The Shadow: The Poisonwood Shadows Book One

by Christina Crook

  “Gabe. Come on. Imagine if that were your mother out there. You wouldn’t let anything or anyone stop you from going out there to save her, would you?”

  “No. I wouldn’t, Will.”

  “I know that Walter gave his orders, but we’re just going to have to defy them.”

  “I still don’t know. I’m with you on this, but we’re going to need one hell of a plan before we go in there.”

  “We’ll come up with something.”

  Captain Summers stared down at the table thoughtfully. “Do you think they’ll be expecting us?”

  “I don’t care if they’re expecting us. Vale thinks the Shadows are nothing more than Walter’s puppets and that we’ll do whatever he says, but he knows he’s losing his grip on us. You should have seen it, Gabe. I don’t know what it was, but I saw how nervous Vale made Walter.”

  Captain Summers watched William apprehensively. “So, how would you suggest we start? What do we know?”

  “Not much. My family were being held at the prison, but who knows if they’ve been moved by now?”

  “Do you not want to see if we can set up a meeting with Vale? Surely we could come to some kind of arrangement?”

  “I’m not meeting with that man again. Anyway, he would never come here and if we were to go to him, we’d never get out. Vale has surrounded himself with the strongest men. My father and I tried to fight them off, but we couldn’t. He has increased his security fourfold since the last rescue.”

  William sat down opposite Captain Summers and held his head in his hands. He felt completely drained and was still not at full strength. He had been back with the Shadows for six days now and was struggling to ease himself into the lifestyle again.

  He had returned to the Shadow Academy feeling weak and light headed, before collapsing inside the abandoned main hallway. He saw nothing but the flickering lighting strip on the ceiling, which he watched until he passed out. The next thing he knew, William was waking up in bed in his own tiny room.

  In the days following his return, William spent his afternoons researching the history of the Shadow Army and the cities of both Poisonwood and Silverwall. No matter how hard he looked however, he couldn’t find anything that he didn’t already know before. All that William wanted was for simplicity and truth to reign over the evil and deceit which had wound its way through his city. His body was tired, but his mind was wearier.

  When he met with Captain Summers, William chose to remain vague about his whereabouts over the last few weeks and allowed the Captain to think that he had spent most of his time trying to find his way home, lost in the expansive forests which encircled the western borders of Poisonwood. Once he had convinced the Captain to defy Walter’s orders and aid in the rescue of his family, they agreed to spend the next few days putting together a plan of attack.

  The strategy needed to be flawless, but William had never been much of a planner. Before, he had always been the one following the orders and so when it came down to it, he had no idea how he could successfully pull off something as ambitious as this. Not without help anyway, so William pulled Alaster and Kasper out of training.

  “I need help,” he said. “We’ve all been on missions to Silverwall Prison, but this one is going to be different. Nothing like this has ever happened before and Vale has been increasing his security for a long time now, so who knows what they have up their sleeves? What we need to decide first is just how many men should we bring with us? We don’t want to be outnumbered. Then we need to decide how and when we’ll attack. What do you think?”

  “Well, they know a lot about us, but they have no idea how many of us there are. I say we leave enough to cover the city and take the rest with us,” said Alaster.

  Kasper shook his head in disagreement. “That would be a logistical nightmare! Can you imagine that many of us creeping through the woods? It’s far too many and we’d be leaving Poisonwood wide open. What if it comes under attack while we’re away? There won’t be enough of us left.”

  “Why would the city be attacked though?” Asked Alaster.

  “Nothing would surprise me.”

  “No, you’re right, Kas. After everything that’s happened with Vale, a direct attack on the city is a real possibility for us,” William said.

  Alaster twisted his mouth around, still not convinced.

  Kasper tried again. “What if Silverwall expect us to defy the orders from Walter? They could be waiting for us, knowing we’d all swoop in and leave the city unprotected.”

  “I don’t know. That seems a bit complicated. Is Victor Vale really that intelligent?” Alaster wondered.

  “I didn’t think so, but whatever he’s been getting up to recently is enough to make me think otherwise,” William said. “He’s a sly one.”

  “So, basically we need to take enough men with us so that we won’t be outnumbered, but leave enough in case the city comes under attack while we’re away. Fantastic,” Alaster muttered under his breath. He then glanced at William, his eyes narrowed. “Why would Silverwall attack the city? They have Walter Poisonwood. What else do they want?”

  William shook his head, unsure how to answer. “They want Poisonwood, I suppose.”

  “Why are they trying to start a war with us though? That’s what I don’t understand. They’re flying off the handle, breaking rules all over the place, but for what? They can’t possibly get away with it. The Council of the Realm has to step in soon,” Kasper said, looking puzzled.

  “The Council of the Realm has no idea. Yet. Vale has blackmailed Walter into keeping quiet."

  “So, what do you think happened?”

  “From what I can work out, Vale met up with my grandfather and threatened to spill this big secret to the city if Walter doesn’t hand over land, money or whatever else he wants. It’s something major that he doesn’t want Poisonwood to know about, so he has no choice but to go along with whatever Vale has to say.”

  “What could your grandfather have possibly done though? I mean, we all know him and, yeah, he may be losing it a bit now, but he’s not so bad. A bit scary sometimes, but there’s no bad intention there. He’s not easily intimidated is old Walt,” said Alaster.

  “I’ve tried to look into it, but there is absolutely nothing in the library that could even vaguely explain things,” replied William. “He was scared. And I don’t think that I have ever seen him scared before.”

  “Do you think your parents are in on it too?”

  “No. My father was just as confused as I was. He might have got it out of Walter by now, but no, they don’t really get involved with Shadow business.”

  The trio sat in silence as they processed the discussion and tried to think of a solution.

  “What do we do then?” Asked Alaster bluntly.

  “We fight. No more negotiation or pointless meetings. Agreed?”

  “Agreed,” said the other two in unison.

  “Now, what I think we should do is send a couple of men over to the prison on a reconnaissance mission. We have to find two men who can make themselves invisible. We cannot risk them being caught. They go in, scope out the situation, find out just how heavy security is, and when they come back, we can decide then on how many of us need to go in, okay?”

  “How are they supposed to find where your parents are? They’ll never get that close without being seen. And what if they’ve been moved back into the city?” Kasper said.

  “Whoever we send will have to find out for us. There’s no other way. If it comes to it, we storm the prison and refuse to back down until Vale co-operates,” William said firmly.

  “Will, that could be dangerous. Not just for your family, but for the Army too,” Kasper responded.

  “We’ll be careful. Don’t worry, Kas. I won’t rush us into anything. Anyway, you know Gabe wouldn’t let me do anything too rash. Now, we need to find our men. They have to be the best of the best - fast, light and agile. Whoever goes cannot be caught, no matter what. Failure is not an option.”


  Alaster nodded slowly. “Okay. I can think of one or two possibilities.”

  “Good. We all know that a lot of our guys are great at fighting, but don’t necessarily have the sharpest of minds. We don’t want that. We need someone who has it all.”

  “Leave it with me,” Alaster said. “I’ll find your men.”

  “Okay. Good. I want to meet with any possibilities later on.”

  “No problem.”

  “Thank you. Thanks to you both,” William said gratefully.

  Later that day, he met with the men whom Captain Summers and Alaster had selected for the mission. The first man, Taylor, was lithe, skinny and possibly one of the shortest men in the army, but he was quick and had great strength, despite his outward appearance. Wren was more subdued. He was taller and his strength was more apparent, but according to Captain Summers, his speed and agility were second to none.

  Before they set off, William wished them good health and hoped for a hasty and informative return. They nodded at him, and William saw in their eyes that they were confident and unafraid. He trusted that he had made the right decision.

  A fortnight passed, and William attempted to keep himself occupied by pouring through musty library books and yellowing council files, wishing that he could find something that might reveal Walter’s big secret. Though it was summer now, each night seemed too long, too dark, too heavy, to a point where it became unbearable.

  He watched her often. He wondered if she knew he was there. Sometimes he suspected that she did, when she would pause on starry nights to look over the darkened rooftops, and it would seem as if she were looking right at him. But it wasn’t possible.

  It wasn’t that she was beautiful to him. Well, she was, just not in an obvious way, like the uptown girls. If he took the time to look at every pretty girl he saw, he would never get anything done. No, it was more than that. William recognised something unexplainable in her, something kindred that overflowed with a kind of sadness and desire for everything that was impossible and untouchable.

  Untouchable. Yes, there was that too. That’s exactly what he was. But he was just watching. Only watching. It was nothing more, never anything more than that.

  Whatever it was, Scarlett proved to be a welcome distraction as he grew increasingly frustrated at the lack of answers found in his research, and was close to giving up completely when Taylor and Wren finally returned. The journey home had weakened them, but they were still able to sit with William and the Captain to fill them in on what they had discovered.

  “I've never seen security that tight before. He’s tripled his defences and the men he’s using are huge,” Taylor said anxiously.

  “We can take them,” William said quietly. “I know we can.”

  “Your parents are there,” Taylor told him. “Well, your mother is. We didn’t see your father or Walter, but we presumed they’re all in the same place.”

  William nodded. “I’m sure they are. That’s wonderful news. How many men are guarding each unit? Did you find out what prisoner levels are like?”

  “That’s the thing, Will. From what we could see, they’ve hardly got anyone in there. Only a quarter of the prison was populated. We sat on the borders for days at a time, just watching. There were more guards than prisoners, easily,” Taylor said.

  “Did anyone see you?” Captain Summers asked.

  “No. We only moved when it was night time. Also, the guards may be huge and strong, but they definitely lacked intelligence. We were able to creep closer in the middle of the night. We kept our distance from their men obviously, but we don’t think they would have noticed us anyway. Most were half asleep and their senses in general appeared to be just dulled, in comparison to us. Everything about us is far superior,” Taylor told him, his voice confident, though slightly nervous.

  “Is this true?” William asked, directing the question at Wren.

  Wren nodded, stuttering slightly as he spoke. “We scoped out all sides of the prison. We couldn’t risk being too close during the day and so remained further away when it was light and caught up on sleep. We’d move closer when night fell and study the movements of the guards, then reconvene before dawn.”

  “Did the guards seem on edge at all? As if they were anticipating an attack?”

  Taylor jumped in again. “The number of men standing guard was a lot higher than expected, but none of them were on edge. They were heavy and slow moving. Certainly not how we would be acting if we were preparing for an assault.”

  “They weren’t trained men. Not like we are. Vale could very well have just picked them up off the street for all we know,” Wren interjected.

  At this, William’s eyes widened. “That’s what he’s done! He’s just rounded up the largest men in Silverwall City! He’s thinking that if he has muscle surrounding him, it’ll be enough to fend us off.”

  “But it’s not,” Captain Summers said, a sly smile now on his face. “We can do this. We can take them.”

  William and the other men nodded in agreement. This seemed like the first piece of good news they had heard in a long time.

  Captain Summers continued, “What we have to remember, men, is that Silverwall have never attempted anything like this before. They’re moving blindly. Ultimately they don’t have the resources or the intelligence for what they have got themselves into.”

  “I wonder if they’re trying to lull us into a false sense of security with these huge men standing on guard. He couldn’t possibly think they could defeat us,” William said.

  “Will, there were an awful lot of them. It wasn’t just two or three stood around here and there, like there usually is,” Taylor warned.

  “Taylor’s right. This won’t be easy. What we do know is that Silverwall are far down the road to bankruptcy, so take into consideration the fact that Vale can’t afford an army as skilled as our own. Why do you think Vale is blackmailing Walter to begin with? He’s desperate,” Captain Summers said.

  William nodded, as did the others and it comforted him to know that everyone else agreed. Logistics were discussed for hours and the men sat all day, determined to hammer out the outline of a mission plan, until they finally had something they could build upon and refine. That night, William couldn’t sleep. He would be spending the next few days training and working with the other men on the specifics of the mission.

  During the weeks that Taylor and Wren had been away, William had spent his time in the Council library doing research. He had been unable to concentrate on anything else, but things had changed now. Plans had been made and set in stone, and William knew that he would be leaving in a matter of days. He had no idea if he would return. Despite the confidence he had in both his own skills and those of the other Shadows, the possibility of death was always there – one wrong decision and a lapse in concentration and it would all be over. He had never before felt the reality of his mortality and no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to see past this mission.

  Chapter Fifteen

  William paused, feeling enchantment in the air. The sky was a deep shade of purple, with thick black clouds pushing at it, ready to roll in from the Outside. He waited for the storm uptown, resting on the cold, stone ledge of the building opposite the Clearhart townhouse. Far away on the Outside, he heard distant rumbles of thunder and knew it was drawing closer. The hairs on his arms rose, despite the warmth and humidity of the night.

  He knew that the old William would have been asking questions like, ‘What are you doing?’ and telling himself to go back to the Academy and get some sleep. The new William didn’t care, especially as he teetered on the cusp of the biggest mission of his life.

  Safely concealed by the black shadows around him, he waited and watched. Her bedroom light was on and the door to the balcony stood half open. He heard music. William closed his eyes and listened. The melody floated across the space between the two buildings, and he heard the soar and drop of string instruments. It was a haunting, dreamy kind of music
. He opened his eyes, saw movement in the room and bit his lip apprehensively.

  At last, she appeared. She stood on her balcony, resting her hands on the ledge and looked out across the city, left to the downtown buildings, then right to the mansions, their lights glinting like jewels. William took a deep breath, the air so thick he could almost touch it.

  The clouds had moved swiftly and were now comfortably settled above Poisonwood, ready to open at any second. Suddenly the thunder rolled again, a loud and deep booming sound that seemed to reverberate throughout the entire city. Then rain began to fall, fat droplets which soaked William through immediately. He stood slowly. Through the thick veil of rain, he could still make her out, her head turned up to the sky, welcoming the downpour.

  Regardless of consequence, William stepped out of the shadows. It felt like a baptism of sorts, one that brought with it a need for recklessness. He held his head up to the sky also, as his heart beat faster and the warm rain continued to drench him entirely. It ran down over his forehead and into his eyes.

  William looked back over to Scarlett’s balcony. She saw him now and was drenched also. He couldn’t understand why what he was seeing struck him in the way it did. Regardless of rules, vows and promises, William turned and slipped back into the shadows. With one last glance, he soundlessly dropped down into the alleyway and ran across the street, his feet pounding on the cobbled ground, as the rain hit the road with such force that it bounced right back up again.

  The row of townhouses stretched ahead of him. William walked straight passed and around the back of the building into the alleyway. He pulled heavily on the rope that would take him upwards. William walked along the rooftop, fast but apprehensively, before dropping down onto Scarlett’s balcony.

  Unwilling to allow himself time to stop and think, he stepped closer. It was an impulsive motion, one that he wasn’t going to allow to escape. William moved quickly and stepped forward again to kiss her. It was powerful and fast and he drew one hand down to grab hers. He stopped and pushed her against the wall with a gentle force and kissed her again, lighter this time, but deeper. Scarlett drew him nearer and rested her hand on the small of his back, before William pulled away breathlessly, then kissed her again, for the third time now. He pulled her even closer, before he finally drew away. William squeezed her hands tightly and watched with worried eyes, suddenly afraid.