Minos was restless inside. He was tired and cranky, and sore from his two-day ride. Banshee had heard his sister calling for him, leading Minos and him to where the princess was hidden, and the mare dragged them all the way to Connecticut. They wove their way through streets and forests, following Bruja's directions, and found themselves in the backyard of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, where they now stood, surrounded by various humans, many of them with guns.
"Excuse me!" someone was hollering through the small crowd. The voice, unfamiliar to Minos, crackled with power and a bit of a southern accent, barely noticeable, especially in so few words.
The crowd parted slowly, and many of the unarmed humans attempted to halt the speaker, but she persisted. And then she broke out of the first ranks of weapon-welders.
She was small, quite short and slender, but she possessed a particularly attractive, curvy figure. She had blonde hair and tanned skin, and Minos thought she was rather attractive, for a human.
That was, until he got a look at her pure liquid, violet eyes.
"Warmonger," the prince said, dropping to one knee. The girl stopped, in the middle of the sarcastic sentence she was spitting at the particularly pushy ectoplasmic medium who had first spoken to Minos, and turned to stare at the prince. Her face grew hard and almost angry.
"My name," she pronounced slowly, "Is Radais."
The prince stood, a bit taken aback. "But you are the War-Queen, Radequdais, are you not? The unicorn-"
The girl glowered toward her white mare, who was standing pitifully outside of the ring of humans.
"Yes, I am. If you believe such things. You are my brother, Prince Minos?"
Minos nodded. The girl made a face, then glanced from Minos to Banshee, who stood at his side, and then behind her, to the large red demon who stood close by and watched Minos with wary eyes. She grimaced at him and he opened his mouth to speak, but she got her words out before him.
"Why are you here?"
That was a difficult question. There were many reasons. Political asylum was the main one. Redemption for his crimes against humans was another. Minos cleared his throat and selected his answer.
"I seek protection."
The demon coughed heavily.
"Bullshit," he growled pointedly. Radequdais shot him a glare over her shoulder, then said, "Abe, do you mind?"
A blue-ish man, who had the gills of a fish and reminded Minos of the Lake Wachole sea monster, stepped from behind the girl and toward Minos. He watched warily as the man reached forward and placed his hand on Minos' arm. A moment later, he retreated and him, Radequdais, another female, and the demon consulted quietly.
Minos was getting a very strange and concerning vibe from all of these people, even his sister. He felt alienated, like an animal on display.
Radequdais turned to him, biting her lower lip.
"Minos, I will protect you," she said, the crackling of her voice stronger than it had been, "If this is a trick, you will die as well."
Minos remembered the hanged man's warning, that the King would die, that his own Warmonger would kill him. Would she kill me, too? He thought to himself.
She could, Banshee replied, If she thinks you're lying to her. Better watch yourself.
Minos nodded absentmindedly, both at Radequdais and his stallion.
"Alright, show's over, all y'all get your asses outta here!" the girl said loudly, motioning to all of the humans. They holstered their guns and most of them dispersed, leaving a smaller group of ten or so humans, including the red demon and the blue man. The girl that Radequdais had been speaking with stayed too, and it was only then that Minos detected a fiery aura hanging around her. A human male, middle-aged by the look of him, approached Minos cautiously.
"Prince Minos," he said, extending his hand, "My name is Tom Manning. Welcome to protective custody."