Scars of the Earth

She stood frozen with fear, directly between her friends and her pursuers. The room was still, neither side making a move. Amanda looked at the sea of grey-cloaked Healers. She spotted Frey and his larger-than-life sidekick Carter standing among them, looking pleased. Hate radiated from him. If anyone would make the first move, it would be him. They didn’t know what she had in her hands. They couldn’t know that her escape was in reach. She looked back at Cole. He nodded his head toward the jacket. She tried to slip her hand into the pocket without appearing suspicious.

“Amanda, we understand how hard this must be.” The only man not in grey spoke quickly. “But this is the best path for you. If that weren’t true, the Ancients wouldn’t have made it so.” His soft gentle voice was full of concern for her well-being, and she knew it wasn’t just for show.

He really thought capturing her would be doing her a favor. Her hand inched closer to the pocket. She needed to distract them, so she spoke. “The Ancients are not omnipotent. They make mistakes just like we do, and this is a mistake. If they just give me time, I know I can fight off this poison. You don’t have to do this. See for yourselves,” she said.

Hoping her skin had improved, she rolled back the light fabric of the sleeve. To her relief, the blackness that traced her veins had faded, if not just slightly. It was enough to see that the Ancients were wrong.

As her pursuers stood unbelieving, she managed to slide her hand into the pocket undetected. Her fingers were so close to the portal that she felt the heat of it warming her hand. Just as she was about to touch it, Frey began to speak to his comrades heatedly.

“We have our orders, we are to capture them.”

She let out a breath. Them? Now Madgie and Cole were in this with her she realized, the idea turning her stomach. Amanda looked back at Cole, his eyes pleading her to go, but she couldn’t. Not without them.

Frey was still rallying his ranks of followers with Carter towering behind him in an intimidating show of support. “Will you be swayed by her when we have the word of the Ancients? She’s not to be trusted.” He thrust his hand in her direction.

She glanced back at Cole and lightly shook her head. His eyes grew wide in understanding. She wouldn’t leave without him. Her would-be captors had shrugged off any uncertainty, their bloodthirsty eyes trained on her. Cole threw up a protective wall just as the mob began launching an attack. She turned and sprinted toward Cole and Madgie. His wall didn’t last long against so many attacks, and she felt a ball of energy whiz by her ear. She had never seen anything like it in all of her lessons and in an instant realized why. In its wake was a murky cloud of hate and pain.

It was dark magic. They were trying to kill them.

Amanda looked back and saw the scowl on Frey’s pale face. She almost ran into Cole, who scooped her under his arm and started them toward Madgie while blocking spells as fast as they were coming at them. Amanda tried to help, but she couldn’t throw up a shield, she was too weak. There was smoke filling the air, and she saw a number of fires quickly devouring the feast of paper that was scattered about the room. She sidestepped an energy ball, unable to block it, realizing she had less energy than she’d thought and just how vulnerable she was.

She hated herself for not being able to help Cole block the tirade of attacks flying at them. A wall of thick smoke had formed, and she lost sight of Madgie. She searched desperately, squinting into the grey-black haze.

“Cole I can’t find Madgie! Where is she?” she yelled.

“Don’t worry,” he said quickly.

Amanda realized she was using the wrong senses and began searching for Madgie’s well-known spiritual signature. The kindhearted one in the group was calling out over the sound of the fight.

“Stop the attack! Stop the attack! The Ancients care about you; they want the best for you. Amanda, if you have anything good left in you, please come with us. We’ll make sure you’re saved,” he begged.

She could feel what a good man he was, and she wished he could understand. “I don’t need them to save me. I can save myself,” she shouted.

Amanda felt Madgie’s presence upon them but still she couldn’t see the tall thin woman.

“S-B! Get out of here. Go, now!” Madgie’s voice commanded.

Amanda looked down and saw a figure crumpled on the floor and let out a cry. “Madgie!” She reached down to her friend. Cole was still with her, holding her tight.

“Amanda, make sure you have a good hold on her and grab the portal,” he said quietly.

She didn’t make a move to grab it, too shocked at the appearance of the classroom. It no longer held any resemblance to those she’d grown and studied in, it looked like a war zone. Flames hungrily licking their way across every surface, burning as much as the visceral hatred being directed at her.

“Now!” he urged.

Amanda slipped her hand around the warm speck of energy. Her heart flew to the back of her chest, and the hooded figures around them froze in place. Her fluttering heart ceased to beat when she saw the shimmering ball of energy that was inches from Cole’s sculpted face. He could have died. The thought of never again seeing his bright eyes shining down at her tore a hole in her chest. She never knew she needed to see his smile every day to be happy. Panic took her as she worried that they should have been taken somewhere by now. Then, there was an incredible pressure on her chest, and the air came rushing out of her lungs. As her feet flew off the floor, she caught a glimpse of a meaty hand around Madgie’s ankle.

“No!” Amanda yelled as her hand led the way into the space between here and there.

* * *

Smoke swirled in mocking circles where the prisoners and Carter had been.

“They’re gone?” Frey asked, unbelieving. The Ancients will be furious, he thought, letting out a psychotic shriek that rattled the Guard members around him. “How can they have gotten past all of us?” He turned to face the men he was addressing.

Out of all of the Healers who could have been causing this trouble, it had to be her!

Seeing her stunned face just before she’d been swept away took him back to a cold night two years ago… when she’d come back to the Hovel…

He wasn’t as high ranking then and still objectified to boring perimeter guard around the outside of the Hovel. He hated it, not just because it was boring, but also because Chicago was bitter cold in the winter. It wasn’t snowing. It felt too cold to snow. The air was still, and suspended in it were small bits of frost catching the streetlights and shining like glitter. He exhaled and watched as his cloud of breath stirred the shimmering ice in the air into a frenzy. Just as he was readying to turn, something or more accurately someone caught his eye. A small dark figure was walking toward the Hovel with weak but determined steps. He sensed that whoever approached was a Healer, not the regular human drifter he usually spotted on duty. The Hovel was located in a mostly industrial part of town and looked like nothing more than a well-kept factory from the outside. It was way past lock down, so whoever this was had broken the rules. Which allowed him to have some enjoyment at this tardy person’s expense. After all, it was his job to enforce the rules.

As the shivering person continued to approach, he realized it was a female Healer and a young one too. This was going to be fun. When the girl was twenty feet away, he called out to her in his most authoritative voice. “Halt!”

She turned her head up toward the noise. He gasped when he recognized her face. It was Amanda Cates, the girl who had caused so much trouble for the Ancients, the deserter who many Healers, including people close to him, were secretly obsessed with. She’d made a public choice to leave, and her choosing something other than what they’d told her stuck in their minds. Even though most were good at hiding it from everyone, he saw through their masks.

She stood as still as she could manage through the involuntary shivers that rocked her body. Her ragged breaths hung in clouds above her before disappearing into nothing. She was much skinnier than he remembered, but she was still remarkably beautiful. Her large blue eyes were as bright as his mind’s memory of her, though somehow filled with much more sadness. She wasn’t dressed for the weather at all, making him think her return was either a spur of the moment decision or one made out of desperation.

“It’s you.” he snapped. Maybe I should show her just how much she was missed, Frey mused.

Her eyes looked tired, which was good. He didn’t want her to put up too much of a fight and