Winterskin: A Dark Fantasy (Kindred Souls Book 1)

by C. M. Estopare

  “Myself.” Vidonia called back, her voice haughty and controlled. “My curse. My immortality. In exchange for this one's power.”

  FIFTY

  They were fools—foolish to believe the councilwoman would help them.

  Light wraiths encircled Ledora, blocking her path as she lifted up her hands and stretched out her arms in defiance.

  Do not fight them—do not even threaten them! They are thinking creatures who will listen to a bargain! Let me speak!

  “No.” Ledora whispered. “They want a fight—I shall give them one.”

  You will not survive. We will not survive. The councilwoman siphoned our Power—if we touch its crux the pain will be excruciating without some sort of buffer!

  “I'd rather die than bargain with beasts—,”

  Selfish thing. You have me...

  Ledora felt her chest stiffen as she lost control of herself to the foreign soul inside her.

  Five wraiths circled the dual-souled sorceress, the creatures shivering at the ominously moaning wind as the sorceress threw back her head and opened her mouth as if to scream.

  Snapping her head forward, a different voice crawled from between her scowling lips. “Can you feel my aura, lithranas? Do you know me?”

  “Night Mother...” one wraith wailed, it's transparent form shivering as it floated near its kin.

  “She is dead...”

  “No more...”

  “It is known.” the creatures decided in unison, tightening the circle as they glided towards Ledora's form.

  “I live on in this one!” Seraphina tried, working Ledora's lips like a wry puppetmaster. “The one that has tainted you—has turned your color from midnight to daybreak—what does it call itself? What must I offer for this information?”

  The wraiths froze, hovering as wreathing whispers wove themselves from one creature of light to the next.

  “Human host...” the creature sheathed in light before Seraphina's gaze spoke, “...free the soul within. Let our mother out...”

  “Only then will we tell you its name.”

  Seraphina receded, Ledora's eye rolling back into her head as her soul took control once more.

  Kill them. Seraphina roared. They simply want to watch me suffer. If I leave you, I'll die.

  “Perhaps it's your time.” Ledora quipped, rubbing her neck as the wraiths looked on. Waiting.

  Gods do not die. The wraiths will not leave unless they see or feel something.

  Ledora felt drained as her fingers trembled, tingling with an electrifying sensation that prickled with a bitter intensity. “I cannot do that.” she told the wraiths, eyeing them warily. “If you plan to kill me, do it quickly. Before your sun presence does.”

  “Free the soul within...”

  “...you have no part to play in this, human host.”

  A wraith touched her, its transparent hand warm as it placed weightless fingers upon her wiry shoulder. “You have no duty to her.”

  Damn it all—I know you're thinking about it! Damn it all, Ledora!

  They were fools to give all that they had to Vidonia. All that they were.

  You don't know what I've done to keep this world safe! You don't understand—and beasts, animals, they damn well don't! Ledora!

  Ledora couldn't get this thing off her—not without activating power she didn't currently possess. If she touched the Power's crux without some sort of buffer—without some sort of countermeasure to soften the blow of the Power, she'd injure her soul. She'd rip it to shreds.

  But it seemed as though she had no choice.

  It wasn't her own magic that roared to life within her. It was something cold and dark and slimy that coursed through her at a slithering pace—like an eel wreathing through her veins. It made her cold and hollow as the force reached through her—cutting her soul in two—to touch the Power's crux without a countermeasure.

  Seraphina reached for the Power's crux. Using Ledora's own soul as leverage.

  You don't know what I've had to do! What I've had to sacrifice!

  The wraiths shrieked in unison, doubling back before becoming a roaring ring of white fire. Beads of sweat broke upon Ledora's tanned skin as she fell to kneeling. Her chest on fire as her soul was ripped to smithereens by the raw might of the Power's crux.

  My village. My daughter. My life—all sacrificed to take care of this damned forest! To make sure humanity could live out its golden age in a semblance of peace!

  The ring of white fire grew, the flames closing in on Ledora as her palms flattened against the scorching ground beneath her. She felt the skin of her palms sizzle and fought not to cry out against pain that wasn't truly there. Her vision blurred as the Power's crux worked to swallow the ripped threads of her soul—as Seraphina slithered through Ledora's veins, working to swallow Ledora's will whole.

  Perhaps I've siphoned the lives of direwolves to increase my own power. Children lost in Baate Noir who never return? Perhaps I stole their youth. Northern Champions marching through hoping to tame these woods—perhaps I've torn them limb from limb for an ounce of their power. Yes!

  Ice. Ice grew from her. White and thick and hot.

  But who are they to put me on trial? I am the Mother of Monsters—the Night Lady—a God in my own right! Who are they?

  “Who are you to claim such?” Ledora coughed out. “You who turned traitor against your own kind in life!”

  Silence as the ice continued to grow, spreading towards the white circle of roaring fire as the wraiths screeched. Scaring birds from neighboring trees.

  Within Ledora's head, Seraphina laughed.

  It was my pleasure to spread discourse. And it will be my pleasure to continue doing so.

  Ledora gasped, her vision snapping to black as the crux worked to eat her whole. The implement ravaging her soul to tiny particles as it feasted hungrily on a morsel it hadn't tasted in years.

  It was an unspoken rule among magic users to never offer a human soul to the Power's crux.

  Unspoken among many. Ignored by some.

  Goodbye Ledora.

  Fog slithered from her lips as a cold white dust settled over all. Frost materializing from the gathered gray clouds above.

  C'est la vie.

  FIFTY-ONE

  Kat approached the cliff face, her eyes scanning the crawling waves below before bringing her gaze to Vidonia. Her face a mask of confusion as she watched the councilwoman stare out at the horizon.

  Who...or what...was down there?

  Vidonia did not return her gaze.

  The land began to shift, the ground trembling as thick earth fractured beneath them. The ground crackling with a boom, the outcry like that of a tree ripping from its roots as it fell. Kat backed away as the ground beneath her shifted thunderously. Spreading out her hands, she watched the ocean lap at the cliff's rugged face, only for water to slip away and disappear into a newly formed opening below.

  “Come. Come, then. Climb down.” a voice from below boomed, “The way is open.”

  Kat watched Vidonia take a single step forward as if to dive. “She will enact the Solomon.” Vidonia said, crouching before ripping the fabric of her gown in two. “If your wish is still to save the forest, you'd do well to follow me below.”

  “You said—,”

  “I know what I said!” Vidonia snapped, kneeling upon the ground as she snapped her gaze over her shoulder. “I had to entice her somehow. You'll understand when you see her.”

  Gulls shrieked hungrily, their high-pitched voices careening through the sky as Vidonia turned and climbed her way down the cliff face.

  Kat held her breath, waiting as she listened to the calming push and pull of the waves far below. The sound echoed up the cliff face, climbing the rugged crags in the stony sediment one wave at a time. The sound's pace slow before it finally met Kat's ears, the noise making a watery crash that snapped at her. Letting the air within her lungs go, Kat bit her tongue as she approached the precipice of the cliff. Below, she watched Vi
donia shimmy from stone to stone. Her pale legs bare as she climbed down towards the cliff's opening at its base. Swallowing her fear, Kat turned and began her descent.

  Slimy rocks edged at Kat's palms the closer she got to the cliff's base. Brine showered her legs as she heard Vidonia shuffle and drop from the rocks beneath her. The woman landing into the ocean with an ominous plop. Looking down, Kat was close enough to the cliff's opening that the wall she clung to began to transform into the roof of a watery cavern. She'd have to follow Vidonia's lead and jump, or risk slipping from the rocks and landing in the water below back first.

  Kat stared down. It was a far drop. She became dizzy as she guessed at how far. Two stories? Three? She bit her lip.

  Vidonia submerged from the deep blue below. “You'll be fine if you drop down here. There's nothing but water!” she called up.

  Kat froze, fingers stiffening on the slimy cliff face.

  “She'll shake you off if you linger too long. Just ignore your fear and let go!”

  “What do you mean?! She'll—,” Kat's eyes widened as the cliff face began to shiver beneath her grip.

  “Let go!”

  “I can't!” Kat shrieked as the crag's rocky shiver evolved into a violent tremor that threatened to propel her off, the force strong enough to fling her towards the ocean. “I can't...I can't!”

  Down below, Vidonia sighed. The sound echoing within the watery cave before her.

  At this rate, Kat would slip—she knew. If she slipped she'd fall back first into the water and black out. Or worse. She could drown. She could snap her back in two...

  But as her heart hammered within her chest, she felt safer clinging to the cliff's face than jumping into the terrifying sea below. The drop was massive—the space between herself and the ocean lengthening the longer she stared at it.

  I need to jump, she told herself—forcing her eyes to close, Do it for them—for Horace...Bertrand...where ever they are...

  She let one hand go. Then the other.

  And she fell—eyes tightly shut. Her legs stiff as she straightened them beneath her. Opening her eyes slightly, she hit the water with a scream. Submerging beneath the blue only to propel herself towards the surface with a gasp.

  Vidonia chuckled lightly by her side. “Good girl.” she smiled before swimming towards the cliff's opening. “We've but a short way to go now.”

  ~~~

  Lapping waves fell away to stone as the two continued forward. Despite the pitch black of the cave, Kat found it easy to see her hand before her face but not much else as they followed a straight pathway that dug deep into the mountain's heart before ending abruptly at large stone steps leading upwards.

  “Rosetta Vidonia,” a feminine voice screeched from above. “your companion...” the women froze, “...you bring me the child of the one who is anathema.”

  “She wishes to atone for the sins of her mother.” Vidonia replied, chin raised as her gaze skirted the large rectangular steps before them. “She wishes to give up her mother's power...”

  “And exchange it with you?” the voice bellowed, laughter poisoning its words. “You must be unaware of the change in the Crux.”

  Vidonia narrowed her gaze. “I've not come to banter with you.”

  “Then what have you come for, Rosetta?”

  It was Kat's turn to speak, and she took a step forward as she cut Vidonia off. “The black forest is no longer dark. The tethers which once kept monsters in their place have been broken. Soon enough, monsters will roam free from Baate Noir causing havoc. The balance of power between man and beast will soon be broken—,”

  “And what do you plan to do about it?” spat the voice, its tone slithering with biting spite. “Do as your mother has done? Sit yourself upon a throne of false dominion and demand every creature tremble in fear at the mention of your name? Night Lady...Mother of Monsters—is this what you hope to become to keep the forest dark, girl? Is this what you swear to become?”

  Vidonia threw a biting glare at Kat before clasping her hands behind her back. “She is an idealistic child, Keeper—,”

  “A child planning to repeat the errs of her mother's broken past.” the voice snapped, a sour wind bellowing from on high. “Walk the steps.”

  Vidonia clasped Kat upon the shoulder. “Do as she says. And from now on, I do the talking.” Staring hard into the shorter woman's eyes, Vidonia narrowed her gaze. “Do you understand?”

  Pinpricks of piercing pain erupted upon Kat's shoulder, the pinpricks originating from beneath Vidonia's constricting grip. Shrugging beneath the councilwoman's tightening fingers, Kat shoved the woman away. “I deserve answers. No more following blindly. This creature could be the Fates themselves—I no longer care—,”

  “Then I am not at fault if she writes you out of existence. You understand that speaking against her—churning up her ire—could put you in an early grave, yes?”

  Biting her lip, Kat nodded.

  “Good. Then, by all means, question as much as you wish.” Vidonia replied with a flick of her drenched rubicund locks.

  Kat took the steps one at a time, side by side with Vidonia who chanted lightly. The woman freezing at the slightest hint of a breeze or a hum. As they neared the end of their ascent, a barrier of wind materialized before them. The howling air falling to silence as it became a solid presence that halted the women upon the stairs.

  Behind the barrier, a rolling mist of electric blue bubbled from the mouth of a dilapidated temple on the landing before them. The mist came from every crack and crevice, lurching upon the ground as it rounded out into a flowing gown of bright blue. Beneath the gown of mist materialized the thin form of a woman, her skin transparent. Her eyes a pupilless white with an unnerving gaze that glued itself to Vidonia, and finally to Kat.

  “You know of the Power's crux, yes?”

  Kat jumped before nodding as Vidonia shook her head.

  “The Power's crux is a spirit that willingly shares its force with those of us who can sacrifice a little bit of our own natural Power. The crux has a keeper—,”

  “A sylph?” Kat gasped, looking upon the woman engulfed in mist before them, “They exist?”

  “She exists.” Vidonia corrected, crossing her arms as the sylph watched them. Waiting. “Will you let us through, Keeper?” Vidonia called.

  “You haven't explained my purpose thoroughly, Rosetta. Go on.”

  Vidonia swallowed. “The crux, unchecked and ignored, could very well devour the world because of its insatiable lust for power. Sorcerers drawing upon the crux, exchanging pieces of themselves, keeps the crux's hunger at bay—”

  “More importantly, I keep it from devouring souls in exchange for a taste of cosmic Power...” the sylph vanished in a gasp of silver air before reappearing before Kat, white eyes narrowed, “...but your mother has usurped me...just as you plan to do...”

  “What do you mean—usurped? Seraphina is close to death, she lacks a body—much less a will to bypass you—”

  “Yet, she has and she does!” screamed the sylph, vanishing in a shriek of cold air, “The soul of a sorceress has been sacrificed to the crux, Rosetta! You have failed in curbing the hunger of our enemy, and now she taints the crux with her lust for Power—if you truly wish to take on this one's talent—if you truly wish to become magebane, in order to use the crux's Power you must give up your soul...” the sylph reappeared then, her hands flat against the barrier of air before them, “...which you cannot do...vampire.”

  FIFTY-TWO

  Kat slapped her hand to her thigh, her fingers grazing the cold steel of her ax as it hung from her belt. “I knew it.” she hissed, the puncture wounds upon Anais's neck from so long ago flashing through her mind's eye. “I knew it!”

  Vidonia heaved a deep sigh, her long fingers clenching only to unclench at her sides as she avoided Kat's glare and stared directly into the pupilless eyes of the sylph.

  The creature smiled, her grin all teeth, “Is your control slipping, Rosetta Vidonia?
Even a fledgling knows what you are...under that cloak of goodwill and beauty...” placing a hand to her chest, the sylph howled with a ghostly cackle, “...how far you've fallen, vampire. Child—put your weapon away.”

  A hand of swirling blue mist flew at Kat, palm flat, as it spewed an invisible force that slapped Kat's hand away from her ax and ripped the weapon from her leather belt. Snapping her gaze over her shoulder, Kat watched the weapon clatter to the stones of the floor before its silver head slipped down the temple stairs. Silver clashed against stone as the weapon continued to descend. The sound of the falling weapon dying with an ominous and watery plop.

  Bringing her gaze to the sylph, Kat crossed her arms. “You never told me.” she murmured to Vidonia, sliding her gaze to the right. Peering at the older woman from the corner of her eye. “You expect me to trust you, yet you keep secrets upon secrets! What else have you lied about, councilwoman, hm? Do you even plan to save Baate Noir? Do you even plan on going back?” her voice rose a few octaves as the sylph before them sputtered with laughter. “Have you brought me here to help me, or yourself, councilwoman? Is the Solomon even real?”

  “Do not fret, young magebane. The Solomon exists.” Vidonia hissed, her lips a red line as she opened them slightly to scowl. “But it shall help me more than you.”

  “I should have never let you go. I should have let the Sonants burn you!” Kat bit her tongue, cutting herself off as she ignored the cold hand of guilt constricting her heart. She knew she wouldn't be able to let another woman die at the hands of the Sonants—no matter how black they proved their heart to be. She couldn't let another Jocelyn die.

  From the corner of her eye, she watched Vidonia smirk. “You're too curious and softhearted for that, my dear.” she replied matter-of-factly. “Keeper of the Crux, we've come to enact the Solomon.” she murmured to the sylph, bowing from the waist as she spoke.

  “Ah, the Solomon.” the Keeper replied, standing still behind her barrier of solid wind. “Again, Rosetta Vidonia, do you know the state of the Power's crux? Do you understand that Seraphina has fed a soul to it?”