Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy)

by Vazquez, Melissa

  “Wake up, maggots!”

  What a beautiful wake up call. One of the ship mates used this affectionate phrase to wake the prisoners up. Those who didn't wake up were then splashed with a large bucket full of sea water by more of the ships' crew. Kaydee was splashed as the woman beside her refused to wake up. She almost cried in relief. It was the closest thing she had to a shower.

  The man who had woken them up spoke with a loud drawl. “Listen up, ye dogs! Yeh'll be departin' soon. An' thank God! I won't be stuck with yer filth anymore.”

  That was about as close to an affectionate send off as they got.

  All too soon, the ship's crew was forcing the prisoners onto their weak feet. They were forced up and out of the ship. Kaydee was surprised that she could still walk. The sun hurt her eyes as she emerged from the belly of the ship.

  Gone was the verdant green of the land they had been in before. They were at a port city of some sort but everything around her suggested a vast desert. Elaborate stone buildings stood around them, decorated in varying colors of sand and gold. Instead of the soft grass that had accompanied them before, there was nothing more than hard, packed down dirt and sand. Some sand flew loose in the breeze but the packed in dirt remained, cracking from the lack of moisture. The sun beat down upon them harshly. It was hot in this city, with not even the gentle sea breeze offering relief.

  The ship's crew took care of the ship, with one particularly foul-mouthed sailor complaining about the mess the prisoners had left below deck. Thomas took it upon himself to lead his chained prisoners through the city. Kaydee's sneakers bit into the hard-packed dirt ground as she and the others walked. It was hard to ignore the stares of the citizens of the city as they passed. She wished they wouldn't stare at her. Some regarded her with pity, others with excitement. There was plenty of talk as they made their way away from the docks and into the city, towards a large, circular building. There was no roof to the building and Kaydee could hear the cheering all too well.

  Her heart sped up to match a hummingbird's wing beats. Through the cheering, she could hear the shouts of pain and clashes of metal on metal. Was this some kind of coliseum? Was she to be entertainment for the city before she was killed?

  She glanced at the man she had spoken to on her first day on the ship. He was ahead of her, not feeling her stare. He looked ghastly pale, dreading what was up ahead. She remembered his words all too clearly on how to get out of the so-called games that they had to look forward to – by dying.

  Oh, God.

  She was going to die today.

  

  Govoya was a revolting city. Architecturally, the buildings were interesting, but Atrimalous had no interest in observing the architecture. He was on a hunt today. This was the second day that the seer had prophesied about and he was determined to intercept Kaydee before the Death Games got a grip on her. To him, everything about the city revolted him, from the rich foreign languages he heard being exchanged, to the bright market stands. There was nothing wrong with the city itself, aside from what it hosted as a form of entertainment.

  He ignored Leta's obvious joy for the city. He had almost been tempted to leave her behind, when she had insisted on buying some cloth from a trader, to blend in better. Blend in! What did he care about blending in? His traveling cloak hid him well enough, as worn and tattered as it was. It was Leta that stood out like a sore thumb, in that dark blue dress she had been wearing. The women here didn't wear dresses that marked them from foreign lands. Govoyan traders had leered at them as they entered the city, asking Atrimalous if the woman beside him was for sale. Blending in might have been useful for her, but he had no interest in it.

  Even more irritating, the woman shopped like a typical woman. He had heard of stories of modern women in the First Realm, with their long hours of staring and contemplation before making a purchase. He hadn't imagined that it was universal. Leta held up swatches of cloth, testing how it felt and complimenting the color before she finally settled on a simple stretch of cloth in bright blue and gold hues. The woman who had made it showed her how to wrap it over her body, creating a new type of garment entirely that worked well with her dress. It took all the willpower Atrimalous had to not scream at the two women. He was itching to get going.

  After Leta had properly arranged her new outfit and paid the woman who had helped her, she joined Atrimalous and the two horses they had borrowed.

  “Thanks,” she said, practically bubbling with joy.

  He didn't waste words expressing his annoyance. Instead, he pointed out the largest building in the city, a towering circular structure made from sandstone. “I've heard things about this building.”

  They made their way to the large circular building and heard the noise coming from it soon after. Rage bloomed within Atrimalous like a deadly storm. She was here, he was certain of it.

  

  It was a terrifying thing to think of being in a game where the main goal was to kill.

  It was mind-numbing to be in the game itself.

  Kaydee's heartbeat continued to flitter painfully around in her chest as she and the other prisoners had been filtered into the building. She was past being terrified now; she was a bundle of adrenaline and nerves, her body primed for the flight-or-fight response that was deeply engrained into her system. It was only her natural kindness that blocked out the fight part of that ancient instinct.

  Unfortunately, she might not have had much choice in the matter.

  She was shoved into a crowd of dozens of people. How many people pressed into her, she didn't know, but the holding cell they were in was just as bad as the ship they had emerged from – it stank of human waste and fear. There were some people crying and begging to be let go. Others had murder in their eyes. Everyone was jittery in the little pen they were in.

  The sounds of the previous match had ceased and the crowd gave loud roars of blood thirst, energized by the previous fighters. There was no time for the crowd to rest; they had been promised a double feature today. Back to back fighting.

  A gate at the front of the holding pen was open and people were filtered down a narrow hallway like liquid through the neck of a bottle. Those that didn't comply were whipped until they moved, sometimes forcefully, by the men who guarded them. Kaydee was pushed with the surging crowd. She barely needed to walk, as those pressed in close to her did the moving. Soon, she was blinking under the bright, hot sun, as she was brought into the center of the coliseum. The crowd cheered anew as a new surge of victims were brought before them.

  Kaydee felt ill as she glanced around. Bodies were still being cleared off of the field and there were piles of weapons on the bloodied dirt ground. There were men and women around her glancing at the weapons, silently calculating their chances of grabbing one before they were all taken.

  One man's voice rose over the excited stirring of the audience.

  “Ladies and gentlemen! You are here to watch the execution of those charged with crimes!”

  His speech continued on about justice and the execution of those who had done something wrong. Kaydee nearly burst out into hysterical laughter at this. Crimes! That was a farce. Nowhere in anything Thomas had said involved crimes. The story might have been what helped these awful people sleep at night, but it was an obvious lie.

  The filthy, sweating man's speech concluded with, “And may God have mercy on their souls!”

  The crowd let out a scream, as if a rock star were about to perform. Instead, all hell broke loose. The men and women took their cue from the sweating man above them and a frenzy for survival broke out.

  Those who had been eying the weapons dove for the piles of steel and wood at once. Kaydee ran in the opposite direction, trying to get away from the crowd. There were so many people around her, everyone an enemy. Those with magical powers used them fast and suddenly, there were screams of pain all around her as fire made an appearance, burning an older man as he tried to cleave the fire's wielder in two. Weakened Immortals trie
d to summon weapons made of energy, but their weapons failed to make an impact against hard wood and sharpened steel.

  Kaydee screamed as death erupted around her.

  Panic overtook her mind, almost shutting her down completely but she willed herself to concentrate. Fainting was not going to do her any good here. She couldn't defend herself if she fainted. Instead, her concentration drove deep into the earth, tapping an endless supply of power. As her concentration ran earth-bound and magic ran up through her body, power registered itself within her, giving all that adrenaline a way to manifest itself out of her terrified body. There weren't any seedlings in the parched earth, but that didn't mean she didn't have defenses. As long as her feet were on the ground, she always had defenses.

  A man came after her, swinging a mace around. She let out a terrified yell and the magic reacted on instinct. The ground below him rose up at an alarming rate, as if a mountain was growing. The man fell from the sudden cliff and, although it was only a few feet from ground level, it put a stop to his attack. He was in turn attacked by a woman using an iron shield as a sledgehammer. A solid sheet of metal hit him in the head before the woman darted off, slamming her shield into whoever got into her way.

  Kaydee shuddered and tried not to watch blood escape the man's damaged flesh. She concentrated her magic once more on the ground, creating all sorts of fun fissures and cracks for people to trip into. If they wanted at her, they were going to have to watch where they stepped. Her small defense proved effective after a man tripped around the uneven ground, the sword he was holding skewering someone he wasn't even targeting. People around him fell on him like flies to a carcass and Kaydee backed up once more, bumping into a woman who couldn't have been any older than her. The woman screamed and blindly swung the small dagger she held, the adrenaline making her stupid instead of strategic. Fearing for her safety more from this woman than anyone else who had approached, she raised a rift of rock and earth between her and the woman. The woman screamed and clawed at the earthen barrier, stabbing it uselessly with her dagger. When she couldn't breach the barrier, the dagger flew through the air, catching Kaydee across the arm. The blade only nicked her skin but the small wound burned angrily.

  Kaydee was only able to dodge combat for so long. As more men and women fell, the survivors turned on each other like rabid animals. The ring stank of more than human waste this time, it reeked of death and entrails. The metallic sting of blood was strong in the air. Kaydee was crying as she dodged a fire mage. Her clothing wasn't so lucky and the front of her shirt was singed. She practically threw herself onto the ground to smother the flames before they grew. For her defense, she also grabbed a halberd whose end had been broken off.

  The fire mage came at her again, his left hand containing a ball of fire that did not harm its wielder. The mage seemed determined to kill her, specifically, now that there were fewer opponents on the field. She dodged another attempt to burn her and threw up a rock barrier between them. The man stomped at it, attempting to splinter the rock with his body weight. When that didn't work, he sent fire to ooze between the stones like deadly liquid. Kaydee was quick to scurry out from her failed protective barrier. She tripped over a discarded boot and hit the ground. With the breath knocked out of her, she wasn't so fast to get up this time. The fire mage loomed over her. As he moved, she tripped him as the ground changed shape again. His body fell and he hit the blade of the axe mounted at the top of the pole weapon she still held. Her scream drowned out the surprised, injured noise he made.

  He wasn't dead, however, and his left hand rose again, determined to burn her. This time, her body reacted on instinct. Without being aware of her own movements, she shoved him off of her weapon and went in for the kill, stabbing him with the spike atop the axe head at the top of her halberd. In blind panic, she thrust her whole body weight into the motion, screaming again as the spike went through flesh and organs. The momentum pushed the fire mage into an earthen wall she had erected before and he found himself impaled and pinned on it. The mage made a disgusting gurgling noise before he fell still.

  Not even able to scream, Kaydee released the weapon, backing away from the mage in horror. She had just killed someone. She knew it was something that had to be done, or else she would have been in the fire mage's place instead, but the thought penetrated her fear-numbed mind. She retched and bit back the impulse to vomit, before trying to back out and away from the remaining survivors.

  There were only twenty people left on the field when a new wave of screaming started. This one had nothing to do with the people beating each other to death in the center of the dirt ring. It had nothing to do with entertainment. The guards that had watched over the prisoners in the holding pen had their weapons drawn and were running towards two people. One was a woman dressed in what looked like an Indian sari. She was an ice mage. Her eyes glowed bright blue as she froze the ground and anything that touched it. Guards were frozen in place as their feet and ankles were blanketed in a thick layer of ice.

  Behind her was someone in a cloak that held two swords, one in each hand. He was clearly skilled at fighting, more so than the amateurs that had been gathered in the coliseum. The man in the cloak fought with the skill and grace of someone who had been comfortable with killing for years. He took the guards down as if they were no more dangerous than daisies were, cutting them down with those twin blades of his. More guards surged forth from the stands and the ice mage alerted her companion. This time, he didn't wait for the mage to freeze everyone, he went in for the kill without provocation. His intrusion on the battle field halted all other fights as they scurried to get out of his war path.

  “Where is she?” he bellowed as he took guard after guard down.

  Kaydee felt fear flutter once more in her belly as the ice mage approached after him. The woman picked her way through the battle field with disgust, avoiding entrails and dead bodies. The edges of her sari that swept the floor were tinged a rusty color from blood and dirt.

  “There's no point in trying to help,” she grumbled.

  The intrusion of the battle froze Kaydee so bad that she felt her strength leave her. She had been running on pure adrenaline and magic for so long that she needed to rest. Exhaustion bore down on her to her very marrow. She collapsed in front of the ice mage.

  The woman let out a startled cry and caught her before she hit the ground. Kaydee was sinking fast into the land of sleep when she saw the mage's eyes widen in shock.

  “You look just like him,” she whispered.

  Chapter Seventeen

  In the two days that had passed, the Shadow Assassins had been cared for well by the staff of Moonriver Academy. Evangeline spent a lot of time with her twin sister, catching up on their lives and comparing their powers. Marco had gotten more than his share of rejections as he flirted shamelessly with the women. Kaleb tried to get him to settle down but Marco protested, saying it was all in good fun.

  Typical Marco. The telekinetic didn't seem to mind rejection, using it only as fuel for his next conquest.

  Kaleb was antsy at Moonriver. While Marco exchanged flirtatious looks with women and Evangeline caught up on family time with her sister, the shape shifter wanted to head out to Kkyathi again. He felt bad for abandoning the tribe that had let him in so easily.

  As the afternoon classes started, he met up with Dirk before Dirk darted off to his darkened classroom.

  “Is there any way that I can travel back to Kkyathi?”

  The vampire looked startled. “But you just got here.”

  Kaleb apologized for the sudden inconvenience, but he insisted that he had to go back and check on the tribe he had left behind. A sad understanding crossed Dirk's eyes, before he agreed.

  “But take the others with you!” he added as he made his way towards his classroom. “We have no warriors to guard you with so the three of you will have to protect each other! Head to the stables outside and tell them you are my guests and you need horses to travel with. They will help
you!”

  That was enough to put Kaleb's mind at ease for the moment. He watched the vampire hurry off, before he headed to the guest room he and the others were staying in. The guest room was one floor above Dirk's office, but in the same wing, thankfully. He climbed the marble stairs and tread over the majestic purple runner that cushioned his feet, marking the pathway down the hall. He could hear lectures from different rooms, as well as various students talking. The guest room they were staying in was a converted classroom, with three twin sized beds along the walls. Evangeline and Marco sat on their separate beds, talking quietly.

  When he entered the room, he asked, “How would you guys like to go on a trip with me?”

  

  The three Shadow Assassins set out on horseback later. There was a heavy silence in the air between them. Prince Erik had tried to join them, as a way of protecting Evangeline, but they thought it was better if he had stayed. The trip they planned was supposed to be quick, assuming no one got in their way. The prince looked disappointed, but made Kaleb and Marco promise to take care of her.

  The horses were making fast time through unclaimed wilderness. This was neutral territory, they had been told by the stable master; territory that belonged to no one but was occasionally claimed by traveling Gypsa. It was the fastest path to Oraldine, and then to Kkyathi.

  They didn't know how long they had been traveling, but the sun was starting to edge out of the sky by the time they reached Oraldine. Marco recognized it first and led the way up to the same gate he had traveled to before, when he was with Camira and D'jerik.