Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
~ Shade ~
I’m dying.
Or at least, I feel like I’m dying.
I’m on the floor, drenched in sweat, and my throat feels like sandpaper when my cell door opens.
I’m not sure how much time has passed. Hours, at least. Maybe a day. Shafts of light penetrate the doorway, and I force myself to sit up.
One of the guards drops a tray of food, and it clangs to the floor. The small cup of water tips to the side, and I rush to pick it up, desperate to save every drop I can. I bring the cup to my mouth, downing the contents in one gulp, but there’s not enough.
“More,” I croak, but the guards merely laugh at me.
The only other thing on the tray is a strange sticky-looking red gloop that looks…unappetizing.
“What is that?” I say to the shadows, wrinkling my nose. “Do you think it’s like, ground up meat or something?” The thought makes my stomach roil.
“It’s hard to say,” Tarlaz muses. “Describe what it tastes like.”
“What? I am not putting that into my mouth.” I might be hungry, but I’m not starving enough to try the mysterious gloop that looks like minced entrails.
When it’s clear I’m not going to eat, the guards sneer at me.
One of them uses his spear to point toward the open doorway. “Let’s go, human.”
My brow creases. “Go where?”
In answer, the guard jabs me with the blunt end of his spear, and I yelp as it slams into my shoulder. It doesn’t pierce my skin, but it’ll be enough to leave a nasty bruise.
“Move!” the guard barks at me.
Scowling, I lift to my feet. As terrified as I am that they might be leading me toward torture, the cleaner air rushing in from the doorway has me shuffling forward.
I suck in a deep breath when we exit the cell.
I wouldn’t say the air is fresh, but it’s better than what I’ve had for the past few hours, and I drag it gratefully into my lungs.
One of the guards walks in front of me while the other walks behind, and they escort me up the levels of the volcano, taking the stone steps rather than the tunnel path. Twice I almost slip and fall, but I catch myself at the last minute both times, and I try not to think about the lava pit.
I expect the guards might be taking me to King Malgur’s throne room, but I’m surprised when they bring me to the summit of the volcano, and we walk out onto a circular platform.
A warm breeze teases my hair, and I gasp as I see the land around me for the first time. A river of lava surrounds the volcano we’re on, and beyond that the rocky land is dry and bare.
But it’s not the land that has me going still. Positioned a few hundred yards from the lava are countless warriors, and fear curls around my neck. “Holy smokes. There must be thousands of them,” I whisper to the shadows.
“More like a hundred thousand, girl,” Elgen replies.
I stare in horror, not quite able to believe what I’m looking at.
Shadows gather near me, and Professor Yevar walks out onto the platform. He grimaces when he sees me before waving the guards away.
“You smell terribly,” he says with disgust.
“Yeah, well, you would too if you were in that cell,” I bite back. I probably should be watching my mouth, but I’m hungry, terrified, and at this moment I don’t really give a crap. Professor Yevar is the reason I’m here instead of with my mates.
To my surprise, Professor Yevar smiles, and power floods my system, flowing from my academy ring.
Worried that it won’t last, I quickly change my clothes, removing the gunk caked to my body and creating a new, more breathable battle outfit.
Then I conjure up the biggest bottle of water I think I can manage.
I’ve only drunk a third of it when Professor Yevar steals it from me and throws it into the pit.
“Hey!” I protest, but my complaint is cut short when he grabs me by the neck, pulling me close.
“That’s enough,” he says coldly. “I won’t have you throwing up on me.”
I glare at him, because it’s not like I care if I vomit on his spotless outfit. In fact, I think I’d like that very much.
I jerk away from him, and my shadows pool in front of me as I try to conjure a granola bar thick with dark chocolate, and…
My brows slam down. “Why isn’t it working?” I say, panicked.
Professor Yevar flicks a spec of dirt off his armor. “We’re not in the shadow realm. I can grant you some access to your magic by using my own as a conduit, but there are limitations.”
I frown. “What kind of limitations?”
“The kind that include prohibiting you from creating any type of food.”
“You’re kidding, right?” I blurt, because I don’t believe for a second that he can allow me enough power to create water, but not enough to create a damn granola bar. I try to conjure another one, but nothing happens. “I’m not fun to be around when I’m hungry,” I warn.
“Then this should be interesting,” Professor Yevar drawls, not looking the least bit concerned.
“I’m serious.”
His lips curve into a humorless smile. “Then you can voice your grievances to the king.”
The blood drains from my face. “We’re going to see the king?”
“Yes, my dear,” Professor Yevar answers. “Because it’s time for you to show him what you can do.”
I take a step away from the professor. “Is that before or after he turns me into a mindless zombie like the other students?”
Professor Yevar tilts his head. “You mean an enhanced warrior?”
“I mean a brainwashed prisoner, or whatever you’ve done to them.” I don’t bother reminding him that he said if I came here, he’d return the students to the academy. It’s obvious he never had any intention of doing that.
Pride shines in Professor Yevar’s expression, and he clasps his hands behind his back, looking out at the Xalgrith army.
“Queen Krosia might have thought the weaker students at Shadowbone Academy were a waste and nothing more than to be discarded, but where she saw weakness, I saw potential. They were the perfect candidates to turn into hybrid warriors, and that’s better than being condemned to death, is it not?
Using the hybrids to defeat Queen Krosia will be my greatest achievement. ”
“I don’t think any of them would have chosen to become what they are,” I counter, but as I say it, I’m not entirely sure if that’s true.
If they knew Queen Krosia was going to execute them, would they have chosen this?
I push the thought away. No. Professor Yevar hasn’t given them freedom. He’s turned them into monsters.
“Perhaps not,” he replies.
“Jensen wasn’t weak,” I point out, and I think about his name carved on the wall.
“Yes, well your friend happened to stumble upon something he wasn’t meant to, so I couldn’t exactly let him remain at the academy. Despite his strength, he turned all the same. Just like that girl who happened upon my plans.”
I stiffen. “What girl?” Immediately my thoughts go to Leira.
“I think that’s enough questions,” Professor Yevar replies.
He lifts his head to the sky and a dark shape swoops down from above.
I almost stumble off the platform when a massive beast lands near us, sending dust into the air.
I’m expecting one of the xalfret, but instead, the creature has a long, scaly body with huge leathery wings, a hood framing its flat head, and unblinking reptilian eyes.
Professor Yevar’s cobra is no longer the smaller snake I’d seen around the academy, but now it’s a massive beast.
The professor climbs onto the back of his animali, using his shadows to tether himself to the creature. “All you need to know, is that King Malgur is expecting great things from you,” he tells me. “Provided you prove yourself useful, you’ll have a place here.”
I shake my head. “I’m not a warrior. I don’t know what you’re expecting.”
He reaches into the shadows around his chest, and he pulls out my phoenix’s egg, letting the light shine on the black and cobalt scales. “I’m expecting you not to embarrass me,” he says as he holds my gaze. “That is, if you wish for your creature to live.”
I glare at him. “You’re a monster.”
“Aren’t we all,” he drawls, and he tucks my egg back against his chest before his shadows reach for me.
Riding on Professor Yevar’s snake is terrifying, but it’s nothing compared to the fear that fills me when I view the Xalgrith army up close.
During my lessons at Shadowbone Academy, I learned all about the different battles fought in the shadow realm, but even the largest battles only included a few thousand Xalgrith warriors.
My heart lurches as I stare at over a hundred thousand soldiers that cover the land.
“With this many warriors, they’ll conquer the shadow realm,” I whisper to Elgen and Tarlaz, dread coiling inside me as Professor Yevar’s animali flies us over the army.
The warriors are grouped into sections. Some are marching in lines, while others are sparring or performing drills.
In one section, hordes of warriors are working on massive weaponry.
The devices look like metal catapults, and I shudder to think about the damage they could do.
“It looks like they’ve been amassing their forces for some time,” Tarlaz observes.
I don’t comment. Instead, I find myself thinking about the barren land below us. There aren’t any trees as far as I can see, and going by the scorched earth, they don’t get much rain.
“Do you think they’ve depleted all the resources here? Is that why they want the shadow realm?” I ask. It feels like the most logical explanation for the war, but the Xalgrith don’t seem like they’re desperate and starving.
“Your guess is as good as ours, girl,” Elgen replies.