I’m not. At least she didn’t think she was.
You are. I can feel it in your silence.
The door to the sycamore room was now shut and the rest of the team had disappeared up the hall to the living room.
Duncan turned her toward him. “Talk to me.”
The moment had blindsided her, reminding her that Duncan wasn’t the only one with issues. She said softly, “What kind of life is this for anyone?”
He pulled her against him. “I don’t know. Sometimes I wonder if I hadn’t been the son of a famous Militia Warrior, I might have chosen a different path.”
She was so stunned; she drew back and looked up at him. “You’re serious? Duncan, I’ve never heard you so much as hint you would have ever done something else with your life.”
“I know. And I also know, like you, I’m built for this life. It’s a weird paradox.”
She sighed. “There are moments, like this one, when the nature and sheer size of the mountain in front of us overwhelms me. Do you think those men in the vision were part of Merl’s team?”
“I think it’s even worse. I now believe Merl served as the leader of the Warriors of the Blood on Third and when he left, he thought he was saving them all, his sister included.”
“Oh, God,” she whispered. “And instead, Yolanthe imprisoned them.”
“And soon, she’ll kill them. We have to get them all out. I see that now. But I have no idea how we’ll be able to get the job done.”
She felt it as well, the future hurtling toward the team, demanding more from each than she could have ever imagined.
He added, “Since I’m having visions, my guess is Yolanthe has a Seer or possibly several working for her. She might already know about us. At the very least, she’s seeking information about me. I know she’s not finished trying to put me back in harness.”
Rachel sighed and for a moment laid her head on his chest. The future felt so uncertain yet full of demands. She’d already made the commitment to the team, and she wouldn’t back out now, but Merl’s distress had definitely reminded her of all the stakes involved.
~
Duncan held Rachel close, not wanting to let her go.
There was nothing simple in this group of warriors. If what Duncan believed was true, Merl felt responsible that his men were in prison, God help him.
After a moment, he released Rachel. “We should join the others.”
“I know.”
Once in the living room, Jean-Pierre held up a box. “Rachel, this is for you. Warrior Santiago sent it over when I told him I would be seeing you tonight.”
Rachel went to Jean-Pierre immediately, taking the box from him. “My new daggers. And he said he was having a holster set made as well.”
“A holster set?” Jean-Pierre asked.
Rachel shrugged. “That’s what he called it.”
“Not a belt?” Duncan had no idea what Santiago had been up to.
“Nope.” Rachel sat down and settled the large box on her lap. She flipped the latch and lifted the lid, then pulled out a black leather belt with two holsters attached and leather strings dangling from the end of each.
Holding it up, she said, “I get it now. These strings tie around my thighs. Genius.” She glanced at Duncan. “Look, there are four angled slots on each side panel. I’ll have ten daggers at my disposal, four on each hip and two in my weapons harness. This is perfect.”
At the bottom of the box were eight daggers in a row, each in its own sheath.
She carefully took the first one out, her eyes wide. “He made these himself, didn’t he?” She glanced up at Jean-Pierre.
“Oui, bien sur. He is a craftsman and he is obsessed.”
Duncan knew Santiago had a love of weaponry, including daggers, and was always working on some new project or other. When he’d seen Rachel’s skill a couple of weeks ago at HQ, he’d told her he’d put something together for her. Duncan had thought maybe he’d create a new blade. Instead, he’d made eight.
Rachel stood up and immediately donned the belt, using the strings to tie each holster down around her thighs. Duncan had to take a few deep breaths because the whole look got to him, leather on leather, each dagger sliding into its slot, and Rachel’s eyes glittering.
“I can’t wait to do some practicing.” She palmed one of the daggers from her right holster. “Oh, yeah. This is fantastic.”
Duncan had to look away. But Jean-Pierre caught his eye and grinned at him, a very knowing look that made Duncan shake his head.
“I think we are in need of some distraction, non?” He asked quietly.
“How about that beer?”
Jean-Pierre laughed as he headed into the kitchen. “Follow me. I think after what Merl has just gone through, we could all use a break.”
As Jean-Pierre handed Duncan some beers, he shouted a loud ‘heads up’ and began tossing them to the rest of the team. Each of the men caught a bottle and offered up a whoop of appreciation in response.
“Before you open them, take them onto the deck,” Jean-Pierre called out. “If these floors see even a single drop of beer, Fiona will kick me from the bed and that I will not have, mes frères.”
The men chuckled and headed outside.
Duncan drew near Rachel once more and handed her a beer, but she didn’t take it. She glanced at the bottle and put a hand to her stomach. “I haven’t eaten so this doesn’t exactly appeal right now.”
He narrowed his eyes. “But you always love a good beer, anytime.”
“What I really want is some food.”
“Jean-Pierre’s housekeeper made a tray of sandwiches. He’ll be bringing it out soon.”
“Good, because suddenly I’m starved.” Keeping warriors fed was a big part of the nightly routine and Rachel was one of them now.
“You like your new holsters?”
“Are you kidding? I love them.”
Because the team was on the deck and Jean-Pierre was still in the kitchen, Duncan leaned close and whispered. “And I’m loving the look. Just sayin’.”
Rachel shifted to telepathy. You mean this leather tied around my thighs?
Oh, yeah.
Rachel leaned up and kissed him, a lingering kiss that made him wish they were alone. When she drew back, she planted a hand on his weapons harness, and sent, That’s enough for now. Any more of this and I’ll have to haul you into the woods.
Duncan chuckled and shook his head. “You’re right.” He stepped away from her. Though you might want to leave the holster set behind, at least for now.
I think I’d better because you’re shedding your spicy ale scent like there’s no tomorrow and I’m about ready to crawl all over you.
When she reached between her legs to untie the leather strings, he had to turn his back to her. Of course, he caught sight of Jean-Pierre watching him and grinning all over again. But there was also compassion in the Frenchman’s eyes, so Duncan wasn’t annoyed.
Jean-Pierre knew the drill. Not so long ago, the breh-hedden had slammed down on his head in the shape of the former blood-slave, Fiona.
Once Rachel had settled the holster set back in the box, he led her out onto the deck and handed off the extra beer to Josh.
The moment the large platter of food appeared, the men began to devour and a lot of the tension dissipated. Rachel took a chicken salad sandwich and settled herself at the table. He watched her for a moment, concerned about her stomach troubles. Maybe the stress of battle had been getting to her more than she was willing to admit.
He picked up a roast beef sandwich on a thick bun and began his own devouring act.
A few minutes later, Owen sat down on a bench next to Luken. He dangled a beer between his legs with two fingers, and held a half-eaten sandwich in his free hand. “Maybe it’s time we cut Merl loose.”
Alex, who’d been ribbing Joshua about some event at the Blood and Bite involving two women and the red velvet booths, called out, “What the hell, Owen? The man just learned
his team’s been chained up, probably for as long as he’s been here. We don’t need to cut him loose, we need to cut him some slack.”
Luken, however, didn’t jump on Owen, but asked, “Why did you say that?”
“Has it occurred to anyone else he might be feeding info to Yolanthe to keep his sister safe? Things about the black ops team? About Duncan?”
“Merde,” Jean-Pierre murmured.
Joshua warmed to the theme. “He might have been holding back teaching us what we need to know to battle on Third.” He now had two empty beer bottles lined up on the deck railing.
Because Josh’s observation was a real possibility, a weight settled on the team.
A few weeks back, Duncan might have suggested the same thing as Owen — just get rid of the problem. He might even have had the same attitude two nights ago. But something had shifted inside him, and instead of reacting, he moved away from the group, turning to face the grove of sycamores. He directed his attention inward, toward his vision power. Energy hummed through his body. He closed his eyes, aware he was probably emitting a faint gold light from his skin.
He focused on Merl and on the men he’d seen in the vision. He wanted to know more before Merl returned in case a decision had to be made.
Trust was the real issue. Duncan had always felt uneasy about Merl and not just because he’d once flirted with Rachel. He’d been hostile during training and withdrawn everywhere else. All of which now made sense. But could the team trust him?
What arrived suddenly in vision form, wasn’t a look into the future at all but well into Merl’s past and was comprised of a montage of images. He saw Merl in front of large groups of Militia Warriors, his expression almost as intense as Owen’s was right now. He was heavily involved in training Militia Warriors in many of the images, demonstrating battle skills, giving individual and group instruction on technique and strategy.
A few of the visions involved hundreds of warriors, all aligned against either Yolanthe or her father, Chustaffus.
Another set of images showed Merl, with his maroon leather battle harness and black kilt, doing battle with the same group of warriors Duncan had seen in Yolanthe’s prison. The men made use of the cadroen but wore what Duncan could now see was a traditional set of three braids on either side of the face, though pulled back into the clasp as well.
In these images, Duncan’s instincts were proved right since Merl always handed out the night’s assignments; Merl was the team leader. But instead of sending the men to dimensional Borderlands, as Luken would have done on Second Earth, he sent them to various ‘camps’ around the world. Merl had been in charge of the resistance movement on Third Earth.
He had the answer he needed and the vision dissipated. When he turned around, the team was staring at him, a couple of mouths agape. Glancing at Rachel, she said quietly, “Your grayle power was rising from your body in at least three streams of bluish smoke.”
He didn’t address their obvious combined astonishment, but related what he’d just witnessed. As he finished up with Merl’s leadership of the Third Earth Warriors of the Blood, he realized Merl now stood in the doorway, Endelle behind him.
He met the warrior’s light blue eyes. “Did you get all of that?” Duncan asked.
Merl nodded. “Accurate as hell.”
Duncan saw at once the warrior was changed. The revelations of the earlier vision of Yolanthe’s prison had stripped Merl’s façade away completely. He looked like a different man, more like the one in Duncan’s vision, a leader and a warrior.
Merl moved across the deck, placing himself in the middle of the team. “You must have questions. As the Creator is my witness, I’ll answer every single one of them.”
Owen rose to his feet. “I have a big one. Have you been serving as Yolanthe’s spy, telling her about us?”
“Not about the black ops team because she doesn’t know what I’ve been up to. Although I suspect that’s about to change. But yes, I reported information to her about Second Earth.”
Endelle moved to stand beside Duncan.
Joshua rubbed the tats on his wrist and directed his hard brown eyes at Merl. “Why the fuck didn’t you tell us what was going on? Why didn’t you trust us?”
“How could I have done that? I was protecting Katlynn and at the same time trying not to get any of you killed. I have to deliver reports once a month as it is.”
Owen entered the fray. “So, you’re a spy, and what did you tell the bitch about Thorne’s operations on Second? Holy fuck, you’ve seen everything.”
Luken rose to his feet as well, but addressed Owen. “Dial it down, Warrior. Give him a chance to explain himself. And remember, Yolanthe as a Third ascender isn’t going to be all that interested in things on Second. She’ll consider herself superior because, well, she probably is. Any arrogance she might have will work for us.”
The way Owen’s nostrils flared suggested he was still gearing up for a shout down.
Luken once more intervened. “Before Merl says anything, let me tell you what I think happened, then Merl can tell me if I’m wrong. So here goes: Merl either fed Yolanthe a pack of believable lies or reported inconsequential data. You’ve seen him, the martinis and cigarettes. Samuel told me the first time he met Merl, he wore some kind of silk dressing gown. He’s been playing this game for a long time and probably has Yolanthe suckered in.”
Owen scowled at Luken, but as he turned to Merl, he asked, “Does Luken have it right?”
Merl nodded. “Yolanthe has a deviant nature, sexually I mean, so I fed her lots of details about my supposed exploits on Second. When she learned I’d gotten close to Endelle, I fabricated an entire history for her.”
At that, he heard Endelle chuckle. “How much of a history?”
“Enough to keep her entertained and distracted. She seemed to enjoy my reports which I believe kept her from investigating further. And if it’s of any use, for years she was mostly focused on Darian Greaves and his ambitions. I happily told her anything I saw on TV.”
“Why did she give a fuck about Greaves?” Joshua swigged his third beer.
“She had a crush on him.”
For some reason, these words lightened the moment and laughter traveled around the group. Only recently, Endelle had battled Greaves out at White Lake, and ended his world-encompassing campaign to take over Second Earth. Of course, the army he’d built had splintered into three factions each headed up by a general full of a similar type of ambition. Second Earth was in a worse state now that Greaves was gone. And there was strong indication Yolanthe’s father, the powerful Chustaffus who’d enslaved two-thirds of Third Earth, was making a bid to rule Second as well.
Rachel entered the discussion. “What do you mean, Yolanthe’s deviant side?”
Duncan turned to her and answered the question. “I told you about her sex pool.”
“Sex pool?” Alex grinned. “This is getting interesting.”
Another chuckle went round the group.
Duncan grimaced, however. Yolanthe had kept his attention focused on all her activities through her Third Earth voyeur window and it had not been pleasant. He decided to set the record straight. “When you’re forced to watch for hours on end, believe me a certain monotony follows. I couldn’t shut her voyeur window down. And she used sex slaves, which enraged me since I couldn’t do a damn thing for any of them.”
He turned to Rachel. “I’m sorry about what happened, but I wanted you to know the truth.”
She lifted her chin and her lips curved. She took his hand in hers. “Spoken like the man I know and love.”
For several intense seconds, Duncan couldn’t breathe. The way Rachel saw him was the man he wanted to be. “Rachel,” he said softly.
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Endelle blurted. “The breh-hedden sucks donkey’s ass.”
Laughter traveled the circle of warriors. Even Merl smiled, a true smile, something he no doubt hadn’t done in a long time.
CHAPTER SIX
Freedom comes in a thousand different forms.
Collected Proverbs -- Beatrice of Fourth
Endelle sat on the bottom row of the workout center risers at Apache Junction HQ. She’d changed into black leather pants because she kept flashing the warriors inadvertently in her red tulle skirt and small modesty slip. She didn’t mind, not giving a damn who saw the beauty between her legs. But Owen took a skin burn across his abdomen when Josh got distracted.
She just wasn’t much for keeping her knees together.
But she still wore the bejeweled dagger vest and her hip boots.
Her gaze drifted to Merl as she leaned her elbows back on the bench. The warrior had transformed into a dynamo so that between the efforts of Jean-Pierre who could enhance powers and Merl’s new motivation, the team had finally started responding. Each showed evidence of the grayle power, a Third Earth ability having several ramifications. All the warriors had improved in faster wing-release as well as wing-retraction and quicker response with sword and dagger-work.
Duncan’s vision had delivered a brutal blow to the one-time leader of the Third Earth Warriors of the Blood. Merl’s secret about how he’d ended up on Second had finally come out. But after all was said and done, the result had put him on the right course.
Apparently, Yolanthe had kidnapped his sister, Katlynn, and used her to send Merl to Second to serve as Yolanthe’s spy. She’d even paid for his personal portal, the one in the wall of his living room, which the black ops team used to enter the darkening grid. But she’d held the threat of Katlynn’s death over his head for fifty years.
What he hadn’t known was that Yolanthe had afterward lured his What-Bee team into a trap, though Merl still didn’t have a clue how she’d done it. Yolanthe’s ability to somehow take control of so many extremely powerful Warriors of the Blood at the same time and hold them for five decades, spoke volumes for the woman’s natural level of power.
Yolanthe’s apparent obsession with Greaves made less sense than anything else Endelle had heard, but, whatever. Although the thought of Yolanthe and Greaves together sent a shard of fear wiggling her tailbone. Thank the Creator Greaves was locked up on Fourth. From Beatrice’s last report, Endelle’s former Nemesis was suffering acutely in Beatrice’s redemption pools.