Book I of III: The Swords of the Sultan (45 page)

The two then made their way out of the tunnel
and into the city streets—they were easily able to escape the city
walls of Pavelus, with Lydia’s paperwork in Brishava’s hands.

Shortly before the next morning, they had
located a cave just north of the city, and they camped in this cave
during the daylight hours.

When Baltor awoke the next night in the cave,
he felt before he saw that Brishava was no longer sleeping on his
belly—he skillfully searched the pebbly ground for her tracks, a
brand new master thief skill, noticing that her last set of
footsteps led outside.

Upon exiting the cave and seeing the last of
the dusky skies to the west, he saw that her tracks continued to go
the same direction.

After looking up from the ground, he saw that
she was standing about four hundred feet away on the sandy beach,
while looking westward across the Sea of Albusina, presumably
having just watched the sun set below the darkening waters.

A split second later, he was right behind
her, and he wrapped his arms loosely around her waist while
nuzzling his chin into her neck—immediately her petite hands came
to rest comfortably upon his muscular arms.

He whispered in her ear, “Are you okay?”

She sighed, “Yes, I am, my love.”

After a short moment of silence, he dared to
ask, “Are you sure you don’t want to go back home?”

She turned around to face him, and after
studying his face with a very serious look for a moment, she then
asked, “And take a chance at losing you?”

He didn’t answer.

After another moment, she sighed, smiled, and
then declared, “Never. I love you too much!”

“How can you love me so much when I don’t
even love myself?”

She caressed his cheek with one hand and
sighed, “The only thing that I know is that the first time I saw
you in my dreams, I fell in love. And now that my dreams have come
true, my greatest fear is that I will wake up and find out that all
this was only a dream….”

From her comment, or maybe it was her touch,
or maybe both, he didn’t know, but he found himself beginning to
chuckle.

Even though her hand never stopped gently
caressing his cheek, she did stop to ask, “Why are you laughing,
mister?”

He didn’t relinquish his chuckling, but said,
“I don’t know, miss.”

“I do.”

“Oh yeah? Then why am I laughing?”

“Because you love me!”

Once realization hit, he stopped laughing and
confessed, “Yes, I do love you. I am in love with you—I want to
marry you tonight!”

“But where can we go, and who will marry
us?”

“Good questions,” he answered. He turned his
head to the right and left while he scanned the horizons, yet no
answers formed, internal or external. “I don’t know.”

She wrapped her arms around Baltor, clasped
him tightly, and then lightly whispered in his ear, “I have an
idea.”

He whispered back, “What’s that?”

“First, before I tell you of my idea, I need
to know something about you. Do you believe in God?”

He pulled back from the hug so that he could
see her entire face, and then he asked, “What kind of a question is
that?”

“Just answer it, please,” she said in
kind.

“I… I have never met God, if that’s what you
mean. But I do believe that it takes intelligence to create
intelligence.”

“So, is that a yes?”

“Yes,” he said slowly. He was still unsure of
where her line of questioning was leading.

She said, “I don’t know that any of us have
met God, either, but I choose to believe that He exists. It is in
my beliefs that God started the scenario of this universe, and that
He is watching us to see what we do with it—for good or for evil,
while always hoping for the good.”

He listened attentively to every word she
said. Despite her interesting religious beliefs, and despite the
common knowledge that it had been her own grandfather who had
banned all religions in the empire, he didn’t understand where all
of this was leading, so in silence he waited for her to finish.

Her gaze dropped down to his powerfully built
chest, and her little hand soon followed where she then began to
draw little imaginary circles there.

A few moments later, she looked back up and
suggested, “Maybe it’ll take us many days, months, or even years
before we can find a Justice of the Peace who will dare to certify
our marriage. So with vows that stem from our hearts, minds, and
souls, why don’t we marry ourselves before God, right now?” With
her piercing brown eyes, she looked back up at his face, and waited
for an answer.

He sucked in a deep breath and then asked
incredulously, “We can do this, ourselves?”

“Why not?” she asked. A second later, she
added with both of her eyebrows rising into those sharp angles he
found so very attractive, “Later we can have an official wedding
that is best suited for the heir and the heiress to the Sharia
Empire!”

He cocked his head slightly to the right in
confusion, and asked, “Right here—right now?”

“Only if that’s what you want.”

He confidently stated, “I do—I really, really
do!”

“Me, too!”

In unison, the two slowly released their hold
of each other, yet they continued to face each other.

Before he could start, she did as he she
swore, “I, Brishava Helenus, do love you, Baltor, with all of my
heart, mind, and soul!”

She raised her arms toward the heavens, and
with growing excitement to her voice, she exhaled, “I declare unto
this world, unto this universe, and most especially unto God—from
this day forth, and until eternity’s end, I shall always be your
loyal and loving wife.”

He took from her impending silence that it
was his turn, and he said, “I, Baltor Elysian, do love you,
Princess Brishava Helenus, also with all of my heart, mind, and
soul.”

Following suit with her physical gestures, he
added, “I declare unto this world, unto this universe, and most
especially unto God—from this day forth and until eternity ends, I
shall always be your loyal and loving husband!”

The two, on cue, joined hands.

She ever so gently added, “I also promise
that I shall always be supportive of whatever decisions that you
make, in the present and in the future. I only hope that you will
always be supportive of me, and mine.”

He similarly responded, “I also promise that
I shall always be supportive of whatever decisions that you make—in
the present and in the future, and I only hope that you will always
be supportive of me, and mine.”

He then began to chuckle as he added, “Even
though I haven’t ever had the privilege of getting to dream about
you, I think that the reason for this is because you are beyond my
wildest, imaginable dreams!”

She laughed at his comment for a moment, and
in the next moment, she asked, “Really?”

He answered very seriously, “Really.”

After a moment, she then asked with a soft,
tender, and very sensitive voice, “Well? Aren’t you going to kiss
your bride, Lord Elysian?”

He dutifully responded, “With pleasure, Lady
Elysian.”

A gentle kiss began between the two, and only
moments later, the gentle winds of the sea had begun to pick up, as
if to confirm their mystical marriage by lifting both of their long
strands of thick hair into the wind, whose hairs soon became as
one.

Once the magical kiss was completed and their
hair had settled back down due to the dissipating winds, she then
asked, “Aren’t you going to carry me inside our honeymoon suite, my
husband?”

“Yes, my wife,” he answered. He picked up his
wife and escorted her back into the cave—the rest of the night was
filled up with incredible and wonderful passions between the
newlyweds….

The following night, after he had woken from
sleep, an idea slowly began to form as he lay there—all the while,
she continued to sleep contentedly upon his stomach.

At first, he recalled from his geographical
studies that the Sea of Albusina continued northbound for a little
over a hundred miles before it angled northwest. He also recalled
that the Bospa Mountains wrapped around the Sharia Desert, on both
the eastern and northern borders, and about twenty miles northwest
inside the mountains, there was another seaport called Lasparus,
which also belonged to the Sultan.

Because his newlywed wife needed food and
water to survive, of which he had neither, his best idea was to
head north alongside the coastline until they reached the
mountains, make their way east through the mountains, pass through
the jungles, and ultimately make their way back to
Chao-chu-sha-maen.

Once she had woken up, he suggested his plan
to which she immediately agreed, and the two began to travel north
on foot. By day, they slept deep in caves, and by night, they
continuously hoofed it, so that they could easily hide from other
passing caravans, and most especially, the Sultan’s troops.

Throughout this trip, he found it strange
that she never questioned him on his unusual eating habits,
especially for the fact that he would always leave shortly after
having made dinner for her so that he could scrounge for his own
food.

Also throughout the trip that took a little
less than a month, he first talked about his youth and his
ancestral sword. He also talked about the tragedy that befell his
parents because of that very sword, and his subsequent destitution.
He then talked about his running into Lydia and the Guild. In
addition, of course, he talked all about his recent quest,
including the world map, but never did he talk about the Rod of
Ro’shain, or Trendon Harrn, or the fact that he himself was an
undead monster.

Her love for him only flourished from his
words. In turn, she talked about her own youth, and the fact that
only four months prior, her father had involuntarily engaged her to
wed the Duke of Vispano, who she said was only younger than her own
father by nine years—almost three times her own age.

After all, these two men had concocted the
plan to unite the two massive kingdoms into one ultra-powerful
nation via the marriage ceremony. Following a week-long honeymoon
spent between bride and groom, both leaders would march/sail their
armies and navy, approximately 110,000 forces total, down the
coastline to Mauritia, and not only easily conquer this city, yet
the entire Vaspan Empire.

Though she mentioned many hobbies she liked
to do, she said that her favorite hobby was riding on horses,
equestrian style. From all of her precious words, he found himself
falling in love with her more every night that passed.

Once they had reached and entered the
tree-filled mountains, they turned east, traveling through the
valleys. Three more nights passed without incident; but on the
fourth night, when he awoke, he realized that his wife had once
again left the cave.

He followed her footsteps northbound for
about eighty feet, noticing that they had stopped at a bush filled
with ripened raspberries. He also saw several other horse tracks
that had come from the north. From the looks of it, she tried to
escape, but one of the horse’s riders had grabbed her in mid-stride
and thrown her onto the horse!

Since he realized that Brishava had been
kidnapped, anger and rage quickly set in—he immediately followed
the tracks, yet found that they ended at a thin, gravel road that
led both east and west. There was no indication on which direction
her captors had gone.

As he was unsure of which way to go, he then
began to contemplate what he did know, which would probably become
his only options. He pretty much assumed that going west on the
road would lead him toward the city of Lasparus, though he didn’t
know where the path to the east ultimately led, as there was no
indication of this road being there when the map was made.

He then tried to rationalize on who her
captors could be,
Was it the Sultan’s troops who got her? If it
were the Sultan’s guards, they’d surely take her to Lasparus first,
but if it were anyone else, then there’d be a fifty-fifty chance
that they’d head to Lasparus, right?

He decided to take his chances and run west
as fast as he could upon the road that most likely led to Lasparus.
After about eight miles, the road started veering northwest, which
confirmed his suspicions.

About an hour before morning, he spotted a
cave to rest, and that’s where he slept without incident.

The next night, he continued his journey.
Even though hunger had set in, his love for his wife prevailed, and
he chose to ignore his hunger pains. Three more nights passed until
he finally observed the lights of Lasparus. Throughout this trip,
he did not run into any passing caravans, guards, or his wife. But
upon the second night of his trip, he did cross upon a beaver that
temporarily eased his hunger.

During this time, he focused his mind not on
his pains, yet contemplated on all the possible locations his wife
could possibly be in this city, if she was there at all.

The best possible solution seemed to
infiltrate Lasparus, find and kill a “vermin” in order to reacquire
his vampire abilities, and locate the palace.

He had long ago learned from his schooling
that there was a palace built for the Sultan in Lasparus, though
seldom, if ever, did this man come here to visit.

Once at the palace, he would locate his wife,
assuming that she was actually there. If she wasn’t there, he had
no other clues of where to look for her.

Fortune smiled upon him once he arrived, as
he saw only a single line of guards patrolling around the perimeter
of the one-hundred-foot tall walls. He quietly knocked out the very
last guard in the column, of whom he suspected was “vermin,”
dragged his unconscious body into a large group of bushes, bit into
his neck, and then drank from this man’s blood though limited
amount of knowledge, mostly about farming and a sliver about
soldiering. In the end, Baltor found out his suspicion about Vushna
being vermin was true—he had raped a girl only a year earlier.