The Keepers Book Two of the Holding Kate Series (35 page)

“Couldn’t he chuck us a few rations,” Trip complained as he popped the note into his mouth, chewed and swallowed.

For two weeks they followed a daily routine: wake, get painted, smear mud on their bodies, work all day in the hot sun, clean Corey’s wounds, drink gruel water, report on individual progress with the revolution, and sleep.

Occasionally, Donnie slipped them something useful, extra water, pain medication, or notes. Eunavae wondered how he got around without getting caught. He moved in shadow and silence. One night he brought them a feast of tender and flaky white fish. Eunavae never savored a meal so much in her long life. He caught enough for the whole cage, and they ate quickly and licked their fingers clean.

They spent their days seeding dissent amongst the slaves. Corey had become a figurehead, even to those who were not Darchori. Dagan had ordered him whipped three more times, and his back looked like ground meat. Eunavae did what she could to keep it clean and infection free. He refused to complain, or cower. He walked straight and tall with dignity.

Underneath the calm exterior lived a man in torment. Heartsick to know more about Kate, he hid his anxiety well. Eunavae knew better, she slept near him and he talked in his sleep.

“Kate! Why?” He sat up, startled awake every night from the same hellish nightmare.

“Corey.” Eunavae rolled over, slid next to him, and put her arm around his shoulders. “It’s okay, just a bad dream.”

He shuddered. “Gah, Eunavae, I need to know. If Kate is lost to us, I have to know.” He pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes and wound his fingers into his hair. “This is torture. I have to save her.”

“Let’s ask Donnie to spy on her,” Eunavae suggested.

“I am sure he has already tried,” he whispered, shoulders drooped, despair saturating his words. “If he had good news, he would’ve let us know. I can’t imagine my Kate would allow us to suffer like this. If it were in her power to save us, she would. Either she is given totally over to the Mother, the dragons are manipulating her, or she is actually a prisoner.” His ocean deep eyes brimmed with horror as the moonlight reflected in them. “Eunavae, none of those options is acceptable.”

“Have you tried to question Dagan?”

“Not since the last beating.” A fleeting tic of panic broke across his face. “Besides, I am saving that for Revolution Day.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think if I insist on an audience with the Mother, then Dagan will retaliate and it will incite the slaves to riot.”

“Be careful, Corey. I don’t want your life to be the cost of our freedom.”

His eyes widened and a strange light came up in them, as though something in her warning lit a spark inside of him. It frightened her a little and she rolled over and buried the thought in a deep sleep.

QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): TARA JOHNSON

Things were going as well as could be expected given the dried mud, stench, and physical labor. The Darchori were firmly on the Keepers’ side and more than half of the slaves had pledged loyalty to the Cianti Todura. He had become their hope for freedom. They looked to him to lead them out of slavery. Now that they were united, it would only be a matter of days, maybe even hours before something sparked the rebellion. Eager to get to it, Tara found herself running through scenarios and contingencies in her head. One thing held her back.

Corey.

The scaffolding they were building neared completion. Flashes of Corey strapped to it screaming out Kate’s name would pierce her every time she looked at it. Things were different than they were in the Scriptorium. They seemed to be on a different timeline, and she hoped and prayed that in this alternate reality, Corey would survive. The closer they came to completion of the torture device, the more she worried.

She belayed her fears with the simple fact that these slaves seemed very much attached and almost worshipful of Corey in direct contrast to the frenzied mob calling for his death in the Scriptorium. Completely different than the outcome in the Scriptorium, evidently they did something right to change the mindset of the slaves.

“The Kiarnusk don’t seem very bright do they?” Tara asked the slave to her right as she anchored a large pylon to the cliff.

He shook his head and passed a bolt fastener to her.

“Are there always the same dozen?”

“Yes, and two who watch over the children.”

“We could take them easily.”

“It is not the Kiarnusk that we need to worry about. It’s the dragons.”

“I’ve only seen one dragon. Are there more?”

“Thousands.” He turned and descended the ladder.

Tara pressed her lips together and scanned the skies. She hadn’t seen any other dragons but knew Trip and Corey had. They were sunk deep into the ravine, plodding through muck. Anything could be on the other sides of the cliffs.

Maybe we had better adjust our plans to revolt.

That night in the cage she brought it up to the Keepers. “He said there are thousands of dragons.”

“We saw some of them on the day we first jumped, right Corey?” Trip said. “They were playing with the children. They didn’t look so tough.”

Corey snorted. “I’m sure they could put up quite a fight if they chose to.”

“How are we going to cause a revolt if there are thousands of dragons to prevent it?” Tara asked.

“We have to get the dragons on our side,” Corey replied.

“That’s not likely.” Trip absent-mindedly dug a trench in the cage floor with his thumb.

“No, it isn’t,” Tara agreed.

“I’m working on a plan.” Corey stared through the crossbars above the cage.

“Are you gonna let us in on this plan?” Dirk asked.

“Eventually.” Corey smiled enigmatically.

What was he up to?
Tara narrowed her eyes at him, but he just chuckled and turned away. She glanced at Eunavae whose face expressed her thoughts exactly. Tara didn’t trust Corey to think of his own safety. If she knew him, he had devised some plan to get Kate and all of them free, but he would be strung up on that scaffolding in return.

“Corey.” Tara moved to his side and spoke softly, for his ears only. “We can’t lose you. Don’t do anything heroic, okay?”

“Tara, you know me. I’m not really the heroic type.” He smiled and patted her hand.

She snorted. He was exactly the heroic type.

QUANTUM PERSPECTIVE SOURCE (QPS): COREY CHASTAIN

“
Dagan, I know you can hear me dragon
.” I had been baiting him for three days. He wouldn’t speak to me anymore, but I knew he listened.

“
Dagan, I know you have plans for me. I know you intend to string me up on that scaffolding
.”

“
You know nothing!”
His dragon voice rumbled in my head
. Good, I got his attention
.

“
Sure, I do. I know you and the Mother have plans for me. I know you want revenge
.”

Silence.

“
Consider this my last request. I want to see the Mother or you let me thought-speak to her one more time before I die
.”

“
Hmmm.”
I could hear his thoughts considering the idea. He wasn’t refusing outright, a good sign.

“Corey?”

“Kate? Kate, is that you?”

“Corey.”
A cry of relief, the thought, jammed packed with sentiment, exploded in my head and a cascading spiral of emotion landed on my heart.

“Kate, where are you?”

“I don’t know. I’m chained to a wall. Again! Dagan said they were going to kill me unless you do something for them. What is he talking about?”

“Darling, don’t worry. I won’t let them harm you.”

“Corey, sweet Corey, I love you.”
Truth rang from her words and the intensity of her emotions like the peal of church bells. I closed my eyes in relief and savored the sound and integrity of her statement. I felt her drawing me, needing me, calling me to her.

“I have loved you for a thousand years, my Kate.”

“Corey.”
The thought sighed in my head and pierced my heart, wrapping me in the longing and apprehension
. “What do they want you to do?”
Worry for my safety, the overwhelming emotion behind the thought, flooded me.

“Don’t worry, love. “

“I need you, Corey, stay whole and perfect and…”

“You heard her?”
Dagan sliced away her words.

“Yes. What do you want me to do?”

“The Mother and I want you to die.”

“Why Dagan? Why me? Who is the Mother?”

“You are the reason we were trapped here. You left us here, fractured.”

“I don’t understand, Dagan. Are you talking about the dragons?”

“NO!”

“What are you saying then? Who did I leave?”

“It doesn’t matter. You will die, or we will torture Kate slowly, bit by bit every day, until she is mangled beyond repair. Then you will watch her die a slow and torturous death.”

“No. I will die. Please. Let me die. I will do whatever you ask. What is your guarantee? How will I know that you will set her and these people free if I die?”

Suddenly, my mind opened to a vast consciousness. Dagan thought spoke across the crowd of intelligent minds. “
This is Dagan, first Dragon to the Mother. I am projecting to all humans and dragon kind alike.”

I turned around and saw the Keepers sit up and cock their heads to listen. The slaves stilled in the cages around us.

“The one named Corey Chastain will sacrifice himself for the human lives. If he fails to do so, they will all die. If he succeeds they will be freed.”

“Nooo!” Eunavae and Tara shouted and ran to me. The Darchori began to cry out wailing “Cianti Todura!”

Dagan continued. “
All of the dragons of Dagan Island must trumpet your promise to protect the slaves from further harm if Corey gives his life as promised. You will release them no matter what I or the Mother wishes.”

Thousands of dragons trumpeted audibly as well as in our thoughts. The reverberation and invasion rumbled through our heads and ears. Several slaves passed out under the onslaught.

“If he does not succeed, you will eat every human man, woman, and child within the day.”

Again the trumpeting in stereo sounded around the island and in my head. Several more slaves hit the ground, unconscious.

Eunavae fell to her knees and clamped palms over her ears. “No! Corey! Noooo!” she cried and buried her face in my shoulder.

Tara stared down at me, eyes dead. “I told you not to do this.” A fat tear rolled down her cheek and dropped into the dried mud on her breast.