Chapter 1
Chapter 1. The Gate
The Shadow Fortress looms in the distance. A darker shadow against a dark sky of stars.
How poetic.
I giggle to myself. I was beyond exhausted and starving.
I had walked day and night or days. I was out of food and money. My bag was laden with my spells, relics and magical tools.
It was becoming too heavy but I was so close to my goal.
My name? Oh I’m just called ‘collector’ or ‘weird lady’.
Very imaginative names, huh?
I do have a name but no one has used it in so long, I’ve nearly forgotten it. Sometimes I will say it out loud to myself just so I remember that it still exists. I exist.
People fear me because of the things I collect. The cursed things. The tainted things.
I can sense the magic and I’ve cleansed them.
Safely? Heck no. But I feel this pull to do so. To save people from accidentally hurting themselves.
But I also sell useful spells and items to the common folk.
Magical tools that give solo farmers support. Spells that help certain crops thrive in stoney ground, buckets that don’t crack over time,and even a metal cuff that keeps you cool on the hottest of days.
They would pay me, thank me, then wish me to leave as soon as possible.
No one wanted to get to know me.
Welcome me into their homes.
It’s fine. I know that I gave off strange vibes.
I had been told that since I was born.
I was the product of infidelity and was called changeling by the servants.
My mother was a lady in waiting to a queen I never knew in a land I never saw.
One day she was ‘magically’ whisked away.
When she returned she was very pregnant.
Because of that she was thrown out. Her husband took her back. But I was not. She gave me a name, but I never saw her again. I was turned into an educated servant. I was educated to serve and to work.
I knew several languages and could read them as well. But all of that was to the benefit of the great house my mother was the mistress of.
On my 16th birthday, I was thrown out. I was told that they were tired of my strange presence.
So I traveled. Stayed late in libraries in every town and village. I learned more and began to collect cursed objects that no one dared touch.
Now my bag was full with blessed and now cleansed objects.
And I was standing, caked in mud and torn clothing at the gates of the Shadow Fortress.
The gate was huge, absurdly so. As if giants lived here instead of men.
Wood and iron melded together into something that said, ‘do not enter, ever.’
I will admit to being completely stupid in this moment.
I walked up to the giant gate and pounded on it and yelled.
“Hey! It’s kinda cold out here! I have come for an audience with the Shadow Lord and to sell some of my wares!
I giggled silently because this was stupid.
The Shadow Lord was not a fool. He was dangerous and possibly a demon, if you believed the rumors . I had heard tales and had not heeded one warning.
I wanted to be the one to walk into the Shadow Fortress, stand before the great lord, leave with money in my pocket and very much alive.
I decided to just sit on the ground and sing a little song while I waited. Who knew if they would actually open the gate.
As I had begun to remove some mud from my very worn and broken boots, a side door opened.
I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“Holy blessed mother Titania! Give a girl some warning!”
Four knights came out and grabbed me up by the arms and drug me inside.
I hardly had time to even think they were so fast.
“Grab my bag, you tin can! I can’t sell the lord anything if I don’t have my bag!”
One of the knights huffs and walks back to get my bag, mumbling the whole time.
“What a grumpy horses rear, you are! Next time welcome me in. You could have simply said, ‘dear girl please come in and show the lord what you bring.’”
I was being completely rude but I had always been a bit rash before common people.
I had a feeling I was going to change my tune very soon.
Finally I found myself dropped onto the cold floor in a candle lit throne room.
The stone beneath my hands and knees was like ice.
How fitting.
The stone was aged, cracked and smooth from many feet treading on it.
I finally get a good look around and the room is massive.
Stone pillars that rose high into the air. Impossibly large beams crisscrossed the cathedral style ceiling.
Long dark tapestries line the walls. Torches on the walls roar but somehow look controlled in an eerie way.
Giant iron chandeliers hang from the beams with candles lit, glow like lightning bugs.
“Must take a lot of work to light all of those.”
I hear a frustrated huff come from just a head of me and I finally notice the shadow leaning against the throne.
He wasn’t sitting on it. Leaning on it like it meant nothing to him. His black leather boot planted on the stone step below it. He looked like he was bored.
He pushed himself up right, turned to me straight on and I gasped.
He must have been eight foot tall at the very least.
Broad shoulders that were draped in a dark as pitch cloak. Dark clothing with gold twining the fabric.
His hair was long and black except one thing, several strands threaded through the midnight color looked silver, like the moon had blessed him with it’s touch. He was majestic and regal even without a crown.
He was every bit like the stories told.
I bit my lip.
How predictable.
I tried not to laugh out of nerves and awe.
He was a sight to behold for sure. But was he truly everything they said. And if he was, I had my work cut out for me. I could be in deep trouble.
I swallowed hard when his eyes raked over me, he seemed interested but also not welcoming in the slightest. But there was a light in his eyes, something like embers on a low burning camp fire. It was unsettling but inside me it quickly turned into a yearning to see them closer.
I wanted to slap myself because this was the Shadow Lord! Not a cute fluffy squirrel!
I stiffened when he finally spoke.
The deep rumble reminded me of thunder.
Yep. I was in way over my head.
“Well,” he said, low and effortless. The hall echoed in response.
“Either my guards have grown careless… or you’re very bold.” His eyes raked over me again, slowly and I swear everyone in the kingdom could hear my heart pounding like a thousand drums.
“… I haven’t decided which I dislike more.” He straightens completely and steps down from the dais.
Slow and un-rushed.
Like he was not threatened by me in the slightest and definitely wanted to increase my anxiety.
What a jerk.
But I wasn’t going to say that! My tongue was frozen in my mouth and dry as the desert.
The tension in the room tightens ever so lightly. Almost like a warning. Step wrong and I’m done for.
He walks all but a few feet in front of me now. I have to crane my neck to even look at him from the floor.
His very presence now is heavy and weighted. But there is something in the way it feels and I can’t pinpoint what it is. I don’t feel fear…just the weight of what he is.
Magic.
I can feel it in my bones. He is practically humming with it.
I swallow down the excitement building inside of me.
“Speak,” his voice is low and quieter this time. “Before I decide you’re not worth the trouble.”
I froze. I had dealt with enough intimidating people to know not to flinch outwardly.
My stomach was acting completely different though.
I lower my head in respect before sitting on my heels. I wasn’t sure if my legs would hold me up at the moment. I was too weak now from days of travel and no food for just as long if not longer.
“Please forgive my intrusion my lord. I am simply a collector of rare items. I search for relics and magical items. I sell to those I can. I have been traveling for days and have run out of food. Would it be a horrible inconvenience if I stayed in your stables for the night? Maybe we can do a trade? A place in your stables and I give you one of my relics or spells?”
I try to catch my breath. I said that all in one breath like I was running a race against the fastest steed in the world.
I watch as his eyes narrow. The embers in his eyes flared for half a second.
He did not at all seem impressed with my bow or manners, but he didn’t scold me for them either.
He circles me slowly like a predator ready to strike. He stayed quiet except for the sound of his boots echoing against the stones.
It felt deliberate and aggravating. Like he’s testing me. Seeing if I will flinch, fidget or cower. Like he wants me to break the silence first.
Tough luck, Shadow Lord. I’m as stubborn as a mule. I will collapse before being the first one to speak.
But I feel like I earned something in my silence.
“A collector,” he repeats, his voice thoughtful, and almost amused.
“Of rare things.” He stops just behind me. Close, so close that I can feel the warmth of him at my back. If I moved even an inch, I would brush against him.
I had to press my nails into my palm to keep myself from doing just that, it was tempting.
“And you wandered all the way here,” he continued softly, “to sleep in my stables?”
His tone shifted- sharper- and I felt my stomach clench. I was dangerously close to trouble.
I can hear him breathe before he steps in front of me. I didn’t crane my neck up this time. I’m too concerned with keeping myself from losing my sanity at the moment.
His hand lifts, not touching me, but hovers just at my chin… like he’s deciding whether to touch me or not. I can feel a strange heat coming from him.
“…You’re either telling the truth,” he murmured, “or you think I’m a fool.”
I know that I should be panicking and explaining myself better on this occasion, but that would add suspicion and I didn’t come with evil intentions.
The silence hangs for half a second before his fingers finally touch my chin- light but firm enough to guide my gaze to meet his ember one.
His touch is warm. Very warm. Like being too close to the fireplace.
The expression on his face doesn’t hold the cruelty I was expecting.
He was focused. Very focused.
“You don’t look like someone who survives days on the road by begging for stables,” he says dangerously quiet. “And you certainly don’t look like someone who doesn’t know exactly where they’ve walked into.”
I tilt my head slightly.
What on earth could he possibly be thinking?
What did I look like?
I hadn’t slept properly in days, my dress, which was partially covered, had a tear and many patches. And I was so very hungry. I had to look like a skeleton.
I had kept moving out of sheer spite.
His thumb shifts slightly, just enough pressure to make sure I’m really looking at him.
The heat shifts as well. Gliding across my skin.
“…So try again.” Not said harshly but with an undeniable firmness.
“Tell me the truth this time.” Something flickers dangerously behind his eyes- but it doesn’t feel like anger.
I knew what anger looked like.
He was interested.
“You came here for something.” He inhales deeply through his nose.
“And I want to know what it is… before I decide whether you’re allowed to leave at all.”
