The Soul Flute

By Liz Elliott

Set in the far away Kingdom of Marnalli, 'The Soul Flute' is a story about a young girl named Jadelin and her quest to escape the clutches of the Greoblin, a malevolent goblin-like creature with the power to control shadow. On her adventures, she is joined by her over-protective brother, a friendly but somewhat eccentric witch, a dragon with a rather unusual choice of dwelling, a knight who is afraid of... well, pretty much everything, a musician who is unable to compose any music, and of course a certain magical musical instrument... Meanwhile, the Greoblin has been formulating his dark and ominous plans. Piece by piece, Jadelin and her newfound friends must unravel the mysteries surrounding the Greoblin and the Soul Flute, and journey into unknown realms in order to save everything they hold dear.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 11, 2011
• ISBN: 9781447638810

Book preview

Prologue

The Captain of the Guard gazed at the dishevelled young man sitting in front of him. His armour was missing, and his uniform looked as if it had been dragged through several thorny bushes. His face was pale and drawn, his eyes sunken.

‘Tomas, where have you been for the last three days?’ the Captain demanded. ‘And where is Devyan? He was on night watch with you three days ago, wasn’t he? No one has seen him since then. What in Marnalli happened?’

Tomas looked at the Captain, and opened his mouth to speak, but only strange sounds came out.

‘What?’ the Captain said. Tomas shook his head and looked at his lap. He began muttering to himself. The Captain leant forward, straining to hear. He caught snatches of words, such as shadows and demons, but the rest made no sense.

‘Tomas,’ the Captain tried again. ‘Try to pull yourself together. You’re a soldier.’

Tomas looked up sharply and started babbling, his eyes darting in all directions. ‘The darkness… there was howling in the darkness… then darkness came out of the darkness… we fell, we were trapped, and then he came, he came and there was more darkness… and then the demons came, they took my mind, they took my mind because they wanted the answer to the question, he wanted… the answer to the question… they took my mind… they killed Devyan, I saw them kill Devyan, because he wanted to know… the answer, the answer to the question…’

‘Wait a minute, Tomas, slow down. Who wanted the answer? To what question?’

Tomas looked at him with a pained expression. ‘I never knew the question, I never knew… the demons took the answer, they took it for him.’

‘For who, Tomas?’ the Captain pressed, although he was already sure he knew.

‘The Gr… the Greoblin…’ Tomas wailed, and started to sob.

She was ten years old when she first encountered him.

It was midsummer in Marnalli, and the lure of the mountain dwelling’s Okuda tree had proved too much for Jadelin to resist. With carefree abandon, she traversed the lower branches, dislodging leaves and ripening Okuda pears alike.

‘Ouch!’ came a sudden cry from below. Jadelin looked down to see her elder brother Samuel staring up at her, rubbing his head with a scowl on his face. A fallen pear lay on the ground beside his feet. Jadelin burst out laughing, and he glared at her crossly before picking up the offending pear and hurling it in her direction. Nimbly, she swung out of its path, and it sailed harmlessly through the canopy, a flutter of leaves in its wake.

‘You’re for it now, Samuel!’ she yelled, and began clambering higher.

‘Jade, you know you’re not supposed to climb that tree!’ Samuel called after her.

Jadelin ignored him and shimmied onto a narrow limb. Peering through the dense foliage, she could just about make out her brother below. She plucked the nearest Okuda pear from its branch and held it out, gauging her target before letting it fall. Fortunately for Samuel, the rustling sound from the pear’s descent through the canopy alerted him to the incoming projectile. With a yelp, he jumped out of the way just as the pear landed with a thump beside him.

‘Jade!’ he cried in exasperation. Laughing, Jadelin started to traverse the upper branches of the tree. She found what seemed to be a sturdy branch, and clambered onto it and perched there, surveying her surroundings. She could no longer see Samuel below. Perhaps he had gone back inside. Or gone to tell Ma and Pa that she was climbing the tree. She wouldn’t have put it past him. Maybe she ought to get back down before he came back with their parents; Pa would be furious if he discovered her up here.

With a sigh, Jadelin reached out for the nearest branch to steady her downwards climb. And froze.

Sitting on a branch opposite, and regarding her with glowing red eyes, was a green-skinned creature with a long nose, pointed ears and clawed hands and feet. Seeing her staring, it leered at her, displaying a row of needlepoint teeth. Jadelin automatically recoiled, and the instinctive reaction sent her tumbling from the tree branch. She desperately tried to grab hold of something to stop her descent, but all she managed to grasp were handfuls of leaves. She caught a glimpse of movement above her, then she closed her eyes in anticipation of hitting the ground.

The last second before she collided with the earth seemed to take forever. Then Jadelin realised that she no longer had the sensation of air rushing past her face. She opened her eyes to discover that she was suspended a mere foot above the ground, enveloped in a web of shadowy tendrils. She was lowered to the grass, where the shadows melted. She rolled over, and sat up to see the creature standing in front of her. Although she had never seen him before, Jadelin knew who he was. The Greoblin was watching her with an expression of calculating interest.

‘Jadelin!’ She looked round to see Samuel running out of the house, a look of concern on his face. Jadelin then looked back to the Greoblin. But he had vanished.

Chapter 1

The Assassination Attempt

The marketplace was bursting with noise, colour and motion as Jadelin made her way through the streets. The townspeople she passed took one look at the dark-eyed girl with ebony hair and got quickly out of the way, with furtive sidelong glances. This, Jadelin knew, was only partly because she was walking along singing in a lilting, high-pitched manner. That would have been enough for them to think her strange, but the townspeople seemed afraid of her. She tried smiling at them as she sang, but that only seemed to make matters worse: the townsfolk scuttled away even faster than before.

Only one person was friendly towards her, and that was old Clement, the town librarian. Jadelin sometimes helped out in the town library, sorting books and other odd jobs. The part she most enjoyed, however, was getting to climb the ladders to reach the top shelves… Clement smiled and gave her a wink as she passed. But, apart from the gaggle of children who ran up to her, laughing, with their fingers in their ears, everyone else gave her as wide a berth as possible.

Will it always be like this? Jadelin wondered as she made her way down the bustling, cobbled streets towards the castle. The townspeople have been avoiding me for five whole years now…

The castle was situated on a thin thrust of land that jutted out onto a mountain lake nestled between three snow-capped peaks. It was built of white, marbled stone, with towering spires and well-kept courtyards all contained within a high outer wall: the plush home of the King of Marnalli. The town stretched all the way up to the entrance of the castle; over a dozen tradespeople had set up shop on the land bridge, probably anticipating that the King himself might well be one of their customers.

Upon reaching the land bridge, she stopped singing and took in the impressive, white form of the castle looming majestically above the thatch roofs. Then she approached the castle gate, where a solitary guard stood, straight and perfectly still. In his left hand, he held a long and menacing-looking spear, adorned with barbs that glinted in the sunlight. The guard’s face was almost completely obscured by a large helmet and he wore the bulky armour of the King’s forces, with a sheathed sword within easy reach of his free right hand. Tall and stern, he was an intimidating sight to most.

Boldly, Jadelin stepped up to him and waved enthusiastically at his expressionless face. He frowned slightly, and responded,

‘Just hello would be enough, you know, Jadelin.’

Jadelin laughed. ‘I wasn't sure you’d seen me!’

‘Well, of course I had, I’m a guard, I’m supposed to notice everything, aren’t I?’ He paused before quickly glancing around to check nothing suspicious was, in fact, going on. Turning back to Jadelin, he asked, ‘Why are you here anyway? I’m on duty.’

‘Are you saying you can’t even spare a few seconds just to talk to your own sister? I’m surprised at you, Samuel.’ Jadelin pretended to look hurt and Samuel frowned for the second time.

‘I don’t want to get in trouble, that’s all. But of course you can talk to me. You can always talk to me, you know that. Now, tell me what it is and hurry up.’

‘It won’t take long. I just wanted to tell you that I had a very strange dream last night...’ She paused for that to sink in.

Samuel looked at her blankly for a moment. ‘Is that all?’

‘No, wait, I haven’t told you the dream yet-’ She was flustered. ‘-it’s important!’ She leant forward and whispered, ‘It was about the Greoblin!’

Samuel shuddered. ‘What about that monster?’

Jadelin opened her mouth to reply, then stopped as she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. She peered past Samuel’s armoured form, and gasped.

‘Samuel…’ she started, as her brother spun to face whatever it was that had startled her.

‘What the…?’ he said in disbelief. Guards from all round the castle perimeter were walking towards them, all at a similar slow pace. The closest guards were only yards away, advancing upon the pair with strangely blank expressions on their faces. As Samuel and Jadelin watched in puzzled astonishment, the nearest guards stepped up to them and stopped in front of them, still staring into space. More joined them, until about twenty guards were gathered outside the castle gate, facing Jadelin and her brother, staring vacantly into the distance.

Samuel took in the scene with growing alarm, then turned to his sister. ‘You’d better go home, Jade.’

‘What’s happening?’ Jadelin asked, her eyes wide.

‘I don’t know, just go!’

Jadelin hesitated a moment, then turned to leave.

The main gate of the castle burst open, and a squadron of guards came rushing out. They skirted the group of stationary guards, then one of them saw Jadelin and pointed.

‘Arrest that girl!’

Jadelin turned in surprise. Two guards grabbed her by the arms. They began dragging her with them back to the gate.

‘Let me go! What have I done?!’ she screamed.

Samuel pulled one of the other guards round to face him. ‘What are you doing?!’

The guard gave him a scathing look. ‘Haven’t you noticed the other guards?’

‘Of course, but what’s Jadelin got to do with it?’

‘Well, obviously you’ve been fooled.’

Jadelin was still struggling as the two guards pulled her through the gate. ‘Why are you arresting me?’ she cried out to them. The guards ignored her.

‘What do you mean, I’ve been fooled?’ Samuel demanded.

‘There's been a plot to assassinate the King. Several would-be assassins passed unnoticed into the castle. It wasn't until they were in the corridor outside the King's chamber that they were discovered and arrested. They were actually boasting about how easy it was to sneak inside; all they had to do was have someone distract the guards and they were in! The guards have been put under a spell.’ He indicated the perimeter guards, who were starting to come out of their trance. Some were already shaking their heads in confusion. Then the guard continued, ‘That girl is a witch, and part of the assassination plan.’

‘My sister is not a witch!’ Samuel cried.

The guard rounded on him, his temper flaring. ‘Oh come on, everyone knows what happened five years ago. She’s chosen by the devil to do the devil’s work. How can you not see it?’

‘What happened five years ago does not make Jadelin a witch!’

The guard didn’t even flinch. ‘I thought you and she were practically brought up by one.’

Samuel’s face flushed with rage. ‘Ziandra may well be a witch, but she looked out for us when our parents died. She is not evil.’

‘But Jadelin has learned from her, hasn’t she? And she’s using her craft for the devil’s purposes…’

‘No! Ziandra has never taught Jadelin magic or anything of the sort! My sister is not a witch, I am telling you. She has no magic, and she’s most certainly not performing the work of the devil!’

The guard folded his arms. ‘How were all our perimeter guards put under a spell, then?’

‘I don’t know,’ admitted Samuel helplessly. ‘I just know that it wasn’t Jadelin.’

‘I’m sure the Captain of the Guard will accept that watertight defence,’ the guard snarled. ‘Perhaps you should be there when he interrogates her, to tell him we’ve arrested the wrong witch. You don’t know which witch did it, but you just know it wasn’t your sister, even though she was the only witch in the vicinity.’

‘Fine. I will.’ With that, Samuel stormed past the guard and marched through the castle gate.

Jadelin was shoved so roughly into the dungeon cell, she lost her balance and crashed onto the hard, stone floor. She picked herself up with as much dignity as possible, just as the guards slammed the door. Trembling, she watched in horror as they turned the key in the lock. Giving her one last wary glance through the iron bars of the door, they turned and marched away. Jadelin stood, frozen to the spot, in the dim light of the cell, trying to fight the rising feeling of panic.

What did I do wrong? was the question that played over and over again in her head. I only wanted to speak to Samuel. Is that a crime? What are they going to do with me? As panicked thoughts raced through her mind, she gradually became aware of her surroundings. The cell was only dimly lit by the small window in the door, and it took a while for Jadelin’s eyes to adjust. Even then, the far corners of the cell still receded into darkness. There was a scattering of dirty straw on the ground, slimy lichen on the stone walls, and a horribly pungent smell she didn’t wish to try to identify. How long are they going to keep me in here? she wondered miserably.

However, she hadn't had much time to get used to her new surroundings before she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Then Samuel appeared, followed by one other guard. Jadelin stepped toward the door and peered out through the bars. Looking at the other guard more closely, she saw that there were notable differences between his uniform and her brother’s. He wore a bright blue sash that hung from his right shoulder, and his helmet was larger and more ornate than Samuel’s. She was pondering over this when Samuel spoke.

‘Jadelin, this is the Captain of the Guard.’ He indicated the well-adorned man standing next to him. ‘He wants to ask you some questions. Just answer them, Jade, and everything will be all right. You’re innocent, so have nothing to fear…’

‘Thank you, soldier, for that little introduction.’ The Captain pushed past Samuel and strode up to the door. He scrutinised Jadelin through the bars. ‘Tell me, Jadelin, what exactly were you doing outside the castle gate this afternoon?’

Jadelin felt unnerved by the Captain’s hard stare, and she swallowed noisily. ‘I… um, I had to talk to my brother about something.’

‘Really. Was it so important that it couldn’t wait until he was off duty?’

Jadelin didn’t dare meet the Captain’s eyes. She studied the buttons of his uniform, noticing that they were so shiny they glinted in the corridor torchlight.

‘Well… I thought it was that important, yes.’

‘But it wasn’t the real reason you were there, was it?’

‘Yes it was, there was no other—’

‘Don’t lie to me, girl! Twenty of my best guards were put under a spell while a group of assassins snuck in with the intention to assassinate the King. We only just managed to stop them. They told us that someone on the outside had distracted the guards. I send a dispatch outside and what do they find? All my perimeter guards, bewitched and clustered around you. I think it’s fair to say they caught you red-handed in the use of witchcraft. Now, tell me the truth!’

Samuel stepped forward in her defence. ‘Captain, she is telling the—’

‘That’s enough from you, soldier! Don’t forget that if it hadn’t been for the King’s intervention, you wouldn’t even be a guard! I’ll be the judge of who’s telling the truth around here, is that clear?’

‘Yes, Sir,’ Samuel said through gritted teeth, and stepped back.

‘Now, Jadelin. I’ve heard that you have had an encounter with…’ The Captain dropped his voice to just above a whisper. ‘…the Greoblin.’ He paused to watch the colour drain from Jadelin’s face. ‘Am I correct?’

Jadelin stared at him miserably for a few moments before mumbling, ‘Yes, I have… but what does that have to do with…?’

‘I’m asking the questions. You see, no one usually has an encounter with the Greoblin and is left completely unharmed. So what’s so special about you?’

Unsure how to respond, Jadelin looked over to Samuel. He was watching the Captain uneasily. She turned back to the Captain. ‘I don’t know…’

The Captain folded his arms across his chest, and regarded Jadelin with disdain. ‘Jadelin, I have reason to believe that you are in league with the Greoblin. His actions five years ago and your actions now confirm it. You are as evil as he is. It is no wonder you were involved in a plot to kill the King. You have tried to fool us all with your false air of innocence, and you have even succeeded in fooling your own brother.’

‘Now, wait just a minute—’ Samuel interrupted hotly, his hackles raised.

‘What did I just tell you, soldier? Stay out of this! This is my judgment: Jadelin is to be executed tomorrow morning for the crime of using witchcraft to assist an attempted assassination of the King.’ With that, the Captain