Page 123 of Swords of Soul and Shadow (Gate Chronicles #3)

Everyone tensed as Eravin Gray strode into the light.

He walked right up to the group smiling, his black gums showing, his eyes gleaming like obsidian marbles.

The veins now traced down his arms, poking out the sleeves of his dirty and rough spun jacket.

“Someone killed the Cerl general? Annoying, but at the same time, it is appreciated. He’s the one who wanted to decimate the capital.

As the leader of One World, I wanted as many broken people as possible to survive, because how else was I supposed to raise an army of shadow soldiers?

He and his second caused far too much chaos.

Far more death than I would have liked. Messy. But it can’t be helped now, can it?”

Jove met Kase’s eyes, accusing him, but he just shook his head. How was he supposed to know when he’d struck that truce with Eravin in the Jayde Center that it would lead to this?

Eravin laughed. “I’m not one to belabor the point, however, because you’re all here now, and I will need those two swords. I’ll give you two options: a quick end, or you can join me.”

Jove shielded their mother. Stowe pushed Zelda back toward Skibs, who hadn’t stopped working.

Saldr unsheathed the shadow blade. “Jagamot.”

Eravin might have rolled his eyes, but it was only discernible by the tilt of his eyebrows. “Thank you for stating the obvious. Now what will it be?”

Kase’s father stepped up in front of the group. “You will not use us nor the people of Jayde.” He unsheathed his sword, setting his stance. “And you will not get this sword.”

Eravin scoffed. “Jayde? All of Yalvara is what I’ll use. I’ve gotten rid of the Essence of Time. Now I simply need those swords, which won’t be difficult at all. I’m giving you a choice because I do have a little bit of mercy. But I will make it for you if you will not.”

“Where is she?” The cry tore him up from the inside out. Too much terror. Too much anger. He couldn’t breathe.

Kase’s heart plummeted to his toes. Eravin had said he would do something to Hallie. He knew it. She hadn’t gone through the Gate.

“Don’t worry…her end wasn’t unpleasant, falling into Valora like that. The way she cried for you with that pretty ring on her finger, I just couldn’t bring myself to make her suffer.” Eravin’s grin was pure cruelty. “But she would’ve been the key to my downfall. She had to go. You understand.”

Kase lunged for him, but Harlan grabbed him, banding one arm over his chest and dropping his sword. Kase struggled against his father, but Harlan’s grip held strong. His side twinged, but he fought harder still.

Eravin just laughed. Someone behind Kase let out a small cry. Zelda. Kase strained even more. He needed to end Eravin. Right there. Right now.

“Let me go!” Kase shouted. He twisted and kicked his father. Harlan released him.

Still without a real weapon, Kase wound his fist back to punch Eravin, but the man threw out his hand. Glittering black power spurted from it like water.

Something hit Kase hard in his shoulder. He landed on his wounded side, which lit up in agony. It was almost as if he’d been stabbed again. What had Eravin struck him with? The weight of someone pressed him into the stone. Only his side screamed. His vision blurred.

“Well, that was surprising. Who knew Harlan Shackley had a heart!” Eravin pulled his hand back, probably to shoot more of the power at Kase—but instead, a chain with a pendant locket that glowed blue wrapped itself around Eravin’s throat. Kase could barely see anything through the haze of pain.

At the same moment, golden light burst into the tunnel, blinding everyone.

It took a moment for Kase’s pain to abate enough for him to see clearly.

Eravin stumbled, trying and failing to rip the locket from his throat.

He tripped over something, finally flinging the locket away, before falling headfirst into the golden light.

The light cascaded over him like a waterfall, hiding him from view the further he fell.

And then he was just…gone.

The rest of them were left in the company of nothing but silence and light.

The person on top of him rolled off, and Kase, trying to control the pain in his side, pushed himself up with quaking arms. Sweat dampened his hairline.

His father’s staccato breathing met his ears.

Harlan’s face was pale, which made the black veins only stand out in stark relief.

His military jacket hung in tatters at his chest, where a wound was growing like a large spider, Harlan’s blackened veins making up its legs.

Too many legs. His father struggled to take each breath.

Kase scrambled over to him, as did his mother and Jove. Tears flooded his mother’s cheeks. She gasped, “Harlan!”

Kase could only stare as the black poison spread further. The center of the wound turned gray, almost necrotic, like it was burning to ash.

Stowe, Zelda, Saldr, and Fely joined, all lending their hands to the task of trying to save Harlan’s life. Kase barely understood what they did—could barely comprehend the sight before him. Their efforts were a waste—even that Zuprium dust Saldr threw at his father.

Kase opened his mouth and closed it. He did it again. Words wouldn’t form. He breathed too heavily as the gray spread to the spider legs.

“Why?” Kase managed to choke out. “Why did you save me?”

His throat wasn’t working properly. It was too tight.

His father looked at his mother, hand reaching out for hers.

She clutched it to her chest. “I wasn’t the husband…

” He looked at Jove then at Kase, his gaze piercing all the way into his soul.

“…or the father you needed. But even if I don’t…

deserve…your forgiveness…I can do this. I can do this for you.

” He took in a staggering breath. His mother squeezed her husband’s hand with the strength she had left.

Jove leaned forward, his hands pressed to the ground, the whites of his eyes showing.

Harlan watched them all, the light in his eyes dimming.

“Harlan,” his mother sobbed, “wait, please wait—”

Harlan’s fingers closed weakly over hers; his mouth had gone stiff, losing function.

But Kase had the senseless, impossible thought that his father might be trying to smile at her.

“You are…have always been…formidable. But…no debating…with this.” Harlan traced his fingertip over the curve of Les’s chin. Wiping a tear. “I…I love…”

But his last breath ended before his last words did. One hand fell to his chest, limp; the other lost its grip on Les’s fingers, but she clung on, kissing it with a strangled sob.

Jove wrapped his arms around her, murmuring in her ear, but Kase…

Kase could only stare.

All the times his father had shouted at Kase, demeaned him, hit him…

all of the horrible memories he’d pushed to the back of his mind…

each one replayed in his head as he watched, numb, waiting for his father to open his eyes and roar at him for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. For not seeing Eravin’s blow coming.

He couldn’t dredge up any good memories, nothing that suggested the man lying dead in front of him deserved his forgiveness.

There was no grief. No guilt. Just…numb.

After a moment, as if from a distance, he watched his own hand reach over and close his father’s eyes. If not for the wound that had now gone entirely gray, his father might’ve only been sleeping.

But he was dead. Dead—and Kase was not.

He wrapped his arms around his mother as sobs wracked her body.

She didn’t release her husband’s hand. Neither he nor Jove let go; if they didn’t hold her together, she might very well fall apart.

Kase would, if it was him, if it was Hallie with a colorless crater in her chest and lungs empty of breath.

When Ana had died, his mother had held him like this through her own tears.

The thought shook the icy stronghold of numbness keeping him together; he steadied it with a deep, forceful breath.

One he only drew thanks to his father.

He was going to be sick. He swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat. It tasted bitter.

Several minutes went by before Skibs finally spoke. “The Gate is here. If what he said was true, Hallie should be in it. But it’s not like the others—it doesn’t lead anywhere in this timeline, or any others. This Gate leads to Valora, the Realm of Souls.”

Unable to aid Harlan further, Stowe stood and helped Zelda up. “Is there a way to bring her back?”

Skibs looked to Saldr and Fely. Saldr said, “It will become difficult for her to return here the longer she is present there. Time works differently in Valora. If she…if she passed first, then her soul will remain there until she chooses to move on. There will be no bringing her back.”

Kase didn’t let go of his mother, but he looked up, clinging to that precious if with all his strength. “But there’s a chance?”

“Jagamot’s wording was vague, and he is deceptive—even if Miss Walker is not dead, it would serve his purposes to make us believe so.

I would not give up hope until we see for ourselves.

” Despite the hopeful words, Saldr’s quiet voice was heavy with dread.

“Despite that demon entering the Gate, he will survive. He must be stopped. The last sliver of Toro’s soul lay within.

If he destroys it, no sword or anything Miss Walker might do will stop the end to come. ”

“I’ll go,” Skibs said, holding the sword Harlan had dropped. “When we kill him, I should be able to bring us back through the Gate to the right time and place.”

“I’m going, too,” Kase said. If there was even a chance Hallie could be saved, he would find her. He would bring her home. That had always been his promise.

“As will we,” Stowe said, at the same time Zelda snapped, “I’m not leaving her alone with that monster.”

Monster was too tame. Kase would end the helviter.

Kase tightened his hold on his mother before kissing her clammy cheek. “I love you.”

His mother reached and squeezed his hand, but she couldn’t get any words out. Kase understood.

It didn’t feel right leaving her—not now. But Hallie needed him. If he didn’t go, he would never forgive himself. He needed to know if she could be saved. If not, this might be his final goodbye.

He looked at his brother, whose eyes warred between sorrow and anger. Jove nodded. “Come back…or I’ll track you down myself and make whatever Jagamot has planned for you look merciful.”

Kase’s jaw wobbled as he squeezed his brother’s shoulder and then stepped up to the Gate. Skibs handed him his father’s sword. “You take this one.”

The leather grip was warm and the weight of the weapon was perfect. It felt right in his hands. Saldr reached out and handed Skibs the shadow sword. “I am needed here among my brethren.”

Fely stepped around Kase and placed a hand on Skibs’ shoulder. “If you see Filip, please tell him your uncle is gone. He can no longer hurt anyone else. I…I want him to know.”

Skibs didn’t react other than to say, “Of course.”

She and Saldr passed by and waited on the other side of the corridor.

Kase looked back one more time at his family.

His mother watched him, her blue eyes red and swollen.

His brother held her still, ever the eldest brother, the one who kept them all together.

First Ana, then Zeke, now his father. Half his family was dead. Would Kase be next?

He gripped the sword tighter and tore himself away from the sight.

The image through the Gate was beautiful and peaceful, unlike the one behind him.

Flowers dotted the rolling hillside. A little cottage sat tucked into the trees.

Majestic blue mountains stood like kings in the distance. “This the right one?”

Skibs nodded. “To the end, brother.”

“To the end.”

And then Kase stepped through, golden light blinding him once again.

I’m coming, Hals. Just hold on. For me.