Tres: Ancient Warriors. Modern Women. Waking Desires.

by Jules River

  Mira looked up at Warin, and let him see her desire for him. She placed her hands on his chest, ran them up around his neck, pulled him to her, and gave him a scorching kiss. She put all of her need, want, and frustration into it. He responded to her instantly. He kissed her back with a passion that made her want him even more. Warin needed her too much to waste time getting upstairs, or taking off their clothes. He simply propped her against the back of the leather sofa, yanked up the hem of her dress, unfastened his trousers, freed himself, pushed her panties to the side, and plunged into her wet sheath.

  He took them over the edge hard and fast. That was the mood both of them were in at that moment. No words were spoken, or needed. Afterward, they went upstairs to bed in silence, neither one of them wanting to break the connection they had. Two more times throughout the night he made love to her slowly and thoroughly, with near worship in his touch.

  None of their problems were solved, but they had a truce of sorts.

  Chapter 24

  The next evening, just as the couples stood up from the dinner table, the housekeeper informed them they had a visitor. They exchanged questioning looks, before Warin asked, “What name was given?”

  “He declined to give a name, sir,” the housekeeper answered.

  “Please show him to the office. Thank you,” Mira told the housekeeper, and they went to await their guest.

  Dr. E.M. Pedocles -- Empedocles -- entered the room. “Well, don’t look so shocked, you contacted me,” he stated, somewhat aggravated.

  Mira was the first to respond, “Yes, we did, thank you for coming. Would you like some tea, coffee, something stronger, perhaps?”

  “Wine would be nice. I have a feeling we have much to discuss.” He gave a sweeping look at everyone around the room. Mira sent for wine, and they were seated.

  Faye started off, “We have not been working with your former apprentice, not knowingly at least.” She tried to break the ice.

  “I did start to get that impression at the museum the other night. However, you have inadvertently been helping Titus all the same. It is imperative that Titus not be allowed to fulfill his self-appointed task, this obsession.”

  “What is his task?” Warin dared to ask.

  “First, what do you know?” Empedocles demanded.

  Lyra gave him the rundown, adding, “Not much apparently. Todd kept things well hidden from us, we are starting to realize. We only found out that you were alive and Titus was the sorcerer who cursed the brothers, when you told us at the museum the other night. Since then, we have come to believe our assistant, who started out working for our father and is someone we trusted implicitly, is your apprentice. We still have so many questions. We hope you will be able to answer them. We have no intention of becoming your enemy. We hope to make that clear.”

  “My former apprentice, dear. As soon as I realized what he was about, I banished him, but not before he stole from me.” Empedocles’ anger was evident before he continued, “Titus did indeed keep you in the dark, and manipulated things greatly to his advantage.” He paused a moment, as if to decide how much to tell them.

  “Titus plans to resurrect his father. He has ‘daddy issues,’ you could say, to use a modern term. He has an insatiable need for his father’s approval, which he was never going to have, since his father was a great warrior who only respected brute strength and a keen mind for battle strategies. Titus was not strong nor did he care for anything having to do with being a warrior. He was proficient in the art of sorcery, but his father was deeply disappointed in Titus.” Empedocles shook his head in remembrance.

  “Somehow, he became obsessed with the idea that if he became a great and powerful sorcerer his father would be proud of him. Personally, I don’t think even that would have made a difference to his father. Titus lost his mind when his father was killed before he could gain his approval. He took vengeance on you three warriors, and when he was able to accomplish my spell on his own, he immediately came up with the plan to resurrect his father to show him how great he had become. Apparently, before he had the chance to resurrect his father, he was robbed of my book of spells and talisman. Thus the search has continued until now. Titus did not need the weapons, and I am surprised he allowed you to find them.”

  Everyone listened intently to Titus’ history. The sisters felt a small amount of empathy for a young man who craved his father’s approval. They were so fortunate to have had their father’s love, approval, and support, and Todd had been part of their lives when their father had been alive. It was hard for the sisters to think of Todd and Titus as being the same person. The brothers only saw him as a weakling, one with a broken, yet keen mind.

  “We are hoping you now have your book of spells and your talisman?” Faye asked, trying not to implicate them in any way in Todd’s schemes.

  “Yes, I do, I was not convinced of your innocence in all of this at the time. They will be safe with me, where Titus cannot get to them. The book of spells should never be in the hands of someone who does not understand the huge responsibility using it entails.” Faye hesitantly asked, “So does that mean you will not let us return it to the drug lord we stole it from?” Empedocles replied with a resounding, “No.”

  The housekeeper interrupted, “Excuse me, Ms. Mira, I was told Steven has asked that you come see him right away. It’s urgent.”

  “Thank you. Please excuse me.” Mira stood up to leave the room, and Warin grabbed her hand. “Hurry back,” he told her. She nodded, then quickly left.

  Mira had not gotten very far down the hall when she was grabbed from behind, a knife pressed against her throat. She was startled and scared for a moment, her heart racing, but she did not scream.

  “What have you done with the book and the talisman?” a familiar voice demanded.

  Mira was not comforted by the desperate edge to the voice. “They were stolen from the safe the night you went missing, Todd.” Mira spoke slowly; she wanted to keep him calm, fearful of how unstable and desperate he appeared to be.

  “Empedocles took them, didn’t he,” he demanded to know.

  “Yes, he took them, he is here now in the office. You could talk to him. I won’t let anyone harm you.” Mira tried to get him to go back to the others. She knew between Warin, his brothers, and Empedocles -- not to mention her sisters, with all their martial arts training -- they could safely subdue him without anyone being injured. “Oh, I will not be harmed, all right, not while I have my knife to your throat. That damn barbarian Warin would not let anyone do anything that would hurt you.” He spat, then jerked her back in the direction of the office.

  Warin had a bad feeling about the housekeeper’s message, and had just stood to go and check on Mira when she appeared at the steps in the double doorway with a knife to her throat and an unstable-looking Todd behind her.

  Immediately, Warin went into battle mode; he picked up his sword from the coffee table where he had placed it earlier so he could sit down. He could not easily sit with the sword strapped to his back, which he was in the habit of wearing whenever he could get away with it. In this case, it actually turned out to be quicker and less noticeable to lift the sword from the table than to draw it overhead from the sheath behind him.

  Cenric, Faye, and Empedocles were facing the door as Mira and Todd entered. Dunstin and Lyra saw Warin grab his sword with a look on his face that scared Lyra; she had never seen his battle face before. Everyone stood up, Faye with a hand clutched at her throat. Dunstin and Lyra turned to see what had drawn everyone’s attention.

  Warin took in the knife at Mira’s throat, her nervous expression, and her tense body in an instant. He felt an impotent rage like he had felt only once before, when he and his brothers had been turned to stone.

  Todd spoke once he had everyone’s attention. “I have waited long enough. Now give me all of the objects, or I will bleed her out right in front of you.” He looked straight at Warin as he spoke, then he pressed the knife harder into Mira’s throat. She ga
sped, and a bead of blood formed on her neck.

  Faye could not help but yell, “Todd, Stop!”

  Mira had had enough of being the victim. She elbowed him in the stomach, stomped on his foot, but before she could follow through with her defensive skills, he stuck the wickedly sharp point of the knife under her chin, making her still instantly and stretch her neck and head high to avoid the blade. He held her even tighter.

  Todd turned his attention to the group. “Faye, you will bring me my father’s urn. Empedocles, you will hand over the book and the talisman.” When no one moved, he yelled, “Now!” He tightened his hold on Mira yet again, and pushed the knife tip higher, causing her to wince.

  Warin had stepped forward slowly each time Todd looked at someone else. But he remained too far away to attempt anything; he would not risk Mira being harmed.

  Empedocles was livid to see his former apprentice again, and was galled by his demands. “I do not have them here, nor would I give them to you if I did.” He spoke defiantly, and his eyes glowed in that odd way they did sometimes.

  Before anyone guessed what he was going to do, Todd took the knife and sliced across Mira’s forearm, then immediately held it back at her throat. Mira let out a surprised, painful gasp as blood started to slowly drip down her arm. “I suggest you change your mind before she is cut to shreds.”

  Mira was truly frightened now. Todd was no longer the sweet guy they knew; this was Titus. Warin was rattled seeing her in danger, and thought desperately of ways to get her to safety. He could throw his sword and pierce Todd’s skull, if only he wasn’t hiding behind Mira, using her as a shield. He would offer to take Mira’s place, but he knew Todd wouldn’t be that foolish. His mind was racing with ideas, his heart racing with fear, when suddenly a vase was broken over Todd’s head from behind, causing him to lower his knife below Mira’s throat and stumble back a step.

  In that instant everyone leapt forward to help Mira. Warin was there in an instant. He twisted Todd’s wrist with the knife away from Mira as he shoved her out of Todd’s grasp, and took him to the ground, hard. Warin raised his sword as he straddled Todd and was about to thrust it into his chest when Mira screamed, “Warin, Stop!” He paused mid-strike, rage running through him that anyone dared to harm his woman, and gritted out between clenched teeth, “He harmed you.”

  “You can’t kill him!” Mira looked to Empedocles, “Can’t you do something without killing him? You’re a powerful sorcerer. Can’t you take away his memory of the past or something?” She flattered and begged all at once.

  Warin sheathed the sword on his back, and when Todd started to struggle, he grabbed a handful of hair and banged his head against the hard floor. He kept hold of Todd’s wrist, and moved so his knee was pressed against Todd’s throat, immobilizing him and keeping him quiet.

  Empedocles thought quickly before he agreed, “Yes, I could perform a spell on him that would make him forget about his obsession. He has caused much trouble now and in the past, but he has never actually killed anyone.” He came closer to Warin and Todd, “I’ll need two of you to hold him down.” Warin squeezed Todd’s wrist until he squeaked and released the knife he still held in his hand; he seemed to enjoy inflicting pain on Todd. Dunstin came over to grab Todd’s other arm, to hold him down as Empedocles requested.

  Faye and Lyra rushed over to Mira with a small first aid kit from one of the desks, and began to clean and bandage her cuts. The one on her arm almost needed stitches, but butterfly strips would work just as well if she was careful not to flex her arm too much. The cut on her neck was just a nick and only needed cleaning and a small bandage.

  Mira looked beyond Warin and Todd, and noticed Steven standing in the doorway in pajamas and a robe, looking confused, as he held his ribs. “Thank you, Steven, you may well have just saved my life.” Steven’s bruised face started turning a little red when he blushed, before he asked, “What is going on here? Why would Todd want to hurt you?”

  “It’s a long story, but to cut to the chase, Todd is the apprentice,” Mira explained. Steven was momentarily taken aback.

  One of the brothers asked Empedocles how the spell would work. The sorcerer explained, “I will erase from his memory anything about his life as an apprentice; he will remember nothing from that time. He will only remember life in the twenty-first century, as if he were born to it. It is tricky, but I have the skills to perform the spell, and if this will save his life and keep him out of trouble, then I believe it is possible.” Empedocles recalled Titus as a boy, trying and failing to earn his father’s love, and knew he was doing the right thing in erasing those painful memories of the past.

  Empedocles began chanting, performing the spell, while Todd yelled that he would make his father proud one way or another, no matter who got in his way. He sounded quite mad at that point, but eventually he fell silent as Empedocles continued to utter complicated sounds in a language they had never heard, until the spell was completed. Todd appeared to have fainted, and everyone stood over him and watched impatiently to see what would happen next. Everything was surreal, like that scene from “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy wakes up back in Kansas.

  Todd’s eyes fluttered, and then they opened. He looked around at everyone, confused. “Hey,” he said shyly.

  Mira spoke first. “How do you feel, Todd?”

  “Fine, well, my head hurts a bit, but I’m fine. What happened?” He looked around, embarrassed at being the center of everyone‘s attention.

  Empedocles told him, “You knocked your head pretty hard on the floor.”

  “Oh, that would explain my head hurting. Who are you?” he asked.

  “I am Dr. E.M. Pedocles. I’m a friend of your employers,” Empedocles explained. Todd started to sit up with the help of Dunstin and Warin, who were still wary about letting him go free. Steven left the room to get his nurse to check on Todd.

  “Well, I should get to work. I need to have some items shipped for a client today; I think I’m late in doing so.” He looked sheepish.

  “Todd, that’s OK, we can take care of that. You should rest, you have had quite an ordeal,” Mira told him.

  “Thank you, Mira, my head really does hurt. I think I would like to lie down until I feel better.”

  Steven returned with his nurse and they took Todd up to his room to rest. Steven’s bruised ribs had him wanting to rest too after lifting his arms over his head to hit Todd with the vase earlier.

  “Will he ever remember any of that part of his past? Could anything trigger his memories? Can he continue to work for us and be OK?” Faye asked Empedocles, worry clearly evident.

  “No, he will never remember his past. His memories are gone and I could not retrieve them even if I wanted to, so nothing will trigger them. I see no problem with him continuing his employment with your antiquities business. In fact, it would be good for him, considering that will be mostly what he remembers.”

  The brothers were giving each other a look, then Warin spoke, “We would ask something else of you. Do you know what we must do to end our curse? We only have a short time left to complete the tasks.”

  Empedocles looked confused, “What do you mean? Your curse was lifted the moment you became flesh again, but if you’re wanting to go back to your original time, I’m sorry, but I would not advise it. The three of you would definitely disturb history too much. As it stands now, you were all believed to have died from wounds after that last battle.”

  Warin asked, skeptically, “You mean we are free to go on with our lives, without that hanging over our heads anymore? There are no tasks to complete? You’re sure we are here in this time for good? The codex said for us to be free we had to complete the tasks.”

  With patience born of thousands of years, Empedocles answered all of his questions. “Yes, your life continues here as it would have continued in your time. You will live and you will die a normal life…or an extraordinary one, that is up to you. As far as the codex, I wrote only how to free you. Titus must h
ave added more to convince Dr. Banks to help him with his own agenda.”

  The room was silent, until Lyra started laughing. They all looked at her like she was insane. Finally, she stopped enough to explain, “Titus, I can’t even call him Todd when he was bad, sure played us and had us doing all of his dirty work. Just think, we didn’t need to go after the book of spells, which we did twice, or the talisman, again twice, and the urn, the information on him,” she gestured to Empedocles, “or have any of those near-death experiences. We could have gone on living our lives, stress-free from the day you were released from the spell.”

  Dunstin grudgingly agreed, “Yes, he was definitely clever.”

  Faye admitted, “I don’t think I would have changed much of anything. I think things have turned out pretty well.” She gave Cenric a knowing smile.

  Lyra agreed, “You’re right, besides we had a grand adventure.” She reached up and gave Dunstin a quick kiss on the cheek in a rare show of public affection.

  Mira struggled to maintain the smile on her face. She was happy things were going well for her sisters, but she was still unsure whether she was going to find happiness with Warin. Maybe it wasn’t her time.

  Empedocles shook hands with the men and kissed the women’s hands. “I will take my leave now. It has been an extremely long journey, and now that it has finally come to its conclusion, I am tired. I think I’ll take a vacation. I hear Bora Bora is lovely.” Everyone laughed and said their goodbyes to Empedocles. As soon as the front door closed, Dunstin and Lyra, and Cenric and Faye, took off to bed like giddy teens in a hurry to be alone.

  Mira was in no rush to go to bed. Her arm was sore where Titus had cut her with the knife, and she was still a little rattled by the fact that he had threatened her in the first place. The subsequent and stunning turn of events that had ensued still amazed her, and she needed time alone to absorb the fact the curse was well and truly ended.

  But mostly, Mira needed time to recoup from the emotional toll their incredible lovemaking had taken on her last night, because now she was certain she was in love with Warin. Mira was fighting off depression. She had a feeling Warin would be saying goodbye sooner, rather than later.