Free OrbSoul (Book 6) by Martin Ash

me.' 
     
     
     
    iii
     
     
       Back in their bed Leth said, 'He is the image of her. I don’t know how I failed to spot it immediately. This whole business becomes more and more enigmatic.'
       'You were reluctant to tell him the details you have learned of his past,' Issul observed, laying her head on the pillow beside him and resting a hand upon his naked chest.
       'I am concerned that it might harm him or send him astray. There is much suffering in his past.' Briefly Leth told her of Lakewander's account of the sacrifice and death of Shenwolf's mother and younger brother, and Shenwolf's subsequent decline and disappearance. 'He apparently came under the influence of one who was able to erase such painful memories from his mind.'
       'Urch-Malmain.'
       'Aye, Urch-Malmain. And who knows what else was erased or altered?' Leth shrugged. 'Shenwolf has, or had, a destiny upon him. At his father's passing he was to have inherited the office of Master Protector, with all its responsibilities. And there is something else I do not understand.'
       'Orbia?'
       'Yes, Orbia. How does it exist both within Orbelon and within Enchantment's Reach? It cannot be coincidence. More, Lakewander claimed that it was I who named it, in another time in the long distant past. She said I dwelt among her people at that time, and I abandoned them and passed to the Godworld.'
       'What is Orbelon's view of this?'
       'We have not discussed it in depth. I must quiz him further.' Leth paused. 'Another thing, Iss. Urch-Malmain disclosed to me the fact that he had sent Shenwolf here.'
       Issul raised her head. 'He did?'
       'He did not name him, but spoke of persons he had performed his memory-operations on, whose lives had become miserable beyond recounting. And he told me of his experiments with the living artefact: the Portal he has constructed to allow him to pass back to this world. He had sent various persons through to verify its proper functioning. It seems that several perished or were otherwise lost in passage, for the tunnel was either malfunctioning or a flux of interference had been introduced by Ascaria. He claimed that most recently he had sent a young man through. The entities who constructed and comprise the Portal reported that as far as they were aware his passage had been without incident. That is, he had arrived, somewhere in Enchantment's Reach. And as it happened, a Karai warrior was drawn through to Urch's tower in reciprocation.'
       'Shenwolf, then,' breathed Issul.
       'It fits. But Iss, there is still more. "A savage creature, a hybrid of human barbarian warrior and some kind of blue-skinned reptilian brute". Does that description mean anything to you?'
       Issul was silent. . . then the memory came. Aghast, she rasped, 'But you know, that is the creature on Sentinel's Peak! The thing that killed Ressa, that sired the Legendary Child! Why do you mention it now?'
       'It is a description given me by Urch-Malmain, though I recognized it for what it is only days ago.'
       'He spoke of it?' Issul drew herself up in shock. 'In what context?'
       'He claimed that it had been drawn to his artefact in reciprocation, plucked from somewhere unknown. He said he jettisoned it on the instant, intimidated by its ferocity. I think perhaps there is more to it than that.'
       Issul was stunned, rocked once again by the power of the memory of that day on Sentinel's Peak and the horror that had followed. 'Where is it now?'
       'Only Urch-Malmain can tell us that - and even he may not know.'
       She clutched his arm. 'Leth, what is happening here?'
       'I am not sure, but Orbelon has said that Urch-Malmain is the key to our future endeavours. Though he has not stated as much, I think he sees in Urch a possible way to finding the Soul of the Orb.'
       Issul nodded. 'Yes, if Urch was one of the cabal who, with Strymnia, overthrew Orbelon in the first place, he may know where the Orb's Soul was