The Elder Blood Chronicles Bk 1 In Shades of Grey (47 page)

“Check our sentry, Charm, be quick and
quiet,” Lutheron ordered as he handed back the flask. He stood and
kicked dirt over the small fire dousing the flames.

Charm rose and faded into the shadows, musing
again how everyone seemed to believe if you could hide well in one
shadow you could hide well in all of them. It wasn’t the darkness
that had been proving a problem for him the past week. He knew how
to conceal himself well enough. It was the bloody terrain. In the
city, one didn’t have branches that would break if you stepped
wrong. Alleys might have trash, but they rarely concealed holes or
root snags such as the wilderness did. Moving far more slowly than
he would have in his own environment, Charm edged toward the area
he had last known the sentry to be in. It was a rough guess at
best. The wolves tended to roam as they guarded. With a bit of
luck, he would find the Shifter dining on some helpless animal that
wandered too near. Though he doubted the two Shifters by the fire
would have bestirred themselves over the scent of rabbit’s blood,
unless it was to go claim a portion of the kill.

It seemed hours before he found the boy’s
body, though Charm knew it had likely just been minutes. Sneaking
and moving slowly had a way of warping time, making every minute
drag by. The Shifter had reverted to his human form in death, and
Charm found himself gaping at the boy’s age. He didn’t look more
than twelve at best. He scanned the area for any sign of what had
killed the child, and looked back down at the body. The expression
on the pale face was peaceful. He hadn’t even realized death was
coming for him. It was a near impossible thing to surprise a
Shifter, especially when they were on guard. Snarls arose from the
camp behind him, the viscous growls of wolves in combat.

“Charm, return now. Forget stealth and run,”
Lutheron’s voice cut through the growls like a commander on a
battlefield.

“Abandon stealth?” Charm repeated in a hoarse
whisper, completely bewildered. He wondered if Lutheron had
listened to him at all when he spoke earlier. A good rogue survived
because he knew when to scurry into the dark. Now seemed a very
good time for scurrying. With a final glance at the boy’s body he
turned and, despite all instincts, ran openly back to camp. Another
of the Shifter’s was on the ground with blood gushing from several
gashes across the neck and face. Charm could see their last scout
tangling in the air as if ripping a limb from something, but there
didn’t appear to be anything there.

“Come here, Charm,” Lutheron barked as if
giving commands to a dog. Charm regarded him for the briefest of
moments and then moved quickly to Lutheron’s side. If acting like a
dog was what kept him alive, he would bark on command. Without
actually being able to see whatever the Shifter fought, he found
himself feeling uncomfortably helpless. It was a situation he
wasn’t familiar with. A shrill cry came from the last Shifter as
the creature’s body was nearly ripped in two. Charm watched its
body fly as though hurled with great effort and land bouncing on
the ground, yards from their camp.

“What in the hell is going on?” Charm gasped,
hoping Lutheron had the answer because he most certainly didn’t.
Shifters were hardy creatures and whatever was out there was
killing them as if they were lambs to the slaughter.

“Try to stay beside me, it’s the only option
you have for survival,” Lutheron said in his damnably calm voice.
Charm watched in disbelief as the swordsman calmly planted his
sword point down into the ground and removed his glove.

“Won’t you be needing that for fighting?”
Charm asked, motioning at the sword frantically. Lutheron was a
legend amongst sword masters. It was quite unsettling to see him
setting aside his weapon when he obviously needed to be swinging it
with vigor at whatever was slaughtering their comrades.

Lutheron ignored him and held his bare palm
out flat as if signaling the attackers to stop. The camp fell
completely silent, not even the dying shifter giving voice to its
pain. Magic began to ebb from Lutheron, and the hairs on the back
of Charm’s neck rose in response. At first it was like being
startled with simply the quickening of his pulse. It grew gradually
from the barest of unease to gut wrenching terror. Charm felt his
muscles tense and turned to bolt. A hand shot out and grabbed him
by the back of the cloak. He let out a cry and struggled, trying
desperately to flee whatever horrible magic Lutheron was using. The
hold on him was like a vice, and his feet did nothing more than
tear at the earth below him. He kicked and squirmed as his
instincts screamed for him to flee. The hold on his cloak increased
and he began to sob, a choked painful sound, more animal than
human.

The magic coursed from Lutheron again and his
knees buckled, his tears, sobs, and cries of despair were the only
things in his world now. Nothing else outside his own terror and
misery existed. He huddled there at Lutheron’s feet, bundled into
his cloak too terrified to look up, waiting for his death, waiting
for Lutheron to send him to whatever hell had spawned him. He heard
a brief scream nearby and braced himself waiting to feel the sharp
tearing claws as the poor Shifters had. Nothing happened.

Gradually he became aware he was no longer
shaking and the sobs had stopped. The vice-like grip was gone from
him, as well. Slowly, he unrolled from his cloak and dared to look
up. Lutheron was crouched over something, and the night was still
and clear around them. The smell of blood was thick in the air, but
that was nothing new to Charm. He unfolded himself completely and
wiped the tears from his face. The unnatural terror was gone now,
and anger and shame warred for the void it had left.

“What the hell was that?” Charm demanded, his
outrage filling the silence. Even when he had been a child, he had
never felt so foolish. He had never been the sort to cower and
sob.

Lutheron looked up at him with a raised
eyebrow and slowly stood. He had the audacity to smile then, and
Charm felt his anger boiling. “You’re welcome,” Lutheron replied
with a smirk.

“What? You send me shivering to the ground
like an infant and seem to believe I should thank you?”

“The fear was directed at the creatures,
actually. You were not my intent. I did keep you from fleeing,
though, and surely that deserves thanks. Would that I could have
used it before our scouts died, but I could not have judged how
they would react. Most flee when frightened, some cower and cry,
and then those rare few will attack. I didn’t think we needed
Shifters trying to maul us as well as these things.” Lutheron stood
as he spoke and motioned down at the crumpled body at his feet.

Charm moved forward slowly to look at the
thing. His anger was still up, but there didn’t seem to be much use
in pursuing the matter. His stiffened posture loosened a bit as he
studied the creature. His anger was slowly giving way to disbelief.
It was small, perhaps a little over three feet. If it had been
human, he would have guessed the age around six. It was most
certainly not human though. The talons on the creature’s hands and
feet were close to two inches long and caked with blood and fur
from the Shifters. Charm prodded it gently with his foot, rolling
the corpse over onto its back. The nerveless limbs flopped as the
body rolled and the sightless blue eyes fixed on the night sky
above. It had been a female, and if not for the talons and
sharpened teeth it would have been an adorable child. She had blond
hair so rich in color it resembled spun gold, and chubby cheeks
that would have shown dimples when she smiled. “Demon blooded?”
Charm asked hesitantly.

“Does she look like one of yours to you,
Charm?” Lutheron asked mildly, his dark eyes fixed on Charm.

Charm shifted and frowned. No one in this
prison knew him for what he was, with the exception of one man, and
he sincerely doubted that person had ever had a conversation with
Lutheron. “No, but demon blood shows itself in different ways,” he
answered quietly.

Lutheron surveyed the surrounding trees and
studied the direction they had been heading. He inhaled deeply and
looked back to Charm. Wordlessly, he wiped his blade clean on the
child’s body and put it away. “Get it out of your system before we
move on. I won’t answer questions once we’ve left here,” he said at
last, his gaze fixed on the night sky rather than Charm.

“How do you know what I am?” Charm asked
without pause.

“Because I can read your fears. You are
afraid of being known for the half-breed you are. It’s not as if
anyone in this prison has a pedigree anymore but you are a special
case. You are an abomination in your own eyes, so you fear
discovery. You also fear being known as a Guardian.” Lutheron
paused and chuckled lightly, and Charm felt all blood drain from
his face. “Yes, I know what you are Charm, and I will keep your
secret. If I told anyone you were a prison warden, they would kill
you and bring you back from death just to kill you again.”

“How could you know that?” Charm demanded. He
had been so careful and had avoided using magics just for this
purpose. He had lived a simple life among them, never giving any of
the prisoners’ reason to suspect he was anything but one of them.
To have this man so casually toss his darkest secrets back into his
face was something he couldn’t quite find the word for. There were
so many words that could describe this situation, but the one he
finally settled on was terrifying. Lutheron was right, if others
discovered he was a Guardian a clean death would be the best he
could hope for, and the least likely fate to be granted.

Lutheron gave him a smile and calmly held up
his hand. Claw marks raked across the back of it, three deep
furrows into the pale skin with blood dripping from the wound. It
wasn’t red as it should be. It gleamed like metal in the moonlight,
silver droplets running down Lutheron’s pale hand. He raised and
lowered his eyebrows at Charm and gave him a predatory smile. “I
see by your expression you understand,” Lutheron said.

“You’re a Divine,” Charm replied in a voice
barely above a whisper. An Aspect was a god to the commons but not
too impressive to an Immortal. Depending on the Aspect they
represented, they could be quite powerful but still not too far
above that of a powerful mage by the standards of the Houses. A
Divine was another matter entirely. A Divine was a creature of
legend even to Immortals. They did not simply represent an Aspect
of life. They had complete and utter control over it and according
to stories, there was nothing you could do on the matter. “You are
the Divine of Fear?” Charm asked, his throat suddenly dry.

“And Nightmares,” Lutheron agreed with a nod
as if they were discussing the weather. “And these creatures are
remarkably hard to frighten. Much more, and I think I would have
caused you serious harm. I am not sure how much more your heart
could have handled, by the way your pulse was racing. These things,
however, were different. It took that much just to get them to
respond.”

“But how did you get trapped by us, by the
Guardians, that is? We didn’t intend for any Divines to be here,”
Charm asked, not willing to let the topic pass so easily.

“You managed to get three of us, actually,
and one that is half divine,” Lutheron replied. He was kneeling
again and prodding the sword wound on the creature’s body. With a
frown, he raised his hand back to his nose and sniffed lightly at
the blood. His frown deepened and he looked around the clearing
with a thoughtful expression. “No scent to the blood at all. It’s
the Shifters blood that is fouling the air. These things have no
scent whatsoever. I know there was more than one, and I had planned
on being able to scent the others by their wounds. Pity they killed
our horses. We will need to move soon.”

Charm turned in surprise to where the horses
had been tied. Both beasts lay sprawled on the ground, clearly
quite dead. He hadn’t even noticed the loss yet. He looked back at
Lutheron and around the camp. The Divine was correct; they would
need to move soon. He had also said he wouldn’t answer any more
questions once they had left this area, though. “Who are the other
two Divines? And what half-blood?” he asked quickly before Lutheron
had a chance to move.

Lutheron glanced up and smiled. “Like a dog
with a bone, aren’t you,” he replied mildly. With a flick of his
fingers, he stored the creature’s body in a gem and stood back up.
He gave his hand a cursory glance and watched the last signs of the
claw wounds fading with his regeneration. Apparently pleased with
the healing, he pulled his glove back on. “War of course. He
followed willingly. All of his favorite toys were coming here.
Death naturally, though I don’t think she truly intended to be
trapped. I still believe she thought herself powerful enough simply
to walk back out of the Barrier. Then me, of course, I was young,
as I said, newly risen to Divine, and I simply didn’t know any
better.” He began to gather his gear as he spoke quickly rolling
the bedroll and gathering his pack. Charm took the hint and began
gathering his own things quickly. He flicked a glance to the dead
Shifters and wondered what Lutheron meant to do about their dead
comrades.

“And the half-blood?” Charm asked.

“Oh I think you know her. She isn’t the best
loved in here and has a tendency of creating little nuisances,
although I think she has outdone herself this time. These creatures
promise to be much worse than the Bendazzi or Serpents. I think the
Genji goblins were more a joke than anything serious, but they were
her children as well,” Lutheron answered. With a final look around,
he began to walk south.

Charm looked back to the bodies and hurried
after Lutheron. “Shouldn’t we bury them or something?” he
asked.