Page 116 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

THE FRIEND HE’D KNOWN

Kase

HIS SIDE STILL BURNED LIKE the sun, but there was no way in the stars that he would just sit there in that thrice-blasted tent and wait until someone else found Hallie. Eravin and Correa needed her. They needed her dead.

The thought that Hallie had gone through the Gate on her own without telling anyone only worried him more.

He didn’t know what her plan was now. She didn’t have the swords.

His father had one—still unsure about how that had happened—and the other, Saldr had sheathed at his own waist. She couldn’t sacrifice herself without them with her, which means she was either going to reset the Gates like Saldr wanted…

or she had changed everything entirely and hadn’t thought to tell him anything at all.

Or they were all wrong, and something worse had happened to her.

He just needed to see her, hold her, hear her say she was okay.

If she’d come up with a new plan and gone through the Gate purposefully, he trusted she knew what she was doing, but that wasn’t the problem.

The problem was that Eravin and Correa were looking for her. And if they found her before he could…

Jove helped him into his last semi-clean shirt, the one Hallie had worn just yesterday. It still smelled faintly like her, like the crisp, clean mountain air. Shocks. He clenched his jaw and played it off as side pain instead of what it truly was when his mother gave him that waspish look of hers.

Then they left the tent, a crew of misfits.

His side twinged again, though the pain lessened the more he walked.

He was too slow, only able to limp at a glacial pace through the slowly emptying Catacombs.

Maybe Skibs could shed some light on the situation.

Kase dearly hoped so. If he remembered correctly, he was supposed to have the Essence power that did something with the Gate in Myrrai.

But that was only if he intended to help Jayde, not hurt them. He’d once betrayed them. What was to say he wasn’t still working for Correa?

As they walked in their mismatched group—Lord Saldr and the Stradat Lord Kapitan leading the entire party from his tent—Kase kept his head on a swivel. The last thing he remembered besides the threats to Hallie was Eravin’s solid black glare.

Jagamot lived inside broken people. It sounded like some horror story from First Earth to him.

But if anyone was broken, it was Kase. It was quite a feat he was still there, but he didn’t feel like some other entity or…

or…shadow was inside him. No one had said anything about black veins or eyes or anything to him.

Then again, he’d grown in the last few months, more than he even realized. Hallie had brought out only the best in him, and for that, he would be eternally grateful. She was his north star, guiding him to the life he was meant to lead.

Maybe he’d imagined the black veins. Wouldn’t the same thing be happening in the other people in the Catacombs if it was true? Eravin had said the city was full of broken people.

Kase picked up his pace, ignoring the pain in his side.

The ward was still littered with patients.

The more seriously sick or wounded wouldn’t be moved until the Medic’s Guildhouse was secure, which could take about a week, as his father had said in the meeting yesterday…

the one he’d been late for because he’d been taking care of Hallie.

He hadn’t paid too much attention to what was said.

His mind had been on the woman in his tent and the fact that the only reason he was in that meeting at all was because he was the most senior pilot Jayde had.

They still hadn’t received word from the bases further out.

Without electricity, quick communication was nearly impossible.

Any surviving pilots would’ve had to hire a horse or carriage to make it back to the capital, and that would take weeks depending on where they’d been stationed.

Unless they stole a Cerl hover and allowed it to siphon off their soul to fly. Like Kase had, if unwittingly.

He nodded to a few of the patients they passed, who all craned their necks to see why the large and rather bedraggled party was traipsing through.

Kase glimpsed a few with the spiderwebbed black veins.

Fear spiked in his chest. But they were all behaving relatively normally…

sleeping or eating or chatting with medics.

They didn’t look broken or murderous. Some even smiled at him.

They didn’t seem to be manifesting Jagamot. They’d probably head to the surface soon.

Saldr led them to the back of the ward where three guards waited in front of one of the little cells. Anderson was nearby, still comatose, still leaking Soul or whatever Saldr had said. Maybe Skibs would have answers regarding that as well.

He clenched his teeth against the sharp pain that spiked as he opened the curtain.

Sitting on the side of the little cot sat Ben Reiss, not looking at all like he’d fallen from a dragon hours earlier.

Kase felt worse than he looked. It was a punch to the chest to see him not astride a dragon or about to stab him with a sword.

He didn’t have the crazed look he’d had at the end of the Eudora mission, nor did he look lost or out of it like he had after the crash in the Bay of Storms.

He looked like the man he’d met during pilot training nearly four years ago.

Skibs turned and smiled. It wasn’t maniacal or spiteful. It was genuine and warm, if nervous. Like the friend he’d known. “Glad to see you showed up. Not sure if you were gonna.”

“Skibs,” Kase said cautiously, not sure Skibs wasn’t going to pull a sword out from underneath the cot and run him through with it.

Skibs pushed himself to his feet, grunting a little, and took a few steps forward before pulling Kase into a hug.

Kase froze. Skibs had never really been the hugging type. Neither had Kase, for that matter. He bit the inside of his cheek to keep himself from crying out as his side protested.

“I’m sorry,” Skibs whispered before letting him go.

He looked the same as ever. Same blond hair.

Same sharp blue eyes, though there were a few lines around them.

“I’m sorry for everything. I wasn’t in my right mind, though it’s not a good excuse.

I just wanted to…I am sorry. So sorry. Especially for…

Zeke.” Skibs swallowed hard and crossed his arms. “I know…how hard that was for you.”

Kase gritted his teeth. “If you hadn’t attacked the city…”

Both cities, really.

Skibs looked away. “I don’t expect you to ever forgive me for that, but I would like to explain.”

“Let me see if I can guess first.” Kase began counting off on his fingers, not bothering to keep his voice down.

“You were working for the Cerls. You fulfilled whatever mission you were supposed to. And wait, I almost forgot—you were a Yalven Essence wielder the entire time, you blasted lying dulkop !”

Probably not the best choice of words. He needed Ben to help him with Hallie. He had to get his temper in check.

Skibs blew out a breath and sat on the edge of his cot. “Not by choice.”

Kase didn’t have time to talk about regrets or whoever had made Skibs’ choices. “If you mean it, then prove it. Help us. I need you to tell me about the Gate here in Kyvena.”

The other man jerked and looked up. “It’s here? Truly? You know where it is?”

Too eager. Kase backtracked. “Why do you care?”

“Because that’s why I’m here in Kyvena. It was the only reason I stayed in the capital after the attack.

I’ve been searching above for any signs.

The only hint I have is the layout of the city.

Everything hinges on a singular point in McKenzie Square, but nothing I’ve done has triggered its opening.

” Skibs rubbed his stubbled chin. “I probably don’t have the correct words of power, but my uncle assumed my Essence power would reveal them to me when the time came. ” He snorted. “Fates, I hate that man.”

Fates. A Cerl curse. Kase didn’t think he’d ever heard Skibs use it before, but he’d been pretending to be Jaydian for years.

Now Kase knew the truth—that he was working with the enemy—it would make sense if the man he knew as Ben Reiss was actually from Cerulene.

He narrowed his eyes in confusion. “Uncle? Did you…take your power from him?”

Maybe it was a situation like Hallie’s.

Skibs froze. He looked as if someone had painted him into a portrait. He moved not a muscle.

When Skibs didn’t answer, Kase leaned down. “How can we trust you? All you’ve done is betray us. You threw our friendship away. Is there anything you told me that wasn’t a lie?”

Skibs just sat there, staring at the ground.

That was all the answer Kase needed. “I don’t care what the truth is. I need your help with the Gate. If you do that, then I will put a good word in for you and do my best to make sure you at least get a trial. That’s all I can promise. And it’s the best deal you’ll get.”

Skibs still didn’t speak. Kase just let out a frustrated growl.

He wasn’t any closer to finding Hallie. If Skibs wouldn’t help, he’d take one of the swords and go down to the tunnel himself.

Maybe that would trigger something, if the swords were connected to the Gates somehow like Hallie and Saldr talked about.

He would do whatever was needed to find her.

He reached for the curtain, but Skibs’ voice stopped him.

“My name isn’t Ben Reiss.”

That revelation didn’t necessarily surprise Kase, but the tone of the confession did. It came out strained, like Skibs was under duress. Like it was physically painful to say the words.

Kase let his hand drop. A few of the shadows on the other side moved, but no one came inside. He turned back to Skibs. Blond hair peeked out between the fingers pressed to his forehead, his face bowed and hidden.