Prince of Blood and Shadow
I. Chapter 13

“Can we hold them?” Varen demanded, his voice dripping with urgency as he fought to conceal his mounting worry. Inias recognized the steely resolve in Varen’s eyes, a look that mirrored the determination of his father and uncle when faced with danger. Faced with danger, composure was essential for a leader. “Be ready to hold the line!” He shouted to the courtyard guard, who began climbing up the walls.

Had Inias been able to maintain his calm on the bridge, he might not have leaped into action so recklessly. “I doubt they’ll break the manor,” the servant murmured, stealing a few more gulps of water before continuing. Varen’s commands sliced through the air, sharp and commanding, as he rallied the guard to defend the manor at all costs. “Is there anywhere we can get out?” Inias asked, hoping he, Keira, and Styx could replace some way through the forest while they held the manor. “No, once they breached the wards, they spread over the forest. We’re surrounded.” The servant answered and was ordered by Varen to immediately relay his command to the house guard, and he quickly bowed and returned to the house.

“Inias, do as you please, but my daughter will remain,” Varen said, his gaze stern. “The hell I will!” Keira stepped between Inias and her father, daggers drawn. “I’m the one who believed Vestin was alive, and you were ready to abandon him!”

“And just how are you planning to escape?” Her father asked the two of them as Styx rushed to guard the courtyard doors. “Remember what happened the last time you went running off, prince?” Inias sought glory before. This time he wasn’t fighting for the sake of ego. He thought back to the forest, every trail he’d mapped in his head as they’d traveled through. The forest guardian, smelling wine and grapes.

“Yes, and I’ll never forget it,” Inias answered, slipping a hand into his pouch, turning from Varen to hide it. “This time I have a plan and it starts with a nap,” In one swift motion, Inias pushed Keira out of the way and shoved his purple sleeping powder into the air. The mist surrounded Varen as Inias pulled the scarf over his face. The man stumbled as he breathed it in, gripping Inias chin to force him to meet his eyes. Keira threw a punch to her father’s back, forcing him to release Inias as he fell to the marble floor.

Inias scooped up the wine bottle and threw Keira her cloak. “I’m in so much trouble,” Keira muttered at her father’s unconscious body as she threw the cloak around her shoulders. Inias pulled a purple crystal from his belt and threw it at the walls. The wards shimmered and broke like glass as he ran towards the courtyard wall. “Yeah, we’re both in deep shit. Let’s go!” The remaining guards hurried to secure their lord and capture the escaping trio. Styx followed close behind Inias, Keira joining them as they leapt over the walls and into the forest.

Battle roared, echoing through the forests. He could tell the redcaps pushed forward from the screams of falling knights. Night had fallen, and those goblins were using the shadows to their advantage. The manor guard was already at their posts on the spires, firing arrows at the incoming redcaps. Some were common arrows, but others burst into blue flames that devoured their target and quickly faded. “Who are they?” Inias asked as he Keira and Styx ran across the yard towards the forest. He’d never witnessed the hooded guard before, and no one had ever spoken of them.

“The Knight’s Shade, Ravenmoon’s elite guard.” Keira ducked beneath an oncoming arrow and threw her dagger at a redcap sitting on a low tree branch. The blade spun straight through its neck, body and head, dropping straight to the ground as Keira caught it again on the other side. She turned a corner, but Inias grabbed her arm and pulled her. “Hey!” She shrieked as Inias pulled her onto the opposite path, heading back the way they had come earlier. “That’s the west side! We have to go east through the gardens!”

Inias let her go and gripped the bottle tight against his chest to protect it as he ran. Despite her protests, she followed him as Styx rushed past him to catch arrows in the air. He zipped from tree to tree like a black bolt of lightning. Keira tucked her daggers away and drew three of her knives, aiming them straight for the ground goblins closing in on them. “What’s the wine for? Gonna invite them for a drink, talk it through?” Keira continued, her tone dripping with sarcasm as Inias drew his sword to protect his center.

Inias fought the flashes again as he ran across the forest floor. All those arrows coming towards him brought him back to the bridge. His eyes glanced to Styx in the blurs of motion he could see. If only he’d met him before then, with him by his side, they could’ve survived that ambush. Those arrows were coming faster, and many were slipping by the fox’s quick jaw. “There!” Inias spotted the statue again. It seemed to have shifted, staring at the bottle in his arms with hungry eyes. “Did that statue move?” Keira asked as she pressed herself against a tree. She lashed with her dagger as a redcap swooped down from a branch above with its iron talons drawn.

Inias backed against the tree next to her, watching as the statue’s face twisted from joy to impatience. In a rush of speed, Inias dashed across the field, almost falling into the statue, as the ground troops moved on them. The goblet was stretched out and with Styx now covering his back Inias popped the bottle open and poured it into the goblet, emptying it out. The wine swirled and emptied from the goblet as it was brought back to its original place.

A redcap’s talons lashed at his back, causing Inias to cry out as he fell beneath the statue of Bacchus. Before he could turn, a knife was in the redcaps’ head, courtesy of Keira. He shoved the body away and clutched his back. It wasn’t deep, but pain still ripped over his body from the iron wound. “Hurry!” Inias growled up at the statue as vines of ivy wrapped themselves around it.

The forest filled with the sweet smell of wine, catching the attention of redcaps, who paused their attacks to sniff the air. Silence filled the air, interrupted only by a gentle laugh in the forest. Something dove over Inias to catch one of the stunned redcaps in the clearing. He watched in shock as the form in the darkness of a woman with ivy in her golden hair began tearing the creature in half.

“Inias!” Keira cried in terror as more leapt out at the stunned little goblins. The Knights were just as horrified, unsure who to fight in the chaos. Ivy vines had sprung out from the trees to catch the goblins, and they were so lost in the chaos they began striking their own. Inias ran towards Keira, weaving through the bloody mess now littering the forest floor. In the brush, several lights appeared as he reached Keira, still pinned against the tree. “What did you do?!” she cried as he pulled her away towards the path of lights forming.

“Just a little divine intervention. Follow the lights!” He ignored the pain shooting up his back the faster he ran. Styx came to his side, huffing as he ran beside them. All along the path, redcaps were being slaughtered in their desperate attempt to fight back. Vines lashed out to snatch and pull them to an unknown fate; maenads were coming from every direction in waves. The entire run they’d had to navigate through the gore and duck around diving wild women.

Inias could see the bone dead forest beyond the lush tree line, the snow that littered the ground and heaved a sigh of relief. A familiar figure emerged from that dead forest, a long polearm in his hand.