Kami's courage - A Born of Shadow Fanfiction

3 - Glimmer of Hope

Liam was glad to see the spark in Kami's eyes again. She didn't feel quite like Kami without it. They exchanged a look for of fresh resolve. The torch had almost gone out, so it was lucky they could even see one another. Kami had to admit she was not looking forwards to being stuck in the dark for who knew how long... hopefully, not too long, if they figured out how to break free... though there was still the problem of getting past the Shadow Queen, her shadow monsters, finding Neyna and all getting out alive.

Nothing easier... Kami thought with a frustrated sigh.

“I'm all for getting out,” Samuel said, for once not sounding snarky. “But how exactly do you suggest we do that?”

Kami sighed.

“I don't know...” she said. “But we'll find a way. We have to.”

She glanced at Gedo, who had come round, but was clearly worn.

“Gedo can't stay like this for much longer, and we still haven't found Neyna. And I refuse to give up on her.”

“That's my girl,” Liam smiled.

She smiled back. Then, she began thinking. They clearly wouldn't get anywhere by trying to break their binds... and she the Shadow Queen seemed too smart to be tricked into freeing them... maybe they could try with the shadows, but she had a nasty feeling the queen would sense or know somehow what they were doing. This was going to be tricky... but what was it her father used to tell her? Oh, yes... “You'll never succeed if you don't try. But to try, you have to believe you can”. Thinking of her father was something she had been trying not to do all these years. And doing it now made her feel a little wistful.

Ha... what would you do, Baba...? I'm sure you'd know exactly what would get us out...

She was just thinking how much she missed him and wished he was here, when Liam gasped.

“Kami!”

“What?” she asked. "What's wrong?

“Kami! Look at your chest!”

Zaynah felt a sharp jolt of pain as Alexander flared up in her mind.

That is what I sensed earlier! he hissed, clearing forcing any trace of panic out of his voice. But what is it? Where is it coming from?

“I don't know.” Zaynah answered uninterestedly. "Nor do I understand what you're so worried about."

Personally, she couldn't sense anything, sitting in her throne room, stroking one of her shadow creatures absently, her long robe flowing about her like a queen's should. In her eyes, the fact that she felt no menace whatsoever could only be the evidence of her immense and growing power. Nothing could touch or stop her now. She was powerful, beautiful, and unstoppable.

Don't be such a fool! The king interjected sharply. There is a threat to the both of us nearby, and you are foolish to take it so lightly! Especially when we know nothing of it, meaning we have no knowledge on how to counter it!

“What threat?” Zaynah snapped, her long black hair bristling. “Those meddlesome children and their professor friend are locked up in a cell with the strongest shadow chains I could create. They'll never get out. I can't see what threat they are.”

I said there is a threat, not that they were the threat! Alexandra snarled irritably. Now be quiet and let me try and determine what it is.