Valyria III

By now, the sounds from the foot of the mountain were almost upon them. Viserys looked back and saw that the "carpet" of ash crabs had already covered the ground beneath the rock face they had just passed. Their dark red compound eyes formed a sea of lights in the darkness, enough to make his scalp prickle. Farther back, more stone men appeared at the bottom of the stone steps. They seemed less accustomed to such steep terrain, but they were still slowly making their way up.

"We'll use this castle to mount a defense," Viserys commanded loudly. After their repeated losses, fewer than a hundred and thirty soldiers had escaped this far. Alongside them were the men Naharis had provided: Captain Balzer, six sailors, and three scholars. They hurried into the castle and formed a final defensive line behind the gates. Shields slammed into the ground, spears thrust forward, and every face bore both exhaustion and the resolve to make a last stand.

Yet what happened next stunned them all. Some knights who had climbed the walls saw the first wave of ash crabs reach the edge of the platform and abruptly stop, as though they had struck an invisible wall. They merely prowled at the end of the stone steps connecting the platform to the mountainside, their dark red compound eyes fixed on the castle. Their pincers snapped frantically, producing an ever denser, more piercing clatter, but they did not dare set foot on the platform. The stone men following close behind passed through the crabs, only to stop there as well. The eerie green light in their eye sockets flickered violently, and their stiff bodies turned slightly toward the castle. They actually seemed wary, even afraid.

They did not dare come up.

Ser Arthur and Ser Alliser exchanged incredulous looks. Cold sweat slicked the soldiers' palms as they gripped their weapons. They were grateful for this sudden respite, yet the incomprehensible sight before them filled them with profound unease.

Something was wrong. What could keep these almost fearless monsters from advancing? Viserys felt that whatever frightened the ash crabs and stone men into stopping could only be something even more terrifying than they were.

His gaze returned to the jagged, menacing obsidian castle. Ancient texts recorded that the Satheryen family had been renowned for Blood Magic and Contract Magic, so this place was certainly no safe refuge.

Viserys studied it with a frown. Faint patterns marked the castle floor. They did not look carved, but rather like traces left after some power had seeped into it. He probed with his greensight and found that the entire castle was shrouded in a thin but stable energy field. It was utterly different from the malicious fluctuations emanating from the stone men, and even carried a faint sense of repulsion.

Suddenly, he sensed several sources of magical energy within the castle. They kept changing position, as though they, too, were some kind of magical creatures.

"There's something inside the castle," he warned those beside him, his hand already closing around Blackfyre's hilt.

As soon as he spoke, the closed doors to the inner hall swung outward a crack. Long neglected, they creaked as they moved, the sound particularly jarring in the solemn surroundings. Then they saw a deep, dense darkness flow through the opening, as though it could devour everything. At the same time, a chill, bloody presence washed over them, in stark contrast to the dry heat outside.

"Open the gates. Hold formation and fall back slowly." Viserys immediately changed his orders, abandoning the plan to hold the castle. His instincts were screaming a warning: the darkness behind those doors was deadlier than the horde of monsters at the foot of the mountain.

The men obeyed, slowly withdrawing from the castle and moving toward the rock face on one side of the platform, keeping as far as possible from the gap in the doors. Every pair of eyes remained fixed on that darkness.

Once everyone had left the castle, the darkness began to stir.

At first, only the shadows along the edges of the opening twisted. Then several more "shadows" "flowed" out through the doors. Initially, they had no fixed shape, resembling stains of thick ink dropped into water. Then, as though pulled and distorted by invisible hands, they slowly assumed human outlines. After that, distinct features and clothing appeared, making it possible to tell men from women, young from old. Most unnervingly, light passed straight through their bodies. Standing there, they seemed to be nothing but masses of pure murderous intent and malice.

"Shadow creatures..." Viserys recalled the scene in the original story where the Red Priestess Melisandre had helped Stannis kill Renly.

"Shadow assassins..." A surviving scholar among the group, who had studied the magic of Shadowbinders, spoke the words in a trembling voice, confirming Viserys's suspicion. "According to legend, they are formed by combining the highest forms of Blood Magic and shadow magic. Only a Dragonlord or a direct descendant can create them, using their own blood essence and magic as a catalyst in a specific ritual. They exist between life and death, light and shadow, retaining only the purest instinct to kill and obeying their creator's final command."

Viserys's thoughts raced. Had the Satheryen family created these shadow creatures here to protect something, or to fight some other being? Surely these shadows must have been made with a mission to fulfill.

He looked at the shadow creatures. They were still "standing" at the hall entrance, as though "sizing up" the uninvited guests on the platform. They made no sound, yet that silent scrutiny sent a greater chill down everyone's spine than any roar could have.

Viserys counted them. There were seven shadow creatures in all.

Just then, the seven shadow creatures seemed to "confirm" the intruders' identities, and they moved. They neither ran nor leaped, but "drifted" toward the men with astonishing speed, as though gliding. Wherever they passed, the light seemed to be sucked away, leaving faint dark traces just like those Viserys had seen inside the castle. Evidently, their purpose was to deal with creatures that invaded it.

"Engage!" As Viserys's command rang out, Ser Arthur was the first to react. Dawn swept out in his hand, tracing a silvery-white arc toward the leading shadow. The sword's light cut through it, splitting it down the middle, but the severed darkness writhed and swiftly closed again. Only the red glow on its body dimmed slightly.

On the other side, Ser Alliser's steel sword struck a shadow, but it felt as though he had cut into a mass of thick grease. The resistance was immense, yet the blow found no purchase. The shadow wound itself around his blade, and a bone-chilling cold traveled up through the hilt, frightening him so badly that he nearly dropped his sword. Ordinary physical attacks seemed to have little effect.

"Use fire! Shadows fear light!" Viserys shouted as he swung Blackfyre. The Valyrian steel sword had a special effect on magical creatures: its black blade swept through a shadow, cutting it in two. Yet the halves could still merge again. These were far more formidable than the shadow Melisandre had created.

The soldiers hurried to light their remaining torches, or ignited oil-soaked strips of cloth and tied them to their spearheads and swords. As the flames flickered, attacks with these burning weapons did make the shadow creatures hesitate and dodge. But they were too fast, their forms too elusive, for ordinary soldiers to land effective blows easily.