The Heir Read online

  The second way—to become a Soulless, I answered as he pulled me along with him to the left.

  Oh, yes—someone uses a crystal and takes it from you. The crystals are very rare, however, and are only found on Soul’s Island on Terra. Only a ruler from one of the five kingdoms can even step foot on the island, however. I kept one hand in Shad's and the other on the wall, needing his comforting touch.

  We were silent for a few minutes as Shad kept navigating us. Just as I was letting terror interrupt my thoughts again, Shad stopped abruptly, placing a hand over my mouth, probably in case I might have gasped. We leaned against the wall as two guards walked past us. I tried to ignore a drip on my shoulder and something crawling on my arm as we stood there against the wall. The two guards that walked past us held small lamps, unlike the others, and my eyes ached as the light reached us. Shad looked at me with a playful smile as he made me crouch down beside a large boulder so that we wouldn’t be spotted. I could see his face in the lamplight, and I wondered why he looked so happy at that moment. He moved his gaze to my arm and picked up a large brown spider. I tried not to lose my breakfast as he tossed it across the cave floor, winking at me.

  Are you okay? he asked in my mind and soul.

  No! A huge spider just almost killed me, I growled into his mind and soul as Shad moved away from me.

  That spider would not have killed you. He grabbed my hand, pulling me up from the ground. We quickly went in the direction from which the two men had come, weaving through one passage which did not break off in different directions. We could make out a light, a yellow glow in the distance as we walked through the tunnel. We finally made it to a wide opening and ducked back, checking out the area before proceeding forward. I shivered, realizing, without the constant movement of walking and running through the tunnels, it had become increasingly colder.

  Ice formed on the ground and even above us, around the spirals of jagged rocks which hung above the room’s massive opening. Frozen ice sickles and dripped down from the massive rocks. The cavern was a large space with two other entrances or exits on the walls opposite of where we stood. I scanned the room; it was dimly lit by only a few lamps. But there—in a far corner—lay Ryker on his side, his shirt stripped off, and blood and cuts covered his entire face and body. Keil sat beside him, mumbling something that I could not decipher. Shad looked around the room and then signaled for me that it was safe to walk to them. I took in the whole room before I walked to where Ryker and Keil sat.

  The room looked like a torture chamber in a horror film, and I hated to think about not just what was done to Ryker—but, perhaps, countless others in that space. Five old, rusted, metal shelves lined one wall and were full of odd shaped boxes and containers. Near the shelves, was a metal examination table, similar to ones found in hospitals. I thought I could hear the screams that had been extracted from that table, echoing off of its shining surface, and the howls from the souls who had once laid there. I tried not to cry as I saw metal chains attached to the table, no doubt, in order to force people to stay still while unspeakable things were done to them. I cringed, taking in a small operating room cart beside it, created for the very purpose of holding instruments for surgeries, surgeries meant for healing, and saving lives, and I was sure, down there in that deep, dark, horrible cavern—they were used to hold devices that inflicted pain and agony on their victims.

  In the corner of the room where Ryker and Keil were held captive, walls rose up with more chains on them, and there was one large cage, or cell, or prison of some sort. It looked like a new addition, as its metal bars were shiny and clean, unlike every other piece of metal in the room; it was as if it had not held a prisoner yet in its clutches.

  I dropped to my knees as we reached Ryker’s side. He moaned, and I shushed him as I took out a thin towel from my backpack and started cleaning his face. He grabbed my wrist.

  “You should not be here, Em,” he mumbled, spitting out blood onto the damp ground, his entire body trembling. I wanted to cry, but I knew it wasn’t the time for it. I was so happy to see him—and alive! I wondered how severe his injuries were, but they seemed to be all surface cuts and wounds, or so I hoped. I wrapped the towel around his shoulders and rubbed at his arms, attempting to create warmth for him, any way that I could. It was so cold down there.

  “Of course, I should be here—as if I cannot help to rescue people, too. Honestly, you boys are all so ridiculous,” I replied, slightly irritated.

  “Emma, please. He will, he will—” he stopped speaking as his voice seemed hoarse.

  “Please, Ry, don’t talk. We will take you back and get you all cleaned up and feeling better soon. I was so worried about you. I love you, Ry. I am so glad you are alive.” I looked into his blue-grey eyes, the only part of him which seemed untouched by the horrors of that cave, but I knew that they had seen enough horror to devastate anyone. I touched his cheek, and his hand came up to cover my own.

  “It is so good to see you, Em, I didn’t think I would—”

  “Shhh—I am here, and we will get you out of here; no one will hurt you anymore.” I caressed his arm. Feeling the coldness of his flesh made me sick—and angry. “Can someone tell me why, or better yet how our secret weapon that is our undefeatable-warrior-Keil was bested? I am not sure I buy into this ancient warrior thing.”

  “I was not bested, and besides, Ryker isn’t an honorable cause anymore,” Keil answered.

  “What does that mean? I thought you were fighting for me?” I questioned.

  “Ryker can fill you in when he is feeling better, but I was chained up rather quickly, and we have been left here for hours. Ryker says their leader is Cade,” I heard Keil speak but didn't take my eyes from Ryker—my worry for him out-weighing my curiosity. Then, in my peripheral vision, I saw Shad stand quickly from where he was working to break Ryker’s bonds.

  “Cade? Are you sure? How is that even possible?” Shad’s voice seemed dark and worried.

  Ryker nodded, agreeing with Keil that someone named Cade was there.

  Was Cade the one who killed my parents? I wondered. “Who is Cade? Did he—was he the one who caused my parents—did he cause the crash?” I gulped and looked to Shad.

  “We should not have come,” Shad said, as he finished with the chains around Ryker’s ankles and moved to Keil, ignoring my question. I had not even noticed Shad had broken the locks apart with the sword he carried; I thought he must have done so because I saw him slip his silver and black sword back into his belt.

  “Who is Cade?” I asked again in a whisper, this time irritated as I tried to sit Ryker up and then get him onto his feet. His head rested on my shoulder, leaving bloody smears on my shirt.

  “He is the prince who has been searching for your melody,” Keil answered, sadly.

  “He's the one who killed my parents, too?” I looked in horror to Shad, but he looked to Keil. I followed his gaze to Keil, who nodded.

  “And, unfortunately this was all a trap. We are not going to make it out of here alive.” As soon as the words left Keil’s mouth, an iron gate that seemed to appear out of nowhere slid over the opening where we entered and another iron gate opened across the room. We all looked, all four of us, and a feeling of dread ached through my bones. A trap, how did he know we were coming? What was he going to do with me? I felt sick.

  From across the room, a man appeared and walked over to us, four guards flanking him on either side. His face was dark, but as he came closer, with each step, I could see more and more of his features and realized that it was him. It was the man who Ryker had been searching for, the black-eyed, black-haired, crooked-nosed man from my nightmares and from the sketch Ryker had shown me.

  “Welcome, welcome,” he said with a grin. I wanted to vomit onto the floor. Seeing my parent’s murderer in person was more than I could bear. “It has been a long time, has it not, brother?” I looked around the room, and Shad stood beside me, placing an arm around me, pulling me away from Ryker as Keil took
my place, holding him up. He held me protectively against himself, as that man, apparently Shad’s brother—my parents’ killer—came to us. I looked to Shad—then to this man, and I recognized the physical similarities. Both of them had the same rich, dark hair that looked almost blue in the lamplight; they both had defined cheekbones and jaw structures, symmetrical faces, and while Shad’s eyes were a different Shape and held more gold in them than the pure black of this man, I could see the resemblance. It was uncanny, and even with this man’s crooked, broken nose, I was surprised at how alike they looked. They were brothers. Why hadn't Shad told me? Why would he keep something like that from me? My head was spinning as I looked to Shad, who only looked at his Brother, hatred in his eyes as he answered my question.

  “I thought you were dead, Cadian,” Shad spoke rather calm, but I felt my insides squirm.

  I am sorry, Shad sent me a message. Is he going to kill us? I responded.

  I will not let him harm you.

  “Yes, yes,” Cadian continued. “Well, as it turns out, there are secret passageways in the Dungeons of the Mist, brother, and would you know it—I found myself here in this world. I have made a rather nice place for myself. This cave is only temporary, on loan I guess you could say. I have a few homes set up here and there, many servants and such—life on Earth is rather easy for me, other than the fact that Emma exists to taunt me, and, of course, now, you are here brother.”

  “How nice that things are going so well for you,” Shad spoke in his calm voice, but I could sense his soul, and he was beyond upset—beyond furious—beyond confused.

  “Indeed, I am due something for all the pain father caused me, am I not?” He raised a brow.

  “There was reason—“

  “Ha! Reason you say? Reason?” He played with a cufflink, and it wasn’t until that moment that I took in his clothing. He was dressed very well for someone living, or even just visiting, a cold, dark cave. He wore a tailored navy blue suit, white shirt, and a blue tie. Another similarity between the two of them, I thought.

  Emma, we are nothing alike, Shad nearly growled into my soul.

  I know that. I felt guilty for finding any similarity at all between them.

  “Emma, do you want to know the reason my father, the king of the second kingdom of Terra, sent me away?”

  I didn’t move, didn’t speak.

  “Because I didn’t—have a melody. He sent me to the first kingdom’s dungeons because I did not have a melody when I was born—as if I was Corrupt from infancy. Oh, excuse me; on Earth, the term would be evil.” He folded his arms across his chest.

  “You are Corrupt. Look at what you have done even here,” Shad shouted.

  “Oh, Shadrict, please. Do not even get me started. Corruption is made, not born; maybe I am a tad bit corrupt now—” He raised his hand and fingers to gesture a small amount. “But that, I was made to be.”

  “You murdered someone, which has not been done on Terra for—“

  “Yes, yes, blah, blah. I murdered someone—big deal. In reality, they gave me no other choice, and to be honest, here on Earth, they really give you the benefit of the doubt when you are defending your own life. Could learn a few things from these Earthlings, we could. I know I have.”

  “I don’t believe anything you say.”

  “Now, I am sure that is true, so let's get to the point, shall we?” He clapped his hands together and rubbed them, stepping into the lamplight even more, so that every feature was in view. I hated to admit it, but he was incredibly handsome, other than the dark glint in his eyes, of course, which confirmed that he was evil. His crooked nose, was the only thing, other than his soulless eyes, that was off about him. It looked as if he broke it once, and it never healed properly. I hoped that whenever he broke it, that it hurt like the fires of Hell. “Emma, sweet, come here, will you?”

  “She goes nowhere near you, Cade.” Shad growled at his brother. My melody swarmed him and reached out to his. Our melodies met together and spun around each other, as I tried to calm him down.

  “Ah, this is interesting,” Cade rubbed his chin with one hand as he paced around us. “I had not really been able to pick up on the connection between you two. Could it be—?” he questioned while looking at Shad.

  “You have us here trapped. What is it you want?” Shad’s voice was calm again. My melody still lingered with his own.

  “I am getting to that. Do you really want to rush our reunion brother?” He looked to Shad, and I watched as Shad glared at him, and still held me tight. Cade turned to me: “You are aware that I have been watching you, dear? In your room, you never run out of new roses to move about, do you?”

  I turned to him, glaring. It was him. He was the one moving the roses that Shad had given me around my room, toying with me, spying on me, taunting me. My blood boiled as that realization hit me and hit me hard. He had been in my room. He had been in the bathroom while I was having a shower, when he put my father’s watch on the bathroom counter. I felt like spiders were crawling all over my body at the thought of him, this man being so close to me, and I hated him.

  Shad’s arm pulled me even tighter against himself.

  “Yes, brother, I have been watching her—and you. I was aware of a connection you shared, but this is remarkable, is it not? How long ago was the last Soul S—”

  “Get to the point. I know you want something; get to that part,” Shad interrupted.

  “I am sad to say that I will have to end that little bond of yours, no matter how tender. It gets in the way of what I want.”

  “What do you want?” Shad spat back.

  “So impatient. You should really work on that.” He stopped pacing around us and stood directly in front of me, while his eyes continued to lock onto Shad’s. “It's simple, really. I want her. She is the only way I can go back to our kingdom and become crowned king.”

  “No one would ever crown you king.”

  “Oh, brother, with a melody like hers at my side, not one person would object to me ruling the kingdom, no matter what was in my past.”

  “I am not going anywhere with you,” I shrieked at him, responding for the first time since he entered the room.

  He smiled. “She has spirit, doesn’t she?” He walked closer to me and placed a hand on my cheek, but before anything else could happen, Shad had him pinned to the floor.

  “Don’t you dare touch her!” Shad bellowed, his voice echoed around the entire room.

  “Okay, okay—no need for violence.” Cade sat up, leaning back on one arm as Shad walked back to me. Cade fixed his twisted navy blue suit coat, tugging on the fabric to straighten it, and I watched as he dusted off his sleeves.

  “I can either have her at my side or take her melody for my own. You see, if I had her melody as my own, well, that would be even better.”

  “That cannot be done,” Keil spoke for the first time. I looked at him next to Ryker, who had passed out from blood loss. I hoped that somehow we could save Ryker, even though leaving that place seemed impossible.

  “You see, on Terra, they fill our heads with so many untruths: we can't do this, we can't do that—when in reality, we can do it all.”

  “You will upset the balance of the ancients—“

  “The ancients? You think they are real? They are made up fairytales to keep us all in line.” Cade waved a hand at Keil as if he were an immature child.

  “They are not,” Shad spoke up, defending Keil with his words. I knew they both believed in the ancients—their gods of Terra.

  “Ah, yes, believer, you are just as soft as mother. Well, no doubt, you will suffer for that one of these days, but for now, I will let you live in your little fairyland world. Truth is—I can strip her of her melody in no time at all and be on my merry way.” He stood up and walked to the far wall where the metal shelf stood. He reached into one of the boxes and brought out a small black crystal.

  “Here—you see brother?” Cade continued fingering the crystal in his hand. “The m
idnight crystal.”

  “No,” Shad gasped, pulling me into his arms, until I was pressed firmly against his chest.

  What is that, I asked.

  That is the crystal I told you about; it’s one of the crystals from Soul’s Island. It extracts melodies. It can create a Soulless. His voice seemed to shake at the end as he spoke into my mind and soul.

  Is he going to use it on me? I thought you said those are rare? That no one can get one off the island except for a king or a queen?

  Yes, that is what I thought, I don’t know how he has one—perhaps things are worse on Terra than we ever realized.

  “Yes, yes. So you see now. I can have whatever I want, and I will. I need a strong melody, one that will set me apart.”

  “How will you return?” Shad asked. “What is the point in all this when there is no way to return to Terra?”

  “Humm—well, you see, that would put a damper on all of this so very easily; however, little knighty-boy here, he knows the way back to Terra, don’t you?” He walked over to Ryker and kicked his side. Ryker awoke and moaned, and I screamed.

  “Leave him alone!” I ran to Cade, ready to hit him with everything I had, but Shad had me in his arms again almost as quickly as I left them, and I was unable to move.

  “You care for him?” he asked, nostrils flaring on his crooked nose. “I thought you cared about my brother?” He shook his head. “Now, I did not take you for a tease.” He shook a finger at me.

  “I am not. Ryker is my family—you—please, you took my parents from me. Please, you can't hurt him.”

  “He had a choice, Emma. He could have told me how to make it back to Terra or he would be beaten. He chose the latter, and a poor thing, too, because I ever so hate to get my hands dirty, and he is a bleeder, as you can tell. Father did always teach us using our words was a much better approach to conflict. Seems that Mr. Noble-Knighty-boy wasn't raised like us, Shadrict, huh?” He shook his head and looked to Shad.

  “Let us go, please. He will die if I do not get him cleaned up and warmed,” I begged.