The Marked Son (Keepers of Life) (29 page)

“You can’t stay. They’ll kill you if you stay.”

“But if I leave, how many more will die?” The battle fills her eyes, and she suddenly gasps. “No!”

I turn to see Navar, bow and arrow in hand. He lets an arrow fly, and it slams Pop to the ground. The next instant, a wounded
first
shoves his sword into Pop’s chest before collapsing onto him. Pop’s head lolls. His body sags. His eyes stare at me, sightless, his mouth agape in a quiet warning.

Anger burns my throat. Navar has already notched another arrow on his bowstring, and is aiming it right at me. His fingers let the string go. It quivers, snapping the arrow forward, its path straight and true.

I have no time to think. No time to move.

The arrow hits my chest, rocking me backward. Kera screams, and a second and third arrow hit my torso before Kera slams into me.

We fall back.

The mist cradles my suddenly unresponsive limbs. A bright light engulfs me, as I float on a cloud, not feeling, not seeing, not knowing, not caring. When my body hits the ground on the other side, I don’t feel the impact, only the release, like floating in water.

Buoyant.

Free.

Safe, but not Sound

I climb to my feet and see Grandma running toward us. How she found this place, I don’t know. I’m glad to be back. Thrilled Leo is safe. I hover over Kera, see the arrow protruding from her shoulder, and go to touch her. She scoots over to the body lying beside her and cries out, a sob so deep and so filled with anguish, I’ve got to look.

It’s me.

My sword, its fire gone, rolls out of my fingers.

I’m still. Breathless.

Dead.

Biting her lip, Kera yanks the arrow from her shoulder. Her face drains of color, leaving her looking more like the ghost I thought she was when I first saw her. I expect her to pass out, but she only sways and blinks rapidly before tossing the arrow away. When she hovers over my body, the deep silkiness of her hair falls on my neck. Her pale, shaking fingers touch my hair, my cheek, my mouth.

Leo grips his head. He stares, his eyes wide with horror. “Do something!” he shouts at no one.

Grandma staggers forward, her face aging ten years in one moment. Kera’s fingers slip to my neck and feel for a pulse. Her body sags, and her too-bright eyes lift to find Leo. In an instant, Leo collapses to his knees.

Grandma kneels on the other side of me, and I watch her gently touch the silver brand Sidon gave me. “Oh, Dylan.”

Her voice trembles with the ache of loss. Pain saturates her eyes, tightens the flesh along her cheekbones, sharpens her jaw. Yet, she ignores her own suffering, and with the compassion I’ve never known from anyone but her, she reaches out to Kera, not knowing who she is or why she’s huddled so miserably over my body.

Suddenly the wall rips open. Mist snakes out, and from within its feathery fingers, Navar steps forward. He stands, proud and regal, a man who has won a desperate fight.

Leo shoots to his feet, and his hands curl into fists. Grandma straightens, her demeanor one of dignified calm. Only Kera ignores the newcomers, as one by one, they pour into our world. The last man to enter holds Pop’s body.

My anger is so great, I rush at Navar—and run right through him. I’m powerless to protect those I love. I look back at the defenseless group, and a fear I’ve never felt for myself slices through my soul.

Leo takes a step forward, his breath catching when he sees the bloody mark of a sword along his grandfather’s body. His gaze, full of rage, lands on Navar.

The heat of Leo’s hate should have scorched Navar’s clothing. Navar only seems amused. He nods, and the man holding Pop’s body obeys the silent command, placing the body near mine. Turning, Navar waves Kera’s father and Faldon forward.

I don’t like this. I stand at Kera’s side, desperation making my voice waver. “You’re not thinking clearly,” I say to her father and mentor. “You’ve misplaced your loyalty. You know it. Deep down you feel it. If you take her back, he’ll kill her.”

My plea is snatched away before it can reach their ears. Fear of Navar’s growing power and their inability to retract their fidelity once it’s spoken has them trapped. Kera’s father stoops, his hands cup her head, and he whispers, “Come away, my love. You are so pale.”

She shakes off her father’s touch and spears Faldon with a look of disgust. “Did you see this outcome?”

“I saw misery. Death. But I didn’t know whose.” His voice drops to a ragged whisper. “I feared it was yours.”

Kera motions to the large spot of blood soaking her dress near her shoulder. “The only harm I’ve received has come from the one who claims to love me.”

“I would never hurt you,” Navar says, clearly offended. “You acted foolishly, stepping in front of him.”

Her gaze dips back to my body. Tenderness, fragile and worn, warms her face. “I would do it again to see him live.”

I kneel at Kera’s side and finger her hair. Though it flutters briefly, I feel nothing. Only emptiness. If my heart were still beating, it would stop from sorrow. I’ve finally found love, but at what price to her?

The concern Navar showed moments ago vanishes. The vein in his temple throbs.

“Why are you here?” Grandma asks, not an ounce of fear visible, despite Navar and his men.

I’m astonished. Proud.

“How dare you come here. You beat my husband within an inch of his life, but that wasn’t enough. You had to kill my grandson. Why? Where is the honor in that? The nobility your kind claims?”

An uncomfortable silence filters through Navar’s men. Feeling their devotion waver, a deep frown hardens Navar’s features. “It’s perfect justice. He reached too far. His very existence was a blight on the earth.”

“You’re the only blight I see.” In the silence that meets her words, she says, “May God curse you, and those who’ve helped you.”

As soon as the words are out, the men point their swords at her. Fear flashes on their faces before they can shutter their emotions. Navar’s own sword swoops toward Grandma, hovering only inches from her throat, but she doesn’t move, suffering the burn of its power so close to her skin. She only stares at him, condemning his actions.

“Be careful what you say.”

Grandma lifts her chin. “I always weigh my words.”

Navar’s frown turns thunderous. The muscle near the corner of his eye jumps, and he stabs his finger at Kera’s father. “Take hold of your daughter.” He then turns to Faldon. “You know what I expect from you.”

Then the man who would be king pivots on his heel and disappears back into his world.

As Navar’s men follow, Kera’s father wrestles her away from my lifeless body.

“No!” Her howl of misery, deep and fearful, claws free of her chest.

“I’m here,” I say, but my words fall like stones in snow.

When her father finally drags her to the wall, I follow. I can do no less. In death, just as in life, my spirit is attached to hers.

When he passes his friend, he says in a solemn tone, “Be merciful, Faldon.”

Kera focuses on the seer. “Please, don’t do it.”

“Hush,” her father scolds.

Before he carries her into the retreating mist, Kera’s face warns of the coming horror and she screams, “Run!”

Feverchills

Kera fought her father until the pain of her injury sapped her strength. She hung in his arms, a rag doll dressed in ripped and bloody cloth. “How could you?” she asked over and over again.

Her father kissed her forehead and sighed. “I do only what I believe is best for you. Nothing else matters but your safety.”

“You believe the lies Navar has spun.”

“He can’t lie.”

“He spills his view of the truth, twisting it until it doesn’t resemble reality. What is that if not a lie?”

Lips pinched, her father continued his walk in silence. The procession wound through the town, and people began to filter out of their homes to stare. He held her closer and said, “What’s done is done. Rest, now.”

Navar and his men strutted ahead of them. Kera could hear Granel calling out Navar’s bravery in rescuing his bride-to-be from one of the tainted. Cheers rose. Did no one see him for what he really was?

Once home, she was put to bed. Her maid clucked and moaned and made a nuisance of herself when Kera only wished to be left alone. Her wounds were dressed, her bloody clothes burned, and the candles doused. She pushed back into her pillows and closed her eyes until the last of her watchers slipped out.

They waited for Faldon to return. He was their healer. Did they know he was a murderer as well? Did they even think it murder, killing a human? When she was found out, would they feel sorrow when she was put down and nailed on the beam in the town square?

It didn’t take long for the fever to set in. The spikes in heat were terrible, but the chills were beyond miserable. A hush of whispers wondered at the cause. Kera knew. Navar loved his poison. He’d tipped his arrows. That he hadn’t offered a cure only showed his lack of care for her.

If she lived past this night, she would be his wife.

And when he found out what she really was, his anger would be unstoppable.

Morning Breaks Red

I stop as the echo of Kera’s warning pulses through the woods. The next moment, a flash of light ignites a tree. Again and again, light flashes, and then the boom of it hitting resounds. Fire snakes from tree to tree like an out-of-control virus, following Leo’s darting form.

It’s no wonder Faldon has a dragon for a pet. Apparently, like the dragon, the sage can harness the element of fire, bend it, shape it, and throw it at will. Wherever he points, the earth flares with heat, scorching, and marring. All too soon, the woods are on fire. I rush to Grandma, who’s thrown herself over my body, protecting it. Though I know it’s useless, I shout, “Get up! Move!”

She hunkers down lower, gasping against the rising heat and thickening smoke.

My attention returns to Faldon. Frustration lacerates my mind. There is nothing I can do physically to stop him. My spirit has no effect here. I need form. Something solid. Tangible. It’s that need which drives me to slip into the earth and rise anew, baptized with dirt that clings to my spirit in the shape of my body. I hold out my arms, marveling at what I’ve done. I may be dead, but I’m not completely useless.

The sight of me interrupts Faldon’s pursuit—long enough, I hope, for Leo to get Grandma out of here. “I wondered,” Faldon says. “Your power was so great. I thought there might be a residual effect. It shouldn’t last long.”

The first shot of fire slams through me, digging out a hole the size of a dinner plate. I call on the dirt to rise, and cover the expanse like a waterfall flowing up a cliff, and with it vines and pebbles and all sorts of debris weave around and along my limbs, filling out the gaps and bulking up the monster I’ve become.

Faldon’s face twitches, as if the sight of me is more humorous than scary. “Impressive, for a garden gnome. You have the determination of your father. I sensed it the first time I saw you. It pleased me as much as it scared me.” His face froze as if the memory hurt. “I should have sent you away as soon as you showed up. Misery is all you’ve wrought. It’s time our worlds were separated for good. I don’t wish to hurt anyone, but I have no choice. You know I don’t.”

He may have known my father, but he doesn’t know me. I’m not the one killing innocent people. I’m not the one taking orders from a lunatic.

There’s no question in my mind. He’s weak. They all are.

Somehow, either from the look on my dirt-encrusted face or a telepathy I’m not aware of, he knows what I think of him. With a sneer, he shoots one, two, three shots in quick succession, and my imperfect cover blasts apart, showering the area in stinging dirt.

My plan works, sort of. Leo pulls Grandma to her feet and urges her forward, but together, they’re now an easier target.

Without knowing if it’s even possible, I run and thrust my spirit into Leo’s body. With a shudder rippling from the base of his skull to the tip of his tailbone, I’m accepted. The feel of skin and bones is shocking. Though I haven’t been a spirit long, I’ve missed the sensation. Pushing Grandma forward, I command her to go, to run.

Then I wheel around and face Faldon.

Surprise at Leo’s boldness registers on his face. “Do you know who I am? What I am? You’re no match for me.”

“No,” Leo’s deep voice rolls as I speak. Power surges into Leo’s body and lights him up, a living demonstration of the burning man. “But Dylan is.”

Faldon gapes and stumbles back. I call down a flame-engulfed tree, bending it so it slams the ground. Sparks fly into the air, and then it whips straight again. The smoke between us slithers skyward. The earth-shaking event leaves Faldon speechless.

“I’m a pretty cool residual effect, huh?” Another tree slams to the ground, this time closer to Faldon, and it jolts him out of his stupor. He heaves several balls of flame in my direction. Saving Leo’s skin from third degree burns isn’t going to be easy. I dart to my right and slide baseball style behind a thickly trunked tree. Flames slam into it, creating a shower of tiny sparks that ignite the underbrush. Leo begins to cough.

“Growing weak, Dylan?” Faldon taunts. “Your host can’t survive much longer.”

He’s right. Leo’s body wasn’t made for this.

I sift through my limited options and come to the startling conclusion that I’ve used them all up. I have nowhere to go that Faldon can’t follow. Nowhere to hide where he can’t find me, and Leo is in eminent danger of dying from smoke inhalation.

Faldon suddenly appears in front of me. I expected to see victory lighting his eyes, but a real sadness clings to the edges. “I take no pleasure in killing. I really am sorry. If there were any other way...”

Regret colors his words, but it doesn’t change a thing. He’s bound himself to Navar, and Navar wants Leo and Grandma dead. No witnesses. No loose ends living on this side of the wall. I’ve seen the weakness that mars their world, the flawed obedience that chokes out what’s right. How it can devastate a man who can see into the future, but who still can’t change the outcome.

“I’m not bound by your flaw,” I say, “and I’m not sorry about that.”

A limb whips down and hurls Faldon into the air. He crashes against a tree, breaking through the burning skin of bark. The wood splits. Faldon’s face pales. He struggles against the tree that is pulling him in. I pant heavily until his cries for mercy are deadened by the bark slowly covering the wound of Faldon’s making.

Leo’s body gags. I hold tight, knowing I’ve one more thing to do before I leave this world. I lift up Leo’s hands. They glow amid the haze of smoke, and it takes a few minutes until the first drop of rain falls. I urge it on, calling for a heavy downpour. The forest sizzles. Fires die. Everywhere except one lone tree. I want it to burn: it’s the only way to release Faldon from his word and keep Leo and Grandma safe.

Filled with ash, the raindrops plop heavily onto the forest floor, collecting into muddy, vile-smelling rivulets. In the distance, someone’s calling Leo’s name. Grandma has sent a search party. I wrench my spirit out of Leo, and he scoots away, his eyes wide and disbelieving.

“Bro, don’t you ever do that again. Seriously. I nearly peed my pants.”

Poor Leo. I can only imagine how much he regrets ever saying hi to me. “Sorry,” I say. “I didn’t know what else to do.”

He rubs at the goose bumps running up his arms. “I feel it. You had to do the rescue thing. I’m grateful, but that doesn’t mean I’ve got to like it.”

Wait a second. “C-can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Leo raises his head and looks around. “Can’t see you, but I can hear you.”

I pull the dirt onto my spirit again, showing him that I’m standing right in front of him.

“That is so weird.” He pokes a finger through my earthy skin, and pulls it away, heavy with mud.

There’s another yell from the rescuers. “I need to finish this,” I say. “You’ve got to go, too. It’s still not safe. Not yet.”

“I know. Listen,” he blinks away the rain falling into his eyes, “if you see Pop—you know, his ghost—tell him…tell him thanks, and that I love him.”

I nod. Leo’s family is close. I can’t express how badly I feel for causing Pop’s death. So much has gone wrong. I’ve got to find a way to make it right.

I let the dirty muck fall from my spirit. I’m halfway to the wall when Leo yells, “When you’re done, go toward the light. I mean, if you want to. There’s no rush. I’m cool with you being a ghost.”

I smile. I’m going to miss that guy. Without a word, I slip through the wall and enter Teag.