Tainted Plans

by Jenn Vakey

  I nodded, my eyes making a casual pass through the room. When they found the table at the other end, I saw that Rhydian was looking at me. Again. His lips quirked just slightly, silent words coming off of him that made my cheeks burn and my body hum all over again. I knew I was in trouble. I was letting myself get distracted. I just couldn’t bring myself to stop it.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Aarys was waiting for me just outside the entrance to the dorm the next morning. I stopped by the training field and grabbed a pair of bastons, attaching them to my thighs with the straps that were there. Then we started walking out of Alkwin.

  “So, how are you enjoying camp life?” she asked as camp disappeared behind us.

  My mind instantly jumped to Rhydian and that kiss in the river. Thoughts of which had kept me up late into the night. I wanted to talk about it, with anyone, but I knew I couldn’t. Not only did I know Rhydian valued his privacy, but I knew that telling even one person would risk everyone finding out. It wasn’t that I was ashamed, but it still felt so wrong to me. Like I would be judge for kissing anyone I wasn’t married to. For now, it was better that it remained a secret.

  “It’s fun,” I admitted. “I like being free to do things other than the vocation I was assigned to. Don’t get me wrong, I like being a Healer. But learning to fight is pretty great.”

  Aarys smiled knowingly and nodded, her red hair bouncing as she did.

  “So, you said you came here as a baby,” I said, shifting the conversation away from me. “Does that mean you have family here?”

  Aarys shook her head. “I came here with my mom. My brother was older than me, and had already started his training. I'm not really sure why, but my father decided to stay in the city with him,” she explained. I looked at her, expecting the topic to bother her, but it didn't appear to. Nothing really did, which was one thing I really liked about her. “She got sick when I was three and never got better. I don't really remember her. The community raised me after that.”

  My heart hurt for her, even if it didn't seem that she was hurting herself. I knew what it was like to lose a mother, but at least I had memories to hold onto.

  I paid close attention to the way we went to get to the archway. There were paths branching off in several directions, likely a way to confuse anyone who came through the archway without permission. Without knowing the direct path over the five mile distance, it could take hours to find the city. By that point, the perimeter alarms would have surely alerted everyone that there was an intruder.

  Aarys didn’t question the way at all. She took each turn with confidence, like she had made the trip thousands of times.

  The sun was just starting to come up an hour later when the archway finally came into view. My eyes passed over the path beyond it, but no one was there.

  “Looks like we beat him here,” Aarys said, but she wasn’t showing any sign she was concerned. She looked around for a moment, then motioned me over to the side. “Why don’t you stay over here out of sight. That way you can watch how things are done. If there’s any trouble, it’s always good to have more people here than they know about.”

  I nodded, slipping down behind the crumbling mound of rocks she had pointed at. From there, I could see what was going on, but no one would see me unless they were specifically looking.

  I didn’t like it.

  I didn’t really want to sit back and watch if there was any trouble. I had only trained with people that I trusted. Sentry were likely to fight dirty, and I could use the practice dealing with that.

  There was no time to try to convince her that I should just wait with her. She had barely made it back to the archway before a figure moved into view on the path.

  It was a man walking by himself. He was older than I had expected. Maybe in his mid-twenties. He had black hair that was short and wild, with dirt smeared across one of his cheeks. I thought back to my own trip from Eden to the archway. Had I not been bitten by the snox, I imagined that I would have had a similar look. Especially the nervous tension that was practically oozing out of him, his eyes shifting around as he pulled on the straps of his bag, as if expecting a dozen people to jump out and attack him at any moment.

  “Good morning,” Aarys called out, but she didn’t move from her spot in the archway as he drew nearer.

  He eyed her warily, stopping ten feet before he reached her. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her. Confused, hesitant.

  “Come on,” she said patiently, waving her hand to coax him ahead. “I need you to step toward the archway.”

  His eyes made a quick pass of his surroundings, searching for anyone that might have been with her, but he missed where I was hidden. Still, he didn’t move forward.

  “How do I know who you really are?” he asked, his voice shaking. “That you aren’t one of the Sentry just waiting to grab me?”

  I watched Aarys carefully, but she was showing a surprising amount of patience. With my skill at talking before thinking, I would have made some remark about the Sentry having better resources than teenage girls. Especially one who was clearly much smaller than he was.

  She just gave him a kind smile, though, and asked, “What’s your name?”

  “Caine Jones,” he responded.

  That all too familiar pit formed in my stomach. Something was wrong. He was… lying.

  I pulled the bastons out of the straps on my thighs and gripped them tightly. I didn't know why he would be lying about his name, but I knew it couldn't be for a good reason. I also knew I couldn't call out to Aarys and warn her. That didn't mean that I wasn't going to be ready if things went south.

  “I understand you’re scared,” Aarys said soothingly. Her eyes moved around casually, and thankfully found me without making it look like she was searching for someone. I shook my head, letting her see the weapons in my hands. Then she turned back to the man. “I just need to see your mark, Caine. Then I can take you into Alkwin.”

  The man shifted in place, but he still made no move to get any closer to her.

  Aarys sighed, then stepped out of the safety of the archway. She held her hands up in front of her, as if trying to placate him. Then she moved a little closer. I pushed up and got ready to move, but I was still careful not to let him see me. Something was going on here. Something dangerous.

  My heart beat pounded in my ears, watching Aarys move toward the man. Did she not understand what I was trying to tell her? She should be staying in the archway where he couldn’t get to her. Was she counting on me to provide backup? This wasn’t good.

  Aarys stopped five feet from him. He looked her over, easing slightly. He had a solid seven inches on her, and at least fifty pounds. It was something he definitely noticed, because he no longer looked at her like she was a threat as he started walking toward her. I watched cautiously, my hands practically itching from the need to get to her side. To protect her. Or at least as much as I could.

  Then I heard it. A rustling sound in the woods to the sides of the path. Aarys didn’t react, didn’t even appear to have noticed. She just watched the man calling himself Caine as he closed the gap between them.

  One thing sparring with Rhydian and Aarys had taught me was how to watch the opponent’s body for those small shifts in tension. And I saw it. The man’s muscles contracting moments before his arm pulled back. He was attacking.

  I was on my feet just in time to watch Aarys catch the Sentry’s fist before it could strike her jaw. The move startled him, and they both just stood there for several long moments staring at each other. His eyes were wide with surprise that such a petite girl could have done such a thing, while she was smiling. No fear at all. In fact, I was fairly certain she was enjoying this.

  Then, without waiting for him to collect himself, she gripped his shirt with her other hand and threw him. His whole body lifted off of the ground and flew a solid ten feet before slamming into a tree. It was amazing.

  Aarys’ eyes found me again, her hand lifting up and pointing
to her ear. “Cover,” she said softly.

  I didn’t know what she meant until I watched her pulling in a breath. Where had she said her abilities came from? Werewolf and… banshee.

  My bastons dropped to the ground with a clank as I slammed my hands over my ears. Aarys balled up her fists and screamed, the sounds of it louder than anything I had ever heard before. Even covering my ears didn’t stop the pain from coming with it. It felt like my ears were going to explode, my head reeling to the point that it was impossible to stay on my feet. My knees slammed down onto the ground, the world around me starting to grow darker. My stomach twisting to the point I feared I was going to be sick. Then, it just ended.

  I sucked in a breath, shaking my head to clear the remaining pain from it. It helped, but not much. I couldn’t linger on it, though. There were more important things to focus on.

  Grabbing my bastons, I pushed myself up and ran to Aarys’ side. When I reached her, I saw three other men struggling to get back onto their feet just inside the tree line. I thought for sure that Aarys was going to pull back, as we were outnumbered two to one, but she didn’t. She turned toward the closest man, sounded a battle cry, and charged.

  I didn’t have time to watch what happened. One of the other men got to his feet and ran toward me. I didn't even think about what I was going to do. The baton in his hand swung out toward my head, a look of pure hate on his face. My baston flew up and blocked the blow, the other moving in a fluid motion toward his ribs.

  The Sentry groaned, dropping his arm down to pin the baston against his side. I tried to pull it free, but he twisted his body away and ripped it from my grip.

  The confidence that I'd built up over the past week started to falter as I stumbled back out of his reach.

  It was different when I wasn’t fighting someone who was making an effort not to actually hurt me. As much as I hated it, that realization sent a cold wave of fear up my spine.

  I needed to get it together. I had to do what Rhydian had told me in those first few days. Fight for myself, fight for Aarys.

  The Sentry tossed my second baston to the ground behind him, then struck out again toward me, aiming this time for my ribs. I spun around and hit the back of his knee, causing him to drop. I was just about to swing for his head to take him the rest of the way down when the third man came out of nowhere and slammed something hard against the side of my forehead.

  Dammit.

  I hadn't been watching, and it caused my thoughts to blur, the world to spin around me. I could barely focus on him when he spun in place and leveled a kick to the side of my ribcage.

  Gasping for air, I took several steps back from them, shaking my head as I went.

  “Leeya!” Aarys called out.

  I looked just behind the Sentry in time to see something flying toward me. My second baston. I caught it with my left hand, comforted by its weight in my grip.

  Okay, no more playing around.

  The first Sentry had gotten back to his feet, but his attention turned to Aarys. The other’s was on me.

  Twisting my wrists to spin the bastons around, I stepped toward him. He gave me a malicious smile that told me he wasn’t afraid of me. I didn’t care. I was going to show him just how wrong he was.

  His baton swung out and struck my baston when I moved it to block. Not waiting, I twisted and attacked. It felt different fighting someone other than Rhydian and Aarys, but I wasn’t going to hesitate. I delivered strike after strike, hitting his leg, his ribs, his wrist. His baton dropped to the ground, but before he could react, I put all of my strength into a blow to the side of his head.

  My arm was still vibrating from the impact when I watched him teeter in place. Then fall.

  I blew out a breath. That was more like it.

  My eyes moved from him to the path around us. I was waiting for another attack. For another one of the men to come at me. But they were all still. It didn’t seem real, but it was over. We had won.

  “Come on,” Aarys said, stepping over the man she had just left unconscious on the ground. She took me by the arm and pulled me back through the archway, our pace twice what it had been on the walk there.

  I followed without question. My body was pulsing with excitement, exhilaration. We had fought a group of Sentry and been the ones to walk away. True, Aarys had done most of the work, but between the Sentry I had fought and myself, I was the one still on my feet.

  Twenty minutes passed that we walked in silence. It wasn’t until then that I felt comfortable enough to put my bastons away. The rational side of me knew that we were within the wards and they couldn’t get to us, but that feeling of danger took a while to leave me. The adrenaline slowly dissipating. This was what I had to look forward to when I left for Eden. When I went in to get my sister out. I was scared, worried what would happen when I didn’t have someone with werewolf strength to have my back, but I was determined to be ready. To fight with everything I had.

  “What just happened?” I asked, looking over to Aarys for an answer.

  She simply shrugged, as casual now as she had been an hour before. I didn’t understand it. How could she be looking at this like it was just another day? Like we had done nothing more than go a round on the training field.

  “It happens on occasion,” she said, pushing her hands into her pockets. “Non Tainted can’t cross the threshold without being escorted by a Tainted. Even with the mark. That’s why he wouldn’t get closer. Magic protects us.”

  I had known that the wards kept people out, but no one had ever told me how it worked. Hearing that, I was left with even more questions. Concerns. What would happen if I had to send Lillith back ahead of me? She was Tainted, so she wouldn’t have any problems getting through the wards. Would I just be stuck at the archway until someone came looking for me? At risk of being attacked by a Sentry?

  “So if I leave…”

  Aarys quickly shook her head. “You’ve already been granted permission. You couldn’t bring someone through that wasn’t Tainted, but you’re free to come and go without any trouble.”

  I nodded, trying not to look relieved. There wasn’t any reason I could think to give her for being concerned if she questioned it. No valid reason that I would be outside of the wards without someone from Alkwin at all.

  And what if I was only able to send Pax or Dallin back with my sister? Would someone let them in at all? No, I couldn’t think like that. I had to trust they would be taken care of.

  “Sentry usually come after us like that after we make a mess in the city,” she went on, as if I hadn’t been having a panicked debate in my head. “We expect it, so there’s rarely a time when they catch us unawares.”

  She didn’t elaborate further on it. Something must have happened the night Rhydian and the others went into Eden. Something big enough that would have caused the Sentry, even a week later, to be trying to gain access to the protected city. I just had no idea what that could be.

  “How’s the head?” Aarys asked.

  I moved my fingers up and slid them over the spot that still throbbed along my hairline. When I pulled them back, I was surprised to see blood. Now that I thought about it, I could feel what must be a small trail of it running down the side of my face. It wasn’t terrible, though. Honestly, it didn’t even hurt as bad as the effects of Aarys’ scream had. That was something I would be happy if I never encountered again. It also explained why she had to be taken out of Eden at such a young age.

  “I need to work on my blocking,” I answered.

  Aarys laughed, shaking her head. “You did good. And your instincts were spot on. You knew right away that something was off with that guy. Even without knowing what to look for.”

  I opened my mouth to explain, but closed it again without uttering a word. I didn’t want to tell her that I was really good at knowing when people were lying. That it was because of that that I knew it had to be a trap. There was no other reason I could think of for someone to be lying about their name. But I di
dn’t. I had learned a long time ago that it wasn’t great for friendships when people knew that you could tell when they weren’t being honest. I had only told Rhydian because I had been angry with him at the time.

  We didn’t talk again for the rest of the walk back into camp. When it came into view, I could see most of the community there. They didn’t wait around long, though. The moment people saw that we were walking in alone, most of them turned and walked back to wherever it was they were supposed to be. Stories moved around the camp fast, so they wouldn’t have to stick around in order to find out what happened.

  Rhydian and Auggie didn’t leave. Instead, they walked ahead to meet us. I tried not to smile when I saw him. There was no stopping the way my insides gave a little jump, though. The strong desire just to be near him.

  Man, I was really losing it.

  “What happened?” Rhydian asked, his eyes moving between the two of us. Without waiting for an answer, he stopped in front of me and reached up to my face. His fingers pushed the hair aside, tucking it behind my ear before he examined the cut on my head.

  “Four Sentry,” Aarys answered. “We took care of them. No sign of the guy we were actually supposed to be meeting. They used his name, though, so I’m assuming he was grabbed before he left the city.”

  I didn’t even try to add anything to her account of what happened. All I could do was watch Rhydian as his eyes moved from the wound, following the now dried blood trail on my face. Then they stopped on mine, just holding my gaze. I tried so hard not to flush, but it was hard. Especially since he was doing it with people around.

  “Any injuries?” he asked, then turned and looked at Aarys.

  “Nope,” she responded.

  He nodded, then turned and we started walking back. Aarys and Auggie split off when we reached the training field, heading straight for the dorm. We stopped just long enough for me to take the bastons and straps off, then Rhydian led me to the clinic.

  Noella was in the main room talking to a heavily pregnant woman sitting on the bed. Nevin’s wife, Amee. She looked at us when we entered and gave a quick nod, motioning back toward one of the open rooms. The room across the hall from the one Rhydian had been in last week. I walked in and hopped up on the bed, watching as Rhydian followed and closed the door.