H.E.A.R.T. Saga: The Children

by Linna Drehmel

  DraDonna snapped her head back at the precise second he landed the slap on the left side of her face; it was all sound and no pain. “You can do whatever you want to me! I will not tell you anything; not for all the HEART’s energy!”

  The noise of their fighting drew the woman out of the cabin, brandishing a large sharp knife. “What’s going on out here; who are you?” She stood in front of the cabin door at DraDonna’s back.

  DraDevon looked down at his wife before saying anything. She silently mouthed the words: Just do it. He then grabbed her left arm in his right hand, twisting it around her back and spinning her around, gruffly pushing her forward. He addressed the blonde woman. “My name is NorRobert and I have been sent to help you,” he lied.

  Still skeptical, she questioned him further. “Where is your wife?”

  Thinking quickly, he answered, “She is resting at our home in the Ambassadors community because she is with child.” The woman still appeared to be unconvinced, so DraDevon went on with sarcasm in his voice. “Are we going to stand around here all day exchanging family stories or are we going to go inside and get this energy mad woman to tell us what she knows?”

  “Very well,” the woman said. She lowered the knife and turned for the cabin door.

  “Get moving,” DraDevon said gruffly to his wife. He released her arms and then shoved DraDonna so hard that she collided with the blonde woman. Using the element of surprise DraDonna flung out her arms and wrapped them around the other woman.

  “Hurry DraDevon, get the knife!” she said urgently.

  He yanked the knife from the woman’s pinned hand as she squirmed in DraDonna’s arms. “Let go of me!” the woman screamed as she struggled and fought.

  “Hurry DraDevon, get something to tie her up with! I will get her into the house but move fast; she’s hard to hold onto.” DraDonna groaned under the struggles of the hostile woman.

  Running into the cabin, he snatched up the first thing he could find: their knapsacks. He whipped the ties out of the tops and dashed back to help his wife drag the woman inside, where they tied her to a chair.

  “So are you two going to beat me and leave me for dead like you did my husband?” she sneered at them.

  “No, we’re not going to beat you up. Your husband attacked me first,” DraDevon answered. “I was just defending myself and my wife. Besides,” he went on, “we need you to be aware of what is going on. We need you to answer some of our questions.”

  “Ha!” She laughed at them. “There isn’t anything you can do to me that will make me talk! Do your worst.”

  DraDonna looked the woman in the face and said, “Oh no, we will not have to do anything to you. We’ll just not let you have any energy. After a while that little jolt you just got will wear off and you’ll tell us anything.”

  “Ha!” she laughed again. “You are such a fool. Just like everyone else on this stupid planet. The energy helps me some, yes, but it doesn’t affect my mind like it does yours. I could go the rest of my life without it. You see, there is this special little plant that grows around and all I have to do is eat a little bit of it, and I’m free. I’m smarter and stronger, unlike everyone else who walks around like they’re asleep.”

  DraDonna smiled as she pulled a small sprig of the Traveler’s Joy out of her pouch and asked, “Is this the little plant you’re talking about?”

  A look of surprise entered the woman’s eyes.

  “Yeah, we know about it. You see we are getting the best of both, too—energy healing and travel—but clarity of mind and strength from this wonderful vine.”

  A little worried, the woman asked, “How do you know about the vine?”

  “Oh, I think I will be the one to ask the questions here, and you will be the one to answer them.”

  “Not likely,” she scoffed at DraDonna.

  “Look, we don’t want to hurt you. What’s your name?” DraDonna asked her, but she was met with silence.

  “You know… something I’ve learned about this sweet little plant is that it doesn’t really last very long,” DraDonna continued. “You have to keep eating it, especially after using the energy for any reason. You’ll get confused, dizzy, you will get headaches, and it makes you hungrier. So before too long, you will be willing to tell us anything.”

  Still the woman remained silent.

  “Would you like some? All you have to do is tell me your name.”

  The woman stubbornly refused to speak.

  “Well you think about it while I go through your packs and see what they will tell me.”

  The woman began to struggle harder, to no avail, as DraDonna picked up one of the woman’s packs that were monogrammed with a ‘T.’

  “Get out of my stuff,” she yelled.

  “Oh, sounds like your Traveler’s Joy is wearing off; would you like some energy?”

  “Get mind wiped!”

  DraDonna set the pack down and pulled out a piece of Traveler’s Joy and sniffed it with a smile on her face, then placed the plant under the other woman’s nose so she could smell it too, but for just a second.

  “Would you like some?” she asked as she ate a piece. “Mmm! It’s sweet, and it is so nice to have a clear head.”

  The blonde woman licked her lips as a sweat broke out on her forehead. She began to feel throbbing pain in her head. “My name is TynLexa.”

  With this, DraDonna pulled another sprig of the plant out of her pouch and held it to TynLexa’s mouth so she could eat the plant.

  DraDevon, who had been standing behind his wife watching her get the woman to talk, was beginning to feel more and more nervous.

  “DraDonna,” he addressed his wife, “we need to move this along. Didn’t she say that someone was coming to help her?”

  “I know, but we need to get as much out of her as we can,” she whispered back to him. DraDonna turned back to the other woman and asked, “Are you hungry or thirsty?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  With just a look and a nod, DraDevon went into the kitchen and got a small glass of water from the MDC. He held the glass to TynLexa’s lips and she drank deeply.

  Then she said a little sarcastically, “I thought that you were going to withhold food and water from me. You guys don’t know much about torturing.”

  “That would be because we don’t know anything about torturing. We’re not like that. We would not deliberately hurt another person. But it wouldn’t actually hurt you if we didn’t give you any Traveler’s Joy because you don’t actually need it. I will only be giving you some if you tell me what I need to know.”

  TynLexa was thoughtfully silent, but DraDonna went on. “I must confess that we don’t fully understand what is going on here. We know that something is wrong with the world. But I promise you this—we will figure it out and fix it—with or without your help.”

  DraDonna picked up the first pack, pulling out clothing and personal effects, setting it aside. Then she looked in a smaller softer pack which she found to be full of Traveler’s Joy. Then she moved on to the larger, heavier third pack.

  She gasped when she saw what was in it. She pulled out something she’d seen before: a science tool with two long barrels on it. They were for looking through, and a plate was under them holding something very small, something for looking at. Along with the science tool was a notebook full of observations. DraDonna exclaimed in delight as she realized what was in its pages. “TynLexa, what were you on to with your observations?” she asked.

  TynLexa was perspiring again and seemed to be in a lot of pain. “I would love to share what I have found with you, but I can’t,” she said in a strained voice.

  “Why can’t you tell us? And why would you share it with me? After all you were sent here to kill us…”

  “It’s because you have been a lot nicer than I was told you would be. I was told that the two of you were energy mad and treacherous, so I was supposed to stop you,” she said through clenched teeth.

  “Then tell me what you have
found in here, TynLexa.”

  The woman’s face was turning red. DraDonna, not fully understanding what the problem was, offered her another sprig of Traveler’s Joy, but TynLexa turned her head and spit. “That…won’t…help!” TynLexa gasped in pain one more time, and then slumped forward, unconscious.

  “DraDevon… I think it’s time for us to go.”

  “You’re right, but I think that we should untie her and lay her down on the bed. We can’t leave her like this.”

  As they untied her, they noticed that she was wearing a metal chain with another piece of the same HEART stone hanging from it, that there were burns around her neck and on the hollow of her throat where the stone rested.

  They looked at each other, a little scared.

  DraDevon carried TynLexa into the bedroom and laid her on the bed.

  “I hope she’s going to be okay. I don’t think she was a bad person, just that she was being controlled by the Ambassador,” DraDonna said, feeling bad for the other woman.

  “DraDonna, do you think maybe we should try to take her necklace off?”

  “That sounds like a good idea to me,” DraDonna replied with a smile.

  DraDevon reached behind her neck, but could not find any kind of clasp or any way of taking the chain apart.

  “What’s wrong? Why won’t it come off?” DraDonna asked.

  DraDevon slid it around on her neck so he could see the back. “Looks like whoever gave this to TynLexa didn’t intend on her ever taking it off. The links are fused together.”

  “Can you cut it off with the energy?” DraDonna asked him, knowing that his skills might work better than hers.

  “I think so,” he replied as he focused what energy he had in him down to his right wrist, splitting it like he would for an arc weld. Bringing his thumb and forefinger together, DraDevon leaned in close and sliced through the chain with the hot spark of energy emanating from his fingers.

  He released the energy and stood up straight. He then reached into his shirt and yanked his own necklace off. “I’m not wearing this thing anymore,” he said as he tossed it on the floor with the one he cut off TynLexa.

  “Neither am I,” said DraDonna, pulling her necklace off as well. “It’s probably how they have been able to follow us and how they know what we’re doing.”

  “In that case, we need to get out of here now,” he said, taking his wife’s hand and hurrying to their packs by the HEART stone altar. “Do you need to take any of that stuff?” DraDevon asked, pointing to the bag of science equipment near their feet.

  “All I need is this,” DraDonna said, bending down to pick up TynLexa’s notebook. She placed it in her small pack with her own notebook.

  “Where are we going to go this time?” he asked her as they both shouldered their knapsacks.

  “Well, how does cabin number one of the Second Councilors Mountain sound?”

  “Quiet,” he answered her as they both placed their hands on the HEART stone altar. Together they said the prayer for travel.

  Control

  12

  JorRobert began to feel like his back was cramping. This chair was just too small for him. He set the EDU stone on the desk so he could stand for a moment to stretch. The fact that his back hurt from sitting in a chair too small for him, and the fact that he was hungry was adding to the shards of anger inside him.

  Watching the images on the special EDU stone was giving him a better idea of what was going on, but he still felt those dangerous shards of anger tearing at his soul. Councilor Jude was not telling him everything, and this amplified the hot rage that kept burning in his brain.

  JorRobert sat back down and tried to calm himself by picking up the EDU stone and looking closely at it.

  “I wonder how this works,” he mumbled to himself. He guessed it was somehow linked by the HEART’s energy to the small stone pendants they wore. But anything beyond that, he just didn’t know.

  Thinking about the necklaces and how they were linked to this EDU stone made him think of the one he now wore. With his left hand he felt the smooth, cool stone. JorRobert knew he wasn’t an exceptionally smart man, but he wondered: shouldn’t the stone warm his skin? Still the thought that his stone necklace could be linked to an EDU stone, that someone else was watching, left him fuming in paranoia.

  What gives her the right to spy on people? Was First Councilor Jude watching him, too? He hoped not; he was trying to help her after all.

  He clenched his left fist and smashed it on the desk, causing him to lose his grip on the stone in his right hand, dropping it to the desk. Just before the three different images faded, he finally saw something that caught his eye. He quickly picked up the stone again so he could closely watch the scene that was unfolding before his eyes.

  It looked as though DraDonna and DraDevon were fighting, and then TynLexa came out of the cabin— fooled by their ruse— and then she was captured.

  He watched, fascinated, as the three images played out the same scene from three different points of view. He forgot his anger and suspicions for a few moments, fascinated by what he was seeing.

  At first DraDonna tried to get TynLexa to talk, but to no avail. TynLexa needed more of the Traveler’s Joy to help her mind stay strong. JorRobert’s dislike of DraDonna increased when he saw her tease TynLexa with the plant, getting her to talk before giving her some.

  TynLexa was so weak, giving in and almost saying too much, but on some level, obviously wishing she could say more. He could understand what was going on.

  Just as she began to talk, he could see that she was in pain. He saw sweat pouring off her and her eyes bulge with the pain. He wondered what was causing this woman’s pain. As much as he didn’t like DraDonna and her husband, he knew that it wasn’t anything they had done. He was watching their every move and could hear everything.

  Sometimes, he thinks, he can almost hear their thoughts.

  So… who was hurting TynLexa?

  JorRobert saw her slump over and then the other two carry her into the bedroom, laying her down on the bed. He looked closely as DraDevon removed the necklace; one of the images went dim. JorRobert then watched from the other two perspectives and saw the burns all around TynLexa’s neck were the necklace had been.

  There was cold fear in the pit of his stomach when he realized that her necklace was just like his and that it was the necklace that had caused those burns. Then, cold fear was replaced by burning rage.

  With his free hand, he reached up and tried to yank his own necklace off, but to no avail. He felt trapped struggling with it on his neck and this made him so angry he felt once more like he was going to explode.

  Although the anger remained hot in his soul, his eyes were once again drawn to the EDU stone as DraDonna and DraDevon ripped their necklaces off. The last two images on the stone went dark.

  “HEART’s curse!” he hissed. “I’m going to have to report this!”

  Barely able to manage his anger, he walked over to the HEART stone altar and quickly said the prayer for communication to First Councilor Jude. “HEART’s greeting First Councilor Jude. This is JorRobert. I have news. The Dra’s captured TynLexa and managed to get her to talk a little. They also took her notebook so they could know what she was working on. I’m not sure what happened to her, but TynLexa is now unconscious. For some reason DraDonna and DraDevon took their necklaces off and I can no longer track them on the EDU stone you gave me. Please advise.”

  “HEART’s greeting JorRobert. This sounds more serious than I thought. I will be there in a moment to advise you further on the situation. HEART’s blessing.”

  “HEART’s blessing,” he mumbled.

  JorRobert stood up and backed away from the HEART stone altar, knowing she was going to arrive by energy travel.

  In a quick flash of blue light, First Councilor Jude was standing in front of him, poised and lovely wearing a long black skirt, a white linen blouse, and the long black outer robe of her office.

  The spectac
le of her beauty did nothing to calm the rising anger in his soul. It began to bubble up and expand until it took over his rational mind. Without any warning, he charged at First Councilor Jude and caught her by surprise.

  Out of instinct and self preservation, she raised her left hand, still gripping the travel stone, and struck the enraged JorRobert across the face with it, hoping that this would knock some sense into him.

  No such luck.

  Her efforts to defend herself and subdue JorRobert only served to fuel his irrational anger. He charged her again, this time barreling into her side, knocking the stone from her hand and knocking her off her feet.

  “What has gotten into you?” she gasped, trying to catch her breath.

  “Why won’t you tell me the truth about what’s going on?” he yelled as he grabbed the front of her shirt with his left hand, heaving her to her feet. “Tell me!” he said, shaking her so hard that her teeth rattled.

  She sputtered, stunned and frightened by his unreasonable outburst. She was unable to say anything.

  “Why don’t you answer me?” he screamed, raising his hand and slapping her. Her head snapped backwards, banging it against the wall behind them.

  JorRobert began to scream unintelligibly, not with anger but with pain. He dropped Councilor Jude to the floor, falling to his knees, tearing at the necklace at his throat— now glowing malevolently in yellow light. “Make it stop!” he gasped, writhing on the floor.

  Councilor Jude stood up and straightened her clothing. She walked over to the HEART stone altar and said the quick prayer for a small jolt of the energy that healed the rapidly forming bruise on her face.

  “Please!” JorRobert begged.

  Walking back over to where he writhed in pain on the floor, she calmly said, “I told you when I gave you that necklace that wearing it was an oath of obedience.”

  “I thought that you meant obedience to the HEART,” he choked out.

  “Ha!” she laughed mirthlessly. “You assumed wrong. It is an oath of obedience to me.”

  “Please stop. You’re killing me!” he gasped.