloved hands, turning away from us. “Once we enter the jungle, you must be silent. The Dark One only materializes before those it chooses, and they must be quiet and alone.”
“Is that all?” I interrupted. “Quiet and alone?”
Roland turned to me. “And full of fear, kid. The Dark One can see what is within your heart.”
“What are you implying?” I spat.
Roland ignored my question. Next to us, tied up to a drooping tree limb, were two speckled horses. We had been given instructions to split up, two and two, and act as separate traveling companions. The jungles in front of us were abandoned because of the Dark One’s history of killings within them, and an entire village lay dormant within the trees. Jay and I were going to take the ground on horseback while Roland and Lynx scoured the treetops not far from us.
In short, Jay and I were the bait, and Roland was the hunter.
I brushed the horse’s mane, letting her coarse hair fall through my fingers. We had horses in the caves, but they were bulky and used to hard labor in the mines. The mare next to me was slender, muscular, as she could take off running in an instant and never look back.
“We’ll be behind you,” Roland said, slinging his bow over his shoulder. “The Dark One is finicky. If she does not approach you before nightfall, keep pressing to the outer rim of the jungles.”
Lynx looked up at Roland with a harrowing expression. “And if she doesn’t appear at all? What then?”
“Then we summon her with a sacrifice,” Roland said flatly.
I looked over at him, stricken, just as he cracked a smile. I breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “so we’re making jokes now?”
“Get going,” Roland replied, handing me the reigns of the horse. “Keep that staff in hand. And your sword.” He nodded to Jay.
Jay and I exchanged a glance. In the morning light his hair was askew. “Good thing I’m not going into the woods to wage war against you,” he commented. “Did you sleep at all last night?”
“The forest is bioluminescent,” I retorted. “You missed it all.”
“Shame,” he said with a slight smile. “But my bed was equally great, I’m sure.”
I tugged at the reigns of my horse. “Besides, I would ride into war with you, not against you,” I said. “Obviously.”
He shook his head with a smirk and pulled his horse up next to mine. Together, we kicked our horses into a trot and headed towards the shadowed jungles ahead.
It wasn’t long before the trees swallowed the sky above and cast the world into darkness. Sunlight fell in slants across the lush ground, illuminating the ground like a spotlight. I grew aware of the building noise all around us. I began to imagine strange creatures lurking just out of sight, growing weary of invaders in their home and ready to attack.
Tree branches twisted high in the sky, vanishing into a thin, wispy fog that I assumed was a result of the humidity. A few trees sprouted colorful leaves, and others were barren and skeletal. I spotted a few hanging huts, long since abandoned and covered in drooping vines.
“Do you know why we were the ones sent here?” Jay asked, breaking the silence.
I shrugged. “To find our siblings?”
“Because no one else in Coppice wanted to do the favor.” It seemed as if his voice shivered when he said the words. A chill ran down my spine. “Think about our friend, Maddox. Where is he this fine afternoon?”
“Didn’t they tell us to be quiet?” I retorted. Deep down, I knew he was right. Maddox never said he would help, and we didn’t exactly sign a form saying we were bound to the favor. Time was ticking, and each day that passed was another day for the Stygian to grow in numbers, and for our family members to remain locked away.
A part of me felt as if the Stygian were the least of our problems. There was a reason they plagued the Caves. The Fringe was different, dying — I could feel it in my bones. Something more was running in the veins of our world, an intangible disease with a mysterious source. I just didn’t know what it was or where it was.
“Do you think the Light Kingdom will be the end of it?” Jay asked, voicing my thoughts.
“No,” I admitted. “I’m not even sure it is real. I’m starting to think that the Elders might not have been completely truthful.”
“As am I,” he agreed. “We don’t have to do it, you know. We don’t owe those Caves anything.”
I thought of the dust-covered streets back home, how many times I had run from patrolmen with James’ small hands clutched in mine. All the rules the Elders maintained, how they would’ve sent me away to the mines with the other forgotten children had I not burned away my brother’s and my existence from the town hall records.
But then I thought about my parent’s shadows vanishing over the Ridgeline as I scouted for guards with James, trying desperately to keep my lip from trembling as I upheld my utterance of hatred towards them. I had told my mother I wouldn’t say goodbye. The Caves were the arms that held me in the night from then on. The Cave-Dwellers never left me as my father and mother did.
“We have to help them,” I replied. “The Cave-Dwellers are our people. Besides, don’t you have a family back home?”
“You’re ri
ght,” Jay said. “You know I have two other brothers besides Kye, right? They’re a lot younger than he and I.”
“Your mom has her hands full,” I commented.
“Yeah, that’s why Kye and I went to work in the mines,” he said, his face darkening a few degrees.
“That doesn’t sound like something you like to think about,” I pressed.
Jay’s grip on the reins tightened, his knuckles turning white against the leather. “No. That’s why we won’t,” he said in a painfully steady voice.
I shrugged. My horse whinnied in protest as I urged him — I assumed it was a boy — forward. I didn’t like the way the shadows stretched across the damp earth, like gnarled hands grasping at the silence. I could see why this side of the jungle was deserted. Mysterious jungle creature or not, it was creepy.
Birds took flight into the air above us, startling me from my stupor. “Was that Roland?” I asked.
“Roland,” Jay agreed, though his intense stare at the canopy above would say otherwise.
My gaze swept through the jungles. It was in that instant that my horse whinnied again and reared up, causing me to yank on the reigns with a cry. Suddenly the horse took off at full speed, the greenery whipping past us. I fumbled for the reigns and managed to hang on as sheer panic speared through me.
I thought I heard Jay shout something, but his voice was lost to the trees. It wasn’t until we neared a sheer cliff face that my horse came to an abrupt halt, throwing me from the saddle. I skidded against the ground and grasped onto the weeds to keep myself from falling into the canyon below.
“I thought you could ride!” Jay cried, circling around the clearing on his horse. He offered me his hand with a laugh. “Remind me again why we’re partners on a dangerous mission.”
“Something had him spooked,” I said, trying in vain to keep my voice level. I gazed passed Jay and at the setting sun, letting the golden light wash over me and diminish the mounting frustration