Chapter 14

By the time they returned to Norvana, Quynn had yet to come up with any plan to rescue Amyr. Mordrad reminded her more than once that the she-beast Ryanwin would not part with him alive, and since he was an unbeatable champion, the likelihood of them taking him dead was slim. Their only alternatives were to find a champion of their own that could best him or capture a monster that he could not destroy as he had the grendel. In the event that they were successful, Quynn was confident that Carrinda could revive him once they took him away from Ryanwin. Quynn did not know how she was going to feel watching Amyr die, but she was going to have to do it in order to save him.

Since they had to find a champion, Quynn suggested that if Amyr had been purchased, there may be more Calabrians in the slave markets. Although the Varoonyan slave traders had captured and sold many several years ago, there were none to be had now. But Mordrad had contacts and he managed to find a handful yet living whose masters could be persuaded to part with them for an exhorbitant price. Unfortunately, while the Calabrian warriors confessed they would enjoy nothing more than carving up crown prince who they blamed for their enslavement, they dared not risk the wrath of the emperor.

After several days, she was back in her own cottage sharing a bowl of stew with Carrinda wondering what she could do to help Amyr. "I do not have a good conscience about leaving him back there," she told her friend although a very small vindictive part of her liked that he was being punished.

"I understand," said Carrinda as she stirred the stew.

Quynn sighed as she rested her chin on her hand. "Yori asked about the man in the market and I did not know what to say."

"Tell him the truth, that he is his father."

"You too!" exclaimed Quynn with exasperation. "I never knew Prince Amyr that way."

"Be that as it may, I believe that he is the boy's sire." Carrinda shrugged. "But I may be wrong."

The problem was that Carrinda was not usually known to be wrong. And Quynn did not want to admit that she had known Amyr intimately in a dream. It could not have been more than a dream, and yet how had Jeshed come to be in her dream? She had convinced herself that Malya had given her the dream to make her surrogate pregnancy more palatable. Quynn knew her mother would love to solve the puzzle of how Yori had come to be. Unfortunately, Quynn doubted she would ever see her mother again, and while that thought used to sadden her, she knew it was for the best. She could not explain her child and no one would believe her, and she would receive the same pitying looks that the Calabrians Mordrad had purchased now gave her when they saw her with Yori.

A short knock at the door preceded Mordrad's entrance into her cottage. "Ah, you are eating. Is there enough of the stew to share?"

Quynn stood to get him a serving but Mordrad took her seat and proceeded to eat the remaining contents of her bowl. "I cannot believe you are not fed adequately at the castle."

"But nothing quite so delicious as your stew, my dear." He held out the now empty bowl and Quynn exchanged it for the one she had filled. "I saw Yori at the stream fishing with that man …."

"Andwar," she supplied the name. Andwar was one of the Calabrians that had been purchased, and since he had young brothers back on Calabria, he was happy to spend time with her fatherless child. Andwar had given her some information about what had happened to Prince Amyr, probably because he believed Yori was Amyr's son, and she did not tell him that the prince yet lived when he had spat his name as a curse. The Varoonyans had attacked Teralon and Emperor Trey had sent the crown prince with an army to save his daughter's world. After an initial victory, Prince Amyr had led an offensive to rid the planet of the invaders and it had turned into a debacle. None of the Calabrians that had been taken prisoner knew what had become of Prince Amyr or Lord Taeron who they seemed to grieve more than their own prince.

"Well, I wanted to let you know..."

Before he could finish, the door burst open. "My lady!" cried Andwar excitedly. "The Norvanans have brought back a Calabrian vessel! We are to be rescued!" He hurried away without any further news.

Quynn looked at Mordrad. "Is that why you have come here?"

"Indeed. A scouting party found the disabled ship adrift in space and they could have let salvagers take it, but decided to save me the expense of buying more Calabrians." Mordrad rubbed his hands together as he stood. "Emperor Trey is going to owe me an enormous amount of credits and good will before this is over."

Carrinda stood. "Do you want me to watch Yori as you go speak to the Calabrians?"

"I suppose that would be for the best." Quynn would rather not have to explain Yori unless she had to. Now she just wanted news from home, to find out if her family was safe.

Mordrad waited for her, and as she reached him, he belched noisily. "You cook a fine stew."

"Carrinda cooked the stew," Quynn told him wryly, suspecting that he already knew. They walked along in silence for several moments, in the direction of the landing site where even from a distance she could make out the shape of a Calabrian short range shuttle. That type of craft could not have been sent to rescue anyone, had probably run out of fuel long ago.

After a moment, Mordrad remarked, "If we can make repairs to the ship..."

"That ship cannot make the return trip," she told him. "I am surprised it has lasted as long as it has without adequate shielding."

"But your ship has need of only a few parts and those may be salvaged from the Calabrian vessel."

"I cannot return," she said sadly. "I do not even know what there is to return to."

They came to the landing field then as Mordrad's men were opening the hatch. As the pressure seal broke, the men fell back as the door slammed open and a man burst out, swiping out his long sword in a wide arc as he flipped in the air before landing on his feet, his stance wide, sword held before him in a threatening manner.

"For the love of all the gods!" muttered Mordrad in awe as his gaze ran the length of the deadly blade to the warrior that held it.

But Quynn felt her whole being filled with joy. "Taeron!" Mordrad's restraining hand could not stop her from running to her brother.

Without acknowledging the sister he surely thought dead, Taeron snagged her around the waist and dragged her behind him where she was amazed to find her twin brother Stryfe exiting the vessel. At least he had the decency to be shocked by her appearance. He crushed her in an embrace as Taeron shielded her from the non-threatening men who stared at him with wonder. Quynn could hardly blame them. Taeron had long since proven that he was a god with a sword in his hand.

Stryfe was whispering in her ear as he held her tightly against him. "We will talk later, but I want you to call me Taeron."

"What?" After not seeing her in years, probably believing she was dead, this was how he greeted her?

"I will explain later." He spoke over her head. "Put away that sword before you hurt yourself, brother."

Quynn cocked a brow at her brother, then at Taeron to whom he had spoken to as if he were some sort of fool. She had grown up with Stryfe, so she knew he was capable of some ridiculous escapades, but she could not imagine Taeron agreeing to one.

"Yes, uh, Stryfe, put away the sword." Her other brother obeyed and there was a panicked look in his eyes as he gazed past her, so she turned expecting to see a three headed gorgon spitting acid.

Instead, two women emerged from the ship, one bedraggled and glaring, the other beautiful and peering about fearfully as she daintily left the ship. By their heart-shaped faces and fine facial features, Quynn guessed they were Teralonian females. What were her brothers doing beyond the frontier, lying about their identity, traveling with Teralonian women? It certainly seemed like something her brother would be involved in, but not Taeron.

"Where are we?" The taller of the two, clutching chakrams in her hands looked ready to fight although the men with Mordrad viewed them with the same bemusement Quynn felt.

Mordrad stepped forward to speak, but they didn't understand him anyway, so Quynn turned to them. "You are on the world of Norvana."

"You speak our language," stated the taller woman whose frown had grown deeper. "Who are you that you would know these two fools?"

Quynn glanced between Taeron and Stryfe, considering briefly that she had at least pegged Stryfe correctly, but she wondered how she could lump Taeron in with him. What game were they playing? Or had she fallen asleep and this was another vivid dream? Deciding it could only be a dream, she smiled at the woman who did not react to her friendly overture. "I am Quynn Maxwell. Taeron and Stryfe are my brothers."

The other woman's arched brows shot up and she took in Stryfe and Taeron with a caustic glare. "You brought us to this strange world to visit your sister? This sister who has been lost to you? I see that she has not been so lost as you would have all believe!"

Stryfe opened his mouth to speak, but Taeron stepped forward, his face hard as stone. "What are you implying, female?"

"That the house of Lord Duo Maxwell is filled with liars and schemers!"

Taeron jerked in reaction to the insult, but before he could reach for the sword which he had hidden somewhere when the women appeared, Stryfe flew to him and seized his arm. "Rein your temper brother," he said through gritted teeth.

The bold female tossed her head. "What do you expect him to do?" she sneered at them. "Attack me with his pen?"

Taeron attack with a pen? Having heard Stryfe lament about his deplorable lack of education, Quynn guessed that was all Taeron could do with a pen, but she doubted that was what the woman referred to.

Stryfe turned to look at her. "Do you doubt the power of the pen, Lady Sharisse? When he submits the account of this adventure – and he will submit a very detailed account – it will include all of your words and actions. He does not forget even the smallest detail. That is what makes him valuable as the emperor's scribe."

The other woman had watched the exchange with a mixture of horror and odd anticipation, but now she stepped forward to lay her hand on the taller woman's arm. "Sister, do not antagonize the family of my bespoken mate."

Mate? Interesting. Quynn forced herself to smile although she was wondering who was mated to who. "Come with me. Carrinda can fit you with a device so that you can understand the others." Then she looked at Mordrad. "You can have the men see what they can salvage from their ship to use in mine. I am sure my brothers need to return to Calabria."

Mordrad chuckled as he viewed the group. "I wager that this will be a most interesting visit. Bring them to the castle later so that we can welcome them properly."

Two other men stepped out of the shuttle and Quynn recognized them immediately because she had spent many days with the pilots on Calabria. "Keldar and Danlaer! What are you doing here?"

"Lady Quynn! I think we should ask the same of you."

"Say is that the prototype from Earth that you stole?"

She blushed as she looked at the derelict ship that was nearly covered in vines that had grown over it in the years she had been here. "I had some difficulties."

Keldar snorted. "We had some difficulties as well. But the emperor received the other crafts from the Cinq Kingdom and we have had extensive training so we might be able to fix your ship."

"Lord Mordrad's men have given up," she admitted. Her grandfather's design was too original and there were no parts that could be fitted to her ship to make it operable. But Mordrad's idea of taking parts from the new ship had merit. "Come with me and after you have had the language chip implanted, you can speak to his mechanics."

Although she was brimming with questions, Quynn waited until Carrinda had made the necessary implants. The woman she learned was Princess Dijana cried piteously although Quynn knew the pain was less than a mild sting thanks to Carrinda's magic. Her sister took the implant with not so much as a flinch as did Taeron, and while Stryfe winced, he also complained that he considered the chip unnecessary until a glare from Taeron silenced him. When she finished, Carrinda escorted the women from Quynn's cottage to her own where they would be staying until arrangements could be made to return them to the binary system.

Once they were far enough away, Quynn threw her arms around Stryfe and held him close, the tears spilling over her lashes and down her cheeks. "I did not think I would ever see you again," she sobbed. She turned to look at Taeron, holding out her hand and drawing him close to join the hug when he took it.

For a long time they said nothing as they held each other, until finally Quynn sighed and looked at Taeron's face. He seemed so different, so much more mature, as if life had been hard for him. "I feared you were dead. When I saw Amyr without you on another planet..."

"You saw Amyr!" Taeron's exclamation was hoarse with emotion, wonder, anger, she wasn't' sure which one although it seemed to be all of them.

"That bastard is alive?" asked Stryfe with a shake of his head.

Quynn frowned. "You will have to explain to me what he has done. Whatever it was, it cannot be worth the enslavement that he has endured."

Taeron did not speak, so whatever Amyr had done to him was a raw wound. Fortunately, as Stryfe had bragged, the emperor's scribe forgot no detail, so he gave her both the official and unofficial account of what had happened on Teralon. That Amyr could be so careless with the lives of his men did not surprise her. The spoiled prince had never known a day of want in his life and he had proven he did not give a damn about anybody but himself. But she was appalled that he tried to discredit Taeron not only in the eyes of his men but in the eyes of all of Calabria.

Throughout the story, Taeron sat stonily silent, and when Stryfe finished, Quynn did not know what to say. So the three sat not looking at each other until Stryfe finally said, "Lord Taeron should probably look in on his oath sworn wife."

Quynn shook her head. "How long do you think you can keep up this act?"

"She is right, brother. If they had seen you with your sword, the game would be up." Stryfe chuckled as he headed to the door. "I don't want to be in your boots when Sharisse discovers just exactly who she has been insulting. The woman has to live in your house!"

Quynn stared at the door long after her twin left, but she had no choice now but to turn to Taeron. They had not spoken since the day he had tried to persuade her not to commit to Amyr. She had foolishly ignored his advice, so she had no one to blame but herself for what had happened.

"I am sorry, sister." He spoke first, his voice filled with remorse.

Tears stung her eyes because she guessed that he blamed himself for what had happened to her. Taking both his hands, she moved so that she could look up to his face and he had no choice but to meet her gaze. "You are not at fault for anything."

"I should have stopped you that night."

"You tried to stop me earlier that day from making a terrible mistake, but I ignored you," she reminded him. "I think stubbornness is a trait the children of Duo Maxwell share."

"But your decision had been made, the vows spoken." Taeron shook his head. "I should have convinced Amyr..."

Quynn laughed and squeezed his hands. "Convince Amyr? Listen to yourself, brother! It was not, and never will be, possible to convince that selfish bastard of anything!"

Taeron straightened his shoulders. "You are sure that he is still alive?"

For the first time since admitting to Mordrad that he was right, that Amyr was beyond her reach, Quynn had hope. "He is a slave, a fighting champion whose owner will not release him except as a lifeless body, defeated in combat."

"Then I have something to return to him." From somewhere – someday Quynn would discover just where – Taeron drew the sword he had been carrying and Quynn was shocked to see that it was the sword of the crown prince of Calabria. Quynn knew that carrying the sword was a source of pride to Amyr.

"What are you doing with Amyr's sword?" she asked, amazed by the long blade and the gems decorating the hilt. Despite its beauty, she knew that it was as deadly as any imperial sword, that it had been used to slay more than one emperor to begin the reign of another. Amyr would not have used it against his own father, but would have passed it to his son. Quynn knew that Amyr would be furious to learn that Taeron carried his sword.

"Gracious lady Arora gave it to me," he told her. "When I returned from Varoonya, I placed it in the emperor's hands and he gave it to her. But she returned it to me, telling me that I would know what to do with it."

"She must have sensed with her magic that Amyr was alive." Everything that Stryfe had told her now made sense. "Taeron! She must have known that now was the time to bring her son home! That is why Trey sent for you, why he put Staefyn on your ship, why Staefyn must have rerouted the navigation. He was doing it on his mother's orders so that you could find Amyr!"

Taeron shook his head. "No! I will not believe such a thing!"

"I know you cannot trust them, but you can see now that you were meant to be here, to help Amyr, to take him back to Calabria."

"I will not be fooled again," snarled Taeron angrily. He raised the sword and Quynn knew how the Varoonyans that had fallen under that blade must have felt. "And you should not be fooled into believing that Staefyn had any motive except selfishness in sending my shuttle to the frontier. Finding you, finding Amyr is a coincidence that will ultimately displease Staefyn because it will destroy any plans he has made to move against his father."

Quynn shook her head. "I am sorry that you can no longer trust Amyr and Staefyn when they were once your brothers. You have good reason not to trust Amyr, but Staefyn? I cannot believe he is capable of duplicity. If you do not believe that Staefyn could be helping his brother, then believe that the gods sent you here so that you could return Amyr to where he belongs."

"You are believer in our gods now?" he asked, his voice as mocking as she had been years ago when her mother had begun to believe.

She felt the blood rise to her cheeks and was about to tell him that she had come to believe many things that she hadn't thought possible, but the door suddenly burst open and Taeron reacted, moving swiftly to put him and his dangerous blade between Quynn and the intruder.

The intruder proved to be a child who seemed oblivious of the danger although Quynn's bracelet vibrated on her wrist, warning her that the dragon felt threatened.

"Mama! Mordrad told me that your brothers have come, that one of your brothers is a god! You did not tell me that your brother was a god!" The small boy stood beneath Taeron like a lamb before the slaughter. Yori's gaze traveled the length of the sword and then up to Taeron's face, his soft brown eyes wide with wonder. "Are you a god?"

Slowly, Taeron lowered the sword, and Quynn saw the color drain from his face from the shock he was obviously feeling to be standing over her son. "I am no god," he finally said. "I am but a fool." With that, he sheathed the sword before stomping past Yori to leave Quynn with the boy.

Yori watched him go with disappointment on his face. "Your brother does not like me."

"You have just surprised him," she told him as she combed her fingers through his dark hair. "Wait here and I will bring my other brother meet you."

Confident that he would obey her, she hurried out of the cottage and found Taeron not so very far away, swiping his sword and practicing moves that he had done thousands of times before in the training that had made him what he was. If she hadn't known before, she surely did now that Taeron did this to ease the pain he had suffered from his father's rejection. He was doing it now to work through his anger.

"I know what you are thinking," she started, but he cut her off with a swipe of the sword that made the air whistle.

He held the sword before him. "You do not know what I think."

"You think that Amyr and I ..."

"When?" he demanded. "When could he have dishonored my sister when I spent all my moments with him? There was no opportunity!" His voice was raised in anger and she flinched. Quynn had never seen Taeron in this state before and she wondered if her father's reaction would be any less frightening.

"Like the Guerani snake that he is, he waited until he could trap you in his world."

Quynn stared at him incredulously, and then she shook her head vehemently. "No! It is not possible!" The thought nauseated her, that her dream had been more than a dream. The things they had done, the awful words he had spoken to her sickened her enough when she believed it had been a dream.

Taeron took a step towards her, Amyr's sword still in his hand. "Where did he take you in his trance? He spoke often of looking forward to taking his bride to Guerani Palace. Is that where he took you?"

Quynn had difficulty thinking as her head swam with the realization that Taeron could be right. She had never been to the palace and it seemed so real in the dream.

"He dishonored you at your betrothal and made a mockery of your vows!" Taeron was shouting angrily now. His anger was a force that made the dragon growl and Quynn feared it would make an appearance.

Still, she shook her head. After humiliating her at the ceremony on Ulfynaeus, could Amyr then have dishonored her as well? How could he have used his Guerani powers to do something so despicable?

Taeron shook his head sadly and he reached out to take her hands. His touch was comforting and calmed her dragon. "Beloved sister, he could never have cared about you as you cared for him. You deserved better. I am sure that Amyr brought you into a trance. I saw how trances affected Princess Shamara. They have the power to transport one from this world to another, to effect change in this world from the other. He forced me into one of his trances against my will!"

"No," she whispered, still refusing to believe that Amyr would do that to her.

He gestured towards her cottage. "That boy is Amyr's son!"

She raised her wrist where the bracelet was glowing. "No, he is the child of that sorceress of Zayron. She put this on my wrist and she gave me her child."

"If it eases your mind to believe that," snapped Taeron, "so be it! I know the truth. Amyr is every bit as treacherous as Staefyn. I will go to that world where Amyr is imprisoned, and I will face Amyr in honorable combat, if such a thing is possible with that Guerani demon. And I will take great pleasure in feeding his blood to his own sword!"

He turned on his heel and stalked away, and Quynn watched him silently, not knowing what to say or what to feel. She could not allow herself to believe him. Yori could not be her child! He could not be Amyr's son!

"You know that he could be right."

She turned to find Carrinda and Mordrad watching her. "I cannot believe him."

"Because to believe him would make you seem a bigger fool than you already feel, having trusted this undeserving male?" asked Mordrad, his face impassive.

"I suppose you would laud his cleverness at how he took his revenge on us all!" Quynn felt tears threatening to spill over her lashes. If Taeron was right, Quynn was completely dishonored by Amyr's actions.

"If what your brother says turns out to be true, I would like to kill the bastard with my own hands," Mordrad told her. "I cannot believe that you deserved to be so ill-treated."

Quynn fell to her knees and covered her face with her hands as she remembered the humiliation Amyr had made her feel in her dream. "I...I loved him so much and he betrayed me."

"Do you believe that your brother can best him in combat?" asked Mordrad. "I watched him practice his moves and I have never seen a man move so swiftly."

Looking up, Quynn sighed and said, "He is the imperial guard of the crown prince, a position for which he has trained very hard all his life. There is no man more qualified to protect Prince Amyr, and he was called upon to do so many times. The bastard paid him back with treachery." Looking up, she met Mordrad's gaze. "I think my brother would take great pleasure in killing him."

Mordrad smiled. "Then I will make preparations to leave after sunrise tomorrow. Tell your brother he will have his chance to exact his revenge."