Once Lost Lords (Royal Scales, Book 1) (42 page)

“
These are minor wounds,” She stated. I
chuckled weakly. How many bullets had Mister Janns shot me with?
Seven? Eight?

“
That is his blood all over, not some other
fool’s. Well, most of it is his.” Evan’s
grandfather sounded so dry when he spoke. The tumbleweed accent was
the only thing that gave variance.

“
I was shot, a few times.” I should be
broken. It should be me dying, not Julianne.

“
You don’t seem surprised, missy.”
Evan’s grandfather was addressing Kahina over my head.

“
I’m not. I’ve seen this before.”
The dark skinned woman responded.

“
You knew?” I made it through the fuzz in my
head and managed to ask a question. Again my
brain tried to
drudge up hazy memories from years ago. Nothing solid stood out.

“That you healed? Or passed out afterward? Sure I did, Jay.”
She gave a faint smile. “Why do you think we always ended up in
bed after a tough job?”

I nodded slowly. Her words sparked vague memories.

“I’ll settle this myself. Who was it, Jay, who hurt her?”
Her business face was back, but there was still emotion in the tone.
Perhaps she was more distracted by memories than I was.

“Janns.”

“Are you certain?” Her voice went cold in an instant.

“Very,” I grunted.

Kahina’s face lost all expression for a moment. Her mind
retreating in thought. The normal signs of life all paused as her
body froze. Then she nodded and was gone in a flurry of motion.

“Come on, boy, we’ve got things to do.” Evan’s
grandfather tried to lift me up by one arm. My body was too heavy and
worn.

“What?” I mumbled a reply and blinked slowly.

“Stand up, brush yourself off, and walk with me before you pass
out. A fella’s waiting on you.” The silver-haired elf had
bent at the knees to stare at me.

I wasn’t completely sure I could stand up, but I tried anyway.
It was easier than it should have been. The weakness from before
wasn’t as bad. Not being shot in the last few minutes helped.
Things still felt unsteady, but each limb worked.

“Move it.” The old elf was grumpier sounding the more he
talked.

“Where are we going?” I took a look at Julianne, at the
circle of wolves around her. It isn’t easy feeling useless. Not
when it’s a friend whose life hangs in the balance. My career
choice should have been a doctor, instead of a street thug.

“Leave them be. They’ll try, and it’ll work or it
won’t. We’ve got more pressing issues.” Evan’s
grandfather walked off into the distance, and I limped slowly after
him.

“The fire?” I asked.

“It’ll settle. There’s old bindings on these
woods.” The man dismissed any questions of the fire with
typical mumbo jumbo.

I guess that was why it was raining. Though what had caused the fire
was still a mystery to me. It felt like it had been going since the
start, since the button had been pressed. What exactly had happened?
Was it something that I caused, like the blisters on Kahina’s
Second?

“Put a little hustle in those boots,” He said.

“Sorry. I was shot.” I dryly responded. My only defense
for going slow was the truth. Not to mention the fact that I
shouldn’t still be walking.

“No excuse for crawling along.” He didn’t care at
all.

“It’s excuse enough.”

“Take off that skirt and put some man pants on.” Evan’s
grandfather was making fun of me now. If his face was in view I would
know for sure.

“What?” I asked with some confusion. He didn’t slow
down. If anything the old elf marched even faster. The mental fuzz
was weighing heavily and my eyelids drooped slightly, for a moment.

“Not yet, boy. Come on.”

“Where are we going?” It sounded more like ‘are we
ing?’ through my sleepy speech. My body jogged itself to waking
after stumbling over a tree root of some sort. The near face plant
helped a lot and forced me to concentrate on putting one foot in
front of the other.

“Not going, gone. We’re here.” He said.

“What?” I slurred the question while looking around.
There was a large armored car, big enough to house an entire platoon.
It stood with all the lights on and engine humming. The area
surrounding had nearly transformed to daylight.

“Jay, is that you?” Daniel’s voice came from out of
a speaker or something. I wasn’t exactly sure what was going
on.

“Crummy? My face was easier to control than it had been awhile
ago. One eyebrow twitched trying to rise in confusion.

“Thank God, man, I was thinking this whole operation had turned
to shit.” The back of the large, nearly tank sized vehicle
started lowering. Light spilled out of the opening gap.

He was complaining as he stepped out onto the forest floor. Behind
him was a handful of armored Sector agents. Each one held their gun
at the ready, but none of them were taking an aggressive stance.
Three in the front and three in the back.

I hadn’t noticed at first because of how demanding the light
from the armored personnel carrier was, but there were more than a
few dead bodies laying around the area. Arrows sprouted from some,
others showed wounds that were clearly teeth marks or claws.

“Woh, man. Calm down. We’re surrendering.” Daniel
put his hands up.

It wasn’t until I felt the elf’s hand on my shoulder that
I realized a growl was coming out. That was getting to be a terrible
habit of mine.

“Start explaining, Crummy.” I said.

“Sure, first, I want you to know that everything is going
according to plan.” He emphasized the last few words. “See,
our goal was to get Arnold…”

While he started explaining, I watched something else that didn’t
make sense. The three guards that were in the back slid their guns
over, drew knives in unison, and slit the throats of the armed men in
front of them. They were so quiet and careful that I almost missed
it. Powerful hands kept their respective targets quiet, and for a
moment I worried they might march on Daniel next.

“Well, almost according to plan.” Daniel amended his
earlier statement, but it wasn’t aimed at anyone in particular.
“Remember Arnold? He was the key to all of it.” My
bewildered look was answer enough. Or all the blood that was drying
on me. Or being shot. “How about what I said about the cult?”

Behind Daniel, all three bodies slumped forward with a gurgle of
blood. One man managed to reach a gloved hand up to his neck to try
and stop the flow, but moments later he was lifeless. The sound of
them falling was loud in comparison to the shocked silence of their
murders, and Daniel grinned almost in time with the noise.

“Turns out it’s all true.” Daniel turned over his
shoulder and looked at the others, then down at the three dead
guards. “Good, start the next phase.”

The three guards all nodded, then reached into pouches at their
sides. I tensed up expecting betrayal again. Not that I had enough
strength to fight them. Almost as one the guards bent down and ripped
off insignias of the Western Sector enforcement officers and replaced
them with some other one from their pockets then moved on to other
dead guards in the area.

“Start talking.” The words were ground out from between
my lips.

“Sure. In a moment, man. Hey Rolo, any casualties on your
side?” Daniel looked over at Evan’s grandfather.

“A few wolves, but not too many considering.” Rolo
answered.

“Good. It was a pain in the ass to switch out those clips
before things got started.” My friend the Western Sector agent
shook his head and frowned.

“What the hell?” I was amazed that Evan’s
grandfather responded to Rolo. Plus Daniel had someone switch out the
weapon clips and that made no sense.

“Sorry, man. Mind if we walk and talk?” Daniel pointed
off to one of the other armored vehicles.

“Uhhh…” I stuttered.

“Good. C'mon, we’ve got to get everything situated
right.” He stalked off towards a string of bodies that littered
the road. Rolo stayed behind to help the three remaining guards with
whatever task they were about.

“Crummy!” I limped after him.

“So it goes like this. Arnold Regious, truly in a cult. For
real, man.” He sounded damned happy. “He turns up on your
radar, then on mine, then on my boss’, and so on to the right
and wrong ears.”

“So?” I was starting to get annoyed at him. No, I had
been annoyed, then happy, confused, and now back to borderline
angry.“This whole thing was a setup. Would you believe they’d
already approached me? I told you I was trying to figure out an angle
on my assignment.” Daniel waited for me to process the
statement. It sounded vaguely familiar but with all that had happened
recently I was still lost. He continued with his explanation.

“The cult, well, kind of a militia group, kind of a cult,
wanted Sector assets. Easy enough to requisition all the outdated
armor. Load them up, figure out who their members are. Had to use a
few tricks to get in this deep.” Daniel sighed and looked
around at the mess outside the other charred wrecks.

He started stomping through to the lead vehicle.

“They would have done anything to recover Arnold. I tell them I
can track Arnold, bring you back in, sorry by the way.” I
barely caught what he was saying in time to be upset. “Results
in most of their members in this area being dead. Hurt them good. All
because they invested so much in tracking down your cremated body.”

“What?” I was confused. Daniel stopped over a nearly dead
Sector agent and motioned to Rolo in the distance with an open hand.

“Arrow please.” He said.

Rolo walked over. There had to be more to that name. It was too…odd
for an elven name. Evan’s grandfather handed over an arrow from
his quiver and Daniel sunk it into the man below him. He lurched as
the last of his life was stolen.

“Wasn’t he one of yours?” I was so lost.

“No. My men are better trained, aren’t wearing outdated
Sector armor, and don’t swear loyalty to a human supremacy
group. I did have five guys here all ordered to encourage friendly
fire accidents, then retreat when ordered to the last APC.”
Daniel sighed and stood back up. ”Only three made it.”

“What?” I was still lost. Maybe it was the recent combat
or the bullet wounds that were trying to heal. The drowsiness after
using my abilities certainly didn’t help.

“Let me put it this way. My men don’t wave guns with
bright lights attached. That’s just stupid.” Daniel said.
He was right about one thing, a pack shouldn’t have won out
against that many agents. Not without quite a few causalities.

“How did so few die?” I said. The explanation did help a
little bit. It also made me feel even warier around Daniel. What kind
of calculating mind could plan out an entire operation to lure one
set of enemies into attacking a full pack in their woods?

“Fake ammunition. The first bullet was real silver, the rest
were a weighted polymer and lead mix. And the fact that all the
explosives that had been rigged at your house…” He bent
near another person to lift a visor and check out who it was. A frown
crossed his lightly freckled skin and Daniel settled to his knees.

“Crummy.” I needed more information. My mind was still
replaying the other words, where he spoke of the explosives left at
my apartment.

“Shit, Riley, you were in the wrong truck.” Daniel’s
eyes closed for a moment and I could make out his lips moving. His
face blanked out for a moment.

“Crummy?” I asked.

“Sorry. Riley wanted last rites, hope that’s good enough,
man.” His fingers brushed the fallen agent’s eyes closed.
Daniel stood up and dusted off his knees. Darkness and rain were
slowly swallowing up the dying embers.

“Sorry.”

“No plan is perfect.” He sighed and shook his head.
“Anyway, that little button was tied to the explosives that had
been at your house.” My eyebrow raised. I still felt
emotionally dead about that, almost like an arm was cut off and the
wound already cauterized. “Had. I moved all of the explosives
into the rest of this caravan here.”

His arm gestured out into the rest of the line of cars. You could see
charred husks that had once been armored vehicles with guns mounted
on the top. Bodies hung out of some of them that I couldn’t
make out well enough.

Honestly, I was thankful that it was difficult to see the carnage.
Other parts were all too graphic due to the back light of flames. It
cast some of the bodies in an eerie glow. What should bother me was
how comfortable the scene felt. Instead, all that came to mind was my
stuff.

“Crummy?” I questioned again.

“Yeah, man. Your stuff is all okay. Or it should be. Just get
home, relax, everything turned out almost perfectly.” Not once
did he turn around to see Riley but I could tell that was part of
what he meant.

“How?”

“How did I find you? When you were in the woods out here? That
part was easy.” Daniel walked over from where he was with a
shit eating grin on his face. He fumbled a hand under the collar of
my jacket, one that was battered and torn from all the gunfire. A
moment later he fished out some small round device no bigger than a
fingernail.

There was enough in me to be slightly upset.

“I’ve been tracking you. Figured it was easier than
bothering you every few days and pretending to be grumpy. I had it
placed when we knocked you out back at Julianne’s. Besides,”
he crushed the item between his fingers. “we’re friends,
I had to look out for you.”

I had forgotten how scary Daniel could be to anyone not on his side.
The grogginess made it difficult to completely digest everything he
said, though. My lights were on, but no one was answering the door.
His description sounded like I had been played as part of some larger
scheme. It gave me some hope that something would come out alright,
something, but not everything.