Keeper of the Winds

by Jenna Solitaire

  Behind me, I heard a sharp grunt, a crash and a clatter and the mugger’s hand fell away from my shoulder. I shook the hair out of my eyes and looked up to see my attacker sprawled on the ground a few feet away, a trash can lying next to him that he’d knocked over in his fall. Standing over him with his back to me was the man I’d seen staring at me from the alley.

  He took a step forward and made some kind of gesture with one hand. The alley was dark and I couldn’t see very well, but it certainly alarmed the mugger, who got awkwardly to his feet and ran off down the alley, limping and splattering his way through the puddles on the ground.

  I got back to my feet, still clinging to my backpack and wincing a bit as I put weight on my right leg. The knee of my jeans was tom and blood oozed from a scrape.

  “Thanks,” I said, hearing the shaking of my voice and hating it. I hated feeling or sounding weak. “Really, I—”

  The man swung around to face me. “What have you done?” he demanded.

  I didn’t understand, and started to explain this. “I don’t—”

  He closed the gap between us and seized my arm. Hard enough to hurt.

  “It has been awakened,” he said angrily. “The wind, the weather—everything proclaims this to be true. How dare you betray your sacred trust?”

  What is going on here? I wondered. The guy saves me from a mugger one minute and yells at me the next and for what? I don’t understand what it is he thinks I’ve done.

  I yanked my arm out of his grasp. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I insisted. He grabbed my arm again—he had a grip like iron—and I yelped. “Hey! Let me go!”

  He ignored me and dragged me closer, pulling my face up to his. “Who do you serve?” he asked.

  We stared at each other for a few breathless moments. My heart was pounding away, adrenaline thundering through my veins … and yet, I felt strangely distant from these events. It was just another crazy man threatening me, asking me questions or trying to tell me things that made little or no sense. I hadn’t even had time to call the police and this time there was no Simon around to chase away the bad guys. The mugger seemed like a minor threat—he’d just wanted my backpack. I didn’t know what this man wanted.

  I watched as the expression on the man’s face changed from anger to puzzlement. “You do not understand?” he asked, clearly amazed by the idea. “You do not know?”

  “No,” I said. “I don’t know.”

  “Then you must come with me—” he started to say.

  “Jenna!” Professor Martin’s voice called from the end of the alley.

  Before I could answer, the man let go of my arms and I stumbled away from him. By the time I caught my balance again, Professor Martin was running down the alley toward me and the man in the black coat was gone.

  “What was that all about?” the professor asked me as he escorted me back toward the street.

  “I’m not sure,” I said, still trying to figure it all out myself.

  “Maybe you should talk to the police,” he said.

  I shook my head. The mugger was long gone and the man in the black coat … I didn’t think he’d meant me any real harm. “I’m all right,” I said as we reached my car.

  “If you say so,” Professor Martin said. “Are you sure you don’t want to leave the Board with Burke? I really think he could help you.”

  “I’m sorry, Professor,” I said. “I can’t.”

  “All right,” he said, the disappointment clear in his voice. “I’ve got to go, but I’ll see you on campus, okay?”

  “Sure,” I said, just wanting to get back to Tom’s apartment and hide. Everyone seemed to be acting strangely—even me—and I wanted to have a chance to sort things out.

  The professor ran to his car, jumped in, and pulled out of the space. I watched him go, wondering why he was in such a rush, then shrugged. I hadn’t met a professor yet that was completely normal—I’d been in college long enough to know that was a undeniable fact.

  Just as I began to open the door to my own car, I heard shuffling footsteps behind me. I whirled around, determined to face whoever this was head on.

  A guy with a baseball cap pulled low over his eyes approached me. “Got the time?” he asks, his voice gruff and low.

  I felt my shoulders sag with relief. “Sure,” I said, looking at my watch. “It’s—”

  As I looked down at the ground, the man shifted his weight, favoring one leg as if it was sore.

  That’s when I knew his voice was familiar … and something dark, thick and heavy was pulled down over my face.

  8

  “It’s all arranged, my Lord. We’ll take both her and the Board from him at the airport, and both will be in your hands within twelve hours.”

  “You have done well, Peraud. I am not displeased.”

  “What of Burke and his associate?”

  “They have delivered where your contact could not. Pay them as arranged. Burke knows his place. There is no need to end a perfectly agreeable business relationship.”

  I tried to yell for help, but any sound I made was muffled by the cloth over my face. Strong hands grabbed my arms and pulled me away from the car, squeezing me tightly, even through my coat and sweater. I twisted and writhed against my new assailant, and felt my backpack fall out of my hands.

  The Board! It might break when it hit the concrete.

  I thrashed, trying to break free—not so I could escape, but so I could pick up the Board again. I couldn’t see, could hardly breathe. An arm went across my chest, another around my throat and I felt my feet leave the ground. I tried to fight with everything I had when I felt a sharp pain in my right shoulder, a pinprick stabbing me.

  My struggles weakened almost immediately, and I felt my arms and legs turn to lead. My muscles wouldn’t respond and it felt like I was melting, turning into liquid and for a moment, I wanted to cry again.

  All I could think about as I sank into the darkness was that I was going to lose the Board forever.

  I drifted back into awareness and my first thought was that I had been buried, deep in the earth, like my grandfather. Buried alive. A weight pressed down on every inch of me, gluing my eyes shut, filling my mouth and my nostrils.

  It was so heavy, and my body ached with the need to move, to scream, to turn around, to … do something to proclaim that I was still a living human.

  I wondered if I was having yet another dream or vision and I thought about how my grandfather would have comforted me … but he couldn’t now. He was dead and this thought stirred my brain into waking. My grandfather is dead and I’m not. I’m not buried and I have to figure out what has happened to me and protect the Board.

  I told myself to wake up—and then I did.

  Being awake wasn’t much better, I found, than being trapped in a dream. I tried to open my eyes, but something—tape, maybe—had sealed them shut. There was a thick cloth gag in my mouth and spitting it out was impossible. A vibrating noise that I didn’t immediately recognize filled the air around me.

  I realized that the drug I’d been injected with was still affecting my senses, and I waited a while longer to see if the effects would lessen. Eventually, I knew that I was lying on the dirty backseat floor of a car. In the front seat, I could hear voices speaking in harsh tones.

  One was thin, sharp and angry, with a familiar high-pitched, nasal tone. “I don’t like this, Burke. This is way further than we’ve gone before.” The voice belonged to Tanner.

  “Yeah, well, this is way bigger than anything we’ve ever handled before,” Burke replied.

  I immediately knew I was in real danger. These men had kidnapped me and I felt fear swirl in my stomach like an angry snake. Nausea rose in my belly and I thought for a second I might actually have to throw up. I swallowed hard to keep it from happening—with the gag in place, I would have suffocated … . I shuddered, trying not to think about it, wondering instead what Burke and Tanner intended to do with me.

  “Thi
s is a lot of trouble,” Tanner was saying. “Kidnapping is no joke.”

  “Will you stop whining?” Burke snapped. “It’s only real trouble if we’re caught and why should we get caught? The only people who know about this are you, me, Martin and that girl back there—and she’s not going to be telling anybody.”

  I struggled against the ropes that they had used to tie my hands, to spit out the gag … but nothing worked. I was trapped, and frightened, but I also felt another emotion: anger. They’d taken the Board from me, lied to me, and they were sitting up there discussing me like last week’s garbage to be taken out to the dump. I held onto the anger—it was the only useful emotion I’d felt so far. Anger would serve me better when the time came for action.

  I twisted my hands, trying to loosen the ropes, hoping to get free.

  “This is worth a little risk,” Burke continued “There are people out there who will pay serious money for that piece of wood. It’s going to set me up for a long, long time.”

  I jerked, almost getting into a sitting position. He was talking about selling the Board! But if they knew I was awake, they wouldn’t keep talking, so I forced myself to remain still. The panic I felt at the idea of being parted from the Board was unnatural. I’d only had it for a few days, yet the very thought of losing it made my breath catch in my throat. I couldn’t let them have it—it belonged to me.

  The Board was mine.

  Suddenly, I somehow knew that the Board was on the backseat above me. I couldn’t explain how I knew that, but I did. It was almost like I could see it with another set of eyes. It was there and safe for the moment.

  I tried to relax and listen to their conversation.

  “You?” Tanner said. His voice was so nasty it felt like ants crawling on my skin. “You sent me out there to grab the girl and her pack, do all the dirty work, and it’s going to set you up for a long time?”

  “Listen, Tanner,” Burke said. “If you’d gotten her pack the first time, we wouldn’t be having any trouble now. So shut the hell up.”

  Tanner grumbled something under his breath and Burke said, “What?”

  “You didn’t tell me she had some kind of bodyguard,” he complained.

  “Will you shut up about the so-called bodyguard? Did anybody try to stop us when we grabbed her at her car?”

  “I’m telling you, this guy was creepy. There was something—”

  “Just shut up, Tanner,” Burke said. “I’m tired of hearing it.”

  There was silence for a moment, and then Tanner said, “What about Martin? He’s going to want a cut.”

  “Yeah, but he doesn’t know what he’s got here. Not for sure. I’ll give him a finder’s fee like I usually do, a couple of thousand. Don’t worry about him. We’ve worked together in the past.”

  My heart lurched in my chest. Professor Martin worked with Burke … he’d known about this. That was why he’d been in such a hurry to get away from the shop—in fact that was why he’d brought me to the shop in the first place! So much for not trusting my instincts, I vowed to myself. The hunger in Professor Martin’s eyes was for money.

  I tried to calm my ragged breathing and focus on listening to the two men in the front.

  “I don’t mind helping you find a buyer,” Tanner said. “That’s what I do. But I’m not helping you kill anybody or whatever it is you’re planning.”

  “Since when did you become a girl scout?” Burke asked. I felt the car turn a sharp corner and I slid back against the seat, paper rustling around me. “Listen,” he continued. “I’m not a pervert and I’m no murderer. Nothing’s going to happen to the girl. Look at her back there, sleeping like a baby. She’s fine. All she’s going to think is that she got mugged—that’s it. Pretty little girl like that should know better than to walk around town all by herself. So you can stop whining.”

  “Fine,” Tanner said. “Then I guess you don’t need me anymore tonight.”

  Burke slammed on the brakes and the car screeched to a halt. “You want to walk home, be my guest,” he said.

  I heard a car door open, and then slam shut. The vehicle lurched into motion again, and I wondered where Burke was taking me and what was going to happen when we got there. If he’d wanted me to think I’d been mugged, why drag me away from town?

  I kept working at the rope around my wrists, trying to hold on to my anger while fear crept back into my mind I couldn’t afford to panic. My grandfather taught me that panic is what will get you killed, so think first. I could almost hear his voice in my head.

  Burke had told Tanner that he didn’t plan to kill me. He had the Board, so killing me didn’t make any sense. Lost in thought, I barely noticed when the road surface changed from asphalt to dirt. The ping of gravel on the underside of the car rattled in my ears. Several minutes passed before the car slowed to a stop.

  I heard Burke get out and his door shut. In the distance, I could hear the sound of running water, and guessed that we were near the river. Miller’s Crossing had once been a trading post, and in the summer, plenty of people still used the waterway for kayaking, canoeing or fishing … but in the winter and early spring, it was deserted. No one would be anywhere nearby.

  The door closest to my head opened, and I felt hands grasp my shoulders and pull me out of the vehicle. I tried to stay still and limp. It would be better if Burke still thought I was asleep and drugged. The element of surprise might be my only chance to escape.

  My head and torso came out first, and my feet, still tied together at the ankles followed as Burke tugged at me. I felt them hit the ground with a thud, and then almost let out a gasp as I was hoisted into the air.

  “Sorry about this,” Burke muttered, panting with the effort of carrying my dead weight on his shoulder. “It’s a waste, really, because you’re a nice-looking young girl. But I can’t have any loose ends and even though the man said he wanted you and the Board, I’m not going to take that kind of rlsk.”

  I suddenly knew that Burke had lied to Tanner. He wasn’t going to leave me somewhere and let me wake up, thinking I’d been mugged.

  He was going to kill me!

  I thrashed and twisted wildly, yanking at the ropes that bound my hands together, but I couldn’t get free. Burke was surprised by my sudden movement, however, and he grunted and dropped me to the ground. I didn’t want to die, and as I felt a wooden surface beneath me, I did the only thing that came to mind … I rolled, and kept rolling.

  In fact, I couldn’t stop myself.

  I felt the ground drop out from beneath me and a momentary weightlessness took me by surprise. The air was cold and I would have screamed, but the gag kept me silent, wailing to myself.

  Then I hit the icy river, breaking through a skin of ice on the surface.

  March in Ohio isn’t spring, and the water cut at my body like a thousand tiny knives.

  My nose filled with water, and the rag in my mouth was soaked in seconds. My coat soaked through and its weight began pulling me down to the river bottom.

  I couldn’t swim, couldn’t see, and had no idea even which direction the surface might have been. Blinded, helpless, gagging …

  The last moments of my life were passing in front of my eyes. These last days hadn’t been fair or sane and all I wanted was to scream and cry, but the water was too cold, the gag choking me.

  I knew I was going to die, drowned in the river and soaked in mud.

  I expected to feel an icy grip, a burning maybe, as my lungs filled with the silty water and my death approached.

  I expected to die, swallowing water and wishing I’d been smart enough to trust my instincts about Professor Martin and Burke. Wishing I still had the Board.

  Death was coming for me. I knew it with every bone and fiber in my body.

  But it didn’t.

  The water around me bubbled and surged and though I could feel it in my nose and my mouth … in my lungs … I did not die. I didn’t even struggle for air.

  My lungs expanded and contracted
like always, but instead of dying, I was … I was breathing. I was breathing water! The miraculous nature of my survival was stunning and yet … it felt perfectly normal, like I had been breathing underwater my whole life. I stopped struggling and let myself sink.

  I thought of the Board and almost at once, I could feel it as though it was in my hands. A voice, sibilant and almost hissing, whispered in my mind. “Call to me and I am yours—the power of the Winds, of breath and life … you are the Keeper of the Winds.” I should have been frightened, but instead I felt only a sense of inner peace and calm, like I was being cradled in a protective bubble where nothing could hurt me.

  I wondered if I was imagining the strange voice, then realized that sitting on the river bottom was no place to be thinking about things. Even if I didn’t drown, the cold could kill me, too.

  Whatever was happening, I had to get out of the water, fast. Then I could take time to puzzle things out. At least I wasn’t dead and if I had the Board to thank for that, I’d gladly shower it with kisses … as soon as I got it back from Burke.

  Slowly, I tugged at the ropes around my wrists. I had managed to loosen them a little earlier, and now I managed to stretch the ropes out even more. Blinded, my eyes squeezed tightly shut against the sting of the frigid water leaking over my tape blindfold, I drifted along the bottom. My sense of time was muted, as though it had ceased to really matter.

  Finally, I got my stiff hands free and yanked the tape off my eyes and the gag out of my mouth. I saw the surface of the river above me, and I kicked with my ankles, feeling how lethargic my muscles already were in the freezing cold.

  I didn’t dare take the time to try and get the rope off my feet … I might not be able to drown, but I was pretty certain I could still freeze to death. I moved toward the surface, coated in muck and heavy with icy water in my clothes. I saw the bubbles of my breath floating up toward the surface ahead of me.