Prologue: Eighteen Years Ago

 

     The air was full of smoke, screams, and horror. The smoke created a thick opaque barrier that completely blinded the group of horses and people that were gathered in a tight semi-circle. The people, dressed in pitch black cloaks, were tense, ready for battle with

their swords drawn and bows at the ready. They were on high alert, for any signs of impending attack.

     It came without warning. One second, everything was chaotic and loud, the next, it went

deathly silent and people dressed in dark gray cloaks appeared out of the fog. There were hundreds of them, far outnumbering the small group in black.

     The gray cloaked people drew powerful swords from their belts and had bows and arrows drawn, prepared to fire. The people dressed in black cloaks shifted uneasily. One turned to run, but a short hiss from a tall girl with bright chestnut hair that shone, even in the midst of the rising smoke, stopped him. She alone looked calm, as she gripped her sword handle and held her bay mare steady.

     “We will stand and fight,” she said. “They will not take the city. They will not get any further than where they are right now.”

     A short cheer went up through the group, one that muted almost as soon as it had started. Silence fell upon the group as the gray cloaked people drew to a halt.

     One man emerged from the line of gray cloaks. He was visible only because he alone was not wearing a gray cloak. Instead, he wore a white button-down shirt with a black leather protective vest over the top of it which hung loosely over dark pants. A sword hung at his hip, still sheathed, though there was a hand placed protectively on top of the weapon.

     It wasn’t his clothes or his sword that held the black-cloaked people’s attention. It was what he looked like. He was tall, with short, jet black hair that framed a tanned face. His features were angled, with sharp cheekbones and a narrow jaw. He had brilliant blue eyes that seemed like glowing sapphires.

     “The time for the Eclipse has passed,” he said. His voice offset his face. Where his face was smooth, his voice was harsh and commanding.

     “The Eclipse will never be over until you wipe out every single one of those who have heard thy name!” the girl yelled back. Her voice, where the man’s was harsh and commanding, was musical, almost as if she was were singing. Her bright green eyes flashed angrily. “It shall never be over as long as the Shadow of the Sun goes on, for they have heard of the Eclipse, and they coexist together. Where there is one, there is always the other, no matter how small. Let that serve as a warning to you. You will never truly defeat the Eclipse.”

     “And you shall never truly defeat us,” the man said in return. “But we can truly defeat you if we eliminate every single threat of opposition to us and crush everyone’s hope that they could rise above us. This is your last stand.”

     “No,” the girl said, smiling serenely. “This may be the last battle for me and my army, but this isn’t the end of the war or the Eclipse. For as long as there is a person, somewhere in this world, that who believes that the Shadow of the Sun is wrong by all accounts, then the Eclipse will survive.”

     “We shall take down anyone who dares think of the Eclipse, who dares to oppose us,” the man said.

     The girl’s smile turned into a grin. “Would you be willing to take down those in your own army? You have no knowledge of those who are. Some of your highest ranked ranking officers are traitors to your kind,” she said. “Would you really be willing to decimate them?”

     “You lie, girl,” the man said harshly, taking two steps forward. “You have always been a liar. You promise hope and salvation and have only brought about death and destruction. The Eclipse has done nothing. The Shadow of the Sun has been in power for eighteen years and no one has seemed to mind except for the Eclipse.”

     “You think we’re the only people who give a damn?” the girl said, her voice low and fierce. “Who the hell do you think we’re fighting for? Ourselves? No, we’re not fighting for ourselves. We’re fighting for those who have been wronged greatly over the past eighteen years, who have been taken advantage of. The time for the Shadow of the Sun’s rule has passed.”

     “You have no more power,” the man said, smiling disjointedly. It made everyone shift uneasily at the sight of it. The emotion was unnatural on the face. “Even as we speak, the forces you have sent to retake our cities are being wiped out. You are the last standing.”

     The girl’s face paled ever so slightly.

     “He lies,” someone whispered. “There was a messenger not ten minutes ago who said that the Eclipse was closing in on the Shadow of the Sun, that our forces were almost victorious.”

            “Pity, that "almost" is the key word in that sentence,” the man said, sounding bored. The smile faded from his face. “Listen to me, all of you idiots who dare oppose the Shadow of the Sun. This is the end of you, from now until the end of time.”

     The girl merely smiled, though it was a pained smile.  “You will never learn, will you? We will be here as long as you are. We may not be called the Eclipse in the future, but we will be here.”

     “Enough of this!” the man roared, yanking the sword from his belt. The silver metal gleamed in the gloomy sunlight. “Enough talk! The time for the Eclipse has passed! The Shadow of the Sun will become all powerful! Attack, I say! Fight to eradicate all those who threaten to overthrow all that we have worked for! Attack, I say, attack!”

     A horse whinnied, someone yelled, and then silence fell over the valley. Somewhere above the two gathered armies, a crow screeched.

     It was as though the screech was a signal. The Eclipse sprang into action at the same time as the Shadow of the Sun.  

     The battle was short and intense. It was over as soon as it had started. Only two people were left standing: the chestnut haired girl and the raven haired man. The rest were dead, injured, or unconscious.

     “This is not the end!” the man hissed, climbing onto his horse again. “This is only the beginning.”

     “Go,” the girl snarled, climbing onto her own horse. “Go and never return. Find the land you crawled out of and crawl back into it. You are no longer welcome here.”

     As if emphasizing her statement, her second in command, a tall, burly boy with blonde hair, staggered to his feet. He was the only one who moved. The man, sensing defeat, turned and spurred his horse into a gallop.

     The girl turned to the boy standing beside her and the horse she was astride. She offered a hand to him.  “Come,” she said. “Let us forget what horror has happened here and return to Lindenshire where we can keep watch and make sure the Shadow of the Sun will never gain enough power to destroy us the way they did today.”

     “What shall will happen to the Eclipse?” the boy asked, accepting her hand. He swung up behind the girl in the saddle and wrapped two strong arms around her waist.

     “The Eclipse will never be heard of again. I meant what I said,” the girl said. “If the Eclipse does not exist, then the Shadow of the Sun cannot either. Without one, the other cannot survive.” 

     “Do you really believe that by not re-forming the Eclipse, the Shadow of the Sun will fade away into the background, never to be heard from again?” the boy questioned. The girl shrugged.

     “I must,” she said, spurring her horse into a gallop. “I must.”
     They galloped in the opposite direction than the man. As they rode, the fire engulfed the valley, burning everything in its path.

2: Chapter 1: Whispers

     Holly crept closer to her parents’ bedroom, trying to hear what they were saying behind the closed door. They had been exchanging nervous glances and whispers all day and Holly wanted to know what was going on.

     The whispers had started after a messenger had come to their house, with a grave look on his face. Holly had been in the barn at the time with her horse and hadn’t heard what was being said. All she knew was that when she entered the house after the messenger had left, her father was in a bad mood and her mother looked like she had seen a ghost.

     As soon as Holly entered the house, her parents pretended like as if nothing were wrong, but they were acting strangely. After a short dinner, they disappeared into their bedroom where they had been holed up ever since.  Holly was supposed to be getting ready for bed, but her parents’ strange behavior was starting to get on her nerves. She wanted to know what was going on. She was tired of always being left in the dark. She was sixteen; she should be allowed to know what was going on in the world. She should be treated as an adult.

     “I don’t know how he got away in the first place,” her mother was saying. Holly felt her breathing quicken and she tried to keep quiet; she didn’t want her parents to know she was out here. 

     “The reports said he didn’t get away,” her father replied, his voice shocked and angry. “It must be someone else.”

     “It can’t be,” her mother said. “You saw the symbol that was found on Cara’s door. It belongs to him and the Shadow of the Sun.”

     “The Eclipse must re-form,” her father said urgently.

     Holly’s interest heightened. It was a well known fact that the Shadow of the Sun and the Eclipse were two, very powerful organizations that had both been determined to rule the land of Solar Shadows. Holly had heard the stories of the battles the two armies had fought and how they had nearly destroyed the entire country with their wars. Both armies were destroyed in a single battle eighteen years ago. There had been only two survivors, both of them members of the Eclipse. Holly had no idea who they were; their names were never spoken. It was rumored that they lived in Lindenshire--Holly’s own town--where they lay waiting for the Shadow of the Sun to rise again.

     “It can’t,” her mother said, her voice distressed. “Solar Shadows will not survive if the Eclipse reforms and battles the Shadow of the Sun again.”

     “So you’re just going to sit here and do nothing about the Shadow of the Sun? You know what happened last time they were in power, Leah. They cannot be allowed to rise again.”

     “At what cost, though, Richard? What will stopping the Shadow of the Sun do to Solar Shadows? What’s the point in stopping them if it’s only going to throw Solar Shadows into chaos again?”

     “What’s the point! Leah, the whole point is to stop the dark ages that Solar Shadows went through last time the Shadow of the Sun took over. Do you remember what happened to your own parents? How they were killed?”

     Holly’s gasp of shock was covered by her mother’s. It was an unspoken rule in Holly’s family that they never, ever, speak of Holly’s mother’s parents. They had been killed when the Shadow of the Sun had taken over last time, nearly twenty years ago. Holly didn’t know the specifics, but she knew her mother had witnessed it and hadn’t been the same since.

     “I can’t, Richard,” her mother said. Holly knew that she was shaking her head. “I can’t do it.”

     “You have to, Leah,” her father said, his voice determined. “You have to. You are the only one who can.”

     “No, I’m not,” her mother said, a note of finality in her voice. “There are hundreds of other people out there who are just as capable of running it as I am. Why should I sacrifice everything again? Why should I be the one who loses her entire family again?”

     “It’s not going to be like last time,” her father countered. “We’ll be better prepared this time. We know what’s happening, this time.”

     “We know what’s possibly happening,” her mother corrected. “That symbol may be just someone trying to inspire fear in those who remember it. It may mean absolutely nothing.”

     “It may mean everything,” her father said. “Do you really want to risk that chance of the Shadow of the Sun coming back? Because I don’t think you do.”

     "I think you’re wrong, Richard. If you’re intent on the Eclipse coming back, then you can do it without me. I’m done with this. I’m tired of the fighting, both political and physical. I just want to live my life with the family I have left and do it peacefully.”

     “You know that the Shadow of the Sun will seek you out first before they do anything else. They want to make sure you’re out of the way so that they can complete what they started over eighteen years ago, Leah.”

     At that moment, Holly sneezed. Loudly. So loudly, in fact, that her parents stopped talking and there were sounds of footsteps coming towards the door. Holly swore under her breath at the exact moment her father opened the door.

     Her father was a tall man, with dark blonde hair and brown eyes that were now dull with exhaustion. His face was gaunt and he had dark circles underneath his eyes. He yawned, covering his mouth with one hand.

     “What are you doing out here, Holly?” he asked. He looked slightly angry. Holly knew better than to tell him that she had been eavesdropping on the conversation.

     “I was on my way to the bathroom,” Holly fibbed. She shifted her weight nervously from foot to foot and fiddled with her finger nails.

     Her father accepted the reason, even though the closest bathroom was on the other side of the house. He sighed and leaned against the wall. Holly noticed that her father looked much older than his forty years. She couldn’t resist walking forward and hugging him.

     “Are you okay?” she asked quietly. She felt her father sigh and he shook his head.

     “No, I’m not,” he replied. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and stared down at her, his brown eyes defeated.

     “What’s wrong?” Holly asked, already knowing it had something to do with the whispered conversation that had taken place in the bedroom behind her father.

      “Your mother is being stubborn about her beliefs,” he said looking away. His eyes stared at something down the hallway that Holly couldn’t see. “As crazy as they are, she may be right.”

      “What do you believe, Dad?”  Holly asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Her father sighed for the third time tonight and ruffled her hair.

      “I believe that it’s late and that you should get to bed,” he said. There was a bit of humor in his voice when he spoke.

     It was Holly’s turn to sigh. She wasn’t ready to go to bed; she wanted to listen to the conversation some more, for she knew that her parents were going to start talking about it the second she left. However, she also knew that her father would wait until she was in bed with the candle out before he returned to his room.

      “All right,” she said, walking back towards her room. When she reached the door, the creak of floorboards alerted her to her father's going back into his room. Holly waited outside her room for the whispering to start up again, but they did not. She heard her parents saying good night to each other and then everything became quiet.

     Holly sighed again, thinking about what all she had heard; she walked into her room, blew out the candle, and went to sleep.

 

     The next morning found Holly grooming her horse in her family’s barn. Her father was mucking the stalls to her left and her mother was braiding a carthorse’s mane across the aisle. Her twin brother Casey was filling up the water troughs in the outer stalls.

Holly’s family raised and sold horses in Lindenshire that were some of the best in Solar Shadows. People came from all over to buy her father’s horses, for they were the best one could buy outside of Emberton.

      Today, Holly and Casey were planning on going into the main town of Lindenshire to buy some much needed supplies for the coming months. They were almost out of horse feed and the chickens needed more corn. Holly’s mother had used the last of the corn in last night’s dinner.

      Holly had decided that she would question Casey on the way to Lindenshire to see if he knew anything about what her parents had been talking about. Casey had a knack for eavesdropping on people’s conversations and not being noticed. It was annoying most of the time, especially when Holly was trying to talk to her friends about things she didn’t want her brother overhearing, but sometimes, like now for instance, it came in handy.

     Her father finished throwing the last shovelful of muck into the wheelbarrow and leaned against his pitchfork. He wiped one hand over his brow and smiled tentatively at Holly’s mother who was quick to return it. Something must have happened last night, Holly thought. She remembered her parents’ cold attitude toward each other last night and saw how different it was this morning.

     “Whenever you two are done with your chores, you can go to town,” her father said, turning his attention back to Holly. Casey came into the main aisle at that moment carrying an empty water pail. His shirt was soaking wet and he looked highly annoyed as he pushed his soaked, dirty blonde hair out of his face.

      “Frost decided he didn’t want to drink his water; he wanted me to wear it,” he explained, rolling his eyes as Holly lost the battle of fighting back a giggle. “I’m going to go change.”

Holly smirked as he walked by and ducked as he decided to throw the last bit of water in the pail at her.

      “Casey, hurry up and go change. Quit the horseplay,” her mother snapped, finishing up the braid she had been working on. “Holly, go tack up Casey’s horse.”

      Holly dropped the brush she had been using into its bucket before walking down the stable aisle to do what her mother told her.

 

     Half an hour later Holly and Casey were riding up a hill that led down to the main town of Lindenshire. Holly stopped as they crested the hill the same way she did every time she rode the trail. No matter how many times she had seen the view, she always was amazed at how beautiful the place she had grown up really was. There were the neat, small wooden town to the west and the sprawling farms and endless forests to the east. Mountains that turned blue in some slight light lay to the north; the main road out of Lindenshire heading towards Milden, Emberton and the world beyond lay to the south. Astride a horse on the hill, Holly could see everything that her hometown had to offer.

     “Holly, come on,” Casey called from a little ways up the trail. “I want to get back before sunset. Dad promised that he would show me the best hunting trail tonight!”

Holly sighed as she cast one last glance at the beautiful view in front of her. This was her home and she always felt safe here no matter how dark the outside world got.

     “I’m coming!” she replied, spurring her horse into a trot to catch up with her brother as he led the way into the main town. 

 

     Casey left as soon as they reached the town square to go talk to his friends and purchase the things that they needed for the coming winter. Holly made her way among through the crowds of people to the inn where her best friend Abby Brookes lived.

      The inn was a small structure. It had only ten rooms, most of which were in a state of severe disrepair from lack of customers over the year. The inn generally had only two or three visitors each year. It stayed in business, however, because of the excellent food prepared by the innkeeper’s wife; it was the main source of gossip.

      Holly sat at the long, dark brown counter that stretched the length of the dark, smoky room. It was greasy and covered in stains from past spills.

     The waitress was Holly’s friend Abby. She was a tall girl with dark hair and dark skin. Her family had moved to Lindenshire from the Land of Shadows twenty years ago and had owned the inn ever since. No one ever had a problem with their being from the land where the Shadow of the Sun occurred; they loved Abby’s mother’s food too much and they were a really nice family.

     Abby was wiping down the counter when Holly walked up. There were was a group of people standing in one corner talking in hushed voices.

     “Looks like Wenet and her posse are out in full force today,” Holly commented, sitting on one of the bar stools.

     “They’re getting on my nerves,” Abby said, putting the rag away and pulling out a semi-clean mug. The cleanliness of the plates and mugs in the inn was lacking severely, but no one noticed, except for Wenet and her friends, the town’s main gossipers.

     “What are they talking about?” Holly asked as her friend filled the mug with the inn’s famous mulled cider which was homemade from the apples and spices grown in the forest nearby.

     “The same thing everyone else is talking about,” Abby said, shoving the now overfilled mug towards Holly. Some of the cider spilled out onto the counter, but neither girl paid much attention.

     “Which is?” Holly asked, taking a sip of the cider. She couldn’t help but savor the rich aroma of the chilled drink and the distinct spice of cinnamon and the sweet flavor of the apple.

     “The Shadow of the Sun,” Abby murmured with a shrug. She, like everyone else in Lindenshire, spoke the name in a whisper as if she feared the organization would return if they spoke of it too loudly. The Eclipse, though less feared than the Shadow of the Sun, was spoken in the same hushed voice.

     “Anything new?” Holly asked, taking another swallow of the drink and casting a glance toward the group gathered around a tall, rather wispy woman who had sharp features and dark gray eyes. It was Wenet, the nosiest woman in town.

     “Just the same old rumors are starting up again,” Abby said, rolling her eyes as she refilled Holly’s now empty mug. “The same ones that have been going on since we were kids.”

Holly took the mug back, but didn’t drink from it. Instead, she stared at Wenet and her followers with heightened interest.

     “I overheard my mom and dad talking about the Shadow of the Sun last night,” she informed Abby who glared at her for using the name in such a casual tone. Holly ignored the glare, knowing that her friend was just frightened by the old stories that she had heard from her parents.

     “What did they say?” the other girl asked curiously. Her voice was quiet and barely carried to Holly’s sensitive ears.

      The inn suddenly became quiet, as if listening to Abby’s whispered question. Holly turned around, wondering why everyone had stopped talking. She saw the door to the inn swinging shut behind two, tall strangers wearing dark travelling cloaks over well-worn tunics and hoses. Ignoring the curious stares and outright glares from several people, the two strangers made their way to the bar. It was obvious that they had been in this sort of situation before by the way they never hesitated in their step.  The two strangers were a boy and a girl around Holly’s age. As they drew closer, Holly could see them more clearly.

     The girl was shorter than the boy, but still impressively tall. She was close to Abby’s height, though the similarities stopped there. Where Abby was tall and dark, this girl seemed to be made out of porcelain. Her skin was almost white with just the slightest hint of a tan on her narrow features. She had needle straight, corn-silk colored hair that hung just past her shoulders in a slender braid. Her eyes were almond shaped and dark green in color. Though her travelling cloak hid the rest of her, she appeared to be slender and long limbed.

     The boy was as tall as Abby, with short, jet black hair the color of a night sky without any stars or moon. He had the bluest eyes Holly had ever seen. They were the color of the sapphire necklace her father had given her mother when Holly had turned nine. They too were almond shaped, like the girls. His features, though more masculine than the girl’s, were along the same line, which made Holly suspect that they were related. He, however, had tan skin and the look of one who spent most of his time outside versus the girl’s pale skin. He too appeared slender, but more muscular and longer limbed than the girl.  Holly couldn’t help but notice these details as both strangers stopped at the bar beside her. The girl shot her an angry look as the boy merely ignored her, his attention on Abby.

     “I was wondering if we could get a room for the night,” he said in an unfamiliar crisp accent. His voice was low and his words ran together in an almost musical fashion. Holly was instantly entranced by the sound of it.

     “We have a couple of rooms free,” Abby said, reaching underneath the counter where the keys were locked in a safe to keep people from walking away with them. “Would you like two separate rooms or one with two beds?” Holly couldn’t help but wince at the sound of her friend’s voice. Compared to the strange boy’s soft, fluid accent, Abby’s was rough and guttural.

      "We would prefer one with two,” the boy said, reaching into his travelling cloak and withdrawing two gold coins. “Would this be enough for two nights’ stay?”

     Holly gaped at the strangers with newfound interest. It was rare that the inn had customers, but it was even rarer that they had such wealthy ones. The prosperous tended to stay away from Lindenshire as a general rule.

     Abby’s eyes went wide as the two gold coins landed on the counter. She looked from the stranger to Holly with a look of confusion on her face.

      “Will the payment suffice?” the girl demanded. Her voice sounded like the flute that Casey had and played on occasion--a high, clear voice that was slightly shrill. It fit her appearance nicely, but made Holly cringe. She could never stand people with high pitched voices. It was like the sound of a nail on metal, screechy and ear splitting.

     “It’s fine,” Abby said, sweeping the coins off the counter and putting them in the jar that held her family’s coins underneath the counter. She handed them a key.

    “Thank you,” the boy said, accepting the key and turned to walk away.

    “I’m sorry,” Holly said, speaking for the first time. The girl shot her another annoyed glance which Holly ignored. The boy looked at her curiously. “I never did catch your names.”

     The boy and the girl exchanged glances, seeming to converse silently. The girl’s glare intensified and the boy merely shrugged.

     “I’m Cameron,” he said. “Cameron James. This is my twin sister Tina.”

     He offered Holly his hand, which she gladly took. His tan hand was warm and calloused, as though he had spent years outside working hard.

     “I'm Holly,” she replied, breaking the handshake. “Holly Larson. This is my friend Abby Brookes.”

     “Nice to meet you,” Abby said, dipping her head respectfully. She turned as someone shouted her name. “I have to go. Feel free to call down if you need anything at all.”

     The boy, Cameron, nodded his thanks towards Abby as the tall girl moved to go help the other customers. The girl, Tina, shifted her weight and sighed.

     “If you need anyone to show you around town,” Holly offered. She wasn’t sure exactly what drew her to these strangers. Maybe it was because they were among those rarely found in Lindenshire, or maybe it was their arrival at such a harsh time with the rumors of the Shadow of the Sun returning to power and the thought of the Eclipse re-forming that interested her.

     “I think we can find our way on our own, thanks,” Tina said icily. .”This town doesn’t seem too large. It’s definitely smaller than Emberton.”

     “You’ve been to Emberton?” Holly asked, impressed despite the other girl’s jibe towards Lindenshire. Holly had always wanted to get out of Lindenshire someday to just travel to the other towns she had heard so much about, but she knew that she would never get the chance or have the money to do such a thing. The farthest she had ever been was Milden, a town slightly larger than Lindenshire located five miles away.

      “We just came from there, actually,” Cameron said, glancing around the inn’s kitchen. Holly looked around too, surprised to find that the area that had been crowded not ten minutes ago was now nearly empty. Only Wenet and a few of her friends remained, along with Abby and Clint the town’s blacksmith.

     “Really?” Holly asked, raising an eyebrow. “What brings you to Lindenshire, then? There’s nothing around here for miles, outside of Milden and Coppertown.”

     “It’s personal,” Tina snapped, brushing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes. Cameron shot her a warning look.

     “We travel around a lot,” he explained. “We’re scouts of sorts for our father who is a trader. We’re looking for places that might be interested in what he’s offering.”

     “Interesting,” Holly said in a slightly disinterested voice. She caught a look between Tina and Cameron, one that suggested that what Cameron had said wasn’t entirely truthful. She wondered what was going on and why they were lying. Then again, Holly thought, it wasn’t any of her business. These people were strangers in a rough time. They didn’t have to be totally upfront about what they were doing and why. Still, it made one wonder what the other was up to.

     “If you don’t mind, we’ve come a long way in the past few days and would like a chance to rest,” Cameron said as Tina shifted her weight again and adjusted the bag on her back. “Could you possibly show us the room we’ll be staying in?”

     “Oh, sorry,” Holly apologized. She had been so caught up in their expressions and their accents that she had forgotten that they were more than likely exhausted. “Yes, of course. It’s right this way.”

     “It’s not a problem,” Cameron said, smiling slightly at her. Holly couldn’t help but smile in return.

     She turned away quickly, mentally berating herself. She felt like an idiot as she led the two strangers up a small, rickety flight of stairs and up to the rooms of the inn. She stopped in front of their assigned door.

     “Well, this is it,” she said, gesturing towards the door.

     “Thanks, Holly,” Cameron said, brushing past her and opening the door. He let Tina inside before turning back to Holly. “If you would like, I could always tell you some of the stories of the places we have been over the past couple of months.”

     “Really?” Holly couldn’t help but be excited. It was rare when travelers offered to share their stories with the townsfolk when they did come to town.

     “How about tomorrow?” he suggested.

     “That sounds good,” she said, enthused. She could persuade her mother to let her help out around the inn tomorrow evening to earn a little extra cash. She could also spend the night with Abby.

     “Okay, then,” he said, fiddling with the hem of his cloak nervously. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

     “Tomorrow,” Holly agreed, turning to leave.

     “Oh, and Holly?”

     She turned back to him.

     “Yes?”

     “Thanks again for showing us the room.” He looked as though he were about to say something else, but decided against it. Holly waited a moment, before nodding.

     “It was nothing.”  With that, she turned and walked back down the stairs only to find Casey waiting for her there. He was carrying two packages and was talking to Abby.

     Holly smiled at the sight of her twin brother and friend. It was a well known fact around Lindenshire that Casey and Abby really liked each other, but for some reason they hadn’t acted upon those feelings. Holly wished they would just get over being shy around each other and get together already. She couldn’t think of two people more deserving of each other.

     “You ready to go, Holls?” Casey asked as she walked up to the counter.

     “Yeah, I think so,” Holly said, casting one last glance up the stairs. She could have sworn she had seen a tall, dark haired man standing on the staircase, but the second she blinked to clear her vision, he was gone.

     “Then let’s go,” he said not noticing Holly’s distraction. “I’ll see you later, Abby.”

     “See you,” Abby replied, her face a pale shade of red as she waved good bye. “Bye, Holly.”

     “Bye, Abby,” Holly said, turning and lengthening her step to catch up with Casey. She didn’t hear the whispers that started up behind her as Wenet and her friends discussed what had just happened between Holly and the strangers.

    

     Both were silent as they mounted their horses and turned for home. Neither had anything to say to the other about what had happened over the hour they had been in town, though Holly was desperate to tell someone about the two strangers. She felt as though she had seen them before, but she couldn’t remember where.

     Sighing and chalking it up to it being paranoia, Holly pushed the thought to the back of her mind and soon forgot about it all together.

3: Chapter 2: Taken

     The next morning, Holly set off back to the main town of Lindenshire. Her mother had told her that it was fine if she wanted to go work with Abby, that the Larsons could use the extra money.

     The ride was short and quiet. Casey stayed home to help their father out with shoeing the horses. Clint, the blacksmith, would be coming by later.

     People were just beginning to walk around the street as Holly rode into town. She returned several greetings that were thrown her way as she rode down the street to the inn.

     Abby was just finishing setting the tables for breakfast as Holly walked in. She glanced up from what she was doing and offered a tired smile, which Holly quickly returned. 

     “I’m glad you’re here,” she said, offering Holly a mug of mulled cider, which she took gratefully. “I need the help. We had another guest show up right after you left, and then two more within another hour.”                                                                                           

     “Wow,” Holly said impressed.  She was suspicious of why the inn was suddenly having so many customers. It was strange, especially with news of the Shadows of the Sun reformation floating around.  Was it a coincidence or did the sudden arrival of new guests and Holly’s parents’ conversation two nights before have something to do with each other?  Holly pushed the thoughts out of her mind as business at the inn began to pick up and people started coming in for breakfast.

     “Holly, is it?” a crisp voice said from behind her as she was finishing pouring a mulled cider for Wenet and her husband.

     Holly spun around, startled. She was surprised to see Cameron standing behind her, looking amused. She blushed deeply as she realized that she had just slopped the entire mug of cider down her shirt.

     “Holly! Where the hell is that cider? Wenet is going crazy!”

     George Brookes, Abby’s father, did not look too happy as he came over to the bar. He gave Cameron a glare, grabbed the half full mug of cider out of Holly’s hands and stormed over to Wenet’s table.

     “You’re Cameron, right?” Holly asked, grabbing the towel from underneath the counter and attempting to clean up the mess she had created.

     “You remember,” Cameron said, looking amused. Holly looked up at him, intending to glare at him, but instead blushed again.

      “I’m surprised you remember my name,” she said mentally kicking herself. How much more of an idiot could she be?

     Cameron let out a light laugh, a smile gracing his perfect features. Holly was stunned by how the small motion made his eyes sparkle like liquid sapphires.

     He leaned against the counter, crossing his arms on the dark wooden surface. Holly noted the fact that he was wearing a long sleeved white button down shirt that hung loosely over a pair of light brown leggings. It was a simple outfit, but it made Holly feel like even more of a dork in her dark green tunic that now had a cider stain on it and black stockings.  

     “I wanted to apologize for yesterday,” Cameron said as Holly shoved the towel back underneath the counter. She hoped she had a change of clothes in her saddlebag, else it was going to be a very long day.

     “For what?” she asked, turning and grabbing a pitcher of cider that had just been placed on the window to the kitchen by Abby’s mother. She offered some to Cameron, who accepted.

      “For Tina’s behavior,” he said, as Holly grabbed a mug and poured the cider into it, taking care not to spill any this time. “We’ve been on the road for the past couple of weeks and it has been long and hard. Travelling nowadays isn’t easy with the Shadow of the Sun about and all.”

     Holly nearly dropped the pitcher in shock.  “I thought those were just rumors! The Shadow of the Sun is actually reformed?” she asked, her eyes growing wide.

     “So you have heard of it,” Cameron said, looking strangely confused.

     “Hasn’t everyone? It’s the only thing people around here whisper about,” Holly said, rolling her eyes.

     “You’re annoyed,” Cameron commented, taking the mug of cider out of her hands. She shot him a glare. “I actually want to drink this, not wear it.”

     She glared harder at him until he smiled. Then, she sighed.

     “Yes, I’m annoyed,” she said, placing the pitcher on the counter.

     “Why?” Cameron asked, taking a sip of the cider. His eyebrows were raised in interest.

     “They whisper,” she said, rolling her eyes and grabbing a basket from the back counter. Abby’s mother had just put up a fresh plate of biscuits. “And when I ask them about it, they get this frightened look on their face and then tell me I’m too young to understand.”

     “Who are ‘they’?” Cameron questioned, snitching a biscuit from the basket. He took a bite out of it, chewing as he waited for Holly to answer.

     Holly slid the basket across the counter to Abby, who was waiting for it.

     She then poured herself a mug of cider and then leaned up against the counter as well.

     “My parents,” she said, taking a sip of the cider. “Wenet. The whole town. Everyone I ask seems to think just because I’m a girl and the daughter of Leah and Richard Larson that I can’t do anything or know anything about what’s going on.”

     “Maybe they’re just trying to protect you,” Cameron suggested, taking another bite of the biscuit. “This is really good, by the way. This is some of the best food I’ve ever had.”

     “That’s Lillian for you,” Holly said, shrugging. “And that whole protecting me thing is a bunch of crap. Wouldn’t it be better for me to know what’s going on so I can protect myself from it? I deserve to know what’s happening.”

     “Maybe they think they’re keeping you safe by keeping you out of it,” Cameron said. “You know, 'innocence-is-bliss' kind of thing.  Maybe your parents just don't want you to be involved and they know that by telling you what's going on would make you want to get involved.”

     “Well I’m old enough to make that decision for myself, aren’t I? It’s not up to them to protect me anymore. I can look after myself,” she said, slamming the mug down on the table. What little cider she had left sloshed over the end edge of the mug and spilled onto the table.

     “Why do you want them not to protect you so badly? Is it that horrible, having your parents look after you?”

     Cameron leaned closer towards her, and Holly sighed again.

    “It’s not a bad thing,” she said. “It’s complicated.”

    “Try to explain it to me,” he challenged. “I think I can keep up. I’m not an idiot?”

     “I don’t even know you,” Holly retorted. “Why should I tell you? And why are you so interested, anyway?” Cameron looked troubled by Holly’s question. He shook his head and took another sip of the cider.

     “I have no idea,” he said, pushing himself off the counter. “I’m sorry to have bothered you. I’ll just go.”

     “No, wait!” Holly said, reaching out and grabbing his hand. She was stunned by the sudden jolt of electricity that went through her. Cameron quickly grabbed his hand out of hers, but stayed by the counter.

     “I’m sorry,” she said. He turned back towards her and sighed.

     “No, I’m sorry,” he said, fiddling with his hands nervously. “I was wrong to intrude. You’re right, you shouldn’t have to tell me what’s going on in your life. I’m a complete stranger who will be leaving in a couple of days anyway.”

     “It’s okay,” Holly said softly. “Can I ask you something?”

     “Sure, what is it?” Cameron asked, looking interested in the change of subject.  

     “Do you know anything about the Shadow of the Sun?” she asked, shifting her gaze from him to the countertop. She didn’t know why she was so nervous, after all she was asking about something that she needed to know about. Maybe it was because every time she brought it up at home, her parents outright refused to talk about it.     

     “Yeah, I do,” Cameron said, a dark look crossing his face. It was gone so quickly that Holly thought she must have imagined it. “But if your parents won’t inform you, then maybe they’re right not to tell you.”

     “That’s not fair,” she said, suddenly outraged. She lifted her gaze off the counter top to glare at Cameron. “Why won’t you just tell me?”

     “Because your parents aren’t telling you about this for a reason. It’s not my place, as a complete stranger to tell you about them,” Cameron said. His tone offered no argument and Holly was wise not to argue.

     “So, you told me that you wanted to tell me some stories of your travels?” she asked, changing the subject from the Shadow of the Sun entirely.

      “What would you like to hear?” Cameron asked, obviously grateful for the subject change.

      “Anything and everything,” she replied, smiling. Cameron smiled in response.

 

     Holly and Cameron talked throughout the rest of the morning and over a lunch of delicious beef stew and homemade rolls with freshly churned butter to go with them. Abby joined them when she had finished serving the customers their lunches.                                                                                     

     Cameron was a great story teller. He used his hands to visually show some of the things he was talking about. He also changed his voice when he was talking about different people. The stories themselves were also very interesting; they were about him being chased by crazed drunks who had lost a card game, the strange people Cameron he and Tina had encountered, and even about some of the strange foods they had had eaten.

     “Of course,” Cameron said looking at Abby with a sly smile, “none of the food was as good as the food here.”                                                                                                                      

     Abby blushed at that as Cameron continued on with a story about a runaway horse, a drunk, and a bottle of brandy.

     He was just finishing with the story when Tina walked in carrying a huge leather satchel bulging at the seams. She stopped dead at the sight of Holly sitting next to Cameron and laughing about something he had said.

     Holly quickly stopped laughing as Tina glared at her. She heard Cameron sigh heavily. He got off the stool he had been sitting in on.

      “Excuse me. I need to talk to Tina for a few minutes,” he said, glancing apologetically at Holly and Abby.

      “That’s okay,” Holly said quickly as Abby stared meekly at Tina. “I’ve got to be getting home anyway. It was nice talking to you, Cameron.”

      “I’ll see you tomorrow?” he asked, a hopeful glint in his bright blue eyes. 

      “I’ll see what I can do,” Holly promised. Tina’s glare, if possible, darkened at the words. Holly ignored it, said her good-byes to Abby, grabbed her bag from behind the counter, and then walked out the inn’s doors.

     Holly didn’t have to be home for another couple of hours, so she decided to wander around town for a little while. She had some pocket change from the tips Cameron kept giving her and, so she headed toward the small bakery on the opposite side of town. The food there was only half as good as the inn’s, but Holly decided to buy a small tart to eat on the way home.

     Holly was on her way out of the bakery when she ran into one of her other friends, Neil Thomson, a medium height dirty blond haired boy, who lived on the farm near Holly. The Thompsons and her parents had been friends before the two of them had been born.

     “Hey, Holly,” Neil said, obviously surprised to see her. “I didn’t know you were coming into town today.”

    “I figured I’d help Abby out at the inn for a little while,” Holly said with a shrug. “I’m on my way home, actually.”

     “Really? Mind if I ride with you?” he asked. Holly shook her head, glad to have the company. She hadn’t talked to Neil since the last time she had been in town over two months ago.

     “No, actually, I wouldn’t,” she said, smiling. He grinned in response. 

     They talked the entire way home about absolutely nothing. Neil told Holly about how his mom was going to have her third baby any day now, and Holly told him about her parents’ conversation from the night before last.

     “So, you seriously think that your parents are hiding things from you?” he asked shaking his head. They both drew their horses to a halt. They had reached the fork that lead to their respective farms and neither was ready to go back home yet. 

     “I don’t know,” Holly said, shrugging. “It feels like it sometimes. Every time I ask about the Shadow of the Sun, they instantly change the subject or tell me I’m too young to know.”

     Neil flinched at the sound of the Shadow of the Sun and looked around the road they were standing on self-consciously. Holly sighed at her friend’s antics. Was it really too much to ask one not to freak out every time she mentioned the Shadow of the Sun? It was getting ridiculous.

     “Maybe they’re just trying to protect you,” Neil suggested.

     Holly glared at him. It was one thing for Cameron to say that, but hearing it from Neil just made her angry. She was sick of everyone treating her as if she were a freaking five year old. She didn’t need protecting. Why couldn’t anyone see that?

     “I’ve got to go,” she said coldly, squeezing her horse onward. She heard Neil yell after her, but ignored him.

    

     Holly rode up the long twisting path leading to the Larsons’ farm. She felt a sense of contentment wash over her as she took in the familiar view of the old log cabin that lay on a small knoll overlooking the massive barn and emerald pastures. A few of the horses were still out, their hides gleaming in the late evening sun. The trees were just beginning to turn shades of amber and gold, giving the entire place a rustic look.

     Holly heard her mother calling her name for dinner. She dismounted and made her way to the barn to take care of her horse.  

     Dinner was a quiet affair. Holly’s mother had made vegetable soup made from the garden’s produce and Holly’s father had made fresh baked bread.

     There was not much conversation as the Larsons allowed the clinking of spoons and the crunching of bread to fill the silence. Holly noticed the looks between her mother and father as if a silent conversation were taking place between them. Holly slipped a couple of bread crusts into her pocket when her parents weren’t looking so she could give the treats to her horse later that evening.

     After dinner, Holly slipped out of the kitchen door and headed toward the barn. She unlocked the barn doors and slid them open just wide enough for her to slip squeeze through.

     Silently, so she wouldn’t disturb the horses, Holly walked swiftly to the stall in the middle of the barn. Her horse was snoozing quietly but woke up the second Holly stopped at the door.

     “Hey, girl,” Holly whispered, taking the bread crusts out of her pocket and feeding them to the horse. The horse ate them eagerly and shoved Holly’s hand with its nose searching for more. “That’s it. Sorry, girl.”

     Holly stroked her horse’s muzzle letting her thoughts drift away to the events that had happened during the day. The thought of where the strangers had come from still puzzled her, but not nearly as much as the sense that she had seen them before.

     Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud noise of the barn doors crashing open. Holly glanced up in shock at the sight of her father running into the barn with a look of determination and fear on his face.

     He ran past Holly not even acknowledging the fact that she was standing right there.

Holly had the presence of mind to duck into her horse’s stall right as the barn doors swung open again. This time, a tall, muscular hooded person stormed through the doors. Holly ducked further behind the door while trying to make herself invisible.

     “Richard! You know you cannot hide from me!” the person yelled.

     It was obviously masculine voice—deep, resonant, and loud. The barn became alive with the sounds of frightened horses kicking at their stall doors.

    “Why are you here, Vincent? Did James send you?” 

    Holly muffled a gasp at the sight of her father as he came into view. He was carrying a long broadsword that glinted in the faint light of the barn. He was wearing a thick leather vest over his long-sleeved white tunic that was tucked into his riding pants. He looked like the King’s guards Holly saw on occasion in Milden for special events.

     “No, Richard,” the man laughed, taking off his hood. Holly stared in shock at the man standing directly in front of her horse’s stall. He had rounded features, long, greasy blond hair, and a nose that looked as though it had been broken a hundred times before. But that wasn’t what frightened Holly; it was the man’s eyes. They were pale gray, almost white. “James didn’t send me.”

     “So you finally grew a mind of your own,” Holly’s father said with a dark laugh.   Holly shuddered at the sound; it didn’t fit the image of her fun-loving, carefree father who had played hide and seek with her when she was a young girl or the man that took Casey out hunting all the time.

     “James has many more concerns outside of you,” the man, Vincent, said. “Like your pretty little wife.”

     “Stay the hell away from Leah,” her father growled, his grip visibly tightening on the sword.

     Holly shrunk away from the stall door even further. She was terrified of the two men standing in front of her. They were something directly out of the old stories about the Shadow of the Sun.

     “Or you’ll do what? You’ll kill me? You didn’t have the guts to do it eighteen years ago, I doubt you’ll do it now,” Vincent laughed. Holly flinched at the sound of it. It was like the sound of nails scraping against iron. Holly’s father’s face darkened.

     “That was a mistake,” he said in a clipped voice. “One I don’t plan on making again. Stay the hell away from my family or you’ll be the first to go.” 

     “I can’t do that, Richard,” Vincent said, taking a step forward.

     Holly muffled a shriek as the man with the gray eyes pulled out a sword that looked twice as deadly as the one in her father’s hands.

     “I’ve heard about James’ orders to take one or both of us alive,” her father said, taking a step forward. Holly’s eyes grew impossibly wider with fear. “Leave Leah alone and I’ll go with you. Willingly.”

     Vincent’s eyes widened in surprise. Holly willed this to be a dream that her father was seriously not thinking about going with the man who obviously worked for the Shadow of the Sun.

     “My, my, this is a surprise,” the man with the gray eyes said, suddenly amused. “You must love Leah much more than James ever expected.”

     “It always was the way of the Eclipse to underestimate James,” her father replied, sounding resigned. “But it does not matter. I’ll go with you as long as you leave Leah alone.”

      Holly wanted to scream at her father that he was insane, that he couldn’t leave. She knew if he went with this person, then it would be the last she would see of him.

     Vincent looked as Holly’s father obviously thinking about his offer.

     “Be honest with yourself, Richard,” he said at last, shaking his head. “You’re not anywhere close to the threat Leah offers. What would James want with you?”

     “I may not be the threat that Leah is,” her father said, weighing his words carefully. “But I am still one that James obviously isn’t willing to let alone if he wants me captured alive.”

     “You think too highly of yourself, Richard,” Vincent said, shaking his head. “But James does regard you as a threat, for some reason. Or maybe not as a threat, but as a weakness.”

     “Leah won’t come for me if that’s what you’re thinking,” her father said, running a hand through his blond hair.

     “We’ll see about that,” Vincent said as a twisted smirk crossed his features. Holly shivered at the sight of it.

      “No, you won’t,” Holly’s father said, taking a step backward as Vincent took another step forward. They were now directly in front of the stall where Holly was hiding.  Holly held her breath, trying her hardest not to make a sound so that she wouldn’t be discovered.

      “You honestly think that Leah won’t do anything for you?” Vincent asked, sounding surprised. “That she won’t come after you?”

      “I know she won’t,” her father replied, in a voice so certain, that it was hard for Holly not to believe him.

      “Huh,” Vincent said, a smirk twisting his face again. “Then I hope for her sake you’re wrong. If Leah doesn’t come for you before the year is up then I’m coming back for her.”

      “No!” her father shouted. The horses, who had quieted down some started at the sudden noise. Holly’s own horse stomped its hoof and let out a low whinny.

     Vincent looked startled by the sudden exclamation. It didn’t last long; the surprise soon faded back into a sadistic smile.

     “So you'd rather I just take her now?” he asked.

     Holly’s father was shaking with anger. “If you want me, then take me. But leave my wife the hell alone,” he said lividly. Holly shrank further into the corner, away from his wrath.    

     Vincent had the mind to take a couple of steps back. He had a worried expression on his face as he eyed the sword in Holly’s father’s hands.

      “Okay,” he said, throwing his hands up in surrender. “Have it your way. We’ll leave Leah alone in return for you.”

      Holly’s father relaxed his stance ever so slightly. He still had a tight grip on his sword and his face was still extremely angry, but he looked slightly relieved that the Shadow of the Sun would leave Holly’s mother alone.

      “Come for me in the morning,” he said. 

     Vincent smirked again, shaking his head. “If you want me to uphold my end of the deal, then we’re going to leave now. How can I be certain you won’t take your family and flee?”

      “You’ll just have to trust me,” Holly’s father returned.                                                                                                                  

      Shaking his head Vincent grinned. “Like I should believe you,” he said. “You’ve tried to kill me on more than one occasion. Either you’re going to come now or we go back for your pretty little wife.”

      “I've already told you. She’s out of town for a few days,” her father said, his voice harsh with the effort of lying.

      “Then there’s not a problem,” Vincent said. “You can come with me now and skip all the pathetic good-byes and we can be on our way.”

      “Where exactly are you taking me?” her father asked. Holly wasn’t certain, but she could have sworn that his eyes flitted to her for a brief moment as if he had known she had been there the entire time. His eyes, however temporarily they met hers, seemed to be sending her a message. Holly understood at once.

      “The Land of Shadows, where else?” Vincent asked, taking as step forward.            

     The next few events happened so quickly that Holly barely had time to process what happened. One moment her father was glaring angrily at the man in front of her and the next, he was unconscious on the stable aisle. Holly let out a yell that was covered up by the frightened whinnies of the horses around her as Vincent picked up her now unconscious father and carried him out of the barn.                                                                                                                   

      “Dad!” Holly screamed as the barn doors slammed shut.    

Holly struggled to her feet, tears blurring her vision and making it nearly impossible for her to see.

     “Holly?”  Her mother’s voice sounded from the barn door. Holly bit her lip, trying to contain her sob as her mother walked down the stable aisle. “Holly, what’s wrong?”

     Holly turned to her mother, tears streaming down her face.

     “It’s Dad,” she said, her voice breaking. “He was taken by the Shadow of the Sun.” 

4: Chapter 3: Leaving

  Holly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, not caring if she got dirt in them. Her mother stared at her in shock.

     “Y-your father is missing?” her mother asked her eyes growing wide with tears and alarm. “H-how is that possible?”

     Holly shook her head, tears falling harder down her face. She really didn’t want to talk about it.

     Running footsteps were heard outside the barn and Holly was barely able to suppress a squeak of horror as the doors opened as Casey came in.

     “Does anyone know where Dad is?” he asked panting hard. He looked as though he had just ran all the way to the main part of Lindenshire and back without stopping.

     “Why?” Holly’s mother asked the apprehension growing in her face. “What’s wrong?”

     “Cara just rode up and said that Jared is missing, that a tall man who called himself Vincent threatened to kill her if Jared didn’t go with him,” Casey said shuddering as he drew a deep breath into his lungs.

     Cara was Neil’s mother and Jared was her husband.

     Holly watched her mother, her vision slightly blurred due to the tears. She didn’t miss how her mother instantly stiffened at Vincent’s name.

     “Did Jared go with him?” Holly’s mother whispered. Casey nodded.

     “Yeah,” he said looking deeply upset. Holly remembered that Casey often worked for Jared during the summer and the two were pretty good friends. “He didn’t have a choice.”

     “Mom, who is V-Vincent?” Holly asked stumbling over the man’s name. She was frightened that the sound of it would bring him back.

     “Holly, was Vincent here?” her mother asked instead. Holly nodded, unable to voice the answer.

     “What’s going on?” Casey demanded looking from Holly to Holly’s mother. “Who is Vincent? Why the hell is everyone so scared?”

     “Vincent was the second in command of the Shadow of the Sun,” their mother said a look of pure anguish crossing her face. “He was their main assassin. If someone didn’t do something that the Shadow of the Sun wanted someone to do, then Vincent would take someone and kill him or her. Or bring them to-”

     “To James?” Holly whispered quietly already knowing the answer. Their mother nodded.

     “The fact that Vincent was here is not a good thing,” she said wiping her face with her hands. Holly noticed a glint of tears in her green eyes. She had never seen her mother cry, not once in her sixteen years.

     “It means the Shadow of the Sun is back,” Holly murmured. Casey and her mother both stared at her in surprise.

     “How do you know that for sure?” Casey demanded while her mother merely nodded.

     “She’s right, Casey,” she said quietly. “The Shadow of the Sun is back. I’ve tried to ignore the signs, but now that your father is missing and Vincent is here… .”

     Holly let out a sudden gasp. Both her other and Casey turned to look at her.

     “What is it?” Casey asked.

     Holly shook her head.

     “I can’t believe I didn’t see it before,” she said,  her voice a stunned whisper. “How could I have been so stupid?”

     Casey looked at her quizzically.

     “What are you talking about, Holls?” he asked.

     “The strangers,” Holly said her eyes growing wide. “Cameron and Tina. They’re staying at the inn in town.”

     “What about them?” her mother asked sharply. “Who are they? What do they look like?”

     Holly didn’t answer. She remembered the first time she had ever heard of the Shadow of the Sun, back when she was ten years old. She had been talking to Neil when a messenger rode up the road to her parents’ farm.

     “James is back!” he had yelled. “The raven haired man with blue eyes is back! He was spotted in the Land of Shadows three weeks ago!”

     Her father had not been home that day, but her mother had. Holly remembered that day clearly, for it was the first of the several years’ worth of whispered conversations behind closed door.       

     Holly blinked, letting the memory fade away. She couldn’t believe that she didn’t remember that before.

     “Holly?” her mother questioned, hands on her hips. She was waiting for an answer.

     “I’ve got to go,” she said, grabbing her horse’s halter from the hook outside of the stall. “I have to find out if this is true.”

     “If what is true? For God’s sake, girl, just tell me what the heck is going on!” her mother exclaimed.

     Holly shook her head for the billionth time that evening.

     “I can’t,” she said. “Not until I know if I’m right.”

     “Well, until you tell me what you’re babbling about, you are not going anywhere,” her mother said her voice dangerously soft. Holly knew that that stood as a warning; her mother always quieted her voice when she was extremely angry. Holly ignored it.

     “I can’t,” she said honestly. “I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you. It’s like the way you can’t tell me anything about the Shadow of the Sun.”

     She heard a sharp intake of breath from both her mother and Casey, but she ignored them. She grabbed the saddle from the saddle rack and hurriedly finished tacking up her horse.

     “I don’t know if I’ll return,” she said leading her horse out of the stable. Her mother and Casey followed close behind. “If I am right, then I’m going after Dad. If I’m wrong, well, I’m still going after Dad.”

     “Not on your own you’re not!” Casey said angrily. “You could get hurt or killed out there.”

     “Listen to your brother,” her mother pleaded. “He’s right. I’ve already lost your father. If Vincent took him, then he’s already dead. I can’t lose you, too.”

     “I have to try,” Holly said swinging up onto the back of her horse. “It can’t be too late, not yet. And if I’m wrong, then I won’t be alone.”

     She spurred her horse into a gallop, cutting off anything her family had yet to say.

 

     Holly was forced to slow her horse to a trot when night finally fell. It was too dark to continue at the neck breaking speed she had been travelling, for the road was full of holes and steep drops that had to be ridden carefully.

     Holly slowed her sweating horse to a walk as she reached the town of Lindenshire.  She quickly made her way to the inn, where she hoped the Brookes would still be up. 

     The lights were on in the inn as Holly pushed her way inside. Lillian and George were sitting at a table in the corner, a small loaf of bread and two bowls full of leftover beef stew between them. Abby was sitting at the counter with Neil, who looked as though someone had just stabbed him in the gut with a broadsword. There were two half full mugs of cider beside them and a small bowl of what looked like berries between them. The inn, save for those four, was otherwise empty.

     When Abby saw Holly enter, she got up to make her a mug of cider.

     “Holly?” Neil asked his voice croaky as if he had been crying. With one look at his tear stained face, Holly could tell that he had been.                                                       

     Sitting down, Holly put a comforting hand on Neil’s shoulder as Abby slid the mug over to her. Holly put her hands around it, grateful for the warmth. The night was unusually cold for early fall.

     “I head about your dad,” she said taking a sip of the cider. “I’m sorry.” 

     “Are you okay?” Neil asked his eyes boring into hers. Holly wondered if he knew about what happened to her father.

     “Not really,” she admitted looking listlessly down at the stained counter.

     “What’s wrong?” Abby asked, her voice raising an octave with alarmed concern.

     “It’s my dad,” Holly whispered, blinking back the tears that were threatening to fall. “He was kidnapped tonight like Neil’s father was.”

     She heard the sharp gasps as both her friends grasped what that meant. She felt Neil’s strong arms pulling into a protective, comforting hug and Abby’s hand on her shoulder. Holly lost the battle with her tears and allowed them to fall silently down her face and stain Neil’s shirt.

     “It will be okay,” he murmured. “We’ll find a way to get through this. Nothing is ever going to happen to you.”

     Holly sniffed and pulled out of the hug and shrugged off Abby’s hand. She wiped the tears from her eyes and attempted to compose herself.

     “We have to do something,” she said her voice cracking again. She refused to cry. “We have to get them back.”

     Neil and Abby both looked at her as though she were crazy.

     “Holls, there is nothing we can do. We have no leads,; we have no idea as to who took them, and we have no idea where they are and where they’re heading,” Neil said shaking his head. 

     “Vincent, from the Shadow of the Sun took them, and they’re heading toward the Land of Shadows,” Holly said.

     “We have no idea how to get there,” Neil argued. “Holly, this is insane! Your father wouldn’t want you to do this.”

     “You didn’t see him!” Holly retorted. “You didn’t see his face the moment he realized there was no getting out of there without being kidnapped or being forced to watch my mother be kidnapped instead.”

     “Holly, listen to Neil,” Abby begged as the shorter girl got up from the counter.

     “If you two are too scared to do anything about it, then fine,” Holly snapped. “I’m going to the Land of Shadows even if I have to go by myself.”

     With that, she turned and stormed through the doors to the inn and right into Cameron who was coming back in with a look of deep anxiety on his face.

     “Holly, what are you doing here?” he asked surprised. The look on his face darkened. “You shouldn’t be out here tonight. It’s dangerous.”

     “I should be asking you the same thing,” Holly countered instantly recalling the real reason behind her journey to the inn this evening.

     “What do you mean?” Cameron asked raising a dark eyebrow in confusion. He looked genuinely bewildered.

     “My father was kidnapped tonight by Vincent,” she replied. She watched carefully as his face paled ever so slightly at the name. “Do you have any idea why the Shadow of the Sun is after my parents?”

     Cameron opened his mouth to answer, but a shrill scream from somewhere nearby cut him off.

     “That sounded like Tina!” he exclaimed breaking into a run. Holly didn’t know why, but she followed him.

     They had just rounded the corner leading to the main street of town when Holly saw a man in a gray cloak standing in the middle of the road. He held a struggling Tina in his grasp, one arm wrapped around her throat and the other wielding a sharp knife. He didn’t notice Holly and Cameron as he began dragging Tina away.

     “Hey!” Cameron yelled drawing attention to the two of them. Holly gasped as the man looked up. She had never seen anyone so ugly in her life.

     Half of his face was charred black, as if he had once been handsome but had been horribly burned in a fire. One of his eyes was a milky shade of blue that was streaming non stop while the other was covered in a white film that made the color underneath indiscernible. His hair was a greasy, matted blonde black at the roots.

     “Take one step closer,” the man said his voice a hiss as if his vocal chords had been burned as well. “And she dies. Go for help, and she dies.”  

     Tina let out a small whimper as the highly repulsive creature tightened his arm around her porcelain neck. Holly, who had taken an instant dislike of Tina, felt an instant surge of hatred for the man trying to kill her. Tina didn’t deserve this.

     “Let her go, Mason,” Cameron said taking a small step closer. The abhorrent man, Mason, didn’t seem to notice.

     “Why should I?” Mason rasped his grip tightening again.

     “Damn it, Mason! Leave her alone!” Cameron shouted as Tina let out a small whimper of pain when the knife sliced her cheek. “She’s not the one you want.” 

     Holly looked at Cameron, beyond confused, but he ignored her.

     “Neither are you,” Mason said grinning. Holly shivered at the sight of the grin; his blackened face twisted disturbingly.

     “Just please let her go,” Cameron pleaded taking another step closer. Holly noticed that he had one hand on his sword belt and the other unhooking the sheath.

     “Give me one good reason why I should,” Mason retorted. He smirked again as Cameron remained quiet. “That’s what I thought. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”  

     Holly barely had time to register the knife sailing through the air before it landed with a dull thud right before Cameron’s boot. She let out a squeak of surprise as Cameron lunged forward, yanking his sword free of its sheath.

     But Mason was already gone, disappearing down a dark side alley. Cameron burst into a run, trying to keep up with him. Holly followed the suit, wishing for the billionth time that evening that this could all be some sort of sick dream and that this truly was not happening.

     The alley was long and treacherous in the dark. The cobblestones were broken and out of place in parts and there were deep holes in others. Cameron and Holly were forced to slow to a walk to avoid injury. Ahead, they could see Mason dragging Tina around a corner.

     “Come on,” Cameron ordered, lengthening his stride in a vain attempt to catch up to them. Holly knew it was a lost cause when she heard the sounds of hoof beats and then saw the form of a horse bearing two riders take off at a dead gallop, heading towards the main road out of Lindenshire.

     Cameron stopped when they reached the alley and put his hands on his knees.

     “I lost her,” he said his voice broken.

     “It’s not too late to go after them,” Holly reasoned. She instinctually knew that whoever Mason was, he was working for the Shadow of the Sun.

     “I can’t face the Shadow of the Sun alone and expect to win,” Cameron said sounding slightly more hopeful though. He lifted his stunning blue eyes to hers and for a moment, Holly was lost in his gaze before he blinked and looked away.

     “So Mason does work for the Shadow of the Sun?” Holly asked. Cameron nodded. “I’ll go with you.”

     “You can’t,” Cameron said shortly.

     “Why the hell not?” she demanded placing her hands on her hips and glaring angrily up at him. She cursed him mentally for being so tall. “My father was taken by the Shadow of the Sun. I think if anyone has a right to go after them with you, your highness, it’s me.”

     She spat the last words out sarcastically and bitterly. Cameron looked mildly impressed as he stared down at her shrewdly for a moment. Then he shrugged.

     “Fine,” he said. “We leave in an hour.”

     Holly nodded, fighting back the questions and accusations that were the reason behind her coming to the main part of town this evening. He had agreed to help her find her father and she wasn’t about to go and ruin that with false accusations. Besides, it was a long journey to the Land of Shadows. She would have plenty of opportunity to ask him about her suspicions then. If he was who she feared he was, then she could at least keep an eye on him and prevent him from doing something drastic. If he wasn’t, then Holly was more than relieved.

     Cameron disappeared saying something about going to get supplies and meeting her at the inn when he was done. Holly made her way to the inn when he was gone, wondering where he was going to get things at this time of night. Every thing was closed and everyone was in bed for an early day the following morning.

     Abby and Neil were conversing quietly at the counter when Holly slipped in, trying to be noticed. George and Lillian had disappeared, presumably to bed. There was a stranger sitting in their vacant seat, one Holly didn’t recognize. She was instantly mistrustful of the person; the two strangers she had met tonight fresh in her mind.

     “I don’t think I can, Abby. As much as I’d give to go after my father, to kill the people who took him, I can’t,” Neil was saying shaking his head. “My mother needs me too much. My younger brother needs me.”

     “You have to go, though Neil!” Abby protested. “You know for a fact that Holly’s going to go. She can’t go alone. You need to go with her.”

     “She’ll be fine,” Neil said. “She always is. Besides, I’d probably only slow her down.”

     Holly turned away from her friends, feeling touched by the words Neil said. He was a good friend to her and he didn’t deserve what she had said to him earlier. She hoped that she would get the chance to apologize someday, knowing that today wasn’t it.

     Quietly, not wanting to be noticed by her friends, Holly chose a seat near the back of the inn’s kitchen, near the stranger. The stranger was wearing a hooded cloak, masking his or her identity. Holly’s mistrust grew as she caught sight of a sword sheath hanging from the belt.

     Holly eyed the stranger warily as she sat down to wait for Cameron. She could have sworn she heard a low chuckle emitting from whoever it was before the stranger stood up and walked out the door.

     Neil and Abby looked up as the door swung shut, obviously startled by the sudden exit. However, they didn’t notice Holly as they went back to their conversation. Holly tried not to listen, but ended up catching bits and pieces of it anyways.

     “... Can’t you understand that, Abby? My mother just lost her husband, she can’t lose me on top of that,” Neil said. “It would be selfish of me to go.”

     “Holly’s going,” Abby pointed out.

     Holly winced feeling instantly guilty. She hadn’t thought of it from her mother’s perspective; in fact, she hadn’t really thought too much about it. She was so determined to go after her father and bring him back before anything happened to him, that she hadn’t really thought about the consequences or how it would affect her mother.

     “Holly’s family is different than mine,” Neil said quietly fiddling with the empty mug in front of him. Holly heard Abby sigh as the door to the inn opened again. Abby and Neil glanced up, as did Holly, to find Cameron walking through, his black hair soaking wet. He was carrying a dark leather satchel.

     “When did it start raining?” Abby asked obviously shocked by his appearance.

Cameron ignored the question for a moment, his eyes searching around the inn until they rested on Holly. She shook her head, trying to convey the fact that she didn’t want Abby and Neil to see her. He seemed to understand as he returned his gaze to Abby.

     “About five minutes ago,” he said. His gaze turned apologetic. “I hate to be rude, but it looks as though I’ll be leaving earlier than I planned. I need to leave tonight, actually.”

Abby looked surprised. She had obviously expected him to stay the full two nights, as promised the morning before.

     “Is everything okay?” she asked. Holly could tell by the sound of her friend’s voice that she was suspicious. Holly would be too, if she didn’t know what was really going on.

     “It’s just a personal matter,” Cameron said easily ending further conversation. “But I do need to leave tonight, so, I would like to say good-bye and thank you for the wonderful company and accommodations you have provided here. Tell your mother that I really enjoyed her food.”

     “You paid two gold coins for two nights. Would you like them back?” Abby offered reaching into the pocket of her black tunic.

     “No,” Cameron said shaking his head. “Consider it payment for ducking out so early. I’m sorry, but I must really go.”

     Without waiting for any form of good-bye, he turned around and headed back towards the front door. Abby and Neil watched him go.

     “That was weird,” Abby commented as the doors fell shut.

     “I wonder if his being here has anything to do with my father and Holly’s father disappearing,” Neil said casting an anxious glance towards the door.

     Holly stiffened at that. She had thought that, yes, but it was another thing altogether for someone else to say it aloud.

     “I doubt it,” Abby said shaking her head and picking up the empty mugs. “It’s just a coincidence, that’s all.”

     Abby always believed the best in people, even if they didn’t deserve it. It was one of the many things about her friend that Holly loved, but at the same time, Holly also knew that it made her extremely naïve.

     “True coincidences are rare,” Neil stated standing up and taking his travelling cloak off of the back of the chair he had been sitting in.

     “Be careful out there, all right?” Abby asked setting the mugs down. “There are too many strangers in Lindenshire tonight. It’s no longer the safe place we call home. I don’t want you getting taken by the Shadow of the Sun as well.”

     “You be careful too,” Neil said pulling the cloak on and drawing the hood. Holly wondered if he purposely chose a gray cloak to wear that evening or if it was another coincidence. It was a well known fact that gray cloaks were a symbol of the Shadow of the Sun.

     “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Abby asked.

     “I’ll try to come down,” Neil promised. “If Holly comes back and I’m not here, let her know that I’m sorry about earlier.”

     “I will,” Abby said. “But to be honest, I don’t think she’s going to be coming back. She seemed pretty convinced to go after her father.”

     “I don’t blame her,” Neil said. Holly could feel his eyes on her. “If I had the choice, I would go with her.”

     “She knows you would,” Abby said. There was the sound of a swinging door opening and Holly knew that Abby had gone into the kitchen to take care of the mugs.

     “Yeah, I know,” Neil said. “But I wouldn’t mind telling her.”

     “Well, I have to finish closing up for the night,” Abby said as the sound of swinging doors opened again and boots walking across the hardwood floor sounded. “If you don’t come by tomorrow, I’ll try to stop by tomorrow evening. Cara probably wouldn’t mind some of my mother’s food.”

     “Thanks, Abby,” Neil said. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done. You’re a really good friend.”

     “I’ll see you tomorrow,” Abby said.

     There was a brief moment’s pause and then the sounds of heavier footsteps walking across the floor sounded. The front door opened, a blast of cold, wet air flew in, and then Neil was gone.

     Holly waited for Abby to move back into the kitchen before getting off the chair she was sitting in and slipping outside.

     Neil was already long gone by the time she reached the hitching post. Her horse was still there, as was another, a well built animal obviously used for travelling. Its coat was soaked through and combined with the darkness, it was impossible to tell what color it was.

     Cameron was untying the strange horse as Holly walked up. She had donned her travelling cloak in the five seconds it took to get from the front doors of the inn to the hitching post and was busy drawing the string of her hood to keep the rain off of her hair.

     “Do you have everything you need?” Cameron asked swinging up on the back of his horse. Holly nodded, mentally thanking herself for not taking the pouch of money out of her cloak’s pocket the night before.

     “I can buy whatever I need along the way,” she told him untying her own horse from the hitching post and mounting.

     “Good,” Cameron said nodding once. “We should probably go before anyone notices your absence and starts looking for you.”

     Holly nodded, not entirely sure what to say. She followed as Cameron turned his horse around and headed down the main road.

     Holly paused as they crested a small hill that led to the forests surrounding Lindenshire to take a look around. Though it was dark and raining steadily now, Holly could still make out the familiar landmarks of her home. She felt a pang of loss, knowing that this could be one of the last times she ever gazed upon her home.

     “You will return,” Cameron said stopping beside her. “When you get your father back, you will return.”

     “I don’t think so,” Holly admitted. “As much as my mother hates to admit it, the Shadow of the Sun is on the rise again. Tonight has gone to prove that point. And someone has to stop them.”

     “And that someone is you?” Cameron asked his voice slightly amused. Holly shot him a glare, knowing that he wouldn’t see it.

     “Maybe,” she said. “Maybe not.”

     They stat there in silence, neither one of them certain of what to say. Eventually Cameron let out a heavy sigh.

     “We should probably get going,” he said. “We need to make it to Milden before dawn.”

     Without another word they both turned and rode into the forest, letting the rain be the conversation for them.

5: Chapter 4: Suspicions

 Holly woke to the dripping of water on her face and the snapping of sticks. She opened her eyes, momentarily puzzled about where she was. She was surrounded by damp, green trees and was sleeping on a muddy patch of moss.

     With a start, the events of the night previous caught up to her. Holly and Cameron had arrived in Milden right before dawn, like Cameron had wanted, but the inn had been full,; so they were forced to keep going. Holly wasn’t entirely certain where they were now, except they were in a hollow out in the middle of the forest on the path to Emberton, the biggest town in Solar Shadows.

     Cameron was attempting to light a fire on damp wood when Holly finally opened her eyes and stood up, stretching her stiff muscles. He let out a low cuss word and angrily struck the flint against the rock. A spark flared, but went out the second it landed on the soaked wood.

     “You know, fire won’t light when the wood is wet,” Holly reminded him walking over.

     “I know,” Cameron said standing up and sighing. He ran a hand through his damp black hair. “We could probably just eat breakfast on the road and eat lunch when we reach Silverton.”

     Holly nodded, yawning.

     “So when do we leave?” she asked rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She wished that she had a stream or something so she could wash the horrible aftertaste of sleep from her mouth.

     “Whenever you’re ready,” Cameron said. “The sooner we get on the road, the sooner we can reach Emberton tonight. Oh, and there’s a stream through those trees if you want to wash and change your clothes.”

     Holly noticed for the first time that morning that he wasn’t wearing what he had worn the night before. He had changed into a dry long sleeved shirt and a new pair of hose.  With a start, Holly remembered that she had left last night without taking any of her belongings.

     “I don’t have anything to change into,” she said wishing that she did. The clothes that she was wearing were stained, damp, and smelled horrible.

     “Here,” Cameron said tossing her a saddlebag. “These are Tina’s. They’ll probably be a little big on you, but they’ll make do until we can reach Emberton and you can buy some things of your own.”

     “Thanks,” Holly said, taking the saddlebag shyly. She wasn’t sure why, but donning Tina’s clothes made her feel nervous.

     “Like I said, the stream’s through those trees,” he said, pointing to a small copse of trees a little ways away. “I’ll ready your horse so we can leave when you’re done.”

     “Thank you,” Holly said, blushing slightly. She was suddenly very self-conscious and didn’t understand why. There was something about Cameron’s blue gaze that made her feel that way.

     Cameron nodded once and Holly went to find the stream he had been talking about.

 

     Holly was just finishing tying the last string on her borrowed tunic when she heard the sounds of galloping hoof beats. Alarmed, she yanked on her boots and jogged back the way she had come.                                       

     Cameron was just mounting his horse when Holly burst into the clearing. He held a finger to his lips and tipped his to where there were two horses with riders drawing to a halt.                                                    

     “I think they went this way!” a deep obviously male voice yelled. Holly glanced anxiously at Cameron, who motioned for her to hurry up and get on. She did as she was told.

     “What’s going on?” she hissed as Cameron drew the hood of his travelling cloak over his head.

     “Pull your hood up and follow my lead,” he whispered back. “Don’t do or say anything unless I say so, okay?”

     “Who are those men?” Holly whispered as the two riders walked into view. Holly stifled a gasp; the two men were wearing matching gray cloaks. Gray cloaks, or so the stories said, were symbols of the Shadow of the Sun. The fact that there was a black circle stitched on the collar of their cloaks did nothing but add to the growing suspicion Holly had that these were members of the Shadow of the Sun. She wasn’t close enough to see the exact design, but she was certain that if she were, she would see the small half sun with a darker circle interconnected with it. It was the emblem of the Shadow of the Sun.                                                                                   

     “It’s a bit late to be seeing lovers in a hollow, now ain’t it, Marcus?” the shorter of two said. It was another man, a squat one with an annoying nasal voice.

     “I should say so, Darien,” the taller, heavier-set man, Marcus, said. He was obviously the one who had alerted the shorter one to Holly and Cameron’s presence in the hollow.

     “Who be ye?” the shorter, Darien, asked, turning his attention back to Cameron and Holly.

     “We’re just weary travelers who must be on our way,” Cameron said. Holly was startled by the sound of his voice; it was much rougher than usual and his accent was heavier, more southern like the one of people of Smoke Water Ridge.

     “Ye shouldn’t be out alone. Where ye parents?” Darien questioned.

     “They’re meeting us in Silverton,” Cameron lied. He was very good—if Holly hadn’t known that they weren’t, that they were actually going in search of their family, then she would have believed him.

     “Silverton, eh? They think they’re going to Silverton, Marcus,” Darien said laughing. “They parents are waiting for them and they think they’re going to get into Silverton.”

     “I heard them, Darien,” Marcus said. Holly could just see enough of his face to know that he was smiling.

     “What’s going on?” Cameron asked. Holly wondered if the bemusement in his voice was real or if he was just faking it to go along with these two goons.

     “Didn’t ye hear? Silverton was burnt to the ground morn before last,” Darien said. “Apparently, Vincent was there and some bloke ticked him off. Never want to tick ole Vincent off, do ye Marcus?”

     Holly shivered as Marcus grinned. His teeth were yellow and broken and he had a strange gleam in his eye as he stared at Holly.

     “No, Darien, I sure wouldn’t,” he said. “But Cameron, you know something about that, wouldn’t you?”

     His gaze flickered to Cameron. Holly stared in shocked surprise. How did these men know Cameron? They worked for the Shadow of the Sun. What did Cameron have to do with that?

     “She don’t know!” Darien exclaimed gleefully. “She don’t know about Cameron.”

     “You haven’t told her? You must not of,” Marcus said his grin widening. “Why else would she be here?”

     “Did he send you to come after me and Tina?” Cameron asked his fake accent long gone and his voice taut. Holly was beyond confused; what the hell was going on?

     “Tina has nuthin to with it,” Darien said. “His orders were to tell you that you had less than a month to finish the job, else there’d be consequences. Looks like the warnin be useless.”

     His eyes wandered to Holly, who was staring at Cameron, shell shocked. Darien chuckled darkly.

     “She looks just like…” Marcus’s voice trailed off as he stared at Holly, who shrank down into her saddle, trying to make herself invisible.

     “Leave her alone,” Cameron warned his voice a mere growl. “She has nothing to do with you or Darien.”

     “Yet, she obviously means something to him,” Marcus said his voice thoughtful. One of his hands was on his sword hilt, while the other was playing with the hem of his hood.         

     “Marcus, we should be goin',” Darien said eyeing Cameron’s hand nervously as it drifted toward his own sword.                                                                                                                                           

     “I would stay away from Silverton if you want to be in his good graces,” Marcus said. “More of us are wandering about and if you get caught by any of them, they won’t be as amiable as we’ve been. There are a few of us who aren’t too happy with you right now, Cameron.”

     “Just leave,” Cameron said warningly. “Before I make you.”

     Marcus and Darien exchanged a look before the taller shrugged.

     “All right,” Marcus said. “But be warned, the next time you run into the Shadow of the Sun, they won’t let you go so easy, especially if you have her with you.”

     “Leave,” Cameron ordered inching his sword hilt further out of its sheath. His voice was tense and Holly shot him another look.         

     “All right, all right,” Marcus said holding up his hands in surrender. “We’re leaving. I just thought I’d pass along the warnin’.”

     “Consider it passed,” Cameron said.

     Holly heard the soft chuckle as Marcus and Darien turned and disappeared through the wet undergrowth. Cameron remained tense until the sounds of hoof beats faded away into the distance.  

     “What was that about?” Holly demanded as Cameron put his sword back in its sheath. “How did they know you? Why is the Shadow of the Sun after you? And what did they mean they won’t let you go if I’m with you?”

     “We need to get out of here,” Cameron said withdrawing his hood and running a hand through his black hair.

     “I’m not leaving until you give me some answers,” Holly said firmly. She was confused and frightened by the appearance of the Shadow of the Sun members in the forest, especially this close to her home. She knew it was irrational, especially since they had already visited her home, but it still scared her.

     “Then stay here,” Cameron snapped. “I’m going after Tina. If you don’t want to come with me, then fine.”

     “I want answers, Cameron,” Holly said. “You owe me that much.”

     “Oh, I owe you, huh?” Cameron asked his voice bitter. “I’m letting you come with me to find your father against what I wanted, and I owe you?”

     Holly bit her lip, startled by the sudden outburst. It just went to prove how little she actually knew the boy beside her.

     “I’m sorry,” she murmured turning her horse away. “If you really don’t want me here, then I’ll just go out on my own.”

     “Holly, wait,” Cameron said. Holly ignored him, urging her horse into a walk. “Holly!”

     “What?” she demanded. “You’ve made it perfectly clear that you don’t want me here. So, I’m respecting your wishes and just going off on my own.”

     “Holly, I didn’t mean it,” he said. “It’s just- if you- if I told you what you want to know, then you’d be in that much more danger.”

     “I can take care of myself,” Holly said. “And I think I deserve to know.”

     “You don’t want to know. You’d hate me and probably want to kill me if you knew.”

     “You don’t know that. You don’t know me.”

     They stood there, glaring stonily at each other. Holly knew that this was a battle of wills, one she was determined to win.

     After a few minutes that felt like days, Cameron finally looked away and sighed.

     “Maybe I’ll tell you someday,” he said. “But not today. Today, we need to get as far away from here as possible.”

     “Where are we going?” Holly asked deciding to drop the questions for the time being. She made a promise to herself that she would find out eventually what happened here today. “You heard what they said about Silverton.”

     “We’re going to take a different route to Emberton,” Cameron said. “Stay off the main paths. We should be passing through Smithville by dinner. It will add a couple days of travel to reach Smoke Water Ridge, but it’s worth it to stay out of sight of the Shadow of the Sun.”

     “We’re going to Smoke Water Ridge?” Holly asked. She had never been so far south before, but she had heard the town was a huge port town where there were hundreds of people. She had always wanted to go there.

     “It’s the only port left that still sends ships to the Land of Shadows,” Cameron explained. “We’re going to have to go there if you want to rescue your father and help me get Tina back. Do you have a problem with that?”

     Holly shook her head. Cameron looked at her for a moment before turning his horse and heading down the path from which they had come.

 

     It was close to noon by the time they reached a fork in the path. Cameron explained that both directions eventually led to Emberton and later Smoke Water Ridge, but the left was longer than the other.

     “We’re going to be taking the left,” he said. “We need to stay hidden as long as possible now. Darien and Marcus must have met up with the rest of their company by now and the Shadow of the Sun will be looking for us sooner rather than later. They’ll expect us to be going to Silverton, which is down the right.”

     Holly nodded, not really certain if she was supposed to say something. She followed Cameron as they turned down the left fork and headed deeper into the forest.

 

     The sun was just beginning to set as Cameron and Holly crested the last hill. By now, both were exhausted from the long day of travelling and the long night before. Wanting to conserve energy and supplies for the long stretch between Emberton and Smoke Water Ridge, they had eaten and spoke little throughout the day.

     The stench of smoke hung heavily in the air as Cameron slowed his horse to a walk .Holly followed the suit, halting beside him. They could see Smithville barely ten yards away through the trees. The town was lit by a strange orange and yellow glow and shrouded in smoke.

     Someone was screaming and it sounded as though a child was crying. Holly stared in horror at the sight in front of her.   

     “The Shadow of the Sun was here,” Cameron said tightly. “They did this.”

     Holly didn’t even bothering asking how he knew, not really wanting to get in another fight so soon after their first one.

     “We have to do something to help them,” she said. “We have to help stop the fire.”

     “How do you propose we do that?” Cameron demanded angrily. “There’s no water, there’s no way of knowing if the people of Smithville are even alive, and we have no way of getting help. The closest town is a day’s ride away.”

     Holly was taken aback by the bitterness in his voice. She bit her lip and stared at the ground, trying not to cough through the smoke. She heard Cameron sigh.

     “We should go,” he said. “If we hurry, then maybe we can reach Emberton by nightfall and tell someone what happened here. They’ll probably send someone to help out with the fire and see if there are any survivors.”

     Holly nodded, keeping her eyes on the ground. She waited until she heard Cameron urge his horse into a trot before following suit.

 

     They reached the edge of the forest by nightfall. Emberton was still a few miles away, but both Cameron and Holly were too exhausted from travelling all day without a break to go any further. Their water canteens were almost out as a result of travelling through the smoke-filled forest.

     “If I remember correctly from when Tina and I came through here about a month ago, there’s a small inn nearby,” Cameron said running a hand through his black hair.

     Holly nodded, too worn out to think of a reply. She would give anything for her bed of straw and blankets back at the Larson farm, with the sounds of her parents whispering in the bedroom down the hall and Casey talking in his sleep across the room.

     They rode in silence for a little while longer before Cameron turned his horse suddenly down a side road. Holly quickly scrambled to follow, not expecting the sudden turn.

     The path was winding and twisting until it suddenly stopped in front of a small, run down wooden building. A small sign with peeling, faded paint proclaimed the structure as the Sundown Inn.

     Holly had her doubts about the building. It looked as though a single gust of wind could blow it over.

     Cameron shot her a glance as he dismounted and tied his horse to the hitching post. She ignored him, dismounting as well. She was still trying to get the images of the burning town and the screaming people out of her head. No matter how hard it was for Holly to admit, Cameron was right; there was nothing they could have done.

     Cameron led the way into the inn. However decrepit it looked on the outside, it was just the opposite on the inside. The paint was fresh and crisp with a portrait of a setting sun on one wall and a large window overlooking a view of hills to the west. There was a large, black tabby cat sitting in the window seat with yellow eyes, staring at them as they walked to the long counter that cut the room in half.

     A short, thin, balding man stood behind the counter, sketching something in a leather-bound book with an eagle quill. He glanced up as the door fell shut with a gentle click behind Holly.

     “I was wondering when they’d start showing up,” he said closing the book and shoving it out of view quickly. Holly eyed the man in puzzlement, wondering what was so important about the book.

     “Excuse me?” Cameron asked raising an eyebrow curiously. His tone was friendly and light, but Holly noticed that his left hand inched down to his sword belt.

     “I’ve been smelling the smoke for hours now,” the man explained. “I was wondering when people would start showing up here. Anyways, what can I do you two young’uns for?”

     “We’d like a room with two beds if it’s not too much trouble,” Cameron said moving his hand away from his sword belt to the little pouch of gold hanging near his weapon. “Just for the night. We’re moving on to Emberton tomorrow.”

     “I’ve heard strange tidings from recent travelers about Emberton,” the man said turning around and searching for something.

     “What sort of news?” Cameron asked taking out a bronze coin from his small pouch and putting it on the counter. The man turned around and handed him a key in return.

     “Room 9, at the end of the stairs,” he said. He glanced around nervously as if expecting someone to pop out of nowhere and strike him down. “I’ve heard that the Shadow of the Sun is on the move again, that they are searching for someone. I’ve also heard that the former second in command of the Eclipse is being taken to the Land of Shadows.”

     Cameron’s face held no emotion and remained composed. Holly felt the suspicions she had felt back at the hollow this morning rise inside of her again. She gritted her teeth together and bit her tongue to prevent herself from saying anything about it for the time being. She did make a mental note, however, to question Cameron thoroughly about what he was hiding when she got the chance.

     “I have heard rumors to add to that fact as well,” he said picking up the room key. “Is there any where nearby where we can pick up supplies? We started out a little unprepared, and we don’t have enough to make it to Emberton in the morning.”

     “I’ll ask Andy if she has anything,” the man said looking content with the change of subject. Obviously, the fear of speaking about the Shadow of the Sun was not limited only to Lindenshire. “If you can give me a list of things, I can go by there tonight and pick them up for you.”

     A dark look crossed Cameron’s face so quickly that Holly thought she must have imagined it. He quickly shook his head.

     “Thanks, but no thanks,” he said. “I prefer to pick out our own supplies. It’s nothing personal, but with the Shadow of the Sun about, it’s hard to trust strangers.”

     “I understand completely,” the man said. He didn’t look at all offended, which Holly found interesting. Most people would have instantly defended themselves and their honor by such a claim.

     “If you’ll excuse my sister and me, we are exhausted and must get some rest,” Cameron said the lie flowing easily off his tongue. Holly tried not to give away the fact that they were not siblings by concealing her surprise.

     “Of course, Mr. …?” the man trailed off looking momentarily confused as he realized that he didn’t know Cameron’s name.

     “Reed, Jake Reed. And this is my sister Morgan,” Cameron said throwing another bronze coin toward the man. “And your name?”

     The man took the coin, eyeing it as though he had never seen such a thing before in his life. He then pocketed the money.

     “Barret,” he said adjusting the glasses he wore on the bridge of his nose. “Barret O’Donis.”

     Cameron nodded once.

     “We’ll see you in the morning then, Barret,” he said. He turned to Holly. “Let’s go, Morgan.”

     Holly bit her lip as she nodded and followed Cameron up the stairs. She wasn’t sure what it was about the innkeeper, but he made her nervous. It might have been the fact that he kept staring after them, even as they began to ascend the stairs or the feeling that someone was watching them.

     “Cameron,” she whispered as he stopped in front of a pale red door with a 9 painted on it in peeling black paint.

     “What?” he asked. He sounded annoyed as he shoved his hand into his pocket and pulled out the key.

     Holly stared at him for a moment, trying to decide whether or not to tell him her suspicions. She wasn’t sure if she trusted him enough yet to tell him such things. She sighed and shook her head.

     “It’s nothing,” she said at last as Cameron shoved the key into the lock and pushed open the door.

     “Okay, then,” he said stepping inside. He waited until Holly had walked into the room before closing it and drawing the deadbolt. Holly noted that his hands were shaking as he did so.

     The room was small and cramped, though the beds looked inviting with fresh sheets and plump pillows. There was a small window overlooking a narrow creek and the woods that surrounded the entire inn. A small dresser was shoved up against the wall opposite the beds and a small sink stood next to it.

     “You can have the bed next to the window,” Cameron said dropping his worn leather satchel on the mattress closest to the door. “Are you hungry?”

     Holly shook her head as she sat down on the bed that she had been assigned to. She stared out the window, watching as the sun began to sink over the treetops, and bathed the entire room in a pale orange glow.

     She heard Cameron sigh and sit down on his own mattress. He must have been getting annoyed with the fact that she had barely said two words to him since they had left what was left of Smithville, but Holly couldn’t bring herself to push the horrifying images out of her head or swallow back the lump that was stuck in her throat when she thought about the burning homes.

     “You should get some sleep,” Cameron said breaking the silence. “We need to get up early tomorrow morning if we want to make it to Emberton by lunch.”

     Holly didn’t reply, her eyes glued to the window as the sky turned from burnt orange to dark blue and the first stars began to appear in the night sky.

     Not moving an inch or saying a word as the moon rose outside the window, she heard Cameron get ready for bed. She listened as Cameron settled himself into the bed and his breathing evened out. Soon, gentle snores filled the room and Holly felt herself begin to fall back against the pillows as her eyes slid shut.

 

     Smoke filled the air. Screams could be heard and the sounds of children crying filled Holly’s ears. She coughed, trying to find air, but was failing.

     She flinched as a building crashed beside her. She ran a couple of steps forward, only to be pushed back by the intense heat of the flames as they rushed toward her. Someone pushed her down as he raced past her. Another person screamed nearby as water splashed down from above. Someone was obviously trying to put the fire out. Holly pulled herself to her feet, bending over and coughing again as smoke filled her lungs with every breath she took. She took another step forward, crying out when her foot stepped on something sharp.

     When she turned around, trying to figure out where she was, she saw them. There were two of them, riding on massive black horses. Their faces were covered by the hoods of the cloaks they wore, but Holly instinctively knew who they were.

     They drew their swords. Even through the thick smoke and the crackling flames, Holly saw the glint of sapphire peering from underneath the cloak as the swords flashed. She screamed.

 

     “Holly! Holly, wake up!”

     Holly awoke, bolting straight up in her bed and nearly falling out of it as the sheets that were tangled around her fell to the floor. She took a deep gasping breath of air, relieved when she didn’t smell the taint of smoke. She took another deep breath, trying to steady her racing heart as Cameron looked at her in concern.

     “Are you okay?” he asked handing her a glass of water. “You were screaming.”

     Holly took the glass of water, eyeing it warily before putting it on the small nightstand that sat between the two beds. She pushed away Cameron’s steadying hand and pulled herself out of bed, trying to get away from him as fast as possible. The scene from her nightmare was too fresh in her mind. The gleaming eyes — the glint of silver as the sword flew down. She shuddered and shook her head, trying to clear her mind.

     “I’m fine,” she said hating how her voice cracked and broke. Holly fought against the tears that were threatening to fall. “I just—I just had a nightmare, that’s all. Really, I’m fine.”

     Cameron nodded, looking toward the window and running a hand through his hair.

     “You want to talk about it?” he asked looking back at her and raising an eyebrow. Holly shook her head.

     “No,” she said crossing her arms tightly across her chest. Cameron was the last person she wanted to tell about the nightmare.

     Cameron nodded understandingly, before moving back to his bed.

     “You should try to get some more sleep,” he said climbing underneath the covers. “Morning comes early in these parts and I don’t want to have to waste any more time.”

     Holly waited until she saw his eyes close and heard his breathing even out again before moving back to her bed. She sat down slowly and quietly, wincing as it squeaked loudly. She held her breath, waiting for Cameron to stir, but he didn’t. He murmured something in his sleep and let out a huge snore. Then, everything was quiet again.

 

6: Chapter 5: Questions

Holly had just fallen asleep when Cameron shook her awake. Holly opened her eyes, jerking back when she saw him looming over her, his brilliant blue eyes looking at her with concern. His face fell as she shook his hand off her.

     “Barret said he has made us breakfast,” he said going over to his side of the room. “If you want to change, I left Tina’s bag for you at the end of your bed. I’ll meet you down there.”

     He shoved a shirt into his own bag and tied it shut before pulling on his boots. He shot one last concerned glance toward Holly before turning and walking out of the door.                                            

     Holly waited until the door was shut and locked behind him before picking up the bag that had been placed at the end of her bed. She felt guilty for acting the way she had, but the nightmare from the previous night still was fresh in her mind. She couldn’t bring herself to move past the fact that Cameron was hiding something from her and the suspicion that it had something to do with the Shadow of the Sun.

     Shaking her head angrily, Holly attempted to push the thoughts out of her mind as she selected a fresh shirt and a pair of hose at random. She quickly peeled out of the dirty clothes she had worn the day before and had slept in before quickly shrugging into Tina’s old things. Glancing in the mirror that hung above the sink, Holly attempted to comb the snarls out of her straight hair with her fingers, but soon gave up and just tied it back into a low ponytail. She found her boots underneath her bed where she had kicked them off the night before and pulled them on. She took one last look around the room making sure she hadn’t forgotten anything before heading out the door.

 

     Cameron was putting some butter on a slice of bread as Holly, rubbing the sleep from her eyes, walked down the stairs. She looked hungrily at the bread and fruit spread on the small table. The two had barely eaten anything the night before, both exhausted and still reeling from the things they had seen at Smithville.

     “There’s a fresh pot of cider on the stove in the kitchen,” Barret called from the main room.

     “I’d avoid it if I were you,” Cameron murmured as she went to grab herself a mug. “It tastes like tar.”

     Holly raised an eyebrow and sat down across from him. She picked up an apple from a bowl and began toying with it, tossing it gently from one hand to another.

     “Are you naturally this quiet or is it because you don’t think you can trust me?” Cameron asked as the silence between them continued.

     Holly bit her lip, trying to think of an appropriate response. She didn’t want to tell him about the nightmare, which was the real reason behind her lack of conversation; but at the same time, she didn’t want to lie to him either. Even if he had lied to her or had not told her the entire truth about things, Holly refused to sink to that level herself. It was something her parents had taught her and it was a lesson she had learned well.

     “I just—I just don’t know if I can trust you,” she said quietly thinking that that just about summed up how she was feeling. “I mean, I know as much about you as you do me. I—I want to trust you, I really do; but I don’t think I can do that if you don’t talk to me and you expect me to talk to you.”

     “You’re right,” Cameron said picking a small orange out of the fruit spread. “It isn’t fair of me to expect that. How about this? You can ask anything you want, but only if I can do the same from you.”

     “I think that’s fair,” Holly allowed. She was thrilled that he was agreeing to this. It didn’t seem real, especially after the way he had reacted the day prior when she had asked him about his past.

     “So, what do you want to know?” Cameron asked, toying with the orange as he leaned back in his chair. His bright blue eyes were studying her intently, carefully gauging every little thing she did. Holly felt embarrassed under such scrutiny, but refused to let it deter her.

     “You told me that you travel around because your father asks you to find people who might be interested in his merchandise,” she said, taking a bite out of the apple she had been playing with.

     “That’s not a question,” Cameron pointed out, beginning to peel his orange. His face looked a little too carefully composed. Holly wondered why that was.

     “What sort of things does he trade? Why is it so important that you scout around for him? Is it because of him that the Shadow of the Sun is so interested in you and Tina?”

     The last question just sort of came out of her mouth at the last second. She hadn’t meant to bring up the Shadow of the Sun quite so soon and instantly regretted it as Cameron’s amicable face turned into an emotionless mask.

     “My father trades information and weapons for various people,” he said, his tone no different from before. Holly shivered despite of it because his face was unfriendly. “It’s important because we survive off the money he brings in and without it, we’d starve.”

     He didn’t even offer a rebuff for the last question, but Holly was wise enough to let it go.

     “Where were you born?” she asked taking another bite out of her apple.

     “I was born in a small village whose name has been long since been forgotten in a land that has had it’s fair share of hardship and struggle,” he replied. “My mother, in case that’s your next question, disappeared when I was three years old. She took off in the dead of night leaving Tina and me with our father.”

     His face darkened with emotion. Without thinking, Holly reached out took his hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. He glanced up, momentarily shocked. He looked as though he was going to say something, but was interrupted by Barret walking into the room.

     “Andy’s out back if you need anything,” he said not noticing as Cameron slid his hand out of Holly’s and she jerked her own back to her side. “She’s leaving in about ten minutes, so I’d hurry up and get the things I need if I were you.”

     Cameron nodded his eyes on Holly. She looked away quickly and went back to picking at her apple that was still in her hands.

     “Thank you, Barret,” he said blinking and looking away from Holly. “If you could show me where she is that would be great.”

     “Of course,” Barret said grinning as if he and Cameron were old friends. It made Holly uncomfortable as she shifted in her seat. “Come with me, please.”

     Cameron nodded, putting what was left of his orange peel on the table as he stood up.

     “I’ll meet you in our room when I’m done,” he said. “We’ll finish this conversation on the road.”

     Holly merely nodded waiting until both had disappeared before slipping out of the room. She wanted to know what was in the journal that Barret had hidden from them so quickly the evening before and why it was so important that they didn’t see it.

     Holly took a quick look around the main room, making sure there was no one there except for the tabby in the window. Holly spared it a brief glance, wondering if it was even real, for it was in the exact same spot as the day before. She then went to the counter and slipped underneath the partition.

     The journal was on the second shelf underneath the counter. Holly took a quick glance around the main room to make sure that no one was coming. She spotted Cameron speaking with a short, dark haired woman out in the front yard, with Barret right behind him, but there was no one else there.

     Holly quickly slid the journal out of its space and undid the ribbons binding it. The journal was old and the pages were yellowing and falling apart as Holly gently eased the book open.

     The writing was faded and pretty much gone in some parts, while in others it had been written over with fresh ink. There were some pages that were completely illegible due to unknown brown stains that littered the pages. There were even a couple of illustrations that had long since lost their coloring, but the outlines were still there.

     The first entry was dated close to twenty years ago. Holly started in surprise when she read the date; it meant that the journal had been written at the start of the Shadow of the Sun’s rise to power.

     Holly was about to start reading when the front door of the inn burst open and two people barged in. She ducked underneath the counter, not wanting to be seen, especially when she was snooping through things that didn’t belong to her.

     The two people came closer to the counter. They sounded as though they were arguing about something.

     “I’m going to kill Marcus for letting them go. What was he thinking? Doesn’t he know that by capturing the girl, Leah will come running? She might not come after Richard, but when she discovers that that brat has been taken, she’ll come running like a dog with its tail between its legs,” one was saying. The voice was familiar and Holly muffled a gasp as she remembered where she had heard the deep tones.

     “It wasn’t his fault,” the other argued. The voice was unfamiliar, but Holly couldn’t help remembering Mason from the night before last. “He didn’t know at the time what James’ orders were.”

     “Even still, he should have dragged the two kicking and screaming to the Land of Shadows,” the first said. There was a dinging sound as the bell on the counter rang. Holly jumped at the sound of it, barely missing hitting her head on the counter as she scrambled for a hiding spot underneath it.

     “I’ll be right there!” she heard Barret call. “I’m with another cust-oof.”

     Holly heard footsteps running toward the commotion happening outside. She waited until she heard the door slam shut, before grabbing the journal off the ground and dashing through the dining room and up the stairs to the room she shared with Cameron.

     Somehow, Cameron was already waiting for her, both leather bags in his hands.

     “We need to leave,” he said. “I bought us enough time to get away, but it won’t be long before Vincent and Mason find out that we were here and come looking for us.”

     “But if they’re here, aren’t Tina and my father also?” Holly asked. This whole journey could be over if they were and Holly could go home. 

     But from the look on Cameron’s face, that wasn’t happening anytime soon.

     “Mason and Vincent are the kidnappers, but they don’t take their charges all the way to the Land of Shadows. They hand them off to other members of the Shadow of the Sun, ones who aren’t quite as memorable as Vincent and Mason.”

     They took a back flight of stairs and ended up at a door that led to the small barn behind the inn.

     “I found this last night after you went to sleep,” he explained seeing Holly’s bemused look.

     “Do you always look for escape routes?” Holly asked shoving the journal into her tunic pocket. Cameron hadn’t said anything about it, but she didn’t want him to start asking questions about it either.

     “It’s part of my job for my father,” he said shrugging. He took a quick glance around. “We need to hurry. Andy won’t help us for long.”

     “Andy?” Holly was puzzled. She knew that Andy was the person Barret went to for supplies, but she didn’t know that Cameron trusted whoever Andy was.

      “She’s an acquaintance I met in Smoke Water one time,” he said. “She owed me a couple favors, so she took out Barret for me and is currently stalling Vincent and Mason while we make our escape.”

      Holly bit her lip, processing the information as Cameron got their horses out of the stalls they had been in. He swore when he saw that Holly’s had a large gash on its foreleg. He glanced around, trying to determine where Mason and Vincent were, before turning to Holly.

      “I don’t have time to fix your horse’s leg before Mason and Vincent come out. Andy’s good, but she’s not that good,” he said. Holly was puzzled by what that meant, but she pushed it out of her head for the time being. She had a decision to make and she needed to make it quickly. Her father’s life would depend on it.

      “Leave the horse,” she said. “I’ll ride with you until we make it to Emberton, where I can get another horse.”

      “Are you sure? I think I can buy us more time if you want to keep him,” he offered.

      Holly shook her head, knowing that if they attempted to stall any longer then they would be captured as well. She wouldn’t do her father or Tina for that matter any good if she got them both captured without an escape route.

      Cameron nodded, swinging up on the back of his horse. He offered his arm to Holly, who took it and swung up behind him.

      “Hang on,” he told her.   

      She barely had time to wrap her arms around his waist before he spurred the horse into a gallop, and they took off into the forest, heading towards Emberton.                                 

      Holly could make out Vincent and Mason coming out of the backdoor of the inn as they raced by. She spotted Mason raising a crossbow and taking aim at Cameron’s horse.      

       “Look out!” Holly screamed as the arrow was released.  It went wide and hit the tree they had just passed.

       “Come on, go faster you mule,” Holly heard Cameron growl. The horse picked up speed, flattening over the ground. Holly felt a jolt of fear go through her as they narrowly missed hitting a tree. She would be glad when they finally left the forest.

       She heard hoof beats pursuing them as Mason and Vincent took up the chase. Cameron glanced back and swore loudly as he pressed his heels into his horse’s sweating flanks, urging the horse to go faster still.

      The hoof beats following them suddenly stopped. Holly felt the horse slow down to a trot, breathing and sweating heavily.

      “We’re about a quarter of a mile away from Emberton,” Cameron said slowing the horse to a walk. “Vincent and Mason won’t be able to do anything while we’re this close. We have to be extra careful now, though. They’re going to be looking for us and are probably going to try to stop us when we leave.” 

      “Do we have to stop in Emberton?” Holly asked. “Or can we make it to Smoke Water Ridge without stopping?”

      “If your horse hadn’t been injured, then I would say possibly. But now? There’s no way,” Cameron said shaking his head. “It’s going to take longer to get to Emberton now that they wounded your horse.”

     “They didn’t do it,” Holly said. Cameron turned to look at her, puzzled. “The edge was too jagged for the cut to have been inflicted by someone else. There was probably a piece of wood that she hurt herself.”

     Cameron looked mildly impressed by Holly’s reasoning. He nodded his head and urged the horse into a trot.

     “Even still, we need to make to Emberton,” he said. “We can find someone to help us there and send someone to check out what happened in Smithville.”

 

     They reached the gates of Emberton within an hour. Holly had heard stories about how Emberton used to be a prison town and that the residents had never taken down the gates for they make the citizens feel safe from outsiders.

     “There’s an inn in the heart of the city that Tina and I stayed at the last time we came through here,” Cameron said as they rode down the rock-strewn path to the black iron gates. “Once we make it through the gates, we’ll head for there. Then we can work on gathering supplies and finding you another horse.”

     “How long will we be here?” Holly asked. The gates made her nervous. She had never been one for closed in spaces. She always liked being able to leave quickly if she needed to. These gates suggested that that wouldn’t be happening.

     “As long as it takes to throw Vincent and Mason off our trail, to gather supplies, and to get a new horse,” Cameron said shrugging. “It could take any where from a day to a couple of weeks.”

     Holly’s face soured. She hated the fact that they were forced to waste valuable time trying to throw the Shadow of the Sun off their trail which could be spent looking for her father.

     “We’ll find them, Holly,” Cameron promised seeing the look on her face. “This won’t take long. Vincent and Mason are only doing this because they have no new assignments and want to find out why I’m travelling with you.”

     “That’s stupid,” she muttered.

     Cameron shot her a sympathetic smile and nodded.

     “It is,” he said. “But there’s nothing we can do about it, unless you want to end up as a prisoner of the Shadow of the Sun. We wouldn’t be doing your father or my sister any good if that happens.”

     “I know,” Holly said sighing. “It just seems so trivial. I mean, why do they care so much about me? I’m not that important, I have no special talents, so why do they want me?”

     Cameron had a thoughtful look on his face as he studied Holly for a moment. Then, he shrugged.

     “It’s the Shadow of the Sun,” he said. “They don’t exactly need a reason. They just do whatever they want.”

     “And no one stops them?” Holly asked her voice sharp with disbelief.

     “Eighteen years ago, there was the Eclipse. Now, though, there’s no one. They’re all too scared of a war that will destroy Solar Shadows the way the last one did.”

     “But shouldn’t they be more worried about losing their families to the Shadow of the Sun?” Holly asked remembering how her mother had lost her parents to them.

     “People think that there is no point in fighting against the Shadow of the Sun when there is no way of ever truly defeating them,” Cameron said, a dark look crossing his face.

     “What do you mean?” Holly asked, puzzled.

     He didn’t reply. They were right at the gates, within earshot of the guards, and the conversation they were having wasn’t one for everyone to over hear. Holly wisely kept her mouth shut and let Cameron do the talking.

     “State your business in Emberton,” the guard said in an apathetic tone. He wore a pair of trousers and a black vest over a white long sleeved top. He had a bow and arrow strung over one shoulder and a sword at his left hip.

     “We’re travelers on our way to Smoke Water Ridge to visit our family and we come bearing unsettling news from Smithville,” Cameron said his usually musical voice deeper than usual. Holly was expecting it this time around; she wasn’t as surprised as she had been the first time he had done it back in the hollow the day before.

     “What’s the news?”

     The guard didn’t sound quite so indifferent any more. Holly figured he was thinking about being the one to save the day over at Smithville, and then felt saddened at the thought that there was nothing left to save.

     “There was a forest fire that swept through and burnt the entire place to the ground. My sister and I aren’t sure whether or not there are any survivors,” Cameron said. “We would have checked it out ourselves, but we figured that we would leave it to the professionals.”

     The guard nodded, looking suddenly very serious. Holly fought back a giggle by the look; it reminded her of the way her father used to look when he was attempting to be serious, but failing miserably.

     “That was the right thing to do, young man,” the guard said. “You could have gotten seriously hurt if you had tried to help. Best leave it to the King’s guard.”

     Cameron nodded, withdrawing a silver coin out of his pocket.

     “Our fare for entering the gates,” he said handing the guard the money. The guard’s eyes widened in appreciation; it was apparently the largest amount of money he had ever received.

     “Thank you, kind sir,” he said. He pulled the string that hung next to him twice. A small bell rang in the distance right before the gates creaked loudly and sprung open. Cameron clucked the horse on through the gates and into the city beyond.

7: Chapter 6: Emberton

The sky above the thatched roofs of the first houses of Emberton was a dark shade of gray with a purplish hue. It was the first thing Holly noticed as she and Cameron rode from underneath the archway and onto the cobblestone road.  A cool, brisk wind was starting to blow as Cameron maneuvered the horse around a burning pile of wood.  People wrapped in torn brown cloaks huddled around it, glared at Cameron and Holly as the two rode past the fire.

     The cobblestone streets were wide and well kept as (they) wound around large, wooden houses with fenced in yards. Holly noticed that most of the houses were abandoned and dilapidated. Young children wearing torn clothing peered out of the window panes of other houses as they heard the hoof beats of Cameron’s horse go by.

     “It gets better as we go further into Emberton,” Cameron said noticing the look of shock on Holly’s face. “It’s the outer parts that are the most rundown.”

      “Why?” Holly asked her voice barely above a whisper. She didn’t like the look on an old woman’s face she saw as Cameron turned another corner.

     “It’s an old superstition that the ghosts of the inmates haunt the buildings,” Cameron explained.

     “That’s crazy,” Holly protested.

     “It’s what people believe,” he said shrugging. “You can’t say that the people in Lindenshire aren’t superstitious of anything.”

     “I’m not,” Holly said. “I’m saying that it’s crazy to be afraid of things that aren’t real like ghosts or make themselves be frightened of normal, everyday things such as black cats.”

     The streets suddenly became bright and crammed with people as Cameron reined the horse into the main part of the city. Music came from a man with a lute, and chatter from people greeting each other filled the air. Holly was captivated by the sudden explosion of color and people. Shops and homes were painted bright shades of red and gold with the occasional orange or green thrown in. People were of different races as well, wearing vibrant cloaks and tunics.

     Laughter emanated from the Bald-Pie Inn and Pub as a drunk stumbled across the floor and did a face plant into a water trough. It was here that Cameron halted his horse.

      “This is where we’re going to be staying while we’re here,” he told Holly. “The rooms are nice and clean and the food is good. There is a stable nearby and the shops near here have everything we need.”

     He motioned for Holly to go ahead and dismount, which she did quickly. He followed suit and led the horse to the water trough where the drunk was just now climbing out, spluttering and yelling curses at the crowd who was watching him intently.

     “I hope the Shadow of the Sun burns down your homes and takes your children from their beds!” he yelled.

     Holly noticed that most of the crowd became deathly still, their laughter disappearing from their faces. Only one man, a tall burly fellow, laughed.

     “Bernard, you must be drunk as a skunk if you think the Shadow of the Sun still lives on,” he said.

     The rest of the crowd looked at each other uneasily. They were obviously uncomfortable with both men’s statements.

     “I think the lot of you need to go back to work,” a short woman with curly black hair said from the doorway to the inn. Holly was impressed by the woman instantly; she was the shortest one, yet everyone listened to her instantly.

     “Yes ma’am, Elena,” the man who laughed said tipping his straw hat in her direction.

     The crowd soon dispersed, leaving only Bernard, Holly, and Cameron alone with Elena. With a sharp glance from the latter, Bernard quickly left as well.

     “What can I do you two for?” she asked pushing her hair away from her pale face.

     “We would like a room with two beds for an indefinite stay,” Cameron said. Holly noted that he didn’t bother masking his accent with this woman.

     Elena’s hazel eyes noticeably brightened when she heard his voice.

     “Cameron?” she asked surprised. “What are you doing back so soon?”

     “I just couldn’t stay away, Elena,” he said a soft smile gracing his face. Holly felt a stab of jealousy shoot through her as Elena closed the distance between the three of them and gave Cameron a hug.

     “Where’s Tina?” she asked as the two broke apart. She eyed Holly with a look of profound interest, but turned her attention back to Cameron.

     “Elena, this is Holly Larson,” he said instead of answering the question. “Holly, this is my good friend, Illiana Grace.”

     “Elena,” the short woman corrected reaching out her hand to shake with Holly’s.  Holly accepted it cautiously, not sure how to react to the strange look the woman exchanged with Cameron.

      “Hi,” she said shyly fiddling nervously with her fingernails when Elena released her hand.

      Elena looked at her for a moment longer before looking back at Cameron.

     “Come, come,” she said. “You two need a room. I’ll have Jorge take care of Pyro here.”

     “Pyro?” Holly questioned raising an eyebrow.

     “Cameron’s horse,” Elena explained as she led them inside the inn. “Lunch will be served in the kitchen in an hour. I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

     “Thanks Elena,” Cameron said. “And if you could keep strangers away from our room that would be nice.”

     “Who are you hiding from this time?” Elena questioned a teasing glint in her eyes.   Holly cast a sideways glance toward Cameron and found him smiling likewise as well.  She was shocked; she didn't know that this was a joking matter.

     “If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he said sitting down at one of the stools. Holly sat next to him, not sure what to say or to do. She settled for looking around the inn and memorizing all details, in case she needed to know them later.

     “So, where are you heading? Last I heard, you were heading toward Copperstown and to the uncharted areas beyond the Lunar Mountains,” Elena said sitting down on Cameron’s other side and crossing her arms.

      “I—I’m afraid I have some business back in the Land of Shadows,” Cameron said casting his gaze to the table. Holly noted that he had started picking nervously at the grains of wood.

      “They took Tina!” Elena said, shocked. Cameron nodded sadly. “When?”

     “Two nights ago,” he said, bitterness entering his voice. “It was him, Elena.”

     “Damn it,” she swore banging her fist down on the table. Holly was puzzled by the conversation and wondered what Cameron hadn’t told her. “I told you this would happen."

     “What was I supposed to do?” Cameron demanded. “He threatened to kill Tina and you if I didn’t leave.”

     “And now he’s taken Tina to the Land of Shadows where she’s as good as dead anyways,” Elena finished for him.

     Holly would never admit it, but she was frightened by the dark look on Cameron’s face.

     “She’s not going to die,” he said angrily. “We’re going to get them back.”

     He looked at Holly as he said this, his bright blue eyes meeting hers for the first time since they had left Lindenshire. Holly was stunned by the promise in his eyes and felt glad that he was going with her on this seemingly impossible mission.

      “Them?” Elena asked bemusedly. “Who are ‘them’?”

     “Holly’s travelling with me because her father was taken by his partner,” Cameron explained shifting his gaze back to the shorter woman. “She needs my help as much as I need hers, so we decided it would be best if we travelled together.”

     Elena nodded her head thoughtfully while Holly went back to her inspection of the room. She felt humbled by the fact that Cameron needed her help

     “Illiana! Get in here right now!” a short, gruff looking man with dark hair yelled from the kitchen. “And quit your yammering! Give them a damn room and get back to work. Theresa needs her tables cleaned and you don’t need to be dawdling.”

     “Yes, father,” Elena said quickly rising from the stool she had been sitting on. She handed Cameron a key. “Same room as last time. Come and visit me before you leave so I can say good-bye properly this time.”

     With that, Elena disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Holly and Cameron alone in the main room of the inn.

     “Why did you take it?” Cameron asked still fiddling with the countertop.

     “Take what?” Holly asked perplexed by the question. It didn’t make any sense.

     “The journal,” he said irritated. “Why did you take it? It doesn’t belong to you.”

     Holly hadn’t noticed that he had seen the journal. She thought she had done a better job of hiding it, but she guessed not.

     “Does it matter?” she asked annoyed as well. “I have it and unless you want to go back to that place, I’m keeping it.”

     Cameron sighed, getting off the stool and turning to face her.

     “It’s not right to take what’s not yours,” he said. “Remember that next time, okay?”

     He turned and headed toward the stairs at the back of the room. Holly waited a moment, debating whether to follow him or just stay in the dining room until he came back for lunch. She decided to follow him, wanting to have a chance to clean up and possibly read the journal before lunch.

 

     Pyter is the perfect gentleman. Just this morning, he brought me four lilies that he picked from the stream that runs past his house and tied them around this small leather journal. He told me that the lilies were to make me think of him and the journal was so I could write anything and everything that I want. He is so kind, so sweet that it’s impossible to think that I might lose him.

     Pyter is going to join the Shadow of the Sun. They are going to take down Samuel, the king that has brought about so much cruelty in our lives. They are going to replace Samuel with someone better, someone who  will bring the people of Solar Shadows what they need and not force them to toil in the fields every day and make no profit from their labors It is a good thing, though I hate to think of the trouble the Shadow of the Sun will get in if King Samuel ever finds out. He will kill them all if he knows. I worry that he will find out and Pyter will be taken from me forever.

     I want to do something to help as well. I don’t want to sit at home and be helpless. I want to be out there, fighting for my own freedom, for my own life alongside Pyter. But when I tell him this, he becomes angry and sad. He tells me that he doesn’t want me to get hurt; that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if that happened. I try to tell him the same thing, but he brushes me off. He tells me that I needn’t worry about him, that he will be fine. I wish that I could believe him.

      He leaves tomorrow morning for his first battle. The Shadow of the Sun is going to take Lindenshire, a small quaint village in the valley. It’s not very big, but they think it will be enough to draw Samuel into a battle that will end his cruel reign. I hope that this war ends soon so that Pyter won’t have to fight anymore.                                                                                                                                      

     Change is coming. I can feel it. No matter what happens, things are going to be different from now on. I just hope the small things such as Pyter’s love for me, will never change.

 

     “Holly?”

     Holly blinked closing the journal and looking up at Cameron, who was standing beside the bed she had claimed earlier. He was holding a folded napkin in one hand and a mug in the other. He handed them both over as Holly put the journal on the bed.

      “Thanks,” she said as she unwrapped the napkin and found a piece of warm bread inside. She took a bite out of it before setting it on the bed beside the journal.                                    

     “Anything interesting?” Cameron asked sitting down on his own bed and leaning back against the pillows.

      “It’s a diary,” Holly said running a finger over the well worn spine. “I think it was written just as the Shadow of the Sun was beginning to form.”

     Cameron glanced over at her. He had been playing with a loose thread on the worn, navy blue blanket.

      “Really?” he asked obviously intrigued. He sat up again and leaned toward her. “May I see it?”

     Holly looked at him for a moment, before shrugging.

     “Maybe when I’ve finished reading it,” she said drinking some of the brew that was in the mug Cameron had handed her. It was good, whatever it was. It had a slightly tangy taste to it.

     “May I ask why?” Cameron asked looking puzzled. Holly shrugged again.

     “It’s just something I want to do on my own for a little while,” she said. “I promise I’ll let you read it if you still want to when I’m done.”

     Cameron crossed his arms over his chest and studied her for a moment. Then he sighed and looked away again.

     “If that’s what you want,” he said. “You were the one who snitched it after all.”

     Holly smiled shyly and looked away from him. She set the mug down on the small nightstand that sat between the two beds.

     “So, what are we going to do now that we’re here and we’re hiding from the big scary men outside?” she asked. She laughed as Cameron rolled his eyes at her sarcasm.

     “First of all, we’re going to find out how good you are with a sword,” he said. Looking at her slyly he added, “You do know what a sword is, right?”

     In reply, Holly chucked her pillow across the room at him. It hit the wall behind him with a gentle thud.

     “My father—I learned how to handle a sword when I was eight,” she said the smile fading from her face.

     “Sorry,” Cameron murmured picking at the bedspread again. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”

     “It’s okay,” Holly said. “You couldn’t have known. Anyways, I haven’t practiced in a while, but my parents always told me I was a natural with a sword.

     “We’ll see about that,” Cameron said a smile gracing his features for a second time. It was as though he had a private joke that only he would get.

     “I don’t have a sword,” Holly said. “My parents never had one forged for me, saying it would be useless because I was growing so much.”

     “This rescue mission we decided to go on, it isn’t going to be easy,” Cameron said. “You’re going to need a sword and to be able to use it. We can go to the blacksmith tomorrow and have one forged.”

     Holly nodded, looking out the grimy window next to her bed. She could just make out the shapes of a tall man and a short woman. She sighed mentally, remembering how her parents used to stand outside the Larson farmhouse and just talk similar to the way the two strangers were now. They would then go for a ride through the forest where Holly would occasionally follow and listen in on their stories. The stories would be about anything from what happened during the day on the farm to the old stories about the Shadow of the Sun and the Eclipse.

     Holly looked away from the window, letting the memory of those happy days fill her mind for a moment, reminding her of why she was sitting in this strange room in the middle of a huge town with a complete stranger on a possibly suicidal journey. She would get her father back and they would have those peaceful days again.

     Cameron was fussing with the bedspread again when Holly finally turned her attention back to him. She hadn’t realized how quiet it had become instantly felt guilty for taking a trip down memory lane in the middle of their conversation.

     “So what do we do now?” she asked.

     Cameron shrugged.

     “I guess we could split up and get the basics that we need now,” he said

     He looked troubled by the idea. Holly felt as though she understood; the last time he had split up with Tina, or so Holly assumed, Tina had been kidnapped by Mason.                                                   

     “If it’s the easiest way, then let’s do it,” she said. “I highly doubt the Shadow of the Sun is lurking right outside the window.”

     “You never know,” Cameron said with a dark look towards the window. “But you’re right. We should get the things we need and quickly, so that we will be able to leave when we get the opportunity.”

                                   

     Holly was eager for the chance to explore Emberton on her own. It was rare that she ever left Lindenshire, but when she did, she never got to go out on her own. Her parents always made Casey go with her.

     The aromas in the air were the first things Holly noticed as she stepped out of the inn and into the crowded streets. The scents of rosemary, fresh baked bread, cooking meat, and other strange scents that blended together reached Holly’s nose.

     The explosion of sound hit her next. The man playing his lute was gone, but was replaced by loud string instruments and a few trumpets. There were also small groups of singers and performers trying to pick up a couple of spare coins.

     Holly headed left once she exited the inn, and began walking into the heart of the city. Cameron had told her to find the stable and meet him there before sundown. She was free to do whatever she wanted before then while he gathered the things he thought they would need. He had refused to tell Holly what those things were when she had asked about them earlier.

     A short, plump, pale faced man was finishing up with a medium height woman with shortly cropped blonde hair when Holly walked in to a small tailoring store that had the type of clothes she was looking for.

     “I’ll be right with you,” the man squeaked handing the woman a white shirt and a pair of breeches. “Please come back if you have any complaints.”

     The woman nodded, before turning around and seeing Holly for the first time. A look of shock crossed her average features before she blinked and composed herself. Her blue eyes studied Holly for a moment longer before she walked by and through the door.

     Holly stared after the woman long after the door closed. She was puzzled by the woman’s behavior and wondered what it was that caused the surprised expression.

     “What can I do you for?” the man asked his squeaky voice breaking through Holly’s thoughts. Holly blinked and turned to the man.

     “I need clothes that are practical for travelling,” she said. “And possible fighting.”

     The man gazed at her for a second before disappearing. He came back ten seconds later carrying an entire armful of clothes.                          

     “Try these on,” he said in his shrill voice. “There’s a dressing room back there.”

     Holly did as she was told and decided to buy nearly all of the shirts and tunics and some of the breeches and hoses.    

     “Thank you,” she said as she put the clothing items into the bag Cameron had given her.

      The man waved away the thanks and smiled at her.

     “It wasn’t a problem. I had a daughter once about your height. I have no more use for them now except to hand them out to young girls who are off on adventures.” 

     “Thank you,” Holly said again with more feeling. She smiled once more as she turned and walked through the door.

 

     The sun was beginning to set as Holly made her way towards the stables from the inn. She had stopped by to drop off the things she had purchased throughout the day and to get directions to the stables from Elena who was for Cameron at the time.

     Holly noticed that the streets were empty, except for a few people walking around in dark cloaks—swords hanging from their belts.. She self-consciously pulled the hood of her travelling cloak over her hair and wished that she was not alone.

     The barn was fairly easy to find; the directions Elena had given were simple and to the point. Holly felt a little safer walking up the muddy path that led around the empty, jade green pastures and to the massive dark wooden structure.

     The barn doors were open and warm candle light was spilling out onto the ground as Holly approached. She saw Cameron talking to someone inside as she walked through the doors.

     “Excuse me miss,” she heard a man yell. Holly barely had time to look up and move out of the way before a high strung bay horse crashed by with the same tall, burly man from earlier hanging on to the lead rope for dear life.

     The horse stopped, breathing heavily. Sweat darkened its muddy coat, but Holly could tell it would have been if it were cleaned up.                                         

     “You stupid mule!” the man yelled giving the horse a swift smack. The horse started, snorting loudly and backing up a couple of steps.

     “It’s okay,” Holly said reaching up to stroke the horse’s nose. “It didn’t hurt me.”

     Her hand was swatted away by the man.

     “This mare’s dangerous,” he said. “She’s already broken away from me four times and has bitten numerous people. It’s a damn shame too; this mare was shaping up to be one of my best."

     With a well trained eye Holly inspected the mare over. The horse had well muscled shoulders and a deep chest which offered promise of strength and endurance. The horse also had a slightly dished face which indicated that it was of the King’s line. The horse, all in all, was beautiful.

     “Holly?” Cameron asked as he walked out of the barn. He looked from the mare to the expression on Holly’s face and back again.

     “I’m sorry about this, sir,” the man said. “This devil got away from me and damn near ran over your sister.”

     The mare snorted loudly at that and tossed her head. Even covered in mud and sweat, she was beautiful;  Holly couldn’t help but feel entranced.

     “How much for the mare?” Cameron asked. “We’ll take her off your hands and see what we can do with her.”

     To say that Holly was surprised was an understatement. She thought they shouldn’t take a risk on a highly unpredictable horse. It could get them killed.                                                        

     “If you want to ignore everything I just told you and the fact that this horse is the devil on four legs, then you can have her free of charge,” the man said shaking his head in disbelief. “You’ve got to be a nutter if you want this horse.”

     Cameron shrugged as the man handed the lead rope to Holly and stalked off.

     “Cameron, what the hell was that all about?” Holly demanded as soon as the man was out of earshot. “You heard what this man said about her! She’s insane! She is not the horse that we can take a chance on if we’re going to rescue Tina and my father. Or have you forgotten about the whole rescue mission thing?"

     The mare chose that moment to rest her muzzle on Holly’s shoulder and perk her ears forward, begging to be petted. Without thinking about it, Holly put her hand on the horse’s face, gently stroking the irregular white circle that lay between the mare’s eyes. 

     “Do you really not want the horse?” Cameron asked looking amused. The horse leaned into Holly’s hand as she scratched the mare behind the ears.

     Blushing, Holly drew her hand away and looked down at the ground. She couldn’t say no; the mare presented a perfect challenge. The man who originally owned the mare had said that she was wild and incapable of being trained. Holly wanted nothing more then to prove the man wrong.

     Cameron grinned at Holly as the silence between them grew.

     “I guess if you’re forcing me to take her, then I will,” she said with a mock dramatic sigh. Begging to be petted again, the horse bumped Holly’s shoulder with her muzzle. Holly complied instantly.

     “Then I’m forcing you to take her,” he replied. “Come on; let’s get back to the inn so we can have dinner. I’m starving.”

    

     Cameron came into the barn as Holly had just finished picking the mare’s hooves. He leaned against the stall door and crossed his arms over the wooden partition.                                                                                                                                                              

     “She seems quiet,” he commented as Holly tossed the hoof pick into the small bucket of brushes Elena had loaned her earlier. She picked up a small comb and began to work on the mare’s black mane, determined to untangle it.

     “I don’t know what that man was going on about,” Holly said gritting her teeth together as she yanked on a knot. It slid free easily. “She’s the sweetest horse I have ever met.”

     Cameron smiled and stroked the mare’s nose. She snorted softly, nuzzling Cameron’s hand, searching for treats.

     “She looks like a good enough horse,” he said. “She’s part of the King’s line, which offers endurance. She looks as if she is built for speed as well which is good. You will need both if you ever need to outrun the Shadow of the Sun.”

     Holly nodded her head in agreement, tugging at one of the last knots in the mare’s black mane before tossing the comb into the bucket.

    “Thank you,” she said after a few minutes. Cameron raised a black eyebrow questioningly, but said nothing. “Thank you for letting me come with you, even if you didn't want to."

     “You would have followed me anyway, and I figured it was best if I just make sure you don’t get yourself killed out there instead me of feeling guilty about it later," he said with a shrug.    

     Holly couldn't help but laugh.

     “You’re not at all conceited, are you?” she asked grinning. Cameron grinned as well and Holly couldn’t help but notice the way the smile reached his brilliant blue eyes and made them sparkle.                                                         

     “It’s all a part of my charm,” he said slyly. Holly blushed and looked away, becoming suddenly interested in her mare’s mahogany coat. She stroked the now gleaming shoulder absently.

     “I’m thinking about naming her Magique,” she said after a few moments of comfortable silence.

     “It’s a beautiful name,” Cameron said. “It suits her well.”

     They stood there for a while longer in a peaceful silence. Cameron eventually walked away to groom his own horse, but he never left the barn until Holly announced that she was going to go back to their room. It was comforting the way neither had to say anything and yet, it seemed as though an entire conversation had passed between them.  It felt right.

8: Chapter 7: Confounded

Holly woke with a start and glanced around the room, trying to figure out what it was that had awakened her in the first place. Cameron was snoring peacefully in the bed next to hers. Whatever woke her didn’t seem to have the same effect on him.

     Sighing and knowing that she was too awake to go back to sleep, she slid her legs from underneath the warm covers and walked to the corner of the tiny room where she had stashed the journal with the things she had bought the previous day.

     Quietly, she lit a small candle and placed it on the nightstand that sat between the two beds and opened the journal. Cameron murmured something in his sleep and rolled over, turning towards Holly. Holly froze; expecting him to wake up and ask her what she was doing, but he did no such thing. He slumbered on, completely unaware of the world around him.

     Holly placed the journal on her bed beside her as she watched Cameron sleep. His face was smooth; all the worry lines he had when he was awake were gone. He looked years younger, too, as if sleep took away the years. Holly found that she liked Cameron even more with this discovery.

     Cameron sighed in his sleep and rolled over again, turning his perfect face away from Holly and back towards the door. Holly felt disappointment surge through her as she settled herself into the bed and picked up the journal. She would have rather watched Cameron sleep (than) read the journal, no matter how interesting the words in the book might be.

     She flipped to the second journal entry dated two months after the first. The handwriting was sloppy and smudged, as if the owner had been writing in a great hurry so that she would not forget her thoughts.

    Pyter came back today. I was so excited for his return, though now I cannot remember why. He is a changed man. I have heard the stories about how war changes people, but I never expected those things to happen to my Pyter

   He is quieter and darker then he was before. Pyter has never been the talkative type, but he rarely spoke today, not even to Richard Larson, our best friend and neighbor

.  At the sight of her father’s name, Holly started. What was her father doing in the journal of a stranger? Eager to find out, Holly flipped the page and continued reading.

     Pyter still talked to me, albeit haltingly. He told me that I should not worry about him, that he was fine. The Shadow of the Sun was promoting him to field captain. I wish I weren’t so worried about the look in his blue eyes. I wanted to congratulate his accomplishment. It wasn’t every day a mere farm boy from a tiny village in the mountains made field captain in a powerful organization.  There is something about him though that makes me worry.

    He leaves in three days time.  I fear that Richard is leaving with him.  I hope neither will be killed else I'll have no friends left.  They're heading to the Land of Shadows, which is where Richard will train to be a soldier and Pyter will get his assignments.  I fear for the lives of both of them, for I know I shan't live without them.

     Mother is calling me now for dinner.  I will write more later.

     There was no signature, same as the last time. It irked Holly that she did not know the identity of the person who had written the journal and how this girl knew her father.

     “What’re you doing up so early?”

     Holly was broken from her rambling thoughts by Cameron’s sleepy murmur. She glanced up and saw him studying her intently. Holly couldn’t help but think about how cute he looked with his blue eyes at half mast and his black hair tousled from the restless night.

     “Couldn’t sleep,” Holly said pushing the journal under her pillow and yawning. “Go back to sleep.”

     “No, ’m up,” he mumbled. As if to contradict himself, his eyelids closed. He snapped them open again quickly. Holly bit back a giggle as his eyes began to close again.

     “It’s okay, Cameron,” she said. “Go back to sleep. It’s too early to get up.”

     Cameron mumbled something undistinguishable and rolled over. A few moments later, a loud snore from his bed proved that he had fallen asleep.

     With a soft laugh, Holly pulled the journal from underneath her pillow and returned it to its hiding place. She pulled out one of the shirts she had bought yesterday, a pair of breeches, and a pair of socks and quickly changed into them.

     Glancing out the small, grimy window, Holly noted that the sun was just beginning to rise over the stable roof. She spotted a small figure out in the yard and determined it to be Elena. Though how she could tell from this distance, she had no idea.)

     Remembering how close Elena and Cameron were, Holly decided that if anyone had answers about the reason why Cameron was being so mysterious, it would be the short woman.

     Carefully and quietly so that she wouldn’t wake Cameron, Holly slipped her boots on over her socks and walked out the door, closing it silently behind her. She then turned and headed for the stairs.

 

     Elena was wiping down an already spotless table top when Holly crept into the dining area. It was empty, save for two other customers in the darkness, slumped over their tankards of alcohol.

     “You’re Cameron’s friend,” Elena commented as she put the rag back in the dark wooden bucket sitting on the table. She sounded miffed, as if Holly had done something to offend her. Holly sighed, wondering if there was anyone out there that Cameron knew that didn’t take an instant dislike to her.

     “My name’s Holly,” she said. She found it nearly impossible to keep the contempt out of her voice.

     “Well, what do you want? I have a lot of chores to get done this morning, so if you need something, best be quick about it,” Elena said, picking up the bucket. The soapy water sloshed over the edge, staining Elena’s otherwise perfect apron. She swore.

     “Do you want some help?” Holly offered not entirely certain as to why she was helping the woman.

    Elena glanced at her for a moment, her hazel eyes sharp. Then, she shrugged.

     “I’ve got it under control, but thanks anyway.”

     Holly sighed inwardly as Elena walked off into the large kitchen adjacent to the inn’s dining room and disappeared from view. She came back a  few moments later.

     “Elena! Hurry up and finish your god-damned chores! The stables need cleaning!” came the gruff voice of Elena’s father.

     Elena let out a heavy sigh.

    “Tell Cameron that I wish to speak with him before you two gallivant off into the wilderness,” she said curtly, brushing the hair out of her face.

     Holly couldn’t contain the giggle that burst through her lips as Elena turned to do her father’s bidding. Is that why everyone was so against her? Because it appeared as though Cameron favored Holly?

     She could barely contain her laughter as she walked out the inn doors. It was a beautiful morning. The citizens of Emberton were just beginning to make their way outside and begin their work. Shop windows and doors were thrown open as Holly passed, meandering through the nearly empty streets. She was uncertain of where she was heading, but didn’t care.

     Shouting came from nearby. Holly’s nearly giddy mood vanished as she rounded the corner and came face to face with the commotion. There were two large men dragging a thin boy who was dressed in rags across the harsh, cobblestoned road. The poor boy’s bare feet were being scraped and bloodied.

     “Hey! What the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?” Holly demanded.

     The two men dropped the boy for a moment and turned to face her. She gulped as she took in the sight of their muscular arms and swords glinting at their hips.

     “Who the hell might you be?” the taller and uglier of the two demanded. The little boy tried to make his escape, but the second man grabbed him around the middle and prevented any further getaway.

     “I believe I asked you first,” Holly pointed out icily. Her heart went out to the little boy who was struggling and kicking, trying desperately to break away from the man’s firm grip.

     “It is no business of a woman as to what us honorable men are doing,” the first man said. He grinned as if he had just said the most intelligent thing in the world. Holly could have scoffed at his insolence.

     “For your information, it is we honorable men and it is my business, for you are hurting an innocent child,” she spat back wishing desperately that she had a sword. “Now what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing with the boy?”

     “Oh, she thinks she’s intelligent ’cause she’s a woman!” the first man snorted. Holly was beginning to wonder if the second man was a mute or just too stupid to say anything.

     “Are you going to tell me what you are doing, or are you going to make me do something I will later regret?” Holly questioned feeling braver than she felt. There were two of them and only one of her. No matter how stupid these two men might look, they were probably very good fighters judging by the size of their muscles.                                                                                

     Contemplating Holly’s question, the first man was quiet for a moment. The only noise came from the second man, who let out a high yelp that was totally unexpected coming from a man of his size. The little boy scrambled free and ran to hide behind Holly’s legs.

     “You little bastard!” the second man roared attempting to take a swipe at Holly and the boy. The first man held him back, leering at Holly in sudden interest.

     “He ain’t worth it, Joe,” he said. “But the girl, she’s something, she is. Imagine the money we’d get for her. She’s a fighter and she’s so strong and pretty.”

     Holly felt a spike of fear shoot through her as she realized who these men were. They were slave traders.

     Slavery was supposed to be illegal. In the smaller towns and cities, like Lindenshire, no one had the money to pay for slaves anyway; so it was useless to go against the King. But here, in Emberton, slavery obviously flourished.

     Holly was trying to get her dry mouth and throat to say something as footsteps approached. She tensed, fearing more slave traders.

     “Leave her the hell alone,” a familiar, faintly musical voice growled. Holly would never admit it, but she was extremely glad for Cameron’s presence behind her at that moment.

     The two men exchanged looks, trying to determine the odds in their puny brains. They seemed to give up, for the first man sneered in disdain as they turned and walked down the alley. Holly waited until they were out of sight before she turned to the little boy.

     “What’s your name?” she asked. The poor kid was shaking, obviously terrified by the whole event that had just occurred

     “J-Jacob,” the boy stuttered his voice high with fear. Holly couldn’t resist wrapping her arm around his thin shoulders.

     “You’ll be okay, Jacob,” she murmured. “Nothing’s going to happen to you now.”

     Cameron stood there, watching the exchange silently. He was obviously making sure Holly was okay. With a simple nod, Holly conveyed that she was fine.

    “We should get back to the inn,” he said. “They’re pretty stupid; it won’t take them long to come back.”

     Holly felt another shudder go through Jacob’s thin shoulders. She bit her lip, trying to decide what she should do with him. It was obvious by the way he was dressed that he had no family. Even the poorest of families would be safe from the slave traders.

     “You’re okay,” she soothed him. “You can come back with us.”

     “Elena won’t mind looking after him,” Cameron said. Holly stared at him in surprise; she didn’t expect Elena to like kids. She could have sworn she saw a look of amusement on Cameron’s face, though she knew he’d deny it if she asked.

     “I c-couldn’t,” the boy stuttered. “T-they’d f-find me!”

     Cameron knelt down so he was eye level with Jacob and put a hand on the young child’s shoulder.

     “Nothing is going to happen to you, Jacob,” he said gently. Holly was moved by the sincerity in his voice. “I promise you that.”

     Jacob nodded, sniffing. Cameron stood and put his sword back in its sheath. He turned and without another word, led the way back to the inn.

     The inn was beginning to fill with people as Cameron, Holly, and Jacob made their way inside. Jacob clung to Holly’s hand and attempted to hide behind her at the same time. He let out a small squeak of horror as a rather large man, the man from the stables the prior night, sat down at one of the tables and started shouting for someone to come and serve him his breakfast.                                                                                                                                               

     “Jacob, you see the woman in the apron over there?” Cameron asked pointing to Elena who was in the process of ladling something that resembled oatmeal into a wooden bowl.

     Jacob nodded shyly, shrinking into Holly as though he were trying to make himself invisible. Holly put a comforting hand on his thin shoulders.

     “She’ll give you something to eat,” Cameron said. “And possibly some new clothes. Go on. She won’t bite you. And tell her Cameron sent you if she bothers to ask.”

    He gave Jacob a little shove in the right direction. With a squeak, the small boy did as he was bid leaving Holly and Cameron alone.

     “Can I talk to you outside for a few minutes?” he asked. “There are some things I want to ask you.”

     With a shrug, Holly complied, following him out of the crowded inn and back to the nearly empty stables. Only the horses and the silent stable hands were witnesses to the conversation that was to take place.

     “What’s up?” she asked going to Magique’s stall and stroking the mare’s nose. Cameron followed and leaned against the stall’s wall and crossed his arms.           

     “I’d prefer it for the duration of our stay if you would tell about what you’re going to do before you do so,” he said digging into his pants’ pocket and withdrawing a bread crust.  He fed it to the mare, who ate it and nosed his hand for more.  He absently stroked the horse as he waited for Holly to reply.                                                     

     “Okay,” she said with a shrug.  It was easier to comply with his request than fight against it.

     They stood in silence for a few moments before Cameron sighed heavily.  Holly looked at him, raising her eyebrow questioningly as she did so.

     “What's your deepest fear, Holly?” he asked.  There was a faraway look in his blue eyes.

     “Losing my father,” she said wondering where the question had sprung from. “What’s yours?”"

     Cameron blinked. The look faded and a smirk took its place.

     “Insects,” he said. Holly looked at him in disbelief. “I’m serious! Every time I see one, I run away as fast as I can. Ask Elena. She’d tell you it’s true.”

     Holly snorted. She didn’t quite believe he was being serious about the whole bug thing, but decided to let it slide. There was a more pressing question she wanted to ask Cameron instead.   

     “Why did Elena assume we're together?” she asked.

     Cameron let out a loud laugh that startled Magique.  The mare snorted and shook her head, backing away from the stall door.

     “She's jealous of you,” he said with a smirk.

     “Jealous? Of me? Why?” Holly asked puzzled.  “Why would she be jealous of me?”

     “Because she has had a crush on me for as long as I can remember,” Cameron said.  “And she wants to be the one to help save Tina.  She's always longing for adventure, and you're here.  She thinks you're invading her territory."

      Holly couldn't help herself.  She burst out laughing and didn't stop until she had to hold her stomach and gasp for air.  She noticed that Cameron's face remained stoic throughout the time she'd been laughing.    

      “You’re serious?” she asked dumfounded. Why would anyone be jealous of her? She was average, plain, and above all else, not very beautiful.

      Cameron shrugged.

     “It’s what she thinks,” he said. He looked puzzled. “You seem pretty surprised by this. Why?”

     Holly blushed and looked away. She found a loose thread on the hem of her shirt and began picking at it. She didn’t really want to say anything; it was too embarrassing. She was saved from having to answer when Elena walked into the barn, Jacob trotting at her heels.

     “I’ve been hearing rumors from the people at the inn and they said that you two idiots saved this boy from Joe and Nathanial,” she said placing her hands on her hips and glaring at Cameron. “Do you know how stupid that was? Now you not only have the Shadow of the Sun chasing after you, you have the entire group of slave traders after you! Specifically that wench.”

     She thrust her chin in Holly’s direction as she said this. Cameron stared at Elena in shock while Holly just glared at her.

     “That was uncalled for Elena,” Cameron said, his voice dangerously soft.

      Elena laughed loudly. Jacob shrank away from the innkeeper’s daughter and stood next to Holly, who put a comforting hand on his shaking shoulder.

     “You think she is better then I am?” she demanded. “You think just because she is trying to get her father back that she deserves to help you get Tina back more than I do?”

     Holly had had enough of Elena. She let go of Jacob’s shoulder and stormed past Elena and made her way out of the barn.

     “Holly!” she heard Cameron call. She ignored him and didn’t stop until she had reached the room she shared with him, where she realized that she didn’t have a key.

      “Damn it!” she cried throwing her fist against the door. She swore again when a burst of pain shot up her hand.

      With tears stinging the back of her eyes, Holly slid down the doorway and buried her face in her hands. It suddenly became too much. Her father was missing, Cameron was a total stranger, the slave traders were now after her because they wanted her, Elena hated her for no reason, and she had absolutely no one talk to. She wished that none of this had happened, that she could be home laughing with Casey, Neil, and Abby about something stupid, or riding through the forest with her father. Elena was right; Holly had no business going on this crusade. She wasn’t any better than the innkeeper’s daughter. What right did she have to do this?

     She felt the tears streak her cheeks and fall into her cupped hands. Sobs wracked through her and shook her shoulders. She was past caring if anyone saw her.

     She only looked up when she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. Cameron stood above her, his sapphire blue eyes sympathetic as he offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet.

     “You’re okay,” he murmured, pulling her into a hug. She heard him insert the key into the lock and push the door open. She allowed herself to be pulled along into the safety of the room.

      “She didn’t mean it,” he said softly as they both sat down on his bed. Holly didn’t think about how awkward this situation was; she only wanted not to be alone.

     They sat there for a while; the only sounds in the room were Holly’s sobs and Cameron murmuring quietly to her.

     Holly must have fallen asleep, for the next time she opened her eyes, the room was completely dark and Cameron was snoring softly beside her.

     She smiled softly and wiggled out of the arm he had wrapped around her earlier. Cameron stirred and opened his eyes.

     “Are you okay?” he asked with concern. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up a little straighter.

     Holly nodded, yawning as she stretched her arms. She winced as she realized how stiff they were.

     “I’m fine,” she said blinking wearily. She was suddenly exhausted. “I’m just tired.”

     Cameron nodded and got off the bed.

     “I’m going to go in search of food. I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” he said. Holly smiled softly. He returned it instantly before turning and opening the door.

     “Hey, Cameron?” she asked. Cameron turned back to her, eyebrows raised expectantly.

     “Yes?” he asked as he leaned against the door and crossed his arms.

     “Thank you,” she said.

     “For what?” he asked.

     “For everything,” she said simply. There was so much more she wanted to say, but sleep was luring her away into unconsciousness again. The last thing she remembered was Cameron coming over and kissing her forehead before the sound of the door closing reached her ears and everything faded to black. 

9: Chapter 8: Discovered

 The next few weeks went by without incident. Holly spent most of her time during the day riding Magique and helping Cameron gather supplies for the remainder of the journey to Smoke Water. She avoided Elena as much as she could, though whenever she did run into the older, she was polite and never mentioned what happened in the barn. Evenings were spent talking to Cameron about anything from their upcoming journey to the several adventures he had had with Tina. She learned a lot about him from their nightly conversations, and everything she learned just made her like him more.

      Holly learned more about Jacob as well. It turned out that his family had worked in Emberton’s main barns from before he was born to right before they died a couple of years ago. Jacob’s past came out merely by accident. Holly was fed up with how stubborn the mare was being and was about ready to put her back up when Jacob came along and told her what she needed to do. He proceeded to stand by while Holly tried it and she was surprised when it worked. Holly had told Cameron, who had gotten Jacob a job at the barn in Emberton.

      Cameron was planning on leaving for Smoke Water in two days’ time. Eager to leave Emberton and continue the search for her father Holly had agreed. The town hadn’t lived up to her expectations or the stories she had heard in the past.

     “Things rarely do,” Cameron said when Holly told him about her disappointment. “But I think it has more to do with the Shadow of the Sun’s influence then the town itself.”

     “The Shadow of the Sun is here?” Holly asked her eyes widening in surprise and fear.

     She had thought Cameron would have avoided a town under the Shadow of the Sun’s influence.

     Cameron shook his head.

     “No, but unlike every other town in Solar Shadows, the people of Emberton know that the Shadow of the Sun is back. Some don’t fear them because they support the Shadow of the Sun, but most people here fear it because they know what the Shadow of the Sun did last time. Everything that Emberton once was has faded into a distant memory because its citizens are afraid.”

     Holly hadn’t been comforted by the fact, but she was relieved that the Shadow of the Sun hadn’t taken over Emberton and Cameron had led her here unaware of what she would be walking in to.

     The night Cameron told Holly that they would be leaving in two days was the night that she had an actual conversation with Elena.

      Elena was the only person in the inn’s dining room when Holly walked down the stairs. She was looking for the journal which she had left on the counter at dinner an hour previous. 

     Holly froze when she saw Elena. The latter’s back was turned toward the stairs, but Holly detected a stiffening in Elena’s shoulders as Holly stepped off the last step and stopped.

     “I know you’re there, Holly,” the other woman said with a sigh. “What do you want? Cameron’s not going to be back until late.”

     “I know that,” Holly said defensively. “I left my journal down here earlier. Have you seen it?”

      Elena shook her head.

      “No, I haven’t seen your journal,” she said She turned to Holly. “But I’ve heard some other things that concern you and Cameron and the crusade you’re on.”

     Holly was instantly on edge. She didn’t like the tone of Elena’s voice. It sounded frightened and angered at the same time.

     “What is it?” she asked. Holly spotted her journal lying where she had left it on the corner of one of the tables in the back. She went to go grab it while waiting for Elena to say something.

      “Before I tell you that, I just wanted to say I’m sorry for what I said to you in the barn,” she said. “It was wrong of me to call you an awful person when I hardly know you. I’m sorry.”

     “What do you want to tell me?” Holly asked avoiding accepting the apology. She knew it was petty, but she just didn’t want to let Elena off the hook so easily.

      “Won’t you just give me a chance?” Elena asked obviously shocked by Holly’s refusal to say anything about the apology.

     “You never gave me a chance, so why should I give you one?” Holly asked coolly. It was rude of her not to be the better person in this situation, but frankly, Holly was past caring. She would be leaving in two days’ time and never have to talk to Elena again.

      “Look, I am sorry about what happened in the barn,” Elena began. Holly cut her off.

     “Would you quit patronizing me and just get to the point already?” she snapped. She had grabbed the journal off the table and now just wanted to escape to the room she shared with Cameron and read it. The only thing keeping her here was her interest in Elena’s news.

     “I was just trying to make amends, but if you don’t want to, then fine. But I’ve heard that Mason and Vincent are in town and that they’re looking for you and Cameron. It would be a wise idea to pass along the message to Cameron,” Elena said.

     “How do you know that?” Holly asked. She moved one of her hands off the journal and on to the sword she had bought yesterday.

      “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not working for the Shadow of the Sun,” Elena snapped noticing what Holly was doing. “I run an inn. I hear things and I have also seen both of them around town. Cameron told me what had happened among you four in that small town, Linden-something, so I figured you might want to cut out of here a little earlier.”

     “How do I know you’re not lying?” Holly demanded. She didn’t believe that Elena was lying though. She had seen a man across the street the day prior who had looked very similar to Vincent. As much as she hadn’t wanted to believe it, she knew the Shadow of the Sun had finally found them. It was only a matter of time before the Shadow of the Sun would be knocking at the door of the Bald Pie Inn and trying to find Holly and Cameron there.

     “You’re just going to have to trust me and pass along the message to Cameron,” Elena spat angrily.

      “Why did you tell me? Why didn’t you wait until Cameron got back?” Holly asked suspiciously. Though she knew Elena wasn’t lying about Vincent and Mason, the older woman could be lying about working for the Shadow of the Sun.

     Elena looked away and Holly’s level of suspicion rose.

     “Cameron wouldn’t believe me if I told him,” she said sadly. She muttered something else, but Holly didn’t quite catch what she said.

     “Excuse me?” she asked coldly.

     “Just do yourself a favor and pass the message along to Cameron, would you?” Elena snapped suddenly angry again. “Now go away. Some of us can’t go running off and abandoning everything.

     Holly rolled her eyes at the jab and made her escape toward the stairs, tucking the journal underneath her arm as she did so.

     Quickly, she jogged up the stairs and unlocked the door to the room she shared with Cameron. Holly was eager to read the next journal entry in the book.

     The last one hadn’t been of any interest; it was mostly about the mystery woman’s day on her parents’ farm.  Holly had skimmed through it looking for her father’s name, but was disappointed when she didn’t find it.

     Holly lit a small candle that offered some light to the dark room before she stretched out on the bed and flipped open the journal to the next entry. It was dated a week after the last. Holly could tell it was going to be of serious importance, for the first sentence mentioned her father’s name, the mysterious Pyter, and the Shadow of the Sun all in one go.

 

     I received a letter from Richard today containing news about Pyter and the Shadow of the Sun. It was the first I have heard from either of them since they had left for the Land of Shadows nearly two months ago. I was disappointed that it wasn’t from Pyter, but I was glad for the news.

     Richard said that he was enjoying the feeling that he was doing something for Solar Shadows, something that would benefit the people instead of just an individual. He loved his job, but he didn’t say what it was. He had more pressing news. Pyter was now second in command of the Shadow of the Sun. 

     I was stunned beyond belief. I must have reread the letter at least ten times before I finally comprehended it. My Pyter, the boy I had grown up with, the gentle, loving Pyter, was now second in command of an entire organization that was moving Solar Shadows toward a huge revolution.

     Pyter’s mother could not have been more proud when I told her what had happened. I understood; it wasn’t every day that a small town teenager came into so much power so quickly. But I couldn’t help but feel wary. I couldn’t explain it, but there was just something about the whole situation that reeked of some larger plot.

     I told only my horse about this, though. Anyone else would think me silly or jealous that it wasn’t me. It was a well-known fact that I liked to be the one in charge, but this wasn’t the case. I wasn’t jealous. I was worried. Worried that Pyter would love the power more then he ever loved me.

    I am being stupid. I should be celebrating like everyone else. The man I love is doing well in the one thing that will bring Solar Shadows to peace once and for all. I should trust him. Our love isn’t going to be ruined with power. Pyter won’t let it. He loves me too much.

    Does he?

     

    She was about to turn the page and continue to read the entry when she heard shouts coming from outside her window. Startled, Holly shoved the journal underneath her pillow and stumbled off the bed to the window.

    Outside, the barn could not be seen because of a thick haze of smoke. The shouts of people trying to put the fire out reached Holly’s ears, but she did not acknowledge it. The door to her room burst open and in walked Vincent, his sword glinting faintly in the glow of the candle light.

    “Hello there, pretty girl,” he said, grinning.

    Holly froze by the window. She was trying to think of a way to get out of the room, but her only escape route was blocked. All her things and Cameron’s were on the beds. There was no way she would be able to get to them in time.

    “What do you want?” she demanded. She hoped her voice was stronger then she felt as she tried to find an escape route.

    Suddenly, she remembered the window behind her. There was a twenty foot drop from the window ledge to the ground, much too high for her to jump without injuring herself, but there were also vines and several broken bricks that offered footholds and handholds.

     “Don’t you want to see your father again? If you come with me now, I will let you be with him again. Maybe even take him home with you. After all, isn’t that why you came all this way? So you can get dear ole dad back?” Vincent asked.                                

     Holly was shocked. The offer was so tempting, so generous, that she was surprised. She didn’t think that the Shadow of the Sun was capable of being charitable.

     They stood there in silence, both staring at the other. The only sounds were the screams and shouts below as the fire near the barn grew stronger while the people made an effort to put it out.                                      

     She opened her mouth to say all right, to just give up, but nothing came out. She closed her mouth and shook her head.

     “An offer from the Shadow of the Sun sounding like that is too good to be true,” she said before turning around.

     Without much thought to what she would do when she landed on the ground or that there might be other people waiting for her at the bottom, Holly turned around and put her foot through the grimy glass. Shards shattered and went everywhere pricking Holly’s skin and falling to the ground.

     Holly quickly scrambled up on the window ledge and glanced down for the first time. She felt dizzy when she realized just how high up she was.

     A deep chuckle sounded behind her, but she ignored it as she reached her arm out and grabbed the vine closest to the window. She swung her legs out over the window sill and hissed in pain as she scraped her leg across a shard of glass.

     “You will not escape!” Vincent yelled lunging for the window. He grabbed for one of her legs and nearly had it when all of a sudden he disappeared from the window.                     

     Holly didn’t give a thought to what was happening inside. The distraction was what she needed to get herself off the windowsill and onto the vine outside.

     She was about halfway down the wall when she heard a loud scream coming from the window above her. Startled, Holly lost her grip on the vine and fell the last six feet to the ground. She let out a grunt of pain as she struggled to get back up to her feet; everything was bruised.

     “Holly!”

     She turned toward the sound of Cameron’s voice. It was nearly impossible to see through the thick smoke, but Holly could just make out his hooded figure. With a start, Holly remembered her dream about Smithville, in which Cameron had come after her with a sword drawn and a hood over his head.

     “What’s happening?” she asked coughing as she breathed in a lungful of smoke. Holly refused to let the nightmare stop her.

     “The Shadow of the Sun found us!” Cameron said. He was suddenly very close. Holly bit back a scream as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She knew that it was Cameron. “There is a brush fire near the barn. The bastards are trying to stop us from leaving.”

     “All our stuff is still in our room,” Holly said blinking. Her eyes were burning and watering from the acidic smoke. “I didn’t have time to grab it before Vincent barged in.”

     “Vincent is here?” Cameron demanded. He sounded worried as Holly nodded.

     “I was reading the journal in our room and Vincent barged in. I climbed out the window,” she said. “It was a close thing, though. He nearly got me.”

     She didn’t tell Cameron about the offer Vincent had made.

     “All our things are still in the room?” Cameron asked looking up at the broken window from which Holly had just escaped.

     “Yeah,” she said coughing as she breathed in another lungful of smoke. “I didn’t have time to grab them.”

     “Go get the horses,” Cameron ordered. “I’ll go get our things.”

     “Cameron,” Holly protested. “No!”

     “Meet me by the gates in ten minutes. If I’m not there, go on without me,” he said. “Head for Smoke Water Ridge as fast as you can. Don’t look back and don’t you dare turn around! Tina and your father are depending on you.”

     “Don’t ask me to do that,” Holly said fiercely. She had grown close to Cameron in the weeks they had spent together in Emberton. She didn’t want to lose him now.

     “Holly—”              

     “Don’t! If getting my father back means losing you in the process, then forget it!” she snapped. She felt her face instantly go red at the admission but refused to take it back.

     “Then what do you propose we do?” Cameron demanded He didn’t sound angry or annoyed which surprised Holly.

     “Wait for me by the gates,” she said. “If Vincent makes it there before I do, find somewhere safe in the forest and wait for me. I’ll find you as soon as I can.”

     “Holly,” he protested. He was unhappy, that much Holly could tell through the thick haze of smoke. She refused to let it deter her.

     “Just go! I won’t be long,” she said coughing. The smoke was getting thicker.

     “How are you going to get back up there? Vincent is going to be guarding the entrance to the inn,” Cameron pointed out.

     Holly smiled in the darkness, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to see her. She glanced up at the broken windowsill. What shadows had been there earlier were gone. If she was right, then Vincent wouldn’t be expecting her to climb back up the way she had left. If she was wrong, well, she had a sword and knew how to use it.

     “I have my ways,” she said. “Now go. I’ll be along as soon as I can.”

     “Don’t do anything stupid,” Cameron warned. “If there’s any sign of Vincent, get the hell out of there. We can always get new things.”

     Holly nodded once. Cameron stood there for a moment before turning and disappearing through the smoke. She waited until he was out of sight before turning around and grabbing the vine to begin her ascent back to their room.

     The climb up was harder then the fall down. Holly’s wounded leg stung every time she rubbed it up against something. Her arms began to hurt from the strain by the time she reached the broken window.

     “Please, do not let Vincent be standing right there,” she muttered to herself and to any that were listening. Holly took a deep breath and climbed inside the room, careful not to slice herself on the glass again.

     The candle that had been burning brightly was now dim as Holly made her way to where Cameron had stashed his things. She almost didn’t notice the form lying sprawled on Cameron’s bed until she brushed up against it.

     Holly couldn’t hold back the scream that ripped through her as she realized that it was Elena with her throat slit. The woman’s eyes were open and glassy as they stared vacantly at the ceiling.

     “Oh god,” Holly whispered fighting against the urge to throw up. She quickly grabbed Cameron’s bag from the corner and rushed toward the window again, pausing only to grab her things and the journal as well. Holly wanted to get out of the inn as quickly as possible and there was no way she was going to risk taking the stairs after her scream. Vincent would have to be deaf not to have heard that.

     “I’m sorry, Elena,” she whispered as she climbed back through the window. “Thank you for saving my life.”

     Holly figured that the older woman must have been the distraction that had pulled Vincent away from the window. The innkeeper’s daughter had paid for the good deed with her life. Holly swore to herself that when she got the chance to go up against Vincent, she would repay the debt.

     Shuddering at her dark thoughts, Holly quickly descended the wall for the second time that evening. She landed quietly on the ground and took off at a brisk walk toward the gate. She pulled her hood over her head and used the cover both as a disguise against those who might be looking for her, and a way inhale less smoke.

     Holly walked as quickly as she dared through the now empty streets of Emberton. All the trading town’s citizens were at the Bald Pie Inn, trying desperately to put out the fire before it reached the establishments. Even still, Holly knew that there would probably be members of the Shadow of the Sun out and about, searching for her and Cameron. She didn’t want to draw any unnecessary attention to herself if she didn’t have to.

     The walk through Emberton went by quickly. The moon was just beginning to rise over the rooftops as Holly finally made it to the south gate of Emberton. It was on the opposite side of town from the gates Holly and Cameron had entered earlier and was much safer. Holly wouldn’t have to walk through the so-called “haunted” parts of town.

     Holly could just make out Cameron’s form with the two horses standing by the open gate as she neared. He was facing away from her, keeping an eye out for danger while waiting for her to approach.                                                

    Suddenly, running footsteps sounded behind her. Holly spun around, her hand reaching for her sword belt to face whoever was coming. She gulped as she recognized the burly figure.  It was Vincent, rushing at her with his own sword drawn, ready to attack.

10: Chapter 9: Pursuit

 As Vincent raced toward her like an escaped bull, Holly noticed several different things. The first was a shadowy cloaked figure emerging around the corner up ahead, sword drawn as the person started toward Cameron. The second was the limp Vincent was sporting as he stumbled over the cobblestones toward Holly.  And the third a few yards behind Vincent was a tiny boy quickly closing the gap. With a jolt of horror, Holly recognized him as Jacob.

     Vincent stopped a few yards away from Holly when he heard Jacob’s footsteps. His sword drawn menacingly, he turned toward the young boy.

     “No!” Holly screamed as the shadowy figure bore down on Cameron. Jacob stumbled over a broken cobblestone and fell to his knees. Cameron glanced over as he heard the scream. The mistake was enough for the shadowy figure to get the drop on Cameron. Vincent paused and looked at Holly.

     Powerless to save Cameron, Holly did the only thing she could. She drew her sword from its sheath and charged toward Vincent. Jacob let out a squeak of horror as Vincent’s sword inched toward the child’s exposed neck.

     “Don’t!” Holly yelled as she lunged forward tackling Vincent to the ground. She let out a low grunt as her injured leg grated against the cobblestones while the two slid across the ground and landed in front of a pile of debris. 

     Holly quickly scrambled to her feet as lightning illuminated the stormy sky. She picked up her sword, taking a deep breath a deep breath as Vincent stumbled to his feet as well.

     “You again,” he said with a sadistic grin. “You just can’t get enough of me, can you?”

     “You will pay for what you did to Elena,” she said as she dropped into a defensive position and held her sword ready. She winced as she took a step forward with her injured leg.

     “All this can end if you just come with me now,” Vincent snarled. “All the pain, all the lies, all the suspicions you’ve been feeling lately… they can all be ended if you just come with me.”

     “You just don’t understand the meaning of ‘no way in hell’, do you?” Holly asked incredulously.

     “You either come with me willingly or I can just take you by force now,” he threatened.

     “Funny, I don’t see you trying,” she said hoping she sounded braver than she felt.                                                      

     Thunder rumbled in the distance and the first drops of rain began falling from the sky. Behind her, Holly heard the yells of Cameron and his attacker as their swords clanged together.

     Vincent lowered his sword and cocked his head at her. He looked as though he were having some sort of internal debate.

     “Why do you think we’re the bad guys in this mess?” he asked. “What have we done wrong that you are so against?”

     “You mean outside of destroying free will?” Holly demanded thinking back to a couple of weeks ago when she first met Jacob and the salve traders. She remembered what Cameron told her about slavery being illegal until the Shadow of the Sun resumed their secretive power over Solar Shadows.

     “We never took away free will,” Vincent countered. “We gave people free will.”

     “In what way?” Holly asked angrily. “Making slavery legal is taking away free will and putting in power those who shouldn’t be in the first place.”

     “We took the miserable, poor, jobless people and gave them a home, food, clothing, and work,” Vincent returned. “The people who were beggars and in poverty, we gave them something to look forward to in the morning besides a cold, damp rock to sleep under. Tell me, what has the current government done for them?”

     “Slavery is wrong. It’s cruel,” Holly said. “People buying people, it’s wrong.”

     “It’s only wrong if you think that it’s the wrong thing,” Vincent said. “You’d be surprised at how many people are out there who think slavery’s the right thing to do.”

     “What kind of twisted logic is that?” Holly demanded. “It’s like saying that murdering is the right thing to do to get what you want in life. It’s wrong. It’s unethical. It’s inhumane.”

     “It’s what you believe,” Vincent said. “If I told people that the sky is red and they believed it, then to them, the sky is red. It’s all about what you believe.”

     “Well, I don’t believe you,” she retorted. “I don’t believe in the Shadow of the Sun or anything that it stands for.”

     “What do you believe, Holly?”

     Holly opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by a loud yell. She spun around, falling to the ground as Vincent shoved her to the ground and put the sword to her throat.      

     “I told you once before,” he said panting. “You will not escape from the Shadow of the Sun.”

     “Why do you want me so badly?” she asked not daring to move in fear of Vincent slitting her throat. Holly felt strangely calm, the sword point at her neck not affecting her at all.

     “Come with me and maybe I’ll tell you,” Vincent countered.

     Holly was about to reply when the sword was suddenly gone from her neck and Vincent was bleeding from a wound in his leg. Cameron was towering above him, his sword pointed at Vincent’s chest.

     “Make one false move and I will kill you,” he said He glanced over at Holly. “Are you okay?”

     “Watch out!” Holly screamed instead as Vincent rolled out from underneath Cameron’s sword and grabbed his sword from where it had fallen on the cobblestone road. Cameron barely had time to bring up his weapon to block the blow Vincent dealt him.

     “Holly, take Jacob and run!” Cameron yelled to her as he blocked another attack and parried it with one of his own.

     Holly stumbled to her feet and was turning around to do as Cameron told her, when Cameron let out a yell of pain. Horrified, she yanked her sword from its sheath and ran toward Vincent who was standing over Cameron as blood poured from his wounded side.

     Vincent’s back was to her. It wouldn’t be hard to just slide the sword into his back and have this entire thing over. No more Vincent chasing after her, trying to stop her from rescuing her father… it would be easy.

     “Holly, don’t,” Cameron croaked as Vincent lowered his sword and turned to face her. “It’s not worth it. He’s not worth it.”

     Holly would never be certain what made Vincent turn and run, but that is exactly what he did. He had a frightened look in his pale gray eyes. The expression was illuminated by a flash of lightning. With one last final look toward Cameron, one that was loathing and full of malice, the burly henchman for the Shadow of the Sun turned tail and ran away, leaving Holly alone with Cameron in the middle of the deserted cobblestone alleyway.

     Holly crouched down beside Cameron and put a hand on his heaving shoulder. His brilliant blue eyes were clouded over in pain as he clutched at his side in attempts to stop the bleeding.

     “Go,” he rasped. “Leave me here and go. Tell Tina I tried.”

     “If you think I’m going to leave you here, you’re insane,” Holly snapped trying to cover up how scared she really was. She caught a glimpse of the wound when Cameron moved his hand for a moment to wipe his hair out of his eyes. It was long and deep, stretching from the bottom of his rib cage to the top of his hip. Even in the darkness, she could tell that the white shirt was stained with blood.

     “Holly,” Cameron said pleadingly. Holly glared at him as an arrow landed in the street right next to them. Another hissed by and landed in the pile of debris nearby.

     “Damn it,” Holly swore. She heard a shout from far away, followed by more arrows. They hissed closer. She had to do something

     “Go,” Cameron said gasping in pain as he attempted to sit up. Holly put a hand on his shoulder.

     “I’m not leaving you,” she said. “When are you going to get that through your thick skull? I’ll figure something out, now just lie there and hold this to your side.”

     She handed him a thick strip of cloth that would hopefully help to stem the bleeding. She looked around wildly for an escape route. She could always try to carry him, but it would be risky with the arrows flying all over the place.

     Cameron looked slightly anxious and in pain but resigned. He thought he was going to die, Holly realized. She wasn’t going to let that happen. She couldn’t. Without him, she might as well just give up and go home without even trying to save her father.

     “Don’t you dare give up on me now,” she ordered slipping one hand underneath his shoulders and the other around his waist. “I’m going to get you out of here.”

     “It’s too late for me,” he whispered.

     “Stop acting like that,” she said blinking back the tears that stung the back of her eyes as she struggled to her feet and pulled him up with her. She narrowly avoided being hit by an arrow as another volley of them landed in the alley.

    Looking around wildly, Holly realized that it was much too far to carry Cameron to the horses. He was too big and with the arrows flying all around them now, it would be suicidal. They would never make it.

     As a last, nearly hopeless resort, Holly let out a shrill whistle, hoping it would encourage the horses to come to them. It worked! Magique let out a high-pitched whinny and trotted over, snorting nervously as an arrow landed near her hooves. Pyro was right behind her. Holly hoped they didn’t get hit by an arrow or her plan for escape would go up in flames.

     “Come on, Cameron,” Holly said taking a few encouraging steps forward. She winced as he groaned loudly and leaned heavily on her. Her injured leg stung with the effort. The arrows grew closer still.

     “I-I can’t hang on,” he whispered. “Mason hit me in the shoulder with his sword hilt.”

     “I’ll tie you on,” she said trying to figure out a way to get him on his horse in the first place. All this would be for nothing if she couldn’t do it. She only had a few moments before the next arrows were shot; and no matter how horrible the invisible archers were, they would eventually hit their mark. She didn’t want to stick around for that to happen. Cameron was injured badly enough as it was.

     “I-I have rope in the saddlebag,” Cameron murmured letting out a low groan as Holly forced him to stand on his own for a moment. His hand instantly went to his still bleeding side.

     “Let’s get you on Pyro first before I start tying you on,” Holly said still wondering how she was going to be able to do that particular feat. She let out a growl of pain when an arrow nicked her calf.

     “T-tap his shoulder twice; Pyro is trained to drop to his knees automatically in case I’m too injured to be able to mount him myself,” Cameron told her in between breaths.

     Holly shot him a strange look, wondering what exactly he had done before she had met him, before doing as she had been instructed. Much to her amazement, Pyro sank to his pitch black knees making it extremely easy to get Cameron up on to the broad back of the stallion.

     “Don’t let go,” she said. “I’m not sure if I have enough rope to tie you on here.”

     “Just get on behind me,” Cameron rasped. “Magique can be led behind.”

     It was the best idea Holly had heard all night. As arrows started raining down on them, she didn’t hesitate to grab Magique and handed the reins to Cameron.

     “Hold these while I get on behind you,” she said. He did as he was told, too tired to protest. Holly’s anxiety spiked when he didn’t say anything, but there was nothing she could do as she climbed on behind him and spurred the horse on

     There was another volley of arrows behind them, but they fell far short; Holly urged Pyro into an easy trot as they headed toward the open gate.

     “Thank you, Holly,” Cameron murmured through clenched teeth as Holly spurred Pyro into a canter.

     “We’re not out of this yet,” she warned just as galloping hoof beats sounded behind them. She chanced a swift glance behind her and swore loudly when she recognized the rider. It was Mason.

     “If we can reach the woods, we can hide out in a hollow or cave until the Shadow of the Sun gets bored with pursuing us,” Cameron called above the rushing wind as Holly urged both horses into a fast gallop.

     The forest was ten yards away. Mason was only a few feet behind them and closing the distance fast. There were now at least six other riders joining him now, all cloaked in the dark gray of the Shadow of the Sun.

     “Watch out!” Cameron yelled. Holly swore—there was a huge fallen tree in the middle of the path with no way around it.

     “Hang on!” she shouted. There was only one way to get past that fallen tree and that was to go over it. Holly prayed that Cameron would be able to hang on—she wasn’t sure what would happen if he fell off, but she knew that they couldn’t afford him to. Mason and the rest of the Shadow of the Sun were right behind them.       

     Holly urged the horses on as fast as she dared hoping that with enough speed they would clear the trunk with room to spare She didn’t think about Magique’s reins that she had taken back from Cameron earlier.

     Holly braced herself for the jump as Pyro gathered his legs and pushed off the ground, sailing over the fallen tree easily. Magique jumped as well, but stumbled on the other side yanking Holly to the ground. She let out a cry of pain as she felt her shoulder jerked out of its socket.

     “Holly!” Cameron yelled drawing Pyro to a halt. She heard him curse as Mason and the rest of the Shadow of the Sun drew closer to the other side of the tree.

     Holly stumbled to her feet blinking blood and dirt out of her eyes. She had smacked her head against a sharp rock when she fallen off Magique. It ached terribly and made her dizzy, but she would gladly endure the pain rather than capture by the Shadow of the Sun.

     “I’m okay, just go!” she shouted back while attempting to calm Magique. The mare was dancing around Holly and tugging at the reins still in the girl’s hand. Holly winced with every movement the horse made, her arm screaming in agony.

     Cameron looked from her to the people behind the tree arguing about a way to get around it without going over it.

     “You wouldn’t go without me, so I’m not going without you,” he said stubbornly.

     “I’ll catch up to you, now go!” she said gasping in pain as Magique shied away from her. There was yelling on the other side of the tree trunk as their pursuers debated how to get around the tree trunk.          

     Holly switched the reins to her good hand and pulled hard. The mare settled instantly. She was now faced with the dilemma of how to remount. Her shoulder was throbbing angrily and would not be of any use. Magique hadn’t been trained the neat trick of sinking to her knees to allow an injured rider to climb aboard. Holly was going to have to suck up the pain and just get on the damn horse.

     She heard Cameron’s yell of warning as an arrow whizzed past her and became embedded in one of the tree trunks surrounding the path. Holly looked around wildly, took a deep breath, and forced her foot into the stirrup of her mare’s saddle. She let out a groan of pain as her shoulder screamed with the effort of pulling herself upward, but she ignored it.

     “Are you okay?” Cameron asked. His face was visibly pale and sweaty even in the faint moonlight. Holly could see the rapidly darkening stain of blood on his shirt and knew that the injury was growing worse. They needed to get help.

     “I will be once we’re away from here,” she said grimly. “Are you?”

     “Ask me that when we aren’t running for our lives from the Shadow of the Sun,” he said his tone matching hers.

     There was yelling coming from the other side of the trunk. Holly spared it one last glance, wondering how on earth they had cleared it, before Cameron was pushing Pyro into a gallop. Holly followed.                                                                                                             

     Soon, only the wind and the sounds of rapidly beating hooves reached Holly’s ears. Their pursuers were far behind them; but every once in a while, Holly heard the shouts of the men looking for them.

     Cameron led them off the main path and on to a smaller, less travelled path. He kept up the insane, break-neck speed, even though Holly knew it must have been killing him to do so. Her own shoulder burned and each little drop in the trail threatened to break down the carefully constructed barriers she had put up to keep the pain at bay. She refused to ask to stop, knowing that if they did, the Shadow of the Sun would catch them and they wouldn’t be able to rescue Tina or her father.

 

     Holly was beginning to wonder just how long they would be able to keep this pace up without stopping when Cameron suddenly slowed Pyro to a halt. With quick reflexes and a lot of swearing on Holly’s part, she was able to follow suit barely missing colliding with Pyro.

     “There’s a small hollow here,” he said tiredly gesturing to the side of the trail. “It’s pretty concealed. I doubt they’d be able to find us here. We’re about ten miles out from Smoke Water Ridge; dawn is getting ready to break, and—.”

     He didn’t finish his sentence. Holly was only able to watch in horror as Cameron slid from the saddle to the ground, unconscious. His wound had grown worse.

     “Shit,” Holly swore dismounting Magique as quickly as she dared. She hissed in pain as her shoulder protested the movement.

     She managed to get both horses into the small hollow and was in the process of gently pulling Cameron one handedly into the soft bed of moss and leaves when the sounds of shouting and galloping hoof beats sounded up the path. Swearing, Holly backed up faster, whimpering in pain when her injured shoulder brushed against a tree trunk. 

     She barely made it into the hollow when the Shadow of the Sun’s search party thundered by. Some of them shouted to the others up ahead and they stopped a few feet away from the very spot where Holly was crouching in the hollow, trying her hardest not to make a sound so she wouldn’t be discovered

     “There are hoof prints that stopped here!” someone yelled. The voice was distinctly feminine which surprised Holly. She had thought the Shadow of the Sun was a strictly male organization.

     “Could just be runaway lovers,” someone more familiar yelled. Holly recognized the person as Darien, the Shadow of the Sun member from a few weeks ago when she and Cameron had been in a similar position in another hollow. That felt like years ago, even if it had been only a few weeks. Time really does fly.

     “Would you get your mind out of the gutter?” the first person snapped. “It could very well be the two we’re looking for.”

     “Well, if you want to crawl into the creepy bushes where there are snakes, spiders, and other creatures, be my guest,” Darien said. He sounded distinctly fearful, which made Holly smirk at his weakness. He was an idiot, she decided.

     “Quit being a wimp Darien and get your ass in there before I report you to James,” the first person said angrily. She was definitely the fiercer of the two.

     “I value my life thanks,” Darien said. “If I crawl in there and they are in there, then Cameron will just slit my throat with a knife and that will be the end of it.”

     “Better him than me,” the first said threateningly

     Cameron chose that moment to let out a loud groan of pain as he attempted to roll over on to his injured side. Holly inhaled sharply and held her breath, fearing that her breathing would be heard in the sudden silence that was coming from the path.

     “Did ye hear that?” Darien asked suddenly excited.

     “Shut up, Darien!” the first growled. “Unless you want me to kill you. I’ll do it willingly.”

     “I know,” Darien grumbled. More quietly, he asked, “Did you hear that?”

     “I think it is established that we all heard that groan coming from the hollow,” a more recognizable, smooth talking person said. It was Marcus.

     Holly let out a hiss of pain as she took a step forward, jostling her injured shoulder and rubbing her injured leg against a twig. She could feel the blood dripping down her leg.

     “We should bring back reinforcements,” the first person said. “Vincent and Mason both would sentence us to death if they weren’t in on this.”

     “If we leave, they’ll escape,” Marcus said warningly. “That’s a stupid plan, Mary.”

     “Fine, then you and Darien stay here while Samuel and I go get Mason and have him blast you for not reporting it to him yourself,” the first person, presumably Mary, snapped. “You’re not the one in charge any more, Marcus. Not since you let them go in the hollow a few months ago. And you know how Mason gets when you’re not the one who reports things to him.”

     “We should just grab them and take them to Mason and Vincent now,” Darien suggested.

     Holly held her breath, praying that they wouldn’t choose that route. She wouldn’t be able to fend off all four of them even without her injuries. It would be impossible. And there was no escaping them by horseback either. The horses were exhausted, as was she, and Cameron was unconscious.

     “Don’t be stupid, Darien,” Mary said annoyed. “You, Samuel, and Marcus are going to Mason and Vincent. I’ll stay here and make sure they don’t escape. Do try to hurry. There are two of them and only one of me.”

     “If you’re that worried about it, then I’ll stay here with you,” an unfamiliar person said. Whoever he was, he had a resonant voice. It must have been Samuel, Holly decided.

     “Just go, Samuel. I can take care of myself,” Mary said. “After all, Vincent said he injured Cameron. The girl can’t be that big of a threat.”

     “Don’t underestimate her,” Marcus cautioned

     “Have you ever known me to underestimate anything?” Mary asked snidely. “Oh wait; I underestimated just how stupid you could be. Darien must be rubbing off on you.”

     “There’s no need to be nasty,” Marcus said. “I’m just warning you to be careful.”

     “Thanks for the concern,” Mary said sarcastically. “Now if you’ll just get going so we can take these people to James.”

     She was going to be taken to James the feared leader of the Shadow of the Sun. Holly had heard the horrified whispers about the man, about how he had no heart, no mercy for any living thing. She shuddered to think of what would happen if Cameron and she were taken to him.

     There were indistinguishable murmurs followed by the sounds of hoof beats heading away from the spot where Holly and Cameron were hiding.

     Holly suddenly had an idea. She wasn’t sure if it would work, but it was the best she could come up with. It was the only chance they both had against being captured by the Shadow of the Sun.

     Holly quickly set about putting her plan into action tying an unconscious Cameron to Pyro before tying the stallion’s reins to her saddle. She then braced herself for the mind-numbing pain that jolted her as she mounted Magique and gathered the reins.

     Holly paused a moment to ready herself for the oncoming escape. Her eyes rested on Cameron, who even in unconsciousness looked as though he was in pain.

     Her heart went out to him as she hoped he would be strong enough to make it through the night so that she could get him help.

     Taking a deep breath, Holly steered Magique with her injured hand toward the path. In her other hand she had her sword, drawn and ready.

     Mary’s back was turned toward her as Holly exited the trees and made it onto the small path. The stranger turned to Holly when Magique snorted loudly.

     Mary’s face and hair color were hidden by a large dark gray hood she was wearing, one that proved she was indeed a member of the Shadow of the Sun. She held a narrow sword in one hand; the other handled the reins on her small, wiry bay horse.

     “So the idiot was right after all,” Mary said. “You two were really stupid enough to stop in the hollow.”

     “It’d be a wise move to let us go,” Holly said in a friendly tone with a menacing undercurrent. She surprised herself with the malice she heard in her own voice.

     The implied threat didn’t deter Mary, however. Holly could almost hear Mary’s smirk. She certainly heard the loud laugh that startled all three horses.

     “If you think I’m just going to let you go, then you’re sorely mistaken,” she said still laughing like an insane person. “We’ve been searching for you two for the past month and a half. It was sheer luck when Vincent discovered the inn where you two were staying. If you think I’m just going to let you go and miss my chance at being second in command of the Shadow of the Sun, then you’re more stupid then Marcus thinks.”

     “Well, Marcus was right about one thing,” Holly said with a sly smirk. “You really shouldn’t underestimate.”

     Before Mary could formulate an answer, Holly kicked Magique into a fast gallop from a stand still and tore off down the path. She heard a cry of anger and galloping hooves from behind her as Mary took up the chase in anger.

     Holly heard a groan from beside her as they took a sharp turn and galloped across a broad plain that connected one part of the forest to the other. Holly spared Cameron a glance and was startled to see him staring back at her, pain visible in his blue eyes.

     “I take it they found us,” he said. “Darn. I was really looking forward to a good night’s sleep.”

     “Are you insane?” she demanded over the rushing wind. “We’re being chased by Mary, who is now dead set on killing us, the Shadow of the Sun is after us, and you’re making a freaking joke?”

     “Why not make a joke?” Cameron countered. “Stop for a moment.”

     “You are insane,” Holly yelled. “If you think I’m going to stop. Do you not understand that the entire Shadow of the Sun is after us with the intent to kill us?”

     “Not the entire Shadow of the Sun,” Cameron said with a smirk. Holly was distracted for a moment by how cute he looked when he smirked, even if the effort was marred by the pain in his eyes. She quickly shook her head.

     “There are enough of them and there is no way in hell that I’m stopping,” she said.

     “I need my reins, Holly,” Cameron said. “We’re far enough ahead of Mary to stop for a moment. Besides, there’s a small outcropping of hollows not too far from here where we can hide. No tracker can find us there.”

     “How do you know that?” Holly demanded.

     “I make it a hobby to know exactly where I am when being chased by crazy madmen. Though, in this case, I’d have to say more of a crazy mad woman,” Cameron said with a grin. Holly stared at him incredulously. There was something seriously wrong with him. She wondered if he was running fever. “No, seriously, Tina and I spent a few nights in those caves a few months ago when we ran into some trouble in Smoke Water.”

     “If we make it out of this alive, you’re going to tell me what exactly it is you do,” Holly groused halting Magique and Pyro. She quickly undid the knot that connected the two horses. “Here. Lead on fearless, brainless leader.”

     “Brainless, I am not,” Cameron said with a grin, showing of his perfect teeth that would have been more effective if he hadn’t winced at the last moment. He pushed Pyro into a fast gallop. “Follow me!”

     Holly shook her head, wincing as the effort made her see stars before following suit just as Mary burst onto the plain.

     Holly urged her mare on faster, catching up to Cameron just as they reached the woods. It wouldn’t be long before Mary caught up.

     “This way,” Cameron said pulling his horse to the left. Holly quickly followed him as they plunged down a tiny game trail that Holly hadn’t seen until Cameron disappeared down it.

     Holly was more than certain that they had lost Mary. There was no way she had been close enough to see which way they had gone and the trail was only visible if one knew where it was.

     Cameron seemed to have the same idea, for he pulled Pyro to a halt at the top of a large hill. There was a large, enclosed clearing at the base of the hill with a clear pool at one end and a small copse of trees at the other.

     “We can spend the remainder of the night here,” he said with a yawn. He looked suddenly exhausted, all the joking and teasing manner from earlier was gone.

     Holly was exhausted herself, though she doubted she would sleep until she knew they were safe from the Shadow of the Sun.

     “You can take first watch,” Cameron said as he carefully dismounted Pyro. Holly could tell from the way he was moving that his side was really bothering him. “Wake me up if anything happens.”    

     “Like if James comes charging in here and tries to murder you?” Holly quipped in a poor attempt to wipe that defeated look off his face.

     It worked; he offered her a soft smile.

    “That would be something happening,” he said limping down the hill and leading Pyro with him. “You can unsaddle Magique; the horses won’t try to escape. Wake me up when you want to eat breakfast.”

     “I want to take a look at that wound,” Holly said wincing as she too dismounted her horse. “Is it still bleeding?”                                                       

     “I'll be fine," he said.  “How's your shoulder?”

     “It’s fine,” she lied. She wasn’t about to let on to how much pain she was in if he wasn’t going to admit his own agony.

     “Sure it is,” Cameron grumbled as he put his saddle on the ground. Holly wasn’t certain how he pulled it off Pyro in the first place. She decided that he must have a huge tolerance for pain. Either that or he was just plain crazy. Holly decided it was a little of both.

     “I’ll wake you in a few hours,” Holly said repressing a grunt as she pulled her saddle off the sweating mare. She set it on the ground next to Cameron’s.

     “Good night then,” he murmured sleepily as he grabbed his saddlebag of clothes and walked a few feet away to a small bed of moss.                                            .

     "Good night, Cameron," she said.

     Within a few minutes, gentle snores filled the hollow as Cameron slept Holly smiled softly before climbing back to the top of the hill to take up position on a large boulder where she could see everything. It was going to be a lonely night.

 

11: Chapter 10: Over the Edge

 Holly gently shook Cameron awake a few hours later when the grumbling in her   stomach became too much to ignore. As much as she hated to do it—he looked so

peaceful even though his face was lined with pain even while he slept—Holly figured Cameron needed to eat just as much as she did.

     “Tina?” Cameron murmured sleepily, his eyes barely open.

     Holly shook her head. “Sorry, it’s only Holly.”

     “Oh,” Cameron mumbled as his eyes fell shut. Holly shook him again. His eyes blinked open, staring blankly at her for a moment.

     “We’re on the run from the Shadow of the Sun,” she explained handing him a small piece of bread. “You were pretty badly hurt.”

     “I’m tired, not concussed,” Cameron growled blinking again. His eyes finally focused as he took the bread and started pulling it apart. “Any sign of them?”

     Holly shook her head. “No. I think we might have lost them. How’s your side?”

     “I’m still in one piece, aren’t I?” he asked grunting as he stumbled to his feet. Holly watched him carefully, noting the new stain of blood on his shirt.

     “Let me look at it,” she said. Cameron waved her off. “Cameron, I think you might need stitches. At least let me put something on it for you so you don’t bleed out and die in the middle of the forest. It’s nothing personal, but I don’t want to have to waste time burying you because you were too stupid to let me bandage it.”

     Cameron looked at her surprise and then a smile spread slowly across his face.

     “I knew you liked me,” he said. Holly felt her jaw drop as she looked at him in shock. “Admit it. You don’t want me to die.”

     “I never said that I liked you,” she snapped. “I don’t want to waste any more time after the weeks we wasted in Emberton.”

     “Uh huh,” Cameron said. He had a look of amusement on his face, despite the pain. “If that’s your story.” Holly rolled her eyes, wincing as she got to her feet, and made her way to her saddlebag. She had a put a few pieces of cloth in her saddlebag in case of emergency. Her forethought was now paying off.                                                                                                                          

     “Are you okay?” Cameron asked with concern as Holly walked stiffly back to him. He was leaning up against a stunted tree.

     He had obviously seen Holly’s wince. The joking manner that had been present before was gone.

     “I’m okay,” Holly lied. “I just bruised my shoulder when I fell off last night, that’s all.”

     She was pretty certain she had dislocated her shoulder, but she wasn’t going to tell Cameron that. There was nothing he could do for her anyway, not unless he knew how to put the joint back into place.

     “Huh,” Cameron said. He didn’t believe her, but Holly didn’t care. She yawned heavily as Cameron peeled his shirt off. Holly could see his wince when he pulled the torn material away from his wound, swearing when she saw the injury.

     “Damn,” she whispered.

     The wound was a jagged gash about six inches long and very deep. It looked as though someone had shredded his skin apart. The area around the wound was swollen and had dark streaks running up and down it.

     “What’s wrong?” Cameron asked. His voice shook ever so slightly.

     “I, uh, I’m going to need more bandages,” she said standing up. The wound looked infected and needed stitches yesterday. Holly wondered how Cameron was managing to stay so quiet; it must have hurt like hell, even without the infection that was now spreading through it.

     “Holly?” Cameron asked as she walked over to the saddlebags. She glanced back at him.

     “Yeah?” she said raising an eyebrow questioningly.

     He looked at her for a moment, making Holly wonder as to what was going through his mind at that moment, and then he sighed.

     “What do you know of the Eclipse?” he asked finally. His blue eyes looked calculating and thoughtful.

     Holly was surprised by the question. She had been expecting something else, something such as a complaint, not what she knew about the Eclipse. However, she was grateful for the change in subject; she didn’t want to talk about how bad Cameron’s wound really was.

     “Not a whole lot,” she admitted grabbing the extra cloths she still had in her saddlebag. She prayed the cloths would be enough. “I only know what everyone else knows."

     “Which is?” Cameron asked as Holly knelt down beside him again and began to dress the wound carefully.

     “Sorry,” she apologized as he let out a low groan of pain. “Basically, the Eclipse battled the Shadow of the Sun, throwing Solar Shadows into chaos. The Eclipse were fighting for good—for everything the people wanted—while the Shadow of the Sun was fighting for higher taxes, slavery, and the common thief. But I don’t think that’s true.”

     “Why not?” Cameron asked curiously pain marring his bright blue eyes as she pressed her hand a little harder on the cloths and bound them in place. The bandage was crude, Holly thought, but it would hold until they could at least get professional help. Provided there were still towns around that weren’t under the control of the Shadow of the Sun.

     “This journal I’ve been reading takes place at the beginning of the Shadow of the Sun’s rise to power,” Holly explained. “The girl who was writing it said that the Shadow of the Sun was against the King who was in power during lighter times. The Eclipse wasn’t even heard of by then.”

     “I’ve heard that,” Cameron said retrieving his shirt off the ground where he had thrown it earlier. He very carefully, with Holly’s assistance, put it back on.

     “Why do you ask?” Holly asked as she refolded the cloths she didn’t use into one pile.

     “You said a month ago that you wanted to know what was going on in the world,” Cameron said as he leaned gingerly back against the tree he had been using as a headrest. “You’ve said you don’t understand why the Shadow of the Sun is after you. I think it’s time you learned why.”

     “And you have all the answers?” Holly asked in disbelief. “You told me you were a trader’s son checking for potential buyers for your father. Why would you know so much about the Shadow of the Sun?”

     “I doubt that anyone has all the answers,” Cameron said. “But I do have some. As to why I have them, I probably will never tell you. And as to my being a trader’s son, it’s true, to a point anyway.”

     “What do you mean, ‘to a point’?” Holly asked. “You either are or you aren’t.”

     “What my father trades isn’t exactly what most people consider the norm for traders,” Cameron said slowly. He sounded as though he were choosing his words very carefully, which, in a way, he was, Holly guessed. He had already told her that he wasn’t going to reveal  from where he had learned his information.

     “What does your father trade?” Holly asked.

     “Do you want to know more about my father or more about the Shadow of the Sun?” Cameron countered. “Information about my father is meaningless and will do nothing to keep you alive. Vital information about the Shadow of the Sun might just do that. And outside of rescuing Tina, that is my main job—keeping you alive.”

     Holly was quiet for a moment.

     “You told me back when I asked you in Lindenshire that it wasn’t your place to tell me about the Shadow of the Sun,” she said. She wanted to know more, but at the same time she would rather be kept in the dark than to have him tell her because of some death wish thing.

     “Things have changed,” Cameron said. “I didn’t trust you when we met.”

     “And you trust me now?” Holly asked. It didn’t seem that way some times; he rarely told her anything, except for the few tidbits of information about his father and Tina that she had managed to force him to reveal.

     “You saved my life,” Cameron said simply. “I think that earns you my trust. After all, what is a friend if it’s not one you can trust?”

     Holly thought that was a fair view and said as much.

     “For what it’s worth, I trust you too,” she said.

     “Thank you,” Cameron said smiling softly. He winced as he shifted his weight to a more comfortable position. Holly wished there were something she could do for him, but knew that there wasn’t. “So what do you want to know about the Shadow of the Sun?”

     “Everything,” she said immediately and then blushed. She sounded over eager and really stupid. Cameron didn’t seem to mind; he smiled again.

     “Shall we start at the beginning?” he suggested. Holly nodded for him to continue. “The Shadow of the Sun was started, like the girl in the journal said, in response to a horrible ruler. It’s sad really. The Shadow of the Sun was based on a good cause. People wanted the change the Shadow of the Sun brought about. And the Shadow of the Sun lost everything the people of Solar Shadows stood for.”

     “How?” Holly asked with bemusement. 

     “How do all good things become corrupt?” Cameron asked sadly. “Power. It is the one thing people can count on to corrupt their very being, and people are hungry enough to let it. The Shadow of the Sun became so consumed with gaining control over people, gaining the power that went along with that control that they just lost sight of what they believed in They became the very things they fought against.”

     “Power couldn’t be the only thing that did that,” Holly countered. “There are plenty of rulers nowadays who aren’t letting the power go to their heads.”

     “That is because there are strict laws concerning those sorts of things,” Cameron said. “Or at least there were. I’m not really sure anymore with the Shadow of the Sun’s takeover and all.”

     “I still don’t think that’s everything,” Holly said. “There had to be something more. Something that made them want to go after that power. Like for the King that the Shadow of the Sun replaced, there was the issue of the rebels and the invaders that were trying to take over Solar Shadows. In a way, the King’s reaction was actually not that drastic.”

     “You don’t know how bad it really got, do you?” Cameron asked with a shake of his head. “You couldn’t know. You weren’t there.”

     “Neither were you,” Holly retorted.

     “I haven’t lived a sheltered life for the past sixteen years either,” Cameron shot back. He sighed running a hand through his dark hair as he did so. “It doesn’t matter. What matters is that the Shadow of the Sun came into power about twenty years ago, led by a man named Bill Evans, up until the wars started.”

     “What happened then?” Holly asked.                                                       

     “I’m not really sure,” Cameron admitted. “The year before the Eclipse came into being, Bill Evans disappeared and any news of the Shadow of the Sun along with him. No one’s really certain as to what happened, but six months later the Shadow of the Sun emerged from the Land of Shadows with a new leader named Pyter Hayle.”  

     Holly started at the name—the girl who wrote the journal was in love with Pyter Hayle!

     “And then what?” Holly prompted.

     “Things started to change,” Cameron said with a wince. “It was rumored that the girl whom Pyter loved betrayed him and that was what caused him to change from a generally nice guy to the dark, twisted person he is today, but no one is really sure. He started changing the laws that the Shadow of the Sun had put in place to protect one man from becoming too powerful ever again. Citizens and the army of the Shadow of the Sun didn’t know what was happening until they were thrown into slavery, their families were torn apart, and people were killed for no apparent reason. Pyter even changed his name to James at that point and claimed that the Pyter everyone knew was dead.”

     At this, a dark look crossed over Cameron’s face, his eyes full of malice for a brief moment. Then, he blinked, and everything was gone.

     “When did the Eclipse come in?” Holly asked in a shy voice. The look on Cameron’s face, as much as she hated to admit it, had frightened her.

     “The Shadow of the Sun is very secretive,” Cameron said. “But the Eclipse is more so. Not very much is known about the Eclipse and those who know what little there is to be known are afraid of being put to death for knowing it.”

     “What do you know about the Eclipse?” Holly asked.

     “I know that they were started the same way the Shadow of the Sun was, the same way all great powers of our time are I guess. The Eclipse was formed because the woman who Pyter loved could not stand to see what he was becoming and wanted to do something to fight it. She recruited hundreds of people who had once been the Shadow of the Sun’s supporters to help her and then she started fighting against the Shadow of the Sun. Until one day, eighteen years ago, during the Battle of the Vales where both sides were destroyed, leaving only their leaders. James was banished by the leader of the Eclipse and he hasn’t been heard of since. Well, not until last year anyway, when the Shadow of the Sun came back to Solar Shadows.”

     “I don’t get why they would come back,” Holly said shaking her head. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

     “I’ve heard people say that James came back because he wants revenge,” Cameron said. “Others say it’s because he wants the love of his life back.”

     “And what do you think?” Holly asked.                                                                                                   

     “I think that James is back because he wants the world to be his,” Cameron said with a shrug. “It doesn’t matter what I think though. What matters is that we save Tina and your father.”

     Holly opened her mouth to say something, but the snapping of a twig nearby made her freeze. She could have sworn she saw a dark gray cloak up in the trees above the hollow.

     “What was that?” Cameron whispered bracing himself against the tree behind him, swaying as he did so.

     “I think the Shadow of the Sun has found us,” Holly whispered back. Fear shot through her, worse now than before because she knew that Cameron wouldn't be able to hold his own in a fight.

     “Help me get on Pyro,” Cameron hissed through clenched teeth. Holly’s fear escalated as she was faced with the fact that Cameron might not be able to stay on Pyro long enough for them to escape the Shadow of the Sun. He looked worse now then he had earlier when he was asleep.

     Holly did so quickly, ignoring the loud groan that Cameron let out as she gave him a leg up. She quickly swung up on her own horse, gritting her teeth against the pain.

     “Now what?” she asked in a loud whisper.

     “Now, we wait,” Cameron replied his voice just as soft as hers.

     “For what?”

     Holly didn’t receive an answer except for a grimly set face from Cameron.

     “You down there!” a strange voice yelled from above them.

     Holly turned, breath catching in her throat and heart beating wildly as she did so. A tall man with long brown hair stood at the head of the hollow blocking the path. He had a bow and arrow notched and aimed at Cameron.

     “Move when I tell you to!” Cameron whispered urgently. Holly stood frozen in fear, staring at the bow in horror.

     “They’ll kill us!” Holly protested.

     “Don’t move or we will shoot!” the tall man yelled. “There is no escape. We have you completely surrounded. Surrender or die!”

     “That’s pleasant,” Cameron muttered. “I hate ultimatums. Come on, Holly. There are five, maybe six men out there and Jason isn’t that great of a shot. We need to get out of here.”

     “How?” Holly hissed back. “Even with only five or six people, there are more of them than there are of us. How the hell do you expect us to get out of here alive?”

     “I have a plan,” Cameron said. Even though he was badly injured, Holly didn’t doubt the determination that she saw in his face.

     “Don’t move!” the man Jason yelled as Holly took her chances and pressed her heels into horse’s side. The horse took off like a bat out of hell. Loud shouts and galloping hooves behind her told Holly that Cameron wasn’t too far behind her and that the Shadow of the Sun had taken up the chase.

     “If we get separated, I’ll meet you in Smoke Water,” Cameron yelled as he drew along side her.

     Looking over her shoulder, Holly gasped in surprise as she saw how close her pursuers were. There were six horses and men racing after them, barely ten yards behind and gaining ground quickly.

     Holly looked desperately around for some form of escape. There would be no hope of winning against the Shadow of the Sun; they were still fresh and uninjured, having not spent the entire night before being chased.

     Suddenly, the world disappeared between Magique’s hooves. The breath was forced out of Holly’s lungs as horse and rider plunged over a cliff, heading toward the rushing water below.

     Holly glanced up briefly to see Cameron plunging over the side of the cliff. She let out a high pitched scream of fear as a familiar pale faced man took aim.

     “Watch out!” she screamed as Vincent let loose an arrow.

     Holly hit the water at that second. The icy current pulled her under and everything went black.

12: Chapter 11: Awakening

     The sound of rushing water reached Holly’s ears. She became vaguely aware of being thrown up against something hard and wet. Holly couldn’t breathe.

 Every time she tried, something slammed her up against the rock and knocked the wind out of her.

     The pressure of whatever it was that was smashing her up against the rock was suddenly gone, along with the icy cold that Holly hadn’t realized was there until it was gone. In its place came a gentle swooping sensation and the sound of rushing water faded from her ears.

     “Stay with me, Leah,” an unfamiliar male voice whispered. “Just hang on.”

     The swooping sensation came to an end on a flat, hard surface. Holly felt sharp pointed objects sticking into her back and figured she was lying on the ground.

     Something warm—a hand maybe, she thought—smacked her chest, forcing her to cough. Something wet made its way back up her throat. Holly fought against it, choking as she did so.

     “Breathe, damn it!” the voice growled. The hand smacked her chest harder this time and she had no choice but to expel the wetness from her throat.

     “You’re okay,” the voice whispered. “You’re okay.”

     Something warm, soft, and dry was wrapped around Holly’s shivering shoulders. Then the swooping sensation returned and everything went silent.

 

     A woman with long chestnut hair stood in front of the black haired man, her sword drawn. It gleamed in the darkness, reflecting off some unseen light.

     “Why, Pyter?” the woman whispered tears visible in her green eyes. “Why did you have to kill all those people?”

     “I did it for you,” the dark haired man said. “I did it because I love you and you wouldn’t pay any attention to me.”

     “Don’t,” the woman hissed. “Don’t blame this on me. You chose to do this because you are a heartless bastard.”

     “Then what does that make you?” the man countered.

     “A fool. A fool for ever thinking you were a good person,” the woman said sadly. “And as a result, Solar Shadows has suffered from it. But no longer, Pyter, no longer will I sit by and do nothing. I will fight to change the nightmares you have made into reality.”

     “And you shall die,” the man replied. “You and everyone else who stands in my way.”

 

     Holly woke with a gasp, struggling to pull air into her oxygen starved lungs. She pulled herself into a sitting position, still trying to breathe, when a sharp shooting pain in her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

     “Hey, hey, take it easy!” someone said loudly, placing a hand on her uninjured shoulder. “Just relax and focus on breathing. Lie back down and just relax, okay?”

     Trying to sit up despite the pain, Holly struggled against the hand. The last thing she remembered was the Shadow of the Sun chasing after them and falling over the cliff. Cameron had plunged down after her, she realized.

     “Cameron!” she panted. “Is he okay? Where is he?”

     “Who’s Cameron?” the person restraining her asked. “Is he that guy Jack fished out of the river alongside you? If he is, he is in the bed next to yours.”

     Holly blinked, getting a good look at her surroundings. She was in a semi-dark room, the only light coming from a small window on the opposite side of the room. The room was sparsely furnished; the two beds took up the majority of the space available. Holly lay in the bed closest to the back wall. To her right lay the second bed. What little breath she had caught in her throat as she stared at the person in it.

     Cameron’s once tan face was drained of all color, looking shockingly pale against his midnight black hair. His brilliant blue eyes were closed tightly, and there were small lines of pain underneath them. He had a red line that stretched from his temple to his jaw bone that was jagged and still oozing blood.

     “Oh my god,” she whispered. He looked horrible to say the least.

     “He looks a lot better than he did when we fished him out of the river,” the person who had been restraining her said.

     Holly looked away from Cameron to acknowledge the person in the room in between the two beds. She was a woman of average height with long, curly dirty blonde hair and blue eyes that were kind.

     “I’m Meredythe, by the way,” the woman said extending a hand. “Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier; you were kind of freaking out at the time.”

     “Holly,” she replied pushing herself back against the comfortable pillows that rested behind her head. “Where am I?”

     “You’re on the outskirts of Smoke Water,” Meredythe said moving to sit on the edge of the bed. “Jack found you and Cameron in the river about a mile from here along with your two horses.”

     Before Holly could say anything, the door on the other end of the room opened to admit a short, stocky man with shortly cropped dark brown hair. He had a round, tan face with serious blue-gray eyes. He wore a simple gray tunic with black stockings.

     The second the man was in the room, Meredythe took her leave, closing the door quietly behind her. The man nodded to her as she left.

     “You’re awake,” the man said with a look of surprise. The sound of his voice surprised Holly—it was unlike anything she had ever heard before. It was rough and deep, but it also had a slight lilting musical note to it. It reminded her of Cameron’s voice, though the man’s was a much coarser version of Cameron’s soft, melodic  cadences.

     The man set something down on the edge of her bed, something Holly recognized instantly as the journal she had taken from Barret. She wondered why he was carrying it around with him.

     “Who are you?” Holly asked though not unkindly. She was still shaken by the sight of Cameron, who was unconscious in the bed beside her.

     “My name’s Jack Fox,” the man said extending a calloused hand in Holly’s direction. She looked at it, hesitating slightly, before she took it.

     “Holly,” she said.

     “Got a last name, girl?” Jack asked with a hint of amusement on his face.

     “Larson,” Holly said immediately. In the same instant, she regretted it—Jack could have been working for the Shadow of the Sun for all she knew. It was wrong for her to give her name so honestly. Cameron would have been angry.

     “Relax,” Jack said at the look on her face. There was something else in his kind blue eyes, an expression that appeared to Holly as shock and surprise. She was uncertain—he was good at hiding his emotions. “Neither Meredythe or I will give you over to the Shadow of the Sun. Believe me. If we were going to, we would have already. Lord knows they have been searching for you two something fierce for the past couple of days.”

     “They have been looking for us?” Holly asked with a squeak of surprise. She attempted to get off the bed again, forgetting for a moment that her shoulder was injured. The pain reminded her instantly with a burning stab that threatened to send her back into the world of unconsciousness.

     “Take it easy,” Jack said placing a steady hand on her shoulder. “Don’t try to move around so much. It’ll help.”

     Shrugging off Jack’s comforting hand, Holly took a deep breath hating the tears of pain that stung the back of her eyes. With her good hand she wiped furiously at them.

     “Sorry,” she mumbled. “I didn’t mean to react like that. It’s just that I thought the Shadow of the Sun would have given up on us when we went into the river.”

     “Care to tell me why?” Jack asked. Holly hesitated with a glance at Cameron’s unconscious face. She didn’t want to say anything that might endanger the both of them. Jack seemed easy enough to trust and very honest about hating the Shadow of the Sun, but Holly still wasn’t certain.

     “It’s a long story,” she said at last. Changing the subject, Holly asked, “What’s wrong with Cameron?”

     “So that’s this guy’s name,” Jack muttered a dark look crossing his face. “He looks just like—never mind. He had a pretty bad wound on his side that could have been life threatening on its own without the infection that set in from your little dip in the river.”

     “Will he make it?” Holly asked ignoring the bitter sarcasm in Jack’s voice. She didn’t understand the sudden wave of fear that crashed over her when she thought about Cameron dying.

     “Luck has kept him alive this far,” Jack said. “If it continues to hold, then I’d say yes. You’re both lucky that Meredythe and I found you when we did. Any longer and you both would have died. Of course, it would have been easier treating both of you if I had known what caused the injuries.”

     They were back at the subject as to why Holly and Cameron had been in the river in the first place. Holly sighed and looked away from Jack and Cameron not wanting to look at either of them. Instead, she looked out the window where the sun was just beginning to rise over the big palm trees.

     The room became painted in pale gold and red as the sun began to make its ascent in the sky. It was beautiful, Holly noticed absently. The colors were amazing.

     Before she knew it, Holly’s eyes were beginning to drift shut. She forced them open, trying her hardest not to go back to sleep. She needed to be there for Cameron if he ever decided to wake up. She didn’t want to be asleep

     “I’ll leave you alone for a while,” Jack said. “You need your rest. Call me or Meredythe if you need anything. I’ll be back in a few hours to check on you and Cameron.”

     Holly nodded sleepily, suddenly too exhausted to say anything. She didn’t know where the sudden urge to sleep for a week came from; she had the feeling she had been out of it for quite some time earlier.

     Jack turned and headed toward the door, casting a lingering look at Cameron’s unconscious form as he did so. There seemed to be some form of suspicion in his gaze as he looked at the sleeping form. Holly felt she was imagining things, that her exhausted mind was playing tricks on her. Jack was a perfectly nice guy. She was becoming paranoid.

     With a light sigh, Holly closed her eyes and drifted off into a peaceful oblivion.

 

     “Would you like to get out of this room for a little while?” Jack asked.

     Holly looked at him as though he were crazy. She had been in the small room with a cataleptic Cameron for three days now and though she was getting bored with absolutely nothing to do, she was scared to venture out of the tiny place. Her arm was still throbbing from the last time she had attempted to walk, which had ended with a lot of cursing on her part and a strong lecture on Jack’s. She shuddered at the thought of a repeat of that particular experience.

     “No, not really,” she said.

     “Come now, the exercise will do you some good,” Jack said. He extended his hand again. “I promise we won’t go very far right now.”

     Holly still hesitated, but for a different reason outside of the fear of the pain now. She didn’t want to leave Cameron’s side. She knew she couldn’t protect him if anyone found them, not with the way her shoulder was at the moment; but Holly felt better just being in the same room with him.

     “You need to eat something,” Jack said. “And Meredythe doesn’t do room service. And neither do I, as a matter of fact.”

     Holly looked from Cameron to Jack and back again.

     “Nothing will happen to him,” Jack said. “We’ll be just down the hall. I’ll leave the door open so you can watch him if you want to.”

     “Okay,” Holly said at last when the growling in her stomach became audible to her ears.

     “We’ll go slowly,” Jack promised as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Holly slid her feet slowly out from underneath the covers, hissing in pain as the movement jostled her injured shoulder.

     Holly would never remember how exactly she and Jack made it down the short, brightly lit hallway into the warm kitchen with a bay window overlooking the vast, gray ocean, but she would remember that it involved a lot of choice swear words on her part and a lot of laughter on Jack’s. By the time she was seated at the honey-brown wooden table in the middle of the kitchen, Holly was about ready to pass out again.

     Meredythe was standing in the kitchen fussing over a large roaring fire that gave the room its warmth. She was spooning something into a large bowl.

     “Here, eat this,” Meredythe said placing a steaming bowl of soup in front of Holly.

     Holly looked at it, feeling her stomach turn at the sight of the warm, tomato bisque in front of her. It reminded her too much of blood, though it was the wrong shade and texture.

     “Are you okay?” Jack asked sitting down across from Holly with his own bowl of soup. Meredythe joined them as well after setting a loaf of freshly made bread on the middle of the table.

     Holly nodded, reaching for the bread and attempting to rip off a piece one handed. It looked more appetizing then the soup.

     “Here,” Meredythe said taking the bread away from Holly for a moment. Holly glared at her, even though it wasn’t the older woman’s fault that Holly had a dislocated shoulder.

     “Eat,” Jack ordered pointing to the soup. “I promise it’s not poisoned.”

     Holly felt a smile tug at her lips as she took the bread Meredythe handed to her and nibbled on it. It was delicious, but it sent a pang of homesickness through her at the same time. Her father always made the best bread in Lindenshire, putting even Lillian Brookes’ own loaves to shame.

     Jack seemed to sense something was wrong, for his face switched from light teasing to one of concern. He exchanged a glance with Meredythe, one that Holly ignored. She didn’t really feel like talking anyway, for it would raise too many questions that Holly didn’t want to answer at the moment.

     So instead, Holly focused on taking small bites of the soup, forcing herself to think of it as soup and not blood dripping off Mason’s gleaming sword in the moonlight. She managed to force down at least half the bowl before her stomach revolted and refused to take in another bite.

     Jack helped Holly back to the room she shared with Cameron while Meredythe cleared the bowls away. They walked slowly and carefully, giving Holly time to study her surroundings. The hallway was short with three doors, all of which were the same honey color as the table in the dining room. They went nicely with the white walls, Holly noted as she and Jack inched back toward the third door at the end of the hallway. She assumed that the two other doors were rooms that belonged to Meredythe and Jack, though she wasn’t really positive.

     “Can we stop for a moment?” Holly asked looking at briefly Jack. It was slightly amusing that she could look him in the eyes without having to look up.  It felt good not to be the shortest person anymore.

     “Sure,” Jack said with a soft smile. If he was puzzled by the request, he didn’t show it.

     A painting that hung in between Holly’s room and one of the mystery doors had caught Holly’s eye. It was a portrait of two men and a woman, standing on the beach front. It was sunset—the bloody red streaks in the sky were reflected in the dark gray ocean below, making it look as though the water was on fire. However, it wasn’t the scene behind the three people that grabbed Holly’s attention; it was the three people in it.

     The man standing on the left Holly recognized instantly as Jack, even though he was years younger than the man standing beside her now. He looked almost the exact same, right down to the twinkling blue eyes that held an air of guarded amusement, even in the painting. He was still short and stocky, when compared to the tall slender woman standing beside him. He had his arm slung around the woman’s waist.

     The woman was stunningly beautiful. She had bright chestnut hair that hung in waves down her back. Her features were perfect—narrow cheekbones angled up toward her ears in almost the same fashion as Holly’s. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of green, like the color of emeralds. She looked strong and elegant in the simple black tunic she wore over gray stockings.

     The man standing on the right drew Holly’s attention the most. He looked so much like Cameron, with his jet black hair and brilliant sapphire eyes that it made her gasp. He even had the same perfect features, though under closer inspection, Holly noted that this doppelganger was heavier set then the slight Cameron who lay only a few feet away, battling against an infection that could very well kill him.

     “Who are they?” Holly questioned pointing to the man and woman in the painting beside Jack.

     Jack glanced at the painting and he instantly stiffened. A guarded look entered his light blue eyes and a scowl crossed his face. Holly inched away from him ,frightened by the dark look she saw there.

     “People I thought I knew,” he muttered after a moment’s pause. “You should get back to bed. You don’t need to be overdoing it with your shoulder on the first day.”

     Taken slightly aback by the harsh note that entered Jack’s voice, Holly hurried to do as she was told.

13: Chapter 12: Jack

     The weeks crept along slowly as Holly began to recover her strength and mobility in her injured shoulder. She was allowed out of the room she shared with the comatose Cameron for longer periods of time and spent most of the hours with Meredythe who was a quiet person that liked to cook. Jack, Holly discovered on the third week of her waking up, spent most of his time in the actual town of Smoke Water, caring for the sick and injured there while keeping an ear out for news of the Shadow of the Sun.

     Holly’s favorite place in the small house was the large living room that consisted of a huge bay window overlooking the stunning gray ocean, three bookshelves filled with interesting books, and a very comfortable couch where Holly enjoyed reading. There was also a fireplace that held a fire burning on driftwood logs, giving purple and blue flames.

     Holly had unconsciously fallen into a routine as the weeks crawled by. She would wake up early, just before the sun rose, and walk into the living room to watch the first streaks of pink and gold pierce the dark gray sky across the ocean while the last of the driftwood fire from the night before burned to a cinder. She would then help Meredythe cook breakfast and set the table. After breakfast, Holly would then check on Cameron who had showed no signs of stirring the past couple of weeks. She would then retire to the living room until lunch, reading the countless books that lined the beautiful bookshelves in the living room. Lunch was a quiet affair—Jack often ate in town leaving Meredythe and Holly alone. Meredythe was one who didn’t like to fill the silences with endless chatter, which Holly didn’t mind. Afternoons were spent reading and checking on Cameron, much like the mornings. Jack would come home as the setting sun turned the dull gray ocean into magnificent, liquid rubies. Meredythe, Jack, and Holly would eat as the sunset became twilight, and the gray world around them became infused with purple, dark blues, and black.

     Despite the fact that Holly had been living in Jack’s house for close to a month now, she still knew very little about the man. He rarely spoke to her except to ask her how her shoulder was doing, and he was rarely home anyway. Holly didn’t dare voice it aloud, but she suspected that she was the reason why Jack was gone so much.

     One late afternoon found Holly lounging on the comfortable couch flipping through the pages of the journal she had stolen from the Sundown Inn. Jack had returned it to her the day before with a strange look on his face. He hadn’t said anything other than he had found it lying on the side of the river along with the packs that Holly and Cameron had been carrying that day. As to why he had kept it from Holly for so long, he didn’t offer an explanation, but Holly didn’t care. She was glad to have it back.

     The last journal entry Holly had read before she and Cameron had been forced to flee from Emberton was about the mysterious author’s despair over whether or not the power of Pyter would ruin their love. The one written directly afterwards took place two months later. The writer, whoever she was, had already been having seeds of doubt about Pyter’s sudden rise to power. Now those seeds were beginning to grow.

 

     Richard came back today, without Pyter. I was instantly worried, fearing the worst. Richard didn’t help matters much by saying that he had no idea where Pyter was and that the Shadow of the Sun wasn’t what we thought it was. He also babbled on about how Pyter wasn’t who I thought he was and that he had changed a lot more since the last I had seen him. I slapped Richard at that point and refused to speak to him for the remainder of the afternoon.

    Richard has always been my best friend. We’ve been as close as brother and sister for as long as I can remember. That is why it hurts so much to hear him say (those)<"these" things about Pyter and the Shadow of the Sun. The Shadow of the Sun is trying to do the right thing, as is Pyter. The Shadow of the Sun got rid of Samuel and saved Solar Shadows from certain demise. They have been fair and kind to the people.

   So why is Richard so against them? Why did he leave their army?

   Those questions have been plaguing me all afternoon ever since Richard returned. I cannot seem to bring myself to focus merely on what good the Shadow of the Sun has done. I cannot help but feel that maybe Richard is right and that the Shadow of the Sun isn’t all that I seem to think it is.

     I have experienced the changes in Pyter. The last time he returned, he was not the same person. He was darker, harsher, and more mystifying than ever. He rarely writes to me anymore except to tell me that he has risen in the ranks of the Shadow of the Sun. I fear that maybe the power is corrupting him.

    I will talk to Richard tomorrow, if he will forgive my behavior this afternoon. I will see if he fears the same things I do and question why the Shadow of the Sun has changed. I will write more if I get answers.

 

     Holly had read this entry many times in the past twenty-four hours She didn’t know why she was so drawn to it—maybe it was because her father was a key player in it and she had been missing him so much of late, or maybe it was because it offered Holly glimpses into the life her father had but had never spoken about. Holly had never known he had once been a member of the Shadow of the Sun. The news was startling and it made Holly flip out the first time she had read it, but it also made sense in a way. The father Holly knew always wanted to help people, no matter who they were or what they had done. The Shadow of the Sun, regardless of what it had become, had been started to rescue the people of Solar Shadows from Samuel and certain destruction.

     Holly hadn’t read the next journal entry yet, so she didn’t know if the woman—whoever she was—had gotten any answers to the questions she had raised.

 She eagerly turned the page to read more.

 

     I rode to the Larson farm early this morning only to learn from Richard’s mother that he had left to return to the Shadow of the Sun late during the night. I knew at once this was a lie; Richard had left the Shadow of the Sun. He had told me that the day prior. So why was his mother telling me otherwise? Or did she not know that her son was no longer a member of the exalted organization that had brought peace to Solar Shadows?

      It turned out to be the latter. I no sooner had left the Larson farm when I ran into Richard. He was with my brother Jack next to the river that made the town’s western edge. They were fishing and doing whatever it is guys do on a daily basis.

 

     Holly nearly dropped the book in shock. Jack? Was it the same Jack whom Holly had met a month prior? Could Jack Fox really know the identity of the woman to whom this journal belonged?

     She toyed with the idea for all of thirty seconds before quickly dismissing it. There was no way possible that Jack Fox knew who had written this journal.  It would be too big of a coincidence for one thing. For another, there were hundreds of men named Jack. There were two good acquaintances in Lindenshire. It was merely sheer chance that Holly and Cameron had been found by a man named Jack. Technically, Holly thought, they hadn't actually been found by Jack. Meredythe had found them. Jack had merely assisted in rescuing them.

     Shaking her head to clear the stray thoughts of what if Jack was the brother, Holly returned to reading the journal. She read barely a sentence more before a sudden commotion happened in the hallway just outside the living room. She glanced up wondering what happened and froze in shock.

     Wearing a pair of loose fitting black drawstring pants and a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, was Cameron, leaning against the honey-brown doorway. His black hair was tangled and messy, his sapphire eyes, exhausted and pained. But he was awake and smiling slightly as he locked eyes with Holly.

     “Cameron?” Holly whispered. The journal lay abandoned on the couch as she stood up and took a few cautious steps toward him. She felt as though she were in a dream: Cameron was awake.

     “Hi,” he said quietly, his voice barely louder than a hoarse murmur. Even still, it was the most beautiful sound Holly had ever heard.

     Before Holly could stop herself, she closed the two long strides between her and Cameron and flung her arms around his shoulders. She surprised both of them equally. He was alive. That was the only thing running through her mind at the moment.

     Holly was aware of Cameron wrapping his long arms around her as well, pulling her closer to him.

     “How are you feeling?” she asked pulling away and pretending to fix her hair. She didn’t know what had come over her just then, but it terrified her to feel that elated just to see Cameron. That was dangerous and they both knew it. They couldn’t afford to be much more than travelling partners, especially since they were going after the Shadow of the Sun. From the stories Holly had heard from Cameron and from other strangers in the past, the Shadow of the Sun would do anything to use this type of relationship to their power. Hell, it had even happened to Holly’s parents. That’s why she was in this mess in the first place.  

     “Alive,” Cameron said with a faint chuckle. He sounded strangely… sad, as though he had enjoyed the hug as much as Holly.

     “That’s always a good thing,” Holly said genially. “It sure beats feeling dead.”

     Cameron chuckled again. “How are you feeling?”

     “I’m fine,” Holly said. “Then again, I’m not the one who has been unconscious for the past four weeks with a serious infection in his side.”

     Cameron grimaced. “But I didn’t rip my shoulder out of its socket, either. Honestly, why didn’t you tell me about that?”

     “There were other things going on at the time that seemed a tad more important than a dislocated shoulder,” Holly said with a shrug. She winced—her shoulder was still sore. “But I’m fine. Really.”

     It struck Holly at that moment that they were both talking too stiffly and standing too rigidly. If someone walked in on them now, then he or she would probably think Holly and Cameron were complete strangers.

     Cameron seemed to realize it too, for he sighed heavily. “I’m glad you’re okay. But next time, please tell me about it. Even if we are on the run from the Shadow of the Sun and I’m hurt too. Okay?”

     “Okay,” Holly promised. She knew there wasn’t going to be a next time. Not for the Shadow of the Sun because she knew that she and Cameron were going to eventually be chased by them again; Cameron wasn’t going to get injured because of her again.

     Cameron smiled softly at her and Holly hesitantly returned it. It hit her then just how exhausted he looked.

     “Come, sit down,” Holly said pointing to the couch

     Cameron shot her a grateful glance as he slowly limped to the couch. He shook off any offers of help from Holly, determined to do it on his own.

     “So what have I missed?” he asked as he settled against the back of the couch and sighed. “And how long have I been out?”

     “You’ve been out for at least a month,” Holly said fiddling with a loose thread on the couch. She was a little too overly aware of how close he was. “And you haven’t missed anything really.”

     “Really?” Cameron asked arching an eyebrow. “So the Shadow of the Sun has given up looking for us?”

     “In the beginning, no,” Holly said. “But lately, they haven’t been around. I think Jack’s finally has them convinced that we’re not in Smoke Water.”

     “Jack?” Cameron echoed. He looked suspicious and Holly could hardly blame him. She had felt the same way when she first met Jack.

     “He’s okay,” Holly told him. “He saved both of our lives and doesn’t have anything to do with the Shadow of the Sun.”

     Cameron nodded, blinking tiredly. He let out a yawn.

     “Are you okay?” Holly questioned. “You can sleep if you want.”

     “I’ve been asleep for a month,” Cameron said. “I want to talk to you.”

     “What do you want to talk to me about?” she asked, fighting against the reaction to blush. There was no reason to; they were just friends, if that.

     “What have you been doing for the past month?” Cameron asked through a yawn. “And why was I out of it for so long?”

     “I’ve just been reading and sleeping,” Holly said honestly. “Nothing too exciting. And you were pretty badly wounded by Vincent’s sword.”

     “Oh,” Cameron murmured. His eyes were closing again. Holly let out a small laugh.

     “It’s okay to sleep, Cameron,” she said. “No one’s going to find us here.”

     Cameron mumbled something incoherently as his eyes closed. They didn’t reopen.

     Chuckling to herself, Holly slid off the couch and gently pulled Cameron’s legs on to the cushions. She unwound the blanket from his shoulders and laid it lightly over the rest of him as well.

     “Sleep well,” she murmured picking up the journal from the floor where she had put it earlier.

     Holly meant to go to the room she had been sharing with Cameron, but with one look at his sleeping form, she decided to stay in the living room. She took a pillow from the edge of the couch and propped herself against the wall underneath the bay window. Taking one last glance at him and smiling, Holly immersed herself in the journal again.

 

     Richard barely glanced up as I dismounted and made my way over to them. Jack frowned when he saw me. Obviously, Richard had told him what had happened and he decided to side with his friend over his sister. I understood—I would have done the same.

     We sat there in silence for the longest time. The only sound between us was the rushing river and the occasional splash of fish as Jack or Richard caught one and threw it back.

     “I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have doubted you. You are my best friend. You have never lied to me before and you have no reason to now.”

      “You have been misled by the Shadow of the Sun,” Richard said calmly. “I don’t blame you. I was what you are now, confused and torn and wanting to believe in something.”

     “The Shadow of the Sun isn’t that thing anymore, is it?” I asked not wanting to believe it but at the same time knowing that it was true. I hate that there is no hope left in the world, that everything seems to be corrupted by power.

     “No,” Richard said heavily. “It is not.”

     “People need hope,” Jack said quietly. “They need something to believe in. They think it’s the Shadow of the Sun, but it’s not.”

     We sat there in silence for the longest time. When I think back, I realize that it was most of the afternoon.

     “We could be the thing people believe in,” I said suddenly. An idea is forming in my mind, one that is probably stupid, dangerous, and could get us all killed. But something had to be done.

     “We could,” Richard said looking at me as though I were a ray of sunlight after a horrible storm. I will never forget that look in his brown eyes.

     It became quiet again, but it was a different type of silence this time. It was a thoughtful one.

     “Well, we’ll need a name,” Jack said at last.

     This is what I love about my brother. As annoying as he can be, he always takes things in stride, as though they were meant to happen. He is always ready for everything. And for what I think is coming, I know that that is going to be needed.

     We call ourselves the Eclipse. The name was fashioned after the Shadow of the Sun’s, for that is what an eclipse is, a mere shadow of the sun. But unlike the Shadow of the Sun, we will not be corrupted by power; for Richard, Jack, and I have agreed that once the Shadow of the Sun has been stopped, we will cease to exist. We will let the people govern themselves. We will not lead for them, because that will be setting ourselves up for corruption. And we cannot let that happen. 

     The Eclipse has been born. We now must gather followers, ones who aren’t sympathetic toward the Shadow of the Sun. It will be hard—nearly everyone in Solar Shadows thinks the Shadow of the Sun is the best thing that has ever happened here. It will be dangerous—there are new laws concerning the Shadow of the Sun every day, ones that if broken are punishable by death. But it will be worth it in the end to finally free Solar Shadows from the corrupt people who have led it for so long.                                                                                                              

     Won’t it?                 

 

     The journal entry ended there. Holly was too shocked by what she had read to continue reading. Her father had been the reason that the Eclipse was formed. He was the one who first noticed the evil at work inside the Shadow of the Sun in the first place. He was one of the first three members of the Eclipse. He had led it. How was that possible? Why hadn’t he told her? Did Holly’s mother know?

     Cameron suddenly sneezed, breaking Holly’s thought process. She started, mentally kicking herself for being so jumpy, and blinked when she realized that he was staring at her, his blue eyes wide with questions.

     “Hi,” Holly said dumbly. She mentally shook herself. “How long have you been awake?”

     “Not long,” Cameron said with a shrug. “Long enough to see that you’re puzzled about something.”

     Holly must have been on the edge of hysterics, for a giggle burst through her lips. Puzzled, she thought with another giggle. That’s putting it mildly.

     Cameron stared at her as if she had grown a third eye and sprouted wings. Holly sighed, the laughter dying on her lips. This wasn’t a laughing matter.

     “Can I get you anything?” she asked taking a deep breath to calm herself and push the last stray thoughts of her father and the Eclipse out of her mind. “You must be hungry.”

     “Not really,” Cameron said as he pushed himself into a sitting position and swung his legs over the edge of the couch. “But I could use an explanation.”

     “For what?” Holly inquired bemused.

     She never got an answer, for a loud cough behind Cameron made her look up. Jack was standing there with a strange look on his face as he gazed at the two of them. He looked almost saddened by the scene in front of him.

     “Cameron, this is Jack. Jack Fox,” Holly said as Cameron turned to see who had interrupted them. “He saved our lives.”

     “Fox?” Cameron echoed. His blue eyes grew wide as he stared at Jack, who merely glared stonily back.

     “You heard correctly,” the older man said. “I’m Jack Fox. And you must be Cameron. Holly has told me a lot about you.”

    Wondering what was going on, Holly looked from Cameron to Jack. Cameron looked as though he had been run over by a herd of stampeding horses; while Jack looked as though he had been force fed poison as the two stared at each other.

     The awkward silence stretched on, no one daring to say anything.  The three of them stood there staring at each other.

     “Holly, can I speak to you outside?” Jack asked at last. He was looking at the journal in her lap. Holly had forgotten she was still holding it.

     She looked to Cameron hesitantly, not wanting to leave him if he needed anything. He looked horrible—his face was pale and sweaty and there were dark circles underneath his eyes, in spite of the nap he just had and the month of sleep he had beforehand.

     “Go,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I’ll be fine.”

     “Okay,” Holly said uncertainly. She got to her feet and set the journal on the floor before following Jack outside.

     She had been outside of Jack’s small house a couple of times before to visit the stables so she could make sure her horse was okay and to help Meredythe gather driftwood for the fires. She knew that the house was made of driftwood and sat a few yards away from the dark gray ocean with a small stable built for a couple of horses set further back. On the west side of the house was a large palm tree that offered shade in the summer time for the rest of the house.

     Jack led the way down a small path in the sand to another area of the land that Holly hadn’t been to before. It was a small grove of fruit trees. Holly spotted a crescent shaped yellow fruit that she had only heard about, but never tasted. Holly had heard that it was called banana. Holly wondered absently if the strange fruit was any good.

     “Holly, I want to talk to you about Cameron,” Jack said. “And the journal. Mainly about how you came to know Cameron and how you got the journal.”

     “Why?” Holly asked. “You haven’t had any interest in either before.”

     “It’s important,” Jack said.

     “That’s not a good enough reason,” Holly retorted. “If you really want to know, you’re going to have to do better than that.”

     “I know the person who wrote the journal,” Jack admitted. “I’m the brother who is mentioned in there.”

     Holly felt as though she had been punched in the stomach. She had wondered as much, but she hadn’t really believed—how is this possible? she wondered. How did we end up here?

     “I got the journal from the Sundown Inn near Smithville,” Holly said honestly. She knew Jack would know if she attempted to lie, so she didn’t bother. Why did it matter anyway if Jack knew? He had already told her that he was no friend of the Shadow of the Sun, and if he really was the Jack in the journal, then he was a family friend.

     “From a guy named Barret?” Jack guessed. Holly nodded. “You stole it from him, didn’t you?”

     “How did you know?” Holly asked her eyes widening in surprise.

     “Because no matter how much you look like your mother, Barret would never have willingly parted with that journal,” he said.

     “How do you know my mother?” Holly demanded.

     The brief flashes of being pulled out of the river that she thought she had imagined wormed their way into Holly’s mind at that moment. Jack had called her Leah.  Leah was her mother’s name.

     “I’m her brother,” Jack said softly. “And the journal, as you can guess, is your mother’s.”

14: Chapter 13: Unexpected Hardships

     Holly stared at Jack in stunned disbelief. How was it possible that she had an uncle? Her father was an only child, and her mother had seen her entire family murdered by the Shadow of the Sun. And even if Jack was really Holly’s uncle, the odds of their finding each other under the circumstances were just too high. These things only happened in stories, not in real life. Holly couldn’t accept the fact that Jack was her uncle because it was too unlikely. It wasn’t humanly possible. Was it?

     Jack stared back at her, his calm gray eyes anxious for the first time since Holly had known him. He was obviously waiting for her to say something, anything, about the information he had just given her. He was worried, Holly realized, about how she was going to take this. It was why he didn’t tell her the moment he knew, which, Holly reflected, was pretty much the minute he had laid eyes on her. Hadn’t he called her Leah when he pulled her out of the river? Leah was her mother’s name. People had always told Holly how much she had looked like her mother, even if Holly didn’t believe it herself, it was true. Holly did resemble Leah in many ways—the color of her hair and eyes to her height. She was much taller than most people, excluding Abby, Cameron, and Tina. Her mother always seemed to tower above everyone else as well. It wasn’t hard to see the family resemblance if someone knew the mother and daughter.

     “You’re really my uncle?” Holly whispered numbly. The more she thought about it, the more she realized it had to be true. He even looked similar to Casey, who took after Holly’s father in every way except the eyes which were the same shade of gray as Jack’s. Casey was also a foot shorter than Holly, despite being the older twin. Richard was fairly tall. Jack, on the other hand, was short for a man.

     “Yes,” Jack said quietly.

     Holly took a hesitant step toward him, just staring at him. He was really her uncle. He was her mother’s brother, someone who was supposed to have been murdered by the Shadow of the Sun. He was alive.

     Before she could really think about her actions, Holly flung her arms around Jack’s neck, giving him a huge hug. Tears pricked the back of her eyes as she felt him wrap a careful arm around her back, returning the gesture.

     “My mother never told me she had a brother,” Holly whispered wiping at her eyes as she unraveled herself from the hug. “One that was alive, anyway.”

     “She doesn’t know I am alive,” Jack said. Holly looked at him in bemusement. “It was safer that way for all of us. I know that she is alive, but she couldn’t know that I am. James would have done and will do anything to harm Leah in any way possible. Believe me when I tell you that.”

     “I believe you,” Holly said sadly. Her eyes stung again as she looked away from Jack and out into the gray ocean. She missed her father. Finding out that she had an uncle only intensified that feeling.

     “What happened, Holly? Why are you here? Is Leah okay?” Jack was scared, Holly could tell by the speed at which he fired those questions at her. He didn’t want to lose his sister, even if it was the same sister that thought he was dead.

     “I’m here because of James,” Holly said hesitantly. Even though Jack was related to her, it didn’t earn him her trust. Granted, he had saved her life and Cameron’s, but Holly was still not comfortable with telling a complete stranger the story.

      “You don’t trust me,” Jack said with a small smile. “It’s okay. It’s strange, I know, suddenly knowing you have an uncle that you thought was dead. I understand. You don’t have to tell me everything. But can you tell me if Leah’s okay or not?”

     “My mother is fine,” Holly promised. “At least, I hope she is. I haven’t heard anything about home in a long time.”

     She was relieved that he accepted the fact that she couldn’t open up to him about what she’d been through. Holly didn’t want to have a fight with Jack, not after he had rescued her and Cameron from certain death.

      “That’s good,” Jack said obviously relieved His shoulders loosened. “The Shadow of the Sun hasn’t made a move on any town yet. I know, I have a couple of people who are a part of the Shadow of the Sun, but are loyal to me. They’d let me know if the Shadow of the Sun is up to anything.”

     “Why do you care about what happens in the Shadow of the Sun?” Holly questioned. “From what I can tell, you’re just a doctor.”

     “I was a part of the Eclipse, Holly, for the longest time,” Jack reminded her. “I don’t like the fact that the Shadow of the Sun has risen to power again. I’m going to do my damndest to make sure things don’t get as bad as last time. As we speak, there are people gathering out there who are just as against the Shadow of the Sun as you and I. The Shadow of the Sun does not know of their existence yet, for if they did, it would mean full out war. But the Eclipse is on the rise once again."

     “What?” Holly exclaimed. She hated the fact that she was constantly being surprised. It made her feel off balance. She didn’t like not knowing what to expect.

      “The Eclipse is rising,” Jack repeated. “It’s only a matter of time before the war begins again and Solar Shadows is fought over once more.”

     Holly and Jack stood on the beach in silence for the longest time just staring at the ocean as the waves crashed onto the beach. After a long while, Jack made mention of going to find something to eat and checking up on Cameron’s wound. He disappeared toward the house, leaving Holly to mull over what she had just learned.

     The sun was just beginning to set over the ocean turning it beautiful shades of dark red and gold. Crashing on the beach, the gray water turned into liquid flames. Silver foam looking like smoke rose up on the crests of the waves giving the ocean its name.

     Holly witnessed the sunset from the little grove of trees she had been sitting in ever since Jack had told her about the Eclipse. She was in shock, to say the least. She hadn’t realized it up until that moment, but she had been desperately searching for someone or something such as the Eclipse to help her find her father. She knew that she couldn’t do it alone. Even with Cameron’s help, the rescue mission would have been suicide and a wasted effort. There had been a faint hope that Holly had unconsciously clung to until that moment. Now it made itself known and it was the only thing Holly could think about. She realized that she could easily rescue her father now with help from the Eclipse, but it meant having to tell Jack everything. Holly wasn’t sure if she was ready to do that just yet. As amazing as it was to have the thought of the Eclipse being reformed, it could have just been a trick by the Shadow of the Sun in order to get to her.

     Holly angrily shook her head. She was becoming too paranoid for her own good. She was just like Wenet now, thinking everything was hiding some darker secret. It was stupid. But Holly couldn’t quite shake the feeling that there was some hidden mystery in the sudden rise of the Eclipse and Jack’s miraculous appearance to save her life. It was too big of a coincidence, and Holly didn’t believe in coincidences in the first place.

      “Holly?”

     Holly jumped at the sound of Cameron’s soft voice directly behind her. She hadn’t been expecting it and the sudden whisper after hours of only the sound of crashing waves for company scared her.

     “Hey!” she said as she got her wits back about her and turned to face him. “Should you really be out here right now?”

     “Jack said that dinner’s ready,” Cameron said. “He said that it might be better if I came to find you instead him right now. What is that about, anyway?”                       

     “Jack told me some things that I’m having trouble wrapping my head around,” Holly admitted. “But are you okay? How is your side? It’s not hurting, is it?”

     “Relax, I’m fine,” Cameron said, his sapphire eyes twinkling as he waved off her concern. “Jack wouldn’t have let me out of the house if I wasn’t. What things did Jack tell you?”

     “Holly? Cameron? Are you two coming to eat or what?”

     The sound of Meredythe’s voice made Holly growl under her breath. Cameron smiled sympathetically at her.

     “Are you hungry?” he asked. Holly nodded. She hadn’t had anything to eat at all that day. “Good, because I’m starving and Meredythe made rabbit stew. It smells delicious.”

     Cameron offered her his hand which Holly gratefully accepted. Once she had brushed the sand off her leggings, Cameron wrapped a warm arm around her shoulders and they started walking toward the small cottage. Holly hadn’t realized how cold it had gotten until that moment. She inched closer to him, not caring for the moment that the boundaries she had set for herself earlier that day were being crossed. She was cold and he was warm. It was as simple as that.

 

     Holly wrapped her cloak tighter around her shoulders as she slipped out the front door of the house. It was getting close to midnight, if the height of the moon was anything to go by. She was heading for the small grove of trees again so that she could be alone for a while.

     After dinner, Cameron had gone to bed, for he was exhausted and in pain. Jack had done the best he could for him, but the thing Cameron needed most right now was rest. Holly had watched Cameron sleep while she read the journal some more, but after a while, that held no interest for her. She had too many thoughts whirling around her head and had no one to talk to. She longed to talk to Casey, but he was miles away, safe and hopefully not worrying too much about her.

     Holly sank down underneath one of the palm trees and crossed her arms over her chest. She rested her head against the tree and stared up at the stars, wondering what she should do. That seemed to be the number one question in her mind as of late.

     The sound of the waves crashing against the beach was comforting. It reminded Holly of the river that rushed past her home back in Lindenshire and of the evenings she and her father spent riding their horses along the riverside. She wanted desperately to go back to those evenings of peace and safety. She told herself that she could have those back once she rescued her father, but Holly knew it was a lie. She was a part of this brewing fight between the Eclipse and the Shadow of the Sun now. Even once she rescued her father, there would be no returning to Lindenshire and waiting until the war was over. No, the Shadow of the Sun would come looking for her and her family once again even if Holly did somehow manage to come out of this rescue attempt alive.

     Tears fell silently down her face as she stared up at the stars. Holly would never admit it, but she was scared of what might happen when she went to rescue her father. She was scared of what might happen if she succeeded. Holly liked her life, as boring and simple as it was, and she hadn't wanted it to change. She didn’t want to be a part of the never-ending conflict between the Eclipse and the Shadow of the Sun. She didn’t want to be caught up in the star-crossed lovers’ battle. But she knew she had no choice. It was like when her father was first kidnapped. She had no choice because she knew that if she didn’t do it, then no one would. If Holly didn’t join the fight after she rescued her father, then she would hate herself for not doing anything to save her home.

     Holly didn’t know how long she had sat there, but eventually, the sounds of the crashing waves and the peaceful setting of the beach lulled her into a peaceful oblivion.

     Holly sat up with a start, squinting in the blinding light of the morning sun. She didn’t know what had awakened her—the only sounds she could hear were the normal crashing of waves and the twittering of birds—but as she slowly got to her feet and brushed the sand off of her cloak, Holly heard the sound of footsteps running over sand.

     Frightened and hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t see her, Holly pressed herself against the tree. The footsteps grew closer to where Holly was hiding. She peered out from behind the tree and saw a woman wearing a dark cloak running toward the ocean. Holly was puzzled; there was no one chasing her, so why was she running? Also, why was she running toward the ocean? Even if she were being chased, there was no way to escape.

     And then Holly saw the boat. It was a small thing, barely bigger then a dingy for a much larger ship, sitting off the shore. A tall, dark haired man wearing a dark gray cloak was sitting the boat. Holly stifled a gasp; she recognized the man from the night she and Cameron were on the run from the Shadow of the Sun. She couldn’t remember his name, but she knew that his presence there, at Jack’s cottage, meant one thing—she and Cameron had been discovered.

     “Run, Mary!” the man in the boat urged. Holly turned around to find Jack sprinting toward the woman and the boat. He had a long sword, drawn and at the ready.

      “Meredythe Fuller, you will pay for your betrayal!” he shouted.

     Holly felt as though her brain were about to explode. The woman who was running away was evidently a member of the Shadow of the Sun. But it was Meredythe? That was impossible! Holly knew Meredythe, she trusted her. How could she have been working for the Shadow of the Sun all along?

     The woman stopped before she reached the boat and turned around, withdrawing the hood from her head. Holly was shocked to find that it was actually Meredythe and felt a pain of betrayal course through her. Meredythe had become her friend over the past month. She was supposed to hate the Shadow of the Sun as much as Holly did. She wasn’t supposed to be working for them.

     “Even if you kill me now, James will hear about the Eclipse reforming and who is in it. You won’t live to see another full moon, Jack Fox,” Meredythe said. “Even if I die, the Shadow of the Sun will still become triumphant. The Eclipse will fall. There’s nothing you can do to change that now! You should really learn not to trust anyone, Jack.”

     Jack stood frozen in the sand as Meredythe climbed aboard the small boat next to the tall dark haired man. He and Holly watched as the boat turned around and sailed away into the incoming mist.

     “Jack?” Holly asked tentatively, stepping out from behind the tree. He either didn’t hear her or ignored her. She tried again. “Jack?”

     He turned to face her. He looked utterly defeated, with his shoulders slumped and his sword hanging limply from his hand.

     “You saw?” he asked hoarsely. Holly nodded.

     “Is it true? Was Meredythe really working for the Shadow of the Sun?” she asked quietly. She didn’t want to believe it

     Jack nodded.

     “I don’t know how I missed that,” he said sadly. “I had eyes everywhere, searching for the first sign of the Shadow of the Sun in Smoke Water. I guess no one would have suspected Meredythe. She was too good of an actor.”

     “I’m sorry, Jack,” Holly said softly.

     “It’s not your fault,” Jack said.

     “It probably is,” Holly admitted. “If Cameron and I hadn’t come here, then she probably wouldn’t have shown her true colors.”

     “One of these days you’re going to explain that,” Jack said. “But if that is the case, then I should be thanking you.”

     “How did you find out about Meredythe anyway?” Holly questioned. “I mean, everything was fine last night, wasn’t it?”

     “I came looking for you this morning and saw her talking to that man in the boat, someone I know for a fact who works for the Shadow of the Sun,” Jack said. “I hid in the trees for a few minutes, listening to what she was telling him, and found out that she was telling him about everything that I’ve done here to revive the Eclipse. I knew at once that she had been betraying me all along. So, I waited until the man returned to the boat and she went back to the house and then confronted her when she came back out. You heard what happened next.”

     “I am sorry,” Holly said again. She didn’t know what else to say. She was in stunned disbelief.

     Holly felt her respect for Jack increase greatly. He was a man that just had everything he worked for revealed to his enemy, and yet he was able to forget about it and focus on helping her. She really hoped that he wasn’t lying about trying to resurrect the Eclipse, for once Holly had rescued her father, and she believed now that she would, she wanted to come back and help Jack fight the Shadow of the Sun so no one else would suffer the amount of pain of betrayal and heartbreak that they both had suffered.

     “We should get back to Cameron and tell him what has happened,” she said at last. “He will know better than I what we need to make it to the Land of Shadows.”

     Jack’s eyes widened as Holly accidentally revealed part of her secret. Holly realized that she hadn’t told him where she and Cameron were going, only that they were going somewhere. 

     “Who did James take?” he asked quietly. His voice was taut with fear and worry. Holly was aware of the fact, a second too late, that by telling Jack she would be going to the Land of Shadows he would know instantly that someone had been taken by James. Holly instantly berated herself—she had honestly meant to keep that hidden from Jack until she had a chance to have a proper conversation with Cameron.

     “Who?” Jack demanded when Holly was silent. She looked away from him, a lone tear sliding down her face. “It was Richard, wasn’t it? You already told me that Leah was safe, so it has to be Richard.”

     Holly nodded, not trusting herself to speak around the lump in her throat. She didn’t know why she was suddenly so close to crying, but she couldn’t help herself. She really missed her father and was terrified of what the Shadow of the Sun would do to him if she didn’t rescue him soon enough.

     She was surprised when Jack pulled her into a hug, wrapping his stocky arms around her. Holly buried her face into his tunic and let her tears fall silently down her face. For a moment, she let herself think that it was her father holding her and telling her everything would be okay. She knew the dream would only hurt her later when she had time to think about the day’s events and cause her to realize once again how much she missed her father, but for the moment, Holly was past caring.

     They stood there in the embrace for a while before Holly broke away, wiping the tears from her eyes. She nodded her thanks to Jack before turning and brushing past him, ignoring the gentle hand on her shoulder in protest. She needed to talk to Cameron and tell him what had happened before she said a word more to Jack.

     Gentle footsteps in the sand alerted Holly to Jack’s following of her. She didn’t care—it was his house and land after all—but she merely lengthened her stride in an effort to make the message clear that she did not want to talk to him at the moment.

     Cameron was sitting on the couch in the living room flipping through the pages of one of Jack’s books. He glanced up from it as Holly walked inside, his cerulean eyes alight with curiosity and confusion. Holly took one look at him and felt all the stress and tension that had been building inside of her since she had woken in Jack’s house, and even since Emberton, fade away.

     “I need to talk to you,” she said in lieu of an explanation that he was asking for by raising his black eyebrows and setting aside the book he had been reading.

     Jack entered the room at that moment. Holly sucked in a deep breath as he nodded to the both of them and continued on his way to the back of his house. Cameron watched the exchange silently with his arms folded against his chest.

     “What’s going on?” he asked quietly once Jack was out of earshot. “What happened to Meredythe?”

     “Meredythe was working for the Shadow of the Sun,” Holly said sadly leaning against the wall behind her and allowing herself to slide down until she was able to sit on the floor.

     Cameron looked carefully surprised, as though he already knew what Holly had just told him. For some reason it didn’t surprise her or make her suspicious, only annoyed with herself for trusting Meredythe so blindly as she had. She should have known better.

     “What else?” he asked in his usual musical cadences.

     Those two simple words were enough to make Holly speak for nearly an hour without prompting. She told Cameron everything, even things she had withheld from him before for obvious reasons. She told him about her mother and how Leah was actually one of the original members of the Eclipse, not just the farmwife she had pretended to be for sixteen years. Holly told Cameron of how Leah thought that all of her family was dead and that Jack Fox was really her mother’s brother and Holly’s uncle. She even told Cameron about the night she had spent outside simply because Holly needed to tell someone everything.

     Cameron listened to Holly talk without a word. He made small sounds of surprise, especially when Holly spoke of Jack being her uncle. He seemed both impressed and oddly unsurprised when Holly told him about Jack’s plan to reform the Eclipse and his efforts to do so already.

     When Holly was through speaking, the pair sat in silence, staring at each other for the longest of times. Then, Cameron stood up and motioned for her to do the same.

     “I don’t know about you, but I feel the need to do something outside of just sitting around,” he said taking her hand. Holly wondered if she should object, but she somehow couldn’t make herself let go of his hand. It was warm and comforting, something she so desperately desired.

     “What do you want to do?” she asked wondering what it was that he could do while he was recovering from his injury.

     “What I want to do is to find a small house near the Angler Falls of the Sangtress Forest and watch the world go by with only select few for company,” Cameron said contemplatively. “But since that is out of my reach for the moment, I will settle for going with Jack into Smoke Water, finding passage to the Land of Shadows, and meeting with these Shadow of the Sun members whom Jack trusts to find any useful information that we will require in order to rescue Tina and your father.”

     “That sounds like a good idea as any,” Jack’s voice sounded from the living room’s entrance. Holly turned toward the kitchen and was not surprised to find him standing there with his arms crossed over his chest in a similar manner to Cameron’s.

     “Then let’s go,” Cameron said with a smile.

     Holly smiled in return, glad to know that someone was with her who understood exactly what it was that she needed at the moment, even if she didn’t know it yet herself.

15: Chapter 14: Smoke Water

     Holly pulled her hood tighter around her head as she followed Jack and Cameron onto the main road of Smoke Water. They had all agreed that for the time being, it was best if Cameron and Holly stayed hidden from sight of everyone else. Jack didn’t want to raise undue suspicion from any members of the Shadow of the Sun who might be walking about, and Cameron didn’t want anyone recognizing him for reasons he chose to keep to himself.                                                                              

     Holly had to admit that it was a good plan, even if it raised the vague suspicions she was still harboring about Cameron after all the time they had spent together.

     Holly was nervous about being around so many people after spending so much time hidden away at Jack’s place and hiding out in the woods while she had been chased by the Shadow of the Sun. While on the run with Cameron, Holly had already regarded everyone has a potential threat, but that feeling had tripled since Meredythe had betrayed Jack to the Shadow of the Sun.

     “Meet me back at the Hunter Inn in an hour,” Jack instructed as the three reached a crossroads. “That should be plenty of time for you two to gather supplies and buy passage onto a ship headed for the Land of Shadows.”

     “What are you going to do?” Holly asked quietly. She didn’t need to be so quiet—they were surrounded by a lot of noise and activity—but she couldn’t bring herself to raise her voice in case there were people around that shouldn’t be hearing what they said.

     “I’m going to stock up on medical supplies,” Jack said. He lowered his voice and added, “And to talk to the members of the Eclipse. Remember, keep your hoods up and don’t talk to anyone about what you are doing. If you see anyone of the Shadow of the Sun, then stay out of sight.”

     Holly and Cameron nodded in agreement. Jack disappeared into the crowd of people, leaving Holly and Cameron on their own.

     “How about you go to find supplies and I’ll get the tickets,” Cameron suggested. “It’ll save time.”

     “I don’t know,” Holly said. “Jack said it would be safer if we stuck together.”

     “You’ll be fine. I’ll be fine,” Cameron said. “It’s only for an hour. What can happen in an hour?”

     “You do realize that you’re talking about us, right?” Holly asked shrewdly. “The two most wanted people on the Shadow of the Sun’s list? If they see us, then we’re done for.”

     “Then stay out of sight,” Cameron recommended. “You know everything we need, right?”

     “Yes,” Holly said. “But be careful, Cameron, okay? You’re still on the mend. If you do anything stupid to get yourself caught, I’ll personally find you and kill you.”

     “Is that a threat?” Cameron teased.

     “It’s a promise,” Holly retorted.

     Cameron grinned at her.

     “Then why should I worry about getting caught if I know you’re going to come and rescue me?” he asked. Holly glared at him. “I’m kidding, Holly. I promise, I’ll be fine. I’m not new to this whole hiding and staying out of sight thing, remember?”

     Holly sighed and nodded her head.

     “I’ll see you in an hour!” he said as he headed down one of the streets, leaving Holly on her own.

     Holly took a few deep breaths to calm herself before going down a different street than the one Cameron had just taken.

 

     Holly found herself falling in love with Smoke Water the more time she spent there. The town itself was so different than anywhere she had ever been. Where Emberton and Lindenshire sprawled along cobblestone roads in no apparent fashion, Smoke Water had been built in neat, orderly lines in every direct pattern. All the stores selling clothing were on one road; all the stores selling food were on another and so on And the way the buildings were built made Holly suspect that the people of Smoke Water were more prepared than most towns for attacks. But that wasn’t what Holly loved most about the town. What she enjoyed so much about Smoke Water were the people. There were a lot of people milling around open shops and inns, either buying or selling things, like most towns, but unlike most towns, there were dozens of different types. In her entire life, Holly had seen only three groups of people. The people like Abby and her parents with their dark skin, the people like her, and then the people who lived in the mountains above Lindenshire. Here those people were represented along with people who were similar in appearance to Cameron, with their cat-like eyes and their extremely long limbs; people who were somewhere in between Abby’s race and Holly’s own, and even types of people Holly had never seen before. Rather than be frightened by this, Holly enjoyed these differences. She wandered around the streets for a little while just taking it all in.

     Holly explored the shops for a time, occasionally buying much needed items for her and Cameron’s travelling, such as new saddle bags and food; but for the most part just listened in on conversations. She had been in seclusion at Jack’s place for so long, that Holly had forgotten how much she liked to listen to gossip. It reminded her of home and of days at the inn, listening to Wenet and her friends pick apart the latest scandal.

     One particular conversation caught Holly’s attention. She was in a small shop selling tack and other horse equipment when she overheard a man and a woman discussing the Shadow of the Sun in hushed whispers.

     “I heard that the Shadow of the Sun has already mounted an attack on one of the towns,” the woman whispered. “Apparently, James is getting upset that he can’t find the two fugitives he’s looking for.”

     Intrigued and slightly frightened, Holly crept closer, careful to stay out of sight. She didn’t want to be seen by the people, whoever they may be. She had seen the wanted posters hanging on some of the bulletin boards of her and Cameron’s faces. Granted the images were fairly indistinct; they were still too close to what she looked like. She didn’t want to be seen accidentally by someone and thus become a captive of the Shadow of the Sun

     “Those are just rumors, Julie,” one of the men growled. “People are just trying to cause trouble and stir up fear. Everyone knows that for the Shadow of the Sun to attack any town, they’d first have to travel through Smoke Water. And old Jack Fox has been busy keeping tabs on the town so he’d know if a huge army started walking the street.”

     Holly was surprised to hear Jack’s name, but what surprised her more was the ignorance of the man who had spoken. Hadn’t he heard about Smithtown and the horror that had happened there? Holly still had nightmares about travelling in the dark through the smoke and being found by James and the complete stranger.

     “Have you forgotten about Smithtown and Barret’s inn?” the woman snapped. “It doesn’t take an army to burn a town to the ground. And that is what happened to Lindenshire.”

     Holly found herself unable to breathe; her heart was beating so fast. Her home was gone. It had been burned to the ground by the Shadow of the Sun. And it was all because of her and her desire to rescue her father. She had put everyone she loved in danger and very possibly caused their deaths.

     Holly needed to get out of the shop before someone found her going ballistic. She needed to talk to Cameron. She needed to go back home to be with her family, if they had survived the fire.

     She was about to leave the shop when she caught the last part of the conversation.

     “I haven’t forgotten,” the man retorted. “But have you forgotten the fact that those could have been simple accidents? It’s not like any one in Lindenshire was hurt. I heard that they had all fled to the mountains before the town burned down.”

     “If they had been simple accidents, why would the citizens of Lindenshire all have fled to the mountains before hand?” the woman questioned. “And I highly doubt what happened in Smithville was an accident. Vincent was upset that he didn’t catch the leader of the Eclipse, remember?”

     Holly relaxed, but only slightly. She was ecstatic that none of her friends and family had been killed, but deeply shocked that the Shadow of the Sun would do something like that just to capture her mother. It scared her about what some people were capable of doing.

     “I remember,” the man said with a heavy sigh. “I guess I’m just like everyone else who doesn’t want to believe that the Shadow of the Sun is back.”

     “I know what you mean,” the woman replied. “I didn’t want to believe it either. But James has returned to Solar Shadows. Maybe not in person yet, but the other dark legends have already started walking the land. It’s only a matter of time before the wars of the past begin again.”

     Not wanting to hear any more, Holly hurried quickly out of the shop and into the crowds of Smoke Water’s streets. The constant hum of people moving around and calling out to one another did little to soothe Holly’s feelings of apprehension.

     Knowing that she was fairly early, but needing to talk to someone she trusted, Holly walked hastily toward the inn where she was supposed to meet Jack and Cameron.

     The inn was easy to find, located off one of the side roads near the outskirts of Smoke Water. It was a well-kept wooden building with a hand painted sign out front that declared it the Hunter Inn. A couple of horses were tethered outside on the hitching post and whinnied in greeting as Holly walked up. For a moment, Holly let herself be carried back to the days she spent back in Lindenshire hanging out with Abby at the inn. Then it came crashing down on her that she would never walk through the familiar main room of the inn with the stained counter, drink the delicious mulled cider, or eat one of Lillian Brookes’ famous meals again in the darkened dining room.

     With tears burning her eyes, Holly lengthened her stride and walked up the short walkway to the main door of the inn. She pushed through it and into the smoky darkness of the main room.

     Faint music caught Holly’s ear as she looked around the large room for Jack. There were three other people in the room. One was a tall, burly man with a balding head who was nursing a drink in the far corner; another was a short, thin woman with curly hair who had her head down on the table and appeared to be asleep; and the third was Jack. He sat in the opposite corner of the tall man by himself. He had a mug in one hand and a small book that Holly recognized instantly as her mother’s journal in the other. Despite her feelings of distress that her home had been burned to the ground, Holly couldn't bite down on her anger that Jack had taken the journal without her permission.

     Holly stomped over to him, fully intent on yelling at him about theft when she saw a lone tear slide down his weather-beaten face.

     “Jack?” she questioned placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.

     The older man jumped and turned around, a puzzled look entering his eyes for the briefest of moments before he wiped furiously at his face.

     “Holly, hey,” he said. “You’re early! Did you get everything you needed?”

     “Are you okay?” Holly asked quietly. “You were crying.”

     She decided that for the moment she would keep quiet about Lindenshire There was nothing Jack could do about it anyway except tell her that everything was going to be okay. Holly wasn’t sure if she was ready to believe that everything would be okay, not after everything she had heard.

     “Yeah, I’m fine,” Jack said taking a deep breath. “It’s just shocking what a person can go through and still survive.”

     “You read the part where my mother heard the news that you were dead,” Holly stated. It wasn’t a question. She had read that part the night before and had ended up in tears herself. She couldn’t imagine what it must have been like for her mother to go through that. It must have been ten times as hard for Jack to read it and know the pain he had caused and feel the guilt he was so obviously feeling all over again.

     “You look like you have just seen a ghost,” Jack said clearly trying to change the subject away from himself. “What’s wrong?”

     “Nothing,” Holly lied.

     “Holly, you look just like your mother when she tried to lie What’s up?” Jack asked. “Is Cameron okay? Is that why you came back early?”

     Holly was touched by the comparison to her mother and by the concern Jack was showing for her and Cameron. It meant a lot to her to know that he cared about them.

     “I was in the saddle shop over near the ocean, and I overheard a couple of people talking about the Shadow of the Sun,” Holly said hesitantly. She trusted Jack with some things, but she was uncertain of how he was going to react. And she was also uncertain as to whether or not he already knew about Lindenshire, in which case, Holly had a right to be angry for his hiding the destruction of her hometown from her.

     “What did you hear?” Jack inquired. Holly could tell that he was asking out of a need for information more than curiosity. He sensed that Holly had heard something major and wanted to know what it was so he could try to help out in any way that he could.

     “I heard that Lindenshire was burned to the ground,” she said almost inaudibly.

     Jack’s face went pale as a sheet and his blue-gray eyes widened in shocked surprise. He gripped the table until his knuckles turned bone white. Holly was instantly relieved that he hadn’t known and felt slightly guilty for ever thinking that he had been hiding things from her in the first place.

     “How did it happen?” Jack asked in a strangled whisper. “Did anyone make it out alive?”

     Holly realized that Jack was going through the same shock that she had gone through when she had first found out. Jack had ties in Lindenshire as well. Maybe not as many and maybe not as close, but he felt the same sort of connection to the small town that Holly did.

     “No one was killed,” Holly said quietly. “They all fled to the mountains before the fire happened. But all the farms, all the businesses, everything is gone. There is nothing left except for the people.”

     “Leah must have known James was going to do something like that,” Jack said recovering slightly from the news. “It’s still a huge shock, but if no one was hurt, then the town must have had fair warning. Leah must still have spies in the Shadow of the Sun.”

     “My home town is gone and you’re worried about spies in the Shadow of the Sun?” Holly demanded shocked and angry. She thought Jack, of all people, would understand that this just wasn’t about everyone being okay. All her memories of friends and adventure were gone. Her home was gone. Why couldn’t he comprehend that?

     “Look, Holly, I’m sorry about what happened, I really am, but everyone’s okay,” Jack said in attempts to be soothing. “And besides, I have more things to worry about then Lindenshire being burnt to the ground. Towns can be rebuilt. I’m sorry if that sounds cruel, but it’s the honest truth I’ve heard that the Shadow of the Sun has a plan to attack Solar Shadows on a massive scale and overthrow the government and take control.”

     “Is that really that big of a surprise?” Holly asked bitterly, her anger, frustration, and fear making her voice sharper than normal. “I mean hasn’t that been the Shadow of the Sun’s plan all along? Isn’t that why they captured my father and burned my town down to the ground because they didn’t want anyone messing with the big plan? My whole life has been destroyed because of this damn plan, Jack! That’s really not that big of a deal to me!”

     “Holly, listen to me,” Jack said quietly yet urgently. Holly detected a hint of anger in his voice as well. “I understand probably better than you think about having your entire life ripped out from underneath you. Believe me I do. I’m trying to prevent that from happening to anyone else. I may have been too late to help you, but I refuse to let anyone else have their lives torn from them like ours were. That is what the Eclipse stands for. I’m fighting for the same things same things you are. And yes, to take over Solar Shadows once and for all has been the goal of the Shadow of the Sun for as long as anyone can remember, but it’s going but it's going to start happening soon. And it’s going to be sooner than it will take for you to journey to the Land of Shadows and rescue your father if I don’t do anything do anything now to try to stop it. So I’m really sorry about what happened in Lindenshire, really I am, and I feel horrible that I was unable to foresee that and prevent the destruction from happening, but I have got to focus on the bigger picture here Holly. I have to.”

     “Well while you’re busy focusing on the bigger picture, I’m going to focus on the things that matter to me,” Holly said icily. “And if that means that we have to part ways here once and for all, then so be it. But I’m going to rescue my father, and I’m going to find a way to rebuild Lindenshire.”

     “I’m not telling you that you can’t, Holly,” Jack said gently. “I’m just telling you what I have to do. But Holly, before you part ways and go off with Cameron to the Land of Shadows, I would like it if you two could spend one more night at my place.”

     “I think we can arrange that,” Holly said her anger abating some. “But Jack, I have got to rescue my father. I can’t waste any more time here than I already have. It may be too late for him already.”

     “It hasn’t been,” Jack said confidently.

     “You know, you haven’t really been that reliable,” Holly pointed out. “You didn’t even know that Lindenshire had been decimated. How would you know if my father had been killed or not?”

     “Because that would be something James would want to advertise,” Jack told her. “This is going to sound unimaginably hateful, but killing Richard would be the driving force that the Shadow of the Sun needs to fully squash any resistance. Richard was well-known back in the days of the Eclipse for his good deeds and his gentle nature. He was one of the reasons why the Eclipse was so successful. Killing him would kill hope for any who stood against the Shadow of the Sun. And James knows that and he will use that to his advantage. He will keep Richard alive until the moment he deems right and then James will kill him. Believe me when I tell you that, Holly. And believe me when I tell you it’s not too late to save your father.” 

16: Chapter 21: Frozen

Snow was starting to fall from the darkened sky as Bev and Holly hiked up a treacherously steep incline. Holly had been so focused on learning the skills needed to save her father that she hadn’t realized winter had crept up on the Land of Shadows.

“Stop here for a moment,” Bev said placing a hand on Holly’s shoulder. “We don’t want the guards to know we’re here.”

Startled, Holly looked down into the small hollow below. The barn was visible in the falling snow only because of the torches that burned brightly in the entrances. Holly could just make out a moving shadow of a figure patrolling the front barn doors.

“How are we going to get passed the guards?” Holly whispered rubbing her arms and shivering. It was really cold.

“Leave that to me,” Bev said. “The only thing you need to worry about is getting a horse and getting out of that barn.”

“Not what happens after that?” Holly asked.

“Just follow the trail that goes away from the barn,” Bev said. “It will take you straight into the village.”

“Okay,” Holly said slowly, not liking the idea of leaving Bev behind. She didn’t want to lose someone else, not so soon after she had lost her home and Cameron.

“I’ll be fine,” Bev said understanding Holly’s reluctance. “I’ve lived in the Land of Shadows longer than you have been alive. I know how to escape James and his evil band of minions.”

“Just be careful,” Holly said looking away from Bev so that the older woman wouldn’t see her tears. “The Eclipse is going to need you.”

Bev snorted in disbelief but didn’t give Holly a chance to question it.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Before Holly had the chance to say anything, Bev was winding her way down the steep hill leading to the barn. Holly was quick to scramble after her, albeit slower then she would have liked because of the half inch of snow and ice already on the ground.

Holly waited in the shadows of the barn, just out of eyesight of the guard while Bev approached him. Although Holly couldn’t see what was going on, she could hear.

“Lovely evening, isn’t it?” Bev asked.

“Not really,” the guard groused. “It’s cold and snowing and I’m the only one on my shift.”

“Really?” Bev asked. Holly could almost hear the older woman’s raised eyebrow of fake interest.

“Yeah,” the guard said his voice changing from bored to interested. “It’s not so bad though, especially when a lovely young woman such as yourself comes around. Speaking of, why are you out here at this time of night? Don’t you know this place is dangerous?”

“Don’t you?” Bev countered.

Holly could picture the guard’s puzzled face right before Bev knocked him out. There was a small grunt of pain and then Bev appeared around the corner of the barn.

“Come on,” she said motioning for Holly to follow her. “We don’t have much time. The guard shift will be here soon, and it won’t be long before the Shadow of the Sun realizes what has happened. You must go now. I will show you the correct path. Remember; meet me at the cave tomorrow evening.”

“I will,” Holly promised.

Holly and Bev swiftly and silently entered the well-lit barn. Holly took a few brief moments to warm up her frozen hands before following Bev to the very end of the aisle-way.

“Take whichever one you want,” Bev said. “But make it snappy.”

Holly soon found a tall dark chestnut with a complete set of tack outside of its stall. She tacked the horse up in record time.

“Let’s go,” she said to Bev, leading the horse out of the stall.

Bev helped Holly mount the horse before quickly leading them out of the stable. She pointed the way to a small path disappearing into the snowy landscape.

“Follow that trail to its end,” she said as voices could be heard in the distance. “Go.”

“Bev,” Holly began, not certain what to say but feeling as though she needed to say something. She couldn’t help but feel that this would be the last time she would see Bev for a while.

“There’s no time, Holly,” Bev hissed. “Go!”

She smacked the horse on the rump and the animal took off with no further urging. Holly clung to the reins for dear life as the horse plunged down a steep slope with practiced ease and started tearing through the forest.

Snow tore at Holly’s face and chapped her lips. Cold wind swirled around her and bit into her layers of clothing. She soon found herself shivering as she and the horse galloped across an open plain and began their ascent on a winding mountain trail.

“I sure hope you know where you’re going, horse,” Holly whispered at one point before flattening against the horse’s neck and urging it on even faster.

 

The sun was just beginning to rise as the horse slowed to a gentle trot and then to a walk, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Holly gave the animal a generous pat as she began to see signs of civilization.

“Thank you,” she whispered to the exhausted creature. She yawned heavily, realizing just how tired she was.

The small houses Holly saw soon gave way to roughly constructed buildings that were arranged in a crude semi-circle. The outer edge of the circle was near a sheer cliff that gave way to the dark ocean. Though there was smoke coming out of the chimneys and spiraling up over the rooftops, there were no signs of life in the small village.

Holly tied the exhausted horse to the empty hitching post on the outskirts of town. She hoped that the animal would still be there when she returned, else it would be a very long walk back to Bev’s cave.

Holly began walking through the town after checking to make sure the letter Bev had given her was still tucked away in her cloak. There were no signs of life, but there were signs that people had been in the village. Broken wagons lay on their sides and bows and arrows littered the ground. Flecks of brownish red were mixed with the light frosting of snow and frozen ground below Holly’s feet. Upon further inspection, Holly realized with a sinking heart that the substance was blood.

Holly caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Thanks to Bev’s intense training regimen, Holly ducked out of the way seconds before a tall, burly man jumped out from behind the overturned wagon. She wheeled around, aiming a kick for the man’s head and feeling a surge of satisfaction when the man let out a howl and backed away while nursing a bloody nose.

Another man came out from behind the wagon. He was more cautious than his fellow companion in spite of the lethal sword that he held in his hands. Holly noted the clumsy way in which he held the weapon and knew instantly that he was an amateur. It only took a kick to the groin and he too was down.

Three more men came out, though they held their hands up in surrender. They had matching guarded expressions on their faces.

Holly stayed crouched, her hands curled into loose fists and her breathing fast and regular as she anticipated their next move. She had never fought three people at once before, but she was more than willing to try.

“Who are you?”

Holly jumped at the sound of a voice directly behind her. She whirled around, bringing her hand up to punch the owner of the voice in the face and was startled when a soft but steely hand gripped her forearm.

Holly found herself gazing into a pair of serious hazel eyes that lay underneath a mass of dirty blonde hair. She felt as though she had just been kneed in the stomach as she recognized the eyes.

“Jared?” she asked incredulously.

Jared Thompson let go of her forearm as though he had been burned. He took a couple of steps away from her, his hazel eyes confused.

“Holly?” he asked his voice equally as shocked as Holly’s. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Holly said. “Neil told me that you had been taken by the Shadow of the Sun.”

“I was,” Jared said shortly. “But I escaped.”

 “And my father?” Holly asked hopefully, looking around and hoping that he was going to stride out of a house any second.

“He’s alive,” Jared said grimly. “Which is more than I can say for Clint or George.”

“What?” Holly demanded praying that those two names didn’t belong to the people in Lindenshire she knew and loved.

“Clint Dean was killed the other day when the Shadow of the Sun raided the village,” Jared explained. “George Brookes was trying to escape and was shot down by the Shadow of the Sun. He never stood a chance.”

Holly was horrorstruck. She couldn’t believe Abby’s father was dead. She hadn’t known that he had been taken by the Shadow of the Sun in the first place.

 “What are you doing here, Holly?” Jared asked.

 Holly pulled Bev’s letter out of her pocket.

 “I need to send this message to Jack Fox,” she said. “It’s urgent.”

 “Isn’t he the doctor in Smoke Water?” one of the other men asked. Holly recognized him as the one she had round-house kicked in the face.

Jared raised a sandy eyebrow in Holly’s direction, though Holly thought she saw a flash of recognition in his eyes.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Why do you need to send an urgent message to a doctor?” the other man asked.

“I don’t have time to explain,” Holly said exasperatedly.

“I trust Holly,” Jared said. “If she says it’s urgent, then the message is urgent. Get Thomas and Brady to prepare the mail vessel.”

The man looked curiously at Holly for a few moments, obviously wondering why his leader trusted a seemingly total stranger, before turning and disappearing into one of the larger buildings nearby.

Jared signaled for Holly to follow him as the other men started clearing away the broken wagons and other signs of wreckage. Holly watched in confusion as she followed Jared to a small cabin near the outer edge of the semicircle.

“I’m sorry if the place is a mess,” Jared said as he pushed open the black door and allowed Holly to go in. “When our scouts spotted you and your horse coming in this direction, we had to make it look like the Shadow of the Sun had already attacked so that they would leave us alone. Or, if they were really stupid and decided to investigate us anyway, we could have taken a few of them out”

“The Shadow of the Sun plunders its own village?” Holly asked.

“We stand apart from the Shadow of the Sun. James doesn’t like that,” Jared said. “Would you like some bread? I was in the process of making breakfast when you arrived.”

Holly stared at him in astonishment and disgust. How could he stand here, so calmly, when back in Solar Shadows he had a wife and son who were worried sick about him? He had a baby on the way and he was sitting here playing rebel to the Shadow of the Sun in the Land of Shadows. Did he seriously not care about his family?

“You look exactly like Leah does when she’s angry about something,” Jared commented as he poured two cups of tea. The china was chipped and had huge cracks in it.

 “How can you just stay here when you have a family that is upset and worried about where you are?” she demanded assuming that Jared’s comment was an invitation for her to speak. “Don’t you get how upset they were when you were kidnapped? I came here for their sakes to get you back as much as I came here to get my father.”

“I know,” Jared said heavily. “Believe me, I know. But I’m staying here because the Shadow of the Sun is searching every single ship that sails out of that harbor

 and if they find me, I’m dead. I’m staying here because if I don’t do something, then I’ll go insane with worry about what the Shadow of the Sun is going to do to my family. I don’t want to stay here, Holly, but I don’t have a choice.”

He handed Holly one of the cups and turned away, taking a loaf of bread and slicing it up. Holly was quiet, not certain as to what to say.

“I’m sorry,” she said at last. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything.”

“You didn’t understand,” Jared said with a shrug “To any outsider, what I’m doing probably seems selfish.”

“No,” Holly said shaking her head. “It’s actually pretty awesome. You’re fighting the Shadow of the Sun in James’ domain. You’re trying to keep your family safe. You’re like…”

Holly trailed off. She was going to say you’re like my parents, but she wasn’t sure if Jared knew about her mother and father’s involvement in the Eclipse.

“Like your parents?” Jared suggested with a faint hint of a smile. “I know about Richard and Leah. I was actually one of the first recruits to the Eclipse. My brother was killed by the Shadow of the Sun when they raided my parents’ smithy.”

“Does everyone know more about the Eclipse and my parents than I do?” Holly demanded amazed. “Honestly, it’s getting annoying. I meet random strangers on the street and they turn out to be long lost cousins or something.”

Jared let out a sad chuckle.

“I don’t think you have any cousins to worry about,” he said. “Leah only had Jack, who, up until today, everyone believed dead.”

“He faked his own death so he wouldn’t be used by James,” Holly said. “He hates himself for hurting my mother.”

“It wasn’t only your mother that he hurt,” Jared said. He handed a couple of slices of bread to Holly. “When do you leave?”

“I need to get back to Bev’s place by moonrise,” Holly said.

“Bev?” Jared asked his hazel eyes wide in surprise. “Bev Andrews? She’s still alive?”

“Yes,” Holly said shortly. “She’s still alive. And feeling guilty as hell about whatever it was she did. She was the one who taught me how to fight.”

“It’s glad to know that even the worst of us feel remorse,” Jared muttered. “Maybe there is still some hope for James yet.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Holly demanded.

“It means that you should be careful about whom you trust, Holly,” Jared said shortly. “Do you need anything?”

“No thanks,” Holly said in a clipped voice. She knew that Bev was against James now regardless of what she may have done in the past.

“Look, Holly, I know Bev better than you think,” Jared said.

“Obviously not if you didn’t even know that she was alive,” Holly retorted. “People change. I changed. My mother changed. Hell, even James changed.”

Jared flinched at the sound of James’ name. Holly ignored it, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring defiantly at him. Yes, he might have been a family friend, and yes, Holly might have known him forever, but he was being extremely short-sighted on things. Holly was quickly learning that she shouldn’t judge people based on their past.

Jared looked as though he were about to respond when loud shouts filled the air outside. His tan, exhausted face was suddenly hyper-alert and he tensed as a bell toll filled the air. Holly distantly remembered hearing one similar to it a few hours ago.

“The Shadow of the Sun is on their way here,” Jared said his voice suddenly hard. “You need to get out of here. If they find you… leave. Now.”

“What is going to happen to you?” Holly whispered not wanting to leave her closest tie to family that she had in the Land of Shadows.

“Don’t worry about me,” Jared said. “I’ll be fine. Now go.”

Holly wanted to protest, wanted to demand that Jared come with her. But she knew he would be in danger both ways and he would probably do better fighting the Shadow of the Sun here.

“Before you do something stupid, remember that you have a family that needs you,” Holly said. She walked out the door before he had a chance to reply.

Hoof beats sounded in the forest surrounding the village. Holly suddenly had an idea, albeit a risky one. She could draw the Shadow of the Sun away from the village and lead them on a wild goose chase through the woods.

She mounted her horse, which pranced nervously underneath her. She quickly turned the big creature around and pressed her heels to its side. The horse took off like an arrow, shooting through the trees at break-neck speed. Holly risked a quick glance behind her and was pleased and terrified in equal measures when she saw that the Shadow of the Sun had indeed taken up the chase.

“Come on, faster,” she whispered to the horse. The animal stretched out, its long legs eating up the ground. The trees started flying by at an alarmingly fast rate.

 It still wasn’t fast enough. The Shadow of the Sun’s horses were fresh and eager to catch Holly and her mount. Holly knew eventually she was going to get caught.

“There’s no time like the present,” she muttered to her horse. The chestnut barely flickered an ear in response.

They reached a large, rocky clearing. Holly slowed the horse to a trot and then to a halt before turning around to face the Shadow of the Sun.

The members of the Shadow of the Sun seemed surprised by Holly’s change in tactics. The first two raced right on by her before they realized what had happened.

The other three who had been following had sense enough to draw their horses to a halt right at the edge of the trees. The two who had been in the lead slowed and turned around.

Holly was utterly surrounded and with only a sword and her own fists for weapons. She was exhausted after having been up for two days straight and barely resting at all on her long journey from Bev’s cave to the village. She was in no shape to fend off five highly trained members of the Shadow of the Sun.

But, at the same time, Holly possessed something that the members of the Shadow of the Sun did not. She had almost an entire year’s worth of hatred and sense of injustice built up against the Shadow of the Sun. The organization had kidnapped her father, burned her home to the ground, killed two of the people she cared about, and was responsible for breaking her mother’s family apart. It was because of the Shadow of the Sun that Holly never knew she had an uncle. It was because of the Shadow of the Sun that her life had been torn apart.

The thoughts gave her strength and with that strength came a burning desire to take down those who stood in the way, starting with these five.

The Shadow of the Sun attacked first. A hoodless man on a dark gray horse came charging at her, his sword drawn and a feral expression on his face.

 Holly waited until the last possible second before squeezing her horse to the side. She brought her own sword hilt up and knocked the man off his horse. The horse continued running across the clearing. The fallen man didn’t get up.

“Who’s next?” Holly asked with an impish grin as she drew her sword.

Terror gave way to adrenaline and a sense of recklessness as the next member of the Shadow of the Sun mounted his attack. Holly sensed what he was about to do before a long broadsword filled her vision. She barely had enough time to throw herself out of the saddle before the sword connected with the leather.

Holly’s horse let out a startled squeal and kicked out at the attacker’s horse. The other horse spooked, rearing up and dumping the rider on the ground. The horse took off, but Holly’s mount stayed where it was.

The rider that had been dumped to the ground was instantly on his feet. He had managed to lose his sword, an unexpected gift that Holly had not been expecting. He lunged clumsily at her, but she easily avoided his punch. She used his own momentum against him. As he stumbled past her, she gave him a swift kick. He hit the ground and didn’t come back up.

By now, there were only two people left. One had galloped off to catch the other horse. Holly drew her sword from its sheath as her third attacker dismounted his horse. She smirked as he withdrew his sword.

This is going to be fun, she thought.

The third attacker was hooded, as was the one still mounted. Holly didn’t care—it served more as an advantage to her. Hoods impaired vision.

The third attacker struck without warning. Holly barely had time to block the blow as the sword came down. She winced with the sheer power behind the strike.

Sparks flew from the blades as they connected once again. Holly’s arms trembled as she fought to fend off her attacker and land a few blows of her own. One thing was for certain—Bev certainly hadn’t been lying when she had told Holly that there would be no softening of the blows.

Holly was breathing hard as the attacker drew his sword up and prepared to strike again. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stop the sword again. She was too weak. Her burst of energy had left her.

The sword lowered in a painfully slow fashion. Holly didn’t move. She couldn’t. Her arms were aching and refused to do what they were told.

Suddenly, the third member of the Shadow of the Sun reappeared. Holly didn’t have time to process what the third person was doing as he dismounted his horse and charged at the person who was about to kill her. She thought that maybe he was coming to kill her before the other man could strike. But that wasn’t the case.

One second, Holly was staring at the silver metal of the sword that would be her executioner and the next, she was staring into a painfully familiar set of blue eyes. She let out a startled yelp as she recognized the long hair framing the angled, handsome face.

“Cameron?” 

17: Chapter 15: Rainy Nights

     Rain fell lightly throughout the afternoon, creating a cold, wet mist that made the already dreary mood of Cameron, Holly, and Jack worse as they sat around the kitchen table in Jack’s house discussing Cameron and Holly’s plan to travel to the Land of Shadows. They were to leave the following day, in spite of Jack’s protests that Cameron’s wound was still healing, and sail for two weeks until they reached the Land of Shadows. Jack told them the names of people he knew who were loyal to him in the Land of Shadows and would agree to help get Cameron and Holly to the actual hideout of the Shadow of the Sun.

     “Do you realize how insane this is?” Jack asked at one point.

     “You have said that several times,” Cameron pointed out bluntly. “What are we doing that makes us insane this time?”

     “You’re both only sixteen years old and planning on taking down one of the most powerful organizations Solar Shadows has ever heard of,” Jack said shaking his head. “You have got to be either completely insane or suicidal. Do you know how many adults twice your age would falter at the idea of going to the Land of Shadows where the Shadow of the Sun has ultimate power just to rescue their loved ones?”

     “I’m no younger than my mother was when she took charge of the Eclipse,” Holly retorted. “Why is this so different? And besides, I’m not starting a war; I’m merely bringing back my father that the Shadow of the Sun kidnapped and plans on murdering.”

     “I’m not judging what you’re doing,” Jack said. “I admire your courage and your loyalty. But you have to know how crazy this really is.”

     “Believe us,” Holly said. “We know. But we also know that if we don’t rescue my father and Cameron’s sister, then no one else will.”

     The conversation ended there. Holly decided to brave the cold and wet to visit Magique. It had been a while since she had just hung out in the barn and groomed her mare. She had been unconscious or resting most of the time she had been at Jack’s and in spite of the fact that she had ridden her mare to the town of Smoke Water and back earlier that day, Holly still felt as though she hadn’t spent enough time with her horse as of late, especially since she would be leaving the loyal mare behind as she journeyed to the Land of Shadows. She didn’t want to, but she had no way of getting the horse to the Land of Shadows. The ship Holly and Cameron would be taking to the Land of Shadows didn’t have enough room for horses as well as for passengers.

     The barn was warm and quiet, with the occasional nicker and the sounds of horses munching of hay. As she walked down the dimly lit stable row to her horse’s stall, Holly felt herself relax for the first time since she had left Lindenshire.

     Magique stuck her head over the door, her perfectly sculpted brown and black tipped ears perking forward when she saw Holly. Holly smiled when she saw her mare and reached out a hand out to the horse’s head and rubbed the white star that lay underneath the ebony forelock.

     “Hey, pretty girl,” she murmured. “How are you?”

     Magique nickered softly and nudged Holly’s hand when she pulled away. Holly smiled again and stroked the mare’s mahogany neck before grabbing the box of brushes that Jack had by all the stalls and unhooking the stall guard before slipping into the stall.

     For nearly an hour and a half Holly brushed Magique until the horse was gleaming in the faint light. She talked as she worked, telling the horse everything that had happened and that was going to happen.

     “If it’s the last thing we do, Magique, we’re going to get my father back,” Holly murmured as she ran a soft cloth over the mare’s russet face.

     The barn doors opened with a squeal scaring Holly. For a moment, she was transported back in time to the night her father was kidnapped. A scream built up in her throat as footsteps sounded loudly down the stable aisle, pausing right outside her horse’s stall.

     “Hey, Holly,” Jack said quietly.

     Holly jumped, a small squeak of alarm escaping her lips before she mentally shook herself for being so frightened. She tossed the brush she had been using back into the bucket and turned to face Jack.

     “Hey,” she replied. “Are you okay?”

     Jack looked anxious, his blue-gray eyes looking anywhere but at Holly. He was fiddling with a stray piece of hay that lay abandoned on the corner of the stall door.

     “Not really,” he replied with a heavy sigh. “Mind if we talk?”

     “No, not at all,” Holly said as she gave Magique a pat on the neck and exited the stall. She wiped the excess dirt off her pants and leaned up against the stable wall. “What’s up?”

     Jack hesitated.

     “It’s probably not my place to tell you this, seeing as we’ve known each other for barely a month, but I don’t think you should be travelling with Cameron,” he said.

     Holly stared at him, dumbfounded. Jack hadn’t had a problem with it earlier when they had been discussing the travelling plans. What had changed?

     “What?” she managed to ask in stunned disbelief. “What do you mean by that?”

     “I’m just saying that maybe you don’t know Cameron as well as you think you do,” Jack said. He sighed. “Think about it Holly, you’ve known him what, two maybe three months? How well could you possibly know him?”

     “Better than I know you,” Holly snapped. She couldn’t believe that Jack would say such a thing. He didn’t even know Cameron.

      “Do you really?” Jack questioned. “I have been totally honest with you from the moment I met you.”

     “Except that you kept hidden the fact that you were my uncle and that you are reforming the Eclipse!” Holly pointed out bitterly. “Cameron may have his secrets, but he has been more honest with me than you have been.”

     “Has he really?” Jack asked quietly.

     Holly was quiet, thinking back to the morning of their first day after leaving Lindenshire. Cameron had flat out told her that he had secrets which he wasn’t going to tell her. Holly had been angry, but she had also realized the truth in Jack’s words. Jack and Holly hadn’t known each other then and she had accepted that. But lately, Cameron no longer had an excuse to be so secretive Holly liked to believe that they knew each other better than anyone else, but another part of her knew that this wasn't true. Cameron was hiding something from her.

     But it’s not any of my business, she told herself. Nor is it any of Jack’s what happens between me and Cameron. 

     Jack seemed to take Holly’s silence as an answer to his question. He smiled sadly and placed a hand on her shoulder.

     “I’m not telling you this to hurt you,” he said. “I’m telling you this because you need to know. Cameron isn’t who you think he is.”

     “Then who is he?” Holly challenged. “If you know everything, then why don’t you tell me?”

     “You’re so much like your mother that it’s scary,” Jack said with a shake of his head. “She always questioned things she didn’t like either. I don’t know everything, Holly.”

     “And you don’t know Cameron,” Holly retorted. “If he were really a bad person trying to get me killed or taken to the Shadow of the Sun, why didn't he let Vincent take me the night he attacked us in Emberton? Why didn’t he just give me over to Marcus and Darien when they found us in that clearing the first night? Or why didn’t he just hand me over to Mason when he was taking Tina? Or did you forget that Cameron’s sister was taken by the Shadow of the Sun and which the whole reason why Cameron and I are travelling together?”

     “I don’t know, Holly,” Jack said helplessly “But I’ve heard—.”

     “You’ve heard,” Holly said shaking her head “You’ve heard. You don’t know..”

     “Look, Holly, I don’t want to fight with you,” Jack said. “I’m just saying that maybe you should be careful around Cameron. People aren’t always what they seem.”

     Holly had to admit that he was right, especially given recent events. People weren’t always what they seemed. Meredythe was testimony to that. She had appeared to be a decent person and Holly really had liked her. But in the end, she had been working for the Shadow of the Sun, gathering information about the Eclipse in order to destroy all opposition. Jack had a valid point even though Holly didn’t like it.

     “What are the things you’ve heard?” she asked hesitantly. She didn’t want to know, but she had to know. It might mean her survival and her father’s. Wasn’t that what was important here?

     “I’ve heard rumors,” Jack said pausing to let this sink in. “I’m not sure if they’re entirely true, but I still think you should know them so you can make your own decision.”

     Holly nodded for Jack to continue, she had already decided that much for herself.

     “I’m going to start at the beginning so you get all the facts,” Jack warned her. “Try not to be too bored or ask too many questions. I’ll get to where Cameron is involved in a minute.”

     “Eighteen years ago, James, Pyter Hale, or whatever you want to call him, disappeared. Leah, your mother, had a good idea as to where he had gone, but she chose not to pursue him. I’m not clear on the reasoning behind her decisions—this was after I had decided to take myself out of the fight to avoid being used by James,” Jack said.

     A distant look entered his blue-gray eyes and Holly knew that he was somewhere lost in his memories and not totally aware of where he was in the present.

     “Jack?” she inquired quietly. He took a deep breath before continuing, but he did not acknowledge the fact that he had just taken a trip down memory lane.

     “Anyway, James disappeared. Then, two years later, when I had just moved here and before I had became the doctor, a woman, pregnant and close to death, came off one of the ships,” Jack said. “It was raining, like it generally is here, but I remember that clearly for some reason. The woman had twins that night, one boy and one girl. She seemed horrified when she saw the son I wasn’t there—like I said, this was before I had become the doctor—but I heard that the son had raven black hair and other striking similarities to James.”

     Holly bit her tongue from saying any thing. She wanted to hear the rest of the story and the reason why she should be suspicious of Cameron. She doubted interrupting Jack would resolve her doubts.

     “I was instantly apprehensive about this boy,” Jack continued, gazing at something Holly couldn’t see. “I went to visit the mother when I had heard about the boy, but both she and the infants had disappeared. I heard from the doctor that the father had come from the Land of Shadows to bring them back.

     “I didn’t hear anything more about them until three years later when it was rumored that the woman had returned, alone and sickly.”

     Holly remembered what Cameron had told her when they had first met. He had said that his mother had disappeared when he was three years old. She knew what Jack’s story had to do with Cameron and Holly didn’t like it.

     “You’re saying that Cameron is James’ son,” she said flatly.

     “I’m sorry, Holly, I wish it weren’t true,” Jack said quietly.

     “It’s not,” Holly said. “Cameron’s father is a merchant! He told me that himself. He was in Lindenshire because he was helping out his father’s business.”

     “James’ father was a merchant,” Jack said. “It is a very good cover story. Think about it, Holly. I know you’ve heard the stories about what James looked like. Compare them to what Cameron looks like now.”

     “Jack,” Holly said shaking her head. “I want to believe you. I do. But I can’t. You say James was a bad guy, Cameron’s not. He has saved my life more times than I can count. He was nearly killed rescuing me from Vincent. He was the one who agreed to help me find my father! How can he be James’ son?”

     “James wasn’t always a bad guy,” Jack reminded her. “He was once a very good person.”

     “Jack, if I believe you, then I can’t trust Cameron,” Holly said. “And I have to. He’s the only way I can rescue my father.”

     “Do what you have to do, Holly,” Jack said. “You know Cameron better than I do. But I knew James and if Cameron is James’ son… . Be careful, Holly. By the gods, be careful.”

     “I will be, Jack,” Holly said. “But there comes a time when I have to decide whom I can trust. Cameron has been there for me and he has been honest with me. Yes, he has his secrets, but so do you. And I guess what I’m trying to say is that I need to look after myself and by allying myself with you, I put myself in a position where I can’t depend on Cameron if push comes to shove; I need to be able to do that Call me naïve, call me blindly trusting, but I have to do this. And I will be careful.”                                                                                                                                                               

     “That’s all I ask,” Jack said as he put a hand on her shoulder. “And keep in mind what I told you about Cameron. Just in case.”

     Holly nodded once. She gave her horse one last pat before she sighed.

     “Good luck tomorrow, Holly,” Jack said as they walked out of the barn. “You’re going to need it if you want to face James and win.”

 

     Holly was fairly certain that she was dreaming. Her father standing next to her and smiling at her definitely proved that theory. He seemed as if he were trying to tell her something, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying.

     He gestured to a swath of trees a few feet away. Up until that point, Holly hadn’t taken in her surroundings. She recognized the place instantly as the grove of trees outside of Jack’s cottage.

     The moment she made this stunning realization, the sky turned from a beautiful, light blue to a stormy gray. Her father was gone and Holly was alone.

     Footsteps sounded on the soft, damp sand. Holly looked up, hoping desperately it would be her father. She was sorely mistaken.

     The person was clothed in a dark cloak with the hood covering his features. A gleam of silver flashed through the darkness, originating from the person’s hand. Holly froze in fear—it was a sword.

     She stumbled and fell to her knees trying to get away from the stranger. She couldn’t move as the person drew closer, sword drawn and ready to plunge down on her. Holly threw a hand helplessly in front of her face, knowing that it was futile. Whoever this person was would kill her, as simple as that.

     Holly caught a glimpse of the person’s face as he towered above her. What she saw horrified her more than her imminent death. Two glowing sapphire eyes stared down at her from underneath the hood.

 

     Holly woke with a start breathing heavily and sweating. She sat up in bed and looked around. In the bed across the room, Cameron was snoring lightly, unaware of Holly’s distress over her last nightmare.

     Taking a look outside of the small window, Holly knew that it was close to dawn. It was useless for her to try to go back to sleep again. She threw the covers off and slid her feet into a pair of socks and her boots before getting off the bed and grabbing a blanket.

     Jack was still fast asleep in his room as well as Holly slipped past the open door. She paused for a moment, thinking about what he had told her earlier. She didn’t want to believe what he had said—she trusted Cameron with her life. Holly knew that if there was a small chance Jack was right, it would mean her death, but she didn’t care. She had already made her decision.

     Slipping out of the house was an easy thing to do and Holly did so quickly, making for the barn. She switched directions in mid step and instead headed toward the small grove of trees to watch the sunrise.

     Red lit up the gray sky. The clouds looked like smoke as orange joined the red in the sky, making it look as though the world were on fire. The water reflected the sunrise as the red and orange gradually turned into soft pinks and light blues as the day took hold. It was a beautiful sight.

     “Holly?”

     Holly jumped at the sound of her name, not expecting it quite so soon, and turned around to face Cameron. She instinctually took a step back, before mentally scolding herself. The nightmare wasn’t real, she told herself. It was just a dream.

     “Hey,” she said softly. “How’re you feeling?”

     She knew that Cameron had had a rough night sleeping-wise. He had claimed that he was fine, but the way he was holding himself this morning told Holly differently. His side was bothering him again.

     “I’m fine,” he said. “You?”

     “I’m fine,” she echoed. She wasn’t about to tell him what Jack had told her last night. She didn’t want to face the facts if they were true. She loved Cameron.

     The thought knocked the wind out of her for a moment. Where did that come from she wondered. She hadn’t even thought about Cameron in any way other than what a good friend he had been as of late To think that she loved him was ludicrous. Most days she could hardly stand to be around him because he was an arrogant jerk who was way too sarcastic. Yes, he had good looks and was intelligent, but for god’s sakes, she didn’t love him!

     “You seem like you’re a million leagues away,” he said quietly sitting down across from her in the sand. Holly slid down the tree she had been leaning against to join him.

     “I just have a lot on my mind,” she said still in shock about the direction her thoughts had taken her. What if she was in love with Cameron? It would mean, if Jack was correct, and Holly desperately wanted him not to be, that history was repeating itself in a strange fashion. It would also mean that she couldn’t be in love with him for obvious reasons. But if Jack wasn’t right, if Cameron was who Holly thought he was, which was to say a merchant’s son, then it would be okay. Respectable, even, by Lindenshire standards. Granted, Lindenshire didn’t exist, but that was a moot point. Cameron was a decent guy, who had some money, who Holly found to be insufferable at times, but there were other times when she didn’t want to be near anyone else but him. Maybe she was in love with him.

     “Misery loves company,” Cameron said by way of inviting her to speak.

     “I—I’m just anxious about what’s going to happen when we leave here,” Holly said. It was the truth, she was terrified of what was going to happen when they finally reached the Land of Shadows. They didn’t exactly have a plan as to what they would do when they reached the Shadow of the Sun, just that they’d rescue Tina and Holly’s father. But it wasn’t what Holly had been thinking about, not by a long shot.

     “If it helps, I am too,” Cameron said putting an arm around her shoulders. The gesture was comforting and it felt right. Holly tried to remember why she had drawn boundaries between them in the first place. Nothing came to mind.

     “It doesn’t,” Holly said honestly, resting her head on his shoulder. “But thanks for trying.”

     “Listen, Holly,” Cameron said quietly as he put his chin on her head. “We’ll be okay. We’re going to rescue your father and make it out alive. You will see your family again.”

     “How can you be so certain?” Holly questioned.

     “Because I know you and you are the most stubborn person I have ever met,” Cameron said. She could hear the smile in his voice. “If you want something to happen, then it will.”

     “Thanks, I think,” Holly said smiling as well.

     “It’s a compliment,” Cameron said. “Don’t worry about what’s going to happen, Holly. Whatever it is, we’ll face it together. I promise you that.”

18: Chapter 16: Leaving Smoke Water

The sun was at its highest point in the sky as Holly and Cameron made their way into the town of Smoke Water without Jack. He had had a medical emergency crop up at the last moment and was unable to see them off at the docks as Cameron and Holly made their departure from Solar Shadows. Instead, he had given Holly a small bag of gold and Cameron a suspicious glance before ducking out the door. Holly had to admit she wished that Jack were with them now, going to the Land of Shadows. He knew what to expect—Cameron and Holly didn’t.

     “You’re quiet,” Cameron commented casting her a swift glance. “Are you okay?”

     “I’m fine,” Holly said shaking her head to clear it. She gave him what loosely resembled a smile. “I’m just anxious.”

     “You will see your father again,” Cameron said quietly wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Holly couldn’t help but lean into him a little. “And James will be defeated.”

     “How can he be?” Holly asked quietly as they rounded a corner and headed down one of the backstreets Jack had told them about that avoided downtown Smoke Water.

     “He’s like any other human,” Cameron said. “He’s bound to have a weakness of some type.”

     “There’re rumors going around that he’s not entirely human,” Holly muttered.

     “Since when did you start believing in rumors?” Cameron asked teasingly.

     “Since they started coming true,” Holly retorted. “I mean, everything I made fun of back home is actually what happened eighteen years ago. I never used to believe that James, Pyter, or whoever the hell he is had a heart and could love anyone, let alone my mother.”

     “It’s only when the rumors start including us do they come true,” Cameron murmured quietly.

     “What?” Holly asked bemusedly.

     “Just a saying I heard a long time ago,” Cameron said. If Holly didn’t know him so well, she would have missed the bitter note in his voice.

     “Something you’re not going to be inclined to share with me any time soon,” Holly said.

     He frowned; apparently, he knew her as well as she knew him. He hadn’t missed the soft astringent note in her voice either.

     “It’s not exactly a secret,” he said. “My father told me that a long time ago. I didn’t used to believe in the rumors I heard either.”

     “What changed?” Holly inquired.

     “I did,” he said softly. “That was a long time ago, though.”

     “It couldn’t have been that long ago,” Holly scoffed. She stopped walking and reluctantly shrugged his arm off her shoulders.

     “What?” Cameron asked as he turned to face her. Holly couldn’t read his expression and she wasn’t entirely sure she wanted to.

     “I’m not asking you to give me all your secrets,” she said. “That would be unfair because there are some things that I haven’t told and am not going to either. But I want you at least to tell me some thing about yourself.”

     “I feel as though we’ve had this argument before,” Cameron said, an amused glint entering his eyes.

     “I’m not arguing,” Holly said crossing her arms, mostly because of the cold. “It’s just that I want to be able to know you better.”

     “What do you want to know?” Cameron asked. He looked innocent and honest, but there was something off about the way he stood. He seemed too stiff and Holly knew it wasn’t just because of the cold. He was hiding something. Maybe it was what Jack had told her, maybe it was something else. But either way, there was something that he wasn’t going to tell her. Something big. And even though Holly knew there was probably no chance of her ever finding out what that something was, it made her all the more curious to know what it was.

     “What’s your favorite color?” she asked randomly. “Do you know that we have spent over a month and a half together and I still don’t know your favorite color? I think that’s strange.”

     “We’ve been kind of busy with the whole life and death thing to ask trivial questions,” Cameron reminded her.

     “That proves my point,” Holly said.

     “What’s your point again?” Cameron asked arching an eyebrow sarcastically.

     “That we know practically nothing about each other,” Holly said. That was a lie, so she amended herself slightly. “Well, I know that you’re a martyr, crazy, and have a high threshold for pain, but I don’t know anything about you.”

     “Why are you so interested in me?” Cameron inquired, the barest hint of a smirk crossing his face.

     “Oh please,” Holly said putting her hands over her face as she realized how that must have sounded to him. “Forget I said anything.”

     She turned around and started walking quickly, hoping to put some distance between him and her. It didn’t work; she had forgotten to take into account his long stride.

     “Holly, wait just a second,” Cameron said placing his hand in hers and gently pulling her to stop. She took one look at the smirk on his face and her hands clenched into fists.

     “Why? Just so you can tease me for sounding like a girl?” Holly asked through gritted teeth. “News flash, I am a girl. And I didn’t mean that the way it sounded—I meant to say that—.”

     “Holly, would you shut up for just a minute?” he asked. The smirk faded from his face. Replacing it was a look of utmost seriousness and warmth. “I was trying to tell you that I think it’s a good idea. I mean, I’m not going to spill my guts to you because like you, I have secrets that I’m not going to share with anyone; but I think it’s a good idea that we get to know each other better.”

     Holly bit her tongue to stop herself from sounding like a total idiot who was head over heels in love. Which she wasn’t, or that’s what she was telling herself.

     “Good,” she said shortly before turning around and walking again. “We should probably get going. Don’t want to miss our ship and all. We do have people waiting on us to rescue them.”

     “You’re way too sarcastic for your own good, you know that?” Cameron asked lengthening his stride and catching up with her easily. Holly once again resisted the urge to deck him, thinking this wouldn’t be the best plan in the world.

     “I have to survive in the modern world,” Holly retorted with a smirk. “Sarcasm is just part of the status quo. And you are never sarcastic.”

     “Who? Me? Sarcastic?” Cameron asked, an innocent look crossing his face. The innocent look was quickly replaced by a grin that lit up his face.

     They kept up their friendly banter until they reached the docks. It was then it hit Holly all over again that she was leaving Solar Shadows and she might not return. The depressing thought was enough to make her stop right before she stepped foot on the docks.

     “What is it?” Cameron asked turning around to face her.

     “I’m just being stupid about all of this, aren’t I?” Holly asked.

     “It depends on if you want an honest answer to that question,” Cameron said humorously. “And it depends on what you think you’re being stupid about.”

     “I just feel that if I leave here today, I’ll never return,” she said quietly. “And I know that’s stupid because I am going to return with my father and with you and Tina, but—what is it?”

     At the mention of Tina, Cameron’s face grew dark and grim. Any trace of teasing or friendliness had disappeared, leaving in its place an angry person.

     “Nothing,” Cameron said through clenched teeth. “Let’s just go.”

     Holly watched in stunned confusion as he spun around and strode off toward the office building that handled departures and passage sales. She wondered what on earth had happened to cause Cameron’s terse reaction.

     Forcing herself not to dwell on it, Holly jogged to catch up to Cameron before he decided to leave her behind.

 

     The ship was small, but had plenty of space for its total of six passengers plus the captain and his crew. Holly noted this as she walked on shaking legs up the gangplank and onto the deck of the wooden vessel. She had never been a very big fan of deep water and ships had always scared her.

     Cameron still had yet to say a word to her since his sudden, slightly violent mood swing outside the dock. Holly wouldn’t admit it, but his silence was more frightening than any ship would ever be. She thought that she might have overstepped some invisible boundary that he had and he would be mad at her for the rest of the trip. When surrounded by total strangers, Holly wanted at least one familiar face to be able to talk with.

     Holly told herself that she would deal with Cameron later. With any luck, by dinner he would be over his funk and be back to the light-hearted, slightly annoying boy he had been earlier. Instead, she acquainted herself with the ship and watched the ship’s crew prepare for launch.

     “Lift the anchors!” the captain called.

     The captain was a tall burly man named Hank. He was about six foot five with a shaved head, brown eyes, and a permanent scowl. But despite the constant angry expression, he was a generally nice guy. He also knew a lot about ships, which Holly was quick to discover when she was trying to figure out some of the general knowledge about ships.

     Holly went to the stern of the ship when Hank told her that they would be leaving. She wanted to take one last glance at Smoke Water, at her home land, just in case her fear of never returning did come true.

     Holly watched as the shape of the land became smaller and smaller until it could no longer be seen with the naked eye. One of the deck hands offered her a telescope, but Holly declined. Instead, she went in search for Cameron, who seemed to have magically disappeared off the ship.

     She didn’t find him in his cabin or anywhere that the crew was willingly obliged to let her go; so frustrated and feeling slightly guilty, Holly decided to go back to her cabin and read some more of her mother’s journals.

     Cameron will show up eventually, she told herself. It’s not like he jumped overboard.

    

     Two days passed and Holly still hadn’t seen or heard a word from Cameron. She was beginning to worry that maybe Cameron had decided at the last moment to get off the ship and send her sailing across the world with no guide whatsoever.

     However, on the third evening of the voyage, Cameron made his appearance. Holly was standing by the gunwale watching the sun set over the ocean’s horizon when someone tapped her on the shoulder.

     “Go away, Demy,” she snapped. “I don’t want any food.”

     Demy was one of the kitchen staff. He was a really annoying twelve year old kid who had latched onto Holly the first day of the journey. She couldn't seem to be able to get rid of him.

     “If you really want me to leave, I will.”

     Holly whirled around, not expecting to hear Cameron’s musical voice. She felt a moment of relief that he was here after all before annoyance flooded through her. She seriously considered smacking him, but thought better of it.

     “Where the hell have you been?” she demanded in a whisper. “You disappear for three days and I’m left with a freaking twelve year old and an old guy for company! What’s up?”

     “Green,” he said randomly.

     Holly could only stare at him in what could at the very least be called shocked disbelief. She had been worried that he had drowned or had been beheaded or thrown overboard and all he could say was green?

     “You asked me what my favorite color was,” Cameron explained as if he were commenting on the weather. “My favorite color is green.”

     “That’s not even important at the moment, Cameron!” Holly said incredulously. “You disappear for three days! I was freaking out, thinking that you had been pushed overboard by Demy or you just decided the girl in Smoke Water who threw herself at you was better off rescuing Tina with you so you went to ask her to go with you instead!”

     “Please,” Cameron snorted. “Like that twelve year old could take me.”

     “That’s really not the point,” Holly said her voice rising hysterically. “You disappear for three days and then you joke about it afterward!”

     “I’m sorry,” Cameron said. He even had the decency to look ashamed of himself. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

     “Where were you?” Holly wanted to know. “I looked everywhere for you. Hell, I even had Demy look in the places I wasn’t allowed to look. Where were you?"

     “I was hanging out in the galley being sea sick,” Cameron said. “Demy, by the way, is an annoying twerp, though he is a halfway decent fellow. He claims that his father is the owner of the shipping company.”

     “Yeah, and I’m Princess Arianna,” Holly said sarcastically. Softening slightly, she added, “Are you okay?”

     Princess Arianna was princess of a race of people that lived in the mountains. Holly had seen a few of them a couple of times when she once visited Coppertown with her father. The princess was known for being beautiful, intelligent, and one of Solar Shadows’ most deadly allies.

     “Stranger things have happened,” Cameron said holding up his hands in surrender. “Yes, I’m fine.” He moved to stand beside her. “You have an obsession with sunsets, you know that?”

     “You have extreme mood swings, did you know that?” Holly retorted. “I mean one minute you’re acting like a human being, the next you’re like a cornered animal trying to escape. Then you become a block of wood and refuse to talk to anyone!”

     “I’m sorry,” Cameron repeated. “It’s not fair to you that I keep pushing you away. It’s not your fault. I just—Tina and I were really close. We used to travel everywhere together and do everything together. It’s hard to talk about her some times.”

     “She’s not dead, you know,” Holly said her anger deflating. She couldn’t be mad at him for missing his sister. She missed her brother at times. “And I’m sorry for going off on you like that.”

     “No, you had every right to,” Cameron said. He sighed. “Look, let’s talk about something else other than Tina.”

     “Like what?” Holly asked.

     “What’s your favorite color?” Cameron asked the barest hint of a smirk crossing his face. Holly rolled her eyes.

     “Well, it’s not green for one,” she said. “Why is green your favorite color, anyway?”

     Cameron shook his head.

     “I asked first,” he said. “Answer my question and then I’ll answer yours.”

     Holly thought for a moment. What was her favorite color? She had never thought about it before. Red used to be her favorite color, but since she had started having nightmares, that had changed. Red was the color of blood, of death, and of destruction.

     Holly studied Cameron for a moment, trying to decide how best to answer his questions. It hit her suddenly that blue was her favorite color because it was the color of Cameron’s eyes.

     “Blue,” she said finally.

     “Interesting,” Cameron said.

     “How is that interesting?” Holly wanted to know. She bit her tongue to keep herself from going off into a long rant about how colors were not interesting. It had been her idea in the first place to talk about favorite colors.

     “Blue used to be my favorite color,” Cameron explained. “My mother’s eyes were blue and that’s all my dad would ever talk about. I used to love the color blue.”

     “What changed?” Holly asked quietly. He had never really mentioned his mother to her other than to say that she had left before he really remembered her.

     “I met someone else,” Cameron said looking away from her and out over the water. “Someone who has beautiful leafy green eyes and I’ve been in love with the color ever since.”

     Holly couldn’t help but feel extremely jealous toward this stranger, whoever she was. She didn’t know why she felt like that—Cameron was free to like whomever he wanted—but she did.

     “That’s nice,” Holly said trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

     Cameron smiled suddenly. The grin lightened his face and made his eyes glimmer in amusement.

     “You don’t get it, do you?” he asked shaking his head. “Holly, people with green eyes are a rarity in Solar Shadows. Out of all the places I have travelled to, only four have had people with green eyes. And of those, four places, only one has had women with green eyes. And of those women, I have talked to only one. And she’s standing right next to me.”

 

19: Chapter 17: Shipwrecked

Thunder rumbled in the distance as Holly gaped at Cameron. She couldn’t have understood him correctly. Cameron couldn’t have been in love with her.

There were a billion different reasons why, chief among them was that Holly was in no way anything but normal. She was the daughter of a horse breeder. Granted, her father used to be the second in command of the Eclipse and Holly’s mother used to be the leader of the Eclipse, but that was who they were. That wasn’t who Holly was. She was just a naïve sixteen year old girl who couldn’t even defend herself. Cameron must have been delusional. He had mentioned he was recovering from seasickness.                                   

“Are you going to say something or are you just going to stand there like a fish out of water?” Cameron asked.

He was hurt by Holly’s lack of answer. He had thought it meant Holly didn’t feel the same.

“I—I don’t know what to say,” she said at last.

Holly felt like smacking herself in the head. She should have just admitted to the fact that she felt the same way. I don’t know what to say? she mentally demanded. I am an idiot.

     “I guess I was wrong when I thought you’d feel the same way about me,” Cameron said his shoulders slumping in defeat. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have ambushed you like this. It’s my own fault.”

He turned to walk away as Holly’s brain caught up with the situation Say something! Go after him! Do something! she screamed at herself.

But what? Holly countered.

Tell him the truth! You love him!

This fact was punctuated by a loud burst of thunder and a sudden deluge of rain. A streak of lightning illuminated the suddenly dark sky.

“Cameron!” Holly shouted over the rain. “Wait!”

Cameron paused a few feet away and turned around again. It was too dark to see his face, except during the brief flashes of lightning that were occurring with frightening frequency.

“What?” he shouted back.

Holly took a few steps closer to him so that she wouldn’t have to scream at him. It didn’t work—the rain picked up in intensity, and thunder started rumbling almost constantly.

“I feel the same way about you!” she yelled in his ear.

“What?” Cameron wasn’t asking her to repeat it because he couldn’t hear her—he was shocked.

The waves started increasing in height as the sudden storm began to worsen. The shockingly white crests were even with the deck of the ship as the ship started to be tossed around. Holly and Cameron found themselves fighting for balance.

“I love you!” she shouted. “I am in love with you, Cameron!”

Cameron’s shocked expression turned joyous in the split second it took for lightning to streak across the sky. He moved to get closer to her when a gigantic wave crashed over the ship pulling Cameron down to the water as the wave moved back to the ocean.

“CAMERON!” Holly screamed slipping to her knees and reaching for his hand. He grabbed it and for a brief second, they held on to each other. But the rain and the waves made it too hard—Holly felt her grip on his hand slowly slipping away.\/ She frantically tried to pull him back onto the ship.

Holly attempted to cling more tightly to Cameron’s hand, but it was slick with water. Another wave crashed against the ship, breaking Holly’s hold.

She screamed Cameron’s name one more time before he went under.

Someone was pulling her away from the edge of the ship. Holly rebelled, trying to break away and get back to Cameron, but the person holding her was too strong.

“Get her below deck!” a deep voice shouted.

“Cameron!” she yelled.

“He’s gone, girl,” the deep voice told her sympathetically. “I’m sorry. It’s too late for him.”

“NO!”

“Hank! Watch out!”

Holly was suddenly free as a huge streak of lightning landed a few feet away with a sizzling sound. The deck was suddenly alight with bright orange flames burning unhampered by the waves and rain. People shouted at each other as the crew set to work trying to save the ship from the fire.

“Holly, get to one of the life boats!” Hank ordered. “Demy! You’re in charge of Holly until you get safely to shore!”

“Aye, captain!” the twelve year old shouted with a salute.

Holly was numb with shock. The fact that Cameron was gone hadn’t registered yet. He couldn’t be. He was invincible. He was one of those people who could take whatever was coming at him and survive. He couldn’t be… . Holly refused to think the word dead as Demy grabbed one of the lifeboats.

“I’m sorry Holly,” he said. “But I have to stay here. Get in the life boat and--.”

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by a horrible cracking sound. Holly’s eyes widened in horror as she saw the mast behind Demy start to topple.

“Look out!” she screamed pulling him out of the way just as the mast fell.

The deck shook violently, throwing Holly to the edge of the ship. She shouted out in fear, but Demy didn’t hear her. He had slipped and smacked his head on the deck.

Holly dangled precariously on the edge of the ship for a moment before a huge wave pulled her into the black, icy water. She let out a screech of terror before water filled her mouth and pulled her under. The waves shoved Holly back to the surface almost immediately, but before she had time to catch her breath, the powerful currents pulled her back under.

Something hard smacked her in the head, causing Holly to lose consciousness for a brief second. When she came to, there was nothing in sight except a piece of lone driftwood and the seemingly never ending sea.

Holly grabbed onto the piece of driftwood, hoping that it would be enough to keep her afloat. The massive waves tossed her life preserver about, but Holly managed to cling to the slick wood.

She opened her mouth, out of breath, only instead of breathing in air; Holly swallowed a mouthful of seawater. Coughing, she spat out the salty liquid, only to get more water in her mouth the second she opened her mouth again.

Fighting to draw air into her lungs, Holly became aware that it was steadily getting colder as she clung for dear life on the piece of driftwood. She knew that this was a bad thing, but there was nothing she could do about it. She was in the middle of an ocean, in the middle of a thunderstorm that had broken her ship in two.  

Shivering and finally able to breathe again, Holly realized that the storm was abating. The waves were lessening in height and frequency, and although it was nearly impossible to tell, the rain was lessening. The dark, angry clouds were starting to break apart, showing signs of the starry night sky.

It was an almost peaceful sight, were it not for the sporadic streaks of lightning to the west.

By the time dawn started to break over the eastern horizon, Holly had lost all feeling in her hands and feet. Her head ached from where something had slammed against it during the night. She was starving—she hadn’t had anything to eat since the morning before after spending lunch looking for Cameron—and dinner would have been during the middle of the huge thunderstorm.                                                                                                                                       

Cameron. The name struck a chord deep within her frozen mind. Holly couldn’t really remember much about the night before except for the storm and the mast falling on the ship. But she knew that something bad had happened to him; otherwise he would have been right there with her.

Holly was beyond exhausted. She hadn’t slept well any of the nights they had spent on the ship because she had been worried about Cameron. It was sad, really, she reflected as her eyes began to close, how much her life was centered around Cameron now. She had gone from not being able to stand being around him because he was bitter and distant to not wanting to be apart from him any longer than necessary. She was in love with him, Holly realized as the comforting darkness of sleep pulled on her.

Holly felt something solid, yet slightly springy beneath her waterlogged boots. Astonished, Holly forced her eyes open. There was a wide, barren, black expanse of land that stretched endlessly in every direction. Straight ahead, there were distant crags of mountains and ridges. Overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of land, no matter how dark and sinister it looked, Holly let go of the piece of driftwood and half swam, half stumbled through the murky water to the black land in front of her. She expected it to be solid rock, but was surprised when once again she realized that it was sand. Holly had never seen black sand before, but she had heard rumors of it once. She realized her journey to the Land of Shadows, no matter how full of misfortune it had been, was over.

Now the hard part begins, Holly thought, echoing Cameron’s words from long ago. The thought struck her hard, because up until now, the rescue mission had been anything but easy. The race at breakneck speed through perilous woods in the middle of the night to Smoke Water had been insanely difficult, actually. The idea there was going to be something even more treacherous than that was enough to send Holly stumbling to her knees in shock.

Holly struggled to get back to her feet, but her body was too full of pain and exhausted to follow her commands. Instead, she lay down on the sand, not caring if anyone saw her. Her eyes fell shut and Holly drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

 

Holly woke slowly, not wanting to wake up and face the world around her. She was still exhausted and aching all over. Sleeping in the sand had only added to this discomfort; her skin itched and her clothes felt rough and sticky. Holly knew that this was not what had caused her to wake up, though.

There were the familiar sounds of hoof beats. Holly knew exactly where she was, but she couldn’t help wishing those hoof beats were the those of horses ridden by her father and mother going on an early morning ride before the day became too hot.

A gentle hand touched her shoulder and Holly’s eyes flew open in surprise. She found herself staring into wise, sad blue eyes.

“Cameron?” she whispered hopefully.

The eyes looked puzzled before pulling away. Holly was able to see to whom the set of blue eyes belonged and felt extremely embarrassed when she realized that it was a woman who had touched her shoulder, not a teenaged boy.

However, the woman looked similar Cameron. She had the same dark hair and the same tall, willowy build. The woman even wore her hair short, but not nearly as short as Cameron’s was. Her features were almost identical, not to Cameron’s, but to Tina’s. She was beautiful.

Dressed simply in a dark blue cloak and sturdy, brown leather boots, the woman who stood in front of Holly looked like one of those bandits from an old tale that was dated before the time of the Shadow of the Sun. Bandits had been beautiful, fierce, and extremely frightening. Many had called them angels of death, because if he saw a bandit, it was the last thing he ever did.

“I do not know that name,” the woman said speaking softly and clearly. “Nor do I know yours.”

“I’m Holly,” Holly said wincing at how hoarse her voice was. She would have given anything for a canteen of water at that moment.

Almost as if she had read Holly’s mind, the woman produced an intricate looking water canteen and handed it to Holly.

“Were you on that ship last night?” the woman asked as Holly gratefully took a sip of the cool liquid. “The one that got caught in the storm?”

“I was,” Holly said. She wanted to drink the water canteen dry, but she also didn’t want to appear rude. So she took one more sip before handing it back to the woman.

“You are lucky that you survived,” the woman said shaking her head at the water. “Keep it. You are in more need of it than I.”

Holly gratefully took the water back.

“Who are you?” she asked.

The woman looked faintly amused.

“Who I am is not the question you meant to ask,” she said. “But I will excuse your carelessness about questions for the time being. My name is Bev Andrews.”

Holly, who had taken a sip of water, spluttered and stared at the woman in surprise. Bev Andrews. The woman that Jack had told her to go to in case she needed help, and just happened to be the mother of Cameron, was standing calmly in front of Holly, not seeming to notice the shock that the younger woman was beginning to enter.

“You’re Bev Andrews?” Holly asked incredulously.

“That’s what I said, wasn’t it?” Bev retorted looking vaguely annoyed.  She stood up. “Come. We need to get off this beach before they realize our presence here. It would bode ill will if you were discovered and I, well, let’s just say the consequence would be rather unpleasant.”

“They?” Holly echoed confused.

“The Shadow of the Sun, daft girl,” Bev said. If she had looked annoyed before, it was nothing compared to the irritation she showed now. “Do you live under a rock or something? I thought that everyone had heard of the Shadow of the Sun. Then again, times have changed since I had a conversation with any human. You all must have become even more hopeless than the last time I talked to one of you.”

“Your insults are highly unnecessary,” Holly said stiffly as she got to her feet. A sudden wave of dizziness swept over her.

Bev looked suddenly sympathetic as she reached over and placed a steadying hand on Holly’s shoulder. Holly shrugged it off, not wanting to appear weak in front of her new acquaintance.

“I’m fine,” she muttered.

“Yeah, and I am an utter moron,” Bev returned sarcastically. “You better be fine because I am not dragging your body through the Shadow of the Sun’s territory. It’s dangerous enough.”

“Thanks for your support,” Holly growled dryly. Her head still ached and she was still reeling from the events on the ship. She was not in the mood to be picked on by a total stranger, even one who was related to Cameron and was supposedly a friend.

“I’ve learned that you don’t get anywhere by being mollycoddled,” Bev said walking a few feet away. Holly followed like a trained puppy dog.

“Do you not have any horses?” she asked.

“I have one, but she’s so ancient that I don’t like to use her that often,” Bev explained as she continued walking down the beach. “It’s easier to walk more places anyway. The terrain here is so rocky that most people elect to walk anyway. It’s safer.”

“But the Shadow of the Sun has horses, right?” Holly pestered.

“The Shadow of the Sun is ruled by a pompous idiot,” Bev said rolling her eyes.

Holly was surprised by the insult. She didn’t think anyone could so freely insult James, especially in the Land of Shadows. But she was glad to know that someone out there was fighting against the Shadow of the Sun, even if it was merely berating the leader in the middle of his own country. It meant that there was still hope to be found, that if push came to shove, there would be people willing to fight against the Shadow of the Sun and everything it stood for.

Drums sounded in the distance. In front of Holly, Bev stopped and stiffened She uttered something that sounded vaguely like a curse, but it wasn’t any word that Holly recognized.

“What is it?” Holly asked quietly.

“A gathering, more or less,” Bev said motioning for Holly to follow her.

“A gathering of what?” Holly whispered as she followed Bev to hide behind a thorny bush. She was faintly surprised—she hadn’t realized that there was vegetation growing here. Nor had Holly noticed the fact that the beach was far behind them or that the ground had gradually started sloping upward.

“Look for yourself,” Bev said grimly.

The bush was positioned on the edge of a nearly invisible cliff. Holly crept closer, wanting to see what the cause of Bev’s sudden anxiety was. Her heart nearly stopped in horror as she looked over the edge of the cliff and saw the hundreds of men gathered below in dark gray cloaks.

“The Shadow of the Sun,” Holly breathed. 

20: Chapter 18: The Shadow of the Sun

 There were hundreds of people gathered in the clearing below. Holly could tell by their builds that the majority of them were men, but there were a few smaller ones that suggested women. She wondered which one was Meredythe and her hand crept to the nearest weapon, which happened to be a rather large rock.

 “I never realized that the Shadow of the Sun was so big,” Holly whispered as more people dressed in dark gray cloaks entered the clearing. There had to be close to a thousand people, and that was just here, in the Land of Shadows. She had learned from Cameron that there were dozens of Shadow of the Sun outposts in Solar Shadows too.

 “This is just a meeting for the officers,” Bev informed her in a hushed voice. “The higher ranking ones at that.”

“How can you tell?” Holly inquired studying the group below her with renewed interest. Though the reason why she was here was strictly to rescue her father, Holly felt that any information gained about the Shadow of the Sun was a good idea.

     “Their cloaks,” Bev explained pointing to a small group closest to bottom of the cliff. “The material is a darker shade of gray than the enlisted men’s. You probably can’t tell the difference now, but trust me, there is one.”

 “I know,” Holly said remembering the almost white cloaks of some of the men who had chased her and Cameron through the woods.

 Bev looked mildly interested, but didn’t ask any questions, which relieved Holly. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell anyone about what had happened in Solar Shadows just yet.

 “This must be an important meeting,” Bev said. “Those are James’ guards.”

 “James has guards?” Holly snorted. “I thought he was too good for such menial defenses.”

     “I think you and I are going to get along just fine, Holly,” Bev said with the barest hint of a smirk. “But even James has his enemies.”

     “James, having enemies,” Holly said sarcastically. “Imagine that.”

     Bev rolled her eyes.

     “They are really more for show than anything else,” she said. “The guards don’t really do much. They aren’t trained at all, and for a good reason. If you get that close to James and he doesn’t like you, then you’re walking dead anyway.”

     Holly wasn’t about to point out that Bev had once been in love with the very man she scorned now. Now wasn’t the time or place to talk about that.

     Besides, how did one go about approaching that subject? By the way, I know you were in love with James and I’m in love with your son, who may or may not be dead, just seemed a little awkward.

     Holly was about to say something when a movement caught her eye. She wasn’t sure what captured her attention first—the man himself, his features, or the clothes he was wearing. All of which were startling and looked extremely out of place in the midst of the dark gray cloaks

     He wore no cloak. Instead, he wore a simple white long-sleeved shirt with a navy blue vest. His pants were basic as well, made from black leather or cotton; Holly wasn’t sure which. He wore the same brown leather boots as everyone else seemed always to be wearing.

     His hair, though going silver around the edges, was jet black. It was cropped in a military fashion that Holly had seen in the guards which patrolled Milden from time to time. She figured the style was supposed to show control and dignity.

     His lack of cloak made it very easy to see his face, even from this distance, and it was obvious that this man was very handsome. He had very defined features that were bold enough to be striking, but subtle enough not to appear feminine. He had the barest hints of stubble on his jaw. His blue eyes were cold and calculating, there wasn’t an ounce of warmth in the almond shaped orbs. They seemed out of place on his otherwise handsome face, for they were malicious and hard. Such emotions weren’t beautiful, they were ugly Holly noticed his eyes, for they looked directly at the place where she and Bev were hiding. She shivered, despite the heat of the morning sun.

     “He looks like Cameron,” Holly whispered softly. It wasn’t meant to be overheard, but Bev shot her a quizzical look.

     “That,” she said. “Is James.”

As if her whispered introduction had been a signal, an eerie silence fell over the clearing below. Holly had thought it had been quiet before, but now, no one even seemed to breathe.

“The Shadow of the Sun has a long, dark history,” James began.

Holly shivered at the sound of his voice. It was cruel and hard, very similar to his eyes. She wouldn’t go as far to say that it was emotionless, for it had the faintest hints of pride and sorrow in it.

“We started out as a voice against the injustices in the world,” he said. “We alone were the upholders of what the people stood for. We changed lives for the better. Under the Shadow of the Sun’s rule, the land prospered.”

Until you let the power go to your head, Holly thought bitterly. But you will never tell that story, will you James?

“I admit,” James said surprising her as his voice softened and the hard edge disappeared. He sounded almost human as he continued.

“We did make some mistakes. We thought that we were above the mistakes of our predecessors, that we were above bribery and corruption. Like all great rulers, I am sorry to say that we were not. That I was not. We let down our families and our nation. But where we so corrupt that we deserved to be taken out of power? Maybe. In the belief of many, yes.”

Holly realized then why the Shadow of the Sun was so successful. It wasn’t because they were an elite army. It wasn’t because they were massive in size.

 It was because of their leader, James, Pyter, whatever his name was. He was very compelling. His speech, although only half done, was full of sadness and regret. It was easy to see, while she was lying on this cliff edge listening to him, why so many people had joined him. It was hard to fight against him when he said what the people wanted to hear. It was an amazing feat that Holly’s mother had been able to start the Eclipse at all.

“And perhaps they were right. Perhaps we needed to reform our ways,” James continued. “We were too full of hubris to see that then. But now, I like to believe that we have changed. That the Shadow of the Sun is now the ruling organization that the world needs us to be.”

“This is the part where James tells his plan to take over the world peacefully while really planning world domination through a bloody war that will last the next eighteen years,” Bev said in an ironic voice.

“And this is the part where you two come out of the bushes with your hands behind your head and pray to whatever gods you believe in that King James is in a merciful mood,” a voice drawled.

Holly started at the noise, turning her head in horror to find a man in a pale gray cloak standing behind them with his sword drawn. There were three other cloaked figures behind him, all with weapons drawn and at the ready.

“On my signal, get ready to run,” Bev whispered to her as she reached underneath her cloak and pulled out a wicked looking dagger.

Holly nodded once in acknowledgement as they pulled themselves out of the bushes and stood up.

“Hands behind your head,” the man ordered thrusting his sword at Bev who merely smiled.

“Easy there, tiger,” she said tucking her dagger into her sleeve as she casually put her hands behind her head. “Someone might get hurt with that thing.”

“You will if you don’t shut your damn mouth,” the man threatened.

Bev looked bored. Holly felt her anxiety level increase as three more guards joined the ones who were already in place.

This is bad, she thought.

“That’s not the way you talk to your mother, now is it?” Bev asked conversationally. She didn’t look at all scared.

“You shut the hell up about my mother!” the man shouted waving his sword around.

“Oh, you have mommy issues,” Bev said looking amused. “Is that why you joined the Shadow of the Sun? To get away from her?”

“Shut. Up,” the man said through clenched teeth. “You don’t know nothing ’bout anything.”

“My, my, kids these days,” Bev said shaking her head. “So rude and so unoriginal. Must be James’ influence on you all.”

“Do you dare insult James?” the man asked relaxing slightly.

Holly figured that no one ever dared to insult James, which is why she almost lost it when Bev calmly blinked before responding.

“Yes.”

The man doubled over in surprise, his hood falling away from his head. He was young, Holly realized, hardly older than she was. He had short, sandy blonde hair and green eyes.

“You are either suicidal or crazy,” he said, his grip on his sword shaking.

“Maybe I’m both,” Bev said shrugging. “Or maybe I just know James. Holly. Now would be a good time.”

Holly started, not expecting Bev to address her. But she realized instantly what the older woman meant, but didn’t really want to go. It would be an unfair fight, seven against one, and though Holly knew she would probably be more of a liability then a help, she wanted to stay.

“But,” she began.

“Now,” Bev said. “And to the east, if you would.”

The man and his fellow guards looked confused, the expression quickly turning to shock as Bev pulled her hands from behind her head, revealing the wicked looking dagger.

Holly hesitated, not wanting to run away. It would be unfair to ask a complete stranger to fight for her.

     She waited a second too long. With a cry of alarm, the man charged Bev, who merely rolled her eyes and ducked out of the way of his wildly swinging sword. Holly threw herself to the ground just as the other guards decided to join the fight.

“Run, Holly!” Bev shouted as the Shadow of the Sun members formed a loose semi-circle around her and Holly. It was a smart idea—the only form of escape that Holly could see was down the cliff face and that would merely lead them right into the waiting arms of the Shadow of the Sun officers. They were trapped.

“You can either come quietly or you can be killed,” one of the guards said. The man who had first attacked Bev seemed to have given up talking to Bev and Holly.

“How about you just let us free?” Bev suggested looking bored again. “I mean seriously, if you take me to James now, I’m just going to escape in a few hours. So why bother locking me up when we are going to end up right back here again tomorrow?”

“James will probably decide to put to death this time, Mrs. Andrews.”

The guards instantly stiffened as another man in a darker gray cloak Holly felt her breath catch in her throat. She recognized that smooth voice. She half expected an idiotic comment to follow that particular tone from a higher-pitched, more obnoxious voice.

“Marcus,” Bev said conversationally. “So nice of you to finally join the party, late I might add. Ah well, better late than never, right?”

“James isn’t too happy with you right now, Bev,” Marcus said withdrawing his hood from his head. “He keeps telling me that you are trying to start a revolt.”

“Now why would I want to do that? I love the Shadow of the Sun,” Bev said overenthusiastically. “You know me, go team! Let’s go kill every one who dares oppose us in the world!”

“That’s what I told him,” Marcus said smiling.

Holly stared at his face. It was the first time she had ever actually seen him. The time he had found her and Cameron in the hollow the second day of their journey, he had been wearing a hood. Now, she realized, he was extremely good looking. Not in the exotic way as Cameron or James or in the soft boyish way of Neil and Casey, but in a rugged, square way He had a very tan face, with a long, narrow nose and hazel eyes. He had dark brown hair that had sun-bleached streaks running through it. He wasn’t much taller than Holly, but he appeared taller.

“You may leave,” he said to the guards. “I think I can handle these two on my own.”

“Sir,” the man who had attacked Bev originally started.

“I will be fine, Hargrove,” Marcus said coldly. “Go. And that’s an order.”

The guards looked distinctly disgruntled as they turned and walked away. They obviously wanted the glory of bringing in two captives and weren’t too happy with a higher ranking officer coming along and stealing the prisoners from them.

“Is this the point where you tell me that I should be more gracious about the free pass James has given me or is this where you tell me that James has changed his mind again and he wants me dead?” Bev asked apathetically.

     Holly was beyond confused as to what was going on. According to Jack, Bev was a friend and hated the Shadow of the Sun more than anything else. So why was she conversing so casually with a member?

“I’m going to give you an hour’s head start,” Marcus said. “Take the girl here and hide in your caves. I suggest that you don’t dare to come this way for a few weeks. James is… anxious, if that word can be applied to him.”

“I don’t think any words outside of ‘moron,’ ‘ass,’ and ‘self-centered’ can be applied to James,” Bev said in an irritated voice. More softly, she added, “But thank you, Marcus.”

Marcus nodded his head.

“Keep her safe,” he said to Bev, glancing at Holly. “Solar Shadows is going to need her.”

Before Holly had the chance to ask what he meant or figure out what was going on, Bev took her hand and started pulling her away from Marcus.

“Don’t say anything until we get to the hideout,” Bev hissed in her ear as she found a nearly invisible trail and started following it. “I know you’re going to have shipload questions, but I can’t answer them until we’re safe from the Shadow of the Sun.”

21: Chapter 19: Discussions

     Bev’s hideout turned out to be a massive cave set in the foothills of the enormous mountains. Holly had been extremely surprised when she had seen the cave, but had been too exhausted to care.

 “I know,” Bev had said seeing Holly’s astonished expression. “It’s not what you were thinking when I said hideout. But it’s safe and no one from the Shadow of the Sun knows about it.”

“Except for Marcus,” Holly had said as a way of asking for an explanation.

Bev’s face had gone blank then and she had told Holly that there was a bed in the far corner that Holly could have. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to talk about Marcus.

Holly had found that Bev’s definition of a bed was a straw mattress covered with a cloak. It didn’t matter—Holly had been so fatigued that she would have slept on the cold, hard cave floor if need be. Thankfully, Bev wasn’t that cruel.

Holly had fallen asleep the second her head had touched the makeshift mattress, and she had slept for nearly an entire day. She would have slept longer if it hadn’t been for Bev waking her up.

“What?” Holly asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“I am going out to hunt,” Bev said softly. “I wanted you to know where I was going in case you woke up while I was gone.”

The older woman disappeared before Holly really had a chance to process what she was saying. But Holly was no longer tired enough to go back to sleep. Instead, she got up and groaned as she stretched her stiff muscles.

The entrance to the cave was dark, signaling that it was either night or very early morning. Holly was willing to bet as she wandered into the front part of the cave that it was morning just by the position of the moon in the sky.

The cave was freezing. Holly shivered as she walked around the cave, trying to get a feel as to where everything was. She found some clean looking clothes hanging from a piece of broken rock near the far corner of the cave, opposite of where Holly had slept. There was a note beside them in neat, spindly handwriting that said they were for her.

Touched by the gesture and glad to finally have some clean clothes, Holly quickly changed into the pair of dark pants and white linen shirt. She was beginning to see a pattern in the way the people of the Land of Shadows dressed.

She took the last item on the rock, a dark green cloak, and put it on. It was warm and soft, made from a material that felt like liquid fabric. Holly instantly fell in love with it.

After quickly pulling her hair in to a messy plait, Holly pulled on her now dry leather boots, walked to the entrance of the cave, and peered out at the gloomy landscape.

The sun was just rising in the east, staining the dark clouds above a pale red. Instead of making the sky look softer like most sunrises, the color only succeeded to make the steel colored sky above look more sinister. The rough outlines of the mountains above Holly looked even more foreboding now then they had when she had first seen the craggy shapes upon arriving at the Land of Shadows.

Holly shivered, but not because of the cold. This truly was a place of hardships, she realized. She could understand why James wanted to take Solar Shadows, now. Solar Shadows was beautiful, fertile, and had a rich history of life and happiness. This place didn’t have that. It looked like the land of the dead.

     As the sun rose and the its weak rays struck the land, Holly noticed a small village off to the west. She was startled, for she had never heard of a village in the Land of Shadows. Holly had assumed from Abby’s descriptions that most of the people lived in houses in the mountain.

     Footsteps sounded on the crumbling rocks that led up to the cave. Instantly on her guard, Holly dropped into a crouch and crept behind the entrance of the cave. The footsteps grew louder, right before Bev walked into the cave, carrying two rabbits over her shoulder and an armful of wood.

     “You’re awake,” Bev said looking surprised as Holly straightened up. “Good. You found the clothes. They seem to fit okay.”

“Thank you,” Holly said. Her stomach growled loudly and she blushed.

“I’ll have the rabbits ready in a few minutes,” Bev said smiling slightly. “Take a seat somewhere and I’ll give them to you when they’re done.”

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Holly had never been one for sitting around and letting other people do work for her.

“No. Honestly, you’ll just get in the way. Go, sit.”

Holly did as she was told.  Twenty minutes later, Bev was sitting beside her and they were feasting on the wild rabbits Bev had killed. Holly enjoyed the meat thoroughly. It was the first form of sustenance she had had in days.

When they were finished, Holly helped clear away the small wooden plates that Bev had put the rabbits on and hovered nervously on the edge of the cave while Bev put her hunting items away.

“You don’t need to stand there all day,” Bev said. “You can sit down if you want.”

“I’m fine,” Holly said picking at her dirt encrusted nails.

“Well, if you say so,” Bev said shrugging. “If you are going to stand there and take up space, would you mind telling me something?”

“What?” Holly asked crossing her arms over her chest.

“Why are you in the Land of Shadows?” Bev asked. “You don’t have family here, I know that much. You’re a Larson, which means you’re from Solar Shadows. Why in the world would you come to this god-forsaken place?”

“How do you know where I’m from?” Holly countered

“I knew your father,” Bev said shortly standing up and brushing her hands off. “And I knew Leah, too. I am assuming that she married Richard since you look so much like her.”

“You know that she is alive?” Holly asked.                                                                

“I may live under a rock, but I do know many about the world around me,” Bev said. “But to be totally honest, I didn’t find out that Leah was alive until Marcus returned to the Shadow of the Sun a few days ago with the crew that was sent to recruit people from Solar Shadows. He told me they had found Leah, very much alive.”

“Oh,” Holly said.

“But that doesn’t answer my question,” Bev pointed out. “Why are you in the Land of Shadows? Is everything okay?”

“No,” Holly replied looking away from Bev’s inquiring gaze. “Dad was taken by the Shadow of the Sun. He was brought here. I… I met up with someone who offered to help me rescue him. We’ve been on the run ever since”

“Richard was kidnapped?” Bev asked sounding frightened. “James must have changed his mind after all.”

“What?”  

“He decreed at the beginning of the year that the Larson family was to be left alone,” Bev explained. “He also said that I was to be left alone as well. I thought he was a sentimental bastard at the time, but I should have realized he had something else in mind. That’s the way James thinks. He tells you one thing and then proceeds to do the exact opposite, not caring who he hurts in the process. Leah figured that out very early on, which was a large part of the reason why the Eclipse was so successful. Then again, Leah was always the most intelligent of all of us.”

“You were apart of the Eclipse?” Holly asked surprised.

“I was,” Bev said. “I was also apart of the Shadow of the Sun. I was working as a spy. I fell in love with the wrong people, betrayed the people who meant the world to me, and ended up living in a cave for the rest of my life, alone.”

“I’m sorry,” Holly said softly, not certain as to what else she could say. “That must have been extremely difficult for you.”

“I’m over it,” Bev said with a shrug. “You learn to deal with such things during eighteen years of solitude.”

“I don’t think I could do that,” Holly said.

“And hopefully, you won’t have to,” Bev said encouragingly. “Come. Let us not waste valuable time chatting about past mistakes when we can be doing something to fix them now.”

“Like what?” Holly asked her curiosity spiking.

“You aren’t going to be able to take down the Shadow of the Sun if you don’t know how to fight,” Bev said. “And to learn how to fight, you need someone to teach you.”

“You’d teach me?” Holly asked her eyes widening in surprise.

“Leah saved my life,” Bev said. “And for that, I’ll do anything to keep you safe.”

“She saved your life?” Holly echoed.

“Do you make it a habit of being an echo?” Bev asked irritably. “I won’t go into all the gory details. Let’s just say that Leah had a choice to either save me or save her family. She chose me. Now come with me.”

Bev led the way down a steep, treacherous trail that eventually ended in a small, relatively flat grass clearing surrounded by beautifully sinister pine trees.

 Holly shivered but not because of the frigid air. There seemed to be something lurking in the eerie shadows of the giant pines.

“Catch,” Bev ordered.

Holly turned just in time to duck out of the way as a large, pointed stick came flying out of nowhere and landed with a gentle thud right where she had been standing.

“Good. You know the simple evasion tactics,” Bev said. “Thank the gods I won’t have to teach you how to duck. That makes my life so much easier. Yours too. You will have far fewer bruises that way. Now pick up that stick.”

Holly did as she was told cautiously. She found Bev’s feral grin disconcerting.

“What are you going to do?” Holly asked glad to discover that her voice was far less shaky and alarmed than she felt.

“When you’re fighting the Shadow of the Sun, are you going to look at them like a frightened rabbit and ask what are you going to do?” Bev asked mimicking Holly’s voice in a high-pitched whine.

“No,” Holly said defiantly.

“Then don’t ask me!”

The older woman’s words were the only warning Holly received before she was thwacked with a stick.

“Ow!” Holly complained rubbing her now sore shoulder. “That hurt.”

“Do you expect the Shadow of the Sun to soften their blows?” Bev retorted. “You shouldn’t expect me to soften mine. Mollycoddling will get you nowhere in life.”

Holly had the distinct feeling she had heard those words before. She barely had time to duck out of the way as Bev swung her stick again.

“Fight back!” Bev shouted.

“How?” Holly yelled as she once again slipped out of Bev’s reach.

“Any way you know how. Swinging that piece of wood in your hands might be a good place to start!”

Holly would be the first to deny the fact that she had forgotten all about the weapon in her hands, though she knew this was obvious.

Bev swung her stick with surprising speed and intensity. Holly felt like a bumbling idiot as she clumsily brought her own weapon up to block Bev’s.

 Holly had been taught how to use a sword, but it had been a very long time ago and she had forgotten most of it. She did know that the first rule was probably along the lines of do not forget about thy weapon; it may save you when you’re stick fighting with a crazed cave woman.

“Swing it around faster!” Bev instructed as she once again went for the attack. Holly missed her chance to block the stick and got smacked in the chest.

Holly flinched away, eyes stinging as the pain coursed through her. However, she managed to stay on her feet and keep a grip the stick. She instinctively knew that if she complained, Bev would only make a sarcastic comment and ignore her. So, Holly sucked it up and managed to block another hit before swinging her own stick wildly and attempted to hit Bev on the shoulder.

“Predictable,” Bev said bouncing away instantly. “Go for something unexpected.”

“Like what?” Holly demanded as she blocked another blow

“If I told you, I’d expect it, now wouldn’t I?” Bev retorted her stick whistling through the air and landing solidly on Holly’s. “Nice block.”

Holly wracked her mind, trying to think of something Bev wouldn’t expect. She tried everything that popped into her head, but nothing seemed to work.

“You’re still being too conventional,” Bev informed her. “Break the rules.”

“I’m trying!” Holly yelled as she ducked out of the way.

“Do or do not!” Bev countered. “There is no try!”  

Holly bit her lip to keep in a groan of frustration as she received a blow to the arm. The stick was growing heavy in her hand as she tried and failed again and again to hit Bev.

“Swing your sword a little faster!” Bev instructed. “You’re almost there.”

“It’s a stick,” Holly said. “Not a sword.”

Bev rolled her eyes.

“Technicalities are for people who want an excuse to get out of doing work,” she said. “Now impress me, Larson.”

Holly had had enough. She was tired and the places where Bev had hit her hurt like crazy. She wanted nothing more than to curl up and sleep for a month.

“I quit,” she said dropping the stick and turning away from Bev. She was forced to her knees when something strong and solid hit her in the shoulder.

“Never turn your back to your enemy,” Bev said. “It gives them the perfect opportunity to kill you.”

Holly rubbed her shoulder and glared at Bev.

“I distinctly remember saying that I quit,” she said tonelessly as she got up and dusted off her pants.

“Do you think James is going to let you back down so easily? Do you think your mother backed down so easily when she was facing James?” Bev demanded.

“So we’ve moved from insulting me to insulting my family,” Holly said.

“Your family seems to be your only motivating factor,” Bev said with a shrug. She dropped her stick on the ground and crossed her arms. Somehow, her anger seemed much more impressive than Holly’s.

“It is not,” Holly disagreed instantly.

Bev raised an eyebrow.

“No?” she challenged softly. “Then tell me, Holly, why are you here?”

“Why are you?” Holly retorted. “The way I see it, you could have gotten out of this fight a long time ago.”

“I’m not the one who needs a better incentive to fight,” Bev countered. “I’m not the one giving up because things are getting too tough. So you have to fight. So you’re going to get hurt. Big deal. People have given their lives to defending a whole lot less. Do you think they moaned and groaned? No. They sucked up their pain and moved on because they knew that beating James at any cost was a price they were willing to pay. Tell me, are you?”

“All I want is to get my father back,” Holly said softly. “I never asked to be a part of this fight.”

“I never asked to have you dumped in my lap either, yet here we are,” Bev shot back. “Here’s something you might not have considered—things don’t always go the way you plan. True heroes are made when they learn to adapt to the unforeseen complications. The cowards run away and hide.”

“So does that make me a coward?” Holly asked.

“You’re the one saying that you don’t want to fight,” Bev said with a shrug. “You can do this, Holly, if you set your mind to it. If you’re a tenth of the person your mother was, then you have nothing to be afraid of.”

 Although Holly did not know Bev very well, she could tell that the older woman’s words were extremely high praise. Holly felt ashamed of herself as she realized that she was unworthy of any praise. She had done nothing since deciding to rescue her father. Nothing, except sit on her tail and watch other people get hurt because of her. Cameron was more than likely dead because Holly couldn’t rescue him. Her father faced the same fate if Holly couldn’t learn how to fight properly.

“But to become that person, you have to want it,” Bev continued. “You have to want to learn how to fight. I can’t teach you that. You have to learn that on your own.”

“I want to learn,” Holly said quietly.

“Do you?” Bev challenged.

“Yes,” Holly said assuredly.

“Why? Why do you want to fight?” Bev demanded.

“So I can save my father,” Holly said.

“Is that the only reason?” Bev wanted to know.

“I want to save Solar Shadows,” Holly replied.

“You think that you alone can do that?” Bev asked disbelieving.

“I want the chance to help save Solar Shadows,” Holly amended.

“Those are lofty goals for a girl who is scared of a little pain,” Bev said condescendingly.

“I’m not scared,” Holly said boldly.

“You’re right,” Bev said. Holly shot her a surprised glance. “You’re absolutely terrified.”

“I am not,” Holly protested.

“Then prove it. Show me that you’re not scared. Show me you want to save the world. Show me you can save your father. Come on! Show me!" Bev shouted.

Holly took a deep breath, letting all her pent up anger and frustrations at the world flow through her. She studied Bev’s defensive posture for a moment and suddenly everything made sense. She swung her stick.

22: Chapter 20: Shock

The next few weeks proceeded in basically the same manner. Holly would wake up early when Bev left to go hunting and gather the firewood. After breakfast, which usually consisted of some sort of wild game and the occasional berry, Bev and Holly would head to the clearing and practice Holly’s daily torture sessions. After a couple of hours, they would retire for a brief lunch before going back at it. Each night, Holly went to sleep, sore and exhausted.

On the third week after Holly’s arrival in the Land of Shadows, Bev switched from using evergreen sticks to practicing with oak. Holly had no idea where the older woman had found the oak wood for the sticks; as far as she could tell, the only trees in the Land of Shadows were pine.

“These are heavier and sturdier,” Bev said as the two women took up their defensive positions. “If you can master these, then swords will be extremely easy for you to handle.”

Holly had grown over the past three weeks, both in physical form and in emotional state. She no longer shied away from a challenge. Instead, she embraced one readily and very rarely lost. Even though she was less experienced than Bev, Holly could still hold her own with the lighter pine sticks.

“Let’s do this,” Holly said gripping the oak stick firmly in her right hand.

She had discovered that she could fight equally as well with her left hand when Bev had smacked Holly’s right wrist really hard, nearly breaking the bone. Holly had been unable to fight with her right hand and had to learn how to wield a sword-stick with her left hand. Even though it had been easy, it felt alien to use her left hand and, therefore, she nearly always used her right.

Bev swung the oak stick toward Holly’s head. Holly blocked it, though it took more effort than normal. The oak was heavier, just like Bev had said.

“Anticipate things sooner,” Bev instructed her. “Know what I’m going to do before I do it.”

How the hell do you suggest I do that? Holly challenged mentally. It’s not like I can read minds.

Her split second of rebellion cost her. Pain flooded through Holly’s leg as Bev smacked it with the stick.

Holly had learned by the third day of Bev’s insane training that complaining would get her nowhere in life. In fact, it just caused Bev to hit harder and attack faster. Bev showed absolutely no mercy when it came to training and it was a quality that Holly both admired and despised. She wouldn’t mind being shown a little sympathy every now and then.

Holly soon figured out what Bev meant by knowing what the older woman did before she did it. She was uncertain as to whether Bev was doing it on purpose, but there were tell-tale signs about what the older woman was going to do. Bev would tilt her head to whichever direction was opposite of the way the stick would hit. She would lean back to some extent before taking a head shot. Holly started using these signs to her advantage and she even managed to fake-kill Bev.

“Good,” Bev said nodding and dropping her stick. “You have done well. We will continue with our practices in a few days. But for now, let us eat lunch and discuss something that I would like you to do for me.”

Holly was surprised. No matter how well she did, Bev would never end the practice sessions early and she would never cancel them. They were too important.

“What would you like me to do?” Holly asked as they headed back up the steep, rocky incline to the cave. The first few days of climbing up that sharp trail twice after getting beaten up had been murder for Holly. Now, though, she easily climbed the hill without becoming winded.

“I don’t want to discuss it out here in the open,” Bev said glancing around anxiously. Holly had thought that the older woman was being paranoid until

Bev told her that the Shadow of the Sun did occasionally send patrols out to the land surrounding the cave.

“Okay.”

They made their way back to the cave in silence. Holly paused to set both oak sticks outside and pick up some of the excess firewood so they could have a hot supper.

“I have to tell you, Holly,” Bev said as she set to work skinning the rabbits. “I am going to miss you when you go off to rescue Richard. You are a great help and you make good company.”

“You know,” Holly said as she brought a pot of water over and set it on the embers. “You could always come with us back to Solar Shadows. I am sure my mother would love to see you again.”

“I don’t think so,” Bev said shaking her head. “We didn’t exactly end on the best of terms. I think falling in love with your best friend’s ex who wants to take over the world is a friendship breaker.”

“She’s changed,” Holly said. “There are things she said that didn’t make much sense when I heard them, but they do now that I understand her better.  She regretted the choices she had made back when she headed the Eclipse.”

“Even still,” Bev said placing the cut up meat into the pot and adding a little bit of rosemary. “I have my life here. I can be of more use here.”

“Living in a cave by yourself is definitely a use,” Holly said sardonically. She sighed. “Sorry. That was uncalled for.”

“You’re right,” said Bev. “I do live in a cave and I am by myself. But I am also the closest to the Shadow of the Sun and I can hear all of their important gatherings from that beach where I found you. I write letters to Jack if there is any news that can help the Eclipse.”

“I know,” Holly said.

Bev had told Holly about what she did on a daily basis over a quiet lunch the previous day. Holly had been impressed.

“You are young,” Bev said. “You’re prone to being rash and an idiot at times. Just think before you speak okay? One of these days, you’re going to meet someone who isn’t as lenient about what you say and could very well decide to behead you. But I didn’t remind you about what I did so I could lecture you about it. I have some things I need you to do for me and I believe you’re ready.”

“What sorts of things?” Holly asked eagerly as she grabbed the bowls that Bev kept in the back of the cave.

“I need a message sent to Jack. There is a mail ship leaving in a few days going Solar Shadows, specifically Smoke Water. There is a small village on the beach that you can see when the sun rises. I need you to go there and give a letter to Charlie Smalls at the letter office,” Bev said producing a small envelope from the folds of her dark blue cloak.

“When should I leave?” Holly asked.

“We are going back to my house when the sun sets,” Bev said. “My horse is there and you will need her to outrun the Shadow of the Sun. She may be old, but she’s sturdy and swift. You will leave when the moon rises.”

Holly swallowed and nodded, trying not to become anxious. What Bev was asking her to do was dangerous, but Holly knew that the older woman wouldn’t ask unless she thought Holly was ready.

“What are we going to do until then?” she asked.

“Sleep,” Bev said. “You’ll be riding all night and I have other things I need to do that I can only do at night.”

“You’re going after the Shadow of the Sun,” Holly realized.

“To some extent,” Bev said. “But I will be here at this cave when you get back tomorrow evening. I just want to talk to Marcus.”

“What is the deal with you and Marcus anyway?” Holly asked.

It was the one thing Bev refused to speak about, no matter how many times Holly asked.

“He is not the man you think he is, Holly,” Bev said. “And that is all I am going to say on that subject. Go, sleep for a while. I will wake you when it is time to leave.”

Holly grudgingly did as she was told. Her mind was spinning with excitement and terror. As she lay down on her soft straw mattress, Holly realized that she hadn’t thought about Cameron in the past few days. Feeling guilty, she wondered what had happened to him. Her memories of the ship wreck were still very unclear, though she had been starting to recall bits and pieces.

She knew she had been talking to Cameron before her memory blanked out. Holly also remembered that he had declared his love for her right before the black void consumed her memories. What frustrated her was that she couldn’t remember what had happened to him or if she ever had told him that she loved him.

Without ever consciously realizing it, Holly rested her head on the cloak she was using for a pillow and fell asleep.

 

Lightning streaked above in the pitch black sky. The deck below Holly’s feet was slick from the heavy rain. Beside her, Cameron was yelling something at her, but she couldn’t understand what he was saying.

“What?” she yelled.

He didn’t answer. A huge wave crashed over the ship. A wall of water filled Holly’s vision, covering everything and yet leaving her dry. When the wave receded, Cameron was gone.

 

Holly woke suddenly, tears streaming down her face as she realized what the dream meant. It wasn’t exactly a dream, she realized. It was more of her conscious trying to tell her what had happened on the ship. And that insight brought on feelings of absolute horror. Cameron was dead. He wasn’t coming back.

Tears streamed harder down her face as she fought to keep her sobs silent. Bev was sleeping across the cave, but sound echoed off of the cool, rocky walls.

Holly curled her knees to her chin and buried her face in her hands. Cameron, she thought as silent sobs wracked through her body. She couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t be dead.

Knowing that she would be going back to sleep, especially with the late afternoon sun pouring through the entrance of the cave, Holly slipped off the mattress and grabbed one of Bev’s extra cloaks from the pile near the cave entrance. She pulled it more firmly around her as she slipped outside and leaned against the entrance.

The sight in front of her didn’t help much. It only served as a reminder of everything Holly had lost. Those days of sitting on the beach watching the sunrise with Cameron were gone, and she would never get the chance to tell him that she loved him ever again.

Tears continued to slide down her face, but she made no effort to clear them away. There was no point, Holly thought. Cameron was dead. Who the hell would care if she cried?

A gentle handed rested on her shoulder. Holly jumped, not expecting Bev to have awakened.

“Are you okay?” the older woman asked softly as she sat down next to Holly at the cave entrance.

Holly merely shrugged wiping the tears that stained her cheeks. There was no way to honestly answer that question. If she answered truthfully, then Bev would want to know why Holly was hurting, and Holly didn’t think that she would be able to explain to Bev that the older woman’s son was dead. But if she answered dishonestly, Bev would know she was lying.

“When do we leave?” Holly whispered hoarsely.

“Whenever you are ready,” Bev said looking at Holly with a concerned eye. “We can wait a day or two, Holly, if you need time.”

There was slight catch to Bev’s voice. They could wait, but at what cost? As they spoke, Holly knew that the Shadow of the Sun was only growing more powerful. It would only be a matter of time now before it would be too late for her father and too late for Tina.

Tina. The girl’s name struck many chords in Holly’s mind. The memory of Cameron’s sister was bitter. Tina had despised Holly from the moment they had met and Holly had always wondered why that was so. She had also felt a shred of dislike toward the Tina as well. But Cameron had died trying to save her and Holly would be damned if she let his effort be in vain. So grudgingly, Holly promised herself that she would rescue Cameron’s sister at whatever cost necessary.

“I’m fine,” Holly said attempting to sound firm. “Let’s go.”

The night air was frigid. Holly could see her breath as she followed Bev’s form down a narrow trail along the edge of a cliff face. A river ran far below; the sound of the rushing water could barely be heard. In the distance, a wolf howled. The eerie sound caused shivers to race up Holly’s spine.

“We’re almost there,” Bev whispered as she suddenly stepped off the trail they had been following. “It’s just over that ridge.”

She pointed, but Holly made no effort to make out the landmark the older woman was describing. Holly, instead, merely nodded and waited until Bev started walking again before following blindly after the older woman.

Bev stopped suddenly and Holly nearly ran into her.

“What is it?” Holly hissed.

Bev didn’t say anything. She held her hand up for Holly to stay put before creeping up the sudden incline of the ridge.

“Damn it all,” Bev swore. “I knew I smelled smoke.”

Holly could suddenly smell the thick, acrid odor as well. She tried to fight back memories of Smithville as they threatened to overwhelm her. Ignoring Bev’s orders to stay put, she crept up the ridge to stand beside the older woman.

Smoke rose in gloomy tendrils above a smoldering pile of wood that Holly assumed was all that was left of Bev’s house. She felt a stab of sadness go through her as she realized that this had happened to her own home back in Lindenshire. It hit her then that there was nothing left to go home to if and when she rescued her father.

“What’s happening?” Holly whispered. She had a vague hunch this had something to do with the Shadow of the Sun.

“Marcus was right,” Bev said grimly, proving Holly’s fears correct. “The Shadow of the Sun knows about my presence and does not like it. They burned my house to the ground.”

“I’m sorry,” Holly said automatically, though her voice sounded hollow to her own ears. She was numb from the pain that came at her in all directions

 “What does this mean for us?”

Bev looked mischievously at Holly, a wicked glint entering her blue eyes. She obviously was unaffected by this loss, which struck Holly as odd. Bev had just lost everything and, yet, she didn’t seem to care.

“We’re just going to have to find an alternate mode of transportation for you,” Bev said as the smoke floated higher in the sky.

Holly then realized Bev had been through too much to care about the loss of her home. Losing friends, family, and loved ones eventually made one immune to the concept of pain. She also knew that she didn’t want to become so accustomed to pain that nothing mattered anymore. The things that mattered made you human, Holly thought, even if they cause you pain.

“Where?” Holly asked softly, hoping that she sounded confident and unafraid.

“Follow,” Bev said beckoning with a wave of her hand. “The Shadow of the Sun keeps a stable not too far from here so the patrols can switch horses if need be. It is very rarely guarded.”

Holly felt a jolt of terrified exhilaration go through her as she realized what Bev was planning. It was finally time for her to take something back from the Shadow of the Sun, even if it was just a horse.

“Let’s go,” Holly said breaking into a run as Bev sped up her own stride. Above them, the sun sank below the jagged edge of the horizon and plunged the world into shadows.

23: Chapter 21: Frozen

Snow was starting to fall from the darkened sky as Bev and Holly hiked up a treacherously steep incline. Holly had been so focused on learning the skills needed to save her father that she hadn’t realized winter had crept up on the Land of Shadows.

“Stop here for a moment,” Bev said placing a hand on Holly’s shoulder. “We don’t want the guards to know we’re here.”

Startled, Holly looked down into the small hollow below. The barn was visible in the falling snow only because of the torches that burned brightly in the entrances. Holly could just make out a moving shadow of a figure patrolling the front barn doors.

“How are we going to get passed the guards?” Holly whispered rubbing her arms and shivering. It was really cold.

“Leave that to me,” Bev said. “The only thing you need to worry about is getting a horse and getting out of that barn.”

“Not what happens after that?” Holly asked.

“Just follow the trail that goes away from the barn,” Bev said. “It will take you straight into the village.”

“Okay,” Holly said slowly, not liking the idea of leaving Bev behind. She didn’t want to lose someone else, not so soon after she had lost her home and Cameron.

“I’ll be fine,” Bev said understanding Holly’s reluctance. “I’ve lived in the Land of Shadows longer than you have been alive. I know how to escape James and his evil band of minions.”

“Just be careful,” Holly said looking away from Bev so that the older woman wouldn’t see her tears. “The Eclipse is going to need you.”

Bev snorted in disbelief but didn’t give Holly a chance to question it.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Before Holly had the chance to say anything, Bev was winding her way down the steep hill leading to the barn. Holly was quick to scramble after her, albeit slower then she would have liked because of the half inch of snow and ice already on the ground.

Holly waited in the shadows of the barn, just out of eyesight of the guard while Bev approached him. Although Holly couldn’t see what was going on, she could hear.

“Lovely evening, isn’t it?” Bev asked.

“Not really,” the guard groused. “It’s cold and snowing and I’m the only one on my shift.”

“Really?” Bev asked. Holly could almost hear the older woman’s raised eyebrow of fake interest.

“Yeah,” the guard said his voice changing from bored to interested. “It’s not so bad though, especially when a lovely young woman such as yourself comes around. Speaking of, why are you out here at this time of night? Don’t you know this place is dangerous?”

“Don’t you?” Bev countered.

Holly could picture the guard’s puzzled face right before Bev knocked him out. There was a small grunt of pain and then Bev appeared around the corner of the barn.

“Come on,” she said motioning for Holly to follow her. “We don’t have much time. The guard shift will be here soon, and it won’t be long before the Shadow of the Sun realizes what has happened. You must go now. I will show you the correct path. Remember; meet me at the cave tomorrow evening.”

“I will,” Holly promised.

Holly and Bev swiftly and silently entered the well-lit barn. Holly took a few brief moments to warm up her frozen hands before following Bev to the very end of the aisle-way.

“Take whichever one you want,” Bev said. “But make it snappy.”

Holly soon found a tall dark chestnut with a complete set of tack outside of its stall. She tacked the horse up in record time.

“Let’s go,” she said to Bev, leading the horse out of the stall.

Bev helped Holly mount the horse before quickly leading them out of the stable. She pointed the way to a small path disappearing into the snowy landscape.

“Follow that trail to its end,” she said as voices could be heard in the distance. “Go.”

“Bev,” Holly began, not certain what to say but feeling as though she needed to say something. She couldn’t help but feel that this would be the last time she would see Bev for a while.

“There’s no time, Holly,” Bev hissed. “Go!”

She smacked the horse on the rump and the animal took off with no further urging. Holly clung to the reins for dear life as the horse plunged down a steep slope with practiced ease and started tearing through the forest.

Snow tore at Holly’s face and chapped her lips. Cold wind swirled around her and bit into her layers of clothing. She soon found herself shivering as she and the horse galloped across an open plain and began their ascent on a winding mountain trail.

“I sure hope you know where you’re going, horse,” Holly whispered at one point before flattening against the horse’s neck and urging it on even faster.

 

The sun was just beginning to rise as the horse slowed to a gentle trot and then to a walk, breathing heavily and sweating profusely. Holly gave the animal a generous pat as she began to see signs of civilization.

“Thank you,” she whispered to the exhausted creature. She yawned heavily, realizing just how tired she was.

The small houses Holly saw soon gave way to roughly constructed buildings that were arranged in a crude semi-circle. The outer edge of the circle was near a sheer cliff that gave way to the dark ocean. Though there was smoke coming out of the chimneys and spiraling up over the rooftops, there were no signs of life in the small village.

Holly tied the exhausted horse to the empty hitching post on the outskirts of town. She hoped that the animal would still be there when she returned, else it would be a very long walk back to Bev’s cave.

Holly began walking through the town after checking to make sure the letter Bev had given her was still tucked away in her cloak. There were no signs of life, but there were signs that people had been in the village. Broken wagons lay on their sides and bows and arrows littered the ground. Flecks of brownish red were mixed with the light frosting of snow and frozen ground below Holly’s feet. Upon further inspection, Holly realized with a sinking heart that the substance was blood.

Holly caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Thanks to Bev’s intense training regimen, Holly ducked out of the way seconds before a tall, burly man jumped out from behind the overturned wagon. She wheeled around, aiming a kick for the man’s head and feeling a surge of satisfaction when the man let out a howl and backed away while nursing a bloody nose.

Another man came out from behind the wagon. He was more cautious than his fellow companion in spite of the lethal sword that he held in his hands. Holly noted the clumsy way in which he held the weapon and knew instantly that he was an amateur. It only took a kick to the groin and he too was down.

Three more men came out, though they held their hands up in surrender. They had matching guarded expressions on their faces.

Holly stayed crouched, her hands curled into loose fists and her breathing fast and regular as she anticipated their next move. She had never fought three people at once before, but she was more than willing to try.

“Who are you?”

Holly jumped at the sound of a voice directly behind her. She whirled around, bringing her hand up to punch the owner of the voice in the face and was startled when a soft but steely hand gripped her forearm.

Holly found herself gazing into a pair of serious hazel eyes that lay underneath a mass of dirty blonde hair. She felt as though she had just been kneed in the stomach as she recognized the eyes.

“Jared?” she asked incredulously.

Jared Thompson let go of her forearm as though he had been burned. He took a couple of steps away from her, his hazel eyes confused.

“Holly?” he asked his voice equally as shocked as Holly’s. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you,” Holly said. “Neil told me that you had been taken by the Shadow of the Sun.”

“I was,” Jared said shortly. “But I escaped.”

 “And my father?” Holly asked hopefully, looking around and hoping that he was going to stride out of a house any second.

“He’s alive,” Jared said grimly. “Which is more than I can say for Clint or George.”

“What?” Holly demanded praying that those two names didn’t belong to the people in Lindenshire she knew and loved.

“Clint Dean was killed the other day when the Shadow of the Sun raided the village,” Jared explained. “George Brookes was trying to escape and was shot down by the Shadow of the Sun. He never stood a chance.”

Holly was horrorstruck. She couldn’t believe Abby’s father was dead. She hadn’t known that he had been taken by the Shadow of the Sun in the first place.

 “What are you doing here, Holly?” Jared asked.

 Holly pulled Bev’s letter out of her pocket.

 “I need to send this message to Jack Fox,” she said. “It’s urgent.”

 “Isn’t he the doctor in Smoke Water?” one of the other men asked. Holly recognized him as the one she had round-house kicked in the face.

Jared raised a sandy eyebrow in Holly’s direction, though Holly thought she saw a flash of recognition in his eyes.

“Yes,” she admitted.

“Why do you need to send an urgent message to a doctor?” the other man asked.

“I don’t have time to explain,” Holly said exasperatedly.

“I trust Holly,” Jared said. “If she says it’s urgent, then the message is urgent. Get Thomas and Brady to prepare the mail vessel.”

The man looked curiously at Holly for a few moments, obviously wondering why his leader trusted a seemingly total stranger, before turning and disappearing into one of the larger buildings nearby.

Jared signaled for Holly to follow him as the other men started clearing away the broken wagons and other signs of wreckage. Holly watched in confusion as she followed Jared to a small cabin near the outer edge of the semicircle.

“I’m sorry if the place is a mess,” Jared said as he pushed open the black door and allowed Holly to go in. “When our scouts spotted you and your horse coming in this direction, we had to make it look like the Shadow of the Sun had already attacked so that they would leave us alone. Or, if they were really stupid and decided to investigate us anyway, we could have taken a few of them out”

“The Shadow of the Sun plunders its own village?” Holly asked.

“We stand apart from the Shadow of the Sun. James doesn’t like that,” Jared said. “Would you like some bread? I was in the process of making breakfast when you arrived.”

Holly stared at him in astonishment and disgust. How could he stand here, so calmly, when back in Solar Shadows he had a wife and son who were worried sick about him? He had a baby on the way and he was sitting here playing rebel to the Shadow of the Sun in the Land of Shadows. Did he seriously not care about his family?

“You look exactly like Leah does when she’s angry about something,” Jared commented as he poured two cups of tea. The china was chipped and had huge cracks in it.

 “How can you just stay here when you have a family that is upset and worried about where you are?” she demanded assuming that Jared’s comment was an invitation for her to speak. “Don’t you get how upset they were when you were kidnapped? I came here for their sakes to get you back as much as I came here to get my father.”

“I know,” Jared said heavily. “Believe me, I know. But I’m staying here because the Shadow of the Sun is searching every single ship that sails out of that harbor

 and if they find me, I’m dead. I’m staying here because if I don’t do something, then I’ll go insane with worry about what the Shadow of the Sun is going to do to my family. I don’t want to stay here, Holly, but I don’t have a choice.”

He handed Holly one of the cups and turned away, taking a loaf of bread and slicing it up. Holly was quiet, not certain as to what to say.

“I’m sorry,” she said at last. “I didn’t mean to accuse you of anything.”

“You didn’t understand,” Jared said with a shrug “To any outsider, what I’m doing probably seems selfish.”

“No,” Holly said shaking her head. “It’s actually pretty awesome. You’re fighting the Shadow of the Sun in James’ domain. You’re trying to keep your family safe. You’re like…”

Holly trailed off. She was going to say you’re like my parents, but she wasn’t sure if Jared knew about her mother and father’s involvement in the Eclipse.

“Like your parents?” Jared suggested with a faint hint of a smile. “I know about Richard and Leah. I was actually one of the first recruits to the Eclipse. My brother was killed by the Shadow of the Sun when they raided my parents’ smithy.”

“Does everyone know more about the Eclipse and my parents than I do?” Holly demanded amazed. “Honestly, it’s getting annoying. I meet random strangers on the street and they turn out to be long lost cousins or something.”

Jared let out a sad chuckle.

“I don’t think you have any cousins to worry about,” he said. “Leah only had Jack, who, up until today, everyone believed dead.”

“He faked his own death so he wouldn’t be used by James,” Holly said. “He hates himself for hurting my mother.”

“It wasn’t only your mother that he hurt,” Jared said. He handed a couple of slices of bread to Holly. “When do you leave?”

“I need to get back to Bev’s place by moonrise,” Holly said.

“Bev?” Jared asked his hazel eyes wide in surprise. “Bev Andrews? She’s still alive?”

“Yes,” Holly said shortly. “She’s still alive. And feeling guilty as hell about whatever it was she did. She was the one who taught me how to fight.”

“It’s glad to know that even the worst of us feel remorse,” Jared muttered. “Maybe there is still some hope for James yet.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Holly demanded.

“It means that you should be careful about whom you trust, Holly,” Jared said shortly. “Do you need anything?”

“No thanks,” Holly said in a clipped voice. She knew that Bev was against James now regardless of what she may have done in the past.

“Look, Holly, I know Bev better than you think,” Jared said.

“Obviously not if you didn’t even know that she was alive,” Holly retorted. “People change. I changed. My mother changed. Hell, even James changed.”

Jared flinched at the sound of James’ name. Holly ignored it, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring defiantly at him. Yes, he might have been a family friend, and yes, Holly might have known him forever, but he was being extremely short-sighted on things. Holly was quickly learning that she shouldn’t judge people based on their past.

Jared looked as though he were about to respond when loud shouts filled the air outside. His tan, exhausted face was suddenly hyper-alert and he tensed as a bell toll filled the air. Holly distantly remembered hearing one similar to it a few hours ago.

“The Shadow of the Sun is on their way here,” Jared said his voice suddenly hard. “You need to get out of here. If they find you… leave. Now.”

“What is going to happen to you?” Holly whispered not wanting to leave her closest tie to family that she had in the Land of Shadows.

“Don’t worry about me,” Jared said. “I’ll be fine. Now go.”

Holly wanted to protest, wanted to demand that Jared come with her. But she knew he would be in danger both ways and he would probably do better fighting the Shadow of the Sun here.

“Before you do something stupid, remember that you have a family that needs you,” Holly said. She walked out the door before he had a chance to reply.

Hoof beats sounded in the forest surrounding the village. Holly suddenly had an idea, albeit a risky one. She could draw the Shadow of the Sun away from the village and lead them on a wild goose chase through the woods.

She mounted her horse, which pranced nervously underneath her. She quickly turned the big creature around and pressed her heels to its side. The horse took off like an arrow, shooting through the trees at break-neck speed. Holly risked a quick glance behind her and was pleased and terrified in equal measures when she saw that the Shadow of the Sun had indeed taken up the chase.

“Come on, faster,” she whispered to the horse. The animal stretched out, its long legs eating up the ground. The trees started flying by at an alarmingly fast rate.

 It still wasn’t fast enough. The Shadow of the Sun’s horses were fresh and eager to catch Holly and her mount. Holly knew eventually she was going to get caught.

“There’s no time like the present,” she muttered to her horse. The chestnut barely flickered an ear in response.

They reached a large, rocky clearing. Holly slowed the horse to a trot and then to a halt before turning around to face the Shadow of the Sun.

The members of the Shadow of the Sun seemed surprised by Holly’s change in tactics. The first two raced right on by her before they realized what had happened.

The other three who had been following had sense enough to draw their horses to a halt right at the edge of the trees. The two who had been in the lead slowed and turned around.

Holly was utterly surrounded and with only a sword and her own fists for weapons. She was exhausted after having been up for two days straight and barely resting at all on her long journey from Bev’s cave to the village. She was in no shape to fend off five highly trained members of the Shadow of the Sun.

But, at the same time, Holly possessed something that the members of the Shadow of the Sun did not. She had almost an entire year’s worth of hatred and sense of injustice built up against the Shadow of the Sun. The organization had kidnapped her father, burned her home to the ground, killed two of the people she cared about, and was responsible for breaking her mother’s family apart. It was because of the Shadow of the Sun that Holly never knew she had an uncle. It was because of the Shadow of the Sun that her life had been torn apart.

The thoughts gave her strength and with that strength came a burning desire to take down those who stood in the way, starting with these five.

The Shadow of the Sun attacked first. A hoodless man on a dark gray horse came charging at her, his sword drawn and a feral expression on his face.

 Holly waited until the last possible second before squeezing her horse to the side. She brought her own sword hilt up and knocked the man off his horse. The horse continued running across the clearing. The fallen man didn’t get up.

“Who’s next?” Holly asked with an impish grin as she drew her sword.

Terror gave way to adrenaline and a sense of recklessness as the next member of the Shadow of the Sun mounted his attack. Holly sensed what he was about to do before a long broadsword filled her vision. She barely had enough time to throw herself out of the saddle before the sword connected with the leather.

Holly’s horse let out a startled squeal and kicked out at the attacker’s horse. The other horse spooked, rearing up and dumping the rider on the ground. The horse took off, but Holly’s mount stayed where it was.

The rider that had been dumped to the ground was instantly on his feet. He had managed to lose his sword, an unexpected gift that Holly had not been expecting. He lunged clumsily at her, but she easily avoided his punch. She used his own momentum against him. As he stumbled past her, she gave him a swift kick. He hit the ground and didn’t come back up.

By now, there were only two people left. One had galloped off to catch the other horse. Holly drew her sword from its sheath as her third attacker dismounted his horse. She smirked as he withdrew his sword.

This is going to be fun, she thought.

The third attacker was hooded, as was the one still mounted. Holly didn’t care—it served more as an advantage to her. Hoods impaired vision.

The third attacker struck without warning. Holly barely had time to block the blow as the sword came down. She winced with the sheer power behind the strike.

Sparks flew from the blades as they connected once again. Holly’s arms trembled as she fought to fend off her attacker and land a few blows of her own. One thing was for certain—Bev certainly hadn’t been lying when she had told Holly that there would be no softening of the blows.

Holly was breathing hard as the attacker drew his sword up and prepared to strike again. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stop the sword again. She was too weak. Her burst of energy had left her.

The sword lowered in a painfully slow fashion. Holly didn’t move. She couldn’t. Her arms were aching and refused to do what they were told.

Suddenly, the third member of the Shadow of the Sun reappeared. Holly didn’t have time to process what the third person was doing as he dismounted his horse and charged at the person who was about to kill her. She thought that maybe he was coming to kill her before the other man could strike. But that wasn’t the case.

One second, Holly was staring at the silver metal of the sword that would be her executioner and the next, she was staring into a painfully familiar set of blue eyes. She let out a startled yelp as she recognized the long hair framing the angled, handsome face.

“Cameron?”

24: Chapter 22: Reunion

     Holly couldn’t believe the sight that was directly in front of her eyes. Cameron was dead. He had been swept overboard in the storm. There was no way he could have survived. Holly had seen him go under and not come back up.

     “Holly?”

     Cameron seemed just as stunned to see her as she was to see him.

     They stood there and stared at each other, neither certain as to what to say. There was so much Holly wanted to tell Cameron, but she didn’t want to sound like a total idiot.

     “Well, this is unexpected,” she said in a shaken voice after a while. “I thought you were dead.”

     Cameron just stared at her, his blue eyes dark with confusion and an emotion that Holly didn’t understand. Then, he blinked, and the look was gone, replaced by happiness. It was the last thing Holly saw before strong arms enveloped her into a bone crushing hug.

     “I’m so happy to see you,” he whispered as Holly returned the hug with equal vigor. She couldn’t believe that he was here.

     “You’re alive,” she murmured against his cloaked shoulder. Tears of happiness stung the back of her eyes as he gently stroked her hair in a reassuring manner.

    “It’s going to be okay, Holly,” he said softly.

     Holly wasn’t sure how long they stood there clinging to each other as if they were the last two people in the world, but she also knew that she wouldn’t have it any other way. He was alive, against all odds, and he was here with her. Suddenly, the near impossible thought of rescuing her father didn’t seem so impossible, so long as Cameron was alive.

     When they finally broke apart, Cameron took her hand in his, obviously as reluctant to let go as she. He smiled at her, his eyes lightening again.

     “We should probably go somewhere,” he said. “You know, in case the Shadow of the Sun comes back.”

     That was when Holly remembered what he was wearing. Her eyes widened as she slowly backed away from him.

     “Holly?” he asked bemused.

      “You’re a part of them,” she whispered her hands shaking. “You’re working for the Shadow of the Sun.”

     Cameron held out his hands in a calming manner, the way Holly would if she were approaching an injured or frightened horse. Holly backed away further, not looking away from him. She didn’t realize that she was cornered until her back hit a tree.

     “I am working for the Shadow of the Sun,” he said. “But not in the way you think.”

     Holly shivered as she stared at his cloak. It was dark gray. She remembered her first day in the Land of Shadows when Bev told her that the darker the cloaks, the higher the rank of the member.

     “Oh?” she asked hating how her voice shook. “So you didn’t betray me?”

     Darkness flashed across Cameron’s face, but it was gone so quickly that Holly wasn’t sure if she had imagined it. Still, it made her mistrust of Cameron intensify.

     “No, Holly,” Cameron said his voice still soft. “I would never betray you.”

     Holy stared at him for a moment, not sure if she was willing to believe him or not.

     “All right,” she said. Cameron looked instantly relieved. “But why are you working for the Shadow of the Sun?”

     “When I washed up on shore, I thought you were dead,” Cameron said his voice pained. “I was taken by a patrol of the Shadow of the Sun and they took me to their camp. I learned where they are keeping your father and Tina. I figured the easiest way to get to them was to join the Shadow of the Sun and ‘accidentally’ set them free. I figured it was the least I could do after getting you killed on this journey.”

     Holly was taken aback by his story.

     “I never thought I meant that much to you,” she whispered when it became obvious that Cameron was waiting for her to reply. “I—thank you. For wanting to rescue my father, even though I wasn’t with you.”

     “I know you would have done the same thing,” Cameron said simply. Holly blushed.

     He glanced around. “We really should go find somewhere safe. If the Shadow of the Sun finds you… .”

     “What is it?” Holly asked seeing the intense dislike on his face.

     “James has given orders to capture or kill anyone who is not a part of the Shadow of the Sun,” Cameron said clenching his hands into fists. Tension radiated off of him.

     “What?” Holly asked horrified by the news.

     “I don’t know why,” Cameron said his voice hard. “But he thinks that by killing everyone who’s not with the Shadow of the Sun then the leaks of information to Solar Shadows will be stopped.”

     “How can he do that?” Holly exclaimed. “How can he kill all of those people?”

     “He’s James,” Cameron said with a shrug. “There’s really not much he can’t do.”

     “But killing everyone just because they aren’t part of the Shadow of the Sun,” Holly said trailing off.

     “It makes sense,” Cameron said in a revolted tone. “If he crushes all opposition here, then there really is no where else for the Eclipse to turn to if and when they need help defeating the Land of Shadows.”

    “He can’t kill everyone who’s not for the Shadow of the Sun,” Holly said. “Hell, there are people in the Shadow of the Sun who aren’t for the Shadow of the Sun.”

     “I know that, Holly,” Cameron said looking slightly irritated. “I can’t do anything about James and his crazy idiotic ways.”

     “Sure you can,” Holly retorted. “You can fight back. You can rescue your sister and I can rescue my father and then we can join Jack and fight James.”

     Cameron smiled, the expression lighting up his darkened blue eyes.

     “Now I know why I love you so much,” he said as he mounted his horse. He held out an arm to Holly who accepted it readily.

     “It’s because of my amazing personality, I know,” she said with a grin, swinging up behind him. She wrapped an arm around his waist.

     Cameron spurred the horse on into a gentle trot and took an invisible trail that wound back through the forest and emptied out near the village Holly had single handedly saved. She felt a strange burst of pride run through her as she realized what she had done and by herself. She had saved Jared and his fellow fighters.

     Holly wasn’t sure how long they had been riding before Cameron pulled his horse to a stop, but she knew it was long enough for the cold to seep through her many layers and make her shiver. Cameron seemed immune to the cold as he dismounted the horse and motioned for Holly to do the same.

     “We’re almost there,” he said.

     “Almost where?” she wanted to know as she tried to keep her teeth from chattering.

     “Somewhere warm,” Cameron said with a sympathetic smile. “Come on.”

      He led the way down a small incline to what seemed like two trees that had fallen into one another. Someone had draped a sheet of brambles over the small “V” in between the trees. It would have looked natural except for the two iron nails protruding from the trees.

     “What is this place?” Holly asked as Cameron carefully pulled away the brambles.

     “This is my secret hideout,” he said. “I built this with Tina when we were kids.”

     “You used to live here?” Holly demanded her eyes growing wide.

     “Yeah,” Cameron said with a shrug. “It’s no big deal. We weren’t here for very long before my father decided to move on with his life. Come on. It’s warmer in here.”

     Holly looked dubiously at the two tree trunks, wondering how the middle of those could be warmer than the outside air. But her shivers got the better of her and she quickly stepped into the small space Cameron had cleared out.

     “Follow the steps down,” Cameron instructed.

     Holly’s eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness; she was surprised to find that the two trees were actually an entrance to a roomy tunnel leading underground. There were wooden steps trailing into the darkness.

     Holly did as she was told and begin descending the stairs. She heard Cameron strike something against a rock and then suddenly, a warm light filled the tunnel, illuminating the earthy walls with a soft glow.

     “Keep going,” Cameron said from directly behind her. Holly jumped—she hadn’t realized he was so close. Now that she did, she could practically feel his warm breath tickling the back of her neck.

     “I’m going,” she muttered as she concentrated on not tripping over the hem of her cloak.

     The shallow steps ended a few minutes later. Holly stumbled as she realized too late that she had just stepped off the last stair. Cameron’s warm, steady hand on her shoulder kept her from falling face first onto the firmly packed ground.

 

     “It’s just a little farther now,” he said softly. “At the end of this tunnel.”

      Holly bit her lip from asking what was at the end of the tunnel. She would find out soon enough and she knew Cameron well enough to know that he wasn’t going to tell her even if she did ask. So, she kept her mouth shut and walked slowly forward into the darkness.

     The tunnel opened up into a wide, underground cavern. It was too dark to make anything out until Cameron walked into the opening with his torch. Then she realized that it wasn’t just a cavern at the end of a tunnel, it was a small, underground house. There was a bed on the far side of the cavern, a table and lantern next to it, and there was even a wardrobe next to it with a change of clothes hanging on the outside of it. A small pit for a fire was nearby. She walked over to it and glanced up, noting the narrow tunnel carved upward to the land above so that smoke could escape.

     “What do you think?” Cameron asked as he set the torch into the fire pit and let the flames catch on the logs set inside.

     “You built this?” she asked stunned.

     “Yeah,” Cameron said sitting down on the dirt floor. “Tina and I learned longed ago that if we ever really wanted to be alone, then we would have to find a spot no one knew about. So this place was born. There are a couple of other entrances around the Land of Shadows. I think there’s one near the caves in the mountains, but I can’t remember if that one caved in or not.”

     “This is amazing,” Holly said gazing around in awe “I can’t believe you did this.”

     “I’m glad you like it,” Cameron said. He stood up again. “Would you like something to eat? I stored some jars of fruit down here the other day when I was on patrol.”

     Holly was reminded forcibly of the fact that Cameron worked for the Shadow of the Sun as he stood up and took off his dark gray cloak. She couldn’t believe it, even though she knew why he was working for James. She didn’t want to believe it.

     Holly shrugged out of her cloak as well as the fire began to warm up the small cavern. She placed it on the back of one of the two chairs that surrounded the small table before walking over to a small bookshelf that stood next to the bed. She ran her finger over the dusty spines, recognizing some of the authors from her stay at Jack’s.

     “Here,” Cameron said handing her a wooden bowl full of orange fruit. “You look like you could use something to eat.”

     “Thanks,” Holly said accepting the bowl. She set it on the table, too interested in the small cavern to eat anything.

     “So, how did you survive the storm?” Cameron asked taking a seat on the bed. He had kicked off his boots and looked utterly exhausted.

     “Sheer luck, I guess,” Holly said with a shrug. “I was swept overboard not long after you and found a piece of driftwood that kept me afloat.”

     She sat down cross-legged on the floor with her back to the fire, facing Cameron. Holly still couldn’t believe he was alive and here, sitting in front of her. It seemed too much like a dream. But if it were a dream, Holly didn’t want to wake up. She wanted to stay in this small cavern with Cameron forever and let the world pass by above them.

     “Wow,” Cameron said softly. “What happened to the ship?”

     “It was struck by lightning,” Holly said. “The mast fell and broke it in half. I don’t think anyone survived.”

     Her breath hitched as she remembered Demy and Hank and how kind they were to her while she was aboard the ship. Tears stung her eyes for the second time that day.

     “There was nothing you could have done, Holly,” Cameron said quietly. “You shouldn’t blame yourself.”

     “I know,” Holly said taking a deep breath and trying to get her emotions under control. “It’s just that Demy was so young and Hank was such a nice guy. It’s hard to believe that one storm could kill them that easily.”

     They sat there in silence for a while, not certain as to what to say to each other. Holly eventually stood up and walked over to the table, picking up the bowl of fruit again.

     “I should get back to the Shadow of the Sun,” Cameron murmured after nearly an hour of silence. Neither had felt the need to break the quiet with unnecessary chatter.

     Holly nodded once, knowing that the sun would soon be setting and she would need to be getting back to Bev’s.

     “I need to be going as well,” she said softly.

     They didn’t move for a moment, neither wanting to leave. Holly knew that if they left, it could very well be one of the last times they would see each other for a while. She wasn’t ready to give him up so soon, not after she had just gotten him back again.

     “I love you,” Cameron said. He smiled as Holly turned to look at him. “I know, that’s probably random and all, but I love you. I just wanted you to know that.”

     Holly smiled in response. “I love you too,” she said.

     Cameron sighed, getting off the bed and pulling on his boots.

     “There is an extra cloak in the wardrobe if you need it,” he said. “It’s going to be a cold trek back to the caves.”

     “Thank you,” Holly said quietly. She pulled her own cloak on before finding the one that Cameron had mentioned. It was black, which Holly found strange. Black was the color of the Eclipse. What was it doing here?

     “It was my mother’s,” Cameron said as Holly stared at it. “My father held on to it after she left. Tina took it and brought it here a few years back.”

     “Your mother,” Holly echoed quietly, feeling suddenly guilty. She knew where his mother was and yet, she hadn’t told him.

     “It’s fine if you take it,” Cameron said. “Really. Tina would probably have a fit, but she’s not here at the moment.”

     A bitter edge crept into his voice. Holly turned to look at him again, noting the pained and angered expression on his face. She replaced the black cloak, deciding that it would be awkward if she showed up at Bev’s cave wearing it.

     “I’ll be okay without it,” she said. “I’m not that weak.”

     “I never said you were,” Cameron said stiffly. His voice softened slightly. “Are you ready to go?”

     “No,” Holly said bluntly. “I don’t want to leave you again.”

     A pained look crossed his face for a second time, though Holly knew it was different from before.

     “I don’t want to lose you again either,” he admitted. “But we have responsibilities that we need to take care of.”

     “Will I ever see you again?” Holly asked softly.

     “Of course you will,” Cameron said taking a couple of steps toward her and grasping her hand in his. Holly felt an undercurrent of electricity shoot through her and smiled softly.

     “Really?” she asked. “Or are you just saying that?”

     “We will see each other again,” Cameron promised. “Besides, I promised you that I would help you rescue your father. We can’t exactly do that if we don’t see each other.”

     Holly smiled softly.

     “I should get going,” she whispered.

     “Me too,” he said. He didn’t let go of her hand and she made no move to remove it from his hold.

     They stood there for a few minutes, green eyes meeting blue, before Cameron sighed and chuckled.

     “I’m going to hate myself if I don’t do this,” he murmured moving his face closer to hers.

     Holly closed her eyes as his warm, soft lips brushed against her own. Electricity thrummed through her as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.

     He broke it off first, looking away from her. Holly felt a blush creep over her face as she let her arms fall to her side. She studied the ground, suddenly fascinated with her boots. She realized at that moment that she was in desperate need of new ones.

     “We should go,” Cameron said, his voice rough with emotion.

     Holly nodded, too shocked by what had just happened to say anything. She followed Cameron back into the tunnel from which they had entered the cavern.

     The journey back to the surface seemed to last shorter than the descent to the cavern, though Holly knew it took the same amount of time and the tunnel hadn’t magically grown shorter. Still, it felt as if she had barely started walking up the steps before she was stepping through the two trees.

     The sun was already starting to sink into the jagged horizon as Holly shot one last glance toward Cameron. His face was blank as he nodded once to her.

     “You should take the horse,” he said. “You have farther to go and I’m sure the Shadow of the Sun’s patrols will be coming through here again soon to find me.”

     “Okay,” Holly said softly, wishing he would kiss her again. She mounted the horse in silence, casting one brief glance back toward Cameron.

     “Good-bye, Holly,” he said.

      “Good-bye, Cameron,” she whispered.

     Holly forced herself to turn away from Cameron as she squeezed the horse into a gentle canter. It would not be the last time she would see him, she told herself. They would meet each other again, soon.

 

     The ride back to the cave was uneventful. Holly managed to spot the patrols of the Shadow of the Sun ahead of time and was able to avoid them. She also, by some miracle, was able to find the familiar path back to the cave. Holly urged the horse on faster as she became more confident as to where she was.

     The moon was beginning to creep over the jagged mountain tops as Holly pulled the horse to a stop. She was at the bottom of the huge hill leading up to the cave. She was about to dismount and walk up the familiar hill when the hair on the back of her neck prickled. Something wasn’t right.

     Holly cautiously dismounted the horse and tied its reins around a tree. She withdrew her sword from its sheath and carefully walked up the hill. Every muscle in her body was tense and ready for action.

     Holly crept into the cave after making sure there was no one else around. She froze as rocks scattered across the ground, but breathed a little easier as she realized that they were from her.

     She walked guardedly through the cave, realizing with a sinking heart what was wrong. The cave was empty. Bev wasn’t there. It was moonrise and Bev had promised that she would be there.

     Holly was walking back through the cave for a second time when a dark stain on one of the walls caught her eye. It wasn’t very large, which was why she had missed it the first time. Holly walked closer to the cave wall, knowing what it was and praying that she was wrong.

     There was no mistaking what the stain was. It was blood. 

25: Chapter 23: Stakeout

     Holly stared at the cave wall for a few moments, trying to fathom the fact that Bev was gone. Holly didn’t have to investigate to know who had kidnapped the older woman. There could be only one culprit.

     Anger welled up inside of her as she stared at the small bloodstain on the wall. Anger and injustice. How dare the Shadow of the Sun take the people she loved most from her? First her father, then her friends and family, and now the one person she trusted in this horrible place.

     Scratch that, Holly thought. The Shadow of the Sun had taken her mother long before they had taken anyone else.

     Furiously, Holly paced up and down the length of the cave. She wanted to do something. She wanted to hurt someone. She wanted to kill James.

     The thought made Holly freeze in midstride. She had never wanted to kill anyone before, no matter how much she hated him. Killing just seemed a little too extreme, a little too permanent. Holly had never thought someone deserved actually to die.

     Until now. James had changed all of that. Holly realized then with a sinking feeling that was James’ greatest power. Not his army, although that was quite a threat, and not his powers of persuasion, where he could force anyone to do anything for him. He could change someone’s beliefs.   He could change who someone was. And that, Holly felt, was the most horrible gift anyone could have.

     Still angry, but shocked by her realization, Holly sat down on the frozen ground and stared at the cave wall. She loosened her hands, which she unconsciously had clenched into fists, and took a deep breath. She knew that it wasn’t wrong to want to kill James—hundreds of people before her and many more after her would feel the same. But at the same time, killing people wasn’t who she was. She didn’t want to be a part of anything involving someone’s death.

     Footsteps sounded outside the cave. Holly’s hand instantly went to her sword as she jumped into a standing position She instantly berated herself for letting her guard down. The Shadow of the Sun could return at any moment to make sure there was no one coming back to the cave.

     The footsteps grew closer, stepping on loose twigs. Holly thought that if this was really the Shadow of the Sun, then they were being extremely loud.

     Holly crept to the cave entrance, hiding behind one of the rock walls that jutted out and formed a small alcove. She took a deep breath and held it just as the owner of the footsteps walked into the cave.

     Holly didn’t even stop to think. She jumped out from behind the wall and pounced on the person. She gripped her sword tightly with one hand and shoved the person hard against the wall with her other. She felt a surge of satisfaction go through her as the person grunted.

     “What do you want?” she demanded icily.

     “Holly! It’s me, you idiot!”

     Holly started at Cameron’s voice. She removed her sword from his throat and loosened her hold on him.

     “Sorry,” she said putting her sword back into its sheath. “What are you doing here?”

     “Apparently trying to get myself killed,” Cameron muttered removing his hood and rubbing his shoulder. “Why did you react like that?”

     “Bev’s missing,” Holly said shortly, refusing to let her emotions get the better of her. “The Shadow of the Sun was here.”

     Cameron was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re really not going to like the reason why I came here.”

     “What is it?” she asked fear seeping into her voice.

     “I overheard a Shadow of the Sun patrol talking,” he said his voice growing heavy. “It was a few minutes after you left. They were talking about your father.”

     “What?” Holly demanded fear sharpening her voice.

     “They’re going to put your father to death in the morning.”

     Holly’s heart stopped. Her father was supposed to die in the morning. Her fun-loving, light-hearted, lovable father was going to be dead by tomorrow afternoon.

     “We have to stop it,” she said in a strangled voice. “We have to rescue him. Tonight. Now.”

     “Let’s go,” Cameron said instantly.

 

     Holly and Cameron crept along the ridge line, trying not to be seen by the patrols directly below them. The Shadow of the Sun’s headquarters were only a few yards away. Holly could see the white building glowing faintly in the torchlight.

   “James keeps his prisoners in that building over there,” Cameron said pointing to a smaller building off to the right. Holly glanced at it, searching for signs of an escape route as she did so.

     “What’s the plan?” she asked.

     “We sneak around this ridge and then come out right on top of the prison,” Cameron said. “We go in, release all the prisoners we can before the guards come in, and then get the hell out of there. Preferably without anyone getting injured or recaptured.”

     “Sounds like a good idea,” Holly said her hand straying to her sword as she spotted one of the Shadow of the Sun members. “Let’s do this.”

     “Wait just a second,” Cameron said putting a hand on her shoulder to stop her movement. “We have to wait until the guard changes so that we won’t be seen. It’s no use going through with this if we’re just going to get thrown into prison along with your father and Tina.”

     Holly had to admit that he made sense, but being this close to her father in the first time in over six months and not being able to do anything made her upset. She needed to do something or else she would go stir crazy.

     “We should probably move into position to get ready when the guard does change,” Holly said.

     Cameron looked hesitant, but then nodded. He carefully crept from their hiding spot to the small trail that ran the length of the ridge. Holly followed cautiously, knowing that if they were spotted, then their whole rescue attempt would be over before it had begun.

     Cameron let out a hiss of pain and stopped for a moment. Holly nearly ran into his back.

     “Are you okay?” she whispered fearing he was badly injured and they wouldn’t be able to rescue her father.

     “I’m fine,” Cameron said. “I just cut my hand open on the bramble bush. Be careful as you go by it.”

     Holly pulled her hands into her cloak as she walked by the offending bramble bush and then lengthened her stride to catch up with Cameron. The trail started to slope downward as the ridge became level with the roof of the prison.

     “Stop,” Cameron said holding up his hand. “We can wait here.”

     He crouched beside a tree and Holly joined him. She nudged him with her elbow.

     “Let me see your hand,” she said.

     “It’s nothing,” he said. “Just a scratch.”

     “If it’s nothing, then it won’t hurt for me to look at it,” Holly retorted knowing his high tolerance for pain.

     Cameron sighed and then produced his hand from the folds of his cloak. It was too dark to see the real extent the bramble had done—the moon was covered by dark clouds—but Holly was fairly certain the wound wasn’t too deep.

     “You’ll live,” she whispered giving him back his hand.

     “Which is more than I can say for you if you move another muscle,” a voice said directly behind Holly.

     Holly froze, recognizing the voice instantly as Vincent’s. Cameron’s eyes widened in shock as he stared at the person standing right behind her.

     “Vincent,” he said. “What the hell are you doing here?”

     “We patrol this ridge regularly for people such as you two who want to do something risky,” Vincent said. “Now stand up with your hands over your head. Both of you.”

    Holly felt a sword tip at her back and knew what would happen if she didn’t do exactly what he said. She did so slowly, mirroring what Cameron did in front of her.

     “Search them,” Vincent said to someone that Holly couldn’t see. “I want all of their weapons.”

     Cameron’s jaw tightened as someone roughly grabbed Holly’s sword from her waist and started patting her down. Holly stomped on the person’s foot, feeling a surge of pleasure as the person let out a growl and the hands disappeared.

     The small feeling of triumph disappeared as Vincent backhanded Holly across the cheek. Holly’s neck snapped with the blow and she tasted blood in her mouth.

     “Don’t!”  Cameron shouted. “She never did anything! Leave her alone!”

     “Search him,” Vincent said in an icy voice. “And if he misbehaves, then kill the wench.”

     Holly stiffened at being called such a vulgar term. She tried to send Cameron a nonverbal message, telling him to fight back and not to worry about her, but the man who had searched her stepped in front of her. Holly barely stifled a gasp as she recognized Mason’s burnt face in the faint torchlight.

     “I had fun killing your sister,” Mason hissed to Cameron. “She screamed so loudly. I wish I hadn’t finished her off so soon, though.”

     Holly shook at the sound of Mason’s voice and the words that were formed from the croaky rasp coming from burnt vocal chords. He truly was a horrifying monster.

     “Tina is not dead,” Cameron said defiantly. Holly could practically hear his clenched teeth.

     “Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Mason said with a sadistic rasping wheeze that Holly realized was supposed to be a chuckle. “You know as well as I do that she’s dead.

     “Enough,” Vincent said. Cameron clenched his hands into fists. “Tie their hands. I don’t want them getting any fancy ideas.”

     Holly felt someone grab her arms and pull them behind her back. She protested the rough treatment by kicking out with her right leg and connecting with the person’s knee. The person grunted and the hands holding her arms fell away.

     Holly turned around and fell into a defensive crouch as she laid eyes on their attackers for the first time. Vincent and Mason were paired with three other people. Two were men, the other a woman. One of the men was extremely tall, standing at around six feet four inches. The other was of average height. The woman, Holly recognized instantly with a sinking heart. Meredythe.

     Mason was the first person to attack. Holly dispatched him easily with a blow to the groin. He went down with a shout of pain. The others took the howl as a battle cry and ran at her. Cameron was suddenly by her side, exchanging blows with practiced ease against the members of the Shadow of the Sun.

     Holly and Cameron were hopelessly outnumbered and Holly knew it. However, she had never been one to go down without a fight. That was why it took both Vincent and the tall man to hold her down and tie her wrists behind her back while giving her a bloody nose and a black eye.

     “Run, Cameron!” she screamed as she found him and Mason locked in a punching battle. Meredythe lay unconscious on the ground. Cameron turned to look at her. “Go!”

     Cameron’s moment of brief hesitation cost him. Mason punched him square in the face, sending Cameron to his knees with a groan. Holly felt tears sting her eyes as Mason pulled out rope and bound the younger man’s wrist.

     “Come on,” Vincent said jerking her along. “James is waiting for you two. He’ll be most pleased to find out that he has finally caught you two.”

     Holly kicked out and dug her heels in as much as possible, but it didn’t do any good. Vincent was too strong. Any efforts on her part just served to annoy him more, which caused her arms to be twisted painfully behind her back. Holly let out a whimper as she heard an ominous popping sound and felt pain flood her shoulder. She stopped fighting soon after that, knowing that her shoulder was dislocated once again.

     The patrol with its prisoners didn’t have very far to go. The main headquarters of the Shadow of the Sun was at the bottom of the ridge. Holly’s heart froze as she laid eyes on it. It was a plain, wooden building that had been painted white. It wasn’t very big—the inn in Lindenshire had been bigger. It had probably one or two rooms at the most. But the torches lining the roof gave the entire building an eerie feel, with the dark shadows reflecting on the white paint and the smoke billowing around the roof top.

     The entrance to the building was a set of double doors painted black. Vincent kicked them open easily and dragged Holly inside. Holly attempted one last time to stop Vincent from taking her inside, but gave up when the pain in her shoulder became too great.

     The inside of the building was dimly lit and rather cold. The walls were black and there was a faint smell of soot in the air. The room was mostly empty, except for a few people and a large chair at the far side of the room. Holly realized this must be James’ throne. It fortunately, for the moment, was empty.

     “Untie them and leave them here,” Vincent ordered. “They aren’t going anywhere fast. Samuel, go fetch Meredythe and take her to the doctor. Mason, you and Darwin guard the door. I’m going to go get James.”

     Holly shivered as her bonds fell away. She was in the heart of the Shadow of the Sun, getting ready to meet James. Her father was going to die tomorrow. She had completely and utterly failed at her mission.

     “Holly?”

      Cameron’s voice, thickened by the injured nose, sounded from Holly’s left. Holly turned toward him, her heart breaking as she set eyes on his bruised and bloody face.

     “Cameron,” she whispered reaching out and taking his hand. “Are you okay?”

     “I’ll live,” he said giving her a bitter imitation of his smile. “Then again, maybe not.”

     “Why didn’t you run?” she asked. “You should have gone. You could have come back with help.”

     “No one would have helped me,” Cameron said softly “And besides, you refused to leave me when we were in Solar Shadows, even though it was more than likely that I was going to die; so I couldn’t have left you when I knew that you were still alive. I love you, Holly.”

     “I love you too,” she whispered. “But you should have gone.”

     “Holly?”

     Holly froze at the sound of the rough, exhausted sounding voice behind her. It couldn’t be.

     “Dad?” she whispered turning around.

     Holly could hardly believe the sight in front of her. It was definitely father; she would have recognized his dirty blonde hair and warm brown eyes anywhere, but he looked so uncharacteristically shocked that Holly faltered for a moment before throwing her arms around him.

      “Dad!” she exclaimed. “You’re alive!”

     “What are you doing here, Holly?” he asked. “Why have you come?”

     “I came here to rescue you,” Holly said. “I’ve come to take you home.”

     Her father stiffened. Holly drew away for a moment, wondering what had caused the reaction. She noticed that he was looking at Cameron, who was gazing at his shoes, obviously uncomfortable.

      “Who is that?” her father asked in a hushed voice.

     “That’s Cameron,” Holly said. “He’s here to help me rescue you.”

     “Do you realize who that is, Holly?” her father demanded. “Don’t you know that he is—..”

     Booted footsteps sounded at the very far end of the room, cutting off whatever her father was going to say. A tall, slender man entered the room.

     Though visibility was poor, Holly recognized the man instantly. It was James.

26: Chapter 24: Betrayal

     Holly felt her father tense up beside her as James stepped away from the large chair and started walking toward them. Holly reached for her father’s hand and grasped it with her own, feeling safe in spite of the fact that the most horrible person the world had ever produced was approaching them with murder written all over his face.

     “Richard, it is good to see you again, my friend,” James said, his cruel voice ringing out in the silent room. “I am sorry that we couldn’t have met on better terms. But, alas, as most good friends do, we turned on each other. You loved the woman of my dreams and tore her away from me.”

      “You did that to yourself,” Holly’s father retorted, his voice hard. “If you hadn’t allowed the power to go to your head, then Leah could have been yours. She would have followed you to the ends of the earth, if you had asked.”

     “No matter,” James said. “What’s done is done. Let’s not regret past mistakes”

     “Why should we when you do enough of that for the rest of the world?” Holly’s father asked.

     Holly was shocked at how sarcastic her father was being. It seemed eerily out of place with the man she had known growing up. That man hadn’t been able to argue with the blacksmith because Clint was four times his size. Clint had been a gentle giant. James, on the other hand, was known for murdering people and yet, her father didn’t seem to care.

     “And what exactly is that supposed to mean?” James asked. There was no perceptible shift in his tone, but the way his eyes darkened ever so slightly, Holly knew that her father was probably walking dead at the moment. She gripped her father’s hand more tightly as if she could somehow save him from James.

     “It means that everyone sees right through you, Pyter,” her father said. “No one buys your act of wanting to take over the world. We all know that you just want Leah back.”

     James set his jaw at the sound of his real name.

     “My name is James,” he said. There was a touch of anger to his harsh voice. “Pyter is dead. And you, apparently, are denser than I first thought if you really think that I brought back the Shadow of the Sun because I wanted to get Leah back. Believe me, if I wanted her back, then I would have her. No, I want something more than Leah. I want Solar Shadows to pay for the crimes it committed against me when I was ruler.”

     “What crimes?” Holly’s father asked sounding bored. “Promising to serve the country for the greater good only to bring about slavery, higher taxes, forced labor, and concentration camps where over five hundred people died? Oh wait! That was you!”

     “I’ll admit, I made some mistakes,” James said. “But the people of Solar Shadows did absolutely nothing to stop me.”

     “That’s because they were terrified of you, James,” Holly’s father retorted. “People don’t really take action when they are terrified.”

     “But you did,” James said his voice softening. He sounded almost human now. “You and Leah and that cockroach of a brother of hers.”

     “Jack? Jack died years ago,” Holly’s father replied his voice hardening. His blank expression on his face appeared somewhat forced.

     Before James had the chance to respond with more than a sadistic smile that completely distorted his face, Cameron spoke up.

     “James,” he said softly.

     Holly jumped at the sound of his voice. She had gotten so caught up in the rivalry of her father and James that she had completely forgotten that Cameron was present.

     “You have done well,” James said without taking his eyes off Holly and her father. “You shall be rewarded generously.”

     In the split second it took for Holly to process those words, her world shattered. She pulled away from her father and turned to look at Cameron, both stunned and dismayed about what she had just heard.

     “What is he talking about?” she demanded.

     Cameron flat out refused to meet her eyes. He stared at his shoes and didn’t answer her question.

     “You’re just as pathetic as your mother,” James said. “You believe the best in people even when there’s no reason to. Even when people you should trust implicitly give you hundreds of reasons why you shouldn’t trust certain people, you still do.”

     “What is he talking about?” Holly repeated, ignoring James and staring at Cameron.

     “Tell her, son,” James said.

     Cameron raised his head at the word. Holly stifled a gasp as she realized Jack had been right all along: Cameron was James’ son. She had always known but it had never really hit her until that moment what that meant.

     “I didn’t meet you in Lindenshire by accident,” Cameron said softly. “I was sent there to kidnap you.”

     Holly felt as though she had just been kicked in the stomach and run over by a thousand and one horses.

      “What?” she asked her voice a faint whisper.

     “I’ve been working for the Shadow of the Sun since I was ten,” Cameron said. “You were my latest assignment. I was to bring you in so James could use you as bait for your mother.”

     “You’re lying!” Holly yelled.

     “No, I’m not,” Cameron said heavily, still staring down at his shoes. “I’m sorry, Holly.”

     “No!” Holly shouted. “You don’t get to be sorry! You used me. You never were honest with me!”

     She stalked over to him and before anyone had the chance to stop her, she slapped him hard across the face.

     “I hate you,” she hissed. “I can’t believe you would do something as horrible as this.”

     “Holly, I--.”

     “I hate you,” she said again.

     James signaled to his guards and suddenly, Holly was being manhandled away from Cameron. She went willingly, not wanting to look at his traitorous face anymore.

     Tears streamed silently down Holly’s face as she was led forcefully from the Shadow of the Sun’s main headquarters and across the compound to the prison. She was dimly aware of more guards behind her bringing her father along. Some part of her, the one that still wanted to put up a fight, told her that this would be a good opportunity to break free, to save her father and get out of the Land of Shadows. But the rest of her was too numb, too hurt by Cameron’s betrayal to move a muscle.

     The prison was larger than the main headquarters, but looked roughly the same. The building was white and the doors were black. Above the doors of the prison was an engraving of the Shadow of the Sun’s symbol. Holly felt a quiver of fear go through her as she stared at the half sun.

     “Separate them,” one of the guards said. Holly recognized his voice dimly as Vincent’s, but was too distracted to care.

     “She’s my daughter,” her father said. “Please, just give us the same cell. There won’t be any trouble.”

     “Separate them,” Vincent said. “Put her next to Andrews and him across the row. Make sure you double the guards on duty, too. I don’t want young James getting any wild ideas.”

     Young James. The name was fitting, Holly thought. Cameron had certainly acted in the same manner as James had when the older man was Cameron’s age. Betraying the people he loved, breaking their hearts, and all in the name of power. Holly closed her eyes, trying to push the depressing thought out of her head.

     Holly was led down a flight of dimly lit stairs into a long, narrow hallway that smelled like sweat and fear. She wrinkled her nose as the guards led her past cells filled with sleeping people. She wondered who they were and why they were here. She wondered if she looked closely enough if she would recognize any of them.

     Holly’s cell was the second to last one at the far end of the row. There was an empty cell at the very end, but the one on the other side of Holly’s contained a very familiar person. Bev. Holly felt a small sting of surprise as she recognized Cameron’s mother, but didn’t say anything.

     “Holly?” Bev asked incredulously as Holly was thrown forcefully into the small cage.

     Holly picked herself off the dirt floor, brushing herself off as she did so. She ignored Bev’s surprised stare and went to sit on the solitary bed in the far corner of the cell. Other then the bed, which was nothing more than a pile of straw on the floor, the cell was empty.

     There was a grating noise as one of the cell doors was drawn back, followed by a grunt and a thud as Holly’s father was thrown into his cell. There was another grating sound as the cell door was closed, followed by the sound of a bolt being drawn and a lock clicking into place.

     The guards left the main aisle way, but Holly knew they were standing at the entrance to the prison. She noted all of this, in case she ever felt the desire to escape.

     “Holly?”

     Holly looked up at the sound of her father’s voice, but couldn’t look him in the eye. She didn’t want to talk about what happened. It was too surreal. She couldn’t believe that anyone would do a thing like that, Cameron least of all. He had been so kind, so caring. He had claimed that he loved her. There had been a million chances for him to turn her over to the Shadow of the Sun, starting with that very first day in the meadow and going through earlier that day where he had saved her life from that one member of the Shadow of the Sun. He couldn’t have been working for James. But he was. If he hadn’t told her himself, she never would have believed him.

     “Holly, look at me,” her father said. He didn’t wait for her to respond. “What happened?”

     “You heard what happened,” Holly said dully. “Cameron betrayed me. He brought me here so James could have bait for Mom.”

     “I thought Cameron was dead,” Bev said confused. “How did he betray you if he died?”

     “He didn’t die,” Holly said flatly turning away from both her father and Bev. “He survived. I found him earlier today.”

     “How do you know Holly?” her father asked. The question wasn’t directed at her, so Holly did her best to tune out Bev’s answer. She wanted to be alone. She wanted to curl up in a ball and refuse to move for the rest of her life.

     Bev and her father were talking about something, their heated voices barely reaching Holly’s ears through the tunnel that seemed to surround her. Images and sounds were distorted as she stared up at the wooden ceiling. Holly wondered what had possessed Cameron to do such an awful thing. That thought was followed quickly by the question as to whether anyone else had fallen under his spell.

     Angrily, Holly shoved the thought out of her mind and tried to think of something else. As it always did when she was angry or scared, her mind wandered back to happier times, back when she was with her family in Lindenshire and the Shadow of the Sun hadn’t ruined any chance of happiness she may have had.

     Suddenly, there was a commotion coming from the stairs Holly had been led down only minutes before. Shouts filled the air as the once sleeping prisoners woke up to find out what was going on as two figures made their way down the stairs. Holly recognized both of them at once. The one in the lead was Marcus, who was carrying a set of keys that more than likely went to the prison cells. The slightly shorter, leaner figure trailing behind Marcus making Holly’s breath catch in her throat was Cameron.

     “Listen up everyone!” Marcus yelled over the surprised chattering of the prisoners. “We’re here to break you out. Members of the Eclipse are already making their way from the village to the Shadow of the Sun’s headquarters to assist in this break out. They’ll be here shortly. I’m going to let you out of your cells, but you must not leave until we get the signal. Understood?”

     There was a chorus of agreement from the prisoners, along with a feeling of hope and fear so strong that Holly could practically taste it. She knew she wasn’t the only one wondering what was truly going on here, why two members of the Shadow of the Sun suddenly turned traitor to their cause.

     Cameron walked down to Holly’s cell as Marcus set about opening the rest.

     “Holly,” he said softly, threading his hands through the bars.

     Holly hated the sound of his voice, of how its musical cadences sounded so apologetic and so sad. She hated how the mere sound of it made her look up out of habit.

     “What do you want?” she asked bitterly. “To tear my heart out and stomp on it? Oh wait, you already did that.”

     “I want to apologize,” Cameron said quietly. “I never meant to hurt you.”

     “Well, you did,” Holly snapped. “Apology not accepted.”

     “Holly, please, listen to me,” Cameron begged.

     “Why should I?” Holly demanded. “Everything you ever told me was a lie.”

     “Maybe in the beginning,” Cameron said. “But that all changed. I really did fall in love with you. I’m in love with you, Holly.”

     “Don’t,” Holly hissed. “Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

     Marcus appeared behind Cameron, keys jangling in his hands. He looked from Holly to Cameron and back again, his expression sympathetic.

      “Here,” he said giving the keys to Cameron. “I’m going to go watch for Jack. Keep her safe, okay?”

     Before Holly could make a sarcastic retort or ask what the hell was going on, Marcus disappeared into the crowd of people outside of their cells and waited for their chance to escape. Cameron quickly unlocked her cell door.

     “I never lied about loving you, Holly,” Cameron said softly. “And I mean that. But I know what I did was wrong and you have every right to hate me for it.”

     “Thanks for your permission,” Holly said sarcastically. She got off her bed and stalked out of the cell. Cameron grabbed her wrist as she walked by him.

     “Wait just a second,” he said. Holly tugged at her wrist, trying to free it from his grasp.

     “Let go of me,” she demanded.

     “No,” Cameron said. “Not until you hear what I have to say. When I arrived in Lindenshire, I was working for my father. But Mason wasn’t a part of that. He was trying to get back at me for things I had done in the past.”

     “What kinds of things?” Holly wanted to know.

     “It doesn’t matter now,” Cameron said shaking his head. “Maybe I will tell you some day, but right now it’s not important.”

     “You’re always keeping secrets,” Holly said “Give me one reason why I should trust you after everything you’ve done.”

     “I may have been working for James in the beginning, but that all changed when I got to know you better,” Cameron said. “I realized that you are smart and funny and beautiful and above all else, honest. I have never met anyone like you before. In the Shadow of the Sun, honesty is a rare thing to come by.

     “After I made this realization, Vincent found us. I realized that I didn’t want you to get hurt and I didn’t want you to be taken to James, because that meant my secret would come out and you would know that I had once planned to betray you. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened. So I decided to go against my father’s wishes and save you. I knew that I was probably going to die, but I was okay with that. All that mattered was keeping you safe.”

      “That worked out really well,” Holly said dryly. “I found out and I still hate you. Nothing you can do or say will change that.”

     “I know. I just wanted you to know that when I tell you I love you, I mean it. I do love you, Holly Larson,” Cameron said.

     Before Holly had the chance to protest, Cameron closed the small gap between them and pressed his lips to hers. It was gentle, sweet, and short.

     “I love you,” he said again. “And I always will.”

     Holly stood there staring stupidly at him, trying to think of something to say. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, when there was a shrill whistle from above.

     “That’s the signal!” Marcus yelled from the top of the stairs. “Let’s go!” 

27: Chapter 25: James

     Cameron unbuckled a sheathed sword from his waist and handed it to Holly.

     “I took this from the armory,” he said. “I think you’re going to need it.”

     Holly hesitantly took the sword, not wanting to accept anything from Cameron at the moment. But she knew it would be stupid to expect that she wouldn’t need it while escaping. So she took it and buckled it around her waist.

     “Don’t you need a sword?” she asked. As much as she hated him at the moment, she didn’t want to see him hurt.

     “I’ll be fine,” Cameron said with a shrug. “Now come on. We need to get out of here.”

     He took her hand and started towing her up the stairs behind the mass of other prisoners scrambling to get out of the jail. Holly tumbled as the toe of her boot caught the edge of the stair. Cameron’s strong arms kept her from falling on her face on the unforgiving steps.

     Holly glared at him and he instantly let go. She walked more carefully behind her father who had hung back to make sure she was all right.

     The moon was sinking over the tree tops as Holly and the rest of the Shadow of the Sun’s prisoners stepped out of the prison. The wind had picked up and was now whipping around the small group, tearing at their clothing and making everyone shiver with its bite.

     The group of escapees made it up the ridge and into the surrounding forest. The wind was weaker, blocked by the trees, though it was still terribly cold. Holly shivered, wishing she had more protection than her cloak against the frigid temperatures.

     The prisoners made it up another large hill and down a steep incline before everyone stopped to catch a breath of fresh air. Holly moved closer to her father so that she could be away from Cameron.

     “It’s only a mile or two down to the beach!” Marcus yelled above the wind howling through the tree tops. “Jack is going to lead you to the ships and make sure you get there safely. My friend and I will cover you from the back. Move quickly! We don’t have much time before James realizes what has happened.”

     Holly’s father stiffened as Jack Fox took Marcus’s place at the head of the prisoners.

     “He’s dead,” her father whispered. “I was there when the house burned down. I was there at the funeral. How can he still be alive?”

     Holly didn’t get the chance to answer her father’s question. There was a whistling sound just as an arrow buried itself into the ground right by Holly’s foot. Everyone froze as another arrow landed a few feet away.

     “Run!” Cameron shouted. “We’ve been spotted!”

     Someone screamed as another arrow was embedded into a large tree nearby. Then, everything exploded into chaos and noise as a small group of horses burst through the trees and surrounded the group.

     There was no escape. There were about fifteen prisoners and ten members of the Eclipse combined. There may have been only six Shadow of the Sun members, but they were heavily armed while only the members of the Eclipse and one or two prisoners were armed. Many of the prisoners were exhausted and malnourished after having spent months, if not years, in the prison of the Shadow of the Sun. The members of the Eclipse were exhausted from their journey to the Shadow of the Sun’s headquarters to rescue the prisoners and most of the Eclipse looked untrained. The army of the Shadow of the Sun, on the other hand, were well rested and well trained. It was not going to be a fair fight.

     “Surrender now and no one will be harmed.”

     The leader of the armed horsemen was none other than Vincent. He was astride a giant gray horse and armed with a wicked looking sword.

     “I really hate ultimatums,” Cameron muttered from somewhere behind Holly. She couldn’t help but remember the last time they had been in a similar position and had managed to escape. Suddenly, she had an idea.

     “You really think that we went through all this trouble to escape just to be captured again?” Jack asked dryly. “You’re insane, Vincent.”

     Holly inched her way over to Cameron who gave her a puzzled look when she reached out and grasped his hand to get his attention.

     “How many of these people can actually shoot a bow?” she whispered.

     Understanding gleamed in Cameron’s eyes as he studied the horses surrounding them.

     “One or two,” he whispered back. “Why? Planning something crazy?”                                    

     Holly couldn’t help but allow a small smile in response to his feral grin.

     “Maybe,” she murmured. “Can you take out the marksmen while I go for Vincent?”

     “Living on the edge,” Cameron said. “I like it. Sure. Just give me the signal.”

     “Let me tell Bev our plan first and then I’ll whistle,” she muttered. “In the mean time, tell some of the others to be ready to fight.”

     Cameron nodded as Holly made her way slowly and cautiously over to Bev

     “I need you to find a large stick,” she hissed in the older woman’s ear. “Tell the others to be ready to fight and be ready for my whistle. Go for the men to Vincent’s left.”

     Bev nodded once in understanding as Holly moved away again. She grasped her father’s hand with her own as she waited for there to be a pause in the verbal banter between Jack and Vincent. For a man that was supposed to be dead, Jack sure as hell had a lot to say.

     There was a near tangible change in the air as Bev and Cameron spread the word around the group to be ready to fight. Vincent seemed to sense that something was about to happen.

     “Enough of this talk!” he said in a loud voice. “Make your decision now! Surrender or we will kill you!”

     Holly whistled and the world exploded into shouts and movement. All twenty-five of the escapees surged on the small ring of Shadow of the Sun members. The horses spooked and broke away from their formation, dumping their riders as they went galloping back toward home. A few of the Eclipse members knocked out the members of the Shadow of the Sun and took their weapons, handing them to the most able-bodied prisoners. The tables were quickly turned against the Shadow of the Sun as Cameron slammed one of the archers off the horse; Bev took out the other with a long stick.

     Holly noticed all of this as she charged toward Vincent. She was reminded forcibly of the first time they had met in Emberton where she had been the helpless one and he had injured Cameron. She had sworn to herself then that she would never let that happen again. It was time for her to enact and make good on that promise.

    Vincent was caught off guard by Holly’s attack as she swung out with her sword. He threw himself sideways to dodge the blow and fell off his horse. The terrified creature raced away through the woods.

     Vincent was already in a standing position, ready to attack by the time his horse had disappeared. Holly was instantly on her guard as he lashed out with his sword. She brought her sword up to block his causing sparks to fly when the blades clashed. He turned away from the blow and attacked her again, putting all of his strength behind the swing. Holly stopped the sword, parrying with her own.

      They began a dangerous dance, swords weaving through complicated patterns as they both tried to penetrate the other’s defenses. Holly quickly discovered Vincent was a much better swordsman than she as he nicked her injured shoulder with the tip of his sword. If Holly hadn’t been so quick on her feet, able to duck to the side, she would have been killed. She hissed in pain redoubling her efforts, hoping to strike a blow hard enough to maim him.

     “You’re out of your league, girl,” Vincent growled as they brought their swords together once again. “You and your little rebellion will be crushed by our power. You should give up while you’re still alive, maybe James will let you live”

     “You seriously think I’m going to believe that after everything I’ve seen?” Holly demanded breathlessly as she pulled away from their embrace lashing out once again with her sword.

    Vincent let out a howl of pain as Holly’s sword sliced his calf. Had she put more force behind the blow, she could have easily severed his leg in two. As it were, her sword cut clean through his leg bone before she pulled it out.

    Vincent sank to the ground, unable to stand upright on only one leg. Holly raised her sword tip to his throat.

     “Do it,” he croaked. “You’ve won. Now finish me off.”

     Holly hesitated for a moment before lowering her sword. “You’re not worth it,” she said.

     She sheathed her sword and stood for a moment, debating what to do. Vincent glared up at her, his gray eyes dark with fury and pain.

     “You’re nothing more than a coward!” he shouted. “You’re weak, like your father! If you were your mother, she would have killed me!”

    Holly clenched her hand into a fist and punched him hard in the face. He let out a grunt of pain, bringing both of his hands up to his now bloody nose.

    “My mother is not a killer,” she growled. “And neither am I.”

    With that, she turned and walked away, leaving Vincent injured and alone.

 

     The prisoners and members of the Eclipse had won the skirmish. Two people whom Holly didn’t know had been injured, but no one had died. The Shadow of the Sun hadn’t been so lucky. Vincent was one of the only survivors. The severely injured had no way of returning to the Shadow of the Sun’s headquarters. So unless they got lucky and the Shadow of the Sun sent out a patrol in the next few hours, they were as good as dead.

    Holly found her father talking with Jack near the edge of the group. Marcus and Cameron were tending to the two injured; Bev was making sure everyone else was all right. Holly decided to leave her father and Cameron alone for the time being. She had some questions she needed to ask of Bev anyway.

     “Hey,” Bev said as Holly walked up. The older woman was helping a young man with sandy blonde hair to his feet. Bleeding from his forehead, he looked extremely dazed but otherwise seemed all right.

     “How are you?” Holly asked.

     “I’m great,” Bev said grinning. Holly knew the older woman well enough to know that she meant it.

     “Good,” Holly said nodding her head once.

     “You’ll live, Aaron,” Bev told the man. “Don’t do any head stands for a while, okay?”

     The man, Aaron, shot her a quizzical look before darting off to talk to someone in the crowd. Holly crossed her arms uncomfortably over her chest.

     “You look like you just swallowed a bee’s nest,” Bev informed her. “What’s bothering you?”

     “I wanted to ask you about Marcus,” Holly admitted Bev’s mouth tightened.

     “What do you want to know?” she asked.

     “Why is he here?” Holly asked. “I thought he was a member of the Shadow of the Sun.”

     “And I thought Jack was dead,” Bev retorted. “People aren’t always who you think they are.”

     Holly was quiet, not wanting to give ground to Bev. She wanted an honest answer as to why Marcus was helping them.

     Bev sighed as she realized Holly wasn’t going to say anything until the older woman explained. “Marcus was never a part of the Shadow of the Sun. Not even in the beginning. He has always been a faithful member of the Eclipse.”

     Holly’s mouth fell open in shock. She stared at Bev incredulously, not really certain what to say.

    “Don’t look at me like that,” the older woman chided. “You asked. Anyway, Marcus has been working under cover in the Shadow of the Sun for as long as I can remember. He’s been feeding information to Jack about what’s happening. He’s been keeping me alive for the past eighteen years, which is a feat no one probably would have thought possible. He’s a good man. You should trust him.”

     Holly opened her mouth to say something when Jack made his way to the front of the crowd. The small pockets of conversation which had broken out instantly fell silent.

     “We need to move out,” he said. “More members of the Shadow of the Sun could very well be on their way as we speak. We need to make it to the beach and onto the ships before they find us. We were lucky this time around. We can’t expect to be quite as lucky a second time.”

    There was a quiet murmur of assent. Jack gazed out at everyone for a moment, his warm gray blue eyes connecting with Holly’s. The two stood there for a moment, staring at each other, before Jack looked away again.

     “Let’s go,” Jack said. He turned and started leading the way. After a brief moment of hesitation, the rest of the prisoners and members of the Eclipse began to follow him.

 

     Dawn was beginning to break as Jack led the group of exhausted escapees and Eclipse members through the last swath of trees and onto the sandy beach. Holly thought that she had never been so grateful to see a ship in her life.

      Holly trailed behind the rest of the group, suddenly not wanting to leave the Land of Shadows. Though her time here had been short and full of pain and betrayal, she felt a sort of kinship with the harsh, unforgiving land. She had found a freedom here that had eluded her in Solar Shadows. She had been free to make her own choices and take risks that she knew she wouldn’t have taken in Solar Shadows. She had had opportunities to take, such as becoming bait for the Shadow of the Sun to lure the patrol away from a village and attacking Vincent and his men, even when it seemed hopeless at the time.

     Marcus took the lead across the beach. Jack hung back until he was walking next to Holly.

     “You acted like a leader back there, Holly,” he said. “Your mother would have done the exact same thing had she been there.”

     “I didn’t do anything,” Holly murmured embarrassed by the high praise.

     “You gave people an alternative to being taken back to Hell again,” Jack said. “You gave them hope and you gave them a way to achieve what they wanted. That’s being a leader, Holly.”

     “Thanks, Jack,” she said her cheeks flushing as she looked at the ground.

     Jack shrugged. “You’re going to make a good leader one day, Holly. There’s no use in denying the fact. Just don’t let the power go to your head, all right?”

     “I won’t,” Holly promised.

     There were a few moment of brief silence.

     “When we get back to Solar Shadows, I plan on changing a few things,” Jack said conversationally. “Starting with revealing the fact that I am alive.”

     Holly looked at him, raising an eyebrow in surprise. “Why?” she asked.

     “There’s no use in denying it anymore, now that James is aware of my presence. Richard knows and Leah will too. It’s about time that the world knows it hasn’t seen the last of Jack Fox,” he said.

     “Good,” Holly said. “It’s time we all stop hiding who we really are.”

     As she said this, she looked at Cameron, who was walking beside Bev. She wondered if either of them knew the true identity of the other. She doubted it.

     “He loves you, you know,” Jack said.

     Holly looked back at her uncle, surprised by the bluntness of the statement.

     “What?”

     “Cameron. He loves you,” Jack replied. As he spoke, Cameron turned to look at Holly, his blue eyes full of sorrow. Holly held his gaze for a moment, feeling sadness well up inside of her. As much as she hated what he had done, she still loved him.

     “He should have thought about that before he betrayed me,” she muttered.

     “Sometimes, Holly, people change,” Jack said. “I should know that better than anyone. Cameron might have once been the man you think he is, but he’s not now. I was wrong when I said he was James’ son.”

     “No, you weren’t,” Holly said. “He didn’t deny it. James called him his son.”

    “That’s not what I meant, Holly,” Jack said. “He may be related to James by blood and looks, but Cameron is not James’ son. He’s Bev’s. He’s made some serious mistakes, but he does truly care about you. Maybe you should think about forgiving him.”

     “I’m not sure if I can,” Holly whispered gazing at the back of Cameron’s head. She wanted to, she really did, but she couldn’t help but be careful. What if he betrayed her again to James? She couldn’t take that chance.

     Jack was about to say something when a row of dark figures appeared out of nowhere and blocked the progression of the escapees. Holly’s heart stopped beating as she recognized the man in the lead of the opposing line. It was James.

     “Members of the Eclipse and prisoners of the Shadow of the Sun alike,” James said, his cold, cruel voice ringing out over the silent beach. “You may have escaped my second-in-command and his men. But you will not escape me. This is your last warning. Either you will give up now and set down your arms, or we will kill you. Those who escape will be hunted down and killed”

     “Any bright ideas?” Jack whispered to Holly.

    Holly shook her head, unable to see past the three lines of armed men and horses. It was a terrible sight; one that Holly knew would be the subject of many nightmares if she came out of this alive.

     “We will never give up!” someone yelled. Holly started as she realized that the voice belonged to her father. “We will never surrender so long as you still live! You may defeat us here on this beach, but you know that there will be others like us in the future! You know that the Shadow of the Sun will never truly win!”

     There was a chorus of cheers in the Eclipse and prisoners.

     “That is where you are wrong!” James retorted. He was visibly angry. His eyes were twin blue flames of sheer fury. He held his sword in one hand and the reins of his horse in the other.

     “Attack!” Holly’s father yelled. “Attack and drive this evil from the world!”

     There was another yell as the prisoners and members of the Eclipse charged the Shadow of the Sun. The Shadow of the Sun rushed to meet the Eclipse.

     The two opposing sides came together in a clash of flesh and metal as those without weapons started fighting with their fists and feet.

     Holly soon found herself entirely surrounded by members of the Shadow of the Sun, all with the intent to kill her. She parried countless of blows with her sword and even managed to land a few hits of her own. But she knew that the battle was futile from the very beginning, even more so than the one earlier had been. There were too many of the Shadow of the Sun.

     Holly’s shoulder burned as she brought her sword up to deflect a powerful blow coming from a man twice her size. She instantly retaliated, but was too slow. The man batted her sword away easily and brought his own down.

     Holly expected to feel pain and see darkness, but instead, she was pushed out of the way. She looked up to see who her savior was, astonished to see Cameron standing where she had been only moments before. With a few short moves, Holly’s would-be killer was knocked unconscious. Cameron turned to her and offered her a hand up. Holly accepted it and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

     “This changes nothing between us,” she said. “I still haven’t forgiven you for what you’ve done.”

     “I know,” Cameron said his blue eyes warm and sad. “I wouldn’t have expected you to.”

     Before she had the chance to say anything else, he melted into the throng of fighting people.

     She wasn’t sure how long the fighting lasted, but it was exhausting. She stumbled a few times and had a few more brushes with death. Every single time, either Cameron or Jack appeared out of thin air and saved her at the last possible second.

     Holly was on one of her last vestiges of strength when she was shoved forcefully to her knees from behind. A sword was placed against her throat.

     “The next person who moves causes her death.”

     It was James. Holly struggled to get free, but stopped when the edge of the sword dug into the soft flesh of her throat and drew blood. She let out a whimper of pain.

     Everyone stopped their battles to stare at James and Holly. Holly’s father looked absolutely horrified. Jack looked as though he were living his worst nightmare. Bev looked frightened. The one person Holly didn’t see in the mass of people staring at her was Cameron. The one part of her mind not paralyzed by fear wondered where he was. She refused to think that he was dead.

     “Please, let her go,” Holly’s father begged “She’s innocent in this.”

     “She’s no more innocent than you,” James said coldly. “Now. Drop your weapons!”

     There was a collective thud as the Eclipse and the prisoners dropped their weapons.

     Holly swallowed, knowing that this was it. This was the part where James would kill her.

     “If I were you, I wouldn’t make any sudden movements.”

     Holly felt her heart leap at the sound of Cameron’s growl coming from behind her. She felt more than heard James’s dark chuckle.

     “It looks like you’re truly my son after all,” James said. The sword disappeared from Holly’s throat as James turned to face Cameron. “Do it. Kill me.”

     Holly took a deep breath as she turned to look at the scene unfolding behind her. James had dropped his sword and was holding his hands up in surrender. Cameron was holding his sword with shaking hands as he had it pointed directly at James’ heart.

     “Do it,” James said his voice darkening. “Or are you too weak?”

     Cameron set his jaw, his blue eyes steeling over. But he made no move to strike James down.

     “I thought so,” James said a sadistic grin crossing his face. Holly shuddered at the look. It was unnatural on the frighteningly beautiful face.

     James made a movement too quick for Holly’s eyes to follow. He was empty-handed one moment and the next he had a wicked looking dagger in his hands, aimed at Cameron’s chest.

     “Cameron!” Holly screamed as James threw the dagger.

     The dagger hit its mark, burying itself into Cameron’s shoulder Cameron looked stunned as he sank to his knees, dropping his sword as he lifted his good hand up to touch the embedded dagger.

     “NO!” Holly shouted tears filling her eyes. “Cameron!”

     James walked over to Cameron, a sneer settling on his face as he crouched beside his son. His eyes shining with pain and hate, Cameron looked up at his father.

     “You should have killed me when you had the chance, son,” James said. “But you’re too weak. Too much like your mother.”

     Cameron glared at James, unable to speak. James smiled again as he laid his hand on the hilt of the dagger. He pulled once and the dagger slid free.

     Cameron closed his eyes and struggled to keep in a scream.

     Holly sprang to her feet, ignoring the pain and sudden dizziness at her change in position. She jogged forward a few steps before tackling James to the ground. Behind her, the Eclipse and the Shadow of the Sun once again engaged in a fearsome battle.

     “You bastard!” she screamed punching James in the face. “How could you do that to your own son? You’re a murderer!”

     She punched him again, feeling sick satisfaction as her hand connected with his nose and broke the soft cartilage. Holly wasn’t too surprised when she was shoved backward and found herself staring into the murderous blue eyes of James.

     “You and everyone else you care about will die,” he whispered into her ear. His voice was thick because his broken nose.

     “Then kill me,” Holly retorted.

     “You will live, for now,” James said standing up. “You will live to see the horror you have brought on to yourself. I will rip everyone you care about out of your life. Once I have done that, then I will come for you. You will beg for death. And I, being the ever so gracious leader, will kill you.”

     Holly shuddered as he signaled to his army and walked away. She knew that he meant every single word of what he had said. No one she loved would be safe anymore. She had to warn them.

     Holly pulled herself to her feet, feeling that the battle was over since James had disappeared.

     “H-Holly,” Cameron whispered.

     Holly’s eyes filled with tears as she gazed at the man she loved, kneeling in the sand and bleeding heavily. She walked over and knelt down in front of him, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder.

     “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I’m sorry that you got hurt because of me again.”

     “Don’t,” Cameron hissed as he clutched his wounded shoulder. “Don’t be sorry. I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.”

     “Why?” Holly asked.

     “Because I love you,” he said in a shaking voice.

     Tears slid down Holly’s face as she gazed at him. She knew then that she didn’t want to live without him, that she still loved him and that everything he had done didn’t matter.

     “I love you too,” she whispered.

     “Holly!” her father yelled. “Come on! We need to leave before the Shadow of the Sun returns!”

     “Come on,” Holly said wrapping an arm around Cameron’s waist. “Let’s get to the ship.”

     Cameron shook his dark head, closing his eyes.

     “Go without me,” he said. “I’ll only slow you down.”

     “No! I won’t leave you behind!” she said.

     “Please,” Cameron said opening his eyes to look at her. “Go. Be safe.”

     “No,” Holly protested. “I can’t, not without knowing you’re okay.”

     “I will be,” Cameron said managing a soft smile. “I know that you love me and that’s enough.”

     “I don’t want to leave you, Cameron,” Holly said tears falling faster down her face. “I love you.”

     “You have to go,” Cameron said his voice ragged and harsh. “You have to take your place in the world.”

     “I don’t want to do it without you,” she whispered. “I can’t.”

     “Yes, you can,” Cameron said. “You have to. So many people out there are counting on you to do this. You have to.”

     “I don’t want to leave you.”

     “Then come back for me,” Cameron said as a shudder went through him. Holly tightened her grip on him as he leaned his head against her shoulder.

 “Come back for me, Holly. Leave, but promise you’ll come back.”

     “I will,” she promised barely containing a sob. “I will come back for you, Cameron.”

     He lifted his head briefly and managed to smile at her. A whimper escaped her lips.

     “Good,” he whispered. “Now go.”

     Holly looked to the ship where her father was motioning wildly for her to hurry up and then back to Cameron. Her heart shattered as she realized that this could be the very last time she ever saw him.

     Gently, she pressed her lips to his, feeling the familiar thrum of electricity shoot through her. The kiss deepened and she wrapped a hand in his hair, not wanting to ever let go.

     All too soon, the kiss was over. Holly rested her forehead against Cameron’s for a brief moment.

     “I love you,” she whispered.

     “I love you too,” he replied. “Now go.”

     Holly stood on shaking legs, not wanting to leave him but having no other choice. Already, the Shadow of the Sun was beginning to return with more forces. It would be a battle just to get to the ship.

     With tears blurring her eyes, Holly took one last look at Cameron before turning and walking toward the ship. Her father met her halfway and she fell into him, burying her face into his warm shoulder and letting the sobs consume her. She felt her father pull her into his arms and carry her toward the ship.

     “It’s going to be okay, Holly,” he whispered against her ear. “Things are going to be okay.”

     Water soaked the back of Holly’s cloak as her father carried her into the water and up the awaiting gangplank. Jack stood on the deck of the ship, looking at her anxiously.

     “Is she okay?” he asked her father anxiously.

     “No,” her father said. He pressed his lips to her hair. “I’m going to put you down now, Holly, okay? You’re safe now.”

     Holly nodded numbly as her father set her gently on the deck. Her legs shook violently before giving out completely. Holly sank to the deck and rested her back up against the gunwale. She buried her face in her knees as the sobs wracked through her.

     There was a lot of yelling and commotion going on around her, but Holly didn’t move a muscle. She felt the ship start to move underneath her and knew that they had just set sail for Solar Shadows.

     She felt someone sit down next to her and knew without looking up that it was her father. Holly inched closer to him, moving her face from her knees to his chest. He wrapped a strong arm around her and started stroking her hair.

     “It will be okay,” he whispered. “It will be okay.”

28: Epilogue: Eighteen Years Ago

     Leah looked up at the mountains as the sun sank over the horizon. The sky turned a  beautiful shade of dark gold, making the green grass look bronze. She felt a single tear slide down her cheek as she remembered all that she had lost.

     Footsteps sounded behind her. She turned, a small smile gracing her face as Richard

 wrapped his arms around her.

     “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” she whispered. “The sunset?”

     “Yes, it is,” he said.

     “I have to admit, I didn’t think we were going to live to see another one,” she said.

     “But we did,” he said. “And we will live to see many more.”

     “Do you think that he will ever return?” she asked

     Richard sighed heavily, resting his chin on the top of her head.

     “I wish I could say no,” he said. “But knowing Pyter and the man that he has become, I can’t. I don’t want to lie to you, Leah.”

     “Do you think we will be able to defeat him when he returns?” Leah asked twisting out of Richard’s embrace so she that could look into his eyes.

     “I think, that if and when he returns, it’s not going to be up to us to defeat him,” Richard said. “I think it’s going to be up to the people of Solar Shadows.”

     Leah sighed turning around again. Darkness was beginning to creep over the land, casting everything into shadows. She shivered as a cool breeze began to blow, signaling that fall was about to start.

     “I’ve been meaning to tell you something,” Richard said as he took a step forward to stand next to her. “It’s been a long time coming, actually.”

     Leah raised an eyebrow in interest, knowing that whatever he had to say, it wasn’t about the horror they had just been through. His tone was too hesitant.

     “What is it?” she asked.

     “I love you,” he said. “I have loved you since we were six years old and I have never stopped. Even when you were with… with him, I still loved you.”

     Leah felt tears sting her eyes as she managed a small smile.

     “Do you mean that?” she asked, knowing he would never lie to her.

     “Yes, Leah,” he said his brown eyes full of earnestness. “I love you. I will always love you.”

     “I love you too,” she whispered.

     “Will you marry me?” he asked softly. “Will you settle down in a small town and raise horses with me?”                                             

     “And any children that we may have,” Leah said smiling wider as he lowered his head to hers. Their lips met for a brief second. It wasn’t the same wild, energetic passion she had once shared with Pyter; but it was sweet and gentle and felt like home It was all Leah wanted.