Soul Render (Soul Stones Book 1)

by T. L. Branson

  “The Eastgate,” Red said in wonder.

  Blocking the path in front of them lay a large cylindrical stone structure. From the piles of stones on either side, Will guessed it used to be a tower. The other tower was nowhere to be seen. It was simply gone, reduced to stone strewn about the road and mountainside.

  “What happened here?” Will asked.

  “Nothing good,” Red said. “The Eastgate hasn’t been used since before I was born. I’ve never seen it with my own eyes. It must have been grand in its day.”

  “They didn’t bother to repair it?” Will asked.

  “When was the last time anyone came through this pass?” Red asked.

  “Good point,” Will said. “Well, we’re going to have to climb the mountain to get around it. This is the only way into the Frostpeak Pass.”

  “All right, then, let’s go,” Red said.

  The twang of a bowstring echoed on the wind.

  “Duck!” Will shouted and shoved Red to the ground.

  “Hey, what’s the—?”

  An arrow struck just above where her head had been. A group of ten men dressed like Alexei’s thugs emerged from the treeline.

  “Crap. We need to go,” Will said. “Now!”

  “Come on… I hope you like rock climbing,” Red said.

  She led the way. They made their way through a series of boulders using the rocks as steps up the side of the mountain. They climbed until they couldn’t go any farther up and then headed south along the rock wall.

  Shouts and curses spurred them forward. The rocks were uneven, making their progress difficult. They crossed a rather large rock that sloped downward and Red put out a foot to brace herself on another rock. It was loose and pulled away from the mountain. Will grabbed her and pulled her in, his back crashing into the wall behind him. They watched as the boulder tumbled down the mountain and crashed into the forest below, leveling some trees.

  She stared in shock and then, as if realizing Will still held her, said, “Get your filthy hands off me.”

  “You’re welcome,” Will spat.

  She huffed and muttered, “Thanks.”

  They moved back down where the terrain allowed for easier, and safer, passage.

  “There they are!” a voice shouted.

  Will and Red darted in and around rocks of all sizes, then moved a little farther down the mountain and cut back toward their pursuers, hoping to mislead them.

  As they were running, Will’s eyes flickered into the bluish purple of the soul realm. The distraction caused him to slip and he fell onto his side, banging his head against the ground. He let out a yell and closed his eyes

  “Are you okay?” Red asked.

  “Is that compassion I hear?” Will said, recovering. “Maybe you can show emotion after all.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Red said. “I just don’t want to die because you can’t stand on your own two feet.”

  “I think I heard something over here,” a voice echoed over the rocks.

  “Come on, get up. We have to get out of here,” she said.

  When Will opened his eyes, the soul realm was gone. He did, however, see a small cave they would have missed had they kept running.

  “We’ll never make it before they catch us,” Will said.

  “Then we take them out,” Red said.

  “Too many. Let’s hide in there,” he said, pointing to the cave. “I need to rest. They’ll assume we’re still running and keep chasing us.”

  She thought about it for a second and said, “Fine, but hurry. They’ll be able to see us any minute.”

  Red helped Will to his feet and they hobbled over into the tiny entrance. The cave was shallow and the entrance narrow, but after the initial opening, it widened into a chamber about the size of a small bedroom.

  Will sat down, his head spinning. Red remained standing, dagger at the ready should someone find them. The pounding of footsteps drew closer then stopped.

  “I know you’re out here, Victor. I will find you,” shouted someone in that now familiar Eastern accent. “No one crosses Alexei and gets away with it.”

  Red said, “Who’s—?”

  Will shushed her.

  Red whispered, “Who’s Victor?”

  “No idea.”

  She pressed anyway. “What do you mean—?”

  “I said shh. I’ll explain later.”

  How would Will explain that to her? He couldn’t exactly tell her, “Oh, by the way, I can steal peoples’ bodies. I stole Victor’s and used it to kill one of Alexei’s men.”

  Would she even believe him if he told her? Sure, there were stories and legends about the gods, and some have even claimed to have found magical items. But the only person Will had ever met who actually had magic was Drygo.

  A few minutes passed without a sound. Standing up, Will held a finger to pursed lips. He crept over to the entrance and peered through the narrow opening.

  Shaw felt distant, like a captive in his own body. He could see through his eyes and hear through his ears, but had little control over his arms and legs. They moved without his volition. He could fight against it, but his movements felt sluggish, like wading through a muddy lakebed.

  Drygo’s power flowed within him, orchestrating his movements, drawing him closer and closer to his prey like a ship to a beacon of light in a storm. This was what it felt like to become a stalker.

  He thought he should be grateful. Shriekers and brawlers were soulless beings, the king having removed all semblance of a person from his body. But stalkers… Stalkers required intellect and cunning, something Drygo had been unable to accomplish without leaving the person’s soul intact.

  Shaw felt the otherworldly power feeding off of him like a parasite. Using his mind and knowledge to run constant calculations about his prey.

  It relinquished control back to him only when it needed something it couldn’t accomplish on its own, such as ordering the other guards into position at the bottom of the mountain they found looming before them.

  Shaw took a deep breath, gasping as he regained control of his body. It felt weird every time this happened. When the magic was in control, it sustained his body. It did not breathe, it did not eat, it did not sleep. But when it needed him, life flooded back into his flesh.

  Shaw didn’t know what controlled the magic when it held him captive. He assumed it was either sentient, obeying the commands of its master, or that Shaw was literally a puppet at the end of Drygo’s strings and that the king himself directed his movements. He wasn’t sure which it was, but neither sat well with him.

  He was glad for these moments of clarity for they brought him sanity. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he surveyed the scene. Somebody else wanted his quarry. Will must have been in the habit of making enemies.

  By the looks of it, he’d angered one of Shadowhold’s crime bosses. Shaw didn’t understand why Drygo let such characters exist in his city, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it. If they wanted Will, they likely wanted him dead. Shaw couldn’t let that happen.

  The king had deduced that the boy was unaware of his true potential. He seemed to only change bodies when his previous host died. Drygo’s orders were explicit. Capture the boy alive, before he learned he could switch bodies at will. Drygo’s power drew him in Will’s general direction, but it would be useless if the boy returned to a city and his game of cat and mouse would begin again.

  To make matters worse, the girl was out there somewhere. She had escaped him. If he couldn’t keep track of a single girl and failed to capture the boy, the king would surely have his head, stalker or no. He couldn’t afford to stand around another minute.

  The king’s guard fanned out through the trees and raised their bows, waiting for Shaw’s command. Shaw scanned the mountainside, looking for any traces of his target.

  A man up on the ridge waved erratically for his comrades. He had found something. The man pointed down to a cave beneath him.

  They had
him trapped.

  Shaw raised his bow and loosed an arrow. The hum of bowstrings filled the trees around him and the chase was on.

  Will began to move through the passage when a body, several arrows protruding from it, fell onto the ground in front of the entrance.

  He jumped backward, stifling a cry.

  Shouts erupted and the pounding of feet moved away from them.

  “Come on. Something’s happening. Let’s get out of here,” Will said, and Red nodded.

  As they exited the cave, Will stepped over the body and glanced in the direction of the commotion. The king’s guard, led by none other than Shaw, was engaged in combat with Alexei’s men. He had about fifteen of the king’s men with him.

  Will still couldn’t tell if they were here for him or Red. She claimed to have been their prisoner, but she hadn’t been bound at all. They were chasing her earlier, but this many guards for a single girl? It seemed more like the type of search party Drygo would send out after him. Could it be they were looking for both of them?

  They exited the cave and ran.

  “We’re going the wrong way,” Red said. “The pass is the only way through the mountains.”

  “If we turn around, we’ll be seen for sure. We need to get away from here,” Will said.

  Red stopped running. “I’m going through that pass whether you come or not.”

  “Don’t be reckless,” Will said. “We’ll come back later.”

  “They won’t stop chasing us.”

  So she did know something he didn’t. She couldn’t possibly know why they wanted him, so there must have been a really good reason they wanted her if she knew they wouldn’t stop.

  “If we’re lucky, they’ll all kill each other,” Will said.

  “Wishful thinking,” she spat back.

  “Got any better ideas?” he asked.

  “As a matter of fact I do,” she said. “Follow me.”

  They backtracked in the direction of the fighting. Swords were drawn and the clang of clashing weapons resonated through the hills. As they crested the hill, the battle below dotted the mountainside.

  Red cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted, “Hey! He’s over here!”

  The sudden distraction caused one of Alexei’s men to turn his head. Then that head fell from his shoulders. The rest of the fighting lulled and more people began to look in their direction.

  Shouts issued from below.

  “There he is!”

  “Get him!”

  The two groups stopped their fighting and took up the chase, more interested in their quarry than each other.

  “This is your brilliant idea? Do you want to get caught?” Will said.

  “Just shut up and trust me.”

  She took off and he followed. They climbed the rocks as fast as they could, hopping up them at times.

  “Be careful,” Will reminded her, remembering what happened earlier. Then realization dawned on him. He knew what she planned to do.

  They made it back up to the path where Red almost fell to her death. She got down on her hands and knees and crawled to the edge of a rock jutting out over the hillside. Will sucked in air and held his breath, hoping she didn’t fall.

  He moved to join her and the rock she was on sank an inch.

  “Get back,” she chided.

  Will stepped off and it moved back into place. A few tense moments passed. She slowly backed off the rock and stood beside him.

  “Okay, they’re beneath us,” Red said. “Help me push.”

  Bracing against the cliff wall, they shoved the rock loose with their feet and it tumbled away. They pressed themselves back to keep from falling. Several of the men below screamed. Will and Red stretched forward as far as they could and peeked over the edge.

  The rock had only fallen about fifteen feet. Its movement gave the men a fright, but they were all still very much alive.

  “Got any other bright ideas?” Will quipped.

  “Shut up and help me push another one,” she snapped.

  They moved to the next rock, braced again, and pushed. It wouldn’t budge.

  Red jumped on it in frustration. The rock gave way beneath her and she fell with it. Will fell to the ground, his stomach crashing onto the stone as he swung his arm over the edge.

  Red grabbed Will’s forearm as he grabbed hers. She stared up at him, shock and fear in her eyes.

  “Hold on. I got you,” Will told her.

  He pulled her back up on the ledge—and not a moment too soon. The ground beneath them began to shake.

  They looked at each other and both said, “Run!”

  They moved north, back toward the Pass with all speed, the face of the mountain falling apart around them. Reaching the end of the rock formation they dived for solid ground just as the rock they had been standing on slid down the hillside.

  They lay there for a minute, the wind knocked from them. Will couldn’t see the destruction the rockslide had caused through the cloud of dust billowing up behind them, but from somewhere in the distance, shouting continued.

  “Stones,” Red cursed.

  “At least it’ll slow them down,” Will said. “Come on, let’s go.”

  He moved up the path as Red surveyed the dust cloud one more time. Someone emerged from behind a boulder as Will passed and tackled him from the side. Will grabbed a rock and smashed it into the side of his assailant’s head. They both scrambled to their feet. It was one of Alexei’s men.

  The thug advanced on Will when a dagger flew, end over end, into the man’s throat. He fell onto his back, writhing. Red ran up and tore it from his neck, taking half his flesh with it. She cleaned it off, flipped it over, and held it out to Will hilt first.

  He gaped at her.

  “Now we’re even,” she said.

  15

  Shaw coughed as the dust settled. In the distance he could see the boy and the girl disappear behind a boulder, entering the Frostpeak Pass.

  Part of the mountain had come down in front of him and he had no easy access to them. He didn’t dare climb over destruction, for fear of another stone coming loose. Or worse, the whole mountain following after it. They would have to climb down and give the rockslide a wide berth as they backtracked through the forest.

  Shaw rubbed his face and brushed off his armor. The king’s men climbed to their feet around him. The rockslide had managed to miss them, but the thugs weren’t so lucky. Only three of them had made it out of harm’s way.

  Shaw drew his sword, and the others did likewise, surrounding the thugs as they recovered from their injuries. The leader, Shaw guessed based on the way the others gave him deference, had a gash on his forehead and blood running down his cheek.

  He obviously cared a lot about his physical appearance. His corded muscles glistened with sweat as he wiped the dirt off.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” Shaw asked, the tip of his sword a foot from the man’s throat.

  “Names are shared only among friends,” the man said, staring at the tip of the sword. “And you are no friend.”

  “Make an exception,” Shaw said, refusing to budge.

  The man paused, weighing his options. “Fine. My name is Tomas Nikitovich. Cousin to Alexei Nikitovich.”

  Alexei? Shaw thought. How had Will gotten tangled up with the eastern slave trade?

  “What do you want?” Shaw repeated.

  “I chasing boy who betrayed my cousin,” Tomas said. “Killed Alexei’s lieutenant and ran. Boy named Victor. I track him here.”

  Shaw exhaled. So they weren’t after Will. But unless there was another boy out here, Will was who they were tracking. Perhaps they tracked the wrong person. Or…

  “This dead lieutenant,” Shaw said, “did you find him in a warehouse near the city gates?”

  The man recoiled in shock. “How did you—?”

  Shaw cursed. How did he explain this? An idea came to him.

  “I’m pleased to tell you Victor is dead,” Shaw said. />
  “Broeshka,” the man spat. “You lie. I saw him myself. Right over there.” The man pointed in the direction Will had fled.

  So much for that. Shaw sighed.

  “Victor is dead,” Shaw said. “The man you saw is not him. Someone with a very powerful magic has stolen his body.”

  Tomas screwed up his features. “Nonsense. I—”

  Anger bubbled up within him—someone else’s anger—as Shaw felt control of his body ebb away. His sword arm lowered and he stepped forward, clutching the man’s throat. He heard a guttural snarl escape his own throat.

  The two other thugs gasped in horror and fell backward. Shaw watched as he flung Tomas to the ground beside them. Tomas clambered away, terror painted on his face.

  The anger subsided and Shaw felt in control once more.

  “There is power at work you can’t understand,” Shaw said. “Leave here, while you still have your lives.”

  “I—I afraid I c-cannot,” Tomas stuttered. “Alexei will k-kill me if I return without Victor’s head.”

  Shaw raised his sword.

  “But I can help you!” Tomas said. “If you promise to give me boy when king is done with him, I can help you catch him.”

  Shaw paused. He glanced around at his men. He’d lost four in the battle. He could use all the help he could get. And there was no reason he couldn’t just kill Tomas later anyway.

  “Fine,” Shaw said. “Come on, we must leave. They’ve already gotten a head start.”

  Steel slid into scabbards as the king’s men relaxed.

  As soon as the encounter was over, Drygo’s magic regained control of his body and Shaw was once again a prisoner in his own mind.

  The pass was little more than a trail wrapping itself around the side of the mountain. They moved as fast as they could, but they couldn’t run. The narrow path only allowed them to move single file. One wrong step and they’d tumble into the valley below.

  If their progress was slow, they could rest assured the others wouldn’t fair any better.