Michael: The Mark (Airel Saga Book Four)

Chapter XV

Arabia—1232 B.C.

IT WAS DARK. PERFECT.

Uriel sat on her bed and concentrated on the lesson Uncle Yamanu had taught her the previous day. It had been incredible when he showed her how to use the gift of the Shadowers. Perhaps it is not the only gift I possess. But it is the most fun I have had in a long time, Uriel thought to herself.

Slowly as she focused her mind, the dense fog of the art descended upon her physical features. Unlike her uncle's signature manifestation though, no mist, no cloud, no vapor attended it. No. As for Uriel, she simply disappeared from physical sight, even from spiritual sight. She was simply not there.

In time, she would learn how to make other things disappear. Soon she would be able, with practice, to be able to render physical objects immaterial; she would be able to walk through drawn shades, closed doors, even walls.

But not tonight. Tonight was just a beginning.

Tonight she was not visible to the naked eye, whether that eye illuminated the face of man or angel or beast. Therefore, she crept as quietly as she was able to do from her uncle's house, down the deserted city streets of Ke'elei, past the guards, up the inside of the main gate tower steps, across the city wall, and down the outside of it. The skidding, scrambling noise she made as she slid down the face of the stones did attract some attention, but when the guards were unable to see anything, they continued on their rounds.

Overjoyed and elated with her new freedom, she set off in search of her beau. She didn't know where to start other than right outside her doorstep. She had faith that the road would carry her there. Somehow. That was more than enough for her.

Though the tall redwood forest concealed her in its deep shadows, allowing her to rest her gift easy, conserving energy—for it did take a great deal of concentration for her to use the gift of shadowing—still, the deepness of the forest was threatening. In the back of her mind, she was unsettled.

She talked a good game, especially to her dear father Kreios. If the truth be known, though, she was still a scared little girl inside, and she missed him terribly.

But what was done was done; what could she do now? There was no going home. She was a woman now and was restless to make her own decisions. Her father had to let her go eventually in any case. Perhaps she was like the tulips that pushed the late snows aside in early spring, sending their tender green shoots up to bloom audaciously before the season was quite yet ripe. It was not her fault that Kreios was not ready for her to depart. To bloom.

He would certainly not be ready for her to marry, either.

Ah, Subedei. She longed for him more than she could begin to say. As she reflected on her fantasy lover, her mind drifted and she became unguarded. She forgot that the great city of Ke'elei had walls for a reason. She failed to remember that, especially at night, there were things without the walls that were darker than the night itself. And more powerfully frightful.

The awakening she received was rude.

They swung in from the trees. They jumped up from under mats made of massive fern fronds that they had laid on the floor of the forest. They wielded spears, swords—the knives were out. She didn't have time to do anything but scream and cower like a child. Instantly she was full of regret, wishing to undo a great deal of her life up to this moment. But such a thing was not possible. She tried to remember her training, to shadow, but it was all still very new. And she was very scared. Too scared, in fact, to focus properly.

Then, from the recesses of the dark hollows that lay on the path before her, a figure emerged. It was Subedei.

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