The Shadowed Mountain

The Shadowed Mountain
The moment Kaan yanks me from the saddle, I hit the ground hard enough to knock the air from my lungs.

Pain explodes through my hip. Gravel tears through my palms as I catch myself, my wrists still raw from the chains Jakko kept me in.

I don’t even have time to breathe before a hand closes around my upper arm and drags me upright. It’s not Kaan, but it’s one of his soldiers, wearing that crimson red color that now makes my stomach twist every time I see it. 

I can hear Kaan behind me, his steps heavy on the ground and the soldiers that stand beside us, reach for him, like he’s a god.

I stumble, nearly falling again and again. I can’t feel my legs, can’t process the numbness in my spine. The journey here felt endless.

Every time I managed to wrench free of his grip, every time I tried to run, one of his soldiers caught me before I made it more than a few steps. The first time, Kaan slapped me so hard my ears rang and the second time, it was his fist. 

I don’t fight anymore, not because I’ve given up. But because I’m more afraid of being unconscious around them. 

The left side of my face throbs beneath my eye, joining the bruise still blooming across my chin. Every step jars my ribs. I glance over my shoulder.

Kaan is accepting the reverent touches from his men, nodding at them, smiling at them as if he deserves their praise. 

When he flashes his cruel, dark gaze toward me, my entire body shudders. Ice pricks my fingernails but I bite my fear back. I have to hold on, be patient. Dastan will save me. He will come for me. 

I’m thrown to the ground, my spine aching terribly at the impact. I gasp, scooting back until my back hits the wall of stone. Kaan  crouches in front of me before I can straighten completely.

His fingers catch my chin. I jerk backward, gritting my teeth. His touch my skin crawl. He doesn’t react to the disgust in my face, or the anger in my eyes. He simply tightens his grip. 

“So much spirit,” he murmurs.

His thumb brushes beneath my eye before he tears the covering from my head. Cold mountain air spills over my head, down my skin until I feel it right through my chest. 

For a long moment, we simply stare at each other. 

Deep lines cut through his weathered, leathery skin. He smiles wide enough to show every yellowed tooth, but it never reaches his eyes. It isn’t warmth that shapes his face. It’s triumph. Wisps of gray cling to his head beneath the thin crown, and the look of evil in his eyes makes my stomach twist. 

His gaze travels over my black hair. “I’ve spent decades imagining this. Looking forward to the day that I finally have the Raven in my hands.”

He reaches for my hand, and I jerk back again. He’s impossibly strong for his old, thin frame. His nails bight into my skin, licking his lips as he turns my palm over. 

His eyes narrow on the rings resting against my fingers. He traves the engraved lined of the larger ring that rest on my thumb, carefully looking at the lines. 

For a moment, it’s as if he forgot about me, as if I could disappear and he would be none the wiser. 

“I’ve seen these rings a thousand times.”

I frown, shivers going from my fingers to the pit of my stomach. I try to pull my hand from his hand again, but he tightens his hold. 

His voice is almost absent, as though he’s speaking more to himself than to me. “In books so old they crumbled when I turned the pages.”

His fingertip follows every carved line, every curve and every symbol.

“They called me insane.” A quiet laugh slips from him. “They said there were no Ravens left in this realm. That I’d spent my life chasing children’s stories.”

Only then does he look up. His eyes gleam with “And yet here you are.”

His fingers tighten around my hand, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

“You are exactly who I’ve been searching for.”

Ice prickles beneath my skin. Tiny crystals forming beneath my fingernails. 

Kaan notices, drawing his eyes away from my face, down to the rings and then to where he feels the ice against his palm. His smile grows.

“So powerful.”

He finally lets go of my hand, but I get little respite. He shifts his hold to my arm, pulling me up so fast that I almost crash into him. 

“Come.”

I have no choice but to follow, my feet dragging across the floor as he hauls me behind him. The stone at my back is the base of a mountain, a large cavern opening hidden behind a grove of trees.

As we near the dark hole, my heart hammers in my chest. Wilder and wilder. He’s taking me into the cavern, soldiers lowering their heads as we walk by them. 

The mountain swallows us. Massive slabs of stone rise around us until the sky disappears altogether. The farther we climb, the quieter the world becomes.

I no longer hear the rumblings of the soldiers as they speak to each other. No longer hear the birds that chirp as they fly. The breeze rushing through the trees disappears altoghether. 

All I hear now is the light trickle of water echoing through the cave. 

The path narrows, forcing me closer to Kaan. He holds me tighter, as if wanting our bodies to touch at every opportunity. 

Loose rock shifts beneath my feet, cold air slipping through the torn fabric of my dress, raising goosebumps across my skin.

I hate that I’m still wearing what Jakko chose for me.

His name is an intrusion in my mind. As well as his apology. I can still hear it, his voice, the dread in it, the sadness pulling it down. 

I’m sorry.

I shove the memory away.

The air grows cooler the deeper we descend into the mountain, and the passage suddenly widens.

My steps falter. Torches line the walls, their flames flickering against carved stone. They’re too evenly spaced to be natural and I realize then that Kaan comes here often. Does he live in here?

My eyes drift farther ahead.

Two guards stand outside another opening carved into the mountain, spears in hand. The moment they see Kaan, they straighten, lowering their heads in respect.

What could possibly be hidden so deep inside a mountain that it needs to be guarded? Kaan doesn’t slow, pulling me with him to the guarded opening. 

I feel as if I’ve been punched in the chest. I can’t breathe, can’t think with how much my head pulses. 

“You’re almost home.”

I stop, crying out as I shut my eyes and try to pull my hands from Kaan’s hold. The voice hurt, they twist and pull at my insides. 

“You owe us.”

“Come back.”

“Come home, child.”

Tears spill freely down my face, my knees buckle beneath me. Kaan catches my shoulders before I pitch forward completely. Instead, we’re both on our knees, facing each other as I feel like I’m being torn in two. 

His eyes move over me, his fingers tighten ever so slightly against my arms.

“The mountain recognizes you,” he whispers.

Kaan closes his eyes for the briefest moment and he continues to mutter words beneath his breath that I cannot understand. 

As suddenly as the voice came, they disappear. The only sound in my ears, is my ragged breathing. 

Kaan slips a hand beneath my arm and pulls me gently to my feet. “Come.”

He guides me toward the guarded opening again and I force my trembling legs to move.