Shadow Master: The Nightwatch Academy book 4

by Cassidy, Debbie

  They were smaller in stature for a start, more Hyde’s size than Harmon’s, but like the larger fomorians, they also dressed in furs and leather boots.

  Where did they get the furs? I hadn’t seen a single animal on our journey. So many questions but, as of yet, no answers.

  The leader of the group had vanished with some men a few minutes after we’d stopped to camp, but not before ordering the others to watch us. The others had been helpful but had refused to answer my questions. In fact, they’d seemed almost wary of us.

  Tents had been erected, and a couple of these fomorians had helped me settle Hyde in one. I’d watched as one of the men slathered Hyde’s wounds with herbs and bandaged them. Hyde was asleep now, his breathing regular, his skin a healthy color. Whatever they’d slicked over his skin was working, and the knot of terror in my gut eased. He was going to make it.

  He was going to live.

  Right now, I needed to be vigilant and figure out what this group’s agenda was.

  A fire crackled, and the men sat around it, staring into the flames reflectively. No one spoke, so there was no eavesdropping to figure out what this group was about.

  Harmon sat beside me, and Athos lay to my left, his eyes closed. But if he was asleep, I was a fluffy duckling.

  The hound was feigning, listening, ready to act if need be.

  Yeah, we had to be on our guard until we got a better measure of these people.

  “The little weasel, Valmik, got away,” Harmon said in his gravelly voice.

  “I know.”

  “You think we should be worried?”

  “Always.”

  These fomorians smell different, Athos said. They smell … stronger.

  Yeah, my hunch that he was awake was right. “The other fomorians mentioned something about breeding the fomorian out of them … that the bolg had no fomorian in them.”

  “But if they aren’t fomorian, then what are they?” Harmon asked.

  The leader with the kind brown eyes chose that moment to stride back into camp. He was alone. The men he’d taken with him hadn’t returned with him.

  “There’s only one way to find out ...” I caught the fomorian’s eye. “Hey, I need to speak to you.”

  He said something to his companions and then walked over to us. He sat on the ground opposite us.

  “I have questions.”

  “And so do I,” he said. His brown eyes hardened. Ah, this was the leader. “You will answer mine first. How did you do that thing with the shadows, and how can you understand us?”

  I guess he had trust issues too. If answering his questions was the only way to get answers for mine, then so be it.

  “Where I come from, there are creatures able to do inexplicable things. They’re called weavers. I have certain abilities, one of which involves shadows and … I guess healing. Honestly, I’m still learning about them. As for understanding you …” I peeled up the sleeve of my feytech armor. “One of your kind gave me this.”

  He stared at the symbol. “You’ve been here before?”

  “No. First time here. One of your kind came into the mist. We met. He saved me, and he gave me this. The next time I saw him, he took my mate.” My jaw hardened. “I came to get him back.”

  “One of us?”

  My scalp prickled as my brain made connections. My body tensed. “They were smaller in stature like you … not like the fomorians that captured us.”

  He sighed. “The League of Salvation. They’re a growing movement, and rumor has it they’ve been sneaking into the mist over the past few months. They’ve been tracking and watching the fir bolg.”

  That name again. “The fir bolg … Those are the larger fomorians?”

  “They don’t believe they’re fomorians. In fact, rumor has it that they’re building a pure-bred fir bolg army.”

  “It’s not a rumor. I heard them talking. They said the bolg army was headed this way. That they’d be here in a week and would attack the mists.”

  “Damn.” Brown eyes ran a hand over his face. “It seems our efforts have been in vain.” He sighed. “We’re part of the militia, and we’ve been attacking small fomorian camps close to the mist for the past few weeks. We suspected an attack, and we’ve been ordered to thin their forces.”

  An opposition force? “You want to stop them from attacking the mist?”

  He frowned. “Of course we do. The fomorians are allies of the mortal realm.”

  I was so confused.

  He studied me for a long beat. “You didn’t know?”

  This made no sense. “The fomorians have been trying to infiltrate the mist for decades. You attacked our world.”

  He sat back and shook his head slowly. “I suppose it’s only natural for history to become twisted … rewritten. But the truth is much more complex than that.”

  “Tell me.”

  He opened his mouth to speak, but I cut him off with a raised hand.

  “Wait, can you give my friend here the ability to understand you?”

  Brown eyes studied Harmon. “I would think he already could.”

  “Harmon? How much can you understand of what he’s been saying?”

  Harmon blinked in surprise. “I … I understood it all.”

  A while back, he’d been able to gauge intention only. “Maybe being here has unlocked something inside you?”

  He nodded. “I do feel … different.”

  Was he changing? Was he becoming more fomorian? Would I be able to take him back with me? I swallowed the panic. No point worrying about that now. Right now, we needed to understand the truth of what we were up against.

  I looked to brown eyes. “My name is Indigo, this is Harmon, and this is Athos, and we’d like to know the original history of what happened.”

  He smiled, kind crinkles bracketing his eyes. “My name is Balan, and I’m the leader of this regiment. I’ll be happy to educate you.” He raised a hand to one of his companions. “Can we have some tea for our guests, please?”

  A slender young man came over with a couple of tin mugs. I took one, and he passed the other to Harmon.

  “Herbal. It will rejuvenate you,” Balan explained.

  We sipped, and he began to speak.

  “A long time ago, the Tuatha and the fomorians lived in peace. We’d had our skirmishes over the centuries, but we’d come to an alliance. We lived in harmony, our worlds coexisting side by side. Then an enemy came to our shores, a breed called the fir bolg. They were huge, hulking creatures, ambitious and bloodthirsty conquerors of worlds.

  “They set their sights on Fomoria. The Tuatha joined us, and together, we fought and slayed them. We won, and over the decades, the fir bolg that remained integrated into fomorian society. They bred with our women and men, and they became fomorian. But hunger for power doesn’t die so easily. A faction rose alongside a man named Laramir, who called himself pure fir bolg. He claimed not to have any fomorian genes.”

  I sat up straighter. “Yes, the fir bolg who held us captive mentioned him.”

  “He is their general. He built a movement, an army of fomorians who believed themselves to be special, to be a higher race. They set their sights on the mortal world that lay at the cusp of the fomorian and Tuatha realms.”

  “The war with our world …”

  “Not right away. We held them back at first. The fey were allied with us against the fir bolg’s descendants. The Tuatha enjoyed having the mortal realm to themselves; they thought themselves protectors of humanity, and their presence was an effective deterrent to the fir bolg fomorians. But then the fey presence started to wane due to problems in Faerie.”

  Was that why the Tuatha sealed their world off from ours?

  Balan continued. “We knew it was only a matter of time before Laramir breached our defenses and made his way into your world, and so, with the permission of the Nightwatch Council, we sowed our seed on the mortal side in a bid to strengthen your forces.”

  “Wait! The Nightwatch knew?”
>
  He nodded. “As far as our history states, the decision was made during an alliance meeting.”

  “The shadow knights were always meant to be protectors?”

  “Yes,” he said. “They were our gift to you. When the fir bolg tried to invade, the fomori-touched—what you call shadow knights—fought alongside us to beat them back. Many fomorians died in this war. Good fomorians who fought alongside the mortal protectors. Once we’d defeated Laramir’s forces, Orion Winterlock developed the mist. The arrival of the mist forced us back into Fomoria. It forced us to keep our distance and defend from within our borders, but we have always been, and will continue to be, allies of the mortal realm.”

  Fucking hell. “Everyone believes you’re the aggressors.”

  His smile was wry. “I see that now. But we are not. We mean you no harm. Our war is with the fir bolg. They’ve grown in number and strength, and I fear that this time, we won’t be able to stop them.”

  “But the mist can stop them,” Harmon said.

  “The mist was created to affect fomorian genes. Laramir has found a way to breed the fomorian gene out of his people. The bolg army has very little fomorian in them now. The mist won’t stop them.”

  That explained why they’d been able to get so far into the mist and damage the AM post in sector two. The fir bolg weren’t hurt by the mist like the fomorians. But why not attack sooner? They had to have been scoping us out. Testing our defenses, our reaction time, and gauging our forces. It was the only explanation, and now, with the decimation of the fortress and our knights, they had the advantage.

  “And the League of Salvation?” Harmon asked. “Why would they take our friend? Why would they experiment on me?”

  Balan’s gaze settled on Harmon. “I wanted to ask about you … But felt it may be impolite.”

  “I was moonkissed once,” Harmon said. “They took me, and they did this to me.”

  Balan’s brow furrowed slightly in thought. “I don’t understand. The league is focused on the past. Their goal is to collect the great treasures and resurrect the power of the ancients.”

  “The ancients?” Harmon asked.

  “Fomorians of old. Kings and queens of great power who wielded magical talismans in the first wars.”

  Powerful talismans … “Like the cauldron of Dagda?”

  He smiled. “Yes, like the cauldron. That one was shared by the fomorian and the Tuatha people. But there were others wielded only by fomorian royal blood.”

  “And the league wants to find them … But why take my mate?”

  “I can’t answer that,” Balan said. “But I may be able to help you locate them.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I’ve sent word to the other militia camps in the cusp. They’ll be gathering at the borders to fight the bolg, but I fear it won’t be enough. Your fomori-touched defenses will need to be ready. One of you must go back and warn them.”

  I stared at him. He didn’t know. He didn’t know about the fortress. “The fir bolg blew up the shadow knight fortress a week ago. All the shadow knights were inside at the time.”

  His face drained of all color. “Oh … Oh, no. How could we have missed this?”

  “All we have left are a handful of shadow cadets and some Academy students. We thought keeping the Atmospheric Posts running would be enough. I guess we were wrong.”

  He pressed his hands to his knees and stood. “I need to send a message to headquarters. I’ll arrange for a scout to take you to the last known location for the league in the morning. Your injured friend will have healed by then. Rosata root is a powerful herb. I’m afraid I won’t be able to accompany you.”

  “I understand.” My stomach quivered. “How far is the location?”

  “Half a day’s trek,” he said.

  The bolg would be at the cusp in a week. That gave me enough time to check for Brady and get back to the mist. A day there and back, a day to account for any mishaps and resting. Two days. I had two days to get Brady back, and if I failed, I would have to return empty-handed.

  My world needed me.

  Sixteen

  Kash hugged me close, his phantom breath warm on my cheek. “Thank God, thank fucking God.”

  I hugged him back, reveling in the contact. “I’m okay.” I pulled back slightly, but not too much. Our lips hovered inches apart. “I have a lot to tell you.”

  He kissed me hard on the mouth. “Okay, now you can tell me.”

  I filled him in on everything that had happened and everything I’d learned. When I finished, we floated in the darkness, our threads bobbing side by side as he processed it all.

  “So, everything we’ve been told about the fomorians is skewed?” Kash said.

  “It would seem so.”

  The weave was a little farther away this time, and my body ached to float closer.

  I ignored the urge and focused on our discussion. “It makes me wonder if the Shadow Master knew the truth. Orion Winterlock must have. He’s fucking ancient. He’s Tuatha, and he was there. Why didn’t he say anything?”

  It was a rhetorical question, and Kash didn’t bother to answer.

  “I need to get back, but you have to warn Lloyd. Tell him what’s coming. Call a meeting if you have to, but they need to know the truth. Laramir is coming, and the mist isn’t going to stop him. We need to be ready to fight. The fomorian militia is going to cut down as many fir bolg as they can, but you need to be ready for the rest. I’ll be back in a couple of days to help.”

  He stroked my cheek. “Do not die, Justice. I’ve grown attached to you.”

  I rested my cheek on his chest, allowing myself an extra second in his orbit, and then I let go.

  * * *

  I lay on the ground, on the furs provided by Balan and his men, and stared up at the stars. I’d taken off my breastplate and shin pads, and my body begged to get out of the feytech skin. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option right now.

  Harmon’s large frame was beside me, the sound of his breathing almost soothing.

  “Why lie to us?” The question had been bugging me since speaking to Kash. “Why not tell the shadow knights the truth?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Harmon said, picking up my train of thought. “It doesn’t matter if they’re fomorian or fir bolg, as long as we have an enemy. Knights needed us to fight. It was simpler to give us one face to fight against. Fomorian enemy was easier.”

  “You think the Shadow Master knew?”

  “Henrich? No. I don’t think so. We spoke while I was locked up. He visited me every day. He was a good man. Nothing he said gave any indication that he knew the fir bolg were the threat. He thought fir bolg name of fomorian army.”

  “Which is kind of true.” I shot him a sidelong glance. “You’re talking easier. Is it less painful to speak on this side of the mist?”

  He nodded. “Indie … What if I can’t go back?”

  I shut down the panic. “It will be fine.”

  “I can feel myself changing.”

  I rolled onto my side to face him. “We will figure it out. I promise. If for some reason you can’t get back through the mist, then I will find a way to get you through. I’ll speak to Orion. I’ll get a fix, but I will get you home.”

  I kissed his jaw and brushed his lips with mine. “I won’t leave you stranded. I promise.”

  Our breath mingled.

  “Your focus needs to be our world, not me. If I have to stay behind, then I will. I’ll fight for us on this side until we can find a way to be together again.”

  The thought of leaving him behind, of going back without him, had my heart hammering way too hard against my ribs. I leaned up and kissed him hard, a desperate kiss. A kiss that molded my body to his and quickened our pulses.

  His hand cupped the back of my head, and then I was sprawled across his massive frame, aware of every dip and hard plane of his muscular frame.

  His hand slid over my hip, fingers curling over my buttocks. He broke the kiss.
“Right now, you need to go sleep somewhere else.” He pressed his groin to mine, and my breath caught.

  He was fucking huge and hard.

  “I need to calm down,” he said.

  His emerald eyes were swirling pools of desire.

  I brushed the tip of his nose with mine and then climbed off him. Once this was over, once we’d beaten the bolg and our world was safe, the weavers would find a way to reverse what the league had done, and then we’d be together in every way.

  I left him and headed to the tent where Hyde was resting. It was time to check on him again anyway.

  * * *

  Hyde was awake and attempting to sit up when I entered the tent.

  “Whoa!” I pushed him back down. “Easy.”

  “What … where am I?”

  He’d come around a couple of times since we’d set up camp, but he’d obviously been out of it.

  I smoothed his forehead with my hand to check for fever. “We’re safe. You’re safe.”

  His brow was cool and dry. Good.

  The fomorians had taken off Hyde’s feytech. It was shredded by the fir bolg’s dagger. So much for armor. I guess they had metal here that could cut through Orion’s armor. Another thing to have to worry about. Luckily, the lower half of the skin had been salvageable, and we’d brought his breastplates with us so at least he would have armor to travel in.

  Hyde clutched my hand, which was still pressed to his forehead.

  “Tell me where we are.”

  “Your fever has gone, but I need to change those bandages.”

  “Justice, dammit.” He glowered at me, and my heart lurched with bliss.

  If he could glower, then he was definitely not about to keel over and die.

  “No. You got stabbed. A lot. So, you’ll do as you’re fucking told.”

  He frowned. “How am I alive?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know. The shadows … They come to me now when I need them. They healed you.” My jaw ached as I clenched my teeth, recalling my stupidity. “I should have used them sooner. I could have used them to fight off the bastards. I didn’t think, and it almost got you killed.”