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  ACCLAIM FOR SOUL’S GATE

  “Truly a story about freedom from things that we hold on to, this tale will captivate readers and encourage a more active, dynamic spiritual life.”

  —RT BOOK REVIEWS, TOP PICK

  “[A] spiritual-warfare thriller that brilliantly takes four perfectly normal people . . . on a journey that begins with skepticism and ends up in places they could never have imagined or predicted.”

  —CBA RETAILERS + RESOURCES

  “Readers with high blood pressure or heart conditions be warned: this is a seriously heart-thumping and satisfying read that goes to the edge, jumps off, and ‘builds wings on the way down.’ ”

  —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

  “Powerful storytelling. Rubart writes with a depth of understanding about a realm most of us never investigate, let alone delve into. A deep and mystical journey that will leave you thinking long after you finish the book.”

  —TED DEKKER, NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE CIRCLE SERIES AND FORBIDDEN (WITH TOSCA LEE)

  “Tight, boiled-down writing and an intriguing premise that will make you reconsider what you think you know about the spiritual realm.”

  —STEVEN JAMES, NATIONAL BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF PLACEBO AND OPENING MOVES

  “Soul’s Gate takes readers on a wild flight of fantasy into the spiritual realm, where we find the battle for our souls is even wilder than we imagined—and very, very real. With vividly drawn characters, startling imagery, and the power of a spiritual air-raid siren, the story is at once entertaining and breathtakingly enlightening. James L. Rubart has crafted a stunning piece of work, a call to arms for everyone who yearns for the freedom of the abundant life Christ promises us—and is willing to fight for it. Rubart knocks it out of the park with this one.”

  —ROBERT LIPARULO, AUTHOR OF THE 13TH TRIBE AND COMES A HORSEMAN

  “Don’t read this unless you’re ready to see with new eyes. Through evocative prose and masterful storytelling, Rubart transports you to the spiritual realm—a realm of vision, mystery, healing and power. A deep and thoughtful—and jet-propelled—spiritual journey of a book.”

  —TOSCA LEE, NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF THE BOOKS OF MORTALS SERIES WITH TED DEKKER AND DEMON: A MEMOIR

  “This book is provocative . . . It forces the reader to consider components of God’s nature not normally focused on.”

  —CHURCH LIBRARIES

  ALSO BY JAMES L. RUBART

  The Well Spring Series

  Soul’s Gate

  Memory’s Door

  Rooms

  Book of Days

  The Chair

  © 2014 by James L. Rubart

  All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in critical reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Christian Publishing, Inc.

  The author is represented by the literary agency of Alive Communications, Inc., 7680 Goddard Street, Suite 200, Colorado Springs, CO 80920. www.alivecommunications.com.

  Thomas Nelson, Inc., titles may be purchased in bulk for educational, business, fund-raising, or sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected].

  Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.

  THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

  Scriptures from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holy Bible, New Living Translation. © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

  ISBN 978-1-4016-8610-9 (eBook)

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Rubart, James L.

  Spirit bridge / James L. Rubart.

  pages cm. -- (A Well Spring novel ; 3)

  ISBN 978-1-4016-8609-3 (pbk.)

  1. Paranormal fiction. 2. Magic--Fiction. I. Title.

  PS3618.U2326S65 2014

  813’.6--dc23

  2013047137

  Printed in the United States of America

  14 15 16 17 18 19 RRD 6 5 4 3 2 1

  FOR MOM, WHO TAUGHT ME TO DREAM AND SHOWED ME WHO I AM.

  CONTENTS

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  EIGHTEEN

  NINETEEN

  TWENTY

  TWENTY-ONE

  TWENTY-TWO

  TWENTY-THREE

  TWENTY-FOUR

  TWENTY-FIVE

  TWENTY-SIX

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  TWENTY-EIGHT

  TWENTY-NINE

  THIRTY

  THIRTY-ONE

  THIRTY-TWO

  THIRTY-THREE

  THIRTY-FOUR

  THIRTY-FIVE

  THIRTY-SIX

  THIRTY-SEVEN

  THIRTY-EIGHT

  THIRTY-NINE

  FORTY

  FORTY-ONE

  FORTY-TWO

  FORTY-THREE

  FORTY-FOUR

  FORTY-FIVE

  FORTY-SIX

  FORTY-SEVEN

  FORTY-EIGHT

  FORTY-NINE

  FIFTY

  FIFTY-ONE

  FIFTY-TWO

  FIFTY-THREE

  FIFTY-FOUR

  FIFTY-FIVE

  FIFTY-SIX

  FIFTY-SEVEN

  FIFTY-EIGHT

  FIFTY-NINE

  SIXTY

  SIXTY-ONE

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  READING GROUP GUIDE

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  “Your real, new self . . . will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him. Give up yourself, and you will find your real self. Lose your life and you will save it. Submit to death, death of your ambitions and favorite wishes every day and death of your whole body in the end: submit with every fiber of your being, and you will find eternal life.”

  C.S. LEWIS, MERE CHRISTIANITY

  ONE

  THE WELL-MANICURED FINGERS CURLED INTO A FIST AND slammed onto the stone table hard enough to rattle the glasses filled with a pale-blond liquid. It also served to focus the attention of the sixteen who sat around the table.

  “You let him slip through your fingers like dust.” Caustin uncurled his fingers and then clenched them together again as if kneading the hilt of the sword that hung on his hip. “If it were my choice, you would already be flayed and hanging above the pit.”

  Caustin pulled rapid breaths in and out as his gaze lasered in on Zennon.

  “Calm.” Caustin’s master, who sat to the right, stretched out his fingers on the coo
l stone, but that was his only movement. “We will hear a response from the accused before you speak again.”

  “He is incorrect, my lord.” Zennon gave a slight bow of his head, looked up again, shifted his gaze to Caustin, and refused to drop his stare even though the eyes of his superior held death in them. Give in to intimidation? Never.

  “I’m wrong?” Caustin leaned forward and his body quivered as if he was about to lunge across the round table and attack. “You have failed to destroy the Warriors Riding. Am I incorrect about that fact?”

  “Yes. You are badly mistaken.” Zennon bowed and kept his head down longer this time. Play the game. Give the false respect this imbecile requires. Bide the time because it won’t last forever.

  In truth, the time to strike was almost here. If one more member of the council would turn, the moment would be seized and Caustin’s head would be separated from his body for eternity. Then Zennon would stand next to the Master in his place. “He is a fool, my lord.”

  Caustin flicked his finger to the right and then the left. Instantly Zennon was yanked from his chair and his arms were pulled tight across his back. The soldiers in Zennon’s command who sat to his right and left didn’t move to help. He didn’t expect them to.

  Caustin pulled back slightly but still rested most of his weight on his knuckles, pressed hard on the stone table. “Normally I would slice your throat open for your expression of insubordination, but since the Master is willing to hear an explanation for your failure, I will allow you to speak.”

  They released Zennon and he returned to his chair. For that insult alone he would kill Caustin. Zennon seethed with rage, but he couldn’t allow it to be seen. Not in front of the other warlords. Control was power. The slaying would come later. In private. Where he could savor Caustin’s cries for mercy and watch him die slowly and in excruciating pain.

  The Master still didn’t move. “Review his actions.” As the three words leached from his dark maw, they seemed to soak up the light in the room.

  Caustin pointed at Zennon with a thin finger. “He was given dominion over Reece Roth, Dana Raine, Brandon Scott, and Marcus Amber. His assignment was simple. Take them out. Destroy their mission. Instead, they have thrived and continue to grow in influence around the globe. Yes, he destroyed Reece’s eyes, but he now sees again, with a sight far more powerful than what he had before. Yes, he took out Brandon Scott’s singing voice, but it is a minor victory.”

  Caustin pulled back from the table and paced behind the Master and the four warlords to his right and left. “Under his watch, the angel Tristan Barrow formed an alliance with the Warriors. Zennon knew Barrow before the leaving—he knew Barrow’s power and what he was capable of—and yet Zennon was not able to take the precautions to stop it.”

  Zennon ground his teeth and forced restraint on himself.

  “He infiltrated the life of Marcus Amber as a high school student but was discovered before any real damage was done. Then he tried to lure Marcus into an alternate reality and again was unsuccessful.”

  Caustin’s voice rose. “Then a legion of underlings was obliterated when he tried to destroy Reece, Dana, and Brandon. The Wolf was destroyed instead. The talk-show host Carson Tanner has turned back to the narrow path and now is broadcasting a new message across the American continent. Poison seeping into ears of millions of followers of the Nazarene.”

  Caustin once again pointed at Zennon. “Finally, he allowed the magician to escape, which could decimate a crushing amount of what we have accomplished over the past hundred years if he remembers who he truly is.”

  The Master turned his malevolent gaze to Zennon. He blinked but refused to drop his eyes. “That Simon the magician no longer resides in the alternate realities is true, Master,” Zennon said.

  Caustin strode back to the table and slammed his fist down again. “I call for destruction of the accused.”

  Zennon shifted back in his chair, pulled his gold coin out of his pocket, and spun it on the table. The light from the candles seemed to soak into its surface, making it thicker, and the sound of the coin rang off the table with greater volume. “You see only inches into the lake, Caustin, while I see with great depth. This war is far from over.”

  Spittle formed in the corners of Caustin’s mouth as he leaned forward. “Far from over? Again and again you have—”

  “Enough, Caustin.” Their Master’s voice rumbled through the small council room. “You have spoken.” He turned to Zennon and nodded.

  “Fellow warriors.” Zennon met the gaze of every council member at the table, then pointed to Caustin. “You’ve heard the words of this fool. You’ve feasted on his accusations—I see it in your eyes. You salivate for my demise. But it will not come. I have not lost. These minor setbacks will only serve to pave the road of my ultimate victory.”

  For the first time, a shard of doubt passed over Caustin’s face and hesitation wavered in his voice. “What do you feel you’ve—?”

  “Feel! This is not about feelings, is it? It’s about facts.” Zennon raised his fist and slammed it onto the table in the exact manner Caustin had at the start of the council. Again the glasses rattled, but this time the one in front of Caustin tipped over and spilled its yellow liquid over the edge of the table.

  “See?” Zennon smiled. “I can be as childish as you.”

  The demon didn’t move as the liquid spilled onto his lap. “I will kill you.”

  Zennon’s show of defiance riveted every eye in the room on him. Now to finish strong. “The Warriors Riding have attained certain victories, but when is an enemy most vulnerable? When they are tipping back the elixir of conquest and are drunk on the wine of their inflated belief in the loss their opponent has suffered. While they have been focusing on the chess piece right in front of them, I have been planning my moves far into the future.”

  Zennon turned and spoke to the Master. “I caused Simon the magician to leave the alternate reality. And now, because of what he did for Marcus Amber and the other Warriors, they will fully inculcate him into their inner circle. They will trust him. Embrace him.” Zennon flipped the coin into the air, let it land on his palm, and slid it back into his front pocket. “I foresee him being invited to Well Spring where he will change everything in my favor.”

  “Explain.” The Master’s voice grew louder, and Zennon knew he must not waste words.

  “As I just said, the magician did not escape. I let him go. And while the first phase of my plan with him and the Warriors was thwarted and certain casualties occurred, the second phase is now in place, which will bring about a triumphant conclusion to this war.”

  Zennon stood and leaned forward on the table, his palms spread wide. “If we are to achieve a resounding victory, it is not enough to destroy Reece and the other members of his band. Their message has spread too far. Killing him would only serve to make him a martyr and rally the millions around the world who look to him for sustenance. They follow Reece. He is their guide. They listen to him. Hundreds of thousands now drink from his stream.”

  “Continue,” the Master said.

  “We must change Reece Roth at his core. Blind him spiritually. Help him forget his identity as I did to the magician. Cause what resides inside Simon to spread to all of the Warriors and beyond them.”

  “Simon has been infiltrated.” The faintest hint of a smile appeared in the Master’s eyes.

  “Yes. He carries the warfare inside. But he has no idea. No one does.” Zennon bowed, smiled, and once more forced himself to hold his Master’s gaze. “But Reece and his fellow Warriors are about to feel its effects when it is unleashed on them.”

  The Master ground his knuckles into the table. “And that will happen?”

  “Very soon.”

  TWO

  “WHEN WERE YOU GIVEN THIS?” REECE SAT IN HIS upstairs den on Thursday and gripped the armrest of the chair he sat in. So much for any kind of reprieve for the Warriors after the battle against the religious spirit seven days back. He t
ook another drink of his late-morning tea. It was lukewarm but he didn’t care.

  “I received it yesterday afternoon,” Doug Lundeen said.

  “Interesting that it was sent to you just days before our first gathering after getting back from Well Spring.”

  “I agree. It is the Spirit’s leading.”

  “If the words are true.”

  Doug didn’t respond.

  Reece shifted in his leather chair and breathed the mid-July air coming in through the open window that overlooked his lush Pacific Northwest backyard. “What if they’re not ready to hear this?”

  “I don’t believe we have a choice.”

  “They’ve just been through an emotional Ironman triathlon.” Reece rubbed the scar tissue where his eyes used to be with his thumb and forefinger.

  “You’ve been through an emotional one as well, and my deep wish is that there was time to refresh and rest, but apparently there isn’t.”

  “Read it again.” Reece needed to hear it once more. Let the words soak in. Try to figure out what exactly each part of this new prophecy meant and how it would impact the Warriors Riding.

  The rustle of paper filled Reece’s ears and Doug cleared his throat.

  WHEN IT IS TIME, YOU WILL JOIN THEM,

  THE FOUR; THE TEMPLE, THE LEADER, THE TEACHER, AND THE SONG,

  THEY WILL NEED YOUR STRENGTH FOR THEIR LAST BATTLE TOGETHER,

  FOR THEIR GREAT ENEMY IS MOUNTING A FINAL STRIKE AGAINST THEM AND WILL HOLD NOTHING BACK,

  AND YOU WILL STEP BOLDLY BEFORE THE TEMPLE AND HE WILL RECEIVE YOU,

  AND YOU MUST TAKE THE LEADER INTO THE GATEWAY OF DEATH,

  AND IN THE GATEWAY ONE WILL REMAIN, WHICH WILL BRING SORROW BUT SET IN MOTION THAT WHICH MUST BE,

  AND YOU WILL EMBRACE THE TEACHER FOR HE IS THE FRIEND OF THE RESTORER,

  AND ONE YOU WILL TRAIN WHEN THEY ASK IT OF YOU—AND ONLY THAT ONE WILL YOU TRAIN,

  YOU ARE A WARRIOR OF WARRIORS, LIVE IN THE TRUTH OF WHO YOU ARE,

  AND RIDE WITH THE WIND.

  It made little more sense than the first two times Doug had read this new prophecy. Someone else join the Warriors? Why? When? For what purpose? “Who is the one the prophecy was given to?”