Soulbroken Read online

  When I pulled away, my voice was gone, swallowed by my sadness. I nodded to her in response. I'd help them, help them all, save them when I hadn't been able to save that little girl.

  Gage and I moved down the road, the way we'd entered town, and I wished I had the strength to help the cart's owner clean up the mess. But I had a wound to tend to, and I was smart enough to worry about the infection that would likely come. What I needed was fresh water, and plenty of it. With any luck, washing my wound thoroughly would be enough to keep me alive.

  Once we were a healthy distance from Drago, I knew that I couldn't continue my travels to Okumatte, no matter how worried I was about Trayton. My destination had changed once again, as had my goal. "I'm going to stop them, Gage. The girl's grandmother said that Graplars are becoming common here, and not long ago a Graplar invaded Kessler as well. Graplars are apparently moving out of higher elevations, for whatever reason, and I'm going to find out why. Then I'm going to stop them from doing so. If I have to kill every last one."

  Gage's words were hushed in the darkness as we made our way north along the river. "Aren't you frightened of them?"

  "Of course. But I refuse to let that stop me from doing the right thing."

  "Where will you go? It seems a bit of a fool's errand just to track down every Graplar on Tril and kill them. There are so many."

  "Then I'll travel to where they're born. I'll go to King Darrek's fortress, find out why they're changing their usual patterns, and take out as many as I can."

  We walked until the moon was high, and the sounds of a small creek filled my ears. The temperature had dropped dramatically, and if it weren't for the pervading moonlight, we might not have been able to see well enough to build a fire. The cool blue of the moon washed over us as we wordlessly cleared away a spot on the creek bank, and gathered wood for the fire. Gage lit some brush and stoked it with bits of wood, until the campfire was large enough to sustain itself for a while. As I moved to the creek, the world shifted around me, and I knew I had to focus. The fever was coming, and the pain of my bite was steadily growing more and more unbearable. But I couldn't let Gage see me weak. Maybe my anger with him helped to keep the poison at bay, I wasn't sure. But I did manage to collect fresh water from the creek and pour it over my bite. The wound cooled some, but I wasn't sure at all that water would be enough to heal me. But with no other choice, I collected more water and returned to our campsite, so that I could better see what I was working with. Gage sat on one side of the fire. I sat on the other, rinsing my injury. After too much silence, he spoke at last, his voice cracking slightly. "There are no excuses for my inaction back there, Kaya. That girl's death is my fault entirely."

  "That's not true, Gage. If my aim had been better...if I'd moved faster..." The truth of it all--that it was our fault collectively--weighed heavily on my heart.

  Gage's eyes moistened, shining in the low light of the fire. Witnessing such strong emotion in him was unsettling. Gage was an even-keel kind of person. I got the feeling he didn't show a vast array of emotions. But here he was, broken and hurting over the death of that little girl. He looked at me with a glint of embarrassment. "The truth is, I have enormous difficulty in facing Graplars down."

  It dawned on me that maybe that was his reason for travelling to Shadow Academy. Darius was one of the best teachers around. It was possible that Gage was seeking him out as a teacher. After all, if no one else could help Gage in that regard, Darius could. It took time for news to travel across Tril. Maybe Gage hadn't heard about Darius being transferred to Darkmoon Academy. I shook my head in an attempt to offer him at least some small comfort. "I'm not much better, I'm afraid."

  We fell into silence once again, and just as I'd begun to swoon once again from the Graplar's poison in my veins, he nodded toward the bite on my shoulder and said, "You should clean that with more than just water before it gets infected."

  He dug around inside his satchel and withdrew a small lidded jar. He tossed it to me and I caught it in my palm, amazed at how my reflexes had improved since I'd begun training. Turning the jar over in my hands, examining the creamy concoction within. I twisted off the lid and sniffed, a blending of rose oil and...something else, though I wasn't certain what...filling my nose. It was unlike anything the Master Healers at Shadow Academy used to treat Graplar wounds. But I had seen this salve before. I'd smelled it, treated my Graplar bite with it, and marveled at how swiftly it had aided in my healing. I pulled the fabric back, baring my shoulder. The teeth marks in my flesh were red and raw and angry. As I dabbed a bit onto the tips of my fingers, I inhaled again, taking in a scent that would forever remind me of the man who'd given the mixture to me the first time. "Where did you get this?"

  He shrugged, buckling his satchel closed again to protect its contents from anything hungry in the night. "It's just a little mixture I concocted a while back through trial and error. Works better than anything else I've come across."

  As gently as I could manage, I dotted the cream onto my wound. It stung initially, but soon the mixture replaced my pain with a familiar cool sensation. Once I felt my stupor clear away, I said, "Do you give it out a lot? The recipe, I mean."

  "I have. Once or twice." He met my eyes then, the eyebrow over his green eye raised sharply, the eternal smirk once more on his lips. It was a happy sight to see. Almost comforting, in its own way. "Why? Would you like me to show you how to make it?"

  Nodding, I dabbed my fingers in the salve once again. "I'd like that very much, actually. Especially since I can't seem to manage to steer clear of the mouth end of Graplars. But I have to ask. You wouldn't happen to know a man by the name of Darius, would you?"

  For the first time since we'd met, Gage visibly stiffened. His lips thinned into an angry line. I couldn't begin to picture what it would be like to see Gage furious, but I imagined it would be something like this. And I understood his reaction absolutely at the mention of my teacher and Soulbound Barron. After all, anyone who'd spent any significant time around Darius knew how insufferable he could be.

  He picked up a stick and poked at the coals in our fire pit until they glowed bright orange. Then he tossed the stick onto the flames and looked back at me. "I do."

  I wanted to ask him how he knew Darius, and exactly why he was going to Shadow Academy, but that would have opened up his questions for me as well. And I wasn't ready to talk about being Soulbound to Darius, or wondering if my parents were still alive, or worrying that my Bound Barron might be on a mission to cause his own demise. Besides, I was feeling pretty terrible as the fever closed its grip over me. So I took a breath and said, "Want some dinner?"

  "Tend your wound. I'll prepare a meal for us." He got to his feet, and withdrew the dagger from his belt. But he didn't get two steps closer to the forest's edge before he turned back to me, my name soft and whispered on his tongue. "Kaya?"

  "Yes?"

  "How well do you know Darius?"

  "Well enough, I suppose." I felt the frown form in my mind before it touched my lips, but neither took very long. "But sometimes I wish I'd never met him."

  Gage nodded, and before he stepped past the tree line in search of small game for this evening's meal, he said, "That, my dear, makes two of us."

  Chapter 13

  After a hardy meal of roasted riverfox and creamsquash, I slept. The food filled me with warmth and comfort, as did the memories of dining on it frequently with my parents when the weather turned brisk. By the time I awoke, Gage had already cleaned up the camping area and doused the ashes with water from the stream, just to be certain no embers remained. The air around me was chilly and damp, the clearing gray with fog. I nestled under my new cloak, and watched the tree line for any sign of Gage, who was nowhere to be found. After a while, he broke through, his satchel stuffed full with items that he must have gathered from town. I got to my feet just as he reached the fire pit and nodded to it. “More shopping?”

  “Just a few things I remembered I needed for travel. When
I awoke this morning, I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d forgotten something, so as soon as the sun threatened to break dawn, I headed back into Drago for some things.” He met my gaze then, and I could tell that he was fighting to keep his tone casual. “So what direction are you headed in now that you plan to track Graplars?”

  “North. Toward King Darrek’s stronghold. If there are any answers to be found about why Graplars are moving into the lower elevations, they can be found there." I hoped that I was right, anyway. But what if I was wrong? What if all that I was about to accomplish was marching into the lair of Tril's greatest enemy, alone? I swallowed hard at the prospect. "What about you?”

  A gentle breeze picked up, ruffling the bottom of his cloak. “If you’re heading to Darrek’s castle, you should come West with me. I know of a path—“

  “You can’t get North by going West. That doesn’t make any sense.” I shook my head in certainty. What he was saying was insane and could be proven wrong just by looking at a map. Not that I'd had a map. Not that I could really afford a map. Maps cost more than a dagger. More than a cloak, even. I was down to less than thirty trinks, and had no idea how I was going to fill my coin purse with any more.

  “If you’d just listen for a moment, I know a path that leads through the lowlands instead of hitting the mountains head-on.”

  “The lowlands end days before Darrek’s castle grounds begin, Gage.” I snapped, and knew I snapped, but he kind of deserved it. I refused to get involved in a nonsensical debate. North was North. West was West. Saying they weren't didn't make them so.

  “How do you know so much about the Graplar King?” He was pouting now, and the fact that he was pouting over something so stupid really irritated me.

  I shook my head, and raised my voice a bit to make my point. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not going North when my destination lies in the East. It doesn’t make sense.”

  An uncomfortable quiet grew between us, and we sat with it, in it, for the longest time. After a while, I picked up a stick and started poking at the cold ashes, watching as tiny gray bits of ash flew upward and then disappeared into the air.

  “She’s stubborn when confronted.” His words drew my attention, and when I looked at him, the eyebrow over his green eye was sharply raised. He sat forward and sighed. “Listen, I have business in Haruko as well as at Shadow Academy, and as far as I'm concerned, Shadow Academy can wait. Would you mind terribly having company on your trek through the mountains?”

  It wasn’t like I didn’t recognize what he was doing. He was clearly modifying his plans so that he could—what?—protect me? Delay our separation? Maybe he didn’t think I had what it took to get through the mountains and come out on the other side alive. Maybe he'd been sent by Headmaster Quill to bring me back to Shadow Academy in a more gentle manner. Or maybe he just enjoyed my company. I wasn’t sure. What I was sure of was that his assessment of me was correct. I was stubborn. But I didn't see anything wrong with being just a smidge suspicious of a boy who was going beyond his obligation just to ensure that I had the necessary tools of survival at hand. He’d bought back my katana, after all. Not to mention the dagger and the fudgepod. I liked him, but I didn't trust him. Not fully.

  Sighing, I met his gaze, and clutched the edge of my cloak in my hands just a bit tighter. “Gage, I’m not going West. I'm going North. If you want to come with me, you're welcome to. But the moment I'm given reason not to trust you, I'm leaving you in the wilderness. Understand?”

  I wondered, for a moment, if he would react to my threat in any way, but he didn’t even blink in response. Not that I had been hoping to inspire any kind of outpouring apology or anything. I took a breath and continued, “I’m heading North, because it makes the most sense to me to travel in a straight line toward my destination. It won't be easy. It won't be safe. But if you want to come with me, then the choice is yours.”

  Without a word, and with only the briefest of pauses, he turned from me and began walking away. Just as I’d become convinced that he was stomping off in a stubborn tantrum, he turned back to me with a nod and adjusted the satchel on his back. “Let’s go then. We can cover a lot of ground before nightfall.”

  We moved through the woods easily, and after some time, our conversation turned to Healing. Gage seemed fascinated. "What does it feel like to heal?"

  "Warm. Kind of...tingly."

  "Well, that's what it feels like physically, yes? But what does it feel like?"

  A deep sigh escaped me and I shrugged under the weight of my satchel. "It feels...I don't know...good...?"

  "You're mocking me now, aren't you?"

  "You have to ask?"

  "Of course. I don't know everything." He paused for the length of a heartbeat. "Thus my incessant questions."

  Nudging him in the side with my elbow, I chuckled. “I thought you Barrons knew everything about everything.”

  “We can’t all be the Zettai council, now can we?” His smirk deepened briefly. I paused at his mention of the council, and my pause didn't escape his notice. Gage looked at me, a curious glint in his eyes. “Judging by the flash of fire that just crossed your eyes, I’m assuming you don’t hold them in the highest regard.”

  “They have some pretty fakked up ways of thinking that don’t sit well with me, no.” Frustrated, I threw my arms up. My tone of voice followed them. “I mean, why is it up to them to decide who interacts with Skilled society, and for that matter, why we have division at all between groups? Barrons can’t couple with Barrons. Healers can’t couple with Healers. And woe unto the Skilled person who so much as utters a word to the Unskilled about Graplars or Darrek or any of the things we deal with on a daily basis.”

  At first, I was waiting for his response to my opinion, but when he didn't speak, I looked at him. He was watching me with a hint of bemusement in his eyes.

  I felt my face flush warmly and shook my head. “Sorry. The council, their Protocol, it’s all kind of a sore subject for me.”

  “If your parents, both Barrons, fell in love and pursued a marriage...then why are they still living?” He cocked his head curiously, but knowingly, at me. “Do you ever wonder that?”

  To be honest, I hadn't. Not really. I had always just assumed that my parents' evasion and survival had been due to their cunning and skill. Was he insinuating that there was another reason that my parents might still be alive? And did I really want to know what that reason might be? I started walking once more, but Gage never left my side, and to my irritation, kept his attention focused on me.

  “What if the Zettai Council wanted them to be left alive, so that they could create you?”

  I snorted, rolling my eyes some. "I realize they're desperate for Healer children these days, Gage, but come on. The council loves its Protocol."

  But even as the words crossed my lips, he shook his head, not willing to give them any weight or substance at all. “No. Too simple. Not just a Healer. You.”

  All I wanted at that moment was for Gage to stop talking. I just wanted to walk, and to enjoy the simple sounds of the woods surrounding us. Something telling must have crossed my face then, because understanding lit up his. “We don't have to discuss it, if you don't want to. I'm just saying...think about it. The Zettai Council does nothing without reason. They must have theirs when it concerns you, Kaya.”

  A sigh escaped me. He'd just added to the list of things I planned on asking my parents when I found them. If I found them. The horrible idea that I might not ever reach them before hunting parties could settled into my bones like ice. What if I never saw them again? What if the last image of my parents I would ever have was of them crying the day that I’d left for Shadow Academy? The very thought of it hurt to even consider. “What about you, Gage? How do you feel about the Zettai council and its Protocol laws?”

  “To be honest, I don’t care for either. I have a strong distrust of a group who insists they know what’s best for Tril, despite their seeming inability to govern themselves.” The same
flash of fire that had apparently appeared in my eyes now appeared in his. It seemed that Gage and I had a lot in common. More, perhaps, than either of us was willing to discuss just yet. The fire settled after a moment, and in its ashes, Gage found words. “But I digress.”

  I chewed my bottom lip for a moment, debating just how much wiggle room there was between my curiosity and crossing the line of nosiness. Then I said, “Would it be rude for me to ask if they had anything to do with why you’re wandering the countryside alone?”

  “No. I suppose it wouldn’t.” As he turned away, his eyes brightened, as if he were amusing himself immensely.

  Hurrying to catch up, I grabbed him by the shoulder to get his attention. He stopped, but I could tell that he didn’t want to, that he wanted to keep walking, keep hiking, keep moving to get as far as we possibly could before the sun set. When his eyes met mine, I said, “Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “Why are you going to Shadow Academy? And what’s waiting for you in Haruko?”

  “I go to the academy to seek a teacher. And to Haruko to seek a girl.” He turned away from me then, and for some fakked up reason that I didn’t quite understand, my heart sank a bit. There was a girl. In Haruko. Waiting for Gage. But why did that matter to me at all? It didn’t.

  It shouldn’t, anyway.

  But as Gage descended the hill, my eyes lingered on him, perhaps longer than they should have. He was a strange boy, of that there was little doubt. I couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was about him that had sent an unexpected jolt of jealousy through me. It wasn't as if Gage had demonstrated any particular show of affection for me. He'd only acted as any kind and generous person would have.

  Maybe that was the difference between Gage and the only two boys who featured predominantly in my life. Trayton was a gentleman, but each act that he performed was one of tenderness, of admiration--when he wasn't acting jealous or controlling, that is. And Darius was something else entirely. He challenged me in ways that I simultaneously craved and despised, the most charming dek I'd ever come into contact with.