The Shadow Rider and I hit the ground hard. A cloud of dust flew into the air, tickling the back of my throat. Desperate to escape, I stumbled to my feet. My fuzzy vision swam in a milky haze, whirling with every step. My stomach churned in protest. 

Teleportation sickness.

I dropped to my knees and vomited onto the gravel. 

Mama... Papa... I can't go back home. But I can't stay here.

As far as the eye could see, nothing adorned the landscape. Not even a weed or a blade of grass. Stone ruins dotted the barren gravel earth, but there was no sign of life. 

Ice crawled down my spine. Something wasn't right about this place. 

Wait a minute...

Silence. Absolute stillness. Not even the sound of rustling leaves, chirping birds, or buzzing insects. 

Nothing.

The howling breeze swept across the desolation and carried the scent of decay. The ruins extended far into the distance until dreary sky kissed the fallow earth.

Only dark magic could wreak this kind of destruction.

"Is this ... Kratvach?" I murmured as my vision slowly came into focus.  

With slow, deliberate movements, the Shadow Rider stirred and rose to his full height. He whipped his head toward me like a predator sensing its prey. My heart leaped into my throat.

Like a rabbit fleeing from a hungry fox, I sprinted away from him.

To my shock and dismay, he appeared right before me, blocking my path. When I tried to run around him, the Shadow Rider froze me in place and grabbed me by the arm. I struggled to move even a muscle, but I felt as though someone had cemented me in concrete. 

Magic.

Scowling at my attacker, I glared at the Rider. But his mask obscured his entire face--even his eyes.

"Fighting me won't help," he sneered in nearly flawless Halcían dialect. I could detect only a trace of a guttural Gatál accent.

"Let go of me," I yelled. "I won't give in to you."

"Tell me, young Helena," he growled as he gripped me tighter. "Where would you run?"

"I'll figure it out."

"Look around you." His voice turned sour. "Have you not heard the tale? Nothing survived the attack on Kratvach. There's nowhere left to hide."

"Let me go!" I screamed as I struggled to break free.

"You have the Gatál fire, but you cannot tap into your strength and magical power yet," he murmured as he observed me from head to toe. "Interesting."

The Rider muttered an incantation in a foreign language, and a soothing warmth came over me. All the tension left my muscles, and I exhaled a deep breath.

"Don't try to placate me with your magic," I said, brushing him aside.

"After what you've seen?" he murmured. "You need it."

"Just give me a minute, yeah?" I asked, my throat hoarse with emotion.

He nodded. "Don't even try to run."

Turning my back on him, I walked to a nearby stone ruin and was shocked to see the skeletons of the dead fully visible on the surface. I gasped and tears streamed down my face as images of my father's last moments crowded my consciousness.

Never give in, Helena.

My chest constricted as I thought of his quiet strength, his bravery at the end before that monster killed him and spat on his body like he was a pest, not a person.

My memory bombarded me with images of his dark magic slowly cascading over Mama's body. The final screech of the falcon--her spirit animal--echoed so forcefully in my mind. I could have sworn that I actually heard her soul cry out to me once more.

Tears streamed down my cheeks--now that the immediate danger had passed, I couldn't restrain them any longer. I cupped my face in my hands and bawled.

Trapped in my own grief, I hadn't heard the Rider's steps upon the rocky gravel. When he placed his hands on my shoulders, I yelped in surprise. Furiously brushing away my tears, I scowled at him.

"Don't touch me," I hissed.

"Silence, child," the Rider said. "I didn't kill your parents."

"You stood by and watched them die. Both of them." I narrowed my eyes at him. "You're just as guilty as Lord Hesse."

"Unlike you, who bravely defended your father. The history books will forever celebrate Helena's valiant Charge of the Cornfield Brigade!"

Clenching my jaw, I shrugged away from him. My footsteps crunched upon the gravel as I sauntered to the next open graveyard full of desiccated skeletal remains. My stomach revolted, and I coughed up bile.

"You're an odd one," he said as he approached me. "Full of fire one minute and a sensitive flower the next."

"Let me grieve in peace."

"Why won't you let me help you?"

"Help me?" I spat at him, incredulous as I turned to face him. "Why in Hades should I trust you?"

"Because I warned you of the danger to come," he said in an angry growl, "but you refused to listen to me."

Were you the Shadow Rider in my vision? Impossible!

"If you'd just followed my orders, your parents might not be dead."

Without thinking, I whipped around and shoved him away from me with all my might. "You gave us no time!" I yelled. "You told us less than an hour before they arrived. How was I supposed to know you were real?"

"Gatál justice is swift and merciless," he replied. "When a vision tells you to run, you run! Didn't your parents teach you anything about your abilities?"

"Mama never got the chance."

You never gave her one, my conscience retorted. A heavy weight fell upon my chest--the burden of guilt.

"Halt!" the Shadow Rider ordered. 

Ignoring the Rider, I continued down the path even faster. 

"Don't you ever listen?" The Rider's voice boomed like Lord Hesse's and threatened to rupture my eardrums with its bass rumble. "I said halt!"

The Shadow Rider loomed before me once more and extended his hand, freezing me in place. Black rope materialized out of thin air in wispy clouds of dark magic and coiled around my wrists, stinging like razor blades. He held onto the end of the magical tether as though I were his pet and drew me to him with a vigorous pull.

Mama might have been wrong about you. 

"You're going the wrong way." He turned me around by the shoulders pushed me down the gravel path in the opposite direction as he gripped my magical leash. "That way, little spitfire."

"Where are you taking me?" I asked as I cast a glance behind me.

"Back to Castle Halcía." His voice was laden with sarcasm. "Lord Hesse will be pleased to see you."

Good gods, no!

"What?" I halted as my heart leaped into my throat. "You said you wanted to help me."

The Rider shoved me forward. "I am."

I had no idea what sinister intentions this Rider had for me. One thing I did know: I didn't want to face Lord Hesse, so I stiffened my body and refused to move. When the Shadow Rider tried to push me forward, I fell to the ground.

"Rise this instant!" he shouted.

"My parents didn't die just so that I'd give myself up to you willingly."

"I want to support you," he said as he sucked in air through his teeth, "but you're making it exceedingly difficult."

"Your people killed my parents. Don't pretend like you're my friend."

"Annoying child." The Rider got down on his haunches beside me and looked down at the ground. "You should be thanking me."

I scoffed and turned my face away from him. "Oh, yeah? And why's that?"

"If those other Riders had taken you, they'd have treated you much worse." He gripped my chin. "Your parents trusted me with your safety, and I intend to keep my promise."

"If that's true, you failed them worse than I did."

He flinched at my callous words, and I felt instant regret. "You're alive, aren't you?" 

"Why do you care about me anyway?" I asked, casting him a suspicious glare. "Who are you?"

"I'll tell you if you get up off the ground and walk like a normal person."

Stumbling to my feet, I looked back at the Shadow Rider and jutted my chin in his direction. "Fine, will you tell me now?"

"My name is Lord Darius de Corpora, Baron of Kratvach."

My heart pounded hard, as though it wanted to escape its corporeal prison. Good gods! Was Darius a Shadow Rider? No, it couldn't be.

"You're lying!" I yelled. "You're not Darius."

"Lord Darius," he growled.

How could my mother trust a Shadow Rider? No, it had to be a trick.

"And now I'm starting to understand why you ignored my warning," he sneered.

"How would you even know my parents?" I asked.

"Never mind all that," he growled. "Suffice it to say I knew your parents well, and I pledged to protect you should the Gatál discover your true nature."

"Why would they even trust you? You defected to the Gatál. You betrayed your people!"

"You're lucky I'm not a violent man by nature," he hissed.

"Or what?"

He ignored me. "Before the Gatál razed this village to the ground, it was my home. Our once vibrant gardens, beautiful homes, and our flourishing culture have been reduced to nothing but dust."

A heaviness set upon my chest as I gazed at the desolate landscape.

"Bound, gagged, beaten, and tied to a post, I had to watch as the Gatál burned my adopted Halcían family alive in our house. I watched, helpless, as they screamed their last." He whipped his head to me. "My little sister broke the window to escape, and they slit her throat."

I cringed. "Why would they do that? You're a Gatál noble."

"They said a real Gatál doesn't live with the enemy. They called me a traitor and destroyed my village as punishment. If I hadn't saved you, they'd make your village suffer the same fate."

Guilt washed over me. "So that's why you're helping me? To get back at them?"

Darius shook his head. "I'm helping you because I'm a man of my word."

How could Darius possibly serve the people who destroyed his life? As a Shadow Rider, no less? Their brutality was known in every corner of the Gatál Empire. How could he stand it?

There had to be more to the story.

"Trust me: I know your pain." He grasped my shoulders. "And more."

"How can you watch them do the same thing to others?" I asked as tears trailed down my cheek. "If my parents were your friends, how could you watch Lord Hesse murder them?"

Darius turned his head to the bleak horizon. "We all do what we must to survive. And I made an oath to them that I would put your life before theirs. I couldn't save you all, so I put you first."

Before she died, my mother had told me that I had a choice to always walk in the way of the light. But where could I find the light in a place filled with darkness?

___

A/N: Thank you for reading. Why not show Helena your support by giving her a vote?

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This is lovely and just spot on! Thank you so much. ❤