Finding Refuge: The Marked Ones

by Cathi Shaw

  Arion had just started to build a fire pit when he froze, listening.

  Mina cocked her head and tried to figure out what he was hearing but all she could make out was a light breeze through the trees. Then it occurred to her. That was all she could hear. Earlier the forest was alive with sounds of birds and small animals. Now it was silent except for the wind. A shiver raced down her spine and her hand went for the small dagger that she’d taken to carrying in her belt.

  The horses began to grow restless. Mina moved to calm her mare but the animal snorted and rolled her eyes nervously, side stepping as if from an invisible enemy. Mina tried to soothe her but both mounts were seriously spooked.

  “Arion?” she asked uncertainly.

  “Sshhh.” He put his finger to his lip and was moving toward her when the first black shadow whirled into the clearing.

  Mina’s mare screamed and reared, ripping her tether from the ground as she ran into the forest.

  Mina stood paralyzed in front of the creature. She watched in horror as it lifted its hands toward her, preparing to attack her just as had happened the previous year. Mina was powerless to do anything. She vaguely realized the dagger had fallen from her fingertips as she encountered the red gaze of the creature in front of her.

  But before the terrible sucking sensation started, the creature’s head disconnected from its body and it crumpled revealing Arion behind it, his sword dripping red with blood.

  Mina took a step toward him but before she could reach him two more Hunters materialized. One was armed and slashed at Arion with a dagger. Mina cried out when she saw his tunic turn red where the blade had connected with his shoulder but Arion didn’t hesitate. He whirled around carrying his sword with him and sliced the creature in two. Mina had never seen anything like Arion when he fought. It was almost as though he was dancing, his grace and balance unmatched even by the Hunters.

  The third Hunter’s attention was on Mina. He’d separated her from Arion and was approaching her, his mouth stretched grotesquely in a smile that revealed pointed teeth.

  “You are mine now,” he hissed at her. But suddenly Arion was between her and the creature.

  He snarled something at the Hunter in Elder language and began attacking with his sword.

  Mina was dismayed by the amount of blood that had seeped through Arion’s shirt but he seemed to not feel it. He continued sparring with the creature, keeping Mina out of its reach.

  Then with a sudden yell, Arion lunched at the creature and embedded his sword so deeply through its middle that the blade penetrated through the creature’s back. Mina closed her eyes as she heard the wet sucking sound as Arion removed his sword from the Hunter’s body.

  “Princess Minathrial, are you hurt?” he asked.

  Mina opened her eyes, forcing her fear back. “No,” she said softly, her gaze catching on the growing crimson stain on Arion’s tunic. She shook her head. “I’m not but you are, Arion.”

  She gestured to his shirt; the entire sleeve was now saturated in dark red blood.

  Arion looked to where she pointed and seemed surprised to see his own blood.

  “We must get the horses and leave this place.”

  But Mina shook her head. “Not until we see the extent of your injury. That’s a lot of blood, Arion,” she said faintly.

  He looked about to argue but Mina held his gaze. It would be ridiculous to even attempt to ride when one was bleeding so copiously. And if Arion died there would be no one to protect her. His thoughts seemed to echo her own and he sat, resigned to the circumstances.

  Mina hurried over to her saddlebags to find the medical supplies Thia had packed for her. “Take off your shirt and we’ll see how bad the damage is,” she said over her shoulder as she located the supplies she needed. “Brijit and Thia might be the most gifted healers in our family but I learned a thing or two about treating injuries.”

  She looked up and saw Arion rooted to the same spot as she left him, his shirtsleeve still dripping with blood and his face pale.

  “Arion, you must remove your shirt,” she repeated.

  Still he did nothing. He just stared at Mina.

  What was wrong with him? Was he in shock? Could the injury be more serious than she first thought? Worried she walked back to where he stood and reached a hand to the hem of his shirt. Suddenly he flinched away.

  “I can’t treat the injury until I see it, Arion,” she said impatiently.

  He clenched his jaw and for a moment just stared at her. Finally he spoke. “A princess should not have to see this.”

  Mina shook her head. “Perhaps but I wasn’t raised a princess. I was raised a small village girl and I’ve treated plenty of injuries when my mother and sister were otherwise occupied.”

  “I’m not talking about my injury,” Arion said so softly Mina almost missed it.

  Suddenly she remembered his disfigurement. Arion didn’t want her to see his scars. What did he imagine she would do at the sight of them? She wasn’t some weak stomached girl who would wilt away. He was being ridiculous!

  “Arion if you die, I will be alone. How long do you think I will survive with these-” She gestured to the dead bodies of the Hunters on the ground in the clearing, “trailing me?”

  Arion said nothing. But after a few minutes of silence he reached for the hem of his shirt, his eyes on her face.

  Mina was careful to keep her face blank of all emotion but even she was not prepared for the sight of Arion’s scars. She’d seen the damaged skin that crept up the one side of his neck but what she didn’t expect was that it would be so extensive. The skin was discolored and roped, puckering in angry thick lines across his chest, shoulders and back. After the first revelation, Mina kept her eyes carefully trained on the stab wound, which was on his upper shoulder.

  She licked her lips. The wound was bleeding extensively but she couldn’t tell how bad it was yet. She reached for her canteen and poured water over it.

  Arion hissed.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I need to clean it and see how deep it is.”

  As the water sluiced away, Mina was relieved to see that it was a superficial wound after all. She reached into the medical supplies satchel and spread a balm Thia had prepared over the clean wound. Then she took out some linen bandages and began to wrap the wound.

  “It’s bleeding a lot but it’s not too deep. I think you’ll survive,” she said with a small smile.

  Arion kept silent the entire time, his mouth tight. When Mina finally finished the task she looked up at him and found him watching her, an expression of humiliation on his face.

  “Arion,” she said softly, impulsively reaching out and touching his cheek.

  He stood suddenly and moved away, his gaze on the tree line. “We need to find the horses and get away from here.”

  “Do you have a clean shirt?” Mina asked.

  He nodded and went over to his saddlebags, digging through them until he pulled out a white linen shirt and pulled it over his head.

  Mina watched him as he turned from her. His scars were horrifying but not in the way he thought. They were shocking because his mother had done this to him. Someone he had loved and trusted had betrayed him in the most heinous way possible. But she didn’t think Arion could understand that. Or perhaps he didn’t want to examine it too closely.

  #

  Despite Mina’s protests that he needed to rest, Arion insisted on locating their horses and continuing the journey.

  “Arion, you’ve lost a lot of blood and suffered a trauma. Don’t you think you should take some time to recover at least a little?” Mina asked as she followed him into the forest looking for their horses.

  He stopped abruptly and turned to her.

  “Three Hunters in one place, Minathrial? Three! That means they are sensing you and we need to move on.” The only sign of his agitation was the fact that he’d dropped the title of princess when he spoke to her. He whistled for the horses but there was no sign of t
hem.

  “Do you think we can outrun them?” Mina asked, fear making her voice shake. “They teleported here.”

  Arion was silent for a few minutes. The forest had returned to its normal sounds. He whistled again and waited.

  A few moments later there was a soft nicker and Mina saw both their horses coming back through the trees. But when they led them back to the clearing, her mare became skittish and spooked.

  “They don’t like the bodies of the Hunters,” Arion observed as he gathered up their supplies.

  “If you hold the horses, I can do that.” Mina insisted, worried that he’d start his wound bleeding again but Arion ignored her. And in a few short minutes they were both mounted and leaving the clearing.

  Mina looked back at the three broken bodies and shuddered. They didn’t have time to bury them, which meant anyone who came this way would stumble upon them. But it was a little travelled road so it was likely that the bodies wouldn’t be discovered for a very long time.

  Arion spoke again as they cantered North. “You’re right about one thing,” he conceded.

  “What’s that?” Mina asked.

  He looked ahead. “More of them are sure to sense you and I don’t know how many more attacks like that I can win.”

  Mina swallowed her fear but looked ahead miserably remembering the terror she’d felt as the one Hunter had advanced on her. She could only imagine how scared she would have been if Arion not been there. And the thought of Arion dying filled her with a sadness that she couldn’t explain. It was as if she already couldn’t imagine her life without him.

  “Do you have any idea for keeping us safe?” she asked, shifting her thoughts away from dangerous revelations.

  He smiled slightly. “Actually you gave me one.” She looked at him questioningly.

  “You mentioned that you’d been safe in Sailsburg.”

  She nodded. “We never even saw a Hunter while we were there.”

  “Well, I don’t know if we will make it safely to the Refuge on our own. And Xyrisse said that whatever it is that attracts the Hunters is wearing off. Who knows how long it will be until you can’t be detected at all? Or at least anymore than any Marked One can be sensed. Once that happens it will be safe to travel. But for now our best plan to achieve safety is to hide in numbers.”

  Mina didn’t understand. How could they do that when there was just the two of them? As if reading her mind Arion explained.

  “Find a city to hide in,” he smiled grimly. “And I know one that’s less than two day’s journey from here. Bermgarten should be our destination. And even better we can stay with Helpers.”

  #

  They had no more trouble from Hunters in the three days it took to arrive in Bermgarten. Even though the city was close to the clearing where they were attacked, Arion was not able to ride for as long as he normally did. On the evening of the second day North, Mina looked at Arion across from the fire from her. For the first time he looked tired. Lines of exhaustion were carved into his cheeks and she wondered if he’d slept at all since the attack. She could also guess that he was in a fair bit of pain from his injury.

  “You know I should be changing that bandage and having a look at your wound,” she told him, after observing him for a few minutes, wondering if he was developing an infection.

  He grunted in reply.

  “Arion, don’t be a baby. Your wound needs to be cleaned and checked.” She stood up to move toward him but he flinched away from her. “I promise I’ll be careful,” she said softly as she sat down behind him waiting for him to remove his shirt.

  He stayed sitting unmoving in front of her.

  She reached forward and pretended not to notice when he pulled away from her touch.

  “Once was enough, Princess,” he said gruffly.

  Mina sighed in exacerbation. What was wrong with men? Clearly he was in pain and she was concerned about his shoulder. At the very least he needed the bandage changed.

  “Arion, you are being ridiculous. Do you want infection to set in? How will you be able to protect me if that happens?”

  He stared into the fire and ignored her. Mina bit her cheek and counted to ten in her head, determined to wait him out.

  After a few minutes, he shrugged grudgingly and began to unbutton his shirt. Mina smiled to herself. Perhaps patience was the best way to get through to Arion.

  She carefully untied his bandage. His wound was swollen and red but there was no sign of infection. Mina breathed a sigh of relief as she cleaned it out with water again and used some of Thia’s herbal salve to dress it. Once again Arion flinched when she poured the water over the wound.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered and began to bandage it again. “It looks good.”

  “I told you it was fine,” he said gruffly.

  Mina shook her head. Arion would not say thank you, it seemed. As she finished the bandages she looked at the scars on his back. Although they were old, she could see that they must still cause him discomfort. They were stretched and ridged over the heavy muscles on his back. Impulsively she reached out and traced a particularly puckered spot.

  Arion rose to his feet immediately and walked across their campsite. Mina silently cursed herself. Just when he was starting to feel, if not comfortable, at least less guarded with her.

  “I’m sorry,” she called again.

  He didn’t answer so she stayed silent as he put his shirt on and began to button it. He kept his back to her so she couldn’t see his face and she wondered what he was thinking.

  Finally he turned around to face her. Mina was surprised by the raw anger that blazed in his eyes.

  “Don’t ever touch me again,” he said.

  Mina flinched. “I’m sorry,” she whispered for the third time. “I just thought it must cause you discomfort at times …”

  Arion stood in the shadows, staying far from her.

  “You know, the scars aren’t as bad as you think they are, Arion.” She stood and moved to where her sleeping roll was laid out on the ground. “At least your physical scars aren’t.”

  With that parting shot, she slipped into her roll and tried to sleep.

  Arion didn’t move for a long while; she could feel him watching her. Finally he returned to the fire. Mina rolled over and to her surprise fell into a deep slumber.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  They’d been at the Refuge less than 24 hours when Kiara was summoned to Bellasiel’s chamber. Annoyed at having her plans for the day interrupted, Kiara considered ignoring the Elder’s request. Bellasiel had been acting as if she were the commander of the Refuge, expecting everyone to do her bidding. It rubbed Kiara the wrong way.

  But she grudgingly put her plans on hold to see what the Elder wanted. Kiara had planned to check on the training of the Marked Ones that had been at the Refuge all summer and then she was going to find Caedmon. Although he’d left under the pretense of trying to come up with a way to help Teague, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was angry with her. She wanted to find him and make sure she knew where his emotions lay. But the summons from Bellasiel changed all her plans. And to ignore Bellasiel would probably end up causing her more trouble that it was worth.

  When Kiara arrived in Bellasiel’s chamber she saw the Elder was not alone. She had Deanna with her. Kiara’s stomach tightened in to a knot. Obviously the Elder had discovered that one of the children Kiara had brought back to the Refuge was not Marked.

  “Kiara,” Bellasiel nodded in greeting. “Are you aware that one of the children you brought here is not Marked?” Her words echoed Kiara’s thoughts and the Elder’s pale eyes couldn’t have been more ice-laced.

  Deanna was sitting on a wooden chair in the corner of the chamber watching Bellasiel with large frightened eyes. Kiara felt a stab of annoyance. Why did Bellasiel have to drag Deanna in here and scare her? Couldn’t she have just questioned Kiara on her own? After the poor girl had lived with a tyrannical mother for her short life, she could only imagine what
the Elder’s dominating presence was doing to Deanna. But swallowing her anger, Kiara forced herself to nod in response.

  “Can you explain why you would bring a child who does not bear the Mark to us?” Bellasiel pressed, her expression hard and watchful.

  “Deanna’s mother tried to pawn her off on us as a Marked child. She’d drawn a rudimentary Mark on her right shoulder,” Kiara explained.

  Bellasiel interrupted, “And so what? If you discovered that the Mark was not genuine why did you not return her to her family?”

  Kiara looked at the pitiful girl in the corner, Deanna was close to tears and looked terrified of Bellasiel. Her anger sparked.

  “She needed help and there was no one else to give it to her.”

  “That may have been true but we don’t offer charity to just anyone in need, we can’t afford to,” Bellasiel insisted. “The Refuge is not a hideaway for every needy child in the Five Corners. We can’t be that even if we wanted to.”

  Kiara looked at Bellasiel levelly. On a rational level she knew Bellasiel was right – Caedmon has said the same thing – but something about the Elder’s manner was just rubbing Kiara the wrong way. “I know that,” she finally admitted stonily.

  Bellasiel nodded as if everything was settled. “Good. Then we’ll send her back to where she came from.”

  “No!” Deanna cried in terror. She ran across the room to hide behind Kiara’s legs.

  “I will not send her back,” Kiara said firmly. “I made the decision to bring her here and I won’t go back on it.”

  Bellasiel’s eyes narrowed. “What good is she here? She isn’t Marked so can’t train. She is just another mouth to feed. Come winter we will not have the resources to feed extra mouths, Kiara. With the drought worsening we have precious little to share now.”

  “I will feed her myself,” Kiara said.

  “How?” Bellasiel questioned. “By taking food from others’ mouths?”