Soul Shade (Soul Stones Book 2)

by T. L. Branson

  She pulled both of the boys in together and hugged them.

  “And you,” Khate said, straightening and turning to Ocken. “Why is it that I always find you at the center of trouble?”

  “You know me,” Ocken said with a smile, his cheeks reddening. “Always looking for a little excitement, and now I think I’ve found it.”

  If Maya wasn’t mistaken, Khate blushed as well.

  “Lucky for us you sailed into Luton,” Will said, breaking the awkwardness. “What brought you here?”

  “We’ve been everywhere in the west and have garnered support,” Maya explained. “Kent’s armies sail for Derton and we came here to warn Luton.”

  “Luton has already evacuated to Derton,” Will said. “Though I did manage to win the governor’s support for your rule before they did.”

  “That’s good news, I—”

  “Watch out!” Will shouted, a blue beam of energy appearing in his hands.

  Maya reacted immediately, diving out of the way just as Will lunged forward. Maya turned and saw Thallan parry Will’s attack with two smaller brown beams of energy of his own.

  Will raised his staff for another attack.

  “Hold!” Maya shouted.

  Will faltered. “There’s an elf on your ship!” he exclaimed.

  “You’re one to talk,” Thallan said, dispelling his weapons. “Have you forgotten me already, Undriel?”

  “I don’t know who you are,” Will said. “And I don’t know who Undriel is. How is that you can do what I do? I thought only the Soul Render could create energy weapons capable of destroying souls?”

  Thallan furrowed his brow.

  Maya regained her feet and ran between them. To Thallan she said, “This… is not your friend. He’s—”

  “So this must be Will,” Thallan said, smiling. “Soul Render, huh? I take it Undriel is no longer with us?”

  “Thallan has been helping us,” Maya said.

  Will narrowed his eyes, unconvinced. “I’m sorry about your friend,” he said.

  Thallan snorted. “Undriel? Hardly. And I don’t ‘do what you do,’ ” he said. “I just made you think I could. That’s the beauty of the mind.”

  “So you’re a mind reader?” Will asked.

  “No,” he chuckled. “Think of it as an illusion, like Maya, but one that can actually kill you.”

  “So you—”

  “Could have destroyed your soul? No,” he said. “But your brain would have thought you were dead, which is pretty much the same thing.”

  “And you trust this guy?” Will asked Maya.

  “I didn’t at first,” she replied. “But he nearly killed himself to save us. He chose a side, and it’s ours.”

  Thallan smiled awkwardly and extended a hand to Will. It hung there for several seconds before Will raised his own and shook.

  “Will?” Maya said. “Can I see you for a moment? In private?”

  Tread lightly, Merva said. You don’t know whether he feels as forgiving as you are.

  “Uh oh,” Robert said. “What’d you do now?”

  That just made this more difficult, Maya thought.

  Will glanced between Maya and Robert, the confusion plain on his face. Maya turned, opened the door to her chambers, and walked in. Will followed and closed the door behind him.

  As soon as the door clicked, Will said, “Look, before you say anything, I know—”

  “I’m sorry,” Maya blurted out.

  “—what I did was incredibly—” Will finished, stopping suddenly with a jolt. “I must be hearing things, because I could have sworn I heard you apologize.”

  “I’m sorry, all right?” Maya said. “Gods, you make this harder than it needs to be.”

  “It wouldn’t be fun if I didn’t give you a hard time,” Will said.

  “You are so annoying sometimes, you know that?” Maya asked.

  “Well now we know it runs in the family,” he said.

  Maya groaned. “Please do not remind me of that. I can’t believe you never once mentioned your mother’s name.”

  “Would it have mattered?” Will asked. “My mother hasn’t been to Shadowhold since before I was born.”

  “So you knew?” she asked.

  “Knew what?” he replied.

  “That we’re…” Maya couldn’t even say the word. She had apologized. That should have been enough for him. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to call him family.

  “No,” Will said, shaking his head. “Mother never talked about her past. Ever.”

  “I really do mean it, you know,” Maya said. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I never expected you to run off. I thought you were just being a brat and would go along with whatever everyone else decided. The next thing I knew, you were gone.”

  Will sighed. “I guess I should apologize, too,” he said. “I behaved irrationally, and I put us all in danger.”

  “It’s fine, really, I—”

  “The elves have another soul stone because of me,” Will said.

  “What?” Maya exclaimed.

  Ocken scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly at Khate. After Will and Maya left, Ocken walked to the bow of the ship and Khate had followed.

  “So…” he said.

  Khate forced a smile, sucked in air through her teeth, and said, “So…”

  “You’re Will and Robert’s mother, huh?” Ocken asked.

  “You should know,” Khate said. “You met them, remember? When you came to me asking for help to save Riley from Lady Yesenia?”

  “Robert was, what, four at the time?” Ocken said. “And you never told me their names.”

  “Didn’t I?” Khate said. “You did take me by surprise. After what happened between us in Shadowhold, you were the last person I ever expected to see again.”

  “Yet here we are,” Ocken said.

  “Yep,” she said, nodding tentatively. “Together again.”

  “So your husband… is he—”

  Khate covered the space between them in a heartbeat. Grabbing his head, she pulled him in close and kissed him.

  When she let go, he straightened his back and stood still, eyes blinking and mouth agape.

  “Wow,” he said.

  “Neither of us are getting any younger,” she said, answering his unspoken question. “And there’s already been too much lost time between us.”

  “I’ll freely admit that not a day has gone by I haven’t thought of you,” Ocken said. “But I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.”

  “I was hurting from the loss of Evangeline and moody with the pregnancy,” Khate said. “When I told you not to follow me, I thought you’d ignore me and come anyway. I—I wanted you to, but you never did.”

  Ocken opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again and sighed. Women. How was he supposed to know what she wanted if she wouldn’t speak plainly? He wasn’t a mind reader. If he had followed and she hadn’t wanted him to, she probably would have put a knife through his heart. Though she had done it anyway by leaving in the first place.

  “It doesn’t matter now,” Khate said. “I don’t regret my life, and I don’t think you do either.”

  She was right on that account. If Ocken had followed Khate to Celesti, he never would have met Riley. She might not have even survived the night that Berxley fell. Riley had become more than a friend—she had been like a daughter to him. And Ocken wouldn’t have traded that for the world.

  “But that doesn’t mean we both have to live miserably in the future,” Khate said. “It’s been… hard since my husband died. Raising three boys on my own, and then receiving word that two of them were dead and my brother-in-law was the one who’d killed them. Except now Will’s not dead—”

  “Shh,” Ocken said, placing a finger on her lips, then he leaned in and kissed her, scooping her up in his arms.

  38

  The Wave Wraith had rendezvoused with General Kosta and his soldiers in the waters to the west of Derton. There were no ports any
where near Derton, so the larger ships had to run aground several miles to the west. The smaller ships, like the Wave Wraith, had been able to slip down the Estes River and get a little closer.

  The safest place to dock had been near the bridge along the main road that crossed the Estes, connecting Havan and Derton provinces. From there they’d traveled an hour on foot until they reached Derton’s walls.

  Maya now stood poring over a map of the area in Derton Castle’s war room, trying to get the lay of the land. Derton had been founded in the valley between two mountains—at least the locals called them mountains. While the Frostpeaks reached fourteen thousand feet at their highest, the hills around Derton were three thousand at best, but it was enough to make travel around them near impossible.

  That’s why Derton had been founded where it was. Some travelers had simply given up on their journey through and settled. It became a respite for the weary on the long journey between Celesti and Shadowhold, and eventually it had grown into a large city.

  “Am I right in seeing there are only two ways in and out of the city?” Maya asked.

  Amos Thirroul, Governor of Derton, said, “That’s correct, Your Majesty.”

  “Are there hidden passages or escape routes of any kind?” she asked.

  “I’m afraid not,” he replied. “You either go north, or you go south. This valley is the only way nearby through the mountain range.”

  “I know neither one of us wants to think about this,” Maya said. “But we have to deal with the very real possibility that this will end poorly, and plan accordingly. What are your evacuation procedures?”

  “Evacuation?”

  “Yes, what happens if Derton falls?” Maya asked.

  “Nothing,” he said. “Derton hasn’t faced any real threat in fifteen years, and potentially for a hundred before that. We’re key to the survival of the whole region. Without us, there is no trade. Without trade, the cities fall.”

  “But surely you have plans?” Will asked, cutting in. “Someone had the foresight to build a wall around this city.”

  Thirroul recoiled, and the expression on his face revealed that he’d never thought about it before. “I’m sorry, but the walls are all we’ve—wait a minute. There are the pyridis caves.”

  “The what?” Maya asked

  “There was a time when Derton felt threatened by Luton,” Thirroul said. “The start of the fishing trade there had nearly tripled the size of the city, and an ever-increasing amount of travelers had decided to stop in Luton instead of Derton. This was before my time, mind you, but my grandfather was once king of the merchants and the de facto leader here. He used to tell me stories every night, and one of them was about the pyridis caves in the mountains.”

  “I thought pyridis was only created on Kent?” Maya asked.

  “Let me finish,” he said. “My grandfather said Derton was on the brink of launching an assault against Luton, when half of it burned down in a freak accident. It crippled their economy and they never recovered.”

  “I remember that,” Sowena said. “Or stories, anyway. It had been a particularly hot and dry summer and, at least officially, they ruled it as a natural disaster started by a lightning strike.”

  “But that’s not what you believe?” Will asked.

  “I don’t know,” Sowena explained. “But it never sat well with my grandmother. Her father died in the fire. It was dumb luck she and her mother had been visiting family in a nearby village when it happened. Grandmother hadn’t been in Luton that night, but neither was she very far away, and she didn’t remember any lightning strikes. She died believing Derton had set that fire, but there was never any proof.”

  Thirroul coughed and tugged at his collar nervously. “In any case, the story goes that in the event of war with Luton, Derton wanted to be ready for an all-out invasion. They acquired pyridis from Kent and stocked the caves in the mountains full of the stuff. My grandfather said when the time was right they planned to blow the mountain.”

  “Perfect!” Will said. “So we just draw the whole lot of elves in and bury them under a thousand tons of rock.”

  Thirroul was shaking his head, but it was Khal who said, “Can’t do that. You’d basically be signing Derton’s death warrant. It would take years to clear out the valley, pyridis or no, and with no access through the mountains, all trade would cease.”

  Thirroul nodded and added, “So I tell you that because you asked if we had any backup plans, but know that if you blow that mountain, you will be permanently displacing a whole city and disrupting trade lines for generations to come.”

  “It’s a last resort,” Maya said. “Noted.”

  “There’s one more thing,” Thirroul said. “The pyridis is stored deep in the mountain, so when it blows it won’t just be a surface chunk, but the whole mountain. I’m afraid whoever sets it off won’t have time to make it out.”

  “Okay, so scrap that—too many negatives,” Maya said. “So what’s the plan, then? Are we just holing up and waiting for them to come to us? There’s got to be something we can do. I don’t play defense very well.”

  “I’m afraid we don’t have much choice,” Thirroul said. “North of the mountains is nothing but wide-open plains. If we go out there, they’ll see us coming for miles and there’s no protection. But here we have our walls, and the valley itself works as a bottleneck, limiting the amount of troops they can send at us at once.”

  “I still don’t like it,” Maya said. “It doesn’t seem right to sit around and wait.”

  “We may not agree on a lot of things,” Kosta said. “But I’m with Her Majesty on this one. Standing still isn’t in my blood.”

  “Who said anything about sitting around?” Khal said. “There are preparations to be made and defenses to be set. Not to mention training every able-bodied person to hold a sword and put up a sizeable defense.”

  “You know what I meant,” Maya said. “We don’t even know if the elves are advancing on Derton. They were sitting next to Luton for how long, yet never bothered to attack.”

  “If I may?” Thallan said. “I think Celesti was an accident.”

  “Bah!” Khal said. “How can the total annihilation of a city be an accident?”

  “There’s no doubt they destroyed it intentionally, but the timing was off,” the elf explained. To Maya he said, “I was as shocked as you were to learn of its demise. I believe something happened to advance their timeline, but then Ophi held her position, waiting to see how her plan with me played out. When that went sideways I believe she started moving again.”

  At that moment, a man burst into the room, nearly out of breath. “Governor!” he said. “The elves—they’ve passed the sunderline!”

  Thirroul cursed.

  “Where’s that?” Will asked.

  “It’s the border between the provinces,” Maya explained. “That means they’re less than a day’s journey away. They’ll be on us by nightfall.”

  “Looks like you won’t be waiting long,” Khal said. “And that means we won’t have time for proper reinforcement of the walls. We need to get everyone out of the city—now. All elderly, women, and children should be evacuated to one of the other cities. Take our ships.”

  “Your ships!” Kosta exclaimed. “I seem to remember you having one ship and the rest belonging to me.”

  Khal got in his face and said, “And when you swore your allegiance to Maya they became hers to command. You can have your precious ships back when they’re done, but right now Derton has need of them.”

  “Fine,” Kosta said, crossing his arms. “I’ll not be able to spare the men to crew the ships, though. Do you think you’ll manage?”

  Thirroul nodded. “If I have to rig every ship myself, I will.”

  “All right, then let’s get to it,” Maya said. “Send word to Havan and Penrythe that we need reinforcements—and we need them fast—then begin evacuation of all nonessential citizens immediately.”

  “Right away, my queen,” Thirr
oul said, bowing.

  As the group dispersed and Maya turned to leave, Will said, “Hold up. Maya, Mother, and…” Will looked at Thallan with his brow furrowed. “Elf, whatever your name is—”

  “It’s Th—”

  “Don’t care,” Will said. “I need to talk to the three of you—now.”

  Maya crossed her arms and waited impatiently for everyone to leave.

  Once the room was cleared, Will said, “People like Kosta, Khal, and Thirroul can plan until they’re blue in the face, but none of that factors us into the situation. We are far deadlier than any pyridis, sword, or arrow.”

  Maya snorted. “You might be, but my illusions are harmless.”

  “Maybe, but you can hide entire troop movements, or make the enemy think we’re one place when we’re not,” Will said. “We’re up against an opponent who sees everything everywhere, so there’s little room for surprises, but you make it possible.”

  “I basically can do the same thing,” Thallan said. “But my powers will be useless on the grand scale. Maya projects one image that everyone sees. I have to alter each individual mind or it won’t hold up.”

  Will scoffed. “So what can you do, then?”

  Maya didn’t like Will’s attitude toward Thallan. He might not have had cause to trust the elf, but Maya did, and she thought that should have been enough for him. “He could drop you where you stand just by telling your heart to stop beating,” she said, glaring at Will.

  Will’s eyes went wide. “Well, then, we have a lot in common.”

  “And what, pray tell, do you do?” Thallan asked Khate.

  “I’m you,” Khate replied. She pointed at Maya and said, “And you.” Then she looked at Will and added, “And you.”

  Maya narrowed her eyes and said, “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

  “Hold on,” Khate said, then she looked away as if she was listening to something. “I’ll try,” she said. She placed her hands together and asked, “Like this?”