Page 10 of Sword & Shadow
Evylin looked to Ilain, Deckard, and Ethenn. “It isn’t perfect,” she admitted. “Everything is still very dark, but I can make things out well enough.”
“Same for me,” Ethenn confirmed. “But I’ve always had good eyesight.”
“Hunters,” Rafferty grumbled.
Deckard nodded his agreement. “I can see shapes but no details.”
Ilain looked toward Auden. “It seems by Allore’s grace that we’re only down two members,” she remarked.
“Are you all right?” Deckard asked Thom, taking a step toward his brother. “It sounded like the Guardian broke something.”
“It did,” Thom said. “My whole left leg, according to Auden.”
“I got him patched up,” Auden assured them. “It’ll be sore, but he can run out of here all the same.”
“I can’t run if I can’t see,” Thom argued.
Deckard frowned. “That is a problem. We have Shades to face upstairs. Can we defend Thom and Rafferty the whole way?”
“We don’t have much choice,” Evylin said. “They can’t exactly stay down here.”
Ethenn nocked an arrow. “I’ll hold the back,” he suggested. “If you, Auden, and Ilain clear the way, the colonel and I can defend Thom and Raff.”
“It’s as good a plan as any,” Evylin lamented.
With their worrisome plan in place, Evylin reclaimed her knife from the floor and reset her grip on her sword. She jogged lightly to the front to walk alongside Auden and Ilain while Deckard and Ethenn herded Thom and Rafferty at the back. Thelong walk through the dark purple Chamber and up the stone staircase took several minutes, especially as their sight-impaired comrades struggled to gauge each step.
Evylin could feel her magic thrumming under her skin, begging her to return to the action. That was something she’d come to learn about her Warrior instincts. When they kicked in, she stopped thinking quite as rationally. Logic and strategy pervaded, but in a far more reactive fashion. She wanted to move, fight, run, jump, and slash. It made her feel discombobulated when she forced herself to slow her gait. Her skin tingled with unspent energy, and her head swirled with excitement even as her heart weighed heavily in her chest, each beat a reminder of how fearful she was of losing any of her teammates.
Finally, they reached the top of the staircase. Auden paused at the iron door that awaited them. “I’ll go out first,” he offered, the Day Relic’s yellow pulse and the Night’s purple beam resting on his coat. “If nothing else, I may be able to slow the first wave of Shades with the additional power.”
All of them prepared as Auden cautiously opened the door. Evylin remained at his side, watchful. She lifted her sword, prepared to strike the second a Shade showed itself.
Emerging from the staircase, the team walked out into a tall but narrow stone enclosure. Twinkling violet gems glittered across the midnight purple stone ceiling, and veins of amethyst ran through the rock. It would have been beautiful if she hadn’t been far more aware of the arching passage before them.
They were in a cave, Evylin realized. The home of the bloodwolf. She’d read about their habitats in her novels. Tight, enclosed spaces that often twisted and turned with numerous dark passages so winding you could easily get lost.
Cool, damp air tickled Evylin’s skin as she and Auden moved for the passage, Ilain at their back. As they continued, theShades’ hum rose to Evylin’s ears. The sound was pure, sharp, and piercing. The Shades of Night sang differently from those of Day and Water. The haunting minor refrain sent chills down her spine even as she admired its beauty.
The dichotomy of Night filled her once more: safety and anxiety, protection and betrayal, peace and terror.
Senses honing as the magic tugged at her, Evylin lifted her sword. Her focus refined while her heartbeat rose, a furious hammer against an anvil. The cave of Night grew clearer as her vision sharpened.
Evylin could see down the singular passage now. Rock pillars twisted out of the ground, keeping the path narrow and hard to maneuver. Out of their shadows rose the clay and magic forms of the Shades. Smoke-like shadows curled around the clay, holding their strange, amorphous figures together.
In an instant, Auden’s hands flew forward. A stream of light burst out, causing Evylin to recoil, her eyes watering at the sudden brightness. “Don’t!” she called even as the Day magic seared the Shades into oblivion. They burst apart into thick clouds of smoke, obscuring the hall.
Furiously blinking away the spots that now burned her retinas, Evylin attempted to glare at Auden. “You can’t use Day in here. I was just getting used to the dark.”
Auden held his hands up in apology, his eyes blinking wildly like the rest of their team. “My mistake,” he assured her. “I wasn’t thinking. I will use Time or Night from here on.”
“And I,” Ilain added with a sour tone, “will refrain from using Fire.”
“Wait,” Rafferty interjected. “Why don’t you use Fire to make a light? Then Thom and I could see.”
Ilain tossed him a disdainful look. “Even without Fire magic, I’d be of far more use fighting than as your magical lantern.”
“Fine,” Thom grumbled, rubbing his eyes. “Let’s justget out of here!”
