Raven's Hand (25 page)

For the first time in what seemed like an
age, Shalindra felt the pangs of fear. Again, she cast lightning
and killed some. Others came after, like an unstoppable wave.

She did not want to resort to fire, though
she knew it might have pushed them back. Setting her surroundings
ablaze might inadvertently set the forest on fire as well. Despite
her mounting fear, she could not do that.

Shalindra came to the place where Killian had
stood in order to present the sword to Eliam for the blessing of
his power. She stood, hands outstretched, as the horde of monsters
closed in around her. They held bows ready with arrows nocked,
swords held before them, and teeth bared ferociously.

They were coming for her. She could unleash
wind perhaps, or another volley of lightning. Shalindra felt
confused now—a draining on her power. She felt so tired. Her heart
thudded in her chest, and stars danced in her vision. She couldn’t
concentrate on her attackers. So light-headed. She felt like she
might faint at any moment.

Something roared behind her. Shalindra turned
to find a lion-like man directly in front of her. She recognized
the Cinderman leader, Judah, immediately.

His clawed hand shot out, seizing her by the
throat. Her eyes went wide for a moment, but then Judah faded from
view. Shalindra saw a glorious light. Her spirit hovered over her
body. She saw the Cindermen around her physical form. She saw their
leader, Judah, holding her by the throat. However, none of these
things mattered to her anymore.

Around these, she saw the temple surrounded
by floating beings of light. The Mithrial servants of Eliam had
come. Invisible to mortal eyes, her enemies had no idea of the
glorious army present at the temple. Yet, these did not attack.
Instead, they came to welcome her—to escort her away from this
place. The Mithri had come to deliver her spirit into the very
presence of Eliam.

She knew that she had passed from her mortal
body, but this knowledge did not disturb her in the least. Eliam
had not suffered her to feel any pain. Or, at least, she wasn’t
aware of any memory of pain.

Her attention left the happenings below her
in the Brine Wood Temple. The glory of Eliam surrounded her. She
surrendered to the Mithri as they came to lead her away from the
battle. All fear over the attack and the next priestess, with what
she would face in Shalindra’s absence, disappeared. She knew only
peace and contentment now.

Judah lashed out as Eliam’s witch turned from
his men to face him. His hand took hold of the woman’s throat, his
claws piercing her dark skin. Warm blood gathered around his
fingertips and then dripped onto her sand-colored garments.

Shalindra’s body went limp in his grip. He
held her up, using the tremendous strength of his arm to hoist her
higher for his men to see. The entire crowd of Cindermen became
tense with anticipation.

Judah pulled her to him, sinking his fangs
into her throat. The taste of warm blood invigorated him further.
He held her body high in one arm. The life had gone from her, but
Judah did not care. This was an unheard of victory and he would
savor it.

He had hoped to find the young woman and the
boy with her. He had supposed that a Daughter of Eliam would surely
have come here to have the priestess harbor her from House Rainier,
but there was no sign of her. No matter. He would find the girl and
then use her as a bargaining chip toward greater power.

Judah roared ferociously with Shalindra’s
blood staining his maw. His men raged excitedly before him. He
tossed the body to them, and the feeding frenzy began.

For the sake of keeping down suspicion,
Killian’s mother had chosen to leave by a separate means for her
friend’s home upon the wall. Esmeralda had carried her and we took
another horse. However, Killian’s mother then arranged to have
Esmeralda brought to us outside the wall. Killian had insisted upon
leaving the horse with his mother, but she had refused.

“She might as well be your father’s mistress,
as much as the beast loves him, but there truly is no finer animal
to bare you with haste to the priestess,” she had said.

We left before nightfall, when the gates were
still passable, though we had been let out a secret way, as his
mother had earlier indicated. The guards posted at the gates were
noticeably increased in number. Evelyn was definitely looking for
us. Our battle at the palace had brought these repercussions, but I
couldn’t make myself sorry for having fought my way to freedom.

Killian’s mother, Melinda, had procured me
new clothing to replace the bonding gown I had been given by
Evelyn’s servants. The quality of that clothing along with its
garish crest of House Rainier in silver emblazoned across the
breast had made me an instant target. Now, I wore the plain robes
of a commoner. Truth be told, I felt far more comfortable in these
than the former.

Killian pressed Esmeralda hard for speed but
she never showed any sign of complaint. I rode in the saddle behind
him, holding on for dear life. Truth be told, holding on to him was
my favorite part. Despite my powers and abilities as a Daughter of
Eliam, I still feared the Malkind. Yet, having Killian with me gave
me strength and hope.

I knew that without the sword he would not
have been able to battle Kane and the terrible spirit using the
man’s body, but his courage in the face of that danger was
inspiring. Killian appeared to have no great understanding of the
weapon, or its power, but he fought without fear just the same. I
had power, but he had real courage. No matter what came for us, I
knew somehow that everything would be all right. We might even die
together fighting for our lives, but at least we would be
together.

When dawn finally broke through the trees of
the Brine Wood, we had stopped to refresh ourselves and allow
Esmeralda to drink her fill from one of the small streams
crisscrossing the forest. That was when I felt it—something was
terribly wrong. There was danger in the Brine Wood.

My vision became blurred. As I attempted to
cry out to Killian, I lost sight of him. Esmeralda and this glade
by the stream also disappeared from view. I knew already what was
happening, since this wasn’t my first time experiencing a
vision.

However, my transport did not take me far. I
was still in the Brine Wood, but now a ruined stone edifice stood
all around me. A woman with dark skin and sand-colored robes also
stood in this place, but I did not know her. Yet, I had the
distinct feeling that she was also a Daughter of Eliam. Could this
be the priestess, I wondered?

Near her, a portal dissolved. I knew what it
was, for I had studied the nature of them, but I did not know how
to create one myself. Surely, this woman had to be the Shalindra of
legend I had heard about. Not only had Killian and his mother
spoken of her, I had learned of her existence at the abbey from
Hannah.

She stood there for a moment. I knew she
would not be able to see me—or would she? I tried to speak to her,
to wave my hands. Perhaps, she might be able to hear or see me like
Killian had during his stay at the Mangy Cur. Yet, for all of my
efforts, Shalindra did not acknowledge my presence.

Then she was alerted by the sound of rustling
among the trees around the temple. I looked as well, unsure if this
was a present event or something still to come in the future. Given
our nearness to the temple now, I had the terrible feeling that
this was happening right then. Cindermen appeared from the trees,
encircling the ancient ruined temple. Shalindra was here facing
them all alone.

I wanted to fight for her, to somehow
intervene. I tried to scream to her, but unlike Killian she did not
hear it. If only the vision would release me, I could warn Killian
of what was happening. We might still be able to rush to
Shalindra’s aid before the worst happened. There were so many of
the creatures. How could she hope to prevail?

Then Shalindra acted against the threat. She
called upon tremendous power. The trees near the temple walls
responded in kind, reaching down like giants to swat at the
Cindermen as they came for her. In part, this seemed to work, but
the beastly men quickly managed to get around the trees and charge
into the ruin itself.

They carried weapons of every kind, but even
their muscular bodies were weapon enough. With their sharp claws
and teeth, Cindermen could rend flesh as easily as any beast of the
wood. Given the opportunity, a Cinderman could best its beastly
counterpart any day. A lion-like man, such as these, could kill a
true lion without a weapon in hand at all.

As the Cindermen charged her, Shalindra gave
up on the help of trees and stretched her hands toward her foes.
Volleys of lightning shot away from her fingertips, striking down
many of the approaching Cindermen. Thunderous bangs resounded
throughout the temple ruin with each air splitting burst of white
hot energy.

Still, the Cindermen came on, forcing the
priestess to retreat at every turn. Swords struck stone, spears
missed her back by mere inches, and arrows the same. She fought and
retreated until she was surrounded, with only a stone wall behind
her. The Cindermen halted, waiting, weapons ready and teeth
gnashing.

Then he appeared. Judah, the lion-like leader
came over the half tumbled wall with all the gracefulness of a
gazelle bounding a stream. He landed behind Shalindra, standing
easily a foot taller.

For a moment, she didn’t seem to be aware of
him there. Then, she turned. I hoped she would strike him down.
Even if the rest killed her, she might at least destroy the leader
of them with one final burst of power. But she didn’t even raise a
hand to him. She was like a lamb going to slaughter. Not a cry did
she make.

Judah seized Shalindra by the throat. His
hand was quick as an adder. He had her in his grip, hoisting her
off of the ground, his claws digging deep into her throat as he
crushed the life from her. I tried to stop him, but there was
nothing I could do in my incorporeal form.

Tears streaked my face, as he held her dying
body up for the cheers of his Cindermen. They gnashed their teeth
in anticipation, and I knew what would happen next. I remembered
Celia by the road, this thing taking her life so callously.

As I feared, Judah threw her corpse to his
horde of beastly soldiers. I turned away, unable to look, as the
frenzy for her flesh began. I sobbed, lying on the cobblestones of
the temple, evil all around me, but unable to do anything to stop
it.

Then a hand touched my shoulder, and I
started. Killian was there, speaking to me. I jerked away
reflexively, looking for the Cindermen and their leader, terror
written upon my face.

“Raven, what’s wrong?” he asked. “Are you all
right? You seemed to be in some sort of trance.”

I could hear the concern in his voice. He
didn’t know what I had just seen. We were still in the glade by the
forest stream. Esmeralda stood waiting nearby. There were no
Cindermen here at all.

“Killian,” I began, still panicked and
sobbing, “I saw something in a vision, something terrible—”

But that was all I managed to say. The world
around me spun and the black veil of unconsciousness consumed me. I
felt Shalindra die in that moment, and it became like death unto me
as well.

Hannah walked the main corridor of the abbey
in frustration. The sun was already up now, but where were her
girls? It was so unlike them to be derelict in their daily chores.
They knew what punishments would await them for their laziness.
Yet, when they should have been here and there working away, none
of them could be found.

Then she heard one of the servants screaming
her name. Hannah ran toward the sound, eventually winding her way
through several rooms to come to the courtyard that sat in the
midst of the compound. Many of the other household servants were
already gathered there.

As Hannah approached, the crowd of women in
gray uniforms parted to allow her access to the area near the coy
pond. There she found all of her young wards upon the ground. They
were not dead. She could see them breathing. However, for some
unknown reason, each and every one of them was unconscious.

Evelyn entered the room where Kane already
waited with their honored guest. Radden stood in the middle of the
room. Evelyn had brought a retinue of guards, but they remained
outside the door for now.

Normally, Radden would have waited for his
queen to speak. However, he assumed, with the current situation,
that the time for decorum had passed. He was a prisoner now, plain
and simple.

“Your assassin,” Radden said, indicating
Kane, “has refused to answer any of my questions, Majesty. I can
only assume there is some appropriate reason for detaining me?”

Evelyn stopped in her tracks next to Kane.
“Indeed there is,” she said icily. “Your son has committed so many
crimes against the crown over the past few hours that nothing in
this world or the next will ever be able to save him.”

“Crimes?” Radden asked.

“He attacked me in the dungeon and then
escaped his cell,” she reported. “He then interrupted my son’s
bonding ritual and absconded with the Daughter of Eliam who would
have become his bond!”

Evelyn did not bother to withhold her fury.
The boy had defied her openly, and most of what she had told his
father was true. The fact that she had embellished his escape from
the dungeon was merely incidental.

He had somehow vanished, when she attempted
to kill him with her wand. Evelyn still failed to understand how
the boy had done it. But the result had been Killian attacking Kane
and preventing the ceremony that would have bonded Raven with her
son.