Walking with Shadows: Part II, Chapter Three
The city walls should have held. Instead, fear spreads faster than steel as an unseen killer strikes from every direction, leaving Captain Meydoka to face an enemy no soldier can find.
The Second Attack
Captain Meydoka stepped through the shattered gate, boots crunching over broken stone.
“Hold the line!”
The order rolled across the courtyard.
Soldiers hurried to obey, dragging the wounded behind overturned wagons while others formed ranks beneath the walls. Archers searched the rooftops, bows drawn toward empty darkness.
Nothing moved.
Only the wind.
Only smoke rising from the dying fire.
Meydoka scanned the battlements.
Nothing.
He didn’t believe it.
“Rooftops,” he ordered. “Search every one.”
A dozen soldiers disappeared up narrow staircases.
The silence lingered.
Too long.
A scream split the night.
One of the rooftop patrols stumbled into view before pitching over the edge.
He struck the courtyard stones with a sickening crack.
Before anyone could react—
Steel flashed.
Not from above.
From behind.
A soldier collapsed clutching his throat.
Another spun, searching for the attacker.
There was no one there.
Then another blade came.
Then another.
The knives seemed to arrive from different directions, impossible to follow.
“Shield wall!”
The formation never finished.
Something moved through them.
Not a man.
A shadow.
One heartbeat it stood among the soldiers.
The next it crossed the courtyard.
Steel rang.
Three guards fell.
Another cried out as his spear was cut cleanly in half before he ever saw what struck it.
“There!”
An archer loosed an arrow.
It struck only stone.
The shadow had already vanished.
Panic spread faster than blood.
“Where is he?”
“Left!”
“No—behind us!”
“He’s on the wall!”
The voices overlapped until no command could be trusted.
That was when Meydoka understood.
There was no rhythm.
Every trained soldier expected patterns.
Advance.
Retreat.
Flank.
This enemy offered none.
Every strike came from the place they had just stopped watching.
A captain rushed forward with six men.
The darkness met them.
For an instant, moonlight caught twin pale blades.
Then the light disappeared.
The captain’s sword spun across the courtyard without its owner.
His men broke.
One fled.
One froze.
One swung wildly into empty air.
Something passed behind him.
He crumpled.
Silence.
Again.
Only breathing.
Only the crackle of burning wood.
Meydoka tightened his grip on his sword.
Whoever this was…
He wasn’t trying to win a battle.
He was teaching them to fear the night.
Then, somewhere beyond the walls—
A single whistle.
Soft.
Almost playful.
The shadow was gone.
Next: Read Part II, Chapter Four
