Leslie Moore - Griffin's Shadow

A surge of energy-blue-black and deadly cold-lanced out from the spectral form and struck Sonoe between the eyes. Agonizing pain tore through her skull. She screamed and fell to the hard-packed earth, writhing and clutching her head.

Your efforts have been pathetically weak so far! I am beginning to regret my choice of you as a tool. You are proving yourself to be unequal to the task, woman.

“No, no!” Sonoe gasped. She levered her body up into a submissive crouch, hands still pressed to her throbbing skull, and gazed through narrowed eyes at the entity she had chosen to serve. “I am equal… more than equal, I swear! I am making good progress with her; she considers me her friend. She trusts me. If I move too fast I will arouse too much…suspicion…Ai, Goddess!”

The pain ceased, and Sonoe moaned in relief. She wrapped her arms around her body to stop it from shivering. Several of her warding candles had sputtered out; she re-ignited them with a wave of her hand.

I am growing impatient. Every moment you delay, each hour that passes without the Key in my possession…my enemies gain that much more time to gather their strength and plan their opposition. The nebulous entity twisted slowly in on itself, then extended a tendril, snake-like, to loop around Sonoe’s body, caressing her as gently as a lover. A second tendril wrapped around her neck and began to squeeze.

The sudden increase in pressure around her throat cut off Sonoe’s cry of alarm. Her thoughts swung wildly from pleas to curses and back again as darkness blurred the edges of her vision. She struggled, to no avail. The Nameless One held her fast in a grip as solid and cold as iron.

Just as quickly as he had struck, he released her. She slumped onto her back, choking and gulping for air.

A reminder of my strength, which grows as each day passes. I am still not strong enough to break free completely, but the chains my enemies imprisoned me with so long ago are weakening.

Sonoe sat up, rubbing her neck. Cautiously, she climbed to her feet, her eyes never leaving the slowly writhing spirit-form-the only manifestation the Nameless One could manage at present. Despite his apparent fragility, he nevertheless still posed a deadly threat, as he had so effectively demonstrated.

“I need more time to find a way around Taya’s protections,” Sonoe said. “Taya is not the only one shielding the girl. The king himself is using some of his Talent to block access to her, although he is unaware on a conscious level of what he is doing. Also, I can’t work openly. I must move with stealth or I’ll be discovered.”

The Nameless One lashed out again but this time, Sonoe was ready. The energy washed harmlessly around her, blocked by her own protective shields. A wave of pure hate-putrid and corrosive-flowed from the entity like poison from a festering wound.

Sonoe choked back the bile rising in the back of her throat. “Master… please !” she gasped. The Nameless One withdrew in on himself and hovered, a dense ball of smoke. Sonoe stood waiting, tense and wary as a lioness confronting a thunder lizard. She could sense his strength waning. Soon, he would be forced to sever their link and retreat to his prison. She felt a flash of annoyance.

He’s like a petulant child…one with enough power to destroy my mind if I’m not constantly on guard!

“Master,” she cajoled. “Jelena trusts me. Now that her husband’s dead, she will reach out to me even more. I shall be there for her like the loving older sister she never had. The closer we become, the easier it will be for me to find a way to break down the wards that guard the Key.”

Very well. Do what you must. The voice in her head sounded faint and hollow. I grow weary and must rest.

In the heavily guarded place in her mind where Sonoe sequestered all thoughts she didn’t want the Nameless One to know, she indulged in a mental sneer.

He’s squandered most of his energy lashing out at me. As painful as that was, it’s far better than what he usually does.

Sonoe was a proud woman, accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed. She would never consider herself a slave, and she suffered all the indignities the Nameless One heaped upon her for one reason only.

Power.

Sonoe had a plan-a secret strategy she kept hidden away behind mental shields that not even the Nameless One could pierce . Let him use me now, she thought , but when I’m ready, the tables will be turned and the master becomes the slave. The power of the Key was too seductive, too all-encompassing. She could not allow the corrupt spirit of a long-dead sorcerer king to wield it for his own twisted purpose.

Sonoe had determined to take the power for herself and rule the known world as its benevolent queen.

But I will rule alone.

“Go and rest, Master,” she said, her voice softened with just the right amount of servile sweetness. “I will contact you later.”

The spirit formed no words in her mind, but Sonoe felt him fuming at his own weakness. She waited as his essence drained away, like dirty water sluicing down a gutter, then heaved a sigh of relief and rubbed at her bruised neck.

Poor Jelena, she thought . I must go to her at once.

A wave of genuine sadness washed over her, catching the young mage by surprise. Fiercely, she shook it off.

You’re getting soft, Sonoe! Stay focused, she chided herself. After extinguishing all the candles with a finger snap, she left her work room to the dark and the spiders.

"Whoa! Hold on to ‘im, lads! He’s wakin’ up!”

Slowly, consciousness returned, and with it, pain.

What’s happening?

“This one’s special. Look at his armor!”

Voices…Soldaran…what…where am I?

“I’ve never seen such armor before. It’s…it’s painted.”

Ashinji opened his eyes.

I’m alive!

“Look! He’s awake!”

Ai, Goddess! Feels like an axe blade’s split my head open!

A wave of nausea swept over him, and he had just enough strength to roll over onto his side to retch. This action brought a new, agonizing discovery. The arrow that had pierced his left shoulder remained, embedded deep in the muscle.

Ashinji flopped onto his back again, desperately fighting the red fog of pain that threatened to overwhelm his mind and send him hurtling back into the dark. His body begged him to let go, to seek the release of oblivion, but his mind stubbornly refused .

I’m alive. I’ve got to keep fighting.

“I claim his armor. I’m the one what struck the blow that felled ‘im.”

“Hey, there! That’s not right! We all helped capture him. We split ‘is stuff, fair ‘n square!”

“You shouldn’t get anything, Lew, you idiot! It was you what almost killed him with that arrow, even after the cap’n said to take him alive!”

“Shut up, all of you! He may still die. Just look at him. He’s lost a lot of blood. Anyway, there’ll be no squabbling. Jan’s right; we all had a hand in his capture. His gear gets split between us, but seeing as I’m senior, I get first pick.”

Ashinji’s mind worked feverishly, despite the pain, to assess his situation. I’m on the ground, surrounded by at least eight men, he thought. He recognized the voice of the burly human standing at his feet, a lantern clutched in one beefy hand. This man had directed the attack, and the authority in his tone marked him as their leader.

The man stooped and lifted Ashinji’s sword off the ground. He hefted the blade in his free hand. “I’ll take this, I think. I’ve heard the elves make better swords than we do.” He swung the blade over his head in a wide arc. “Good balance,” he commented.