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Torak heard Renn's shrill scream reverberating through the narrow tunnel, bouncing harshly between rock walls and echoing off behind him into the dark. His immediate response to run to her aid was only suppressed with great difficulty. The tunnel he was following with Wolf was one of many in a labyrinth of passages, if he ran, he could end up lost and no help to her at all. Torak needed to stick close to Wolf to know where Renn had gone.
Trotting and occasionally pausing to sniff the hot stagnated cave air, Wolf moved through the winding passages with haste. The stifling air of the cave was almost totally silent, except for the distant roar of the waterfall at its entrance, and Torak's heart hammering.
He refrained from touching the walls of the tunnel either side him as he followed his pack-brother, afraid of feeling the sickly heat of the otherworld emanating out of them. Torak's last experience in a cave was something he didn't want to dwell on. He kept expecting to hear a hoot of an eagle owl, even though the Soul Eaters were long gone. He swallowed, his mouth felt dry.
Wolf stopped so suddenly that Torak almost tripped over him. His hackles were up, and his pointed ears flat against his head. A low growl ripped from his throat. Torak felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end, though there was no breeze.
He held the torch out in front of him, but all he could see in front of Wolf was obsidian darkness. Whatever he was growling at was there, shrouded in the dark, only a few paces away from them.
After a long tense moment, Wolf relaxed a little and continued forwards in a trot. His fur was still fluffed up, but his stance was normal and his ears erect. Torak released a breath he didn't know he'd been holding and quickly followed after him, not wanting to be left behind in the deep black of the cave. He would have looked to examine the tracks, but the hard rock ground would have given little evidence. It was likely that they'd find out soon enough anyway. Whatever got Wolf so defensive must have fled.
Torak tried to ask Wolf what he had sensed, but he only replied that it was a 'strange demon'.
After they had continued on for a while, Wolf stopped again, but this time he turned to Torak with an urgent look in his amber eyes.
'Must rescue Tailless pups. Demons are near.'
Before Torak could form a reply, Wolf had sped off down an adjacent tunnel into the darkness. Tailless pups? Were the children the demon stole nearby? A hope grew in his chest; he prayed to the World Spirit that they were safe and unharmed, though he doubted it.
Alone in the claustrophobic tunnel, and unable to see more than a few paces ahead or behind, Torak tried to shake off his nerves and continue. He gripped Fa's knife, taking courage in the blade that had served him well, and continued down the tunnel, trying to keep to the main path and not veer off into any side tunnels. He hoped he was on the right track, without Wolf to guide him, he didn't know where he was going, and all the paths looked identical.
He heard some noises, and thought they were coming from up ahead, though it was impossible to tell when the sound echoed through the chambers. Straining his ears, he could just about make out two voices, one lower pitch than the other. He crept forward, and when he saw light ahead, snuffed out his torch.
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Renn squirmed on the altar, trying hopelessly to escape the tall bearded man who stood towering over her. When he had removed the red mask, she had thought at first Thiazzi had risen from the dead to kill her. But the torchlight only made his hair and bristling beard appear russet – the stocky brown haired man watching her with sharp, gleaming eyes was Kanuk.
He didn't seem to be in any rush to hurt her, though she could see a large slate knife was attached to his belt. The Mage almost seemed relaxed as he leaned against the table, evidently waiting for something. Despite the fact he hadn't harmed her, she knew that he could, and probably would. Her exposed stomach made her feel utterly vulnerable to attack. Her weapons were gone, including the beaver tooth dagger she kept in her boot. She could feel from the bindings on her ankles that she had no shoes on.
For a long time, neither of them spoke, and nothing could be heard but the splutter of the torches, and the faint roar of water far above. She looked up at him, taking in his elaborate clothing and bearskin cloak. Their eyes met for one awful moment and she quickly glanced away. Kanuk didn't feel the need to speak to her, and Renn was too frightened. But, after a while, her usual outspoken confidence began to return. If he was waiting for something, he wouldn't hurt her until then, and she was burning with questions that needed answers.
'Why have you kidnapped me? Are you the demon?'
'Silence woman. This does not involve you.' His ochre face paint made his dark eyes stand out vividly as he looked down at her with a distasteful expression.
Renn was undeterred. 'It clearly does if you've had to kidnap me. What's going on?'
The broad shouldered Mage was about to strike her to make her silent, when he realised something that should have been blatantly obvious to him before. Lowering his fist, he studied her face intently, as if seeing the redhead for the first time. Her sharp dark eyes, high cheekbones and her creamy pale skin, almost translucent in quality, triggered a memory from long ago.
The Mage almost reeled when the pieces came together in his mind with startling force. This girl was Raven Clan, 18 summers old, niece of Fin-Kedinn, and companion of the spirit walker...the two of them had defeated the Soul Eaters. Why hadn't he realised it before?
Renn squirmed beneath his sudden scrutiny and felt her heart race when a malevolent grin spread across the Mage's face. Dark eyes seemed to pierce her, as if he knew something he shouldn't.
'Oh this is surely a sign from the World Spirit himself!' he cried into the cavernous space, throwing his arms up as his booming baritone echoed all around.
Renn flinched at his volume, feeling immediately like he had seen into her darker secrets. She spoke again with more confidence than she felt, 'what's a sign? What are you talking about?'
'Why don't we wait for Torak to join us first? Come in here boy. Don't be shy.'
Renn tried to turn in the direction the Mage was looking, restricted by the twine ropes that held her in place. In the pitch darkness of the far cave wall, she saw a figure emerge from the shadows and her hope leapt wildly with the chance of rescue. Then, she remembered with a tumbling feeling that if Torak was here – he was in far more danger than her.
She caught a glimpse of him moving closer, standing tall with his Fa's knife in hand, his tawny skin a deep tan in the firelight. His dark unruly hair, dirty clothes and angry expression gave him a savage look that opposed the elaborately dressed and decorated presence of Kanuk. He looked straight at her, and Renn had to fight back her emotions at seeing him again. The last time they'd seen each other had been during their fight.
She glanced again at the large slate knife on Kanuk's belt, and shouted a warning to Torak, though she knew he had already guessed their predicament, and didn't care anyway.
'Get out of here! Torak he's going to kill you!'
'And yet he cares so much for you that he's willingly walks straight into it.' Kanuk smirked. 'I knew Leos was a reliable source.'
'Leos? What have you done to him?' Righteous anger flared in Renn's heart. It was one thing to involve her and Torak in his schemes – but Leos was a good man and didn't deserve whatever the Mage had done to him. Horrible scenes flashed though her mind, of innocent Leos being tortured for information. Her chest contracted painfully at the thought of him harmed. 'What have you done?'
'Nothing at all. I simply asked him to spend time with you to gather information on the spirit walker, and to find out how best to harness his unimaginable power. He told me himself just the other day that the best route to get the boy to do my bidding – is through using you my dear.'
Torak, who hadn't spoken since he arrived, was stunned by this information. Was it true that Leos didn't feel at all for Renn? Was it all an act to get information? Though he couldn't know for sure, if it was true then there was no one standing between them anymore. He spoke up, wanting to get to the route of the problem fast.
'Are you the demon, Kanuk?'
The Bear Mage threw his hands up with dramatic flair, 'what does that matter now? None of it is important! The spirit walker walking right into my camp – that is what matters! The fact you found the entrance to the cave, with the help of your wolf totem – that is what is important here!'
'Did you plan this somehow? Is that why Leos invited us?' Torak asked, struggling to work out the reasoning behind the Mage's words.
'No, that was pure chance, chance given to me by the World Spirit. Can you believe my fortune that you, of all the people in the great forest, would end up here with me?' Kanuk's dark eyes were sparkling, remembering his initial discovery. 'My brothers and sisters would have been proud. It is surely a sign from the spirits.'
'What do you want?' Renn asked curtly, cutting into his passionate monologue.
'That is a good question. It's simple really,' he took his large slate knife and unsheathed it, tenderly feeling the smoothness of the blade in his hands. Then, he ran the jagged tip gently down Renn's quivering stomach, watching Torak with the intensity of an eagle as he did so. 'You are to surrender your powers to me by allowing me to summon a demon into your body. If you refuse,' he pressed down on the knife hard enough for Renn to gasp.
Torak swallowed. 'What do you hope to achieve from this?'
'Supreme power over all the clans. To control a demon in the body of a spirit walker, nothing will stand in the way. I will unite the clans; the World Spirit will shine on my success. Something my brothers and sisters never quite managed in the end. No thanks to you two.'
Torak met Renn's eyes, and in a silent understanding they realised who this Kanuk really was – a Soul-Eater. A piece of their past they had thought was dead forever was back. Torak had sometimes wondered if any more existed beyond the forest in far off lands, waiting for him to wander from the protection of the clans. He now knew this to be true – if the Bear Mage was one of them, were there more? Would he and Renn ever be safe?
'Is that why you took the children, to turn them into Tokoroth?' Renn asked, her voice shaking with hate. She already knew the answer.
'Yes. The sacred art was taught to me long ago. I was lucky enough to have a very good teacher.' He shot Renn a malicious look and her blood ran cold. She wished she could close her ears; she didn't want to hear anything more about his teacher. 'My very first experiment, ah I remember it well. My own daughter, chosen for the honour. Your half-sister, Renn.'
