Enveloping Shadows

by Lauren D. M. Smith

  When she looked at him, he offered her a faint smile. “Everyone has some training in fighting, and we all learn to work with the shadows, but only about a quarter of us are true warriors. We receive far more strict training and occasionally perform jobs to support the others. As you can imagine, we’re very good spies.”

  Terrwyn offered him half a smile in return. “I don’t doubt it. What kind of training do you do? You don’t carry a sword, so not much fencing I guess.”

  “Most of us don’t learn sword, though there are a few who do. Most of us learn to use weapons that are more easily concealed. It makes it easier for us when on mission. I personally favour knives, though I know some who prefer blackjacks, nunchukas, sickles, and one woman I know uses a garrotte and a chain whip. We like to let our people choose the weapon that suits them best.”

  “That makes sense. We learn the basics of a few weapons, but most of the focus we get is on sword and bow. I did some extra training with spears when I was younger, so I have a certain fondness for them as well.”

  “From what I’ve seen, you’ve been trained exceptionally well.”

  She looked away for a moment, her face going warm. “I took the most combat missions of my year-mates once we graduated, which is probably why. And with how bad the pirates were on the southwestern coast when I first graduated, I had an entire year to get fighting experience. I was lucky that most of those in command there were just happy for the help. Though they complained about me being green often enough when I first arrived, and I wasn’t allowed to lead anything until right near the end, and even then it was only a squad of soldiers.”

  Zel frowned slightly. “I’m afraid I haven’t quite gotten a proper understanding of the difference between a knight and a soldier. It seems soldiers wear less armour and spend fewer years training, but there are far more of them.”

  “Knights are nobles and we’re primarily used as cavalry. There are times, like with the pirates, where we’ll operate in different ways, but mostly we stick to our horses. Our soldiers are the infantry and are generally commoners. Some are also scouts, archers, pikemen, etc. Also, we don’t have female soldiers. There are only three of us who are knights, but while there’s no law forbidding a female soldier, there’s a strong tradition against it. Even those of us who have our shields have trouble from some.”

  He snorted. “That’s stupid. Depriving yourself of half your potential force is insanity. Though I’m surprised there are so few of you among the knights.”

  Terrwyn sighed. “It’s not an easy path, and it’s harder when you realize there are people, traditionalists, who will look down on you for it. I was lucky my year-mates as a whole didn’t even notice I was a woman for the most part, so I didn’t have any issues during training. But Sir Dera said a group of her year-mates kept trying to break her. Half of that lot didn’t make it through, of course, but it’s the fear of something similar happening that causes a lot of girls to decide against knighthood even if they’re interested. And there are plenty of girls who aren’t interested in knighthood. There’s not enough gold in the country to have convinced my sister to do it.”

  “I think my sister would be the same, or she was the last time I saw her,” he said, smiling with more than a hint of wistfulness to it.

  She couldn’t imagine being away for four years, not seeing anything familiar. Terrwyn hoped they were able to deal with Chayn quickly once they found Aricia, hoped that Zel would finally be able to go home and see his sister again. Seeing his expression, she glanced around, looking for something to distract him. There was nothing. Just the same grass, hills and sky they’d been riding through the whole time.

  Terrwyn coughed, drawing his focus back to her. “What do you think about trying to hunt something for dinner tonight?” She cursed herself as soon as the words left her mouth. Even to her she sounded stupid, her attempt to shift his attention obvious.

  But Zel didn’t seem bothered if the way he grinned was any indication. “If you’re offering to shoot something, I’m more than willing to cook it. I’m afraid my bow broke a long time ago, and I haven’t been able to get used to the smaller ones you find here.”

  “Deal,” she said, already planning to dig her bow out when they stopped for lunch. She hoped she actually saw something to shoot, or she was going to look like even more of an idiot. And she really didn’t want to lose Zel’s respect.

  Chapter Fifteen: Injured

  Terrwyn watched her arrow cut through the air, not stopping until it struck the rabbit squarely in the head. She grinned and urged her mare towards it. After the last two she’d tried to get, both ending up with broken and lost arrows, she’d begun to think she was out of practice. She spent most of her training time focused on her sword work, since it provided a better defence against people targeting Aricia.

  In hindsight, if she’d had a bow or even a throwing knife, she might have been able to get the kidnapper, Chayn, before he’d grabbed Aricia. It was something she’d consider once they were back at the palace and Aricia was safe. For now, at least they’d have some fresh meat for dinner.

  Zelek had reached her by the time she was skinning the rabbit, experience making quick work of it. With one of her heavier knives, she field-dressed the kill, glad she’d thought to bring a game bag and feeling a little regret at not being able to take the fur and tan it. She hated waste.

  But she didn’t have any other option, so she concentrated on what she could do. In a matter of minutes she was storing the meat in her game bag and remounting. As she settled herself back into the saddle, she glanced around. Black and blue drew her attention to the lone tree growing to their left. She frowned, standing up in her stirrups to get a better look while Zel watched, his expression the same as hers.

  She blinked and realized that what she was looking at was someone lying down under the tree, the position they were in unnatural. Terrwyn dropped back down and kicked her mare into a canter. The closer she got, the more she thought whoever this was had run into some kind of trouble.

  When she reached the man, she dismounted, wincing as she noticed the bloody patches showing through his torn clothes at his shoulder and leg. His chest was moving but she didn’t like the colour of his face. He needed help or he’d likely die.

  Zel reined up behind her, studying the man until he saw Terrwyn pull a roll of bandages out of one of her saddlebags. “What are you doing?”

  She looked up at him, frowning. “I’m going to try and dress his wounds. He’s in rough shape.”

  “You should leave him be. That man is a thief. He’s killed people for their possessions, more than once. He’s not the kind of person you should be trying to save. His shadow has painted a clear enough picture of that for me to be certain.”

  Terrwyn paused over the man, bandages still in her hand. “Is he dangerous right now?”

  “No. He’s truly unconscious.”

  “Then I’m helping him.”

  He glowered as she knelt beside the man. “Why help someone who doesn’t deserve it?”

  “Because my oaths as a knight make my duty clear. I help those who need it. I don’t worry about who deserves it or not, not when there’s only one person in need of aid. Besides, it’s not my job to judge people.”

  She heard him sigh, but he said nothing else even though she could feel the almost physical weight of his stare on her back. She chose to ignore him, focusing instead on the work at hand. Using a clean knife, Terrwyn cut away the man’s bloody shirt to reveal the wound. She hissed a little at the mangled flesh.

  Deep gouges showed dark red as blood continued to sluggishly seep up around the torn skin and muscle. To Terrwyn, it looked like something had tried to take a chunk out of him.

  Using her waterskin, she did her best to gently clean the wound before bandaging it. She was glad the worst of the bleeding was apparently done and ho
ped that with the bandaging he’d be able to recover. Though Zel would probably be happier if the man died.

  She shoved the thought away. She was treating the man because she expected him to survive, wanted him to. It didn’t matter what Zelek thought. Tying off the bandage, Terrwyn turned her attention to the man’s leg. The wound there was much the same though smaller and shallower. Seeing bone, Terrwyn suspected that might be why it wasn’t quite so bad. It took her even less time to bandage the man’s leg.

  Finished, she sat back on her heels and studied the stranger. His heavy stubble didn’t hide the pallor of his face. He hadn’t so much as twitched when she’d been cleaning his wounds, making her worry he might be worse than he looked.

  Having already seen some of what lived in the Wild Lands, Terrwyn didn’t have any illusions about what would happen to the man if they left him here alone, unconscious and wounded. She glanced up at the sky, where the sun was barely three quarters of the way towards the horizon. The light hadn’t even gone dark gold yet. They could still travel a fair ways, get themselves closer to Aricia.

  She looked back at the man and growled. Duty demanded she stay with him, but it also demanded she go after Aricia. Terrwyn glanced at Zel, who met her gaze steadily, his face unreadable. After another few heartbeats with her mind circling round and round, she stood.

  “I’d like to camp here tonight. If we leave him the way he is now, he’ll just die if something doesn’t try to eat him first.”

  “And if he doesn’t wake up by morning?” Zel’s voice was carefully neutral.

  “We leave him,” she said, hating herself a little for having to. But Aricia was far more important and she couldn’t delay more than they already would by stopping early. “And it’s not as if the horses couldn’t use the rest.”

  “That’s the only point you’ve made that I can agree with,” he said, dismounting. “Though I admire your dedication to your oaths, this man is very likely to go back to thieving as soon as he recovers.”

  Terrwyn shrugged, though she was inwardly pleased he was willing to camp early for her. “Then he’ll eventually be caught and punished appropriately. This could also be a turning point for him, and maybe he’ll be a better person for it.”

  Zelek snorted. “I doubt it. People don’t change. They may moderate behaviours due to outside influences, but once those influences disappear...”

  “People can change. All they have to do is want to, truly want to, and dedicate themselves to it.”

  He met her eyes and held them for several moments then looked away, shaking his head. “Your confidence almost makes me want to believe. But I’m afraid we’ll have to agree to disagree on that.”

  She frowned but didn’t argue. Not when she was the reason they were losing time. Instead they both went about their half of the camp tasks, each moving around the other and not getting into the other’s way, almost like a set dance.

  * * *

  After Zel had assured her it was safe, that there wasn’t anything nearby that would trouble them, Terrwyn had gotten a small fire going. She watched the sparks dance now, the remnants of a bowl full of the stew she’d made using the rabbit. Zelek sat to her left, directly across the fire from the stranger who lay to her right.

  Terrwyn glanced at the man. He still hadn’t woken up, and she was beginning to worry he wouldn’t, that the delay would ultimately be for nothing. Not that she could have done anything else and stayed true to her knighthood.

  She drew her knees up and propped her chin on them, hugging her legs to her chest. With the sun gone, she found it harder to think positively. If she found out this delay was the difference between Aricia being safe and not... She shook the thought away but knew she wouldn’t be able to live with herself if that happened. The guilt was already nearly crushing her, adding any more to it and she didn’t think she’d be able to function.

  For brief times she was able to forget, often when Zel was telling stories or talking to her, but the stomach-twisting feeling always came back. She knew she shouldn’t blame herself so completely, not when no one else had been able to stop Chayn, and not when the power he had was something she doubted anyone in the entire kingdom had heard of. But what she thought and what she felt weren’t always the same thing.

  Terrwyn sighed. She just wanted to find Aricia, rescue her, help Zel take care of Chayn and then go home. From there she’d retrain herself and her people so something like this never, ever happened again. She thought maybe Zel would help before he left. That made her frown, as she realized he would probably want to head straight home once Chayn was dead. If she’d been away for four years, she wouldn’t want to delay any longer.

  The idea made her feel a bit lonely but she shoved that away. There was no reason for it, and it wasn’t like anything she said or did would stop him. He had a family and life to get back to, same as her.

  A faint groan from her right drew her attention. She dropped her arms and shifted so she could get a better look at her patient. As Terrwyn leaned towards him, she saw his eyes open slowly, face still lined with pain. “What?” he whispered, voice scratchy.

  She grabbed her waterskin and moved so she was beside him. “Here,” she said, holding it close to him. “Would you like a drink?”

  The man looked up at her and Zel, who had moved so he loomed behind her, then carefully nodded. She gently brought the skin to his lips and tilted it back so he could drink, letting him have his fill. Once he had finished, he eyed them both. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Sir Terrwyn, and this is my compatriot.” She gestured to Zel but didn’t give his name. Knowing how much he valued his secrets, she thought it best to let him give his name if he wanted to. He said nothing, only crossed his arms over his chest and listened. “Can you tell us your name? And what happened to you?”

  The stranger frowned. “A knight? You’re far from home then, lady. I’m Kish. And what happened.” He shivered faintly. “Those damn snake-tongue lizards got us.”

  “Snake-tongue lizards?”

  He closed his eyes for a moment. “They’re big, long, nasty lizards with the tongue of a snake. They got into our camp and attacked us. I barely escaped. I don’t think anyone else did, not with the way they were going at us. They shouldn’t have even been there.”

  Terrwyn frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Snake-tongue lizards don’t stray far from the outskirts of the Lonely Tower.” He looked at her like she was crazy. “It’s warmer there so they prefer it. They’ve never come this far south. They’ll eat anything, including people, other monsters and each other. That’s why you stay out of their territory if you want to live.”

  “But you know about them, where their territory is.” Zel’s stare narrowed as he looked at Kish. “What do you know about the Lonely Tower and its surroundings?”

  “Enough to stay away. This whole place is dangerous, but if you know what shit you’re dealing with, you can survive. Up to a certain place. After that, it’s just monsters and danger everywhere. And the absolute worst place in these whole cursed lands is the Lonely Tower. Snake-tongues aren’t the only thing hanging around that place. There are plenty of monsters that live in the area, and some are even more dangerous than those damned lizards. And every single one of them is more than happy to eat you. Only idiots and people looking for death go to the Lonely Tower.”

  Terrwyn leaned forward. “Can you tell us what else is near it? And if we’re heading the right way?”

  Kish stared at her. “You want to go to the Lonely Tower? Are you stupid or suicidal? Stay away from that place. You’ll die and no one will ever know. My band, we’ve seen treasure-hunters head towards there but never saw any come back. It’s death to head to the Tower.”

  “Still, we have to go. So anything you can tell us would be helpful.”

  Zel snorted, causing Kish’s eyes to fli
cker to him briefly. “You obviously saved me, and for that I owe you, which is why I’m telling you to stay away. If you won’t... You’re a few days’ ride from the Tower. You’ll see it the day before you reach it. It sits in the middle of a huge ring of black sand which is warm even on the coldest days. There are dozens of different monsters that live in the area around it, more than the ones I know, I’m sure. Even normal animals shun the area. It’s a place that feels like death and will get you killed.”

  “For someone who says not to go near, you seem to know a fair amount about it.” Zel’s eyebrows were up.

  Kish glared. “Part of our band’s initiation is to get a handful of black sand from the area around the Tower. If you can’t get there and back without dying, you’ll never survive living in here like we do. We only leave to do jobs. But now, with all the monsters stirred up and moving when they shouldn’t, it’s too dangerous even for us who know the Wild Lands.”

  “What’s stirring the monsters up?” Terrwyn asked, rubbing one arm as goose bumps rolled across her skin.

  “Rumours say underneath the Tower there’s something horrible, something capable of frightening even the monsters that live here. Rumour is, someone’s trying to wake it up.”

  Chapter Sixteen: Plans

  Terrwyn stood slowly, offering Kish a faint smile. He was sitting up now, and had shown he could walk, although he was still a little shaky. Despite the look Zel had given her, she’d already presented him with the spare waterskin out of Michme’s things and some food. Enough that he would likely survive.

  Normally she’d have stayed until he was healthy enough she didn’t need to worry about him, but they couldn’t afford any more delays. Not when there was no telling what was happening to Aricia. Her stomach twisted itself into its familiar knot which she did the best to ignore.

  “Lady,” Kish said, after a quick glance at where Zel was finishing up with the horses. “Me and my band, we were the humans living farthest into the Wild Lands. From here on out, it’s all monsters and terrifying shit. You really should get out. You’ll die if you don’t.”