Shadow Lands (9 page)

“Damn it—” Shanti rubbed her temples. “This is hopeless. And I can’t fight it out or I’ll undo all the healing I’ve done so far.
Why
did I get strapped with the burden? Of all the people in our village, why did the Elders choose someone who would struggle every single step of the way—including stuff like this that should be so easy.”

Cayan’s smile dwindled. “That’s the root of it, isn’t it? You’ve always wondered
why you?
”

Shanti touched his mind with hers, expecting it when he pulled her in tight. Their
Gifts
entwined, and then wove into something even tighter. Shanti put out her hands. Cayan took them, his skin warm, his touch gentle. Their power delved deeper, merging to the point of pain or bliss—it was hard to define. The world started to dim, hazy at the corners. His heat, and his presence, created a warmth through her middle that spiked the simmer of spice and power. Their
Gifts
throbbed to the beat of the other’s heart, pulsing within them.

It wasn’t deep enough. This was what it was to mate powers, but she wasn’t deep enough to reach that hold within him, which meant there were more levels to traverse. They were barely halfway, and to be effective, they needed to submit to each other totally.

Pausing, because she didn’t want to go any deeper, and she didn’t want him as far inside her mind as he already was, she said, “Yes, I’ve always wondered. Always. I was different from everyone else, starting at age five. My eyes are different, which is the physical reminder that my power is different. I could use nearly full power early. I chose a Chance that should’ve been a healer. I committed myself to a man my complete opposite without experimenting like fighters generally did, casting myself out further. I learned to fight differently. I tweaked things in a way I thought made more sense. I hated my position, I constantly caused problems… If there was ever a person
not
meant for a leadership role, given the task of saving her people, it’s me. And don’t get me started on the amount of times I messed up in the journey East.”

“Those that don’t follow the norm usually make the best leaders,” Cayan said seriously. His thumb stroked hers. “Getting into trouble taught me how to stay out of it. It made you excellent at silent stalking. Your style, altered, made you the best fighter. Your Chance uses his skill in a way that elevates him above others. And naming a sibling—even though he isn’t a blood brother, he’s as good as—as sensitive as he is, makes for the most loyal, devoted guardian. All the things that set you apart made you ripe for the role you have.
That
is why you have it—because you aren’t normal. You are exceptional.”

Shanti felt tears well up from some place out of her childhood. Some place rough and painful; a place comprised of uncertainty and fear that constantly hounded her with thoughts of not being good enough. Of not being enough, period.

She hung her head, desperate to believe him.

He unthreaded a hand from hers and gently lifted her chin. His smile was supportive. “Take it from the master of uncertainty,
mesasha.
You are in the role you were meant for. And if you didn’t second-guess yourself and always strive to be better because of it, you would’ve been dead a long time ago. It’s the doubt that makes your mind agile. It is determination, love and loyalty to your people that makes you push on. Sanders is a hard bastard who thinks people are generally idiots, but he would follow you to the death. There is only one other person that has claimed that loyalty as a leader from him. All those men and boys would follow you, too. All the people you meet along the way that see something of you in themselves, broken and in pain, but pushing on, need you to focus on. To remind them that there is still a fight to fight, and there is still a victory to win. Believe in that, Shanti. Believe in it.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. She nodded silently, not trusting her voice. His eyes drifted to her mouth, but he backed away. His hand fell back down to hers. “Now it’s my turn, I guess. I think you unwillingly let me in a little deeper.”

Shanti closed her eyes and felt his presence within her. It wasn’t just in her mind anymore. It felt like he’d stepped into her body. The spiciness overcame her senses and the tingling warmth floated through her.

It was… pleasant. Comforting. Like a warm blanket and a trusted stuffed animal during a raging storm.

“I’m okay with this—the… presence. It’s almost peaceful,” she marveled. She ran her hands over his arms, feeling the difference between the physical touch, and the mental. “Share your power with me.”

“I can’t access it.” A brief note of strain entered his words. His
Gift
fluxed in the small space.

“No, not that power. The surface level power—the everyday-use
Gift
.”

She felt his light-hearted humor well up. Immediately, his stress drifted away and tranquility filled them at the same time, easily rolling back and forth between one and the other. His power tumbled into her like a fluxing, tumultuous storm. The electricity of it energized her, sparking her
Gift.
The wildness, the raw abandon…

She felt a smile drift up her face as the glory of battles won raged through her. Sweat and blood and working in perfect harmony with those you’ve trained with all your life bolstered her. Besting the enemy. Obtaining victory.

Her
Gift
rose up then, overshadowing Cayan’s. The crisp, clean smell of the first rain invaded her senses right before the crack of lightning rained down. Pure and sweet, she recognized this feeling as second-nature. It was the feeling of her power
,
fresh and light, agile and precise.

Cayan’s hands lifted hers, feeling her
Gift
in its purity for the first time. He put their palms together, and rethreaded their fingers. The hold was tighter. His thumbs still stroked hers, but the touch was more intense somehow. Each run of his skin shocked into her core, invigorating. Taking part of her and holding it inside, as she did with him, and then feeding it back to her.

Everything started to spin. Round and round, her head felt dizzy. She leaned in, clutching onto his shoulders as he responded in the same way. Their powers played off each other, two parts of a storm merging into one mighty system. His thunder rolled, her lightning filled them with electricity. Their
Gifts
danced, circling each other.

She sank totally into him, then. Deep, deep to his core. She filled his body as he did hers. It was hard to tell where one ended and the other began. And still the power spun, circling them. Crashing onto them, and then
into
them. The power started to burn as the cover came off his deep well of power. It welled up, searing. Boiling their bones and pricking their skin.

Shanti gritted her teeth against the pain. It wasn’t rising up in him and spilling over this time, it was rising through both of them at the same time. Climbing slowly. Building. Bubbling up.

“I can’t do much more, Shanti,” Cayan groaned. He pulled her closer, dragging her body into his lap and wrapping his arms around her, needing something to hold on to. Needing an anchor. She could feel that need as if it was her own.

Or maybe it was. It was impossible to say.

She clung onto him too, letting the power engulf them. Knowing, without understanding how, that they needed to let this happen. They needed to wait out the agony as the power filled every inch of them, cementing them into one plane where they could harvest the power and then work it.

Her wounds had ripped open when Cayan pulled at her, but that pain was nothing compared to the tearing, scorching power. It raked their insides and ate through their flesh like acid. Still the power built. Still it pooled.

Shanti squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth, clutching Cayan’s shoulders with clawed fingers. His fingers, in turn, dug into her.

With a flash that had Shanti screaming in agony, everything cleared. The blistering pain and slow build of something so destructive it should’ve given them terrors, melted. Shanti gasped in the sudden absence of torture. And then gasped a second time.

Like a field in spring, their merged powers melded together and blossomed. It flowered up, as peaceful and drifting as a light summer breeze. Soft heat rolled, and then built to ecstasy. Pure, balanced bliss sparkled between them. Cayan’s great power had merged with their mated halves, and now it rolled from one to the other peacefully, tranquil and light.

Shanti felt a smile take over her face. She recognized part of the foundation as hers. The thing that had sparked and boiled at age five, and then became a part of her, made the base of this giant power. She also recognized the other power, sturdy and steadfast, like the roots of a great oak; Cayan was equally mixed in this blend. Their
Gifts
weren’t just entwined, they’d been fused into one. The fizzing joy, hinting at aching pleasure, spread between them.

Before she could help herself, she grabbed Cayan’s hair and yanked downward, tilting his face up toward her so she could look into the brilliant blue of his glowing eyes. Her lips met his, hot and needy. Wanting more of this. Wanting to feel
all
of it. All of him.

His hands slid up her chest and stripped away the material. Hers did the same, feeling his hot skin and cut muscles. Their kiss deepened as that spicy feeling returned, heightened now with the increased power. The euphoria took over her senses as his hot kisses trailed down her neck.

Needy hands stripped away the barrier of clothing between them. She rose up, her lips on his, the feel of him all she could focus on. She lowered herself back down. The breath rushed out of her lungs and her eyes fluttered as his heat pushed into her.

Everything outside of his touch disappeared. All she could feel was him; his body inside hers; his hands on her skin; his sweet breath on her face; his power surging within her; his slow and deep rhythm. She held on tight, the pleasure aching through her body in a way that belabored her breathing. Higher and harder they climbed together until the eventual climax stole her breath, as sweet and pure as their merged power, and just as forceful and intense. Her limbs melted around him, draping across his body, shimmering with sweat. Her lips fell against his hot neck where his pulse reassured her that they were still alive, despite Xandre’s best efforts so far.

Basking in the feeling of the moment, she almost didn’t feel the presence stalking closer to their location.

S
hanti jumped
up and paused for only a second as she saw the smears of blood coating Cayan. She looked down at her body, seeing her gashes opened and weeping. Cayan crawled out of the tree so he could fully stand, his eyes distant, focusing on the people creeping up to their tree.

“Five of them,” Cayan said quietly, looking down at her once she’d joined him outside. A small knot formed in his brow as he scanned her wounds. “You can’t fight like that.”

“I’ve fought with worse.” Shanti bent to her clothes but Cayan stopped her with a hand on her arm.

His eyes lost their focus again as he said, “There are five, but only two have the
Gift.”

Shanti followed his trail of power, marveling that it seemed like it was an extension of her own. They weren’t pushing and pulling at each other, riding with one or carrying the other, they were just… a unit. She could
search
out one way and he the other, and they could feel through each other what lay out there. It was…

“Miraculous,” Shanti breathed with a smile. “We have so much power, but it’s not overpowering us at all. It’s just a calm… oasis, flowing between us. So tranquil.”

“Hey…” He brushed a thumb against her jaw. She felt his urgency, immediately clearing her mind and focusing on the problem. He turned for his own clothes. “Can you tell if they’re Shadow or not?”

Shanti focused on the minds, the closest at about thirty paces out. A flash of intellect touched her and Cayan’s merged
Gift.
It was nothing but a feather, but with the added power, she felt it easily. The newcomers weren’t tracking, they were using the
Gift
to scout out her location.

“Six males,” Shanti said quietly, analyzing the types of minds. The three non-
Gifted
seemed observant and cunning. They also seemed non-emotional. There was no thrill to sneak up on prey, no firing of intellect like she would expect in training, and no love for those around them. They didn’t seem a tight unit with the others in their group. The
Gifted
seemed intent but slightly nervous.

This didn’t smack of the Shadow people, but she barely knew them. Half of what she thought she knew might be based on tall tales she’d heard as a child. The simple fact was, those sneaking up on them could be anyone.

“I can’t tell,” she said softly, bending to her clothes again. Cayan stopped her for the second time, earning a scowl. He’d slipped on his clothes and sword while she was assessing what came their way.

“We don’t need to fight,
mesasha,
not with the added power. There are only five—we can take them easily.”

“What does that name—” Shanti shook her head, trying to focus past the pain from her wounds and the strange new power vying for her attention. “We can’t kill them, Cayan, and we haven’t had a chance to work with this power yet. I’ve been with my
Gift
so long using it is muscle memory. I could swat them mentally, only to have them drop dead.”

“You can’t kill any Shadow people. But Graygual and Inkna? They shouldn’t be in here, anyway. And if their bodies are never found, what’s the loss?”

Shanti squinted at Cayan, crouching near the opening of the tree, dead serious. She debated, chewing her lip. What he said made sense—what was the harm in ridding the world of rule-breakers? They couldn’t be counted as part of the trials, so the trial rules shouldn’t apply to them.

The problem was,
they
would be making those rules—Shanti and Cayan—and they were already bending enough rules as it was. If the Shadow people didn’t find their reasoning solid, making it through the trials might be forfeit.

Shanti shook her head. “I can’t risk it, Cayan.”

He assessed her for a moment before nodding once. “Then here’s the plan. Let me assess who they are. They’re moving slow. Whatever they’ve found with that mental touch has them worried. I’ll take a glance and report back. Then we’ll decide what to do next. But until then, let those wounds air out. I shouldn’t have…” He stood with a furrowed brow. “Just wait for me, and then we’ll decide what’s next.”

Irritation welled up at him handing out orders like she was one of his army men. She swatted it down, though. He’d need to be taught that
working together
didn’t mean one person assuming control, but that could wait until after this threat was stamped out.

He was right about the minds—they’d almost stopped. Fear emanated from the one that had touched her and Cayan’s minds a moment ago. A Shadow person wouldn’t be afraid—they’d know she would follow the rules. They wouldn’t be concerned for their life.

Shanti gave the assenting nod before re-entering the tree and bending to her salve, stored in a pile of goop on a few large leaves. She scooped up the thick substance as she monitored Cayan’s progress, moving around their tree and into dense foliage. Lathering the stinging concoction onto her wounds, she glanced at the available garments that might make a good bandage for if she had to fight, and also for when they had to move on from this location.

Cayan stopped halfway between her and the intruders. His mind stilled for a moment until, like a clap of thunder, his mind blasted out a warning. Graygual and Inkna, it had to be.

He started back toward her a moment later. As he entered the tree, he said, “Graygual. Three officers, two with three slashes, one with four. Three Inkna, one who seems like he’s trying to convince the others to retreat. He was lagging back, whispering furiously, and motioning them back the way they came. The others didn’t seem to favor his desires.”

Shanti glanced up, holding the binding for her breasts. She paused in putting it on. “He read our power level and knows we can take them all out. We could give them a scare, send them running, but they’ll just get reinforcements to overpower us.” She blew out a breath. “They’re probably wondering about the rumor of a colossal power. News of how many we killed must’ve reached them by now. I bet that Inkna has confirmed it. If we let them leave, we’re giving them information.”

“Information, and time in which to make use of it. While we’re stuck in here for however long, they can bring over an entire army to take the whole island. What’s to stop them?”

“Fuck
,”
Shanti swore. “We need to nearly kill them and somehow leave them for the Shadow to find. I wish they’d given us rope.”

“We can make rope out of vines, or didn’t your people teach you anything?” Cayan’s humor filtered through her mind, though it didn’t show on his face.

“Is it worth sneaking up on them?” Shanti asked seriously, letting the binding material fall to her side. “We’ll have to use our
Gift,
anyway, with the Inkna. If we accidentally kill one, we might as well kill them all.”

“I’ll let you lead.”

“Amazing. And here I thought I’d have to teach you a lesson in sharing command…”

“You can still try. I don’t mind embarrassing you.”

Shanti ignored him as she painfully sat down and closed her eyes. What was once effortless, now would require all her concentration to keep the power contained.

“Do you need my contact?” Cayan asked, still crouched in the mouth of the tree opening.

“No. I have too much power as it is. I don’t even think that would help. I’m still deeply embedded in your mind without skin contact. Whatever we did with the power, it seems permanent. At least while we’re close.” Shanti felt the minds, creeping toward them. Slowly, though. Wary. Fear still pumped out of the one who was hanging back the farthest. He knew what awaited them.

She hated to disappoint.

She clutched the minds of the Inkna. Screams sounded through the trees, agonized and panic-stricken. “Shit.” Shanti eased back, reducing the amount of power until the screams turned into loud whimpering. She eased back even more, finally sighing into the silence. Both Inkna were writhing on the ground still, but whatever sounds they made were too low and far away to hear.

“The three are—” Shanti started.

“I got it,” Cayan cut her off, ducking away from the tree.

“—running at us,” she finished for the sake of completion.

She sucked the energy from the Inkna, who were trying to break free from her hold but completely powerless to do so, and focused on the Graygual. She
slapped
their minds with a soft hand, testing the waters.

A shriek sounded through the still air. It sounded almost as if she’d startled someone.

She tried it again with more force. This time, a wail echoed through the trees as Cayan reached them. She applied more pressure to the Graygual minds, trying to make them sluggish to make Cayan’s job easier.

Instead, one of the minds winked out.

“
Flak!
” she swore, pulling back yet again. It almost seemed like she’d have to re-learn using the
Gift
all over again at the absolute worst time to do so.

Concern wavered into her mind from Cayan. A moment later, she felt his relief.

Hopefully that meant the Graygual was still alive and just unconscious.

Another mind winked out, and then the third, Cayan physically knocking them out. It was definitely safer that way.

Shanti continued to monitor Cayan’s progress until he appeared outside the tree carrying two Graygual, one over each shoulder. He dropped them in a heap and left again, coming back with two more, and then a final trip to grab the last. She ducked out of the tree with parts of her body on fire from the salve.

Cayan glanced at her wounds before looking out at the trees. “I can grab the vines.”

Shanti smirked. “You have no idea which ones will work for this. The ones I bet you’re thinking of, which are close, will turn brittle when they dry and break. I’ll go.”

Cayan’s gaze returned to her body. “Not that I don’t enjoy a naked woman wandering around in full daylight, but it’s cold. You should cover up.”

“Oh,
now
you want me to put on clothes. I needed to air out when there was fighting, but when it comes time to gather, suddenly I’d better cover up…” She squinted her eyes at him in faux-suspicious anger.

Cayan’s lips tweaked up at the corner, a smile he obviously couldn’t help. “It is your job, after all. As the woman…”

He glanced back down at the Graygual before seriousness crept back in. His grin faded.

Shanti looked over the fallen men. “I could use some more wrapping—help me with this officer. Usually the higher officers keep clean—maybe he has an undershirt or something I can rip up. I don’t much care if he catches the ’flu.”

Cayan bent to the man immediately, stripping him and holding up the shirt under his uniform. He smelled it and paused. “It smells clean, but…”

“It’s been against his skin. Let’s see if any of these others dressed in layers…”

It turned out one did, another of the officers. His undershirt was over a vest-type piece of fabric. Shanti got to work making the necessary wrapping for her wounds. Neither she, nor Cayan, bothered to redress the men. If the cold killed them, then Shanti was still in the clear, and there would be a few less Graygual and Inkna to worry about.

“I wonder how long it’ll take the Shadow people to come calling,” Cayan asked as Shanti readied to go scout for some durable vine.

She shrugged, glancing out through the shifting sheets of white fog. “They’ve been pretty good at keeping an eye on me. I can’t imagine it’ll be long. I just hope they pass on the knowledge that the Graygual have breached their trials. Otherwise, I’ll be ripping all the scabs again when they come to attack.”

“Let’s hope,” Cayan said in a low tone as he bent to stir the fire. “Time will tell.”

P
ortolmous sat
at his desk at the back of the city looking over the reports from the docks. The setting sun shone through the window, turning the room orange. The man had been in the trials for two days and one night now. He had found the woman yesterday, Portolmous had been told. He hadn’t heard much else, though.

The waiting continued.

He drummed his fingers on his desk as he read the numbers from the docks.

A huge influx of Graygual had arrived and were being dispersed around the island. Many had gone to the city and Trespasser Village, but some went beyond to areas not inhabited. Based on the report that lay in front of him, patterns in the ways they had spread out were organized. The news did not bode well for what might be to come.

He glanced up as his brother entered the doorway. The man, younger by two years, leaned against the wall nonchalantly. It was impossible to tell if he came bearing news, or for social reasons. Sonson had never been one to stand on ceremony.

Portolmous looked back down at his report. “You should do something about that hair, brother,” he said. “The vibrant red is bad enough, but letting it run wild around your head disagrees with your face.”

Sonson cracked a smile and sauntered further in. “I’m the best swordsman on the island—the ladies don’t even notice the hair. They just wonder what else I’m the best at.”

“Then I do not envy them their inevitable disappointment.”

Sonson barked out laughter. He sat in a chair facing Portolmous. “Thought I might pop in and fill you in on the trials.”