by Aimee Moore
Dal stopped in front of me. “Your wall keeps knowledge at bay.”
“Always this wall. And just how do you think you're going to teach me to use this? You are Kraw, and your people are not gifted at anything other than savage murder.”
Dal was frowning at my body, thoughts splashing through the hazel pools of eyes. “Kraw are superior, with gifts of their own. I will learn yours.”
I rolled my eyes.
“Sit,” Dal said.
I crossed my arms. “No, I'm tired of sitting for now.”
“Then stand.”
I sat with a glare. Dal continued to pace; brow furrowed in concentration. I had no faith in any part of this whole process, and most of me was irritated at having my ticket to freedom be so obvious to the enemy and not myself.
And I was beginning to doubt Dal’s words. In the span of fifteen minutes he'd told me that he lost his family, Kraw males wanted me, and I had the same magic as the Gifted. He'd taken apart everything I knew about my tiny sphere of existence and forced all the pieces into a new picture. And it was abstract at best.
“Do not scowl your distrust at me, human, it is distracting. Close your eyes and still your waters. If your dam no longer leaks, your waters may rise to see over the top.”
I huffed a sigh out of my nose and closed my eyes. Dal's voice, so quiet that he barely scraped my consciousness, floated to my ears.
“Do you trust that you have this power?”
“No,” I said without hesitation.
“Why.” It was a command, not a question.
“Because I've never been different in my whole life. Because I'm not sure if I can trust you.”
Dal's breath brushed my ear, his deep voice vibrating in my belly. “I have given you reason not to trust me? Are my words false? Do I use trickery? Do I harm you?”
The last part brought images of Dal's hands spreading the mud over my bare skin with shocking carefulness. “No,” I whispered.
“And yet you refuse to believe my words. Why?”
I listened to Dal's calm breathing nearby, caught wafts of male scent floating at me. It was distracting. “If I was Gifted, then I could free us. It would mean that I could have saved my family. I would have given my life to save them.” The memories of watching them be cut down flashed through my memory. Hatred blazed within me, white hot. “If I felt no spark in my most dire hour, then it does not exist.”
“You are wrong.”
I ground my teeth as the footfalls crunched around me in the dirt. I could almost hear Dal thinking.
“Do you know how your Gifted learn to use their spark?”
I furrowed my brow, searching the blank space behind my eyelids for any information at all on Gifted. “No. There are universities for that, temples of knowledge and privilege. I would never be allowed upon the steps. If you’re so confident you can learn my gift, then learn it and show me.”
“I am not reckless or desperate enough to delve into your gift in so short a time.”
“But you can.”
“I need not. You will learn that you have it today.”
I huffed.
Dal was silent for so long that I wondered if he had decided to nap.
I fell into myself, searching for the spark that Dal spoke of. I remained as plain and unremarkable as peasant bread.
Dal's breath warmed my ear, and goosebumps rose along my neck. “Take down your walls, Sera.”
I pictured walls around me. A shield. And it was angry. I turned to the voice, eyes still closed. “What if my walls are all that keeps me safe?” I whispered. “What if I need them to survive?”
Dal's breath brushed my lips, and a new sort of heat licked its way up my insides as my heart pounded. “You do not,” he whispered.
My lips parted under the soft, warm air from Dal's breathing. My body was tingling with the need to act, but I didn't know what to do. Fear held me rigid, and yet a delicious awareness through my blood stirred anticipation into my belly. “Do you swear to me that I have this gift, Dal?”
“I swear to you that you burn brighter than any flame I have ever seen on this world or the next,” Dal murmured into the space between our lips.
My heart was a tiny bird trying to flutter out of my ribs. All at once, belief blossomed into me, spreading through my limbs and fingertips like morning sun kissing frosted hills. Dal saw my power. My power.
“It is in your blood, Sera. Know that it is there. Know it.”
I searched the blackness behind my eyes, delving into each piece of my existence with keen observation. A ferocious heat, easily ignored alongside lungs that drew breath and a heart that stammered life into me, was simmering in my blood. It was an energetic spark in my being, a heat that seemed to pulse with a life of its own. Easy to miss, impossible to ignore.
I let out a shaking exhale as the power within me burned in my veins and lifted my lashes at last. Dal was inches from my face, watching my lips. His gaze rose to mine, and the hazel eyes were alive with hunger, but not for food. Wonder, but not at the unknown. Reluctance that warred with both.
I raised one hand to touch Dal's cheek, and my heart thundered within my ears as my breath shook. Dal closed his eyes at my touch, and a whisper of a moment passed between us where we were not a Kraw and a human, but simply a man and a woman. I longed to feel his skin on my lips.
But when Dal's eyes opened and he moved away from me. I dropped my hand, frowning at the empty space, wondering at the strange event that had just taken place. I had wanted to kiss a Kraw. I had never even tasted Lonnie's kiss, and yet this brutal warrior before me was making my blood heat. Perhaps the lunacy in this hut was mine.
I turned to look at Dal, but he was laying against the wall of the hut, looking indifferent. Which meant one thing.
The door opened, and more Kraw came in with food and water. Males. My heart pounded after what had happened last time, and I hoped to all that would listen that I was filthy enough to be ignored.
They barked and laughed their strange language, and Dal gave curt responses. The strange Kraw gestured at me, and I raised my chin and glared as an epiphany stole over me.
I needed to learn to use my gift so that I could destroy these people. These blights on my planet.
The Kraw men laughed some more, setting down the baskets and kicking dirt at me, which was much preferable to my last encounter. They left the hut, closing the door behind them, their muffled laughter dying away. I busied myself getting the dirt out of my eyes while Dal lay still. When at last he sat up, he looked me over with amusement.
“What were they saying?” I asked.
Dal frowned. “Do not ask me to repeat it.”
I tilted my head. “Teach me your language,” I said at last.
Dal let out a rough exhale and shook his head. “Kraw language is complex. You will not learn.”
I scowled. “I'm not as inferior as you think. My people have many languages. Teach me yours.”
Dal considered me for a time.
“We have nothing else to do in here,” I said.
Dal let off a small smile, shaking his head. “If you learn to use your spark, I will teach you to understand Kraw.”
Mud crusted off of my cheeks as I smiled at Dal. “Well then, I had better learn to use this spark,” I said.
✽✽✽
The weeks passed, and Patroma called me into her hut once more. The Kraw who took me from Dal were disgusted by my filth and made a point of holding me as far away from them as possible at the points of their axes.
Which meant they weren't touching me.
Patroma's quarters were far warmer than my bare hut, and I found the heat stifling after so much time in the cold. She was dressed, as always, in elaborate furs and chains. All of it, battle ready. The pyre in the center of Patroma's grandiose building crackled with a cheer that was from a world I had known long ago.
“Human. You have had ample time to be nourished. Your bones are no longer pressing through your sk
in. Tell me what you know of your fire.”
“I do not know much.”
“You lie.”
I glared. “I do not.”
Patroma's gaze flicked to something behind me, and a thin stick whipped across my back. I cried out and stumbled forward, shooting a mutinous glare at the Kraw behind me.
“Lie to me again, human filth, and I will extract the truth from you,” Patroma said.
“I do not lie,” I hissed.
The stick whipped across the backs of my legs and I fell to my knees. Patroma watched with bored patience as tears stung my eyes. I raised my chin, refusing to cower, and Patroma glanced at the Kraw behind me with a bored flick of her eyes.
“Wait!” I called. No pain came as Patroma rested her head in her hand and regarded me with superior boredom. I raised one palm, calling to the swirling heat within my blood, and small orange sparks twirled out of my skin and up into the air, dissipating with tiny pops.
Patroma peeled her lips back in a smile. “Perhaps I can beat more truth out of you.”
“I did not lie. I said I knew little. This is it,” I said with a snarl of my own.
“You will show me more.”
“No.”
Surprise flicked across Patroma's face for a moment before she sat up, glaring at me. “You will show me more or I will take it.”
“I will show you everything you want. On one condition.”
“I do not make bargains with worms.”
“If you want something from this worm, then you will bargain.”
“You are in no position to bargain, human.”
“I will die before giving you what you want if you do not hear my request.” I gripped my banner of hatred in white knuckles, getting to my feet on shaking legs.
An amused smile crossed Patroma's face. “What are you willing to die for, human?”
“I want a guard.”
Patroma huffed a laugh. “A guard? You are willing to die for a guard?”
“Kraw pigs assaulted me.”
Patroma bared her teeth. “You dare call us pigs?”
Another whip of the stick slashed across my shoulders, and I cried out, stumbling. Tears blurred my vision, and I stood taller. “Yes. Pigs take what is not given,” I yelled breathlessly. “The Kraw who have made these attempts are pigs.”
Patroma's snarl faded away, to be replaced by a slight laugh. “No Kraw would want to take from a maggot. You lie again.”
“I do not lie,” I said, punctuating every word in dangerous tones. “My deal stands. Give me a guard and I will show you what you want. You can wield me as you please.”
Patroma rubbed her chin a moment, brushing piercings below her lip. “I will assign you one guard, and you will belong to the Kraw. You will be property of the Warlord, and he will use your gifts as he sees fit.”
“I will pick the guard, and then I will be all yours.”
Patroma showed her teeth as she smiled. “And which of my pigs would you choose to protect your weak flesh?”
“Dal.”
Patroma barked a laugh, said something with mirth to the Kraw behind me, and shared in his laughter. I raised my chin as the welts on my back throbbed and cold dripped down my shoulder blades and spine.
“You cannot have the traitor. He belongs to the Warlord. The Kraw will do well to rid ourselves of him if he has earned the trust of a frail human. You have my word that the guard I assign you will keep our end of the bargain. That will be enough for you.”
I shook my head. “No. It is not enough. Dal is the only Kraw I trust not to harm me, for all our shared time together his indifference has proven more valuable to me than the word of any Kraw.”
“If this Dal is so indifferent to you, why do you think he would be your guard?”
“Kraw desire purpose and conflict, do they not?” It was the only thing I could think of.
Patroma watched me for a full minute. Finally, she flicked a careless hand my way. “No deal. The Warlord demands an example be made of the traitor.”
My heart raced, and I struck out on a gamble. “Your Warlord also demands that you learn the gifts of my people. Our gifts are more important than the fate of some traitor, if you want to win your war.”
Patroma snarled at me, sitting straight. “You know nothing of this war, human.”
Another lash licked white hot across my back, spilling liquid heat down my back as I stumbled to my hands and knees. I sucked in deep breaths as the pain blurred my senses, then raised my gaze to Patroma.
“Fine, no deal. Kill me.”
Patroma smiled at me, then nodded to a far corner of the room. A Kraw led a thin human male out by his hair, and he struggled with half-heartedness as he was brought into the light.
“You will submit your power to me or I will kill him,” Patroma said.
I looked at the scrawny man, who was looking at me with equal parts wonder and fear. A human. I thought I would never see one again. I sucked in a deep breath, swallowing more pain, as I tried to stand. Finally on my feet, I raised my chin to Patroma. The words that fell out of my mouth went against everything that made me myself.
“Kill him. You make the mistake of thinking I care for the lives of others. You Kraw have taken everything from me that mattered, I have nothing left.”
The man's mouth dropped at my words, and Patroma's mouth curled in a smile. Time ticked on as the fire crackled.
“Your cellmate is your guard, human. When the Warlord arrives, you can plead for the traitor's pathetic life. Until then, you will show me everything, and use your power as I command. Your life is lived for me now.”
“Dal's life is mine.”
“Not a chance.”
“His life is mine or we don't have a deal. Your Warlord can use me as an example instead, I died the day your Kraw invaded my village, finish me off and be happy.”
Patroma settled back in her chair, pursing lips over pointed teeth. “You are too weak to bear the example of the Warlord's wrath.”
“I am Gifted, that will bear greater example.”
Patroma tapped a finger on her throne for some time. Finally, she broke the stillness of the hut. “The traitor's life is yours, until we kill you, and then it is ours again.”
I stopped myself from letting off a sigh of relief. “I want out of that hut.”
Patroma considered me again. “Kraw will kill you, even with the traitor as your guard.”
“Give him a weapon so that I may remain unharmed.”
Patroma took her time thinking, and I watched the war take place behind keen eyes. Finally, she spoke. “An unarmed Kraw is weak and unable to protect, and so your traitor will have a weapon for his task.”
I pictured the moment I witnessed Dal break three necks with his bare hands. There was no weakness there.
“But remember, human, you have nowhere to run, and my clan will kill your traitor and do what they wish with you if he acts without honor. Let us hope that your faith is not misplaced.”
“But I still cannot leave the hut?”
“No.”
“How am I to learn more of my power? I did not even know that I had it until recently. Bound within that prison I am useless.”
Patroma nodded at the man being held by his hair. “He will teach you.”
“Him?” I asked, frowning.
“I suspected you needed training. He will teach you. And you will use it at my command, in exchange for the traitor's life.”
I swallowed. Using my newfound power to kill more of my kind, all to save the life of Dal, a Kraw? It was the most illogical thing I had ever done. It went against every grain of my hatred and loss, making absolutely no sense.
“Done,” I said.
Chapter 5
Useful
“What?” The frail man burst out.
Patroma nodded to the Kraw behind me, barking “take them” in Kraw language, and I was led back to the hut, with the human male at my heels.
The Kraw in the village laug
hed and threw things at us. I was too busy sorting through the warring betrayal and joy within me as my back throbbed and stung.
The grunts shoved me and the man into my cage and threw a weapon at Dal before slamming the door shut. Hazel eyes opened and met mine in the stillness.
“Are you goddamn crazy?” The man yelled at me. He was wearing rich robes of blue, and his brown hair was a disheveled mess. Even though he wasn't nearly as muscled or large as the Kraw, he was still a man who was larger and stronger than me, and he was angry.
I moved away from the irate human, righting my mud crusted attire. “This doesn't concern you.”
“It bloody well does now!”
“I don't see why you're so mad, you're not dead and no one's trying to get into your skirt.” A shard of ice had stuck into the thickest part of my foot, and I frowned as I busied myself pulling it out.
“You traded your gift away to our enemies to keep your virtue? You're a fool, your body is worthless compared to wha—"
A gagging noise filled the space.
I looked up to see Dal holding the human up by the throat, shoved against the wooden planks of the hut. The human's face was purpling, and the gagging noises coming out of him left none to the imagination about what he was suffering.
“Dal! You're going to kill him!” I jumped up and pulled at Dal's arm, but the Kraw was as unmoving as a tree.
“Apologize,” Dal growled at the human.
The human squeaked.
“Dal!” I kicked at Dal. He shot me a firm glance before dropping the human in a heap of robes and tangled legs. The man sucked in great choking gasps of air.
Dal strode away, tension rolling off him. “What did Patroma want this time,” he said in a flat tone.
The human continued to gasp for air, not making eye contact with any of us, and I cast him a pitying look as I went to sit next to Dal.
“Do not,” Dal whispered between us. “Too close.”
“You are my shield now,” I whispered back.
Dal stilled.
“Blade... for you.” I tried to say in my broken, limited Kraw language. I gestured toward the shining silver in the dirt with my chin. “To be my shield.”