Chain of Shadows (Blood Skies, Book 6) (36 page)

Arrows flew up at the craft, so many that Danica’s spirit had to whip around and deflect the missiles to keep them from striking the cockpit.  She halted the ship and pulled it higher into the air.

“
Stop!” a voice shouted.  Danica recognized it as Creasy.  “Stop shooting!”  He was on the ground, waving his arms to get the natives attention.  Danica sensed the ebb and flow of a spirit’s energy as Creasy translated his words so the Nezzek’duulian refugees could understand him. 

Ronan was there with Creasy.  Both of them wore the same frosted war-paint as Danica. 

“You made it!” Cross shouted down to them. 

Danica lowered the stolen airship, which blew out rings of dust beneath them.  The vessel came to ground awkwardly, rattling everyone’s bones as it set down, but considering that she still hadn’t figured out how to work the landing gear Danica felt any landing they could walk away from was a good one. 

They faced a wall of crimson tribals as they emerged from the side-hatch.  The native’s skin was dark where the red clay had rubbed away, and they were taller than any of the Southern Claw men by a foot.  They parted before Ronan and Creasy.  Danica didn’t see any of the Pale.

She stepped up and hugged Ronan; his face and countenance were grim.  Creasy and Cross shook hands.

“Is this all?” Ronan said.  “All that made it?”

“
I’m afraid so,” Cross said.  “The city was a trap.”

“
We’ve been working to take down the other side of the war,” Creasy said.  “And we have our work cut out for us.”

“
Laros?” Danica asked.

“
In the city,” Ronan said.  “With the Black Witch.”

“
Jade?” she asked.

Ronan shook his head.  Danica was surprised by the signs of grief – she’d always been under the impression Ronan didn’t give a damn about the mercenary witch, but he seemed genuinely bothered by her death. 

“So we’re all that’s left…” Flint said.  “Christ.”

“
Who are your friends?” Cross asked with a nod towards the natives.

“
The Sundered,” Creasy said.  “They fight against the darkness that’s taken over this region – the Eidolos, and the Black Witch and her Skaravae.  They don’t talk much, and I’m not sure my spirit has actually been able to translate much of what
I’m
saying, but they’ve battled by our side, and they seemed determined to take this city.” 

“
Well, they won’t have to worry about the Eidolos anymore,” Cross said.  “But who the hell is the Black Witch?”

“
She’s dead meat,” Ronan said.  “She has Laros.  We’re not sure what she wants with the Maloj, but we don’t intend to stand around and find out.”

“
Do we have a plan?” Cross asked.

“
No,” Ronan said.  “But we need to kill that bitch.” 

“
Do we have any idea what she’s got in there?” Danica asked.  “And where are the other natives, the Pale?”

“
Gone,” Ronan said.  “They were all destroyed in the battle.  It’s just us now.”

“
She needs more time,” Shiv said.  Her eyes glowed milky white.  Ronan and Creasy both jumped at the sight of her.  Danica laughed inside – they all should have been terrified of Shiv’s random visions and seemingly limitless reserve of power, but she and Cross were already growing used to it.  That in and of itself was somewhat frightening. 

“
Who?” Ronan asked.

“
The Black Witch.  The Maloj doesn’t want her to extract him, so he’s resisting.”  Shiv narrowed her gaze, focused and concentrated on whatever it was she saw.  “But with enough time she’ll get what she wants.”

Danica watched the crowd of Sundered.  A slight murmur went up among them, and curious glances were exchanged. 

“What about the Skaravae?” Creasy asked Shiv.

“
Three dozen or more wait for us in the city.  Powerful.”  Shiv shook her head.  “It’s hard to read those spirits.  They’re…dirty.  They don’t want me to see them.”  Her eyes faded back to normal.  She looked dazed, but unlike before she seemed to know what had happened this time.  “Sorry.”

“
You are awesome,” Danica said, and she smiled.  “Don’t ever apologize.”

The moment Shiv’s eyes faded back to normal one of the Sundered promptly stepped forward.  Ronan’s blade was halfway out of the scabbard before the crimson man fell to his knees and bowed before Shiv.

Cross and Danica exchanged glances.  Shiv looked shocked.  Ronan quietly replaced his blade.

“
Well,” Flint said.

Another Sundered stepped forward.  And another.  Each did the same as the first, falling to their knees, stretching their hands to the earth as they bowed.

“What the hell is going on?” Danica said.  She turned around in a circle.  Every one of the Sundered postulated themselves, held their arms held straight out in front of them and bowed low.  They went down one by one, over a hundred of the desert warriors, their painted flesh glowing in dawn’s early light. 

The air went silent.  Danica and the rest stood watching, stunned.

“What do I do?” Shiv whispered after a moment.  “Why are they doing this?  Because I’m a Kindred?”  She was seized with panic.  “I don’t want this…I DON’T WANT THIS!” she shouted at the Sundered.  “Leave me alone!” 

She turned and ran back to the ship.  The Sundered rose, one by one.  They were nearly impossible to tell apart, but one of them looked at Flint, seeming to recognize her as Shiv’s father, and he put his fist to his heart and pointed at Shiv. 

A pledge,
Danica thought
.  They’ll do as she commands, or at the very least protect her. 

Flint looked overwhelmed.  He watched the Sundered warrior for a moment before following Shiv to the airship. 

The natives slowly went back to readying themselves for battle, checking weapons and handing out food, tending to each others wounds and seeing to their strange reptilian mounts.  They moved with grim purpose.  Hard to read though they were, Danica thought they seemed even more determined than before.

“I wish I knew what was going on,” Cross said.  He, Danica, Ronan and Creasy stood just outside the ship, checking their weapons and readying for the task ahead.  They didn’t have much time – for all they knew it was already too late. 

“
We need their help,” Creasy said. 

“
He’s right,” Ronan added.  “They pulled our fat out of the fire in the battle.  There’s no way we can pull this off without them.”

“
I never knew Shiv was so powerful,” Danica said, looking at Cross.  “But what she did back in Raijin, and getting us here...”

“
I didn’t, either,” Cross said.  “We need to talk to her, make sure she’s all right.”

“
We need to do more than that,” Danica said.  She felt Cross tense up.  “I don’t want anything to happen to her,” she added quickly.  “But for some reason these people want to follow her.  She must figure into some prophecy of theirs, some future vision or event.  We already know the Kindred are rare.”

“
Yeah,” Cross said.  “And we don’t have a lot of time.”  He looked at the ship.  “Shit.  I’ll talk to her.”

“
No,” Danica said.  “I’ll talk to her.  You talk to Flint.”

The inside of the ship was quiet and dark.  Flint and Shiv sat together near the back of the open cockpit, resting quietly.  Shiv lay with her head on her father’s lap while he stroked her hair, and even in the relative gloom it was clear that she’d been crying.  Flint’s eyes were also distant; he looked ten years older. 

Danica quietly approached with Cross at her back.  Flint looked up at them, his face twisted with worry.

“Can I talk to Shiv?” Danica asked.  Her spirit swirled hard around her, but she quieted him.  She knew he was unstable in Shiv’s presence, as she imagined most spirits were – Shiv’s very proximity altered their connection to the arcane dimension they inhabited, and the fact that she could manipulate them was bound to make them feel unsettled.  Danica pushed her spirit back into the arcane appendage, his once-prison turned refuge.

Flint watched the ground.  Shiv nodded.  Flint quietly rose as she sat up and stared out at the desert. 

Cross led Flint off the ship.  Danica looked to the distance and saw the jagged silhouette of the city.  Already the temperature had risen drastically.  The sand seemed to burn as the sun stretched over it, and the hundred or so Sundered warriors glowed like burning candles.

“
Shiv,” she said after a moment.  “I can only imagine what you’re going through.  I went through something similar myself, when I first realized I was a witch.  It’s…not the same as what’s happening to you, I know.  Not even close.  My spirit can never match what you can do.”  She paused, and smiled. 

“
You’re very special,” she continued.  “And very loved.”  Her heart pounded with worry.  Shiv sat quietly.  Tears budded in her eyes.  “I’m very sorry this has happened to you, Shiv,” Danica said.  “I’m sorry you’re…burdened with this power.  It’s so unique, and so great.  People will want to find you, and not all of them will be good people.  But I know this: your father loves you very much.  And so does Eric.  And so do I.”  Danica surprised herself with that, but she realized it was the truth.  She wasn’t going to ponder how that was possible, how a girl she’d barely met a few days ago could mean anything to her, especially since they’d barely interacted.  Maybe it was because Danica saw so much of what she herself had gone through in this impossibly strong young woman.  “We won’t let anything happen to you,” she said.

Shiv said nothing, so Danica stood and waited.  The calls of desert birds sounded in the distance, and the Sundered’s lizards reared and roared.  Outside she heard Cross and Flint exchanging words, not all of them calm.

“I don’t want this,” Shiv said at last.  Her voice was quiet, and hoarse.  “I wish it could be like it was before.”  She was crying.  “I don’t want to be a Kindred.  I don’t want to be special.  I just want to go home, Danica.  I want to go home.”

Danica sat down next to her.  “That’s not up to us,” she said quietly.  “I’m sorry.  I wish it was.  I don’t know why you’ve been given these powers, Shiv.  It’s not fair that such a burden has been placed on you.  I’ll tell you what, though…you’re dealing with this a lot better than I would.”  She smiled.  To her relief Shiv smiled back, and when she looked at Danica her eyes were grey and cold.  She might have only been eleven, but something inside of her was much older.  Ancient. 

The Woman in the Ice.

Danica wasn’t sure why the thought occurred to her, but if
she
saw it, then Cross had, too – Shiv held some vestige of the same vast power they’d encountered in Karamanganjii, cold magic older than Earth, maybe older than anything.

“
Were you scared?” Shiv asked her.  “When you learned you were a witch?”

Danica nodded.  “Yes.  Yes I was, but things were different for me.  Because my father didn’t love me the way Flint loves you.  My spirit…helped me, even though he frightened me.  Once I changed, I knew things would never be the same again.”

Shiv bit her lip.  “That’s very sad.”

Danica nodded.  “Yes it is.  But that’s life.  It’s not fair, and it usually hurts.  I wish it wasn’t like that, but it is.”

“So what did you do?”

“
I ran away,” Danica said.  “I got into trouble.  I wasn’t very happy, at least not until I met people who could help me.”

“
You mean Eric?”

Danica smiled.  “Yes.  I mean Eric.  And Mike.  And Ronan, and Ash, and Maur.  I wouldn’t be alive if not for them.”

Shiv stared at the ground.  She wiped the tears from her round face and pushed her short hair back behind her ears.  She was so fiercely calm for a girl so young.  Danica knew if she’d been in Shiv’s situation at her age she’d have been a wreck.

It’s what the world does to us
, she thought. 
It makes us hard.

“
I’m frightened,” Shiv said.  “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“
No one does,” Danica said.  “So we just do the best we can.”

Shiv leaned in and hugged Danica and cried hard into her chest.  Danica put her flesh arm around the girl and held her tight.  Her own tears flowed cold down her face, and she decided then and there that she’d do everything in her power to keep the girl safe.

Creasy got his spirit to better communicate with the Sundered, so when Shiv and Danica emerged from the craft he made clear the Kindred’s desire for the natives to help her take the shadow city.  Their reaction was to raise their weapons and put their hands to their hearts, followed by another round of bows.

“I guess that means ‘Yes’,” Cross said.

The Sundered called the ruined border town The City That Sleeps.  Danica wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what happened when it woke up.