Shadowborn

by David Dalglish

  Cut it out, Kael ordered to himself. Now was not the time to drift off into pointless conjecture and horror. There were real threats to keep an eye out for.

  “See anything?” Kael asked his sister, grabbing a hold of a wing and pulling himself closer so she would hear.

  “Nothing,” she responded. “Not a single light anywhere.”

  Though the ocean and the darkness layered over it were several hundred feet below, Kael inched his wings higher.

  “Maybe tonight we’re just lucky,” Kael said. Bree responded to his grin with a roll of her eyes.

  “When have we ever been lucky?” she asked.

  “Well, they say there’s a first time for everything.”

  Weshern slowly grew in their sight as the caravan made its way home. Kael kept his head on a swivel. No wings. No messengers. No anything. The night was dark, quiet, and something about it didn’t sit right with Kael’s nerves.

  “Chernor said he saw wings,” he said, once again pulling closer to Bree. “But why haven’t they returned?”

  “Maybe they didn’t belong to Center, but one of the other islands?”

  It had to be. Kael refused to believe the knights of Center would be afraid to ambush any sort of potential trades. Sure, they had a significant escort, but did that really mean anything to the total might the angelic knights could bring to bear? Even a quick hit-and-run could do some damage without any losses.

  “This isn’t right,” he whispered aloud. Bree glanced over at him, caught sight of his worry.

  “This really bothers you, doesn’t it?” she asked. She waved about with her left arm. “Look. No lights. No knights anywhere. We’d see them coming, Kael. There’s no midnight fire to disguise the glow of their wings. Just stars.”

  “I know,” Kael said. “I know. But I still can’t—”

  An impact sent Kael into a spin, the sound of ringing metal flooding his ears. Panic threatened to overwhelm him, but he fought it down and forced his mind to react properly. A lance of ice had struck his wings. He had to protect himself. He had to move faster.

  They were being ambushed.

  Despite the disorienting rotation of ocean and stars, Kael jammed the throttle with his thumb. His wings thrummed to their fullest, the restraints of his harness digging into his shoulders and chest as he soared in a corkscrew. He briefly saw Bree from the corner of his eye, her wings shimmering and her swords burning brightly as she danced and dodged through the stone- and ice-filled air.

  Where? wondered Kael as he lifted his shield to cover his chest, a faint shimmer of white light glowing from its silver edges. He still saw no ambushers.

  Lightning flashed upward, the bolt striking from the ocean below. Kael avoided it on pure dumb luck, having started to turn just before it fired. He winced against the brightness, then spun for the source. A plume of flame roaring straight up toward him was his reward. Kael shut off his wings, braced his shield, and trusted its power. He felt a tug on his mind as the light across the shield flared just before contact with the fire. The light shone even brighter as flames washed over the shield, flickering and dying into a deep black smoke. Kael felt the heat on his skin, felt the strength of the blow on his arm, but he survived, something he highly doubted the angelic knight below him expected.

  “My turn,” Kael whispered as he rotated to face downward and punched his wings back to life. He could see the knight by the starlight reflecting off his golden armor, but not his wings. What should have been a vibrant gold glow against the crawling shadow was instead two vague shapes equally dark. They were muted somehow, their glow completely hidden. Kael didn’t even know that was possible. The power of the light prisms always surrounded active wings, passing through layers of steel, silver, and gold with ease.

  No time to think on that. Kael tracked the knight as best he could, following the shape against the black backdrop that was the ocean. The knight fled, and Kael spotted two more with him angling to drop behind Kael should he pursue. Except Kael had one more trick left.

  Momentarily closing his eyes, he sensed the connection between the light prism in his gauntlet and the wings granting his flight, sensed it like Bree sensed the fire about her swords. The moment he felt it, he ignited the connection. His throttle was already pushed to maximum, the theoretical limit his wings could carry him. It didn’t matter. His speed dramatically increased, his wings shining with light as if they were a newly awakened star. Gauntlet ready, Kael caught the fleeing knight in mere seconds, soaring overhead before he even sensed danger. Kael made only minimal shifts with his shoulders, glad for all his time chasing after Bree during training. Even the slightest error now would send him careening wildly. Control. It was all about control.

  With such proximity and advantage, Kael didn’t bother with lances. Instead he fired a single enormous stone of ice twice the size of a grown man. It slammed into the knight, crushing his black wings and flipping him head over feet toward the ocean.

  Lightning and fire missed to Kael’s either side, the knights greatly misjudging his distance due to his speed. Kael arched his back and rose higher to the rest of the Seraphim. A glance over his shoulder showed Bree doing the same, twin trails of fire marking her upward passage.

  In but a moment the Elern Seraphim had joined them, and Kael slowed so he could turn and face their foes. Together they unleashed a barrage upon the knights who responded in kind. Stone and ice slammed against one another, bolts of lightning illuminating the battlefield alongside streams of flame. Kael stayed defensive, keeping his speed in check as he formed a wall of ice to stop a twin barrage of stone boulders. For the first time he saw how many had waited in ambush and it frightened him. Eight knights, all with disguised wings. That he and Bree were alive at all felt like a miracle.

  The head-to-head collision was brutal. Several of Elern’s Seraphim died, crushed by the elements. Two knights fell, one punctured by multiple ice lances, the other ripped in half by Bree’s vicious twin blades. Despite knowing they were his enemy, he prayed both were dead before they touched the shadow on the water.

  Their forces now intertwined with one another, Kael searched for Bree, found her chasing after a knight. He shifted his aim, reigniting his light prism to its absolute fullest. He shot through the battlefield, eyes wide, the wind tearing at his clothes and limbs. Once he neared his sister’s fire trails he shifted alongside her in her chase.

  I’ll protect, he signed to Bree when she quickly glanced his way.

  Affirmative, she signed back.

  The fleeing knight was clearly skilled, using even the slightest motions to make aiming difficult as he performed a wide spiral. Bree twisted and mimicked the spiral, but tighter, straining both body and wings to perform the feat. Kael kept a dozen feet beyond her, his turn wider and easier. He didn’t need to chase the knight as viciously. He just needed to keep his sister safe. His eyes locked on the two enemy knights flitting nearby, waiting for the chance to strike.

  There. One broke off, abandoning the engagement with two Elern Seraphs to come to his comrade’s aid. His gauntlet shimmered a faint red, the only warning Kael had of the blast of fire coming their way. Kael punched his throttle, mentally touched the prism for his wings, and then plunged ahead of Bree with his shield raised. The bolt of flame slammed his shield, a sound like thunder echoing in his ears as the attack crackled and died.

  The maneuver cost him speed, and with Bree still chasing, Kael was left to face the knight solo. It wouldn’t be long, he knew. The other Weshern Seraphim would join the fight in moments, but that wouldn’t matter if Kael died before then.

  You want me, come and get me, Kael thought as he turned away from the knight and pushed the throttle. His wings hummed, then screamed as he touched his light element with his mind. Subtle shifts of his shoulders and hips swayed him side to side, a tiny curl of his back lifting him higher. Blast after blast of fire raced through the air like burning spears before fading away with their power spent. Kael had thought the knight w
ould turn and give chase to the cargo platforms instead of abandoning the battle, yet each fire bolt confirmed that would not be the case. Platforms be damned, the knight was coming for him.

  Kael craned his neck to see his chaser steadily falling behind. Two Weshern Seraphs in the far distance followed as well, but they would never catch up unless Kael or the knight turned. Kael glanced at his wrist, felt his throat tighten. Before the battle they’d traveled dozens of miles back and forth between Weshern and Elern, and it seemed that pushing his wings far beyond their limits, coupled with the defensive abilities of his shield, had finally taken their toll. Kael could barely see the white glow of the prism.

  There’s still enough, he thought as he shifted his course back around for the cargo platforms, and a head-to-head battle with the knight. I just have to reach my friends.

  His chaser never slowed, nor showed fear that Kael might be preparing a counterattack. Kael prayed that lack of fear would work in his favor. Ice gathered in his gauntlet. As the two approached one another at incredible speeds Kael swung his hand wide, forming a wall of ice that arced forward as it fell. Two quick bursts of fire struck the other side and then the knight dipped low to avoid being crushed. Kael touched his prism with his mind, craving speed beyond his wings’ limits … only this time nothing happened. There wasn’t enough left besides a few scraps to keep his wings powered at normal speed.

  Kael looked to the reinforcements and knew he didn’t have enough time. One last gamble. He shifted his path, rocketing toward the sky like a shot. If the knight wanted to kill Kael, he’d have to do it in the wide-open air, clearly exposed to the other Seraphs in the starlight.

  You kill me, then you’ll die, too, Kael thought. It wasn’t exactly a pleasant thought, but he’d take his victories wherever he could.

  The knight maneuvered around the ice wall and took up the chase. Kael grabbed his right wrist with his left hand, bracing himself as he unleashed barrage after barrage downward. He’d barely used his ice this battle but he planned on draining that prism dry. Walls, boulders, lances: he blasted every kind of attack at his pursuer. The knight abandoned retaliating, instead dodging and weaving with all his concentration. The distance between the two steadily closed, Kael’s terror increasing with each passing moment.

  What’d I ever do to you? he wondered as he released his ice in a wide arc in hopes of bathing the knight in thin, deadly shards. It might have worked if not for one thing: Kael’s wings suddenly grew silent, their glow vanishing as the last of his prism drained dry.

  Oh shit.

  Kael misjudged the spray, not expecting the sudden drop in speed. The knight twirled below it, then arced straight upward. Kael braced for the killing gout of flame. Defeating a knight in battle was a difficult task even in the best conditions. Fending one off while hovering helplessly? Not a chance.

  The knight drew closer. His blades remained sheathed, and before Kael even thought to draw his own, the man’s hand was around his throat. Kael clutched at the man’s arm, gasping against the pain as he kept them both aloft with an iron grip. He caught a brief glimpse of the knight’s face through the red of his vision, felt a spark of familiarity in his dying brain.

  “Is this all you are?” the knight asked, voice nearly drowned out by the hum of his wings. His hand clutched tighter around Kael’s throat, choking, turning the red of his vision into yellow splotches floating over a pulsing darkness. The other hand kept a solid grip on Kael’s right wrist, keeping his firing prism safely pointed away from the knight’s body. Kael could feel the thin needle of the knight’s firing prism pressed against his neck. All it would take was a single release of flame and he’d be dead. He waited for it, one long agonizing second after another.

  The fire never came.

  “The water take you,” the knight said. And just like that, he let go. Kael plummeted headfirst, the wind whipping his body. That one sentence echoed in Kael’s head, the words strange, the voice not.

  The water take you. The water take you.

  “Keep calm,” he told himself as his vision slowly started to return. He had no time to panic. The others were too far away. If he was to survive, it would be on his own. Eyes closed, Kael sensed the light prism tucked into the thick metal of his shield above the handle. There was no throttle to activate that prism, just a single on-and-off switch to remove the bulk of the weight through a slow, steady drain of the light prism. Except Kael didn’t need a slow and steady drain. He needed to fly.

  Kael felt a click in his mind, the connection made. Just as with his wings, he demanded it surge far beyond its limited constraints. Immediately Kael felt the shield turn weightless, and then with a painful jerk it became lighter than air, pulling against his descent, nearly ripping his right arm out of its socket. Kael screamed through clenched teeth, using the combination of pain and adrenaline to keep himself focused. His descent slowed by half, but the heavy shield was certainly no set of wings.

  Not enough, Kael thought. He could feel the prism draining, its presence in his mind dwindling rapidly. Still, it might buy him the time he needed. Kael jammed the metal loop of his gauntlet atop the ringed hilt of his sword, locking them together, and then flung the sword out of its sheath. The coiled cord in his gauntlet stretched out a foot, the sword twisting in air briefly before the cord began to retract. Normally one would catch the handle to resume battling, but that wasn’t what Kael needed.

  Kael’s fingers closed around the blade, and he screamed as the sharp edge sliced into his skin. He released immediately, telling himself whatever damage he’d done was preferable to slamming into the cold ocean waters. A glance down showed the churning shadow surface terrifyingly close.

  There’s still time, Kael told himself. Likely a lie, but by God he was going to believe it to keep sane. He reached for the gauntlet holding his shield above his head and yanked the compartment containing the depleted light element open. The prism slid free, and for one awful moment Kael watched it fall before his face and then fumble through his bleeding fingers. His heart frozen, he saw it tilt end over end past his chest, past his waist, down to his knee …

  And then Kael shut off the element in his shield while simultaneously lunging downward. The ocean was suddenly above him, filling his vision with impending death, but the prism was close, so close, his fingers almost touching. A bloody fingertip brushed the prism, and it suddenly flashed white, the crystal sticking as if his blood were glue. Kael clutched it in his fist. His blood soaked the prism, and he felt strength flowing out of his body and into the crystal. Filling it. Recharging it.

  No time to risk a glance at the ocean. Kael jammed the now-glowing element into the open compartment of his gauntlet, slammed it shut, and then powered his wings while simultaneously reactivating the prism in his shield. The wings flooded with life, giving Kael control.

  Proper procedure would be to power them up gently to prevent loss of control into a death spiral. The ocean filled every bit of Kael’s sight. To hell with proper procedure. His thumb pushed the throttle all the way to its maximum. Pulling his shield to his chest, he touched both prisms in his mind, demanding they flood his ancient technology with power. The straps of his harness dug into his skin, and Kael shrieked as his lower back strained with agony from his body pulling out of the dive. The entire world rotated, the ocean and the layer of shadow above him, before him, and then with a glorious blast of wind and spray of salt water across his legs, below him as he soared back into the air.

  “The ocean take you?” he shouted, pumping a fist to the air. “Not fucking today!”

  The reinforcements closed in, but there was no one to battle. Kael twisted in search of the knight. Faint golden wings in the distance flew to Center. Kael watched, the man’s voice repeating in his head. It was familiar, so hauntingly familiar, but it couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible.

  It must be coincidence he spoke with his father’s voice.

  Kael’s adrenaline faded, and he breathed in and out with a rasp
from his swollen throat. He touched it with his fingers, winced at the tenderness. That was going to leave one hell of a bruise. Bree raced ahead of the others, and Kael slowed his speed to a hover for her arrival. She practically collided with him in midair as she wrapped her arms around him in a vise grip.

  “I was so sure, Kael,” she said, fighting back a sob. “I was so sure I was watching you die.”

  Kael pulled away from her and he gave her his best grin, given the circumstances.

  “Give me some credit, sis,” he said, his words cracking. “You’re not the only one capable of pulling off miracles.”

  Bree laughed despite her tears.

  “Follow me,” she said. “A medic needs to look over your wounds.”

  Kael didn’t have the energy to argue. Exhaustion and pain quickly replaced the exhilaration of battle and the terror of the long, long plummet. As the two carried him toward Weshern, and presumably safety, Kael craned his neck for one last look at the vanishing knight who had dropped him to his death.

  Or maybe not death, he wondered. The knight could have executed him with a single swing of his sword or burst of fire from his gauntlet. Instead he had let go, for Kael to fall. For him to survive.

  It’s not him, Kael told himself as Weshern steadily approached in the calm starlight. Stop kidding yourself, Kael. It can’t be. It can’t.

  Not once did he completely believe his own words.

  CHAPTER

  3

  I’m fine,” Kael said as he lay in the tiny bunk, his shirt beside his bed, a loop of bandages encircling his chest.

  “Your purple neck says otherwise,” Bree said, hovering at the foot of his bunk in the small tent. They were in one of the temporary camps housing both soldiers and Seraphim set up across Weshern. In the days following the fireborn’s fall, and Center’s removal from Weshern grounds, Rebecca Waller had organized their placements and set up a chain of supplies throughout, the camps forming a loose perimeter along the outer ring of the island. The goal was to be able to respond quickly to an attack no matter the direction it came from, but the added benefit was that after a patrol or skirmish, the flight back to safety was always a short one.