Yield (16 page)

“Whatever the means, I
’ll do anything to get her back.  Just so we are clear on that.”

Caydon tensed his jaw, “
Understood.”

I took out my phone to text Wicker with findings.  If Caydon broke the window, then what was Joshlin doing here?

Before I could tap the screen, the leaves rustled outside the open door and Trigger appeared.

“You
’re supposed to be somewhere else.”

“Wicker has it covered.  Figured you might need a real man
’s help.”

“I
’m not in the mood for your stupid humor.”

“Too bad.  Your girl might if you
’d stop wandering the woods and make an actual rescue attempt.”

On the floor he ducked as I reared my fist back for my friend
’s face.

“We probably need his eyes intact to be able to see Cahn.  Let him be.”

Trigger laughed and thanked Caydon as he stood up again.

“It wasn
’t a favor to you.”

I dusted off my pants and looked at Trigger.

“And I take it you want to come with us?” I looked to the sky for a different answer than I knew was coming.

“Does a monk really want to be celibate?  Of course I do.” 

That was Trigger and his collective comebacks.  Of course he does.

Opening the phone
again, I couldn’t believe the luck I’d had in finding the perfect girl.  On the top of my phone was a missed call.  From Emma.

“Change in plans.”

Caydon stood with my announcement.

“What happened?”

“Give me a second to start the GPS app I attached just three weeks ago.  I knew making her get the new cell was smart no matter how much she protested.  She’ll thank me.”

“Dude.  You know your human device talk confounds me.  Talk normal.” Caydon may spend some time in the human world trying to escape his fate, but he still refused to embrace it. I hated admitting we had something, if small, in common.

I sighed inside.  Those human devices might have just helped me find the best and most wonderful thing that has ever happened in my life.

“Emma called my phone about sixteen minutes ago.  Give me a second to find her location.”

Caydon grunted and checked his weapons.  His knife was much sharper than mine today.  I’d not had a chance to clean up my weapons and Caydon had never actually used his other than practice.

He said he understood what I
’d do to save her, but he didn’t.  He was willing in the mind, but standing in front of danger and dealing the final blow wasn’t easy the first time.  Or the next.  Caydon knew my past and who required me to do what I did, but he didn’t know how it affects you.

No, he didn
’t understand.

I
’m not proud of what I’ve done, but I hope I can make myself a better person by being the person Emma claims me to be.  She could convince a tiger to roll over and bite it's own tail if she dared.  And I have no doubt she would.

At first glance of the coordinates on my phone, I blinked and adjusted my eyes.  It couldn
’t be right.

Frantic, I started searching rooms.  Caydon and Trigger called behind me so I yelled what the GPS said and kept on.  Trigger shouted out all kinds of reasons why the device is probably wrong, but it couldn
’t be.  It had to be right.

“Sit down somewhere and keep quiet so I can think.”

He would never find a woman to love him with the way he treats them.  I had a moment to consider this, since I was stuck staring at him in a cave in the ground away from society where no one knew where we were.  My hands behind my back tied rather loosely, I undid the knot and sat pretending to still be his indisposed prisoner. 
At least I’d knew my hands still held the power.

Joshlin had to have some underlying reason or background for why he was so dang cruel and out for revenge.

Maybe he was simply jealous of his brother or even his true heritage and rights.  Maybe he grew up having a tortured self-esteem from others in the realm for being the adopted step child of a sort.  Perhaps he even made Ames feel that way since he was younger and it backfired on him in later years since Ames is revered as a king anyway.  Regardless of the fact that Ames didn’t want the title, he was still treated as such.  Joshlin would have hated that.  Therefore, he stooped to treating others like peons to revere himself.

That had to be it.

I watched Joshlin trace the large cavern inspecting everything. 

“Have you not been down here?” I asked realizing why he was being so thorough.

“No.”

His sharp response shut me up. 

Things were different since I came here last.  The floor was cleaner as if Ames had taken a broom to it.  The stacks were not meaningless, but almost grouped in terms of weight.  The entrance to the small room leading to the paintings was clean and made the area seem less like a cave and more room-like.

And the axe was missing.  I searched the room for it.  Nada.

I veered my eyes back to Joshlin to stave off any ideas of him entering that room.  I probably couldn’t avoid it, but it would be nice if he’d just take a nap or something.  Hopeful thinking.

The painting with the treaty holding all answers was right here within my reach.  I chanced a look back at the room just to let my thoughts linger there.

“You can go get it now.”

I shot my head back to him.  “Get what?”

Joshlin landed his backend on a rock formed chair and folded his arms.  “It’s why you’re here.  I know you are aware of the treaty that could change the way our history could go for many generations to come.  If you don’t mind, I’d like to get on with it.  You’re prince-y boy will not be far on your heels if I know him well enough.”

“At least you acknowledge Ames will not leave me or give up till he finds me.”

“I never said he wouldn’t.  But I will make sure he never finds out what is on that treaty.”  He touched his lip where it was busted earlier.  His goblin genes were working overtime in the healing department.  I was glad I was part goblin at that sight.  Scars weren’t always as trophy like for a girl.

Showing the painting to him right now is a bad no-no.  He will rip it up or something.  While he pouted out his lip to wager the size of his cut I tried to envision how Joshlin knew things he shouldn
’t.  He had a rat listening in on us somewhere. 

“You know it says things I can
’t let happen?”

Was he asking or telling me to fish for information?
If he knew, he knew my fate.  That was his goal. “I have no idea what it says, nor do I care.”

“Then why are not running to find it and read it.  You
’re the smart kind, so why are you not attempting to get more involved with your own people and know their history?  Or do you have something to hide?” Joshlin’s eyes narrowed to slits.

Lord, what else does he know?

“If I had something to hide, for which I do, I sure as hell wouldn’t tell the one man who demands everyone around, shallowly takes advantage of others including girls who have no say in being in your clutches, or who kidnaps people for their own gains because of jealousy and the urge to own all the power.  I can see right through that menacing cover, Joshlin.  You’re not pure evil.  You made it down the wrong path at some point and you told yourself you couldn’t fix it, but you can.  You can still make this right.”

Whether he could change or not, I didn
’t know.  But I had to try if escape was to be a possibility.

“You have no idea what you
’re talking about you human imposter.  You have no business running our realm and only I seem to be able to see it.  Once I put your light out, our world can go on and get some kind of relief from years of waiting for a damn girl to wake up.  I hid you once.  I can hide you again.”

I change my mind.  Some people can
’t change.  Thinking pep talks were out of the question from here on out, I moved for plan get.the.hell.out.of.here.

“Get the treaty NOW.  I know it
’s down here.”

His red face
screaming at me like a deaf moron moved me into gear.  I briefly took back my earlier thought that Joshlin wouldn’t hurt me.  I think his recent little speech was to let me know that I wasn’t as important to the greater plan that I thought.  I was expendable in his eyes.

“Fine.  I will get it.  But if I do, you are not to hurt the painting.”

His eyes lit up like a light bulb.  Dang it.  I just let go of the sword I held him down with.  I was never good a keeping my mouth tamed.

Dashing around the whole room, I concluded that he didn
’t know where it was.  I took the quick opportunity to run into the little room, and with my freed hands, block the entrance with the first table.  I starting pushing, wishing I had a superpower like others.  It was a no go.  Blasting it would destroy it. I could use my only available power and knock the fire out of the place around me, but I was afraid I’d cave us in or worse, kill us both.

I managed to get the table over enough that it blocked the entrance and starting stacking gold.  It was only at about three-fourths the needed space for Joshlin to not be able to climb and get in.  Boy, were the clumps of gold heavy.  I wasn
’t anything like a weightlifter and I well knew it.  I understood now why Ames had such deliciously beautiful muscles all over his chest and arms. 

Clank.  Clank
.  The gold was stacked sky high.

Mad Hatter Frantic and full of venom, Joshlin kept screaming obscenities.  I didn
’t have much time.  I was a raving lunatic if I thought I’d get away with this. No, the raving lunatic was still screaming at me from the other side of this table, but anyway! 

I scurried off the table where I stacked the gold bricks to the highest I could reach and faced the painting.

Wary of tearing the canvas, I turned it over to the back.  Taking the sharpest piece of gold left from part of the heap on the opposite table, I made tiny little cuts on one side and I found instantly that it was not single layered.

Sticking my finger along its edges, I slid my cut up pinky nail in to peel it up and hopefully reveal a small piece of hope.  Tickling the side, I jerked upward when one of the rocks, not gold, fell and semi-rolled over to my foot. 

Joshlin was getting in.

I worked faster. Trying to tear open a priceless heirloom and keeping yourself from tearing your future dreams was beyond stressful when a spastic goblin prince wanna-be was about to throw not just rocks, but large boulder weighted chunks of gold at you in the process.

The first sliver of aged brown paper slipped out with my mangled and bloody fingernails.  I had it partway free when Joshlin had the final area of needed space to get in the room.  I writhed and screamed when his arms came around me and pinned me to the ground topside. 

My hands bound to the side and my feet held down by his body weight, I continued to scream though no one would hear me.

I screamed and I screamed.  I’d never screamed like that before and it created a panic like I’d never felt.  It was true when people said that keeping calm does make you more level headed because I was in full fledged maniac mode.

I pulled one hand free.  The hand that was worse where my fingernails were completely bloody and torn from Randor
’s strong arm tree hugging adventure clawed till it drew blood from his forearm.  I then bit his arm and heard his scream feeling a small justice.  My shirt ripped more making the sleeve completely torn off, but thankfully no peep show offerings.  Just as I was targeting another bite, I heard something in the distance behind him.  Voices.

I was rescued.

Joshlin apparently heard the same because he threw half his weight over to the side and tore the rest of canvas back while laying across the front of me.  The brittle paper fell to the floor giving me a glimpse of soft curvy writing and a indistinct signature at the bottom. 

All within the seconds to cause such destruction, Joshlin was cleaved and thrown across the pile of gold.  Like a cat, he swung around and was up the ladder before I could say a word about what he had.

Too late, I thrust out my hands to move the earth or some grand disastrous thing, but my fear of caving us in held me back.  I really needed to get control of these hands.

Of course, the treaty had been turned backwards from my view and I didn
’t see a single word other than a blurred name.

Being that Joshlin took her in broad daylight near my cabin made me suspicious to begin with, I just didn
’t know he knew all the much about its location.  Guess my brother hid yet another splinter of information from me that I’d missed.  I was aware he knew more than he was ever telling.  I generally had good spies within the realm walls.  If Wicker or Trigger couldn’t find out the dirt, Brooks or Katelyn could.  Joshlin had purposefully hidden this.

I covered every inch of the cabin to no avail.  Caydon stood with me in the kitchen gulping down water and doing the same thing I did, looking around for any clue that would signal something.  Trigger was searching the grounds.

“What about a hideout?  Is there something near here that he could’ve taken her?”

Then it hit me. 

I had to risk showing Caydon what was below to get to her if she was down there.  I could send him somewhere on a wild goose chase, but it all made sense.  Joshlin would take her where I would never look.  He just didn’t count on the updated technologies of the human race being able to track him so easily.  I can’t say that he should have got out of the realm walls more, for it seems like he did just that.  If he is down there, he knows more than I thought.

And if he is down there with her...

Rounding the tight corner of where I had the trap door, my suspicions were confirmed.  The rug was askew and revealing what was beneath.

Caydon didn
’t ask and I didn’t offer.

Trying the door, it did as I predicted.  Knowing I couldn
’t get it opened from the topside with the locking mechanism I installed, I had to form another plan.  Turning to Caydon, I told him what we had to do.

“What do you do when you run into a wall?”  I asked him throwing my hair out of my face from where I was looking up.  I took off to the back of the cabin with Caydon and Trigger in tow.

Caydon answered with a grin, “You push through it.”

“Or go around it.”

The axe I’d borrowed from the cave to take down two trees was still propped against the back porch rail.  Hightailing back to the hatch door, I revved back and hit making only a crack in the wood.

“At that rate, she
’ll be buried in there with her now true love no doubt getting her next kiss from him by now.” 

“If that
’s supposed to make me work faster Morrow, it will only get you ugly and mangled faster for your own bride to be.”

“Bride.  Wow.  Already thinking of marriage.”  Caydon released his best weapon, the shiny sword, with the third blow of my axe.  He alternated hitting the wood as I slammed the head of the axe into the center of the door.

“Like you haven’t,” I barked knowing full well we were both about to admit we were changed men due to a woman no matter how different our pasts have been.

“Yeah.  Funny how one girl can turn your life upside down and make you say and do things you swear you never would.”

“Guess for once, we have one thing in common, Morrow.”

“Guess so—

A scream came from below.  Emma’s.