The Shadow Chaser (The Sheynan Trilogy Book 1)

by Dylan Birtolo

  The two friends stood still for a while, matching wills as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Susan looked away first and then nodded. Darien let out a sigh and then closed his eyes to shift into a monkey. He swung over the edge, climbing down the cracked pillar. He dropped to the bottom, just a few feet from the table, and rested with his knuckles grazing the ground.

  The door swung open and banged against the stone wall. The sound echoed through the chamber and made Darien wince. Sasha stood just inside the frame of the door, alone and in her human form. She walked forward and latched the door shut behind her. As she moved, she kept her eyes on Darien, locking gazes and refusing to look away. She walked over to the crank for the dome above. Sasha turned the handle and the glass teeth came together. They latched into place and sealed the night air out of the room. When she finished, she came to the center, where Darien waited.

  “I’ve been expecting you.”

  “You’re the one I want.”

  She dropped her head in a slight nod, but never took her eyes from Darien. “Yes, I’m the one who started the ritual. It’s my honor to be your guide. You’re already part of us, you just don’t realize it yet.”

  “Spare me the speeches.”

  “What did you have in mind?”

  Darien stood up as tall as his current form would allow. He wasn’t going to waste energy changing back into human form for the sake of this conversation. “I want to end this. You and I fight until only one of us is standing.”

  “And what about your sniper?”

  “She’s making sure you play fair. If she was gonna shoot you, she’d have done it by now.”

  “You’re so predictable.”

  Sasha’s body shifted and she changed into the panther that Darien was used to seeing. Her eyes glowed despite the bright light. The muscles of each leg rippled in anticipation. Darien met her change, sinking and assuming the shape of an arctic wolf with all white fur. The two predators growled at each other across the short space separating them. They circled, snapping and swiping at empty air to measure the distance.

  The panther lunged forward first but turned at the last moment. With a powerful leap of her back legs, she jumped over the wolf and landed behind him. He tried to turn and face her but was caught off guard and couldn’t get around in time. Sasha slashed at his hindquarters with her paw, leaving trails of red through his pristine fur coat.

  They backed away from each other, allowing the distance between them to grow. Sasha reached down and licked the blood off her paw. She let out a soft purr that raised Darien’s hackles. He advanced. Her head shot up so she could stare into Darien’s eyes. Quick as lightning, he extended his neck and snapped at her nose. She pulled back with equal celerity, getting out of the way. The wolf’s teeth scraped along her nose, leaving small, painful scratches.

  She snarled in rage and swatted at him with her front paw as she backed away. The claws connected with his face, drawing fresh blood just beneath his left eye. They circled each other again, each animal watching the other for any betraying motion.

  Sasha lunged forward slamming into Darien with several hundred pounds of muscle. She dropped her head and caught him near his shoulder with the back of her neck. The sheer force of the blow knocked Darien off his front feet and made him stand up on his rear legs. He scrambled backwards to keep his balance and not be forced on his back. Sasha drove forward and flattened Darien’s body against the pillar. Dust fell down from the cracks near the top. With her front paws placed against his shoulders, her claws bit into the skin. She tried to bite at the wolf’s muzzle.

  The wolf’s jaw was wider and more powerful than the cat’s. He used his muzzle to push her head up and dug his teeth in near her neck. He felt a sharp bone in his mouth and bit down on it with all the strength in his jaws. It cracked between his teeth and pieces of bone pierced through the panther’s hide. She pushed off the wolf’s body to get away.

  Darien dropped back down on all fours and stalked around the room. The panther also circled around her foe, but she limped whenever she put weight on her front right leg. Darien tried to work his way around to her right side, forcing her to turn on her injured leg. She walked around one of the pillars, using it to keep her injured side away from Darien.

  With a short leap, she was on the opposite side of the pillar. The wolf sprinted around the corner, trying to keep the panther in his sights. As he turned around, a black blur knocked into him and the two animals rolled across the stones. Darien snapped all around him, finding some flesh and tearing through it as he shook his head back and forth. Sasha used her back legs to strip flesh from Darien’s underbelly. He tried to push her away, but her front paws held on to his shoulders, claws deeply imbedded.

  A howl of rage filled the chamber as the wolf screamed out his torment. He twisted his neck so he could reach one of the legs holding him down. With a snap of his jaws, the arm bone shattered, making the paw useless. The panther whimpered as Darien shoved her off. He eased himself up, staggering with the effort. A large red pool formed underneath his body. The wounds burned, and he knew they were deep. He didn’t have long to finish the fight. At least Sasha was not faring much better. She had difficulty standing, needing to stand on three legs with her fourth paw hanging at an awkward angle. Her breath came in ragged gasps, but her eyes still shined.

  Darien coughed and spat blood onto the stones. He could feel it all around his muzzle. He walked towards Sasha, but his legs gave out underneath him in mid-step. He collapsed to the ground, his eyes fluttering. Sasha jumped forward, using the moment to her advantage. She landed near his head and reached down to bite around his spine.

  The wolf’s head shot up and twisted to the side. Sasha noticed the movement and tried to push her body back, but her front legs were too weak. The effort made her collapse into the waiting jaws of the wolf. He clamped on the underside of her neck and shook, shredding the flesh. Darien’s eyes were blinded with a wave of red.

  He lay there on the stones, panting. His stomach felt like it was ripped open and his organs were spilling to the ground beneath him. The wolf looked around and squirmed out from underneath the panther corpse. The cat’s neck was ripped open with the vertebrae visible. With hobbling steps, the wolf approached the crank for the glass dome.

  Darien returned to his human form and started turning the mechanism to open the glass ceiling. More than once during the effort, he doubled over in pain and spat blood onto the floor. The ceiling was open halfway, and Darien left it alone. It was open enough.

  Darien walked over to the weakened pillar and willed himself to change shape again and become a black bear. He stood up on his hind legs and smashed into the pillar with his arms, putting his entire weight behind the blow. The cracks along the length of the pillar widened and more clouds of dust fell from above. Darien struck it again, and a resounding crackling echoed throughout the chamber. Large pieces of stone broke off, and the pillar groaned.

  Darien slid down the pillar, using his bulk to give it a final push. The pillar was ready to topple, and fragments of it fell as it groaned with the effort of supporting the ceiling. The darkness threatened to overcome him and was seductive as it promised an end to the pain coursing through his body. From far away, Darien heard Susan calling his name. He craned his neck and saw her at the edge of the dome reaching out to him and yelling at him to get up.

  Her calls lent him strength. He tried to force himself to change again, but he didn’t have the energy. It didn’t even feel like his bear form started to fade. He thought of Susan up on the roof, and thought of everything that she had given up to be with him. He heard her pleading for him to get up. He would not leave her alone. He would not let her suffer more than she had. Darien took that emotion—that pain and concern—and embraced it. He used his emotions to feed the fire in his mind. His body faded and a robin replaced the bear.

  Darien flew to the ceiling, flapping his wings, not knowing how long his strength would last. He felt like every flap on
ly brought Susan further away, not closer. His vision darkened and he knew he was losing consciousness. He tried to force himself to take just a few more flaps, but his body went limp. The last thing he saw was Susan reaching through the opening and cupping him in her hands.

  Chapter 26

  Darien limped down the aisle of the cathedral, heading towards the large double doors at the entrance. The doors were standing open, letting the cool refreshing air blow into the church. It carried with it the scent of exhaust from countless vehicles on the busy street, but it smelled sweet to Darien. Alyssa walked with him, shortening her steps to match his pace. They both stopped when they reached the archway. Susan stood at the bottom of the steps, in front of Richard’s truck. Richard’s knees poked up from the back seat in the cab where Darien assumed he was lying down.

  “You’re sure you wish to leave?” Alyssa asked, capturing Darien’s attention.

  “Yes. At least for now. I’ll keep everything you shared in mind. I’m just not ready to let someone else decide what I should or shouldn’t do. I need to do it in my own way and with the companions I choose to run with.”

  “Very well. As I told you before, I’ll respect your decision. However, there’s the matter of the other debt you owe.”

  Darien shivered despite standing in the sun. “I’m aware. And you know I’ll repay it.”

  “I’m sure you will.”

  Alyssa smiled a genuine smile and Darien shook her hand. He took a few steps down and then turned back to offer a final wave. As he watched, a large mastiff walked up to stand beside Alyssa and looked down at Darien. For the first time, Darien didn’t feel the need to squirm underneath the scrutiny. Vladimir stood by Alyssa’s side as she scratched him behind the ears.

  Susan walked up to Darien and helped him down the last few stairs and into the truck. When he was relaxing against the seat, Susan climbed in on the driver’s side. As he thought, Richard rested in the back seat of the cab. He had several bandages, but was healing well. He opened his eyes and looked at Darien without lifting his head.

  “What did the witch say?”

  “She tried to convince me to stay.”

  Richard growled. “I told you she’d try that again. She won’t stop until she’s running your life.”

  “Which is why it’s all that more important we get away,” Susan started up the truck and drove out of the city.

  “Where are we going?” Darien asked as they merged onto I-5 south.

  “Somewhere that you two can get some rest and recover. Richard and I talked about it while you were unconscious. We thought it’d be best to get some distance. That’s as far as we got.”

  Darien thought about the unasked question. He was pretty sure the Shadows wouldn’t stop just because their ritual would no longer work. Both the lieutenant and Sasha’s contingent mentioned superiors and said that his choices were join or die. From that perspective, it seemed like the only options were to run or fight.

  “I don’t want to run. The Shadows will keep hunting me down unless we convince them that it’s not worth the cost. I say we take the fight to them.” He paused for a moment. “I can’t ask either one of you to come with me.”

  “Like you could stop me in your condition,” Susan snorted. “Face it, you’re stuck with me.”

  “I know they have a large base of operations in Texas.”

  The words triggered a memory in Darien’s mind. He thought of the red haired woman.

  “Texas sounds good.”

  “I’ve been waiting three years for someone crazy enough to help me go after them. I can’t stand sitting by the sidelines.”

  “Then it’s settled,” Darien squirmed to get in a more comfortable position where he didn’t put pressure on his wounds.

  He closed his eyes and his mind wandered. There was so much that he still needed to know and many unanswered questions. His brow furrowed as he tried to sort through everything that he learned over the last week. He sighed and forced himself to let go for the moment. It was a long drive and the Shadows would still be there when he woke.

  About the Author

  Dylan Birtolo has always been a storyteller, for as long as he can remember. No matter how much other things have changed, that aspect has not. He still tells stories, in whatever format he can. Sometimes that is writing, running a roleplaying game, or even the traditional oral story by the fire. He currently resides in the great Pacific Northwest where he spends his time as a writer, a gamer, and a professional sword-swinger. His thoughts are filled with shape shifters, mythological demons, and epic battles.

  He has published a couple of fantasy novels and several short stories in multiple anthologies. He has also written pieces for game companies set in their worlds and co-authored a gaming manual. He trains with the Seattle Knights, an acting troop that focuses on stage combat, and has performed in live shows, videos, and movies. In addition he teaches the academy for upcoming acting combatants.

  Endeavoring to be a true jack of all trades, he has worked as a software engineer, a veterinary technician in an emergency hospital, a martial arts instructor, a rock climbing guide, and a lab tech. He has had the honor of jousting, and yes, the armor is real—it weighs over 100 pounds. You can read more about him and his works at www.dylanbirtolo.com or follow his Twitter @DylanBirtolo.