Soul Seeker

40: Sun and Moon

Sköll's power protected the trail from the wind, but Ciara felt the strength of his soul as soon as the branches of the trees choking their path closed in over their heads. The cold grew more intense, unnatural. It crackled in her nostrils, blistered her lungs, turned her numb despite her thick furs.

"B-Bloody hell." Isa shivered.

The near-silence beat at their ears. Ice cracked under their boots and the occasional thud of snow sliding off branches made Ciara whip around, searching for an unseen foe. The cavernous dark above their heads pressed harder, a constant, unyielding wrongness.

"I don't like this place," Isa said.

"Did you say Hati had a wolf pack?" Tonraq asked. "Sköll's wolves could be hiding anywhere."

"Surely he can sense our souls in his domain, just like Hati. Why hasn't he shown himself yet?"

The deeper they walked, the colder it became, until every breath hurt and her companions' skin started to turn blue.

Why hadn't Sköll shown himself? Disquiet grew inside Ciara. Wolves were territorial, Sköll would want to get rid of them, surely.

That's when she heard it. A low growl, like a thousand angry wolves or the worst storm of winter. As they reached a clearing, panting from the incline, a gap in the tree canopy showed them what they had missed. The pass loomed above, so huge it cut off half the sky – only something was obliterating the trees. It looked like a cloud of snow was rushing down the hillside, billowing and growing bigger the longer they looked.

"Avalanche!" Fell cried. "Run!"

It was painfully obvious they wouldn't be fast enough.

But they sprinted downhill back the way they had come as the avalanche swallowed trees, ate up the ground, speeding closer. The growl turned into a roar that rose above everything else, sending shockwaves through the earth, making the sky shake. Ciara's feet wouldn't move fast enough.

Tonraq ran by her side, his eyes wild with fear. The same fear she felt, visceral and soul-deep, a nightmare she always experienced in her darkest moments when she closed her eyes. It was more than the simple need to survive – it was memory.

I don't want to die like this – anything but this – not like my parents. Please...

Ciara stopped and turned to see a great wave of snow cresting, poised to crash down on them. Trees cracked as they were uprooted and lost.

"Tonraq! Fell!" My cry tore from her throat. "Take my hands!"

Tonraq and Fell were the closest, and for a moment she wondered if they were going to keep running. But their fingers closed tightly around hers.

"Hold on to each other!"

Sebastian seized Fell, and Isa grabbed Tonraq.

Linked together, they stared down the avalanche and Ciara's body lit up with blue marks that flickered like lightning. So small, so utterly insignificant, in the face of obliteration.

Then it was upon them. Its roar battered her body as a crushing weight of snow descended, pummelling her, and Ciara fought back with all the strength left in her soul. She had to resist. She had to keep them alive. Fell's fingers were cutting off her circulation, but her grip on Tonraq was slipping.

No! Ciara tried to hold on with all her might. She didn't know which way was up, which was down – she didn't know if they were standing still or if the avalanche had whisked them up into a cruel embrace and carried them with it. She couldn't feel anything beneath her feet – she could feel only the hands in hers and the sea of snow pounding against her, through her, stripping her of will and thought.