The Lycan Hunter (The Gardinian World Series) (19 page)

Kyran climbed in the backseat with Alexis while Marcela returned
to the driver’s seat with Ronan riding shotgun. Though they weren’t
exactly aware how grievous Alexis
’
wound was, they spent the ride
back to the compound creating a surgical plan of action.

By the time they made it home, they had a concrete plan and a
healthy appreciation for Marcela’s bat-out-of-hell driving skills.

ALEXIS OPENED HER EYES
to find herself standing on a large,
majestic bridge. The bridge was paved in what looked like marble and
lined with columns like those of ancient Greece. She glanced behind
her to try and understand where she was. A path led to a branch where
Earth hung like a miniature fruit from a tree limb. The long stretch of marble that marked the distance that she was from the Earth should have alarmed her, but something about the place was calming.

Tempted by curiosity of what the place was, she stepped forward
and walked to the side rail. The rails were a set of shorter columns linked
with metallic-like bars made of a multi-colored metal that she
’
d never
seen before. Flowing under the bridge was a body of raging water, its
white capped waves rising six feet despite the absence of wind.

“This bridge is called the Trobis, and the river is called Meihleh.”

Alexis swung her head around to find the face that matched the
voice.

Torin, dressed in white linen, opened his arms to her. “Hey, Lex,”
he said.

She went to him and folded herself into his embrace, trying – and
failing – to fight back her tears. All of the words that she had never
bothered to say mingled with her tearful whimpers against his chest.

“I know, little sister,” Torin whispered, stepping free of her embrace
and draping his arm over her shoulders. “Come on. I have to show yo
u around. You don’t have a lot of time here.”

“What do you mean? I'm going to stay here with you, right?”

“You aren’t dead, Lex.”

“But, Theo – ”

“Kyran, Ronan, and Jillian are working their asses off to keep you
alive as we speak. The only reason you were brought here is so that you
can better understand the Lycans and our true history as Hunters.”

He led the way across the bridge, walking under a series of carved
marble arches. The last set of arches were guarded by two eight foot tall trees. Yet
trees
wasn't exactly a correct description, since both had obvious arms, legs, and distinct facial features. They also managed to
maintain a certain tree-like appearance by having large branches –
covered with limbs and leaves – and a root system that wound and
buried itself through the bridge’s columns.

Torin motioned to the two trees. “This is Ilok and Plienir. They are
the challenges you face in order to gain entrance to Gardas if you aren’t
dead. Ilok gives the physical challenge and Plienir gives the mental
one. Normally, you’d have to choose one or the other.”

“Which is easier?”

Torin smothered a laugh. “Neither. Ilok is sadistic on his best days
.
Plienir has never been considered a sweetheart, but she tends to be
less straight forward than Ilok.” He motioned her to continue past the
two guards.

Alexis caught the profane gestures of Ilok and Plienir’s twig-like
fingers that they
’
d flashed Torin in response to his assessment of them
when she peered at them over her shoulder. “Don
’
t I have to pick one?”

“No, this is an educational trip. Just don’t try to come here while you're still alive.”

“What do you mean, while I'm alive?”

“The body is nothing more than a physical representation of us on
Earth. The soul is who we truly are, our essence.” He waved his hand
at the long line of people in front of them. “Anyone who knows how –
and I’m not telling you, so don’t ask – can come here. It’s a matter of projecting your true essence to a location.”

“So if I wanted to, I could go anywhere on the planet with just
my soul?”

“In theory, yes, but a living body isn
’
t meant to be without its soul.
For those bound to Earth, this is the only place that you can travel
without adverse effects.”

She nodded and pointed to the people walking in front of them. “But what about them?”

“These are souls of those that have died and are here waiting for
Siare, the captain of Gelfar. Gelfar is the name of the ship that will ferr
y
them to either Imel or Gronak. You can consider those to be like heaven
and hell respectively.”

An island covered sparingly with grass sat at the end of Trobis.
The souls gathered on a small, weather-worn dock. The phantoms stared
blankly ahead, seeming to both be aware of their surroundings and
have none of it actually register beyond the fact that it existed. Among
the glossy, vacant stares, Alexis found a familiar face.

Theo’s expression was blank until he saw her. His pale green eyes
had been washed of any of life’s brilliance, but the malice of his hatred
for her appeared when he glanced her way. The emotion didn’t last long
. A blink and it was gone, as if he had no recognition of her at all.

“His memory of you is fleeting. It will grow fainter with every
moment he spends here. By the time his soul is Judged, he will only know the weight of his life choices, whether they be good or bad.”

They stepped onto a grassy patch of island that led down to a dock
. On the dock, people of different ages waited patiently for something to come. Alexis followed her brother and leaned in to whisper to him
since everyone was standing there in quiet anticipation. Another round
of questions came to mind, but she silenced them when what looked like a large pirate ship made of sun-bleached driftwood docked and lowered a gangplank.

A man, tall and beautiful, but with a hard stare that said no kindness
lived in him began shoving his patrons onto the ship as they reached
the top. When he saw her and Torin, he gave her a snarl before turning
his gaze to her brother.

“This ain’t a tour boat, Hermod.”

“She is here by Lykil’s command, Siare.”

“Fine, get on,” he said as he walked them up the plank. “And stay
away from the rails.”

When Torin leaned down and explained that the water was made
up of the souls of Nivar
’
s creations, she had filed that under the “yeah
right” category. But as she walked up the plank, she could see the souls
leaping free of the water, causing the appearance of white caps on
waves. What she had thought was the roaring of crashing waves had actually been the combined moans of the water’s inhabitants.

“Careful, Lex. They try to yank themselves free by latching onto
you. Unfortunately, they never can get free, because the other souls hold
onto them, hoping to hitch a ride, which only means you
’
ll get sucked
into Meihleh.”

Though Alexis didn
’
t consider herself overly religious, the existence
of Gardas was beginning to shake the foundation her tenuous faith.
She tried to calm the frenzied rush of her heart and the anxiety that
accompanied it. The reality of the world was smothering her with its
unique way of making her feel small in a way the Hunter organization
wished they could emulate.

Gardas was comprised of four islands, each distinctly different from
the other. The fog that enveloped the nearest island like a dreary lover
, kept most of its landscape from her view.

She turned to Torin, whose focus was on the same island. “Will I remember any of this?”

“Yes.”

With all the death and near deaths surrounding her, Alexis still
hoped for the final peace that came with eternal rest. At the moment, she hoped that Torin was telling her one of his infrequent lies.

“When have I lied to you, Lex? This is real, and you will remember
this when you return to your body.”

She didn’t say anything, but her mind immediately trailed to the night before his fateful assignment.

“Yes, I told you that it would be okay.”

She looked up at him in shock. “You can read my mind?”

“Not the way you’re thinking.” He ran his hands over his closely cropped black hair. “Remember when Siare called me Hermod?”

“Yeah.”

“A Hermod is like an angel. I can read your thoughts, because
it’s a part of your essence. I see them almost like you would see facial expressions.”

“Oh,” she said as she studied the dreary island they were heading
toward. “Well, you still lied.”

“No, I didn’t.” He leaned down and kissed her on the top of her
head. “Lex, did you think that I didn
’
t know that I would die? Granted
,
I didn
’
t think it would be that bad, but I still knew. I wasn’t talking about
me that night though. I meant the grand scheme of things.”

The ship came to a dock at the edge of the island with the oppressive
atmosphere. The gangplank lowered without aide of any worker. She
inspected the ship and noticed that it had navigated through the
treacherous waters without the aid of any obvious labor.

The souls on the ship stood stone-faced to one side as Siare came
to stand at the head of the plank. Beside him, a woman with floor length
, crisp white hair and mocha-hued skin appeared. In her hands was a
large book that she held open for each of the souls to touch. When the
book glowed a soft grey color, she and Siare would part, and the soul
would shuffle down the plank onto the island. If the book glowed a soft
golden color, the soul was directed off to the side.

When all the souls had touched the book, the woman left, simply
vanishing from sight. The gangplank rose unassisted from the island
,
and the boat began its journey to another island further off in the distance.

Alexis tugged on Torin’s arm. “Who was that?”

“That was Goddess Lelah. She presides over life and death.”

“And the island?”

“That was Gronak, the closest thing to hell here. Yes, I know it’s missing the fire and brimstone, but that’s not the way it works here.
Gronak is a place of deep reflection, a place where a soul can dwell on
the choices that they made that landed them on that island. The veil
of pain and regret is what gives the island its depressing climate.”
He shrugged. “The souls are realizing the error of their ways and the island’s appearance is a reflection of those lessons.”

“So Imel will be full of sunshine and unicorns?”

Torin laughed. “No. While they will all disembark on Imel, each soul will experience what brings them the greatest peace.”

“And Gronak doesn’t work that way?”

“No. The punishment isn
’
t just in the awareness of your own
mistakes but in the weight of the mistakes of those around you. The
souls experience what it is like to live in anarchy, where no one is good
and everyone drowns in that collective knowledge.”

They passed a large island that held an enormous tree at its center.
The land around the tree was made of grassy paths that snaked between
the gnarled roots. She craned her neck to see the very top, but a grey mist that blocked it from view. Trobis disappeared into the grey mist and spanned down to the island that waited for Siare and his boat.

“That is Liflasir, the world tree. It holds all the worlds within its limbs.”

“Really? How does that work?”

“I don’t know. It just does. Liflasir is the creation of Nivar. Nivar would be considered the ultimate deity, the God above all gods.”

“Why do you need a world tree? I mean there is Earth, but – ”

“There are four worlds. If you think of them as existing on parallel
planes, then it will be easier to imagine.”

Alexis laughed. “No, it’s not.”

The ship docked at Imel, and the rest of the passengers disembarked
. When the last soul had barely lifted his foot from the plank, the ship pulled away from the island, whipping its gangplank up as if it were frustrated with the job it had to do.

Siare came to stand in front of them and crossed his arms. “Where
are you going, Hermod?”

“Take us to Thamal.”

Siare left, grumbling about the inconvenience and his schedule
being off.

“We’re going to meet the God of Destruction. His name is Lykil, and he’s a jerk.”

A man with lean but a fiercely carved body appeared to Torin
’
s
left. His long blonde hair fell past his shoulders, framing his face and
the amused glint in his fiery orange eyes. Too bad his sepia rimmed
pupils reminded her of exploding atom bombs.

He flashed Torin a genuinely pleased smile and said, “Only to you,
Hermod.” He raked her over with a playfully seductive leer. “Now,
who’s this?”