I Walked with Shadows (Sightless Book 1)

by K. C. M.

  He gave her a pointed look. “I’d rather not find out.”

  And he turned and started off down stairs that wound around the large trunk of the tree. After one last glance, she followed.

  “Connor,” She said after a moment.

  The assassin paused and looked back at her, but she couldn’t make out his face in the shadows.

  Holly hesitated and searched for the right words. “I know I’m not…competent. I’ll never survive out here on my own. Even though you don’t owe me anything…would you teach me?”

  He shifted and a bit of light fell across his face. She could see he was amused by the tilt in his mouth and slight cock to his eyebrow. “How to survive?”

  “Yes.” She held her breath.

  “That means learning to fight. You might even have to kill someone one day.”

  “I—I’ll deal with that when the day comes.”

  He snorted softly and turned away. “I’ll teach you some things.” He said before she could stop him again.

  There, she thought to herself. If I can learn how to survive, then I won’t have to rely on him. Then I can leave and find my way home.

  At that thought, she wondered what her parents would be thinking right now. Her mother and father, who lived on a farm right by the magic forest…had the gnome attack hurt them? She was suddenly worried about them. Recently, her mother’s hair had started to turn grey. With a pang, she wondered if her mother would be completely grey by the time Holly returned. If her mother was even still alive and unscathed from the attacks.

  Unbidden and unwanted, tears rose up. Holly bit her lip, took a few deep breaths, and shoved them down. They were of no use. She would not cry now, especially because the man in front of her might hear and that thought seemed incredibly shameful. He’d already seen her sick, she wouldn’t give him the chance to see her cry.

  The poison had worn out her body and when they reached the ground, she leaned against the tree while Connor crouched and studied the ground.

  “Are you alright?”

  She blinked several times and realized he stood right in front of her. Jerking upright, she mumbled, “Fine.”

  Quite suddenly, she found herself swept up into a pair of strong arms. She struggled. “I can walk!”

  “Just let me,” The assassin sighed. “We don’t need to travel fast, but we do need to keep moving. You’re fit to fall over any second.”

  Hating that he was right and angry with herself, she struggled for a full minute before finally giving in. She let her head fall down, cradled against the assassin’s bicep and chest.

  What a useless clunch she was turning out to be.

  Exhaustion combined with stress and frustration overwhelmed her. Her eyes closed. Underneath her ear, the assassin’s heart was beating steadily and above her, his breath was even. For all they’d been through, for all that he had spent at least twice the energy as her, he wasn’t even out of breath.

  Her last clear thought was that he might owe her nothing, but he was going through a lot of trouble to keep her alive.

  Connor’s staff hit Holly hard in the ribs, knocking her over.

  It wasn’t the first hit she’d taken in the last few days.

  She lay still on the ground, knowing it would take her body time to recover. After a second, she could draw in a breath, although the movement made her ribs hurt with a sharp pain. Dazedly, she realized Connor was kneeling over her, his hands surprisingly gentle as he felt over the spot he’d hit.

  “Nothing broken,” He said dismissively.

  “Hurts like the blazes though,” She managed to groan, rolling onto her stomach and for just a second, letting her forehead press against the comforting dirt. Down was still down.

  She heard his soft snort.

  Ever since they’d left the bridge, they’d fallen into a more comfortable type of companionship. At least, as comfortable as one could be with an assassin. She didn’t ask him questions, knowing he wouldn’t respond. He didn’t ask her questions, probably because he didn’t care. He had followed through on teaching her survival skills. In some ways, she regretted it immensely.

  They traveled during the night and hid during the day. Whenever they stopped near sunrise, her stomach would clench in dread. She constantly had to remind herself that she’d asked for this and that she needed to learn. That didn’t stop what followed from feeling more like abuse than training to her. First, while he set up camp, he set her to doing rigorous strengthening exercises. Then, after their supplies were properly hidden and he was satisfied she’d done enough strengthening, he’d take a position across from her. Apparently hand-to-hand combat was supposed to be a better way to begin rather than using weapons right away. She had decided during that first practice that the overall problem was that he was a million times faster than her. She took hit after hit, stubbornly pressing on. When she took a hard enough hit, she’d double over and it took her a few seconds to regain enough breath to spew out some ridiculous curse, and then push herself back to her feet. She didn’t miss the way his eyes glittered whenever she regained her feet. She got the feeling he was pushing her hard on purpose and the fact that she didn’t give up was earning her something akin to respect, if assassin’s even felt respect.

  Then last night he’d found two staff shaped sticks.

  She didn’t appear to be any better with staffs than she was on her own.

  Now, she steeled herself and slowly pushed herself up.

  Connor quirked an eyebrow and twirled his staff. Although he appeared to do it lazily, she recognized the complicated series he went through as something she could never do.

  “Show off,” She muttered.

  The mock staff suddenly streaked down, narrowly missing her face and landing right next to her hand. She glared up at him as he leaned casually against it.

  “You could have hit me.” She snapped.

  His green eyes glittered and he smirked. “Bogus.”

  She felt her lips twitch even though she tried to keep glaring. The problem was, every time he used one of the ridiculous phrases against her, it sounded so strange coming off his stern lips that she couldn’t help but chuckle. His eyebrow rose higher. Her willpower cracked and then crumbled.

  She dropped her face back towards the ground to hide her wide smile. He wrapped a hand around her upper arm and helped her regain her feet. At times like this, it was hard to remember what he was, an assassin who had killed countless people.

  “Is the cut on your ribs open?” He asked.

  She checked quickly and then shook her head.

  “One more round then,” Connor faced her, his mock staff raised. “What did I teach you about blocking without a weapon?”

  “I’m not strong enough to stop someone, so I have to redirect their blows.” She grumbled.

  “Right. Now, try to anticipate my strikes.”

  “Ugh,” She grumbled, but took her stance and raised her own staff.

  He was taking it easy on her, but his blows were still the strike of a snake; too fast to see, calculated, and hard. She managed to keep up for about a minute before he slipped through her defense and disarmed her. She groaned, doubling over, cradling her hand. It smarted and her fingers ached where he’d slapped them.

  Connor picked up her lost stick and shot her glance over his shoulder as he tossed them away. “Thirty seconds. Go hide.” He commanded, unrelenting.

  “Boot-licker,” She grumbled as she turned and ran as fast as she could under the circumstances.

  This was always how it went after the practice. He had tried to teach her how to walk quietly through the forest. She still hadn’t managed it, although she was improving. What’s more, he always insisted on this ridiculous game of hide and seek. She was an adult, for goodness sake! Of course, she saw his point. He’d said the first day that she wouldn’t have to fight off dangerous creatures if they didn’t even know where she was. So, off she went.

  Thirty seconds wasn’t long…

 
She slowed her pace a bit, picking where she stepped with care, trying to move with the forest. Back and forth, she went, weaving silently through the trees, occasionally doubling back to lose him.

  He’d definitely started by now.

  She circled one more time, keeping wide, listening intently. The first night, she’d tried to circle and had circled right into him. She’d been so shocked and terrified when he’d emerged from the darkness like a wraith that she’d nearly screamed. Luckily, she’d caught herself just in time. And in case she hadn’t, Connor had covered her mouth with his hand, nearly suffocating her with his strength.

  She paused, listening intently. Nothing. That was what made him the most dangerous. She never could hear him. She crept carefully a few more feet, noting a wild bush. She was small enough she could slip underneath and hide. She’d started doing that, knowing that when he passed by, she’d have the advantage. It always paid to know where your enemies were.

  She was just trying to slip under the bush, when a dark shadow rose up from the nearby tree.

  Connor’s hand shot out and grasped her wrist. “Caught you.”

  She had frozen in fear, but realizing it was him, she let out her breath in a frustrated sigh. “Drat.”

  “You’ve been doubling back and hiding, watching me pass the last few nights, haven’t you?”

  She couldn’t make out his face in the dark. “Yes,” She admitted.

  His laugh was soft. She stared at his shadowed face in surprise. He never laughed…

  “Smart.”

  He released her wrist and headed back towards camp.

  Holly hurried to follow. “Did you just compliment me?” She felt a rush of pride.

  He didn’t reply, his movements perfectly silent next to her quick steps.

  “You complimented me.” Her face felt like it was splitting, she was grinning so big.

  As they reached their camp, hidden in a copse of trees, he flashed her a quick, assessing look. “Don’t get a big head,” He murmured. “I found you, didn’t I?” He knelt next to his pack.

  He couldn’t douse her enthusiasm that easily, though. Overcome with a strange, fluttering happiness, she threw her arms around him and hugged him. Instantly, the assassin stiffened. She let him go almost immediately and felt her cheeks flush. “Thank you.” She mumbled and then hurried off, suddenly unable to face him.

  As she sat down near the small fire, there was a plop next to her. Connor had thrown his bedroll and blanket over next to her. “Go ahead and sleep.” He settled next to a tree, his green eyes glimmering like some predatory animal in the rays of the slowly rising sun.

  She stared at him in surprise. Recently, he had been forcing her to hold fighting stances throughout the first part of the morning while he kept watch. Very occasionally, he’d set her on watch and he’d sleep. Not that he ever slept long. At most, he’d sleep a few hours.

  Feeling exhausted and grateful, she spread out the bedroll, wrapped the blanket around herself, and was soon blissfully asleep.

  The human’s breathing deepened. She was already asleep. It was no wonder. He’d been pushing them both, having to travel fast to get to Pharo in time. Combine that travel with the physically hard training, and he was surprised she didn’t collapse on him.

  But, this was the girl who had jumped out a window.

  This was the girl who had run into a burning building to save a known killer.

  She’d lasted a day in the forest by herself, fought off a gnome, and lived through being poisoned.

  Holly.

  He tested the name in his mind much as he had over the last few days.

  Names were special among his kind.

  A name told a person who you were, what you did, how good you were…

  Names meant something.

  Connor settled back against the tree, his hand clasping the curved knife at his waist.

  It was a good thing the girl was learning fast, he thought as he idly traced the knife’s hilt. Crossing through the Forest Elves’ city rather then going around it had won them a few days of reprieve, but their pursuer was not far behind. The werebeast would catch up soon, even if it had to go around the city. Connor cursed the magical beast’s ability to track so well. It made disappearing devilishly tricky.

  His breathing evened out, matching the girl’s, melding silently as his ears sought for sounds in the forest.

  On top of the werebeast, the Forest Elves would follow him.

  If he was lucky, it would take the Forest Elves time to discover who had killed three of their scouts.

  But it was better to not depend on luck.

  The Forest Elves would track him fastest in the forest. With the forest’s magic, they could also move faster than he could. Well, even without the magic, they were probably moving faster, Connor thought his eyes drifting toward the sleeping girl. For a second, he started to wonder why he was letting her travel with him…then he brushed the thought aside.

  There were more pressing concerns.

  By tomorrow they would cross the river again. The forest was thin after that. Thin and weak, just as Wood Elf magic would be. If there were any elves following, he’d be able to lose them with a few well-placed false tracks. Then they’d arrive in Pharo by afternoon, although he wouldn’t go in until evening. It would be better to sleep a few hours. Then he could collect the payment in the evening from a trusted source and press onward.

  His best bet would be to head over the mountains. On the other side was the mining village of Mist Spire where he had another contact. Another job could be found and he’d be on his way, still one step ahead of those that hunted him.

  The darkness grew as the night progressed. The dark shadows flickered before him and around him. Sometimes the ghosts of old horrors surfaced. It wasn’t the shadows so much as the forest itself, Connor reflected. The shadows knew who their friend was. The forest knew who its enemy was. It was one of the reasons that only the children of the forest dared reside in it. If he’d been any other man or creature, he might have trembled from the old memories and haunts that the forest dredged up. Instead, he regarded them expressionlessly or with a mocking smile.

  He’d seen too many real life horrors to tremble before these fake ones.

  The night moved slowly on. He let the human sleep. She needed her rest and he’d gotten a few hours of sleep the night before. Just before the sun started to creep over the horizon, he started to move around packing up. He was careful to stay silent, letting the girl sleep for as long as he could. Then, with nothing left to pack but the bedroll and blanket, he shook her awake.

  She blinked and then, as if he were some predator, she shot up, her prey senses tingling. He could see it in the way her eyes were wide and glittered at him, her body poised as if to take off. He didn’t comment, though.

  She glanced at the sky. “Are you going to sleep?”

  He shook his head. “We need to keep moving.”

  “But Pharo is close, right?” He’d already told her last night that it was. He stifled a sigh at the repetition.

  He spared her a quick nod.

  She scrambled out of his way and folded the blanket while he rolled up the bedroll.

  He took off into the forest and she followed. Leaves and twigs crunched under her feet, but she was learning to walk marginally quieter. The turning of the season accounted for a lot of the noise she made, he supposed. Overhead, reds and oranges blended with the yellow light of fall and he noticed that the air was crisp today. There was a slight bite to the wind that hadn’t been there before.

  “Connor?”

  He glanced over his shoulder at the maid. Several curls had escaped the knot she’d tied her hair in and they shone with streaks of gold in the autumn sun. There was a telltale crease between her brows as she studied him and he knew she was going to ask a question.

  “What happened to the horse?”

  Facing forward, his lips pressed in a line. He hadn’t seen Saragon since the horse had carried t
hem away from the werebeast to the Elvin city. Sometimes, in the lonely watches while the girl slept, he wondered about the creature. “He comes and goes where and when he wishes.”

  “How? He just disappeared…like magic. Is he magic?”

  That was the problem with humans…or at least, with this human. He hadn’t known many other humans and hadn’t spent more then a few moments with the others. This girl, this maid, she was endlessly curious, always asking questions. “He simply is.” Connor shrugged.

  “But what is he?” She pressed, moving up so close behind him that she accidently stepped on his heel. At the quick look he shot her, she flushed and apologized, “Sorry.”