Page 176 of To Free a Soul
All because they had harmed her sweet Ingram.
She could forgive a battle; her child had run headfirst into such foolishness.
But torturing him? Cracking open his chest?
Lindiwe found that unforgivable.
She didn’t know how she could live with herself if she did such a thing, though. She’d spent the last three centuries preserving human life, and being a reaper of humankind felt unjust. Especially when such actions would have dire consequences for the villages, towns, and cities that relied on the Demonslayers’ protection. Men, women, children, the sick, and the old would pay for her crime against humankind.
It was forthemthat she held back when she snuck into Zagros Fortress and came face-to-skull with her child strapped to some kind of contraption.
“Free me,”he whimpered.“I should have listened to you. I am sorry. Please free me.”
The best Lindiwe could come up with was an apology and a half truth, without having to explain the real reason for her delay: that Sayrn had left Earth.
But nothing I say will make either of us feel better, she thought, investigating the chains and rope trapping him there.I feel so awful for going after Sayrn.And she was very,veryangry with Weldir fornottelling her what was happening here.
Lindiwe used her nails to pick at the knot of his bindings to give him a bit of movement. “Curses!” she spat out, stepping back. “The knot is too tight.”
And when she pushed detection magic into his trappings, there was nothing Lindiwe could do with her powers to assist him – they were enchanted with Anzúli magic. She would have to find the key to his chains and cut the rope with a blessed obsidian dagger.
“Cut off my head,”he demanded.
She eyed him with a dark intensity. He had no idea that whathethought was a mercy was emotional torture for her. She understood he just wanted freedom, but even if it helped them, she truly struggled to harm her children, her precious babies – no matter that they were large, frightful, andbeautifulmonsters.
When Wren, a well-known Demonslayer Head Elder, entered the dark and dank dungeon, Lindiwe turned incorporeal and floated within Ingram to hide. Two others in their customary black uniforms filed in behind her. Unlike Wren, who had her hood back to reveal her scarred face and red hair, their hoods were up to hide their features.
“I will try to find the key to your chains,” she whispered so only Ingram could hear her. “Please, just wait a little longer.”
She felt awful about having to leave him again, especially with a doctor who wanted to do more horrible things to him, but she would remain nearby and Weldir was watching. If they tried to harm him again, she’d come to this dungeon and wreak havoc upon them, human deaths be damned.
First, she needed to findwherethe contraption keys were stored. In her ghostly form, she followed Wren until she revealed the location, which was within a safe, and where the keys to thatwere. She waited until the woman was unsuspecting before she pilfered them straight from her person.
Then she needed to be patient and wait for her to leave the room the safe was in. In the background, Weldir informed her of all he’d learned about the stone she’d found in Merikh’s home – now that he was done investigating it.
“The spell is strong. Not of a deity’s level, of course, but it’s powerful. It’s doubtful you’ll be able to use it properly without Elysian mana.”
“Does that mean we can’t use it?” Lindiwe asked, rushing to the safe just as Wren exited her office.
She cycled through different keys on the metal keyring and quickly slid each one into the lock.If only I could grab solid things while in my Phantom form.She wouldn’t have needed the keyring to begin with.
“The stone is volatile. A mere crack in it will cause it to explode, and the energy from it will mean death for anything in its proximity.”
Finally one of the keys twisted in the lock and it clicked open. “Like some kind of sun explosive?”
“Exactly. Considering how your Phantom spirit tried to separate from your human body, you will be unable to use it.”
Her brows drew together as she looked around the office. “Why not?”
“It will likely destroy you. I believe the vibration that radiates from the spell is what started to separate your forms, but it was also pulling apart your soul.”
“What about a Duskwalker then?”
“You’re more similar to them than you are to a human. Even the younglings we had here were impacted by it. Their bodies will separate from their physical selves if they try.”
Looking down at the key that would lead to Ingram’s freedom, she clenched her hand around it.
“Then I’m the only one whocando it,” she answered.
