Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy) (24 page)

“We should go back before the time gap becomes too large,” Gemma pointed out.

The Assassins hesitated before they agreed with her. They hugged the doctor again in a final farewell. Dr. Fyrn made them promise to come back alive.

“We promise,” Evangeline and Kaydee said together.

“Stay safe,” he said, smiling despite the sadness in his gaze.

To return to the Second Realm, Gemma didn't need Evangeline's assistance like she had before. With the location of where she was going in mind, she opened the portal once more. It looked so bizarre, rising up in the middle of a marbled floor inside of Fyrn manor.

Before they could step through the portal, something extra entered the room. No one could see it at first, but they could feel it. A dark, evil presence had entered the room, ominously familiar. With horror, the Assassins each remembered the evil presence as the one who had sabotaged the portal before.

“Ancient, dark magic!” Gemma cried, as a gust of wind swirls in through the room from the portal.

“What
is
it?” Kaydee asked, voice high over the wind.

“Ancient evil.
Something like this is usually extinct by now –
nothing
this strong is supposed to exist on Aurialis, except...” Gemma trailed off for a moment, then gasped. “There's no possible way.”

“What?”

“Go, now!” the mage yelled. “No time to explain,
run!
”

The Assassins glanced at Dr. Fyrn in a farewell,
then ran for the portal. As they approached the white light, black tendrils rose up from the floor, an evil black ooze. Like some kind of obscene octopus's tentacles, they reached up and stretched for the Assassins as they made for the portal. This time, they wasted no time in going through the portal. There was no time for slow, thoughtful goodbyes with that black ooze behind them.

Gemma followed right behind them, but she wasn't quite fast enough. The tendrils lashed out at her, catching her across the back as though a whip had been cracked. She cried out but she was already through the portal. As the portal disappeared behind her, she felt
anger scorch her as though it had physical heat...and then she was gone into the white void once more.

The portal dumped the Shadow Assassins and Gemma in precisely the same spot as when Gemma first opened the portal. As they tumbled out in a jumbled, tangled mess of limbs and protests, there was commotion from the elves and werecats around them. One girl gave a squeal when she saw the wound across Gemma’s back.

“What happened?” she asked in a high, panicked voice.

“Ancient evil,” Gemma gasped, her elegant face wracked with pain. “It attacked us as we left.”

A couple of elf warriors caught sight of the wound, the ugly burn across her back and the way the ends of the burn were turning an odd, mottled gray color. They murmur words to each other in their native tongue, a conversation clearly meant to be private.

“What attacked you?” the same girl asked.

“I don’t know,” Gemma replied. “But I’ve never felt anything so evil before!”

“It sounds like
Alincaadae
,” one of the two soft-spoken elves said. When he only received confused looks, he clarified with, “The Ancient One. It’s a legend that’s been passed down for generations.”

Evangeline straightened herself and glanced at him. “What is the Ancient One?”

He glanced at her. “The Ancient One is a creature of ancient evil. Before the Second Realm was created, she was naught but a regular mage. As people were killed for religious persecution, her lover was executed. In her grief, she sought a way to avenge her fallen lover and others who had been unjustly killed.”

The second elf spoke up at this point. “It is said that she sold her soul and her humanity to a demon who began bending her ear towards his evil intentions. He turned her into this dark and twisted being and in turn fed off of her hatred.”

“A demon?” Evangeline asked. She felt a small knot forming in her stomach.

“Pure demons in the Underworld depend on negative human emotion to nourish what they call their souls.” At this, the elf made a face, as if he didn’t believe in such a notion, demons having souls. “This demon was powerful enough to take on a human form and convince her to avenge her fallen lover. She exchanged her soul for unnatural powers, powers that were more than anything imaginable.”

“Liliana
was
sealed away,” said a new voice. They glanced up and saw Prince Erik nearby. “That’s who you’re talking about, right? The Dark Witch Liliana. I’ve read about her back home.”

“It is a bad omen to address the ancient one by name, as though she were a friend!” the first elf hissed at him.

The prince looked alarmed at the sudden hostility. “You misunderstand me; I wasn’t trying to address her as such. When I was a child, I learned of her through bed time stories. I even have a book that describes how she was sealed away.”

The first elf scoffed at him, pushing beaded and feathered gold hair away from his aged face. “Humans speak of her capture arrogantly, but we elves know better. We know of her black magic and the evil tendrils of dark sorcery that do her bidding for her. Do you see this? This is what she does! That means she is not completely sealed away!”

They all glanced at Gemma, as he swept a hand to gesture towards her.

“You could be correct,” Prince Erik said, backing off slightly.

“If she can still use her powers, she may be able to escape,” the first elf continued. “She still lives, captured in a mountainside on the Isle Dark. If she escapes, she will be just as powerful as when she was imprisoned.”

“She must be hundreds of years old!” Marco spoke up. “Is it possible to live for that long?”

“Age matters not to something so evil!” the elf proclaimed. “When she gave up her soul, she gave up the ability to walk beside with time. Now, she defies time, without aging.”

“Is it possible for her to break free?” Evangeline asked.

At this, the first elf seemed even more offended. “Yes. The human mages brag about how they captured her but we have heard of the Gypsa speak of dark mage pilgrimages to the mountain top where
Alincaadae
was imprisoned. Who knows what happens up there. She could be freed at some point. Even partially free, she would be dangerous. It would certainly explain what attacked you when you crossed over into the Second Realm again. I do not know for what reason, but it sounds as if she guards the border of the First and Second Realms harshly. Other travelers may also be attacked.”

“Does that mean she has to be re-sealed?” the prince asked.

“Only if you want the attacks to stop! Who knows what kind of damage she could do if left free to her own devices! She may even break out of her prison!”

The prince frowned. “The book I have contains the spell used to imprison her.”

“Isn’t that illegal to have in the Emeralde Kingdom?” Gemma asked.

The prince’s frown turned into a small, sheepish smile. “Yes, but I couldn’t stand the thought of having the book burned. I hid it and a few others before my father’s book burning week started.”

He turned to the Shadow Assassins in explanation. “My father began disapproving of certain books that highlighted the more...magical lifestyle. Earlier this year, before you stepped foot into the Second Realm, he organized the book burning week, where books that encouraged this kind of lifestyle were destroyed. I did, however, save a few of my favorites. If they were to be discovered, well...I doubt being the king’s son could help me.”

“But they’re
books,
” Evangeline said.

“Books can carry dangerous ideas,” he said. “Or, so my father believes.”

“If you have that book, we better get it before war destroys it. It may not survive.”

“I agree.”

It was a long shot to begin with. This
Alincaadae
, or the Dark Witch Liliana might have only been a story or the evil force that had attacked the Shadow Assassins at the border between realms. Evangeline had no idea on if getting that book would help them in any way, but it was at least a place to start looking.



The Kkyathi always loved a party. Kaleb had seen some of their enthusiastic celebrations in the short time he had been with them, but now the other Assassins got to encounter it as well. Before a major battle, the Kkyathi liked to celebrate. One warrior had explained that the next day they faced would not be about celebration with their brothers, but one about bloodshed and mourning fallen brothers. Tonight, they celebrated as though they weren’t coming home, to celebrate the life they share with their brothers.

The elves and the werecats collaborated together to bring music to the celebration. The elves had wooden flutes carved from the trees they lived in. Despite going to war, some of the elves still carried the instruments on them for luck and a smile. Combined with the Kkyathi’s elaborate percussion and the vocal talent of a few elves, a nice, gentle sound floated up around the social fire, encouraging the others to celebrate.

In exchange for the armor given to them, Kaleb and Marco present the two nations with the weapons they had brought over from the First Realm. There was hesitation going around the warriors gathered around them. The warriors seemed reluctant to take the weapons, fearing misfire or other unfortunate consequences of the Rule of Absolute Separation. It wasn’t a good idea to carry a weapon that may fire on your comrades instead of the enemies, after all. It took some convincing, but Kaleb and Marco took a handful of the elves and werecats out into the forest to test the weapons.

While the boys left, Evangeline and Kaydee settled near the social fire. They were going to chat but Kaydee caught sight of the prince approaching. He seemed to be in a better mood than he had been before, but there was also a mug of ale in his hand. Smiling to herself, Kaydee instead excused herself from Evangeline’s presence and allowed her friend to be alone with the prince.

Evangeline was going to ask Kaydee where she was going, but Prince Erik approached, offering her a drink. When she declined, he sipped from the mug.

“Are you ready for the battle tomorrow?” he asked after a moment.

“Is anyone ever ready for war?” she asked in reply, not really answering his question. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I can be. I am, however, more concerned about you.”

“Me?”

He sat next to her on the roughly-hewn bench. “I want to be able to protect you, my lady.”

“I can take care of myself,” she said, trying to brush his offer off. It wasn’t that he was disrespecting her by offering to look after her in the battle, but she wasn’t comfortable with being his charge. Not after everything she had done as an Assassin and the battles she had already faced.

“I know you can,” he murmured. When he glanced at her, his emerald eyes were serious. Admiration shone in the warmth of his gaze. “But allow me to be your champion and guard tomorrow. Please. That way I can still protect you if needed.”

That wasn’t what Evangeline was used to hearing. Among the Assassins, they all took care of each other, but that was out of loyalty to each other. It didn’t come with anything like what the prince was offering. The intensity in his gaze broke right through her careful defenses, barreling over the distance she tried to keep between herself and everyone else. The prince was offering to look after her...as her protector...

Flustered, she quickly replied back, “I think I would like that. Thank you.”

She didn’t quite know why she was accepting, but it seemed awful to turn him down. He seemed genuinely interested in her well-being.

“The only thing I ask,” Prince Erik began to say, “is that you allow me one kiss for luck. I am not a man who would take advantage of a woman, I assure you, but one kiss may give me the proper inspiration in the battle to come.”

She didn’t doubt his intentions. Someone like Marco, she would instantly question his motives. People like Marco, who chased girls and had no real interest in them, grated on her last nerve. The prince on the other hand, he had been kind to her from the start, even after he had seen what she was. Why? She didn’t understand it.

She glanced at him,
then leaned in close to him. She almost changed her mind at the last second and pulled away but the prince sealed the deal, meeting her halfway with his lips. Heat rose within her at the feather-light touch of his lips...but then the moment was over as she finally gathered her wits and pulled away.

“I’ll give you a better kiss when the whole thing is over.”

Her voice was low, ripe with promise. The prince’s gaze shot to hers and heat blazed through that emerald gaze for the smallest moment. It was almost as though he wanted to ask for the better kiss she promised him right then and there.

Instead, he calmly pulled away from her.
“As you wish, my lady.”



Leaving Evangeline and the prince alone meant that Kaydee had no one to spend time with. Feeling awkward, she sought out Atrimalous and Leta. They were at least familiar to her. She found them away from the social fire, hanging out around one of the tents where women were preparing meat for roasting over one of the several cooking fires. They weren’t alone. Leta held a mug of ale and danced with the cat warrior who called herself Kirrah and her red headed female companion. The three women danced gleefully to the music that came from musicians nearby. Atrimalous stood near them, looking annoyed by the celebration.

“You’re not one for partying, are you?” Kaydee asked as she approached.

He glanced at her and let out an annoyed laugh. When he spoke, his voice wasn’t any kinder, dripping with sarcasm at first. “Getting drunk before a battle is always a surefire way to win. It would be smarter to hold the celebration off until after the battle is won.”

Leta overheard and swept over their way, her hips moving with the music. “He wouldn’t know how to celebrate if his life depended on it!”

“There is no point,” he snapped at her.

Leta’s smirk was triumphant. “See what I mean? Not one fun bone in his body!”

He only glared at her further.

“Well, prove me wrong,” she said with a sloppy, somewhat drunken grin. “Dance with me!”

“Hell no,” was the instant reply he shot back at her.

“See!
Proved me right!”

His glare went from annoyed to toxic. He wasn’t any
more friendly when he spat, “Fine, you’ll get your dance, if it will make you shut up about it.”

Kaydee couldn’t help but laugh as Leta gave an excited squeal and pulled her companion closer to her. Atrimalous protested at the thought of being close to her, but she paid him no mind as she lined their bodies up to dance. When she found out that he had the grace of a stone, she clucked in annoyance.

“Who taught you how to dance!”

Kaydee continued to watch as they moved, tripped over each other and bickered. A strange feeling of warmth surged through her as she watched them. Somehow, they seemed so familiar to her, as if she had known them for a longer time than just a few chaotic days.

The warmth was quickly extinguished as she realized what would be coming in the morning. More chaos. Worse, battle. War. Death, possibly.