“Naya!” a woman shrieked.
Naya's small body collapsed to the dirt, blood and entrails spilling from her stomach. Her tiny mouth hung open in a soundless scream, her eyes already glassy with death.
Something inside Lex broke, and the darkness burst outward.
Time slowed.
Around him, Lex saw the Aiacs drop to the ground, mouths open in shrieks, as the now-conscious farmers rushed in from the shadows wielding shovels and spades.
He pushed himself up to standing.
All around the campfire, the ground quaked as vines and fully-formed trees burst forth from the dirt, the trees’ branches swiping down whole groups of attacking villagers as the vines wrapped and strangled others.
Naya, Lex thought, but she still lay on the ground, her innocent face permanently trapped in a scream. He glanced around. The Alowen in the shadows stood and swayed, hands upward and eyes closed. They can all do it, Lex realized. Did that mean Lytira could, too?
From behind him, Lex heard a roar – an actual roar, as if from a bear. He turned. It was a bear, charging forward into the fight with a man running beside it. The man had a long, grey beard and his dark skin bore many wrinkles of age, but his body was lean and muscular and he wore the same leather fighting gear as the others. He spun among the enemy, striking adeptly with a long, wooden staff. He and his bear carved through a group of attackers, the bear swiping aside any the old man missed as though they were nothing more than bees.
Though Lex still stood in the light of the fire with the battle boiling around him, he was both there and not there. A force was pouring out of him, like a river undammed, but it seemed hardly a part of him. He felt as though he stood outside of it – outside of all of this – simply watching. He glanced about, the scene moving in slow motion around him. The Aiacs were stumbling, as though trying to get their balance, and the villagers from Dalton and Alta were scattering, overcome by the attacking Alowen’s vines and trees. But Lytira, Acarius, and Baram and the others who had fought with him were nowhere to be seen.
Suddenly, overlaid across the battle around him emerged a second scene, as though projected across the other – a forest, a small clearing among the trees. In the dirt of the vision lay an unconscious teenage boy.
Lex felt himself move toward the boy in the scene at the same time he felt himself stand still amid the battle beside the campfire. He could see both, was in both simultaneously and yet not fully in either one.
“Feels better, doesn’t it?” he heard his vision-self say.
The teenage boy woke and jumped to his feet. The boy's left hand went up to grab his right arm, and he looked surprised.
“It was dislocated,” Lex heard himself speak again. “It’s good that you were unconscious when I fixed it; it would have given you quite a bit of pain.”
The boy stiffened. “Uh, thank you.” He fidgeted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and uncrossing his arms, then re-crossing them.
Lex felt amusement and curiosity flood his awareness as his eyes scanned the boy. When the boy turned his face up and it came out of shadow, Lex gasped. It was unmistakenly Acarius, but no more than twelve or thirteen years old.
“I’m Acarius,” the boy said, extending his hand. “Thank you for fixing my shoulder. It was hurting quite a lot, actually, and it feels much better now.” His voice trailed off.
Lex felt himself turn toward the trees and say “Follow me,” as he parted the branches and stepped into them.
Around Lex the camp battle still raged, enemies and Alowens passing in and out of the images of his vision as if they were only shadows.
In the glimpse, Lex made his way through the forest and out into a clearing, where several horses waited – two brown, a black… and Mare.
“My horses!” Acarius exclaimed as he emerged from the trees. “But who is this beauty?” he asked, approaching Mare. He held out a hand toward her face, letting her sniff it.
“Her name is Mare,” Lex felt himself say.
Acarius examined the white horse. “She is well-built. Strong, and her coat is flawless. She would fetch a marvelous price in Alta, more than my three horses combined,” he said, his previous discomfort seeming to vanish as he slid his hand along her coat. He turned. “Not that I’m saying you should sell her! If she were mine, no price could pry her from me." He paused. "But why ‘Mare?’ A horse like this should be named something more impressive.”
Lex felt himself shrug. “I’ve found that any creature is best suited when it is called what it truly is,” he said. “Mare and I appreciate the honesty.” He walked toward Mare and patted her neck, then turned and offered his hand to Acarius. “My name is Marcus,” he said.
The glimpse shifted.
The moon was higher now, and he and Acarius were sitting near a small fire in a clearing, the horses resting nearby.
Lex felt himself sigh and his hands fidgeted, his left fingers gently spinning a worn silver ring with a stone of deep blue he wore on his right hand. He looked up at Acarius. “We cannot remain here,” he said. “We must leave immediately.”
“No,” Acarius said firmly. “Why should I trust you?”
Lex felt himself reach into his pocket, and his hand clasped around something hard and metallic. He removed it from his pocket and held it out toward Acarius. “This,” he heard himself say, “is why you should trust me.”
Acarius gasped. He reached to a cord at his own neck, lifted it over his head and held the medallion out beside the other. The two slated silver crescents shimmered side by side, their etched symbols reflecting the moonlight. “How did you…?” Acarius asked.
Lex slipped the medallion back into his pocket and then clicked to Mare, who moved over beside him. Off to the side, Acarius’ horses fidgeted. “You’ll ride with me. We’ll leave the other horses by the road,” Lex heard himself say. “Someone will soon find them. Now, let’s go; we're running out of time.”
The glimpse quivered and faded, and the world around Lex rushed back into full substance. He swayed, disoriented. The chaos of battle was dissipating. As one, the Aiacs screeched and leapt skyward, the wind of their wingbeats causing the campfire to gutter as they fled. The Alowens slowed to a stop as the last of the farmers they pursued fled through the open gates. There were no cheers of victory. A hush fell across the camp, then the Alowens burst into motion, rushing to help the injured. The whole camp was a flurry of motion, except for one still figure on the ground beside the fire – Amelia.
Lex ran to Amelia and dropped to his knees beside her. He tipped her face toward him, brushing her hair back from her eyes.
She groaned, then blinked. “Lex?” she murmured, her eyes focusing on him. She pushed up and threw her arms around him, almost knocking him backward. “I knew you’d come for me.”
Lex swayed under her sudden weight but steadied himself and returned her hug. Amelia pushed back suddenly and looked around. “What happened?”
Lex was still trying to figure out how to explain when Acarius strode up, his face drawn tight. “This isn’t good,” he said. He nodded toward the tents. Lytira stood, head bowed, as the old man with the staff waved his arms and railed at her in a rumbling tone, his cheeks puffing with each word. Lex couldn’t make out what he was saying, but Acarius was right… it didn’t look good. Baram stood beside Lytira, glaring at the ground while his hands pumped in and out of fists.
"What's going on?" Lex asked.
“Alowen is a sanctuary of sorts,” Acarius said. “They have existed for decades by blending in. No Sephram or Alomman has shown their powers in front of humans for over a hundred years. Back then, the humans feared them and attacked them because of their natural magic. They survived by making people forget about them, by slipping from reality into legend, into stories told at bedtime. No one believed their magic even existed anymore. And now they blame Lytira for exposing them, and for putting her own people in danger. Because of the war she brought here,
they were forced to show their magic, and the humans will not let this go. It may start a war all over again." He paused. "She could be banished from her clan for this.”
Lex turned to him. “I caused this. Not her. She was only trying to help me. We have to do something.”
“There’s nothing we can do. Outsiders do not have a voice in clan decisions," Acarius said bitterly. "To interject would be the utmost disrespect. It would only make things worse.” He glanced at Lex. “Besides, according to their law, we have blood-guilt upon us. We will be lucky if they do not call for our deaths.”
Amelia gasped, but Lex’s attention was drawn across the camp to where Naya’s mother knelt, face tipped upward and tears streaming from closed eyes as she rocked her daughter’s small, lifeless body. A man stood behind her, head bowed, with one hand on her shoulder.
Naya. The blood-guilt. Why had she raced out into the light like that? She had been trying to help Lex, he knew – he was to blame for her death. There was no escaping it. None of this would have happened were it not for him. “It’s my fault,” Lex said, standing. “I’ll take whatever consequence I have to, but none of you should suffer for this.”
“Lex, no,” Amelia said.
Acarius shook his head. “That’s noble of you, but it won’t matter. We are not of their clans. To them, the guilt is on Lytira for bringing you here. They wouldn’t accept a deal from you, even if you offered. Only Lytira can arrange a bargain – for herself and for us.”
“Then tell her to bargain me in exchange for the rest of you.”
“She would never do that,” Acarius said, shaking his head again. “But she’ll figure something out. We must abide by their customs and let her handle it. There is no other way."
“What if she can’t? What if they take it out on her?”
Acarius’ hand tensed around the sword at his waist. “Believe me, they will regret it if they try to harm her.”
Lex looked at Acarius, and for the first time it occurred to him there must be a history between Lytira and Acarius, a history Acarius clearly still felt strongly about. “Are you and–” He started to ask, but he was interrupted by a loud voice.
“My brothers!” The old man held up his staff above Lytira as the clanspeople gathered around. “The clan accuses Ramanasha Lytira with endangering her people.”
Beside him, Lytira bowed her head.
“I have weighed her testimony and have found her offense worthy of banishment," the old man declared.
Murmurs spread across the Alowen people, except for Naya’s mother, who stared at Lytira with stony eyes over the top of Naya’s tiny, lifeless body.
The elder continued. “According to custom, I must allow the voice of the clan to be heard. Will any speak on her behalf?”
“I will,” Baram’s voice boomed. He pushed through the crowd.
“We will not accept your voice for her, Baram,” the old man said firmly.
“But Elder–”
“We know your feelings for her, Baram, and we cannot accept you as a balanced voice on her behalf.”
Beside him, Lex felt Acarius shift. He glanced over.
Acarius glared at Baram, his brows drawn down.
Oh, Lex thought.
Baram made his way to the center of the crowd and stood before Lytira and the elder. He opened his mouth as though to argue, but the elder’s voice cut him off. “We expected your voicing and have already decided not to allow it. Do not pursue it further or, according to custom, you will only increase her punishment.”
Baram glanced at Lytira and then at Acarius. He bowed his head and his massive hands clenched at his sides. “Yes, Elder,” he said, his voice a deep growl. He stomped back through the crowd and disappeared between the tents.
“Is there another voice for the accused?” the elder called out.
The camp was silent.
The elder turned to Lytira. “Ramanasha Lytira,” he declared, “You have betrayed your people and are banished from all clans within the Alliance. Leave immediately, and do not attempt to return.”
The entire clan spun their backs on Lytira, except for Naya’s mother, who bent herself over her child’s body and sobbed.
Lytira stiffened and walked silently away, pushing her way through the hostile crowd.
Baram emerged from between the tents and stopped her. “I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out a hand.
“It is not your fault,” she said, but moved away, leaving his hand lingering in the air.
It’s mine, Lex thought. He glanced at Acarius beside him; his face was grim.
Lytira reached them and Acarius moved toward her. Before Acarius could say anything she simply said, “Let’s retrieve the horses and leave this place.”
Acarius nodded and followed Lytira as she made her way toward the gates.
Amelia gave Lex a concerned glance as he pulled her to her feet. No questions, Lex thought. Not now. To his surprise, she simply slipped her hand into his. The familiar buzz of her energy flooded through him as they walked toward the gates.
They retrieved the horses in silence – even Mare made no sound as they untied her and the other horses from posts behind the tents and led them to the gate. Baram was waiting for them. The entrance to Alowen was littered with splintered wood from the broken gate, which had been drawn back closed, despite it bulging inward along the middle and dangling from the hinges. Baram wordlessly opened the broken gate with a pull of a cord and held it open as they and their horses passed. The last thing Lex saw as the gate swung closed behind them were Baram’s dark eyes staring after Lytira.
The gate slammed shut, and Lytira sank to the ground beside her horse. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs.
Acarius let go of Mare’s reins and was at Lytira’s side in a moment, murmuring something as he slipped his arms around her.
Feeling as though this was a private moment, Lex led his horse a few feet away and dropped the reins to let her nibble the grass. He turned outward, away from Lytira and Acarius. He had to make this right somehow. But how?
The morning sun was rising, and he could finally see the terrain which had been veiled in fog and darkness the night before. The camp of Alowen was a small fortress amid a grassland valley, meadows spreading out into the distance in three directions, where the land sloped up and out of sight. But when Lex turned toward the fourth side, his breath caught. Beyond the rolling grass on that fourth side, just now visible through the dissipating fog, stood ocean – a vast expanse of blinding blue set ablaze by the rising sun.
“It’s beautiful,” Amelia whispered, stepping up beside him.
Lex turned toward her. Her brown hair was cinnamon under the golden light of the sun and Lex's heart jumped as her blue eyes fixed on his. She was beautiful.
“Thank you for saving me,” she said.
Lex froze. What could he say to that? You’re welcome? He should never have let her be taken in the first place, should never have gotten angry with her instead of giving her a chance to explain why she lied, should never have assumed the worst or pushed her away. If things had gone differently at Alta, if he had done things differently, she may never have been captured, they may never have gone to Alowen – Naya might still be alive. Naya. Killing farmers and creatures who would have otherwise killed him was one thing, but how was he supposed to live with the death of a little girl on his conscience?
Amelia searched his face. “Lex,” she said. “What is it?”
There was so much she hadn’t seen… where could he even begin? One word emerged: “Naya.”
“The little girl?” Amelia asked. “Lex, that wasn’t your fault. You know that, right?”
He turned to her. “Not my fault? She died trying to save me from monsters I brought to her family’s home. How is that not my fault?”
“Lex,” Amelia said gently.
He shook his head. “You don’t understand. There’s a darkness in me. I felt it. I don’t know wha
t it is, but it’s me. It’s part of me. I’m not safe. I may not even be good. I could be a monster. The Aiacs called me a demon. Maybe I am one. Maybe I’m no different than them.”
“No,” Amelia said. “Not a chance. Darkness or not, there’s no evil in you. Only good.”
Lex shook his head. He had done something to anger the farmers at Dalton. He had killed people, maybe even more than he knew. He had felt the darkness inside himself. No, he was certain he was not only good. But she made him want to be. Somehow, even with all the times he had doubted and distrusted her, Amelia still trusted him completely. At that moment, staring into her eyes, he would have given anything to be what she thought he was. “Amelia, I–”
She grabbed his face and pressed her lips against his, just a soft touch. Her electricity flooded through him, setting his veins on fire. It lasted only a moment, then she pulled away. He searched her eyes and when he found no hesitation, he pulled her back toward him and kissed her again. The heat of her touch seared through him once more and he sank into it, happy to let it consume him whole.
Her hair tickled his face as she pushed away and smiled at him. “I knew you were good,” she said.
It was such a strange thing to say, Lex laughed. Something about her made him feel lighter. Different. As though she burned the darkness away. “Daughter of power,” he said suddenly.
“What?” Amelia asked, pulling back.
“The Aiac called you a ‘daughter of power.’ What did that mean?”
Amelia raised her eyebrows. “I have no idea,” she said. “I’ve never heard that before. I’m no daughter of anything special. I’m just a regular human girl… and a pretty boring one, by the usual standards.”
If Amelia is boring by her people’s usual standards, Lex thought, she must come from a really bizarre place. “I’ve been wanting to ask,” Lex said. “About you...” He trailed off, trying to find the words to capture his questions. There were so many, about her electric touch, her real hometown, her family and background.
Amelia broke the silence. “I’m sorry for lying to you before,” she said. “I know I shouldn't have, but I was afraid to tell you the truth.”
The Edge of Nothing_The Lex Chronicles_Book 1 Page 17
