Divided

by Rae Brooks

  Travelers were certainly not rare in Telandus, but rarely was it that any of them had such manners—or such a penchant for dancing. Since leaving Cathalar, Taeru had never met someone who seemed to understand his steps. But not only had his dance partner understood them, he had complemented them with grace and finesse that Taeru wasn’t sure even he could match.

  The thoughts irritated him, though. The man was gone from his life now and thinking about him was only giving Taeru a headache.

  Just for a moment, in that single instance of finding his body pressed up against the blond—Taeru had felt something. And the feeling had been simultaneously unsettling and curious. He didn’t want to dwell on it, but he knew that he didn’t hate it.

  But it doesn’t matter, and would likely get you killed, Taeru reminded himself inwardly.

  Alyx was regarding him with curious eyes. She certainly knew that he was not himself. Taeru wasn’t sure that he’d stopped blushing from his brief interaction with the traveler. “If you want to go, I don’t mind,” Alyx finally decided upon saying.

  Taeru would normally not have taken her up on this offer. These sorts of events were supposed to be jovial, and to miss them would be to deny himself any pleasure at all. Unfortunately, he doubted any more of this moon would lead to anything beyond too-curious thoughts about his dance partner. “Thank you, Alyx,” he said softly, “I don’t feel well.”

  Her eyes were immediately worried. She clearly hadn’t expected him to take her up on the offer, but she wasn’t going to retract it. “Are you alright?” she asked. “Did someone say something to you?”

  The worrying was sweet, but Taeru wished she wouldn’t bother. Not that he didn’t give her plenty of reason to worry, masquerading about as some Phantom hero. But—for some reason—he felt compelled to help Dark District. The down side was causing the Amarals a great deal of worry. “I’m alright,” he answered.

  “Who were you just talking to?” Her curiosity was not the type that went away with a simple haphazard answer. “Just now.”

  So apparently Alyx had seen his companion, or rather, she was aware that he was not simply standing up the street by himself as he tended to do. “I’m not sure,” Taeru was able to answer honestly. “Just a traveler. He was leaving.”

  This didn’t seem to bring any more excitement into her eyes, and as she couldn’t find anything particularly wrong with Taeru—she nodded. “Alright, then. Go get some rest. I’ll see you at sun-up.”

  Alyx didn’t have to tell him twice.

  The next morning, Taeru completed his usual task for the trading company as he always did. They paid him and sent him on his way once the shipments were unloaded. He thought about stopping at the market for some sort of trading, but when he couldn’t decide on anything he actually wanted—he just took a stroll through the town.

  Alyx wouldn’t have been home at this hour, anyway. She ran errands for several of the shopkeepers, and when she wasn’t doing that she maintained one of the fruit stands in its owners absence. Aitken would surely be brimming with questions on why Taeru had left the party so early the previous moon, and Taeru didn’t really feel like answering them.

  Just like back in Cathalar, which admittedly, Taeru still thought of as home—though he was sure he would no longer be welcome there—Taeru had never been able to properly enjoy those sorts of events. The ones here in Dark District were much more lively, but they still required a certain social presence that Taeru felt he lacked.

  He and his father had disagreed on that point. Veyron had wanted Taeru to be the king, rather than Ryo, but Taeru had known this would not be good. Taeru was not overly good at dealing with people in a way that rulers should deal with people. That was just one of the many reasons Taeru had left Cathalar.

  Veyron was not a monster, and he would listen to his children when they spoke—but Veyron was confident that Taeru would make a fine leader, and could not be talked out of that thought. Ryo hadn’t been too bothered with it, and he would never say, but Taeru knew that his elder brother wanted the position. So who was Taeru to keep him from it?

  Now Ryo could succeed their father and Cathalar could be ruled as it should be ruled. By someone who knew how to rule. Taeru had been well enough liked by the nobles of Cathalar, but most of them had deemed him as going through an awkward phase of growth. None of them seemed to realize that he was always going to be that awkward.

  Here in Dark District, people were far more accepting of his lackluster social abilities—though he was still questioned on them from time to time.

  People in the market were much less lively this sun. This was no doubt due to how long they had stayed up the previous moon dancing and drinking the moon away. Taeru was willing to bet that over half of them had quite the headache.

  As he walked through the streets, though, he felt as though some sort of sickness was trying to take hold of him. He swallowed frequently and felt the way his legs tried to sway back and forth, though he kept them straight. He couldn’t think of any reason that he would be sick in the middle of summer, but there was a terrifying sense of dread pushing into his system.

  In the back of his mind, Taeru was distinctly aware that he had not gotten much sleep the previous moon. His sleep had been plagued with nightmares, though that was not at all unusual for him. Perhaps the previous moon had been particularly bad, though he wasn’t able to recall any of it. He felt ill, and he ought to return home, but Juliet would insist on wasting her entire sun working with him—and make no profit at all—if he did that. And he would still have to face the questions.

  No, surely he could find some place decent enough to sit down and not have anyone fuss over him. He took a few of the backstreets that he’d come to know as well as he had known Cathalar’s castle halls, and then headed to the farmland section of Dark District. Nobles did not farm, and so despite Lavus’s misgivings, he had opened up another small patch of land so that the farmers of Dark District could provide some source of food for everyone.

  The farming area was much more open, with less buildings and dirt blowing up in the face of anyone who walked too quickly. Grass started appearing in patches, and then slowly, the dirt became a plain of flowing grass, and Taeru could make out the few farms that sat along the hills. This was by far the most peaceful place in Telandus, and though it was still part of Dark District—there was nothing dark about it.

  Instead of moving to bother any of the farmers with his presence, Taeru moved towards the wall of Telandus. The stone wall was black—ensuring that travelers thought twice before entering the city. With the thought of travelers, Taeru’s mind went briefly to his companion from the previous moon. He assumed the man had left already, as the sun had reached adolescence.

  Once he reached the wall, he banished the thoughts and slid down it. There was a gentle breeze, though it did little for the stifling heat waves that came in between it. Taeru felt increasingly sick as he remained there, staring up at the sky. The clouds loomed overhead, promising rain soon—if not this sun, the next. Taeru wished he’d thought to bring a cloak, but in this heat, the thought hadn’t crossed his mind.

  As he stared up at the gray sky, his mind began to turn inward. He could feel flashes of images that had haunted him in his dream last moon, and though he couldn’t make them out—he knew they frightened him. He forced his head back against the stone wall in frustration. He was not at all in the mood to be haunted by dreams like some sort of a child.

  Then, though, one of the images flared up in his mind so that he saw it as if it was painted in the gray clouds overhead. A seedling sitting in a dried field, leeching the life from the flowers and forestry like some sort of a parasite. Taeru blinked, shaking his head as he tried to think of anything but his dreams.

  All at once, a whisper was in his ear. He could hear Merril’s voice, a hissing sound. “A hero made the deal, and a hero will pay the price.” He jumped, trying to see if perhaps she had followed him out here and launched into another fit.
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br />   She was nowhere, of course, but her voice had grappled onto his sickness and made the entire environment a sickly green color. Taeru wasn’t sure what had gotten into him this sun, but he knew that he didn’t like it. More images flared up in his mind, and he worked not to think about them—not to look at them, as they seemed painted across the landscape. If only he could look another way, he wouldn’t have to see them.

  The heat from the farmlands seemed to be trying to suffocate him, and as he sat in the quiet, the wind seemed to be whispering the words of Merril, and then the words of someone far more terrifying and someone that he didn’t want to hear. He ran his hand through his hair. Though Taeru had always been troubled by his dreams, and sometimes got caught up in his own thoughts—he had never experienced anything quite like this.

  After another few blinks, he realized that he needed to be in the company of people. His solitude was clearly making this worse, as the longer he remained, the more he could hear the whispers that he tried so desperately to ignore. They all spoke of war and death and unimaginable pain. All the while, that seedling played itself across his eyes, accompanying the whispers as if it was the one speaking.

  Immediately, Taeru headed back into town and found himself among the villagers once again. Their voices were loud, and he could make out some of the usual gossip—but in the back of his mind, he knew the whispers were still there. The voices combined so terribly that he wasn’t sure what was real and what he was imagining.

  He felt sick, and he felt afraid. He wanted away from here. He had not felt so trapped and confused since the sun he had left Cathalar. Why had the pain followed him here? Because the war was going to happen no matter where he was? That must have been it. All he had done was run from it—and done nothing to prevent it. What a cowardly thing to do, his mind told him.

  He argued with himself as he walked, picking up his pace to try and outrun the voices that were following him. He glared at the dirt on the ground and didn’t bother flinching as it shot up into his eyes. I begged Father. I told him that he had to stop pushing Lavus back, and that a war would be terrible for both lands. I told him we should be the better people, and I told Ryo. I told all of them. I begged them and they wouldn’t listen! They called me a child—afraid of a little violence.

  But somewhere within him, there was another, angrier presence and his words were rebuked by his own mind. Sure—you spoke out against the war, but what did you do? Nothing. You ran like a scared little boy, and now you are in Telandus—probably going to cause trouble for everyone you meet here. Because you were afraid.

  The angry voice had a point, and he knew that. He had known that before he’d left. But the hopelessness of the situation in Cathalar seemed to grow every sun, with Veyron being brought closer and closer to the brink of war. Taeru had kept him from going too far on a few occasions, but Lavus only answered with worse.

  Ryo had believed Taeru, though. The only reason Taeru had left was because he knew that Ryo would be doing everything in his own power to keep the war from happening. And then there was Aela, who had believed Taeru from the beginning—but Veyron wasn’t too keen to listen to his daughter for advice.

  The voices kept at it, though, and he was nearly to the point where he could understood their words when a painful force slammed into his chest. He groaned and stumbled backwards, actually losing his balance and falling to the ground. Taeru was disgusted with how odd he was acting this sun. His eyes opened and he glanced up to the person he’d run into, with an apology already forming on his lips. “Ah, I’m so sor—” The apology fell short when he realized at whom he was looking.

  Blond hair. Amused blue-green eyes. It was the traveler from the festival. Apparently, he hadn’t left, after all. And now Taeru had just made a massive fool of himself in front of this man. Bloody Lightless—perhaps Taeru would have been better off if the man had left. “You don’t look well,” the blond said, with a note of very genuine concern.

  Taeru wished he looked better, but he was most certainly pale from his fights with the voices that seemed to insist upon speaking to him. Maybe he’d caught whatever Merril had. Though, Taeru was sure that sort of thing wasn’t contagious. “I’m alright,” he answered, “I was just on my way home.”

  The blond looked a little concerned, but not overly so. Finally, he just nodded his head and went back to analyzing the piece of fruit in his hand. “Nice to see you again, at any rate,” the man said flatly.

  “Ah, yes,” Taeru mumbled. “I…” He must look like some sort of fool. No wonder his former dance partner was trying to ignore him. “I should go.” Pulling himself around the blond, with much effort, as his legs were still wobbling, he headed back towards the Amaral house. There really was nowhere else to go on a sun like this.

  “Hey wait!” the blond-haired traveler sounded startled at Taeru’s sudden departure.

  No, this conversation was not going to happen this sun. As nice as the young traveler seemed to be, Taeru wasn’t going to make a fool of himself further by trying to carry on a conversation while fighting off the nightmares of children. “I really don’t feel well,” Taeru said honestly, “I need to get home.”

  This seemed to subdue the blond, as for a few moments he looked ready to wrestle Taeru to the ground and demand he stay. Instead, though, he simply nodded his head. He looked regretful, and Taeru was fairly certain he’d successfully worried his newfound acquaintance, but that didn’t matter.

  He headed down the road, without sparing a glance back at the individual in front of whom he’d just humiliated himself. He had nearly turned the corner to the alley that held his home when he heard the voice. “I’m far too important to pay the likes of you for simple fruit. Give me your sun’s load for the trouble, peasant!”

  A noble. Taeru let his eyes wander back to the few guards that stood in front of an older man’s stand. He frowned. Bloody nobles.

  “M-my whole sun’s load?!” the man choked. “But I won’t make any profit for this sun at all,” he whimpered.

  “Serves you right!” said one of the other nobles.

  Sickness be damned. Taeru flung himself into the alleyway. He’d had Alyx make him more than enough outfits, and she’d been more than happy to do so, so that he was never too far away from one of them. He eased himself into one of the cellars of the storage buildings and found the brown bag. He yanked his current clothes off with renewed vigor and then slipped into the tight fitting shirt and leggings. The boots were tight enough to offer mobility and hard enough to offer a little protection.

  The leather of his chest was heavy on his still slightly weakened body, but he didn’t worry with it. He pulled on the brown gloves, tied the bandana over his hair, hooked his belt around his waist, and placed both swords in their sheaths. Lastly, he drew the mask over his eyes and threw the cloak around his shoulders. He exited the cellar cautiously and made his way up onto the roof, where he stayed low, moving from roof to roof, until he was overlooking the scene that he’d witnessed just moments ago.

  The man was shakily trying to get together his wares while the nobles guffawed at their apparent victory. This was disgusting. Taeru narrowed his eyes, and spoke with much more of an inflection in his voice than he ordinarily did. “Don’t be ridiculous. If you are above the price, then surely you must be above the wares. Perhaps if you grew fruit, it would be worthy of your ethereal lives. You must have some large amount of worth too, as you have time to come down to Dark District and grace these pleasant people with your presence.”

  The three turned to glare up at him, and two of them looked terrified, while the other looked a little in shock. There were still nobles that didn’t believe they were going to be punished for doing things like this. “You insolent little brat!” one of them called up to him. “I’ll crush you!”

  That was probably his favorite line. So overused, and it was almost never followed by any sort of prowess in battle. He dropped to the ground as one of the nobles charged at him. He ducked under th
e man’s fist and caught the back of his head with the hilt of one his swords.

  Then, he drew the other sword in time to catch the second noble’s large blade between both of his. With a twist of his wrists, he sent the blade flying across the market and then thrust forward with his forward hand and left a scratch along the cheek of the unarmed man.

  He noticed the last man starting to charge, and so he jumped into the air and placed a kick into the stunned and unarmed noble’s face, sending him staggering back into his friend. “Unfortunate, though,” he mused aloud, “that you don’t seem to make time for practicing with your blades.”

  At that moment, he ducked under the first noble’s sword, grabbed his arm, and flipped the man to the ground with a swift motion. This really didn’t provide much of a challenge—though that was probably a good thing on this sun. If he had fought someone with any skill, he would have been easily overwhelmed with the way his body kept reminding him of his sickness.

  When the third man finally got up and managed to charge him, Taeru back-stepped, waiting for the man’s momentum to die. Then, he thrust forward and cut a quick line up the man’s uniform and then, using his second sword, sliced through the man’s belt. As expected, the man’s trousers fell around his ankles to reveal his undershorts. Taeru pretended to be apologetic. “Oh dear,” he said. “Perhaps you should invest in more form fitting pants. Or were you hoping to eat enough fruit so that you filled them out?” he asked.

  The man’s face turned a bright, bright red as he reached down at his pants and yanked them up. The entire marketplace was doing their best not to laugh. Taeru just kept the bemused smile on his face. “I’m going to catch you, throttle you until you can’t see, and then cut off limbs until you bleed out! Hanging is too good for you!” the first man shouted.

  “Let’s just go, you imbecile!” the man who’d lost his pants cried. He was obviously not wanting to continue the hard labor of holding his pants in place. After all, what Dark District resident would take their threats seriously, now? “You’ll pay for this,” he growled. “Just wait until we find out who you are!”