Jane Doe and the Key of All Souls

by Jeremy Lachlan

  ‘Either way, we’ll find her first thing in the morning and make her talk. Together. And if Yaku or anyone else tries to stop us, I’ll shove a torch down their throat.’ Violet nods at my bed. ‘Sleep. I’ll take first watch. Make sure your new pet back there doesn’t try to eat us.’

  ‘He’s already scoffed his body weight in snacks, Violet.’

  She arches her eyebrows and pulls the curtain to the other room aside. Aki’s back at the snack table – on the snack table – shovelling food into his gob. He freezes, beady eyes fixed on us, but can’t resist. Inch by inch, he raises another handful to his mouth.

  ‘Point taken,’ I say. ‘Wake me in a few hours.’

  THE SEA UNLEASHED

  I wake from another nightmare, gasping and sweating. It was the same as last time. Roth hunting me through the crystal caverns and the forest. The Spectres Gripping me in the snow. The same gaping void in my chest as I knelt on the foundation stone at the centre of the Cradle. The same terrible knowledge that Dad and Violet were dead and it was all my fault. The same terror as the power got away from me and sparked the Cradle Sea. That same whispered voice.

  Return.

  But this time, the nightmare kept going. I saw a world of ice, a world of water, a world of misty mountains, a world on fire. I saw dark swamps and bustling Otherworldly villages. Foreign cities and peaceful temples. I saw Manor gateways opening in caves and cliff-sides – on mountain tops and under enormous, ancient trees – and the Cradle Sea bursting through them all in tidal waves of shining, white-fire water. I saw the townsfolk of Bluehaven running for cover as the Sea poured down the Sacred Stairs and decimated everything in its path. I saw Winifred Robin, wrapped in her crimson cloak, staring down the deluge as it swallowed Outset Square. I heard the screams of the people. Felt nothing but despair when they were gone.

  This time, I saw Dad sinking in the dark. Dead.

  It’s a goddamn wonder I didn’t cause a quake while I was sleeping.

  I’m shivering. The torches have burned out. I can see the sickle moon through the balcony door. Violet’s fast asleep on the bed to my left, clutching a chair leg as a weapon. Hickory’s still sleeping on my right. Apart from Aki’s soft rattle-snores in the next room, it’s deathly quiet. No drumming. No cheering.

  The party’s over.

  I step onto the balcony, bracing myself against the cold. Take in the flat, silver desert. The clear sky awash with stars. Ledges and balconies dot the cliff-face around me. I lean over the edge a little. We’re so high up, I can barely see the path we climbed to get here. It’s a dizzying sight, almost as sickening as my nightmare.

  The Manor’s been calling to you, Jane, Violet said, all your life.

  You have to listen.

  To what? My fears? My own brain turning against me?

  I rub my temples, try to clear my head, but I can’t stop thinking about Dad. While we’re crossing this salty sandpit of a world, he’s stuck inside the Manor at the mercy of a madman. How many times has Roth trawled through his mind? How much information has he gleaned?

  We’re wasting precious time.

  ‘Hang in there, Johnny-boy.’ I cast the words out across the desert, through the salt pan gateway, along the winding Manor corridors, into Roth’s fortress and Dad’s cell. I imagine the words sneaking into his ears while he sleeps. ‘Hold on.’

  ‘Talking to yourself, Doe?’ Hickory’s lurking in the doorway behind me, eyes downcast, a blanket draped around his shoulders. I fold my arms. ‘What?’ he says.

  ‘I’m just waiting for my thank you. I saved your life.’

  ‘Yeah, well, nobody asked you to.’ He runs a hand over his shear-nicked head. Freezes when Aki rattle-snores extra loud in the next room. ‘Tell me that isn’t what I think it is.’

  ‘It is,’ I say. ‘But it’s okay. I think Aki’s’ – I can’t believe I’m about to say this – ‘a good Leatherhead. Gorani, I mean. That’s what they call them here.’

  ‘Aki? Oh, this gets better and better. You should pick up a Tin-skin while you’re at it. It could sleep at the foot of your bed.’

  ‘Hickory.’

  ‘Hmm?’

  ‘Look at me.’ His head twitches. He kicks at a stone. Still isn’t used to all this open sky. I can’t imagine how strange it must be for him, the simple act of being outside. I reach out to him. ‘It isn’t gonna hurt you.’

  Slowly, hesitantly, Hickory lifts his head and looks at the stars. The moonlight catches in his eyes. He draws in a sharp breath, holds it, steps out onto the balcony and exhales. He looks like a little boy in awe of the wonders of the world. For a second, I’m sure he’s gonna smile. Then he clears his throat and stares at his feet again. ‘So … you’re the third key, huh?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘Should’ve seen it coming, really.’

  ‘Maybe.’ I rub at the bandage around my palm. ‘I mean, I guess it makes sense.’

  Hickory stares at my hand for a moment and sighs, as if that’s all we need to say about it. He twitches his head at our room. ‘Where are we? What is this place?’

  ‘Orin-kin. An outpost on the way to Asmadin.’

  ‘And what’s in Asmadin?’

  ‘The second key.’

  ‘I see.’ He turns to the door. ‘Well, good luck.’

  ‘You’re coming, too, Hickory.’

  He stops. ‘You couldn’t wait to banish me back in the Manor. You said once you found Elsa, you wouldn’t need me anymore. Unless’ – he turns back to me – ‘she doesn’t quite have all the answers you were hoping for. She still hasn’t told you where the Cradle is, has she?’

  ‘We’re working on it.’

  Hickory ignores me. ‘But it’s worse than that.’ He gasps, really laying it on thick. ‘You don’t trust her. And after everything we went through to find her. That’s a shame.’

  This bloody guy. ‘What the hell’s wrong with you?’ I say. ‘I thought –’

  ‘What? That I’d get all teary-eyed because you jumped into a pit for me? You thought I’d see the light and help you save the worlds? Let’s get something straight here. You and me? We’re not friends. I’ve known you for, what, a week? I’m two thousand years old, remember? You’re a speck, Doe. You and Violet. A couple of blips in my life.’

  ‘Blips?’ I say. ‘We got you out of the Manor.’

  ‘And that’s worked out really well for me so far. Thank you.’

  ‘I know you care about us, Dawes.’

  ‘I’ve been using you, Jane. I wanted to –’

  ‘Claim the Cradle and tear the Manor apart. We know.’

  ‘So why do you want me sticking around?’

  ‘Because I don’t reckon you would’ve gone through with it. You can be a real jerk, but you’re not evil. We need your help, Hickory. Please.’

  ‘Oh, you need help, all right. You couldn’t be further from the Cradle, you still haven’t got the second key, and your only way back to the Manor’s through the bad guy’s gateway, not to mention the fact that your new sidekick’s a Leatherhead and your guide’s a raging alcoholic. I’d say the odds of you stopping Roth and saving the worlds are a billion to one.’

  That’s the last straw. ‘First, Aki isn’t my sidekick. He’s just staying the night. Second … okay, Elsa probably is an alcoholic, but third, at least there is another way back inside the Manor. And we know where the second key is, so we basically kind of have it already.’

  ‘Basically kind of. That’s a relief.’

  ‘Yeah, it is, actually.’ I step right up to Hickory. ‘It all comes down to this, skinhead. We need you, and you need us, whether you admit it or not. But if you stuff this up – if you try to cross me again or get yourself killed – I swear I’ll take you back to the Manor, lock you in some random, empty room and make sure nobody finds you. Ever. Again.’

  ‘Big words, little Doe.’ Hickory narrows his eyes. ‘You really believe it, don’t you? You really think I’m one of the good guys?’

  ‘I’d b
et my life on it. Push comes to shove, you’ll be standing right by our side.’

  ‘Push comes to shove?’

  I nod. ‘Push comes to shove.’

  ‘You don’t know me at all, then.’ Hickory turns back to the room. ‘I’m going back to bed. I assume you’ll be leaving at first light. Don’t bother waking me when you go.’

  Alone once more, I look at the stars and steady my shaking hands.

  How do I get Hickory on our side? How can I make him see?

  I’m about to head inside when something smashes on a balcony down to my left. A bottle. I lean over the edge and look up. Spot a glimmer of torchlight on the highest balcony, way up near the top of the cliff.

  A shifting shadow.

  Suddenly, I can’t keep still. I pace around the balcony for a while. Step back inside, wrap a blanket around my shoulders and slip on my sandals.

  I’m sick of being kept in the dark.

  She still hasn’t told you where the Cradle is, has she?

  Hickory’s asleep already.

  What if she’s stalling?

  Violet’s still sleeping, too.

  I stand at the foot of her bed and start whisper-rambling. ‘Hey, I know we said we’d chat to Elsa in the morning, but she’s awake and probably alone and, seeing as there’s no way I’m getting any more sleep tonight, I figured I’d just nip upstairs and grill her now.’ Violet snores a little. I take it as a Sure, go ahead. ‘And, um … just so we’re clear, this doesn’t count as running away. I’ll be back before you wake up, and I’ll tell you everything she said. Deal?’ Violet turns over. I nod. ‘Deal.’

  Those are the things I say. The truth is, I want to do this alone.

  This is between me and Elsa.

  THE WATCHTOWER

  The guard doesn’t even blink when I sneak out and ask him to take me to see Elsa, just leads me through the silent, post-party chaos of Orin-kin, like he’s been waiting for me all night. The drums have been toppled over in the main dome. An old man’s shuffling around, tidying up. A drunken couple’s slow-dancing to a non-existent tune. Everyone else is snoring and drooling, passed out on the floor with empty cups and bottles in their hands.

  We head down a winding tunnel, then up, up, up a steep stone stairwell. When we get to the top, I gasp. We’ve climbed to a watchtower at the peak of the mountain. Torches flicker in the corners. Elsa’s watching the night sky from a shallow balcony. There’s one to our left and another to our right, too, on the northern and southern sides of the peak, looking out over the edge of the Kahega Range. Serpentine cliffs, jagged ridges and dark valleys wind off in both directions, clashing with the desert flats out east.

  Everything’s so silent, so still.

  ‘Tu kali bai,’ the guard mutters, nodding at Elsa.

  ‘Thank you,’ I whisper.

  I take a deep breath and cross the chamber.

  A cold, crisp breeze ripples Elsa’s robe. She hasn’t moved a muscle, but I push on, the anger I was feeling overshadowed by a crackle of nerves.

  Is this all a big mistake?

  ‘I knew you’d come,’ Elsa says at last.

  And just like that, I don’t feel nervous anymore. It’s her words. Her tone. The way she’s standing there with her hands behind her back, like she’s too important to even look at me. Hell, she’s already opened another bottle of booze.

  ‘You’re a real piece of work, you know that?’

  ‘If you’re referring to the pit –’

  ‘Of course I’m referring to the bloody pit.’

  ‘– I had no choice. I told you. The laws of this land –’

  ‘I don’t give a crap about the laws of this land.’ I step onto the balcony, carefully sidle up to the stone-carved balustrade, and immediately wish we could duck back inside. ‘You should’ve warned us.’

  ‘And you should’ve let things play out.’ Elsa waves her bottle my way, sloshing the liquid inside. ‘Jumping into the pit was a stupid move, Jane. You’re lucky the Gorani backed down.’

  ‘I’m lucky I wasn’t shot.’

  ‘Pfft, no-one was gonna shoot you. You refused to fight. We had to get the crowd on your side somehow, and you didn’t disappoint. Threatening to cause a quake? That was smart. I almost believed you’d do it, too.’ She downs a mouthful of booze. ‘I wouldn’t have saved the Gorani, of course, but it could work to our advantage. Life debts are powerful things.’

  I blink at her. ‘I’m sorry, what?’

  ‘Then again, it is a deserter. Might not honour the bond at all.’

  ‘Oi,’ I say, ‘what life debt? What bond?’

  Elsa turns to me at last. ‘The Gorani are a curious species. There’s a reason Roth aligned with them prior to the Great War. They’re not mindless savages. They come from an honour-bound culture. For too long, they’d been banished to the shadows of this world. Forgotten. Roth freed ’em. Brought ’em into the light, or so he had ’em believe. That’s why they serve him, generation after generation.’

  ‘Out of the shadows and into the Manor,’ I say. ‘Hardly what I’d call freedom.’

  ‘Well,’ Elsa says, ‘I never said they were smart.’

  ‘So … because I spared Aki’s life in the pit –’

  Elsa chuckle-huffs. ‘You gave it a name?’

  ‘I gave him a name,’ I say. ‘So what?’

  ‘Never heard of such a thing. But, yes, because you spared its – his – life, he’s bound to you. Sworn to protect and obey you till the debt is repaid. And that, my dear, is a very good thing. We’ll need all the help we can get to sneak through the dune sea gateway undetected. He’ll blend in better than any of us. And if he takes a bullet for you in the process, all’s the better.’

  ‘That’s a terrible thing to say.’

  ‘This is war. All that matters is getting you to the Cradle in one piece.’ Elsa takes another swig. ‘We’ll have to watch him in Asmadin, of course. Most people there have never even seen a Gorani in the flesh – not a live one, anyway. Last thing we want to do is cause a panic. Not when we’re so close to the end.’

  I picture the journey ahead: all those mountains and valleys of the Kahega Range, the canyon city of Asmadin and the sprawling dune sea. ‘Are we close to the end? Because it sure doesn’t feel like it.’

  ‘We’re a helluva lot closer than we were yesterday.’ Elsa stifles a burp. ‘Look.’ She staggers to the balcony on the northern side of the peak and leans out so far I swear a stiff breeze could tip her over the edge. ‘Down there. See that path off to the left? That’s the Mulu Pass. We leave at first light. It’s a dangerous road, but we’ve trekked it many times before.’

  I spot a bunch of specks way down on a neighbouring hillside. A pack of Taw-taws darting around under the moonlight. ‘Speaking of dangerous, they can’t get in here, right?’

  ‘No,’ Elsa says. ‘The lower tunnels are protected. Gates on every entrance. Two guards apiece. Don’t worry, Jane, you’re safe. We’ve got everything covered.’

  The Taw-taws scurry out of sight. We stare out at the mountains, standing side by side.

  ‘You know why I’m here,’ I say at last.

  ‘Yeah,’ Elsa says. ‘I know why you’re here.’

  ‘If we’re not on the same page, Roth’s gonna wipe the floor with us when we get back to the Manor. You don’t like me? Fine. But you have to trust me.’

  Elsa huffs out a deep breath. Turns to the guard and nods. He says something and she snaps something back. He frowns at me, nods, and heads back down the stairs. ‘Sometimes I wonder who’s really in charge round here,’ Elsa says once his footsteps have faded. Then she clears her throat and straightens up. ‘So, what would you like to know?’

  ‘Everything,’ I say at once.

  ‘Everything?’ She gulps another mouthful of booze, wipes her mouth on her sleeve. ‘We might be here a while.’

  ‘Fine by me. We’ve got all night.’

  ‘Praise the Makers.’

  ‘I’m serious, Elsa.’
r />   ‘Okay, okay.’ Elsa pinches the top of her nose. ‘I’ll tell you everything, just lower your voice. You’re like a bloody – I dunno – baby bird or something. Where should we start?’

  Okay. This is good. This is happening. I don’t want to ask about the Cradle yet, though. Don’t want to ask about the mysterious spike pit in the Manor, or exactly what happened to her and Dad. I can’t have her shutting down and pushing me away again.

  ‘The second key,’ I say instead. ‘I want to know exactly where it’s hidden in Asmadin. And I want to know about the dummy keys, too. Why didn’t you just keep the real one secret when you got here?’

  She sighs. ‘I was delirious when the nomads found me. Rambling about the Cradle. Word got around quickly: one of the legendary keys had been found. The Elders decreed that nobody was to speak of it, under penalty of banishment, but we knew that wasn’t enough. If Roth ever returned –’

  ‘He could read anyone’s thoughts and learn the truth,’ I say. ‘Everyone must’ve been terrified. I’m surprised the Elders didn’t want to destroy the key.’

  ‘One did. Tried to kill me in my sleep, too. Rena Boboki was her name. Thankfully, the other Elders sided with me. They knew the importance of the key. Rena was expelled from the council, exiled into the desert with her followers. She’s dead now, but her legacy lives on.’

  ‘The Boboki Clan,’ I say. ‘The rival tribe.’

  ‘Exactly.’ Another sip. Another burp. ‘It was Masaru’s idea to forge the false keys.’

  ‘Masaru,’ I say. ‘The old healer who helped you.’

  Elsa nods. ‘We forged three hundred keys. Paraded ’em before all of Asmadin. Made a show of adding the true key to the chest, mixed ’em round and divvied ’em up. I was given one. Each of the Elders, too. Trusted families, warriors, nomads and shepherds. They were all instructed to keep their key safe and secret, and sent off into the world.’ Elsa nods at the dark horizon. ‘They left to form new tribes all over Arakaan. Reclaim ruined cities of sand and stone. Far as everyone’s concerned, the true key could be hidden in any one of them.’