Shadow Assassins (The Second Realm Trilogy) (22 page)

She couldn't help but grin at Leta and hug her back. When she caught sight of Atrimalous, she smiled again, this time a little more shyly. “Thank you both.”

Atrimalous seemed amused, but hid it well. “I spent all that time making sure you didn't die on the Isle Dark. Why would I leave you to die now?”

She almost laughed at that.

The time to leave Moonriver Academy had approached. It had taken the entirety of the day to finish gathering supplies and people. Dante had wanted to leave that night but her twin and her twin's companions who called themselves the Shadow Assassins told her that traveling at night would be too dangerous. She had relented and gave her newly-formed army the night to sleep, promising that they would leave at daybreak.

Now, her newly dubbed Moonriver army was ready. Out of the vast school population, there were only around five hundred survivors. Most of them dedicated themselves to their army. The rest, mostly adults and more peaceful
students, were heading to El Flora. To distinguish which group belonged to which leader, Kara had devised an impromptu solution. Two great flags of Moonriver Academy had been recovered. One had been destroyed, the material shredded to make tiny bracelets, if they could be called that. Small strips of majestic purple cloth were tied to the left wrists of the soldiers of the Moonriver army, a small reminder of what they were fighting for. Their supply carts and horses were likewise marked with the school colors. The second flag would be carried into battle with them. Dramatic, maybe, but it served as a reminder.

Over two hundred students and some teachers wore the purple cloth. They lined up neatly along one side a procession of supply carts and carriages full of the injured and ill. The remaining, with bare
wrists, stood to the other side of the procession. At the front, the prince, the Shadow Assassins and their two new companions, also on horseback, waited with Dante and Kara.

Kara glanced back to the procession behind her and called out, “Let's go, everyone!
To the west!”

“To El Flora!” one member of her party cried.

“To the king!” one member of the army yelled in response.

There was a low rumbling of conversation and cheering. Dante, Kara, the two companions and the Shadow Assassins led the procession out of the ruined school. Dante made sure not to look back. To look back would be too painful. She was leaving behind dozens of fallen classmates, as well as Dirk. It hurt too much to think about him. Instead, she focused on her horse and the people she led.

She knew the path they were on well, but let Kaleb direct her. He wanted to go through the elf colony Oraldine and see if the Kkyathi were still there. Marco agreed with his decision, saying that the elves might lend a hand to their cause. On their journey west, Oraldine became their first stop.

As their procession reached Oraldine's front gates, the elves posted as guards looked positively alarmed at the number of visitors approaching. Kaleb broke from the party to greet them and request entrance. They were kept waiting outside the village for minutes that felt like hours as one of the guards headed back into the tangled city of trees.

After a moment, a familiar elf approached. D'jerik walked closer to them, armed with only a spear whose deadly tip was at head-height for him.

“You request entrance to our colony?” he said, dubiously as he glanced at them. “
All
of you?”

It was agreed upon that the injured would be carried inside to be looked over by elvish healers who were, as D'jerik bragged, much more efficient healers. The supply carts would be guarded by a few of the Moonriver army and an elf guard. The horses were taken into their open stables to be cared for in the time they were here.

“You will never survive the Emeralde Kingdom with so few of you,” D'jerik told Marco and Kaleb. “Do you have a death wish upon your heads?”

“It's not our death wish,” Marco muttered, loud enough for only them to hear.

D'jerik explained that his warriors were hungry for battle, eager for revenge upon what had happened to their colony. It had been rebuilt fairly well, but there were still the marks of battle around the trees and the sacred Citadel.

“Have some of our warriors, those who wish to go into battle,” D'jerik finally offered. “I cannot keep them all reined in and if there is no battle soon, these warriors will fight among themselves.”

When Kaleb relayed the message to Dante, she was overjoyed at the prospect of more soldiers. D'jerik suggested that their procession part ways and that took some convincing for Dante and Kara to agree with.

D'jerik sent a small group of five warriors to protect the peace party. He then called Camira out from her home, as she knew El Flora fairly well. Camira agreed to lead Kara and her peace party to El Flora.

“Are you sure you want to be going out there all alone?” Marco asked her before she was out of his sight.

“I won't be alone. I'll be with warriors who can protect me.” Her smile was warm as she looked at him. “But your concern makes my heart sing, Marco, of the First Realm.”

With that, she pulled him into a fast kiss. He was surprised but didn't pull away until she did. She smiled at him, then headed off to the peace party.

Marco couldn't help but smile stupidly as he watched her go. That was, until he caught D'jerik's disapproving eye. Camira had been promised to marry D'jerik. She had practically slapped the elf warrior in the face with her kiss. He made it a point to avoid D'jerik after that.

The peace party left ahead of the war party, to make faster time to El Flora. Once they were gone, D'jerik summoned his warriors and announced that the Moonriver army was looking for warriors to help their cause. He said he needed warriors to stay and protect the city, but he would also let some of his warriors join the growing army. There was an immediate response, and almost half of the elf warriors dedicated themselves to the cause. The remaining stayed behind to guard the city.

The elves were well supplied. To the Moonriver soldiers who walked without armor, they were given cloth and leather armor that was used for sparring. Those who walked without weapons were given bows and arrows, as the elves had an abundance of them around. What horses that the Oraldine elves could spare were given over, as well as food and medical supply.

Lastly, D'jerik surprised them by making his second in command, D'jala, in charge of the village in his absence.

“Did you think I wasn't coming with you?” D'jerik growled, a small smile playing on his lips. “I have given you many warriors, but they will obey my command better than that of a girl's. Together we fight and together, we will defeat this corrupt king.”

As the sun rose high into the sky for the afternoon, the growing army headed out of Oraldine. The elves stood at one side of the supply carts and horses, the former students of Moonriver at the other, forming a deadly guard around the carriages.

Kaleb was again collaborating with Dante on their next location, Kkyathi. The Kkyathi had apparently gone back home and he wanted to see them before they set off. Dante agreed, although hesitantly. She was itching to make it to the Emeralde Kingdom.

Beside them, Evangeline conversed with the prince. They hadn't had much time to talk with how fast things had come together, but now she pulled his attention away from the war party, while she could.

“Are you sure you want to be coming with us?” she asked. “If we march into the kingdom like this and your father sees you, won't he think you're betraying him?”

“But I'm not betraying him. I may be able to help convince my father, if he refuses to listen.”

Somehow, Evangeline doubted that, but said nothing. Instead, she asked, “What if the war party turns on you, because you're Emeralde royalty?”

Instead of answering her question, he patted her leg from his spot on horseback. “You worry too much, my lady. Don't. I will be just fine.”

That didn't ease her worries enough.



The journey to Kkyathi was shorter than expected. D'jerik instructed them to use the main traveling roads, instead of cutting through the wilderness. The traveling roads were usually used by the Gypsa, but they were thankfully empty as they changed routes. The dirt roads were smoother and easier on the carriage wheels. The land had been flattened by many feet and carts, so there were no more problems with elevation that they had been encountering while in the wilderness. The Moonriver army was thankful for the change. They were exhausted from the walking, not being used to it while being weighted down by armor and weapons. It took some encouraging for them to continue, with only relatively short breaks to catch their breath on.

Like the elves, the Kkyathi were surprised at first to see the war party, but eager to help when given the opportunity. Unlike the elves, most of the warriors wanted to join the cause. Kirrah had trouble controlling her warriors at first as they all shouted their lust for blood, their want for the king to be killed.

“There is still a village to protect,” Kirrah pointed out to her eager warriors.

D'jerik once again offered the Oraldine colony's help to those who could not fight. With a pen and ink produced by one of the Moonriver soldiers, he scribbled a note in elegant script on a scrap of parchment. None of the Assassins could understand what he was writing, but he explained that this would let the colony know that he approved of Kkyathi citizens entering the village, with full visitor rights.

“Hurry now. Gather who is not fit to go to war.”

There was a flurry of activity as the Kkyathi divided themselves. The children, the elderly, the disabled and the concerned parents started to pack their belongings into small wooden carts with short raised sides. The platforms were pulled by horses or other Kkyathi in feral form. There weren't many of them to pack up and head for elf territory. The previous raid on their homeland had killed too many to begin with.

Kaleb’s heart jolted when he saw Kikkaho and her father head to the party exiting the town. She didn’t see him, though, charged with convincing her father as to why they needed to exit the tribe, now. She disappeared with the rest of them.

After they had left, Kirrah and Kamu rounded up the warriors to go to war. There weren't as many Kkyathi as there were elf warriors, but the number added still helped the cause. Moonriver's army had doubled, if not tripled in size since the morning.

Dante let her soldiers rest after the armies had been gathered up. The Kkyathi agreed to let them use the land for whatever they needed, so the camp grounds became a sort of base of operations. Her tired soldiers let their feet rest. Nearby, some of the elves and the Kkyathi talked of trade and of weapons as they exchanged their weapons for comparison.

The angel-demon hybrid approached her sister. “I'm surprised at how well things are going for us.”

Evangeline seemed troubled, but smiled at her.
“Yeah, me too. What do you think will happen when we get to the Emeralde Kingdom?”

“Honestly?
All hell breaking loose.” Dante gave a heavy sigh and sat down beside her twin on the dirt ground. “Why?”

Her twin shrugged.
“Worried about the prince. Will everyone turn on him?”

At that, Dante glanced at the prince, who was chatting with an elvish warrior who wanted to see his sword. “I doubt it. He's been
good to us. What else is on your mind, sister? You seem to be hiding something else.”

Evangeline seemed surprised, but laughed. “How'd you know?”

“I am your twin, of course. I feel a certain connection to you, now that we are together.”

Twin sets of eyes met for a moment, before Evangeline looked away. After hesitating for another moment, she went into detail about what had started developing in her mind as the Kkyathi were being recruited, about how she and the others had only been hired by Dirk to be bodyguards, but now with the school and Dirk gone, she didn't know what she was supposed to do or how to get back to the First Realm.

“I feel...stranded,” she said on a sigh.

Dante glanced down to Dirk's amethyst necklace. She had taken it as a keepsake, a memory of him, but now it could be used for another reason. When she pointed it out to her twin, Evangeline practically jumped up in her enthusiasm.

“Yes, that's it!”

Unfortunately, that was about as far as that plan went. Neither of the girls
were mages and had no idea of how to open a portal.

“We'll find the right person,” Dante said, voice full of resolve. “I promise you, sister.”

Evangeline thanked her. She could only hope that they could find a way to open a portal back up to the First Realm, now. With war approaching fast, she wanted to know that she had a way to get back to the First Realm, before all hell broke loose.

She glanced around her, at the soldiers who had gathered and the students who had volunteered themselves to the cause. Soon, many of these good people would die, at the hands of a furious army defending its homeland. Her twin, her fellow Assassins, they would all be at risk as well.

The thought chilled her down to the bone, even as she watched the merry soldiers interact with each other.