Excerpt: Shadow's Fall: Light and Shadow

Light

The Fall. The Phoenix’s death was a time of great celebration for humankind; a time of revelry before we’d realized quite how much we’d lost, and how much damage the great war had caused the land. Before our inevitable dissension drove us apart.

It hadn’t been so joyous for the land—the place where the Phoenix fell was devastated by the crushed dreams, prayers, and hopes of half a million elves, with all the power of mind magic behind them. One girl and her little prophecy that wasn’t quite true were the focus of an entire race’s salvation. And she failed.

The stone where she was executed still stood in the center of the crater. Miles wide, and canyons deep, the only predictable thing in the Fall was chaos. Twisting, winding magic whispered to all those who entered. Lost dreams and souls departed brushed your shoulder. Sometimes you left sane. Most times, whoever—whatever—left the Fall was changed in ways you could hardly imagine.

It was no wonder Shadow wanted to meet me here, the only place where both of our magics would be nullified completely. This was the place where the dead had control over me, and their minds whispered into mine, screaming, saying nothing at all and somehow more painful than any words could be. The place where Shadow’s shelan magic would have no effect: how do you grasp something insubstantial, fraying, twisting, leaping out of your reach even as you touch it?

I looked over the crater, hissing slightly in displeasure. Shadow was already in the middle of the crater, leaning against the execution stone with his arms crossed. I could almost see his smirk from here. Spirits take him, damn him. Hopefully.

There was a small, winding path at the edge of the crater. I tried not to think too hard about how it had gotten there, and stepped down into the Fall. At least weapons should still work here, if the spirits decided to let them. I drew a pistol and edged down the all-too-small path, both eyes on Shadow. I wouldn’t put it past him to shoot me now, the bastard.

Not to say that there weren’t creatures here to worry about any longer either: no, after the crater had first been created, things began slinking back, and little creatures and small plants crept into the safe dead place. But there was no telling what had survived the magic, and what the malicious hands of the dead had twisted.

“Shadow,” I said, hesitantly holstering my pistol. I stood uneasily at the edge of the large clearing that the execution stone was the center of.

“Light,” he replied, brushing his silver hair out of his eyes. “Good to see you’ve made it here.” His voice was just as soft and nondescript as I remembered.

“No thanks to you, bastard, choosing this spot,” I said, anger flaring up for a moment. “Do you have any idea what it’s like for a cenlan and triman to even come here?”

“I’m pretty sure I do,” he said bleakly, ice blue eyes wide beneath his glasses. He didn’t even elaborate, damn it. There was no way he could have become a cenlan, that was a blood thing, descended, most ironically, from the elves. But triman… Would his overbearing sense of duty have let him become a necromancer? I would have to find this out. A Shadow that was a triman would be the ultimate enemy, nearly a god.

“What do you want?” I asked him bluntly. “There’s no reason either of us couldn’t have killed the other just now, no reason we aren’t being driven mad this moment by beasties. So let’s get to the point. Or I’m gonna get out of this spook-place.”
“The point is the Briniels,” Shadow said softly, and I thought I saw Dmitri there for a moment, the friend I'd once known.

I froze. “What about the Briniels, D- Shadow?” I tried to look casual as I leaned against a tree. Could he know? Of course he did. He was the damned Shadow. Shadow knew everything.

“Well,” he said, voice heavily laced with irony, “considering they’re about the only people both of us hate equally, I figured they would be the best way to start off. They’re growing in power. Rapidly. I’m assuming you’ve noticed, given your contract with them.”

I shrugged. “Well, yeah, it’s pretty damn hard to miss. They wouldn’t have dreamed of seeking me out even a season ago.”

Shadow raised an eyebrow at me. “Why'd you let them? I thought even you had standards.” He pushed his glasses up with one finger. I knew that gesture almost as well as I knew him. He was nervous.

“’Cause when someone’s willing to pay me double my normal rates for sommat I’m already investigating, standards don’t quite come first.” I chuckled uneasily. “Truth be told, I don’ have the coin to turn them away, not when they’re willing to pay so much for so little. Lemme tell you, they’ll be the last to know if anything important comes up. If I find something enough to kill you, I’ll be doing that myself.”

He raised an eyebrow. “And I expected no less.”

Starting the game? Was he? Should I? A game of Find the Lady or Cup-and-Ball, both of us the marks and both of us the cons at the same time. Who’s got the counterfeit coins? “And you’ll be arresting me stat if we ever end up breaking this stalemate.”

“Of course, my dear con,” Dmitri said, wearing that damn smirk. “But the trouble is breaking the stalemate in the first place.”

“Yeah.” What was he up to? “Get to the point, Shadow. If either you or I are going to be driven mad in the next few minutes, I want to know why you called me here.”

“Are you just going to go along with them?” Shadow asked quietly. “Just going to let them take over?”

“And what if I do?” I shifted uneasily. The dead were brushing my shoulders, and I could feel their rage and hate and malice. We were intruding. “Let’s get out of here.”
“The Briniels destroyed everything you held dear.” Shadow’s eyes were flat and dull. “Now they’re moving to try and finish the job. They’re a bigger threat than either you or I can ignore.”

“You, Shadow, nearly killed me,” I said, voice barely higher than a whisper. “Which was more than the Briniels had ever done to me.” The dead wrapped themselves around me. Hopes shattered.. hate and hate and hate. I nearly screamed with it all. “You left a scar on my throat even the faelans couldn’t heal and you expect just a few years to change things enough for me to work with you?”

They were hissing, now: Yes, yes. Hatred among our enemies. All humans are enemies. I could see the backs of their eyes, the rusting armor, melting skin and rotted muscles. The Phoenix fell long ago…. Now the age of the humans must close.
“You were my only friend, Shadow,” I said, voice shaking uncontrollably. “The only damn person in all of god-damned respectable Pekka who would risk knowing an ex-thief.” My body began to shake. They wanted in. They wanted me to react, to fight for them. Blood running slowly out of empty sockets, noses decaying and crumbling before my eyes… I leaned against the tree, holding it with one hand.

“You aright, Light?” Shadow asked in concern, and one hand slid nervously to his pistol. I resisted making the same action. If I did, I would shoot him now. The spirit’s voices…I closed my eyes.

“I’m fine, damn you,” I told him through clenched teeth. “I will only continue this discussion once we’re out of the Fall.” This had been a setup. Fuck.

He just watched as I stumbled toward the path I’d taken earlier, away from the execution stone and the shadow of the phoenix looming over my mind now. There were thousands of them, skin shrunken, eyes white. All of them screamed, and it was the sound of silence that made me shudder to the core.

I retched, doubling over and clinging to the tree. All attempts to get to the edge of the Fall were abandoned. Gods…They were shrieking, stumbling toward me, all of their voices begging to be heard.

“Light,” Dmitri said, clearly concerned, “Do you need help?”

“I’m… fine,” I gritted out. The Phoenix herself was walking and flying toward me, a girl-woman and bird simultaneously. Her blazing and rotting green eyes drilled into mine. All of my thoughts were love lost, children dead, sanity shattered…. The burden she’d carried of the prophecy for so long. It was hopeless, lifeless… She screamed. Oh gods.

I clasped my hands to my head and stumbled toward the edge of the fall. Sanity was now the main objective.

“Shadow…” I choked out. A red haze filled my vision, and my knees buckled. I tightened my grip on the tree. “Dmitri.” All of the thousands were mauling me, gripping my mind, invading, possessing….

Dmitri supported me, my arm around his shoulder, and I stumbled forward. One face in the sea of faces was calling me. A son of elves… I’d killed him three years ago. Now my attention was riveted on him. I stepped toward him.

“Light, don’t,” Shadow said, pulling me back. “That isn’t sa—“

I turned on him with a snarl. “Let go of me,” I said, still watching the singing, shrieking elf. His eyelids snapped open. Empty sockets, somehow still the amazing green I remembered. He spoke to me in words I could not hear. I fell to the ground, shrieking.

There was no mistaking Shadow’s grin of triumph as he leaned over me, though it was quickly masked by concern. I reached for my pistol, but unconsciousness reached me first.