“We can signal one of the ships ferrying people off the upper island.”
“Maybe,” Daylen said as he bonded light to his sight. Instantly, he could see every ship before him in detail—and he recognized one.
Daylen pointed. “That ship heading back to the upper island. It’s the Bloodrunner.”
“Sain?”
Daylen smiled. “It has to be. The kid is helping people evacuate.”
“But it’s too far away,” Ahrek said and pointed to another ship. “We might get the attention of that one.”
“Nowhere near fast enough. If we want to reach the island before it hits, we need something like the Bloodrunner.”
“Then how do we signal it?”
“Well I did just see the knights perform a nice little trick. Let’s see if I can do it, too.”
“Do what?”
“You’ll see.”
Daylen switched all his bonds to voice and whispered, thinking of Sain, focusing on him as if the lad were standing right near. “Sain. This is Daylen. We need the ship. We’re standing in the middle of the closest market square to the ship’s left—just look for a large empty city block among the buildings.”
“You can speak to people at a distance?”
“I hope I can, as otherwise that would have looked rather stupid.”
“It looked stupid regardless.”
“Thanks,” Daylen said sarcastically as he watched the Bloodrunner.
The ship didn’t move and Daylen could guess that if it worked Sain might be questioning his own sanity at hearing Daylen’s voice from nowhere.
Daylen tried it again. “You’re not crazy, you idiot—this is one of my powers. Now hurry up and get your ass over here.”
The ship jerked to a stop, hovered in the air for a second, and then turned to fly in their direction.
“It worked,” Ahrek added.
“Yeah, and the kid’s gotten fairly good at flying that thing.”
“You calling everyone kid makes a lot more sense now, seeing you’re about as old as a fart can get.”
“Before I changed, you should have smelled them. They were a power unto themselves.”
The ship dipped low to fly in on their side. It pulled to a stop with Sain at the helm and Sharra at his side.
“Do you have any idea how disturbing it is to hear a voice speak to you in your head?” Sain called out to them. “Especially when it’s yours, Daylen.”
“I can imagine,” Daylen said as Ahrek climbed aboard. Daylen pulled on the link to Imperious and his gauntlet, calling them to his hands and then jumped high into the air to land at the helm of the Bloodrunner.
“Hello, Daylen—Bringer Ahrek,” Sharra said as she took Sain’s arm.
“Hi,” Daylen said flatly. He still didn’t know what to make of Sharra, but now wasn’t the time to wonder.
“It is good to see you, child,” Ahrek said.
“What under the Light happened to you?” Sain asked, looking at Daylen.
Daylen looked down at his clothes. He really was a mess. His sleeves were completely torn off, nearly every inch of his clothing was bloodstained and tattered, and his skin was covered in dust and bits of dried blood.
“Nothing I didn’t deserve,” Daylen said back.
“Okay,” Sain said with a shake of his head. “You want to take the helm?”
“You’re doing a fine job as it is.”
Sain looked stunned. “Really?”
“Yes, now hurry up and get this girl moving!”
“Where’re we going?” Sain asked as he worked the levers, which pushed the ship into motion.
Daylen pointed to the approaching shadow.
“That thing? I had guessed it’s what’s caused the evacuation. What is it?”
“Hamenday Island,” Ahrek answered as the Bloodrunner quickly gained speed. “It’s flying toward the city and infested with enough Shade to cloak it in darkness.”
“The Shade?” Sharra practically squeaked out.
“Yeah, you might want to be dropped off somewhere,” Daylen said.
Sharra breathed in and held Sain closer. “I’m staying right here.”
“Fine, we’ll try and keep the ship at a safe distance.”
“All the registry stations are blocked up by other ships trying to leave the city,” Sain said.
Daylen pointed to a section of the shield, “The war gate is in that direction and should be open.”
“It is?” Sain asked. “There’s a lot of people trying to leave the city who would like to know.”
“Good point,” Daylen said. “There was an order to keep it clear for the warships but that’s useless now.” Daylen bonded light to his voice and started to whisper, focusing on the captains of any nearby skyships repeating the words, “The war gate is open, let everyone know.”
“What are you doing?” Sain asked.
“Sending a few direct messages like I did with you.”
“I hope they listen.” Ahrek added.
“Me too,” Daylen said. “Maybe they’ll think the light is speaking to them in their time of need.”
“Not with your voice.” Sain said with a smirk.
“This is very troubling, Daylen,” Ahrek said. “The knights should have reached the island ages ago, yet it looks to be within a kilometer of the city—and the Shade still remain.”
“Yeah… Something’s gone wrong.”
“If a whole troop of Archknights have failed what could we do to stop them?”
Daylen looked to the Bringer. “I’m Dayless the Conqueror, remember? I’ll think of something.”
“Hang on, what?” Sain said incredulously. “You’re Dayless the Conqueror?”
“Yeah, tyrant of ages, oppressor of nations, enemy of all, especially family pets,” Daylen said dryly. “Oh, and I purposefully redirect people’s mail at every opportunity.”
Sain was looking at him open-mouthed before finally saying, “All right, then, that explains a lot.” Then he looked back to the horizon as he piloted the ship.
Sharra was taking the news a little more seriously, her eyes wide with shock and fear. “I thought you would have looked older…” she said slowly.
“Eating your vegetables can do wonders.”
The Bloodrunner was really moving now, the city flying by them in a blur.
Sain really was doing a good job at piloting. The kid had an impressive knack for working things out.
Daylen still offered Sain the occasional correction in his piloting to which Sain seemed genuinely grateful.
They flew through the war gate and thankfully there were skyships following behind. They had got the message.
A great shadow in the sky loomed before them as they approached.
“We have minutes before that thing will reach the outskirts of the city,” Daylen said.
“Won’t the shield stop it?” Sharra asked.
“Not a chance.”
“Then it’s going to destroy the whole city!” Sharra said in despair.
“Most of it, at least,” Daylen said, “if I can’t stop it.”
Ahrek was standing by the side railing and pointed before calling out, “Look, there! A ship approaching the island ahead of us.”
Daylen walked to the side of the ship as the one Ahrek pointed to was flying low, and enhanced his sight. “It’s Lyrah,” Daylen said. “She’s commandeered a trader. The thing is a quarter as fast as ours, so we should actually reach Hamenday at about the same time.”
“We should be close enough for your light sense to see what’s on the island,” Ahrek said, “if you enhance it, that is.”
“You’re right!” Daylen said, and channeled all bonds to his light sense. He’d never enhanced it so much, but with it he could sense everything on the island. The rock and ground was hardest to make out, the grass and trees on the surface much easier, with people being bright and distinct.
And then there were the dark voids.
“The Shade are on the su
rface. They’ll all Lesser Shade, which isn’t as bad as it could have been. There seems to be people there, grouped in threes and fours, but I can’t sense any lightbinding powers being used. The Shade are trying to get to them, but are being stopped. It’s hard to make out by what, but I think they’re bunkers or something. The rest of the people are deep within the island near the back of the core.”
Daylen put a hand on Sain’s shoulder. “Fly us above the island and then match its speed. Whatever you do, do not cross into the darkness. Remember, you’ll always be safe in the light.”
“Got it,” Sain said as he angled the ship upward.
Daylen pulled off his gauntlet and held it to Ahrek. “This isn’t going to be much help. It’s not like Imperious.”
“I would create a strong shield made of steel for you if I could, but…”
“There’s a shield below deck,” Sharra said.
Daylen spun around. “What?”
“Yeah, that’s right,” Sain added.
Sharra ran off. “I’ll go get it!” she called out.
“And grab as many sunstones from their holdings as you can find!” Daylen called after her. He looked to Sain. “Blackheart, he had a backup shield?”
Sain nodded. “Sharra found it while helping me clean out the ship. Blackheart loved using a shield, after all. I think he trained with this other one.”
Daylen nodded. “It’s useful to train with a heavier weapon than the one you fight with.”
They quickly overtook Lyrah’s ship and flew above the shadow.
Sharra returned with the shield and sunstones in hand. It was a large steel center grip kite.
“Thanks,” Daylen said, taking the shield in his left hand and tucking most of the stones under his shirt with what remained from his first lot. He held two other stones in the hand that grasped the shield. “I could really use your help, Ahrek.”
“I’m sorry, but it’s up to you and Lyrah. I have faith in you, Daylen. You’ve fought these monsters before, and that was as a regular man. Now you’re a Lightbinder. Go—bring the light back!”
Daylen nodded, summoning forth Imperious, and ran to the edge of the ship, where he jumped and fell into the darkness.
It brought back dark memories. The shadow was unnatural; not merely the absence of light, it was a physical thing that pushed light back, making it weaker.
Daylen closed his eyes to fully rely on his light sense. He had never really done this before. He had used it, of course, but not embraced it like this; and as he did, something remarkable happened. Darkness was all around but every object below him on the approaching surface, especially the plants and trees, had a faint glow around them in a way that he could make out their shape and appearance. It was a world of soft illumination.
Even in darkness, there was light everywhere.
Daylen landed on the surface with shrieks sounding close by.
He searched with his sense and saw the flayed, rent bodies of the Archknights laying all around him.
“Light, no!” Daylen said. How could this have happened? he wondered in horror.
And then Daylen saw several things sticking out of their bodies.
They were the backs of shotspikes.
Kneeling down, Daylen pulled one out.
The spike’s head had four small sunstones fixed around an obsidian point.
Darkstone.
Daylen’s rage mounted. Those Dawnists, the ones huddling in the bunkers, must have shot the knights with these darkstone-tipped spikes, nullifying their powers and making them easy prey for the Shade.
“Bastards!”
How did they learn of the knights’ weakness?
He shook himself. Thankfully, the Shade were still too preoccupied with the Dawnists huddling in the bunkers to have noticed Daylen.
Lyrah’s ship suddenly appeared as it flew into the range of Daylen’s light sense. With it, Daylen could see the whole thing; it was faint, but there was a shimmering outline that defined it. Lyrah had flown the thing directly into the shadow.
Light, that woman had balls.
She jumped from the ship to land at his side, steel war sword drawn.
“Careful,” Daylen said to her, “the Dawnists are using darkstone-tipped shotspikes. Also, from the look of it, these Shade have only recently been turned, which means no greater powers.”
Lyrah looked about at her fallen brethren, her face becoming an image of pain and rage.
“No!”
And then her face froze on one body in particular. She ran over to it, screaming, “Cueseg!”
Oh, Light—it was her Tuerasian companion.
His body had been ripped apart, his head and bright yellow hair lying lifeless.
Lyrah fell to her knees, crying. “No, Cueseg, no…” she sobbed.
Daylen sensed the Shade turn to them, finally realizing that two humans were out in the open. They took to the black sky, shrieking and flying toward them.
“Lyrah, I’m sorry, but you don’t have time to mourn,” Daylen urged. “They’re coming!”
Lyrah heaved a final sob and growled, “I’m going to kill them all!”
The Shade reached them and Lyrah screamed in rage, swinging her sword with incredible strength and cutting two Shade completely in half.
Daylen drew on the light from the sunstones in his shirt and channeled one bond to his sword skill, one to his speed, one to his reflexes, and the last to his hearing.
He lashed out with fury, and using this new combination of enhancements was unstoppable.
The Shade swooped and shrieked, but Daylen jumped and dodged like an acrobat, weaving in between them and cutting them apart, Imperious shattering with sound at each strike.
Lyrah was just as effective. She wasn’t as fast as Daylen, but the Shade could barely even hurt her. They might as well have flown into a rock face instead of attempting to charge at the woman. With her incredible strength, her sword slashed through the Shades’ thick flesh as if she were felling a tree with each swing.
And then with Daylen’s enhanced ears, he heard what he had been expecting: the clicks of shooters.
With his enhanced speed he was at Lyrah’s side in a flash, dodging the spikes shot at him and blocking those that would have hit her with his shield.
Unfortunately the spikes were shot from multiple directions and Daylen could only defend one direction with his shield. He could sense that there had been at least another thirty spikes that whistled past them in their general vicinity, including the one that struck him in the back.
Daylen grunted in pain as each of his bonds were severed, the light he was drawing into his body being sucked right back out by the darkstone. Before he could do anything, Lyrah pulled the thing from his flesh and threw it away while fending off another two Shade in the process. That gave Daylen the time he needed to heal, and he stood before deflecting another Shade.
“They can’t see us, so they’re shooting volleys in our general direction,” Daylen said.
“We need to take out those bunkers!” Lyrah growled.
“Then follow me!”
Daylen charged the nearest bunker where his sense outlined four people crouching within, Lyrah running right behind him.
The Dawnists must have been able to hear him, for they shot blindly in his direction. Daylen held his shield in front, blocking those spikes that were on point with several pinging sounds and bright sparks as they hit.
The moment before he reached the bunker, he jumped and flipped back, letting Lyrah pass under and crash through the whole bunker with an explosion of debris.
The Dawnists inside were crushed.
Daylen rejoined Lyrah at her side.
The room-sized bunker had been made out of some type of mortar-like stone, its roof slab having broken into three large pieces.
Lyrah picked up the largest piece, Daylen knocking aside three Shade as she did, and threw the whole thing at the next nearest bunker, which was still a good thirty meters away. The bunker
exploded from the sheer force of the impact.
Under constant attack, Daylen and Lyrah ran to the two remaining bunkers, switching back and forth between defending the other from either shotspike or Shade, and destroyed the wretched Dawnists hiding within.
“There’s three Shade left,” Daylen said, as the last few shrieked and attacked.
Thankfully the Shade rarely ever used any tactics, not unless directed by their more intelligent Lords, and would never retreat.
Daylen and Lyrah cut the monsters to pieces and Daylen wondered at who they had been before being turned.
Daylen sighed as the darkness slowly faded. He held up Imperious before him. “And that brings us to seven hundred and sixty-three.”
The glorious light returned to the island. The sky shone with its brilliant blue, the city, which they were very close to hitting, great and majestic before them.
“We’re too late!” Lyrah said hopelessly. “We can never reach the core in time to stop this wretched thing.”
“I… I…” Daylen didn’t know what to do. In moments, they would cross over the city and hit the upper islands.
“I’m a wretched fool!” Lyrah said as she wept, falling to her knees. “If I hadn’t chased you, I would have come here in time. I could have saved Cueseg and my brethren. I put my own vengeance before the fate of the city… My hatred has doomed us all.”
“No,” Daylen said, “if you had left with the knights, you would have been caught off guard alongside them.”
“You don’t know that—I might have made the difference!” she screamed. Her shoulders fell as she looked down at Highdawn. “Now nothing can be done.”
Daylen looked to the city. The island was flying right over the main highway and would cross the city’s primary throughway, directly aimed at the High Road and upper City Islands. Thousands of people were still crowded on the high road trying to flee the city—not to mention those still on the islands.
“NO, there has to be a way!” Daylen cried. “I could figure it out it if I had. . . Light, I’m an idiot!” Daylen braced himself for the pain he knew this would bring and channeled all his bonds to his intelligence, closing his eyes. Given enough time, he could always come up with a plan. He prayed it would hold true.
Shadow of the Conqueror Page 49
