Shadow Master: The Nightwatch Academy book 4

by Cassidy, Debbie

  But our hounds were injured, and the pace wasn’t fast enough. The thunder of hooves was too close at our backs.

  The blare of a horn.

  The bloodthirsty cry of warriors.

  The hair on the back of my neck stood to attention, and ice threatened to snuff out the fire of adrenaline in my veins.

  Hold fast. I will not fail you, Athos said.

  I leaned forward, holding on, and we picked up speed.

  “They’re gaining,” Hyde said.

  We hadn’t even had time to lay down the fire grain. There would be no resistance. We were halfway through sector three. We were fucked.

  And then a figure appeared on the horizon in front of us. A hound with a rider. Moving fast.

  I recognized the flow of dark hair set against olive skin.

  My heart swelled in my chest. “Kash. He’s coming. He heard me.”

  I waved my arm, but Kash kept his head down. I caught the look of determination on his face as he sped up, and then it hit me. He wasn’t headed to meet us. He was headed to meet the enemy. To get close enough to siphon.

  He whipped past us a moment later, and my heart jumped into my mouth. “No!” I pulled on Athos’s ridges to force him to slow. “Turn around.”

  “What is he doing?” Hyde cried out in panic.

  He was making sure we were safely out of range when he siphoned. I leaped off Athos.

  “Get Hyde away. Now.”

  Hyde let out a bellow of protest, but Athos was already shooting away from me to join the others.

  I turned and ran after Kash.

  * * *

  KASH

  Don’t think, just act. Don’t think, just act.

  I have to do this. I have to save her. I have to …

  Fuck, that’s a large army.

  The leather strap pressed to my skin, woven with the herbs and the elements that make up the rune, flares to life and singes my skin.

  I grit my teeth, close my eyes, and feed.

  * * *

  I ran as fast as my legs could take me, slipping into blur mode to reach him just as he began to siphon. The wave hit me hard, taking me down to the ground. But then the heat at my solar plexus flared, feeding power back to me and shielding me from the siphoning effects of Kash’s ability. I stood on shaky legs and took the final steps toward him. The hound he was riding hit the ground, and I caught Kash, dragging him off the beast before it could roll onto him.

  The army approached like a storm, but then the horses began to slow. Some toppled, some staggered. Fir bolg drooped and swayed, falling off their mounts to be trampled by the warriors behind them.

  Kash’s eyes rolled back in his head as he continued to siphon. His back arched, and he groaned—a sound that was a mixture of pain and pleasure.

  I dragged him onto my lap and cradled him, watching as the first wave of our enemy faltered. Just a few seconds, Madam Latrou had said.

  “Stop.” I shook him. “Kash, you have to stop.”

  Even though his efforts wouldn’t be enough, not without backup, not without our army to take advantage, he still needed to stop.

  I reached for the shadows, but this time they didn’t answer me. Tears of frustration pricked my eyes as Kash finally stilled in my arms. His chest heaved, and his amulet flared to life.

  He opened his eyes and looked up at me. “You idiot,” he said. “Why didn’t you run?”

  “Stupid question.”

  I pulled him closer and wrapped my arms around him. There was no outrunning death now, and in that moment, there was nothing but crystal clarity.

  “I would have loved you, Kash.”

  He gripped me tighter. “I fucking know.”

  And then a blinding light ripped the air in front of us, and furry paws reached for me. I caught the flash of gray eyes and the curl of a too-wide smile, and then the world shattered.

  Twenty-Eight

  HYDE

  “Turn around.”

  No, Athos growls.

  “Let me off!”

  No.

  If I leap, I’ll break a leg and be useless. I hold on, my heart breaking. Indigo. Fucking hell. Indigo.

  I come abreast of the others.

  “Where’s Indie?” Devon calls out.

  I want to hit something.

  “She fucking went after Kash,” Lloyd says. “Turn around,” he orders his hound.

  No, Athos says. We get them to safety like the Shadow Master ordered.

  “Fuck you!” I slam a fist onto his flank.

  I’m sorry.

  I can’t. I can’t lose her.

  “Motherfucker!” Devon cries out.

  “The militia,” Orion says.

  And there it is. Our salvation. A wave of our own.

  Our army is coming, and this time, when I order Athos to turn around, he obliges.

  * * *

  The bright light dissipated to leave me staring up into a familiar Cheshire cat grin.

  “Larkin?” I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed.

  He made a purring sound, which was pure pleasure, and then my attention fell on someone else, and my heart swelled with joy.

  “Dad?”

  Payne pushed Larkin out of the way and gathered me into his arms. “I’m here, Indie. I’m here.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I didn’t. But the outside world is in trouble, and my gut told me to come check on you.”

  I looked to Larkin. “I thought you were gone.”

  He shrugged. “Long story.”

  “Larkin and I have been traveling together,” Payne said.

  Kash pulled himself up. “Thank you for saving our asses.”

  I looked around for the first time. We were back at camp. Shit. “I need you to take me to the battlefield.”

  Larkin frowned. “Odds of survival are low.”

  “Lower if I’m not there to help. Please.”

  “Me too,” Kash said. “Another few minutes and I can siphon again.”

  An idea bloomed in my mind. “Larkin, can you stay with Kash. Let him siphon and get him out of there once he has?”

  Larkin rolled his eyes. “Urgh. War is so tiresome.”

  “Lar, come on,” Payne nudged.

  “Very well,” Larkin conceded.

  Larkin held out his hands to Kash and me, and Payne put a hand on Larkin’s shoulder.

  “No.” I gave Payne a stern look. “You need to stay here.”

  Payne looked offended. “I’m not going to stand back while you fight.”

  “Then head to sector two’s border. It’s east of here. There are some bags of fire grain behind the forge. Load up the wheelbarrow and take it with you. There are cadets there. Our last line of defense. Plant the explosives and keep morale up.”

  His mouth tightened, but he nodded.

  And then Larkin was whisking Kash and me back to the battlefield.

  * * *

  HARMON

  Chaos, blood, sweat, and adrenaline. This is my element. As I cut my way through the enemy, as I stop to stand and fight, I search for Indigo, for Hyde, for Lugh, for anyone who was with her. But there are too many bodies wielding steel. Too many distractions.

  “Harmon!”

  Lloyd? I locate him and barrel toward him to help him dispatch a fir bolg. My ax comes down on the fir bolg’s head and crushes its skull. There’s blood and brain matter.

  Good.

  Dead.

  “Where’s Indigo?” I ask Lloyd.

  “I don’t know.” He turns to defend against another attacker. I grab the fir bolg’s neck and twist. The snapping sound makes me smile.

  Lloyd stares up at me and then shakes his head. “She was with Kash, but I can’t find them now.”

  I shove a fir bolg out of the way with my fist and stomp on. I need to find her.

  * * *

  Larkin dropped me into the fray and swept Kash away. My blade was out, and my body fell into fight mode. Hyde? Where was he? Lugh? Shit, was Lugh ok
ay. He was in Brady’s body.

  If he got hurt, that meant Brady was hurt.

  Around me, the militia fought hard. But too many dead bodies littered the ground. Too many of my people and not enough of theirs. It didn’t take an expert eye to see that our numbers were thinning.

  I caught sight of Orion’s golden head as he fought expertly against a stocky fir bolg. I turned away to counter an attack, stabbing through fur and slicing at the backs of his knees.

  My attacker fell, but another took his place. It was exhausting and exhilarating and disheartening because, despite our efforts, the militia was falling.

  Orion let out a bellow, drawing my eye. He was down on his knees, clutching his bleeding torso. The fir bolg he’d been fighting raised his weapon to finish the Tuatha off.

  I locked gazes with Orion for a second. This was my chance. I do nothing, and he dies. I do nothing, and Hyde and I are free. He must have seen my thoughts reflected on my face because he nodded as if to say, hell, he’d do the same.

  But I wasn’t him.

  I wasn’t a fucking murderer, despite the stain my father had placed on me.

  I blurred toward the fir bolg and blocked his swing with my blade before shoving him back with all my might. He roared in frustration, but the sound was cut off by my sword entering his mouth. He fell to his knees, and one kick had him sprawled on his back to be trampled on by the militia.

  I offered Orion my hand. He took it, his brow creased in confusion.

  My lips twisted wryly. “Get out of the fray, you’re too injured to fight.”

  I didn’t wait to see if he did as told. I had fir bolg to kill.

  * * *

  The sun would be setting soon. Our numbers in sector two, our last line of defense, would be swelling with nightbloods. Just as well, because we were thin on the ground, but so were the fir bolg. Their numbers were dropping too.

  Hyde passed me, his blade swinging like a machine as he forced back his adversary.

  The man was a fucking legend.

  “Watch out!” A body hit me from the side, taking me down.

  Brady’s scent filled my head, and then Lugh was hauling me up. “Move.” He shoved me again, taking the brunt of a blow and blocking it with his ax head.

  Shit.

  I lunged and stabbed his attacker in the gut. My blade stuck fast, and I had to yank hard to pull it free.

  We stood side by side for long seconds. No one attacked us. And it hit me … we were winning. We were actually fucking winning.

  Kash’s siphoning had worked, it had given us the advantage we needed. Hope swelled in my chest.

  “Fall back!” Draka called out, his voice laced with panic.

  What? What the fuck?

  “Oh, dear,” Lugh said, his attention fixed over my head.

  My muscles tensed as I turned to look over my shoulder.

  There, on the red horizon, was a new wave of fir bolg headed our way.

  My throat tightened with betrayal, like how could Laramir do this to us? Make us think we were winning and then crush our hopes with a fresh battalion of men.

  But Laramir didn’t owe us anything.

  “Fall back,” Draka shouted again.

  We turned and ran.

  * * *

  This was it. The final line of defense and we were headed toward it. But Draka stopped us a quarter of a mile away from the sector two border.

  “Stand your ground,” he ordered. “We fight till the death.”

  This was the point of no return. The point we took out as many of the fuckers as we could.

  I spotted Harmon barreling toward me. Lloyd, Aidan, and Devon joined him as they beelined my way. Hyde appeared to the left of Lugh, and then Larkin materialized with Kash a distance away, dropped him off, and winked out to appear beside me.

  My weaver lover looked dead on his feet. He was swaying back and forth as if he were drunk.

  “This is the last one,” Larkin said. “He’s done. Any more and it could kill him.”

  Kash threw back his head, and his body began to shake as he siphoned from the army rushing toward us. His efforts had less impact this time, and he fell to the ground in a heap. Larkin appeared by Kash and then vanished, taking the weaver with him.

  This was it.

  I locked gazes with each of the guys. “It’s been an honor fighting alongside you.”

  And then the wave crashed into us.

  No time for thought. Just action.

  Blood warm on my face. The clang of steel. The bite of metal on my flesh, followed by the zing of healing. The rush of air as a blade cut too close to my face. The crunch of dirt beneath my boots.

  The swing. The slash. The stab.

  Voices and cries and grunts.

  No thinking.

  Just survival, and then pain, sharp and sudden, through my abdomen.

  The world slowed as the ground came up to meet me. No. I braced, gathering my bearings. Where?

  A boot connected with my ribs, flipping me onto my back.

  Laramir stared down at me. “The battleground is no place for a woman.” He kicked me again.

  Fuck. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t catch my—

  Thud.

  Pain radiated through me.

  My blade? Where was my blade? I swept my hand across the earth, looking for it.

  “This?” Laramir held it out to me. “It won’t help you.” He threw it aside and drew a dagger from the holster at his waist. “I’ll make it quick, Shadow Master.” His lip curled in disgust as he leaned down toward me.

  I stared into his muddy brown eyes and saw myself reflected there. “Fuck you.”

  The blade kissed my throat and drew a hot line from left to right. The scent of blood filled my nostrils.

  My blood.

  Laramir smiled, and then he was gone. Hit by a hurtling shadow with gray-tinged skin and emerald eyes.

  “No. Oh, god.”

  Brady’s voice. But not Brady.

  The sun wasn’t down yet. It wasn’t …

  A hand on my throat. “Heal. You must heal.”

  Too late. Too deep. Too weak. But the words were a gurgle.

  This was death.

  Arms hauled me up against a chest. Brady’s chest. I looked up into his face. Into Lugh’s eyes and spoke to Brady. I love you. I love you so much.

  Could he see it? Could he see my love from inside?

  Something hard pressed to my chest. Uncomfortable, stopping me from drifting. The talisman … Yes, annoying thing.

  Why was it hot?

  Why was my body hot?

  “Oh, my …” Lugh said. He smiled widely. “Oh, my …”

  And then shadows were rushing over me, warm and healing. They wrapped around Lugh, sweeping across his face and binding us together.

  My throat prickled, and then I could swallow again. “What? What’s happening?”

  Lugh cradled me and kissed my forehead. “We found it, Indigo. We found the power. It was inside you all along. Thank you.”

  And then he was gone, and Brady was looking down at me. His jaw clenched, and he adjusted his hold on me and spun me so my back was pressed to his chest. He wrapped his arms around me and held me tight.

  “Close your eyes, Indigo. Close your eyes and let go,” he said.

  Carnage reigned in front of us. Death paraded, sweeping across the earth.

  I closed my eyes.

  HARMON

  She’s alive. She’s alive and wreathed in shadow, and more come. More shadows are hurtling toward her until she is gone, obscured by darkness. It pools and swirls around her.

  Brady … Brady is holding her. His eyes blazing with stars.

  Something is coming. Something immense, and suddenly, I know what it is.

  The eye.

  She is the power.

  She is the missing link.

  “Get down!” I shout before the world is swallowed by an endless night.

  Twenty-Nine

  My body felt li
ke it had been hit by a wrecking ball. But it was worth it to walk amongst the ashes of our enemy. I could feel the power simmering inside me. The shadow caster power, stronger than ever, surging up in waves as Brady walked beside me. The militia had retreated to camp to celebrate.

  Laramir was dead.

  His army wiped out.

  It was over. Truly fucking over.

  I squeezed Brady’s hand. “How did you know?”

  “Lugh’s thoughts,” Brady said. “I heard them the moment before he was set free. The power was in our world and passed down through the weaver line. It was hidden. When you came in contact with the talisman, the power came fully into its own.”

  “I thought the eye burned a path through its enemies. I thought it was fire.”

  “There are ashes here,” Brady said. “It seems shadows can burn too.”

  Was that why the shadows hadn’t been able to extend far, why they’d refused to help me shield my allies or fight off a hordea? They’d remained close at all times, but when my body had touched the talisman, the power had intensified tenfold like a voracious hunger.

  Hungry … that’s what it was. Still hungry. I clutched at Brady’s arm. “I don’t feel too good.”

  “It’s the eye,” Orion said. “You need to get away from it. The components together are lethal.”

  Brady stepped away from me and then slipped the amulet from his neck and handed it to Orion. “You’ll keep it safe?”

  Orion nodded. “I will.” His torso was bandaged, his face smeared with blood and grime, but he still looked regal.

  Hyde joined us.

  We were alive.

  We’d live to see another sunrise.

  But not together. I’d saved Orion’s life and killed any chance of Hyde and me. Brady clapped Hyde on the back. “Good to see you made it.”

  Hyde’s expression was grim. “We lost a lot of good men.”