Freeze: A Dystopian Urban Fantasy Military Romance (The Great Keeper Series Book 1)

by Adelaide Walsh

  Freeze

  Book 1 of The Great Keeper Series

  Copyright © 2017 by Adelaide Walsh

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Contents

  Prologue

  PART I: THE KEEPERS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  PART II: THE JOURNEYMEN

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  PART III: THE PROMISE

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  PART IV: THE DECISION

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Once upon a future, the world was torn between two destinies. One was of community and nature. The other was of ambition and advancement. The two sides mingled with each other for a while, until they found that -even though they depended on each other- they no longer held the same values. They decided to go their separate ways and try their luck in different worlds. They flourished then. Separately. The world of community and nature spawned magic. While the world of ambition and advancement spawned power. It wasn’t long before the two locked horns again, giving rise to legends and leaders that made the two worlds seem equally irresistible. There were times when one destiny seemed bound to win and times when it lost the battle. But one thing became constant. Never again did the two worlds strike a balance. When the land was quiet, battle plans and lines were being drawn. Peacetimes were used as preparation for war. And in all the chaos, the self still reigned supreme. In both worlds, every citizen had family, goals or Purpose. Someone or something they were willing to lie for, die for or kill for. In the terrible twists that are the signature of fate, the self would tip the land into war or peace. The self would decide when blood was to be shed and when it was time to unleash the prototype. The self would say when lovers became enemies and when fathers -or the figures of fathers- became disputed territories.

  PART I

  THE KEEPERS

  Chapter 1

  He could hardly see as he drove carefully down the long driveway of Château de Confiance. A right turn soon led him through the city and towards the forest. He didn’t want to attract attention to himself. Exactly what driving too fast or too slow would do. As the tears clouded his vision, he squeezed his eyelids shut then opened them again. Better. The tears ran down his cheeks freely now. But at least he could see the road. The streets were fairly deserted since it was very early on a Monday morning. Everyone would be waking up to another day of training in a few hours. A sense of urgency engulfed him as he tried not to panic. He could imagine their faces now, when they realized what he had done. The disappointment. The anger. The rage at further upsetting the balance of power on an already fragile planet. He wondered what would give him away first, the manifestations of nature’s displeasure or his own raw nerves.

  As he reached the other side of the city and entered the forest, a small chill ran through his body. He was about to deposit his secret in the earth, which wouldn’t be too pleased about that. It was bad enough that the wind had already sensed a disturbance in nature. Anything would have been better than making the earth implicit in his crime, but what other way was there to dispose of a body? The next option was the sea, which was much less understanding than the ground in which he was about to hide the body.

  Bracing himself, he turned off the engine and climbed out of the car. The early morning air was icy cold and he shivered as it hit his face. Walking round to the other side of the car, he flipped the trunk open and stared at the figure wrapped in plastic. He had done his best to make sure the earth would not come into direct contact with the corpse. A synthetic material acting as a boundary between the body and the soil meant that he had time to ‘fix’ things, whatever that meant. Of course, when the body decomposed far enough, the earth would identify the crime and would start manifesting the tell-tale signs that the balance of power had been upset.

  So there he was, on an otherwise perfectly ordinary morning, placing a ticking time-bomb in the ground. The ground was damp from the rains of the night before, so only a short chant was needed to part the earth, creating a gaping hole big enough for the body. He heaved the plastic-clad body out of the trunk and hauled it over his shoulder. Placing it as carefully as he could in the shallow grave, he stepped back to catch one more glance at the unfortunate figure wrapped in plastic. The body had once belonged to the spirit of a Journeyman sixty years old, with two children and a mortgage paid for in experimental-hours-logged. Children he had grown to know and love. Now, at the hands of one of their own guardians, they had just lost a father.

  He had never felt the burden of being a Great Keeper as he did now, when he tossed one last bit of earth on the grave. As the irony of his life’s purpose and his deed dawned on him, he fell to his knees next to his victim. Spasms of pain wracked his body as he sobbed into the damp earth, his tears mingling with the sweat he spent burying his secret.

  ***

  “I used to think you were crazy, now I know for a fact you are,” Captain Dana Reeves laughed as she chatted with her right hand man, Lieutenant Nick Blade.

  “At last someone agrees with me,” Sergeant John Howard, a respected member of Savvy, replied jovially.

  Seated around a table at Château de Confiance, Blade’s humble abode, were the living legend that was Captain Dana Reeves, Lieutenant Blade and five members of Savvy, the elite team of Great Keepers that were at the fore of the defenses Captain Reeves had built up over the years. They sat drinking steaming mugs of coffee as they went through the day’s briefing.

  “The Journeymen from Border Patrol say all is well at the Espérer-Metz border.”

  “You mean the forest. Why do you always have to sound like an intelligence report?”

  “No suspicious movements in Metz, either. That must mean all Biolance’s activities are concentrated in the laboratories around the country and the company headquarters in Metz. They must be planning something big.”

  “Well, so are we. For once, we are the ones who will be on the offensive.”

  “Not if they beat us to it.”

  The members of Savvy went back and forth while Dana watched Blade closely. He seemed to be in a world of his own this morning.

  “Everything fine on your front, Lieutenant Blade?” she asked, attempting to draw him from his reverie.

  Blade jumped visibly, “Of course. Why do you ask?”

  Had he done something to give himself away?

  “Do you have anything to add?” Dana persisted.

  “No, no, everything is as usual on my end.”

  “Your new training methods have been yielding good results,” Dana said.

  “Thank you. It’s been helpful going over the past wars again and seeing how best to update our strategies. Cognitive gymnastics is showing the best rate of improvement. It seems this war will be won by strategy rather than might,” Blade managed.

  Dana nodded, keeping her eyes on Blade. She was worried about him. He seemed to have broken into a sweat, as if he were nervous about something. But she had never seen
him nervous about anything. He was a seasoned soldier who had nerves of steel, hardly ever blinked under pressure and was a stickler for rules. He believed in the Purpose, the raison d'être of a Keeper: to care for and safeguard the wellbeing of the Journeymen, mere human beings whose goal in life was to forge out a purpose for themselves as they traveled through life. He must be coming down with something.

  “Why don’t we stop here for today? It looks like Lieutenant Blade isn’t well,” Dana suggested.

  The small group immediately stood up to leave as Dana walked up to Blade.

  “Why didn’t you tell me you are ill? We would have let you sleep in,” she said.

  “I thought it was nothing. I suppose I was wrong.”

  “You don’t take enough care of yourself,” Dana rebuked.

  “Of course I don’t. That’s your job.”

  Dana laughed, happy that he still had his sense of humor.

  “Well, I’ll be back later with some soup.”

  With that, Dana walked out of the castle and into what was turning out to be a bright and sunny day. John Howard had been waiting for her outside and let his eyes travel over her body as she stepped out into the sunlight. The sun hit her raven black hair just so, setting off her smooth porcelain skin. She had spent a considerable amount of time training and making sure the younger trainees were up to standard. He couldn’t help but feel drawn to her supple body as she pressed herself against him for a moment, then slid her hand into his.

  “He might be coming down with something,” she said.

  “He’ll be fine in no time. He’s Lieutenant Blade, after all.”

  “Yes, he is,” Dana said proudly. “But he shouldn’t put himself under so much pressure. He’s not getting any younger.”

  ***

  The assembly of adolescent boys and girls stood quietly as Dana and John addressed them, soaking in every word. As Captain, it was not Dana’s duty to see to the education of the young trainees but she considered it important to keep the lines of communication between herself and the younger Keepers open. She regularly met with the young trainees to keep morale high. John, as Espérer’s Minister of Education and Child Welfare, went with her.

  “How is it that the Keepers have so much power over the earth, the wind, fire, water and yet are so weak? We should be more different to the Journeymen. We should live longer. We should look prettier. But no, we’re just as mortal and look just like them,” one girl remarked.

  “That’s a strength. It helps us relate to them. And it puts us in our place, helps us remember our Purpose,” Dana replied patiently.

  “That’s probably what Temba was thinking when he made those Formidables,” a boy answered.

  “It’s Dr. Temba to you, son. Respect your enemies and you will be in a better position to defeat them,” John advised. “And yes, it’s harder fighting them when they look just like us. It’s difficult to get rid of one when we’re not sure if it’s a Journeyman or a Formidable. That’s one good case of camouflage.”

  “And we all know what could happen if any of us Keepers killed a Journeyman, don’t we?” Dana said.

  One eager boy raised his hand, then spoke up before anyone could give him permission.

  “Nature turns against us!” the boy shouted excitedly.

  “That’s one way of putting it,” John answered.

  The headmaster took over, announcing that it was time to sing the school song. The piano began its introduction and, when the time came to sing the first verse, all the adolescent trainees broke into song.

  For justice, for freedom we stand

  To protect the pure and lowly Journeymen

  For harmony and devotion to the cause

  We unite and adhere to our laws

  As the last voices died down, Dana and John looked over at each other pleased with the pride with which the boys and girls had sung. Then they set off after the assembly towards the adult training arena.

  The life of a Keeper was that of continuously straining for mastery over the mind and body. There could be no complacency between battles. And so from birth to death, the Keepers trained. Dana could still remember the lessons she took as a child. She had started school at the age of five, learning languages, science and identifying the skill set that nature had given her. Keepers, in terms of ability, were a step above humans in that they were born with the power to control a single element of nature. It was the task of a five year old trainee to discover which element had been gifted to them -earth, water, wind or fire.

  “Try harder, Dana,” her tutor had advised her as they stood at the edge of a customary cliff.

  Dana had closed her eyes again, her legs crossed, hands placed on her knees. She settled herself, clearing all her thoughts from her mind. She focused on the sound of the wind as it brushed her face, hoping the wind might talk with her if it knew it was in her thoughts. But the wind did not take notice. It simply continued with its random motion, dancing to a tune of its own. Dana looked back at her tutor, her eyes pleading for guidance.

  “Well, maybe it’s not the wind then,” Ms. Amelia the tutor said. “Move on to fire.”

  Dana faced forward and closed her eyes again. This time, she balled her hands into fists and rested her knuckles against her knees. She had trimmed her nails that morning so that she could tighten her fists as much as possible without her nails digging into her palms. Mentally sweeping away any stray thoughts, she concentrated on her movements. But she could not feel any heat in her hands. They said a ‘friendly’ heat- not a scathing one- should creep into her fingers, her hands and then the rest of her body -rising through her hair until it appeared to be on fire. But that didn’t happen. Dana glanced back at Ms. Amelia again, fearful that she might not have any abilities at all.

  “Of course you have an ability! You’re a Keeper!” Ms. Amelia had said that day.

  So Dana closed her eyes again, then laid her hands flat on the ground at her sides. She should have heard the rumble and shifting of the earth as it conversed with her. But she heard nothing.

  “It’s water!” Dana shouted excitedly. “I can control the seas!”

  Ms. Amelia couldn’t help but smile as Dana trained her eyes over the cliff and watched the horizon as the sea rolled and churned, pleased at having found its kin. Dana stood up and raised her hands then, very slowly, above her head. As she did, the sea rose with her hands until a large wave stood casting a shadow over her. Dana smiled then lowered her hands slowly until the sea was calm again.

  Now as she watched the adult trainees wrestling with each other, she was amazed at how far she had come since then. She had mastered all four elements over the last fifteen years. First water, then fire. Years after came earth, then wind. The day she won a contest with the wind, she was named a Great Keeper -officially capable of controlling all four elements.

  But the training was never over. Even Great Keepers continued training to sharpen their senses and ease their frustrations. Because of the power they possessed, the Keepers were vigilant about keeping their emotions in check. There were rules in place since the beginning of time that ensured that there were consequences whenever the Keepers lost their temper or violated a fellow Keeper’s trust. Most important of all was the Purpose each Keeper was entrusted with: taking care of the human race. The murder of a Journeyman by a Keeper was strictly forbidden -the punishment being excommunication and the stripping of a Keeper’s abilities.

  “What are you thinking?” John asked.

  She had been lost in her thoughts, hardly noticing him at her side until now.

  “Oh, just thinking about old times. Do you remember when we were children and they kept telling us how dangerous it was to murder a Journeyman?”

  “How could I forget? My father told me that story all the time. And now I tell it to the children.”

  “Right. But don’t you think it’s strange how they never finished the story? Even you end it with the same two sentences: ‘Nature turns against us. That’s one way
of putting it’.”

  “A terrible way to end any story. It’s awkward, to say the least. I asked the Bureau of Communication and Folklore if I could change it and they said no. They also said if I changed a word of it, I would be stripped of my office and demoted.”

  “That’s one strong no. Why don’t they tell us why they do things the way they do?”

  John smiled, “You mean why don’t they tell you why they do things the way they do.”

  Dana blushed.

  “Well, you have reason to expect some perks. You’ve done a lot for Espérer and the Journeymen. Not to mention singlehandedly putting us back together again after the last battle. Our very own Joan of Arc. But it’s probably best if as few people as possible know what’s behind the Rules and the Folklore.”

  “Yes,” Dana said quietly, “You’re probably right. But do you think Lieutenant Blade is one of those people?”

  John thought for a moment before he spoke, “I hope not.”

  “Why do you say that?” Dana asked, surprised. “You don’t have anything against him, do you?”

  “Good morning, Captain Reeves, Sergeant Howard,” a passing student said bowing his head reverently.

  The Keepers believed it more respectful to bow than to salute. Dana and John returned the gesture, and carried on with the inspection of the adult trainees. As they walked, they reminisced about old times.

  “Do you remember Ms. Amelia?” Dana asked.

  “How could I forget?” John laughed. “She made me spend an entire day filling, emptying and refilling a bucket of water at the well just because I’d grumbled about the seasons passing too slowly.”

  Dana smiled, “Patience wasn’t your strong suit. You were always the first one to head for the dining hall when the siren went off for lunch.”

  “I was not.”

  “Yes, John, you were. You were the first to do everything that could be done without thinking too much.”