Eos (The Eos Dawn Series Book 1)

by Jen Guberman

  “Paren, move!” I shouted, giving Paren just enough time to turn around and see Mikael barreling toward him.

  Mikael threw himself into Paren, grabbing a fist full of Paren’s shirt and throwing him on the ground face first. I stood out of my seat, half in shock, and half trying to contemplate how to react.

  “What’d I tell you?” Mikael growled.

  Paren rolled over on his back, revealing a busted nose and lip.

  “That you think I’m pretty,” Paren smiled, blood coating his teeth.

  Mikael kicked Paren in the side, causing Paren to cough, blood spattering.

  “I warned you,” Mikael said, as if he had been doing Paren a favor. “You didn’t listen.”

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t focus, I just got lost in your eyes,” Paren groaned, trying to force a smile and laugh.

  Mikael swore, spitting on Paren. He threw his foot down on Paren’s throat, crushing down slowly as he spoke.

  “I don’t think I should give ya’ another chance. You’ll always be there, goin’ aroun’ an’ takin’ what ain’t yours. I’d be doin’ everyone a favor if I took you out, right here.”

  He ground his foot into Paren’s throat more, causing him to squirm and choke.

  “Right no—”

  I yanked on a handful of Mikael’s hair, pulling his head back and resting the blade of my pocketknife against his throat. I could feel the blade move against the pulse of a bulging vein.

  “Maybe I’ll do everyone a favor,” I whispered in his ear, tugging back on his hair more.

  Mikael let out a deep, bellowing laugh.

  “Princess ‘ere thinks she can fight, doesn’t she?” he asked the room.

  I held tight to his hair.

  “Take your foot off of him and leave him alone.”

  “Aww, Paren’s girlfriend is gunna’ fight for ‘im. How cute!” He snickered. “Let’s see whatcha’ got,” he yelled, grabbing my splint and bending it away from his neck.

  I shrieked in pain, grabbing at my wrist. He took his foot off of an unconscious Paren as he turned to face me with a wide grin.

  “You’re almost too pretty to wanna’ hurt,” he said. “Almost.”

  Mikael’s fist flew toward my face and I ducked just in time. I popped back up into a stand and, without hesitation, kneed him in the crotch.

  He groaned, grabbing his groin with one hand, but snagging my hair in his other.

  He wrenched my hair, making me lose my balance. I fell, but he never released his grasp on my hair as he began dragging me across the room. My scalp was blazing with pain from every hair follicle as he pulled me toward the entrance of the room. I screamed, grappling for his hand without luck.

  “Eos!” choked Paren, squinting as he rubbed his neck.

  He bolted after Mikael, and once he caught up to us, he threw all of his weight into a punch that landed square on Mikael’s nose. A crunching sound echoed in the cave as blood started oozing out. Mikael dropped his grasp on my hair, clutching his nose to stop the blood flow. Paren shot his hand into Mikael’s neck, slamming him against the jagged stone wall.

  “Don’t you ever touch her again,” he threatened, pulling Mikael’s head toward him an inch, just to slam it back against the rock. “If you touch her again, I’ll kill you. Don’t try me.”

  Paren stared with a maddened sting in his eyes at Mikael, and he slammed his head once more into the rock. Mikael’s body went limp as he fell to the floor.

  “Is he dead?” I asked, undeniably a little hopeful.

  “No. He’ll be back on his feet in a matter of time.”

  I looked down at Mikael, slumped over on the ground.

  “You don’t want to be here when he wakes up, come on.”

  We went back into the common room. Paren cleaned the blood from his face once again and tended to his broken nose after repairing my splint. For the remainder of the evening, he and I sat in my pocket “bedroom” just talking and sharing stories.

  “So, how do you know what time of day it is if you can’t see the sun?” I asked.

  “You get used to it. Your body will tell you when it’s time for things like dinner and sleep.”

  “I think my body’s doing that ‘telling me it’s time for sleep’ thing,” I laughed drowsily.

  “You should probably listen to it—you look exhausted. If you need anything, my room is just over there,” he pointed diagonally from mine.

  “Thank you, Paren.”

  “My pleasure, darling. Sweet dreams.” He walked out toward the common room, leaving me to curl up under the ratted blanket on top of my dull green bed mat.

  I shifted around, trying to get comfortable, but I could feel every groove in the rock floor beneath me. I groaned in discomfort, frustrated as I rolled over on my other side. The process continued until I finally fell asleep.

  I woke up with a calloused, rough hand tightly covering my mouth. My eyes shot open, meeting Mikael’s. He stroked my cheek with the back of a finger on his other hand.

  “Mornin’,” he whispered with a sly grin.

  I tried to move to punch him but realized my wrists had been tied together by sharp wire.

  “Rhmmmphhhrmmuh!!” I mumbled from under his hand.

  He kept smiling at me, as his finger began to trace down my neck.

  “RHHUGHH!!” I tried to scream, my eyes wide.

  I moved my legs from under my blanket as quickly as I could, scrambling to move. My lips slipped from under his hand for a half second before he cupped my mouth shut again, but it left me just enough time to let out a sharp, piercing scream to echo through the bedrooms. Mikael forced me in place, straddling me to keep me still, keeping my mouth covered. I kicked my legs wildly, my knees occasionally making impact with his back, but he seemed unphased. He ran his hand down my chest as I growled, thrashing around under him.

  Suddenly, Mikael was ripped off of me, and I heard a loud boom. Paren was on top of Mikael, pummeling his face. He repeatedly brought back his fist, sending it soaring into Mikael, like a scorpion stinging its prey.

  Mikael barely had time to respond before Paren had beat him unconscious yet again. I watched in horror as he picked Mikael’s head up, lobbing it into the ground repeatedly until blood pooled around it.

  He sat there for a moment, breathing heavy, his head hung low as he looked at his blood-stained hands.

  “Eos?” he called to me, without looking up. “Are you okay?”

  “I-I’m fine,” I said in a half whisper.

  “Did he—”

  “No,” I interrupted. “I think that was his intention though.”

  He nodded, his head still drooping toward the ground and Mikael’s body.

  “I didn’t know what else to do,” he breathed.

  Paren stood up and stormed out, angrily snatching a lantern from a table.

  “Paren,” I called, getting up clumsily, with my wrists still bound.

  I trotted after him. When I got to the common room, he wasn’t there.

  “Paren?” I continued out toward the path leading to the entrance of Bellicose.

  It was dark, and I didn’t have a lantern. I figured I could follow Paren, but I couldn’t see him. I walked carefully, calling out his name. Glass crunched under my feet as I tripped over the remains of a lantern. I swore as I smashed into the ground, unable to catch myself because of my tied wrists. I felt tiny glass shards prick my palms as I tried to steady myself into a stand. I searched blindly for a few more minutes before resigning, making my way into the commons.

  I was too shook up to go back to sleep, so I picked a seat in the nearly empty room and sat down, laying my head on the table. I sighed in exhaustion. I’d be lying to myself if I said I could ever leave this place. There’s no wall or fence to climb, there’s no lock to pick… this is it. I’m stuck here until I die. I’m rooming with murderers, so even that might not be too long.

  Sitting up, my eyes were met with a man now sitting across from me. His arms were almost thick
er than my waist, his head was shaved smooth, his veiny arms and shaved head were decorated in tribal tattoos, and he had a thick black ring dangling from the middle of the cartilage of his nose. He squinted at me and bowed his head in a subtle nod.

  I nervously nodded back, my lips pursed tight.

  The man flicked a knife open and motioned to my wrists with his head. I glanced down, seeing the thin wire cutting into my pale and dusty skin.

  “Please,” I asked quietly, holding my wrists out.

  He snapped the wire in one swift motion with the knife, closing it back up and tucking it into a pocket.

  “Thank you.”

  He nodded subtly again.

  “Are you Cromwell? The representative?” I asked, remembering Paren’s description.

  Another nod.

  “I’m Eos.”

  Cromwell stood, walking toward his room.

  “Nice to meet you, too,” I whispered sarcastically.

  When Cromwell reached his door, he turned to face me and motioned me to him.

  Crap, he heard me.

  My heart was racing as I got up and approached his room. He stood to the side, hinting for me to enter. When I stepped into his room, I saw a few lanterns hanging from hooks on the walls, illuminating the room the same amber glow as the rest of Bellicose, only slightly brighter. There was a thin mattress on the floor, with springs jutting out from the fabric in a few places. The walls were smoother than the rest of the cavern, almost as if they had been sanded and chiseled down. Upon closer observation, I saw that almost every inch of the walls was covered in intricate white chalk sketches of trees, waterfalls, and mountains.

  “These are beautiful,” I said, staring at the walls in awe.

  “14 years I’ve been here,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice. “I was chosen as the representative after 3 years and have been ever since. I started these 11 years ago. I used to love nature.”

  “How did you ever get to see things like this? The cities don’t allow people to just wander outside wherever.”

  “I was a hunter. Once every month, my city would transport myself and a few others to hunt in the woods for about a week straight—we supplied a lot of the meat for the city.”

  “I thought that’s what the cattle fields were for?”

  “You didn’t honestly think those petty stocks of cows were enough to feed everyone, did you? Those are mostly all dairy cows anyways.”

  “Oh.”

  “I’m just going to cut to the chase here,” he started. “I know you’re from Avid.”

  “What?” I asked, my heart sinking.

  “I heard you speaking to that blonde boy. I know you’re from Avid, I know the officials didn’t know who you were, and I know what you were looking for when you got caught.”

  I stood in silence, stunned.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I lied coolly, crossing my arms and cocking an eyebrow.

  “I’m not going to report you. I don’t care who you are,” he said plainly. “I actually might be able to help.”

  “What do you mean, ‘help’?”

  “I might know where the Bellicose key is.”

  “What? How would you know? And why would you want to help me? What’s in it for you?” I asked skeptically.

  “One question at a time.”

  “How would you know that you found it?”

  “Years ago, I found a box hidden in the caves with a small key in it, and nothing here really needs a key to unlock it. One can assume what it’s for, knowing about this Skeleton Key now.”

  “Where is it?” I asked anxiously.

  “I’m not going to tell you that.” His laugh bellowed in the room.

  “I thought you were going to give it to me?”

  “I never said that.”

  “Yes, you did! You told me you knew where it was and that you might be able to help!”

  “Might.”

  “Well, what do I have to do for it?”

  “Fight me.”

  “Pardon?”

  “Fight me,” he repeated.

  “You can’t be serious,” I laughed nervously.

  “I am. If you want that key, beat me in a fight.”

  “I don’t know how to fight though!” I protested. “And in case you haven’t noticed, you’re a bit bigger than me.”

  “You have to fight for things sometimes if you think you’re worthy of them. But yes, you do know how to fight—I saw you with that knife and Mikael. You know how to fight dirty, but if you kill me, I obviously can’t tell you where the key is. Provides me with a little protection, you see? I want you to learn how to properly fight. Without the knife. You have as much time as you need—I’m certainly not going anywhere.”

  “Why do you care if I know how to fight?”

  “Part of me just wants the challenge. Part of me sees a lot of potential in you, and it’d be a waste if I didn’t push you to see what you can do with it.”

  I rolled my eyes and he chuckled.

  “If you don’t, now you know it’ll be your loss.”

  “I wouldn’t even begin to know how to leave Bellicose even if I won,” I whined.

  “You’ll figure something out,” he said in a mumble, opening his door and motioning me out. I stepped outside his room, turning back to say something to him but instead he just nodded silently and closed himself in his room.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  I didn’t see Paren for three days. When I finally saw him again, he was sitting alone in his pocket room. His eyes looked sunken in, his face was pale, and his jaw covered in blonde stubble.

  “Where have you been?” I asked, stunned when I walked into the bedroom corridor.

  “Thinking,” he replied softly, without making eye contact.

  “What happened to you?”

  “I’ve just been thinking.”

  “About?”

  “Eos, I killed someone!” he let out in a bellowing yell, turning and looking at me with wild red eyes.

  “I know…” I said in a sigh, unsure of how to react.

  “I’m a monster,” he said, his eyes welling up as he looked at me with shame.

  “No, you aren’t. You were protecting me!” I raised my voice, my eyes wide as I looked back at him with sympathy.

  “I could’ve handled it differently. What did they do with his body?” he asked, his voice weak and full of guilt.

  “I saw Cromwell carry it off somewhere—I think he brought it to the front gates. And I don’t believe that you could’ve handled it any differently. Do you really think he would’ve stopped any other way?”

  Paren thought for a moment. “I guess not. It still doesn’t feel right.”

  “I don’t think killing is supposed to feel right,” I said, placing a hand on his back. “Have you had anything to eat since you disappeared?”

  “No.”

  “Here,” I said, moving to my room and digging under my blanket, retrieving a cup of chocolate pudding. “I was saving it for later, but you missed dinnertime, so I’m going to guess you need this more than I do.”

  I tossed him the pudding and he smiled sweetly.

  “Thanks.”

  That night, I lay awake on my mat, unable to fall asleep. Hours had passed, but all I could do was toss and turn. When I was finally nearing sleep, I heard a familiar voice whisper my name.

  “Eos! Wake up!”

  “Is she still sleeping?” another voice asked in a raspy whisper.

  “She’s moving. Eos! Get up!”

  I rolled over, rubbing my eyes as I tried to make out the dark, blurry figures.

  “Lamb? Zane?”

  “Hey, girl!” Lamb whispered excitedly. “We’re here to bust you out!”

  “How did you guys get here?” I asked in disbelief.

  “Through the bars!” Lamb said.

  There’s no way you fit through those bars,” I said credulously.

  “If you time it just right when vehicles enter or exit,
you can pass them, section by section,” Zane clarified.

  “And no one caught you?”

  “It’s nighttime, even the mouth of the cavern is dark right now. We’re wearing all black—they didn’t see a thing!”

  “If we’re going to leave, we have to leave now,” Zane urged. “There’s a truck dropping off weekly rations, and they’ll probably be leaving soon.”

  Lamb tugged on my arm, trying to help me to my feet.

  “Guys, wait, stop,” I said. “I can’t.”

  “What do you mean you ‘can’t’?” Zane asked.

  “I mean I can’t leave right now. I might have a way to get the Belli—” I started, biting my tongue.

  “It’s okay, E, she knows about the Key.”

  “I might have a way to get the Bellicose key,” I finished.

  “How?” he asked.

  “Cromwell, the representative here. He said he has it—”

  “You told him about it?” Zane interrupted, trying not to yell.

  “No! I sorta’ told someone else though—a friend of mine. And Cromwell overheard. But he says he knows where it is, but he won’t give it to me—”

  “Why not? What use does he have for it?”

  “Zane, please. Stop interrupting,” Lamb said daintily. “Go ahead, E.”

  I paused for a moment, eyeing Zane.

  “Anyways, he won’t give it to me unless I beat him in a fight. No knives—a clean fight.”

  “You’re joking, right?” Zane stifled a laugh.

  I stared at him blankly.

  “Aw, crap, you’re not joking. Look, why don’t you just steal the key from the stupid brute and we can move on?”

  “It isn’t that simple,” I said. “He’s always in his room. I never see him outside his room unless he’s calling me over to talk to him. I’m not about to try stealing from someone like him.”

  “So, you’re going to fight him?”

  “I don’t really have another choice. But I have no idea how to fight.”

  “Easy!” Lamb chirped, a bit too excitedly as the sound of her voice echoed sharply. She cupped her hands over her mouth. “Sorry!” she whispered.

  “How is it easy?” I asked.

  “I didn’t mean fighting is easy, but I mean all we have to do is help prepare you! We can train you. We can stay here and just leave when another shipment of rations comes.”