The Wayfinder's Apprentice (Shadows of the Umbra Book 1)

by K Dezendorf

  In the room were two people Rose had not expected to see there of all places: Jenkto and Jerome.

  They were dressed differently, with Jerome wearing bright red and off-white robes, and Jenkto wearing lovely, deep purple robes with a red sash. They were sitting across the table from Dimitri and Vindo. No one seemed to hear her come in as no one looked up at her, continuing their meeting. The air felt oddly heavy and uncomfortable.

  "I am more than willing to discuss an alliance," Dimitri said. "But we need him to truly assist."

  "I'm afraid to say, there are no ‘ifs’, ‘ands’, or ‘buts’. There's no negotiations," Jerome told him, his voice filled with an authority Rose had never heard him use before. "If you want his help, you know exactly what he wants in return."

  Jerome shook his head, irritably scratching at his hairline. Rose caught sight of a tattoo on the back of his hand, similar if not identical to the one she saw on Macklass. She glanced over at Jenkto, but her hands were currently folded into her arms.

  "I honestly don't know why we bothered coming here," Jerome continued.

  "You know as well as I do," Dimitri said. "We are on the precipice of changing times. We need to act now and unite."

  Jerome scowled. "We’ve already given you our conditions. If you refuse to meet them, then we are done."

  He stood and Jenkto stood as well. They walked over to the wall with the painted door, Vindo hot on their heels. As they drew closer, an uncomfortable buzzing prickled unpleasantly across Rose’s skin. She gripped the tray of food tighter. Vindo placed his hand next to the door and one of the rings on his fingers lit up and the door rippled.

  Jenkto glanced in Rose’s direction for a moment, and her stomach twisted when she saw Jenkto’s pale blue eyes flicker with recognition. Jerome, on the other hand, didn't even notice, walking straight through the portal as soon as it opened. Jenkto lingered for just a moment, giving Rose a once over, her expression inscrutable. Then she turned and followed Jerome, disappearing through the wall.

  The uncomfortable buzzing sensation vanished, leaving Rose with a heavy and daunting weight in her stomach.

  Dimitri sighed wearily. "Very regrettable.”

  “B-before we begin the next appointment, M-Miss Rose has brought food,” Vindo stated.

  "Ah, Rose.” Dimitri’s eyes brightened upon seeing her. “Very good. Please, bring it over. Vindo, can we-"

  "I-I shall put a hold on the next ambassador.” Vindo's body bobbed forward. “W-will you be taking tea with your meal?"

  “Some tea would be lovely, thank you.”

  Vindo bobbed his head again and quickly left the room. Rose was rather impressed by how in sync the pair seemed to be.

  Dimitri released a soft sigh while Rose came over to set the tray of food down. “Please, make yourself comfortable, Rose,” he offered. “I imagine you have important business needing to be discussed.”

  “You sound as though you don’t get many casual visits,” Rose observed.

  Dimitri chuckled, plucking a piece of cheese off the tray. “When you’re in a position like mine, it’s very seldom that visits are casual.”

  Rose bowed her head, already feeling guilty for having to request his aid. “Remember my Guardian? How I said he was killed?”

  Dimitri nodded slowly. “I do.”

  “There’s a chance he might be alive, but just unreachable,” Rose said quickly. “I was told you know someone who may be able to help me find him.”

  "Mayhaps.” Dimitri regarded her for several moments. “When we first met, I got a good look at your Guardian. If I'm not mistaken, he's from the Infernal plane. And it just so happens, that's our next ambassador."

  Rose stared up at him, feeling both immensely hopeful and incredibly grateful towards Edward and his fortuitous timing.

  "He might be willing to assist in searching out your Guardian. If he's there. But the thing is… much like your Guardian, he's a Shade, and he will be more than willing to make a deal, so long as it's beneficial to him." He ate his sample of cheese, then continued. "The higher Shades are very charismatic. And they'll lull you into a situation where you may feel you're getting a good deal, but you're not. So you have to be careful with this one.”

  “This isn’t my first time making a deal. I’ll be careful.” She had to save Kyan. She owed it to him.

  At this point, Vindo walked in carrying a tea tray. "H-here you are, sir."

  "Ah, thank you, Vindo.” The next several minutes were silent ones and Rose was beginning to think that tea time was a very sacred and precious thing for Dimitri. The tea this time was sweet and floral, and it helped to ease her nerves.

  After having a full cup, Dimitri gave a small sigh.

  As if on cue, Vindo walked over to the painted door and placed his hand to it as before. Rose watched the rippling door, waiting for someone to walk through, but didn't see anything. She did, however, feel a rush of air flood into the room. Hot and dry, like she’d been transported to the middle of a desert. Vindo walked over in between Dimitri and an empty chair on the other side.

  "A-allow me to introduce, Galleon of the Infernal plane." Then he went and sat down.

  Dimitri sat there for a moment staring at the empty chair. "Greetings, Galleon. Will you please make yourself known?"

  Rose stared at the chair too but still saw nothing. There was a pause where Rose was glancing back and forth between Dimitri and the chair.

  "She is one of my assistants." Another lengthy pause. "You are aware I have many individuals under me." He continued to stare at the empty chair. "Then out of respect just to me, as you know I can't see you either."

  As Rose watched, the air above the chair shimmered for a moment. Then, sitting in the chair was a very bulky red creature, wings spanning out easily five feet in each direction. It appeared male, with gold piercings running all along his cheek to the side of his mouth. His right ear was partially cut off. On the right side of his face there was a huge scar, and there was no patch but a hole where his right eye used to be. His left eye was pitch black, like a bottomless pit. He had two protruding front horns and two larger side horns. The size of his bicep was the size of Vindo. He looked like he could very easily pick up the table and crush everyone.

  "So." His dark, echoing voice caused every hair on Rose's body to stand on end. "What have you summoned me here for now, Dimitri?"

  "This world is slowly becoming under siege. We are attempting to bind as many forces as possible to prevent further death and destruction and mayhem, not just to this plane, but to all of the planes. Evil such as this is going to venture out. It will go everywhere and take everything."

  The Shade gave a twisted laugh and Rose could feel her blood curdling in her veins at the sound. "You make many assumptions, human. You want our help, what will you give me in return?"

  "An alliance is what I'm trying to form," Dimitri said. "It won't be everyone for themselves. You will aid us, we will aid you. We need to work together to best this foe."

  "You summoned me here to fight your fight. And you offer me nothing. This is rather offensive."

  "I am not offering you ‘nothing’. You will have ties with some of the highest ranking individuals on this plane. Ties that you can call upon for assistance should you have need."

  This seemed to pique Galleon’s interest. “I should like to discuss these ‘ties’ you are offering. What precisely did you have in mind?”

  “Before that,” Dimitri said, looking to Rose. “My associate also seeks possible dealings.”

  Rose looked at him before reluctantly looking up at the Shade. It took all of her effort not to shrink away from that black, one-eyed gaze.

  "I'd like to offer something," she stated, keeping her voice as calm and even as possible. "In exchange for finding someone."

  "You, a lesser human, would ask me, a Greater Shade?" His gaze burned into her. "What is it you're willing to offer to track down this person?"

  "My services." The oppressive warmth of th
e greater Shade’s presence was beginning to get to her. A bead of sweat trickled down her neck, and her throat was starting to feel uncomfortably dry. "I don't have any goods to offer, but if there's something you want, I can get it for you." This was honestly the best she could offer at the moment.

  He continued to glare at her. "Tell me what you want before I decide."

  "I have a Guardian, he ran afoul of something, and now he’s captured. I want to make sure he's still alive and well, and returned to me."

  "You, a lesser human, offer services to me, when you can't even find your own Guardian?"

  Rose's face burned, furthering her discomfort. "Surely there must be something you want that I can get for you."

  He glared at her for several moments. "I will request three things in exchange for locating and returning your Guardian. One, you will bring me the blood of a half Radiant. Two, you will present me with the essence of a broken heart. And three, shall be a favor named at a later time."

  The first didn't sound too difficult, the second, however, sounded vague, and the third was essentially a mystery box that could range from benign to nightmarishly awful. “Can’t we just name the favor right now?”

  “My interest in this deal is waning, human,” the Shade warned. “Do you accept my terms or not?”

  Rose swallowed. Edward said she needed a Shade with clout, he specifically told her to go to Dimitri for this. She didn’t want to risk turning down what may be the only chance of getting Kyan back. She weighed the conditions of the deal in her head. Then at length she said, "Okay. I accept."

  "The offer will be sealed in blood. Are you prepared, human?"

  Rose slowly nodded. Dimitri pulled out a small knife and offered it to her. She took it with trembling fingers and dug the blade into her palm, gritting her teeth as blood welled up and dripped onto the table. Galleon took one of his nails and sliced across his hand, pouring out the blood onto the table. His blood trickled towards the few drops of her blood and they bonded together into a ring encircling a strange shape.

  Dimitri leaned over to her and whispered, "Now you place your hand in the circle."

  Rose slowly placed her hand onto the circle. All the blood in the circle came together under her palm and she felt a burning against her hand like a hot stove. She hissed and instinctively pulled her hand back. She saw the symbol glowing bright red on her hand for a second before it faded away into nothing.

  "I need not fulfill my end, until you've fulfilled the first portion of yours," Galleon told her. "Dimitri will bring it to my attention when you have done so.” He glared at Dimitri. “I tire of this plane. We will continue our discussion another time." With that he got up and his form disappeared.

  The oppressive heat left the room and it felt chilled by comparison.

  "Oh, my dear," Dimitri murmured. "That's quite the offer you made him. You must truly desire to find your Guardian."

  Rose looked down at the floor. "He's been with me my whole life. I owe it to him."

  "It's one thing for him to demand the blood of another. But to leave an open ended request... he can ask anything he wants of you, whenever he wants."

  Rose smiled tiredly. “Yeah, I know.”

  He rubbed his forehead. "I wish I had more power to help you find your Guardian, otherwise I would have prevented that deal if at all possible. Unfortunately, he is the only one I know of who has links to the Infernal realm. If nothing else, if your Guardian can be found, he will certainly find it."

  "That’s what matters.” Rose got up from her seat and bowed to Dimitri. “Thank you for your time.”

  “Before you leave, I do have a question of curiosity.”

  “What is it?”

  “As I’m sure you’re aware, a human with a Guardian, especially of the infernal variety, is a very rare thing. Rather unprecedented in fact. Do you know who gave Kyan to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “W-what he means is that Shade Guardians are usually gifted, u-usually when someone makes a deal with another Shade,” Vindo explained.

  Rose slowly shook her head. It was a question she'd thought about a lot, but not one she had an answer for. “I don’t know. He’s been with me for as long as I can remember.”

  “Very well,” Dimitri said. “That’s all I wanted to know. Feel free to return once you’ve succeeded in your first task.”

  “Thank you, Dimitri,” Rose said graciously, then left the room, her next destination already in mind.

  Chapter 18

  The indoor arena wasn’t nearly as crowded as it had been prior, leaving Rose to wonder if perhaps it was meal time. Vikhail was still there, fighting some sort of lizard man. It only took a few seconds for Vikhail to knock the guy down, so it was either a short fight or Rose walked in towards the tail end of it. Vikhail offered the man a hand up, her fingers glowing with life magic to no doubt help heal some of the bruising she caused.

  “How about letting other people use the arena?” the tattooed male Rose saw earlier suggested, stepping forward. “You’ve been hogging it all morning.”

  Vikhail’s gaze swept the room, searching for the man who spoke, even though he was right beside her. He placed a hand on Vikhail’s shoulder and there was a bright flash and he stumbled back. Vikhail whipped around looking startled.

  “Oi, don’t be sneaking up on me like that!”

  “I wasn’t sneaking up on anyone,” the man said defensively, rubbing his hand.

  Rose stood in the back dithering on what to do. She really wasn’t keen on getting in between the two of them.

  “You’re just all over the place, ain't’cha?”

  Rose stiffened and glanced over to see none other than Granger standing nearby, arms crossed over his chest. “Are you a ninja?” she asked him.

  His face fell into a frown. “What’s a ninja?”

  “Never mind. What are you doing here?”

  “I was gonna ask you the same thing. Did you find Bal?”

  “Oh, yes. Thank you again, by the way.”

  Granger gave a light shrug. “Happy to help.”

  Rose hesitated, then asked, “Did Billy ask you to watch over me while I’m here?”

  “Not him specifically, no.” His lips curved into a smirk. “How did you guess?”

  So if not Billy, possibly Dimitri. “I know it’s a small castle, but I feel like someone of your importance would have better things to do.” She'd always seen him with Lymore, and Lymore was one of Dimitri’s most trusted.

  “I’m really not that important. I just happen to be related to someone who is.” He glanced over to the arena where Vikhail and the other gentleman were still arguing. “Are you considering throwing your hat into the ring?”

  “No, I just need to talk to Vikhail, but she seems preoccupied,” Rose said hesitantly.

  “So, just step up and tell her you need to talk to her,” Granger said, as though it were the most obvious thing. “Here, I’ll show you how it’s done.”

  Then, before Rose could stop him, he raised his voice. “Oi! Fresh meat! Get yer hide outta the ring, I need a word with you!”

  Rose hurriedly turned away, making sure her face was out of sight from the multiple eyes that turned to Granger before looking back to Vikhail to see how she’d react. Everyone in the room seemed to recognize some manner of authority from Granger, because no one was talking anymore. Though Rose couldn’t help but notice most of them weren’t looking at him, intensely staring at their shoes, or the ceiling, or the opposite wall.

  It took Vikhail a few seconds longer to find Granger in spite of the crowd pulling away from him. She stared at him for a moment, then glanced back to the man she’d been arguing with. “I guess the arena is all yours. Enjoy.”

  She exited the arena and the other people parted to let her through. As she drew closer, she took notice of Rose. “I remember you.”

  “Not here,” Rose said quickly. “Is it okay if we go outside?”

  Vikhail looked quizzical, but
she nodded. Rose led the way outside, Granger tagging along with the pair of them. She found a spot far enough away from others where she hoped they wouldn't be overheard.

  “Granger, is it okay if I speak with Vikhail privately?”

  “Sure, I’ll be right over there if you need me.” He jerked his head over towards the outdoors arena, then walked away, giving them privacy.

  “So, what is this about?” Vikhail inquired, shifting her body so that her shoulder faced Rose, keeping her eyes on Granger. Rose hadn’t noticed before, but the taller female’s golden brown skin had a faint metallic sheen in the sunlight.

  “I need a favor,” Rose said, cutting straight to the point. "Would you be willing to spare a vial of blood?"

  One of Vikhail’s eyebrows lifted as she glanced at Rose. "What for?"

  "I mean, if I happened to ask, would you be willing to spare some?" Rose asked, feeling more flustered and embarrassed by the moment.

  "Depending on the reason. If you just want to drink my blood, then no."

  "No, no," Rose said quickly. "Ugh, no, that's not the reason."

  "Look at it from my perspective. A random person asking for my blood, without telling me why, I don't know what's going on."

  "Okay, yeah, fair point." Rose twisted a lock of hair around her finger and looked down at the ground. It was then she noticed, Vikhail still wasn’t wearing any shoes. "I... I made a deal with someone, to find my lost Guardian. They said if I could bring them the blood of a half Radiant, they'd find him for me."

  "That makes a lot more sense.” Vikhail tapped the bottom of her chin with her finger. “Though I'm curious to know who would want Radiant blood. Sounds like some shady characters. Not people I'd want to be involved with." She peered over at Rose. "So you need my blood to find a Guardian. What sort of Guardian are they? I might be able to reach out to someone and find them."

  "He unfortunately isn't from... your side of things."

  "Oh... Oh..." Understanding dawned on her face, then she frowned deeply as she looked Rose over more thoroughly. “I didn’t think you to be of infernal descent.”