Crown of Shadow

Chapter 8

Ailiya sat in the shadows of a tall oak tree trying to stay still, but the pain just hurt so bad. It took every ounce of her strength to insure she wouldnt just plunge her dagger into herself and just finish it already. She winced and slowly moved her hand to the dark onyx ring on her finger. She p[ressed it down and in a trembling voice whispered into the ring: "Amaro, I need you."

Shadows swirled around her gathering and thickening into a human form. He had no features only inky blackness like a three dimensional shadow. "You called." he said his voice smooth and silky like satin.

Ailiyah sighed and rolled her eyes. "No need for entrances Amaro, Im alone and absolutely annoyed."

She then glared at the figure until suddenly the shadow disappeared and turned into a tall young man with thick shaggy black hair and deep black eyes. "You always take the fun out of everything." he said in a voice that was neither whiny nor angry, he said it as if just stating a fact.

She rolled her eyes and replied. " Im surprised the league even let youi come. This was supposed to be my mission after all."

"Ah you know I can never resist the chance to see you. And besides you wouldnt have called me unless something had gone terribly wrong with your mission and I just can't wait to see how you mess it all up this time. And I love all the jobs you have me do, although they usually involve people trying to cut me in half. But what happened? Is it him?" Amaro said glancing over underneath his mane of wild hair.

"Definetly not. Just a common criminal who figured out the location."

"Then how come your in trouble? I think that you can handle a common criminal and his thugs pretty easily by yourself."

She sighed. " It would have been relatively simple if he had'nt already had the girl prisoner. I was able to escape, but not before they wounded me." she said glancing down at her torn and bloodied clothes.

He frowned and delicatly ran his fingers over the wound. The shadow from his hand seemed to grow and strech until suddenly it was completely over her whole wound. She gasped in then let out a little sigh of pleasure. The pain was mostely gone although it would probably return whithin a few hours.

Once she had caught her breath she turned to Amaro and quickly said, "The brigands have the wrong girl luckily, but we can't leave her alone."

Amaro sighed and with a sad look on his face quietly said, "This is about Adlina again isn't it?"

She quickly nodded and said "Yes and I would appreciate it if you respected that and helped me!" She glared at him her chest heaving up and down.

He smirked and said, "Alrighty, lead the way."