Page 59 of The Souls Harvest
When I move my eyes back to him, Galen is staring at his hands. “I didn’t have another choice…” His words tangle with the dreadful cries of the dying stranger.
I take his hands into mine and let out a deep sigh. “It is not your fault. If it wasn’t for you, that could have been me.” I jerk my head to the man behind me, still finding it difficult to call him what he really is.
But I can’t ignore it any longer.
My heart beats fast, and my breath catches short. “Please, tell me I heard you wrong. I was panicking—the rain, the fire—” My head is heavy, and dark spots start dancing behind my eyes.
“July, listen to me. You’re fainting. If we don’t leave now, we will both end up trapped up here with no option but to run through the fire.” Galen ignores my questions and pulls me back to my feet.
Before I can rebut, he starts leading me towards the stairs, keeping hold of my bloodied hand. I trail after him in shock, glad at least one of us still has the spirit to think straight after what just happened.
We approach the lifeless body with caution, and Galen kicks it in the ribs twice before we jump past it.
Perhaps it was all a misunderstanding.
The rain has turned into a blissful stream. In the corner of my eyes, the fire is still raging and climbing over the windows, still trying to devour the Wise from the inside, but the rain is turning the flames into wisps of harmless smoke, making our escape less frightful.
“I got another one, but I have to run…Abandon the Wise ASAP. It’s not safe - I repeat - not safe.” I hear Galen roaring over the commotion of water and fire as he presses a finger to his right ear. “The fire... what? That was adecoy…My suspicions were right—Roden knows…I’m going to the beach…prayshe’s there…”
Who is he talking to?But my brain can only process one thing at a time; I can either breathe or talk.
The way down the tower’s outermost stairs is too narrow for two people to run side by side, so I let Galen lead while I throw panicked looks over my shoulder to make sure nobody is following.
We proceed as fast as we can, stopping only when a sudden burst of glass and stones fills the air with the acrid smell of smoke.
I know Galen would go faster if he weren’t aware of my wound, but the way he’s moving - almost limping - tells me something is not right.
Something I didn’t notice before catches my attention, and I can’t help but tug at his hand, forcing him to stop and look at me as I point at a stain darkening the rim of his white shirt just above his left hip.
“You’re bleeding.” I suck in water and smoke.
He lowers his eyes. “Just a scratch. I think he fired when you kicked him, but missed,” he answers too hastily.
“It’s all my fault…I shouldn’t have—”
He brushes a lock of hair off my cheek, smiling. “You were being reckless, as usual, but you saved us both.” Like mine, his voice is hoarse.
With a gentle pull, Galen restarts our descent to safety. “Comeon.”
I've always known he was a great fighter; I’ve witnessed it during our training sessions, and that earned him the role of a Deleteri leader. But having seen him in action put him in a different light. He didn’t flinch at the Herionos - if that’s what he really was - bleeding to death on the floor. That wasn’t the first time he’d shot someone. We do carry weapons when in Horigos, mostly for self-defence, but I had no memory of Galen killing anyone—until now.
Until he had to take a lifeto save mine.
Chapter 25 - Cinders of a Wise Soul
July
The passage before us narrows as we approach the bottom of the tower, engulfed by water, flames, and smoke. Despite being slippery with blood and sweat, I hold onto Galen’s hand as if my life depended on it—which it probably does.
Above us, the mouth of the Wise thunders, its stones chatter, and its head swings like that of a man about to fall under a flurry of shots.
I exhale with relief when the last steps finally come in sight, and I spot the main gate wide open, waiting for us to run to safety. I speed towards it, expecting to see people running towards us, alerted by the ominous noises and the flames, but my gaze stretches over the empty darkness of the Wise’s external garden.
Galen comes to a halt beside me. “Not that way. We’re going out through the back gate,” he pants, pausing to approach the smaller, almost hidden wooden door on the right side of the tower's base.
“You mean crossing through the training square? If any of those whoattacked us are still there or in the building, there will be nowhere for us to hide. We’ll be in the open for a while.”
Galen draws a big breath and closes his eyes. Something is off, but I guess the violence of the recent events has cracked his tough armour as well as mine. There are shadows under his eyes when he puts himself between me and the main gate, taking my hands in his. “Some ofusare still fighting on the towers, buying us time.”
