by S. L. Morgan
“Do not worry about us,” Catherine responded. “I believe that being in the company of the man you formerly had affections for will take your mind off Levi marrying that girl.”
“How dare you bring that up again?” Simone snapped. “You know very well that I never wish to hear of those two again.”
“Relax, Simone,” Lillian interjected. “All is not lost. Levi is not known for commitments. This will end, and soon enough, that human will return to her world where she belongs.”
Can we lock my idiot sister away as well? Harrison telepathically asked Levi.
This mission is already trying on my nerves. I am growing tired of listening to these people insult Reece.
Keep it in check. You can take your anger out on Michael when we catch him in the act!
“I have a sneaking suspicion that you are correct, dear friend.” Simone giggled. “Ladies, I must be getting along now. Enjoy your shopping.”
“We always do, especially in Sandari.”
Levi and Harrison covertly followed Simone to where she was to meet with Michael. She walked into the large inn where he was staying, and with Levi and Harrison’s stealthy skills, they managed to follow her up to the second floor, where Michael’s room was. Once she was inside with him, the men slowly approached the door.
“Simone, you look as lovely as ever,” Michael said. “I was recently made aware that our foolish emperor is allowing that human to marry Prince Charming.”
“I do not wish to speak a word about any of those people. Now,” Simone’s tone changed into a sultry one, “tell me of your plans to rid us of all of them. Brandon wasn’t entirely forthcoming.”
“That is because I did not want to risk informing you of my plans until I was certain you would show.”
Harrison and Levi continued to listen as Michael told Simone of his plans to meet with the Ciatron. Simone’s enthusiasm over their impending treason was sickening.
“So we leave tomorrow?” Simone asked.
“First thing.”
“Until then, I believe I can think of something you can do to pay me in advance for helping you—”
Blocking the conversation right now, Harrison telepathically informed Harrison.
That woman is more vulgar than I could have ever imagined, Levi returned.
Both men quietly walked toward the staircase.
“We still have no idea when they leave and where they’re going.”
Levi rolled his eyes. “We’re just going to have to keep a close eye on both of them. I, for one, am not sticking around so that my mind can be scarred with thoughts and images of Michael paying for Simone’s help to have a successful meeting with the Ciatron.”
“That makes two of us,” Harrison muttered.
The following morning, Levi and Harrison successfully followed Simone and Michael across the Pemdai barriers. Harrison’s eyes narrowed as he studied a mysterious man who emerged from behind the trees and walked toward Simone and Michael as they approached on Michael’s horse.
“I see you have found a lovely young woman to help with our plans,” the man said as he reached for Simone’s hand.
Simone instantly stiffened and glared at the man. “Who are you, and how are we to trust you?” She looked at Michael. “You never mentioned that a human was involved.”
“Relax,” Michael ordered her. “This is Mordegrin, and he is not a human. He is powerful, and he has a way of communicating with the Ciatron. He will be the first to contact them, and then he will persuade the Ciatron to trust us.”
Mordegrin? Harrison nearly shouted but instead managed to telepathically communicate to Levi.
He has created his form on Earth to portray that of a trustworthy man, Levi responded.
“He is powerful?” Simone questioned. “Tell me, Mordegrin, exactly how powerful are you, because you look like an average human from Earth to me.”
“The horse that led you over your protective barriers would not have done so without my persuading him to block out your negative thoughts of betraying his world,” Mordegrin responded. “Michael, if you wish for me to speak to the Ciatron on your behalf, I must have you live up to your end of the bargain.”
“I will not reveal the identity of The Key until we meet with the Ciatron,” Michael sternly replied. “You see, I am not entirely certain I can trust your motives. For all I know, you will take The Key, find the stone, and I am left to fall victim to our greatest enemy.”
Mordegrin shook his head. “You are quite fortunate that I am a patient individual, or else I would kill you both where you stand.” He narrowed his eyes at both Michael and Simone. “However, I am willing to play along…for now.”
“What exactly do you want with The Key?” Simone asked.
“That, my dear, is something I am not willing to share with you or anyone.” Mordegrin glanced around the forest, forcing Harrison and Levi to crouch lower so that he wouldn’t discover them spying on their conversation. “Now, let us focus on our plans. Michael, I requested you recruit two women to help ensure the Ciatron could trust us, but I suppose I must settle for only one?”
“Settle?” Simone barked. “I am the daughter of the man who commands our warriors. The Ciatron should be quite impressed that I am willing to go along with exposing The Key and the Guardians’ deepest secrets about how they strategize to protect Earth.”
Mordegrin remained silent as he studied Simone. “Very well. I will meet both of you in four days from now.”
“Four days?” Michael shouted. “I am prepared to meet with the Ciatron now!”
“You will meet your death if you approach them without my persuading them first,” Mordegrin angrily returned. “These things take time, and I need time to sway them. Once they are convinced of our plans, that is when we will go to Ciatris together, and you can reveal who The Key is.”
“Fine,” Michael said as he gripped his horse’s reins. “In four days, we will return to this location. You had better have this all worked out when we return.”
“I am a creature of my word,” Mordegrin said before he disappeared before their eyes.
“Who exactly was that, Michael, and why are we working with a stranger?”
“I met him on Earth. I was in a bad situation with a shapeshifter, and he used some type of power to destroy the beast before my eyes. I became curious about his nature. He has never revealed his native home. He asked me a lot of questions, and when I told him about our emperor and the decisions that were made to bring The Key into Pemdas, he became extremely interested. It was his idea to approach the Ciatron and use them to bring Emperor Navarre to justice.”
“Justice? What has Emperor Navarre done to be brought to justice?”
“Must I really answer that? You agree with his actions of bringing The Key into Pemdas? For all we know, he may have already discovered the location of the stone. If Emperor Navarre takes control of all worlds, we will be nothing but his servants.”
“I would not be surprised. That family has no business being in power,” Simone sneered.
“Come, let us get back to town and let Prather know what has happened.”
Harrison glanced at Levi’s somber expression as the two mounted Michael’s horse and fled from the area.
Both stood and turned to retrieve their horses. “Never in a million light years would I have expected that Mordegrin was involved with this from the beginning. It seems we must come face-to-face with the bane of our existence once again. Can nothing be easy for us anymore?”
Levi exhaled. “We cannot stop Simone and Michael with that creature involved. He must be destroyed.”
Harrison reached out for Saracen’s reins. “There is only one way to destroy him.”
Levi ran his hand down the center of Areion’s face. “I know.” He looked over at Harrison. “I am unsure if Reece is able to travel to the stone to gain its powers and destroy him.”
“I was speaking about Marian. She has already defeated him by time jumping him into
dust particles.”
Levi frowned. “Perhaps you are correct, but I must be sure that Marian is safe and willing.”
Harrison stepped his foot into his stirrup, hoisted himself on Saracen’s back, and smiled down at Levi. “There is only one way to find out. Now mount up. We need to find the quickest route to Pasidian and make plans to defeat that dark beast.”
Levi pulled back hard on the reins, halted Areion, and forced Harrison to stop as well. “With the snow the way it is, I believe we should journey to Earth and use the vortices to bring us to the vortex closest to the palace.”
Harrison studied Levi for a moment. “You want to enter into Virginia on these horses in this attire? Don’t you believe that would cause quite a scene?”
Levi grinned. “Perhaps we’ll run into some Ciatron and confuse their thoughts about where The Key is.”
Harrison coughed out a laugh. “We’ll do best to ride through the trees. Hopefully, no one will notice us.”
As soon as the men brought their horses through the vortex, they immediately directed their horses off the secluded highway and toward a mountain range. The horses traveled vigorously through the trees, keeping the men concealed for the most part.
Levi and Harrison were forced to stop their horses before entering the vortex closest to the palace when they came upon a group of campers directly in front of it.
“Great!” Harrison sighed as three burly men approached them.
“You boys lost?” one man called out with an amused expression. He reached for Areion’s face, prompting the horse to whinny and rear up on his hind legs.
“Areion settle!” Levi boomed.
“Looks like someone missed the turn-off to the Renaissance fair,” another camper snickered.
“Indeed, we did,” Levi started.
How are we supposed to bring these horses through that vortex with these men watching us? Harrison asked Levi. We don’t have our devices to freeze their minds and erase this encounter from their memory.
We do not have time to worry about it. You know as well as I that no one will believe them if they spoke of it. They’d likely be put in straitjackets.
True. Shall we, then? Stranger things have happened in the woods.
“What is going on with both of your eyes? They’re—they’re glowing,” one man stammered, stepping back slowly.
Levi and Harrison immediately stopped communicating telepathically. Harrison read the man’s mind, knowing Levi was doing the same.
“Yep, we’re aliens. Busted,” Harrison said with a cheeky grin. “We also passed Big Foot a few moments before we arrived here…much hairier than I had imagined.”
One of the men pulled up his rifle and pointed it directly at Harrison. “You think you're funny, boy? Get off those horses before I put a round through you.” He looked back at a fellow camper. “Get your phone and contact the authorities.”
“What are you planning to tell them?” Levi snapped back. “That you came across two men in the forest who have glowing eyes?” Levi loosened Areion’s reins. “Let us pass, now.”
The man pointed his gun at Areion. “I will shoot this animal if I have to.”
Levi closed his eyes. Harrison, we can take no chances with these men seeing us pass through the portal. They can easily follow us in.
Got it. Let’s get this over with.
“There!” The same man pointed his gun at Harrison. “Your eyes, they—”
Before the man could speak another word, Levi and Harrison were off their horses, disarming the men and swiftly bringing two of them to the ground. Levi and Harrison used the webbing of their thumb and index fingers against their opponent’s windpipes at the base of their throats to stop their oxygen flow, almost instantly rendering both men unconscious without causing them any harm. The third man tried attacking Levi from behind, prompting Levi to spin into a position with Levi on his back and the man’s neck in a crushing hold in the bend of Levi’s arm. Directly after, the man’s rigid body went limp in Levi’s arms.
Levi rolled the man’s body off his, placed both hands behind his head, and sprung quickly to his feet. He looked down at the three unconscious men lying on the ground.
“Let’s get out of here before something else serves to slow us down,” Levi ordered Harrison.
Once through the vortex, the men pushed their horses’ aggressively through deep snow, and within the hour Pasidian Palace came into view. Areion gathered himself and bounded up the snow-covered mountainside on a direct course to the palace. Once in the courtyard, the stablemen took the exhausted horses into their care, leaving Levi and Harrison to race quickly to the command center.
“Gentlemen,” Samuel inquired, looking past the holographic screen. “I will take your reports in my office,” he said with a concerned expression.
Levi and Harrison followed Samuel into his office and asked that Samuel send for Emperor Navarre as well. Once Navarre arrived, the men proceeded to give them all of the information they had learned, including their confrontation with the three men on Earth.
Navarre rubbed his chin, deep in concentration.
“I will send some men to check on the health of those men you encountered on Earth,” Samuel started.
“I am not necessarily concerned about those men,” Navarre spoke up. “Levi and Harrison are skilled enough not to have injured them.” He exhaled and looked somberly into Levi’s eyes. “Do you trust that Marian will be safe while trying to achieve this again?”
Levi and Harrison had exchanged glances before Levi cleared his throat. “Father, you know what he is capable of doing. He possessed bizarre powers even without being in his physical form on Earth. We can take no chances. I simply hope Marian is willing to do this. I am certainly not eager to put my daughter in harm’s way, but she knows what to do.”
“Perhaps if we destroyed him entirely, we could destroy his females and save that other galaxy without ever having to open that portal again,” Harrison added.
Levi gripped the back of his neck and looked past both men. “Marian appears to be our only hope, but I fear risking her life. Either way, we must defeat Mordegrin and end that dark being’s power once and for all.”
Navarre pinched the bridge of his nose. “So this has been Mordegrin’s doing the entire time. He has been the one to help Michael betray us.” He looked at Samuel. “We must stop him, and we have only four days to do so.”
“Wait.” Levi closed his eyes.
“What?” Navarre answered.
Levi looked at the men helplessly. “Mordegrin is not in his physical form.”
“And?” Harrison answered.
“Marian destroyed him in his physical form. She may only be able to destroy his energy here allowing him to still return in another form.” Levi gripped the back of his neck. “Reece must use the stone.” He looked around at the changed expressions on everyone’s faces.
“Pardon me,” Samuel started, “but from the memories I have seen, it took Miss Bryant—forgive me, Mrs. Oxley, quite some time and training to visit the stone.” He looked at Levi. “Do you believe she can be ready today, or at latest by tomorrow to journey to its location?”
Levi absently shook his head. “I truly do not know, Commander.”
Harrison crossed his arms. “We must do everything in our power to have her ready. We can only hope that perhaps Marian may possess some skill to help achieve this, sparing Reece the torment of traveling to the stone.”
Navarre stood from his chair. “I will send for the ladies and—”
“Father,” Levi interrupted, “allow me to speak with Reece alone first. I will also talk with Marian. This is my family who we are putting in great danger, and I feel it best if I inform them both about this situation privately.”
“Very well, then,” Navarre responded. “We will convene this meeting in an hour in my office. Please use this time to remind Reece of the many reasons why we must destroy Mordegrin.”
Levi nodded. “I am quite confident
she does not need to be reminded of anything. Few people loathe him more than she.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Reece focused on her needlepoint in the sitting room, trying to keep her thoughts from what Levi and Harrison must be experiencing. More than once, she groaned in annoyance at how ridiculous this all was and wished many times now that she didn’t take Elizabeth up on the offer. Marian seemed to be enjoying herself, and that’s pretty much what kept her from leaping off the sofa and begging for fresh air outside, whether it was bitterly cold and snowing or not.
“Pardon the interruption,” a voice called from the doorway.
Lady Allestaine smiled and looked past Reece. “Yes, Charles,” she answered. “How can we help you?”
Reece glanced over her shoulder to see a servant calmly bow. “Emperor Navarre has requested a short meeting with you in his study, my lady.”
Lady Allestaine stood. “Ladies, please go about your business. I will return momentarily.”
Reece brought her attention back to the needlework in her hands. “What do you girls think?” she said with a laugh, holding up the white handkerchief.
Elizabeth brought a hand to her mouth, eyes glittering in amusement, while Angeline laughed aloud. As Reece laughed with the young women, Angeline cleared her throat. “What exactly is it you were creating?”
Reece lifted her chin. “Levi’s initials.”
Elizabeth and Marian chuckled while Angeline studied the white cloth in amusement. “Is this a foreign language?”
Reece sighed. “It’s supposed to be an L and an O.”
Angeline’s lips tightened as she reached for the cloth. Elizabeth studied it with Angeline for a moment before looking at Reece. “Reece, it is quite lovely, and I know my brother will appreciate your efforts.”
“Levi seems as though he would admire any gift from you, Reece.” Marian smiled warmly into her mother’s eyes. “He will also learn quickly that it may not be wise to allow his future wife to do crafty things either.” Marian chuckled.
