Something thudded into his leg. He looked down to see the shaft of an arrow, and a dark patch spreading out from around it. He slowed time. Another arrow spiralled through the mist, cutting through the air next to his cheek as he leant away. He took cover behind a tree. Stop them.
A few moments later, two long screams came from the mist. The Beast had got them. The whispers in his head were happy. Mara pulled at the arrow in his leg, but it wouldn’t budge, so he snapped it off halfway. Stupid arrow.
He tried to think back, not even that long ago, to imagine what pain felt like. He couldn’t. He remembered screaming in the castle when they burnt him, but not the pain itself. It was like it had never happened. Maybe I’ll never feel pain again.
Two crouched figures moved through the mist. He wondered who it would be. They looked small. Maybe the boys he’d trained with when he’d first arrived. The sight of them brought back memories of being tied up in the chair and speaking to the Master for the first time. He clenched his jaw. I should have killed him as soon as he let me out.
Boys three and eleven appeared through the mist, looking right at Mara, pale and wide-eyed. They look shit scared. Mara stood away from the tree and allowed time to go back to normal. “Run away. There will be no more Shadows after today, they will never find you.”
The two boys looked at each other. Eleven stood up straight. “You can’t kill them.”
“Tell that to the three with their throats cut at the edge of the forest. I don’t need to kill you, but I will if I have to.” The whispers in Mara’s head went wild. They wanted the boys’ blood. “Go now,” Mara shouted.
As the boys ran into the mist, powder puffed into Mara’s eyes as another arrow hit the tree next to him. “Beast,” he shouted.
A loud scream echoed through the forest. Fucking arrows.
A lone horse ran through the sin grass toward Silas. It stopped several meters away, soaked with sweat, panting hot breath in the chilly evening air. What misery have you left behind out there?
“Go on,” he shouted as he passed.
He looked back now and then, and it looked like the horse did the same thing. Nowhere for it to go. They know a lot more than they let on. He’d often thought that about horses, especially Vala. Most people treated horses as working animals, and that was that, but Silas liked to think there was more to them than senseless beasts capable of carrying and pulling.
He’d spent enough time with Vala to see her personality. He missed her but was glad she didn’t have to join him on the most likely one-way trip he made now. He wouldn’t wish for her to be running alone and scared while he lay dead at Mara’s feet.
Three of what Silas assumed were Mara’s victims lay at the edge of the forest. Three black horses wandered together some distance away. Shadows. Black clothes, but their masks were off. He’d finally get to see what was underneath, a sight he never thought possible. Three of them? He’s killed three at once. What chance do I stand?
“What the fuck is this?” Silas frowned at the Shadow’s veiny, featureless head. But they’d talked, they’d all talked. How is this possible? How do they see, hear, breathe? He struggled to comprehend what he looked at. All the nonsense about the goddess of darkness and priests conjuring the Shadows. Could it be true?
The horses in the distance neighed. A boy dressed in black lay sideways on the back of one, while the other danced around as if waiting for his chance to jump
on. The two free horses ran into the forest as the one with the boy on its back bucked, sending the boy on the ground several feet through the air. The boy on the horse shouted as he brought it under control, then after he’d turned to see Silas, took off toward the Blood Plain.
Silas kicked his horse into action and headed for the boy on the ground. He has to know something.
The boy gasped like a fish out of water. His black training clothes brought back memories of the misery and pain inflicted upon Silas during his time in the Shadow Castle. I am a fool for returning to this place.
It hurt to slide off the horse. “Calm, boy. Breathe slowly.” He gently slapped the boy’s grubby cheek. More memories came, those of finding Mara in the shanty. I should have left him to die. “Look at me, boy.”
The boy’s eyes turned to Silas. The gasps became harsh, then gargled as blood dribbled from one corner of his mouth. Silas pulled up the boy’s shirt. “Fuck,” he whispered. The ribs were caved in on one side, more than Silas thought possible. He stood and shook his head. “Sorry, lad.” Then he walked into the forest, unable to watch the boy die, nor could he bear to kill him. Only hoped it would be quick.
Three more dead Shadows lay at Mara’s feet, along with a fourth at the gate. He left the misty courtyard and entered the dark corridor into the castle, his bare feet slapping against the cold stone floor. The room with the wings on the wall, that’s where he’ll be.
He took the left door at the end of the corridor that led to another courtyard. Six boys stood in a line, blades in hand. The dark patches in the sand brought back memories of all the beatings, both given and taken. He looked across the boys’ nervous faces. “You can go if you like. I let three and eleven run away already. They’ll be halfway to Vespen by now.”
A tall boy pushed number one forward. Number one’s blade trembled in his hand. “Why do they want us to kill you?”
“Because I am here to kill them.”
The tall boy laughed. “You’re as stupid as you look.”
Mara’s blood boiled. He slowed time and ran at the tall boy, stabbing him in the eye, then kicked his legs out from underneath him. As he moved back, he plucked number one’s blade from his hand and let time return.
The tall boy rolled around screaming. All the boys scattered, apart from number one who stared at his empty hand. “How did you do that?”
“I’ll tell you if I see you again.” Mara walked across the courtyard, spitting on the wailing tall boy as he passed, and entered the corridor that led to the wing room.
He looked back to see all five boys run out of the courtyard to freedom. The whispers moaned, but Mara settled them. The boys are killers. They will cause chaos wherever they go.