“Where’s Frank?” James asked as he approached.
Scrimson shifted back to his human form, pulled his robe from a bush and wrapped it around himself. He looked old and haggard, the gray in his hair and beard seemed more pronounced than it had the last time they saw him. He sat heavily on a rock and waved in a general direction down the hill.
“I think he died, maybe not. He’ll be back. The creature almost got out in its last rush, it’s getting desperate. It’s been quiet for a few hours, maybe we injured it. I’m too exhausted to yell at you fools for entering the portal, go finish it off. I need to get stitched up.”
The old man moved away from the entrance, limping and in pain but he held his head high. He’d defended the realm, he’d done his job as Guardian. He’d let the younger men finish the work.
Dimitri started stripping out of his leather jacket as James shifted, his own specially constructed clothes separating at the seams and falling to the ground. When he switched back to his human form, the Velcro and snaps could be put back and the clothes made whole again. He dropped down on all fours and started towards the cave but a big, black wolf darted in ahead of him. The snarl and answering screech of something from another world echoed out as the massive bear shouldered his way through the entrance. It opened up once he was inside into a cavernous, damp room with dripping stalactites and a shallow pool of water. Dimitri leapt at the monstrosity and it met him with a lunge, a flash of claws and tossed him aside. The wolf yelped and crashed into a wall as James charged, his own claws ripping through red demon flesh. The thing screeched again and slashed at the bear as he sunk long fangs into the demons neck. They stood on hind legs, raked at each other, ripped flesh and hide as the wolf dove in and shredded its ankles, tore chunks of meat away and ripped at the tendons behind its knees. Snarls and growls and the sounds of savage fury were loud in the cave as the thing fell backward and snapped off the long, hanging stalactites. The screams of the hell spawn were cut short when James tore out its throat but it fought on, an unnatural being that had to have its heart separated from its body before it would finally die. Dimitri half shifted, formed furry hands and grabbed a chunk of the long stone with a sharp point and drove it into the beasts mouth. It plunged through the plating at the back of its head, snapped off teeth that tried to bite and choked off the last of its cries. His hands changed again as James dug in his claws and grabbed a mouthful of shoulder to rip into. Dimitri slammed his half human half wolf fingers into its chest, the sharp animal claws ripping through the flesh just under its ribcage. It fought and bucked, tried to throw the bloody bear off but its legs were useless where the tendons had been severed. Dimitri found the thudding heart, curled his hands around it and jerked it free. The monster shuddered and stopped its struggles.
He shifted again, become all wolf and pawed the slowly beating heart away, into the pool of dark water. Spurts of blackened blood pumped out as it beat its last. He nosed around other bodies, his giant form padding noiselessly, his shoulders hunched, his yellow eyes glittering. He found parts of his friends and other people. The demons had been able to run free for a day before they’d been found chased down and trapped. If the guardians hadn’t cornered them, there would have been a long series of unsolved and gruesome murders. The more human like of them would have mated with human women, it was their greatest desire. All manner of half breed children would have been born. Most stillborn but enough would have survived to bring in more unnatural creatures. It would have taken generations for them to become civilized and sane. In the ancient world, it could happen. There were enough empty lands, enough secret places to hide but not now. Not in the modern world. Even in the wilds of the vast, empty spaces in Dimitri’s home country, they were tracking them down. They were eliminating them. Most of them, anyway.
James squeezed back through the opening, shifted to his human form and gingerly pulled on his clothes. He had a series of slashes across his chest and one of his arms bled freely from a deep gash.
“There’s another.” Dimitri said as he ducked through the opening, his chiseled, naked body flawless and unblemished. He may have some bruising from the vicious bashing against the wall but it wasn’t showing on his tanned skin.
“You think one is still out there?” James asked “What makes you think that?”
“That was a female we just killed,” he replied. “She recently gave birth and there aren’t any baby demons in the cave.”
“Maybe she ate it,” James replied then added, “you want to get some clothes on? You’re naked, you know.”
“No.” he said and sniffed the air. “More killing to do. Go tend your wounds, I’ll take care of it.”
Before James could answer, he shifted to the huge black wolf and was racing down the hillside.
“Wait!” he yelled but the black streak disappeared in the thick woods.
James took on his bear form, shed the clothes and bounded down the hillside after him. He took great, leaping strides and caught up quickly as Dimitri slowed to sniff and follow the trail. He caught signs of the unnatural, a clawed footprint in the dirt and a broken branch from a tree. It was fast and big for a newborn, it had been feasting on the butchered guards. He caught a smell of Frank, too. His friend and advisor was chasing the creature down. Scrimson said he thought he was dead, James was relieved to see the occasional footprint and pick up traces of his distinctive scent.
They sprinted down the mountain, the black wolf leading the way, a tawny brown bear thundering behind him, plowing through the brush and small trees rather than dodge around them.
They were gaining ground, they saw occasional splotches of blood. Frank was attacking the creature and sometimes it turned and fought, other times it ran. They heard the splash of the water as they broke through the thick woods, saw the roiling lake and didn’t hesitate. The creature could disappear in the water if it got out of their sight. It couldn’t be tracked in the vast lake and could come up anywhere. They plunged in and followed the sounds of battle, the other worldly screeches and the cries of Frank as he grappled with the monster.
7
Meeting
When they finally woke up around noon, the kindly lady at the bed and breakfast packed them a lunch, loaned them a basket and pointed out a trail that led to a lovely spot near the lake where they could spread out a blanket and enjoy a leisurely meal. During the hour long drive last night, and after they finished the second bottle of champagne, Claire had hugged her best friend tight and forgave her trickery. They didn’t know how they would be able to arrange a meeting with James but Claire was willing to try. Even if it was just to say goodbye and to wish him well, she realized she really, really wanted to see him one last time. She should return the pendant, it didn’t belong with her if it was an ancient family heirloom. Dana tried to talk her out of that line of reasoning but Claire was having none of it.
“He didn’t know his uncle was going to be murdered,” she insisted. “He didn’t know he would be called away to do his duties. He never would have given it to me otherwise.”
“Fine.” Dana said, as she speared an olive and wrapped a bit of cheese around it. “But if we can get an audience with his majesty, I’m not offering to give back the money from his BMW. It’s almost gone, anyway.”
They both jumped at a huge splash behind them and turned to stare as the calm waters of the lake erupted in a frothing fury.
“Oh my God.” Dana exclaimed “Do they have a Loch Ness monster here?”
After a few minutes, the surface of the lake calmed and the small waves turned to small ripples as they lapped at the shore.
“Must have been a giant fish.” Claire said, a slice of apple halfway to her mouth.
“No shit.” Dana said. “Note to self: Don’t go swimming in Galador unless it’s an indoor pool.”
“Okay, I have an idea,” Dana said when they turned back to their food, “people recognize the necklace and they think you’re some relation. I say we barge right into the palace l
ike we own the place and demand to see him. Maybe by the time they figure it out, someone will have already paged him or sent a courier or whatever it is they do in a castle.”
Claire shrieked just as the placid lake erupted again and Dana turned in time to see a bear dive in and disappear under the roiling surface.
“He was chasing a wolf!” she exclaimed. “He was trying to catch a wolf!”
“No way,” Dana said, “bears don’t eat wolves. Do they?”
“We need to get out of here,” Claire said as she started throwing everything back into the basket. “This is crazy. That lady should have warned us.”
“Why aren’t they coming back up?” Dana asked as the girls stood, ready to run, the basket and blanket clutched in their arms. “Did they drown?”
“I think they’re fighting.” Claire said as they watched the surface explode, shattering the calm, as it boiled up and settled down. The placid blue green turned brown with churned up mud, occasionally they would see a hairy paw or an arm break the surface.
“There’s a person down there!” Dana exclaimed and they watched, wide eyed in shock as a sword, a snarling muzzle or a roaring bear emerged then dove back down. After long moments the lake calmed, a circle of dark red colored the waters and a man came up gasping for air.
The girls stood on the edge of flight at the trailhead as it entered the woods, hidden in shadows, and watched with open mouths as three men emerged from the water.
“It’s James.” Claire whispered, her eyes wide in disbelief.
“It’s the driver.” Dana said, equally shocked to see the man they’d last seen hurrying James away in the limo at her apartment.
“Why are they naked?” she added and raised an eyebrow at the third man with the long, dark hair, long arms and legs and a long package between his legs. She didn’t avert her eyes.
Claire dropped the basket and hurried forward. James was bleeding, the crimson ran down his tattooed chest and his arm was torn. He must have been fighting the bear and the wolf with the other men. She didn’t understand. None of what she’d just witnessed made sense. But James was hurt. He was bleeding. He needed her.
Dana watched as James and the driver hugged each other and wondered why the guy was dressed in medieval clothes and carried a sword. Galador was weird. And maybe a little gay. Grown men didn’t run around the woods naked unless there was something strange going on.
They noticed the girls hurrying towards them as Dana and Claire broke out of the shadows and the driver quickly took off his templar tunic to give to James. He threw it on, covered most of his nakedness and the bloody wounds and then realized who was rushing towards them.
“Claire?” he asked, transfixed for a moment before he ran to her.
They crashed together and he swept her off her feet, swung her around and buried his face into her hair.
“I haven’t stopped thinking about you,” he breathed. “I’ve been so empty without you.”
“How could you leave like that?” she asked, tears streaming down her face. “How could you leave me?”
They were in their own private world, ignoring everyone and everything else as Dana stepped around them and up to the driver and the naked man. Frank was offering Dimitri his chain mail over shirt but the man waved it away and grinned a wide pearly grin at the American girl. She wasn’t shocked by his nudity and he wasn’t shy.
“Sorry to interrupt if you two were having a thing,” she said to the grinning man and his grin fell.
“No. There is no thing. It’s not like that,” he said, suddenly realizing how it must look, two grown men caught naked at the lake.
“It’s okay.” Dana said. “You be you. I won’t judge.”
“No.” Dimitri said. “That wasn’t… you misunderstand.”
He took the offered chain mail and turned away to pull it over his head, muttering Russian curses under his breath.
“I know you.” Dana said to the now shirtless Frank. “You were the driver at my apartment. You came to get James.”
“Um, yes, milady,” he said as he tried to hide the sword behind his back.
“What are you guys doing here? Is this some kind of renaissance festival thing? What’s going on in the lake?”
“Nothing.” Dimitri said a little sulkily. The woman wasn’t interested in his perfect physique or his chiseled abs. She hadn’t even glanced down at his dangling manhood and he’d been told by more than a few that it was impressive.
“They were swimming.” Frank said smoothly “It is customary in Galador to swim the length of the lake as a test of manhood. Dimitri got into a little trouble and we had to help him out.”
Dimitri scowled. He didn’t like the story, not one bit, but knew better than to correct it.
“But I thought we saw a bear. And a wolf.” Dana said. “What happened to them?”
“I didn’t see any bears or wolves.” Frank said smoothly. “Are you sure? Maybe it was Dimitri, he’s rather hairy.”
“Um, maybe.” Dana said, confused. “It all happened so fast. I guess he does look a little like an animal.”
“I’m going back to get my clothes.” Dimitri said sullenly and stomped off towards the forest.
“Sorry.” Dana called after him. “I didn’t mean it like that!”
Dimitri ignored her, still muttering under his breath. Frank and Dana turned to look at the lovers still holding each other close, still talking low into each other’s ears.
“How did you find him?” Frank asked, “I thought I did a pretty good job setting up the fade credentials and identity. Nothing linked James Gardner to Stephen von Galador.”
“You suck,” Dana said, “once I started looking it was easy. Ever heard of reverse image search?”
The shirtless man frowned. It was hard to stay abreast with the all the new technology that kept popping up. Nothing much had changed in thousands of years, then almost overnight, everyone had near mythical abilities at their fingertips.
“As you can imagine, James has been very busy but in his quiet moments, I know he regretted the way he left. That was my fault, I insisted he make a clean break with his life in the States. I hadn’t realized he’d found someone so special.”
“Well, he did and you were a jerk.” Dana replied, but said it with a smile as they watched to two start walking back to the picnic basket on the shoreline.
“I tricked Claire into coming,” she admitted. “She was so depressed and acting strange, she actually slapped a guy. I’ve never seen her do anything like that so I sold the BMW and bought plane tickets.”
“It looks like you made the right choice, milady.” Frank said, and offered her his arm.
“What’s with the sword?” she asked as they started back to join the other two.
“Tradition,” Frank said, “we have many ancient traditions here in Galador.”
“I’ll just go clean up the mess.” Dimitri yelled in annoyance as he watched the couples drift back to the food laid out on a blanket.
“Don’t mind me,” he said, hoping for an invite to eat, he was hungry.
They ignored him.
When Frank and Dana approached the pair sitting on the blanket, James was holding Claire’s face in his hands as they stared into each other’s eyes. Adoration was on both their faces.
“Perhaps we should give them a moment,” Frank said, “I recognize Madame Stalimanzer’s blanket and basket, may I escort you back to the hostel?”
Dana smiled and laid her other hand on his arm. It had been a while since she’d been in the company of a true gentleman and she enjoyed the easy way he had about him. He wasn’t in perfect shape, he didn’t have the body of an athlete or the defined muscles of a body builder but he wore the extra weight well. She wanted to hear more about the traditions of Galador.
“You may,” she said, “and perhaps you could join me for lunch.”
8
Truths
“Can you ever forgive me?” James asked as he stared into her s
hining emerald eyes, cupped her face in his hands and tried to still his hammering heart.
She pushed a strand of lake wet hair out of his eyes and searched them for the truth. Her very soul seemed to ache for him but she didn’t know if she could face the pain if she let herself go, if she let herself fall back into his embrace and he walked away again.
“James,” she whispered, “I know why you left. I understand duty but I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me, didn’t give me a chance. If I can’t be a part of your world, if being with someone like me, someone not royal, please tell me now before this goes any farther.”
James opened his mouth to speak but she placed a finger over it.
“Let me say this now before I lose my nerve. Before I lose myself in you again,” she continued, “I understand if you can’t be with a commoner. If you have to be with some other royal princess now that you are the King, but please, James, please tell me now so I don’t believe in something that cannot be. I will always love you but I can’t let down the walls I have started building around my heart. I can take anything, any truth you tell me, but if you lie to me again, it might break me.”
His eyes glistened as they bore into hers and he felt the intense sorrow he’d caused her. He had missed her, longed for her, but his world had been nearly nonstop chaos since the moment Frank had shown up on his doorstep. Only moments ago the mad rush to defend the realm and the world of the unclean ended. There was still much to do. Stig and the other shifters were still missing. The portal breach in the Ukraine had to be found and sealed. He had official duties and a hundred other things but none of that mattered at the moment. A part of him had been missing. A big, empty hole in his very being that he’d tried to fill with excitement, women and adventure had been made whole when he met her, the fiery girl who sat before him. He would never lose her again. He couldn’t.
Heart of the Guardians: Adoring Destiny Page 5
