DARKNESS

DARKNESS | Chapter 33

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

The candle illuminates the cylindrical piece of wood in my lap, the knife blade glinting as I continue the arduous task of carving one end of the piece of wood into a lethal point. With a final scrape, the wooden shaving falling to the ground at my feet, I press my finger gently to the point. After deeming it complete, I reach over to retrieve another and once again restart the carving process.

On the other side of the small lounge room, Kale stands buckling a sheath around his waist. He slides his sword into it, as well as a small knife near his lower back. After he trials pulling them out and aiming them at the air in front of him, he slides the sword back and slowly turns to face me.

"Harper, I think you have enough arrows."

"Five more," I tell him, "then I'm done."

"You don't really expect to kill that many Shadows, do you?" He questions unsurely.

"Do you doubt me?"

"You know the answer to that."

"So its a matter of allegiance. Do you still consider yourself a partial Shadow?"

"I will always be a partial Shadow, Harps. I was raised in the Shadow domain; my father is their leader, the king, and I'm their prince. I can't escape that- its who I am."

"You don't have to fight in this war, Kale," I remind him softly, beginning to carve another cylindrical wooden stick into a lethal arrow.

"Neither do you."

"This is my war, not yours. Don't let me drag you into this. I don't want you to endanger your life for something stupid."

"What is stupid about any of this?"

"Everything," I say incredulously. "Including the fact that I'm either a Saviour or Destroyer, like I have some sort of predetermined destiny."

"No, what you have is a tendency to self-doubt." Kale crosses the room and kneels in front of me, his hand on mine serving to halt the action of my knife. "This isn't stupid, Harper; this is real. This Attachment between you and me is real. The ground under our feet and the walls around us right at this moment are real. Your ability to save this world? Its real."

"You can't possibly know that," I chastise frustratedly.

"I know that because I know you. And you're not the sort of person to intentionally cause harm."

"Maybe not intentionally, but accidentally. That's all I've been doing."

"Stop," he tells me sternly. "Pessimism won't provide any benefits. Maybe if you start believing in yourself for once, you'll realise that everyone around you already does."

The candle beside us is blown out by an audible gust of air, engulfing the room in darkness. Instantly a spike of fear floods me as memories of being locked in that cold, dark room for days on end make themselves known at the forefront of my mind.

"Shhh," a soft voice says to my right, which I can only conclude belongs to Claire. "They're here. Gather your weapons; its's time."

My heart palpitates in my chest as the room is subjected to utter silence for a few moments. The distant marching of many people can be heard in the night, accompanied by the clanking of armour, shields and swords. I feel Kale move away from me as my eyes begin to adjust to the lack of light. I gather up the arrows I spent the entire night carving in an attempt to occupy my mind, and slide the remainder of them into the satchel which I then sling over my head so the strap crosses diagonally across my torso. Grabbing up my bow, I slide a small sword of Claire's into the sheath already fastened to my waist and slide the small sapphire dagger I had been using to carve the arrowheads into a sheath near my lower back.