The Illegitimate Claim (8 page)

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The Illegitimate Claim

he really was acting. Her mind was fogging from the wine and she couldn’t think

clearly.

“To the most beautiful woman in all of Gothman,” Andru said when he stood in

front of her. He spoke quietly as if his attempt was discretion, and at that moment Ana

wasn’t able to tell whether he wanted anyone to overhear him.

They began to wander through the large group of soldiers, all loud and boastful of

their warrior skills. Ana began to feel like a rag doll as she was passed in between

Gilroy and Andru. She was consistently in one or the other man’s arms. Although

Andru held her affectionately, he never let his hands stray across her body. On more

than one occasion however, Ana had to stop Gilroy’s wandering hands, and whisper to

him that there would be time for that later.

Darius and Tara were part of the large group of warriors who filled the back- and

side-yard, of the large Bryon house. They stood off to the side of the garage, where a

large bonfire and quite a few torches provided ample light under the star-filled sky. The

townspeople and hundreds of Runners from the Blood Circle clan had congested the

streets of Bryton. But up at the Bryon house, the guards on duty ensured that only top-

ranking warriors would be allowed to drink with the lord in his yards.

Darius saw his children the second they came around the side of the garage. They

were easy to spot as the warriors parted to allow them to walk by, and sang their

praises to the heir of Gothman with raised mugs of ale. The whoops and hollers grew

louder as his son, daughter, and his first commander approached the middle of the

crowd. Tara walked up to Darius’ side as he watched.

One of Darius’ high-ranking warriors and loyal member of his personal guard told

a handful around him of a brave feat Gilroy performed while in battle. Gilroy stood to

the side of the man, with his arms wrapped around Ana. The warrior finished his tale

and mugs of ale went up in tribute. A mug was handed to Gilroy and he passed Ana to

Andru in order to take the mug.

While Gilroy participated in the toast, Andru and Ana stood off to the side. He

could see his son clearly. Darius felt his heartbeat increase as Andru pulled Ana into his

arms with her back firmly pressed against his chest. Ana twisted in Andru’s arms and

Tara’s hand went to Darius’ arm. Their daughter turned around so she faced her

brother, wrapped her arms around his neck, reached up and kissed him on the neck

before resting her head against his chest.

“She’s drunk,” Tara whispered to him.

Darius looked down into his claim’s concerned eyes. He knew his son would be in

control of the situation. Regardless of how much wine his twin sister drank, Andru

wouldn’t let her do anything he didn’t want her to do. Darius’ blood boiled. He looked

back toward his son and saw Andru bury his face in his sister’s hair then slowly look up

and meet Darius’ gaze. The challenging look Andru gave him was undeniable.

Darius felt no inhibition as he studied his son’s face in the ample light from the

fires. He’d admit to himself that Andru was at least as powerful as he was. The young

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man worked hard to enforce unending loyalty among his men. His son would respect

him, though. He was Lord of Gothman and that was his one ultimate gain over his son.

He had final word, and his word was law.

Andru met his papa’s gaze from across the yard and saw clearly that it might be

impossible to counter the lord. The man was powerful and the look he gave him at the

moment was just that. Andru would be treading on thin ice trying to carry on an

investigation behind his back. He decided at that moment that it was a chance he’d

take.

“Andru, I do believe you and Gilroy have given me too much wine.” His sister

squirmed in his arms and he felt his body react immediately. He pushed her slowly to

arm’s length and she looked up at him with lust-filled eyes. “I don’t think I want to be

at this party anymore.”

Ana would be an incredibly passionate lover tonight and it took all his strength to

look over her shoulder to where Gilroy stood several feet away. His friend turned to

look at him and must have seen the turmoil in his eyes. His first commander turned to

say some final words to the men who stood around him and then turned and walked

over toward the twins.

“I believe it might be time to take your claim home,” Andru said in a voice slightly

deeper than he wished it to be.

“Have we distracted Papa?” Ana asked in a teasing tone as she leaned her head

back against Gilroy’s chest but kept her arms around Andru’s waist.

“I think we have, my lady,” Andru said softly as he looked down at her. He

unclasped Ana’s hands from him, and then pushed her back toward Gilroy. “Take her

home.”

He locked eyes with his first commander, and envied him miserably at that

moment. Gilroy led Ana toward the gliders as Andru stood and watched. Then, for a

brief second, his mind’s eye focused on a petite woman with inky black hair flowing

down her back. He saw her only for a moment and then she was gone.

Slowly, he turned his head toward the Lord of Gothman. Darius stood talking to his

first assistant, but turned to meet Andru’s gaze. Andru walked through the crowd

toward his papa.

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The Illegitimate Claim

Chapter Five

Meah lowered the glider as they neared the end of the flat plains and came upon a

forest.

“Are we going to camp here tonight?” Tory asked as he jumped from the glider to

the ground.

His sister jumped down after him and then Meah climbed off and stretched. “I

thought it looked like a good place.”

She turned and studied their surroundings. After three days of traveling, they’d

fallen into somewhat of a routine. She flew four to five hours each day then found a

place for them to set up the tent and enjoy the rest of the day. The twins could only sit

still for so long on the glider and she had to be fair to them since they hadn’t asked to be

part of her age of searching. Tearing down the tent site and then setting it up again at the

next location took a fair amount of time. The twins were very eager helpers, and Meah

spent more time instructing them on why things worked the way they did than

accomplishing the tasks at hand.

Things were no different that day. Tory and Tia pulled the tent poles from their bag

and laughed as they swung them at each other and pretended to be in one of the many

battles their mama had told them about. Then, once the tent stood half upright, they

would run inside it and desperately try to help their mama finish the project from in

there.

Gathering firewood was another adventure. Once the tent stood, Meah made sure

she was properly armed before the three of them ventured into the woods to gather

large sticks and larger fallen branches. Meah quickly filled her hands and then laughed

as the twins desperately tried to drag half a fallen tree back to their campsite.

“This way we won’t have to go look for more wood later.” Tory smiled at his

brilliant idea and Tia looked up at her mama, smiling as well.

“You are procrastinating.” The aged voice caused Meah to jump and turn quickly

toward the source.

“Dog-woman!” The twins dropped their large burden and ran to wrap their chubby

arms around the old lady.

“My children. Look how strong you are to move a tree. Crator sends you His

blessing.” The dog-woman wrapped her thin bony arms around the curly-mopped

children and squeezed them to her. She then focused on Meah. “You must put aside

your fears so you can see what Crator offers.”

“Put aside what fears?” As usual Meah was confused by the old woman’s words.

“You travel slowly.”

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“The children get tired of sitting in the glider.” Meah wanted to continue

organizing their site, but felt the need to give the dog-woman her attention.

“They have driven longer distances in the past.” The dog-woman’s glassy eyes

made it difficult to tell where her gaze fell.

“Is there a reason why I should be in a hurry? It’s been five winters since I’ve been

to my clan site or to Gothman.” Meah watched the dog-woman and knew with a tilt of

the old lady’s head that the woman now focused on her.

“You won’t go to your clan site but straight to Gothman. But you will go south.

Head north when Gothman is above you.” The old woman bent over to kiss the

foreheads of each child and suddenly she was a large dog. The children laughed with

excitement and chased after the large dog until it disappeared into the forest.

Later that night, Meah sat cross-legged on a cloth mat outside the tent. She and the

children played counting games after supper and then chased each other around the

open area in a vicious game of tag. When she finally encouraged the twins into the tent,

just as the sun edged the horizon, she barely got through half the story of the twins that

would one day rule the two largest nations in Nuworld when they were sound asleep.

She studied the writings on the disc Rog had given her as she had for the past few

days. They were definitely more writings of Crator. Unlike the books brought up from

the Neurian nations, these books seemed to be in pieces. The writings focused on

speeches that a great prophet of Crator told the people of Oldworld tens of thousands

of winters ago. Before the speech ended, the writings would change and tell about a

conspiracy to throw a ruler who was unjust from his throne and replace him with a

follower of Crator. She made notes as she read so she could try to organize the writings

and possibly incorporate them in with the writings of Crator she’d learned as a child.

The whole process grew tedious quickly and before long she noticed the stars had

appeared in the sky.

So the dog-woman was sending her south. But if she went south before she headed

north it would take longer to reach Gothman. The dog-woman told her she was

procrastinating. Why should she be in a hurry? And if so, why should she detour to the

south?

Another thought came to her as she relaxed on her mat and stared up at the stars.

Was there some type of trouble? She wrapped her hands behind her head and relished

the comforting sound of the crackling and popping of the remains of the fire several feet