The Edge of Nothing_The Lex Chronicles_Book 1

by Crystal Crawford

  What is going on? Lex wondered again. “That’s enough,” he said to Acarius, his voice firm. “She’s scared, just like we are.”

  “Then why didn’t she at least hide?” Acarius said. “We wake up, frantic to find a way out of here, and she’s just hanging out in the kitchen with the window busted open, yet no one came in after her? They broke in the window, like they did to us,” he gestured at a large rock in the pool of water and glass which Lex hadn’t noticed at first, “but they didn’t try to come in, they just left her completely alone. Don’t you find that odd?”

  Lex needed answers, too, but he could feel Amelia’s energy spiking beside him, and he couldn’t stand Acarius railing at Amelia as though this was all her fault. It wasn’t. Was it? Either way, Amelia deserved a chance to explain herself. Lex stepped between them. “Let her explain,” he said to Acarius. He turned to Amelia. “What happened? Tell all of it this time.”

  Amelia continued, her voice trembling. “After the window exploded, I came out into the living room and you were both gone, so I went to look for you. That’s when you came out. I knew the window was busted out in here and with those people running to the front, I thought we might have a chance to get out this way, so I pulled you in here. That’s it; I promise. That’s all I know.” She stopped and looked at Lex. “You believe me, don’t you?”

  Do I? He wasn’t sure. So many pieces were still missing; none of this made sense.

  Suddenly Acarius’ legs buckled and he grabbed at the counter for support. He reached up to the back of his head; his hand came away covered in blood.

  “You’re hurt,” Amelia said. She rushed forward. “Kneel down.”

  Acarius paused a moment, eyeing her, then crouched down, unable to kneel because of the glass and water covering the floor. “The rock clipped me as it came through the bedroom window,” he said, looking at the floor as Amelia examined the back of his head. “It hurt, but I thought I was fine.”

  “How bad is it?” Lex asked.

  Amelia sighed. “I’m not a medic, but it looks pretty bad. It’s only bleeding a little, but if I had to guess I’d say he also has a concussion.” She grabbed a kitchen towel from an open cabinet, smoothed her hand over it to be sure no glass had landed on it, then balled it up and pressed it to the back of Acarius’ head. He winced. “Do you have any bandages?” she asked Acarius. “I thought I saw some earlier.”

  “Top left cabinet,” he said.

  Amelia moved to get them.

  “Concussion? What does that mean?” Lex asked.

  “It means I need to be careful for a while,” Acarius said. He was holding the towel to his head with his own hand now, and blood was slowly soaking through the cloth.

  Amelia stepped behind him, unrolling a strip of cloth bandage. She took the bloody towel from Acarius and used the bandage to secure a pad of gauze to Acarius’ wound.

  “He probably shouldn’t sleep,” Amelia said. “At least for a day or so, until we’re sure he’s okay.” She severed the end of the cloth bandage with a kitchen knife, tucking in the end so it held tightly around Acarius’ head. “Looks like the bleeding has slowed. Sorry for making it so tight, but the pressure will help. We’ll have to clean out the wound as soon as we have time.”

  “I know.” Acarius rose to his feet, then turned to Amelia. “Thanks,” he said.

  “You’re welcome,” she answered.

  There was an awkward silence, then Acarius burst into motion, grabbing bandages and other supplies from the cabinets and tossing them into a sack he’d pulled from the counter. “We’ve wasted far too much time; it’s a marvel they haven’t burst through the doors yet. We need to get out of here while we still can.” He moved cautiously, as though the world was still a bit unsteady for him, and Lex resisted the urge to tell Acarius to sit down and rest, because he knew he was right.

  “I still don’t understand what’s happening,” Lex said. “You said it’s the men from Dalton–“

  At this, Amelia’s eyes widened.

  “But why are they after me?” Lex continued. “What do they want?”

  “I don’t have a full answer to that, but I’ll explain what I can later, when we’re safe. For now, we need to focus on getting out of here.” Acarius slid the straps of the sack over his shoulders, then pushed the tipped washbasin to the side and stepped up to the window, peering out. “There’s no one back here,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Maybe they think they have us cornered in the front of the house?” Lex asked.

  “Maybe,” Acarius said. He didn’t look convinced.

  “It could be a trap,” Amelia suggested.

  “Probably,” Acarius responded. “But do we have a choice?”

  “Could we just talk to them?” Lex asked. “Maybe it’s a misunderstanding.”

  Amelia let out a harsh laugh. “They tied you up, chased you through the woods, and came after you here, all over some misunderstanding?”

  “Maybe they have me confused with someone,” Lex said. “One of them said I looked just like–“

  “I’ve heard about the Daltoners. These men are dangerous,” Acarius interrupted. “Trust me; they are not open to talking. Not in their current state. You can try diplomacy all you want, after we’re somewhere safe. Send a messenger or something. For now, believe me, we need to get away.” He glanced out the window again, then looked back at Lex and Amelia. “And yes, this is probably a trap, but right now it’s our only option. Do either of you have any better ideas?”

  Lex sighed. “You don’t happen to have a secret tunnel or something, do you?”

  Acarius met his eyes. “We weren’t planning to build that until next week.” He wrapped a kitchen towel around his hand, using it to knock loose the bits of glass still attached to the window frame.

  Lex laughed, only to wonder if Acarius was serious. “Where did you say your sisters are?” he asked suddenly. “Shouldn’t they be leaving with us?”

  “They’re already gone,” Acarius said, then flung himself through the open window.

  After a moment, his head came back into view. “Come on,” he hissed.

  Lex swung one leg up onto the window frame and pushed himself over the edge, landing in a crouch on the grass. He glanced around. There was no one in sight. In fact, everything outside was completely quiet.

  Amelia scrambled out after them, toppling onto the ground. “What are we–“

  Acarius shushed her whispers with a gesture, then waved for Lex and Amelia to come with him. He crept toward the end of the house, keeping his body low. Lex and Amelia followed.

  “Got you!” A large man leapt out from around the corner of the house, tackling Acarius. “They’re here, boys!” he shouted.

  Two more men scurried out on their bellies from beneath the house’s raised foundation and lunged for Lex and Amelia’s ankles, knocking them off balance. Lex’s back slammed hard into the ground. He gasped for breath, struggling to see over the man pinning him to the ground.

  Amelia screamed and something inside Lex burst to life. He jerked an arm free and drove his elbow upward into his attacker’s nose, then leapt to his feet as the man staggered backward.

  “You broke my nose!” the man yelled.

  Lex ignored him, lunging at the man atop Amelia. He wrestled his arm around the man’s throat, planted his feet to steady his weight, and squeezed. “Get off of her,” he growled.

  The man’s eyes bulged, his face beginning to turn colors. He released Amelia, grabbing at Lex’s arm.

  Amelia hurried to her feet and stumbled a few steps backward. She was breathing heavy and her hair stuck out in wild disarray around her head.

  “Are you okay?” Lex asked, still compressing the man’s throat. The man was beginning to slump against him.

  Amelia stared with wide eyes at the man in Lex’s grasp. “Yes, I think so,” she said.

  A voice called from the side. “Let him go.”

/>   “Not likely,” Lex said, turning his head. “Why would I–”

  He stopped. The man who had spoken had Acarius in a hold similar to Lex’s, but with a sword pressed to Acarius’ throat. The man whose nose Lex had bloodied stood beside them, leaning against the side of the house.

  “Let him go,” the man said again, tightening his arm so that Acarius struggled to breathe.

  Acarius’ stare seemed to be trying to tell Lex something, but he couldn’t interpret it.

  “Fine,” Lex said, releasing his hold.

  The man sank to his knees, gasping as the color of his face returned to normal. He stood and hurried toward the other men.

  Amelia stepped toward Lex, and when none of the men stopped her, rushed the rest of the way to him. She planted herself beside him, glancing between him and the men who had Acarius. “Lex,” she whispered, “What do we do?”

  Lex wondered that himself. Should he negotiate? Try to reason with them? Maybe he could convince them they had the wrong person. Acarius had said not to try talking to them, but if he could just–

  Lex’s thoughts were interrupted by a shift in Acarius’ face. Acarius’ eyes fluttered closed and he sagged slightly beneath the man’s grasp. Oh no, Lex thought. With Acarius’ concussion, maybe he was falling unconscious? They had to get him out of–

  Acarius exploded into motion, his eyes snapping open the same instant his elbow slammed into the ribs of the man holding him. The man staggered backward, dropping the sword, which Acarius snatched up instantly with near-inhuman speed. It happened almost as a blur, but the tides had turned – Acarius backed the man against the side of the house, the tip of the sword pressed into the man’s throat.

  The two other men stepped toward Acarius.

  “Don’t,” the man croaked, waving his friends back. “He’ll kill me.”

  “Smart choice,” Acarius said. “Now, what are you– “

  He was interrupted by yet another voice. “I thought I said not to start the party without us,” it said.

  Lex turned. Dozens of men appeared from both sides of the house, circling them. One man walked forward, and Lex’s blood turned to ice. It was the farmer from the shed, the one who had questioned and struck him. He headed straight for Lex.

  “Demon filth,” he hissed, then spat in Lex’s face.

  Fury boiled within Lex, but something deeper whispered Wait. It wasn’t the right moment. He calmly wiped the spit from his face, then dried his hand on his pants. “You’re a lot braver when your boss isn’t around to tell you what to do,” he said. Images of the man on the ground, blood pluming from his chest, surged up, and Lex felt suddenly ill. He pushed the memories back, focusing on the man in front of him.

  The man’s face turned red, and he grabbed Lex by the shirt collar. “You stupid–“

  “Uncle, don’t,” a voice yelled.

  Lex looked to the side. It was the teenage boy from the shed.

  “Don’t,” he pleaded again. “You’ve seen what he can do.”

  “Hush, boy,” the farmer growled. “You know I don’t believe all those superstitions. Besides, look at him. Does he look dangerous to you?” He leaned his face into Lex’s. “You will pay for what you did to our village,” he growled. “I’ll see to that myself.”

  Panic clawed in Lex’s chest against a backdrop of fury and confusion. He had so many questions, and he would like nothing more than to teach this man a lesson, but right now they were outnumbered, and Acarius was injured. Right now, they needed to escape.

  The men shoved Acarius into the middle of the circle with Lex and Amelia.

  Lex glanced around, trying to formulate a plan. The men were pointing weapons – an assortment of knives, swords, and some kind of sharpened shovels – at them from all directions. They were surrounded.

  Lex glanced at Acarius, hoping he had a plan, but his eyes were focused off in the distance. He was probably struggling to stay conscious, Lex thought. He looked to Amelia but she seemed dazed, too, her eyes wide and glassy. He could feel waves of hot energy rolling off her. He glanced around again. There had to be something they could–

  Lex barely had time to register the sound of hooves before Mare burst through the circle, knocking men in all directions. She reared and spun, her hooves impacting men’s heads and chests with sickening cracks as she made her way toward Acarius.

  Acarius grabbed a sword from the ground and tossed it to Lex, who surprised himself by catching it.

  “Cover them,” Acarius yelled. He pulled Amelia toward him and shoved her upward onto Mare’s back, then slid the sack of supplies off his back and wedged it in Amelia’s lap. The men were staggering to their feet now, many of them injured but looking angry. Mare pranced nervously, seeing the men move toward them.

  “I can’t,” Lex shouted. “I don’t know how.”

  “You can and you do,” Acarius said, pulling his own sword from the grasp of an unconscious farmer on the ground near them.

  Acarius waited a moment, as though expecting Lex to do something. When Lex didn’t, Acarius sighed. “Fine, I’ll do it.” He charged forward, slicing at the men who closed in on Mare.

  Amelia still seemed dazed, but she clung to Mare’s mane and tightened her legs, hanging on.

  Acarius kicked a man in the face then spun, elbowing another in the jaw. The second man fell onto the first. Acarius had cleared a small break in the circle, but the others were rushing in. Acarius nodded at Mare and she took off, barreling through the men who didn’t move out of her path.

  Acarius fell back, taking his place beside Lex.

  Lex spun slowly, the sword heavy in his grasp. The men had reformed into a circle, and were inching in toward him and Acarius. Most of them looked furious, except for the teenage boy, who hung back looking terrified.

  “Step aside, Acarius,” one of the men said.

  Lex snapped his head toward Acarius. They know his name?

  Acarius didn’t look surprised. “You know I won’t,” he answered.

  The circle stopped its inward progress and the man who had assaulted Lex in the shed stepped forward to face Acarius. “He destroyed half our village. He killed dozens of our people. Children, even. He deserves to die.” He glared at Lex.

  Lex’s heart slammed against his chest. I did what? “No,” he pleaded. “Please, I would never do that. You have the wrong person.”

  “Shut up, demon,” the man growled. He turned back to Acarius. “We respect you, Halben, but if you get in our way, we won’t spare you.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to,” Acarius said, tightening his grip on his sword.

  “And the girl?” the man spat. “Are you willing to die to protect her, too?”

  Lex tensed. “What does Amelia have to do with this?”

  “She’s not who you think,” Acarius said to the man calmly. “You obviously didn’t look closely enough.”

  “A trick,” the man said. “Appearances can easily be disguised.”

  “No trick,” Acarius said. “She’s a stranger. She has nothing to do with this fight.”

  The man laughed. “Strangers here are never innocent. We both know that.”

  Lex was completely confused, but on one point he was certain – Amelia didn’t deserve to die for anything he had done. “The girl goes free,” he said, stepping forward. “And that’s the end of it.”

  Acarius glanced at him, an eyebrow raised, then turned back to the man. “Those are our terms, then,” he said. “The girl stays out of it, but we’ll fulfill our end of the deal.”

  The circle of men around them shifted, drawing their weapons.

  Lex turned to Acarius. “Wait, what deal?” he asked.

  Acarius raised both eyebrows this time, then spoke slowly, as though explaining to a child. “They let her go, we fight to the death for our freedom… what exactly did you think we were negotiating?”

  “What?” Lex sputtered. “No, wait, I–”

&n
bsp; “Trust me,” Acarius murmured, just low enough for Lex to make out.

  Lex shut his mouth.

  “I’ll make sure you get an honorable burial, Halben,” he said to Acarius. “And you…” He turned to Lex. “My daughter was among the dead. She was only twelve.” He took a shaky breath. “You are going to pay her suffering back, with interest.”

  Lex opened his mouth, but the words stuck in his throat. He wanted to apologize, to commiserate the man’s loss, but… how could he when they believed he was the one who caused it? He would never have killed a child; he was certain of that. “I didn’t kill anybody,” he said again. “You have the wrong person.”

  “Men,” the farmer called out, “soak yourselves in their blood.”

  With a roar, the ring of men charged inward.

  CHAPTER 6

  Lex squeezed the sword hilt so hard his fingers turned white as the burly farmer raced toward him. Lex had no idea how to fight, but if he was about to die at this man’s hands, he intended to make him work for it. Lex shifted sideways, readying to strike when the farmer got close enough.

  The world tilted. He spun. His sword sliced in a graceful arc, drops of blood flinging outward in its wake. The man before him dropped, his throat slit open. Another took his place immediately. The enemy seemed endless, surging in from all directions. He jabbed, the new enemy impaling on his sword mid-charge, then pulled the sword free again and turned as he swept his blade through the stomach of another one. “How are you holding up over there?” he yelled.

  A young man with leaf-green eyes casually elbowed an attacker in the face as he turned toward him. “Me? Oh, I’m doing great,” he said.

  Acarius. Younger, but it was him.

  “Don’t mind me,” a voice wheezed. “I don’t need any help.” An old man struggled a few feet away beneath the collapsed body of an enemy.

  Nigel, his mind whispered. “Crazy old man,” he heard himself say as he jabbed his sword’s hilt into the jaw of an enemy, knocking him unconscious.

  Acarius laughed, glancing at the old man. “You managed to down one. Imagine that.” Acarius kicked an approaching enemy in the chest, then reached to help the old man stand.