The Shadow Queen (A Rider novel)

Chapter Five: Who's in Control

"Wait, so what's a Shadow Queen?" Kili asks as soon as we've begun the flight back to Erebor.  I forgot he wouldn't know our folklore.

"Sorry, I did not remember you have different legends than the riders.  A Shadow Queen is just a name for someone that commands daemons, but the only way they would follow Del is if she had killed the old leader and taken his place, and I can't see her doing that."

"Well, maybe it wasn't her." Kili suggests, and I glance at him over my shoulder.  My eyebrows are furrowed in questioning, not understanding how he could have come to that conclusion with all the facts pointing in the opposite direction.

"What do you mean?" my head tilts slightly to the side as I think, "It would have to be her or the daemons wouldn't follow."

"What if it's not really her, but rather something inside of her? Perhaps she is posessed by something?  With all that has happened, it is not a completely insane option."

"I hope you're wrong,"  I whisper, feeling the dread curl tighter in me, "because I think it's going to be me that has to kill her."

"If Kili is indeed correct though," Kinjal weighs in, "we are in more danger than we previously thought.  We will be facing an invisible enemy that not only has command over the leader of a daemon army, but also an enemy who could come to inhabit any of us."

"This is still hypothetical though." I counter. "We don't know any of that for sure.  It may very well be Del that is behind everything, as much as I hate to admit so."

The mere mentioning of it makes my stomach clench again.

"If it is something inside of Del, it will be forced to remain there in order to keep control over the Aitu army.  We will have to proceed as planned until we know for sure."

"And what then?" Kili asks.

"No idea.  I'm coming up with this as I go along." I respond, silently bemoaning the fact that there is no one to just hand me the answers.

If only there were a magical solution to everything.

"Once we return to Erebor, we will all need to prepare for battle; the Aitu looked ready to attack at any moment."

"Interesting how dangerouss situations are becoming normal, isn't it?" Kinjal says dryly, causing me to snort in a very unladylike fashion.

"It is indeed."

***

Small chapter, but you can see we're building up to something big.

What do you think? Are Kili and Kinjal right in thinking Del is posessed, or is she truly evil?  And what about this Aitu army?  The dwarves and riders are in for some trouble. 

Thoughts and opinions are welcome, and vote if you think this chapter is worth it!

xx