SEARCH FOR THE LOST SOUL (19 page)

Dominic
nodded. “True. Also, if they are breeding, they could have expanded their
territory when their numbers increased.”

Christ
stared at the mountains for a long time before speaking again. “So, we should
be picking up every rock we see.”

Dominic
laughed softly. “Not yet. It will be several more days before we reach the
foothills and probably another day or so before we are deep enough to where we
should start worrying about the stoners. There is no reason to weigh ourselves
down before the need arises.”

They passed
most of the remainder of the day in silence; Dominic rarely spoke unless he was
spoken to first and Kelly remained  speechless. As for Chris, he was
reluctant to ask any more questions, he was afraid of what the answers might
be.

The sun was
still high in the sky when Dominic called a halt for the night. Reflexively,
Chris looked at his watch; he cursed.

Dominic
looked at his curiously. “What?”

“My
da—er—stupid watch stopped working when we went into Terrill’s castle.”

Dominic
looked away. “It should have returned to normal functioning when we left.”

“Oh, it
did,” Chris couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “But, I never reset it
so I have no idea what time it is.”

Dominic
looked up at the sun. “I would say we have about three hours of daylight
remaining. I would estimate it to be around three o’clock.”

“You can
tell that from the sun?”

The
apprentice ignored his tone as he unrolled his bedroll.

Chris stuck
his tongue out at the other man’s back before bending to do the same. “Why did
my watch work in Loren’s castle but not in Terrill’s?” he asked when he had
completed the task.

“Loren
allowed it. Terrill is an overly cautious man. He will allow technology of no
sort to function in his holdings.”

Chris
narrowed his eyes. “I thought you said that all technology didn’t work around
magic.”

Dominic
shook his head. “What I said was that it does not function correctly around
magic.”

“What’s the
difference?”

Dominic
ignored the question. “When Loren rescued you from Gregory’s prison, I suspect
that he—scanned—your bodies to see what devices you were carrying and put a
spot spell on them so they would continue to function normally. If you had been
carrying anything he deemed to be dangerous he would have left it behind when
he transported you to his castle.”

“Alright,”
Chris grumbled. “So, why did we stop so early?”

“You
requested different food. I prefer to hunt during the daylight hours as I am
not as skilled as some.” Dominic had turned to his backpack and was rummaging
through it as he spoke. He finally found what he was looking for, pulling
 out a long, black tube.

Chris stared.
“What is that?”

“It is
called a blunger. I know that name means nothing to you. If you examine it, you
will see that it looks like nothing more than a hollow tube.” He handed the
device to Chris.

Chris took
it and examined it closely; quickly discovering that Dominic had spoken the
truth. He handed it back to the apprentice. “So, how do you use it?”

Dominic
accepted the blunger, holding it loosely in his left hand. “I seriously doubt
that you would understand so I will only give you a general idea. It is what we
call an augment. What it does is focalize the power and direct it towards the
target, in this case, hopefully, a hare.”

“I would
have thought that you would hunt with your sword or with a bow and arrows.”
Chris meant it only half sarcastically.

Dominic took
his comment seriously. “A bow is a cumbersome object and I do not have the
skill required to hunt successfully with one. The sword is not a hunting
weapon. A wild animal would not allow you to get close enough to it to give you
the opportunity to kill it with a sword.”

Chris
resisted the urge to laugh. “Can I watch you use it?”

Dominic only
glanced at him before shaking his head. “You would see nothing. Power is not
visual and your presence might scare away the game.” He turned and started to
walk away but stopped and turned back to face Chris. “It would be helpful if
you could have built a fire by the time I return.”

Chris
frowned. “I have no idea how to do that.”

Dominic
glanced at Kelly. “She can light the fire. What I need you to do is gather the
kindling.”

Chris
shrugged. “Sure, I could do that. If you’ll explain what kindling is.”

Dominic
stared at him.

Chris
shrugged. “So, I’m a city boy.”

Dominic
shook his head. “I find it difficult to believe that even a boy bred in the
city would not be able to gather kindling and lay a fire. However, what you
need to gather is small twigs, the drier the better, a few larger branches, but
not too large, and leaves, preferably dried ones.”

“Ok.” Chris
looked at Kelly as Dominic disappeared around a small hill. “Will you be ok
here by yourself for a while?”

Kelly nodded
but said nothing. Chris frowned as he turned to leave, vowing that he would
gather the kindling as quickly; he wanted to talk to her without the apprentice
around. Something was bothering Kelly and he intended to find out what it was.

Chris had
never dreamed that gathering what Dominic wanted would be so difficult. He had
thought he could walk up to one tree and find all the small branches and dried
leaves he wanted. The reality depressed him. As he approached his fourth tree,
he looked up at the leaves that were still hanging on the tree, wishing that he
dared to pull some of them off; but he knew that this wasn’t what Dominic
wanted.

He sighed
and continued his search.
City boy
, he thought angrily. Even though he
had been the first one to use that term, Dominic’s tone had put an entirely
different spin on the word. Then his anger cooled; perhaps the apprentice had a
point. Everyone should know how to lay and light a fire; it was a basic skill.

Of course,
he grimaced as he thought. This was just one more thing he could lay at the
feet of his neurotic mother. At seven, when all of his friends were joining the
neighborhood Cub Scouts, his mother had thought that such activities would
undermine her authority and no amount of tears on his part would change her
mind.

Even at such
a young age, Chris had known better than to ask for help from his silently
suffering father. All he did was work. And, when he did come home, he locked
himself in his study and drank himself into oblivion. His parents no longer
slept in the same room; it had been several years since he had seen the two of
them spend more than five minutes together.

As he bent
to pick up another twig, Chris stopped as he had a sudden thought. Was it
possible that all the rebellious things he had done through his teenage years:
the drinking, drugs, smoking and sex to name a few, were the result of his
family life?

He mulled
the problem over as he continued to gather the kindling. He finally shook his
head; it would be easy to lay all his bad characteristics at the feet of his
parents but, in reality, he had made his own choices. He was certain that they
may have contributed to his choices, but he was the one to blame. He smiled as
he turned back towards the campsite; perhaps he was actually maturing into an
intelligent adult. Maybe there was help for him yet.

His smile
disappeared as he spotted Kelly; she was sitting in the same position as when
he’d left. He sighed as he dropped the kindling onto a pile. now, if he could
only think of a way to help clear up this latest problem he had cause, he would
be able to steer his life into a better direction. He vowed that once he
returned home, he would devote his life to helping people.

“Kelly, I
could really use your help.”

Without
comment, Kelly rose and came to his side. She knelt and, with deft motions,
quickly arranged the kindling into a neat pyre, with the dried leaves on the
bottom and  the larger branches off to the side. She took a black stone out
of the pocket of her jeans and hit it with a smaller, bright yellow stone that
she also carried in her pocket.

After
several strikes, a small spark jumped from the stone into the dried leaved.
Kelly leaned down and blew gently until a small flame began to lick at the
twigs. She watched the flame critically for a moment before feeding the
branches into the flame. She leaned back after a few moments, the fire was now
burning intensely.

“Wouldn’t it
be easier to use a lighter?” Chris asked as he squatted across the fire from
her.

Kelly kept
her eyes on the flames. “It probably wouldn’t work.”

Chris
laughed. “There’s no magic here, only open space.”

Kelly looked
at him for a moment before returning her gaze to the flames. “There’s all kind
of magic inside those backpacks. There’s like an aura or something around us.
That’s why Dominic doesn’t use a gun or anything.”

Chris stared
at her for a moment before asking, “Can you see this aura?”

“A little
bit. It’s like a haze. Sometimes there’s color to it but mostly it’s too dim to
see anything other than the presence. It looks a lot like fog.”

“And all of
a sudden you can see this aura?”

“I’m
learning.”

Chris
frowned, he knew that Dominic hadn’t been alone with Kelly since they left
Terrill’s castle but he had to ask the question anyway. “How? Is Dominic
training you somehow?”

Kelly shook
her head.

Chris
resisted the inclination to sigh; it wasn’t her fault. “Is this information
just coming to you out of thin air, or what?”

Kelly
glanced at him but quickly returned her eyes to the flames. She fed another
branch into the fire. She stared at the flames for several minutes before
shaking her head.

Chris didn’t
resist the sigh that rose in his chest. “Kelly, I’m worried about you. I’m
trying to help you but without your cooperation, I doubt I’ll be able to do
much.”

“Why are you
so worried?”

Chris bit
the side of his mouth to keep from shouting at her. “For one thing, you have
hardly spoken since we left Terrill’s.”

“I’ve been
busy.”

“Busy doing
what?”

Kelly
glanced at him once again. “Listening.”

Chris
frowned. “Listening to what?”

Kelly
returned her attention to the flames.

After
several minutes of silence, Chris lost his temper. He slapped his hand against
his knee. “Kelly, I really want to help you but you’re not making this easy. If
you don’t want my help, then fine. I’ll leave right now.” He jumped to his feet
and started to leave the campsite, heading in the direction that Dominic had
taken. Surely, the apprentice could send him back to Loren’s castle.

Before he
could disappear behind the hill, Kelly’s voice stopped him. “Chris, wait.”

Chris
stopped but didn’t turn around, afraid of what he might say if he looked at
her.

“I’m sorry.”
Kelly’s voice was very low, Chris had to strain his ears to make out the words.
‘It’s just so hard to know what to share and what to keep to myself.”

Chris took a
deep breath before turning. Kelly was standing next to the fire, holding one
hand out towards him.

“Please,
don’t leave me. I’m so afraid most of the time but I know you’ll make it right.
You won’t let anything happen to me.”

Chris
quickly closed the distance between them, taking her hands in his. “I won’t
leave you. I promise you that. And, I’m sorry I threatened to.”

“I made you
angry.”

Chris shook
his head. “That’s no excuse. I have no reason to cause you further pain, not
after everything I’ve already done to you.”

“I don’t
blame you for that.”

“I know, but
it’s still my fault. But, I’ll promise you right now that, as long as you need
me, I’ll be here for you.”

“Thank you.”

“Will you
answer my question?”

Kelly
dropped her eyes. When she finally spoke, Chris had to lean close to hear her.
“It’s the spellbook. It keeps whispering to me.”

Chris
frowned; he had no idea if this was dangerous or not. “What is it whispering?”

“It keeps giving
me instructions. Things it wants me to do.”

Chris’ frown
deepened. “What kind of things?”

“It’s
telling me spells and potions it wants me to do. It wants me to go in search of
someone named Griling.”

“Who’s
that?”

“I don’t
know. But, I’m afraid.”

Chris
remained silent for a long time as he thought the situation over. He sighed
before speaking. “I don’t think we have any choice but to tell Dominic that you
have the spellbook and what it’s been saying to you.”

“But, you
said that I shouldn’t tell anyone. That I’d be in trouble for taking it.”