Chapter 38 #2
The red veins in his eyes seemed to protrude even further as rage filled his face, but the cruel excitement in his eyes scared me the most. He stood and turned to the surrounding Voiceless, raising his arms to the sky.
“By the power vested in me as a prophet of the Voiceless, I call upon the God of Death to descend upon this humble vessel. Through me, the God of Death shall claim the flesh of the Goddess of Life and bind her soul to his eternal will.”
“You do not break. You bend.”
I squeezed my eyes shut. The panic was breaking through the rage now, building and burning in my chest worse than the pain from the brand. I felt him approach, and the tattered pieces of robe brushed across my bare legs.
“Let this be your final lesson in humility, Ember,” Talmar said low in my ear. “Or else I shall invoke the God of Death into every single prophet here, and we shall take turns until you are begging to submit.”
His metal hand grabbed my bare upper thigh, and panic exploded in my brain. Everything went white.
I woke up to the incessant buzzing of flies.
The sun was high overhead, shining brightly on me.
I went to sit up, but the pain in my chest made me halt with a gasp.
I raised shaky fingers to touch my chest where the pain screamed, but then I remembered, my body stiffening at the memory of being restrained, the brand, and then?—
I squeezed my eyes shut and sucked desperate breaths in through my nose.
When I was certain I wasn’t going to be sick, I braced myself and sat up, wincing in pain, and froze.
My bare legs were covered in blood. Each breath I took sounded far too loud as I slowly lifted my eyes and stared in numb horror at the carnage surrounding me.
For a long moment, my eyes couldn’t process what I was seeing.
I was no longer restrained, but there was blood everywhere, and the flies were thick.
My gaze caught on a severed hand lying a short distance away, and it slowly dawned on me that I was looking at pieces of bodies.
Pieces. As though the Voiceless had exploded.
Even the metal prosthetics hadn’t withstood whatever happened, chunks of torn metal and frayed steel tendons mixed in amongst the flesh.
I got to my feet, shaking, and slowly turned.
Talmar’s eyes were bulging in what looked like fear as they stared up at me from his severed head. There was no sign of the rest of him.
I turned and retched, but there was nothing left in my stomach. A ringing sound filled my ears as I fought to catch my breath, and everything in my head went quiet. Some deep-seated animal instinct seized control, narrowing everything down to only crucial steps to survival.
I was alive.
I was barefoot and half-naked.
I needed clothes.
Slowly, I walked through the bloody gore, searching for my pants.
Several coyotes lurked on the edges of the camp, watching me.
A few of the braver ones seized chunks of remains and darted into the trees with them.
Above me, in the sky, several hawks and other birds of prey circled.
There would be more predators soon, lured by the smell of blood.
I finally found my pants, partially buried under the remains of a Voiceless.
I pulled them free and did my best to shake them off.
New holes looked like they’d been burned through the denim.
I glimpsed Sax’s jacket, lying on a discarded pack, and pulled it on.
I found my boots next, my socks neatly tucked inside.
I struggled to put them on as my hands violently shook.
Slowly, something began to cut through the shock.
It was similar to the ringing in my ears but more melodic.
As I finished lacing my boots, my eyes moved of their own accord to the gory remains of a shoulder attached to the shredded pieces of a metal arm, and in a strange dreamlike state, I reached down and fished through the blood and flesh until my fingers touched something hard that made my healing power jolt.
I pulled it out and stared at the small object in my bloody hand.
It looked like a rock—a black rock that was flat on one side and jagged on the other.
It glinted slightly in the sun as I turned it, but I would have described it as unremarkable—except for my blood singing as I held it.
I glanced down at the gore at my feet. I couldn’t tell if it had been embedded in the shoulder or just buried in the mess, but something still called to me.
I stood and moved forward, my boots squishing until my feet stopped.
I couldn’t see anything, but again, I reached down, and my fingers immediately closed around something hard buried in the carnage, sending another jolt of power through me.
Again and again, my feet moved until finally, I stood with eleven rocks in my bloody hands, and whatever was driving me vanished.
I stared at the rocks for a moment longer before shoving them into a small inner pocket that buttoned closed in Sax’s jacket, and then I started walking in no particular direction.
It didn’t matter where , so long as it was away.
I stumbled through the brush like a drunk but stayed on my feet. The sun had begun to set before I became aware enough to realize I should have taken one of the horses. I hesitated, wondering if I should go back, but the thought of returning to all that blood and?—
My feet lurched back into motion. No, I couldn’t go back.
As the sun set, it became increasingly difficult to see where I was going. I often fell, tripping over sticks or slipping on uneven ground, and the pain in my chest made it hard to breathe, but I kept dragging myself up and putting one foot in front of the other. I had to keep going.
Eventually, I fell, and my shaky arms gave out when I tried to push myself up. I closed my eyes, trying to catch my breath. I’d rest for a moment—just a moment.
The next time I opened my eyes, it was daylight again, midday by the sun’s position. The sight of my bloody body and clothes immediately made me retch again, but nothing came up. I needed to find water. Water and food.
I got to my feet and again focused on just putting one foot in front of the other. I found a craggy mountaintop that looked familiar and pointed my body toward it.
One more. One more. I chanted in my head with every footstep.
I was almost at the top of a ridge when I slipped on loose gravel and tumbled down the entire distance I’d worked so hard to climb. My palms stung as I pushed myself up, leaving bloody handprints in the dirt.
Keep going.
I found a stream and drank from it, washing my hands and arms as well as I could. My palms were covered in scrapes, tiny pieces of gravel embedded in my skin.
The grade grew steeper, and soon, I was on my hands and knees crawling up the mountain. Every single muscle in my body ached with pain, but I kept going.
One more.
One more.
One more.
The sun was beginning to set when a noise registered in my head. Something was running, crashing through the woods toward me. I twisted, and a strangled scream escaped my lips at the sight of a body charging up to me. They grabbed my upper arms, and I fought to get away, panicked.
“Ember! Ember, it’s Sable!”
I finally focused on the face before me, taking in the familiar long blond hair and pale blue eyes. Sable. It was Sable. He let out a piercing whistle and then focused on me again.
“You’re safe, Ember. It’s just me, it’s Sable.” He paused, worry and rage deepening the furrow in his brow, but when he spoke again, his voice softened. “Emmy, can you hear me?”
I realized I had frozen like a frightened deer, just staring at him and panting. I couldn’t think straight. My head felt like it’d been stuffed full of straw.
“It’s okay, Emmy,” he said, even softer. “You’re safe.”
I started shaking like my entire body was seizing, and his grip tightened on my arms, lowering me to sit on the ground as my knees gave out. He crouched before me, sharp eyes scanning me carefully, but stopped on my chest.
“Emmy, can I look at that wound?” he asked, but the words made no sense, bouncing around in my head until they shattered.
After a moment, he reached out, watching my face, but I just stared at him.
Slowly, he parted Sax’s huge jacket and peeled one side of my torn T-shirt back.
He went still, staring. Then he peeled back the other side, and his pale eyes lit with rage.
Part of me realized this would normally make me panic, but I felt nothing.
“They branded you on top of the other one?” His voice was a low snarl.
I couldn’t answer him. It felt like I’d lost my voice, not from hoarseness or sickness, but like it was gone. He pulled Sax’s jacket closed, and his cool fingers gently prodded my swollen, bruised face, feeling for broken bones.
“I think you’re in shock,” he said after a few seconds, “I want you to lay down so I can?—”
He’d begun attempting to lay me on my back, but my body panicked and fought him, clawing at his arms and trying to stay upright. He stopped, eyes narrowing on my face. A muscle flexed in his jaw, and his eyes hardened, but his voice was still soft when he spoke.
“Okay. It’s okay, Emmy, you don’t have to lie down.”
He whistled again, the loud noise making my ears ring.
“You’re safe, Emmy,” he repeated. His hand curled around one of mine, and I clung to it. “I’m here, you’re safe.” His voice roughened, and I glanced up at his face.
The tears in his furious eyes startled me.
He’d always been calm and collected, but he was neither, right now.
I knew I should apologize for being such a bitch to him.
I should explain myself. I should tell him how sorry I was for what Juck did to him, but none of those words made it out of my head.
Instead, I just tipped toward him like all the strength had fled my body at once. He wrapped his arms around me and held me where I’d fallen against his chest. I didn’t move, closing my eyes and trying to stop shaking. He kept murmuring that I was safe, and I believed him.
He whistled again, and this time someone whistled back.
“Wolf is comin’, okay?”
We sat there for a long time. Every so often, a whistle would echo through the trees, and Sable would whistle back.
“Slow down,” Sable suddenly said sharply. “I think she’s in shock.”
I opened my eyes and met my brother’s horrified eyes. He slowly lowered himself in front of us, scanning me carefully, a landslide of emotion all over his typically stoic face.
“Is she hurt?” he asked, anger and fear crackling in his voice.
“I haven’t fully checked,” Sable responded, his voice dangerous, “but they branded her again…over top of the other one.”
Wolf sucked in a breath, his nostrils flaring. “What?”
Sable pried my clenched fists from his shirt and shifted around to my back, quietly explaining to me what he was doing as he peeled my shirt back again. “The symbol of the Voiceless.”
My brother’s jaw clenched tight, and he kneeled before me with unnatural stillness as he stared at the mark. The air seemed to pulse.
My lips moved, and my hoarse voice came out. “You came.”
Wolf’s eyes met mine again. “Of course, I came.” His voice was low and rough.
“Roe?” I whispered.
“Roe?” he repeated, and a trickle of dread cut through the numbness.
“He’s out there. You have to find him.” My voice shook, rising higher.
“Okay,” he said immediately. “Okay, describe him to me.”
“Ten, but he looks younger. Black curly hair and brown skin. Skinny. He’s scared. He’s just a kid.”
“Okay,” Wolf’s eyes were sharp. “We’ll find him.”
Another whistle rang through the trees, and Wolf whistled back.
“The others will be here soon, and then we’ll start searchin’. When did you last see him?”
“I told him to run,” my hoarse voice grew more ragged. “I don’t know…I don’t know how long—” My words abruptly cut off as panic swelled.
“More than a day?” Wolf pushed.
“Yesterday morning. I think.” It felt much longer. “We rode half a day.”
“Any idea which direction you were goin’?”
“I don’t… I don’t know.” Why hadn’t I paid attention to which direction we were going? I knew better?—
“It’s alright, Emmy. We’ll find him,” Sable murmured from where he still sat behind me. His chest against my back was the only thing keeping me upright.
Wolf glanced up at him and then back at me. “We’ll find him,” Wolf repeated, taking one of my hands and squeezing it. “It’s okay. We’ll find him.”
“Wolf.”
All three of us looked up to see Kai and Scar. Their grim faces darkened even further as they scanned me.
“We found the Voiceless camp.”
“How many?” Wolf growled.
“Hard to tell. They’re all dead, but, uh, there’s no bodies,” Kai answered, his eyes darting to me for a moment.
I closed my eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve… never seen anythin’ like it.” Scar’s voice was low. “Just… bits and pieces of bodies and… other things.”
“How far?”
“About thirteen miles northeast.”
“We’ve got another missing person,” Wolf said, quickly relaying my description of Roe. “We need to retrace their route. We gotta get her back to the Vault, though.”
My eyes flew open. “No! No, I’m not going back without him. He’s just a kid.”
There was a brief silence as I held my brother’s conflicted gaze.
“Okay.” Wolf finally conceded. “We’ll stay together.”
“They had horses at the camp,” Kai said.
Their voices blurred together into noise as I stared at the trees. At some point, someone handed me a water bottle, and I drank some, moving on autopilot. Then Wolf’s hand gently touched my arm, getting my attention.
“Can you walk?” he asked.
I nodded, trying to convince myself I could. I got my feet under me, stood with Wolf’s help, and immediately pitched forward into darkness.