Chapter Eleven

When I finally get to Silver Raven's room in the caves, Sharp Claw is there too, Looking bewildered at something Silver Raven said. "Are you crazy? Do you know what that will do to the Fate Threads?" Sharp Claw asks, watching Silver Raven pack a bag of some sort. 

"I am not crazy. I've been paying close attention to the Threads, and they lead me to that town. I have to go, you can't see how bright or straight they are, but I do. I don't have a choice in this; I have to go"

I watch as she straps teh bag to her back, then proceeds to strap daggers all over, to strategic places like thighs, arms, and her lower back. She tugs on a pair of worn walking boots, stands up, then looks around the room again.

"I'm ready now. As I've said, I'll be back in roughly three to four weeks." Silver Raven says, starting towards the doorway of her room.

"Have you got permission from Gold Heron? Or are you just acting impulsively again?" Sharp Claw asks, making me frown. Why would she need permission to leave, if she's second in command? And she's acted impulsive before?

"I've had a letter delivered to her before you arrived. I had felt the need to go, and you gave me my destination. She will understand the urgency of the matter. Now, off I go, before it's too late. Fill my vote on the Silver Council, will ya'" She blows out the lanterns before tossing back the tarp to leave. I follow, and note the masked guards beside her doorway and up and down the passage.

Silver Raven stroll confidently down the passages, nodding to and giving short greetings to the other masked rebels that roam the halls. She nears the cave systems entrance. It's guarded by someone inside and out. Effectively keeping some people out, but also keeping certain people in. The guard is a guy wearing a red mask in the shape of a bear.

Silver Raven nods to the guard confidently, and the guard asks "Business for leaving?" She stops and looks at him.

"Leaving for a recruitment of someone that will be very valuable to the rebels. I have the leader's permission. I will need a disguise bag though, with everything." She says, her head tilted high in authority. He studies her for a moment more, but then nods. He grabs at shelves hidden behind a black oiled tarp. The shelves themselves hold bags upon bags. They're color coded, all the colors of hair; red, black, brown, blond. Some are larger than the others, and it's from the larger group that he looks at.

"Color preference?" He asks, looking over his shoulder as he squats down.

"I'm gonna try the blond look. Straw blond, if you have it." She says, slinging her bag to the floor in front of her. He hands her a bag colored the same color as straw blond hair. She puts it deep within her bag, then hauls it onto her back, securing it tightly, before pushing back the dark green oiled tarp to step out into the bright sunlight.

I'm forced to follow her as she travels down to the forest floor. She checks a compass before starting the trek across the forest. I'm beginning to think that I'm here to just be bored, about twenty minutes after leaving, when she starts talking.

"Genevieve, if you're here, sorry for the wait. I had to make sure I was out of the hearing range of anybody. But if you aren't here, I'm just talking to myself and am going crazy."She says, making her way through untrodden brush, carving her own path. I touch the blessing hanging around my neck, and I shimmer into existence beside her as I will it to happen.

"Good, you are here. You know that I don't want you coming here until I'm the leader, but not why. You probably noticed the guards at the entrance, my room, the halls. They make sure that no one leaves without permission, does anything strange, or acts funny. They all report to Gold Heron. We are almost prisoners in itself. She wants control of everything because she's power hungry, and most of the rebels are okay giving it to her. I'm not one of them, and she knows it. It's why she keeps such a close eye on me, but I'm also her second in command, and she can't just de-rank me because I won't give her all of my loyalty or power. We're "friends", but she knows that I won't give her everything she wants. She's held the position of Golden leader for a good five years. It's either given to someone in their last breath, taken by challenge, or inherited by his or her oldest kid.

"She was six when she inherited it, and will have to be challenged or die to get the throne taken away. I'm not strong enough to do it, or I would have by now. But you are strong enough to challenge her, in choice and physical strength. Trust me on this. Now, go, before you overtax yourself. Even us free drifters can do that on long drifts." She waves her hand, in dismissal or magic, not sure which one, but I go invisible and float back to my own body in Dakota's arms.

When I open my eyes, we are alone, and it's darker. We trot down cobbled streets. Dakota says "We arrived an hour ago, but you were either dead or Soul-Drifting, so I took up town patrol for a little bit instead of trying to move you to your cot at the Saloon, where we'll be staying."

I yawn and look up at the sky that's almost completely dark and full of stars. "So, is the team leaving tomorrow nice?" I ask, wondering why Dakota's arms are still wrapped so tightly around me.

"They are nice, well, some of them are at least. This was their first mission, and they are the same age as us. Not much else to tell. It's a team with only assassins." He says, steering the horse around to a hitching post. "Let's go meet them all." He relinquishes his arms around me and dismounts. Then he helps me off Black Beauty.

"Lead the way," I say, gesturing to go ahead. He takes my hand and pulls me along through a pair of swinging doors and right into pure chaos. 

I guess it's the normal image of a Saloon; Drinkers, card playing, but one thing isn't very normal. A group of four teenagers are doing a jig on the bar table. The guy on the end with black hair looks at me before accidently smacking some dude nursing a giant mug of something foamy. That dude hits the jig guy in the back of the head with his mug, and effectively spilling his drink on the other four guys dancing, and some others guys just sitting at the bar. That leads to more and more fighting, and soon enough, there's a full bar brawl, only ten seconds after we open the door. 

I notice Maddie, John, and Luna huddled against the far wall. Maddie and John look wary, but Luna looks like she wants to join in. She even takes a step forward, but John holds her back on one side, and Maddie on the other. I smirk at that, then consider trying to stop it, but one glance at Dakota erases the smirk and the thought. His face is as pale as moonlight, his lips drawn tight, eyes pinched closed, and a slight sheen of sweat covers his skin. I grab his hand, squeezing tightly. He jumps, then grips my hand like it's a lifeline. I drag him back outside, and we sit on the curb, enjoying the cool breeze as he calms down. Once his grip loosens and his breathing slows down, I ask him the question that pounds through my mind.

"So, what happened in there?" I ask, not bothering to beat around the bush. He takes a few moments of deep breathing before trying to answer, his voice rough and hoarse.

"So, you know that my dad had an affair and that he took me while sending the twins off with their mother. Well, when he took me to the complete other side of the city, he didn't have much money. So, he gambled at bars, and started bar fights to earn money. Kinda like the one in there." He gestures over his shoulder at the Saloon without looking.

"You could call it a panic attack of sorts. It's just…He, my dad, always told me that I would end up like him, and that…Just…reminded me of…Way too…Much." His voice cracks, and tears streak down his face. He pulls his hand away from mine to wipe them off, but they don't stop. I hug him as best as I can, since we're sitting side by side, and he sobs into my shoulder, letting me see the part of him I didn't realize was there; just a broken boy, trying to prove himself to the world that he isn't like his dad. His hands grip the back of my shirt like it's the only thing holding him together. A few tears are brought to my eyes as I hear the despair and hopelessness in his heart wrenching sobs.

I don't know how long we stay there, hugging and crying into each other's shoulders, but eventually he runs out of tears and just shakes and shudders, like he won't ever be able to warm up again. That's somehow even worse than the tears and gut wrenching sobs. It's what really tears at my heart; the fear that he might turn out just like the person you hate the most; the terror that now that the truths out in the open, that everyone will look at him like something on the bottom of their shoes.

I rub his back until even those shudders fade into the past. Then I just breathe in his scent, the musky woods scent, with just a little cinnamon, until the doors open again. We part, rubbing our eyes. A figure stands there, silhouetted in the light from the Saloon.

"So, are you two the rest of the new replacement team?" He asks, his voice gruffy.

"I clear my throat and answer. "Yeah…I'm Gene, and this is Dakota." I help Dakota up, then we follow the guy into the Saloon.

"Well, I'm Lewis, leader of the Murcat Warriors. Your team is replacing ours. So, this towns custom for new groups is to see how they respond to a bar fight, to see if they join in, stand there, jaw slack, or break it up. Never had a guy start bawling like the wolves before, though; Jake said so."

Inside, I can clearly see Lewis. Despite his gruff voice, he's young, seventeen or eighteen. He's got dirty blond hair, tan skin, and a scar on the left side of his face, running from temple to chin. His most noticeable feature though, is his eyes. One is dark brown, the other is a pale blue, like ice.

"Jake's the owner, but I'll show you where y'all are staying, since he's busy picking up. Let's see…My advice for this town is simple: Just ride or walk around and make your presence known. This is a nice, sleepy town. Not much goes on here, but the people need you to earn their trust. Also, just think of yourselves as temporary sheriffs. If a cow needs help birthing, you're called, and if a robber needs to be caught, you're called too."

"He explains this as he makes his way through the trashed Saloon to a hallway. "For tonight, you stay in the Temporary Fate Chosen Boarding room. Then, tomorrow, after we leave, you can move into the guard house. That's where the Fate Chosen stay whenever we guard a town, or just simply a place to stay the night. Seek them out in every town you pass through, it helps to know the local news.

"Like, the King Bandits were spotted a few hundred miles west of here. Just a warning, though I wouldn't expect them to come around to this town. So, here are y'alls quarters, and I bid you two a good night." He leaves us at a wooden door, just marked with "Temp. F.C. Housing."

I shrug and push open the door. There are rows of bunks with lockers against a wall. There are two doors, both marked with a sign. One is the bathroom, the other says "Captain/Leader's Room." I frown and push it open. Inside are two double beds, on wooden platforms, a desk with a wooden chair, and more metal lockers. Nothing too fancy. The bedding might be a bit cleaner than the bedding on the twin bunk beds for the rest of the team. Also, there's another bathroom in here, just for the leaders. Being team leader might not be so bad after all.

When we, Dakota and I, go back to the main part of the Saloon, it's all picked up and our team is chatting away with the locals and Lewis's team. Everybody stops chatting, though, when we walk in. I can feel their eyes on us, judging and questioning. I clear my throat, preparing for a speech. I take a breath, then begin.

"Hello, people of Kingston, and fellow Fate Chosen. I am Genevieve Maluna Potter, Fate Chosen for Assassin and Explorer Hood. I'm the leader of my group, The Reb Renegades. I am sorry that I led one of my team members away, instead of trying to stop the brawl. He was…Having a panic attack, due to something from his past. I, as the team leader, needed to make sure that everyone in my team is healthy, physically and mentally, so that there isn't an instance where that causes one of my team mates their life. That is all, thank you."

All through the speech, their jaws were open and loose, amazed at what i did. As I sit down at the bar, I feel like I earned their trust better than if i had stopped the brawl or just walked the streets. I glance around, and a few of the older people look amazed and impressed, the younger look at me with grudging respect. I order water and a sandwich, then settle in to listen to the conversation around me.

"...see that aura around her as she spoke?"

"...actually apologized and was honest…that's a first…"

"...shouldn't have talked about a mental illness in front of the kid…"

"...she was super awesome! How did she…"

I let the voices mingle together into a gentle buzz, as background sound, but I smile at the little kids over estimation of me. I glance at Dakota, to check to see how he's doing, and dealing with everything. His face is flushed, most likely due to the half empty mug of ale in his hand, his lips back to pink, and a smile in place as he talks to a pretty black-haired girl next to him. No, not really talking. More like flirting. Maybe he can deal with his emotions in his bed, with a pretty woman.

My heart twists, thinking of him with the woman. I frown, wondering why, Just because I helped my teammate and friend through something, doesn't make me have a claim over him. He can bed anyone he likes, for all I care. The more the merrier. He can bed every single female in this town, the men too, if he flows that way, and even the married ones, if he wants. It's his business, not mine.

I push my sandwich away, only half eaten, and ask the bar keep, "How much?" My appetite is gone now, maybe even for good.

"Well, nothing, for the pretty lady leader. On the house. I'm Jake, the owner. All the folks know me around here, since I'm the only one with decent food. So, my sandwich not to your liking?" He asks. He has brown hair and warm green eyes. He gives me a small smile.

"Ah, no, it's just…" I glance at Dakota and the girl, closer and still flirting, " I've lost my appetite, all of the sudden, that's all. It was a good sandwich." Jake sighs dramatically.

"Young love, feels amazing at the time, and hurts the worst when it's over."

"I doubt that's love. More like just someone to spend the night with." I say, crinkling my nose in disgust.

"Oh, I wasn't talking about her, just Dakota and you. It's obvious in the boy's eyes that he's head-over-heels for you. You may just think of him as a good friend and a group mate, but he obviously has other plans." Jake says, studying Dakota, then me. Then he sighs in relief.

"Yes, you two will end up together, then be torn apart, then meet again in different lives for both of you." He says, his voice still like a sigh of relief.

"You can't possibly know all that." I say, incredulous. He taps his temple.

"I've been gifted with the sight by the High Priests when I was sixteen. I know these things. Yes, they are never wrong." He says, polishing a glass tumbler. "I also suggest, not from sight, but from personal experience, that you'd better figure out if you love him or not. Also, you should turn in for tonight, doctor's orders, to keep your mental health in peak condition." He grins as I stand up and stalk off to the Fate Chosen room. Which I'm surprised to not find empty.

"I need to talk to you," Maddie says, sitting on a bottom bunk by the door. "But also, can anything I tell you just stay with you?"

"Think of me like a…Priest or Lawyer. Anything you say will stay with me, unless you tell me otherwise, or it pertains to the team, which then i won't name names." I say, leading her into the leaders room. I pull the wooden chair over to the bed she sat on and sit down to wait for her to begin.

"So, when my mom was pregnant with Luna and me, she hid it until she gave birth. Then dad went and took Dakota and sent us away to the opposite side of the city. I grew up without a dad. Mom was always out, leaving us with our neighbor Mrs. Bates. Mom tried her best to raise us, but when we were eight, she died and, well, orphans are all usually sent away to the Fate Chosen Orphanages. Well, I ran away with Luna until we were eleven, when we were caught and sent off. But…in those three years, I learned not to trust anybody, that I was all alone. I tried searching for dad, but he was nowhere to be found.

"So, I let ourselves be caught, so that Luna could have a semi-normal life. And myself…Well, I chose anything but the norm. Did you know that only five percent of all Fate Chosen are Assassin or Explorer hood? Yeah, I studied as hard as I could to become one of those, while also dating girls from my year. I dyed my hair, cut it short, wore guy clothes instead of dresses. Anything that would make me not normal."

When she was finally and fully silent, I asked "So…You're pregnant?" I asked it jokingly, but she froze, her eyes wide open. Guilty looking.

"It was only five months ago. I just…Needed to blow off some steam, and a guy from my class was willing enough. I would've found a girl, which was much safer, but…My type is kinda rare in the Orphanages. I take one chance and I end up like this…" She points to her abdomen.

"Just figured that you might want to know, since it'll start to show soon enough." She says, staring at her hands in her lap.

"Well, we can do one of three things. One: You leave the team permanently. Two: we keep you around until you can't do everything and are showing way too much. Or three: we keep it a secret until you give birth, wearing baggier clothes and what not, then staying with a friend of mine until you're ready to go again."I say, my friend from the woods in mind.

"I think I'll try three. I really like this team. I don't want to leave." She says, her voice full of emotion. 

"Okay, but just remember: If you need to, we can send you to my friend earlier." I say, my heart soaring a little bit that she trusted me enough to tell me this all. She nods, her eyes a little watery.

"Anything else you want to share right now?" I ask. She opens her mouth, hesitates, then shakes her head. "Okay, you know you can come to me for anything. Get some rest. You and I both need it tomorrow. Good night, Maddie." I say as she stands up.

"'Night, Gene." She says, giving me a smile and a wave and she leaves, closing the door behind her. Once closed, I slump down into the chair and rest my head on my hands, my mind on turbo drive.