Related to me, you must read
A warning you see, pay attention to thee
Years will come, and years will go
Deep in the future, you must go
We rule with power and rule together
But one will ruin our family’s honor
Again a warning I am sending
Pay attention, I am begging
They have value
Use them wisely
Keep them close, don’t let them go
They hold the string that ties the nation closely
A warning has been noted
Your actions will not be forgotten
But if they go, and take the string
There may be hope for thee
A boy and a girl keep watch for them
They hold great power that can save our rem
Fate is set and can’t be changed,
But think again my family’s end
The boy and girl hold the key
Kill them off to guarantee
That life in Dather will always be
The way it was from sea to sea
Mio stays silent and lets Alexander and I digest the words. “That’s supposed to be us?” I start. “Alexander and I are supposed to be this key?”
“Yes,” Mio says shortly.
“With what proof?” Alexander huffs. “Just because our fates were tied? That could literally be anyone.”
“Show me your arms,” Mio says flatly.
“What?” I ask.
“Your right,” he points to me. “And your left,” and points to Alexander. “Put them out,” Mio commands. Alexander and I both extend our arms to him. Mio reaches into his bag and pulls out a small brown bottle.
“Give me your other hand.” We both put out our hands and he pours a white cream from the bottle into them. “Rub it into your forearm.”
We begin to rub the warm cream into our forearms and are shocked by what’s happening. A dark brown figure is starting to appear, spot by spot. I continue to apply the lotion until the entire image comes into view.
“A key,” I say amazed. I examine the dark brown figure inked in my skin. It’s not a perfect key. It’s a bit abstract, but it’s still obvious to me.
“You were both physically marked with the key when you were born. Your parents took it as a sign that you were the ones King Lux was writing about.” I glance back up to Alexander and see his eyes are wide. Mio means his parents that he grew up with, but I know he’s thinking of his real parents. They must have noticed the birthmark, what did they think of that? “They then took you both deep into the forest where wizardly magic is secretly practiced and had your birthmarks disguised until it was safe again to show them. I still probably shouldn’t have told you this,” Mio says, contemplating if he made the right choice.
“We should know what we’re getting into,” I begin to say and Mio shakes his head agreeing.
“I promised your father I’d let him tell you when we got to Libertas, but since he’s gone I figure that promise doesn’t stand,” Mio takes in a deep breath and I see the weight this secret has had on him.
Alexander begins to speak, “How’d King Renon figure it out though?” His eyes scan my face. If King Renon knows that we are the keys in the prophecy, and he remembers his brother being marked, then King Renon knows Alexander is his brother now. Although, King Renon was only six when he abandoned Alexander in the forest, so I don’t know how much he may remember about his little brother.
“Your guess is as good as mine, Alexander. I suppose he didn’t want to take any chances. I mean, a female prisoner with her fate set to die and yours set to serve the castle is suddenly broken, it follows the prophecy loosely I suppose,” Mio says, trying to make all the pieces fit.
“What is it talking about when it says ‘they are valuable’? Who are they?” Alexander asks.
“People with gifts,” Mio says and suddenly the prophecy begins to make sense to me.
“King Lux was trying to warn King Renon of letting people with gifts get out of Dather, but he took it the wrong way. He started to imprison them to keep them close, but that is what started the fire. Now people with gifts are fleeing from Dather, and this is going to lead to its destruction.” I look up to Mio and see the answer on his face. “A rebellion.”
“I think you’re on to something,” Mio says, staring back at me.
I keep working the prophecy aloud, “People with gifts are fleeing to Libertas to plan a rebellion against King Renon, and Alexander and I are the keys to the rebellion. If King Renon kills us the rebellion will die as well. That’s why we are so important to both sides.”
“It would seem so, wouldn’t it?” Mio questions and I nod.
“We don’t know the first thing about leading a rebellion,” Alexander says shocked. I glance at him and agree. I don’t know how to do anything except run. Alexander has had some training, but not enough to make him a leader of an army of gifted soldiers.
“Oh trust me, I know,” Mio says sarcastically. “Not even with all the training in the world could you lead a rebellion. Your places in this rebellion are unknown. They know they need you, they just don’t know what for.”
Mio goes back to filling out his paperwork, and I continue to rub my fingers over my birthmark repeating the lines from the prophecy in my head, suddenly realizing we’re in a much deeper hole than I could have ever imagined. The rest of the team on our boat has finished filling out their paperwork and one by one they bring us their packet of papers. Alexander and I take them, file the papers into their own yellow folders, and label them with their names.
“You’re up again, Alexander,” Cooper says, coming down from the sailing perch. “Keep us heading straight ahead, directly east.”
Mio takes the folders from Alexander and I, and he files them back into his bag. I move with Alexander and we sit on the wooden level that stays clear for the one sailing or the lookouts at night. The small boat is starting to feel a little overwhelmingly full. Especially with nerves running high on who gets to stay in Libertas. “Want to teach me how to sail?” I ask as we sit on the rough wooden beams where we sat to take watch last night.
“It’s easy now that we’re going,” Alexander starts and he points down to a bronze compass that is fitted into the control panel. “Just watch this needle to make sure we keep heading east.” I note the needle wobbles around the curly printed E on the white background of the compass. It’s much simpler than the one my father used to carry. “If it starts to shift too far from east you adjust your sail.”
“Why would it shift?” I ask and realize it was probably a dumb question. If it was Alexander doesn’t say so.
“Rough currents could pull us off course, or a strong wind,” he begins to list off a few examples.
“So you have to be adaptable,” I conclude, cutting him off. As Alexander nods a cool burst of wind sends the sail into frantic ripples. I tense and see the small arrow on the compass swing halfway to the S. Alexander remains calm and moves to the ropes at the edge of the platform. He unwraps them and repositions them so the needle sits steady on the E again.
“Want to try?” he asks over the wind and curiosity crawls across my skin. I don’t know when I’d ever get the chance to again so I go and stand by his side. He hands the ropes to me and when I take them in my hands there’s an instant force ripping me forward. “Pull back,” Alexander instructs. He lets his right hand sit gently on the rope so he’s there to take over, but still leaves me in control. My arms shake, but I manage to pull the rope back slowly. “Good, now anchor it there,” he says and motions for me to tie the rope back down. Once I secure it I look down at my red palms.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I give a wide grin and breathe through my smile.
“You did good,” Alexander says and we take our seats back on the rough wooden beams.
“Did you learn to sail when you worked for the castle?” I ask gently as I bring up something from his past.
Alexander gives a sharp nod. “When I was signed on officially we had to go through two weeks of intense training. The first week was spent in Garth. We became familiar with the different chambers in the castle and we searched through the small radius of the forest, looking for runaways.”
“Like us,” I joke and his lips crack into a smile.
“I never would have guessed I’d be on the other side of that,” he says, processing the irony. “Then, week two we were in Sard. We got an overview tour of the city and the different jobs we may be assigned, and finally training in sailing. Not for combat, but to travel between islands.”
“You’ve been to the other islands?” I ask and my eyes widen at the impossible thought, but Alexander shakes his head no.
“I’ve just sailed around Dather’s coast. I could have been assigned to a troop that traveled between islands, but I was too new.” I nod, remembering the guards from the night I escaped the castle. They had left Alexander alone on night duty outside the castle because he was the newbie. I realize how different this all would be if they hadn’t done that.
“We’re going to the best island now though,” I offer and Alexander nods. Previously our only other islands were Sone, Hamni, and Garge, and all of them imprison the gifted just like Dather. Even worse, King Renon has them all sent to him so he can keep the other islands weak. So far they aren’t used in Alignmass, the battles to obtain rule. This is where a nation’s strength is decided. Men still believe one on one combat of skin and muscle should determine leadership.
Still, the regular soldiers of Dather beat any other islands’ forces. For now, gifted are enslaved in Dather. Some are used for tracking, like the Hounds that worked with Paylon. Many are used for tasks around the castle and town. If we ever needed to protect ourselves from an invasion I’m sure they would be used then too, but that has never happened. No other island has ever challenged Dather in war. We win Alignmass fairly and continue to rule. We sit in silence, both examining the markings that weigh on our wrists. The thought of Libertas, a home for runaways, trying to start a rebellion against the largest force in the world seems idiotic, but when you have nothing to lose you’re willing to risk it all.
Chapter 26
When Mio releases Alexander and takes the next turn at controlling the sails I move over and begin to help Cooper prepare lunch.
“What did Kimberly pack for lunch?” I ask, looking over Cooper’s shoulder into the storage bins.
“Don’t worry, it’s nothing magnificent,” Cooper mumbles pulling out a loaf of bread, thinly sliced meat, and yellow slices that I don’t recognize.
“The bread looks funny,” I say, taking it from him. “It’s already sliced?”
“Yes, it makes preparing a sandwich much easier,” Cooper says and he lays out our supplies.
“A what?” I ask.
Cooper begins to laugh at my confusion. He takes a piece of bread from the loaf and says, “Bread, meat, cheese,” as he assembles the meal.
“You’re telling me that’s cheese? Everything in Sard is so different,” I mumble.
Cooper finishes the sandwich by folding it in half. “Everyone line up to get lunch,” Cooper announces. “Here,” he says and hands me a slice of bread.
We both begin to assemble sandwiches and give everyone two of them. After everyone has received their lunch, we make ourselves some and eat in silence. The dry bread causes me to have to finish off what was left of my water. I begin to wipe the beading sweat off my forehead and realize I’m going to need more water soon.
“I’m sure Kimberly packed water, right?” I ask hesitantly.
“Of course,” Cooper says. He reaches down into the bench and hands me a cool clear bottle.
“How’s everything staying cold?” I ask, sipping on the icy cold water.
“We have coolers stored under the benches,” he says and when he sees the confusion on my face he adds, “Just another one of Sard’s weird inventions.” I nod my head in response.
I look out at the sun glistening off the calm blue ripples of water. The boat bobs along slowly, just simply gliding into the infinity of blue. I imagine what the rest of today will be like. Maybe I’ll help Alexander sail some more later. I’d like to talk with Molly, Lilly, and Sam to make sure they are doing all right. I can’t imagine what they must be thinking, so much has changed for them in the last few days. I see that the other boat has finished filling out their papers as well. I assume Cinder helped Molly’s other friends finish theirs.
Somewhere out here an island filled with gifted rises from these waters. I stare out into the thin horizon line and imagine it appearing before my eyes. My vision begins to blur in the bright sunlight and I almost miss a hint of a black figure coming up out of the water and then back into it. I blink hard and scan the distant waters again. “Cooper,” I say. “I think I saw something,” I hesitate, not sure if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Then, there it is again. It’s a little closer this time, but I can’t tell what it is. It just grazes the top of the water before diving deeper down. I turn and see Cooper saw it too.
I watch as Cooper’s eyes widen, realizing what he just saw. “Mio,” Cooper starts to say and suddenly the ocean begins to shift from its calm state into wild ripples.
“I figured they’d find us eventually,” Mio says.
“Who?” I ask and I feel the adrenaline bleed into my veins.
“Remember how I told you the waters were cursed with enchanted creatures?” Cooper asks and I nod in response. “Well, they’ve found us.” Just as the words leave his mouth there’s a large thump on the side of the boat. I look over its edge and see a scaly body flopping through the water. It couldn’t be any bigger than a snake.
“That can’t be what you’re afraid of,” I say.
“Oh no, that’s the baby. And where there’s the baby.” Cooper doesn’t need to finish his sentence. The mother creature lurches out of the water, her body as round and wide as the tunnels we were in under Sard. She resembles something of an eel and lets out a low screech as she dives back into the water causing a large wave to crash against the boat, soaking us all.
“Everyone put these on!” Mio yells as he throws neon orange vests to everyone. “It’ll help you float if we go overboard.” There’s another thud against the bottom of the boat that launches me forward against Cooper, and we both crash to the bottom of the boat.
“Sorry,” I mumble, rising to my knees. I wipe my soaked hair from my face and see that Cooper is bleeding from his forehead.
“It’s okay,” he starts to say until we are thrown down again by another thud. The eel continues to knock against the boat repeatedly sending it left and right, up and down.
“You’re bleeding,” I say. Cooper’s hand wipes the red blood down the side of his face.
“I’m fine, I just hit it when we fell,” Cooper mumbles and he tries to stand with wobbly legs. “Everyone, try to sit on the bottom of the boat. Get as close to the center as you can,” Cooper commands over the screeching of the eels.
“The only thing we can do is wait them out,” Mio huffs.
I crawl on my knees to the center of the boat next to Alexander. “Is there anything you can do with your gift?” Alexander asks me. I look out into the water and try to freeze the sea creatures, but as quickly as they come up they go back under and waves crash onto the boat.
“I can’t,” I say. “I can’t see them so I can’t control them!” I yell back to Alexander. Salty water launches at us, drenching us. The water is starting fill the boat. I try and use my gift to lift the water out of the boat, but it just rises and falls back on board. Slowly I’m able to splash some out, but not as quickly as the eels are sending it in.
Wave after wave, and after what seems like an eternity the water returns to its calm nature. We are all coughing up seawater and gasping for air; our hair and clothes soaked in saltwater.
“Are they gone?” Zavy bravely asks. I stand and look around. Somehow we have managed to st
ay close to Cinder’s boat through the chaos.
“Mio,” I say shocked by what I’m making out off in the distance. “What’s that?” I ask and point out in front of me. It appears to be an island of some sort.
“Well, that’s not Libertas,” he says. “We must have been knocked off course, not really surprised though.” When we finally get our breathing under control I see a large shadow begin to spread across the boat. I glance up and see the mother eel stretching into the sky.
“Watch out!” I hear Mio distantly yell. I watch, as if in a trance, her body crash down on Cinder’s boat, completely demolishing the wooden frame. In the impact, another powerful wave is sent into our boat knocking as all to the ground. I pull myself to the edge of the boat and suck in deep breaths of salty air. I see three or four orange vests bobbing in the water, but there are many I can’t find. The dark figure of the eel weaves under our boat and I look frantically around to see if there’s anything we can use to stop this beast. My sword at my side is the only option I find so I draw it and watch the scaly body launch itself out of the water and over our boat in a clean arc. I swing my sword up and cut a giant gash in the creature. Dark red blood from the monster coats the boat and my sword, and it dives back into the safety of the water.
“What are you doing,” Mio yells and grabs my wrist.
“Trying to stop this thing from attacking us. We can’t sit here and do nothing,” I scream back and rip my wrist from his grasp. I spin and scan the water, looking for the beast, and then the shadow crawls across the floor of the boat. I spin and see the eel tower up into the air. Before I can tell my arms to move and position for another attack the monster crashes into our boat causing it to crumble and suddenly I’m pulled underwater. Salty liquid engulfs me. My eyes burn and I fight the urge to scream or suck in a breath of water. My head is pushed back above water by the life vest and then pulled back under with the current.
The Markings Page 25
