Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (39 page)

The entire
group started walking down a
widely used
trail to
the
campsite. Connor led the group while he pulled the wagon
,
followed by the young
athletic
couple. Behind them was the family with the young children and behind them
followed
the
grumbling
husky family.
Mark
took the rear and made sure that no one fell behind.

The seminar could now begin.

When an hour passed by Connor stopped and said “Ok everyone
,
take a break.” Almost everyone
in the group
collapsed under the shade trees.
The beating sun sapped the strength of these people, but that wasn’t all.
It looked like they
were all a little out of shape, even Janet and Ray looked beat from the long walk
and quick pace
.
While everyone rested
and drank slowly from Connor’s explicit warning
,
he
started the lecture. He left the
resting
group and melded into the forest.

Mark
closed
his
eyes and looked into the sun to make sure no one could see
his
eyes glow
ing behind
his
eyelids
.
He
focused
his
hearing
just enough
so
that
he didn’t deform his
ears
.
At the very climax of
his ability not to deform his
ears
Mark
could
finally
hear
the wind being disturbed from
Connor running swiftly all around
them,
gathering things, but
he didn’t disturb anything what
soever.
He was as quiet as a ghost in the forest.
Mark
also didn’t even hear the first stem snap or the crunch of wet leaves.
Not a single person knew what was going on around them.
That
i
s the way Connor wanted it.

When
Connor
came back a few minutes later he had
wild
medicinal herbs in his hands. He sat down before the group
and picked up some of the seeds from the pile. “These are Fenugreek seeds. When ground up into a powder
, this
can help when you get food poisoning.” He handed the seeds to the small children
,
Tyler and Billy
. “Don’t eat them
unless you’re sick
.” He warned. “They are distinctive due to their yellow flowers and seed pods. Smell how they have a
peculiar
odor.” The kids passed around the seeds for everyone to look at
after wrinkling their noses from smelling the seeds
.
Mark
smiled at their childish antics.

Then
Connor
picked up a thick
, spiny
green leaf. “This is aloe. Most of you have probably heard of it.” He handed the leaf to the fraternal twins
Troy and Terri
. “It helps with sunburn, burns, and is used
cosmetically
.
Mix it with peppermint oil and you can use it as a poultice.
” The older women glanced at each other and smiled.
“
B
e sure to cut off the thorns or you’ll hurt yourselves. Be sure that you d
o not ingest it. It is for outside the skin only.”

He brought out a handful of the same kind of green leaves. He handed three
leaves
to each person. “What I have given you is
called
Sage. If you ever get a cut or abrasion
,
look
out
for this.” He held up the leaf. “You don’t eat this either.” He smiled to the
boy’s
and they smiled shyly back. “When you clean the wound, you need to crush this up into an even paste. I will warn you it does sting a little, but it helps heal your wounds
and keeps infections down
.”

After
that,
Connor took some questions
and
the group continued the journey.

Along the way
they
came upon a ripened berry bush. Connor gave another lecture and everyone got to sample the
fresh
blueberries
and pocket some as a small snack for later
. Everyone
started
looking a little tired, but they were all enjoying the lectures
as far as
Mark
could tell
.
There were several forks in the trail and Connor always stayed on the smaller
path
s
because he wanted seclusion
.
The scent of humans grew fainter the deeper
they
traveled.

About halfway to the campsite
,
the children couldn’t walk anymore. They were starting to complain to their parents
because their feet were hurting
. That was
until Connor startled them and put one child on each of his
enormous
shoulders. Their parents went into shock until the children started laughing. They pulled and played with his hair as Connor led the party to its destination.
It was then that
Mark
knew how good Connor was with children.

Everyone safely
arrived at an empty clearing
,
at the end of the
narrow
trail. It was open and had enough room to make ten separate
camp
s
i
t
e
s for ten additional
families
to set up a shelter. The ground
laid
covered
in wild, untamed grass that came up to Mark’s
cal
ves. He
could hear a stream near
by
and the surrounding area had plenty of
foliage
to build a proper
camp.
Connor sat the children gently on the ground
and said to the group “This is our destination.”

Terri
asked “Where i
s the bathroom?” While her brother Troy
asked “When do we eat?”

Connor smiled and gestured for
Mark
to say
something. They all turned to him
and
he
said evenly “The bathroom is all around us.
Use it like your ancestors did.
” Their parents tried to not laugh as their
kids
eyes went wide. “If you want privacy I would suggest going behind th
at thi
cket.” Mark
looked at Troy
. “We are going to show you how to get your own food after we teach all of you how to build the most important thing
you need when
you’re
in the wild
,
a
proper
shelter.”

Connor and Mark
split the groups. He took the
young
couple and the parents
with the small children while Mark
was stuck with the husky family. Each older adult was given a machete and each family was given a
coiled
rope.

After each group came back to camp with all
the natural supplies
they needed
from the surrounding forest
, Connor and
Mark
helped each famil
y to make a suitable shelter. They
finally made three decent shelters for
their
hopefully new
patrons.
When the inspections were done
,
the
customers took their packs and put them into their shelters.

Next they
had to make a fire because it does get cold up here
in these mountains
. Unfortunately it rained
during the night
and the kindling and sticks were
well
saturated
.

Connor wasn’t di
scouraged
in the least
. He walked
around the nearby area
with
the children
and the teens
to collect firewood that littered
the campsite. He placed the moist
tender at the center of camp. Connor
issued a challenge by asking “Does anyone know how to start a fire with wet logs?”

I do, but I would be moving too fast
to start a friction fire
and I would get spotted.
C
onnor smiled as he glanced at Mark
.
“Connor
,
are you reading my mind?”

“Accidently. I needed to ask first. I’m sorry.”
He handed the flint in his pocket along with a piece of steel to the
young woman
,
Janet
.

“You
’
r
e
forgiven
, Buddy
.”

“I need
ed
to ask you if I could establish a weak link with your mind. I won’t be able to read your thoughts
clearly
until you think
quite
loudly.”
He sat down
,
looking at the girl striking the flint and steel
,
sending sparks
flying
everywhere
except where they needed to be
.

“Why?”

“Because our hearing is about the same, but your sense of smell is more sensitive. If you
smell anything out of the ordinary
,
I need you to alert me.”
While her boyfriend
Ray
struck out
,
he handed the fire starting tools to the husky family. Connor looked back at
Mark
for a second
and he
nodded giving
his
permission to establish the link.

Every person that tried also
failed to start the fire. Connor took the tools and handed them to the young children because their parents didn’t
give them a turn
. Before their parents could disapprove they were stunned when they saw Connor’s piercing eyes staring them down. He looked down at the c
hildren and the parents were finally able to draw breath
.
He handed the youngest boy
Billy
the flint and
handed Tyler
the steel. “Let me show you how to do it
properly,
kids.” He ushered the
children
on
how
to the stacked kindling. He fluffed the bundle
of sticks to
allow more air into the mix
after squeezing out some of the water droplets from the tender
. “Here hold the steel this way… Goo
d.” He looked at Billy
. “Hit your brother’s steel
just
like this.” Connor’s big hand gently grabbed the boys hand as he held the flint. When the objects collided
,
hundreds of
sparks shot through
the sticks
. The boy’s grins were ecstatic as they
finally got their
turn
to shoot sparks
. Connor stepped directly behind them while kneeling
and sitting on his heels
. “Give it a try
on your own
, boys.
Don’t hit too hard Billy, just enough to make sparks. Don’t knock the steel from Tyler’s hand.
”

The little boys struck the flint three times with no luck.
Mark
looked up at Connor as he winked
.
“Go on boys
your doing great
.
” O
n the forth strike a small
ember
came to life
as the sparks settled on the bundle
.
Connor had used his power over F
ire to help the children light the
moist
wood.

Their
little
eyes went wide and Tyler
turn
ed saying “Daddy,
I did it. I made a fi
re!” Billy said “I did too!
” T
hey dropped the flint and steel on the ground as they celebrated
.
Billy started chasing Tyler around the camp when he stuck his tongue at hi
s brother
.
The whole group started laughing at their antics.