A Step into Darkscape (The Legacy Novels Book 2) Page 3

  In a perpetual gloom, hidden from colour, stood a wooden shack, and sounding from within he heard a thump and a scuffle.

  Sword in hand Raven moved to face it.

  *

  The figure spun, a shadow unfolding and unfolding until a blade was revealed, flicking and cutting his hand. The shadow’s hair framed a beautiful face and deep brown eyes, glittering a galaxy of green-purple stars.

  He dropped his guard and his sword, stepping back from her with his hands raised. “I surrender.”

  “Raven?” Ami lowered her blade and grabbed his hand, dragging him from the shack and down the steps to the grass. She glanced all around, frantic for a moment. “It’s good to see you, Raven.” She smiled and gave him a small hug. “But what are you doing here?”

  Licking his small wound, Raven looked back to the shack. “My sword—”

  “No, don’t,” she said, stopping him. “There’s something wrong here.”

  “That’s why I’ve come, Princess.” He frowned, feeling torn from his blade. “There are some strange goings on in Legacy. The land is unsettled, and it needs its princess. Rumours of dark things… The Shadow Princess—the other you—sent me to find you.” He filled her in on the last few moments with her counterpart. Ami stared at the porch as he spoke, her gaze far away.

  “Ami?” Raven touched her shoulder. “What is it?”

  “In there,” she said, pointing into the shack. “There is a portal of sorts, a gateway. I found another place. What is wrong in Legacy? Tell me.”

  “We hear tell of smoke rising from the ground at the river, cracked and scorched earth where the Mortrus Lands lay. Some have told of animals or creatures…the land has shaken.”

  “An earthquake?”

  “A quake of the earth, yes—small and never lasting—Legacy has never experienced any such thing before. What is this place you found?”

  “I don’t know.” She took Raven’s hand, inspecting the scratch. Giving small pressure from her thumb, the wound soon healed with not a mark left.

  “Thank you.”

  “I’m sorry. Reflexes, you know?” She let go of his hand. “But you did take me by surprise.”

  “I was hoping to find you—your Shadow Princess sent me here, after all—but I could not be sure that it was you scurrying within that old musty shed.”

  Ami laughed, and looked back at the porch. “A musty old shed that holds secrets. What did my other self say exactly?”

  “That I was to help you.” Raven stepped one foot upon the wooden step, the creak from it a stranger within a world of creaks. Somehow it didn’t sound right. “That I was to trust you and your curiosity, and that together we would find the cause.”

  “Is only Legacy affected? Something from the Mortrus Lands?”

  “Perhaps.” He climbed the rest of the steps up to the porch, reaching inside for his blade. As he did, a chill crept his spine. “Perhaps there is more to it.”

  “Strange things have been happening here, though no beasts, cracks or smoke. There was an old man on the porch…” She pointed but Raven saw no one. “I then found a piece within, a golden rook from a chess set. When I grasped it—I somehow entered another place.”

  “If only Hero were here,” Raven muttered. “He would know what to do.”

  “Where is he? He didn’t come with you?”

  There was a hurt beneath her words he chose to ignore. “He is overseeing Legacy, awaiting word from Florence who’s scouting the validity of the rumours. He may yet join us, if there is anything to join.”

  “There is something to join. There is a power here, a portal to another layer. Could it be one the Sentries left? Could this be another place like the Mortrus Lands?” She started once more up the steps, her sword held before her. Reaching the doorway, Ami stepped inside with Raven behind her.

  “Are you sure we want to go wherever it takes us?”

  “Is a Guard of Legacy scared of the unknown?”

  “No, Princess,” Raven said, affronted, “of course not.”

  They stopped at the fallen stairs, and Ami pointed to the shining, golden rook. It looked harmless, yet very much out of place. Raven felt a cold hand slink around the base of his neck. He pivoted and pointed his sword back out of the door.

  “What is it?”

  “I—I see a man…”

  Ami took his hand in hers and reached down with her sword hand to snag the golden totem. She grasped it tight, and the world slipped from beneath them. Raven gagged as reality moved and he was thrown to the ground, his hands and face meeting cold stone that spun to a sudden sickening stop.

  There, towering over them, were three robed figures.

  “What have we here?” asked one, his voice high and cracked. “Visitors? Plunderers? Heretics?”

  A black cloth descended over Raven’s eyes and all went dark.

  *

  Florina had galloped hard and fast, determined to find answers to Hero’s cause. She was a member of Legacy now, as both Florence the woman, and Florina the unicorn. She had the best of both worlds, enjoying the pleasures of banquets with her fellow Guards, and of running free and swift across the many far away hills. Even her mate, Talos, could never truly appreciate the change within her. She’d gained a new sense of duty to those she’d fought with, but still treasured the power and freedom of her birthright, and it was with this unity of loyalty that she now entered the Planrus Forest, slowing to a canter to investigate rumour and fear.

  What manner of beasts she’d heard tell of… Black, shapeless menaces, shadow-shifters with red eyes crawling from the ground. Fear held people like smoke, drifting above the city on a breeze; it was the smog they waded through to reach the end of each and every day. Oppressive and suffocating.

  She broke through the last of the trees and stopped, hiding her crystal horn beneath drooping branches.

  In the fast flowing ebbs of the river was a beast, wading to the other side. Its fur was as black as onyx, matted with dead leaves and twigs. She watched its hide sway in step and was sure that no such creature hailed from these lands.

  It crawled up the bank and moved into the Solancra Forest, now hidden from view. She listened for a moment as the trunks bent, allowing its passage, branches tearing as it went, its black back a mountain in shadow.

  This is not right. What if there are more? She headed north to the flow, and toward the Mortrus Lands.

  Chapter Three

  Thin hands gripped tightly beneath her arms as Ami was lifted none to gently from the ground in a shuffle and sweep of robes, the cloth across her eyes blinding, the unknown magic around her binding.

  “They are not from here,” a voice croaked.

  “That much is obvious. They appear willingly by the sacred well. They are for her, for him.”

  “But they are not the same. We cannot assume.”

  “I see no difference. She’ll not wish to be disturbed. Let’s be done with them.”

  With a swift tug of her arms, Ami was unceremoniously hauled across the floor, yet as much as she struggled against the clasps of her captors, her body refused to move, and even her power seemed to have been muted. Paralysed and unable to speak, yell or cry out, she could only listen to the old voices whispering and sniping beneath the folding waves of the sea. Salt air stung her nose, her blind eyes watering beneath the veil.

  “Stop,” a voice cried, and Ami heard a familiar sing of steel. Forward motion ceased. “This is different. Can you not feel it? Have your senses dulled with age?”

  “I feel… So you shall inform her? Is it wise to be so bold?”

  “Let us keep them as always, and take only this. She’ll want to see this.”

  Then she was moving again, sliding from cold stone to gravel as the air changed and freshened, the roiling waters much closer. Her fear and anger were coiled with curiosity, for though she was powerless for now, there was something vital in the loose tongues of these men. They were taking her somewhere, evidently to leave her while steal
ing her sword for another to study. Dangerous as that was, had she not crossed the layers to seek out those dangers that threatened them all? The power had led them here, and Ami was inclined to trust its instincts.

  With a soft thump, Ami was hit from the side and knocked off balance, Raven’s stiff body tumbling against hers as their captors struggled to pull them both up a short rise. Tight claws grappled and set her right again and they were heaved over the zenith together.

  “She’ll be pleased with us.”

  “With you, Jonus, if the find is worthy of her time,” another panted.

  “Is it so important, you think? Will she think it so?”

  “Oh yes. I sense the utmost importance. Perhaps I’m gaining wisdom through proximity.”

  “Do not blaspheme, Jonus.”

  There was a sudden turn and their path descended, the air becoming old, stale and musty with a tang and taste of roots and dirt.

  They came to a halt and Ami felt herself being pushed up against a moist earthen wall, her arms raised, her wrists and ankles shackled.

  With a flourish, the veil was lifted, and Ami looked out across a barely lit hollow. Three dark walls of rock and soil faced them with a slope off to the left, while to the right, a small doorway had been fashioned, its wooden entry closed and barred with three worn steps leading up to it.

  Raven was beside her, chained and captive also, while opposite them stood three old men. Their white beards were long, almost to their feet, and each wore a hooded cloak.

  One of them held her sword, and she looked at it longingly. If they find out what it can do, she thought, then nothing but mayhem can ensue. And more corpses could end up scattered at her feet.

  Reluctantly, Ami let her gaze slip from the blade to the face of the man who held it. “Who are you?”

  “Oh, we may ask the same of you,” said the keeper of her sword, “yet it isn’t ours to ask. Come.” He turned to the door and lifted the barring beam effortlessly before disappearing through. The others followed just as swiftly, the door closing behind them.

  Ami looked to Raven.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I believe so. And you?”

  She nodded, chains clinking as she did. The only light came from the tunnel to the left, wan and murky grey, illuminating nothing insightful or helpful; no magic key, no Lassie to run for help. They were alone.

  “What the heck happened?” Raven whispered, his voice much like the sea, barely heard, quiet even against the dripping of water somewhere near or far. He pulled against his chains and twisted as a worm worked its way across his shoulder and kissed at his cheek. With a small yelp he shook it off and watched it drop to the ground. “This wasn’t exactly the day I had planned.”

  “Me either…” She thought of the golden rook that was no longer in her hand. Damn it. “Did you hear them talking? They think they’ve found a prize, a prize for someone they revere.”

  “Yeah, and they have your sword. And mine, for that matter. Who are they going to give it to?”

  “I don’t intend to wait around to find out.” Ami closed her eyes and felt out for Dangerous. She saw beyond the dark cave, the sodden walls of a strange land, and let her mind focus on the dewy grass, the tall columns and arches, incomplete as they were. She looked down to her hands which now pulsed in green flame, folded in shade and colour that sank beneath her skin.

  “Oh my.” Raven’s voice was far away as he pulled at his chains, backing up from the fire that was now Ami. She was consumed, the light throwing shape and shadow across the mud and stone, her body its own furnace, leaping colours of bright green and purple, violent licks of white splaying and burning the root-riddled ceiling. Her clothes burned from her body, her naked skin rewrapped in the familiar dress of tight fabric and dangerous curves.

  She pulled from the manacles as the fire winked out, the darkness refilling the silent tomb.

  “That was something,” Raven sighed. “Oh, Princess, if only I could do that.”

  “Relax, Raven. Every superhero needs a sidekick.” She inspected her dress. It stopped just above the knee, her black boots just below. Perfect. She smoothed her hands over the magical material, her mind on Hero. He should be here.

  “Superhero?”

  “Never mind.” She smiled and reached up to break his bonds, snapping the metal from his wrists and then his ankles.

  “How did they capture us so easily?”

  “Magic,” she said, disturbed by the idea. In her layer, magic was a concept of myth and legend, yet in others it seemed more than common. “And with the sword, they’ll have access to even more.”

  “Were they wizards? Priests? They all dressed the same, the beards, how they talked. Some kind of cult?”

  “Perhaps.” Ami walked the small chamber. “We should really go that way,” she said, pointing to the door the men had gone through, “but something tells me we’ll only find trouble that way.”

  “I’d like to avoid trouble.”

  Ami nodded. “Then back the way we came then. We better hurry.”

  *

  They rose from the earthen tunnel to a sky filled with gold-flecked clouds, embers of lands beyond layers that patterned the earth in shaft and shadow. It was such a beautiful sight that for a moment, Raven became lost in it. To his left the hill sloped away to the very edge of the cliff that sharpened to a point; and there, as a monument or temple, stood a lonely stone tower, most likely the place of their kidnap. A dirt track led from it to where they now stood.

  The blue-grey sea surrounded all, continuing unimpeded to the empty horizon where the gold met silver and faded and blurred.

  “So now we know where we came from,” Ami said, turning to look up the hill. “Let’s see where we’re going.”

  Setting off again, they soon crested the summit of the slope and hunkered down to survey the land beyond.

  A slope rolled down the other side into a scoop of a valley that was mostly taken by wild woodland, yet rising like a monolith, and cutting into the wood, was a tall grey wall that dwarfed all else before it. It seemed the frontier of some kind of fortification, rising high up above the tallest of the trees.

  Turreted and crenelated, the chemin de ronde was guarded by small specks of men that patrolled above a hidden entrance.

  Ami smiled and turned to him, her eyes a burst of jade and emerald. “This will be easy. I’ve done this before.” She sniffed the air, as a predator might. “Hold on to me.”

  Raven was unsure. The woodland before them was smaller than some but looked dense and dark. Without a sure path it would be easy to lose one’s way, and once through they’d be searching for entry under the very noses of the guards—plus, the glow in Ami’s eyes made him feel uneasy. Despite these feelings, he trusted in his princess and so grasped her hand once more. To his surprise, instead of descending the slope he was lifted into the air, pulled to his feet as if by a giant bird.

  From his minute height, Raven was able to see an entire town contained within the fortified walls; streets and houses, so many buildings, a river and something larger beyond—but the fall was short and the landing swift, a cut through treetops, leaves flying, branches whipping and snapping.

  They landed with a thump between two tall elms, shaded under a luminescent green. Breathless and dizzy, Raven collapsed to his side while Ami bent low to the ground, silent in stealth. For the first time in a long time, she was the Assassin Princess.

  “We’re alone,” she said finally, standing up straight. “For now at least, and the trees will give us a little time to gather our wits without fear of being seen.”

  “You are impressive,” he said, shaking away his awe. Above, a perfect tunnel had been cut through hundreds of branches. Blue and pale white peered back at him, a bird shooting across and bridging the gap. “And you’ve certainly hidden us in the thicket. What are we to do?”

  “I need to get my sword back. So much damage could be done, and they already know power, somehow, from somewh
ere…the power is here. I felt it from the first moment I found that shack.”

  Raven pulled his hood down and ruffled his hair. She watched him.

  “There are certain things I can remember from when I joined with the Sentries in the Mortrus Lands,” she continued. “A lot I have forgotten, but I do know that the Mortrus Lands were only one of a network of portals. They all joined, through space and time. The shack opened up to the tower.” She opened and closed her hands, rubbing her palms. “And I dropped the chess piece.”

  Raven stepped past her and peered through the trunks. If there was a path through, and he guessed there was, they were well hidden from it. He saw and heard nothing but woodland animals, birds and perhaps squirrels or other such creatures. “So they have the sword, and they may have an idea of what it can do.”

  “And that is very dangerous, but if we’re to figure out what’s going on, that very danger might lead us to the source.”

  “Should we not go back into the tunnel? We’re not captives any longer, and neither are we helpless—”

  “Yet they throw a cloth over our faces and we fall down.” Ami shook her head, inspecting one of the trunks. “No, we need to find out who they are, where they reside and who they’re taking the sword to. We need to be able to sneak in and sneak out. I can do so much, but I was just as paralysed as you.”

  “So on to the wall then, through the—” He broke off as Ami disappeared up the tree trunk, an animal scurrying quickly out of sight. A few leaves fell, skimming his face, and when he shielded his eyes he could just about see her, a dark shape too high, a shadow amongst shadows slinking between branches. He waited and watched. After a time she scrambled down the same way she’d gone up, and landed deftly in front of him.

  “We’re near enough, and the trees are climbable—”

  “For you maybe—”

  “But from up there I can see others walking a path not half a mile away,” she pointed over his shoulder, “so I think you should cling to my back as I take you up.”