In Solitude's Shadow: Empire of Ruin Book One

by David Green

  “Can you get us a cart?” she asked instead. “I’ll talk to the dockhands, get the lay of the land. But we have to leave for Solitude as soon as we can. Maybe our friend can stop any bloodshed.”

  “And if he can’t?” Vettigan muttered.

  “Then I find my mother and we smuggle ourselves to Octaria or Avastia and we put Haltveldt as far behind us as we can. Zanna and I might have our differences, but I’m not leaving her to face a fight she can’t win. And I think she might be able to succeed where I failed. She might be able to heal you.”

  Vettigan’s shoulders shook. It took her a moment before she recognised it as laughter. He squeezed her hands and departed, drawing his hood tighter around his face.

  “Right,” Calene shouted, turning on the dockhands watching her. “Why so many people? Aren’t you evacuating?”

  The workers glanced at each other, trading confused looks. They refused to make eye contact with her. Before Calene lost her temper, a girl no more than fifteen stepped forward.

  “Begging pardon, but why would we evacuate?”

  “Spring Haven sent word, didn’t they? The army’s on its way?”

  The girl looked like she wanted to dive into the water and swim as far away as she could. Somehow, she’d ended up as the mouthpiece for Adhraas harbour while the burly sailors and dockhands kept their silence. Calene thought about smiling, to calm her down, then remembered what Vettigan had said.

  It’s because your ‘grin’ resembles a lioness baring her teeth.

  “No… I’m sorry. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”

  “The Banished,” Calene yelled, and the girl flinched as she jabbed a finger at the Peaks of Eternity looming in the distance. “They’re at Solitude’s gates.”

  “We received word from Spring Haven,” an older worker said, with a shrug. “The mayor said not to worry. The old Sparkers are telling tales. Politics, they said, that’s all.”

  “You haven’t heard?” Calene asked, shaking her head. “There are thousands of them. Hundreds of thousands. If they break through…”

  “Raas save us,” the man muttered, touching two fingers to his lips, then his forehead. Warding himself against trouble. “No lie?”

  “I swear on my life, friend.”

  She turned, sweeping her eyes across the crowd, all staring at her. Listening. They’d seen her heal a near-dead man. They knew her as a powerful Sparker. In Adhraas, birthplace of the god who had given the gift, that alone carried authority. She just hoped it was enough.

  “All that stands between you and the Banished is two hundred Sparkers! Spring Haven has left you to rot! Take what you can and abandon the rest! Go south, now! Raas be with you all!”

  The man turned and ran. The others followed, the girl included. Calene stared after them, disbelief etched across her face.

  Bells began ringing from the town centre, and she saw Vettigan pushing his way back through the crowd as they fled in rising panic.

  “Calene,” he said. “There’s no droking evacuation. They’re all carrying on as if Blessing Day’s on the horizon. Working, drinking, carousing. Just living their lives.”

  “Not for long,” she said, nodding after the departing workers.

  “But that’s not the worst of it,” Vettigan said. “The army isn’t marching.”

  “Is that a droking joke? Why?”

  “Because the Emperor doesn’t give a drok about anything other than finishing off the elves. Official word from Spring Haven is that Garet and Solitude are playing at politics, and want more coin. The mayor thinks Solitude are facing an army of a few dozen shepherds armed with sheep and pointy sticks.”

  “Arrogance,” Brina snarled, appearing at Calene’s elbow. “They’ll pay for it once hundreds of thousands of Banished come flooding through Solitude.”

  “Janna blind them,” Calene grunted. “The lot of them. Did you get that cart?”

  Vettigan nodded. “This way.”

  “Brina, go with him. I’ll help Tilo with our latest ‘broken toy’.”

  The elf squeezed her shoulder before moving away. Tilo watched the mountains.

  He looks pensive, Calene thought, but that’s his home. He’s never seen it from this angle.

  “Hey,” she said, pointing at the sleeping Kade. “Help me with him?”

  Calene mimed lifting, and Tilo nodded. She gasped as the warrior lifted him like a child, and slung him over one shoulder.

  “Liesh,” Tilo said, slapping Kade on the rump.

  “So you keep droking saying. Let’s go meet this purpose.”

  ###

  It took longer for them to get on the road than Calene would have liked. People packed the streets of Adhraas, jamming the roadways with carts and horses as word of the imminent Banished invasion spread, made all the worse by the fact that she’d started it all. The hours dragged by, testing her already-stretched patience, and afternoon arrived before they’d cleared the bustle of the frantic evacuation.

  “Ten miles to Solitude,” Calene muttered, flicking the horse’s reins, though she understood the cart already moved as fast as it could. “We’ll arrive by early evening. I hope it’s soon enough.”

  She glanced at Vettigan, face hidden by the shadows of his hood. The flash of his old personality had sunk beneath the darkness again, and he’d spoken only in grunts since that morning.

  “Calene,” Brina said, climbing into the driver’s seat beside her.

  She still wore her cloak, but had removed the hood. It felt like the first time Calene could fully appreciate her beauty, after their talk aboard the ship from Colton. The antagonism had faded somewhat, leaving mystery and an eerie longing that Calene had never felt looking at a woman before.

  She has a story to tell, Calene thought, meeting her emerald eyes and thinking of the elves they’d rescued on the road. I hope to discover it. If she’ll let me.

  The elf’s fingers grazed hers, easing the reins from her hands. “I’ll take over. Kade’s awake. He won’t talk to me. Just stared at me, eyes wide. Maybe it’s because I’m an elf.”

  “Thanks.”

  She hesitated a moment, trying to think of something else to say, then hopped into the cart. Kade lay on the floor, Tilo watching him with a slight frown, as if the man were a puzzle the Banished hadn’t figured out.

  “Master Besem,” Calene said, as she kneeled beside him. “Nice of you to make it all this way, but I think you forgot your army.”

  “Politics,” Kade muttered, with a grimace. “You saved me?”

  “I healed you,” Calene corrected. “The Banished pulled you from the water.”

  Kade did a double-take, jaw hanging open. “A Banished? I thought him odd, but… Why is he here?”

  “That’s what we’ve been trying to find out. So far, all we’ve got is one word. ‘Liesh’. Apparently, it’s the elvish word for purpose.”

  “Liesh,” Tilo stated.

  “See? He’s picked up a few common words since. Found him outside elven territory, down in a village near Colton. Basement of an inn, if you can believe it. No idea how he got there. But then, people showing up in strange places seems to be the norm these days. Aren’t you supposed to liaise with Solitude from Spring Haven?”

  Kade pushed himself up onto his elbows. His eyes flicked towards Brina’s back and a shiver ran through him that Calene couldn’t interpret. He busied himself staring at the skies.

  “The Conclave wouldn’t send an army, so I came.”

  “One man?” Calene laughed, glancing at the sky. It appeared darker than it should have at this hour. “Don’t buy it. That isn’t mentioning the seaman who tried to murder you, or the broken ankle you had before you even set foot on his ship.”

  “A friend and I tried to build a militia to take to Solitude. Master of War Nexes disagreed. They want a massacre. Like
I said, politics.”

  Calene nodded. Pieces slotted into place. “We were attacked on the road, but they wanted the Banished. Sparkers, just like us. Well, not exactly like us. They had a new kind with them, called it a Shadow Sparker, and it won’t be the only one.”

  “I feel like we’ve had our heads in the sand all this time. The Emperor’s long planned for this. Like I said, they want a massacre. And it seems they’re well-prepared for what comes after.”

  “So, you came all this way fleeing assassination by your own people too?”

  Kade shook his head. She thought him handsome, in a sad way and if that type appealed. “My son,” he whispered, “Arlo. He’s apprenticed to a woman named Zanna at Solitude. I have to get to him.

  “Zanna?” Calene dragged her hands over her face. “Teeth of the gods, this is too much…”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “Zanna is my mother.”

  “Liesh,” the Banished said. He pointed at each person, as he said their name. “Tilo. Calene. Vettigan. Brina. Kade.” He glanced at Solitude. “Arlo. Liesh.”

  Tilo grinned at Calene. She ignored him, and the fact he’d left her mother’s name from the list.

  “Arlo,” the Banished said, pointing at Brina. “Like elf. Same, almost. Not-same.”

  “How did you—” Kade started, but cut off as the earth trembled. A sound like thunder ripped through the black afternoon.

  Calene spun and looked toward Solitude. She brushed against the Link she shared with her mother. For the first time in days, she felt something other than resolute focus. Anger, fear and panic overwhelmed her mother’s consciousness.

  “The Banished,” she cried. “They’re breaking through.”

  She flung herself to the front of the cart and grabbed Brina’s shoulders.

  “Go, as fast as you can, please! Raas, if you’re listening, save us all.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  SWEET SORROW

  ‘Life, death. Laughter, sorrow. To kill, or to be killed. Black and white. We strive for another way.’ - The words of Raas to Janna according to the holy scriptures. Their meaning, and context, are lost in the mists of time.

  Carnage and confusion followed when the first section of Solitude’s defence failed. Zanna witnessed the mistake as it happened; the Sparkers threw their energies and focus at filling the gap. That left other sections weak, and the Banished had counted on it. The attacks days before, the experimental volleys from their siege engines, had all been building to this.

  The true offensive against Solitude began—arrows, stones, spears and boulders. Anything to weaken the barrier and topple the fortress’s ramparts.

  It worked. The Sparkers’ magic faltered and the barrier blinked out, leaving those on the wall unprotected. Debris filled the air as projectiles crashed into the battlements, explosions of stone killing any defenders too slow to protect themselves.

  Massive chunks of Solitude filled the trench below, allowing the Banished to storm the walls.

  Through the deafening cacophony of their charge, the overlapping explosions and the crackle of magic, Zanna heard the screams of dying Sparkers and the roar of the Banished below. She turned to bark an order at Miriam, the woman she’d known for so long, and saw an arrow pierce her eye. She tumbled from the broken rampart and plunged into the attackers swirling below.

  Another mage, Carron, screaming with fury, pulled in more energy than he could handle.

  “Stop!” Zanna screamed, her warning swallowed by the raging battle.

  Smoke billowed from Carron’s ears as his anger turned to agony. She could see him lit up like a star with her Second Sight, continuing to suck in energy to feed his Spark. Zanna reached out to grab him, palms blistering from the heat where she touched.

  “Carron!” she yelled, staring into his eyes. “Please, stop this! Let go!”

  But he didn’t see her. Didn’t hear her. He’d lost himself in the Spark.

  Carron’s body vibrated, limbs convulsing. Blood poured from his ears as his brain turned to liquid. Tears blurred Zanna’s vision as his screams turned to wet gurgles and bloody froth gushed from his mouth. With a sickening pop, Carron’s eyes burst, black tears running down his cheeks.

  Zanna looked away as he collapsed in a lifeless heap. He wouldn’t be the last Sparker to burn out in the battle for Solitude’s walls. Too much energy swirled around them, danced across the plains, calling for the Sparkers to use it, too much for many to handle.

  Just days before, we said we’d defend, she thought, peering over the edge. Now look. I was a fool to think Garet wouldn’t act when I disobeyed him. He’s pressed us into a battle we can’t win. We’ll all pay for this.

  The Sparkers had followed Garet’s lead, raining fire, ice and lightning into the Banished’s ranks. Bodies piled up against Solitude’s walls, filling the trenches. The attackers climbed on them, using them to support ladders and ropes to assail the ramparts. In other places, they scrambled and died on the rubble from the chunks of stone blown from the top of the wall.

  Zanna realised she hadn’t seen her apprentice for hours.

  “Arlo,” she whispered, snapping out of the daze that had settled on her since Kearn’s death. “This is no place for a child.”

  Garet had ordered her from the highest rampart earlier, but Arlo might have stationed himself there, as a message runner. She glanced up at the tower, bright with magic in her Second Sight.

  If he’s still alive, she thought, Raas make it so.

  A ladder slammed into the ledge next to her. She spun, concentration broken, and before she could act, a surge of air whipped past her to push it away.

  “Don’t just stand there,” a grizzled, old Sparker growled at her. Jasker, she thought. As weather-beaten as the stones themselves. “Droking useless bit—”

  A rock arced over Zanna and smashed into Jasker’s face. It exploded in a cloud of crimson.

  Then, something changed. A subtle shift in the wind. A chill that made the hair on the back of Zanna’s neck spring up.

  The Banished screamed, their wails piercing the battle’s clang of metal and cries of the dying, causing the Sparkers’ magic to falter as they watched. They turned to face the Peaks of Eternity and the menacing colours hovering above them.

  The maelstrom pulsed, ominous reds and greens and purples flickering out. Silence and darkness descended on Solitude as, for a moment, attackers and defenders stood as one and watched the horizon.

  White light flashed, like the strangest lightning, to the tip of the highest peak, and its brilliance tore the sky apart. A deafening rumble followed. Zanna and her fellow Sparkers swayed. Some lost their footing as the quakes reached Solitude.

  “Arlo saw this in his dream,” she whispered, leaning on the battlements, wearied by the death all around. “The sky splitting… What can it mean?”

  The Banished cried as one and charged, and the beam of mysterious light showed them rushing like an ocean toward the walls. Even the non-combatants, who had lingered behind the army for so long, plunged forwards.

  They’d attacked with a calculated plan before. Now they surged in absolute panic.

  ###

  Calene could see Solitude in the distance, wedged between the Peaks of Eternity. The cart ate up the miles, rattling so hard she thought they might throw a wheel. The air shook with the sounds of battle—the pounding of boulders against the walls, the crackle and roar of magic, the screams of the dying. Louder and louder as they approached.

  Even Adhraas would hear it by now.

  “A mile, maybe two,” she muttered, more to herself than anyone else.

  Vettigan sat in the rear, but the rest of her group crowded the front seats, each face set in determination. Brina glanced at her, the strange lights illuminating the sky casting odd shadows across her face.

  “Soon,�
� she said, gripping Calene’s forearm. “Patience.”

  “Why are you here?” Calene asked. “You could have slipped away. Boarded a ship for Octaria, Velen or Avastia. Anywhere. You know we’ll all die, right?”

  Brina bit her lip and glanced at Tilo. The Banished frowned at Solitude, tears in his eyes.

  “Something tells me to stay near him, or at least bring him to Solitude in one piece. It’s my…purpose.” She met Calene’s eyes and held them. “Besides, you’re here.”

  Calene nodded. She felt the same way about Tilo, but hadn’t wanted to admit it to herself. And she fought the sudden heat that bloomed from Brina’s frank words and serious stare. Still, one question stood out.

  The magic he wields. What is it?

  When she gazed at him with her Second Sight, he appeared as any other Unsparked. But he’d done something to Vettigan—performed an aspect of sorcery that she couldn’t—and the way her magic changed when mixed with his astonished her. She braced herself and reached out, measuring Vettigan’s Spark, comparing it to her own. His seemed diminished, and she tasted its corruption, like drinking oily water. Meanwhile, she felt stronger than ever.

  Had Tilo’s power increased hers?

  Without pausing, she swung her focus on Tilo and gasped. The Banished had no essence to measure.

  Impossible, she thought. Everyone has something, even if it’s just energy to draw from.

  She pushed further. She felt the essence now, subtle and pure. He had the same feel as the trees at the roadside, the soil beneath, the horses and the wind. All the same. She’d never felt anything like it in a person before. Nature existed through him.

  Tilo turned to stare at her, as if he’d noticed her prodding.

  Calene went to ask Tilo to perform some kind of magic so that she could see it at work. Before she could speak, darkness devoured them. She heard screams echoing in the distance, then white light erupted on the horizon beyond Solitude. The ground trembled and the monstrous percussion of the Banished’s bombardment picked up again.

  “It’s in the air!” Vettigan yelled, rising to his knees in the back of the cart. “This madness, it calls to me! It pulsates within! Can’t you feel it, Calene? Death welcomes us, and my Spark greets it!”