The time seemed to stop. Skylar wasn't thinking. The years of training took over, and her body moved without wasting a moment. She sidestepped behind Gawyn and raised her shield arm to cover his back. 

The problem was, she didn't have a shield, nor any weapon, for that matter.

The knife pierced straight through her raised forearm.

Skylar gasped in pain, and for a second, her eyes met with those of the assailant. The wide blue eyes were glassy and lifeless. Living on the border of the Blighted Lands, she saw it far too many times. The man roared with pure rage and wrenched the knife back. Skylar screamed and almost blackout from the explosion of pain. The world around her erupted with movement. Gawyn was already wrestling with the assassin, blocking the arm that was holding a blade. The guards were running from all sides and pushing the panicking crowd away.

Skylar pressed her injured arm tightly. Her hands were sleek with blood, and her brilliant white dress was turning crimson. She was swaying on her feet, and her mind felt fuzzy, blurring her vision, but she forced herself to keep her consciousness.

"My lady!" Preston appeared at her side, his face pale as a sheet. "You're hurt! Let me take you to safety!"

"No!" She swatted his hands away.

Gawyn managed to pin the assailant to the floor, pressing a knee to his back, but the man was struggling like a wild beast, shrieking with a voice that couldn't possibly belong to any human.

"Bring the chains! Swiftly!" the General shouted. He was struggling to keep the man on the floor. "And help me with restraining him!"

"Preston," gasped Skylar. She had difficulty breathing now, and her whole body started trembling uncontrollably. She gingerly raised a hand she was pressing to the wound. Under the blood, she spotted dark veins spreading up her arms.

"My lady, your arm!" her guard screamed with a high-pitched voice.

"It's poison," she hissed and grabbed his arm to keep herself from falling. "Quickly now. We need to banish this thing. I need you to burn the herbs I gave you this morning."

"But my lady! I can't leave you like this!"

"It's an order!" Skylar bellowed, using most of her remaining strength to push him away. The guard scrambled toward the closest candelabras fumbling with his pocket.

Skylar fell to her knees and clenched her teeth. Just a few more seconds, and it all would be over.

The assassin kept thrashing so violently that even Gawyn, with two other soldiers, struggled to keep him down. The air filled with an intense smell of burning herbs. The creature howled in pain and started to squirm even more fiercely.

"Done, my lady!" Preston trotted back to Skylar, holding a bowl with burning herbs.

"Help me up, quick!" Skylar ordered. She cried from pain when the guard pulled her up but still took the bowl from him in her trembling hand. "We need to get closer."

They staggered together toward the assassin.

Gawyn looked up at them. "Get back! Right now!" he ordered, his voice cold and firm as steel.

"Hold it tight. It will try to escape," Skylar said, ignoring the command. She raised the bowl with her shaking hand. "I can see thy true form, Shadow Shifter! I banish you from this body and this world. Begone!"

The bowl erupted with a blindingly bright flame, and the creature made an ear-splitting shriek. Gawyn and the guards staggered back with swords raised. Darkness shot out from the thrashing body, leaving it lifeless and motionless.

The shadow took a loose form of coiling blackness, and two red points glared at them. The monster hissed furiously, baring sharp fangs.

"Begone!" roared Skylar and threw the burning bowl towards the creature. It howled again when the smoke from burned herbs touched its form, and then it started falling apart. The swirling blackness froze, and dark sand dripped to the floor, leaving nothing more but a pile of dust.

And then silence fell as everyone in the room tried to comprehend what had just happened. Gawyn was the first to shake off the stupor. He turned to look at Skylar, his face pale.

"What did you do?"

"Is that proof enough?" she asked and tried to smile, but her body stopped responding. She tried to grip her pendant, but her conscience was already slipping.

The darkness closed her in a tight embrace.

***

Gawyn caught Skylar before her body hit the floor. Her skin turned ashen, and her body started to convulse.

"Healer! Quickly!" Gawyn bellowed, kneeling, resting his wife gently on the floor and cradling her lolling head on his knees. His chest was clenched as if some enormous rock was crushing it. Skylar's body still shook uncontrollably, and her breathing was laboured. She was stabbed. It shouldn't be this bad. Unless...

The man in the grey robes of a healer kneeled next to them. He took hold of Skylar's bloody arm and then gasped. "What the hell is that?"

Only then did Gawyn notice it. All the blood covering her arm made it less obvious, but when he looked closely, he saw dark veins creeping under her skin, reaching up to her shoulder already.

"Poison," he said through clenched teeth. "The blade was poisoned. You must have the antidote!" He looked up at the healer.

The man was pale, and his bushy brows were knitted. "It's nothing like I've seen before. And it's progressing far too quickly to be any known variety of poison. I don't think...."

"I don't care!" roared the General, making the other man cower in fear. "She's dying! You must do something! Right now!"

"Lord General, with all due respect, if I don't know what this is, I can't treat her," protested the healer meekly, attending to the stab wound to stop the bleeding.

Gawyn made a strangled noise of rage and frustration, cradling his wife's head and muttering. "Come on, Skylar. Fight it! I know you can fight it!"

"My lord!" Preston pushed through the gathered crowd, dragging Kayla with him. The girl was out of breath, and her hair was a mess. She must have come running from the other side of the mansion.

"The pendant, my lord!" she gasped, kneeling next to them. "Lady Skylar told me it contains the mix of herbs that ward off the black magic and will fight any poison that those creatures spread!"

"Of course, it's the bloody pendant," Gawyn said, feeling a relief flooding him. She was prepared for that, my clever little wife. He quickly grabbed the necklace and broke it free with one firm tug. He always thought the thing was utterly ugly. It was pretty big for a simple pendant, a silvery shell in Shawcross's emblem shape. Only with close examination the tiny latch was visible. The lid popped open when he prodded with his fingernail, revealing a bunch of herbs tucked firmly inside.

The General pushed it at the healer. "Made a potion with this, swiftly!"

"Are you sure, my lord?" asked the man examining the herbs. "We have no guarantee it will even work...."

"I said do it!" ordered Gawyn with a voice that could cut through the stones. "There's no time for arguments now."

The healer was already taking a mortar and flasks from his bag, getting to work without further protests.

Skylar started wheezing, the black veins almost reaching up to her neck.

"Faster!" growled Gawyn. "We're losing her!"

The healer shook a little vail hastily. "Lean her head back a bit, please," he said, putting the bottle to Skylar's lips and gently pouring the green liquid into her mouth.

Skylar's body shook, and she coughed a few times, but after a few seconds, the wheezing stopped, and her breath seemed to deepen, though still seemed laboured. But her body stopped shaking.

"Amazing. It seems it does work," said the healer in awe. "It stopped the poison from spreading, but we'll need more of it to get rid of what already runs in her veins. I could distinguish some of those herbs but not all. Do we know what was in this mixture?"

Gawyn looked up at the handmaid. "Kayla?"

The girl straightened. "Yes, my lord. Lady Skylar gave me the list of all protection herbs. I have it all written down."

"Great job. Give it to the master healer here and help him with acquiring all the ingredients. We need as much of this cure as needed to heal her."

He got up to his feet, holding Skylar's bloodied body tightly. Her head rested on his shoulder, and if not for all the blood covering her, he might think she was asleep. Gawyn looked around him for the first time. The crowd of nobles surrounded them, a gathering of pale faces and nervous whispers. Alarat stepped forward.

"What do you need, Gawyn? Say the word, and I'll see it done."

The General looked at the gathering with a frown. 

"Get everyone out of here." 

He moved towards the stairs, and the nobles moved away to make a passage from him without a word.