Page 17 of Shardless (Tempris #1)

“You know I can see through your nightdress when you do that, right?”

That was the point at which Taly decided she didn’t care if he died. Bringing the pillow down, she didn’t hold back as she tried to smother him.

The rest of the morning was surprisingly uneventful. Once Skye managed to convince Taly to grant him a “stay of execution,” they packed up their things, grabbed a quick breakfast, and settled their bill. As they were leaving, Taly spied Adalet and a man she could only assume to be Lord Achard sitting in a secluded corner of the tavern down on the first floor.

“I think Jezebel is trying to get your attention,” Taly said, jerking her head towards the pair’s table.

“What?” Skye followed Taly’s gaze, a slight frown tugging at his lips when he saw Adalet’s not-so-subtle wave. He gave a polite nod before turning back to Taly. “You ready to head out?”

Taly raised a skeptical brow. “You’re not even going to say ‘hello?’ In highborn society, isn’t that some sort of social heresy?”

“Well, look at that. You do remember your manners,” Skye teased, throwing an arm around her and pulling her towards the stairs. “But no. I had more than enough of ‘Jezebel’s’ company last night. As much as you hate ‘Lord Emrys,’ he at least has enough political sway to get away with snubbing the occasional noblewoman. When my mother hears, I’m sure she’ll have a few choice words for me, but that’s nothing new.”

Despite her reddening cheeks, Taly found herself walking a step closer to him. “Has your mother been pushing you to go back to Ghislain again?”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Skye said, wincing slightly. “She actually threatened to disinherit me and reinstate my brother as the heir when I said I’d be too busy with the Aion Gate connection to attend my fifth cousin’s wedding as well as the summer court season in Arylaan. She took that back pretty quickly, though, when she realized that nothing would make me happier.”

Taly smiled. “Skipping court and snubbing Jezebel? If you’re not careful, your reputation with the ladies might start to suffer.”

“I don’t give two shits about this so-called reputation you say I’m supposed to have,” he countered as they descended the final stair and hit the first-floor landing. “Besides—between my Gate Watchers’ duties and the fact that I’m supposed to be taking the exam to get my fifth training seal next month, I barely have enough free time to deal with your nonsense. Where the hell am I going to find the time and energy to entertain other women?”

Taly chuckled softly before giving into temptation and twining her fingers with the hand that rested on her shoulder. When she looked up, the subtle-yet-sincere smile on Skye’s face sent a surprisingly pleasant shiver down her spine.

As they stepped through the open doorway of the inn, she glanced over her shoulder and caught Adalet’s eye. To Taly’s great amusement, the catty highborn’s perfect features were screwed up in anger, and her scowl only deepened when Taly gave her a cocky wink.

By the time Taly and Skye retrieved their horses and turned south to head towards Ebondrift, a comfortable silence had settled between them. The forest canopy started to thin, and streaks of buttery sunlight sliced through the trees as a gentle wind rustled the leaves overhead. Leaning back in her saddle, Taly let out a pleased sigh. It was a beautiful day, and the sun felt deliciously warm against her skin. She had always loved lying out on the front steps of the manor during the summer, and when they were younger, Skye used to liken her to a lazy cat.

Maybe he was right, she thought, stretching her arms high overhead.

“Everything alright?” she asked when she heard a low, incoherent curse from the man riding alongside her. Receiving no answer, she glanced over only to see that Skye was staring at her with slightly unfocused eyes. “Do I have something on my face?” she asked, wiping at her chin self-consciously.

Skye started. “Huh? Uh… no. Sorry. It’s nothing,” he mumbled, shaking his head as he turned away.

“If you say so,” she muttered to herself. Shrugging off his strange behavior, Taly pulled out her map. Some of the wards on the side of the road looked damaged. That meant she needed to stay focused. After all, it wasn’t like they could depend on Skye’s sense of direction if they got lost.

Thankfully, they didn’t have to stray too far from the main road, and even though the horses were a little on edge, pulling at the reins and at times refusing to go forward, they made good time on the second leg of their trip to Ebondrift.

“Shouldn’t there be more people here?” Taly asked as they approached the outer edge of the small gate town. The main roads were still strangely devoid of travelers, even more so than the day before. In fact, they hadn’t passed a single person since shortly after they left Della.

“Yeah,” Skye replied. He closed his eyes, and Taly knew that he was channeling his aether, using his enhanced senses to search for those things that were beyond her ability to detect. “This is strange. The Seren Gate opened a few days ago—that’s more than enough time for the mainland traders to get set up. The Ebondrift market should be in full swing by now.”

“I don’t get it,” Taly said, dismounting and bringing her horse’s reins over its head. “Kaeli, my contact back in Della, mentioned that the market has been a bit slow lately, but I’m starting to think she meant to say it shut down.”

“How old was that information?” Skye asked as he slid out of his saddle.

Taly sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She scowled when her fingers caught in her braid. “She said she was here the night before last just before the stalls closed.” Glancing around the deserted stable, she reached for the reins of Skye’s horse. “I don’t see the groom. You go on ahead and check with the Watchers—I’ll take care of the horses.”

“Thanks.” Skye paused when his fingers grazed her palm. His eyes found hers, and he frowned, opening his mouth to speak.

“I’ll be fine,” Taly said, anticipating his concern. Leave it to Skye to worry over nothing. “And if I’m not… well, I’m armed.” She patted the heel of one of the pistols holstered at her waist.

“I know, but I just don’t think it’s a good idea to split up.” Skye ran a nervous hand through his hair. “Especially with that guy in Ryme and—"

“Seriously, would you just go?” She laughed as she pushed him towards the stable door. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll come straight to the command post after I’m done. No dawdling.” She gave a mock salute, something she had learned from a mortal trader years ago.

“Okay! Okay,” Skye conceded, holding up his hands. He still didn’t look convinced, but he started backing away. “Just please be careful.”

“I always am.” Taly gave him a wink.

Skye stumbled slightly, and she couldn’t stop the giggle that fell from her lips. She didn’t think she’d ever seen a shadow mage trip over his own two feet. “No, you’re not,” he muttered, pushing his hair out of his eyes. “Still, I expect you to at least try.”

“Will do,” Taly said as she turned back to the horses. “Now, get lost, Em.”

Tying off the horses, Taly shook her head, still laughing to herself as she heard Skye’s footsteps crunching on the gravel path outside. When he was finally far enough away that she didn’t think he could hear her, even with those super shadow senses of his, she turned to the little gelding she had been riding and said, “Can you believe that, Byron? No faith. I’ve done just fine on my own for almost a year now, but he doesn’t think I can walk across a village without finding trouble. That highborn jerk is going to make himself go gray if he’s not careful.”

Byron gave a disinterested snort in reply, which Taly decided to take as wholehearted agreement.

As she wandered up and down the rows of stalls, she shook her head in disgust. She had never had much respect for the grooms in the public stables in Ebondrift before, but this was a new low. Even for them. The stable was near capacity, but there wasn’t a man or woman in sight. The stalls hadn’t been mucked in over a day, and the animals’ water troughs were empty.

Taly had always had a soft spot for animals, so after she stalled her own horses, she started tending to the others—feeding, watering, and mucking. The animals tore into their food, paying her no mind while she shoveled out the trampled hay and manure.

It was hard work, but Taly was grateful for the distraction. After that morning, she could no longer deny that her feelings for Skye were becoming complicated , and she needed space to sort it all out. The fact that she had drunkenly invited the arrogant, highborn bastard into her bed last night clearly indicated that her usual strategy of just ignoring whatever made her uncomfortable until it went away didn’t seem to be working this time.

When she was done cleaning out the stalls, Taly washed herself off underneath one of the spigots in the training yard, splashing water over her face and arms and picking random pieces of hay out of her braid. She had discarded her jacket when she got too warm, so she dusted it off before pulling it back on. The late afternoon sun beat down on her from above, and she could still feel sweat beading and dripping down her back. Unbuttoning the cuffs of her coat, she rolled the sleeves up and over her elbows, breathing a small sigh as she felt the cool breeze caress her heated skin.

Figuring that Skye would probably be worrying himself into an early grave by now, Taly set off for the village. The stables were situated just outside of town, and instead of taking the main road, she cut through a small wooded area. There was a narrow footpath winding between the trees, a shortcut forged by the passage of people and time that would deposit her just outside the tenements west of the market square. While the western side of Ebondrift couldn’t exactly be considered the safest part of town, that didn’t worry her too much. If she loosened her braid to cover her ears, she was dressed well enough to pass for a lowborn. She might have to be more wary of pickpockets, but most criminals tended to steer clear of those they thought might have enough magic to put up a fight.

As she stepped off the beaten-down path onto the cobbled street, Taly paused. Something felt off, and her hand instinctively reached for the pistol holstered at her hip. The narrow lane was empty—completely deserted. Though unusual, that wasn’t what worried her. The market stalls were just a few streets over. Even if the crowds were a bit leaner than normal, she should’ve been able to hear something —voices carried on the wind or the clang of a blacksmith’s hammer. But there was nothing. No sound. Everything around her was still and quiet.

A clash followed by a muted scream shattered the heavy silence. Taly hesitated. This was the part where Skye would tell her to turn around and walk the other way. Unfortunately, the other way would take almost an hour to loop back around to where she needed to be. That wouldn’t do.

Taking a steadying breath, Taly pulled her pistol and continued along her original path, heading down the street that would eventually lead her to the market square that bordered the Gate Watchers’ compound. As she navigated the maze-like backstreets, the condition of the homes that lined the narrow thoroughfare started to deteriorate. All up and down the roadway, doors were smashed in, and smoke trailed from broken windows in lazy wisps.

The further she ventured into the slum, circling closer and closer to the market, the more the roads began to narrow. Here, scattered debris littered the streets and some of the buildings had been completely burned to the ground, the embers still smoldering beneath piles of cindered wood. The air around her started to feel hot, and motes of ash drifted on the wind like snowflakes.

There had been fighting here recently. Fire mages—water mages too, if the puddles beneath her feet were anything to go by—had taken up arms. Against whom, she didn’t know. There were no bodies, just wide streaks of crimson smeared across the pavement.

Another crash echoed through the empty street, closer this time. Taly crept forward, edging around a corner and ducking behind an overturned food stand. Around a bend in the road ahead, she could see a child huddled against the wall of one of the few buildings that were still intact. Splintered crates surrounded the trembling girl, and she was whimpering pitifully, her hands clasped protectively over her head. Her long, dark locks covered her face like a sheet. Three men, tall but gaunt, towered over her.

Taly couldn’t see the assailants’ faces, so she had no way to tell if they were fey or mortal or somewhere in-between. If they had magic, that could pose a potential problem if she were to interfere. Judging by the rags they wore, they weren’t highborn, and while that was a point in her favor, even a lowborn fire mage could prove worrisome if worst came to worst.

Still, Taly couldn’t just let them beat up on a kid like that.

“Hey!” Taly shot her pistol into the air. The sound reverberated harshly through the empty street. “That’s the only time I’m going to miss. I suggest you go on about your business and leave the kid alone.”

The girl’s frightened eyes glanced over at her, searching for the source of the shot. She was fey—Taly could see the pointed tips of her ears from here—but the color of her eyes was too muddy to make her anything more than shardless. Even if by some chance the kid had enough fey blood to be considered lowborn, she wasn’t nearly old enough to have completed her Attunement Ceremony. That meant she didn’t have any magic of her own. Nothing useful, at least.

None of the attackers turned her way, so Taly fired off another shot. “I lied. That was the last time I’ll miss. Seriously, guys—you’re testing my patience!” Picking up a rock, Taly hurled it at the group of men. One of the assailants finally flinched, and she smiled grimly when three heads swiveled in her direction, the small girl momentarily forgotten. Without hesitation, the child scrambled to her feet and darted off in the opposite direction.

As the three thugs shuffled closer, Taly drew in a sharp breath, and her grip on her pistol faltered. Though they looked like they had perhaps once been men, the resemblance was superficial at best. There was something soulless about them—the way they moved, the way their flesh seemed to sag off the bone beneath pallid, bloodless skin. Each step jerked their bodies from side-to-side, and their eyes… their eyes made her stomach churn. They were flat and dull, almost like the life had been drained away only to be replaced by an immeasurable depth of pain.

One of the creatures’ mouths gaped wide, the joints of its jaw creaking in the silence of the abandoned city. Its chest heaved, it gave a feral cry, and before the echo of that tortured wail had ceased, the group charged forward, careening down the street at a pace that shouldn’t have been possible.

“Shards!” Taly yelped, backing out of her hiding spot, desperately trying to keep some distance between them and her.

Her finger twitched rapidly, and three pops of gunfire sliced through the air. One of the men grunted as a bullet found its target, but none of the strange undead soldiers fell. She readied her next shot, but her targets were moving too quickly for her eyes to follow, lurching erratically as they ran. The creatures’ auras, their golden afterimages, sputtered to life, but even that wasn’t enough. At the rate they were moving, it was just a blurry fog that clouded her vision as she tried to aim.

She tried to steady her gun and take aim, but a sudden sharp stinging sensation in her wrist made the pistol lurch in her grip as she fired off another salvo. The shots ricocheted ineffectually off a nearby piece of metal roofing that lay strewn across the street.

“Damn it!” Taly cursed when none of the bullets found their mark. Her pistol clattered to the ground as the sting intensified, morphing into a dull burn. The wave of heat continued to ripple up her arm, a crescendo of agony that grew more intense with each passing moment. The pain dominated every thought, every sense, and she dropped to her knees, clutching at her arm even as the creatures drew closer.

What is this? she thought, tears leaking from her eyes.

As suddenly as the spasm of blazing anguish began, it abruptly released its hold on her. Taly’s eyes immediately popped open, and her head whipped around, frantically searching for her discarded gun. When she caught sight of the pistol, she groped for it, whirling to face her attackers.

“Oh, no. Not again,” she whispered, coming up short. Her stomach dropped, and she shook her head, unable to decide if the sight in front of her was a blessing or a curse.

The creatures were no longer sprinting towards her. Their movements had slowed, almost like they were running through water. With each decelerated lunge forward, their bodies seemed to hang in the air, coiled in a web of gilded threads. Their cries were long and drawn out and sounded garbled to her ears.

A manic laugh bubbled up out of her chest. Blessing! Definitely a blessing , she thought when their ghostly auras finally snapped into focus. They were hazy and undefined around the edges, but the golden specters were distinct enough for her to see. They moved just one step ahead of their physical counterparts, showing her exactly where she needed to aim.

The moment didn’t last long. The creatures were already starting to speed back up again, shaking off the gossamer strands that impeded their movements. Not wanting to waste this chance, Taly raised her pistol and fired off six more rounds, using the golden visions to guide her shots. As time once again found its correct rhythm, the men, or things that used to be men, fell to the ground—their knees shattered.

Without warning, the air drained from Taly’s lungs, and she doubled over, gasping and desperately clutching at her throat. It felt like something had been forcibly drained out of her. The feeling was horrible—like drowning. She sucked in breaths of air, relieved when the crushing weight on her chest began to lift.

As the pain faded to the background, Taly looked up. Those things were still moving towards her, clawing at the ground and dragging their ruined legs behind them. They might have once been human—or fey. She didn’t know. It looked as though their ears had been ripped away. Their eyes, sunken and grotesque, swiveled in decaying sockets, and their mouths opened wide as they groaned and gurgled.

Taly’s hands were shaking as she gripped her pistol. Three more shots. This time she shot to kill, aiming straight for their heads. All three gave a sad little jerk as their lives were snuffed out. Murmuring a silent prayer to the Shards, Taly hoped that if there was anything with any feeling left in these dead husks, they would find some peace now.

Nearly out of ammunition, she re-holstered her pistol and pulled out her spare. The market square was just around the bend in the road ahead. She took a hesitant step and then another towards the three bodies that lay unmoving in the street. As she came closer, her stomach convulsed. The stench filling the air was, for lack of a better word, awful —like decayed carrion. It made the air feel heavy with rot, and she vainly tried to blot out the smell by pressing her face into the crook of her arm.

The street was too narrow to go around. Eyeing the nearest creature warily, Taly gave it a sharp kick, keeping her pistol trained on its body. She gave it another kick, just to be sure it was down, before she started picking her way through the corpses.

Rolling one of the creatures over onto its back with her foot, Taly took a moment to study it. The thing’s cheeks were hollowed, and there was a dark, gaping hole where its eye socket should’ve been—right where she had shot it.

“What the hell?” she mumbled, bending down to get a better look at the dark, coagulated fluid around the ruined eye-socket. The wound wasn’t bleeding. In fact, the creature seemed to be covered in lacerations and gashes, but none of them bled. The blood spattered across its body had long ago clotted and congealed.

Beneath the tattered edges of its shirt, a long gash split its abdomen from hip to sternum—another un-bleeding wound with more of the same black, viscous fluid smeared along the putrefied edges of its torn flesh. Embedded in its chest, just above its heart, was a violet crystal. It was large, the size of her palm, and it glowed and pulsed, almost like a heartbeat.

Shadow magic? Taly thought with growing horror. How was that even possible? She had never heard of any kind of spell this heinous.

The thing gave a twitch, and Taly stumbled back, drawing in a sharp breath when a golden haze enveloped her. A hand clamped down on her wrist, the vice-like grip forcing her pistol to the ground. Turning on her heel, she instinctively twisted out of the thing’s grip. Years of combat training with Skye made the movements second-nature.

Zephyr was in her other hand in an instant, and she plunged the blade deep into this new attacker’s belly. Something cold dripped onto her fist as she felt for the small toggle just beneath the cross-guard. Slamming her thumb down on the crystal switch, Taly braced herself as a rush of air left the tip of the dagger. The gale of wind spiraled outward in an unforgiving blast, and the creature’s abdomen exploded, chunks of flesh splattering against the walls of the alley. The thing’s body, now torn asunder, fell to the pavement in two pieces.

Taly shook off the fragments of shredded entrails from her blade and wiped at the patina of viscera and ooze that now coated her face and body with her sleeve. There were three more of those creatures moving in behind her now, most likely lured by the sound of her gunfire. They looked different from the ones lying on the ground. Those, even if they didn’t look alive, still could’ve passed for men. The things in front of her had no spark of life left in them. They looked like raw meat that had been left to sit in the sun a little too long.

The one closest to her lunged, forcing her back as she raised her dagger. Her thumb found the switch, but before she could fire off another blast of air magic, something yanked at her foot, and she was pulled off her feet. The world rushed by her in a blur, and her head hit the pavement with a sharp crack as she landed flat on her back. Her vision clouded for a moment before coming back into focus as she felt another tug on her leg.

Coming to her senses, she quickly realized that the creatures on the ground, the ones with shattered knees and bullets in their brains, were somehow moving again. One of them wrenched Zephyr from her hand, so she reached for the shiny new dagger Skye had gifted her. It was still tucked safely inside her boot, well within reach. But before she could grasp the handle, her hands were jerked above her head as one of the creatures standing over her seized her arms, pulling her body taut as it fell to its knees and pinned her to the ground.

The sharp clang of metal against stone followed by Taly’s scream echoed between the narrow walls. Another of those strange dead men had dug Zephyr into her side. It was a glancing wound, grazing the flesh of her hip and embedding the blade into the ground below. She thrashed and kicked, but the creatures had her pinned. The metal of her beloved dagger bit into her skin, ripping open the shallow wound.

The creatures on the ground crawled over to her, their bony fingers groping at her skin and clothing. Several more of these strange undead men appeared on the street, staggering out of narrow alleys and side streets, and they crowded around her, their lips pulling back to reveal grim, decomposing grins as they watched her struggle. There was something almost familiar about some of them—something that tugged at tucked-away memories—but she couldn’t focus. Not with the sting of Zephyr at her hip and the stench of death filling her nose.

Her body started to tremble uncontrollably. This couldn’t be it. She refused to die here .

“No, no, no, no…” Taly whimpered, her head whipping from side-to-side. The dead formed a circle around her as they started pulling her to her feet. Why hadn’t they killed her already? What were they waiting for?

Her side throbbed, and she could feel the warm blood spilling across her hip, soaking the fabric of her leggings and staining the cuff of her boot. One of the creatures grabbed her arm, wrenching it behind her at an odd angle, and she could already feel the bruises forming beneath its iron grip. It grabbed her other arm, twisting her wrist as she tried to vainly pull away and eliciting another sharp stab of scalding pain at the base of her palm.

Just like before. Taly’s eyes widened.

The familiar pain blossomed and spread beneath her skin as she continued to fight against her captor. Once again, her arm began to burn, setting her blood on fire. She recognized this feeling. The bruises on her arm, the ones that had yet to heal after her encounter with the harpy, flashed brightly, flickering to life and shining with an angry violet light. Golden dust started rippling the air, dancing between her fingertips.

That’s it! She clung to the pain, smiling as she felt it stretch and expand.

“Stop!” she cried weakly. Like the harpy. The harpy had stopped. She had made the harpy stop. She thrashed as the undead soldier tried to hold her. Its grip never loosened, and it growled as it gave her a rough shake, its rotted breath fanning out over her face.

“Stop!” More pain. There was so much pain now. She could feel the fire inside her, the flames lapping at the ends of her nerves, struggling to be set free.

The other creatures were crowding around her now, grabbing at her clothing, tugging at her hair. Three more sets of hands seized her arms, and the creatures on the ground tried to pin her legs. They were strong. She could barely move, but she kept struggling.

“Just stop already!” Taly screamed as the pain detonated, reverberating up and down her arm and coursing through her body until there wasn’t a single part of her that didn’t burn. She felt something inside her shatter, and then a rush of golden light exploded around her, branching out and curling between her attackers.

The world went silent. The ash from the fires hung in the air, suspended, and the trails of smoke from the smoldering, burned-out buildings looked like smears of paint against a frozen landscape. The creatures around her had ceased their assault, their mangled bodies fixed in a ghastly portrait of pain. Everything around her was still.

Time had stopped.

Though her lungs were on fire and every breath felt labored and strained, it was easy to shake off the hands of her attackers now. Taly staggered forward, gasping as she scooped up her dropped weapons and squeezed her body between the crowded circle of motionless undead. She had no idea how long this would last—this strange hushed stillness—and she didn’t intend to wait around to find out.

Just ahead of her, she could see the ash motes falling behind a thin, filmy magical barrier. It looked like she’d created a bubble, and the edges of the warped shimmer bent the light, forming a wall of distortion. Ignoring the pain in her side, she ran. She could already hear sounds coming from behind her, stretched groans pulled from putrefied vocal cords as the creatures began to recover, realizing too late that she’d somehow escaped. The tangles of golden strands crisscrossing the expanse of distorted time were already crumbling as the spell collapsed.

Blackness crept in around the edges of her vision as she felt that same drain of… something. It felt like her lungs were ready to collapse in on themselves, and her legs felt shaky, but she forced herself to keep moving forward, one foot in front of the other. She needed to find Skye. Had he run into these things too? Shards, she hoped he was okay.

Taly wiped at her cheek, grimacing when she saw the streak of black blood that stained her hand. Skye was okay. He had to be. After all, shadow mages were almost indestructible. If she was still alive, then so was he.

The market square was just ahead now, and beyond that, the Gate Watchers’ Compound. That’s where he had been heading. That’s where she would be safe.