A young wolfkin child stepped into view, her silky bck hair long enough it nearly hid her tail. In her outstretched hand she held a ntern. Without even looking at the other cells she turoward mine and made her way over to me. Her pierg gaze betrayiherwise childlike appearance.

  "ne of the howling winds tribe," The girl smiled. "I've heard whispers about you. Only days ago those whispers became screams. How fortunate you'd e here. I had thought I'd have to e after you."

  My hands trembled. Who was this girl? How did she know my name? Why did she name my tribe? I was an outcast, no one knew me by my tribe's name a she said it as if my association with them was a matter of fact. ?Who are you??

  "Ah, they whispers did say you were mute," the girl frowned. "No matter, we will simply ge the venue for our discussion." With a snap of her fihe world shifted. The stone prison was gone, repced with a field bed by a heavy fog.

  "Phantasia?" Rochelle muttered. I gazed up at her in surprise. Somehow she was standing right beside me, as if we'd entered her dreamscape.

  "How?" I muttered the word, a no pain. Wherever we were, it wasn't real.

  "Surprised?" The girl smiled from her per the branch of a tree den with bck apples. "I had wished to speak with you alone, ne. But it couldn't be helped. I've not had the time to learn the hand nguage you speak."

  "What do you want with her?" Rochelle asked, standiween me and the girl.

  "I need her help."

  "Who are you?" I asked looking up at the girl. Something was wrong. She hadn't ed any ichor, a she'd crafted an imaginary space. A feat I'd only ever seen Rochelle perform.

  "This body," The girl looked down at her own hand, turning it over as if it were fn to her. "Doesn't have a he girl who rules over the mines has been calling me Ink. You call me that, or anything else."

  A familiar ache fred in my chest. The girl, Ink, she was a wolfkin just like me. Had she been cast out of her tribe just like I had?

  "Are you referring to Pia? Is she the girl who rules over the mines?"

  "Yes. The girl who rules aloer the death of her father."

  "Demon," Rochelle hissed. "You polluted the girl's mind."

  "e now Rochelle, this body of mine is quite mortal." Ink giggled and hopped down from her perch. "Besides, I did nothing. I simply told her what I wanted, and that her long-lost sister had returo the city."

  "Are you the reason the Seeds started treating the saint like a on to be honed?" I narrowed my eyes at Ink. Even if she wasn't a demon, there was certainly something demonic about her. She didn't seem natural.

  "No," Ink shook her head. "I came here as a captive. I made mistakes. Kept fetting that mortals have to drink ichor before they cast spells. That made me a target, but it was a blessing in disguise. I he saint, why not wait here, with those hunting every would-be saint in the kingdom? I nearly abahem when the daughters began to rebel. With only Pia and her father left, I doubted there would be a to me remaining. Once Pia was alone I felt even less reason to stay. I'm gd I remained."

  "You don't have to drink ichor? How?"

  "If I told you I was a god made flesh, would you believe me?" Ink smiled and spread her arms. "Or will you cim I am a demon? I assure you I require food a just like any other mortal. I am no demon."

  "Why do you he saint?" Rochelle gred at Ink, holding out her arm defensively. As if she was waiting for Ink to attack.

  "The red stones," Ink scowled as she spoke. "They produce monstrosities, false demons, soul-stealers. I am aware that you entered one already. I heard the screams of its death, and took pleasure in knowing the saint survived."

  "If you're a god, why not go kill them yourself?"

  "The monstrosities created by the red stones ot be harmed by me. I am powerless against them, and I ot risk the possibility of death. This body protects what remains of my soul. If I were still a spirit, I would be ed."

  "What substance could possibly harm a god?" Rochelle challenged, a sword of made of curling light appeared in her hand. "If you wish to ally yourself with my daughter, you must first answer her question. Who are you?"

  "My name is not spoken about in scripture. But I am the rightful ruler of this world. The true king whose throne was stolen from him," Ink smiled and held out her hand, brushing a finger against Rochelle's sword. Fresh blood—red blood—beaded up from her open wound. "In another lifetime, Cheimul's chosen and I would be enemies. But I ot survive without your aid."

  "That doesn't ahe question."

  "You want what I am unwilling to give." Ink sighed.

  "Ink," Curiosity got the better of me. Even if it would derail the versation, there was something i had to know. "Are you not a girl?"

  "Eh?" Ink's eyes widened as they looked at me. "You ask as if you believed I was. For nearly as long as I have been known, mortals have referred to me as a man. What gave you a different opinion?"

  "You're dressed like a girl, and you smell like ooo."

  "I did not realize."

  Both Rochelle and I gazed at Ink in shock as she looked down at herself, twisting and turning to get a better look at her form. "Were you not raised as a girl?"

  "I was not, no," Ink replied, frowning. "When the first monstrosities were created, I felt pain for the first time in over a millennia. Despite knowing it would set back my pns by turies I used the whole of my power te a body from the first patible geic material I could find. I did not touch a mother's womb. My body materialized at its current age. Old enough to be suffit and young enough to serve as my host for a tury at least."

  "And no one here has suggested your body might be female?"

  Ink brought a fio her lips as she sidered for a moment. "Pia might have suggested as much. She did not question me, gest I might be female when I told her I was a King made flesh. Perhaps she was simply in awe of my power aoo afraid to share her observations."

  "So... are you not male?" I asked, fused.

  Spreading her arms, Ink created an illusion of bck leathery wings sprouting out of her back. "If my true form ever had a sex I was unaware of it. I knew her the cept of age, nor the desire for panionship. Mortals who worshipped me did so without my favor or reward. I was king, and because I was a king they called me a man. I have never questio, or cared. Even now, the cept of gender means little to me. If this body is female, I shall be a woman. If I grow dissatisfied I will alter my form."

  "We'll treat you however you want," Rochelle shrugged. "Regardless, you're still a threat to us. If the saint—Cheimul's chosen—would normally be your enemy, how we ever feel fident you won't betray us? ne's safety is more important than any advantage allying with you could provide."

  "ne's safety is something I guarantee. I have sacrificed too much power to duct my resurre during her lifetime. She will have been deceased for turies before I muster the power to act."

  "Then you will be a threat to the daughter I have after her."

  "If you have another," Ink noted, narrowing her gaze. "Cheimul's favor is not a gift she ot recim. As more heroes rise, the need for the saint will bee less evident. The day may e when there is no oo take up the sword you're trapped within."

  "Could you help Rochelle escape?!" I could hardly hide the desperation in my voice. "Make a body for her?"

  "ne... Don't." Rochelle turo me in distress as Ink sauoward us like a predatory cat.

  "Is that your price?" Ink's e eyes began to glow like fire. "A body for the phantom, and you'll do as I ask?"

  "ne," Rochelle's voice wavered. "It's not worth it. I'm fine."

  "You heard what Ink said," The thought of it made me want to sob. "What if another vessel isn't born? What if you're trapped in the sword for the rest of eternity? Please let me save you."

  "I have already lived and died. Resurre is not for me. I have no soul, I'm just a colle of memories the true Rochelle left behind."

  "What is a soul?" Ink interjected. "You see it as a singur substance, a little gemstone of one's life force, but it's hardly that. Souls are like vast kes. They colled lose water all the time. What they lose bee part of the souls of others. You, Rochelle, have a soul colored by eight geions of saints. I give you a body."

  "ne," Rochelle ed her arms around me. "When you asked if no one had attempted to free me, I never once believed it ossible. As much as I'd love to hold you in the flesh, I ot advise making a deal with a being we don't uand."

  "Ink's goals and ours are the same," I tered, resting my head against Rochelle's chest. "We're going to get rid of the red stones no matter what. Why not help her?"

  "reatest enemies are often those we've mistaken for allies."

  "Please. This is what I want. Freeing you from the sword is my goal."

  "Alright. I already tell I don't have the words to vince you otherwise. If she betrays you, I will simply have to be there, sword in hand."

  "The us strike a tra blood," Ink held out her hand. "I shall join you, offer my power, knowledge, and craft a body for the first saint's phantom. You will destroy the monstrosities, colpse the mine of red stone, and erase all knowledge of its location."

  "Deal." I took Ink's hand in mine and winced as I felt a biting pain. Yanking my hand away I noticed several beads of blood ay palm. As if answering my unspokeion, Ink raised her hand showing several needles of hardened shadow.

  "By blood we are bound," Ink replied. Looking down at herself for a moment, Ink gri me. "Sisters, you could say?"

  "I don't think sharing blood is enough to make us sisters. Not in my heart."

  "I've held several hearts in my cws," Ink ughed. "But I've never uood them. Maybe our time together will teach me something."

  "Did you not learn anything from Pia?" I didn't know what Ink's life with Pia was like, but if they'd spent time together, they had to be close. Pia had given Ink her name, and even provided her clothing. How could Ink not have felt anything for her?

  The ers of Ink's eyes creased a bit as she chuckled mirthfully. "I've learned I should've paid her more attention. She may have said things that could've helped me better uand the mortal shell I've coed myself inside. I only had eyes for you. The saint, holder of the keys to my salvation."

  "Your deal may not be with me," Rochelle said, gazing disapprovingly at Ink. "But I suggest you start treating people like they're worthy of your time. If you want others to care about your wellbeing, it's worth g about theirs. You never know who holds your life in their hands until you find yourself desperate for their aid."

  "I uand. Even the saint ot be everywhere at once," Ink replied passively gazing at the field around us. As I turo follow her gaze I noticed the field was beginning to fade at the edges. Her dreamscape was vanishing. "This body is my armor. If g about mortals will protect it, then I will attempt to do so."

  The field vanished, auro the cell. With a soft smile, Irieved an iron key from her belt and opehe bars to my cell. "e, ne. Your allies have already arrived. I'm sure introdus will go smoother if you're not behind bars when we meet."

  ?Do you—? I began to sign, until I recalled that Ink didn't uand sign nguage. She wouldn't uand anything I said.

  Notig my attempt, Ink smirked and grabbed my hand. "Do you have any experieh telepathy, ne?"

  "Ink? You talk telepathically?"

  "Only when we're in direct physical tact. I will still require one of your allies to tutor me on yuage. In my time as a spirit i've picked up dozens of nguages, it vexes me that I was incapable of pig up yours."

  "Sign nguage is pretty on, why couldn't you pick it up?"

  Ily pulled on my hand, leadio the stone hallway she'd e out of. "Spirits are blind to the world. We see auroras, fshes of powerful souls, but nothing else. The only sense I had that was not polluted by my ck of a body was my hearing."

  "But didn't you have a body before?"

  "I was a king who cared little for his subjects," Ink's lips curled into a smile as she cackled within my mind. "I paid no attention to their filing about."

  "But you care nht?"

  "I will die if I don't." Ink's jovial smile colpsed into an icy frown. "I have never been so powerless. It's so vexing, being required to craft a body such as this. Feeling pain if I use too muy power. Begging mortals for aid. All because of the blood I left behind."

  eri