The Desert Prince

by Brett, Peter V.

  So I look at Selen, and make a promise I ent sure I can keep.

  “Yes.”

  20

  AURAS

  Some of my worry proves unfounded. The trail doesn’t pass through Corelings’ Graveyard, the market district, or any of a dozen other parts of Cutter’s Hollow where shops, animals, carts, and foot traffic would bury the scent.

  Ent all good news. Outside the keep walls, our quarry abandons stealth for speed. I follow the horses easily as they bypass the busy streets of the capital and take the fastest route out of town.

  The sky is darkening by the time we reach the open road, and the horses’ strides increase as they are given their head. Too fast for me to catch with Selen in tow.

  I swallow, knowing she won’t like what I say next. “You need to go back.”

  “The Core, we do.” Selen’s voice is low, dangerous. I can smell the embers of her anger, waiting for my next words to fan them into flame.

  “Not we,” I say. “You.”

  Selen crosses her arms, waiting for me to say more.

  I’m not good at talking. At telling folk what they want to hear, or convincing them to do what I want. And night, I don’t even want this. Might have told Selen I’m not a coward, but that don’t make it true. Scared to go on without her. Folk tough enough to catch Olive and Micha ent trouble I want to take on alone.

  But facts are facts. As Selen eyes me, I walk back a few steps to stand in a set of hoofprints. I jump the short distance to the next set. “Walk.”

  I stride forward to another set, but this time I have to leap far to reach the next set. “Gallop. They’re moving too fast. The trail will go cold before we find where it leads.”

  Selen uncrosses her arms, and for a moment I am hopeful, but she puts them on her hips, which is worse. “So I need to go back, but not you? Telling me you can outrun a horse?”

  I look up at the sky. “Once it’s dark, ay. Can sprint faster than any stallion.”

  “Gonna sprint for six hours?” Selen asks.

  I shake my head. “But they can’t gallop forever, and I don’t get tired at night. Need to catch sight of them before they get to a crossroad big enough to muddy the tracks, or we might as well just throw dice on which way they went.”

  “If they’re following Leesha and your mam, they’re headed east,” Selen says.

  “Ay, but we don’t know they are,” I say. “If that letter’s fake like you say, why tell us where they were really headed?”

  Selen shifts for a moment, but I can smell the stubborn on her. She’s not going to give in. “If someone really did kidnap Olive and Micha right under our noses, then they’re dangerous, Darin. I can’t let you go alone. We follow the trail as far as we can, then make a best guess.”

  My teeth grind, in part because I know she’s right. I should just go. Even if she tried to follow, Selen could never keep up. But I don’t think she’d turn back, and she would certainly never forgive me.

  Twilight fades as I consider how to convince her. With the darkness comes magic, leaching up from the Core through invisible vents all around us. In the boroughs of Hollow, this power is absorbed by the greatwards, but here it’s like a soft glowing fog, wafting about the road. It moves not with the breeze but with a life of its own, pooling around trees and our feet, attracted to life. Wardposts along the road Draw some of the power, slowly flickering to life. So, too, do the wards on Selen’s armor, and that gives me a thought.

  “Bit of a magic trick we could try,” I say. “Risky, though.”

  Selen looks at me, her scent becoming hopeful. “I trust you.”

  “Don’t know if you should,” I admit. “Ent good at this sort of thing. Might get both of us hurt. Mam would kill me for even suggestin’ it.”

  “Olive’s getting farther away while we argue,” Selen says. “Whatever the risk, it’s worth it.”

  I don’t want to take chances with Selen, but she’s right. If I go alone, I’ll just find a way to muck things up.

  “Warned you.” I close my eyes and hold out my hand. Selen doesn’t hesitate to reach back, her strong fingers lacing through mine and squeezing tight.

  With our hands touching, I can feel Selen’s aura the same way I feel the warmth of her skin, the beat of her pulse. I reach out with my will, pulling gently, like the suction of a kiss. She inhales sharply as our auras touch.

  Aura is like a reflection, Mam used to say. Magic hides from the sunlight inside us, but at night it’s too much to contain. Learn to Read them, you can sense everything a body is feeling, even things they want to keep hidden.

  But the only aura I’ve ever touched is Mam’s, and she knows how to keep hers in check. I felt her love, her protectiveness, but the rest, the dark parts, shame and pain and sorrow, were only shadows drifting just out of reach.

  Selen’s aura is nothing like Mam’s. There are no deep shadows, just the brightness of youth and curiosity with a surface tension of worry and hard determination. I know without question she means to find Olive or die trying. I was right to think she would never turn back.

  The rush of feelings is so strong I open my eyes, aching to see the source, and find her staring back at me, sympathy in her eyes that echoes in her aura. “You don’t have to feel so lonely, Darin. Olive and I tease, but if it was you missing, you can bet the manse she’d be out here with me right now.”

  The words hit me like a mallet to the chest, expressing something I’ve never dared even speak aloud. I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing. I don’t have to. Selen feels my reply, and squeezes my hand in response.

  “Ready?” I ask.

  A bit of the confidence in Selen’s aura wavers. “Are we going to…disappear like you and your mam?”

  I shake my head. “Can’t do that on my own, and wouldn’t risk it, even if I could. That’s how my da died.”

  More sympathy pours through the bond, and Selen squeezes again. “What, then?”

  I’ve never been a natural with magic. The power responds to emotions, and I’ve too much fear and anxiety pushing it away. I have nothing close to the skill or power of the Warded Children, but even I can Draw a little power when I’m calm. It’s easier when there isn’t an angry demon charging your way.

  I reach out with my will, my own aura, down through Selen’s body to pull at the ambient magic pooling at her feet. Like sucking on a straw, I Draw the magic into Selen, watching her aura and the wards on her armor brighten in response.

  “Tingles,” she gasps. Her warm fingers quiver in mine, but she does not pull away. I keep Drawing until the excess begins to flow into me, and it’s my turn to gasp.

  Pull a bit of magic through them and into yourself, you can Know a body better than they know themselves, Mam once said. Everything they are, everything they could be. What they fear and want and aspire to.

  I feel it, a level of intimacy that transcends the feeling of our auras touching. I see a flash of her mother screaming at her, another of her stepmother’s cold anger and disdain. The constant battle for dominance with her half brothers, the need for her father’s approval. It feels invasive, like reading her diary, but I’ve never done this before, and don’t know how to make it stop.

  I could focus in deeper. A part of me wants to, even though I know it’s wrong. I want to understand the game Selen was playing the other night, leaning in as if to kiss me, then walking away.

  The thought alone triggers a probe, and suddenly I see Selen dressed in wooden armor just like she is now, kissing a tall, handsome boy outside at night. I recoil and there’s another flash—Selen in a beautiful dress, kissing a boy in her father’s stables. Then I am her. I can feel the stableboy’s tongue probing my mouth, even as my own probes his.

  Again I try to pull back, but the images keep coming, boys and girls, so many of them I lose track. I thought our kiss meant somethin
g. Held it in a secret place in my heart those long years when Mam and Aunt Leesha weren’t speaking. Ent kissed anyone else since.

  But now it just feels like a game she likes to play, making folk breathless and then walking away.

  I shudder, and Selen tightens her grip. “You all right, Darin?”

  I realize she doesn’t know. I’m rooting through her mind like a sundry drawer, but this deeper connection is one-way—me pulling through her. I feel my cheeks heat and am filled with shame. Ent my business who Selen Cutter kisses, or why.

  The wards on her armor glow brighter now, but I can feel the resistance as the magic passes through her body. Olive and I were shaped by Core magic in the womb, our bodies made to accept it, to channel it, to hold it like a cellar holds cool air against the noon sun.

  Selen isn’t like that—her blood can’t absorb the power. I feel it trying to flow into her wards, into me, back down into the ground. I have to actively prevent its escape as I stop the Draw, like covering the tip of a straw with my tongue to keep it full without drinking.

  Immediately, the influx of images and emotions stops. I breathe deeply in relief, searching for my calm. Olive is out there somewhere, probably in danger, drawing farther away with every moment, and I’m distracted by kissing.

  Selen’s aura, beautiful before, shines now. She takes a breath, flexing her arms and legs. “I feel like I did when my spear struck the demon. Some of its magic ran up the wards on the shaft and hit me like a lectric shock. Felt like I slept for a month, then dumped the whole sugar bowl into a pot of coffee and drank it all down.”

  “Sounds about right from what I’ve heard,” I say.

  “Is…” Selen’s grip on my hand shifts as I feel her will tugging at my aura, “…is this what you feel like all the time?”

  I suck in a little, resisting her probe, too ashamed she might know what I was thinking. “I guess.”

  “Always knew there was magic about you,” Selen says, “but this…” She holds up her free hand, curling it into a fist. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt so alive.”

  “Ent all sunshine,” I say. “Magic comes with its own problems. Even if this trick doesn’t kill us, we might end up wishin’ it did.”

  “Best get running, then.” I can feel Selen flexing her feet, readying herself.

  “If I let go, the power will flow back out of you,” I warn.

  Selen smiles, her fingers tightening around mine. “Then you’d best not let go.”

  Unbidden, one of the images comes to mind, Selen with her arms around a boy who’s everything I’m not—taller than her, broad and handsome. I feel like a child compared to him.

  I look away, breathing to calm myself. Got work to be done. We run, and holding the power, Selen’s long legs match my speed. Tireless, we keep the pace for over an hour, miles bleeding away under the blur of our feet.

  We encounter no demons, but nevertheless I feel exposed. Warded cloaks don’t mean spit at this speed. Past the road’s wardposts, the lands are open to the naked night. Corelings could come right up to the curb. If the demons really are hunting me, I’m not hard to find.

  I have to keep a gentle pull on the magic through our clasped hands. It took little effort at first, but like keeping a muscle tensed, it becomes increasingly painful. My fingernails get hot, my eyes and mouth dry out. My muscles start to burn.

  These are signs Mam has talked about my whole life. Ent safe to use magic for too long, or pull too much. Magic is limitless, but the mortal body is not.

  Da learned that the hard way.

  But Olive needs us. I focus on Selen’s hand in mine and keep running. Occasionally she squeezes, and I shiver with pleasure, despite the growing pain.

  The trail leads east, much as Mam and the duchess were said to have been heading, though it takes roads less traveled than the duchess’ escort of wagons and mounted soldiers requires.

  The spoor grows warmer for a time, but time is working against us. I can feel the weight of dawn approaching. We can’t keep this trick up much longer.

  Selen knows it, too. The longer we maintain the link, the more we can sense what the other is thinking, feeling. We are unified in our desire to run until the sun burns the magic away.

  But then we come to a crossroads, ringed with massive wardposts. A great many tracks intersect here—wagon grooves, horses, footprints. We’ll need to investigate to see which way our quarry went, if we even can.

  As one, we pull to a stop and reluctantly release our handhold.

  “Whoo!” Selen stumbles as the power leaves her. I try to catch her, but my legs buckle, and I miss, falling to my knees. My mouth is dry paste, sinuses raw, eyes burning. Every breath feels like fire.

  “Darin, are youuu…” Selen begins, but then she collapses. Her aura is dimmer than any I’ve ever seen. I look at my own hands and see them similarly dark. We Drew too much, ran too long, and when the magic drained away, there was nothing left.

  I can hear Mam in my head. Ought to slap the fool out of you, boy, pullin’ a stunt like that!

  Mam never raised her hand to me once, but this once, she’d be right to. If Selen dies, I have no one to blame but myself.

  I crawl to her, every movement an act of sheer will upon a body that no longer wishes to obey. My senses are dulled by the parch in my nose and throat, the ringing in my ears, the burning pain along my skin.

  Selen’s breathing is shallow, her heartbeat rapid but weak. Her skin is cold. I fumble with my waterskin, spilling not a little as I put it to her lips. She swallows, but her eyes remain closed, her body limp.

  I’m not much better off. Dawn will come at any moment. Already I feel its heat on my skin. Even at full strength, I hate the sun. Depleted as I am, I worry it might kill me.

  But Selen needs me, so I risk making things worse by taking her hand again and attempting to Draw just a bit of power—just enough to get us to a safe spot to sleep the day away.

  A sliver of fire cuts over the horizon, blinding and burning. Even as I reach for the magic pooled around us, the power evaporates.

  My every instinct is to flee as the blaze grows, bathing everything in flames. It stings my skin and fills my lungs with fire. It will kill me if I don’t find cover, and running away’s what I’m best at.

  Instead I throw up my hood and turn my back to the dawn as inch by inch, I drag Selen out of the road, taking succor in the shadow of one of the great wardposts that ring the crossroads.

  I get her to drink more, then finish what’s left in the skin. My throat is raw like I’d tipped back a boiling kettle. I put our backs to the wardpost and nestle next to Selen, throwing my cloak over us. I give myself permission to close my eyes for just a moment.

  Darin!

  The voice comes to me from far off in the distance.

  Darin!

  I try to lift my head, but it’s like I’m deep underwater, crushed by the weight of the air around me.

  “Darin!”

  It’s closer now, a wind that tosses me about like a leaf.

  “Darin, corespawn it!”

  I open my eyes to see Selen in the flickering haze above me, and I wonder if I’m dreaming. Her face looks desperate, but I can’t find her scent. She reaches for me, but I feel nothing save the wind. She’s shouting, but I hear it distantly, like the dinner bell from down the road. I reach for her, but my hand slides away.

  From far below, I feel a pull.

  Panic grips me as I realize I’ve gone slippery in my sleep for the first time since I was a kid. I suck in, feeling myself solidify. Selen snaps into focus, and I’m jolted about like a doll in a dog’s teeth as her shaking hands find purchase at last.

  I gasp a breath, tearing from her grasp and stumbling back on hands and feet. Selen lets go immediately, raising her hands. “It’s okay, Dar. Ent gonna hurt you.”

 
; “What happened?” I croak.

  “Slept the day away.” Selen holds out her waterskin. “Both of us. I only came to a few minutes ago. Went to check on you, and found you all slippery.”

  Shame hits me, almost more than I can bear. Last thing I want is for Selen to see how little control I have. How recklessly I put her in danger. She’s got every right to be mad.

  But she doesn’t smell mad. My sinuses are still raw and dry, but I know angry Selen smell as well as I know anything, and she isn’t. She’s concerned. “Didn’t know you did that when you slept.”

  “Ay, well,” I say. “You’re lucky I didn’t wet the bedding.” Honest word, it might have been less humiliating.

  Selen doesn’t laugh. “Didn’t know the dawn hurts you, either. Didn’t know a lot of things I know now.” She puts a hand on my face. “Worried about you.”

  Worried? She’d be terrified if she knew the truth. Da lost cohesion and was sucked down into the Core, never to be seen again. It takes an act of will to stop my hands from shaking at the thought. “We overdid it last night.”

  “You think?” The sarcasm in Selen’s voice makes me flinch, but she drops her hand from my face to squeeze my arm. “Ent blaming you, Darin. You warned me, and we had call to be desperate. Still do. We’re no closer to finding Olive.”

  The name is a reminder of why we’re here, and I cling to it as I force myself to roll onto my feet and stand. Every muscle aches and it still burns to breathe, but after I get my balance, each step is easier than the one before it. Magic wisps and whorls around the ground in the darkness, and I realize my body must have instinctively Drawn some to restore itself after the sun set. That’s what caused me to go slippery. Has to be.

  Selen pulls bread from her pack, and jars of honey and nuts. We sit for a cold meal, and I feel stronger with every bite. When we’re done, we walk into the crossroads.

  The food, water, and rest have helped restore my senses. I crouch to examine each of the intersecting paths, noting tracks and sniffing the ground. There were a lot of carts and animals here recently, with trails in every direction.