Death and Honor: Book 2 of 2 (17 page)

To be safe Xander stepped into a shadow and emerged beside his brother’s table. He appeared to be alone. Xander sat down beside Gabriel and grinned when his brother jumped. “So, are you here for the food or the company?”

“The company.”

“I’m flattered. After our last conversation I doubted you’d be eager to seek me out. Still you shouldn’t dismiss the food. I have a broiled rock lurker on the way. Want to split it?”

Gabriel smiled. He had dark circles under his eyes. “Did you catch it yourself?”

Xander nodded. “I spent most of the day down by the river, reminiscing I guess.”

“I haven’t been fishing since you, Morgrin, and I went before the attack.”

“Neither have I, but something drew me to the water today.”

“I need you help little brother.”

“So I assumed. You can tell me about it over dinner.”

“We can’t talk here.” Gabriel seemed nervous and Xander couldn’t imagine why. “Do you remember the Church of the Bright Shield?”

“Sure, it’s a landmark.”

“Meet me there and be sure you’re not followed.”

Equal parts annoyed and curious Xander said, “I’ll be there in an hour.”

X
ander emerged
from the shadows across the street from the church. The lack of portals in the church surprised him. He crossed the street and slipped like a shadow inside the building.

“Welcome,” A kind voice said

Startled Xander reached for his sword, but found only an old man standing beside the altar. “Where’s Gabriel?”

“Your brother is waiting in the kitchen.” He gestured toward the rear of the church. “I have tea brewing.”

Xander followed the old priest toward the back room. “Who are you that my brother shares his confidences with you?”

The priest looked back and smiled. “Never fear, everything will be explained in time.”

He found Gabriel pacing in the kitchen, a teapot whistling on the stove. The old priest bustled over and poured three cups. The smell of mint filled the room. “Tea’s ready.”

“Solan, how can you think of tea at a time like this?” The agitation sounded clear in his brother’s voice.

“Tea will help you relax and clear your mind so you can focus.” Solan passed out the mugs. “Sit, please.”

Gabriel did as the priest bid and Xander sat across from his brother. Perhaps now he’d learn what was happening. “Well, brother, what’s so important to cause you to seek me out?”

“Someone very important to me was kidnapped. Unless I give them an artifact they say they’ll kill her. I want you to help me rescue her.”

“A woman, I should have guessed.” Xander remembered the women in his life and what he’d do to protect them. Perhaps his brother wasn’t so different from him after all. “Why don’t you give them what they want?”

“It’s not that simple.” Gabriel set his mug down and looked at Solan who nodded. “What I’m about to tell you may sound improbable, but I promise you it’s the truth. Do you remember when Father went after the bandits a little while before the attack?”

“It was his last mission.”

“One of the items he recovered was an artifact, a piece of a magical key.”

“Let me guess, that’s what the kidnappers want.”

“That’s right, but I can’t give it to them. It would be far too dangerous if they got their hands on it.”

“Fine, but what does this have to do with Duke Cariden?”

“He’s allied with the kidnappers. They want me to bring the artifact to the mansion of one of the duke’s friends at midnight tonight.”

“So the duke kidnaps your girlfriend and demands a ransom. When this is over will you still object to me killing him?”

“Would it matter if I did?” Gabriel asked.

Xander shook his head. “No, was just curious. What do you want me to do?”

“I’ve created a counterfeit artifact,” Solan said. “Gabriel will take it to the front door to meet the kidnappers. While they’re distracted you sneak in and rescue the girl. You must move fast as it won’t take them long to realize the key is a fake.”

“Why don’t I go in, kill everyone but the girl, and bring her out the front door?”

“Too dangerous,” Solan said. “If the demon senses your arrival it will kill the girl. If you wait for it to be distracted you will have a better chance.”

Xander shrugged. “Suit yourself. When do we move?”

“They said midnight so why don’t we headed out now and scout around first?”

Xander got to his feet. “The tea was excellent.”

“Perhaps we’ll share another cup before you leave.” Solan said

“Perhaps.” Xander gestured for Gabriel to lead the way.

They left by the back door and started toward the mansion. Xander followed a step behind his brother. After a few blocks Xander said, “What would you have done if I didn’t come?”

Gabriel stopped and looked back. “I never considered the possibility that you wouldn’t help me. We’re family.”

Xander smiled when they resumed walking. Typical Gabriel, assuming he’d help for no other reason than his brother asked. He was right, of course. Xander knew the pain of losing someone you love all too well. If he could spare Gabriel that pain he would.

They stopped in a dark alley across from the mansion. Two guards stood by the main entrance, big, muscle bound, types, there for decoration more than anything.

The demon is in there. Not much of one mind you, but a demon all the same
.

“That was expected.” Xander mouthed the words without speaking. “How many guards?”

A dozen at least, perhaps more. I can’t tell from here
.

“What do you think?” Gabriel asked.

Xander took a moment to orient from mental conversation to verbal. “If the guards at the door are any indication we shouldn’t have any trouble. I can’t see through walls though so I can’t say what we’ll find inside.”

Gabriel nodded. “Thanks for doing this, Xander.”

Xander offered a cool smile. “You’re lucky we’re family. If you had to hire me it would cost you a fortune.”

Gabriel glanced up at the moon and figured it was close enough. “Ready?”

Xander nodded and Gabriel started toward the mansion. Xander pulled up his hood and watched. When the door opened he stepped into the shadows and out of time. Xander shadow walked into the mansion, peering through one portal after another, never leaving the timeless void of the shadow realm. He lost count of how many portals he checked before he found a room with guards standing out front. That must be the room, but he only had one chance to get it right so he found a small portal in the well lit room. A blond wisp of a girl sat in a bed covered with stuffed animals. That had to be her.

Xander drifted to a portal across from the guards and drew the devourer. Dark power and insatiable hunger filled him. He stepped out of the portal and into the hall, a dark figure out of the guards’ nightmares. Two slashes in as many heart beats and the bisected guards lay bleeding on the floor. Xander slashed the hinges off the door and kicked it in.

The girl stared at him in slack jawed horror. Xander knew how he must look and sheathed his sword. “You’re Amanda?”

She nodded, unable to speak.

“Gabriel sends his regards.” Xander held out a hand to help her up. “If you want to live come with me.”

Amanda’s hand seemed small and fragile in Xander’s as he led her through the mansion. With the devourer’s ability to sense the guards he avoided two patrols. Their luck could hold only so long so when they emerged from their most recent hiding place Xander asked, “What’s the fastest way out of here?”

Amanda looked around with wide, frightened eyes, but to the girl’s credit she kept her wits. “At the end of this hall is a staircase. At the bottom turn right. The main corridor leads right to the front doors.”

“All right, I’m sick of hiding. We’re going straight for the doors. Stay behind me and out of the way.”

Amanda nodded, and they started down the hall. Xander reached out to the devourer. “Where are they?”

So you finally mean to stop hiding? Three humans are engaged with your brother. Two guard the staircase, and nine patrol the mansion in groups of three. The demon is approaching from behind. It’s forty yards away at the girl’s room
.

“Good, keep me advised of the demon’s position. I can handle the thugs on my own.”

They reached the end of the hall and turned down the stairs. Halfway down Xander stopped. “There is a pair of guards at the bottom of the stairs. Wait here while I deal with them.”

“How do you know?”

Xander held a finger up to his lips. “I just do. Now keep quiet.”

He left Amanda standing in the stairwell and slipped down to the bottom. Xander sensed the guards through his connection with the sword. He raised the devourer and prepared to lunge out and kill the guards.

The demon approaches. It will reach the girl in moments.

Xander pulled up his hood and leapt into the shadows. He floated in the shadow realm trying to sense the demon.
Why didn’t you run back up the stairs?

“Because I want to reach the demon before it reaches the girl. With any luck I can ambush and kill it before it knows I’m there.”

Excellent plan. I haven’t tasted demon flesh in centuries.

“Are we getting close?”

The demon blade hesitated, it always seemed uncertain in the shadow realm.
A little further up. Now we’re even with it. It’s using magic to stay invisible. Let me guide your hand and we can take it.

“Do it.” A clawed, skeletal hand wrapped around Xander’s sword hand.

The devourer urged him forward. Xander stepped out of a portal and lunged the moment his feet touched the stairs. The hand on his guided the blade up and to the right. The metal slid through something and a moment later a wriggling form flicked into view on the steps. He guessed the demon was around two feet long; it was hard to judge since Xander had cut it into two pieces. The top half featured a horned head and the bottom a barbed tail.

“What, by all the watching gods, was that?” Amanda pointed a trembling hand at the remains of the creature.

After she spoke black fire flared around the demon and reduced it to ash. “That was a demon.” Xander mentally slapped the devourer’s bony grasp from his hand. Before he could say more the guards charged up the stairs. “Stay behind me.”

Xander stepped in front of Amanda and met the first guards slash with a parry. He forced the guard back and leapt a cut from the second man that would have taken his right leg off. Xander landed on the steps and slashed down, cutting the first guard in half. The devourer crackled with power after killing the demon.

The second guard hesitated when he saw his partner taken down and that gave Xander all the opening he needed. He slashed low, taking the guard’s legs at the knee and sending him tumbling down the stairs. He looked back to check on the girl and found her staring at him, hands over her mouth, eyes wide. Xander forced himself not to smile.

They walked down the steps, careful not to slip on the blood. At the bottom Xander paused long enough to lop the moaning guard’s head off. They entered the hall outside the stairwell.

“Which way?”

“Right, then the next left.” The girl shook and he assumed shock was setting in.

He grabbed her hand and they ran down the hall. When they rounded the corner they arrived in time to see Gabriel finish the last guard. Amanda spotted his brother, pulled away, and ran to him. She leapt into Gabriel’s arms and Xander smiled with more warmth than he had in a long time.

Gabriel set Amanda down. “I knew you could do it. Let’s head back to the church.”

“You two go ahead. There are more men in here. I’ll deal with them and catch up.”

“The mission is accomplished.” Gabriel eyes held a pleading look. “You don’t have to kill anyone else.”

“Rule number one; never leave an enemy alive behind you. Better to kill them now then have to fight them later. Get her out of here. I’ll take care of this.” Xander stalked back into the mansion before his brother could say another word.

G
abriel left
his brother and Solan talking in the kitchen while he went to get Amanda settled. He led her by the hand to the small guest room across from Solan’s bedroom. She hadn’t said a word since they left the mansion. They sat at the edge of the bed. “Don’t worry, you’ll be safe here.”

She looked at him, tears streaming down her face. “What’s going on, Gabriel? First those men grab me then that man in black rescues me and says he knows you. I wasn’t sure who I should fear more, him or the kidnapers.”

“The man in black is my brother, Xander.”

Her eyes widened. “I thought he died in the fire.”

“Up until yesterday I did too. I was wrong. He’s come back.”

“Why?”

Gabriel couldn’t look at her. “He came back to kill your father. He believes Duke Cariden was involved in the attack that killed our parents.”

Amanda put her hands on either side of Gabriel’s face and turned him to face her. “Why does your brother think that?”

“Because your father was involved, he’s made a deal with demons to claim the throne. My father was on the verge of figuring out what was happening. The demons decided to remove him. Your father didn’t order the attack, but he knew and said nothing.”

“How could he?” The pain in Amanda’s voice brought Gabriel to the verge of tears. “Has he lost his mind?”

Gabriel shook his head. He had no answers for her. He had few enough for himself. “I’ll do my best to stop Xander from killing him.”

“Can’t you arrest him?”

“If I could he’d still be executed for treason, but it doesn’t matter since I can’t prove anything.”

“Treason.” Amanda leaned back in bed and sighed. “I hadn’t considered that.”

“Considered what?”

“Do you know what will happen if my father is found guilty of treason?”

“Beyond his execution I hadn’t thought about it.”

“It’s much worse than simple execution. The crown will strip the family of all our lands and holdings, erase our name from the histories, we’ll be reduced to nothing. Twenty generations of loyal service wiped away by one man’s ambition. Perhaps it would be best to let you brother have him.”