Shahla grinned. She was no longer the new one.

Yes, Najeem found his Shedim after her, but he advanced his skill far faster than she did. Now Vai and Shakti were the ones with no idea what they were doing.

Though, she realized it was kind of stupid to take pleasure in such a thing. She just liked that Seang and Lokapele had found new people to yell at.

The army had arrived at Xinhou’s gates and were setting up their siege camp, but they wouldn’t make an assault for at least another day. So Lokapele and Seang had one day to teach Vai and Shakti everything they could about Shedim out on the patio.

Of course, she and Najeem were practicing, but unlike the other two, they could take breaks.

“Cold drink?” Najeem offered her a porcelain cup as he sat down on the bench she was lounging on.

“Cold drink is a very vague term.” Shahla grinned as she took the cup from him.

“Well, I’d be more specific if I knew what it was. It tastes like...tea, I guess. But it’s been chilled and there’s some kind of root mixed in with it.” Najeem said.

Shahla took a sparing sip. “Woah. That’s good!” The drink was sweet, but only mildly so. It had a sort of...tang to it she couldn’t identify.

“Have those two manifested their Shedim yet?” Najeem asked.

Shahla shook her head, “No, but Vai seems to get close every so often.”

As if on cue, Blue mist whirled from his back and manifested into a Shedim.Vai’s Shedim had the top half of a human Aotearoan man, but the bottom half was made of the tentacles of an octopus. An eight-pointed star surrounded by concentric circles tattooed on the Shedim’s chest.

Seang asked him if he recognized the man at all.

“This is the Deepness of the Sea and Sail. He is who most of our canoes are dedicated to.” Vai recited as though he were reading from a book, but with a twinge of awe and disbelief.

Shakti managed hers not long after. Her Shedim was far more bizarre. It shared her facial features, had bright pink flesh, and wielded four arms. It wore an elegant Jambudvipi gown of white with gold embroidery and a golden headdress. In two of its hands, it carried a string instrument. The other hands each carried a pen and a book.

“This is rather obvious, yes?” Seang asked.

Shakti nodded, “She who Beckons the Essence of Self.”

Both Shedim vanished into their masters.

“Come across any new abilities recently?” Shahla asked.

Najeem shook his head. “To be fair, Lokapele herself only has two, and she claims to have been at this Shedim master thing for years. What about you?”

“I found something rather interesting.” Shahla said, “According to Seang, I caused her to see and hear things. I can almost simulate what it’s like to go mad. But I can only target one person at a time.” She sighed. “I wish I had something more offensive to use during battle. That way people wouldn’t have to keep watching me to make sure a stray pebble has not knocked me out.”

“I think that would be asking a little much.” Najeem said, “As far as I can tell, being a Shedim Master isn’t being given a weapon. It’s being given a tool that you have to learn to use as a weapon. My power doesn’t hurt people at all, but I can sure as hell terrify someone or sneak up on them. Your abilities make it so your enemy can’t fight back. And I certainly hope that time I taught you to use a sword didn’t go to waste.”

“You mean those twenty minutes we had left of a lunch break? Besides, you didn’t really tell me how to use a sword. You told me how to not be afraid of stabbing someone.” Shahla chuckled, “But you have a point. I suppose I shouldn’t expect much in the way of attacking power from the moon.”

An explosion sounded off from the distance.

Shahla turned her head to see a part of the wall smoking.

“They’re assaulting the city!” Kameko yelled from a nearby bench.

“What? I thought they were setting up camp!” Seang exclaimed.

“Well, apparently not!” Kameko flipped her glaive up into her hands, “Follow me!”

Shahla and her allies chased Kameko across the network of bridges to the wall, where it had been attacked.

White Tiger soldiers were mobilizing as fast as they could as a giant ball of flaming debris was launched from a wooden siege engine at the wall.

Lokapele melted a chunk of the wall and outstretched her hands, wrapping the lava around the ball and swinging her arms around her head to throw it back.

Bolts from giant crossbows assaulted the walls, as did fire from mangonels. Units of soldiers advanced on the gate under the cover of wooden screens and pushed iron-headed rams towards them along with siege towers and giant carts with swinging metal hooks as tall as the walls.

“HWACHA!” a soldier screamed.

“Get down!” Kameko shouted.

Shahla flattened herself against the ground as a volley of bolts propelled by Nikan black powder rockets streaked overhead.

This was nothing like the siege warfare of Qahtan. Nowhere near this many engines were ever used.

Shahla stood back up once the bolts had stopped their frequent pace, only to be met by a giant metal hook that dug into the battlements in front of her. She yelped as the hook was pulled and the battlement was destroyed.

Lokapele threw back another mangonel stone as men on the ground started trying to scale the wall by running up it on flexible bamboo poles.

Kameko violently shoved her glaive through the man on the pole nearest them.

Some carts folded out ladders that hooked into the wall’s battlements while crossbow fire continued to shower them.

Death surrounded her as blood from ladder rushers was splattered across the white stone and fire from siege engines threw people off the walls.

“Take care of those ladders!” Kameko shouted as she and another soldier sent a log full of metal spikes rolling down one ladder, mutilating the soldiers climbing it.

Seang carved through the hooks in the ladders with a beam of light and shoved it over.

The defenders atop the walls threw down everything they had to kill the attackers. Stones, boiling water, pots of oil quickly followed by a torch.

Even just slabs of wood with iron spikes in them.

Shahla didn’t know what to do with herself. There were so many things that needed extra hands. So many people in need.

Her heartbeat pounded in her head as her body and mind froze up. She was paralyzed, with no clue what the right move was. She just stayed low to avoid getting shot.

She tried to recall how to use her powers, but she could only draw up blanks.

“On your feet, soldier!”

Lokapele pulled Shahla up by her arm before sending another mangonel shot back at the attackers.

Shahla snapped out of her shock, “My powers! They aren-”

“Then take this!” Lokapele grabbed a spear from a bloody corpse and shoved it into her hands before turning to the assaulting force and unleashing a volley of molten stone shards burning through their mobile cover.

Another explosion shook the wall. Shahla whirled around to see where the enemy had hit, but there were no other parts of it filled with smoke and fire.

“A ram’s reached the wall!” Kameko said, running past them. “Lokapele, can you take care of them?”

Lokapele nodded before grabbing a mangonel shot and sending it directly at the battering ram to their left.

Shahla glanced to her right and saw Najeem clearing an entire ladder with a single kick. He cut out the joints of their folding ladder and climbed back onto the wall.

“Qahtanad!” a soldier called in her language, “Give me a hand with this ladder!”

Shahla ran over and helped him try to lift the ladder.

The load then got twice as heavy as a crossbow bolt abruptly buried itself in a chink in the soldier’s armor.

Shahla’s shock didn’t allow her to scream.

She looked at the approaching enemies, who stowed their crossbows in favor of spears.

Remember what Najeem taught you! She reminded herself.

Shahla found the strength to impale her spear into the first soldier’s throat. She retracted the blood-soaked weapon and swung it like a staff, pushing another soldier off so that he was just hanging by his hands.

His fellow soldiers helped him up before Najeem shot out of a nearby shadow with a spinning kick. He cut the ladder and returned to her.

“Are you alright?” Najeem asked.

Shahla nodded, though it was an empty answer. She’d killed a man.

Much to her dismay, Najeem left her side to help cut down more ladders.

It was all too much. Too overwhelming. She had half a mind to just roll up in a ball and hope she didn’t get hurt. She was helpless.

A little girl on a field of death. Barely able to lift a spear and startled by battlefield ambience.

“You have some gall to consider accepting helplessness.”

Shahla’s gaze snapped up. Her Shedim stood before her. She hadn’t manifested it.

“Is this your way of telling me you give up?” the Shedim spoke.

“W-what else am I meant to do? Look at me!”

She looked at the Asasiyun just a few yards away. The Order bred him for war. A killer and a soldier. She was just a princess. How in the hell was she expected to fight in a battle when she was nothing but another frail member of royalty?

“You shouldn’t even be thinking of that. I’ve seen you risk death for your ideals and your comrades. That aside, however, there is always an opportunity staring you right in the face.”

The Shedim gestured upwards. Shahla followed her gaze to the faint white disc in the sky. The moon was out.

“But your act of weakness has damaged our bond.”

“What?” Shahla asked.

“Despair has infected you and thus, I cannot offer you the power you need to turn the tides of this battle.”

With that, the Inevitable Wake of the Waning Moon vanished.

“Wait!” Shahla called out to her Shedim, but to no avail.

“Shahla?” Najeem placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump.

The noise died down. The Nikan were retreating, dragging their siege engines back.

“They’re retreating.” Najeem said.

“We...we won?” Shahla asked.

“No.” Kameko said, “I suspect this was only a fraction of their true force. We barely kept them off the walls. This attack was nothing more than a message that we don’t stand a chance.”

________________________________________________________________________

Najeem strolled through his shadow world.

At this rate, the city would fall after just one or two full assaults. That would happen before the Koinis arrived. If they arrived.

They barely trained half these White Tiger men with a spear.

And it had been clarified that among his allies, he was the only real soldier.

Seang certainly knew her shit when it came to war, but she always seemed...not entirely present in battle. Lokapele was a fighter, but she wasn’t disciplined enough to work with the soldiers.

Shahla, Vai and Shakti, however...none of them knew what they were doing. Vai and Shakti let themselves be ordered around, but Shahla had a panic attack.

While Seang talked with the rebellion’s leaders about strategy, Najeem had taken it upon himself to gather information while shadows were everywhere and possibly engage in some sabotage if the opportunity presented itself.

Najeem jumped into the shadow of a bat and let it carry him to the nearest shadows made by trees. He always walked or ran in the shadow world, but he felt his movement to be more like slithering, since he was technically on a two-dimensional surface.

A son or daughter of the Emperor led every Nikan army and every other person in line for the throne was a scarily powerful Bane Knight. But as Najeem drew closer to the camp, he felt something in his heart of hearts. Like something that shouldn’t have existed was standing before him.

“Steel.” Najeem called for his Shedim, who appeared floating alongside him as he leapt from shadow to shadow, “What did Kameko mean when she said the royals were scarily powerful? Is it just prowess?”

“What the Emperor’s children do differs from the average Bane Knight. They are infamous among my contemporaries. Banebending requires the exploitation of Shedim. But Bane Knights use common Shedim. It is a forgivable and even understandable transgression. For example, you would not likely shed a tear if my kind harvested technically humanoid creatures like apes. It would be odd, but not anything too serious.”

“I suppose…”

“But the Emperor’s children have found a way to imprison Elder Shedim. My kind.”

“That’s...that’s impossible.” Najeem said, “How would someone even try to capture an Elder Shedim?”

“I would tell you, but the more people know about it, the worse. With your pride, it may lead to the extinction of my people.”

“My pride?” Najeem frowned. “Did you just accuse me of being arrogant?”

“That bit annoys me about you in particular.”

“What the hell does that have to do with my ability to keep secrets?” Najeem huffed, “And you don’t have to be so blunt about it.”

“Actually, I think my kind ought to be more upfront. Things would get done a lot quicker.”

“What things?”

“For one, your spiritual wounds would heal much faster,” Steel said.

“Ugh. I’ve had enough spiritual stuff for one lifetime.” Najeem groaned.

“Are you not...a religious killer?” Steel sounded confused, but it didn’t show on his nearly featureless face.

“I am. But not by choice.” Najeem said, “Do you know how they choose Asasiyun?”

“I am not familiar with it.”

“Whenever Qahtan goes on a campaign into the Al-Kubra, they send boys from conquered lands to the Asasiyun and forced to convert from their pagan roots.” Najeem explained, “I mean, I believe in God, but it doesn’t sit right with me they’re forced to be a certain way.”

“I see.”

“Not to mention the actual training they put you through. The Asasiyun Masters are ruthless. If you are not the sharpest in mind, body, and soul, you fail. And if you fail, you get sold into slavery. Not that we aren’t already basically slaves.”

“I can see you’ve thought a great deal about the system they brought you up with.” Steel said, “I could-”

“Later. We’re here.” Najeem said.

Steel vanished as Najeem peered through the shadows at his feet. He determined this was a good place to surface.

The cool air of night washed over him as he emerged from the shadows onto a sturdy tree branch. He had upgraded from black accents in his clothing to completely wrapping himself in dark cloth to avoid detection.

Najeem sat above the siege camp outside the city of Xinhou. They had occupied a nearby village, but the actual camp was about thrice its size.

Kameko had been right in her prediction that what they’d seen today was merely a fraction of their force. The ten or so mangonels they’d brought into battle with them were being repaired, but the number of operational ones they had far outnumbered them.

“How good’s your memory, Steel?” Najeem whispered.

Far more full than yours. Take your own notes, Steel’s voice scoffed in his head.

Najeem frowned. Fine.

He wanted to gauge this army’s strength. In both siege weaponry and the all-important supply line. An army this big required vast amounts of food and water to maintain. Xinhou sourced all its water from underground reservoirs and a village well wouldn’t sate the thirst of thousands.

Considering that Xinhou was on its own, though, the Nikan probably had plenty of supplies.

Supply lines, however, would only be a target if the Nikan wanted to draw out the siege. Time was on Xinhou’s side in this scenario. Anything he could find out to slow them down would be a boon. Even if their supply lines were cut off, it would be trivially easy to get another set up, given they were on Nikan soil.

There were two primary elements that hurt Xinhou during that siege the most. Mangonels and crossbows. And the Nikan really had confidence going in under those wooden screens.

I can take stuff into the shadow world with me, right? Najeem asked.

Only twenty two-hundred-pound men or a weight of objects equivalent to that. Keep in mind that those objects also have to be in shadow or held by a person touching shadow at all times.

Considering that today was just used to intimidate the White Tiger rebels, any special weapons wouldn’t have been used.

During the war between Prince Ahmed and Prince Ali, when Ali had sold himself to the Nikan, he began using the occasional black powder weapon to change the tide of a battle.

Those would be mighty useful in the rebels’ hands.

Najeem sank back into the shadows and started exploring the camp. There had to be a storage tent or something like that for weapons.

Lo-and-behold, he was right. Najeem peered through the shadow of an empty tent to find crates stacked on crates of black powder hand cannons. The cannons were cast iron tubes stuffed with black powder and arrows.

Najeem emerged from the shadows and started moving the crates into the shadow world. He grabbed ten crates, setting one aside for his own use before he grabbed a cannon from one of the unmoved boxes.

Najeem grabbed a flint and steel from his belt and lit the cannon before putting it back in its crate and falling back into the shadow world.

The muffled noise of a hundred chain explosions didn’t reach Najeem, though it appeared he was right next to it.

Najeem took another cannon and made his way to the siege engine workshop. He entered the yard full of mangonels and lit his second cannon. He only emerged halfway from the shadow world and set the cannon towards a cart full of their very flammable projectiles, which included diseased bodies, jars of oil and large balls of peat.

Najeem slipped back into the shadows as the mangonel yard burst into flames.

Hell, he could walk right up to whichever prince was leading this army and shoot him in the face with one of these.

Watch your pride, Steel said in his mind.

Najeem still didn’t know what precisely it meant when it said that, but Steel was right. Najeem didn’t know what abilities the enemy would have. Perhaps he was using a perfect counter to his ability. It was better that he just start moving the boxes of cannons before the-

“Shit!” Najeem cried.

He turned to see that the boxes of hand cannons were missing. The light from the explosion erased all traces of shadows and pulled most of the boxes back up to explode along with it. He left only one crate sitting in a tent’s shadow.

“Ah, hubris. What a wonderful thing.” Steel manifested next to Najeem. Though he only had eyes, Najeem could tell Steel would’ve had a smug look on his face if he could.

“Shut it, ass.” Najeem muttered. “Let’s go see if there were any other storage tents I could steal some more from.”

He had nothing to prove to this shade. If nothing else, the army was going to have a much harder time fighting the rebellion.