Ballad of Silence and Wings

IV Shadow

"We go in, then," said the Caster, accepting the Princess's silent answer.

The heavyset door to the Shadow Duke's hall groaned as he pushed it open, and at once a dreadful chill surrounded each of them. They stepped inside and let the door close behind. There was no turning back until they pass through to the other side, into the Star Children's domain.

Shadows swam about the ceiling, walls and floor of the dark Blue Hall. The frigid air clung onto their clothes and skin, their breaths escaping them as small white mists.

A long corridor stretched before them. Chandeliers, lifeless without their light, dangled from the ceiling. A chamber lay in wait for them at the other end, shedding the only light that could guide them across.

The shadows only remotely assumed human form, irregularly shaped and disfigured in varying degrees. The Caster took notice of their movement; he had expected them to be aimlessly hovering around, but they seemed to be scurrying about, as if searching.

The realization hit him. "He is awake," he said, turning to the Princess. "We must make haste."

Together they ran while evading the shadows. They took care not to let the shadow they each had get caught as well, and yet the farther they ran, the more shadows swam across their path, the more perilous the way forward.

The Caster was perturbed. He did not think the Queen would go so far as to wake the Duke for their intrusion. From how the prince knew his mother, she was not one to bother intervening with her guardians. Clearly the Queen considered them a serious threat.

A voice loomed over the hall. It raised the hairs at the back of the Princess's neck, and made even the Caster's blood run cold.

"I smell flesh and blood."

They stopped, and just then, the chandeliers were lit, in turn casting multiple shadows for each trespasser. The Caster had rebounded in time and managed to save all of his shadows from detection. When he looked back, however, he saw the Princess had been caught.

One of her left arm's shadows had brushed against a shadowy puppet, and it was then held in place by that shadow. Others charged at her shadows, ignoring him completely.

She attacked the oncoming shadows with her free arm and glaive, delivering golden waves of her power with every swing. But for every troop of shadows she annihilated, others would surge to take its place.

With far too many of them, it was not long before the Princess was swarmed, and every part of her body's shadows were held down.

Thinking fast, the Caster conjured a hex on one of his scimitars and flung it far. The weapon hit a wall and planted itself there, glowing with its master's aura. Many of the enemy shadows went after it and, upon verging with the silver blade, froze on the spot.

A few of the shadows had stayed behind and held the Princess's shadows in place. She wriggled to free herself, but to no avail.

"Stop struggling, just hold still," the Caster ordered. The Princess obeyed, and he thrust his other scimitar into the ground, casting the same lure-and-stun spell. It paralyzed the remaining shadows.

The Princess tried to pull herself up, but found she couldn't. Her arm was still held fast by the first shadow that had caught her.

More shadowy puppets waded towards them, while the others the Caster had stunned were recovering. Shadows emerged from the floor and seized the Princess, pulling her into the ground with them.

Radiating with his aura, the Caster's hands transfigured into monstrous claws. He used them to hack away at the surfacing shadows. It did no good, as there seemed to be no end to them, and soon both princess and glaive disappeared into the floor beneath.