Free Shrouded Sky (The Veils of Lore Book 1) by Tracy A. Akers

view, and Tygg lifted one from its bracket. He held it out, casting a flickering glow upon a spiral of narrow stone steps leading toward the deepest recesses of the cave. He made his way down slowly, his free hand tracing the wall at hisside, until at last he reached the bottom and stopped. Before him four tunnels stretched from a large circular space. He had only to choose which one to take. All would lead him to the Circle Chamber, a tubular cavern that stretched beneath the towering needles of rocks that spiraled above the earth’s surface. But it was the exact location within the Chamber that would dictate his final Qwa t’sei.
    Tygg studied each of the passages and felt doubt well in his chest. If he chose wrong, it could mean a false future, or worse still, a soulless death. Many seekers had made the wrong choice, never to be seen or heard from again. Was that to be his fate? He closed his eyes, trying to calm his racing heart. The voice in your heart will tell you what to do, Baunti’s words reminded him. Tygg opened his eyes to the passage directly in front of him. Though he had heard no voices in his heart, only the thundering of it, somehow the passage before him seemed right.
    He stepped in, trusting his instincts to guide him, but he had not gone far before the tunnel grew narrow and confining. Had he chosen wrong? He thrust the torch out, refusing to turn back, and took another step, but the ground suddenly dropped from beneath him and he tumbled.
    Tygg scrambled to his feet and retrieved the torch he had dropped, rotating in a slow circle as it cast its light upon the space. The walls around him were covered in mosses that radiated a luminous glow, and the crystals imbedded in the rocks winked at him like spectral eyes. Tygg shivered and crossed the space as quickly as he could. The chamber felt alive as he passed through, as if it were watching him, judging him. A path appeared up ahead and he hastened toward it, keeping his eyes on his feet rather than the lost souls he feared might dwell there.
    The path led him on as it serpentined through spirals of rock that reached from floor to ceiling. Tygg worked to keep his feet planted on the slippery path, but it wasn’t long before he detected a flickering light up ahead. He hurried toward it, realizing it was the chamber he sought, but when he reached the threshold he stopped. No one dared enter the Circle Chamber without a direct invitation from Yatka, the Cloud Walker.
    “Tygg,” a raspy voice said.
    Tygg bowed. “Yatka. I have come to set the final phase of my Qwa t’sei.”
    The Cloud Walker called Yatka shuffled toward him. A thick, molten candle burned in his hand, throwing distorted shadows across his weathered face. Hunched and half Tygg’s size, the Cloud Walker stopped at the threshold and leaned closer, his rheumy eyes scanning Tygg up and down. “So today it will be done,” he said.
    “Aye,” Tygg replied.
    The old man grinned, then gestured toward the room. “Enter.”
    Tygg hesitated.
    “Have you doubts?” the Cloud Walker asked, eyeing him closely.
    “Should I not?”
    “Indeed you should. As should we all.”
    Tygg’s eyes skimmed over the flickering walls within the chamber. They were covered in images, so many it was impossible to tell where one began and another ended. How the Cloud Walker knew their meanings was anybody’s guess. So many paths. So many possibilities.
    Tygg stepped into the chamber, his heart racing like that of an animal caught in a snare. Why was he so afraid? he wondered. The two times previously he had entered with bold determination, but now . . .
    “Today the gods spoke to me,” Yatka said in a hushed voice. “The final image of your Qwa t’sei is drawn. Come.” He gestured for him to follow.
    The Cloud Walker stopped before a section of the wall that was still wet with paint and nodded toward it.
    Tygg studied the image. A nearly identical one, clearly much older, was drawn directly above it.