Keepers of the Crown

by Lydia Redwine

  “Hangs in the air like a dagger poised to plunged,” she said. Her muscles were tense, her jaw now locking shut. She reviewed what her grandfather had told her about Shadow Bearers and of her own experience. “They strike from nowhere with no warning. Only one who has spent years in training against them, can feel their presence beforehand.” She glanced ahead at her comrades. “Which appears to be none of us. All kinds of Shadow Bearers must dwell here. Even those of earth and water...”

  “How far does this passage reach for?” Joel was asking when his voice became clearer than Cam’s thoughts. He broke into a series of coughs. Cam knew why. The air was getting to her too.

  “Accordingto Saffira, several miles. Shesays thispassage and the other at the beginning seem to circle the entire valley with one opening other than the one we walked through which comes out near the stronghold.” Cam did not listen as Owen explained further the mapping of the valley but turned to Ilea instead. The young woman was silent and had kept to herself since their departure from the Forest of Thorns.

  “You said you had been here before. How long ago was that?”

  “Nearly thirty years, perhaps,” Ilea answered after considering the question. “Though when I was in this place I awoke in a cave in the mountainside on the right side of this valley, opposite from the side we entered on.”

  Cam surveyed the woman. How was it that she could remain so graceful and still even while walking in a place like this? Cam didn’t think her past here to be pleasant enough that the woman could amble through the place as though it were a garden. “How did you come into the valley?”

  “I was caught,” Ilea replied shortly. “I never traveled this passage until we, the Protectors, as we called ourselves, escaped in the dead of night. After I was found, they gave me a position in the court so as to keep an eye on me.”

  “What was happening during that time in the court?”

  “Silva was a princess and rising to power. I heard much of the royals since I was made the king’s own personal eyes.”

  Cam’s eyes widened. “Were you never afraid that you would die in the process?” She examined Ilea once more. She must have been a spy among the people if she held herself as she did. A spy who scaled walls and crept onto roofs was not evident in her gait.

  Ilea shook her head and with a shrug said, “I cannot die, remember? I am immune to devices of death in our world.” She pushed her shoulders back and tilted her chin up just a bit more. She exuded strength, but Cam saw the slight wavering in her eyes. Many memories of this woman crawled here.

  “How fortunate that you cannot fear death,” Cam thought, “But then...life must weary you. Do you long for death?”

  “I can hear thesounds,” Ilea was whispering, her gaze far off. Cam faltered in her steps. She didn’t hear anything abnormal. “The sounds of pursuit. They chased us through here. Hissing and screeching…” Ilea trailed off.

  “You are hearing a memory?”

  Ilea nodded. She squinted her eyes. “I can almost see it,” she breathed. She shut her eyes tight as if to rid her consciousness of the memory.

  But they flung open the next instant. Even before the commotion began. And Cam realized that Ilea could sense them.

  A wild cry erupted in the passage followed by horrendous hissing. Cam peered through the thick air to see Owen tumbling to the ground with a scaly, sickly, green hand grasping at his ankle. His head came crashing to the ground. and his sword flew from his hand. “O-” His name died on her lips.

  A hand slammed over her mouth, and clammy fingers shoved between her lips. What felt like arms clamped around her knees. The ground gave way beneath her. Though her eyes were wide open, all she saw were blurs as she was pinned to the ground.

  Cam’s fingers flew to pry the hands from her mouth. When her fingers touched the hand, she felt unfamiliar ridges and shapes. Scales. Her insides squirmed and she writhed. With sudden force, she lurched forward, throwing herself to the ground as hissing entered her ear. “Take her soul! Take her soul!” The sound echoed through the air and bounced in Cam’s skull.

  A scream screeched through her throat and came to an abrupt halt at her tongue. Sprawled on the ground, her hand groped for a dagger at her side. Cool metal met her palm. She stilled her movements, took one breath...and plunged the blade into flesh. Where, she did not know.

  An agonizing wail erupted into her ears, and the creature that had clung to her shuddered and sagged to the ground. Cam whirled to find her dagger protruding from the thigh of an earthen Shadow Bearer. Black liquid pooled from the wound. Cam’s heart continued to slam against her chest as she reached with both hands and pulled the dagger from the decaying creature. It dripped with black, and Cam cringed. But despite the blood, the creature was still moaning. The face of the Shadow Bearer was sunken and misshapen with non-distinguishable features. The eyes were gray and void of anything else but rippled, black veins. The flesh of the fiend was sickly green and infested with scales. The most noticeable mark, however, was not its human features but the splotch of black substance over its chest; the mark all Shadow Bearers carried.

  One more plunge. This time, in the creature's skull. Cam heard no crack to signal that her blade had met its mark, but the creature’s eyes went blank. It rolled over. Cam grunted and kicked the Shadow Bearer over.

  Her chest quivered as she slipped her eyes shut and turned from the creature only to face a despairing sight. Her heart dropped from her chest. Screams sliced the air. Screams that dribbled and rippled and split the air as if it were a veil. Peter, Joel, and the other two male warriors had leapt towards Owen and were hacking away at three creatures which were dragging him beyond the jagged trees to wherever they had come from.

  Cam whirled, her eyes scanning the vicinity for Ilea, but she was nowhere to be seen. Something brown flashed above the murky ground.

  The ground seemed to writhe, squirmed as though it was infested. Camouflage, Cam realized. The heap of Shadow Bearers consuming Ilea seemed to her as a boiling swamp. Without registering that she was outnumbered, Cam rushed at the mass of creatures. With a wild cry, she slashed her dagger to and fro, drawing wounds and black blood from the Shadow Bearers. Hissing, wailing and cries sliced what was once still air. Cam kicked injured creatures aside. Still, three more clung to Ilea.

  How many were hiding?

  Cam felt weak in the legs. Her mind perceived a flash of metal which wasn’t her own. Crunching spine followed. Joel’s harried face beheld the vile creatures as he cast one into the shadows. Only two remained. Each finished one off. Cam’s eyes roved Ilea’s thin form cast upon the ground in a heap of twisted bones. Sinking to her knees, Cam wiped muck from her face. Ilea’s closed eyes now slowly lifted. “Ilea,” Cam gasped, grasping her hand.

  Joel sank beside her, his expression stricken with concern. He lifted Ilea’s head and propped it in his lap. He reached for the canteen of water at his side and tipped it to her parted lips. Ilea swallowed and coughed up more murk. When she settled down into Joel’s lap once more, she smiled softly at Cam.

  “Have no worries. I wasn’t going to die.” Then in a rougher tone, she added, “Elyon won’t let me.” Joel helped Ilea to her feet and Cam retrieved her lost sword.

  “Put your arm around me,” Joel told her. Ilea attempted to lift her left arm but it only hung limply at her side.

  “Broken,”shemutteredthrough grittedteeth. Joelswung her arm around his arm and supported her as they trudged on.

  The screams had died down, and as Cam trudged towards Peter, she found that they had been the sounds of the Shadow Bearers. The others were standing, though hunched over and panting for breath. “We can only hope,” panted Peter, “that we killed them all and word does not reach their queen.” Cam glanced beyond the wall of trees at nothing in particular.

  “Oh, Fiera,” she breathed.

  Cam turned to examine Owen after seeing that Peter and the other two were, for the most part, unscathed. Owen’s face was covered in new cuts,
sure to become scars. She reached up, fingering them and bringing blood to her own skin. Owen placed his hand over hers reassuringly. “I’m okay, Cam.” He then took his hand from hers and clutched his chest.

  “What’s wrong?” Cam asked, making an effort to pry his hand away.

  “Nothing,” Owen muttered. “Nothing really, Cam. I’m alright. It’s just a cut.”

  “No, Owen, we can stop if you need us to.”

  Owen shrugged. “No need.” Cam watched in curiosity as Owen resumed the lead and the company trudged on.

  Whennight fell, Cam’s eyes were heavy, and she walked with a

  gait on the verge of collapsing into sleep, even if the only bedding was soggy ground. Every five minutes or so, Joel would nudge her.

  Night in the valley did not change in the form of weather or any other sense except in the coloring. The colors were dull, but they were everywhere. The valley was tainted not with black as Cam had seen most nights become but with a probing blue. “There must be heavenly lights somewhere,” Cam assumed, for from somewhere above slivers of light filtered into their midst. If it had not been for the scrawny trees and withering shadows, she might have enjoyed the light. She shuddered, chills trilling her arms and back.

  “Where will we sleep?” she wondered. “Nowhere is safe. We’ll be slain in our slumber.” But her body was feeling it. Cam knew her body had been more tired than usual. More easily fatigued. Even sliding down that rope earlier in the day had exhausted her. “And it shouldn't…” But the thought was a quiet whisper. One which faded instantly in her sleepiness. As her eyelids dipped once again, she felt her body lurching forward. Her eyes fluttered open, but she saw nothing but darkness. She stumbled forward, bracing herself for a split second, her mind scrambling to brace itself to fall.

  Instead of falling through pitch air, she tumbled to her knees, her face colliding with the soggy ground. She made a sound of disgust as she pried herself from the ground. She ran the back of her hand across her cheek, wiping muck from it. She then lifted her eyes and saw before her a sight that made her stomach churn.

  The air curdled with their cries.

  Slamming against the low set criss-cross pattern of iron bars were creatures Cam could barely distinguish in the dim light. She saw only their clawed hands scraping the bars, extending them to grasp the humans they saw before them. Or didn’t see. They probably didn’t have eyes. Cam stumbled back into a warm body. Peter’s mouth was parted as was hers. He shook his head. “There is no way we can enter here.”

  “Then how exactly will we get in?” Owen questioned. Cam turned to see that he looked just as exhausted as the rest of them. Cam watched Peter's jaw clench in frustration.

  “We will find a way,” he said at last. Cam squeezed his shoulder. To comfort him or to steady herself she did not know. Peter glanced at her. “Do you suppose…” He trailed off, but Cam caught his thread of thought.

  “That this is where the dungeons are? Yes. Which means the front of the fortress will be on the opposite side.”

  The next voice was raspy and faint. “No…”

  All turned to Ilea who was still sagging against Joel. “No, we aren't even close to the fortress.”

  Cam’s eyes widened. “But Lia said…”

  “It looks like it, yes,” Ilea said after she had caught her breath. “But the castaway dungeons run beneath an entire city. We are near the front gates, but not the fortress…

  “How far?” Peter asked.

  “Miles.” Everything inside of Cam sank. She looked at Peter with dread filled eyes.

  “We have to sleep,” she said. Peter nodded, but it was Owen that spoke.

  “Then we will find this gate and enter the city. How do you suppose we blend in?” His attention was fixed on Peter. Owen’s arms were folded across his chest.

  “Owen…” Cam began. This was not a time to challenge one another.

  But Ilea brought resolve when she said, “We won’t need to blend in. Not with people, anyway. I assume that the people who once lived in the cities and were burned alive have not returned to inhabit their dwelling places.”

  “You mean to say…” Joel began. Ilea nodded. The cities were empty. There wouldn’t be anyone to see them.

  “Even better,” Owen said, something in his face lighting up. Even Peter didn’t protest. Cam kept a hand on his arm, however, as Ilea trudged ahead of them. It had been years since Ilea had last been in Mingroth. Still, she seemed to recognize the ruins better than the map. Cam remembered that Saffira and Lia hadn’t gone farther than this.

  Blue was flickering ahead. The blue danced in the form of flames, but because of the tainted blue world, the fire did not bring warmth. Beyond the fire, rose a maze of enormous structures. Alleyways slithered in and out of sections. The structures were ominous and dull. It was as if steel and black cloaks had been melded together and then dipped in blue. Cam’s eyes floated from the spiked gate of the city to the figures moving parallel to the ground.

  Three guards of human stature held two prisoners by their thin forms before a blazing blue fire. The guards were clad in dull clothing but by their weapons, long sleek daggers with ornate hilts the color of poison green, Cam could tell they were of Silva’s servants. And their faces were too...flawless. Shadow Bearers of fire, most likely.

  A scream sliced the air, ripped open Cam’s chest as she staggered forward eyes wide and blazing. Creatures were crawling from the earth. The same ones that Cam and her company had fought off earlier. The Shadows snarled, swinging their scaly hands towards the frocks of the prisoners. As one of them screamed, the guard swung her around and slapped her hard across the face. “That’ll teach you to be respectful to your queen.”

  Cam knew them, but they barely looked like her sisters.

  “ I fashioned for myself a crown. A crown of shadows and stars, a melting madness of ambition boiling Caelae’s very foundation. I rose a prince. But not a prince of Caelae. A prince of the realm formed from water...made for me to ravage until time faded and my rule in the Infernal Cities would spark forever. When this crown laid in my palms, black as the veils separating Caelae from the Ever Reaching Realm, my words were as such: ‘Should this Crown of Curses be taken from my head, I should lose all power and writhe like the serpent Elyon proclaims me to be in its stead.’”

  -Lucius

  Nineteen

  Peter’shand grasped Cam’s forearm and jerked her back. She

  nearly cried out, but Owen’s hand clamped over her mouth. “Shh, Cam. We must await the other half of our company.” “What have they done to you?” Cam shuddered, her throat tightening. She gazed after her harried sisters and clutched at Owen.

  He released his hand from her mouth. “We’ll save them, I promise,” he assured her.

  “How?” it was Joel’s voice that whispered this time.

  “We wait for them to return into the city before anything else,” Peter replied.

  “Someoneshouldfollowthem,” Ilea remarked. “I’vebeen inside those cities before. There were sixteen last I was here. By this point, more could be in existence. They are like mazes. One could become quite lost. If no one follows the guards we’ll never find our way to Silva’s stronghold.”

  “There’s just one problem,” Owen mused. “The guards…they have their own form of magic. They will sense our pursuit.”

  The sacrifice the Spirit Followers had made before entering the valley came back to Cam. She had not participated. They had slain a young creature and had asked Elyon’s spirit to guide them while in the valley. And because of that...these Shadow Bearers may sense the spirit within them. Peter shook his head. “They can, that is true. But the stronger the spirit is within one, the stronger their sense is. Cam’s isn’t, and forgive me for saying so, as strengthened as ours. She is the most prudent person to send after them.”

  All eyes trailed to Cam whose gaze was still fixated on where her sisters had been. Cam gulped and met Owen’s concerned gaze. She nodded, answer enoug
h. “Cam, no. I won’t let you,” Owen objected, grasping at her sleeve.

  She shook him off. “I’ll be alright,” she assured him, not sure in any degree that she would be. A stiff silence passed between them.

  “Youmust pursuenow,”was allOwen said,indicatingthe departing guards and their prisoners. Cam scurried to her feet and stood beside Ilea who was already standing, her feet planted apart. She wore a warrior’s mask even with her left arm resting in a makeshift sling of slimy vines and shredded cloth. Cam’s gaze held a question as she handed Ilea a dagger.

  Ilea shrugged. “I’ve had plenty of battles in my time. Just...not usually with blades.”

  “I’d rather not know how many,” Cam replied. And then she remembered the thorns. The woman beside her did not appear as the same woman who grew briars and thorns from her own flesh. She watched as the remaining guard squelched the fire with wind from his palm. He then vanished into the city. The two partials of the gate began to inch towards one another.

  Camaria and Ilea bolted, their heartbeats thundering in unison. Cam felt thoroughly insane, running headlong into the city that would swallow her whole. As the city surrounded her, she felt only the miserable sensation of being alone, even with Ilea beside her. “Elyon, be here,” the darker woman whispered.

  Cam halted to catch her breath, shaking her head as if to clear it. “I must think rationally,” she told herself. Her eyes roved the alleyway in which she stood. Towering structures loomed overhead, connected by bridges. Hanging from these bridges of stone were sickly looking ivy. Pillars formed the walls of the utmost buildings, revealing abyss beyond them.

  “The city was more alive when I was last here,” Ilea murmured, her eyes scanning the bridges overhead. She turned to look at Cam. “It was alivewith a unified cause. Thepeople and the Shadow Bearers alike fought to find the escape from this hell.” She paused. Her foot shuffled something on the ground. “But now...there is no one.” Cam could not be sure of it.