SoulQuest (32 page)

“How did you get mixed up in this?” asked Tanus.

“Ekala,” said Templar. “I was there when Vortai took her. He made the mistake of leaving me aboard the airship with a single guard. Didn’t take much to get out.”

Swul pulled his body from beneath the hand that imprisoned him. He moved a bit slowly, his body aching all over, but he still managed to grab the end of the axe and dragged it towards Graf. Tanus stepped away from the behemoth, the gun returning to his artificial hand.

“You need help?” he asked.

“Nah, I got it.” Swul struggled a bit, hefting the axe above his head. He stared down at Graf, the beast’s eyes almost pleading for mercy. The faerie let the axe fall on Graf’s neck. It wasn’t enough to cut through, so he had to strike again. And again.

It took several tries before Graf’s head rolled away.

During the chaos of the battle between Graf and Tanus and Swul, Vortai slipped inside the temple, Ekala still hovering by his side. He could feel the power of the Soulstones reaching out to him. The frail-looking priest descended the steps, his prisoner still floating by his side. And once in the basement, he saw the four-pointed star with the five stones embedded within. All of them pulsed with a green glow in unison, and Vortai’s mouth nearly watered.
 

The sound of steel scraping against a metal scabbard drew Vortai’s gaze. Zarim stepped out from behind the star, sword in hand and he raised the blade, pointing it at his intended target. Vortai scoffed, gesturing so that Ekala floated into his hands. She struggled against the powers that held her, but her body was completely incapacitated.

“One step closer, and she dies.” Vortai stroked Ekala’s chin with a single, long finger. Sparks danced along the length of it, flowing onto Ekala’s skin and she cringed. “Wouldn’t that be ironic, Zarim? She resurrects you, only to die herself. There’s a certain poetry to it, is there not?”

Zarim kept the sword up. “Leave her out of this, it’s between you and me.”

“You’ve interfered in my affairs for far too long, pirate,” said Vortai. “It ends here and now.”

“Just kill him already, he’s been goin’ on like that since he grabbed me,” said Ekala.
 

“A trade seems to be in order,” said Vortai. “The Soulstones for your woman.”

Zarim’s stare traveled to Ekala. He knew he couldn’t let Vortai harm her, no matter what the stakes. With a sigh, he lowered his blade, his arm bending slightly. The sword was still pointed at Vortai, but now lacking the initial threat.
 

“Zee, I swear if you let him get his hands on those rocks, I’ll kill you myself!” said Ekala.

“No choice, babe,” said Zarim.
 

“Then we are finally agreed,” said Vortai, and with a wave of his hand, Ekala was thrown at Zarim. He managed to grab hold of her and maintain his footing without them both being knocked to the ground. Vortai approached the Soulstones, his hands reaching out for them.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?” asked Ekala. “You know what’s gonna happen now, don’t you?”

“Oh yeah, I know
exactly
what’s gonna happen.” Zarim looked at her and his face bore a half-smile. He winked and Ekala knew something was up.
 

“Finally, after years of searching and waiting, the power of the Presence is now within my grasp,” muttered Vortai. He breathed deeply, arms extending from his sides, and shut his eyes. The Soulstones responded to his movements and as he concentrated on them, their power started to flow towards him, perforating his body. The energy field raised him up, and his face turned to the two who had opposed him for so long. When he opened his eyes, they were glowing with so much power, it was spilling out of them. He pointed a long finger at them and smiled.

“I hope you enjoyed what little time you had together. But I cannot abide by such insolence in the new world to come.”

Energy crackled at the tip of his finger and then fired. Zarim raised his sword and the energy struck it, simply coursing through the blade. The energy now seemed to flow from Vortai into Zarim, and his own eyes were now pulsating with a glow that continued to grow larger as Vortai’s eyes dimmed.

“What’s happening?” asked Vortai. “What are you doing?”

The blade now glowed brightly and Zarim rushed forward, driving the sword through Vortai’s chest. The warlock gasped, eyes gaped and mouth wide open. “H-how?”

“All that power you talked about? Turns out I stole a little bit of it for myself before you got here,” said Zarim. “The Soulstones resurrected me, you think that meant nothing?”

He pulled his blade free and Vortai slumped onto the ground. Zarim sheathed the sword and smiled at Ekala. “See? I had everything under control.”

She smirked and scoffed. “Should’ve known.”

“But it’s not over yet.” He faced the stones, doing just as Vortai had and holding his arms out. The Soulstones bathed him in the same glow as they had done with Vortai.

“What are you doing?” asked Ekala.

The power surged through his body, and he could feel it about to consume him. He was tempted to hold onto it, after all the Soulstones did choose him. Why should he not take that power for himself? Use it for his own purposes? Create a new world. But then he saw Ekala, her eyes fearful and Zarim understood what he needed to do.
 

He focused on the Soulstones, the energy that they possessed now at his command. With that power he could do anything. Even release it.
 

Cracks appeared along each of the gemstones, first small, but then longer and in a web-like design. Simultaneously, all five stones shattered as if they were glass, and the energy contained went in all directions, passing through both Zarim and Ekala and then moving beyond. The power flowed across the entire planet, spreading out amongst every living thing.

Zarim sat on his knees, his breath short and shallow, like he’d just completed a marathon. Ekala went to his side and helped him stand. He leaned on her for support, draping his arm around her shoulders.
 

“What did you do?” she asked.

“Destroyed the Soulstones,” he said.
 

“I thought it couldn’t be done.”

Zarim shook his head. “The energy couldn’t be destroyed, but the containers could.”

“So where’d all that power go?”
 

“Everywhere,” said Zarim. “It’s no longer contained in five stones, but spread out across the world in small doses. Those things shouldn’t pose a problem ever again.”

Within the days following Vortai’s death, word was sent out to Emperor Ra’kad. He immediately dispatched a team to aid in the clean-up, and several diplomats went as well to convey their sincerest apologies to Master Quand and the people of Xanadar. Ra’kad’s representatives said the Emperor had no knowledge of what Vortai was planning and that he’d commanded the Dreadnought squad without proper clearance. It was all nonsense. Although Ra’kad may not have known Vortai’s intentions, he still allowed his advisor unprecedented access to the empire’s military forces and was now trying to cover it all up. But Master Quand accepted the apology.

During the imperial presence in Xanadar, the crew of the Excalibur stayed mostly out of sight, or acted as if they were among the monks who lived there. It wasn’t until the empire left that the crew completed their preparations to depart.

Zarim walked down the airfield with Master Quand by his side. His crew waited for him at the Excalibur. Tanus stepped forward and said, “ship’s all ready to go when you are, Captain.”

“Captain?” asked Zarim. “I take it that means you’ll join us?”

Tanus grinned. “I’ve come to realize there are worse things I could be doing with my life than becoming a pirate.”

“Welcome aboard.” Zarim patted Tanus on his shoulder. Reyche approached him. “What about you?”

“I can’t return home, not until I’ve come to terms with what I’ve become,” she said.
 

“You’ve got a place with us if you want it,” said Zarim.

“Actually, Master Quand and I were speaking earlier...” she began and looked over at the old monk. “I think I’d like to remain here. Follow a different path. See the truth that Vortai corrupted.”

“Good choice,” said Zarim. That left only two other hangers-on: Liran and Templar.
 

“She would like to return to Felidae,” said Liran. “She has responsibilities. Now she will become Chieftain.”

“We’ll get you there,” said Swul. “I also need t’ stop by Nephelm, let Albion and Nyx know that their king’s been avenged.”

“And then what?” asked Ekala. “You’re not turning your back on us, are you?”

“Hell no, life there’s too stuck up for my tastes,” said Swul. “‘Sides, still gotta win back my money.”

Zarim and Templar met each other’s gaze. They stared at each other for a few moments before Zarim broke the silence. “You did good back there. Thanks for your help.”

The sudden expression of gratitude came as a surprise to all gathered. But Templar took it in stride and nodded to his rival. “It was an experience, that’s for certain.”

“Maybe we’ve got room for one more onboard, if you’re interested,” said Zarim.

“
Hah
!” Templar’s grin was wider than Zarim had ever seen. “A tempting offer, but one I choose to decline. I’m not in the business of taking orders from anyone, especially not one I’ve bested in combat.”

Zarim scoffed at this. “You got lucky. It was a fluke.”

Ekala rolled her eyes and turned away. “Oh for the love of...”

Templar raised his pulse sword, the energy launching through it. “Shall we test that theory?”

Zarim threw his cape over his shoulder and drew his own blade. He smiled at the purple-clad thief, their eyes locked together. “What are you waiting for?”

Nothing, apparently. The two men ran towards each other and their weapons connected.

Thank you for reading
SoulQuest
!

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Thanks again, and I’ll see you in the next book!

This book was a very long time coming. It first began back around 2005 or so. I was developing a few different concepts to pitch to comic book publishers and there was one artist who approached me about working on something together. I didn't feel his style was right for the concept I was developing, but I loved his art. It was very anime-inspired, and that made me think of the Japanese role-playing games I used to love playing in my teenage years, like
Final Fantasy VII
and
Xenogears
. Using them as inspiration, I came up with the idea of a group of sky pirates who find themselves thrown into a battle for the fate of the world.

The artist (whose name I can't remember) did some initial designs of Zarim and Ekala but then had to back out of the project. I shopped it around to several other artists, while still developing the backstory for the world and the various characters who would inhabit this world.

Then around 2007, I was contacted by an artist named Frank Jensen. His style was quite different from what I was after, as I wanted something with a manga/anime influence.

I told him his art was great, but I didn't feel like this concept would shoot him. Frank, however, wasn't satisfied with that answer. He offered to do some character sketches and said that if after I've seen them I still didn't think he was a good fit, then he'd let me be. I had nothing to lose, so I said yes.

Frank's designs were exactly what I pictured. He also provided a lot of assistance in pointing out things that worked and didn't work in the story and was instrumental in helping me develop the concept from a series of scattered ideas into something solid.

Shortly after I moved to Japan in 2008, Frank and I still kept in touch, but his email responses became less and less frequent, and then there were no responses. I tried to send out a few messages every few months or so, but never received any word.

I put
SoulQuest
on the back-burner after that until 2010 when a friend named Ian Mileham began a website for original, serialized fiction. I resurrected the crew of the Excalibur and planned to start writing it at Revenance as a serialized novel. I only managed to get two chapters finished (only one of which was published) before Ian unfortunately had to close the site due to real-world commitments.

From there, it was back in the drawer. I worked on other projects, but when I hit a writing drought in 2012, I took

another look at this project. Trusty notebook in hand, I sketched out a rough outline for the novel. And then I dove back in, picking up from where I left off. From November of 2012 until March of 2013, I just kept plugging away at it, and it kept getting longer and longer. Anyone who would listen at that time can attest to the frustration I was going through at the book continually growing past my initial expectations and how frustrated I had become with it.

Finally it was completed and I sent it off to Joel Jenkins, who did his usual spectacular job as an editor. Be sure to look at his work over at joeljenkins.net. And the spectacular cover comes courtesy of Brad Horton, an incredible artist and I encourage everyone to view and buy some of his art over at bradhortonart.com.

In addition to those two, I also have to thank Frank Jensen for all his contributions to this. Also Ian Mileham, for giving me a venue to revisit the story with Revenance, albeit shortly. I'd also like to thank everyone who gave me words of support and encouragement during a period when I was extremely frustrated and considering giving up writing for good. These people include, but are certainly not limited to, Derrick Ferguson, Tommy Hancock, Ron Fortier, C. William Russette, and many, many more.