Shadow of the Dark One

Chapter Six - Darker Days are Coming

Jed leaned forward in the covered bed of the wagon. Fearing he would wake Ricardo, he laid back and listened. The wagon sides baffled any noises from outside, but that's what brought on his feelings of doubt. There was no noise. No crickets, no wind, nothing outside to make him feel alive and well. This terrified him. 'To live is to feel everything, but death is silent.' he thought, knowing his father, a military man himself, once believed in the virtues of great words.

"Are you," he whispered.

"Awake?" said Ricardo.

Absolute silence filled the air. Neither could sleep as they'd been deafened by it for several minutes, both barely able to hear their own breathing. "Where's our boy?" asked Jed.

"Do not go outside, the King decrees it."

"The gate is down. And, we are outside." Jed sat up and crawled his legs across the wagon slats to the gate.

"If you go outside, I might never see you again," whispered Ricardo.

"Our gold is out there. The boy."

"Is that all you care about?"

"When you're old enough to have worries, it is."

Ricardo slid himself toward Jed. "I'm coming too."

"I know."


On the other side of the stables, Prince Sano's vision revealed everything. A mouse traversed a mindless trail across the fenceline. He watched it tatter in and out of thick grass. Suddenly, it stopped moving, sat on its haunches and began nibbling. That's when his hair began to tingle. It was as if every hair pointed toward one, solitary object in the distance.

A dark shadow appeared on the other side of the field, and he felt its presence, knew where it'd formed and passed. As it covered the backdrop of tall wheat in a dark shadow, parts of itself stayed behind, leaving a trail in its wake. It came toward the Prince. He stood to prepare. The little mouse looked up from its meal to see the shadow halted beside it. The rodent rose above the grass and hovered, frozen in time, not moving, but carried by invisible limbs.

"This." said the spirit.

The mouse flung overhead and fell, landing in Sano's waiting hand. It was heavy and cold, heavier than a mouse should have been. The spirit remained at the fenceline while Sano inspected the rodent. "Is it dead?" asked Sano. The spirit only hovered, rising and lowering without making a sound. Complete and total silence. Taking out his glass wand, Sano jilted the mouse, sending a fiery spark into its cold body. It flipped to its feet and dropped to the ground.

"Yoooooouuu," said the spirit's scratchy, echoing voice.

Sano stood his ground. "If I save everything I am able to save?" he asked.

"You'll kill them all." screeched the spirit. The shadow quickly returned to the field and vanished in a spiraling, dark flash of nether.

Prince Sano breathed deeply, scanning the horizon. The little mouse ran back to the fenceline and hid. When it'd sufficiently warmed itself and began to wonder about, a viper struck the mouse. But, the little fellow struck back, zapping the viper with bluish energy, causing the snake to fall flat. Neither moved. The Prince failed to notice. He'd obsessed himself with thoughts and preludes, allusions of what was to come and where he belonged. 'Was the spirit a sign, or a distraction?'

The two soldiers kneeled in the grass at the corner of the stable. They were unable to see anything in the dark, yet heard voices, the only sounds made that night. They returned to the wagon and did not speak.


In the morning, Jed rounded up the horses while Ricardo made way for the inn. He'd intentions of making things straight and getting the boy's gold returned. He knocked on the barred door. A minuscule gate slid open, a mouth speaking through the hole.

"May I help you?" said the mouth.

"You know what this is about," said Ricardo.

"Do I know you?" asked the toothless lips.

The tall, lanky boy laughed and punched the door, causing the lips to fall away. "I'm going to stand right here until you let me in."

The gate slid shut and no answer came when he yelled. As Ricardo waited, he saw Jed riding up the hill on the wagon. He noticed eight horses pulled her, with none in tow.

"Time to go," said Jed, reining the horses and covering Ricardo in a ton of dust.

"Where's that white horse?"

Jed spat a smelly, brown mouthful on the ground at Ricardo's feet. He'd almost stepped there, getting ready to climb the wagon. The young soldier returned an awful glare and cocked his right fist. "Died during the night," said Jed. "Don't know why."

Ricardo's hands went to his knees. "Son of a... We can't catch a break?"

"This town's no good for us."

"Where's Goldie?" asked Ricardo, looking around and slapping the wagon top.

"Back at the stable. Said he'd catch up." Jed turned in his seat and cast an eye in every direction.

"How?" shouted the young man, stepping up to take a seat next to Jed. "How's he gonna catch us?"

"Why don't you ask him," said Jed, jerking the reins and moving the wagon as soon as he saw the boy riding up the hill.

Prince Sano rode his white horse to the inn where the wagon had just departed. Amid the trail of dust fading into the background, Ricardo noticed Sano stop there for a moment. The inn doors opened and a golden flash shot through the doorway. Prince Sano held a closed fist in the air and yanked the reins and set off across the wheat field as fast as he'd ever seen a horse run. The inn-keeper ran outside and waved a hat, yelling something unrecognizable. It almost sounded like 'thief'.

The townsfolk kept their distance from the 'Traveling Road Show'. Only a stray dog followed the soldiers through town, whimpering and lapping in the cool breeze as it trotted in beat to the horse's hooves. Jed finally threw him a piece of bread. The small, brown dog grabbed the bread, turned and ran home.

"Every town is the same," said Jed. "Only out to take what they can get." The young soldier nodded in huge, high and low head movements.

The Prince caught up with them at the next crossroads, his horse standing in the middle of the intersecting, dirt paths. The wagon slowed to a halt. The two soldiers glared off into the distance as though they could see the next town, completely ignoring the young Prince. Neither man said anything until Sano held out and flipped a gold coin, which somehow landed in Jed's shirt pocket.

"Ummm," grunted Jed.

Sano nodded, dismounted and tied his horse to the wagon. He climbed and laid down on top of the wagon, covering his eyes from the bright sun with a rolled up blanket someone had stolen from the inn.