Chapter Thirty-Eight
HIDDEN DEPTHS
Huldar peered out from under his small shelter and shivered. Flooding rain carved jagged erosion gullies in the volcano’s most recent layer of ash. Andel and Cobar were on their way, but he knew he should wait no longer.
With a single long breath he stilled himself and sent his awareness into the now familiar depths, but this time he let the bell guide him.
As if she’d been waiting, the planet rushed to fill his consciousness and he was consumed by frustration too vast to comprehend.
Why won’t they leave me? she whispered. Her voice filled him to capacity, like water filled a glass. New bones for old. The trap is set. They seek like worms, gouging deeper.
Huldar fought to make room for himself. What trap? he asked, but his voice seemed small and ins
