Shadow Queen (14 page)

She glanced over her shoulder. One last look,
that’s all she wanted.

The salty air burned her throat. Or was it
the long-forgotten pain slowly creeping back from the place she
kept it locked so tightly away?

Memories blurred along with her vision. She
held her eyes open, straining to hold back eager tears from
tumbling down her cheeks.

There is nothing left for me here
, she
thought, turning back toward the waiting ship and away from the
familiar rocky landscape. The Grand Sage would welcome the refugee
Alainians into the village, just as the Phoenix Tribe had done with
their elven ancestors all those years before. There was no need for
queens in the Great Desert.

Astrid hadn’t even said goodbye to Ethen,
knowing that if he knew of her plan he would never let her go.

The small vessel creaked as it swayed on the
foamy water, tugging at the ropes that held it secure to the dock.
The wood had once been painted black and trimmed in gold but had
faded in the vicious sun. Flecks of yellow still shone in the deep
crevices along the bow and sides. The sails were a faded green and
looked like the sun-bleached fins of a dead fish. On the side was
written
Jade Swan
. This was indeed the saddest bird she had
ever seen.

It wasn’t much. But it was an escape. It was
freedom.

She pulled her hood over her face as she
picked her way up the warping ramp onto the deck of the ship. There
was no need to reveal her face just yet, not until she knew it was
safe.

Sprawled out on the deck was a man with
filthy canvas trousers. He was reclined against the main mast, a
piece of straw sticking out the corner of his mouth, humming away
like the drone of a honey bee. His bald head shone like glass in
the morning light.

“I wasn’t expecting any visitors,” he said
without opening his eyes. “I hope I don’t owe you money. Otherwise,
I’m afraid I’m going to have to kill you and throw you
overboard.”

“I was looking for the captain,” she said,
her hand silently resting on the knife hidden inside the folds of
her cloak. She had learned long ago it was better to take a warning
seriously and be alive than to laugh off a threat and find yourself
sinking to the bottom of the sea.

“And what makes you think I’m not the
captain?” His angled eyes snapped open beneath his spider leg brows
and glared at her.

“You don’t look big enough to be the cabin
boy—”

The words slipped out before she could stop
them. Maybe it was the heat that dulled her senses. Or maybe the
urge to do whatever it took to leave this place.

The man sprang to his feet, huffing like an
enraged bull. He stood with his hardened coal eyes leering at her.
The top of his head barely reached her shoulder.

“WHY DON’T YOU COME DOWN HERE AND SAY THAT TO
MY FAC—”

Suddenly, the doors to the main cabin slammed
open. A slender tan face poked out the doorway with an irritated
scowl. A band of red silk was tied around his forehead, pulling
back clumps of greasy black hair from his face. He would have been
handsome if it weren’t for the smudges of ink on his cheek and the
glint of a hard life of suffering in his eyes.

“Junjie! What are you doing? Get back to
work!” Their eyes met for a few seconds before Junjie succumbed to
his captain’s will. He shot one last dirty look at her before
scurrying up the mast.

The captain stepped out onto the deck,
shielding his eyes for only a moment against the glare of the
rising sun. His clothes weren’t quite exquisite, but did show he
had taste and cared more for his personal appearance than he did
his ship.

“You must be the latest addition to my merry
crew. However, I regret to inform you that you’re services are no
longer needed.” He dipped his head and rushed back to his cabin.
She caught him by the shoulder. He stopped short, almost in shock.
“I said,” he recoiled as if bitten by a snake, “you are no longer
needed. Now take your leave!”

“Wait. I need this,” she said, pleading. She
tried her best to keep her voice from catching in her throat.
Instead it crackled like the dried wood beneath her feet.

She didn’t know if it was the desperation in
her voice or a hidden weakness in the captain, but something had
struck a nerve inside of him. He turned and faced her, his brow
creased and his jaw jutted out like the hull of the
Jade
Swan
.

“Why? What do you want so badly?” He reached
up to lift the heavy cowl hiding her face. “What’s your name?”

“Astrid,” she said, letting the hood fall
back against her shoulders. “I want to be free.”

I tore myself from his tale, ripping myself
from the seams of my sanity. Rage exploded inside me as I threw by
body back from his touch.

“
Luka.
” I breathe his name. I sink
venom into it and gnash it against my barred teeth.

He hangs his head in defeat. “You always hate
me. No matter how I tell you, you always hate me in the end.” He
rises slowly from his seat. His icy blue eyes brim with sorrow,
threatening to overflow and drown him. He reaches his hand out to
me but I am faster. Instead my response is to strike him across the
face.

We are both speechless in our pain.

Luka wipes the trickle of dark blue from his
broken lip. “Please,” he says, begging now. “I’m not finished.
There’s more I have to tell you, you must listen.” His words are
weak. He is weary from fighting for so long.

“I’ve heard enough,” I say. My eyes strain to
find a way out. A narrow black door stands out like a splinter in
the vast white stone walls. “I want nothing more from this horrible
place—
or from you
.”

I run for the door and push hard against the
cold metal. I hear Luka running behind me, driving my legs to carry
me faster. They carry me down an empty hall. My bare footsteps
sound hollow against the perfect white stones beneath them.

Luka claws at my dress. The shimmering silk
is caught by his grasp. It gives way with a painful rip. For the
first time, I can fill my lungs completely. I leave him clutching
the empty material and run with all my strength.

At the far end of the hall are two great
doors made of twisted black metal. I slam into them, pushing them
open with the force of my sprinting body.

Rust-filled air bites at my lungs. I find
myself on an open terrace overlooking the monstrous city below. My
stomach lurches at the vile smear of clouds above my head.

A figure in black stands overlooking the
rotting city. Dark hair floats in the musty wind behind him,
slipping from behind his slender, pointed ears. His skin is
porcelain, perfect like the white palace stones.

He turns toward me and meets my gaze. His
black eyes drive the breath from my lips. I know his face. It fills
me with dread and fear. I feel the icy darkness of his stare seep
into my frantic heart.

He shakes his head as he drags his eyes up
and down my quivering body. “It seems you’ve been up to no good,”
he says, flicking my hair from my face. “That won’t do at all.”

“My lord, I can explain,” Luka says. “She is
having trouble forgetting. She’s strong-willed, that’s all.” He is
panting as he sweeps into a quick, low bow. He hesitates, letting
the lie settle in the air before continuing.

“Of course she is,” he says. He takes my face
in his hand and stares into my eyes. “That’s why she’ll make a
wonderful host for me to use. And why it’s also necessary to break
her before I inhabit her.”

Luthen.

His name slithers into my mind. He is the
reason for all the evil in my life. He is the reason why my body
shakes with fury. My hatred burns red hot inside me.

“Ah,” he says. He senses my wrath. “I see you
remember me. But tell me, do you remember everything I’ve done to
you? Everyone I’ve killed? No? Maybe the ways I’ve abused you—”

I spit in his face and struggle to free
myself from his grip, now tightly squeezing around my throat. I
gasp as his hand closes tighter around my throat. Luthen laughs as
I squirm, my mouth gaping and empty of breath. He finally throws me
down onto the stone and turns to leave.

“I expect you to watch her more closely,” he
says to Luka, “unless you prefer to watch me torture her…
again
.” His voice cuts through us like a sharpened
blade.

Luthen leaves me feeling vile. I press myself
against the silent, clean stone. My fire is drowned by the sorrow
of what I’ve forgotten.

“Astrid,” says Luka, “please don’t slip away
again.” He kneels down and scoops me up into his arms. “Please…
please
.”

I turn away from him and hide my face in the
comfort of dark shimmering silk.

“
Just let me die.”

B.R. Nicholson has been writing and
illustrating her stories since she was a child. The Shadows of Time
series began one night when she was fifteen. Bored and with a bed
stacked high with books, she decided to fill a notebook with what
would become the first draft of Shadow Maiden.

B.R. Nicholson is currently a nursing student
at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

Eager for more? Check out my blog at
http://briana-rene-nicholson.blogspot.com/ and Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/ShadowsOfTimeSeries for artwork and
updates about the series.

Thank you!

Nathaniel shook the water from his thick
leather hood. His horse, Drifter, nudged Nathaniel’s head,
whinnying anxiously over the sudden stop.

“Hush now my old friend. We wouldn’t want the
sky to tumble down upon us, now would we?” Nathaniel could see
Drifter’s gaze turn toward him. The horse hushed his whinnying.
However, he continued to twitch his tail impatiently. “Lisbeth,
hold the reins while I see if the path is clear.”

A small hunched-over bundle peered shuddered
as a face peaked through from the hood. “Are you leaving us? What
about the storm?” Her large eyes shone like coins in her small
round face.

“Hush, child, you’ll startle Drifter with
your whimpering. Now stay put. I’ll be back in but a moment,” he
said in a deep rumble while he patted her on the leg. “The best
thing you can do is to keep calm.”

Nathaniel turned and waded through the ankle
deep mud down the unkempt mountain road. He didn’t bother picking
his way through the muck like a chicken and risking losing a boot
to the filth. He trudged through it, leaving two wide trenches
behind him like wagon tracks. His strong legs kicked through the
mud as if it were water in a stream.

The wind moaned as it bullied its way through
the quaking trees. Naked limbs swayed and creaked, swollen with the
weight of rain water. Branches lay haphazard across the road, but
none big enough to inhibit their crossing.

Flashes of lightning illuminated his way. He
could see parts of the road where crumbling black rock had fallen
from the cliffs above, their shattered remains left to sink deep
into the mud. He waited, listening for any signs of loosened rock.
It would be risky, but the worst of the rockslide had seemed to
have passed. Let’s pray lightning chooses not to strike twice
tonight, he thought, yanking one leg free to turn around and trudge
back to his small shivering sister.

Nathaniel and Lisbeth had been alone for what
had been almost all of her life and at least half of his. He
remembered, years ago, being a part of a family, having both a
mother and father, but those memories seemed faded and locked away
in a shroud of dust. The only time Nathaniel left for remembering
their former life was once a year, on the day of their death, when
he would take young, innocent Lisbeth to visit the place where
their parents had been condemned by the people they called friend
and burned alive. He could still see his mother and father’s
contorted faces, writhing in pain and anguish, blurred by the
hungry flames and the tears in his eyes.

Today is your anniversary, he thought, the
thunder was muffled in his ears as he pushed forward, the rest of
the world numb. For twelve years I’ve come and remembered you. Why
must tonight be different?

His foot stopped dead, thudding against
something solid half encased in mud. He looked down, his thoughts
scattered like brittle autumn leaves.

Nathaniel reached out his hand to inspect
what he had found. It didn’t look like a piece of rock, but his
eyes were deceptive in the varying light. His fingers touched rough
leather. He retracted, thinking maybe he had come across a fallen
animal, maybe a wild boar that had lost its way far above in the
jagged cliffs.

Lightning streaked across the sky far above
his head, flooding the forest path with an explosion of light. A
white face shone through the mud in that brief moment. Nathaniel’s
heart leapt to his throat as he weakened and fell to his knees. His
giant muscular hands tore the limp body from the sticky mud. He
propped the body up in his arms, cradling it against the pounding
rain like a child.

Nathaniel looked into the pale face, studying
the angles and curves, the half-lidded eyes, the round blue-tinged
lips. It was strangely calm and beautiful. He waited for breath. He
pressed his ear to her still chest as the storm around him stood
still.

One beat, that’s all I ask. Give me a sign,
he thought, his body shivering and drained from any warmth. No one
deserves to die like this.

He waited, his own heart pausing to listen.
He was only greeted by silence.

Nathaniel lowered her, holding her battered
body close to his broad chest.

“I don’t know who you were, but I’m sorry
your life ended here. I’ll make sure you’re laid to rest somewhere
peaceful,” he said, his voice thin and lost on the howling
wind.