Eden-South (4 page)

Aiden grabbed his bag and walked off to the
front office, covered in food and pulsing with adrenaline. Just as
he was leaving, he watched as Melissa ran over to Bentley to make
sure he was okay. His heart fell. He had just punched a guy out for
this girl, and already she was running back to him. That was so his
life.

“Suspended!” his mother yelled as they drove
away from the school. “What is going on with you, Aiden? You just
told me last night that nothing was wrong at school, and now I find
out that you got in a fight!”

He sunk lower into his seat, wondering when
his mother would run out of steam.

“Talk to me!”

“What do you want me to say?”

“Why don’t you begin with telling me why the
hell you’re covered with food,” she said, taking a sharp turn.

This was not the conversation he wanted to
have with his mother. Taking off his glasses, he rubbed his eyes to
try to relieve the headache that was now throbbing in his head.
That always happened when he had an adrenalin rush and then came
crashing down from it.

“Are you going to tell me what happened, or
not?”

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” he
replied honestly.

She looked over at him with concern now
instead of anger. “Come on, Aiden. I’m your mother. You should be
able to tell me everything.” He wondered if parents actually
believed that.

Wanting the conversation to end, he said,
“Maybe later, okay? Right now, I just want to sit here quietly.”
She accepted his lie, and they didn’t talk again for the rest of
the ride. He was suspended for three days. That was three days
stuck in the house with Eddie and their mom. She wouldn’t let it
drop completely, he knew that, but at least he had avoided it for
the time being. All he had to do now was figure out what he was
going to do at home for three days—besides go crazy.

CHAPTER TWO

The night sky was pitch black—even the moons
were hidden behind clouds. The air smelled like spring showers. She
hoped it would hold off until she reached her destination. The city
gates were locked at this time, but she had found the secret exit
on the south side when she was only eight. At seventeen, she was
well versed in all the secrets the Capital City had to offer.
Keeping low to the ground, so the guards along the wall didn’t see
her—not that they could in this lighting—Elisa kept her bow in hand
in case any of the creatures that roamed these parts came to find
her. A branch broke in the silence, causing her to crouch lower to
the ground, searching the landscape for an assailant. Another crack
behind her made her turn around, bow and arrow ready.

“Mercy!” she heard a voice say. Two figures
walked up, the closer one with his hands held up in the air. “Don’t
shoot, please!” The tone of his voice was slightly mocking, which
annoyed her even more than their mere presence.

“Wolf,” she breathed in frustration. “What
the hell are you doing here?”

“I should ask you the same.” He smiled, his
white teeth a bright contrast to the dark around them. As he came
closer, she could see him more clearly. Even in the cold Wolf wore
only his signature riding pants and no shirt. His bronze skin and
fit upper body looked as comfortable in this weather as they would
in the heat of the middle of summer. His long brown hair hung down
to his shoulders, the thin leather headband holding it in place.
She couldn’t see the pale green of his eyes, but she could feel
their heat on her face.

Wolf was the latest from the Riders sent
over by the Chief in the west. Every year they would send them
their best Rider to join the High King’s army. Wolf was a natural
athlete, as comfortable on his horse as he was on his own two feet.
Elisa’s father had already informed her of their planned marriage,
which was normal for the daughter of the Captain. She was their
best archer, so she was obligated to take on a worthy husband such
as him. Although he seemed to take to her somewhat in the
beginning—as much as he did with most of the girls in the Capital,
she thought—she always found herself mildly irritated with him and
he with her, thus making their encounters few and far between. She
was only seventeen that year, and most women were not duty-bound to
marry until their nineteenth birthday. That gave her two years to
either convince Wolf to take another woman or convince her father
to let her out of their betrothal.

“How did you get out of the city?” she
asked.

“The same way you did,” he replied casually.
She hated being followed.

“Good evening, Elisa,” she heard the second
voice. It was Logan, Wolf’s shadow. The two were inseparable, so
she wasn’t surprised to see him there. He wasn’t nearly as tall and
athletic as Wolf—or as good-looking, she admitted—but there was
something pleasant about Logan. He wore his black hair tied back
and had thick, dark eyebrows that were always lowered over his pale
grey eyes.

Nodding her head in acknowledgement, she
turned back to face Wolf. “You need to go back,” she instructed
him.

“All right, I will,” he said, putting his
hands lazily in his pockets. “Just as soon as you tell me where
you’re going.”

“What makes you think you have a right to
know where I’m going?” she spat, feeling her anger starting to
rise. She still hadn’t taken the arrow out of the bow and tossed
around the idea of shooting him in the shoulder just to give her
some distance. It was an impossible idea, of course. She would
probably be whipped if she purposely shot a King’s man.

He laughed at her hostility. “Elisa, stop
being so defensive. I just want to make sure you’re not doing
anything too dangerous all on your own.” This pissed her off even
more. She didn’t need anyone with her to be safe; she was just as
good a warrior as any of the boys were. “Maybe Logan and I could
help you with your little expedition.”

“I don’t need your help,” she replied hotly.
“I’m on a mission from the High Priest, and I’m sworn to
secrecy.”

She watched as the two boys looked at each
other in surprise. “The High Priest?” Wolf asked, not looking at
her, but looking still at Logan. “Must be important—what do you
think, Logan?”

“I think it’s pretty risky of him to send
her out during the night, with all the sightings of beasts running
through these woods,” Logan replied in his deep monotone voice.

“I agree.” He nodded his head. “I heard
there were even some of those tall ones lurking about, so why risk
her?”
He nodded in Elisa’s direction.

Feeling her anger peak, she hit Wolf in the
back, making him turn around as quick as lightning, grabbing her
hand in mid-air as it approached him a second time. Both looked at
each other in fury. “Everyone knows those taller beasts don’t hunt
at night; their eyes aren’t good enough in this lighting. As you
can see, both moons are hidden. We picked this night carefully. As
for the other beasts, I can handle the oversized hogs by myself
with my eyes closed. They also don’t see well in this light,
whereas I can see perfectly, and shoot them just as well as if it
were the middle of the day.” She was breathing hard, cursing
herself inwardly for letting them get under her skin the way they
always did. Being a girl always made the need to prove herself that
much more important. Most people wrote her off as being weaker than
the rest of the warriors, but she wasn’t: she was just as deadly as
they were, even if she was tiny.

“Fine,” he finally said, releasing her hand.
“Good luck then.” She brushed away a lock of her hair, pinning it
behind her ear. She also wore a headband like Wolf’s, finding it
kept her long golden hair out of her eyes when she was targeting an
animal. Both boys turned around and began walking back toward the
city walls. She watched their retreating figures for a while,
ensuring that they wouldn’t turn around again and follow her. Of
course, she didn’t trust them as far as she could throw them, so
when she finally did continue toward the forest, she would
occasionally stop to make sure they hadn’t decided to pester her
further.

She could hear an owl not far away, and the
distant sound of a river rushing by. She knew she was close. The
witch lived in a hut not far beyond that river; it wouldn’t be long
now. Staying low to the ground, Elisa kept her senses on alert for
any unwelcome guests. The forest used to be free of any real
danger, but ever since the passing of the High King ten years ago,
everything had changed. The new High King, King Jameson, was well
loved and respected. The news of his crowning had shocked all of
Eden, the majority of people having thought the younger prince
would take over. What surprised them more was the betrayal of that
same brother.

After the bells of passing rang through the
Capital, everyone began mourning the loss of the most beloved King
in centuries. Jameson had come out on the people’s balcony and
announced his father’s passing and his rise to High King. He then
announced the banishment of the younger Prince Callum, for reason
of treason to the crown. The younger prince had ridden off that
same night with none other than Brutus the Red from the north. Some
said there had been a third rider, but at the time no one knew who.
Now it was well known that it had been the feared sorcerer from the
east. The three lived in the mountains, sending down their terror
little by little. It was a constant threat to the High King and
everyone else who lived in Eden. Callum had sworn revenge on his
brother and on all those who followed him. Now their lands were
filled with the beasts and monsters that they created up in their
mountains. Creatures so terrifying, they could be explained only by
the sorcerer’s magic.

Some said the King and his close advisers
suspected that Callum had brought the others here that night on
purpose, under the belief that he would have been crowned. There
was a lot of speculation on what would have happened had Callum
been crowned, but nothing could be confirmed. His alliance with
them now was a problem, and the King was building his army stronger
than ever to fight whatever his little brother brought their
way.

What many didn’t know, although Elisa did
due to her father’s close friendship with the King, was that
Jameson believed their father’s death was murder. His health had
been strong before that night, and the coincidence that those two
men had been in the Capital on the same night the High King
happened to fall deathly ill was something of a concern. The High
Priest and Jameson wondered if poison had been involved, but no
medical examiners were allowed to touch the body of a High King
after his passing, so no one would ever know. It was this mystery
that truly fuelled the new King’s hatred toward his brother and his
allies and would help him to eventually defeat them. Hopefully.

The problem remained, however, that the
north’s army was just too big. There already had been raids on
small villages that sat close to the mountains, and many had
already died. Not only were their men significantly more cruel and
violent in their attacks, but the beasts that had been conjured up
by the evil sorcerer Aziz were something the King’s men couldn’t
overcome. Their weapons were not strong enough to penetrate some of
their skins. What they needed was a wild card of their own, and
that was exactly what Elisa was out there to do tonight.

Early in the afternoon she had been
practicing her targets by herself, when her father appeared
suddenly.

“Elisa, the High Priest has asked for your
attendance,” he said in a thoughtful voice.

She looked over in surprise, not
understanding the look on his face. “Is there something wrong?” she
asked.

He shook his head slowly, and told her to
pack up her things and go. The High Priest was usually in his
chambers in the domed sanctuary at the far north side of the city.
The Capital was laid out like a maze, making it harder for
intruders to manoeuvre through the streets, if they were ever
attacked. In the direct middle of the city was the palace, which
was surrounded by an inner wall, similar to the outer wall that
surrounded the whole city. The central square sat in front of the
palace, where most of the city’s events took place. There they
would hold the spring festival, which was scheduled for the next
full moon. Elisa was admittedly excited about the festival, finding
pleasure in the madness that took place on nights like that.
Everyone let loose, and the constant fear of a war that lingered in
everyone’s mind would for one night be forgotten.

Off the main square was an array of streets
that intertwined into a confusion of twists and turns. Elisa had
lived there her whole life, however, so she had never gotten lost.
Behind the palace sat the city’s sanctuary. It was a tall white
building, with a large dome that filled the sky. Every other
building in the city was made of a grey stone, the roofs all brown,
but the sanctuary was white, the dome a bright blue in the sky. In
her opinion, it was even nicer than the palace itself.

One of the younger priests waited by the
door, a small dagger in his hand for extracting the blood
sacrifice. This was one of the reasons why Elisa didn’t pay too
many visits to this place. Not that she wasn’t a spiritual
person—she put her trust in both the God and his Goddess—but being
cut every time one wanted to enter made her feel queasy. She held
out her arm, and the priest made a small cut on the back, and held
it above the bowl until a drop fell to mix with the others that
rested in there. She didn’t turn away, although she wanted to. She
couldn’t show her weakness in front of the small man. Everyone in
the city knew her, and knew who her father was. She was well known
to be a worthy archer, even at the young age of seventeen.
Unfortunately, she was also known to the younger men as a
beautiful, sought-after mate, so most men were kind to her. The
arrival of Wolf not too long ago had put some of them at odds, but
most seemed to pursue her anyway.