The shade twitched, a full-body convulsion, as if the loss of its psychic shadow somehow made it lose its balance. Then with a grunt and a gravelly roll of its bony shoulders, it turned, stumbling slightly, and plodded around the building as it followed the path laid out by the second phantom.
The danger had passed.
Taly let out a hissing sigh as she sagged against the tree. She didn’t think she would ever get used to seeing those creatures.
Get going. She had already wasted too much daylight.
From where she hid, she could see two sentries standing motionless in front of the relay’s entrance. Their golden forms looked a little hazy from so far away, but they were still distinct enough that she could see their scraggly hair blowing in the gentle evening breeze.
Taly knew she wasn’t strong enough to fight them off on her own, and although she still had her pistols, guns were loud. If she fired off a shot, she’d attract every shade in town. She needed to find another way in.
I wonder if… maybe? Yeah, that could work.
Ducking into the shadows, she edged along the tree line until she came to the back of the relay building, praying it would still be there. The Shards must have been listening, because just as she remembered, a rickety ladder leaned against the side of a wooden boardwalk that ringed the building’s second floor, two half-empty paint buckets sitting nearby. Almost a month ago now, the mayor of Vale had made the mistake of hiring Caleb to repaint the public buildings. While the old salvager was a nice enough guy, he was lazy and absentminded. Taly had lost count of the number of times he had lost his painting supplies, and she was sure there were probably more than a few old ladders leaning forgotten against the sides of buildings all across town.
If Taly ever saw Caleb again, she was going to buy that beautiful bastard a drink.
Each rung of the ladder gave off a deafening creak as she gingerly made her way up, and Taly’s heart nearly stopped every time a twig snapped in the forest behind her. When she finally hauled herself up and over the balcony railing, her hands were trembling. She crouched next to a small open window, avoiding the soft beam of light that spilled out onto the planked walkway.
The hallway beyond the splintered sill looked empty, so before she had a chance to second-guess herself, Taly hopped up and shimmied through the casement, taking small, tentative steps just in case the floorboards decided to creak beneath her feet. She pressed herself against the wall as she slunk down the short expanse of corridor. Doors to what appeared to be offices lined the opposite side. The hinges had been ripped from the doorframes, the wood fractured, and several of the thresholds were streaked with trails of dried blood.
As she tried to step over the shredded remains of what used to be a throw rug, Taly’s toe caught on an uneven floorboard, and she barely managed to catch herself on the doorframe of the main relay room before she went sprawling face-first.
She held her breath, only letting it out when she saw that the relay room, a cavernous chamber flanked by a spiraling promenade, was empty.
A pyramidal obelisk carved from a single slab of hyaline crystal dominated most of the room, its tip stretching at least 20 feet into the air. Alternating bands of shadow and water crystals encircled the structure, and Faera runes were etched onto every available surface.
Today, those runes gave off a blazing magenta radiance, scattering the light that shone through the center of the pillar into countless shards of rainbow-colored splendor. The twinkling flashes of light were almost blinding, and Taly had to avert her gaze until her eyes adjusted to the glow. Still, even if she had to squint, and even if the tickle of magic that swept across her skin set her teeth on edge, it was the most beautiful thing she had seen in a long time.
The scrying relay was online.
Taly resisted the urge to sprint down the stairs, taking her time and avoiding the steps that threatened to creak underfoot. Usually, a special technician oversaw the tuning of the larger relays, but she had gone with Skye to the main relay in Ryme dozens of times. It looked easy enough. Plus, she had once snuck a book about hyaline tuning principles out of Ivain’s private collection when she was 13. She had been grounded for a week when he found out, but it had been an interesting read nonetheless.
And very useful to her now, almost eight years later.
Taly ran her hand over the carved script embedded in the control panel, smiling when she felt the aether tickle her fingers. Whoever had used the relay last hadn’t bothered to cut the connection to the spire in Strio, and she could hear hushed voices filtering in through the speaker. Switching off the glamour interface, she listened.
“When will he be here?” a young boy quavered.
“I don’t know,” a woman snapped. “He’s been delayed. However, he was able to send the list of recruits that we need to track down and convert before his arrival.”
“I’m not sure we’re going to be able to get to all of these,” the first voice replied. Taly couldn’t be sure, but the boy sounded oddly familiar. “Especially this one. Our contact in Ebondrift says that they’ve really tightened up security since this morning. Even if we could subdue him, we’d never be able to get him out of the compound.”
“We’ll just have to figure something out. Hey!” There was shuffling on the other end of the connection. “Shards, who left this on?” The connection abruptly disconnected, plunging the room into silence.
“Damn it,” Taly muttered as her hands raced over the control panel. So, there really was a traitor in Ebondrift, and it sounded like she wasn’t the only one these people were trying to “recruit.”
The hyaline pillar gave a soft pulse as it attempted to contact the relay in Ryme. Other than Strio, that was the only relay that was still connected to the grid. Taly’s heart thundered in her ears as she anxiously waited for the relay technician’s voice on the other end.
Please be there. Please be there, she mentally chanted, trying to summon him by will alone.
“This is Relay 12-001—Ryme. Identify yourself.”
Taly felt liked she’d been punched in the gut and tears pricked her eyes when she heard the familiar sound. “Ivain?”
“Shards! Taly?! Aiden, Sarina—hurry!” Ivain’s voice sounded tinny and far off. “Taly, are you okay? Why can’t I see you? Why are you in Vale? Where’s Skye?”
“No time for that,” Taly said, interrupting his rush of questions. “Ebondrift was attacked by shades, and Vale’s been taken.”
“Are you safe?” a new voice demanded.
“Hi Sarina,” Taly replied, wincing. “You know, safe is really a relative term.”
“I’ll take that as a no then,” came the frustrated reply.
Taly pressed herself against the relay when something creaked overhead. “Look, there is a very real chance that these things could attack Ryme. You need to secure the village.”
“Too late,” Ivain sighed. “They attacked this morning. We were able to hold them off, but we lost a lot of people in the process.”
“Fuck,” Taly cursed. She could hear Sarina mutter something under her breath on the other end, but the reprimand never came. “Well then for what this is worth, Skye is still in Ebondrift. Both the relay and the Seren Gate have been sabotaged, the leadership is missing, the walls are breached, and they think that there’s someone inside the Gate Watchers’ compound that’s working against them. They’re going to be transferring the survivors to Ryme by way of Della in a few days’ time, and they need backup. I don’t know what you’ve encountered so far, but these things are different from what you saw in the Shade Rebellion, Ivain.”
“Taly—” Ivain tried to interject, but Taly continued to talk over him. There was something moving upstairs now.
“I don’t know how, but they can use aether to remake themselves—completely change their forms. We had something attack us in Ebondrift. Everyone was calling it an abomination. It… it devoured one of the shadow mages and then used the aether to make itself stronger. Skye nearl
y got himself killed trying to take this thing out.”
“Taly, slow down—" Aiden this time.
“No,” Taly interjected, her eyes flitting to the walkway high overhead. She thought she heard the low groan of a door opening on rusty hinges. “I don’t know how much time I have. Um… Plum was burned, Vale is overrun, and someone here was talking to Strio. They said something about what sounded like a leader of some sort and they have a list of people that they’re trying to recruit. That’s all I was able to overhear before they cut the connection.”
Heavy footsteps were echoing down the upstairs hallway. “Uh-oh. I need to go. Just to be safe, I wouldn’t trust any more transmissions from this relay or Strio.”
“Taly, wait—” Sarina called frantically.
Taly cut the connection and fell to the floor in a defensive crouch. Peering around the edge of the base, she unsheathed the new air dagger Skye had gifted her—Snowdrop as she had decided to call it—and waited as the footsteps came closer. Whoever it was sounded big.
Damn it, Caro, she thought desperately. This may not have been your best idea.
Taly shook herself and took a deep breath. She had gotten the warning out. If that saved even one life, if it got Skye the backup he needed, then the risk would have been worth it.
Plan, plan, I need a plan. Wait! She had almost felt bad about it at the time, but she had stolen Skye’s aether concealment charm before she left. So far, she had been using it to hide the scent of her magic from the beasts in the forest, but if she drained all the charm’s aether in one go, she might be able to hide her presence well enough to sneak past this guy.
Swiveling the silver bracelet around, the crystal set into the center glowed a bright cerulean as she ran a finger over the faceted surface.
The toe of a boot, un-scuffed and newly polished, stepped out of the shadows of the third floor, followed by measured footsteps down the spiraling stairwell.
Taly’s hands were surprisingly steady as she pressed a finger to the tiny blue crystal. The tickle of water magic crawled across her skin, making her shiver, and the glow of the water crystal dulled as the aether stored in the shadow crystal set on the inside of the band was consumed.
“My, my, my,” came a cultivated voice. “What is that delightful bouquet?”
The man finally descended the last stair and stepped into the light. He wasn’t a shade. No, he was very much alive. Although the bearded man was short for a fey, his arms were thick and striated with muscle underneath the navy silk of his rolled-up shirtsleeves. His burly fingers toyed with an amulet that dangled from his neck—a single shadow crystal surrounded by a serpentine dragon carved from hyaline.
He circled the base of the relay, stopping just on the opposite side from where she hid.
“Tell me, little mage—what kind of magic do you practice?” He paused to languidly sniff the air. “Even underneath that glamour and that fabricated human scent, I smell aether. But what kind? The iron makes it so hard to tell.”
Shit, Taly thought, a faint tremble shaking her body. A shadow mage.
He came closer, forcing Taly to shrink back against the relay base. As a mortal, she wouldn’t even have a chance in a hand-to-hand fight. He would be too strong. Instinctively, she placed a hand on the butt of her pistol as she began prodding at the wall erected in her mind, teasing out a little more magic. She saw the man’s auric specter walking a few steps ahead of him as he prowled around the base, and as he came nearer, she desperately tried to remember what it had felt like when she had frozen that group of shades.
Nothing happened, though. Nothing at all.
“Oh, that won’t work, little mage.” The man sounded amused. “Although, I haven’t felt that spell in a long time. How interesting.”
The air around her started to feel thin, and she clasped a hand to her throat, trying to muffle the sound of her desperate wheezing.
“What’s wrong? Does that hurt? Don’t worry. It’s a nasty trick, but it won’t kill you.”
Taly struggled to stay upright as her legs started to give way. She tried pulling more magic out from behind that wall in her mind, and though that helped to alleviate some of the pain, it wasn’t nearly enough. He was almost upon her now, but her entire body felt like dead weight as she feebly slumped to the floor.
Still, even if her legs refused to respond, she wasn’t going out without a fight. With her remaining strength, she tightened her grip on her dagger and pulled a pistol with her free hand.
Eventually, she felt the glamour around her break, the magic popping against her skin as the enchantment shattered, and a rough hand grabbed her, seizing her up by the arm and slamming her against the nearest wall. Her head whipped back, striking the wall with a dull thud, and for a moment it felt like her ears were stuffed with cotton as everything went quiet and then crashed back into focus. Something warm and wet dripped onto her neck as her toes left the ground.
“You’re not supposed to exist,” the man moaned. She could feel his breath on her skin as he sniffed her, starting at her neck and then, almost gently, nuzzling her hair. “Oh,” he whimpered, “but you are special.” He punctuated this sentence by bringing a hand up and pinching her breast painfully. “And so pretty. I don’t think my master will mind if you and I have a little fun before I take you to see him.”
Finally snapping out of her daze, an enraged scream tore from Taly’s throat. She writhed and kicked at him, but that just made his grip on her wrist tighten as he shoved a leg between her thighs.
NO! No, no… oh, Shards! Please, no. Not like this. His fingers continued to caress her breast, cupping and weighing it as he pressed her against the wall. When he pulled her hips higher, rubbing himself against her and hitching one of her legs up around his waist, she had no doubts about what he intended to do.
“Don’t worry,” he cooed. “I know you’re scared now, but very soon, you won’t remember this. You see, we’re going to strip away everything inside that pretty little head of yours and replace it with something new. Now then” —one hand came up to firmly grasp her chin, and those strange yellow eyes studied her intently— “let’s get this nasty glamour out of the way, shall we? Then we can get a good look at you.”
Taly’s back arched as a wave of magic crashed into her, searing her from the inside out. It felt like her skin was being burned away from her body, layer by layer, and though the pain was fleeting, it left her breathless and trembling. Sweat beaded on her brow, making her skin prickle as the chill air wafted against her.
“That’s better,” the man purred, dragging his tongue up the length of her neck and catching a trickle of sweat. “Now I can really see you. Taste you.” He pulled back slightly, ripping out the tie that held her braid and untangling the weave. When his hand grazed her ear, it sent an uncomfortable shiver down her spine. “Lovely. Not perfect, mind you. I always hated how desecration spells dull the eyes.” Here, he paused to prod at the skin around her eyes. “But at least the scent is right—no more iron. My, my… I have a feeling you’re really going to be something once we get to the bottom of all that spell work.”
Taly’s free hand still clutched at her pistol, wedged between her body and the wall. She couldn’t kill this guy. That she knew. But even if he was fey and a shadow mage, she could still make him hurt.
“Now then, my dear,” he said as he began to fumble with the buttons on his pants. “Don’t be afraid to scream. I like a little bit of struggle.”
“Sorry,” she bit out as she raised her pistol and thrust it beneath his chin. His eyes widened at the feel of the cool barrel pressed against delicate flesh. “But you’re just not my type.”
Smiling maniacally, she pulled the trigger.
She fell to the floor, her finger still squeezing the trigger as she fired off round after round. The man stumbled back, dazed, and a grim smile curled Taly’s lips when his body burst into flames. She’d decided to give those incendiary rounds another shot, so to speak. The immolation rate still
wasn’t where she’d like it to be, but Ivain had shown her some tricks to increase the burn temperature. As it turned out, the old man had also experimented with different types of ammo.
The shadow mage flailed about as he desperately tried to snuff out the flames, and his legs gave out beneath him when his back hit the relay. His body writhed, flopping a bit like a fish out of water and smearing the mosaic of blood, bone, and hair that had been splattered across the crystal surface.
Taly forced her legs to move. They resisted at first, but she didn’t give up, and eventually she managed to claw her way up the wall until she was standing.
There was a loud bang and a crash behind her—the sentries were trying to come through the door, but it was locked from the inside. The doorknob rattled feebly, holding firm, but it was only a matter of time before they succeeded in knocking it down.
Move!
Some of the heaviness from the man’s strange spell started to lift, and Taly lurched forward. She needed to get back to the window and down the ladder and back to the woods where Byron was still tethered.
“You bitch!” A hand clamped down on her ankle, pulling her off her feet. The man groped at her legs, his hands and arms nothing but smoldering magma clinging to bone. The skin on his face had all but melted away, and tendrils of smoke rolled out from between mangled sinew and bone. His curses were punctuated with pained moans and gurgles.
Taly gripped Snowdrop, but before she could thrust it deep into his chest, he grabbed at the dagger. The blade bit into the skin of his palm, releasing a flood of crimson that welled up between the cracked and charred pieces of mangled flesh, but he didn’t seem to care as he ripped the dagger from her hand and threw it off into a corner.
“How dare you,” he snarled. The skin on his face was already starting to reform, the peach veneer slowly creeping across the burned flesh. As he spoke, wisps of smoke wafted out from between his scorched lips, and Taly gagged as the smell of overcooked meat filled her nose. “If you knew who I was, who it is that I serve, you would be on your knees begging for my favor.”
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