The shadow was thicker than when I’d seen it last. It was no longer just visible on the ground and the bark of the trees, but mist—cloying, dense—creating a veil around us.
“Ride to the back, Hazel,” Tejus commanded me forcefully.
“You need me here,” I replied, unsheathing my dagger. “The last person to underestimate me was Queen Trina,” I reminded him firmly.
Before he could reply, the shadows surged toward us. Tejus attacked, his sword slicing through the gray and black air. As soon as his blade made contact, a body formed from the mist—ashen, gray, with a face that would have looked human if it wasn’t for the colorlessness of it. The creature lifted an arm, swiping it through the air. It only gently brushed against Tejus, but his robe tore and the skin on his sword-shoulder shredded.
With a bellow, he lunged at the creature again, sending his blade right through its chest. The creature howled in agony. As soon as Tejus’s weapon had made contact, it had glowed with a brilliant white light that seemed to burn it from the inside. A second later, the creature burst into reddened ash, floating up into the air and then vanishing.
Before I could try to make sense of what I’d just seen or feel a sense of triumph that the immortal water had worked, a loud scream erupted. A guard was tossed like a rag doll up into the air, and then almost entirely consumed by the mists.
All around me I could see the shadow growing closer, hear the dying screams of the guards as they were picked off one by one. Even more disturbing were the creatures themselves; every time the shadow approached, a sentry, vampire or werewolf would make contact, either by sword or tearing into the gloom with exposed claws or fangs, revealing the true form of the creatures: their gray bodies, tattered loincloths wrapped around their waists, their eyes black sockets that glared down at us.
“What are these things?” Ash yelled, slicing through another ashen body.
“I…have…no…idea,” panted Tejus with effort as he swung his blade into the darkness.
Suddenly, the shadow retreated. It crept back into the forest as quickly as it had emerged, lying in wait, wrapped around the trees and bushes, the armies of the entity watching us—waiting for something. We all looked at one another in confusion.
“Witches, jinn – down to the cove!” Tejus called out, knowing that our reprieve would likely be a short one. A group of the jinn, led by Queen Nuriya, along with Ibrahim, Corrine and Mona and a group of ministers, all hurried to the front of the line.
“Take the long route,” Tejus commanded, “try and stay out of the shadow’s way.”
Before they could move, a voice entered my skull.
The armies of the six kingdoms, the voice slurred, as if the name was an insult. It was the entity—the same voice Tejus and I had heard when we were following Benedict in the Hellswan castle. My body froze, my eyes darting ahead in the distance and either side of the forest—where was he?
You have met my children, I see. The voice continued, twisting into my brain so that I couldn’t shut it out. I looked over to Ash, Tejus and Ruby, double-checking that they were hearing what I was. They were. I could see them growing pale, Tejus glowering with barely repressed fury as the entity once again infiltrated our minds. The witches and jinn had frozen.
You will all die today, at their hands. But you will be written in the history annals of our time…the sentries who lost their lives when they tried to defend a land that wasn’t theirs.
Out of the gloom, a figure appeared, walking toward us on the road.
“Jenus?” Tejus exclaimed, his voice a rasping whisper.
The mists cleared slightly, and Jenus stood before us. His eyes were entirely black, just like the creatures we had just fought, but his body was solid and whole. He still wore the robe he’d been wearing in Memenion’s dungeons, soiled and filthy.
Look, Tejus of Hellswan. Look at what your brother has given up in his devotion to me, the entity gloated, a low rumble of laughter following his words.
Jenus’s mouth didn’t move—neither did any part of his body as he stood, staring at us. I realized that there wasn’t any of Jenus left, just an animated corpse for the use of the entity. It was revolting, and I turned my face away in disgust.
Before you are all ended, I wanted to tell you who you fight for, the entity continued, who you follow into battle—blindly being led by men who are just as corrupt as me.
A vision started to form in my mind, definitely not put there by me.
Is he mind-melding with us?
The vision started to become clearer, showing Ash in the kitchen of Hellswan in his servant’s clothing, standing above a pot of liquid, looking around the room before pouring an unmarked vial into the concoction.