These Shadows Remain Read Online Free

words came to him in the same way the wind moved the leaves of a tree and so allowed people who could read the leaves to tell what terrible storm or calming weather was coming.
    â€œI can show you what to expect and how to move on them. I know your friends and families aren’t dead.”
    The murmuring grew.
    â€œWhat’s happened to them?” a woman shouted.
    â€œThey’ve been absorbed into images, where they’re being watched by what you call the toons. We can get to them and free them.”
    â€œHow do you know?” the man asked. His hand was still extended towards the knight. He seemed ready to either embrace or attack him.
    â€œDon’t ask me how. But as I brought you the children, so I’ll bring you the knowledge of how to fight the terror.”
    â€œWe trusted him in the woods,” Gabrielle said. “We can believe him now.”
    â€œIt appears,” the man said, letting his hand drop slowly, “the little ones have learned a lot in their wanderings. If they trust you, I will too.”
    *
    Howling from the darkness pierced up so powerfully that those who stood on the slopes of the hill were silenced.
    â€œIt’s time to get inside the castle,” Tomas said. “They’ll be coming for us soon. We must get ready.”
    The man nodded, and turned, and gestured to his people, and turned to the children who stood near the knight, and smiled again at their courageous devotion.
    â€œMy name is Cyrus.” It was important to tell the knight his name. It was part of the code that the people in the castle had hurriedly developed and written down. Naming had become a test. So had touching. The feel of skin confirmed humanity. Once more Cyrus offered his hand, but Tomas had already brushed by, leading the children towards the gate.
    Cyrus hesitated, slivered by worry. What were they admitting into their domain with this strange figure? Could he be believed? Maybe he was a spy.
    He sighed. Tomas had brought the children back to them – though Cyrus himself had no children – and had done so with a swift goodness of heart. They’d taken Tomas to themselves, and, Cyrus thought, so must he, for now.
    *
    The children and the people in the castle had already been captured.
    The myriad of floating eyes had been sent again to store up more images. Discreetly they had zeroed in on the knight and they had recorded the paths, the valley, the hills, the gate, the walls and the towers. Now they were preparing to return to the encampment. They would relay to the wizard this surveillance, and image for him the many paths that could lead his armies to those who thought they were safe.
    They had caught their data. It was only a matter of time until they caught their essences and flattened them forever on glowing white surfaces. All humanity would be on screens, and the living shadows would be their audience.
    Toons made good captors and critics. They had listened to humanity for a long time. The sound of children’s laughter had echoed in their ears. They had known the shut off, when they were suddenly left in the freeze-frame of the dark and silence. Their power had often been ignored or dismissed. Mocked, and studied, they had rarely been honoured, and seldom feared. It had come to the point where they themselves doubted they could influence anyone. Yet sometimes they saw that they could fascinate and compel, and they had watched back, and they had learned.
    The wizard gave them permission to break away.
    â€œHumanity is a worn-out dream.”
    His voice issued through the static of the screens like the sound of a column of fire in a desert.
    â€œIsn’t it time to take vision away from them? Isn’t it the moment for another creation? You have powers they don’t comprehend. Take from those who have fooled themselves into believing they are the only gods. The flat ones are humans who never saw how much there is to the