Page 117 of Master of Storms
Think, damn it.
He hobbled one way and then another, his boots crunching over bones. He’d found them earlier, and their existence made him feel ill.
He was standing on top of a mountain of bones.
Nobody was coming to find him.
Nobody would hear him calling for help.
Sliding down the wall, he rested his elbows on his knees.
He couldn’t reach Solveig.
And he didn’t want Ishtar anywhere near this.
A sound echoed through the caves.
Marduk’s head snapped upward, his heart surging with relief.Goddess, I’m not alone. Someone is—
Screaming.
Marduk froze.
Because he knew the sound of that voice.
Knew that furious bellow, even if he’d never heard her sound like this before. Pained. Desperate. Helpless.
“Solveig?” He threw himself at the cliff, trying to find purchase in its sheer sides.
Pain screamed through the shoulder he’d shoved back into place, but it was no good. He wasn’t getting out of here. He wasn’t going to be able to help her.
“Fuck!” Marduk hammered the flat of his palm against the stone. “Damn you. Help!” he yelled. “Help!”
Another scream tore through the world.
What was his mother doing to her?
Hisdrekimagic was muted. He couldn’t shift. He couldn’t escape this pit.
He couldn’t help her.
Hisdrekiwent mad inside him.
“Solveig! Solveig!” He screamed for her, tearing his fingers to the bones as he tried to scrabble at smooth rock.
There was no answer. Nothing but silence.
Silence and the edge of that bloody song that haunted him.
The one he should never have been able to hear.
Marduk fell still, his chest heaving as he slowly looked up.
The song.
Chaos.
His mother had said this was a well of Chaos.
