The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series (33 page)

I stared into the whirling eyes of the green dragon. “Dagan? Is that you?”

The dragon lowered his head dangerously and looked me up and down with his right eye. “
You
!” He roared in my head as well as my ears. “
You stole The Mother! You must die
!”

“It’s Dagan,” I murmured to the team. I heard Trip crack his knuckles and swear under his breath.

“Where is Kate? You filthy rotten kitty cat, if you’ve hurt her I’ll kill you!” Trip struggled with the ropes.

“Trip, stop it! The ropes are just getting tighter around the rest of us. Quit moving!” Tara commanded.

He settled down but kept up a stream of curses.

“The stinky one is back.”
Dagan still projected his thoughts to me.

One of the Rhinoguards jabbed Trip with his electrode spear and Trip went limp behind me. We were close enough to the cages to catch snippets of murmurs. The people in the cage spoke the language of Jewel City.

“Are they speaking Ampelese?” I murmured to Tara. She nodded with a pointed arch of her brow.

As dawn broke, the slaves were let out of their cages one at a time per guard, fed a soupy gruel and tattooed in a different place. The tattoos were paints, not permanent, more like henna paintings in blues and greens, meticulously applied. Up close I could see where earlier markings had faded and the newer tattoos layered over them.

I kept watching for Kate but couldn’t find her
. “Dagan, you once liked me. Do you remember that?”

“You stole The Mother. You must pay.”

“I did help Kate to escape, but she didn’t want to be The Mother. She wanted to be my wife, Dagan. I married her. Not the stinky one. Do you remember that you once wanted her to choose me?”

“Lies! She was Mine. She was not for you.”

Okay, that is obviously the wrong tactic
. Dagan never liked Trip. Kate said because he had killed so much in the arena, Dagan could smell death on him. He did like me, though. He used to call me the funny one.
I guess I’m not so funny anymore.

The Rhinoguards herded the slaves off to work on the scaffolding. “
Dagan, do these creatures work for you?
”

He snorted, and static electricity charged the air. Tara’s hair began to rise.

“
They work for The Mother
.”

“So you got a new Mother after Kate left?”

“No. She was Mined. She is The Mother.”

My heart sank. He stole Kate and put her back to work on that chair, drained as the source battery for the psychic energy of the dragons. Desperation lanced through me. I had to get to her.

“Dagan, can I see The Mother?”

“She has plans for you. You will see at her command.”

Again my stomach lurched. I didn’t know what to think. If Kate was the Mother again and intended us to be her slaves, tied up and pressed into labor, then I didn’t know what we would do.

“Tara, Dagan said that Kate is the Mother again.”

“Corey!” Her tone warned. “You know how that thing changed her the last time, and she only stayed hooked up to it for a few hours. If she has been attached to that chair for weeks, months even, then she is no longer Kate. She is lost to the Mother.”

“I don’t know where she is exactly.” I didn’t want to hear of Kate being lost. I couldn’t bear the thought.

Two of the Rhinoguards approached us and released Dirk from the ropes and then secured his hands behind him again as they shoved him forward.

They stripped him naked and forced him to his knees for the first tattoo. They painted a design on his abs and led him off to the work line.

They came for Tara next. She gave me her characteristic arched brow and pressed her lips tightly together.

“Tara, I’m so sorry,” I whispered, embarrassed for the nakedness she’d endure.

“Corey, I’m used to being naked in front of people. The arena took care of that. You and Eunavae need to hold your shoulders back and clothe yourselves with pride. Don’t let them take your dignity.”

Eunavae whimpered beside me.

“She’s right.” I finally understood Tara’s fascination with pride.

“Corey, I spent the last 50 years hiding my burn scars from public scorn. The scars on my skin may be gone, but the scars in my heart remain. I can’t do this.”

I turned to her as much as the restraints would allow. “You’re the strongest woman I know, Eunavae. You’re a healer. Nudity is not a problem for you. Remember that.”

A tear rolled down her cheek. “Thank you, Corey. I’ll try.”

The Rhinoguards came for Eunavae, then Trip, and they saved me for last.

“You have watched the humiliation of your friends, no? Now see what you have done to Kate.”
Dagan thought spoke to me
.

A commotion arose, and two Rhinoguards strode from the cave towing heavy chains behind them. At the end of the chain came my wife. Naked and covered in the vile tattoos, she stumbled forward, head and shoulders down.

“Kate!”

She lifted her head. “Corey?” Her face broke into a look of hope until she saw my restraints. She ran to me and flung her cuffed arms around my neck.

“Corey, Corey, I have worried about you so much.” Tears streamed down her cheeks as she kissed my face.

“Kate, thank God, you’re okay.” I kissed her, struggling with the ropes around my wrists. I wanted to hold her, locking her to my side.

“Kate,” Trip screamed from where three Rhinoguards held him down for the tattoos. “Kate!”

She stepped around me and stood in front of Trip. I wanted to cover her nudity and protect her. “Trip,” she whispered lovingly and sliced a piece of my soul away.

“Oh my God, Kate, what have they done to you?”

“It’s okay, Trip. It’s okay,” she crooned as she approached him. The Rhinoguards released him and she pressed him into an embrace. I gnashed my teeth. The sight of their naked bodies mashed together made me sick.

“Kate, Dagan said you are the Mother again.” I called her back to me, sounding hollow and distant. “What is he talking about? You don’t seem like the Mother. You seem like one of the slaves.”

She turned around and sidled back over to me. “I am a slave, but they haven’t put me to work, yet. They’ve just been painting my body. I don’t know what they’ve been waiting for.”

A strange light leapt up in her eyes as she talked about them painting her body. As if she wanted to speak the words to see their effect on me. “You’re not the Mother, then?”

“No.”

Something in her face betrayed the lie.
It’s not true. She is the mother.
Heaviness settled into my gut.

“Kate, why are you lying?” I felt and sounded like dried leaves cracking under someone’s tread.

Tears welled and spilled down her cheeks. “Corey, why would you say that? Of course I’m not lying to you.” She closed the distance between us, pressed her body against mine and threw her arms around me. She sobbed into my neck. “You must believe me.”

My heart crashed. The truth eluded her.
Did she believe her own lies?
Her tears were real as they slid down my face. Yet a feeling crept up my spine. All is not what it seems.

“Shhh, it’s gonna be fine, my love.” I kissed her hair and face.

The Rhinoguard yanked on her chain and she made a choking noise as she flew backward into him. Trip and I both yelled at him and demanded they release her, to no avail. He yanked again and she stumbled to her knees. Dragging her through the dirt and before she could gather her feet underneath her, he hauled her into the cave. Trip and I bellowed our protests, and Eunavae wept silently under the painter’s ministrations.

“I suggest that perhaps the reason that a particle’s outcome can’t be predicted is not because of randomness, but because every possible outcome does occur.” ~
Hugh Everett 1957
 

QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): TRIP CARSON

The stinkin’ Rhinodude stripped Trip’s clothes and it took three of them to hold him down while they painted a green dragon on his chest. He spat and struggled and cursed them all to the pit of hell. Then he heard Kate’s voice.

He stilled and adjusted his position to see her. Lithe in form, she stood before Corey, kissing and talking to him. He couldn’t make out the words, but the sight of her whole and well overwhelmed him.

“Kate!” Trip struggled with the Rhinoguards. “Kate.”

She whirled around and a small gasp escaped her lips. “Trip!” It sounded like a whispered prayer. She pressed her warm body to his and sang sweetly in his ear words of love and comfort.

Trip couldn’t think straight, his soul flooded with relief that she stood in front of him. But his body burned at her electric touch. A current built up between them, pleasant and not completely unfamiliar. Corey called her back to him, but Trip’s mind raced. He recognized that electric pulse coming off of her. Not as strong as before, it didn’t knock him on his rear, but present. It meant one thing.

Kate was the Mother again.

We are in big trouble.
The dragons weren’t going to let her go anytime soon. Not without a fight. Something caught his eye at the cave entrance. He glanced over to see Donnie’s face disappear back into the shadow.

Good, Donnie’s still alive and hidden.
With a man on the outside, they had a better chance of breaking free.

They dragged Kate back into the cave and Trip screamed at them for hurting her, a reflex. It occurred to him later if the Mother had taken over Kate again, then the dragging and all of it had been an act.

What is she up to?

QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): DONNIE DUDGEON

The Rhinodudes dragged Kate just inside the cave opening out of sight. Donnie crouched lower behind a large boulder. She stood and in Ampelese began cursing at them.

When did she learn to speak Ampelese like that? His prior attempts to teach her the language failed miserably. How long had she been stranded here?

She yanked the cuff from around her neck and arms and threw them at the Rhinoguard. “You insolent fool! How dare you drag me through the dirt like a common slug?”

Donnie shifted, agitated. Those Rhinoguards did not look like the type that would put up with her verbal bashing for long. About to jump out to defend her, Donnie checked himself, struck by the realization. She took off her restraints. The enormous beasts cowered from her. They knelt down and placed their faces to the ground in front of her.

Kate is the leader.

Kate’s jump to this dragon world must have lasted centuries. Maybe longer. How else could she be in charge of the dragons and the Rhinodudes? No longer the frail teen they had left behind, Kate had matured and grown into someone capable of dominating and controlling monsters. Mel and Tara’s Scriptorium experience played out in front of him.