“Hunt, would you get me a damp cloth, please?” she asked, surprised at how calm she sounded when what she really wanted to do was scream at Adori, demand to know what had happened, who had done this, and most important of all, where the hell was Nica?
She swallowed her panic, pushed down the hysteria that was threatening to overwhelm her as she took the cloth from Hunt. She gently cleansed Adori’s face of blood, tears and dirt. She handed the towel back to Hunt, who tossed it aside and gave her a fresh one. By that time Adori had begun to tremble and shiver, and Honey knew she was going into shock.
“We need a blanket to keep her warm,” she said.
“Doc’s on his way, and the Dracons, Bearens, Lobos and Falcorans,” Lance said.
“That’s a lot of people,” Honey said, stroking Adori’s hair slowly.
“Give me a knife,” Vikter said. Lance opened a drawer, pulled out a knife and handed it to him. Vikter cut something, Honey thought it was the rope, but after a moment he stood up without completely removing the rope from Adori. He gestured to Lance who took his place and finished the task with as much care as Vikter had used. Honey saw no signs of blood or other injury beneath the rope, so she looked up to see what Vikter was doing. He held what looked like a small pink satin purse.
Honey frowned as she stared at the object, waiting for her eyes to tell her brain what she was really seeing, but the longer she looked at it, the more sure she became that it was a purse. Vikter knelt down beside her and held it out.
“Do you recognize this?” he asked.
“No,” she replied. “I’ve never seen it before.” Up close it was exactly what she’d thought. A pink satin evening bag, very small, big enough for a lipstick, a vox, an identification card and little more. It had delicate crystals sewn onto it, and the remains of a long, satin strap. Honey looked at the rope and saw that the strap had been tied to the rope against Adori’s body. That’s what Vikter had cut.
She looked back at the purse, taking it from Vikter’s hands. This was the type of bag a young woman wore to a formal dance, in college perhaps, or high school. She’d never actually had one herself, but she’d seen them. She turned the bag over, but it looked the same from both sides. It closed with a zipper along the top. Her fingers shaking, she unzipped the bag and opened it. Inside was a single sheet of paper, folded in half, and nothing else.
She reached in and pulled the paper out, set the bag down on the floor beside Adori’s head, and unfolded it. She stared at it for a long moment, unable to decide how exactly she should react to this. Should she scream? Cry? Swear? Leap up and race out the door? But no, she couldn’t do that. Adori’s head would hit the floor if she did that, and the poor woman had been through enough.
She silently held the paper out to Vikter and waited for him to take it.
“Breathe, Honey,” Lance was saying urgently into her ear. “Breathe, you have to breathe.”
***
The Katres appeared on the doorstep of Doc’s clinic near the Lobos’ home on the ranch. Loni opened the door and Maxim stepped in, carrying Summer close to his chest.
“What happened?” Darleen demanded as soon as she saw them. Then she shook her head. “Lay her down on that table, I’ll get Doc,” she said, hurrying toward Doc’s small office in back.
Maxim placed Summer on the exam table Darleen indicated. The three of them crowded close to the table on one side, knowing that Doc would want the other side clear for himself.
“What happened?” Doc asked, nearly running toward them, his bushy white hair wilder than usual.
Maxim told him what they knew while Doc examined Summer. Darleen turned paler than usual when Maxim described Summer’s injuries and what they’d done to help her body heal itself.
“You did exactly right, Maxim,” Doc said. “Good thinking on your part. Has she been conscious yet?”
“Yes,” Maxim replied. “She says that she was attacked because she’s one of the Three.”
Doc froze for a moment and stared at Maxim in shock.
“Damn,” he said softly as he turned back to his work. “Darleen, call Jareth please. Maxim, I think you should call Prince Garen.”
Maxim nodded at Ran, who stepped away from the table and took his vox from the pouch on his belt. Darleen went to the receptionist desk and made the call to Jareth’s home.
“If one of you will speed-travel to Jareth’s place, he can get here much more quickly,” Darleen said.
Loni nodded, then turned and disappeared without a word. A few minutes later he returned with the healer, just before Garen and Val Dracon arrived. They stayed back, watching as Jareth examined Summer.
“She’s mostly healed,” Jareth said after a few moments. “Her body has done all it can right now, so I’ll help her along a bit.”
Jareth held his hands over Summer’s feet and began working his way slowly up her body until he reached her head. He spent extra time in the area of her neck before lowering his hands.
“She’ll sleep for a day or so, but she’s fully healed now,” he said. “She’s very lucky you three were there. She would have died without your help.”
Maxim swallowed hard. He’d known her injuries had been serious, but to have the Healer say it so plainly was frightening.
“We thank you, Jareth,” Maxim said.
Jareth waved a hand. “I just helped things along,” he said. “You three did the real work.”
Garen was relieved that Summer had been healed, but he was curious as to why he had been summoned. He was just getting ready to ask when Trey appeared.
“Lariah told me you’d been summoned here,” he said. “What’s going on?”
Garen filled him in on what he knew, which wasn’t much. When he was finished speaking, Maxim turned to him.
“I apologize, Highness, for keeping you waiting,” Maxim said. “We asked you here to tell you that Summer regained consciousness for a few moments before we brought her here. She said that she was attacked because she is one of the Three. It was a deliberate attempt to break the Triad, which the prophecy warned would result in our destruction. She wanted you and the Lobos to be aware that Lariah and Saige might be targets too.”
“Shall the Three perish, so shall the people be lost, forevermore,” Trey quoted.
“Damned cowards,” Gareth growled furiously. “I am fed up with our women and our children being used as targets.”
“They are safe on the ranch, at least,” Doc said.
“Not completely,” Trey said. “The results of Sergio Farnswaite’s remains and the device removed from Michael Davis’ shoulder have come in.”
“I can see that it’s bad news,” Garen said. “You might as well just tell us.”
“The short version is that the Nitrogen in Farnswaite’s body was converted into an explosive by the device,” Trey said. “It turned him into one big bomb.”
Doc stared at Trey in open-mouthed shock. Then his shoulders slumped and he shook his head. “That’s the most terrifying thing I think I’ve ever heard,” he said tiredly. “That would come to about five pounds of high explosive in an average sized man. I can’t even imagine what kind of mind would conceive of such a thing.”
“A Xanti mind,” Garen said. “We cannot continue living this way much longer.”
“Thanks to the maps Dr. Davis discovered, we’ll be able to take the fight to the Xanti’s doorstep soon,” Trey said.
“What maps?” Maxim asked.
Garen opened his mouth to answer, but Darleen interrupted him, holding one hand to the vox in her ear, her lips white with shock. “Doc, you and Jareth are needed at the Vulpirans’ place. Someone has kidnapped Nica, killed her nanny, and their housekeeper is injured.”
***
Honey looked up, the edges of her vision going gray as she tried to process what Lance was saying to her. “Breathe, please,” he said again, his face so close to hers their noses touched.
Suddenly she realized what was happening and she forced herse
lf to suck in a huge breath of air. The grayness receded a little. She closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, then out, then in, calming herself the way she did before examining a baby. Within a few moments she had a grip on herself and opened her eyes to see all three of her men gazing at her worriedly.
“I’m all right,” she said. “Did you read it?”
“I’m afraid not,” Vikter replied. “It’s in Terien script.”
“Oh,” Honey said. She held out her hand and Vikter placed the paper into it just as several very large men popped into the kitchen. She looked up, recognizing the Bearens, then the Falcorans. Something inside of her relaxed. How could all of these big, powerful Clan Jasani fail to rescue one tiny little girl? The Dracons suddenly appeared with Doc and Jareth who went straight to Adori.
“Honey,” Vikter said, his tone indicating he’d called her name more than once. She turned from watching Doc and Jareth work on Adori and looked into Vikter’s worried yellow eyes.
“Yes?” she asked, realizing that while she’d been watching Doc, Vikter had been filling the newcomers in on what they knew so far. Which wasn’t very much.
“Can you read the note for us please?” he asked.
“Of course,” she replied. She held the paper up, ignored how numb her lips felt, and read;
Bring Michael home at once or his daughter will pay the price. Shari.
“That’s all it says,” Honey said, lowering the paper.
“Who the nine hells is this Shari person?” Vikter demanded. “We’ve searched for her for a week with no sign of her till now.”
“I don’t know,” Honey replied. “But I have a feeling Michael does.”
“I shall go get him at once,” Jackson said.
“No,” Merrick said, stopping Jackson just as he started to turn. “He knows us better.”
Jackson nodded and Merrick, Tor and Jerri took a step and disappeared.
“Jackson, find the scent, please,” Prince Garen ordered. Jackson left the kitchen with Clark.
“How’s Adori?” Lance asked Doc.
“She’s going to be fine,” Doc said. “She has a few bruises, and Jareth has healed her head injury. She’s in shock now, though. I want to take her to the clinic, sedate her and put her to bed.”
“Please, Doc, take her to our home,” Rob said. “She’ll be more comfortable there, and we’ve extra heavy guards on the house.”
“Good idea,” Doc said. A few moments later, after promising to return quickly, Rob, Val, and Trey flashed out of the kitchen along with Doc, Adori and Jareth. The kitchen seemed empty all of a sudden with just them and Garen.
“Honey, let’s get up off the floor,” Vikter said, holding a hand out to her. She nodded and took it. Once she was on her feet he led her to a stool at the counter and lifted her onto it.
“Do you need anything?” he asked. She shook her head.
Merrick, Jerri and Tor appeared with a sleepy-eyed, but fully dressed, Michael.
“What’s going on, Honey?” he demanded as soon as he saw her sitting at the counter. “These guys refused to tell me anything.”
“Who is Shari, Michael?” Honey asked, pleased at how calm she sounded.
Michael’s face went white, then gray and he wavered slightly on his feet. Merrick reached out to support him, then led him to another stool on the opposite side of the counter from Honey.
“Where did you get that name?” he asked in a hoarse whisper. Honey slid the note across the counter to him. He read it without touching it, but they all saw the expression of fear take the place of shock.
“She has Nica?” he demanded.
“She does,” Vikter replied. “She killed Nica’s nanny, assaulted our housekeeper, and left this note inside of this.” Vikter placed the satin purse on the counter, surprising Michael further. He reached out with one hand as though to touch the purse, then pulled it back.
“Talk, Michael,” Honey said. “We need to know what is going on and we need to know now. Nica’s life is at stake.”
Michael nodded, opened his mouth, swallowed and tried again. “Shari is, or rather was, the First Princess of Terien,” he said. Lance placed a bottle of water in front of him and he picked it up and drank deeply while the rest of them absorbed that shocking bit of information.
“Princess Tahar-Sharila-Rahi, that’s Shari?” Honey asked.
“Yes,” Michael replied. “I called her Shari.”
“The woman you love is who took Nica,” Honey said. “The one you intended to marry until Duke Rubai decided otherwise and forced us to marry, instead.”
“Yes,” Michael said. “There’s more to the story, though I didn’t know it at the time.”
“We have no idea how much time we have, Michael,” Vikter said. “Whatever you have to tell us, please tell us quickly.”
“About two years ago I heard a rumor that the Princess had disappeared. It cost a lot of money, and took time, but I eventually learned that she’d been declared insane and locked away. Not long after you and I got married, in fact.”
“Why?” Honey asked.
“The story I got was that she had some sort of psychic power and it drove her insane. So they drugged her to suppress the ability, and locked her away in a very nice set of rooms in the depths of the palace. But a prison is a prison, no matter how pretty the wallpaper.”
“Did you see her?” Honey asked.
“I bribed one of the guards, a guy I knew in college, to let me watch her on the monitors. He was adamant that she not see me, but I agreed with that so it wasn’t a problem. She was obviously not in her right mind. She’d drawn pictures of me which were tacked all over the walls. My name was written on every surface imaginable, including on the furniture, even the floors.” Michael gestured toward the little purse, but didn’t touch it. “She carried this purse, that I’d given to her as a birthday gift, looped over her shoulder all of the time. The only time she took it off was to bathe, and even then it had to be in sight or she would go into a tantrum.”
“That’s when you really began focusing hard on getting that appointment to Earth,” Honey said.
“Yes,” Michael admitted. “After seeing her, I knew there was nothing left for me on Terien. I wanted to get all three of us out of there so we could be free to live our lives as we wished.”
“For that, I thank you,” Honey said, barely noticing that all of the men who had left were popping back as she spoke. “We must get Nica back, Michael, and this woman, Shari, has already done murder here.”
“Yes, she is completely insane,” Michael said. “I cannot imagine how she escaped, let alone managed to travel all the way to Jasan.”
“Or how she even knew to find us here,” Honey added.
Michael’s eyes narrowed. “Good point,” he said. “Right now, we must focus on Nica. What do we know?”
“All we have is that note,” Honey said. “Do you know what her psychic gift is?”
“No, I don’t,” Michael said. “If we can get you close enough to her, you’d be able to tell though.”
“She is not going near that woman,” Vikter said in a cold voice. “We will now allow her to risk it.”
“Allow?” Honey asked archly. “Did you really just say that?”
“I apologize for my choice of words, Honey,” he said. “But we will not risk losing you.”
“Let’s jump that fence when we get to it, all right?” Honey said. She turned back to Michael. “She doesn’t tell us where we are supposed to bring you. Which tells me she either forgot, or assumes you will know.”
“She does tell us,” Michael said, laying the paper down. “Right here, she says bring Michael home.”
“She knows where you’ve been staying on the ranch,” Prince Garen said. “I wonder how long she’s been here?”
“I’ve been gone five days,” Michael said. “So it has to be less time than that.”
“We will fly over the area and meet you at the lower road,” Garen said to Vikter. With t
hat, the Dracons turned and left the house.
“Let’s go,” Vikter said. “We’ll take the ground-car.”
Honey and Michael stood and followed the Vulpirans out of the house. As soon as they were outside, the Bearens and Falcorans all shifted into their alter-forms and headed for Michael’s guesthouse while they climbed into the car.
“I’m sorry, Honey,” Michael said once they were on their way as quickly as Hunt could drive on the gravel roads. “I would never have put Nica in danger. You know that, right?”
“This is not your fault, Michael,” Honey said. “If you had brought her here, knowing she was insane, that might be different. As it is, you cannot accept responsibility for what another has done.”
Michael started to say something, then shook his head and remained silent for the remainder of the drive. Hunt parked the car at the foot of the driveway leading up to the guesthouse, and they all got out and walked the rest of the way, approaching through the woods at the side of the house rather than up the driveway to the front.
“What in the hell is that?” Michael asked when the guesthouse came into view.
Honey stared at the transparent, shimmering blue bubble surrounding the entire guesthouse for a long moment before stepping closer to it, her hands out toward it. Suddenly she rose into the air and was pulled backward.
“What are you doing?” she asked Vikter who still had his arms wrapped around her.
“You don’t know what that is,” Vikter said, setting her on her feet. “You can’t just touch it. It could be dangerous.”
“I wasn’t going to touch it,” Honey said. “I’m just going to find out what it is.”
“We already know it’s a barrier,” Garen Dracon said as he and his brothers walked toward them. “The moment Trey touched it in his alter-form it forced him back to his humanoid form, so it appears to nullify our magic.”
“It’s also impenetrable,” Jackson said as he, too, approached. “You can run at it at full speed and it just bounces you off. Same with any magic you throw at it.”
The Vulpirans' Honor: The Soul-Linked Saga Page 29
