The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series

by Cole, LaDonna

  “Have you tried to question Dagan?”

  “Not since the last beating.” A fleeting tic of panic broke across his face. “Besides, I am saving that for Revolution Day.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I think if I insist on an audience with the Mother, then Dagan will retaliate and it will incite the slaves to riot.”

  “Be careful, Corey. I don’t want your life to be the cost of our freedom.”

  His eyes widened and a strange light came up in them, as though something in her warning lit a spark inside of him. It frightened her a little and she rolled over and buried the thought in a deep sleep.

  QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): TARA JOHNSON

  Things were going as well as could be expected given the dried mud, stench, and physical labor. The Darchori were firmly on the Keepers’ side and more than half of the slaves had pledged loyalty to the Cianti Todura. He had become their hope for freedom. They looked to him to lead them out of slavery. Now that they were united, it would only be a matter of days, maybe even hours before something sparked the rebellion. Eager to get to it, Tara found herself running through scenarios and contingencies in her head. One thing held her back.

  Corey.

  The scaffolding they were building neared completion. Flashes of Corey strapped to it screaming out Kate’s name would pierce her every time she looked at it. Things were different than they were in the Scriptorium. They seemed to be on a different timeline, and she hoped and prayed that in this alternate reality, Corey would survive. The closer they came to completion of the torture device, the more she worried.

  She belayed her fears with the simple fact that these slaves seemed very much attached and almost worshipful of Corey in direct contrast to the frenzied mob calling for his death in the Scriptorium. Completely different than the outcome in the Scriptorium, evidently they did something right to change the mindset of the slaves.

  “The Kiarnusk don’t seem very bright do they?” Tara asked the slave to her right as she anchored a large pylon to the cliff.

  He shook his head and passed a bolt fastener to her.

  “Are there always the same dozen?”

  “Yes, and two who watch over the children.”

  “We could take them easily.”

  “It is not the Kiarnusk that we need to worry about. It’s the dragons.”

  “I’ve only seen one dragon. Are there more?”

  “Thousands.” He turned and descended the ladder.

  Tara pressed her lips together and scanned the skies. She hadn’t seen any other dragons but knew Trip and Corey had. They were sunk deep into the ravine, plodding through muck. Anything could be on the other sides of the cliffs.

  Maybe we had better adjust our plans to revolt.

  That night in the cage she brought it up to the Keepers. “He said there are thousands of dragons.”

  “We saw some of them on the day we first jumped, right Corey?” Trip said. “They were playing with the children. They didn’t look so tough.”

  Corey snorted. “I’m sure they could put up quite a fight if they chose to.”

  “How are we going to cause a revolt if there are thousands of dragons to prevent it?” Tara asked.

  “We have to get the dragons on our side,” Corey replied.

  “That’s not likely.” Trip absent-mindedly dug a trench in the cage floor with his thumb.

  “No, it isn’t,” Tara agreed.

  “I’m working on a plan.” Corey stared through the crossbars above the cage.

  “Are you gonna let us in on this plan?” Dirk asked.

  “Eventually.” Corey smiled enigmatically.

  What was he up to? Tara narrowed her eyes at him, but he just chuckled and turned away. She glanced at Eunavae whose face expressed her thoughts exactly. Tara didn’t trust Corey to think of his own safety. If she knew him, he had devised some plan to get Kate and all of them free, but he would be strung up on that scaffolding in return.

  “Corey.” Tara moved to his side and spoke softly, for his ears only. “We can’t lose you. Don’t do anything heroic, okay?”

  “Tara, you know me. I’m not really the heroic type.” He smiled and patted her hand.

  She snorted. He was exactly the heroic type.

  QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): COREY CHASTAIN

  “Dagan, I know you can hear me dragon.” I had been baiting him for three days. He wouldn’t speak to me anymore, but I knew he listened.

  “Dagan, I know you have plans for me. I know you intend to string me up on that scaffolding.”

  “You know nothing!” His dragon voice rumbled in my head. Good, I got his attention.

  “Sure, I do. I know you and the Mother have plans for me. I know you want revenge.”

  Silence.

  “Consider this my last request. I want to see the Mother or you let me thought-speak to her one more time before I die.”

  “Hmmm.” I could hear his thoughts considering the idea. He wasn’t refusing outright, a good sign.

  “Corey?”

  “Kate? Kate, is that you?”

  “Corey.” A cry of relief, the thought, jammed packed with sentiment, exploded in my head and a cascading spiral of emotion landed on my heart.

  “Kate, where are you?”

  “I don’t know. I’m chained to a wall. Again! Dagan said they were going to kill me unless you do something for them. What is he talking about?”

  “Darling, don’t worry. I won’t let them harm you.”

  “Corey, sweet Corey, I love you.” Truth rang from her words and the intensity of her emotions like the peal of church bells. I closed my eyes in relief and savored the sound and integrity of her statement. I felt her drawing me, needing me, calling me to her.

  “I have loved you for a thousand years, my Kate.”

  “Corey.” The thought sighed in my head and pierced my heart, wrapping me in the longing and apprehension. “What do they want you to do?” Worry for my safety, the overwhelming emotion behind the thought, flooded me.

  “Don’t worry, love. “

  “I need you, Corey, stay whole and perfect and…”

  “You heard her?” Dagan sliced away her words.

  “Yes. What do you want me to do?”

  “The Mother and I want you to die.”

  “Why Dagan? Why me? Who is the Mother?”

  “You are the reason we were trapped here. You left us here, fractured.”

  “I don’t understand, Dagan. Are you talking about the dragons?”

  “NO!”

  “What are you saying then? Who did I leave?”

  “It doesn’t matter. You will die, or we will torture Kate slowly, bit by bit every day, until she is mangled beyond repair. Then you will watch her die a slow and torturous death.”

  “No. I will die. Please. Let me die. I will do whatever you ask. What is your guarantee? How will I know that you will set her and these people free if I die?”

  Suddenly, my mind opened to a vast consciousness. Dagan thought spoke across the crowd of intelligent minds. “This is Dagan, first Dragon to the Mother. I am projecting to all humans and dragon kind alike.”

  I turned around and saw the Keepers sit up and cock their heads to listen. The slaves stilled in the cages around us.

  “The one named Corey Chastain will sacrifice himself for the human lives. If he fails to do so, they will all die. If he succeeds they will be freed.”

  “Nooo!” Eunavae and Tara shouted and ran to me. The Darchori began to cry out wailing “Cianti Todura!”

  Dagan continued. “All of the dragons of Dagan Island must trumpet your promise to protect the slaves from further harm if Corey gives his life as promised. You will release them no matter what I or the Mother wishes.”

  Thousands of dragons trumpeted audibly as well as in our thoughts. The reverberation and invasion rumbled through our heads and ears. Several slaves passed out under the onslaught.

  “If he does not succeed, you
will eat every human man, woman, and child within the day.”

  Again the trumpeting in stereo sounded around the island and in my head. Several more slaves hit the ground, unconscious.

  Eunavae fell to her knees and clamped palms over her ears. “No! Corey! Noooo!” she cried and buried her face in my shoulder.

  Tara stared down at me, eyes dead. “I told you not to do this.” A fat tear rolled down her cheek and dropped into the dried mud on her breast.

  “I have to. They threatened to kill Kate.”

  “Kate is the MOTHER!” Tara screamed into the sky, balling her fists at her sides.

  “What? What did you say?” Whistleu asked.

  I sighed and put my head in my hand. Great!

  “It’s true. Kate of a Thousand Years is the Mother!” Tara snarled at me. “You are dying to protect a monster! She is not loyal to you! She is manipulating you. Wake up! Corey!” She leaned over and shook my shoulders.

  “Tara!” Trip stood and grabbed her arms. She crumpled into him and sobbed as they sank to the ground.

  “She’s right,” Eunavae whispered at my side. “Don’t do this, Corey.”

  “I talked to her, Eunavae. She isn’t the Mother. She is chained to a wall somewhere and they’re playing mind games with her.”

  “No Corey, you didn’t talk to Kate. You talked to the Mother, pretending to be Kate.”

  “No, you can’t lie in thought-speak, Eunavae. Your emotions speak as loudly, even more loudly than your words. She is really here, alive and well.”

  I looked to Trip. He sat across from me, holding a distraught Tara in his arms. Eye to eye, I had to ask something of him. Something that went against everything I’d fought for.

  I drew an uncertain breath, unsure if my voice would work. I swallowed and opened my mouth. Trip shifted, his face fixed on mine. “Trip, you must promise me. You must find her and take her home.”

  His jaw tightened, but his eyes grew soft as he fought tears. “No, Corey. No man, don’t.” He tore his focus away. Tara’s shoulders shook as she doubled over. He tightened his hold on her.

  “Promise me. Protect her. Get her back home and everything will work out the way it is supposed to.”

  Trip’s face crumpled, but he nodded. “I promise, Corey.” I heard a sob as he gathered Tara in his arms and carried her over and sat beside me. Dirk followed them and knelt down at my side. His grip conveyed sorrow and respect as he squeezed my shoulder.

  With Trip’s promise, sorrow and fear evaporated. I finally understood what the One meant in the chapel that night.

  Strength is made perfect in weakness.

  In this weak moment, when only my surrender could save the ones I loved, I felt perfect strength pour through me. Where I was weak, the Beautiful One infused me with his strength.

  My friends circled around me, each reaching out to connect in their sorrow. I loved them more than any family or group I had ever been a part of.

  “I need you all to know. I love you like family.”

  Eunavae pressed her head into my chest. “Corey,” she rasped through trembling lips as she wrapped her arms around me.

  “Are you sure this is the only way, Corey? We could fight, we could…” Dirk’s words trailed off when he saw my resolve.

  Trip clenched his jaw and pressed his chin into Tara’s hair. Full of determination, his face spoke volumes. I knew I could trust him to get the team back safely and to care for Kate.

  “When you get back, Kate gets everything. Make sure they understand she is my sole heir. She will take care of you all.”

  Trip nodded once, his brows crashed together and his lip stiffened.

  “No, she won’t Corey!” Tara rose up out of his arms, tears streaking through the dirt on her cheeks. “Kate, your Kate is gone. All that is left is that narcissistic dragon queen. You need to wake up and smell the dragon dung! I have seen how this ends. You die. We lose. Kate lives crappily ever after as the Mother on this god-forsaken planet! You aren’t fixing anything. You’re giving in. I beg you, don’t do this, Corey.”

  “Tara.” I reached for her. She tumbled into the embrace shared with Eunavae, and we all cried together.

  “Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening at once.” ~ John Archibald Wheeler

  QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): KATE WILSON

  The pebble in her boot had to go, it dug into the soft flesh of her arch with every step. Kate hopped on one foot, removed her shoe and shook it out. Corey and Trip continued climbing through the tunnel and their flashlights blinked out as they turned a sharp corner. Kate heard Corey call back to watch her head, his voice bouncing back through the dark corridor. She felt for her own flashlight and bent to put her shoe back on.

  Thoughts of Corey under the stars, on the white beach later that night sent fireflies through her tummy. A stray thought breezed through her mind as she imagined their time together. I wonder if it is safe with all those dragons flying around. She had just tied a double knot in her boot lace when a peculiar sensation inched up her spine.

  A strange musky odor trickled through the air and a scuff in the dirt behind her snapped her head up.

  Massive beasts grabbed her. Large cloven hands clamped a cloth over her face. A sharp bitter odor tinged the cloth. Surprised and frightened, she fought and kicked, but there were just too many claws struggling to subdue her.

  “Beauty! Don’t fight them. They are here to protect you.” The familiar touch of Dagan’s mind gave her pause—or perhaps the sickly odor pressed against her face—but she stopped struggling.

  “Dagan? Is that you?”

  “Yes, Beauty, we have come to help you.”

  “Where are you?”

  “The Kiarnusk will bring you to me.”

  “Let me get Corey and Trip.”

  “No, they are already here. Let the Kiarnusk guide you.”

  Through Dagan’s vision she could see Corey and Trip just a few feet away. They talked normally, evidently not alarmed, so she decided to believe Dagan. By an eerie blue glow, she looked into the hideous faces of three of the same beasts that had herded the children and dragons. The Rhinodudes. Dagan called them Kiarnusk. Disgusting creatures, they made Kate shudder.

  “Take off your clothes, Beauty, and leave them there.”

  “What? No!” His intent came through the thought-speak, no malice directed toward her. Still something fishy unsettled her.

  “Yes, Beauty, I have a different garment for you to wear.”

  She remembered the last garment he tricked her into wearing, a dazzling sapphire blue gown covered in electromagnetic jewels that bound her to a power source to drain the life out of her.

  “No.”

  “Ah, Beauty, I didn’t want them to have to do this.” The Kiarnusk jabbed her with a stick and an electric current ran through her body, paralyzing her. She panicked, but she couldn’t move, speak, or grunt. Nothing. Fear sat heavy in her breast, choking her with dread.

  The Kiarnusk carried her through the maze of narrow corridors at their lumbering pace, scuffing the rock strewn floor. She couldn’t struggle since the paralysis still locked her into a board-like stiffness. Ending in an open chamber, the Kiarnusk chained her to a jagged rock wall. When the cuffs were secure, they jabbed her with their sticks and she could move again. She took a deep breath to scream, but they shoved something in her mouth and tied a gag around her head. Grunting and harrumphing, they lumbered out of the cave.

  “Dagan!”

  Silence.

  “Dagan! Make them let me go!”

  Silence.

  “Answer me, Dagan!”

  Nothing.

  She curled up into a ball and wept bitter tears into the dirt of the cavern floor.

  They fed her and led her to the latrine fourteen times before she stopped counting. She had no other way of marking the passing of a day. She assumed they fed her daily, it seemed about right. They didn’t bother putting the gag back in her mouth. She screamed hersel
f hoarse on the first day, on the off chance that the Keepers were nearby and could hear. She finally gave up screaming and resorted to prayers for their safety.

  “Dagan,” she whispered after what seemed several months when her tears dried up and the heaviness of darkness pressed in. “Dagan, you once cared for me, I know you did.”

  “We are bonded, Beauty.”

  The sound of his thought speak sent a shudder of relief through her.

  “Dagan, you have to help me.”

  “I am helping you, Beauty. You are back home where you belong.”

  “No, Dagan, I am not. I don’t belong here. I belong at Heartwork Village, with my husband and my friends.”

  “Bah!” He hissed. “That place is evil!”

  “Have you heard of Heartwork Village?”

  “Yes, he says it is evil and must be destroyed.”

  “Who says that, Dagan?”

  “The Master of the Spheres.”

  “Who is…who is the Master of the Spheres?”

  Silence.

  “Dagan. Dagan, please talk to me. Don’t leave me alone.”

  “You are never alone, Beauty. We are bonded.”

  “I’m…I’m afraid. Please help me to understand what is going on.”

  “Don’t be afraid, Beauty.” His tone dripped with loving, soothing, concern.

  “I am afraid. I’m afraid because I am alone in the dark and I don’t know what has happened to my…” she searched for words he would relate to, “my eggs.”

  “Family.”

  “Yes. You remember!” Long ago, on the first jump, Kate had compared how she felt about her teammates to how he felt about his egg siblings.

  “Yes. I am your family now, Beauty. We are bonded.”

  “I need Corey. You remember him?”

  “Yessss!” His tone menaced.

  “Why are you so mad at Corey?”

  “He is the reason you are broken.”

  “I’m not broken. Corey is the reason I’m whole. I love him.”

  “You are not whole. You are broken. We will fix you as soon as he is dead.”

  “What? NO! You cannot harm Corey! I forbid it! If you touch one hair on his head I will never forgive you! DO YOU HEAR ME?”