∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“I really don’t see why this is necessary,” Rebecca said for the third time as she looked at Lisa. “The coverings I have will be fine.”
“Jen said it’s warm on Pontus right now, like summer back on Earth. Not winterish like it is here right now. Because of that, Padma and Caitir have been concentrating on making warmer coverings, but you’re going to need something else.”
“I wish the General would have let Jen come with us.”
“I doubt Treyvon is going to let Jen out of his sight for a while. Not after you confirmed she’s with offspring.”
“Yeah, I still don’t know if his reaction was cute or just damn scary.”
“You mean wrapping her up in his arms, growling at everyone, and immediately carrying her back to their rooms?” Lisa asked chuckling. “Grim would have done the same to me if we hadn’t been in the middle of the Assembly when he found out.”
“That’s true.” Rebecca smiled remembering the King of Luda’s reaction to Lisa announcing she carried his offspring.
“And besides, the girls wanted to see Dagan. Didn’t you, girls?” She looked at Carly and Miki who were sitting across from them.
“Uh-huh,” they replied. “It’s been forever since we’ve gotten to play with him.”
“It’s only been a week,” Lisa reminded them.
“Like we said,” Miki told them. “Forever.”
“I’m also surprised Grim let you come alone.” Rebecca gave her a questioning look. Everyone knew how protective the King of Luda was of his family, especially with warriors arriving.
“I’d hardly say I was alone,” Lisa gave Rebecca an exasperated look. “There are three transports full of guards with us.”
“Like I said, alone,” Rebecca teased. Their transport coming to a stop ended the conversation.
“Come on, Mommy, let’s go,” Miki said reaching for the handle.
“Miki Renee, you know better,” Lisa gently admonished her youngest. “We have to wait until Agee or Kirk open the door.” It was a small concession for her to give if it helped Grim to not worry so much.
“Oh, yeah. I forgot. Sorry, Mommy.”
“It’s alright, baby. I know you were just excited, but you need to try to remember so your manno doesn’t worry.”
“Yes, Mommy.”
Looking up as the door opened, Lisa saw Agee standing there holding out a hand.
“My Queen, the area is secure.”
Taking his hand, Lisa let him help her out of the transport. It was something that was getting more and more difficult the further along she got in pregnancy.
“Thank you, Agee,” she said giving him an apologetic smile, knowing he was going to have to be doing this more and more as she got heavier.
“It is not a problem, my Queen,” Agee told her quietly. Then making sure Kirk was there, turned to assist Rebecca and the girls.
“Lisa,” Padma called out as she walked down the path toward the transports. “What are you doing here? Why didn’t you call? I would have come to you.”
“I know you would have,” Lisa laughed, hugging her first true friend on Luda, “but the girls wanted to play with Dagan, and honestly I wanted to get out for a while.”
“Is everything okay?” Padma asked running a critical eye over her friend and Queen, as well as the number of guards that were surrounding them.
“Of course it is. Grim would never have let me out of his sight if it wasn’t.”
“That is truth,” Padma agreed smiling slightly as she gestured toward her open door. “Come inside and we’ll talk, or would you rather sit out back? It isn’t that cold out today. Not with the way the sun is beating down.”
“Actually, I need to speak with you about making some cooler coverings.”
“For you?” Padma frowned as they waited for the guards to say her home was secure. Once that was done, they entered her home.
“No, for Rebecca,” Lisa told her once the door was closed.
“I see,” Padma said but didn’t. “Girls, Dagan is out back.”
“Can we go find him, Mommy?” Carly asked.
“Yes. Take either Agee or Kirk with you.”
“Yes, Mommy,” they chorused as they rushed out the back door.
Chapter Seven
"Look, it's the idiot."
Dagan looked up to find three young males moving toward him. He didn't like them. They were new to Luda, having recently been sent here by their mannos so the Empire’s Greatest Warrior, King Grim, could train them. But when they weren't training, they liked to sneak out of House Luanda and terrorize the countryside. One day, they had discovered Dagan walking along the creek picking up pretty stones. At first, he thought they had wanted to play with him, the way Carly and Miki did, but he quickly discovered what they considered fun was to shove him to the ground and hit him.
The last time they'd found him, he'd gone home with his shirt torn and his body bruised. He'd lied to his mama and said he'd fallen, not only because he sometimes did, but because he knew she would be upset if he told her truth.
No one had hit him since Gahan had left the King's Glassmaker's shop, and his mama had been so happy since then. Dagan didn't want her to be sad again.
"Go away," Dagan said, backing away from them.
"Oh look, it talks," Eero, the smallest of the three, sneered. He was the one that seemed to enjoy hurting Dagan the most.
"I didn't think he could do anything but cry," Lalo, the biggest one, said.
"Let’s see how long it will take this time." Dal, the leader of the three, leaned down picking up a thick stick as the other two moved to surround Dagan.
Dagan's gaze widened as he turned in a tight circle searching for a way out.
"Oh no, you unfit spawn, there's no way out this time." Dal raised the stick. "Your manno should have ended you before you drew your first breath. But since he wasn't male enough to do it, we will." With that, he started swinging, and with a cry, Dagan dropped to the ground protecting his head.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
"Come on, Miki," Carly called out over her shoulder as she ran up the path. "I think I hear Dagan in the meadow."
The path in the woods was one the girls had been down before. It led to the small furnace that Gossamer had built for his first male, Gahan, so that he could practice his glass making skills. Dagan had shown it to them on one of their visits, confiding that he liked to go there.
Bursting into the meadow, Carly came to an abrupt halt when she saw three young males circling Dagan. She hadn’t known Dagan had play dates with other friends, especially ones so close to his age.
“What game are they playing?” Miki asked, coming to stand beside her sister.
“I don’t know."
“I don’t like them,” Miki said frowning. “They look mean.”
“You know what Mommy says about judging people by how they look.”
“I know but...” Just then, Dagan fell to the ground, and the three started hitting and kicking him.
“Stop that!” Carly yelled and began running directly toward the boys. When she got closer, she launched herself at the one swinging the stick. She aimed for his knees the way she’d seen one of the Warriors do at the Festival. During that match, the Warriors hadn't even been allowed stingers, and the smaller one had won the match with just such a move. Her manno had grunted his approval.
Dal didn’t know what was happening. One minute he was standing there beating the idiot, the next he was on the ground, the stick flying from his grip. Kicking out, he found his attacker was gone, having rolled away with a skill he still hadn’t mastered. Looking up, he found himself staring up into the furious amber eyes of... a female?
“You will not hurt Dagan like that!” she growled at him.
“You are bad males,” Miki hissed, dropping to her knees beside Dagan. "Evil."
The other two had stopped attacking when Dal had.
“What the...” Lalo looked from the
young female that had suddenly appeared next to Dagan, to the other one who was now holding the stick over Dal like it was a sword.
“You will leave. Now!” Carly ordered.
Dal’s light, green-skinned face flushed emerald with embarrassment and anger that this... female would think to tell him what to do. Jumping to his feet, he took a threatening step toward her. “You dare speak to a warrior like that?”
“You’re not a warrior,” Carly told him not backing down. “Warriors are fit and worthy. They protect those smaller and weaker than them. They don’t attack them. When I tell my manno what you’ve done, he’s going to be angry.”
“Yeah,” Miki nodded in agreement, “really angry.”
“Not if you can’t tell him,” Dal growled as he ripped the branch from Carly’s hands and raised it. “Get her, too,” he ordered the other two, gesturing with his head toward Miki.
Dagan reared up, wrapping his larger body around Miki, so he took the kicks aimed at her, and cried out “No!” But it was drowned out by an enraged screech that rent the air.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Lisa looked up, surprised when she saw Grim striding into Padma’s cottage.
“Grim, what are you doing here?” she asked as she rose, moving toward him with a smile on her lips.
“I felt the need to be with you,” he told her quietly as he leaned down kissing her lips gently.
“We haven’t been gone that long. Not even an hour.”
“Yet you were gone,” he said as if that was enough of an explanation. “Where are the girls?” he asked looking around the room, his gaze taking in their absence.
“They are outside playing with Dagan. Either Agee or Kirk is with them.”
“Not truth,” Grim growled, his whole demeanor changing as he spun around and stormed out the door he’d just entered.
“Not truth?” Lisa asked following. “What do you mean ‘not truth’?”
Grim ignored her as he roared. “Agee! Kirk! To me!”
“Sire?” The two were quickly there.
“Where are my daughters?” Grim demanded.
“The Princesses?” They looked at him in confusion. “They are in the cottage with the Queen. We escorted them inside personally.”
“They went out the back door to play with Dagan,” Lisa told them, reaching up to grip Grim's arm. “I told them to take one of you with them when they went to find him.”
At her words, two of her most trusted Elite Guard paled. “We never saw them, Majesty. Truth.”
“Find them!” Grim roared just as the screech of an enraged Raptor filled the air.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Dal, Eero, and Lalo looked up in horror and disbelief as a Raptor, in full attack mood, swooped down at them. Terrified, they abandoned their assault on Carly, Miki, and Dagan, and ran into the woods believing they would be safe there.
Grim raced up the path he knew his daughters had taken by the size of their small footprints. He forced away the memory of the last time he’d run on a path like this, to find his Lisa beaten and nearly abused. This time wouldn’t be the same though. It couldn’t be. His girls were too young, too precious.
As he rounded a bend, three bodies collided with him, each bouncing off him, flying to the side. Looking down, he saw three of his first-year trainees.
“Dal. Eero. Lalo. What are you doing here? Have you seen the Princesses?” he demanded.
“J... just exploring, King Grim,” Dal stuttered, still frantically looking back the way they’d come.
“Princesses?” Lalo stammered.
“Yes, they were headed this way.”
“M...meadow,” Eero pointed up the path. “But they must be dead by now. There is a crazed Raptor there. It just attacked.”
Grim’s roar shook the trees as he raced up the path, praying to the Goddess he was in time.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
“Oh, Prince,” Carly walked up to the giant bird that was now standing between them and the path the trainees had taken. “Thank you for helping us.”
“Yeah, Prince,” Miki said getting up from the ground. “They were bad males, but Dagan isn’t.” She helped the dirty and bruised Dagan up. “You remember Dagan, don't you? You met him in our garden."
Prince lowered his head, cocking it to the side as he stared at Dagan, his violet gaze seeming to take in every part of him then gave the slightest of nods. When sounds of running feet were suddenly heard, he spun around, spreading out his wings protectively to conceal the three of them behind him.
∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
Grim stormed into the meadow, his sword drawn just as the Raptor turned. Its wings were spread wide, and its deadly beak was snapping in warning. Grim took it all in, in a moment, including the fact that Carly, Miki, and Dagan were standing behind it.
Slowly sheathing his sword, Grim moved across the meadow, and Prince lowered his wings in the presence of the King, allowing him to pass. Grim dropped to his knees so he could carefully inspect each of his daughters, taking in the small scrapes and dirty coverings but finding no real harm. The same couldn’t be said for Dagan.
“There it is!” Dal exclaimed. “Kill it before it attacks us again!”
“Prince didn’t attack you,” Carly exclaimed. “You attacked Dagan, and you would have attacked us too if Prince hadn’t stopped you!”
“You lie!” Dal accused hotly.
“You dare accuse my daughter of telling an untruth?” Grim demanded quietly, slowly rising to face Dal.
“I...” Dal’s mind raced. “She is confused. It was the idiot, the unfit one that was attacking them. We,” he gestured to himself, Eero, and Lalo, “stopped him.”
“Yet we found you running away.”
“Only because of the Raptor," Dal claimed. "We had no way of fighting it off.”
“So you chose to save yourselves instead of protecting two females?”
“I...”
Grim turned his back on the male and looked to Dagan. Going down on one knee before the unique male he’d grown fond of, he took in the darkening bruise along his jaw, the split lip, and torn shirt.
“Tell me truth, Dagan,” he said gently. “What happened here?”
“I come here because I like it. It pretty,” Dagan told Grim quietly. “The sun,” he pointed up at the sky, “makes the ground sparkle.” He pointed to where there was still some snow and Grim saw it did sparkle under Luda’s sun. “It gives me ideas.”
“I can see why,” Grim agreed patiently. “But what happened today?”
“Like I say, I like it here, but not when they come.” He peeked over Grim’s shoulder at Dal, Eero, and Lalo, then quickly looked back to Grim.
“Why? What do they do?”
“They tease Dagan,” he told them quietly, but everyone was able to hear. “Call me unfit, even though Dagan a good boy. They push me down. Hit me. Today they say they end me since my manno didn’t.” Dagan’s split lip was trembling by the time he finished.
“He lies!” Dal yelled, but no one believed him.
Grim ignored Dal as he struggled to keep the rage out of his voice. He knew Dagan didn’t react to it well. “You are not unfit, Dagan. You are a blessing from the Goddess, and your manno knew that from the first breath you took.”
“Truth?” Dagan asked, his eyes pleading with Grim’s that it was truth.
“The King of Luda doesn’t speak untruths, Dagan.”
And despite the split lip, Dagan’s face broke out into a brilliant smile as he said, “That is truth.”
Rising, Grim turned his gaze, pinning Dal and his friends as he bit out. “Kirk.”
“Yes, sire,” Kirk was immediately before him.
“You will take two guards and personally escort those three back to Luanda where they will be placed in containment cells until their mannos come and collect them. If they come to collect them.” He watched all three pale.
“With pleasure, sire,” Kirk replied then spinning on his heel escorted
the three away.
“I’m glad they’re gone, Manno.” Grim looked down to find Miki looking up at him as she wrapped her arms around his leg.
“They will never harm you again, little one.”
“They didn’t hurt me, thanks to Dagan and Prince,” she told him.
“Yeah, Prince scared them off before they could hurt us,” Carly said, wrapping herself around his other leg, “but they did hurt Dagan.”
“Hadar will heal him,” Grim reassured her.
Grim looked at the creature that was still standing protectively between them and the remaining guards. He’d never heard tales of a real one doing such a thing. Only in the barely remembered myths that told of how the Great Raptor had once been the companion of a God. A God whose name only the stars knew now, and that this God had charged the Raptor with protecting those he deemed worthy when the God couldn’t.
Those ancient myths couldn’t be truth... could they?
“I thank you, Prince.” Grim found himself using the name his daughters had given the bird. “For protecting those I hold precious when I wasn’t able to.”
The Raptor looked at the King of Luda for a moment, seeming to recognize that the King was just as deadly as it was when it came to protecting those under his care. Slowly, Prince turned his head and plucked out one of its long, jet-black feathers. When it took a step forward, Grim instinctively stiffened, even as he reached out to take the feather. But Prince dropped his head and instead offered the feather to Carly.
“For me?” Carly asked, her little voice full of wonder and when Prince nodded, she reached out to take it. “Thank you, Prince. I’ll make sure to always take care of it.”
Prince then looked at Miki, who gazed hopefully from Carly’s feather to him. But instead of selecting a second feather, Prince gently nudged her tiny hand that was still resting on her manno’s leg.
“What do you want, Prince?” Miki asked, reaching out to touch his regal head.
“Careful, Miki,” Grim growled quietly, not liking the dangerous creature so close to his tiny daughter.