Page 79 of North Queen
A haunting call reverberated through the night, and an eerie silence settled around them. Her remaining soldiers pulled tight around her with their arrows fixed on the darkness as Caspian pulled her back again.
A shadow loomed into view—a mounted fiend, larger than any man. His destrier, the color of night against night and plated in dark metal, snorted and screamed like a hell horse of Hammel as it pulled at the bit. The rider sat cloaked in darkness, broad shouldered and armored in shadows and chain. His horned helm was silhouetted against the moonlight.
She recognized the helm—the helm from Nemus’s vision, the helm from Samuel’s paintings.
“The Shadow King,” Caspian said.
“I know who he is,” she seethed. The tension of bowstrings sung around her as her remaining soldiers aimed at the king. But she called out, “Hold!”
His army was there; she could feel them. Ever so slowly, she made out the dark, shadowed shapes. Then Norah’s breath caught as she realized they were surrounded by them. Hundreds, or more, of them, barely visible from behind the black of their shields.
“Demons,” Liaman whispered beside her. He’d somehow managed to stay on his feet.
“If they were demons, they wouldn’t be carrying shields,” she said between her teeth. She looked back at the mounted man, forcing as much strength as she could into her voice. “You’re who they call the Shadow King?”
Even in the night, she felt the Shadow King’s eyes upon her, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
“North Queen,” he responded, his voice thick and haunting.
She stepped forward again. She wouldn’t let him see her fear. “You attack the Mercian queen on Mercian lands. Do you mean to provoke a war?”
“We’ve been at war for a long time.”
She squirmed under his unseen stare, but she didn’t dare turn away. Her fury built. “Stop hiding and fight like honorable men!”
A low rumble came from him. A laugh. “I am not an honorable man,” the Shadow King said.
The whir of another arrow came, and the soldier to her right fell. Two of her archers loosed arrows into the darkness, and a counterstrike of arrows hit them in return, killing both. Another arrow hit Liaman, and he sank to the ground. This time, he didn’t get up.
“No!” she cried, but Caspian clutched her tightly behind him.
It was only Caspian with her now. A dark shape rushed toward him, and her captain swung to meet their attacker. The clash of their weapons echoed in the night, and Caspian kicked him back. Another Shadowman came from the side, and Caspian turned to defend, but he was hit from behind by a third.
Caspian tried to counter but was met by a fourth who swung and cut into his sword arm, making him drop his blade to the ground. He stumbled back, stunned.
“Caspian!” she screamed.
The Shadowman attacked again, and, without a sword, Caspian was easily overpowered and knocked to his knees. The Shadowman grabbed a fistful of his hair and held him before the king.
“Go,” the king growled to Caspian from atop his beast. “Go tell the Bear I have your queen.”
The Bear? She didn’t know who that was, but she didn’t have time to mull over it.
In one final effort, Caspian whipped a blade from its sheath at his side and delivered a quick stab to his captor’s leg, who fell back, releasing him. Caspian let out a cry as he then hurled the blade toward the king, but he’d thrown it with his left hand, and the dagger missed its mark, burying itself into a tree.
Norah jumped forward and grabbed Caspian’s sword from the ground and moved in front of him to meet her enemies. She let her fury drive out the fear. If they didn’t expect a fight, they were mistaken.
“Take her,” the Shadow King growled.
“Norah!” Caspian yelled.
A soldier rushed her with a sword, but she met the attack fiercely, driving him aside and ripping her blade through the soldier’s leathers. Another jumped at her, trying to knock her to the ground, but she sidestepped him and sank her blade into a third attacker. The Shadow King dismounted, drawing his own sword. She inhaled deeply, calculating and focusing her anger. Committing, she attacked with every ounce of strength she had.
But the force of his strike knocked the sword from her hands, dislocated her shoulder, and made her cry out. She gritted her teeth against the nauseating pain and looked desperately for another weapon.
He caught her from behind and picked her up by the waist. She flailed back with her good arm, catching the chin of his helm with her elbow and flinging it from his head. She couldn’t see his face, but her fingers met his flesh, and she clawed at him with her nails. He caught her hand and twisted it down, pinning it beside her. She struggled, but the pain in her shoulder took the breath from her, and she felt her consciousness fading.
“No!” Caspian’s bellow came from behind her.
