by Emma Harley
“I called you all here because of a warning from the Shadow Walker tribe. Matthias, would you care to explain to us all what exactly has happened?” Raina’s chest leapt as the man stood, bowing low to the king. Matthias. Aija’s father, and the chief of the Shadow Walkers. Raina’s grandfather.
“You are all aware of the curse upon the tribe, and the Gateway. Three days ago, our crops began to wither and die on the land surrounding the gate, several of our people have been killed by an unseen blight, as if their blood and essence has been sucked from them. They have all come into contact with the Gate, and more have died while I travelled here. Just as I left, the Gate started whispering in tongues. I would not bore you all with the stories behind its purpose, I am sure you already know of the tales. A seer warned me of what it speaks, and it won’t be long until the Gate is opened once again.” Aija nodded, clutching at her husband’s hand in fear. Raina looked confused.
“I’m sorry, but what is the purpose of the Gate?” All eyes fell on her as Matthias cleared his throat.
“When our tribe was cursed, the dark god expended much of his power to do so. The other gods took advantage of this weakness and sealed him in a prison world, forced to do the bidding of those who summoned him. As many of our tribe tried to do, they summoned him only to fight him. But bound and powerless, even we were no match for a god, no matter how weakened he was. The Erinyes were furious that he bestowed a curse upon us, when our judgement was theirs to make, so they locked him away, until a time when they could create a weapon powerful enough to destroy him.”
Raina nodded, slowly digesting the information.
“So why are we worried about an argument between the gods? It kind of seems like their problem, not ours.”
The king ran his hands through his hair and grimaced as Matthias stared at him.
“The gate is whispering your name Raina.”
Raina froze as all eyes fell on her. The throbbing in her arm was pulsing, drawing her attention. She gulped and looked at Matthias.
“I don’t suppose you know what colour eyes this god might have do you?”
Matthias looked stunned. “No I don’t. No one has seen this god and lived, why would you ask that?”
Raina shrugged, covering the bruise with her hands. “Curiosity.” Taranis growled and wrenched her hand away from the bruise.
“Why are you so concerned about this little mark?” he ran a finger over it and ripped his finger back as he felt the icy lump, “What is this Raina?”
She tugged her arm out of his grasp and pulled a bandage over it. Well done, she thought, now it really looks suspicious. Taranis tapped her lightly on the head.
“If you don’t want me to go digging any further, I’d suggest talking.” Raina looked at the worried faces of the monarchs, Matthias and Logan before sighing.
“When I was out cold I had a weird dream. Like I was trapped in pure darkness, I couldn’t see anything, and then this pair of eyes looked at me. Something about them was terrifying, and it felt like someone was touching my arm, but then there was a little prick like a needle, and I woke up with this little mark. It’s ice cold to touch.” The king rushed to her side and examined the mark, before turning to one of the other males.
“I need to see what she saw,” he insisted, but the male looked hesitant.
“Are you sure your majesty? There are laws regarding the intrusion…”
“Now, Fredrickson!” Alexei ordered.
The male took Raina’s hand and touched her temples. A sharp piercing pain shot through her head as thousands of memories rushed through her mind until he got to the dream. No sooner had the eyes reappeared in her mind than his hands dropped with a guttural scream. He clutched his own eyes and Raina retched as he looked up at them.
Where his eyeballs had once been, now bloodied sockets remained, blackened and bleeding as though they had been burned out. Raina clamped her mouth to cover her scream as Logan spun her into his chest.
“You don’t need to look,” he whispered, holding her tightly as he stroked her hair.
“He saw the eyes from my dream and then he…” Logan shushed her before she could finish. The male was rushed away with healers before he let her turn away from him. The squad was standing in the doorway, alerted by the scream.
“What happened in here?” Davin demanded, glancing past Raina to the spatter of blood on the floor.
“It’s a long story. I’ll explain later,” Logan grimaced. His attention was on two males who seemed to be getting heated with the king. Taranis stalked over to them, his face stony.
“Take her into the dining hall and get her food. We can’t discuss this with a bunch of political, brown-nosing reprobates. They’ll be retiring until the summit tomorrow. We can work out a plan of action before then,” he mumbled to Logan. Raina let herself be guided out, carefully stepping around the blood as she went. The squad trailed after her, completely oblivious to what was going on around them.
Logan sat her down and sent word to the kitchens to prepare hot food as quickly as possible, but Raina couldn’t stomach the thought of eating. She didn’t bother to look up when Taranis and Kalen arrived with the king, followed by Elias, Aija and her father.
Raina poked at the plate of food Logan sat in front of her, choosing instead to sink the glass of wine in one fell swoop. The servant refilled her glass, only to have Logan snatch it away.
“Eat first. Then you can drink your problems away.”
Matthias sat opposite her with a soft look on his face.
“I was always hoping to meet you long before now. And certainly not under these circumstances,” he smiled. Raina glanced up at him, the soft wrinkles aging his sun-kissed skin in stark contrast to the youthful glimmer in his hazel eyes, so similar to Aija’s.
“They told me you offered protection. I was planning to travel to you and ask if the tribe would bind me.” Matthias nodded.
“I am aware of your plans. The tribe will gladly bind you if that is your wish,” he offered. Raina sighed and stared at him.
“Why is the gate whispering my name?” Matthias looked uncomfortable and turned to the queen for advice.
“Don’t look at them. You’re the chief of the tribe. You know the ins and outs of this curse and the dark god. I need you to tell me before I get myself into danger just to find answers.” Logan almost flinched at the authority in her voice as the squad leaned closer to the chief. Aija nodded at Matthias, who sighed and sipped his wine as Raina began devouring the food before her.
“The god is Erebus, the god of Darkness. He makes it his mission to destroy light with darkness and flooding the worlds with it. Legend says his biggest enemy was Hemera, the goddess of Light. They could not exist without the other but the eternal struggle for balance was constantly tilted. For every world Erebus wiped out, Hemera would spread her light and bless the denizens of the world with the ability to remove the darkness. But all that did was flood the world with light instead,” he paused as he noticed the swarm of eyes, glued to him unflinchingly. He chuckled and took another sip of wine before continuing.
“Hemera once told him that for every man slaughtering his kin, there was another fixing the wounds. So he began to rally his own army of dark minions and creatures from the Undersphere, while she created the angels and pure hearted beings. Regardless of who won, the world would be wiped out with one or the other. Hemera disbanded her army, forcing them to remain in a world of light because she didn’t want to contribute to his evil. Instead she blessed one of the demon kings. A dark being with a pure heart was unheard of, and he was cast out from his people. There are many legends that speak about what happened to him, but it was so long ago there’s no way of knowing now.”
Raina leaned back in her chair, more confused than ever. Glancing up at Logan, she could tell she wasn’t the only one. Matthias looked sheepish.
“There’s no simpler way to explain it I’m afraid.” Raina tapped a finger on the glass she had sneaked back from L
ogan.
“So he wants to fill the worlds with darkness… is he the one commanding the demon army behind the barrier?” she queried. Matthias chuckled. “I highly doubt it. He’s been sealed away undisturbed for centuries now, the demons worship him, but he’s not commanding them.”
“What about this weapon the Erinyes were talking about?”
Matthias scratched his brow thoughtfully, glancing between his heirs.
“They wanted to make a weapon powerful enough to defeat Erebus. Their job is to exact vengeance and punish heinous crimes. And Erebus deliberately upset the balance when he commanded his armies to flood the worlds and slaughter millions of people. They sealed him away, promising to turn his blood into a weapon and destroy him once and for all.” Raina groaned and twisted her hair around her fingers anxiously.
“A weapon made of blood? That doesn’t sound impossible at all,” she complained. Izak held up a finger.
“You could make an iron sword if you killed like four hundred people,” he interjected, earning himself a flat stare from Nick and JJ. Aija tapped her glass with a manicured nail, her brows furrowed. “Aren't there many contradicting legends though?” she asked softly. Matthias beamed at her.
“Only one, instead of Hemera and Erebus being enemies, they were lovers. And she didn’t bless a demon, she birthed a babe of balanced light and darkness.”
“That is the legend of the Shadow Walkers is it not?” Elias piped up, but Matthias shook his head.
“Shadow Walkers are believed to come from dark beings. As we are today, we are diluted blood due to thousands of years with the curse in our bloodlines. Each race and species has their own lore of origins. The only line we can be sure of is the chieftaincy, never in our history has the leadership been passed to anyone outside of the paternal bloodline,” he explained, his eyes darting quickly over Aija and Raina.
The king shifted slightly in his seat and leaned on the table. “The Shadow Walkers claim the opposition to the Terragae clan. They follow a light goddess do they not?” Aija nodded.
“They worship the Mother Goddess, believed to birth all things good and evil, but they like to skip over the parts that don’t suit them,” she remarked. No love lost between her old clan then.
“So to kill this god I have to find a blood weapon? Where would I even start with that?” Raina snapped, dropping her face into her hands. Matthias shrugged.
“I’ve never heard of anything about a god killing weapon. I don’t think it’s something that would be hanging around at the weekend market,” he smirked.
“That’s where she gets it from,” Logan muttered, earning a dig in the ribs from Raina. Aija chuckled lightly as Raina sighed.
“This may sound a bit cruel, but this doesn’t even seem like my problem,” she thought out loud, glancing between her shocked team mates, “I could just get the binding done, re-glamour myself as a human and slip back through a portal to a world that doesn’t have whispering gates and wars between gods. Why should I stay here and deal with this crap when I could just go home?”
Matthias gave her a sickening grin.
“Gods don’t care about portals. They exist in the rift between worlds. Erebus could follow you wherever you go. But with no magic and a human body, I doubt you would even last past the first blow.”
Raina slumped her shoulders and pulled the wine towards her. Her plan was to summon the god and hopefully take him out in a blast of power. Now it seemed like that plan was starting to unravel.
“I have no magic anyway. Well, none that I can use. I have to be able to control my powers to defeat the god so he can remove the curse that will let me control my powers. The term vicious circle comes to mind here,” she sighed, running a finger over the chunky silver cuffs on her wrists. Silence fell across the table, until Alicia spoke up.
“If the Shadow Walkers were able to summon Erebus, is it possible to summon other gods?” she asked, running her finger along the rim of her glass as she looked to Matthias.
“There are rumours, but I’ve never known anyone to actually summon one. Why do you ask?”
Alicia hesitated, shifting uncomfortably and staring at the ceiling. “Just ignore me if it’s stupid, but couldn’t someone summon the Erinyes and just ask them where the weapon is? Or at least what it is we’re supposed to look for?”
Aija snapped her head to Alicia.
“Absolutely not. The Erinyes may want Erebus dead, but to summon them is to invite slaughter on our own world. Anyone who has committed a crime they deem to be heinous enough to deserve retribution will be tortured, as well as anyone who has passed a lenient sentence upon them.”
Raina’s face fell, her stomach twisting as each solution fell apart. She had to find a weapon of indeterminable size and shape, with no inkling on where it could be or how to use it. Logan patted her awkwardly on the shoulder.
“We’ll work something out,” he muttered grimly. He couldn’t have sounded less sure of himself if he tried. Raina scrunched her nose up, deep in thought.
“Do you have a library or a museum that might have some sort of clues about a weapon?” Davin asked the queen. Raina raised an eyebrow. Her second always seemed to have a knack for following her unspoken thoughts. Aija nodded.
“We have both all over the world, but the oldest one is the Halls of Ogma in Mordoire. Scholars have long kept their ancient texts and artefacts there to be protected by wards and blessings. If there is any mention of a weapon, they will know better than anyone,” she explained, catching her husband’s warning eye. Raina’s eyes darted between them.
“What’s wrong with that?”
Alexei cleared his throat before looking at her sheepishly.
“The King of Mordoire isn’t on excellent terms with us. He was very invested in procuring a marriage between his eldest son and you once he heard about your powers. He wasn’t pleased when we sent you away and rebuked his offer.” Raina rolled her eyes and scoffed.
“So, he might not let us in because you said I won’t marry his son?” Aija shrugged softly.
“He is due to arrive tonight in time for the summit tomorrow. He allows passage to commoners, but he is very picky about which royals he allows to visit. And due to the magic barriers around the Halls of Ogma, you will have to receive his permission before you can visit,” she snapped. Alexei chuckled.
“Your mother has never been one to bite her tongue. And more often than not, she has told King Albior exactly how big-headed she thinks he is.” Raina huffed a sarcastic laugh.
“Great, the one place we might get answers is unreachable because we’re a bunch of stubborn asses. We can’t even move until we get this prick to give us permission,” she sneered. Nick laughed heartily. “Wouldn’t be a mission without a load of political red tape eh Phoenix?” he jibed. Raina couldn’t fight down the exasperated laugh. Of course it was just as messed up in this world.
“What is tomorrow’s summit about?” she asked thoughtfully.
“We need to discuss the weakening of the barrier against the demon army. It was only ever a temporary solution to the problem, and we may need to face the fact that we will soon be at war once again. And to throw more pressure on top, we now have to prepare for the possibility that a dark god will be joining them in their fight,” Alexei sighed, running his hands through his hair.
“I’d like to be there,” Raina said quietly. The king’s scrutinising eyes fell on her and Taranis scoffed. Raina had forgotten he was even there, for once he had been quieter than she had ever known him to be.
“I mean no offense Raina, but this is a meeting with every ruling king, queen and head of state in the civilised world. You have the grace of a lumbering giant and the tongue of a serpent. They would be offended by your mere presence,” he jeered, pouring himself a glass of wine.
Raina’s chest flushed with anger as she leaned over the table to see the general.
“Or maybe they would like to meet the long lost princess of the largest kingdom in the wor
ld who is now old enough to be married. And I can’t accept marriage if I die at the hands of a curse-happy god,” she snapped. Jaws dropped and Aija stared at Raina.
“Are you saying you will offer yourself for marriage to create an alliance?”
Raina slumped back down silently in her chair, feeling the weight of stares upon her.
“Not exactly. But I need to get into that library thing. And I’m quite good at stoking the egos of powerful leaders. Tomorrow I will present myself as a princess. Dress, tiara and everything. I’ll act like the simpering little damsel in distress they expect me to be. If they think I’m a clueless idiot then it will be easier to get what I want from them,” she grinned. Alicia beamed back at her with a wolfish smirk.
“I’ll be your handmaiden,” she chirped excitedly, “Just act like an idiot and I’ll correct you on everything. They’ll just think you’re a ditsy little princess.”
JJ nudged Nick. “I’m a little scared of them when they team up.” Nick shivered and nodded warily, not taking his eyes off the girls. Aija tried to hide her smirk. “You’re right. Especially since Raina is clearly Fae, but unbroken. They will assume she is just slow.”
Raina winked at Alicia and Logan swore.
“Just don’t hit someone if they call you stupid.”
Chapter 15
The next morning was hectic. The number of guards around the castle had tripled, at least half of them at the gates holding back masses of citizens who clamoured to meet their princess at long last. Not a soul took a slow step that day, even the servants were running along the halls to prepare for the summit. Raina had spent the morning watching the commotion around her, trying to ignore the pit of anxiety in her stomach, coupled with a flurry of abdominal cramps. She had slipped off to the library early to do some more reading before anyone came looking for her. A solid hour was all she needed to peek through some books and tear out a few pages to check back on later. Breakfast had been rushed, the queen had dashed in, waved and grabbed a piece of fruit before running back out again.
