The Shadow

Chapter 16

Harper's eyes had cleared by the time he returned, a massive Arian soldier in tow. He was nearly as wide as Kai was tall, with enormous arms and a muscled torso. Despite his size and strength, the man had been relieved when Kai had pulled him from the base of the wall, where he had been stationed in case the need for reinforcements arose—which it surely would. He had not declined Kai's offer to take Lady Ross back to her estate, but had instead seemed grateful to get as far from the battle as possible. Kai had given him a gold coin for his service, telling him to bring Harper to the Ivory Manor and make sure she stayed there. He would pay him another gold coin after the siege.

"If she is harmed when I return," Kai said, pushing the man toward where Harper still sat against the tavern, "I'll kill you. And I will return, so you'd best not get any ideas if you want to live to see tomorrow."

He nodded, swallowing, and picked up Harper as if she were a doll, slinging her across his shoulder. She screamed, kicking and punching his back and torso, but it was no use.

"Kai! Call him off! Kai!"

"I'm sorry," he said.

Kai had known she would resist, had known that despite what she had just said and encountered, she would run back up the wall and give the battle her all. He couldn't let her—not when she had come so close to death mere moments ago.

Kai considered those moments as he walked back to the wall, climbing its steep stone steps as the sounds of battle pummeled his eardrums. Something was wrong with him, there was no longer any doubt. He had been a hundred feet away from Harper one moment, and the next he had been beside her. Rather than being impaled by the dagger, it had stopped, as if striking a shield where there had been none. And before that, when he had set the siege tower alight, he had snuck through the shadows. He had picked the right positions, yes, but there had been something more. He had not just blended into the darkness, he had become it.

Shaking away the thoughts that pounded his skull, Kai returned his attention to the matter at hand. Two more siege towers had been brought down somehow—which left three more. Kai sprinted across the wall towards the nearest tower, ignoring the men that battled around him. Enemies were everywhere, splotches of darkness eating through the light. Kai flinched as a head rolled toward him, still wearing the silver chained helmet of an Arian. The rest of the unfortunate soldier's body fell to the ground a few feet away from Kai, blood spraying across the boots of the man that had slain him. He was enormous—larger even than the man Kai had sent to protect Harper, and was swathed in steel plated armor. His long black beard swayed in the slight breeze as his eyes roamed the wall in search of victims. Laughing, he turned to Kai, blood still dripping from his massive longsword.

"You's next, are ye?" He licked his blade, red trickling down his beard. The man had a deep voice with a thick, rich accent that Kai couldn't quite place. "Come 'ere boy, I'll make it quick for ye."

Kai snarled, dancing toward his opponent, who towered over him. The man swung his blade, a blow with the force of a bear. Kai dodged, ducking past the blade as he pushed himself closer to the man, into the range of his shorter sword. The soldier's eyes widened, but he had no time to react as the blade shot through his chest. It had all happened in a matter of seconds—these men had been trained for war, trained to fight opponents wielding clunky shields and heavy longswords. Kai was not one of those opponents; he had been trained as an assassin, taught to kill anyone, no matter how large or strong. He wore no shield, relying instead on his own speed and agility.

Kicking the corpse off his sword, Kai pushed his way through the chaos, toward the nearest siege tower. Men surged onto the wall, pushing Aria's forces back towards the edge of the wall. Unless the siege tower was dealt with, they would continue to stream onto the wall.