Shadow Hunted Read online

  “Kneel,” S’nash said again.

  There were no holdouts this time. Everyone still standing knelt instantly.

  “Much better,” Lowellin said. He looked at those who’d been killed and winced. “I wanted to avoid that. You are my subjects, after all, and I don’t want you all dead. What point is there in being king over no one?” He paused, took off the heavy crown and rubbed his forehead. “This thing is uncomfortable.”

  “Get on with it,” S’nash said. He crooked his finger, and Lowellin staggered as the ingerlings inside him awakened.

  “All right, all right,” Lowellin said, putting the crown back on. “I didn’t know you were in such a hurry.” He looked out over the crowd.

  “As you probably already guessed, the Fist is dead. The details of his death are unimportant, though I’d like to have it known that it wasn’t me who killed him.” He gestured at the three aliens. “These are the Ichthalids. Why they are here isn’t something you need to know. What you do need to know—and I think you just learned it—is that they are not patient. Obey them at once and without question and all will be well. Anger or delay them and, well…” He looked at the bodies. “You know.”

  He put his hands on the battlements. “You are wondering what comes next. Those ships we are building will be finished soon. Once they are, the army will board them. We will sail across the sea and begin our conquest. Someday the whole world will know of Samkara. This city will be the heart of an empire beyond anything this world has ever seen!”

  He threw up his hands when he finished, as if expecting the crowd to cheer. The crowd remained silent. He lowered his hands. “Nothing?”

  “Finish it,” S’nash grated.

  “There you have it,” Lowellin said. “I’m your new king, and these are our new allies. You can go along willingly and be part of a great empire, or they can do something terrible to you. It’s your choice. What will it be?”

  A few ragged cheers went up.

  “Are you sure that’s the best you can do?” Lowellin said, looking meaningfully at S’nash, who was standing with his arms crossed. “Let’s try again, with a little more spirit.”

  The cheering was much louder this time.

  S’nash held up one hand, and the cheering stopped. “There is no greater power than chaos,” he said. “Chaos is decay. Decay comes for all things. Nothing can stand against it. When our queen arrives, when you see the Queen of Chaos for yourselves, you will understand then Her ultimate power.”

  Chapter 12

  Fen was standing on a street corner, killing time until sunset when he could meet with his squad mates, when the people around him all went quiet. As those around him began hurrying away, he turned, wondering what was going on. A moment later he saw why.

  Coming down the street was one of the Ichthalids, the one who was missing an eye. Fen’s first instinct was to move away with everyone else, but he saw that this was an opportunity to get close to one of the Devourers for the first time, so pulled his hood down a little more and moved back against the building. He leaned against the building, watching the creature under the edge of his hood as he drew closer.

  The first thing that struck him about the Ichthalid was his arrogance. He walked like a conqueror, out to look upon his new conquest and see if there was anything interesting to be found. He did not scan for threats. He did not keep his hand near his blade, which was huge, big enough that most men would need two hands to swing it.

  It was hard to interpret those alien features, but it looked to Fen as if there was a hint of a smirk on his thin lips and amusement in his eye. He was enjoying the people’s fear.

  The Ichthalid was only a half dozen paces away when something happened that Fen didn’t expect.

  Fen’s power awoke. He could feel it thrumming through his veins, tingling in his muscles. The heat built inside him as the power sought outlet. He tried to hold it back. There was no way he was fighting this creature here, now. Not until he knew more about him, what he was capable of, what his weaknesses were.

  But his power resisted. Instead of receding, it grew stronger, as if it was reacting to the Ichthalid’s presence. Fen gritted his teeth and fought the power. The ground shifted slightly, pebbles rattling across the street toward him.

  Fen realized he had made a mistake. He should have gone when he had the chance. He wanted to leave right then, but it was taking all his effort to keep his power from flaring up and giving him away. The desire to fling everything he had at the creature, to attack him mercilessly until he was dead, was nearly overwhelming. It felt as though he was facing an ancient enemy, one he had hated for millennia, one he would do anything to destroy, even if it cost him his own life.

  The Ichthalid paused as he sensed Fen’s power. His head swung side to side as he tried to locate its source. His gaze fell on Fen.

  Fen trembled, torn between fleeing and fighting. In moments the Ichthalid would realize the power was coming from him. He needed a diversion. He needed to release some of the pent-up power before it got away from him.

  He turned his head. Halfway down the block was an old stone building. He focused on it and released a surge of Stone power.

  The building began to shake violently. Tiles slid off the roof and smashed in the street. Walls cracked, and one corner collapsed.

  The Ichthalid spun toward it, then started walking that way, purple energy flaring around his hands as he summoned his power.

  Fen breathed a sigh of relief and headed in the opposite direction. Once he got around a corner, he stopped and put his hands on his knees. He was sweating, and his hands were shaking badly.

  What happened? he wondered. The urge to attack the Devourer had been nearly overwhelming. A thought occurred to him. It must have had something to do with the Shaper essence inside him. Somehow the mere presence of the alien creature was enough to awaken that part of him. It made sense. The Shapers were put on this world to protect the key from the Devourers.

  Fen peeked around the corner. The Devourer was still standing in the street, looking up at the building. Fen could feel the creature’s presence. His power stirred once again, the desire to attack rising with it. Fen turned and walked away.

  ╬ ╬ ╬

  Fen got to the tavern near the docks around sunset and took a seat in the corner. There were only a handful of other people there, and the mood was subdued. Every conversation, of course, was about Lowellin and the Ichthalids.

  “Bugger them, I say,” said a thick-chested man at the next table, wiping ale from his beard. “I’m not serving those things or the new king. I’m loyal to the Fist.”

  “Brave words,” said his companion, a short man with dark skin and a long mustache. “Would you say the same if one walked in here right now, I wonder?”

  The thick-chested man shot a look over his shoulder. “Don’t say that.”

  “Then you should keep your trap shut. Could be an informer listening right now, squirreling your words away to report to the city watch.”

  “That isn’t going to happen. No one would turn another person over to those things.”

  The short man laughed. “You should know better than that. There’s a new dog at the top of the heap. Plenty of curs will be sniffing around, looking to find themselves a good spot in the new regime. They’ll happily step on you to get there.”

  “Oh, hells.” The thick-chested man looked suspiciously around the tavern.

  Fen lowered his head, so his face was hidden. The short man was right. There were sure to be plenty of people who would seize the opportunity to rise higher, even if it was at the expense of their fellow humans. Even if most of the people were waiting to follow Fen and rebel against their new masters, there were plenty who would run carrying tales.

  The door opened, and Cowley came walking in, followed by the rest of the squad. They carried weapons and wore chain mail over leather armor, but no surcoats or anything that might identify them as soldiers. At the sight of them Fen felt a powerful surge o
f emotion. Knowing they were behind him, that they would fight for him, that he could trust them…it meant everything.

  Gage went to the bar to order drinks. The rest came over and sat down.

  “Damn, Fen, but it’s good to see you again,” Noah said, a little too loudly.

  “Hold it down,” Strout hissed.

  Noah clapped his hand over his mouth. “Sorry. I got excited.”

  “It’s good to see you too. It’s been too long,” Fen said.

  “I thought we’d lost you,” Lukas said. “I didn’t sleep at all the night before the…the…you know.”

  “I didn’t sleep much either,” Fen admitted.

  “I saw what happened when the axe hit you,” Noah said. “Sparks everywhere. It was incredible. But I thought you lost your power. Were you faking it? Is that why you wouldn’t let us break you out of prison?”

  “No, I wasn’t faking it. My power was gone. It didn’t help me when the prison guards beat me.”

  “You thought your power was gone, but you put your head down on the block anyway?” Noah was incredulous. “You’re crazy.”

  “That’s what I told him,” Cowley said.

  “Why didn’t you let us break you out?” Lukas asked.

  “I was hoping that the Fist would come around.”

  “You were hoping?”

  “I had a feeling.”

  “That’s a lot to risk on nothing but a feeling,” Noah said. “What if it wasn’t a feeling, just some gas?”

  “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard you say,” Strout said. “And I’ve heard you say a lot of stupid things. Gas? Really?”

  “Sometimes I get it clear up here.” Noah tapped his chest. “It’s powerful uncomfortable.”

  Strout shook his head in disbelief.

  “And then the Fist came and let you out and you went on a rampage together,” Gage said. “That would have been something to see, the two of you fighting side by side. What happened to the Fist? No one knows.”

  “He saved me,” Fen said. “We’d killed one of the sorcerers, but the other one got the better of me. He was about to kill me when Barik stabbed him in the back.”

  “How did the Devourers get out of the Abyss?” Cowley asked. “I thought they needed the key for that.”

  “Yeah, I was wondering that too,” Lukas said.

  “I’ve spent some time thinking about it and I’m still not sure. The sorcerers were draining people’s lives into that pool of light. I thought they were feeding the power to the Devourers, kind of like the Fist was feeding on slaves. But now I think they were using that power to open a portal into the Abyss. The Fist and I got there right about the time they finally had enough.”

  “Then what is the key for?” Lukas asked.

  “I think I know,” Strout said. “The Ichthalid leader said something about when the Queen of Chaos arrives. I bet the key is to free her.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Fen said. “We can talk about it some more in a bit, but right now I have to know where Ravin is. How did you get her out of the castle?”

  “She was already trying to get out when we ran into her,” Cowley said. “That girl of yours is no dummy, that’s for sure. She knew once she saw Lowellin that she had to run.”

  “We got her out the north gate,” Lukas said.

  “Thank you,” Fen said. “You gave me the all clear signal, but I’ve still been worrying about her all day. I can’t tell you how happy I am that she’s safe.” He noticed that the others were avoiding his eyes. “She is safe, right? Where is she?”

  More shifting and looking away. “Now don’t freak out,” Cowley said.

  “About what? What aren’t you telling me?” Fen realized that he’d come halfway out of his chair and made himself sit back down.

  The squad exchanged looks. “She’s kind of in Shantytown,” Cowley said.

  “Shantytown!” Fen yelped. Two men at a nearby table looked over at him.

  “It’s okay,” Cowley said. “Wallice and Eben took her. They know a guy.”

  Fen whirled on the brothers. “And you trust this guy?” He didn’t bother to keep the skepticism out of his voice. Shantytown? The place was filled with murderous lunatics. She was probably in danger right then.

  “We’re alive because of Argid,” Wallice said softly. Eben nodded.

  Fen immediately felt bad for doubting the brothers. “I’m sorry. I should have trusted you. I know you wouldn’t have taken her anywhere that wasn’t safe.”

  “No place is safe right now,” Cowley said. “Not really.”

  “That’s the truth,” Fen said. He told them about his encounter with the Ichthalid on the street.

  “Maybe you should have attacked him,” Noah said. “Be one less we have to worry about.”

  “Or one less of me,” Fen said. “When the first Devourer came through the portal, I dropped the entire cavern ceiling on him. He turned all the stones to dust. It didn’t hurt him at all.”

  They stared at him wide-eyed. “That’s not good,” Lukas said. “Not good at all.”

  Noah waved it off. “You weren’t ready is all. I bet next time will be different.”

  “I hope you’re right. But I don’t know.”

  “Hey, you’re part Shaper, right?” Cowley said.

  “I’m not sure it’s that simple.”

  “Whatever. The point is the masters put the Shapers here to fight the Devourers. They wouldn’t do that if you weren’t strong enough for it.”

  “For one thing, I’m not really a Shaper,” Fen pointed out. “And for another, there were supposed to be hundreds or thousands of Shapers to fight the Devourers. Not one.”

  “You think there’s that many?” Gage asked.

  “I don’t know. I’m only guessing. But if the masters were going to go to all this trouble, why would they only put a few Shapers here? If you had a prison you wanted to be absolutely sure the prisoners couldn’t break out of, wouldn’t you put a lot of guards around it? Like thousands of them?”

  “If the prisoners were that dangerous, I’d kill them rather than put them in prison,” Noah said. “Why’d the masters do that anyhow?”

  “I don’t know,” Fen said. “Maybe they had no choice. Maybe the queen was too powerful to kill, and the best they could do was trap her in the Abyss.”

  “Is there any good news here?” Gage asked. “I don’t want to sound like I’m giving up, but we already had more than we could handle with the sorcerers, and now we have the Devourers to deal with and some queen who’s probably the most powerful of them all. It looks kind of hopeless.”

  “They don’t have the whole key yet,” Fen said. “Without that, no queen.”

  “That’s what the ships are for, I think,” Lukas said, sudden comprehension dawning. “The other piece of the key must be across the sea, probably under a city like in Marad. We need to burn those ships. That will at least slow them down, buy us some time.”

  “Look at you, talking like an officer,” Noah said.

  “Stuff it,” Lukas said. He looked at Fen. “I vote you should be our lieutenant again. I’m tired of trying to keep these jokers in line.” Others nodded in agreement.

  Fen felt himself oddly choked up again. He swallowed quickly, trying to hide it. “I’d be happy to, but I’m an escaped prisoner, you know. A traitor.”

  “Here’s to traitors,” Cowley said, raising his glass in a toast. The others raised theirs as well. “Welcome back to Wolfpack squad, Lieutenant Fen.”

  “Thank you. You guys are the best, you know that?” His voice was thick with emotion.

  Noah’s lip curled. “You’re not going to get all mushy now, are you? Don’t do that.”

  “What? Do feelings make little Noah uncomfortable?” Cowley asked, faking a suppressed sob and flinging his arms around Noah.

  “Stop it,” Noah protested, pushing him away.

  “When do you want to hit the ships, lieutenant?” Lukas asked Fen.

  �
�Why not tonight?”

  “So soon?”

  “We need to strike fast, while our new rulers are still consolidating their power.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Strout said.

  “I’m in,” Noah said. “I’m ready to fight back.”

  “Once we take care of the ships, we go after the Ichthalids,” Fen said. “The one I saw today was arrogant. I don’t think they think we are a threat to them.”

  “They’re overconfident,” Lukas said, nodding. “We can use that against them.”

  “That’s what I was thinking,” Fen said. “We ambush one of them, see if we can kill him. But we need to be careful, make sure we have a retreat planned if the battle goes against us.” The truth was that he thought it would. He was worried about the Ichthalids, much more worried than he wanted to admit to the others. He’d felt their power. There was something wild and uncontrollable about it. He wasn’t sure Stone power could prevail against it. But he kept his concerns to himself.

  “Let’s talk about how we’re going to burn those ships,” Noah said. “I like burning things.”

  Half a bell later they had the details of the plan worked out and were leaving the tavern. Fen noticed that Eben was looking around strangely, as if he’d just noticed something.

  “What is it?” he asked him.

  Eben whispered something to Wallice, who said to Fen, “There was a man sitting at the table right there. Eben didn’t see him leave.”

  Fen looked at the table he pointed to. He vaguely remembered a man sitting there. Had he overheard and gone to inform on them? Or did he simply get tired and head home?

  “There’s nothing we can do about it now,” Fen said. “To be safe, we won’t meet here again.”

  Outside, Noah said to Fen, “I brought you something.” He unbuckled his belt. In the dim light Fen could see that he had a second scabbard hanging from his belt. Noah took it off and handed it to him. “Here’s your sword. Give me that one you’re carrying.”

  Fen took out the sword he was carrying and handed it over. Noah made a disgusted sound. “Pure crap.” He tossed it aside carelessly. “You’ll need one of these too.” He handed over a dagger.