Shadow of the Crown

by Amber Morant

  She took a deep breath. The feeling of her stomach rising into her chest was soon to come. If there was a way to get closer to them, she would, but even now it was impossible to climb down even slightly. It would lead to the chance that someone would see her, or they would hear her below.

  Her body leaned forward and within a second her feet no longer touched the windowsill. Anjuu's body was falling toward the ground quickly and would land within a second. From her muscle memory, she reached out with her blades and curled her body up. The wind whipped past her coat, creating flapping sounds like a flock of birds taking off. She rolled behind the men and stood up, her movements quiet enough that it blended with the activities on the street.

  Anjuu lifted her blades up and sank them into the skulls of the two men in an instant. A grunt spilled from both before they collapsed. She tugged at the blades before they both came loose from their skulls. Each was covered in a mixture of red and clear liquids. A sweet scent came from the blades before she wiped them off on the men's clothes.

  "Let's get rid of these bodies before I leave." Anjuu pulled out one of the multitude of vials from her belt. Inside of the via was a dark brown liquid. "Brown Recluse venom extract should be enough." She popped open the vial and poured a little on each of their bodies.

  Where the poison touched, the bodies began to burn and deteriorate within seconds. She could smell the rot of the corpses, but most, who weren't expecting a dead body, would just assume the hotel had a really bad smell in dumpster. That was until someone finally decided to investigate. At that point, the bodies would have almost no discerning parts to identify them. Anjuu corked the vial and put it back onto her belt.

  She looked over to the parking lot where her bike was and saw someone else standing there with a communicator attached to his head as well. His back was turned to her, thankfully. She watched as his head turned toward the direction of the forest and then back to the streets, scanning for something. All of them were still expecting her to come from the forest, none thinking she was already here. So long as the housekeeper kept her mouth shut, she should be fine.

  Anjuu walked over to the elf, taking care to avoid making any loud noises. She was only feet away when she heard someone yelling behind her. She looked around to see another elf pointing at her. He was standing next to the bodies still dissolving on the ground. She cursed herself for not noticing the now open root cellar just beyond and turned back to see the elf in front of her.

  His eyes were wide in fear so that she could see the whites surrounding his earthy brown irises. They wavered and turned to look at his ally behind her and then back to her. He grabbed his gun from his side and pointed it at her. She smiled at him and watched his hands shaking. She recognized this look from other assassinations she had done of men who had never shot their pistols outside of a range.

  Before the elf even noticed, Anjuu dashed toward him. He pulled the trigger, but it stopped halfway because of the safety and she could hear the soft click as she closed the gap. He looked up at her, his fear growing wider now. Anjuu pulled out one of her own pistols from her side and launched at the elf.

  She stopped, one arm wrapped around him, the other holding the pistol underneath his chin. "Next time you plan to use a gun, make sure you know how to use it. Or perhaps, your friends will learn it for you since this will be the last lesson you ever learn," she hissed into his ear.

  Anjuu pulled the trigger. A loud gunshot echoed through the clearing following by the yelling of different people in the area. Whether they were guards, rebels, or regular citizens she couldn't tell. It was time for her to get out of here. Blood dripped onto Anjuu's hands as she watched the elf's eyes go blank and his muscles loosen within her grip. She dropped him on the ground, not bothering to burn his body. It would take too much time and right now there was someone behind her that was going to try and kill her.

  The drow bolted toward her bike. The sound of other's shooting at her filled the air. The shouting grew louder, followed by people with communicators and a few guards wearing the white pauldrons, indicating their jurisdiction.

  She let out a curse under her breath and picked up her speed. She shoved her pistol back into the holster and focused on her bike. If she slowed down even a bit, they would catch her now. Another shot rang through the air and she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder. Anjuu let out a sharp hiss, trying to ignore the burning pain through her body. They had just grazed her with the bullet, but now wasn't the time to stop. The next wouldn't miss.

  Her bike was now in reach, and she slowed down to climb onto the bike. She didn't wait to activate her glasses to help in escaping with the navigation system built in. Instead, she turned the bike on, hearing the loud roar of the engine before launching. In front of her was a large patch of dirt from where the construction company had stopped building. She took a deep breath and dove straight into it, feeling the bumps underneath her. It only lasted a few seconds before she turned her bike, drifting back onto the streets. The heat from her tires burned her legs. It was enough to pull her attention from the pain in her arms that strained to hold onto the handle bars.

  Anjuu turned to look back and saw the people scrambling to figure out how to go after her. None of them seemed to have a vehicle in the area and by the time they got onto bikes or cars, she would be long gone. It made her smile that she had managed to escape death once more. It was too bad she didn't have a mask destroyed to add to her pyre to show the many deaths she had missed as a shadow.

  Feeling comfortable now, she pushed a button on the side of her glasses, turning them on. The glass tinted a slight green before clearing back up. "Destination, Anjuu?" A voice called out from her glasses.

  A small pixie-like figure formed in front of her, just out of Anjuu's main line of vision so she could keep driving. To humor people, scholars had built the glasses with what they imagined the sprites would be like if they had existed and were visible. The scholar’s magic imbued within each device so the wearer could navigate.

  "Know where the ren zhe caravan is? They should be near the mountains this time of year, but I need exact coordinates." The spite nodded and dispersed, leaving a small map in front of her vision with a flashing red dot near the mountains. Her next destination.

  After a few miles of traveling with no sign of anyone following her, save for a few other cars traveling across the countryside, Anjuu pulled over. There was no way she could continue with the pain. It was getting to her too much. The ren zhe would most likely stay where they're at for at least a week before moving again.

  She pulled from her pack a small first-aid kit filled with gauze and some adhesive tape inside. Anjuu pulled her coat down off her shoulder to see the large abrasion. It wasn't too deep despite the pain, thankful for whomever had the bad shot. Next, she grabbed a bottle from inside of the first-aid kit. It was unlabeled, filled with different colored pills ranging in blues, reds, and grays. Each one she had purchased from an apothecary for different issues she would come across. The dark blue ones were pain medications. Anjuu pulled one out and popped it in her mouth to swallow. It would take some time before it kicked in, but at least she could focus a lot more now.

  Anjuu took a deep breath and laid down on the soft grass underneath her. She needed to rest, even for a few minutes. Too much had happened today that she would need to report back on. If it weren't for her own sense of sanity, everything that had happened today probably would have turned her just as paranoid as the queen.

  She reached up toward the clouds, imagining the queen above her now. Comforting her every woe like she had once done when they were both younger and in far more peace than they were now. She wanted to feel Kalio’s touch once more, but that was a wish for another time. Her mind continued to drift for what seemed like hours as she stared up into the sky.

  The clouds above Anjuu started to churn above her, changing shape. At first, Anjuu believed it was her imagination and rubbed her eyes. Despite this, the clouds continued to form into a sol
id mass. At first, she could see the wings form and then the body, until finally she could see the large regal head of a dragon staring down at her.

  "I'm waiting for you, shadow,” the cloud said, as if commanding rather than making a simple statement.

  "Ream? Your Highness? I'm doing your bidding as quickly as I can! Please keep waiting for me, I promise I will return!" Anjuu shouted back at the cloud.

  The dragon didn't reply, instead it vanished back into the sky, resembling the cloud it had once been. Anjuu stood back up. Whether it was a hallucination from the pain medications or an actual message from the queen, she needed to continue her mission now. There was no time to relax.

  Twelve

  The kitsune led Kalio to a small shrine. There were no paths that surrounded the shrine and most of it was shrouded in shrubbery. On the deck that surrounded the shrine were small statues of kitsune, tanuki, and other creatures. Each of them seemed to stare directly at Kalio, as if they were waiting for her to confess to an unknown sin.

  The kitsune that led her stopped. "Go inside, she’s waiting for you."

  Kalio stepped forward and walked past the kitsune. She turned to thank him one last time, but he was gone. Instead, she could see small footprints on the ground where he had transformed back into his beast form and left back into the wilderness. She wondered if he would return to guide her back or if she would have to bring Ream out and burn the entire area until she could find her way out.

  "The trees won't burn," an elderly woman's voice called out from the shrine.

  Kalio turned around to see a short drow woman. Her skin was wrinkled with age, but her eyes were still just as sharp as someone a quarter of her age. The woman, like other priestesses in the shrines dotting Ombramoor, wore a red hakama that devoured her legs. Despite the underbrush, she also wore a pair or sandals and a thin white long-sleeved shirt.

  "What do you mean they won’t burn? Wait, I didn’t even mention any burning!" Kalio’s eyes narrowed in suspicion at the woman.

  "You don't need to say anything. I've been on this earth for far too long and I know the look one gives when they want to burn this place. Trust me, I've had the same look a time or two when I was first trapped here."

  The priestess turned around and walked through the door opening, pushing aside the gray curtains hiding the internal portion of the building. "Please, come in. We have much to talk about before the week is through."

  Kalio followed the priestess to the shrine but stopped as she reached the patio. Smoke was now billowing from inside and flowing out of the door. "Priestess, what's going on?" she asked, refusing to step forward before receiving an answer.

  "Incense child. Has it genuinely been that long since you visited a true shrine that you don't recognize this?"

  Kalio took a deep breath and walked into the shrine. Inside was an empty room, save for two pillows. One sat on a platform that rose the person sitting there a few inches above the person who would sit on the lower pillow. Between the two was a small tea set with two cups. Steam poured from the kettle as if freshly brewed, but there was no indication of any magic being used to create the heated tea.

  The priestess sat on the pillow on the platform and smiled at Kalio. "Sit, child."

  Kalio instinctively obeyed the order and removed her shoes. She then sat on the pillow left for her. Now that she was so close to the floor, she could tell it was freshly cleaned. She tried to laugh to herself at the thought of the priestess having attempted to clean the floors by herself. Whether it was her nerves or more trickery from the priestess, she wasn't sure, but no sound came from her.

  The priestess looked down at Kalio, then grabbed the kettle and began to pour the drink into both tea cups. The liquid was a light green color and held an earthy aroma. Kalio was at least thankful it was just a simple green tea and not something supernatural, like the rest of the forest seemed to possess. During the entire process the priestess remained in silence, her focus solely on the cups until each one was filled halfway.

  She pulled both cups toward her and drank from the one. Kalio tried to reach for hers but the priestess looked down at Kalio and glared at her. Once the priestess's cup was empty, she poured another cup for herself. Kalio opened her mouth to interject, but once again no sound came from her. She bit her lip then opened her mouth back up to yell. Still no sound.

  "Don't bother. This is a time for silence. Until you can learn to find peace, then no tea and no message." The priestess took another sip of her tea.

  Kalio glared at the priestess, wishing she could say something, anything, to the woman right now. No, the woman was here to provide her a message. She needed to find peace within herself now. If her kingdom was going to survive the attacks from the rebels, then her finding some sort of peace counted on it.

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Kalio imagined waterfalls rushing down her body just as she had learned long ago as a child to mediate. Every thought that flowed to her mind drifted into existence and then disappeared once again. How long she was in this state, she couldn't say. There had been moments growing up that her meditations had lasted an hour or two. Before she was awoken from them.

  The sound of a cup clinking in front of Kalio pulled her out of her meditation. The priestess was still sitting on her pillow, undisturbed since Kalio had just seen her. Despite this, the green tea was sitting in front of her, steam still rising from the cup.

  "Drink. It's time."

  Kalio didn’t wait for the priestess to tell her again and grasped the cup between both of her hands. Despite the steam, the cup was still cool to the touch. Whatever this priestess was, Kalio knew she was not a drow. She brought the cup to her lips and took a sip, feeling the heat flow down her throat all the way down to her stomach. She cringed from the heat, wanting to scream out in pain but she still couldn't release any noise. Within a few seconds the pain had subsided. Kalio looked up at the priestess, who seemed unfazed by the heat. Another sign the woman wasn't who she portrayed herself to be.

  The priestess let out a small cough. "Mind focused, child." She put her cup down and from a deep pocket inside of her hakama pulled out a small cloth bag. The priestess opened it and pulled out a collection of small bird-like bones with etchings across each of them. Kalio tried to lean in closer to see what the etchings said but didn't need to as the priestess tossed them across the ground, letting them land in front of the two of them.

  She nodded, looking at each one individually. "I see. As I had believed." The priestess looked up at Kalio. "You don't perhaps read the bones, do you?" Kalio shook her head. "Thought not. This bone," she pointed to the one closest to her, "tells me that someone close to you will betray you. However," she picked up the bone and pointed to another, "they're currently far away and joining with your enemies." The priestess picked up another set of bones. "This is interesting though, as they don’t know that they are becoming your enemy and will be your downfall."

  "Who is it? Who do I need to stop?" Kalio blurted out. She put the hand up to her mouth, surprised at the sound of her own voice.

  The priestess pointed at Kalio's cup. "Drink."

  Kalio shook her head and stood up. "No. I'm done with riddles. Priestess, you will tell me who is planning to stop me, or I will kill you where you sit." She could feel all the energy that she had brushed away swarm back into her body. "Is it Azrael? I sent him to take care of his family and he betrayed me, didn't he?"

  The priestess looked up at Kalio and smiled. "Far worse, child. Here, let me show you. Though your rash violence will not do you any good here."

  The smoke that had filled the room floated toward the priestess. She swayed her hands in the air as if conducting a band while the smoke swirled in different directions. The smoke stopped swirling and then lifted into the air to combine into a solid white mass. Kalio looked at the form, unsure of what it was.

  The form began to solidly even more to show long elven like ears and a cloak. A smile spread across the figures face. Kalio
continued to look at it, it seemed familiar, but she couldn't figure out who it was.

  "Stop the riddles, priestess. Just show me already. I'm tired of the tricks."

  The priestess nodded her head and tapped the ground. The figure looked down at the floor then back up to Kalio. It stepped forward, passed the priestess until it was only a few feet away from the queen. The figure lifted its hand, holding a long blade Kalio immediately recognized. She had seen her carry that blade all too often. It was curved inward and could be used as a normal blade without issues.

  "Anjuu? No, you lie! She would never betray me."

  The smoke took solid form, reflecting a pale white version of the shadow. "I already have, Your Grace." It flipped the blade and stepped toward Kalio, the smile growing more like a demon than a drow. "Please die now, Your Grace."

  The Anjuu-smoke figure stepped closer and put her arm on Kalio's shoulders. Kalio couldn't believe what she was witnessing. She could understand Azrael. Even Mestre she could expect to one day betray her. Not Anjuu. Not the one person she trusted almost as much as Ream. Her chest ached at seeing the truth before her now.

  Kalio tried to reach out to the Anjuu-Smoke person. "My beloved Anjuu. How could you?" Before Kalio's hand could reach the figure, the Anjuu-smoke being took its knife and stabbed it through Kalio's chest. She didn't feel the blade go through her, instead it dissipated back into a cloud of smoke. Still the sight of Anjuu assassinating her caused her to break down and collapse. The figure burst into the smoke from before, leaving Kalio alone in the room again with the priestess.

  "This has to be false. The gods couldn't have forsaken me in such a way? I saved my people, I brought them peace. How could they leave me this way?"