Shadow's Arc

Chapter 7 of 8

The green fire faded from the yard. Shadow and Emma stood in the ash of their old home, axes in hand. Their father had fled to the stone hall. But he had left something behind. Through the trees, Shadow saw a man crouched near the road. A watcher. If the guard saw them, he would run ahead and warn Felix. Their father would have time to ready his dark magic. The surprise would be lost. "He left a lookout," Shadow said. "On the road to the hall." Emma followed his eyes. The guard sat behind a fallen log. He held a horn at his belt. One blast, and the hall would know they came. "We take the road, he blows that horn," Emma said. "We go through the trees." Shadow shook his head. The trees were thick and slow. The guard would spot movement either way. They needed him silent, and fast. Shadow pointed to the dead brush along the ditch. "You go left. Stay low. I'll draw his eyes right." Emma nodded and slipped into the brush. Shadow stepped onto the road in plain sight. The guard's head snapped up. He grabbed the horn and raised it to his lips. Shadow ran. His boots pounded the dirt. The guard filled his lungs. Shadow was too far. He would not reach the man in time. Then Emma rose from the ditch behind the log. Her oak axe swung flat and hard. The handle cracked against the guard's skull. He dropped. The horn fell from his hand, silent, into the mud. Shadow slid to a stop. The guard lay still, breathing but out cold. Emma picked up the horn and crushed the mouthpiece under her heel. "No warning now," she said. Shadow knelt and searched the man. He found a folded note in the guard's coat. He opened it. Felix's writing. Neat purple ink. "When they pass, sound the horn twice. I need the second blast to open the door." Shadow read it again. His stomach turned cold. "The horn isn't just a warning," he said. "It's a key. Two blasts open the hall." He looked at the broken horn in Emma's hand. "We just locked ourselves out." Emma stared at the note. "Then how do we get in?" Shadow remembered the dark key on his father's chest. The green marks. The way Felix gripped it before he vanished in fire. The horn opened the door from outside. But the key opened it from within. "Father wears the way in around his neck," Shadow said. He stood and looked down the empty road toward the stone hall. No horn would sound now. Felix did not know they were coming. But the door would not open for them either. "We reach the wall," Shadow said. "Then we find another way through." He gripped his axe and started walking. Emma fell in beside him. The trap was silent. The path was clear. And the door was shut.