The Path of Giants

to come to her side.
“There’s just so much to do,” she told me as she cried. “And now you’ve brought this witch here and made everything impossible.”
“Kataleya.” I put my hand on her back.
“Get away from me.” She thrashed at me but fell to her knees as I stepped away.
A couple of the guards hovered over her.
“Lady, is there something we can do?” one asked.
The third guard was telling the witch to turn around so he could rope her wrists.
“Jon,” Hadley pleaded with me over her shoulder.
I ignored her for the moment and crouched beside Kataleya.
“Kat, no one expects you to do anything after losing your father. If you’d like, I could help you to your room right now. You could sleep all day if you want, and no one will disturb you until you’re ready.”
“But the castle. The war…” She stopped crying for a moment as she gritted her teeth. “And this witch!”
“There’s time for everything,” I said. “You can always meet us at the castle later. I can help you to your room, and then I will speak with your mother and take care of anything that needs to happen before I leave. But Kataleya, we’re not going to keep the witch here. She’s coming back to the castle with me.”
Kataleya turned her head, a look of betrayal in her eyes. “After what she did to my father?”
“Perhaps if we give her a chance to explain herself,” I suggested, “you might feel better.”
“I tried to explain myself,” Hadley said.
“Try harder,” I urged her impolitely.
Kataleya said, “I will only feel better when she is punished for what she did.”
“How about this,” I offered. “If we can confirm that she has harmed the soul of your father, then you can decide the punishment. I’m sure the king would agree.”
“That’s fine by me,” Hadley said to my surprise.
Kataleya was looking at Hadley from the sides of her eyes, but she didn’t say anything.
“I am sorry this has hurt you so much,” Hadley said. “I thought you might be angry, but I didn’t know you would react this way. However, I swear to Basael that I didn’t do any harm to your father’s soul.”
“But how can you possibly think you know that!”
“Because…” Hadley’s features scrunched. “Perhaps if I explain more about myself, you will trust me.”
She paused as she waited for Kataleya to reply.
“Make it quick.”
Hadley nodded. “When I was fourteen, I found that I had an understanding about curses that no one explained to me. My family had close ties with King Frederick Garlin, so I was eventually used by the king at a young age to curse his enemies. It didn’t take long before I realized that I had to get out of Rohaer, but I didn’t have any means of escaping. The king there is more powerful than the king here. He has loyal people everywhere across his kingdom. I had to show I was loyal for years, destroying the lives of many innocent people.”
She spoke the words sharply, a confident look in her eyes.
“I regret many things. I’m ashamed of what I did, which is why—when I finally made it to Lycast—I told myself I would always do the right thing no matter how difficult. I had to make up for everything I had done.”
Hadley paused. No one spoke.
“What I’m trying to say,” she continued, “is that I have a gift for understanding curses. What I did here was for the greater good. Jon told me I am to help Lycast win this war. To do that, I require essences along with many other ingredients. I know taking your father’s essence hasn’t harmed your father’s soul in the same way I knew how to make my first curse. I have a gift, and I have used this gift for four years. I know what I’m doing. I wouldn’t dare risk imprisonment by damaging your father’s soul. My life is too valuable for that. But rest assured that no one, witch or otherwise, could ever do anything to another person’s soul. Souls are much too powerful.”
I checked on Kataleya. Her eyes were red, her hair a mess, but for the first time this morning I thought she looked like the smart, hopeful girl I had gotten to know so well, the person who had always managed to take an upside-down situation and turn it right side up.
She walked over to her father’s body and touched his hand. A tear slid down her cheek. “He’s so cold.”
“Because he’s not there anymore,” Hadley said.
Kataleya stared a while longer, then turned around. “You must at least admit that you were patronizing me earlier when you said he’s in a better place.”
“What do you believe?” Hadley asked.
“Me? Like most everyone in Livea, I’m a Formist. You would have to assume that all of us believe our souls go to a better place. And you’re using that against me. I don’t like it.”
Hadley didn’t reply. It seemed to be an admission of guilt.
I asked, “What do you want to do, Kataleya?”
“What do I want? I want to go back to the castle. What do I need to do, though? That is still the question.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” I reminded her. “Come back with us.”
Kataleya seemed to be in thought for a moment. “I will, but only because it is what I need to do. The king needs to be notified as soon as possible. I need to discuss our affairs and come to a plan. Endell has to be found as soon as possible.”
“Wherever he is now, I imagine Eden is there as well.”
“Yes, the two traitors are probably sticking together.” Kataleya looked closely at Hadley.
“I don’t know who Eden is,” Hadley said, “but I am a different kind of traitor. I am a traitor to Rohaer.”
“We will see about that,” Kataleya said. “Expect that I will tell the king what you did here.”
“That is fine,” Hadley said.
Kataleya turned to me. “Livea and the surrounding land are vulnerable now. There might be