It doesn’t take long until a small baby fish swims right into the hole. I quickly push the rock down between the hole and the river and catch my first fish. I soon realize I now need to get this guy from here to the hot coals. I remember the bag Alexander was carrying yesterday. I return to the cave and find it lying inside the opening. I dig through it, not taking note of everything inside, until I find a smaller bag that is empty and a handheld knife. I take them and return to the creek. Carefully, I scoop the fish into the bag. The water drains through the cloth material leaving just the little fish flipping around.
For a second I feel like I should let the fish go, but food is so scarce right now, I don’t have much choice. I’ve been living on bread and a poor excuse for soup for seven years. This fish will be the first real food I’ve had in years.
I lift the rock barrier and wait for another fish to swim inside. While I’m waiting I take the knife and begin to prepare the fish to eat. I used to watch my mother do it all the time with the fish my father would bring home. We could hardly afford to buy anything so most of the food we ate came from the woods. I know I’m doing it wrong, but I think it’s close enough. I continue to catch, wait, and prepare until I have 8 good-sized fish. I return to the warm stones and carefully lay the prepared fish out to cook. Once the bag is emptied I rinse it in the creek and then lay it out next to the fire to dry. The smell of real food comes almost instantly, and I am not missing the one piece of bread I got back in the cell. I try and push all thoughts of that place out of my mind.
I hear Alexander stir and wake behind me. “So I see you’re making breakfast,” he says still half asleep.
“Well, I thought I’d try and not be completely useless to you,” I respond.
“Hey! You’re not useless. You make great company,” he says. I can tell he can’t come up with anything more to say. Yet, he continues to try and persuade me to believe him, “And apparently you’re great at fishing. You’re also good at collecting ray berries,” and I see him pull out the rest of our berries from yesterday. He had wrapped them in leaves and set them inside the cave with us last night.
“I hope you don’t mind I used this bag to catch the fish,” I admit, glancing at his extra bag. “And your knife,” I add and hand over the knife I had used.
“That bag’s for you, so I don’t mind,” he says, grinning. A bead of sweat rolls from his hairline and he looks up toward the sun. “It’s going to be hot today,” he concludes.
“It’s July, right?” I ask.
“Yeah, but it’s hot enough it could be August,” he says. I can already feel the sweat beginning to bubble on my forehead.
“Can I see that knife again?” I ask him and extend my empty hand out to him.
“Yeah, sure,” he says and hands the knife back over to me.
I take the knife from him and stick it into the fabric on my pants, just above my knee. “I think shorts would be more suitable with today’s weather,” I say as I finish cutting one leg of my grey pants. I move to the other leg and do the same. When I hand the knife back to Alexander I watch as he glances from the knife to his pants, considering cutting his own clothes. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Nothing,” he says quickly, and I watch him cut an even line around his pants at the knee.
“What else do you have in that bag?” I ask since I didn’t take an inventory of it earlier.
“Not a needle and thread if that’s what you’re looking for,” he says back, laughing as he hands me his bag. I take out its contents and see what we have to survive on. There’s his navy jacket, his father’s letter, the map, and a deep purple folder. I pull the folder out and Alexander’s eyes land on it.
“That’s nothing,” he starts to says. Hunting Gifted is written in gold print across the front. I open the folder and sift through the collection of papers inside. Most are torn or extremely worn, clearly passed down from soldier to soldier.
The last paper in the folder is titled THE GIFTED. Printed down the aged sheet are the signs of all five senses and the multitude of gift titles. I never knew there were so many combinations of gifts. My eyes hang on the symbol for enhanced sight, feeling drawn to it.
“It’s nothing?” I ask and hand the folder back to him. “Have you ever caught one?”
“No, I don’t hunt people,” Alexander says disgusted. “They’re just papers from the castle.” He shoves them back into his bag and pulls out the last of his items, a first aid kit. I open the kit and see there are some more wraps like the ones I had on my arm, different medicines for fevers and the common cold, and a thick stainless steel needle and rolls of nylon.
“You should take some of those wraps,” Alexander offers.
“Thanks,” I say softly and take a roll of the white bandages. He’s given me my own bottle of water, doesn’t mind that I have sword, let’s me borrow his knife, and now shares his small amount of medical supplies. His kindness is comforting and I’m starting to feel bad for questioning whether I should stay with him.
“What do you think?” I ask, and we stand up to examine our makeshift shorts. We both laugh as neither of them are very proportioned to our bodies. The muscles in my face feel tight and I wonder when the last time I really laughed like that was.
“They’re great,” Alexander lies and takes his seat next to me again. “Here are some ray berries,” he offers, handing me the bright yellow berries. I take one and place it between my teeth popping it and sending warm sweet juice across my tongue. I place one after another in my mouth until I have devoured my share of the berries. Almost telepathically we both reach down and collect our fish at the same time.
The taste of real food nearly brings tears to my eyes. I want to eat it all in one bite, and as slow as possible all at the same time. I go for the later and savor every bite of real food. When I’m finished eating I collect the scraps of fabric and place them into my bag.
Then, I suddenly remember what is in the pocket of my shirt. The journal my mother had given me before she died. I’m about to pull it out when I stop myself. I’m not sure I want Alexander to know. This is kind of something I want to keep to myself. Although I don’t see the point since the diary is locked and I can’t even open it, but there has to be a reason she would give it to me. If she was a Future Holder then she must know I’ll figure out a way to open it. I take the journal, the old family photograph, and gold coin from my pockets and shove them into the bag Alexander said I could have. It’s still a little damp and smells of fish, but it’s better than nothing.
Alexander is the first to break the silence, “So I think we’ve traveled far enough east, thus saying the castle is north, that we can start heading south, and deeper into the woods. If I’m predicting right the Hounds, Paylon, Codian, and Chadian will all head into the western section of the woods. While we are in the eastern section.”
“You know, it’s horrible that they’re called Hounds,” I say, and my nose wrinkles up with disgust.
“I hadn’t given it much thought,” Alexander admits. I glance up to him and his face looks distant and sad. He was trained to call them that. I know he isn’t responsible for their title.
“I didn’t mean you were horrible for calling them that,” I say gently, trying to make him feel better. “I meant the King is disgusting for treating them like dogs.”
I think about how literal my statement is. They are prisoners in their own body, forced to use their gift of enhanced smell to track. I know if we get caught that’s what will happen to me since I have a gift. I won’t be one of the Hounds because I have an enhanced sense of sight, but my mind starts to imagine the different ways I could be used for my gift and my stomach threatens to give up the fish I just ate.
“We better get started,” I say as I stand, determined to never have to be a prisoner again.
I can feel my internal clock telling me I’m running out of time to make my decision whether or not I want to continue this journey with Alexander. The more time I spend with him t
he more I realize I don’t want to be alone out here. He’s starting to feel like a friend, like a teammate in this mess. I know now that I’ve made my decision, and I lend him my hand.
Chapter 5
Alexander and I have been moving deeper into the woods all morning. We’ve been steadily moving up in elevation and have entered a section of the woods that is thick with different types of trees. Alexander says some of them are pine trees, which is good. He thinks their strong smell will cover our scent and make it more difficult for the Hounds to find us. We start talking about how each of our lives was, inside and out of the castle. Alexander hands me one of the water bottles and tells me to keep drinking as we go. I don’t go into much detail on my end, more so to spare myself from reliving the past.
Alexander seems to have lived a much more luxurious life on the other side of the castle. He tells me stories from the different training camps he had to go to, and about how life in our city progressed. He continued to go to school and he tells me about some of our classmates. In our school system, you are separated and assigned to a class and a teacher at the grade zero level and that is the class and teacher you advance with until you graduate. We had been assigned the same class and teacher. He says he would have graduated first in our class this year, and our teacher Ms. White is even engaged now.
“Did you ever fight?” I ask and glance up to him, the afternoon sun glowing on his face. “All that training, did you ever use any of it?”
“I wish I could say no,” he says and his voice falls dry.
“You don’t have to tell me about it,” I say, cutting him off. It’s easy to talk about the good stuff. I only shared the best moments of my time in prison. The days mother would smile and fix my hair. The times Titus didn’t break down. When the prison was quiet on cold nights, mostly because we were freezing to death, but any time there wasn’t screaming or crying it was a good day.
Suddenly I hear the needles in the trees in front of us rustle. I step forward and stretch out my right arm in front of Alexander. If I have to use my gift I’m going to. Well, I’m going to try to. Alexander will have to know I have the gift eventually. Now that I’ve decided I want us to be a team I’m going to need to start trusting him with this information. The woods fall silent again, but I don’t move.
“Adaline I’m sure it’s,” Alexander starts to say but is cut off as an arrow flies toward us. I watch it as if I’m in a trance. It whizzes right by my face, just barely grazing my cheek, and sticks into a tree behind me. My hand touches the spot it brushed. I pull my fingers from my face and they are red with blood. I look back up into the tree the arrow came from and can see a dark small figure getting ready to load another arrow.
“Run!” I yell to Alexander and he breaks off our path to the right. I know I have two choices, run away and hope we get out of reach of the arrows or take out the shooter. Running around the forest like an animal being hunted is the last thing I want to do, so I run straight ahead to the tree the arrow flew from and begin to climb up it. The dark figure tries to shoot an arrow down at me, but it can’t make it through the maze of branches before snapping. As I get closer the figure starts to climb higher into the tree. I move faster than they do and as I reach up, my hand clasps onto their ankle.
“Let go!” I hear a female voice call out. I yank down on her ankle and rip her from the tree. She loses her grip on the branch and begins to fall through the tree hitting every branch on the way down. I drop to the ground after her and see her lying on her back. I run over to her and sit on her stomach, pinning her arms above her head. I take my right hand and brush the hair out of her face.
“Why are you hunting us?” I say and I take in the number of purple bruises forming on her arms and face from the fall.
“Adaline?” she struggles to say and her eyes scan my face.
“What do you want with me?” I say and I feel my blood pounding in my ears.
“It’s Zavy,” her voice cracks on her name. My eyes widen and I scan her face again until my eyes land on the three dark circle freckles under her right eye.
“Oh my gosh, Zavy what are you doing out here?” I ask and get off of her. I help pull her to her feet and wait for her explanation. Zavy and I were in the same class as well. Her, Alexander, and I were such a tight group I can hardly believe the three of us are together again. Alexander meets me at my side and Zavy’s eyes flip between the two of us as equally surprised as I am.
“What are you guys doing out here?” she asks, turning the question on to us. “I thought I’d never see you again.”
Alexander explains, “Well, basically running to freedom. Adaline escaped the castle, which I just realized she hasn’t explained,” he pauses and gives me a wondering eye before continuing, “I’m a guard at the castle,” he stops himself when Zavy’s eyes widen. “Well, was,” he corrects. “I was on night duty outside of the maze and we came across each other. Now we’re off to find freedom, and there’s also the fact that we are running from a search group led by Paylon and his two best marksmen, Codian and Chadian.”
“That would be the really summed up version,” I step in and say.
“Well you guys seem to be in a messy situation,” Zavy says. “Sorry about the arrow,” Zavy apologizes for shooting at us.
“Where’d you get that bow?” I ask, examining it.
“It’s a long story. Come on, I’ll show you back to our camp. Toby and I just moved to this part of the woods.” I recognize the name of her younger brother and wonder why the two of them would be living out in the woods.
Zavy spins on her heels and starts walking deeper into the woods, but Alexander and I share a quick glance before following her. I am still too in shock to have both Alexander and Zavy here with me I can’t even try to decide whether or not going with her is the right idea. It helps she’s moving in the way we were traveling anyway, but I don’t want to get distracted with Paylon hunting us. We follow her for a good mile or so and again I ask her how she has been since I last saw her seven years ago.
“So what happened to you, Zavy?” I ask.
“Well I, like most people, didn’t find out about your family being taken until school the next day. Then questions started to arise and trust me I freaked!” she says, being as overdramatic as I remember her. “As you know my family was in the same situation yours was, financially. We were soon going to be thrown in the prison too. As we had suspected, we were the next ones to go.” Zavy’s voice grows a bit harsh and I can tell she’s fighting to keep her emotions at bay. “Except only my mother and father were taken. My little brother, Toby, and I managed to escape. A search group was never put together for us, I assume, so we’ve just been living out here.”
She stops suddenly and I see the emotions she’s trying to hold down surface. She turns to me slowly and her wet eyes meet mine.
“Are my parents okay?” she asks and I realize she thinks I must have seen them in the prison.
“The prison under the castle is a maze of cells, Zavy,” I start saying and she nods her head, knowing what I’m going to say. “I never saw them. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, I just thought maybe you would know,” she says and turns back to leading us to her camp. She wipes her wet eyes and I watch her transform back into her stiff self. “Is your mother and brother out here with you?” she asks over her shoulder and I feel the blood drain from my face.
Her question in sincere, but it makes my chest hurt. Zavy glances back because of my silent pause and sees my ghostly white face. “No,” my voice breaks out through my tight throat.
“Oh, Adaline,” Zavy starts, but I don’t need her sympathy. “Parting day?” she asks and I just nod. I don’t want to give her any of the details. Not because I don’t want her to know, but because I don’t think I can get them out.
After a bit longer of hiking we come upon a clearing. In the center is a fire pit with a small boy sitting next to it. The boy has dark brown hair and is dressed in an overly large white t-s
hirt and black shorts.
“Zavy. What’s going on?” The young boy asks in a high-pitched voice, obviously curious.
“Toby this is Alexander and Adaline. Both of them are very close friends of mine,” Zavy says, introducing us to her little brother that I haven’t seen since he was just a couple of years old.
Toby stands and moves toward us, hiding behind his older sister not exactly sure if he can trust us. I give him a slight wave and he sinks further behind Zavy.
“He’s usually not this shy,” Zavy says, pausing for a moment. “They used to come over a lot when you were little,” Zavy tries to explain to Toby. He scans us both, trying to remember who we are. He was only five or so when I was arrested so I’m not surprised he can’t remember us.
“You’re a guard,” Toby’s small voice says and he points to Alexander. “You said not to trust anyone. Especially someone wearing navy blue,” he says to his older sister.
“I know, but this is different, Toby,” Zavy starts to say.
“I used to be a guard,” Alexander admits. I watch as he kneels down to Toby’s height. He pulls out his thick navy jacket from his bag and Toby’s eyes widen at the uniform. Alexander carefully unclips a gold pin from his jacket and holds it out to Toby. “I can’t be a guard without my badge, right?” Toby considers this for a moment and then nods, agreeing. “You take this, and as long as you have it you can trust I’m not a guard.”
Toby gently takes the badge in his small hands and examines it. “It’s really cool,” Toby says. I watch as he pins the gold badge onto his tattered white shirt. “I’ll be guard Toby. You all answer to me now.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid. I’m still in charge,” Zavy says and ruffles his hair. “But you can give Alexander all the orders you want. Obviously we can’t just leave you two on your own,” Zavy says, turning the conversation back to our predicament. “So, you guys are more than welcome to stay here with us. Toby and I were just talking about needing to build a shelter to last us a couple of days until we move to another location. So, why don’t Adaline and I do that while you two go hunting,” she pauses, handing Alexander her bow and arrows, then adds, “but Toby, no weapons.” Before I even have time to accept or decline her offer she already has our day planned out.
The Markings Page 5