Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (20 page)

Veronica snickered, but it sounded more like a hiss.
“You’re a Bone Changer…
that’s a
very
rare ability.
You
’
r
e
right about the others needing to be prepare
d
for you, little one. How long have you been a Changer, Kara?”

She scratched her jaw with the very tip of her bone. “A few months.”

Veronica looked at Connor.
“And you?”

Connor leaned forward
while
still holding
his wife’s
hand. “About seven or eight months.”

She looked at the two siblings silently for a few minutes. She then looked at
Sarah’s parents
.
“What is your part in this odd group?”

Jillian
leaned forward and smiled. “Sarah is my daughter. We are just along for the ride. Connor here is so interesting. People are just naturally just attracted to him.”

Veronica grinned and looked at Connor.
“Not just people.”
And she winked at him.
Everyone began laughing again due to Veronica’s little bit of humor.

For the next hour
they talked about who they
were and wh
ere
they
were from.
During the conversation
Connor asked K
ara if her bone could be reabsorbed.
In answer s
he bit
a chunk out of
her bone weapon and swallowed it to go back into her system.
Each bite she took made a loud crunching sound.
Her teeth were able to bite through the bone like it was
merely
a cracker
yet steel couldn’t batch its weight to strength ratio
.
Sarah
was amazed at the jaw strength it took for Kara to bite through such a durable bone.
She
swallowed the last of her bone and said “O
nce the
bones are separated from my body I cannot absorb it unless I eat it for its calcium. I can reuse the calcium from the bone to make more bones within my body.
I’m a real recycler, Brother.
”

Just before
everyone fell a
sleep Veronica scooped
away most of
the
warm
coals from the
pit
, with her claws, just before
Jack
added some more logs to the fire. She piled the ash and coals into a mound. She then g
ently placed her egg into the ce
nter of the smoldering coals. She laid
down
on her left side and wrapped her arms around it and brought her knees up. She was trying to warm her egg and also protect it.

Connor had already made
the
sleeping bag and he bent his finger for
Sarah to join him. She
slid in and he already h
ad the inside warm and toasty. She
quietly kissed him. He smiled
and whispered
“What was that for, Princess?”

She
looked over and saw that everyone
looked to be
sleeping.
Sarah
didn’t want to wake them up in
case
they
spoke too loudly so
she
entered his powerful mind.
“For befriending Veronica
mostly
. It is rare for anyone to befriend a Keeper
,
let alone get them to answer your questions.
They are extremely secretive
about everything that pertains to
certain
knowledge
’s
.
I never knew half of what they were about
before today
, but you had her answer
ing
questions that are
extremely
valuable
,
with ease
.
”

“Was I that good?”
His
f
eatured were mostly hidden by shadows, but
she
knew he was smiling
her
favorite smile.

She
twisted and pressed
her
back into his chest and tried to get comfortable.
“There is no one better in my book.”
She
stated like it was obvious
. “I also never knew that a Keeper had a sense of humor
either
.”

H
e wrapped his massive arm over her
middle.
“Tell me something… Why did everyone bow to her?”

“Customarily we bow to the Keepers as a sign of respect for their
immense
power
. It is a formality that isn’t enforced unless it is to a member of the
E
lder
’
s.
The Elder’s are the thirty heads of the Mélange
, which you already know
. You will know them when you see t
hem by their clothing
. They all wear robes that no other is allowed to wear unless that person has a death wish. You must bow politely to them or you will be punished. Even powerful Keepers must bow to the Balancer and Changer Elders, even if that said Keeper is older than the members.”

“What is the punishment?”

“Rumor has it that you will be tortured until you submit to their authority. If a Keeper fails to bow to another
E
lder, another and more powerful Keeper will step in and make them submit.”

“Is there any security
?”

“Yes. They are know
n
as the Immortal
Guard
. To become a
Guard
you must meet two criteria. One, you must be at leas
t
a thousand
years old. Two, you must be powerful and well versed in combat.
Other than that
,
anyone may become one.
”
Her
mate’s mental vo
ice went silent.
She
could
almost
see him
processing and cataloguing what he needed to know as a reference for future customs.
She
asked
“Why didn’t you ask
her if she knew
about our situation?”

His mind came back
with vigor,
sounding as clear as a bell.
“Because she doesn’t
have a clue
. Didn’t you hear her
ask us
‘What are you?’ I saw in her eyes that she was perplexed despite her age. She tried to see how much
strength
we had, but she couldn’t get a fix on it. Instead of
her trying to read our energy, I focused on her energy. I could tell that
,
compared to us, her
strength
was barely half of what we have. She couldn’t read us because our energy
i
s far superior.”

Sarah
twisted in the bag to look at him
with astonishment
.
“You can read how much energy someone has?”

He nodded.
“When Veronica inadvertently showed me what to look for I gave it a try.
I think she called it
Aura
.
Here let me show you.”
He took his hand and placed one finger between
her
breasts which were still clothed and under that was
the
chainmail vest.
“Tell your energy to focus
it
into your eyes and look at this spot first
.
Let your mind show you the way.”

She
looked from Connor’s face down to his sternum
,
focused
her
mind and then willed energy into
her
eyes
. I
t became instantly clear by what he meant
.
She
could see it
s power and beauty
.
It
seemed to be
translucent
and almost like a mirage
or specter
.
Connor was enveloped with a dark blue energy that
clung to
him
like enormous sheets
. It looked like he was covered in
writhing
flames, but
she
couldn’t feel any more heat than he gave off normally. His blue flames bled through the sheet and
she
looked up and it too permeated into the cave walls.

She
entered his mind again.
“That was something else. What did my energy look like?
Did my eyes glow like when we use our sonar?
”

“
No they didn’t glow.
It is dark blue
and I’m not sure how big it
really
is until we get into an open space.”

“
That means that our colors are the same…
Hold on I want to see what the other’s Aura look
s
like.”
She
slowly sat up in the fire lit cave
, careful not to disturb the others
and
focused first on
the snoring locomotive,
Kara. Her
energy looked like a golden fire that barely made it five feet above where she slept
. Mark
had a black color and it reached the same height as Kara’s did.
Her m
other’s
revealed itself
a clear blue and
her f
ather’s was orange
and their energies were slightly larger than Mark’s and Kara’s.
Sarah
finally looked at Veronica. Her energy was golden and it
just
barely reached the very top of the cavern.
“This is a nice trick to know about. It’s like having some inside information
on an enemy’s strength
.”

“That it is. We need to get some sleep.”
He laid a hand on
her
shoulder and
she
leaned back down and fell asleep
under his touch
.

Connor sat up and brought
her awake. Sarah
saw from the opening in the snow wall that the sun was just beginning to rise. Connor woke everyone up by saying “Its morning! We need to head out.”

Sarah’s
attention
became
riveted to Veronica as she awoke.
Her enormous jaw opened and let out a rumbling yawn.
She sat
up
on her rear and stretched her arms and brushed her knuckles against the roof. She looked at her egg and brushed off
the ash with gentle claws.
Connor gather
ed
his energy and pushed the wall of snow away from
the entrance. The cold air woke
everyone
up even quicker.

As
Sarah
quickly put on
her
cloak and sa
t beside the fire
she
saw Connor walking back with a space blanket in his hand
and
watched a
s
he strolled up to Veronica
with his innate
and unmistakable
authority
. Her eyes cautiously looked at the shiny metal. He spoke calmly and with a reassured voice. “Veronica, I have a present for your egg.”

Sarah
felt her mind spread out to all.
“What is that?”
S
he pointed at the
shiny
sheet in his hand.

“This is a way to keep your egg warm and not become cold as you travel. It’s not much, but I feel honored that you are my first Keeper
I
’ve
met.
I wanted to do something nice for you because of all that you told me last night.” He held the bag up so she could see it better. “May I?”

She kept eyeing the
aluminum looking
bag and then Connor for about a minute before gett
ing her cons
ent. He laid out the bag on the ground and gently picked up her egg. He made sure the egg was always
in her vision
or else she would get edgy
. He sat the egg
gently
in the center
of the sheet
. He looked at her
and said
“Hold your egg steady while I wrap it up.” She reached
over Connor’s head
with her long hand and held the top of the egg while Connor grabbed the ends and covered the entire shell. He tied the top of the shell with a piece of string. He put his hand gently under the egg and lifted. “Here is your gift
-
wrapped child. Just be careful not to rip the thin metal with your claws
and it will last
quite
awhile
.”