Free Finding The Soul Bridge (The Soul Fire Saga Book 1) by Zax Vagen Page B

too.
    “Blast this stupid quest!” cried Jem. “I’m not getting stuck in a dark cave with a strange conglomerate of people in one body, with no light.”
    “Calm down, Jem.” said Kelvin “They're all good people.”
    “How many and how do you know? I’ve seen more strange things in the last week than I’ve seen in the rest of my life.” wailed Jem as a sense of panic started to well up in him. “I’ve had worse luck in the last three days on this stupid road than I’ve had in my life, and now my best friend is a thousand people.”
    “Calm down Jem, it’s not thousands of people.” said Kelvin.” I don't know how many people exactly are in Thist, but they're all good.”
    Jem tried to consolidate the torches to bring some light on the matter; the torches flickered and then turned as bright as before for a brief moment allowing Jem and Kelvin to see vast detail. Up on a high ledge Kelvin saw a wide necked jar made of ornate glass, he jumped up and grabbed it. The torches returned to their pathetic dying flicker. Jem was silent for a long moment; his mind was working itself into a panic. Kelvin seemed unfazed for the time being like he had some understanding of these supernatural phenomena that happened one after the other.
    Jem’s mind reached a breaking point, “Aaahhhh! What is going on?” said Jem.
    Kelvin waited for the subsequent echoes to soften. “Jem!” he said in a calm but stern voice, “Calm down, it seems that there is purpose and balance at work here. I cannot explain much but I can feel things and there is nothing to worry about, if there is I will tell you.” He opened the jar, levelled it with his nose and sniffed, a putrid odour assaulted his nose and he gagged, coughed and took a moment to catch his breath.
    Jem had calmed down to an untrusting sulk, “What is it? What does it matter? I feel a little hopeless, I want to go home. We shouldn’t have gone on this stupid trip. I miss my people.”
    “Well.” choked Kelvin. “It smells like unwashed undergarments but I’m sure it's flammable, give me a dead torch.”
    Kelvin dipped the torch into the wide jar and brought forth a gooey substance. A touch from a flame gave a quick ‘woof’ sound and a bright light emanated from a small flame. Kelvin grinned and Jem mumbled, “Well that's some strange good luck if ever I've had any.”
    “What are you on about?” asked Thist. “What am I doing lying in pig’s filth?”
    “You're not lying in pig’s filth. It’s the smell of ancient torch oil, and you've been sleeping for about five minutes, it must be your head injury making you confused. What do you remember?”
    “I remember telling you twice to get the jar on the ledge up there next to the quiver of arrows.” said Thist rubbing his head.
    Jem shook his head and groaned. “This is getting far too weird, Kelvin, he was unconscious but he remembers.”
    Kelvin raised his light to the niche where he had found the jar and sure enough there was a quiver of arrows lying under a layer of old dust. Neither of the boys had a bow, so they opted to leave the quiver where they had found it.
    Kelvin put a hand on Jem’s shoulder, “Now listen here my friend, being stuck in this cave with the rain and everything is just giving us a bit of cabin fever. Let’s stay busy, we can explore a bit and then we can go back. Remember, after the rain, comes the sun. Let's move on, we can talk as we go. I get the feeling that this tunnel wants to go on forever and I'm sure there are other interesting things along the way that could help our supplies.”
    “What gives you that idea?” asked Jem as they started to move further down the tunnel.
    “Well that ledge was purpose cut.” said Kelvin. “I assume for stashing supplies for tunnel workers and there might be other stashes with interesting stuff.”
    Jem sighed. “Right, but this torch oil makes a bright flame, let’s save our torches and burn one at a time.”
    Thist’s mood improved