We both jumped back when the shadows snapped up between us impatiently.
Emon chuckled and shook his head. Glancing up at my dumbstruck friends he snarled. “Keep your General safe while she takes care of that feathered shit! Tyr you’re with me!”
Tyr growled low. His eyes glittering with excitement looking to the south.
I raised my hand and the shadows slithered up it menacingly then plumed above us. “You should go, your majesty. I’ll only be a few.”
Riley snickered this time. “It never bodes well for us when she usesthattone either.”
Stepping forward, Emon suddenly gripped my chin. His touch light, but commanding at the same time. “Be sure that you are just a few, for even a mere second not in your presence is a second too long.”
His tone was everything dark and sensual and I shivered at the sound of it. If Emon noticed he didn’t point it out, instead he gave me one last lingering look before snarling and spinning away, grabbing onto his general who was grinning smugly at his friend.
I didn’t bother to watch him leave. I had a job to do and my stomach flipped with a renewed sense of purpose.
“Time to play my loves.” I cooed at the shadows.
Raising my hand upwards they exploded with such a force that I had to brace from stumbling backwards.
I felt Xi’s strong hand grip my right shoulder, then the firm grip of Riley’s on my other.
“Those eager bastards haven't changed one bit, have they?” Xi murmured.
Regaining my balance, I laughed. “Of course not. Would you expect anything else?” The hardest part was never getting the shadows to obey my commands in battle…it was getting them to stop.
The three of us watched with trepidation as they plumed upwards with racing speed straight towards the swirling cloud of spycrows. Darkness versus darkness, the shadows billowed outward like a massive black hole that had torn open the sky.
Raising my other hand, I drew the resting dormant shadows that had spread from the overcast skies and sent them upward to reinforce their sister shadows.
The shadows started to curl, corralling the panicked shrilling birds further and further into their net of darkness. A thunderous boom rippled across the sky before they snapped inwards disappearing completely, along with millions of spy crows.
Not a single one remained as Finlandia’s warm sunny rays glowed down on our upturned faces once again.
Riley cleared his throat and released his hand from my shoulder.
Xi blew out a breath, her white hair billowing out from her half covered face, and dropped her hand as well. “That never fails to creep me the fuck out. Every goddess damn time.”
I snickered but knew the shadows weren’t quite done. I grinned when another snap signaled the start of black shadow feathers raining down on us like celebratory confetti.
I reached up, trailing my fingers lazily through the shadow feathers with dark amusement. “I was wondering where your flourish was…I love the final touch my loves.”
The smoke feathers shimmered around us and then oozed back into one ominous cloud hovering near my feet, satiated after their grand feast.
I giggled down at them like an amused parent.
But our reprieve was short lived when a different kind of piercing wail gathered our attention south. The blood wraiths had arrived.
“I don’t suppose there is any beauty under those rags.” I commented and tapped my shadow sword at my side in thought, finally seeing them more clearly. They were hooded creatures, draped in black decaying robes that appeared to be soaked with deep red blood dripping from the tattered edges. “Let me take a wild guess. Decapitation?”
Riley twirled his scimitar eagerly, his green hair flopping over his brow. “Of course.”
Xi stepped next to him, sighing. “Except those bastards don’t allow you to get that close without trying to fry you with their blue fire of death. Don’t let it hit you…it will spread once you’re hit and it burns like a fucking ice plunge in Nocturnes.”
I stretched my neck to the side and started walking forward. Emon and his armies were only a few minutes ahead of us. “Sounds mildly challenging. At least I won’t get bored killing them.”
“Shit.” Xi cursed, following behind me. “I hate it when she gets like this. It always ends with me covered in blood.”
Riley chuckled darkly, shuffling with relaxed countenance. “You know you both look good in blood.”
