One Four All (4 page)

“He said he was following orders,” replied Kepp. “Her so-called husband’s, I imagine.”

Wat straightened up and stretched. “What do you think? You met him.”

“Regnan’s a fucking weasel. The kind who wouldn’t do it himself, but he’d get his jollies watching someone else do it.”

“So what do we do, Captain? Radio Commander Grange? Tell him there’s a pile of shit here that stinks to high heaven?”

Kepp looked around the suite. “No. Not yet. We get our gear unpacked, take our pick of beds, and find the kitchen. Make friends with the staff. What they don’t say is every bit as important as what they do say. If we get the chance, we check her for broken ribs. Make sure her injuries are superficial. We all have medical training. She didn’t show it, but she’s gotta be in some kind of pain.”

Wat grinned, showing his very white teeth. “We can try, but I doubt I can trust myself to just check her ribs.” He glanced around. “Pretty luxurious digs, eh? Look at this shit. Sure beats curling up in the mud with your poncho for a bed. Go take a piss. The bathroom will rock your world.”

Kepp laughed. “Guess it doesn’t take much to make you happy, Wat.”

“Nope.” His friend’s grin widened. “A soft bed, a clean place to take a piss, and the sight of a beautiful, naked woman. A man can’t ask for much more.”

Chapter Four

Lira faced the open window and stared out over the channel. Anyone looking on would assume she watched the water, but she saw nothing, heard nothing. The princess had fallen into a meditative state as she prepared to practice Kinji Watah, the Death Dance. Today, she would practice with more vigor and more enthusiasm than she’d felt in months. Hope had filled her at the sight of the three men, three big, strong, righteous warriors. The fact that they fought for the other side meant nothing. Very soon, they would fight for her. She felt it with every beat of her heart. The tall, lanky one with the long red braid and the dimples, the one called Redda Till, he would fight on her right hand. The handsome dark man with the very white teeth, Cer Watso, who wore his hair in what his own people called dreads, that man would fight on her left hand. And their fierce, blue-eyed, golden-haired commanding officer, the one called Captain Tanner Kepp, he would guard her back and hold the Ouroboros, the circle, together.

Wearing nothing but her skin-tight practice jersey, Lira turned away from the window. Her eyes closed, movements slow and defined, she began the ritual of Kinji Watah. The pain Lira felt from the bruises focused her, strengthened her, and she visualized a kick to the throat of Tuth Regnan, to the head of the guard named Speth, and to the sternum of General Battarq.

* * * *

“Hey, Kepp, get a load of this.” Watching the video cam, Wat stuffed a hunk of bread into his mouth. “This for our benefit or the guards’?” He grabbed a crisp, red apple from the tray of food one of the kitchen staff had brought up to the room.

Kepp and Red stopped cleaning their weapons and looked over Wat’s shoulder to check out the picture on the video cam.

“You don’t recognize that?” asked Red. “Remember the training vids about combat with the Zealots?”

Wat shook his head. “Nah, I think I slept through most of those vids.” He glanced up at Kepp. “Sorry, Captain. Looks like she’s doing ballet or something.”

“Not ballet,” replied Kepp. “It’s the Death Dance, the Kinji Watah, a Zhinshu form of martial arts practiced by men and women. A well-placed kick to the groin, the solar plexus, the knee, or the Achilles tendon will disable a man. A kick to the throat, the sternum, the side of the head, or the back of the neck will kill him.” Kepp leaned over the screen. “Red, tell me again about that tat on her wrist.”

Red stretched out on the floor and tossed grapes up into the air, catching them in his mouth. “The Ouroboros. A snake biting its tail. It’s a circle. The people of Zhinshu say, “One is the all.” It’s a symbol of infinity, I guess. Like I said, every royal female receives the tattoo on her right wrist when she proves her fertility. So the question is…”

“What is a female of the Royal House of Zhinshu doing here,
married
to Secretary Regnan?” Kepp finished for him.

“Married my ass,” commented Wat, his eyes glued to the video screen. “You want to say it or should I?”

Captain Kepp sat in silence for a moment. He tapped a finger on the edge of the video screen.

“General Battarq asked us to come here.”

“You mean he asked you to come here,” Red interrupted. “Wat and I are just along for moral support.”

Kepp snorted. “He ordered me to bring two men. He must have had a good reason. Didn’t seem to me like Regnan would have asked for me, or anyone for that matter, without a little push. He’s got his guards to keep tabs on his wife, if that’s what she is. No. There’s a lot more going on here than meets the eye, and we all know it. Wat, what you were about to say, keep it to yourself for now. Red and I both know what you’re thinking, and if we’re right, our mouths stay shut for her sake.”

“And if she’s who we think she is?” asked Wat.

“I don’t know. Red?”

“Yeah, boss?”

Kepp stared at the woman moving on the video screen. “When you were out getting food, you find a gym or a place to lift? I need to work off some steam.”

“Fully equipped. Two floors down. I got the grand tour. Showed my dimples to the cook’s assistant and she couldn’t resist.” Red grinned.

Tearing his eyes from the screen, Kepp grabbed his sweats.

“Get changed, and show me. Wat, one of us will relieve you in an hour and you can have a turn.” He tossed a tiny perdi to his friend and shoved another in the pocket of his sweatpants. “That asshole Speth or any other guard shows up here, you buzz me.”

Wat grinned.

“Sure, I’ll buzz you after I cut off his dick and shove it in his mouth. That sound good?”

“Sounds good to me,” said Red, stripping off his shirt and tugging on a pair of loose sweatpants. “C’mon, Kepp, let’s go. Afterwards, I’ll show you around the grounds, and we can talk without worrying about any prying ears. I can tell you what I learned from the kitchen staff.”

Chapter Five

Lira stood on her balcony, head thrown back, allowing the ocean breeze to cool her over-heated body. Beneath the rush of the wind and the crash of the waves far below, she heard her stomach rumble. The sound amused her. This was the first time she’d felt hungry in the two months she’d been held captive in this rich functionary’s hellhole. She’d eaten, but only because she had to in order to maintain her strength, to fight for her life if need be. Now she thought she might be hungry enough to eat a proverbial horse.

As Lira turned back towards the room, planning to shower off and call for a tray, she caught sight of two of the men, the ones called Tanner Kepp and Redda Till. They’d doffed their shirts, and their bodies glistened with sweat in the red light of the setting sun. Lira found her eyes riveted on one freckled set of broad shoulders and one sun-tanned, rock-hard chest. As she watched, the men turned and strolled in the direction of the side gatehouse. Their posture was that of warriors, on their toes, at the ready. She saw how they bent their heads close together, talking so that no one could overhear. Discussing her situation, why they’d gotten themselves involved, and how the hell they could get out of it, no doubt.

She would have to connect with them tonight. Delay was a luxury she could ill afford. Without these three, all was lost. One thing concerned her.
Why had Regnan asked them to come?
His guards were perfectly capable of monitoring her movements about the compound. Speth and his two buddies had bullied her often enough that Regnan knew she’d stay in her rooms and out of their way as much as possible. Unless he didn’t trust them to keep certain parts of their bodies to themselves. After what Speth and his cronies had already shown themselves willing to do, rape wouldn’t surprise her.

These three men were different, almost like another species. They had been pulled from Battarq’s elite forces.
Why? Battarq wanted her kept a prisoner, didn’t he? Why would Regnan ask for them and risk exposure?
She already knew part of the answer to that question. He wouldn’t. Battarq must have forced him to do so. But again, her question was, why? What sick political game did the general play?

Her eyes followed the two men, and she perused the movement of their buttocks beneath the sweats they wore. Despite the seriousness of her predicament, Lira smiled. She couldn’t help herself. Perhaps it was the sight of two strong, beautiful, healthy male bodies striding across the thick, green lawn in the fading light. Perhaps it was simply the nearness of honorable men. The dark shadows the two soldiers cast upon the ground gave her an idea. She’d have to wait until the dead of night when the compound was quiet and all three were in their suite. It would be a risk, but the men didn’t seem like mere functionaries. In fact, they seemed quite the opposite, more like the knights in shining armor she’d read about in books from the palace library. Chivalrous, courageous, respectful men, the kind of men she had dreamed would be her consorts one day.

This was why she’d trained in the high pavilions, so she would understand how to give and receive pleasure, so she could bind her chosen consorts to her. Her body would be her bond. If they accepted her, she would be honor-bound to give up her life for them, to protect her consorts until she breathed her last.

Lira tore her eyes away from the darkening lawn. Her father would take her back, she didn’t doubt that. He would welcome her and her young sister with open arms if they could escape their captors, but her people would be another matter altogether. There was a good chance she would no longer be an acceptable heir to the throne. They might not believe that she had been forced by Regnan. She feared her people would consider her tainted, and she worried about her sister’s reputation. In order to rule, she or her sister needed to retain the respect of the people.

On the other hand, if she was able to rescue her sister and return home accompanied by three strong, virile, loyal consorts, not only would she salvage her reputation, it would go a long way to ensure something like this never happened again. She imagined her appearance before the World Court to accuse Battarq and his ruling junta of warmongering, subversion, and kidnap. If nothing else, her words would condemn the man in the court of world opinion.

To these three soldiers, such an action would be treasonous. But if they were the honorable men they seemed, wouldn’t they view Battarq’s actions as treason? By kidnapping the heir to the throne of Zhinshu, it was as if the general had flipped a switch and turned on a light that could only be turned off by death on a battlefield.

Many men on both sides will die
.
There’s more at stake than my life. There’s more at stake than my sister. With these men standing beside me, I might be able to prevent all-out war.

Chapter Six

“All right,” said Kepp, “let’s hear it. What did you find out?”

The men walked across the thick, green lawn as the sun set beyond the mountains across the channel. The building behind them cast a soft, rosy light over the grass.

“I didn’t learn much,” replied Red. “But what I did learn, you’re not gonna like.”

“The maid?”

“Nah, she ran off like a house afire. Besides, according to the kitchen staff, she’s a mute, not that I believe that shit for a second. Smart way to get information. If people think you can’t repeat what they say, they’ll say anything in front of you.”

“So who’d you speak to?”

“This second cook, or whatever they call ‘em. Cute little girl, a local, got hired on a year or so ago. She said two months back, Regnan shows up with this woman veiled from head to toe in black. He claims he got married and she’s his wife. Then he orders the staff not to speak to her without his permission. If he’s not here, he tells them they need Speth’s permission. He grabs her by the arm and throws her in his bedroom and locks the door.”

“He happen to mention to anyone he was getting married beforehand?”