Umbertouched

Book 2: A Rosemarked Novel

by Livia Blackburne

Genres: YA Action & Adventure; YA Historical Fantasy; YA Romance

Synopsis

The mission was a failure. Even though Zivah and Dineas discovered a secret that could bring down the empire, their information is useless without proof. Now, with their cover blown and their quest abandoned, their only remaining hope is to get home before Ampara brings the full might of its armies against their peoples.

As Shidadi and Dara alike prepare for war, Zivah and Dineas grapple with the toll of their time in the capital.

After fighting alongside the Amparans against his own kin, can Dineas convince the Shidadi — and himself — where his loyalties lie? After betraying her healer's vows in Sehmar City, can Zivah find a way to redeem herself — especially when the Dara ask her to do the unthinkable? And after reluctantly falling in love, what will the two do with their lingering feelings now that the Dineas from Sehmar City is gone forever?

Time is running out for all of them, but especially Zivah, whose plague symptoms surface once again. Now, she must decide how she'll define the life she has left. Together, healer and warrior must find the courage to save their people, expose the truth, and face the devastating consequences headed their way.

Release date: November 6, 2018

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Print pages: 384

Sample

You can tell plague guards by their fear. Some hold their sword hilts as if trying to crush them to dust. Others jump at the slightest brush of wind. Still others look fine from a distance, but up close, you see how wide their eyes are, how their gazes jump from bird to grass to stone.

You’d think that guarding a quarantine of civilians would be easier than fighting a battle. I mean, you’re not staring down a line of archers or charging into a wall of spears. But somehow it’s worse. Maybe it’s because there’s no fighting to heat up the blood, or because you can’t kill a fever with a sword. Whatever the reason, every soldier guarding the walls of Taof is terrified, and the citizens pay the price. This morning, a woman strayed too close to the perimeter and ended up with seven arrows in her back.

Which is why I stay low as I creep forward in the knee-deep grass outside the city, cutting as narrow a path as I can through the sharp, scratchy blades. Taof sits at the edge of the northern grasslands, where the plains start giving way to hills and shrubs. A road of flattened weeds and wagon ruts runs past the city gates, though I don’t walk on it—it’s far too easy to be seen.

It’s sundown, and the light is fading fast. My crow Slicewing circles around my head, ready to call a warning if anyone draws near. The other two crows are back in the hills with Zivah. Since the entire empire is looking for an umbertouched man traveling with a rosemarked woman, it’s safer for me to scout alone.

It’s been a month since Zivah and I barely escaped Sehmar City with our lives. A month since Commander Arxa unmasked me as a spy and Emperor Kiran started amassing an army to invade our homeland. We should have returned by now, but instead we’ve doubled back one league for every three we’ve traveled. We’ve gotten lost, run in circles, and huddled, starving, in caves as soldiers camped within steps of finding us. Finally, we managed to get as far north as Taof, only to run straight into a rose plague outbreak. Emperor Kiran’s declared a quarantine, and the river crossing ahead of us swarms with plague guards.

If we don’t find a way through soon, we’ll have to double back and follow the river for days upstream or downstream. Even the thought of doing that is maddening. Every day we lose makes me wonder if this will be the one that lets the Amparan army overtake us, that leaves our kin in Monyar to fight without our help.

“Lies!”

The shout sends a jolt through my entire body. I freeze, then realize that the speaker is too far away to have anything to do with me. Peering over the grass, I see a crowd of people outside the wall dressed in travel leathers. They look familiar. A big, grizzled man seems to be speaking to an official on their behalf.

“Lies,” the man says again. “We’ve been camped outside the city the whole time, and the horse market was across the river from the outbreak. None of us are a danger. If you put us within the quarantine, you might as well murder us all.”

Horses. Now I see the herd of them a short distance away, and I realize why these people look familiar. There’s no mistaking the elegant lines and long silky manes of Rovenni steeds. I had a run-in with this tribe back in Sehmar City. It wasn’t exactly a friendly visit, but Neju knows I don’t wish the plague on them.

I sneak closer.

“It’s Emperor Kiran’s decree,” the minister says in an oily voice. “You must be kept in the city because of new plague laws.”

“Lies. The emperor wants us all dead so he can take our stallions for his army.”

I remember this man. His name is Nush, and he once accused me of being a horse thief.

“Think carefully before refusing a direct order from the emperor,” says the minister.

It seems now that the soldiers guarding the gate all turn to watch.

Finally, Nush speaks again. “Keep us here if you must, but put us outside the walls. If you try to force us in, we’ll fight, and we have nothing to lose.” There’s enough threat in his voice that any smart man would take heed.

I don’t think the minister will bring in soldiers, but I can’t afford to wait and see what happens. Grass bends and crunches under my feet as I hurry away, and soon the ground starts to slope downward. The river is a thousand paces wide, swollen from the spring rains, and the water splashes and froths as it rushes past. It’s deep too, judging from the boats I saw earlier in the day. I don’t know what I’m looking for. An abandoned boat? A secret log bridge? Stone jutting up from the river at convenient intervals? It really isn’t the type of river to ford or swim, even for those as desperate as me and Zivah, and the only proper bridge is currently the centerpiece of the Taof quarantine.

Slicewing caws. I freeze. A lone soldier walks the grass toward me with wide, swaggering steps. He’s not looking in my direction, though, and I duck down into the grass. With any luck, he’ll walk right past. But since we’ve been short on luck lately, I wrap a hand around the hilt of my knife.

As he comes closer, I see he’s a typical Amparan sentry in standard armor. Not as scared-looking as the others now that he’s farther from the city, but I’m not impressed with the way he’s keeping watch. He looks like he’s daydreaming rather than scanning for fugitives. I notice he’s rubbed mud on his skin to look like umbermarks. It’s not the first time I’ve seen someone try to fool the plague that way. Zivah says it doesn’t work.

The soldier swivels his face in my direction. His eyes widen.

Maybe not so much of a daydreamer after all. I tense my muscles to spring.

And then his face shifts. His skin darkens. His eyes grow more wide set, and his cheekbones more pronounced.

My knife falls from my hand. “Masista?”

The man’s face shifts back to that of a stranger. Gods, what was that? I grab on to my confusion and use it to propel myself into the man. For a moment, we’re a tangle of limbs—his neck is slick with sweat, and he smells like swamp mud—and then I catch his ankle with mine and throw him down. He hits the ground with a grunt as I sprint away.

“Halt!” he shouts.

What self-respecting fugitive has ever halted? I double my speed, plunging blindly through the grass. The soldier screams for reinforcements. I flinch as an arrow flies past my head, and I swerve toward the hills. Once I get there, I can disappear into the shrubs, but it’s at least a quarter league away. Hooves thunder behind me now, sending vibrations through the ground, and I bite back a curse, reaching for any last bit of speed.

It’s not enough. I skid to a stop as a soldier on horseback cuts me off, his warhorse kicking dirt into my face. Two other horsemen take their places behind me. That’s the problem with Amparans. They never want to give you a fair fight.

“Halt,” says the soldier in front of me, “or we’ll grind you into the mud.”

This time I halt.

I call myself all sorts of names as I put my hands up in the air. If the Amparans don’t beat me senseless, I’m tempted to do it for them. What kind of good-for-nothing fighter mistakes an enemy for a friend and drops his knife? There are toddlers in my tribe who could have done better.

The soldier who’d threatened to trample me dismounts now and raises his sword. He’s an ugly brute with a scar that makes his eyebrow look crooked.

“Who are you?” he asks. “What is your business out here?”

A sliver of an idea. Since I dropped my knife, that first soldier might not even know I’d drawn a weapon. “Sirs, there’s been a misunderstanding. I was just out to gather wood for our cooking fire.”

“You run pretty fast for someone with nothing to hide.”

It’s not hard to fake a nervous laugh. “I was afraid I’d be cut down on the spot.”

“You might be cut down yet.”

“I’m umbertouched, sir.” I reach for my sleeve, and Crookbrow raises his sword. “I’m just rolling up my sleeve,” I add. “I’ll move slowly.”

He doesn’t relax, but he doesn’t skewer me either.

“I have no reason to fear the plague,” I say, pulling up the fabric to reveal my skin, “but my fellow Rovenni do. We must boil river water if we want any chance of surviving, and wood from the riverbank burns hotter than grass.”

Crookbrow stares at my arm. In the moonlight, it’s hard to see the dark splotches that mark me as someone who survived rose plague and emerged immune, but you can find them if you’re looking. Crookbrow’s gaze moves from my umbermarks to a scar on my wrist. “He bears a Rovenni brand,” he tells the others.

If he were more observant, he would see that my brand is unevenly applied, the work of an amateur rather than a Rovenni elder. But I don’t bring that to his attention.

“Please,” I say. “I don’t want any trouble. Perhaps this evidence will be more convincing.” I detach a small bag from my belt and toss it at the soldier’s feet. He picks it up, his eyebrows rising at the heft of its jingling contents. My fingers curl into claws. It’s hard not to snatch the pouch right back out of his hand. That’s the last of our money, the leftovers of a purse I lifted from a traveling priestess of Mendegi. Maybe this whole thing is the Goddess’s wrath for stealing from her.

Crookbrow frowns as he weighs the bag in his hand. I wonder if he’s going to take the money and kill me anyway, but then he slips the pouch beneath his cloak. “We’ll escort you back to your kin, but if you leave again, we’ll shoot you like any other plague fleer, umbermarks or no.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Truthfully, though, I don’t know whether to be worried or relieved as the soldiers march me back toward the city. On the one hand, they didn’t recognize me. Still, I’m now at the Rovenni’s mercy. A word from them, and this entire charade will be over.

Outside the city gates, some haphazard wooden fences have been set up to form a corral. Several large square tents have been erected inside, and a handful of Rovenni mill beside them along with their horses. I see men and women, young traders and old. Amparan soldiers stand sentry outside the fence. As my guards bring me closer, the Rovenni gather around the gate, looking warily at my escorts and then at me.

The man Nush stands closest to the gate, legs planted wide as if he were still astride one of his steeds. I catch his eye. “I told you it was folly to send me out there, brother,” I say loudly. “Brother” might be too much, but I don’t exactly have time to send a subtle message. “Almost got me killed.”

Nush’s eyes are intent on my face, and his thick beard does nothing to hide his frown. I can tell he finds me familiar, though I’m not sure he can place me.

Crookbrow jerks me toward the gate by the sleeve of my tunic, rattling my bones. “You are all to remain inside this enclosure. Even the umbertouched.”

Nush stares at me, and I stare right back. If only we could send thoughts through our eyes.

Finally, the Rovenni grunts. “Kill this one if you want,” he says with a noncommittal shrug. “I won’t shed a tear.”

The soldier guffaws. “Your friend doesn’t seem overly fond of you,” he says. But he pushes me through the gate and returns to his horse, probably eager to go count his money. I stand next to the fence, painfully aware of all the traders’ eyes on me.

Nush clamps a large hand on my shoulder and pulls me toward the center of the enclosure. “Good to see you safely back, brother.” His arm is so heavy it’s a wonder I don’t sink into the ground. He steers me between tents until all Amparans are blocked from view, then whips me around to face him. “Who are you? I’ve seen you before.” He furrows his eyebrows again, and a flicker of recognition flashes in his eyes. He grabs the lapel of my tunic and yanks me closer. “You’re the umbertouched horse thief!”

I grab my tunic to keep the fabric from choking me. Do I look like a good target to push around? I used to cut a more intimidating presence. “I never stole any horses from you.” I pick my words carefully. Even though I never stole their horses, I did steal something else. To be fair, I was in some pretty desperate circumstances at the time.

Nush’s eyes flicker down to my wrist. “What is...” He grabs my arm and then runs his fingers over the brand. It tickles when he brushes the edge of the scar tissue. Comprehension dawns on the Rovenni’s face. “Why, you scoundrel,” he says. He holds my arm up for all around him to see. “This is the man who stole our branding iron,” he says.

I grit my teeth as murmurs sound all around. Everyone stares at me, and not in a friendly way. I cringe to think how far Nush’s voice might have traveled.

I step closer to him and lower my voice. “I can explain. And I can be useful to you. Just hear me out.” I don’t actually know how I’d help them, but I’ll say anything at this point.

Nush’s gaze doesn’t soften. “Our brands are legacies from the founders of our tribe. Our men and women train for years in horsemanship to make themselves worthy of the mark. It’s core to everything that makes us Rovenni, and you stole the iron as if it were no more than a horseshoe.”

I have a feeling that more lies will get me killed. “You’re right. I did steal your brand. I was a spy in Sehmar City and needed it to throw Arxa off the scent of who I really was.”

There’s a brief silence as Nush puts together my words. “You’re the Shidadi spy the emperor has been trying to capture.”

Disconcerting how quickly he figured that out.

“Where is the healer you travel with?” he asks.

“She’s in a safer place than this,” I say. “But there’s no need for us to be enemies. I know you have no love for the empire. I can help you get out of the quarantine.”

The Rovenni man snorts. “Help us? You’re locked in here just like we are. You have no weapons and no horse.”

“I can help in other ways. Not all weapons are made of wood and metal.”

“You Shidadi might have a fearsome reputation, but you think too highly of your skill if you think one man can make a difference.”

I wrack my brain. “My companion the healer has some...unconventional tools. She’ll be able to help you.” Prove me right, Zivah. “We also stole a Rovenni stallion from the palace stables. You can have him back.”

Nush’s fingers spasm around my wrist. “You have Natussa?”

“If that’s the name of the roan stallion the emperor forced you to sell to the army, then yes.”

A change comes over Nush at the mention of that horse. Now he looks at me as if I’m a bug to brush away, rather than a bug he wants to squish. “Say your friend can help us. That means we’ll be raising arms against the empire’s soldiers. We’d become fugitives.”

“You can’t avoid it,” I say. “Kiran’s already forced you to sell your breeding stock to the army, and you know he’s trying to sicken your people. Unless you want to hand over your life’s work and the legacy of your ancestors, you’ll have to start fighting him soon, whether you want to or not.”

Murmurs erupt around us again. I hadn’t realized that the others had come closer.

“Help never comes free,” says Nush. “What do you want from us in return?”

This I can answer. “Create enough of a distraction so Zivah and I can cross the river without being seen. Help us flee north to Monyar.”

Nush glances around at the others. Perhaps what he sees is encouraging, because he looks back at me. “Tell us more about what your healer friend can do.”



I clench my fists, my eyes fixed on the torchlight dancing far below my hiding place. It’s too dark and I’m too far above the plains to see the people involved, but it doesn’t look good. Slowly, the flames travel in a ragged line toward the city. Will they kill Dineas, or will they take him prisoner?

Now the torches turn toward a corral outside the city—a Rovenni encampment, judging by the horses I saw when it was still light. My snake, Diadem, senses my alarm and hisses, tightening her grip around my arm. On my shoulder, Scrawny the crow flutters his wings, while his wingmate Preener caws curiously from a branch above. I run my fingers through Scrawny’s feathers. “Why would they take Dineas to the Rovenni?”

Perhaps it hadn’t been Dineas they’d captured after all. Perhaps he’d convinced them he was one of the horse traders. If he’s safe, he’ll find some way to send me a message. If he’s not...

“We’ll give him until morning.” The crows show no sign of hearing me.

Scrawny resumes poking his beak through my hair. I hope it’s for leaves and dust, rather than anything living. That thought makes me shudder, though, after weeks of travel, I wouldn’t be surprised if he found something. I rub anxiously at the dirt on my arms. My bones are sharp beneath my skin, and my skin sports scratches and bruises on top of my rosemarks. I wish, not for the first time, that Dineas and I could fly across the continent like the crows. Perhaps then, we’d be back home by now, helping our people prepare against the upcoming invasion. It’s been months since I’ve had any news of my family back home: Leora, now a married woman, Alia, with her constant chatter and impish smile, and my parents, who must be desperate to know how I am. I wonder if I’ll see them again. I have to believe that I will.

On my arm, Diadem gradually relaxes, though her tail flicks when Scrawny’s wing beats encroach into her space. She hadn’t welcomed Scrawny’s company at first, but after a few weeks, the crow’s persistence had worn her down. Now the two of them coexist, if not in a completely friendly manner, then at least in a civil one. Perhaps they take their cues from their humans.

A soft flutter sounds above me, and my heart quickens as a third crow—Slicewing—touches down in front of me. Slicewing, who was with Dineas. There’s a parchment tied to her leg.

Thank the Goddess.

Quickly, I untie the message. I’m barely able to make out Dineas’s scrawl in the moonlight. We’ve written enough notes by now that I decode the cipher in my head.

Rovenni will help us cross river if we help them escape. Can you make potions?

I fold the note between my fingers, relief warring with incredulity in my chest. He’s alive, and the empire doesn’t know he’s here. For that, I send up a quick prayer of thanks. But is he really depending on my potions to save us? We’ve been on the run for a month. I’ve nothing but the clothes on my back and the animals with me. And despite what Dineas might think, I cannot mix potions out of moonlight and dirt.

I rub the bridge of my nose, where a light but insistent headache lingers. “What do I do?”

Scrawny fluffs his feathers in what I imagine could be a bird shrug.

I look at the shrubs around me, scouring my memory for herbs I glimpsed on our journey here. In my pouch, I have sweetgrass for stomachaches and puzta flower for wounds—proper healer’s tools from the plains, but nothing that will get someone past a guard. My three remaining blowgun darts are dipped in sleeping potion, but I’d need five different ingredients to make more, none of which are native to this area. There’s nothing I can forage out here that can help me.

Dineas’s note was short, but I can guess much of what he didn’t say. He’s out of immediate danger, but not for long. It’s only a matter of time before someone recognizes him.

I look back out toward the city. If the quarantine is set up like most Amparan quarantines, they’ll have cleared out one corner for the actively ill. There will be healers there, with stocks of useful herbs.

I turn to the birds. “Would you like to come on a mission?”

The climb down the hill is tricky in the dark. Bushes catch at my tunic, and small, spindly trees gouge yet more scratches across my hands and face. Diadem hisses once or twice when a wayward twig hits her, while the crows circle impatiently overhead. Our Rovenni stallion is tied near the bottom of the hill and huffs at my approach. I give him a quick pat and promise to return soon.

A year ago, I would have never thought myself capable of sneaking around in the dark, dodging Amparan soldiers in an unfamiliar land. The past months have changed everything, but still, my blood pounds in my veins as I leave the safety of the hills. Once in the open grassland, I set the crows to scouting. A chill wind stirs up strands of hair that have escaped my braid. The soldiers are concentrated toward the river, but these grasslands are still too exposed for comfort. I feel for the blowgun at my waist, reassuring myself that it’s still there.

Taof is surrounded by a low earthen wall, barely higher than my head. It’s easy enough to find the area they’ve set apart for the fevered. There’s no hint of the shuffles, clinks, and murmurs you’d expect to hear over a city wall at this time of night. I’m alert for guards as I approach, but I don’t see any outside the walls. They’re probably all stationed inside to keep people from fleeing. No one in her right mind would try to enter the quarantine.

I stand on tiptoe to peek over the walls. The street on the other side is empty except for an umbertouched soldier patrolling its length. Farther down the road, several domed tents are set up. A few look like living quarters for healers, but there’s a larger one that’s likely for supplies. I whistle quietly for the crows and point over the wall to the tent.

“Fetch,” I say. They take wing. I let out a long breath through my mouth.

A few moments later, Preener drops a beaded necklace in my hand.

“It’s beautiful, Preener, but that’s not really useful.” He snatches it back and manages to toss it into the air so it drapes over his wings.

Slicewing comes back with bukar root, a fever reducer. Scrawny gifts me a grimy washcloth.

I hold up the bukar root. “Something more like this.” ­Slicewing plumps her feathers as Scrawny wilts.

After the crows take off again, I hear footsteps on the other side of the wall.

“I see they set up the big tent,” says a young man. “Guess he’s coming after all.”

“You know he likes his comforts,” says another.

The first one snorts. “Someday, when I’m a renowned rose plague physician from the Imperial Academy, I’ll have tapestries in my tent too.”

My breath catches.

His companion snorts. “You’ll be lucky to become the mayor’s chamber pot inspector, the way you shirk your duties.”

There’s only one rose plague physician from the Imperial Academy....

The crows land in a flurry of wings. Slicewing brings the same root again. Preener brings dried vel flower, and Scrawny brings a fuzzy leaf. When I break the leaf in half, a milky liquid with a cloyingly sweet scent oozes out.

I rub the sticky sap between my fingers. This might do, aged in sunlight and snake venom, though my master, Kaylah, wouldn’t like me using it this way. The knowledge given to us by the Goddess is not to be abused. Your potions are to be used only to heal. It’s been six months since I left Monyar as an idealistic young healer, and two months since I ripped my healer’s sash in shame for having broken too many vows to be worthy of it. I’ve broken more vows since then, though the guilt doesn’t get any less.

“More of this,” I say to the crows. “Bring me much more of this.”



The next day, all three crows come into the Rovenni encampment with small packets on their legs. Slicewing bears a note as well.

Smoke is an emetic. Don’t kill.

And then on the next line...

Baruva is here. We can’t leave yet.

I read the last part several times before I can fully believe it. When Zivah and I were in Sehmar City, we learned that Emperor Kiran had intentionally infected his own troops with rose plague so he could cast the blame on our people. Baruva was the healer who’d helped him. We had to flee the city before we could find proof of their guilt, but if Baruva’s here, it might give us a second shot.

Of course, that would mean giving up our chance to flee with the Rovenni.

I write a note back to Zivah. Do you want to stay?

Time goes slowly as I wait for a reply. And when it comes, the handwriting is shakier than usual. We must.

If we stay, who knows how many days we’d lose. From what we’ve heard, the Amparan army left Sehmar two weeks behind us. It marches more slowly than two fugitives on a stallion, but we’ve also had to double back. I try to guess how many days we have to spare, but there’s just too many unknowns. I suspect Zivah’s right about staying, though. If we can find evidence that Kiran raised his hand against the empire’s own troops, it would discredit him completely. And discredited emperors have a hard time waging wars.

I write her back: Meet me at the quarantine wall when the Rovenni run. I hope I don’t live to regret this.

Upon closer inspection, Zivah’s sent us bundles of leaves with some kind of milky white paste on the inside. They smell like something that’s been dead a week.

Nush coughs and makes a face when I show him. “What is that foul poison?”

“Something that should incapacitate the guards quickly and quietly. But you have to swear to keep them alive.”

“Why?”

I shrug. “Healer’s vows. I don’t understand them either.” The answer’s enough to satisfy Nush, though my words set me to wondering how well I really know Zivah these days. Back in Sehmar City, the other version of me had been close with her. Would he have understood?

We make plans over the course of the day, taking care to keep every conversation short and out of sight of the Amparan guards. The Rovenni pick their best fighters. Then there’s nothing to do until sundown.

I’m restless as the sun crawls across the sky. Nush and the others keep busy tending their horses and packing what belongings they can without raising suspicion. Meanwhile, I have nothing to do except torture myself over my capture last night. I still can’t make sense of what happened down by the river, how that soldier’s face shifted into that of my friend from the Amparan army. Right before we escaped. . .