The Shadow That Followed
1237 Words
Chapter 13
The alley smelled like wet stone and rotting wood.
Selene leaned against the cold wall, pulling the cloak tighter around her shoulders while trying to steady her breathing. The noise of the city swelled around them—shouting soldiers, frightened citizens, the constant ringing of alarm bells that refused to stop.
Vareth had become a hive of panic.
And the center of that panic was her.
Kael stood at the mouth of the alley, watching the street like a wolf studying a herd. His hand rested lazily on the hilt of his sword, but Selene could tell he wasn’t relaxed.
Men like him never were.
“You’re thinking too loudly,” he said without turning.
Selene frowned.
“That’s not a real sentence.”
Kael glanced back at her.
“It is when you look like you’re about to collapse.”
Selene crossed her arms.
“I’m not collapsing.”
“You just ran from a palace, watched a dozen people die, and discovered you might be some ancient serpent queen from a prophecy.”
He tilted his head slightly.
“Collapsing would be reasonable.”
Selene rubbed her temples.
“I liked my life better yesterday.”
The serpent around her wrist lifted its head.
“Yesterday you were prey.”
Selene muttered under her breath.
“Today doesn’t feel much different.”
Kael stepped back into the alley.
“We can’t stay here.”
Selene sighed.
“Of course we can’t.”
Kael nodded toward the rooftops.
“We’re being watched.”
Selene’s head snapped upward.
“Where?”
Kael pointed subtly toward the shadowed buildings above them.
“There.”
Selene squinted into the darkness.
At first she saw nothing.
Then—
Movement.
A silhouette slipped across the rooftop like smoke.
Gone in a blink.
Selene’s stomach tightened.
“That’s not a palace guard.”
“No.”
Kael’s voice turned colder.
“That’s a hunter.”
The serpent hissed softly.
“They are fast.”
Selene looked at Kael.
“You knew this would happen.”
Kael shrugged.
“You’re the most dangerous thing in the world right now.”
Selene blinked.
“That seems dramatic.”
Kael shook his head.
“No.”
His dark eyes locked onto hers.
“It’s accurate.”
Before Selene could respond—
A crossbow bolt slammed into the wall beside her head.
Stone exploded outward.
Selene jumped back.
“What the—”
Another bolt flew from the rooftop.
Kael shoved her aside just as it whistled past.
The shadow dropped from the roof.
He landed silently in the alley.
Selene’s breath caught.
The man looked human.
Mostly.
But something about him felt wrong.
His armor was black leather stitched with strange metal plates. His eyes glowed faintly green under the dim torchlight from the street.
And he smiled like someone who enjoyed killing.
“Well,” the stranger said casually.
“That didn’t take long.”
Kael stepped forward slightly, placing himself between Selene and the attacker.
The man’s grin widened.
“Ah. Kael of the Ash Riders.”
Kael didn’t look surprised.
“You always were hard to kill, Darius.”
Selene glanced between them.
“You two know each other?”
Darius laughed.
“Oh yes.”
His gaze slid toward Selene.
“And you must be the prize.”
The serpent’s voice hissed in Selene’s mind.
“He smells like blood.”
Selene whispered.
“Comforting.”
Darius tilted his head.
“You brought the queen out of the palace yourself, Kael.”
He shrugged.
“That saves the rest of us the trouble.”
Kael’s voice turned quiet.
“You’re not taking her.”
Darius smiled wider.
“That’s the thing about bounties.”
His hand moved slowly toward the curved blade at his side.
“You don’t get to decide who collects them.”
Selene’s stomach dropped.
“Bounty?”
Kael didn’t look away from Darius.
“The moment the prophecy became real…”
His voice hardened.
“…every powerful man in the world put a price on your head.”
Selene exhaled slowly.
“Fantastic.”
Darius drew his blade.
“I prefer the word profitable.”
The fight began without warning.
Darius moved first.
Faster than Selene expected.
His blade flashed toward Kael’s throat.
Kael blocked it instantly.
Steel rang through the alley.
They moved like predators circling each other.
Fast.
Precise.
Deadly.
Selene stepped back as their blades clashed again.
The serpent whispered.
“This one is dangerous.”
Selene nodded.
“I can see that.”
Darius lunged again, forcing Kael against the alley wall.
“You’re getting slower,” Darius taunted.
Kael smirked.
“You’re getting cocky.”
Darius attacked again—
But Kael suddenly twisted sideways and slammed his shoulder into Darius’s chest.
The hunter staggered back.
For a moment.
Then he laughed.
“Good.”
His green eyes flicked toward Selene again.
“But you can’t protect her forever.”
He reached into his belt and pulled something small from a pouch.
A black metal dart.
Selene’s instincts screamed.
“Kael—”
Darius threw it.
Not at Kael.
At her.
The dart struck Selene’s shoulder.
Pain exploded through her arm.
Selene gasped and dropped to one knee.
The serpent hissed violently.
“Poison!”
Kael’s expression changed instantly.
Darius stepped back, satisfied.
“Don’t worry,” he said casually.
“It won’t kill her.”
Selene’s vision blurred slightly.
“Comforting…”
Darius sheathed his blade.
“It just makes the serpent blood easier to track.”
Kael’s voice turned deadly.
“You’re not leaving here.”
Darius backed toward the street.
“Oh I am.”
He gave Selene one last amused glance.
“Because now every hunter in this city knows exactly where the queen is.”
Then he vanished into the crowd.
Kael knelt beside Selene immediately.
Her breathing had become uneven.
Her veins glowed darker now.
The serpent curled tightly around her wrist.
“The poison is waking the blood.”
Selene tried to focus.
“That… sounds bad.”
Kael grabbed the dart and pulled it free.
Black liquid coated the tip.
He swore under his breath.
“We need to move.”
Selene struggled to stand.
“What’s happening to me?”
The serpent’s golden eyes glowed.
“Your power is waking faster than it should.”
Selene looked down at her arms.
The black veins had spread higher.
Up to her shoulders now.
Kael pulled her to her feet.
“Can you walk?”
Selene nodded weakly.
“I think so.”
The serpent looked toward the rooftops.
“They are coming.”
Kael followed its gaze.
Shadows moved across the buildings.
More hunters.
Selene swallowed.
“How many?”
Kael’s voice dropped low.
“Too many.”
He pulled her deeper into the alley.
“We need to get out of the city.”
Selene forced herself to keep moving.
“But the gates—”
Kael shook his head.
“Not the gates.”
Selene frowned.
“Then where?”
Kael’s eyes darkened slightly.
“There are older ways out of Vareth.”
The serpent lifted its head.
“Under the city.”
Selene blinked.
“Sewers?”
Kael smirked faintly.
“Worse.”
Behind them the first hunter dropped into the alley.
Then another.
The hunt had truly begun now.
And the Serpent Queen was bleeding power with every step.
- Writer
