Chapter 6
six
Dismayed at Vade’s answer, she froze.
“Stay here.” He started for Gurn’s house, and despite what he’d just said, she grabbed his sword arm.
“You can’t kill him!”
He shook out of her hold. “I said stay here.”
“Why are you doing this?” Panic shook her voice.
“His name appeared on the stone,” Vade said matter-of-factly. “Now, keep quiet and don’t leave this spot, unless you want to find out what my blade tastes like too.”
“I won’t let you do this!” She yelled to warn Gurn, but a black tendril of darkness coiled around her head and covered her mouth.
Orelia tried to yank the tendril off her face, finding it cool and firm like flesh. The lifelike feel of it made her stomach churn. She kept pulling, but the shadow wouldn’t budge.
Unbothered, Vade entered the field of swaying pampas grasses that were almost as tall as he was.
Even though she couldn’t talk, Orelia ran after him, not caring that the grasses cut like weapons themselves. The blades sliced at her sleeves, snagging on the wool, but she wouldn’t let him hurt Gurn.
When she rushed up on Vade crouched in the thick of the field, he turned and flicked two fingers at her. More shadows wrapped around her ankles, and she fell flat on her face.
Orelia blinked repeatedly while the shocking sting of slamming into the ground faded.
She tried to stand, but her ankles were bound so tightly that it took several tries without falling over, and by the time she managed, Vade was long gone.
The bindings wouldn’t allow her to walk, and she could barely see over the thick, feathery plumes.
Orelia screamed, but her noises were non-existent, the shadows concealing her desperate sounds. Tears welled as she helplessly watched a sliver of darkness slink around the side of the house, skirting along the wooden siding.
The humble farmer was oblivious as he poured more feed into the troughs, his flock gathered around him.
Gurn, who never bothered anyone.
Gurn, who lent her a shovel to plant her plumrose bushes.
Gurn, who fell into despair after the death of his wife but let Orelia bring him strawberry scones when she could afford to make them.
The farmer didn’t hear the danger creeping closer as the fae slipped up behind him and ran his greatsword through his back. When Vade yanked his bloody blade free, Gurn slumped out of view.
Orelia fell to her knees and sobbed. The grasses closed in around her, clawing at her shoulders, shrouding her with their density.
Her kind, widowed neighbor was far undeserving of the fate life had just dealt him. Not life, she thought. Death. Death in the form of the monster she was bound to, whose shadows kept their hold. Tears slid down her cheeks and disappeared into the tendril latched around her face.
Vade returned, face placid like he hadn’t just ended the life of a man he didn’t even know. He squatted in front of her, and Orelia whimpered when he held up the tip of Gurn’s bloody finger. He pulled out the tracking stone, then freed a paring knife from a pocket in the chest of his leathers.
After a prick of the pad of his pinky finger, Vade pressed it on the middle of the stone. The top retracted and he placed Gurn’s finger inside. The thin layer of obsidian slid back, and when the stone was whole again, white light pulsed within. Seidr light.
Orelia shuddered, unable to do anything more. She thought perhaps he had stolen a blade from a sorcerer, but somehow he was able to conjure the illegal light, though she didn’t know how. Sorcerers were a race of their own, and Vade was a fae.
He put away the knife, and the shadows released.
Suddenly free, Orelia jumped up and quickly put some distance between them. “Sorcerer!”
Not only was he a monster, but he was the worst kind. Sorcerers nearly destroyed the entire continent during The White War a hundred years ago.
“I’m not a sorcerer, but one did make this stone for me.” Vade pointed at his back, grinning. “He made these beautiful weapons, too.”
“Does King Aradonis know you use illegal weapons?”
He tossed her a knowing look.
She scoffed. She’d thought Aradonis to be a good, morally sound king, according to tavern gossip. Apparently not.
“Why in the hells did you do that?” she asked, her words scathing. “Gurn didn’t do anything to you!”
Vade rose and dusted off his hands. “I told you. I’m an executioner. It’s what I do.”
She threw her arms up. “You owe me more of an explanation than that!”
He sighed like her questions were unnecessary. “When Aradonis needs someone disposed of, I do the disposing. A sorcerer made the tracking stone, and the light is confirmation that the person who the finger belonged to is indeed the person whose name was sent to me.”
White light pulsed inside again, fading as the face retracted oncemore. Vade plucked out five large gold coins, put them in the purse attached to his belt, and grinned. “That’s my favorite part.”
She’d only ever seen silver coins but knew a gold piece of the same size was worth twice as much. But the size of the coins he earned . . .she couldn’t begin to fathom how much they were worth. “You must be—”
“Filthy fucking rich?” His grin widened. “I am.” Vade put the obsidian in his pocket and headed back toward the tree line, shoulders back and chin high. The asshole was proud.
Orelia begrudgingly trailed after him, sneering at the greatsword. “So, you’re just going to keep killing people while we’re traveling?”
“Now you’re catching on,” he said over his shoulder. When they made it back, Vade grabbed his pack and slung it over his shoulders. He pulled a daydial from his other pocket, lifted the gnomon out of the middle, and faced north.
Orelia had a similar dial with the head of a dragon marking the symbol of Nivinia—the most bountiful type of daydial available for purchase. Vade’s had the head of a horse. Kevarian. Her imagination thought of plenty unsettling ideas as to how he’d obtained one.
He looked at where the line of shadow cast from the gnomon landed on the circular time teller. “We won’t make it to Dallton before nightfall, so we’ll walk for a few marks, then make camp.”
“I’m not sharing a fire with you tonight, you murderer!” Orelia stormed off, not knowing where she was headed, but needing to get as far away from him as the binding spell would allow.
He grabbed her arm and spun her around. “You can choose to follow quietly, or I can have my shadows drag you the entire way. Take your pick.”
She yanked her arm free. “You disgust me.”
“You’ll get over it. Besides, it’s not like you have to worry about me killing you. I can’t, remember? No matter how much I’d like to.” His lips curled in warning.
“You’re a monster.”
He took a step closer. “And you’re a little lamb who has no idea how cruel the world actually is. The people I kill, I kill for a reason. They are people who deserve to die, so save your sympathies for someone who deserves them.”
“How can you be sure they’re bad people? You don’t know them. That man you killed would never hurt anyone. How do you know you aren’t just given a name and taking away an innocent life?”
He snorted. “Innocence is for children and virgins. Aradonis has his reasons, and that’s good enough for me. You can make this journey a whole lot easier on yourself by doing as I say and keeping your mouth shut, or I can permanently attach my shadows to your face.”
Orelia gave him her best you-sicken-me look, but he didn’t seem to care. The sooner they reached Dorsey and reversed the spell, the sooner she could be rid of the soulless man in front of her.
They didn’t speak as they walked through the woods. An entire mark passed before she stopped focusing on the killer leading the way and let her revulsion turn into something else.
“You’re good at finding the light even in dark places,” Teegan had once told her.
Orelia tried to look at the positives of their situation.
She had lived in Minro all her life, and now she had her first real chance at seeing more of Nivinia.
Though she didn’t have much money, she was with someone who did, and she knew enough about the world to know money could not only make the trip a lot more comfortable, but it could also sway anyone if they got into a sticky situation.
Vade may be foul company but seeing how deftly he wielded his sword, there was no doubt that he was capable of keeping them both safe. She had a protector, even if he hated the responsibility and she detested what he did for a living.
Knowing she would be able to safely explore had her steps turning softer and more eager. When they came to the northern edge of the forest a half mark later, Orelia stopped and looked out at the world shining in shades of gold in the late afternoon sun.
Rolling hills, rivers in the distance, and clusters of trees brought a massive smile to her face, so big her cheeks hurt.
She took a deep breath and inhaled the perfumed spring air, reveling in the new sight.
The Wooded Road wove through the riverlands, waiting for her to follow its dirt trail that would take them all the way to Dorsey.
Orelia had always wanted to see the world, and here she was, standing at the beginning of it.