Land of Shadows

by Jeff Gunzel

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  The dust-filled air was hot and humid, which made breathing difficult. The few beams of light shining between the mismatched wooden planks revealed tiny foreign particles floating around looking for a place to settle. The hard dirt floor was exposed at the center of the barn, while the rest was covered with hay. Scarecrow-type figures made of straw banded together by twine lined the sides of the barn, each one the size of a man, with painted red and white circular targets. Some were placed on the chest, while others covered the groin and head.

  Taking deep, steady breaths, Jade stooped over with her hands on her knees, her chest slowly expanding and contracting as she pulled the hot air in through her nose then blew hard towards her feet, moving tiny bits of loose dust along the floor. Her hair was drenched with sweat. It clung to face like a damp mask. Her soaked white half-shirt clung to her breasts with every slow, deep breath as she remained hunched over in her black lace bottoms and bare feet. Leather straps around each thigh sheathed three daggers apiece.

  With one last deep breath, her head snapped up, flinging the tangled hair from her face as she stared straight ahead with a burning intensity in her eyes. Again! As if shot from a catapult, she sprinted down the dirt path as fast as she could, arms pumping furiously. Then, with a move as smooth as silk, she transitioned into a series of handsprings while losing no speed whatsoever.

  Hands to feet, hands to feet, she flipped along at a dizzying speed, then in one sudden thrust sprung high into the air. Defying time and gravity all at once, she executed three complete turns in the air, sending multiple daggers flying across her body to either side. Her sheaths were empty before she hit the ground, while each target had a dagger jiggling at its center.

  Completing a rolling somersault upon landing, she was on her feet in a blink, and dashing at full speed towards the back wall of the barn. A thick climbing rope attached to the ceiling hung in her path. She sprinted right past it and, again defying gravity, ran straight up the back wall of the barn.

  Seven steps up the wall, she flipped off, completing one full turn in the air. She now hung from the rope she had ignored the first time. She quickly ascended to the ceiling, using only her arms to climb while her legs dangled freely, then scampered back down just as easily. Breathing heavily, she walked back towards the front of the barn, pulling the daggers from the targets and placing them back in their sheaths.

  Bent over once more, she repeated her breathing routine. After several deep breaths, her head snapped up once more with the same burning intensity in her eyes. Again...

  After the inhuman set of drills had ended, Jade put on her clothes, then climbed the rope one last time and sat alone in the loft. Lying in the hay, her mind began replaying the events of the last few years.

  She thought about the purging of Brinton that had changed her life forever. She had been placed there with a surrogate family when she was just a baby. The ones she had called mother and father, or Tamera and Grimton, were actually two of the personal bodyguards to Ilirra Marosia, the Queen of Taron. The Queen felt that the small town of Brinton was unassuming enough that her bodyguards could secretly train the child without ever being detected. The Queen was well aware of the prophecies, and knew the continued existence of humanity would depend on the success of the Gate Keeper. She was informed by her prophets that he had indeed been born, but not of his location. Only one man knew where he was, and he was not to reveal this information under any circumstances, not even to the queen.

  Jade had never known her real parents. She was just given minimal details of how they were both great warriors, the perfect breeding stock for the perfect offspring. This was why she was chosen in the first place. Donated like an old pair of shoes. Her only job now was to find the Gate Keeper and be his guide.

  Her years of training went far beyond combat skills. She was given intimate details of all the towns and cities in Tarmerria, made to understand their different customs, right down to their sense of fashion. If she was to be the Gate Keeper’s guide, she needed to know everything about Tarmerria. This sort of knowledge was not common at all, considering most folk lived and died in the town they were born in. Many would never even see another location outside of their own town walls.

  By the night of the raid, Jade had already been living in Brinton alone for a year. Tamera and Grimton had finished her training and had returned to Taron. She was left with a silver necklace with a yellow stone encased in a gold border attached to the chain. With this, she would be able to find the Gate Keeper when the time was right.

  She remembered well that fateful night when her world was turned upside down. There was a young boy she would sneak out to play with sometimes. Her identity had to remain a secret, and when he was being hurt right in front of her by the raiders, she had to seem weak and helpless. She did nothing but watch, finally springing into action when it was too late. That scene gave her nightmares for years after that.

  She also recalled the leather that betrayed the others and came to her aid even though she didn’t need it, and was captured himself—yet another memory that haunted her sleep. That man’s skill far surpassed the others’. He had killed two seasoned leathers in the blink of an eye like they were children. The man had forfeited his life for her, and for that she was in his debt, although she had no idea where he was now. Sold into slavery no doubt, and probably forced to fight in the games if he was even still alive.

  After being forced to flee Brinton, she was lucky enough to stumble upon this farm. She secretly used the barn for shelter for a little while. After spying on the house for days, she determined the man living in the house was not only alone, but quite senile as well. It was easy to work her charm from there, letting herself get discovered in the barn and simply convincing the sweet old man she would not be any trouble if he let her stay.

  Ben was his name, but he seemed to like it when she called him father. She liked it as well. Ben was the closest thing she had ever had to a father. She had lived with Grimton for years, pretending to be his daughter, but those years were spent in constant study and training, getting whipped if she did not learn the lessons fast enough. It never even came close to feeling like she belonged to a family. She had been caged up her whole life and often cried when she thought of how lonely she felt. How unfair it seemed, never being able to play with the other children like a normal kid. She never had sleepovers, went fishing, or even kissed a boy, for that matter.

  Lying down in the hay, her mind continued to swirl, focusing on more current problems. Stupid girl, she thought to herself. How greedy am I? She knew she had taken great risks lately. After the attack on Brinton, she had vowed to get revenge on the leathers who led the attack. Sure, the life they had stolen from her was far from perfect, but it had been hers nonetheless. She had killed quite a few since the incident, but now felt foolish because of her actions. They were nothing but small fish in a big pond. Her life had been given to a higher purpose since birth, and here she was risking everything for petty revenge. What if I had been caught? Stupid girl!

  The black hooded outfit she always wore had given her the reputation of being known as The Phantom. The sightings had been reported all too often, in too narrow of an area. If anyone really was looking for her, all they had to do was mark the incidents on a map to get an approximate location of where she must be. She had accidentally left a pretty good trail to follow. I risked everything! She sat up on the hay and shook it off. Best to just learn from mistakes the first time and don’t ever repeat them.

  Jade hopped down from the loft, out of the barn, and up the stone walkway towards the house. She had spent several hours out here and was getting really hungry. Sweeping through the front door, she could now see old man Ben cooking in the kitchen. She normally didn’t like when he did that because she was afraid he would burn the house down, but this time she was glad to see it.

  Shaking the pan over the oil cooker, the old man seemed to be smiling at nothing. “Oh, Jade,” he
said when he finally noticed her standing there, “I’ve got something here for you.” He held out the pan filled with eggs and a side of ham.

  “Thank you, daddy,” Jade said with a huge smile as she guided his hands to put down the hot pan. Then she gave him a kiss on his cheek and embraced him in a hug.

  “Oh, Jade. What is it, sweetie?” the kind old man said when it seemed she was never going to let go.

  A hard sniffle followed by, “Nothing daddy. I’m just glad you are here,” was all she could say as her eyes filled with tears. When they finally sat down at the table, Jade inhaled the ham and eggs that were placed in front of her. She felt guilty upon catching herself wishing there was more.

  Ben ate slowly and told his old stories as he usually did. Stories of when his dad taught him to fish as a young boy. Of skipping stones along the pond with his friends and talking about the girls in town that each one of them would marry someday, but hoping to steal a kiss long before that day came. But he also stopped at odd times during his stories, just staring out at nothing. Jade would clear her throat to get his attention and remind him of where he left off. “Oh yes,” he would reply, and carry on about his adventures. It was clear to Jade he had led a simple life, with not much in the way of danger or excitement.

  Jade loved his innocence, and in a strange way found herself being jealous of it. His emotions were always in check. Highs were not too high, and lows were not too low. He was always in a good mood and didn’t seem to have a care in the world. He could never possibly relate to her world of violence and death. The raw hate she had felt on occasion, and the deep sadness, were feelings that no one’s mind was ever meant to endure. She wouldn’t change a thing about him.

  After they were done talking, Jade went upstairs to her room. She removed her clothing and walked over to her filled washbowl and began to scrub down. After that, she brushed her teeth with a paste made of salt and soda before she finally lay down.

  As she lay on her bed, her mind wandered as usual. Images of the normal life she longed for and may have finally found were conjured. She daydreamed of the cute boys that would smile at her back in Brinton, the very ones she was not allowed to talk to. As the images floated around her head, her hands began to slowly caress her breasts.

  One of the boys’ names was Kotin, she remembered. Her hand slid between her legs as she envisioned Kotin walking down the paved street with the tight black pants he always wore. He had no shirt, either. His lean, muscular frame glistened with sweat. She let out a soft moan, remembering how she would look at him from across the street and hope to catch his eye just once, even if she could not talk to him. Another long moan escaped her lips as she arched her back, burying her shoulders and head deep into the pillow. Then she opened her eyes quickly and sat up.

  What was that strange noise coming from outside? She listened carefully as the strange distant chirping sound became louder and louder. Jade quickly threw on a robe and ran downstairs.

  “Father? Dad?” she called as she ran from room to room searching for him. Panic began to fill her as the chirping sound continued to get louder and seemed to be right outside the house now. “Ben! Do you hear this? Where are you?” she continued yelling as the chilling feeling began to consume her, with the only friend she had ever had nowhere to be seen. She flew up the stairs and grabbed from the closet one of her leather straps that contained three daggers. Not bothering to strap it on, she bounded back down the stairs in two strides, then straight to the front door. She hesitated for a moment with her hand on the knob, afraid of what she might find. The chirping sounds just outside were now accompanied by a flapping noise.

  Jade threw open the door, and her eyes fell upon a scene that only happens in nightmares. Ben was standing on the stone walkway, staring up into the night sky with a blank look on his face. The sky was filled with bat-like creatures flapping along, all making that horrible high-pitched chirping sound. None of them even seemed to notice the old man, who was staring up at them in what appeared to be a trance-like state. “Ben!” she screamed. “Get back inside, please!”

  Then one of the dark creatures finally noticed the old man and flew back around, heading straight for him.

  Jade was at full speed in a heartbeat, running towards her best friend as fast as he could. Time slowed to a crawl. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Daggers flashed in her hand, arms pumped up and down, every footstep smashed down hard into the walkway, trying to propel a body that was already at top speed even faster. The leathery creature was mere feet away from its prey when its body jolted once, then twice, gliding right past Ben, just catching him in the neck with the tip of its tail before crashing into the ground just behind him. With two daggers buried deep in its side, it flopped around, trying to scramble back to its feet.

  Jade grabbed Ben’s arm with both of hers and began running back to the house, dragging the poor old man along the stone. The dark creature stood up and pulled both daggers from its side with clawed, yet human-like hands.

  Jade threw Ben through the doorway and, with his hand still clutching his neck, he fell to the floor face first. She entered the doorway and whirled around to see the creature flying right towards the door. She slammed it and placed her back against the wood as a brace, only to feel the thud as door and creature collided.

  The nightmarish beast let out a long, angry screech, then, losing interest for some reason, it took flight, following the others. The dark creatures clearly had an agenda.

  There was total silence now. Jade, not yet confident of the situation, kept her back tightly pressed against the door while eyeing Ben, who was still on the floor, holding his neck. Then he rolled over, and to her horror she could see his face was turning purple. She abandoned the door and pounced down on the floor next to him as he started to convulse violently. “Father! Ben!” she screamed as she tried to hold him down by his shoulders. He began thrashing about in all directions as white foam began oozing from his mouth, then...nothing. Eyes and mouth both wide open in a silent scream, he just lay there.

  Jade sat there for a moment, showing no emotion at all. Her eyes locked on the only friend she had ever had. She slowly stood up and backed away, never taking her eyes from him. An unnatural silence filled the room. The wall was the only thing that stopped her retreat. Clenched fists slowly made their way to the top of her head as she bent low and began to tremble. Her world had been taken from her...again. An unearthly, primal scream filled the house, a scream that could only be produced by a broken soul.