“And get somebody in here to clean up this
freching
mess!”
Feeling marginally better, Sara went back into her room and started to calm her breathing.
This Stephanie would die before Sara ever let her take the throne of Aranak.
Chapter Two
“Oh where, oh where has my little doggie gone? Oh where, oh where can he be?” The homeless woman sang loudly and off-key, as her cart bumped along the broken concrete, the fifth of liquor she’d had blunting her vision. The tiny dog hidden in the folds of many blankets struggled to extricate itself from the load of wool smothering him as he yipped and whined for release.
In front of her, the wind had begun to swirl in fast arcing circles, sending leaves, twigs, and dirt blowing in a tiny tempest through the park. The sound of the fabric of the universe ripping barely made a dent in the surroundings as the rip between worlds widened. The rip grew wider, wide enough for a body to step through if you were two and a half feet tall.
The sudden flash and ear-popping pressure came up suddenly as a hole appeared in the middle of the view directly in front of the woman.
“Clyde! Clyde! They’re a comin’ for me! Hep’ me Lawd! Hep’ me!” Her cries were suddenly drowned out as a figure came barreling out of the opening in a roaring scream.
A head full of silky brown hair showed in the opening, similar to a mother birthing a child. The wide, brawny shoulders squeezed out followed by a barreled chest, lean hips, and bulging muscled thighs. Suddenly, a warrior dressed in the ancient uniform of another era sprang forward, then rolled to a stop and immediately leapt to his feet in front of the inebriated woman’s cart.
Slightly out of breath, Vincent straightened to his impressive height of six-foot, five-inches, shaking himself to rid his essence of the otherworldly feeling he felt running through his body. The five-foot sword, which hung at his side, immediately cleared the scabbard in a motion made smooth by many years of practice.
No sooner had the woman taken another breath to scream for the police when she saw the beginnings of a second figure of equal proportions start to come through the opening.
A hand pushing at his back caused Vincent to step forward a few yards. Stopping, he turned and waited. He watched the fabric once more part into a diamond-shaped slit as his brother, Shan Lin, went through the same grunts and growls as he pushed his own way into and through the
Tear
.
When the pop of pressure sounded, Shan Lin straightened from his tumble, somehow never affected in the least by the travel between worlds.
The drunken woman gaped, frozen in a soundless scream as the second man’s equally long sword cleared its holder.
For one brief moment the woman’s lips quivered as if to speak before her eyes rolled toward the top of her head and her body fell in a heap nearly taking the shopping cart and still yipping dog with it.
Turning back to their audience of one, Vincent spoke.
“Well, hell, Shan Lin! If they all drop at our feet like this, it shouldn’t be too damn hard to find willing women to bed.” Chuckling heartily at his own brand of wit, Vincent sheathed his weapon and went to lift the woman into his arms.
“Funny, brother. But the last time we landed in a city, one of the locals tried to behead us on sight. Better to keep one’s head and panic the natives than to lose one’s head.”
“So? What are we going to do with this one?” Vincent asked as he cradled the fragile woman in his arms. Barely hearing his own question, all Vincent could think of was the misery radiating off the old woman, even in her present state of drunkenness. The memories he was seeing from the contact with her sent a stab of anger mixed with grief through him.
The woman hadn’t deserved to lose her children in a flood two days after being given the news of her husband’s death in a car accident. Vincent wanted to mend the woman’s heart and take the grief and aloneness as his own, but knew there wasn’t a magic gift in any realm to cure the pain of losing ones you loved.
“Brother.” Vincent looked up at Shan Lin’s soft rebuke and nodded his head.
“I know. We can’t help them all, but this one I can. And I don’t need you laying hands on her to see if it’s in her future. I’ll help her regardless.” The grief he was experiencing leaked into his voice making his reply sound harsh.
Clearing his throat of the woman’s agony threatening to choke him, Vincent sat down on a nearby crate and continued to cradle the woman.
Shan Lin watched his normally gruff brother use his not-so-inconsiderable powers to ease the grief of a total stranger. This side of Vincent wasn’t widely known about in the Realm of Azaya as both he and Vincent were considered two of the most blood-thirsty Warriors to inhabit the Queen’s Guard in over three hundred years.
While it was an accomplishment Shan Lin was damned proud of, it wasn’t all the brothers were. They’d come to Earth to warn their Princes and meet their True Queen, if the rumors were to be believed, along with informing them of the machinations of their pretender Queen. They had also come to Earth to bid for clemency and put a stop to the slaughter of the Aranak landscape and more importantly, its people. Something Queen Sara had recently begun.
Their only hope of success lay in convincing Prince Mitch and Prince Kristain the truth of their words. They also prayed for compassion in their new Queen, if indeed there truly was a new ruler.
“Vincent, we have to go.” The majority of the Guards who knew Shan Lin would never have recognized him from the gentleness in his voice.
“I know. One more minute and she’ll be fine.”
* * * * *
The brothers left the aged woman with the knowledge she would soon awaken, take stock of her current lifestyle for the first time in a long while, and finally find the courage to move forward out of her drunken grief. It wouldn’t be a perfect life, but the woman would soon find comfort in her drive to help others through times as rough as her own.
They made their way through what seemed to be an alley between new and old buildings. The ambiance of the surroundings was quaint, but not quite what they were looking for.
If Shan Lin remembered correctly, their Queen and Princes now lived on the outskirts of a city called Pinion Hills. They needed to get their bearings and find a way to locate the twins soon.
“Well. Once more have I risked my mind and body to go along with you, brother mine.” Vincent spoke as he scanned his surroundings, a slight touch of sarcasm threading his voice. “And just where in
Riad’s
name are we?”
Shan Lin looked around as well, gathering himself. Brushing at his clothing, he straightened to his full impressive height of six-foot five-inches.
“Well, we’re at least somewhere we haven’t been before.” The answer, quibbling at best, was given in an equally sarcastic tone. “I realize you don’t look fondly on Realm travel, but you must admit, some of the very best adventures we’ve had were when Queen Sara ordered us through the
Tears
.”
Vincent looked to his brother, “It’s not the new Realms I have problems enjoying,; it’s the way in which we travel to arrive in those Realms.” Moving forward, Vincent continued to speak while his brother fell into step behind him.
“I must admit, the Realms have produced some of the happiest times in my life, but I’d still rather not have to ‘walk’ through the rips between them.”
Chuckling, Shan Lin asked, “Does this imply you fear what you don’t understand, brother mine? Is the ‘Queen’s Most Vicious Warrior’ afraid of a tiny jolt of electrical juice flowing into and through his veins?” Shan Lin gave a tsking sound. “What would your admirers say if they knew the big, bad, scourge of Aranak trembled at Realm travel?”
Vincent winced at his brother’s reminder of the title some woman bestowed on him when the story of his escapade with four Horrdian border raiders came to light.
“It wasn’t really a huge deal. So I went a bit overboard when I shouted such a ridiculous line.”
He nearly winced at the memory.
Die for my Queen, for you’ll never live again for your family!
He did wince as his brother spoke in his mind. It had been a stupid spur of the moment, adrenaline-pumping battle cry, which he would never hear the end of if his brother had any say in the matter.
Which is convenient, because I do have a say in it. You’ll be hearing me rag on you about it until we die.
His brother was laughing at him. Before Shan Lin could take it further, Vincent drowned out Shan Lin’s laughter.
“My admirers would no doubt beat you around the head for even thinking I would be afraid of anything.” Vincent gave his own chuckle as he remembered the woman who had flung herself into his arms directly after the battle had ended and proclaimed him “Queen’s Most Vicious Warrior”. The thanks she had given him more than made up for any ribbing he had taken from his fellow Warriors.
“Just as Lyssa would more than likely lop off your head if she heard you call me by such a moniker. You know how she feels about her brothers’ nicknames coming to light. We’re her pride and joy. We wouldn’t harm any who didn’t try to harm us first.”
The last was said with a touch of disbelief. They were part of Queen Sara’s Elite Guard. What the Hellios their sister thought they did in a military campaign was beyond Vincent. But he would tear apart anyone who tried to disabuse his gentle, loving sister of the idea her brothers were only deadly weapons their Queen dispatched with practiced ease when the situation suited her.
Shan Lin gave a snort of exasperation. “If Lyssa had her way, we’d be known as the kindest, most gentle Warriors to ever walk the Realm of Azaya. You’d think she wasn’t familiar with our Aunt Sara’s reputation. She must know just what the
frechie
whore is capable of!”
Anger settled heavily in Shan Lin’s gut as he thought about the last official assignment the Queen had sent them on. It was a trumped-
up mission that went
fubar
almost immediately after they arrived at the village. They had found their cousin, Captain Theresa Lawsai, there in full command of the situation. What had transpired had been nothing short of a disaster. Whatever had set the Horrd off had been instigated by someone in Aranak and carried out by those very close to the Queen.
It still made Shan Lin sick to think on it.
Easy, brother mine, it is done. Captain Lawsai will take care of it, and we will finally have the documented proof we need to give to our Princes. The Princes will believe what we tell them about Dorian and Queen Sara’s determination to kill him. But it will all be as before. We have no concrete proof. There is little we can do until we verify there is truly a new Queen. Dwelling on it now will only bring back more grief.
Shan Lin took a few deep breaths of the air surrounding him and did his best to bring his anger under control. The knot in his belly softened when he felt the soothing calm his brother eased into his being.
Even as they continued on their journey, Shan Lin felt the comfort his brother pathed into his mind. The corner of Shan Lin’s mouth lifted as he conveyed his thanks through the mind-link they shared.
My pleasure, brother mine.
Shan Lin knew there had been times that the telepathy the twins shared had been the only thing keeping him from going mad when his mind turned in on itself and the visions he saw jerked him into their world. Vincent never thought twice about having to pull Shan Lin’s consciousness back to itself. His brother had commented on it only once when they were but eight years old.
“I am your other self. I am but half of a whole, which will not be complete until we are
juniane’
. Where you go I will always follow. You belong to me as much as I belong to you. Until we are
juniane’
and belong to our mate, I will pull you from the ending brink of your journey just as you will drag me kicking and screaming from my fear of losing you to that horrifying end.”
As complex at it had seemed to both the young boys, they had understood Vincent would continue to travel through Shan Lin’s mind when the visions came to find his brother. At one point, Shan Lin had voiced the unfairness of the situation to his brother, and Vincent had shrugged it off.
“For you, brother mine, there is no other thing I can do.”
The words had humbled Shan Lin. No other, including their father, believed what Shan Lin saw. Even through the mind-link, Vincent couldn’t see what Shan Lin saw, but never questioned Shan Lin when he spoke.
The only thing Shan Lin could give in return to his brother was his love and protection against any and all that would deem it necessary to harm Vincent.
The two of them had become known for the way they fought. One would always protect the other’s back when vulnerable, and they nearly always fought side by side. It was how they had climbed so far in the ranks of the Queen’s Guards.
Which was how they had come to be in this place at this time.
“As if you would harm a hair on the spoiled child’s head.” Vincent spoke aloud at Shan Lin’s thoughts.
Thank you, brother mine.
“No. Neither of us would want the slightest thing to mar her pleasure in life.”
Both men did their level best to insure their younger sister’s life was a string of one wonderful event after another. The death of their mother when Lyssa was so young drove her two brothers to shower her with more affection than they would have had their mother still been alive.