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

by Linna Drehmel

  Without another word, Councilor Jude stood up and pulled a necklace similar to his own— only with a bigger stone— out of the collar of her shirt. She grasped her stone with one hand and focused the energy within her for a moment on his stone. The angry yellow glow in JorRobert’s stone then faded along with the burning pain.

  The stone and the chain began to cool, and JorRobert heaved a sigh of relief.

  “You see, I found these stones a few years ago. I remember that day so well. I was alone in my home. I had been practicing my channeling. I was practicing too much and was weak from lack of energy when I stumbled on my way to the HEART stone altar and tripped. I was on the floor for quite some time feeling weak and barely conscious when I saw that some of the floor boards were loose. I pried them up and found a hole under the floor. In that hole was an odd metal box that was very rusty and old. I had a hard time getting the lid off the box because the hinges had rusted shut, but I kept at it. I had a feeling that there was something wonderful in there.” There was a gleam in Councilor Jude’s eyes.

  “When I did get it open I found that the box had treasures in it made from the HEART stone. There were HEART stone pendants along with several other things inside the box. Some of the stone pendants were strung on yellow metal chains and some were loose in the box. They were all dusty. Then I saw this larger one among them, I picked it up and put it on and it felt cool and smooth against my skin.

  “Somehow I felt stronger, strong enough to go to the HEART stone altar and take in a large dose of the energy. I could feel it react to the energy that I had within me and it began to pulsate with an unusual yellow light. I later found the larger one that I am wearing now controls the smaller ones.

  “You see, JorRobert… it responds automatically to my emotions in a defensive manner.” She stopped for a moment, letting her words sink in. “But I haven’t always worn it. I knew I would have to keep them hidden. It was less than a year ago that I thought it would help me and I was right. They have been… handy.” She smiled, self-satisfied.

  “I don’t understand how they are linked to that EDU stone,” JorRobert said, his voice still raspy from the pain that was inflicted on him.

  “Oh that’s simple,” she said lightly. “Another thing that was in that box was a note written on some paper that was so old and frail that it crumpled when I breathed on it. It was instructions on how to link the stone pendants to an EDU stone. It is really very easy. In any case you will have to obey me. You will not attack me again!”

  “I’m sorry First Councilor Jude, please forgive me. I don’t know what came over me. I was just so angry.”

  “Have you had any energy or Traveler’s Joy since I left you earlier today?”

  “No I haven’t. I have spent the day watching the stone like you asked me to.”

  “Ah… you fool.” She sounded amused. “Your little man brain needs either one or the other to stay balanced.” She pulled some Traveler’s Joy out of the pocket in her black robe. “This should help you keep in control of yourself. Just don’t forget— eat it often. It grows everywhere, so you should have no problem finding it.”

  He sat up and gratefully took the plant and ate it, instantly feeling the clarity that comes with eating the plant.

  “Now get over to that altar and get those wounds healed. We don’t have much time.”

  JorRobert got to his feet and stumbled over to the HEART stone altar, quickly saying the prayer for healing. He gasped as clean blue light and sparks went right to the burns on his neck and the injury to the side of his face, healing them fast.

  With an unexpectedly overwhelming feeling of dizziness, he fell backward from the HEART stone altar onto his back again. He could do nothing but wait for the room to stop spinning. “Why do I feel dizzy?” he asked. “That has never happened with a healing before.”

  “That’s because your silly little man brain has the Traveler’s Joy fighting to keep the fogginess of the energy out of your mind. You need to get up off your back and eat more Traveler’s Joy and stop wasting my time,” she said with impatience, handing him another sprig of the white flowered vine.

  He ate the vine she offered and sat up. The dizziness began to subside.

  “Feel better, JorRobert?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Good, and if you don’t mind we have a lot to do,” she said briskly.

  “Councilor Jude, what is it that you need me to do?” he asked, a little apprehensive.

  “I need you to bring DraDonna and DraDevon back here to face energy punishment for their crimes against the community. And I need you to bring me those notebooks, both TynLexa’s and DraDonna’s. They have information that I need. You will bring these things to me, as well as DraDonna and her husband.

  “But most importantly, bring DraDonna to me by any means necessary, even if you have to kill DraDevon to do it.”

  Deep malevolence was in her voice that made JorRobert want to hide. He was stunned by what the First Councilor had said; he was speechless. How could he kill another person? He knew that he had to obey her or he would die; but could he do it? “How would I do it? I mean, kill him… if I have to. I wouldn’t know how to get them to come with me,” he said, feeling overwhelmed and confused.

  “Well, JorRobert, I think I can help with that,” she said, pulling her robe aside, revealing something tucked into the beltline of her skirt. She pulled out what looked like a small carpenter’s square with rounded off edges, one end a little longer than the other. It also looked to have been made from HEART stone. She handed it to him, showing him to grip it at the bottom.

  “This is what I call an emitter,” she explained. “It will emit short, hot bursts of the HEART’s energy. You focus the energy inside of you on the emitter, and it propels the energy out of the emitter so fast that it’s hot enough to melt metal. You’ll need to eat lots of Traveler’s Joy and then take in a lot of energy before and after its use because it will drain you.”

  “Where did you get this thing?” he asked, feeling a little trickle of excitement creep into his soul as he held the weapon.

  “It was among the treasures that I found in the metal box,” she replied simply. “Do you have any more questions for me before you go?” she asked him.

  “I have a few,” he admitted worriedly.

  “What are they?” she said, impatience in her voice.

  “I was just wondering what will happen to TynLexa and her husband. Do you want me to go get them and bring them back to you?”

  “No, I don’t. I will take care of them. Your top priority is to get DraDonna and those books. Is that all?”

  “Just one more thing if you please, First Councilor Jude,” he said with as much respect as he could muster. He didn’t want a repeat of what had happened earlier. “I’m not sure where to find them. They left cabin number two of the Second Councilors Lake and I was not able to hear where they were going.”

  “I have a pretty good idea what they’re up to and what information is in that book. I think if you go to the Dra’s house sooner rather than later, one or both of them will come to you.

  Copy

  13

  The stunning feeling of energy travel receded from their bodies, leaving them feeling a little breathless. DraDonna and DraDevon took a look around them and saw another perfect cabin.

  “Let’s go have a look around outside,” DraDonna suggested as she dropped her knapsack on the floor.

  “Good idea,” DraDevon agreed and grabbed her hand as they walked out the front door of the cabin.

  The young couple gasped with shock at what they saw. Everything looked the same as the first cabin. It wasn’t just the cabin that was the same, but every contour of the mountainside as well. It was an exact copy down to the last tree and flower.

  “DraDonna, did we make some kind of mistake? Are we at cabin number one of the Ambassadors Mountain?” he asked in shock.

  “I’m pretty sure we said the prayer right,” she said, confusion
on her face. “I don’t understand how everything could look the same.”

  “Do you still have TynLexa’s notebook?” DraDevon asked her.

  “Yes, it’s in my small pack.”

  “I think we need to figure this out. Whatever it is we’re going to do, we need to do it fast.”

  “Why?” DraDonna asked, her eyes full of concern.

  “We’ve been attacked twice now. I just have a feeling that we’re running out of time.”

  “I agree, but we need to eat some food and some Traveler’s Joy. We didn’t eat much of our morning meal, and we didn’t have our noon meal, either. Come what may, we need to eat so we can keep our strength up.”

  “You have a point; let’s eat,” DraDevon said as they walked back into the cabin. “Why don’t you get some food for us while I check out the rest of the cabin?”

  “Sounds good,” she said. She walked into the kitchen and placed her right hand on the small HEART stone on the counter in the kitchen. She recited the basic prayer to the HEART requesting food. She asked for two sandwiches and two glasses of water. Opening the door to the MDC she found just what she had asked for: two sandwiches on thick wheat bread and two cold glasses of water. DraDonna set these out on the table and took out two sprigs, setting them by each plate.

  She was about to call her husband to the kitchen for their evening meal when she heard scuffling coming from the bedroom.

  “DraDonna! Come here quick!”

  DraDonna felt her soul leap in fear. She ran into the bedroom to assist her husband with whatever new horror he was struggling, but when she came to the bedroom she couldn’t help but laugh a little at the sight of her husband wrestling with what looks like one of the blankets of the bed.

  “What are you doing?” she asked with mirth in her voice.

  “I caught one!” he answered her with a grunt.

  “Caught what? Whatever it is, it can’t be that big or mean if you can hold it down with a blanket,” she said, still laughing a little.

  “Not funny!” he said, still struggling with the thing in the blanket. “I think I caught one of those things that you saw at the other cabin.”

  “You did?” she said suddenly, not finding it to be funny anymore. “What is it? What does it look like? Can I see it? ”

  “I don’t dare open this blanket. It will get away!”

  “What did it look like?” she asked him again.

  “It was little, brown, kind of furry. It moves really fast; I didn’t think I would be able to catch it.” He tied the little brown creature up securely in the blanket and set it back on the bed. “I was thinking if we left it in here for a little while, it would calm down and we could get a better look at it.”

  “Good idea; but for now let’s eat,” she said, and they went into the kitchen.

  “DraDonna,” DraDevon said thoughtfully as they walked, “I don’t understand something.”

  “What is it?” she asked as they sat down at the table to eat.

  “Well, it’s all the trapped old souls and the blocked new ones. Who’s doing all this? And why?”

  “My best guess is that it’s Ambassador Symon and maybe the Councilors,” she replied. “But the thing is… whatever it is they’ve been doing, it’s been going on for a long time. So I think it may have been many generations of the HEART’s servants and not just the ones that are here now.” She hungrily took a large bite of her sandwich.

  “It just doesn’t seem like Tatiana would be the kind of person who would be involved in something that would hurt the communities,” DraDevon said as he, too, attacked his sandwich. “She and her Councilors loved everybody. I just can’t see them being involved in something like this.” “I see what you mean, but I think she was. She said that she could not tell me a lot of things because of an oath.” DraDonna told him.

  After shoving the last bite of his food in his mouth, he took a long drink of water and said, “Something is really bothering me.”

  “Well, what about this whole thing doesn’t bother both of us?” she retorted.

  “I know this whole thing is crazy, but something really doesn’t make sense,” he said, perplexed. “I have the same feeling you do—that Ambassador Symon is heavily involved in all of this, but I just can’t see him hurting and torturing people like TynLexa. I know that he hasn’t been very nice to you, but really, I don’t think the HEART would have picked him to be her servant if she thought he would be capable of those things.”

  “I see your point,” she said as she cleaned up after their meal. “I don’t understand this anymore than you do, but I really think Ambassador Symon is behind this somehow.”

  “We—” he stopped. “Did you hear that?” They both took off for the bedroom, but not fast enough.

  They found the jumbled up blanket on the floor with a hole in the side, and no little fury thing inside it.

  “We need to try to find it,” DraDonna sighed with exasperation.

  “I’ll look behind the dresser. You look under the bed.” DraDevon pulled the heavy dresser out from the wall, and with a grunt he pushed it right back. He looked over to the bed, unable to resist the urge to laugh at seeing his wife half under the bed again. “Did you find anything?” he asked, laughter in his voice.

  “What’s so funny?” DraDonna’s voice was muffled.

  “I’m sorry, but you look funny…….kind of like you did at the first cabin.”

  “No funnier than you looked a little while ago wrestling with a blanket.”

  “Okay,” he said with mirth still in his voice, “but did you find anything?”

  “Hang on a moment; let me come out.”

  “Oh here, let me help you with that,” he said, reaching down, grabbing her ankle, and pulling hard. She slid quickly out from under the bed with her copper curls wildly ruffled up. Laughing, he let go of her ankle.

  She flipped over on to her back and crossed her arms over her chest. “What are you laughing at?”

  “I’m laughing at you, lady with the wild hair!”

  She smoothed her curls down as best she could and stood up, looking him in the eye. Knowing she probably did look a little silly, she tried not to laugh herself. “Alright, are you going to stand there laughing at me all day or are we going to try to figure things out? After all, there are people pursuing us.”

  The laughter drained out of his face and she felt bad. DraDonna loved to see her husband smile and laugh, even if it was at her expense.

  “You’re right, my love,” he said. “I didn’t find anything behind the dresser. Not even dust. Did you find anything under the bed?”

  “Actually, I did,” she said. “I didn’t see the creature, but I did see a trap door in the wall that leads outside. I think most people would have missed it, but you know I have a carpenter’s eye.”

  “Where do you think it went?” he asked her.

  “I don’t know and I don’t care, just as long as that weird little thing isn’t in the cabin with us anymore. Let’s go into the living area. I need to see if I can figure something out before we get attacked by some creep sent by the Ambassador to kill us.”

  “Good idea,” he responded as they walked arm in arm back to the main living area. “I think I’ll take a look around outside, and see if I can make another image in my book of this place and also make of one the little creature-thing that got away.”

  “Be careful,” she said affectionately as she kissed him lightly before sitting down on one of the chairs.

  “Don’t worry, I will,” he said closing the door softly behind him.

  DraDonna pulled the two notebooks out of her small pack and opened her own but snaps it shut again. “I already know what’s in here,” she said to the empty cabin.

  Instead she opened TynLexa’s book. In the beginning of the notebook were a lot of the same things she, herself, had observed, about each cabin being the same in each place. TynLexa and her husband had found all the lakes and all the mountain ranges were exactly the same, d
own to the last rock and leaf.

  After reading through about three quarters of the little book, she realized TynLexa and TynTomus did not go out and do what they did on a whim or because they were energy mad. They had been sent out. Just who it was that had sent them on this quest, the book didn’t say, but DraDonna suspected Ambassador Symon.

  She read on and found what she was really looking for: “After testing the samples of surface soil in each of the regions, I have found there to be no variations. I believe if I could drill down deeper into the soil, I can find the definitive evidence that is needed. What follows is a sketch of the core drill that we will have to make. I fear that it will take a long time, being that neither of us know anything about welding.”

  Excitedly she turned the page and feasted her eyes on a sketch of the core drill. The notes that went with the sketch explained the hand crank that turned the core drill was powered by the HEART’s energy. DraDonna squealed with delight. “DraDevon, I think I have it!” she excitedly jumped up and ran outside. “DraDevon, I think I have it!”

  She smiles when she saw the love of her life striding toward her with a smile on his face. “What have you found, my love?” he asked happily as he walked back into the cabin with her.

  “TynLexa was on to the same thing I was. She saw that everything was too perfect. And everything was the same everywhere, even the soil. She thought if she took a sample of the soil farther down, she would have what she needed. Look here at the sketch she made of the core sample drill. Do you think you could weld it?”

  “Well,” he said, looking at the sketch. “I’ve never made anything like this before. It’s really big, but it looks simple enough.”

  “How long will it take you to make it?” she asked, eagerly.

  “If I continually use the energy to make the whole thing, I should be able to construct it in just a few hours.”

  Impressed with the confidence in his voice she looked up at him and said, “You’re amazing, do you know that?”

  At this he chuckled, and placing one hand under her chin, he tilted her head up and kissed her softly on the lips. “Your sweetness works on my soul stronger than the HEART’s energy. Did you know that?”