Zane's Arc

Chapter 5 of 8

The cave mouth swallowed the last light. Carved skulls stared from the stone. Green symbols glowed along the arch, faint and cold. Zane stepped inside with Maya at his shoulder. The black wolf pressed against his leg, ears flat, a low growl in its chest. Somewhere ahead, a man waited who traded in the names of gods. The witch sat on a slab of rock. His red eyes caught the glow. Dark robes hung off him, and thin scars crossed the backs of his hands. Malachar Thornveil did not rise. He looked at Maya first, then at Zane. "You came back," he said. "And you brought weight." He meant the wolf. He meant Zane. "The name your family fears. You want it." "Tell us," Maya said. Flat. No pleading. "Names cost." Malachar spread his scarred fingers. "I don't give. I trade." His eyes moved to Zane. "What do you carry?" Zane checked his pockets. A knife. A coil of cord. Nothing a witch would want. He had left everything else at the cottage. He had come to help his sister and brought only himself. "I have nothing," Zane said. Malachar smiled without warmth. "Then you have nothing." He turned back to the stone. Maya reached for her backpack. Zane knew what she meant to offer. Years spent alone had taught him one thing: he read people fast because he had watched them from the outside. He watched Malachar now. The witch's eyes never left the wolf. "You keep watching the animal," Zane said. Malachar's jaw tightened. That was answer enough. A god's name was a leash, Maya had said. And a wolf that trusted a man was a leash of a different kind. This witch had paid everything he was. He had no one. No creature would stand at his side. "You want it," Zane said. "A thing that trusts you." "Trust cannot be traded," Malachar said. But his voice had changed. Zane knelt. He put his hand on the wolf's neck. The animal leaned into him, warm, sure. His chest ached. He had carried this wolf home from the hollow oak. It was the first thing in years that had chosen him. "Zane, no," Maya said. "You're my sister." He kept his eyes on the wolf. "I said I'd help you. This is how." He unwound the cord and looped it loose around the wolf's neck. He led the animal forward. It went stiff, then followed him, trusting. Zane placed the cord in Malachar's scarred hand. "Take it," Zane said. "Give her the name." Malachar stared at the wolf a long moment. Then he leaned toward Maya and spoke one word, low, so only she could hear. Maya went white. She swayed. "I know it," she whispered. "I know his name." The wolf whined and pulled toward Zane. Malachar held the cord fast. Zane stepped back, his hands empty again, and walked out of the cave with his sister. Behind him, the wolf howled once, and did not stop.