Raze the Night (Nightstar Book 2)

They were fighting again for what felt like the tenth time that week. It made Fennrin miserable, but he couldn’t just back down and let Ainreth have his way because he couldn’t agree with what Ain was saying. Especially right now because the subject was Fennrin’s powers. He couldn’t believe the one person who supported him using them was now having doubts.

“All I’m saying is you’re tearing people in two, and it’s frightening, okay?”

Fennrin scowled harder, throwing his arms out in disbelief, almost hitting the side of their tent. “You burn them to death.”

Fennrin almost scoffed at Ainreth’s wide eyes and gaping mouth at that, likely not having realized that his way of fighting was no less horrific because he was so used to it. “Well, at least I for sure know I have control over my powers!”

Fennrin winced, hurt by the implication as he glared harder, trying to keep pain away from his face. He wasn’t even sure why he was trying to hide that it had hurt to hear that. Ainreth was the one person he shouldn’t mind showing how he truly felt. And he had been that, until recently.

“Are you saying I don’t have control?” he asked after taking a breath, trying to keep his voice neutral.

Ain’s eyes grew wide again, and Fennrin immediately knew he was about to backtrack. But he wasn’t so sure that he hadn’t voiced his true feelings. “I wasn’t trying to do that. But….” He sighed, running a hand through his hair, pushing it back. “You’ve been doing this for a really short time compared to me. And you’re killing a dozen soldiers at once sometimes. Not even I dare to do that without them all standing together.”

Fennrin narrowed his eyes, crossing his arms over his chest. “You think I’ll hurt someone accidentally.”

He didn’t need to add that this was how most people saw shadowforgers. Perhaps he specifically wasn’t widely feared and hated anymore, but that didn’t mean this prejudice was gone completely.

And judging by the horror in Ain’s eyes, he clearly realized what Fennrin was pointing out. “Well, no, I just….”

“You just what?” Fennrin pushed, glaring harder. “What else could you be implying?”

Ainreth huffed, putting his hands on his hips, now looking annoyed. “Well, yeah, okay, maybe I am implying that. I think you’re getting a bit careless with how much you use your powers.”

“I can control them,” he snapped. “What, are you questioning my skill?”

Ainreth bulged out his eyes. “No! That’s not what I’m doing. I just think you should pace yourself. How many shadows can you keep track of at once?”

“Enough to keep our soldiers as safe as possible,” Fennrin immediately shot back, feeling oh so tired and annoyed. Why was Ain insisting on questioning him like this? He hadn’t given him any reason to do it. So what could…. “Are you jealous?”

Ainreth stared at him, his eyes wide and confused as he blinked. “Jealous? What?”

“Why are you so bothered by my being successful at helping Lys-Akkaria fight Orinovo?”

Ainreth sighed, shaking his head and grabbing Fennrin’s shoulders. “Fenn, liri, why are you not bothered by all the people you kill? That’s what I’m worried about. It’s not easy to handle killing anyone. I remember when I did it first, and I certainly wasn’t okay.”

Fennrin stood there, a little disarmed for a bit by the sheer emotion in Ainreth’s face, his glazed eyes, his lips downturned, but he pushed through a few seconds later. And a sinking feeling settled in his gut. “What exactly are you trying to say?”

Ain shrugged, grimacing as he let go. “Are you sure you’re okay? You aren’t just bottling it up, are you?”

Now it was Fennrin’s turn to shrug. The truth was he didn’t spend time thinking about it. He had to do it—to protect Ain, his country, everyone—and that was that. Perhaps if he took proper time to consider it, he wouldn’t be okay. But as it was, he was just fine.

And he didn’t dare think about how that reality made him feel. How much he always doubted if he truly was innately a monster because he was a shadowforger, and this was a symptom of it.

“I don’t think so.”

Ainreth raised an eyebrow. “You don’t sound too sure.”

Fennrin sighed, a bit annoyed at being questioned, even though he realized Ainreth was simply concerned about him. But he couldn’t say anything before Ain continued.

“It’s okay if you aren’t fine, you know? War messes people up.”

Fennrin felt his eyes sting at the pleading look Ainreth was giving him, so earnest and open. He wasn’t sure why that made him want to cry. “I really am okay. The only thing that’s been bothering me is how much we’ve been fighting.”

Ainreth nodded miserably, his gaze trained on the ground as he hesitantly wrapped his arms around Fennrin. The shadowforger tensed up for a split second before relaxing and hugging him back, pressing his face into the crook of Ain’s neck.

“I know. Me too.” Ainreth sighed sadly, not letting go. “I’m sorry, liri. It’s just this stupid war. And Varilik.”

For both their sakes, Fennrin didn’t say anything to that, knowing that any exchange of opinions concerning Daryan between them would end in another just fight.

“Stupid Orinovo.”

Fennrin couldn’t help but chuckle quietly at that, pulling away just enough to give Ainreth a kiss on the cheek. “Yes. I second that.”

Ain pulled him even closer, holding him so tightly it almost seemed desperate, not saying anything. And that was probably for the best, and definitely what they both needed.

They had no doubt another battle ahead of them soon. After the latest victory, it had been decided to take a small break to recuperate, and for the wounded to heal, which, if anything, made the tension between him and Ainreth worse because they’d had time to think about everything they disagreed on about this entire conflict, but they would soon head out, which would probably come with a whole new argument.

So this hug and moment of comfortable quiet was very welcomed. Fennrin just wished they could stay like this forever.

They made good progress on their march to Diramisk before their scouts came back reporting on an army waiting for them ahead, likely meaning to ambush them. But from what Fennrin had heard, that had been expected to happen. To get to the next town they needed to siege, they had to go around a thick forest, blocking their view. It was the perfect time for an ambush, even with a larger force.

Thankfully, at the risk of seeming overconfident, Fennrin couldn’t imagine what Orinovo could have in store that would stop their army. Even the artificial az-ari had barely put a dent in anything. And yes, people had died—which Ainreth had told him many times before—but their loses were still incredibly low for battles of these magnitudes.

At least according to both Daryan and the Bulwark. Ain had said nothing about it, but even if he had, he’d only been involved in one largescale battle until now, so Fennrin would take him opinion with a grain of salt.

And yet, despite reassuring himself like this, he still couldn’t help but worry just a little about what Orinovo might have in store for them as they kept going, curving around the vast forest slowly.

Something felt off to him, but he couldn’t figure out what. He kept his eyes trained on the trees, trying to see if anyone was hiding within, but the woods were so thick it was impossible to make sure.

Just as they were about to approach the spot where their scouts had reported seeing Orinovan soldiers, Fennrin frowned, hearing a strange whistling sound before he realized what it was, turning into a shadow and melding into his horse’s just in time for an arrow to fly through where he had been, stabbing itself into the dirt of the field on their left.

“Ambush!” someone yelled as more arrows came, zipping through the air, raining down on them. It didn’t take Fennrin more than a split second to realize where those arrows were coming from, but he wasn’t the first to point it out.

“In the treetops!” yelled a woman near him, followed by Ainreth’s cry:

“Into the woods! Take cover!”

Fennrin took a second to check on him, seeing Ainreth galloping on his horse between the trees, before turning physical again and guiding his own horse to run into the forest.

They wouldn’t have good view of their enemy in there, but that was true of the Orinovan soldiers shooting at them also. Fennrin quickly looked from one tree to the other, looking for the soldiers hiding among the branches, snapping their necks or throwing them down as he found them even as they all retreated deeper into the forest. But more arrows kept coming, and they couldn’t traverse the forest on horseback well.

In the chaos of soldiers fleeing, some getting shot, Fennrin forced himself to focus, pushing his horse to run faster while trying to avoid getting knocked off by a branch, looking for Ainreth because he and the lightweaver were clearly the targets.

They always were.

His heart hammering in his chest, Fennrin managed to spot Ain quite easily, much to his relief, because Ainreth was glowing so brightly it was impossible to look at him directly.

Fennrin’s immediate thought was that this was strange to do, but then as he squinted around the glowing figure of Ainreth, he realized the lightweaver had quite a few soldiers riding alongside him.

And since he was so bright he couldn’t be looked at directly, he was shielding himself, as well as them.

Looking elsewhere, trying to blink away the lights dancing in front of his eyes from looking at that, Fennrin nudged Star to go even faster, trying to join him so he can protect him, even though Ain seemed to be doing well enough on his own.

An arrow whizzed past him as he kept going, making him flinch but not pause for even a second, determined to get into a safe distance. After a moment longer, the danger finally seemed to subside as they got far enough to get out of range of the archers, letting Fennrin slow down as he reached Ainreth’s side, other soldiers riding their horses to him as well, grouping up.

But before anyone could say anything, before they could even think of deciding what their next move was, it became clear just how much of an ambush this was.

From deeper in the forest, Orinovan soldiers were marching right for them, definitely far too many to fight off. And when Fennrin looked back the way they’d come, there were Orinovan soldiers there too, running for them.

“Come on, this way!” Ainreth yelled, turning his horse right, setting off at a gallop, everyone else following. Fennrin’s own horse made a worried noise, but he couldn’t even try to give her a reassuring pet, too focused on the army trying to chase them down to do it.

“Looks like there’s a cave up ahead!” said Petre who was riding just next to Ainreth, pointing into the distance at what seemed to be an opening in a rocky hill, surrounded by trees.

Fennrin had a bad feeling about this since they would be most likely trapping themselves inside, but being out here in the open, with arrows flying was much worse.

At least with the relatively narrow entrance to the cave, Orinovan soldiers would have to come in two at a time at most, which should hopefully let him and Ainreth take them out before they could attack them.

Fennrin tried not to look back, only focusing on reaching the cave, forcing Star to run in even as she whinnied in discomfort, the space too narrow for her not to feel uncomfortable.

He jumped off her back once they were in, leading her through a narrow part of the cave into a larger, more open space, not looking back for a second. All he could pay attention to was keeping his eyes on Ain who was in front of him, rushing deeper into the cave to give everyone else space to hide too.

Once they were far enough that their group of a dozen soldiers was inside, only then did Ainreth stop and turned around, letting go of Sunray’s reins and looking at all of them, prompting Fennrin to do the same.

Along with many familiar faces Fennrin didn’t know the names of, Enlin and Petre were with them, standing by the cave entrance, their shields and swords raised, ready to defend all of them. Fennrin sort of wished they specifically weren’t the ones so directly in danger, but he would make sure they didn’t get hurt.

Surely his shadows would be enough to—

There was a yell from behind him. “Look out!”

Fennrin turned, only to gasp in shock when he saw Ainreth throw a harsh beam of scorching light at people already in the cave. People that must have been waiting for them.

And seeing a flash of fire aimed at them, Fennrin knew immediately who these people were. The Orinovan experimental az-ari.

This had been a trap the entire time.

The Lys-Akkarian soldiers tried to form a protective circle around him and Ainreth. But before they could even get properly in position, Fennrin turned into a shadow, rushing to the enemy az-ari.

They quickly responded by yelling something in Orinovan and throwing fires around, which might stop Fennrin under normal circumstances. But they were in a cave. And he could travel over the walls, and the ceiling.

Quickly getting into one of the az-ari shadows, the darkness of the cave helping him get to it very fast, Fennrin snapped the woman’s neck immediately, going from one to the other, killing them quickly and efficiently.

Panic spread through the group of az-ari at that, trying to rush at Ainreth and the others instead, to fight through them and escape the cave. But there would be no escape. Not for them.

As they went down one by one, falling mid-run, clattering filling the space of the cave as they did, their armor hitting the ground with them, Fennrin continued methodologically killing them until even the last one fell.

Fennrin turned back into his physical form, staring down at the body in front of him, trying to search his emotions, to figure out what he was even feeling right now. A shiver went down his spine when he realized that what he was feelings was…accomplishment? Pride?

Should he be feeling that? Yes, it was because he’d saved his lover, his friends, and the soldiers from the Orinovan az-ari. But he also had no complicated feelings concerning killing so many people. He just felt nothing.

He couldn’t help but wonder if maybe Ainreth had been right. Surely, he should be shaken by being surrounded by death. This was still new, no matter what he had to do.

He was only brought back from his thoughts when someone yelled after him. And as he turned around to look what the problem was, he saw Enlin standing right in front of him, shock and pain on her face.

Fennrin blinked, not sure what was happening for a second, but when he saw her start to fall to her knees, he quickly rushed forward to catch her, Ainreth running in to do the same.

And that made Fennrin look up, only to quickly figure out what had happened when he noticed the arrow sticking out of Enlin’s back.

There were Orinovan soldiers attacking them from the other side, the Lys-Akkarians barely able to hold them back. One of them must have taken a shot at Fennrin. And Enlin had gotten in its way instead.

“Enlin!” cried Petre as they frantically looked back at her while still trying to fight off an Orinovan soldier. Fennrin blinked, turning into a shadow again as he rushed at the enemy soldiers, killing them all as quickly as possible.

The trail of bodies led him outside where he finished with the entire group of Orinovan soldiers. He surveyed their surroundings, seeing a few enemy soldiers escaping in the distance, but he doesn’t go chasing after them. He knew they had no intention of attacking again right now.

Fennrin rejoined the group after that, only to see Ainreth and Petre tending to Enlin’s wound.

He walked closer, wondering if he could help somehow, but when Ain looked up to meet Fennrin’s gaze, his eyes were so cold and upset it stopped the shadowforger in his tracks.

Ainreth said nothing, but he didn’t have to. It was clear Ain was mad at him. Which only made Fennrin angry in turn. It wasn’t his fault Enlin had been injured.

But he stayed silent, too, knowing nothing good would come of this. They could talk later. Right now, they had other problems to deal with. Namely finding the rest of their army, assuming anyone was left, and regrouping.

Maybe they would both calm down in the meantime.