Shadowed Read online

  Shadowed

  A novel

  TARA JADESTONE

  Copyright © 2016 Tara Jadestone

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN-13: 9781980206378

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission from the author.

  To every person in my life who encouraged me to keep writing and never underestimate how far I could go.

  And to everyone out there who suffers alone. Because the truth is, you can overcome your suffering, as long as you keep going with a heart of gold.

  “To light a candle is to cast a shadow.”

  Ursula K. Le Guin

  PROLOGUE

  “You’re so ugly, Melanie!” The boldest of the group shouted first. “Why aren’t you pretty like your sister Selenah?”

  “Yeah! And how come you’ve got no magic?”

  “Why’re you so boring?”

  “No one likes you here!”

  “Why’re you still living with this family? They don’t like you either!”

  Each comment was followed by a small rock or pebble, aimed to hit me. I sat there; staring at the earthen ground in front of me with my legs tucked into my chest and let the jeering continue. I didn’t feel any bit sad or angry at what they said.

  They’re only telling the truth.

  “Why aren’t you crying yet?”

  “Yeah, cry! Cry! Cry! Cry!” they howled together.

  “Hey!”

  I heard Selenah run down from the wooden porch and the group of kids scattered, screaming to take cover from Selenah’s magical wrath.

  Selenah stopped to stand next to me, huffing with her hands still clenching her skirt from having to run.

  “How come you didn’t do anything against them? They were hurting you,” she said. I got up and looked down at her. I was always taller than she was.

  “They didn’t hurt me.”

  I walked back inside our cottage and heard Selenah follow after.

  “But they threw rocks at you!” she called after me, “and look at all the dirt on your dress and the cuts on your arms!”

  I shrugged at her words and walked past the kitchen, where mother was humming to herself as she wiped the table, and stopped when I reached the back of the house. I wanted to be in peace. There, I bent over to grab the rusted handle to father’s cellar. With a grunt, I pulled the door open and took the candle on the wall to take down with me.

  Selenah didn’t follow me down here, ever. She was afraid of the dark and all the dusty stuff that collected on the floor.

  I placed the candle on the holder and began sifting through the mossy crates of father’s unused goods to find a book to read. Feeling the wind and the sunlight on my skin wasn’t very fun. Being down here was so much better.

  “Mel?”

  I looked over my shoulder, seeing Selenah in the doorway. She gripped the cellar door. I could see that her knuckles were white.

  “What is it now?”

  “Can I sit with you?”

  “Sure.”

  I turned away, thinking she wouldn’t have the guts to come in. But I turned back to look at her with raised eyebrows, seeing that this time, she descended the steps. Her blue eyes were darting to all the dark corners of the room and the floating spider webs.

  She whispered something, and the entire cellar became bright. The dust and the cobwebs disappeared, and all the crates lost all their mold and moss. The flame from my candle had been blown out and replaced by several of her floating ones.

  I frowned. Selenah liked changing things with her magic all the time. I didn’t like it.

  “When I grow up, I’m gonna make everything perfect,” she said, smiling. “I promise.”

  But I turned my back to her. Liar. I was only twelve, but already I knew. The world would always want Selenah while everyone would think twice to be kind towards me.

  ****

  I remember that day. The day they came for Selenah.

  Father had given her a bow and a quiver full of arrows that glowed at her touch. Mother had given her a ruby amulet saying it had been a family heirloom she wished her to have. I was expecting a gift, too, but was more than disappointed when I was given nothing. It was not until I had asked them did I receive something. Father gave me a sword still in its scabbard and for a time, I thought of it as a treasure, especially when I saw the look in his eyes when he had given it, almost as if he cared about me.

  In all honesty, I had never liked my sister, Selenah. She had always been perfect in my parents’ eyes. She was beautiful, brave, strong, ambitious, and clever. She had magic running through her veins. I did not. I knew the Dark Mages –that was what Selenah called them– were after her and not me. For what fool would want the magic-less daughter of a blacksmith?

  Selenah and I fled from our house the moment we heard the beating of the crows’ wings in the distance. I remember being forced out of the cellar, upset that I could not take any of its treasured books with me.

  Our mother and father, we knew, would not make it out alive; Selenah had foreseen it in a dream. She dreamt it every night ever since the sixteenth festival of summer that celebrated our and every other child’s summer birth. Selenah had called it foreseeing death, but I never truly believed her until what her dream foretold –the sky blackening and thundering with the calls of crows coming to kill– came true.

  From that moment on, I knew there was no place left for me if our parents were dead, and thus my journey shadowing Selenah began.

  CHAPTER ONE

  A KNIGHT TO REMEMBER

  Heavy rain poured down from the sky, soaking us to the skin. I looked back at Selenah.

  Beneath the hood she wore, she still looked beautiful. Nothing could change her bright blue eyes, long, dark lashes, full pink lips, slender nose, and round face. Perfection was forever hers.

  The thought only made me feel worse than I already was.

  “We should stop, Mel.” Her voice floated to my ears despite the torrential rain.

  “Why?” I asked, ignoring her command as I walked on.

  Just as the words left my mouth, my dress snagged onto a surfaced tree root I did not see, and I tripped. I quickly caught myself on the wet, peeling bark of a nearby tree. I gritted my teeth as I forced myself upright, trying to peer into the growing darkness to see if I had cut my hands.

  “That is why,” Selenah said as she stopped to sit by a large tree whose leaves took in most of the rain. I stood in the background, watching with my arms folded over my chest.

  I grimaced as her lips moved silently, a burst of flame erupting from the ground before her.

  “Selenah, we cannot stop now. They are still after y– us,” I corrected myself.

  She shrugged at my warning and ran a hand over her dripping cloak to render it dry with another spell while I still shivered in mine.

  “Mel, do not worry so much. The power of the Dark Mages and their riding crows are hindered by the rain, have I not told you? I do not quite know why exactly, but just trust me. We are safe here for now.” In the light of the fire, I could see a faint smile on her face.

  “You seem awfully sure about yourself for someone who does not ‘quite know,’” I muttered before I slumped down on the wet ground some feet away from her.

  Pulling up my knees, I watched her untie Father’s hand-carved bow from its sling by her waist. She fingered it slowly and set it down to pull out the ruby amulet mother had given her from beneath her cloak.

  Her face softened, eyes watering. I gagged, feeling my stomach twist. If she cared so much for them, why did she run? Why did she not stay and protect them?r />
  “How can you stand yourself?” I hissed. Selenah looked up and turned her head in my direction, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Are you now sorry you left our parents to die? Is that why you cry?” I felt my throat close, but I continued on. “Or is it because you are left in this wilderness without someone to kiss you goodnight or bring you gifts from across the kingdom?”

  “Melanie! How dare you mock them at this hour!” she shouted, but I saw the pain in her pretty blue eyes.

  “How can I not? You have the magic. You could have saved them, but instead, you ran, and they accepted your words like the fools they are.” Selenah stiffened. I held my gaze.

  “I refuse to speak to you.” She turned up her nose and shifted away from me.

  I rolled my eyes in scorn, seeing her shoulders heave.

  Unable to stop myself, I muttered, “What good is your magic if you cannot save people you care about? How great of a daughter are you?”

  Selenah froze. I watched her slowly turn back to face me.

  “How could you believe I left them without such a thought?” she cried. “How could you? This magic is far more powerful than anyone of us! Neither I nor our parents can stop it from intervening in our lives.”

  I shut my eyes briefly at her cracked voice. Her answer did not bring any comfort to me. Perhaps I did not care.

  With a sigh, I turned away from her and unsheathed the iron sword Father had given to me. I glared at it, letting out my anger on the sword as I gripped its hilt. Some parts of the blade had already succumbed to rust, creating a coppery color at the sides. The only fashionable thing of the sword was the hilt, colored a dark gold with inscriptions that Father had engraved himself.

  I threw the sword to the ground in frustration. Not even the flames from Selenah’s fire reflected on its tarnished steel. Why does Selenah get everything? Those Dark Mages are after her, not me, I thought. Because I am no one.

  “Mel,” Selenah said.

  “What?” I growled, kicking my sword away in a fit of disgust. The sword served only as a reminder of that wretched place.

  Why did I even seek something from them? Why did I still want their acceptance?

  “Someone is coming, hide!”

  I looked up, surveying the sudden darkness. There was nothing in sight, including Selenah and the fire she had started.

  When had the rain stopped?

  I reached to grab the hilt of my sword when a boot pinned the blade to the ground. Gasping, I looked up and saw a knight, his armor glowing silver. His amber eyes widened behind his closed helmet as they met mine.

  In his momentary shock, I drew the sword out from under his foot and stood, ready to fight off this intruder.

  “How interesting, a lass with a sword in the middle of the forest,” he said, unsheathing his rapier. It glowed, just like Selenah’s bow when she touched it. “I hope you are not looking for trouble.”

  I took a half step back. Does he possess magic, too?

  I tried to stay calm and flexed the sword in my hand. I barely knew the basics of swordplay. How could I think to challenge a knight?

  And where is Selenah?

  I had no time to wait for her. Hoping to take him again by surprise, I swung my sword at him, but he leaped out of its reach. He turned quickly and rammed his sword into mine, causing my hand to sting from the vibration. Still, I held on.

  I hoped to strike him with a more accurate and forceful hit when the sound of someone approaching from behind the knight stopped me. We both turned to see Selenah, her bow drawn and taut.

  She released the arrow, and it found its place in the knight’s left arm. He dropped his sword and fell to his knees, staggering back at the force of the hit. He grasped his wounded arm with his free arm and began muttering words under his breath. Selenah looked at me with a smile.

  “What was that for?” I nearly shouted at her. I had the upper hand! Selenah’s smile became a frown at my tiny outburst.

  “It looked like you needed help,” she flipped her golden hair over her shoulder. I clenched my jaw to stop myself from replying back to her.

  “What a lass,” the knight whispered to himself in awe, his eyes on Selenah.

  I scowled at him; jealous of the stranger’s compliment and put my sword to his throat.

  “Why have you come here?” I demanded. “And who sent you?”

  He looked over to me and used his free hand to place it over his chest. “I come here by order of His Royal Majesty.”

  I inhaled sharply, immediately dropping the sword from his throat. The King himself?

  Selenah’s eyes widened at his answer and I regained my composure enough to ask, “Then why did you attack me?”

  “I was told to seek a lady Selenah, a girl with golden locks as bright as the sun,” he said, frowning at my deep brown hair, “and with magic. You are neither.”

  “But how do you know she is the Selenah you are looking for?” I insisted. “Attacking unsuspecting young women does not seem like something a King’s trained knight would do. And surely, there are other girls with magic in Tenebris who might fit your description.” I added the last bit in my vain effort to hope it was true.

  “I apologize for the first impression, miss. I saw you with a weapon drawn and assumed you to be a bounty hunter or rogue bandit.” The knight then stared wistfully at Selenah. “And yes, there may be others with magic, but never have I come across a magic-wielder with powers to overcome my own,” he answered. My eyes widened. So he does have magic! “I know she is the Lady I seek.”

  Selenah nodded at his words and addressed me.

  “I think our best hope is to meet the King. We will be safer with him than on our own.” She blew on her bow and it disappeared out of sight. I pursed my lips at her display of magic. And I did not like the idea of traveling with a stranger, even if he had magic and permission from the King. What if he is lying? Or does Selenah’s magic see through lies, too?

  “And this arrow?” the knight questioned with a frown, indicating his arm. “I cannot remove it.”

  “Mel can heal it unless she is not coming with us,” Selenah replied, “to the King’s Castle, I believe?” The knight nodded.

  I huffed at her words. I knew I could not heal the knight. It would only look as if I did. The magic in her arrow harmed only those who Selenah perceived as her enemy. And the knight, as of now, was not.

  It was a game she had always played with me, trying to make me feel as if I possessed magic.

  “I can heal it,” I said under my breath, kneeling down to remove the arrow. It came out quickly, and the wound from his arm vanished, as did the arrow. It was not a surprise now to see the knight unfazed by the magic that had been used on him.

  He stood, nodded a quick thank-you in my direction, and put away his sword.

  “From which town did you two come from?” he asked, standing.

  “We come from Brassion,” Selenah answered.

  “Ah, not too far from here.” He nodded. “And your families? Do they know you are out here?”

  Selenah glanced at me. I made a face at her. If she was so quick to trust the knight, she might as well answer all his questions.

  “Yes, they do,” she began, biting her lower lip. The knight leaned closer a fraction, waiting for her to go on. “But we are on our own now.”

  The knight’s eyes narrowed, but after a moment of silence on his part, he nodded.

  “Then it will not be a trouble if I escort you to the King’s Castle, yes?” Selenah gave a slight nod. “Alright, follow me.” He motioned with his hand for her to walk after him.

  But just as he took another step, Selenah curled her fingers into a fist and brought it to her chest. The knight staggered back, holding his throat.

  “I would like to warn you, though,” she said, walking to stand in front of him. Her blue eyes were blazing with magic. “If you are not who say you are; you have made a grave mistake in trying to fool me.” She dropped her hand and the knight bent ov
er coughing.

  He looked over his shoulder at me and then back to Selenah, dropping to one knee. He then bowed his head to her, sweeping a hand over his chest in servitude.

  “You have my word.”

  Selenah stood with her shoulders arched back and head held high as she looked down at him. Seeing a knight of the King become so quickly obedient to her made me stiffen. Out of envy or shock, I was unsure of.

  With a nod, Selenah took a step back and allowed the knight to continue leading her to where he had left his horse.

  There was only space on the bulky grey horse for two. Selenah got on after the knight did, and they both looked at me, a look of surprise written over their faces.

  How quickly they had forgotten of my existence.

  For a moment I stared back, stunned, before feeling the resentment creep in. I turned around and walked away, my back to them. As I did so, I tried to breathe out the hurt in my chest. I knew the way to the King’s Castle– the main road would lead me right to it. And I knew we were not far from the main road either since the forest near Brassion ran along it.

  I would not need any gallant knight to escort me there. But I then realized that going to the King’s Castle was futile. The King wanted Selenah, not me. So there was no point in going at all.

  “Mel!” I heard Selenah yell after me, breaking me from my thoughts. But there was no reason to even listen to her. “Mel!” she called again. “Melanie!” I heard her jump off the horse and head in my direction.

  With a huff, I turned around to face her growing silhouette, angry tears in my eyes.

  “If you are to meet the King, go meet him! Who am I to stop you?” I saw her halt at my words, but I quickly turned around and rushed to get away from her.

  While I had no place to go, at least Selenah would no longer get in the way now that she was due at the King’s Castle.

  ****

  Bright sunlight woke me up. Sitting upright, I blinked and looked around me, unable to recall where I was. I glanced around. I was under an oak tree, and neither the knight nor Selenah were anywhere to be seen. I smiled a little.