Chapter Twenty-Three #2
Then the three of them went toward the empress’s castle. They knew that if anything was happening, the coral castle would be at the center of the action.
At least this time Jaykun was armed. The sword would not be as graceful underwater as the shell swords the selkies used, but it would get the job done.
As they approached the castle, Jaykun tried to determine if the guards at the gate were friend or foe.
He figured there was only one way to find out.
Fully clothed as he was, he would stand out as an enemy, so they agreed to send Ravi forward.
She went and took the measure of the guards as she came up close to them.
“I am looking for the captain of the empress’s guard,” she said.
The guards looked at each other, then lunged for her. Prepared, she sent a percussive wave of sound at them, setting their ears ringing, their eardrums popping under the pressure. They screamed and writhed helplessly under the pain, and Jaykun and Garreth came up and dispatched them completely.
“We’re going to have to work our way into the castle one group of guards at a time. We can only pray they haven’t killed Jalaya yet.”
“We can only pray,” Ravi agreed.
They entered the castle like that, killing any guards who attacked them, knowing that the guards were loyal to the wrong side. At the center of all of this would be Barban and Horgon. Once they eliminated them, the threat to Jalaya’s throne would end. The beast would fall apart without its head.
Suspecting where they would be, Jaykun led the way to the edge of the throne room.
And sure enough, there Barban sat, one leg thrown indolently over the arm of the throne, picking at his nails with a short shell dagger.
He was clearly waiting for something. Sitting on the floor beside him, bound and tethered to the ground were Jalaya …
and Jileana. The two women fought their bonds helplessly.
“It seems only fitting that you be chained at my feet just as you have chained my father. But don’t worry.
Once they have freed my father and he takes his place here, you will no longer have to worry about being bound.
We will gladly take that worry away. But as for you, my reluctant wife, you shall have no such reprieve.
Once the courtiers are called and they realize they have a new emperor, you will be mine to do with as I please? ’
“I wonder that you bother with your father at all,” Jileana said, “when you could be emperor yourself!”
Barban sat up straight as the thought played in his mind a moment. Then he chuckled. “Perhaps. One day soon. But the people are far more likely to follow my father than me at this time.”
“They haven’t become too firmly entrenched,” Jaykun whispered to his brother.
“I count only six guards in the room with him and no courtiers. I am willing to bet that no one even knows of this coup and so the true reaction is not yet felt. Barban knows that. That is why he has no choice but to kill Jalaya as soon as possible.”
“It’s a wonder he hasn’t done so already,” Garreth said.
“He’s enjoying his victory over her,” Ravi said. “And he wants his father to have the honor of killing her. If it were Horgon here, she would be dead already.”
“We have to get in there, but we have to protect Jalaya at all costs,” Jaykun said.
“Even at the cost of Jileana’s life?” Garreth said. “Because he will grab one of them the moment he knows something is going wrong. The odds of him grabbing Jileana are just as high as him grabbing for the empress.”
“He will go for the empress,” Jaykun said assuredly.
“He will want to kill her and solidify his position the instant he can. So your job, Garreth, is to get to her before he can do that. I will take care of the other guards. Cut Jalaya’s tether and get her away from him as soon as you can. Let Ravi worry about JiJeana.”
The fact was, he was worrying about Jileana. Almost to the point of paralysis. But he had to move. He had to do something or all would be lost. He refused to see that happen. He refused to see this race plunged into an era of darkness.
Garreth swam away from him and around to the door closest to the throne. The minute he was in place, Ravi and Jaykun entered the room.
Ravi released her percussive blast at the guards in the room, knocking them back as Barban lunged to his feet.
“Kill them!” he screamed to his useless guards once he had recovered from the blast.
Jaykun plunged his sword into the chest of the first guard while out of the corner of his eye he kept watch on Barban, Jileana, and Jalaya.
But he need not have worried about the empress.
As promised, Garreth was there, cutting through the chain tether with his god made sword as if it were butter and jerking her to his chest and the safe shelter of his body.
He cut her hands free in the next instant. Then he hurried her out of the room.
Barban saw her escaping and flew into a rage. He grabbed Jileana as Jaykun’s sword flashed in and out of the second and then the third guards’ chests. He held the short shell dagger to Jileana’s throat and screamed, “Stop or I’ll cut her from ear to ear!”
Jaykun had to ignore him and continue fighting, hoping with all of his heart that Ravi would be able to rescue her daughter.
“Let my daughter go or I will turn you into a guppy,” she said ominously, holding out her hands as if she could shoot fire from them. For all Jaykun knew, she could.
“You are not that powerful, witch,” Barban hissed.
“Are you willing to take that chance, guppy?”
Barban hesitated, tensed. A small cloud of blood appeared in the water where the knife was pressed against Jileana’s throat.
Then, seeing Jaykun cut through his fifth guard. Barban tightened his hold on Jileana. Now that the empress was gone, she was the only point of power he had left. As Jaykun dispatched his final foe, he turned to approach Barban with menace.
Facing Jaykun’s and Ravi’s powerful visages, not knowing what Ravi could truly do to him, Barban hesitated.
“I’ll tell you one last time,” Ravi threatened. She held up her hands menacingly. “Let my child go!”
“It’s over, Barban,” Jaykun said. “Let her go.”
For the first time since Jaykun had known him, Barban finally did something smart.
He dropped the knife and backed away from Jileana.
Ravi immediately went to her daughter and released her from her bonds as Jaykun went to stand over by Barban.
There was no sense in killing him. The room was already full of floating, lifeless bodies.
Holding his sword on Barban, Jaykun automatically reached out his arm to Jileana. She threw herself against him and he turned his head to catch her kiss, all the while keeping one eye on his captive. When they finally broke apart, Garreth was there with the empress.
“There are other guards of his in the castle, but not many,” Jileana said. “They got here only an hour or so before you did. They have not had enough time to get firmly entrenched.”
“I suspect they sent most of their resources to the chains to retrieve Horgon. Am I right?” Jaykun asked Barban. Barban didn’t answer, but the slight widening of his eyes told the truth for him.
“There might be a large force of them,” Jileana said to him. “The empress’s guards are housed at the chains, but if Barban’s guards manage to beat them and free Horgon, Jalaya will not be safe.”
“Then Garreth and I must go and help defeat Barban’s forces.
I will not have this race embroiled in a civil war if it can be helped.
We will put down this uprising and kill it quickly.
Only then will Jalaya be safe. And this time, Majesty, you must execute the criminals who threaten you.
Putting them in the chains will only give others a focal point if they decide to split into factions against you once again. ”
“I know it,” Jalaya said grimly. “I wanted to avoid it, but I know it cannot be passed over this time. Barban, you and your father will pay for your betrayal with your lives.”
“But—but my father had nothing to do with this! This was all my idea!” Barban sputtered.
“I highly doubt that. It is much more likely that your father set this in place in case he was ever taken prisoner,” Jalaya said. “You were merely executing standing orders.”
Barban paled and it told Jalaya that she was right. Garreth and Ravi found some rope and tied up their prisoner.
“Make it tight,” Jalaya warned. “He has to be swimming in order to turn into a seal, but be careful just the same.”
Jileana touched a hand to Jaykun’s chest, feeling the odd sensation of fabric on his skin for the first time in weeks. Her smile trembled. “You came back for me.”
Jaykun caught her eyes with his, pinning her to the spot. “I will always come back for you,” he said.
She burst into tears and he tucked her head close under his chin, soothing her with soft sounds.
“Shh,” he said. “It’s all right. I will never let anything hurt you again.”
“I won’t leave you,” she said with wobbling lips. “I can’t. Y-you’ll just … I’ll just follow you as long as you let me. You don’t have to give me anything; I won’t be in the way. I-I just can’t leave you. Don’t make me leave you!”
“Jileana, I won’t make you leave me. I love you too much to let you go.”
“Wh-what did you just say?” she asked tremulously. “Did you just say …”
“That I love you? Yes. Yes, I did. And I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.
I’m sorry I lied to us both about what I was feeling.
You were right. I was just too afraid. But when I saw that portal come crashing down and I knew you were in danger …
I realized … I realized I had lost my heart to you quite some time ago. ”
“Oh, please. You’re making me sick,” Barban sneered.
Jileana ignored him and squealed with delight. She wrapped herself around Jaykun and kissed him so deeply it was a wonder their tongues were still attached to their own mouths at the end of the kiss.