Chapter Ten

And nothing happened. The ring simply lay at my feet, Analee’s soul writhing behind the surface of the stone. I picked it up. The gem hadn’t even cracked. I ran my finger over the surface. The misty white-grey beneath the surface rolled and twisted. It was mesmerising. I smoothed my fingertip over it once more. And then I remembered how the master of the underworld had toyed with it ceaselessly and jerked my hand away.

I dropped it back to the ground and stamped on it. The only effect was a shooting pain through my heel.

“Let me try.” Fon pulled his sword from the sheath at his waist and stepped forward.

“Perhaps less violence would work,” Vashri suggested. His gaze rested on the gem. “There may well be a terrified woman trapped inside of that.”

“Yes!” I remembered the fear that had gripped me when the soultaker had suggested I stay with him. And I’d had Fon and Vashri to protect me. “Wait.” I scooped the ring back up. The mist shifted restlessly. “Analee?” It was ridiculous to speak to a ring, but who was I to say she couldn’t hear? “Analee, if you can hear me, you’re safe. I’ve taken you away from the soultaker.” Did the swirling grow faster, or was I imagining that? “I want to set you free, but I don’t know how.”

“Rikk wept.”

I turned to Fon. “What?”

He lifted a shoulder. “In the song. Rikk weeps when he thinks he’s lost Analee forever.”

I remembered the story myself: his tears made a river that swept them away out of reach of the soultaker. “I can’t cry a river.” I glanced around. “Although we’re not short of water.” I walked to the edge of the island, looking down at the restless waves.

“Take my hand.”

Fon was closest. He kept hold of his sword, and used his other hand to hold tight as I leaned down, stretching the hand holding the ring towards the angry water.

“I don’t think this is a good—”

Vashri hadn’t finished his sentence before I dipped the ring into the waves that rushed against the edge of the island.

Fon pulled me up. I shook off the ring and looked closely to see if there was any effect.

A hissing sound began. At first, I mistook it for the sound of the waves. Then the inside of the gem darkened. Before I could remark on it, a misty cloud obscured the air between me and the kings.

“She’s there,” Vashri breathed.

Fon sheathed his sword. I swear the mist shivered at the noise.

The gem was completely dark now. I shoved the ring back in my pocket and focused on the mist. It resolved into the shape of a person. If I squinted, I could see the figure of a woman, dark hair cascading down her back. Hair that I’d last seen adorning the throat of the master of the underworld.

“You’re Analee.” It wasn’t a question.

“I am.” Mist trailed around her when she turned to face me. If I didn’t look too hard, I could see her clearly – pale skin, dark eyes, lips that tilted up with the start of a smile. But if I tried to see any details the mist took over and I could make out nothing clearly.

Even in her ethereal form she was beautiful. I could see why the master of the underworld might have wanted her. Although I couldn’t see much commonality between her and me. I was too ordinary to tempt the soultaker. He’d only wanted me because I was there.

She drifted closer to me. “And I am free. I owe you my thanks.”

I waved a hand, uncomfortable with her praise. “It’s nothing.”

Fon coughed. “Hardly nothing.” He stepped forward, giving a bow and extending a hand to Analee as though she would be able to place her hand in his. “Enchanted to meet you, Lady Analee. Kyann is too modest. She put herself at considerable risk to free you.”

Analee drifted. “And I have said I owe her my thanks. Is there something particular you want?”

“I wanted only to set you free. No one should be trapped by that dreadful man,” I said.

“But there is one thing you could do,” Fon persisted. “We are trying to find two souls trapped here. I thought I would know where to find my friends, but there’s no trace.”

“No one can return from the dead,” Analee said softly.

“No, no, you misunderstand. Their souls were ripped from their living bodies and brought to the underworld. They are not dead. Dark magic was used.”

Analee turned from Fon to me, as though to check whether I would support his story. The master of the underworld had betrayed and imprisoned her.  I wasn’t surprised if she chose not to trust what men told her.

“That’s right. Zephon and Vashri here are two of the four kings of legend.” I paused – Analee’s story pre-dated that of the kings. She probably didn’t know who they were. I summed up. “Charnrosa is in peril. We need all four kings to save the Empire and its people.”

Analee drifted closer. Her dark eyes bored into me, as though her soul could see into mine. “You want their stolen souls to be returned to the men you love,” she said, half-question, half-statement.

“I…” I opened my mouth to deny that I loved Rey and Axxon, then shut it. I needed Analee’s help, and if she thought it was a matter of love, then I wasn’t going to confuse her with my murky, confused feelings about the four kings. “That’s right. Will you help? Can you help?”

“I will do all in my power for the one who freed me from my prison.”

I thought she would point in the right direction then, or perhaps scratch a map into the stone beneath our feet. Instead, she stood and raised her misty arms, singing in a language I didn’t recognise.

The melody sung in Analee’s sweet voice raised the hairs on the back of my neck. Vashri shifted closer and the warmth from his chest radiated into my back. Tears welled in my eyes, which was ridiculous. It was only a song. I knuckled my eyes impatiently and blinked hard to keep them dry. And then the song finished and sorrow dragged harder at my heart.

A second misty shape formed in front of Analee. She was more solid now, her dark eyes glowing in radiant skin. “Rikk!” The new shape opened his arms and Analee slid into his embrace.

I swallowed down the lump in my throat. Analee and Rikk, reunited again. And for good this time, I hoped.

“I’m ready now.” Analee smiled, happiness radiating from her. “We will show you to your friends.” She looked down at our feet. “Oh.” On reflex I looked at the same place on her misty body. Analee didn’t seem to have feet, she just frittered to nothing where her gown reached the ground. “We will have to cross the water. Is that possible for you?”

As one, Fon and Vashri reached for the Gems of Giera. “We’ll manage.”

Moments later, the phoenix and wyvern landed on the island.

“Can we travel in more comfort this time?” I asked Vashri.

“You could come with me,” Fon offered.

I glanced at the phoenix. She couldn’t be harmful, I knew that – Fon wasn’t affected by the flames that danced over her feathers – but still the sight of them made me pause.

“You’ll be perfectly safe with me,” Vashri said. He took my hand and the wyvern held still while he helped me up to sit astride its spine, my hands gripping a nobble that jutted out from her neck while my legs dangled either side of the great beast. I wasn’t completely sure it was more comfortable than being held in her claws, but then Vashri got on behind me and the warmth and solidity of his strong body drove all my concerns far away.

His arms went around my waist while his thighs pressed close to mine, holding us both securely in place while the wyvern bunched her powerful muscles and flung herself into the sky after a whooping Fon.

Analee and Rikk drifted ahead of us, their forms sparkling like clouds adrift in the air, but moving with far greater purpose. The phoenix made a bright spot of light ahead on our right, and the wyvern’s dark hide was more comfortable than I’d first thought. Or perhaps it was Vashri who I found comfortable.

Just as I began to grow cold from the constant rush of air, another island rose from the dull, restless sea. This one differed from the one we’d come from – being covered with various hills and outcrops of rock, rather than being level and featureless.

Analee and Rikk dropped to the ground in front of us, demonstrating that this was indeed our destination.

“Our paths part here,” she said. “Your friends’ souls are within the caves.” She pointed to a tall span of rock, its front jagged with splits. “I wish you well – in this life and the next.”

“Thank you, I hope you’ll be happy.”

Analee’s radiant soul smiled at me. “Oh, we will.” And they were gone, vanishing into the air.

Vashri, Fon and I turned to the cave she’d pointed out. My heart beat noisily against my ribs. After everything it had cost to get here, our task was nearly over. Axxon’s and Rey’s souls were only steps away.

The dim light cut out as we entered the caves. Fon conjured a light so we could see. I stepped farther inside. After three steps, light flooded the cave. I caught sight of Axxon’s and Rey’s trapped souls and all conscious thought fled.