Chapter 8 Desperate Souls
Desperate Souls
They rode for three days, rolling past mountains and valleys while the sun shone bright above.
Birds sang from up the trees where fields of flowers in colors Alissa and Freyah didn’t know existed painted the land.
Bryniard was close, yet it seemed so far away from the beautiful sights that filled Alissa’s eyes with tears.
I wish Dhalia were here.
She had been avoiding thinking about Dhalia and how she felt a terrible mother to have left her child behind when death was looming, stealing her away day by day.
She tried to keep her mind focused on the path ahead, the stranger sitting between Alissa and her best friend, the beautiful world around her, or the purpose of her journey, but it rarely worked; the little girl was always behind her every thought.
The anguish and tightness in her chest remained a constant ache in her soul.
Alissa and Freyah had been taking turns watching Eldric, especially in the few hours they stopped to sleep at night.
They didn’t trust the man, and they feared he would take any chance given to attack them or run away.
They tried to get him to talk, to get information about this land they knew nothing about, but he had been resistant to sharing anything relevant.
In fact, he had been reluctant to say anything at all.
All they had learned about him so far was his last name, and only because it was embroidered in white in his dark green cloak.
Of course, watching the man’s every move didn’t quite work in their favor in gaining his trust.
That night, however, when the breeze was warm and the crickets were the only sound they could hear as they sat by the bonfire and ate together, Eldric spoke for the first time since they met.
“What is so urgent that could possibly make you want to travel to that sinister place?”
“I’m sorry?” The sound of his voice stunned Alissa. She almost wondered if it was a hallucination.
“I mean, why would anyone ever want to see the twins willingly?” His head shook in disapproval.
“Who?” Freyah asked in confusion.
“Well, you are heading to the canyons. Seeing the twins is definitely a mandatory stop, isn’t it?”
“What twi—” Freyah’s words were interrupted by her friend’s elbow in her stomach. “Ouch!”
“Yes, the twins, of course!” Alissa waved her hand dismissively.
Eldric’s eyes narrowed, and he pinched the bridge of his nose, drawing in a deep breath. “Do you not know anything about the place you are forcing me to take you?” He lifted his wrists tied together, shaking them for emphasis, the rope ends swinging with the movement.
“Not nothing…” Alissa said, playing with a lock of her light-brown hair, hoping to sound convincing, but her voice failed her.
“What is it that you know then?”
Her eyes darted up, looking at the stars to avoid the man’s intense scrutiny. “The name.”
Eldric stood up, quickly pacing back and forth as he dug his fingers into his scalp, asking the higher power what he could possibly have done to deserve this. “So, you have tied me up, forced me to take you to one of the most wicked places within our borders, and all you know about it is the name?”
“Yes?” She smiled, and Freyah did the same, hoping beautiful smiles would ease the man’s temper.
He sat back down, burying his face in his hands, and a sigh followed.
“What is so upsetting about the canyons to you, Sir Eldric?” Freyah asked, concerned.
“Everything is upsetting.” He glanced at the red-haired woman. “Please don’t call me sir.”
“Start from the beginning, will you, Van Myr?” Alissa said impatiently, calling the man by his last name for no apparent reason.
His eyes narrowed at her. “Some say that, nature-wise, the canyons are one of the most beautiful sights of our kingdom, but as marvelous as the place can be, its beauty is not why it is so well known. Do you know why it was given this name?” The shaking of heads was enough of a sign for him to continue.
“It’s called the Canyons of Truths because it is believed that once you step inside its fissures, the canyons will guide you to the answer you most crave.
It is not usually an objective answer or even one that makes any sense.
It can be a riddle, an enigma, or a single word.
But the real problem is not its predictions—it is the dangers that lurk within.
Once you are inside, only you can pull yourself out.
Most people never return, and that’s why only desperate souls find themselves looking for the Canyons of Truths.
” He shot his eyebrows up as a reprimand, but Alissa ignored the gesture, still digesting the words and the danger she would soon face.
“And what do twins have to do with that?” Freyah asked. It wasn’t the first time Alissa noticed the man flinch at the mention of said twins.
Eldric exhaled a long breath, trying to find a way to put the words together. “The twins are basically the guardians of the canyon’s integrity. This means they regulate its entrance and charge a fee to whoever dares venture into the place. The only way inside is through their cave.”
Hearing Eldric’s explanation, they did not seem as terrifying as the man led them both to believe. Charging a fee was only reasonable considering this might be some sort of enchanted location.
“How much should we expect to pay to get in?”
He chuckled in response. “You are not to pay with possessions, miss. You are to pay with a piece of your body.”
Alissa widened her eyes, then shrugged. “Well, I can give them a strand of my hair, right? I have plenty.”
“It’s very naive of you to think you have any power of choice on what your fee will be. If they demand an eye…” His gaze darted to where Freyah’s eyepatch lay and then to Alissa. “…or limb, you must let them have it if you hope to enter the canyons. Don’t underestimate them.”
Alissa swallowed, taken aback by the news.
With eyes wide in terror, Freyah said, “Maybe it’s not the best idea to go to this place after all, Lissa.”
“We don’t have another choice, Freyah.” Not if she hoped to find the cure for Dhalia.
Eldric stared at her, assessing the tension Alissa hid behind brown eyes. “It seems you’re one of those desperate souls.”
She was indeed. Alissa stared back at him, and as her mind wandered, she voiced her thoughts before she could stop herself. “Were you a desperate soul once, too?”
It took him a moment to answer; in a world where people were wronged far too many times to count, Eldric wondered if it could be less about desperation and more about how willing they were to give a part of themselves in the process.
Maybe it was the willingness to sacrifice that truly set them apart.
“Not desperate enough,” he answered with a blank expression.
It was not by personal experience that Eldric knew so much about this dreadful place after all, but from his curious, academic spirit.
174 DAYS UNTIL DHALIA’S DEATH DATE.
It was still morning when Alissa, Freyah, and Eldric arrived at their destination.
The last hour of their journey was particularly difficult, when the horse dug its hooves into the ground, and the incessant neighing was so loud that Alissa’s head started to throb.
It was no coincidence that the horse, which had been acting perfectly fine for the past six days, became a complete rebel the closer they got to the Canyons of Truths; the heaviness in the atmosphere this far west was palpable to any living creature.
They stopped the horse-drawn cart in front of the cave entrance.
As soon as his feet touched the ground, Eldric ran his hands over the horse, trying to calm the terrified animal down, even though he struggled with the ropes binding his wrists.
There must have been something soothing about him because soon the horse’s breathing slowed and the whinnying ceased.
“Well, it was great meeting you ladies,” he said with a satisfied smile, extending his arms toward Alissa, offering his wrists to her in a plea to be set free from the constraints eating at his skin.
Alissa frowned. “We’re not in the canyons just yet.”
“You only need to go straight ahead now.” Eldric turned around to stand beside her, facing the cave entrance. “Do you see this horrible, terrifying, putrid cave?” His nose scrunched in disgust. “Just follow this path all the way, and you’re there.”
“Well, thank you for the unsolicited directions, but you’re coming with us, Van Myr.”
“What?”
“You’ll be free once we’re out of here.”
“You mean, if we’re out of here…” the man murmured to himself.
Against all odds, Freyah was the first to step into the cave. It was so dark that, after only a few steps, they couldn’t see an inch in front of them.
Freyah picked up a torch from the wall and lit it while Alissa and Eldric hurried their steps to catch up.
The cave, at first glance, looked like any other, surrounded by stones.
It was filled with cobwebs, and the rancid smell was a mixture of mold and piss.
The humidity of the air quickly made Alissa’s hair look frizzy.
The deafening silence was almost too bleak if not for the whispers of the other people in her company.
Alissa heard a gagging sound, and her eyes darted to the strong man beside her, holding the urge to vomit. She snorted. “You’re such a baby!”
“Excuse me if my body reacts to a smell equivalent to ten rotten bodies covered in piss and blue cheese.”
A crease appeared between her eyebrows. “What do you mean? A cheese that is blue?”
“Do you not know what blue cheese is?” he asked incredulously.
She shook her head in response.
Even though puzzled, Eldric couldn’t pass up the chance to share his knowledge. “You’re not entirely wrong. There’s actually a fascinating story behind the name. It has to do with how it’s made and how mold—”
“Shhhh!” The reprimand came from Freyah, two steps ahead. “Will you two stop arguing, please? I think I can hear something.”