Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (43 page)

Ever since, even though Cuffins believed that
he had a rat’s chance in hell of ever hooking up with Brishava—he
never stopped secretly wishing that maybe he’d be the one to rescue
this princess one day, and now maybe that day had finally come.

“You’re Princ—” Cuffins tried to say—Baltor’s
sword, however, had just cleanly sliced off Cuffins’ head!

Even though the troops had become quite
confused as to what was going on, they did recognize that this
other man was a serious threat as he had instantly killed their
lieutenant, while also figuring out from their lieutenant’s last
words that this woman was the princess.

Immediately all but one guard drew out their
swords and came in for the attack, though the guard who hadn’t
drawn his sword had instead grabbed the princess by her hand and
quickly yanked her out of harm’s way.

Fortunately, for Baltor, due to the rather
narrow street, only five guards could come in for the attack at
once, and this is exactly what they did. Still, his sword arm was
so incredibly fast that he was able to deflect every single attack,
occasionally landing in a finishing blow of his own, one after the
other.

One minute later into the battle, the very
guard that had pulled a non-fighting Brishava back to safety, soon
observed that all of his buddies were slowly but surely being
slaughtered, and he promised her, “Come with me, your Highness, and
I’ll get you to safety!”

She said, “No way.”

The second she said “no way,” he decided to
take it upon himself to get her to safety anyway, so he picked her
up, threw her over his shoulder, and began to run.

This time, Brishava began to scream and fight
back—however, his grip on her was quite tight and secure as he ran
toward the palace’s main entrance about three blocks away.

Baltor heard her screams, and he quickened
his offensive strikes. Ten seconds later the four remaining guards
were dead.

Immediately he booked with his superhuman
speed, and ten seconds later, he had nearly caught up to the guard
that was seconds away from rounding the last corner before the
palace’s main entrance about fifty feet where dozens more palace
guards were stationed, and hundreds more inside.

Before the guard could get round the corner
however, Baltor lunged and plummeted hard into the back of the
guard, which caused the guard to crash hard onto the ground with
him on top. As for Brishava, she flew to the ground a couple of
feet farther away, and not only landed hard on the ground, yet was
now in visible range from the palace gates about fifty feet
away.

Without pause, Baltor snapped the guard’s
neck, ran over to Brishava, quickly picked her up, hightailed it
back out of visible range, and then gently set her down onto her
feet.

After giving her the up-down look, he asked,
“Are you okay?”

She nodded her head, and said, “My shoulder
hurts a bit from slamming into the ground, but other than that—yes,
I’m okay.”

His eyes glanced furtively around as he said,
“Brishava, we’ve got to get going and quickly—more guards may have
seen us! Hop on my back.”

She did, and he again used his super speeds
to get them back. Never before had she astonishingly ever seen
anyone move so fast.

Less than five minutes later, he slowed down
his pace a quarter-block short of the Guild, and said, “We’ll be
there in a moment. Until we find my friend and I say it’s okay,
we’re going to remain completely silent without a single word
spoken, okay?”

She tightened her grip even more, and sighed,
“Okay.”

A second later, they stopped in the shadows
of the thirty-foot wall that contained the Guild.

After glancing from side to side to ensure
that the coast was still clear, Baltor climbed almost to the top of
the wall, gripping the edges with his fingers. Slowly he pulled
himself up until just his head peeked over the wall.

When he saw that the coast was clear on the
other side, he dropped back down to the ground, told Brishava to
climb on his back, scaled back up the wall, and then climbed back
down on the other side.

They made their way stealthily to Humonus’s
apartment, and once they had arrived nearly ten minutes later,
Brishava stood back on her feet. Meanwhile, Baltor tapped the door
quietly several times, but no one answered. He knocked again, this
time louder, but still no response.

With frustration to his voice, he growled,
“Damn. There’s no way for me to get underground before
morning!”

“Why not?” she asked.

“Because,” Baltor quietly explained, “there
are guards who watch the main entrance at all times, and I don’t
have a pass.”

Just as he had finished saying that, a good
idea crossed his mind. He snapped his fingers as he said, “Better
yet—climb on my back and let’s just go to my other friend’s
apartment, and see if she’s there to get us in.”

She nodded her head, and said, “Okay.”

With her once again on his back, he snuck
over to Lydia’s onsite apartment, which took several more
minutes.

Once there, he knocked loudly on her door
several times, but no one answered.

Clearly frustrated, he cried, “Damn. Now I
don’t know what to do—I have to get underground soon! See? The
skies are seriously beginning to lighten up. Dawn will be here
soon!”

“There’s got to be something we can do,” she
came back. “Are there any other side entrances that lead
underground around here?”

He snapped his fingers upon thinking about
the spa, and said, “Yes I do.”

“Which way do we go?”

“Damn it—forget it! I don’t know how to get
there from above ground—damn it!”

She sighed, “You must seriously relax. An
answer will reveal itself before it is too late!”

“The answer to what?” Baltor asked with
frustration.

“The answer to the problem of how to get you
underground before the sun rises.”

“The only other answer I can foresee is
fighting my way inside, even though I do not want to go this
route!”

She didn’t say anything, though a deep look
of concern was clearly there upon her face.

Grimly shaking his head, he said, “Let’s
go—we’re just going to have to fight our way in, and hopefully
we’ll be able to hide ourselves way down there where no one can
find us until tonight.”

Once they had gotten to the side of the main
building, a minute later, they then began to hurry for the front
doors.

It was right then that he knew it was too
late to fight, as the sun had just risen, for he instantaneously
felt both very weak and tired. The only thing that worked in his
favor was the fact that the shadows here would block the sun’s
rays, but for only a couple of hours.

Only seconds after the sun had risen, he
instantly found his weakened legs give out beneath him, causing him
to stumble and crash into the ground.

In turn, she flipped him over onto his back,
laid his head upon her lap, and began to rub his hair.

His eyes wanted to shut from sheer
exhaustion, but neither did they want to close and no longer look
upon her lovely face.

From out of the corner of his very sleepy
eye, he noticed a furtive movement, and looked over to see someone
jogging upon the winding cobblestone path. A few seconds later he
realized that it was Lydia.

“Lydia,” he tried to call out but found that
the only sound produced was a hollow whisper.

Brishava had heard the name, however, and
yelled it out way too loud.

Lydia instantly stopped in her tracks, but
saw only two shadowy figures, one sitting and one lying on the
ground by the side of the building. She next observed that one of
the guards by the door had heard the sound as well, and had begun
to hurry toward the source of the noise.

A moment later, she said while slowly
approaching closer, “Who are you?”

“Tell her that it’s Baltor,” he whispered,
his eyes now closed.

“Baltor,” Brishava repeated a bit louder
though not too much.

Lydia walked closer, and upon seeing
Brishava, she asked, “Who—who the hell is that with you?”

“I’ll explain in a minute. Right now, I need
to get inside,” Baltor whispered as loud as he could, hoping Lydia
heard.

The guard asked as he neared the group, “Is
there a problem, Mistress Lydia?”

“No, there isn’t. I know them. They’re with
me.”

“Yes, ma’am. Would you like assistance?”

“No, thanks, I’ve got him,” Lydia said. She
then assisted Baltor by draping one of his arms over her shoulder,
while Brishava draped the other one over hers. They led him inside
and past the guards.

Once seated inside on the lush couches, Lydia
probed, “Who is that with you and why is she here?”

Even though all Baltor wanted to do was
sleep, he explained, “She’s just a friend—I brought her
here—
yawn
—because there were guards chasing us and I had no
other choice.”

“You know the rules, Baltor,” Lydia replied.
“The High Council will not be pleased.”

“What they don’t know—
yawn
—won’t hurt
them,” he sleepily replied.

Lydia was about to reply to that, but
Brishava interrupted, “Please, Lydia, we need a place to sleep, for
now, deep underground. We’ll be out of here by tonight, I
promise!”

Lydia scanned from Baltor to Brishava, and
back.

From an immediate glance, she could tell that
this young woman was deeply concerned for him, yet suspected more.
She could also tell that he was already seven-eighths asleep on the
couch—Lydia’s sympathy got the best of her.

A moment later, she said, “I don’t know what
the hell’s the matter with you Baltor, but you two can sleep down
in the underground caverns, but only for today. Do not leave
tonight, as I will come down so that we can talk further before you
go.”

“You got it, and thank you,” he said, just
before he yawned real deeply.

The two girls assisted Baltor into a deep,
underground tunnel.

Once Lydia had stopped in her tracks, she
said, “This place will do. But remember, before you leave tonight,
I need to talk to the both of you.”

After nodding, Baltor plopped down onto the
ground, and was already sound asleep…

Once the sun had just set, Baltor was the
first to wake from the depths of unconsciousness—he felt something
very warm curled up within his arms and chest, and heard something
else. It was the sound of two hearts beating almost as one—for the
very first time since his transformation to an undead vampire did
he become aware that he still had a heartbeat!

He opened his eyes, and through his
night-vision, he clearly saw Brishava sleeping contentedly away on
him. His mind was greatly relieved that his stomach hadn’t
accidentally gotten the best of him.

Perhaps from his ever-so-slight movement, she
sighed. He asked lightly, “Are you awake, Brishava?”

After a pause, she asked back, “Hmmm?”

“I said, are you awake?”

“No, I was sleeping. The first time you asked
that question, I thought I was dreaming—I was afraid to wake up and
find that it was only a dream, my love!”

From her response, he could only deeply sigh.
Never in a million years had he ever imagined that he could be so
happy.

Even in the utter darkness, she turned over
so that she was facing him and began to cradle his face with both
of her warm hands. “My—your skin is a bit chilled. I wish I had a
blanket to keep you warm, my love.”

“I—I can’t believe it.”

“What can’t you believe?”

After a moment to formulate the right words,
Baltor answered, “I can’t believe how happy I am! I can’t believe
that I’ve been lucky enough to meet you.”

“Really?” she cooed. She then began to kiss
his cheeks and forehead with her lips in an effort to warm them
up.

He laughed confidently, “Yes!”

Despite the utter darkness of the tunnels,
her lips soon found his and they began to kiss, softly and gently.
A minute later, their kisses began to intensify as their passion
began to rise!

Only seconds later, however,
someone
interrupted their built-up passions—he stopped in mid-kiss to look
toward the direction of the virtually soundless sounds, and he
could clearly see Lydia approaching through the pitch-black
tunnel.

Brishava whispered, “What is it?”

“One moment,” he whispered back. He then
spoke aloud, “Mistress Lydia, I’m over here.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that you are,” Lydia
answered—her voice was strangely without emotion.

“We shall be leaving immediately. As for
where we’re going, we plan to let the tides—” he tried to say
before he was interrupted.

Lydia interrupted irritably, “You can’t go
anywhere! The High Council needs to speak to both you and your
girlfriend, who just happens to be the Sultan’s daughter!”

He asked, “How’d you know about her?”

She snapped back, “Who doesn’t know?” She
then added, “The Sultan is tearing Pavelus apart in search of her.
It will only be a matter of time before he finds our headquarters.
Please come with me.”

“Listen, Mistress Lydia, we can escape out a
back entrance or something. And then we’ll be gone forever!”

“No, Baltor, I’ve been given strict orders to
take you two before the High Council, as soon as possible,” Lydia
insistently replied.

He stood in front of Brishava, before he
replied, “No. Please—you must let us escape out a back
entrance—just report to them that we were long gone by the time you
got here!”

“No,” Lydia snapped, just before she snapped
her fingers—six other people came from around the bend behind her.
Two of them bore flaming torches, while the other four carried
weapons.

Baltor quickly drew his sword and assumed the
ready position.