Red as the Dawn

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

My father had his way and I was not allowed on missions for the time being. He couldn't stop Shade though, who was considered an elite member of the guard. A few days after he had recuperated, he took a band of soldiers with him, and set out to spy on the Silver's camp. He'd taken Bree with him, and left Tramy in charge of me. I was restricted from seeing Cal, and I was restricted from following Shade. I hadn't told anyone about my deal with Cal, which only left stealing his bracelets.

The night before I was supposed to meet him for our first "lesson", I asked Farley about the bracelets. She gave me a sideways look that was vaguely suspicious, and I was forced to backpedal and finish, "I was just curious, are we ever going to give them back to him?"

She frowned and then looking forward as we walked towards the mess hall, and with a tight voice she replied, "I doubt it, he is a prisoner, not a member of our guard."

After that, I figured that she wouldn't keep them on her person, she would tuck them away somewhere safe. Someplace where no one would think to look, which left only the option of hiding them in plain sight.

Late the next night, I snuck into the council room, and poked around at all the shelfs, looking under papers, and in boxes. They weren't there though, and I felt the scratch of irritation on the edges of my mind. There were no other secret places that Farley could have kept it, except in her rooms, which were completely off limits to everyone, even council members. You had to be invited in, if you wanted to even see them.

But I doubted Farley kept the bracelets in her rooms, she wouldn't want them in her direct possession if Cal broke out. She would want them somewhere he would never think to look, because he had never seen it. Which only left this room. I walked towards the large center table, and started looking under the chairs, under the table, everywhere that they might have been hidden. When I finally got to Farley's chair, I looked it over the hardest; every inch of it, even the ground around it, but my search turned up nothing. I didn't have much more time, but I also knew that if I showed up empty handed, then Cal would turn me away. I searched in ernest then, desperate to find the stupid things before someone found me, or I was late to my meeting with him. I had to be there when the guards rotated, or I would miss my opportunity to slip in. According to Cal, once every three hours, the guards switched, and there was a period of two minutes when no one was standing by the doors. I didn't bother to ask how or why he knew that, but I filed it away for later to warn Shade about, after I had finished learning everything I could about my ability though.

After five more minutes of searching in vain, I slammed my hand against the table in frustration. As if sensing my anger, a small plank near the other end of the table popped up with a creak. My eyes snapped to it immediately, and slowly,I slipped around the table and reached out to yank the plank away completely. My hands shock with trepidation as I lifted the plank completely, and looked inside. If the bracelets weren't there, then they were definitely in Farley's rooms and I would be going to Cal empty handed. Underneath the rotting wood was a small box built into the table, barely the size of my hand, and only an inch deep, it was completely desecrate. Upon further inspection though, I noticed Cal's bracelets glinting dully at the bottom.

My lips pulled up in excitement and I snatched them out before I thought to inspect the little hiding hole further. The metal was cool against my palm and I took a moment to glance them over, my curiosity spiking at the weight of them in my hand. I had only ever seen the from afar, and Cal and never taken them off, except when they were yanked from his wrists before we were thrown into the cells below the Bowl of Bones. They were beautiful crafted, and as I looked closer, I saw that parts of the metal had been engraved with swirling spirals that linked together and seemed to continue for eternity. It was mesmerizing to look at, and with a jolt I realized that I had never seen patterns on Maven's bracelets, and I had gotten more than enough good looks at his.