SEARCH FOR THE LOST SOUL (8 page)

Dominic
nodded. “I will see to it.” He disappeared down the hallway.

They ate for
a short time in silence before Chris spoke. “Is it unusual for the magical
ability to show so strongly in one family line?”

Loren looked
up and Chris was shocked at the tired lines that ringed the wizard’s eyes. “Not
really. Some family lines are very strong in the talent, especially for minor
sorcery and witchcraft. Strong magical properties seldom show in the same
family line.”

“But your
sister showed the ability. Before she died I mean.”

Loren eyed
him for a moment before answering. “True. But the fact that she showed the
ability so early in life indicated that her power was minor. The stronger the
magical ability the later in life it manifests itself.”

“Like
Kelly?”

Loren looked
at Kelly who was watching the two of them closely. “Yes. Exactly. The fact that
she is almost an adult speaks volumes for the amount of power that she
possesses.” Loren nodded his head towards the two girls. “Nanda and Nandita
both have a large amount of power. They are almost sixteen themselves.”

Chris turned
his attention to the two girls. “Really. They don’t look like they are even I
their teens yet.”

Loren
nodded. “I too was surprised at their age, but not at their power. I felt it as
soon as I materialized near their village.”

Chris
frowned. “With your transporting powers, why did it take you so long to bring
them back here?”

“I had to
find someone who spoke one of the languages I do. I speak nine languages but it
took me several days before I located Zohra. He speaks English. Not well but
acceptable enough to be understood. After that it was merely a matter of
purchasing him form his parents to come to work for me.”

“You
purchased him?” Chris was indignant. “What is he, your slave?”

Loren
laughed. “Of course not. But, in those rural villages sons are a valuable
commodity. His parent did not want to lose him so I was forced to pay for his
services. I shall send them a small stipend each month as long as he agrees to
work for me.

“But, I
needed him to convince the girls to come with me. Because of the magic they
were exhibiting, their parents were already abusing them. Death was probably
only a few days away and although I am certain that they knew it, they were
still reluctant to leave the familiarity of their village with a stranger.”

Chris eyed
them thoughtfully for several minutes. “I thought Hindu’s were tolerant people.
I wouldn’t have believed that they would kill children.”

Loren
sighed. “In some of the rural areas there are things that occur that the rest
of the world knows nothing about. Infanticide is frequent, especially among
girls. I am surprised that so many of them were allowed to live in their
family. The parents had the same attitude as most rural villagers, sons are
good, daughters are a liability.”

Chris shook
his head. “What was the family’s reaction that you wanted to take the girls
from them.”

Loren chewed
thoughtfully for a few minutes before answering. “Relief, I think. Both that I
was taking both girls off their hands and that they would not have to deal with
the magic.”

“So what
will happen to the girls?”

“First they
will learn English then I will train them. They must learn how not to use their
magic when in public. You see, that is what training is all about, control.
Right now they, like Kelly, have no control so they cannot stop the magic from
escaping whenever it wants to. That is what puts them in danger, especially
those of limited power. Once they learn that they will be free to chose what
they want to do, like everyone who comes here.”

“So Kelly
will be free to chose her own destiny.”

“Of course.
She will not be held prisoner here. However, her training will take much longer
because she will have greater power.”

Chris
frowned as he turned his attention to Kelly, wondering absently why she hadn’t
joined the conversation; she appeared to be content to let him do all the
talking. “How can you be so sure? She hasn’t shown any signs to me.”

“You do not
know to sense magic and she is new to the craft. She has barely begun to have
the nightmares that indicate that the power is starting to grow within her.
Without training she will soon start throwing magic everywhere, she will not be
able to keep from doing it. She will have no control and someone could get
hurt; that is what makes the general public fear magic. Hopefully we will have
caught her before that can happen.”

Chris fell
silent, dropping his eyes to his plate as guilt once again engulfed him. Kelly
couldn’t begin her training until she chose a side and she couldn’t do that
without her soul. Would the damage that he had done to her ever end?

They
finished the meal in silence. As they were getting up to leave Chris pulled
Loren aside. “I need to talk to you as soon as possible,” he whispered. He was
feeling more restless than ever to begin the search for Kelly’s soul.

Loren
frowned. “Christopher, as you know, I have been away so I have done no
research,” he answered in a low voice so that Kelly wouldn’t hear.

“What about
those two men who have been in your study with Dominic? I figured that they
were doing research while you were gone.”

Loren stopped
and turned his full attention on Chris. He eyed the younger man for several
minutes before answering. “Not much gets by you, does it?”

Chris
shrugged. “I try to be aware of my surroundings.”

Loren
sighed. “Yes, my mentors are here and are doing the research that I was unable
to do. I have not had time to consult with them but I will do so after I have
slept. I will call you when I have news. Now, if you will excuse me I must get
the newcomers settled so that I can rest.”

Chris
watched the wizard slowly climb the stairs followed by the Indians. He shook
his head, thinking that the wizard was looking his age. He looked around,
wondering what he was going to do to pass the evening; Kelly had discovered
what she called a very exciting book and was planning to curl up in her room by
the fire and read.

He wandered
around the first floor. As far as he knew there were no TVs in the castle, nor
was there a game room. Although the servants were always accommodating there
were none he was interesting in talking to except for Leopold, and he would be
sending the evening with his family; his father required it except for when
Loren had a task for one of them.

Eventually
he found himself outside the library. He started to walk on by but paused,
deciding to at least check out some of the titles of the books. He seriously
doubted that he would find anything that would interest him but it couldn’t
hurt to look, besides, it would help to pass the time.

He flicked
on the overhead light and moved to the nearest shelf, scanning the titles. He
had made his way through a third of the first shelf when a title caught his
eye,
The Rudiments Of Magic.
He stared at the book for several seconds,
rereading the title several times to make sure that he was reading it
correctly. When he had finally reassured himself he reached up and pulled the
book from the shelf.

The book was
thicker than any he had ever read and the typing was small, which caused him to
frown. He continued to stare at the book, what was a book on magic doing in the
library? He would have thought that it should have been in Lorne’s study with
his other precious books. This probably meant that it wouldn’t be very helpful.

He started
to replace the book then paused. Who knew what the book might contain? Besides,
he had nothing better to do with the evening. If nothing else the book might
put him to sleep. He turned and hurried up the stairs, anxious for the first
time in his life to start a book.

Loren didn’t
call for Chris for three days, not that Chris minded. He was busy slogging his
way through the book on magic. Almost as soon as he began reading it he
realized two things, the first was that this book was a fountain of the type of
information he wanted. The second was that he had never heard many of the words
contained in the book.

He solved
the second problem by requesting that Conrad get him a dictionary, which the
boy promptly did. But, going through the book was slow; it took a lot of time
to stop every third or forth word and look up the meaning. Then, once he had
finished a sentence, he had to reread the sentence now that he understood the
words.

Kelly had
expressed surprise when Chris refused to go with her to the gardens the day
after Loren returned, especially when she discovered the reason why. She had
walked way shaking her head but left him alone to his studies.

By the time
a young girl knocked on his door with Loren’s request for him to join them in
his study, Chris had worked his way through almost the entire book. He had
learned none of the specifics of magic but he now had a basic knowledge of the
general theories about the subject and a general idea of what might be possible
for someone with the gift to do.

As Chris hurried
towards the wizard’s study he mentally cataloged all the questions he wanted to
ask Loren. But, whether the other would answer his questions was another matter
entirely. Loren appeared to be forthcoming with any answers he had asked him so
far but he had never asked any pointed questions about magic itself.

He wondered
if the wizard would draw a line at this subject and almost decided not to ask,
it wouldn’t do to make Loren angry; at least until he had retrieved Kelly’s
soul. After that it wouldn’t matter. But by the time he reached the door he had
reached the conclusion that it couldn’t hurt to ask, all the wizard could do
was say no, he hoped.

He tapped on
the door, waiting impatiently for it to be opened. It seemed to take a long
time and he frowned as he listened to the noises coming from inside the room.
He leaned against the door, pressing his ear to it to hear better but couldn’t
identify the source of the sounds. He was tempted to open the door himself nut
didn’t quite dare; from what he had read, magic could do some nasty things.

Finally
Dominic opened the door and ushered him inside. He walked in to find Loren in
deep conversation with two older men, both of whom had beards that reached
almost to the floor. Chris changed his direction so that he would come to where
they were. As soon as he approached them they ceased their conversation and
turned to face him.

The two
strangers eyed him silently as Loren reached out and picked up a large tome
that lay in the table behind him. When he turned back he smiled at Chris. “I
would like to introduce you to Michael and Joshua. They have been conducting
the search while I have been away. They have found where they believe her soul
is being kept.”

Chris
nodded; someone had already told him that. He tried to remember who it had been
but was forced to abandon the effort when the older of the two me began to
talk; it was more important to him to listen to what they were saying.

“There is
what was once a monastery in the Ukrainian mountains said to be founded by
Andrew after the death of Jesus. It was one of the earliest Christian
monasteries but the monks were killed in the late third century and it was
taken over by rebels. At least, we thought they were rebels.”

Chris
frowned. “If they weren’t rebels why would they kill the monks?”

He motioned
for Loren to hand him the book Loren was holding. “We have long thought that
they were rebels but when I read this tome, we discovered a reference that
indicates that what we have believed all these years is false.”

Chris
glanced down at the book that he was holding reverently against his chest; it
certainly looked old. It appeared that at one time the cover had been a deep
blue but it had faded to almost white except in the creases where traces of the
original color could still be seen. He reached out to touch the book but the
man moved it out of his reach.

“The
reference in here is to soul worshipers. Do you know what they are?”

Mutely Chris
shook his head.

The man
nodded. “I thought not. Most of them were destroyed during the witch trials
that swept through the area in the fourteen hundreds. We can only hope that
some of them continue to exist or we will have to begin the search all over
again. That would be most tedious.”

“Most
tedious indeed,” said the other stranger.

Chris shot
him a questioning look but quickly returned his attention to the first one who
had spoken. “Tell me about the soul worshipers.”

The man eyed
him for a moment before nodding. “I suppose that since you will be putting
yourself in danger when you face them you have the right to know all we can
tell you.”

Chris took a
deep breath; courage wasn’t one of his attributes. For a moment he considered
calling the whole thing off then changed his mind; this was for Kelly. He had
placed her in this position and it was his responsibility to see that she got
her soul back. He swallowed hard and forced himself to listen as the man
continued.

“Soul
worshipers are a dangerous breed of man as they will stop at nothing to gather
more souls about them. Luckily, there are enough souls roaming the earth for
them to find so they rarely have to steal the soul of a living person. Still,
they keep the souls trapped in earthen jars so that there is no chance of them
returning to their proper host.”

“Are you
talking about ghosts?” Chris interrupted to ask.

The man
chuckled. “They have been called thus. They are actually souls who cannot
continue on in their journey for whatever reason. There are also souls roaming
the earth that have chosen to abandon their host for a variety of reasons.”

Chris shook
his head; this all seemed inconceivable to him. Then he thought of another
question. “In the book on magic that I found there is no mention of any of
this. Why wouldn’t such an important subject be covered?”

Loren
chuckled. “Ah, I had hoped that you would find that book. I left it there for
you to find.”

Chris turned
and stared at him in surprise. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I
knew that you would be embarking on this quest and that magic will be involved.
If you know a little bit about magic you will have some idea of what it can do
and will not be pestering us with inane questions that you should already know
the answer to.

“As for your
question, the subject of souls is a difficult one and would not be covered in a
primer such as you have in your possession. The book is only meant to give you
a general background on magic; not all the answers you seek. As you can see,
even we must seek answers at times and some of the tomes that we must search
through are difficult to read. The ones we have been searching for information
on souls are so ancient that only a few of us can read them.”

Chris looked
for one of them to the other, his frown deepening but he said nothing; he
wasn’t about to show these men how ignorant he really was.

“Now,”
continued the man. “You shall travel with Dominic to the monastery to search
for Kelly’s soul.”

Chris
brought his head up with a snap and stared at the man with such intensity that
he fell silent. After a moment he shifted his gaze to the silent apprentice,
who was watching him with his dark eyes. Chris gazed at him for several minutes
before turning to Loren. “Why must I go with Dominic? I’d rather go with you.”

Loren
laughed softly. “My boy, that is what I have an apprentice for, to do the
menial work. Why should I waste my energies traveling there when I can send
Dominic? Once you have located Kelly’s soul Dominic will call me and I shall
come and reunite her with her soul.”

Chris’ eyes
pleaded with the wizard for several minutes but he was unmoved, gazing back at
Chris with a calm expression in his face. He cast another sidewise glance at
Dominic before sighing loudly and nodding to indicate that he would go along
with their plan.

“Good,"
said the man after a moment. “Now, the three of you shall make your way to the
monastery and . . .”

“Three of
us," Chris interrupted. “Who else is going?”

The man
frowned at Chris. “Why Kelly of course.”

“No way,”
shouted Chris. “It’s way too dangerous for her.”

“Now, now,
Chris,” said Loren in a soothing tone. “Of course Kelly has to accompany you.
It is her soul, after all.”

Chris turned
to face Loren. “Why can’t she stay here where she’ll be safe until we locate
her soul. Then, when Dominic calls for you, you can bring her with you.”

Loren shook
his head. “No, my boy. Kelly is our only hope of finding her soul. Once you
reach the monastery who knows how many souls you will find there. Hopefully
Kelly will be able to lead her to hers, otherwise you may spend years searching
through the souls.”

“And there
is no telling how many devotees there will be inside the monastery. You may
have to fight your way through hundreds of them to reach the souls in the first
place.”

“Which is
another reason why Kelly shouldn’t go,” insisted Chris. “If we have to fight
she might get hurt or killed. Then where will you be?”

“There is
that possibility,” said Loren thoughtfully. He pulled on his beard for several
minutes before motioning for Michael and Joshua to join him. They engaged in an
animated conversation in a language that Chris didn’t understand.

Chris
watched the three of them, wondering why they felt the need to cluster together
like that if they were going to speak so no one could understand them anyway.
He frowned as he tried to determine which one was Michael and which was Joshua;
so far they had given no indication. He looked over at Dominic, wondering if he
understood the language, he was still as stone faced as ever.

Finally the
group broke up and Loren and the man who had done most of the talking came over
to where Chris was standing. “We have decided that it is imperative that Kelly
accompany you on the quest. There may be thousands of earthen jars with souls
in them inside the monastery and she may be able to lead you rapidly to the
correct one.”

Chris
shrugged. “Why can’t we just release all the souls and let them find their own
way?”

“And release
all those so called ghosts upon the world. Do you realize what would happen if
we were to do that?”

“Surely some
of them would have learned how to move on.”

“A small
percentage perhaps. The rest would go out and terrorize the world. Especially
those that have been confined for a long period of time.”

“Are you
saying that these ghosts have emotions?”

“Of course
they have emotions. It is the reason why most of them are earth-bound; because
they cannot forget some occurrence in their life.” He shook his head. “No, the
only soul that you will be allowed to release will be Kelly’s, all others must
remain where they are.”

“Can’t you
do something for them?”

Loren pulled
on his beard thoughtfully. “Perhaps. We will think on that after you have
rescued Kelly’s soul.”

Chris
sighed. “Fine. When do we leave?”

“In the
morning.” He turned to Dominic. “Please go and find Kelly and bring her here,
it is time that she was made aware of the situation.”

Chris waited
until the apprentice had gone before speaking again. “Uh, does she have to know
how she lost her soul?”

Loren eyed
him sympathetically. “I am certain that she will want to know. Can you deny
that she has the right to do so?”

Chris hung
his head; here it came, the hate. He sighed deeply, well, he deserved no less
for his actions.”

Long before
Chris was ready Kelly and Dominic appeared in the study. Kelly scanned all of
them, a frown furrowing her brow. “Does this mean that it’s time for me to learn
this secret that you’ve all been hiding from me?” she finally asked.

“The secrecy
was necessary,” said Loren in a soothing voice. He steered her towards the only
chair in the room, “I regret any inconvenience that this has caused you.
However, I believe that you should sit down before you hear the reason why you
are here.”

Dominic
pushed a wooden chair across the stone floor to her. After giving each of them
a searching look, Kelly sat, turning the chair so that she faced Loren. She
looked expectantly up at him.

“Kelly,”
began Loren in a soothing voice. “I assume that you have noticed that I have
suspended all your training.”

She nodded.
“I assumed that we would start again once you resettled yourself after your
trip.”

“No, it will
not. There is an impediment to your continuing to learn the use of your
powers.”

She frowned,
“An impediment?”

“Yes, an
obstacle, a barrier.”