Chapter Five

“You can’t go anywhere on an empty stomach.” The anchoress handed each of us a bowl of porridge when we woke the next morning. It was thick, stodgy and flecked with ash from the fire. And surprisingly tasty.

“We don’t have time for this,” Fon said, his lip curling. My heart jolted. Rey would never say that – but Rey couldn’t say anything until we freed his soul from its shackles in the underworld.

“We might need our strength,” Vashri said ominously.

I ate. I wanted to get the anchoress on her own, but I had no idea how to get rid of Vashri and Fon without raising their suspicions.

“Eat it, boy. It was made by your betters, show your manners.”

Fon’s expression made me smile. King of fire; there weren’t many people he considered his betters, and I’d bet none of them wandered around clad only in beads and talked to him as though he were an errant child of thirteen.

“I need some air,” he snapped, and disappeared through the fissure to the cave at the front of the mountain. My heart jumped. One down.

I looked across the cave to Vashri. “Would you keep an eye on him?”

He raised his brows. “Fon can take care of himself.”

I raised mine higher. “Like he did last night?”

At the reminder of the wraiths, Vashri levered to his feet, mumbling. “Call if you need me.”

“I will,” I promised.

As he vanished through the fissure that led outside, I turned to our host. “Mother?” I bit my lip. There wasn't time for this, I knew that. But I had to ask. “Could you help me to use my magic?”

She looked me up and down. “I can teach you nothing, child.”

She wasn’t the sort to be modest. “I'm powerless.” Irritation at the fact surged through me.

The anchoress chuckled. “You're not powerless.”

“I can't access my magic. I can take it from others, but I can't use it. I hoped you might have a solution.”

She watched me for a long moment before breaking into a broad smile. “That's easy, child. You just have to stop fighting the truth.”

She turned away. I grabbed for her arm. “What truth?”

She cackled again. “Look inside you, child.”

My fingers tightened on my spoon. She clearly wasn’t in the mood to give a straight answer. And I didn’t want to argue – she might decide not to help us cross to the underworld after all.

“I have stood before the goddess, you know.” She spoke mostly to the fire. I wasn’t sure if she’d forgotten I was there. She was probably used to talking to herself.

“Really.” I bit back the scalding words I wanted to throw at her. Churlishness would gain me nothing.

“I had a vision. When I was younger than you are now.” The anchoress’s voice softened in reminiscence. “She told me to devote my life to her glory.”

Only a week ago, I would have dismissed her story as a dream, but now I knew there was no reason for the goddess to be any less real and immediate than any of the other myths who had wakened and were now walking around the Empire.

“What was she like?” We hoped she would help us get back Axxon’s and Rey’s souls. Any information might be helpful.

“Magnificent.” Her gaze met mine. “I remember nothing of how she looked, but I do remember the sense of awe that filled me when she appeared.” She held up her arm, stroking her fingers along her bony forearm. “My entire skin turned to goosebumps.” She poked at the fire and sparks scattered into the air. “I almost envy you.”

I shivered. I was eager to reach the underworld. And I wanted to anchor myself to the fire and never leave. I chided myself for my cowardice. The kings would do whatever was needed. I would do the same, however my heart quailed. “Mother?”

Her back stiffened. She didn’t say a word, but I could read the ‘what now?’ in her expression.

I swallowed. If I didn’t ask, I’d never know. “One final thing, please.”

“I thought you were impatient to reach the underworld?”

“Yes, but … I need to be sure we can get the kings’ souls back to this world.” I took a deep breath. “A demon owes me a favour. How do I summon him in case I need him to help us while we’re there?”

“Don’t summon anything from the underworld,” she told me.

“I won’t unless I absolutely have to.”

She shook her head.

My fists tightened. “I intend us to be as quick as possible, in and out of the underworld. But if that plan doesn’t work I need to have an alternative.” I faced her. “Please let me have an alternative. I don’t have magic. Please, give me this.”

She tutted. I knew she was going to say no. Again. But she surprised me. “You just need to speak its name. Three times in one breath.” She straightened. “Where are your friends? It’s time to be about this. Else I might think better of the whole idea.”

I gulped down my last spoonful of breakfast. “Fon! Vashri!” They appeared a moment later. “Time to go,” I told them.

“Who will be first?”

I shared a glance with Fon to Vashri. “We’ll go together.”

The anchoress shook her head. “All go alone into the underworld. And you will need something to pay the boatman.” She caught my gaze. “He will see you cross safely from this world to the next. Do not try to short-change him.”

“We need money?”

“Ha! Money is no good in the underworld. Give him something precious.”

Jewels and gold? But that was just the same as money, surely? I met Fon’s gaze. The kings were the most precious things I knew, but I wasn’t about to offer them.

“Well, we probably can’t give him Kyann,” Fon said cheekily. A flame of warmth lit his eyes when they rested on me. “Although she’s the most precious thing we have.”

Heat ran through me, reaching right down to my toes. “Don’t you dare,” I said.

Vashri jumped in. “Out of the question.”

Fon rolled his eyes. “I was joking.”

Vashri glared. “Jokes should be funny.”

“A favoured memory usually suffices,” the anchoress said. “You may wish to think of one you can bear to lose.” She faced the wall, muttered her spell and the enchantment swelled into being. A dot on the stone wall before us appeared and then grew bigger. I remembered the hole Cardivass had vanished into.

It might be easy to mistake it for a simple hole in the rock, except that there was something about the darkness that felt as though it came from a different world. There was something … oily about it, that reminded me of the wraiths. I shivered and hoped they wouldn’t be waiting for us.

“You go first,” Vashri told Fon. “Kyann goes in the middle. I’ll follow.”

He nodded. “See you on the other side.” Fon sent me a confident grin and stepped into the darkness. It welled around him. He seemed to stand still for a moment, then the obscurity swallowed him whole.

My heart jolted and my hands squeezed to fists.

“He’s safe.” I wasn’t sure whether Vashri meant to reassure me, or himself.

“Nothing to it,” I muttered. I stepped forward. The anchoress was standing to one side. “Thank you,” I said.

She lifted a hand, dismissing my thanks. “May the goddess go with you.”

I nodded and took another step.

“I’ll be right behind you,” Vashri promised.

I didn’t want him to think I was scared, even if I was. “I know.” Another step and icy cold hit me, creeping over my fingers and toes. I closed my eyes, finding it easier to step from this world to the underworld if I didn’t have to see the moment light vanished.

Another step. My eyes flashed open, afraid of what I might walk into. But there was nothing to see, just endless dark. My pulse roared in my ears. I gasped a breath and shuffled forward.

“You’re here.” Fon’s voice reached me first. His fingers touched my hand and the darkness vanished. I focused on Fon in relief, then looked past him to take my first glimpse at the underworld.