Page 10 of Shadow and Smite

May she stay safe.

I sent the wish to the merchant ship, vanishing on the horizon. I took the moment to daydream, to wonder what could have been if we had met under different circumstances. If I weren’t me, and this quest weren’t mine.

May she stay safe,I wished one final time.

Then I gritted my teeth and faced my fight.

4 | No One

Ayla

Nothing happened when we passed the Rift. No magic flowed through my body. I was unchanged.

Nearby, other fae tested their magics. A fae with a long tail ran fingers down his sword, igniting it with flame. Another with wings cast a gusty wind, pushing fog away from the ship.

Meanwhile, I remained as humanlike as I had always been. What an uninspiring sensation. Why had I dared to hope? It was childish to dream.

I toyed with my ruby ring, the one I’d taken from my mother’s jewelry box the night of my escape. The design had filigree and archaic details, set with a large ruby.

On my birthday, my mother would summon me to her rooms and hand me this ring. She watched, curious about how I would respond to it—or maybe how it would respond to me. I never quite understood, and she never explained, only hinting that the ring had belonged to my father.

Every year the ritual repeated, Mother pretending the outcome could be different. Nothing changed. Nothing obvious. I’d dream about the Firewolf those nights. But I never told her about my visions—I couldn’t predict what she would do with that information.

I looked upon the vast foggy sea with no magic thrumming through my veins, and my skin tightened with goosebumps. My plans to find my mysterious Firewolf felt so small.

At least I escaped. Rhett would be waiting for me at a fae fiddle bar. That was enough.

I palmed my blade, coming to grips with the renewed emptiness. I was part-fae, granted arched ears and dwarfed antlers but no magic.

At least I had my mind and carefully honed skills. It would have to be enough.Iwould be enough.

Watching the sea, I tracked Zayne’s boat as he sped away, both disappointed and relieved he was gone. He would have been a distraction, an enjoyable one, a dangerous one.

I rested my hand over my chest, the handkerchief beneath, wondering if I’d ever see him again…

Only, something was wrong with the sea.

Staring after Zayne’s boat, I was one of the first to see it.Them.

The Shades.

They formed a pillar, rising from the sea. Dense bodies mangled together, individuals becoming a golem. They became a tower built from the sea floor.

Zayne had said the Shades were undead, and these bodies looked it. Where they had skin, it was spread too tightly. They were not bloody, but desiccated, half-skeletal. The pillar grew thicker and taller, rising as one body climbed over another. One by one, individual Shades added thickness and height, the horde forming a new life form. A malleable golem.

The shouting began. The captain gave orders to turn around, to travel south of the Rift.

Suddenly, in a rush, the pillar of undead began moving, racing toward us, shifting with preternatural speed.

Action whirled around me, but all I could see was Zayne’s boat, already far away.

Was this why Zayne left? Had he fled, sensing them and leaving us?I can’t trust him.The realization struck like cold water, and all my flirty impressions soured.

I can’t trust anybody.I should have known that.

Regardless, he was sailing toward the horizon, abandoning us while the Shades pursued us.

Grounding myself, I dug my feet into the deck and pulled an arrow from my quiver. I didn’t know if arrows would matter. Regardless, I wouldn’t hide below deck—I would fight.

---