Hunted: Alba's Story (Destined Book 5)

by Kaylin Lee

  A trickle of magic leaked from my hand, obeying Damian’s instruction on instinct. The investigative probe pushed through Si’s body, confirming Damian’s instinctive diagnosis. I managed a jerky nod.

  “Give him a bit more magic. Release the swelling.”

  More magic slipped out of me. I healed the swelling as I’d done for Baby Elis a few days earlier.

  “Is it done?”

  I nodded and blinked at him, my throat still too closed to speak.

  “Good. Now give him a big wave of magic to heal the fractures in his skull.”

  I shifted on my knees and put one hand on Si’s forehead, leaving the other on his neck. The magic flowed faster from me this time, helped along by a slightly improved clarity in my thoughts. The fractures healed quickly. I sent another wave of magic through him and checked for additional injuries. “He’s got heavy bruising, but that’s it.” My voice was shaky, but at least the words came out, my panic subsiding as I smoothed my fingers over Si’s face.

  Damian pulled my hands away from Si as he stirred. “Then save your magic.” The young healer’s expression was grim. “There’s a lot more work to do.”

  ~

  “Over here.” Si’s quiet voice reached me from further inside the tunnel. I filed past the closely-packed miners huddled on the ground, pooling magic in my hands to prepare for the new injury he’d found.

  When Si had dragged his bruised, battered body up from the ground, he’d fallen in beside Damian and me, helping us with each captive who’d been injured in the blast. Despite his wounds, Si was as calm as the rock that surrounded us, and his steady presence helped me resist the hungry panic that hovered at the edge of my mind.

  We were fortunate. Several luminous lanterns had survived the cave-in, leaving Damian and me enough light to see every dilated pupil, broken bone, and sign of internal bleeding.

  I smiled gently at the bearded, dark-haired man with the bloodied, odd-angled leg. A woman and two young children crouched beside him, fluttering over him like a family of anxious birds. The man returned my smile even as beads of sweat dripped down his forehead. “It’s just a scratch,” he joked, clearly trying to cheer up his wife, but she swatted his shoulder and let out a sob.

  We were also fortunate no one had yet died of their injuries, though many, including this one, had been quite severe.

  “Scratches are her specialty.” Damian knelt beside me and adjusted the man’s leg as I guided his hands.

  The injured man cringed and gritted his teeth at Damian’s touch, but didn’t emit so much as a grunt.

  I placed my hands on his leg and poured healing magic into the injury, carefully aligning the bones and knitting them together as quickly as I could. When his body’s own healing process took over, I reluctantly removed my hands.

  Si helped me to stand, bracing me as the mine’s tunnel seemed to spin. He leaned in to my ear, his voice low. “How much do you have left?”

  I let him take more of my weight as we stepped away from the man and his family. “A little.” Very little. The dizzy feeling still hadn’t left me, but I couldn’t stand the thought of someone going unhealed while I still had something left to give. “Who’s next?”

  “The rest are minor,” Si answered quietly. He glanced over his shoulder at the people down the hallway. “They were farthest from the entrance. There are some in pain but none in urgent need of healing.”

  I nodded, a touch ashamed at the gratefulness that coursed through me. “What do we do now?”

  Si ran his fingers across my cheekbone then tucked my loose hair back from my face. “You rest.” There was an odd look in his eyes, a sobriety I couldn’t remember seeing before. “Basil and Anton are working on a plan.” He helped me sit against the rock wall, sat beside me, and took my hand in his. His long legs were stretched out on the ground beside mine, and I couldn’t help loving the warmth that emanated from his body. “I’m sorry.” His voice was rough. He stared at the ground in front of us rather than meeting my eyes. “I know you said you wanted to do this, but I … I shouldn’t have broken my promise.”

  I couldn’t help it. I sent a feather of healing magic into his body through our clasped hands. A moment later, the heavy bruising on his back was gone.

  “Stop healing me.” When he finally looked at me, his eyes burned with a sudden intensity. “You have to stop giving yourself away. Especially to people who don’t deserve you.”

  I thought he’d let go of my hand, push me away, but he only held me tighter. I shut my eyes and leaned against his shoulder, exhaustion pulling at me. “I’m not sure anyone really deserves love,” I mumbled. “That’s what makes it so wonderful.”

  “Love, huh?”

  I willed my eyelids to open, but they wouldn’t budge. “Besides,” I added, sleep tugging at my words as I tried to get them out. “You always seem to be giving yourself away too.” I nestled against his shoulder until I found a more comfortable position. “Deep down, we’re the same.”

  The gentle warmth of sleep robbed me of his answer.

  ~

  “I can’t get it to attach properly.” Basil’s frustrated tone reached into my dreamless sleep and woke me abruptly. “I’ve been trying for the past hour. Si, I don’t think we have much more time.”

  I cracked my eyes open. Basil and Si stood over me, Anton beside them, his arms crossed and his expression blank. Basil held a battered box. I blinked up at him, jolted by the realization he held one of his bombs.

  “Make any progress with the digging?” Si asked Anton.

  “Some.” Anton lifted one shoulder. “Not enough for anyone to climb all the way out. If we keep going, we might get there eventually. But if we don’t have enough air left to last until we get there …”

  I rubbed my eyes and appraised the tunnel. A group of men worked frantically by the crushed entrance, straining to move the rocks that had fallen over the opening.

  “This will work.” Basil held the box out stubbornly. “I know it. At least enough to clear a way for air, maybe more than that. I just can’t figure out the timer.”

  “Let me see.” Anton took the box from Basil. “How do you ignite it without the timer?”

  Basil frowned. “Give it a good shake, I guess. But …”

  Anton held the box still, then he pulled it to his chest as Si reached out for it. “I’ve always been the fastest one of us,” he said grimly. “Looks like the honor is mine.”

  “Enough with the double-axe, kid. We’ll find another way. We don’t know exactly how much time we have left. Let Basil figure out the timer first.”

  “I don’t think I can fix it.” Basil looked ill, but his voice was firm. “It’s broken, and I have nothing to work with in here. This is it, Si. This is all we have.”

  “Anton!” Si yelled.

  It was too late. The gangly youth was already striding toward the entrance, the bomb tucked under his arm like an infant. “Get clear and get down!” he shouted to the men at the entrance. “As far back as you can. Now!”

  They hurried past him and dove for the ground. Anton climbed up the rock pile, working his way farther into the small tunnel they’d manage to clear.

  Si knelt beside me, pulling Basil down with him and throwing his arms around both of us. “Strike that double-axe—”

  BOOM!

  The rocks rumbled, and smoke filled the mine shaft. From the front of the tunnel came a rustling sound and a crash. A shaft of light speared through the smoke.

  “We’re clear!” A man’s jubilant shout echoed in the tunnel. “All the way through. He did it!”

  There was a commotion as bodies pressed against us, everyone surging toward the entrance at once. “Careful, careful.” Si hugged me and Basil protectively to his chest. “One at a time!”

  We followed the line of captives to the bright entrance, then we separated from the stream of people as we caught sight of Damian, Stefan, Anders, and Drew huddled around Anton’s crumpled body.

  “No—”
Si fell to his knees at his brother’s side. “No, no.”

  Panic surged through my veins, but I sprinted forward anyway, sliding in next to Si and forcing my hands to move despite the tightening of my throat. I lifted Anton’s shirt, pressed both hands to his still chest, and sent a massive surge of magic through his body. His unmoving heart spasmed, then it pulsed, contracting once. Twice. A third time.

  More magic. I increased the flow and hurried through my mental list, healing his vital organs one at a time and refusing to stop long enough to let the panic take over my mind.

  I was dimly aware of Drew and Stefan sobbing as they fell upon their brother’s body. Some part of me knew I should stop to tell them Anton might live, but the torrent of healing magic pouring out of me took all my attention to direct.

  Exhaustion soon muted my senses completely. I knew nothing but Anton’s crushed, bleeding body.

  More magic. You have more, Alba. I was screaming inside my own head, but my body was too tired to even mouth words. Somewhere, you have it. Find it!

  My arms weakened as I wrenched a final wave of magic from my body by pure will, pushing it into Anton with a gasp. I collapsed onto his bloodied torso, unable to lift my head. Still I kept my connection, directing the magic to finish healing the worst of his injuries.

  A hungry fog hovered at the edge of my consciousness. I’d never been so tired, so empty, so bereft of life. My fear was gone but so was my magic.

  I took comfort in the way Anton’s pulse thumped steadily against my cheek. With a final twitch of my finger, I released my last drop of magic into Anton and hoped it would be enough to wake him so he could leave the mine.

  The darkness of enervation engulfed me, and I had no choice but to yield to it.

  Chapter 34

  A cold, crisp wind rushed over my face. I was outside. They must have found a way to drag my body through the tunnel.

  “I said, hand her over.” The woman’s voice was clear as a bell and oddly familiar. Had the Masters returned?

  My eyes felt like they were weighted down with sand. I tried to move, but my body wouldn’t obey. The fog of magical enervation was nowhere near done exacting its price.

  “She’s not going anywhere with you.” I recognized Si’s fierce retort from somewhere over my head. “We’re taking her home.” There was a warm, tight grip holding me. Si’s arms? Perhaps the tightness had partially awakened me before the enervation had healed.

  “No, we’re taking her home.” The woman sounded annoyed.

  I managed to open my eyes and craned my head to look around. Si and I were in an unfamiliar part of the woods, uphill from a woman with a long, black braid and a tattooed man with golden hair. Opal. Two little girls Drew’s age hovered behind the couple, toting small crossbows and watching me with wide eyes. I tried to speak, but the enervation still had hold of me.

  “Let’s say I believed that—I don’t, of course—but let’s just say I do,” Si said. “On whose authority?”

  “That’s none of your business.” Opal stiffened. “Just hand her over.”

  A flutter of fear whispered through me. Si couldn’t leave me. He couldn’t! I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Si and his brothers.

  “Considering I’m the one holding her, and she just nearly killed herself healing my brother, it’s absolutely my business,” Si said belligerently. “Give me one good reason why my brothers shouldn’t escort you and yours out of these woods at the end of their bows right now.”

  “Your brothers?”

  All six boys edged out from the trees to our left and right where they must have been hiding, their bows trained on the man and woman downhill from us. Even Drew held his tiny weapon without wavering.

  “I see.” Opal heaved a sigh. “Ugh, you Badlanders are a stubborn bunch, aren’t you?” Her golden-haired husband Kalem seemed to be holding back laughter. “If you must know, it’s on her parents’ authority. I’m sure you can imagine they want her home, so if you’d please hand the girl over, we can each be on our way.”

  Si shifted but didn’t release me. “I told you, I’m not handing her over.”

  “Maybe this will convince you. Sierra, the letter?”

  “Yes, Mama.” Their oldest daughter pulled a piece of paper from her jacket and held it up excitedly. “Right here!”

  “Get it, Damian.” Si scowled at the family as Damian lowered his bow and took the paper, then returned to Si’s side and unfolded it.

  “It says Mistress Opal and her family are authorized by the commander of the Asylian Sentinels to search the Badlands for Alba Mattas. They’re to deliver her to a team of Sentinels at the base of Mount Vellus.”

  Dad. The knowledge that his letter was just a few steps away from me, in Damian’s hands, filled me with wrenching homesickness. How had he felt when he returned from his mission to find both of his daughters gone?

  “The commander of the Sentinels? I thought you said you were sent by her parents.” Si sounded suspicious.

  “Commander Mattas is Alba’s father.”

  Si’s grip faltered. “Then why didn’t he send an official Sentinels team to look for her?”

  “I imagine it’s because no one officially knows she’s missing,” Opal shot back. “Or did you think the Sentinels would broadcast to the Masters and every bandit in the Gold Hills that the commander’s daughters are missing out here, defenseless and alone?”

  “Well, I’m not letting Alba out of my sight.” Si’s voice was hard, his arms stiffening around me. “If you want to take her to the Sentinels team that’s waiting, we are coming with you.”

  “I’m guessing she’s been with you most of this time?” Kalem spoke for the first time.

  “That’s right. What’s it to you?”

  He held up a hand. “You’re not in trouble, son. We just want to keep Alba safe, and she’s gonna be safer with the Sentinels than with you.”

  Si laughed humorlessly, no doubt remembering that he’d kidnapped me from the midst of a Sentinels team in the first place. “Don’t know about that.”

  “What he means is, we’ve sworn to Alba that we’d get her home to Asylia safely,” Damian interjected smoothly. “We’re Badlanders, just like you. We can’t break our word. You’re just going to have to trust us.”

  “What do you think, Opal?”

  “We could take them to the Sentinels and let Cole decide. We’ll still get paid.”

  Kalem let out a short laugh. “I thought you told the commander we’d take this job for free.”

  Opal sniffed. “I’m changing my mind the longer we have to deal with this troublemaker. Shall we get on with it?”

  “Looks like you won this round, son,” Kalem called. “Follow us. And lower your bows.” The good humor faded from his voice. “I see you boys point anything sharp near my daughters again, the truce is off.”

  Si grunted an agreement. My eyes flickered shut. We started moving, the swaying motion quickly lulling me back into the heavy, suffocating weight of healing sleep.

  ~

  “Alba.” A hand smoothed my forehead. “Alba, can you hear me?”

  “Mom?”

  She hovered over me, her blonde hair tucked into a haphazard bun, her eyes bloodshot. “You’re awake.” She didn’t smile. “I’ve never seen you sleep so long,” she whispered. “We were scared, honey.”

  “Magical enervation. It’s the worst.” My mother’s expression clouded, but I was distracted by the unfamiliar room. “Where are we? And how did I get here?”

  “Sentinels’ compound.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Your father should be here any moment. A whole army of Badlanders brought you in.”

  “Badlanders? Where are they now?”

  “Detainment.” She grimaced. “Your father debriefed them, but he wanted to wait until he heard your side of the story before he did anything with them.”

  A trickle of relief went through me, though I felt bad the brothers had been detained on my account. At least they hadn’t left. �
��They helped me, Mom. I owe them my life. And there’s something else—about Bri.”

  “Do you know where she is?” She gripped my hand. “Do you know what happened? Her team said she fell off a cliff, but when they searched for her body, it was gone. And the Badlanders said—” She broke off. “Well, I know they’re lying. Our Bri would never serve those monsters.”

  This was going to be awful. “I do know what happened. But it isn’t good. And I think I should tell you and Dad together.”

  She nodded, blinking rapidly as her eyes grew shiny. “I’ll be right back.”

  Mom hurried out of the room. I sat up in bed and rebraided my matted, wild hair. I was just tying the ribbon at the end when my parents entered.

  “Alba.” My father rushed to the bedside and folded me into a strong, soul-warming hug. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I never should have—”

  “I’m fine, Dad.” I returned his hug then pulled back. “Really. And it’s good that I went with Bri’s team, because in the end …” I swallowed. “I was there when it happened.”

  My dad grabbed a chair, pulled it up beside my mom’s, then sat heavily. “When what happened?”

  “She’s alive, so that’s good.” I tried for a smile, but my mouth barely budged. My mother’s shoulders sagged slightly at my words, but their expressions didn’t change. “And she isn’t working for the Masters willingly. But she’s under a curse, and the Masters are holding her captive. From what I overheard, they want Mom to come and rescue her. It’s a trap.”

  “She can break any curse they throw at her.” Dad squeezed my mom’s hand. “She would never let a curse linger long enough to take hold. She’s too well-trained. I’ve seen her do it a thousand times.”

  “It’s a different kind of curse than the ones we’ve trained with here. Their curses are new—stronger now, more controlling. The curses they sent after me in the Badlands each took an entire obcillo crystal to break. I think Bri’s curse is even worse than those.”

  “The crystals I sent with you were the best in the city.”

  “I used them all. Every crystal was shattered while breaking a single curse.”