Threshold

Chapter One

I loved the first touches of winter. I could always feel it stronger standing by the sea. As autumn was saying its goodbyes the first winter breezes would blow off the waves, and the surf would begin to churn with chilled anticipation. It was even better at night.

The sky stretched above me with a thousand blinking lights. I was always surprised by the number of stars. The lights of the great city Caewryn always stole the stars from the sky at home. But on the edge of endless water and endless air, they seemed to shout their presence.

My heart jumped into my throat as I reached the beach and took in the sea. I instinctively reached for the symbiont at my wrist. The scaly, black device, as big as two coins and imbedded in my skin, hummed. I knew that it was aware of my heightened heart rate, and dutifully helping to keep my body as healthy and young as possible. My Companion—the common name for my type of symbiont—was an ever-present comfort.

I shuffled along the beach, letting the cold sand slide against my skin. The glow of my grandmother’s house slowly disappeared, but I forged ahead. There was little place for fear amidst the magnificence. Despite its unpredictability and raw power, the coast had always seemed like an ally. It was an out, away from the hubbub of the city, the rumbles of political dealings, and the expectations of others.

 I pressed farther along the beach, the soft murmur of lanterns identifying the dock. I pulled my light jacket tighter around my shoulders as the ocean spray bit into my skin. The wind pulled at my skirts, making me fight to traverse the rocky shore and climb onto the smooth wood of the dock. I padded down its length, listening to the moan of the boats. My mother had taken me sailing once. I remembered the cries of the seamen and the briny wind and the heat of the sun. Sometimes I wished I could trade for more precious memories. My mother had been good at finding joy. There’d been little left without her.

I had the looming feeling that there wouldn’t be much to look forward to either.

The boat swayed under my feet as I pulled myself onto its deck. I waved away caution—a baron’s daughter couldn’t get into any real trouble. I moved towards the sailboat’s nose, ducking under rigging and around the mast. I’d seen the boat pull into port that evening—little more than a fishing vessel. The coastal village of Lasko housed little else.

For a moment the wind was quiet, then a gust tore across the sea, fierce and determined. I reveled in its power a moment, turning just in time to see the ship’s untethered sail swing towards me. Pain shot through my shoulder and there was a moment of weightlessness. Then everything went black.

The darkness pressed around me, heavy and thick. There was no up or down in my new lonely world, only me and violent motion. I tried to scream, but all I could hear was the roar of the darkness. Then there was pain; a pain deep in my gut that transformed into a visceral terror. I flailed into the darkness, but my shoulder protested, adding to my despair.

Then there was a lifeline, dragging me through the abyss.

When my head finally broke the surface of the water all I could do was cough. An arm was wrapped around my middle, dragging me towards land and air. Moments later I was on the beach, the cold sand pressing against my side. I tried to push myself up, but my shoulder buckled and I slipped back to the ground. My lungs burned with saltwater, and hysteria threatened to overwhelm reason.

"You’re okay, just cough," someone said from above me. A moment later a hand was pounding against my back, helping force the water from my lungs. The force from coughing made my eyes water, and struggled regain control the spasms. A minute of labored breaths I climbed to my knees, careful to cradle my bruised shoulder.

The calm in my mind seemed to erupt, all of the fear swamping my senses for a moment. I buried my face in my hand, folding in on my gut as I fought through the realization of what I’d escaped.

"Listen to me, you’re fine.” Two firm hands settled on my shoulders and I finally looked up into the dark eyes of a young man, no older than I was, kneeling beside me. Raven black hair was plastered to his forehead, his skin a golden caramel found only on someone with western blood. His eyes were alive and piercing, but undoubtedly weathered. There was something profoundly striking about the earnestness of his features, and how the boyish innocence was tempered by experience and toil.

“I know… I just…" I stuttered back. “You’re bleeding.” Blood dripped from a scrape on the boy’s arm, dark and oily against his canvas jacket.

“So are you.” My rescuer replied, pointing to my sole. I twisted quickly, horrified to see a large scrape across the bottom of my right foot.

“I didn’t even feel it…” I whispered under my breath.

“It’s the ice coral. It’s sharper than a knife and twice as vicious. Now come on, we can’t stay out here all night.” The boy helped me to my feet, my clothes feeling dead and cold around me.

I tried to take a step, but my foot burned and I nearly stumbled back down to my knees. A moment later the boys arm slid under my unharmed shoulder, his hand resting on my waist as he took some of my weight. I was intimately aware of how close we are—the clammy wetness of his clothes but the warmth of his skin. I had rarely been so close to someone since being a child, but never a stranger.

I hoped my blush wasn’t too obvious in the dim light.

“How’d you find me?” I asked after we took a few steps together.

“I saw you wander out onto the boat. Not too often you see a young lady out and about at so late.”

“I didn’t think there’d be anybody else.”

“Good thing there was.”

“What were you doing out here?”

He didn’t respond, the silence stretching between us. The wind bit at my cheeks, and I shifted uneasily. Something pressed against my wrist, and it took me a moment to realize that there was something concealed under the boy’s shirt, between his shoulder blades. I shifted again, my fingers tracing its curved and pointed edges. The boy immediately stiffened. He slide away from my touch and scrambled back a few steps, a wild and daring gleam in his eyes.

My mind reeled for a moment before put the pieces together.

“It’s a symbiont!” I gasped in horror. I’d seen plenty of diagrams of Bind Symbionts, but I’d never seen one or met someone who wore one. Unlike my Companion, Binds had sovereignty over their wearers. A million bits and pieces of information floated through my mind. I knew they’d initially been used on the Emperor’s personal guard, a way of insuring that they could never be disloyal. I knew they could sense intention and induce disabling pain. I knew that they were often sold in the south to wealthy land owners. I knew that it meant the boy in front of me was a slave.

An immediate anger spilled across his face. I had to wonder if somehow he wasn’t meant to be here.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“ I began to blather, but stopped myself. If he was a slave, even one worth a Bind symbiont, he didn’t need an apology. I self-consciously reached for my Companion, its thrum a welcome comfort.

"Boilin’ noble," the boy cursed under his breath, a new fierceness registering in his eyes.

“What?”

Again he chose not to respond and turned away. I watched as he marched into the distance, leaving me wet and sodden and alone on the pebbly beach.

Eventually I turned towards my grandmother’s and began to limp back.