Broken Aro (The Broken Ones)

by Wylie, Jen

  His lips twitched.

  Clenching her teeth she tried not to laugh and instead turned away. "Cain you're going to be late for work."

  The men exchanged glances and she sighed. What hadn't they told her this time? "What now?" She paused as her mind suddenly began to work. "Are we leaving?"

  Bo nodded. "Rent here is up for the month in three days. We figured we might as well get moving. Been seeing travelers coming in the last few days, so roads mustn't be too bad." He glanced at the spot where Avery used to sleep. "It's a good time."

  She stared at the empty rumpled blankets as well, words catching in her throat. She nodded in response, not trusting herself to speak. She moved over to the stove and set water to boil for tea. "We've a lot to do then."

  * * *

  Preparing for their journey took time. Not only did they have to find and buy supplies, they also had to sell off everything in their room they wouldn't be able to take with them to help pay for said supplies. What exactly they should take and sell caused a few arguments. What made the decision in most cases was the fact they could not afford a horse or mule to carry everything. Anything they took they would be carrying themselves, therefore the less the better.

  "Do we need this?"

  She looked over and saw Cain holding out a black knit wool sweater. Her breath caught in her throat and she reached and took it, nodding and bowing her head so he wouldn't see the sudden tears in her eyes. "I could use it," she managed to mumble as she turned away, holding it to her chest.

  She nearly bumped into Kei and didn't fight him as he took her arm and drew her aside. He stared at the sweater for a moment, his eyes sad.

  She raised her eyes to his. "Do you want it?"

  He shook his head. "It fits you better."

  She smiled a little at his lie, but didn't call him on it.

  He held out his hands, a knife in each. "These were his, too. I thought..." He grimaced and winced, struggling for words. "I thought we could each have one. To remember."

  Streaks of tears ran slowly down her cheeks as she nodded and Kei handed her one. It was smaller than her others and she was pretty sure she could rig up something to tuck it into her boot. "Thank you," she said softly.

  He just nodded and took her hand, squeezing it tightly.

  * * *

  She had assumed she would feel more when they finally set out. Anticipation, excitement...something. Instead there was only relief.

  She found it easy to leave behind the horrible room they had called home for so many months. The hardest part was leaving the city, actually walking past the too large area of turned earth a short distance outside the gates. She couldn't stop staring at it as they walked.

  Avery had been buried there. He was there. He...

  Cain rested a hand on her shoulder. "Do you want to stop?"

  Shaking her head vehemently, she quickened her pace instead and forced herself to stare at the dirt road. It took a lot of effort. However, not crying did as well. She had cried enough already. She had to keep going, move on with her life. She wasn't a child anymore.

  Luckily the day was clear and crisp. The men chatted about how they hoped they would be lucky and not run into any bad spring storms. It was a risk they all willingly took so they could get moving again.

  The roads had become messy with melting snow and mud. She concentrated on not falling on her face. One of her men would have caught her before she did. They had hardly left their old building before she found them surrounding her, protecting her. Even on the sparsely traveled road they did the same.

  It didn't really bother her. They had become family. After everything they had been through, all the time they had spent together, they truly were. She didn't mind overly much if they wanted to look out for her. Over the months she had grown stronger, she could take care of herself if she needed to. She would take care of them too, even if it was in her own way

  * * *

  Spring slipped into summer as they journeyed south. The road weaved its way through fields and pastures, gently rolling hills, and expanses of moss and lichen covered rock. Sometimes it cut inland, mostly it ran close to the sea at the edge of a beach or occasionally along the top of high cliffs.

  The distance between cities was always at least four days, sometimes a week or more. Occasionally they would walk through ruins, most of them so old and crumbling, barely anything remained. Only one city had fallen within her lifetime.

  The further south they traveled the news of fighting between southern cities became more common, more detailed.

  Pulling her hair back and tying it with a bit of string she looked off toward the mountains in the east. They seemed so far away, and yet were still so very large. Mountains weren't strange to her, they'd surrounded Kingsport, but they had seemed so much smaller. Maybe they had been.

  Kei tugged on the ponytail she'd made. "Your hair is getting long."

  She smiled a little and nodded. Kei had trimmed it a little a few times over the winter, trying to even out the bad cut her brothers had given her as best he could, however it still hung to just past her shoulders. She certainly couldn't pass for a boy now. She glanced down at herself and frowned. She couldn't really even if she did cut her hair. She'd grown too many curves.

  She looked over at Kei and reached over to tug the black wool cap further down over his ears. Soon they would enter another city and the last thing they needed was for him to be recognized as anything other than human. Along with the stories of a lot of fighting south of them, there had also been talk about Fey and the elusive Were.

  For the most part people respected and avoided the Were. Easy to do as long you stayed out of places you weren't supposed to be, like their forests. The Fey had become more troublesome. Stories told of wild ones attacking travelers and even the few farmsteads that dotted the fields outside of the city.

  She fidgeted as they rested before making the last hike to the city. Judging from the size of it even at this distance, it would be the largest one yet. For some reason she wanted to be safe within its walls.

  Damon's words of people invading her mind continued to haunt her. She even dreamed of it, along with a number of other strange things she never remembered. At least these dreams weren't as bad as her regular nightmares. Being in chains and the slaver attack, the beating and near rape, had scarred her. Since the attack she hadn't been comfortable around strange men at all. At least she had finally stopped pulling away from her men. Still, she wanted the safety of the city walls...without all the people. She didn't know if they would try to hurt her, or if they were all even human. She didn't even know if the defenses she had created within her mind would be good enough. All she could do was keep working on them.

  She squeezed her eyes tightly closed. Build walls...build walls...

  "Aro, what are you–" Prince rested a hand on her shoulder, "Aro!"

  Her eyes flew open at the sudden panic in his voice. "What?"

  "What are you doing?"

  She grimaced. "Trying to keep my head safe. Damon said–"

  "Damon?" He looked at her in confusion for a moment. "Ah. The Dragos."

  She nodded and shrugged. "I don't believe most of the nonsense he was spouting, about Kei and prophecies and everything, but I thought he had some good advice about protecting myself. I don't want people crawling around in my head."

  "I see," Prince said, his voice quiet.

  She turned and looked up at him. "You think it's silly."

  Surprisingly he shook his head. "No. It is wise of you to so protect yourself."

  She grinned and looked away to hide her embarrassment at his praise. "I thought so. Do they come into cities a lot? Fey and Were and Elves? And we just don't see them?"

  "More than people know, I imagine," he answered. "It is dangerous for them though. Humans tend to hate them, to kill them if they can. That is why they hide what they truly are. However, if you know what to look for, you can tell who is not human."

  Her eyes widened
in surprise. "You can?"

  Prince nodded and gestured to Kei. "Watch the Fey. Not only do his ears and eyes give him away, but also the way he moves. Fey are rarely very tall, and are often slight of build."

  She watched Kei for a while, and understood what Prince meant. He was more graceful than a human. "So it's the same with Dragos?"

  "Yes. They too move lightly." He grimaced. "Unfortunately they can take any form, so that is not helpful. But they can't change their eyes, for them, always look for that."

  She nodded and bit her lip as she remembered the strange iridescence of them. "And Elves? What do they look like?"

  He chuckled. "Elves are beautiful, tall, lithe creatures. Some may be wider of shoulder, but they aren't built like men such as Bo."

  She looked over at Bo and his fine array of bulky muscles and nodded.

  "Their ears are pointed, more so than that of the Fey. Their eyes come in many colors, but have a brightness to them that's noticeable." He paused. "These traits are not always helpful. The Elves also have magic and can glamor themselves to look more human. So again, you look to their actions."

  She sighed. He made it sound both easy and hard at the same time. "So what about the Were? In human form I mean."

  "They are the most human. Sometimes the color of their eyes will give them away. They range from blues to yellows to amber. Their canine teeth will often be slightly more prominent. Otherwise they look completely human."

  "So watch the way they act again," she said with a sigh.

  "Yes."

  "This conversation has not been particularly helpful, you know," she told him.

  He chuckled.

  Bo walked over. "Ready to head out?"

  She nodded and allowed Prince to help her up. Though his arrogance had lessened somewhat over the months, his manners certainly had not.

  They entered the city and allowed the crowd to push them inward. As the markets were their destination and could often be found somewhere along the main street they went with the flow. The money they had saved over the winter had slowly dwindled. She'd heard the men talking they would only have enough left to buy supplies for a few more weeks. She didn't even want to think about what they would do then. Prince had mentioned at the last city they had traveled almost half way to his home. They'd been traveling at least two months already, if not three.

  The only reason their coins had lasted so long was due to their own supplements, hunting small animals and birds along the way, catching fish and other sea creatures when the shoreline allowed. Prince would occasionally find edible plants near the road or closer to the sea. They didn't dare try to steal from the crops or pastures. Armed men now regularly patrolled both the road and beyond.

  She followed Prince and Bo with Cain and Kei behind her as the crowds grew thicker. She'd never seen so many people out at once before and wondered if it was always like this, or if something had happened. Had the city come under attack? She hoped the crowd was merely due to some sort of celebration. Perhaps it was closer to the summer equinox than she had realized. As the crowd pressed in on them and grew louder and louder she finally understood it had something to do with the Fey.

  There had been another attack.

  She began to grow worried about Kei and kept looking back to check on him. The city certainly wouldn't be a safe place for him if his true nature became discovered.

  The noise of the crowd increased even more. She wished she was taller so she could see what lie up ahead. As it were, she just struggled to keep Prince and Bo in sight.

  When someone grabbed her upper arm and jerked her roughly through the crowd she was so shocked she merely squeaked in surprise. Fear wrapped around her as she realized she'd been separated from the others.

  Heart beating furiously, she opened her mouth to scream out to them.

  The viselike hand on her arm jerked her forward roughly and then again, spinning her about until she suddenly found her face pressed against a chest by an impossibly strong hand on the back of her head. Another arm pinned her against his body, her own arms trapped.

  Barely able to breathe she still tried to scream but only a muffled, choked sound emerged, easily drowned out by the noise of the growing crowd. Panicking, she struggled against her abductor, but his arms were like unmoving bars of iron around her. He pushed his way quickly through the crowd, keeping her tight against him, her feet not even touching the ground.

  The sounds of the crowd dimmed slightly. As suddenly as he had snatched her, the man flung her away. Her back smacked up against stone hard enough it knocked the breath from her lungs. Her head cracked against the stone, the pain of it bringing tears to her eyes. Glad to be free, she quickly caught her balance, her hands immediately moving for her knives.

  "Please, go for your weapons. I'm sure you will do better with them this time."

  Chapter 22

  Secrets

  "You!"

  He chuckled.

  She grimaced, but didn't remove her hands from her knives. "What do you want, Damon?"

  "You remembered my name."

  She shook her head in annoyance as she looked around, trying to figure out where he had taken her. It seemed to be an alley of some kind, however one not directly off the main thoroughfare. It was strangely empty, yet she could still hear the muted noise of the crowd. "What do you want?"

  His smile remained. "I said I would be watching you."

  His words sent unexpected shivers up her spine. She remembered, but she hadn't really thought about it. It wasn't her he was interested in. She didn't understand why he had taken her from the others. "Have you been?"

  "I've been occupied. With other matters." A smile appeared. "However, I am here now. What have you been up to, little one?"

  "I don't think it's any of your concern," she snapped. "I would much prefer if you just left me alone." She rubbed at her arm, it continued to throb from the tight grip he'd had on her. "Why did you drag me here?"

  He spread his hands. "I did not think your companions would much care for me talking to you."

  He certainly had that right. "I don't much care to be talking to you either."

  He smiled slightly. "I know. Your thoughts are so full of fear. Are they always so?"

  She didn't answer. He took a step closer and she found herself pressing back again the stone wall of a building.

  Fear closed around her throat. Was he going into her mind again? She didn't know if the walls she'd tried to build would work, if they even existed.

  His fingers brushed across her forehead. "I see you listened to my advice," he murmured. "I'm impressed you managed to create even this. Who showed you how?"

  "No one."

  "You are an interesting one indeed. First you bond to a Fey, then take his fury, and now somehow build walls in your mind. Did you think your feeble attempt would keep me out?"

  "I'd hoped so," she whispered. Apparently it wouldn't. Could she stall him? Certainly her men were looking for her even now. How long would it take them to find her? "Why are you doing this? Why me?"

  His fingers traced down her cheek. "That is the interesting thing. Imagine my surprise, coming across you all outside of the city and once again feeling the remnants of Fey magic. On you. Kei is important to me, and you apparently are important to him. I want to know why. Why some puny little human has him taking such risks. Why can you do the things you do? What is special about you?"

  She shuddered and turned her head as she tried to sidestep away from him. Her movement angered him. Suddenly his hand pinned her head to the wall. His thumb pressed in at one temple, his fingertips at the other as his palm pressed her head back.

  She gasped in pain. Her hands rose to encircle his wrist, trying to pull his hand away. "Stop it!"

  "Stop fighting," he said quietly. "It hurts more if you do."

  She struggled against him, at the same time trying to keep her mental walls in place. She didn't want him in her mind. She didn't want anyone in there. "Get out!"
/>   "Shh."

  Shock froze her for a moment when she was suddenly sucked inward…

  She stood upon the battlements of the fortress she had built. Around her, beyond her shining stone, darkness hung and unimportant surface thoughts swirled around. She may have built this massive fortress, but from the outside. She had never actually been within her own mind before.

  The darkness wavered. A roar echoed from within.

  She straightened and found a bow in her hands. My bow. From before the city fell. She smiled. Oh, how she had missed it. I need to get another one. Sometime soon...

  Something came out of the darkness, distracting her thoughts. It flew around her fortress, a monstrous, horrible, beautiful thing. It's Damon. Prince had said he could shift forms. This is him as... She couldn't remember what it was Prince had said the Dragos turned into.

  Dragon.

  She stepped back at the power of the voice that answered her. She raised her bow. Get out of my head!

  The beast, the dragon, flew closer, circling. Very impressive. You have done well. For a human. Now, let me in, Arowyn.

  She shook her head, hair flying about in the wind his giant wings made. Leave me alone! I said no!

  He laughed and then his laughter turned into a wild, terrible roar. It shook the stone she stood on, shook the very air she breathed. Fear froze her in place. I can't fight this. I don't know how.

  You're learning. Open a door. Let me in.

  Stubbornly, she shook her head again.

  Then it will hurt.

  The dragon circled again, its wings beating harder. As it neared to make another pass it dove for her, mouth gaping and full of teeth. Damon roared again, shattering her to pieces.

  Screaming she flew apart, returning to the real world. She clenched her teeth as he ripped through her mind, circling around and around before attacking her carefully built walls and tearing them apart piece by painful little piece. It burned like searing fire roaring through her head. She wanted to scream but her voice wouldn't work.

  Despite the pain she tried to keep him away, to repair the walls that tumbled down under his brutal assault. It wasn't enough. She wasn't quick enough, or strong enough. She didn't know what she should be doing. The pain his destruction caused hurt too much for her to truly concentrate.