A Rogue's Restraints

Chapter Six: Scared Shadows

I used to think back on that night with barely concealed anger. Now I can't bring myself to care. I don't know who to blame, so I don't. The first one to blame is not always the culprit you're looking for.

Now that I'm years older and oh so more mature, I can give you this little nugget of advice: If a scary man is manipulating darkness and looking at you with eyes as dead as a corpse, stay away. Don't run at him, don't threaten him, don't even breathe in the same room as him. Run and hope he does not find you.

All things I did not do.

"Cover me!" I shouted to Willa and Theon, right before I jumped to the next table.

I felt like my eyes weren't working right, it was like I was in a dream. Light bent, objects around me refracted, people were engulfed in darkness while I was left in blinding light. The only clear thing was purple flames glittering on the floor, not growing bigger, but spreading with the moving shadows.

The Blackheart seemed to be losing patience. He growled as he spread his arms wide and the real chaos began.

Party goers' screams doubled, some cutting off sharply. It was a choir of terror. I looked around in horror. As soon as the shadowy flames made contact, the people dropped, icing over, their skin starting to rot, like they had been inflicted with a sudden case of frostbite.

The temperature in the room seemed to drop even further. I was shaking uncontrollably; my breath was a stark cloud in the freezing air. The flames and dark mist started creeping up the walls. The light started to dim. It was only a matter of time before we were plunged into complete darkness.

I gripped my rapier and jumped onto a chair, then to a bench not far away. I felt like I was playing some sort of children's game, but I didn't dare touch the floor, lest I become a frozen corpse.

The Blackheart was in the middle of the dancefloor. How was I going to get to him? The only spot on the floor absent of darkness was a wide circle around the Blackheart. It was as if the flames were repelled away from the man.

I jumped to a chair further out, set my sights on that circle, took a deep breath, and jumped.

And landed a few feet short.

I didn't even have time to yell before I landed among the flames. I closed my eyes tight waiting for my limbs to freeze and for death to come, but it didn't. I opened my eyes and looked around. It was still incredibly cold, and the shadows swirled around me, but they didn't touch me. It was as if they were scared of me. I couldn't make sense of it.

I looked at the Blackheart in confusion. He looked at me with equal confusion written on his otherwise bland face. I was immune to the shadows?

I shook myself out of my shock and ran for the Blackheart. I was only a short distance away now...

The Blackheart growled, suddenly outraged. He started moving his hand ritualistically. Suddenly I felt like I was moving through sludge. It sent brain reeling. More and more this was feeling like a dream. The more effort I put into moving the slower I moved. I slashed my rapier, but I was still too far away.

Then the shadows advanced. They started wrapping around me. I felt a searing cold. Like I was being burned but it was too hot to register. Then the pain came.

I screamed dropping the rapier. It fell to the marble floor with a clank. I looked at my hand in horror as fractals of frost grew across the surface of my skin. My heart was beating painfully in my chest. It felt as though it would stop at any moment. My dagger, I could grab my dagger...