Arden clutched the Blood of Lireal to her chest and wondered if the foreign goddess would answer a prayer for help. Maybe in another realm she would, but not here. Loku had proven once again that he controlled everything in Chaos.
“I’d first thought I could kill him and inhabit his body long enough to find my ashes,” Loku continued, pointing to Callix, “but it seems his soul is bound to his body, so I can’t even do that. So he’s completely useless to me now.”
“Sorry to have thrown a stitch in your plans,” Callix replied, his blade fixed on Loku as he moved to shield her from the chaos god.
“But you, Arden.” Loku gave her a grin that chilled her blood. “You are still of some use to me.”
Her mind whirled to find a way to outfox the king of deception. She tightened her hold on the gem and stalled for time as she hid behind Callix. “How so?”
“Ransom.” His grin widened, highlighting the madness in his eyes. “I’ll free you in exchange for my ashes. But until then, you are mine.”
Chapter 15
“They’ll never agree to that,” Callix replied, wishing for once that the chaos god had a body so he could run his sword through him.
Arden distracted his anger with a gentle touch on his back and the solid tug of something heavy being dropped into his pack.
“You’ll need to send a messenger with your demands.” She spoke quickly as though she was hoping to get Loku to agree to her plan before he spotted some loophole. “If I’m stuck here with you, how will you let them know what you want?”
“Good point.” He turned to Callix. “I suppose I do have a use for you after all.”
“But wait.” Arden came out from behind him and moved between the two men, holding a bundle wrapped in her cloak close to her chest. “They’ll demand some evidence that you have me, some proof that I’m not lying dead in some hidden location.”
“And what do you have in mind?”
“A message that only my father will understand.”
Loku’s lips thinned, and he studied her through narrowed eyes.
She kept her face blank.
At last, he nodded. “You have one minute.”
Callix didn’t trust his mouth to speak. If he did, there was a good chance he’d disclose the added weight in his pack.
She turned to Callix, still holding the balled-up fabric close to her chest. “Please deliver his demands. Tell my father the brightest star won’t forget to shine when the world seems dark.” She paused and dropped her voice, lifting back the fabric enough for him to see the apples she’d gathered moments before. “And please don’t fail me.”
He nodded, understanding her message far better than she realized. The Blood of Lireal was in his pack, and she was willing to sacrifice herself to Chaos in order to save Dev. Part of him protested at the idea of leaving her behind, but it was her choice.
And it wouldn’t stop him from coming back to get her as soon as he fulfilled her mission.
She adjusted her cloak and took a step back, pretending the balled-up fabric in her hands was the relic. “You can send him back now, but only through the same gate we entered from. That’s the fastest way to get your demands to the right people.”
“You’re quite amenable to this, aren’t you?” Loku said behind her, suspicion seeping into his words.
“And possibly insane,” Callix murmured.
“I’ve learned my lesson, Loku. I should know better than to go up against a god. At this point, I’ve decided it’s better to give in to your demands than to fight them.” She squeezed the bundle against her chest, and for the first time since they’d entered Chaos, he saw fear in her eyes. “Please, Callix, just do this one thing for me, and your debt will be repaid.”
She was entrusting the lives of both the man she loved and her own with the biggest coward in the empire, a man who’d run away from his responsibility a century ago. But now was a chance to redeem himself. His throat tightened, turning his words into a choked vow. “I promise.”
“Your time’s up,” Loku said with glee.
A blast of magic rushed past Arden and hit Callix squarely in the chest, driving the air from his lungs and lifting him off the ground. He flew backward, retracing almost a week’s journey in a few blurred seconds. His hair flew in his face, and the cold wind stung the back of his neck and the tips of his ears.
He didn’t slow down once he hit the portal. His chest burned, and every minuscule motion required maximum strength. Colors zoomed around him, and he lost sight of any landmark to ground his location. He fell from what seemed like the tallest mountain, only to land with a nauseating grunt.
When his vision sharpened, he saw a dark shadow looming over him and a single black feather balanced on the tip of his nose. A wet nose sniffed his ear, followed by the mournful whine of a fire wolf.
“Where is the Soulbearer?” Sazi demanded.
I’m back.
He would’ve jumped to his feet and danced a jig of joy if it weren’t for the pounding in his head. Instead, he struggled to sit up and pressed his hand to his temple. “He still has her.”
“You left her behind?”
“No.” He winced from the volume of his protest and lowered his voice. “She sent me back.”
“Why?”
“To make sure you got this.” He reached around to his pack and offered a silent prayer to Ivis that the relic had survived the trip. His hand closed around the hard stone that throbbed with magic like a beating heart, and he released the breath he’d been holding.
“You found it?” Sazi’s eyes widened to reveal a full rim of white around the dark centers.
“Arden did.” He placed the Blood of Lireal in Sazi’s hands. “Her only request was that we made sure this got to your king in time to save Dev. If we’re not too late, that is.”
Sazi’s brows drew together as she turned her attention from the relic to him. “How long do you think you were gone?”
“No idea, but I’m thinking it must have been at least four days.”
“More like four hours, perhaps.”
By the goddess, was it just a few hours? It felt like eons.
Sazi pressed her warm hand on his forehead, her brows still furrowed with worry and confusion. “Are you sure you are well?”
He jerked his head away from her. “No, I’m not well. That maniac still has Arden, and all she cared about was getting that blasted stone back to you to save Dev.”
“We have enough time to do that, but I must know why she remained there.”
“Loku wouldn’t let her leave.”
Sazi sucked in a breath between her teeth. “Did he say why?”
“You know why. He’ll keep her until we hand over his ashes.”
“Arden knows we cannot give in to his demands.”
“We can’t bloody well leave her there, either. Who knows what he’s doing to her right now?”
Callix climbed to his feet with every intention of charging back through the portal to rescue her, only to run into a stone wall.
The gate to Chaos had closed, and Arden was trapped.
***
Arden held her breath as Callix vanished in a blur. Sweet Lady Moon, please let this work.
Loku sauntered over to her with a predatory grin. “My dear little Soulbearer, I expected much more of a fight from you.”
“Oh?” she asked lightly, striving for a careless façade to keep him from suspecting what she’d done. She huddled around the apples hidden in her cloak and hoped they would fool Loku long enough for Callix to deliver the Blood of Lireal to Sazi.
“With how you’ve been moping around since Dev was taken, I thought you’d fight me tooth and nail for a chance to leave Chaos with Lireal’s little gem.”
Her rapid pulse pounded in her ears. She tightened her hold on the makeshift sack, wondering how much longer she could pull off the deception. “I figured it was better this way.”
Loku’s grin widened into something that made her skin crawl
. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’ve become a little fond of me.”
“Hardly.” She sidestepped out of his reach and tried to find a way out of the trees. It was as though they’d uprooted themselves to form an impenetrable barricade.
“Come now, Arden, there had to be a reason why you’d choose to stay here with me rather than rescue Dev.”
“There was.” No matter where she pushed, she couldn’t find a gap wide enough to work her arm through, much less her entire body.
Loku chuckled behind her, his ghostly breath raising gooseflesh along the back of her neck. “We both know you belong to me.”
Her temper flared to life, and she whipped around. The apples tumbled from her cloak and rolled through Loku’s transparent leg.
His face twisted into a snarl when he realized the Blood of Lireal wasn’t among them. “How—”
She cast a containment spell to silence him. “You agreed to send Callix back to deliver your ransom notice, and I hid the relic in his pack. No sense wasting a messenger, especially when you were willing to send him back far faster than we could’ve traveled on our own.”
The glow in his eyes brightened, and the earth rumbled with his fury.
Arden managed to maintain both her balance and her containment spell. “Callix will make sure Dev is freed, and then I suspect both of them will come back for me. But just to be safe, I’m going to make sure they won’t have to go far to find me.”
Now that she didn’t have to worry about protecting the relic, the restraints fell away. She gathered her magic in her hand and threw a fireball at the trees. Bright orange flames flared with a blinding light, and when it burned out, it left behind a charred tunnel for her to pass through.
She turned to the god of chaos. “It’s over, Loku. I won’t let you win.”
His mouth moved with what appeared to be a sinister warning, but she couldn’t hear him. She’d done what she’d intended to do, and now that Dev’s life was no longer on the line, she could focus on finding her way home.
That is, if Loku didn’t have another trick up his sleeve.
Chapter 16
Callix kicked at the wall of the cave and cursed.
Loku had outwitted him once again.
Worse, he’d been so worried about what the god of chaos could unleash on the world if the gate was opened that he’d failed to listen for the exact incantation to open it.
Sazi glided past him, cradling the Blood of Lireal in her hand, and reached up to trace the writing on the wall. “Can you read this, Lore Keeper?”
“Some of it.” Calming down, he focused his attention on the ancient runes and tried to translate them. “It’s from a language that died out centuries ago.”
“But you can read it, correct?”
He scratched his cheek and wandered closer. “That says ‘doorway,’ I believe.”
“And this?” she asked, pointing to the next grouping of letters.
He squinted until he saw double, but the word eluded him. “No, not that one.”
“But Varrik might?”
“If anyone in the empire can read it, it’s him.”
Sazi gave him a soft smile. “You do not give yourself enough credit.”
“I’m just being honest.” But the longer he stared at it, the more familiar it became. “Maybe if I had a text in that language that had already been translated, I could figure it out.”
“I will see Varrik once I return the Blood.”
He nodded, fully comprehending what she didn’t say. She was leaving him behind.
But he wouldn’t have it any other way. If there was any chance of the portal opening up again, he would jump through it and brave Chaos to find Arden. He stiffened when he realized how much his opinion of her had changed over the last few days. Instead of the troublemaker he’d always pictured her to be, he’d seen the selfless woman she really was. It was almost enough for him to rethink his fear of being the Soulbearer’s Protector.
But only if I can protect her.
“In the meantime, I trust you will take care of Cinder?”
The fire wolf came over and leaned against his leg, looking up at him with pleading brown eyes.
“I can watch over him. I’m sure he misses Arden more than anyone.”
“I think there is someone who misses her more.” Sazi held up the relic. “And if I can, I will bring Dev back with me.”
“I’m sure he’d love to go into Chaos and deliver a solid punch to Loku’s smug face.” He rubbed his chest at the memory of the spell the chaos god had tried to cast on him. “Just one question before you go.”
“Yes?” Sazi asked, a hint of a smile playing on her full lips.
“While we were there, Loku tried to remove my soul so he could inhabit my body, but he couldn’t. He said my soul was bound. What did he mean by that?”
The Ornathian laughed. “I suspected he would try something like that, so I am the one who bound your soul within your body. Would you like me to remove the spell?”
He rubbed his chest one more time and cast a side glance at where the portal had stood. “Maybe later.”
“As you wish, Lore Keeper.” She disappeared around the corner, and a few minutes later, the faint sound of flapping wings echoed back to the cave.
She would take care of Dev, but it was up to Callix to free Arden. He sat down on the ground, copied the foreign inscription in the ashes on the floor, and started working on the translation.
***
Sazi reached out to Lireal as she flew back to the Ornathian capital of Kotall, but the goddess was silent, as usual. If there was a way to return Arden to this realm, Lireal would only offer to help if she felt like it.
A sigh escaped from her lips. If Sazi hadn’t heard the voice of the goddess before, she might have believed that she didn’t exist. Or at least, didn’t care about her people. Their woes could’ve been resolved long ago if Lireal had just told her about the portal.
Do not let this shake your faith. The Blood of Lireal has been returned. It will cure the blight, and an innocent life will be spared.
She just hoped that the Soulbearer would not suffer any long-term effects from her time in Chaos. Sazi vividly remembered how altered Syd was once they found him. The previous Soulbearers had all been of elvan blood, so their decline took decades. Syd, on the other hand, was the first human Soulbearer, and his descent into madness was quick and pronounced once he returned from Loku’s realm. His stare was hazy, and the constant stream of mumbling revealed disjointed thoughts from a troubled mind.
If Arden returns the same way…
She closed her eyes and refused to accept that conclusion. The Soulbearer was stronger than the others. If there was anyone who could resist Loku, it was her.
And I will do all in my power to restore her.
Sazi soared past the palace, nodding at the royal guards and revealing the precious treasure she carried. When one of them ran inside, she knew her message would be delivered to Adeyemi, and she continued on to the sacred temple.
For nearly a century, the lights had been dimmed inside Lireal’s temple, an outward sign that the relic was missing. But when Sazi set foot inside the entryway with the relic in her hands, the torches blazed once again. Serenity filled her soul as she carried it up the stairs to the shrine on the altar, but before she could place it there, the doors opened with a bang.
“Is it true?” Adeyemi’s voice resonated through the deserted temple like a cannon blast. “You have recovered the Blood of Lireal?”
“The Soulbearer did, just as she said she would.” She held out the red gem as proof.
Adeyemi slowed his stride, approaching her with a mix of disbelief and caution. “And where was it?”
“In the Realm of Chaos.”
“Chaos?” His nostrils flared as he sucked in a deep breath. “Are you certain this is the real one and not a trick of the god of chaos?”
“It is.”
“Let me see it.”
For a split second, Sazi wanted to defy his order. He may have been the king, but she was the high priestess, the one the goddess had chosen to speak through. He should not question her judgment. But as the temple filled with the dark shadows of his guards, she relented and gave it to him.
Magic crackled in the air while the king examined the relic. His brows drew together, and his gaze focused to what appeared to be the beating heart inside the gem. Then, without warning, he threw it back to her. “It has been tainted.”
Sazi sent a trickle of magic into the relic, finding the same stain of chaos that had alarmed Adeyemi. “It is slight and can be removed.”
“No, it has been altered.” He turned around and descended the stairs. “We will proceed with the sacrifice to atone for its contamination.”
Anger burned through her blood, and she slammed every door and window in the temple closed with a wave of her hand. When she spoke, her voice echoed with power. “Are you going to renege your deal with the Soulbearer?”
Adeyemi looked back at her, rage simmering in his eyes at her defiance. “I am still the king.”
“And I speak with the authority of the goddess.”
“You are nothing more than a high priestess.” He rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, his mouth curling into a ruthless grin. “With one word, I could cut you down.”
Sazi drew in a breath to tell him she didn’t fear him, but a strange sensation silenced her. It was something she’d experienced only a handful of times, but she knew better than to fight it. Inch by inch, it consumed her until she no longer controlled her body. And when she did open her mouth, the voice of Lireal rang through the temple. “Your arrogance has always been your downfall, Adeyemi.”
The king stumbled back, his eyes wide with panic. “M-m-my goddess…” he stuttered.
Lireal propelled her toward him. The goddess’s displeasure flowed through Sazi’s veins like an ominous warning. “Let this be a lesson to you.”
Magic surged through Sazi’s arms, and a bright red light radiated from the center of the stone. Adeyemi raised his arms to shield his eyes, but she couldn’t look away. With one spell, the goddess removed the taint of chaos and restored it to its former glory. Even after the magic faded, the relic glowed like one of the stars in the heavens.
A Soul For Atonement (The Soulbearer Series Book 4) Page 10
