Holly stalked off and back out the door. Orchid was about to cry and Chrys was staring at the ground. Es rubbed her burning cheek and gave both her sisters a quick hug. She took up a brush and began working through Orchid’s thick purple waves like she used to do when they were smaller.
Chrys got the idea and helped Es work on Orchid’s hair, then Orchid helped Es pin up Chrys’ long golden curls. When it came to Es, Chrys had her sit down so she could weave a couple of braids into Es’ hair while Orchid rested her head in Es’ lap. Es held Orchid’s hand and comforted her by sliding her hand along her hair until Chrys was finished.
Once all were presentable, they left the room to find Holly leaning up against the wall just outside the door. With a scoff, she led them down the halls. Es heard many voices yelling and gave a puzzled look to Chrys, who shook her head with a finger on her lips. Upon reaching a better lit area, Holly moved to the left and the other girls followed. Es realized where she was. An arena full of spectators expecting a great show.
“Revlis!” an unmistakable voice called to her.
She turned, and there he was. Her father. His beard was much longer now, nearly waist length. His hair was thinner and his frame smaller. His smile and his green eyes were just as bright as they had always been. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her still burning cheek. “I have prepared a wonderful show today, all for you my dear little bride.”
When he pulled away, this time when he smiled, it didn’t warm her heart. His eyes were more malicious now than they had been a moment ago. He gripped her arm and pulled her along with him to his seat, forcing to sit in a chair next to him. The twins, Malik and Mikalis, were seated to his left along with the youngest of the brothers, Mori and Krelik.
All of his daughters sat to his right, beginning with Es, then Holly, Chrys, Orchid, and the baby of the family with her long, dark red hair, Poinsetta. A few chairs remained empty. Father caught her staring and whispered in her ear, “They won’t be joining us, dear. But instead of worrying about them, why don’t you enjoy the show? It is all for you, after all. And tomorrow, we will wed. You will be carrying my child before the week is over.”
A cold shiver ran down Es’ spine. No. This is what Father had planned for me? She prayed to the Fates that Valdrik found her in time. It was her mate who should bed her. A man who loved her and protected her and made her feel safe. She once felt that from her father, but sitting next to him now, she was as uncomfortable as if she would be killed for simply moving. So she remained still as the show began.
It was barbaric. Pitting one person against another, fighting to the death. She wondered what her father had threatened them with. What had he done to make these people fight so hard to win. After a few rounds, Es recognized one of the warriors in the pit of the arena. Then it dawned on her. When Chrys had said that Kalis and Zanan were being thrown into the pit, she hadn’t meant an endless dark hole, but the arena. And Zanan was up against a troll.
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“What’s our status?” Valdrik asked his crew.
“We’re closing in as fast as we can, sir. ETA is six hours.”
Valdrik nods his head and glanced at his little sister and Lily. She and her mate had been inseparable since they reacted to one another. He smiled as his thoughts drifted off to the first time he had reacted to Es. He had been seventeen and was getting ready to take off on his first off-planet mission.
She had been fifteen and teaching her siblings when he had come to let her know he wouldn’t be around for a while. She had reached out for him as he had turned to leave and they both felt the shock flow through their bodies. They had both been surprised and yet it was if they had been expecting it.
It wasn’t long after they had reacted to each other that Valdrik had begun to sneak into the garden to plant lilies for her and took extra care during their games to ensure she didn’t accidentally find them. He had begun courting her and she seemed to enjoy the attention. Queen Odera had been as pleased about their reaction to each other as they were. The King, however, when Revlis and Valdrik had gone to tell him, had not been happy. That was when the King took away Able’s position and began sending Valdrik on off world missions. Then, of course, he had murdered his wife and Trédü and had attempted to murder Kalis.
He didn’t know that Revlis had kept in touch with Valdrik as often as she could. It had kept him going until his father sent word that she had gone missing and the King had started a civil war. With both Yasu and Valdrik off planet, Able had had to stay home and protect their family despite being needed elsewhere. Family always came first.
Even now, as they headed toward his mate, his entire family had come along with him to save her, even his mother. As well as a whole fleet of government officers. Valdrik smiled at the thought of seeing the King arrested and being taken away for his crimes as he held his mate to his chest.
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Es prayed repeatedly to the Fates that Zanan would come out of this alive. She was on the edge of her seat as she watched him fight the troll. A thirty-foot, smelly, gray-skinned creature with a bad temper and bad aim. Trolls were not smart or fast, but they were strong. They often killed on first strike, if they landed the hit. Zanan was having a hard time bringing it down while avoiding the massive club it was wielding.
Es watched as Zanan desperately fought for his life and prayed again that they would get out of this alive.
Ӝ
Whiyepu, the planet home to many criminals and outlaws. Of all places, that was where his mate had been taken. His anger rising, Valdrik was finding it hard not to jump from his seat to strangle the King to death. His growling had everyone on edge. He didn’t even realize he was doing it until he heard Rai growl back at him.
When he looked at her, her fur was up and her fangs were showing. She was standing before her nervous mate, ready to protect her if need be. Valdrik tried to calm himself to put his sister at ease, but he couldn’t. He stood and Rai switched to a defensive position. Valdrik glanced at her and shook his head, holding up a hand in apology as he exited the room. He had to calm down. His anger wasn’t helping anyone.
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After Zanan defeated his troll, he could barely make it back into the holding cell on his own, where Es was sure Kalis would tend to him. Es saw no pattern to the fights. Mostly each contender was evenly matched to an opponent, except for Zanan. Upon reaching the eighteenth round, Es noticed her father shift in his seat as he leaned forward with a wicked grin. He turned toward her then back to the arena. Whatever was coming next couldn’t be good, and Es jumped up and cried out as soon as she saw who came out next to fight.
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“Captain.”
Valdrik looked up to his First Officer, soon to be his sister-in-law.
“We are entering the atmosphere, Captain,” Vivaldi said.
Valdrik shook his head. “How many times must I ask you to use my name, Viv? You belong to my brother now. Despite our ranks, we are family. You can call me by my name now.”
Vivaldi hesitated before replying, “We may be family, Captain Valdrik, but we still must have a sense of proper respect and decorum when on this ship.”
Valdrik swiped a hand across his face as he sighed heavily, always losing this battle to Viv. He stood and straightened his uniform. They remained silent as they made their way to the main deck. Upon entering, his crew gave their predictable militaristic embedded greeting. It bothered him, but he would work on changing it later.
“Open all channels to surrounding ships. I have an announcement.”
“Yes sir!” his crew barked back.
Within moments, he was informed all ships were ready and connected.
“Bring them up on the main screen,” he ordered.
The captains of all of the ships in the fleet prepared for what he wanted to say.
“I am Captain Valdrik, son of Able Desten. After several days, we have finally reached our destination, the criminal hot pot planet, Whiyepu. I know I do not need to remind any
of you who currently resides on this planet and how detrimental it would be for him to get away. He has destroyed many planets and killed millions, including his own wife, our beloved Queen Odera. He has taken all thirteen of his children hostage, including Prince Kalis and my mate, Princess Revlis. I have received intel that he plans to wed her, kill Prince Kalis, and any of his other children who do not cooperate will also be killed.
So I say this to all of you. Do not harm any of the Princes or Princesses. They are to be taken without being harmed, along with our fellow soldier Zanan. The rest are criminals and are to be taken down as you see fit. Now, gentlemen, prepare for battle.”
The men before him on the main screen grinned, and one by one, they signed off to announce to their crews the battle was about to begin.
Ӝ
King Relik gripped Es by her arm and yanked her back down into her seat. “You will remain seated and you will watch this,” he hissed in her ear.
Es began to cry as she watched her siblings down below. Surely, Father can’t be any more cruel than now. Down below, in the pit, Father had set up a fight between the twins, Rose and Roth. In order to obey both their Father and Es’ words, one must kill the other to survive. Knowing the twins, most likely Roth would make sure Rose survived, even if he had to kill himself to do it.
Death comes to us all
Much to her dismay, Valdrik forced Rai to stay with Lily on board his ship. The map Lily had provided them was more than enough. Once he had distributed it to all of the soldiers, they were able to make quick work of the watch dogs and the various guards placed throughout the maze. Of course, it helped to have a family of werewolves and over five hundred soldiers.
They breached the subway rail and boarded the train. Thankfully, a couple of Yasu’s crew, Sven and Isla, had some experience with this type of transportation. Between the two of them driving the trains, nearly half of the soldiers were transported at once. Gunfire met them immediately upon reaching the station and a few soldiers were lost in the ensuing battle. They were left on the trains as Sven and Isla returned topside to collect the others.
Valdrik couldn’t smell his mate over the fresh blood, but his ears picked up quite the racket coming up from the dark corridor.
Ӝ
After the twins tried to waste time, Es’ Father became impatient and pressed a button on his chair, suddenly changing the layout of the pit and releasing a creature at the same time. It moved quickly around the arena, scratching Roth on his arms and legs before heading for Rose. Es fought against her father, trying to free herself from his grasp so she could save her siblings.
The creature was nearly upon Rose when its head exploded and its body slid across the ground toward her. Even from way up in her seat, Es could see Rose trembling in fear. Disappointment reverberated throughout the arena. Her father stood, hauling her up with him as he raised a hand to quiet the crowd.
“Who shot the creature?” he demanded.
After some time, a small group brought the culprit to her father, dropping whoever it was to the floor. Es gasped as red curls dropped from the cloak as it was being removed. Holly had saved them. Es could do nothing, but Holly had saved them. It dawned on Es why Holly had slapped her before. Holly had said she wasn’t angry with her, yet she had been constantly scowling at her. Now she understood. Holly had been protecting them this whole time, in Es’ place. In their mother’s place.
“Holly, I am disappointed in you. You showed such great promise,” King Relik said as he gazed upon his daughter. He looked up to the men before him. “Throw her in as well.”
Es tried to free herself from his grasp, trying to get to Holly, but she could only scream Holly’s name. Her father held her firmly to him as Holly was dragged away a short distance and held over the edge of the pit. The men looked in their direction, and Es looked to her father. She saw him nod his head and watched helplessly as Holly was dropped into the pit. She was no longer feeling any love for her father. Any remaining feelings that might have existed went cold and her heart instead was filled with nothing but a boiling rage.
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Valdrik heard his father growl low in his throat as they watched a group of men toss Holly into the pit of the arena. While it seems the crowd was pleased with the turn of events, the King looked the most pleased of all. Valdrik’s heart twisted as he watched his mate struggle against her father, clearly upset over her siblings being in the arena.
Valdrik turned to his father and gave the signal. Whatever happened next, hopefully his siblings would be able to get to the holding cells before the next opponent was released.
Ӝ
Shots rang out and people began scrambling in panic. A fight had broken out at another entrance to the arena. Recognizing the uniforms, Es knew Valdrik had come for her. She even spotted Kira jumping around. She didn’t know how he found her, but she was both glad and relieved he was here.
Her father hissed behind her and dragged her away from the chaos. She resisted and was finally able to break free, but her father signaled her brothers to hold her. Her wrists were tied behind her and she was pushed along several corridors before they reached a cargo hold with a few escape pods along the farthest wall.
Mori pulled out his weapon and pointed it at their father. “Stop right there, Father.”
“Mori, what are you doing? Stop it,” Krelik hissed at his older brother.
Es struggled against her binding while they were distracted.
“What Father has done, is doing, and plans on doing is wrong, and you know it,” Mori answered without looking away from their father. “It’s why he killed our mother. It’s why he tried to kill Kalis and why our dear sister here ran away.”
“What?” Krelik replied. “Father didn’t kill our mother. She was poisoned by a jealous maid.”
“Is that what he told you?” Es asked.
Krelik gave her a confused look as their father turned to face them. “We don’t have time for this right now, boys. Get on that ship right now or you will be left behind.”
Mori kept his gun pointed at his Father. “You know that blank journal we left behind for anyone to find if they went looking?” Krelik nodded and Mori continued. “It was blank because the original was found a long time ago. Kalis found it and it disappeared with him. But I think our big sis here found it and ran away. Isn’t that right, sis?”
“Yes, I found it and I read it,” she said as she looked at their father. His cheeks were reddening and his eyes becoming wild. He was growing angrier by the second, but the longer they could stall him, the sooner Valdrik and the others could assist them. Which was exactly what her father wanted to avoid. His biggest fear was a rampaging wolf. She had known it for a long time. It was a huge part of why he had sent the wolves away once his plans had begun.
“And what did you find there, sis?” Mori pushed.
Es looked to her brothers, one angry and ready to kill their father while the other was confused and a bit scared.
“What did you find, sis?” Mori asked again.
“Father killed mother with his own two hands. Not by poison and not by magick. Father wrote in detail how he strangled our mother until she died in his hands. And she wasn’t his first kill,” Es said while glaring tearfully at their father.
Krelik looked hurt and dumbfounded. “But why?”
King Relik decided to finally speak up. “I killed your mother because she lied to me. She was not a pure blood Elf, but a halfling. Her father wasn’t even an Elf. She gave me thirteen impure children and wasted half of my life.”
Es’ anger with her father was pushing her limits. If it weren’t for the Novma, she would have killed him already. It had been over four hundred years since she last used magick and she hadn’t even tried the simplest of spells back home. She may have lost her touch.
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Valdrik, Yasu, and Able ran after the King as the soldiers delt with the crowd. They had seen him disappear after the chaos began. As they reached a point in the
twisted corridors, Es’ scent became apparent and Valdrik felt his heart nearly leap out of his chest. He was so close to her now. He ran after her scent, hoping she hadn’t been hurt too badly and thinking of all the ways he would kill the King here and now.
Upon hearing voices up ahead, they slowed their pace. They entered a cargo hold and could hear the King speaking. Valdrik felt his blood chill as their King spoke of why he killed Queen Odera. His father tapped his shoulder and signaled for them to spread out. They would ambush the King and take him out.
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“After I killed your mother, I had the traitor Trédü killed as well,” King Relik looked at Es. “I know you were attached to him dear, but he had to go. He was going to tell everyone I had killed your mother. I couldn’t have that,” he said with a grin.
Lotus: Dark Lotus Chronicles One Page 13
