Shadow Warrior (Sky Raiders Book 3) Read online

  Shadow Warrior

  Michelle Diener

  Copyright © 2018 by Michelle Diener

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  The Story So Far

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Also by Michelle Diener

  About the Author

  Excerpt of Dark Horse

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Acknowledgments

  The Story So Far

  We last left Taya and Garek in Pan Nuk at the end of Calling the Change.

  Taya had been taken to Luf, the capital of the Illian state of Harven, but she’d escaped and foiled a plan by the sky raiders to reacquire Luci and the other villagers from Cassinya who had been captives with her on Shadow.

  Realizing the sky raiders were trying to get their prisoners back, she and Garek raced back to Juli, to find the Kardanx had in fact been taken, and then on to Pan Nuk to find some of their friends had also been snatched up.

  After mounting a successful rescue, they returned to Pan Nuk, where they were attacked by guards sent to grab Taya under the instructions of Dartan, the liege of West Lathor’s advisor.

  Taya killed one of the guards, and afraid she doesn’t have the control over her calling she thinks is possible, she decides to find the Iron Guard and ask them to train her. She feels the weight of the future of Barit on her shoulders. She has the power to bring down the sky raiders, if she can master her calling.

  This dovetails with her and Garek’s concern for Aidan, who went missing toward the end of Calling the Change. Vent, the guard master of Juli, thinks he’s been taken by the Iron Guard.

  They decide to set out to find Aidan and see if General Hanson, the leader of the Iron Guard, will help Taya master her calling.

  Vent wants the Iron Guard back, as well. Their reputation as an elite force kept West Lathor safe in the past, and their loss makes the prospect of war with Harven and the two other Illian states Harven is in league with much more likely.

  But at the start of Shadow Warrior, the most pressing problem is Aidan’s disappearance, and Garek and Taya are determined to find him.

  Chapter 1

  Taking control of the city of Juli didn't seem to suit Vent.

  He looked tired and older than he had a week ago when Taya had last seen him.

  Garek landed the sky craft on the palace wall and opened the door for Juli's guard master as he walked across the parapet toward them.

  “Vent.” Garek leaned out to call a greeting and wave.

  As Vent had imprisoned Dartan, the liege's advisor, on the charge of collaboration with sky raiders, and she and Garek were in a sky raider craft, Taya guessed Garek didn't want to give Vent's detractors any room to use this meeting against him. He was making it clear this sky craft was piloted by West Lathorians.

  Vent obviously realized what Garek had done, because when he climbed the ladder to the cabin, his face was grim.

  “Protecting my reputation, are you?”

  “Can't hurt.” Garek stepped back and grinned.

  “I suppose not.” Vent stared out at the large unit of guards lining the wall. “Unfortunately, I need all the help I can get.”

  “Any news of Aidan?” Garek went straight to the point of their visit.

  Vent shook his head. “I've sent a team to look for him, but there's been no word.”

  “And the liege? How is he dealing with this new turn of events?” Taya thought the petulant, intoxicated ruler of West Lathor would most likely have been the most difficult hurdle for Vent to overcome. The liege's relationship with Aidan was strangely adversarial, given Aidan was a loyal son.

  “He's lying in bed, in some kind of stupor. My suspicion is that Dartan is responsible for putting him there. I've got doctors trying to work out what might have been given to him, because Dartan's denying involvement. Truth be told, even those with no love of Dartan were probably happy to see the liege removed from active office. Now they no longer have to go through the motions of pretending to follow the edicts of a man who had a very tenuous grip on reality.”

  “It has to help you, too,” Garek commented, and Vent shot him a dirty look.

  “Yes, and it's lucky I've got proof the liege was like that before I returned to Juli, so his illness isn't a charge that can be laid at my feet.”

  Garek nodded, calm and unperturbed, and Vent scrubbed a hand through his short hair.

  “I want Aidan back, and I want him back now.”

  “That's why we're here. We're going to look for him.” Taya pushed away from the window.

  “Why?” Vent scowled at her.

  “Because he's our friend. He helped us when we needed it. Now we'll help him.” She also wanted to speak to the Iron Guard, who Vent was sure held Aidan hostage, but that was just fortuitous synchronicity.

  “Well, we've all established you don't report to me,” Vent said. “I'm not going to stop you.”

  “No, you're not. But I'd like to think you'd help us. We need to know where Aidan disappeared and what news you've had from whoever you sent out to look for him.”

  Vent gave a grunt that must have been agreement because he took the map Garek handed him, marking a spot on it with a thin charcoal pencil.

  “This was where he was camping when he was taken. You bring him straight back when you have him. Straight back.” Vent glowered at them. “No side trips or visits home. We need him right here. I'll hold back the tide of unrest as long as I can, but we need a liege, and we need the Iron Guard, as well. Persuade them to come home. All will be forgiven if they would just swear allegiance to the liege again.”

  “Depends on how they've treated Aidan,” Garek said. “If he's unhappy with them, he might not trust them anymore.”

  “General Hanson wouldn't be that stupid. She's a woman who knows how to play the long game.” Vent dismissed the comment with a flick of his wrist.

  “Depends on why they took him in the first place,” Taya said.

  Vent turned to her. “Well, let's hope, for all our sakes, they wanted to reforge the alliance and decided Aidan was a better bet than his father.”

  Taya hoped so too. She had a feeling she needed the Iron Guard, and it would be a great deal easier to get that help if they were all on the same side.

  Neither of them were familiar with the terrain.

  Garek's lips twitched.

  Before Taya had been abducted
by the sky raiders, neither of them had been familiar with much of West Lathor. They'd been no further than the two cities in their state.

  Now, they'd flown toward the stars, and he had been around the whole of the planet of Barit.

  That didn't help now, though. The area between Juli and Garamundo, the path Aidan had been on when he'd disappeared, was full of low valleys, high peaks, and thick swathes of forest. Aidan could be anywhere below.

  Taya stood beside him with the map Vent had marked up, working as his navigator.

  “That looks like the place.” She pointed up ahead. “There's a bend in the river that matches where Vent marked on the map, and it looks like someone's camping there. Maybe Vent's search party?”

  Garek saw it, nodded in agreement.

  He set down beside a fire pit, and they both climbed out the craft to survey the area.

  There were definite signs that the fire pit had been used as recently as that morning. When Garek bent down to touch them, the rocks ringing the fireplace were still warm.

  “You can see where they slept.” Taya pointed to the flattened grass. “But they haven't left any equipment. Maybe they're gone?”

  Garek shook his head. “Standard guard procedure, you take everything with you every day. In case there's a change in plan.”

  “So what should we do?” Taya stepped up to him, and he hooked an arm around her shoulders and drew her close.

  She came willingly into his arms, fitting her head under his chin and sliding her arms around his waist.

  They stood like that for a long moment, and Garek breathed in the fragrance of her hair and savored the feel of her, warm and alive, against him.

  He liked being alone with her. Privacy was a rare commodity since they'd returned from Shadow, and it felt good to be in each other's company.

  A movement on the other side of the river ripped him out of the moment.

  She was so attuned to him, she must have felt him tense, because she stepped back, face lifting to his with a query in her eyes.

  “Someone in the trees, on the other bank.” He let his gaze sweep the area.

  Taya turned and studied the thickly forested area herself.

  After a few minutes, someone stepped out from behind a tree and walked forward, dressed in a Juli guard uniform.

  He walked to the edge of the bank and looked over at them.

  “Vent send you?” he called.

  “In a manner of speaking,” Garek confirmed.

  “I recognize you both.” The man gave a sudden, decisive nod. He half-turned back to the forest, stuck his fingers in his mouth and gave a sharp whistle, then jumped down into the river and waded across.

  “It looked deeper,” Taya said, as they watched him get up to his waist at the deepest point and then struggle up the bank to stand at their feet.

  Garek put his hand down, and the man accepted, allowing himself to be heaved up next to them.

  “Captain Savo,” he said, introducing himself. “Juli Night Guard.”

  “Garek of Pan Nuk.” Garek inclined his head. “This is my intended, Taya.”

  Savo gave them both a brief nod, then turned back to see if his team had followed him.

  They were standing on the other side, as if waiting to see what sort of reception Savo would get before committing themselves.

  “Your team seems nervous.” Garek saw more than one of them eyeing the sky craft suspiciously, and a few more looking over their shoulders back into the forest.

  “We are.” Savo gestured the two men and three women over with a wave of his hand. “We've been here two days, and we're being watched. We can feel it. Saw it a few times, too. Just a quick movement out the corner of my eye. That kind of thing weighs on you after awhile. There's been a few of those come over, too.” He pointed at the sky craft. “Flying low and careful, like they were looking for something.”

  His team splashed up behind them, and he turned his attention to them.

  Garek offered a hand to one of the women, and she took it with a nod, and when she was up, turned to help someone else.

  They seemed comfortable with each other, and behaved like a close knit team, anticipating each other's movements and needs.

  Garek's respect rose, not only for Savo but for Vent for creating teams like this. In Gara, a good team like this was almost an impossibility, with the way things had been run.

  Maybe things would change, now Aidan had appointed Captain Nostra, formerly of the Juli Day Guard, as Garamundo's new guard master. She was someone he respected, and it would be interesting to see how the Gara guards adjusted to her after years under the old guard master, Utrel, and his partner in crime, the corrupt town master.

  “So, you're here to help us?” Savo asked when everyone had been pulled up onto the bank.

  They were all dripping water, and then one of the women blurred just a little and suddenly they were dry.

  Garek looked over at her. “Water calling?”

  The guard smiled.

  “We're here to find Aidan.” Taya gestured to the camp. “You obviously haven't had any luck?”

  Savo shook his head. “As I say, we think we're being watched. Who's doing the watching, I don't know. Whoever they are, they don't want to be found.”

  “I'm hoping they'll be interested in investigating the sky craft.” Garek scanned the trees as he spoke.

  “Or it'll scare them away,” Savo countered.

  “Maybe.” He didn't think so, but it was worth giving whoever was out there two reasons to pay them a visit.

  “I think I'll let them know I'm here, waiting.”

  Taya caught his eye. “What are you going to do?”

  “Get high enough for them to see me.” He hadn't done this in a while, not since he was in Gara, walking the walls, and he had been meaning to try it again. He had grown stronger, had pushed his own boundaries so much since he set off to rescue Taya, he wondered how high he could go.

  He called his Change, let the air coalesce at his feet, and then rose up.

  When he looked down, it was to find Savo's team staring at him with mouths open. Taya stood with a hand shading her eyes as her gaze followed him upward, and a broad smile on her face.

  Then he looked outward, spinning slowly to search through the trees in all directions for any sign of a camp or place where the Iron Guard could be hiding Aidan.

  In most places, the foliage was too thick and he couldn't see the ground, but as he rose even higher, a glint of Starlight off metal caught his eye.

  He saw someone perched high in a tree on the other side of the river--just a glimpse of their arm and shoulder as they took aim at him with a crossbow.

  He gave himself one last push and flew up a little more as the arrow shot past his feet.

  He dropped, letting himself free fall until he was near the ground and then giving himself a cushion so his landing was soft.

  He could have stayed up longer, but if someone was shooting at them, he'd better keep some power in reserve.

  One of Savo's guards ran back toward the group, the arrow clutched in his hand.

  “Did you see them?” Taya asked.

  He nodded. He had a very good idea which tree the shooter had been in. And whoever it was, they were very high up--it would take them a while to get down.

  “Will you be all right here?”

  Taya frowned as she nodded. “Why?”

  “I'm going to destroy a bit of forest, now.”

  Chapter 2

  Garek ran toward the river, and Taya held her breath when he jumped as he reached the bank, propelling himself through the air onto the other side.

  As he landed, he went a little fuzzy around the edges, as if someone was shaking him so hard it was difficult to see him properly, and then he stepped into the inbetween.

  One moment he was there, the next, it was as if he'd disappeared, but rather than being unable to see where he was going, trees began to fall, exploding into splinters or crashing to the left and right.<
br />
  She stared in wonder.

  She had never seen anything like it. He was literally opening a pathway through the trees.

  “What's he doing?”

  She realized Savo had been shouting at her for a while, and she turned to him.

  “He's called his Change, and he's going after the person who shot him.”

  Which snapped her back to reality. If Garek was confronting the person who shot at him, then she would be there to back him up.

  She ran to the sky craft, scrambling up the ladder, almost falling into the pilot's chamber and then running through to the back to get one of the slim wooden boxes that had been built for her in Pan Nuk.

  She carried it out far more carefully than she'd run in, and got all the way to the river before she opened it up.

  She pulled a set of knives out of the water that filled the box. They were as long as her forearms and wickedly sharp, and she slid them into the two sheaths fixed to her belt.

  She jumped down into the river, which came up to her chest rather than her waist, waded across, and pulled herself, dripping, onto the other side.

  She heard Savo call something to her, heard a splash behind her, but she ignored him, running down the corridor Garek had forged.

  The trees had been pulverized. Flossy splinters crunched underfoot, and smaller dust particles floated in the air around her, making her sneeze.

  Garek had told her more than once he couldn't use the inbetween near buildings because of the danger of destruction, but her imagination had come up with something much tamer than the reality.