The Soul of Ten
Chapter Six
2 March 2011
Connor was woken by a sharp, stabbing sensation in his side. He sat bolt upright in his bed, his eyes roaming around the room, looking for whoever was harming him.
His eyes widened in surprise when he didn't see any Mogadorians, rather he saw two girls. Sarah was the one by his side, trying to wrap a bandage around his chest where he'd broken his ribs. Ella was curled in the chair at the bottom of the bed, her eyes fixed on the two of them.
"Where are we?" he asked as soon as he realised that he was safe.
"We're in a motel in Salamanca." Sarah replied "We had to steal a car from Santa Teresa to get you here."
"Please tell me you got rid of the car." A slight panic gripped him at the thought of them keeping hold of something that the Mogs could track them with.
"Of course we got rid of it." Sarah replied as though it was the most obvious thing in the world "I dumped it in the river."
"That's good. But it still won't keep them off of us for long. We need to get out of here." He tried to get out of the bed but Sarah put a hand on his chest and pushed him backwards gently.
"You aren't in any state to be travelling yet. At least let me bandage you up before you panic." He studied her expression once before nodding. There was no point in arguing with Sarah Hart when she looked like that.
"How long was I out?" he asked instead as Sarah returned to wrapping the bandages around his chest.
"Two days." Ella replied "We've been hiding here since the battle." The girl looked lost and he could probably guess why.
"No sign of Crayton or the others?" Ella shook her head.
"Papa wanted to go to India after we found Marina. But he wouldn't leave without me."
"Unless he thought you were safe." Connor told her as gently as he could "His chances of finding you here are slim. Not to mention the Mogs will be searching around here. If I was him, and I knew you were with another Garde, I'd have gone to India."
"You think he'd leave without me?" her voice almost cracked as she spoke and Connor gently pushed Sarah away so that he could get off of the bed and walk up to her. He dropped to his knees in front of her chair and before he knew it she'd flung herself at him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders.
"I think that if he thought for even a second that you were in danger he'd tear this town apart to find you. But he knows that you're safe with me, so he's going to stick to his plan. Maybe he hopes that you'll do the same and we'll find him in India."
"Can we?" Ella asked.
"If you can tell me whereabouts in India we're going I can get us there." He felt the girl shake her head against his chest "I don't think going to India is the best move right now. Without knowing where to find the others it'd be like looking for a needle in a haystack."
"Then what should we do?" Sarah asked from where she was sitting on the bed.
"I don't know." He lifted Ella in the air and turned to face the other girl, grunting as the young Garde wrapped her legs around him and caught his damaged ribs "I have been unconscious for a few days. I'll need some time to decide what to do next."
He dropped onto the bed with Ella and lay down. The young girl lay next to him, resting her head on his chest.
"Ella, how did you and Crayton get here?" Connor asked idly. He looped a finger through the girl's auburn hair and twirled a strand around it.
"Papa brought plane tickets." She replied without thinking. Connor chuckled to himself.
"I meant to Earth. You weren't on our ship. I'd have remembered if there was a baby on board." He paused for a second "No, it was definitely only the ten of us on the ship."
"Don't you mean nine?" Ella asked. Connor's face twisted a little in confusion. What was she talking about? "Papa said only nine of you made it to the first ship."
"Ten of us reached the ship, Ella." He told her gently "What else did Crayton tell you?"
Ella pushed up from where she was leaning on his chest so that she could look him in the eyes.
"He said that we couldn't make it to the first ship in time so Loridas met us at a second. He told me that Loridas sacrificed himself so that I could take his powers and become the tenth Elder." Connor took a deep breath. He doubted that either of them were going to enjoy this.
"I think Crayton has been lying to you, Ella." He started "You aren't meant to be the tenth Elder. I am."
"I don't understand." Ella looked him dead in the eye and he could see the defiance there. She didn't want to believe it. He didn't blame her.
"I was the last to arrive at the ship. I barely got there in time. If I'd have been minutes later the ship would have left without me. The other nine were already there, they had already received the charm. Loridas cast it on me moments before the ship left. As we left the planet I saw him turn and face the General in combat. I saw him die at the General's hand. He didn't give you his power, Ella. He couldn't have." The girl broke down as he spoke and started beating his chest with all her strength. Connor just let her, despite the pain it was causing where they hadn't healed from his fight with the General.
Eventually she stopped punching him and just fell forwards, crying on his chest. He brought his arms up and wrapped her in a tight hug, running soothing patterns on her back with his hands.
"I should leave." She said once she'd finally stopped crying. She sat up and wiped her eyes, her face set in a sad determination.
"Why would you do that?"
"I'm not one of you. I'm an imposter. A fake. I don't belong here."
"I disagree." He paused, considering how best to go about this "You are one of the eight surviving Loric Garde. You might not have been chosen to be an Elder but that doesn't matter now. There are no Elders, just us, the last survivors of our race. I can't think of anywhere you belong more."
He lifted Ella up and sat her on the bed, next to Sarah, who immediately wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"I don't believe in fate. I can't say that we were destined to be here together, that we're all here to serve some greater purpose. But I do believe in choice. We were all chosen to be here. Maybe not by the same people but we were all chosen to be saved. And I have to believe that whoever chose us, be that the Elders or not, had a reason for making that choice. I have to believe that we were chosen for a reason because if I don't believe in that simple thing then I can't see any hope of winning this war."
"You want me to stay?" Ella still sounded small and shy and he could have sworn that she'd reverted back to a younger age, although only a year or so younger.
"The choice is yours. At the end of the day our choices are all we have. But I think you should stay here, with your people. That's where you belong." He thought for a second before reaching down and slipping the black bracelet off of his wrist "I want you to have this. It came from my chest. It's saved my life more times than I care to count. Now it's something to remind you that you're one of us. That you're Loric." He slid the bracelet onto the girl's wrist and they all watched as it resized to fit her.
"How does it work?" she asked. He could see tears forming in her eyes.
"I'll show you later." He promised her "Right now I think I know what we need to do."
"I'm listening." Sarah told him, one eyebrow raised. He looked at her and smiled. She'd put so much trust in him time and time again. She'd left her home and her family on nothing more than his word to help him and John fight a war that, by rights, shouldn't have anything to do with her. And now she was sitting patiently in a crappy motel room treating his wounds and waiting for him to come up with a plan. He just hoped that he didn't let her down.
"My chest." He said simply. The girls looked at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was. But he didn't think so "The Elders sent us here for a reason. To fight back. But to keep us safe they forced us to split up. They must have known that we'd need a way to find each other when we were ready."
"You think they put something in your chests." Sarah realised. Connor nodded, a huge grin plastered on his face.
"It makes sense. They seem to have thought of everything else."
"Alright. Then where's your chest? How do we get it?"
"I gave it to a friend to look after for me. I figured that it was safer than carrying it around the world with me. And believe me, those things are not good to be carrying around in battles."
"Where? In America?" Ella asked "I've never been to America."
"Then you're in for a treat because we're going to the best city the Americans have to offer." He paused for dramatic effect and played out a drumroll on his legs "New Orleans, Louisiana."