A Threat of Shadows (38 page)

“He came through the woods?” Alaric asked in surprise. “Not on his dragon?”

Dragon? There has been no dragon near here.

“Are you sure?”

He looked levelly at Alaric.
I am sure.

“Of course you are. Sorry.” Alaric exchanged glances with Ayda. “We thought he was on a dragon.”

“Then he’s not far ahead of us!” Milly said. “We’re not too late.”

Too late for what?

“The wizard is trying to revive the Rivor,” Ayda said, her eyes glinting.

Nox growled again, deep in his chest, and his eyes went flat.
That should not happen. The Rivor lived in this valley for years. During that time, the other Shade Seekers disappeared one by one, and the Rivor’s power grew. He killed many creatures, too.

“Mallon killed the other Shade Seekers?” Alaric asked.

Nox nodded.
Many of them
.

“Can you take us to the keep?” Ayda asked.

Nox nodded.
The Shade Seeker will do nothing until morning, though. Raising a creature is a long process, usually requiring hours of preparation and more than one Shade Seeker. Alone, this wizard could not do all of the preparations he needs in the dark.

Alaric agreed. “The runes he needs to write are extensive. But there’s another reason. If his dragon isn’t here, then Gustav has nothing to sacrifice.”

He had only a donkey and a wagon. In the wagon was a large object wrapped in cloth.

“Mallon’s body,” Milly said. “What will Gustav sacrifice that is powerful enough?”

He has summoned all the creatures in the valley to meet at the keep tomorrow at midday.

“All of them?” Milly gasped. “He’s going to sacrifice all of you?”

Nox’s eyes glared into the darkness.
He could not do that. A single Shade Seeker would not be strong enough to control all of us at once.

“We keep assuming he can’t do things,” Brandson said.

The Shade Seekers all together could command us to kill ourselves, perhaps. But not one alone. And not one like this.

“Gustav is particularly good at influence,” Alaric said. “Maybe he plans to have you kill each other.”

“Take us to him tonight,” Ayda demanded.

Alaric shook his head. “The other creatures will be out in the dark.”

This valley is dangerous at night. Even were I to be with you, we might encounter more monsters than I could fight.

“I’m not afraid of monsters,” Ayda said quietly.

“There’s very little chance that we are going to make it safely through the valley tomorrow during daylight,” Alaric said. “We can’t risk it at night. Especially knowing that Gustav isn’t going to do anything immediately. He won’t start until close to midday tomorrow when the creatures come. He needs something to sacrifice.”

Ayda glared at him, her eyes burning into him. Alaric swallowed hard and braced himself for… something.

She finally let out a long breath. “Fine,” she hissed. “I’ll take watch,” and she stalked off past the fire and into the darkness.

The rest of the group looked at one another uneasily.

“She’s a little angry at Gustav,” Milly said to Nox, smiling apologetically.

Indeed. The elf is powerful and lonely. And angry. Do you think you can stop the Shade Seeker?

“We’re not here to stop him,” Ayda called back over her shoulder. “We’re here to kill him.”

Chapter 46

“No we’re not!” Brandson protested. “We’re not here to kill him.” He looked around the group. “Are we?”

“No,” Milly said. “We aren’t. We’re here to stop him from raising Mallon.”

Douglon let out a short laugh. “We’re here to kill him.”

“Alaric,” Milly appealed to him.

Alaric took a deep breath. “I would rather not kill the old man.”

“You won’t need to,” Ayda said.

“It should be easy enough to stop him,” Alaric said, ignoring her.

Ayda snorted again. “Because it’s been so easy to stop him all the other times?”

“This is different,” Alaric said. “We know where he is, and we know what he is planning. Even if he gets everything set up before we get there, he will be relying heavily on the runes he draws before he begins. He won’t be able to begin until the monsters arrive for him to sacrifice. That should give us plenty of time. And we will stop him this time.”

“Oh,” Ayda said, her eyebrow arched, “so we finally have a Keeper in charge. It’s nice that you’ve decided to break away from wallowing in your past long enough to commit to something. Tell me, Keeper, how do you plan on stopping him from doing this exact same thing again sometime when we aren’t following him?”

“We’re going to take the Rivor’s body and destroy it.”

“Don’t you think I’ve tried? What do you think I’ve been doing since my people fought him? I don’t know if he can be destroyed.”

Alaric nodded slowly. “Maybe not. But we can try again. Together.”

“It is the Shade Seeker who wants to raise him,” Ayda pointed out. “There’s a simple answer to how to keep him from trying again. He wants the power that the Rivor can bring to him. He is not nice, nor does he care for any of us. He used us, manipulated us, destroyed my home.” Ayda’s eyes glowed with fury. “And he will pay for it.”

“We’ll stop him, Ayda,” Alaric said.

“Stopping him isn’t enough.”

Alaric turned to Nox. “Is there a way for us to enter the keep unnoticed?”

There’s an entrance in the back. It will not take long to reach it tomorrow morning. The Shade Seeker shouldn’t be able to see us approach.

“Then we should get some sleep,” Alaric says.

Ayda glared at Alaric, then turned and stalked over to the fire.

One more day and this would be done.

Morning couldn’t come soon enough.

Unfortunately, dawn’s early light came a little too late.

The sky had turned a dauntless pitch purple when Douglon shook Alaric awake.

“She’s gone,” Douglon hissed.

Alaric sat up and tried to focus on the dwarf. “Who’s gone?”

“The stupid elf. She’s gone. She left sometime during the night. She never woke anyone for the next watch.” Douglon scowled into the forest.

Alaric looked around. Ayda was nowhere to be seen. Alaric swore, jumping to his feet. “He’s still doing it,” he said, slamming his pack together.

The others stared at him blankly.

“Gustav doesn’t have his dragon,” Alaric said, “so he drew something more powerful to himself. He drew Ayda.”

Everyone had slept soundly, even Nox, who had curled up in front of one of the gaps in the boulders. That must have been Ayda’s doing as well. Alaric felt like he hadn’t slept that deeply in years.

“How long ago do you think she left?” Milly asked.

“As soon as we fell asleep… Or more accurately, as soon as she put us to sleep,” Alaric answered.

Brandson tried to stand, but cried out and fell against the boulder next to him. Milly ran over to him as he slid back down to the ground. She pulled up the leg of his pants and drew in a quick breath. The skin around the scar where the ape had gashed him had turned dark red.

Alaric went over to look at Brandson’s leg and swore again. Not just an infection. The ape’s nails must have been poisonous. He hadn’t thought of looking at it last night. He couldn’t leave Brandson like this.

“We need to drain this. It should be quick.”

Alaric sent Douglon off in search of a couple of plants while Milly began boiling water.

I can follow the elf’s trail,
Nox offered.

Alaric nodded.

With a rustle, Nox slithered over the nearest boulder and into the forest.

Alaric took his knife and held it in the fire. He turned to Brandson. “I’m sorry. This is going to hurt.”

He washed Brandson’s leg thoroughly, then took his knife and slid it carefully through the center of the scar. Greenish puss seeped out while Brandson bit back cries of pain. Douglon returned, and he and Milly began making a paste while Alaric directed them. Once Alaric had drained out as much puss as he could, he rinsed the wound with water and pressed the paste onto it. Then he ripped up a shirt for some bandages and wrapped the leg.

It felt like ages before Brandson was ready to be helped to his feet. Milly slipped under his arm to stabilize him.

Nox wasn’t back yet, but they hurried, packing up their things as quickly as they could. Ayda must have reached the keep hours ago. Alaric slammed his things together. Ayda
should
be more than a match for Gustav, but she had been so angry. Dread anchored deep into Alaric’s gut.

Milly let out a loud gasp. Alaric looked at her in alarm, wondering what had happened. She was staring wide-eyed at something behind him.

“Good morning,” a nasal voice said from outside the rocks.

Alaric spun around.

Gustav was standing just beyond the coals from last night’s fire. He still wore his blue robe with the swirling stars, but it was rumpled and dirty.

Douglon growled and pulled out his axe.

“You came back?” Brandson said.

“That was unwise,” Douglon said, stepping toward the old man.

“
Alligo
!” Gustav shouted, waving his arms dramatically toward them.

Alaric started to laugh at the ridiculous motion until he felt his legs freeze to the ground. The paralysis moved quickly up his torso. He grabbed for the pouch at his neck just as his arms went rigid. Only his head was free to move.

Behind him, he heard Douglon grunting against the spell as well.

Alaric felt the humming of the magic focused on the ground around his feet. He began to gather energy to attack Gustav.

“
Liquo
!” Gustav shrieked, this time waving his hand frantically at Alaric.

Alaric felt the energy drain from him, sinking down into the ground. As fast as he could gather it, it ran out of him.

Gustav shook his hands out and looked at Alaric warily for a moment. Then he grinned.

“Don’t try to fight me,” Gustav said, motioning to the top of the boulders surrounding them.

There was a slither and a scraping of claws as monstrous creatures crawled up onto the tops of the rocks. On the boulder closest to Alaric, an enormous badger appeared. It scraped long, black claws against the rock as it leaned toward them. Instead of the black eyes of a badger, it had human eyes, light brown and shrewd. On other boulders sat a long, mottled snake, a small bear, and a golden-haired lion, all looking at them with unnerving intelligence.

“Gustav?” Brandson asked. “What are you doing?”

Gustav didn’t look at Brandson.

Alaric strained against the magic holding him in place. He pulled in energy again and again, only to have it drain out just as quickly into the ground beneath his feet.

“What do you want?” Alaric demanded through a clenched jaw.

“I want peace and quiet to finish my work. And you weren’t going to give me that. So I’m afraid you’ll need to stay here. I’m leaving my creatures here to keep you under control.”

“You mean to kill us,” Douglon growled.

“Not yet. I’m not sure you all won’t still be useful to me for something. So for now, I’ve commanded them to leave you alone as long as you remain inside the boulders. If you try to leave, I’m afraid they will kill you.” Gustav studied them all. “And after everything, I find that I’m a little fond of all of you.”

“Well, we hate you,” Douglon said. “Where’s Ayda?”

Gustav smiled. “Ayda has agreed to help me in my work.”

“She wouldn’t,” Milly said.

Gustav flashed her an irritated look. “Ayda is helping me. And with her energy, there is nothing to stop me.”

“She’s not working with you,” Alaric said. “Even your influence couldn’t convince her to help you. You’re using her.”

Gustav smirked.

“I’d be careful,” Alaric warned. “Ayda isn’t someone to trifle with.”

“Ayda will be no trouble,” Gustav said, waving off Alaric’s words. “And neither will you. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to take your weapons.”

Gustav walked slowly up to Douglon, reaching tentatively toward his axe. When Douglon didn’t do anything more than snarl at him, Gustav took the axe from his hand.

Brandson stared at the wizard, a mixture of anger and hurt in his eyes. Gustav walked past him quickly, not meeting his eye and took Brandson’s knife from his saddle and two more knives out of Douglon’s. The wizard held them pell-mell across his chest and walked out of the ring of boulders.

“I’m afraid it’s time for me to go,” Gustav said, hoisting the weapons up higher in his arms with a clatter. He looked at each of them for a long moment. “Um, goodbye.”