The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (e reader txt) 📕

feet up, he threaded the rope through. Knotted. With something safe to fall back on, he continued up.

Yaaranam slipped right past Jackal to climb up first.

Albeit nervous, Jackal was not about to let a raven out show him. He half expected the ardrizi to make short work of the climb. Cats were great climbers after all, so why wouldn't he be? Even if he weighed half a damned ton, he made the climb look easy.

Yaaranam did not show quite the same ease. She had a few slips, her fingers unable to get a good grip in the cracks. She made her way up, hooking herself to the rope when she reached it.

Jackal jumped up, gripping the rock to pull himself. Surprisingly, his fingers fit through the crack easily. Clearly plenty of eldiravan scraped through the surface to widen it. His hands, tiny in comparison, found plenty of small dips to dig into.

Jackal did not have this kind of training. His muscles were built up for endurance and combat, not to climb up by the tips of his fingers and toes. He wasn’t even wearing good shoes for this!

Just about half way up, he watched Mjolnir disappear over the edge. Yaaranam soon followed. By time Jackal made it up, they had analyzed their next course of action. Multiple cracks gave way for different ascents. The hooks went only one way, further up the mountainside. They could faintly see the light of a glow stick at what they assumed was the end.

"No one would go through this much trouble to find traitors." Yaaranam stated. "This is too much."

"Well, it's not too late to turn around." Jackal exhaled.

"Already out of breath?"

"No!" He lied.

"Let's go before we run out of light." Mjolnir said.

He made his way to the next part, working his way up by tiny edges and cracks. Yaaranam followed. Then Jackal.

The whole while he cursed under his breath. He thought about training for this more to be better prepared for next time, but when would there be another time? Most of his missions were urban, or on ships.

Jackal found few spots to grip, most being far out of his reach. Slow and barely steady, he had to take an altered path. One he could reach the edges of stone that rippled the surface.

The mountain shook. Its rumble like that of a hungry beast waking up from hibernation.

"What the fuck is that?!" Yaaranam shouted.

The sound was too loud to hear what was happening around them.

The rumbling soon settled.

"Volcano?" Mjolnir shouted from above.

"I fucking hope not." Jackal cursed.

Just as Mjolnir continued the climb, a boiling hot liquid spewed out from a crack just over his hand. The foul smelling liquid hissed on contact with the air. Steam rushed upwards. The liquid sprayed out over the face of the stone.

The rumbling started again. More pustules of the liquid exploded from the cracks all over the mountain side.

Hot as lava. It burned through the stone like acid.

"Keep moving!" Yaaranam shouted.

"I'm trying!" Mjolnir looked for the next spot to grip.

He pulled himself up and over just as more liquid blew out. It coated his shoulder and back.

The ardrizi cried out and hugged himself as close to the surface as possible. He bit through the pain of the liquid scalding right through his clothes and fur.

Yaaranam opted for a different path to speed her own ascent. She climbed as quick as she could. They could see the faint glow more clearly now despite the steam clouding their vision.

As she pulled herself up higher, one of the cracks ripped open. She lost her grip.

Yaaranam, with no safety rope to fall back on, fell straight down. Her chest felt to be on fire. She couldn't find something to grab, no matter how desperately she groped the air.

Her descent came to an abrupt end. Suspended in the air, bent over like a horseshoe. She took in a sharp, deep breath.

"Fucking Christ, you weigh more than you look." Jackal grunted. He was barely hanging in there purely by the strength of four fingers.

"Oh, please tell me you're stronger than you look." Yaaranam hissed. Those yellow eyes darted back and forth searching for something she could grab.

He held onto the waistband of her pants, digging the toes of his boots into the stone.

"Are you good?" Mjolnir shouted down to them.

"Yeah! We're good!" Jackal gave her a pull, but his elbow had gotten locked.

"Hold on! I'm coming!" The ardrizi reached off to his side to try to grab a sheet of rock.

The liquid erupted from a crack directly beneath Yaaranam, making her jump. Jackal nearly lost his grip on her and the wall.

"Fucking stop moving!" He growled.

"That shit almost got me!" She snarled and scratched at the wall.

"Just stop, you damned raven, before you get us both killed!"

"How about you lift me up so I can grab something?!"

"You weigh too goddamned much and I'm about to lose my fucking grip!"

"Grab this!" Mjolnir said. He hadn't moved much closer. Back tracking through the erupting geysers of heated acid was nearly impossible. He tossed the rope down to Jackal.

Smacked in the face with it, Jackal grunted.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with that?! My hands are full!"

"Sorry! Hold on!"

"It's all I can do!"

The rope was pulled away and swung in front of him.

"Hold on he says…" Jackal grumbled. "Because, y'know, I can do literally anything else right now."

"Whine, whine. Is that all you do? Humans are just whining machines." Yaaranam rolled her eyes.

"I could not hold on if you'd like." He glanced down to her. "It'd save me some trouble."

"Don't you fucking dare."

"Oh, I dare."

The rope slung down over his arm and dangled right next to the eldiravan. She took the rope and tied it around her waist.

The rumbling of the mountain slowed down. The geysers even calmed. They leaked more than they sprayed.

"Ready!" Yaaranam called.

Jackal slowly let go of her. She held the rope to keep it from digging into her too bad, but Jackal had forgotten about it laying on his other