A Shadow's Tale (16 page)

‘What happened?' he asked groggily. ‘It feels like I've got a heavy metal band playing in my head…'

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling. ‘You had a close run in with your demonic side. We were worried that you would not pull through as you are.' To his credit, Bart didn't ask any questions. I wasn't sure I would be able to answer them. What he had just gone through was the rough equivalent of what nearly every born part demon went through between the ages of three and five. We discovered our demonic sides, and one side would be chosen, usually because of the strength required to subdue the other side of our personalities. Bart hadn't been expecting his. It was pure luck that he came through still thinking as a human and not as a demon. For all we knew, Bart could had been overwhelmed by his demonic side. We had taken a big risk with what we had done, but the important part was that it had worked. Bart pulled his watch from his pocket, staring at it for a moment.

‘We should probably be going. I don't want to have to explain this to anyone,' he reasoned. I glanced at Vrael, who nodded slightly. Getting to his feet, the vampire then helped me to stand, once more helping to support me. With Bart at our sides, we walked back towards the forest, to the mountain where the Kraferr necklace was hidden.

We walked for a few miles before Vrael suggested we break for a rest. While he was perfectly capable of continuing, the look he cast me said it all: he was worried about the physical state Bart and I were in. Grudgingly, I realised I had to agree with him. There was no point in getting there if we keeled over from pain and exhaustion so close to the end of the mission. A few hours
would make very little difference. Bart looked as if he was desperate to continue, but he couldn't go against Vrael's words, not when he saw Vrael's expression, in any case. There was no way any intelligent being would contradict a grouchy vampire who had made up his mind. I was secretly glad. My leg pained me a great deal, but I didn't want either Bart or Vrael to attempt to heal it. They needed their energy to continue on the quest. I sat myself on a fallen tree trunk. The forest was quiet, a silence only broken by a distant river's thunder. I rubbed my temples. Dawn had come over the land not all that long ago, shining through the canopy of leaves to create a forest floor dappled with light. Vrael morphed into his animal form of a panther before he disappeared into the trees. I leant my head back, glaring at the sky. I didn't want to be stopped for any longer than was strictly necessary. The prophecy loomed over my head like an ominous black cloud that didn't hold a storm but a hurricane. A month. That's all I had left. Just a month. My fingers strayed down to the wound, to determine the extent of the damage Sither had managed to cause. I pressed lightly on the bone in my shin. Pain shot through the entire limb. I couldn't help but wince. The damned Praying Mantis had certainly managed to cause a lot of damage. I felt concern radiating from Bart once more. Glancing up, I saw him watching me with worry on his face.

‘Look, Shad, if Vrael didn't heal that, I'm guessing I shouldn't try either. So please, please try not to worsen it?'

I twisted my mouth into a half smile. ‘You don't have to worry. The injury is minimal. It's what I believe the humans refer to as a ‘flesh wound'.' Who was I trying to kid? Demons, and by extension, half-demons, could normally see through lies if they were looking for them. It wasn't a difficult thing to do. Bart locked gazes with me before he spoke quietly.

‘If I said I believed that, I'd be lying, Shad.'

I closed my eyes and bowed my head. I thought so. I could feel him glaring at me still. He was annoyed that I was trying to
hide things from him. I turned my own glare at him out of the corner of my eye.

‘You have your things to worry about. I have mine. It would be wise for you to remember that,' I growled, getting back to my feet. Knowing that my leg wouldn't hold me, I summoned my magic. Hovering above the ground I willed myself forwards. I passed Vrael slinking back towards our temporary encampment, a few rabbits in his mouth. He nodded his head once to me, his conscious brushing against mine long enough to express his concern that I keep myself safe. I inclined my head slightly, acknowledging his thoughts.

I hovered a little further into the forest before sitting down with my back against a tree trunk. Leaning my head against the bark, I closed my eyes. A month. It seemed so short. I felt tears beginning to gather, but I wiped them away angrily before they could spill over. Now was not the time to get emotional. I had to stay in control. Tendrils of someone else's thoughts gently probed mine. I lowered my barriers slightly, allowing the familiar feel of Vrael's consciousness wrap around mine in a gentle embrace.

Shadow? Are you okay?

Yeah, just…you know…prophecy getting to me again. It's…

I understand. Please return to camp, I worry about your safety
.

Sighing quietly to myself, I got to my feet, grimacing as pain shot through my leg and chest. I glanced around. I couldn't afford to keep using magic to move around. It was too exhausting and I needed my energy. I had to find something. I picked up a broken branch, about as thick as my wrist and a little longer than I was tall. Stripping the off shots and leaves from it, I planted it firmly against on the ground, testing it. It held under my weight. It would serve as a staff for a while, hopefully until I got home. Using the staff to share the weight on my injured leg, I began to make my way towards the others.

Back at camp, Vrael and Bart were quietly eating the rabbits the vampire had caught, sitting around a small fire. Well, Bart
was eating it. Vrael was sucking the blood out of his. Without a word, he tossed me the last of the three creatures. The smell of it turned my stomach. I felt ill. I ate a few mouthfuls for appearance, then set it aside. There were creatures in the forest who would be glad to eat it for me. Instead, I sat back against a tree. Vrael coughed politely. I glanced at him. He tapped his calf, asking for permission to see to my wound. I sighed, nodding and turning my head away. The vampire moved in, gently pulling the fabric of my trousers away from the gash and setting to work. Within a few minutes, it was cleaned out and stitched. Vrael calmly packed away his tools.

‘We should get going, the cave's only a couple of hours away,' Bart suggested, getting to his feet.

We arrived in front of a cliff, where symbols had been carved into the stone in the shape of an archway. I chewed the inside of my cheek, leaning heavily on a tree branch I had found, trying to keep the weight off my injured leg. There was magic here, certainly, the same kind that I sensed around Bart. Kraferric magic. I reached out a hand to touch the stone surface, but there was some sort of magical barrier. I couldn't get closer than a couple of inches away. Bart stepped closer, unhindered by the magic, to run his fingers over the carvings. I tried to understand the runes, but without success. I had no idea where to even begin to try to read the Kraferr language. Judging by the concentrated look on Vrael's face and the confusion I was feeling coming from him, he had no idea either. Great. Even Bart seemed to be struggling to read them. I wondered if the Kraferrs even taught their Ones how to read the language.

‘I've got it!' Bart called back excitedly. He laid a hand on the door, chanting something under his breath that I couldn't understand. With an ominous crack, the rock within the carvings broke away, sliding to the side. Vrael and I glanced at each other as Bart stepped inside. Warily, we followed. For a moment, there was a
feeling like walking through syrup before the magic reluctantly let us pass. We were inside the cave.

The cave echoed eerily with our breathing. Bart's eyes glowed a little in the darkness. Our footsteps resonated off the stone walls. If any of the little group had been human, we wouldn't have been able to see a thing in the gloomy cavern as we crept through the maze. I sniffed the air, trying to get a lock on a possible smell of the locket. I smelt nothing, but I could smell blood. Fresh blood. I opened my mouth to warn the others, but the sound of grinding rock pushed all thoughts from my mind.

‘The walls are moving!' Bart cried. The three of us huddled together, the walls shifting like liquid around us. I gritted my teeth, trying to tune out the deafening sound. Gradually, the noise abated. The walls ceased to move. The dust started to settle. We continued on as fast as we could, determined to find the necklace before the walls started to move again. Vrael's nose, more acute than mine, smelt the scent of Kraferr and metal and took the lead until we came to a small, rectangular chamber, right in what we guessed was the heart of the maze. I looked around. In the centre of the room lay an amulet.

‘This is too easy. There has to be something else,' I muttered.

‘There's poison,' Bart answered. ‘The decorations on the walls hide poison darts.' I glanced at the walls in front of us. Carved into the stone were Kraferr faces posing with various grimaces. Sure enough, there was a faint smell of poison in the air, an overly sweet, metallic tang. I pulled a face. I hate that smell.

‘Shadow? Give me your staff,' Vrael said quietly. I handed the stick over without a word, leaning against the wall for support. The vampire stepped forwards, crouching low to the ground, using the staff in an attempt to find the trigger for the darts. Without warning, darts started flying out of the walls. Bart and I, still in the corridor, were safe. Vrael dodged, back-flipped and ducked, his vampire and demonic reflexes strained almost to
breaking point in his struggle to stay out of the lines of fire. The onslaught stopped. Vrael, breathing heavily, bent to pick up the necklace. In a blur of motion, two figures jumped past, us, heading for Vrael, grabbing the amulet. The smell of Shapeshifter blood went straight to my head. I clamped my cloak over my nose, trying to filter the scent. Vrael had paled, trembling. I sensed his distress as he tried to keep his hunger contained. I tried to summon my magic. It sparked feebly. I swore. The sheer weight of the Kraferric magic was interfering with mine!

‘Sither,' Bart growled.

The mantis shapeshifter smirked at us, a bandage obscuring his ruined eyes. ‘Who else?'

‘Who's your pal?' I asked, referring to the other person who had ambushed us. The person in question lowered the hood on her cloak. That explained the smell from before. A female Kraferr.

‘Name's Domina,' she said, the All Teller necklace dangling from her fist. I gritted my teeth. Vrael was crouched on the ground, glaring fixedly at the stone, trying to control himself. Domina handed Sither the necklace. Bart tensed, worry pouring off him.

‘You'd better not ask it about my death,' the Kraferr growled.

‘I don't have to,' Sither answered. ‘You die now!' In a flash, Sither had thrown a dagger at Bart, slicing his neck. He collapsed next to me. Vrael was crouched next to Bart in an instant, tense as a coiled spring. I glanced at him worriedly, but he had his medical equipment out, not his fangs. My heart sank. I could smell poison. Anger clouded my mind. Roaring, I leapt at Sither, intent on ripping out the bastard's heart. Domina jumped in front of him, two more daggers at the ready. I dodged, trying to get around her. Stepping back into a defensive position, I watched the female Kraferr carefully. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sither raise the amulet to his lips, whispering to it.

‘What is the meaning of human existence?'

Bart coughed out a laugh as the amulet started to glow strongly, its white light surrounding the mantis. I squeezed my eyes shut against the glare, turning my face to the wall, the light searing my eyes. By the time it had died down again, Sither was nothing more than a pile of ash. The smell of burnt flesh hung heavily in the air. Domina had disappeared. Breathing hard, I scrambled to Bart's side, checking his wound. Vrael had beaten me to it, having already administered an anti-poison. I took over pressing the sterile pad to the wound, desperately trying to stem the blood flow. We had come too far to let him die. Too much was at stake for the Kraferr race. Slowly, Bart got to his feet, one hand keeping the compress clamped to his neck. He walked unsteadily to the pile of ash that had once been Sither, touching the golden chain of the amulet.

‘Keep an eye on his emotions,' Vrael said under his breath to me. I nodded discreetly. Bart wound the amulet's chain around his wrist, gazing down at the heavy gold and blue gemmed necklace. I could feel the weight of it pressing down on him, that there were unanswered questions in his mind, that he held the future of his entire race in his hand.

‘Come, Shadow, Bart, I have a scent trail to the outside.'

We split up with Bart when we reached the outskirts of the city again. Vrael and I bade our goodbyes and started to walk back towards the forest to teleport out of sight of human eyes. I ran through the procedure in my mind. It shouldn't be too difficult. As soon as we were far enough out of sight, I reached out and touched his shoulder.

‘Sorry, Vrael, but I've got to follow Bart and make sure he isn't going to do anything stupid.' Releasing the magic, I teleported him back to the house. I then started after the Kraferr, but the pain in my leg forced me to stop after only a couple of steps. I growled under my breath in frustration, casting a charm on the wound to block the nerve endings. I wouldn't feel anything until
the magic wore off. Sniffing the air to locate the scent trail, I started to track Bart.

He was standing outside a heavy metal door in a dingy alley, back in his human form, when I found him. He was hesitating to go inside, which I understood completely. There was a feel in the air, something screaming at me to run away, that something bad had happened there. I clamped a corner of my cloak over my mouth and nose. The smell of a battlefield was heavy, all blood and rage and desperation, sickeningly sweet and bitterly sour at the same time. Bart gripped the amulet tightly, his mind made up. He pushed open the door, stepping inside what looked like an even danker and dingier corridor. I, being my usual curious self (for which I still blame Holly, since she encouraged that particular trait), followed him. I stuck to the wall, still using my cloak to filter the rank smell. Now I knew what had happened here. Death. The massacre of the few remaining Kraferrs. Who or what did it, I didn't know. Bart barrelled out of there, his emotions whirling dangerously. I couldn't leave him alone in that state, not when he was so young in demon years. It would be all too easy to let go of all control in an emotional outburst. It's okay for humans, but demons could easily level a city with our kind of power. Once outside, he leant against a wall, breathing heavily. I dropped my cloak, trying to think of something to say.