> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://the-shagal.ghost.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Walking with Shadows: Part II, Chapter Four - URL: https://the-shagal.ghost.io/walking-with-shadows-part-ii-chapter-four/ - Published: 2026-07-31T19:30:27.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-14T19:34:07.000Z - Description: The city falls quiet. Too quiet. Captain Meydoka trusts his oldest friend with the Senator’s safety as an unseen threat closes in. Some vows are kept with steel. - Author: Marc Faulk - Tags: Stories ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/21/b7/21b7d236-2d58-4df4-be7a-3f48ee417ff3/content/images/2026/07/IMG_1873.jpeg) Aejay The gates groaned open. Captain Meydoka felt the tension in his shoulders ease as an enormous figure ducked beneath the stone archway. Almerios Jonz. Aejay, to the few men who had known him long enough to call him that. For nearly thirty years, the name had meant the same thing to Meydoka. If Aejay was standing beside you… you were going home. They had fought together since they were boys, back when every village festival ended with Aejay flattening another would-be champion. He had never been the friendliest man on the field, nor the easiest to know. Most soldiers kept their distance until the fighting began. Then they fought to stand near him. Meydoka had long ago stopped counting the scars Aejay had collected on his behalf. No one understood how the two of them had remained friends for so long. Meydoka made the plans. Aejay finished them. Behind him shuffled Senator Zyglorium, visibly furious at being escorted from his chambers. “I told you,” the Senator snapped, pulling against Aejay’s grip, “I require no assistance.” Aejay released him immediately. “Fine.” Zyglorium took two steps before his boot slipped on the damp cobblestones. Aejay caught him by the elbow without even looking. “I said unhand me.” Aejay let go again. Three steps later, the Senator stumbled a second time. This time Aejay caught him beneath both arms and lifted him clear off the ground. “Road’s slick,” Aejay said. Meydoka failed to hide his smile. “You’re enjoying this.” “A little.” Aejay set the Senator back on his feet. Zyglorium straightened his robes and glared at both men. “I shall remember this indignity.” “I’d be disappointed if you didn’t,” Meydoka said. For a heartbeat, they were not a captain, a senator, and the most feared guard in Ythoriss. They were simply two old friends irritating a third man who had never learned to laugh at himself. Then Meydoka saw it. A thin line of sweat ran from Aejay’s receding hairline. Not from exertion. From instinct. The giant’s eyes moved across the courtyard. Rooftops. Windows. Alleys. Every place the torchlight failed to reach. His smile was gone. “You feel it?” Meydoka asked. Aejay gave the slightest nod. “Too quiet.” The Senator sighed. “You have stationed half the city watch outside my residence. A third of the King’s elite are searching the streets. If this assassin remains in Ythoriss, he is either a fool or already dead.” Meydoka wished he believed either. The night answered first. A faint hiss passed through the courtyard. Almost delicate. Then— Three soldiers fell before anyone understood what they had heard. Steel clattered across stone. An elderly merchant spun once before collapsing beside his overturned cart. Panic erupted around him. “Shields!” Meydoka shouted. Another hiss. Another guard dropped. Then another. Men searched the rooftops and windows, turning in every direction at once. There was no archer. No visible attacker. The blades simply arrived. Aejay moved. Not toward the rooftops. Toward Meydoka. Toward the Senator. His massive frame became a wall between them and the darkness. “Down,” Aejay ordered. Meydoka seized Zyglorium by the shoulder and forced him low as another volley screamed overhead. Then something landed in the centre of the courtyard. No thunder. No dramatic entrance. Only the whisper of boots against stone. The figure crouched beneath the torchlight. Thin. Twisted. Motionless. Barely more than another shadow among many. A frightened guard raised his bow and fired. The stranger tilted his head. Only an inch. The arrow passed harmlessly beside him. Before it struck the wall, the intruder had already answered. A blade crossed the courtyard. The archer fell. Silence followed. No challenge. No speech. Only movement. Meydoka drew his sword and caught the Senator by the arm. “Zyglorium, move.” The Senator stared at him. “You cannot expect me to—” “I expect you to stay alive.” Meydoka pulled him toward the gates. He pointed to the nearest guards. “Form around us. We’re getting the Senator clear.” The guards closed ranks immediately. Aejay stepped into the space they left behind. He reached over his shoulder and drew his morningstar. The long weapon came free with a scrape of iron. Its spiked head caught the torchlight as he lowered it into both hands. The intruder turned toward him. Aejay planted his feet. Meydoka looked back. Their eyes met. Thirty years. Reduced to a single nod. “Finish this,” Meydoka said. Aejay rolled one shoulder and tightened his grip. “Get him out.” Then the intruder moved. Aejay swung. The morningstar crossed the courtyard with enough force to break a man in half. The intruder dropped beneath it. The spiked head tore through a wooden cart behind him, showering the stones with splinters. Aejay reversed the weapon without slowing. The iron head came back low. The intruder leapt over it. Aejay stepped forward and drove the end of the haft into his chest. The blow sent the shadow skidding across the cobblestones. The surrounding guards shouted. Aejay gave him no time to recover. He charged. The morningstar rose above his head and came down like a hammer. The intruder rolled aside. Stone shattered beneath the impact. Aejay ripped the weapon free and swung again. The shadow twisted away. A second strike forced him backward. Then a third. The intruder never met Aejay’s strength directly. He flowed around it. A turn. A sidestep. A blur of black cloth. But Aejay kept him moving. Kept him away from the gates. Away from Meydoka. Away from the Senator. The morningstar swept toward the intruder’s head. He leaned back. One of the spikes tore through his cloak. For the first time, his movements faltered. Aejay saw it. He drove forward and slammed one arm into the intruder’s chest, sending him hard against a stone pillar. “There you are,” Aejay growled. He raised the morningstar for another strike. The first blade buried itself in his left leg. Aejay grunted. His knee buckled, but he remained standing. He brought the morningstar down. The intruder threw himself aside as the weapon smashed into the pillar, cracking the stone where his head had been. The second blade struck Aejay’s right arm. His grip loosened. The morningstar dipped. He caught the haft with his left hand before it reached the ground. Still he advanced. The intruder rushed him. Aejay swung one-handed. The blow clipped the shadow across the ribs and hurled him across the courtyard. Aejay dragged his injured leg behind him and followed. Every step left blood on the stones. The intruder rose. Aejay swung again. The third blade punched into his shoulder. His arm dropped. The morningstar struck the ground. Aejay left it there. He closed the distance and drove his fist into the intruder’s face. The shadow staggered. Aejay hit him again. Then a third time. The intruder twisted beneath the next blow and drove the fourth blade through Aejay’s chest. Aejay stopped. Blood spread beneath the broken metal. His breath caught. The intruder stepped back. Aejay did not. He seized the intruder by the cloak and pulled him close. “You’re not getting past me.” He drove his forehead into the shadow’s face. The intruder tore himself free. Aejay reached for the morningstar. His fingers closed around the haft. He forced the weapon upright and raised it with both wounded arms. For the first time that night, the intruder retreated. Aejay took one step. Then another. He swung. The fifth blade flashed through the torchlight. It found his eye. Aejay staggered. The morningstar slipped from his hands and struck the stones beside him. Still, he did not fall. His ruined leg dragged behind him as he turned toward the intruder again. One hand closed into a fist. He took another step. His body refused the next. Aejay dropped to one knee. He pressed one hand against the shattered cobblestones and tried to force himself upright. Near the gates, Meydoka stopped. For thirty years, he had watched that man rise from every wound, every defeat, and every battlefield meant to kill him. This time, Aejay could not. The giant collapsed. The courtyard shook beneath him. He lay broken among the stones. And for the first time that night, Captain Meydoka understood exactly what they were facing. --- > **Next:** [**Read Part II, Chapter Five**](https://the-shagal.ghost.io/walking-with-shadows-part-ii-chapter-five/) ---