Keeper's Knowledge (Balancer's Soul cycle) (9 page)

That is the reason for the armguards.

Connor
then
walked over to the fire to warm up the links before help
ing
her put it on.
To further heat the links he drew the extra heat to the metal by commanding Fire.
W
hen it
became sufficiently
warm he
walked back and said “Hands up!”
Sarah looked confused, but did
as told
.

The warm armor
gently lowered down her arms and torso
without problem
. When it was finally in place
,
her breasts had a new
support
holster because Connor
designed the mail to incorporate the size of her bust
perfectly
.
He knew every inch and attribute she had to offer.
The bottom of her mail came all the way down to her
wispy
waist.
He
walked behind her and easily pulled her long brown hair out from under
the
armor.
Not a single
silky
hair was snagged by the metal.
He
twisted the mail and moved it perfectly into
its correct
position. He
was glad
he
warmed the metal up first or she would have gotten chilled quickly.

She turned to face him
directly
and asked “Why did you make all this for me?” She touched the top of her metal covered breast.

He
smiled softly and kissed the top of her head. “For two
simple reasons,
”
Connor
held up one finger. “Because I never want to see you or our child hurt.
This will offer more protection than your shirt.
”
Then the
second finger
went up
. “Finally be
cause
I want
us to match
!”

He
stepped back and
grabbed the bottom of
his
shirt and took it off.
Connor
already attired
his
own chainmail that
had been
specifically made to cover all of
his vital organs. On each
arm
were much larger
versions
ar
mguards that fit perfectly to the
overdeveloped
limbs
.
He
bent down to show her
the
longer greaves
by lifting
the front of
his
pants up.

Before Sarah
stood
her
mate
,
in
all his
godly
armored glory.
H
is left arm
had
a string wrapped over his silver armlet
, locking the material in place
.
He looked like a
true knight
in the twenty first century
and
the
endearment she
gave him now works
without question
. He c
rossed his arms as he studied her as well
and
her
heart
began
leaping out of control.

She
asked in a barely controlled voice “How long did it
take you to make all of this?” She
looked down at
her
self and touched
the
chest coverings.
She
was so glad he warmed it up before putting it on.
The metal vest hung on
her
every c
urve
,
like the metal itself wanted
to protect her
o
f its own will.

“I’ve
been working on these for a little over a month
. All of the metal came from the piece of stainless steel sheet metal
you asked about
. The armguards,
greaves
and your daggers
were
made within a day, but the chainmail took the most time and I am glad that I’m a Balancer or else this would have taken at least a year to make yours alone.
Those links were tedious
to finish
, but now that I see the results I feel great knowing that it
not only
looks great
, but
will keep you safe
.
”

Sarah asked as she
looked at
her
left armguard “What are these slit’s for
?” She
touched the forearm leather.
The hardened yet flexible leather felt like
she
was wearing just a normal sleeved shirt.

“This?
” He lifted his
own
left arm
in demonstration
and used his right hand to pull out the metal plate. He held it between two fingers and said “This is our armor, but we can use our powers to manipulate the
metal into a tool like this!” She
felt Connor summoning
forth
his power
again
.
The first time they
did
the affinity
test with metal, it drained both of
them
instantly
and nearly killed
them
. Now
it was possible to
manipulate it as easily as
it is to
breathe.
Suddenly the long forearm plate lifted from Connor’s fingers and started to glow red
hot and the heat in the room mirrored the red steel
.
I
t folded in on itself
; from top to bottom
.
Then the metal bowed out in the center.
Then it
continued molding its shape until it became a metal bowl. “We can use this to eat or drink or whatever else we might require
should a need arise
.” Before the metal
had a chance to
cool
,
he changed it back to its original shape. Once it
had
cooled
down again
he slid
the plate
back in its place
,
in t
he black leather. He smiled her favorite
smile. “Well do you like
your new outfit
?”

At a loss for words she
closed the short distance
between
them
and jumped. Sarah
wrapped
her
arms around his
thick
ne
ck and gave him a proper kiss. She
felt
her
chainmail covered breasts pressed into his and it felt odd
, but not unpleasant
. “Of course I love it.
You made this new outfit especially for me.
It is all so perfect.” She
took a
much
needed breath. “Now I can give Mother back the dagger
we made when we took our
initial
test… N
ow I need to come up with a
proper
name…”

He sat
her
down on the floor as
she
bit
her
lip
and looked up to the ceiling
to think
. He asked “What do you mean ‘Come up with a
proper
name’?”

Sarah
looked up
into his hazel eyes. “You have
Tool
and Father has
Haunt. Now I need to come up with a name fo
r my daggers…” He
became
quiet as she
contemplated.
Connor knew any weapon
i
s an extension of yourself and it required a proper name.
“Oh,
I know… How about I call them Fangs
?”

He looked at
her
identical
daggers and smiled. “Perfect. That is a good name for your new weapons
since
they look like a
slightly
curved fang
.
Good choice.
”

She
pulled out one dagger. “
Fang it is then!”

For the next hour
Sarah continued
checking over each inch of all of
her
new armor.
There wasn’t a single fault or snag anywhere on the materials. She
had to put
her
shirt back on after Connor gave
her
a hand in removing
the
chain
mail.
It felt
more
like a second skin
after a few minutes when it matched body temperature
.

They
then spent some time packing up
their individual
hiking bags and
kept
deciding what
would
absolutely
be
needed to carry
for the long
journey
. Everything
that had
been
bought earlier
today
was divided into each of
their
bags
, but he unconsciously placed
the
more weighty supplies in his pack
.
Each of
their
bags held energy bars, dried food, five pairs of clean clothes, soap, rope, a compass, a small map of the northern half of the United States and Canada,
two flint stones, a large two person sleeping bag, fishing line, a pair of binoculars, and finally a pair of mirrors.
Although most wouldn’t be needed it was best to be prepared incase they were stopped
by some law enforcement personnel
and could explain they were simply camping.

They
sat
the
bags by the front door. On the table top
lay
Sarah’s cell phone. She
decided to pick it up,
touch the screen
and speed dial a number. On th
e third ring her
mother answered
“This is Jillian!
”
perky as ever.

“Good evening, Mother.” Sarah’s
voice
remained
well controlled. “I just wanted to let you know that we are ready to go.”

“That’s good news. Your father and I tied up all of our loose ends as well. What did you two have to do?”

Sarah
decided on the truth
since there wasn’t a need to lie about anything
. She
told
her m
other about how Connor made up the story on going down to South America. When
her
mother finally caught her breath
from laughing,
Sarah
continued
explaining
about
them
talking to
their boss and clients,
telling them that
they would be gone for awhile. Jillian
didn’t laugh because she did the same thing with
Jack today. At last Sarah
told her “We will see both of you early in the morning. Good night, Mother.”

“Good night, Sarah.” And
she
ended the call
.

Connor and
Sarah
cooked up
a storm
and ate just about everything in
within
the pantry and left only what they
would need for breakfast.

Before they retired for the night Sarah
had to do something.
She folded up her
chainmail and laid it on top of
her
dresser.
She
laid
her
shin guards and armguards o
n top of it along with her new
belt and Fangs.

Connor outdid himself once again.

Journey and Adventure