Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (21 page)

Victoria bent her left arm close to her chest.
“Put it right here
then
.”
Connor stepped closer and laid her egg in the bend of her arm. She studied the reflective metal and smiled. Looking at Connor she said
“Thank you for all you’ve done for us. I’m looking forward to th
is
meeting
,
now of all times
.”
Victoria stood up
,
cradling
her egg gently
. “I must leave now.”
She stepped over the fire and walked into the
morning light. She turned to them all
one last time and smiled
gratefully
.
“Thank you all so
very
much.
I’ll never forget any of this. May we meet again soon. Farewell
until next time
.
”

Her long tail went straight as she bent forward. She then quickly propelled her
massive
bulk
on two legs
and vanished into the trees with powerful strides
while protecting the egg with her arms
.
It was truly amazing to see the swiftness of an ancient reptile moving at such a
great
speed.

Remove and A
pply

A minute after Veronica vanished
into the forest
Jack came over to talk with Connor
. “Now that that is over
,
may I make a suggestion?”

“What’s on your mind?”

Jack brushed some of
the
loose strands of silver hair back behind his ear. “I
already
know that you have noticed that daylight has been getting shorter and shorter
the further we’ve traveled
. I would say we have a
round
six and a half to seven hours of light remaining.”
Connor
glanced over his shoulder and everyone else
was paying attention to the
conversation. “I think we should pick up the pace
just
a bit more. I have
already
calculated that if we push
ourselves slightly harder
,
we just might make it t
o our destination
in time before night
fall
.”

Connor
looked over at everyone. “Do you all want to do this?”

Kara pulled out her energy bar
and said “Sooner the better.” S
he opened
the wrapper
and took a large bite out of it.

He then
looked
towards
Sarah. She was standing by her bag and brushing her long and fluid hair. Each stroke she made
came out
smooth and unknotted. “Do you?”
Sarah’s green eyes were soft and welcoming. “I would enjoy the comforts of a
warm
bed for a change.”

“Good girl.” Jillian said with a laugh
and rotated her stiff shoulder
.
“I would like a bed myself.”

“Alright, if no one objects let
’
s ge
t started and eat on the way.” He announced,
walking over to Sarah. 
He
knelt down an
d folded up the sleeping bag,
rolled it up
and
then strapped t
he sleeping bag to the top of his
pack.
Connor
picked up
his
cloak and t
ied the string around
his
neck,
grabbed
Tool
off the ground
and strapped it to his
right
hip.
He
quickly
slid on
the
y pack after
removing
the
last freeze dried meal and three
remaining
power bars.

When
he
turned around everyone else was quickly packing up and preparing for
the
final
departure. Sarah finally finished brushing her hair and pulled it back into a single pony tail. Jack also retied his hair in a similar fashion. Jillian kept her dark brown hair loose, but covered
it
by her cloak
. Kara took Jillian’s idea
. Mark was now fu
lly packed as he walked up to his best friend
. “Do you know about where we are?”

Knowing what he meant
Connor
shrugged
the
back
pack off
his
shou
l
der and pulled out the map and compass.
He
laid it out on the stone floor and spun the paper until it was right.
His
mind quickly processed how much distance
had been
traveled these past three days and
scaled it to the map. He
pointed and looked up to
see not only Mark, but everyone else looking down curiously at the map. “We are about right here in
northern
Ontario. The
easing of the secondary
bond is telling me that the meeting will be somewhere within the
central area of the
Canadian Shield. According to my
own
calculations, if we all increase our speed
, like Jack said,
we will arrive
in time
.”

Sarah laid a hand on his
shoulder and said with a calm smile “We better move out
then
while the weather is in our favor
.”

He strapped his
backpack ba
ck on as Jack put the fire out.

They
were on the move.
L
uck
seemed to be on their side for the
sky
remained
clear and the air was crisp
after the blizzard faded
.
Everyone doubled their pace as
the
journey
north continued
. Both Mark and Jack remained in front followed by the girls
and Connor kept
the rear. Every few minutes
he
felt Jack use his sonar and Mark kept his nose
and ears
sharp.

Every now and then
Connor would get distracted as he
would watch Sarah move. Her shorter legs were pumping with power that only
he
could surpass. Her hips swayed from side to side with each powerful step. As her foot landed and lifted it sprayed a small amount of snow behind her. Her arms didn’t sway because she was holding her cloak closed with one hand and eating a power bar with the other.

Clearing
his
head
,
he
tried out
the
newest ability.
He
focused energy to
his
eyes and looked at S
arah’s back. A shadow of a blue
flame surrounded her
like a huge sphere
and
it was
colossal
. Her dark blue flames must have rea
ched at least
fifty
feet in every
given direction
. Her flames were at least three
to four
times larger than Veronica’s.

The terrain chan
ged from mountain filled
trees to a flat frozen lake
as Sarah sensed
him
using energy
. Sh
e
turned her head to glance at
Connor
.
“I felt you use your power. What were you doing?”

Apparently no one else
could
sense energy as their strides remained the same a
nd
continued running.
“I was just seeing how large your aura really is. It is very remarkable.”
Her head returned to the front and
he had a sudden
idea.
“Would you like to see what your energy looks like?”

She looked over her shoulder again with a
small
smile.
“You mean…”

“Yes. Let’s link our minds.”
Together
they
ran and pushed
their
minds
together
simultaneously
. Once
their separate minds linked together Connor
could instantly see from
his
eyes as well as hers. Every
step she made was like
he
made them
him
self and it was as easy as taking a calming breath. Every breath was calm and controlled
despite the exertion from running at such a pace
. Her nose and ears were relatively cold, but she could still feel them. She swallowed
the last of her bar and
his empty
throat  swallow
ed
by reflex. Through her mouth he
could feel the cold air
surge in
and leave her lungs
somewhat warmer
.
He
could hear the rushing wind w
histling past her ears as they
rocketed across
the
frozen
lake.
He even
felt the miniscule weight she
carried
and
was relieved knowing she wasn’t pushing herself
or becoming fatigued
.
H
er lips
curved into a
smile and
he
knew that she felt everything
his
body
did
as well
.
“Ready to see what your aura looks like?”

Her smile widened
fractionally
as
he brought
the internal
power forward and focused it to
his
eyes.
Connor
stared at her and then her aura appeared. Her
green
eyes widened as she saw the
gigantic
size of her dark blue aura. She continued running and looking forward like nothing was going on
between
them
.
“Connor, it’s
so
…
enormous
!”
She glanced
over
her shoulder.
“Let’s have a look at what yours looks like.”

He
could feel her energy being collected to her eyes
,
through her
eyes,
and through himself
,
he
could feel the power
emanating
from
within
her body. Still running forward
and looking back at
him
for a moment
,
he
saw
his
own
energy.
D
ark blue invisible flames were just as
,
if not larger
,
than Sarah’s.
The
aura was like a giant sphere that encompassed
him
. It even
saturated
below the surface of the frozen lake.
“It really is big. No wonder why Veronica couldn’t get a
n exact
read on us.
It was larger than the cave mouth
could show
.
”
He
smiled and so did she.

They
returned
their
focus back on the running
and
unlatched the hold on the other’s mind and it
felt better to only be inside their own
body. It is far less disorientating
and confusing
. Their
little test was completely unnoticed by eve
ry
single person
, which was good because it would have been difficult to explain.

Just as the sky began to darken the six of
them
stood atop the peak of a mountain that was
well
within the Canadian Shield.
The map Connor carried with him
didn’t have a name for this particular mountain.
The bond the Keeper placed on
allowed
them the
knowledge that the
end of
the
journey
laid
just
ahead.