31. The Long Night
The Long Night
I t was dark within, and eerily silent. The massive, iron-banded doors closed behind us, stifling the noise from the foyer and banquet hall. I glanced over at the librarian’s desk and found it empty. Mistress Aleesha was probably in the hall, enjoying the feast with her family and friends.
Lady Estrid found a candle on the desk and lit it with the accompanying match. The flickering light cast long shadows over our faces and across the floor, like grasping fingers of night.
“Thank you for joining me,” she said.
“I wanted to speak with you, as well,” I replied, inching closer to the paltry warmth the candle offered. A chill had crept into the empty library as the hearths and torches sat unlit. Quickly, I explained our plans to leave the next day.
“Are you certain that’s wise?” she said, pursing her lips. “What with the increase in myrkva attacks and the huathe still on the loose, I would think you’d be safer here in the Citadel.”
“I’m not sure anywhere is safe right now, Lady Estrid. After the attack on our city, it’s looking more and more like my mother was right. There’s a traitor amongst the Jarlum.”
Her brow furrowed. “Which of them do you think it is?”
Truthfully, I didn’t know. My gut told me I couldn’t trust Reynar, but I’d need more evidence than my intuition to support an accusation. “I can’t be sure,” I told her. “But I think I may find answers in the north.” It was the most diplomatic answer I could give.
Lady Estrid smiled, the action looking warped and monstrous in the flickering candlelight. “Very well then, Your Majesty,” she said, her voice low. “I will help in any way I can. This imbalance affects us all. As you said, it is only together we will survive.”
An icy draft suddenly swept between us, guttering the small flame and extinguishing it. We were plunged into crushing darkness. The Shadow bristled at the sudden brush of frozen air and the darkthread tightened along with her. A pang of fear sliced through me.
“Lady Estrid?”
I heard her moving things on the desk, probably searching for another match. “Just a moment, Your Majesty,” she called back, huffing something incoherent under her breath.
Unable to see her, I made to step backward, in case she came around this side of the desk and I was in her way. But the train of my skirt tangled under my feet. I stumbled back, barely keeping my balance.
Asvoria, the Shadow grumbled, sending spikes of her own fear hurtling into my consciousness. Something isn’t ? —
My careening steps halted as my back ran into a solid surface. Hard as stone, but not a wall. No… it was… moving.
“Shall we try this again?” a cruel, icy voice whispered in my ear.
As if jerked from both ends, the darkthread pulled taut.
Vor! the Shadow screamed.
Pure, unyielding terror took over. I whirled away, fumbling blindly in the dark. My shin knocked into a chair and my elbow caught on the edge of a bookcase, sending ripples of sharp pain up my arm.
“Now, now,” that foreign voice said. “Let’s not play that game. It’s bad enough I’m not allowed to kill you, so I’d appreciate if you at least came quietly.”
“Your Majesty!” Lady Estrid called, her voice thick with panic. Glass shattered across Mistress Aleesha’s desk.
My breaths came rapidly as I felt along the bookcase. I can’t see—can’t think.
Release me, the Shadow urged, clawing against my mind.
There was no time to argue. Heavy footfalls approached. If the huathe had returned, he wouldn’t wait until I could see him to strike. And I had no other way to defend myself.
Drawing in a lungful of air, I speared my mind toward that point of agonizing pain in my chest, willing the darkthread to break. It snapped easily under the force of my overwhelming panic. And as the Shadow expanded out from my mind, cloaking me in her essence, my Sight shifted into place.
Though the Shadow’s release strengthened me, it was an effort not to scream at what I saw.
Golden, feathered wings stretched from his back, clearing the width of the aisle as he peered down it.
A hood shrouded his face, but glowing white eyes scorched into me from the darkness surrounding him.
No… the darkness was coming from within him, from the rolling, pulsing sphere of ink-black shadows in the center of his chest.
There was no denying it now. The huathe was just as Corbyn described him. Something in me broke as I realized my mother must have experienced this same terror before she died.
H-he’s come for me, I stammered.
Stay calm, Asvoria, the Shadow urged. She moved our hands to our side, clenching them tightly. “You made a mistake,” she said aloud, our voices echoing ominously in the large room.
“Did I now?” the huathe purred, his voice like oily water slipping over rocks.
He made an odd clicking sound from his throat and tilted his head, looking from side to side.
“Mmm, you’ve got more steel than the last one.
I feel the fight in you. Perhaps I should have taken her instead of slitting her throat and saved myself the headache. ”
Fury, white-hot and unbridled, overtook me. “Don’t you dare speak of her,” we seethed, nails digging painfully into our palms.
There aren’t any bodies nearby, the Shadow said within our shared mind.
No draugr to call upon then. Getting them here from the four shrines at the corners of the city would take time we didn’t have.
Any shades? I questioned frantically. Though the shades we commanded were not as deadly as the draugr , they might buy us a chance to get away and find a weapon. I dimly remembered a display in the upper level near the Retreat that housed a few ancient longswords. It was better than nothing.
In the garden. Not close enough, she replied.
“I’m going to get help!” Lady Estrid suddenly called, still stumbling blindly near Mistress Aleesha’s desk.
We turned toward her, holding out a hand in warning. “No! Wait?—”
The huathe drew a silver blade, wrought in the shape of a serrated feather—the same as the one that slit my mother’s throat. With preternatural speed, he flung it toward the desk and the High Priestess screamed. At the sound, icy shocks of fear rolled over me in waves.
No, no, no. Not again.
The golden-winged man stared toward the desk and let out a chirping growl.
Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, we slipped around the end of the bookcase to the wide entry.
With my Sight, I saw Lady Estrid lying prostrate beside the desk, that wicked blade protruding from her shoulder.
Blood pooled beneath her arm, staining her white gown.
I took a step forward.
Don’t, the Shadow warned. She’s alive. If we try to reach her, the huathe may finish her off.
What do we do?
She simmered with rage. Let’s hope the Talons sensed his arrival.
Don’t you remember what Corbyn said? I asked.
With a deep hiss, she said, Whether or not this creature can control the dragons, they will provide a distraction.
And until then?
She was silent for a long, tense moment. We fight.
The huathe tucked his wings in tight, taking a few, careful steps forward, the High Priestess forgotten.
We peeked around the edge of the bookcase.
Though those glowing eyes burned in our direction, they scanned the width of the aisle, searching.
His gaze landed on us, but he made no move in our direction.
I don’t think he can see us, she said. We have the advantage, for now. Do you feel anything from the prince?
The weight in my stomach jerked, like a fishing line snagged on a rock, tugging at my awareness. This bond between us… I didn’t know if there was a way to communicate through it, but I had to try.
So I felt for it, tried to grasp at it with my mind and will my thoughts to convey to him. Don’t make a scene. Help. Library.
Without any way to know if he’d heard me, I focused back on the end of the long aisle.
“Where are you hiding, little thief?” the huathe growled. “I told you, I’m in no mood for games!”
On the other side of the case, Lady Estrid sobbed quietly. I only hoped the wound wasn’t serious.
Are you ready? the Shadow asked, her inky black essence rolling off our hands.
I didn’t need to answer her—she already knew. Quick as lightning, the tendrils of darkness at my fingers shot forward. They speared down the aisle, piercing the huathe in spots all along his body and feathered wings. With a pained screech, his aura flashed a bright red.
“Bitch!” he roared.
He launched himself forward with one mighty beat of his wings, swooping down the aisle.
I ducked, pressing myself against the stack and covering my head as books flew off the shelves.
My hair whipped around my face and the Shadow’s essence fluttered as the scent of mist and damp earth washed over us.
As he sped past, we got to our feet and hurried in the opposite direction, looking back only when we made it to the end of the aisle. He scanned the walkway in both directions, searching.
Why can’t he see us? I asked, slipping around the corner.
This is a strange creature. Perhaps it is me he cannot see, and I am cloaking you, the Shadow replied. Anything from the dragons?
I grabbed blindly for that bond again, but it was slippery in my mind, like a fish wriggling out of my grasp. Nothing, I answered.
He’s coming back.
Right as she said it, the feathered edge of a golden wing peeked around the stack at the farthest end of the library. I peered over our shoulder, checking that Lady Estrid was still breathing. She was, thankfully, but rage ignited in my bones at seeing her blood spilled upon the floor.
I wouldn’t let anyone else get hurt for my sake.