SEARCH FOR THE LOST SOUL (26 page)

Dominic put
a hand on his arm. “Do you think you could kill fifty men?”

Chris looked
at the sword. “The Dragon Sword will do the work.” He looked at Dominic. “And I
think you’ll take care of a couple of them.”

Dominic was
silent for a moment before sighing. “Unfortunately, I can think of no other
option. I might be able to find an alternate route to the soul chamber. But,
that would take time and the longer we are inside this cavern system, the
greater our chance of discovery. If we are discovered, everyone involved with
this cult will be searching for us. That could be thousands of men.”

“And who
knows how many women will join them,” Chris mumbled.

Dominic
shook his head. “The women will not fight. Nor will they be directly involved
with the souls. You must remember that this cult dates back to a few centuries
after the time of Christ. Women in that time were delegated to the home and
little else. These men will believe in the barefoot and pregnant scenario. They
measure their status by the number of sons their wives produce.”

Chris
shrugged. “So, we have nothing to fear from the women.”

“I would not
say that. When it comes to war, which is what these people will think is
happening, women can fight as viciously as the men, especially if they think
their families will suffer. But, there will be no women inside that cavern.
And, if I am correct in thinking  the soul chamber is located behind this
particular chamber, we may not encounter the women. Provided, of course, that
we can locate the container with Kelly’s soul quickly enough.”

Chris
nodded. “I’m ready.”

Dominic
nodded, withdrawing his own sword. “Good. I just wanted to make certain that
you understood the situation. Bring Kelly.”

“Wouldn’t it
be safer to leave her behind?”

Dominic
shook his head. “There would be no one to protect her. If a Soul Worshiper
should come upon her, she would be killed instantly.”

“Even though
she’s female!”

“That would
not matter to them. She is not one of their females. She is an outsider and
intruder, therefore, a threat to them.”

Chris nodded
and reached down to pull Kelly to her feet. As he pulled her after Dominic, he
brought the sword to his mouth. “Hear that, sword,” he whispered. “We need to
protect the girl.” He didn’t know if the sword could hear him, or if it would
obey, but he figured it couldn’t hurt.

They quickly
arrived at the chamber Dominic had spoken of; pausing for a moment in the
arched entryway to assess the situation. Chris agreed with Dominic’s estimation
of the number of men inside the cavern, which was the largest one he had seen
so far. The men were arranged into four groups, each one standing around a huge
statue of a nude man. Chris suspected that they were praying to the statue but
couldn’t say for certain.

Chris spied
an indention a short distance from where they were standing. Chris nudged
Dominic, pointing to Kelly and then the indention. Dominic nodded , watching as
Chris led Kelly to the indention and  shoved  her inside. She wasn’t
entirely hidden from view but Chris hoping she’d escape detection in the
madness of the fight.

Chris
quickly returned to Dominic’s side; he didn’t want to draw their attention to
Kelly when the Soul Worshipers saw him. “Are you ready?” the apprentice asked
as soon as Chris was beside him.

Chris
gripped the hilt of the Dragon Sword tightly as he nodded. Dominic immediately
stepped into the chamber, headed for one of the groups. Chris headed for a
second group, taking deep breaths to steady himself when that didn’t work, he
glanced at Kelly; even from this distance he could see that she was still
screaming inside her cone of silence. He looked away; he was ready.

The Dragon
Sword took on a life of its own as soon as they were close enough to the group
of men. It struck down three men before they were aware they were under attack.
Unfortunately, one of the remaining men let out a yell that alerted everyone in
the room. Chris lost all sense of the passage of time as the Soul Worshipers
tried to surround him.

The sword
became more frantic in its actions and Chris became convinced that it was
thoroughly enjoying itself. At one point, Chris heard a ghostly cackle that he
would have sworn came from the sword itself. He shook his head; he was so tired
he was starting to hallucinate.

Chris
eventually reached the point where he could no longer hold his arm up to
support the sword. A voice inside his head told him to switch the sword to his
left hand. Without thinking, Chris complied, noting with relief that it
appeared to make no difference to the sword.

A haze of
fatigue settled over Chris, narrowing his focus to whichever man he was
currently fighting. He was grateful for the fact that the sword required no
direction; he would have no more success at swordplay than if he’d tried to
sprout wings and fly back to Loren’s castle.

The next
thing Chris was aware for was Dominic’s voice giving the words for the Dragon
Sword to stop. He opened his eyes, and then frowned; he hadn’t been aware that
they were closed. As his arm fell limply to his side, he looked around. He
wasn’t surprised to see the floor of the cavern littered with the bodies of
robed figures. None moved, much to his relief.

Chris hung
his head, breathing heavily. He didn’t resist as Dominic led him to a wall and
pushed him into a sitting position. He was glad to see that the apprentice
hadn’t placed him near Kelly, just in case there had been enough noise to draw
others to the site.

Dominic
dropped to sit down next to Chris. With difficulty, Chris turned his head to
look at the apprentice, frowning as he realized that the man wasn’t even
breathing hard. He gazed at the bodies scattered across the floor; how many of
those were the result of the Dragon Sword? He shook his head; it didn’t matter.
With any kind of luck, there would be no more fighting.

Chris had no
idea how much time passed before Dominic spoke. “Are you ready to proceed?”

Chris didn’t
think so but he nodded and struggled to his feet; he was anxious to get this
entire ordeal over with. He had to force his legs to move as he crossed the
cavern to where he’d left Kelly. As usual, she made no protest as he pulled her
back to where Dominic was standing.

“I think the
chamber we are searching for is through that archway.” Without waiting for a
comment, Dominic set off in the indicated direction. Chris followed, towing
Kelly and hoping the apprentice was correct; he didn’t feel like moving any
more than was necessary.

Chris
stopped in shock when he saw the chamber they were entering. Unlike all the
others chambers inside this cavern system, this one was brightly lit with
glowing orbs hanging everywhere. This chamber may have started out as a natural
formation, but some time in the past it had been enlarged into an area that
Chris was certain could contain four or five football fields inside.

Even with
this much space, the chamber was crowded with large earthen jar sealed with
what looked like white wax. Chris stepped close to one to see that it was
intricately carved with elaborate symbols, some painted but most left in their
natural colors. He was certain that each symbol had a meaning but he couldn’t
imagine what they might be.

“How are we
supposed to find Kelly’s soul amongst all these jars?”

“Lead her
through them and watch her reaction. Hopefully, she will recognize her own
soul.”

Chris nodded
and began the action. “What do we do if she doesn’t recognize it?”

“I will have
to think of something.”

Chris
sighed. He looked at Kelly, keeping his eyes off her face. Please, he silently
begged her. “Please recognize your soul so we can get out of here.” She didn’t
respond, not that he’d thought she would. As he continued his excursion, he
thought of another question. “I thought you said that these Soul Worshipers
would be armed with swords that could steal our souls.”

“We have
been lucky,” Dominic responded absently as he made his own trek through the
jars. “I would assume that the Soul Swords are too dangerous to be left laying
around and are only used when they’re under attack. Since we have been able to
surprise all the Soul Worshipers we have encountered, they have not brought
them out. I would not expect our luck to remain in effect if we do not discover
Kelly’s soul quickly and escape, we may never do so.”

Chris
shuddered as he nodded. He had no desire to see one of those swords “Come on,
Kelly,” he whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”

Suddenly, a
man stepped around one of the jars, carrying a large sword with an eerie glow
that seemed familiar to Chris. Startled, he glanced at the nearest glowing orb;
the eminence was the same. He returned his attention to the man in front of
him. “Are those orbs filled with souls?” he hadn’t meant to ask the question,
it had just come out.

The man
didn’t answer; he didn’t need to. Chris knew the truth. Frowning, Chris
withdrew the Dragon Sword; frowning as he tried to remember when he’d replacing
it. He took a moment to glance at the blade and was relieved to see that it had
been wiped clean; he didn’t remember doing that either.

Chris had to
use both hands to lift the sword; his muscles didn’t want to respond. He was
grateful that the sword immediately pressed itself into action. Chris couldn’t
help smiling when he saw the astonishment in the Soul Worshiper’s face as he
retreated several steps.

Luckily, the
fight didn’t last long. Dominic came up from behind the other man,
 attacking from the rear. Chris didn’t think that was very sporting but
didn’t feel inclined to argue the issue with the apprentice. He shuddered as he
bent down to wipe the blade, keeping his distance from the Soul Sword, which
continued to glow.

“Get Kelly,”
Dominic hissed.

Chris
glanced up, taken aback to see that Kelly was moving on her own accord towards
the rear of the chamber, he sped through the jars, awkwardly shoving the Dragon
Sword back into its scabbard. He reached Kelly, grabbing her by the arm and
attempting to drag her back to where they’d been, more because it was closer to
Dominic rather than because he thought it was a better area to search.

To Chris’
surprise, Kelly resisted his attempt to guide her. After several attempts, he
looked into her face; she was no longer screaming inside her cone of silence.
“Dominic,” he called. “I think she’s headed for her soul.”

Dominic was
suddenly at his side, pulling him away from Kelly. Kelly moved straight for a
wall, bumping into it as if she didn’t see it. After she had done this several
times, Chris reached out and held her back; he didn’t want her to hurt herself.
Dominic stepped forward and ran his hands over the wall, his eyes closed.

“I can feel
a chamber behind this wall but I have no idea how to get inside,” he muttered,
more to himself than to Chris. Chris turned to watch their backs as the
apprentice continued to run his hands over the wall and mutter. Chris breathed
a sigh of relief when Dominic finally switched into his native tongue and he
could no longer understand him.

Chris was
shifting his weight from foot to foot in anxiety by the time he heard Dominic
say, “Aha.” He turned to see the apprentice running his fingers along carvings
that he hadn’t noticed before. Chris stepped forward for a better look, admiring
the skill that had gone into crafting them; they were so well hidden that they
appeared to be a natural part of the wall.

Chris winced
as a portion of the wall slid aside with a loud grinding noise; in the silence
of the caverns that sound must have traveled for miles. Dominic quickly ushered
the two of them inside, turning to examine the wall for the method of closing
the door. Chris breathed a sigh of relief when it slid closed as loudly as it
had opened; they’d have plenty of warning if anyone tried to enter after them.

In the
process of turning to examine the new chamber, Chris caught his breath in
anguish as he spied Kelly’s face; she was sobbing uncontrollably, even though
she was making no sound. Chris pulled her trembling body to his as his eyes
swept the chamber. He froze as he spied what he knew was the cause of Kelly’s
distress.

In the
center of the small chamber was a device that Chris couldn’t begin to identify.
Suspended between the two posts was a twisting object that Chris immediately
knew must be Kelly’s soul. It was almost transparent, with a smoky texture that
continually changed shape. Even without Kelly’s reaction, Chris would have
known that it was in agony.

Dominic
spouted a long string of words in his native tongue that Chris was certain were
curse words. Chris felt as if his heart was being squeezed as he realized that
Dominic must not have the slightest idea how to free Kelly’s soul.

Suddenly,
the chamber was full of people. Chris reached for the Dragon Sword but relaxed
when he recognized that one of them was Loren. Turning slightly, Chris
recognized the two wizards he’d met at Loren’s castle, Michael and Joshua.
There were ten other men with them, whom Chris assumed were more wizards.
Relief flooded through him; the cavalry had arrived.