ShadowBound: The Need For Power

Liam flicked the dagger once to clear it, then let the weapon remain in his hand as he turned toward them.

His gaze landed on Tovan first.

"You are an idiot," Liam said, voice cold.

Tovan’s face flushed despite the fear still clinging to him. "I was trying to—"

"Die?" Liam interrupted. "Because that was the only thing you were about to accomplish."

The scared girl flinched.

Liam looked at the panicked boy. "And you. In mimic territory, a voice is not a person until verified. Chasing screams blindly is how idiots become warnings in guidebooks."

Ren swallowed hard, eyes flicking toward the dead creature. "I thought..."

"No, you reacted. Thinking would have saved me the effort."

The injured girl stared at him, pain and relief mixed tightly across her face. "Hunter?"

"Yes."

"You followed us?"

"No. You made enough mistakes for the forest to point at you."

Tovan’s grip tightened on his spear. "You do not have to talk like—"

Liam’s eyes cut to him.

Tovan stopped.

The silence that followed was useful.

Liam gestured slightly toward the injured girl with his dagger. "She is injured, not stupid. That already makes her more useful than the rest of you right now. If she tells you to stop moving, you stop moving. If she tells you to verify a voice, you verify it. If she tells you that your heroic instincts are trying to feed you to something with chest-mouths, assume she has a better grasp of reality than your pride."

The injured girl looked caught between embarrassment and grim satisfaction.

Tovan looked away, jaw tight.

Liam continued before any of them could turn the moment into feelings. "Names."

The injured girl answered first. "Mira Cael."

The scared girl followed, voice quiet. "Anet Voss."

The panicked boy looked down. "Ren Dary."

Tovan hesitated, then muttered, "Tovan Grell."

"Four," Liam said. "Injuries."

"My ankle," Mira said. "Twisted badly when we landed. I can walk if I have support, but not fast."

"Side cut," Anet said, lifting one shaking hand from her ribs. "Not deep. A branch."

Ren shook his head quickly. "No injury."

Tovan said, "Fine."

Liam looked at him. "That is not an injury report."

Tovan’s face tightened. "Left shoulder bruised. Usable."

"Better." Liam pointed toward the insignia at Anet’s chest. "Stop holding that like it is a prayer charm. Have you been using it?"

She looked ashamed. "I sent two pulses."

"Any response?"

"No. Only distortion."

"Then do not keep trying. Repeated signals might attract things, and if the guide is incomplete, you do not know what listens." Liam looked at Mira. "Did you mark your location?"

"We were about to," she said, glaring briefly at Tovan. "Then we heard the voice."

Liam crouched beside the dead Choir Demon just long enough to study it once more, confirming it had stopped moving, then stood. "Mark it now. Not beside the corpse. Twenty paces east, on bark and stone. Small enough not to guide every creature in the area, clear enough for students who know academy markings."

Mira nodded immediately. "Anet, chalk marker. Ren, help me up. Tovan, watch the west side. And actually watch. Do not chase anything."

The authority in her voice returned stronger because Liam had forced the others to recognize it.

Tovan looked as if he wanted to argue, then glanced once at the corpse and thought better of it.

’Good.’

Liam sheathed the dagger into shadow storage, though he did not let his guard drop. "Call-and-response."

Mira looked at him. "We did not set one."

"Set one now."

She nodded, thinking despite the pain. "If one of us calls ’stone path,’ the answer is ’no lantern.’"

Liam considered it. Not obvious, not sentimental, easy enough to remember. "Acceptable. If something repeats one side without the other, ignore it. If it answers too late, assume danger. If it sounds like one of you but comes from the wrong direction, verify twice. If someone vanishes, you do not all scatter to search. Two move, two hold, unless threat level says no movement."

Mira absorbed that quickly. "Understood."

"Good. You are local lead until you join a larger group."

Her eyes widened faintly. "I am?"

"I did not say it for decoration."

Tovan muttered, "She can barely walk."

Liam looked at him again. "And yet she has outperformed your entire head."

Ren almost made a sound that might have been a laugh, then wisely swallowed it.

Liam stepped closer to Tovan, not threatening him physically, but close enough that the boy stopped pretending his spear gave him confidence. "You can carry a weapon. Wonderful. So can furniture if someone straps a blade to it. Until you prove you can think without mistaking pride for courage, you listen to her."

Tovan’s face burned, but he nodded once.

"Louder."

"I’ll listen," he said through clenched teeth.

"Good." Liam turned back to Mira. "Use him for support if you need to move. It will give him something useful to do."

Mira’s mouth twitched despite herself. "Understood."

Liam forced them through the rest quickly. They counted supplies. They confirmed each field bag was present. Anet’s side cut was wrapped. Mira’s ankle was bound tightly enough to support but not cut circulation. Ren marked their location under Mira’s direction while Tovan watched the trees with stiff, embarrassed focus.

Liam made them repeat the call-and-response twice and forced Ren to explain why following unverified voices was stupid. The explanation came haltingly, but it came, and that mattered more than comfort.

By the end of it, the four students still looked shaken, but they looked organized.

Fear had direction now.

That was enough.

Mira looked up at Liam as he prepared to leave. "Which way are you going?"

"Northeast."

"Veyrhold?"

"Yes."

"Should we follow you?"

"No."

Ren looked startled. "What?"

Liam pointed toward Mira. "You move at her pace, not mine. You are injured and noisy. I move faster alone. Head northeast when you are ready, mark your route, avoid voices, and regroup with any students you can verify. If communication works, send short pulses only. If you find a safer group, join it. If you hear fighting, assess before moving. If Tovan tries to become a corpse with opinions again, hit him with something."

Anet looked at Mira. "Can we do that?"

Mira, despite the pain, said, "Yes."

Tovan did not object.

Liam gave them one final look. "Survive long enough to be useful."

Then he turned and climbed back into movement, taking the higher root line rather than the open hollow. Before fully leaving, he checked the shadow connections again.

Smoke’s senses opened first.

Chris was moving north-northeast with his larger group. They were organized, quiet enough to avoid complete stupidity, and moving with purpose. Smoke’s impressions showed marked trees, students in a loose formation, Logan near the front-left, and Chris at the center of decision-making. Fast. Too fast for cautious regrouping, but not reckless enough to fail immediately. Chris was aiming for Veyrhold quickly.

Liam disconnected and shifted to Raven.

Sheila was moving more carefully with her smaller group. Raven’s impressions showed marked locations, controlled spacing, one injured student supported between two others, short communication tests, and Sheila pausing often enough to check terrain and people. Slower. Safer. Her group was intact, and her control seemed steady, but speed was not on her side.

Liam withdrew from the connection.

The contrast was obvious.

Chris might gain momentum by reaching Veyrhold first. Sheila might preserve her group better and gather trust through careful command. Both paths had value. Both had risks. If Chris reached the settlement first, he could create facts before Sheila arrived. If Sheila arrived later with fewer losses and a more stable group, that would matter too. The problem was whether the year would value speed or preservation once fear began shaping memory.

Liam considered his options.

He could angle east toward Sheila. He could move southward to intercept Chris. He could continue northeast toward Veyrhold and let the board develop while keeping both of them tracked through Smoke and Raven.

He chose Veyrhold.

Not because Sheila’s problem did not matter, but because running to her now would defeat the point of letting her command. She needed to handle her path. Chris needed to reveal how far pride would push him. Liam needed to know what waited at the center before either of them reached it, if possible. Watching the board was not the same as solving it.

’She can manage her group,’ he thought. ’Chris can manage not being an air-wasting fossil for at least an hour. Probably.’

That was generous, but he allowed it.

He moved northeast again, more alert than before.

Nyxie’s bond brushed his mind a second time.

This Shadow Memory came sharper, colder, and more disturbing.

He saw the forest from low darkness, gliding beneath roots and between stones. He saw three separate sets of student tracks, scattered but all gradually pulled away from the cleaner northeastern route. He saw old voice-lures repeating from different directions, not randomly, but positioned like hooks. One voice wept near a safe path, drawing movement west.

Another called for help from a ravine edge. A third sounded like a commanding older student ordering others to "come this way," though no living student stood there. The memories came in fragments: footprints turning toward sound, broken shrubs, a dropped ration packet, a handprint in mud, then something pale and folded moving parallel through the trees, not attacking yet, guiding.

Liam stopped on a root-covered rise.

His eyes narrowed into the dark.

The mimic threats were not simply hunting whatever wandered close. At least some of them were using old voices and sound lures to guide scattered students away from safer routes and into deeper danger. Whether that was instinct, learned behavior, or something in Eldervale’s Myst structure shaping them into a crude net, Liam did not know yet. But it was faster and more coordinated than the guide had suggested.

"That is a problem," he murmured.

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