Finding The Soul Bridge (The Soul Fire Saga Book 1) (2 page)

They started to jog steadily.

“When do we leave for Fineburg?” panted Thist, as he slowed to a fast walk.

“I think we should sneak out,” said Jem, “leaving a note that sends them on the wrong trail or something, so that no one follows us.”

“You know, if we go to Fineburg, we’ll be gone for at least two months. Someone is going to suspect something. Not to speak of the worry it will cause, and your mother’s eventual scolding. Oh no, Jem, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes when we get back.”

“If we get back,” mumbled Jem.

“We have to come back, the treasure is here.”

“I mean if we stay alive and uncaught by bandits on our way. It might be an art worth learning. Hey, here’s an idea!” said Jem, quickly adding “Wait! I’ll tell you later!”

“You mean you don’t know yet?”

“No.”

“You are predictable in that you are unpredictable. How’s the light?”

“Fine for now, how’s your load?”

“I’m considering dumping the lot.”

“Then I will have more than you by the time we get back, if I keep mine.”

“You can dump them all. I don’t care. Just don’t lose the ‘pebble’.”

As if he had walked square into a tree Jem suddenly stopped in his tracks, dropping his sack. Frantically searching his pockets, he pulled out the shiny stone with a grin of delight and mischief.

“I had forgotten about it. I thought I might have lost it from all our jumping over debris and stuff!”

“How could you forget about something like that? Here let me carry it,” said Thist.

Taking the stone from Jem, Thist looked deeply into it, as if mesmerized.

“There is something strange about this thing, some energy or something, I can feel it.”

Jem frowned, “Whatever, let’s get going.”

“No seriously!” said Thist. “I think it has some kind of light in it.”

“No, you idiot, I’m sure it’s just a diamond.” said Jem. “They shine more than other things.”

Thist pocketed the diamond. Ignoring the spilled mushrooms, Jem picked up his half-filled sack and walked on.

“What were you thinking about then, if you weren’t thinking about the ‘pebble’, Jem?”

“Strangely, I was thinking about Kaylah.”

“What? That girl has been after you ever since I can remember, and you’ve never spared a thought for her. What kind of thoughts anyway? Do you want to get under her skirt or something?”

“That’s for me to know, and for you … to never find out.”

“Ha! You swine!” said Thist, “I know you well enough to know that if the answer was ‘No’, you would have said ‘No’, but if the answer was ‘Yes’, you would have said anything but.”

Looking his friend in the eye, Jem said, “Please don’t tell her? Not anyone!”

“Sure Jem. You can trust me. You know me, but why the sudden lust for a girl you’ve never liked?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t. It’s just that since we left the waterfall I’ve had this picture in my mind of us together. I tried thinking about something else, but then I was thinking about not thinking about her, like when a song is stuck in your head and you can’t think of a different song. I just don’t know.”

“You think too much. Besides, it isn't a disease to think about girls.”

“No, but it was an overwhelming thought,” said Jem.

“Whatever. We’ve got more important problems just now, there is a bear behind you!” exclaimed Thist.

Jem knew his friend was not joking. In their town, to cry “bear” was regarded as taboo.

The bear was blocking the path ahead of them. For a few confused moments it stared at them, whilst tasting the air carefully with its nose. It had walked out of the relatively thick forest onto their meagre path. The boys stood frozen, like the bear, as they regarded each other. As they’d been taught, the best thing to do was to stick together. If a bear charged them, they’d run in opposite directions around a big tree, as this would most likely confuse the bear for a moment, and cause it to give up its chase.

“The tree on your left looks clear all around it,” whispered Jem.

Thist turned his head to look at the tree as Jem said, “Go!”

The bear, growling, gave chase on all fours. However, both Jem and Thist ran around the left side of the tree. Jem swore as Thist tripped over a large root. The bear, now roaring in fury, closed in on Thist purposefully. Thist screamed like a pig on fire.  Thist’s shrieking startled the bear, Jem, and a flurry of birds and squirrels. Jem cleared his head and ran. He had rehearsed this scenario in his head a thousand times. Grabbing his mushroom sack by the neck, Jem leaped up onto the bear’s back as it bent over Thist, pulled the sack over its head and drew its crude drawstring tight. The bear stood up to its full height and lashed out with a vicious backhand which caught Jem in the face on its way back, and its claws gouged flesh out of his left cheek. Before he could regain his feet on his own, Thist was pulling at Jem’s shirt.

“Get up Jem, get up and run.” Following his scream, Thist’s voice was a hoarse croak.

Thist and Jem, although both of them were shaken, were single-minded in their determination to get out of the forest. They ran.

2

The hagget swore as it beat its disease-stricken hand on the floor. It writhed in agony and frustration as spittle dripped from its mouth. “They killed my bear.” It shrieked.

The hagget’s bear was a real bear, but it was possessed as a medium for the crystal ball. The spell that the hagget had conjured was faulty and the boys had run into a crazed creature with a grudge and a headache. “Those stupid boys!” wailed the hagget.

The hagget shrieked in pain as the muscles in its back cramped up causing it to writhe on the floor like a worm.  It grappled for the tincture that gave relief. The self-medication had become a habit of addiction as well as survival. It needed it to function just as much as it hated it and loved it. It snorted the powder deep into its nostrils and waited for the effect to start. Its nostrils and sinuses started to tingle, burn and then it settled with just a throbbing headache. The throbbing headache caused its eyes to tear as it grappled with the mission of a thousand failures. “Let’s just start over.” gurgled the hagget’s voice. “We cannot give up now.”

The hagget gritted its last remaining tooth against a raw part of its gums and righted itself. “Where is that spell?”

It groaned as it hobbled across to the far side of a tiny room. It took a tome from the shelf with a feeble hand and dropped it.

It stood for a long moment as it drew breath and rested. “I have not possessed a being myself in centuries. But now I must break an oath.” Its hand trembled as it fumbled the tatty tome back up to the table. Its hands trembled in exhaustion and it knew that it would have to hurry as the end of its own life was drawing near. “Where is the spell of total transference?”

It mumbled as it flipped the pages one after another. Its eyesight was poor and it had to scrutinize each page with its weepy eyes just to make out what was written poorly in black ink on tatty brown paper.

“I will conjure a form for myself to take. This will be the last time.” It vowed again as it found the intricate spell.

Conjure my servant young and free

Wrought him well and strong for me

Form my servant willing and strong

Sustain him for ninety nine days long

The hagget stroked the crystal ball as it chanted exacting verses. It did not have any friend or acquaintance in the world. It had stayed hidden in a forest dwelling as it toiled with its own agenda for longer than it could remember. Interacting with real people was going to be a challenge after such a long absence from it. It knew that this was its last chance to succeed at the one thing that it had wanted so badly for so long.

3

“Jem, Jem, come on.” said Kaylah in a gentle whisper. “Drink your hum.”

Kaylah sat on the side for a moment as she held out a drink for Jem. She had been asked by the town nurse to be her apprentice, to help with some of the nursing tasks. She was fond of Jem but although they were good friends, he had seemed uninterested in romance.

Jem tried to open his eyes. His eyelids were stuck and he felt awful. He knew it was wise to drink the honey-like substance found in ant nests in the forests. It hurt to do anything and he just wished he was dead.

“Thank you,” he said and drank. As soon as he saw Kaylah’s face, his own split into a smile, then a grimace for the pain in his cheek. Kaylah was a good natured young lady and the apprentice to the town nurse. She and Jem had been friends since childhood and their friendship had held strong over the years.

“Hey, the first sign of recovery. How are you feeling?” said Kaylah.

“I feel like I was attacked by a bear.” said Jem. “Say, how long have I been here? It all seems so confusing. How did I get here? Oh, where is Thist?” Jem was about to leap out of bed.

“Relax Jem. Thist is fine.” Kylah pushed Jem on his chest so he could stay in bed. Her hand was met by little resistance as the sudden rush reminded Jem of the condition he was in.

“You’ve been here three days. Thist carried you out of the forest, and he is now being helped by Tayah for the last hour. Does that answer your questions?”

“Yes. I mean no! What’s Tayah helping him with?”

“Oh! She’s helping him with everything. Last I saw, they were tending his birds.”

Jem sat silently, looking at Kaylah’s face. He felt surprised by the new feelings he was having, so suddenly and so strong. Kaylah was beautiful with long straight blond hair, blue eyes, ample breasts and a figure that turned heads. She walked with grace and she had an infectious smile that everyone loved. Jem had known Kaylah for as long as he could remember, but strangely he had not felt any real attraction to her before.

Kaylah pulled her scarf across her breasts and said in a shy voice, “Don’t stare. Drink your hum. I will go tell Thist that you are awake. He’s been asking about you.”

Kaylah walked to the door. She turned to Jem and said, “Would you like anything?”

“I’m kind of hungry.”

“Kind of? You haven’t eaten in three days. I’d say you’re a little more than ‘kind of’ hungry. I’ll send you something.” Kaylah left, clicking the door shut.

Thist tugged at Jem’s leg as he strolled into Jem’s room. “Hey stranger. Sit up and eat something.” He handed Jem a steaming plate.

Jem looked at the food, “A tavern lunch? My favorite.” he mumbled sarcastically. He sat up and immediately felt regret for the sudden movement.

“Fever really got you, hey?” said Thist

“Yes.” said Jem. “Kaylah tells me that you and Tayah are getting frisky.”

“Man, it’s the strangest thing.” said Thist. “Since the forest, I can’t stop thinking about her, like I’m under a magician’s spell or something. And talking of magic, you remember that thing we found in the forest?”

“Oh! Yes! Look at what it did to me.” said Jem. “I’m lucky I still have my right eye,” said Jem through a good mouthful of rice, finely chopped meat and boiled vegetables.

Thist jumped up from the chair, closed the door and spoke in a hushed tone. “No you idiot.” said Thist as he produced the diamond from a small pouch in his pocket. “This.”

“Wow.” exclaimed Jem, forgetting his discomfort for a moment. “It glows in the dark like... I don’t even know. You haven’t told anyone have you?”

“No.” said Thist. “But I can feel something strange about it! It has some sort of power or ability, something special!”

Jem looked dubious. “Like magic you mean? You have a thing about magic. I tell you, there is no magic! Magic is only the ability to manipulate things that other people do not understand.”

“Look Jem. It glows. Is that a clever trick?”

“Here, let me see if I can feel this strange magic of yours.”

Jem held the stone for a moment. “I feel nothing.”

“Well I do.” said Thist. “I think I just have the knack.”

“When are we going to, you know, go?”

“As soon as you are ready, my friend.”

Jem stuffed his mouth with the last of his plate's contents. “How are we going to finance our trip? It’s a long journey.”

“We could face our fears and go find some more diamonds and use it as currency.”

“No,” said Jem. “Two reasons: I don’t want to face my fears. I mean, look at my face! Is it ever going to be the same again?”

Thist picked up a hand mirror from the old dressing table in the corner, dusted it off and handed it to Jem.

Jem looked at his face for a brief moment and then put the mirror down. There were no marks on his face or any evidence of an injury.

“And we can’t go around advertising what we have found.” said Jem. “You know how fast word gets around. All we need is an inn-keeper to recognize us and tell a trader. Then this place will be crawling with fortune hunters in no time.”

Thist nodded. “You’re right. We’ll think of something.”

“Don’t do anything stupid with that diamond.” said Jem.

“Don’t worry. I’m not stupid. But I do think if we are going to make this trip, we are going to need more of these diamonds. You know if we thought it through we could have brought a couple of handfuls instead of just one.”

“Forget it, Jem. Remember what my father used to say?”

“Yes, ‘back-looking is an exact craft.’ Or something like that.”

“Oh, your mother had a lot of harsh words.” said Thist.

“What did she say about us losing the mushrooms?”

“Well, after I told her what happened she said that firstly, you owe me your life and secondly, she doesn’t care about the mushrooms as long as we are all right.”

“That’s one thing about my mother. She does worry about the right things, doesn’t she?” said Jem.

“She sat by you when she could.” said Thist. “The rest of the time Kaylah helped out.”

Jem nodded. “I think we are even when it comes to owing lives to each other. Thanks for carrying me out of the forest.”

“You are very heavy, do you know that? But I know you would have done the same for me. Get some rest, Jem. I need you to be at your peak so you can dive out a couple of handfuls of diamonds. I’ll come by tomorrow and see how you’re doing.”

“Thanks.”

Jem felt relief at the idea of sleep, and although he was glad Thist had left him to rest, he would have liked to have chatted a while longer.
He felt exhausted and sleepy after eating. His head didn’t ache so much. The hum had probably made him feel better. The strange honey was good for everything but very hard to come by. Jem thought it might do him good to have some more.

As Thist was about to close the door behind him he heard Jem shout. “Hum!”

Thist came back into the room. “You want some more hum?”

“No, I mean, yes please.”

“So, what will it be?” said Thist.

“I mean, sure I would like some hum, but that other thing…” Jem snapped his fingers trying to remember the word. His head was ringing from sitting bolt upright so quickly. “…currency.”

Thist looked stunned for a moment while he tried to grasp Jem’s meaning. “Of course.” exclaimed Thist and snapped his fingers. “Hum will be the perfect currency. We just have to go into the forest to get some. We can talk again when you feel better. I’ll send some hum for you with Kaylah.”

“Thank you.” said Jem.