Awakening (Born From Shadows #1)

Confusion had set into Tatianna’s mind faster than a shooting star. Who was the Lady of the Night? Why did the woman kill herself? Was it because she was plain mad, or knew she would die anyway from releasing the information? It didn’t make any sense to her, but she knew the attention of the whole street went onto her the minute the woman died. Someone would have noticed her sharp jawline and pointed ears by now, she knew that she had to get out of this town. Everything else came at a secondary priority.

There was the whispering of men and the gasping of women as she dashed past them, heading towards the Inn where she prayed Riley and Nik were. Freya followed closely behind her, and she still tried to keep her head down as much as possible, but she feared the truth was already out there.

They reached the Inn and spotted both Riley and Nik standing at the stables. Tatianna internally rejoiced at the sight of them, it meant they didn’t need to go searching across the entire city.

“I expected you to be gone all day,” Riley said as the two approached.

Nik noticed the distress that had painted her face. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“Something really weird, but that’s not the point. They know, we need to go,” she told them. She placed her bags onto Ida’s saddle and lifted herself onto the horse.

“I am going to get tired of hearing those words, aren’t I?” Nik asked himself.

“Just get on the horse,” she replied in an annoyed tone. They had already wasted enough time.

Nik grabbed Ida’s reins and mounted the horse behind her. Freya and Riley were quick onto their steeds, and they started to trot out of the town, unable to go faster due to the masses of people crowding the street. Tatianna felt amplitudes of frustrations arise within her as more people blocked their way, it took her a moment to realise they were doing it on purpose. The people of Faithorn were stalling for something and she did not want to find out what it was.

“They are stalling us!” She yelled out. Upon her words, Nik told Ida with his feet to break into a canter no longer caring for the people in their way. They could move if they did not wish to be trampled on.

“Shit,” Nik mumbled as they reached the outskirt of the city. She had been right. The people were just gaining more time for the Hunt to gather. There had to be at least forty of them, both male and female some astride horses blocking the road to Bellin with Kaddeian blades in their hands

“What do we do?” Freya asked, her voice slightly trembling.

“We fight,” Nik replied and drew the sword from his waist. Tatianna pulled out her dagger and Nik passed Riley his small knife from his shoe. They didn’t have many weapons, but they would use what they had.

Nik stopped Ida. “Get off,” he told her.

“Why?” she asked, wondering why Nik would want to kick her off the horse.

“We will only get in each other’s way like this, it will be easier for you to fight on the ground,” he replied, referring to her struggles with riding a horse. She nodded and got off Ida, watching him charge forwards towards the Hunt. She took a deep breath and charged forward. Running as fast as she could. She saw Nik and Ida collide into their forces along with Riley. Freya not knowing how to fight or having a weapon, tried her best to stay to the side, although she did not look too happy about it.

Tatianna’s dagger met with the blade of one of the women who were standing on the ground. As if she had a second eye she ducked as another swung at her from behind, using the opportunity to slash at both opponents’ lower stomachs. She then dashed towards the nearest person she could see and drove her dagger straight through his heart. Another male came charging towards her, sword raised so the folded patterns of Kaddeian steel glittered in the sunlight. A snarl from grey fur slammed into her assailant’s side, Nylif had come to protect her. Swords flashed in front of her face, yet they moved so slow compared to her. The Elven traits came in useful as she weaved her way through the Hunt.

A horse rode straight past her and she looked up to see Nik in a heated combat against two other men on horses. She could tell he had been training to fight from a young age by how instinctual his movements with the sword were. Riley was struggling, the small blade offered him little defensive manoeuvres. Slashing and stabbing she fought her way through the enemy like they were a piece of cake.

She noticed the number of people trying to attack her became less and less the more she took down. “Riley!” Freya screamed from a distance away from her. Tatianna looked up and saw Riley jump in front of a man who aimed to kill Freya. Riley pushed the blade away with his bare hands so it was no longer pointing at his heart but towards the ground.

Two women tried to use Tatianna distracted mind to their advantage but they both met their ends at the point of her dagger and Nylif’s bloody mouth. She knew how to put emotions to the side when in the heat of her battle, she would not let them use a distraction to kill her.

Tatianna rushed towards where Riley was now kneeling on the ground trying to fend off someone to save his sister. She came up behind them and stabbed the man in the back, watching him topple to the floor. She turned around and looked at the battlefield. Only four people remained standing, now three as Nik swung his sword into a man’s skull, his strike hard and true. Tatianna rushed to the remaining members of the Hunt and made quick work of them alongside Nik.

“To live too long is to live no more,” the last remaining person of the Hunts said before Nik drove a sword into his heart. Tatianna couldn’t help but think of how good he looked at that moment. Covered in blood and dirt, adrenaline pumping through his veins.

“Were those not the same words that the other member of the Hunt said?” Nik asked for confirmation, trying to remember their previous encounter.

“It was,” she replied thinking back. She then turned her attention towards Riley who laid injured on the floor. She didn’t know when he got pushed from his horse, but she guessed it didn’t matter now.

“Is he alright?” Tatianna asked Freya.

“The blade went through his ankle, it is severely damaged along with two cuts on his hands. He passed out,” Freya replied.

“Is he going to be, ok?” Nik dared to ask.

“As long as the wounds don’t get infected. Those aren’t lethal places to be struck,” she replied. “Where is his horse?”

“Over there, he had to jump off to avoid a blow,” Freya said and pointed towards one of the abandoned horses left amongst the dead. Tatianna looked towards Nik, silently telling him to go get the horse by motioning her eyes to it. He understood what she was trying to say and headed in that direction, still on top of Ida.

“We need to stop the bleeding,” Tatianna said, reaching down and ripping the hem of a fallen body’s clothes. She wrapped it firmly around Riley’s ankle looking up towards his unconscious face. He was willing to die for his sister, Tatianna never knew how selfless people could be until she met this group. Not one of them placed their lives above the others and that was something so remarkable and precious to her.

“Help me get him onto the horse,” she told Nik once he returned. He got off Ida, passing the reins to Freya as they both lifted Riley’s body onto the brown horse.

“He won’t be able to stay on, on his own,” Freya pointed out. She then gave Nik both Ida’s reins and her own horse’s reins and mounted the horse behind her brother, holding him still to the horse.

Tatianna and Nik both got back onto Ida and started their mission to Bellin, leaving behind the blood-soaked grounds of Faithorn.