Her nose was bleeding. Mariah’s eyes met Rose’s and more tears fell.
“You are much stronger than I thought,” D’ray was saying. “No matter.”
Rose screeched as the knife was plunged back into her mind. She felt him searching her memories for the book, where it was hidden, what she’d done with it. He couldn’t know. He couldn’t find it. She focused on anything else. Any other memory Rose could think of. She pulled those memories to her.
“I’m sorry.” Rose stopped at the entrance to the pond. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
King Micah looked up from the water. “You did not.” Rose turned to leave but Micah called after her, “Do not leave on my account.”
Rose paused before walking over to the bench and sitting next to him. “I didn’t want to intrude.”
King Micah looked over at her and smiled. “You aren’t. I come here to sit and think and get away from the politics.”
Rose snorted. “Aren’t politics your life?”
He sighed. “Yes.”
Rose opened her mouth but couldn’t think of anything to say. She turned instead to the koi pond and settled against the bench. She was watching the fish when movement made her turn. King Micah had pulled out a small sketchpad bound in worn leather and had started sketching. “What are you drawing?”
He indicated the space around them. “Whatever draws my attention.”
Rose turned and watched him. She couldn’t draw a straight line to save her life. She leaned back and watched his hand move across the page, getting covered in charcoal. He glanced at her occasionally but didn’t speak.
“Do you care if I watch you draw?”
He looked up at her again. “Not at all. I can’t imagine it be very entertaining, however.”
She smiled and tucked her legs up on the bench. “No, but if I wanted entertainment I’d have gone into town to the theater.”
Micah chuckled and went back to his sketch.
Rose settled back and watched his face. It was intense, focused on his pad but more relaxed than she’d ever seen him in the throne room. Rose relaxed and listened to the charcoal scratching across the page and the leaves rustling in the breeze. The sun beat on her shoulders and in the comfortable warmth and Rose started to doze.
She felt D’ray pull out of the memory and dig through her mind for scenes of the book. Her mind burned from his assault. Rose thought about little Clara and pulled D’ray away from what he sought.
“Rose!” Clara shouted as she came barreling through the door. “Rose!”
The girl’s voice bounced around in her head and she saw Captain Sayla grimace. “Yes, Clara?”
The girl leapt up onto the couch and bounced over to Rose, causing her to spill her tea over her lap. “Clara, calm down. What is the matter?”
She settled next to Rose. “Sorry. I’m bored. Mari won’t let me play with the horsies.”
Rose glanced over at Captain Sayla. Clara couldn’t seem to say her full name. She had settled on Mari; and Captain hated it.
Captain Sayla looked up from her report and drawled, “That’s because last time you played with the horsies you nearly got trampled.”
Rose snorted. “Only because she went alone.”
“See, Mari? Lemme play with the horsies!”
Captain Sayla breathed through her nose and Rose chuckled at her irritation. “If you can find someone to go with you.”
Clara turned her giant brown eyes to Rose. Before the girl could squeal her plea, Rose pointed at Sam lounging by the window. “You know what Clara? Sam there is just as bored as you. I bet he’d love to play with the horsies.”
Sam jerked upright and glared at her before Clara turned and scrambled over to him. “Sammie! Les’ go!”
Rose choked on her laughter as Sam glowered at her while being pulled from the room by the small child. The second the door shut even the captain was laughing.
“He’ll get you back for that.”
Rose laughed and snorted. “Oh, I’m sure.”
Her vision cleared long enough to see brief flashes of Mariah, and then it would start again. He was getting closer. She had to go farther away . . . into deeper memories away from the castle.
“You are worthless!” The back of his hand landed across her face and she landed on the floor weeping.
“Please, papa!”
“‘Please, papa!’” he mimicked and pulled her up. “Do as you’re told!” He shoved her away and Rose tripped as she ran up the narrow stairs to her room. She hid under her bed, hugging the small stuffed rabbit and cried.
Rose gasped as she felt herself pulled out of the memory. D’ray tried to pull her away but she just focused on another nightmare and slipped into it.
Rose huddled on her bed, knees drawn to her chest. The door to her room creaked open and when she looked up from her knees, her father stood in the doorway. Rose shrunk back from the glower on his face.
“Papa?”
His hand tightened on the door handle.
“Why I am in trouble?” she asked again, careful so as not to anger him further.
“Because, girl,” he growled at her, “your curse drove your mother from us. Your curse is chasing away my business.”
Rose sniffled.
“Now, if you want to be allowed friends again you’ll have to do what I say.”
Rose glanced at him, still huddled behind her knees.
“You’ve been cursed, girl. But your curse will earn me money. Do as you’re told and perhaps you’ll earn more than friends back.”
She nodded. “All right, father.”
She was losing her strength. Rose pushed into another memory and D’ray pulled her out. He pulled her out of her memories faster and faster. The knife slicing through her mind tore screams from her throat. The captain had stopped screaming. She slumped as far forward as the guard would allow and moaned. One long moan.
“Is she going to live?” Micah asked Mariah. He’d sat and watched in horror as the two women had screamed and screamed. He had been able to see the strange light that seemed to pass through their eyes as D’ray had worked his magic. Micah and the other Light Horse officers had run over and dragged the two unconscious women back to the edges as soon as D’ray had left.
Mariah sat up now, leaning on the wall. Blood had fallen from her nose, and the skin around her manacled wrist was blistered and bleeding. But she had woken up. Rose was still unconscious. She moaned occasionally and twitched but she still hadn’t opened her eyes. Blood had poured from her eyes and her ears. The poor woman had screamed until D’ray finally stepped away from her.
“I have no idea,” Mariah mumbled. Her eyes were heavy; she was fighting to stay awake. “Micah, she . . . knew right away what he was doing.”
“Which was what, exactly?”
Mariah sighed and had to clear her throat. “He used my magic, and . . . .” A few tears fell. “He used it to force his way through Rose’s thoughts and memories so he could find where she’d hidden the book.”
“You’ve always said your magic doesn’t work that way.”
She shook her head and stared forward. “It doesn’t. He manipulated it. But Micah,” she grabbed his arm, “she figured it out. She knew what he was doing. She distracted him for as long as she could, forced him into her childhood memories. She was forced to relive her most horrible memories in the process.”
Mariah looked over at the unconscious woman. “I could feel the pain she was in. I knew how much it hurt to fight him. And how much it hurt her to go back to those years.”
Micah looked down at Rose, laying next to him, and gently brushed hair off her face. “May the gods help her.”
Stalker. Stalker, you must wake. He comes! He has it.
Rose glanc
ed around the foggy world and looked at the wolf. “How can I fight him? You must help me.”
The wolf lifted its lips. If we are commanded, we will obey. If you can command.
Rose opened her eyes and whimpered.
“She’s awake!”
Rose recognized Micah’s voice. She tried to roll over and the pounding in her head doubled. Rose rolled onto her side and her stomach heaved. She felt someone holding her forehead as her stomach emptied itself. When she was finally able to sit up she tried to open her eyes again. Micah leaned her against the wall next to Mariah.
“You’re alive, then.” Rose muttered to the captain.
Mariah slid her eyes over to her. “Are you?”
Rose coughed. “I’ll get back to you on that.”
Mariah managed a laugh.
Rose leaned on the wall and heard whisperings through the shadows. They were soft, dampened by the cuff. Muted sounds of battle and shouting, sounds of retreat echoing through the dark castle halls. “I think your guards are winning the castle back.”
Micah’s face brightened. “Good. That’s very good.”
“Not all is lost, then,” Mariah said.
Rose looked to the throne room doors as D’ray came storming back in. “I have a feeling it hasn’t really started yet.”
Micah and Mariah turned their attention to the B’leakon. His eyes were different. They had changed from red to solid black. Rose had never seen that color among any of the B’leakons before. Something has changed. Rose grew more and more uneasy as she looked at him. “Something is different.”
Lord Damian stood as D’ray approached. “Our soldiers are being pushed back. We must kill the king now, before we lose more ground.”
D’ray glanced at Lord Damian and he stopped in his tracks. “No. Not yet.”
Lord Damian clenched his fits at his side. “We are running out of time. I have allowed you to take the time to search for your item, but we must act soon. We still have options while we have him, but if we lose more ground we may not have him for long.”
D’ray glanced over at King Micah. “I need him still.”
Damian ground his teeth together and returned to the throne. D’ray walked over to Rose and the king and looked down at them. Micah stood and met his gaze, his odd gaze.
“What are your demands?”
“Well. Right to the point you are.” D’ray cocked half a smile. “I need the rest of it.”
“Let my people leave, let the civilians leave and we can talk.”
D’ray put his finger against his lips and hummed. “Well, you see, they,” he gestured to the people huddling as far away as they could, “are my collateral. So again, I need the rest. Where is it?”
“The rest of what?”
D’ray heaved a dramatic sigh. “Humans have such short memories.” He held up the old book. “There were two pieces to this book. The second piece was a map. The map is removed from this. Where is it?”
Rose frowned at the man that looked like D’ray, but didn’t act nor talk like him. Micah was shaking his head. “I’ve never even seen that book before. How am I to know if pieces of it are missing?”
D’ray rubbed his eyes. “It was entrusted to your keeping centuries ago. Surely a record of it remains.”
“My family did not rule centuries ago. Anything older than two hundred years was most likely destroyed in the fire.”
“This is pointless,” Damian interrupted. “I’m finished humoring you.”
D’ray slid his eerie black eyes to the Lord Governor.
Damian’s face turned bright red. “I paid you to kill the king and you haven’t. I struck a deal for men and they are losing. You have fail in your deal with me.”
D’ray shrugged. “Mmmh. Yes, well you didn’t make that arrangement with me.”
“This throne is mine!”
D’ray sighed and flicked his hand at Damian as if he was swatting at a fly. The Lord Governor twitched, there was an audible snap as his head twisted nearly all the way around. His corpse crashed to the floor in an undignified heap.
The throne room erupted into screaming. People scrambled to get farther away from the madman. He looked down to Rose, dismissing the king. She felt the shadows moving behind her, felt them hissing at the thing walking toward her.
She dragged her feet underneath her and balanced on the balls of her feet. “And who are you, then?”
She saw Micah and Mariah slowly inching themselves away from her. Everyone was. They were all moving away from her. Rose felt a strength building in her. If we are commanded, the shadows had said.
Well, she thought grimly, I’m commanding you now.
“Did you ever wonder what this held?” He held the book out for her to see. “Among a great many things, it held Gerik. Or, at least, his mind. When you’re immortal it’s so very difficult to kill someone.”
Rose started to pull the shadows to her. It was difficult, painful, the cuff stopping her. But she knew what she needed to do. She was to command the shadows and they were going to listen to her.
“And it has been a long time. I have waited a long, long time to be free of this prison. That B’leakon, he didn’t really know what he was doing when he freed me. What it would require.”
She pulled her shadows harder. They were coming, but slowly.
Not-D’ray sneered at her. “I’m going to kill you.”
This person in front of her looked, sounded like D’ray but it wasn’t him behind the eyes. “What has happened to D’ray? Because he isn’t you.”
He chuckled. “His mind was weak, easy to destroy.”
“And who are you, then?”
“Long ago,” he spoke slowly, as if to say “keep up,” “I was called Gerik.”
Rose felt the shadows pressing around her. She could feel her power growing. Rose was in control of them; they were bending to her wishes. She called them to her, demanded they come to fight and her army was coming.
“And what do you think you’re doing? There can’t be two of us.”
Rose lowered her arms and spread her hands wide at her sides. You will come to me!
The shadows swarmed her and behind her, and she heard a growl. For once, everyone heard it.
Chapter 38
Gerik threw a ball of fire at her face. Instincts Rose didn’t understand pulled a wall of darkness up to absorb the flames. She felt the heat of the fire as it sat in the shadows. Rose moved the shadow to the side and the fire ball was spit from her shadows into the wall.
“Get this off me!” Rose yelled at the shadows.
A giant wolf shape appeared at her arm and with a giant sweep of its paw smashed the iron brace it pieces.
“You cannot control them!” Gerik shouted
Rose bared her teeth at him. “Watch me!”
She grabbed a handful of the shadows, now as solid as she, and threw them at Gerik. He fell to the floor under their weight. She could hear him cursing as he struggled against their hold. They held him down, for now.
Again, an instinct buried deep within Rose had her raising her arms and she whistled. One long, high pitch that echoed out through the shadow world.
To me!
The shadows came. They came to her and Rose invited them in. They thought with her and she acted with them. She understood now, what they had said all that time ago. They were one and they were many. There were so many of them. More than Rose could ever try to count. They all acted as one, but thought separately. She could hear discussion then agreement as they took their places.
They formed behind her in a giant mass. Some took shape as giant wolves, their heads coming even with her shoulder. She pointed at the king. “Guard him.” Her voice was deep, almost a growl.
The shadows hissed and Ro
se growled back at them. I am leader here. “Guard. Him.”
One giant wolf peeled off from the menacing cloud behind her and stood in front of King Micah. Rose turned back to Gerik just as he threw off her shadow and stood.
“I speak for the judges.” Her voice was not her own anymore. It echoed with the hundreds of voices from the shadows and grew deep with their authority.
“I’ve no wish to speak with them.” Gerik threw another fireball at Rose and the wolf to her right patted it away.
“You will be destroyed. Balance will be restored.”
Rose turned to the shadows. “Kill the intruders.” Rose turned to Sasha who stood with her long knife and whip uncoiled. “Keep her alive.” The shadows swept through the room and vanished. Three wolves stayed and lunged at the soldiers standing guard. They fell on the men as they screamed. One slashed at the wolf with his sword but what damage could a sword do a shadow?
The wolf dissolved its shape and a mass of dark cloud swarmed the man. A wolf bounded over to Sasha who screamed and tried to run. The shadow engulfed her and held her. Rose could hear her screaming in the dark prison she was held. Seconds later the three wolfs were behind Rose again, the men who used to stand guard lay dead in puddles of their own blood.
It all had taken seconds, mere seconds. Such power was at her control.
Gerik stood in front of her and shouted, “I will not be stopped again! I killed the last Stalker. I will end you as well.”
She turned to her shadows and peered into the darkness. As she did Rose could hear the screams of the soldiers as the shadows fell upon them. Many did not even see their attackers. The shadows swept up from the floors or the doorways and the alcoves and fell upon invaders. “This is ended.”
Shadow's Voice Page 30