Chapter 37: Claws and Shadow

Mira turned away as Alma skinned the last of the hares they caught. She always hated that part, but her stomach was also crying to be fed. Ian chuckled and said it was because she was soft and something about being green. She didn’t appreciate his comment, and neither did Azoricum, who glowered at him as she slugged the cooking pot over to the fire.

“There’s nothing wrong with being green,” the sylvari retored.

Alma frowned and colorfully told Ian to stop talking, and that was the end of that. Ian offered an apology and then picked up an axe and left to split more firewood for their cooking fire. A part of Mira wondered if he was right, though. They were out here in the Shiverpeaks, farther from home than she had ever been, and she felt like she was in over her head. Even the process of hunting food was hard for her to handle.

“Whatcha got there?” Dee asked as she slipped her pack from her back and set it down in the snow. Tuborg offered a quiet greeting as he warmed himself by the campfire.

Azoricum adjusted the cooking pot over the campfire grate until it sat directly over the flames. “We managed to find ourselves some wild hares and a patch of wild potatoes not too far from here. Going to cook us up some stew.”

“Sounds delicious. I’m starving,” Dee said with a grin. “Have Clarkus and Markus returned yet?”

Mira couldn’t help but chuckle at the rhyming names. “Clarkus and Markus,” she uttered under her breath.

Mending Heart’s left ear twitched as he leaned over to Mira. “What was that?” the kodan asked.

“Nothing,” Mira replied. “Just talking to myself.”

“Have you answered?” he asked.

Mira flashed Mending Heart a confused look. “No, I’m not crazy.”

Alma brought her knife down hard on the rabbit’s flesh, separating it into smaller easily consumable pieces. “Nope, haven’t seen those two return yet,” Alma replied. She tossed a handful of raw rabbit meat into the cooking pot.

“How about Quint?” Tuborg asked.

Alma shot the sylvari a quizzical glance. “Which one of you is that again?”

“The tall one with the red lizard,” Dee replied.

Ian dropped a bundle of chopped wood next to the fire. “Oh yeah, that one. Kinda shifty if you ask me.” Ian shook his head.

Dee narrowed her eyes at the man. “No one was asking you.”

“Okay, okay,” Ian acquiesced as he swung the axe up and rested it on his shoulder. He walked back over to his pile of wood and continued to split them into smaller pieces.

The group settled in as they waited for the stew to cook and everyone else to return. Mira practically salivated as she waited for their meal to be ready to eat. The wafts of savory smells from the herbs Azoricum added to the pot filled her nose and prompted her stomach to growl again. She stared at the pot, willing it to cook faster. A distant crashing sound cut through the silence, and she snapped her gaze toward the airship where the sound appeared to come from.

“What was that?” Mira asked as she looked around the group. “You all heard that, right?”

“I certainly did,” Azoricum said.

“Me too,” Dee

A heavy thud shook the windows near the stern. The Raven’s door burst opened, and Captain Danae Morgan stuck her head out. She frantically waved at them all, beckoning them to come, before disappearing inside the ship again. There was another thud and a roar coming from inside the airship that startled the group below. Harrisson came tumbling out onto the gangplank. His golden fur was ruffled and his mane matted down one side and streaked with blood. He clutched his abdomen and gritted his teeth as he lay on the gangplank. Surprised cries erupted from the others as they leapt into action. Mira followed, hoping to lend a hand where she could, but movement above caught her attention. She looked up at the ship’s door and shrieked at what she saw. A dark shadow stepped out onto the gangplank in the doorway. It was in human form, but the edges were wispy like fine, dark feathers constantly moving from a breeze that wasn’t actually there. Two sinister eyes as bright as moonlight peered through the darkness and narrowed at the ship’s pilot laying at her feet, as if he had scorned her to the highest degree.

“WAIT!”

Captain Danae Morgan’s command boomed over the Raven’s comm system. Her jaw clenched, she slammed the comm on top of the gangplanks’s switch box before emerging from the ship. Strands of black hair had come loose from her ponytail and hung wildly around her face. She reached for her holster against the small of her back and drew one of her pistols as a precautionary measure.

“Think about what you’re doing. You’re not in your right mind. Now, I need you to come to your senses, otherwise I will be forced to put a bullet in you, and I can guarantee won’t feel good.”

A heavy feeling of dread slithered up Danae’s spine as the shadow slowly turned toward her.

“I won’t let you hurt her!”

Danae raised her pistol and aimed for center mass on the shadow. “Hurt her? Her who? Who are you talking about?”  

The shadow rushed toward Danae with dark, claw-like fingers outstretched. Their illuminated eyes pierced through Danae, startling the captain as she stood frozen, watching as the furious shade came for her. Harrisson’s pained roar spurred her back into action, and she squeezed the trigger. The shadow thrust their hand at Danae’s arm, causing the fired bullet to fly and hit the snow not far from where Mira was standing. The young woman shrieked and jumped back, nearly falling back into the snow. Mending Heart rushed to her side and placed herself in front of her. His teeth bared and sword drawn, the kodan uttered a loud warning growl before leaping into action and emboldening the others to do the same.

Hearing the rush of incoming attackers, the shadow spun around and reached out their open hand. A long staff with a curved blade formed from the darkness. Their fingers uncurled, letting the weapon float free. It turned and spun, slowly at first, but as it picked up speed, it propelled forward, pulling the shadow along with it.

“Look out!” Harrisson yelled as the shadow flew over him and toward the others. He reached out to grab it in hopes of slowing this creature down before it reached the others, but his claws slipped through the intangible whisps of shadow.

Something small quickly sailed through the air, hitting the shadow square in the chest. The shadow slowed and stopped, reaching a dark hand to their chest where a wooden dart was lodged. Dark fingers curled around it, but their strength failed them, and fell to their knees in the snow. The dark scythe dissipated into the air.

Harrisson’s protracted claws scraped against the metal gangplank as he scrambled to his feet and crouched, ready to pounce on the attacker while they were stunned. A sharp tug on the back of his leather vest gave him pause.

“Hold on,” Danae said as she held on to the old charr.

“That thing is down. We can take it!” the old charr argued.

The sounds of ice grinding on ice grew louder as Nienna’s father emerged from the Raven. He reached out a hand and pleaded, “please don’t hurt her. She doesn’t know what she does. It’s the shadow from within.”

Harrisson growled. “That thing cannot stay on the Raven. If we’re in the air and it flips out at any point, we risk further damage to the ship or any of us.”

“That thing is still a person, Harrisson,” Danae argued as she holstered her pistol. “She’s still my friend, and I’m not going to just abandon her out here in the Shiverpeaks.”

Growing voices and hurried bootsteps echoed through the ship’s door right before Alena and Salara emerged outside.

“What happened? What happened?” Alena ran out onto the gangplank, but Harrisson grabbed her and held her back from reaching the shadow. “Let me go! I need to get down there and help her! What have you done?”

“It’s all right,” Quint said as he crossed the snow toward the kneeling shadow. He held a small oddly-shaped pistol at his side. Michi waddled next to him, whipping her tail back and forth sharply. She hissed at the shadow and moved in front of Quint to stop him from getting close, but he simply stepped over her.  

“Maybe don’t get so close,” Danae warned.

Quint waved her off and then knelt down next to the shadow, despite the gasps and verbal warnings from everyone else. “She’s not dangerous. Not right now at least.”

Still struggling against Harrisson’s strong hold on her, Alena resorted to sinking her sharp teeth into one of the old charr’s paws. He let out a pained roar, and she slipped out of his grip and ran down the gangplank toward the shadow. As she examined the shadow, her eyes rest on the dart in her chest.

“What did you do to her?” the asura demanded.

Quint’s gaze remained on the shadowy form in front of him, watching her chest rise and fall. “Don’t worry, she’ll be fine. It’s just an herbal concoction from a contact of mine that stills the mind and relaxes the body.”

“But what if it was too much? Do you know the exact dosage she needs without you killing her?”

“I do. I—I’ve done this before,” he confessed and then looked over at the kneeling shadow as the dark whisps began to recede, revealing Nienna’s dark-veined body. Her tunic had been ripped where Harrisson’s claws had torn into it.

“Oh, thank the Alchemy,” Alena uttered as she knelt down next to Nienna. She reached for her wrist but stopped as the last of the shadow disappeared under the woman’s skin. Alena recoiled. “Oh my. That’s different.”

“W-what…,” Nienna started to say, but something caught in her throat. She coughed, spitting up black ichor upon the white snow. The remainder dripped from her lips and down her chin. “What did I do? Where am I?” Her eyes grew droopy, and she bowed her head as her whole body grew slack. She started listing to one side as her eyes closed and she drifted off into a deep slumber.