Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
THE SHADOW
The Sanctum
Silently, The Shadow lurked in the corner.
The old church The Guilda had chosen for tonight’s meeting was once seen in splendour but had fallen into disarray over the years, since The Guilda started using the forest as their hunting grounds.
Cracking his knuckles, The Shadow reached out to open the door of the inner sanctum, the altar of worship, that was now covered in poison and death. Everything The Guilda revelled in.
“Rumours have been circulating regarding the induction of the new Canis Infernum1. A new Hound of Hell will be called forth tonight. He is to step into the roles vacated just over a decade ago from the demise of the Wriedt and Vesper patriarch lines. The infamous son will rise as the newest proclaimed forefather of The Guilda Sanguis Venenati, taking over the only position his family name can obtain…”
The Shadow looked around, locating The Sun and The Rose across the way, nodding to both before continuing to scan the room. The Shadow jolted when his eyes met dark golden orbs, lurking against the darkened pew in the right corner of the room. No.
It cannot be.
“The heir of the Vesper and Wriedt lines stands among us tonight. The son who can strike fear into even the holiest of souls. The man who will be crowned the Canis Infernum and take the lead of the Viperae Rosarum Ludi, long lost but returned to us once again…”
The Shadow stood speechless, lost in thought, knowing his chances of staying close to the Yates heir were evaporating right before his eyes. Knowing that the first order of business would be his removal from deciding the trials and playing gamemaster for The Ludi at the end.
“Will Rowan…” The Shadow locked eyes with those eerie golden ones once again. A grim smile was shared between the men, knowing that from now on the once friends would be on opposite sides of the line.
Those once family can be burned with enough venom to ignite tides in a way yet to be won. The old saying The Shadow used to hear his father say swam inside his mind as the induction continued.
“Wriedt, step forward into the light. Please reveal the item of reverence you have carried since the age of six, son.” Drawing his hand from his pants pocket, the new Canis Infernum showed the people gathered around a collar encrusted in rubies and threaded with silver and onyx.
“On this night, fate has called your name once again. Heir of Wriedt, step forward into the light to accept the trials of fate, a name of your calibre must bear.”
The Shadow stood frozen as the pieces of rumours and whispers fell into place, surrounding the truth of what the Viperae Rosarum Ludi was truly about. Shards of ice splintered across The Shadow’s soul as the understanding became known to him, The Sun, and The Rose as if they were one.
No secret was safe. No life would be left unbound. The rules had just been changed, and now no moral line would be left drawn in the ground.
“All rise and raise a fist in honour of The Canis Infernum, the son who will revive his family name once more.”
Cheers echoed throughout the chamber as The Shadow crept up to The Sun and The Rose, knowing that if anyone knew anything, it would be them. Brothers bound in secrets, not blood.
“We must prepare for the war of lines his arrival and induction will bring. Audrey has been exceedingly competent at completing each trial but not revealing the true nature of her trial in this game.”
“All the heirs have. I fear this next trial will be what breaks them, though. With the new Canis Infernum in charge, any chance of us resisting will be forced from our hands. I fear he will take the title of Gamemaster seriously…even if he feels any conflicting sense of loyalty,” The Rose rasped.
His scarred fingers lit a cigarette as he proclaimed he could give less of a fuck about tradition as he inhaled deeply.
“My presence in town can’t be known yet.
I still have loose ends to wrap up and moves that I need to make against those who banished me years ago.
A particular cousin of mine must face the repercussions my exile had on my reputation. And family here.”
The Shadow nodded, accepting the tangled web he had woven with reluctant ease. “I am aware of the trouble you being here will bring on us all.”
The Sun nodded next, always listening and observing those around him. Casting a glance at The Rose, he opened his mouth, but his reply was interrupted by the smoothly accented voice of a man who stood behind The Shadow’s shoulder.
“Shadow, Sun, Rose. It had to be done. You know what would have happened if I had said no.” The Hellhound stood solemnly on the outskirts of their group—a group that was once four but now would be three.
“I’ve been instructed to tell you three that I’ll be taking over as The Gamemaster for the rest of The Ludi and each of the three remaining trials of strength. ”
The Shadow looked at the face of the man who had been intertwined with them for so long that it was hard to know if truths could truly ever separate them again. “We know. We do not have to like or accept this turn of fate.”
“Just know,” The Hellhound stated, “there’s always more than one master at play…
” His accented voice trailed off as he turned his head, clocking the arrival of one of the older generations.
A sinister smile lit the Hellhound’s face as he silently stalked his new prey, leaving The Shadow, The Sun and The Rose just as quickly as he joined in among them.
“For once, I am glad that the bastard has his sights set on someone that’s not me,” was the last thing The Shadow heard The Rose mutter lowly, as he briskly turned and made his way out of the chamber they were forced to be seen in tonight.
Chaotic thoughts whirled around The Shadow’s brain as he hurriedly tried to find a way to stay hidden from the sharks that had begun circling them as of late.
Worry, fear, hate, and love. All things The Guilda had attempted to beat out of their recruits starting at the young age of five, younger in a few select instances—like that of The Sun and The Raven, the last being a position that had sat empty for years…
since the Vesper line had been systematically assassinated overnight.
Emotions, pesky little shits that The Guilda had failed to expunge from The Shadow when they had placed a boy as bright as The Sun in his path.
They not only made him his match but also forced them to train side by side.
He silently walked out of the abandoned church, met with the view of the forest and sea beyond the edge of the cliffs. He turned his attention in the direction where one fiery young initiate was sure to be asleep.
Warnings flashed in his mind for the choices he knew they were about to make,
cautioning him to think through the destruction they were about to detonate. The old nursery rhymes The Shadow’s nanny used to sing echoed in his ears as he planned his next move.
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust…
Ashes to ashes. Roses to thorns.
Nobody is stronger than a shadow and his sna…
In the silent woods, The Shadow’s voice was heard on the wind. “The Guilda Sanguis Venenati will regret the day they decided to tear the fate of Audrey Yates from me.”
Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust…
Ashes to ashes. Snakes to shadows.
Nobody stays safe when the hounds are heard in the dark…
As the celebration carried on, the echoes of fate demanded the first sacrifice the Hellhound must call. The beginnings of a call for blood were sparked, ones that The Guilda had yet to see the likes of before. A war of which nobody would win, and no secrets would be safe from.
As the sun rose over the cliffs, hours later, four figures were seen standing solemnly at the edge, looking out over the choppy sea. The four created an image burned into the town’s history.
Standing on the rocky edge, The Shadow was met with The Sun, The Rose, and The Hellhound—four sons whose fates demanded things that no young boy should ever have to be witness to. Four heirs whose last names forced their roles in a deadly game none wanted to play.
Four souls so intertwined with one another that even in hate, they were hesitant to cut ties completely.
A grave meeting between four men who knew that after turning to leave, their roles and lives would never again be the same within the family they had forged.
Whether by blood, oath, or love. The first ray of sun shattered the peace, and with it, The Shadow turned to leave, casting one last glance back with a knowing that his hidden truths would no longer be easily kept from the light of those who were seeking to destroy his hard-fought peace.
As the sun crested the sky, it was said that echoes of ancient war drums were heard, rumbling through the forest and away from the three souls who were left standing so close to the edge of the sea.
1 Canis Infernum (Latin): Hellhound