by J. Sselxuyt
For a second I’m overcome with shock. My sword isn’t there. Mentally I try to summon him, but a sharp pain in my skull makes me stop. Brock’s shotgun shoves me forward again, and numbly I comply.
As soon as I’m parallel with my companions, Brock uses the butt of his weapon against the back of my knees. “Bow before the mighty Grand Meister, beast.”
I still can’t believe I’ve lost my sword. How often have I wanted to be rid of the thing, only to feel naked now that it’s finally gone?
“You may leave.” The power of command behind those few deeply spoken words is astounding. My friends have said that I’m a leader, but if I live to a hundred, I’ll never be able to sound as the Grand Meister does in that one simple order.
I can hear footsteps moving away from us as the guards follow the command. We sit in silence, me because I can’t speak, my friends because of fear I think, and I have no idea why the big man on the dais stays silent.
Finally after what seems like an eternity, but is likely only a few minutes, he breaks the silence. “Please, stand.” While the words themselves are polite, his tone is still a command, and I find myself obeying before I think better of it. Is his voice magical in some way?
Growing daring, I look up at the Grand Meister, and am surprised to see kindly brown eyes looking back at me.
“I apologize for the rough treatment,” he states, remaining seated. “Unfortunately there are protocols that must be followed, set down by centuries of tradition and I’ve already broken as many of those as I can.”
I’m completely thrown off guard by his attitude, and find myself shaking my head to try and catch up.
“Why have you taken us?” Jewkes asks, stepping forward.
“Some of you are human, and I apologize for that, but some of you aren’t.” His eyes land on me, and even if I could argue, I know there’s no point in it. It’s pretty obvious after I turned into a dragon that I’m not human. “Technically we kill any non-humans we find in our world almost immediately. Of course, not many are as obvious as you, Lyden Snow. Even fewer are willing to put themselves in danger to stop a rampaging dragon.” He steeples his fingers beneath his chin as he continues to examine me. “You are a conundrum, young man. That Daughter of Respite would have me put you down immediately. She tells some interesting stories about you. I must say I’m a bit interested in exactly what you are. At first I thought you were an incubus by the way she describes you, but an incubus can’t transform into a large dragon, and quite frankly, they’re not known for being altruistic.”
I remain silent, not just because I have little choice, but I don’t trust this man. Marchosias had said that the Paladonic Knights were more dangerous than the Daughters of Respite.
“And the rest of you.” The man transfers his gaze across the rest of the group. “Captain Richard Jewkes, I’m fairly certain you just got caught up in Lyden’s machinations, but you don’t seem surprised by the fact he isn’t human. This makes me suspect that you are a collaborator with the monsters of the other world. The rest of you each have a long history here on Earth, and all but one of you has a birth certificate. Of course, Lyden has a birth certificate as well, so I guess that doesn’t mean much.” He shakes his head and actually looks sad. “So again, what am I supposed to make of you?”
It’s obvious that he expects an answer, and just for show I open my mouth as if I’m going to speak and then close it.
“I don’t know what you mean by a collaborator,” Jewkes says, speaking for the group again, “but I learned that Lyden wasn’t human just a short while ago, when Miranda Olsen tried to murder him and me.” I’m surprised to see the Grand Meister flinch at this statement. “I have since been to that other world, what he calls the Shadow World, and saw that we’re all in great danger from a creature called Aldol.”
“I am sorry for Miranda’s overzealous attack. The Daughters tend to act first, and think later. As far as this other creature, this Aldol, what danger does he pose?” I almost want to believe that he is truly sorry, but the way he moves right on to talking about Aldol makes me cautious.
Richard looks at me for a moment, before turning back to the Grand Meister. “I don’t know much about him, Lyden has already faced him a few times, but from what I understand, he wishes to destroy the Pillars of the Shadow World and destroy it.”
“And Mr. Snow can’t talk to tell us what he knows. Hmm.” The man on the dais ponders for a moment, before turning back to Jewkes. “It sounds as if we should be helping this Aldol. If he wants to destroy the other realm, your Shadow World, then why should we stop him?”
“Because if that world falls, then every creature from there will be forced back into this one,” Brooke states, stepping forward and glaring at the large man. “It doesn’t want to just destroy the other world, but all worlds.”
“It? Why would it want to destroy both worlds? Where would it live?” He sounds skeptical now, and I really can’t blame him. If I didn’t know that the thing existed outside of our dimension, I would wonder the same. Unfortunately, it looks like I’m the only one with that knowledge as everyone looks at me worriedly. “I see that the one with the answers is the only one unable to speak.” He stands up, and for the first time I realize just how large he is, well over six feet. He plants the tip of his large blade on the floor, and he glares at us for a moment before speaking again. “While your story has plenty of holes I’d like to have filled, I’m afraid you’re too dangerous to leave alive, Lyden Snow. You will be executed in the morning. As for the rest of you, you will be tested tonight, starting with you.” He points at Brooke with his weapon, and I see her shudder under his glare. “Any of you that are found to be nonhuman will be executed with him.”
The Grand Meister turns his back on us, and suddenly our guards are back, shoving us from the massive audience chamber.
Hope abandons me as we’re separated, and I have no idea where my friends are taken. Brooke is the only other nonhuman, but I can’t shake the feeling that they’re not just going to let the others go after this.
Unable to talk, and too weak after my battle with Blue, I collapse on my cot and try to get some sleep before tomorrow.
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Chapter 27
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Dreaming of Escaping
“It hurts,” Brooke’s soft voice reaches my ears and I sit up, looking around. “Oh, how it hurts!” The familiar blankness of my mindscape surrounds me and I see Brooke sitting down, her knees drawn up to her chest as she rocks herself back and forth.
Walking over to her, I place my hand on her shoulder, and she jumps away from me, before looking around in surprise. Apparently she hadn’t known she’d come here. Did I bring her here? If so, I hadn’t done it consciously.
“Oh, Lyden,” she cries into my shoulder as she flings her arms about me. “They were horrible. I was able to fool them for awhile. Then they threw me into a tank of saltwater. The way they jeered at me, and beat me. . . . Oh, Lyden, what are we going to do?”
I open my mouth before remembering my destroyed tongue.
Then shake my head, realizing that in here I’m whole.
“You’re okay, now,” I whisper, thankful to hear my own voice. Slowly I pat her head and back, until she calms down and pulls away from me.
“You don’t understand. They broke my feet and knees, laughing as I screamed for mercy!” She shudders as she hugs me again.
Anger boils up deep inside me at this revelation. I send my mind out for my other friends, hoping to pull them in here as well. To my surprise, my father appears.
“Shemhazau?” I ask, not entirely comfortable calling him Dad out loud.
The man looks down at himself, examining his hands and chest, before looking back up at me, and laughing uproariously. Brooke stays huddled to my side as she looks worriedly at the man.
“I guess whatever spell they have me shielded with doesn’t apply to this pla
ce,” he says, strolling forward and pulling Brooke and I into a hug. “Ah, you have no idea how good it feels to be in my old body, even if it’s in the Mens Mundi.”
“Mens Mundi?” I ask, not understanding.
“Mind World in Latin,” he explains. “That’s the name of this place. Oh, I know you call it a mindscape, and that works too. Either way, I already feel myself growing stronger. I was afraid I was going to expire in their little lab.”
Part of me feels guilty about forgetting that he has to stay in close proximity to me, or risk fading away, but I’ve had a lot on my mind lately.
“Is there any way you can break free?” I ask hopefully. If he can get out, then our escape will be assured.
His crest fallen face gives away the answer. “I’m being held by some sort of spell that keeps me locked in. I’m afraid you’re going to have to come get me.”
“Dang it!” I curse, stomping my foot. Is nothing going to be easy?
“You know, son. I find it odd, considering your current lifestyle, that you draw the line at properly swearing,” Shemhazau says critically of me. “A well placed swear word, or curse, can go a long way.”
“It’s a respect thing,” I tell him off-handedly, not wanting to get into it now.
“What’s going to happen to us?” Brooke asks. The fear in her voice tears me apart.
“Come on, assassin,” my father says, surprisingly trying to build her up, “It’s not like one of your kind to give up that easily. You’re not dead, yet.”
I feel the redhead stiffen at the rebuke in his tone, before pulling away from me and straightening her clothes.
“You’re right, Shemhazau, but my knees and feet are broken. I’ll be no help to you.” Her tone is formal as she addresses the man she’d once been ordered to kill.
Her injuries are going to make things nearly impossible to manage.
“And you’re going to let that stop you from trying to save the man you love?” he replies cheerily. If it’s possible, Brooke’s spine stiffens even more.
“No,” she replies in icy tones. “No I won’t.”
“Where am I?” a new voice breaks the air. I turn to see Jennifer strolling forward, fully nude. Once again, I’m shocked by the sheer size of her chesticles as they hang heavily on her chest.
“Very nice!” my father whistles at the sight of her.
She merely looks down at herself, and shrugs before striking a pose. “You like? Well, you can’t afford me, old man.”
I can’t help but laugh at her brazen attitude, or at my dad’s shocked expression.
“How did they treat you?” I ask, hoping she received better treatment because she’s human.
“Eh, a little roughly, but nothing I couldn’t handle. The bath at first was rather nice, and I didn’t mind all those men leering at me.” She leans in close as if to share a secret, but talks loud enough for everyone to hear. “Got me quite wet, to be honest with you. I was half-tempted to diddle myself when they finally returned me to my cell, but didn’t want to give them a free show. . . . Well, more of a show than they already had,” she finishes, looking down at herself again and hefting one of her large melons.
“You know,” Shemhazau says solicitously, sidling up to Jennifer, “I used to be the ruler of the succubae. I’m certain I could show you a thing or twenty.”
“Dad!” I shout, before I can think better of it.
“You’re his father?” Jennifer says, trailing one finger down his chest seductively, before pushing him gently away. “Sorry, I don’t do families.” She laughs as she turns back to me. “Thank you for giving me this body, Lyden. It’s so much fun!”
“Ahem,” Brooke clears her throat. “I think there are more pressing matters to attend to.”
“Right,” Jennifer states, becoming serious, “how are we getting out of here, Lyden-Pooh?”
Lyden-Pooh? Really?
From her laugh, I know she’s just teasing me. Apparently she really was treated better than Brooke.
“Are you kept together, or separate?” I ask, trying to get the conversation back on track.
“Separate,” Brooke replies.
“How did you end up getting captured?” I ask Jennifer, remembering that she hadn’t been there when I’d gone to save Areth.
“I saw the news reports and thought you might be in the middle of it, so grabbed my rifle. When I saw your car, I went for it. They caught me just as I was getting ready to open the door.” That figures, I think. At least Ondine and Areth escaped. Ondine wasn’t there, and Areth should be safe in the Shadow World. Well as safe as anyone is there.
“None of this tells us how we’re getting out of here,” Shemhazau states, making no secret of his ogling Jennifer. It doesn’t help that she notices and keeps posing for him. What a tease I created!
He’s right of course. Mentally I summon a chair and sit in it as I try to figure things out. We‘re all trapped in separate cells, no idea where the others are, and to make matters worse, two of us will be executed in the morning.
“I’m sure you can come up with something,” Lisa says, stepping into view. Trust her to be confident in me, when things are hopeless.
By the time Becky and Richard show up, no one else has any ideas and I still haven’t come up with anything.
Thankfully, Jewkes’s mind had been hard at work, and he has a plan in mind that’s so crazy, it just might work. Okay, I know that saying is a bit cliché, but as we hammer out the details, I have to admit it’ll take a miracle to pull it off.
The only other option is imprisonment and death.
* * * *
The rattling of my cell door wakens me and groggily, I sit up. My body is stiff from having lain on the cot wrong, and being in the Mens Mundi all night doesn’t help. Despite this, a nervous energy seeps into me as I contemplate what I need to do.
Of course, it would have to be Paladin Brock’s grinning ugly mug that I wake up to.
“Get out of bed, thing,” he greets me with an uneven grin. “I’m in a particularly good mood, wanna know why?”
I glance at him groggily as I head for the door. I can feel my tongue is whole in my mouth again, but I’m not willing to let him know. My stomach rumbles, and part of me wishes that the Mens Mundi would feed me as well as heal me.
“Oh, that’s right. Your tongue doesn’t work anymore,” he mimics sounding sad about that, but his quick grin is back in a second. “I’m in a good mood because it’s not every day that we get to kill two of your ilk. Too bad the one is a mermaid. I’d love to have a go at her, even if her titties are a bit small, but at least the one with the massive knockers is human. We’re going to have fun with her after we put you down.” He’s treating me more like an animal, than a . . . well, okay, so I’m not human, but I still don’t deserve this treatment. I know he’s just trying to goad me into attacking him, though his words still anger me.
I do my best to act defeated and downtrodden, shaking my head as if I’m despairing. I catch myself tapping my fingers on my leg as we walk and have to force myself to stop. So many things can go wrong. My palms are growing sweaty as empty cells pass by.
“Quit dawdling!” Brock shouts, shoving me with the barrel of his shotgun. Stumbling forward a few steps, I have to catch myself against a wall before I can continue walking again down the wide hallway.
Part of me wants to turn and yell at the paladin for his behavior but I resist, only letting a grunt escape my lips as I pick up my pace.
So many things can go wrong, I remind myself. Stick to the plan.
My heart is thumping so loud in my chest; I’m surprised that Brock doesn’t chew me out for that. By the time we exit through a new set of large metal doors—not as large as the wooden ones outside the audience hall, but still bigger than normal—I’m a nervous wreck. Any moment now, I’m certain that Brock will know that I have something planned and shoot me between the shoulder blades. I know his finger is just itching to fire.
What if the plan d
oesn't work? Maybe the prophecy is wrong, or about someone else? Perhaps my life, and Brooke's, ends here.
“How was this one?” someone asks my guard while I attempt to get my eyes accustomed to the sudden sunlight.
“I’m surprised it hasn’t pissed itself, it’s been so scared,” Brock laughs, and it takes some serious effort not to laugh with him. He thinks I’m afraid of the execution! “Move it!” he tells me again with another harsh shove.
My eyes have adjusted enough to see that we’re in a large courtyard. A walkway is open before me, lined by men of every size and description. Men in business suits stand next to fully armored knights, which are chatting with men dressed in everyday clothes. I realize that the Paladonic Knights have infiltrated every aspect of society. I even see a man in rags that looks like he might be homeless. No wonder they were able to get Miranda out of jail. There are probably a number of judges and politicians here as well.
I can hear the pathway close behind us as we walk towards a metal pavilion in the middle of the courtyard. Brooke is already there, her red curls sitting lank on her head in the sunlight. She’s been strapped to a makeshift carry, keeping her upright. Shouldn’t she be healed up after last night, like I am? Our plan doesn’t call for her to be healthy, but looking into her green eyes, I’m worried that she’s still suffering.
Someone jeers as I slowly climb the steps. I can sense Brooke’s hopeful gaze on me. More jeers follow, but my eyes are locked on a very large man, his hairy chest bare to the sky. A black hood covers his face, and a long shiny sword is in his hands. I have little doubt that the blade is made of silver. As far as I know, I have no aversions to silver, but a sharp blade is still a sharp blade. Another much smaller man is leaning over the weapon, muttering something and pouring water along its length. I can sense an aura of power around him, and I’m surprised to recognize Emmet.
Two loud thumps break through the sound of the crowd drawing my attention up to see the Grand Meister on a platform leaning out over the crowd, up on one wall. The sight of the rest of my friends with him is comforting, despite their worried looks. Unfortunately, my sword isn’t with them. How am I going to find it?