Finding The Soul Bridge (The Soul Fire Saga Book 1) (30 page)

55

Kelvin had been snoozing at his vantage point. His travel weary joints were aching and he cherished the moment of rest. There had been no movement from the castle in hours. No messengers had been sent out. The siege was on.

Kelvin had prepared an assortment of arrows that were imbued with different abilities. He had wondered what he would have to use for what and when. Thist had explained what each type of arrow could do and vaguely described what should be used for what. But the plan was more about treating the symptoms than curing a problem. Kelvin sat uncomfortably, he rubbed his knuckles and rolled his wrists to try to keep them warm and ready for action but he knew that a siege could just be short bursts of action followed by long periods of nothing. The gates could not be breached nor the walls be scaled. The only way to gain access to the castle was to force the residents to open the gates and let them walk in.

The sun beat down on Kelvin and he moved to a shady spot under a fig tree. He still had a good view over the castle and could see Thist standing like a statue on the road facing the castle. It was almost an hour after noon when the tranquil ambiance was shattered by a loud explosion.

Kelvin clenched his bow as he observed a massive cloud of debris hurtle through the air from the ancient forest. “That’s it Jem.” he said to himself as he raised his bow and notched a carefully selected arrow. He drew back and held his breath as he concentrated on his aim. The cloud of dry branches and twigs crashed against the top of the castle battlement. Most of the lumber fell to the outside and lay on the grassy berm between the castle wall and the moat water.

Kelvin loosed the arrow. It turned invisible as it streaked into the air, hiding the archer’s location. He could not see what had happened to it but he knew it must still be aloft as it needed to cover a great distance to its target. Just before it struck its target the arrow ignited, splashing the target area with flames. The pile of wood smouldered where the arrow found its centre. The crystallized sap in the dead wood boiled out, fuelling the flames as they raged tall and hot. The soft breeze sent the billowing smoke up and over the castle battlement and filled the keep with a choking pall. Kelvin wiped the sweat from his brow as the heat of the day delivered its discomfort.

“I wish it would rain.” said Kelvin.

56

Jem was exhausted.

He didn’t have the strength left in his arms to haul a large boulder into the sling shot position, even if he used clever equipment. His legs wobbled as he staggered toward the pile of wares that the three deserting helpers had left. He was hungry, thirsty, tired and his hands hurt more than he could bear. Jem gritted his teeth. “Nothing, I failed them.” He could not see the pillar of smoke that rose from the castle wall and was unaware that the act of shooting a pile of sticks at a formidable castle was having a profound effect on its inhabitants.

He rummaged through the deserter’s packs. “Oh, how disgusting!” exclaimed Jem as he got his bandaged hand sticky on one of the village cheeses.

He wiped his hand on the side of the woven cloth bag as he tried not to gag. The stench was like torture as the agitated cheese started to diffuse its ghastly smell. It became worse the more Jem rubbed his hand. Jem walked away from the pile of goods as his appetite failed. He held his hand behind his back as he walked in an effort to evade the smell. Then he stopped and bent over as he retched. His stomach was empty and nothing came out, but his body had decided that it was poisoned and demanded a full evacuation of its contents.

Jem came to a sense of total clarity of mind as the obvious task at hand became clear. He trotted back to the pile of villager’s goods and checked all three packs. There was a cheese in every one. Not small cheeses either. Some of the villagers only ate the cheese and nothing else. They had packed enough cheese to last them for three days. Jem shouldered the cheese bags and hurried back to firing bed. “This is going to be sick.” Jem laughed.

The sudden boost in moral gave Jem a surge in his energy and a spring in his step. He still hurt and he was still bone tired, but this was the test of a man who wanted to know what his own limits were. He pulled on the block and tackle as he wound up his siege engine for another shot. As soon as the sling clicked into position Jem pulled the firing pin. The shaggy bags of cheeses bumped up and down as they as they were dragged across the firing bed. At first the inertia of the massive engine worked against itself, but that same inertia would make all the difference in the end. The shot bags accelerated, followed by the hissing and whistling of rope travelling through the air at great speed. At the apex of the arc the sling let loose with another deafening whip crack. It was so loud that Jem thought the sky had exploded and would fall to pieces all around him.

The shot of cheese bags were gone. Jem could not see where it had gone as it was travelling too fast to follow by eye and his field of vision was encumbered by the ancient forest.

Kelvin and Thist looked up at the sound of the sonic boom. Both of them saw an orange ball streak out of the sky like a shooting star and disappear into the centre of the castle. They stood stiff and listened. There was no sound to follow. All fell quiet.

Kelvin eased himself away from his vantage and made his way back to the agreed upon waypoint. As he approached the waypoint farther up the road, Kelvin met up with Thist. “Thist hey!” called Kelvin. “What a day!”

“Sure.” said Thist “I’m hungry. Let’s find Jem. Quick, don this
cloak.”

The two friends hurried to where Jem had built the Trebuchet. They had a long way to walk over to the ancient forest and took it upon themselves to jog the whole way. Night was falling and the three might need to make a shelter. As they approached the meagre clearing where Jem had worked, Kelvin looked up at the trebuchet with an open mouth. “Wow, that thing is massive.” He said.

Jem was lying under a small tent, fast asleep.

As they approached the tent they heard the soft but quickening pitter-patter of incoming rain. “That’s just wonderful.” said Thist sarcastically.

Kelvin put out his hand to feel the incoming rain. “It is wonderful; I’m taking a rain shower.” Kelvin stripped off all his clothes and threw them into the tent to prevent them from getting wet. Then Kelvin walked to a place where he could catch more rain drops.

Kelvin stood alone and naked in the rain as the cold rainwater flushed over him. “Nearly there.” He said. “Nearly there.”

57

Kelvin arched his back and rubbed his face.

He was stiff from sleeping in the cold and his eyes burned. Thist and Kelvin had been restless all night but Jem had slept like the dead of the dead.

It was early dawn and Thist had suggested that they rise early to help Jem prepare his shots for the day. Kelvin had obliged but as he raised his head from his bed roll he saw Thist hard at work moving a boulder.

Kelvin walked over to Thist to lend him assistance. “Why didn’t you wake me?” said Kelvin.

“I tried,” said Thist, “but you were like…” Thist made a face like a squashed fish.

The meaning of Thist’s vernacular was lost on Kelvin. “May I help you with something?”

“Yes” said Thist. “You can help me make a ball out of stinging nettles.”

Kelvin rubbed his chin as he pondered the prospect of touching stinging nettles. “I’d rather not, if you don’t mind.” said Kelvin.

“I do mind.” said Thist. “Can you think of anything worse than having a flaming ball of stinging nettles land in the middle of your castle?”

“Yes.” said Kelvin. “I imagine that making a ball out of stinging nettles is worse.” 

“We don’t have time for this.” said Thist.

Jem rubbed his eyes as he staggered over. “What are you idiots bickering about?”

Thist pointed at Kelvin, “Bow-boy over here asked me what he can help me with. I said he can help me to make a ball out of stinging nettles.”

Jem looked at Kelvin. He looked stricken with illness. “Are you coming down with something?” asked Jem.

“Nothing.” said Kelvin. “I’m just tired.”

“It’s okay Thist.” said Jem. “I will make a nettle ball for you. When do you want me to fire it?”

Thist scrutinized Kelvin for a second. “Fire it as soon as I get to my position.”

Jem rubbed his face. “I won’t see you when you are in position but it will take me longer to make it than it will take you to get there.” said Jem.

“Fine.” said Thist. “Fire it as soon as it is ready.”

“Thanks Jem.” said Kelvin. “One nettle in my eye and I’m out, at least your leviathan is already aimed.”

As Kelvin and Thist left, Jem devised a cunning plan to make a stinging nettle ball without touching a single nettle. He took a long piece of rope and folded it in half. Then he walked the long loop of rope over ten nettle bushes so that they would snag on the rope. He twisted the rope twice after each nettle bush to make a chain. Once had caught the tenth one he simple twisted the rope over and over until the rope scrunched itself up into a ball. A quick loop with a spare lanyard and the ball was secure.

58

Thist held his composure.

The captain of the guard had come through the castle gate to exchange threats with Thist. “You have the audacity to come here and demand something that you cannot have.” shouted the guard captain. “And then you attack us! What is your kind doing in this part anyway?”

“You have what we are looking for.” said Thist. “We have come to collect it.”

The guard captain put his hand on the hilt of his sword and drew it out. “Where is your army?” He demanded.

Thist unclipped his whip and lashed the sword free of the guard’s hand. The guard howled in pain as the whip tore open his hand. He stepped back and said. “My master’s master says that you can have the bridge when you pry it free from her cold dead fingers.”

Thist frowned. “Her?”

The guard scrutinized Thist from a safe distance as he held his wounded hand. “You don’t even know who you are fighting, do you?”

“Does it matter?” asked Thist. “I’m here for the soul bridge.”

“You are out of your depth.” said the guard. “Go back home and my master’s master will spare your life.”

Thist giggled. “No, you tell your master’s master that ‘she’ can give me the soul bridge and I will spare ‘her’ life.”

The captain turned around and walked back to the castle gate. Thist stood and watched him go all the way. When the guards were through the gate Thist lit a torch and held it above his head for a moment. Then he let it down slowly and extinguished it. Jem couldn’t see the signal but the residents in the castle didn’t know that. Kelvin wiped his eyes. He knew that he had to act upon the signal but he was compromised. He raised his bow and drew the string half taught and waited. His strength was wavering. “Come on Jem, where is your shot?”

Kelvin clenched his teeth as he held his stance. Finally the shot from Jem’s trebuchet tore through the air with another deafening clap. This time it was the ball of stinging nettles. Kelvin loosed his arrow which streaked far ahead of the nettle ball, as it approached the collision point in midair. The arrow burst into flames and crashed into the ball of nettles. The flaming shot disappeared beyond the castle keep walls with a long trail of smoke.

Kelvin dropped his bow and looked at his trembling arms. A feeling of deep anguish rushed over him. “No...! Not this…!” wept Kelvin “…anything but this…!”

He wiped his eyes again with trembling hands as the tears of acid streamed down his cheeks. At first he was in denial but he knew what was happening to him. He had seen the affliction before and once it started it could not be stopped or cured. The affliction started with aches and pains and then it would ravage his body rendering it ugly and useless. He had seen it manifest in his loved ones before but he had never seen it spread so fast. The only thing that could give scant relief was freshly falling rain water. Kelvin fumbled to retrieve his bow but only for a moment. He realized that he would never draw a bead with it again and abandoned it. He dropped his travel bag and rummaged through it for his medicine pouch. He abandoned his pack, only clutching his small medicine pouch and hobbled away to find shelter from the damning sun.

The ball of flaming sting nettles had fetched its target perfectly. It smoked like a thousand burning trees and caused the illusion that the entire keep was on fire. The thick smoke was heavy and permeated through every part of the castle. It was thick enough so that each building in the keep was hidden from the next. The eyes of every person and animal would burn from the smoke for a day and leave them with itchy, scratchy throats and a bitter taste in their mouths. Thist stood in his position like a lone magician of mischief at the far end of the castle entrance bridge. He was only one hundred paces out of bow range from the castle. The smoke poured out of the castle gate and over the battlements.

Thist stood and watched as the wind wafted his hair and coat. The castle gate opened. Twenty foot soldiers advanced on Thist. He could see the purpose in their stride; they were sent to hunt him, but he was ready. Thist gave a hand signal over his head with a grin and waited just a few seconds. He gave the hand signal again but still nothing happened. He had given Kelvin instructions as to which specially imbued arrow to fire for this given situation, but nothing was forthcoming from the sky.

The soldiers’ advance was too close and Thist turned and ran for his life. He ran toward the ancient forest where Jem had built his trebuchet. The soldiers followed Thist and were gaining on him. As Thist reached the edge of the tall and ancient tree line he pulled the thin black cloak over himself. The black sheet was cut out of an old tent from the village. He had imbued it with just a small amount of magic that would allow the wearer to look exactly like an ethereal forest wisp. He ducked behind a tree to catch his breath as the soldiers rushed into the gloomy tree line. Right on time the forest wisps appeared and at their arrival the soldiers’ moral seemed to waver.

The commander of the patrol held up his hand for his group to stop. “Spread out!” He commanded “He can’t have gone far.”

The group advanced in a wide sweeping motion for the distance of about ten rows of trees. The wisps came rushing at them and stopped just before they collided with a soldier, then they disappeared into the undergrowth. Some of the soldiers lashed out at them with their swords but struck nothing. The exercise was futile.

Meanwhile, Thist had doubled back to the start of the tree line to deliver a crippling blow to the soldier’s morale. He ran along the edge of the forest, from two hundred paces up, all along the edge to the same distance past. As he ran he threw magically imbued ancient forest tree seeds by the handful. These seeds were conjured with powerful magic from Thist and his stone of power. As the seeds struck the ground they started to grow rapidly. No sooner had Thist reached the end of his target area when the first trees had finished growing. The trees had grown so fast that the ground they had grown in was steaming.

“Fall back!” called the commander. “We will return with reinforcements, those cowards are not as plentiful as they made themselves out to be.”

The commander was stocky and arrogant. “We will return with the whole garrison and sweep this wretched forest until we find them.”

The group of soldiers returned the way they had entered only to find that the forest had become thick, dark and unfamiliar. “It’s not this way.” said one of the men.

All the soldiers could see that the way was different. The wisps kept on harrying them like a pestilence. Every soldier had his own reservations against being pushed and bullied by a dark apparition and every soldier was bent on getting out of the forest in a hurry. But they were lost.

They stood on the very place where they had entered the forest but it was now a dark and foreboding place. If they would press on just a few yards then they would be free, but they could not see it for all the trees in their way.

Thist followed a familiar trail back to the trebuchet where Jem was preparing the last shot. “Jem.” called Thist in a hushed tone.

Jem spun around. He was startled by Thist in the dark cloak. “Thist, you scared me, take off the cloak you look like one of those damned forest things.”

Thist snapped off the cloak. “Where is Kelvin?”

“That’s better.” said Jem “Those cloaks make you look exactly like a wisp.”

Thist was exasperated by Jem’s answer. “Jem! Where is Kelvin?”

“I don’t know where Kelvin is.” snapped Jem alarmed by Thist’s tone. “He is with you, isn’t he?”

“No, he didn’t respond to my signal and he wasn’t at the waypoint where he should have been.”

Thist wiped the sweat from his temples “I think he might have been captured or something, and...”

“And what?” asked Jem.

Thist hesitated a second as he listened to the sounds in the forest. “A platoon followed me in, they might be here in a seconds. Is the final shot ready?”

“Yes, the final shot is ready and loaded.” said Jem, switching to a harsh whisper. “Why did you lead them here?”

“Good.” said Thist still out of breath. “Let’s shoot the sucker off and hightail it out of here. Get your stuff and put on your cloak.”

Jem grabbed his bag, flung his own wisp cloak over his shoulders and pulled the firing pin on the trebuchet.

“Is it rigged?” asked Thist as Jem came running past him.

“Yes,” he shouted. “Run for it.”

The trebuchet was rigged to self-destruct on the back swing of the last shot, rendering it irreparable. The two young men ran hard as the trebuchet creaked. They ran even harder as they heard it wind up to its climax. They flailed their arms ahead of their faces as they ran through the thick underbrush of the forest. As the shot slung away, it rang with a deafening boom, Jem and Thist turned to watch the granite boulder fly through the air toward its target.

“What special magic did you give the boulder?” asked Jem.

Thist stood on his tiptoes to see better where it had gone. This did not help at all but it made him feel better for trying. “I put all the soul stones inside it.”

Jem looked shocked. “Why?”

Thist grinned. “The voices will drive them insane.”

Jem looked perplexed for a second, “Only if they have some of the tea you gave us in tavern.”

“I left a bag full of my magically imbued tea in the river that feeds the castle with water.” snickered Thist, “it has been there since yesterday.”

Jem stroked his chin for a moment. “How long will the effects last?”

“Indefinitely,” said Thist, “no, maybe a week. Let’s find Kelvin. I know where he was stationed. If he was captured we should at least see footprints nearby.”

Jem and Thist ran to where Kelvin had been stationed. They wore the cloaks that Thist had fashioned from old tent sail. They looked like wisps dashing out of the forest as they crossed into the adjoining savannah.

They arrived at the place where Kelvin had been and stopped. They stood in shock as they observed the scene. Kelvin was gone, but his bow, his bag and all the imbued arrows lay on the ground. There were peculiar scuff marks on the ground, as if he had been dragged.

“They’ve taken our friend.” said Jem.

Thist and Jem looked around as they started to search for Kelvin.

“It’s no use.” said Thist. “They must have taken him.”

“What shall we do now?” asked Jem.

Thist rubbed his hands together, one eyebrow raised as he scrutinized the castle. “Now we will deploy the most powerful weapon.” said Thist. “But we have to do it before sundown.”