Page 78 of The Scars Within (Twisted Thorn #1)

River walked beside me as we made our way through the village. The wind was brisk; my favorite season is approaching. We took a shortcut through the eastern huts to avoid the probing questions from our neighbors—questions I wasn’t ready to answer and perhaps never would be.

My leather gear was still soaked from the downpour, growing insanely fucking uncomfortable with each step. But he demanded that I see him immediately.

Fucking asshole.

He’s probably worried I’d go to see Scarlet first, but that is the last thing I want to do.

Rhodes Wylder had carried her on foot for miles until we reached the Hollow.

He didn’t question me when I told him that the rocky mountains and overcast sky would make it impossible for him to follow on dragonback.

I tossed the other Wylder boy over River’s back like a sad sack of potatoes. I noticed that his nose didn’t heal correctly from when I broke it last year.

I’ll gladly do it again. It was clear to me what had happened when I felt Scarlet’s fear of Shayde through the marekem and then found him knocked unconscious when I arrived .

She should have known better than to trust a Wylder.

Scarlet didn’t even realize that she was projecting through the marekem when I felt the pull.

She reached far enough to alert me but not enough to help me pinpoint her location.

Once I was within a close enough radius, she unknowingly channeled my water element, which resulted in a sudden downpour. That was when I was able to find them.

Rhodes looked like he had seen a ghost. I’m not surprised that General Wylder didn’t tell him about us. Being the self-absorbed, chauvinistic ass that he is. So much could have been prevented if just one thing was different in our leadership.

Putting a woman in charge.

The three men at the top of our food chain are too busy having pissing contests to actually do what needs to be done.

Kalluri is so consumed with running his sad excuse of a war college that he refuses to acknowledge his forces in the Barrens are falling apart.

Small Tyrian units have been slipping past the lines for years, and he’s too proud to admit it.

Instead, he covers up his failures by using Wylder’s clean-up crew to sweep the mess under the rug, sacrificing the lives of innocent civilians as collateral damage.

Our military is a disaster, and Kalluri’s too blinded by his own arrogance to face it. General Wylder is too far up Kalluri’s ass to make any real changes, and the Hollow’s General is too fucking pathetic to own up to his mistakes.

For example, saving Scarlet. I fought our leadership for two years to go on a rescue mission for her. I felt her fear. I felt her pain. I felt her giving up on herself.

I knew the moment she was captured. Even though she had no idea that she shares a marekem with me, I have kept a close eye on it since the day I was informed of her existence.

That was when everything changed for me.

I begged, literally begged, our soldiers to find her. But my request kept getting declined time and time again. Even though this girl was withering away in the darkness, with nobody to fight for her, the overall mission was more important.

The stupid. Fucking. Mission.

I obeyed orders until the day she hurt herself.

The energy was so intense within the marekem that it cut through my left arm, too.

One second, everything was fine. The next, it felt like someone was slowly driving a dull knife through my muscles.

At first, I thought I had passed out and was dreaming.

But the blood running down my arm proved to me that it wasn’t my imagination.

I had closed my eyes, letting myself channel into her.

All I saw was darkness. I felt no pain. I couldn’t feel the blood dripping from the wound, but I could smell it.

Iron mixed with filthy mud. She fell to the ground, and I fell with her.

I tried with every bit of my might to will her to stand, but she just laid there.

She gave up.

After cleaning myself up, I packed my bags and readied River’s satchels full of weapons. The assault on herself was strong enough to signal to me her exact location. We disappeared in the night without looking back.

River and I made it halfway on the journey to rescue her when our General caught up with me on his silver wolf.

I thought my days were over then, but instead of dragging me back to the Hollow, he came prepared for the mission himself.

The only time we spoke during the second half of the mission was to strategize our plan.

We fought side-by-side to bring down any men who guarded the pathetic excuse of a dungeon above ground.

If she were trained for battle, she would have easily escaped it from the beginning.

The General searched the woods for more men while I broke the locks of the building and found her cowering in a corner.

Covered in dried blood and what smelled like piss.

I grabbed hold of the manacles around her wrists, using a magical rune to unlock them before moving on to the ones around her ankles. I dropped the chains on her legs and mustered the only thing I could think of.

“The rest is up to you.”

And then I left her to decide her own fate. Although I wanted to haul her over my shoulder and drag her out of there, I knew that the only way she would survive this world was if she learned how to stand on her own two feet. There are some things in this fucked up world that just can’t be taught.

I hid in the woods and watched her stumble out of the worn-down building.

The sound of dragon wings beating in the air stole my attention for just a moment.

I looked up to see the most enormous red dragon I’ve ever laid eyes on flying in the opposite direction.

But once Scarlet managed to stand on her own two feet, I silently followed her along the path to make sure she made it.

But then the fucking bitch tried to throw my mission away by allowing herself to be trampled.

I risked my life to save her life, and she almost threw it away.

Once the racers had stopped before running her over and people were swarming the arena, I abandoned my post.

You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved.

I left the General behind, knowing he could manage himself and that he wouldn’t care if I didn’t make it out.

I only had one more task on my mission to complete before heading home.

I mounted River and closed my eyes, sensing through the marekem where Scarlet’s cottage was located.

After traveling east, I kicked down the cottage door and scavenged until I found the documentation she needed to apply for Mageia.

Then River and I turned our backs on the mission, letting the cottage burn down in flames as we walked away.

On our way back to the Hollow, we stopped to rest in a small village tavern.

The news had traveled fast that a young girl collapsed on a race track after being held captive.

I asked a local for more information, and she informed me that the victim was carried to a women’s shelter by a man who refused to give his name to the public.

I didn’t ask for any more details because I already knew exactly who it was. Before traveling back to the Hollow, River and I made a stop at the shelter to deliver the documentation.

That was the last chance I’d give her to see that she is meant for more. Her way into Mageia would give her another shot at survival. If she didn’t take it, then there was nothing else I could do.

Torn from my memories, we approached the station hut and climbed the stairs.

I skipped the formalities and walked straight through.

The guards knew well enough by now not to attempt to stop River from coming with me.

River nudged me with her cold, wet nose as we entered.

The place was empty—likely because the soldiers were dealing with the breach.

His back was to me as he faced the window that overlooks Hollow Summit. As I walked up beside him, I followed his line of sight straight to the medical hut.

Where Scarlet is currently being treated.

I cleared my throat, but he didn’t turn away from the window.

Without breaking his stare, he asked me, “Does she know?”

I paused, watching Rhodes pace back and forth outside the medical hut.

“No, father.”