“I never even knew this House existed until…” He trailed off as he realized what it was Melanie was telling him. “Oh.”
“Exactly. So no screwing around.” She neared and placed the candle in his hand. “At least not right now,” she said, her lips brushing his ear.
He nodded, took the candle and approached the cage holding the Soul Gaunt. It floated at the back, a darker patch that was hard to see. Thaddeus knew it was looking at him hungrily.
The cage itself was of thick iron bars, embedded in the floor and running up into the ceiling. There was no door that Thaddeus could see. The bars were spaced far enough apart that the Soul Gaunt should have been able to slip out between them, but it didn’t. Magic held it where it was better than anything physical ever could.
Thaddeus stopped in front of the bars and sat on the floor cross-legged. He put the candle in one hand and closed his eyes, controlling his breathing. The first thing was to light the candle, easy enough. Conjuring a small flame was a trick that the most inept spell caster could perform.
The trick here was to do it in the presence of the Soul Gaunt, and the cold and fear that they generated. For Thaddeus, it was especially difficult.
The Soul Gaunts had held him and hurt him badly. His maimed hand was still proof of that. They had tortured and killed his cousin and tormented him and the human Luke. Just being near this one was enough to make him break out in a cold sweat.
A cold sweat, he thought, and almost started laughing. What other kind could there be around them?
On every other occasion, he sat with his eyes closed, trying to block out the sensations from the Soul Gaunt. It always sensed his fear and came nearer the bars, making that annoying chuckling sound and whispering to him of what it had done to Florian and would do to him.
The most he could do before today was a soft glow on the wick of the candle, which went out and smoked weakly as soon as he opened his eyes. He tried and tried until his head was splitting and his nerves were shot. Still, he never conjured a flame.
It was infuriating. And nerve-wracking. And now, with Melanie’s words, even more worrisome. If he couldn’t even do this…
The Soul Gaunt let loose with a loud hiss, startling Thaddeus into opening his eyes. It was right there, right against the bars, ignoring the sparks that popped whenever it got too close to them. The glowing green eyes from inside the hood were fixed on Thaddeus, and it was laughing.
It was hanging there, locked in a cage, unable to free itself, yet it was laughing at him!
These damn things! He wished they never came to the Greenweald. That Jamshir had more sense than to try to ally himself with the monstrous creatures. That Subtle Hemlock had…what? He still wasn’t sure what game they were playing.
Whatever it was, it resulted in nothing but pain and suffering, for Thaddeus and those he loved. And it took his House away.
He glared at the nauseating thing that gibbered and hissed in its cage. The fear that was always present ebbed away and the Soul Gaunt stopped capering, and simply hovered in the air, still watching him.
They wanted flame? They needed to see him light a candle in the presence of this horrible creature?
He kept his eyes focused on the Soul Gaunt and he dropped the candle. Scrambling to his feet, he thrust his hands down to his sides, fists clenched.
A candle? A candle was nothing.
The Soul Gaunts robe started to smoke, and it whirled in the air, screeching. Moments later it burst into flame.
Thaddeus unclenched his fists and watched it burn, the foul thing wailing as it died. It wasn’t until it was gone that he noticed Melanie standing next to him, staring into the cage.
“Was that good enough?” he asked, his voice rough.
“Yeah,” she said, still staring at the charred heap on the floor. “I think you passed.”
Chapter 4
The journey to the cave was much different from the last time Solomon came this way. No Soul Gaunts haunted his steps and there was no battle to get to. Solomon’s friends weren’t in mortal danger and it was a much more pleasant walk through the Greenweald, although he did find that he missed Daisy’s company.
“Maybe I’ll see if she wants to visit for a while,” he thought, then realized how selfish that was.
Daisy, for all her valor, never truly fit in with the Greenweald. At least not the way she was supposed to. Hunting Hounds were fierce, vicious hunters, taken from the Master of the Hounds and used for a single purpose. When that purpose was done, they returned to their master or they died. Regardless, they were not pets who liked to have their bellies rubbed and begged for scraps of food.
No, Daisy was better off with Luke and Lacy, off in that other world, being nothing more than a loved and spoiled dog. But Solomon had to admit he missed her.
And besides, he was going away again, and he didn’t know for how long. The water spirit had promised to take him to Celia, even though the way was hard. From there, he would be on his own, left to search a whole new world to find her.
But he trusted in his abilities. If she was there he would find her, and find the way home again.
But first, he needed to return to the Guardian, and give Justice back into his keeping. He wouldn’t need it where he was going. If the dangers there were
