Giggling, Sharra replied, “Why Zander, you don’t have to say anything. Your thoughts are all but screaming at me.”
Zander felt his face burn, for some of his thoughts had been something he didn’t want Sharra to know about.
“
If you hadn’t been so caught up in your own, um arousal, you would’ve noticed my thoughts were just the same.” She weaved her fingers in his hair and sighed.
“
I don’t want to stay away from you for very long.”
“
Neither do I. So when this whole mess is over, I want you to speak with my parents about us getting married. I don’t want to wait any longer than we have to.”
Zander agreed. “Shall we join the others for dinner?”
“
Yes, that’s probably a good idea.”
When Zander showed up with Sharra for dinner, everyone smiled. It was a given that soon the two of them would be walking down the path to marriage. Xarrid stood and shook Zander’s hand, welcoming him to Lare-Stell. Introductions were made and everyone began the meal.
A few laughs were shared, but for the most part, the meal was a somber event. Xarrid was focused on Saylan, who pushed her food around on her plate. The Praestani that were there barely ate, and Sharra clasped Zander’s hand as tightly as she ever had. When the plates were cleared, everyone stood and agreed to meet in the dining room first thing in the morning.
Zander and Sharra shared her quarters for the night. It was the first time they had ever stayed alone together, but that’s not what was on either of their minds. After washing their faces and brushing their teeth, Sharra transformed the room back into a bedroom and they climbed into the bed and hugged each other all through the night.
Neither one of them were successful at sleep, only catching a bit of dozing, off and on throughout the night. They would whisper words of love to each other and Sharra kept reassuring Zander she would be safe. She was more than ready for this thing to be behind them. For his part, Zander wouldn’t be calmed until Sharra was safely back in his arms on Lare-Stell. As much as he’d like to believe in Jurek’s powers, he still was uneasy about all of this.
When the morning arrived, the couple dressed and made their way to the dining room. Zander hadn’t realized that Xarrid and Saylan would be staying behind too. He was happy to know he wouldn’t be alone.
Xarrid chuckled a bit and said, “There is no alone on Lare-Stell. There are dozens of Praestani that you haven’t even seen here yet Zander.”
Zander was surprised.
“
You forget that they are as comfortable in their energy forms as they are in their physical forms. That’s why you didn’t notice them. That’s also why you have nothing to fear where Sharra’s safety is concerned. As you don’t see them, neither will the Xanthians.”
Zander’s mind was relieved somewhat, however, he would still worry until Sharra was back here.
“
How long?”
“
We’re not certain. If their plan works, it should be fairly quick. If not, it could be days.”
Saylan knew how upset he was. One would have to be blind not to notice that. Lines and creases marred Zander’s normally smooth face. His body was tense and his hands were in constant motion, as he kept clenching and unclenching them. He was in another world when he felt a warm hand on his arm. He looked over to see Saylan standing next to him.
“
You are your worst enemy right now. Perhaps you need to go to the exercise area and work out your frustrations. This may take some time Zander.”
“
Yes, you’re probably right. I feel so helpless though.”
“
We all do.”
Zander stretched to his full height of well over six and a half feet tall and asked, “Can you tell me where it is? The exercise room?”
Saylan looked at Xarrid and suggested they all head down there. So that’s what they did.
********
Rafe and Sharra were meeting their informants. They were ready to get the show on the highway, as Sharra had stated. Rafe just shook his head.
They stood on their familiar street corner and didn’t have to wait long. The group of five showed up about fifteen minutes later.
A Vesturion toddler could’ve handled this portion of their mission. They used the Power of Command on the group to take Sharra to their Xanthian leaders. Jurek and Marik were present, only the street thugs didn’t know it. Moments passed and Sharra was marching along with the group, acting the part of a captured soldier. Rafe followed at a close distance, until they got near the airport. That was his cue to stay hidden.
The group took Sharra inside and demanded a meeting with the commanding officer. The Xanthian in charge laughed at first. “What is so important about this human that you need to see our leader?”
“
This is no human, Xanthian. She is Vesturion.”
The smelly Xanthian stuck his nose in her face and sniffed. Sharra had forgotten how putrid and offensive these cretins were. It took immense effort in her part to suppress the gag that threatened to burst right out of her.
The Xanthian circled her, sniffing the entire time.
Sharra prayed he would get on with it because his disgusting odor was getting worse and not better to her sensitive Vesturion nose.
He finally stopped and grabbed her hands. “Why is she not restrained?”
The thugs just stared at him blankly so he shouted at them, “Get out of here you imbeciles.” Shoving Sharra by the small of her back, he pushed her toward the rear of the warehouse. Though she was prepared, she still ended up stumbling a few times and getting kicked in the process. These dirty bastards were going to pay, one way or another. She’d see to it.
Jurek’s thoughts gently infiltrated her mind then, calming her down and telling her not to worry. She took a deep breath and regained control of herself.
The Xanthian shoved her into a room and then locked the door behind him when he left. Jurek and Marik began “speaking” to her then. Marik was going to have a look around to find out where all the minions were and to see how many commanding officers were present. When he left, Jurek wanted to know if she was okay. She said she was, but was ready to get their stench out of her nose. Jurek chuckled at that. She didn’t find anything funny about it, since she almost lost her breakfast all over that stinky creature. He laughed even harder then and she stomped her foot in frustration.
Marik rejoined them and said two officers were here and were on the way. The door opened a few seconds later.
Sharra narrowed her eyes at them. Now she was faced with two of the rotten stink bombs. She could hear Jurek and Marik laughing in her mind.
“
Give me your arm,” one of the officers demanded.
Sharra crossed hers and said, “Not a chance bud. Have you guys every heard of bathing? You smell worse than chicken dung.”
The Xanthians looked at each other and laughed. One of them said, “Brave words huh. She won’t be so brave for very long now, will she?”
“
I don’t think so. Now give me your arm.”
Sharra looked at them defiantly and said, “And if I don’t?”
“
We’ll take it from you. Life’s not so much fun without an arm, pretty Vesturion.”
Sharra extended her arm. It had been her intention all along, but she had to act like she was putting up a fight to look good.
They inspected her arm and one of them said, “You’re walking on thin ice here.” She’d intentionally handed them the wrong arm.
“
Yeah, well at least I get close to water on that ice, which is a damn sight closer than the two of you.”
“
That’s it! Gurg, hand me your knife. I want to get this tracer out of her.”
“
Calm down! She’s baiting you, you fool.”
The two Xanthians had a bit of a stare down until the one called Gurg finally relaxed. The other one looked at Sharra and said, “Now listen to me smart ass, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. It’s your choice. Which do you prefer?”
Sharra knew she had to extract her tracer, she’d known it all along. What they didn’t know was she had another one implanted into the cheek of her butt--a place they normally didn’t put them. This one was a dummy, set up to look real. It did have her information encoded on it so they would find out who she was. That was, after all, their goal. She was the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
“
You’re right,” she admitted. “I’ll remove it.” There was an easy way to get one of these things out, if one knew how to do it. They were inserted right beneath the skin, so if you found the end of it and pressed in the proper location, it would pop right out, with only a slight bit of discomfort. It was so tiny when it landed in Sharra’s hand, the Xanthian had to bend his head extremely close to her to get a good look at it.
“
Hey! Back up there fella.” Sharra gagged before she could help it. “Bloody hell, you all stink!” she shouted. “Here, take this damn thing and get over there.” She held out one hand with the tracer in her palm and she used the other hand to pinch her nostrils together. In a high nasally voice she declared, “It’s beyond me how your species ever reproduced.”
Jurek and Marik were howling with laughter, but Sharra didn’t think it was one bit funny. If she could have used stronger language, she would have, but there really were no words to describe this putrid stench. “How in the hell do your women kiss you?”
Okay, maybe that was a bit much, because one of them landed a blow across her cheek. But then a strange thing happened to him. He found himself flung across the room and on his ass but had absolutely no idea how he got there. Sharra grinned.
Jurek told her through her thoughts that the next time he tried anything, he would add some power to it. That was a very bad thing. Getting hit with Jurek’s power was like getting a dose of a hundred and twenty volts on a good day. Sharra’s grin grew even bigger as she rubbed her hands together.
Gurg pulled his large unseemly self to his feet and took her tracer to be analyzed. She was left alone in the room again.
Jurek told her she needed to hold her tongue when she could or they would smack her around some more. She said it was impossible with those jerks. She was doing everything in her power not to beat the crap out of them. He chuckled and told her to stay calm.
The door to her tiny room was flung open and Gurg stood there gloating. “Welcome to your new home Your Highness.”
Score one for Sharra, she thought.
“
So, you pulled the information off the tracer. What are you? A genius? I learned how to do that in preschool.”
“
How long did you think you could fool us?”
“
Not as long as I did, moron.”
“
Get up!” He grabbed her arm and yanked her to her feet.
“
Easy there Brutus.”
“
Move it!”
He gave her an extremely hard shove that sent her flying. He ended up on his ass again, but this time he’d gotten a bit of power added to it.
“
What the hell are you doing to me?”
“
What are you talking about? I’m the prisoner here.”
He pulled himself up again and went to shove her, but thought the better of it. Instead, he just yelled, “Get moving.”
They went down a couple of halls until they came to another room. Gurg opened the door and told her to sit down. The room was empty, but she knew it wouldn’t be for long.
She was right. About ten minutes later six Xanthians teleported in.
“
So who are you guys? The Xanthian Peanut Gallery?”
The new leader just laughed and said as he leaned into her, “On the contrary. We’re your worst nightmare.”
“
Oh, I don’t know about that. Gurg here is pretty disgusting and I’m not even asleep.”
“
What have we here? A comedian? A Royal Comedian perhaps?”
“
Yeah, and I’m on the circuit right now. Just so we’re clear, I’m getting ready to put on a show and I like to make my shows a little personal. So, if you’re not the Xanthian Peanut Gallery, are you The Six Musketeers?”
“
We are the commanders of this entire operation here!”
“
Oh I get it. So you’re the darlings that invented the minions.”
“
Ha! We wish. We didn’t invent them but we find them, implant the nanochips and then make them work for us.”
“
Is that a fact? And how long has your little operation been up and running?”
“
Oh we’re almost at two years now and we are having great success.”
“
You call kidnapping innocent victims, implanting nanochips into their brains and taking over their free wills a great success?”
“
Absolutely. You’ll soon see as we intend to make you one. Won’t your family be proud of you?”
“
Oh, they’re going to be proud all right, but not for the reasons you’re thinking. So, is it only the six of you, or are there more?”
“
No, just us six. Aren’t we clever?”
“
You have no idea. Jurek, let Rafe know we have confirmation. Bring in the others.”
The Xanthians all looked at her like she’d lost her mind. She just grinned at them.
Within seconds the room was filled with seven Praestani. The Xanthian leader looked around and said, “How the hell did you get in here?”
Jurek answered, “The same way we’re getting out.”
Jurek took a hold of Sharra but she leaped into his arms instead and just laughed. He grinned back at her and then she kissed his cheek.
All the other Praestani each grabbed a Xanthian by an arm and they all took off for Lare-Stell.
Sharra and Jurek stayed behind for a second. “So what about the minions?”
“
Rafe and his men are moving in now. He has a team of Guardians on the way from Vesturon. My men are holding the Xanthian soldiers here. As soon as Rafe and the other Guardians get here, my men will leave, but not before.