Jane Doe and the Key of All Souls

by Jeremy Lachlan

  The sound of a scuffle inside. Another loud crash. Violet grunting, Aki screeching, and a man who definitely isn’t Hickory shouting at them both.

  ‘Violet!’ I shove my shoulder into the door. ‘Aki, let me in!’

  ‘Jane,’ Violet shouts, ‘don’t –’ but the rest of her words are muffled.

  ‘You let her go,’ I shout at the man, whoever he is. ‘If you hurt her …’

  Elsa’s by my side, now. We shove the door together.

  This time it bursts open.

  The table’s been flipped, the food platters flung far and wide. A black-cloaked man’s unconscious on the floor. Aki has two more pinned to the wall. Violet’s fighting a bald guy twice her size over by the balcony. She jabs a quick one-two, ducks, weaves, kicks one of his legs and brings him to his knees. She goes to kick him again, but he spins around and grabs her foot, and before I know it I’m dashing across the room, grabbing a platter, leaping over an upturned chair and smacking the chump square in the face. He releases Violet’s foot, groans and sways.

  ‘I said,’ I huff and puff, ‘let her go.’

  The guy’s eyes roll back into his head. He topples over like a felled tree.

  Over by the table, Aki tightens his grip on the two men, smashes their heads together and drops them in a heap. Then he waves at me like I’ve just popped in for some tea.

  ‘Hey, Aki.’ I ditch the platter and smile at Violet. ‘Just in time, huh?’

  But Violet isn’t smiling back. ‘Just in time?’ She unsheathes Platter Face’s blade from his belt. ‘I wake up beside an empty bed with some guy’s hand over my mouth and a knife at my neck and you say just in time? I can’t believe you left! Again!’

  ‘I didn’t leave.’ I jab a thumb at Elsa as she steps into the room, wide-eyed. The woman’s in shock. ‘I was just talking to Elsa, and then Yaku –’

  ‘You don’t go anywhere without me,’ Violet says. ‘That was the deal.’

  ‘I’m sorry, Violet, but I had to –’

  ‘Save it. We’ve got bigger problems right now.’

  ‘We do indeed,’ Elsa says, her voice trembling. She nudges the black-cloaked guy on the floor with her foot. ‘They’re Boboki raiders, all right. They’ve come to kill you, Jane.’

  ‘Kill her?’ Violet says, staring down at the blade in her hands. ‘But …’

  ‘What?’ Elsa asks. ‘Spit it out, girl.’

  ‘It’s just – they didn’t use their weapons.’

  ‘Yes, well,’ Elsa grunts, ‘they rarely do. Boboki prefer hand-to-hand combat.’

  ‘And they’re loyal to Roth?’

  Elsa unsheathes a Boboki blade for herself. ‘They’re loyal to Arakaan, or so they claim. They want to stop us from re-entering the Manor. Yaku must’ve been working with them for years, ever since …’ She shakes her head in disgust. ‘I didn’t rescue him. They let me take him because they’d already turned him. He was just a boy.’ And she snaps. Spins around, screams and slashes at the wall till it’s cracked and scarred. Then she stops. Smooths down her robe. Tucks her flyaway hair behind her ears. ‘Apologies. I just had to –’

  ‘Kill the wall,’ I say. ‘Hey, no judgement here. I’d be angry too.’

  ‘Where’s Yaku now?’ Violet says.

  ‘He just attacked us in the main dome.’

  ‘He must’ve let them in through one of the lower gates,’ Elsa says, nodding at the black-cloaks. ‘There could be more out there. Other traitors, too. Orin-kin is no longer safe.’

  ‘Wait, where’s Hickory?’ I say, rushing to the next room.

  His bed and side table have been upturned. He’s lying between them, tangled in a sheet, doused in the oils, pastes and powders from the healers’ pots. There’s a fifth black-cloaked Boboki sprawled beside him, dead. Guy’s got a spoon sticking out of one eye.

  ‘Heeeeey, you’re back.’ Hickory grins up at me and sniffs his overly oiled hands. ‘I dunno what this stuff is, but I like it. Smells like … purple.’

  ‘Oh.’ I turn back to the others. ‘Yeah, he’s fine.’

  ‘Praise the Makers,’ Violet mutters, and turns to Elsa. ‘So what do we do now?’

  Elsa strides over to the door, checks the tunnel left and right. ‘We leave. Make for the Mulu Pass before it’s too late.’

  That’s when a gunshot echoes through the mountain. When somebody, somewhere, screams and a rumble of angry chanting echoes through the tunnels.

  More Boboki are coming.

  The battle’s only just begun.

  ‘Stay close,’ Elsa tells me, ‘keep your head down. Anyone sees the colour of your eyes, they’ll know you’re the one they’re here to kill.’ She nods at the next room. ‘Hickory stays.’

  ‘Not a chance. I told you, we need him.’

  ‘We can’t carry him, Jane. He’ll only slow us down.’

  ‘ARRGGHHH!’ Out of nowhere, Platter Face leaps to his feet by the balcony door, ready to charge at me and Elsa. Violet leaps forward to take him down, but Aki gets there first, vaulting over the table, springing from the floor, kicking the man square in the chest with both feet and sending him flying backwards, out over the balcony and into the morning light.

  We stare at Aki, stunned. He stands up straight, nods at me and rattles his throat. Click-clack-click-click.

  ‘Um,’ Violet says, frozen mid-attack, ‘what the –’

  ‘Life debt,’ I say. ‘Apparently, he’s kinda … bound to me now.’

  ‘Leatherheads have an honour code?’

  ‘Who would’ve thought, huh?’ I say. And then I turn to Elsa, struck by a bloody brilliant idea. ‘We don’t have to carry Hickory.’ I point at Aki. ‘He can.’

  SLIDE AND RIDE

  ‘He’s gonna hate us for this,’ I shout to Violet as we run.

  Hickory’s slung over Aki’s shoulders, bouncing up and down in front of us as we sprint through the tunnels, humming a merry goddamn tune. Every time Aki swings around to check on me, Hickory’s head smacks into a wall, but I’m pretty sure he can’t feel a thing. ‘Ouch,’ he mutters, then chuckles, and starts humming again. Their loincloths are flapping dangerously, too, threatening to blind us. It’s almost as terrifying as the horde of Boboki raiders breathing down our necks.

  ‘He should be grateful we’re bringing him at all,’ Violet shouts back.

  Orin-kin is in chaos. Woken by the gunshot and chanting, half the tribe’s sprinting through the tunnels with us, so panicked they don’t seem to notice or care that a seven-foot Gorani’s running alongside them. Others are charging back towards the action with clubs and blades in hand, ready to battle the Boboki.

  I keep expecting Yaku to burst through the crowd. No wonder he was annoyed I’d gone to see Elsa. I was supposed to be with the others, grouped together for an easy kill.

  ‘Through here,’ Elsa shouts.

  She plucks a fire-lit torch from a bracket on the wall and dashes down a thin, deserted tunnel. Aki does too, scraping Hickory along the stone as he goes. Violet shoves me in after them. The ceiling’s much lower in here, the walls less than a metre apart. We run single file.

  More gunshots echo behind us. Another chorus of Boboki chanting.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Violet shouts.

  ‘Shortcut down to the stables.’ We all skid to a halt as Elsa stops suddenly. She reaches into one of several small holes cut into the rock wall, shoulder-deep. ‘Step aside as soon as you get to the bottom, Jane. Stay put. The rest of us’ll be coming in fast right behind you.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ I ask. ‘The bottom of what?’

  ‘Move forward a bit. Half a step.’

  I obey without thinking twice. ‘Here? Why?’

  ‘Arms in tight, like a pin.’

  ‘Like this?’

  ‘Perfect,’ Elsa says. ‘Have fun.’

  She tugs a lever or something in the wall and the next thing I know I’m falling, slipping, sliding down a secret trapdoor chute, swearing my guts out. The darkness is thick and c
ool, the stone worn smooth by centuries of sliding butts. The wind rushes through my ears. Close behind me, I can hear Violet sliding, Aki click-clacking, Hickory cackling, crying, ‘Whoopeeee!’ The slide banks left and right, corkscrew twirls.

  A flash of light, and I shoot across the hay-strewn floor of a storeroom, slam into a wall. Before I can roll to the side, Violet crashes into me. Leaps to her feet and scans the junk scattered around the room. Crates. Saddles. Bales of hay. A rack of shovels and rakes.

  She grabs a shovel. ‘Better than nothing.’

  A second later, Aki and Hickory slip across the floor and slam into me, too. Hickory shoots me a dopey grin. ‘Let’s do that again.’ Seems the effects of the healers’ oils haven’t worn off yet.

  ‘Get up, all of you,’ Violet whispers, creeping over to the door. ‘And keep it down.’

  Elsa slides into the room nice and easy, like she’s out for a morning jaunt. Hops up and rummages around behind the bales of hay, looking for a weapon or something, I guess.

  ‘A little warning would’ve been nice,’ I say, nodding back at the chute.

  ‘And miss the look on your face when you fell? Pfft. Ah-ha!’ She pulls out a dusty bottle of booze, uncorks it with her teeth, chugs a mouthful and sighs. ‘Lovely.’

  ‘Question,’ Hickory says, staring at his hands. ‘Did I just kill a guy with a spoon?’

  ‘Can we focus, please?’ Violet hisses. She eases the door open a crack to see if the coast is clear. It isn’t, of course. ‘I count four hostages. Kids. Three hostiles, all armed. On the plus side, most of the horses are already saddled.’

  Elsa joins Violet by the door. ‘Those kids are the stablehands.’ She opens the door a little wider so I can look, too. ‘The gate down there’s still closed. Yaku must’ve let the Boboki in through a different one. Ungrateful little –’ She takes another swig and swears.

  The place is big. Horse stalls and hay bales line the far wall. Torches flicker in every corner. To our left, three tunnels wind up into the mountain. To our right, a much shorter one leads to the stable gate. Two Boboki raiders are guarding it, spears and machetes at the ready. The stablehands – four terrified kids – are on their knees in the middle of the room. The third Boboki raider’s pacing around them. Guy’s a walking brick wall, white skin inked in swirling tattoos.

  Violet pokes her head out to get a better look, ducks back, and eases the door shut. ‘There’s a wagon loaded with barrels to the right of the exit tunnel …’

  ‘Supplies from Asmadin,’ Elsa says. ‘Salted meat. Flint. Oil.’

  Violet’s eyes light up. ‘For the torches? Flammable oil?’

  ‘Don’t even think about it, Violet,’ I say.

  ‘But –’

  ‘You’re not blowing anything up. You could kill the horses. Not to mention yourself.’

  ‘Hey,’ she snaps, ‘I’m still mad at you for leaving, so don’t tell me what to do.’

  ‘I told you, I didn’t leave.’

  ‘Oh, sure,’ Elsa says, ‘let’s settle this now. Not like we’re in a hurry or anything.’

  ‘Fine.’ Violet wrings her hands on her shovel. ‘No explosions. You all stay here. As soon as I step outside, close the door behind me, count to twenty, then get to the horses. Jane, stay close to Aki and Hickory. Aki, I know you can’t understand a word I’m saying, but on the off-chance you can – kill anyone who tries to hurt Jane. Elsa?’ Violet snatches the bottle from her hands, tosses it onto a pile of hay. ‘Stop drinking. Honestly, you’re a mess. I’ll take down the Boboki, free the stablehands and open the gate.’

  Elsa blinks at her. ‘How old are you again?’

  ‘Fourteen,’ Violet says. ‘You got a problem with that?’

  ‘Not at all.’ She salutes Violet. ‘Off you go, then.’

  ‘What? No,’ I whisper-shout. ‘You’re not going out there alone, Violet.’

  But she’s already slipping through the door, Elsa’s already closing it, and when I try to open it again, Aki grabs my wrist. I try to shake him off, but his grip’s too tight.

  Elsa starts the countdown – ‘One, two, three’ – and holds her ear to the door – ‘four, five. Interesting girl, by the way. Real firecracker. I can see why you have a crush on her.’

  ‘What? I don’t –’

  ‘Six, seven, eight –’

  ‘Jane called her pretty,’ Hickory says. ‘Back inside the Manor.’

  ‘Shut up, Hickory.’

  ‘Did she now? Nine, ten, eleven –’

  ‘Mm-hmm,’ he says. ‘Remember, Jane? Remember when you called Violet pretty? Jane’s never kissed anyone before, though,’ he tells Elsa. ‘Told me so in the forest. It’s a secret.’

  ‘I hate you so much right now.’ I’ve had enough of this. I slap Aki’s hand off my arm. ‘Fourteen, nineteen, twenty – let’s go.’

  By the time I shove Elsa aside and open the door, Violet’s already taken down the raider in the centre of the stable. The stablehands have scattered. Now Violet’s charging at the other two Boboki with her shovel in hand. They throw their spears. She dives clear, leaps up and sprints again, barely missing a step. The men twirl their machetes, ready to fight.

  We stick to the plan and head for the horses. They’re all spooked by the commotion, stomping hooves, flaring nostrils. All except Scab, that is. He’s munching on some hay.

  ‘Stay down, don’t move,’ Elsa says, pushing me into a corner. Aki squats beside me. ‘Soon as Violet has the gate open, hit the road and head for the Pass. Don’t stop. Don’t look back.’

  ‘Wait, wh– where are you going?’

  ‘Essential supply run.’ She winks, barks an order at the stablehands and slips off between the stalls. They obey at once and lead Rex over to the wagon by the exit, tugging frantically at his reins as he rears.

  Violet smacks one Boboki with her shovel, kicks off the wall, leaps onto the other’s shoulders and whacks him, too. She rolls clear when they collapse, storms towards the gate.

  I think I love her.

  ‘Jane,’ Hickory shouts, ‘come look! What is this stuff?’

  The chump’s swaying in the middle of the stable, staring at a pile of horse crap on the floor like it’s some kind of miracle sent by the gods, completely oblivious to the Boboki girl darting from the shadows, charging at him with a spear.

  ‘Bloody hell, Hickory, move!’

  I sprint over and crash-tackle him clear. The Boboki girl skids past us – a near miss. We hit the ground and roll. I spin around first chance I get, and the girl does, too, raising her spear again. So much for Boboki not using their weapons.

  ‘Please’ – I hold up my hands – ‘we don’t have to fight.’

  She’s only a few years older than me. Brown-skinned. Covered in elaborate tattoos like the other guy. They wrap around her arms and legs in swirls and spikes, and curl right up to her neck. She gasps when she sees my eyes. ‘Tu bai,’ she cries, scanning the stables for her kin. ‘Tu bai!’

  She knows I’m the one they’ve come to kill.

  But if she wants to kill me, why is she lowering her spear? Why are her hands shaking?

  ‘Cabagu-nai,’ she says. ‘Cabagu-nai, de –’

  BAM. She’s wiped out by a flying saddle, hurled by Aki. Her spear clatters to the ground. She sinks to the floor, out cold. I stand over her, mind racing. What was she trying to tell me?

  Aki rattles his throat at me, no doubt telling me to hurry. It’s time to go.

  I kick Hickory’s leg. ‘Get up. Now.’

  ‘Nah.’ He stretches out on the straw-scattered floor, tucks his hands behind his head. ‘I already told you, Janey. I’m done. You go, though. Say hi to Roth for me.’

  I narrow my eyes. Janey?

  ‘Aki,’ I shout, and point at Hickory. ‘Get him.’

  Hickory tries to crawl away, but Aki scoops him up and hauls him back to the horses, just as an almighty horn bellows through the stables. Another Boboki in the shadows, calling for reinforcements.

  �
��Damn it.’ I grab a nearby bucket and throw it at him. Miss by a long shot. He goes to blow the horn again when – BLAMO! – it’s blasted clean from his hands.

  Elsa’s back, striding from one of the tunnels with a bulging sack slung over her shoulder and a pistol in her hand. She aims at the guy again, but he’s gone.

  ‘This place’ll be overrun by Boboki any second,’ she shouts. ‘Everybody out!’

  I take a final look at the Boboki girl and wonder who she is.

  ‘Jane!’ Violet’s cranking the gate down the exit tunnel now, flooding the place with pale morning light. ‘You waiting for a spear to the gut or what? Get on a horse and ride!’

  Girl’s got a point.

  I make a beeline for Yaku’s horse. Almost get my foot into the stirrup, too. Unfortunately, Elsa nabs me at the last second and pushes me towards Scab, of all the bloody options.

  ‘No,’ I say, trying to break free. ‘Please, no.’

  But Elsa heaves me up into the saddle, not that Scab seems to notice. I consider jumping off, picking another horse – literally any other horse – but the Boboki have arrived. Dozens of them storm into the stables with their weapons drawn.

  Yaku’s with them, black-cloaked now, holding a bloodied rag to his face. ‘Elsa,’ he screams, ‘dahna de nai!’

  I give Scab a little kick. ‘Move it, you stupid animal!’

  Aki slings Hickory over his shoulder – ‘Put me down, you overgrown toad!’ – hops into the saddle of a silver mare and canters off with a swift kick and throat-rattle.

  ‘Move it,’ I shout again. ‘Go! Onward! Um. Hey presto?’ I kick Scab, shake the reins, bob up and down, but nothing works. ‘Elsa, how do I make him go?’

  I shouldn’t have asked. She slaps his rump with a sharp ‘Hey-yah!’ and Scab whinnies, rears back and bolts through the stables so fast I nearly crap my pants. We leap over the fallen Boboki, rocket past the stablehands tethering Rex to the wagon, blast down the tunnel and overtake Aki and Hickory. Before I know it, we’re bolting into the light, and Violet’s yelling at me, reaching out a hand. I grab it, grit my teeth and swing. Somehow, she twists around and lands right behind me in the saddle, swift as a bird, a leaf, a goddess of the goddamn wind.