Chapter Ten

There was one time when Skard didn’t know what it felt like to have his brother with him. That was at the time of their birth when he left the womb first, and it all was suddenly empty, quiet. Even as a newborn, something was missing, and the story was he cried, screamed, and wailed inconsolably until Iarl was born and placed in the crib next to him. Then they silently assessed each other, both knowing they were connected. Since then, they had been one, sharing pain, hurt, anger, and confusion until they found their rightful place at the Paladin Court. Skard knew something was coming, like a distant storm on the horizon. It gnawed at his insides and worried him. Iarl tried more than once to settle Skard’s thoughts with his own. Stop worrying brother, the warrior court is here. Our mate will be safe with the others in London with Raven soon, Iarl said to his brother’s mind.

Something is coming, and we are not prepared,Skard said.

Whatever it is, we will face it and destroy it,Iarl said with determination. This is more happiness than we have ever known, and maybe you are worried it will not last. Trust me, brother, we will be okay.

Skard hoped Iarl was right because his sense of foreboding would not dissipate. Daphne needed a passport and an expedited one to go to London. Hers had expired and without knowing how long they would be staying at the dragon safe house it was wise to have it in hand in case they were there for six months or longer in the United Kingdom. They had to leave the house and travel into the city to complete the paperwork. Skard and Iarl, of course, insisted on being with Daphne, plus Gaerar and Raven accompanied them. The ride was uneventful, and they got everything prepared rather quickly. On the way back to the packing deck a figure stepped out from between the cars. Skard recognized her as the detective who interrogated Daphne after her house was destroyed.

“D-detective... what are you doing here?” Daphne stammered in surprise.

“It seems you have some new friends.” Detective Elle Montenegro cast a glance at Gaerar. “And you’ve been watching me. I want to know what the fuck is going on and who all these people are or I’m arresting all you people.”

“It’s not what you think, Detective.” Raven stepped forward. “There’s so much more going on. Come with us, and we’ll explain why we’re going to need your help.”

“My help for what? I’m not a fucking criminal and can’t be bought...”

The detective didn’t get to finish her words. A loud rumble filled their ears, and the ground shook, almost tilting them off balance.

Elle pulled her gun. “What the fuck is going on?”

The all too familiar screech filled the air, and Skard knew his premonition was coming true. He pulled his sword, and his brother and Gaerar followed suit. Raven pulled two guns from holders beneath her coat and tossed one to Daphne. They were about to be ambushed.

“Prepare yourself, you are about to see more than you ever wanted to know,” Gaerar said grimly to the detective.

They poured over the building, lesser Shen, some in their human guise, and some as their serpent selves.

“Holy shit, holy shit!” Elle yelled as they attacked.

“Shoot for their heads,” Raven yelled and began to fire in rapid succession.

Skard and his brother took their stance fighting back to back as one unit. It was the intricate dance that was deadly to those tasting the blade of their swords. Gaerar moved with deadly intensity killing everything within his range. They didn’t stop coming, and Skard could see the maliciousness in one of the Shen hybrid’s eyes as it started knocking out the concrete pylons that held the parking deck up.

“We’re going to be crushed—we need to get the hell out of here,” the detective yelled.

“Watch out!” Gaerar yelled.

His warning came too late and a chunk of concrete came down on Elle Montenegro, knocking her out as more crumbled around her. There were too many of them, and in the back of his mind, Skard wondered how this would be explained. It was broad daylight in California with people around. Gaerar broke off his attack and ran for the detective to get her away from more falling debris.

Skard and Iarl tried to keep themselves between the hordes of Shen and away from Raven and Daphne. A scream that chilled Skard’s bones echoed from behind him, and he turned, knowing it was Daphne. The sight that beheld him pulled his attention away from his brother and their connection that enabled them to fight the way they did. A hybrid had both Daphne and Raven in its claws, and while they struggled and kicked the thing winked and in seconds caused more concrete to fall as it backed away from the battle.

“Daphne!” Iarl screamed, and Skard’s attention deviated from the fight.

It seared through him, the slice as a blade cut through, talons ripped and gouged while teeth sank into flesh. Only it wasn’t Skard, it was Iarl, and everything slowed as his brother fell. He heard Daphne scream his brother’s name in pure agony, echoing the pain that coursed through him, just before the thing that had her and Raven was gone.

There had been only one time when he knew how to be alone. The day of his birth while Iarl was still in the womb. This was much worse, so much worse, the loss of Daphne and now this. The scream that emanated from Skard was inhuman, and even the things on his brother seemed to sit up and cower in fear. Skard rushed at them, intent on killing them all, and those he didn’t strike down fled. He swung wildly, slashing, tearing, not seeing what he was striking with his blade until Gaerar tackled him and pinned him against the wall.

“They’re gone!” He kept struggling and Gaerar slammed him against the hard barrier. “Skard, they’re gone!”

The red haze of rage and loss cleared from his mind, and he could see the devastation and his brother lying still on the ground.

“We’ve got to get out of here—there are sirens and a hell of a lot more,” Gaerar said urgently. “She’s been hurt, and Iarl...” Gaerar swallowed. “We need to get them both back to the safe house immediately.”

Skard shook his head. “I can’t feel him, he’s gone... I can’t feel him.”

“If he is—Skard, listen to me, if he is, he would want you to regroup and get Daphne. Raul has to know as well,” Gaerar said urgently. “You know where he is hiding. Right now we need to get Elle medical help and get the women from the lesser nest.”

Daphne, Daphne, Daphne... Her name was a chant in his head. Skard swallowed and without a word he moved to collect his brother. There wasn’t even a heartbeat, and the gut wrenching continuous sense of loneliness almost buckled his feet. Gaerar picked up the detective as gently as he could.

They moved through the rubble and headed downwards, away from the front of the building where the rescue personnel would be congregating. Somehow they managed to evade being seen and were able to hot-wire a car using the technique Caye’s father had taught them.

Gaerar took the female detective into a hospital and left as quickly as he came so no questions could be asked. Iarl lay completely still in the back of the vehicle, and no matter how much he tried, Skard was not linked to his mind. He sat in the back with his brother’s head on his lap and the emptiness at the loss of both Iarl and Daphne. When Gaerar pulled the car into the driveway of the safe house warriors were making their way outside. The other nine that made up the warrior court, including the king, were there, and each man’s face was grim.

“We saw the news, we were on our way to you...” Hawke’s words fell away as Skard stepped out of the car and took Iarl’s body in his arms.

He heard a small cry, and then Raul shouted, “Where’s Raven, where is my mate!”

Gaerar was speaking softly and Raul’s rage-filled scream echoed around them as Gaerar explained exactly how Raven and Daphne were taken. Skard lay his brother in the grass, and while some tried to subdue Raul others knelt with him because his loss was twofold.

Joy knelt beside him. His voice was broken. “I cannot feel him in my mind. I call for him and he doesn’t answer.”

“He’s gone, Skard. I am so very sorry,” Kalv, who stood above him, said. “No one should have to face this.”

Joy still said nothing. Skard stared at his brother’s lifeless body, and he saw Joy place her hand over his heart. He looked up at her face. Her eyes were closed, and the wind blew the soft hair on her head.

“What are you doing?” Skard snarled. “Leave him be.”

“Let me do this,” Joy whispered. “In my head... my heart, I know I have to do this.”

Everyone stopped talking almost instantly and watched Joy. She suddenly gripped Skard’s hand, and he marveled at her strength as she squeezed his fingers tight. He saw tears leak from her closed lids and suddenly she whispered, “Mother?” The warmth of her hand and looked down to see it glow. The one on Iarl’s chest over his wounds glowed brighter, and Skard held his breath.

“Not quite dead, just lost,” Joy murmured. “Your time to be at the table with your king is not quite yet. King Valkir has told him so.... Yes mother, I understand.”

Like everyone else, Skard was completely bemused to what was happening. Joy was not a healer, a hybrid herself and able to kill with the heat of her chimera but not a healer. Or so they thought, because with a loud rasping gasp Iarl sucked in a breath and his eyes opened wide, staring into the sky. It was like the floodgates opened and all the thoughts, the pain of Iarl’s wound, and then the peace of almost death hit him in waves. Then it was his brother’s confusion of being in the land of the living again that clouded his thoughts. Skard gripped his brother’s hand.

“Be still, brother, be still, you are well, I could not have dealt with losing you,” Skard said, not caring who heard. “By the gods I thought you were gone.”

“Since when are you a healer?” Erik asked his wife.

Joy sat back. “I have no idea. I knew I had to do it, and I heard my mother’s voice. Then there was a King Valkir talking, telling him he can’t stay, it wasn’t his time.”

“My father,” Orin explained. “Somehow you were a conduit from this life to the lands of our forefathers.”

“Probably because of her mother,” Bior said. “She called for Larissa.”

“I don’t care how it was done. Thank you.” Skard pulled her close and kissed her square on the lips. “Thank you.”

“Hey, don’t be kissing other people’s mate,” Erik said outraged.

“Daphne?” Iarl asked in a raspy voice.

The levity was gone in an instant because their mate and Raul’s were taken. Mursi and Michelle still held Raul while his body bulked and bunched as the rage within his dragon was trying to force his second nature.

Orin walked over and took Raul by his shoulders. “I order you to calm yourself! As a warrior of the Paladin court, stand firm and control the rage. Focus it, because tonight we hunt. Someone feed Iarl. He will be weak even though Joy healed him. When it gets dark, we find our people.”

“I’ll... we will be ready,” Iarl said, still lying in the grass. “We go find our mates.”

“And we kill everything in our path until we reach them,” Skard added.

“This will be only one battle. Toshen is not here,” Joy said. “I would feel him if he was. The bigger mass is coming with him.”

“Then we kill what’s here and wait for his slimy body to show up and take his head from his shoulders.” Lleau cracked his knuckles.

The gods had seen fit to send his brother back from the table of their fallen king. There would be no way any of them would let Raven and Daphne stay in the nest of filth. Orin, Kalv, Hawke, Raul, Lleau, Aki, Mursi, Bior, Erik, Gaerar, Michelle, Joy, him, and his brother. The twelve—now fourteen warriors of the Paladin court—were ready for the fight. Iarl gripped his hand and met his gaze. Their determination was clear. As sure as the stars that were in the sky, they were not losing Daphne.

* * * *

“They killed him, they killed him.” Daphne whispered the words in the darkness, and it felt like half her heart was shattered.

If she was left reeling, she could only imagine how Skard was handling Iarl’s death. The connection he and his brother had was violently ripped apart, and she wasn’t there for him. Dear God, Iarl was gone. Hot tears spilled down her cheeks. A sob escaped her in the darkness and a hand fell on her shoulders. Daphne covered her mouth to stifle the scream that rose up in her throat.

“It’s me,” Raven whispered as she sat up. “Shit, how long have I been out?”

“I honestly don’t know,” Daphne admitted. She wiped at her face and the grime on her hand coated her cheek. “I think we are in a portion of the mine that was never fully carved out. You hit your head pretty good when they threw us in here. I checked your pulse, and it was steady so I knew it was best not to try to wake you.”

“You’re crying,” Raven assessed.

“Iarl... I saw them kill him.” Daphne felt the tears rise hot to her eyes again.

“You don’t let them see you cry, you don’t show them weakness, ever,” Raven said fiercely. “You grieve for him when we get out of this hell hole.”

“No one has come back here since... I assume they know humans and the dark don’t mix well and in the back of the mine we can’t get out,” Daphne pointed out.

“Then they don’t know two kick-ass archeologists who’ve been in places people haven’t seen in thousands of years,” Raven said with wicked determination. “They’re not big on searching their captors. I have two blades in my boot. We find our way out and kill anything in our path.”

“Can we kill those things?” Daphne asked dubiously.

“We learned to fight, and hell yes, we can,” Raven answered. “I don’t want to be back here when our men come to find us. Trust me, they’re coming, and they are pissed. We won’t be a pawn to be used against them. We’re getting the hell out of here.”

Daphne thought of Skard and how much he would be hurting after the loss of Iarl. She would get to him, and together they would try to heal. She would be damned if one of those things got to hurt him by using her. Raven was right, it was time to go.

“Are you okay to move?” Daphne asked. “You hit your head pretty good.”

“I have a pisser of a headache, but I can manage,” Raven said in a hushed tone. “We keep low, against the walls and away from the main tunnel. They’ll congregate where the main juncture is or further back in the mines. It’s a wider area, and they like to lay together, rut with victims or whatever the hell they do in that ball of filth.”

“We should look for an alternate exit. The miners would have carved one out in case of a cave in so they could get out quickly,” Daphne said. She was glad they were speaking in hushed tones. If not, their plan would be thwarted before it began. “I doubt these things mapped out this entire mine. It could be as small as a hole in the roof of a cavern or cut out close to a back exit. We find one of those and hightail it out of there.”

“Sounds good.” Raven took her hand. “No more talking. We use the old system of writing in the palm if we need to say something.”

“This is one time I wish I had Skard and Iarl’s ability to speak to each other’s mind.” Daphne sighed as sadness assaulted her. She had lost one of the men she loved.

“Don’t think about it.” Raven put her arms around Daphne. “First, we get safe.”

Daphne nodded. “Okay, let’s do this. We stay close to the walls, and we head toward the west, moving away from their calls.”

“The hybrids are more intelligent, they’ll send the lesser Shen to check on us soon. We want to be as far away as we can when that happens,” Raven explained. “Unfortunately, I heard women’s screams, which means they’ve taken humans to breed.”

“Oh god.” Daphne’s stomach rolled in revulsion. “Should we try to get them out?”

Raven sighed. “We can’t. They’ll have them in the main nest with them and by now I’m sorry to say they’re being... We can’t save them, and I hope to god when the men finally get here there are some who can be healed.”

“But they usually aren’t, are they?” Daphne asked after hearing the note of finality in her voice.

“No,” Raven said. “We need to move, before their attention is on us again. I will not be broken lying under one of those things.”

“Ditto,” Daphne said. “We get out of here or we sure as hell die trying.”

They moved against the rock wall and used their hands in the darkness to maneuver around until they were at the entrance. Outside the small carved out hole, they heard the loud screeching sound of the mass of Shen. Both women crawled quickly through the darkness, away from the sounds. Daphne breathed a bit easier as the animalistic howls became dull. Thank god, they haven’t use the smaller tunnels, Daphne thought. Raven was in front, and she stopped suddenly and grabbed her hand.

Daphne’s heart stilled in her chest because she swore they were caught. She wrote quickly in Daphne’s palm. Very small tunnel ahead, only crawling space on all fours, could lead to an exit. Daphne replied, Okay. They moved forward, squeezing into the hole and between the darkness and tight space. The sensation of claustrophobia started to claw at the corners of her mind. The tunnel opened up suddenly, and Raven halted her movements once more. She reached back and grabbed at Daphne, pulling her forward urgently. When she was beside Raven, she almost screamed. Below was a vast cavern, wider than any miner would ever create. There was light, maybe from one of the small opening in the room, but they could see more clearly. The bottom was filled with murky water and mud.

In the midst, things moved. Slimy bodies broke the surface, writhing and sliding around. On the sides were rock ledges. It was easy to make out the filthy form of women, lying either dead or unconscious. Some with protruding bellies and others covered with blood on the lower half on their bodies. Bile rose in her throat when she saw smaller serpent things chewing on the women who had obviously birthed them. This was some kind of hellish nursery, and from another entrance lesser Shen came and went. Raven moved back and so did she.

“Oh god, oh god, oh my fucking god,” Daphne whispered the words in horrific litany.

“We can’t go that way,” Raven said. “We have to retrace our steps and move further down.”

“Did you see that?” Daphne demanded in a harsh whisper. “How are you not horrified?”

In the dim sliver of light that filtered into the tunnel, Raven met her gaze. “I’ve seen it before, and this is why we have to stop them. If I didn’t numb myself to it, I would go mad. Trust me, my dreams are filled with it sometimes, and it’s the love of my husband and knowing they are going to stop them that keeps me going. Now we have to move.”

Her words were sobering, and Daphne now truly understood of the magnitude of what they were facing. They moved backwards through the small hole and made their way deeper into the mine. One loud howl or a roar of rage echoed around them, and they felt the ground rumble. Instinctively Daphne knew that their absence had been discovered. Without a word, both women picked up the pace. Moving from crawling to standing and then openly running, hoping they could find a way out before capture.

“There!” Daphne caught Raven’s forearm and stopped her. “Through here, it’s a skip cavern and it will lead to an exit of some sort!”

“Thank god, they will be all over this mine in a few minutes,” Raven muttered.

The short passage led to a ladder leaning against a rocky wall. The wood looked old and brittle but there was no other way—they had to go up.

“You go up first,” Raven said quickly. “Then help me through the hole.”

“Cover your hands with mud and dirt. In fact, cover as much of your body as you can to try to mask our scent on this ladder,” Daphne ordered. “If we break some of these upper steps off after I’m almost out they may think we couldn’t escape this way.”

“Good idea. Take it easy will you? Don’t get hurt, I’ll kick them out on my turn,” Raven answered.

Daphne took her time even though fear made her want to scramble up the ladder. The final step broke and her foot went down. She bit the inside of her lip to keep from screaming, knowing the sound would draw the Shen to them. Raven followed next and from the sixth rung of the ladder away from the top she began to kick the wood with the heel of her boot, breaking the middle. She reached out her hand to Raven and used all her strength, practically dragging her out of the hole. Into the cool night, they took their first breath free of stale air.

“Grab brush, branches, rocks, anything that will cover the entrance,” Raven said urgently. “Make them think it’s overgrown and unusable.”

Together the two women scrambled and found old branches and brush to cover the hole. On top of that they moved rocks and tried to make it unmovable. There was no time to rest. They moved down the rocky hill, slipping and sliding on the loose rocks until they reached the cover of the trees. Her breath burned as she tried to drag air into her lungs. She’d never run so much in her life.

Raven kept urging her on until they broke through the dense brush and reached the road. The momentum was so great they ran straight out on the black asphalt and into the glaring lights of a truck. Brakes screeched, and Daphne swore that the impact would kill them both. The man behind the wheel seemed to be an expert because he brought the eighteen-wheeler to a stop, feet from hitting their bodies.

The man hopped out the cab of the truck. “Holy fuck, are you guys crazy? What the hell are you doing out here?”

“Sir, help us, we’re being chased.” Daphne looked back. “We’ve got to go, we’ve got to go now.”

“Who the hell is chasing you? I have my shotgun,” the man said.

Raven looked at him. “Sir, these guys are bad news. They took us off the street—please get us away from here now!”

Daphne thanked god Raven was thinking on her feet. The lie would keep them all safe because this man, shotgun or not, was no match for the Shen. He must have seen the panic on their faces because he opened the passenger door, helped them inside, got in, and pulled away from the area.

“Do you have a phone, sir?” Raven asked. “My husband is a cop, and he can get people out here.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, use it, call nine-one-one while you’re at it,” he said and passed her his cell phone from her pocket.

“Oh, he will be out here with all his men at his side, trust me,” Raven muttered. As she dialed a number, she put the phone to her ear and said nothing for a while until she hung up. “No answer, they probably picked up our scent and are on the way.”

“What should I do?” the truck driver asked. “It feels like everything is going crazy, lately. After the news with that parking deck going down in the city from that movie shoot.”

Raven and Daphne shared a look before Daphne asked, “What happened? We didn’t hear a thing.”

The truck driver shifted his beat-up cap. “People said they saw huge serpent things attack the parking deck and tear it apart, but then the news said it was robotics and misplaced explosives for some movie and no one was hurt. I swear I hate when I have to drive this route.”

“You can drop us off at this address please,” Raven called out. “It’s a police safe house. They’ll want us to stay there until this operation is over and they catch the guys.”

“That’s right by where I have to go,” the driver said after putting the address in his GPS. “My wife isn’t gonna believe I was in the middle of a kidnapping and police sting when I get home. Is there some type of reward for helping y’all out?”

Raven nodded. “Yes, sir, a hefty one, and if you leave me your name and address, a check will be sent to your home.”

“Get the fuck out!” he exclaimed. “Better than winning the lottery.”

“It sure is,” Raven answered.

The truck driver chatted as they drove and all the while they only answered now and then. Both women were worried about what was going on. Finally, after about two hours, he dropped them off. Raven shoved the paper with his information into her pocket while he waved as he drove away.

“Are you really going to send him a reward?” Daphne asked as they jogged up the driveway of a small condo.

“Hell yeah, he saved our asses from being breeders for the Shen,” Raven answered and pressed a code into a box outside the small garage of the home. “Right now I want to get back to the mansion. The guys are gone, and we need to be there when they come home or all hell is going to break loose.” The garage door opened to reveal a small coupe convertible. Raven said, “Hop in because this is going to be one hell of a ride.”

“What hell that will break loose?” Daphne asked as she slipped into the passenger seat.

Raven started the engine. “Dragon’s, when they lose their mate or they are in danger, let’s just say they are not happy. It’s Raul, and Skard is dealing with not knowing where you are and the loss of his brother. Those two in dragon form could burn California and not even blink. Their second nature’s anger and grief cannot be quenched when they lose a mate. If we are there when they get home, we can stop it.”

“Holy shit,” Daphne breathed.

“Yeah,” Raven said as she put the coupe in gear.

She pulled out and pressed a button to close the garage door as she whipped the car out of the driveway. Raven shifted gears and sped out to the highway while Daphne held on for dear life and hoped to god highway patrol didn’t get on their tail. She didn’t know how she would’ve handled everything without Raven at her side when they were taken. The younger woman had so much knowledge and experience from her years with Raul. If she had been kidnapped alone in the dark with the Shen, she might still be there.

She vowed to find a way to thank Raven when this was over. Daphne worriedly chewed her lip, Skard and how he was doing was on her mind. The loss of Iarl made her heart hurt. Please be okay, she mentally sent the words in earnest, hoping that in some way he had opened his mind to her just a bit so he could hear her plea. But was that door closed since Iarl was gone? How would they survive it, the loss of Iarl? She hoped that together they could mourn and heal. If only her second love survived the night of fighting with the Shen.