Page 146 of To Free a Soul
Perhaps due to their special bond, it was rare that they attacked each other when they were enraged and mindless. They argued with growls and snarls, fought a little over their prey, but never truly turned on each other with hostility.
The Demon was ended quickly, and they played tug-of-war with its corpse.
Now that she’d started, she couldn’t help checking on them all.
It was easy to lose herself in their moments as she watched them. She lingered each time, feeling the waves of loneliness slowly creeping up the sands of her psyche like an incoming tide. She was used to it, and that was why she found it easier to become a spectator.
Her home had become a prison of solitude.
The afternoon crept in, and Lindiwe lay on her hard bed on her side. She got lost staring at Odie.It’s been a while since I saw him.
“Weldir?” Lindiwe called, just to know if he was there or not.
Silence greeted her.
I’m tired,she thought, as her eyes grew heavier.
She summoned a different child, and a jackal skull came into view.
I really wish he would wake up. He’s able to watch over them all at the same time.Maybe then Lindiwe could close her eyes and properly rest, as she hadn’t been able to since Reia had successfully travelled to the Veil.
It comforts me to know he’s there.Even if she had to keep her heart closed off to the best of her abilities.
Her eyes drooped under the weight of her constant restlessness and unease, the nights of difficult sleep catching up to her. She finally drifted off while watching Balam, her jaguar-skulled son, hunting through the jungle.
When Lindiwe’s eyes peeked open, day was about to break. She stretched, her back arching off the bed, until she felt a twinge just above her hip.
She began her mornings like most.
Deciding on whether or not she actually wanted to eat, since it was no longer a requirement but more for enjoyment. Thenshe pulled her journal out and detailed everything noteworthy from the day before, leaving out her thoughts and feelings. She’d never been interested in going back to read over her journeys to experience her mental decline.
Most of the Duskwalkers in the southern hemisphere will either be asleep or just going to sleep. Reia is also human, so she and Orpheus should be asleep at this hour.
She scried for those in the northern hemisphere, the many that there were. Once done making sure none of them needed her – they never did – she tended to her herb garden. Having medicine was useful, and she often made her own soaps, shampoos, oils, and other care products. She liked to beclean, even if all she had to bathe in was river water.
Midmorning came, a time when most of her children in Austrális or South Unerica would begin moving. The rotation of her duties continued, and she brought up her first viewing disc as she packed her basket to go bathe.
Expecting to see Orpheus’ home when she scried for him, she halted midway through collecting a final toiletry item. He was in the forest, chasing after some unseen thing, with orbs stark white.
Her basket and everything in it clattered to the ground when she knocked it to the side as she scrambled to the hook where her cloak was. She almost tripped face-first into the wall, and the hook ripped through the hood when she grabbed it to stop herself from falling.
It was fine – it was still intact.
“Fuck,” Lindiwe snapped out as she threw it around her shoulders. “Fuck. Fuck. Fuck!” She grabbed the handle for her door and yanked it back, shoving herself over the threshold. “Reia!”
Because Lindiwe knew one thing for certain: Orpheus wouldn’t be heading towards the centre of the Veil, in thedirection of Jabez’s castle, if she wasn’t there. She’d seen it in the distance, watched as his snout lifted in that direction with a whine.
“She was taken.” Lindiwe threw her ripped hood over her head, and a loose feather fell down her face. “Curses. I thought they were fine!”
She transformed and lifted off in her owl form. She couldn’t see Jabez’s castle from where she was. She’d made her home on the complete opposite side of the inner ring of the Veil.
How?! Orpheus hasn’t left his home in days!Why did he leave her by herself?!To fetch water? To hunt? To chase after a Demon? The reasons could be endless. Lindiwe felt it in the pit of her soul that it wasn’t Reia’s fault. That she didn’t run away or willingly go with Jabez.
It’s different this time.They may have only been together for a month and a half, but Reia was gentle with Orpheus. She didn’t disdain his presence; she inserted herself into it with a big smile that even warmed Lindiwe with tenderness.
Shit. Shit. I’m so sorry, Orpheus.Lindiwe flew hard, using all her might and the calm winds to get there faster.
But he’s so close to it. He must have been running since yesterday.Perhaps it’d happened only a little after she’d stopped watching them. Damnit. Was that why they’d been talking on the porch?
