Chapter 29
Von
A n icy grip clutched at my limbs, dragging me under, but it was the heat boiling beneath my skin that shoved me to consciousness.
With the speed of an arrow released from a bow, my eyes flashed open.
I was in dark waters, among hundreds of glowing souls, their unconscious spectral forms tossed around by the tumultuous currents.
When the current dipped low, one was shoved into me, her body drifting through mine, passing to the other side.
As I had zero desire to stay down here, I called upon my shadows to shadow walk me out of here. My umbra answered, sweeping around me, and then—
Nothing .
Nothing happened. My body didn’t move an inch. That was odd.
I supposed I’d have to do it the mortal way—I began to look for the surface .
There. The slightest bit of light gnawed at the shifting surface. Biceps firing, I started to swim toward it, heeding little mind to the phantoms as they passed through me. The waters fought against me, trying to pull me back down, but my will was unyielding.
When I reached the surface, I swam toward the jagged edge of the shoreline—viciously carved by the iron bite of the river.
Placing my hands on the rocky ground, I heaved myself out of the waters.
Kneeling there, naked as the day I had emerged from the soil, I took in my surroundings as the water dripped from my body.
The innards of a mountain stretched over top of me, tunneling around the river.
The light source that had guided me to the surface was from brilliant, glowing stalactites that lined the cave’s ceiling.
As I gazed up at them, I couldn’t help but think of Sage. Had she seen them too? Had she been here ?
Now that I was in the same realm as she was, I wondered—
Sage , I spoke through our bond, my breath ceasing as I waited.
Silence was my only answer.
I tried again. Little Goddess .
Still, nothing.
Further down the river, Folkoln emerged from the agitated waters. He had one arm banded around an unconscious Kaleb’s chest while he used the other to swim toward the shore. Swiftly, I moved.
“Here!” he yelled over the roar of the river, passing me Kaleb .
“I got him,” I said as I pulled Kaleb up and out onto the rocky ground.
Folkoln emerged beside him, crawling on all fours. He flopped over onto his back, and with a wild smile, he panted, “Now that was a rush.”
I chuckled. Only someone as screwed in the head as my brother would enjoy getting eaten by a giant and shit out into a river of the dead.
“If that’s what you want to call it. Did you see anyone else?” I asked.
“No, just Kaleb. Figured I better grab him,” Folkoln said as he got up, shaking his head like a dog, water droplets spraying out everywhere.
I scanned the surface of the river. “We’ll have to find the others.”
Folkoln nodded.
I checked Kaleb over. I couldn’t see any visible damage, everything looked intact—ten fingers, ten toes, one pint-sized mortal cock. Check. Check. Check.
Fate’s words replayed in my mind, Six find their feet, two need time, one is broken. Folkoln and I were two of the six who had found their feet, which meant Kaleb either needed more time to wake, or he was the broken one.
Only time would tell.
A frustrated scream echoed through the tunnel, bouncing off the walls like a boomerang. I looked further up the river.
Saphira was standing there, going in circles. A long, black appendage with a piece of fluff on the end swayed behind her, twirling as she rotated.
Folkoln started, “She’s got a . . .”
“Tail,” I finished as we stood there gawking at our infuriated sister who swirled around and around. A black, snarling cat chasing her own tail.
Finally, grabbing ahold of it, she tugged on it and let out a pained yelp.
Folkoln burst into laughter.
And because I was every bit of the asshole he was, I did as well.
“Why are you laughing?” Saphira snarled as she thundered toward us, her eyes glowing with anger. “Did you do this?” Accusingly, she shook her tail, caught in in her firm grip, at Folkoln.
“No.” Folkoln shook his head, cackling as he said, “Although I wish I had.”
Saphira looked at me, and the fire in her eyes wicked out. Still on her good behavior act, she dropped her tail and didn’t dare ask if I had something to do with it.
“Ezra’s concoctions have side effects sometimes. I’m presuming this is one,” I speculated, crossing my arms over my chest.
She let out a frustrated sigh. “Do you think it will go away?”
“Hard to say,” I answered with a small shrug.
“Help!” an unfamiliar voice called out over the rushing waters. The three of us jerked our heads toward the river, looking to see who it was—
Lyra !
Without a second thought, I raced for the river and dove back in.
Arms churning, muscles firing, I swam to her.
Lyra’s wide eyes met mine as she struggled to keep herself upright. Underneath the water, in her arms, was Harper. Lyra gasped as she tried to keep the two of them from being dragged under. I grabbed them both, keeping the three of us above the water.
“Grab onto me,” Folkoln said to Lyra as he reached us.
She nodded, her hands wrapping around his arm.
When we were out of the river, Lyra crawled to Harper’s side. Her small fingers held Harper’s face as she knelt over top of her, small, strained whimpers coming from the back of her throat. Her tears plipped, falling on Harper’s unresponsive face.
I placed a reassuring hand on Lyra’s shoulder. “She’ll be alright.”
She turned toward me, gave me a nod, then wiped her tears in the crook of her arm.
“You were so brave to call for help. I’m proud of you, Lyra,” I spoke softly, and her eyes grew cloudy once more. “Hopefully, we’ll get to hear more of that voice someday.”
Her hand fell over mine, clutching it in thanks.
I was reminded of when I had found her, barely alive, on the floor of a tent in one of the mortal king’s training barracks.
Her body had been laden with bruises and wounds—both new and old.
Looking at her, I had thought she was not long for the Living Realm.
I still remembered the way her weak hand had reached for me—as if her soul understood I was Death, and that I could make her suffering end.
I had seen thousands of mortals die before, but in that moment, something came over me—perhaps it was because of Sage and the way she cherished the living.
Before I knew what I was doing, I had picked Lyra up and taken her to Ezra.
Removing my hand from Lyra’s shoulder, shadows swarmed into my palm, conjuring two towels and a set of clothes. I handed them to Lyra. She placed them beside her, used one towel to cover Harper, and then proceeded to wrap herself in the second.
When you lived as long as we immortals did, nudity didn’t bother us. It was our natural state, after all. But mortals were modest creatures.
Turning my attention to Kaleb, my shadows weaved a third towel, and they placed it over top of him.
As I sauntered over to Folkoln and Saphira, my umbra swirled around me—dressing me in a pair of leather pants, a simple black tunic, and a set of black boots. Black and silver rings wrapped around my fingers, Sage’s white feather weaving into my hair.
“We’re still missing a few,” Folkoln said, black eyes scanning the river as I stepped beside him.
“We’ll find them,” I stated. “Can you sense anything?”
“No, but for all I know, the river could be interfering with things. All I can sense are the emotions rolling off of you three. Which, other than the small one’s sadness and fear, are relatively bland.
” He rolled his neck, looking at Saphira and giving her a lopsided grin. “How’s that tail treating you, sis?”
“Fuck off,” she snarled, and crafted a long black dress that reached down to the stone ground, its neckline a plunging v cut. Beneath the silk fabric, her tail twitched from side to side.
Folkoln leaned back, eyeing it. “Nice try, but it’s definitely still there. I wonder if it’s going to be permanent?” He tapped his chin.
“Do you know what will be permanent?” Saphira snarled as she shot Folkoln a look so deadly that I could feel the daggers pierce him when it landed. “The imprint of my heel, stamped on your face.”
Folkoln inhaled, and when he exhaled, smoke curled from his nose. He groaned in ecstasy, “Yeah, that’s the stuff.”
“You emotion-sucking leech,” Saphira hissed in disgust.
“Would you two shut the fuck up?” I growled at my inferior siblings, pinning them both with my gaze. I looked back to the river. “I’m trying to decide what to do.”
They grew silent.
Saphira stepped around Folkoln, toward me. “If I may . . .”
“You may not,” I cut her off, my face shifting to hers. My anger was leashed, but my words had bite as I spoke between clenched teeth, “Your tongue speaks nothing but lies and treachery. I will not have it poison my thoughts.”
“Understood,” she said coldly before she spun on her heel and headed down the river, clipping a thunderous pace .
Good. That should get rid of her, at least for a little while.
I could only hope she kept going and didn’t turn around—one less soul to concern myself with.
Folkoln opened his mouth to say something, but I shot him a look that made my intentions clear—I was not in the mood to discuss anything that had to do with Saphira.
Proving he had half a brain cell, he shifted directions. “So . . . what’s the plan? How are we going to find the others?”
“Tunnel makes it pretty clear. We have two options. Go the way Saphira went or head upstream,” I answered, mulling over what made the most sense. “Whichever direction we go, we should be doing sweeps of the water.” I jerked my chin to the river. “They could still be down there.”
Folkoln glanced in the indicated direction. He was quiet for a moment, thinking, then, “We could split into two groups. One group goes downstream, the other goes upstream. We’d cover more ground that way.”
I shook my head. “Splitting up is counterproductive if our goal is to get the group together. Besides, we know nothing about these lands and what lurks in them. It’s better if we stick together.”
“Fair enough,” Folkoln replied. “So what do you want to do?”
“I think we do a quick sweep of the water. If we find nothing, we head further downstream. If some of the others did surface further up the river, then hopefully they’ll travel the same direction as us.
We’ll leave a message, written on the wall, with an arrow pointing downstream so they know where to find us. ”
“Alright. I’ll go back in, see if I can locate anyone else before we move ahead.”
“Don’t get lost,” I ordered, my tone serious.
“I’m insulted you think I would,” he said with a cocky, arrogant grin before he dove into the waters with little care, as if he were going for a leisurely swim. I looked down, peering beneath the surface, watching the souls as they drifted by.
This river reminded me so much of the Da’Nu.
Turning away, I walked over to the wall of the cave, contemplating what message I should leave behind. I didn’t know who or what might be lurking in this place so I wanted to make sure it was something only Fallon, Ryker, or Soren would understand.
Then, it came to me.
Slowly, I waved my hand from left to right, and my shadows went to work. Tiny bits of rock sputtered out from the wall, as if they were being removed by chisel and hammer.
When I was done, sitting over an arrow that pointed downstream, were the words— Four found their feet, two need time.