Pariah (The New Covenant Series)

by Bond, Casey L.

  Faric was very quiet for much of the trip even when we stopped for water and to eat some of the food he was able to grab for us before coming after me. I was thankful for the break. My stomach was rolling after consuming too much of the evil coconut drink that just last night I’d thought was sent straight from heaven. My skin felt clammy, and I headed over to nearby creek and sat on a large boulder on its edge.

  Cupping cool water in my hands, I submerged in its refreshment. Then I took my shoes off and gingerly cleaned the gash in my knee and the dried blood that streaked down my pale leg. Faric stayed with the horse, but our gazes kept meeting each other. He’d been acting strange. I assumed he was still angry about Jonas, but I thought he would be more concerned with the fact that Maylon had been killed as was the young man. He seemed aloof and standoffish. Was he angry with me? Did he think that I had caused their deaths? My heart sunk, and I grabbed my chest.

  I was to blame. They were after me, not them. They were just caught in between the bastards and their prize—me. If I hadn’t run, Maylon might still be alive. Perhaps if I had run outside after the boy screamed, I could have stopped his death as well.

  I shouldn’t have listened to her. I should have walked out the door and surrendered. Tears tugged at my eyelids, overflowed onto my cheek, and slid slowly to my jaw, plunging off the edge. Tears rained upon the dress Maylon fashioned for me. She was so kind. She barely knew me but took me in, helped me when I was injured, fed me, clothed me, and genuinely cared for me, and she ultimately died for me. I had never felt anguish before today. Darkness slowly seeped into my soul.

  “Hey,” yelled Faric sharply. “Let’s go, princess. We need to put some distance between us and the settlement.” Jerk Faric is back. Wonderful.

  I kept my back to him as I wiped my tears and splashed water on my face once more. I refused to let him see me cry. I bumped his shoulder as I passed by him. “Stupid witch,” he muttered after the contact.

  “What did you call me? You can’t give me time to think? You are such a jerk! I thought you were different. You seemed to care about me. But you’re just a liar. Don’t say another word to me!” I screamed and stalked off toward the horse. What a jerk! He’d never said or done anything so mean since

  I’d met him. Calling me a witch? What an ass! What was his problem? I fumed as the black mare galloped over the forest floor across flat meadows and swampy places hidden within its borders. Finally, night fell. My anger, though still very much alive, was overtaken by my sleepiness. Faric found a rocky embankment whose ledge would curve over our heads, providing a sort of natural shelter.

  He left the site with the hilt of the largest knife I’d ever seen in hand. I wanted to be busy and useful, so I started looking for dead limbs and dry brush to use for kindling. He started a fire with the material I had gathered, sparking his knife off of a piece of flint then started gutting a hare on a nearby rock. Neither of us spoke a word, and before I knew it, I had fallen asleep with my side against the rock, head sunk against the cool grainy surface.

  I was startled awake long after darkness had fallen. Faric was frantically kicking dirt over the fire to extinguish it quickly. He stomped his boots into it, and the fire and smoke succumbed to suffocation. He ran over and slid down beside me, put one arm around my waist, and clamped the other over my mouth. My eyes shot wide open, and my heart beat out of my chest. Then I heard what he’d been so frightened of. Footsteps resounded down the hillside across us and a light emerged in the darkness. I looked at Faric, who was only visible by the bluish light of the moon, and he loosened his grip on my mouth and brought his finger across his own shushing me. He released my waist and crouched in front of me.

  The black horse whinnied, and I froze. Shut up, horse! As the footfalls fell nearer, the horse became more uneasy. Her whinnying and thrashing became frantic. Faric took large steps away from me, trying to be as quiet as possible. He disappeared into the abyss, and I strained to see who or what was coming.

  Then a familiar form came into my vision. Whew. It was just Faric. Maybe the threat was gone now. He came closer to the horse and then squinted through the darkness and held up a lantern. Where had he gotten the lantern from? His eyes met mine, and I tilted my head to the side trying to figure out where he’d been and what had happened.

  “Lara! Lara. There you are. Are you okay?” He panted.

  “Yeah. What happened? Who had the lantern?” I asked. Despite the hammering of my heart against my chest, my mind was still foggy from sleep.

  He knelt down, holding the lantern close, looked me up and down, and brushed his thumb over my cheek. I flinched and drew away from him, scooting farther in to the rock behind me.

  He seemed startled by my reaction and retracted his hand. “Are you all right? I found Maylon when I got home from the pub. She’s dead,” he said, raking his hand down his dirty face. “There was a boy in her yard too. He was dead too. I don’t know what happened. I just knew I had to find you. I took off in the direction of the horse tracks. My horse is hitched just over that hillside. I saw smoke and thought I’d sneak over here and see if it was you or if someone had you.” He collapsed onto his backside in front of me. “What?” he said, looking at my face. I began to shake. What was he doing? Was he crazy? Had he forgotten that he took me out here? I am with a complete freaking psycho!

  Footsteps approached behind Faric, and I saw him. A scream left my mouth and flew through the night, startling birds from their nests and scattering them over the cloudy sky. I backed away from both of them.

  “Riven. How kind of you to join us. Long time no see, brother.” Faric loomed dark and tall over his twin. Twin! My Faric was a twin. My Faric was Riven? Riven, the trader.

  The man sitting in front of me, the one I’d believed to be Faric, dropped his head and closed his eyes. He looked at me and muttered, “Faric. I should have known.”

  “Solara,” the standing version of perfection said, “You should know that I am Faric. My twin brother has been impersonating me for some time now while I wasted away chained in a nearby cave. He apparently has done a piss poor job pretending to be me as well. I am nothing like my brother. Please, meet Riven.” Riven’s sea-water eyes locked onto mine.

  “Is this true?” I said, my voice shaking and raspy.

  He nodded. “I am Riven. It is true.”

  Faric said, “Well, now that we are all truly acquainted, I will rebuild the fire so that Solara doesn’t freeze.” He grabbed the lantern and sauntered into the night, whistling a merry tune as he collected limbs from the ground.

  I hugged my waist and drew my legs in, chilled from the web of lies spun by the man in front of me.

  “Solara,” he said softly, reaching for my hand.

  “Don’t! Don’t you dare touch me! You are a liar. You lied to everyone. To Lil! Don’t touch me. Don’t look at me. Just stay away from me.” Hot tears spilled quickly down my face.

  I awoke in the morning with a cool breeze blowing my hair into my face. Angry clouds quickly raced across the sky. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

  My eyes were swollen, and my throat hurt from the sobs that took over my body last night. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The Faric I knew was really his twin brother, Riven, who had assumed his identity. Why? The real Faric seemed to be an arrogant jerk. Maylon and the boy were dead because I chose to run. We were nowhere near any sort of well from what I could tell. I just wanted to go back to Wes and to my best friend, Lil. How would she react to Riven, Faric, whomever he was. They were married. Oh my gosh.

  Thoughts raced through my head faster than the clouds in the sky. Miss Annette had raised me and left her family to become my governess. My parents were dead. No siblings. Miss Annette told me to trust Faric. Which freaking one? Was she aware of Riven assuming Faric’s role in the kingdom?

  Then there was a new problem: just looking at the twins made my head spin. Other than their clothing, I literally could not tell them apart. I had never seen identical twins before
until now, but I was amazed. Stop staring, Lara! Riven was dressed in brown pants and a cream shirt, and Faric had black pants and a stark white shirt. I had to cling to that information for now and prayed they didn’t swap clothes during our time together. Although I could discern the personalities of each, both were skilled in the art of deception.

  There didn’t appear to be much love lost between the brothers. They kept their morning conversation short and to the point, only speaking as much as was necessary to give or gather information. Lovely. My life keeps getting better and better. Maybe I should check my back. Maybe the tattoo mark thing was gone. Faric’s staring caught my attention, and I met his gaze. His eyes darted toward his hand, which held a beautiful red apple. I cupped my hands in reply.

  The apple was amazing. It was juicy, sweet, and somewhat tart; in other words, it was delicious. Riven took the horse down to the stream and let her drink. Tension and awkwardness was thick between our trio. I had nothing kind to say to either of them, so I kept my mouth shut and my thoughts to myself until they suggested that we leave the area and head toward the coast. The coast? What the heck? I wanted to go back to Wes or at least meet him at the second well. What happened to the well?

  That was the only place we’d discussed meeting him. There was no back-up location. I know that Riven argued about its safety, or lack thereof, should someone from the kingdom followed him, but how would we know unless we got close and checked it out, right?

  Leaving my own thoughts, I realized that the two were still discussing the coast.

  Faric’s smugness was smothering. “Only he has the references and knowledge that will likely help us decipher the message.”

  “I know, but you know he won’t let her go if we take her there. It’s too risky.” Riven stood and began pacing back and forth near the fire. Faric was crouched down beside it, fiddling with a stick.

  “Do I get a say in this?” I smarted. “It is my mark.”

  Riven stopped and looked at me. His jaw was clenched. “Lara, you have to understand that we’re trying to protect you. We need to be able to read the mark and determine how to proceed.”

  “Oh. Do we need to be able to read the mark? Do we need to decide how to proceed? No, we don’t. There is no we. This burden is mine. Not yours. I need to have the mark translated, and I need to determine how to proceed.” I glared at them both. Who were they kidding? Like I would trust either of them after their betrayal. Riven taking on Faric’s life. Both of them were liars. They were so jacked up. It made my head spin.

  Faric shifted on the balls of his feet and threw the twig into the hungry flames. His teal eyes held me captive. “Solara, there is one in the kingdom of the Seafarers, who can decipher most anything. I have faith that he can figure out what that says.” He motioned to my back.

  “Who is he?” I asked, tersely, standing and pressing back against the rough bark of a tree. “Oh, and before you even attempt concoct some story, I’d like the truth please.”

  The brothers exchanged a glance. Were they trying to get their stories straight? I rolled my eyes at them, trying to quench my frustration. Riven cleared his throat. “He’s our father.”

  Your father? Are you serious?”

  Both nodded in affirmation. Great. Now I get to meet the demon who spawned these two devils. I reluctantly agreed to travel to the seafarers as I saw no other options available. I wanted to see the ocean anyway. I’d read and heard stories of its beauty. The only thing that worried me was what Riven had said earlier about his father not wanting to let me leave. But I figured that I’d gotten this far and would figure it out after the message was translated. Besides, I didn’t know anyone else who could decipher the strange writing. I couldn’t read it. I’d looked in Maylon’s mirror and tried to figure it out. I thought that since it was written to me, I would be able to understand it. But either God had a great sense of humor, or he wanted me to travel across the sea. Settling on the latter, we set off to the shore.

  The forest eventually began to thin. We’d traveled for four or maybe five days. Hunger, sleep deprivation, and exhaustion had begun to take a toll on my body. I tried to wash well but feared that I might even smell, having gone so long without a proper bath.

  The dress Maylon made me had definitely seen better days. Once form fitting and perfect, it had stretched a bit and sagged into an unflattering heap that even my curvy frame wouldn’t support. So starved, I feared that my stomach was devouring itself.

  A few miles out, the trees thinned into grasslands. Clay turned into thin dry dirt and then to golden sand. Salt hung heavy in the air. My very soul hummed at the thought of seeing the ocean for the first time. It was nearly dusk when we arrived at the edge of the world. Feeling a new bout of exhilaration, I fumbled down from the horse, never taking my eyes off of the water. The sand felt warm and grainy as it wormed its way in between my toes. I wiggled them, tickling them with the sand. I felt my lips curl up into a smile. Gentle waves lapped the shore, receded, built back, and repeated their paths in an infinite symphony of beauty. I was mesmerized, completely enthralled and unconditionally in love for the first time in my life.

  The guys took upon themselves the chore of setting up our camp. Faric went hunting while Riven began gathering for the fire. I let them work while I stepped into the surf, letting the warm water splash onto my achy legs. It was healing. Cathartic. Wonderful. Then it dawned on me. I could totally bathe in the ocean! I yelled to Riven that I was going to walk down the beach a bit to bathe and threatened the lives of him and his brother if they ventured anywhere in my vicinity during my outing. Then I took off in an almost sprint toward a cleaner me.

  A safe distance away, I ran as fast as I could, splashing into the water and plunging in until the foamy waves crashed over my head. Popping back up, the salty seawater flooded my senses. It was briny and delicious. I’d never smelled anything like it. My eyes stung a little bit. I blinked the water out of my lashes and dragged my hands over my hair, squeezing the water down my back. I dragged my soaked dress off and used it as a wash cloth, rubbing its dark oily fabric over my skin, scrubbing away days of accumulated dirt and sweat.

  After my skin felt clean, I rinsed the dress several times to clean it. I slinked out of my undergarments and washed them as well. Then I used the wet sand from under feet to scrub my skin again. Sand became my soap, and I even piled it into in my hair and scalp and scrubbed then dunked my head backward, sinking into the baptismal water.

  Finally clean and thoroughly exhausted, I dragged myself to shore and pulled my underwear and corset back on as well as I could. Though I couldn’t tie the darn thing, it at least covered my important bits. I crashed onto my back there on the shore in the hard-packed sand and looked at the sky. Darkness was starting to creep over land and earth. A few stars shone, and the moon’s halo shone from behind a soft, silvery cloud. The wind blew over my body, drying it somewhat, but I realized that I needed to head back to the fire and its warmth when chills raked over my skin, and my teeth chattered together.

  I shrugged the dress back over me and took off toward the camp. The guys weren’t there. The fire was blazing in the dark night.

  Thwack! It was followed by a thump, thump. Two coconuts fell to the ground a few feet away. I looked up and saw one of the twins clinging to the trunk of a palm tree, a long knife in hand. He shimmied down and gathered four coconuts he’d freed. Faric or Riven? He was shirtless and his pants were dark. That’s all I knew.

  He grinned and nodded toward the coconuts. “Want one?”

  “Sure.” His hair dripped wet on his broad shoulders. Why did this fine specimen of a man have to be such a jerk? Why? It didn’t even matter which twin he was. Both were jerks. One was just more open about it. He quickly and efficiently beheaded the coconut and handed it to me. I tipped it back and gulped the milk down with a fury. Rivulets of the sweet water ran down both sides of my mouth, meeting at my chin and forming a waterfall that splashed onto my toes. I didn’t care. Thirst and delic
iousness took over. I stopped, gasping for air and wiped my chin and mouth.

  “Thanks.”

  “Welcome.” He beheaded his own and sat down on a log near the fire. Sparks spewed into the night fizzling out as they fell back to earth. “Faric’s out hunting. He’ll be back soon. He’s better at it than I am.”

  “Well, that answers one of my questions,” I admitted.

  Wondering which one I was, huh?” He raised his mouth in a hesitant half smile.

  “Yep. The only way I can tell you apart is by your clothing at this point, though your personalities are very different.” I admitted and began gulping the rest of the coconut milk. Pausing, I added, “If you aren’t acting, that is. You’re both either brilliant, or I’m very foolish. I’m not sure which at this point.”

  He released a heavy sigh. “Lara, you’re not a fool. I didn’t mean—”

  “Stop,” I interrupted. “Just stop. You did mean to deceive me, right? I’m not sure of your motive. I hope to figure it out at some point. But don’t say that you didn’t mean to fool me or hurt me or lie to me or whatever. Just don’t. Don’t lie anymore.”

  “Okay.” He said as awkwardness fell over us. I’m surprised the fire wasn’t smothered by it.

  “So how are we getting to the seafarer’s, and how long will it take to get there?” I asked.

  “Faric has a friend not too far from here with a boat we can hopefully borrow, and if that pans out, we can travel by boat in about a day, depending on the winds and currents.” He shifted onto his side, leaning down on his elbow, flinging dried pieces of sea grass into the flames.

  “I’ve never been in a boat. What’s it like?”

  He smiled and looked over at me. “Freedom. It’s like freedom. Feeling the wind in your hair, the power in the sail and the current beneath you. You’re completely at God’s will but free to enjoy every minute of it. It’s like God’s breath speeding you across the water. It’s amazing.”

  “Wow. You must really love to sail. Why did you leave? I mean, you did leave, right? You are the trader? Or was that a—”