Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125422 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 627(@200wpm)___ 502(@250wpm)___ 418(@300wpm)
Once the guard is gone and the footsteps have faded, I close my eyes and try to reach Rauta. I picture my father’s library and how when you first enter, the dog is lying there at the base of the Book of Runes. I focus on the smell of the room, the dusty scent of old pages, the rich, earthy loam of the various burning candles, incense, and dried herbs used for spells. I narrow in on Rauta, the dog’s coat made of patches of black fur, bones, and iron welded here and there. Rauta’s eyes glow red in the black metal sockets, an iron tongue hanging out of its mouth.
Rauta, I whisper inside my mind, feeling energy stir up inside me, floating like sediment in water. Rauta, you good boy, can you hear me?
The energy stirs faster, becoming a vortex, and it’s as if I can feel it spreading through the bars, up to the ceiling, and then into the rest of the castle. I keep concentrating, not letting my attention waver.
Then, suddenly, there’s something there, like something is pushing itself through an invisible layer into me. At first, I don’t know what it is, but then I can feel it. It’s like I’m being…licked inside my soul, in a very comforting, yet slightly disturbing way.
Rauta! I exclaim. Good boy! You came.
A low whine sounds from my head, and it’s like the dog has formed itself inside me, iron body, red eyes, and all.
Listen, I go on, feeling the dog’s heavy tail wagging. I need your help. Sarvi and I are trapped in the dungeon, and I need you to free us somehow. But you can’t trust Tuoni or Hanna. Neither of them are who they say they are, but I guess you already sense that, don’t you?
Rauta whines again, agreeing. Of course, dogs would be able to sniff out that Louhi is impersonating my father. Animals can sense hate and are better judges of character than even the Gods.
Please hurry, I add. I don’t think we have much time left. You can come with us as we try to find my father. He’s out there somewhere. Only then can we make things right.
Rauta lets out a loud bark, and then suddenly, the sensation is over, and I feel alone in my body.
I exhale and lean back against the wall, my breath shaking.
Sarvi? I think, trying to do the same to the unicorn, but, as usual, there is no sign.
So, I sit and I wait and I try not to worry, try not to let my mind race.
It’s unavoidable, though. What if Rauta doesn’t make it? What if he can’t help? He’s just a dog, after all. What if he’s caught? What if we’re caught? What if I’m the cause of his death?
Or worse?
When my mother threw me in this cell, she never explained what she had planned for me, just a vague threat about meeting my grandfather—Rangaista—some other day, but neither of them have come by. No doubt I’ve been forgotten, and that might be for the best.
If I were a betting God, one who bet on anything other than bone matches, I’d say my mother means to leave me here until she has taken over the entire realm and destroyed everyone who opposes her. Then, she’ll come back and give me an ultimatum—join her or else.
I just don’t know what that else would be. Would she sentence me to die? Actually end my life and send me to Oblivion? Could she do that to her own flesh and blood? Or would she keep me locked up here forever as a prisoner of war for never bowing to her or recognizing her as a queen?
I will never recognize her as a queen.
Only as a monster.
I sit there for a good while, my ears attuned to the slightest noise. I still feel nothing from Sarvi. Even the bone mouse seems to have stopped scurrying to and fro, as if it already served its purpose. In the distance, water drips, lulling me off into a daze.
Then, I hear a soft padding sound approaching from the right, as if something is coming down the stairs. I immediately go tense, not knowing what it is. Rauta’s paws are metal, aren’t they? They would make a distinct noise.
A shadow appears on the stone floor, looming closer and closer as it comes down the corridor toward my cell.
Rangaista.
CHAPTER FIVE
HANNA
Gold.
My entire world goes from black to gold, all while it feels like I’m hurtling headfirst toward…something.
Nothing.
Everything.
There is no up or down, left or right. I’m just moving so fast, the space around me dissolves, like the world doesn’t exist and there’s only me.
For a moment, I don’t even feel the presence of the Goddess, my mother. She has either turned into gold herself or has disappeared completely. There’s just me, flying through what feels like all of time and space and the reality I’d been born into.