Chapter 42 The Captain of Shadow pt 3
The sound of it hitting flesh and tearing makes my stomach turn. The answering scream makes me want to vomit. Are we killing people right now? Killing other slayers? Or worse, are we killing the fortress servants?
“Maybe we can dispel his shadows?” I swallow bile as my daggers sink into the flesh of someone's stomach in the dark. I can feel their last breath tickle my face as they cough and spray me with blood.
“This isn't fair, Captain!” a woman screams. “We all had to do this training alone! They have each other!”
“Then separate them, slayer! Have I taught you nothing?” Bane roars, disdain dripping from every syllable.
“Whatever we do, we better do it fast,” I hiss, trying to press myself inside Oberon’s skin so they can’t separate us.
“Die, you fucking bitch!” the same feminine voice says, but this time in my ear.
I shriek as too many pairs of hands grab me all over, tugging me off my feet and into the air. The sound of wind moving past my ears is fast—they’re running. They aren’t even trying to hide the sound of their footfalls anymore.
“Anara!” Oberon cries out, panicking.
“Oberon!” I scream, true fear stabbing through my heart as these strangers throw me against the wall.
“I’ve always wanted the captain’s daggers, thanks for making it so easy, fodder!” the woman cackles.
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” Oberon shouts fiercely.
A wind starts to pick up like all the air being sucked out of the room. The shadows tremble, pillars of light stabbing through the darkness. Oberon is growling, straining. I can hear his teeth grind even over the laughter of our enemies, over the rushing wind.
“You should shield your eyes,” Bane whispers from beside me.
On command, I fold myself into the fetal position and duck my head under my arms moments before the shadows shatter all around me. The slayers fighting us scream in pain, the sound of many bodies hitting the floor at once almost deafening.
Beside me, Bane is laughing and clapping, his shoes scraping on the icy floor as he moves.
Slowly, I open my eyes and look around. Bane is beside me, hands on his knees as he sits against the wall. Bodies litter the floor, some seemingly dead and others wailing and covering their eyes.
Oberon stands in the center of the cave, shadows swirling around his legs and coalescing in his hands. His golden face is hard as stone, his blue eyes sharp as steel. He looks magnificent, covered in blood and wielding his powers. His muscles twitch in anger, his brows drawn together, but when his eyes meet mine, I see a tear slip down his cheek.
“Are you alright?” he asks, his voice stronger than I expected with tears running down his cheeks.
I stand slowly, tip-toeing around fallen slayers until I’m standing right in front of him.
“You did it, Obie,” I whisper, reaching for his hands and letting his shadows swirl through my fingers.
“I thought I was going to lose you…” He swallows his Adam’s apple bobbing. “Again.”
“Again?” I ask, but before he can answer, I feel the call of power surging from the center of my chest. As if by seeing it up close, my body was able to recognize it. Memorize it.
Claim it.
Oberon’s shadows abandon him and seek me out. Instantaneously I’m wielding the magic, as if I stole it from him.
I blink in confusion, staring at my hands as the darkness billows from my palms.
“Amazing,” Bane whispers, walking up beside us.
I look at the captain in disgust, then look all around at all the slayers we killed during this training session.
“You’re a fucking monster!” I scream. Without thinking, I fling my shadows at him.
Bane shrieks in surprise as the shadows turn against him and slam him into the wall behind him. I stalk towards him, twisting my hands as if I’ve held the power all along, and watch in utter delight as he rises off the ground at my command.
“There was no dragon to kill, Bane, no danger worth these deaths!” I accuse, tightening the shadows around his throat and choking him. “This is not for Amaranthine, this is for your own sick pleasure!”
Bane laughs through it all, shoulders shaking with mirth.
“He’s insane,” Oberon says, his hands landing on my hips as he bolsters my shadows from behind.
“I can kill him right now, I can feel it. The shadows can feel it… I can kill him, Oberon.” The flow of power is intoxicating. It makes me feel hot all over, the sheer strength flowing around me is exciting me more than anything ever has. I can kill this man, this man a dragon couldn’t even kill with her fire. And I can do it on my first day of training.
I grin, the power in my chest blooming. I feel the warmth spreading through my veins, the unfamiliar glow lighting them up from the inside. Just like when I fell and I caught myself, the power seems to burn through my bloodstream until it shows through my skin.
“Anara?” Oberon warns, his tone concerned as he strokes the glowing veins in my throat. “Anara, what is this?”
“That’s enough, fodder!” Bane cackles.
“I don’t think so!” I hiss. “I think you deserve to die for this!”
“Foolish, powerful, fodder,” Bane laughs. Then, as quickly as it came, my power’s gone. The absence of strength leaves me in shock, my body falling limp in Oberon’s arms. I watch in denial as the shadows I harnessed so easily dissolve before my eyes.
Bane lowers to the ground, controlling the shadows completely.
“These men and women know what they signed up for, fodder,” he says, joy still clear in his voice. He whistles loudly, walking toward the mouth of the cave.
“Dying in training is not a death I’d ever want,” Oberon says through clenched teeth. His hands are hot on my body as he picks me up, cradling me in his arms.
“It’s only a little death, boy,” Bane smiles.
I hear the click of hooves on the stone before I see the beast, a dappled gray stallion. The alicorn walks right up to Bane, its blue eyes calm and soft as it rubs its muzzle in the captain’s hands. I watch in awe as the deadly spiral horn on its head bobs close to Bane’s face, but the man doesn't flinch.
“They need you, Felonious,” Bane tells the stallion.
Felonious ruffles his wings and snorts, walking into the cave with determination.
Oberon and I watch in awe as the alicorn moves from person to person, touching his horn to their temples and huffing a hot breath on their faces. One by one the slayers rise, smiling, clapping each other on the shoulders, and walking out of the cave like nothing happened.
A woman with blonde hair cut short and bright green eyes hops up off the floor with the biggest grin of them all. “I really had you going, didn’t I?” she asks me with a smirk.
As she approaches, I’m shocked by how big she is. She’s taller than Malachi and stronger than any man I’ve ever seen. She holds a hand out to me, a hand that was trying to kill me moments earlier. “I’m Sickle, you know like the blade used to harvest wheat.”
“Because she cuts everyone down like chaff,” Bane adds, coming up to stand beside her pridefully. “She’s my second in command, and bloody brilliant at acting.”
I take her hand gingerly and she laughs at how small mine is in hers.
“So, no one’s dead?” I ask, my voice trembling. The guilt I was going to feel was already clawing at my heart.
“Oh no, we were dead for sure. You two are a force to be reckoned with!” Sickle says, squeezing my hand and shaking it roughly.
“Then…how?” Oberon asks, looking around at the blood-stained ice and the proud stallion prancing on its hooves and begging for affection.
“Alicorn magic. If the body is not destroyed and has recently died, they can call the spirit back,” Bane explains, fetching a treat out of his robes and smiling as he feeds his stallion.