A Kingdom of Shadow

by Clara Johnson

  “I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” he said.

  He carried me around the ledge I’d fallen from, not struggling and not losing his grip on me. He jumped over another fallen tree and the impact of his landing made me hiss. I held back a scream, but the tears burned my eyes. Fendrel didn’t falter, but he moved slower through the snow. I glanced ahead of us and saw no sign of the others. They must have reached the shelter. I thanked the Goddess that they were safe.

  I wasn’t sure how far we were from the cave. I must’ve fallen farther than I’d thought. Still, Fendrel didn’t falter. I wanted to thank him for saving my life, but when I tried to speak, my voice failed me again and I coughed instead. The blood splattered on his suit, probably staining it.

  “Marcel!” Fendrel called out.

  A silhouette appeared as Fendrel told him to get my horse. He did as commanded, moving quickly as if there wasn’t snow beneath his feet.

  I wrapped my free hand around Fendrel’s left shoulder, holding him closer. I tried to say something, though I couldn’t remember what. It was something important. Instead, I focused on his face to keep myself from losing consciousness. His mouth was still covered, but his eyes were fierce—panicked. Lydia approached us and offered to carry me the rest of the way, but Fendrel walked right past her as if she wasn’t there.

  The wind stopped as we entered the cave. It was barely big enough to hold all of us. There was a small fire already burning, giving us little light. Lydia had laid put a blanket down near the fire and Fendrel slowly bent down and laid me on it. I coughed again, feeling the wet blood on the edge of my mouth. Fendrel removed his glove and wiped it away. He said something to Lydia, but I couldn’t hear him then he cut open my suit with his knife to reveal my injury. I lifted my head to see blood covering it. Lydia handed him a canteen of water and a clean cloth and he soaked up the blood. I winced each time he touched it,

  “Most of your stitches ripped. Ellyn, I’ll have to cauterize it. You’ve lost too much blood. It will hurt,” he stated, sounding like a general on the field of battle.

  I couldn’t force my voice to speak, so I nodded.

  He removed his other glove and one by one, he pulled out the old stitches. I held back a scream. Lydia came to my side and held my hand tightly.

  Marcel handed him a dagger, glowing from the heat. “Are you ready?”

  All I could do was nod again.

  Lydia placed something in my mouth, it tasted like rough leather and Fendrel applied the scorching dagger onto my wound. The leather in my mouth muffled my scream as Lydia held me down. Fendrel held it there for what felt like hours, until he removed it and began to wrap my wound with a gauze around my stomach, applying it tightly and cut it with his knife.

  I took deep breaths to calm down. Marcel said something to Fendrel, but I couldn’t hear what he said either. Lydia left my side toward Marcel and I leaned my head to the side, looking up at Fendrel. He stared at me with a serious expression, but his eyes gave him away. There was both fear and relief in them.

  He took my hand. “Next time, I will put you in front of the line with me,” he mused.

  I laughed, only to regret it as another cough escaped.

  With his free hand, he touched my cheek. “Please don’t ever scare me like that again.”

  I closed my eyes. “Thank you,” I said, in barely a whisper. Then darkness consumed me.

  CHAPTER 29

  When I woke, Lydia was standing over me with her black braided hair hanging over her shoulder. Her bright smile made her beautiful. “You’re finally awake. You had us worried there for a while. How do you feel?”

  I forced myself to sit up, groaning in pain the entire way. My body ached, but I no longer felt any blood spill from my wound. Fendrel had outdone himself, but it would probably leave a nasty scar. I looked around, but Marcel and Fendrel weren’t there. The horses were still with us. Outside, the sky had cleared and the wind no longer roaring. The storm must’ve passed. I attempted to stand, but Lydia held me back.

  “Maybe you should take it easy for a while. Let me get you some food and water.” She got up and went to one of the saddle bags, pulling out a cloth full of jerky. She grabbed her canteen and drank from it then she handed the jerky to me. I thanked her and took a large bite.

  “I know it’s not the best, but I have lived on this stuff for weeks at a time. It’s no feast, but it will keep you alive,” she said.

  I nodded, chewing on the hard jerky. It was like eating leather. When I was done, I took a stock of myself. My bandage was fresh. The other must’ve been covered in dead tissue and blood. When I touched my side, I winced at the sharp pain, but it wasn’t as bad as last night. Fendrel had done a good job. I would have to thank him for this as well as saving my life. I suppose I owed him a life debt now.

  “Where are the others?” I asked.

  Lydia gestured at the cave opening. “They are out scouting the best path to the cave we came here for. They have been gone for about an hour now so they should be back any minute now.”

  I finished the rest of the leather jerky and I drank my entire canteen. It sat by the fire all night, so at least it wasn’t frozen. Lydia handed me hers. I mindfully only took a sip of it then handed it back to her.

  “How do you feel?” she asked again.

  “Like I fell off a mountain, but I’ll live.”

  She laughed and punched my arm and I winced to the pain. Was she out to leave bruises all over me? I rubbed my arm. Lydia looked towards the entrance and stood up, suddenly serious. I turned my head to the entrance to see Fendrel and Marcel coming in, their faces were uncovered—a sure sign that the weather had cleared up.

  “We think we found the cave, but we will need to use the rope we have to get there. There is a path on the side that we will need to scurry around, but to be safe, we better use the rope. Marcel will need to carry Ellyn some of the way up. I don’t want her climbing the rocks to risk her hurting herself again,” Fendrel said.

  “That bad, huh?” I said, making sure he knew I was awake.

  There was a brief moment of a smile on his face, but only for a moment.

  “Can you move?” he said, coming to my side and offering me his hand.

  I took it and lifted myself. My body hurt all over, but I was moving. Right now, that was what mattered.

  “I think so.”

  He walked me over to Marcel who reached out to hug me but then decided against it. I offered him a smile instead, thanking him anyway. He handed me the dagger I’d thought I lost earlier and thanked him again and put it in its place.

  “We head out in five. Let’s get what we need. The horses will have to stay here, so make sure they have water and food.”

  ~ * ~

  I walked with Marcel along the path wrapping around the mountain. He held my hand to steady me when we started up the hill. Lydia remained a couple feet behind us, with Fendrel in front. He often glanced behind him, probably wanting to make sure I wouldn’t fall again.

  Don’t worry I don’t plan on doing that again anytime soon, I wanted to tell him, but kept my mouth shut. I returned his worried looks with a small smile to reassure him.

  We made it to an excessively rocky area that would require us to make small jumps to the other side. Fendrel stood for a moment, calculating the safest route. Then, without saying a word, he hopped like a frog to a rock with the flattest surface. He jumped to another one and another with effortless grace. He was almost too good at it and made it to the other side with no trouble then signaled us to follow. I looked questioning at him but the Marcel got to his knees in front of me.

  “Climb on, lady,” he said.

  I hesitated, would I be too heavy for him to carry? But finally, I did as he asked and wrapped my arms around his neck. He grabbed my legs, pulling them to his sides. I gripped him tightly when he stood up. The idea of hopping across these edges was a lot more terrifying from this height.

  “Are y
ou sure I’m not too heavy?” I asked frantically.

  “You are light as a feather, lady. Very small compared to the men I’ve carried,” he laughed. I decided not to ask him any more questions because I didn’t think I’d want to know. He made the first jump without telling me and I clutched his neck so hard that he coughed slightly from my grip.

  “Sorry,” I said.

  “Very small, but very strong too.” He cleared his throat.

  I wanted to close my eyes, but it worse to not to see what was happening underneath me. I tried to focus on Fendrel on the other side. He stood there with his arms crossed as if he were bored. I counted seven steps in total. Marcel jumped the rest of the flatter surfaces with ease.

  The last ones were dipped into an angel that would require Marcel to use his weight to kick off of each of them. He took two steps back to give himself a running start. I held my breath as he jumped to the first one and I forced myself to close my eyes. He almost slid on the one, but managed to catch himself before we fell to our untimely deaths. I dared not look down. The very thought of how high up we were made me want to vomit. Finally, we made it to the other side. I let out the breath I was holding, but my heart was still racing and I still refused to look down.

  Lydia joined us moments later. Marcel offered to continue to carry me, saying it would help strengthen his dexterity, but I politely declined. The path became steeper as we headed further up the mountain. It was good that the wind calmed, otherwise we probably all would’ve been blown off. Marcel held my hand as I climbed.

  Our group slowed—I guessed for my sake. Fendrel didn’t seem to mind, though, and I appreciated this small kindness. My chest was hurting more with each step and I had to steady my breathing as best as I could. My earlier blood loss made me feel eve weaker. I was thankful that I’d taken another dose of my medicine. It was probably the only thing keeping me from falling again.

  We turned down another, smaller path. Up ahead, it looked like it turned into a ledge that was barely big enough for us to stand on. Fendrel told us to tie the rope around ourselves with Marcel tying the support to a large boulder and him gripping it in case the worst should happen and one of us fell. Fendrel was in the lead, I was next, and then Lydia. I swallowed at the rocky structure that awaited us.

  Nope. Don’t look down again.

  Fendrel went first, his back to the wall. He took each step carefully then glanced next to him towards, gesturing me to follow. There were about three feet between each of us. Lydia soon followed as well. I had to force myself to breathe, remembering the rocks beneath us. I tried to keep my focus on Fendrel with his hands pressed against the wall. He took one step and then another. One of the rocks beneath us cracked loudly. We all stood still for a few moments, waiting for Fendrel to calculate the next step.

  He made a larger step away from my side. I mimicked him. The entrance to the cave was close. We just needed a couple more feet. Fendrel moved cautiously. I was happy he was in the lead, I would’ve been all too eager to get to the other side. We finally made it to the ledge next to the entrance. Fendrel helped me and Lydia get onto the ledge. He untied himself then me, and Lydia untied herself.

  Fendrel tied the rope to a nearby rock, similar to what Marcel had done on the other side then called out to him to come on over. After several minutes, Marcel was in view. He took larger steps then we had which made me worry for his safety, but he was still careful.

  There was another crack and we all stood completely still, looking at Marcel, he didn’t move either. We waited until there were no more sounds and Marcel moved forward.

  Suddenly, the ground gave out underneath us. Lydia and I stepped back in time, but Fendrel lost his footing and began to fall. Without thinking, I leaped and grabbed his hand, bracing myself against the rock we’d used for the rope. I groaned loudly at the pain in my shoulder, but I looked down at Fendrel. “Don’t worry, I got you,” I said, trying to pull him up with every ounce of strength I had and managed to get him close enough to the edge when Lydia came and grabbed his other arm to help me the rest of the way. We pulled him to the safer part of the ledge, breathing heavy.

  Marcel joined us, untying himself and Fendrel looked at me.

  “Good catch,” he said with a small smile.

  I nodded returning the smile. We made our way through the cave’s entrance. Lydia grabbed a torch from her pack and lit it to provide us some light. Fendrel took it and led us down the dark hallway. It appeared to turn into the heart of the mountain and I wasn’t sure how far we had to travel down this, but I got a sick feeling in my stomach that told me this was not a good place to be.

  There was a faint blue light on the other side. Fendrel looked back at us. We all shared the same concerned glance. Marcel readied his dual blades, Lydia her bow. I unsheathed one of my daggers. Fendrel took my free hand. Why, I didn’t know. He acted like he expected a fight and wanted to make sure he could protect me. With an inferniwulf attacking me last night, there was a high chance that it wasn’t the only one in this mountain.

  Fendrel stopped for a moment as we closed in on the blue light. He gestured his head for Marcel and Lydia to go on ahead. I was about to follow, but he pulled me back with our entangled hands. He knew better than me that I was in no shape to fight. I was grateful that the others were here, but I feared for their safety.

  They stepped carefully out of sight and I gripped Fendrel’s hand. He squeezed it softly as if to say it would be all right. We stood there for several moments and each passing moment felt too long. Were they all right? I got my answer when Lydia returned, gesturing for us to come. The way was clear as far as they could tell.

  Inside the room, we found the source of the light was clear, coming from a fountain of sort, but the water in it was far from ordinary. It appeared to be glowing giving off that blue tint. The fountain was about four feet off the ground and there were no clear signs where the water traveled. On top of it, was a platform with a large black distorted S, a similar mark that Fendrel had on his chest.

  Was . . . that the same mark I saw on Fendrel’s chest? I looked at him as he watched the fountain’s flowing waters, making no sound or comment. Did he know that S was part of the something connecting to these fountains? It would have to ask him some other time when we were safely out of here.

  On the platform, there was a small bottle filled with some type of liquid. We each approached the fountain cautiously. This seemed too easy and we all knew it.

  “There’s the vial. You’ll need to get it and drink the blood contained in it,” Fendrel explained.

  I nodded, but he didn’t let go of my hand. Instead, he looked at me as if he wanted to say something else, but said nothing. His eyes searched my face as if he would find the words there. I waited silently.

  Finally, he let go and I stared at him for a moment, giving him another chance to tell me, but he’d given me a sad smile as if he expected the worst to happen and tried to lie about it. I touched his shoulder before making my way towards the fountain. Lydia and Marcel took positions on either side of me, searching for any sign of movement. I stopped a few feet from the fountain and glanced to them. They signaled me to continue.

  Now, I stood in front of the fountain, clenching and unclenching my sweaty palms. The water gave off a steady hum as if it were alive. The vial in front of the S was about as large as my hand with a large bottom and thin neck. I reached over and grabbed it. Carefully, I lifted it from the platform.

  Nothing.

  I examined the bottle. This blood will either save or kill me. I strained, wanting to put it right back and forget all of this, but I knew I couldn’t. Jonas’s life was at stake and if I gained the power of the Darkness, I could save countless others. I didn’t care if this cured me. All that mattered was saving the man I loved.

  I glanced at the others waiting for me. I took a deep breath then I was trying to pull the cork out when the water in the fountain suddenly turned bright red, shining in my
eyes with its low hum turning into a deafening one for several seconds before it went away, leaving us nothing but the red light.

  “Well, that can’t be good,” said Lydia.

  “Stay sharp,” said Fendrel.

  We stood there for a moment, waiting. The hum returned to its low volume, but in its place, was the sound of howls, echoing all around us.

  Inferniwulves.

  Lydia was the first to attack, nocking and releasing an arrow and managing to hit one of them then Marcel finished it off. This must have been the rest of the pack from the one that tried to kill me earlier.

  Fendrel grabbed my arm and dragged me to the entrance of the room with his sword unsheathed and me in his arm pressed against him. Lydia and Marcel worked together like they were one mind, one body with her weakening the Inferniwulves and Marcel finishing them off long before they would reach her. But they kept coming. There was no end to them.

  Fendrel pulled me from his chest to face me, his hands on both my arms and his eyes panicked. “Ellyn, you need to drink it. If there is even a small chance you can control them . . .” he trailed off.

  I knew what he meant. If I could control them, then I could save Lydia and Marcel.

  I nodded, pulled out the cork and drank the blood down in a few gulps. It was warm as if it were fresh. At first, I didn’t feel any different. Then suddenly, my throat burned and I fell to the ground, gripping my throat, unable to breath. Something surged into my eyelids as if they were going to pop my eyeballs out. What was happening? Hadn’t it worked? Was this all for nothing?

  I remembered Jonas, Albert.

  No, I can’t die now. I won’t!

  I willed myself to my knees, coughing as I watched Lydia and Marcel become overrun by the inferniwulves. I focused on them. The inferniwulves were everywhere, but they didn’t approach my friends. Something I’d never felt before rose within me. It was as if my blood had turned into fire and then becoming solid ice under my skin.