Chapter Twenty-Seven
Twenty-Seven
Last Chance
The darkness was comforting. The Shadows hung as thick as mud in the air, the sweet smell of hakcha smoke wafting through the tavern—a literal hole in a wall that looked, from the outside, like a frightful place.
A place for beggars and the near-dead. Inside, it was filled with the wealth of the Halcin.
Golden candlesticks, cutlery made of precious metals, and some of the finest ale the Halcin had on offer.
In the corner, two men played the old Halcin card game kopkan, their words thick with the accent of Everglade City.
This was the place where Shadach had spent much of his childhood.
Where he had laughed and explored and learned about the Shadows.
Hearing the dialect invoked a raw mixture of joy, of sorrow.
More than that, it invoked feelings of home.
Of belonging.
An odd sensation, considering any of the Halcin here would hand him to his enemies in a heartbeat.
Still. Shadach couldn’t fight the warmth for a past he had left behind or the desire to have a place, a kinship, a shared history.
All things he’d lacked, and hadn’t realised he’d missed, in the Emperor’s City.
Everywhere he went in this city lay another memory.
The places he and Aristen used to play, to joke, to pull pranks.
The places his father had taken him to eat, to drink, to laugh.
This land was consumed with everything terrible and wonderful in Shadach’s life.
Everything that had made him who he was today.
“We could send a Selat in first,” one of the Halcin at Shadach’s table said. “He could pass through the fire unscathed.”
The other Halcin at the table laughed. Without warning, without meaning to, Shadach laughed, too.
The feeling was soothing on his throat, the sensation of sharing in laughter a shield against his fear of imminent failure.
But he shouldn’t have been laughing. The joke was that a Selat could easily pass through the rumoured, and likely only rumoured, ring of fire guarding Lord Patin’s jewels.
Men without souls did not burn.
Shadach silenced his laughter, but no one at the table would notice he’d stopped laughing before everyone else. They would only remember that he had laughed, too. That he was not the enlightened man he tried to be.
You cannot hide your Halcin forever, the words came to him in Mother’s voice.
Was that what he’d been doing? Hiding his Halcin?
Not the Halcin of ancient days, but the Halcin of present?
A chilling thought came to him: maybe all he’d been doing was shoving down who he really was. Who he was meant to be.
A criminal.
“What do you think of the plan then?” came another voice. A voice outside Shadach’s head. Shadach drank his chilled ale.
“I think,” he said, “it’s the closest I’ve got to something that could work.”
The Halcin that spoke grinned, proud of what they had created together.
Of course, Shadach could not get physical help from anyone besides Aoife, but he could get ideas from others.
True as Shadach’s words had been, he was far from proud of the plan.
In fact, it made his skin crawl. It involved stealth, it involved cunning, it involved some of Lord Patin’s men no doubt getting killed by Shadach’s hand.
Not to mention the likelihood Shadach himself would be caught and killed. But what other choice did he have? If he failed, he was as good as dead anyway. But if he succeeded, could he live with who he had become?
“Shadach?”
The sound of his name on her lips cut through his despair like sunlight through a swarm of Shadows. He looked up. Aoife.
She wore a dress of cheap crimson, the bodice hugging tightly to her breasts. Shadach felt the fire light in his belly. The need for her on his body. Her skin against his. Her lips bringing him back from the death that was coming for him. But the expression on her face was not one of salvation.
“Aoife.” He stood and went to her, ready to slay the demons that were killing her. If only he could slay his own.
“I’m sorry.” She fell into him, arms pulling him closer than close, her body crushed against his.
“What happened?” He tensed, pulling her to an empty corner of the tavern. Was she hurt?
“I went to see Lord Patin,” she said.
“You what? Alone? Aoife—”
She pressed a finger to his lips. “I know, I should have talked to you first. But there wasn’t time, so I took the risk.” With eyes downcast, she said, “Little good it did.” She glanced at the men Shadach had been sitting with. “Any luck here?”
“Not exactly.” Shadach pulled her even further from the others. “How in the Shadows did you get in to see Lord Patin?”
Aoife pressed her hand to her head like it hurt. “It’s a long story, we don’t have time.”
“We can make time.”
So, she told him, about Hallus pretending to help her and about Lord Patin nearly killing her. “He thought I was sent by his enemy, Grennen,” Aoife said. “I had to convince him otherwise before he killed me, so I told him about my world.”
Lord Patin knew about Aoife being from another world?
Shadach’s chest tightened. What danger did that put her in?
Was it safe for her to be here? Shadach shook his head.
Of course it wasn’t safe. It was never safe.
So, instead of worrying about what Lord Patin knew, Shadach said, “I’m going to kill Hallus.
I’ll rip his stomach out and then shove it down his throat.
” It was one thing to go after Shadach. There was bad blood between them that could never be fixed. But to go after Aoife …
“Later.” Aoife put a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We’ll throttle him together later. Right now, we need a plan … do we have a plan?”
No. Of course they didn’t. Not a real one.
The only plan Shadach had left was to throw himself at Lord Patin’s vault and pray he lived.
And the chances of that were … wait. Aoife had said the name “Grennen.” Lord Grennen was supposed to be Lord Patin’s friend.
Why would he tell Aoife he was an enemy?
Then again, Aristen used to be Shadach’s friend, too.
“What, exactly,” Shadach said, “did Lord Patin say about Grennen?”
“That he was trying to siphon money and influence from him. But Lord Patin couldn’t prove it.”
Shadach thought about those words. About this revelation. He tried to hold back the hope surging through his chest, but as he continued to think, trying to come up with reasons why the idea sprouting in his head was doomed, he couldn’t.
Slow and steady, a smile crossed his lips. Then, with all the fervour of a man desperately in love, he wrapped Aoife in his arms, spun her around, and kissed her. Again. Again. Again.
Aoife laughed when he finally stopped. “What was that for?”
“You’ve saved us.”
“What?” The word came out shocked. Disbelieving.
“I know how to do this. I know how to win.”
“How?” Her voice fought to keep hope from bleeding through.
Shadach looked out over the people in the tavern. “By being more Halcin than any of them.”
~*~
Day 3 - Late Afternoon
“I don’t know why you want an audience with him.
” Hallus leaned against the bar in the Halcin tavern, watching Shadach with utmost suspicion.
Hallus had taken nearly half an hour to get to the tavern, which was half an hour slower than Shadach would have liked and half an hour faster than Hallus would have preferred.
“He’s the truest Selat of them all,” Hallus said. “Patin will kill you on sight.”
“He won’t.” Shadach resisted the urge to break Hallus’ face against the bar for what he’d done to Aoife. Right now, he needed him. Unfortunately.
“I already smuggled one of you into him today. Why do you think I can do it twice?” Hallus kept glancing at Aoife sitting in the corner. He was probably trying to figure out how she was still alive. Because she’s smarter than you, Shadach thought with fierce affection.
“He’ll be more suspicious now than ever.” Hallus turned his gaze back to Shadach.
“Just get me in front of Patin,” Shadach said.
“I can’t get a Halcin in front of him, even I’m not that good.”
“Then don’t make it known I’m Halcin.”
Hallus hesitated, mulling over this possibility.
Once Shadach was in front of Lord Patin, he might be able to convince him to listen despite Shadach’s Halcin blood.
But if Lord Patin knew he was a Halcin beforehand, it wouldn’t matter what Shadach said.
Lord Patin would never invite him into his home.
“Fine,” Hallus said. “It’s your funeral. I can get a message to Patin and conveniently leave out your bloodline, but that’s all. If he wants to see you, he’ll have to ask you himself.”
“Don’t worry,” Shadach said. “He’ll want to see me.” Shadach went to Aoife. “Would you mind waiting here for a bit?” he said.
She stood. Hesitating. “Aren’t we stealing jewels?”
“I’m getting the jewels. You’re going to stay here where it’s safe.”
“Safe? Here?” Aoife glanced around the room full of Halcin.
“Safer, anyway.”
“Shadach, I’m not leaving you alone to—”
He kissed her, silencing her protests. “You’ve already made this possible.” He held her in his arms. “The rest I have to do alone.”
“Why?” She looked him dead in the eye. Asking for truth.
“If the plan goes badly, I don’t want you there.”
“So it could go badly.”
The pain in her voice nearly melted him. Nearly made him tell the truth about his plan. But he didn’t want her involved, didn’t want her risking her life any more than she already had.
I certainly hope you’re right. Mother’s words pierced his thoughts like an arrow. He only wanted to protect Aoife. It wasn’t about trust. It was about safety. That’s why he wasn’t confiding in her.
We could send a Selat in first. The joke, the laughter, the place that stereotype came from echoed in Shadach’s head. He needed to get this over with. Being in Halcin country was messing with his mind. Aoife wasn’t a Selat. Even if she was, it wouldn’t matter.
He could trust her with his life. This was about safety.
“Plans can always go badly,” he said. “But I will come back to you, no matter what.” With every bit of love in him, he looked at her. “Trust me.”
She bit her lip, seeming to fight between kissing him and demanding more answers.
She went with the former. Her passion was deep, her lust for him truer than anything he’d ever known.
When she finally released him, he kissed her one more time then turned to leave.
Aoife took his hand, and said, “Come back to me.”
He squeezed her hand. “Always.”
Shadach reached for the door.
“Forgetting something Shadach?” Hallus called after him.
“Sorry, Hallus,” Shadach half turned towards him, “I’m not going to kiss you goodbye, too.”
Hallus rolled his eyes as half the room laughed. “Funny. You’re so funny. I meant what am I supposed to tell Lord Patin in this magical message that will make him invite you into his home?”
“Tell him,” Shadach opened the door, “I can give him Grennen.”
~*~
Day 3 - Late Afternoon
Shadach sat alone in the bedroom he and Aoife shared in Hallus’ home. He breathed slowly. In. Out.
Focusing.
He’d never tried something quite this ambitious, but he needed it to work. It had to work. There was no more time for failure. Reaching into the Shadows, Shadach called to the darkness. Forceful. Merciless. The Shadows swarmed him, their thick bodies wriggling and shaking in protest.
“Grennen’s Shadows,” he told them. “I demand Grennen’s Shadows.”
This. This was how he could do the impossible. If he could read Grennen’s Shadows, he could find out how Grennen was stealing from Lord Patin. Such information would be worth an exorbitant amount of money to a man like Lord Patin.
Perhaps even worth his entire collection of jewels.
As Shadach sorted through the Shadows, any that didn’t belong to Grennen fled with unprecedented speed. Those that belonged to Grennen trembled before Shadach, fighting to be released. To be allowed to live.
Shadach held to them tightly, refusing their pitiful pleas.
One by one the Shadows divulged their secrets, shrivelling into nothing once Shadach had seen their darkness.
Grennen’s Shadows were many and they allowed Shadach to piece together the ways Grennen was destroying Lord Patin.
Grennen had been clever. Too bad for him that the Shadows had recorded the truth behind his every lie.
When each Shadow had been read, had been destroyed, Shadach breathed heavily.
Exhausted. He’d never read so many Shadows in one sitting.
His mind hurt. He’d also never held so many secrets at once.
A knock on the door. Hallus.
He held up a small piece of parchment with a hand written invitation from Lord Patin. Flicking it to Shadach, he said, “It’s time for your funeral.”