Shadow Reign (Shadow Puppeteer Book 2) (6 page)

I licked my lips and swept the beads to the side as I entered. The chamber had two torches, which provided enough light to see, but also left a great deal of shadow. With the room rounded, there were no corners to hide a person. The only furniture I noticed was a five foot tall tool organizer.

It was the walls that really captured my attention. There were so many weapons attached by hanging hooks. The firelight glistened off the sharp metal edges.

“Do you want to start with weapons or hand to hand combat?” he asked.

I glanced back and noticed a huge difference in his stance. We were in his element. He looked taller now, broad in the shoulders and fire burned in the dark depths of his eyes. When he smiled, his fangs were far different from the sith. He only had two sharp teeth, far longer than the sith.

My heart raced at the thought of hand-to-hand combat. I didn’t want him that close and his brow arched as if he sensed my sudden unease. I had to keep calm. He didn’t know a sith bit me. The pain wasn’t the issue. It was how intimate that pain became. She made me feel good, and that was something I didn’t want from my enemies.

“Are you stalling?” he asked.

Hardly. I walked over to look at the first wall of weapons. As impressive as they looked, many of them I’d never seen before. Some looked more like spears, but the tips were jagged going downward so the entrance into the body was smooth, but on the way out, it would grab a lot of muscle. I needed a weapon that didn’t have sharp ends just yet. As soon as I trusted my strength again, I’d go in that direction.

My goal tonight was to get my hand on a dagger. I just needed to figure out how that would be possible. Until then, I had to play his game. Considering my real lack of experience with blades, besides throwing knives, I found something suitable and reached for it. Utan was suddenly at my side, grabbing the stick for me.

“So you chose to learn the Japanese martial art called
b
ojutsu
. You’re fighting with a
bo
. Like all martial arts, you need a lot of discipline.”

One minute the stick was the length of my forearm and the next, it extended out six feet. He raised it so fast that the red oak caught me in the jaw, knocking me hard on my tail. I sat there surprised. My throbbing jaw sent acute lines of pain up into my skull and down my neck. I could barely breath, my throat was so tight.

Due to my ears ringing, I caught half of what he said.

“…you’re slow. I could’ve broken your jaw.”

He did me no favors. I could barely move my jaw, it ached so badly. I pulled myself from the ground, determined to show him I was stronger than he gave me credit for. The pain made it difficult to focus. He was swimming in front of my one good eye, which meant I had to deal with not having my right peripheral vision. That made me weak. I needed to lower my shields to feel the energy on that side, but my shields weren’t budging.

“I believe learning is in doing,” he said.

He threw the
bo
at me and I reached out to grab it, but again, my depth perception was off and it landed at my feet. He laughed as I bent down to pick it up. Having a six foot
bo
wasn’t easy to manipulate.

“We’ll spend a few hours on this and then we’ll move to swords,” he said.

O
ur blades crashed and I managed to shove him back. I was exhausted, bruised and cut. Utan wasn’t holding back. Every time I raised my sword, I felt the wounds in my shoulder open. Some of that moisture in my shirt was sweat, the rest was blood. I couldn’t keep going at this rate. Even the wolf bites began to have an impact on me. The muscle in my left wrist, where the sith took blood, was shaking.

He swung his blade and I ducked and rolled. The pain in my shoulder blades was immediate. At this rate, the wounds might need to be sewed. It’s something I’d done in the past; however, not without a mirror, which I still lacked seeing.

“Had enough?” he growled.

I swung my blade low, almost catching him in the knees. He was fast since he wasn’t injured. His laugh mocked me as I righted myself and held the blade ready for another attack. I didn’t dare move to wipe the sweat that dripped along my face burning my eyes and upper lip. Those few seconds would give him time to cut me again.

The beads clinked together as a man walked in and stood near the doorway. He was a Callicantzaros too, though he didn’t look exactly like Utan. Maybe it was the way his lips covered his teeth.

“I need to speak with you for a moment,” he said.

Utan nodded and left the room with him, not so much as glancing back. Now was my chance. I lowered the sword to the floor, careful not to make it clink on the stone. My heart hammered in my chest. If he returned now he would see me at his tool box. All I needed was one blade.

I pulled the lower drawer out and stared at the blades against the black velvet. When we switched to blades, Utan showed me the weapons in this tool box. The knives at the bottom weren’t as fancy as the knives at the top, so there was a better chance Utan wouldn’t notice they were missing.

My hands shook as I pulled three blades from their velvet spots and tucked them into my waist band. If I could fit more blades, I would. I felt vulnerable without weapons and my attack against Kelaino wouldn’t be clean. My nerves were getting the best of me as I carefully pushed the drawer back into place.

I barely stood when the beads parted. My heart leaped into my throat. He was going to know I took them. There was no way he’d let me leave the room with the weapons. I was extremely aware of the way the metal laid against my skin, wondering if it made an outline against my clothes.

Utan’s eyes narrowed. “It’s time to go back to your room.”

I nodded. My body was so stiff maybe he couldn’t tell I was hiding something. He grabbed the torch he left beside the door and I followed. He didn’t look back at me though my heart was still pounding.

The dodging and thrusting movements irritated all my wounds, though the ones on my shoulders and ankles ached more. There was such a great deal of relief in heading back. Exhaustion was greater than the nightmares that kept me up, but I couldn’t rest. I had to strategize. I needed to find Kelaino and it had to be now. I could ask to be taken to her, though in my current condition, I wasn’t going to be able to fight her very well. I needed the element of surprise. Actually, maybe I could make both of them work for me.

“I want to speak with Kelaino.”

Utan spun and the fire swept inches from my face before he caught me by the throat, pushing me hard. My head whacked the stone, sending vibrations through my skull and jawline. Despite my obvious pain, he didn’t let up. Tears welled in my eyes as I tried to breath around the pressure that held me in place.

“I know she lets you address her by name, but in my company, you’ll call her mistress,” he said.

I didn’t answer him and the pressure tightened. He wanted an excuse to break my neck and I had a feeling he’d use this. I couldn’t pull my cards too soon, though my fingers itched for the blades. As much as I hated it, I had to humble myself.

“Can I speak privately to your mistress?”

He squeezed and that little bit of pressure made the blood in my veins run cold.

Utan released me and I swayed against the wall. “You’re a mistake.”

Even if I felt up to arguing, I couldn’t risk another attack. It was difficult trying to draw air into my bruised throat. It hurt to swallow and blood beat erratically in my eardrums. He started walking ahead like nothing happened and I shuffled behind, glad he didn’t unearth my hidden blades. He was definitely the second person I was going to kill. Rose would be third.

At first I thought he was heading back to my room, but he turned down the hall that led to the dining alcove. Luckily, adrenaline had my heart slamming against my ribs, which made it less suspicious that now I was anxious for this.

“I’ll tell her you request her presence. You’ll have to wait if she’s busy,” he warned.

I entered the alcove, now missing the table and chairs. It wasn’t cozy with the homey items and it wasn’t cozy now. The circle across the floor was glaring at me. I could feel the energy trying to press against my shields. Even the obsidian mirror gleamed strangely in the torchlight that Utan left in the wall peg.

My mind was buzzing, making it impossible to come up with a strategy. I planned to use all three blades on her, one in the hip, one in the chest and one to sever her head from her body. With her dead, it might not stop the Reincarta from coming after me, though, hopefully that took Rex and his pack off her hit list.

I paced the room as my stomach tightened in knots. Any minute now, she’d be coming down the hall. What if she wasn’t alone? I had to make this fast.

I crossed the circle of blood, though this felt like a foolish and stupid thing to do. Everything inside me lurched, wanting to vomit. The energy was heavy. Many bodies suffered before their souls separated from their physical form. I saw their faces when I blinked.

I had no real plan so I drew all three blades and knelt on the ground, ready to lunge when she was right behind me. Someone like her would be cautious, so I needed to give her a reason to lower her guard. The black piece of fabric on my arm caught my attention. Utan smelt my blood and immediately reacted to it. It was a long shot believing Kelaino would react the same way.

No prepping was needed for this one. Utan left me with a number of cuts that not only stung, but still bled. That should be enough to cause concern and maybe she’ll by-pass caution to see if I’m okay. I gripped the blades and turned my back to the doorway, which meant I was stuck facing the strange mirrors. Now I know why I hated those mirrors, they didn’t reflect. As much as I dreaded this final confrontation, I wanted Kelaino to hurry so I could leave this room.

Nails clicked over stone and my heart leaped. I wasn’t getting use to these adrenaline bursts. My hands shook so hard, the blade was slipping in my sweaty palm. I knew the moment she stopped in the doorway because the hall grew quiet. All I could smell in the air was my own sweat and blood.

“What are you doing down there?” she asked with suspicion.

“I ache. Some of my injuries are severe and need to be sewed.”

Her toenails clipped the floor as she entered the room. A few more steps and she would be directly behind me. Sweat dripped from my forehead, burning my eye. I swallowed hard feeling the bruises Utan left me. It took a lot of energy to make sure the blades didn’t clink in my hands.

“If you’re so injured why didn’t you wait in your room?”

Good question. I knew this was going to be hard. I licked my lips, wondering if I should moan. My long pause was enough. Her nails clicked again as she neared. I felt her presence the moment she stepped into the circle. The energy consumed her like it did me, making a barricade from the outside world. She was so close; I could feel her aura rub against my shields.

My thoughts slipped into dark space as I lunged. Blades flashed. One in the hip, the second barely grazed her chest before I flew across the room, whacking the wall with such force that every bone in my body rattled. My mind was buzzing. I had to get up. My feet swayed and when I stuck my hand out to balance myself, there was no wall to push against. I fell.

Within seconds, she was there, applying just as much force to my neck as Utan had, but something was different. She was holding on. The world was sucking at me, trying to pull my skin from my body. The pain went beyond bone deep. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t do anything.

Red mist twisted around my face making it difficult to see Kelaino though she was only a few feet away. It felt like ants were marching under my skin, itchy and painful at the same time. There were voices too; millions of them, crying and screaming. Their pain was so intense and it pulled at me, threatening to fray my conscious. I’d never be whole again if she let go.

She yanked hard and my skin snapped into place as we landed on the floor. My body was too heavy to move and Kelaino was already getting up. My knives were scattered, teasingly close and not even my fingers twitched to touch them.

“You should have let the Underworld have her,” Utan said.

I had to get up. I couldn’t be this weak in front of him when he wanted me dead. It took everything to tighten my jelly muscles. It felt like someone took me apart one layer at a time and reassembled me. Was this what a spirit felt like when pushed into the body of a Free-String Walker?

“The mirrors haven’t opened like that in four hundred years,” Kelaino said. Was that longing in her voice? “She might be the one. I won’t lose my chances.”

“She’s a wild card. She tried to kill you.”

“Show her the deal,” Kelaino said.

I was on my feet, but that didn’t mean I could walk. With the tip of Utan’s gleaming sword pointed at my throat, I knew there was no sympathy for what just happened. He wanted me dead and any excuse would do.

“As your personal advisor, I think you’re making a huge mistake,” he said.

Kelaino had the knife removed from her hip, and she looked just as exhausted as I felt. “So be it, Utan. Show her the deal.”

He barely inched back before swaying the blade in the direction he wanted me to walk. I moved slow, surprised my body would move at all. I was painfully aware of every step, as if the contact between my foot and the floor was echoed by the drumming in my head. There were more Callicantzaros’ waiting in the hallway, dressed like Utan. I was jealous by the horde of weapons they had on their bodies. I was also flattered that they thought they needed an army to bring me down.

I pushed my shoulders back, feeling the pull of muscle and the cuts. My body was beyond exhausted, but they fed into my ego. If they thought I was big and bad, I’d act big and bad. I followed them down the tunnels, taking note of the subtle differences in the stone in case I wanted to come back this way.

The silence was marred by the sound of their weapons clinking together. The longest tunnel carried a tart stench that made my eyes water. It already hurt to swallow, but that reek layered the back of my throat and I couldn’t stand it.