Chapter 183 Empty Soul

Chapter 183 Empty Soul
Maddie Pov 

The bedroom in the back of the cabin was completely quiet. I sat on the edge of the mattress and pulled my knees up against my chest, staring at the small wooden window frame. The gold spear mark on my skin had stopped spreading an hour ago, leaving thin yellow lines wrapped all the way around my collarbone, but the center of my ribs felt cold and flat.

"Maddie, eat two spoons of the deer fat," Calix urged and he set the warm clay bowl down on the pine floorboards near my boots. He had washed the dirt from his face, but his eyelids looked very heavy and dark in the dim light of the tallow lamp. "The internal void is shaking your muscles. You need to put some weight back into your stomach before the midnight run."

"My tongue cannot taste the meat today, Calix," I whispered and I kept my arms locked tight around my shins. "The back of my brain is completely silent. It is like someone took an iron scoop and cleaned out the entire space behind my ears. I hated his voice every single minute, but the silence feels like a deep hole that is going to pull my ribs inward."

"The hole is just an empty room now."

"It does not feel like an empty room."

"It feels like a fresh start," he answered.

He took a slow step forward and sat down on the mattress right next to my hip. He reached out his right hand and placed his bare palm over the gold spear mark on my skin, and a small wave of pure valley energy moved through his fingers. The heat was very light and slow this time, but it did not clash against anything inside my chest bone.

"The gold line is accepting my touch," Calix noted and he let his thumb trace the top curve of my collarbone.

"The peak ink is completely gone," I muttered and I let my forehead drop onto his shoulder wool. His skin smelled like wet pine needles and wood smoke, and the familiar scent made the skin on my neck go loose for the first time in three weeks. "I can hear my own thoughts when I look at the window now. I am not seeing the old silver sketches anymore."

"You are seeing the valley."

"We are still here," I murmured.

We stayed on the mattress for a long time while the sun went down behind the western ridge. Outside the window frame, the remaining wolves of WolfTrail were moving around the yard without making any loud shouts. Rex was carrying a heavy load of split logs toward the kitchen hearth, and Mara was setting out three clean water buckets near the well line.

"Elara wants to see you tomorrow morning," Calix reported and he shifted his weight to pull my wool wrap higher around my back.

"Is she still angry about the twelve stitches?" I asked.

"She is not angry today," Calix replied. "She told the hunters that the white wolf form was not holding the reins last night. She wants to bring you a jar of the river mint grease to soothe the gold spear tracks on your chest."

"Mara gave me a small nod when I walked past the woodpile earlier."

"The pack is coming back together, Maddie."

"They were just afraid of the peak voice," I whispered.

"We were all afraid," he admitted.

He pulled my shoulders against his leather vest and I let my legs slide down until my boots touched the pine floorboards. We sat together in the dark room without lighting another candle, listening to the steady wind hitting the log corners of the house. For the first time since the famine started, my heart did not feel like it was running a race against a mountain ghost.

"Come out to the training yard," Calix instructed after two hours had passed. He stood up from the bed and reached down to take my fingers in his big palm. "The moon is coming up over the pine ledge now. The air will feel good against the fresh gold lines."

"My boots feel a little heavy," I stated.

"I will hold your elbow," he promised.

We walked out through the broken kitchen frame into the cool night air. The gravel path was wet with evening dew, and the bright white moon sat right above the center post, casting long gray shadows across the empty dirt circle. The seventeen wolves were sitting around the low cooking fire near the meat shed, sharing the rationed deer broth from a single iron pot.

"The boundary line is completely clear tonight, Alpha," Rex shouted from his seat by the fire log and he lifted his wooden cup toward us.

"Keep the watch loose until midnight, Rex," Calix commanded and he stopped in the middle of the training ring, keeping his arm locked around my waist. He looked up at the white light in the sky and his face settled into a calm, smooth expression. "We have three full months before the north scouts come back for the territory challenge. We can start the double tracking drills tomorrow at dawn."

"The grass is very peaceful tonight," I murmured and I leaned my head against his ribs.

A sudden, sharp whistle cut through the pine trees to the north, and the sound was so loud it made every wolf at the cooking fire jump to their boots. The horses inside the log barn started kicking the wall planks, and a deep rumble like moving rocks came down from the high ledge.

"Rex, get the spears," Calix ordered and he pushed me behind his shoulder in a single second.

The dark tree line at the edge of the clearing did not stay empty. Hundreds of long iron torches flared up all at once along the ridge, turning the pine needles into a bright orange color under the moon. A massive line of warriors stepped out from the brush, their heavy silver breastplates catching the white light of the sky, and every single shield carried the old peak crest of the ancient kings.

"They have the high hall armor," I whispered and my knees started to tremble against the gravel.

A tall male with a long silver coat walked out from the center of the line and stopped right at the edge of our salt path. His eyes were wide and yellow under his iron helmet, and he carried a heavy spear that looked exactly like the gold mark on my chest bone.

"We have come for our King’s bride," the silver leader announced and his deep voice rattled the log cabins of WolfTrail. He lifted his iron point and pointed it directly at my face while his warriors formed a tight circle around our clearing. "And we are taking the power she stole from his ribs before the moon hits the western ridge."