Bisecter

by Stephanie Fazio

  Dusker law or not, I can’t imagine a world where my parents didn’t at least mention I had an aunt.

  Jadem’s lopsided smile fades. “Oh, Mer.”

  Her use of my mother’s nickname for me makes my breath hitch. I can feel my careful mask begin to disintegrate.

  “We have so much catching up to do.” She reaches up a hand to touch my cheek, the black rays of the sun inked onto her hand dancing as though they’re alive. I flinch away.

  Jadem lowers her hand. “If you wish for proof of who I am, Dayne can vouch for my trustworthiness.”

  “And how do you know Dayne?” I press.

  A shadow crosses Jadem’s face, but then she laughs. “So many questions, so like your mother. Let’s end this interview for now.” She searches my face with her eye. “If my knowledge of weary travelers serves me correctly, your company will be wanting a good meal and sleep.”

  “Wait.”

  I look Jadem up and down for some resemblance to my mother. Even without the scars, her broadness is nothing like my mother’s delicate features. They couldn’t have been related.

  But she used my mother’s nickname for me. Only my mother ever used that name.

  “Where did my mother grow up?” I ask, testing her.

  Jadem quirks her eyebrow at me.

  “Subterrane Harkibel, just like you. Although it was called by a different name then.”

  We both look up as a kynthia bird flies into the cave and lands on Jadem’s broad shoulder. Jadem reaches into a pocket and pulls out a few seeds, which the bird plucks from her calloused palm.

  “They were her favorite.” Jadem looks at the bird. “They remind me of her.” In those words, I hear all the sadness of a woman who has lost her sister.

  I gape at her. “You’re telling the truth,” I whisper.

  Jadem nods.

  Aunt Jadem. I test out the unfamiliar words in my head.

  A desperate need, fiery hot, lurches up inside me. Jadem really did know my mother—grew up with her. There is so much she could tell me, so much I long to know.

  “Tell me a story about her.”

  Jadem gives me a lopsided smile.

  “A good one,” I clarify.

  She plucks a white flower growing against a leafy vine and brings it to her nose. “Your mother loved stories,” Jadem says. “She loved to hear about the wild creatures that lived beyond the mountains. She would badger every traveler who came through the Subterrane to hear about the places they’d been. She used any excuse she could find to leave the Subterrane and explore new territories.”

  I absorb her every word about my mother, willing them to fill the gaping hole that has been inside me for as long as I can remember.

  “There was one time,” Jadem laughs, remembering, “your mother was furious because our parents wouldn’t let her compete in the Dark God festival. So naturally, she decided we would make our own.” My aunt laughs again, and the sound fills the tunnel. “She convinced all the children in the Subterrane to set up obstacles, and even commissioned the Cloaker to make us banners and the goldsmith to fashion trophies.”

  She shakes her head, remembering.

  “What happened?” I breathe, afraid to interrupt.

  Jadem’s lopsided mouth quirks. “She won it all.” She shakes her head again. “Sent one little boy to the healing cave with a broken rib after her version of the wrestling.”

  I can see it all. My mother. Brave, strong, smart….

  “I can already tell you are very much like her,” Jadem says.

  Her words open a chasm in my heart, making me swell with emotion until I could almost burst. I’m like a Dweller who’s starving and just happened on a feast, only to be told she can only eat a single bite.

  “Tell me—”

  “Later, Mer.” My aunt’s voice is gentle. “There will be time enough for reminiscing.”

  Jadem takes my arm and steers me back through the waterfall to Dayne and Wokee. Dayne’s eyes flick over first Jadem and then me.

  Jadem’s voice is light, as though revealing herself as the aunt I never knew existed is normal. “I believe it’s dinner time. Shall we make our way to the dining cave?”

  Wokee lets out a whoop, undisturbed by Jadem’s appearance now that there’s the promise of food. He skips after Jadem as she leads the way. Vlaz trots along behind, twitching his wings as he swats at a corner of Wokee’s cloak. Dayne and I follow.

  My mind hums with everything Jadem has told me.

  We walk along a wide, stone-walled path lined with bunches of white flowers. The ceilings here are so high that the golden sunlight streaming in from above stops before it could touch even the tallest of these people, but is still bright enough to bathe the tunnel in a warm glow. The mist from the waterfalls gives off an earthy, clean smell.

  “What is this place?” I hear Wokee ask ahead of us.

  “This is Solis.” Jadem raises her hands up to the high ceiling.

  “What?” Wokee wrinkles his nose.

  “The Solguard fortress,” Jadem says. “We are known as the rebels to some.” She stops to water a bed of flowers from a copper watering can on the path’s edge.

  “So, you fight the Duskers, then.” Wokee takes out his small dagger like there might be a Dusker around the next corner.

  A strange look passes across Jadem’s face. “Some do, but others simply wish for a safe haven where we can live under our own rule rather than the Duskers’.”

  “Are we in the Banished Lands?” Wokee asks.

  Jadem nods. “The Duskers assumed the Banished would die off, either by Halves or the sun, but the people dug new caves and survived.”

  “I lived in the Banished Lands,” Wokee says, his face screwed up in confusion, “but none of my people were like yours.”

  “Most of the Banished people only wished to be left alone when they were exiled,” Jadem explains. “But there are some of us,” she glances down at the sun tattoo on her hand, “who wish for something better than mere survival, something more.”

  “But,” Wokee raises a small, bony finger, “If you’re a threat to the Duskers, how come they haven’t killed you yet?”

  To my surprise, Jadem laughs.

  “Because,” she gives Wokee a conspiratorial wink, “they don’t know how to find us.”

  “I want to be a Solguard,” Wokee announces.

  Dayne’s face goes stormy, but Jadem laughs again. “Well in that case, you must learn how to use the glide.”

  “What’s the glide?” Wokee licks his lips. “Is it food?”

  Jadem motions toward a dark hole in the side of the tunnel.

  “The cave fortress is quite large,” Jadem explains, “so we built the glide.”

  Jadem steps into the darkness and then sits down on the ground with her long legs stretched out in front of her. She moves gracefully for her size and girth. Her hand rests on a thick iron bar that sticks out from the rock.

  “This,” she motions to the blackness before her and the iron lever, “is how we save ourselves a bit of time. Pull the lever as many notches as you need, and you’ll find yourself deposited in the right tunnel.”

  “Huh?” Wokee tilts his head.

  “If I want to go to the dining cave, which is on the second level, I pull the lever two notches,” Jadem explains. You’ll learn your way around soon enough.”

  Jadem pulls the lever to the second notch, scoots herself forward, and disappears.

  “Where’d she go?” Wokee squats in front of the hole, squinting into the darkness.

  “Come on,” Dayne rolls his eyes.

  He lifts Wokee onto the lip of the darkness, pushes him into a sitting position, and pulls the lever.

  “Keep your feet out in front,” Dayne instructs as he gives Wokee a push.

  “Wheeeeee!”

  Wokee’s squeals of delight echo back up to us from wherever he’s gone.

  “You next, Hemera.”

  “You must be joking,” I look from Dayne
to the blackness. The familiar suffocating feeling that followed me through the Subterrane like a shadow returns. I step back from the hole.

  “There’s an awful lot of steps between here and the dining cave. Off you go.” Dayne nudges me forward.

  I sit at the edge of the hole, feeling metal beneath me.

  “Dayne, I can’t—”

  With a push, I’m falling. A scream rips from me as the whoosh of air fills my ears. Faster and faster I go as my body hurtles along the smooth metal.

  I’m swept around a sharp corner. Panic sets in as the faint outline of ten or more tunnels appears in front of me. I have no ability to control my direction. As I fly toward the place where the tunnel branches, my body is slung against a metal wall and into the second tunnel.

  Without warning, I shoot out of the darkness. I’m airborne for a stomach-flipping moment before I land hard on my side, rolling twice.

  Winded and hoarse from screaming, I scramble to my feet.

  I’ve barely regained my balance before Dayne comes shooting out and over me, landing on his feet.

  “That was so cool!” Wokee is dancing around us. “Can we go again? Please?”

  My heart is knocking against my ribs. But the raw terror is gone. It was how I always imagined it felt for the kynthia birds when their wings caught a rare breeze. Wokee is right; I want to do it again and again.

  “How do we get back up?” I ask when I’ve regained my breath.

  Jadem quirks her lip. “You climb the stairs, of course.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Jadem points us toward the dining cave.

  “Is that…” Wokee sniffs the air, “Meat? And bread?”

  Jadem laughs. “You’ll find that our resources here are less sparse, since we don’t pay the Duskers’ tithe.

  I stare at Jadem—my aunt—but I’m not seeing her. I’m thinking about Subterrane Harkibel. I knew most of the jewels we mined went to Malarusk, but it never occurred to me that my father sent them our crops, too. A knot of anger forms in the pit of my stomach as I think about the Sustum bricks we were forced to choke down when fresh food was scarce.

  Jadem ushers us along before putting a scarred hand on Dayne’s good shoulder and steering him in the opposite direction. Before I can ask where they are going, they’re gone.

  With a glance between us, Wokee and I step into the wide, open chamber. Flecks of gold and silver shimmer in the rock walls and the thick pillars around the cave.

  Sweet music accompanies the chatter and clink of bowls being passed down the long tables. Four women play wooden instruments to a rhythm that makes my feet tap of their own accord. A strange sound echoes through the cave. It takes me a moment to recognize it as singing. In Subterrane Harkibel, music was only heard during the Dark God festival.

  Men and women dance, together. Their arms wind around each other as they step to the beat of the music. Such closeness would never be allowed publicly in the Subterrane, even between married couples.

  The way they look at each other makes my heart ache for Brice.

  Blinking quickly, I stare around the room. Narrow waterfalls trickle down from the ceiling and collect in small pools at the sides of the room. White, yellow, and pale pink blossoms growing from the rock crevices waft a scent almost as intoxicating as the food. My mouth waters at the sight of heaping platters of meat, bread, and fruit that are making their way across the long tables.

  Wokee has already seated himself at one of the tables next to a young girl. They are chattering as Wokee helps himself to a laden basket of bread.

  On my way over to the nearest table, I trip over a crack between the stones and just manage to right myself before I bring down a platter of sliced meat. I hunch my shoulders, praying no one has noticed.

  I seat myself on the edge of one of the long benches, nerves still jittery from my near-fall. I pull on my hood to keep my eyes covered in shadow. Should I reach for a platter or wait for someone to pass one to me? I should have sat with Wokee….

  “You’re the one who came in with Dayne Clarion, right? I’m Wade. Who are you?”

  Drawing my face deeper into the hood of my cloak to keep my eyes hidden, I look at the man who was the first to recognize Dayne. The sunlight reflects in his golden eyes. It’s almost difficult to look into their brightness. Except that unlike my eyes, the effect of his unusual color is dazzling rather than terrifying.

  Even though I couldn’t think about anyone that way except for Brice, I can tell just from looking at him that this boy gets more than his share of attention from girls.

  “I’m Hemera.” Jadem’s niece, I almost say, but it feels too strange to say aloud.

  I pull on the collar of my cloak, which has started to strangle me.

  “Nice to meet you.” Wade smiles. “So, do you know what Dayne Clarion is doing here?”

  Wade makes rapid gestures with his hands as he talks. He has the Solguard sun inked onto the back of his right hand, too. He isn’t wearing his cloak, and the outlines of his taut muscles show through his white shirt.

  “Er,” I stutter. “We were traveling together and then some…Solguards…snuck up on us. But I guess Dayne had it in his head to come here anyway.”

  Not that he bothered to mention it to me.

  Wade shakes his head in disbelief. “Those guys must feel like idiots.” A devilish smile crosses his lips. “I’m never going to let Ry hear the end of this.”

  I have no idea who Ry is, but I have more important questions, and Wade seems to be the only person willing to answer them.

  “How does everyone know Dayne, and why are you all so excited to see him?”

  “You mean you don’t know?” Wade stares at me like I just sprouted a second head. “I thought you said you were travelling together!”

  “We were...I mean we are...but he never mentioned he was famous.” My cheeks redden again. I give my hood another tug to make sure my face is hidden in shadow.

  “Wow, I thought everyone knew about Dayne Clarion.” Wade tears off a chunk of bread with his teeth. He chews as he passes a tureen of soup to me.

  The smell makes my mouth water as I ladle the rich broth into my stone bowl.

  Wade narrows his eyes at me. “You know that he and Jadem were in Malarusk together, right?”

  “Yes,” I lie. The smell of the broth is dizzying.

  I dip my spoon into the bowl and sip. I choke from the heat and drop my spoon with a clatter.

  “I thought the Duskers never release anyone from Malarusk,” I say when I stop coughing.

  “Yeah, that’s the point,” Wade waves his hand impatiently. “No one had ever escaped from Malarusk until Dayne Clarion was sent there. He figured out how to do it, and he and Jadem got out. I think they killed a bunch of Duskers, too, but Jadem would never tell us how they did it. Anyway, that’s why Dayne is famous.”

  I chew a bite of meat. This soup tastes nothing like the thin liquid we were rationed in the Subterrane. Because there’s no Dusker tithe here.

  “You mean to tell me you were traveling with Dayne Clarion, and he never told you about his escape?” Wade’s shoulders hunch in disappointment.

  I shake my head.

  “Do you think you could introduce me later?” His face brightens.

  “Sure, I guess,” I say, thinking about the scowl Dayne wore every time one of the Solguards shook his hand.

  “Excellent.” Wade grins.

  I bite into a round, orange fruit, all the while feeling Wade’s gaze on me.

  “You don’t have to keep your hood up, you know,” he says. “The Burn won’t reach you down here.”

  “I know.” I sink deeper into the shadow of my hood. And then, searching for a way to distract him from wondering what I’m trying to hide, I say, “You sure talk a lot.”

  Wade makes a helpless gesture with his hands. “I’ve been like this my whole life.” He grins. “It gets me in trouble. Sal says I should have learned better by now, but, you know,” he grins, “I haven’t
.”

  I don’t know who Sal is, but right now, I have more important questions.

  Tread carefully, Hemera, I warn myself. I still don’t know much about these people. I don’t want to arouse suspicions or give them any reason to lock me up.

  “Have you always lived here?” I ask.

  A good, safe question.

  “No way!” Wade straightens up. “Jadem built this place before she was sent to Malarusk, but the rest of us have trickled in as our settlements were destroyed or the Duskers tried to recruit us.”

  I look around at the smiling people in this hall filled with flowers and sunlight. The Duskers always made it seem like civilization was impossible beyond the Subterrane territory.

  “It’s different here from what I would have expected from rebels,” I say carefully.

  Wade raises his eyebrows. “We stand for everything the Duskers hate—choice, freedom, the simple joy of living….” He puts his right hand on the table, clenching his fist so the rays of the sun dance across his skin.

  “Because the Duskers pray for darkness?” I guess, staring at the tattoo.

  Wade nods. “We are soldiers of the sun,” he says. “It’s a promise that one day, people will be able to live without fear of the Duskers or Halves.” Wade’s mood darkens. “All the Duskers bring is death.”

  “They don’t kill, they protect,” I recite. But the words of the Dark God prayer I’ve repeated countless times are beginning to sound hollow.

  Wade frowns. “You see that girl over there?” He points at the child talking to Wokee. “The Duskers raided her settlement and took all their weapons—to protect them—they said.” His words are filled with bitterness. “Hours later, the Halves attacked.”

  Wade bangs his fist on the table. Soup sloshes over the side of his bowl, but he takes no notice.

  “The Duskers could have killed the Halves. But they let them come. The Duskers let the Halves slaughter her settlement.”

  Wade continues, saving me from having to come up with a response. “The few of them who were left after the attack would have died in the settlement’s ruins if Jadem’s scouts hadn’t found them.”