Shadow's Voice

by Natalie Johanson

  He cursed when she managed to elbow him in his stomach and threw her to the ground. Rose landed hard and awkwardly on her side. She tried to sit up. The last thing she saw was Fabien’s boot coming toward her face.

  Rose woke with a horrible headache. She kept her eyes closed while trying to figure out where she was. She knew she was lying across a saddle and when she tried to move her wrists she found them bound. She tugged on the ropes weakly and she felt the horse come to a stop. She blinked her eyes open. Streaks of light flashed across her vision and a groan forced its way up her throat.

  “For a while I thought I might have hit you too hard,” Fabien sneered.

  Rose tried to lift her head but that sent a streak of white pain to her head, making her eyes cloud over again. She dropped her head and blinked back tears with a groan.

  She was lifted off the horse and dropped on her backside. Rose slowly rolled onto her side and half crawled until she was leaning against a tree. She looked around herself and saw nothing but woods.

  The man grabbed her chin and forced her face back to meet his. His nose was bent at an odd angle and his face was still covered in green and yellow bruises. She could smell his foul breath and feel it on her face. “I will pay you back for this, bitch.”

  Rose swallowed and stayed silent.

  The Tracer jumped off her horse and tripped on her skirts in her haste. She shoved Fabien aside and held up the small silver plate in front of Rose. A large deep scratch covered the surface. “What he will do to you is nothing. Look what you did to my mirror! It’s worthless now!” She swung the plate and slammed it across Rose’s face. “This was worth more than your life!”

  “Simone, enough.” The bruised man spoke from behind the angry woman.

  Rose held the back of her wrist to her bleeding nose.

  “We will add the price of the mirror thing to our charge.”

  She rounded on her partner with a shout. “You cannot simply buy a new one, Fabien! These are—”

  “Things I don’t care about.” Fabien cut her off.

  Rose tried to get her nose to stop bleeding and realized her lip was split as well. “How did you block me from seeing you?” she mumbled past her hands and bleeding lips.

  The two turned on her and Rose flinched. It was Simone who answered. “When I saw you had magic, I knew.” She shrugged and unlocked the thick metal cuff from her wrist. Simone rubbed at the red skin beneath. “It hurts . . . but until I know what you do, I can’t risk you using it on me.” The cuff shimmered and was luminescent. It wasn’t like any metal Rose had seen before. Simone reached down and roughly pulled Rose’s bound hands up. She slapped the cuff down on Rose’s wrist and snapped it on. Rose grunted at the force and stared at the strange metal.

  “So, where is it?”

  Rose lifted her head sluggishly and looked at Fabien. “Where’s what?”

  “The note, message or . . . whatever the officer gave you.” He stood in front of her and she had to squint against the setting sun behind him.

  “I only stole the horse.”

  Simone came around and tossed the bag of food to Fabien. He grunted and kicked Rose’s legs.

  She let her head fall back against the tree. They started making camp, moving loudly around her. Fabien started building a fire and Simone continued to go through her bags. Rose watched as the sun slowly started dip into the horizon and the shadows stretched.

  “How did you know to throw away my mirror?”

  Rose sat up again and had to drag her eyes open. “I’ve worked with a Tracer before.”

  Simone grunted. “Really? We’re not very common.”

  “Is the white hair from using your magic?”

  Simone bristled. “We think. We don’t start out with white hair but we end up with it.”

  Rose let her head roll back.

  “Shut it, woman,” Fabien growled at Simone.

  “How’d you find me?” Rose muttered, her eyes still closed.

  Simone said, “You made that boy so nervous, with your uniform. But he was afraid of us.”

  “Did you kill him?” Rose whispered.

  “Kill him? No.”

  “Woman! I said shut it!”

  Rose struggled to stay awake. She let her eyes drift shut, let herself rest in the time they were giving her. Rose blinked her eyes open and it was complete darkness, the fire out and cold. She cursed herself for falling asleep. Simone was staring at the scratched mirror and Fabien was snoring. Simone was distracted; Rose doubted she’d have a better chance to escape.

  Rose focused and willed her body to dissolve into shadow; just as she had done hundreds of times before. She started to dissolve but a shock flew through her veins. It felt as though her blood had turned to fire. The heat made her ears ring. Her eyes bulged from their sockets. The pain made her back arch and a scream slipped through her lips. Rose slumped to her side, panting. Tears streamed across her nose as her body shook and trembled. Fabien rushed over to her with his sword drawn.

  Fabien gripped her hair and pulled her upright. “What did you do?”

  “You are a fool,” Simone shouted. “Do you not know what that is?”

  Rose ignored them both, focusing on breathing as her blood eventually returned to normal.

  Fabien shook her. The pain on her scalp was nothing but a dim ache compared to what was in her veins. “What . . . did you . . . do?”

  “Leave her,” Simone said. “She isn’t going to go anywhere soon. She’ll be lucky if she remembers what the sun is in the morning.”

  Fabien dropped her and returned to his bedding. Simone stared at her and chuckled still.

  Rose couldn’t speak. She couldn’t see straight. She shook her head and tried to slow her breathing and stop her trembling. Every muscle in her body twitched and convulsed.

  What . . . what in the gods? The world swirled and she passed out.

  “Up.”

  Rose groggily turned from watching Fabien breaking camp to Simone waiting expectantly to her left. She tried to speak but found her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth.

  “Get. Up.” Simone jerked Rose to her feet. She made it to her feet only to sink back down to her knees. She knelt while the world spun around her. Breathing deep, she tried to keep her stomach down. She blinked and glanced at the metal cuff on her wrist. Her wrist was blistered, red, and bleeding.

  What in the name of the gods . . . ? She stared in stupor at the burns. What was this? “What did you do to me?”

  Fabien attached her to a lead rope from his horse.

  The ropes cut into the sensitive skin of her wrist and Rose bit back a curse as the horse dragged her to her feet. When they kicked the horses into a walk she was nearly jerked off her feet. Her reactions were sluggish and she jerked along behind the mercenaries in a daze.

  Rose tripped over a rock and she had to double step to keep from falling face first. Now how do I escape? The thought skipped through her mind and sparked more panic.

  Rose stumbled again and barely managed to keep her balance. The pain in her arms, her shock and confusion; she was stumbling through a daze. Fabien muttered something to Simone and he flicked his horse’s reins.

  A scream burst through her lips as the rope pulled tight on her arms. The horse was faster than her feet, and she tumbled down. The horse continued to drag her and Rose kicked desperately at the ground trying to regain her footing.

  “Get up, girl.” Fabien stopped his horse.

  Rose swallowed the sobs that were building in her chest and dragged herself to her feet. She’d barely straightened again when Fabien kicked his horse. Rose screamed as her shoulders were ripped by the rope and again she crashed to the ground. He dragged her again. Rocks cut into her chest and legs and underbrush sliced into her.

 
“Keep up,” Fabien sneered.

  Tears slid down her cheeks, but still she pushed herself to her feet. Her shoulders burned, her wrists bled and throbbed. Slowly, Rose uncurled her clenched hands and gripped the rope. Her body was numb from the pain, all she could feel was the burning pain, but she stared at Fabien and waited.

  “Just think of this as payment for our first encounter.”

  Rose trembled from pain and fear but held her tongue.

  Simone pulled her horse into Rose’s view and glared down at her. “I’d have killed you for what you’ve done to my mirror. The only reason you are alive is because the one who hired us wants to talk to you. And I am more afraid of him than I am seething mad at you.”

  “I just stole a horse,” Rose mumbled past her swollen and scabbed lips.

  “You and I both know you didn’t,” Simone bit out. “And you’d be wise if you’d stop thinking we are that stupid.”

  With one last jerk Fabien resumed their trek, this time without pulling Rose to the ground. Rose shook from fear. Never had Rose been in a position where she could not escape. When her father would beat her, she knew he would eventually tire. When he tired, she could slip away in shadow. As she had grown older she learned to anticipate his beatings, and learned to better control her ability. Many times, she had escaped in shadow before her father could land a blow. But now . . . now she could not even do that. For the first time, she was well and truly trapped.

  Rose was starting to see spots. Stop. Breathe. Calm down, woman. I’ll get out of this. I always do . . . I always do.

  She had to focus on each step she took. Her throbbing head made everything difficult and she limped along as fast as she could.

  “Who hired you?”

  Fabien grumbled back at her. “No one you want to get involved with.”

  “And yet here I am.”

  “Don’t get smart, girl,” he snapped.

  She heaved a sigh and winced when her ribs exploded in pain. “Where are we going, then?”

  “North.”

  She followed in silence the rest of the day. Soon all her concentration was spent on putting one foot in front of the other. That was all she let herself focus on. One step. Then the next. Now another.

  If she let her mind wander at all, if she thought about anything else, she would panic. Rose couldn’t afford to panic now. Right now, she needed to think; she needed time to figure out a plan. They’d searched the horse but they hadn’t searched her. Maybe they were new at keeping people alive. Maybe they were foolish and thought she wasn’t a danger. Whatever the reason, she still had her dagger tucked in her boot. They’d underestimated her.

  People usually did.

  Rose glared at their backs, her anger keeping her going. You took my freedom, she thought as she glared at their backs. And I’ve nothing else to lose.

  Chapter 4

  She collapsed against a tree, too exhausted to even moan anymore. They’d walked all day, taking a few short breaks to water the horses and that was all. When the sun had started to set, Rose nearly cried with relief.

  Rose slumped onto the ground. A piece of dried meat landed on the ground in front of her nose and she debated if it was worth moving to eat it.

  “Don’t make me feed you,” Simone warned from the small fire they’d started.

  Rose glared at her and slowly, painfully eased herself up to slowly chew on the jerky.

  “How far north are we going?” she asked but was met with silence.

  She let her head fall back against the tree. They murmured in the distance and Rose tried to stay awake. Her eyelids dipped, and against her will they closed. When she opened her eyes, the sky was dark and the two mercenaries were asleep.

  She was disoriented, her exhaustion and pains making her slow to remember. Rose shook her head, tried to clear the haze, and instead made the world spin and her stomach lurch. She tried to pull away from the tree but found a rope tied around her. She ground her teeth in frustration.

  Painfully, she pulled her aching legs up and pulled the dagger from her boot. She had to saw at the thick rope before the knife finally cut through.

  She rolled up onto her feet and stayed crouched. She was out of ideas. She didn’t know where she was, but she knew she couldn’t stay here. She turned and half crawled, half ran into the dark forest. Rose didn’t care where she was going. She just needed to get away. Simone couldn’t trace her anymore and the ground had turned rocky enough that tracking her should be difficult. She just needed to get away and hide. Then she could think. Then she could plan.

  She crawled through the underbrush, falling onto her forearms more than once. Rose crawled, every snap of the twigs, every rustle of the bush made her heart pound in her ears. Her breath was harsh in her ears and she tried to slow her ragged breaths. She heard a sound and paused, holding her breath. Something grabbed her ankle and pulled. Rose scream and clawed at the earth as she was dragged back.

  “You think I’m stupid?” Fabien hissed.

  Rose kicked out and tried to break his grip on her leg. She clawed at the ground trying to find anything to pull or throw at him but only clawed along gravel and dirt. Fabien fisted her hair and pulled her upright.

  She screamed and reached for his hand in her hair, but he backhanded her hard across her face. He let her crash back to the ground to kick her in the gut. She retched and curled around herself.

  “You must think I’m stupid.” He gripped her arm and started dragging her back to the camp. She tried to get her feet under her but he moved too fast and she ended up dragging the whole way. The rocks and sticks ripped new cuts along her legs and reopened the others. When he dropped her back at the tree, her legs were bleeding through the shreds of her trousers.

  Simone was sitting cross legged on her bedding. “I told you she had something.”

  He gripped her hard around the neck and roughly searched over her body while pinning her to the ground. He pulled the dagger out of her boot and continued to search. His hand lingered too long in some places, and the grip around her neck barely allowed her to breathe.

  “Any other surprises for us?” he hissed in her ear.

  Rose choked on an answer and shook her head.

  “I’ve been doing this longer than you’ve been alive—I’m not stupid. I’m bored. Don’t give me a reason to chase you again.” He leaned in far too close, pressed his body along hers. “You will not like it. We have an understanding?”

  Rose managed a nod and he shoved her back against the tree. With heavy, lingering hands he tied a rope to her ankle and looped it around the tree. He settled back into his bedding without another word. Simone stayed sitting on her bedding and stared at her. Rose tried to look through the shadows and was surprised to learn she still could despite the metal on her wrists, though it burned like a heated iron against her skin. She watched Simone through the shadows and saw the fear on her face.

  “I’d hoped you wouldn’t take the bait,” she whispered and Rose heard her through the shadows. “That was a mistake, girl. Never give him a reason to chase you. I learned that early on.”

  Simone curled back into her bedding and left Rose to shake alone in the dark.

  Morning came, and Rose was jerked awake.

  “Up. We’re leaving.”

  Rose dragged her swollen and puffy eyes open. Simone glared down at her and Rose had a moment of relief that it wasn’t Fabien. Simone hauled her to her feet and Rose stumbled before getting her feet under her. Fabien reattached the lead rope to his horse and they were moving again. She could feel a fever that developed during the night and she wondered how many of her injuries were infected. She could feel it burn behind her eyes, and made her sweat. Numbly, she pulled out the uneaten meat from the night before and forced herself to eat it.

  Every step she took mad
e her injuries bleed. The burns and deep cuts on her wrists were beginning to fester. The strange cuff, with the pearl-like surface, was making a tingling feeling spread up her arms.

  She walked. It was the same over and over. They slept at night and gave her enough food to keep her alive, enough water to keep her conscious. She’d lost track of how many days they traveled. Four? Five maybe? She watched as the large mountain range along the northern border got closer and closer, which meant deeper and deeper into the Amora Province.

  Rose leaned against the tree they’d shoved her against and wiggled her fingers. She’d lost feeling in her fingers a few days ago and the numbness was quickly spreading up her arm. Her two captors sat near the fire eating. Rose licked her chapped lips and tried find enough spit to talk.

  “Where . . .” Rose swallowed and started again, “where are we going?”

  “Don’t you ever quit?” Simone asked quietly.

  “Not really my way,” she rasped. “Bit stubborn like that.”

  Simone grunted.

  Rose let her head fall against the tree and ended up slumping to the ground. She tried to sleep but the fever was making her muscles twitch, so sleep seemed to be far away.

  “We should wrap her wrist,” Simone said.

  “What for?” Fabien hissed.

  “Because I’m afraid if we don’t, the cuff will kill her. It’s been on a long time.”

  Rose blinked at the blurry shapes of the two captors. Kill me? What? She tried to stay focused and listen but the ringing in her ears was distracting.

  “She’s fine.”

  When she opened her eyes next, the fire was nothing but glowing embers. She blinked again, and Fabien was in front of her. With one quick movement, he cut the rope tying her to the small tree. He gripped her hard around her arm and started dragging her away from camp. Fear gave her strength she didn’t have before and she thrashed against his grasp. He stumbled and dropped Rose. She rolled onto her stomach and tried to crawl away.