Fireheart

Chapter 9: The Soul-Bind

"Ok, here it is." said Fu, as he unrolled the scroll on the table. He, Rose, Lao Shi, Sun and Haley were in the back room of the electronics shop, having assured Rotwood that the scroll would be returned to him once they were finished with it. 88 and 89 had gone to bed and the others had gone home for the night.

"So, this will tell us what's wrong with Jake?" asked Haley.

"It should..." said Fu Dog, "I just hope I'm wrong..." The others exchanged nervous glances as the Shar Pei looked over the scroll.

"Oh no... I was hoping it wouldn't be this!" said Fu, with a slight note of panic in his voice.

"What?" asked Rose, "What is it?"

Fu dog rolled the scroll out further, so the others could see it clearly. "It's called the Soul-bind." he said, "Dark magic that was outlawed by the Dragon Council centuries ago." As he spoke, holographic images appeared over the scroll. "An evil sorcerer created the spell as a way to increase his power."

"How does it work?" asked Sun.

"That's the bad news." said Fu, "It binds the soul of the spell caster to any living creature the spell is cast on. If the guy who cast the spell dies, or in the Dark Dragon's case, gets sucked into another dimension, that spell would allow them to temporarily possess the guy that the spell was cast on."

"But what happens if the spell caster isn't dead?" asked Haley.

"That's the worse news..." said Fu, "If they're alive, then the spell 'castee' becomes a kind of power source for the spell caster. It's like a parasite relationship. Kinda like those fleas I can never get rid of." He pointed to the images above the scroll. "Ya' see, as long as that burn mark is in place, the spell caster draws strength and power from the victim. The more powerful the victim becomes, then the more power the caster has."

"So how do we stop it?" asked Rose.

Fu looked up at her, then looked away. "That's just it kid..." he said sadly, "We don't.".

"What!" cried Rose, "Fu, there has to be a way to save Jake!"

"I'm tellin' ya' kid." said Fu,"There's nothing you can do to save him..." The old Shar Pei turned to leave the room, but Rose blocked his path.

She fixed him with a fierce glare. He turned away again, avoiding her eyes. But this time Rose was ready. Fu let out a yelp as she seized the old dog by the scruff of his neck, holding him up so that their eyes met.

"Rose!" cried Sun. She started towards them, but Lao Shi held her back, shaking his head in a warning gesture.

Fu Dog cringed, whimpering as he tried to look away from Rose, but she held him firm, forcing him to meet her gaze.

"Fu Dog." she said. Her voice was deadly calm as she spoke. "How do I break the spell." The air seemed to hang with an eerie stillness as she waiting for him to answer. Finally-

"Ok! Ok!" cried Fu, "I'm weak! There! I said it!" He lowered his gaze, then said slowly, "There is a way to break the curse, but you're not gonna like it..."

"Tell me." said Rose. It wasn't a question, but a command.

Fu sighed heavily, then looked into her eyes and said, "The only way to break the curse... is to slay one of the two that are bonded by it, and if what you say is true. The Dark Dragon is too powerful to slay as long as he's sharing the soul-bind with Jake."

There were sudden gasps from Sun and Haley. Rose stared at Fu, a look of shock on her face, as the meaning of his words sank in...

"No." she said firmly, "There has to be another way. I know Jake. He'd find a way to break it."

"I have heard of this spell before." said Lao Shi. "No one has ever broken it on their own."

Rose lowered Fu Dog to the floor and released him, then she turned to stare at the old man. He met her gaze, unflinching, but she couldn't read the expression on his face.

"There's a first time for everything." said Rose, "If anyone can break that spell, Jake can."

"But... what if he can't?" asked Haley meekly.

"He will." said Rose, "He has too..." She didn't want to think of what would happen if he didn't... What she would have to do...

"So what do we do?" asked Sun.

"We find Jake." said Rose, taking charge, "We find him and help him break the Dark Dragon's curse." She looked at Lao Shi again. The others turned to look at him as well. They waited in silence as the old man stared at Rose, his eyes meeting hers with a searching gaze. Finally, he nodded slowly, turned to Fu and said, "Fu Dog, take Rose and scour the magical community. See if you can find anyone who knows where Jake is."

"What about us?" asked Haley, indicating Sun and herself, "What should we do?"

"You and Sun must gather the others and tell them what we've discovered." said Lao Shi, "I will stay here and read over the scroll again. In case there was something overlooked."

"What about us!"

They all looked up, to see 88 and 89 hiding at the top of the stairs.

"How long have you two been listening?" asked Rose.

"Long enough." said 88.

"Yeah!" said 89, "We wanna help too!" He tried to come out from behind the banister, but tripped over 88, sending them both crashing down the stairs. They landed in a heap in front of Lao Shi.

The aging dragon shook his head wearily. "You two," he said, addressing the two boys, "will stay here, keep out of trouble and help me do research."

"Works for us..." They said, still dazed from the fall.

"Then come on!" said Rose, "We've got a dragon to save."

Hey! ArkansanDragon here! No, I'm not dead! I've just been really busy... :-( homework and other stuff... But I finally got this chapter finished! Yay:-) And I have even better news: The podcast has been updated and savetheshows .com is back up- well, almost... The front page and the "submit content" pages are still down, but all the links work! So please feel free to check them both out. :-) Hope you like this new chapter and I'll try to have the next one up as soon as I can, as well as any new podcast updates, so stay tuned!