AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why?” My void might be strong—or so they claimed—but none of the shadows at Tidestone moved toward me if I kept a healthy distance. This? This was a three-day flight of distance. “I don’t understand…”
Malyr took a deep breath, releasing it all on a mumbled, “I fear you will understand soon enough.”
What was that supposed to mean?
To my left, Sebian kicked against the corner of a dilapidated farm, the only indicator that people had once lived in this area. “I’ve never actually seen Valtaris before the shadows.”
Marla tugged her black shawl over the lower part of her face. “The city itself spans the entire length of the mountain range. Even when traveling along the Tarred Road, it takes days to walk from the temple plateau to the Winged Keep.”
I stepped toward the shadows, crushed seashells and rocks shifting beneath the snow, telling me I stood on a road once heavily traveled. Before me, shadows undulated all the way into the horizon and beyond. How could I ever absorb such a vast amount?
“Do not be afraid, child, for a raven can always rely on its unkindness.” Marla’s palm settled on my shoulder, warm and reassuring. “Getting lost in the shadows is all too easy, should they somehow close around you. Sebian’s ravens will circle above you at a safe distance for guidance. Should something happen, shift and flee upward. Malyr and Lorn will be by your side.”
A wave of discomfort washed over me, leeching all warmth from Marla’s touch. I braved a glance to the right, where Lorn sat on a field stone, boring her eyes into me with an intensity that felt akin to daggers. She’d done that a lot all morning.
With a deep, steadying breath, I stepped toward the line where daylight met darkness, and raised my left hand.
Focus!
Shadows lunged toward me like a starved animal, seeping through my palm with such desperation, my thoughts clouded. They poured, and poured, and poured… cold and bone-chilling.
Intense. Familiar?
Yes, because they felt like the ones behind the waterfall, almost as if… as if…
My eyes shot to Malyr, immediately locking on his frown. His gaze had been on me this entire time, hadn’t it? Watching, anticipating, waiting for me to figure it out.
These were his.
That mysterious blast that had thrown an entire kingdom into darkness? It had been him.
The shock of it nearly took my breath away.
So did the shadows.
They rushed into me in thick, relentless plumes, clogging my chest, robbing me of air. I gasped, clutching my other hand to my sternum.
“Control your void.” Malyr’s hand rose toward the shadows, slowing their voracious flow, strangling it into a thin stream. “Lorn, hold them back to her right. Only let through whatever you can’t subdue.”
“Oh, I’ll subdue them.” Taking a wide stance, Lorn shot her hand out, visibly pushing the shadows back a foot, where they split, becoming hundreds of little tendrils, writhing and pulsing in defiance. Her upper lip tugged into a lopsided grin as she said, “Still as stubborn as ten years ago.”
Sebian shifted beside me. “What if sheisn’tstrong enough for this?”
“She is,” Malyr blurted before I had a chance to do so, then his gaze found mine with such certainty sitting in the depths of his two-colored irises, it sent a jolt of energy through me. It was strangely empowering, considering it came from him. “But if you have doubts, little dove, now is your last chance to walk—”
“No,” I said, reinforcing my determination. “I can do it.”
I had to.
And I would.
“Remember our practice,” Sebian whispered against my temple, the tip of his nose nuzzling my hair. “I promise I won’t be far. If you need me, all you have to do is call, and I’ll be there, right beside you.”
I nodded, barely noticing the flapping of wings beside me as he left, my entire focus on my void—on that obsidian box at my core, opening by a mere inch. The pressure eased from my chest, the shadows flowing in a steady, more manageable stream that allowed me to breathe.
I stepped into the darkness, one foot in front of the other in slow, measured strides. Malyr flanked my left side while Lorn prowled to my right. Before me, the shadows thinned with each step I took, pulled into the hollowness inside me until only skinny fingerlings remained, writhing in vain against the widening swathe of daylight.
Metal armor shifted behind me, followed by Asker’s voice that already sounded so far away. “She is doing it. Goddess bless her, she is lifting the shadows.”
