I snapped my eyes away for a distraction and landed on the picture of First Cabin. It had a wide front porch opening to a green lawn that swooped down to a small pond. That pond had been the site of the very first jump. My great great grandmother had been taken to a land called Ampeliagia at that very lake. Then years later, my own grandmother had crossed into Ampeliagia and come back within hours.
It was her disappearance that caused her grandfather, Rick Wilson, to develop the original sphere matrix. It had taken 40 years to actually put the algorithm into practice. Rick was long in his grave by the time the first sphere was deemed stable enough for transport. The technology had come a long way since then.
I felt a strange connection to the cabin as I stared at the picture. I would probably settle down there one day and raise a family. I glanced at Kate and prayed that she would be by my side when I did.
Mama Ty had continued the debriefing. “…Mel’s organizational expertise.”
Mel chimed in. “Get me a list of your favorite foods so we will be stocked and ready.”
Dirk spoke up. “We aren’t going to have to worry about shelter and protection either. We will be fully packed and armed.” He stroked his Compad and the monitor over his head popped up. “These are the weapons that will go through the quantum stream without disruption. Each of you should choose one and become proficient with it over the next three weeks.”
He looked at Donnie who jerked up and cleared his throat. “I have programmed tutorials on the G drive for each of these weapons, and Trip and Tara are trained in most of them. They will conduct the training sessions.”
“We have this cool simulation chamber that has several scenarios programmed into it. It’s pretty much like arena training except in a safe environment.” Trip seemed excited about weapons training. I looked forward to training with him.
“Kate and Corey,” Mama Ty addressed us. “Dirk tells me you have hit a wall with the information in our systems on your security level. I will immediately remove all security constraints and give you full clearance. I can’t believe I didn’t do that sooner.”
I frowned at her. I didn’t want her to say any more about my clearance status. I didn’t want anyone to know just yet what my connection was to the village. I felt it was beneficial to the mission that I just be Corey, friend, team member, advisor, spiritual mentor, and boyfriend.
Boyfriend, hmm that didn’t sound quite right. Kate felt much more important to me than that title described.
“Study the profiles carefully. We have had extensive psychological, emotional, and spiritual profiles done on each member of the Inner Circle. You should have everything you need in these files.” She tapped her Compad and a few seconds later mine and Kate’s Compads registered an item in our inboxes.
“We have designated this team as ‘The Keepers.’” She pinned Tara with a mischievous smile. “To solve the problem of duplicate names. Kim’s cabin will retain the name Chartreuse team.”
Kate cleared her throat. “Excuse me, Mama Ty.” Her voice was nearly a whisper.
“Yes.”
“You keep saying we.” Kate glanced around the room. “Who else knows about our task force?”
“No one outside of this room knows the actual purpose behind this task force. I have told the staff and board that you have been selected for early jump leader training, and that is true. I will be making a full report to the board at the end of your training.”
“Speaking of which.” Donnie tapped his compad. “I have taken the liberty of modifying the training material to fit our schedules.”
A graph loaded onto the flat screen and our compads.
“Sounds grueling,” Tara interjected. I had known her long enough to recognize the sarcasm. I also remembered the 16 hour training days she put the warriors of Jewel City through. I cracked a smile in her direction.
“After three weeks of training, we will relocate to First Cabin and start the jumps,” Dirk finished.
“We will get another Scriptorium excursion, right?” I asked.
“Yes, the last day of training we will take you back to the Village and to the Scriptorium.”
I glanced at Kate. The blush in her cheeks and simmering eyes took me back to our pink clouds and thousand years in our Scriptorium experience. I squeezed her hand to let her know I was right there in those pink clouds with her.
Sigh. My Kate.
“Family week is the next week, Mama Ty. Their parents and families will be here.” Kim stated and tapped the calendar on her compad.
“True, all jumps are suspended during family week, so you will have some time to settle into First Cabin before you are launched into this assignment.” Mama Ty paused and took an urgent message.
We broke into separate conversations while she dealt with some administrative issue. She finished and called the meeting back to order.
“Your morning training will be intense and heart scathing. I expect you to give it one hundred percent of your efforts. It could very well be the thing that makes or breaks this quest.”
I studied the schedule, a lot to learn in three weeks. Would we be ready?
TARA AND HER MIGHTY BAND
BY COREY CHASTAIN
A maiden fair of steel strength and air,
Came to stand on Mountain land
In the fairest city of all.
A war-maid strong, her spear-throw long
Gave to all a battle call.
The bravest one of all.
Tara and her mighty band
Tara and her mighty band
Tara and her mighty band of warriors.
The young men showed to test her bold
Raised a band of fighters and
Tried to best her one and all.
Her moves were right, gave them a fright
None could match her steady snatch
The best warrior of them all.
Tara and her mighty band
Tara and her mighty band
Tara and her mighty band of warriors.
Her battle glow was fierce to know.
No man withstood, nor ever could.
The war maven felled them all.
They begged her to teach them new
Ways to kill, increase their skill
Make them the best war band of them all.
Tara and her mighty band
Tara and her mighty band
Tara and her mighty band of warriors.
“COREY, I WONDER how big is this place?” Kate pressed into my side to look around me down the endless maze of intersecting halls as we slowly ambled through the corridor.
“Seems massive, doesn’t it?” The warmth of her arm pressed against mine sent waves of euphoria through me and once again I was caught up in the overwhelming attraction of Kate Wilson.
Our eyes met and I was home. This girl was everything to me, my hopes, my dreams, my desires, my purpose. My Kate.
She glanced at me, flashed a smile, and then sobered at something she saw in my face. Her eyes simmered with emotion. She drifted closer to me. Like a magnet, I drew her. The intensity of our attraction ricocheted between us. It gave me deep satisfaction that she felt the staggering connection too.
“We should go in, yes?” Her soft voice quivered as she hooked a thumb toward the combat training center.
“Yeah, we should.” We stood toe to toe, pressing our palms and lacing our fingers together as we grinned and stalled for a few more seconds alone.
I reluctantly reached behind her for the doorknob and lifted her over the threshold brushing her forehead with a kiss. She giggled when I set her down and we turned toward the training room.
We stepped into a Roman coliseum. Ancient ruins encircled a sand covered arena. We gawked at the extremely realistic holo-projection.
Trip and Tara sauntered up to us in their black belted karate gi and grinned.
“Wow!” Kate breathed.
“I’ll second that,” I muttered and scanned the circumference of the mass
ive pavilion.
“We programmed the quantum replicating algorithm to create this room from our memories of our Scriptorium training.” Tara spread her arms and turned in a circle.
“We can make it into anything we can imagine,” Trip stated, twirling a short sword between his fingers. “Or, I should say, the white coats can.”
“Like in my jump?” Kate asked, a crease forming between her brows.
“No.” Tara touched her arm. “This place cannot read your thoughts. We have to manually input changes.”
Kate’s shoulders returned to a relaxed state.
“So, where do we start?”
“I have something for you.” Tara took me by the arm and dragged me over to the wall of weapons. “Remember this?”
She slipped a golden short sword out of a sheath and turned the handle toward me. The hilt was etched with the image of intertwining serpents with emeralds for eyes. They spiraled around the pommel up to the cross beam in an elaborate caduceus-like design. The blade was etched with indecipherable glyphs.
“That’s the dagger from my pack.” I examined the hilt closely. “Did you take it?”
“Nope, all of these weapons were here when Trip and I got here this morning.” She waved her arm at the wall of weapons. “I thought you would want it back. It’s called a Gladius, It’s Roman. Did you know that?”
“Gladius, huh?” I cut a figure eight, testing the weight of it, remembering the feel of it in my hand. “It’s been awhile.” It did seem to blend perfectly with this room.
Tara pinned me with her stoic eyes.
“What?”
“Do you think we will be ready?”
I dropped my sword arm and stepped closer to her. “What’s wrong, Tara?” I knew her better than most. She never showed her emotions, keeping them hidden behind a warrior’s mask. For her to even ask the question meant she was worried.
“This assignment, the team, everything.”
Tara was worried that we wouldn’t be prepared. “Who exactly are you concerned about, Tara?”
“Mel and Donnie are fine, they have years of experience. Dirk too.” She ground her teeth together and cut her eyes across the room.
“That just leaves me and Kate.” An expression of deep sorrow flashed through her eyes so quickly I would have missed it if I hadn’t been studying her face. I turned to see what she was distracted by and noticed Kate and Trip deep in the middle of a martial arts lesson. Trip was guiding Kate’s arms and legs into various positions.
“Are you worried about Kate?” I asked. Friction defined Tara and Kate’s relationship, from our very first jump together to the dragon world where Kate had been captured by a colony of dragons and enslaved to be The Mother.
“Are you, Tara?” I asked again. “Do you think Kate can’t handle it?”
She snapped her eyes to mine and shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. She is important to the quest. I am just worried that you and Trip will be at risk protecting her.” She smirked at me. “I guess I will just have to guard both of your backs.”
I chortled. “You can protect my back any time, my friend. I couldn’t have a better champion.”
She beamed at me and picked up a sword. “Well, looks like you’re stuck with me. They are well into a lesson, and we are falling behind.” She flourished her weapon. “Like old times, right Old Man?”
“You aren’t gonna take it easy on me are you?”
“Nope!” She popped the “p” and lunged at me.
I had sparred with Tara for decades in our two century jump, but was out of practice since my last 50 years were with the peace loving Darchori, so I was very rusty and she pressed her full advantage. After she disarmed me for the seventh time and I found myself on my back side staring up into her beautifully frightening battle glow, I threw up my hands.
“Mercy!” I called, hands in the air, sweat streaming down my face into my eyes as I panted for breath.
“You know, not too bad for an old man.” She laughed and stretched out her hand to help me up.
“You are as old as I am.” I grumbled. Being over two hundred years old and stuck in a teenager’s body again took some adjustment. At first it was invigorating, returning back to a young ache-free version of myself. But the wild emotions and intensity took every ounce of control I’d learned.
We glanced over to Kate and Trip. They had ended up on the floor in one of their combat moves. Kate was stretched out on top of Trip and they were frozen, gazing heatedly into one another’s eyes.
Tara whisked away, stalked to the weapons rack, and slammed her sword down with a crash. Trip and Kate splintered apart with flushed faces. Kate scrambled up and glanced at me, worry drenched her eyes and she pressed her palms together.
I shoved my pain down deep inside and smiled back reassuringly. She took a shuddering breath and walked over to me without looking back at Trip. I opened my arms and she melted into them and pressed into my chest. I enfolded her in a hug while watching Trip over her head. He was still seated on the ground where she left him staring at the back wall.
Complicated.
“So are you a certified black belt yet?” I tilted Kate’s chin up to gaze into her face.
“On my way,” she grinned. “Have you chosen the short sword as your weapon?” She pointed at the weapon in my hand.
“Well, I thought it was a good choice since there was one in my pack. I am obviously going to have to use it.”
She arched a brow in contemplation and nodded, then subtly cut her eyes over to Trip. “I guess I should choose a weapon, huh?”
She sashayed over to Tara, and they began discussing her options. I crossed the arena floor to Trip. “Teach me some moves, bro.”
He cocked his head, our eyes met, and I tried to give him an expression of understanding. I knew how he felt about my girlfriend and needed him to know I had no malice.
Trip nodded. “I will teach you the way I was taught. We don’t have time to go through different katas. You are going to have to learn the arena method, fast and deadly, but if you ever do take Karate or martial arts, you will have to start from scratch.”
I nodded. I knew where I would have to start. It wasn’t scratch. One of the benefits of being from a wealthy family whose parents were preoccupied was endless lessons. I spent most of my afternoons during the school year in the limo with Giles, riding from lesson to lesson. The summers were full of karate camp, fencing lessons, Taekwondo, music lessons, you name it, my parents paid for it. I was a second level black belt, but that was over 212 years ago. I didn’t have any current skills and didn’t know how long it would take to regain them.
“Well, show me what you’ve got,” I said.
He took me through the basic steps, kicks, and punches in slow deliberate moves, then said, “Okay, come at me.” He shifted one foot back and snapped into a defensive posture.
I took a deep breath. Trip and I were about the same height, but where I was lean, he was massive, where I was quick, he was strong. This was going to be interesting. I had one chance to beat him at his own game, and once he knew my skills, I would never get the element of surprise back.
I held nothing back. I launched at him at full speed and just before I got to him, executed an aerial flip, landed behind him and jabbed the back of his knees. He went down, rolled over, but I was on him like lightning. I checked my punches so I wouldn’t harm him, but landed five blows to the chest before he recovered from his shock and slammed me to the ground.
My lungs seized up and I couldn’t breathe. I rolled to my side and waited for them to work again. Gazing at me with a crooked smile on his face, he squatted down beside me.
“You’ve been holding out,” he chuckled.
I tried to smile back but still couldn’t breathe, so I just nodded.
“I knew you had it in you.”
My lungs finally released and I gulped in much coveted air. He offered me his hand, I took it, and he lifted me off the ground.
I turn
ed to look at the girls. Tara had her arms crossed in front of her with a satisfied smile, she had seen me fight many times over the years. We had traded moves and I had even taught some of my skills to her students. Kate held her head at an angle with her lips pursed and brow creased as though she couldn’t quite make out what had happened.
Then her whole demeanor shifted. She glanced at Trip, studied me, then turned to study Tara and a fierce determination dawned over her features. She stood up straight, grasped the whip with both hands, and cocked an eyebrow at me.
I chuckled. I couldn’t wait to talk to her and find out what was going through that amazing head of hers.
Now that Trip knew my skills, he advanced my training considerably. We were doing some pretty high level maneuvers by the end of the day. The girls had finished before us and Trip and I rambled into the boy’s dorms to shower before dinner.
“Corey.” Trip tossed me a towel. “It is good to have another warrior on our team.”
I gave him a nod and stepped into the hall toward the showers.
“DID YOU THINK we would ever see the Inner Circle?” Donnie crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. The compad in front of him blinked off.
“No way,” Mel answered from her desk behind him. “I’ve been coming here for almost ten earth years and I didn’t even know an Inner Circle existed until a couple of years ago.”
“Top Secret stuff, for sure.”
“Jacen would love this wouldn’t he?” Mel took a deep breath and sighed.
Donnie chuckled. His youngest son in Jewel City was a rambunctious little thing that roamed the mountains looking for mystery and intrigue. “Yeah. He was born into the wrong world for sure. He’d have loved spy novels and super heroes here.”
They turned to each other and pretended they were peering around a tree, clandestinely. Mimicking their son’s daily behavior back in Jewel City, Mel grinned and Donnie snorted, then they turned around to their comp stations again and worked in silence for a few moments.
The Keepers Files 1.5 A Holding Kate Series Book Page 4