The Light of Burning Shadows (2 page)

T
here were two of him now, and neither one knew which was sane.

He stood atop the ridgeline running the length of the island and waited for the sun to drown. The ocean darkened. Shadows bled up the windward slope toward him. Bodies pierced by the trunks of obsidian trees became shrouded in the gloom. The smell of putrefying flesh fled as the heat of the day leached from the air. It was as if nothing had happened here. No horrors to relive, no nightmares to endure.

He might have believed that if not for the screams in his head. They echoed in the space between what he was, and what he was becoming.

Here, now, he stood in a world where the sun was setting and a cool ocean breeze was worrying the saw grass behind the dunes of the beach. Only the unhurried slide of waves over sand and the distant shouts and forced laughter of men from the shore party filled the air.

But he also stood here, now, where the screams of the dead still rasped from blood-red throats. Only yesterday the trees of the Shadow Monarch had flourished in this place, feeding on all they found as Her forest continued to expand across the known world.

Frost fire burned to life in his hands. He did nothing as it arced to the steel and wood of his musket, setting it afire in cold, black flame. He brought a hand close to his face, mesmerized. This was power and curse. The union of the Iron Elves’ blood oath with Her magic.

The flames climbed higher and he staggered. There was a price for this. The gulf between his polar selves widened each time he called upon this newfound power. In his mind the outstretched limbs of the Shadow Monarch’s forest inched a little closer. He knew it had to stop.

The last rays of the sun vanished into the sea. Dark forms rose from the lengthening shadows, surrounding him.

Dead hands reached out. He recognized the fallen and they did not frighten him:

One-eyed Meri, killed by dog spiders.

Alik and Buuko, struck down by rakkes and the Shadow Monarch’s dark elves.

Regimental Sergeant Major Lorian, sitting tall on the horse Zwindarra, both felled in the battle at Luuguth Jor.

And so many others…

“Join us.”

He eased the hammer back on his musket. A charge and ball already rested inside. He turned the musket so that the muzzle rested firmly over his heart.

Frost fire danced along the metal in anticipation.

It would take but one squeeze of the trigger, but what would he end, and what would begin?

“Join us.”

He wanted to believe that all the pain, the fear, the terrifying rage, the nightmares that stalked his sleep…all would sink into a cold abyss. The shades of those that had gone before beckoned him, but their voices trembled with a pain he could only guess at. Could it be worse than what he lived with now?

One final act on his part and he would find out.

His finger tightened on the trigger.

“There you are!” Sergeant Yimt Arkhorn said, trudging up the slope. The dwarf’s voice boomed like a cannon in the cooling night air. “I wouldn’t a thought it possible to lose someone on this wee pebble of an island, but you just about managed it. You don’t want to be hanging around this sad lot,” he said, casting a hand toward the blackened husks of trees and the dead. If the dwarf saw the shadows, he said nothing.

Private Alwyn Renwar lowered his musket as the frost surged briefly before guttering out. He slowly turned to face the dwarf.

“Five islands in a row,” Yimt said, huffing to a stop beside him on top of the ridge. He hoisted his shatterbow up to his shoulder, hooking one of the curved arms over it so that the double-barreled weapon hung down across his broad back. He reached to his side and grabbed his wooden canteen, first offering it to Alwyn, who shook his head.

“Suit yourself, but it helps your eyeballs,” he said, referring to Alwyn’s need for spectacles. Yimt upended the canteen and gulped several mouthfuls of a liquid most certainly not water as the pungent vapors drifted into the night air. Wiping his mouth with the back of his sleeve, Yimt deftly stuffed a wad of crute, the rock spice the dwarf was forever chewing, between his cheek and metal-colored teeth.

“Five islands of nothing but black misery. I understand the need to weed these foul trees before they really take root, but why’s it always us? I’ll tell you this, Ally, if his arseness the Prince orders us to one more dust speck in the middle of the ocean, I might just risk the noose and kick the bugger right where his top and bottom halves meet. And with a running start.”

A smile,
Alwyn thought.
I know I should smile.

Alwyn took a deep breath and let it out, forcing his shoulders to relax and doing his best to reassure. “I can see you’re wasting no time in trying to lose those sergeant’s stripes,” he said.

Yimt patted his arm and traced a finger around the recently sewn-on stripes on his uniform. “These aren’t what make a dwarf, Ally, though I got to admit I’m feeling a bit more protective of them this time round. Someone’s got to keep their head.”

“You’re saying Major Swift Dragon isn’t?”

Yimt rolled his eyes. “The major’s spittin’ musket balls. The Prince is a hairsbreadth from his last breath if he keeps sending us to these cursed islands instead of straight on to the desert wastes of the Hasshugeb Expanse. Now just between you and me, I’m starting to wonder a bit about the major. He’s gettin’ a bit frantic to find the first Iron Elves. ’Course, I can see his point. Be nice to have some reinforcements with all this going on,” he said, again waving a hand around them. “I swear by the dew of a freshly laundered nun the major’s going to do the Prince harm.”

“Would that be so terrible?” Alwyn said, but the wind picked up just then and Yimt kept talking as if he hadn’t heard.

“Our major is a kettle on full fire with half an ounce of water inside. We visit another island and the line of succession to the throne will be shorter by one.” Yimt pointed a hand out to sea. “Not that it’ll matter a cauldron of newts if this Shadow Monarch and Stars business keeps up. Like there ain’t enough pain and suffering in the world already without someone wanting to take the whole bloody thing over and make it worse. Where’s the sense in that?”

Alwyn answered before he could stop himself. “Maybe She doesn’t see it that way. Maybe She’s in pain none of us can understand, and this is Her way of trying to deal with it. People don’t think straight when they are hurting. For Her, the Red Star offered a chance to change things.” He didn’t add that the Red Star also offered a chance for the blood oath the Iron Elves had taken to be broken, a chance that was lost at Luuguth Jor.

Yimt spat out a stream of crute, which sizzled in the sand. “Odd way of looking at it, Ally, but even if that’s true—and I don’t buy it—then all the more reason to find the first Iron Elves, get a mess of axes, and go pay a visit to Her little mountain. More Stars are bound to come tumbling down and She’s gonna keep trying to get her hands on every one until She’s stopped. She’s already brought back rakkes, heaven knows what else She’ll find.”

Alwyn feared and hated the rakkes. They were massive, hideous creatures with fangs and claws and milky white eyes, but what truly made them horrific was that they were brought back from extinction with only killing as their purpose. That the Shadow Monarch might bring back creatures worse than that added a whole new layer to his nightmares.

“But what of the oath we took?” Alwyn asked. “Her magic wove its way into it. We have power unlike anything else. I can do things, Yimt, that I don’t want to be able to do. We weren’t meant to have this kind of power. And She’s behind it. Can’t you feel things…changing?” The Shadow Monarch was ever present in Alwyn’s dreams, forever calling to him. He couldn’t hold out forever, none of them could.

“Changing?” Yimt lifted up the hem of his caerna and scratched at his thigh while he pondered the question. “I tried warming a cup of arr the other day between my hands, you know, calling up a bit of the frost fire. All I managed to do was light my beard on fire, and the arr was colder than when I started.”

“You’re making fun of me,” Alwyn said.
Yimt should understand. He took the oath as well.

“Don’t get your caerna in a twist,” Yimt said, smiling at him. “I just don’t think it’s as bad as you make out. Sure, we might be doomed to eternal service in the afterlife, but if we’re still serving then we can’t exactly be after life, see? I’ll tell you this, Ally, having already put in a few decades in Her Majesty’s employ…traipsing hither and yon about the Empire…visiting smelly little villages with nasty little people chucking all kinds of sticks and stones and spells at you…I have to say, it ain’t that bad. Personally,” Yimt said, changing his scratching to his beard, “I can see some up sides.”

Alwyn looked out to sea and tried to find the view Yimt saw there.

“C’mon, Ally, we can chaw this over back at camp. Doesn’t do a fellow any good to be out alone in a place like this. What were you doing up here anyway?”

Alwyn shook his head. “Nothing. I just came up here for a walk and to get some fresh air. Miss Tekoy says I need to keep in motion to get the stump used to the new leg.” Just a month ago a black arrow crafted by a dark art and wielded by an even darker creature had pierced his thigh. In the effort to save his life, Alwyn lost more than his leg that night. “And Miss Red Owl says I need to keep active so that I don’t dwell on…things. She’s teaching me meditation.”

Yimt cast an appraising eye at Alwyn’s wooden leg. Both Visyna Tekoy and Chayii Red Owl had crafted it from a living tree, magically entwining several slender branches into an intricate and flexible design. Yimt stepped closer and looked up, locking eyes with him. “Aye, couple of witchy women there, they oughta know. Wise to heed them, Ally. They only want what’s best for you.”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right,” Alwyn said, trying to believe it. Around him, the shades still waited. The shadow of Meri moved closer, his one eye like a dark portal offering Alwyn a path far away from here, though Alwyn knew Yimt couldn’t understand.

“I’m always right,” Yimt said, thumping his chest. “In fact, if I was a betting man, I’d say the two of them joined us on our little sailing adventure as much for you as for the major. I figured they’d stay back in Elfkyna with the rest of those Long Watch elves to look over the tree-star thing in Luuguth Jor, but I think you’ve become a bit of a
project.”

“A project?”

Yimt nodded. “Aye. See, women, no matter their age or race or even how witchy they are, like to work on projects, and by projects I mean men. The more screwed up or in need of repair the man is, the happier womenfolk are. And, Ally, between you and the major, I’d say those ladies have got their hands full for a long time to come.”

“You always know just what to say,” Alwyn said, not sure if he should be touched or offended by the idea. Where Yimt was concerned it was always a close-run thing.

Shrugging, Alwyn began to turn around to head back down the slope. Yimt reached out and grabbed him by the elbow, stopping him. He gently took the musket from his hands and eased the hammer back into place then handed it back to Alwyn.

“A fellow wants to be careful with a loaded weapon, especially out here.”

For a moment, there was only Yimt, his friend, on the ridgeline with Alwyn. He looked into the dwarf’s eyes and saw the concern.

“I’ll try to remember that,” Alwyn said.

Yimt beamed, flashing his metal-colored teeth. “Not to worry, Ally, not to worry. As long as
Sergeant
Arkhorn’s around, you’ll have me to remember it for you. We’ve got some serious glory and gallantry ahead of us and I sure as hell ain’t about to face it alone. A fellow can only wear so many medals afore folks start to think he’s a bit full of himself, y’know? Now get a move on. I got a turtle roasting on the fire…at least I think it’s a turtle, and you want to eat it while it’s still warm.”

Alwyn smiled this time, a real smile. “Then get down there and save me a piece. I never miss a chance to try some of your cooking. I try, but unfortunately I never miss.”

Yimt raised one bushy eyebrow and wagged a thick finger at him. “Cheeky bugger,” he said, turning and heading down the slope. “I’ll save you some of the brains; you can never have too many.”

Alwyn watched him for a while until the shadows closed in again. Meri came to stand beside him.

“Join us, Alwyn
.” The others joined in, each urging him on. “
Join us.
”

Alwyn gripped his musket, but this time no frost fire danced along it. He started to limp down toward the campfire, the pain in his stump reminding him with each step of what he had already lost, but also of what still remained. The shadows on the ridgeline did not follow, but kept their hands outstretched.

“Not yet,”
Alwyn said back to them,
“not yet.”

M
ajor Konowa Swift Dragon, second in command of the Calahrian Empire’s Iron Elves, stood on the bow of his small boat in the predawn darkness regretting his decision to eat before setting out for Wikumma Island. His stomach roiled. Each surge and wallow of the boat acted like a punch to his gut. Sweat drenched his face and stung his eyes, making it hard to see, though in this darkness it made little difference. Someone, or more specifically, something on the island ahead of them was going to pay for his suffering. He stood up a little straighter and spat into the wind.

“Damn it!”

He wiped off his face and looked over his shoulder. Lanterns wrapped in heavy canvas and hung from iron pikes gave off a feeble orange glow, illuminating the boat and its complement of sailors and Iron Elves. Konowa cursed the need for any light at all, but the men in the boat did not have elven eyes. Looking beyond the boat he could just make out their starting point, Her Majesty’s seventy-two-gun ship-of-the-line
Black Spike.
If all went well, they would be back on her decks by nightfall.

Konowa returned his gaze forward. Somewhere ahead of them lay Wikumma Island, the last and southernmost in a chain of seven islands in the Onmedan Sea stretching between Elfkyna and the Hasshugeb Expanse. The six previous islands had been—for lack of a better word—infested with the Shadow Monarch’s growing forest. The small populations that had lived on the islands—mostly fishermen and their families—had been slaughtered by Her forest, leaving not a man, woman, or child alive. Each island was a sun-drenched horror, and Konowa grew angrier with every gruesome discovery.

This had to stop. He had to take the fight directly to the Shadow Monarch. For Konowa, that meant finding the original Iron Elves and marching straight to Her mountain. That She wanted the original elves for Her designs as She wanted Konowa made it all the more crucial Konowa find them first. The power he wielded was incredible, and he was the least magical elf that had ever set foot in a forest. Even some of the human soldiers showed a knack for using the frost fire, albeit with haphazard results. While the power of the blood oath bound every soldier in the regiment, its magical properties resided primarily with its only remaining elf, Konowa. Imagining what the Shadow Monarch could do with a highly trained regiment of elves completely under Her control made even Konowa shudder.

The bow of the boat dipped and took a wave over the top, spraying Konowa from head to foot.

“Damn it all to hell!”

“War is no excuse for language like that, my son,” Chayii Red Owl said. “And we are but three bowshots’ distance from the island. You really should get down from there.”

A snigger, a muffled giggle, even an innocent cough would have launched Konowa at the throat of the unlucky person, but not a one gave any indication that he had heard Konowa being scolded by his mother. There were five boats currently being rowed toward the island, and of course it was Konowa’s luck that his vessel had his mother on board.

“Uncork your musket, unwrap the firelock, and prepare to fire,” Konowa said from the bow, deliberately ignoring his mother’s advice. The soldiers reacted instantly, well versed now in the drill after having stormed six islands before. They knew from experience that things would happen fast.

“Sergeant Arkhorn, ready your cannon.” Each boat was equipped with a small six-pounder cannon strapped to the bow with ropes facing forward. It wasn’t subtle, but then again neither were rakkes.

“Aye, sir, ready and waiting,” the dwarf said, giving the barrel of the cannon a solid slap with the palm of his hand. “The beasties will know what hit ’em, but not for long.” Beside him, Private Renwar peered down the length of his musket, his hands rock steady. Konowa had made it known to the sergeant that Renwar need not join them on the island assaults on account of his wooden leg. Surprisingly, Chayii had objected, though she had refused to elaborate. Konowa had also tried to bring the subject up with Visyna, but talking with her was even more frustrating. They agreed on nothing—not the use of the Shadow Monarch’s power, not the role the Empire played in the world, and definitely not how to set things right again.

Naturally, Visyna agreed with Chayii about Private Renwar, but the point was moot as Renwar volunteered for every attack. Konowa was happy to have him along. Konowa had thought Renwar too fragile for soldiering, but the private was proving to be a fierce warrior, charging the beach with exceptional bravery and never once holding back despite his significant impairment.

The boat lurched and one set of oars rowed air for a moment. Konowa stumbled and grabbed hold of the cannon before righting himself. It took a greater effort to keep the contents of his stomach. He stood back up, carefully. The crew was struggling to keep the boat on course as the sea grew choppier.

“Go left, man, more left,” Konowa said, brandishing his saber. The white-enameled hand guard with gold inlay was a bit showy for his tastes, but it had been a gift from his friend Jaal, the Duke of Rakestraw, and Konowa cherished it. It had taken some doing to get a new three-foot-long blade put on it after the first one had broken at Luuguth Jor, but Sergeant Arkhorn had known a dwarf who knew a blacksmith and Konowa had paid twenty silver coins and asked no questions.

“Left. We need to land on the southern tip,” Konowa said.

“You mean larboard, sir,” the boat’s mate said.

Konowa stared at the man.

“Aye, sir, left it is! All right, boyos, you heard the officer, more left!”

Konowa turned back to face the wind, preferring the bite of the salt-tinged air and stinging spray of the water to the looks of the men he was leading. The mix of fear, anger, loathing, and resentment he saw there filled him with feelings he couldn’t afford to indulge in. Chayii, for her part, simply looked sad, which only added to his pain. Something small and furry landed on Konowa’s shoulder.

“Enjoying the ride, Father?”

Jurwan Leaf Talker, wizard, counselor to Imperial Army Marshal Ruwl, husband of Chayii Red Owl, and currently unwilling or unable to turn back to elf form, twitched his whiskers and said nothing. Konowa sighed. When he’d bothered to imagine his future, he’d never once allowed for the possibility that one day he’d be leading soldiers ashore to do battle against the Shadow Monarch’s dark creatures with his mother and father in tow. That one now sported a very bushy tail and the other was generally disappointed with how he’d turned out did, however, seem like something he should have anticipated.

He wasn’t sure which was worse.

“We could use your help, you know,” Konowa said.

Jurwan scratched his nose with one small paw and said nothing. In a way, Konowa didn’t blame him. Jurwan had risked his life, certainly his sanity, to get the black acorn now resting against Konowa’s chest from atop Her mountain. Her dark magic must have done more damage than even a great elf wizard like his father could repair. That thought should have given Konowa pause, but he knew that where his father had failed, he would not. Perhaps, if Jurwan’s
ryk faur
Black Spike, the Wolf Oak he shared a magical bond with when a member of the Elves of the Long Watch, were still alive, he would be back to his old self by now.

Konowa patted a hand against his chest and felt the familiar tingle of cold power there. A dark stain now marred Konowa’s skin over his heart, but he knew he could undo it when the time was right.

“Were you able to sense anything from the ship?” Konowa asked, keeping his voice low. Jurwan, some years ago, had quietly gifted the…body, for lack of a better word, Konowa supposed, of his
ryk faur
to the Queen for use in building one of her ships. The gift had infuriated the elves of the Long Watch and his mother in particular. Not even the naming of the ship after the Wolf Oak could appease the elves, but Konowa doubted that anything less than the dissolution of the Empire would. Fittingly, the Queen had assigned HMS
Black Spike
to her son, Prince Tykkin, and the Iron Elves as they set sail from Elfkyna, perhaps hoping the reunion between elf and
ryk faur
would snap Jurwan out of his current state. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to be working.

A nudge against Konowa’s thigh drew his attention downward. He reached out a hand to give Jir a rub between the ears, then thought better of it. For all purpose if not intent, the bengar was a large, furry, black-and-red-striped monster, not that Konowa saw him that way. The predatory beast with a stubby muzzle full of very sharp teeth and a thick mantle of fur running halfway down his back was bigger even than a tiger…with an appetite larger still. That they were friends spoke to an understanding between the two that Konowa shared with few others. With that understanding came the realization that Jir was now ready for battle, his demeanor one of quiet intensity.

In that regard he was the perfect mascot for the Iron Elves. Jir’s eyes were fixed on the dark smudge on the horizon and his nostrils were flaring. The muscles under his fur rippled back and forth like waves trapped between two cliffs. This was definitely a time when it was best to leave him be.

Konowa returned to watching the beach. Shadows moved in and out among the trees that lined the shore. Konowa focused on the power in the black acorn. That something so small could harbor so much power, and so much danger, was a thought he pushed aside for another time. If he and the regiment were cursed by the oath that had inadvertently bonded them to Her power, then he would bloody well use that power. He let his senses flow outward. It was becoming easier to manipulate the magic. A cold clarity pulsed throughout his body in anticipation of what was to come.

Scores of rakkes roamed the island. Konowa pushed his senses further, his breath misting in the humid air. He shivered in the sudden cold and grimaced. He felt the presence of five of Her elves on the island, those born like him with a black ear tip. In the not-too-distant past, the tribes of the Hyntaland believed that to be born thus was to be forever tainted. Babies were left in the forest to die, but the Shadow Monarch gathered them to Her, and made them Her own. Konowa had been spared that, instead having his left ear tip shorn off in an act of defiance.

In his darkest thoughts Konowa wondered what his life would have been like if he, too, had been abandoned to die, then “saved” by the Shadow Monarch. Would he now be like the elves he was about to kill, a crazed and twisted thing driven by a madness he didn’t understand?

The Prince had a standing order for one of the Shadow Monarch’s dark elves to be taken alive, but thus far none had been. The elves chose to fight to the death. Konowa’s hand strayed to his own scarred ear, then stopped. The mark alone did not determine an elf’s fate. Konowa was proof enough of that…he hoped.

Konowa came back to himself, but not before pausing. Something else, something he could not identify, was also on the island. It felt ancient. He debated for a moment whether he should search again, then thought better of it as the boats neared the shore. Whatever it was would soon share the same fate as the rest of Her creatures.

The first mewling cry from a rakke set off a chorus of howls on the island. The horizon turned pink as the night gave way to dawn. Konowa smiled. Black flames sparked to life in his hands.

“Fire!”

Sergeant Arkhorn reached up and slapped Konowa’s boot. “You’re standing over the cannon again, Major!”

“To hell with that. Fire!”

Whatever Chayii started to shout was lost as Sergeant Arkhorn touched a flaming linstock to the cannon vent. The six-pounder barked, launching a double load of canister shot.

Konowa roared his fury as two hundred musket balls ripped through the coming dawn. His ears rang with the concussion of the blast as his vision temporarily blurred and the unmistakable stench of black powder filled the air. Orange and red flame billowed from the muzzle, lighting up the sea. The small boat reared up then slammed down in the water, sending up a huge spray. Rakkes disintegrated in a thick red-black mist. Muskets crackled to life as hammers struck flint and powder flared. More rakkes fell, their cries defiant as life was once again torn from their lungs.

Farther out to sea a false dawn tore a hole in the darkness as the starboard-side guns of the
Black Spike
fired a broadside at the island. Cannonballs rumbled overhead like boulders crashing down a mountain. Konowa instinctively ducked even though the barrage was a good twenty feet above him.

The shoreline exploded in gouts of flame and smoke as sand, water, rakkes, trees, and everything else was pummeled and flung into the air. Debris thrown up by the barrage began raining down on them and splashing in the water all around their boat. Jurwan leaped from Konowa’s shoulder and scampered to the back of the boat, where he jumped onto Chayii and dove into her quiver of arrows.

A dazzling white light burst above the island, elongating shadows to grotesque lengths. Konowa shook his head, opened and closed his mouth to clear the ringing in his ears, and took a quick look to his right. He was unable to see Visyna, but knew she was close by. Her magical skills in weaving the natural order in aid to his men had proven valuable on many occasions. Her light would help them now.

Cannon and musket fire erupted from the other four boats. Shouts rose up and oars bit into sand and came to rest.

The Iron Elves had landed.