Child of Fire, Child of Ice-A Sci-fi Romance Series (The Waljan Chronicles Book 1)

by JB Trepagnier

  Stretch burst out laughing. “Yeah, and he snorts when he laughs too. He’s been petitioning to change it to Jackhammer for years, but it keeps getting denied. Claims that’s what all the courtesans call him, but they don’t like him either. They say he’s tiny and it takes two thrusts, he’s done, and leaves.”

  Ace smacked him on the back of the head. Stretch seemed to be forgetting he was in the presence of a princess who didn’t need to be hearing talk like that. Isolde only gave Stretch a gentle smile. “I would have seen his courtesan visits anyway when I was looking for the right memory to hold on to.”

  Ace shuddered and hoped she never did whatever she was about to do to him. Isolde saw him in the corner of her eye.

  “Ace, I don’t listen to you anymore since you don’t like it. It’s easy to turn you off unless your emotions are heightened. You’re a good man and you’ve been nothing but helpful. I have no reason to peek into your private thoughts. I’m not always listening because sometimes, I hear things I don’t want to hear.”

  That knocked Ace for a little bit of a loop. He had been singing little songs in his head every time he was around her so something didn’t pop into his head he didn’t want her to know. She hadn’t even been listening. Whatever he had done, he had her trust.

  “Do you listen to me?” Stretch boomed with a huge grin.

  “Sometimes, but only because you are always thinking about something funny. I see what you are doing to your comrades, but I’ll keep your secret.”

  Stretch tapped his finger on his nose and just kept grinning. Ace was starting to wonder if Isolde plucked from his head he was the military prankster no one had been able to catch so far. He’d even gotten Ace a few times. Stretch must have known he put two and two together.

  “If you keep it a secret too, you’ll stop being a target.”

  “Relax, Ace,” Elan said. “Everyone needs some fun every now and again. What do you do for fun?”

  “Listen to music and read. Are we going to question Hog before his friend’s storm in here to rescue him?”

  “Isolde is stalling,” Elan said, kissing the top of her head. “She wants as much of the military on our side as possible. She’s waiting to see if Hound comes in accepting everything.”

  Boomer came on mic. “I’ve got the cameras rerouted to watch all entrances to this cell and the bunkers. If they come, you’ll be the first to know.”

  “Is anything going on in the bunkers?” Elan asked.

  “No. Everyone is still in the arena trying to calm people down and bring them back home. If they try to come for him, they’ll have to sneak away from their partner. I’ve got my COMM next to me listening for reports that anyone has been separated. If two partners are in The Children, we’ve got check-ins every fifteen minutes because of the chaos. If someone doesn’t check in, I’ll have someone look for them. I’ve got this handled.”

  “What’s going on outside this door?” Isolde asked.

  “You ever seen a six-foot-eight man weep? Sartika is trying to comfort him.”

  “Is he upset?”

  “No, I think those are happy tears. Sartika is trying to get him to compose himself before he comes in so he can keep his scary cred.”

  There was a knock on the door and Ace rolled his eyes when Hound barreled in and fell to his knees in front of Isolde. “I’m sorry for all the things I thought when I didn’t know who you were. Sartika explained to me why it really froze and I think it’s beautiful.”

  Isolde pulled him to his feet and tried to embrace him. Her arms hardly went around him and he was well over a foot taller than she was. “You helped us, even if you thought you were only doing your duty. I needed Hog alone to get into his head. I hate he tried to take a shot at Elan and killed one of your people, but we have him here now because of you.”

  “I hit him pretty hard. He’s not going to be easy to wake to question.”

  “I don’t need him awake. Can you get him onto the floor?”

  Hound walked over and picked up Hog like he weighed nothing. He dropped him at her feet like something disgusting he didn’t want to touch. Ace had never seen her do this before and regretted not getting floor pillows again. Elan sat by Hog’s head and Isolde climbed into his lap. When her small hands touched Hog’s forehead, her entire body went rigid and her eyes went white. Elan tightened his arms around her waist like this was totally normal.

  Hog had also gone rigid, like she was giving him some sort of shock. When Isolde started talking, it wasn’t her usual musical voice with the Avalian accent. It was monotone and sounded like a computer reading out a report.

  “Hog was the first one in the military they recruited after Koswara. Koswara gave Hikmat his name and thought he was disgruntled enough to turn and try to convert others. The problem in the military is not as deep as we feared. Hog is not well liked. When he talks about the fighting pits, most people think he’s lying to get them in trouble so he gets that promotion. He’s only turned fifteen people. They all lost to Elan in the ring. Hikmat tried to convert them, but only nine joined and are on board to try to make the weapon this teenager is trying to make. I see faces, but I’m trying to dig deeper for call names.”

  Blood started to trickle out her nose and Ace wanted to stop her. He didn’t care about the blood flowing freely from Hog’s nose. Elan shook his head when Ace stepped towards them.

  “I have the names. They are all low ranking, but good with weapons. Ziggy, Spuds, Wheels, Bobo, Beans, Smitty, Jelly, Pogo, and Snitch. Those are the men you need to arrest. Hog got to them because they all hate their call names and you won’t change it no matter how many petitions they submit. They hate all of you. Hog knows something we don’t know yet. These men are trying to build some sort of bomb for the military barracks. They think Hikmat will make the right kind of king, so they are part of the plan to blow up the entire military. They don’t want to convert anymore. They want to destroy.”

  She let go and leaned back into Elan’s chest. She wiped the blood from her nose. “He’s probably going to be out for hours. There will be a logical explanation why he’s not at the temple with the others.”

  “Ace, you know these men,” Elan said. “Would they think Hog failed in his mission and let him die a martyr? Just pick up where he left off?”

  “You have Hikmat, right? With Hog in jail and Hikmat missing, there’s no telling what they would do. Can Isolde find out?”

  “Not the way you just saw. I can only do that if I’m touching. If I’m close, I can hear them.”

  “Do your passages go near the barracks?” Stretch asked.

  “No. The passages are just through the palace. Isolde can’t hear in the underground tunnels because they are too far down. Dasimah, one of the other sixteen can do something similar to Isolde, but I think she has to be able to see the person and she faints. Isolde used to, but since we started the bond, she won’t as long as we are touching.”

  “How do you feel now that it’s completed?” Sartika asked.

  “My headache isn’t as bad, but I still know if I let go of Elan, he’s going to have to carry me out of here.”

  “Heads up, everyone,” Boomer sounded over the mic. “You’re going to have company soon. Those other names aren’t nearly as dumb as Hog. Well, sort of. Bobo just checked in, but I could hear Beans and Smitty arguing in the background. They are together and probably coming soon.”

  “They must be looking for me,” Elan said. “Isolde can’t fight like this and if I let go of her, she’ll faint.”

  So, she had limits. And they were both trusting all of them with her limits. Isolde nestled back into his chest and gave them a satisfied smile.

  “I can still make ice. Jovin taught me how to stop bullets,” she grinned. “If I stop it while it’s still in the chamber, their gun blows up in their face.”

  “How in the world did he train you to do that, Isolde?” Sartika demanded. Every single soldier in the room was looking at her with new respect.


  “He rigged a gun up on a stump with a cable on the trigger. It wasn’t aimed at me. Our guns are different than yours though.”

  Ace was waiting for her to come up with some brilliant plan like she had before. It was Elan this time with the answer. The two of them together were going to make a powerful couple. He was glad they were together because if they were plotting against each other, both planets would be destroyed.

  “How about Ace raises the traitors on COMM and asks them to come back. Tell them I’m waiting for Hog to wake up to question him and I want an entire entourage of guards. Tell them Fia told me to choose them. It’ll mess with their heads. They’ll either come back to our side or they’ll try to take me to Hikmat.”

  “That’s all well and good, but it’s small and cramped down here. How do we fight them?” Ace asked. He was starting to think Elan’s ideas weren’t as good as Isolde’s were.

  Elan kissed the top of her head. “Can you drop that many body temperatures at once until all of them are kittens?”

  Isolde’s smile stopped Ace’s heart for a minute. “Yes, but if you need anything from them, you’ll have to warm them back up. It would be a lot more fun if you heated up their guns so they dropped them and we fought this with our fists. I’m already recovered and could do with a good fight.”

  Sartika rolled her eyes to the ceiling and Ace didn’t know what to think. He wanted to see her in battle a little. Stretch and Viper were both grinning like they wanted a fight too. Hound was looking at her with round eyes like he didn’t know she could fight.

  Ace didn’t know what Elan was thinking agreeing with her. He plotted to heat up their guns so they couldn’t hold them and then send them across the room. They would all let off steam with their fists on these traitors. Only Sartika was speaking with any sense.

  “There’s nine of them and eight of you if Boomer joins the fight. I don’t know how to fight at all. They have the upper hand with numbers, even if you take their guns.”

  Elan just laughed. “Isolde is fast enough to take two out at once and I’m the fighting pit champion. We’re doing this.”

  “I thought she would faint if you parted?” Hound asked.

  That was Ace’s question too. She had to be inhuman if she didn’t have some sort of limit. Isolde moved like lightning. She was off Elan’s lap and had Hound pinned to the wall in seconds. Hound looked surprised. She whispered something to him and Ace saw his huge hand grab her tiny wrist. He moved to subdue her and Isolde had his arm twisted behind his back in seconds.

  “Enough!” Hound howled. “I get it.”

  She let go of his wrist and Elan ran over to scoop her up. The two of them were kissing like no one was looking. Everyone was averting their eyes, not sure where to look, except Sartika, who was looking at the both of them happily.

  Boomer came on mic again. “The king and queen want a battle, I’m bringing them one. The nine traitors are on their way.”

  “Elan, does it work if you can see them over camera?” Isolde purred. She was still in his arms, but she finally got her tongue out his mouth. Elan nodded. She asked Boomer to set up a camera feed in there.

  They all stood on high alert and waited. The nine men must have run to the bunker. Ace knew all of them and they all hated their drills. They did anything they could to get out of them. They were all red-faced and breathless when they came on camera outside the door. None of them looked like they were questioning why there was no guard posted outside. The small room got sweltering hot and beads of sweat started forming on Ace’s forehead. One dripped into his eye, but he didn’t brush it away. He watched the men on camera outside the room.

  One by one, they all started screaming and dropping their weapons. Like Elan said he would, the guns shot under the rapidly closing hatch door Boomer was closing. Once it sealed shut, the men realized they were trapped. They all ran to it and started pounding before they stopped to regroup.

  “Koswara taught us how he stayed undefeated for so long,” Bobo said. “We know how to disarm. If anyone comes out, get their guns and knock them out.”

  Ace chuckled to himself. They must know someone was onto them, but they were still too stupid to realize if there was someone here with the power to take their guns away without being in the room, they were on the losing side. They formed a circle around the hatch door of the cell they used as a questioning room. Their fists were raised and they were waiting for someone to come out.

  Boomer came on mic. “I’m going to open that door as fast as I can, but they are going to have an advantage of seeing you before it opens and being in a larger space. I’m opening it now.”

  The hatch door started to move up and Ace waited for them to all be eye to eye. Isolde apparently didn’t want to wait and was too fast to catch. As soon as there was enough space for a small girl to fit in the opening, she went sliding under it. Elan didn’t even try to stop her and Ace’s fingers only grazed the fabric of her shirt when he realized what she was doing. Elan just stood there calmly with his hands behind his back like the woman he loved wasn’t out there alone trying to fight nine men.

  Ace could hear grunts and the sounds of blows being landed on flesh. When the hatch door finally reached a height the rest of them could run through, Ace saw Ziggy and Snitch were already on the ground unconscious. Most of the men were circling Isolde, but keeping their distance. She was locked into battle with Beans and he was losing. She fought with deadly grace, like a reed in the wind. Beans was having issues blocking her and Ace had no idea what style she was fighting in.

  She landed four rapid blows to his stomach and while he was bent over, she swung her knee up and connected with his nose, snapping him back upright. While he was dazed, she shot the heel of her hand out to his already broken nose and now Beans was out too. She immediately launched herself at Pogo without even taking a breath.

  Elan had taken Spuds, Hound took Jelly, Stretch took Bobo, Viper took Wheels, and Boomer had come out and was circling Smitty. That left Ace without an opponent so he watched to make sure no one needed any help. Isolde was deadly in battle. Pogo was already on the floor with a broken nose, a black eye, and a busted lip. Isolde moved through the men circling each other like it was nothing and came to stand by Ace. Her face was flushed and she was grinning like she enjoyed every minute of beating those men to a pulp.

  “You think Elan will play with him before he knocks him out?” she asked. Her eyes were hungrily watching Elan like watching him beat a man was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen.

  “You knocked out four men. Did you play with them?”

  “I’m sorry. Do you think I should have left some for Elan? I got four and he only gets one.” She looked worried, like Elan was going to be furious with her that she easily evened the score like knocking out two men before the hatch door was open was nothing.

  She was so strange for a princess and Ace wondered if she intended to use her fists as queen. Her eyes were still locked on Elan and Ace realized he’d never seen him fight either. He apparently had been the champion in those pits for several years and had probably already fought against all of these men and defeated them. He had no idea what this Koswara could have possibly taught those men, but Elan seemed prepared for it.

  Boomer, Viper, and Stretch were struggling against random blows and kicks with no rhyme or reason. Hound had Jelly in a headlock and he was quickly losing consciousness. Isolde fought fast and used her size and speed to her advantage. Elan used strength and strategy. Spuds gave him a clear opening and Elan’s fist connected with his right temple hard enough to spin him in a circle and crumple him to the floor.

  The rest were still struggling, but something changed the tide. It started with Stretch, who was taking the most damage from Bobo. Stretch’s nose looked broken and his eye were swelling shut, but he was still standing. Bobo launched what Ace thought was a random assault of punches and Stretch easily blocked all of them. The last block put Bobo off balance and Stretch pounced at the opportunity. Ace coul
d tell he was tired, weary and injured. Before Bobo could turn around, Stretch’s hands shot out in a pressure point attack and Bobo collapsed to the floor. Stretch turned to wink at Isolde before limping over to lean against the wall to catch his breath.

  Boomer and Viper’s fights changed one by one and soon, their opponents were slumped on the floor too. Viper grinned at Isolde with bloodied teeth.

  “Was that how you took out four that quickly?”

  She must have told all of them what their opponents were planning when she saw they were struggling.

  “No. None of them are trained in Chikuu and it’s the best style of fighting for my body type. It uses speed and pressure points and I can turn their attacks against them.”

  Stretch perked up. He was the most interested in fighting styles that used pressure points. “Can you teach me? That was impressive.”

  “Yes, but I need to get into the heads of all nine of these men to find out if they know things Hog doesn’t. I don’t think I’m going to recover as easily as I did with Hog and I don’t think any of us is in any position to fight again if I get into their heads and find more names. We’re going to need the other sixteen to help and fight if it comes to it.”

  “Where has Galih and Botak been this entire time?” Elan demanded. “I would have thought Botak would have been there pretending to guard me during that announcement and Galih would have wanted eyes on the crowd to see how they reacted. Do they know what’s happened?”

  Sartika finally came out the cell and stepped around bodies to get to Elan and Isolde. “Galih and Botak are at the ship with the other sixteen, letting them learn on Hikmat and Koswara. You forget, we need them a certain way before we release them.”

  Boomer grinned. He had a pretty big shiner forming and a busted lip. “Galih and the sixteen watched everything that went down here. He told me the right satellite to route the feed to him. If the other fifteen are half as impressive as Elan and Isolde, I can’t wait to meet them. Handy little trick you have there, telling me exactly what moves he was planning.”