Tabitha Chirrick - Overshadowed

Fehn looked up from the floor, where his disassembled shotgun rested in several parts. “Let’s hope the Rokkir don’t have a giant magnet.”

Tayel tuned out Locke’s argument against the possibility as she tried on the harness. It wasn’t just Jace she worried for. It was Fehn, too — even with the snarky comments. Him and, of course, Shy.

Tayel chanced a sideways glance at her. Her long black hair had been newly braided that morning, undoing the cloud of frizz that had haloed her head around camp. But cleaned up as she was, it couldn’t hide the fumbling fingers over the shield bracer she tested, or the way she blinked slow enough she may have fallen asleep once or twice. Shy was tired. They all were, but now they had to fight harder than ever. Tayel had to fight harder than ever, because she couldn’t bear to come out on the other side without any of them.

Hours of silent work passed building, repairing, and scrapping together precious few items to defend themselves with from whatever came next. When a pair of Varg delivered food to the room at Locke’s request, Tayel barely had the focus to taste it. She moved from a bite to a final check on her harness, another bite to an equipment check for Jace; it was a slow, tense process that left her with a half-empty plate and squirming insides.

“Alright,” Locke said.

Tayel started. It had been a long while since anyone said anything.

“The prototype is ready,” he finished.

Jace scratched his broken wing. “That’s great! Do we get to test it?”

Locke shook his head. “Not until it counts, I’m afraid. I only had the resources for one antimatter pack, and one charge.”

“So we just have to trust it works,” Shy said.

“I’m not throwing you into battle blind, sister. With Fehn’s assistance, I was able to calibrate the shield to ensure no collateral damage or dispersal of force when impacted by dark aether. Everything considered, I’m confident it will perform. ‘Perform’ taken to mean the charge only lasts thirty seconds, and even that is contingent on any enemies’ strikes being similar in force to Fehn’s.” His mouth twisted into a scowl. “It’s not a lot, I know.”

“You did the best you could,” Jace said.

“It will give us something if we go up against a Rokkir,” Shy added.

“Well it will give one of us something,” Fehn said.

Dread tightened all the muscles down Tayel’s spine. Only one — one person would be protected from the dark aether, if the device even functioned as it needed to at all. The fight in the woods came to mind, and her bones pounded at the memory. She’d had the sense that, even then, the councilwoman was going easy. The full force of her power came out in her clash with Fehn, and if all Rokkir had that power, Tayel doubted if even one thirty second charge could do much to defend them.

“You’ll have to decide who takes it,” Locke said.

Fehn crossed his arms. “I’ll be okay without it. I met a Rokkir head on in the woods and survived. Right now I stand better odds than you three if we come up against another one.”

“I agree,” Shy said. “I don’t think Jace should take it either.”

Tayel ground her teeth against the immediate impulse to oppose her.

“That makes sense,” Jace said. “Someone who’s actively fighting will need it.”

“Indeed,” Locke said. “Someone who’s fighting, and perhaps a familiar, known opponent. Which one of you ladies taunted the entire castle of guards?”

“Team effort,” Shy teased.

Tayel shifted her seating, drawing up into herself. She remembered the councilwoman’s threat in the woods — that Ruxbane wanted her alive. It had been a game, a farce, a way to toy with her — Tayel knew — but that didn’t explain the kitchen door exploding inward, and the grin on Ruxbane’s face when he saw her.

“I’m going to go ahead and say it, since no one else is,” Fehn said. “Shy should take the shield. She’s our best fighter, and she’s going to be doing the brunt of the work.”

“Means she’ll probably attract the most attention, too,” Jace said.

The leader of the Rokkir couldn’t possibly want Tayel — for anything. She wasn’t a threat, especially not in comparison to Shy, but an unwelcome feeling wedged into her gut at the thought: doubt. A small lingering unease whispering that she was right, that the Rokkir were after her, that maybe she shouldn’t go into their stronghold at all.

“Tayel?” Shy nudged her.

Tayel snapped to attention. “Sorry. I… I’m with everyone else. You should take it.”

Shy averted her eyes.

“Perfect.” Locke hobbled over to her. “Now remember: the charge will only last thirty seconds. The timer displays here, on the inside of the wrist. Once it’s activated — flip this switch here, then thumb for heat here; you’ll get some haptic feedback before the shield activates — the bracelet will lock for the duration of the charge.”

Shy leaned back from the device. “It locks?”

“Don’t worry. It’s a necessary precaution. Shield emitters are always vulnerable to damage. In this case, the damage is expelled force, so the locking mechanism will ensure it won’t be vulnerable to being knocked off.”

“Any other features I should know about?”

The curtain of furs over the doorway rustled, and a Varg stuck her head through. “The war pack is ready to depart.”

Which meant it was time for all them to go, too. Anxiety made Tayel’s face flush.

“We’ll be there shortly,” Locke said. He waited until the woman departed before turning back to Shy. “Get your things, and let’s get you moving.”

Tayel’s body moved of its own accord, but her mind stayed stun locked. When she’d gone to Castle Aishan, she had no idea what to expect. Now she was willingly volunteering to enter the Rokkir’s domain. If the castle could contain the horrors that it did while still presenting a safe front, she couldn’t imagine what waited inside the Rokkir’s full display of aggression.

She stifled the thought, and grabbed her mag baton, a mask, one of Locke’s spare shield bracers. It was everything she was supposed to have, but she felt naked, vulnerable, especially looking at the people she needed to fight for.

She stayed quiet walking down the halls toward the garage, and so did everyone else. Maybe they were all just as scared as she was. Maybe she wasn’t the only one sick to her stomach, afraid everything was going to go wrong, but it was impossible to think of Shy being afraid, or Fehn. Even Jace seemed to be braver and surer than her.

Shy looked back over her shoulder, but Tayel didn’t bother smiling false assurances.

They arrived at the final turn in the labyrinth of corridors, travelling against an ice cold draft that made Tayel shiver even in snow gear. The path led them into a high-ceilinged armory, where crates of shields and strange potions were stacked high next to shelves brimming with old-world weaponry. Hundreds of Varg conversed in hurried tones among stone benches as they donned armor, gathered supplies, and sharpened their weapons.

Tayel followed after everyone, winding through the rushing Varg, dodging whirling carts of supplies and men carrying swords. She passed under another archway and paused on the other side’s landing. Dozens of armored snow rovers lined the spacious garage floor below, parked one after the other in a pre-ordained phalanx. They sputtered in sync with their revving engines, the explosive roars mixing with the fervor of chatter as Varg started to board.

Tayel shrunk in the rushing panic. All of this because of the Rokkir. Only a few weeks, and they’d reduced the Varg to one desperate outpost ready to give up everything to stop the fight.