The Hour of the Crow

Chapter 25: Trapped Souls

Arran followed Inna's gaze to the mural. "Magi ilwah," he whispered. He spun on his heel to face the princess. "That's Ezahar, isn't it?" She nodded, her face drained of all color. "That means Ezahar has spoken to the both of us in your vision. How?"

"With this." The amber stone in Inna's hand flared like a smoldering ember when the red firelight broke on its surface.

"I don't understand."

"Rabyatt gave this to me and told me it contained a soul," she continued, leaning against the sarcophagus for support. Arran wanted to joke about a mummy snatching her inside the coffin, but he bit his tongue. "I assumed he meant the soul of one of the merfolk, since they gave the stone to him, but I don't believe that anymore. Seeing the Sphere here, abandoned ... It all makes sense now."

He crossed his arms over his chest. "Not to me. Care to elaborate?"

Her head snapped up to meet his gaze, hers fierce as the flames that burned around them. "Think about it, Arran. Even after we had left the palace, far away from the supposed Sphere of Truths, I kept having visions, about Ezahar begging me to free her. I had the stone on me both times when I used the Sphere, but not that first day in the throne room, because Rabyatt only gave it to me after he'd already put the Sphere back in its trunk. That's why I couldn't see what my father was seeing. He thinks Rabyatt gifted him the Sphere, but he's wrong. Rabyatt gave it to me." She held up the soulstone for emphasis. "This is the Sphere of Truths."

She made it sound so logical. Arran studied the myriad of colors that swirled around the stone. "That thing contains a sliver of Ezahar's power?"

"Not just a sliver." She scrubbed a hand over her face. "All of it. It's not just magical energy trapped inside this stone; it's spiritual energy as well. I don't know how it's possible, but the Sphere of Truths, or maybe now it's the Stone of Truths, may actually be Ezahar's soul."

His hand had crept up toward the familiar triangle around his neck, clutching the Amulet until the silver cut into his flesh. "The Amulet contains a soul too. A djinn's soul. It's associated with Onshra, just like the Sphere belongs to Ezahar." He barely dared to utter the next words, fully aware that he would never be able to take them back, and afraid of the consequences. "What if all the World Artifacts are cages to trap a god inside?"

Inna's eyes grew so large that the whites showed around her golden irises. "If that were true, then the entire universe would be out of balance without us even knowing it."

"But why would Rabyatt give the Sphere to you when he knew you would flee from Primsharah?"

She tipped her head back against the sarcophagus with a muffled thud. She closed her eyes. "I don't know. The more I discover about him, the greater a mystery he becomes. What are his motives for anything? Why is he in Primsharah now, manipulating my father with an unknown artifact, while I'm here chasing clues to a riddle that he's orchestrated himself?"

Arran's lips thinned. He thought of the ruby-eyed prince and his silver tongue. "There's only one way to find out." Inna peered at him through half-lidded eyes. He gestured at the amber stone with his chin. "The goddess of knowledge will have the answer."

She snorted. "Like she did last time?"

"It wouldn't hurt to try."

She stayed quiet, nodding slowly, as if to convince herself. "Take my hand."

He walked forward and curled his fingers around hers. His skin warmed everywhere they touched. With her other hand, Inna maintained a firm grip on the stone as her eyes fluttered shut once more. The world faded and was replaced by that same moonlit desert where they had met with Ezahar the previous time. However, now he saw it for what it was: an enchanting prison, and endless sea of white and blue sandy plains forever caught in a single, timeless moment.