Hidden (Book 1) (9 page)

Awaken. Find. Hurry.

Tressa's
eyes snapped open. The world came aglow in a violet haze as
Nerak
sat on her shoulder. She reached out for Bastian, and was surprised to find he
was holding her hand, their fingers laced together. She slipped hers out before
shaking him lightly on the shoulder.

"Bastian,
wake up.
Nerak
found Connor."

He
sprang to his feet, as if he'd been ready for an attack, his hand on the hilt
of his sword. "Pack up. Let's get moving."

Nerak
bobbed her head in agreement.

Wiggling
out of her cloak, Tressa got all of her things together, shoved them in her
pack, and stood up. "Is he close?"

Nerak
bobbed her head again.

"Have
we been asleep long?" she asked the little owl.

Nerak's
head spun around, until
her eyes were upside down.

"I'm
not sure she understands that question," Bastian said, laughing.
"It's impossible to know without any sun. Are you sure you feel rested
enough to move on?"

Tressa
stretched her legs, jumping lightly on her toes. A small cramp stabbed her
calf, but she ignored it. "I'm fine. It's most important to find Connor.
The faster we go, the faster we're all reunited. Can you show us the way?"
she asked
Nerak
.

The
owl bobbed her head,
then
flew off Tressa's shoulder.
"Can you see her? I can't." She ran her hands through her hair.
"
Nerak
!"

A
familiar scratch gnawed at her shoulder, then the glow returned. "How will
we do this?" She wasn't sure if she was asking the owl or Bastian.

Feel. Follow. Find.

Nerak
poked her in the shoulder with
her left claw, waited a few seconds then poked again.

Tressa
turned to the left. "Is this what you're saying?"

Feel. Follow. Find.

So
she did. For a countless time, she followed every nudge of
Nerak’s
claw into her shoulder until she heard a light moaning ahead.

"Connor!"
Tressa shouted. He lay on the ground, covered in leaves and branches, but his
sandy hair stood out in the hazy glow of her magic. She ran to him, refusing to
be quiet, not caring that they were probably being hunted. All that mattered
was they'd found Connor thanks to
Nerak
.

She
slid down on the ground, landing in the muddy leaves next to him. Tressa
brushed his hair back from his forehead. Cool, which meant he wasn't ill and
didn't have the plague. His chest moved softly, but slowly, up and down in
measured breaths. "He's alive," she whispered over her shoulder to
Bastian.

He
sank down next to her, pushing leaves and sticks off of Connor. "Come on,
buddy. We have to get you out of here."

Tressa
grabbed Bastian's chin, forcing him to face her. "Where are we going to
take him? It's not like we have a safe place to hide."

"Your
owl's going to get us out of here, just like she led us to Connor." He
pointed at
Nerak
.

"Do
you know the way out?" Tressa asked her.

Nerak
bobbed her head.

Close. Death. End.

"She
says it's close," Tressa said, not looking Bastian in the eye. Even if
death awaited them, it was better than living in fear in the fog. Any human
enemy had to be better than the one she couldn't see out here in the forest.
She turned back to Connor. "He's not waking up. But he's alive. Can you
carry him?"

Bastian
nodded, scooping Connor up in his arms. His legs dangled in the air, and his
head cradled on Bastian's shoulder like a baby. The loamy scent of moss
lingered around him.

"Let's
go,"
Bastian
said, his voice hard. "Tell
your owl to get us out of here."

"Ready,
Nerak
?" Tressa asked her. The little owl quaked,
sending a light vibration down to Tressa's shoulder.

Death. War. Blood.

"Okay,
let's go." She ruffled
Nerak's
feathers to let
her know she cared, but they couldn't stop now. Staying in the fog wasn't an
option. The only way out was through.

Nerak
paused for a few moments,
then
squeezed Tressa's shoulder with her right talon.

"To
the right," Tressa told Bastian. He was already sweating with the exertion
of carrying his best friend. Bastian's muscles bulged, straining against
Connor's limp body.

"Who
knew he was so heavy?" Bastian asked, a slight smile on his face.
"I'll have to make sure he stays away from cakes for a while after he's
better."

Tressa
glanced at Bastian, knowing he was only trying to diffuse the situation. There
was too much at stake.
An unknown monster behind them.
An unknown world ahead of them.
Connor's safety and health
was their first priority.

They
advanced on a tangled copse of trees so dense Tressa couldn't make out anything
on the other side.
Nerak
squeezed her shoulder with
both talons, indicating they should stop.

Tressa
halted and Bastian slowed behind her. She held up one arm and whispered to
Nerak
, "Is the end of the fog on the other side?"

Nerak
bobbled her head and rolled
her eyes. The owl quaked, even the little feathers on the side of her head
vibrated in the air with the ferocity of a bumblebee's wings.

Death. Death. Death.

Bastian's
eyes sought out Tressa's. "Should I put him down? Carve a path through the
branches to get us out of this nightmare?"

Tressa
nodded. "Yeah, I'll take care of him."

Bastian
laid Connor on the grass next to Tressa. She knelt down and took his hand in
hers. "We're almost out of here," she whispered. "We'll find out
where the plague came from, get a cure, and go back and save Hazel and your boys.
I promise."

A
small groan escaped his lips and a word that sounded something like Hazel.
Tressa smoothed his hair and leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. Still
cool. Even though he hadn't shown any signs of the plague, she was cautious,
concerned the fever just hadn't spiked yet.

She
looked up. Bastian was partway through the trees, his sword gleaming as he
hacked away at the dead branches that sewed them into the mist. "Can you
see?" She called out to him.

Bastian
turned, nodded,
then
quickly went back to work, as if
possessed. He didn't falter, didn't stop to rest, just swung and stabbed until
a path formed in front of him. A ray of light burst through the trees. Tressa
threw an arm over her eyes.

She
stumbled to her feet and reached out a hand toward the yellow light streaming
through the hole Bastian had created. With both hands, she carefully removed
Nerak
from her shoulder, letting the little owl fly above
her. The purple haze disappeared, but the streaks of sunlight penetrated the
fog, slicing it to bits and pieces with each stroke of Bastian's sword. More
and more streaks ripped through the air, obliterating the prison that held
them.

"Connor,
we made it!" She dropped down to the ground next to him. His chest rose
and contracted slowly, still proving he was alive. But the catch each time he
began to inhale told her he didn't have much time left.

“Hazel
called me. In the fog…” Connor’s voice trailed off. His eyelids remained
closed. He lay as still as a leaf on a day with no wind.

"Bastian!"
She called out.

He
turned toward Tressa, raising his hand in the air and waving it back and forth.
Then he went back to work.

The
sunlight grew brighter. It crept over the dead trees and through the path
Bastian hacked free. He sheathed his sword and stalked back to Tressa and
Connor. Scooping Connor in his arms, Bastian and Tressa made their way to the
edge of the forest.

Freedom.

At
least she thought it was until she saw what waited for them on the other side.

Rows of
soldiers stood in front of Tressa.
Twelve in all black, the
rest in armor.
Their eyes glared from within narrowed lids. Noses flared
as they took the same measured breaths, their chests rising and falling in
unison.

The
woman in front took three steps forward. A ponytail swung from side to side,
the ends brushing against the ground. Braided, her hair was as thick as
Bastian’s leg, but far more dangerous. Sunlight bounced off of the spikes and
metal shards woven into her dark brown braid. Her lips curled at the side in a
smirk.

“We’ve
been waiting for you. Come with us.” She motioned with two fingers.

Tressa
didn’t want to follow the strange woman, but Connor needed a healer. She
glanced at Bastian. “Should we?”

He
didn’t take his eyes off of the braided woman. “Do we have a choice?”

“No,
you don’t.” The woman sashayed closer, her hips swaying.

She
was dizzyingly intoxicating. Tressa swallowed hard, resting her hand on
Bastian’s lower back to steady
herself
.

“You
don’t want to anger me. It would be a most unwise decision.” Her fingertip
trailed across Connor’s forehead. A frown replaced the smirk. “He does not have
long. If you don’t come with us, he will die.”

Bastian shifted Connor gently in his arms.
“Then
we’ll follow.”

Tressa
put her hand on his arm. “Are you sure?”

“What
other choice do we have?” he whispered.

She
glanced at the forest, their town lost again in the deep fog.
Nerak
had flown away with the breaking of the wall of
branches. Tressa didn’t know where else to turn.

“You’re
right. But as soon as Connor’s healed, we need to leave.”

“And
go where?” Bastian asked.

Tressa
bit her lip. He didn’t know and now wasn’t the time to tell him. Not with the
woman standing so close, eavesdropping on their every word. “Nowhere. I don’t
know.”

The
woman looked Tressa up and down. Tressa stood firm, tightening her core,
attempting to look more powerful than she felt. “Lead the way.”

The
woman pivoted, her braid flying out and nicking the hem of Tressa’s breeches. A
sliver of fabric fell off in a clean line, floating to the ground

“Stay
back a few paces if you don’t want to lose more than that.” She winked at
Bastian, leaving her eyelid closed a second longer than was necessary. “I’m
Stacia.” She swept an arm out to the side. “This is the battalion under my
command. My elite Black Guard, the most feared soldiers in the five kingdoms.”

With
a sharp snap of her fingers, the soldiers faced her. “We obey!”

Tressa
raised an eyebrow and nudged Bastian. He shot her a severe look,
then
focused again on Stacia. “If you can help us find a
healer for Connor, we will be grateful.”

Stacia
smiled, her teeth glinting in the bright sunlight. She reached out a finger,
running it along Bastian’s jaw. “I know just how you will repay me.”

Anger
welled in Tressa’s chest. She didn’t have a claim over Bastian. In fact, it was
still her intention to get him home to his wife and daughter. But watching
Stacia feed on him, even if it was only with her eyes, was too much.

Stacia
turned her back on them, motioning to her army. They stepped off in formation,
marching away from Tressa and Bastian. Stacia didn’t look back at them, only
marched beside her warriors.

Bastian
leaned over and whispered in Tressa’s ear. “We have to play along if we want to
save Connor.”

“How
far are you planning on taking it?”

“As
far as I have to. Connor’s life is all that matters now.”

She
forced herself to face reality. She’d lost Bastian years ago. There would be no
going back to what they once had. If he had to give in to another woman to save
Connor, then Tressa would have to deal with it the same way she’d coped with
Bastian’s marriage to
Vinya
.

With
a heavy heart, she followed Bastian. They’d come too far. They’d escaped the
fog that held them. There was nowhere left to go but forward.

Trees
towered above
them,
so tall the world seemed to spin
when she looked up at their heights. Dappled sunlight filtered down to them,
giving light to the path they walked.

The
base of a tree opened up, wider than five men and taller than two stacked
Bastians
. The army marched through uninterested in the
landscape. Tressa paused to marvel at the heartwood inside the bark-covered
tunnel. Darkness overtook her, but a light at the other end quickly reminded
Tressa she had nothing to fear.
At least not from the trees.

Emerging
on the other side of the hollow was like entering a new world. Buildings and
cottages built into the side of the giant trees cluttered the landscape. A tall
building, the tallest of them all, stood in the distance, reaching up into the
highest of the treetops. It was a castle. Tressa knew that from Granna’s
stories. Perhaps there was a king and a queen. Maybe they would offer help to
Tressa and Bastian.

Townspeople
bustled, going about their activities as if the
soldiers
marching in pairs with three strangers was
an everyday occurrence.

“Excuse
me.” Tressa touched the sleeve of a passing woman. “What is the name of this
town?”

The
woman’s eyebrows furrowed. “It’s the Blue.”

“The
Blue?” Tressa asked. “That’s the name?”

“Where
are you from?” The woman looked at Tressa’s filthy clothes and then glanced at
Connor, still knocked out, in Bastian’s arms. “Who are you?”

“Come
along!” The woman yelled from the front of the procession. “No talking!”

Tressa
dipped her head and followed the army into the world she’d never really
believed existed.