She felt herself relax further. If this creature, whatever it was, meant her immediate harm, it would have done something by now. But it stayed where it was, poised at the entrance to her tent.
Jak tried to think of what to do. Her first question had sparked a response, however minimal. Perhaps if she kept talking—
“My name is Jak,” she said slowly. Did this creature even understand her language? The green-eyed shadow said nothing. “Do you understand?” Jak pointed to her mouth.
Jak wasn’t sure if she imagined it, but she thought she saw the creature give the briefest nod. Or maybe it was the slight inclination of the eyes that Jak saw. Nevertheless, she had the distinct impression that this creature understood her. Well, that was good at least.
By now her fear was nearly gone. The creature didn’t seem hostile, though it did still look physically unfriendly with its ominous eyes and shadowy body, which contrasted with its lack of aggression. Also, were those pointed ears? Jak suddenly realized what the creature must be, and her heart leapt with excitement.
“You're a Fae, aren’t you? One of the Shadow Fae we’ve heard live in the mountains.”
The creature stirred, though it did not speak. It rose, as if lifting itself to a full height. Maybe allowing Jak a more complete look? Jak took that as confirmation.
“Why are you here, in my tent?” Jak said, but before she could finish her words, a horn sounded. It wasn’t the morning bugle, and Jak vaguely registered its meaning as important, but she was too focused on the Fae, for that was what it must be. It obviously wasn’t a demon, but it wasn’t human either. The Fae’s green eyes left Jak for the first time and the figure twisted to listen to the sound. Then, without a word, it fled into the night. Its departing form hardly even disturbed the flap of her tent.
Jak quickly got to her feet and poked her head out from her tent to see where it had gone. But the creature either moved incredibly fast, or it blended in with the environment enough that she couldn’t see where it fled.
But what she did see were soldiers emerging from their tents in a rush. That was when she remembered the horn that sounded moments ago. That was the warning of approaching demons, Jak realized. As she listened, she could hear faint howls. Those sounds didn’t come from beasts. They came from human throats, mutated humans, demons. They were back for the second time in one night. How? Why?
“Jak!” a voice cried. Jak turned to see Naem sprinting toward her, still fastening his leather armor as he ran. “What are you waiting for, get in your armor!”
Jak did as ordered, barely even pausing to consider how sweet it was that Naem seemed concerned enough to check on her in a crisis like this. Of course, she could take care of herself, but it was nice to see he cared.
Time ran out quickly. By the time she had her armor fastened, grabbed her spear, and stepped outside, the demons had already reached the camp. She could see Watchers, in the distance, holding them off. Now why were the demons attacking again, just hours after the first attack? It didn’t seem to fit with what Jak had learned about demon behavior. They rarely attacked unless provoked, or unless they were hunting for food. Why were two packs attacking the Watchers within a day?
Jak ran to the front lines. This time, she would help. She knew enough to take down a demon or two. Perhaps some of the others would live for her efforts. Though she was already acutely aware that she was late in getting ready. She was sure Naem would chastise her about that later. If it weren’t for the other Watchers holding the demons off, she might be dead right now.
As she ran, her eyes were so fixed on the approaching battle that she didn’t even notice as a form launched itself at her from behind. She fell and hit her head on the ground. Bright lights exploded before her eyes, but they quickly faded to darkness as something else connected with her head. She didn’t even have time to wonder what had hit her before she lost consciousness.
10
Jak woke to complete confusion. Her body bounced up and down and it took her quite a while to get her bearings. When she finally realized where she was, she almost blacked out again.
She was riding on the back of a demon, its gray skin shining with sweat. Her body was tied to the beast, and tied hard. She tested the ropes binding her hands around the demon. No use. Oh, that stench was awful!
She looked around, spotting a half-dozen or so of the demons, their near-human bodies glistening in the dawn light as they kept pace with each other, running on all fours towards the mountains.
Jak’s next thought was to wonder why the demons hadn’t killed her already. And how had they managed to tie her to the demon’s back? Jak’s academic mind began racing with the implications. So much of what they thought they knew about demons could be wrong.
It didn’t take long for Jak’s thoughts to come back to reality. She was alive for now. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t want to find out. Whatever these demons had planned for her, it couldn’t be good. But at least she was not dead. That was something.
But as the demons continued to run, Jak lost hope. She had no options. No matter how hard she tried to think of a way to escape, she could think of nothing. She couldn’t untie the bonds, and she couldn’t defeat the demons even if she did get loose. She had no weapons, with only her leather armor to protect her. She was going to need to find some way to get loose.
Hours passed by as the demons began their climb upward into the mountains. They zigzagged across the rising ground and eventually found a small pass to lead them deeper into the mountain range. From this high vantage point, Jak thought she could see a small tower in the distance behind them, if she craned her neck to get a good look. That must be Foothold.
As they continued on, Jak became aware of a few additional troubles. One, the ropes were beginning to chafe and it did not feel good. Two, the demons showed no signs of stopping, even though any normal creature would have collapsed from exhaustion at this point. And three, the temperature was dropping.
Jak could feel her skin chill as they rose higher and higher. The demon seemed to radiate heat as it ran, so Jak managed to stay warm, but she still grew uncomfortable.
Several hours later, and the discomfort was beginning to turn into full-on pain. Plus there was the concern of food and water. The demons still kept up their pace, moving at a rate that no human or animal could achieve. Hopefully they would reach their destination, wherever that was, before Jak died of thirst.
She managed to lose herself in her thoughts to pass the time, unable to sleep, but trying her best to ignore the pain. Given her current helpless situation, she began to think through the events of the past few days.
Clearly, the demons had wanted her from the start, possibly even as far back as the attack on Riverbrook. But at the very least, they were after her the night before, which was why they had attacked her directly. And what did the Fae have to do with it? Jak didn’t want to believe it, but she couldn’t shake the suspicion that the Fae that had woken her earlier that day had something to do with her capture. It was too much of a coincidence that it appeared right before the demons took her. Though, it had fled at the sound of demons approaching.
She thought about Naem, who had probably noticed she was missing by now. Assuming he survived the demon attack. Jak’s stomach lurched, and it wasn’t because she was bouncing on the back of a demon. She very much hoped Naem was still alive. Marek too, especially Marek. He didn’t have the same level of training that Naem had. She could only hope that the demon force was not too strong, or had left once she was captured. Why would they seek her out like this?
He fears you, her father had said. But who? And did this person have anything to do with the demons? It seemed too much of a coincidence. Perhaps there was some kind of…demon king? But why would such a person, or any person really, be afraid of Jak? She was nothing special. All she had was her Gifter brand and…
She paused. Of course! Why hadn’t she thought of it sooner? She could use her magic to escape. Technically, Gifters
who hadn’t been trained were not allowed to use magic on living beings. But seeing as the demons were…well, already demons, Jak thought it couldn’t hurt to experiment on them. Most people died if something went wrong with the branding. These demons were exceptions, but if Jak could give them another brand, perhaps that would be enough to overload their senses.
Jak’s hands were already in contact with the demon’s skin, so without another thought, Jak tried to summon her magic. She knew gifting was hard, but she also knew that no one outside the college of Skyecliff and other trained Gifters knew more about the power than she did. Her journal contained pages upon pages just about the use of the magic that she had pieced together from whatever book or scrap of information she could get her hands on. She wished she had that journal now, but she had memorized the basics.
The first step was to visualize the brand with as much detail as possible, and visualize the lines in a specific order, like you were drawing it in your mind. Getting the order wrong was often the biggest mistake that inexperienced Gifters made. She thought first about using a Flamedancer brand, but no, that wasn’t a good idea. Flamedancer brands, when done poorly, were sometimes known to spontaneously combust the subject. And Jak didn’t want the demon bursting into flames while she was attached.
She thought a moment longer. Eventually she settled on the Gifter brand itself. When a Gifter got that brand wrong, it almost always led to the death of the victim. To her knowledge, no demon had ever formed from a Gifter brand.
As she bounced on the back of the running demon, she did her best to clamp her hands around its waist, making sure her skin remained in contact with its belly. Then she closed her eyes and tried her best to concentrate. Visualizing the brand was the easy part. She had done this countless times before becoming a Gifter, back when the thought of traveling the world and bestowing gifts upon the young seemed like such an exciting prospect. Her perspective had changed, but she could still visualize a brand with ease.
The next part was tricky, and she only knew the theory. She was supposed to visualize the brand becoming part of the person she was touching, or in this case, the demon she was touching. Then, once she had that thought visualized with thorough detail, she would activate her brand. And that was another thing she only knew in theory. How, exactly, she activated her brand, she wasn’t so sure. Did she just will it to happen, or say some magic words? In truth, she had never really found a good explanation in her books before.
Well, she had nothing to lose. Without another thought, she formed all the correct images in her mind, and tried to activate the brand.
Nothing. The demon kept on running like nothing had happened.
Jak tried again, doing her best to form the pattern of the Gifter brand in her mind, to imagine it becoming part of the demon, and to activate her brand. Still nothing. Was she visualizing the brand correctly? No, she had traced that brand countless times before. She knew exactly the shape and the order that she needed to trace in her mind. So it must have something to do with activating her brand. If done properly, the dark lines of her brand should light up when activated.
She tried again, and again. But nothing seemed to work. She tried to think happy thoughts, having heard a rumor that this helped activate the brand. But that didn’t seem to work. Or at least, she wasn’t able to really dwell on any happy thoughts while strapped to a demon’s back.
Try as she might, Jak could not activate the brand. Her concentration was so intense that she did not even notice the sun setting in the west until it was entirely dark. They had been traveling all day. By now, Jak had lost sight of the plains. Mountains seemed to rise on all sides, though the demons still ran in a specific direction.
Jak could still feel the pain in her body, and it was starting to distract her from using her magic. The ropes burning into her skin didn’t help her concentrate. And her thirst was also growing. By now, she didn’t really care where the demons were taking her. She’d take the danger if it only meant freedom from riding on the back of these hideous, foul-smelling demons.
Without warning, Jak heard a noise, like a fly buzzing past her ear. Her demon suddenly fell, its momentum sending it tumbling end over end. Jak cried out as she tumbled with it, feeling new pain as her back hit rocks, branches, snow, and whatever else was lying on the ground.
Finally, the demon lay still on its side, with Jak still strapped to its back. But before she could even register what had happened, she heard another sound and felt a brief pressure on the ropes that bound her to the demon, before that pressure disappeared entirely and Jak felt an enormous relief. Her ropes had been cut.
Carefully, she brought her hands around to inspect. They were red and swollen, but otherwise looked okay. She looked around but saw no one, so she tried to lift herself up. Immediately her body protested and she fell back to the earth. Every muscle screamed. So instead, she did her best to stretch each muscle before trying to use it again. Odd that her rescuers hadn’t come to help her stand yet.
Once she had successfully lifted herself to her hands and knees, she looked around once more. And saw no one.
Just to be certain, she checked the ropes that had held her. A clear knife-cut showed where her hands had been. And on further inspection of the demon corpses around her, she found tiny darts embedded in their skin. Someone had definitely saved her, but where were they now?
A thought occurred to her, and she remembered the Fae she had seen before the demons took her. At first, it had almost appeared invisible, save for its green eyes. Perhaps that Fae, or others of his kind, were responsible for her rescue? Perhaps they were here, right now, waiting.
“H-hello?” she called out to the open air. No response. “Thank you for rescuing me. I’m not sure what I would have done. I was trying to get my magic to work, but that wasn’t giving me any results. Hello?”
Still, she heard nothing back. Her eyes scanned the area around her. She was in a small clearing in the mountains. Large pines towered on one side, but most of the area was filled with snow-covered rocks. But no matter how hard she looked, she could find no trace of mysterious shadows or green eyes. The strangest thing was that she could find no footprints in the snow, other than those the demons made before they died.
“Um, can you explain to me why you would rescue me but then leave me here?” she said again to no response.
Without the demon’s body heat to keep her warm, Jak was beginning to feel the chill this far up in the mountains. If she didn’t find shelter or a way to stay warm, she would freeze to death.
“Okay, fine then,” she said aloud. “I’ll just do the rest myself.”
11
Jak did her best to stay calm and run through the survival skills her father had taught her. First, she needed water. Well that wasn’t much of a problem. There was snow everywhere. But eating snow would only cause her to freeze faster. She needed a fire.
She set about collecting dead wood that had fallen from the nearby pines. It didn’t take her long to have a sizeable pile. But of course, she had no way to light it. The demons carried nothing, and she had no tools. Her father had taught her that she could start a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but she doubted that she could make that work, not when there was enough snow to dampen the kindling.
Maybe she could try her Gifter brand again? She nearly dismissed the idea the moment it came to mind. She’d had no success earlier, why would it work now? But the idea persisted. Perhaps now, with no demons to distract her...Of course, it was never a good idea to intentionally misuse a brand, but some brands were known to burst their subject into flame if not used correctly. That was why she hadn’t tried the Flamedancer brand on the demon that carried her. But perhaps she could use it now.
Well she had nothing to lose. Choosing one of the larger branches, Jak sat and ran through the steps in her mind. She imagined the Flamedancer brand, as perfectly as she could. Then she willed her brand to activate, allowing the image to burn into the branch.
And of course, nothing happened.
Jak felt her spirits sink. This was her only option. She had to make it work. She couldn’t rely on the help of anyone else anymore. Her options were use her brand or die.
She was not going to die.
Trying again, Jak reached inward, truly inward. She thought of all of her failures, all of the times that someone had come to her rescue, up to and including her recent, mysterious rescue by person or persons unknown. Jak was tired of it all. It was time for Jak to save Jak.
She thought she felt something, like a candlelight seen from miles away at the darkest hour of night. Even when far away, in the darkness such a light was always visible. That was what she felt inside her. It was something distant, but it was light nonetheless, emerging out of the shadow of her soul. Even with all that darkness, she could see it. It was hope. Yes, she had failed over and over. She had failed her father, she had failed her friends, she had failed Naem and the Watchers. She had even failed herself. But she was not going to let it happen again. I am not a failure!
Instantly, the brand on her left hand flared to life. Jak gasped as it stung just a little, but her attention quickly moved to the branch. A pattern was beginning to form where Jak held it, a Flamedancer brand. The lines etched themselves in the order that Jak had imagined and willed it to be.
The glowing lines on the branch finished and darkened. And Jak’s first brand lay before her, a perfect Flamedancer brand.
The stick, promptly, burst into flames.
Jak yelped and dropped the branch into the pile of wood she had gathered. She was almost disappointed, knowing she had made an unstable brand. But, this was what she wanted anyway, something to build a fire. And besides, she should be proud of herself. Some Gifters took months or even years before they could form their first brand.
Out of Shadow: An Epic YA Fantasy Adventure (Roots of Creation Book 1) Page 9
