Prisoners of Scythia Shifter Box Set

by Lisa Daniels

  As I left the armory, the guard who had been sent to deliver my messages earlier in the day finally returned. “The messages are delivered.”

  I nodded, then turned to head back to the main office.

  “Sir,” his voice was relaxed, much more so than most of my guards, particularly in my presence. It caused me to stop and turn to look at him. “I realize it shouldn’t be of any relevance to me, but what will happen to the woman?”

  I arched an eyebrow, “Again with the woman. Which one are you talking about? The beautiful slave, or the stunning prisoner?”

  “Is she a prisoner?”

  It was all the answer I needed. With a sigh, I turned my body fully to face him, ready to lay into him. Then I stopped and took a better look at him.

  This was not a guard I recognized, not that I knew that many of them. But with this one’s appearance, he was certainly memorable. From his greenish-yellow eyes to the orangish hair visible around his ears (though mostly covered by his helmet), he was striking.

  “Sir?”

  I blinked once or twice, coming out of my momentary reverie. “She may as well be a prisoner. No one will accept her after what she did in the courtyard.”

  “If it would be alright, I would like to request permission to take care of her.”

  My eyes automatically narrowed. “Why? Do you not have enough work yourself?”

  “No, sir. I do not. But more importantly, I fear that her being left alone will make her susceptible to other dangers that a man would not face.”

  I folded my arms across my chest, “Are you saying you are honorable, whereas your brethren are not?”

  It was like you could see him calculating his response in those clever eyes. “They are misguided in their beliefs regarding women. I was raised to have far more respect for them, and I will see that no harm comes to her. If you will allow it.”

  Without thinking, I placed a finger over my lips as I looked over the man. He was definitely not like the majority of the men who joined the guard. “What will you get out of it? Apart from getting to work with a beautiful woman?”

  A small smile flashed across his face, “The chance to do the right thing. She is very likely unaware of what she is about to face. I can help her through it, and upon your word, get her out of the dungeon without harm coming to her.”

  They were words that should not have been spoken out loud, certainly not in the hallway of the palace. I looked around to see if anyone was nearby.

  His calm voice interrupted my paranoia. “No one else is here. Sir.” The last word was said more as an afterthought.

  I rocked back on my heels and considered the man in front of me. There was so much for me to do that this sudden offer seemed a little too convenient. Yet, I had failed in the only request Mrs. Teasdon had asked of me. How could I turn down help knowing that it would be difficult to pull off saving her on my own? Simply accepting the sudden offer was asking a little much of someone who had grown as wary and suspicious as I was. The man seemed to have sensed I would need more convincing, and he correctly guessed what was giving me the most pause in my answer.

  Seeing my hesitance, he continued, “At the risk of sounding sentimental, I believe there is much more to her than meets the eye.”

  “Didn’t you know? All that matters for a woman is what meets the eye.”

  “Your sarcasm is noted, but that is not what I meant. I believe that she may have visions or premonitions.”

  The words startled me. If that were true, the woman was in far graver danger if word got out. “What makes you say that?”

  The guard looked away to a window. “It was a look in her eyes. My… wife… had a similar look to her.” His eyes returned to me. “The woman in the dungeon reminds me a bit of her. My wife, I mean. It isn’t an easy burden to bear. Of course, I could be entirely wrong. Either way, the woman definitely needs someone on her side, and it can’t be you.”

  From the way he spoke, I could tell that he was relaying something that was painful. It was equally clear that he wasn’t lying. This man had a real reason to want to help, and by opening up about his personal reasons, he had convinced me that she would be safest in his hands. I considered him for a second before nodding, “Please take care of her. I will let Mrs. Teasdon know that her best helper will not be returning.”

  The man did not argue. He merely nodded at me, then gave a bow before turning to leave.

  “One more thing,” I said a little louder before he got too far. The guard turned to look at me, his head tilted a little to the side. I looked around, then walked toward him. “If you would, tell her that Mrs. Teasdon has turned her back on her as well.”

  He frowned, “Is that necessary?”

  I nodded, “Anyone whom Mrs. Teasdon helps is going to want to reciprocate. And it won’t be a complete lie. Mrs. Teasdon would never be able to publicly side with her now after she condemned another woman.”

  “Do you know Mrs. Teasdon well, sir?”

  His question reminded me that I was going a little too far. There was no way to hide what I knew now, so I said, “It was my desire to repay the cook that ended up with that poor woman in the dungeon. Not entirely my fault, but it is my failure for not protecting her better.”

  “You were facing a shifter, sir.” He gave a little smile.

  “That does not excuse my failure in keeping her from making such a grave mistake. In retrospect, I should have told her to wait in the office. While I cannot change the past, I can try to fix things going forward. So if you could, please make sure she has no reason to stay.”

  “Of course, sir. You can count on me. It may take a while, but I will have her out of here in a month or two.”

  My brow furrowed, “That seems a long time to leave her to languish in the prison.”

  “Enough people will have forgotten about her that it is possible no one will realize she is missing.”

  “Do you think that she will be alright for that long?”

  He smiled a little, “Do you know why Mrs. Teasdon needed someone to watch her?”

  “Not really. There were some troubles that she needed to resolve, but I did not ask for specifics.”

  “To hazard a guess, I dare say that the woman will be much happier by herself down there, feeling like she is helping, than if she were to be up here dealing with the pettiness of the palace.”

  “You may be right about that. I know how… difficult the women in the palace make life for women who are better-looking. I can’t believe that life has been ideal for the poor woman in the dungeon.”

  The guard looked at me for a moment, as if thinking about something.

  A small smile twitched the corners of my mouth. “You haven’t kept silent about anything up to this point. Why do so now?”

  “Well, um,” he cleared his throat as his eyes moved to the armory. Finally he managed to say, “If there is anything concerning you about the armory, may I suggest speaking to the prisoner?”

  My suspicion immediately returned. “What makes you say that, and what do you know?”

  He again carefully considered his response, each word deliberately chosen to convey a meaning that I would have to decipher. “I saw a bright dress down here earlier, and you have just left the same room. I’ve also heard that there has been an unexpected visitor in the upper dungeon lately.”

  “And you haven’t mentioned this earlier?”

  “Until today, I did not think it was important. The rumors of the visitations were not something I witnessed, so I didn’t have anything concrete to report.”

  I watched him again for a moment before asking, “What is your name?”

  “Braxton, sir.”

  “Well, Braxton, you seem to be an uncommonly knowledgeable, compassionate, and suspicious person whom I have not encountered before. It seems odd that I am just meeting you now.”

  “I am still fairly new, sir. My assignments have not been much to work with in terms of distinguishing myself.”

 
“Is that so?” I watched him, wondering just how much I could believe this response.

  “Don’t worry, sir. If you have need of me, I will always be available to you. It is far rarer to encounter someone like you in this city. Any assistance I can give, I will.”

  Something about the words set off alarms in my head, but I quickly dismissed them. This day was really making me feel paranoid. There was too much for me to deal with at the moment, so I decided to see just how much was known about this guard. “Thank you. That is all, Braxton.”

  He watched me for a moment before saying, “Remember to ask for help when things start to go wrong. There are things that not even you can do alone.”

  “That sounds as much like a threat as an offer of help.”

  “My apologies, sir. It was not meant that way. I wanted you to know that there are… some of us willing to help you. Even if you don’t ask.”

  “I’m not entirely sure how to take that.”

  His smile was beautiful and sad. “You will when the time comes. Now, please excuse me. I would like to go check on the woman in the dungeon to make sure she is alright. I trust Jacob, but there are plenty of other guards whom I wouldn’t trust for a second with my sister.” His bow was incredibly formal for a new member of the guard, and his stride was confident as he left.

  After watching him go, I decided to worry about him later. For now, I had someone to visit.

  My head feeling full of all of the strange and terrible events of the day, I headed to speak to the one person who seemed to be at the center of all of my problems.

  My thoughts were no more organized when I reached the floor where the prisoner was staying. With a quick nod to acknowledge the guards whom Jacob had sent earlier, I knew that he must still be there. My footsteps echoed as I headed to the only occupied cell on the floor.

  “Shifter.” It was how I always addressed him.

  The lackadaisical voice met my words, “Ah, my dear Falmen, I wondered how long it would take for you to come see me after the events of this morning.”

  Unamused, I pursed my lips. Despite the darkness, it was still easy to see the man in his cell. He was tall and solidly built, and despite his prison clothing, the prisoner’s physique was still easily noticeable as it bulged against the cloth. “Indeed. Your friend is now locked up with a poor simpleton who stumbled into the courtyard.”

  A curious look passed his face, and the shifter stood up and moved to the cell bars. “Really? Why would you lock up a woman with a shifter?”

  I glared at him, “You know why.”

  His eyebrows rose, and a half grin appeared on his face. “Are you telling me that barbarian had the audacity to save some poor helpless, hapless woman? Oh, the horror.”

  “What will he do with her?”

  “Should you not be asking him that question, my dear?”

  My eyes narrowed, “Do not call me that.”

  “I’ll tell you what—you dismiss your guards, then we can speak freely.”

  “That would make escaping that much easier for you.”

  “Oh, please. It is hardly any kind of comparison. If you were to open this door and clear out every floor between here and the ground floor, it would be no easier to get out than by dismissing your guards.”

  My temper began to flare, “If that was true, then why are you still here?”

  “Dismiss the guards, and we can speak freely about it. If not, I may have to speak in code that is far too enigmatic for you to understand.”

  “Yes, because I am so mentally inferior that I couldn’t possible decipher it.”

  “Of course. All humans are.”

  This wasn’t quite what I had meant, but it reminded me that I had as much reason to wish the guards gone as the prisoner did. After sending them away to manage a few other prisoners, I returned.

  “There, just the two of us. But please, keep references to my reality out of it.”

  “I will do my best, but habits are difficult to break.”

  I gave him a look, then decided it wasn’t worth arguing over that particular problem. This visit had enough issues to cover without going into that. “What will he do with her? The truth.”

  The shifter shrugged, “That depends on him.”

  “What is he like?”

  With a laugh that caused his brown hair to shake, the shifter said, “He’s definitely abnormal even for our kind. I’m sure he will get her out of here and drop her off somewhere that will appreciate her more than here. Unless she is as dull as many of the women in this city. Then he will just let her go wherever she wants.”

  “Why would he do that?”

  “As I’ve told you before, we have a completely different take on women than humans, and decidedly different than the people of this backward country.”

  I took no offense to this as I agreed. “Experience points to that being false. Every time shifters appear in the city, you take women away.”

  “Are you still harping on about that? Not that I can’t fathom why you want to know, but really, that is something that only the women who leave here get to learn.”

  “Is what happens to them so bad you don’t want word to get out?”

  He simply laughed and avoided answering my question.

  Annoyed, I grabbed the bars of the cell, “She isn’t the only woman to get in trouble because of your visitor. Another woman is now in the dungeons for having allowed the first to become the shifter’s slave. Two women in a single day condemned because of your attempt to leave.”

  He frowned, “Who else was imprisoned? And why?”

  “Does that matter?”

  “It does to me. I need to understand what happened.” His eyes bore into mine, and his look was dead serious. “I have to know so that no innocents are harmed by our actions.”

  With a mirthless laugh, I shook my head. “Oh, please. You kill innocents all the time.”

  “Your understanding of shifters is as poor as the understanding men have of women in this city. We kill fighters, not bystanders.”

  “Let’s just say that you don’t have to worry about the other woman because one of my guards kindly offered to take care of her.”

  “And you let him?” The shifter’s voice sounded incredulous.

  “After the tale he told me about how she reminded him of his wife, I felt that I could trust him.”

  “Are you really that bad at judging characters? Or are you really indifferent to women?”

  I ran my tongue along my lips, wondering for the first time if that was a well-deserved criticism. Thinking about it, I answered, “He mentioned that his wife had visions, or something like that, and he—”

  “Wait,” the shifter leaned forward, an unsettled look on his face. “Say that again.”

  “He mentioned his wife had visions, and—”

  The look on his face was a mix of anger and concern. “Are you fucking kidding me?” He ran a hand through his hair. “Of all the gods damned…”

  Suddenly the look of the guard coupled with his words made sense. “Braxton’s one of yours, isn’t he?”

  The shifter looked up at me, then began to pace in his cell. “I can’t stay here now. Gods damn him for coming when I specifically told him to stay home. Now instead of—”

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” I cut in, feeling like he was barely aware I was there anymore.

  His head snapped to the side, “You couldn’t stop me if you tried.”

  “Why do you care that another shifter is here?”

  “Because he is a suicidal bastard who is only here to find his death. When his wife died, that was pretty much it for him. He has no will to continue, and he is constantly looking for a way to follow her into the next life.”

  I frowned, “Did he really care that much for his wife?”

  The shifter suddenly grabbed the bars and stared into my eyes. “You heard him mention her, and it convinced you to let him take care of her. Does that not strike you, someone who has learned to be s
uspicious of everything, as odd?”

  I shifted on my feet, the discomfort I was feeling growing at the turn of the conversation. “It was clear he loved her, but… why would he want to die?”

  “We do not take our mates as easily or with as little regard as humans. It means something much more to us. He was fortunate enough to find his mate when he was young, and when she died he lost his reason to live. It’s that simple.”

  “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  He ran a hand through his hair. “Where is she? I need to find him before—”

  The sound of footsteps approaching caused both of us to turn and look. Strolling toward us was the shifter himself. He gave me a quick bow. “Apologies for the deception.” He then turned and bowed low to the prisoner. “Hello, Leland. I figured I should stop by and let you know that I was here. It sounds like my trip was unnecessary. I had not expected Falmen to bring me up in conversation. After all, there was more than enough for you two to discuss without me.”

  I was now facing two shifters with no help who could hear me scream, let alone reach me in time.

  “Don’t worry, we aren’t here for you,” the prisoner said.

  I closed my eyes. “How did this day go this wrong? Three shifters? There are three shifters in the city, and one is running around freely.”

  “You need not worry about me, sir,” Braxton said. “I was serious that my interest is in protecting the woman, and I will get her out of here in about a month’s time.”

  “Do you swear that, Braxton? Do you swear that you will not seek your death while you are here?”

  “I may have lost everything, but she at least gives me a purpose for now. She does not belong in this city, so I will ensure she makes it to another country or somewhere that might understand how to help her.”

  “You are changing the subject, Braxton. I need you to swear to me you won’t die. I couldn’t possibly face your sister if that happens.”

  “I make no promises, but I swear that it is not my intention. You need to focus on your princess to see if she will be what you need instead of getting side-tracked.”