The Shadowhand Covenant (13 page)

“What's with him?” Maloch asked Reena.

“Silence is required now,” Holm whispered. “We're all in mortal danger now.”

“Not to criticize,” I said, “but it's not a very good rhyme if you use the same word twice. No self-respecting bard would ever do that. Maybe you could have said, ‘We're in danger, boy, and how!' Or maybe—”

My poetry lesson came to a crashing halt as a dark blur swooped down from above, collided with Reena, and sent her flying backward to the ground. Maloch and I jumped back. Holm crouched, dagger raised and ready to attack.

Reena cringed as the creature towered over her. The beast stood twice as tall as my da and had dark-red, leathery skin that shone like it was coated in oil. Its head was shaped like an arrowhead with jagged edges. Two glowing amber eyes were sunk deep into tiny holes. A double set of jaws, one atop the other, boasted crooked obsidian fangs. A glint of gold sparkled just under its chin. Its most notable feature was the two sets of sinewy arms. One pair hung off the shoulders where you'd expect to find them, and a longer pair protruded from the center of its scaly back, reaching up and over the shoulders. All four arms ended in vicious-looking claws.

The sight of those back arms brought a dozen nursery
rhymes and scary campfire stories to my mind. This was a creature that shouldn't exist. My whole life, I'd assumed it was made up, something to scare children. But every detail of the beast matched the bedtime story description, and a chill shot down my already frozen back.

Bloodreaver
.

The bloodreaver's head twisted as it regarded Reena. One of its jaws dropped, and a horrible, warbling scream vibrated in my chest. Reena quickly rolled out from under the creature and scrambled away in a half crawl, half run.

Maloch scooped a still-smoking log from the remains of our fire and hurled it at the bloodreaver. The log exploded into ash as it struck the sharp ridges along the beast's side. The bloodreaver spun around, its glowing eyes landing on Maloch, Holm, and me. Holm let out a shout and charged, dagger held high. The bloodreaver leaped straight up, higher than anything should be able to jump, and used its multiple arms to swing back and forth from the tree branches.

The bloodreaver wove through the treetops at high speed, becoming a smudged silhouette against the pale morning sky. Suddenly, we heard a loud
pop
, and the bloodreaver disappeared in a cloud of gray smoke. A second later,
another
pop
, and another burst of smoke appeared right next to Maloch. The bloodreaver leaped from inside the cloud and took Maloch to the ground. The two tumbled together until the bloodreaver came out on top, using its four arms to pin each of Maloch's limbs down.

A thin tendril covered in tiny spikes snaked its way out of a cavity near where its nose should have been. The tendril lashed out across Maloch's face, leaving several fine cuts that started to bleed. With no weapons, I quickly made a snowball, ran up, and threw it into the monster's face.

The nose tendril whipped through the air, slicing my forearm. Crying out, I fell back, clutching my arm to my chest.

The bloodreaver turned its attention back to Maloch. When it did, I got a closer look at the gold I'd spotted earlier under its chin. It looked like a small amulet on a chain.

Bloodreavers wore jewelry?

Maloch squirmed under its grip, but the poison in his body made retaliation nearly impossible.

I heard another cry from Holm, and before I knew it, he'd thrown himself onto the bloodreaver's back. He swung his dagger and sliced a tendon near one of the creature's back arms.

Both the bloodreaver's mouths dropped open and shrieked in pain. It lurched, sending Holm flying. He landed near Reena at the base of a tree. The creature focused on Holm, its injured arm hanging limply on its shoulder. Holm's eyes narrowed as the two squared off. Then the boy looked sharply to the right and took off into the woods. The bloodreaver followed, its powerful legs shaking the ground with each footfall.

“Holm, no!” Reena cried. She crawled around on the ground until she found her dagger, then ran off after the bloodreaver.

“C'mon,” Maloch said weakly. “Can't lose them . . . Only way to get antidote.”

Holm was small but fast and wiry. He stayed far ahead of the bloodreaver. To increase speed, the bloodreaver started to bounce off the trees, grabbing the trunks with its arms and throwing itself forward faster and faster. Holm looked back over his shoulder and then . . . slowed down.

“What's he doing?” I shouted. “Go, Holm, go! Faster!”

As the bloodreaver gained on the boy, it stopped using the trees to propel itself forward and took to the ground, running at top speed. It would disappear with a
pop
of smoke,
only to reappear closer to Holm. The Sarosan slowed even more. Only when the bloodreaver had closed the distance between them to almost nothing did Holm add a new burst of speed, keeping him just out of the bloodreaver's claws.

My lungs burned. Maloch and I could barely keep up with Reena, who continued to shout for her brother. Finally, I tripped, and as I fell, I took Maloch with me. We pulled ourselves up on all fours. The bloodreaver was about to catch Holm, and when it was done with him . . . we'd be easy prey.

Holm howled again. I looked up to find that the bloodreaver was nearly on him. The boy's head moved side to side, as if he was searching for something. He darted to the left and made for a fallen tree. The bloodreaver changed course to pursue, and just as it did, Holm leaped up in the air, diving forward.

The bloodreaver bore down. Suddenly, the snow beneath its feet gave way. A hole in the earth opened up, swallowing the creature. A rusty pulley overhead whined as a giant metal door dropped, slamming shut over the hole.

Holm, who had landed safely near the base of the fallen tree, crawled over cautiously. A claw shot up and out between the bars, grasping at empty air. Holm got to his feet, smiling
at the trapped creature.

Reena arrived, fell to her knees, and hugged her brother. Holding each other for support, Maloch and I joined them.

Maloch walked up to Holm. “You're a terrible bard,” he said, looking away so as not to betray the admiration he had for the boy who'd saved his life. “But you've got hope as a warrior.”

I nodded at the cage. “We know the bloodreaver can move magically. What's to stop it from popping out of the cage?”

Reena ran her finger across the bars. She held it up for me to see. Her fingertip was slathered in thick blue paste.

“The cages were made to hold any mages who came snooping around,” she said. “They've been treated with Kolo's anti-magic paste. That thing is stuck in there.”

The bloodreaver howled and pulled at the bars.

Reena stood and examined Maloch's face. “Does it hurt?”

Maloch looked surprised that she seemed to care. “What? This? Not . . . not really.”

They shared an odd look for a few seconds. Suddenly, each coughed and the tension disappeared.

“Danger's passed, we're safe once more,” Holm told his sister, “but what the zoc was that thing for?”

The four of us stood at the edge of the cage. The
bloodreaver was going wild, its arms flailing in an attempt to strike out and escape. But the heavy metal door wasn't going anywhere.

Maloch peered down at our captive. “That's not—It can't be a . . .”

I nodded. “A bloodreaver.”

Reena laughed. “There's no such thing.”

Maloch pointed to the cage. “Try telling him that.”

“Imagined or not, the question's clear: what was that thing doing here?” Holm asked.

I took a deep breath. “I think it was looking for the two of you.” I told everyone what I'd overheard in Kolo's tent, about how the High Laird had authorized the Palatinate to resurrect the bloodreavers by the end of the week if the Sarosans hadn't surrendered.

“But if the warning just went up yesterday,” Maloch said, “why is the bloodreaver already here?”

Reena's eyes grew dark. “Someone at the Palatinate must've gotten eager. It wouldn't be the first time. You can't trust mages.”

“But how did it find them?” Maloch asked, pointing with his thumb to Reena and Holm.

“Their parents are prisoners in Umbramore Tower,” I said. “The bloodreavers must have been taken to the tower so they could get the scent of the Sarosans' blood, making it easy to track them down.”

Holm reached out to Reena. Her back stiffened. “But that means . . .”

Suddenly, the pair turned and bolted, running deeper into the woods.

“What the—?” Maloch asked, bewildered. “Where are they going?”

I knew
exactly
where they were going. “The Sarosan camp.”

The higher the sun rose in the sky, the weaker Maloch and I got. Pain shot through my legs like lightning, but leaning on each other, we followed the siblings back to the Sarosan camp.

Only there wasn't a camp anymore. The tents had been ripped to shreds. Wheelbarrows lay shattered, tools were now splinters. A few fires smoldered.

On the other side of the campsite, Reena and Holm scrambled around, calling out for anyone who might have been left behind.

“Help me,” I said to Maloch, leading him toward the remains of Kolo's tent. It was a lumpy mass in the middle of the camp. I rummaged until I found a broken jar with a handful of amberberry pollen. Taking water from a nearby cistern, I dissolved the pollen and made enough antidote for Maloch and me. We sank to the ground and let the pollen do its work.

When Reena and Holm joined us, Reena's face was wet from crying. Holm remained stone-faced, his hand stroking the hilt of his dagger.

“There's no one left,” Reena whispered. “We're all alone.” For the first time since we'd met, she seemed vulnerable.

The pain from the poison slowly left my body. I sat up and looked around the devastated camp. “No signs of resistance. They were taken by surprise, no chance to fight back. No bodies. Which means the bloodreavers took everyone prisoner. They're probably in Umbramore Tower by now.” Stiffly, I got to my feet and put my hands on my hips. “All right then. Let's get going.”

Reena sat and hugged her knees to her chest. “Yeah. Just go. You're more trouble than you're worth.”

Maloch stood. “Come on, Jaxter.”

“No,” I said. “I meant all four of us.”

Maloch folded his arms. “You are
not
seriously suggesting we go to Umbramore Tower.”

I shook my head. “I'm suggesting we do what I said before: we look for the Shadowhands.”

All eyes were on me. “Look, Maloch, you need to find your father. The only way Reena and Holm can free the other Sarosans and find their parents is to prove the Sarosans are innocent.”

“The only way to prove the Sarosans are innocent is to condemn the Shadowhands,” Maloch said. Then he leaned in. “What you're suggesting goes against everything the Lymmaris Creed stands for. If the Shadowhands find out you betrayed them . . .”

“The Shadowhands are thieves-for-hire,” I said, correcting him. “They get paid for what they do. Somebody
hired them
to steal from the High Laird.
That's
who we want to expose. All the High Laird wants are his relics back. If we can find who hired the Shadowhands—”

“—the High Laird will blame the employer, not the Shadowhands,” Maloch finished.
“Queoras ziv orra dar?”

I nodded. “‘When in doubt, blame someone else.' We find who employed them, return the High Laird's loot, and everyone is cleared.”

“But how do we find out who employed the Shadowhands?” Life had returned to Reena's voice. She was suddenly eager and interested in what we had to say.

“It would help if we knew exactly what was stolen from the High Laird's vaults,” I said. “It might give us a clue as to who would want it. Or who would benefit most from having it. If the four of us were to—”

“We can't stay with them!” Maloch protested, pointing to Reena and Holm. “The bloodreavers have their scent. Those monsters won't stop until they have them.”

“When the bloodreaver we captured doesn't return,” I said, “you can bet they'll come back for him. And
that
bloodreaver has
our
scent.” I held up my scratched arm. Maloch reached up and touched his face where the nose tendril had wounded him. “We're in just as much danger as they are. The only thing we can do now is stick together. This is the fastest way to find your father.”

That took the fight out of Maloch. His shoulders drooped as his final argument vanished. We ransacked the
remains of the camp for supplies. I went through Kolo's tent, filling up my pouches with the twelve essentials. Under Kolo's cot, I found Tree Bag and the parchments containing Kolo's new research. I slung the bag over my shoulder. The research inside was invaluable. And I hoped to return it to the Sarosan leader.

If he'd survived the attack.

Once we were ready, Reena unfurled a torn map of the Provinces and pointed out our location.

“Should only take us a couple days to get back to Vengekeep,” Maloch said.

“We're not going to Vengekeep,” I said, poking a point higher north on the map.

“Why not?” Maloch asked.

I smiled. “I know how to find out what the Shadowhands stole.”