Shadow Master: The Nightwatch Academy book 4

by Cassidy, Debbie

  “Fire grain?” Kash asked.

  He raked Kash over. “The grain makes fire when crushed underfoot,” he said as if speaking to a moron.

  “An explosive,” Hyde mused. “That could work.”

  “The fomori-touched will hang back,” Lugh said. “They will hold the line at the border to sector two and act as the second line of defense.”

  Orion was nodding along with this plan.

  I guess that explained what they’d been talking about last night, but I had another plan. I looked at Kash, who nodded as if to say go for it.

  “Your plan is solid, but I have a suggestion.”

  He crossed his arms. “Go on.”

  “We have a weaver who can siphon energy. I suggest we send a troop ahead with the weaver to get close enough to siphon energy from the enemy troops. By the time the first attack wave reaches you, they’ll be at half their strength.”

  He frowned. “It will be dangerous to get so close.”

  “I’m not afraid,” Kash said.

  His gaze flicked to Kash, and was that a sparkle of respect in his startling blue eyes?

  I stood taller. “He’ll be well guarded by his troop.”

  “It’s a good plan,” one of the other militia leaders said.

  “Agreed,” Balan said.

  I smiled at the fomorian, grateful for his vote of confidence.

  The bearded guy nodded slowly. “Very well. We make the adjustment to the plan.” His gaze slid to Athos. “But the militia will commandeer your hounds.”

  Like hell you will. Athos growled and bared his teeth.

  Harmon chuckled.

  “That’s not going to happen,” Hyde said.

  I looked at him. He’d understood Athos. Of course. Latrou had marked him with the communication symbol. His ability to communicate with the hounds was now enhanced, just like mine.

  “What happened to teamwork?” bearded dude said with a curl of his lip.

  I shrugged. “Athos is in charge of the hounds, and if he says no, then it’s a no.”

  The bearded guy looked confused.

  Balan winced. “Draka, Athos is able to communicate with Indigo. I believe she is simply relaying what he has said, right?” He looked at me.

  “That’s right.”

  The fomorian’s brows shot up. “You expect me to believe this?”

  It was Hyde who responded. “The fomorian royal guard were able to communicate with their battle hounds, were they not?”

  Draka blinked in surprise. “That is what history tells us.”

  “Well, they sowed their seed in the mortal realm too,” Abram said. “The mark I gave Indigo seems to have enhanced her ability.”

  “And mine,” Hyde said with a grin.

  Draka shook his head in exasperation. “We need hounds on the front lines. They would be best served there.”

  The hounds stay with the shadow cadets, Athos said.

  He was being loyal, but Draka was right. The hounds would be more useful on the front lines.

  I turned to him now and placed a hand on his flank. “Athos, I know you feel strongly about protecting the cadets. But you’ll be able to do that best if you’re on the front lines preventing the fir bolg from getting to them.”

  His chest rumbled. You wish us to carry them? He jerked his head toward the fomorians.

  “Yes. They’re our allies.”

  He sighed. Very well.

  I nodded curtly at Draka. “Athos and his hounds will ride with you.”

  Draka inclined his head in Athos’s direction. “Thank you.”

  Athos grunted.

  Draka’s lips quirked in a smile that transformed his austere features into something more appealing. “Good. I’m glad we have an understanding.” He inclined his head and then looked to the other fomorian militia leaders. “We’ll brief our troops. I suggest you do the same. The fir bolg can be upon us any day now.”

  “I know. We have scouts in sector three.”

  “Yes, and so do we. In the meantime, we will prepare our weapons and strengthen our army.”

  The militia moved out, and I turned to my guys. “Let’s spread the word and get the forge heated. I want weapons on point.”

  Orion arched a brow as if to say, are you giving me orders?

  “If you’re fighting alongside us, then you’ll take orders like the rest of the cadets.”

  Lugh chuckled. “Yes, Orion. War makes men out of kings.”

  Orion’s jaw ticked, but his response was cut off by a hearty caw, and then a shadow fell over us.

  I looked up sharply to see a huge bird circling above. A real honest-to-fucking-god bird.

  And then something was whizzing toward the ground.

  Hyde tugged me out of the way before the object hit the earth. It was oblong and brass-colored.

  Orion bent to pick it up with a frown, and then his mouth parted in recognition.

  “What is it?” Kash asked.

  Orion turned it to the side and tapped it on his palm. A white roll of paper fell out. He unrolled it and read it, and his expression hardened.

  In the distance, boot falls approached fast. Someone yelled in fomorian, “He’s here. They’re here.”

  Orion looked up and locked gazes with me. “It’s from Laramir. He wants to parlay.”

  Twenty-Five

  Draka, Orion, Lugh, Hyde, and the troop accompanied me to the border on hound back.

  This was customary in the old days, Lugh had assured me. Two sides talking things out to see if they could come to a mutually acceptable conclusion to prevent bloodshed. A parlay saved lives. He’d dressed for the occasion in Brady’s armor, and he’d even hung the damn eye around his neck like a useless talisman.

  But the twist in my gut and the tightness in my chest warned that this meeting wasn’t going to go down that way. Still, it was something both Orion and Lugh urged me to do. Draka had been against it.

  What can they offer? he’d pointed out. They want the mortal realm. They will not set that goal aside.

  I’d been inclined to agree.

  But here we were, in the hopes that the outcome would be something miraculous.

  Back at camp, the militia was preparing for battle.

  Preparing for word from us.

  I’d left Harmon behind as my second. If anything happens to us out there, I need you to take charge.

  I’d made him swear it.

  The mist was gone, but the journey across the land was the most ominous yet. I leaned low over Athos’s back as we loped across the ground, past the carcasses of the mist creatures, curled up and dead. Past the AM posts, silent and useless now. Silhouettes appeared in the distance. Figures on fomorian horseback waiting at the border just as the note had said.

  Athos slowed his pace, and my group came to a standstill several meters away from the fir bolg.

  The fir bolg were big guys, making the mighty beasts they rode on seem small in comparison. Nine fir bolg faced us. Four on each side of a central figure who was draped in heavy furs. A necklace of bones hung around his neck. His beard was long and threaded with silver ribbon, and his eyes were shadowed by his heavy brows. On his shoulder, with its talon-tipped feet hooked into a leather shoulder guard, sat a massive raven. The fir bolg seemed unconcerned by the beast of a bird clinging to him.

  This guy had to be Laramir.

  He held up a hand, and then his horse trotted forward a little. Two of his men came with him, flanking him. And hopping along beside them, attached to a leash, was the scrawny figure of the little fomorian spy. His eyes lit up at the sight of me, and he let out a cackle that was cut off when the fir bolg holding onto the leash gave it a sharp tug.

  Served the fucker right.

  “We need to move forward a little too,” Lugh said.

  “Okay. You and Orion need to come with me.”

  Hyde didn’t protest at my leaving him behind. He was a warrior, and he understood this was about tactics. I needed advisors to help me understand
how this system worked, and no one knew the protocol better than the fomorian and the Tuatha.

  I swept my gaze over Lloyd, Aidan, and Devon. “Stand firm.”

  And then I was moving forward on Athos’s back with Lugh and Orion flanking me.

  Once again, we stopped a good distance away, but close enough to speak and be heard.

  “I’m honored you accepted my invitation,” Laramir said. His voice, despite his savage appearance, was cultured and smooth.

  “I’m told it’s the polite thing to do.” My smile was close-lipped and mirthless.

  He returned it. “Yes. It is.” His gaze flicked to Orion. “You have excellent counsel, it seems.”

  The fir bolg next to him mumbled something.

  Laramir smiled. “Yes, the mortal realm is progressive to allow females into positions of military power.”

  I returned the smile. “No, we just happen to be enlightened, that’s all. What did you want to talk about, Laramir?”

  “I wish to offer you an opportunity to surrender.”

  I shot Orion a glance.

  His mouth was tight. “What are your terms?” Orion asked.

  Heck, no. I opened my mouth to tell Laramir where to shove it, but Lugh reached out to grab my arm. We were far enough from Laramir, with Athos’s bulk in the way, for the action to be hidden.

  “Wait,” Lugh said from the corner of his mouth. “There is a protocol to this.”

  Laramir flicked his wrist, and one of his wingmen spoke. “You will lay down your arms and surrender, and we will spare your lives. The militia will join our ranks, and together, we will claim back our home.”

  Home? “Weren’t you born in Fomoria?”

  The fir bolg who’d spoken blinked in surprise.

  “I would have thought that was your home.” I smiled sweetly.

  “Yes,” he replied. “But the mortal world is our homeland. Our roots lie there.”

  Laramir’s smile was smug. “You will give us back what belongs to us, and we will permit you to live alongside us, under our protection. In peace.”

  “Peace?” Anger licked at my chest. “What do you know about peace? You pillage and conquer and kill. And what do you know about a home? Fomoria has been your home for centuries. The fomorians took you in, and how did you repay them? How did you repay your home? By attacking it. By razing it to the ground.” I shook my head. “Fuck surrender.”

  Laramir’s expression closed off and hardened. “I wished to avoid bloodshed today. I wished to set foot onto my motherland without trailing crimson across the pure earth, but I see now you will not permit me to do that. I see that my entrance must be paved in death. So be it.”

  The huge bird perched on Laramir’s shoulder flew up into the air, cawing like a mad thing.

  This was where he’d tell us when the war would begin. This was where we’d head back and prepare to fight. But the ground was rumbling, and a wave of darkness was sweeping across the horizon toward us.

  “No,” Lugh groaned.

  “What is the meaning of this,” Orion cried.

  Laramir’s lips curled in a wicked smile. “If it’s a war you want, then why wait?”

  My brain clicked into gear, and adrenaline coursed through me as realization bloomed.

  It was happening right now.

  Laramir’s fucked-up bird had given the word.

  We were at war, and there was no time to get a message to base.

  Twenty-Six

  KASH

  It’s taking too long. I can’t stop pacing. Harmon is watching me, his body as still as stone. It’s unnerving and annoying.

  I stop and fix my attention on him. “Aren’t you worried?”

  “Justice can take care of herself,” he says.

  “I know that. I just … I have a really bad feeling about this.”

  He makes a sound of agreement. “Me too.”

  “Then join me in pacing, why don’t you?”

  He shakes his head. “Conserve the energy for more useful things.” He unsheathes his ax from its holster at his back. “Like fighting.”

  I look down at the dagger at my waist. “I need a bigger weapon.”

  Harmon grins. “It’s not the size that counts, it’s what you do with it.”

  “Funny guy.”

  Around us, the camp is filled with the buzz of preparation. A parlay means the actual war is around the corner. It means the opposing army is in place. It means—

  Pain rips through my head.

  Kash.

  Darkness swallows me, and I am floating. “Indigo?”

  She is there but in ethereal form, her mouth open in a soundless scream.

  I reach for her, and my hand passes through her form. The connection is weak. It’s not catching hold, which means she’s in distress. She’s multi-tasking, not able to focus on the weave.

  “Indigo!” I stare at her mouth, focusing on the shapes she makes with her lips, and my heart freezes in horror.

  But then she is melting away, and I’m falling back to earth.

  I open my eyes to Harmon’s face hovering over me.

  “You fainted,” Harmon says.

  I roll away and shove to my feet. “They’re attacking. The fir bolg are attacking now.”

  Harmon growls and is off, barreling through the camp, shouting out orders.

  I run toward the weaver camp waving my arms to get their attention. “Get into position. We’re under attack.”

  “Kash!” Joti runs toward me.

  “No!” I wave her back. “Get into position.”

  I veer off toward the hound camp and come to a skidding halt amidst huge, hulking frames.

  One of the hounds looks at me questioningly.

  I look up, gasping to catch my breath. “I need a ride.”

  * * *

  HARMON

  If anything happens to us out there, I need you to take charge. Her words ring in my ears. My heart screams at me to run full pelt toward sector three, but my vow keeps me rooted here, barking orders to the shadow cadets, rounding them up to lead them to the border of sector two.

  The militia has already left, but the shadow cadets need a leader. With the troop gone, there is no one to pull them together. It has to be me, just like Indigo made me promise. I expect them to look at me with disgust, but they listen. They don their armor and follow me. The nightbloods will need to remain in their tents or at barracks till sundown.

  “You.” I point at a nightblood shadow cadet. “You stay behind and bring the nightblood students to the border at sundown.”

  I order the tutors back to the Academy, where it’s safe. I order them to reinforce the wards on the port just in case. They do as they’re told.

  “Move out!” My bellow echoes around camp, and then we’re marching toward the border.

  I’ll lead them to their position but can’t stay with them. Indigo is out there, and once I’ve delivered the cadets to where they need to be, I’ll be free to go to her.

  Twenty-Seven

  My blade crashed against another, and the force brought me to my knees. The wave of darkness that was Laramir’s army was less than a couple of minutes away.

  We had to run, we had to stop fighting and retreat to where our forces were. But Laramir’s goons weren’t making it easy. They’d surrounded us and blocked off the exit with their blades.

  Hyde fought to my left and Lugh to my right. I caught sight of Lloyd swinging his blade to bury it into his opponent’s shoulder.

  A stab of satisfaction shot through me, but then I was being forced to duck and roll. I kicked out and slipped into blur mode, fighting to overpower my larger, stronger adversary. I called on shadows to create a barrier to keep my opponent at bay. Darkness swirled around me like a shield, blocking the fir bolg’s attack. I willed it to spread out to my allies. To protect them too, but it remained clinging to me, stubborn and resilient.

  We needed reinforcement.

  Kash … Had he heard me?

  The conne
ction had been weak. It was hard to focus when fending off a fir bolg. They were fast, they were strong, and three of our hounds were already dead. That left five hounds and seven of us against eight fir bolg. Those should be good odds, but they weren’t. Not really.

  Laramir had ridden away toward the bulk of his army, leaving us to skirmish here. Fuck, we needed to get away before the army descended on us. I managed to land a blow that had my opponent staggering back. It was enough for me to blur-kick him in the head and then bury my blade into his throat.

  The gurgle was satisfying, but then the howl of a hound meeting its demise balanced out that scale.

  Shit.

  I ran toward the injured hound, slashing at a bolg horse’s flanks as I went. The hound was on the ground, twitching in pain as the fir bolg buried his blade into its neck.

  Hyde got to him first and slashed across his back.

  The fir bolg jerked, arms flying up in a starfish pose, and I was there to shove my blade into his neck.

  My shadows hugged the fir bolg’s torso for a moment, as if feeding on his pain, and then shot up my blade and wrapped around my arms.

  Hyde’s mouth fell open in shock, but he snapped it closed again and nodded curtly. “Good shot.”

  They were like armored bears, and the face and neck were the only fucking part of them that was bare.

  Lugh ran toward us, his face streaked with blood. “Go. Now.”

  A figure ran up behind him.

  “Watch out!” Hyde called out.

  Lugh turned just in time to block a blow from an ax. Hyde and I attacked the fir bolg together.

  He didn’t have a chance.

  There were only three fir bolg left now, and they were surrounded.

  Lloyd, Devon, and Aidan had dispatched the others.

  Triumph lit up my chest, and my shadows melted away, but then I caught the look of horror on Orion’s face.

  Orion shook his head. “Fuck. Oh, fuck.”

  I didn’t need to turn around to know that the army was almost upon us. “Run!”

  I leaped onto Athos’s back, pulling Hyde up with me, and we were off. The others did the same, riding two on one as we loped away from the fir bolg army.