Valyria IV

The battle instantly became a brutal struggle. The shadows could ignore most attacks, yet their clawlike tendrils easily tore through the warriors' leather and mail, leaving wounds that exposed bone and seethed with an icy chill. Screams rang out constantly. Whenever a shadow passed through someone's body, it seemed to drain away some of the victim's life force, leaving their face pale.

Viserys swung Blackfyre so swiftly that sparks flew, while driving his mental power to its limit, trying to disrupt the existence of these beings of pure energy. He discovered that whenever he concentrated a mental assault on the two points of red light in a shadow's head, its movements froze for an instant. But this was immensely draining, and he needed others to create openings for him.

"Arthur! Work with me!" he roared.

Ser Arthur understood the moment their eyes met. He wielded Dawn in an impenetrable flurry, no longer trying to kill the shadows outright, but using exquisite swordsmanship to force them back. He drew two shadows close to Viserys. Seizing his chance, Viserys drove his mental power like a spike into the glowing red core of one shadow, making it shudder violently. Arthur immediately thrust his sword into the frozen mass. Dawn flashed, and the shadow was easily cleaved in two. This was far easier than killing them alone.

They repeated the same tactic, steadily wearing down the shadows' strength. Yet destroying each shadow exacted a terrible price. The soldiers held the remaining shadows at bay with flesh and flame, and men kept falling. Two of the three scholars failed to dodge in time. Shadows swept through them, and they collapsed, dead in an instant.

By the time the last shadow was destroyed by Viserys and Arthur's combined attack, fewer than a hundred people remained standing on the platform. Bodies and wounded men littered the ground, and the entire platform reeked of blood. The castle gates still stood open, but the darkness within remained unfathomable. The survivors made camp where they were, gathering the bodies and sorting their supplies.

The bloody battle had also taken a tremendous toll on Viserys, so all he could do was arrange for the survivors to camp where they were. After all, though the castle gates remained open, nothing could be seen beyond them but profound darkness. He decided to wait until daylight to search inside. The shadow creatures had already given him quite a "surprise," and even now, he had not quite recovered his composure.

Early the next morning, Viserys led thirty of the warriors who were in relatively good condition into Obsidian Castle. They chose to go straight into the castle's inner hall, opening up the place from which the shadows had emerged the night before. All they found was a spacious, gloomy hall, with several stone pillars still standing inside. Strange spirals and dragon patterns were carved into the pillars, though much of the stone had eroded or broken away.

They cautiously searched every corner of the hall. A fairly intact mural remained on one wall, depicting erupting volcanoes, swooping dragons, and figures in splendid robes holding strange magical implements as they performed some sort of blood sacrifice or summoning ritual. Blood and flame were the constant themes, while the beings they summoned resembled the twisted shadows they had first seen the night before. These murals spoke clearly of the powers this family favored: blood and shadow.

At the far end of the hall, on the rear wall behind the raised platform facing the entrance, Viserys noticed something different. The mural there depicted a tall swordsman standing on an unidentified bone, with a burning city behind him. More importantly, beneath the mural was a stone sword rack that jutted slightly from the wall. A longsword lay across it.

Viserys approached and drew out the sword. Its blade was long and slender, slightly narrower than Blackfyre's, though it was likewise sized as a two-handed sword. The whole weapon was a deep black, with only a faint dark-red sheen flowing along its edges. The guard had an unusual shape, resembling a pair of folded dragon wings. The grip was wrapped in black leather that had long since dried and hardened, but most importantly, the pommel bore the triple-spiral sigil of House Satheryen.

It was another Valyrian steel sword.

He gave it a couple of practice swings. The blade cut through the air with a low hum. Its weight was superbly balanced. Though heavier than an ordinary two-handed sword, it was still effortless for him to wield with his physique. He had long wanted to fight with a sword in each hand, but pairing other swords with Blackfyre had always felt awkward. This one was just right. From now on, he would wield Blackfyre in his right hand and Bloodshadow in his left. Bloodshadow was the name he had just given the sword.

They continued searching and reached a room that might have been a study or a private shrine. It was not large. Numerous scrolls and stone tablets lay scattered across stone shelves against the walls, most of them already decayed or ruined. A few scrolls sealed inside metal cylinders, however, had survived intact.

Viserys carefully opened one of the metal cylinders. The papyrus inside had yellowed, but its writing was still clear. It was written in ancient High Valyrian. These documents actually recorded House Satheryen's secret traditions of blood magic and shadow magic.

Yet almost every spell recorded here required a "sacrifice." From livestock to slaves, and even close blood relatives, the more powerful the spell, the harsher and crueler its requirements for sacrifices became.

Viserys rolled the scroll back up. Though he had no use for it now, that did not mean he would have no use for it in the future. Apart from the documents, the most striking thing in the room was an object standing on a table. It was a candle, made from something neither metal nor stone, with a translucent quality like some strange jade or glass. Fine patterns were carved into its body. Most astonishing of all, a pale flame burned quietly at the tip of its wick.

"A glass candle," Viserys murmured. He had heard the legends from the Citadel. These magical objects, which could only be lit when the tides of magic returned, served as an indication of magic's presence, and looked almost exactly like the candle before him. If this truly was a glass candle, it clearly proved that magical energy was abundant, at least in the castle's central area.

Yet Viserys himself did not feel that the magic in his surroundings was much stronger than it was outside. Perhaps the magical energy here was subject to some restriction, and he had yet to gain its recognition. Still, he carefully put the candle away. This, too, was an important discovery and a lead for future research.

The greatest surprise, however, was that Ser Alliser and the others had found more Valyrian weapons in the armory: several spears and standard-issue longswords. They bore the same triple-spiral sigil. These weapons had likely been intended as rewards for House Satheryen's retainers, but now he reaped the benefit. He awarded the longswords to several knights, including Ser Arthur, which would also make it easier for Arthur to wield two swords. Previously, Arthur had used Dawn throughout because ordinary weapons were useless against most of the creatures here. Now he, too, could unleash his full abilities. Naturally, the remaining spears were distributed among the soldiers, strengthening the company's ability to defend itself.

The search of the other rooms yielded little: some gold, silver, and jewels, a few ornaments giving off faint magical fluctuations, and some strange apparatus that might once have been used for magical experiments or rituals.

As for the gold, silver, and jewels, Viserys simply ordered, "Divide them among yourselves. Take as much as you can carry, but remember, don't get greedy and let it hinder your movements." The soldiers gave a subdued cheer, dispelling a little of the oppressive atmosphere. These valuables were a small compensation for their risks and sacrifices.

While the soldiers happily sorted through the treasure, Viserys stood by a window, gazing out at the peninsula's interior, shrouded in smoke and dust, and considering where to go next.

"Roooar-"

A deafening dragon's roar, filled with majesty, rang out from the sky like a thunderclap.