Shadow

by David L Dawson

  “You don’t have any irie friends?” Joe asked, pretending not to care.

  “If I had any irie friends I wouldn’t be here on my own.” She indicated for Joe to let her go, and he did. “Right then Joe my dear; onwards to Cressida!”

  Chapter 37 – A Plan of Action

  Emily repeated the word again. Cressida said it wrong again. Emily sighed. Cressida sighed. There was a lot of sighing. They were both tired and they didn’t have any paper or writing implements so they couldn’t write anything down, which made the lesson that bit more torturous for both of them.

  “Stop it!” Emily cried. “Just stop it!”

  Cressida looked at her sharply. “Stop what?”

  “You’re mangling up these words like you’re chewing them up with your bizarrely lopsided teeth!” Emily yelled, close to breaking point now and going back to her insults. “You are so useless you’re making me feel like a bad teacher!”

  “You are a bad teacher!” Cressida accused her.

  Emily gasped. “You’re a bad student!”

  “You have a woodlouse in your hair!” Cressida shouted. Emily screamed and jumped up, waving her hair around and making tiny squeaking noises. When Cressida started laughing Emily angrily straightened her hair out and sat down, as composed as ever.

  “Are you taking this seriously?” Emily demanded.

  “Yes,” said Cressida.

  “The actual fate of every living thing on this planet depends on you being able to learn this language properly,” said Emily. “So you have to do better.”

  “I am!”

  “Then do better than doing better!” said Emily, not sure that even made sense.

  “You’re getting on my nerves!”

  “You can’t learn new things!”

  “You smell like my socks!”

  They both sighed, yet again. They could argue back and forth for forever if they wanted, and Cressida could imagine them still arguing while the glaciers of Frostma devoured them both. They had to get along. They had before, just barely, and she thought they’d become friends. Yet Emily seemed to have reverted to her old nasty self, which had caused Cressida to go back to sniping at Emily in retaliation again. It was a circle of insults that would never end.

  Grandpa Bram took that moment to make his entrance. In his hands he carried several massive leaves, all bigger than the umbrellas she had at home. She ran over to him, excited, imagining sitting under them as the rain pattered down above.

  “They’re thick,” she said, examining the leaves. “You could probably make clothes out of these if you wanted to.”

  “We’ll probably have to if we plan on living out here indefinitely,” said Bram.

  Cressida almost gagged on the idea but decided to ignore those feelings for now. Concentrate on getting a rough shelter set up, some food brought in, and learning ancient Elvish, she thought. Everything else could wait for later.

  “It won’t come to that, will it?” Emily asked.

  “I hope not,” said Cressida. “We have to consider the possibility that we might have to. If the Shadow Assemblage catches us setting foot outside the forest they’ve promised to kill us. What can we do stop them? They’re immensely powerful.”

  “We can kill them, for a start,” said Abe.

  He was standing by the statue of her mother, his face a mixture of emotions. Cressida could tell he’d been crying but right now she was angry with him for walking out on them.

  “How can we kill them?” she asked. “None of us are powerful enough.”

  Abe walked up to Cressida. “You are powerful enough.”

  She laughed. “I only know a few simple spells.”

  He pointed to the book, seated on the grassy floor, near to Emily. Emily looked around, wondering what he was pointing at. Is he pointing at me? She wondered.

  “There is another reason why the Shadow Assemblage has kept that book to themselves all these years,” said Abe. “There is a specific spell in there that can kill them.”

  Cressida didn’t know what to say. It all seemed too easy. How convenient was it that there was a spell that could make the Shadow Assemblage drop dead, just like that? Still, she supposed they must have had other enemies in the past, and those enemies might have created a spell and died before they’d gotten the chance to use it.

  “Have you seen a spell like this, Emily?” Cressida asked her.

  “We haven’t been through the whole book,” snapped Emily.

  “What’s up with you now?” said Cressida. “If we can kill the Shadow Assemblage then we don’t have to sleep on the floor with all the insects anymore!”

  Emily ignored her, lost in a maelstrom of thoughts herself. Cressida just didn’t understand this girl, her former mortal nemesis, one little bit. Why did her moods run hot and cold like that all the time? It was very annoying.

  “How would we get to them, though?” Cressida wondered. “Surely they wouldn’t just sit there while I recited the spell that would kill them?”

  “That’s where the planning comes in,” said Abe. “This is going to be a major operation so everything has to be planned down to the smallest detail. The first thing you need to know, however, is where my former masters keep their base.”

  He kept them hanging for a second before saying, “They live in a cave under Magefield University, a vast subterranean network that they’ve sculpted into their very own underground castle. If you think the protection spells around your house or this forest are extensive then it’s nothing compared to what they’ve set up. They have spells that can kill or maim or mutate set up over every centimeter of every wall into their main base of operations. They’ve traps and monsters guarding for them, things like feral dragons, quiltoths and demons. There’s even a small contingent of magically warped trolls who’d rip off your arms in a heartbeat.”

  Cressida didn’t think it could get any grimmer until Abe continued. “I’m not trying to put you off; I’m with you all the way. There is more, however; surrounding their main base of operations is a moat of liquefied magical energy, which drains down from the experimental labs at the university. One dip in that and…Well, anything could happen. Then there’s the castle itself, and the spells outside that, and the human and Elf enchanters who work for them and live in the main building. I’m not putting you off, am I?”

  Cressida and Emily nodded.

  “Then we come to the Shadow Assemblage themselves,” said Abe. “We will have to distract them somehow so Cressida can read off the spell.”

  A light wind rustled through the trees, brushing Cressida’s hair. She saw it as a sign. A bad omen or the breath of luck she couldn’t exactly say.

  “Sounds ever so easy!” said Cressida sarcastically, sitting down besides Emily again. “Let’s get on with the lessons, shall we?”

  “Did you hear what he just said?” whispered Emily. “You’d have to be a god yourself to get past all those defenses.”

  “This is far too dangerous,” said Bram.

  “So is being frozen to death but that’s what will happen if we don’t go down that tunnel of death and kill the Shadow Assemblage,” said Cressida. Her eyes betrayed the sheer terror she was experiencing. “I’ve never been more scared in all my life. Even thinking about it makes me want to dig myself a hole in the ground and live in it until it’s all over; except it will never be over. We will all have to live out our lives in this forest, on the verge of starvation, fending off wild wolves and iries and scared to go out because they will be waiting to kill us. I for one can’t live that. So I’m going to kill those shadow gods and if I have to go alone then that’s fine too, because I’d rather die trying than sitting on my backside on damp grass!”

  Abe walked up to Cressida and offered her his hand. She gingerly took it, helping her to stand up.

  “I am with you to the bitter end,” he promised her. “They took something from me and now I will destroy them.”

  He cleared his throat, and then continued. “I apolo
gize for the destruction of your home. I hope you will forgive me.”

  Cressida pointed to the statue of her mother. “You can start by turning them back to normal. If you do that you don’t owe me any apologies.”

  Abe was about to begin chanting the counter-spell when his concentration was violently broken by a babble of voices heading their way. They all tensed, ready for some sort of attack, when Joe came bounding into their little camp, Corona fluttering madly behind him, trying to keep up.

  Joe stopped, panting. The irie landed on his shoulder and Cressida stomped over to flick it off him when Joe held his hand out.

  “She’s come for help,” said Joe.

  “You want us to help you?” Cressida sneered. “You possessed Joe!”

  Corona was unusually quiet. Joe said, “If we can convince the leader of the irie to help us fight the Shadow Assemblage then we could be unbeatable!”

  Cressida looked towards Abe. She said, “What makes you think I’m going to fight the Shadow Assemblage?”

  “Come on,” said Joe. “This is you we’re talking about here. When have you ever sat back and done nothing?”

  “We were planning an assault on the Shadow Assemblage’s subterranean castle when you and your lady friend came bustling in,” said Cressida. She crossed her arms, gave Corona her hardest stare. She didn’t trust her one little bit, but the thought of a whole army of irie was an appealing one. They could be just the distraction she needed.

  Corona gulped, and said, “Bullavent wants to evacuate to the Wild Realm. I think you’re the only one who can convince him to stay and fight for this world. You have to come with me and talk to him.”

  “Wait a second,” Cressida shouted. “You mean the irie don’t want to fight? I thought they loved to fight?”

  Corona shrugged. “They think it’s futile.”

  “They might change their minds when they discover that there’s a spell that can kill the Shadow Assemblage stone dead,” said Cressida, grinning. “So I have to talk to that horrible irie who tried to kill me? Fair enough. We need his help if the plan is to succeed. How many irie are we talking about here to come and help?”

  “All the irie in the world,” said Corona. “Just over one million.”

  Abe whistled in appreciation. Even Cressida was gob smacked. She didn’t know there were that many irie in the world. If every single one of them came to her aid she would have, literally, her own army. Cressida’s army! She liked the sound of that.

  “You know some of the irie will die,” said Cressida.

  “The irie are born warriors,” said Corona. “We know what’s at stake.”

  So this was it, then. All she had to do now was convince Bullavent to stay and fight, while continuing to learn ancient Elvish so she could destroy the book. Soon she would have her mother back and, if all went to plan, the Shadow Assemblage would be defeated. She knew it wouldn’t be as easy as it sounded. There was always the chance she could be hurt, or worse, but that didn’t matter. They knew where they were going now. They knew what had to be done.

  Five minutes later Cressida was back with Emily, learning. She and Corona had decided to meet with Bullavent later on in the day, as her father was supposed to be more amenable to suggestion after his afternoon lunch. Emily was slightly tense through the lesson, snappish and brusque. Cressida ignored her, though. She wasn’t going to allow Emily’s weird mood to sour her day. She felt victorious already.

  Abe was busy reciting the counter-spell in his head to make sure he had it right. As he’d told Miss Weber he’d never actually done it before, although he knew the spell. He was terrified of it going disastrously wrong. There was always the possibility that he could accidentally leave someone with an internal organ still made of marble, and that would kill them in an instant. He had to be precise.

  Grandpa Bram was sitting on a log, deep in thought over something. Joe watched him with interest where he helped Corona sort through the piles of blackberries they’d picked, chucking out the ones that weren’t ripe or were rotten.

  “What’s wrong with him?” Joe wondered.

  “You really are ignorant,” said Corona, tutting annoyingly. “You’re the only family he has left in the whole world, and there you all are planning an assault on the heavily fortified base of six former gods. He’s probably terrified at losing you or dying himself, leaving you with nobody.”

  Joe thought he should go over to him, try and tell him it was all going to be fine, that they were going to come out of this unscathed. But Joe would be lying. He just had this awful feeling, the exact same feeling they all did, that one of them wouldn’t come back from this.

  Cressida smiled as the new words began to stick to her brain. Now she was more composed and now she knew their eventual goal she felt she was learning more, like her brain was soaking it all up faster. She even understood it.

  “How clever you are,” said Emily sarcastically.

  Cressida ignored Emily’s odd tone and said, “I want to thank you, Emily. I know we’ve never got on but you’ve come through for me. You’re literally saving all our lives by teaching me this. Thank you.”

  Emily didn’t say anything.

  Cressida continued. “I may have balked at having you come and live with us but I don’t any more. I’d like it if we could become like…well, I suppose I might use the term ‘sisters’.”

  Emily started giggling. “That will be weird.”

  “You’re telling me,” said Cressida. “But I think I could get used to it.”

  “No, I mean weird in that you’ll be dead,” said Emily. With those words she thrust her hand out and pierced Cressida’s chest with her knife. Cressida’s eyes widened in shock as Emily dug the knife in further, puncturing her heart. Cressida gasped once, more in shock than any pain, and fell backwards, dead.

  Chapter 38 – Betrayal

  Emily sighed and pulled her Elven knife out of Cressida’s chest. She wiped the blood from the blade on the girl’s top and smiled, then slipped it back inside the secret lining of her coat. This had been her first kill. She would remember this day always. Wait, second that, she thought. This is my second kill! Except does Lichen count? I turned him into a plant and he died by accident after shriveling up on the windowsill. She decided Lichen was her first act of manslaughter. Cressida was her first murder. She liked it better that way.

  She stared hard at the Book of Fire, close to her feet. It hadn’t moved, and she hadn’t felt it calling to her. Maybe it had bonded to a worm or something.

  “Here goes,” she whispered.

  Emily grabbed the Book of Fire. She stayed where she was, no teleporting to the river for her. The book had bonded to her now that its former owner was dead. Poor, poor Cressida, she thought. She never even saw it coming. Mind you, neither did I. I was just so sick of waiting and there wasn’t enough time left to wait. The book is finally mine!

  The others were gob smacked. She suddenly remembered that these people were the actual enemy, and began preparing a spell to kill them. No, she told herself. Don’t use dark magic. The forest will literally throw you out. Lucky for me I wasn’t that steeped in dark magic or I never would’ve been let in here in the first place.

  Joe started forward, his face creased in fury. He looked cute when he was angry. Emily did fancy him rotten, and hoped there was a date in this for the two of them in the future. He’d get over Cressida. It wasn’t as if she was a person you’d miss that much.

  “I should have waited until the last minute, I know,” said Emily. “That way you wouldn’t have had a chance to stop me. Yet I was so sick of pretending to be nice to her, when all I wanted to do was either slice her throat or feed her to a pack of starving wolves She wanted to be my sister for Goddess sake! Still, it’s done now. She’s dead. Well, I’ll be seeing you. Hope being frozen in ice isn’t too painful!”

  Smiling in a breezy maleficent way Emily got up and turned to leave when she felt a hand grab her wrist. She turned to see an angry Bram and
her face suddenly fell. She was definitely in trouble now.

  “Don’t let her go,” said Joe from between clenched teeth. He walked over to Cressida’s body and looked down at her. She was so still, so quiet. She can’t be dead, Joe thought. She just can’t be!

  “You killed her,” said Bram, his voice oozing menace.

  Abe prepared his statue spell. He wasn’t going to allow this murderer and traitor to get away with the book. He had to avenge Cressida.

  “I couldn’t wait any longer,” said Emily. “She was taking too long to learn the damn language, and besides coercing her into saying the spell would never have worked. You can see what a stubborn cow she is. We were probably going to have to kill her anyway so what does it matter?”

  Bram let Emily go. Joe, Abe and Corona, who was perched on a branch, had been watching the exchange with some bafflement; the familiarity the two of them seemed to share and the way they spoke. It was as if they knew each other, but Joe could swear they had only ever met at school functions, and even then they hadn’t actually talked.

  “What’s going on?” Joe asked.

  Emily was grinning at him. She blew him a kiss and he wanted to hit her. She clutched the book the way a vulture would caress a corpse.

  “Did you never notice, Joe, not once, in all these years?” Grandpa Joe asked.

  “Notice what?” Joe screamed.

  Bram didn’t need to point it out anyway. Joe had suddenly seen what had evaded his sight for so long. Maybe he’d noticed before but didn’t want to admit it or couldn’t accept it as it was an impossibility. His Grandpa Bram had no shadow.

  Chapter 39 – The Grand Deception

  “You have no shadow,” said Joe, hands trembling. He didn’t know what it meant but he knew it was something bad.

  Emily clapped. “Look at me too, Joe! Go on!”

  He did as she asked, and saw the same; Emily had no shadow either. It wasn’t possible. People had shadows. He looked down at himself, and at Abe. They all had shadows, even Corona. The trees had shadows, the bushes had shadows, Cressida’s body had a shadow, and even the blackberries that were piled on a leaf on the floor had a shadow, all except his grandpa and Emily.