In Solitude's Shadow: Empire of Ruin Book One

by David Green

  Tilo stood, threw off his cloak and unsheathed his sword. He sang, voice strong yet haunting, a lament filled with grief and rage.

  “Il Renuish,” he cried, lifting his sword above his head. “They come. Death.”

  Dread flooded Calene. She glanced at Vettigan, embracing her Second Sight, and shuddered. The shadow inside him, still ringed by Tilo’s light, writhed. Its blackness seemed deeper than ever, as if the battle ahead strengthened it. Tilo’s barrier pulsated, fighting to keep the parasite contained.

  “Vettigan,” Calene shouted over her shoulder, “that Evisceration changed you, and your Spark. Please, promise me you won’t use it. For all we know, it could kill you.”

  It could kill us all.

  Vettigan scowled, gave a petulant shrug and slumped back down.

  “One thing’s for sure,” Kade said, staring at Tilo with his sword brandished over his head. “If he wanted us dead, he’d have killed us already. Something tells me the Banished aren’t our enemy.”

  Calene pushed against her Link with her mother. She understood their relationship could never work the way it had. Long years of regret, anger and isolation had seen to that. But sensing her alive now brought her relief, and seeing the danger Zanna faced terrified her. Now they were separated only by Solitude’s shadow.

  You’re my mother, she thought, sending her words through the connection, and I won’t let anyone hurt you. I’m coming. Hold on.

  ###

  Zanna staggered up the stairs to the highest rampart, one hundred feet above the plains, scrambling on loose stones as the fortress shook. The Banished hurled themselves at the battlements, any thoughts of safe passage, of preserving life, forgotten. It could only be a matter of time before they overwhelmed the Sparkers on the walls.

  As she opened the last doorway leading to the roof, Zanna froze as wind, cold and ferocious rain assailed her. She could see for miles around, could hear the shouts and screams both near and far. The plains heaved with movement. The Banished dragged their ranged weapons forward as they charged and continued their assault. Solitude’s walls resembled broken teeth, and no doubt dead and dying Sparkers lay among the rubble.

  Garet’s plan had failed. His attack on the Banished who had come to talk in peace had sealed their fates.

  There aren’t enough Sparkers, she thought, gazing around at the mayhem. A hundred more and we could have held. If Garet hadn’t killed Kearn…

  Zanna saw faint lights in the far distance towards Adhraas. Boats moving into the clear seas. The town, evacuating. She sighed with relief.

  She shook herself and focused on her task. The boy.

  “Arlo,” she cried, running up the open flight of stairs to the highest level.

  A dozen Sparkers occupied the tower, several with swords drawn, magical flames licking the steel. In the gloom, the bright-robed magi with their weapons bared looked impressive, but Zanna knew most hadn’t swung a blade in anger in years. Tired and forgotten old men and women were all Solitude had to offer. Still, they’d brandish steel and Spark together until their dying breath.

  Gazing around, she discovered the smouldering husks of those who had burned out. An eyeless Sparker, still on her feet, staggered over the edge and plunged to her death.

  “Master!” Arlo cried.

  Zanna slid to her knees as her apprentice ran to her and gathered him up in her arms. She pulled away and held his pale, dirt-smeared face.

  “Stay with me,” she whispered, getting to her feet and taking his hand.

  She saw Garet, hands behind his back, staring down at the throng below. Ladders and rappel lines bounced off the walls around him as Sparkers forced them back, but more appeared with alarming speed. Zanna strode towards him, Arlo close behind.

  “Garet, you Raas-blind fool,” she spat, slapping him with her full might as he turned to her. He fell to the ground, looking up with shock. She glared at him. “You’ve killed us all.”

  “What would you have us do?” he snarled, defiance etched into his face. “Roll over and let the Banished stampede us? It’s Adhraas next. We have to fight! I have to fight!”

  “If we’d only talked to them—”

  “Drok your talking,” Garet snapped. “Haltveldt abandoned us to our fate. They’ve ignored us for years, and I accepted it. Showed my belly like a dog, because I understood what needed to happen down south, with the elves. All for the greater good. But this battle could prove our worth. Make the Emperor see us for what we really are. The defenders of his Empire. Imagine it, Zanna. Solitude no longer. They would name it Salvation, after us!”

  Zanna heard warning shouts from the other Sparkers and moved on instinct. She seized Arlo and raised a shield as an enormous boulder slammed into the rampart, sundering the battlement and smashing the stone floor to rubble. Groans and wails told her not everyone had reacted with such speed.

  “Are you safe?” she whispered, rolling off Arlo’s body.

  “Apart from standing in the middle of a battle, yes,” the boy answered, with a weak laugh.

  A ladder slammed into the gaping hole in the rampart, then another, followed by more. Zanna crawled forwards as the Sparkers that still breathed picked themselves up. She saw Garet lying nearby.

  “Garet,” she called. “Get up, if you can.”

  The Protector pushed himself up on his elbows with a scowl. When he looked beyond Zanna, his eyes snapped wide.

  “No!” he screamed, surging to his feet.

  For Zanna, it happened in slow motion. A Banished leapt onto the wall, mace in hand. Arlo faced him, small and frail in the darkness. Alone. The warrior raced towards him, weapon raised.

  Then Garet charged at him, and black tendrils snaked from his raised hands. Zanna recognised it. Just as she’d reacted a decade ago, seeing her husband looming over Calene, Garet used Evisceration.

  Isn’t there a better way?

  The black sorcery recoiled from the Banished and melted away, like a wave dashing to spray against a mighty cliff. Garet took an uncertain step back, staring at his hands.

  “How—”

  The Banished lunged and brought his mace down on the Protector’s head in a mighty overarm swing. Zanna stared, helpless, as the weapon crushed Garet’s skull like a watermelon. The first blow drove him to his knees, then the Banished swung again for good measure.

  More attackers reached the walls, and the defenders who could rushed to meet them with swords and Spark.

  Arlo stood rooted to the spot, a small shape adrift in an ocean of fire, destruction and death.

  ###

  “Sure you’re up to this?” Calene murmured to Kade, as they approached the fortress. Sounds of battle threatened to deafen. “You can stay down here. I’ll get my mother and the boy and bring them straight out.”

  “How do you know where they are?” Brina asked, gazing up at Solitude. She opened her mouth to say more, then appeared to think better of it.

  She thinks they’re dead, Calene thought.

  She glanced at Kade, who watched the looming battlements moving closer and closer. Brina whipped the reins, urging the horses on to the verge of collapse.

  “He’s my son,” the man said, full of conviction. “I’ve abandoned him once. I won’t do it again.”

  “Right,” Calene muttered. “Just stay in the middle of us. You’re in no condition to fight. It’s a wonder you’re awake after the amount of healing I had to do. Do you even have a weapon?”

  Kade grimaced. “Threw my sword at someone. Only way I could escape Spring Haven.”

  “Well,” Brina called, pulling the cart to a halt, “we’re about to head into a battle. I’m sure you’ll find a weapon lying around somewhere.”

  The party leapt down, drawing swords in unison. The cacophony above drowned out the sound of the steel—screams of the dying and desperate, the crumbling of the de
fences, the roar of magic and siege. Calene smelled the thick stench of charred bodies in the air. She looked at Vettigan, standing glassy-eyed, sword twitching. Blue flames, tinged with darkness, inched their way up the blade.

  “A massacre,” he breathed. “I feel all their deaths. Inside me. Calling to me.”

  Calene gripped his shoulder. “I warned you. No droking Spark, remember?”

  “You need me. Look at your army.”

  She snarled. “Fine. You stay up front with me. Brina, you and the Banished take the rear. Kade, get in the middle.”

  She turned to face the group. Broken toys, Vettigan called us. We’re here for a reason. Liesh.

  “Wait here while I get my mother’s attention. Then, we move.”

  Calene closed her eyes and focused on the Link with her mother. She sucked in her will, her fear and anger. Desperation and love. She used all the energy that swirled around Solitude—so much, so strong!—and drew it into her, holding it tight. A ghost of a smile flickered on her lips as she thought of Tilo’s favourite word: purpose.

  Mother, she projected, unleashing her emotions towards the gateway in her mind where Zanna connected.

  A gong sounded in her head. Light flashed behind her eyes; she pictured the obsidian wall separating them crumble at her command.

  Calene? I’m so sorry, but—

  I know you’re under attack. We’re here, mother. Outside the walls.

  No! No, Calene. Get away from here. Now! I can’t lose you. There’s been so much death already.

  My thoughts exactly. I’m coming to get you and I’m not alone. The boy, Arlo, too. His father is with us.

  The exchange lasted seconds, but the relief and love that washed over Calene filled her to the brim.

  He’s with me, Zanna replied, the highest level. Through the gate, up the stairs, as high as you can go. Thank you, Calene.

  Meet us.

  We’re losing the walls. I can’t leave—

  The connection broke off as Zanna’s focus switched elsewhere. Calene reached out for her, like groping in the darkness. Her mother lived still, but she couldn’t respond.

  “Pleasant news, I know where they are,” she said, turning to Solitude’s gates. “Unpleasant news, sounds like it’s the epicentre of the fighting. The plan is simple. Get in, get my mother and Arlo, leave. I don’t know what purpose the Banished had, but it’s too late for that now. Brina, make sure Tilo keeps that droking cloak on and his hood up so a Sparker doesn’t incinerate him. They’ve unleashed themselves and we don’t want him caught in the crossfire.”

  “Tilo’s purpose all important,” the Banished grunted, in his broken way. “War happen. Can’t stop. Muir can.”

  “If a droking rock can stop this,” Calene said, staring up at the smoke billowing from the top of the walls, “it’s welcome to try. Follow me.”

  She raced forward, glancing behind her just long enough to see the others fall into place. Vettigan kept pace with her, features grim.

  “Can I count on you?”

  “Death calls to me,” he breathed, reaching the portcullis and opening a door to the tower’s stairwell, “but I can’t let you down. I have to remember that. You’re everything I have too, child.”

  Calene gripped his arm and wished things could go back to how they were. Only days had passed, but it felt like years. Years of running, fighting, hiding from their own people. Years of a wall between them, severing their Link, like a missing piece of her.

  They ascended the stairs, stumbling as the fortress shook from repeated impacts. Sweat poured from Calene’s forehead despite the chill, stinging her eyes, as she took two steps at a time. As they passed a window looking out on the path they’d arrived on, a violent tremor knocked her from her feet. She slammed into Vettigan, who slipped a few steps down and collided with the others.

  As they lay there, she heard voices above. Banished voices.

  “Drok,” Calene growled, pushing herself to her feet. “Get ready.”

  Four Banished appeared above them on the stairs. They paused, taking in Calene’s party. She could see doubt flash in their pale eyes; her crew didn’t look like Sparkers. Her gaze flicked to the heavy mace carried by the leader. She half-turned, about to call for Tilo to reveal himself, and the Banished charged.

  Vettigan leapt in front of her, deflecting the Banished’s weapon with his sword. Sparks flew as the blade and mace dragged across the wall. Calene rushed forward as they wrestled on the narrow, twisting stairwell. The tight space made swordplay awkward and now she regretted not carrying a dagger. Another Banished swung a handaxe at her and she ducked, steel chipping the stone. Snarling, she drew her arm back, ready to strike.

  A hand grabbed her from behind, yanking her out of the way. Tilo danced by, knocking Vettigan back as he raised his sword to deliver a death blow. His hands moved in a blur as he engaged his fellow Banished, grabbing wrists, twisting weapons loose and letting them clatter to the floor, sweeping legs and dropping them to the stones.

  Within seconds, he had the four Banished defeated. He loomed over them, and removed his hood.

  “Tilo!” one of them gasped, face shifting from anger to disbelief to wonder in the blink of an eye. “Ma heran?”

  “Vah,” Tilo replied, pointing up the stairs then back at Calene and her dumbstruck companions. “Liesh.”

  He stooped, and pulled the other man to his feet. Another rumble rocked Solitude. The wasted seconds made Calene’s teeth ache. Tilo embraced his kin, then scooped a discarded sword from the floor and held it out to Kade, who took it but kept his wary eyes on the Banished.

  “Brient gur so, reen.” Tilo pointed back down the stairs.

  The warrior nodded, signalled to his companions and pushed his way past Calene, eyes lowered as he did.

  “What did you tell them?” Calene asked, watching them flee.

  “Tell them run. Tell them we have liesh.”

  “Of course,” Calene grunted. She glanced at her friends. “Come on. And pull your hood up, Tilo.”

  She raced up the last few steps and flung the door open. The furious sounds of battle hit her like a gale. She stood on a lower level, with more stairs leading to the top.

  “Drok,” Vettigan spat behind her.

  Her limbs shook as she gazed around. Solitude had become a ruin. Bodies lay strewn, crushed by rubble or stabbed, bludgeoned, burned in the conflict atop the wall. But the chaos went well beyond the fortress. Smoke rose from the Banished’s plain and thousands of dead filled trenches at the foot of the walls. Hundreds of thousands more, still living, surged towards Solitude, an ocean of blackness sweeping the land below. No details, no faces, just a churning mass of bodies animated by blind panic. How had so many Banished hid up here all these years?

  Looming over it all, the white column of light linking the inky sky to the mountain’s highest peak—defying nature and the gods—weakened her bladder.

  She opened her Second Sight. Tiny beacons of magic dotted the fortress’ lower levels, but the largest concentration manned the pinnacle. She focused on it, brushed against the Link in her mind, and knew her mother fought there. Calene bounded up the stairs and her heart leapt into her mouth when she finally laid eyes on Zanna.

  Her mother fought a Banished, sword against sword. A small boy stood in her shadow, tiny body sagging as he stared out at the Peaks of Eternity and the pure, white pillar rising from it, like he had no comprehension of the battle raging around him. Dead and burned-out Sparkers, dozens of Banished and the remains of Solitude’s battlements lay strewn across the floor. Attackers swarmed the walls from ladders leaning against the gaping holes in the ramparts, and only a handful of defenders remained to meet them.

  Calene wanted to scream to her mother, but knew she couldn’t break her concentration. She felt a surge of pride seeing her fighting without the power of Evisceration, thoug
h it put her life at risk.

  Calene heard heavy footsteps behind her as Brina, Kade and Tilo joined them. She glanced at Vettigan and bared her teeth. “Into battle, old friend?”

  “Wait!” he called, before she could charge into the melee. He snatched at her sword arm. “I can end it all, with the Spark. I feel so full of power! I can stop them in their tracks. Save everyone!”

  “No droking Spark,” she snapped, staring at his ruined face, into his dark, hooded eyes. Just days before, he’d appeared so noble. So caring. Now, he scowled back at her. “I can see the stain inside you, Vettigan. It’s alive, and all this death is feeding it. Fight it. Please.”

  A growl escaped him, then he threw his head back and howled into the black sky. “I can’t, Calene… It’s too much. The power to save you all… It’s right there, within my grasp.”

  Teeth clenched, her old friend convulsed. Dark energy overwhelmed her senses and it came from him, swelling until it felt ready to explode. She scanned him with her Second Sight and saw the black parasite on his brain had overcome Tilo’s light, shattering the barrier, and spreading to fill up the rest of his body.

  “Stay away from him!” Zanna’s scream pierced the din of the battle, drawing Calene’s eyes to her.

  A Banished broke off from the fighting and ran at Arlo, still staring out at the Peaks of Eternity, oblivious to the carnage and chaos. Calene recoiled as the darkness within Vettigan bloomed until it turned overpowering. Maybe she couldn’t save him, but she had to save the boy. She charged forwards to meet the Banished.

  Zanna dispatched her opponent with a pommel-strike to the head and threw herself in front of the boy.

  ###

  Kade followed Calene through the doorway and choked at the carnage spread out before him.

  Please be alive, he thought, gazing at the broken battlements and fallen defenders. Raas, please make it so.

  Then he saw him.

  Arlo. Bigger than before he’d been sent to Solitude, but still tiny and still very much a child. A child whose father never should have sent him to such a far-flung place. To the middle of a warzone. Kade’s heart sang at the sight of him—his son, still alive, within his grasp.