The Inner Circle: Holy Spirit by Cael McIntosh Read Free Book Online Page A

appearance
matching that of a drowned rat. Having caught Seteal looking at
him, Seeol called out to her, but unable to hear him over the
noise, she chose to ignore him and focus her efforts on putting one
foot in front of the other. Oddly enough, the downpour doubled its
strength thereafter and the wind became united in its effort to
drown them.
    ‘ Maker, I miss home,’
Seteal muttered and although the words had been inaudible even to
her, they somewhat remarkably didn’t go unheard.
    ‘ Me, too,’ Seeol
replied after scrambling up to her ear. ‘I slept in one tree that
swished in breezes and made me happy.’
    ‘ I remember a tree
similar to yours,’ Seteal replied with a grim smile, ‘except mine
was in the centre of town and I used to sit beneath it.’
    ‘ Maybe some one day
we can go back homely.’ Seeol rubbed his beak against Seteal’s
shoulder as the rain slowed to a drizzle. ‘I would be
happy.’
    ‘ Me, too,’ Seteal
replied, once again able to hear her own voice.
     
    *
     
    Despite the cold weather, the sun beat
down unforgivingly and El-i-miir’s ordinarily pale skin soon turned
pink and started to burn. A glance at Ilgrin told her that he was
suffering equally, the white flesh of his arms having become rather
blue. She almost wished for the return of yesterday’s bad weather,
even if only for the cloud-cover.
    ‘ I’m going to beg
your high elder to buy us horses,’ Ilgrin grumbled under his breath
as he trudged along beside El-i-miir. He had to be feeling the
endless walking more than the others, his small feet and three toes
not having been designed for long treks. El-i-miir admired Ilgrin’s
resilience. He could’ve more easily flown the distance to Setbrana
and met the rest of them there. El-i-miir paused, struck by an
idea.
    ‘ Why don’t you fly to
the city?’ El-i-miir turned to Ilgrin. ‘Take one of us with you and
fly back for the other.’
    ‘ I thought about
that.’ Ilgrin kept his voice little above a whisper. ‘But I doubt
she’ll let me anywhere near her.’ He nodded at Seteal’s back as she
walked farther ahead of them up the road.
    ‘ I guess,’ El-i-miir
replied dejectedly as she reached for Ilgrin’s hand and squeezed
it. ‘I hate the way he stares like that.’
    ‘ Who?’
    ‘ Seeol.’ El-i-miir
frowned at the bird atop Seteal’s shoulder, watching them with
unwavering, piercing golden eyes.
    ‘ He’s a funny little
critter.’ Ilgrin shrugged.
    ‘ I don’t like him,’
El-i-miir grumbled. ‘I never have, really. It was Seteal’s idea to
smuggle him along in the first place.’
    ‘ Oh, he’s all right.’
Ilgrin chuckled, struggling out of his shirt and putting it over
his head to prevent it burning. In doing so, he revealed an eyeful
of lean muscle that sent El-i-miir’s heart racing. ‘He thinks he’s
like us.’
    Seeol switched around to face the
direction in which they were travelling, before ruffling out his
feathers and flicking his tail irritably. El-i-miir then remembered
his extraordinary hearing and realised that he’d probably been
listening. Still, it was doubtful whether he had understood much of
what was said. He was only an elf owl, after all.
    A piercing howl echoed through
the woods and momentarily stunned the surrounding birdlife into
silence. ‘What was that?’ El-i-miir cringed at the foreign sound.
Ilgrin and Seteal exchanged fearful glances.
    ‘ Wolves.’ Seteal
shook her head disbelievingly.
    ‘ I read about those
once.’ El-i-miir squinted as she tried to recall the childhood
memory. ‘Aren’t they just dogs?’
    ‘ Not quite.’ Ilgrin
swallowed nervously as another howl erupted about their
surroundings. The sound had been much closer this time, but it was
hard to determine from which direction it’d come.
    ‘ They wouldn’t be
hunting by day, would they?’ Seteal shook her head
disbelievingly.
    ‘ Is that unusual?’
El-i-miir swallowed nervously at her first glimpse of yellow eyes
peering through the