The Darkened Veil

by K. D. Wren

  “Are you ok? Today was kind of rough. I don’t know why you volunteered to take on the buda. I know I was afraid of it. You should be proud of being brave, even if it was kind of stupid. Not that I am calling you stupid. You know a lot. I am surprised, you know, I thought humans had all forgotten about the other folk. But you are different. I am sure people tell you that all the time, but you are. How are you feeling? Are you upset? Do you want to get some food? I’m hungry.”

  This was every conversation with her. Her little voice rattled off sentence after sentence. She rarely offered an opportunity to respond until she had completed the whole arc of her thought. Then she would sit silent for minutes at a time until the spirit caught her again and she launched into another monologue.

  I decided to just answer her last question. “Yea, I’m hungry, too.”

  Food options in the Inter-realm were as varied as its population. Ingredients were brought in daily through the portals that linked the hub to its many spokes. The streets around the main portal center were a dizzying mix of sights and scents. The portal center housed most of the regulated gateways to the major realms. There were other regulated portals, of course, but they generally connected to seldom used realms. In addition, there were hundreds of other portals that TRIP did not manage, many whose locations and destinations were unknown.

  We made our way to a stand with some familiar flavors. I was glad to be a vegetarian. I didn’t want to imagine the kind of creatures that went into some of the dishes that I saw on offer. Tevita and I found our favorite stall, Matil’s, staffed by an elven cook that made the most extraordinary vegetarian dishes. Many of the fruits and vegetables were similar to ones I knew from Earth, leafy greens, small sour red berries, colorful roots. But they were unbelievably flavorful. The salads he threw together were aromatic with citrus oils, sweet fruity sugars, and alkaline bitterness. He greeted us by name and started mixing our dinner.

  Before he could finish, I saw the crowd parting to my left. Finbahir created a wake wherever he went. Tall and thin, he exuded such power and authority that those around him instinctively gave way. He was walking directly toward me.

  “Matil, good evening to you. How goes business?”

  “Well enough, Speaker. With the appetites of these two trainees, I might be able to retire early.”

  From the cook’s tone, I could tell he had used a title of honor and respect. I had never heard Finbahir referred to as Speaker by anyone in the Realm Guard. It must be an elven thing.

  “Would you be so good as to hold one of those salads? I need to have a word with Skylar.”

  I felt a little chill. I wasn’t sure if I was afraid that I was in trouble or excited by the prospect of speaking with Finbahir alone. I shot a glance at Tevita who wore a worried expression. Finbahir rarely spent any time with the trainees. He would come by on occasion and give a talk to the whole class, but he never spent time one on one.

  “I’ll take it. I’ll bring it back to her room so she can have it when she gets back.” The implied addendum being that she would also be waiting there, ready to hear everything that Finbahir had said to me.

  Finbahir nodded at her. “Very well. Matil, both of them are on me.” Then he placed his hand on my shoulder and guided me away from the bustling street. I felt the little hairs on my neck rise up when he touched me. Despite the fact that he was a couple of centuries older than any of the guys I had ever dated, he was easily the most beautiful man I had ever seen. But it was more than that. He was serene. And even though I was sure he had a million worries and concerns about countless other people and creatures across the realms, whenever he talked to me I felt like I was the only thing that existed. Being around him made me feel like I was special, like I mattered. After the last few weeks, it was a welcome feeling.

  We walked in silence for a while until we were clear of the crowds. The haphazard placement of buildings meant the Inter-realm was full of large parks, groves, and open spaces. We stopped in one. A field of tall grasses dotted with thick-limbed oak trees. Finbahir motioned to a bench and we sat. I waited for him to break the silence. Not that I could have, my tongue felt like it was three times too big.

  “I understand you had a challenging day.”

  “Um, yea. I guess I did.” I hated those kind of statements. The ones where you are supposed to agree, but there is nothing really to say without sounding as dumb as I did.

  “Baev, well, Baev can be tough.”

  I let a small laugh escape. “That is an understatement.” An arch of the elf’s eyebrow reminded me of my place. I snapped my mouth shut and he continued.

  “She has always been demanding, but she has good reason. There are dangerous creatures out there, as you know all too well. That you are still alive is a testament to your ability, but you have much more.”

  I was tired of hearing about my potential. It sounded like my parents haranguing me for not working harder in school. I hadn’t really studied until I got to college. Everything had come easily to me, except math, and I had been able to get by without really working. But they always told me ‘you had so much potential’ and ‘if only you would put in the effort’ and so on. At least then I knew that they were right; I knew I wasn’t working hard at school. This was another matter entirely. My instructors kept telling me I had more ability, but I had no idea how to reach it.

  “I am working as hard as I can. I don’t know what else you want from me.”

  Finbahir smiled, revealing a row of perfect, gleaming narrow teeth. Everything about him was refined and elegant.

  “You are frustrated. I understand. Honestly, I am not certain how to help you. But you are more than what you believe yourself to be. Of that I am sure.”

  “How do you know? Everyone keeps saying that, but what if you are wrong? Look, I appreciate everything you have done. This has been an amazing experience. But maybe I am just not cut out to be a Realm Guard.”

  “Self-deprecation can be a charming quality, but self-doubt can be dangerous. Don’t be a fool, Skylar. You know there is something special about you, just as I do. Just as the Opener of Ways knows.”

  He let that hang in the air for a few moments. I felt a weight settle into my stomach and I became very interested in my feet. Finbahir was right, of course. The voidnik and the djinn hadn’t come for me simply because I was a veilwalker. According to Tirien, the pixie who was helping me catch up on my veilwalking skills, if I hadn’t come to the Inter-realm in the first place, I would never have been able to pass through the Veil myself. I didn’t understand her explanation of the reason why, but one thing was clear. The voidnik had been there to kill me. Only after he had been dispatched and I had gone to the Inter-realm had the djinn come to take me to Vepramet. He was targeting me for some reason.

  “It feels like I am the only one who doesn’t know this big, important thing about me is me.” I didn’t want to sound sulky, not in front of Finbahir, but I was frustrated. If I was supposed to get faster or stronger or learn how to use a weapon, I could do that. I was doing that. But I felt like I was being asked to fly without wings.

  “I wish I could make it easier for you, but I can’t. You have to find the way on your own.”

  “Can’t you at least tell me the destination? You all are so vague, how will I even know if I am going in the right direction?”

  Finbahir sighed. “I don’t know for certain, myself. I don’t know what your true potential is. I only know that it is something more than you have realized thus far.”

  He stood up and looked out across the field. Our conversation was at an end. I was no closer to unlocking whatever they all saw in me. I was only more frustrated and confused.

  Chapter 3

  Baev stalked the training ground. A light wind ruffled the feathers on her jacket, but her gaze was as unmoving as stone. Even though I wasn’t looking directly at her, I could feel her eyes on me, like two fingers digging into the small of my back. Combat training was my least favorite part of the day. Th
ough I was keeping up or even excelling in the classroom, I could not translate theory to practice. And Baev wasn’t making it any easier on me.

  “Keep your spear up, human. Can’t you make this even a little challenging for me?” Chiraena spat at me. I raised my training weapon and pointed it right at her midsection, where the human form blended into the equine. She snorted and charged at me, her own spear cocked in one arm like a lance. I knocked the point aside and tried to bring my own spear back up, but I was too slow. It got tangled in her legs and, in an instant, she had slammed into me, throwing me backward into the dirt. I caught my breath in ragged gasps and coughed as the dust got into my lungs. A dull point dug into the top of my back, just under my neck.

  “You are dead, little human.” Chiraena laughed. I pulled myself up and watched her trot away. Her chestnut coat was set off by a bright blond tail. Her human torso was shapely and tanned. Her arms and chest were strong but still feminine. Leather armor molded itself to her body, accentuating her curves. I never thought I would be jealous of a woman that was half a horse, but I couldn’t deny that she was beautiful. She also hated me.

  By the time I’d gotten all the way to my feet, Baev was standing next to me. The rest of the class was split off into pairs, fighting with simple weapons or no weapons at all. Baev looked expectantly at me. She was fond of these little after-action humiliations. She said it was important for me to understand what I had done wrong, that fighting was just as much about sound decision-making as it was physical prowess. But the explanations always seemed to come back to a simple fact: I was too slow and too weak.

  I glanced across the training ground at Conor. Even though he was also a human, he had none of my failings. I watched as he danced around one of the elf twins. I couldn’t tell if it was Amerea or Galather. Brother and sister looked so much alike that at a distance they were indistinguishable. But whoever it was could not land a blow on Conor. Baev still stood there, silent, waiting for me to begin.

  “I was too slow. Again,” I sighed.

  “Pouting won’t save your life, Skylar.”

  “I don’t understand, if I dodge out of the way, she could just adjust her spear and run me through. If I deflect the spear, she runs me over.”

  “And those are your only options?”

  I was not in the mood for this. Baev said that she wanted me to come up with the solution on my own, but I was tired, hurt, and embarrassed. It had been weeks since my talk with Finbahir, but I was no closer to unlocking any power or whatever. All that had happened was that I had continually gotten knocked in the dirt and gone to sleep bruised and bloodied.

  “No, I could go back to Earth, get a gun, and just shoot her. Honestly, I don’t know why we have to learn any of this when I could shoot her from across the whole field.”

  Immediately I could see that I’d made a mistake. Baev’s eyes narrowed and hardened. Chiraena wasn’t the only one with a prejudice against humans. Even though it had been centuries since the purges on Earth, many creatures had extremely long lifespans and their cultures had long memories.

  “Oh, yes, you humans are very proud of your technologies. I remember when that spear in your hand was the height of human warfare. Of course, humans were far more able back then. You have diminished as a race as you leaned more heavily on your machines.”

  Baev stepped back and folded her arms across her feathered chest. “A gun is an effective killing implement, to be sure. But even if you were being asked to hunt and kill every creature you come across, you would still need far more if you wanted to survive.”

  I stood silent. I knew better than to push my luck. Hopefully, she would let it slide and allow me to go back to getting my butt kicked by the centaur. When I saw her mouth curve into a grim smile, I knew I would not be so lucky.

  “Perhaps a demonstration will help you to understand. Wait here.” She disappeared. I was alone in the middle of the field. Some of my other classmates had noticed Baev speaking to me and her abrupt disappearance. Quiet conversations had replaced the clack of wooden fighting sticks and the grunts when those sticks landed on target. Tevita asked me a question with her eyes, but before I could give any kind of answer, Baev was back at my side. She had a pistol in her hands.

  “Take it.”

  She held it out for me. It was a semi-automatic handgun, the kind you see police officers wear. Nine-millimeter or something. In truth, I didn’t know much about guns. I had shot at cans with a .22 caliber rifle with my grandfather, but that was it. Still, I took hold of the stock and checked the safety. It was off. I laid my index finger along the barrel to make sure I didn’t pull the trigger by accident and let my arm fall to my side.

  “Everyone behind Skylar!” Her voice was deafening at this proximity. “Now, Skylar. We aren’t going to see if you could stop Chiraena with your gun. As I’ve said, a bullet can certainly kill. And we will leave aside the fact that Realm Guards are required to exhaust every option in order to capture instead of kill. Let us presume you are in a life-threatening situation and deadly force is appropriate. Show us all how your gun will help you with him!”

  The last word was delivered in a scream like needles of ice driven into my brain. When I could open my eyes again, I saw the figure of a man twenty paces in front of me. No, it wasn’t a man. The glowing eyes, tendrils of smoke rising from his hands. It was a djinn. She had brought a djinn into the training grounds. I gripped hard on the stock of the pistol to stop my hand from shaking, clenching the other into a tight fist.

  The djinn took a few casual steps toward me. The sound of blood rushing drowned out all other noises. My heart felt like it was going to crack my ribcage. I tried to steady myself with a few deep breaths, but it wasn’t working. I wanted to run, but my legs felt like rubber. I was afraid that if I tried to move I would collapse into a quivering pile on the ground.

  The djinn had closed to within ten paces. I slipped my finger into the trigger guard and raised the weapon to point at the center of the djinn’s chest. He did not stop his slow approach. I looked over at Baev. I had never shot at a living thing before, and even if it was a djinn, I was sure I wasn’t in real danger. She nodded at me.

  “Shoot. Kill him.”

  I hesitated. I couldn’t pull the trigger.

  “What are you waiting for? You could use a spear at this range.”

  I didn’t answer. My eyes were fixated on his. The glowing eyes were mesmerizing. They were deep, like staring into the flames of a campfire. Then, like the pop when a burning log splits open, he leapt snarling forward. My finger squeezed the trigger, the recoil jamming my shoulder back.

  The djinn stopped for a moment to finger the smoky hole where the bullet had passed through. Then he looked back at me and smiled as the hole closed up and was solid again.

  “That’s enough.” Baev’s voice cracked out. She snapped her finger and the djinn dissolved into smoke and disappeared.

  I let the gun fall to the ground as I lowered my arm. My fingers were numb. My heart was still pounding and I felt light-headed. Of course the bullet had done nothing, it was made of lead, not iron. If I had been thinking straight, I wouldn’t have even tried. But with the fear from seeing a djinn again and Baev yelling at me, I couldn’t keep my head straight.

  “Elementals are just one kind of creature that may force you to adopt an alternative approach.” Baev was speaking past me, at the rest of the trainees. “Not every weapon, not every tactic will work on every creature. You need to identify your target and understand their vulnerabilities before you engage. Mistakes or poor judgment can mean your life.” She directed this last bit to me.

  A bell tolled the hour. Training was over for the day. I stood rooted in the center of the field. I watched as the others walked off. A blow from behind staggered me forward. Catching myself, I spun around to see Chiraena trotting off. The breeze carried away her laughter. Baev picked the pistol off the ground and placed her hand on my shoulder. She looked odd, as if trying to offer comfort or re
assurance was against her nature.

  “I need you to understand something, Skylar. You probably think I am hard on you, that I am singling you out because I don’t like you. I have no ill will toward you. There are some here who have trouble accepting humans. It is reasonable, of course. You know what kind of stories are told about your kind, and you know that they actually pale in comparison to what you are truly capable of.”

  I started to protest, but she silenced me with a wave of her hand.

  “It’s unfair, I know, but it is the truth. I am not hard on you because you are a human. If you go out into the field as you are, you will be killed. All TRIP agents risk death, that is a given. But for you it is not a risk, it is a certainty. Your mistakes, your poor judgment, it helps to drive home lessons to the other trainees. The ones who will actually end up as Realm Guards.”

  My stomach fell down to my feet. Was she really telling me that I was never going to become a full TRIP agent? What was I even doing here then? Why was I being subjected to this training if I was just going to be an object lesson in failure? I didn’t need that humiliation.

  “Finbahir seems to think there is something more to you,” she continued, answering my unspoken question. “Myself, I don’t see it. But I suppose I wouldn’t. He is as keen an elf as I have ever known and I don’t question his judgment. But I can tell you this. You will not go into the field until I say you are ready. I won’t let you jeopardize your own life or the lives of other agents.”

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