Free Kinshield's Redemption (Book 4) by K.C. May

Edan. “Exactly so. He was surrounded, and so he resorted to evil magic to make his escape. He summoned a being so terrible, there are no words to describe it. It was darkness itself in living flesh, and it slew our fiercest warriors with barely a thought and devoured their souls. These bravest, most honorable of our warriors would never return to the hearth of Zuhlys Fahn as their reward, and all because of the King of Thendylath.”
    Hell’s teeth! So it was more than just the murder of the Lord Orator. The Cyprindians believed that the souls of hundreds of their warriors were lost forever, devoured by a summoned demon. His description sounded an awful lot like Ritol. Edan picked up the pitcher of water and refilled his glass and Kaoque’s, and then took a long draw to soothe his parched mouth. Could Ritol truly be four hundred years old? Or was it one of many others of its kind?
    “The king fled, leaving the demon behind to slay thousands of our people indiscriminately. Our warriors tried to fight it, but it was unstoppable. It wasn’t until the king had set sail that the demon vanished.”
    “I see,” Edan said. “You’re here because your people seek recompense for this?”
    Kaoque’s eyes darkened. “There is no compensation for the destruction of thousands of souls, only retaliation. I am here to deliver a message. Nothing more.”
     

Chapter 9

     
     
 
    Gaol cells spilled over with snarling, vicious beyonders shaped like humans. They escaped into the streets of Ambryce, tipping over carts and setting fire to homes and clawing to death the citizens who were trying to protect their families. He watched helplessly, unable to move. People yelled at him to do something, and they all became Feanna, holding his screaming infant son. She looked like Talisha. A red stain appeared on the front of her dress and spread, and then blood streamed across the baby’s skin. “Change me,” she cried, “before it’s too late.”
     
    Gavin awoke with a gasp, sitting up and reaching reflexively for Aldras Gar. All was quiet, though the sun had touched the eastern sky with a pale purple glow. He probably had an hour left before daylight, but he couldn’t sleep with the remnants of that dream fresh in his mind.
    Autumn was finally coming, and the temperature had dropped overnight to the coolest it had been in months. Daia lay quietly under her leather rain cloak, but Cirang’s teeth chattered as she lay, curled in a ball, with her hands tucked into her armpits. Gavin felt the chill on the air, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. He stood and draped his cloak over her.
    Though he wasn’t going to get anymore sleep that night, he had time to spare before his companions would wake. He spent a few minutes gathering firewood and magically pulling the remaining moisture from it, and then built a cookfire in the cinders that remained from the evening before. He sat on his bedroll, staring into the fire’s flame as he went over the dream in his mind.
    “Guardians?” he whispered. “Are you there?”
    The Guardians faded into view in the fire. “We are always here. You have questions, Emtor.”
    “Yeh,” he whispered. “Tell me how and why your essence came to be trapped in a crystal.”
    “In our realm, kho and zhi are balanced perfectly by the birth of two ensouled individuals. These individuals are complements, and they grow up tempering one another through their thoughts. One of them is kho-bent, the other is zhi-bent. They’re bound together through their lifetimes.”
    “Yeh, I’ve been to your realm. I understand that part. Who were you?”
    “We were Poin and Poinna. Poin was the kho-bent, and Poinna was the zhi-bent. Long ago, when the Wayfarer was still a zhi-pure being named Carthis, she traveled to the midrealm and spoke to our village. She believed that by merging the kho and zhi, we could temper the darkness with light, the chaos with order. Doing so across all realms would reunite them as the world was