Page 44 of Return of the Darkness (The Lost Kingdom Saga #3)

“Cain, low!” Caellum threw his sword with unnatural force, watching it soar through the air.

Sir Cain ducked low, just as it met its mark in the soldier’s chest. The shadows dissipated and did not reform.

Caellum charged forward at the remaining shadows drifting down the street with speed, likely noting they were outnumbered.

The air felt lighter as Caellum rushed forward and pressed his hand against the glass panes of the apothecary.

At least half of the candles burned brightly inside, illuminating his queen’s golden hair.

Sadira stumbled forward, resting her palm against his on the glass.

Caellum was about to command a solider to open the door before shouts rang out in the distance, sounding near the city square.

His eyes widened as he turned back to Sadira, but he knew what to do before she opened her mouth.

“Go!” Though her shout was muffled, her words were clear. Caellum pulled his hand away and kissed his fingertips before touching the glass again.

“Stay with her,” Caellum commanded the soldiers. Only Sir Cain travelled with him, grabbing his sword from the ground and rushing through the streets.

Neither the king nor his commander were quiet as they sprinted down the cobbles, illuminated occasionally by the movement of drapes within homes as citizens searched for the noise. The shouting grew louder, and Caellum recognized a voice he knew. Lord Ryon.

“See what has befallen your city under the care of the usurper!” he shouted as Caellum turned from the last street into the square.

The sky was lightening to a deep blue, making the square more visible.

One by one, drapes twitched, illuminating the fountain in the centre where Lord Ryon stood atop the stone, surrounded by his guards, who raised their swords at the shadowed solders now circling them. Caellum counted ten.

“He has allowed darkness into our city; he has put your lives at risk!” Lord Ryon shouted.

A soldier thrust his sword at a shadow, yet it merely shifted out of the way, shaking as if laughing.

Far too many lights from buildings now brightened the square; it proved too much for the shadows to dampen.

Lord Ryon angled his head up at the window to his right.

“Come, come! Bear witness to your king’s failures.

” The shadows’ heads turned, following the lord’s eyeline to where a woman peered from the window.

Caellum swore internally. The fool was drawing attention to innocent people.

One shadow shifted, powering towards the front door of the woman’s house before drifting through it.

Other shadows followed suit. Ryon appeared unconcerned at the implications of his words.

The front door opened as a shadow dragged out a screaming woman by her hair.

“Your king allows your people to be tainted by darkness and have their lives threatened!” Lord Ryon shouted.

Another two women cried out as two other shadows dragged them out of the same home.

More and more light filled the square as people peered out, terrified and intrigued.

Caellum’s blood boiled as the shadowed hands roamed the women’s bodies—no part of them was safe from the darkness.

“Your king allows your women to be assaulted, to be killed!”

“Enough!” Caellum roared, dragging his sword along the cobbles as he strode into the square, head high.

Even the shadows paused at his authority.

Caellum glanced at the women and shadows.

Lord Ryon was mistaken; Caellum cared for his people.

He had grown up in this city and sought comfort in its residents when his parents offered him none.

While he knew little about those who supported his crown and those wishing to see him gone, it did not erase the fact he knew Garridon’s people.

The king knew the three women before him were sisters, whose parents died of a winter illness four years ago.

They were the only residents in that house, and that was all Caellum needed to know as he nodded to Sir Cain approaching from the street beside it. A warning to be ready.

“Enough!” Caellum knelt on the ground and slammed his fists into the city’s stone floor, a reminder he would protect this realm.

Caellum repeated the motion and a jolt rippled through the street, strong enough for the shadows to stumble and release their hold of the women who ran to Sir Cain.

The shadows turned towards the king and formed a line together, the perfect position for what Caellum hoped he could manage it.

While the other heirs were blessed with elemental gifts from the gods, the Balfours had always possessed strength.

One day, he would perhaps know where it came from.

For the first time in his life, that power truly called to him, knowing the risk to his realm.

A deep need to protect thrummed in his veins as he slammed his fists into the ground again, sending a sharp crack towards the building behind the shadows, to the now empty home the women were taken from.

The shadows were prepared for the responding tremor and stepped toward him.

What they were not prepared for though, was that Caellum had willed that strength and power to send the crack toward the empty home.

The shadows were none the wiser as the building shifted in its foundations and began to fall.

Only one shadow turned back at the noise, the others were intent on reaching the king.

The single shadow shifted to one side towards Lord Ryon, just as the stone building fell on the remaining nine shadows.

The sky was brighter now, with the deep blue giving way to a glow rising beyond the city.

In that glow, darkness seeped from beneath the building and did not reform.

Caellum winced at the pain Elisara might feel as those nine bodies returned to her and the sword.

“Your king cares not for your lords!” Lord Ryon’s voice trembled as Caellum faced the fountain again.

Ryon’s men had disbanded, leaving him in the clutches of a shadowed soldier.

They were about as loyal as their lord, it seemed.

Black shadowed hands held the lord's head, and a small blade of darkness was poised at his throat. “Your king does not—” Gurgling disrupted his words when the soldier dragged its blade across the lord's neck. A moment later, an arrow pierced through the shadow’s skull as soldiers from the northern side filtered into the square. As Lord Ryon’s body fell with a thud, Caellum felt a fleeting sense of sadness, despite his foul words.

He had lost a member of Garridon, even one who would have been thrown into prison for his treacherous words.

The buildings were soon bathed in pink as the sun rose and doors opened, welcoming the soldiers who filtered in to check the safety of the citizens, who were safe because of him. Their king.