Shadow Magic

by Joshua Khan

  “What have you got in mind?” asked Lily.

  “How about a ride on Hades?”

  The bat jerked back, indignant.

  Thorn sighed at the monster. “Oh, is that what you think? Fair enough.”

  Lily frowned. “Can you really understand what he’s saying? And what is he saying?”

  Thorn sighed. “He’s saying he won’t do it. He says you smell…funny. But you know what I think? I think Hades can’t carry us both. Because he’s old.”

  Hades growled.

  Thorn continued. “Old and weak and a bit past it. There’s no way he’s strong enough to carry two people; he can barely carry me. I’m sorry, Lily, but I’ve got to get Hades back to Murk Hall. He gets tired easily, what with him being two hundred years old and all. And his hearing’s not what it used to be. I wouldn’t want him crashing into a wall or nothing.”

  Hades thwacked Thorn. The beast glared at him.

  “Really?” said Thorn. “Well, if you insist.” Thorn grinned at Lily and patted Hades’s back. “Up you hop.”

  Lily looked uneasy. “Are you sure about this?”

  “You get up onto the shoulders. I’ll sit behind you. If he gives you any trouble, just pull his ears. Hard.”

  Hades twitched his ears warily.

  Lily got on and shuffled as far forward as she could. Thorn jumped on behind her and got up close.

  He didn’t know what Hades was complaining about. Lily smelled nice. Her hair flicked in his face. How could hair be so soft?

  “Sorry. Should I tie it up?”

  “Er…no. It’s fine.” Thorn hadn’t planned for this. Lily could hold on to Hades’s fur, but he couldn’t reach from behind her.

  “Put your hands around my waist, Thorn.”

  “No, I’m fine. I’ll just balance like this.”

  “Put them around my waist.”

  He did.

  “Tighter.”

  “Um, okay.” Then he leaned toward Hades’s left ear. “No funny business. Fly smooth and straight.”

  Hades shuffled to the side of the Needle. And tipped himself off.

  Wings folded, he dropped like a stone. The wind roared in Thorn’s ears and Lily’s hair covered his vision. He felt her tremble as their bodies pressed together. Was it fear or excitement?

  The wings unfurled, and they swooped over the shouts of the soldiers in the courtyard. Horses neighed and reared up on their back legs.

  Trailing behind like a fluttering cloak came thousands of bats.

  Hades swept his wings in slow, easy beats. He gave himself space and glided gently.

  Lily gasped, and she turned her head. She stared at Thorn, grinning, unable to speak.

  Their faces were so close and lips inches apart—

  Lily howled and faced front.

  Thorn’s heart raced, and it wasn’t because of the thrill of flying.

  “Look, Thorn! The Night Garden!”

  “That’s where we buried Custard, right?”

  Hades swooped down and skimmed his claws over the tips of the trees. He swirled around and flapped above the large central pond, admiring his own reflection.

  “You really do love yourself,” muttered Thorn, nudging the bat with his heels.

  Hades dipped his lower back, then bucked hard.

  Thorn was thrown into the air, the wind whistling in his ears, along with a burst of laughter from Lily.

  He splashed into the pond. It wasn’t deep, so he scraped his backside on the gravel at the bottom.

  Spluttering and pulling weeds out of his hair, Thorn scrambled to his feet, standing chest high in the water. Hades was scratching in the pebbles along the path, and Lily had dismounted and stood at the edge of the pond. She extended her hand while her shoulders shook with barely suppressed laughter. “Here, let me help you out.”

  “I can get out by myself!”

  Stupid bat. Ugly bat. Evil bat.

  Thorn coughed and spat out more pond water. He glared at Hades. “That’s it. You’re having hay with the mules.”

  Lily held up her hand. “Stop, Thorn. What’s that?”

  He looked around him.

  A fish floated dead upon the water. Thorn picked it up. Green froth clung to its gills.

  “There’s another.” Lily pointed to his right.

  The whole pond reeked of dead fish. They bobbed on the ripples, their scales peeled off, their mouths and gills green.

  Lily crouched down and took one out. She rubbed the green paste between her fingers and went pale. “This is life-bane. The same poison that killed Custard.”

  “What’s it doing here?” Thorn looked at the dead fish in his hands. He quickly dropped it and wiped his hands. Then he started spitting. “I swallowed some of this water.”

  Lily frowned as she peered into the pond. “See that? Something glinting among those rocks. Just under the surface.”

  Thorn saw it. Something shiny and orange. He reached down and with some scrabbling felt a metal shape. He closed his hand around it and waded over to Lily.

  “What is it?” Lily asked.

  Both leaned over to look as Thorn unfurled his fingers.

  It was a ring with a large amber stone. The stone was hinged, and underneath was a secret compartment. Lily picked up the ring and scraped her nail along the inner edge. “This is an old assassin’s device. Poison hidden in a hollowed-out ring.” She held up her finger, showing the green powder collected under her nail. “More life-bane.”

  “It can’t be….” Only one person at Castle Gloom wore amber. Thorn had met him here, the night of the feast, the night Custard had died. “He said he was throwing pebbles into the pond, but he lied, didn’t he? He was trying to get rid of this ring.”

  Lily stared at it. “When we danced, he said he didn’t want me marrying Gabriel. He said it would be bad for his family if the Shadows and Solars made an alliance. I just didn’t realize how far he’d go to stop it….”

  They’d found the poisoner.

  K’leef.

  Thorn raced off, leaving Lily far behind. He needed to get to K’leef. It wouldn’t be long before Lily reported him, and after that, there’d be guards, there’d be Tyburn and Duke Solar, and it would be too late.

  He needed to find out the truth.

  The ring was K’leef’s. No doubt about that. The ring was designed to hold poison. No doubt about that, either, and he knew, he knew, that K’leef had chucked it into the pond.

  But K’leef, an assassin? He couldn’t believe it.

  He didn’t want to believe it.

  Thorn leaped up the steps to the Eclipse rooms two at a time. This time of night the castle should be deeply asleep, but he could already hear the sound of armored men shouting out in the courtyard. Doors slammed and boots hammered on the steps below, not far behind him.

  He reached the top and spilled out into a small hall, bare except for a stout wooden and brass door. Thorn banged on it, hard. “K’leef! Open up! Right now!”

  I have a minute, maybe two, before the others get here.

  Thorn smashed his fist against the thick oak. “OPEN UP!”

  He barged in the moment the bolt slid open. “We found the ring.”

  K’leef stood before him, blinking, mouth agape, dressed in a pair of baggy silken trousers and a hastily wrapped blanket. He twitched his head, trying to recover his wits. “What—what ring?”

  “Don’t treat me like an idiot, K’leef.” Sitting there on the dressing table was a red lacquer box filled with amber rings. Small, large, dainty, chunky. All sorts. Thorn grabbed a handful and threw them at K’leef. “Which one of these has poison in it, K’leef?”

  “I—I—”

  Thorn slammed the door shut. The shouts of the guards echoed upward, getting louder by the second.

  Thorn faced his friend. “Tell me the truth, K’leef. You don’t have long. Did you try and poison Lily?”

  “Of course not!”

  “Then what happened? Quickly!”

&nb
sp; K’leef looked anxious. “I have that poison—it’s true. It was stored in my ring ages ago, as a powder. It’s common in the Sultanate. You can use it against rivals and…on yourself.”

  “On yourself? Why?”

  “To ensure you aren’t taken alive. So you don’t become a hostage. I should have taken it the second I was captured by the duke, but I didn’t have the courage.”

  “Killing yourself doesn’t sound courageous; it sounds stupid.”

  Thorn saw tears fall as K’leef continued. “I kept the ring in that box. I never wore it. Please believe me. I never wore it. But someone must have come into my room and found it. They must have used a few pinches of the poison, then returned the ring. When the puppy died, I knew it was life-bane. Don’t you see? Someone’s trying to set me up! I had to get rid of the ring! I was going to bury it in the Night Garden, but then I heard you and Lily coming, so I threw it in the pond.” He looked at Thorn, eyes imploring. “It’s the truth, Thorn. On my honor.”

  Thorn didn’t know what to do, what to believe. He wanted to shake K’leef, shout at him for being so stupid, for lying to them, his friends. But it wouldn’t do any good now.

  Thorn could track animals, he could hunt, and he could travel by the stars, but he had a hard time understanding politics—things like sabotage, treason, and assassination. These things didn’t happen back in Stour. “Why would someone want to set you up for killing Lily?”

  “To make us enemies. To make the Shadow family hate mine, House Djinn. Then, when Duke Solar next attacked my country, he’d have everyone from Gehenna beside him.”

  It made horrible sense. If Lily had died and the blame had fallen on the sultan’s son, then Gehenna would have gladly joined Lumina to avenge itself on the Sultanate of Fire.

  Tyburn booted the door open. Guards stood behind him, the closest carrying a set of iron cuffs. He bowed, ever so slightly. “M’lord, I have some questions for you.”

  K’leef didn’t protest. The shock he’d shown in front of Thorn had completely disappeared. He looked calm and in control. Like a true noble. “Of course. You won’t need the chains.”

  Tyburn nodded. “I’ll have the cell made as comfortable as possible.”

  K’leef shot Thorn one last, desperate look before the guards led him away, leaving Thorn with the grim-faced executioner.

  Tyburn casually searched the box of rings, perhaps looking for another one storing poison. “I wondered why he’d stopped wearing them.”

  “He ain’t the assassin,” said Thorn.

  “The ring was his. He had the opportunity, and he had the motive. Am I missing anything?”

  “Yeah, the real killer.” Thorn was desperate. “What about this sixth brigand? You were sure he was behind this poisoning.”

  Tyburn turned and faced him. The dark eyes of his went cold. “I was, that is true. I made a mistake. I was so fixated on the man I was chasing that I forgot the first rule of the hunt: Beware of other predators.”

  “Yeah. My dad warned me to watch out for the wolf at my front and the bear at my back.”

  “Wise words.” Tyburn smiled. “I’d like to meet your father one day.”

  “Maybe you ain’t wrong. Maybe it is this sixth man. You just ain’t found him yet.”

  “You’re letting your feelings cloud your judgment. Do you think K’leef is the first person to betray a friend?”

  “No, that ain’t K’leef. He’s got honor.”

  “Honor? The first refuge of liars and scoundrels.” Tyburn looked over at him. “You’ve a lot to learn about the world, boy.”

  “So you think all this time he was just pretending?”

  “Yes,” Tyburn replied. “It’s difficult for you to understand the stakes. You value friendship too much.”

  “Friendship is important.”

  “To some.” Tyburn scratched his chin. “Given how Gabriel treats him, it makes sense that K’leef would try to poison him. The crystal goblets all looked the same, but it didn’t really matter. If Gabriel had died, his father would have blamed the Shadows. If Lily had died, the Shadows would have held the Solars responsible. There would be war between the two countries all over again. K’leef would have saved his country with a few pinches of poison.”

  “K’leef thinks he was set up, to give the Solars and the Shadows a reason to attack the Sultanate,” said Thorn.

  Tyburn looked doubtful. “Interesting theory, but not as believable.”

  “Maybe the duke arranged it,” said Thorn. “Just to keep K’leef from getting home. He’ll end up an old man, a prisoner of the duke for life.”

  “No, he won’t,” said Tyburn. “By attempting to murder Lady Shadow, K’leef has committed treason.”

  “You can’t mean…”

  “K’leef’s not going anywhere but Lamentation Hill,” said Tyburn. “Where he’ll be executed.”

  “Lady Shadow! Wait!”

  Thorn ran across the courtyard. He’d been waiting all morning, and finally Lily was out, though guarded by Mary and three of her maids.

  Lily stopped, and Mary frowned as Thorn skidded up to them.

  He bowed. “Can I have a word, m’lady?”

  Mary got in between them. She crossed her arms and snorted. “Don’t you have errands, boy? Lady Shadow is far too busy—”

  “It’s all right, Mary.” Lily touched her nanny’s arm, and the old woman, most reluctantly, stepped aside. “What is it, Thorn?”

  “In private.”

  Mary gave him a scowl, but Lily nodded and the two of them walked a few yards away.

  Thorn glanced over at the Needle. “So they let you out?”

  “Yes. Now that we’ve discovered the poisoner, there’s no need for me to be locked up there anymore.”

  “You don’t believe it’s K’leef, do you?” How could she? K’leef was her friend more than he was Thorn’s. “He would never hurt you.”

  “Tyburn says he might have been trying to poison Gabriel and the goblets got muddled up.” Lily bit her lip. “Oh, Thorn, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

  “Please, Lily. He’ll be executed in three days. You have to do something.”

  Lily’s eyes were red-rimmed, and she looked so tired. “Don’t you think I’ve tried? I’ve pleaded with Uncle Pan, but he says there’s nothing we can do. I have to uphold the law, for noble and commoner.”

  “But what if the law’s wrong? Then it must be right to break it.”

  Lily’s gaze cooled. “I hope you’re not planning anything stupid.”

  He almost blurted it out right then and there. But he held his tongue, despite himself. Instead he gave Lily an insipid smile, the sort of smile he’d seen a lot here in Castle Gloom. “Of course not.”

  “You’re a terrible liar.” Lily glanced back at the waiting Mary. “I have to go. Duke Solar’s back and it looks like he’s brought half of Lumina’s nobility with him. I’ll do what I can, but you’ll have to give me time.”

  “K’leef ain’t got no more time.”

  She took his hand. “Please, Thorn, let me handle this.”

  Thorn watched her go.

  She couldn’t save K’leef. She just didn’t want to admit it.

  It was up to him.

  The rest of the day was spent preparing. He groomed Hades and fed him to bursting. The bat used up a lot of energy flying, and Thorn needed him to fly as far and as fast as he could tonight with two on his back.

  Thorn gathered enough food for two days, and he collected the few crowns he’d earned as tips for grooming the horses. It wouldn’t get them far, but if they reached the coast, he reckoned they could get a ship to take them south. The sultan would reward any captain handsomely for the return of his son.

  Thorn had visited the underground cells earlier that evening. The jailer was a sallow-faced man who drank a lot and slept even more. K’leef was his only prisoner. Thorn handed over a stolen bottle of wine, telling the jailer it was a gift for his good work. The cork came out before Thorn
had even left the room.

  Thorn settled himself down among the bales in the stables, telling the other squires that he wanted an early start. No one noticed.

  He waited until the moon was past its zenith. The castle fell quiet.

  Thorn brushed off the hay as he stood. He hefted his rucksack.

  This was it, all or nothing. Either they got away, or in a few days both of their heads would be up on Lamentation Hill.

  Don’t think about that. Think about saving your friend. Think about getting home. Think about anything but the touch of cold sharp steel on your neck.

  Thunder glanced at him. Thorn wandered over and rubbed his forelock. “I’m gonna miss you, boy.”

  The big stallion stamped his hoof.

  “I ain’t got no choice.” He looked around the other horses. Yes, he was going to miss this place. For somewhere that wasn’t his home, it wasn’t too bad.

  Thorn searched behind the oat sacks and drew out a club, nothing more than a heavy lump of wood he’d taken from the log pile. He might need to use it, if the jailer wasn’t asleep.

  Thorn crept across the stables to the door and peered out. No one in the courtyard and the moon hidden behind heavy clouds. Torches flickered weakly on the walls. Perfect.

  Down to the cells. Get K’leef, then across to Murk Hall and Hades.

  Simple. Like all the best plans.

  Thorn stepped into the courtyard.

  A match light hissed into life.

  The flame waved over a pipe and lit the hard contours of Tyburn’s face. He puffed at the stem until the tobacco was glowing, then leaned back on his stool, which was positioned a few yards from the stable doors. He was unarmed.

  “Go back to bed, boy.”

  Thorn looked across the flagstones. The door leading to the steps to the underground cells was no more than fifty yards away.

  All that stood between him and that door was Tyburn, an old man. Thorn tightened his grip on the club. One good whack and the executioner wouldn’t wake till lunchtime.

  Tyburn puffed out a big smoky ring. “I’m not in the habit of repeating myself.”

  You just want me to do something stupid. It ain’t gonna happen. I’ll wait.

  After all, Tyburn couldn’t watch Thorn all the time.