Let's Go To The Mountains

Prologue

"They are soulmates," Jane sighed as she watched her younger brother, Thomas, run around the yard with his best friend, Sarah.

"Soulmates don't exist," her mother spat, leaving her chair on the porch. She took a long drag from her pipe while she leaned against one of the pillars that stood in front of the front entrance.

Jane's mother wasn't always so hard, but every time their father left for another job in some other part of the colonies, she became more like stone. It was either that or be filled with worry. Britain's hold on the colonies was starting to strangle the settlers. Her father was always one for action, one for revolution.

Their family was wealthy enough to own a fairly large plot of land away from the noise of the town. Sarah's family wasn't nearly as wealthy: her father was a baker and her mother worked as a maid in Thomas' families house. Sarah was brought along from time to time, which was what led to the unbreakable friendship.

"Those fools. Thomas cannot marry someone like her. They should not even be running around like that. Sarah won't get any men acting like a boy and coming home smelling like a pig instead of perfume," Jane's mother said bitterly.

"Mother, they are in love. They are old enough to make their own decisions. Thomas wants to marry her. He's wanted to marry her since they were kids," Jane reasoned.

"He should marry someone with more wealth to their name. These are dangerous times, we need all the money we can get."

"Money, Mother! What about love?"

"Love is for fools. Marriage is a contract. I married my way up in the world. You should, too. If you look for love, you'll find yourself poor and barely able to provide for yourself," the aging woman looked back to her son before repeating: "Love is for fools."

"Mother!" Thomas called from the wooden fence that enclosed their property. "We're going into town!" he paused to look over at Sarah and laugh, "We'll be back for dinner!"

The two teenagers ran down the dirt road that led into town, slowing down to a walking pace just before they were out of sight.

"Well, Mother, if love is for fools then fools we should be," Jane muttered, trotting back into the house.

On the road, Thomas and Sarah were walking all over the dirt road, hands clasped together. They leaned into each other as they laughed, boots kicking up dust behind them as they floated along. They were talking in loud voices and filling the air around them with their happiness with no care for anything else that happened in the world.

In town, they stumbled into a tavern. Anyone could get drinks there. The bartender had been serving them since they were able to walk into town alone. At the end of each week, the two would spend hours at the pub, drinking ale and acting nothing like the collected people they were supposed to be.

The pair was so captivated by their conversation of nonsense that they didn't notice the strange group of men that entered the pub. They didn't notice as those men lit a match and held it to a box of gunpowder. They only notice the bang that sent them sprawling across the room.

Thomas opened his eyes. His ears were ringing and the images he saw were beginning to double. He tried and failed to stand up. Sarah. That was his only thought. He scanned the charred, broken room for her, finding her slumped against a pile of rubble.

With no strength to stand, he began to crawl to her. He registered a small pain in his side and the streak of red that seemed to follow him as he moved. Still, he dragged himself to her unconscious body. Blackness began to encroach on his vision. It was getting harder for him to stay awake as the comfort of darkness beckoned to him. At last, just a few feet from his love, he collapsed. He reached for her, his hand stretching to meet hers, but it fell limp a hair's breadth away from Sarah's fair fingers.

What neither of them noticed while they were under the blanket of unconsciousness, teetering on the line of life and death, was the barely visible spark that appeared between their almost touching hands. What neither of them would notice for years was the cease of their lifetime's clock, freezing them at the age of eighteen. Their lives were linked, for now they were both stuck in their young bodies forever. Forever and together. That was the day they became true soulmates; their souls would always be reaching for each other.

***

Thomas and Sarah had married soon after surviving that terrible blast when they were young. It didn't take them long to realize that they weren't aging like their friends were. Once people started to realize that they were nearing thirty and didn't look a day over eighteen, they knew they had to move. Leaving their home in Massachusetts, the couple traveled down to Virginia where no one knew them, and they could start over.

Now, war was upon the colonies. All men were being called to fight the mother country. Thomas, following in his father's revolutionary footsteps, thought it was his duty to fight on the front lines against the redcoats. Sarah was less sure.

"I have to do this, Sarah. We have been given this gift of immortality. We can't die. I can help these people win this war," he told his wife while he started packing clothes into a sack.

"You don't know that. We only look young. You don't know if we actually are!" She cried, following him around.

"We've been like this for ages. We shouldn't have survived that blast, but we did, and God has gifted us with eternal life."

"Thomas. We don't- this is all still new. We could still die. Everything is dangerous out in war. If you die, you'll be leaving me behind."

"If I die, then it will be an honorable death. I'll be remembered for my service to my cause. I'll inspire others."

"You'll be one soldier in an army. They can manage without you. What about me? What will I do?"

"I'm doing this, Sarah," Thomas said, no room for argument in his voice.

"I'm begging you not to."

"I'm begging you to let me. Fighting over this will do nothing but tear us apart."

"You leaving is already doing that." Sarah spun on her heel and marched into the kitchen.

Thomas came up behind her, his movement the only noise in the tense silence. Sarah started to fold and unfold cloth napkins to keep her hands busy. After a few moments, she took a deep breath and turned to face Thomas who was leaning against the opposing counter.

"I'm worried. I worry. It's what I do," she stated.

"I know."

"I'm allowed to worry. I'm allowed to ask you to stay."

"I know."

"You have to understand where I come from. This gift is something that we don't know anything about. We might not be immortal. All this time might just start to catch up on us."

"I do. I understand. What you have to know is that I need to do this. I won't feel right if I don't. I'll find you again, I know I will."

"Do you just expect me to stay here in this house for however long you are gone? They'll call me a witch. You heard the stories of Salem when we were kids. They'll hang me if they know."

"Then move. Keep moving. Trust me. I'll find you someday. Live your life as normally as you can. When I come back, we'll pick up right where we left off. I promise."

"I'm scared. What if something happens to you?"

"Don't worry about me. We are meant for each other, and I believe that fate is on our side."

"I hope you are right, Thomas."

Thomas walked a forward and embraced his wife.

"Me too."