The Soul Forge (9 page)

“Sorry,” Thomas replied, shaking his head, “but I don’t think that’s a good idea. I may not know much about women, but I know having someone else deliver your letters is not the way to win her.”

Morando looked as if Thomas had struck him. But considering he did indeed owe a debt to the elf, Thomas continued.

“But I will deliver that letter, if that’s what you really want. I still think if you’re interest
ed in this gal, you need to tell her yourself.”

Morando shook his head, now clearly torn. Thomas glanced at Zach, who was looking back and forth between him and the elf.
Thomas sincerely hoped he hadn’t immediately made an enemy of this new ally, but he had to speak his mind. It was better than staying quiet.

“I… cannot see her,” Morando
said, breaking into Thomas’ thoughts. Thomas simply tilted his head to the side in response, waiting for Morando to tell him more.

“The
girl I speak of… she is my daughter.”

Thomas felt his jaw drop
and his face grow red. That was
not
what he was expecting.

“The child’s mother has forbidden me from seeing her.
I cannot so much as pass her on the street without receiving glares and whispers. So to avoid any… nastiness… I have written a letter to her. I only ask that you see it into her hands.”

Thomas looked at Zach, stricken.
Zach looked mystified, as if unable to understand. When Thomas thought about it, he wasn’t entirely sure he understood either.

“Why won’t she let you see your daughter?”
Thomas asked, sitting up on the stone tablet to properly see the elf.

“We were married, her mother and I,” Morando replied. “
But then the Magi War came, and I was recruited to tend to the sick and wounded on the battlefield. The horrors I saw…”

Thomas didn’t answer. He didn’t want to think about it.

“But on my return to Verdonti, I found she had received notice that I had fallen in battle! In her grief, she was taken advantage of. Ovano took my place as father and husband.” He finished with a word that Thomas didn’t recognize, but he was almost positive it wasn’t something very pleasant.

“I lost a great deal because of that war… and I would see it reclaimed. At least, if nothing else, I want to have my daughter again.”

“I don’t quite get it,” Thomas said, “why would your wife turn you away?”

“Elven law,” the h
ealer replied, his tone so bitter it made Thomas’ stomach turn. “It requires that once a husband or wife takes another spouse, the previous spouse – if they still live – are not to communicate with them. Though children are not bound by this law, my wife refuses to let me near her…”

“That… is a stupid law,” Thomas said. Zach nodded beside him as Thomas got off of the table, holding his sore arm. The flesh around the hold in his arm was wrinkled and frayed, as if it had rotted just a little.
He tried rolling his shoulder, but it hurt too much.

“Your shoulder is not yet
healed, by you were saved from the worst of the damage.”

“That’s good news,” Thomas replied, “not hand over that letter. I’ll see your little girl gets it.”

Morando’s jaw actually fell in shock. “Truly? You do not jest?”

“Cross my heart,” Thomas replied, “now hand it over. And
what does your little girl look like?”

“Golden hair, almost white.
She has green eyes, is tall for her age and has a birthmark on her left cheek in the shape of a star.”

Thomas nodded, privately wondering how a birthmark could be that specific of a shape. But he said nothing else, accepting the letter and moving towards the inner workings of the city.

What he saw was not what he expected.

He was expecting tranquility and reverence, the whole of the elven kind to be in eternal prayer.
He thought the elves would be dressed in voluminous robes and looking down their noses at him. Not unkindly, not on purpose, just by habit.

What he saw was a group of people who had lost the will to exist. They sat around, gazing sadly at the sky, none in a group bigger than three. The children didn’t play but simply watched the floor as if the insects were the most entertaining thing around.

If Thomas didn’t know any better, he would say this place had fallen on some extremely hard times. Every face he looked in had the matching expression of depression.

Only the homes had any essence of former excellence.
They were carved from a deep red wood, mixed with different colors of stone and each had their own individual carvings. They were deep circles within circles, forever orbiting each other. Thomas was almost completely distracted by the houses he nearly forgot to check for the children. Remembering himself, he started moving from child group to child group.

Strangely, not one elf gave him a second look.

It was amongst the third group of dormant children that he saw who he was looking for. The little girl was idly picking at the grass, staring at it with a vacant expression.

“Pardon me, sweetheart,” Thomas said, crouching down so they would be at eye level, “are you
Etanta?”

The little girl nodded, a spark of life reaching her eyes.

“Well, now don’t tell anyone, but I have a gift for you.”

“A gift?” the little girl said with a croak. She hadn’t spoken in a very long time.
“What for?”

“It’s a gift from your daddy,” Thomas whispered.

“Ovano doesn’t send me gifts. He’s an evil man. He made my real daddy go away,” Etanta whispered back, rage coloring every breath.

Thomas’ brow furrowed. Something was going on here, something decidedly wicked. Relegating that for the time being, he said, “this is a gift from your real daddy.”

Her face changed so fast it was as if Thomas had lit a candle. She immediately thrust her hands out hungrily, eyeing Thomas for her gift. It only lasted for a moment however, before she pulled her hands back in and took a deep breath, closing her eyes.

“May I please have my gift, sir?” Etanta asked politely. Thomas almost laughed, and indeed couldn’t keep a smile from spreading across his face.

“My name’s Thomas, sweetheart. And of course you can.”

He held out the letter, and it was clear every fiber of her being wanted to snatch it from him. But she restrained herself, taking it gently and saying, “thank you.”

“Oh go ahead,” Thomas said, “open it up and read it.”

She took his permission immediately, tearing open the envelope and pulling out the letter hidden inside.
Her eyes scanned the page, moving back and forth so fast Thomas felt dizzy just watching her. The further she read, the more her expression shifted from elation to worry, and that was soon a worry that Thomas shared. She should be the happiest girl in Verdonti, but the letter didn’t seem to be having its desired effect.

“What is that?” a deep voice sounded. Thomas and Etanta looked up to see an emaciate
d man standing on the porch of the nearest home, staring down at them. Thomas felt Zach stir next to him, no doubt on edge. The man had to be Ovano, the way he held himself despite his clear lack of nutrition. There was an air about him that Thomas immediately disliked, as if this elf thought he was better than everyone around him.

The elf walked down the stairs, his high forehead wrinkled and his large nose turned to the sky
. The robe he wore was a bright yellow that Thomas found hard to look at, and the face was even less inviting.

“N… nothing, Ovano,” Etanta stammered, trying and failing to hide the letter behind her back.

“I have told you time and time again,” Ovano roared, “to call me, ‘Father.’”

Etanta stayed completely silent
in defiance. Thomas looked back and forth between the two, seeing an anger that shouldn’t have belonged on either face apparent on both.

He shared a glance with Zach, both men thinking the same thing – something was wrong.

“Who are you?” Ovano demanded, “what do you want with the child?”

“I reckon that ain’t any of your concern,”
Thomas replied, eyes narrowing.

“Considering I am her father, you would be mistaken. Now what is it you’ve given her?”

“Perhaps you didn’t hear,” Thomas said in a tone that carried every ounce of his growing anger, “but it’s not. Yer. Concern.”

The elf was beside him so fast Thomas didn’t even see him move.
He didn’t back down, staring back into the almost black eyes of the elf.

“I suggest you step away, human. You wouldn’t want to embarrass yourself so soon upon arriving in Verdonti.”

Thomas actually smiled at the obvious threat. “Don’t worry, I don’t embarrass easy.”

Ovano turned on his heel, walking back up the steps.
“Inside. Now,” he said to the child, who had no choice but to obey. No sooner had the door closed behind them then Thomas heard what was distinctly a shout.

“
That elf don’t sit right with me,” Thomas said.

“Me neither,”
Zach replied, rubbing his right hand with his left. “He don’t have the right to talk to anyone like that, let alone a little girl. Something stinks about this whole thing.”

Thomas nodded before noticing the letter was on the ground. Thomas stooped to pick it up, analyzing it. When he heard footsteps behind him, he quickly hid the letter inside his shirt. He turned back to Zach to see two elves had joined him, both staring with little kindness at the two humans.

“Are you the two who have been causing a disturbance in this neighborhood?” the shorter of the two elves said while the other just continued to glare.

“Yes sir,” Thomas replied. There was little to be gained by lying.

“You two will need to come with us to see Chancellor Vontanado.”

Thomas gulped, sharing a worried glance with Zach. Was he really going to be in that much trouble
? But as he thought about it, he found that he would have made the same choice again given the chance.

“Well, lead on,” Thomas said, and the two pairs walked away from the too-quiet neighborhood.

It was a short walk to the
ir destination, which was a temple on the outskirts of the city. It was made out of glass that seemed to be opaque when the sunlight touched it. There were no markings carved into the glass, but Thomas thought it hardly needed any. The temple was circular as it reached up to the trees, like a decanter.

The glass doors slid open as they approached, and Thomas felt his heart rate jump. He felt
weird, like something sinister was pushing at the back of his brain. It wasn’t a welcome feeling.

“So, you are the humans we were told about
,” a male voice said from the front of the temple. Thomas tried to find the source of the voice, but the temple seemed more cavernous on the inside than it did on the outside.

“Hey there,
prisoner.”

That voice Thomas remembered very well, and his pulse quickened just hearing it.
His eyes became saucers in his head as he looked around rapidly for her.

Then she was just there, standing across the aisle from him.
Cynthia was smiling at him, dressed in a blue robe that was a bit tighter than any other of the elven robes. For some reason, Thomas wasn’t surprised.

“Well, hey there ma’am
,” Thomas said, “long time no see.”

“Took your merry time getting here,”
she replied, moving forward. Without thinking about it, the two embraced, but pulled away almost immediately.

“Well, it was a bit of an adventure getting here,” Thomas remarked, ignoring the red rising in his face
as he placed a hand on the back of his head.

“So we’ve heard,” the
male voice spoke up. Now the voice had an owner, and its owner seemed to be the exact type of elf that Thomas was worried about. He looked down his nose at the two boys with his nose stuck in the air, as if afraid he would smell something distasteful. The effect was not lost on Thomas, who immediately stiffened. The elf was whiter than snow with matching robes draping down to the floor. His eyes were a cold, uninviting blue that made Thomas’ hair stand on end.

“It would deeply sadden us to learn if this was true
,” the elf continued.

“Beggin’ your pardon, sir, but who might you
be?”

“I am Chancellor Vontanado,” the elf replied, crossing his arms across his chest.
Thomas couldn’t tell if this was meant to impress or intimidate, so he chose to treat it as neither.

“Name’s Thomas, Chancellor,” the farm boy said, “and this here is Zach.”

“Zacharias in an old friend to Verdonti,” Chancellor Vontanado replied sternly, “but you are not. I’m afraid I cannot simply allow you to pass into elven lands without any proof of this ‘invasion.’”

“It’s true, sir,” Zach piped up, moving to stand directly beside Thomas. “These things, these wooden monsters, they
came like insects. They burned my home to the ground. My family…” Zach broke off as he realized he could go no further without completely breaking down. Privately, Thomas wondered how the other man was keeping it together.

“I understand your plight, Zacharias,” the Chancellor replied in a voice that was not unkind, “but we need to get a full account of what transpired, of what is truly happening over in Lucinda.”

“The Dark Priest.”

It was all Thomas said, but it was all he needed to say. The Chancellor stared at Thomas as if his senses had left him, but Thomas didn’t blink.

“I don’t know if it was the real Dark Priest, but if it wasn’t he has a pretender who’s making a strong case at being a
con
tender. He’s who we have to thank for all of the Others.”

“The… what, sorry?”

“The…” Thomas had to fight down a surge of embarrassment. He hadn’t even been the one to come up with the name.
“The Others, sir. It’s what the fake Priest called them.”

The Chancellor had no response, but his face made it quite clear that
he didn’t think much of the name.

“We will send an inquiry to the Capital at once to confer with the King there. Then we shall decide on…”

“The Capital has fallen.”

Again it was all Thomas said, and again it was all he needed to say to bring everyone to a grinding halt. Thomas belatedly realized that he hadn’t even told Zach about it.

“What?” The Chancellor appeared aghast, as confused and wrong-footed as a foal asked to run. He looked from Thomas to Zach and back again, but neither man elaborated. One didn’t know, and the other couldn’t explain.

“How… how did this happen? Start from the beginning.”

It took nearly ten minutes, but Thomas recounted the story. It wasn’t until he got to the part where he drew the General’s sword that the Chancellor interrupted him.

“You say you were able to draw Chromwell’s sword?”

“Yes sir,” Thomas said, reaching to his belt where the sword was hastily tied. He drew it, where it sparkled a dull blue in the sunlight. For the first time, Thomas wondered what material it was made out of.

“So it’s true,” the Chancellor said, “then I guess this is all the proof we need.”

“I don’t understand,” Thomas said. He had just picked the sword up, why was that so important?

“After General Chromwell defeated the Dark Priest on the slopes of the Silent Mountains,
he placed the blade in a glass case and put a sort of blessing on it – others believed it to be a curse. He was the first human magic user, and as such no one knew how to break the spell. But he cursed the glass case to never open unless the blade was needed to smite evil again. Since then, the sword and shield have sat in that glass case, untouched.”

Thomas said nothing, staring down at the blade in his hand.
To think, he could barely summon fire and General Chromwell was able to put a spell or something on a glass case…

“Cynthia came here and said you were having troubles with brigands marching on the land. How has the situation changed so much?” the Chancellor said, pacing on the stairs leading to his throne.
Thomas was silent as he considered it. This whole mess had indeed started with the brigands attack. But the brigands weren’t the only fighting force invading Ludicra, it would seem.

Unless…

“The Others…” Thomas said, trying to make sense of the conclusion his brain had already drawn, “the Others… are the brigands.”

“What?”

Nothing up this point had shocked the Chancellor as much as this. His eyes again locked onto Thomas’, and this time the scrutiny made it hard for Thomas to think.

“The Others… I saw… they could… when they attacked people, they could… turn them, I guess. They turned the civilians into things like them. If they can do that, then I’m thinking all of the Others were those brigands, turned into monsters.”

“No,” the Chancellor said as he shook his head. It was clear that the denial was out of desperation more than logic. “That is a magic far beyond anything that could have been created in five short years. We here in Verdonti have been studying magic extensively and only begun to scratch the surface its power. It takes the most talented mind months to master so much as moving a stone. To infect people with this curse… It’s impossible.”

“As much as I would love to agree with ya – and believe me, I really would – it seems like impossible is exactly what this ain’t.”

The room seemed to hold its collective breath as they verbally sparred. Finally, when it seemed that neither will would bend, the Chancellor heaved a heavy sigh.

“Then it appears the Magi War is about to begin again. Only this time, we have no soldiers to fight. Attacking the humans first… they supplied the military numbers we needed.”

Thomas bowed his head, lost for ideas. Attacking the humans was a masterstroke, sure enough. And there was little he, a lowly farm boy, could do about it…

Then the blue-hued blade caught his eye, and he realized there may be something he could do after all.

“This sword,” Thomas said, “I could hurt the Others with it. It damaged them, but it couldn’t cut them and the wounds weren’t all that serious. But is there some way we can use this to fight?”

“The sword…” Chancellor
Vontanado mumbled, running a finger down its blade to the very point. “It has lost much of its power. The energies inside it, the power released… it must have taxed the blade to the extreme.”

If Thomas didn’t know any better, he could have sworn the Elven Chancellor sounded almost happy about it.

“Is there any way to make it strong again?”

“I do not know. Such knowledge is not with the elves.”

Thomas looked at the blade in mild disappointment. Silly weapon wasn’t even sharp.

“Is there any way to even get it sharp?”

“I do not know…” the Chancellor stopped, his eyes screwed up as if his brain was working furiously. Then he started speaking again. “If you take it to the dwarves of Andomer, they may have a way. They were the ones who originally forged it from the soul-ore.”

Thomas nodded, feeling a groan working its way up from the
dark confines of his brain.

“I don’t suppose Andomer is anywhere close?”

“I’m afraid not,” he replied, “it’s on the Southern border of Ludicra, at least two days from here by horse.”

Thomas lowered his head, taking a deep breath. Maybe he should just unload the blade on someone else and move on. He wasn’t cut out for this kind of life.

But as he stared at the blue sword clutched in his and, he found he didn’t want to surrender it. The more he stared at it, the more he knew that this task was his and his alone, and he couldn’t just abandon it. No matter how much he wanted to.

So he did the only thing that made sense, and he sheathed the sword.

“Well then, I guess I need to be going…” Thomas said, turning away from the Chancellor before being struck by another thought. “Actually, there’s one more thing I think we need to talk ‘bout.”

“What’s that?” the Chancellor said with a little less disdain.

“
Morando.”

“The war hero?”

“If you say so. He’s been estranged from his wife and daughter, and I want to know why.”

“If memory serves, a note was received that said he had been killed in
action. His wife remarried Orano. By the time Morando returned, it was too late for anything to be done about it.”

“I don’t understand,” Thomas said, “why couldn’t’ anything be done? He wasn’t dead. Shouldn’t the marriage be thrown out or
an… um…”

“
Annulled?” Cynthia supplied, speaking for the first time since the conversation started.

“Yeah, that one,” Thomas said with his biggest smile. It faded quickly. “
Doesn’t this count as a special circumstance?”

“I am sorry, just as I told Morando, but elven law is absolute.”

“Yer the Chancellor!” Thomas exclaimed, “there must be somethin’ you can do!”

“There is not…” the Chancellor said, but something in the way he said it made Thomas think he wasn’t being absolutely truthful.

“Except for?” Thomas guessed.

“Unless you can prove that Orano used some kind of trickery to
take Evanti for himself.” The way he said it made it seem like the words were forced from him. “If you brought proof, then the marriage will be ended immediately.”

Thomas nodded, thinking hard.
Proof? Of what? That Orano was a terrible human being? There was a crying girl who gave testament to that. What was he supposed to do?

He nodded once more to the Chancellor, winked at Cynthia, and walked away.
Zach hurried behind him as the left the temple, this time without an escort.

“So what’re we going to do?”
Zach asked the moment they were out of earshot.

“We?”
Thomas questioned as he stopped in the road, “what are you talking ‘bout? You can do anything you want. You’re safe here, you don’t have to keep following me.”

“True. So I guess I’m following you because I can.
Sides, I always wanted to go on an adventure, you know? Just like in the old stories. Fighting monsters and saving people!”

Thomas nodded, accepting his reasoning. Personally, the best stories he had ever read were just that: stories
. He would have been just fine at his farm. But Zach was good company, so it wouldn’t bother Thomas to have him around. They walked together in silence, each absorbed in their own thoughts as they headed to Orana’s home. Even when they got there, Thomas hadn’t thought of a plan of action.

“We can’t just ask him for proof that he set up Morando,” Thomas said. Zach shrugged, his face screwed up in concentration.
“So what are we supposed to do?”

“Come back when night falls?” Zach suggested, “sneak in and see what there is to see?”

Thomas nodded, though it wasn’t really a suggestion that he was happy to exploit. He needed to catch Orano in his wrongdoing, but he didn’t want to do it at the expense of Morando’s chances of getting his family back.