Inked, p.19
Inked, page 19
“Can’t sleep?” I turned on my side to see Kenzi sitting on a fallen tree a few feet away, his Ink glimmering softly in the dark. He gazed carelessly at small bolts of electricity dancing on his fingertips. “Me either.”
“How can anyone sleep with that?” I nudged Tabor with my foot. He snorted loudly, smacked his lips, and then kept snoring. Kenzi and I both laughed, and I stood up to join him on his log.
“So,” I started.
“Don’t even say it,” he said, swatting his hand around. “I know. Sorry I’ve been so absent, but . . .” his eyes grew listless and traveled to the other side of the fire we sat around. “She’s amazing.”
I was shocked. Wasn’t he spending all his time training with my father? I should have guessed though.
Ryst slept soundly, oblivious to Tabor’s roaring snores, using what looked like a rock for a pillow. With each exhale, tiny sparks shot out of her nose and, when it was open, her mouth too. I grimaced.
“So I guess that’s the reason you’re not over there, cuddled up close?” A large spark shot out of her nose, erupting in a little flame. Like Tabor, she smacked her lips and fell back asleep. Was this was her version of snoring?
“Shut up,” Kenzi said, giving me a nudge. “She doesn’t know.”
“Really?” I said, looking at him surprised. “After all that time you spent training?”
He sighed. “Come on man, I was faking most of it.” He said this in a mocking tone, wiggling his hands and fingers in the air. “I know I can reach out and . . . I don’t know, figure her out. I know there’s something gentle under the surface. She’s soft on that little kid she rescued. What’s her name? Something ridiculous, right?”
“Flycker,” I said, grinning.
“Yeah, with the mop of flaming hair,” he said dismissively. “I’ve seen her face light up whenever that kid comes squealing down the road, setting shops aflame.”
We sat quietly for a moment, lost in the din of deep breathing. Small fires were lit across the woods, burning dimly in the dark, our huge Magical army waiting for the morning.
“So,” I said, interrupting the silence. “We’re okay, right?”
“Yeah, man,” Kenzi said, nodding. “Definitely.”
He stuck out his hand. The small bolts of lightning flickering on his fingertips disappeared. I reached out and grasped his wrist, and shook. When he let go, I swung my arms around him, hugging him tightly.
“All right, all right,” Kenzi muttered, laughing. His skin let loose a loud crack and he shocked me, sending me tumbling off the log and onto the ground. We both erupted into laughter, and I quickly covered my mouth, looking around the campsite. Not a soul stirred.
Tabor snorted again and yawned loudly, until he fell back into slumber, snoring.
“How much farther?” Kenzi muttered to Ryst in front of me, as we continued our march. The mood, for the most part, was fairly upbeat. The Conduits smiled at one another, making small talk as we grew closer to Spiritrend, blowing my mind, really.
Our destination guaranteed certain peril, and an epic battle that, when I thought of it, sent my heart racing. And as my heart raced, plumes of dirt circled my feet. Those near me coughed and fanned their faces as I apologized sheepishly. Part of me thought I should have taken some more training, learned to control myself a little better.
“Maybe a few more minutes, maybe a few more hours,” spat Ryst, shortly. “Just keep walking. When I start setting people on fire, you’ll know we’ve arrived.”
Kenzi gulped. “Thanks?”
“No problem,” she said, and turned back around, as if we’d never been talking to her in the first place.
“What do you see in her—” I started, but before I could finish, I caught Kenzi sighing as his skin crackled. I didn’t say anything else.
The scenery hadn’t changed too dramatically, despite marching almost all day. The dirt roads looked more traveled the farther away from the Sanctuary we went. Trees were cut down, leaving room for whatever rumbled down these streets most often—probably not armies full of Magic-wielding, angry Conduits.
I found myself weaving in and out of the vast swaths of people, doing my best to take everyone in. This was mostly at the insistence of my father, who said I should meet as many of my people as I could, in order to learn more about who we were fighting for. I circled back to Kenzi, Tabor, and Griska the most, and even though the latter never spoke, his presence was still comforting.
I passed Kenzi who besides swooning over an incredibly disinterested Ryst, was growing terribly antsy.
“When do you think we’re going to see some action?” he asked, his eyes flashing white, a grin on his face. “Seriously, I’m losing my mind over here, all this waiting and walking and—”
The marching stopped abruptly. I smacked into a burly man walking in front of me, and Kenzi fell over on top of Ryst.
“Watch where you’re going!” she spat out, pushing him away as she scrambled to her feet while Kenzi apologized profusely.
The man I bumped into grunted, turning his gaze back to the front of the army. He, as well as everyone else, had his eyes fixated on my father, who was now holding up his ice-blue sword, smoke pooling from its tip.
“What do you think is going on?” I whispered to Kenzi.
“I don’t know, maybe—”
“Maybe if you two shut your mouths, you’d find out,” Ryst interrupted. Her lip ring was bright red again, glimmering like molten metal.
The sound of the army’s murmuring and light chatter grew quickly silent, as my father held up his sword, demanding attention without speaking a word. I followed the example, not just because Ryst frightened me.
“It might not look like it,” he said, lowering his sword and walking into the midst of the army, everyone separating so he could pass through the middle, “but we’re here. This is where our battle begins.”
He paused as he stepped closer to our group. He looked at us and nodded, then continued striding through his people.
“We’re minutes away from the village. Some of you Listeners might have already sensed it as we grew closer. Others who have been here before”—he stopped and glanced at Ryst, who immediately turned away, then continued—“you already know this area well. You might feel the urge to seek revenge. To wreck total havoc. Remember to stay focused at the task at hand. Liberate. Then annihilate.”
I squirmed uncomfortably at those words. Annihilate? That didn’t feel right.
He walked up a small incline toward the woods that lined the road.
“We take to the woods now, to approach the village from the foliage. Keep quiet, stay together, and wait for my signal.” He swung his sword in the air and shot a jet of ice into the sky. “Let’s move.”
The army shifted loudly and made their way into the wilderness. Kenzi, Ryst, and I followed suit, when my father stopped us.
“Caenum, wait,” he said, placing a hand on my shoulder. “I need you to do something for me—”
“No way,” I said, interrupting, pushing his hand off me. “I’m coming with you. You’re not leaving me behind.”
“Caenum,” he said, taking a step forward, “I’m not leaving you. I have a mission for you. And you’re the only one who can do it.”
My heart raced in my chest, pounding to the point where I could hear it in my temples.
“Mission?” I asked, hearing my voice crack. I cleared my throat. “What do you mean?”
“I’ll explain.”
“This is ridiculous,” Ryst grumbled as we walked up the long dirt road toward Spiritrend. “Your father named me one of his generals. A general! I trained a quarter of those people out there. I’m more powerful than most of the eldest members in the Sanctuary. Why I’m stuck babysitting you two, I have no idea.”
“Me either,” I grumbled, “I can handle myself.”
“I don’t mind that you’re with us!” Kenzi piped in pathetically. I rolled my eyes and we walked on in silence.
My heart beat fast in my chest as we walked. I breathed slowly, trying to focus. I could feel everything around me. The trees and their leaves as they fluttered in the wind, rustling, singing to one another. “Okay, stop that.” Ryst said, annoyed. “Control yourself,” she looked right at me, noticeably irritated.
“What?” I said, confused.
“Look behind you.” And she pointed.
I turned around and Kenzi suppressed a laugh.
Trailing behind us, as far as we could see, were green footprints, some thicker than others. I squatted down to examine one, and smiled, amused.
“Something is funny about this?” Asked Ryst, her arms crossed.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“What if someone was coming back to Spiritrend?” She asked curtly. “A citizen? A trader? A caravan of Scribes?”
“I think the Scribes are already in the village,” I said, standing up.
“Some Citadel Guards on patrol then,” Ryst retorted, irritably. “That’s clearly Magic, Caenum. Any Citadel Guard or Unprinted bandit could spot that. Take care of it.”
“What?” I asked, confused. “Take care of it?”
“Sure,” she said, walking over. “You grew it. Just make it go away.”
“It’ll be fine,” I said, blowing her off and squatting back down to look at one of the footprints. I ran my fingers across the sprouts and focused, willing them to grow. They twisted and turned, curling upward. Leaves shot out at the sides, buds formed and burst open with a satisfying pop, and three bright-yellow petals from the heads, a black stamen protruding in the middle.
I grinned.
Pepper thistle.
“Enough of this,” Ryst said, and I felt a flash of heat whiz by my face and across the road. I jumped to my feet, shooting a hand up to my cheek, thinking I’d been burned, definitely feeling like I had. When I looked down the road, I understood why I felt as though I was on fire. Each footstep burned a bright orange-red, foot-shaped flames taking the place of the footprints. I gritted my teeth, trying to ignore the pain, and turned to Ryst.
“What’s your problem?” I demanded. “I would have gotten rid of them.”
“Sure you would have,” she said, turning to continue down the road. I waved my right hand, and one of the trees on the side of the road reached out a long branch and swatted her into a bush.
“Caenum!” shouted Kenzi, bolting over to her. “Ryst, are you okay?” He bent down to help her up, and she shoved him away.
“Get off me,” she snarled, standing up, looking at me with rage in her eyes. “Boy, I don’t care who your father is or how special he thinks you are. I will take you down.”
I threw my hands down at my sides, and with a flash, my vision went slightly blurred. I flexed my hands and felt power surging into my fingertips.
“Caenum, no,” Kenzi said. Ryst walked toward me, a ball of flame illuminating in her hand, her piercing glowing fiercely.
“You want to go?” She quipped, smirking.
“Bring it.”
I swung my arm, and a tree mimicked my motions, a thick branch thrusting out toward Ryst. She hurled a ball of flame at it, the blaze so intense that it reduced the piece of wood to ash almost instantaneously, sending black and dark-gray soot down upon her. The dust covered her face and buried itself in her hair. I motioned at another tree, and a branch swung down from the other side, catching her leg and sending her tumbling to the ground. With a blast, this time she set the entire tree ablaze, but it didn’t disintegrate. The green leaves and living branches squealed and popped as water fled the inside, the plant burning alive.
It felt horrible.
I fell to my knees, trying to tear off the invisible fire that felt like it was consuming me. I screamed, tearing at my leather armor, pulling it off piece by piece. I knew I wasn’t on fire. I could see it. But I felt it, all over, and couldn’t control the urge to put it out. A frustrating and terrifying feeling, knowing what you’re doing is useless, but doing it anyway just because.
“Stop it!” Yelled Kenzi from someplace. “Ryst knock it off!”
As I kept pulling at my bracers, I felt Ryst’s footsteps as she walked toward me, her feet pressing into the earth almost maliciously. She squatted down, looking me square in the eyes, with an unfeeling, uncaring glance.
She waved a hand, and the pain was gone.
“Look at me,” she snarled under her breath. “Look at me!” She grabbed my face and looked at me intently. “Those people in Spiritrend? The Citadel Guards who will be there, waiting for us? They won’t show you mercy. They won’t give you quarter. Your little tricks with your plants and your dirt,” she picked up a handful of soil off the ground and tossed it at me, “won’t mean a damn thing if you don’t have the brass to go through with it.”
“Through with what?” I sputtered, still reeling.
She raised her eyebrows and grinned. “Slapping people with tree branches, tripping them up . . . it’s cute. That business back at the Sanctuary, when you hoisted up that one guard with the giant vine, adorable. You need to be ready to kill someone, Caenum. Can you do that?”
I paused and considered it.
“After what they did to Frosthaven? What they did to your home? Your family? Your little”—she waved her hand dismissively—“girlfriend’s family or whatever? They drove your father away, they drove you here, and they ruined your life.”
I looked down at the earth and closed my eyes, feeling the soil underneath me.
“Well?” she asked, angrily.
“Yes,” I said, softly, almost whispering.
“I can’t hear you,” she snarled.
“Yes!” I shouted, and the earth around us rattled.
“Good.” She grinned and stood up, bending over to bring me to my feet. “Now let’s go kill some bad guys.”
We slowed as we approached Spiritrend.
The city was much larger than Frosthaven, and clearly better off. The walls surrounding the place were made of thick marble, with an enormous brass door attached to golden chains, ready to hoist it as needed. The woods bordering the town were thick and dense, much like the wilderness that sat outside Frosthaven. It was as if someone had picked up the town, just dropped it in the middle of the wilderness, and cut a single road straight to the gates.
The sun was dipping in the sky, lighting it on fire. I closed my eyes and waited.
A rustle.
A footstep.
The light pressure of skin against bark.
I could feel the army gathering in the woods at the edge of the town, close to the large walls that surrounded it. Every time they came close to tree, a shrub, a weed . . . I felt them. I held my eyes shut tight, breathing in deeply, and focused. Concentrated. Waiting for the signal amid all the rustling about.
I winced as I felt three stomps on the forest floor, as if they were on my very back. I opened my eyes, saw the phosphorescence dancing in front of me as they turned their inevitable bright white. Even though I couldn’t see my father and the army out there, hidden in the trees, I could feel them, lurking someplace, waiting.
“Are you sure you can even do this?” Kenzi asked, taking a step and standing next to me. “Can we do this?”
“Cut the dramatics,” snapped Ryst as she stepped forward toward the edge of the dirt road, almost in the line of sight of the town guards, “just make it happen.”
I flashed her a scowl and she smirked, her lip piercing burning red. I exhaled loudly and rubbed my hands together.
“Okay,” I said. “They’re out there. Let’s see if this works. You two ready?”
Kenzi’s eyes flashed white and his Ink pulsed. “Sure am,” he said.
I glanced at Ryst and she rolled her eyes. Of course she was.
With that, I crept closer to the edge of the road. Peeking out a little from behind the trees, I could see the guards as they walked up and down the length of the gate. They looked lazy, careless. I could hear their gentle banter, their laughter. I closed my eyes and tried to shake it off. They hadn’t done anything, except being in the wrong place at the wrong time. They weren’t Citadel Guards, just men keeping the town safe.
“Do it!” pressed Ryst, her voice angry in my ear.
“I-I,” I stammered. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Fine, I’ll take care of them,” she said, moving forward, her hands erupting into balls of flame, setting a couple of leaves and dried sticks on the ground on fire. I winced, feeling some of the plants burning. The guards patrolling the gate stopped, suddenly alert. In the fading sunlight, they must have seen the spark.
“No!” I shouted, the leaves around me fluttering into the air. I could hear the guards shouting in the distance, having clearly seen us. I pushed her away and, focusing on the ground beneath me, sent clumps of dirt hurtling into her hands, extinguishing the flames. She cried out as if this actually hurt her, and I heard the shouts of the guards, far louder this time than they were a moment ago.
I leaped out of the trees and onto the dirt road.
“Caenum!” shouted Kenzi.
“There!” yelled one of the guards, looking straight at me. I focused, feeling around for anything at the base of the walls and under the gate, and slammed my hands down into the earth.
It was as if a part of me was being transported through the ground at an incredible speed, traveling through the soil toward the gate and wall. I could feel the dirt around me as I moved through it, kicking up rocks and crashing through roots as I pooled my energy.
“What the—” one of the guards started as the dirt pile moved toward him. Before he could finish, a vine burst through the ground, tangling around him and his friend, swallowing them up in a vast number of tendrils and leaves. I could hear their muffled screams and feel them as they kicked and struggled. I pressed the vines up against the wall surrounding the town, planting them into the brick, holding the guards tight.
“What are you doing?” Ryst jumped onto the road, followed by Kenzi who stumbled and skidded on the ground. “Finish them!”
