Shadow

Raedwulf Dolph

I hardly sleep, most of the night is spent listening to the shadowbeasts growl and grumble and watching my mate peacefully drift. When the sun started to rise over the forest, Idonia still slept as I dressed and crept out of the inn. The man from last night was already out with the animals, letting them out of the locked barn. A light breeze blew through the forest and rustled the berries to fall out of a nearby tree.

The tall dark wall of doom stood not too far away. I walk towards the mass and stare into the abyss. My head tilts as I reach my hand forward. My fingers drag over the darkness causing energy to burn through my arm. It was different from the mate bond tingles. Instead of filling my body with passionate intensity, it causes my chest to quiver with fear.

Danal joins me outside he stands beside me and watches as I retract my hand from the horrid thing in front of me. “You haven’t mated with her?”

“No, we were fighting last night.”

“Yeah, Rikki and I heard you two,”

I glare at him with a deadly look, “Then why did you ask?”

“Are you still sure that she will make a good Khanelea?”

“Yes, I’ve always been sure of that.”

“And what about being a good mate?”

“Danal, stop doubting her. She’s just...”

“Wants you to die?”

“That was before.”

“That was only a few days ago! People can change but not that quickly,” he refutes in an angry voice. “As your Viker and your friend, leave her here. Meabh is waiting on Bethlianna and she would be better suited to--”

“I don’t want to hear this,” I deny him, turning and walking back to the inn.

“Well you need to,” Danal follows me. “Madam Meabh Konald is perfect for you and the Bethley Isles. She will be a great Khanelea and the most amazing mate and mother. You need to consider her father’s proposal.”

“Meabh is not my mate. Idonia is my mate and therefore she will be my Khanelea and mother of my children.”

We entered the inn to find Rikki and Idonia sitting at a table. Danal and I sat beside them and Miss Osmund brought us breakfast. “Last hot meal before the shadowlands."

Danal and I sat down and looked over the plate. Idonia mindlessly started to eat while looking over a map. Rikki gave Danal a look, one that says he knew exactly the concerns Danal had voiced to me.

Danal turned away from my other Viker and myself to face Idonia. "What is your plan, Khanelea?" He asks with malice.

Idonia glares at my Viker, "My plan is to hunt down one of the nests. Then we wait for one to come home and Rae kills it."

"How many will there be?" Rikki asks her next.

"We don't have specific numbers on how many live on Theris or how many exist in Iiesha. We know little about their nesting habits or how many live together. There could be one or there could be twenty."

"What do we do if there are twenty?" Danal says through clenched teeth.

"We kill as many as we can before they kill us," I answer before Idonia can.

"And you've done this before?" Rikki asks once more for reassurance.

"Yes," she replies simply.

"Will you tell us the whole story?" I ask her next.

She looks up, her blue eyes looking cold for the first time that I've gazed into them. It sent a small shiver down my spine. "No."

Danal tries to speak, to tell her how ridiculous she's being, but I speak first. "Then we should get moving."

Idonia nods once before standing from the table and walking over to the bar. She passes some uthu to Miss Osmund and speaks to her quickly. There is no food in past the black mass, only darkness, and shadowbeasts.

"She's a bitch," Danal states as we all watch her. My beast growls and prepares to defend our mate.

"She's our Khanelea, Danal," Rikki defends her for me. "And if either of you would bother listening to her, then you know she cares for all three of us."

"If she cared, then this wouldn't be the course we would be taking. If she cared for us then we would be on Bethlianna. You would be with Disa, your pregnant mate. Or does my sister even matter to you anymore?"

Rikki stood quickly and towered over Danal. His teeth bare and he lets out of rolling growl. "Don't challenge me, Ohlson."

"Both of you, stop," I order them, grabbing one should of each of them and pushing Rikki down into his seat. "Go clean and sharpen your blades. We leave in an hour."

Both nod, stand and leave to do as I've told them. My eyes look back once more to check and see Idonia still at the counter. A small sigh escapes me before I go up to our room and do as I have told my Viker to do. Once in the room, I draw my sword from her sheath and start to clean her.

As I complete the mindless task, my thoughts are absorbed by Idonia. Was Rikki right? Was I not listening to my mate? He seemed to understand her better than I did. What was it about her that I am missing? There are so many questions I want to be answered and exactly no time to have answered before we leave for the dark north. There is no more time for me to understand her better before our lives are put on the line for me to complete this rite.

The door opens and Idonia saunters in slowly. She carries in a bag full of food, from the smell there is the bread and some cured meat. The food is deposited on the bed and Idonia moves to her bow and quiver. I had yet to see her handle it, as for the entire trip she left if secured to her saddle. She sits on the floor, folding her leg and setting her quiver in front of her. All the arrows are taken out and laid in front of her.

I narrow my eyes at her as I speak one thought, "If it is completely dark up there, how do you plan on shooting a bow?"

"Tracking them with my ears," she states emotionless as her meticulous blue eyes check every arrowhead. "The arrows slow them down, my dagger is to finish it off."

"I thought I was killing this thing?" I offer with a small chuckle.

"You are going to kill one, I know you will," she calmly says. "I need to be prepared for any other shadowbeasts that come our way."

In a moment after the silence, I realized what I was hearing her say. She believed I could kill a shadowbeast, without a doubt. But there was something more to her words. The smallest promise that wasn't truly spoken but more understood. Idonia will be watching my back. She plans to protect me from any danger that would come at my blind stop.

And in that, I knew that she didn't hate me. Idonia only wants to protect me, but in return, she wants me to protect her. It made me feel bad, in a way, that this was what she was after all along. My mate never doubted my ability to be a good lover, advisor, or friend to her. No, she doubted my willingness to protect her.

I stood, tall and broad, before walking over and pulling her to her feet. Our eyes meet and I knew they weren't just blue, they were desperate. "You will always have my sword."