Page 137 of To Free a Soul
“Please take me there,” she demanded, tucking her journal away and stashing it into her satchel. She threw it over her shoulder.
She was brought into a darkness she hadn’t visited for quite some time, as she hadn’t left that continent in years.
She glanced at Weldir, noticing his form was barely one-eighth, and a cruel loneliness crept inside her.I hate coming here. I hate seeing him.It reminded her of what she couldn’t have, and all her painful wishes that’d never be granted.
Her unrequited love that was often too much to bear.
The awkward uncomfortableness between them was so thick she doubted she could bite through it and swallow without choking. She shifted her gaze away.
Thankfully, it only lasted a few minutes.
Transported right to the fringes of Jabez’s lands, Lindiwe took in his newer castle that had stood for many decades. It was larger, more imposing, and utterly dreadful compared to the last. What had once appeared like a humble estate, modest in size for a ‘king,’ now stood as a daunting pillar of chaos amidst a haunted forest.
The structure was grey, and the bottom level was tall enough to fit a giant depicted in tales. The firepits illuminating the front entrance gave the impression that it was the doorway to the palace of damnation. The dark clouds on a moonless night gave it a foreboding aura, and the Demons patrolling made its warning clear: approach at your own peril.
Lindiwe stuck to the shadows so her colourless Phantom form was harder to see. She had no need to enter through the front doors and chose to go around the side to float through a wall, ending up in a dark room.
Staying intangible, which made her unable to be scented or heard unless she spoke, Lindiwe began to investigate the castle. She poked her head out of every door or wall first to check if it was clear before exiting into a new room or hallway.
Red carpet lined the hallway floors, while dimly lit candelabras created flickering shadows. She hid in many ofthose dark spots to avoid patrolling Demons in her search, most of whom were midway or fully developed.
Jabez sat in his throne room, lounging on his chair irreverently and looking bored, while Demons spoke to each other in the hall.
Katerina read quietly off to the side in an adjoining area with two guards, one protecting her back and the other in front of her. There was no opening, not one where Lindiwe would be able to strike before Jabez teleported to her side – or created a portal to her.
For once, I’m not here for them.
She lingered within a wall so she could listen to their conversations and see if she could get a hint of what he’d done with Leonidas. Or if Jabez had him at all.
What if he’s decided to become Jabez’s new guard?She could see Jabez replacing Merikh easily.
A muffled roar, buried deep, bellowed from below her feet.
“Can someone shut that Mavka up?” Jabez commanded, palming his face in annoyance. “If it’s not going to give us the pleasure of dying, the least it could do is be quiet.”
“Y-you want one of us to go down there?” a Demon nervously asked, his hand gripping the front of his shirt.
“Did I stutter?” Jabez asked, lifting his hand off his face slightly to glare at the offending Demon from the corner of his eye. “I’m tired and annoyed from dealing with it already. Are you insinuating that onlyIshould do it? What point is there in having servants then?”
“No, Your Majesty,” a woman cut in. Dressed in tight leather, she threw her hand out to the fearful one. “But none of us will survive if we tend to it. Should I call for Woik to place a sound-dampening spell?”
“That will take time,” Jabez retorted. “You will have to travel to him and return with him.”
“Not if you retrieve him, Your Majesty.”
Jabez’s nose crinkled tightly as he bared his fangs. He was gone in an instant. He returned a few minutes later holding the arm of a large, burly, horned man.
“Deal with it. I’m leaving.” He exited the throne hall into the adjoining room, and his voice echoed from within. “I’d like to go for a walk.”
“I want to stay here,” Katerina sneered in answer. “It’s winter. Go freeze by yourself.”
“Your impertinence is beginning to annoy me, Katerina. I give you everything you want, and you can’t even go for a stroll with me to help me clear my thoughts. It’s not difficult to wear a warm cloak.”
“Except you can’t give me the one thing I desire because you keep fucking failing.”
His voice grew quieter, but the menace in his tone was apparent even if Lindiwe couldn’t discern what he said. It was a warning, one that would have set even her on edge had it been muttered with such unnerving calm at her.
There was no crash as if something was thrown in anger, no shattering of glass. His temper wasn’t childishly explosive. Yet when she poked her head inside just enough to see, he was gone, and Katerina’s expression was pale and spooked. She muttered profanities while snapping her book shut.
