Page 69 of Shadows Lost (Remnant Archives #1)

E veryone turned with shock at the sunny carefree shifter whose entire demeanor changed into a wrathful storm. Her eyes bled from brown to black in a matter of seconds.

Bane glared at her condescendingly. “Girl, you were just barely born then. What would you know about the Sanguine?”

The gold piercing of her lip flashed in the dim light at her silent snarl.

“You always love to remind me of how old I am, you fucking fossil. But you know my very birth had everything to do with that goddess forbidden land since you were the one who cut me and my twin out of our mother’s dead drained body. ”

My eyes widened and I looked around the table, noticing Emon, Asher, and Tyr were the only ones not shocked by this news.

Bane’s eyes narrowed on her, ignoring everyone else shifting uncomfortably. “If I could forget that day, girl, I would. Except you also love to remind me of it all the goddess damn time too. ”

“It should have been you that day.” Penina leaned across the table and hissed. “It should’ve been you drained to a fucking husk by the blood fae. You failed her, you failed the queen, and you failed me!”

Bane flinched and she laughed at his discomfort.

“Go back to your pouting corner, Bane. No one wants you here.”

The swordmaster narrowed his eyes, his lips pressed in a thin line. Jerking back a chair from the table he sat down directly across from her with a sullen glare. "I think I'll sit right here, thank you."

Riley and Xi raised their brows and looked over at me. I turned my head to Emon who shook his head slowly at all three of us, but there was a small satisfied smirk on his face. He was enjoying Bane’s fury.

Tyr opened his mouth only to be instantly covered by Asher’s hand. “Whatever foolishness is about to come out of your mouth, Tyr Cloud, we don’t need it. Swallow it down or I will do it for you.”

“Penina.” I said gently and waited for her to turn those angry black eyes on me. “What can you tell us about the Sanguine?”

She blinked, frowning at me as if she had forgotten we were all still here.

“The Sanguine is void of the sun, it is in constant darkness, and a frozen tundra of earth. There is very little plant life, very little water, and temperatures at night drop to unbearable conditions. I’ve already prepared our gear, it's been ready for years, in anticipation for this day.”

I frowned at her. “How is that possible?”

Emon cleared his throat. “Penina has been crossing the gateway each time it has been opened for centuries now, aside from the last, her personal quest has now become an asset."

Penina nodded. “Emon and I had anticipated that it would someday come to this.” She turned to the former shifter king. “Apologies, your grace but I don’t have supplies for you and fossil over there, should he curse us with his presence.” She jerked her thumb at Bane across from her.

The grinding of Bane’s teeth was audible but he remained quiet in his glare.

Asher snickered, glancing at his friend. “Not to worry. This place still acts as an outpost for the Red Caps. We have more than enough cold gear of our own. ”

Humming in the back of my throat, I turned towards Penina. “What kind of threats are we looking at?”

She sucked on one of her gold lip piercings in thought. “Assuming that all the blood fae are truly dead and the lands don’t kill us? Bruxa, Dullahan, and Baobahn. Those are the big hitters that I have come across. There are also accounts of red caps, naga, and trows.”

The color in Bane’s face drained, worry seeping into that hard glare.

“Any chance there are any creatures there that don’t want to fucking drink our blood dry?” Tyr asked drily.

“There is one gentle spirit.” Bane said gruffly. “Willow O Wisps.”

Penina gave him a passing glance. “He is right, the wisps exist there too.”

I leaned forward excitedly. “If we consume a wisp then we will not have to worry about the freezing temperatures and may travel undetected within the lands. Our heat will not attract those looking for a blood source.”

Xi groaned. “Do I even want to know how you catch a wisp and ask it to sacrifice itself to take on its power?”

I waved my hand towards the void and pulled out a leather sack from it.

“Wisps are pure power, the effects of their consumption only lasts for a few weeks before they return to their natural state. Long enough for us to get in and out of there within the timeframe we are under.” I unrolled the floppy leather, revealing eight perfectly made throwing knives.

“But to answer your first question. We catch them with these.” I balanced the tip of the blade on my finger.

Unlike a dagger they had no handle, tapered at both ends.

“You will all need to practice.” Flipping it, the knife fell perfectly vertical into the wooden table.

It was Riley who smirked at me mischievously “Dodging daggers?”

I nodded enthusiastically, seeing the fond memories in his eyes. “Dodging daggers.”

“You want to play a drinking game to practice catching wisps?” Tyr drawled, stretching back in his chair, his tattooed muscular chest on full display.

I smiled. “What else do you have to do?”

Tyr grinned. “I could think of a few things, beauty.”

Emon growled low in warning to him .

Asher stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Can someone explain this dodging of daggers?”

Emon sighed. “It’s an initiation for new recruits.

The new initiate has to throw a dagger at their superior while blindfolded.

If they hit them then they are able to ask their superior any truth and become an initiate, if they miss them, then the superior may either deny the initiate to join or ask then for a truth.

It’s been modified to a drinking game to kill the boredom. ”

I elbowed him hard and he grunted. “You missed explaining the reasoning.” I turned to Asher.

“It tells you several things about them.” I raised three fingers up, counting down.

“One, their weapon skills past sight and aim. Two, their inquisition skills. And three…the most important one of all, if they could ever catch a wisp for you.”

“You gotta be shitting me.” Xi sputtered through her white hair covering her face. “I’ve seen you determine those first two within meeting new recruits in seconds. Which means you have been testing all of us this whole goddess damn time to see who can catch a fucking wisp?”

I shrugged with a small smile. “Like gnomes, wisps are incredibly useful. Why do you think you and Riley were promoted so quickly?”

Xi grinned. “My life is a lie.”

Riley shook his head next to her chuckling.

Tyr grinned and gave the air a large sniff. “Let’s do this. One of you two old timers has a strong-smelling sort of spirit in that cellar. Let’s all drink when someone fails, to make this more interesting.”

“That would mean all of us will be drinking since one of us is always going to fail.” Riley pointed out.

Tyr licked at his fang, grinning. “Exactly.”

Penina practically bounced in her seat, her brown eyes as well as her personality back to their normal warmth. “I volunteer to dodge.”

I raised a brow at her. “You think you can dodge me, shifter?”

Her brown eyes sparkled with the challenge. “I know I can, shadow fae.”