Chapter 170: Fighting For Her Soul

Calix Pov

The bowl of dark river water was sitting between Maddie’s feet and the steam coming off the surface smelled like bitter roots. I kept my palms pressed flat against the wood floor of the cabin to stop my own fingers from shaking. Elder Thomas had the small bone piece held tight between his thumb and index finger, and his face looked very old under the yellow light of the grease lamp.

"The white fur line does not bend easy, Calix," Elder Thomas said and he dropped the heavy bone into the hot water. "If we do this wrong, the snap will take her mind completely and you will be left holding a shell."

"We are doing it tonight," I said without looking away from Maddie's face. "The purple marks have already reached her chin and she cannot even swallow water without the gold light burning her throat. I am not going to sit here and watch her skin turn black from an old mountain contract."

Maddie sat on the low stool with her spine perfectly straight. Her eyes were wide and flat, and the gold veins in her neck were pulsing so hard they made the skin twitch every few seconds. She did not look at me and she did not look at Thomas . She just stared down at the black water like she was listening to a sound coming up from the floorboards.

"The peak wolves are already at the lower fence line," Rex said and he stepped out of the dark corner by the door. He was holding his long hunting spear across his knees and his shirt was torn from the morning hunt. "I counted twelve scouts before the sun went down behind the ridge. They are not waiting for the snow to melt before they claim her."

"Let them stand in the mud," I said. "We have twenty men behind the logs and the gates are locked from the inside. They will have to break every piece of iron we own before they get past the porch."

"They will not need to break the gates if her soul walks out on its own feet," Elder Thomas said and he stirred the root water with a dry pine stick. "The anchor link is pulling harder now because the moon is rising over the peak hall. Look at her left wrist."

I grabbed her hand and her skin felt like a hot iron piece left in the fire pit. A thin purple line was moving from her palm up toward her elbow, and every time the line moved, her fingers would curl up tight like she was trying to hold a rope.

"Maddie, can you hear my voice?" I asked.

"I can hear the bells," Maddie said. Her voice did not sound like her own anymore, and the words came out very slow and dry. "They are ringing the church bells in the high court. My mother is standing by the stone table and she is telling me to sign the page again."

"Your mother is dead, Maddie," I said and I squeezed her palm until my knuckles went white. "You are in the valley cabin with the WolfTrail pack. Look at me right now."

"She cannot look at you, Alpha," Elder Thomas said. "The old king is using the stone book to pull her spirit up the mountain path. We have to drop the iron scrap into the bowl before the purple mark hits her collarbone."

"Do it then," I said.

Elder Thomas took the small iron piece from his pocket and dropped it directly into the hot root water. A loud hiss filled the room and a thick grey smoke came up from the bowl and hit Maddie right in the face. She did not blink and she did not move her head back from the heat.

"The valley earth demands the blood back," Elder Thomas said and he pressed his wet thumb against Maddie’s forehead. "The contract belongs to the dead and the living female stays with the pack that feeds her."

Maddie's body went completely stiff and her chest rose up high like she was trying to catch her breath after swimming across the deep river. A low sound came out of the back of her throat and the gold light under her skin started to flicker like a dying torch in the wind.

"Calix, hold her shoulders," Rex said.

I threw my weight forward and slammed my palms against her shoulder blades to keep her on the stool. Her muscles felt like stone under my fingers and she was stronger than any female I had ever held before. The impact rattled my wrists and my heart was going very fast against my ribs but I did not let go an inch.

"Is it breaking?" I asked.

"The mark is turning grey," Elder Thomas said and he leaned down close to her neck. "The iron is drawing the mountain blood out of the veins."

"It hurts," Maddie said. She did not cry or scream, but her teeth clapped together hard and her left leg kicked the wood bowl sideways. The hot black water spilled across the floorboards and the bitter smell got twice as strong in the room.

"Get more water from the barrel, Rex," I said.

"There is no time for another bowl," Rex said without moving from the door. "Look at her eyes, Calix. Something else is coming through the link."

The gold light in Maddie’s neck stopped flickering and went completely dark, but the purple lines did not fade away. They started to widen out until her whole throat looked like grey stone under the lamp light. Her head tilted back slow and her silver hair fell away from her face.

"The contract is not dissolving," Maddie said. The voice was totally flat and it did not have her valley accent anymore. The pitch went down deep and the words came out smooth like polished river stones.

"Maddie?" I asked and I shook her shoulders hard.

"She is not here right now, young Alpha," Maddie said. She raised her grey eyes and looked directly at my chest, and the small smile on her lips belonged to the old man from the high peaks.

"Kai," I said and my voice got very thick in my throat.

"I told you the law of the high peaks belongs to the human soul," Maddie said and she reached up with her right hand and tapped her own chest right over her heart. "You tried to cut the thread with valley roots, but you only opened the door wider. I can feel your pack fires from here."

"Get out of her body," I said and I pulled my hunting knife from my belt and held the iron blade three inches from her throat. "I will drop you right here on the floor before I let you take her mind."

"You cannot kill me with that piece of iron, Calix," Maddie said and she did not even look at the blade. "My body is six miles away in the peak hall, sitting by the stone book. If you cut this throat tonight, you only kill your own mate."

"He is telling the truth, Alpha," Elder Thomas said and he dropped his wooden staff on the floor. "The ritual opened the anchor line completely. He has his spirit planted inside her veins right now."