When Shadows Rise (Book 1)

Chapter 8 (Kayden)

A few days later, Mother visited Kayden in her living quarters to inform her the ships were to set sail at dawn in four days' time. Kayden nodded once, and when Mother walked away, that was the last she saw her. Kayden packed her few belongings, sheathing her weapons and tucking her journal into her left boot. When it was time to leave the castle, she didn't look back.

Icy wind lashed against her as she trudged down the slick path toward the lower sectors. It would take three days to reach Bay's Bridge if the weather didn't get too bad, and from there she'd set sail from Seaview Port.

She pulled her cloak tighter around her. Time passed slowly, and by late afternoon she reached the first trade market nestled in the valley. It'd been years since she had last been here. Whereas before there were travelers trading fine cloaks and hot meals to those who'd had a fair amount of coin, now there were only scraps of frozen meat and tattered blankets. A few people told stories in exchange for what little food they could get. One of them was Niko, her favorite storyteller. She and Alaric had used to listen to him for hours.

Kayden stepped closer to his familiar tone, the rhythm of it rising and falling like fresh snow drifting. His voice was weaker, as if he were ill, but it held just as much enthusiasm as she remembered. She stood near the back of the crowd, listening to a story she'd heard from him long ago: the tale of the current Leodian queen's rise to power.

Chhaya Sarvesh had been friends with Queen Meena, the first ruler of Leodia, but jealousy overcame her. Determined to take the throne by force, Chhaya had disguised herself as a servant and snuck into Queen Meena's quarters, and she stayed there long after she had killed the queen. When the guards finally arrived, they found Chhaya perched on the edge of the bed and Queen Meena dead with her own sword stabbed through her back.

The guards intended to kill Chhaya for what she had done, and they thought it'd be an easy task; she was unarmed, or so it had seemed. When the first guard tried to kill her, the air around her turned misty, and she grabbed his throat.

At her touch, he dropped dead.

Some of the guards gave their allegiance to Chhaya Sarvesh right then and there, fearful of her odd magic. Others tried to stop her, until she summoned her army of spirits. The dead had sided with her—an impossible feat—yet there she stood, surrounded by a chill deeper than death as invisible hands forced the soldiers to kneel.

From then on, Chhaya held control of the throne, but with her new title came others: Queen Killer, Soulless Queen, Commander of Death. With every title she'd claimed, more stories were told to try and explain her existence, but as the tales grew wilder, there was still one thing they all had in common:

People feared what they did not understand, and nobody understood Queen Chhaya or her magic.

The last time Kayden had heard Niko tell the story of the Queen Killer, he'd claimed her awful magic was the result of Chhaya selling her soul to the gods for power. This evening, though, he told of Chhaya defying the goddesses and gods and finding a realm where evil forces lurked. There, she summoned her army of the damned.

Kayden gave a rueful grin. She would miss this. The best thing about Niko was that his stories were never the exact same. The endings changed, feeding conspiracies and urging listeners to come back for more. As the crowd applauded, she turned to leave, but Niko's voice cut through the crowd.

"Nila! Is that you?"

She turned back, answering to her false name, and smiled. Snowflakes dusted Niko's hair and melted against his deep brown skin.

"It has been too long," he said, drawing her into a hug. He smelled of bonfire smoke. "How have you been? How is your father faring?"

Last he knew, her father's illness had been getting worse. It was time for her to finish the story—to end the act—so she dropped her smile and squeezed her eyes shut, allowing a few tears to slip past. She shook her head.