Page 73 of Between Soul and Vessel
It was just us five, the endless river, and the saltyfucking air.
We had been walking for four days, only stopping when Lyra needed to rest. As there wasn’t a speck of natural light to be found, I relied on her sleeping patterns to measure the time.
Mortals were like little clocks, their sleeping and waking hours revolving around night and day. Although time was relevant to us all, mortals were passionate about it, and as usual, they liked to claim it was one of them who had created the concept of it. Take the calendar, for example. For thousands of years, people had fought over who invented it. Some would say that it was this scholar or that great king, or oh no, it was Pharaoh Such and Such. And while they claimed this, they would completely ignore the fact that women’s bodies ran on a thirty-day cycle—just like the calendar.
I rolled my eyes.Morons.
The ground started to shake beneath my feet, causing small stones to jump from their resting state.Somethingwas on the move. Something big.
Folkoln and I exchanged brief glances.
A screeching roar sounded from up ahead, followed by another, and another. From one to the next, they were vastly different, which meant—
“There’s more than one,” Folkoln whispered. “What do you want to do?”
“We’re not going back,” I stated firmly, my mind fleshing out a plan.
Lyra’s fingers slid under my arm as she stepped closerto me, her attention locked on the direction of the monstrous sounds. Her complexion had paled, her heart pumping at a thunderous rate. I needed to find her somewhere she could hide, as well as the others, so that Folkoln and I could advance and figure out what we were up against.
Eyes searching, I looked over the wall of the mountain.There.A crevice.
The ground shuddered again. Worse than before.
“Quickly. Follow me,” I commanded, hoisting Harper further up on my back before I took off toward the fracture. Folkoln and Lyra followed behind me.
Reaching it, I peered inside the sizable crack, my immortal eyes seeing through the darkness. About fifteen feet in, the fissure opened up to a small cavity—just enough space to lay Harper and Kaleb down. Shadows swam from my shoulders, gently taking Harper’s body and sliding her through the fissure until it reached the small, open space, placing her there on the ground. Umbra returning, they took Kaleb from Folkoln and did the same.
I turned to Lyra. “You’re next.”
Eyes as wide and bright as two full moons, she nodded, and then began to slide inside.
As I went to turn away, I felt a small tug on my sleeve. I glanced over my shoulder. Lyra looked up at me with pleading eyes, her message clear.
“Don’t worry, we’ll be alright,” I reassured her.
She gave a small nod before her hand slipped away, and she slid into the crack.
Folkoln and I advanced, sticking to the shadows. Icloaked us in my umbra, but considering some species could see through that, we weren’t about to take any chances, so we crouched low to the ground and ducked behind a massive boulder with a flattened top.
Muscles tense, I raised my head slowly until I could just see over the top of the rock, laying eyes on the gigantic, snarling beast—
Ahydra.
It had at least a dozen heads. Its wet scales glistened like a layer of black, impenetrable armor. Dark, sinister eyes glowed with malevolence while razor-sharp teeth hissed and snapped as it slithered after its prey.
“Guess we found them,” Folkoln stated.
Ryker raced in our direction with Fallon on his back. She was awake, although by the way her scrunched face was contorted in pain, something was definitely wrong.
Both she and Ryker were wearing clothing made of large, green, leather-like leaves, secured in place by a braided rope that looked like it was made from the root of something. Wherever they came from, there were plants. If I knew one thing, it was that plants with leaves like that needed sunlight to survive, which meant they’d made it outside, or at least found a space that was open to it.
Hope filled my chest, but it was quickly smothered out—the hydra was gaining on them.
One head struck, just narrowly missing Ryker as it plunged its teeth into the ground, causing a spray of stone. Fallon screamed in horror.
“Keep the others safe,” I commanded Folkoln as Istood. My shadows plummeted from my hand, producing my Vischordian blade—Death Weaver.
Then, I charged.
