by Jayne Castel
They were in the heart of the Highlands now, high upon an exposed ridge. The forests had given way to windswept hillsides interspersed by pine thickets. The mountains that had once been nothing more than purple silhouettes in the distance had marched close. They now loomed overhead, brooding and dark.
Lilia dug into her pack and pulled out a bladder of water. She took a couple of swigs and was about to restopper it, when something to the west caught her eye.
In the direction they had come, the Eastern Road rose and dipped over the dense folds of hills. Her gaze tracked it into the distance, to where it became so fine, she could no longer make it out.
Then she saw them.
A dark mass crested one of those hills, spears bristling against the monochrome sky. In the deep silence of the highlands, she heard the faint tattoo of approaching hoof beats.
Lilia froze.
“Ryana,” she gasped, her voice a strangled bleat. “Look.”
The enchanter did as bid, before muttering a curse under her breath a heartbeat later. “Those bastards. They ride like the wind.”
The Shade Brotherhood approached.
Saul and Dain joined the women then, their faces glowing with sweat. Dain’s axe bounced against his back as he jogged across to Ryana and Lilia. “What’s wrong?”
Lilia gestured west. “Look behind you.”
Where is Saul?
Dain drew his axe, tightening his fingers around the hilt. He peered into the lengthening shadows, checking for any sign of shadow creatures—or the fourth member of their party.
Leaving Dain to guard the entrance to the cave, Saul had gone off to scout. With the darkness quickly gathering around them, Dain expected him back soon. As soon as night fell, Ryana would cast a shadow net over the mouth of the cave to seal them inside till dawn.
Night fell early, and far too swiftly for this time of year. Dain thought back to Lilia’s words about how the cold, dark days were unnatural, and his skin prickled with misgiving. Fireflies danced by, luminous specks in the gloaming, and the undergrowth farther down the hill started to rustle.
Eventually, darkness settled in a heavy shroud over the mountaintop, and Dain crept back inside the cave.
“Ryana,” he whispered, gently shaking her awake.
She stirred and sat up. A few feet away, he heard Lilia move. “What is it?” she asked, her voice rough with sleep.
Dain hesitated before replying. The discovery that Lilia was a shifter had made him uncomfortable around her. The sight last night, of Lilia transforming into a small red fox, had shaken him. But, unlike Saul, he tried not to let it show on his face.
He knew what shifters were—of the evil they’d helped spread—but he also knew Lilia well enough to realize that there was no evil in her.
Even so—he’d avoided eye-contact with her all day, and had barely spoken to her.
“It’s dark,” he replied finally, “and Saul’s not back yet.”
Ryana brushed past him and made for the entrance. Dain followed her outside. In the darkness, he could only make out the outline of the enchanter’s tall figure. He could not see the expression on her face.
“Do you think something’s happened to him?” he asked.
Ryana turned and focused on him. “Maybe … or he’s gone to bargain with The Brotherhood.”
Dain stiffened. “You think he’d betray us?”
Ryana shrugged. “His life for ours … yes, I think he would.”
“Should we go looking for him?” Lilia emerged from the cave, standing with her back to the yawning darkness behind her.
Dain cast her a look of irritation. Saul had wanted to slit her throat that morning—and still couldn’t be trusted not to—and she worried about his well-being.
For himself, Dain hoped Saul had fallen foul of shadow creatures and would never return.
“No,” Ryana replied shortly. She turned away from her companions, her attention sweeping over the dark mountainside beneath them. Dain’s gaze followed the enchanter’s. In the distance, they caught the faint glow of firelight. He tensed; The Brotherhood had camped even closer than they’d thought.
Perhaps, Saul had been captured.
“We need to get inside,” Ryana continued, her voice clipped. “I can’t wait much longer before casting the shadow net. I don’t want whatever’s sniffing round out there to know we’re here.”
The enchanter had just finished speaking, when Dain caught the sound of pebbles crunching underfoot. He gripped his axe and stepped forward, eyes straining in the darkness. “Lilia … go back inside.”
A black shape hurtled up the slope toward him, and Dain’s heart leaped in his chest. Then he saw a familiar black cloaked silhouette, and the glint of steel, and released his death-grip on the axe hilt.
Saul had returned.
“You left it late,” Dain greeted him tersely.
Saul stopped next to him, panting. “I got distracted. You all have to see this.”
“See what?” Ryana stepped forward, her voice carrying a note of warning. “In case you hadn’t noticed, night has fallen. None of us should be wandering about.”
Saul straightened up, still out of breath from his sprint up the mountainside. “Follow me.”
“Did you hear me?” Ryana snapped. “It’s too—”
“I heard you,” Saul cut her off, “but you don’t need to worry. The servants of the shadows have got their eye on other prey tonight. They won’t bother with us for a while yet.”
Silence fell. Dain heard the whisper of footsteps and realized that Lilia had stepped up next to him.
“What do you mean?” Ryana asked, her voice wary.
Saul’s grin flashed white in the darkness. “Come on … I’ll show you.”
Four cloaked figures made their way in single file down the mountainside in the direction of the glowing firelight.
Rearguard, Dain walked a couple of paces behind Lilia. However, with each step, his sense of misgiving increased. He’d been surprised when Ryana had agreed to follow Saul. He, himself, had been against it.
Dain stubbed his toe on a rock and swallowed a curse.
This is idiotic.
Halfway down the western slope of the mountainside, they reached an outcrop that jutted out over the narrow wooded valley below. This approach had been too steep for them to climb earlier, so they had reached the cave from the north instead. Yet now their high perch gave them a clear view of the encampment below.
Crouched in a line on the edge of the outcrop, they silently observed their hunters.
The Brotherhood had pitched their circle of tents around half a furlong back from the Eastern Road. In the center of the tents burned a great fire, red-gold tongues of flame licking high into the sky. Around the perimeter they had staked burning torches.
Figures, hooded and cloaked, stood guard just inside the burning perimeter; The Brotherhood clearly knew of the danger that stalked the night and were taking precautions.
Dain frowned. Fire won’t help.
He looked down at the tight circle of hide tents and the roaring fire pit. Like them the night before, The Brotherhood had unwittingly lit a beacon that announced their presence in the wilderness.
Dain glanced at where Saul crouched to his left. “So?” he asked, careful to keep his voice barely above a whisper. “Why do we need to see this?”
“Look properly,” Saul whispered back. “Not at the encampment … at the valley around it.”
Dain’s frown deepened, yet he turned his attention back to the wooded valley below. The light from the fire and the torches bled quite a distance, illuminating the outlines of thick pines and the milky tendrils of mist that drifted between them.
Then he saw something that made his breathing still.
To his right he heard a muffled gasp and realized that Lilia had seen it too.
“The valley,” she breathed in horror. “It’s alive.”
Creeping, crawling, stalking, and loping—the creatures move
d like wraiths through the tall trees. Some were as pale as corpse-flesh, while others glowed like starlight. Some looked as if dead men had risen from the grave, while others appeared to be made of light, mist, and shadow. Nightgengas, Hiriel, Dusk Imps—and many forms that Dain could not put a name to—they filled the dark valley and moved toward the tents, bringing a cloak of mist with them.
Dain swallowed. Nearby, he heard Ryana mutter an oath, while Lilia made a choked sound.
Saul shouldn’t have brought them there, but now that he had, Dain could not tear his gaze away.
Scarcely breathing, he watched the servants of the shadows tighten the net. It was a while before the men at the center of the encampment even noticed something was amiss.
They picked off the sentries first—the few hapless individuals who had been posted outside the perimeter of burning torches. The men fell without a sound, swallowed by a tide of white limbs and hungry jaws.
Dain watched in wordless horror, as the shadow creatures at last showed themselves—and broke against the ring of torches in a great, howling wave. The men drew their weapons and rushed forward to meet their attackers.
The servants of the shadows tore into them.
The tents fell, crumpling under the onslaught.
Saul muttered something under his breath. However, Dain paid him no mind—he couldn’t take his eyes off the attack unfolding below.
The Brotherhood fought for their lives. They were assassins, trained in the art of killing, but they could not withstand the numbers that poured into their encampment from all sides. Some of them fought in a frenzy, their blades flashing bright in the light of the fire behind them. It did them no good.
Screams, cries, and roars of helpless rage echoed off the valley floor. The sounds made Dain break out in a cold sweat, yet he didn’t move. As if caught in some grim enchantment, he could not tear his gaze from the grisly scene below.
Suddenly, the great fire in the center of the encampment went out.
The valley fell into darkness. The air filled with the smell of smoke and the metallic odor of blood.
The screams below reached a terrible pitch. Lilia threw herself against Dain, burying her head in his chest, her body trembling. Without thinking, Dain wrapped his arms round her.
The wailing went on and on.
Gripping Lilia hard against him, Dain turned to Saul. “We need to get out of here,” he rasped. Fear had turned his bowels to ice, but the moment the fire died below, he broke free of the enchantment.
“No argument from me,” Saul rasped.
To Lilia’s right, Ryana said nothing. Instead, she rose to her feet, turned and fled up the slope as if the creatures that still butchered and feasted below were coming for her.
Saul, Dain, and Lilia followed her.
22
Collecting Firewood
Lilia hunched in a corner of the cave and retched, bringing up the last of the few mouthfuls of stale bread and hard cheese she’d consumed at dusk.
Behind her, she heard the others shifting around near the entrance to the cave, murmuring amongst themselves as they discussed what they’d just witnessed, but she paid them no mind—she just wanted to be alone.
To forget she’d ever seen it.
Yet those bloody, brutal images were burned into her mind, and when she squeezed her eyes shut, she relived it all.
Hard men, screaming as they were ripped to pieces.
The lethal stealth of the shadow creatures—their joy as they attacked.
Lilia’s stomach contracted once more, and she vomited bile. Placing a palm on the damp, cold stone wall, she pushed herself upright.
“Lilia?” Ryana called. The enchanter had just woven a net of shadows over the entrance and would now have to guard it for the rest of the night. “Are you well?”
“Aye,” Lilia called back. “I just need a few moments.”
Lilia swallowed. Her throat stung from vomiting, and she felt weak and wrung out. Slowly, she turned and made her way back to the mouth of the cave. Near the entrance, where a silvery veil shimmered, she spotted the outlines of her three companions.
Saul glanced up as she approached, his dark gaze cold.
So different to the man who’d wooed her in Port Needle. He no longer looked upon her as a woman. To him, she was a menace.
Pretending not to notice or care, Lilia lowered herself down next to Dain. Even though he sat around two feet away, she could feel the warmth of his body. The urge to snuggle up against him rose within her, but she quelled it. He’d comforted her earlier, and she’d leaned into him—yet the moment had passed now.
Crossing her legs, Lilia spared Dain a veiled look, tensing as she prepared to see him move away from her.
He didn’t.
Instead, he met her eye, his mouth lifting at the corners. “Alright, Lily?”
She nodded.
Despite the hard floor, studded with pebbles and jagged edges of rock that jabbed into her flesh through her clothing, Lilia slept deeply that night. Even the damp chill inside the cave and her fear of what stalked the dark beyond it, could not keep the exhaustion at bay.
It crashed over her, dragging her down into oblivion, and she lay like a corpse huddled against the wall, until Dain shook her awake at dawn.
They had all rested—except for Ryana.
While her companions had been sleeping, she had remained awake by the door, holding the shadow net in place.
One look at the enchanter’s face, and Lilia saw her exhaustion. Ryana had slept briefly at dusk, but it hadn’t been enough for her to recover from the rough night before that. In the watery light of dawn, her face was drawn, and she had dark smudges under her eyes.
With a sinking heart, Lilia realized that Ryana would not be able to withstand another sleepless night.
They were still at least three days travel away from the capital, and they would never make it without the enchanter’s protection. Glancing at Saul and Dain’s faces, Lilia knew they had drawn the same conclusion.
They had no choice but to press on. Later that day, they would have to decide what to do once night fell, but for the moment all they could do was focus on the present. Their food reserves were almost exhausted, and they finished the last of their bread and salted pork now before emerging into a misty dawn.
Dain squinted up at the circling mist and frowned before turning to Ryana. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but I suggest we stop at noon for a spell. Saul will hunt for us.”
Behind him, Saul snorted. “Will he?”
Dain ignored him. “I’ll build a fire … and you can sleep for a bit.”
She shook her head. “We can’t afford to slow down.”
“You can’t go much farther without resting,” he pointed out. “The Brotherhood are no longer an issue … the greatest threat to us reaching the Royal City alive is the darkness. You’re the only one who can protect us from it, but you’re no good to us exhausted.”
Ryana’s gaze met his, her mouth compressing. However, this time she didn’t argue.
When noon arrived, Ryana put up no argument. The enchanter now staggered with fatigue. Observing her, Lilia realized that if she didn’t rest, she’d collapse.
They had reached the heart of the Rithmar Highlands now. Steep mountainsides clad in dark conifers reared up either side of the narrow road, the sky a pale strip overhead.
Ryana sank down to the ground, resting her back against a boulder a few yards away from the road, stretching her legs out before her. Her face was ashen, and Lilia was about to ask how she was feeling, when she saw Ryana close her eyes. Moments later the enchanter was asleep.
Saul went off to hunt while Lilia and Dain collected wood for the fire.
It was difficult to search for dry firewood on the steep slopes surrounding the Eastern Road. The ground was mossy and damp, especially after the recent long sunless days. Lilia and Dain had to venture far up the hillside before they found any twigs and branches that were suitable.
Lilia collected wood until she carried a pile so high she could barely see over the top of it. She was about to call out to Dain, who was a few yards ahead, to tell him she was going back to Ryana, when her foot caught under a tree root—and she sprawled forward.
Her twigs and branches scattered, and she fell, face down in a growth of moss.
Lilia let out a loud curse, her voice ringing down the mountainside. Moments later Dain was at her side. He put down his pile of wood. “Are you hurt?”
Lilia shook her head, pushing herself up off the ground. “Just my pride. I should watch where I’m going.”
“Here.” He leaned down and held out his hand. Lilia took it, and he pulled her to her feet. His grip was warm and strong, and she let go of his hand reluctantly.
Meeting his gaze, she offered him a tentative smile. “I’m surprised you can bear to touch me,” she murmured. “Now you know what I am?”
Dain’s dark blue eyes shadowed. “It was a shock,” he admitted, “initially at least … and then I thought about things a little. Shifters might have aided The Shadow King centuries ago, but you’re not responsible for it.”
Lilia swallowed. “I wish others shared your view.”
“Maybe one day they will.”
Lilia huffed. “Not in my lifetime.”
Dain’s mouth curved into a rueful smile. “Then we must keep you safe from those who would do you harm.”
Suddenly, she was aware how close they were standing. Lilia stared at Dain, noticing how blue his eyes were, and what a finely molded mouth he had. They continued looking at each other, and Dain’s smile faded. Wordlessly, he reached out, his fingers gently tracing her cheek. His touch sent shivers across her skin.
Lilia’s heart started to race, excitement fluttering in the pit of her belly. Feeling out of her depth, she drew in a shaky breath. “Dain,” she whispered. “We should get—”
Lilia never finished her sentence.
