Page 61 of To Free a Soul (Duskwalker Beginnings #2)

A time unknown, but of adapting

Heavy, laboured breathing filled Weldir’s ears as he coalesced his physical self into his hands so he could present them.

He positioned his left palm flat but facing up and then placed his index, middle, and fourth fingers of his right hand in the middle of the left to sign ‘M’ at Nathair.

His offspring mimicked it, and Weldir removed his fourth finger to create the letter ‘N.’ Then they continued onto ‘O,’ Weldir dipping into the memory of a soul that knew sign language to relay the next letter of the alphabet.

Austrális sign language was what Weldir had decided to base his teachings on, and then they had both agreed to create their own language that could incorporate Nathair’s orb colours. He didn’t have flesh upon his bony face to make expressions, so most signs weren’t possible to their full extent.

He wanted Nathair to decide what each gesture signified, and to structure his own sentences. He believed this would give him a sense of control over his communication abilities.

But if we create a structured base from one culture’s alphabet, it’ll make the process easier. They could begin communicating by finger spelling, and Nathair could see how to formulate gestures from an example.

Once they were done, Weldir showed him how to finger spell his own name.

He took two fingers from his right hand and pressed them against his left palm for ‘N’.

Then his right index finger touched the tip of his left thumb: ‘A’.

His right index poking the side of his palm right below his left pinkie signified ‘T’.

All four fingers of his right hand brushed from the centre of his left palm up to his fingertips to sign ‘H’.

His right index finger touched the tip of his left thumb again: ‘A’.

Then his right index touched the tip of his left middle finger for ‘I’.

Hooking his right index finger until it almost made a semi-circle, he pressed it against his left palm to indicate ‘R’.

“N-A-T-H-A-I-R,” the serpent Mavka copied, before pointing to his chest to signal himself with bright-yellow orbs of joy.

“Yes. That’s your name.”

Then Weldir started a different word.

With his hands steepled, he interlocked all his straightened fingers together except his thumbs: ‘W’.

Then his right index finger touched the tip of his left middle finger for ‘E’.

His right index finger pressed against the centre of his left palm to sign ‘L’.

He made a backwards ‘c’ shape with his right thumb and index finger and pressed the tips against the length of his left index finger, indicating ‘D’.

His right index touched the tip of his left middle finger for ‘I’.

Finally he hooked his right index finger until it almost made a ‘u’ shape and pressed it against his left palm to spell ‘R’.

“W-E-L-D-I-R,” Nathair mimicked, his orbs brightening.

His offspring moved his right fist in a knocking motion to signal ‘yes’ that he was happy. ‘Yes’ and ‘no’ were the first things Weldir had taught him. It gave them the most basic way to communicate, and not utilising a nod or a shake of his head meant Weldir couldn’t accidentally misunderstand him.

Pride radiated through his mist as he watched Nathair repeat the alphabet seamlessly, as if he hadn’t just been taught for the first time. It revealed the depth of his intelligence, his memory, and that Weldir had been right; all the souls he’d consumed had increased his humanity tenfold.

“H-E-L-L-O,” Nathair finger spelled.

Weldir waved at him in return, as that was a common way to greet a person in any language and culture – and even how the Elvish did it. Nathair grumbled and waved back, and likely committed it to memory.

Mischievous humour made Weldir’s mist shimmer with vibrations. “I can teach you how to say ‘fuck you’ as well if you like.”

Nathair knocked his right fist in the air.

Weldir lifted his middle finger while keeping the rest of his fingers down.

A chuckle left him when Nathair not only mimicked him, but shoved his big hand through his misty head.

Nathair answered with his own throaty, chesty chuckle – which sounded different to the laughter that used to radiate from his mind.

Then Nathair groaned as his orbs flickered white, and he shuddered deeply. He lifted both hands around the sides of his serpent skull but didn’t grab it, as there was a chance he’d try to crush it by accident.

Which would kill him – forever. Had Nathair’s body not locked up into a seizure while Weldir was forced into a catatonic state, his offspring could have torn at his own soul and destroyed himself entirely. A slip of luck, all things considered.

Weldir watched his offspring struggle to keep a human memory at bay and listened to how his heavy breathing grew more laboured. He said nothing, made no note of it, nor did he bring attention to it when Nathair managed to pull it back with his shoulders drooping.

Weldir didn’t even ask if he was okay, as that annoyed him.

Nathair’s orbs flashed an embarrassed reddish pink, and he tipped his face away slightly to hide it.

He didn’t need a voice to tell Weldir how much he hated this, and hated how he’d done this to himself. It was obvious in his body language, and he had a lot of body.

“Weldir,” Lindiwe’s voice practically growled.

I find it rather cute when she does that. She tried to show she was mean and scary, and it merely tickled his humour.

“Yes, Lindiwe?”

Nathair was used to him answering her in his presence.

“I just watched Jabez take Orpheus’ offering and fucking run off with her into the Veil,” Lindiwe said, and when he brought up a viewing disc of her, the image of her looking at her own much smaller version became apparent.

A small offspring with a maned-wolf skull rested in her lap and used her dress as a hammock while they napped.

They’d been with her for quite some time, and it was the first they were intending to place in South Unerica.

Weldir had finally expressed his desire to begin this venture once more, and Lindiwe had accepted immediately.

It gave him the impression that she’d missed it.

“I believe you said you wouldn’t interfere.”

“I know what I said.” She stuck out her bottom lip. “But I warned them years ago, and you’d think after I destroyed his last castle, they’d take the hint and stop. I don’t know how he’s getting through the salt circle. He can’t when Orpheus is there.”

“Didn’t you say that the offending person has to have hostile intentions? If Jabez has figured that out, and he means no harm to the human directly when passing through, then...”

“Conniving bastard.”

Weldir made sure she couldn’t hear his chuckle. I like it when she’s all twisted up like this. Of course, only when it wasn’t directed at him.

“You’re in another part of the world, and I’ve told you that I don’t wish for you to engage him again.”

He was still furious she’d lost an arm – no matter that it was temporary in the end. No amount of harm to her was worth Jabez’s demise, no matter how she, or he, wished it for the safety and security of their offspring.

“I’m sure I can think of something where I don’t actually need to fight him.”

“So long as he doesn’t harm you, you may do as you wish.”

Her beautiful face pulled into a tight expression, and her eyes narrowed at the small disc, no larger than a handheld mirror that floated between both her hands. She lifted her gaze away from it to watch the frothing waves crash upon the sandy shore before her. The horizon was nothing but ocean.

A serpent skull slid in beside him to watch Lindiwe silently. He pointed to the water.

“S-P-E-L-L?”

“You want me to spell the word ocean?”

Nathair gestured yes, and Weldir complied.

Then his offspring made a wave motion with his left hand in a backwards direction.

I see. I’ll have to teach him how to spell a word, and then he will have to come up with the corresponding word sign.

That complicated things, and would make this journey longer, but so be it.

They had ample time, and Weldir was willing to be dedicated to this task; he would spend every moment he could with Nathair until they completed it.

He spelled Lindiwe’s name, so Nathair could do so with his fingers. Once more, his orbs brightened to yellow.

“Weldir...” she started, her glare strengthening at the waves. “How... strong are you right now?”

“Decently so. I haven’t spread my mist for quite some time to recuperate my mana store, just in case.”

He wanted to keep their options open should he or she need his strength without him being forced to slumber.

He’d kept his promise last time and had only been missing for three months. It’d been seven years since then – at least, from what Lindiwe had told him. It was now nineteen twenty-four, she’d said.

Then again, it could’ve been a week to a year ago since she’d told him, as his concept of time was skewed.

It didn’t help that if she moved around the world too quickly, he’d lose track of the seasons, as Earth’s hemispheres had opposite rotations.

If it was winter in the north, it was summer in the south, and she could often experience the same season twice in a year.

Her shoulders lifted sheepishly while she brought her chin in, and a rather malicious grin curled her lips. It was an unusually evil expression on her sweet face.

“Would you be willing to use a soul for me?”

Taken aback by her request, he was unsure if he had enough power to maintain such a debilitating usage of it. “Why?”

“What if I enter his castle, place a ward around the room they’re in, and you open a portal from within the ocean into it? I wouldn’t have to fight if we did that, and then I can just drown them both. Two birds, one big gulp of water.”

Weldir offered silence. What could he say?

That does sound like a suitable and rather ingenious plan, despite how that will impact me.

A question arose, though.

“Wouldn’t you be trapped in the room with them? You cannot turn into a Phantom and wield my mana at the same time. You must be physical for it to remain.”

She fiddled with her fingers. “I’m not afraid of drowning, when it’ll just bring me to you.”

Weldir allowed a curt growl to push through their bond.

“Oh, come on! Technically I’d be doing it to myself, and it’s not like I would be dead dead.”

“And what if Jabez survives beyond you? He is an Elf , Lindiwe. His lungs are bigger and stronger than yours.”

“His doors open inwards, so the water would lock them in, and if I did it in the middle of the day, his only escape would be out the window and into the sun.”

“What about Valko?” he asked, reminding her of their current maned-wolf offspring’s infant state.

“I can just leave them with you.”

That perked Weldir’s interest, as it was rare he was able to interact with his own offspring after the night of their birthing. Still...

“I don’t like this.”

“Please?” She fluttered her long, pretty eyelashes and pushed her bottom lip forward a little.

Something became startlingly apparent to Weldir in that moment. He was undeniably weak to this human female, and unfathomably smitten with her at the same time.

Two very tender things that could spell disaster for him.

Weldir sighed. “Fine.”

It’s not like she’ll die permanently.

And he was excited to see her, as it’d been quite some time.

Or had it only been a few days? The time apart from each other was beginning to become intolerable, especially when they’d begun to spend much of it together.

I think... something is wrong with me. Was it normal to be this obsessed with his own mate, constantly captivated by her, and longing to be near her? Our intimacy is ruining my mind. He’d been spending too much time in his cave of memories. He also hadn’t added enough to it.

He looked down at the fifth of him he’d managed to gain, knowing he was about to lose it once more.

I’ve been hoping to fuck her properly at some point.

Not just with his hands and tendrils, but with his cock.

Like before, where she’d cling, moan, and scratch at him while he pounded into her.

It was much easier to break his mate until she was a malleable puddle for him. I very much miss doing that.

So be it. A little longer I will have to wait, then.

Which was a fucking shame.