2. Veil of Shadow
Veil of Shadow
T he storm overtook us by the time Kjarra came into my sight.
Icy cold seeped into my fingers through the supple leather of my gloves, and my hands ached where they gripped the reins.
Enormous white flakes hurtled from the sky at an alarming rate.
They coated the ground in a thick blanket.
Our horses pushed through the mounting drifts, scattering snow to either side of our party.
The rest of the court would have to stop in Djerholm for the night. Their carriages would never make it on the roads as they were now, and it was safer for them to wait until the light of day.
Although the snow softened the pounding of hooves, it could not mask the way Yorik’s sides heaved with his labored breath.
We’d ridden hard to try and outrun the storm, and I knew all the animals were struggling.
But we didn’t have a choice. Not with the arrival of the AEldinians looming with the dawn, nor the promise of death waiting in the dark.
Torches flickered upon the battlements, guiding our way back across the gently rolling plains surrounding Kjarra. Though we’d hoped to make it before sundown, the blizzard made it impossible.
We rode as closely as we could manage, the riders around the edges holding lighted pikes. Howling wind tore at the flames, threatening to extinguish them with every gust. Snow stung my forehead and cheeks. I glanced over at Lenn where he rode to my left, barely visible under his mountain of furs.
Almost home. Almost safe.
My stallion let loose a rattling snort, stumbling in his frantic pace and sending me lurching over the saddle pommel with a disgruntled shout. But I managed to hold on by gripping my thighs against his sides and hauling my weight backwards. As I straightened up, horror overtook me.
The horse straight ahead was missing its rider.
“Lenn!” My voice tore from my throat in a raw scream.
I prayed he heard me. The wind only grew louder, drowning out everything else. It took a moment for me to realize it wasn’t just the wind assaulting my ears anymore.
Screaming. Horrible, blood-curdling screams rent the night air.
The myrkva… They’re here, the Shadow seethed, bristling as the ragged screams grew louder.
Lenn seemed to realize it at the same moment. He angled his horse closer to mine, drawing a crossbow from the leather straps banded around his hulking thighs.
“To the queen!” he bellowed, alerting the others to the imminent danger.
Behind us, the Jarlum’s guards closed ranks around their charges, Lukas somewhere amongst them.
Our grouping tightened as much as it could, but the dread in my heart didn’t go away.
Out here was nothing but open farmland. We were exposed.
And once again, the Talon meant to protect the queen was not fulfilling his duty.
That bastard!
Perhaps if Corbyn had been here. Perhaps if we’d had more riders, or more torches for the pikes. Perhaps if I’d gotten out of my own damn head earlier and allowed everyone to leave, or if the blizzard hadn’t overtaken us so quickly, ushering in the dark earlier than it should have.
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…
Maybe then I wouldn’t have had to listen to a man screeching in terror as he was pulled from his horse or hear the rush of his blood as it sizzled against the snow.
The myrkva descended on us from every side, sending the horses scattering. Blood sprayed across the ground in front of me, along with a dark, shapeless mound. I gripped the reins tightly as Yorik vaulted over the body. Bile rose unbidden to my throat.
A flash of yellow eyes streaked ahead; a feral gaze shrouded in a dark fog.
To my right, another creature snaked past me and swept over a rider, enveloping her in darkness as she screamed.
Jagged claws raked across her throat, silencing her and wrenching her free of the saddle.
Her horse veered off its course and cut in front of us in its frenzied attempt to escape the swirling dark.
To his credit, my stallion only surged forward with greater urgency, a testament to the care Lenn had taken in training him.
We were nearly to the outer wall—safety was within our grasp.
I couldn’t afford to look back now. My breath quickened to match the pounding of my heart.
A slight tug pulled in my chest. Then came an unwelcome knocking in the back of my mind.
Asvoria…
Another myrkva , the edges of its form blurred in shadow, skittered to my left, rearing up in front of Lenn.
He aimed his crossbow between its yellow eyes and pulled the trigger.
The creature let loose a primal scream and dissipated into snaking tendrils of mist, allowing me a moment to catch my breath.
But it was short lived, as the creature quickly reformed, and another rider met it head on. The glow from the lit pike in the rider’s hand illuminated his features, casting shadows all around him. Where did the darkness end and the creatures begin?
Yet another set of fire-bright eyes appeared, floating up in the shadow of the rider’s horse.
The animal let loose a bray and darted out of my sight.
How many had already fallen? How many more would fall before we reached the gates?
Were any of the Jarlum still alive? I couldn’t be sure.
Between the screams and the blinding snow, I could hardly gain my bearings, let alone take stock of those still breathing.
Release me, the Shadow said, growling like a caged beast.
I growled right back at her. No, I can’t. I don’t know what to do!
There was the buzzing again, like a thousand bees swarming all around me. The edges of my vision began to turn black. My hands ached, fingers twitching violently. That invisible tether—the darkthread—pulled taut, straining against the force of my terror. It was about to break at any moment.
Release me! she insisted.
I let out a low shout, drawing Lenn’s wide-eyed stare in my direction.
The buzzing in my ears swelled into a deafening roar.
I could make out the gates of Kjarra another hundred yards away.
There was no time. It was not only my guards accompanying us, but the Jarlum’s as well.
People were dying… Lenn could die... Lukas could die.
I’m not ready. We are not ready.
You may not be, Asvoria, the Shadow spat, but I was made for this. Watch and learn.
Snap .
The darkthread broke in two. In an instant, I was covered by the Shadow, the edges of my body bleeding into an inky blackness without end.
Pressure filled my chest like I was drowning, yet air flowed freely through my lungs.
The world around me sprang into light, illuminated by unnatural Sight.
I saw them all clearly now, at least twenty myrkva roiling in the shadows around the Western Gates of the city.
One of the creatures swelled before me, eyes burning like coals and mouth opened wide.
Needle-sharp teeth glistened black, aiming for whatever flesh they could sink into.
Its body constantly shifted form. One moment, a man, then a wolf.
Then it shifted again into a formless mass of twisting darkness.
“Enough, foul creature.” The voice that spoke was not my own. Rather, a combination of mine and the one that only recently began to dwell in my head.
I extended my arm—or did the Shadow do it for me?
My fingers bent at unnatural angles, tendrils of white light floating away from them.
The light cast an eerie glow, pulsating softly.
Beyond my own will, the tendrils lurched towards the creature.
They penetrated the black veil and split the abomination apart, snaking through the darkness like bolts of lightning.
The myrkva was gone in the blink of an eye.
And for now, the light surrounding us kept the creatures at bay.
I chanced a look around, trying to count the number of riders pressed into a tight circle to fit within the pool of light.
I hoped all four of the Jarlum were amongst them.
We would have to count our losses within the safety of Kjarra’s walls.
My stomach clenched painfully at the thought of Lukas. If he had fallen to the myrkva …
“Do you see now?” the Shadow asked aloud. I shuddered at the loss of control over my own voice. Was this how it had been for my mother? She’d never described anything like it. After a moment, the Shadow relaxed slightly, settling into a state of assured strength.
My gaze shifted to my hands, seeing how they glowed a bright white.
But underneath that light were inky shadows, roiling all around like water flowing across my skin.
I looked over at Lenn, still right by my side.
He kept glancing in my direction, but there wasn’t time to stop and worry over one another.
The creatures kept up with us, snaking through the air while taking care to stay beyond the cast of light coming from my body.
It was the only thing keeping us safe now.
Shouts from the battlements rang through the air. The massive wooden gates slowly swung outward, creaking on their enormous iron hinges. A flurry of movement and the swelling light of torches accompanied the opening. Another few moments, and we’d be protected behind the fires of Kjarra…
A torrent of wind gusted against me, my concentration faltering as snow stung my eyes. The Shadow drew in a gasp, and the stable light emanating from within stuttered for the briefest moment.
But that was all it took.
The darkthread began to knit back together. A screech tore from my throat, darkness rushing toward my chest from every point of my body. As the last of the Shadow was sucked back in, the scream halted. I gasped at the sudden release of the pressure and doubled over.
More wind rushed over us in a flat push of air, accompanied by a snow drift strong enough to throw the horses off balance.
Vaguely, I heard Lenn screaming something incoherent.
Was he calling my name? My eyes searched the swirling blanket of white fruitlessly.
All I could see were hazy shadows and glowing eyes descending from everywhere.
The world tilted underneath me. I registered that I was falling, though I could no longer tell what was sky and what was ground. The entire world was a muted white, snow swirling in every direction. My shoulder connected with the frozen ground. Snow swallowed me up, blanketing me in icy cold.
Asvoria… A weak call, echoing as though from a great distance.
Then a piercing roar shook the earth. A gust of scorched air accompanied by the flapping of leathery wings passed overhead, thawing the snow and bathing me in intense orange light.
I squinted my eyes against the sudden brightness and tried to roll to my feet.
My shoulder ached where it had smashed into the ground.
With a grunt of pain, I managed to push up onto my knees.
At the sight before me, my stomach lurched.
Red scales glimmered against the snow, the ground burning where Corbyn released his flame.
I watched through bleary eyes as the shadows that had accosted us scampered away from the heat and the light.
Pairs of yellow eyes split off from one another, retreating from the dragon descending on them.
Corbyn loosed another jet of fire from his jaws, driving the creatures back into the night and away from the city.
His talons dragged through the snow as he swiped at the retreating shadows, flying low to the ground.
As quickly as they’d come, the myrkva were gone again.
Torchlight would keep them at bay. But dragonfire always sent the creatures running.
The ruby dragon trumpeted after them, blasting one more jet of flame for good measure before angling his wings and turning back to the city.
His tail swished through the blanket of snow, clearing a path to the gates.
I could just make out the silhouettes of the other riders in our company, some of them still mounted, others limping after their horses or toward their companions.
A few of them crawled across the scorched earth.
I blinked away the blurriness in my eyes as a hazy shape began to take form.
Lenn was barreling across the field toward me, bursting through a waist-high drift as though it was a pile of dead leaves.
His beard and long, wavy hair were caked in ice and snow, as were his voluminous furs, though they seemed not to slow him down in the slightest.
“Vor!” he bellowed, dropping to his knees once he reached me. One hand on my back and the other beneath my arm, he hauled me into his chest, scooping me up like a baby.
The world was spinning again, pulling my eyes in every direction.
Another form, this one blurry as well, appeared beside us.
Was it Lukas? My head was pounding. I squeezed my eyes closed against the pain.
Warm blood snaked its way down the side of my face, a metallic tang filling my nostrils, and the Shadow fluttered like a candle against a breeze.
Lenn began to run once more, hefting my weight along with his through knee-deep snow. “Make way!” he cried out.
We were surrounded by the shouting of commands and the clamor of soldiers moving to follow them. I cracked open an eye enough to see the gates pass overhead, and I knew we were finally safe within the walls.
Are we? the Shadow questioned quietly.
I sniffled, willing her away. There wasn’t a satisfactory answer to her question, and right now, I wanted to rest from our ordeal. My eyes stayed open long enough to glimpse a beastly shadow flying over the parapets, red scales flashing in the firelight.