Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (38 page)

Kara was somewhere else in her stunned mind.

Carefully
the two women
stood Kara up.
Sarah
covered her eyes as
they
walked around her bloodied mate.
Jillian
led them
to her room and
Sarah
grabbed a quick pair of Kara’s clothes
from her dresser
.
S
he had more th
an one pair of leather gear so she
grabbed the clean ones. Before
she
left Connor
,
she
saw that Mark’s eyes were still g
low
ing. His palm had
nearly completely
re-grown
and his finger
s were starting to develop again
from the once bloody stump.
He still clutch
ed
his wrist tightly.

Sarah
entered
her mother’s
room
to find that
Kara had finally quit shaking
. She
looked at her
young friend
and her eyes were no longer terrified, but wrathful
. “Mark will be better in a minute. I
got these out of your drawer.” Sarah
handed
over
the
leather top and pants to which she took and quickly slipped on. Her hair
was alright for now.
Sarah
also saw
that
her m
other
had
as well quickly put on a pair of clothes.

As
they
left
the room
several
people
were seen
with their heads sticking out their doors. Some people were outside their doors
and
walking this way
to see what the
commotion
was all about
. Sarah
saw two male balancers and three Changers heading th
eir
way. Suddenly Kara hissed at the
other
silver eyed Changers and
growled
“Stay Away!”
T
hey didn’t seem
shocked
by her tone
, but they remained
exactly
where they were.
Her threat was unmistakable.

They
walked up to
Sarah’s
defensive
f
ather and Kara asked in a weak voice “Is he alright
, Mr. Branderson
?”

Jack
step
ped over the unconscious
panther-woman
,
her ribs
were still
expanding
so she was breathing
,
and
he
looked inside the ro
om. He turned to look back at them
. “Mark is just putting on his pants
right now
.”

A few seconds later
they
heard a scraping
and dragging
noise. Mark
emerged from
the room with a cold mask on his f
eatures
. His
hairy chest was matted
with
red
and
slicked with fresh,
wet blood and his
hand
s
and face were
smeared
as well. He wore only his leather pants that weren’t yet stained. He looked up and down the hallway until he stopped on Kara. His mask disappeared and he quickly rushed past
Sarah
and
up
to her. “Did any of them touch you? Were you harmed?”

She cupped his
only clean
cheek
with her hand
, but didn’t hug him because his blood was still wet. “No
,
they didn’t get even close to me.
Now tell me how your feeling!” I
t wasn’t a question, but a straight faced demand.

“I had to use up
a little
of my nutrients to grow a new hand, but other than that
,
I am unharmed.” He looked at
Sarah
after Kara removed her worried hands. “You and Connor made it just in time
to save us
. I’m glad you weren’t a second later
or we would have been in worse shape
.”

T
hat dragging sound
kept
coming from
inside
their room again. Then Connor step
ped
out the
mangled
door first. In each hand was a
padded
pawed
leg of the two male lion Changers who remained in the room. He looked at
Sarah
and then to Mark. “Do we need to take them to the Guards?”

“Yes, they all broke the rules and must be dealt with by the law.”

“Then you take the woman and come with me, Bud.” Connor walked completely through the door
,
still dragging the two male’s on their backs. Their faces were both bloody from Connor slamming their faces into the floor.
They had short but wide muzzles
that
could open quite widely
and deliver a powerful bite
.
Their chest muscles were well developed and covered by fine blonde hair. Their eyes were both closed
and Sarah
could see them breathing shallowly.
They were both wearing cotton shorts of different colors.
Their a
rms dragged behind them and she
saw their bloody claws
and cringed
.
T
he larger male had bloody
teeth
from where he ate off Mark’s right hand.

Mark did as Connor said and grabbed the ankle of the female
that
she
alone
incapacitated
. He also dragged her one handed down the hallway. And the four of
them
followed closely behind.
Some spectators followed at a distance.

They
made it all the
reception room
when Connor looked over the front desk. He dropped the legs of his enemies and jumped over the front desk. “Liz, are you alright?
!
”
Sarah
quickly moved forward to see Liz. Her teeth had transformed into
that of
a shark
’
s as she tried chewing through a
metal and cloth.
She stopped struggling once she recognized
who came to help
.
Her arms and legs were tightly bound together behind her back as she was on the ground. It was a painful position to be in
and impossible to gain leverage from
. Connor untied the
steel chains
binding her
extremities
first. Once he finished she sighed in relief
as the pressure
on her joints
eased,
and
she
eventually took the gag off herself after
Sarah’s
mate sat her up.
“What happened to you?”

She
still
seemed slightly disorientated
, but was coming quickly
.

It took a few seconds for her to stand
up
on her legs.
Connor steadied her until she regained
the necessary
balance.
Her eyes
lit up and her teeth became normal
once again
. “They took me from behind. Was anyone hurt?”

Connor laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and she visibly relaxed. His tone took on a calming effect on all
present
. “Will you please come with us and bring those
chains
with you. We will explain
everything
soon enough.” Connor removed the latch and lifted the desk so that they could walk out instead of jumping over
it again
. He smiled softly as he looked at
Sarah
and picked up the
two enemies
legs
once
again.

Liz opened the door at Connor’s polite request
.
S
he did
so
happily
,
after looking at what he was dragging
behind him
. He walked through as did Mark.
Sarah
noticed that
they
were being followed by
more
people from
the
lodge
who heard the commotion
.
Anyone else still outside and awake decided to join and see what was happening.
As Connor easily dragged the two heavy Changers over the stone floor,
she
walked up by his side and silently
walked beside
him. Sarah
over
heard the people following
them
as they were all whispering. Connor kept dragging the two loudly past the central pillar and up to the Keeper’s lodge.
The time told
that it was 2:38 a.m.

He suddenly stopped
, dropped the legs
and took a deep breath.

Sarah
entered his mind to see what he was doing. His eyes were concentrating. He was feeling out
the
different minds
in the lodge
,
trying to
locate
a specific one. Once he found it he said
“Firon, Can you hear me? It’s Connor!”

Sarah
also picked up on Firon’s mind and it
s
groggi
ness
.
“Connor
…
? I just went to bed. Is it important or can I go back to sleep?”

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
m
inimal
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 sharp
ly
pointed teeth and bit down on Connor
’
s right shoulder
, clamping
down with powerful jaw muscles.
His
clawed hand held on
to Connor’s other shoulder and th
e other holding his right arm. She
knew he
r mate
wasn’t wearing his chainmail
but Connor didn’t even flinch from the attack.