“The leader you idolized sentenced you to die alone in the dark.”
“Not alone,” Chanoch said. “Uwan came here twice in the last day to sit with me, so that I wouldn’t be afraid.”
“Gods,” Ashok exclaimed, putting his head in his hands. “It’s a waste, all of it. It should be me.”
“No,” Chanoch said firmly. “You’re going to serve Ikemmu.”
“I’m not staying, Chanoch. As soon as”-
That stopped him. Ashok could imagine the look of horror on Chanoch’s face. “Where will you go?” the young shadar-kai asked, shaken.
“Does it matter? There will be another emissary, another servant of Tempus. Have faith,” Ashok said blithely.
“We’re not speaking of Tempus,” Chanoch said. “I thought … you’d found a place here. I hoped you’d found companions.”
“I did,” Ashok said. “But that’s over now. You’re here, I don’t know where Skagi and Cree are, and Vedoran …”
That was over too. Vedoran knew, or at least suspected, Ashok’s involvement with the enemy enclave. Whether he would reveal what he knew remained to be seen, but it was yet one more reason for Ashok to leave. He did not fear Ikemmu’s punishment so much as he feared seeing the faces of his companions when he was exposed as a betrayer and a murderer of his own people. To have their faith in him disappointed was more than Ashok could bear.
And Ilvani …
For her to know his part in her capture … No, let him leave having done one good thing for Ikemmu and its shadar-kai. Though he despised what was happening to Chanoch, he would not trade his short time in Ikemmu for the life he’d been living.
“Chanoch,” he said.
Silence.
“Chanoch,” Ashok said urgently.
“I’m here,” Chanoch said. His voice was faint. He coughed and said again, his voice stronger, “I’m here. It’s just I’m so tired, Ashok. I’ve never felt so weary before.”
Ashok swallowed. “It’s all right,” he said. “You don’t have to talk. I’ll come back to see you again tomorrow, if you want. So you won’t be alone.”
“I’d like that,” Chanoch said sleepily.
Ashok pressed his forehead against the bars, letting the cold metal numb him. They didn’t speak anymore, and eventually, for the first time in days, Ashok slept.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
He returned the following day after his training session with Olra, who didn’t question his absence the day before. Ashok thought word must have reached Uwan of his visit to Chanoch as the guards didn’t question him again. And so every day after his training, he went into the caves and back to the cell where Chanoch waited. The young one was strong, but every day he grew a little weaker.
They talked of many things during those visits. Ashok asked about Ikemmu and Chanoch’s journey to the city. Like Ashok, he’d been born on the Shadowfell plain, the child of a small enclave. His mother had been killed by a childless woman who’d tried to take Chanoch as her own, but Chanoch had run away rather than be claimed as another’s son.
A patrol found him wandering the plain, half-starved, bleeding, and feral. They brought him to Ikemmu and tried to foster him with several shadar-kai, but he’d attacked them all. In the end a cleric at Makthar had taken him in, and that’s when he had found Tempus. The cleric arranged for him to join the military and swear the oath to Tempus.
“You were going to become a cleric yourself?” Ashok asked.
“I think so, yes. It wasn’t an easy decision. I love the fighting. There are times I can’t sit still. But my mentor said that my prayers in battle would level the enemy. He knew that I would fight for my city and my god.”
“What happened to him?” Ashok asked. “Your mentor?”
“I’ll see him soon,” Chanoch said.
Days passed, and on the tenth, Chanoch barely greeted him. Ashok sat in his customary spot with his back to the bars and listened to Chanoch’s faint breathing.
“I’m going to see Ilvani today,” he said. “Natan asked me to speak to her. He’s worried that she’s not recovering from her ordeal.”
He got no reply from the cell. Ashok turned to look at the hooded figure.
“Chanoch,” he said, but his voice came out in a haggard whisper. “Chanoch,” he said, louder.
Chanoch’s head came up a fraction. Shadows seemed to bleed from his skin. The heralds of death and decay, Ashok thought. He’d heard the humans speak of their bodies feeding the earth when they died. Chanoch’s flesh would feed the Shadowfell.
Ashok reached through the bars and through the shadows to remove Chanoch’s hood.
Blinking in the sudden light, Chanoch looked at him through half-closed eyes. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a hiss of air escaped. Chanoch’s lips moved, but his words were gone. He had no voice.
Ashok gripped the bars helplessly. “I don’t … Say it again, Chanoch,” he said roughly. “I can’t hear you.”
Chanoch stopped speaking. He nodded, smiled at Ashok, then turned his head to the side. He was looking at something in the corner of the cell. Ashok followed his gaze, but he saw nothing, only the shadows.
“Chanoch, look at me,” he said desperately. “You’re still here. You’re alive. Don’t give in, Chanoch.” He yanked the bars, rattling them. The sound echoed in the dark, but Chanoch’s attention remained on the nothingness in the corner.
Panting, Ashok reached through the bars again, trying to grasp Chanoch’s arm. He felt the warrior’s cold skin and recoiled. “No!” he cried.
But his pleas meant nothing. Chanoch couldn’t hear them. The light had gone out of his eyes. He was dead.
Ashok sank to his knees before the cage, shivering in a sudden chill. The only sound was his own harsh breathing.
He’d never seen it happen before. Members of his enclave had succumbed to the shadow often, especially in recent years, when the darkness of the caves clung to them like wraiths. But they’d always been alone. Ashok had never seen the quiet death, but that’s exactly what it was. Chanoch had faded away without fanfare or pain. Peaceful, yet horrifying.
Ashok got to his feet and stumbled from the room. He tried to say something to the guards, but he couldn’t stop and found himself running through the caves. He pelted through the dark until he broke free and smelled the forge smoke. Gasping, Ashok breathed in the hot scent, but his heart wouldn’t stop racing. He couldn’t stop. If he stopped, he would think, and the shadows would be waiting.
He crossed the trade district and climbed the steps of Tower Pyton. He came out on the lower Span. The wind roared, tossing his cloak and hair. The canyon wall hovered darkly over his left shoulder.
Ashok walked across the bridge with his eyes on the ground below. Other shadar-kai walked in front and back of him. Below, the outdoor markets bustled with activity. The moving lights and color mesmerized him.
Ashok stopped in the middle of the bridge and stood at its edge. He swayed from side to side. His heart felt as if it would explode in his chest. His breath came ragged, and his eyes watered in the wind.
Behind him, a voice said, “Are you all right?”
Ashok looked up and was surprised to see a human staring at him. He didn’t recognize the man, but he was looking at Ashok in concern.
“I thought … only shadar-kai walked here,” he said to the man.
