Just Touched

I crumpled to the floor, panting. I closed my eyes and tried to get my breathing and heartbeat back to a normal pace. Someone poked me in the side. I felt a little zip of electricity go through my body, but then it was gone. I cracked one eye open and saw Astra’s bright blue hair floating around my head.

“So, it didn’t go well?” She asked, pulling her hair away from my face and tying it back with a strip of leather. I closed my eye and sat up.

“No, it didn’t go well.” I sighed and rubbed my face, opening my eyes to stand up. Astra offered me her hand and I took it, brushing the dirt from my trousers when I was fully upright. She was looking up at me, an expectant look on her face.

“They noticed the colour of my hair. Then they chased me and threw things at me. One of them rushed off to ring the alarm so I ran. The same as last time. There really isn’t much to tell.” Astra slouched, disappointed there was no real drama.

“Come on,” I said, pulling her further into the tunnel, “We’ve got to tell Jay about it.”

“Ugh. You know what he’ll say though. Do I have to come with you? I could try and find some blackberries?” Astra asked hopefully, willing to do anything to not get lectured by Jay.

“Nope, you know his rules. They’re for our own good.” She pulled her hand out of my grasp and sighed dramatically. She plodded behind me and grumbled to herself. I shook my head, brushing my maroon hair out of my face. We continued down the tunnel until we reached the main chamber.

Jay was ordering people around, trying to find a place to put the fallen tree some of the scouts had found yesterday. Astra and I had to weave in between men and women carrying bits of furniture, trying to not get squished or trampled. It was less easy for me to get trampled as I was a couple of years older and a head taller than Astra, but her bright blue hair helped. Eventually, we got to the middle of the action, a raised stone platform of natural occurrence. Jay was on top of it pointing and yelling while trying to balance on one foot. He had hurt the other one by stepping in a rabbit hole the other week.

Astra decided she wasn’t going to wait for the inevitable, so she rushed up to Jay and tugged his shirt, causing him to almost fall over. I followed quickly, holding out my hand so he could use it to balance.

“What are you two doing here?!” He bellowed, causing the whole cavern to pause what they were doing and listen.

“Jay, the villagers chaced me out again. I promise I was really careful and kept my hair tucked away like you told me, but they got suspicious and took it off. Then they grabbed my hand covering and saw the scales. There was nothing I could do except run. One of them even tried to ring the alarm bell.” I said, showing him my now bare hands. Well, bare except for the few sand-coloured scales that dotted my hands and arms. 

Most of us down here had something ‘weird’ about us. All of us had unnaturally coloured hair. My little strangeness was the scales, otherwise I could pass for a normal human. My hair wasn’t nearly as startling as Jay’s or Astra’s. Astra’s strangeness was her shocking hair. It literally shocks you with a lightning-type substance if she’s not paying attention. And Jay… well, his hair is a dark green and he has a speciality for glowing moss. Astra has a speciality for lightning and I have a speciality for shields. If you could call them shields.

“Oh, guys! Really? Now we only have the outer villages left. We’re going to have to start gathering in the night. Ugh! Why does no one trust us? It’s like they think we have a disease or something. Well, that’s exactly what they think, but they’ve never given us a chance! Fine, girls, go back to the girls’ section and check in with Vi. Then you can hang out in the kids’ section until all this is sorted out.” Jay gestured to the bustle around us and then shooed us towards the tunnel that would lead to the different sections of our mountain hide-out.

🛡🛡🛡

“Righty-hoe!” Jay’s voice filled the main cavern, echoing in the still morning air. The commotion of yesterday had died down and we were all awaiting orders for the day.

“I want a group of kids to go into the market of the village on the south side of the mountain, as they have gathered for a big event. There should be plenty of cover and if you are found, run or use your speciality if you can, preferably without hurting anyone, Astra I’m looking at you.” She nervously giggled, everyone remembering the time she almost started a forest fire with her lightning.

“I want some of the adult supervisors to watch and make a perimeter around the village so we can get the kids out of there if there is a problem. Is everyone clear? Right, those whom I have mentioned, please prepare! Next, there was a new bramble patch discovered…” His voice faded as all the kids were herded down a tunnel to get our gear. 

There were two groups of kids, the capable and the incapable. The incapable stay here and play, being the younger ones and all that. Then there are the capable, the older, more mature ones. We got to go on missions, scouting trips, or market raids like this one. This was going to be fun.

I had my hair covering on, making sure I only had a couple of bits of it sticking out to deter suspicion, and my hands were securely covered by two patches of leather. I always wore long-sleeved tunics. I preferred men’s trousers for their practicality instead of the skirts that could trip you up. Next to me were the kids I had grown up with, Astra with her hair covered as well, Nat with mud in his hair to disguise the dark blue of it and Dex, his red hair covered with a bard’s cap. We all had bags and empty pockets, Dex and I had knives concealed in our clothing since our specialities were less helpful if we got into trouble. We were ready.

Our little group crouched in the bushes beside the road into town while we waited for the adults to get into position. When we had the signal, we emerged from the greenery and walked into town. It was chaos. There were people everywhere and through the pressing crowd I could see snatches of dark blue. Uh oh, the Royal Guard. A.K.A. the hunters of the Touched. Hunters of us. 

I made eye contact with Astra and nodded towards the guard standing next to the baker’s stall. She nodded and disappeared, looking for the boys to warn them. I strolled past as calmly as I could, not looking in the direction of the guard. I stopped a few stalls down to look at some fruit on display and suddenly I saw a flash of blue but the side of me. The guard had followed me to the stand. 

“Do you like oranges?” He said, coming to a stop by my side. My heart started racing, afraid that I was as good as caught.

“Um, yeah, sorta, but it’s my family who really like them, I’m just the errand girl.” I said, trying to keep the shake out of my voice. I turned to look at him and he was staring at me with a smirk. Honestly, these Guards think they’re God’s gift to the world. But the strangest part about him was that he was only about my age. Goodness, how young are they recruiting? He was still staring at me, only his smirk had turned into a smarmy smile. Oh no, he must think I’m hitting on him. I looked away quickly, turning some of the fruit over as if checking them for spots.

“So, do you live around here?” He asked, leaning against the stand leisurely.

“Not really. My village is over the mountain but we do make trips up here every so often for days like this. Do you live here?” I asked, trying to get the attention away from me.

“No, I live closer to the palace, in the flatter lands. I’m here on account of several complaints. Apparently, there’s a bunch of Touched running around here trying to steal from the villagers. Can you believe it? They actually think they can get away with passing themselves off for normal people. As if.” He said, rolling his eyes and picking up a fruit. He tossed it in the air a couple of times before paying for it.

“Here, let me cover those.” He reached over me and put three gold coins in the stallkeeper’s hand.

“Remember, be cautious, be safe, be normal.” Then, he dared to wink at me and walked away, calmly peeling his orange. I took the bag of oranges from the woman’s hand and thanked her. I scowled at the Guard’s back, moving on to the next stall.

Suddenly, a cry went up further down the main road. There was a cloud of dust kicked up from the road and I heard a shriek. I rushed over, pushing through men and women to get to the front of the crowd. I broke through the last layer of people and saw a scene from a nightmare. Astra was being held by two fully grown Guards, kicking and screaming to be let go while a disgruntled stallkeeper was shouting at her and calling her a thief. One of the Guards reached down and pulled the cloth covering her hair. It came off and everyone was silent when they saw her hair. One of the Guards stepped forward and addressed the crowd.

“As you can all see, this thief is Touched. That’s why we were called. Our battalion heard of an unusual amount of sightings of Touched so we were assigned to come and protect your villages. We believe there is a group of these vile creatures living in the mountain and we are here to destroy them so your villages can rest in peace.” As she was talking, I had creeped back out of the crown and down a side street, finding a house I could climb onto. As I got to the top, I lowered my centre of gravity partially for the cover it provided but also for the balance. When I got to the house right across from where Astra was being held, I pulled out my bag of oranges.

“This Touched thief will be dealt with back at our camp, about five miles from here. But do not fear! We will have Guards set in this village day and ni-” The Guard abruptly cut off, looking at the ground and rubbing her head. Then she looked up and I smiled and waved. I threw another orange and this time it hit the Guard who was now holding Astra on his own. It hit him in the face and he let Astra go with a shout, clutching his bleeding nose. Astra bolted. There were shouts and screams as she pushed through the startled crowd. Then I saw a flash of blue behind me. I whirled around, another orange raised in my hand.

“And to think I bought you those.” Said the arrogant Guard from earlier. He lunged at me, his sword drawn. Quick as a flash I dropped the orange and pulled out my knife to parry his attack. His eyebrows raised in surprise but he still lashed out at me again, this time trying to get my leg. I was faster and dodged it, stepping on his blade so he couldn’t strike again. I guess all those afternoon training sessions with Jay really did help. At first, he tried tugging his blade free from my foot, but to no avail. Then, he let go of the sword and ran for the edge of the roof. I jumped, and caught his feet, sending him crashing down, about a foot from the edge. I took my knife hilt and bashed him on the head before he could fight and he went limp in my grasp. A job well done. Then I heard louder shouts down the road. 

From my vantage point, I could see three other Guards had cornered Astra and Dex, Dex waving his knife threateningly. I jumped off the roof and ran around the back streets, trying to avoid the crowded Main Street. I saw the wall Astra and Dex were being pushed against but from the other side. I could hear Dex’s high-pitched words, his voice strained with fear. I scaled the wall and dropped down the other side, taking off in a sprint and pushing past one of the Guards. Astra took the opportunity to take a deep breath and zap all three Guards with her lightning. They fell to the ground, twitching. Dex and Astra made a run for it, but I could tell they weren’t going to make it. Four guards were running after them, so I did the only thing I could do: get their attention. 

I made a glowing blue shield appear in front of me, waving my arms and tearing off the head covering I had on.

“I’ve over here! Don’t you want to catch at least one Touched to take back to your controller? Come and GET me then!” I said, trying to taunt them enough so they would ignore the two fleeing, bright-haired Touched and focus on me. Three of them turned to me but the other one still went after Astra and Dex. I figured they could handle themselves, so I raced back the way I had come, trying to find the right house I had been standing on. 

When I found it, I climbed the wall again and saw that the young Guard was gone, but he had left his sword. Probably because he thought it was contaminated or something. I snatched it up and jumped around, getting the attention of all the other Guards in the square. When they started chasing me, I fled through the winding streets, trying to find a way out of the village. 

Eventually, I saw the green tops of the forest and headed for that. I had about twenty Guards on my tail and they were closing fast. Thankfully I knew the forest better than them so I was able to buy myself some time. I weaved through the trees, trying to lead them to the lake where I knew I could get help. I skidded to a stop at the water’s edge, Making the birdlike call that would carry over the water and hopefully to some of the other Touched, warning them about the Guards’ presence. I heard the heavy footfalls of the Guards and braced myself. 

They burst out of the trees, the young Guard at the front. He had a nasty-looking bruise from where I hit him and he had gotten himself another sword. He slowed his pace to a walk, the rest of the Guards lining up behind him.

“Well, well, well,” He said mockingly, “Look who's in trouble now. Guards!” He said, flicking his sword to the left of me. Five broke rank and tried to come towards me but I encased them in an impenetrable, bubble-like shield.

“Careful!” The young Guard barked, “She’s obviously dangerous. Beware of her witchcraft. It might poison you.”

“Yes, Thomas!” The company behind the young Guard replied. I raised my eyebrows.

“Thomas is it?” I said, cocking a hip, “Somehow I thought you would be older, oh Great son of Jefferson. I must admit, it’s a bit disappointing.” Then I flicked my wrist and a transparent dome appeared over all the remaining Guards. That would keep them occupied for a while.

“I have to dash, but I really did enjoy meeting you, Thomas!” I said sweetly, turning around and running through the forest. I took the long way home, trying to be as undetectable as possible. Another mission accomplished. And hey, I still had some of my oranges left.