The Shadow's heir

ought t’be in a cell by now!”

“We’re waiting for Skandar,” said Arenadd, ignoring her. “He’ll find us soon enough.”

After that, he refused to say anything and only kept his eyes on the sky.

Eventually, Skandar did indeed find them. Laela saw him flying overhead, and Arenadd sent out a call to him.

Moments later, the giant griffin landed. He was dishevelled and looked furious. “Why you here?” he demanded.

Arenadd went close to him, speaking rapidly in griffish.

Eventually, Skandar calmed down. “Go, then,” he said.

Arenadd got onto his back and leant down, offering a hand. “Get on,” he said. “Hurry.”

Laela glanced back, toward where the Eyrie rose high against the night sky. But she knew she couldn’t go back there without him. She didn’t trust anyone else there, not any more.

The moment she was on Skandar’s back, the giant griffin took off with a lurch and a flick of his wings.

Laela had thought they were going back to the Eyrie. But they weren’t. Skandar turned himself and flew away from it-away from the city. The walls passed beneath them, and they were flying over open country. And still they kept going.

Skandar flew over a river. Ahead, a second river gleamed silver in the moonlight; between them was nothing but forest. A little further southward the two rivers met, and that was where he landed, touching down in a small clearing where the moonlight made the snow look like crushed diamonds.

Laela landed and nearly slipped over. She clamped her hands under her arms and hugged herself tight; it was freezing. “What in the gods’ names are we doin’ here?”

Arenadd stood beside Skandar. His eyes were on the sky. “Laela, listen. .”

“I ain’t gonna listen to nothin’ except the truth!” Laela blazed. “What’s goin’ on? Why’ve we come here? We’ve got t’go back, now, an’ stop Saeddryn!”

Arenadd finally turned his gaze on her. “She has followers, Laela. Plenty of them. And supporters in the city.”

“So?”

“The High Priestess is extremely powerful,” said Arenadd. “I rule the body, but she rules the soul. People believe that the Night God speaks through her. If I moved against her now, it would mean civil war.”

Laela couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “She’s a traitor! If people knew that. . An’ what’s wrong with that, anyway? Since when were you scared of fightin’? I thought that’s what yeh wanted.”

“Human right!” Skandar interrupted. “Aenae enemy. Know it already. Fight enemy! Kill!”

“Not against Northerners!” said Arenadd. “No. Skandar, no. I will not fight my own people. I will not fight my own cousin.”

“Then you fool!” said Skandar.

“Skandar’s right,” said Laela. “If yeh don’t fight Saeddryn, yeh’ll lose yer Kingdom. An’ if she gets t’be in charge, she’ll attack the South right away. I know it.”

Arenadd looked upward again. “The moon’s still bright,” he muttered. “She’s watching me. Watching me close now. She knows. .”

“What’re yeh talkin’ about?” said Laela. “Who knows? Knows what?”

“I don’t have much time.” Arenadd came toward her. “Laela, I have to tell you something important.”

“What tell?” Skandar rasped. “Not time talk, time fight!” He leant to the side, offering his shoulder. “Come. Come now. Come fly. We fight, like before.”

“No.” Arenadd backed away from him. “Skandar, no. I won’t. My fighting days are done.”

Skandar stood up straight, furious now. “Then I fight!” he said, and with that he ran away and hurled himself into the sky.

“Hey!” Laela took a few steps toward the edge of the clearing, staring helplessly skyward as the dark griffin disappeared.

“He’ll be back,” Arenadd said wearily, from behind her.

Laela turned. “What was that all about? Now we’re stranded!”

“He’ll come back,” Arenadd repeated. “He always does. Laela, listen. Please listen.”

“Fine,” said Laela. “I’m listenin’. Why’re yeh so jumpy?”

“We’re being watched,” said Arenadd. “Look.”

Laela looked where he was pointing and saw the moon. It hung directly overhead now, and if it had looked huge before, it was massive now. It looked as if it could fall on them at any moment. “What the. .?”

“It’s my master,” said Arenadd. “She’s watching. She knows.”

“Knows what?” said Laela, not looking away from the moon.

“That I’ve betrayed her,” Arenadd said softly.

“Betrayed her?” said Laela. “How?”

“In everything,” said Arenadd. “I promised to invade the South, but I didn’t. I made a treaty with sun worshippers. I found you at last, but I didn’t kill you. And she knows.”

Laela began to feel frightened then, more than she ever had before. “But she can’t do anythin’ to us, can she?”

Arenadd laughed bitterly. “She can do anything she likes with me. I belong to her. You’ll see.” He stopped suddenly. His good fist clenched, and a cold shiver went through him.

Laela moved closer. “Arenadd? What’s wrong?”

He groped for her hand and held it. “I feel. .”

The moonlight was wrong. It shone down on the snow, painfully bright at first, but then brighter and brighter, impossibly strong. The snow shone with it, like a million tiny mirrors, and before long, the entire clearing had turned pure white.

Laela looked upward, and horror filled her soul.

In the sky, the moon was fading. Its light dimmed as the clearing grew brighter, and it shrank, moving through all its phases in a heartbeat until it was gone altogether.

But it wasn’t gone. All of its light was in the clearing now.

Laela couldn’t see. She shut her eyes tightly, unable to look at the light, and held on to Arenadd’s hand.

The light faded, just a little. When Laela opened her eyes again, the clearing was full of mist, and it gathered itself up like the fog in the Temple. And like that fog, it made a shape.

The shape of a tall woman. A Northern woman. Her features were hard and cold, and sharp. She wore nothing but a light silver mantle that left most of her body bare, but she showed no sign of feeling the cold at all.

In one hand she held a sickle. In the other was the full moon, somehow no larger than the blank hole in her face, where her eye should have been.

The Night God held the moon, cupping her hand around it so that its light shone through her fingers. But her single pitch-black eye was on Arenadd.

The King of Tara let go of Laela’s hand, and fell to his knees. “Master,” he breathed.

The Night God stepped forward, leaving no tracks in the snow. Arenadd, she said, and her voice wasn’t so much loud as unbearable, so full of power it hurt to hear it.

Arenadd did not look up. “Master, I-”

The terrible eye turned toward Laela. She quailed and fell to her knees, unable to say anything.

Arenadd, why have you betrayed me?

He looked up now. “I did what was best for my people.”

What is best for my people is what I command, said the Night God. Are you a fool, Arenadd? Has drink rotted your mind so much?

Arenadd stood up slowly. “No, Master,” he said. “My mind is clear. What I did was for the best.”

The Night God’s light brightened again, searingly. You dare place yourself above me, little shadow?

“I did what my heart told me.” Arenadd sneered at the irony.

You knew what the consequences were, said the Night God. You knew