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Chapter 80 Humval Ruins (1)

The wind was still howling in the snow forest. She heard the whispering brush of tufts of grass and soft clopping of hooves of horses on the ground. The forest gave way to a more rolling landscape where pines stoon like sentinels of the ruins on the low hills. Some birds swooped low from nearby trees as if surprised by the presence of foreign people in the land that belonged to them.

Eltanin pointed to the right a little further away. "There is a small stream that flows there. We are going to stop the horses for drinking water."

When they reached there, Tania saw that the stream wasn\'t frozen and gurgled with icy water. It traversed a meandering path down the hill and veered to the right, disappearing from her sight.

As if he had smelled fresh water, Wind picked up the pace and reached the stream. They reached their destination by the end of the day. There was gray light of the clouds that spread over the snow forest, but now darkness started spreading slowly. They came to the base of a small hill and surveyed the top. Eltanin pointed to a structure between a copse of trees. "That is Humval ruins."

The ruins were surrounded by darkness beneath the tall trees. The temple was made from white marble. She could make out the beautiful columns and tall dome in the center. There were vibrant flowers surrounding it and the scent of jasmine wafted through the air. They climbed up the slope and when they were close to it, Tania said, "This is so beautiful!"

Glenn jumped off his horse and started to walk towards the temple as if entranced.

"Stop!" Eltanin warned him.

Glenn jerked to a stop as he whipped his head to look at the king.

"What happened?" Tania asked.

"The temple isn\'t what it looks like," he said. "Can you try and remove the spell cast over it?"

"But I don\'t know what spell is cast over it?" she replied, her eyes wide.

"Then focus on the temple and feel the air around you. I am sure you will be able to figure it out," he urged.

Tania let out a ragged breath. She squinted and blinked and heavy air rippled around her. It was a spell. Her heartbeat increased when a tingle ran over her skin. "I know this spell!" she said aloud, very excited. _{ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀ​ꪶ​}

"Now try and remove it," Eltanin goaded her with confidence. He knew that his mate was a special one.

Tania sucked in a sharp breath. She tipped her head up, pointed up at the clouds and chanted, "Obriu nos lasva."

The vision in front of the wavered. Air around them gusted with a shrill whistle and tiny pin pricks of white sparks crackled. The illusion in front of them shattered, revealing a dilapidated structure of the ruin. And it reeked of blood and decay and rot… of death. The flowers that smelled of jasmine were nothing but thorny bushes and dark tangled weeds.

The front of the temple was marred with black marks as if the place was burned long time back. The roof was clasped by gnarled roots of trees, making it so fragile that it was barely in its place. The ground was covered with black earth instead of the usual snow. Tufts of grass grew in the cracks of earth and over the boulders.

It wasn\'t the appearance of the ruins that made her uneasy, it was the silence and the reek of death around it that made her skin crawl. Even the dull and plain Cetus Monastery was much more vibrant as compared to Humval ruins. It was as if evil slept inside it and made the place its home.

Their horses became nervous and neighed. Eltanin held the reins of his horse tightly. Tania clasped his chest tightly, hoping she wouldn\'t fall down. When they reached within a few meters of the ruins, he said, "We are going to walk from here. The horses won\'t like the spells." The horses were actually extremely restless. Instead of going forward, they were stepping back.

With Eltanin\'s help, Tania dismounted. He jumped right beside her when Glenn came to offer his help to her. He snarled at him, "Get your crossbow and other weapons ready. We need them!"

Glenn winced and backed away immediately. He went to his mount and from his saddlebag took out all the weapons he had as Eltanin also took out his sword and daggers and knives which he strapped to his baldric. Then he said to Tania, "Do you have the dagger I gave you?"

She nodded, looking at the ruins and thinking of all the spells she had learnt in the past few days. Eltanin closed the gap between them and placed his hand around her waist. He took a strand of hair and worried it between his fingers as he brushed her cheek with his knuckles. "Are you scared?"

"A little," she said nervously. "I hope I can chant correct spells."

"You will be able to," he said with confidence. He didn\'t know why but his instincts guided him very well. He could feel that she would be able to chant the spells correctly. It was his basic instincts that goaded him to take such a huge risk with his mate. She was meant for him so this was a part of him getting stronger. He had to extract the Yunabi arcana so that she would read and learn its spells and then only he would be able to claim and mark her fully. "And don\'t forget to call me Elty from now on."

Elty? Glenn\'s eyes widened with shock as he stumbled back. Who in their right mind would call the mighty Draka king, Elty? Surely, Tania wasn\'t courting death, or was she?

Tania would have laughed at his quip, but she offered him a weak smile as a shaky breath left her. Eltanin turned to his stallion, looped the reins around his neck and patted him. "Go boy! Come back in an hour."

Wind whuffled as if thanking Eltanin for sparing him from dark spells. He looked at the other horse that was already waiting. Wind trotted to the other horse and nudged him with his head. As if understanding what to do next, the two horses turned and galloped away down the valley.

Eltanin chuckled and then closed in the straps of his bag. He extended his hand to her and she grasped it. "Be careful of the thorny bushes," he said. "Those weeds may look dormant, but they are nasty."

The three trudged down the broken cobbled path in the middle of a ruined garden. She was looking at all the thorny bushes and weeds that seemed to entangle in themselves when her foot brushed on the weed that was hanging onto the cobbled pathway from its bed. Within a second the weed started growing. It hissed and the air around them rippled as if warning whatever evil was inside. The weed thrashed on the pavement to reach Tania and coiled around her leg. "Ah!" Shocked, she gasped and tried to free herself from it but the black stem only tightened around her calves.