Madgie sucked in a loud breath. “He’s trying to speak!” she shouted.
Amanda thought it just as Madgie said it because she could now feel the internal struggle Cole was fighting through. His spirit was lashing out against a dark blanket that wouldn’t lift itself from him. Cole’s face was red with effort, and a line of blood crept down his chin from the corner of his mouth.
“Stop!” Amanda shouted and grabbed his face when he didn’t listen. “You don’t need to fight it, Cole. I don’t know what you’re trying to say, but we can work it out later. You need to keep your strength.”
Cole nodded, and his face relaxed.
Madgie sighed in relief. “Wow, that’s some silencing hex you have on you, boy. I thought you would pass out. The Ancients do that to you?”
Cole didn’t, or couldn’t respond, which was answer enough. “So it’s true? All of the things we have heard over the years and dismissed as lies.”
Madgie looked to be on the verge of tears or ready to hit something, Amanda wasn’t sure which it was. “How could they do that to young boys?” Madgie whispered.
Amanda was still studying Cole, wondering what could have happened to him. When his haunted eyes met hers, she lurched forward and threw her arms around his neck, hoping if she held on tight enough nothing in the world could hurt him. He gently caressed the back of her head as she embraced him, nuzzling his face into her neck.
“Good heavens, I’m fine, Amanda,” he said with a smile. “If I’d known my… painful experiences would render this kind of affection, I would have told you years ago.”
Amanda released him and looked into his eyes. They were back to the bright happy things she knew. “Really?” she asked surprised.
“Obviously not, I can’t even…” He made a strange face again.
Talk about it now. That’s what he’s trying to say.
“Well, Madgie, let’s see what you know. It might help Amanda understand what we have coming,” Cole said.
“Okay, since you know nothing about the Guard, I guess I’ll begin at their creation, which was after Shiphra fled.”
A handful of questions almost left her mouth. Why then? How did it happen? What does Shiphra have to do with all of this? But she decided against it, letting Madgie go on uninterrupted.
“The other Ancients were horrified when they couldn’t find her. They devoted all their time to tracking her, but it’s hard to find someone as crafty as she is on a planet this size. So they rose up the Guard, so she would be forever hunted, always fleeing. They feared she’d rise up an army of her own if given the chance, so they made sure she was never in one spot long enough to do that.” Madgie shifted her weight as if trying to get comfortable on the hard ground. “Back then every male child was trained. I guess tortured would be a better word for it. They were subjected to black magic and shock treatments until the Ancients approved of them. Most of the Guard members have a light so dim it is hard to even tell that they’re Healers, which I guess is the point. Shiphra couldn’t see them coming, or so they thought.”
“That’s terrible.” Amanda gasped. “They did that to twelve-year-old boys? Just to keep Shiphra on her toes! Tortured them until they…”
Cole had been subjected to that, probably during the years she’d deserted the Hovel. I was running around the country feeling sorry for myself while he was being tortured? She felt like someone had kicked her in the stomach. Amanda had always felt terribly guilty for those two years of self-pity, but that guilt was nothing compared to what she felt at this moment. She’d abandoned him when he needed her most, the little boy who’d been the first to show her kindness at the Hovel.
Amanda thought back to the day after the Dredging. The new Healers had been ushered into the dining hall. Every child, including her, had taken a seat. The food had stayed untouched, no one wanting to eat so full of fear and uncertainty. Only one child had remained standing, a dark-haired boy. He’d been looking around the room, searching for something, and then his eyes had met hers. She’d never known what he’d seen in her eyes, but he’d made a beeline for the table. The tight curls on his head had bounced up and down as he moved. His hair had been even curlier when he was young.
Cole had made a bit of a mess as he served himself a bowl of soup and walked over to her with it held aloft. He’d placed it in front of her slowly and sat down across from her. All the children had followed suit, and soon they’d all been eating, except Cole. He’d made her smile and made sure she ate. She’d always wondered why, out of all of the children there, he’d chosen to set that bowl of soup in front of her. Amanda was looking at Cole when Madgie confirmed her realization.
“Yes, that’s what Cole went through. Lucky his light is so bright they couldn’t extinguish it. They had to release him from the Guard, but not before they silenced him as you can see,” Madgie said.
“How do you know I’m choosing not to speak of my own accord? Maybe I didn’t want her to have to think about me… going through that.”
“Sorry, but you cannot protect her from this any longer. Where was I? Oh, yes, so they had what they wanted, but Healers around the world were starting to become concerned about it. Too many Healers were no longer doing their job. Scars need to be healed, or, as you know, the world becomes unbalanced and falls into darkness. It happened before. The bubonic plague wiped out so many Healers. There just weren’t enough of us left to keep the balance. Historians now refer to that time as the Dark Ages.”
Amanda was taken by surprise. She’d heard it preached at the Hovel, but she never realized how essential Healers were to the world.
“So as the Guard got bigger, the world became darker. As they hunted Shiphra, World War One started and ended, and then World War Two. Thousands upon thousands of men and women and children were being slaughtered. Awful things we’d never seen before were happening in the world. The wars left more Scars behind than we could heal, and it seemed the world was destined to end. The Healers rose up and told the Ancients in one voice that their Guard needed to be downsized and returned to their duties of healing. The Ancients came up with the idea of the Dredging to increase our numbers.”
“It hasn’t always been that way?” Amanda gasped.
“No, no. Before that time we found Healers and told them what they were and where to find us if they chose to be around those like them. They came in their own time, sometimes in youth, sometimes old age, but they always came. When that didn’t even restore balance, the Ancients obliged most likely because they were satisfied that Shiphra wouldn’t rise up. At the time, most thought it was kindness on their part, so selfless and understanding of them to give up their army. How foolish of us.” Madgie looked disgusted.
Seeing her look that way filled Amanda with rage at the Ancients for taking advantage of the innocent. How easy it must have been to gain power over the Healers, they’re so naturally kind, peaceful, and naive.
“It isn’t your fault, Madgie! You aren’t foolish for believing in those you’re supposed to be able to trust. I think the reason they shrunk their Guard wasn’t because they were done with Shiphra. They downsized it because you came together. All the Healers came together and said no to them. No more. Well, I’ve only been alive for seventeen years, and I can’t take it anymore. I don’t know how you’ve lasted this long under their reign. Maybe we should be finding Shiphra for more than one reason. I think she’ll agree when I tell her it’s time to end it,” she finished defiantly.
13
Amanda stared wide-eyed at a twisted dead tree on the hilltop with a small figure at its side. The tree’s white fingers were a stark contrast to the dark sky. She glanced around and saw her pursuers closing in. Wiping away the wet hair clinging to her face, she ran as fast as her feet would carry her across the soggy terrain. Lightning cracked above, and she studied the angry clouds. She’d never seen it so black at mid-day. Digging her toes into the muddy hill, she began climbing.