Soulmaker

  *

  Elanora stopped in front of two marks etched into the wall. She knocked in code triggering a blade to appear which sawed down and across like a knife through bread. Crumbs of wall fell as the slice swung out and two shaggy bear heads appeared. One of them grabbed Elanora’s arm and yanked her inside. Ash and Will burst in after her but found her happily buried in their embrace.

  “Don’t mind Joey and Benbo,” Elanora said, picking a few hairs from her mouth and smiling.

  Ashden surveyed the room crammed with animals, maybe fifty. On the walls were racks of nets, traps, guns and phials of darts filled with a concentrate of tainted water. There were cages stacked in a corner, chains, padlocks and torches in crates.

  “There’s my wagon,” said Will.

  “Yes, we took that from your cavern as well as some of your other supplies when we rescued your soulings after the attack,” said Elanora bending down to pat Scrufkin who had just begun circling her legs.

  “You didn’t find anything else there, did you?” Will asked.

  “Like what?” Elanora looked up.

  Will tucked in his shirt, “Oh nothing.”

  Elanora narrowed her eyes slightly and turned her attention to Ashden.

  “We’ve been extending a network of secret tunnels to access the Great Destination and are preparing our final battle plan. That is, we hope it will be our final battle,” she added grimly. “Come and drink. I’m afraid our supplies are low as most of the water has been tainted and isn’t safe to touch. Remember the lake Ashden?” she asked. “It’s like acid now, brown and horrible. We travel on it by boat now because I found out it joins up all sorts of places in the Timefold and the beasts can’t use it.”

  Will’s face twisted and his eyes darted frantically. “What did you say?”

  “We travel on it,”

  “No. The lake, the water. What’s wrong with it?” he looked down, suddenly aware of Elanora’s wrist, red in his grip. She glared at him and he opened his hand.

  “She said it’s changed. It’s like acid. Are you all right?” asked Ash, rising to his feet.

  Will pushed his fingers into his trouser pocket. His eyes lost their focus and his mouth opened and shut. “Ah, yes. It’s just a shock. I guess I was thinking like the old man I used to be. I was never far away from medical treatment back then…Not used to not needing it,” he said with a lopsided smile.

  “Yes it can be hard, adjusting,” Elanora said. “Ash, what’s wrong?”

  Ashden had turned his back on them and was pressing his eyelids. “What? Oh, nothing much. Just that the lake’s turned to acid and I don’t know why and there’s another new word I’ve never heard of before and…Did you know about this Great Destination, Will?”

  “Me? Ah no. No, what is it?”

  Elanora’s bottom lip disappeared between her teeth before she spoke. “It’s the place souls go when the body dies.”

  “Heaven?” queried Ash.

  “I think so. Maybe. Usually just the soul passes through but for soulings, it’s different. They need their whole body passed through for them. The problem is that the beasts have built a barricade blocking entry to it so right now no soul can get through.”

  Ashden nodded, rubbing his hand at the back of his neck. “Do people’s souls go through?”

  “Apparently not. There’s another way in somewhere else,” Elanora said. “As for the lake, everything in the Timefold is affected by the light from the Great Destination. The more they’ve blocked it off, the more everything has hardened. This place doesn’t like the dark.”

  Will moved his fingers against each other like fire sticks. “Did we tell you we met Nory? And Edward Arthur?” he said.

  Before Ash could return to another question about the Great Destination, Will raced on, “What a wonderful old dear she is. A real character. We couldn’t have made it without her and Edward Arthur.”

  Elanora nodded at him, turning again to Ashden who added quietly, “We got your message in her will.”

  “And my letters?”

  Ashden frowned and shook his head, “What letters?”

  “Whatever you left behind must have gotten lost or damaged or maybe it just hasn’t turned up yet. Funny thing that messing about with time,” said Will, pacing the floor, inspecting the weapons and rattling his pocket.

  Elanora was about to say something else when Will continued. “I messed with time once…” but he never finished his sentence and the way he stared suddenly at his feet with wild, wide eyes stopped anyone from probing.

  “Did you see my parents when you got back, Ash?” she asked, as Benbo handed them all cups. Will clutched his and sculled.

  Ashden sipped. Its bitterness made his lips pucker. “I did,” he wiped his mouth and wished it wasn’t so dry.

  “How were they?”

  He looked into her open face. She was so much a young woman. So beautiful. “They were fine. Happy enough, I think. But it was like you didn’t ever exist,” he said softly and stared at the water, like bitter tea in his cup.

  “I know it seemed that way, but I did exist.”

  “I know, you always existed for me, I never forgot you,” he blurted and this time his face burnt hot. The animals raised knowing brows to each other as they followed every word.

  “Thank you, Ash,” she smiled and for a moment, closed her eyes. “But I mean, when I left the Timefold I ended up way back in the past, as you found out. I met my parents when they were just children and I got to know them a little.” She phrased her last words carefully.

  “They said they didn’t know an Elanora, they only remembered an Ellen,” he frowned.

  “Ellen Watersley,” she nodded and her eyes dropped.

  “You were Ellen Watersley? You changed your name?”

  “Yes,” she stood up and took the cup from him keeping her eyes averted. “I changed it when I got married.”

  Every animal in earshot held its breath while Ash’s stomach flipped and his face flinched, but an urgent tapping at the entry way distracted them all. The code tapped out again and Elanora rushed over to slice the door open herself. A pale blue elephant staggered in and collapsed in a heap, covering his head with his ears, sobbing.

  Elanora gathered him up, holding him to her ear. Wheezes, puffs and grunts gave way to Petsy, beasts and captured. She inhaled deeply and surveyed the crowd.

  “We can’t wait any longer. We have to strike.”

  A murmur ran through the animals. Elanora moved to Ashden’s side, lowering her voice, “Ash, you don’t have to come with us. Scrufkin will take you back to the gateway.”

  Ash pulled at his fringe. “No, Elanora. I’m not leaving.”

  “But your mother, Ash.”

  “I’m not leaving.”

  Elanora gripped her bottom lip between her teeth. “All right then. Go over the battle plan again, Benbo.”

  While Benbo ran through the plan of attack, Elanora’s eyes lingered on Ashden. She wanted him to meet her gaze, to scoop into her and find her again. So much time had passed. Would he like what he saw?

  “Did you have anything to add...Elanora?”

  “Pardon? Oh, sorry, Benbo. Ah, no, I think you’ve covered it,” she said.

  “Good. Take arms, friends. We fight for the soulings! We fight for eternity!” Benbo shouted and the animals cheered.

  “Here,” said Elanora, handing Ashden a tranquilizer gun at the edge of the crowded room. “And thank you.”

  He tried to catch her eye but she wouldn’t hold his gaze. The sounds of battle preparations invaded the moment.

  “Elanora,” he started and paused. “I know this is a stupid time to ask, but. Do you have any…”

  “Children?” she finished for him and shook her head.

  His throat relaxed.

  “And if anything happens, your mother will be taken care of.”

  His face dropped but he smiled regardless.

  “I mean, Ash, there is money in your mother’s acc
ount. Lots of it.”

  “But how?” Ashden pushed the hair off his forehead again.

  “I never forgot you.”

  “Likewise,” he said. Gently, he touched a thick strand of her fiery hair, but drew back as if it burned.

  “Over here, Ash. We’re going,” called Will from the doorway, poison filled water pistol in one hand, blade in the other.

  Ashden checked the trigger on his gun and the sword at his side, smiled briefly at Elanora, then followed.