“This is madness,” she hissed, “what are these creatures?”
Worry gripped her heart at the thought that the darkness had somehow entered the study and she was slowly losing her sanity.
“Your necklace, the light stone keeps the shadows from dimming the light that is in you. It’s what they wanted from the day you were born.”
Shadaya shook her head, eyes still glued on the terrors above her as she reached for the necklace around her neck. This was madness.
“War is coming my sweet girl, be ready, it is time to open your eyes to the truth.”
“You always said to close them,” she countered.
“There is a time and season for everything. This is the time to open them and really focus. Open your eyes.”
Shadaya blinked. She was back in her chair, the blanket still over her lap like she had not moved. Confused, she turned to look around her, it must have been a dream. Or not!
She gasped when suddenly the face of monster appeared before her eyes. She toppled backwards onto the ground. And the creature straightened up, standing over her with a diabolical sneer on his face. He was a man, his visage marred with deep dark cracks. Black eyes looked at her, void of emotion, void of humanness. Dirty fingers reached for her and Shadaya tried to crawl away.
“Don’t struggle,” the man said, “there’s no where you can go.”
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through her head. She doubled over, squeezing her eyes against the pain, as she groaned.
The pain was unbearable; she could not tell if it was within her our outside of her. If she had somehow sustained a hard blow to the head or had been dosed with something.
“Father!” she cried.
She felt her limbs grow weak and all the fight leave her bones. Lying helplessly on the floor, she looked up at the man, dressed in black.
“Daya!”
She could hear Eunice’s voice now as if through a fog.
“No,” Shadaya muttered, her tongue could barely move.
“What’s happening? Daya!”
She felt herself being dragged along the floor of her father’s study, she could hear Eunice’s calls turn to protests, turn to shrieks of fear. Tears tumbled down her cheeks, but the fight in her was gone, and without her mask, she could wield no magic.
“Eunice,” she whispered, just before the darkness around her found its way within.
Chapter 26
Shadaya woke up with a groan, her limbs felt like led and she had a throbbing headache. Bright lights that reminded her of the flame Hesk had used in the woods, lined the walls of the small room. Squinting her eyes against the painful light, a figure sitting on a stool in front of the bed where she lay.
“Who are you?”
Her brows were knitted together with worry. She was lying in a bed, but she didn’t remember how she got there. She couldn’t understand what happened, how did whatever it was remove her from her home during a dark storm. This was surely the workings of magic or madness. She feared that the madness had gotten to her even behind the covering of Quadin Mansion.
“Where…” she tried to get up.
“Don’t force yourself,” she instantly recognized the voice.
“Henry?” she asked in disbelief as he urged her to lie back down.
Without much resistance, Shadaya settled back down onto the pillows and threw her arm over her eyes. Her head ached and her ability to see in the dark coupled with Henry’s magical lights seemed to be making it worse.
“Maybe I can help you with that headache,” he said.
“How about helping me understand what is happening here,” she growled.
“This is you stepping into your destiny.”
“Did you send that creature to kidnap me from my home?”
“Let’s not get emotional Shadaya,” Henry said.
“You’re safer here. This is a reinforced dungeon, built by sorcerers centuries ago to protect against Dark Storms.
“Why am I here Henry?” she persisted.
“You said that you were worried about the dangers of a dark storm for one who used magic. This is the best protection.”
She reached for her necklace and felt relief as her fingers touched the cool pendant.
“I see you didn’t listen to me. That’s alright,” he said, in that soothing tone he used so often, except now, something about it unnerved her.
“Sometimes the best of us need a little push in the right direction.
“How did you get me here?”
“So much questions, none of which matter right now.”
He leaned down and picked up a leather bag he carried around at his side and laid it on the bed beside her. He rummaged through it and removed two candles in glass bowls which he placed on either side of her on the bed.
“No more magic Henry, please. Not in a Dark Storm.”
“Oh, but this is the perfect time Shadaya. Every powerful sorcerer has their season. Yours is now.”
“Henry,” she protested weakly.
She remembered Markus and Eunice’s warning, and now she was starting to wonder if she should have trusted Henry in the first place. Her father did not for some reason.
Henry lit the candles and bowed, she always assumed he prayed to his family god, but now she found herself wondering.
“Henry? Who did you just pray to?”
“Trust me,” he muttered, clearly preoccupied.
“You first,” she whispered.
A small smile tugged at his lips as he looked up at her, “always so curious,” he said.
“Now I am even more.”
Henry stared at her for a moment as if considering her question, and then he leaned forward and whispered.
“Lord Maldeev,” he said reverently.
Instantly chills sidled up her spine and her eyes widened. She had never heard the name before but the moment it was uttered the air around her seemed to grow cold. Even more was the shadow which had fallen over Henry’s usually warm face.
“I don’t know that god.”
“Not many do,” Henry said solemnly as he went about his ritual, “he is the lord of sorcerers, the god of gods.”
“And you were born to serve him.”
Shadaya’s eyes widened, “you’re scaring me.”
“Shadaya,” Henry said with a sigh of annoyance, “you’re not getting it. You can be one of the most powerful sorcerers in Saharia.”
She had to admit, the offer was tempting. Immediately she could think of all the things she could accomplish with power like that. Under different circumstances she might have even been flattered. But she had weighed the cost between what Henry offered and what Markus offered. They would both cost her life as she knew it, but one had the power to breathe life into her wilting soul and the other would only fuel the darkness that scared her. Destiny or not, she hoped to have a say in the matter.
“Henry, I don’t want to be a sorcerer…”
Henry’s eyes hardened, “oh enough of this. You will thank me later when you are standing on the side of victory.”
With a gasp, Shadaya felt her limbs grow heavy, pressing her to the bed. Henry leaned over her and his eyes were a glowing shade of emerald, when he snapped his fingers Shadaya fell back into nothingness of sleep.
When Shadaya awoke again, it was to the sound of the howling wind. Her head still ached, and her arms hurt from being suspended above her head. The roughness of her bonds bruised the tender skin of her wrist. The room was still shrouded in darkness as was characteristic of the dark storm, the musky smell of wet rocks and sulphur rose to her nose and she coughed. She had struggled to understand what Henry was trying to say before, but waking up like this; cold, alone and bound made some things very clear. Henry needed her to submit to the darkness and she had no say in the matter
“Hello!” she managed to shout, amidst her coughing.
But her voice only echoed back to her in response. She shivered as the cold of the darkness seeped into her bones.
<
br /> “Somebody!”
Her head roared in reply, but that did not stop her from struggling against her bonds. She tried to wiggle her wrist, test the strength of her restraint, but to no avail.
“Oh El,” she cried, wincing at how easily the foreign God’s name formed on her tongue in a time of trouble.
“Stop struggling Shadaya.”
A door slammed in the distance and she turned to see Henry walking towards her.
“Stop struggling Shadaya.”
He was dressed in a red hooded robe, with a gold rope around his waist. His white hair was loose and falling freely onto his shoulders. He wasn’t alone, hooded figures stepped out behind him, walking in a straight line, with hoods pulled over their faces, their footsteps light as though barely touching the ground. A feeling of dread fell over her; she knew who they were. These were temple monks, servants to the high priest. These were men who spent their whole life at the feet of the gods, in service to the temple, dedicated to the task of maintaining the balance of darkness in Dravia. When the men stopped, the room went reverently silent and then the high priest himself entered the dark dungeon like room, a heavy door creaking shut in his wake.
His dark eyes fell upon her, his expression unreadable but just as sinister. Silently he took his seat on a high chair where he could watch it all from there. Whatever “it all” was, Shadaya was sure that she was the main attraction.
Henry walked over to a table upon which were some odd-looking instruments. It also included a tall hourglass which he now looked at with a frown.
“We don’t have much time. Hurry and set up the extractor, ready the sacrifice,” his commands were directed towards the hooded people.
Shadaya watched in horror as they pulled on a rope which adjusted something above them. A creaking sound filled the room and while two men pulled the others started chanting in a language she did not understand.
“Henry,” she pleaded, “what are you going to do to me?”
Henry sighed, “I didn’t want it to come to this. If you had only stepped willingly into your destiny, it wouldn’t have to be like this.”
It was then that a young woman dressed in black was brought forward. She stood as though in a trance, holding a sheathed sword out in her palms.
“I don’t understand any of what is happening here.”
“You will.”
He pointed to the contraption the men were now tying into place.
“This is an energy extractor. Many people don’t know it, but a Dark Storm is a sorcerer’s dream… well if he knows what to do with it. With this device we can extract energy from the Dark Storm and channel it into our own energy source. It’s a great source of power. Tonight, we are going to put it to special use.”
He came and he stood in front of her, so she could look down into his now emerald eyes, they glowed with what she would now say was pure darkness.
“Many years ago, a father used the very tunnels we used to get you here to seek the help of a very powerful sorceress. His child was in distress, the time for her birth had come and a Dark Storm was raging outside.”
As he spoke, he fastened metal latches onto her ankles, so she was no longer dangling in the air, but was now attached to the wooden pillar behind her at an uncomfortable angle. Her wrists protested, but she dared not let pain ruin the glare of hatred on her face.
“That very sorceress had sought him out days before warning him of the possibility and the cost it would take to save his child, should her hour come while a Dark Storm raged. He rejected the cost, he thought it too much to pay, until he found the sorceress was right and he could not risk losing his child to the darkness. The sorceress came to his aid; she saved the little girl, for she saw in her, her own self. Your father made a deal Shadaya, that at the appointed time he would return you to the queen sorceress that she might train you into your full potential, your destiny. For it was prophesied way before your birth that one more powerful than Luska herself would join our cause. She would be born in a Dark Storm and her blood would be favoured by Rad. Yet your father foolishly joined with the king to find a way to get rid of Luska, thinking that with her gone, he wouldn’t have to honour his end of the bargain. But for such a treasonous act, the king needed someone to take the fall, to bear the consequences. He chose your father; your father knew the risk and he paid the price. He thought he was protecting you.”
“So, you knew all this time what had happened to my father and you let me believe that I was getting closer to uncovering the truth. What was I really doing Henry? Was I serving your cruel plans to take away choice from me? Was I truly helping others?”
Henry was shaking his head in disgust, “You are who you are. And you Shadaya are to be a mighty sorceress, key to restoring Maldeev’s reign, to stand at his side, to bring the end of Aldor’s reign and usher in a new day in Saharia. Don’t you see Shadaya, this is who you are meant to be. All your life those you thought cared for you have been trying to keep you from a power they would have coveted themselves. I had to protect you, even from yourself and the pathetic ideals your father had given you. It has proven to be stronger than I thought, but soon you will thank me for refusing to let you deny who you truly are. I will forgive you for calling on the name of Aldor’s God and men and women will bow to you in fear of your power.”
Shadaya was glaring at him, she felt a familiar power surge through her, even without her mask her own eyes now a burning emerald. Henry smiled as though pleased.
“That’s it,” he crooned, “tap into that power, it’s already a part of you. Someone else would take months, years even to summon their power without a channeler, but not you. You’re special.”
Shadaya threw her weight against the ropes and spat in his face.
“You betrayed me,” she hissed.
Henry wiped the spittle away with his hand nonchalantly. He then gestured to one of his men, who reverently handed him a glove.
“Once the storm is over, we will begin. But first, we need to do something about that necklace you so proudly wear.”
He slipped on the glove and then extended his arms, he slowly levitated into the air, his robe billowing around him as he hovered over the ground; his eyes glowed brighter.
Once he was eye level with her, he reached out, and finally, the last shred of hope was torn from her in the form of her necklace. She felt the sharp sting of it being tugged from her neck. It was the strangest feeling being without it, she felt like weights had suddenly attached themselves onto every limb.
Instantly a loud shriek filled the room and shadows started flitting along the walls. Shadaya instantly knew what they were and what they could do. Without her necklace, she had no protection.
“I’m sorry father,” she muttered.
For now, she knew that she was surely lost.
✽ ✽ ✽
By the next day the dark storm had receded, the temperature had risen, and the light of day was dueling with the remaining shadows, pushing itself back into the kingdom. Still the people were reluctant to leave their haven. Markus couldn’t blame them. They all had an idea of what might be awaiting them outside; minds shattered by madness, others sick and staring helplessly into the eyes of death.
The mansion grounds were littered with remnants of black silt, a reminder of what had passed over them. Markus met Stiller while he was making his rounds outside with some of his men. One of whom was the prince of Aldor. Breathlessly Stiller hiked up the hill to meet him, his shirt was partially undone and soaked with sweat and his sandaled feet were a blackened dusty mess.
They greeted each other with a firm handshake, “how did you fare?” Markus asked.
“Well enough, I don’t know which was worse, the howling without or the crying within.”
Markus bowed slightly at the prince, who did not seem to notice. He was looking around them with a bothered frown. In the short time that he had known the crown prince of Aldor he had grown to respect him. He was nothing like he had expected; not
hing like the royals he would have met before. He was kind and down to earth and radiated a humility that could not be faked. He was the kind of man who would walk into a room with his mind set on the people he would encounter rather than the attention his title would earn him. Markus could not help but respect a man like that.
“First dark storm your majesty?” Markus asked.
Jasper turned to him now and nodded slightly, “I’ve heard of it, read on it, but never experienced it. The darkness is truly a curse.”
“I like to think it keeps us on our toes,” Markus joked.
Neither the prince nor Stiller shared his sense of humor.
“Were many lives lost?” Markus asked as they made their way back towards Markus’ home.
Stiller shrugged, “I made a quick assessment on my way here. Seems like most of the villagers got themselves to safety, I don’t know about other villages, we sent men out to spread the word, but none returned. I counted three men and one woman who had been affected. If that is all here in Arduway, it’s not bad for the time we were given. Stacia and the others brought them in to care for them, until their final moments should El will it.”
Markus looked solemn as they entered the house, it was still dark inside as the villagers hurdled together murmuring among themselves, waiting for him to return with news of what he had seen. At the sight of Stiller with him, everyone perked up and a feeling of hope seemed to rise among the dejected souls.
Markus drew aside the curtains in the great hall and the light of day streamed through the dusty windows. The town of Arduway was disturbingly quiet as Dravia still seemed to hold its breath.
“Is it over?” a man asked anxiously.
Markus nodded slowly, “in one way yes. In another it has just begun.”
The crowd started to murmur until Markus turned to face them.
“The aftermath of a dark storm can be… disturbing. Many of you will now have to face the reality of losing one or more of your own that was not able to get to safety. Others when they go out there will come face to face with the madness of the dark storm, someone you love may attack you, or be nothing but a shell of themselves. Others will deteriorate slowly at your expense. You must prepare your minds for what awaits you outside.”
Shadaya: Out of Darkness (Gemstone Royals) Page 26