City of Shadows

by D. D. Miers

  The container was curved, with a wide-open top. Engraved in the side was the same symbol Ronen had pointed out to me. When I first popped the top, disappointment filled me when I discovered there was nothing inside but a pile of ash. I dumped it to the floor, relieved when another rune fell with a loud and resounding thud.

  “It’s here! I found it!” I snatched it up and hurriedly flipped it over, excited to see where the map led us next

  Unfortunately, no matter how much I scraped and brushed at the rune’s backside, this one was blank.

  17

  Ronen snatched the rune straight from my hands.

  “What the hell did you do to it?” He flipped it over and over, anger seething from his tensed shoulders and darkened eyes. “Where’s the map, Sloane?”

  “What do you mean, what did I do to it? I just picked it up!”

  “Come on! Don’t fucking lie to me. You did something to it when you found it!”

  “I swear, I—”

  “Wanting to keep secrets, are you? Don’t want to share the spotlight?”

  “Ronen, I di—”

  Enraged, he shook the stone so viciously had it been an enemy’s neck, they would have been shown death. “Show me the damn map!”

  Aedan stepped in front of me, his fingers curling into fists at his sides. “Ronen, step back. Now.”

  “Oh yeah?” It seemed Darius wanted in, too, because he stepped up in Aedan’s face and spit his own vitriol. “How about you tell your girlfriend to stop fucking around and show us the other side of the rune?”

  Aedan gave no warning for his first swinging punch that cracked across Darius’s cheek so hard blood flew from his lips. Immediately, all hell broke loose as the rune tumbled to the floor, entirely forgotten in their sudden two-on-one brawl. Off at the side, I screamed at them, begging them to stop as Darius and Ronen both swung at Aedan in a barrage of fists that left him entirely on the defensive.

  “You idiots! What’s wrong with you?” I wanted to help, to run in and break them apart, but I knew I wouldn’t stand a chance, not with the sound of their solid blows that left me wincing when I hadn’t even been hit. Still, I needed to do something.

  Not wanting to slice them open with a knife or impale them with a bolt, I opted for something a bit more blunt. From the stacks of skeletons, I grabbed what I imagined was a thigh bone. With a firm grip, I swung hard and cracked Ronen straight across the back.

  He heaved in a gasp for air. When he spun on me, his anger had done anything but dissipate.

  “Cowardly bitch!” he spat. “Show us the damn map!”

  “I told you, I didn’t do anything to it!”

  He lunged, grabbing hold of the bone and releasing me of the leverage I needed. Tightening my grip with both hands, I aimed for a different method. With all my weight, I swung behind it, aiming to drag him off his center of gravity and fling him into the pile of bones.

  Unfortunately, his reactions were faster than I’d hoped. With re-centered stature, he shoved hard, proving my tight grip wasn’t everything as I plummeted backward and crashed into splintering caskets. My head ached with the sudden halt of my skull, and my hand burned enough that I lifted it to find a massive splintering shard had embedded itself into my left palm.

  Ronen hefted the heavy rune into his grasp, and, without warning, threw it straight at me. Though the splinter still protruded from my skin, I threw my hands up in defense and ducked, but not quickly enough.

  I screamed out in agony the moment the rune collided with my last line of defense, and while the splinter was ripped from my skin, it tore me open far more than it had already been. I dropped to my knees, grappling for something to wrap the bleeding wound with.

  “Step the hell back, Ronen!” Aedan roared. I kicked away the rune that now lay splattered with my blood, hopeful it would appease Ronen to have it to himself.

  Aedan dropped to my side, and with a quick tear of the hem of his shirt, wrapped my hand tight. “This’ll hold off the bleeding,” he said as he never once took his eyes off the other pair, who were huddled close around the damn rune. “Other than that…are you all right?”

  Concern for me filled his amber depths, and it plucked at the part of me that had ever thought less of him for simply being Fae. “Just a little headache,” I whispered. “I’ll be fine. Are you okay?”

  His knuckles were heavily scuffed, and I wasn’t certain if the smear of blood on his cheek was his or someone else’s.

  “I’m fine,” he answered, and the soft of his smile and gentle brush of his finger across my chin left me speechless. Did all Fae treat their familiars in such a way? The regent had said the bond wasn’t romantic in nature, but the way he sometimes looked at me made me wonder. Shaking away the thoughts, I watched as he turned back to where Ronen grinned as if nothing had occurred at all.

  “See?” He held the rune, across which a solid map now shown. “Told you it was there.”

  I gawked, uncertain whether to be more confused by the sudden appearance of a map atop which my blood lay smeared, or at Ronen and Darius for their completely uncharacteristic anger.

  “What the hell was that?” I demanded

  Neither Ronen nor Darius acknowledged me.

  I stood and wiped down my raw hands, “I said, what the hell was that?”

  “Relax, Sloane.” Darius waved a hand dismissively at me.

  “No. I won’t relax.” I stepped toward him and Ronen, my eyes narrowed. “You both just tried to kill me—out of nowhere—over a freaking rune. Are we really going to pretend that didn’t just happen?”

  “We didn’t try to kill you,” Ronen said, his gaze still focused on the object in his hands. “If we had, you’d be dead.”

  “Ronen.” Aedan warned.

  I wanted to punch him the face, but before I had the chance, Aedan took my hand and led me several feet away. “I know you’re upset.” He glanced over his shoulder to the other men. “And what they just did was wrong, but we need to get the last rune and finish all of this.”

  “They tried to kill me, Aedan!” I flailed my hands in the air, “They don’t deserve our help. We can’t trust them.”

  “I can’t explain or justify what they did. This darkness is spreading in ways we don’t understand.” He shook his head. “I can feel it, Sloane. It’s all around us.”

  He was right. I could feel it, too.

  His knuckle grazed my jaw tenderly, “Do you think you can do that? Continue on?”

  I wanted to scream no, but Killion and hundreds of other innocent souls were at risk.

  I took my time before finally giving in and nodding to Aedan.

  “Good,” he said. “Let’s finish this.”

  I stormed over to Ronen and snatched the rune straight from his grasp. A bit of it I recognized from the decrepit street signs we’d seen on our way through the city, and I hoped I could lead the way myself. At least that way if I walked into a trap unseen, it would be of my own volition and not theirs.

  “Fine,” I retorted angrily as I swept toward the door. “Let’s go.”

  Reversing the path we’d taken through the underground maze wasn’t difficult, given the scuffing of our steps in the thick layers of dust. Once we made it back up the stairs though and looked through the open doors, worry overtook us all.

  “Where’s the berserker?” Darius asked.

  “I don’t know,” I snapped. “What did you do to it?”

  It wasn’t my brightest moment, but the look of surprise on his face felt like a small victory as we looked out every crumbled opening and vacant window we could find, only to see the entirety of the clearing out front was empty. He was nowhere to be found.

  “Come on,” I said, deciding speed was the best option now. After all, I wanted to spend as little time as possible with Ronen and Darius, and if that meant finding the last rune in record time, then that was what I’d do.

  We ran down the street, Aedan directly beside me as we charged with the worry that the berserk
er would swing for us at any moment. One single hit could kill us all, which only made Darius’s swift recovery even more miraculous.

  On and on we ran, beyond bewildered passersby who shouted more vitriol at us than I had heard anywhere else. They didn’t want us here, and even more than them, I didn’t want to be here either.

  Caring not if Darius or Ronen were left in the dust, I pushed my legs hard as they could carry me, until I was certain the berserker could lurk near no more. Only then did I slow my steps upon a street devoid of light entirely.

  Still, I dared not stop, not even as I gasped for breath and held tighter to the rune that left my arms shaky and weak. It would have been more preferable for the things to have been made from paper.

  With my eyes trained on it rather than ahead, I never saw the group approaching that had Aedan’s outstretched hand yanking me to a stop.

  “Hey!” a voice yelled, making me clutch the rune tighter to my chest in fear. “We heard there was some outsiders in town!”

  “What the hell are you doing here anyway?” another yelled as their loud jeers filled the air. “You ain’t welcome!”

  Their numbers grew as several more poured around the corner ahead, now outranking us by far too many to try to pass through. Aedan shifted at my side.

  “We were just leaving…” Ronen yelled from behind. With a quick glance, I saw he was backing up to where several figures had snuck up, boxing us in entirely.

  “Ronen,” I warned. Even if I wished to see actual harm come to him, I still would have felt horrific and partially responsible were he to die.

  “Shit.” It seemed he’d already made up his mind. Darius at his side, they lifted their weapons and charged for the smaller group at our backs. In quick succession, they drew first blood, splattering the dark street in crimson as they clashed. Aedan shoved me toward the fray, his own sword pulled free as I merely clung to the rune.

  Their weapons were crude and unusual, from spikes lashed to a steel rod, to a small anvil swung upon the length of a chain. Each of their attacks was an aim to kill, but they hadn’t trained with the efficiency of these men, and it was clear from the brutal strikes they took that left them spitting up blood and begging for mercy. In seconds, we were nearly clear, and it was a good thing given the thundering steps of the remainder of their group tearing down the road behind us.

  Beyond Aedan’s guard, one man ran, coming at me with a fistful of sharpened steel claws. He hadn’t seen my defense coming, not as I swung the rune itself straight for his head and cracked his skull so far open I imagined death would be a blessing.

  “Run!” I screamed the moment the last man fell. Hot on our heels, the remainder of the group chanted and bellowed out all the ways they wanted to see us burn. I was having none of it, not as I tore past Aedan, Ronen, and Darius, and headed up the lead as I searched for an alternate route to the last rune.

  “This way!” I screamed back at them as I turned at the last second down an empty street, aware that the three with me were working on a plan to impede their chase. We had to, or else they’d chase us until our legs gave out or we’d found the rune and they plucked it from our lifeless hands.

  “I’ve got it, I’ve got it!” Darius shouted after us, and though I knew something was happening, I dared not look behind. All I knew was Aedan and Ronen were soon right on my heels, and Darius sounded all too pleased as he cried out to the men on our tails.

  “Catch this, assholes!”

  Seconds later, an explosion left the ground trembling, and sent a cacophony of agonizing screams into the air. From the sounds of it, they had to equal death, or worse.

  “Keep running!” Darius called.

  Not one to argue with aiming to live, I did just that.

  The city began to fade into an almost distant memory as the buildings around us lay more and more covered in thick vegetation that proved that stone wasn’t always strongest. What little streetlamps remained were knocked over, giving us barriers to hurdle over and avoid as we followed the map away from civilization. I certainly wasn’t one to complain, and didn’t peep a word as we barreled toward the last point on the map.

  “It should be right ahead!” At least, that was what the rune made it seem like, but as my eyes focused on the space in front of me, I skidded hurriedly to a sudden halt. Several feet before us, the covered street simply disappeared into a vast canyon with a sudden cliff only steps from us. Cautiously, I crept toward the edge and peered down into the dark depths of a crystalline body of water that seemed a gem in a minefield of despair.

  “Where is it?” I asked, and though it made my blood boil to have Ronen take the rune from my hands, I made no mention of it. I just wanted it finished. Now.

  “Well?” I asked again. “What now?”

  My breath caught in my throat as Ronen and Darius looked at me in unison. Together, they stepped forward, stilling my heart and seizing my muscles in protest as they shoved me fast and hard off the edge of the cliff.

  18

  There was no stopping the endless pitch that was forced out from the depths of my throat. In a matter of seconds, I imagined my bones cracking against the force of solid water, and if that did not kill me, perhaps some twisted monster beneath the depths would.

  My limbs scrambled in desperation, searching for something to hold onto, when suddenly something held onto me instead. That same husky, earthy scent of cedar and fire smoke enveloped me, along with Aedan’s arms. I had barely a moment to cling to him as my eyes clenched tight and my head ducked against the hardness of his chest.

  Water engulfed us in a driving chill that left my lungs wanting to gasp in protest. I was certain he’d taken the brunt of the hit, but behind still-closed eyes, I had no idea which way was up and which was down, let alone how far we’d plunged beneath the icy surface.

  Suspended in the muffled silence of the water, I remained attached to him, my hands wound tight around his chest as I felt the thrust of his arms and legs pulling us toward the surface. When the sound of Aedan’s heavy breath reached me, I gasped and finally opened my eyes.

  I clung to his hard chest as he treaded water. His hair lay plastered to his jaw, and anxiety weighed so heavily in his eyes I wondered with a start if it was me who would be dragging him down to a watery grave. In a hurry, I relented my grip and gave him a modicum of space.

  “Thanks,” I managed in a heavy breath as I struggled to push down the rush of adrenaline that had taken over me. He’d barely been able to spit out a response when Darius and Ronen plunged into the water, and sprayed us in two massive walls of water.

  Sputtering and angered to the bone, I attacked with venom the moment they surfaced. “What the fuck was that? Are you trying to kill me?”

  Ronen rolled his eyes, which only made me hate him more. “Come on, you know you weren’t going to jump.”

  “You didn’t tell me I had to!”

  “A little warning next time, Ronen,” Aedan snarled angrily enough to send most men running. Ronen though, was not most men.

  “We’re all fine, aren’t we? Come on, it should be this way.”

  I could’ve screamed with rage, but I had only one option at my disposal; continue with those I’d begun with, find the remaining rune, and complete whatever ritual was necessary to make certain my brother’s death wasn’t for nothing.

  “Fine, let’s go,” I finally spat, causing a smirking Ronen and Darius to head off across the vast pool of water.

  All around us, small creeks and rivers seemed to meander in and out of the lake, and in the distance, I could hear the constant flow of what sounded like a great waterfall. Quite possibly that was the cause of the utter chill, if the water was flowing from the mountaintops.

  Purposefully, I allowed Ronen and Darius to gain a lead, wanting to put some distance between myself and them. Seeing Aedan had settled back at my side, I silently told myself my choice hadn’t been only in order to be a bit more alone with him. That it could have been part of my decision at all
left me rattled, even if I did find myself stealing sideways glances at him as he swam effortlessly through the freezing water.

  The farther we went, the more my teeth chattered, and though it wasn’t mere fatigue that plagued me, my arms trembled with every pushing thrust through the water. It was cold, too cold, and I feared hypothermia would set in if we didn’t stop and make certain our cores were warmed.

  Still, we swam on, pushing ourselves hard against the current of a river that stretched wider than any street in the city. Before long, it wasn’t only the chill that worried me, but also extreme fatigue of the limbs that were forced to keep me afloat as I pushed against a current that moved swifter than I could swim.

  “I need…” I gasped, and just as swiftly coughed and strained against a mouthful of water I’d aspirated. “I need to get to shore!”

  Though I heard no protests from the others, I could feel it in the weight of Ronen’s gaze as he turned toward shore and swam at a diagonal I couldn’t meet. I struggled, finding myself swept back downstream, away from the mark I’d made it to.

  “Come on, you’ve got this.” At my side the entire time, Aedan grabbed hold of my arm and aided me to shore, though I could even feel the frustration and exhaustion in his tired motions. The moment my feet touched bottom, I nearly cried out in relief. I dragged myself onto the rocky shore before collapsing straight onto my back.

  Ronen and Darius be damned. If they wanted company, they could walk back to where I was. Within my line of sight, I saw Aedan heading farther up the shore, toward the forest beyond.

  “Where are you going?” My head popped off the hard rock in protest.

  The gentle rise of his tired smile eased my heightened worry. “To get a bit of firewood, so we can warm up. I’ll be right back.”

  I nodded, and settled my head back down on what was the hardest pillow I’d ever laid on to date. Above me, the sky was dotted with a sea of stars. I contemplated them while I asked myself a million questions. Where had the runes come from? What sort of power did they hold? Why was it Ronen and Darius had turned so suddenly on me? And what was it they quietly spoke of that very moment, only a bit farther up the same shore?