A Soul For Atonement (The Soulbearer Series Book 4) (10 page)

“Careful, Soulbearer,” Callix warned. “It takes a few seconds to get your bearing, and we don’t want you falling off the mountain.”

Her vision cleared to reveal the steep drop off in front of her. She backed away and pushed his arms off. “I suppose I should thank you.”

He shrugged and shifted the weight of his pack. “So this is where Syd was found?”

Sazi nodded and pointed to a small crevice in the cliff wall. “There.”

The space was small enough for Arden to squeeze into and provided some shelter from the icy winds that blasted down from the surrounding snow-covered peaks. “When he was captured, did he say anything that might give us a clue to the gate’s location?”

Reluctance seemed to slow Sazi’s response, and she averted her gaze. “By the time we found him, he was fully consumed by the madness.”

Arden didn’t need to hear any more. She’d seen what happened to a Soulbearer when the madness struck and knew what fate eventually awaited her. “Had he shown any signs before he stole the relic?”

Another downward side glance. “Mild signs, yes.”

“But nothing like the full-blown insanity.” Arden drew in a deep breath and let it out. This didn’t bode well at all. She’d only been there in dreams and had returned to reality unscathed, but dreams were different than reality. If Syd’s trip to Chaos accelerated his madness, what would it do to her?

“
Is that why you showed me the location, Loku? To lure me into your realm so you can toy with my mind?”

The strained presence made himself known, but no other response came.

“So if he was found here, then we should probably continue toward the Temple of Lireal.” Callix brushed by them and took the lead.

As the sun set behind the mountains, the gusty winds bloomed into a full-blown storm. Tiny shards of ice bit into Arden’s exposed skin, and her breath billowed out in front of her in clouds of white. Snow gathered around her feet, growing deeper and deeper with each passing mile along the narrow mountain road. Her fingers and toes burned at first and then grew numb.

Callix paused and turned to them, frost caking his cloak. “We should find shelter until it ends.”

Sazi nodded, her dress whirling around her bare arms. Unlike Arden and Callix, she seemed immune to the cold. “Stay here.”

She unfurled her wings, and with a few powerful flaps, she was up in the sky and hidden by the swirling snow.

Callix came closer and pushed her back against the cliff wall, blocking some of the wind with his body. “Are you staying warm enough?”

“For now.” She buried her hands in Cinder’s warm fur and welcomed the painful sting that signaled the thaw. It was far better than trying to figure out Callix’s sudden concern for her well-being.

Sazi returned several minutes later, her usual grace hampered by the storm that made her stumble as she landed. “There is a cave not too far from here.”

Arden’s legs felt twice their weight as she took the first few steps. She lowered her head and focused on the rapidly disappearing imprints in the snow in front of her, careful to follow the same path Sazi had cut for them. Fatigue heightened the numbing cold that sapped her energy. But just when she wondered if she had enough in her to take another step, Sazi pulled her into a dark cavern.

Arden’s chattering teeth made it twice as difficult to say, “Cinder, light up.”

The fire wolf moved away from her side and burst into flames. The fire danced along his fur, but he sat there with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth as though he were waiting for her to throw him a bone.

She came as close as she dared and held her hands above him. Heat flooded her pale skin as it flowed through her insides.

Callix joined her and did the same. “I’d forgotten he could do that.”

“He has his uses.” She gave the wolf a smile and made a mental note to give him an extra treat once her fingers were nimble enough to fetch it from her pack.

Sazi strolled past them, searching the remote corners of the cave. Her brow furrowed with worry as she pressed her hand against the walls. “It is deep, but there does not appear to be any occupants other than us.”

“Good, because I have no desire to wrestle a bear in order to keep from freezing to death,” Callix said, sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“It is not the bears you should worry about here, Callix.” Sazi came closer, her dark eyes dancing with amusement. “It is the dragons.”

He rolled his eyes. “There are no dragons. They were driven out centuries ago by my ancestors.”

“So you think.”

“Have you actually seen one?”

Sazi shook her head. “We do not bother them, and they do not bother us, but I have seen evidence of their hunts.”

His eyes widened a little at Sazi’s response, but his arrogant smirk returned. “You shouldn’t scare the Soulbearer like that.”

“The Soulbearer is wise enough not to dismiss the possibility so easily.” Although her words seemed light, she cast another worried glance into the dark shadows behind her. She looked like she’d rather brave the storm than linger here.

“At this point, I don’t care if there are a dozen dragons in this cave.” Arden’s legs buckled, no longer supported by the stiff cold, and she pulled a blanket from her pack along with a strip of dried meat for Cinder. “I just want to stay warm long enough to take a nap.”

“That is the first reasonable thing I’ve ever heard from you.” Callix settled down on the other side of Cinder and wrapped his cloak around himself. “Maybe you haven’t succumbed to the madness after all.”

A retaliatory spell sizzled in her aching fingers, but she diverted her energy to reach out for Dev. With the pendant in her hand, she called out his name in her mind, sensing the connection to him almost instantly.

“
Dev, are you keeping warm in the storm?”

“
How did you know about the storm?”
There was a weariness to his words that tore at her heart and made her miss him all the more.

“
We’re in the Ornathian lands, not too far from where Syd was found.”

“‘We?’ Who’s with you?
”

“
Sazi, Cinder
.” She paused to gauge how he would respond when she added, “
and Callix
.”

A stretch of anxiety-provoking silence followed, but at last, Dev said, “
Stay with them, Arden. They will protect you.
”

Part of her wanted to scream that
he
was her Protector, the only one she wanted, but she pushed that thought aside to say, “
I will find it, Dev. I promise
.”

The connection then fizzled as sleep claimed her.

Chapter 11

“
Wake up, my little Soulbearer, before they keep you from finding what you seek
.”

Arden bolted up, her chest heaving from the remnants of her dream. She couldn’t remember the details, only Loku’s warning that kept playing over and over again in her mind.

From the deepest recesses of her consciousness, the chaos god rattled against his cage, far more intrusive than the other times he’d been contained. She glanced around the cave. Cinder slept beside her, his fur glowing like hot coals and casting deep shadows from the dim light it produced. Sazi slept sitting up with one wing covering her face, while Callix slept on the hard ground across from her.

No one to catch her releasing Loku. No one to stop her from trying to pry a little more information from him.

She summoned enough magic to reconfine him, if necessary, and slowly lifted the spell Sazi had cast on her. “
Behave, or you’re going right back in
.”

“
Who are you to order a god?”
he snapped back.

“
Your Soulbearer, remember
?” She eased off a few more layers of the restraints. “
What are you so anxious to tell me?
”

“
Why should I tell you anything at all?
” Loku replied with an indignant sniff.

“
Fine, if you’re going to be that way…
” She started casting another confinement spell.

“
No, wait! Please, don’t be a fool
,” he pleaded. “
I do have something to tell you. A great many things, actually.
”

“
Then enough with the games
.”

“
As you wish, my little Soulbearer. First off, you are wise to suspect Callix. He’s not what he seems
.”

“
Tell me something I don’t know
.”

“
Second, that was very clever of you to figure out where Syd and I had hidden the Blood of Lireal.
”

“
You couldn’t have been more obvious if you’d tried
.”

“
Oh, but I was trying to be obvious. I want you to come and find it
.” Laughter filled her mind until a spell slammed into the center of her chest and silenced it.

Arden looked up to find Callix sitting across from her with a ball of magic forming in the center of his palm. “Do I need to hit you again?”

“No, once was quite enough.” She gathered her own magic and hurled at him, only to have it collide and fizzle out against his shields. “Why did you attack me?”

Callix let the ball of magic roll along his fingers, his gaze never leaving her. “Why did you release him?”

“Because he was trying to warn me about you.” She balled her blanket up and shoved it into her pack. So much for sleep.

“Enough, you two.” Sazi rose to her feet and towered over them, the corners of her mouth angling down in a frown. “Did you release Loku from his confines?”

Arden chewed on her bottom lip and wondered if there was a way to avoid the question. “He was trying to deliver an urgent message to me.”

The Ornathian tilted her head to the side. “And how did you know that? You should not hear him if he’s confined.”

“I may not hear him, but I can still sense his presence.” Arden raised her shields and stood up. “I can also hear him in my dreams.”

“And what does he say, Soulbearer?” Sazi asked.

She cast a sideways glance at Callix. “He said you two were keeping me from finding the relic.”

“And you believed him?” Callix scrambled to his feet, the unleashed spell still glowing in his hand.

“At least I know why he’s trying to manipulate me,” she shot back before turning to Sazi. “He wants me to find the relic.”

“Of course he does,” Callix said, coming closer, “because he knows he can use you to get his body back.”

“He didn’t mention anything about his body this time. He said he purposely showed me the location because he wants me to come to him.”

“And drive you insane in the process so he can take control of you.” Callix closed the space between them until their shields prevented him from coming any closer. “Or worse, use you to reopen the gates and destroy the world.”

Within her, Loku rebelled with a muffled howl that rang in her ears.

Arden reinforced her shields and released him.

“
Tell that arrogant cocksucker to shut up, or I will do it for you
,” Loku threatened.

“
If you take control of me one more time, I’m going to be bound in mithral for the rest of my life.
”

“
Very well
,” the chaos god said with a sigh. “
Take all the fun away from me
.”

“
Now’s not the time for fun
.” Arden backed away from the other two mages until they were both in her line of sight.

Sazi arched a brow. “You released him again, Soulbearer. Why?”

“I want to hear his side of the story.”

“
That’s very wise of you, Arden
.” An invisible arm wrapped around her waist in a possessive hold. “
They accuse me of lying when I’m honestly trying to show you the way to save Dev
.
Why don’t we shed some more light on the situation?
”

The dim glow from Cinder did little more than highlight the planes of their faces, but Arden heeded the chaos god’s command and cast a spell that chased away the shadows.

“
Very good
,” Loku said in an almost taunting tone. “
Now what do you see?
”

A narrow corridor appeared behind Sazi and triggered a flash of memory. She’d seen this before.

“What is he telling you now?” Callix asked, his spell doubling in power. “That we’re waiting for the right moment to ambush you and drag you to some remote dungeon?”

“
Should I silence him for you, my dear?
” A wave of malice surged within her gut, but she managed to suppress it.

“
Not now
.”