Slight and Shadow (Fate's Forsaken: Book Two) (8 page)

“Stop. Cover up.”

He’d begun to slink out from behind the desk, and his clothes still lay in a mangled heap on the other side of the room. Kyleigh had no wish to see him naked.

Silas smirked at her. “My, my … we
are
human, aren’t we?” But he reached behind him and ripped a curtain off the window without a fuss. He fastened it around his waist as he spoke. “Humans are actually the reason I’ve come. They’ve been invading my mountains, and I want them gone.”

“Humans have always lived in the mountains,” Kyleigh said, narrowing her eyes.

Silas inclined his head. “True, but not quite like this. There is a vast gathering of swordbearers — all wearing a wolf upon their chests. And they’ve brought magic with them.”

“Then they won’t last long.”

There was a force in the Unforgivable Mountains that bent its will against magic. Kyleigh had spent years wandering through the mountains — searching for a name she couldn’t remember, bound by a task she couldn’t forget. The rocks had sharpened themselves against her steps. She’d felt a mumbled warning in every breath of biting cold, and through the haunting, starless nights.

The magic in her blood quaked against the mountains’ spirit, and it had taken every ounce of her courage to stay put. She knew without a doubt that she hadn’t been welcome.

Silas’s smirk disappeared, and his face turned serious. “I thought so, as well. But it’s as if these shamans are imprisoned. I get close to them, sometimes.” He smirked and looked to the window. His nose twitched as the rain pattered against it. “I can smell the fear on them, dragoness. I know they wish to flee, and yet … they do not. What is it that keeps them bound to the swordbearers? I do not know.” He turned from the window and fixed her with a defiant glare. “But their spells have left wounds on the land that will take lifetimes to heal. They’ve carved a great path from the bottom, and everyday it creeps skyward. It won’t be long before they reach the summit.”

This was the most troubling news Kyleigh had heard all season. She’d underestimated Titus, then. She thought the Earl of the Unforgivable Mountains would march just high enough to chase her down. Once she was gone, she thought he’d leave.

In all her years of hiding, she must’ve forgotten just how focused Titus could be. He wasn’t content to stop halfway up: he wanted all of it. And it sounded as if he was using his slavemages to clear the way.

“They’ve stolen my hunting grounds, dragoness,” Silas continued, breaking her from her thoughts.

When he stepped out from behind the desk, she couldn’t even enjoy how ridiculous he looked with a flower-patterned curtain wrapped around his waist. She was far too concerned with darker things.

“What does this have to do with me?”

“Well, I don’t
need
your help,” he said with a shrug, half-turning from her. “However, as your strength would make things easier for me, I’m willing to offer you a place as my companion — but only until we have the mountains cleared out.”

Kyleigh snorted. “Your companionship is hardly a prize. In fact, I think I’d rather have my —”

“Fine,” he snarled, turning. “Help me chase the swordbearers off my lands, and I’ll grant you a favor in return.”

She didn’t think a cat would be much use to her under any circumstances. “I can’t help you.”

He clenched his fists at his side — glaring like a child denied sweets after dinner. “Why not? My terms are fair enough, even for a human!”

“Your terms aren’t the problem,” Kyleigh said testily. “I haven’t got the time to help you. I’m afraid I’ve got another task on my plate.”

“What task?”

“It doesn’t matter. All you need to know is that I’m far too busy —”

“Arrr!”

The library doors slammed open and Shamus burst through, followed closely by a small company of men. They brandished their swords and looked furious enough to go to war as they charged. But their boots skidded to a halt when they saw the ravaged state of the library.

In the silence of their shock, Kyleigh heard the sound of footsteps approaching — practiced and swift. She hardly had a chance to groan before Crumfeld stepped into the room.

“My lady! I’ve brought reinforce …”

His words died. The silver candlestick he’d been wielding like a club slipped out of his hands and clunked to the floor. He saw the lounge chair first, broken and lying in a mangled heap with the stuffing spilled out of the cushions, and his mouth fell open. His eyes widened to take in the overturned desk, with its polished top all scuffed and scratched. He let out an indignant gasp when he spotted the curtain wrapped around Silas’s waist.

But then he saw the chandelier … and his shock sent him stumbling backwards.

“What — why?” he squeaked, slapping a hand to the side of his long face.

Kyleigh took a deep breath. “Things got a bit out of hand —”

“A bit?” he bellowed, his eyes wild. “A
bit?
Just — just look at what you’ve done! That chandelier took weeks to arrive!”

“Yes, I’m aware —”

“Well, are you
aware
that it was a special order from the desert? Or that the crystals were carved by hand to be perfectly equal in size and weight?”

“No, but —”

“But
what?
” he shrilled. He took a few stiff steps towards her, and Kyleigh leaned back. She’d never seen Crumfeld come so thoroughly unhinged. It was quite a fearsome thing to behold.

“Grab him, lads,” Shamus said, and two guards wrangled Crumfeld by the shoulders. “Take him to his chambers and have one of the kitchen ladies bring him up a stiff tankard of ale.” Crumfeld slumped in their hold, shaking his head and muttering nonsense to himself, and Shamus frowned. “On second thought — make it a flagon.”

When they’d dragged him away, Shamus’s eyes flicked around the room again. He whistled. “If you don’t mind me asking — what exactly
did
happen, here?” He glanced at Silas. “And what are you doing with a half-naked fellow in the library?”

Silas waved his hand. “It’s not nearly as exciting as you think. Just a small tussle.”

“Small, eh?”

“Yes. She’s lucky I wasn’t better prepared.”

Kyleigh glared at him. “You’re lucky I’m in a merciful mood.” She turned to Shamus — who looked as if he was struggling to follow a foreign language. “Find our guest some accommodations for the night, will you? Someplace with holes in the roof, preferably. He’s very fond of the rain.”

“That won’t be necessary,” Silas murmured, sidling up to her. “I think I’ll be quite comfortable in the stables.”

Kyleigh narrowed her eyes at him. “Absolutely not.”

“Why?”

“You’ll spook the horses.”

He was the picture of innocence. “My dear drag — ah, human female,” he amended, with a quick glance at Shamus, “you insult me. I would never eat a fence animal. They’re much too fattening.”

She rolled her eyes. “Shamus — holes in the roof, puddles on the floor, and a lock on the door. You are to be gone by morning’s light,” she added to Silas, making her voice severe. “And if I catch one whiff of your stinking hide in my territory again, I’ll wear your skin for a cape.”

“As you wish,” he said with a mocking bow. He was still grinning when the guards hauled him away.

*******

They left before the sun. Kyleigh led Jake through the winding halls and across the courtyard with ease. It was the breath between shifts when the guards weren’t at their posts, and so there was nothing but the fading braziers to see them off. Kyleigh hoped Shamus wouldn’t flog the men too badly for letting her slip out unnoticed — she
did
have a rather unfair advantage.

They made it to the front gates without incident, and Kyleigh rapped Knotter awake.

“Mmm, what? What is it?” he murmured groggily. His wooded eyes creaked open and he frowned when he saw Jake. “Oh hello, father. Come to try and disenchant me again?”

Jake reddened — as he always did when Knotter mocked him. “Just open the latch, you stupid apparition.”

Knotter’s eyes widened when he saw Kyleigh in full armor. “Why? Are we under attack? Should I sound the alarm —?”

“No,” Jake hissed, gripping his staff. “Can’t you see we’re trying to slip out quietly?”

Knotter’s mouth bent into an obnoxious smile. “Ah, so it’s finally official between you two, is it?”

“Open, or I swear I’ll burn you to ashes,” Kyleigh growled. Her ears twitched, straining over the sounds of the morning to pick up the muffled chatter in the distance. A new round of guards had approached the castle doors.

“Fine,” Knotter said. He swung open just widely enough for them to squeeze through.

Kyleigh paused, an idea suddenly came to her. “When Shamus realizes that we’ve gone, he’s going to send men out to find us.” She glanced up at Knotter. “Any chance you might be able to jam yourself for a few hours?”

A look of delight crossed his face for half a moment, then it quickly faded into a frown. “Wait — is this some sort of test? Are you trying to trick me into jamming, just so you’ll have an excuse to torch me? Because if you are —”

“It’s not a trick — it’s an order,” Kyleigh said quickly, her eyes on the castle doors. She heard the soft clink of the latch sliding upwards. “I need you to jam so we’ll have a chance to escape — and you’re not to tell them anything, understood? Just slip back into your knot and keep your mouth shut.”

He huffed. “Well, I don’t relish playing the common bump —”

“But you’ll do it anyways.”

He gasped when Kyleigh kicked him shut.

She led Jake off the road and through the empty forests around the village. There was a ship waiting for them along a stretch of beach a few miles outside of town, and she’d promised the captain that they’d be there by dawn. But Jake was dragging his feet.

“Am I going to have to carry you?” she barked at him.

He let out a heavy sigh and jogged up even with her. His pack bounced and rattled with his run. “No …”

“Stop moping.”

“I’m not moping —”

“You are, and I won’t stand for it. Your spell worked exactly like we needed it to: the canteens don’t weigh us down at all.”

Jake reached behind him, snatched a fistful of what appeared to be thin air, and shook it in her face. The sounds of sloshing water came from the empty space between his curled fingers. “No, not
exactly
— they’ve turned invisible!”

“Well, we’ll just have to be careful not to set them down anywhere,” Kyleigh said distractedly. She slowed for a moment and sniffed the air. A heavy, damp scent crossed her nose. It smelled a bit like wet fur. The forest was probably rife with sopping animals, after the evening rain. So she didn’t think much of it.

They walked for a few minutes more — with Jake complaining loudly that he was snugly in the running for the worst mage of all time — before she smelled something she recognized:

It was the scent of pine … and annoyance.

“Stop.” She grabbed Jake by his pack and glared pointedly at a boulder up the path. “I thought I warned you to stay out of my territory, cat.”

And just as she’d suspected, a tawny mountain lion sprang from his cover and landed gracefully atop the boulder.

Jake let out a sharp hiss of air and aimed his staff between the lion’s eyes, but Kyleigh grabbed his wrist. “Believe me — he isn’t worth the spell.”

After he cleaned one of his massive paws for a moment, the lion dropped down behind the boulder. A second later, Silas’s head and shoulders popped into view.

“Kingdom’s name,” Jake sputtered, with a glance at Kyleigh. “There’re more of you?”

“More than you realize, shaman,” Silas said lazily.

“Shaman?”

“It’s what the shapechangers call their mages,” Kyleigh said quickly. Then she turned her glare on Silas. “I’m going to think carefully about where to mount your head —”

“I’m not in your territory anymore, dragoness,” he said, flicking his hair away from his glowing eyes. “I stopped smelling your scent a mile or so outside of the den. And you would do well not to threaten me, since I have decided to go out of my way to help you.”

She snorted. “Unless you plan to fling yourself off a cliff, I can’t see how you’re going to help me.”

“Ah, you can’t see it
yet
,” he said, smirking. “But you know as well as I that when Fate brings two paths to forge, we must be content to walk together. We must travel through the dark of the unplanned … until Fate sheds her purpose upon us in glorious morning.”

“I didn’t know you lions were so poetic,” Jake said. He sounded rather impressed.

Silas bared his white teeth in a grin. “How do you think I woo my mates? The females of my species are fond of pretty words — especially when the words shine light upon their beauty.” He turned the full, haughty force of his eyes on Kyleigh. “So what say you, dragoness? Will you fight the path Fate has set you on … or will you embrace me?”

Kyleigh had absolutely no intention of embracing him, and she growled at the thought. Still … she knew they couldn’t lose him — not at Jake’s pace. Even if she told him he couldn’t come, Silas would follow them anyways. But there was a fair chance that he’d turn on his tail the minute they reached the desert, anyways.