Knowledge: The Fifth Division Saga: Book 1 (12 page)

              The whip struck him again.

              And again.

              He fought to contain his hatred for the Council and, more specifically, the Elemental royals. This was their fault. He struggled with the flaming energy that threatened to come forth. All he wanted was to destroy them, for everything they put him through.

              But instead, he bit his tongue and tried not to yell as the whip continued to shred his flesh.

*

              Caspian could hardly believe his eyes.

              The blue tinged “Knowledge”, as Bram called it, hovered high above his head like two powerful angel wings that just begged to stretch out and fly. He could feel the strength in the muscles there beneath the tough feathers. But, of course, the idea of exerting more energy was the last thing he wanted to do right now. His eyes drooped as he stared into the mirror and his brain started shutting down even as he stood there. Falling asleep on his feet, he shuffled over to bed and slumped into the soft blankets and pillows gratefully, mentally thanking the kind soul that made his bed.

             
What a night.

              Receiving his Knowledge had not been as strange as Caspian would have thought. Bram talked him through the whole way while Erion lurked in the corner as supervisor. Bram seemed to think it odd to have someone observing his stepson receive his supernatural powers but to Caspian everything seemed strange and Erion’s presence really made no difference.

              Once Erion identified Caspian as being a Water Knowledge and nodded in a satisfied fashion, Caspian could not help but feel a little relieved. He wondered distantly what Knowledge Mira was but knew there would be time tomorrow to ask and find out. Right now, sleep took precedence.

              He massaged his aching temples as his eyes slowly shut. The headache, rather than letting up as night fell, had grown far worse over the past couple of hours. Caspian prayed that it escalated only due to stress and sleep deprivation, both of which would hopefully have easy fixes.

Wanting to rid the pain as soon as possible, he allowed the drowsiness to carry him away, his last conscious thought being a pair of beaming, golden eyes.

*

Ash had been sound asleep when two firm hands shook him fiercely.

“ARGH!”

Spluttering awake, he swung wildly with his fist closed, hoping to hit his attacker. He flailed around in the dark like a madman until his hand contacted muscled flesh of what Ash assumed to be a stomach.

“OUCH!” Erion yelped, leaping away from Ash, “You bloody idiot!”

“Sorry, mate. You startled me.”

“Startled? That’s the understatement of the millennium. You practically punched a hole through my gut.”

Ash sat up and rubbed his tired eyes, “It’s your own fault. People who disturb my precious slumber must pay.”

Ash reached his arms above his head and groaned from the relief the stretch brought. When he finally opened his eyes to look at his friend, he saw the look of genuine concern alight on Erion’s face. Ash knew that Erion was a worrier, it was simply his personality. But there is a vast difference between trepidation and fear; and the look on Erion’s face certainly fell under the fear category.

Throwing the blankets from his body, Ash stood up in a flash. He moved toward the drawer in the corner where he kept all of his
lignum
knives. But before he could reach it, Erion grabbed his shoulder and pulled back to stop him.

“Not tonight.”

Ash blinked in confusion, “Then why…?”

“The Queen told me it was urgent that you know to be ready, that the whole Legion knows. So we are prepared when it happens.”

“When what happens?”

Erion sighed and looked at Ash with wary blue eyes, “When the Dividing Day comes.” 

Ash blinked, masking the acceleration of his heart, and nodded. He had heard that term here and there but none of the soldiers seemed to know what it meant: Dividing Day.

“Side note,” Erion continued, “didn’t you find that Retrieval mission to be rather…”

“Easy?”

“Precisely.”

Ash snuggled back into his blankets, the fresh wounds stinging the flesh near his Knowledge painfully, “I think you worry too much my friend.” But even when Erion grunted in annoyance and left, the haunted feeling seated deep into Ash’s chest remained.

Chapter 5

              A sudden pounding at the door startled me out of my dreams.

              For one blissful moment, I stayed frozen in place, dazed and unsure of where I now lay. But the sight of the high-class room painted with dark purple hues hurtled me right back to reality and the craziness it had become. I yawned as I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. When I reached up, my fingers skirted against my Knowledge and my heart jolted with remembrance. I allowed my hands to slowly brush along the silky texture. I could feel the tickle of my skin against them. I shivered.

              The knocking persisted, allowing me no time to truly wake up or do anything besides slouch over to the door. I twisted the unique looking locks, which took an embarrassingly long time to decipher, and pulled on the handle, letting the large door swing towards me.

            
 
“Mornin’.” Waiting at the threshold, with a silver food tray in hand and a beaming smirk upon his face, stood Ash. His dark brown hair messed in the same perfect windswept style as yesterday and he wore a navy blue shirt with brown khakis. Somehow, he still managed to be gorgeous without even seeming to try. “I’m loving the hair.”

              Immediately, I lifted my hand to pat the massive nest of curls. I knew better than anyone that my hair could not be tamed. The beautiful hairdo Kelsey managed the night before had fallen apart during the night due to my fitful sleep. Left in its wake, my usual glorious volume and length that Medusa would be jealous of thrived. I twirled one of the curls around my finger and twisted. I had grown accustomed to the crazy hair comments, so why could I feel my face heating up?

              I shrugged at him, “You just wish yours looked this fabulous when you woke up.”

            
 
“Oh yes. As you can see, I often go for the ‘bonfire for hair’ look and fail miserably every day.”

              I grinned, “That’s a shame.”

            
 
“Tis a pity. Might I be invited in?” I nodded and scooted out of the way so that he could enter. He strode in and placed the metal tray on the coffee table in the center of the room. He then sank into one of the white couches placed by the table and patted the spot next to him, urging me to come join him. I walked over and plopped down beside him, making sure to keep about a foot of space between us. I eyed the metal tray, noticing that it carried a heaping plate of eggs, pancakes, and bacon. My mouth watered and stomach growled.

              He must have heard my stomach’s hungry roar because he offered me a grin and said, “I come bearing breakfast. I figured after last night you would be too tired to join us at the table. I thought you would rather have personal room service.”

              I already had the plate on my lap and a fork stabbed it into the fluffy stack of pancakes, “This was
your
idea?”

            
 
“Why so surprised?”

            
 
“This just doesn’t seem like your style, I guess.”

              I snuck a peek at his face and saw his dark eyes flash with amusement, “I can be charming when I want to be.”

              I was much too busy eating to respond. Only once I cleaned most of the plate did it dawn on me how savage and unattractive I probably looked. I always scoffed at the girls who ordered the garden salad just so their date would think them to be dainty and quaint. I always ordered the burger with extra fries and never gave it a second thought. My food choices never really had much of an effect on me or how boys treated me. So why did I stop to ponder it now?

            
 
“Well, that’s a total bummer.” Ash sighed next to me. I glanced over, twiddling with the fork, still pausing before shoving more food in my face. His expression turned playful, “I thought you were going to break a record! I was about to start cheering but then you stopped. Did you get too full?”

            
 
“Uh, no. Just needed to come up for air.”

              His mouth quirked up into a funny smile, “Better luck next time, although I highly doubt you will ever surpass my time. I happen to hold the champion spot when it comes to finishing my plate in the shortest amount of time. Were you aware of this?” I shook my head. “Yes, well everyone is quite jealous of it, that’s probably why. Erion is especially bitter.”

              I laughed, “Well, I’m impressed. How many people participate in this race?”

              He continued to play along, “You wouldn’t believe the number of contestants, golly, I can’t name them all. But I assure you, most of Nostos wishes they were as good as I am at eating food. I consider it quite a gift.”

            
 
“As you should.”

              His eyes crinkled strangely, some of the true joy leaving them to be replaced with a more forced smile, the odd light slowly fading from his eyes, “Yes, well, we best be off.”

            
 
“And where are we off to?” I finished almost three quarters of my plate and was sure I would barf all over the white rug if I tried to take another bite of bacon. Ash had already hopped to his feet before I placed the plate back on the tray. I started to clean up my mess, but Ash assured me to leave it and the maids would take care of it. It felt odd to simply leave my dirty dishes lying around for someone else to deal with; back home, such an act was blasphemous.

“I thought you wanted to go shopping?”

“You’re going to show me around?”

He nodded and left me to get changed, telling me there were plenty of clothing choices in the wardrobe and a bathroom in which I could clean up in.

              I trotted to the doorway he had pointed out as the bathroom and was pleased to find a rather spacious area with a large tub and shower. I quickly cleaned off all of the muck and dirt that I was too exhausted to bother with the night before and decided to take a short shower. The warm water could be compared to Heaven on my skin. I could literally feel the grains of dust wash out of my hair as I scrubbed at the ratty mess. Feeling the droplets pour down my Knowledge created a tingling sensation, the newly developed nerves zinging from the touch. It might have been difficult, but finally I forced myself to get out and find something to wear, knowing Ash was waiting on me. Without brushing my hair (there was no point in doing so), I wrapped one of the hanging towels around me and skipped to the wardrobe. I flung the door open and gasped; inside hung dozens of old style dresses, the fashion of royalty; Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths. I thought it was a mistake; did they accidentally put me in the princess’s bedroom? But no, why would they put the princess all the way up in the tower? Plus, a misplacement such as this was tremendously unrealistic. Not to mention, the dresses all seemed to be about my size. They were certainly for me. I noticed that although they conveyed fancy extravagance, they were all cut short like sundresses and had low, swooping backs. One glance back at my Knowledge and I could guess the reasoning for the cut.

              I snatched a silky cream colored one with blue sapphires sewn onto the bodice and wriggled into it. My hair, so course that water practically slipped right off of it, was already almost dry and fell in large ringlets down my back. The white dress somehow enhanced the red in my hair, making the color pop even more than usual, something I wasn’t sure I particularly liked. But I knew Ash awaited and I did not want him to have to deal with me trying on every single dress in the closet. With a last frustrated glance in the vanity mirror, I crossed the room and opened the door.

              At first, I thought he had deserted me. As I looked out into the empty doorway, I immediately assumed he had grown tired of waiting. But when I glanced down to my right, I saw that he had not in fact left, but had sat down with his back against the wall, with his right hand lifted in front of his face. He appeared to be lost in thought, concentrating on his raised pointer finger. I almost exclaimed in surprise when I saw that the tip of his finger had caught fire. I lifted my gaze from his burning finger to his eyes. Losing control of my lips, I could not help but shout out, startled by the sight “Ash!” His normally dark irises were no longer black, but orange and yellow and red, flickering and smoldering like flames.

              At the sound of my voice, the flame on his finger extinguished and his eyes returned to their customary coal black. I caught the moment of panic flicker across his face before conforming back to his typical laid-back  demeanor, “Gave me a right start just there.” His eyes raked from the top of my head and down to the white dress, pausing at the Knowledge floating behind me, I shifted uncomfortably. One glance at his finger forced me to realize one thing: there was no sign of injury or irritation. Not so much as a blemish.

            
 
“Sorry.”

              He waved away the apology and stood up, offering his hand to me, “Nothing to fret about. Ready?”

              I stared at his hand, unmoving, “Ready for what exactly?”

            
 
“Well, Miss Mirabelle, I am your designated guide for the week. I have the extreme pleasure of illuminating Nostos to your darkened perspective of the world. Now, come along, lots to see!”

              He started off down the hall, realizing I was not going to take his hand, with a bit of a skip in his step. I hurried after him, trailing him down the spiral staircase and through the enormous front door. The sun cast its brilliant light on the meadow and village in the distance, creating a magical appearance. I basked in the grace of the wonderful light, feeling less anxious in the cheerful glow. I glanced back at the castle we just exited and was stunned to see its beauty enhanced in daylight. We traveled towards the village in the reverse of the way we had last night, over the wooden bridge and following the cobblestone road that wove through the fields of unique and colorful flowers and plants. I reached down and plucked an especially gorgeous red flower with large petals that sparkled in the sunlight. I lifted it to my nose and breathed in the delicious aroma that reminded me of cookie dough mixed with warm vanilla.

              Ash looked back and smiled, “Ah, Bonus Cibus or as most people call it Scarlet Delight. Our cooks often add it to recipes for an extra flavor.”

              I smelled the flower again, only this time it smelled of pesto and garlic. Ash informed me, seeing the baffled look I wore, that the aroma changed constantly to match what you love or what you desire. I carried the unusual flower with me, not wanting to relinquish this little bit of magic I had discovered. I repeatedly lifted it to my nose and each time found myself impressed by a new delectable smell. Ash and I walked side by side down the road and I thought about his flaming finger in the hallway and how the apple had caught fire in my hand last night. I wanted to ask him about it but, remembering his expression when I had seen him this morning, thought better of it and remained silent.

              We reached the village and as we trudged along the path, he pointed out different shops and people. “That there is the vet clinic, Animal Elementals tend to work there…that’s Basil’s, best diner in town…oh, here’s the local market, for any groceries or whatever you need. Seeing as you are indefinitely going to live in the palace though, this place might not be of much use.” I nodded but asked to look around anyways and he consented. We strolled down the teeming aisles laden with various fruits, vegetables, and an assortment of foods I had never seen before. Observing the people around us, I noticed that the clothing styles here were much different than what I would find back home. Here, the boys and men wore old fashioned tunic style shirts tied over cinched knickerbocker type pants. The girls and women wore short colorful dresses similar to the one I wore. Everyone had perfectly proportioned bodies and lovely, symmetric faces. It was strange being around so many beautiful people.

I glanced over at Ash in his dark tee shirt and jeans and noticed other people shooting him uncomfortable glares. Clearly I was not the only one in the market who thought he looked out of place. Just then, a pretty dark haired girl with startling green eyes stepped in front of us. She wore a short black dress and her Knowledge trailed like bright green leaf wings behind her. Her gaze focused on Ash, “Hey Ash. Have you seen my brother?”

“Good morning, Laurel. And no, not recently. He set out early this morning with Miss Mirabelle’s brother to show him around.”

Her eyes flitted to mine for only a moment before returning to Ash, “Alright, then. Mum was just wondering, with summer coming and all, business gets crazy around here. And you know Ivy, she is hardly any help at all. She’s always off flirting and whatnot.”

“Ah yes,” Ash nodded in understanding, “that does not surprise me. Well, I will tell your brother to get his lazy tush over here to start helping out, alright? And if I can ever do anything to help, just call on me.”

“Thanks.” She turned her fierce stare to me now; her expression set and determined, like that of a warrior, “How rude of you not to introduce us, Ash.” She stuck out her hand for me to shake.

“My apologies. Laurel, this is Miss Mirabelle Durrant, you retrieved her brother last night? Caspian? And Miss Mirabelle, this is Laurel Wilmot, Erion’s younger sister.”