A Shadow's Tale (8 page)

I had never been out on the streets of Synairn on my own before. It was a curious feeling, as if I was a child doing something forbidden. I followed the rest of the armoured Synari out towards the plain, the same plain I had fought on before. I had to fight down the fear that threatened to overwhelm me. Why had she brought me back for this? I didn't want to fight! I just wanted to get though the end of year exams and finish my
school years without getting myself killed!

‘Demoness!' someone called. I turned in the direction of the sound, ready to snap a retort. A troop of Synari mounted on pegusi watched me critically and, standing next to the captain of what I guessed was a unit stood Merlas, decked out in plate armour, wearing a proper Synari pegasus saddle and guidance loop. I rushed to her side, hugging her tightly. The unit felt faintly amused, if my empathy was anything to go by. I felt my face burn in embarrassment as I realised how stupid I must look to the seasoned City Guards. Just another silly little girl hugging her favourite pony. I pulled myself up into the saddle, strapping myself in, enjoying the feeling of being back with her, even if it wasn't in the best of circumstances. The Synari I guessed to be the leader of the unit moved his pegasus to stand lengthways in front of Merlas, blocking any forwards movement. Merlas laid her ears flat along her neck, making a low growling sound more akin to a dog than a pegasus. I laid a hand on her neck, shushing her quietly.

‘Listen up, Demoness. Here are the rules. Obey my command to the letter, and you'll do fine.'

I nodded once. The captain passed me a bow and quiver of arrows, saying that the ‘pointy metal stick' was only going to be of use to me if Merlas went down. I didn't like the sound of that. The unit moved out, heading for the plains where the battle would be held. For the moment, the Synari were alone, arranged in ranks. Several pegusi units, including mine, stood on a small hillock, waiting for the signal from a commander standing with the foot soldiers. I have to admit, I couldn't see the Synari as foot soldiers. I couldn't even see them as soldiers. Never before in the history of Synairn had there been so many battles in such a short space of time. It made me wonder what Arias was up to, because this was not normal. I swallowed hard. Merlas shifted nervously beneath me. The captain glanced at me, feeling indecisive, sympathy battling with fear.

‘Hey, Demoness, just try to keep calm. There is no need to work yourself up.' He paused for a moment, as if trying to find his words. ‘Try to see it this way, would you rather be battling a horde of bloodthirsty monsters, or facing an angry Arias?'

‘Monsters every time,' I said before I realised that I had spoken aloud, not just thought about it. The pegusi mounted soldiers within earshot chuckled quietly. I bit my lip, looking at the captain. He was watching me with a critical eye that made my heart hit rock bottom. I had gone too far. It had been a test. It—

One corner of the captain's mouth twisted upwards in a smile.

‘You are not the creature we thought you to be, are you?'

I didn't know how to answer that one, so I didn't. He probably meant it as a rhetorical question anyway. Instead, I looked down at Merlas's mane, hoping that the shape of my helm prevented too much of a blush showing.

‘To coin a phrase I believe you use in your current dimension of residence, ‘you're all right', Shadow,' spoke one of the soldiers, giving me a light, friendly shove. There was an emotion there, echoed by all the other soldiers. I couldn't figure out what it was. It felt alien yet comforting, a familiar stranger. I realised I had sensed this before, from Holly and Natalie. Acceptance. They accepted me for who I was. For the first time in Synairn, I felt relaxed. At peace. We chatted idly for a few moments, most of which I spent committing their names to memory. Why had Arias locked me away all those years ago when all it took was for the people to see that I was still like them? She had said that the streets would not be safe for me, yet here I was, sitting on the back of a pegasus, making light of the coming battle with a group of soldiers.

From the plains of the upcoming battle, a great rip in the air spilled light onto the silver grass about to be stained with blood. Creatures began to spill from out of the gap, onto our plains. I chewed the inside of my cheek, trying to keep the anger from boiling over. Next to me, Captain Kildren swore in a steady
stream under his breath. He glanced at me.

‘Shadow?' he asked, his nervousness not quite hidden in his tone. ‘We, uh, could probably use a distraction when we charge on them. Normally, any one of us could do it, but, uh, being a demoness, you could perhaps, uh, be a little…'

‘Scarier?' suggested one of the soldiers.

‘Yes, scarier.' The captain watched my reaction carefully, looking a little afraid himself. I bit my lip nervously. I could appear to be in the throes of a demonic possession, but such an exercise was highly volatile, requiring me to only let a little of the demonic influence escape through the barriers in my mind. I had experimented with it a little back at the Academy, but I had always been supervised by teachers who knew how to deal with an experiment gone wrong. Here, I was alone. If I went too far, all I would get is an arrow through my head. Everyone watched me nervously. The beginning clashes of the battle sounded below us. Merlas twisted her head around to nose at my boot. I let a half smile twist one corner of my mouth. Why learn things if you couldn't use them without being watched all the time?

‘Yes. Yes, I can, and yes, I will.'

Our unit took to the skies. I let Merlas fly as she saw fit while I tried to tap into the demon. It was difficult, forcing myself to take down the defences I had spent years constructing. Piece by piece, I dismantled them. It surged forwards, able to taste the freedom it was on the verge of gaining. I clenched my fists, panting, trying to slow the advance. It was terrifying. It felt as if I was truly breathing the air. As if I was really in my body for the first time ever. My vision tinted red, doubling in focus. My teeth lengthened slightly. My claws grew. The soldiers watched me with fear in their hearts. I was acutely aware of the magic coursing through my blood. It would be so easy to obliterate the lot of them, to end the battle before it could even properly begin. I gritted my teeth. No. I wouldn't. I'd kill every single person in my unit before I even touched the enemy.

‘Shadow?' the captain yelled over the winds, trying to make himself heard. I could still hear the wariness in his tone.

‘It's okay. I'm still in control,' I called back.

‘Take point and scare the living daylights out of them!'

I grinned, drawing my sword. Merlas brayed to the open skies as we began our dive towards the heart of the enemy's ranks. Black magic streamed from the two-handed sword. My hair and cloak billowed out behind me. My eyes glowed. Everyone looked up. Fear shot through the crowd. Then we joined them in battle.

I don't remember much of the battle. I don't want to remember much of it. I fought as best I could. I was pulled off Merlas early on, leaving me to stand on my own, fighting with a sword I didn't know how to use. A blade too long, unwieldy and heavy for me to use properly. I swung it wildly, ignoring the cacophony of pain building up in my muscles. My wrists ached. My shoulders shook. Exhaustion sapped at my mind. And they just kept on coming. Blood spurted beneath the sword, bone crunching. I swiped furiously at my eyes, clearing the haze of sweat and blood. My helmet kept slipping over my forehead, blocking my sight. I pushed it back angrily, stabbing at another enemy. The sword lodged in his chest. I couldn't free it! Panicking, I tugged at it, widening the wound in the corpse's side. Another enemy tried to decapitate me. I screamed, raising my arms in defence. The blade snagged on the plates of armour on my forearms, dragging a deep gash through the metal. He jabbed the sword sharply at my exposed stomach. The blade sank into flesh. My jaw fell open in silent agony as I dropped to the ground. Black blood gushed from the wound. I fell onto my side, trying to breathe through the throbbing pain.

‘Oh bloody hell, Shadow. Can't you do anything right?' came an irritated voice from above. All I saw was a flash of purple hair before liquid cold engulfed me.

I found myself face down on a fairly soft surface for once, the icy fingers of the abrupt teleportation lingering for a moment along my spine. My head hurt like hell. I could barely breathe through the pain of the sword still stuck in my stomach. Whoever it was that sent me away was going to get a good punch right in the face if I ever found them.

‘Ohmygod, Shad! What happened?'

‘And can you get off me please? Seriously, Roth, you're heavier than I thought!'

‘Holl? Nat?' I asked groggily. That would explain the soft landing, if I happened to land on Holly. I groaned as I rolled off her. I managed to get to my knees, bent double over the blade. Natalie looked horrified. Holly, as usual, started her rapid fire twenty questions routine.

‘What happened? Why are you wearing armour? Why are you covered in blood? Why—'

‘Holly! Shut up, we have to get her to the medical wing!' Natalie insisted.

‘Oh bugger!' I muttered under my breath.

The medical wing of the Academy is somewhere no one ever wants to get sent to. It was a converted church, complete with altar that the head medic used as a desk. It still exuded the feeling of religion and strict punishment if you didn't adhere to the status quo. Angels with faces contorted in pain and anguish looked down from the eaves, not helping an already gloomy atmosphere. The head medic, Mr Greene, looked human, but he wasn't a medic for nothing. He was what was known as a Converter. He takes pain and converts it into heat. Other than that, he scared the crap out of everyone in the entire school. I guess that was also kind of a preventative measure. If you didn't want to face the medic, you didn't want to get hurt, so you were more careful. It also pretty much meant that I was
not
happy about going there. Unfortunately, I was in no position to stop a
determined Nat. Nothing short of a herd of wild pegusi can stop a determined Nat.

‘Holly, if you've hexed your eyebrows off again, I'm not fixing them for you.'

All three of us jumped when the head medic spoke from behind us. He swept an eye over what must have looked like a pathetic trio. He raised one eyebrow before seizing my arm, guiding me with ease towards one of the alcoves hidden by a curtain, dismissing Holly and Natalie.

‘Well, Miss Roth, if you would be so kind as to remove the armour, we can set about getting the sword out of you.'

My fingers fumbled with the buckles, trying to pull off the rusted plates while Mr Greene left for a moment. Once they were finally in a messy heap on the floor, Mr Greene started to look at the damage done. I snarled at him as he touched the sword. He grunted in apology. I shot him a glare, daring him to do something like that again. He sighed, sitting back and matching my glare.

‘I don't ask how you managed to get yourself skewered like a demon kebab, you try not to kill me when I try to unskewer you. Deal?' I nodded, looking down at my lap. He was trying to help me, which was more than I could have bargained for in Synairn. ‘Okay, brace yourself. I'm going to have to pull this out of you. It's going to hurt for a bit before I start converting. Just try to keep still.' For the first time, I noticed that he had brought in a bar of metal and a bucket of water. I glanced down at them and then back up at the medic.

‘You didn't think I was going to put the heat into you, did you?'

I smiled tightly and braced myself.

Swathed in bandages, I made my way to the canteen. Thankfully, Mr Greene had taken away most of the soreness, for now at least. I knew that it would be back later with a vengeance, but, or now,
I couldn't feel any pain. It was a fascinating process he used, taking the pain from a person and sending it down from his hand through his body to his other hand which grasped the metal bar and into the water. With the boiling water, he had told me with a wink, the best thing he had found to do was make a decent cup of tea. I shook myself from those thoughts as I picked up a tray, looking at the food. Unfortunately, due to the diverse number of species, everyone's diet was watched really carefully. If you didn't have a good reason for skipping a meal, you landed yourself in the medic's office. The food on the ‘human and humanoid' menu didn't really inspire me, but having just come from the medical wing, I wasn't about to turn tail and walk myself back there. I wasn't that stupid. So I took a serving of shepherd's pie and dithered over a dessert. I wanted an apple, but I couldn't really eat them. Stupid fangs always got in the way. The only other options were a rather pathetic looking banana or a piece of chocolate cake. To be honest, chocolate cake was more Holly's thing. I took it. Holly was likely to be here somewhere and would gladly take it off my hands. I carried my tray over to where Natalie and Holly were finishing off their dinner.

‘Hey guys,' I said, sitting down and poking my food, handing the chocolate cake to Holly.

‘Heya kid, you all done with the pain vampire?' Holly, being her usual exuberant self, had found it funny in her first year to nickname Mr Greene as the ‘pain vampire', since no one really knew what species he was and he sucked out your pain. It makes sense in my mind, but no one had, thankfully, ever used the name in front of him.

‘Got more bandages than an Egyptian mummy, but yeah, I'm okay. He patched me up pretty well, considering what I looked like going in.'

‘Shadow…' Uh oh, I knew that tone in Natalie's voice. I opened my mouth to interrupt her, but she asked her first question, and now she was not going to stop asking until she
understood everything. This is a girl who spent her weekends in the library for fun. ‘Where did you go? I mean, you poofed out on us in mid-conversation. I didn't even know you
could
poof!'