Ascended

Val was trying to figure out magic.

There wasn’t a lot else to do while walking, except talk about ourselves and that wasn’t something either of us seemed comfortable with doing.

“Do you know how it works?” The older woman was looking at the marks on the back of her right hand.

“Magic training is something that we were supposed to undergo before we received our marks.” I looked down at my own hands. I’d seen the Touched use magic, but I had no idea how they did that either.

“That doesn’t help.” She traced one of her lines with her finger, “I can feel something…” She grumbled as she clenched her fists, “But I don’t know how to make it come out!”

“Shh!” I knew I didn’t need to remind her that screaming would only attract roaming Zombies.

Val eyed me, “Are you really worried that we’ll run into some Zombies?” She unsheathed Max’s sword, “I’d kind of like something to hit right now.”

“You might be a Bokor, but you can still die.” I shook my head, “We don’t need to recklessly fight every Zombie we come across.”

“You can’t be serious?” She sheathed the sword, “ You expect me not to kill any Zombie I see and just let it run away?”

“I didn’t say let it go.” I shook my head. “We have to kill it. I said recklessly. We have to be smart about it.”

“I’ve been Wrangling Zombies…” She stopped as she eyed me.

“Since you were five?” I shook my head, “I’ve been working with Master Bran for most of my life. How long have you been Wrangling?”

The look on her face told me that she’d realized that she wasn’t going to win an argument about who was more experienced.

“Whatever.” She looked behind us at the sun, “We only have a few more hours until night. Are we going to make it to Gher before then?”

I looked at the map again, “There’s a ghost town we can stop at over there.” I pointed to the northeast.

“Let me see that.” She grabbed the map away from me, “You’re taking us way off course. The fastest way to Gher is through the valley right here. If we walk all night, we could make it by tomorrow.”

I shook my head, “The Bokor don’t go through the valleys. It cuts off escape routes and allows for Zombies to attack from overhead.”

Val touched the sword on her hip. “How often does that happen? A Zombie jumping from overhead?”

I shrugged. “In a valley? I don’t know. Master Bran never took us through one. But we went to many places where there was a ledge or something that the Zombies could climb on and then try to jump on top of us. Especially if…” I couldn’t say it. Yesterday, I could have said it, but right now, knowing what I was, it felt wrong.

“Especially if what?” Val looked up from the map.

I had to psyche myself up. It was just information. It wasn’t like I was the one doing it.

“Especially if there is a Touched directing them.”

“Like you.” She folded the map in half.

“Yeah, like me.” I hung my head.

“Do you think you’ll be able to do that?”

“Do what? Make Zombies attack people?” It irritated me that she’d consider something like that.

“No. I mean, if you can control them, then sure, you could do that.” There was something hungry in her eyes. “But I was thinking more like bringing them to us, then…” She slid her finger across her throat. “It’d be pretty easy to decapitate them if you could make them stand still.”

I hadn’t thought about it like that. Maybe if I could demonstrate my ability to make Hunting easier, the Council might let me not only live, but also join the Bokor.

“It's something we should check out.” Val pointed at the map. So since you’re the expert. Where would be the best place to find a zombie?”

I ignored the mocking tone in her voice. Instead of looking at the map, I looked around. We were headed toward a city that was on the east coast. There were two smallish mountains in between us, though considering the terrain south of us was almost completely flat, even small mountains looked huge. There were sparse trees lining the base and part way up the rocky mounds. She had been correct in saying that the fastest way would be to go through that way. And not only that. It was also the most likely place for us to run into a wandering Zombie.

I pointed in the direction that she’d wanted to go. “That way.”

Val smiled and handed me the map, “Let’s go!”