The Named (16 page)

With these words my whole body jerks as if struck by a bolt of lightning. For a moment I feel as if I’m going to pass out. Lorian’s head bows slightly. ‘Ethan Roberts, it is the unanimous decision of this Tribunal that you shall not be stripped of your newly appointed Trainer status.’

Regaining my balance, I feel a flush of relief sweep through me. These words give me hope that all is not lost.

‘Trainer is one of the most important positions of the Guard. Not all members are capable of carrying out this responsibility, to nurture the growth of our future armies.’

Yes! This is good news. Too good, it seems, as suddenly Lorian’s voice takes on a serious edge. ‘But the power of flight is something else entirely, and it is therefore with reluctance that this Tribunal must rule that you will
not
be issued your wings now nor on your next birthday.’

I can’t stop myself from asking, ‘Then when should I expect them?’

The immortal looks straight at me with eyes that make me want to run. I try hard to hold this powerful stare. My entire body trembles with the effort. Lorian says carefully, so that I hear and understand every word, ‘The decision to withhold your wings, Ethan, is indefinite.’

It is the worst judgement ever.

Chapter Twenty-five

Isabel

From the moment the Tribunal passed down its judgement, Ethan vowed to win back their belief in him. For the last week he’s been driven in preparing me for my first real mission, even though just where and when that will be, Arkarian refuses to give us one clue. So every day we train in our favourite grounds, a small clearing on the far side of the lake, surrounded by mountainous woodland and rising cliffs. There’s enough privacy, especially now that winter is fast approaching and snow has fallen on higher ground.

I’ve started making good progress with the sword, and Ethan works diligently at enhancing my ability to draw out the gifts bestowed on me in initiation. The only one that has revealed itself so far is the ability to see clearly in any light, courtesy of Arabella from the House of Sky and Water. Reading by the moon, while sitting in my own bedroom in the evening, is a thrilling experience. But the other psychic power I’m supposed to have from birth still eludes us, and this drives Ethan crazy with frustration. At least my healing skills are improving, though too slowly for my own
liking. It’s the one and, so far, only power I have, so I would like it to be honed and ready, should it be needed.

‘Here!’ Ethan calls, dodging the tip of my blunted dagger again. ‘Faster, Isabel! Not all your assailants will wait until
you
decide from which direction they’re going to come at you.’

‘You’re so funny, Ethan. How about this?’ While appearing as if I intend to strike high, I fake a downward thrust, ending up with the dagger pointing directly at Ethan’s jugular.

He raises his hands and steps back from the dagger. ‘Hmm, how well I’ve taught you!’

‘If my fingers weren’t so frozen I’d run this blunted dagger tip right through to your other side.’

He laughs, and goes and adds a couple of dry timber pieces to the fire. ‘How about a hot chocolate?’

‘Yes, please.’ We’ve taken to bringing supplies with us for sustenance and warmth. Today, it’s powdered chocolate drinks.

I squat beside Ethan as he prepares the drinks, warming my fingers by the fire. The sound of a twig crackling makes us both jerk to the side, startled. ‘Did you hear that?’

Ethan nods silently as he stands and looks around, a frown buried deep between his brows. But then I spot the source of our fear. A small brown rabbit has ventured out of its warren, probably to warm itself by our fire, or perhaps it has caught the scent of our chocolate drinks.

‘Look down, Ethan.’ I point towards the edge of the clearing.

Ethan peers at the small brown rabbit, his frown
growing deeper.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘I think it’s hurt. Look how it leans slightly to one side. Is that blood on its hindquarter?’

I stand to get a better perspective, being careful not to startle the timid creature, but apparently my concern isn’t necessary. The rabbit makes its way slowly towards me, not stopping until it reaches my feet. I stare at it with an open mouth, then at Ethan. ‘Can you believe this?’

The rabbit sits up on its hindquarters, front paws dangling in the air, its small round eyes appealing to me in a way that is almost human.

Carefully I pick it up, as it is obviously injured.

‘It wants you to heal it,’ Ethan says. ‘It senses you’re a healer.’

‘Of animals?’

‘Why not? If you’re gifted, who’s to say it should be restricted to humans only?’

‘Wow! So what’s wrong with the rabbit?’

He gives a little laugh. ‘You’re the healer, Isabel. You find out.’

I lower myself to the ground cross-legged, holding the rabbit in my lap, careful not to move it unnecessarily. It doesn’t squirm, just keeps looking up at me with those round, pleading eyes. Moving my hands over its limbs, I feel them gently, soon finding a broken bone and sensing the tissues and torn ligaments within. ‘How could this happen, out here in the woods?’

‘Hmm, good question.’ Ethan squats down beside me, but his mind is on the surrounding woodland. He scours it for signs of something.

I go to work on the rabbit, soothing it with gentle
whispers, willing its injured tissues, ligaments and bones to mend. As I do this, I see it all in my mind, the bone reknitting, blood returning to their vessels, inflamed tissues healing without a scar. The rabbit gives a sudden jerk, then jumps off my lap, bounding and leaping with incredible speed in the direction from which it came.

‘I’d say it’s healed,’ Ethan says, his voice a little in awe.

‘That was incredible! I actually saw the healing taking place in my mind.’

‘Maybe that’s been your stumbling block. Visualising.’ As he speaks, he stands up and walks around the outer edges of the clearing.

I go and stand beside him. ‘What’s wrong, Ethan?’

‘I don’t know, just a feeling.’

‘Like you had at the trial?’

He gives me a pained look. Instantly I’m regretful. I didn’t mean to remind him of the Tribunal and his sticking up for Rochelle. Those memories are still too raw for him to discuss. He hasn’t said a word.

He turns away and starts putting out the fire. ‘I think we should leave.’

‘Is it the rabbit that’s making you uneasy?’

‘Yes and no. Why that rabbit came to you is not what’s puzzling me; animals sense things sometimes better than humans. It’s how it got the injury that has me worried.’

‘There’s no one up here, Ethan. Who would come? It’s too cold.’

‘We’re here. And that rabbit didn’t break its own leg.’

‘Who would do such a thing to a gentle creature like that?’

‘Maybe the question is not
who
, Isabel, but
what
?’ In seconds he has the fire put out. ‘Pack your things. Let’s get out of here before some wild animal comes tearing out of the woods looking to break one of our legs.’

I can’t tell whether he’s joking or serious, only that he’s feeling a sudden urgency. His instinct is prickling again. Quickly I locate where I put my jumper and the few other things I brought with me. We head down the mountain and make it almost halfway before I realise I left the most important thing of all – my backpack, which has all my school stuff in it. We headed up there today straight from school, in order to make use of the afternoon light. ‘I have to go back.’

He doesn’t stop walking. ‘No way! It’s too late.’

‘I left my school bag.’

‘What! How could you be so—?’

‘Well, I did. You go on. It won’t take me long if I run.’

He grabs my arm as I spin around. ‘Forget it, Isabel.’

‘I need my bag for school tomorrow.’

‘We’ll hike up there in the morning and get it.’

‘But it’s not waterproof. The frost and dew will get right in. All my books will be ruined, let alone if it snows overnight. It’ll only take me ten or twenty minutes from here.’

My arguments don’t make any difference. ‘No, Isabel. We’re not going back for it. You said you trusted me, now prove it.’

Silently we make it all the way down. When we get to my house I head straight inside. Peering through the front window, I wait until I can’t see Ethan any more, then wait another full minute, making myself count every second. When I’m sure he’s on his way home, I
take off out the front door at a fast run. There’s nothing up that mountain; we train there practically every day. Ethan’s just jumpy ’cause that rabbit’s injury was unusual. But it could have injured itself. How are we to know? And Ethan’s been so serious since the Tribunal hearing in Athens, adhering strictly to the codes and rules. He’s blowing this incident right out of perspective.

I get to the top, panting hard after running uphill for most of the way. It’s starting to darken now, but I can still see clearly, the dim light no hindrance any more. To my amazement, Arabella’s gift of seeing by any light keeps strengthening. At this rate I’m going to have to learn how to control it so that I can turn it off when it becomes a hindrance more than a help.

I swing my gaze around the clearing, but my backpack is not in the place I left it. Did Ethan move it at some stage? I can’t remember, but I doubt it, he was too busy keeping to his schedule. Then where is it? A prickling sensation runs down every fine hair on my back as a sense of evil slowly settles into my chest. Is this Lorian’s gift of sixth sense I’m becoming aware of?

A rustling of leaves in the woodland to my right jerks my whole body, making my limbs go stiff. I’m fast freaking out and try to slow my racing thoughts. But another sound, the crunching of leaves underfoot, is way too real, and I know now for certain that something is out there, something that has a decidedly evil feel to it.

‘Ethan?’

I’m not really calling him as I know he’s probably soaking in a hot bath right now, warming his frozen limbs, as I should be, but I need to hear my voice and
the sound of a familiar name. Perhaps this sense of evil is a figment of my imagination.

A shadow passes through the trees to my right. It’s darkening quickly now as I stand here frozen to the spot, hardly breathing, my heart pounding at a staggering pace, but the descending darkness has no effect on my vision. The shadow moves quickly and stealthily, especially for its apparent size. As it draws nearer it takes on a more tangible shape. It’s a man, a large man, tall and broad and wearing black leather boots with an animal-skin coat secured at the waist by a silver-studded belt. He breaks through the edge of the woodland and makes his way with heavy footsteps through the clearing to where I’m standing, frozen to the spot. My back pack is in his hand. Releasing his fingers it falls to the ground.

Move, girl. Move it now! If you turn and run you may have a chance of beating this man down the mountain.
Somehow I get the feeling he wouldn’t follow me, but my legs have stubbornly decided not to move. It occurs to me that this man is using some sort of power over me.

He draws closer, within arm’s reach, and the sight of him now makes me light-headed and dizzy. ‘I’ve seen you before.’

His voice is rough and guttural. ‘We’ve met in your dreams.’

‘What do you want?’

His head cocks to one side. ‘To take you to a place where it is midnight every day.’

‘What? I don’t understand.’

His neck straightens and with one large gloved hand he pulls at the top of his head. He’s wearing a mask, I
realise, and now he’s taking it off. What I see beneath the mask makes me want to retch violently. My stomach contracts with cramps, making me double over. The man’s face is hideous, one side badly scarred and missing parts.

He lifts my face with one massive finger to the underside of my chin. ‘Now do you understand?’

‘I … I only see an angry and bitter man.’

He roars, so loud I have to cover my ears so as not to damage the fine bones inside. It’s the roar, I think, that shatters my frozen state. I don’t need any sixth sense to know what’s good for me now. Slowly I reach for my bag and start edging backwards, putting space between me and the deformed and hostile man before me.

He watches with a sly knowing look coming from his one yellow eye. ‘You cannot run from me, Isabel.’

His knowing my name sends chills through all of my bones.

‘I can find you anywhere, even in your sleep.’ And then he adds teasingly, ‘Ask the boy called Ethan. Tell him he can reach me through his illusions. Tell him I will come.’

Chapter Twenty-six

Ethan

If there’s one thing I’m learning about my Apprentice, it’s that she’s as stubborn and headstrong as a mule. So when I walk away from her house I decide to go back and check. It’s starting to darken earlier now that winter’s almost here, but this won’t stop Isabel going back up that mountain; her sight is incredible now, even in the dark.

Her mother Coral answers the door, wrapped in a dark-blue towelling robe, her hair wet as if she just stepped out of a shower. ‘I heard the door bang a few minutes ago, Ethan. I’ll just go see if she’s in her room.’

A few minutes later she comes back shaking her head. ‘It doesn’t look as if she’s been in there all afternoon. I could’ve sworn I heard the door.’

I thank her, my heart starting to thud. She picks up on my concern. ‘Is something wrong? Matt should be home any second. He might know where she is. He keeps a close eye on her, you probably know that.’

‘Yeah … I have noticed.’

‘Should I be concerned, Ethan?’

‘No, no. Not at all. I just wanted to tell her something.
I’m sure she’ll turn up soon. I’ll give a call later.’

‘All right, dear.’

Finally I get away, and take off at a sprint. With each pounding leap a sense of urgency increases inside, just why I’m not sure. I can’t pinpoint where this danger is coming from. It’s my gut instinct working overtime, I think, but the sense of something sinister in those woods tonight is too strong to ignore. Maybe I should have been sensing this danger all along during the days of Isabel’s training, but only now, since Lorian’s strengthening of my gifts, am I picking it up.