A Shadow's Tale by Jennifer Hanlon Read Free Book Online Page A

they looked to be a couple of years older than me. One raised a hand, beckoning to me. Inervously followed. Now that the immediate danger was gone, I took in my surroundings. A scarlet sun stained the sky with crimson light. The ground had been baked and burned until it was black and cracking. Crude stone dwellings turned the dirt into haphazard streets. On a slight incline was the only vaguely civilized looking building. A palace made of some sort of black stone. The twins leading me were odd in their own right, with long shaggy silver hair and silver eyes with skin pale enough to rival mine. I observed them with curiosity, wondering who they were and why everyone was scared of them. They didn’t look all that scary to me. Arias and Karthragan were more terrifying in my mind.
    There was a rising feeling of dread the closer I got to the temple. Something in my blood recognised it. My magic hummed happily through my body, revelling in the heat. Inside the temple, the corridors were made with the same black stone as the outside, although torches lined the walls, casting flickering shadows, and gleaming red on the twins’ silver hair. We passed several more demons, although they all shrank away at the sight of the two boys. I wondered who they were to be so feared. I kept close to the twins, afraid of this strange place, of the demons looking at me as if I was the next thing on the menu.
    The further we went into the temple, the more I felt as if I was in a maze. The twins navigated easily, knowing exactly where they were going. I followed like a foal follows its mother, unable to do anything else. I was lost in this place. All the corridors looked the same! We eventually reached our final destination. The chamber was huge, as big as the Senate Chambers back home. Here, the black walls glittered in the torchlight and there, sitting on a throne carved of black wood, was Karthragan.
    He looked nothing like the wolf in the demon book. He looked almost Synari, almost normal. Pale skin with black hair that fell over his brow, obscuring one pair of his eyes, the tips of horns protruding from the mass. Not how I imagined a demon tolook. But I knew him. I could sense him. A dark presence the exact copy of the one in the back of my mind. He looked down at me, a girl in black lost against the black floor. In the blink of an eye, I found myself pinned to the wall, his hand around my throat, up more close and personal than I ever wanted him to be ever again. His four red eyes gleamed under black hair, narrowed as he sniffed at me.
    â€˜Wolf,’ he growled. I struggled against his grasp. I couldn’t focus enough to use magic and he was so much stronger than I was! He raised a finger, a finger tipped with a fearsome claw. With one quick swipe, he carved a deep gash around my right eye, from my eyebrow to my cheekbone. I screamed. The pain gave me the focus I needed. In a single blast, I managed to send him flying half way across the room. I fell to the ground but scrambled back up to my feet. Clamping a corner of my cloak to the wound, I glanced around, looking for a place to run and hide. From somewhere outside the chamber, chaos erupted, voices yelling about the prince being bested by a girl, about the girl being marked as his, about a winged horse. Merlas! They had to be talking about Merlas! Demons didn’t breed pegusi and she would be the only one who would come and find me!
    A furious bundle of fur, feathers and teeth burst into the room, her ears back, her long canine teeth stained black with demon blood. Merlas roared in fury, rearing up onto her hind legs, pawing at the air with her sharp hooves. Karthragan ducked, escaping her attack. Merlas’s teeth snagged the back of my cloak, tossing my easily onto her back. Through the haze of blood in my eyes, I saw Karthragan jump forwards with a sword. Merlas bellowed a warning as she leapt into the air, delivering a strong kick to his chest as she took off. Once