Chapter 8

8

REYA

I watch the commander as he walks away from our house. I still when he stops and looks over his shoulder and as our eyes meet; I find I can't look away. I watch his shadows leave his hands and weave across the ground towards my house but as quick as they advance, they retreat, returning to him. He shakes his head and disappears out of sight around the corner and out of sight.

My whole bedroom is covered in amethyst and obsidian. This is what my mother has been busy doing all night. She won't explain what all of this is about. She just keeps telling me to trust her. To know that she is doing what is needed to protect me. To protect me from what? Mayla? Raegal? There's something she isn't telling me.

I strip out of my clothes and wash and braid my unruly, long blonde hair. Wearily, I climb into my bed. So much has happened in the last two moon rises and I am exhausted. Tomorrow my best friend and the first boy I ever loved will wed my archenemy. I hate her for taking the one thing that was mine. She has taken the only friend I ever had away from me. As I lie down, my thoughts racing, I picture the night mutts cornering Mayla over by the stables where she tricked and abducted me. I smile as I imagine the fear in her eyes as she screams for help. The mutts snarl and scratch at the ground with their sharp talons before they pounce. I shake my head, that was pretty dark, even for me. I hate the girl, but I'd never wish her dead.

I don't know where I am. Its dark. I can barely see the ground in front of me, but something calls for me up ahead. Around me I hear the night mutts howling, communicating with each other. They're in a frenzy of excitement. In front of me is what I can only describe as a chasm in the atmosphere, a jagged crack running down the centre with a dark light emanating from it. I know this place. I don't know how or why but it feels familiar.

"It's time to return home."

I jump in fright and turn in a circle, seeking the owner of the sinister voice. My eyes widen when I see a crowd of mutts gathering in front of me. They don't attack. They simply stand there silently, as if they're waiting for me.

"Come to me," I whisper to them. The mutt at the head of the pack lifts his head and howls into the night and a flurry of responding howls echo through the darkness. The alpha mutt lowers its head towards me before turning back towards its pack and with a grunt, leads the others back into the dense forest.

"Wake Up!" The voice shouts in my ear, frightening the life out of me.

I sit bolt upright in bed. My eyes wide and alert. Did someone scream? Have I just experienced a nightmare? That's impossible, nightmares no longer exist. A high-pitched, terrifying scream rips through the silence of the night and I know that I haven't imagined it. I jump out of bed and run to the window. I cover my mouth to hold back the scream that rises when I see what's outside. Black four-legged creatures roam through the town, their purple eyes glowing in the light of the moon. I curse out loud when the Gatehouse bell rings. Mutts have breached the walls.

How is this possible?

I scramble for my clothes, shouting across the landing to my brothers to wake up. I throw on my leather trousers, shirt, and tunic then reach for my dagger.

"Mother!" I yell just as she comes out onto the landing, clutching a shawl around her shoulders. "Mutts. They've breached the walls."

My mother staggers back, placing her hand over her heart. "I've failed you. This is all my fault."

"Elian, Corym, get dressed quickly!" I yell, ignoring my mothers' strange comments and shaking my brothers awake. "Get dressed. It's all going to be okay."

Elian shakes in fear when he hears a scream from outside. "Are we going to die?"

I grab him by the shoulders and look him firmly in the eyes. "No, we're not going to die. But I need you to remain calm and do exactly as I tell you, okay?"

He nods his head, his big beautiful blue eyes filled with fear. "Come on both of you get dressed, quickly and quietly." They silently pull on their clothes. I leave them briefly to place the bolt on the window shutters in my room and then I do the same in theirs. We all congregate on the landing as the screaming and mayhem outside intensifies. We silently head to the one room in the house that has no windows and gather there, huddled in a circle. I rush to the fireplace and grab the metal poker and fork, offering them to my brothers.

Corym looks down at the poker in his hands and back up at me in bewilderment. "What good is this? It won't kill them."

"No, it won't," I agree. "But it may injure one long enough for you to escape."

"Reya, I'm scared," Elian confesses, holding the iron fork in his hand and visibly shaking. Elian is a lover not a fighter. He is the one who always brings injured animals' home to nurse them back to health. Corym is the braver of the two. He fears nothing—he's always out climbing trees and getting up to mischief. I cup Elian's face in my hands and smile at him reassuringly.

"We're going to be okay. The shadow army are here, remember? If anyone can stop them, they can."

They both nod. Corym pushes his shoulders back and holds the iron poker out in front of him. "I'll protect my brother." My heart breaks in that moment, seeing my little brother wielding a weapon and ready to defend his family.

A loud thud at our front door makes us all jump with fright. I press my finger to my lips and urge my brothers to be still and quiet. We all fix our eyes on the door. Something scratches at the wood, and a deep growl reverberates across the silent space. I hold my dagger out in front of me, stepping in front of my brothers and my mother and wait. The creature scratches at the door again and then it whimpers and falls silent. I let out a breath of relief that it's moved on just as the door splinters open and two snarling, hungry mutts appear in the open space.

"Gods!" I curse, wielding my dagger in front of me with one hand as I urge my family back towards the hearth with my other. This is bad. Really bad.

One of the creatures scans the room, sniffing the air. Its eyes take in my family, but they pause on me and the mutt makes a strange almost purring sound and retreats from the house. It nudges the other away and they take off into the night.

"It's not safe here," I say turning to my mother. "You should head to the mines. The abundance of crystals up there should mask our scent and throw them off," I suggest.

"Reya!" I hear Arkynn's voice pierce through the sounds of the screaming and the town bells.

"Reya, don't you dare step foot outside this house!" Mother says, ushering my brothers towards the stairs. She pauses when she sees I'm not following, and she looks at me and shakes her head. "No. Leave it to the shadow men and our watch men, Reya. You don't need to do this."

I offer her a sad smile. "I can fight, Mother. You know I've been training with Arkynn and his father since before I could even write. I can help."

She knows she can't change my mind. I'm stubborn like that. She reaches for me and pulls me into a warm hug. "They won't hurt you, Reya. The creatures. Trust me on this. Nor will they enter this house. We're safe here."

"I need to go," I tell her, quickly dropping kisses on my brothers' heads. "I'll come for you when it's safe."

I watch my family climb the stairs and breathe a sigh of relief when I hear the bolt locking them securely in my mother's bedroom. I need to try and get to the armoury and find myself something more substantial than this dagger. As beautiful as it is, it's not going to offer me much protection tonight. I step outside of the house and into the street, taking in a sharp breath when I see the street littered with bodies. Lifeless and still, their eyes still open wide showing the fear they felt when they took their last breath. Frightened to death. That's how the mutts kill their prey. They feed on your fears and literally scare you to death. I shake my head and pull my eyes away from the body of a neighbour. I stay close to the shadows of the houses and quietly make my way through town. I reach the armoury and say a silent prayer to Mother Crystal when I find there are still weapons here. I grab myself a shield and one of the lighter swords then head back outside. When I reach the square, it's carnage. Bodies litter the ground and the Shadow Borne fight with their shadows to keep the mutts from attacking anymore Asen's.

"Reya!"

My eyes snap in the direction of his voice. Arkynn is across the square fighting off two vicious looking mutts. One charges him and he manages to catch it on its side with his sword. I whimper as pain rushes through me, then I fall to the floor.

"Reya!" Arkynn shouts when he sees me fall. He brandishes his swords keeping the other creature back as the injured one limps away, dripping thick purple blood on to the cobblestones. The injured mutt looks across the square at me and whimpers. ‘Go' I say to it from in my mind and the creature disappears towards the gates, heading for the sanctuary of the forest.

"Arkynn!" A high-pitched voice screams, and I follow the sound to find Mayla running towards us with three mutts hot on her tail.

"Run, Mayla," I urge her, thinking if she can just get to us, Arkynn and I can protect her. Mayla picks up speed, but she stumbles over her own feet and falls to the ground, just as one of the creature's leaps on to her back. She lets out a piercing scream as the mutt's talons sink into her flesh. I watch with horror when her eyes glaze over as the creature finds her greatest fear and feeds on it. "You!" she yells, pointing across the square at me. "You did this. This is all your fault." They are the last words she ever speaks as the creature feeds on her draining her of life in a matter of seconds. The mutt lifts it head into the air and howls long and deep and I shiver as responding howls come from every direction.

"Reya, behind you!" Arkynn yells and I pivot on my heel just in time to see a mutt bounding towards me. Something stops me swinging my sword at it. I hold out my hand. "No. Not him. Go!" The mutt skids to a stop about two feet from me and sniffs the air, looking hungrily at Arkynn who fights off another mutt behind me. "No!" I order.

"Eretreya!" The sound of his voice pulls my attention from the mutt before me, and I breathe a sigh of relief as I see Raegal and Jasiel enter the square followed by four other shadow soldiers. His pale grey eyes turn the darkest shade of black as he releases his shadows into the night, and they rush across the square. They spread out in volume as they go, splintering off to aim for each mutt in the vicinity. My breath stutters in my throat as the first shadow reaches a mutt and it squeals in pain as the shadows singe its black fur. As another mutts howls in pain, I double over, sheer agony ripping across my chest. What in crystal heaven is happening to me? I cry out in pain and Raegal's dark eyes fall upon me, I feel his shadows wrap around my arms and my body lifts from the ground as his shadows pull me across the square to him. As his shadows continue to attack the remaining mutts, I'm brought before him. He catches me as I fall, holding me up with one arm and, tucking me into his side, he continues his assault on the creatures. My head drops to rest in the crook of his arm.

"Pain," I whimper. "So much pain. I can't take it."

The mutts gather in a circle as they attempt to regroup from Raegal and his men's shadows.

"Please, leave," I whisper, barely able to speak as the pain rushes through my body, burning me from the inside out. As my eyes flutter and fight exhaustion I see the mutts run for the gates and the tree line. As my eyes fights to stay open everything falls silent. Is this the end? Is this what death feels like?

"Reya!"

It all happens in slow motion, like I can see it coming but I'm powerless to stop it. My mother rounds the corner with my brothers just as the mutts are leaving, one mutt that is looking back towards us crashes into her and lashes out in defence locking its jaw on her neck.

I'll never forget her scream for as long as I live. It pierces the night and sends a bone numbing chill through my body.

"No!" I whimper as I fight the world of pain my body is in. Raegal flings out his hand and his shadows race across the square and attack the mutt, flinging it off my mother. It slides across the earth whimpering as the shadows burn its fur, before it staggers onto its legs and limps as fast as it can after its pack.

My mother lies on the floor, blood pouring from her neck. I grab Raegal by his collar. "Save her, please."

He looks from me to my mother conflicted. "I'm fine. Please go to her."

Swearing under his breath he directs Jasiel to support me as he strides across the square to my mother. Arkynn grabs hold of the boys and pulls them away. Elian cries for his mother and Corym stands there, silent and devoid of any emotion, as Arkynn wraps an arm around each of them. I watch as Raegal drops to his knees beside her, looking over her injury and grimaces. He glances across the square at Jasiel and shakes his head.

No! My mother can't die. We need her. My brothers need her when I'm gone. I struggle to get to my feet and Jasiel tries to stop me. "Stop me and I'll sink my dagger through your black heart!" I warn him. He obviously decides better than to fight me and instead, helps me stagger to my feet and supports me under my right shoulder. I drag my pain riddled body over to where Reagal tends to my mother. I drop down beside him, and he grimaces as his eyes meet mine.

"It's poison has entered her system. It's too late."

"No." I shake my head unwilling to listen to him. "We can save her. We just need a healer."

I jerk when he grips my chin with his fingers and forces me to look at him. "The only ones who can reverse the effects of the venom is a Night Borne and they no longer exist."

My mother whimpers and I return my focus to her, I press my hand over the wound on her neck, attempting to stop the blood. "There must be a way." I watch in horror as the venom travels along her veins, staining them dark purple as it progresses through her system. Mother screams in pain and it pierces right through my heart.

Her eyes fly open as she inhales deeply. "Pain. So much pain." She groans, thrashing her head from side to side. "Please stop the pain." She turns her wide eyes to Raegal. "End it, please."

Raegal swallows and nods his head, reaching out and putting his hand on her chest.

"No!" I scream, knocking his hand away and throwing my upper body over my mothers.

"Reya," she says hissing my name through the waves of pain. She cups my cheek and smiles at me. "My precious gift. I did what I needed to. I kept you safe. Fate has come for you now. It's time for you to become who you need to be. Look after your brothers for me."

"No, you're going to be okay, Mama. We just need a healer," I insist, leaning down to kiss her cheek. "You can't leave us Mama."

She smiles weakly and I pale when I see the purple venom reach the veins in her neck. I lash out as someone places hands under my armpits and lifts me off her. I scream and kick and punch, as I fight to stay with her. Raegal leans over her and places his hand on her chest. With his other hand he takes her hand, and I watch as he leans his ear down to hear whatever she says. He nods his head and glances briefly at me. I watch through a veil of horror as his shadows leak from his body and attach themselves to her.

"What is he doing?" I ask Jasiel, as I sag in his arms, no longer fighting him.

"He's speeding the venom through her system. Otherwise, she'll die here in slow agony until it reaches her brain."

I see the moment the venom reaches its target and her once beautiful green eyes turn purple as she expels her last breath.

Gone.

My mother is gone.

I'm an orphan.

Raegal places a hand over her eyes and closes them before he gets to his feet and walks my way. I push myself out of Jasiel's arms and despite the agony in my limbs I charge him, pounding my fists on his chest. "You could have saved her! Why didn't you save her? I hate you. Why didn't you save her!" He doesn't try to stop me as I attack him. "Why?" I demand. He's an all-powerful Shadow Borne, if anyone could have saved her surely it would be him.

"I couldn't save her. No one here could have. Only the Night Borne can reverse the venom." He grabs hold of my fists and holds them in one hand against his chest. "Where are you hurt?" he demands, scanning my face.

"Everywhere," I whimper as I spiral into shock. "It hurts everywhere."

He wraps an arm around my waist to hold me up as I sag against him, and I hear Corym cry my name as my world goes black.