Page 1 of Gold & Shadow

Chapter 1

When I was very young, I loved the winter; the world covered in a thick layer of snow, the sounds of the forest where we lived dulled and sleeping under a blanket of white.

Gods, how I hated it now.

Not only did it make my job significantly more difficult, but I was cold and wet, and all I really wanted was to be home in bed in front of the fire with a mug of Izzy’sspecial hot cocoa.

I shivered, the darkness nearly complete in this part of the Deep Wood, where barely man nor beast dared to live. Well, except for my sisters and me, but my parents had been a little…eccentric. Our small cottage was nestled in a clearing about ten miles west of where I hid, and I sent up a little prayer that my target wouldn’t track me back to my family.

The tiny cabin I had been sent to on this job was dark, its occupant hopefully away hunting. All I had to do was sneak in, grab the amulet Victor wanted, and get back home without the owner of the amulet coming after me.

Easier said than done.

Victor Gold was a lucrative employer, a collector of curiosities and precious items who helped keep my sisters and me fed through the endless winter. Prior to Victor, I had used my particular brand of shadowweaving to retrieve stolen objects, rather than do the stealing myself. But it turned out that crimedidpay, and Victor paid in spades.

None of us were too good or too proud to take his money, agreeing to many jobs of a morally gray nature to earn enough to keep us fed and sheltered and warm through the twelve-year winter. Izzy’s only reminder to me whenever I left on one of Victor’s jobs was a terse, “Don’t get caught.”

I always kissed her cheek with my usual confidence, and promised to be home by supper.

What I hadn’t realized this time was that it would take me an entire day to reach this remote cabin. I was in decent shape, as athleticism certainly helped with thievery, but the snow was high, and it had been slow going. I was winded and sore and felt about a thousand years old. Based on the rumbling of my stomach, I was definitely going to miss supper, and probably worry my eldest sister half to death.

I sighed, my breath fogging before me in the dark. If I didn’t get out of the snow soon, I would certainly freeze.

I turned again to examine the little cabin. It appeared completely dark at first glance, but I was able to make out a very faint orange glow, and the faintest curl of smoke rising from the chimney. Smoke meant a fire, which meant warmth.

My plan solidified quickly. I would slip into the cabin, find Victor’s blasted amulet, remain hidden and wrapped in shadows until early morning, then head out at first light.

I pulled my cloak more tightly around myself, willing it to warm me. It was old and careworn, but I couldn’t bear to part with it. It was one of the few cherished items we had to remember our father by, and I didn’t want to give that up.

I sighed, grimacing a little at what father would think of his beloved daughters now, all of us but the youngest engaged in less than legal pursuits. I shook away the thought, determined to focus on the job. Our parents were gone, and we were on our own. Theyhad disappeared before the endless winter. They weren’t there when Ella cried in hunger nor when Calli couldn’t get warm.

Iwasthere, and times were desperate. I would do my part for my family regardless of the moral concerns it might raise.

Besides, desperation was good for business.

I pulled shadows over me like a cloak, the way I had done countless times since I had first learned to wield them at the age of thirteen.

It was just after mother and father had disappeared. The only sign that they still lived was a note, telling us to take care of each other. Days passed, then weeks, and Izzy calmly told me that there was no sign of either of our parents in any of the elven courts. She had even gone to the High King in Varenheim, the capital city of the Elflands, with no luck.

The shadows had burst from me that day like a physical manifestation of my grief.

Two weeks later, the endless winter had set in.

I pushed away the morbid memories, trying to focus on my work. The shadows hid me completely in the night, but I had to move slowly and brush away my footprints behind me as I went. I approached the back of the tiny cabin, hoping my trail would be less noticeable here than barging in the front door.

It wasn’t perfect. In the daylight, it would be obvious that the snow had been disturbed. But I hoped that by night, if the cabin’soccupant returned, they wouldn’t notice my trail. Maybe new snow would fall and cover my tracks.

I sent up yet another prayer for snow, wishing for once that my little sister Calli, who had inherited my father’s gifts for weatherweaving, had come along with me.

The solid wooden door to the cabin was, predictably, locked. But my shadows had never met a door they couldn’t open, and so I speared a tendril into the keyhole, letting my magic do most of the work while I waited. A soft click told me that the shadows had succeeded in tricking the mechanism, and I turned the handle, hoping the door wasn’t warded with anything nastier.

The wealthy usually relied on magic to safeguard their homes, which was much harder to trick than a simple mechanical lock. Despite owning a desirable artifact, the owner of this cabin seemed confident that the lock and the remote location would protect their home.

People could be very, very stupid.

A soft hoot startled me, and I turned to scour the tree line. I didn’t see anyone, but a pair of lament eyes told me I was being watched. An owl, perhaps? With my shadows, I doubted it could see me, but animals had an uncanny way of defying magic and seeing right through it.

“Shoo!” I hissed, motioning it away, “I’m working.”