Shadaya: Out of Darkness (Gemstone Royals)

by Kelly A. Purcell

  “Toss it here,” the man on the left side of him said.

  Markus nodded and bowed his head to remove the coin sack from his bag. The men grabbed it from his fingers and greedily opened it. They were pleased with what they saw, Markus waited for them to walk away. Until one of them turned and kicked him in the side.

  Markus cried out and the men started to laugh, “not very smart coming into these parts with this kind of gold on ya,” one of them was saying.

  Markus turned to his side and tried to crawl away.

  “We ought to teach you a lesson.”

  ✽ ✽ ✽

  Shadaya kept a safe distance between her and Hesk. She could feel her horse’s uneasiness as they plodded through the dark forest. Hesk held out in front of him a blue flame torch, a sorcerer’s magical concoction created to serve as a kind of protection against the elements of the dark forest. Its eerie flame stirred in Shadaya a deeper discomfort than the darkness around her did. But she said nothing as she watched Hesk closely. Times like these she was grateful even more for her unusual ability to see into the darkness.

  “Here we are,” he said after what felt like hours of silence.

  “Are you sure?” They had arrived at a clearing, but it was just as dark and creepy as beneath the covers of the trees.

  “Yes, we can talk here.”

  Shadaya tried to calm her fidgeting horse, with a gentle pat on its side.

  “Alright, talk.”

  “I promise you that Reeva isn’t very far from here. But I want you to understand that once he has the throne, he is not going to let it go. Life as we know it in Dravia is about to change drastically. The truth is, I fear for what our kingdom will become under his rule.”

  “Then why don’t you do something.”

  “I’m doing the best I can right now.”

  “How is convincing me to give up the Shadow doing your best.”

  “I’m not asking you to do that Shadaya. I’m asking you to do the opposite of that.”

  “The prince wields the most powerful magic I have ever seen. You must understand that a mere mask isn’t enough to hide your identity from him. He can see into places, know things that others cannot. He speaks to invisible fiends and I don’t doubt his hand in his father’s death. But somehow, he hasn’t been able to find you, if he could, he would have sent me directly to you already. This tells me that something is hindering him and protecting you… or he already knows and is simply scheming somehow.”

  She was concerned about that also, but she was not going to play into whatever game Hesk was trying to set up. He might have figured out who she was, but it wasn’t enough to earn her trust.

  “You mentioned something about high magic earlier, that you somehow think, I use it. What did you mean?”

  “When I saw you fight at the pass, the strength and speed you displayed was superhuman, it reminded me of some very special warriors who serve the throne. They use high magic to give them superhuman abilities.”

  Shadaya didn’t know how much she should tell him, she still didn’t trust Hesk. But now that he knew her secret, she had no choice. He also seemed to have some of the answers she had been longing to find.

  She removed her hood then so that he could see more clearly the intricate design of her mask and her unnatural emerald eyes.

  “You mean something like this?”

  Hesk looked intrigued, “it’s the mask then?”

  “Yes, but sometimes I feel like it goes deeper.”

  “Of course, it does. That what makes high magic so dangerous, it takes virtue from those who wield it, there is always a cost. Had your father been around he would have told you that. He would have also told you that only a special few has what it takes to wield it.”

  “Maybe that’s what keeps the prince from finding me.”

  Hesk shook his head, “I don’t know, just don’t underestimate him.”

  “What do you want Hesk?” Shadaya asked, she was growing uncomfortable with this conversation.

  Henry had not explained any of those things to her, now she was wondering what else her old friend was keeping from her. Unless it was Hesk who was being dishonest, but to what end?

  “We must find Drayton and we must put an end to his brother’s reign, preferably before it officially starts. That is the promise that I made to your father when he entrusted me with the task of safeguarding his power stone.”

  “You have the power stone. Now I know that you are lying.”

  Hesk was shaking his head, “Listen to me, my loyalty is to my king. It is him I have pledged my loyalty to, I have never had peace with his son. With the king dead, my loyalty to the crown is with his true heir, it is therefore my duty to enforce and protect the king’s wishes. He gave me the power stone and I thought it would be safe with an old friend of mine. But I didn’t anticipate you coming to look for it.”

  Shadaya blinked, “how did you know that I took it?”

  “Who else has the skill to pull that off. And I knew of the Shadow’s tendency to… take what does not belong to her.”

  She suddenly felt guilty.

  “Where is it Shadaya?”

  Shadaya licked her lips, she didn’t trust Hesk but could not sacrifice Reeva for a piece of rock.

  “It’s somewhere safe. I gave it to someone I trust.”

  “Shadaya, I need it.”

  “Why would I let you have something so powerful.”

  “I can’t use its power, it’s only activated by Demeris blood.”

  She had given the stone to Henry, at his request. It was all he could talk about for the longest time, he had wanted to keep the Power Stone from Haddin’s grasp just like Hesk and for the same reason it seemed.

  “Then why do you want it.”

  “I need to get it to Drayton, it’s the only way he would be able to challenge Haddin.”

  Shadaya’s eyes widened, “he’s alive.”

  Hesk said nothing, instead he turned around, “Follow me into this cottage and I will demonstrate my sincerity further. I will return your servant to you and you will help me get that stone back.”

  Shadaya looked up and sure enough there was a small cottage hidden behind some trees, even more covered in the pervasive darkness that surrounded them.

  “Who lives in the dark forest?” her distrust was unmistakable.

  “Not who, what. Ever heard of the Vrocs?”

  “Just old maids’ tales.”

  Hesk extended his hand out towards the cottage, while the other held his blue flame torch and the reins of his horse. Shadaya hesitated, but not for long. Because just as she was about to ask him another question a shrill scream erupted from within the cottage. It was Reeva.

  Shadaya leapt off her horse in a flash but didn’t let go of the reins. Horses didn’t tend to hang around untethered in dark forests.

  “She’s in there? With a Vroc?” she asked with breathless accusation.

  Hesk too had dismounted and by the grim set of his lips, she could tell that he too was worried.

  “Come,” he hurried towards the dwelling and Shadaya followed, shaking the feeling of a hundred eyes watching her from the darkness.

  She took off her gloves and turned around to shut her window from the chilly air pushing its way into her bed chamber. Then took off the bag from her shoulders in which she had stored the rest of her disguise. She had stopped outside near the woods and changed out of her soiled clothes. She felt exhausted tonight and with good reason. Hesk had given her a lot to think about and possibly a lifetime of nightmares after their encounter with that creature that had been holding Reeva captive. What was Hesk thinking making a deal with a creature consumed with darkness. Reeva had been fortunate that they were just outside the cottage when the Vroc decided he wanted a taste of something different in his bubbling pot. It was not difficult to defeat, its movements were sluggish and repetitive, but it had a few magic tricks up its sleeve that had kept her and Hesk on their toes. She had never gone up against m
agic before and more and more she was beginning to wonder if she was truly in over her head now. Regardless, they had managed to defeat the Vroc and rescue Reeva and it had only cost her favorite boots, which had gotten stained with the Vroc’s tar like blood and had to be thrown into the lake before returning to the mansion. Despite her concerns about her readiness for what truly lay ahead, she had made a deal with Hesk, who now knew her secret. Now she had to get into character for when Hesk and Reeva arrived.

  Her chambers were a large space, designed in such a way that she could close off her sleeping area from her bath area and study. Her study area she had hardly used since she had claimed her father’s own on the lower floor as her own. Now she unlatched the wooden partition separating her bath from her bed chamber and slid the partition aside. She had always been a private person and so she did not have to worry now about raising suspicions about her locked doors now that she needed to safe guard her nightly activities.

  Eunice had prepared a bath for her it seemed, her tub stood in the middle of the room with welcoming steam rising from it. She dipped a finger in it and sighed, she longed to warm up and wash the nights adventures from her body.

  The moment she sunk into the bath water, a voice made her jump from behind her changing partition.

  “You’ve been gone a long time, I was worried.”

  Dorcy came and stood before her tub with her arms folded across her chest, looking like a worried mother hen instead of her own student. Shortly after Dorcy had almost passed out at the Bakery, Shadaya had made a deal with her to get her off the streets. Shadaya had found constructive work for some of Dorcy’s friends to do at the factory. In exchange for Shadaya’s training, Dorcy had remained at the house under the guise of being a new maid, while shadowing Shadaya.

  “It couldn’t be helped,” Shadaya said, “you will soon understand.”

  “How was it? Did you go okay? That looks like it’s going to be hard to hide.”

  Her eyes fell on the red gash on Shadaya’s neck. A bruise she had sustained when the Vroc had tried strangling her with an enchanted rope.

  “It went well, thank you for asking. Don’t’ worry about me, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.”

  Dorcy sighed, “good. You know you could have brought me.”

  “Like I said before, you aren’t ready yet.”

  She started washing, resigned to the fact the Dorcy was not about to leave. She had that look in her eyes that she wanted to talk.

  “Your mother was looking for you all evening, but I managed to convince her that you were not feeling well again and wanted to be left alone.”

  “How did she take hearing that from you?”

  Dorcy shrugged, “she didn’t come back.”

  The girl was not very good at reading people, it was her only drawback and the reason Shadaya had committed to working on developing her empathy towards others. With mastery of the art form and no heart, Dorcy would be no different than the men her father once trained for the king.

  Her mother could be heard calling out to her from outside the bath door. She sounded frantic, almost scared. Shadaya had a feeling that Hesk and Reeva had arrived.

  “Yes mother!” she answered wearily, stepping back into the role of tired hostess.

  Her mother took that as an invitation, for she opened the door and stepped in.

  “Is everything alright?”

  Her mother seemed preoccupied, distracted somehow.

  “I was looking for you all evening.”

  “I must have fallen asleep. I was not feeling so well after the party. Maybe too much wine.”

  “You can’t go disappearing like that.”

  “You really do worry too much mother. I am very capable of taking care of myself.”

  Lidelia’s disapproving gaze fell on Dorcy, standing next to Shadaya’s tub looking like her personal body guard.

  “Now what is it you wanted to tell me?”

  “Hesk, he brought your precious Reeva home. Says she has been released from questioning.”

  Shadaya perked up and widened her eyes, feigning surprise.

  “Really? Do not play games with me mother.”

  Lidelia smiled proudly, “I told you he was a good man.”

  “I’ll be down shortly,” she turned to Dorcy who had a knowing look her eyes, “go get Bertrand!”

  When Shadaya finally made it downstairs, Bertrand was sobbing into his daughter’s hair and she was clinging to his bony chest.

  “I missed you father.”

  Shadaya and Hesk shared a look over the reunited family’s head. She still wasn’t sure if she could trust him, but this was a very solid act of good will if there were to be any.

  “I should go,” Hesk said, “I have released her, but you would do well to keep her indoors for the time. There are many who think that a woman bound for Selection should be so bound.”

  She knew that he was just protecting himself from being discovered by Haddin. Understanding what he was risking by bringing Reeva here, helped Shadaya trust him a little more. She had also seen the way he looked at the girl, with a fatherly warmth she was no stranger to. Hesk may not have been the warm and friendly kind but there was a tenderness in him towards the young girl that Shadaya did not expect.

  “Reeva,” Shadaya said warmly, “it’s so good to have you back.”

  Reeva released her father and ran into Shadaya’s outstretched hands. She had not revealed her identity to the girl, for both their sakes.

  “Thank you, my lady.”

  Smiling, Shadaya turned to Eunice, who was looking on with unshed tears in her eyes as she wrung a kitchen towel.

  “Eunice can you prepare one of our rooms for Reeva. I would imagine, she is in dire need of a warm bath, a warm meal and a good night’s rest.”

  No one would truly know what the girl had endured in that dark forest with that hideous creature. But in this moment Shadaya felt that all she had done from the day she put that hood on, was worth it.

  Chapter 21

  “L

  ord Cort what an unexpected surprise!”

  Markus turned around to see Prince Haddin enter the throne room. One look at him and the prince winced.

  “Oooh that looks painful,” he said, pointing at Markus’ swollen eye.

  Markus shrugged, “it looks worse that it is.”

  He could feel Cad’s glare burning into his back from behind him. It was him who had come to collect him from Traver’s Inn, which is where someone had taken him after finding him beaten and robbed in the street. Cad was furious at Markus for not listening to him and venturing out into Arduway alone at night. Now he made it his duty to follow Markus once he left the house.

  “What happened?” Haddin asked perching himself on his father’s throne.

  Seeing him do that stirred something in Markus that he was not even aware of. He had not seen the king as a friend when he was alive, but his blood boiled with loyal indignation to see Haddin sit on his throne with such boldness. Markus knew that the king did not want Haddin to be king. As he remembered his first meeting with the king, his eyes fell on Haddin’s hands, no power stone graced his fingers. Markus wondered what had become of it.

  “I was attacked by thieves,” Markus replied.

  The prince looked outraged, “did you see their faces? Should I have them hunted and beheaded?”

  Markus shook his head, though he was not sure if he was being mocked.

  “That’s not necessary. There are matters of greater importance now.”

  “I have to admit I did not expect to see you here so soon, before our agreement is finalized. I have already started the process of having your lands restored to you. It turns out that my father had already put those plans in motion.”

  The prince’s eyes had a suspicious hint, “you seemed to have made quite an impression on the old man. As such you will always have my ear.”

  Markus knew that Haddin was putting on a show for the councilors. This may not have been necessa
ry, given the fear he saw written all over their faces. It worried him to see Haddin wielding so much power.

  “Thank you… your majesty.”

  The prince narrowed his eyes, “so why are you here?”

  Markus looked around at the expectant councilors, “we may have a problem. Do you remember the reason I came here in the first place?”

  “How could I forget,” the prince said blandly.

  “Well I have come to inform you that I have word regarding the dark storm. I have had my people monitoring the stars and signs and they have confirmed that a dark storm is on its way.”

  The prince arched a brow, casting a glance in the direction of his council.

  “I thought you had a way to stop it. Isn’t that what father brought you to court for?”

  “We may have held it off, but…”

  Markus took a step toward him, “your majesty, if you know where the Element is, now is a good time to move it to a more secure place. It may be the cause of this imbalance.”

  Haddin chuckled, “you don’t know everything after all. The Element is far from here… I assume. My father saw to that.”

  There it was, blatant hatred for his father. The prince may truly not know where the Element was. Then Zana’s theory could be right, could the prince be the cause of the imbalance, what was he up to that might be responsible for it?

  “Then something else must be tipping the balance, an overuse of magic maybe…”

  “Lord Cort. I understand your concerns for Dravia. And I appreciate you coming here today. But you must understand, the last time you said there was a dark storm threat, nothing came. I cannot put my people into a state of panic for a hunch.”

  Markus withdrew the paper from Zana and waved it at Haddin, “I have proof. The numbers don’t lie, the heavens don’t lie.”

  Haddin waved him away like he was swatting a fly, “oh stop being dramatic. If it will make you feel better, I will look into it… personally.”

  Markus sighed, “yes, thank you.”

  But he would not hold out hope that Haddin would be true to his word. He had a feeling Haddin knew exactly what was causing the imbalance.