Grand Game 358: A Spirited Discussion (Patreon)

I was a spider caught in a web of the lich’s making.

My hands refused to budge, and even psi had been stolen from my reach. Still, I met Adriel’s gaze unflinchingly. “Let her go,” I growled.

“Answer me!” she demanded, paying my own words no heed.

“Release Ghost go first,” I insisted. “Then I’ll tell you what you want to know.”

“Don’t toy with me boy,” Adriel hissed. “I don’t know which one of Loskin’s sick sycophants dreamt up this ploy, but when I’m done with you, you will be begging to tell me their names.”

I stared back at her, stubbornly silent.

“Adriel… let him go, please.”

“Shush, wolfling,” the lich replied, not looking away from me. “I see now how he bought your loyalty. But this one is a deceiver. He lied to you, little one.”

“H-he… bears the alpha’s Mark. The… elders have seen it. Please, Adriel… don’t hurt… him.”

The young woman’s expression froze into a cool mask that was at odds with the fury that still danced in her eyes. Her rage had not vanished. It had only been shuttered—for Ghost’s sake, I thought.

“Believe… he… Prime… one day.”

Ghost’s voice was growing more ragged with every word she uttered. Unable to ignore my concern any longer, I wrenched my gaze away from the lich’s to study her.

The spirit wolf’s being was fraying, the threads of herself drifting apart.

She is dying.

In desperation, I turned back to Adriel. “Help her!” I begged.

The lich studied the spirit wolf for herself. “I cannot, not until the ritual is complete.” She glanced at me. “You should not have awoken her. Every moment she’s conscious drains more of her strength, leaving her less able to hold herself together.”

I swore vehemently.

“Prime…” Ghost began.

“Hush, Ghost,” I said, cutting her off gently. Then, infusing my words with the power of an alpha again, I ordered, “Go to sleep.”

As weak as Ghost was, she could not resist the force of my command. “Yes, Prime,” she said meekly. “Only... trust Adriel. She is a… friend. She can...”

Before she could finish, Ghost’s words ran aground as she fell into deep slumber again. Intently, I studied her spirit anew.

The dissociation had stopped.

In relief, I sagged against the invisible bonds that held me. Ghost was safe—temporarily, at least. Now that I’d seen what happened when she was awake, I understood the reason for her spirit form’s fuzziness. What I did not understand, though, was why Ghost’s spirit was unravelling.

Lifting my head, I stared at the lich. She was studying me the way one would an annoying insect. Somehow, the spirit wolf had won the strange possessed’s trust and seemed to trust her in turn. She had advised me to do the same, but... after witnessing Ghost’s condition, how could I?

Whatever was going on with Ghost, it had to be the lich’s doing. I pinned her with a glare. “What did you do to her?” I hissed.

“Nothing,” Adriel replied calmly. “The wolfling came to me as you see her.” She gestured to the blood circles. “This is all at her own request.”

My lips twisted in disgust. “That I don’t believe. Whatever foul creature you plan on turning Ghost into, I cannot believe she asked for such a fate.”

“Not even if it was to save you?”

My face stiffened. “What does that mean?” I asked slowly.

“The spirit wolf did not tell me much,” the exile replied obliquely. “Only that her companion was in trouble, and she needed to save him. I thought she meant another wolf. But now I realize it must have been you she spoke of.” She eyed me coolly. “It is you, not I, who forced her into this ‘vile’ ritual.”

I opened my mouth to deny the accusation, then closed it with a snap. Adriel was correct. I had failed to protect Ghost, and knowing the spirit wolf, she would not flinch at the thought of performing a dangerous ritual if it meant being able to rescue me.

Trust, Adriel, Ghost had said. Swallowing bile, I tried to do just that. “What is this ritual, anyway?”

“It is one meant to rehouse a lost spirit.”

My eyes widened. “You can do that?”

Adriel nodded. “I don’t, however, have many of the materials necessary for such a complex casting—” she gestured disparagingly at the meat body— “and had to do with what I could assemble on short notice.”

I licked my lips. “Then you are not trying to enslave Ghost?”

Contempt sparked in Adriel’s eyes. “Hardly.”

I winced. I had misjudged the situation—badly. “So… Ghost asked you for a body?”

“No, but she needed one.”

I frowned.

Renewed anger sparked in the young woman’s eyes. “You can see her spirit, can’t you?”

I nodded.

“Then you should know,” Adriel said, her voice cold, “that her spirit is torn and tattered. It is so far gone she can no longer hold herself together. Why did you enter a dungeon with her in such a condition?”

“I didn’t,” I protested. “Ghost was whole when I last saw her. It must have been—”

I broke off.

“Must have been what?” Adriel demanded suspiciously.

I met her gaze. “I’m... sorry. I acted rashly earlier. I lost contact with Ghost days ago and feared I might never find her again. When I entered the room and saw the blood circles, I suspected the worst.”

“That does not excuse your foolhardy assault. I would’ve been justified in killing you.” Adriel’s eyes glinted heart. “I would still be.”

I hung my head. “That’s true.” I sighed, deciding to come clean. “It was the harbinger. He ambushed us. Ghost was shackled and I was killed before I found out what happened to her.”

The exile grew still. “The stygian harbinger did this?”

I nodded mutely.

“That’s why he has been poking around of late,” she muttered. She paced back and forth. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

“Release me first.”

Adriel studied me wordlessly for a moment, then waved her hand. The bonds of magic holding me fell apart.

Falling heavily to the ground, I rubbed my sore limbs. But other than a few bruises, I was uninjured. Exhaling heavily, I began. “Right, where to start? It was ten days ago when the harbinger found us in a canyon not far from here. First, he…”

✵ ✵ ✵

“That explains it,” Adriel said when I was done.

“Explains what?”

“The harbinger is a death magic user.” Her lips twitched in the first sign of amusement I had seen from her yet. “One nearly as practiced as a lich. Ghost must have caught the edges of his oblivion spell. That she is spirit herself would have offered her some measure of protection, but not enough. Now the spell is trying to complete its work.”

“Alright... but how does knowing that help?”

Adriel’s gaze flickered to the meat body. “Now I know I’m on the right track. Once her spirit is clothed anew, she will be stable enough for me to cast the necessary spells.”

“Then you can heal her?”

Adriel nodded. “I can.”

I slapped my hands together. “Excellent! Then let’s get started,” I said, and began to rise to my feet.

“Not so fast,” Adriel said.

Mid-motion, I paused.

“Before we begin,” she continued, “there are still matters we must resolve between us.”

I had known this moment must come. Whatever anger drove the lich, it had not been forgotten. “Before? Can’t it wait until—”

“No, it cannot,” Adriel broke in. “We will settle matters now.”

My lips thinned, not missing the implications of her timing. “You will leverage Ghost’s condition to get the answers you seek?”

“If I must,” Adriel replied evenly. “It’s obvious you care for her, and this way, I can at least be sure you are being truthful.”

For a moment, my mouth worked mutinously, then my gaze flickered to Ghost. “Will she be alright like that?”

Adriel nodded. “Sleep will keep her spirit contained. As long as she slumbers, she will be fine.”

I disliked being strongarmed, but for my companion’s sake, I would cooperate. “Very well,” I sighed. “I will tell you what you want to know. Go ahead. Ask your questions.”

Without ceremony, Adriel sat down opposite me, tugging in the hem of her rope beneath her legs. “Tell me she is mistaken,” Adriel said. “Tell me you are not what she claims.”

I stared at the lich for a long moment, sensing that much rested on my answer. Revealing the truth to a foe like Adriel could be catastrophic, but Ghost had told me to trust her. And even in the face of her own disbelief, I noted Adriel did not accuse Ghost of lying. Not only that, but I needed her help. For all these reasons and more, I would have to find a way to work with the lich—even if she did fly into a rage at my response.

“She was not mistaken,” I said, holding Adriel’s gaze. “I am an anointed scion of House Wolf.”

The lich had her emotions well under control and betrayed no reaction at my response. “Explain,” she ordered peremptorily.

I grinned faintly. “What’s to explain? I awakened my blood and joined House Wolf.”

Adriel did not find my response amusing. “Give me details,” she demanded.

My grin faded. “What do you want to know?”

“Tell me when, where, and how.”

I pursed my lips. “I acquired my Wolf mark early in the Game after I met a pair of dire wolves and their pups. Where, would be Erebus’ dungeon. As for the how: the dire wolves’ pack turned out to be gatekeepers for a Wolf Trials set up long ago by one of the Primes.”

“This dire wolf pack, is that the same one the spirit wolf is from?”

“She told you about them?” I asked striving to keep my surprise from showing.

“The wolfing did not betray any secrets. She is a careful one and was vague on the details. I chose not to pry.”

“I see. Yet you pry with me?”

“You are something other.”

Deciding not to tiptoe around the issue anymore, I asked bluntly, “Why is this of any interest to you? Why do you care if I am a scion or not?”

Adriel chose to ignore my question in favor of asking one of her own. “Who is Erebus?”

“What?”

“Who is—”

“I heard you the first time, but how can you not know who Erebus is? He is a Dark Power from the Awakened Dead faction.”

Adriel’s brows creased slightly before clearing again. “And the Prime whose Trials you entered, that was Atiras?”

I frowned. “You know of Atiras—a long dead Prime—but fail to recognize the name of a Power like Erebus. Just how ancient are you Adriel?”

“That is the wrong question,” the lich responded dismissively.

My frown deepened. “The wrong question? What do you mean—”

“Why are you still alive?” Adriel interrupted.

I stared at her irritably. Was she going to ignore all my questions? “Because you haven’t killed me yet?” I retorted flippantly.

“Besides that,” Adriel replied deadpan. “Why haven’t any of the new Powers done so already?”

For a moment, I thought I misheard. Then I realized Adriel had not misspoken—or perhaps she had—and things finally began to click into place. “You’re not a player!” I exclaimed.

“So glad you noticed,” Adriel said dryly. “Now answer me, why haven’t the Powers—”

“What I meant, is you never were a player,” I said, speaking over her unconcernedly. “You’re a scion.”

“Former scion,” Adriel corrected. She paused. “What finally gave me away?”

I stared at her, still in shock. “You said ‘new Powers’. No one calls them that.”

“Hmm. I see.”

My mind turned frantic circles, still racing through all the implications. Then one more thought occurred to me. “Is that why you’re an exile?” I asked, leaning forward eagerly. “Did the other possessed force you out because you are a former scion unlike them?”

For a drawn-out moment, Adriel said nothing. “Oh, that’s not it at all.”

My brows creasing, I sat back. “It isn’t?”

Adriel shook her head. “It isn’t.” She paused. “All the possessed are former scions.”