Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy) (16 page)

It wasn't every day that there was a prince in the castle. Naturally, word of Prince Erik's arrival had spread through Moonriver like wildfire. Erik wasn't even sure of how it had happened. He didn't think there were many people who had seen him arrive in the first place. With classes still in session when he was ushered into Dirk's office, there weren't many eyes on him, at least as far as he could see.

That didn't help him when he stepped out of the office to stretch his legs. It was in between classes and students were out in the hall. Someone mentioned that the rumors were true and that there
was
a prince in the castle. Next thing he knew, he was surrounded by students, girls and boys and men and women of all ages, sizes and species. The air around him was filled with excited voices, all asking questions of where he was from, or what it was like to be a prince. No one seemed to recognize him from the Emeralde Kingdom, which was a relief. Kids, he could deal with. Warriors pointing arrows and swords at him, he could not.

“Alright, alright, let him breathe!” Dirk's voice was a welcome relief over the melee. He made his way through the students and they parted for him. The excited roar of voices gradually dimmed down.

“I know you have classes to go to!” Dirk called. “Kara, I see you there. Don't think otherwise!”

He identified more of his students and they were the first to leave, albeit reluctantly. The others followed suit, drifting off in disappointment or whispering excitedly to their friends as they headed to other class rooms.

Dirk ushered Erik back inside his office, apologizing for the madness.

“It's not every day that these kids get to meet a prince,” he explained with a smile.

Erik couldn't help but laugh. “Well, as eager as they were, it's certainly better than my reception in Kkyathi and Oraldine. They took up arms against me!”

Dirk chuckled, but the humor was leaving his face. In a more serious tone, he said, “Unlike Kkyathi and Oraldine, the war hasn't really touched the students here. Through
relatives maybe, but not personally, like those warriors.”

“Ah, warriors,” Erik said. “Is the woman I escorted here some sort of warrior? I've never seen anyone so fierce before.”

“Where she comes from in the First Realm, yes. That's why I asked her and her companions to come here in the first place.”

The door opened. “Things didn't really go as planned, huh?”

The two men turned and saw Evangeline in the doorway. She walked in and sat in the chair next to Erik.

Dirk spoke immediately. “You have my greatest apologies. I would never have asked you to come here, if we had known–”

Evangeline held up a hand, stopping the flood of apology. “It's not like you knew what was going to happen.”

Before conversation could continue, the door was thrown open a second time. There was an impression of dark hair and a school uniform before there was speaking. “Is there really a prince here, Dirk?”

Everyone froze as the woman burst in. The three fell into a shocked silence before the woman turned.

“Did I interrupt something?”

“It's impossible for both of them to be here,” the prince whispered.

“Both of who?” the woman asked. That was when she caught sight of Evangeline. A startled cry escaped her as she studied someone who was an exact mirror reflection of her own – minus the scar across the eye.

“What
are
you!” she cried in alarm.

“
Who
are you?” Evangeline asked in reply.



The elves had been a great help. Kaleb felt immense relief as he left the Oraldine colony on horseback, accompanied by an elf named D'jala. He was on the last leg of his journey now, on his way to Moonriver to meet his comrades.

Finding the elves had been easy, but speaking calmly when there were bows and arrows in his face was not a challenge the shape shifter had expected. The leader of the warriors, the strong D'jerik, wanted to know what business Kaleb had in their colony. It had taken some fast talking to explain that he had come from Kkyathi and that they were in dire need of help. D'jerik didn't believe him at first, saying that he didn't look like the typical person from Kkyathi, but Kaleb explained that he was a friend of some people who may have traveled through the area. D'jerik certainly knew who Marco and Evangeline were, and confirmed that they were already at Moonriver.

Caught between his loyalty to his friends and the budding friendships of himself and the Kkyathi, he almost canned his idea to return to his friends. Almost. D'jerik offered to lend him a horse for travel, if he would accept the aid of his second in command. D'jala was a cheerful elf, despite the chaos around them from the raid that had happened earlier. When they left, D'jerik was organizing a party to go into Kkyathi. It was with that relief that Kaleb agreed to leave.

Throughout their journey, D'jala had asked Kaleb about his world and what it was in comparison to this one. That chat lasted until they reached Moonriver. Kaleb was impressed by the size of the castle.
D'jala told him that long ago, there had been a kingdom of Immortals that ruled the castle, back when there were twice as many Immortal humans as there were in the present day. Now the castle served as a school for all those who wished to learn about their world without prejudice.

Supposed non-
prejudice, that was. The guard at the gate wasn't very friendly, demanding to know why elves wanted access to the school. It was only after Kaleb explained that he was one of Dirk's guests and that two of his friends should have arrived earlier that the guard budged. He let Kaleb in, but D'jala turned down the opportunity, instead wishing Kaleb good luck in finding his friends. He then took the horse that had been lent to Kaleb by the reigns and, with the help of his own horse, headed back to the elf colony.

That left Kaleb to enter the school on his own. He stood in the grand entrance, taking in the elaborate marble floors and even more ornate staircases. This would have been a gorgeous castle when it was still operating as such. It made for a beautiful school. The public school he had been forced to go to looked like a soggy cardboard box when compared to this palace.

The only problem was, he had no idea of where he was supposed to go.



Evangeline couldn't believe what she was seeing. The woman before her had the same shaped eyes, the same nose and the same lips. Her hair was cut different, she wore a different outfit and had a scar running through her eye, but despite that, the woman before her was identical in looks. This strange woman's face was the same face she looked at every time she looked in the mirror, despite the scar.

“Girls,” Dirk said cautiously, as though he didn't want to startle either of them. “I'd like you to meet your twin. Evangeline, this is Dante. Dante, Evangeline.”

Dante. The woman before her was mouthing Evangeline's name, as if trying it out. Their eyes met and she had the same shocking color and intensity as her own. Evangeline wasn't sure if she could get used to it.

“I have a twin?” Dante finally spoke, her voice halting and cautious too, as if Evangeline could dart off like a wild animal, startled by loud noise.

“Yes. The two of you were separated at birth. Dante, you were left here and Evangeline was placed in the First Realm.”

“Why?”
Dante asked, absolutely confused.

“Our natures,” Evangeline said. “Are you a hybrid, too?”

“Half angel, half demon?” Dante echoed Evangeline's nod with her own.

“Your parents' union was not welcome within the Second Realm. The two of you were a cause of great fear when you were born,” Dirk said gravely.

Evangeline didn't even know who her parents were. Judging by the look Dante had exchanged with her, her twin didn't know them either. Evangeline had been found and raised by Dr. Fyrn. As far as she was concerned, Dr. Fyrn was the only family she had.

“I don't have any parents,” Dante said, confused. “What are you talking about?”

Dirk struggled with his words, as though he weren't sure how to phrase them at first. “Your parents were well known in the Heavenly Realms and the Underworld. Audra the White Angel and Devoń, king of a demon tribe. There are laws in place to keep angels and demons from forming any sort of positive relationship together, but your mother broke all of those rules to be with your father. When she was announced pregnant, she was thrown out of the Holy Guard she was a member of – that is, she was no longer considered a guardian angel. She was cast out of the Heavenly Realm. You two, her daughters, were supposed to be killed after she gave birth to you, but she had a friend hide you instead. One in the Second Realm, one in the First Realm, never meant to meet.”

It was a lot to take in. Talk of angels and demons as if they were a physical part of this world. To Dante, it made sense. She had heard of legends of the constant wars between the Heavenly Realms and the
Underworld, of forbidden unions and lovers between each realm. To Evangeline, it was a lot to take in. Her world had mostly consisted of vampires, if there were any supernatural creatures to deal with in the first place. Now, talk of angels and demons? And her, the offspring of a forbidden union?

It at least explains my powers.
She glanced down at her hands, as if expecting them to warp into claws. Her dual nature made more sense now, although much of who she was still confused her.

Before either of the twins could question Dirk further, the door opened again. Marco walked in, looking quite happy with himself. “
Look who I found, lost in the school!”

She looked up as Kaleb entered the room, looking more than lost. His name escaped her lips but all she could do was
stare, overwhelmed by the string of events unfolding before her.

“Whoa
,
wait a minute,” Marco said, breaking the silence. “Evie, now there's
two
of you?”

She turned around and saw Dante staring at Marco, perplexed. She shook herself out of her useless shock and went to go introduce her twin to her friends.

Twin. It seemed so weird. One minute, she didn't think she had any family at all and now, she had a twin. It was something that was going to take time to get used to.

Part Three:

Uprising

Two days had passed.

Kaydee wasn't one hundred percent sure, but she knew it had been more than one day that she had been stuck, chained in the filthy, stinking ship she had been imprisoned on. She tried to keep track of time through when she and the other prisoners were brought their meager allowance of cheese, bread and water. There were three meager meals around the clock. It was hard sleeping on this ship but her natural sleep cycle had demanded a full night's sleep, or what passed for one, only twice.

She was going to lose her mind here, if they didn't get to leave, soon. The meals were barely enough to get rid of the grinding hunger that fell upon her in waves. The water was barely enough to keep her hydrated. Luckily, Thomas, their
friendly
captain, allowed the women just a margin more of privacy than what the men got. Yesterday, if her calculation on the days had been correct, was the day that the prisoners were separated by gender. The women were allowed a longer set of chains that allowed them to go, on a rotating and sparse cycle, into what passed for a makeshift bathroom. It wasn't anything more than a chamber pot enclosed within four crude wooden walls. It also wasn't cleaned very often. The stench was almost enough to make her pass out and the sound of sloshing human waste almost made her want to throw up her pitiful allowance of food. For all the complaints she had about it, though, she was glad to have that one privilege. It was more than what the men got, as they were forced to soil themselves.

“Wake up, maggots!”

What a beautiful wake up call. One of the ship mates used this affectionate phrase to wake the prisoners up. Those who didn't wake up were then splashed with a large bucket full of sea water by more of the ships' crew. Kaydee was splashed as the woman beside her refused to wake up. She almost cried in relief. It was the closest thing she had to a shower.

The man who had woken them up spoke with a loud drawl. “Listen up, ye dogs!
Yeh'll be departin' soon. An' thank God! I won't be stuck with yer filth anymore.”

That was about as close to an affectionate send off as they got.

All too soon, the ship's crew was forcing the prisoners onto their weak feet. They were forced up and out of the ship. Kaydee was surprised that she could still walk. The sun hurt her eyes as she emerged from the belly of the ship.

Gone was the verdant green of the land they had been in before. They were at a port city of some sort but everything around her suggested a vast desert. Elaborate stone buildings stood around them, decorated in varying colors of sand and gold. Instead of the soft grass that had accompanied them before, there was nothing more than hard, packed down dirt and sand. Some sand flew loose in the breeze but the packed in dirt remained, cracking from the lack of moisture. The sun beat down upon them harshly. It was hot in this city, with not even the gentle sea breeze offering relief.

The ship's crew took care of the ship, with one particularly foul-mouthed sailor complaining about the mess the prisoners had left below deck. Thomas took it upon himself to lead his chained prisoners through the city. Kaydee's sneakers bit into the hard-packed dirt ground as she and the others walked. It was hard to ignore the stares of the citizens of the city as they passed. She wished they wouldn't stare at her. Some regarded her with pity, others with excitement. There was plenty of talk as they made their way away from the docks and into the city, towards a large, circular building. There was no roof to the building and Kaydee could hear the cheering all too well.

Her heart sped up to match a hummingbird's wing beats. Through the cheering, she could hear the shouts of pain and clashes of metal on metal. Was this some kind of coliseum? Was she to be entertainment for the city before she was killed?

She glanced at the man she had spoken to on her first day on the ship. He was ahead of her, not feeling her stare. He looked ghastly pale, dreading what was up ahead. She remembered his words all too clearly on how to get out of the so-called games that they had to look forward to – by dying.

Oh, God.

She was going to die today.



Govoya was a revolting city. Architecturally, the buildings were interesting, but Atrimalous had no interest in observing the architecture. He was on a hunt today. This was the second day that the seer had prophesied about and he was determined to intercept Kaydee before the Death Games got a grip on her. To him, everything about the city revolted him, from the rich foreign languages he heard being exchanged, to the bright market stands. There was nothing wrong with the city itself, aside from what it hosted as a form of entertainment.

He ignored Leta's obvious joy for the city. He had almost been tempted to leave her behind, when she had insisted on buying some cloth from a trader, to blend in better. Blend in! What did he care about blending in? His traveling cloak hid him well enough, as worn and tattered as it was. It was Leta that stood out like a sore thumb, in that dark blue dress she had been wearing. The women here didn't wear dresses that marked them from foreign lands. Govoyan traders
had leered at them as they entered the city, asking Atrimalous if the woman beside him was for sale. Blending in might have been useful for her, but he had no interest in it.

Even more irritating, the woman shopped like a typical woman. He had heard of stories of modern women in the First Realm, with their long hours of staring and contemplation before making a purchase. He hadn't imagined that it was universal. Leta held up swatches of cloth, testing how it felt and complimenting the color before she finally settled on a simple stretch of cloth in bright blue and gold hues. The woman who had made it showed her how to wrap it over her body, creating a new type of garment entirely that worked well with her dress. It took all the willpower Atrimalous had to not scream at the two women. He was itching to get going.

After Leta had properly arranged her new outfit and paid the woman who had helped her, she joined Atrimalous and the two horses they had borrowed.

“Thanks,” she said, practically bubbling with joy.

He didn't waste words expressing his annoyance. Instead, he pointed out the largest building in the city, a towering circular structure made from sandstone. “I've heard things about this building.”

They made their way to the large circular building and heard the noise coming from it soon after. Rage bloomed within Atrimalous like a deadly storm. She was here, he was certain of it.



It was a terrifying thing to think of being in a game where the main goal was to kill.

It was mind-numbing to be
in
the game itself.

Kaydee's heartbeat continued to flitter painfully around in her chest as she and the other prisoners had been filtered into the building. She was past being terrified now; she was a bundle of adrenaline and nerves, her body primed for the flight-or-fight response that was deeply engrained into her system. It was only her
natural kindness that blocked out the
fight
part of that ancient instinct.

Unfortunately, she might not have had much choice in the matter.

She was shoved into a crowd of dozens of people. How many people pressed into her, she didn't know, but the holding cell they were in was just as bad as the ship they had emerged from – it stank of human waste and fear. There were some people crying and begging to be let go. Others had murder in their eyes. Everyone was jittery in the little pen they were in.

The sounds of the previous match had ceased and the crowd gave loud roars of blood thirst, energized by the previous fighters. There was no time for the crowd to rest; they had been promised a double feature today.
Back to back fighting.

A gate at the front of the holding pen was open and people were filtered down a narrow hallway like liquid through the neck of a bottle. Those that didn't comply were whipped until they moved, sometimes forcefully, by the men who guarded them. Kaydee was pushed with the surging crowd. She barely needed to walk, as those pressed in close to her did the moving. Soon, she was blinking under the bright, hot sun, as she was brought into the center of the coliseum. The
crowd cheered anew as a new surge of victims were brought before them.

Kaydee felt ill as she glanced around. Bodies were still being cleared off of the field and there were piles of weapons on the bloodied dirt ground. There were men and women around her glancing at the weapons, silently calculating their chances of grabbing one before they were all taken.

One man's voice rose over the excited stirring of the audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen!
You are here to watch the execution of those charged with crimes!”

His speech continued on about justice and the execution of those who had done something wrong. Kaydee nearly burst out into hysterical laughter at this. Crimes! That was a farce. Nowhere in anything
Thomas had said involved crimes. The story might have been what helped these awful people sleep at night, but it was an obvious lie.

The filthy, sweating man's speech concluded with, “And may God have mercy on their souls!”

The crowd let out a scream, as if a rock star were about to perform. Instead, all hell broke loose. The men and women took their cue from the sweating man above them and a frenzy for survival broke out.

Those who had been eying the weapons dove for the piles of steel and wood at once. Kaydee ran in the opposite direction, trying to get away from the crowd. There were so many people around her, everyone an enemy. Those with magical powers used them fast and suddenly, there were screams of pain all around her as fire made an appearance, burning an older man as he tried to cleave the fire's wielder in two. Weakened Immortals tried to summon weapons made of energy, but their weapons failed to make an impact against hard wood and sharpened steel.

Kaydee screamed as death erupted around her.

Panic overtook her mind, almost shutting her down completely but she willed herself to concentrate. Fainting was not going to do her any good here. She couldn't defend herself if she fainted. Instead, her concentration drove deep into the earth, tapping an endless supply of power. As her concentration ran earth-bound and magic ran up through her body, power registered itself within her, giving all that adrenaline a way to manifest itself out of her terrified body. There weren't any seedlings in the parched earth, but that didn't mean she didn't have defenses. As long as her feet were on the ground, she always had defenses.

A man came after her, swinging a mace around. She let out a terrified yell and the magic reacted on instinct. The ground below him rose up at an alarming rate, as if a mountain was growing. The man fell from the sudden cliff and, although it was only a few feet from ground level, it put a stop to his attack. He was in turn attacked by a woman using an iron shield as a sledgehammer. A solid sheet of metal hit him in the head before the woman darted off, slamming her shield into whoever got into her way.

Kaydee shuddered and tried not to watch blood escape the man's damaged flesh. She concentrated her magic once more on the ground, creating all sorts of fun fissures and cracks for people to trip into. If they wanted at her, they were going to have to watch where they stepped. Her small defense proved effective after a man tripped around the uneven ground, the sword he was holding skewering someone he wasn't even targeting. People around him fell on him like flies to a carcass and Kaydee backed up once more, bumping into a woman who couldn't have been any older than her. The woman screamed and blindly swung the small dagger she held, the adrenaline making her stupid instead of strategic. Fearing for her safety more from this woman than anyone else who had approached, she raised a rift of rock and earth between her and the woman. The woman screamed and clawed at the earthen barrier, stabbing it uselessly with her dagger. When she couldn't breach the barrier, the dagger flew through the air, catching Kaydee across the arm. The blade only nicked her skin but the small wound burned angrily.

Kaydee was only able to dodge combat for so long. As more men and women fell, the survivors turned on each other like rabid animals. The ring stank of more than human waste this time, it reeked of death and entrails. The metallic sting of blood was strong in the air. Kaydee was crying as she dodged a fire mage. Her clothing wasn't so lucky and the front of her shirt was singed. She practically threw herself onto the ground to smother the flames before they grew. For her defense, she also grabbed a halberd whose end had been broken off.

The fire mage came at her again, his left hand containing a ball of fire that did not harm its wielder. The mage seemed determined to kill her, specifically, now that there were fewer opponents on the field. She dodged another attempt to burn her and threw up a rock barrier between them. The man stomped at it, attempting to splinter the rock with his body weight. When that didn't work, he sent fire to ooze between the stones like deadly liquid. Kaydee was quick to
scurry out from her failed protective barrier. She tripped over a discarded boot and hit the ground. With the breath knocked out of her, she wasn't so fast to get up this time. The fire mage loomed over her. As he moved, she tripped him as the ground changed shape again. His body fell and he hit the blade of the axe mounted at the top of the pole weapon she still held. Her scream drowned out the surprised, injured noise he made.