My fingers tightened around my rifle. "I'm staying here." I was surprised by the steel in my voice. "I know how to use this, and I have two full boxes of ammunition in my pocket. I can help."
"Kailin—"
"I'm staying, Ednis." My hands were still shaking, and I had to grip my rifle even tighter. "I feel safer here with you, fighting, than hiding and cowering."
Ednis studied me for a moment, then nodded. "Don't let yourself get killed, girl. Your parents will never forgive me if you die on my watch. Stay close to me and do as I say, understood? No stupid heroics."
"Yes, sir. I mean, no, sir."
I scanned the darkness beyond the village boundaries, but with the auroras casting ever-shifting shadows across the mountainside, it was difficult to distinguish movement from tricks of the light. Somewhere out there, the Shedun were gathering, preparing to attack, and soon they would emerge from the shadows like a pack of demons, ready to devour every living soul in their path.
Was it too much to hope that they had abandoned their plans after I sounded the alarm?
I clung to the sliver of hope even though I knew we wouldn't be that lucky.
All four watchmen had failed to sound the alarm, forcing me to conclude that they’d been killed, so luck wasn't a word I should use, and yet I was immensely relieved and grateful that Dylon and my parents were safe, away in Skywatcher's Point.
"They're coming," Ednis whispered beside me.
I raised my rifle, sighting along its barrel into the aurora-lit landscape.
The night stretched on, tense and terrible in its stillness, save for the howling winds that only added to the dread. None of the animals bleated, mooed, or neighed, and I wondered why they were so quiet. Did they sense death's approach and keep silent to escape its notice?
The Shedun came like shadows made flesh, materializing from the darkness like the demons they were. Covered in black from head to toe, their faces painted with black tar, they seemed to absorb what little light reached them. The only splash of color on them was the red symbol of Elusitor stamped on their foreheads.
They moved with an unnatural speed that made my skin crawl.
Rumors claimed that they used dark magic, fueling it with the blood and suffering of their victims, but I didn't believe in magic. I believed in medicines, and there were herbs that could enhance performance for a short period of time. The same substances also ravaged the mind, unleashing a savage madness that perfectly explained the Shedun's infamous brutality.
It wasn't sorcery that had created these monsters.
They were manufactured by a warped ideology, twisted, evil faith, and science.
"Steady," Ednis murmured beside me. "Wait for my signal."
I forced myself to breathe slowly, trying to still my trembling, sweaty hands. My rifle felt impossibly heavy as I tracked the approaching figures through its sight.
Could I do this?
Could I aim and shoot to kill someone when I had never shot a living thing before?
This wasn't like the practice range. This was real, but I had told Ednis that I could help, and by Elu, I would.
The first shot came from the western tower—a crack that whipped through the unnatural silence. A Shedun dropped, but the others didn't even break stride. They didn't mind losing their own because they glorified death, and life meant nothing to them.
"Now!" Ednis said.
I squeezed the trigger without thinking, the rifle's recoil slamming into my shoulder. My target stumbled but kept coming. I'd hit him, but not well enough. I had to keep shooting. Gritting my teeth, I took aim again.
The night erupted into chaos. Gunfire echoed off the mountainsides as our village defenders engaged the attackers. The Shedun returned fire, their weapons making odd whistling sounds.
Before long, I barely noticed the rifle's recoil and the violent clap of detonation with each bullet fired. I became one with the weapon, a machine without feelings. The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, but my breathing became steady, measured, and my aim improved.
I was defending my people—nothing else existed beyond that singular purpose. Later, I would have to confront this cold, empty space inside me, this strange detachment that had settled over my mind. But for now, that void was a gift I couldn't afford to question.
"Down!" Ednis yanked me to the floor of the watchtower as bullets splintered the wood where I'd been standing. "Did they teach you nothing in the Youth Training Camp, girl?"
The void shattered, the clarity was gone, and terror flooded back along with the raw horror of what I'd seen, what I'd done, and what I still had to do.
