Shadowborn

by Katie MacAlister

  I cocked an ear to listen. Beyond the massive stone tomb that the thane had chosen as his domicile, I could hear some signs that others were nearby. An occasional rhythmical grating sound was clearly someone using a whetstone on a blade, while a hushed murmur of voices came from a greater distance.

  “Is this because of what happened earlier?” I yelled, shifting around in my cage to get my feet against the wooden bars. I grasped them, trying to simultaneously kick out at the bottom while pulling on the top, but the blasted things still wouldn’t move. “Because I apologized for biting off the thane’s nose. I don’t think I should be punished for the fact that his body parts come off so easily. Really, the fault is his. If he hadn’t dragged me into your realm, I wouldn’t have been forced to attack. Not that it did much good, because he’s faster in the spirit world than he is in mine, but still, if you were in my boots, you would have done the same. Wouldn’t you?”

  I held my breath, willing the unseen sword-sharpening spirit to answer me, but alas, he didn’t rise to any of my conversational bait.

  I sighed and leaned back against the walls of the cage, offering up several prayers to Kiriah. I might have tried to take off the head of the thane a few hours before, but I was still a priestess, and habit drove me to send several supplications to Kiriah for my actions of the last few days.

  I didn’t even bother to try to feel for her presence—Hallow had once told me that the influence of the twin goddesses was limited in this realm, and given that Kiriah hadn’t been acknowledging my presence at all the last few months, it came as no surprise that I had no sense of her here.

  “Nezu, now, him I can feel,” I murmured, rubbing the goosebumps on my arms. The dim light and slightly damp feeling of the cave reminded me of Eris before we’d driven Nezu from it. And with that memory came sadness—what was Hallow doing right now? He must have seen the thane take me with him when he escaped into the spirit realm…was the love of my life worried? Was he trying to rescue me? Did he miss me, or was he perfectly happy to have me out of the way while he devoted himself to the problem of dealing with Nezu?

  “Now you’re just being maudlin,” I told myself.

  “That’s understandable, given this place. You’d think the spirits would do something to make it a bit…well, nicer.”

  It was a woman’s voice that had me sitting up straighter, peering through the gloom to catch a flicker of movement that drew closer. I gasped at the sight of the person who had come to a halt outside my cage. “What in the name of the twin goddesses are you doing here? Did Nezu tire of your treachery, and take your life?” I asked, wishing more than ever that I had the swords the thane had taken before imprisoning me. I squinted at her, not seeing what I expected. “Wait…you’re not dead, either?”

  “Of course I’m not dead,” Mayam said, her brows lowering as she glared at me. “Lord Racin would never take my life. He knows I serve him most faithfully.”

  “Something you can’t say about the man you professed to love,” I pointed out, wishing that just for a minute, I was once again a Bane of Eris so I could deal with Mayam as she deserved. “Not to mention all the rest of us you betrayed when you gave the Queen’s moonstones to Nezu. What are you doing here if you aren’t a spirit? Are you here simply to mock me?”

  She smiled. “Lord Racin wishes to see you.”

  That shocked me. “What? Why?” I asked, confused. That Mayam should be here in the spirit realm was odd, but odder still was the thought that Racin sought my company. I watched Mayam closely as she used a giant black key on the lock that closed the door of the cage, a spurt of panic filling me at the memory of Hallow’s words about Kiriah withholding her favor from me in order to protect me from Nezu’s attention. Had the latter seen the traits of a lightweaver in me even though I had not wielded Kiriah’s power while I was on Eris?

  Mayam grabbed my wrist and jerked me out of the cage, causing me to scrape my free hand painfully on the sharp rocks that littered the ground. “It is not for you to question the ways of gods, priestess. Stop dawdling. Lord Racin is annoyed at having to come to the spirit world to speak with the thane, and his mood will not be sweetened by waiting for you.”

  “I don’t think exercising a little patience is going to kill him,” I grumbled, stiffly getting to my feet. The cage hadn’t been tall enough for me to do more than sit or crouch, and my back and legs made unpleasant cracking noises as I straightened up, but I ignored them as I mentally chewed over her comment. Nezu was here to talk to the thane? Why? What would a god, even a disgraced one who had been stripped of most of his power, have to say to a long dead warrior king? “Nezu must have something of great importance to discuss with the thane in order to come all this way. The living are not welcomed into the spirit world, not even those of Nezu’s stature.”

  She shrugged, still holding me by the wrist, tugging me after her as she hurried down a narrow path that ran past the stone dolmen and wound its way around massive, jagged fingers of rock that thrust upward. “It wasn’t that difficult to get here. You just need a spirit to guide you. Racin slew one of his Harborym and charged his shade to bring us.”

  The matter-of-fact manner in which she spoke left my insides feeling as cold and clammy as the cave itself. I had to admit I was more than a little surprised each time a bit more of her true nature was revealed. When I’d first met her she’d been my captor, but quickly became a compatriot…or so we’d all thought. “You’ve changed, Mayam, really changed. I’d like to blame the fact that you have sworn fealty to a vengeful, destructive god who wishes for nothing more than the total and complete annihilation of the Fireborn and Starborn, but I suspect that deep down, you’re just mean.”

  Her fingers tightened around my wrist, the glare from her narrowed eyes no doubt intended to strike fear in my heart. But I hadn’t gone through the events of the last year just to quail in front of a woman who had so little honor, let alone any real power. “I might return the compliment by saying that you are a know-it-all who thinks her shite doesn’t stink, but my mother raised me to be better than that.”

  “Oh!” I said, outraged at the slander. “I am not a know-it-all! I’m the first person to admit that there are any number of things I don’t know. I can’t help it if the fact that I was a Bane of Eris, a priestess of Kiriah, and a lightweaver means I have more than a passing knowledge of things beyond your ken. And for the record, I know full well that my shite is just as stinky as—” I stopped, hearing just how ridiculous that sentence was. I took a deep, calming breath, and continued, “We have strayed from the topic of what Nezu has to discuss with the thane that is so important he must kill one of his own Harborym to come here.”

  “All will become clear in time,” answered a deep voice that reminded me of rock grating on rock. The sound rolled out into the cave as we emerged around a bend into the entrance,where the thane’s twelve remaining soldiers had set up a camp of sorts. Nezu stood next to the thane, his red skin glistening as if it had been oiled, the long black braids that hung alongside his face slithering across his shoulders and upper chest as he turned to look at me. “This is the priestess? She is…not what I expected.”

  I mused that after he had consumed chaos magic Deo was changed—like me, he’d lost the color of the Fireborn—but whereas the other Banes and I had undergone minor physical changes, Deo’s body had reacted to the magic by growing in stature until he was a head taller than Hallow. I didn’t know if Nezu ever had a lesser form, but now he stood a good two heads taller than Deo, towering over me in a manner that made me feel like a child in comparison. Beyond him, two Harborym stood at the cave entrance, their backs to us, clearly watching for any intruders.

  Just who the god of shadows expected to attack him in the spirit world was beyond my understanding, but I had never claimed to follow the logic of gods, especially not Nezu. Mindful of the proper manner to greet someone of his stature, however, I made him the bow that Sand
or said indicated humility without subservience, and murmured the traditional greeting. “Blessings of Kiriah upon…oh. Er…” I stopped, uncomfortable asking Kiriah for a blessing on her troublesome brother.

  A grimace passed over his face before he turned back to the thane, who stood with arms crossed over his chest, his long, wispy white hair moving around his head as if it had a life of its own, shifting and moving on the slightest breeze. “This is the great prize? She is nothing more than a mouthpiece of the sun god. Of what use is she to me?”

  “She is most powerful, blessed in Kiriah’s eyes,” the thane answered, and once again, I wondered how he’d known who I was when he was supposed to have been asleep deep in the crypts beneath Kelos.

  “She doesn’t have the scent of power about her.” Nezu turned to run his gaze over me again. I had to steel myself to stand still. “There is no stink of Kiriah about her, only that of Bellias.”

  I wondered why I smelled of arcany, but figured it must be some residue from the intimate contact I’d had with Hallow a few hours before.

  Beside me, Mayam rushed to say, “The priestess claims she is a lightweaver, my lord, although during the whole time I was with her on Eris, she never summoned up so much as one single ray of sunlight.”

  “As if anything could get through the perpetual twilight that fell on Eris when the twin goddesses bound—” I stopped the second my mind pointed out to whom I was speaking. The less I reminded Nezu of his exile, the better. I could almost hear Hallow’s voice gently chiding me for trying to prove my abilities to a god who would not hesitate to crush me in order to strip from me Kiriah’s power. I cleared my throat, and said simply, “All priestesses of Kiriah carry with them her blessing. I am no different.”

  Nezu studied me for a moment with a gaze that just about flayed the flesh off my bones. He turned back to the thane. “I don’t see anything special about this priest, but I will grant your request. In exchange for her, I will summon the All-Father.”

  The thane, who had been regarding Nezu with half-closed eyes, smiled. His visage showed the number of long centuries he had lived before the Eidolon had left the mortal realm and retired to their crypts buried deep in Alba; his smile was both unnatural and disconcerting. “We are in agreement, then. I give you the priestess to do with as you will, and in return, the All-Father will be destroyed. I must raise the rest of the Eidolon to do so, however. They have been too long asleep, and it will take much to rouse them.”

  Nezu was silent for a few minutes before he gestured toward Mayam, who released her hold on my wrist, scurrying forward. “My servant will fetch one of Bellias’ moonstones. Use it to waken your army, and do what you could not do before my coming.”

  The thane bowed his head in acknowledgement while all sorts of warning bells went off in my mind. Who was this All-Father of which they spoke? Why did the thane want him destroyed? And most importantly of all, how could I use this turn of events to rid us of Nezu? The moonstone…it might have the power to leash him, but I was not learned in its use, and doubted if I had the power to hold him, even if I was to get the stone away from the thane.

  “Take the priest to my camp and bring back one of the moonstones,” Nezu commanded Mayam before turning back to the thane. “Is this the extent of your company? I want a spirit found who is hiding in this realm—”

  Mayam yanked me after her, hurrying toward the entrance of the cave, where two Harborym lurked. I tried to dig in my feet in order to hear what it was Nezu wanted of the thane, but Mayam was evidently desperate to please her master. “Stop fighting me,” she hissed, giving me a vicious jerk forward when I tried to delay. “Or I’ll have the Harborym knock you silly.”

  “Mean, just mean,” I muttered under my breath. The thought that the moonstones must be nearby filled my head, causing my fingers to twitch with the need for action. I spied a familiar object poking out of a small open chest, and jerked sideways, snatching up my scabbard and crossed swords.

  “Oh, no, you don’t!” Mayam snarled, grabbing the scabbard from me before I could so much as extract one sword.

  She looked as if she was about to throw the scabbard aside when I said quickly, “Do not cast them away. They belong to Deo. He’s just letting me use them, and they have much value to him. He would be angry to know you tossed away his mother’s swords.”

  “Huh,” she snorted with a toss of her head, but she tucked the scabbard under her free arm. “What are Lord Deo’s wishes to me? He is as weak as you are, a fact I soon realized. It is why when Lord Racin asked for my aid, I gave it to him willingly. Lord Deo was all talk and no action. Lord Racin says little, but his actions are unmistakable.”

  “Who is this All-Father he wants destroyed?” I asked, my mind turning over any number of plans. If I could pretend to stumble, I might take her down with me, and in the scuffle to get to our feet, I could get my swords. Or I could throw myself on her, taking her by surprise, and knock her out, retrieving my swords, after which I would go looking for the moonstones. On the other hand, I could simply wait until she took me to the stones, at which point I would either stumble or attack her, thus giving me both my weapons and the moonstones. Yes, that seemed the wisest plan.

  The look she shot me was almost pitying in its smugness. “You are a priestess, educated and well-traveled, and yet you do not know who the All-Father is?” She shook her head. “Your ignorance is breathtaking.”

  I was about to tell her what I thought of her, too, but at that moment we approached the Harborym. They both stared at us until Mayam gestured for one to move aside. “The master commands me to his tent. Move, so that I might take his prisoner to the gaoler.”

  I thought for a moment the massive abomination might refuse her order, but after giving her a long look, he shifted just enough for us to squeeze between them out into the brighter light.

  A small cluster of tents had been set up, and a few Shadowborn and Harborym moved in and around them. In the center was a large black and red structure that looked as if it was made up of a portcullis to which a tent had been attached. As we drew closer I realized the long iron bars set into thick wooden walls were a gaol of some sort, into which Mayam was no doubt about to cast me. I eyed the tent part of the structure, guessing that was Nezu’s quarters. No doubt he enjoyed tormenting those whom he had captured, keeping them near him to witness their suffering.

  “Take the prisoner,” Mayam commanded one of the Shadowborn who stood guard outside the gaol. It was empty, I noted, but that didn’t surprise me. I couldn’t imagine how Nezu expected to confine an incorporeal spirit, but figured now was not the time to try to puzzle that out. “Lord Racin wishes her confined near him, where he might enjoy her screams.”

  Mayam released my wrist at the same time the man stepped forward. He grabbed me by the arm with a painful bite of his fingers into my flesh, drawing from me a gasp of pain. Mayam ignored it, and entered the tent, no doubt to complete her master’s bidding, taking with her my swords and only hope of escape.

  I stood for a moment, unmoving when the guard tried to push me forward, my heart sick at the idea of being Nezu’s prisoner. The thane was bad enough, but I’d beaten him once—kind of—and I knew I could do so again. But Nezu was different.

  “You come,” the guard ordered, trying to give me a shove, but he was smaller than me, and I was tired of being pushed and pulled around.

  If only Kiriah would hear my pleas. If she would allow me to tap into her power, then I could blast the guard, grab my swords and the moonstones, and be away before Nezu knew what happened. But it was no use even trying, my heart said in a sad little dirge. Kiriah, for whatever reason, had abandoned me when I most needed her strength. I bowed my head, about to give in to the inevitable when my brain prompted me with a mental image of Hallow shaking his head, his eyes glittering like topazes in a bubbling stream while he told me to have faith in myself.

  “You will do a
s I order,” the guard warned, giving me a hard shove toward the door. “Else it will go badly for you.”

  I closed my eyes, flexing my fingers, my mind working through the words of the invocation of Kiriah, calling for her grace and power to fill me.

  Nothing happened. There was no sense of Kiriah, no familiar tingle of heat sweeping through me.

  “What’s going on out here?” Mayam asked, emerging from the tent with an object wrapped in a dirty bit of cloth. “Why haven’t you put her in the gaol? For the love of the night, must I do everythi—”

  Fury roared to life in me at her words, at the whole situation. “How dare the thane take me?” I almost yelled, jerking my arm from the guard’s hold. “And your precious Nezu—who does he think he is that he can just order me to a gaol where he will subject me to the most heinous tortures imaginable? And for what?”

  “I…you…you can’t…” Mayam’s eyes grew round when I snarled at her. Rage, hot and fiery, swept through me.

  The guard lunged, but before he could touch me, he shrieked and leaped backwards, his hands singed with the strength of my anger.

  The heat of Kiriah filled me, lighting up even the smallest part of my body, making my soul sing with the joy of it all as I spoke words of gratitude to the goddess, along with the promise that I would not repay her kindness with shame. The power of the sun roared in my ears, my body an inferno of intent. I glanced at Mayam, and knew without the slightest shred of doubt that I could destroy her where she stood.

  But Kiriah’s blessing was not that of vengeance, so instead of smiting her on the spot, I simply flung a net of light onto her that my fingers had automatically woven, and snatched from her hands the dirty bit of cloth that hid the moonstone.