In Solitude's Shadow: Empire of Ruin Book One

by David Green

  Except that Arlo seemed there in body only. He stared at the distant mountains, paying no heed to the Banished moving to cut him down. A Sparker, exhaustion etched into her features, screamed and threw herself forward, but Kade knew she wouldn’t make it in time.

  “Arlo!” Kade cried. He hurled his sword, like when he’d confronted Nexes.

  This time, he didn’t miss.

  The blade cut through the air, past Calene who raced to meet the Banished, straight through the attacker’s throat. The warrior flew backwards as another surged forward in his place. This time, Calene met him, their swords ringing against each other.

  “Vettigan, no!” the Sparker, Zanna, screamed.

  Kade saw the old Sparker with his head thrown back, eyeballs rolling to their whites in his head, tongue lolling.

  Fear and disgust etched into Zanna’s face as she stretched her arms towards Vettigan. Kade glanced at Brina, who appeared paralysed with indecision, head twisting between Calene and Vettigan.

  “I need to protect my son,” Kade whispered, taking a step toward Arlo.

  Something heavy crashed into him from behind and knocked him to the floor.

  ###

  Zanna felt the terrible energy building up within Vettigan. It eclipsed everything atop Solitude’s walls.

  She knew that Calene stood over Arlo, fighting a Banished warrior for his life. She knew that Kade had arrived for his son, that an elf and a Banished stood as part of Calene’s party, but Vettigan stole her focus.

  With her Second Sight, she watched a black shadow pulsating inside him, then forcing its way out. Tendrils of oily darkness oozed from his ears, eyes, nostrils and throat. It writhed, alive, and it called to her. She sensed its power, and the invading presence seemed to respond to her. Her Spark far outstripped Vettigan’s. It whispered to her.

  She knew she could call on the miasma, take possession of it, use it to vanquish the Banished and wreak exquisite death on anything or anyone that attacked her.

  “No…” Zanna whispered, glaring at the shadow. “You can’t tempt me. I am beyond you.”

  The parasite swirled in response, billowing larger as Vettigan lurched, arms rising skyward, fingers curling into claws. It pulsated around him, holding shape but quivering like a dam ready to burst, but still it drew more to it, feeding on all the death, agony, rage and desperation surrounding them, almost reaching breaking point.

  “Shield yourself!” Zanna cried, her face coated with blood and sweat.

  She raised her magical barrier, hoping Calene heard her and reacted in time. She threw herself at Vettigan as the hooded Banished shoved past Kade and the elf and lunged at Arlo, covering him with his body. She felt Calene’s Spark, strong and bright, and realised with relief that she had heard the warning.

  Vettigan howled—a scream filled with fury, pain and madness. A wave gushed out from him, oozing tendrils snaking out towards Banished and defenders alike. He had no control over it. The shadow wanted only one thing.

  Death.

  Zanna’s shield reached Arlo and the Banished, just as the tide of shadow hit.

  Lightning danced inside the pulsating darkness as it caught the mass of bodies atop Solitude’s walls and swept them from the ramparts like a tidal wave, carrying them down into the chaos below. Wind howled around them, pelting them with ash and bloody rain. Zanna clenched her teeth and dug her toes into the stone as the impact rocked her backwards. She saw the Banished slipping towards the broken edge, Arlo clung to his chest.

  Her shield lessened the initial assault—she heard the screams of the unshielded Sparkers and Banished as the shadow hit them, smelled their flesh burn as the lightning seared them—but the evil battered at her protection. It wanted her soul, to feed on her Spark until nothing remained, and it wouldn’t stop until it succeeded.

  Calene crawled towards Vettigan, clinging to her own magical shield. The Banished she had fought had turned to a fused puddle at her feet as the darkness ate every scrap of life in what had once been its body. She still clutched her sword and aimed it at him, her oldest friend, who just cried with mad, howling laughter.

  He pulsated in Zanna’s Second Sight. The death the miasma caused added to his strength, his Spark, but he could only hold so much. Soon, he’d burn out and take everyone on the rampart with him. In fact, a power like that might wipe out every soul on the plains below once untethered from Vettigan’s body.

  It had ended the battle, but it wouldn’t stop until they were all dead.

  Kade fought to get to his feet, inching towards Arlo, when a gust of hellish wind swept him up and slammed him into the elven woman. They crashed into the far wall and Kade flipped over it. The elf reached out in time, grabbing his arm as he hung over the side. The wind lifted him horizontal, threatening to hurl him all the way to Adhraas. The woman clung to him with all her strength, screaming through gritted teeth.

  Zanna heard those screams. And she heard the cries of the dying, the wounded and the terrified. She felt the fading embers of hope from those around her as Vettigan’s dark magic oozed over the ramparts and spilled onto the Banished below.

  All this death, she thought, but there’s always another way.

  She stared at Calene. How she’d longed for this day, to gaze upon the daughter she hadn’t seen for ten years. When she’d grieved alone for what she’d done to her husband, for what her actions had meant to their child, she’d yearned for one more chance to tell her she loved her, that she hadn’t meant to hurt her.

  Zanna looked at the woman her daughter had become without her—brave, strong, capable. A woman who fought for her friends. Vettigan, Kade, an elf, a Banished… All to stop this mindless destruction and rescue her and Arlo.

  She regretted the time she’d wasted—the moments they’d never have, never share—but shoved it aside. Instead, she focused on the memories that comforted her during the long nights alone in Solitude. The times when she taught Calene to read, her daughter’s endless curiosity as she asked questions about Raas, Janna, and the Spark. Her kind soul, when she always insisted that another way existed, that their gift wasn’t just a weapon.

  Pride surged in her chest, and she threw her focus to Calene for a second. Her daughter glanced at her, and their eyes met.

  I love you.

  Zanna let her shield fall and allowed the energies swirling around Solitude to flow into her.

  Always.

  ###

  Tears stung Calene’s eyes as her mother’s words rushed through her. The weight of emotion staggered her and, in a moment of horrifying realisation, she knew why.

  She’s saying goodbye.

  Still struggling towards Vettigan, she flung her arm out to Zanna, as all the words she hadn’t spoken ran through her mind. The regrets, the anger, yes. But the warmth she felt for her, the excitement at seeing her again too. She wanted to tell her that she forgave her, wanted to fall into her arms and be held, the way her mother had held her years before. To feel safe, loved and protected in a way only her mother could make her feel.

  Right then, Calene knew those things and more would remain forever unsaid. She wanted to fall to her knees, to scream them out, but she had to reach Vettigan. Stop him before he killed everyone.

  Calene tried to send a message back, one she hoped would carry through the maelstrom, but her Link told her Zanna’s focus had turned elsewhere.

  Her body transformed into a bright light against the darkness. Calene saw the air around her dance with energy as it flooded into her, like moths racing to the only flame for miles around. She flung her arms wide and lifted off her feet, enveloped in the purest Spark Calene had ever seen.

  Into the howling maelstrom, she cried, “I love you.”

  ###

  And Zanna heard her, cutting through the chaos, urging her on in this final act.

  Not enough, Zanna thought, willi
ng more energy into her body. Then, she remembered the words of her daughter, the same ones she told Arlo days earlier.

  Magic is a partnership. It’s so simple once you figure that out.

  Partnership meant trust. It meant understanding. It meant mutual surrender. She couldn’t use the Spark. She had to work with it. She relaxed and let her senses expand. She discovered flame and water, life and death, destruction and hope. Creatures burrowing beneath the earth, and some flying, high in the sky. Zanna experienced regret and rebirth, but still she sent her senses out further. Something called to her, that curiosity lingering in the tallest spire of the Peaks of Eternity. The presence she’d noticed earlier when she met Kearn before Solitude’s gates, older than the stones of Solitude, even than those of the mountain that housed it.

  The rock. The Lodestone Arlo had rediscovered. It welcomed her, embraced her, and fed its energies into her.

  Surrender doesn’t mean defeat, child. There is always another way.

  The voice reverberated in her mind, calming her even as it filled her with strength. The gods spoke to her.

  Raas?

  I see you. I have always seen you, daughter. Open yourself. Trust in me and I shall guide you. Your goals are noble, fitting for one with your gift. Surrender.

  Zanna smiled, opened her eyes and let the Spark flow through her.

  ###

  “How are you doing this?” Calene cried, staring at her mother, astounded by her power.

  No one could hold so much but she knew the answer. A green column flowed from the distant mountains into Zanna, just like when Tilo had aided her with his song. The Banished’s magic seemed a stream compared to the ocean pouring from the Peaks of Eternity.

  She fought her way to Vettigan, but the wind grew stronger, the storm of darkness a torrent, with only Zanna’s light illuminating them. His eyes stared, but what he saw Calene couldn’t guess. She had to end this, before he fumbled what little mastery of the dark magic he had, burnt out and took this whole chunk of Solitude with him.

  If—when—he lost control of that evil, who knew how much more destruction it would cause on the Banished below and any Sparkers who still lived?

  She glanced again at Zanna, squinting through the gale, the dark shadow beating against her shield. Her mother floated above the rampart, the murderous miasma curling away from her, the green now emanating from within.

  She should have gone supernova, Calene thought, inching forward, but she’s getting stronger. How long can she do this alone?

  “No,” she growled to herself, teeth gritted. “She doesn’t have to do it alone.”

  Careful not to drop her shield, Calene drew on her own energy, her essence, and let it out into the blizzard of energy. Just a slither, but she imbued it with the unspoken feelings she had longed to voice—her love, pride, and strength. A smile broke out across Zanna’s serene face.

  She feels it! Calene laughed, tears wetting her cheeks.

  Her mother’s gentle touch caressed her as she accepted the sacrifice and, at that moment, Calene comprehended the magnitude of her mother’s actions. The energy she pulled into her body, the light she held, and more. For a second, she noticed another presence, ancient and vast. A guiding hand for a true believer.

  Calene laughed, falling to her knees, but her joy turned sour. As she gazed at her mother, inching forward, she saw a shape materialise out of the gloom. A boulder the size of a townhouse hurtled towards them, moments away with no escape.

  The Banished, trying to end the threat of the darkness that promised to consume them all.

  “We’re droked. Damn you Raas, and your rotten, stinking teeth.”

  Helpless, she stared at the ruins surrounding her, the corpses by her feet. At Vettigan, still howling with mad laughter and boiling over with dark malice. At Tilo, huddled over Arlo, protected by Zanna’s shield but sliding towards the edge. At Brina, holding onto Kade for dear life as he hung into empty air, the wind pulling him from her grasp. At her mother, that shining beacon bright against the darkness.

  Calene closed her eyes, and wished she could have hugged Zanna one last time, could listen to her sing again. She wished she knew for certain she’d heard when Calene told her she loved her.

  The boulder slammed into Solitude, the stones exploding beneath her feet. Calene flew forward, saw Kade fall from the wall, dragging Brina with him. Spinning as she fell through the air, she saw Tilo topple too, spilling over the side with Arlo in his arms.

  Her motion stopped as time slowed to a crawl.

  Vettigan’s spell winked out with a sudden rush of air and a pop. She didn’t fall through the air like a rag doll anymore. Instead, an unseen hand lifted her. Calene recognised the feeling—a bubble of protective magic, like the ones her mother used to create for her to practice her Spark. Vettigan floated beside her, unconscious, the stones of Solitude falling away beneath them, crumbling as the boulder obliterated the tower.

  She gasped and watched as Tilo and Arlo floated above the Banished army, while Kade and Brina drifted on the other side, saved from their fall. The same bubble that caught her held them and slowed their motion. She laughed, tears in her eyes.

  Other Sparkers lifted from the lower ramparts, too. Calene embraced her Second Sight and saw luminous green bubbles, the same colour that emanated from Zanna, surrounding them, lifting every living soul from Solitude’s walls, protecting them. It all happened in the space of a second, but to Calene, time stretched. She looked at her mother, who gazed back, face full of beauty and warmth.

  There’s always another way, Zanna’s voice projected in her mind, as she pushed out with her arms.

  As Calene floated backwards, she saw the Banished’s siege weapons crumble on the plain below before she sank out of view.

  Thank you, my child.

  The light in her mother burst outwards, turning Calene’s vision white before she could raise a hand to protect her eyes. She felt herself landing on the soft ground as the earth cracked and groaned around her. Then she faded into darkness.

  ###

  Calene blinked. White spots danced in her vision. She reached out and felt a body lying beside her. Running her hands across it, her fingers came across a familiar beard.

  “Vettigan?” she hissed. “Can you hear me?”

  She lowered her head to his chest and relaxed when she heard a heartbeat.

  “Brina?” she called, lifting her head. “Kade? Anyone?”

  Wind whistling through the trees answered her. She rubbed her eyes and peered at her surroundings.

  “Drok…” she muttered, heart lurching up her throat. “Raas have mercy.”

  Solitude had disappeared. In its place lay a wide canyon, severing the Banished from Haltveldt and the south. Across the gap, Calene saw them milling around, picking themselves up, tending to the wounded and the dead. Confused yells mixed with disbelief drifted across to her. She opened her Second Sight and spotted several beacons of magic on her side of the ravine. Sparkers, safe and sound, though she reckoned less than thirty had survived.

  She gazed across the canyon, and her Second Sight picked up another beacon. A child, but one with strength she’d never seen in one so young, his Spark so immense it staggered her that she hadn’t noticed it before. She closed her eyes and focused on it.

  Something tugged at her Sight, a familiar presence next to the beacon. A presence with life and nature flowing together as one. Tilo.

  Calene scanned her surroundings, wondering where Kade and Brina had landed, hoping they’d stayed safe, but she could see no sign of them. She worried what her fellow Sparkers might do if they stumbled upon an elf.

  You saved us, mother, Calene thought, and you found another way. The Banished will still cross, but now we’ve time to find out what they want. You’ve bought us the chance to avert a war.

  “Are we alive?” Vettigan mutter
ed. Calene turned to him. He lay staring up at the sky, tears streaming down his face.

  “Yes,” she said, lacking the energy to put heat into her voice, “no thanks to you. Mother sacrificed herself to save everyone. For now.”

  “Calene,” he whispered. “I don’t know what happened. I remember voices, calling to me. So many. And power. Power enough to save us all, but then… Nothing. I can’t remember anything after that. The Spark, I can’t feel it. It’s gone. I feel so…empty.”

  She took his hand in hers. “Our friends are gone too. Brina and Kade are missing. I saw them lifted as they fell, but I’ve no idea where they landed.”

  “The Banished, Tilo?”

  “He’s with Kade’s boy. Over there.” She tossed her head to where Solitude had once stood, now nothing but a yawning chasm between the Peaks of Eternity. “Somewhere we can’t reach.”

  Vettigan pushed himself up and gasped as he looked across the canyon. The unnatural darkness faded to a normal one, and a green spire of light towered over where the fortress had been, answering the white one in the distance.

  “What do we do?” Vettigan asked, turning to Calene.

  “Purpose,” she whispered. “We discover what it is, and we don’t rest until we do. There’s more to all of this, and I intend to figure it out. But first, we find our friends. Tilo and the boy are on the other side, but Kade and Brina need us. And we tell everyone, Vettigan. We tell them all what Zanna Alpenwood did here. We tell them that the Empire left them to die, and she saved us, and if it’s the last thing I ever do, I’ll discover what the Banished want, Raas’ teeth, so I will.”

  She climbed to her feet, holding out a hand to him. It hung there between them. He refused to meet her eyes, but she didn’t pull away and he reached out, brushing his fingers against hers, then gripped her hand. Calene heaved him to his feet and they turned together, watching the shimmering, emerald light touch the heavens. The mournful, haunting voices of the Banished drifted to them in the wind, singing.