Shadow's Voice

by Natalie Johanson

  Gerik drew his sword and smiled. “You are unarmed.”

  A whisper that stood out from the many voices of the shadows told her she had a weapon in the shadows, buried deep in the shadow world. Rose looked deep through her shadows and saw the hilt of a sword. She thrust her arm through the shadows and into the Undertunnels. She gripped the hilt of a sword. Gerik swung at her and Rose pulled her arm free just in time to block with the black sword she’d pulled free. Surprise, and a little fear, flashed across Gerik’s face as he looked on the strange blade.

  The shadows filled Rose, and with their strength Rose threw Gerik off. She advanced and their swords clashed with a spark.

  Attack!

  The shadows swarmed them and Gerik met the assault with a wall of fire. The throne room was completely blocked from view. All Rose saw was a wall of flaming darkness. Wolves attacked fiery beasts and at the center of it all Rose and Gerik continued to clash their swords. The shadows gave her strength and knowledge, Rose was able to meet Gerik’s blows. Her black sword whirled through the air and wisps of darkness were left in its wake.

  Rose swung for his neck and Gerik met the blow. Her sword bounced back from the block with a loud crash and she sent it whistling for his ribs. He dipped his and the two blades met in a bang that echoed through the room. Rose brought her black blade in close and their swords ground against each other as they slid toward each other’s knuckle guards. The blades screamed as they scraped across each other.

  Gerik grabbed Rose’s sword hand and she grabbed his. They were locked together. She pushed against his blade, trying to push his own against him and he did the same.

  The shadows buried deeper into Rose and she remembered memories that were not hers. She remembered a similar battle centuries ago, a memory that wasn’t hers, and remembered her opponent.

  Rose hooked her leg around his and spun them both to the floor. They crashed into the floor and fell into the shadow world. They fell deeper into the shadow world than she had ever been, deeper than the Undertunnels.

  They rolled and rolled, each trying to gain the upper hand. Rose jammed her elbow into his nose and pulled free of him. She was still on her knees when Gerik knocked her sword from her hands. The black blade fell to the ground and disappeared into the darkness. Rose ducked a slash meant for her neck and pulled her blade out of the darkness.

  He took a breath and glowered at the sword she held again.

  “This is our world, Gerik. We will always win here.”

  Gerik growled and advanced. Rose stepped back and disappeared into the shadows. She stepped out behind him and he spun to deflect the attack. He swung again at her and again Rose vanished into the shadows to reappear behind him. Rose circled him. Slowly, her sword lowered and she felt a growl creep up her throat.

  “You are hunting. The wolves are that deep into you? That is unwise, Shadowstalker.”

  “If I am hunting, what does that make you?”

  “I am not prey to you.”

  Gerik feinted and Rose dissolved into shadow. Gerik spun around, anticipating an attack from behind again, only Rose appeared in the same place. She laughed and ran the black shadow blade through Gerik’s back. He screamed and Rose reached up and wrapped her arm around his neck and drove the blade deeper. She reached down and pulled the book from his hand, where he clutched it.

  “Not prey, you said?” Rose twisted the blade.

  “It takes more . . .” blood bubbled over his lips, “than that to kill me, even in this body.” He threw an elbow into Rose and pulled free of her blade. He turned and with an old word of magic summoned a tunnel. Rose swung her blade at him just as he fell into it and the portal closed behind him.

  “No!” Rose and the shadows screamed in fury. She drove the blade into the gray earth and screamed again. “No!” The world shook with her rage and the shadows howled their anger.

  She stood there panting, her arms shaking, heart pounding. Her legs shook and gave out beneath her. Rose fell to the floor and finally looked around. She looked around with her own eyes and her own memories. The shadows and memories, knowledge had left her and now this place was foreign to her.

  The whole world was gray. Thin leafless trees dotted a flat barren landscape. Rose looked to the sky and saw only overcast clouds. A wolf appeared in the distance and ambled over to her.

  “Where am I?”

  The Shadow World. Our world.

  “And the Undertunnels? They are what I usually see?”

  The wolf nodded once.

  “They . . . do they lead here?”

  If you know the path. You came here once before, by mistake.

  Rose nodded and fought the growing urge to sleep. “And . . . a Shadowstalker? Why was he calling me that?”

  It is what you are. You are the link from our world and yours. You are our voice when we speak, our leader when we fight. You are the keeper of the Balance.

  Rose tried to pull herself back together. “Who is Gerik? Why did I know him?”

  We are you when you call us. You had our memories. We have fought him before. We thought him gone. We were wrong. He thought to be a Stalker when he was not one. Tried to control all elements of magic. He upset the Balance of the world. No one being may be so powerful. The B’leakon thought to do the same as Gerik, without knowing Gerik would destroy him.

  The giant gray wolf dipped its head. It looked at the book forgotten in Rose’s hands. It should never be.

  “There isn’t a chance you’d let me keep it?”

  The wolf lowered its head over the book and growled.

  “I didn’t think so,” she grumbled and tossed it to the wolf. “What is in it?”

  We will humor this last question. It is how to control all the magics. It is so much more. It was the prison for the mind of Gerik when the Stalker before you could not kill him. We had hoped you would destroy it, hide it, but you are young. The wolf sighed and the sound brushed along Rose’s mind.

  “But . . . how?” she asked and she didn’t know what she was asking. How had it existed? How had a binding of pages contained a man’s mind? How many magics are there?

  That was the last question. The wolf gripped the book in its jaws and turned. Rose blinked and in that second it had disappeared.

  Rose shakily stood and walked in a circle. “How do I get out of here?”

  She was met with silence. Rose walked aimlessly, the terrain never changing. There were no tunnels for her to escape through, no roads for her to walk. This was a world far beyond the shadows of her Undertunnels. Everywhere she looked, any direction she turned, all she saw was flat, gray grass and dead trees, a cloudy gray horizon and fog around her ankles. The whisperers were starting. She could hear them, off in the distance between the trees. Rose walked to get away from them, her panic growing.

  The whisperers were coming for her, and this time she didn’t have anywhere to go.

  Giant black wolves swarmed Rose and D’ray and a tower of flame spiraled around them. Micah could feel the heat from the flames, the roar loud in his ears. Micah and everyone else in the throne room backed away against the walls. They screamed in panic. Mariah stood frozen next to him. The giant wolf Rose had told to guard him stood in front of Micah, its massive head low to the ground. Rose and D’ray were both lost to the chaos that whirled around them. The fire seemed to hiss and scream as if it was alive.

  Guards broke down the throne room doors, Micah’s guards, and they all rushed to a standstill when they saw the spectacle in the center. The wolf growled and took a step.

  “No, they are allies.”

  The wolf glanced at Micah but stopped its advance.

  Micah waved over the guards. “Get these people to safety!” he commanded.

  With his order, his men gathered their wits and started grabbing people
and pulling them from the room. General Arboh, splattered with blood, hesitantly approached Micah.

  “Report, General,” Micah ordered when it looked like the man would come no closer.

  The burly man glanced once more at the beast. “We drove back the Lord’s forces. Several captured. We stormed the castle but found the traitors already dead.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  General Arboh nodded and stared at the beast.

  Micah spoke to the wolf. “Release Sasha. We need to question her.”

  The wolf turned its massive head back to Micah and lifted its lips.

  “Rose had you keep her alive. Release her to us.”

  The beast shook its massive body and Sasha was thrown across the floor from the dark corner she had been in.

  “Restrain her.” Micah pointed to her. Guards fell on her before she had noticed what had happened to her. She looked at Micah, her face ghostly pale. “Rose did warn you,” he said with no small amount of pride for his warrior woman.

  Before Sasha could muster a reply the fire storm stopped. The shadows disappeared. Rose stood alone in the center of the room. The wolf guarding Micah melted into the shadows and disappeared with the rest of them. Micah hesitated a second more before rushing to her.

  “Rose?” Micah came to stand in front of her and gasped.

  “What’s wrong?” Mariah followed him and came to stand next to him. She saw Rose’s black eyes and gasped as well.

  Her whole eyes were black; there was no color, no white. They were solid orbs of black. Micah gently put a hand on her shoulder. “Rose? Can you hear me?”

  She stood still in front of him.

  “She’s not even blinking.” Mariah’s voice shook.

  “Rose!” Micah shook her. “Rose, listen!”

  Mariah screamed. Micah looked away from Rose and saw a cloud of shadows around them. Mariah was being pushed back.

  “Sire, get out of there!”

  “Not without her,” Micah shouted through the whirling spinning darkness. He turned back to Rose and shook her harder. “You must hear me!”

  She is ours to keep.

  Micah gritted his teeth. An impossible wind whipped him from every side. “She is not.”

  She is of the shadows. She is ours.

  He shouted at her. He shouted her name over and over. “Ah!” Micah looked down and saw a line of red on his sleeve. “You must do worse than that.”

  They did. The shadows sliced at him over and over. Micah gritted his teeth against the burn of dozens of slices appearing on his skin. They cut him with invisible blades, bit him with invisible teeth.

  She is ours.

  “No. She is mine!” Micah shouted at them. He gripped her face, still as impassive as before. “She’s mine.”

  The wind buffeted him over and over. They cut at him with their razor teeth. Micah ignored the wind and the razors and stroked her cheeks. “Come on, you brave woman. Come back to me.”

  Come with us.

  Ghosts surrounded her.

  You are one of us.

  Come.

  Rose clapped her hands over her ears.

  Come this way.

  Listen to us.

  Thin, transparent specters circled her. They shouted now, no more whispering. They shouted.

  “Stop!” Rose screamed and curled into herself. “Stop.”

  “Rose!”

  Rose lifted her head. “Micah?” She strained her ears to hear him again. The ghosts were shouting and he was so quiet.

  Ignore the Anchor. You must follow us.

  “Oh, shut up!” Rose shouted back at them.

  “Rose!”

  “Micah!” Rose stood and ran through the circle of ghosts. Where is he? Where . . . Rose turned in circles. “Where are . . . .”

  “She is mine!”

  Rose saw in the darkness between two thin trees a small tunnel forming and through that, the king. He was staring at her. He had blood running from a cut on his face. She walked over to the tunnel. “She’s mine.”

  “I can hear you!” Rose stared at the growing portal. “Can you hear me?”

  “Come on, you brave woman. Come back to me.”

  Rose knew what to do. With a smile, she stepped through the tunnel.

  She gasped as she slammed back into her body. Rose collapsed but someone caught her. Her head . . . oh gods, her head. It would split open. Rose moaned and tried to open her eyes. Micah was shouting above her, but she couldn’t hear his words. Her ears were ringing. The world was spinning. And her head . . . oh, her head.

  Micah looked down at her and Rose met his eyes before the world went black.

  Epilogue

  Rose brushed the small layer of snow off the bench before curling up on it in her blanket. The first snowfall of the season. Rose tugged the blanket tighter. It wouldn’t last. It was already starting to melt, but more was coming. Winter had arrived and the black clouds on the horizon promised much more snow than a dusting.

  Snow crunching under his boots gave away his approach.

  “Is Madame Rita letting you out now?”

  Micah sat next to her and she sighed. “No. But we’re not going to alert her to my absence. Sitting out here instead of that blasted room isn’t going to kill me.”

  He smiled. “Fair enough.”

  They were quiet after that. Rose flexed her hand in the new glove. Her order had just come in. The Light Horse was ecstatic to have the new uniforms just in time for the cold.

  “How are you recovering?”

  Rose tucked her hand back into her blanket. “I still can’t use my magic.”

  “Have you tried?” Micah asked gently.

  “No,” she finally said after chewing her lip. “No, I haven’t.”

  “Will you?”

  “It almost killed me! Again! I was unconscious for...for so long. And when I did wake . . . .” She hadn’t known who she was. It had taken days for herself to come back. She still felt there were pieces missing, like she’d left something behind in that barren world of shadows.

  “I know.”

  Rose had to look away. “How is Captain Sayla?”

  “She is recovering. Her magic seems to be under control now.”

  Ever since D’ray had used her to get inside Rose’s head, her magic had been unpredictable. It was a cruel thing to suffer. “I’m glad.”

  “I finished reading your report.”

  “I’m sorry he got away.”

  Micah turned, gripped her chin, and made her face him. “It . . . is not . . . your fault. How many times must I say this?”

  “Apparently, a few more.”

  Her smile lacked conviction.

  He sat back and Rose looked away. They hadn’t spoken about the night in the throne room. She remembered him calling her back. She remembered going to him. He’d said she was his. “His” how? Rose didn’t know and wasn’t sure she wanted to, yet.

  “Sasha was working with someone,” Micah said

  “Oh?” Rose perked up at that.

  “Patrols found him trying to escape in the woods. Man named Gillian. He had a map of the escape tunnels, of the castle. The only way to get that would be to get into my personal library and go through my records. She was relaying information to him, who was then relaying it to Lord Damian. The pirate did say they had been instructed to muster in the King’s Forrest. Lord Damian knew there would be no traffic through there and the few woodsmen patrolling it are scarce.”

  Rose hummed. “Sasha say much?”

  “Not yet.”

  “She will be hard to break.” Rose looked at the ground. “How is Erik?”

  She felt him turn and look at her. “That I wouldn’t know.
You’ll have to ask him.”

  It was painful to hear. Erik had looked so devastated, had looked at her with such hatred. She had taken something precious to him and destroyed it, broken it and laid it open for all to see. She wouldn’t be surprised if he blamed her for that.

  She cleared her throat. “Did Shaun ever report in? Erik had said he was missing.”

  Micah’s expression dropped. “Soldiers found his . . . found enough to identify Shaun.”

  Rose didn’t know what to say. So many had fallen. She was used to death, but not in these numbers. All the loss left a sore spot in her chest.

  Micah cleared his throat and changed the topic. “What are your plans once Madame Rita releases you?”

  Rose looked at the snowy ground, quickly becoming muddy. “I don’t know.”

  “I really would like you to stay.”

  Rose stared at him. She could still see the faint lines from the shadows’ attack. Her shadows. Even after nearly a month they were still there, the little pink lines. They had been deeper than he’d first told her. She’d lost control of her magic, had let it control her and she could’ve killed him. She shook her head. “I don’t know.” She said again.

  “Eventually you must stop running and learn to lean on others.”

  Rose sighed and stayed silent. She didn’t know what to say, what to think.

  “Besides,” Micah leaned back. “D’ray—Gerik is still out there, planning the gods only know what.”

  “D’ray is gone. I don’t know if he knew what would happen when he found the book, or if he even truly knew what he was looking for. But I do not think he exists anymore. What is left in that body is the mind of Gerik. Whoever he was once . . .” Rose shook her head. So much of their past was gone. How were they to fight an enemy from a past they couldn’t remember? “This has just begun, I fear.”

  “You did say you’d stay until everything had settled. Looks like you’ll be staying unless you plan on going back on your word.”