Page 40 of Ties of Shadow

The badger tugged on the Shade’s pantleg, but he only spoke his mind to him. I saw warmth seep from the Shade’s features as they hardened back to the lethal tension.

“Let’s move on, Dayspring. We can sightsee next time.”

The atmosphere around us thickened as well. The wolves stalked instead of leaping, the bats flew more quietly and perched between flights. The badger slipped behind us. At times, we had to squeeze through narrow walls and duck under low ceilings. The walk, aided by the endless dark, felt interminable, worsened by the twisting, pine-scented anxiety that I suspected was the Shade’s.

The Shade cast a single shadow behind us, but the image was swept away by a rapid moving…something. Fear poured down my spine.

“Steady on, Dayspring.”

“What was that?”I responded with a thought, hoping it would go through to him.

“It might have been nothing.”

“It might also have been—”

“Cat!” A foreign voice interrupted. The badger stumbled backward, ducking his tail into a burrow and whipping out fierce claws.The shadows whipped around us as the Shade tucked me behind him. Slowly, from the edge of the shadow’s image, an emaciated, long-legged creature stalked toward us. Its head was the size of a wolf’s, and its enormous eyes were slitted, rising above crooked whiskers and too-long teeth. The cave now smelled like a green and forgotten pond, ripe with upended fish.

The bats began dive-bombing the creature’s head as the wolves took up posts beside us. One lingered to cover our backs. The creature raised its maw and yowled as it struck out, swatting the bats away from its face. I shivered and felt a warm fondness growing inside me. But I didn’t feel any fondness toward the monstrosity. I glanced at the Shade, whose head was tilted to the side, curious.

“Really?” I asked aloud. “That? You like that?”

“I mean, she’s kind of cute.”

“I’ve seen dead things cuter than she is.” He glanced at me quickly, and I stumbled over my words. “I mean, I can’t think of any right now.”

“I’m going to touch her and see if we can link.”

“What? You’ll get sick by touching her.”

“She won’t hurt me,” he said, but I didn’t believe him. “Just stay here and keep hold of August.”

“August?”

He grasped my other hand and set it on the back of the large gray wolf’s neck. “If anything goes wrong, August will protect you. I’m sorry about this.”

“Sorry about what?” I squeaked, and then the Shade let go of my other hand. I was plunged into darkness. “Shade!” I whisper-shouted, ashamed of the panic laced within. The darkness was a being, pressing in from all sides, stealing the warmth from my body, and ripping away any sense of safety. Immediately, I was plunged back into the well Ihad fallen into when I was three. I shuddered and grasped August’s fur tighter. I slid down the rock wall, a useless action as I couldn’t run while sitting, but without sight, how could I run anyhow?

“Steady, human. Your fear stinks.”The low voice accompanied the wolf moving closer to me. August continued, “The master has it in hand.”

I nodded foolishly. A shadow slipped into my palm, and I grasped it tightly with one hand while the other petted the large wolf. My mind and body moved glacially. I realized I could see my hands as the paltry light from my necklace sent a glow onto the form in front of me. If only I had any magic whatsoever to help the Shade. If only the light from the necklace was mine to manipulate and to cast as I willed. The fear tightened, and the necklace stuttered. My fingers thread through the fur, and tugged on the shadow, desperate to settle my rising panic.

I tried to lower my inner walls to hear what was happening. The Shade’s thoughts began murmuring as the catlike creature made a continual moaning cry.“Hello, my sweet, is it just you? You have lovely eyes. So bright. Won’t you come a little closer? Those bats can go away if you’d like them to.”He was crooning, and I had the strange wish to be the mangy cat.“I have a little water, would you like some?”Through his emotion, I knew he felt no fear. Perhaps a little caution. But it was hard to filter out the subtleties when I was panicking.

I heard water hit the rocks below. The yowling stopped, followed by a lapping sound.

The Shade was insane. No wonder he was surrounded by animals. He adopted every rabid and feral thing. Except spyrings, apparently, who did not want his love. My legs quaked in my crouch, and I regretted thinking about the spider-like monsters. Would we find those here too?

Suddenly, the fur was pulled from my grasp. I clutched the shadow to my chest. “Sh-Shade?” I yelped. I knew I was pathetic, but the emptiness was pressing in.

Only moments later, I jolted as warm hands found mine. The world exploded back into shadow view. The Shade leaned down, his brow furrowed in genuine concern, and beside him sat the ugliest monster I’d ever beheld, batting at the swinging hem of Death’s coat.

“Aelia, can you stand?” I nodded and rose uneasily, but his firm grasp held me steady. “What should we call her?”

“The cat?”

His mischievous grin should be banned. A thousand unkind names filtered through my mind before I could hold them back. She needed a benign and simple name, one to undo the menacing gleam of her claws and the vacant hunger in her eyes.

“Bertha?”

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