24. The Stranger
The Stranger
“She will be our lure,” Velo said sharply, addressing the whispering figures that crowded the long, dark table.
“The Shadowkeeper will use the other Scytherax to locate her. If he sees his target right away, we can minimize collateral damage. I want the Hunters and harpooners ready for him whenever he shows his face. Let us take this ‘threat’ and mold it into an opportunity.”
Noec’s eyes widened, and he looked to Heron, as if imploring that he do something.
Velo added, his tone coarser than ever Flora had heard, “We will bleed the Shadowkeeper dry before he comes anywhere near Florabelle. And we will pull her out of sight the moment they come too close.”
Heron’s gaze shifted to Flora, and though her breath shuddered, she nodded.
“Our hope,” Levora added, “is that the Scytherax will be incapacitated without the direction of their keeper. If we can take down their leader tonight, we may be able to eliminate the plague of Night Sky Forest and preserve the safety of our southern villages, and the future safety of Emyre as a whole. This plague must end.”
Velo looked to Aria. “I want Aria’s scythes along the wall and ready to fight.”
“My king…” Aria began. “Only seven of them have completed their twenty-four hours. The rest are still... fighting.”
“And fight they will, if it should come to that.” The king sighed, pausing his thoughtful tapping hand as he glanced out to the crowd, much larger than the last time they convened in this room.
“For now,” he began, “we have Aria’s retractable ‘anchor’ bolts and our harpooners, and despite their wings, the enemy is more likely to fight on the ground where they can hear and feel and smell us. ” Velo lifted his chin to Heron.
Heron nodded, adding, “Noec, you will remain within an observant vicinity. When the Shadowkeeper arrives, he will become your sole target.” Heron sighed. “The catch,” he said, “is that we have no idea what we’re looking for. No one has seen the Keeper in the flesh and lived to tell of it.”
“My prisoner will offer no further information,” Aria said with her arms crossed. “So you will have to keep a watchful eye on the Scytherax to see who stands out among them.”
“I’ll hunt him down,” Noec assured them. “Before he touches a single one of us.”
He was barely twenty-one, and the entire capital of Asilia was putting its safety in his hands. And he just... nodded, as if it were something that made sense.
Aonia kissed Noec on the cheek and said, “Do this. For our people.” Flora felt her face grow hot, only worsening when he nodded in agreement.
The sun was setting beyond the grand window, and there was dread among them as darkness crept through the city.
“Those harpooners better be good,” Noec grumbled as he and Flora made their way down the hall. “Not a single demon better reach you.”
Because Noec was expected to be of use, he had been granted the luxury of normal human clothes. Flora wasn’t so lucky.
“I’m sure the harpooners know what they’re doing,” she said. “You should worry about yourself, Noec.” She opened the door to the courtyard, conscious of his lingering gaze.
“Flora,” he said, his bittersweet smile tinged with concern. “What if I never see you in a dress again?”
Flora slid her hand off the door and inhaled.
Then she stepped closer—close enough to feel his breath warm the cold air.
She lifted a finger, grazing gently near the wound on his cheek.
Noec’s arms slowly enveloped her, his nose resting lightly on her forehead.
She held him as tightly as her lace-bound attire allowed.
He smelled of amber and hearth fire—like safety, like home.
“If you ever catch me in a dress again, it’ll be a hell of a lot cozier than this one. Pockets and all.”
He huffed and nuzzled his nose against her forehead, looking down as the air they shared grew warm. “I’ll stitch it myself if I have to,” he grinned, his fingers pressing deeper into her sides.
“Where’s Davy?” Flora asked as she emerged running down the stairs. “My brother, has anyone seen him?”
Everyone shook their heads.
Elia looked up from where she huddled under a warm fur cloak, unsure. “He’s not in the guest rooms?”
“No. He doesn't know what's going on yet.”
The sky was fading into dusk, and darkness had already swallowed the horizon. Tonight was upon them.
Heron squeezed Elia’s hand one last time as she looked up with a quiet nod.
“I’m sorry, Flora,” he said, “but it's time.” He sighed and shifted his gaze to Flora.
“We need you on the inner wall where they can spot you clearly.” He beckoned, beginning to walk towards a stone archway, where Noec stood with crossed arms at the threshold.
“I’ll make him regret so much as learning your name,” he said as he watched her pass through. Noec grabbed her before she could continue on and pulled her forehead against his. “I’ll make him regret everything.”
She breathed him in for just another moment before breaking away, his green eyes blued by the starlit sky. It was night, and she could feel the shadow of the Forest creeping toward the city.
Flora was led to the tall inner wall, which surrounded the central square and castle.
Upon it were archers, massive harpoons, and lines of a smaller, bolt-like mechanism of Aria’s design.
Per Aria, it was made to impale the scythes, then expand and drag them down to the ground where they could be dispatched by the king’s infantry.
The plan, as Flora was told, was for the closest tower bell to be rung as soon as the Shadowkeeper was spotted.
Then, Noec as well as the others would shift their focus entirely onto him.
Beyond, Flora could see similar constructs along the outer wall, where six human-hybrid polychromes were perched, marked with a blood-red belted harness to further distinguish them from any invaders. Six, she thought, scanning anxiously for the seventh.
Scouts had returned from the countryside, and their worst fears were confirmed. Scythes were approaching in legions, the likes of which this kingdom had never seen before.
Flora seethed, pulling her thick hair back and tying it tight. Her hands trembled, but not because of the chill of the night. She clenched them into tight fists at her side. She didn’t dare let fear take her now.
The uniformed masses along the walls stood waiting, waiting in a silence so loud that it thudded in Flora’s ears with each beat of her heart. Silently, they waited in the thinly clouded starlight, gazing at the black horizon under the void of the new moon.
They listened as a low rumbling grew closer, like a storm rolling in from the sea.
In the shadow of darkness, it was difficult to see.
Though, Flora thought she saw a glint of starlight catching on a fluttering wing.
There was one, then two, then more and more.
As they drew closer, she was sure she saw the ghastly glow of countless white eyes.
She couldn’t breathe. The Shadowkeeper did not come for a single assassination, but for a full-scale invasion.
They began to hear trouble along the outer wall. There was snarling, and a crashing of stone against metal. Voices rose up into the night, calling out orders over the clattering of harpoon machinery.
“They’re here,” Aria said, leaning against the doorway of a stone barracks. She twirled an empty syringe between her fingers. “Now,” she said, the torches reflecting fire in her glasses, “we wait for them to come to us.”
The sound of chaos along the outer wall only grew louder, closer. Panicked voices rose in waves, and each startling screech and scream became sharper in Flora’s ears.
And then, there was a girl Flora recognized—the sickly woman her age who had volunteered soon after Davy. She sprinted breathlessly along the inner wall towards the stone shelter, her scrawny legs moving with a speed that would have been impossible for her just a day before.
“I don’t want to fight!” she cried. “All I wanted was to live!”
Her words stung in Flora’s ears. The girl ran towards them, her body bruised and her face streaked with tears. Her eyes widened as she met Flora’s, pleading.
And just as she came clearly into view, a demon lurched from the shadows below and pinned her to the ground.
From beneath steel talons, her broken scream rattled the air, and Flora saw the glisten of her eyes as she glanced in her direction.
Her trembled words were like a knife to Flora’s chest as she begged, “Please! I just wanted to live!”
Flora could only watch in horror as the scythe bit down, its white teeth stained red as her cries went silent.
“No,” Flora gasped. The creature lifted its head, tracking the sound of Flora’s voice. The glow in his white eyes intensified upon her.
He can see me, she thought.
And then, rather than charging at Flora, the dark demon stepped back. Sharply, it looked out, seemingly with purpose, and Flora followed its gaze down to the uncertain shapes fluttering through the night. A spark of fire and ash caught her attention from a rooftop below.
From it, slicing through the darkness like a raven in the night, came another, much larger scythe.
The scythe was massive, even compared to the size of Noec’s form.
It came upon them with a swiftness and a force so fierce that the wall seemed like it might crumble as it crashed upon the surface just between Flora and where the young girl lay lifeless.
Its swelling muscles glistened with starlit silver filigree, its claws piercing the stone as though it were no more than dirt between its talons.
Its low-rumbling jaw exuded an unnatural power between its barred teeth.
“Flora... belle..." it said, prowling forward. Flora fired her weapon, but it did nothing. Arrows flew through the air, the creature barely flinching at the thorns in its side.
The bell rang.
“Ready!”