CHAPTER 20

Adda's awareness fluttered down to the spot she had last seen Scet and the Alpha. Here, there was the lingering reminder of warmth and the smell of pine and pitch. They were against the earth now, instead of hovering back behind the branches and trunks of trees. Along her left was another outcropping of stone rising up from the forest floor.

She might have stopped there, searching for clues. The shadows didn't need such things, however, the current pulled her around a sharp wall of stone and under a well disguised door. She startled at the appearance of the solid wood, complete with metal hinges and handle. What was such a thing doing in the middle of the forest? Especially since the pack didn't use material such as metal?

The shadows didn't care to investigate. Ahead of them, beyond the door and into a deep cave, their sister shadows fled from the light that encroached upon their safest of places. They were disgruntled, it was *always* dark there, and these particular shadows were not used to scattering.

They followed the discontent, deeper and deeper. The trail descended at a steep rate, so that they must have gone beneath the surface of the ground within moments. It also split into several passages, cool and dark tunnels and crevices where the darkness still clung, undisturbed, to the surrounding rock.

It was one of these offshoots that caught Adda's attention. An impression lay in the air there, something cold and unnatural. Curious, she encouraged the shadows that direction, sensing immediately the change in the air. It was stale there, rarely encountering a breeze or the passage of living beings, Shifter or otherwise. There was something else, as well, something that made the shadows uncomfortable, and it coupled with a scent that reminded her of old blood.

They flowed around the final corner and into a large empty chamber with stalactites hanging down from the ceiling like large sharp teeth. It wasn't the caves formation that she found interesting, though, it was the swirling darkness around one of the back corners. She had seen the shadows move in such a way before, within the Quatori cavern.

*The old fool found another vessel*. Nex confirmed. *I thought I sensed it, as we approached the village. Now I know why I couldn't find it, despite my searching. Hiding it beneath ground was a clever trick. This one is Thaliak, and he is waking*.

She frowned...sort of...it was a weird thing to do without a face. *They're keeping one of you? Just how many of these are there*?

*Eight, and they won't be keeping him for long, not with him calling out like that. If I sensed him, then so, too, can the others. Morakamouth will come for him, and so will Vou. We will not survive such an encounter. When we return to your body, you have to flee this area, Adda.

Vou? Your sister? If they are coming for this one, why would they kill you?

I told you, she doesn't share power.

At all? Or just with you*?

*She does not share power at all, especially with me*.

There was something else in the cavern, too. Like the shadows, or perhaps because of the shadows, she had not become aware of it until now. The essence of the symbol was too distracting, but it was there. A soft something, crumpled on the floor. She urged the shadows toward it, but she recognized it long before they reached it.

A wrap of fabric, identical to the one from the human's camp that had held the burning symbol. She could not tell its color, but she assumed it was white. Lying next to it was a pile of three blades, and not just any blades, either. Even with her senses being limited to those of the shadows, she recognized the dark quality of the metal. A metal that existed in only one place, the Dragon Lords black swords. No one knew where they came from, or had been able to replicate their construction for as long as the collective memory served, and the Lords, as usual, had acquired the rare and valuable pieces as their own. That, in itself, might have led to alarm and questions, but the white robed humans had not been in possession of the weapons, nor that glyph, when Adda and Scet had found them. Which meant one thing: these Shifters had been at that clearing before she and Scet had ever arrived. They were there before the Dragon had attacked, taking the weapons and leaving the women defenseless.

She knew that Alpha was a sneaky Quatori-licking piece of...

*I hardly think he has licked any Quatori*. Nex observed.

*No? Well he certainly did that possessed Dragon some favors*.

She scrutinized the chamber. What else was that old dog hiding?

*It makes no sense*.

*What makes no sense? Searching for more evidence, or the Alpha's alliance with the Quatori?

That's what doesn't make sense. The Alpha is not allied with the Quatori. He only suspects my presence and his gestures and movements indicate that he will kill us the moment the chance arrives. If he was in that clearing, it was not to help Morakamouth*.

Adda frowned.

*Perhaps, then, we were simply caught where coincidence crossed. The symbol and weapons were gone before Scet and I arrived. Maybe the traders had already met their end and the Shifters simply gathered the weapons scattered about*.

For what purpose, she couldn't say. What could he want with the symbol?

It concerned her that this man of secrets was leading Scet deeper into the earth. One on one, Scet would definitely hold his own; she didn't know any Shifter that could beat a bear. But this Alpha was crafty, not stupid. If he planned something detrimental for Scet, it wouldn't be one on one, or any sort of fair fight.

*I believe it is more his plans for us that you need to be concerned about*.

*Undoubtedly*.

But his interest in Scet concerned her, too. She had a feeling that drawing that man's focus in any manner was unhealthy. And since she had already unearthed one of his secrets, albeit one that she didn't quite understand, she decided it would be to her benefit to learn as much about him as she could.

She pictured the Alpha again, or what Nex had shown her of his soul. They were whisked from the chamber and pressed down along the original passage. The corridor varied in width, sometimes as tight as a man's shoulders, and others wide enough that it nearly made a chamber of its own. There were many spots that had been carved away by something other than nature, the walls littered with scars from tools. It surprised her how far the men had traveled while she was snooping. The cave system was far vaster than she would have expected.

When they neared the edges of torchlight, the shadows slowed once more, reluctant to press farther. This time, she did not urge them to do so. She had already learned she could not approach close enough to hear what the men discussed, so she paid no attention to what could be heard, instead drawing her awareness to what was around her. There must have been some important reason to have their little talk so deep in the earth, instead of sitting next to the communal village fire.

She put her question to the shadows, trying to impress upon them that she was looking to 'see' anything out of place. She was not disappointed, either. Once the shadows understood her curiosity, they swirled against the rock walls with something akin to excitement. It took a little longer for her to understand them. At first, Adda thought they wished to show her something beyond the walls, another part of the cavern, perhaps, but after a few repeated movements, she realized that the eagerness was for something on the walls. Unfortunately, whatever they were trying to show her was not as easy to decipher as the smell of the earth, or the sensation of the swirling around the symbol. Something was there, certainly, but to her it felt like a strange coating, mildew maybe, but with an odd smell, not a smell the shadows recognized as natural.

*They are paintings*. Nex announced, followed by visual pictures in her mind.

What he showed her was amazing, and, from the feeling the shadows imparted, it was very, very old. The representation of Shifters were blocky human bodies with single lines for limbs, placed next to their wolf forms. The wall they faced appeared to be painted with a happy, if primitive, settlement, one with a very familiar feeling to it. So familiar, actually, that Adda wondered if the Shifters that hosted—or captured—them, aimed to replicate exactly what was shown. The shelters with living branches and leaves were fairly well painted and easy to decipher. Several of the figures were gathered around the central fire. It seemed they prepared something, but the painting had been worn down in that spot and it was impossible to tell what.

All along the walls, the paintings continued, different scenes depicting different aspects of ancient Shifter life. Adda brushed against them, the equivalent of touching them with her fingertips. This was her people's history, her history. Looking at the work, even through Nex's interpretation, excited her, and saddened her. So many of the pictures she didn't understand. The moon, for example. It kept re-appearing, sometimes full, but others not. In one place, it even had red stains around it, as if it had been injured. The blood moon maybe? Beneath it, the blocky Shifter-humans folded to the ground. She wasn't sure if it was a scene of a story, some event that happened long ago, or if it was something else. They could be bowing, worshiping, perhaps, though as far as she knew, Shifters had always been firm believers in the Six Gods.

Nex said nothing to enlighten her, despite his insistence that she knew nothing of the history of peoples. She edged farther along the passage, the shadows, ever patient, swirled around her, like the gentle flow of a slow moving river eddy. The depictions, as they moved forward, caught her attention. The shadows slowed, the torch and its carrier were just ahead and they did not wish to be caught in the light, but they were close enough. She could make out the images here, and these were easier to put together. The first was men and women, Shifters, but their forms were not simple wolves. She spotted the eagle, and panther, along with a scaled river monster, and some creature she didn't recognize. A little farther along was the bear and what looked to be a giant snake. The heroes of the old tales. It was hard not to feel pride at the appearance of such amazing evidence of her race's capabilities, but it was less clear what they were doing.

The first appearances showed the heroes working with humans and Dragons, chasing down formless shadows, guarding the forest borders. That, she understood, was part of history. The last of the heroes had died shortly after the great war, which, according to Shifter legend, would never have been won without them. A large space of wall appeared, blank except the odd Shifter or group gathered in corners. These were not quite the same as the Shifters from before; these seemed slouched, very few of them with wolves represented at all. No shadows, no heroes.

Adda thought about the wall. If it was supposed to depict history, then this blank piece could very much be the present. Blank because there wasn't much to paint during peace time. Oddly, though, the pieces that *were* there still looked ancient, as if they were about the present time, but created long ago. How could that be? A prediction...or prophecy? And there was more, a continuation of painting to her right. She sensed something important there, answers.

A murmur, the first sound she had heard for many moments, filled the shadows with the desire to flee. The Alpha and Scet, discussing something, voices rising...in disagreement, perhaps? Or a simple fluctuation of tone?

*They are coming, the shadows must recede*.

Adda turned her attention back to the paintings. This was what the Alpha had been showing Scet, she was certain, but something more, the parts that she could not quite *see*.

She pushed the shadows farther. It took a great deal of effort, it felt like she was forcing her way through stone. The shadows quickened, restlessly churning, the light was coming and something like fear filled them. Further, she demanded. And there, when her will overtook theirs, she had her answer.

It was a complicated scene. Until then, depictions of the forest had been left out, except a few abstract trees surrounding the events. This scene was filled with them. Some were standing, but most were not, their trunks long reddish lines horizontal with the tunnel floor. It was eerie the way the paint smeared along the imagined wood, almost like bloodied corpses themselves. Amidst the fallen trees, battles took place. Dragons, humans, shadows, and Shifters, they all mashed and fought. Their figures blurred, as though the artist had been agitated while placing them. Or maybe that had been intentional: it seemed that the battles were confused, as well, not always the races of the forest against the Quatori, but at times against each other, as well. Destruction at its finest, not caring who it takes or what.

There were pockets, though, where the trees had not fallen, and battles were not fought. At the center of each pocket a figure stood, one an eagle, another a great snake, and more. They were lifted up on high pedestals...or maybe they were temples. The great heroes, and each held a bright light in one hand, casting back both the shadows and the battles from the surrounding forest.

Adda spent a few long breaths trying to decipher the meaning. It was clear that, in the midst of the chaos of the scene, the heroes offered hope. But how, or why, she couldn't tell. Was the light they held simply a representation of that hope? Light in a symbolic manner. Or did they hold something physical? A weapon against the destruction?

She did not have the time to think on it farther. The shadows that carried her writhed frantically, a few simply ceased to exist as the torch rounded a corner sending light spearing into the corridor and piercing the darkness. She had the sensation of being drug, caught in the tide of their fleeing, bounced and jostled and slammed against solid surfaces.

“It is your duty to aid our cause,” the Alpha announced to Scet. “You must forgo everything else...everyone else...”

It was the last thing she heard before the world burst into painful brightness.