Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle)

by Lee Morgan

  Connor decided to be blunt. “I wish I didn’t have to disturb you, but three Changers tried to kill my family while we slept. You’re the only Guard I know. Can you please give me a hand with this?”

  That got Firon’s undivided attention. “I will be right there!” A few second later everyone heard the quick and heavy footfalls approaching the gigantic door from inside the lodge. Then the massive wooden front door opened quickly to reveal a calm and collected Immortal Guard Keeper. His pendant hung from around his neck showing that he was a Guard. The crowd went silent. Firon looked calmly over everyone in the group of spectators. His yellow eyes stopped on Connor and his captives. Mark stopped by Connor side and dropped the female’s leg. Firon knelt on his left knee and rested his right elbow on his large thigh. “Tell me what has transpired!”

  Connor spoke loud enough for everyone to hear it. He also radiated barely restrained anger. “About ten minutes ago these three” He pointed over his shoulder without turning around. “tried to murder my sister and brother-in-law while they slept. They broke into their room and were intent on killing them without provocation. Search their minds later to see why they attacked. The big one ate Mark’s hand off, but he had to re-grow it back.” Mark lifted his right arm to show how fresh and pink his new hand is. “I made it just in time to change the odds and their wounds were only minimal by the time I got a hold of them.

  “What do you need me to do now?”

  Before Firon said anything Sarah heard a deep rumbling and menacing voice coming from behind say “You’re going to die since I can’t get the traitors!” She turned to see that the larger lion Changer was on his feet and lunged at Connor’s exposed back. He opened his mouth to reveal sharply pointed teeth and bit down on Connor’s right shoulder, clamping down with powerful jaw muscles. His clawed hand held onto Connor’s other shoulder and the other holding his right arm. She knew her mate wasn’t wearing his chainmail but Connor didn’t even flinch from the attack.

  Before Sarah could scream or Firon could get him off, Connor started laughing loudly and menacingly. It sent a cold chill up her spine and that of everyone else’s. Connor still faced forward and looking at a stunned Immortal Guard. His laughter slowly died from the cavern. His voice remained dangerously calm for someone who was getting his shoulder chomped upon. “Is that the best you can do?” Connor laughed again and turned to look at the face of the assailant. “I guess it is.”

  She watches as Connor balled up his huge fist and bent his middle finger forward. Before anyone else had a chance to aid him, his fist moved faster than the Changer could ever hope to react. Connor arched his arm across his chest and punched the Changer directly between his eyes. A sickening crunch was heard as the sound of his punch broke the bridge bones between the attacker’s silver eyes. The Changer roared in excruciating pain and let go of her mate. Sarah could see that Connor broke the skin between his enemy’s eyes and both tears and blood started squirting down his muzzle and into his eyes. He clutched his face and landed on the ground, writhing in pain. Connor smiled at her like he wasn’t in pain from his shoulder, but she knew he was putting on a front for all the others. Sarah could see where the teeth pierced through his black shirt. She was also glad his blood didn’t show, thanks to his black top.

  She glanced at the crowd and judged that Connor made an effect on all the observers beyond intention. Some casted worried glances and others were shocked into stillness. Inadvertently Connor just demonstrated that no one present was to mess with those with him. It was almost like Connor just ripped the changer’s head off and put it on a pike to show he was the most dominant person in the room. Sarah even saw her grandparents among the crowd and they were more shocked than anyone. She learned from their minds that they wanted to see him hurt, but they were put back into their weak place twice in one day.

  The Changer continued writhing in pain until Firon growled menacingly and showed off his finger long fangs. Firon stood to his full height to look down at the offender. “If you move another hair until I am finished investigating, you will die instantly by my hand.” The lion stopped writhing, but the blood continued gushing from Connor’s strike. “You know the rules set in our laws during a gathering. For every murder attempt you gain fifty years of imprisonment and the death sentence if you were to kill someone out of cold blood. I saw no self-defense in your eyes as you just attacked a person with their back to you. You are already up to two hundred years by my count... Do not test my patience, Hatchling!”

  “Firon?” Yellow eyes turned to Connor as he spoke calmly. “What is the punishment for binding someone up against their will?”

  “That is twenty years per captive, for all who are associated.” Firon crossed his arms across his breast. Connor turned to looked behind himself and nodded.

  Liz stepped forward to the tall Keeper and held up the gag and chain. “The three of them tied me up with this. I’m the manager for Cabin One. They jumped me and tied me up so they could get to their sleeping and defenseless targets. I tried to help these good people, but the bindings were far too tight for me to get any leverage to break them myself in time.”

  Firon leaned down and opened his palm. Liz sat the items in his hand. He lifted them up to his nostrils. He took a few sniffs and leaned down to be on all four limbs. Connor and Mark moved back for the Guard to do his job as he walked forward. He sniffed the female first. He glared for the conscious lion to remain still, to which he didn’t have a choice if he liked to continue breathing. Then he smelled the last one. Firon then turned his head to smell both Mark, who’s blood finally started drying, and then to Connor. Sarah knew Firon could tell her mate was bleeding profusely, but he didn’t reveal any emotion on his cool reptilian features. Firon pushed hard with his front hands to stand straight again. “I could tell that your words were true, but your scents plus this evidence” He shook his closed hand which held the rope and gag. “has sealed all of their fates for the next two hundred and twenty years.” Firon looked to everyone “This matter has been resolved. Go back to your quarters and get some rest.”

  The crowd scattered under Firon’s intense gaze. With his left hand he held all three prisoners by their legs and walked to the central staircase. He disappeared as he went downward. Liz walked closely with all of them. Sarah saw for the first time that the blood had finally begun to run down Connor’s right arm and began dripping off his curled fingertips. Everyone was closely watching them and all seven of them put on emotionless masks to cover for what just happened.

  They eventually returned to the lodge. Liz looked at all of them once the reception room cleared. Everyone scurried away under Connor’s raptor gaze. “I will have your rooms repaired by the time you come back tomorrow. All of my rooms are full, but…”

  Sarah interrupted by saying “They can stay with us for the night. Unfortunately Connor also ripped our door off its hinges to help them out.” Liz smiled gratefully and said it would be taken care of as well. “But first, Mark? Do you want to clean up before we go to our room?” He looked down at the dried blood on his chest.

  He opened his mouth, but Connor spoke first. “Not just yet. I need his help with something first.” Sarah would be able to help with whatever he had issues with, but she didn’t say anything otherwise.

  They said goodbye to Liz and headed towards their room. Jack said “If you have need of us, you know where we will be.” Connor smiled and said “Thank you.” They left and her father took the menacing Haunt off his shoulder. Sarah bent down and lifted the fallen door off the hallway floor. Connor was close behind and Mark and Kara glanced at each other before coming in themselves.

  Sarah placed the door easily back where it should be, but it really needed a repair job; badly. She turned to see Connor sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Mark, I need your help.” His face finally showed pain as did his quiet voice.

  “How can I help?” Mark’s voice became quick and eager.

  “Help me take my shirt off. When he bit m
e he dislocated my right shoulder from its socket.” She suddenly realized that his right arm hasn’t moved since he punched the lion in the face. “My arm is in pain and I need you to take my ruined shirt off quickly, with your claws.” He took a few breaths. “When you’re done, help me put my arm back in its socket.”

  “I’ll be quick.” Mark quickly grew a set of claws that were sharp as razor. He stepped closer to Connor. Mark pulled Connor’s collar of the shirt out and sliced it down the front, in one smooth motion. He opened it up to show how bloody Connor’s chest actually was. Sarah had to stifle a cry by biting the inside of her cheek. She felt the liquid warm iron taste flowing onto her tongue from biting too hard. Then Mark sliced the left sleeve next. In one stroke he shredded the right sleeve and she saw the wet red blood still trickling down Connor’s huge biceps. Multiple and deep puncture wounds from the bite crested over the top of his shoulder. She could even see the muscle tissue in the holes. Mark tossed the bloody rag on the floor. “Shirt’s off. Are you ready?” Connor’s wordless expression said everything. Mark took his new right hand and grabbed Connor’s in a handshake fashion and lifted. Connor didn’t flinch or moan, but his lips were pressed into a tight white line. Then he placed his left hand over Connor’s bloody shoulder. Mark pulled with his right hand and pushed the bone back in the socket with the left. The bone popped loudly back in place and she felt more blood enter her mouth. Connor didn’t make any more sounds, but he tucked his hand into the inside of his armpit. “It’s back in. Do you have a first aid kit?”

  “I’ll get it.” Sarah ran to the closet and opened his pack. She pulled the kit out and opened it. Only the needle and thread needed to be out. Sarah jumped behind him and saw the full extent of his injuries. The holes on the shoulder were flesh wounds compared to these beneath his shoulder blade. Each puncture there was twice as deep and bloody in his back. She quickly said “Connor, hold your breath.” He did and became a stone statue. At a speed no one could hope to match she sutured each of the large holes closed. She stood and did his shoulders while he held the same breath and snapped the cored ends with her fingers and tied the ends. “Ok, breathe.” He did.

  “Thanks for the swiftness, Princess.” The blood quickly slowed and began clotting. He stood before the red liquid stained the bed sheet. With his arm still in his armpit he said “It looks like Mark and I both need to get cleaned up. We will come back shortly. Sarah, you can wash your hands in the water basin over there.” He looked to her right. “Keep each other safe until we get back.” He looked at Mark. “Please get my cloak from my dresser and help me put it on.”

  “Connor, I’m coming with you!” Sarah said strongly.

  “No, you’re not!” He said in the same tone. “You cannot protect Kara by leaving her here alone. Mark and I will be as quick as possible. Keep yourselves safe, for our sakes.”

  Kara grabbed her wrist as she tried getting off the bed. “We understand, Brother.”

  Mark quickly tied the cloak around Connor’s neck and took the door down. He quickly closed the door and heard them walking down the hall way.

  Sarah pulled her arm from Kara’s painful grasp. “Why didn’t you object to their fool hardy chauvinism?”

  “He wasn’t being chauvinistic, Sarah.” She said calmly. “He knew that his blood could instigate another fight. The two of them could move quicker and not need to watch our backs at the same time. We are surrounded by predators looking for weakened prey and if we went with them it would be seen that way. Why do you think three of my kind wanted to kill us. They thought we were weak and were proved wrong because we are still breathing. If we were prepared for them, this would not have ever happened. The fact was we would both be dead if it weren’t for you two…By the way how did you two get to us so quickly?”

  “Would you believe me if I said Connor knew something was about to happen and was already awake beforehand?” Sarah scooted off the bed and went to the basin of water to clean her bloody hands and the needle.

  “It wouldn’t have been the first time actually.” She said evenly. Sarah had to look at her to see if she was lying. She wasn’t. “One time Brother knew that something was going to happen when he was fifteen and I was fourteen. We were riding in the car with Mom, Brother was in the front passenger side and I was in the backseat thinking up something for April Fools Day and scare him. Brother suddenly grabbed the steering wheel and shoved his long foot on the brake. Mom was about to yell at him until an eighteen-wheeler didn’t stop at the stop sign and barreled through the intersection. If Brother didn’t do what he did, the car would have crushed us into a million pieces.” She picked up the bloody rag of his former shirt and tossed it in the trash bin. “Brother’s instincts are not something to take lightly. I have never known them to be a false alarm.”

  “How odd.” Sarah admitted and sat down on the bed and she joined her. “Tell me some more stories about him.”

  Connor used his left hand to keep the front of his cloak closed. His right hand was still tucked tightly and immobilized in his left armpit. The shoulder was still in pain, but it wasn’t throbbing with each heartbeat any more. Sarah’s suturing skills were very quick and efficient. He barely felt them as she closed the puncture wounds. He tested his shoulder muscles and knew he was already beginning to regenerate from the damage. He smiled to himself because he tightened those muscles, just in time, when the lion-man chomped down on his shoulder. That added muscle strength stopped his jaws from ripping a chunk out. It was difficult not to scream, but laughing made a more threatening realization. Connor was also glad Mark relocated his shoulder back in its socket in one swift motion.

  He heard the girls talking silently as he and Mark started walking down the hallway yet again. Mark watched his back as they made their way to the front.

  Liz remained on alert as she sat behind the desk. Connor nodded as he tried leaving. “Connor, wait.” She said calmly. She lifted the latch of her desk and came around. Her voice took on a whisper. “Can I see what he did to you? I can smell blood from miles away.” He sighed and nodded to Mark. He stepped in front and lifted the front of the cloak, but before she saw his shoulder she focused on his tattooed chest. “Wow you’re built.” She complimented absently. Liz’s silver eyes moved to the shoulder and she sucked in a breath through her white teeth. “I wouldn’t have been able to laugh like that if I was in your situation.”

  “It wasn’t easy for me either.” He glanced down the hall. “I’m sorry Liz, but we need to clean up before our mates become any more worried than they already are.” She looked down the hallway and nodded. “We will be back soon.”

  Mark and Connor made it over to the bath house without anyone bothering them. They saw a pair of Changers prowling around, but they gave the two of them a wide berth. The Keeper bowed back to them and handed over fresh bathing kits. She noticed the blood, but said nothing. Connor took both his cloak and black pants with him into the open room.

  He entered the shower stalls immediately and turned the water faucet on. While the water quickly warmed he scanned the surroundings to only see a male Keeper swimming laps inside the heated pool. Mark took the next stall and also turned on the water. Connor let his right hand slowly drop from his armpit and it wasn’t as painful anymore, but it was still throbbing sore. He used his left hand to untie the strings that held the cloak together and let the water wash the blood away from the inside. Once it was finished he laid the wet cloak over the stall screen and stepped under the warm water. It felt good and helped to wash away the blood, but he still had a problem. He couldn’t scrub his own back which was going to be embarrassing. A solution came to mind, but first he scrubbed his pants with his left arm while they were still fastened to his hips.

  He looked to Mark as he finished scrubbing off the blood off himself. “Mark, can you go grab two mirrors for me please?”

  He turned off the water and said “Sure thing.” Connor turned his back so the faucet could beat on the damaged right shoulder. Mark ti
ed a towel around his hip and walked out of the room and returned soon after with two hand held mirrors. He handed them over the top of the shower stall.

  He used his right hand to hold the mirror in front of his face and the other one behind his back and adjusted them so that he could see his back clearly. It looked as bad as it felt. He decided that it was now time to test that idea. He brought the power forth and focused on the blood clinging to his back. Connor imagined how the blood lifted off his flesh and flow away from the wounds. A cool flowing sensation began emanating from his back and knew he was using Liquid from its feel. He watched as the blood lifted off his hairless back and whisked away with the water. Connor waited until every speck of blood went down the drain.

  Mirrors served their purpose well and were sat down on the shower’s ledge and he turned off the water. Like before he pulled water from the cloth with power over Liquid. He was glad he did because some blood was still stuck inside the trousers. He also pulled the water from the white cloak, but Mark didn’t want him to do it for his leather pants. Connor retied the dry cloak back around his neck, unaided, to cover his chest.

  Finished and feeling both clean and better, they returned the baskets and bowed to the Keeper as they made their way back towards the cabin. They walked silently together, carefully scanning the surroundings for any threats. They opened the front door and Liz smiled at the two of them.

  They made it to their room and it was silent and the light were off. Connor began to worry as he opened the door and sat it aside. Immediately he saw that Sarah had Fangs in both of her hands and Kara was in her wolf state. Sarah let out a heavy sigh and slid her weapons back in their homes. “Thank goodness…We thought that you would have been back here ten minutes ago.” She walked into the light. “Let me see how your wounds look.”

  “Can we come inside first?” Mark asked, looking casually over his shoulder. She stepped back and they entered. She insisted that she should shut the door, but she turned the light on in the room first. Mark knelt down in front of Kara. He rubbed her head. “Sorry for taking so long. The blood was difficult to get out of our clothes.”