Ruler of Shadows

Chapter 6 - Ariah

As I flung the dagger, I flew toward the piece of shit who was trying to kill what's mine. And he would pay. Slowly. Painfully.

He dodged the dagger, which worked perfectly for me. I had thrown another dagger in quick succession, where I thought his face would be if he avoided the first dagger. Either way, he gets a mouthful of sharp silver.

He hissed at me, and pried my bloody dagger off his face. I wrinkled my nose at the exposed flesh and bone. Most fae would die. But not him. Go figure.

He bent the dagger in his hand until it was just a jumbled mess. My eyes widened in horror.

"That was one of my favorite daggers you ass!  I was going to go easy on you, but now, you're gonna PAY!"  I screamed the last word as I brought my sword down with all my might. His own sword met mine, and we were off into a dance. The dance of death.

Dance of Death would be an interesting name.  I mused as I fought. If I ever decided to become a dancer or choreographer, then I would definitely name something that.

I couldn't help but think of another time I was in this position. Fighting with Hybern for my people. But I was going to lose. Again. I was powerful, but he always kept a piece of the Cauldron with him. I didn't know where it was, but it was giving him power.  Strength. Speed. And magic. But the one thing it didn't give him was shadows.

Shadows. That's where my edge was. Shadows were everywhere in the world. I just needed all the shadow I could get.

I fought well, but that wasn't where my attention lay. No, I was summoning shadows. And I was watching our fight from the shadows.

I look like a badass. I couldn't help but think that. You could hardly see us, we were moving too fast. If only I could get the Cauldron away from him. For most people, the Cauldron wouldn't obey their wish. But the King was evil. It only made sense that the Cauldron senses something similar in him, and decided to befriend him. Like calls to like after all.

I sent my shadows to report his weaknesses. Instead, all they said is that I couldn't win this fight. And I shouldn't. Don't win. Lose, and things shall play out. I snorted at that. As if.

I saw the change in his expression. He was done with this. He knew he couldn't convince me to fight for him, and we were pretty evenly matched. Without the Cauldron, of course. But he was probably too lazy. With a glance, he disarmed me.

His magic, his rutting magic, paralyzed me. I couldn't move. But I could see perfectly fine as he walked up to Karin. Karin glared at him with all the hate in the world, but the jerk didn't care. He walked up to him, and broke every bone in his body with his magic. Just like Karin and I, he paralyzed all my people.

I watched as he killed a blind male. A mother. A crippled female. Again and again, each way painful, and different. He sucked all the air from someone's lungs. He cut my Annah's throat, letting her choke on her own blood.

Kaz. I thought in horror. He was crying. And I realized that Annah was his mate.  My son had just lost his mate. I closed my eyes, as the damn tears came. I held it in, but thinking that my son was going through a pain similar to what I had once gone through was too much. I didn't make a sound though, as tears silently slipped down my cheek.

Hybern had slaughtered everyone. Everyone except Damon, Kaz, and Gavin. Me, Damon, and Gav has essentially raised Kaz. Hybern somehow knew this.

"I find it's always interesting to kill children in front of their parents. Wouldn't you agree, Ariah?"  I glared at him with all the hate I could muster, and began barking out the most creative curses I could. And he laughed.

Then, the true torture began. Hybern first broke some bones on Kaz. Then made some cuts. Then he got curious, apparently, and tried to extract the bones out by digging through his flesh. They wouldn't let him pass out, and he was very much aware of what they were doing to his body. They then ended by whipping him, until his back resembled a piece of meat. I wanted to vomit at that point. I had seen many things in my lifetime. This wasn't even that bad, but I witnessed my son get tortured. And this triggered so many flashbacks.

Most of my children died a painful death. My first daughter, the only one who was mine, not adopted, may have gone through the worst one. In my opinion, anyway. But she was also the youngest.

Kaz was alive the whole night. All four of us exchanged glances, silently communicating. I had trained as a healer for some time, and knew Kaz was going to die. Damon and Gavin knew too. And deep down, Kaz did. But he was ready. He practically had nothing to live for. He was the Heir to nothing. His mate was slaughtered. His family was probably going to die too. And his mother was the reason he was in this mess in the first place. So death would be a mercy for him.

I knew the exact moment when Kaz finally died. I saw the beautiful light leave his eyes. But I was relieved that he could finally achieve peace. I spent the next few days still paralyzed and muted, just like my companions. I silently grieved for all that I had lost, and they did too. That's why it was a surprise when we were rescued.

********

A soldier randomly came up to us, and with a snap of his fingers, undid the bindings. I breathed a sigh of relief. Now, onto business. I was going to torture that son of a bitch until he cried for his mother.

As I began to stalk toward the King's tent, Damon took my hand and shook his head. I glared at him, and we silently argued. That was our mistake.

********

Hybern was not happy. He killed the soldier that rescued us. And then he started on me.  I had rather sensitive wings, and he destroyed them. Mutilated them. I could shapeshift with my shadows, but I don't know if the wings would appear healed. And would my actual wings show the same wounds?

********

Over the month, I became a punching bag. I didn't make a sound. For Damon. For Gavin. For Kaz. For Leela, my daughter. For Azriel. For my people, who were slaughtered because of me.

The King knew that hurting me hurt Damon and Gavin more, opposed to actually torturing them. I went through the same torture Kaz did. Except they kept me alive. I was in a haze, and welcomed the pain. The physical pain became a distraction for me. Otherwise, left with my thoughts, all I could think about was of what I lost.

********

For some odd reason, another soldier came to rescue us. At this point, I highly doubted they were actual Hybern soldiers. I would've thought more about it, except the fact that I. Didn't. Give. A. Shit.

I was basically passed out at this point, and Damon and Gavin took me and ran. They also took Kaz's body. Hybern used magic to preserve Kaz, and kept his body in front of my eyes. All the time. So I could see my failure.

I felt myself get lifted into someone's arms. I felt the powerful wing beats as they flew as fast as possible. I passed out soon from the pain in my wounds. The jolting just aggravated the broken bones, and open wounds.

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1327 words.