Once again my blood runs cold. She has knowledge that she should not know. That she is too young to know. “How do you know this?” I ask.
I see the fear touch her eyes and I know exactly how she knows. She starts to move away but it’s too late. I move with lightening speed across the bed through shadows to return pinning her beneath my body. I can’t hold the anger from my voice, “Show me where he put the shadow.” Both my hands grip my shadow blades. Only assassins carry shadow blades along with stov-vo-kievs. Anyone can hold one but only an assassin can join to the blade causing it to draw upon their shadows forming a blade to extend from the hilt. My shadow through my blade will pierce her body and pull that shadow from her that her father has planted in her to spy for him. It will be excruciating to feel my shadow enter her because it will be in the form of a blade. But making the shadow leave will not be near as painful as when it went in.
Her mouth opens but no words fall from her lips. The shadow is preventing her from speaking the words. “Show me now!” I nearly hiss at her. Tears well up in her eyes and I see her fear of me. But I can’t do anything about that. It must come out and come out now. “Now Shadowen!”
Her hand slides down to her left side and she touches a spot between her ribs. I lift her gown snarling as I flip the blade in my hand and immediately stab in the spot with my shadow blade. She screams but I refuse to pull the blade out because I’ve made contact with the spy and I feel it struggling. I’m not just an assassin. I’m the Royal Assassin and when my shadows hunt there is fear and shadows bow down to my power, “Go back to your master, and tell him he will never have her again.” I twist lightly pulling the blade from her and I watch the long gray shadow follow my shadow out of her body then it rushes off.
I flip my blades across the room and press my hand against the shadow wound I created and chant a spell of healing and it heals almost instantly. Shadowen is staring up into my face and she has a look of awe on her face. Her voice is warm… “Magic… I think I love your magic.”
Even in spite of her sweet gaze up at me I can’t help feeling everything Phantom has done. I make sure my voice is unmistakable and my meaning is perfectly clear to her. “You will never return to your father’s home again.”
“But I don’t understand.” She says as I move off her and I swiftly move towards my clothing chest.
“Shadowen, I cannot fathom why you think what he has done is acceptable. It is not!” I pull out some traveling clothes and now I see that she’s up on her knees on the bed watching me dress. Odd but she doesn’t even shy away from my nakedness and my blood goes even colder.
“I don’t understand Reis, please explain.” She looks at me and I see confusion swirling around her and her magic is sparking with uncertainty.
I shake my head then rush over to her pulling her harshly to me. “It’s wrong for him to cut you. Wrong for you not to cry. It’s absolutely insane for him to put a shadow… a spy inside of you and it is far worse for him to bed you and you can deny it all you want but I know it was him.”
The terror in her eyes rips at my heart and soul. He’s going to die. Die tonight for what he’s done to her. I’m filled with rage “Reis…” Her voice is filled with a mixture of fear and pleading, “Don’t leave. I’ll do whatever it is you want.” I shake my head and I can feel my rage taking on new heights that I can actually feel it on my skin. I push her back to the bed before I say or do something to make her even more terrified of me. “Shadowen I cannot allow him to go unpunished for this outrage.”
“No Reis! Please don’t go, please don’t leave.” She flings herself off the bed interfering with me buttoning my shirt. “I’ll do whatever you want.” She quickly glances to the bed then says in a panic. “You can bed me… It’s fine! We can do this now! Right now and you won’t have to go!”
I’m shocked and appalled that she would even suggest this. “Shadowen you are still a child!”
“I’m not!” She insists reaching down to pull off her gown but I grip both her hands in mine stopping her. I know my grip is painful but she is insane if she thinks I will take her to my bed as some token sacrifice to save her father from the atrocities he has done. “Stop this lunacy right this moment. I am not the monster! Your father is!”
The room becomes harshly silent with her and me just staring at each other. It’s strange to look at each other like this. Yesterday I’d never seen her face and today looking at her feels so natural like I’ve been doing it for years. But her voice is heart wrenching to hear, “Reis… please don’t go, don’t leave me. He could hurt you and then you will be lost to me.”
She has no idea who I am or what I am capable of and I’m not sure whether I should be wounded or angry. I choose anger. “I am your consort! I am the Royal Assassin and I am pledged to the Royal House that I will protect you with my very life. I have pledged to Mysteria herself that I will forever protect and love you. Damn it Shadowen! He has hurt you! He has violated you and he must die for this.” I press her away from me reaching back to my buttons then add, “Trust me it will be him who dies not me.”
“Please… Reis… not today. I don’t think I can bear the thought of losing you today and if you leave, I think I will fall to pieces. I think I’m close to pieces now.” She confesses. I look away then back to her and I see right through it all and she is correct. I see her fragmenting along with her magic and I realize my first duty is to my consort.
I shake my head trying to remove the rage and finally reach back pulling her gently but tightly to my chest. I smoothly stroke and brush along her lovely black hair. “Shadowen...”
“Please not today. Not now, don't leave me.”
As much as it pains me I concede. “Not today then. Today I take care of my consort.”
I feel her body relax into mine and I sweep her up into my arms. I carry her back to the bed and lie next to her, pulling her into me so tightly so protectively. But I have to make sure I get something very clear with her. “You also need to get the idea of bedding right out of your mind until you are older.” I lift her face up and stare into her troubled eyes. My voice is mixed with emotions that I should keep hidden but I refuse to. “Also don’t you ever offer to sacrifice yourself to me or anyone else ever again. Not ever! Do you understand?” I see a tear fall from her eye as she nods at me. I crush her to me again holding her close. I know with all that I am; I will kill Phantom. Not today. But he will die by my blade that I know with my entire being.
Six
I awaken the next morning surprised to discover Shadowen isn’t still asleep in my arms. I feel more than disappointment. I am worried. I reach out to her and realize she is in her bedroom. My heart feels a slight twinge and I pray I’ve not lost her again to her coldness and indifference.
I stroll across the floor easily then shift straight into her room. She is sitting on the window seat staring out the window. She is wearing one of her nicest gowns and I can’t help but notice that her veil is neatly folded in her lap. Well at least she is still unveiled.
I try to read her emotions but find that I can’t. This is highly unusual. I do not know how she is doing this, but she is blocking me from feeling her emotions. She doesn’t turn her head but I do know she knows I am here. I pull up a chair and sit near her. She seems lost in thoughts and I wish I knew what it was so I could reach out to her. I’m not sure what to say to her either.
There is something unspoken between us and I can’t quite pick out what it is. The air is heavy with it and I run my fingers through my hair. Finally she speaks, but she doesn’t turn around. “I would like to keep this room.”
“Of course, that’s fine.” I sigh inwardly in relief that she isn’t asking to return home.
“I would like to be able to come to your room sometimes… when I…” I now can feel her struggling with admitting it. “...need you.”
Yes!
“That’s fine as well.” I say trying to sound as casual as possible.
“Reis?”
“Yes?”
She takes a soft breath and says, “My favorite color is silver.” I can’t even explain the joy filling me in this moment. I’d asked her that two years ago and she refused to answer me. She remained as cold and as indifferent to everything I asked her. Now she suddenly is giving me the information and I have not asked it again.
“My favorite flower is nightstar, the blue variety, because it has the sweetest smell.” I smile and then she says, “My favorite meal is swey-cakes with sweet ponafruit spread on the side with a tall glass of ponamilk.” I take a slow breath of relief at her sweet confessions. I have no idea what ponafruit is or ponamilk but I know I damn well I'm going to find out and make sure she has a true feast. I’m also going to decorate her room in blue nightstars.
She finally turns towards me. The fair silver light from Myst streams delicately in through the window and it’s as if it has laid claim to her, bathing her in its radiance. I can’t breathe. She is perfection. She is a rare beauty that needs to be worshiped and treasured within the Myst. Her eyes shimmer with silver and her shadows sway erotically within delicate geometric spheres that are flawless. She is flawless. Even her voice, is flawless, “By the way…” she says slowly. “You snore.”
I see instant mischief flood her eyes. Ha!
“I do not!” I emphatically deny.
She tilts her head nodding slightly with this amazing smile on her lips, “Uh, you do.”
I never thought she would be playful in a million years. “You are teasing me! I would never snore.” I stand up quickly.
She stands up too and her eyes are bright and not just filled with mischief but with something I can’t read, but I like it. “Oh you snore alright!” She insists, “Why do you think I want to keep this room?” She now makes this annoying snoring sound. Oh no she didn’t???
I reach out to snatch her up but she giggles slipping into a shadow leaving me half stunned that she can part a shadow. But I recover quickly and follow in her wake. I realize I’m chasing her throughout the house as she slips through one shadow after another giggling in between her mocking snore sounds.
I’m almost shouting back at her, “I do not snore!” But I do know upon occasion I have been known to snore when I am extremely tired. But her teasing is way out of line along with her parting shadows like she’s been doing it since a baby. I’ve never seen anyone part a shadow as beautifully or as delicately as she is doing. It’s as if the shadows are anticipating her touch and part for her as she reaches out.
I’m hooked though, fully hooked in this chase and almost nearly forget she is just a child. Especially when I lose her and I'm unable to find her wake. She suddenly appears inside a shadow and looks at me with the most intense and beautiful eyes. I rush to her and she slips with ease away and just as I step out of her wake into the foyer I feel her body freeze then she steps back into me.
Her fear clutches at me and my shield flies up surrounding her and me and instinctively my magic reaches out in the direction of her fear. Several paces beyond our property Phantom is standing. I know why he is here. I sent his spy back to him and now he’s trying to figure out how much I know and wants to know what I’ve done to her. I cut off his magic quickly and effortlessly from reaching inside to her.
I pull her back behind me and shift straight outside to meet him. I could care less if I’m unveiled and barefoot. I need not move any further from my doorstep. His hiss reaches me. “Give her back!”
“Never!” I say gritting my teeth. “You will never harm her again.”
“You are an assassin what do you know of the ways of the chalice? Nothing!” He hisses to me.
“I know enough not to slice an innocent child. I know enough not to insert a spy inside a child and I sure the hell know not to insert myself inside one.” Rage now inflames me.
“The mere fact that you have not bed her shows me you are far too weak to hold on to her. She will return to me and when she does I will spread her open and her blood will spill out onto Myst until she is begging me to bed her.”
That's it!
I shift swiftly into shadows snatching my blades and now I chase after him. I’m unveiled however and shifting without a cloak or veil is painful if done rapidly. Phantom is giving me a grand chase. He’s fast, very fast in parting them. I feel Shadowen’s fear escalate and I realize he’s drawing me away from protecting her. I quickly change my tactics and I return home.
Just as I enter the foyer I hear Madrigal screams from the parlor. I shift straight to her just as she’s falling to the floor. Her neck has been slashed. She dies instantly. I feel them now. Two assassins and they are moving. Damn! Damn! Damn!
I can’t feel Shadowen. Oh goddess. Please no! I shift grabbing my veil and cloak and put them on, as I keep moving through the shadows. The first assassin is sloppy in his wakes. I slip right into his shadow as he appears and my stov-vo-kievs instantly make their mark slicing his arteries open and paralyzing him from shifting. I pull them out knowing he will die now an agonizing death it will only be in a matter of moments. I made my piercing so accurate that he will suffer just long enough until his life drains.
Now I’m pursuing the other assassin. He’s a bit smarter but not that much smarter. I find him just as easy and pray he doesn’t have Shadowen actually with him. Damn I can’t feel her anywhere! My heart pounds suddenly at the thought of her being dead. If she were dead I would no longer feel her. This fuels my rage and I find him just as easily I place my stov-vo-kiev into his flesh paralyzing him from all movement. I pull up my shadow blade and pierce his heart. I hold it there pinning his soul and his shadow from moving. “Where is she?” I hiss to him.
He struggles not to speak, but I know it is useless for him to struggle he will do as my will dictates. “Where is she?”
“I… I… don’t know.” He manages. “She fled into a shadow and I could not find her wake.” I twist my blade and his soul latches onto mine and I pull it out and releasing it to Shadow Hall. He’s dead.
I turn and begin shifting. Where is she? I part one shadow after another moving and shifting trying to feel her. But I feel nothing, nothing at all. I can't even sense Phantom. I return home to see if I can find her or find some trace of her that will tell me how to track her.
I enter the parlor and see Madrigal’s lifeless body sprawled on the floor. Suddenly I’m struck full force with my loss. I drop to my knees and pull her body to me. I pull her veil from her face and gaze into her lifeless eyes. My heart thunders in my chest and there is no words that escape my lips. I hold her close as her blood continues to drain across me. I cry out to Shadowen, my consort. Praying she hears me and will return to me. I need you!
I’m not sure how long I hold my dead grandmother to me but suddenly all the pain inside comes crashing through from my soul. I cry out in pure agony and I feel my magic shake the very foundation of my home. Sobs wrack my body as I clutch Madrigal. She raised me as her son and I honestly did think of her as my mother. I can’t feel Shadowen and I now can’t feel Madrigal. Both are lost to me.
Seven
It's been two long and lonely days since I released Madrigal’s body to the surface per Nightelf custom. I petitioned the Royal House to investigate Madrigal’s death and the disappearance of Shadowen. They indicate without question that Phantom could not possibly be involved and I have no evidence to support my claims. So Phantom goes unpunished and Shadowen is lost to me.
I’ve not eaten or slept and right now I can’t think about food or anything but my loss. I am a fool to have let my guard down. I can’t believe I allowed Phantom to get so far in distracting me. I will never be able to get Madrigal back and now I have no idea what’s happened to my precious Shadowen.
It’s not before late evening when I find my way to bed. I still can’t feel Shadowen anywhere. Distraught doesn’t even explain what I’m going through. I can’t believe Madrigal and Shadowen are gone.
I slowly ease my gloves from my fingers tossing them
to the floor where I instantly see Shadowen’s veil and mine from several days go. I sigh reaching down picking hers up. I smell it and immediately I’m captured with the pleasant, soft scent that I’ve come to recognize as Shadowen. I gently place them next to my pillow on the bed.
I unbutton my shirt as I sit on the side of my bed. I really haven’t the energy to do much more. I silently listen to the quietness of my home. Quiet without Madrigal humming in her room while sewing and Shadowen… hmm Shadowen was usually quiet I muse.
Soft whispers fill the evening air and I realize shadows are moving within the walls. This is something unusual to see and hear let alone feel but I can feel apprehension now within the walls of my home. I suppose they feel my loss and perhaps it’s their loss as well. Madrigal always said our home was filled with the shadows of assassins. She once told me when I was a child my grandfather had indicated that when he died his soul would go to Shadow Hall, but his shadow would return here to this home. I wonder if he is here watching me? If he is, he is probably angry that I was unable to save my family.
I reach down to the heavy gauze that’s wrapped around my boots and begin the tedious task of removal. Removing the gauze from my boots allowing them to fall with a thud to the floor makes the quiet even more unbearable. I lay back on the bed with my legs dangling off the side. I close my eyes and my mind feels numb, yet my heart aches. I roll over pulling the spread back and I can still smell Shadowen on the spread. I grip it in my hands bringing it to my nose and I inhale deeply. I can still smell her sweet scent. I lean into my bed and realize her scent is in my pillows. So I do what comes natural to me at this point I bury my head into my pillows and inhale. My heart is aching and throbbing like nothing I have ever felt before.
I abruptly feel this twinge of pain and fear along with a rasping wave of magic sweeping over me. I jerk my head up as shadows part at the foot of my bed. I sit straight up; my hands already hold my blades ready for anything. I’m ready to meet whoever is coming.
The Royal Assassin: Shadows of Myst Page 5
