The Vampire & Her Witch

Chapter 123: Ancestral Tomb

Chapter 123: Ancestral TombHauke’s horn glowed a dark blue, illuminating his way has he carried Ashlynn and Heila toward the island in the center of the lake. He didn’t know if he would find the thinner ice he was seeking there, but even if he didn’t, he felt that it was better to choose a direction and try than to

"Brōþor, Lytle Brōþor," one voice whispered, sounding bright and excited. When the voice spoke, it was accompanied by a light, pleasant tinkling like the sound of wind moving through crystalline wind chimes.

"Not a brother," an older, gravely voice said, echoing as though speaking from somewhere high above even though it sounded like it was in the cave with them. "Descendant. Our descendant."

"Iridescence," a third, more feminine voice said in tones that were as clear and crisp as polished glass. "Like us. Like you. Like me."

"Too stillness, too foraldien, too much years," a forth voice, trembling with age and frailty, whispered. "Too late. Go way."

"No, don’t go," several voices said at once. The urgency in those voices raced through the cavern like a swift wind, wrapping around Ashlynn and her companions and urging them to stay. "Descendant, lytle brother, visit, visit please...."

"Trapped," a final voice said, sounding weak and forlorn. Unlike the voices of the broken spirits lashed to Imnek’s tusks that sounded strained as if they spoke from far away, all of these voices felt close and present. The last one, however, pressed down on them like tons of ice, speaking with a heaviness that dragged along the floor of the cave like chains. "Trapped alone..."

In the dim light of the cave, Ashlynn turned to look at Hauke, about to ask if this was what he meant about communing with ancestors only to find the young Frost Walker’s horn glowing with a brilliant iridescence, far brighter than than she’d seen from it before.

It wasn’t the horn, however, that stilled her tongue and stopped her from speaking. Surrounding Hauke, illuminated by his horn, were five ghostly figures. None of them were complete, several were only visible from the chest or wait up but each and every one of them possessed the same kind of iridescent horn that Hauke did.

When they looked at Hauke, their expressions were pleading or eager and the smallest of them even reached out toward him as if asking to be carried the way Heila was. Their eyes, however, carried a very different feeling to Ashlynn, one she had come to know well since coming to the Vale of Mists.

When they looked at Hauke, the only thing Ashlynn saw in their eyes... was an insatiable hunger.