Page 102 of A Court So Dark
Only silence.
Please, you have to come back. You can’t leave me.
—I… can’t,he answered, sounding like the echo of a vanishing thought.
Yes, you can.
—I’m too w-weak.
Damn it. I don’t care. You’re my mate and without you, what kind of life will I lead? You have to get your ass back here.
—But I’m… so far gone.
See my light? See me? All you have to do is follow me.
I sensed the moment he gathered the last dregs of his strength and started following me. My light, even weak as it was, made the trees, the rocks, my body cast stronger versions of themselves onto the ground, and wherever those deeper shadows touched, Kalyll’s scattered fragments grew stronger, denser.
Bit by bit, they drifted closer to each other, forming bigger pieces, bigger shadows. Then those pieces joined others and grew in turn.
Soon, the ground seemed alive, shifting and changing like the surface of a gloomy lake. I sensed Kryn standing next to me, still as a statue, his body casting its own shadow.
My light grew softer, and the world around us dimmer.
I panicked for an instant, then realized that the newly assembled pieces were quickly coming closer to my dying light and dimming shadow.
A thought occurred to me.
“Kryn, get down here. Next to me!”
Without asking questions, he knelt by my side.
“Put your hand next to mine.” I shook my left hand up and down to indicate where to set his up.
Quickly, he aligned his arm with mine from the tip of our pinkies through the length of our forearms.
With that done, I slowly let my light dim further, guiding the shadows inward, then I channeled all the remnants of my energy through my right hand, positioning it right about our lined-up arms.
Together, we cast a smaller, yet more concentrated shadow, a shadow under which all the scattered pieces convened, joining like drops of water that soon became a small puddle.
“This way. I see a light.” Someone called through the trees.
“More guards are here,” Kryn hissed.
Kalyll, hurry!
To my relief, the puddle doubled, tripled, quadrupled in an instant. Then, all at once, the shadows elongated, stretching up into the air. Kryn and I reared back, watching eagerly.
The shape solidified, then Kalyll stood there. He placed a hand on his chest as if to feel he was real.
Joy and relief filled me, then what little strength had been holding me upright leaked out of me, and my entire body unhinged.
Before I hit the ground, Kalyll scooped me up and cradled me in his arms.
“Melynthi, you saved me.” He buried his face in my hair, and I weakly wrapped an arm around his neck.
“I hate to interrupt this tender moment,” Kryn said, “but we have to get out of here. Here.” He pushed his open hand in front of Kalyll’s face. It held the transfer token. “Take her to safety.”
“There they are,” someone screamed, then the light of torches and the beat of hooves filled the clearing.
