The Temple of Yellow Skulls Page 33

  And he finally felt like he was ready.

  Kri watched Albanon disappear into the trees—then waited a few moments more before he allowed his old body to sag. It had been so long … and he had come so close. “Ioun, you taunt me,” he said. He wrapped his hand around the holy symbol at his throat and felt the familiar shifting within.

  He glanced over his shoulder. Albanon was gone. The campsite was invisible through the trees. He pulled the crook and eye symbol of Ioun from his neck and looked at it for a moment, lying in his palm.

  Then he unscrewed the lower portion of the shaft and slid out the tiny crystal vial, as slim as a reed and less than half a finger’s length long, that lay hidden inside.

  Within the crystal, a drop of red liquid caught the sunlight as it moved back and forth in its prison.

  His own secret. His own connection to the Voidharrow. Kri closed his fist around it.

  “Soon,” he whispered.