Page 12 of To Trap a Soul

She’d always wanted to go further east to see the closest ocean, but she’d never considered going towards the centre.

Her brows drew together when wet, muddy grass crunched and squelched beneath the hooves of the horses they rode.

This doesn’t make any sense.She couldn’t help lifting her head to further peer around.How did all this come to be?

It was like an abundant oasis had grown in the middle of the dry, dusty countryside. The stagnant air even seemed to cool, especially as the early autumn heat that had been bearing down on her faded under the shade. Any perspiration lining her forehead and neck became refreshing, and she found it easier to breathe.

Insects clicked and buzzed around her head, and she wrinkled her nose side to side at the perfume of flowers sprinkling their pollen into the air. The area was rich with life.

She looked back at Mathews, whose horse she was being carted on, just as he lifted a branch to avoid its swipe. He didn’t appear phased by what he saw, and neither did the others – especially as none commented on it in surprise.

Have they... been here before?This definitely felt planned and usual for them, whereas she couldn’t stop her head from turning one way or the other.

The horses skittered to the side occasionally, their ears stiff and pointed forward with flaring nostrils. The further they ventured through the thickening brush, the more skittish they became, often neighing and whinnying as they tossed theirheads. Although obviously very anxious, even the horses seemed well adjusted to the environment.

“Keep your wits about you,” Gregory muttered quietly when true shade passed over them, and his hands tightened on his reins. “We’re intheirterritory now.”

“It’s fine,” Sal muttered with an air of indifference, flapping his hand from side to side dismissively. “We’ll hear ’em before we see ’em.”

In answer, Mathews grunted with a head nod before looking over his shoulder. He and her connected eyes, then he lifted a single finger and pressed it against his lips. With no idea as to why he was telling her to shush, she shied away from his gaze to stare down at the horse’s hooves.

Who are they talking about?She hated admitting that she didn’t know all too much about the area. She eyed the lushness around her once more.We have to be close to the centre of the continent by now.

Just where were they taking her? There should be nothing and no one here except perhaps the native people, but even they were few and far between. She doubted she was being carted to one of their villages, as these men would likely sell her for coin, if anything.

It wasn’t uncommon for women to be taken for such reasons, forced to marry men other women didn’t wish to wed. Or worse.

Lindi shuddered at the thought.

Within minutes of being in the shade, as if the forest was only a thin band, they broke the tree line. There was an uncomfortable scent in the air, but Lindi couldn’t place it.

It was sickly sweet, but so very light it was more like an afterthought on the back of her palette. It came and went due to the light wind, the smells of the forest behind them mostly overshadowing it.

It didn’t matter either way.

In that moment, Lindi didn’t think anything could have distracted her from the shocking scene when they halted their horses and turned.

A gigantic hole, like a rip in the earth with a cavernous fall off the edge of a cliff side, opened up before them.

“A crevasse?” she whispered, gawking at it as the men rounded to the side to trot next to it.

No, a crevasse was much smaller than this.

She couldjustmake out the other side, as if it was on the border of what the human eye could see in the distance, and that was only in front of her. To her left and right, it was nothing but a shadowy, gaping hole forever.

They eventually stilled their mounts and the angle they finally brought her to allowed her to see deeper inside it. There was nothing down there except the occasional tree and shrub, although further to her right, she could see a dense forest.

The other side of the canyon was nothing but barren desert, as if the forest only existed onthisside of it.

“I didn’t think something like this existed in Austrális,” Lindi stated.

Ignoring her like usual, their saddles groaned and creaked as they dismounted, their boots thumping against the hard dirt of the rocky canyon edge. Two of the horses shook their necks at the release of pressure on their backs, causing their manes to flick and sway.

“We’ve started calling it the Veil,” Gregory stated as he stroked his sandy-coloured horse’s neck.

Her lips parted in surprise that he’d answered her.

“The Veil? I’ve never heard of a such a place.” Her lips pursed as she peered into it, only for her vision to wobble at the sheer, deadly drop. “Why would you call it that?”

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