Page 22

A Soul too Far

A little time later, we had our letter all written out and placed where it should be found.

It was obvious that Garmr was busy with the new addition to his army, whatever it was, because, lucky for us, he hadn’t come to our room…

no doubt believing Anástasi needed her rest, as clearly, he had something big planned.

So, we decided to take our chance and make our way down to the cells. It turned out, it was a good job that we did, because Orthrus was in an even worse way than before.

“Even more of his lies,” Anástasi hissed because it was clear that he had been beaten even more since Garmr assured her that he wouldn’t be touched.

“Oh God, Orthrus,” I cried out at the sight.

His wrists looked torn to shreds where he had clearly fought against them during this last beating.

The flesh on them looked raw and bloody, just like the rest of him.

His face was near unrecognizable. There was barely an inch on his body that didn’t have injury inflicted upon it.

My heart broke all over again at seeing him this way.

“We can’t leave him like this!” I implored.

“And we won’t,” she assured me, stepping inside and making me thankful they considered his escape impossible enough that no guard was stationed at his cell. As for the rest of the prison, it was empty, so Garmr must have thought there was little point in wasting the man power down here.

“Please tell me he is still alive,” I said, as he hung lifeless and unmoving. A sight that would no doubt haunt me for the rest of my days. He looked… oh Gods…

He looked dead.

But then Anástasi told me,

“I still detect life but he doesn’t have long. We must act quickly.”

“Yes, please do whatever you can, please just save him,” I pleaded, glad that we had made it just in time to save him.

“First, I need to change the spell on the shackles, hopefully they won’t notice. I just hope he is willing to act along.”

“He will, just hurry.”

She nodded and lifted her hands up over the shackles.

A green glow emitted from her palms seconds before the symbols started to burn brighter.

Then I watched as they began to rearrange, first merging together before splitting and creating new markings.

And whatever she did must have worked because suddenly, Orthrus took a deep breath in, scaring me at the sound before relief once more flowed through me.

“Oh, thank god!” I shouted, making Anástasi smile before cooing in a soothing voice,

“Easy now, HellBeast, take steady breaths.”

“Coo…kie?” Orthrus said in a broken voice, making my heart ache at the sound.

It was as if he had been made to swallow acid. Something inside me snapped and I stepped up closer, our movements for once my own. Then I cupped his face and told him,

“It’s me,” and it was, because my own voice broke through, as if Anástasi was letting me take the reins.

“I can… feel myself healing,” he told me, as if shocked. Which told me that whatever she had done, finally allowed his power to heal to break through.

“Yes, you can heal now but only internally, we still need them to think you are weak and beaten,” I told him, hating how that sounded. Finally, he opened his eyes, the swelling in both of them receding enough so he was able to do so.

“You have a plan?” he asked and I smiled, despite how sad it truly was, because I just wished that plan included getting him out of here right now.

“When do I not, big guy?” I said, making him grin, despite how painful it looked, cracking his skin further.

I explained the plan, and he agreed that it was the only way, encouraging me to escape as soon as I was able. The question of taking him with me didn’t even leave his lips, as I knew it wouldn’t.

No, his only concern was my safety, telling me about the tunnel in the cave where the bones were.

He told me the way to go and that it would lead to a temple where they had broken into.

But I wouldn’t leave until he assured me that if it all went wrong and they tried to kill him, that he would fight back.

That he would do everything in his power to survive and escape them.

This moment ended between us with me placing my forehead to his and whispering with tears streaming down my cheeks,

“Survive, my brother.”

To which he closed his eyes and whispered in return,

“Promise me you will tell my brother, I love him.”

I gasped, knowing what he meant.

“You will be able to tell him yourself soon,” I said resolutely, but still he continued.

“Promise me, Ella.”

I swallowed hard and told him, “I promise.” My voice nearly breaking as I cried.

“Love you, my sister,” he said softly, and again he was breaking my heart.

“I love you too,” I said, and then he pulled back enough to jerk a chin to the door and say,

“Now go, while you can.”

I nodded, sniffing back my tears before walking to the cell door, hoping and praying to every god out there that I was making the right choice.

Orthrus thought I was and so did Anástasi.

But then if I was, why did it feel as if I was tearing my own heart out?

How could I ever face Jared again, knowing I might have caused his brother’s death?

This time, it was Anástasi’s turn to console me as I released the control I had on our actions.

“I am sorry that we can’t do more for him, but he was right, if we took him with us, we would have less chance at escaping,” she said, wiping her own eyes as I continued to make us cry.

“I know, it’s why it’s so hard because he’s …he’s my family.”

“Trust me, I understand… all too well, and now I know that it was all through my own foolish actions,” she admitted, referring of course to Lerna.

We left the prison and instead of going back to our room, we made our way toward the caves in hopes Garmr wouldn’t be there.

Of course, if Anástasi was seen, it wouldn’t look out of place, but that didn’t mean that the tension wasn’t there.

The feeling that we were sneaking around and trying to escape added that level of fear that we would get caught.

We just needed to get far enough that it was safe to make a run for it. The moment we were through the tunnel that opened up to the cavernous space of the hallowed mountain, the gasp came from both of us.

Because now instead of mountains of bones, there was the giant remains of a single being in their place.

Of course, Anástasi had resurrected all the Hellhounds that Garmr had been storing here, so we had expected it to be empty.

What we hadn’t expected was the giant remains of a creature.

A giant and monstrous wolf… or more like, the remains of one.

It was clearly dead, although this looked like it could have happened recently, because it wasn’t skeletal and was far more than just decaying flesh and bones.

Its midnight black fur was thickest around its head, with his black lips pulled back as if he had died growling. Its snout wrinkled in anger, with jaws big enough to swallow a bus and with its teeth at least twice my size.

If I thought Jared in his HellBeast form had been big, then this creature was something else!

His paws could have crushed buildings and its tail could have taken out city blocks.

That was if it had life, for it was clear something had happened to kill this beast. That was unless it had just been put under some kind of spell?

But its chest wasn’t rising and falling, meaning it wasn’t drawing in breath, so I didn’t know.

Although I did suspect it had something to do with all the chains that was wrapped around its body.

Each of them elaborately made and etched with what looked like Norse symbols, as I recognized what runes looked like.

“Gods, what is this?” Anástasi uttered, but then the second we heard a voice behind us, we gasped for a new reason.

“This is the mighty Fenrir,” Garmr said, placing his hands on our shoulders, making us shudder at his touch.

“I hope you are feeling better, my dear,” he said, leaning down to place a kiss at our cheek, and I felt Anástasi tense. Because it was clear we had missed our opportunity to escape, meaning we would have to find a different way. But then she started shaking her head as if she knew what this meant.

“I can’t… I can’t do this, Garmr,” she stammered, and it was enough that I caught up with what he meant by us getting our rest.

“I believe in you,” he told her reassuringly, but she continued to shake her head, pulling from his hold and turning to face him.

“It’s too big, I can’t do it!” she argued, making him frown down at her before folding his arms.

“Yes you can.”

“But why?! You don’t need this beast to win this war! How much power to do you need…? How much do you need to take from me!” she shouted, letting her emotions take hold, and I was unable to stop it.

His features twisted and for a fraction of a second, guilt and pain was all I saw. But then just like someone had snapped their fingers, it was gone and steely resolve took its place.

“Are you denying me?” he asked in a dangerous tone.

“Am I not allowed to do so?” she argued back, and any other time I would have applauded her. Garmr sighed as if this was not what he wanted, and this was all very taxing on him.

“You must understand, that once you do this, then our victory will be absolute. I am not only doing this for myself but for us, Anástasi,” he told her, and I couldn’t help but scoff silently, something she agreed with because her tone was scathing.

“And I am asking you not to.”

He jerked back a bit, like he had been struck by her hand.

“You wish for me to lose the battle and put you at risk?”

“No, I am telling you, do not ask this of me!” she snapped, throwing out her hand toward the colossal dead beast he wanted her to resurrect.

But this was when he changed on a dime, because he stepped closer, gripped her chin, and forced her to look up at him. Then he growled down at her,

“Then I will not ask.”

She relaxed, but I knew better than to trust his words, because his dark tone spoke of something other than relenting. It spoke of a sinister promise.

“Thank you, Garmr,” Anástasi replied, but this made him narrow his gaze before he suddenly spun her to face the beast. The chained monster that lay at the bottom of the mountain floor below where we stood.

She gasped when he quickly collared her throat.

His lips lowering to our ear, and just as he let his power of control start to flow through her, he told us,

“I will not ask but I will take… for you are mine to possess, as is your power!”

His demonic voice would have had the power to freeze the blood in our veins.

But as it stood, the power he held over us was all that was needed because we became paralyzed in his hold.

I even felt her open her mouth to scream and just before the sound could fill the cavernous space, echoing like a haunting crescendo to our own dark opera, he forced her to do his bidding.

Which meant the sound was only like a trumpet of triumph as her scream rang out at the same time our hand started to rise up.

The summoning magic within us building up ready to be let out, no matter how much we tried to hold on to it.

A rising heat burning through us until it had nowhere else to go but be released from fear it would make us explode.

Which meant, in the end, we had no choice. I had been right all along. His love had been nothing but a ruse. A form of control to make his life easier. But now that option was taken from him, he had no choice but to force Anástasi to do his bidding.

Because he may have had someone else pulling his strings but for us…

He had always been…

The true puppet master.