by Chloe Cullen
She heard the words behind the growl, they echoed clearly inside of her mind, and she understood what she needed to do.
Raising her hand slowly, she reached towards the wolf’s head. The growling increased, but it was not in warning. It was in acceptance and encouragement.
Her open palm neared his head, right between his perked ears, and a single tear fell down Adeline’s cheek. She was ready.
Her hand finally made contact with the wolf, and only for a moment did she feel the warmth, the softness beneath her palm. Because in the next moment, there was a blinding white light inside her eyes, and something inside of her chest fell into place, an open, empty hole within that was instantly filled.
What filled her was life. Pure, unadulterated life that breathed, and had its own voice inside of her. Then she felt such joy at the feeling of completeness that gripped her, and all around, there was a bright, blazing light that now seared her eyes until she had to shut them.
That light did not come from the wolf.
It came from Adeline.
***
Adeline gasped, coming awake in a breathless moment where she struggled to pull herself back into reality.
She blinked, looking around at the room in her quaint apartment in the East Markets. Her blankets had long ago been discarded from the heat and she was sweating, a beam of early afternoon sun from her open curtains hitting her directly with a blindingly bright, warm light.
Adeline had only been back in Everton for a week. Her trip in search of answers had been frustratingly unfruitful. She wasn’t sure where to look next, and he had never given her much in the way of answers before leaving her alone.
Sighing, she pushed herself into a sitting position and made to stand when there was a knock at the door.
Adeline hurriedly shrugged on a robe over her flimsy sleep clothes and made her way to the front door.
When she threw it open, she didn’t quite expect the person that stood there, and her heart gave a thump inside of her chest. It was both a happy and a nervous thump.
“Cori!” Adeline said to the girl who stood on her doorstep, and immediately pulled her in for a tight embrace.
Cori laughed into her hair. “It’s good to see you too, Ade.”
“Oh, my… look at you,” Adeline said as she pulled back and took in what the other girl was wearing. In her grey Legion uniform, she looked so formal and almost regal in the outfit. “You look… happy.”
“Do I?” Cori asked, stepping into the apartment, and sounding genuinely confused.
“Yeah,” Adeline told her, taking in the way she seemed so much more comfortable in her Legion Uniform than she had ever been working at the Weary Fairy.
“Some days I think I’m happy… and then other days not as much,” Cori said, taking a seat in Adeline’s living space, and folding her hands over one another in her lap.
“Tell me what’s happened in the past few weeks?”
Cori met Adeline’s gaze, considered the question for a moment. “I’ve gotten back in to training, which has been good, and I’ve been stationed where I was before I left… with the Princess.”
Adeline felt her eyebrows shoot up. “You protect the Princess?”
A soft smile played over Cori’s lips. “I do. She’s great – such a little force of nature, and so kind-hearted.”
“And how is it for you… being back with the Legion?”
“It’s different than last time,” Cori said, looking confused, “but I needed to go back. Ade… there’s so much happening, and I don’t know how to stop it.”
Adeline reached forward to take her hand. “What’s going on?”
“It’s those people. The ones responsible for the Massacre. Whoever they were… they’re back again, and they’ve called themselves the Shadow Legion.”
Adeline nodded. The news of the dead Legionnaires had reached her in the East Markets. “I heard about that… do you know what they want?”
Cori shook her head, removing her hand from Adeline’s to run it through the length of her blond hair. “That’s the thing – none of us know.” Her voice dropped to a hush, even though they were alone in the apartment. “And none of us know who we can trust inside the Legion… some of them were Legionnaires last time. We don’t know they aren’t again.”
Adeline gave her a mournful look. “That’s awful…”
She watched as Cori nodded, staring down at her hands. “I wish I could do… something. I feel so powerless.”
Adeline knew that feeling all too well. Instead of saying so, she stood from her chair to walk over to a small table with a decanter and some glasses. She poured them both a drink and returned to her chair, handing Cori a glass, who took it gratefully and had a sip.
As Cori went to place her glass down on the table in front of them, the edge of the glass hit the side of the wood and the drink slipped from her hand. Without thinking, Adeline sprang forward and whisked up the glass before it could hit the ground and spill the amber liquid everywhere.
As Adeline held the glass in her hand, she realised what she had done, and peeked up at Cori who was sitting still with a shocked expression.
“Wow, Ade…” Cori said, a look of curiosity passing over her features, “you have some wicked fast reflexes there.”
Adeline tried to smile and laugh as she slowly and carefully placed the glass down on the table. “All those hours in the Weary Fairy trying not to let those drunkards break the glassware.” She tried for a light-hearted tone but wasn’t certain she had achieved it. Deciding it was time to change the subject, Adeline said, “what’s it like being around Thoren again?”
Cori still looked slightly curious, but a ghost of a smile was on her lips. “He’s… different than before, but so am I. Yet he’s still Thoren, a pain in my ass, but he’s become a... friend again. I hope.”
Adeline smiled. “He must care a lot about you, to convince you to come back and all.”
Now there was a real smile on her face. “I guess so.” Then Cori shook her head, as if waking herself up. A shadow passed across her face, something clearly bothering her.
“Is something wrong?” Adeline asked.
Cori picked up her glass and took a drink before answering. “A few things actually. The smallest of which, funnily enough, is this… group of people looking for Diviners. It’s giving me a weird feeling that I can’t shake.”
Adeline swallowed and worked hard to keep her expression neutral. “Oh?”
Cori slumped back into her seat. “I just had an odd interaction with one of them. There was something very… off about her.”
Adeline took a careful sip of her drink and plastered a curious look on her face. “What was so off about her?”
“She just…” Cori shook her head. “Never mind. It’s silly. I’m just going to leave it to Trey. I’m sure he’ll handle it.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk about it?” Adeline asked.
She shook her head again, and then smiled. “Now you have to tell me… how are you? How’s the Weary Fairy?”
She laughed at the questions. “The Weary Fairy is the same, though I will admit it’s less fun without you around… and I’m doing just fine.”
Adeline thought about the dream she’d had before Cori arrived, and of the deception she had crafted the past two years, but despite the sinking sensation in her stomach, Adeline resolutely kept a smile on her face.
“I’m glad to hear it – you look good,” Cori said.
They spent a little more time catching up. Cori telling her about her first few weeks back at the Compound, and Adeline telling a few stories of her own. When they had finished laughing, Cori’s face turned serious once more.
“I admit that I shouldn’t have travelled here today. I left a patrol, so I might already be in trouble… but I did come here for reasons other than to catch up,” Cori said with an apologetic look, turning her eyes to Adeline, a serious and pleading look on her face, “this is going to sound strange, but I would appre
ciate if you could hear me out... I have a favour to ask of you.”
***
Thoren sat in a pub in the Quarter, nursing a drink that he had barely even touched. He had gone for a walk through the streets, trying to clear his head. He had even taken his uniform off, insistent to himself that he needed an afternoon off, especially after his attempt at espionage when he had searched Cori’s room. His nose was frustrating him, and every time he breathed inward, he felt it like someone was stabbing him in the face.
He sighed, giving up on the idea of drinking to numb the pain and his thoughts. It had never helped him before.
He stood, threw a copper coin onto the table, and exited the pub. It was late afternoon now, the sun looking like it was beginning to set. Thoren started a slow trot down the street in the direction of the Compound, wondering if an early night might do him some good.
Thoren glanced down each alley as he passed them by out of habit, and when he was halfway back to the Compound, he stilled his feet. There was a figure hiding in the shadows down the alley to his left, watching something. He could see clear as day the blonde hair falling down the back of her grey uniform.
What was Cori doing hiding in an alleyway?
Feeling even more suspicious, Thoren turned down the alley and walked quietly towards her. She had her back to him and was peering out of the alley’s mouth towards a group of buildings across the road.
Before he was even halfway to her, Cori stiffened and then whirled towards him, a small blade already in her hand.
She sighed when she saw him and sheathed the blade. “Thoren,” Cori said, and took in his plain clothes, “what are you doing?”
Thoren continued towards her until he stood in front of her. “What are you doing?”
Cori folded her arms across her chest. “Why are you acting like I spat on your breakfast?”
“Why are you acting like you have something to hide?” Thoren countered, mirroring her stance.
Cori lost her fierce look, and her arms dropped back to her side, all bravado gone. “I…uh,” she started, and then looked behind her towards the buildings again. Thoren followed her gaze and saw a tall woman with flowing black hair knock on a door across the road.
“Is that… your friend?” Thoren asked, recognising the girl from the bar Cori had worked in.
Cori sighed through her nose, and then shrank herself back into the shadows as the door opened, and a younger boy stepped out to meet her. He couldn’t be more than fifteen.
“Yes, it’s Adeline,” Cori said quietly.
They both watched as Adeline greeted the boy, and a little girl had wrapped herself around the boy’s legs. Adeline reached out to them, offering a basket laden with food. The younger girl took it with wide eyes, staring into the basket. Then Adeline reached into her pocket and pulled out a small coin purse and handed it over to the boy, who took it, a surprised and grateful expression on his face.
Adeline gave the girl’s head a small ruffle, and then walked away from the door. Thoren watched from behind Cori as the boy and girl looked at each with wonder, the gifts clutched in their hands as they went back inside, the door closing behind them.
Cori let out a sudden breath, like she had been holding it.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Thoren asked quietly.
Cori didn’t turn to face him, but she straightened up and with her eyes still trained on the door ahead, she said in a low voice, “I killed their mother.”
Thoren felt his heart sink.
Cori turned, her eyes lowered. “After the Massacre, when I saw all the… bodies, she was one of the attackers. I knew her… she was already a widow, and I knew she had two young children living here and that I’d made them motherless. I didn’t do anything about it then, so I’m doing something now.”
Thoren had the urge to reach for her, to comfort her, but wasn’t sure if it would be welcomed. Instead, he tried to comfort her with words. “She attacked the Legion, you aren’t responsible for that.”
Cori suddenly glared up at him. “I know that. You don’t think I know that? I’m not sorry for defending the Legion.” Cori spat, and her chest rose and fell with defeat. “I’m sorry for taking their mother away from them. No matter who she was, or what she did… they don’t deserve to be left alone.”
A single tear ran down her cheek and damn him if it didn’t break his heart seeing her this way. Before he could stop himself, Thoren took her arm and pulled her into him. Cori didn’t protest, her arms reaching up to circle around his neck as she let her head fall onto his chest. Thoren felt a thought float across his mind, wondering how Cori could care this much about one death, and still be this assassin, who so carelessly took the lives of others. It didn’t add up, and he started to doubt his suspicion.
They stayed that way for a few minutes, arms around each other as Cori breathed through her inner turmoil, and then he heard someone approaching them from behind, the way Thoren had come.
“Am I interrupting something?” came a lyrical voice, and Thoren recognised it as Adeline’s.
Cori leaned away from Thoren to glance around him. “Ade,” she said, and moved away from him altogether. He found himself immediately missing her warmth. “I can’t say how much I appreciate your help.”
“No sweat,” she said with a charming smile thrown in Thoren’s direction, “quite literally… it was the easiest thing you could ask of me.”
Cori laughed. “I know, but that kid would never have accepted anything from the Legion… and you’re the only person I trust who doesn’t have the tattoo.”
Adeline put a hand to her heart with a teasing smile. “I’m touched.”
Laughing, Cori hugged the other girl, who accepted her embrace with enthusiasm.
“What are you doing now?” Cori asked Adeline.
Adeline lifted one shoulder. “I don’t feel like another carriage ride so soon, so maybe we could get a drink and some food?”
Cori nodded, linking arms with her. “My shout.”
Adeline pouted. “You just gave all of your money away.”
Now Cori frowned. “Oh, right. Your shout then.”
They laughed together and then Cori finally turned back to Thoren, her grin fading from her face.
“Thank you, Thoren. I’ll… see you later?” Cori asked.
Thoren lifted a corner of his mouth and nodded. He watched as they left the alleyway arm in arm in search of somewhere to get a drink.
28
TEN MINUTES BEFORE THE MASSACRE
Cori hadn’t seen Trey again after he had galloped away in search of the missing boy. So she had finished her patrol alone and then walked her way down High street back towards the Compound.
She remembered that she had promised Nessida she would take her out for some bow training the next day, so Cori tried to recall all the lessons she’d had on bows. It was not her weapon of choice, and so hadn’t used one since she’d become a Legionnaire.
Someone ran past Cori, breaking through her concentration, a look of terror on their face.
Cori stopped, watched them fly past. “Hey!” Cori cried out, “what’s…”
She whirled, another person was running, and everyone on the street had stopped to look as a younger man stumbled in his haste and ran towards Cori.
She tried to stop him, but he kept on running past her.
Cori looked down the street and could see a commotion near the Compound gates. Her feet began to move.
“Ma’am?” Cori paused and looked towards the sound, where a little girl was standing in a doorway of a building to her left. “Can you help me? I’m scared.”
Cori hesitated, her head moving between the girl and the Compound where she could now hear screams. Indecision warred, but she knew what she needed to do.
“I’m sorry – go inside, and close the door, okay? Hide somewhere safe,” Cori told the girl, and barely spared her another glance before she took off, her feet pounding on the pavement to run towards
the chaos.
People ran in every direction now, each moving away from the Compound gates. Her breath echoed in her ears as she ran.
She was nearly there, and she slowed her steps, noticing it was now becoming eerily quiet in the area.
Cori looked around, one solitary person disappeared down the alley next to her and then it was just her standing in front of the gates of the Legion Compound. During the daylight, these streets were usually teeming with people and seeing it so deserted felt… wrong. Heart pounding, Cori moved towards the gates, which were closed for the first time that she had ever seen.
She was in front of the bars now, hands coming up to grab at the cool metal and she looked through them and up the front lawns. Confusion and denial took her, seeing the uniformed figures sprawled on the grass, unmoving. She saw no one else in the front of the Compound.
Ting. Ting. Ting.
The sound of metal pinging across metal hit Cori’s ears and she looked away from the bodies on the ground to see a tall figure dressed in black clothing walking slowly towards her on the other side of the gate. There was a knife in their hands, and they let it scrape on every metal bar of the gate as they moved towards Cori.
“Hey, little Legionnaire,” a male voice said from beneath a black mask. Cori stood back from the bars, fear and confusion still swirling inside. “Would you like to come in?”
Cori felt the blood drain from her face to see blood on the knife as it neared, and then the black figure was directly in front of her, seemingly staring at her through the bars. Not being able to see his face was disconcerting to say the least.
Cori didn’t know when she had pulled it out, but a dagger was in her hand and she gripped it surely. “Perhaps you would like to come out,” she answered him coldly.
A low laugh rumbled from the man.
“I killed your friends here,” the man said, and pointed with his knife further down the span of the gates. Cori spared one glance to where he pointed, seeing a sprawled figure there, dark red coating the grey fabric.
Cori switched the dagger to her other hand, and not taking her eyes off the man in black, she reached behind her with her free hand and pulled out a smaller knife.