Shadows Over Arcadia Chapter 85: 83. Queen's Gambit Pt 1

Read chapter 85 of Shadows Over Arcadia by Zacheas on NovelPedia.

I am Ren Drakemore, and I hope to the gods I am not too late. https://shadowsoverarcadia.com/api/storage/objects/uploads/94d9f12d-768f-4ec3-a12d-51b487be4617 A cold chill has taken residence in my spine. My heart is tight in my chest, caught in a specter’s icy grip. Each frantic beat pounds in my ears beneath the roar of air rushing past as I ride the fenrir at breakneck speed down the road toward Stonebrook. Maribel and Yukiha ride alongside me on the byakko. Shadow, too heavy for a mount of his own, keeps pace with the galloping beasts on foot, his thundering stride ripping chunks from the cobblestone road with every step. Barely a word was spoken on the journey back to Arcadia after Envy’s halfhearted assurance—a plea really—that, “Surely nothing could hurt Willow… Right?” I want to believe her. We all do. But none of us were willing to answer the question. None of us truly know the answer. I thought I did. I thought she was invincible. Until recently, I thought maybe I was too. Though the wound has healed, my chest still aches, and I find myself watching the faces of everyone we pass with new suspicion. How many of them hide malice behind their smiles? How many would smile at me one day and shove a blade in my back the next? And after everything I have done for them. Is this how demons are? Was Maribel right all along? Or was it only Kane? Heat rises in my neck, and my jaw tightens at the injustice of it. My mind is a tangled mess of questions and terrible implications. Willow warned me. Did she know I would be attacked? If she knew, then why would she leave me to face it alone? Then there was the look in her eyes when she left. That apprehension I cannot stop replaying. Was it concern? Worry hiding in the things she did not say? Was it a trick of the mind, or was there fear in her eyes? What a terrifying thought: something that could make the indomitable Willow afraid. I reposition my grip in Woofy’s fur, shaking one hand out, then the other, both sore from clinging too tightly. Riding a fenrir is nothing like riding a horse. It's exhausting. Every bounding leap threatens to buck me off, leaving me clinging to Woofy’s back for dear life. But we are making far better time. I had expected some delay at the Arcadian border outpost. Surely, if my father’s men were waiting for me, it would have been there. If they were, they were in no state to stop us. When we passed the outpost, the gates were open, and the defenders inside were only just beginning to wake from what seemed to have been an enchanted sleep. Whatever spell had held them, it seemed to break right as we passed through. The Fenrir and Byakko both come to a sudden halt along the northern plains. I glance over at the others as both beasts sway. No, not the beasts. Shadow has come to a stop behind us as well, his heavy mithril frame shifting awkwardly to catch his balance. The ground had lurched beneath them. Only for a moment, but hard enough to stagger all three. A thundering crack stings my ears, causing me to wince. Yukiha yelps as her hands fly up to cover her ears. “What—” I abandon the question as my gaze lifts and my mouth falls open. Angry dark-red clouds have formed overhead, stretching in every direction as far as I can see. They swirl unnaturally, violent eddies with no constant direction. Behind them, sparks flash in sudden, sporadic bursts. Yukiha wrinkles her nose, still pinning her ears down. I assume it is because of the strange smell and taste of copper in the air. “There’s a storm coming,” Maribel answers my orphaned question sarcastically. Storms do not shake the ground. I can feel the charge of spent mana in the air. She knows as well as I do that there is nothing normal about these clouds casting a crimson hue over the road ahead. It’s a bad omen. “Then we have no time to waste,” I shoot back, patting Woofy to encourage him on. Woofy lets out a reluctant growl but obeys, lunging forward once more. Whiskers follows beside us, her claws tearin