The Shadow's Heart Read online

  Dedication

  Dedicated to my mother and sister —

  two women with steel in their bones.

  Contents

  COVER

  TITLE PAGE

  DEDICATION

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  MAP

  ONE: SCRAWLINGS

  TWO: YET ANOTHER ROLE TO PLAY

  THREE: SCARS ARE HEROIC

  FOUR: UNLEASHED

  FIVE: A PRINCE

  SIX: LOST

  SEVEN: WE CAN BE HEROES

  EIGHT: HELP

  NINE: BORN AGAIN

  TEN: TWISTED LOVE

  ELEVEN: FUGITIVES

  TWELVE: IN PAIRS

  THIRTEEN: LIARS

  FOURTEEN: ONE FACE TOO MANY

  FIFTEEN: THE LOST TRIBE

  SIXTEEN: KULLERVO’S VOW

  SEVENTEEN: JOURNEYING AGAIN

  EIGHTEEN: LIRANWEE

  NINETEEN: A CHOICE

  TWENTY: THE ISLAND OF WILD NORTHERNERS

  TWENTY-ONE: BACK TO WHERE IT BEGAN

  TWENTY-TWO: A FRIEND INDEED

  TWENTY-THREE: EAGLEHOLM

  TWENTY-FOUR: THE GHOST AND THE RUINS

  TWENTY-FIVE: ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

  TWENTY-SIX: FLYING IN PAIRS

  TWENTY-SEVEN: THE SHELL BREAKS

  TWENTY-EIGHT: READY TO STRIKE

  TWENTY-NINE: OUT OF THE SHADOWS

  THIRTY: STEEL JAWS

  THIRTY-ONE: IMMORTAL SIN

  THIRTY-TWO: THE END OF ALL HOPE

  THIRTY-THREE: ROTTEN CORE

  THIRTY-FOUR: IRON AND RUST

  THIRTY-FIVE: DEFECTION

  THIRTY-SIX: THE WHEEL TURNS

  THIRTY-SEVEN: KING KULLERVO

  THIRTY-EIGHT: THE FINAL DESTINATION

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  OTHER BOOKS BY K J TAYLOR

  COPYRIGHT

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  So this is it. The end.

  Every time I finish a trilogy I do it with some fatalism, knowing that each trilogy could be the last one I’m able to publish. But if this book must be the last one in the series, then I won’t be too unhappy about it. I think The Shadow’s Heart is one of the best books I’ve written, and as endings go it has my favourite. But, I must warn you, it also has one of the most tragic. As Arenadd might say, all’s unfair in love and war.

  I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey I’ve taken you on, and that the ending I’ve written will be one that gives you some kind of closure. Six books, and it’s been a long road to get there. Thank you for staying with me — I hope you still want to stay when it’s over.

  Finally, the usual notes on pronunciation: the Northerners speak Welsh, and in that language ‘dd’ is pronounced ‘th’. Some of the odder-looking names are pronounced this way:

  Arenadd: ‘A-ren-ath’

  Saeddryn: ‘Say-thrin’

  Arddryn: ‘Arth-rin’

  Taranisäii: ‘Tah-ranis-eye’

  Laela: ‘Lay-la’ (I include this one because I’ve heard some people say it as ‘Leela’.)

  Akhane: ‘Ah-kah-nay’ (This name is actually one I made up, and is meant to sound a bit like the word ‘arcane’, which fits his interests very well.)

  And finally, as always, griffish is pronounced phonetically. Griffins can’t read or learn how to read, and want nothing to do with anything that could be called grammar or linguistics. Leave the pointless analysis to the humans, thank you.

  MAP

  ONE

  SCRAWLINGS

  In her personal chambers high in the towers that made up Malvern’s Eyrie, Queen Laela Taranisäii was alone.

  Her brother Kullervo was gone, and so was her advisor, Inva. Her friend and former tutor, Yorath, was gone too, and Lord Iorwerth, the man who commanded Malvern’s armies while his partner Kaanee led the humanless griffins called the Unpartnered, hadn’t yet returned from his conquest of Warwick. And her father Arenadd, the only friend she had had in the world once upon a time … Arenadd was gone as well.

  Once she might have turned to her own griffin partner, Oeka, but Oeka was not there. Or not all there, anyway. Her body was locked away somewhere underneath the Eyrie, mouldering in silence while her mind wandered who knew where.

  Laela’s only company now was a book: her father’s diary. Oeka had embedded some of her power in its pages so that Laela could open them and hear her father’s voice read the words, but by now the effect had worn off and Laela couldn’t read well enough to understand most of it. Nor did she trust anyone enough to have them read it to her. Not with Yorath vanished.

  And so, with nothing else to do for the moment while she waited for Iorwerth and Kaanee to return, she sat down and opened a book of her own. The pages were blank, but she had a pot of ink and a reed pen ready to change that.

  Tongue sticking out with the effort, she started to write, forming each rune slowly and carefully:

  This is the diry of Quen Laela Taranisäii, who is the dorter of King Arenath Taranis-eye. I dont no how tu rite meny words, but thort I should rite down wat I no so one day peeple can reed it an no what I did and thort also I thort it would be use-ful for future sk skol book people historeens to reed wat I wrote, so hear gos.

  She stopped to wipe the sweat off her forehead, and took a deep breath before continuing.

  My muthers name was Flell she was a Suthern girl whom my dad might of raped but he says not an I never met her so I dunno wat happned. I was rai grew u come from a place in South called Stirick, not sure how to rite it never saw it rit down. My dad wat raised me was Bran, but he wast my reel dad that was Arenath. I never noo new who my real dad was an Bran didnt rite so he never showd me how so I had too lern wen I was a woman. When Bran dyed I left an went North.

  Arenath found me but didnt no he wus my dad. He looked after me an I lived with him an helped him an he made me griffiner after I puled him out of the water. He said your my advi advu helper an we went to Amoran together with Skander who was his partner. I got married too a prins called Akhane an brought slaves back home to be free. Arenath died the Nite God killed him an then I got made queen, but Arenath’s cusin Saythrin said no I should be queen, yu are a half-breed an not his real dorter anyway. I burned her temple to teech her a lessen but she ran off with her son an dorter. I killed her husband, Torc, when she wouldn come back.

  Then my brother comes, he is called Kullervo an he found Sennek who was my uncle Erian’s partner before my dad killed my uncle. They went to Wawik where Saythrin was an Kullervo got cort but I sent Iorwerth an Kaanee with the Unpartnered an they smashed up the place. Senneck killed Saythrin’s dorter an Saythrin’s partner Aenae who wus Skandar’s son. She killed Saythrin too, but the Nite God has sent her back to kill us all espeshuli me cus the Nite God hates half breds like wut I am. I have sent Kullervo an Senneck to Amoran to get my husband to help us an when Iorwerth gets back I will send him to Skenfrith where Caedmon is, he is Saythrins son an leeds the enemys now. Saythrin came to get me yesterday, but Oeka drove her mad an got rid of her. Oeka is my partner an she is madder than a cut snake which is wat Bran used too say.

  Laela sat back to look at her handiwork. Her writing had crowded together in some places, and she had kept running out of room at the edge of the page, but she reckoned it was the best writing she’d ever done.

  That was enough for one day. She blew on the ink to make it dry faster, closed the book and put it aside. Then she got up and walked out of the room to go and see if Iorwerth was back yet. He and Kaanee had been away far too long, and she was starting to get worried.

  The other thing she had to worry about was Saeddryn. Once Saeddryn had been an ordinary woman — and not a young one, either. She was Arenadd’s cousin, and she had been his second-in-command back in the days when h
e seized power in the North. By the time Laela had come along Saeddryn had become Malvern’s high priestess and she and Arenadd weren’t on the best of terms any more. Arenadd had disowned Saeddryn’s son Caedmon, who had been Arenadd’s apprentice and heir apparent — until Caedmon turned on Arenadd. By the time Laela arrived at Malvern, there was no officially chosen heir to the throne and Caedmon had fled.

  But his mother was the far worse danger. When Senneck killed her the war should have been all but won, but Laela had not reckoned with the Night God. The Night God had been Arenadd’s master, and she had given Arenadd the dark powers he had used to conquer the North.

  Now those powers belonged to Saeddryn, and if Laela couldn’t find some way to do away with her then Laela would die for her throne. And Kullervo, Arenadd’s only other offspring, would have to die too.

  Saeddryn’s attempt to kill Laela might have failed when Oeka drove Saeddryn mad, but after she threw herself out the window her body had not been found, and Laela knew she was still out there. The fact that she was now insane did not make Laela feel any safer. Frankly, it made her feel worse.

  The guards were scouring the city right now, but so far they hadn’t found anything and Laela didn’t believe for one moment they ever would.

  She paused by a window to look out over the city and sighed a long, weary sigh. Ruling the North was far harder than she had ever thought it would be, and in ways she hadn’t expected. She spent so much time worrying about other people and what they were doing, and without a griffin to protect her she couldn’t leave the city. She had been stuck in Malvern for nearly a year — ever since her father’s death, in fact.

  Laela rubbed her eyes and turned away miserably from the window, in time to see a servant come hurrying toward her.

  She straightened up instantly. ‘What’s goin’ on?’

  The servant stopped and bowed. ‘My Lady, Lord Iorwerth is here. He’s waiting for ye in the audience chamber.’

  ‘Huh. Nice timin’,’ Laela muttered, and walked back the way she had come.

  Sure enough, when she entered the white-marble audience chamber, where the platform for the ruler and her partner to sit on stood empty, she found Lord Iorwerth and Kaanee ready to receive her. When they saw her, Kaanee glanced at his human. Briefly, but Laela saw it.

  ‘There yeh are,’ she said unceremoniously. Not bothering to sit down or ask them to do the same, she folded her arms. ‘All right, explain yerselves. Where’ve yeh been an’ why?’

  Iorwerth, a middle-aged, strong-looking man, clasped his hands together. ‘I’m sorry, my Lady, but — ’

  ‘Where is your partner?’ Kaanee interrupted. He pushed his way forward, tawny brown wings slightly raised. ‘Where is Oeka?’

  ‘She ain’t here,’ said Laela, not bothering to use griffish.

  Kaanee’s eyes narrowed. ‘Where is she? Is she dead?’

  May as well be, Laela nearly said, but stopped herself. ‘No, she’s just not here. She’s busy.’

  ‘Busy with what?’ said Kaanee. ‘She has not been beside you in a long time. Is she not interested in ruling her territory?’

  Laela shifted uncomfortably. ‘Yeh’d have to ask her about that. It ain’t my place to say. Now, tell me what’s goin’ on.’

  Iorwerth opened his mouth to reply, but once again Kaanee obliged.

  ‘We have been in Warwick, as you commanded, and after that we went to Fruitsheart. We found no enemies there, and now we have come back.’

  ‘Good,’ said Laela. ‘Because now I want yeh to go to Skenfrith. That’s where they are now, that’s where Caedmon is. Go there. Take the Unpartnered. Kill them all. Now.’

  ‘We cannot do that,’ said Kaanee.

  Laela growled. ‘You’ll do it because I’m tellin’ yeh. We killed Caedmon’s mother an’ his sister. There ain’t no way he’s ever gonna give up with that on his mind. If we’re gonna keep the North together, then he’s gotta die an’ that’s all there is to it.’

  ‘We cannot,’ Kaanee repeated. ‘I would do as you say, and so would Iorwerth, but the Unpartnered will not.’

  ‘What?’ said Laela, blankly.

  ‘The Unpartnered are not with us,’ said Kaanee. ‘We are late because we have spent our time trying to make them come back to Malvern with us, but they refused. They will not obey me any more.’

  ‘What?’ Laela said again, much louder. ‘Why not?’

  ‘They see no benefit in it for themselves. And there is no griffin at Malvern powerful enough to dominate them and force them to fight. Your partner is not doing her duty.’

  ‘Oh no.’ Laela put a hand over her face. She looked up at Iorwerth. ‘What are we gonna do?’

  ‘There’s only one thing we can do,’ he said unhappily. ‘If we’re going to get control back then you and Oeka have to go to them and Oeka will have to impress them.’

  When Laela didn’t reply and instead pulled a grim face, he tried to reassure her with a smile. ‘Don’t worry, my Lady. I’m sure she can do it. We all know how powerful she is, and it’s not just about size. They’ll bow to strong magic as well.’

  Laela opened her mouth, then shut it again. She coughed. ‘Yeah … I’ll go see her, then.’

  She trudged out of the room, mentally listing all the swearwords she knew.

  Oeka was not going to come, and she was not going to bring the Unpartnered into line. Laela wasn’t even going to waste time hoping for that. Unpartnered griffins would never normally fight as a group to begin with — they’d only done it in the first place because the Mighty Skandar, as they called him, had had the sheer power to dominate more than a hundred griffins at once. And there was no other griffin in the world who was like him. What was that word her father had used? ‘Unprecedented’. Without the Unpartnered, it would come down to whatever the humans in this situation thought. And Laela knew exactly who had the popular support right now, and it wasn’t her.

  A word that her other father, Bran, had used now sprang to mind.

  ‘Shit.’

  Meanwhile, down in the city, someone else was on the hunt. Heath, of no fixed name and no fixed abode, also wanted to find Saeddryn. He had been at it for several days. He knew perfectly well that the entire city guard was trying as well, but they didn’t bother him — even if he knew they would hang him if they caught him. Possibly it would be hanging and dismembering, depending on whether the Eyrie decided to class him as a traitor or just as a spy.

  That was an unpleasant thought, but Heath figured the guard were too busy just now. They were looking for Saeddryn, not him, and he’d given them no reason to be looking for him anyway. Or, at least, not just now. Finding the country’s most wanted woman was probably more important than tracking down a fraudster who hadn’t been seen in Malvern for years.

  That aside, Heath had already been arrested once and that hadn’t turned out to be half as bad as he’d thought. It had been touch and go for a little while, but fortunately he’d been caught in Skenfrith, just after Lord Caedmon took control of the city. Caedmon had talked to him, and had decided to recruit the wily thief as a spy rather than kill him.

  As far as Heath was concerned, things were looking up. Besides, this was fun.

  He strolled briskly along the main street leading through the lower end of the city, where some of the better-off commoners lived. Nobody paid him any attention. Today he was in a particularly good mood. It had taken him longer than he’d expected, but if he, Heath, was any judge, then today would be the day when he would finally do what everyone else had failed to do: find Saeddryn. The guards were numerous and he was on his own, but he had contacts they didn’t. Nobody, he had pointed out to Caedmon before he left, lived the life of a scumbag like him without meeting useful people. A friendly visit here, a bit of social drinking there, a little eavesdropping and a coin in the right pocket had bought him all the information he needed. And after a couple of false leads and a near miss or two, he had finally found the people and the place that he was after.

&
nbsp; Spotting the alley he had been told to look for, he sauntered over to it without a glance in any other direction. Sneaking and hiding were all very well, he knew, but in his experience nothing was easier to overlook than someone just walking along as if they knew exactly where they were going and had no reason to be furtive about it.

  In the alley, he found a trapdoor not very well hidden under a stack of boxes. Checking to make sure nobody was watching, he shifted them aside and tugged on the trapdoor’s ring. It lifted, and after another quick check and a shrug Heath opened the door and jumped down to the bottom of the ladder inside. The trapdoor fell shut behind him, and he found himself in the dark.

  Almost. He sensibly waited until his eyes adjusted, and when they did he spotted a faint light up ahead.

  Heath took a deep breath. This was something he hadn’t done before. His world was lying and manipulating to get everything he wanted out of life. Fighting and infiltrating and creeping into places owned by people who might well slit his throat on sight hadn’t had much part in it. Still, it was always a good time to learn.

  He checked that his dagger was in his belt. It was, but he left it there and moved cautiously toward the light, where he saw something that made him start in fright. Saeddryn Taranisäii herself, crouching on the floor of a little dirt-lined cellar. A lantern hanging from the roof cast dim light on her face, filling the ugly crevasse of her missing eye with shadow. Her long, greying black hair was tangled around her face. She didn’t look up when Heath came in, but sat staring vacantly at the floor, mumbling to herself.

  Forgetting himself for a moment, Heath took a step toward her. ‘My Lady — ’

  ‘Stop right there!’

  Two people appeared from the shadows, putting themselves between Heath and Saeddryn. Heath stopped, quickly holding up his hands in surrender, but after his initial surprise he soon relaxed. The two people — a man and a woman — had knives in their hands, but they held them uncertainly and kept their distance.

  Heath offered up his brightest, friendliest, most reassuring smile. ‘Hello. Sorry if I startled you, but there’s no need to worry. I’m a friend.’