Shadows - S Robinson (classic reads TXT) 📗

bitten Mags, can you help him” concern flooded his chiselled features,
“I will try Ericou, I have the rags but I will need fresh water and towels” with that Mags pushed past Ericou and went straight to the injured Vandai. What was happening, Anan's head was spinning he could not process what was going on. Where did all this weaponry come from? How did the steps appear? Was it magic? Who was this stranger? There was no time to ask any of these questions or to listen to the answers. People were running back and forth gathering towels and fresh water and more people were arriving. It was utter chaos and Anan felt completely lost and alone. Looking up Mags called over to Anan for help. Vandai had regained consciousness but he looked dreadful. His skin had turned a pasty white and his head was soaked in his own sweat. Vandai's full beard was covering the majority of his face and it was difficult to make out the rest of his features, there seemed to be sores around his lips that were visibly spreading across his face.
“ wipe his forehead with this Anan” Mags passed him a soaked cloth
“ try and clean up that cut on his head” . Anan watched as Mags started to pull apart his trouser leg to show three horrific slashes to his leg. They had already started to ooze and Anan started to feel a little queasy. She then opened a tin and took out some small cut up rags. She then began to force the rags deep into the cuts and Vandai began to scream and kick.
“Ericou, hold him” and the battle master obliged, pinning Vandai down to the table they had him lay on. Was that a trick of the light or was that a tear in Ericou's eyes Anan thought to himself. With the rags packed inside the incisions Mags asked everyone to stand back. She hovered her hand over the man’s leg and again her hand began to glow, within seconds the rags had ignited and burned a fierce red. This was too much for Anan the smell of burning flesh turned his stomach and made him retch just before he was sick on the floor
“what are you doing to him?” Anan asked, wiping his mouth clean, the most awful taste of bile lingering in his mouth, turning him away from the whimpering man Mags put her hands on Anan's shoulders
“Vandai has been bitten by a shadow hound, the toxins from the bite infest the skin and surrounding tissue and cause the wound to heal extremely quickly sealing the poison inside the body. The rags burn out the poison and keep the wounds open to allow the body to heal. If the poison is not excavated the body will die or worse will turn the bitten into a shadow slave” Vandai's groans of pain had started to subside and Mags and Ericou started to issue orders to the others present
“Cain, are we locked down?”
“yes”
“have we found the hound?”
“yes Ericou we have it outside........how did it find us?”
ignoring the young man’s question Ericou turned to Anan
“I am sure there are lots of things you want to ask, but I need you to be strong for a moment longer and come with me, can you do that” Anan nodded. He was not sure what was going on and what was being asked of him, but he wanted to know everything and if that meant he had to wait a little longer he would wait.
“Then follow me”. Ericou marched outside with Cain and Anan at his heels and walked down the main street towards a gathering of people.
“ what you are about to see is a part of something we have tried to avoid for the last seventeen years, but I fear we have no choice now but to face it” the crowd was twenty strong, all natives of Bockley but to Anan they could have been strangers. They had swapped there shovels and pitchforks, or knitting needles and soup spoons for highly polished armour and swords, axes and even bow's. From the centre of the crowd there was a bright burning light and Anan wanted to look, he wanted to see what had made everyone change this much, he pushed past people to get to the front . There was a wooden pole staked into the ground with an unnatural light hanging at its top. There was what looked like a huge black dog made of smoke tethered to the pole, Anan stopped dead, those bright red eyes glaring back at him,
“ it cannot harm you now Anan”. This didn’t comfort Anan at all, this beast looked very capable of tearing a strip off him at any moment.
“you see these hounds are scouts, they are not designed for much use. They come out at dusk and night time, they are made from captured shadows or souls of the dead and their power is more evident when there is little light. They can almost float around allowing them to cover great distances in a short time and in darkness you cannot see them at all and they become the air you breath. The only thing that gives them away is the eyes their eyes burn with the tortured souls inside”. with that Ericou shot the hound a filthy look and spat
“now this filth is in pure light its body becomes whole, solid, and can be killed.” with that Ericou passed Anan a sword
“I know you feel you are not battle ready, ready to kill but this is needed and you have to do it” Anan refused the sword
“there are many questions I have and I have not even thought about how I can piece all this together but I will not kill on your say so” he was adamant and Ericou knew this was the only answer he was likely to hear.
“then boy you will learn the hard way” and he sliced at the hound with the sword and nothing happened. Anan was dumbstruck,
“why did the sword pass through?”
“ as I said boy they are made from shadow and although there body is more formed, light is still needed to destroy these creatures” and with that Ericou unleashed the shiny new hammer Anan had made for him earlier that day. He brought the metal to his lips and kissed it and the metal was engulfed in flame. The hound cowered back and began to yelp, struggling with its bindings, but it could not get free.
“I always told you boy that you would never know when your skills would be called upon” he hefted the hammer above his head and cried out
“may your souls be free, never to be used for evil again” and down the hammer fell, crushing the dog dead. Anan's head was spinning, there was too much information, too much to take in and he collapsed, everything went quiet and there was only darkness.


CHAPTER 3


“When shall we tell him?” Mags asked, Ericou looked sombre in his reply
“We will have to tell him soon Mags, we can't put it off any longer, besides he knows where Anan is, we can't hide him from Jangaar any more, this was only the beginning, you know as well as I that he has much worse to send”. Mags began to cry, she hugged Ericou and sobbed into his great chest, “that poor boy, how do we tell him, the most powerful, demonic and evil creature to ever walk this earth wants him dead”.


The morning came too bright and too early for Anan and his head was pounding with questions, information he felt he was owed. He quickly got out of bed splashed cold water on his dry face and dashed out the house. He was looking for Ericou, if any one was going to give him the truth it was the old battle master. Ericou was outside the Church with Sister Felicity and Mags. He strode over to the small group determined to get the answers he craved.
“I see your awake, have you come to fight or to talk” Ericou boomed and Anan had not realised he had picked up a bread knife on his way out of the house. Dropping the blade to the floor and holding up his palms in submission he addressed the huge man
“I need to know everything”
“Okay Anan , we will tell you everything but not here. Follow us to the tavern where we can sit and talk”. Anan followed unsure of his first question and what was to come next. On arrival at the tavern Sister Felicity started to make them all some leaf tea.
Taking a small sip of his steaming cup of tea Anan said
“so what exactly was that thing last night” Mags, Ericou and the Sister all looked at one another, not knowing who would answer. With an audible sigh Ericou gathered himself
“ it was one of Jangaar's pet's. An abomination”.
Mags cut across him
“As Ericou so gracefully put it the shadows are scouts, sent out by Jangaar to search for something he wants, most desperately” her gaze scanned over Anan with a frown and considered him for a moment, before continuing
“I never told you Anan, but when your mother left she left you in our care. We were called Battatu, it means The Lost. We lost many of our warriors on the way to a new life. We finally escaped from Jangaar's clutches with your mother to make a new beginning here and using the magic we have we disappeared from sight and have stayed hidden for the last eighteen years. As the chief Magi of our clan I felt it best that I be on the one to watch over you, to keep you safe, but I fear I have failed as he has found you”. Tears started to well up in her eyes as she tried to continue
“ your mother was of pure soul a women of grace and beauty and she was a very dear friend” Anan nearly fell off his stool
“ I was always told my mother was known by nobody, why have you never told me this......why?”
“We felt it best to keep the truth hidden, to keep you safe, we never imagined he would find you”.
Anan felt sick, felt his life, his existence was being pushed over the cliff with the memory of his mother.
“Why would this Jangaar want to find me?” he could feel his temper rising, his palms were becoming sweaty and he was starting to feel uncomfortable in his seat.

“Thirty years ago there was peace in the world, the kingdom of Vengor was strong until a young man named Jangaar changed that and wreaked chaos over the Southern Plains. Jangaar was an assassin for hire from the City of Enas. He was very adept at carrying out and completing the contracts he took. He was a pawn. Someone to create conflict and disrupt kingdoms for the rich and powerful. That was until he decided his lot was not enough and sought out the Nami spirits to grant him the power to control this land”.

This had Anan's attention but he still was not sure what he was listening to and how this had impacted on his life.
“ The Nami are the guardian's of souls and Jangaar had to seek their permission before carrying out his contracts. This used to frustrate him. You