Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (52 page)

Connor
took
the
bloody
and
wet hand into
his own
and started with the outside bone of
the clawed
hand. This bone and the inside one were both fractured
in an
up and down
fashion
.
Connor
place
d
his
right hand under
the leathery
palm
and the
left on the top.
His
hand was
just
over an inch away from the protruding white bone.
U
s
ing an incredible amount of
strength to squeeze his bone
s
back together
,
an insta
nt
POP
happened,
locking the bones back
and
Zeheil
roared
out
in pain, but it was muffled from the towel on his mouth. H
e jerked his hand away from Connor’s
and held it to his chest. He panted in renewed pain and his
eyes
closed
and began
tearing
at the corners
.

Connor
turned around to look at Xaon
pointedly
and he understood what
was needed
w
ithout words. He reached over Connor’s
head with both arms and grabbed Ze
heil’s wrist to bring back to where it could be fixed
. All of the other
team members
restrained his movements by holding his shoulders, legs and made sure that
the
arm wouldn’t go anywhere.

Connor
grabbed his hand again and popped the other bone back in place.
His hand
did
n’t jerked away, but
it was
enough to get the others attention that
their grips weren’t
good enough.
“Alright, guys. Hold him
as tightly as you can. This is going to be the hardest
part
for him. He cannot move at all until I’m done.” Their grips all tightened into immovable reptilian vices.

He
used the palm of
his
right hand to push against the end
of the bone
and the
other
used
to push down.
Connor
instantly pushed the thick bone back and with
,
the
other hand
,
pushed it back under the scaled skin. Using the speed and strength of a Balancer the top and bottom
bones once
again to pop
ped
back in place. Zeheil tried t
h
rashing and roaring, but
he
was completely r
estrained by the others.
Sarah’s worry
began flooding into his system, but he
pushed her emotions
away knowing
a
distract
ion wouldn’t aid anyone
. They went to let go
of him
until
Connor
said “Hold him still! I have two more things to do.
” Their grips returned
.

M
oisture out of the air
converged above his hand and grew into
a beach ball
in
size
. He
imagined a
focused
stream coming from the bottom
of it, like a garden hose,
and
his
instinct followed through.
Th
e stream of water wash
ed away the blood on his
hands first and the remaining
was applied to Zeheil’s bloody claws. He
also used Liquid to remove the blood quicker with the water so as to not show th
e others around him
and to finish quicker.
B
lood
continued pouring
from the open wound, but it had slowed dramatically. “That’s finished.”
Connor
looked at each of them while asking “Do any
one of you have anything we can use as a compress
to stop the blood
and a bandage to wrap
up
his hand?”

“
Will this do?
”
The one guarding his
left stood and reached in his robe and
withdrew
a white silk sash. It was wrapped
up
like a rope and he leaned down to
offer
it to
Connor
.

“Perfect.” He
felt the softness of the silk and knew it was expen
s
ive
and well made
, b
ut it had a
new
purpose
to accomplish
now. Connor
unbound the
wrappings
and wrapped the
one
end
of the sash
into a fist sized knot. 
He
sat the knot into
Zeheil’s
open
wound and began wrapping
it
around his hand.
He
made sure it was tightly bound to hold the bones in place
for awhile
and to hold the knot as a compress un
til the blood ceased escaping. He
gave
the giant a
simple instruction “Don’t remove this until your bones are healed.
Have someone use
sonar
on you
periodically
to check
if
the damage has recovered
and only then
should
you take it off.”

Zeheil
spat out the tow
e
l
and panted. If
a reptile
had sweat glands
they
would all
would be swimming
in
his
right
about now. His teammates released their hold and allowed him to take his hand back.
He clutched his damaged hand to his chest.
He looked at it and said
“That was more painful than catching your hit, but I am grateful for your assistance
and compassion
.”

“Since you actually caught it, allow me
to give you a small reward.” Zeheil
eyed
him
cautiously. “Give me your hand again.” He looked at the others and then humored
the Balancer
by extending his hand, but this time with the palm up.
Connor
placed both of
his
palms onto his and focused.
He
summoned
a set amount of
energy and poured it into him.
L
ess than a half of a percent
was transferred
, but that would be like Jack doing it and winding up unconscious. “That should help you out for a little while.”

Sarah
read in Connor’s mind how the right fielder broke his h
and and Connor wanted to help. She
returned to the others and told them what happened and Veronica was the one to tell
them
that
they
should see what
assistance they could
offer
.

The six of
them
now stood behind the chain-linked fence
,
looking in. She
couldn’t see Connor because he was blocked by a wide backed Keeper, but
she
was able to see one of his
pants
legs.
It was painful to hear bones being reset.
Sarah
glanced down at the stone floor to see bl
oody water soaking the ground. She
became
worried, but could feel Connor’s confidence and it was reassuring. Kara stood in her normal human st
ate now and she had a hand on her sister’s seemingly frail
shoulder. All of the others also stood and looked into their dugout wanting to know what was happening.

Then there was some movement as the three Keepers stood and
Sarah
could finally see
her
mate.
Her
heart and worry vanished as
she
saw him again
unharmed
.
She
grabbed and held onto the fence for support
and realized she’d been holding her breath
.
His clothing made him look like the shadow mixed in with the other players, but his stature couldn’t be missed by anyone. He took a step back and splashed his foot in the
red water. As a player arose fr
om the bench Connor looked at her
and smiled my smile.

Sarah
couldn’t stop
her
self from asking aloud “Is he ok?”

All of the others turned to look at
her
and then to the rest of
them
as
they
all stood looking in. Connor then spoke saying “There are
n’t
any more
problems in here. Everything is
back to the way it should be.” She
looked behind him to see a Keeper putting a wrapped claw inside his robe.
Her
mate looked up and said “Xaon, it has been a pleasure, but we need to get going. I hope to see you
again.” He started making his way out of their territory.

“Have a safe stay while you are here and we will be sure to see each other again.”
Xaon smiled calmly.

Connor stepped out of the opening and
Sarah
made
her
way around to get to him first.
She
wrapped
her
arms around his mi
ddle and squeezed. “Princess…” H
e spoke shallowly and through gritted teeth. “It is getting quite hard to…breathe with you squeezing…me like that.”
She
eased
her
arms pressure and he took a deep
lungful
. “Thanks for letting me have another
lifesaving
breath. What was that for anyways?”

She
looked up into his
sharp
blue and brown hazel eyes as he put his hands on
her
shoulders. “Next time you do something like that, I’m going
in
with you.”
Her
heart leapt
as he kissed the top of
her
head.

“Next time I have to do it I will be happy with your help.”

“So, Connor…What are we going to do next?”
Jillian
asked with bubbling excitement.

She
let go to turn around. Mark stood behind Kara looking normal.
She had been so focused she didn’t realized he had done so. Veronica stood behind Sarah’s
parents and she too was still revved from
the intense game. She
leaned back into
her mate’s
ches
t and his warmth was just what she
needed to relax. Even the chainmail
she
wore felt remarkably comfortable.
She
rested the palms of
her
hand on the
round pommels of
Fangs as Connor spoke. “How about we just wing it?”

“Now that is a plan!” Mark said and began laughing.

“I’m confused. What does ‘Wing it’ mean?”
Sarah
told
Veronica
that it was a related
meaning that
meant
they
will see what happens
and do it then
when an if they want to
.
“Oh I get it now…Can we meet up later? I need
to go check up on Clarein,
Firon
and my egg
.”

“Go ahead.”
Sarah
wondered what kind of a mother she
would be like once
she
had Pearl.
N
o one was perfect, but
she
knew
she
would do
her absolute
best. Veronica left and disappeared into a crowd of Keepers.