Soul Render (Soul Stones Book 1)

by T. L. Branson

  “Found what?” Riley asked.

  “My stone,” Will explained. “It’s in the king’s bedchambers.”

  “What?” Riley said, alarmed, but keeping his voice down. “You should not have been in there, the king will kill you if he finds out.”

  “Relax,” Will said. “Luka wasn’t in there, I was. In spirit only. Now I’m going into his room so I can get it.”

  “No, you are not,” Riley said, enunciating each word.

  “Have you forgotten? That’s why we’re here,” Will said.

  “No,” Ocken said, shaking his head. “That’s only part of why we’re here. And you need to stick to Luka’s schedule or you’ll ruin the months of work Riley and I have put in to establish ourselves here.”

  Will’s eyes grew large. “There’s more?” he groaned. “I thought that was it for the day.”

  Will just wanted to get his stone back. He was tired of these pointless tasks all because Luka was some lazy, self-absorbed princeling that couldn’t get along with his father. As Will thought about it, he decided to cut Luka some slack. He didn’t see how anyone could get along with Callum.

  “No,” Riley said. “Today, you sit in on the king’s court rulings to learn politics. You may have only a snowball’s chance at becoming king some day, but Callum wants you prepared, just in case.”

  “All right, let’s go,” Will said, resigning himself to being patient.

  Ocken and Riley led him down a back stairwell and into a little-used hall on the second floor at the opposite end of the dining hall and ballroom. Ocken opened a door and ushered Will through it.

  It led to a small balcony on the side of the king’s throne room. He’d not noticed it the last time he was in this room. Will realized he hadn’t noticed a lot of things when staring death in the face. Large windows adorned the opposite wall, flooding the room with natural light. Thick, voluminous red drapes surrounded each window. Between the windows, a painting taller than Will showcased each of Shadowhold’s previous kings.

  The long throne room started with entrance doors to the left and terminated with the king’s throne on the right. Drygo sat upon it, Callum at his side. Two peasants of some kind, likely farmers, stood before the king arguing about who held rights to a newly discovered well along their property lines. The king looked bored.

  Will’s focus shifted to the small observation area he found himself in. Maya and Robert sat in some chairs at the front of the balcony. Noticing Will’s entry, a man stood and approached him.

  “You’re late,” Khal said with a disappointed frown.

  That was the theme of the morning. At least Khal didn’t take to cursing and threats like Callum. If he was the king’s brother-in-law, Will guessed that made him Luka’s uncle. Or something. He wasn’t quite sure how that worked.

  Ocken and Riley bowed and left Will with Khal.

  “Come,” Khal said. “The king is about to make his decision on a domestic dispute.”

  Khal led Will to an empty seat beside Maya. She looked up at him and rolled her eyes before returning her attention to the throne room.

  What was that look for? he wondered.

  “Councilor?” the king asked, leaning over one side of the throne and waving for a man who stood behind it to step forward. He did so and bowed.

  “Who has possessed the land the longest?” Drygo asked.

  The man scanned his documents. “The Pensys, sire,” he said at last.

  “Then there is your answer, the well belongs to them,” the king answered.

  Will was shocked. He actually gave a reasonable decree. All the horror stories Will had heard made it sound as if the king were an absolute tyrant, willing to take off anyone’s head at a whim.

  “Next,” Drygo said.

  “But, my lord,” the losing farmer said. “I—”

  “I said next,” the king repeated, louder.

  “Please, I beg of you. My family needs that—”

  “Your family would like to live, no doubt?” the king roared, standing from his throne. “If you don’t get out right now, neither of you will need that well any longer.”

  The man gasped and ran from the room in a hurry.

  That was more like the Drygo Will had expected.

  Will was curious as to Drygo’s emotional state. He seemed so calm just a moment before. He dipped into the soul realm and color faded away, leaving a monochromatic blue. Will expected to see a blazing red from the king. All he was greeted with was a writhing ball of black again, like he had seen in the square that day some months before.

  Will had never seen that on anyone else. True, he hadn’t had the occasion to gaze upon the souls of many people, but none looked like this save Drygo. What had caused that? The corruption that Allynna had spoken of?

  The king glanced at the balcony while the next petitioner was brought forward. He turned back to face the man who knelt before him, then did a double take back to the balcony as if something had caught his eye.

  Will gasped and remembered his eyes would glow while using the Soul Sight. He dropped his power as fast as he could and the world returned to normal. Will’s heart beat hard in his chest and his breathing grew heavy.

  “Are you all right?” Maya asked, following his line of sight to the king, who stared back with a deep, piercing gaze.

  The king’s eyes turned black.

  Will began to panic. Drygo was using his own Soul Sight. Will was doomed. Drygo would notice the piece of Iket’s magic still floating around within Will’s soul and his cover would be blown. His grip tightened on the chair and he prepared to run.

  But the king did not shout. He did not seem alarmed. His eyes returned to normal and he returned his attention to the man groveling before him.

  Will refused to let down his guard, thinking it all a ruse. He expected that any minute the king would toss his sword at Will, hoping to catch him off guard. But it didn’t happen.

  As the minutes passed, Will’s heartbeat slowed and his grip on the chair lessened.

  What just happened?

  He should have been discovered. There’s no way that Drygo didn’t just see his soul.

  “Hey, man, are you okay?” Robert asked. “You look a little pasty there. Like you’d seen a ghost.”

  Ghost. Right, Will thought. Revenant. Khal. I need to ask him if he’s the Raven, but I can’t tip him off either.

  “I’m fine,” Will answered, brushing Robert off. “Just got the chills, that’s all.”

  “Right…” Robert said, but went back to watching the court proceedings.

  “Watch what he does here,” Khal whispered in Will’s ear.

  “You want more protection?” the king asked, incredulous.

  “Y-yes, sire,” the kneeling man said, running his fingers through his hair. “Bandits have raided our fields five times this month. My family can’t even meet quota, let alone put food on our table. Without more protection, we’ll die.” The man glanced over to his aging wife, two grown sons, and young daughter who stood huddled together along the wall.

  “And what do you offer in exchange for my men?” the king asked.

  “I—I have nothing, sire,” the man said.

  “So you think that I should provide these men out of the goodness of my heart?” Drygo asked.

  “N-no, sire, but for your own benefit,” the man replied. “If we die, n-no one will be able to keep up the f-farm.”

  Drygo laughed. “Hardly. We wouldn’t notice the loss of a single farm.”

  The man’s face fell.

  “But,” the king said. “Because of your initiative to ask such a request, I will grant your request for additional protection.”

  The man’s frown turned into a smile. He glanced over at his wife and then stood, approaching the king.

  “Thank you, sire,” the man said. “Oh, thank you.”

  Two guards crossed their halberds as the man drew near the king. The king stood and waved off the guards. He stepped down off the dais and d
rew up close to the man.

  “Be careful what you wish for,” the king said cryptically. “Sometimes the answer is not what you seek.”

  The king looked at Will before his hand shot out and grabbed the farmer’s throat. The man’s wife let out a cry.

  Drygo’s eyes turned black and the man began to scream. Black lines snaked out from the man’s eyes as they too turned dark as night. Will’s memory flashed back to John’s death and his breathing grew heavy once more.

  Don’t panic, Will thought. Don’t panic.

  Will watched in horror as the man’s body thickened. His arms grew larger, pressing at the seams until one burst, exposing chiseled muscle. The man grew an extra foot and completely filled out his clothes.

  Drygo released the farmer and returned to the throne.

  The farmer turned beast growled and let out a deep roar like Will had never heard.

  The man’s wife whimpered in the corner, consoled by her eldest son.

  “Now you have protection,” the king stated to the family. “I have given you a great gift this day. No bandit will ever deign to steal from you again while my brawler is guarding your property.”

  The guards ushered the family and the brawler from the room.

  Will sat in his chair, shaking. All he could see was John, dying on the floor. In that very spot. He couldn’t take it. He stood and made to leave.

  “Hey,” Khal called, stepping in front of him. “What’s wrong?”

  Will pushed past him and bolted from the balcony out into the back hallway. He leaned against the wall and slid to the floor, panting.

  Khal stepped through the door with panic on his face until his eyes met Will’s, then his visage softened. He walked over and knelt down beside Will.

  “Have you never seen him do that before?” Khal asked.

  Yes. He had. He knew that power all too well. But he couldn’t tell Khal that.

  “No,” he answered, playing the part of a scared boy. He didn’t have to try too hard to hit the mark.

  “It’s terrible isn’t it?” Khal asked.

  Yes. Yes, it was. But Will found it curious Khal would think so, too. Unless he was the Raven.

  “How do you do it?” Will asked.

  Khal furrowed his brow in confusion.

  “How are you friends with a man like that?” Will asked.

  “How are any of us?” Khal said. “We are here by his graces. Alexander Drygo used to be a good man. And many of us believe that man is still inside of him. Somewhere.”

  “What about the Revenant?” Will asked, seizing the opening.

  Khal’s eyes widened for a brief second. “What about them?”

  “Do they believe he is a good man?” Will asked. “Or do they, like others, believe it is time for that man’s reign to end?”

  “It’s dangerous to speak such words,” Khal said. “Especially for you.”

  Will silently cursed himself. He had forgotten, again, who he was. He wasn’t Will. He was Luka. Luka would not be so bold. Luka would not speak out against the king.

  “Just leave me alone,” Will said, pulling his knees in and resting his head on his arms.

  Khal pursed his lips and sighed. Then he walked back into the observation area, leaving Will alone.

  30

  The court recessed for lunch. Will didn’t speak with anyone the whole meal. When they were finished, the king went back to the throne room to hear more pleas. Ocken told Will that he’d be in there until past dinner. It was like this every week.

  Will, however, did not return. Instead, he retired to his room to be alone. He was going to get himself killed. He was in over his head. Everything he ever did was a mistake. A failure. John was dead because of him. And while he couldn’t blame the farmer’s death on himself, he managed to feel guilty about it anyway.

  He had to stop taking chances. No, he had to get rid of this taint. He had to remove the black strand of magic that Drygo had left inside him. He didn’t understand how Drygo didn’t see it, and at this point, he didn’t care. What he needed to do was make sure it wouldn’t ever be an issue again.

  Will had an idea.

  All those months ago, he didn’t have the power he did now. At least, he hadn’t understood it then. He had relied upon Lotess for control, now he could handle it himself. Will laid his body down on the bed in his room and began to prepare himself for what he was about to do.

  He retreated into the recesses of his mind and beheld the giant black wall separating him from his goddess. It stood tall and strong, impenetrable. He knew he couldn’t get through it. That’s why he wasn’t going to attack the wall, but the source of it.

  Stepping away from the wall, he opened his mind’s eye and brought himself back to Luka’s room. He looked down at his soul form, tracking the dark sliver swimming through him like a fish in the sea.

  Will snapped out his hand and grabbed hold of it.

  It wiggled and fought and writhed in his hand, trying to break free. Will tried to snap it, tried to tear it apart, but it held firm like the wood of Ocken’s swordstaff, it would not bend. How could he hope to defeat Drygo if he couldn’t even defeat a small sliver of the man’s power?

  Will calmed himself.

  Focus, he thought. This is a time to channel hatred.

  He focused on John. He focused on his loss. He thought of Blake, and of Sebastian, all those who died because of him and because of Drygo.

  Channeling all his energy, he pummeled the little strand. The black around it began to crack and flake away. Its integrity compromised, Will pushed one last time with everything he had and it snapped, disintegrating into powder and fading away.

  Will’s soul fell backward onto the bed, diving back in the sustenance and rest that Luka’s body provided.

  He’d done it. He had rid himself of Drygo’s taint.

  Will? Lotess said in his mind.

  He eagerly closed his eyes and retreated to that inner sanctum of his mind.

  The wall was gone and Lotess stood in all her radiant glory in its place.

  You did it, she said in amazement. You brought down the wall. How?

  We don’t have time for explanations, Will told her. I’m not sure what you know, but three months have passed. In that time, I’ve grown stronger and learned to control this power you’ve given me. We’re back in Shadowhold, in Drygo’s palace. I’m here to put a stop to him.

  What? she asked, alarmed. How can you hope to defeat him?

  With the stones, Will said. I’ve found ours, now I just need to find his. If I can get both of them, he won’t be strong enough to stop us.

  Of course, Lotess said, chuckling. Why didn’t I think of that? Remove his anchor and he’ll be crippled. You really have learned a lot, haven’t you?

  I need to go, Will said. The king is in the throne room. I need to break into his chambers while it’s empty and get those stones.

  I’m always with you, Lotess said as he left his mind again and opened his eyes.

  Springing from the bed, Will left his room. Ocken and Riley had gone to give him some space. He wished they would have been here now, so they could keep a lookout for him, but he didn’t have time to find them. He ran down to the end of the hallway and stood outside the king’s chambers.

  Will placed his ear against the door and listened. He didn’t want to walk in on a maid cleaning. No such sounds issued from the room and he pressed down on the handle.

  Now what? Lotess asked.

  That was a good question. He didn’t have the key and he didn’t know where to get one. He started to walk away, defeated already.

  A loud crash like something shattering sounded on the other side of the door. Will turned around and drew in close once more.

  “Oh, Shelly,” a frazzled voice said. “You silly klutz. The king will have your job, if not your head, for sure now.”

  Maybe a maid was just what he needed.

  Will knocked on the door.

  What are you doing? Lotess ch
ided.

  The lock clicked and the door swung open to reveal a young girl in her twenties, holding a broken piece of a vase.

  “Oh!” she said, slipping the shard behind her back. “Master Luka, what can I do for you?”

  “I just need to come in and get something,” Will said.

  She started to speak but paused, deep in thought. Then she said, “That’s highly irregular, Master Luka. You know the king doesn’t like anyone in his room while he’s gone.”

  “You’re in his room,” Will stated.

  She seemed unprepared for that response. “Well, of course. I’m cleaning his room,” she said.

  “Sounded to me like you were breaking things,” Will said.

  Smooth, Lotess said.

  She broke down in tears. “Oh, Master Luka, please, don’t tell His Majesty. Please,” she pleaded.

  “I’ll make sure he never finds out about it if you just let me in real quick to get something,” he said.

  She bobbled her head around for a moment then said, “Oh, all right, but be quick. He’ll have both our hides if he returns while you’re here.”

  Will wasn’t worried about that. He knew the king was preoccupied for the next several hours. What he was worried about was Shelly keeping her mouth shut. She didn’t seem the type to know how to keep a secret, whether she shared it intentionally or by accident. With any luck, Will would find what he needed and be done with Drygo before it came to that.

  His ploy had worked and he gained access to the room. The only problem was he couldn’t look for Drygo’s stone, the Soul Siphon, without Shelly growing too suspicious and reporting him anyway.

  Will settled for just retrieving the Soul Render and getting out. He went straight for the drawer with the jewelry box and pulled it out.

  “What could you be wanting with Lady Evangeline’s jewelry?” Shelly asked, nosing over his shoulder.

  “It’s not for me,” Will said on the fly. “Maya asked me to grab it for her.”

  Will silently cursed himself. Adding to his lies did not make his situation any better. If Shelly spoke with Maya about this, she would know something was up if she didn’t already. Too late now.