To the Shadowsinger | Azriel

Chapter 4: Not fast enough

Raisa could always count on one thing. Her ability to get out of tough situations. Which was often. Her mother had given her the nickname Shadow when she was still alive. It stuck because of Raisa's way of soundlessly moving around court. Then later in life the nickname transformed into "Kaius's Shadow". Her husband's shadow. That's all she was most days and the thought turned her sour.

Her husband and silly nicknames were far from her mind as she slipped out of the handcuffs. The magic was sturdy but shattered at her touch. Her ankles were free next. The shadowsinger didn't pause his tantrum of throwing his fist into the wall as she winnowed passed him and to the top of the stairs of the dungeon.

She wished she could have stuck around longer. Truly, she enjoyed the sight of the shadowsinger. He was heartbreakingly handsome and if he asked nicely, she might have cut her heart out and handed it to him. Too bad she had a task at hand.

It has to be here, she raced on light feet through a long hall. The shadowsinger had windowed them there, but she felt like she was still underground. There was no sunlight and the walls, floors, and ceiling were all made of stone. Perhaps she was in a secret tunnel.

Be quick, she thought. She didn't like being in enemy territory and now that someone knew she was there, her anxiety increased. She figured she'd eventually get caught, was surprised it took so long, but it still made her nervous. It was her first time in Prythian in over 600 years. Her last experience hadn't been a good one either.

She came to a doorway and paused, praying her searching would come to an end. She slowly opened the door and poked her head in. The whole room was filled with chairs... just chairs. She sighed and kept walking, at least a storage room was better than barging into an occupied war council room.

Next room was occupied, it seemed like an electricity room. She skipped it.

Each room she checked, she had no luck. Hope was running low. She kept to the shadows and kept her head low as a couple of servants passed by and didn't notice her. The place was too big, she couldn't check every room, especially if she hoped not to get caught.

Time felt like it was ticking down until the Shadowsinger would find her again. Like a hound chasing a rabbit. Each sound made her jump and she half expected him to materialize from the shadows with a blade in hand. He was faster than she expected, had kept her on her toes.

She stopped as she felt a chill run down her spine. Convincing herself it was her imagination was difficult as she stared into a space completely devoid of light. She could have sworn she saw something move.

The feeling of being watched followed her as she continued to enter room after room until she couldn't ignore it. She pretended that she didn't notice it, but she knew there were eyes in the shadows.

One second she was walking down the tunnel and the next she was winnowed far away. She had made a small camp at the east side of the Night court, possibly near Illyrian territory from the amount she witnessed overhead. It wasn't her choice to make it her base, it was the creature that lurked in the cave who called her there. Told her it was safe. He would protect her.

"Bryaxis," she called into the shadows of the cave. She heard no response, just the breeze in her ear. He must have been enjoying the night. She couldn't blame him, the night sky was even more beautiful in the Night Court, like she was seeing it through a new lens.

Raisa pulled out a bed roll she had tucked behind a large rock. It wasn't the softest, but she got some of the best nights of sleep in all her six hundred and something years. She knew true peace and comfort sleeping under the stars. She would choose the bed roll over her king size any day.

Just as she closed her eyes, she heard a pair of wings fly overhead. She stayed completely still, knowing the beast would pass.

Instead, bright burning magic slammed into her with the strength of a thousand fae. It was enough to make her scream as she flipped and slammed into the trunk of a tree. Her head collided with the wood in a sickening crunch. Instantly, her vision blurred. She felt slick with blood, every inch of her burning.

The shadowsinger had gone easy with her before, now he wasn't playing around. Her smile was filled with blood as she looked up at him just as he grabbed her by the front of her shirt and hissed, "Are you ready to answer my questions?"

"Is that one of your questions?"

She didn't have much of a conscience to fight back though, her head was spinning and his magic still felt like it was burning her alive. She felt like she was on fire. The feeling was familiar. No one ever believed her but she knew exactly what it felt like to burn alive. Sometimes she looked down at her hands and expected them to be charred, the feeling was too real.

All of a sudden, the pain vanished but the throbbing of her head remained as he picked her up. He was flying, she was flying. She couldn't believe it, she had always wanted to fly and now she finally was doing it.

"We're flying," her voice was weak but she was sure the shadowsinger heard her. He kept his face blank but there was a sadness in his eyes.

She still had some sense to fight, she knew she had to get away before she blacked out. Adrenaline gave her the strength to slam her elbow into his face. His nose crunching was the last thing she heard before she was falling.

Shit, she was already falling too fast to catch herself by winnowing. If she screwed it up, she'd splat like an egg. Her best option was water. She winnowed herself over the nearby lake where she had been getting her freshwater from. The cold water hit her just as hard as the Shadowsinger had only minutes before.

She came to the surface of the water with a gasp, then coughed up a fair amount of water as she swam to the shore. She took a second to catch her breath and then she was running through the forest, knowing she had to find a safe place to hide.

Maybe she was an idiot, because she didn't know these woods and she was running through them like the shadowsinger was the only thing to fear. She didn't consider the other monsters but Bryaxis wasn't there to protect her this time.

It could have been the blood that drew the creature or her fear. She wasn't sure. All she knew was the tree she climbed already had an occupant. Two heads each the size of a horse materialized from the darkness. If she was a fifth of a second too slow, she would have been dead. The two headed creature was almost snakelike, it struck fast and hard where she sat on a branch.

She was fast, but not fast enough, she realized as she slammed into the forest floor and the worst pain she had ever felt ripped through her arm. One of the fangs had barely caught her, but the flesh around it was already starting to turn a wicked shade of black as venom coursed through her.

The last thing she saw was a flash of blue light before her world went dark.