Battling the Shades

Hours passed, the scenery unchanged, the many suns hidden by foliage, giving them little sense of direction.

“I’m exhausted,” Fawks groaned.

“Me too. Exhausted, hungry, thirsty… let’s stop here and call it a day,” Elias said.

“Yeah… but… it’s only afternoon! We’ve been walking forever – we must’ve passed at least two of those peaks we saw from above. Maybe we’re close to the mountains!”

He suddenly unfurled his tail and launched into the sky. “I’ll take a look.”

The jungle was thinner there, the air cooler, the light less suffocating. Birds called in familiar notes, the same kind Elias had once heard on the far side of the Common Ground.

Elias found a small clearing to sit, pulled off his boots, and stretched his feet. The instant they touched the ground, he shoved them back on and sprang up.

Straight ahead, three pale, shadowy figures were approaching. At first they hadn’t noticed him, but the moment he stood, they froze – clearly seeing him now.

Either way, they would notice them both once Fawks came back down.

Sure enough, Fawks darted back a moment later, shouting mid-air, “Seems we’re halfway there! But we’re also a little disoriented. We seem to – what’s wrong?” He caught Elias’s grim look, followed his gaze, and instantly his grin faltered into a nervous grimace.

The three figures were less than twenty meters away. Close enough now that their eyes could be seen: a dark gray, one shade darker than the next. Around them the very air seemed drained of color, the world turning lifeless wherever they walked – as if that patch of reality belonged to some otherworldly dimension. Yet once they moved past, the world returned to normal.

They weren’t lost souls like Anang. No – they were something else.
They carried themselves sharp and sober, and their weapons glinted in the dim light.
These were no mere pale men. These were Shades already, in human guise – and fully armed.
They grinned, offering nothing.

Elias spoke first.

♦♦♦

Kestrel ran as fast as he could. His wounds weren’t large, yet still he bled a lot. Red could tell her horse was beginning to weaken.
“Just a little further!” she urged.

The thunder of Kestrel’s hooves seemed to be the only sound in the forest. Nothing else stirred. Not even the faintest breath of wind moved the mist-draped gloom. No sunlight broke through – the clouds had gathered thick above.

There was no trace of their pursuer. No roar. No wingbeat. Nothing. Not what Red had expected. Yet she was certain it was still on their trail. What predator ever reveals itself before it seizes its prey? The silence itself felt like the beast’s breath on her neck.

Straight ahead, she glimpsed the forest’s end. Beyond, she could already make out colours, shapes – the buildings of Tarlmere. At last, they were almost through the woods! They had crossed the distance in half the time it had taken before, and yet, to her, it had felt like forever. Until the warning left her lips, until the others were alerted, her spirit would find no rest.

Even before breaking into the clearing before the city, she was shouting,
“Sound the alarm! Sound the alarm!”

They burst out of the forest at full speed. Kestrel found another surge of strength and galloped across the open field with ease. Red’s voice rose shriller, more desperate,
“Sound the alarm!”

At last the guards saw her, though they still seemed frozen, numb in their response–

And then, out of the clouds and fog, it dropped upon them like a predator: the black dragon.
Red had been waiting for it. She yanked Kestrel sharply to the right, halting just in time to avoid the beast’s crushing descent. It struck the earth before them with a force that shook the ground. The air stank of smoke and iron.

A bell above the gate began to toll frantically. A horn soon joined it. Those outside the walls broke into a run, scrambling for safety within.

The monster turned on them with a furious roar, enraged that its strike had missed. Kestrel reared, whinnying in terror. Red held tight to the reins with her left hand, raising her war hammer high with her right. Her red eyes burned with grim resolve.
The beast had come to her town now.
And when it feels like you’re making your last stand… you make it count.

♦♦♦

“Who are you?” Elias barked.
They only grinned, saying nothing.

“What do you want?!” he demanded, clenching his fists.

“New recruits!” answered one of the three – not the one who seemed to be their leader.

“New… for what?!” Elias asked in bewilderment.

“For our army!” replied the third. Their voices crawled like whispers through the air.

“Hush… don’t reveal our purpose… yet…” the leader told them with a grin.

“We’re not interested,” Fawks snapped stubbornly.

All three Shades laughed.
“Ha-ha-ha!”

“Two chartreuses,” the leader went on. “Easy prey.”

“Is that so?” Elias shot back, doubt sharp in his tone. He no longer tolerated being underestimated.

He turned his hands –and his focus– toward the ground. The earth trembled beneath them, groaning as if something ancient were waking. At once, a massive, slightly crooked tower forced its way upward, stone grinding on stone, lifting them high into safety.

“After them!” cried the leader. They immediately dashed to the tower’s base, broke down a wooden door, and began climbing the spiral staircase inside.

“You had to make them a door too?” Fawks complained, stepping onto the hatch that led down into the staircase.

“Architect’s instinct…” Elias muttered, scratching the back of his head with a wide grin.

Fawks scowled at him, then shifted his gaze further out. Not far away, a small, bare-topped hill rose among the jungle. “Ah! Maybe I can toss us there!” he said excitedly. “Yes! Let’s try it!”

“Emm… okay…” Elias murmured, hesitating even to step near the tower’s edge.

“We need to work together!” Fawks urged.
Footsteps thundered from below, drawing nearer.
“You need to jump to give us an extra push!” Fawks pressed.

Elias hated the idea. His stomach knotted, his legs felt heavier than lead. But when the shouts came from below –“Up there!”– he had no choice. With blind trust in Fawks, he broke into a desperate run. His chest hammered with every step. And before he even reached the edge, he flung himself into the void – eyes clenched shut, arms spread wide, surrendering himself to the air and to his companion’s catch.

Indeed after a heartbeat Fawks did catch him by the shoulders and, trying to harness his momentum, he soared toward the hilltop, barely a hundred meters away. But Elias’s weight dragged them down. His leap had been strong, but not enough.

Even so, their flight curved in a small arc, enough to carry them onto the trees crowning the hill. They crashed into the branches, but it broke their fall.

Quickly, they climbed down and slipped further away, crossing over the hill’s crest.

At that moment, the Shades burst from the hatch and looked about, searching for where Fawks and Elias had gone. It was the perfect moment to disappear completely, to lose their pursuers’ trail. But Fawks, giddy with relief, leapt and shouted joyfully:
“Woohoo! Over here!”

He laughed at the Shades’ failure. Elias couldn’t help but laugh with him.

Then the leader Shade hurled a knife with deadly force. It whistled through the air with a shrill, slicing sound – then cracked into the bark of a tree nearby, quivering from the impact, missing them by several meters.

For a heartbeat, it was alarming. But once they realized how poorly aimed it was, Fawks spun to mock him again. “Is that the best you can– ”

Only two Shades remained atop the tower.

“Ha-ha-ha!” the leader’s dreadful laugh came from behind them. He stepped into view as though he had risen straight out of the very knife he’d thrown. “Is that the best you can do?” he hissed, yanking the blade free from the tree as he crept closer.

“No – this is!” Elias growled, his voice low and burning. His anger had been simmering, but now it surged. He stretched his hand toward the crooked tower and clenched his fist, as though crushing it in his grip. At once, the stone structure groaned and buckled – then collapsed entirely, dragging the other two Shades down in a choking cloud of rubble.
“It seems you’ll be needing even more new recruits…” Elias spat, his eyes hard with fury.

The leader’s nearly black eyes seemed to flare with fire at Elias. With a swift motion, he drew his sword and charged. Elias spun, shoving Fawks backward to get him out of harm’s way.

At that moment, a monstrous creature burst through the foliage – like a rhino, yet not. It looked as if it had been drawn from strokes of charcoal and ink by some great hand rather than born of flesh, and its massive horn curved like a sword, long and sharp enough to pierce stone.

The pale warrior froze, shifting smoothly into a guarded stance. The beast thundered at him, but with practiced skill, he parried the charging horn, twisting it aside so that the creature’s whole snout slammed into the earth. The impact shook the ground. The rhino-like creature collapsed in a crash of dust and leaves, but the warrior slipped free, sidestepping the mass of the animal as it slammed down past him with a thunderous crash.

Elias and Fawks could only stare, dumbstruck. By instinct, Fawks had lifted himself a little off the ground, while Elias remained stunned.

The beast, impossibly resilient, rose again. Soil and broken twigs slid from its back as it bellowed in rage. Its roar made the air quiver. The warrior only grinned, as though he’d seen such fury before

Then, without warning, he began batting away something invisible with his sword – arrows, perhaps? Elias couldn’t even see them, only hear them. The sound was strange: part whip-crack, part bowstring snap… except the bowstring seemed to echo faint musical notes.

The beast charged again. But this time, the Shade hurled a knife deep into the forest. Seconds later, he vanished. The beast snorted, halted, and then fell still.

From the same place the beast had first come, two figures emerged through the trees – utterly unlike the Shades. They were human.