by J G Jerome
“I’ve missed you, Husband. I and all my sisters were worried about you,” she says.
Trina walks up and slides into our hug. She kisses me. When she breaks the kiss I look down and see the tears streaming down her face.
Trina sobs, “He was just a boy, Jack. Fourteen years old and the ‘man of the house.’ Farouk told him to guard his mother and brother while he was gone. He attacked immediately upon spotting us. I didn’t have a choice. Even if you hadn’t ordered it, I would have had to kill him.”
I kiss her tears dry as Chelsea releases me and wraps her arms around Trina, too. Selene joins in comforting her.
I tell Trina, “I understand you and Lili came upon a better strategy. Hopefully, we don’t have to kill anyone else.”
I hear L’liana’s voice, “I hope so, Jack. Did you bring the remainder of the Dread Court for testing?”
I nod, “Yes, Lili. I did. These are Yeshua, Ali, Faisal, Azeem, and Ismael.”
Ismael calls out, “I’ll take the test first.”
My Elven wife joins our group hug. “Let’s get them all downstairs. I’ve got Abu and his family in one of the apartments for high-ranking staff. I sent the Goblins back, and Salt sent a team of Orcs to clean up the barracks and dungeon. They’re down there working now. Frannie says it would increase their morale to be greeted by their king.”
I nod. “I’ll make a point of it. Let’s go.”
We all take the lift down two floors and walk out into the barracks floor. I see four Orcs in coveralls chopping up corpses, bagging them, and mopping up blood. I think they are all male. One has a top-knot of dark greenish-black hair. Two have thin hair combed over their pates, and the last one is completely bald. They range in height from about 5’7” to 5’11.” They all look fit, but are all also submissive and deferential. They might taller if they stood proud. They shy away from eye contact to the point they will turn and hunker away.
I stop and address them. “Hello my Orcan friends. Please allow me to address you. They turn towards me with sidelong glances. It’s like I’m talking to four, green ‘Igors’ from the ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ movie.
I beckon them. “Come closer. I’m not here to harm you. Stand proud and look me in the eye. You have no reason to be shy.”
They look at each other and then step closer. I hear boots on stairs before the door flies open and Frannie throws herself into my arms. I carefully kiss her through her tusks.
“Hello, beautiful. How are you?” I ask her.
“Much better that you’re back, my Lord. Captain Corrina asked me to inform you that she is still performing her mission, but she will have a guard force for you shortly. She is much more relaxed since we got word of your return.”
I squeeze her lovely strong ass and kiss her again. “Thank you for delivering that message, Beloved.”
I turn to the four Orcan males in front of me, and I’m suddenly afraid their eyes will explode. Their look of surprise is nearly comical.
I address them. “Gentlemen. I am Jack Jerome. I regret that I have not taken a tour to meet the Orcan people since I ascended the throne. Other duties have called me. I am very happy that you are here to contribute to our effort to rid the world of the Dread Lord’s influence. I can report to you that I have successfully destroyed him. Now we must clean up his mess and cleanse his influence. Unfortunately, that is a global effort. I would be happy to have the Orcan people stand by my side as we do this.”
The Orcs nod and hoot softly, reminiscent of the Rock Trolls in Turkey.
“I will meet with all of you here before we head home. Please tell your brothers and sisters here to expect that of me.”
The one with the top-knot asks, “Lord, may I speak with my sister? We’ve heard nothing of her since she was taken by Saureg as a slave.”
I turn to Frannie, and she looks at the Orc with surprise. “Koren? Is that you?”
Koren nods proudly, “Yes, it is me. I’m fourteen now. I get to work with the men. I volunteered for this job hoping I might see you, Frances.”
Frannie looks at me, and I smile with a nod in return. She launches to the young Orc and wraps him in a hug. Holding him at arm's length, she says, “Look at you, Koren. You were four years old when I left to join the King’s service. Look how big you are! Your tusks are starting to show! And you’re so strong! I’m so proud of you, Koren!” The young Orc looks sheepish, but the other males grin at him with approval.
“I missed you Sissi,” he murmurs.
“I missed you too, Koren.” She hugs him again before dragging him to stand in front of me. She says, “This is my Lord, Jack Jerome. He is the King of the Goblins, but he is also my Master. He doesn’t like it when I call him that because he freed me and absolved Papa’s debt. I serve him as his concubine and as his bodyguard. I love him, and he loves me. As much as I hated leaving you and being Saureg’s plaything, it was worth it to be with Jack. If I am really lucky, I may one day be his wife.”
I interject, “There is no maybe about it, Frannie. If you want to be my wife, you will. The next wedding will be shortly. If you want to be part of it, let me know. I will propose to you formally.”
She looks at me in wonder. Happy tears stream down her face as she nods and whispers, “Please, Lord.”
I kiss her lips gently. “It shall be done, Beloved Frannie.” I look to Koren. “How do you feel about being my brother-in-law, Koren.” His eyes are big as he nods. I think I left him speechless.
I clap his shoulder gently, “I have other duties to attend. We’ll talk more later, Koren. I will expect you and your family at the wedding.”
I shake his hand. Then I turn to the bald guy and shake his. He says, “I’m Krall. I’m the team leader of this detail. These two are Jut and Rispo.”
I tell him, “I’m pleased to see the boss is in the middle of the work. That’s good leadership, Krall. Keep up the good work.”
He stands straighter. “I will, my King.”
I shake hands with Jut and Rispo, too. Then L’liana leads us to the apartment where Abu bin Hassan’s family are resting.
I knock on the apartment door that L’liana indicates. The door cracks open, and I see Abu’s eye in the crack. Then he opens the door wide when he recognizes me. “Jack! You’re back!”
“It is done, Abu. The world is free of Farouk. Now we just need to clean his influence from the world. That’s going to be much more difficult.”
He points to my face, “I see you weren’t unscathed.”
I shrug, “A minor inconvenience. They are staying with me until I find them a new home. I have the surviving members of Farouk’s party, other than Dalia with me. Farouk gutted her, so she’s resting with my Mother-In-Law to recover.
I hear from inside the room, “Dalia is hurt? Oh, Allah have mercy on her and grant her a speedy recovery.”
“Amen,” I respond as Abu opens the door. A sickly, middle-aged woman and a young woman are sitting on the bed wrapped in bathrobes with towels around their hair.
Abu makes the introductions, “Jack, this is my wife, Zana, and my youngest daughter, Alia.”
I step forward, and Zana offers her hand. It’s hard to recognize her as the pretty women in the photo. She says, “It’s an honor to meet you, Jack. Thank you for sending a rescue party for us.”
I shake my head. “You have nothing to thank me for Zana. I regret that I couldn’t rescue you sooner.”
I offer my hand to Alia. She shakes it and says, “It was Allah’s will that we suffer this trial.”
I kneel before her. “Alia, it is my firm belief that Allah doesn’t wish suffering upon his faithful or any of us. That is the work of mankind. The more time I spend as a Lord and King, the more I understand that to really rule effectively, you have to love your people. I do. I’m sure Allah does too. He didn’t will this for you. The Dread Lord did. We can honor Allah by bringing your abusers to justice as humanely as possible.”
I turn to the door. “Yeshua, bring your men
in here and kneel on the floor.”
Ismael walks in first and falls at Alia’s feet. He bows low to the floor. He sits back on his heels and addresses Alia. “Alia, I am Ismael. I am sorry for not having done more for you. I was focused on protecting Dalia. I should have done more for you. Please forgive me.”
Alia shakes her head. “No, Ismael. There is nothing to forgive. Dalia was a friend to me during my time here. I am glad you were watching out for me and for her. I also saw you discourage others from taking a turn. I heard your Lord punished you for it multiple times. I am grateful for your care and consideration.”
Then she points at Ali who just barely takes his eyes off the floor. Alia says, “Lili. That one. His name is Ali. He was second only to Kazeem in how he abused me.”
Ali starts to get up, but I freeze him in place. L’liana looks at him for a moment. Then she looks at me and nods. I turn off his brain.
Alia looks at Yeshua and Faisel before crying out, “Azeem!” Alia launches out of bed and wraps him in a hug. “I was so afraid you died in the rescue!”
“No, beloved Alia. I had to survive, so I could return to protect you again,” he murmurs into her neck.
Alia wraps her arms and legs around him and buries her face in his neck. Slowly, Azeem wraps his arms around her.
Abu stands, indignant. “What are you doing to my daughter?”
Azeem looks up to him with tears in his eyes. “What I have always done, Mr. Hassan. Comfort her. Let her know that hope is not lost. Let her know that what these men were doing to her was not her fault. And dissuade the other men from raping her by beating them to the point of death - including my own brother.” He closes his eyes and caresses Alia’s robed back. He looks up at Abu, “My brother forgot that our sister was once this age, and how helpless we felt when the Lord raped her. I did not. I vowed to protect your daughter the best I could. Unfortunately, it was not enough. Lord Jack should kill me, too.”
“NO!” exclaims Alia as she looks up at me. She struggles to her feet and grabs my hands. “Please, Jack. Please don’t kill him.”
I turn to the pretty, weeping girl. “Alia. I would never punish someone for trying to protect a victim. Azeem will be around for a long time. Did Yeshua or Faisal ever rape you?”
She shakes her head. “No. They would sometimes be on guard duty, but each of them turned men away who came to take a turn with me. Every time that I know of.”
“Okay,” I say with a nod. Then I turn to Yeshua. “Please drag Ali’s body into the hallway and let Krall know there is another body here.”
Then I turn back to Zana. “Zana, may I assess your health.”
She says, “It’s some kind of lung consumption. It’s not tuberculosis, but I regularly get pneumonia. I take a drug that helps keep whatever it is in check, but I’ve been told I’ll be like this the rest of my life.”
I sense her lungs are inflamed and there are tons of small organisms alive in her lungs and bloodstream.
Selene says, “I tried to remove them, Jack. I just couldn’t get a firm handle on them.”
Abu says, “It’s a fungal infection she picked up while we were in Jordan. It’s fairly common there.”
I nod, “We have something similar in Arizona. I think the best thing to do is to give you some of my new little friends. They will chase all the fungal spores down and eat them. You may have them floating around your body for the rest of you life, but you should be healthy.”
I send a request to my Living Shadows and extend my left index finger. It slowly turns black. “These are what we call Living Shadows. They are the remnants of Farouk’s Dread Cloud, which I accepted into my body and essentially removed the machine part of them and gave them an attitude adjustment. They are living organic creatures. My friend Jena had a similar infection, and we were able to give her Living Shadows to treat it. Her treatment has been very successful. I will touch you with my finger, and transfer a group of Living Shadows to your skin. They will absorb and go after the fungi in your bloodstream and lungs. They will eat it all up. When it is gone, they will continue to patrol your body for foreign substances, cancers, etcetera. When they run out of food to eat they will create a small circle on your wrist. You can either keep them, or ask them to leave your body. If you ask them to leave, put them in a bottle with a mushroom, and then send them to me.”
Zana is looking at the moving darkness on my finger. She looks at me, “Is it safe?”
I nod. “Yes.”
“Okay,” Zana says as she extends her right finger to touch mine. The Living Shadows transfer to Zana with a ‘goodbye for now.’ Interesting.
When the dose has transferred to Zana, I pull my finger away and watch as the Living Shadows absorb into her flesh.
I tell her, “I’m not sure how long until you feel the effects, but I suspect you should feel stronger within a week. I’m told they will replicate and grow based on the amount of room and food available.”
“What are yours eating?” she asks.
“My flesh,” I answer. “I don’t feel anything, so I don’t think they are eating much. Plus, I suspect I am also directly feeding them energy that helps sustain them.” I feel an affirmative response from my little friends.
Zana says, “They disappeared from your face and neck.”
I nod and feel for them. They’re still on my chest and my entire left arm. Farouk created a shit-ton of the little bugs.
I turn to my former ‘archenemy.’ “So, Abu. Now that we’re not actively trying to kill each other. What do you want to do? Where do you want to go?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know, Jack.”
“You still have family in Syria?” I ask.
He nods, “I had built up a small clinic to provide healthcare to the poor. It’s a dangerous area, but I’ve managed to build a life there. With Daesh running around, I really hate to take my family there.”
I tell him, “I recently returned from eastern Turkey. It’s beautiful country, sparsely populated and poor. There are a number of communities that could use a doctor. I’m thinking about building a residence there, so I could provide financial and security support. If you want to, I will help you move your family and supply your clinic. If you want to travel back and forth to Syria, I’m open to discussing support for that. Think about what you want. Discuss it with your family. You can stay here in between, or another hotel, or you can stay with me. Either way, you don’t need to worry about the finances.”
Alia asks, “Abba, can Azeem come with us? He makes me feel safe.”
Azeem stands and takes her hands. “Alia. I’m not human. I am eighty-seven years old, and I haven’t spent any time with my people, the Sidhe, since I turned eighteen. I think I would like to spend some time with my people now that you are safe. I’ll make sure your father has my phone number, so you can call me and talk. Will you permit this, Alia?”
She pulls Azeem into a hug. “I’ll you miss you, Azeem. I know I shouldn’t say this, but I love you. I know I’m young, but my love for you is true. I can’t deny you. Go forth and be happy, Azeem. I will carry you in my heart and ask Allah to watch over you.”
Azeem kisses her forehead chastely. “I love you too, Little One. May both Allah and the Goddess watch over you and keep you safe.”
I tell the Hassan family, “I need to spend time with these gentlemen, the Djinn, and the remainder of Farouk’s court. Think about what you want to do. I’ll be back before I leave.” I look at the now standing Sidhe men. “Let’s go chat, gentlemen.”
We file out and gather around the security desk in front of the elevator. The similarity to what I’m planning in my new home isn’t lost on me.
I say, “Okay, gentlemen. My intent is to turn the whole top of the hotel back to hotel suites to maximize profitability and have the profits go to Farouk’s wives and concubines. I’ll pay for the renovation, but I want it to be a top tier hotel when we’re done with it.”
Faisal says, “It may not be that easy. Far
ouk is, or was, a member of the Royal family. The Royal Historian told me Farouk was born of a concubine from a poor family to Jaber al-Abdullah al-Sabah. Apparently, she had the grey genetics. When he was twelve, Farouk bit the son of another concubine. The concubine and the child were Sidhe. By the time he turned fourteen, he had killed four of his father’s enemies with his abilities. He became his father’s enforcer.”
Faisal rubs the back of his head before continuing. “When his father died, Farouk travelled Europe, Asia, and eventually the US. He returned periodically to visit his family, but he was essentially a wanderer. He would walk the Haj at least every ten years. After traveling for one hundred years, he returned to Kuwait City in 1959. He hung around the court and started building hotels and office buildings in the sixties. He began getting involved with Muslim extremists in the late sixties. Members of the court may not know how involved he has been in terrorism. He recruited and trained most of the notorious terrorists. For example, he took a young Osama bin Laden under his wing. The Royal Historian insinuated that he would make an example of a beloved young prince about once each generation to keep the family out of his private affairs. As a result, the royal family have kept their distance and called him ‘elder uncle’ for generations. However, I am sure the family have a legal claim on the property as Farouk owned it outright.”
I nod. “Let’s find out for certain. Do you know who his lawyer is?”
Yeshua says, “The Chamberlain handled the legal affairs for Farouk. He’ll know for sure. Part of the risk involved is that the royal family may claim it regardless. It’s less likely here than in Saudi Arabia, but if you take ownership the odds rise.”
I ask, “Azeem, you’re going to the Winter Court for now?” He nods. “Yeshua?”
Yeshua answers, “I will accept Queen Ariana’s hospitality.”
Ismael says, “I’d like to serve in your court, Jack. Dalia and I both. Especially if you build a residence in East Anatolia.” I nod.
