Railed by the Reaper (Valley of the Old Gods Book 5) by Dalia Davies

Author:Dalia Davies [Davies, Dalia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BSP
Published: 2023-05-24T16:00:00+00:00

Final Resting Place

The shrine I find first this time is empty.

No pool of souls, no decay or dead things.

All that tells me it isn’t a random cave is the intricately carved egg on the far wall.

“The Eebie has only one devotee… a wife in name, though not in bond.” Lupu says. “Not yet.”

“But the current Lady of the Valley will come to rest here when it’s time.”

The jackal sniffs a laugh. “The current Lady of the Valley will never die. She’ll leave the mortal realm one last time and then never return, but she’ll never find her way down here. Her Easter Bunny loves her.”

Lupu stalks away and I follow them.

They don’t shy away when we reach the entrance to the next.

Folding up into that seated crouch that makes them look like a canine in truth, they twitch their nose, looking in at a literal sea of souls. “The Yule Cat never lacks for devotees.”

Whatever might exist beneath those souls is drowning in them. I might drown in them too if I stepped across that threshold.

Lupu and I reflect against the shimmering mass like it’s a mirror.

“Why don’t you have a candle?”

“I told you to ask your gods.”

“I don’t want to ask them. I want to hear it from you.” I turn away from Lako’s shrine. “I don’t trust either of them to tell me the truth.”

“And you think I will?”

“I don’t think you care if I like you.”

Their eyes narrow at me, but finally, they say, “Some of us are stuck here. There are no deals left for us to make.”

But they did make a deal. But not with Death. Not directly anyway.

And whoever they devoted themselves to abandoned them here.

“What was your name before you came here?” I ask, letting that sliver of curious hope find its way out and over my tongue.

“I don’t remember.”

“What do you remember?”

They turn their back on me, but don’t go far. “I’m not your brother, if that’s what you were wondering.”

“No, you’re nothing like him.”

That gets me a cruel chuckle.

“So why are you here?”

“I suppose you aught to know. After all, you’re the reason I’m stuck like this.”

That note of bitterness stings as it hits me. “I devoted myself to your mother…. far too long ago. And she dragged me from her pool, gave me back my life—or what was left of it. And then gifted me to your god. Not that he wanted or needed me.”

“Why?”

“As a penance for that.” They tip their nose at the bracelet. “We can give thanks to all the gods that she realised I was a mistake before she pulled any of the others from the depths of that cold pool.”

If Lupu died, then they know… “What is it like in the Nether?”

“It’s like nothing. There’s no way to describe it. I knew I was dead. I knew there was nothing I could do about it. I was just waiting….”

“For what?”

“I don’t know.” They smile at me, all sharp teeth. “But it certainly wasn’t this.”

I look from them and then to the spiral that winds ever further downward.

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