Sapphic Voices General Fiction

SHADOW LEGEND

Chapter 1: The end before the beginning

Part 1

In the dark cover of night, a dark figure moves swiftly through the shadows of a large palace courtyard; in desperate search for her fellow shadow warriors, her friends. The small black figure disappeared into the dark shadows of the high palace walls; as three Roman soldiers walked slowly past on their midnight patrol.

The shadow warrior, waited patiently as the three big men walked past; talking amongst themselves in a foreign language. Once the men had passed, the shadow stepped back out into the moon light. Now, this shadow warrior was very short; five foot at least; and covered in black armour from head to toe. Every inch of their skin covered; except for the hole in the warriors helmet to allow them to see out.

She glanced at the guards, then over to the large dark archway; that led to the palaces main court yard. The warrior moved as silent and as graceful as a ghost; quickly over through the shadows, to the dark side of the archway. She stopped suddenly to peek around the corner of the arch; into the court yard. The shadow looked around, and found what she was looking for.

The bodies of other shadow warriors were lying limply, in the light of the full moon. The shadow drew a quick breath in; she was trying to fight back tears. She drew back into the darkness, the pain of loss and grief, almost paralysing her body. She looked angrily back at the three guards; she waited for them to turn, and walk back towards the arch.

From the shadows, the figure watched impatiently; she picked up a stone, and threw it towards the guards. The rock only just fell short of the three men, but they still saw it rolling towards them. They all looked dumbly at one another; deciding to investigate the cause of this rolling stone; they ran towards the arch, towards the waiting warrior.

The guards arrived at the entrance of the archway soon after; but all three of them, stopped, dead in their tracks. The men whispered curious and frantically to each other; not one of them was brave enough to lead the way. The fat guard that stood in the middle; had no choice, he got pushed first towards the darkness. The man swore angrily in Roman, and grabbed the other two guards by the arm, and dragged them forwards to.

The first guard drew his sword, the other men following his courage; then all three of them took a step towards the arch. All three of the men once again froze, staring into the darkness. The shadow had lifted her helmet; her red eyes shining like two small lights in the darkness.

The three guards stood still, watching the red lights blinking in the dark shadows of the arch. The shadow decided it was time to move; she raised her hand towards the guards; and let her power flow through her body, and out the tips of her fingers. A silky white light, moved like a ghost from her gloved hand, gracefully towards the men.

The three men froze in sheer terror, as they hopelessly watched the silky light curl itself gently around their necks. The men tried to scream, but the shadow had powers beyond imaginable; the white silky soft light, had stolen the men’s breath, making it impossible for them to utter a noise. The shadow finally stepped out into the light of the full moon, her red eyes disappearing in the light, revealing only her eyes.

The shadows hand was still raised, holding the wind around the guards necks; she walked forward quickly, her sword at the ready at her side. The guard’s eyes widened, as they saw their small attacker. The shadow had one brown eye, and one a magnificent sea blue; two different coloured eyes, something old legends spoke evil of.

Old folk legends tell about people with two different coloured eyes, are apparently workers of the Greek god Hyades of the underworld; and that shadows are UN dead beings who walk the earth looking for human blood to spill. But that’s all in a stupid legend; all of which is a lie, yes shadows are absolutely terrifying to humans; evil walking dead searching for blood, not at all. Shadows are in fact the most beautiful people in the world, both inside and out. On the outside shadows, are insanely beautiful, in humanly almost; and on the inside, kind heart, kind soul; they only spill blood to people who ask for it, or deserve it.

The shadow closed her raised hand, and the guards began to choke, as the wind lifted them easily of the ground. The three guards clawed desperately at the white light around their necks; but the light was ghost like, their big hands only just passed straight through.

Their faces began to turn red but lack of air; the shadow began to take pity on them, and decided it was cruel to keep them alive for any longer. She tightened her grip on their necks, blood began to dribble from their mouths, and then their eyes rolled back into their heads; their bodies fell limp. She pulled the silky light holding the bodies over to the darkness of the archway. Once the bodies were out of the light of the moon, she opened her hand, and allowed the silky wind return to the palm of her hand; hearing three thumps fall in the darkness. She took a deep breath, and disappeared back to the shadows of the crowded archway.

She stepped easily over the bodies bleeding in the darkness, almost as if she could sense them in the darkness of the night. The shadow lurked angrily in the crowded and dark arch; looking out into the moonlighted courtyard of the palace. The only three guards, who were on the midnight patrol, now lay in a pool of blood in the darkness.

The warrior moved swiftly into another shadowed area if the courtyard, and slipped her sword back into its sheath. The small warrior stood watch over the black limp figures of her friends; lying dead in the moonlight. They were lying still where they had fallen, why? Was this a trap? Even if it was a trap, there was nothing left in the shadows life any more. All she was intent on was reaching her dead lover, who lay dead in the middle of all the bodies.

Nobody alive was around, apart from the warrior, she could sense no life around her; she moved quickly across the courtyard, and fell to her knees hopelessly at the side of her lover’s body, she sobbed into the moonlight. She ran her hand gently up the limp body, then lifted the body effortlessly into her arms; one way or another; they were both escaping the palace tonight.

She glided silently back to the shadowed archway, her lover gently nestled in her arms; once past the arch, continuing through the shadows back the way she had come. She soon found how she had got in; she ran up to the ladder leading to the palace walls; held the body easily with her left arm, and scaled the ladder quickly. Loud screams of abuse suddenly filled the silence of the palace; the shadow had been discovered.

She looked down over the palace walls, down at the deep and dark water that surrounded the palace; a moat. She then looked over to the moats edge, and saw her horse waiting patiently for his master’s return. “Fire!” she heard a deep man’s voice bellow, and the shadow instinctively pulled the body in front of her, and covered it from any further harm. Sharp arrows flew through the air like rain; she felt the arrows bounce of her light armour. One arrow unfortunately found a weak spot through her armour, and pierced deep into her shoulder. She bit her lip, and suppressed a scream; she tried to ignore the pain, she had to get them both out of there. She stood strongly up, and hurled herself and the body of the high wall, swinging the body over onto her back as they fell towards the deep dark water.

They landed hard, the shadow swam desperately up, pain rising inside as the dead body pushed against the arrow sticking from her shoulder; she tried to scream, bubbles rising to the surface. She ignored the pain again; swimming strongly up to the surface, pulling the limp body with her. Roaring in pain, the shadow took a deep breath in, and began to swim strongly to the edge of the moat.

Once she was there, she pulled herself painfully out of the water, and, lifted the body out of the water, and ran fast over to her black horse, in desperate attempt to escape. She whistled to the horse, and he obeyed her command by bending down, making it easier for the small warrior and the deceased to get on. The warrior swung her leg over the black saddle, and sat the limp body in a sitting position in front of her. The body limply hung in her arms, but the shadow held them close, and grabbed the reins with her good arm, and pulled the black horse up.

The horse stood up quickly and majestically, and the shadow turned her head to look back at the now alive palace; they were opening the gates, and soldiers on foot and horseback, ran across the bridge; obviously intending on catching the shadow. The warrior smiled at this, no one can ever catch a shadow.

This shadow was of royalty; an outcast of her royal family, she ran away after she was disgraced in front of the whole kingdom because of her shadow like powers. Her father, the king, sent her from the kingdom, after she single handily killed five of his best soldiers in a fight. He found his daughter to be a disgrace to the word woman, because of her boy like personality, and told her if she ever came back she would be hung.

Because she is of royal blood, she was automatically made leader when she found a group of travelling shadows, who lived in hiding; but all wished to devote their life’s to protecting the innocent. So she decided to teach them what she knew. Having amazing powers of her own, she attempted to teach the other shadows what she called shadow jumping, but they all soon discovered after years of trying, that only the princess could shadow jump; her royal blood giving her heightened powers none of that of any other shadow.

The shadow closed her eyes, and felt the darkness swirl around her body, continuing over her lovers body, then swam over the horse; covering them all in darkness. The Roman soldiers stopped in their hundreds, as they saw the amazing sight. The warriors and the horse had disappeared into a swirl of blackness; right in the bright light of the moon. The shadow them opened her eyes; they were travelling at the speed of light, jumping through each shadow in the dark Forrest; finally coming to a stop in a large clearing surrounded by flowers, many miles away.

If you have enjoyed Kaitlyn Douglas' "SHADOW LEGEND - Chapter 1 - Part 1", then please be certain to  Contact The Writer  and thank her for posting this Story.

Click here to continue on to  "SHADOW LEGEND - Chapter 1 - Part 2"

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