Page 30 of Captive

Chapter 7

Ahorrible thought struck her. She looked toward the end of the valley, where Valtos had stood out against the horizon.

The city was gone. So was the road. All she could see were endless trees and darkness.

It had never been there. It had all been an illusion.

Instantly her mind was clear again. As the malaise disappeared, she recognized it for what it had been—the shade’s influence over her.

Aruna tried to draw a dagger from his belt, and the shade fell upon him, knocking him to the ground. The dagger skittered across the stone and out of reach.

As the shade grappled with him, it twisted and elongated until it was no longer not-Novikke, but a monstrous, dark shape, a thing that looked like a bad drawing of a human, all out of proportion with too-large teeth and fingers like claws, made of smoke and oil condensed into a semi-solid being. It screeched like a demon as it attacked.

Novikke gaped at it. Her legs had gone weak, and she was leaning against the wall of the building for support. The thing’s face was above Aruna’s, its needle-teeth almost close enough to bite. He was straining to hold it off him.

She hesitated only an instant before turning to run toward the forest. The terror she felt toward that thing made the decision easier than it should have been.

“Novikke!” Aruna shouted, his voice breaking in the middle of the word. Novikke froze. The exclamation was a physical presence holding her back.

She turned, and he was looking at her. She had never seen someone so terrified. He looked away as the shade snapped at him and he was forced to devote all of his attention to keeping it at bay.

The shade would devour his body and then his spirit. It might choose to possess him first, then walk around inside his body like a ghostly parasite until he died. It was a fate too horrible for words.

She wasn’t really thinking when she started moving back toward the shade. If she had been, she wouldn’t have done it.

She held up her rock, then spotted Aruna’s dagger on the ground. She tossed the rock aside and picked up the dagger, then circled behind the shade.

The shade’s limbs were gradually melting into what looked like pure shadow. It had stopped trying to wrestle Aruna. Instead, it seemed to be dissolving and sinking into his body. Aruna’s struggles were growing weaker. His face and voice betrayed exquisite pain.

Novikke approached the shade. The creature gave off evil in a miasma, and she could feel it as she neared it. Blood pounded in her ears as she raised the dagger. She had no idea how to kill a shade. How could a blade pierce smoke?

As she raised the dagger, the shade twisted to face her, screeching, and she almost dropped the dagger. Its grotesque hands reached for her.

She brought the blade down hard in its chest. With an unnatural squelching, it sank through where its heart would have been if it were human.

The shade gave a hideous scream. Novikke leapt back out of reach, brandishing the dagger. Black ichor poured out of the wound. The shade twisted in agony, then began flaking into pieces. As if it could no longer hold its body together, bits of it scattered apart into smoke and floated away, until there was nothing left.

All trace of it evaporated into nothing. Even the slick black blood on the dagger disappeared. The air felt clean and refreshed in its absence. Novikke lowered the dagger, exhaling heavily.

Aruna, still on the ground, stared at the air where the shade had been. He was breathing hard, but seemed uninjured.

Eventually his gaze flicked up to her. Some of the shock left his face and was replaced with suspicion. His eyes tracked down to the dagger in her hand, then back to her face. He watched her, unblinking.

Novikke glared at him. No “thank you.” No outpouring of relief and gratitude. Just mistrust.

“Are you kidding me?” Her hand tightened around the dagger’s hilt. She wasn’t going to let him take it away from her. “I just saved your life,” she snapped.

He stiffened at the tone in her voice. He tilted his head slightly in a very Aruna-like, stern way, warning her. He nodded pointedly at the dagger—telling her to put it down. Commanding her.

It was so ridiculous that she laughed aloud. “By the gods, I’m stupid, aren’t I? I came back for you!” She gesticulated wildly in her anger. “I just risked my life to save you! And this is the thanks I get? I’m still your enemy? You’re still acting like I’ve wronged you somehow? What, do you want to tie me up again?”

He slowly drew back from her. His hand closed around his sword hilt.

Her blood went hot with indignation. “Don’t move,” she said through her teeth, brandishing the dagger. She took a step toward him. “Don’t you dare.”

He started drawing his sword.

Rage and fear flared in her veins, and she leapt on him.

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