SEARCH FOR THE LOST SOUL (16 page)

“Surely a
soul wouldn’t do that,” said Kelly.

“If a soul
wanted to kill a particular person on the plane badly enough, it might not care
that it killed two hundred other people. the soul could act with impunity’ what
punishment could a soul fear?”

Chris
frowned. “Doesn’t a soul suffer when the body it is inside dies?”

Dominic
laughed harshly. “Usually the sol does not feel pain, but, when it has been
inside a particular body for a long period of time it feels a sense of loss
when it is separated from the body. That is why it is dangerous to have too
many souls roaming around the Earth, especially those who have been outside a
body for a long time.”

“Can you
kill a soul?” Chris asked.

“No, all you
can do is restrain it. Fortunately, most souls have no desire to stay in this
plane once their body has died. There’s another plane that the souls inhabit. I
understand that they are very comfortable there.”

Kelly leaned
forward. “So, when you encounter a soul, do you try to encourage it to go on to
its own plane?”

“Of course.
What else would we do with them?”

Kelly
shrugged and sat back.

Chris
frowned again. “Do you send souls on their way very often?”

“On
occasion.”

“Does it
require a lot of magic to talk to souls?”

Dominic eyed
him for a moment. “No. It does not require any magic at all. It only requires
the desire to help the soul and the knowledge of how to see them. Of course,
you also need to learn how to make them want to speak to you and know what to
tell them when they do. Are you interested in helping lost souls?”

Chris
shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe. I was just interested in the subject, that’s
all.”

“I see.”

after s
short silence, Chris asked, “How did you become so knowledgeable about souls?”

Dominic
shrugged. “A certain amount of  information  is part of wizard’s
training. After learning of Kelly’s loss, I conducted more research.  I
felt it important to be as knowledgeable as possible, both to facilitate our
search and to prevent possible harm, either to her soul or and other.”

There was a
long silence before Dominic spoke again. “Tell me, Chris, how are you doing
with the sword lessons?”

“I guess I’m
doing ok. Johan says that he is pleased with my progress.”

“That is
good. You must gain as much proficiency as you possibly can before we leave.”

“Are you
expecting more trouble with this other sorcerer?”

“Yes, but
that is not my worst fear. I have more fear of the Soulswords that the Soul
Dreamers will be brandishing.”

“What are
Soulswords?”

“They are
magically enhanced swords that are bonded to the bearer. These swords are
extremely dangerous. If one touches you, your soul will be added to those
inside the sword. That is why you must learn to parry the sword thrusts.”

Chris’ mouth
fell open. “What happens to the souls that are inside the sword?” His voice was
barely a whisper.

“They are
trapped there until the sword is destroyed. Shortly after Loren accepted me as
his apprentice, a sorcerer friend of his, Maciej, came to the castle for a
visit. He told me the tale of how he traveled with a band of Christians who
traveled throughout the world in the later twelve hundreds, determined to
destroy all the Soul Dreamers they could find.

“The tale
was quite frightening. He said he could still hear the screams of the men when
a Soulsword touched them and their souls were ripped from their bodies. But, in
the end, they managed to kill all those they discovered. He told me of one
sword he destroyed that contained over a thousand souls that he then had to
release into the next plane. I was amazed at the number but he informed me that
he had heard of Soulswords that contained upwards of ten thousand souls.”

“And all
these souls traveled on to the next plane?” Chris was sitting on the edge of
his chair as he listened to the apprentice.

“Most of
them go without any coaxing. But there are always a few who refuse to believe
that their bodies are dead and go in search of them. Of course, if they can
find a body to inhabit, they will do so, and remain on this plane. That is why
we need the Angle Charm for Kelly. As long as she wears it, only her original
soul can enter her body.”

“So, stories
about possessions be evil spirits are true,” Chris mused.

Dominic
nodded. “In a sense. There are some souls that have gathered enough power to
overcome the natural soul. These souls will inhabit the host body and try to
control it. They are not necessarily evil, but they are usually viewed as such
by mortal man.”

Chris
grunted. “Wait a minute. Did you say the twelve hundreds?”

Dominic
nodded. “He is the oldest wizard that I am aware of.”

After a
short silence Chris asked, “Is Terrill close to obtaining the Angle Charm?”

“I
understand that he has managed to locate a man who was positive that he knew
the location of it. But, I doubt that he is working on that at present. I
believe that all of his attention is now on tracking down the spellbook. I hope
that he finds it soon. We need to continue our journey; the longer Kelly’s soul
is absent from her body the harder it will be to replace.”

“What if he
can’t find it?”

Dominic eyed
him for a moment, as if trying to determine which question Chris wanted
answered. When he made his decision, he shrugged. “It must be inside the castle
somewhere. Though how someone could have removed it from its locked place I do
not know; a wizard’s lock can only be opened by the one who placed the spell on
it.”

“Maybe a
more powerful wizard removed it,” Chris suggested.

Dominic
shook his head. “Impossible. There are those who control much more power than
Terrill, but none of them would have taken it without his permission. Such
thievery is not permitted inside our ranks.”

Chris had to
take a moment to make sure that his voice didn’t betray him as he asked his
next question. “What would happen to the one who stole it, if he was discovered?”

Dominic
shrugged. “He would be striped of his powers. That would be punishment enough.
However, no one would risk such a dire fate.”

Chris
swallowed hard; he would have to convince Kelly that she had to return that
spellbook before she was caught with it. But how he would do it he had no idea.
Once again the image of ears growing on the walls came into his mind. He would
have to devise a way to get her alone outside the castle walls so he could talk
to her.

Chris was
still musing over the problem when one of Terrill’s servants entered the room,
speaking to Dominic in German. As soon as he finished delivering his message
the servant departed.

Dominic
rose. “We are instructed to retire to our rooms and remain there until told
otherwise.” He eyed Chris. “I would strongly suggest that you obey this order.”

Chris
nodded. He had no doubt that his punishment would be severe if he dared to
disobey. From the frightened look of all the servants he had seen, Terrill’s
anger must be on the verge of rage. When he entered his room he looked around
sourly; this room was not a place where he wanted to spend much time. As he
looked around he spied a book lying on the seat of the chair in front of the
fireplace.

He walked
over and picked it up, surprised to discover that it was the book on magic that
he had been reading in Loren’s castle. How had it gotten here? He knew that he
hadn't carried it and he doubted that Kelly would have.

That left
only Dominic. Why would the apprentice do such a nice thing? As he settled into
the chair shifting until he found the most comfortable position possible in the
hard chair, he smiled; if this quest lasted much longer, he might even grow to
like the disagreeable man.

Chris had no
idea how much time passed before a young boy appeared at his door carrying a
wooden platter with two sandwiches and a stein of some kind of dark liquid.
Chris tried to question the boy as to what was happening in the rest of the
castle but he simply shook his head, indicating that he didn’t understand
Chris’ questions. Chris sighed as he retreated back to the chair with the
platter.

The
sandwiches consisted of some kind of tough meat that he had trouble chewing
smeared with an odorous spread he couldn’t identify. He seriously contemplated
the idea of not finishing the first one but changed his mind when he realized
that this was probably all he was going to get. He polished off the first
sandwich and started on the second, washing them down with copious amounts of
the bitter liquid in the stein.

As he laid
the platter aside he wondered how much longer they would be forced to stay in
this dreary place. He knew that Dominic was anxious to continue and Kelly
probably felt the same way. As for himself, he couldn’t wait to leave this
castle behind.

After
several more hours of reading he laid the book aside and rubbed his tired eyes.
He glanced down at the watch on his left wrist. He frowned when he saw that it
still wasn’t working; for some reason it had frozen the moment he set foot
inside this castle.

He glanced
out the small window, noting that it was dark outside. Even though he had lost
track of time while reading, he thought the evening was still young. He decided
to sneak over to Kelly’s room and talk to her.

But, when he
opened the door, he discovered a man standing at the end of the hall. Although
he didn’t know for certain, he suspected that the man was there to make certain
they all stayed inside their rooms. He closed the door and returned to his
chair.

Chris walked
to the window and peered outside, wishing once again that there was a balcony.
This castle was so different from Loren’s. Despite the draftiness of Loren’s
castle, it had always felt comfortable and homey. He had never felt
claustrophobic there.

This castle
was cold, dreary. and dark. Even the windows had been nailed shut so he
couldn’t open them. It was almost as if Terrill feared to let anything from the
outside into his castle. Did he fear contamination of some sort? Chris shook
his head. He had no way of knowing but he couldn’t understand why Loren was
friends with this man.

Chris turned
back to look around the room. He didn’t want to continue reading; there were so
many words he didn’t understand without his dictionaries, but there was nothing
else to do, as it was still too early to retire for the night. He sighed as he
crossed to the chair and picked up the magic book.

It would be
helpful if he at least had a piece of paper where he could jot down the words
he didn’t know so he could remember to ask Dominic about them the next time he
saw the apprentice. He considered asking the man guarding the hall but quickly
dismissed the idea; it was more than likely that the man wouldn’t understand
English.

Chris sighed
again as he began reading.

Three days
passed in this manner, the only reprieve,  infrequent  breaks to
visit the bathroom, located at the end of the hall. With each trip, Chris
lingered both in the bathroom itself and in the hall, hoping to see one of the
others but saw no one.

Chris began
to wonder if they were still housed on this floor. On the second day of their
imprisonment, Chris moved towards Kelly’s door as he returned to his own room
but stopped when the man guarding the hall, a large man whom Chris wouldn’t
want to meet in a dark alley, shook his head warningly.

Finally, in
the afternoon of the third day, Chris was standing at the small window watching
a fierce thunderstorm when Dominic appeared at his door. “You should retire
early tonight. If the weather permits we will leave at dawn.”

This was
good news. “So, you got the Angel Charm from Terrill?”

Dominic
nodded. “I have already given the pin to Kelly and performed the activation
spell.”

As soon as
Dominic left, Chris prepared for bed. He was well aware that the sooner he went
to sleep the faster morning would come. Even so, it wouldn’t be fast enough for
him.

Chris was
awake and dressed well before sunrise, looking out the window to make certain
that the thunderstorm had passed. As soon as he saw the stars shining above the
castle he turned back to the room and quickly packed his backpack. When he
finished he sat on the edge of the bed to wait for Dominic to call him.

He was
disappointed when the young boy who had delivered all of his meals to him
brought him a bowl of the soupy mixture that was served every morning. Chris
took the platter with the bowl on it to the chair where he dipped the pitted
spoon in the goop several times, trying as he had done every other time, to
discern what the stuff was.

The closest
thing he could think of was oatmeal, but if this was the German version of
oatmeal he didn’t like it. The stuff was tasteless and full of lumps of
something he didn’t even try to identify. He sighed as started spooning the
mixture slowly into his mouth; he knew he would receive nothing else until
lunch was served.