Shadows

Walking the streets of Diar, I’m amazed by just how dark it seems. I grew up in cities where magical flames lit every corner, even though half the inhabitants had excellent night-vision, but there are shadows in this city so deep that even my enhanced eyes cannot penetrate the gloom. When I first came here, I used to search for magic each time I saw them, unable to believe that such darkness could exist in nature.

Even the moonlight does not reach most of the back-alleys as a dart between buildings, the shadows working in my favour. I was navigating by touch in the darkest places, but I still had it better than my reluctant companions. Of the small band, only the girl’s eyes seem as sharp as mine. She’s not Noble, I can tell that much just from looking, but it confirms my suspicions that she did not look quite human. As they catch the light, a shimmer of gold dances across her irises and I know I will have to learn more about her kind if we are going to work together; knowledge is power, they say.

“Down,” she calls.

The others drop to their knees and press back against the wall, trusting her as much as they would me. I can’t see what has her spooked, but trust her enough to follow her lead. As I do, I finally notice the figure slouching in a doorway ahead of us. He hasn’t noticed us yet.

I am about to deal with the man, but a slender hand holds me back. I almost argue the point, but she points to the roof of the building and hops up as lithe and silent as a cat. It strikes me as showing off, but I know I could not have managed the same trick.

Silent as a shadow and just as hard to make out, the next time I am aware of her is when the figure stands momentarily upright and then slumps back into the doorway. She’s good, I concede. Those skills and her disarming manner make for a dangerous combination; you’d never expect the knife in your back and might not even feel it until you were already dead.

She steps into a pool of dim light, enough that I can make her out, and gestures for the team to follow her. Reluctantly, I pass on the message and we move to join her.

“Is he dead?” the paladin asks in a louder whisper than I would have liked.

There is no pool of blood, but I check him all the same and discover that he is breathing, just out cold. Whatever she did to him, the girl had judged just right to incapacitate him.

“Leave him,” she tells us. “He’ll be fine in a few hours.”

Fine is relative, I think to myself; if he was paid to guard the warehouse, being found asleep at him post will likely end more than just his career. I move to prop him up against the darker side of the doorway and my hand brushes a hole in his tunic.

Poison.

I will have to keep an eye on this one. Poison always sets my teeth on edge, even if her choice of toxins was meant to save a life rather than take one. She could easily have killed him, but she chose not to. Was it for the sake of the paladin? Maybe...

“This way,” she whispers in my ear.

I flinch reflexively as the feel of her breath on my cheek and I imagine that she is smiling as my discomfort. The door lies ajar, though our informants had said it would be locked. Had she found a key on the man already or did her skill-set include other unsavoury techniques too.

“Ladies first,” I tell her.

She’s no lady, of course, but I suddenly don’t want that dangerous creature behind me. A chill runs through me as I follow her into the warehouse and I thank the gods she is on my side...

Author's Note

Another writing exercise. No real aim here, just 30 minute free writing. I thought I'd revisit some characters I'd been thinking of teaming up for a longer story.