Mother Lode

by E. Rose Sabin

  The clerk got slowly to his feet and walked shakily back to his desk, where he sank into a chair and got out the room register.

  “Bryte, here’s our room key. The room number’s on it,” Lina said. “While I complete the arrangements, take our guests up to that room and wait for me.”

  Bryte accepted the key Lina held out to her, and she and Teddy again supported Nia, but Cara had curled up on the floor, fast asleep. “You’ll have to bring Cara,” Bryte told Lina. “Teddy and I have our hands full helping Nia.”

  Lina bent and lifted the child into her arms. Bryte and Teddy headed for the stairs. Bryte gaining new strength just from her conviction their ordeal was near its end, and she could anticipate a hot bath, a good meal, and a soft bed.

  They made it up the stairs and to the room. Inside, they lifted Nia onto one of the two beds, and finally Bryte could collapse into one of the room’s two easy chairs and remove her shoes. “Thank the gods,” she said. “Safe at last.”

  Teddy, still standing, shook his head. “Don’t be a fool,” he said. “As soon as Lina leaves the lobby and comes up here, that clerk will call in the peacekeepers. And, trust me, they won’t listen to anything we have to say. They’re all on the Coopers’ payroll.”

  Bryte jerked upright and scooted to the edge of the chair. “Then I have to go back downstairs. I have to warn Lina.”

  “You can’t leave me alone with Nia,” Teddy objected. “I can’t take care of her the way you can.”

  “Of course you can. They’re supposed to send food up. I’ll make sure they do. Looks like Nia’s already asleep. When the food comes, though, you’ll have to wake her up and make sure she eats. She’s so weak, you may need to spoon feed her.”

  “I don’t—” Bryte’s glare cut Teddy’s objection short.

  Bryte slipped on her shoes and headed for the door. “Don’t worry.” She paused a moment before stepping into the hall. “Lina and I won’t let the Coopers win. We’ll find a way to keep Nia and Cara here and get the other kids free.”

  Not waiting for a response, she left, trusting Teddy to lock the door behind her and to follow her instructions. Though she had little energy left, she broke into a run to reach the stairs and took them two steps at a time.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  ENEMIES AND ALLIES

  Bryte heard Lina’s angry voice long before she reached the lobby. Teddy was right. Lina was shouting, “You will not take this child or any other back to Mother Cooper’s. Arrest me? I don’t think so.”

  Bryte bounded into the lobby, Lina’s gaze met hers, and a wave of sudden weakness made Bryte grab the back of the nearest chair to keep from falling. Tired though she was, it wasn’t exhaustion that nearly caused her to fall. Lina was drawing power. How did she expect Bryte to help her if she was left powerless?

  The reason Lina needed the power quickly became evident. The four Peace Officers surrounding her had drawn pistols. Those pistols shrank to toy-sized objects, their threat removed.

  Bryte had often seen Lina use her ability to shrink objects. She’d done it effortlessly. That she’d needed to draw power from Bryte to do it now indicated how depleted her power was. And now she’d depleted Bryte’s as well. Neither of them could depend further on their magical gifts until they’d eaten and rested. In the meantime, they would have to rely on their wits.

  The peacekeepers recovered quickly from their dismay at seeing their weapons rendered useless. They still outnumbered Lina and Bryte and did not have the disadvantage of being tired and hungry. They looked, in fact, exceptionally well fed, and in their natty uniforms stood tall and proud—and angry.

  Her acute hearing had gone with Lina’s power drain, but Bryte didn’t need super hearing to gather that Lina was being threatened with prison by the peacekeeper shaking his finger in her face. Amazingly, little Cara was still snuggled in Lina’s arms, her head on Lina’s shoulder, apparently fast asleep. The poor little tyke must have been utterly exhausted. Seeing her like that gave Bryte an idea.

  The patrons of this hotel were primarily from out of town. Some were just passing through; others were on vacation, here to take in the sights, though Bryte couldn’t imagine what sights this desert town had to offer. She looked around. Most of the hotel’s patrons had fled when Lina had shape-changed. But she spotted one middle-aged couple hovering just outside the door to the hotel’s restaurant, apparently fascinated by the events happening in the lobby. In addition, two women stood near the street door. One was older and leaned on a cane; her younger companion, possibly a daughter, clearly found the unfolding scene too interesting to walk out on.

  The peacekeepers’ attention focused on Lina; they seemed unaware of Bryte’s presence. She made her way around the periphery of the room toward the two women by the door to the street.

  By the time she reached them, one Peacekeeper had Lina by the arm that was not supporting Cara, another had grasped the shoulder that Cara’s head rested against, and the other two walked behind her, prodding her toward the door.

  Perfect!

  Bryte nudged the young woman. “Look at that!” she spoke loudly enough so that the couple lingering just outside the restaurant could also hear. “Those men are arresting that woman for rescuing the child she’s holding. And do you know from what? From slavery, that’s what!” She infused her declaration with all the anger and indignation she felt against the gem miners for the beatings she and Nia had received that day and for the rough treatment that poor Cara had endured. “Slavery!” she repeated. “That’s illegal. Orphans are being brought here and forced to work in a gem mine. They’re beaten and half-starved. And these peacekeepers don’t care.”

  By this time the peacekeepers had reached her, and one grabbed her arm and swung her out of their way.

  She let out a loud howl and turned so that the two women could see the ugly red tracks on her arm where Emmy Cooper’s whip had fallen. “That was my sore arm, where the guard beat me when I worked in that mine today. I was beaten because I tried to help that child’s older sister.” She indicated Cara. “Her sister’s been starving herself to give extra food to her little sister.”

  She turned and called out to the couple by the restaurant. “How can decent people allow this sort of thing?”

  The nearest peacekeeper dropped his grip on Lina’s shoulder to grab Bryte and clap his hand over her mouth. As Bryte had hoped, Lina caught on. She jiggled Cara awake and told her in a loud voice, “Cara, these men want to take you back to the Coopers.”

  The child rubbed her eyes, turned her head from side to side, and gave a loud wail. “Nooo!” she cried. “Don’t make me go.” She threw her arms around Lina’s neck and clung to her. “They hurt me,” she screamed and broke into hysterical sobbing.

  Bryte regretted having to frighten Cara so, but it was the only way to save her. She bit down as hard as she could on the fingers covering her mouth. When the officer pulled his hand away, she shouted, “These so-called peacekeepers care more about the bribes the miners pay them than they do about the welfare of children.”

  Lina pulled up Cara’s ragged dress to show a series of welts across the child’s back. “Look!” she said. “They even beat this little one.”

  The older woman stepped forward, brandishing her cane. “That’s outrageous!” She poked the end of the cane into the chest of the peacekeeper holding Lina’s arm. “You ought to be praising this young woman for saving these children, not dragging her off to a cell.”

  The peacekeeper grabbed hold of the offending cane and thrust it downward, nearly toppling its wielder and thereby enraging the younger woman, who went after him with her fists. “Don’t you be rough with my mother, you brute,” she shouted. “What kind of justice do you represent, anyway? I’m reporting you to the governor.”

  By this time the couple that had watched from a distance came toward them. Their fine clothes and the woman’s carefully coifed hair spoke of wealth. They were middle-aged, the man’s thinning hair sprinkled with gray. Bo
th looked deeply concerned by what they’d been witnessing. “Is this true?” the woman asked, while the man walked behind the two peacekeepers guarding Lina from the rear.

  “I want to see what she showed these folks,” the man said, nodding first toward Lina and then toward the mother and daughter pair. “I’m a doctor. Doctor Arnston Metheny, and this is my wife, Serene Metheny.” He nodded toward his female companion. “We had a little girl about this one’s age.”

  Bryte noted with interest the word had.

  “Now, there’s no need for alarm,” a peacekeeper soothed. “She has some marks, it’s true, but this one,” he put his hand against Lina’s back, “was reported as a shape-changer. She changes into a panther, we were told. Nearly killed the desk clerk. That’s why we’re taking her in. The little girl’s marks were more likely made by the panther’s claws, not by a whip.”

  Lina spoke into Cara’s ear. “Is that true, Cara? Did the kitty hurt you?”

  Cara shook her head emphatically. “Good kitty,” she declared. “The mean guard lady hit me with her big whip.”

  “That’s a story they told her to tell,” a peacekeeper shouted to the gathering crowd.

  “I don’t think so,” Mistress Metheny said. “Sounds to me like she’s telling the truth.”

  The doctor reached out and gently lifted Cara’s dress. His wife leaned in closer to see the child’s exposed back. She let out a loud gasp and screamed, “Who would do such a thing to this poor baby?”

  By now all the commotion had drawn other guests to the scene. Shrugging off the peacekeepers’ hands, Lina turned so that all the onlookers could see the ugly red stripes crisscrossing Cara’s small back.

  “I demand that you release this young woman and let my husband treat the child’s wounds,” Mistress Metheny declared, hands on her hips, glaring at the peacekeepers.

  At the three peacekeepers. One had sidled away while everyone’s gaze, including Bryte’s, had been focused on Lina and Cara. Murmurs of agreement rose from all sides but stilled when the fourth peacekeeper reappeared with the desk clerk in tow.

  “Look, ladies and gentlemen,” he announced loudly, claiming the group’s attention. He pointed to the marks on the clerk’s neck where Lina-panther had clamped her teeth. “See what was done to this poor man by this woman’s animal. Then judge for yourselves who is at fault here.”

  More gasps. More murmurs from the crowd.

  “He isn’t all that badly hurt,” Bryte said. “He was refusing to allow Lina to take Cara and her sister to our rooms.”

  The desk clerk spoke in a hoarse voice, “This hotel is a business, not a charity home,” Bryte felt certain the hoarseness was faked. The panther’s teeth had pierced the skin but not done any serious injury.

  “I told him I would pay for two additional rooms for my guests,” Lina said. “I observed plenty of vacant rooms on my floor. No one was asking for charity.”

  “She made a lot of unreasonable demands. This hotel is busy. We don’t have the staff to spare to cater to the whims of a single arrogant guest,” the desk clerk said, his hoarseness miraculously disappearing.

  “Her demands weren’t unreasonable,” Bryte declared indignantly. “The panther only scared you into doing what she asked. It didn’t hurt you, though it could have.”

  The doctor spoke. “I am positive these marks on the child’s back were not made by an animal’s teeth.” He’d addressed the group, but then he turned to Lina. “Young lady, would you allow my wife to hold the little girl so that you can demonstrate this remarkable ability for us? I’d like to see the transformation, so long as it would not endanger anyone.”

  “The panther would endanger no one, so long as no one endangers her.” Lina handed Cara over to the doctor’s wife. The child stirred and opened her eyes.

  One of the peacekeepers looked longingly at his shrunken pistol, calling attention to the diminished weapon. “Man, what happened to that?” one of the newly arrived spectators asked, pointing.

  “Something she did,” the peacekeeper answered, glaring at Lina. “Seems shape-changing isn’t her only talent.”

  Bryte sensed a subtle shift in the sympathies of the onlookers. They’d begun to perceive Lina as a threat. She had to find a way to swing them back to Lina and the children. Lina’s changing to the panther could be a terrible mistake.

  Before she could convey that thought to Lina, Lina made the transformation. Gasps arose and the audience backed away, including Mistress Metheny, Cara in her arms. The child’s sleepy face became suddenly animated. “Kitty,” she called out, squirming and holding her arms out toward the panther.

  Bryte saw her chance. “Let Cara down,” she urged. “Let her go to the panther. She won’t be hurt.”

  But Mistress Metheny only hugged the child more tightly. Cara started to cry. “I wanna pet the kitty,” she wailed.

  People were shaking their heads. The panther moved closer to Mistress Metheny, and Cara strained to get free of the woman’s encircling arms.

  “Please, let her down,” Bryte begged. “She won’t be hurt. Let people see that it’s safe.”

  Mistress Metheny thrust Cara toward Bryte. “You do it then. I won’t be responsible if she’s attacked.”

  Bryte took Cara and lowered her to her feet. “There,” she told the child. “You can pet the kitty.”

  Cara gave a squeal of delight and threw her arms around the panther’s neck. Lina-panther stood perfectly still while the child hugged and petted her. Mistress Metheny put her hands over her face but peeked through her fingers to check on the little girl. Dr. Metheny watched closely, bending slightly as if ready to snatch Cara up at any sign of danger.

  “I love the kitty.” Cara’s declaration brought smiles to faces.

  Relieved, Bryte drew a deep breath. The tide had turned back. But a tremor rippled through the panther’s body, and the animal leaned against Cara. Lina needed to return to her human form. The power she used to shape-shift must have depleted her remaining resources. Bryte had no power to lend her, but she had to bring this standoff to an end quickly.

  “Cara, let the kitty go now,” she said, speaking gently. “The doctor wants to take care of the hurts on your back.”

  “No,” Cara said, hugging the “kitty” tightly.

  “That’s so cute!” a woman’s voice gushed.

  “Leave the little girl alone,” someone else said.

  “Lina needs to change back,” Bryte said.

  “I like her better this way,” one of the peacekeepers declared.

  The panther turned its head toward that speaker and let out a menacing growl. Dr. Metheny bent down and snatched Cara up into his arms. The child let out a cry of protest.

  Bryte held her breath, expecting Lina to change, hoping that she could. She stepped next to the panther, and the big cat leaned against her leg. After a long, suspenseful moment, the transformation began. It didn’t happen instantaneously as it usually did. Bryte could see the panther’s body slowly losing its form, becoming first a dark, amorphous shape, then acquiring Lina’s form in a sort of wave, beginning with her head and arms, then her upper body, and finally her lower body and her legs. For a brief second she stood nude, before the clothes she’d been wearing appeared slowly as if easing out of her pores to take form. Lastly, her paws reformed as her shod feet.

  “Kitty?” came Cara’s wavering query.

  “The kitty’s gone for now, but you’ll see it again,” Bryte promised, trying to keep her grasp of Lina’s arm to support of her friend and make it look like no more than a friendly gesture.

  “She’s the kitty!” Cara announced, apparently just discovering that amazing fact, and pointing at Lina with delight.

  Lina smiled, but it was a weak imitation of her usual broad grin.

  Cara’s smile, though, lit up her tear-streaked face. She squirmed in the doctor’s arms, reaching toward Lina. “You can change to a big kitty,” she said to Lina, her voice filled with awe and admiration. “I wanna do th
at too. I’d jump on the mean guards and bite them all. Or maybe I’d change to a bird instead. A big bird. And I’d fly way up over their heads, and they couldn’t hurt me anymore.”

  Lina patted the child’s hands. “Maybe someday you will, who knows?”

  Bryte addressed the gathered guests. “Look, you can see that Lina and I have told you the truth. This child is just one of a large group of orphans being held as slaves by the gem miners. And the peacekeepers are being paid to let the abuse continue. Now, we’re tired and hungry, and Cara and her sister need to have their wounds cared for. Are you going to let the peacekeepers arrest Lina for rescuing them? Is that the kind of heartless town this is?”

  “No!” a male voice called out.

  “You men ought to be ashamed!” A woman shouted. She clutched the arm of the man who’d called out and urged him forward to confront the peacekeepers. “My husband and I are visiting here. We’d heard this was a picturesque town that offered excellent hospitality and had tours to many interesting sites nearby. But I can tell you that what we are witnessing right now will be reported in full to the travel bureau that arranged our trip. We will recommend that no travelers be routed here.”

  “And we will be listened to,” her husband chimed in. “We are frequent travelers and have influence with the travel bureaus and trip planners.”

  “Now, now, don’t be so hasty,” the desk clerk urged. “We run a first class establishment. I assure you—”

  “What we want assurance of,” the husband interrupted, “is that these children will be properly cared for, and the very serious charges these young ladies are making will be thoroughly investigated.”

  “And that these peacekeepers will leave immediately,” his wife added, glaring at the objects of her wrath.

  Other hotel guests and restaurant patrons apparently took courage from the couple’s boldness. They all joined forces and drove the peacekeepers out of the hotel.