Gideon [The Marujan Brothers Series] Book Two (5 page)

Gideon screwed up his face.
As much as he loved his Hadaen, he did not want to be a
bad-tempered asshole for the rest of his life.
Glancing upwards, he studied the slightly visible sky, the tall
pine trees blocking out most of the view. From what he could see
though, they would have a fair evening ahead of them so they had
best make good use of it before the anticipated shower later on. He
glanced at the woman again, her back turned to him as she followed
his brother through the dense woods. Something was very strange
about her. She’d said she had travelled from her village on foot
for months but still all she carried was a case of bow and arrows
and a sword. No utilities. No supplies. And yet she appeared as if
she hadn’t even walked half a mile. And he still could not wrap his
head around the fact that she had entered Marujan land undetected.
If they guards had never been more competent in their jobs before,
they were now. Simply because he knew Deorci was out there
somewhere. Another attack was still possible...by him or some fool
who might want to boost his position by honoring the monster. They
hadn’t felt his wrath back in the Hub that night—Gideon could admit
that as much as it pained him to since he had lost the one
thing…the one woman he had felt something for. But if Deorci was in
fact out there, they’d better not lower their defenses. If and when
he stroke again, it would not be a day many would live to tell
about. That is, if anyone lived at all.
Gideon kept his eyes trained on Amanda of the Alexanders as best as
he could; recording every movement she made. There was something
about her. If only he could figure it out…
Breaking out of the cave of pine trees, the damp scent of the earth
circling around them, all three came up on what Gideon and his
elder brother knew as the plain of Maruj. It was a wide,
lowly-weeded area spreading out many miles to the north and around.
There was nothing but open land and light wind, the stillness of
the air somewhat worrying. And worrying it was when he turned to
face Amanda of the Alexanders, chewing away on a smooth bottom lip
and glancing awkwardly around her. Adrenaline immediately flooded
his veins.
“We’ve got a long way to go to cross this one,” Faolan muttered,
hands resting on his slender hips. “Damn.”
Without even thinking—hell, he had no time to think—Gideon grabbed
her by the arm and yanked her around to face him. Shocked and
defiant eyes glowered up at him as she inched the arm holding her
sword a little higher. Was she threatening him?
"Hey!" Faolan snapped and shoved him away, wedging himself
carefully between the two. "We don't have any time for all this
bullshit, okay? Keep this up and we'll never get anywhere!" He
pinned a cold glare on Gideon and spat. "You should know better...
Now what the
fuck
is up?"
Amanda of the Alexanders folded her arms. "He's the one who thinks
it's his right to lay his hands on me." She stepped forward and
Faolan raised a stilling hand at her. "Let me tell you something,
where I am from I'm just as important as you are and if my father
were to hear of this, he would have your brother's head on a
platter at dinner for the damn
centerpiece
!"
Faolan winced and sighed, turning on his brother, who rolled his
eyes dramatically. "
Well
?"
Gideon twisted his mouth disgustedly.

"Leave it to you to fall
for such a weak speech from a woman, Faolan. I would just love to
watch you two warm to each other right now—
and don't think I haven't noticed
—but I'd very much like to keep access to my eyes for a
while." His jaws clenched and unclenched harshly. "Why don't you
ask her how she got here exactly?"
Faolan dragged his eyes from Gideon and focused his gaze on Amanda.
She stood completely still, lashes lowered as she peered at both of
them sheepishly. There was a defiant air about her—as if she was
used to the need of constantly having to prove herself. Then she
did the unexpected...the inevitable, regardless. She blushed
heavily and her face fell. Faolan eyed her dubiously, a muscle
ticking in his jaw. "How did you get here?"
Sighing, she threw a burning glance Gideon's way and let out a
heavy breath, readying herself to speak. And when she did, her
voice was no higher than a low croak. "I cast a spell."
"What?"
"
I told you she was a fucking
witch!"
Gideon roared.
"I am
not
a
witch!"
"No, you didn't." Faolan scratched the back of his neck, trying to
make sense of the situation.
Fuck, his
head was starting to hurt!
"W-Well, not verbally!" Gideon fumed. "Who's side are you on
anyway?" He then shook his head and raised his hands up at eye
level. "I won't touch her, alright?" And he moved around his
brother to face the witch. She was brave, he knew that for sure.
"What spell?"
Amanda chewed on her lip for a while and then placed the sword on
the ground at her feet, very closely to her feet. She then lifted
her skirts slowly, reaching a hand to the waist of her leather
trousers. Both men stepped closer and she narrowed her eyes at
them. Faolan immediately turned away, whistling some odd tune.
Gideon, on the other hand, was a bit reluctant, grumbling as he
turned his back.
"Here it is." It wasn't a full five seconds later that her voice
came ringing through the air like that of a child who'd just
stumbled on a forbidden cookie.
Gideon eyed the small black silky bag that sat in her upturned
palm. He shared a questioning glance with his brother and then
stared her dead straight in the eyes. "What is it?"
"It's
suhki
," she
muttered, eyes suddenly brightening with pride. "We use it in our
village for a variety of reasons. It brought me here."
"How?" Gideon asked.
Amanda opened the bag and reached two slender fingers inside. When
she withdrew it, nothing fascinating happened. On her fingers was a
dash of a dark sandy substance. There was nothing magical about it;
plain as daylight. "It holds some of the most treasured sources
of
magikos
known
to my village."
"Looks like dirt to me..." Gideon mumbled when his brother's elbow
came jamming into his side. Ignoring Faolan, he took a closer look
at the substance in her hand. "Ok. So what now?"
She smiled. "Now? Now, I open the portal to Baamel."
"What's Baamel?" Faolan queried.
"It's a nation just outside of Liguanea Villa, neighboring the Hub
by a thousand miles. You've never heard of it?"
Gideon blinked. He knew of a fairly small nation of that location
but not by the name of Baamel. He'd been there—he and his
brother—the first time when he and Hadaen had been out searching
for Amelia all those years ago.
"I know it," he said, reassuring Faolan. "Hadaen and I passed
through three years ago. At that time, I'm sure it was called
Peldine...or something like that."
"It
was
called
Peldine," Amanda confirmed. "Before its leader, Jahmel Peldine
posed a silly war against my people. He was overthrown by his men
and his right-hand man took over. Malakai Baamel, his name
is."
Gideon frowned. The name didn't ring any bells. But why would it
when he had only slipped through the place? He hadn't
time—especially because of Hadaen—to familiarize himself with
anyone. "How long ago was this?"
"Two years. Maybe less," she responded, not keeping her eyes from
her sword. "But if you've finished satisfying your curiosity of me,
Lord Gideon, I suggest we continue our journey." Her eyes were cold
now as they averted to his face.
Faolan cleared his throat and nodded. "Let's go, then."
"Stay where you are," she cautioned when they made to move forward.
"Your difference in energies from mine might interfere. Whatever
you do, do not say a word. This spell is very delicate. I don't
know about you but I would rather not end up in a trench in the
middle of nowhere." And she pinned them both with a long glance
until they backed up a couple steps.
Amanda turned and quickly slid the bag into its original position,
blushing as she knew well enough what their thoughts might have
been when she had first reached inside her waistband. She shook her
head. Men and their perverted minds. Bending to retrieve her sword,
she then inhaled deeply and closed her eyes.
Gideon watched her closely as her head fell back on her shoulders
slowly, her body perfectly erect.
"
Comë malak consè beh
..." she said in a mutter that quickly developed into a
chant.”
Comë malak consè
beh
..."
A chilling breeze blew around them. The sky darkened just a shade.
Amanda of the Alexanders then threw her hand up, the dark substance
tossed upwards.......
.......but it never fell. Gideon looked on in amazement as the
clump of dirt—er,
suhki
—floated around in the air before them, a heat-like haze
forming. And it grew taller, wider forming a translucent door-like
entrance right in thin air.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" Gideon chuckled. Faolan
raised a brow at him... and when he realized that he perhaps should
still be angry at her deceit, he yelled, "Let's go! We don't have
any more time to waste."
And he moved past both of them and stepped, however, awkwardly
through the portal. The rancid scent of spoilt fish was the first
thing that greeted him when he got to the other side, followed by
the salty taste of the air and the smell of burnt wood. Gideon
swallowed down the urge to orally dispel his guts and decided to
study his surroundings instead. He was currently standing in what
looked like a half-burnt wooden house—perhaps a study or a small
sitting room. Around him were broken armchairs, a pair of mildewed
sofa and an overturned bookshelf. Everything else must have
perished in the alleged fire.
"Damn; what the fuck died in here?" Faolan's voice went.
"
Shhh
," said
Amanda of the Alexanders. Gideon could tell she was right behind
him. "This house may be burnt but it's still someone's
property."
Gideon narrowed his eyes on a side-door across the room from him
and started towards it. "Let's go. Before I throw up..."
"Wait," she gasped, rushing behind him. "There's another door at
the back. We should use that one."
Gideon gave her long hard glance and then nodded reluctantly. He
followed her directions to the backdoor and shoved it open slowly,
brilliant sunlight flooding in on them so sharply it made him
wince.
"Damn," he groaned. "I haven’t seen sun like this....in ever.
What's this place called again?"
"Baamel."
"Mm. Faolan? How you feeling?"
"Just get the hell out of the way before I knock you out. You're
blinding me here."
Gideon chanced a look behind him and saw his elder brother's deep
scowl, a hand shading his eyes. Grinning, he stepped outside and
into the cool air.
Baamel didn't look significantly different from the commoner
village in Maruj. The only true difference about the two places is
that Maruj would do well with some of this weather. Gideon nodded
to himself. Yup, we'd do well with a little more sunshine now and
then. They moved into the streets which was highly populated by
people, bustling and going about their respective businesses. He
could hear the evidence of locksmith's tools, the familiar roar of
patrons inside a bar.....and the mouthwatering scent of potatoes
and stew. Hell, he hadn't realized he hadn't eaten since morning.
And that rump with Dahlia had surely left him feeling
wasted.

Groaning lowly, he paused
in his tracks and observed. Ahead of them was a long straight road
which he assumed would eventually bring them out of Baamel. The
sides of that road were littered with houses and shops....small
business and motels. To the east was a very clear and small
woodland area, what he presumed was used by the villagers as a past
time sport area.....and for shooting.
"What now?" Amanda's voice came, thoroughly distracting him from
his thoughts.
"Do we even know where we are headed?" Faolan said. Then he turned
to look at her. "Do you know?"
She shook her head. "I wish I knew...but I don't."
"This is just great," Gideon swore, his impatience starting to act
up. "Just great."
"I could try to contact her."
Both men spun to look at her. "You can do that?"
She gave a timid shy. "I-I could try..." And all certainty flew out
the window for them. "I'll try."
"You can start tonight," Gideon told her. It was not a question. No
request. He was demanding it of her. If she weren't a woman.....and
if she could not somehow sympathize with the hurt she assumed he
was currently feeling, Amanda probably would have told the dimwit
Lord Gideon a piece of her mind at that moment. But she
didn't.
"Okay." She swallowed down the lump in her throat and inhaled
deeply. "I'll try tonight."
"We should get some place to stay in the meanwhile," Faolan
suggested. "Tomorrow, we'll set out on our search.....providing we
find any leads."
"We should." Gideon frowned and looked around cautiously. "I don't
know but I'm having a strange feeling about this place.
Faolan?"
His brother stepped forward, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the
area swiftly. "Your right, little brother. We got a strange energy
nearby. One similar too—"
Faolan cut his words short as he remembered Amanda's presence.
There was no need for her to know what didn't concern her. The look
Gideon gave him confirmed his own thoughts.
"It's very strange, alright." Gideon nodded and took a step away.
"Let's go. We need all the hours we can get tonight."
And all three started off, apparently mixing with the crowd of
Baamel villagers...and completely unaware of the cloaked creature
that trailed their every move.

Chapter Six