Seventeen: Seeping Souls

I pressed my palm flat on the Stone of Souls. It was eerie how warm it was, and it wasn't anything to do with the desert heat. My shoulder sank, Puko's weight surprising me for a moment, but we were both able to remain silent as we stared at the stone.

"What do you think?" I asked him. "Have you seen anything like this with Mila?"

His feathers ruffled and he let out a soft croaking sound.

"What about with Lark?" I looked at him, and he looked back at me with his cloudy eye. He bobbed his head and took off, gliding overhead in a lazy circle. I lifted my face to the moon and watched him drift around the sky above.

"You're not a very helpful raven, do you know that?" I sighed, turning back to my companions.

"I don't know what to make of this stone," Nassir said. "I tried to move it gently but somehow..."

He shook his head.

"Could you not do it?" Schula asked.

"No, I could if I wanted to. But it feels to alive. I can't bring myself to change it's shape." Nassir's answer gave me chills.

"You don't think the names on this rock really tie those souls together, do you?" I asked quietly.

Schula and Nassir didn't say anything, and I slid my hand off the stone.

"Well, what if we walked around it?" I asked. "Maybe we'll sense the origin of the problem."

"It's possible," Nassir said. "It wouldn't hurt to try."

"So what do we do with them?" Schula asked, nodding toward the hunters and Tali who were standing a little ways away from the stone.

"I don't want them here if it will make them sick. There is also a chance we won't get sick since we aren't human," I said. "Could I just ask them to leave?"

"I don't see why not," Schula said. "You're probably right about them getting sick anyway. It would be safer for them to wait back at camp."

I nodded and began walking over to Tali.

"What have you discovered, aoyi'ka?" she asked.

"I'm not sure yet," I told her. "But it doesn't seem to be doing anything to us like it might you. I'm going to need time to investigate, I think it would be best for you all to go back to the camp for now."

"Aoyi'ka," Tali said. "I can't leave my task, the shaman gave it to me."

"Well, why don't you guys wait a ways back then?" I looked in the direction we came from. "Don't go so far that you can't see the stone anymore, but give us some space and maybe you won't risk getting sick."

Tali scrunched her face up under her wrappings. I could see the crinkle at the top of her nose as she thought. Bada placed a hand on Tali's shoulder.

"It's not an unreasonable solution, Tali," Bada said. "The shaman wouldn't want you to get sick. We are merely here to assist as needed and to report back what happens."

Tali sighed through her nose and nodded. "Alright, we make a small camp not far from here. If you need us, you call. Okay?"

"I will," I said. "Thank you for coming with me, now let me try to figure out this curse."

The Khusuru nodded and backtracked our path until they were what I could only assume the distance that had the stone just in human sight. I returned to Schula and Nassir, who were still staring at the stone.

"Well, if we're going to walk around the whole thing we had better get started," Nassir said. "I'd prefer to be under a shade by the time the sun rises."

"Agreed," Schula said. "And I'm dropping this glamour. I don't think they would do anything about it now, even if they could see me from back there."

I smiled. "Fair enough. Nassir, do you want to shed your glamour too?"

"Yes, I think I would." While the two of them dropped their illusions, I looked up and watched Puko's lazy circles above as he slowly descended back down.

"Do you think he saw something?" Schula asked.

"Who knows," I sighed. "Well, let's go then."

Nassir, Schula, and I began the slow walk around the Stone of Souls. The names carved in the surface filled me with a mixed sense of sorrow and peace. For a thousand years or more these people have gathered the spirits of their dead somehow, here at this rock. Magic had to be involved somehow, a darker magic than I knew anything about if it dealt with the dead. Mila told me once that she didn't touch magic with death in it, but she knew witches who did. You had to be very careful or you could get trapped between life and death yourself. She would tell me that magic with the dead wasn't inherently good or bad, it depended on what you did with it.

"Oof." Nassir grunted as Puko landed on his shoulder.

The old fae chuckled and pulled a dried strip of pineapple from his pocket. "You knew I had a treat, did you? Clever bird."

"Puko, don't harass Nassir," I scolded. "Did you see anything from above?"

Puko didn't even pause to look at me as he devoured his treat.

"I kind of wish Kai could have come," Schula said. "I don't know, just a feeling. Plus, the stars did say we were supposed to go with him through the desert, right?"

"I agree," I said. "But maybe they knew we would have this little detour."

I shrugged and kept walking along the stone. "The sooner this is over with the sooner we can get back on our path."

"Kai had a prophecy as well," Nassir pointed out. "It makes me wonder how entwined they are meant to be. You wouldn't know anything about it, would you, Puko?"

Nassir chuckled and stroked Puko's head, when the raven stood up straight and unmoving.

"Caw!"

"Puko?" I asked, cautiously.

Then, in a swoop of black feathers, Puko took off from Nassir's shoulder and into the sky.

"Puko!" I called. "What are you doing?"

But he just flew up and up until he was a spec. Then, he turned north and flew away.

"Well, maybe he's going somewhere," Schula suggested. "Or finding more food."

I watched him disappear in the night sky and turned back to the rock with a shrug. "Well, he's not here to help with the stone, we might as well move on."

"Agreed," Nassir said. "If you sense anything different, anything at all, speak up."

We walked. I traced my fingers along the stone surface. I wondered at how the names hadn't all been scoured off by the frequent sand storms, but something about the stone told me not to question it.

We had rounded about a third of the stone when I looked up in the night sky. "I don't like those clouds."

"You don't think we could be getting another storm, do you?" Schula asked, pausing to look up.

"Shall we set up the tarps and take a break then?" Nassir suggested. "We can stop for water and food."

I shrugged the pack off of my back and so did the others. We pulled the tarps out first, and Schula and I arranged them while Nassir wedged the spiked stake in the corners deep into the ground. We put the bags in one tarp, and pulled out food and water. It was peaceful to take a break and watch the storm grow. When it got too close, we would be ready to climb inside. A glance toward Tali told me they were getting ready for the storm too.

"So what do you make of the stone so far?" I asked. "I can't feel anything like a curse around it."

"I feel whispers of ill will at times, but they are so small. They also vanish as abruptly as they appear," Nassir said.

"I feel it too," Schula said. "Is it because we are fae?"

"Perhaps if the connection is particularly elemental it is indeed because we are fae." Nassir sighed and stretched his arms. "The stone feels so odd in places. I almost want to reach up and feel the top of it."

"I hadn't considered that," I murmured. "We were looking around the sides, but not the top. Maybe after the storm we can try to get up there."

"I agree," Schula said. "I feel something up higher too. And I noticed something else, have you felt the temperature of the rock?"

"Yes, it's warm," I answered.

Schula shook her head. "Not up high it isn't. I feel a chill from overhead. I only really just noticed it as we stopped here for a while. I think we should look into it."

"It sounds like we are decided then," Nassir said.

I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I fiddled with the Edge of my new scarf, thinking about the people who made it. "These desert people, they seem so fragmented at times. Then at other times they seem so united, like with the Stone of Souls."

"I agree," Nassir said. "I just don't know what to do with that knowledge."

"Do you think the souls are really gathered here?" I asked.

"I'm sure they are," Schula added. "I can almost feel the life here. Or the souls I suppose."

"Then could the problem be a corruption of one of them?" I asked.

"Hm, that or a leak of whatever power helps ground them here," Nassir said.

"So what do you think grounds them?" I scratched my chin and looked over to the storm. "We might need to finish this conversation after... wait. Oh no. Is that who I think it is?"

"Is that Puko?" Schula stood, staring into the storm at a fat black dot that was heading this way.

"And there is someone on the ground," Nassir added.

"If it's a human, they aren't going to make it before the sandstorm," Schula said.

"Should we help?" I stood too, taking a few steps forward.

Nassir laughed and we both turned to look at the old fae. He was kneeling and had his hands buried in the sand, reaching down to the dirt beneath. "That human runs like Kai."

"You can tell how different people run?" Schula asked. "No, never mind. That's a question for later. Wren, you're the fastest of us, go get him before the fool is eaten by the storm."

I didn't have to be told twice. I ran as fast as I could, kicking up sand behind me and speeding across the desert. If I focused my sharp eyes ahead, I could make out the familiar movements of Kai. It was him, and he was following after Puko. I ran for a little before I drew close enough for Kai to see me, but when he did the relief on his face was instant.

"Wren!" He called.

"I've got you!" I called back, racing to him. I drew even with him, the first grains of sand had lifted form the ground and were being pelted at my exposed skin. Dust and sand coated Kai, and without thinking I scooped him up in my arms and turned sharply back to the Stone of Souls.

Puko raced ahead, gliding to where Nassir and Schula eagerly waited four our return.

The run back had my heart pounding as the storm nipped at my heels. I was slowed down with Kai in my arms, but he wasn't as heavy as I thought he would be. Or I'd become stronger since my seal was broken. Either way, it was a welcome surprise as I sped over the sand.

Schula waved at us as we got close, and then helped Nassir under one of the tarps. I took it as a sign to use the other with Kai. When we got there, I put Kai down and we wasted no time scrambling under the shelter. I yanked Puko underneath just in time and the sands began their assault.