Jorun held the strange amalgamation of souls. He had fallen asleep the moment he got back to the house, and now that he was awake, he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had.

The strange gem buzzed with energy, and he couldn’t figure out how this would be different.

“You gonna lie there all day staring at it?” Latty asked.

He yawned and sat up, looking around the bare floor. It wouldn’t hurt to get something to make himself feel more comfortable. He hadn’t thought the beds were necessary until just now. He had slept funny and his back ached a little.

“Nope, gonna find out what this is about.” He held up the soul.

“What is it exactly?”

“The soul of two bandits, but it somehow feels like a single soul.”

Latty didn’t seem to know what to say. She floated there without any response.

“Not going to say anything about it? Look at it!” He held up the strange mixture of two balls that had melted into collections of spikes.

“Look at what?” Latty seemed genuinely confused.

“You can’t see this can you?” He pointed with his free hand. It was glowing brightly, even coloring the room green in the bright morning sunlight.

“Nope.”

Jorun tucked that little tidbit away. Standing up, he went over to where he had stashed the books. He hadn’t looked at either for a while, and he decided to start with the witches book. He opened it and the first page read.

Herbalogy

Jorun could read it.

The Study and Practical Applications of Herbs

He flipped a couple pages in and found that he could still understand the content.

...serrated leaves that are bright green in color…

...the oil can be used in soothing stomachs and cleaning wounds…

Committing everything to memory would be too much work, but it wouldn’t hurt to learn one that could be found in this area. He skimmed down the page and found one that looked reasonable.

A woody shrub with needle like leaves that are dark green in color. It has benefits to the mind and helps the body resist infections.

He memorized it. If he could get enough of it, he might be able to make a tincture that could help his ability to learn.

He walked around the house, cleaning various points that caught his eye. Once he got it tidied up, he reheated his stew from last night and put the witch’s book away. Then he pulled out the book of the dead.

He flipped through until he found the section about souls.

Merger of Souls

When multiple souls are harvested in the same circle, they are merged. This process is inherently unstable as it contains the essence of two different lives. There are considerable benefits to the process, making it something that is often used by the craftsman of death.

Failure in this process tends to be related to trying to merge them too quickly, and is marked by a loud cracking sound. Failure results in greater instabilities in the souls. Unstable Souls appear to be spiky and twisted.

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Perfectly merged souls appear to be an extension of themselves. They move seamlessly from one part to the next. A set of two appears as a cylindrical shape, and a it slowly builds into a cross-like shape as the number of souls reaches six. When the number exceeds this pattern, it still follows a similar path of development. It expands slowly from the central axis and builds up and down evenly.

Stable souls are marked by a vastly improved ability to learn. They are resistant to the effects of life, and they only suffer from mild forms of psychosis.

Unstable souls suffer greatly in their ability to learn, and are extremely vulnerable to the effects of life. The level of psychosis is extreme, and it is only offset by making the subject extremely compliant to the will of the creator.

Jorun frowned at this mention of ‘effects of life’. He wasn’t entirely certain, but it sounded like the effect that the sun had on the ghost he had created. This probably meant that Latty had an incredibly stable soul. The first one that he had collected was also the only other one that would resemble something like Latty.

He held up the twisted soul, and thought about the implications of book.

He waited for a moment. Then he put the book away and put the floor board back. Rather than heading to Narlin by walking down the path, he headed into the trees.

“Latty, point out the direction to Narlin’s house for me. If you think I am getting lost, go ahead and point it out again for me.”

She pointed almost exactly to where Jorun had thought the house was.

“Thanks, I am going to wander through the trees looking for something.”

He wandered back and forth down the hill looking at the various plants. Narlin had insisted that there wasn’t much plant life, and Jorun hadn’t really thought anything about it. Now that he was examining the plants he was surprised at how many different types there were. He had only walked a short distance, but found a good dozen different plants.

None of them looked like the one he was looking for until he got to the bottom of the hill. When he got to where the land leveled out, he found a great variety of new plants. One of them was the one he was looking for.

“Latty,”

She appeared before him.

“Can you tell me how to find this plant again?”

She squinted at it, “Is it a plant? Anyway, I can tell you how to get back to this spot. The house is right there and Narlin’s home is there.”

She pointed in two different directions quickly. Jorun had a rough idea where he was, and it matched up with his expectations nicely.

“That’s good enough. You can tell me how to get here, right?”

“Yep.”

He waved her off. Latty struggled to identify objects, but he had noticed how quickly she could move to and fro. She didn’t seem to think that there was anything troublesome about this.

He examined the plant, doing his best to remember the details, and then he began the wandering walk through the woods. He hoped to find at least a couple more of the plants before he reached Narlin’s home. He only ended up with another two, but it was better than nothing.

Narlin looked surprised to see Jorun walk through the woods, but he didn’t say anything. He simply kept working away at a small chess piece.

Jorun had offered to make pieces, but he had come to realize that Narlin was far better at carving wood than he had expected. The man’s fingers deftly worked a small knife through the piece, shaping it almost perfectly. Jorun walked over to the garden and began working at the different sprouts. He was happy to work with them, especially when he learned that it was probably helping him learn how to use the witch’s book.

When he had finished with the crops, he looked up at Narlin who had finished the first piece. It was no longer a crudely carved lump, but had a perfect sphere on top and a simple ring below that leading to a widening base.

“Which piece is that?”

“The pawn. It is supposed to be the most simplistic of the pieces and I will need to find a way to make white and black versions.”

“It’s beautiful. I was wondering about plant oils. Do you know much about them?”

Narlin shrugged, “I know something that should work. Mind telling me what you are thinking about?”

“A plant here has some medicinal value. I know a little about how to use the oils, but I don’t know how to get the oils.”

Narlin cracked his hands, “Let’s get going. Going to need some animal fat as well. You have any of that lying around?”

“Nope.”

“Well we really would want some before we do this. How about you get some plants gathered up and I will go get some tallow?”

“How will you get some?”

“I have a bunch of snare traps around here. One of them probably has something caught in it. I usually check it tomorrow, but we might find something today.”

“What’s a snare trap?”

Narlin laughed, “I would give you a hard time about what your parents taught you, but I think your medical knowledge speaks for yourself. Most kids your age don’t even know how to add their numbers, much less medical knowledge.”

Jorun did his best to take it in stride, but he hadn’t learned most of this from his parents.

“Come on, let me just show you. They are a simple way to feed yourself if you know how to set one up. You need a lot of them before they are useful, but it is a simple way to get meat.”

Narlin walked into the trees and Jorun followed him.