Harmonizer's Evolution (Balancer's Soul cycle) (81 page)

Sarah went rigid and Connor
knew what was
to come
next.
He clamped a
hand over her mouth and
slowly
shook
his
head
while staring her down
. She ab
out
explode
d
with her voice
in a rage rarely seen
. I
t took only a se
cond, but when her eyes met his
she calmed down
fractionally
.
Her anger
still
thundered through the bond they
share.

Sorono looked at his brother
and was glad for
the
actions, but also to get confirmation to the truth of Agnes’s words.
He looked back and said
“Next question. How can I find Ranvan?”

Agnes let out a hissing laugh
through the metal bit still in her mouth
.
“Find our king? You’ll never find our savior and the
eventual
ruler of the new world. He will bring the world back to order
,
like it once was in the time of my ancestor Afleen. When we were given our orders
to wait
, only a select few could get in contact with him. Even if you could find him
,
you won’t win. He is the strongest of us all. No one can stop him.
Not even you.
”

“What will you get out of this war with the humans?”
Sorono asked
unabashed to get on with the interrogation and to keep his emotions in check
.

She smiled
as
menacingly
as possible
.
“I’ll become a ruler over my providence and get to live off the fat of my land. It will be my personal paradise.
”

“Next question. How and when
will the battle begin?
What will be the trigger?
”
Sorono asked without being phased by her ignorant dream.
She went quiet for
over
a minute and Sorono’s patience
came to
an end.
“
Answer
me now or I’ll rip it from you!”

She winced at his mental lash
ing
.
“We weren’t given many specifics, but on the day of our heritage being reclaimed
,
a single Call is to be sent as the initiation.”

Finally we’ve gotten a lead.
Sorono heard Connor’s
mental thought and nodded
inconspicuously
while staring at Agnes.

For the next three hours Sorono interrogated her for every ounce of information
she possesed
.
They discovered
that Ranvan found the ancient sanctuary deep under the sea about ten years ago and had quickly became their undisputed leader and king. Apparently they survived
all this time
thanks to the
thermal
heat of the earth and some special plants that didn’t require sunlight to grow. The plants were enough to give them oxygen and food and they also had animals that ate the plants and they ate them. Then onc
e they were released from the home that they resided in for many millennia, they saw the new world they lived in. They didn’t like how their world had been taken over and now ruled
over
by
another sentient race,
the humans.
Their goal was to all become rulers of their land.
They didn’t care about the costs that it would take to achieve their dream
s
.

Connor
learned to read between the lines and knew that Ranvan began using these moldable Keepers to suit his own ends. He wanted power, even more than he already
contains
. He doesn’t like competition and wants nothing more than to be
unparalleled
.
Ranvan
is no longer a harmonizer, but a destroyer.

Sorono suddenly surprised
them
all by offering
“Agnes, everything that you have offered has been the truth. As a reward for your honesty you’ll be given another choice. You may stay here
,
chained up for the remainder of your days
,
or you may be released and be allowed to stay amongst us. If you choose freedom
,
you will be escorted
wherever you go
and also not allowed to leave under any circumstances. If you make an attempt
,
you’ll be killed on sight.”

“SORO...!” Sarah began shrieking, but
Connor placed a
hand over her mouth again.
He
then privately entered her mind.
“Princess, don’t. I know what he’s doing. We have heard the way she speaks of Ranvan.
They are in awe of him.
He is like a god in their eyes…
Sorono knows what he’s doing, trust him like you do with me when I do something
that seems
strange.
Just be ready.
”

Sarah’s delicate eyebrows slowly smooth
ed out and
his
hand moved off her
lips.
H
er loving green eyes turned hard again as she looked back to the chained
spy. Sarah became expressionless again, but the way she held
his
hand now was for support
rather than anger
. She trusted him
, even if it was difficult.

Agnes looked strangely at Sorono, but not in astonishment. It
seemed
a calculating look as she weighed her options and eventually came to a conclusion.
“I choose to be free of these bonds.”
Even without
all the hairs on the back of Connor’s neck rising, he knew the
words held more than she let on.

Sorono moved with a fluid grace and walked up to one of the four securing metal chains and easily snapped the
m
apart with his bare hands. He did the same for the other three. Sorono then broke the link that bound her
straight legs and removed them to allow her to stand
erect
. Once she stood
,
Sorono gave her a deadly
, withering
look as he snapped off
the
metal collar
and then the
metal
mouth
bit
was removed
.
Then she began moving her jaw once again
to get feeling back
.
Agnes
didn’t attempt anything
as he worked
. Then he began unbinding her torso. But before it all came off he said
“Your hands will be bound for several
more
minutes. Once I’m through
,
they will be removed. Do not even attempt to try anything or you’ll be dead before you hit the ground.
Understood?
”
Agnes held completely still as Sorono bound her wrists and then held the
other
end
in his hand,
like a leash.

Sorono glanced at Connor
and
he
immediately
understood
what to do. He
gained Sarah’s attention and then jerked
his
head to
wards
the door, once. She nodded and came
over
with him
.

He
easily opened the
large
door to see that there
remained
another hour of daylight left and also that all of the other elders and their personal guards were waiting
patiently
outside the hut. Th
ey all went silent as they saw them exiting
,
but the crowd was still as noisy as it was when
they
arrived here earlier with the reinforcements
. They all wanted some an
swers and would
soon
get some. Connor
pointed towards the arena. “
Please send a troop of Guards to clear the stage, immediately. We will have some
special
announcements to give.”

Several of the elders sent their guards to accomplish the task. Those guards found others and quickly did what
he
ordered.

Several seconds later Sorono walked out behind Sarah and
Connor
while holding the end of the chain in his right hand. Agnes followed behind and
many
eyes followed her measured movements. Veronica followed behind, defensively
covering her mate from
the rear
.

Everyone
became
confused as to what was happening, especially the other
E
lders. Those of the crowd closest to
the hut
began quieting. Then most of the crowd quieted even faster as the enormous stage was being cleared.

Sorono gave quick
and short
orders as he began leading the spy slowly towards the
emptying
stage. The crowd parted wid
e
ly
and gave
them
a direct path to the
next
destination
. Sarah and
Connor
moved to walk beside Veronica and all of th
e other Elders fell in behind
.

During this time
Connor
watched Agnes
with unwavering scrutiny until he
sensed a slowly building energy being gathered
close by
. He
glanced down to
the
left and saw
that
the source came from Sarah.
He
didn’t bother to say anything as
she kept her powers on a tight le
ash. Even tighter than the physical one that
Sorono
held in his hand
.

The atmosphere in the clearing changed from joyous to confused and angry.

They
finally made it to the center of the
silent
stage. Everyone crowded around the clearing, trying their best t
o see what i
s happening. Connor
didn’t spot
his
children or Jillian
from where
they
usually sit
.
His
hopes were that they were still at home and not around here.

Attention was called from Sorono. The crowd went completely silent and were giving their undivided attention
to the Head Elder
.
Sarah, Veronica and
Connor
stood about thirty feet away from Sorono and Agnes, who stood in the center of the platform.
“As most, if not all, of you know we ha
ve
had
an intruder in our
midst.
This is that spy and her name is Agnes.
She has willingly given up useful information to us. In a gesture of a willingness to forgive her crimes I gave her a choice to be released from her bonds
..
. I keep my word.”

Sorono then moved closer and towered over Agnes. He quickly removed the chains on her wrist and dropped the metal to the ground. Then he took several measured steps away from the spy.
He turned his back to speak once again.

Suddenly Connor’s
instinct warned
him
to the danger that
surfaced
.

Agnes hissed
madly
, dropped to all fours and leapt straight ahead,
toward
them
. Sorono reacted too late, but
Connor
wasn’t prepared for what happened next.

Agnes was absolutely
murderous, but her target
became
Sarah
, again
.
He
moved
protectively, but Sarah was
more prepared than Connor
originally
credited
. Sarah deftly stepped forward
,
to block
his
protective move. Her facial features twisted in rage. She raised her right fist towards the charging enemy and shouted “
DIE BITCH
!!!”