Lady Shade Page 9

  “Eratta, you stand accused of being a lycanthrope,” one of the inquisitors said. “How do you plead?”

  “I am no lycanthrope,” he hissed. “I’m a goddamn Dane.”

  “Denial? Then there can be no expulsion of the demon before you die.”

  The first attacked with a silver axe. But Eratta, a trained swordsman with the skill of an Englishman and the might of a Dane, parried and sliced and the inquisitor staggered backward, clutching his throat, with blood spilling from it. He toppled to the snow, and the birds perched upon the trees took flight.

  More inquisitors attacked. Milla fired six times and their heads cracked open like eggs. Their bodies toppled to the snow in bloody heaps, with a crunch. Milla looked down to reload just as another one of Errata’s guards step out onto the wall, wielding a crossbow. She snapped the revolver shut and the guard shot at Milla, but Eratta in front of her. The arrow went through his stomach and lodged in his back. He gasped and staggered back. Another gunshot echoed and the guard toppled out of view. Eratta hit the snow, gasping, looking at an open blue sky. The snow was icy and comforting against his cheeks. Milla fell to her knees, beside him.

  “Eratta! No, no, no. Why… why did they think… were you…”

  “Of course not.” He sighed. “But it’s just like what happened to Teffly, isn’t it? Fear and ignorance, always.”

  “You’re badly wounded. I can… I don’t… no, my—”

  “I’m about… to lose strength. Milla, you’re the most beautiful thing in this world, in soul and body. Just make sure your mind… finds peace, too.”

  Eratta went on to the place of his fathers and waited for Milla to come to him. He smiled all the way.

  Daniel

  Errata lay on his back, with a content expression, surrounded by six dead inquisitors. Uvire called out that he’d found a guard dead on the wall. All of them had suffered from gunshot wounds, except one who’d been sliced up by Eratta’s blade. The snow had melted into a thick pool of water filled with red.

  Daniel looked around. “Has anyone seen Miss Shade?” he shouted.

  His men shook their heads.

  Daniel crouched down and studied the dead men. All six had headshots, and he remembered seeing Milla’s new gun, which could hold eight bullets. She must’ve shot the two guards as well.

  “Miss Shade has gone to take revenge for this!” Daniel said. “Does anyone know the current whereabouts of High Inquisitor August?”

  “Redrock!” Uvire called back.

  “Good job,” Daniel said. “Did anyone see anything?”

  “I just got done with a witness,” one of his men said, from the door. “They said they came out to see Miss Shade surrounded by dead bodies. She was holding Eratta in her arms. Then she got on her stallion and rode out of the estate.”

  “We will find August,” Daniel said. “All this is to be considered self-defense on the part of Milla. August is in charge of these inquisitors and he will be prosecuted as such. Mount up!”

  As his men hurried to the front of the estate, Daniel took one last look at Eratta laying in the cold.

  “I would stop to mourn,” he sighed and smiled, “but I know you’d want me to make sure Milla’s safe. So to Milla I’ll go.”

  He sprinted ran to the front gate, where his fourteen men had already mounted their horses, with new silver-bullet rifles on their shoulders. Daniel spurred his horse to gallop and his men followed. Redrock was a town that mined silver, in the hills, and they rode to the base of the mountain, through trails of trees, open roads, and narrow paths. Finally, they broke from the trees to the plain of the long-grassed hillside, and Daniel pulled his horse to a stop.

  There laid a white-robed inquisitor on their back, with blood pouring from two gunshot wounds in the chest. A silver-tipped staff lay on the grass beside him. Daniel trailed the horse up to where a purple-robe and another white-robe lay. One of them had no head, and the other had bled out after leaving a smear of blood during the crawl to try to reach safety.

  “A lady did this?” one of the men asked.

  “Miss Shade is barely human,” Daniel said.

  They continued up the hillside, towards the town. The sun stood at the top of the hill and beamed between the large stone houses. There Milla stood, outlined in the shadows, surrounded by empty streets and quiet buildings. She glanced back at Daniel and marched deeper into the town.

  “Milla!” He spurred his horse into a gallop up the hill and onto the streets, then halted.

  Milla was standing in the town square, and doors all around were opening as the inquisitors spilled out. She took fire and the carnage began. The inquisitors tried to attack, but Milla was faster than any mortal being Daniel had seen. With the fire of pain in her heart, she shot accurately and reloaded quickly, and the men fell as fast as they came. They started trying to climb over one another, but Milla kept shooting. Daniel held his hands up, knowing she might reflexively shoot anyone who approached. Eventually, she stood alone, the last inquisitor barely only crawling a foot away from her before toppling over.

  She tossed his limp body aside and shrieked, “August, you sick bastard! Face me like a man!”

  “High Inquisitor August, by the power vested in me by my lord,” Daniel trailed his horse into the town square, “and following the wishes of my Lord Eratta for me to serve Miss Shade should he die during the events of this town, you are under arrest for the murder of Lord Eratta. Come into the light and face God’s judgment.”

  The doors to the town hall opened, and August walked out, shrouded in a rich red robe, holding a two-handed war hammer in both hands. He was armored in head-to-toe in silver and he pointed his weapon at Milla.

  “Fire!” Daniel commanded.

  His men fired in a volley, but the bullets bounces off August’s armor.

  “I’ve got him,” Milla hissed.

  “He’s fully armored,” Daniel said. “In resisting arrest, High Inquisitor August, your life is forfeit. Anyone who kills you will not be charged with any crime.”

  “You are of the devil, Daniel and Milla,” August said. “And I’ll kill you both.”

  Milla advanced, her navy dressed billowing. August moved towards her and threw up his hammer. She fired a shot and August cried out. The shot had gone through the plating on his wrist and he staggered back. He tried to wield the hammer with one hand, but a shot to the shoulder rendered his arm useless. He cursed, reaching for a blade, and Milla kicked him in the jaw, which launched him onto his back.

  “The first man I’ve loved in a long time, and you killed him! You are not a man of God. I hope you enjoy damnation.”

  August lay on his back, with wide eyes. It appeared he was realizing that all his righteousness was nothing more than arrogance.

  Milla was deadlier than the greatest warrior, because she was a huntress. August had been her prey, and she’d left dead bodies piled all around the town square on her path to get to him.

  “Fuck you.” She snatched off his breast piece to reveal bare chest. Pressed the silver gun against his heart and fired.

  The shot resounded through town, captured by the curious eyes, and August became still. Milla stepped away from his body and strode away. Daniel began to ride towards her, but stopped.

  Now that she’d hunted, she needed to rest.

  Solace

  Solace opened his eyes. The trees’ warning whispers became silent as he took in his surroundings. He listened to the spirits and they answered. While standing at the steps of the monastery, he saw it. It raked its claws through the bark of the trees, and the beast’s eyes flashed green in the darkness. It rose, towering three times the height of a man, with a vicious grin. Its eyes gleamed white and it stepped from the trees.

  “You reek,” Green-Eyes growled.

  A tree toppled over and crashed behind it.

  “You’re not human,” it said.

  “No, I’m a spirit,” Solace said

  It looked around and saw Tubiel lean
ing against a tree, with mace on his hip and a wolfhound at his side.

  “He reeks, too,” the beast roared. “He was a Lycan.”

  “Correct.” Solace nodded. “And I cured him. I offer the same thing to you.”

  It shook its head.

  Solace nodded. “I wish to see the lycanthrope threat ended, by any means. I’ll force the wolf and the man within you apart, as I did with Tubiel.”

  “It’s this union that allows me to protect,” it growled.

  “I just want to know who Fire-Eyes is,” Solace said.

  Green-Eyes began to speak, but snapped its teeth and choked and thrashed its head about. Then it righted itself.

  “Seems it can’t betray one of its pack,” Tubiel said.

  The sky was clear, and Solace listened to the trees as they whispered dark omens. They spoke of death coming soon. Of a tragedy, and Solace asked them who this tragedy would fall upon, but they didn’t know.

  Green-Eyes stared at both of them.

  “Do you have worshippers in the town?” Solace asked Green-Eyes.

  “Yes,” it replied.

  “Who?”

  It didn’t respond.

  The wind howled.

  “Now!” Solace shouted.

  From the shadows, Nathaniel hurled a spear and it sliced through Green-Eyes’s arm. Tubiel rushed toward it, silver-laced rope in hand, and grabbed Green-Eyes’s other arm. The beast thrashed and threw Tubiel through the air. He crashed to the dirt. It ripped the spear from its flesh and sliced his claws through the rope, then howled right as the ground began to glow with orange light. Solace hurled the amber at Green-Eyes, locked it around his chest and shunted him into the ground. The beast hit the dirt, and Solace felt the heat of the glow, which rose in orange smoke. With invisible strings, he forced Green-Eyes up onto its knees, then poured the smoke through his maw and nose, and the tether was made. He reached deep to find the man so that he could set him free. But he found that a wolf and a man weren’t trapped together. It was a whole blue spirit.

  Green-Eyes tore itself free. Solace pulled his mind back to the mortal realm right as Green-Eyes charged into him and slashed its claw through his stomach.

  “Solace!” Tubiel and Nathaniel shouted.

  His guts splattered on the dirt and he fell to one knee.

  “Fuck!” Solace gasped.

  Green-Eyes reared up and charged off into the darkness.

  Tubiel kneeled beside him. “Solace, can you—”

  “No, I can’t heal myself.” He sighed.

  “Aren’t you… Solace, you’re dying.”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Aren’t you—”

  “I’m not even meant to be alive, Nathaniel.”

  “He doesn’t even know which of us is talking,” Tubiel said.

  “He’s dying, Tubiel,” Nathaniel said.

  “No, no, he can’t!”

  “I find it funny I only just figured out who Fire-Eyes is.” Solace gasped again. “Don’t worry, brother. My body dies, but my soul…”

  Solace held up his ring, and then he was gone.

  Lady Shade

  The beauty and magnificence of Bronzeglade was now Milla’s, by will of Eratta. His funeral would be tomorrow and he was going to be buried beside Teffly. Milla didn’t mind that. The man had so much love in his heart that there was enough room for both of them.

  Word had spread that spirit Solace Blue had returned to its ring, by the hands of Green-Eyes, and Fire-Eyes hadn’t appeared during the murder. Milla remembered going to see Solace to understand the mind of the wolf, and he had been right. The mind of man in the wolf is what made a lycanthrope so dangerous.

  Funny enough, the accusations which led to Eratta’s death hadn’t been far from the truth, and Milla was amazed she hadn’t noticed it earlier. The lycanthrope that guarded Bronzeglade was older than any resident, so she searched the town’s history and found her answer within records that had barely survived the fire.

  “Father James Blossom, son of Oliver Blossom,” she said.

  A lycanthrope father and son. Oliver Blossom had a child despite being a priest, but guided his son James on lycanthropy. Taught him how to control it and how to fuse the human and wolf, in mind and soul. Blossom had been keen to be rid of the inquisitors and Milla, and had gotten angry because he feared for his life.

  The first night she was attacked, when Green-Eyes had attacked her and Father Blossom had been the only person who’d known, Milla had assumed that Green-Eyes had smelled the silver, which was a common occurrence and was suggested in the journals that even in their human shape, the smell of silver was strong for lycanthropes. It had been used as a test for centuries.

  Milla looked her revolver over. Six shots left.

  “I’m guessing you figured it out, too.” Tubiel walked up beside her.

  “Father Blossom is Green-Eyes.” Milla nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

  “You know, it’s never as romantic as they say.” Tubiel sighed. “Truths usually come in the silence.”

  “Yeah. I can at least kill one.”

  “As is the fate of hunters. Solace fixed up my arm before he returned to the ring, but I’m still pretty banged up.” Tubiel held up the ring and the gem gleamed blue. “And now that I have it, I can see him and speak to him. He says you can confront Blossom in his church. He’s alone there now. Question him and kill him.”

  “Such is the fate of a huntress.” Milla gave a sad smile. “But if I’m honest, I’ve felt happiness in this town. With Eratta, with real friends like you and Uvire. Hell, avenging Eratta’s death was the greatest hunt I’ve ever done.”

  “You have a fire in your heart.” Tubiel shrugged. “But the truth is, it’s the warm fire of a hearth and you’ve been letting it spread through your entire house.”

  “Since when were you one for spiritual advice?”

  “I get it. I was the same.”

  Milla chuckled. “Now, for the hard part.” She sighed and got up. “Thank you, Tubiel.”

  “Always.” He nodded, with a smile.

  The walk to the church was a heavy one and her heart was low. Father Blossom was a good man, and she didn’t know if he deserved this. She beamed when she found herself cursing Eratta for softening her heart, but that quickly faded. She arrived at the market square sooner than expected and stared at the church, its gleaming white spire piercing the sky. Milla began traversing across the square and stopped in front of the church’s small door. She opened it and stepped into the church, her footsteps echoing. Once she entered the heart of the church, she saw Father Blossom preparing a chalice of wine on the altar, dressed in white and green robes. He turned to face Milla, bowed his head and set the chalice down on the altar. Dark clouds washed the light from the windows and Blossom was cast in shadow. Then the light returned and he looked at her, with a confused expression.

  “I have to ask,” Milla said. “Why did you try to kill me?”

  The light was dashed by the clouds once again, and Blossom’s eyes glinted green in the dark. Then the light reappeared. He stared at the sky and red began to creep in. He pulled up his sleeves to reveal his silver bracers, then took a cloth and began cleaning the feet of a Jesus statue at the side of the altar.

  “Why?” Milla asked.

  “A huntress lingering on such questions.” Blossom sighed. “If our Lord truly made you a huntress, I wouldn’t be here, no?”

  “Answer my question.”

  “Is self-preservation not an explanation?” Blossom looked to the window once again as the red continued to creep over the sky. “I’m assuming you know a few pieces of the puzzle. But understanding, no, you have none. I can see that.”

  “You aren’t even looking at me!” she hissed.

  Blossom whipped away the filthy cloth and plunged it into a bucket behind the altar. “I don’t need to.” He rinsed the dirt from the cloth.

  Milla reached down to her holster and gripped her revolver.

  “Go ahead.
Shoot me.” He took the wet cloth and moved on to the statue of Mary. “I can’t defend myself. I haven’t killed anyone.”

  “The moon’s out.”

  “Full and beautiful, as are all God’s creations. “You know, Miss Shade, I’ve been wondering about you. Who you are, your intentions. How much you knew about me. About yourself, even. About this town, lycanthropy. About the amber.”

  “Really?”

  “Really.” Blossom smiled. “Do you know who carried out the murder?”

  “No.” The huntress shrugged.

  He finished cleaning the feet of Mary, rinsed off the cloth and left it in the water, then stood. Silence hung for a moment.

  “Tubiel did,” Blossom said. “Four nights later, I went after him. Nearly killed him, too, but the Golden Wolf was tougher than I thought. What makes it interesting was who he attacked. It took me a long time to find out who that was, but I eventually did.”

  “My mother. The only other surviving hunter of the Shade name.”

  Blossom appeared confused again. Miss Shade pointed her revolver at him as he looked her up and down. She was in a flowing black dress and her wrists glinted silver in the red light. He stepped back.

  “You wrong,” Fire-Eyes said. “It was me.” She fired.

  The bullet went through Blossom’s shoulder. He staggered back, blood bursting from the wound. He spun and slammed chest-first into the marble floor.

  Blossom hissed, pulling himself up the steps, and grappled with one of the silver bracers. “It’s possession of your mind is so strong, Milla, that not even silver bracers can stop the beast.” He gasped and managed to smile as he rolled onto his back to face her. “It’s… it’s saddening.”

  Fire-Eyes crouched, her red hair draping around her, eyes glinting orange in the light of dusk which shone through every window and casted the room in crimson. She pressed her revolver against the center of his forehead, glaring deep into his eyes.

  “The best thing about lycanthropes isn’t the wolf,” Fire-Eyes said. “It’s the human. She makes the perfect huntress. Heartless, cunning, smart. Can kill anyone and anything. She manifested her humanity, at last.”