Rian and Halbert moved to the center of the clearing. Halbert took the objects out of the bag and set them at the center of the clearing in a small circle. There was the skull of a former ruler of Haren, a stone from an old crown of Urvus, a carved statue of a vulture, a now withered plant that grew only in the abandoned village of Marlar, and a crescent shaped stone.

Thorley was fighting Eiva and her ravens with wind magic, blowing dirt around the clearing. Rian could barely see Eiva and Thorley through the cloud of dirt. The wind changed direction suddenly, throwing Rian and Halbert away from the center of the clearing and scattering the objects.

Thorley ran to the center of the clearing, wind surrounding the center in a circle. Rian and Halbert stood quickly. The ground cracked in a wide circle, then the wind was gone. Thorley was gone, but a dark hole had opened. He must have already gone inside. Eiva jumped across the crack, staring down at the hole. Rian and Halbert joined her there.

“You shouldn’t come with us,” Halbert said. “That place isn’t for the living.”

“What would happen if I did go?” Eiva asked. “What will happen to Thorley?”

“Nothing if he doesn’t stay too long,” Halbert said. “If he does stay too long, his soul will be pulled from his body and trapped down there.”

Eiva had gone pale. “I’ll let the two of you handle this one. Did Frida know about that when she entered with you?”

“She knew,” Halbert said. “I told her, but she insisted we wouldn’t be down there that long.” He looked at Rian and nodded, then stepped into the hole, vanishing into the darkness.

Rian had hoped to never have to do this again. He stepped into the darkness of the hole. He didn’t feel himself land. He was suddenly standing in the huge, dark cave that was the Bone Garden. The smell of rot and death was as thick in the air as the last time he’d been there. It hadn’t been there in his dreams. He let himself stop smelling it, something he could do now that he was fully undead.

Halbert stood beside him. There were piles of ancient bones all around them, but none of the bones were damaged. The two of them hurried further into the cave among the piles, until they reached the center of the cave. Thorley was staring up at the huge skull of Trivius. The long, curving horns looked somehow sharper in the pale light that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere. There was no light in the deep sockets of the skull.

“Thorley,” Halbert said.

Thorley turned to face them sharply.

“What do you think you’ll find here?” Halbert asked.

“I wanted to see the skull of the old god for myself, see if he was real,” Thorley said, turning to face the skull again.

“Now is the moment for my return,” Trivius said in Rian’s mind. “He will be the sacrifice.”

Rian tried to ignore him, but then Trivius’s presence rushed to the surface, tossing aside Rian’s will. Trivius moved Rian, grabbing Thorley by the throat with his bony fingers. Thorley struggled, but couldn’t get free of him.

“Rian!” Halbert tried to pull him away from Thorley.

A strong wind blew at Rian from Thorley, but Trivius didn’t let go. The hood of Rian’s cloak had fallen back.

Thorley stared at Rian, no longer struggling. He gasped. “Trivius.”

The red light that had been in Trivius’s eyes burned along Rian’s bones, an inescapable heat. Halbert managed to pull Rian away from Thorley. Rian stumbled back, crying out as Trivius’s power burned hotter in his bones. Thorley ran, disappearing among the piles of bones. Halbert stayed back, staring at Rian with his empty sockets. The hood of his cloak had fallen back in Thorley’s wind as well.

“I’m sorry,” Halbert said. “You should have stayed behind. You shouldn’t have come here. Fight his will.”

“He is not yet ready for my power,” Trivius said through Rian, his voice strained. Rian sank to his knees, the red light flaring brighter in cracks spreading through his bones.

“Let go of him,” Halbert said, taking a step closer.

“I will not remain sealed in this place forever,” Trivius said, then his will slipped away, but it was replaced by something else.

Rian screamed, the burning red getting only brighter now that Trivius had let go. Something else was forcing its way in. Halbert knelt beside him, but Rian knew Halbert couldn’t help him.

“Trivius must be freed,” the raspy woman said, her voice coming from Rian.

“You must not stop him,” the man said.

“The true Keeper of the Dead must rise again,” the young boy said.

“You’re not supposed to speak through him,” Halbert said, but he sounded uncertain.

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The raspy woman laughed. “There is much you do not know, Halbert of Rise. The dead keep many secrets.”

All at once, the voices of the dead let go of Rian. The burning stopped, the red light fading away, leaving him feeling like a burned out husk. The cracks in his bones were a chorus of pain.

“Rian?” Halbert asked quietly.

Rian managed a nod. “They’re gone.” He knew they could come back any time they wanted to. Trivius’s presence was still a massive, looming thing in his head, stronger so close to where the rest of him was sealed. “I need to get out of here,” Rian managed to say.

Halbert nodded, helping Rian to his feet. The two of them went back the way they came, moving as fast as they could, which wasn’t fast. Rian leaned on Halbert. If he hadn’t, Rian wouldn’t have made it back to the clearing. They found the dark hole and went down it, suddenly standing at the edge of the hole back in the Grove of Thorns.

Wind blew the dirt of the clearing around, throwing small rocks. Eiva cried out, stumbling back further from Thorley. She grasped the hilt of her sword tightly. Thorley screamed, swatting at the ravens all around him. More of them surrounded him. The wind died out abruptly, causing Eiva to almost fall over. Thorley fell to the ground, the ravens still pecking at him.

“No!” Eiva ran at the ravens. “Get off him!”

The ravens flew away swiftly, their cawing fading into the distance. Thorley was a bloody mess, and he wasn’t breathing. Eiva stared at him, her eyes wide. She was pale and shaking.

“Eiva,” Halbert said.

Eiva looked at him sharply, tears in her eyes. “The ravens have never killed someone before.” She sank to the ground beside Thorley.

Halbert lowered Rian to the ground at the edge of the hole that led back into the Bone Garden. Rian couldn’t find the strength to stand. He needed burial ground, but there was none nearby. Halbert gathered the objects, which Thorley’s wind had blown around the clearing, setting them in a circle around the hole. He knelt beside Rian.

“I need your help to seal the way,” Halbert said. “Follow my words.” He took one of Rian’s cracked hands in his and held it out toward the hole, then spoke in that language Rian didn’t understand.

Rian felt magic gathering in the air. He added his own to it and heard himself saying those same words. Then it was over. The magic scattered as the hole vanished, along with the circle of cracked ground around the two of them. The objects were still where Halbert had set them. Halbert gathered them back into the bag, then put the strap across his shoulders.

Eiva was sobbing quietly beside Thorley. Rian wanted to help her but didn’t know how, and he didn’t have the strength to move or speak. Halbert sat beside Eiva, talking to her quietly. After a while, she stopped crying. She nodded slightly at something Halbert said. He helped her to her feet.

“We’ll have to scatter the objects ourselves later,” Eiva said, wiping away her tears with her cloak. “We can’t go back to the Sancta.”

Halbert nodded. “We’re going to find the Raven Witch.”

Eiva looked about to protest.

“That forest is supposed to be near here,” Halbert said. “And she may be able to help you.” He glanced at Rian. “We might find good enough burial ground out here. In any village, a graveyard would be the first place the Sancta would look for us.”

Eiva stared at Rian for a moment, then looked at Halbert. “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you on the way,” Halbert said.

Halbert helped Rian to his feet again, keeping him standing as the three of them headed further into the forest. Halbert told Eiva what had happened in the Bone Garden.

“How do we stop the dead from doing that again?” Eiva asked.

Halbert didn’t answer for a long moment. “We can’t.”

The forest became darker and denser the further they went. Soon Rian felt many bones beneath the ground, all around them. Halbert had stopped, likely feeling it as well.

“Did you find burial ground?” Eiva asked.

“There’s a lot of bones here,” Halbert said. “Too many for it to be anything other than intentional. And they’re small bones.” He lowered Rian to the ground. “We’ll have to rest here.”

Eiva sat as well, though she looked wary.

A low mist hung over the ground. Rian took his cloak off, then lay back on the burial ground. Energy flowed into him, the cracks in his bones closing slowly. Halbert was still standing, looking at their surroundings. He knelt, digging a small skeleton out of the dirt. He reburied the bird.

Eiva had gone pale again. “There’s ravens buried here, aren’t there?”

Halbert nodded. “We must be getting closer to where the Raven Witch lives.” He sat, pressing his hands against the burial ground.

Rian didn’t move from where he lay until he was done gathering energy and all the cracks in his bones had closed. He sat up slowly.

“Better?” Eiva asked.

Rian nodded.

Eiva shivered, glancing at their foggy surroundings. “Clearly she doesn’t want to be found.”

Halbert stood. “But find her we will.”

Eiva smiled, though it didn’t hide her fear. “Maybe she can help me control my magic.”

Rian put his cloak back on but left the hood back. Halbert hadn’t raised his either. They wouldn’t be coming across anyone they had to hide from out there. The fog became thicker as they went further into the forest. When Rian glanced back, the forest looked exactly the same as it did ahead of them. How would they find their way back?

While they walked, he thought about what had happened in the Bone Garden. If Halbert hadn’t been there, Rian wouldn’t have been able to stop Trivius from killing Thorley and freeing himself. And that feeling when the voices of the dead had spoken through him… He stopped thinking about it, not wanting to. He hoped desperately it wouldn’t happen again.

The red light in Rian’s bones hadn’t left when Trivius let go, hadn’t left until the voices of the dead let go of him. There were a lot of things he didn’t know about Trivius, about being the Speaker of the Dead. Trivius had said Rian wasn’t ready for his power, and he had said before that Rian was supposed to be the embodiment of his power. Rian had a bad feeling the red light hadn’t entirely been from Trivius’s presence inside of him.