A Guardian of Shadows (Revenant Wyrd Book 4) (20 page)

But the Norns vanished, and when they did a new shadow emerged, on the back of the Pale Horse, riding out from behind the tree. With its coming, they felt the loss of everything they had ever held dear.

Tears flowed down Jovian's face, and he couldn't explain even to himself the sense of dread, the fear of loss that came over him at that moment, but it felt as though everything had changed in this one night. Nothing was ever going to be the same, that he already knew, but now he knew there was never going to be any hope of returning to the life he had once known.

The black-cloaked figure drew its black shin-buto and rode toward them.

Jovian came awake in his bed, gasping for air, with tears still flowing from his eyes. It took him several moments to calm the sobs that followed him out of the nightmare.

Over the next few days they saw Joya less and less. More and more Angelica felt the need to leave. After their shared dream of the well Angelica had felt a consuming need to be free of this realm and on their way home. The darkness was weighing in on her, and she felt at any moment she might scream. Angelica didn't know how these people did it day in and day out, but maybe it was because they were used to it.

And there's no escape, because all of the other realms think they are vile and evil.
If there were any of the races Angelica wouldn't trust, it would be the frement, but only because of their past uprising. She figured it was possible they truly were trying to acclimate into society in some way — Calnaron made her feel at ease enough — but as long as her sister was the Realm Guardian, she wouldn't feel comfortable with the cat-people.

She could tell Joya was ready to be on their way also. Angelica could see it in the slump of her sister's shoulders when she passed them in the halls. Joya also felt the pressing need to be home, and to tend to things there.

Maybe the overwhelming need to be home was nothing more than the amount of time they had spent away from the plantation, but Angelica thought it felt like more than that.

Uthia started showing her face more then too, and she told them how she had slipped away to see her sister dryads of the Haunted Forest. They could tell from the way she spoke that the dryads here were nearly as alien to her as the humans were to them.

Finally, nearly a week after the dreams, Joya was able to sit down with them for dinner. Uthia didn't eat with them, but she sat with them all the same.

“We’ll be leaving tomorrow,” Joya told them. “I've arranged everything, and while people aren't happy about it, I have someone who will take over for me until I can return.”

“Can you trust them?” Angelica asked.

“They won't cross me. Besides, I have to take a telfetch with me, and this gem.” She held up a length of emerald. “Apparently it’s connected to one in the council hall, and it will allow me audience with them if there is an emergency that requires my attention.”

“We need to hurry,” Jovian said, pushing his plate aside untouched.

Angelica had lost her appetite as well, and for the last few minutes had only been pushing her food around with her fork.

“I feel that too,” Joya said.

“Is everything alright?” Uthia asked.

“I don't know,” Angelica said. “I just have this feeling of dread. I can't explain it.”

Joya and Jovian nodded.

“Something isn't right,” Joya agreed.

“Then we should arrange horses,” Uthia said. “We are about two weeks from the border on foot; if we have mounts we can almost cut that time in half.”

“We have been granted an escort of ooslebed,” Joya said. “I would travel with the frement, but they haven't been on good standing with everyone for as long as the dark elves.”

“We travel on back of the hecklin?” Jovian asked. Angelica's stomach churned at the thought.

Joya nodded.

“Then the time might be even less.” Uthia sat forward. “What time do we leave?”

“As early as we can. You should all pack tonight.”

“Once we are in the Holy Realm, you can make us travel faster,” Uthia said.

“How?” Joya asked.

“By your wyrd. Some people are able to make their traveling speed faster — you should try it.”

Joya nodded. “The feeling that we need to get home is great. We will do that.”

Despite Joya's words, one frement accompanied them. He was almost completely black, with the exception of his white hands. Angelica expected to see paws, but his hands looked human enough, to her slight dismay. His name was Caldamron, and Angelica realized the clan name went at the front of their actual names. He told them they could call him Damron. Angelica had thought he would prefer Caldamron, since it was his actual full name.

For all the negativity surrounding the hecklin, the ones they mounted acted like nothing more than playful dogs. Angelica had expected a hassle trying to mount them, and maybe the potential loss of a leg. But when she approached, the hecklin lay down on the ground, allowing her to easily mount it before it shuffled to its feet in a rocking way that made Angelica feel uneasy.

She had only ever seen the hecklin running on two legs, so riding it while it ran on all fours was strange.

Caldamron did have some trouble mounting the hecklin, and Angelica amused herself with thoughts of a cat and dog fighting. The dark elves didn't seem inclined to help him as much as they had the humans in their company, but with a word the hecklin calmed down and Caldamron was able to mount, though he looked like he would much prefer to ride in his machines, judging by the way he kept glancing back at the metallic wagons of his people.

As they started out that day, Angelica wondered how Caldamron would work with the group. She could see years of animosity between the dark elves and the frement, and she wasn't sure they would be nice to him. But as they continued the dark elves treated him fairly, if not warmly.

The dark elves were as allegiant to the Realm Guardian as the humans were, and if Joya told them they had to accept the frement, they would, even if they didn't like it. That didn't mean they wouldn't wait for an opportune time to attack if the frement showed any signs of hostility, as the dark elves seemed to think the cat-people would do at any moment.

Angelica was surprised by how much the hecklin worked like an actual horse, and when she nudged the beast toward Caldamron, it obeyed.

“You worry about your sister,” Caldamron said as Angelica joined him in the procession. She could barely see his fur in the surrounding dark. If it wasn’t for the shining chainmail he wore, Angelic might not see him at all.

She looked back at the numerous dark elves and the band of Spire Guards that had joined them before they left the Spire of Night.

“Not at the present time,” she told him.

“But you must worry about what will happen to her once she comes to rest at the spire permanently,” he continued. “You must wonder if she will go the way Beatrice Forester did.”

He had a deep, soothing voice as well. Angelica was aware that everyone was giving them a wide berth, and she wasn't sure if that was because she was from the Holy Realm, or if it was because of the company she kept. She didn't think the ooslebed would avoid her just because of her lineage. They had seemed to pronounce her as one of the LaFaye before one from the Holy Realm.

“The thought has crossed my mind,” Angelica told him. “But my sister is a very strong woman. I can't imagine anyone being able to pull that kind of treachery over on her.”

“Beatrice was a strong woman too.”

“So we are going to talk about the uprising?” Angelica wondered.

“If you wish.”

“You seem eager to turn conversation that way.”

“Only to assure you that your sister isn't the only one looking out for herself now. The rebels were put down — we swear allegiance to the Realm Guardian,” Caldamron told her.

“As long as your agreements are kept,” Angelica said.

Caldamron nodded.

“I find that words aren't as powerful as actions. You say she is safe, but only time will tell.”

“She is half angel. Even if I couldn't smell it on her blood, the name gives it away.”

“Which has meaning?” Angelica asked.

“Which means she is more powerful and more righteous than the Guardian before her was.”

Righteous wasn't a word Angelica had ever heard associated with Joya.

“Besides, killing Delion wasn't enough to show we desire peace?” Caldamron asked.

Angelica shrugged. “I don't believe there's anything to fear from you.”

“Or you would be avoiding me like everyone else is?” he asked.

“Pretty much,” Angelica said.

He laughed, a deep throaty laugh.

The rest of the day passed with idle chatter, Angelica getting to know Caldamron and his race, and him getting to know about the Holy Realm.

“Since I intend on protecting the Realm Guardian until she returns to her seat of power, I should know what to expect,” he had told her.

Angelica in turn had learned about the machines, and the advancement of what they referred to as technology. All of their machines were powered by what he called steam engines. These engines worked by heating water with coal mined in the Shadow Realm.

While they were a nomadic race, they did have sacred sites. Their sacred sites just happened to be the lands the humans had been trying to encroach on, and that’s what had caused the uprising. But now, with the treaty Joya signed into law, they were protected.

They also had a central city called Taranis, and it was the seat of the council, a more permanent establishment for those who didn't wish to travel, and where all of their engineering was done. Angelica couldn't even imagine the size of the place, or the wonder of it. From what he said, it was filled with many trains, mechanical wagons that he called trekkers, and other marvels she couldn't even picture.

“What I don't understand,” Jovian said, having joined them some time ago. “How did the frement come to be?”

“What do you mean?” Caldamron asked.

“Well, were you around before the Splitting of the World?” Jovian asked.

“Of course we were. Back then we didn't wear this form,” Caldamron said. He looked into the distance, riding the hecklin now with ease. The beast no longer protested his rider. “It was a time before I was born, the Splitting of the World, but I’ve heard stories since I was just a kit. Much of this is legend passed down, I'm not sure how much of it is actually real, but I was told that our new shape came when the shadows came.

“Legend says the cloak of shadows came with a boom that sounded as thunder. From the sky, in a dome over the northern half of the realm, a darkness bloomed, blotting out the sky, and when the night fell in true darkness, the Shadow Realm was born. Never again would we see the light of day.

“A curse fell over the realm then, or people say. I tend to believe them, because before it happened, we were gypsies, nomadic people that traversed the land. Taranis is in the north of the realm, nearly in the Realm of Earth, and that was, and remains, our only home. But when the night fell, we were changed in more ways than the simple stigmata most people were branded with.”

“But why your people?” Angelica wondered.

“Before the shadow came, we were of two shapes. We could change into cats,” he told them.