Gideon [The Marujan Brothers Series] Book Two (13 page)

Chapter
Sixteen

T
he bright morning sun blinded him the moment he forced his
eyes open. Feeling awfully assaulted he shut them back immediately,
groaning as his senses finally took notice of his painfully stiff
muscles. 
Damn
it
! He had overslept but somehow the
realization did not send him into an instantaneous fit to rise.
Instead, he found himself remaining completely still in his form
and willing--rather begging--himself back to sleep. Gideon felt
unbelievably dreary and a bit insane. A part of him desperately
wanted to give up all hope of ever finding Esyth but the much saner
part yearned to keep searching. 
He'd often been told, growing up, that dreams were the windows to a
man's desire; a subconscious communication with oneself. If only
such dreams did not feel as real and equally as threatening as
reality, more so than often, did. He had been so caught up in the
dream for it had offered all he had ever wanted.
Needed
. He had felt the
qualms of happiness, and was so filled with joy and relief that he
had finally found his woman. 
So, what indeed had caused him to be still lying beneath the
heavily branched tree and soaking up precious time was the
disappointment that he actually had not found Esyth. 
Yes, Gideon was disappointed. And angry. Utterly angry. 
Gideon felt Malakai's approach long before he probably would have
seen the man, followed by Mia's; the intensity of their presence
strengthening until he could feel it hovering over him like death
itself. He quite preferred such hovering any day over the
disappointment he was currently feeling. 
But Gideon neither gave way to a blink or the tiniest of flinches,
rather waited, the darkness within him—the anger—boiling to a
massive heat he knew he would not be able to contain. Beneath all
the emotions currently roaring within him, though, he was quite
content that neither of them made any attempt to touch him, for he
would never feel guilty for what would transpire afterwards.
Malakai Baamel would put up a fight; it was a guarantee, really,
but Mia... Mia was a simple mortal and that within itself was
self-explanatory. 
"You think he's sick or something?"
Mia's voice came, tinged with true concern and slither of
fear.
Gideon could feel Malakai's ridiculing scowl. "Hardly," the man
replied, dryly. "My only concern is if the Marujan wanted to lie
around in bed all fucking day and waste my time, he should have
said something!"
Mia sighed. "I'll just wake him then..."
A feral hiss escaped Malakai's lips as he dragged her back a safer
distance from Gideon. "Don't touch him! If you must know, I don't
find the idea of cleaning up your minced body parts all over this
damn place a very enticing pastime." He then nodded and cleared his
throat, averting his eyes from her then horrified gaze. "For all we
know, the bastard is already awake."
"Then why the hell are we still here? It's the middle of the
morning, for god's sake!" She then threw up her hands exasperatedly
and stomped away through the bushes. "I'll be over there when you
two lunatics are ready."
As soon as she was out of sight, Malakai chuckled and shook his
head. Gullible woman. He then returned his gaze to Gideon, sprawled
across the rugged ground. Sighing, he inhaled deeply and summoned
on his Kankul energy, watching as the glazing fire descended from
his finger tips and down into his palms, forming into a rapidly
spinning ball of crackling electricity and combusting heat.
Smiling, and now satisfied with the reaction, he stepped back a
good few feet and inhaled again. 
It was now or never. And he swung back one arm, flinging the
rotating ball of fire in Gideon's direction. There was a large
booming sound followed by a piercing snap. The tree directly behind
Gideon Maruj went flying, root and all, through the thick bushes,
taking much smaller trees and shrubberies with it. Malaria grinned,
impressed, and whistling at what he had just done. 
Mia came rushing back out from the direction she had just gone,
eyes wide with fright and her sword already clutched in her tiny
fist, ready for a fight. Malakai smirked at the awe on her face and
maybe if he had been paying more attention, he would have seen the
bolt of red electricity slicing through the air towards him soon
enough to dodge it. 
But he hadn't been paying attention and the bolt struck him
fiercely, knocking the living breath out of him and sending him
hurling into the trunk of a thick tree. 
When he finally regained his strength, and some of his senses, a
good couple minutes later he managed to ease his stiffened back
from the now dented tree and jumped to his feet to see a maddened
Gideon Maruj glaring back at him.
Well, at least he was awake! 
* * * 
G
ideon was
three-quarters pissed off and the rest enormously perplexed.
Better, and he would have been hugely grateful, if Malakai Baamel
had left him to wallow in his own damn misery. But to interrupt it
and in such a loud and presumptuous manner was unforgivable.
Staring back at his partner in this current journey, and yet his
eternal enemy, Gideon wanted nothing more than to murder him; to
slice the little piece of shit to a thousand pieces. 
Then his gaze slanted to Mia standing a good distance away and
staring at both of them as if she would kill them if either of them
tried anything. The entire notion of it was ridiculous but a bit
amusing, nonetheless. Gideon shook his head and turned to find a
spot where he could momentarily cool his head for a couple
minutes. 
Then he stopped. His right ear perking with the familiar notice
that someone was approaching. Blinking twice, he arced a brow and
listened carefully. He heard the light footsteps now, some fifty
meters away. 
"What is it?" Mia asked, her eyes slanted with
curiosity. 
"Someone's coming," answered Malakai. "
Stay
back."
"Shhh..." Gideon scowled, still listening, and trying to study the
person's energy. It boasted no threat. No signs of danger within it
either. No fear. Then it hit him so hard, he almost stumbled. "What
the hell?
Amelia
?"
Then the footsteps halted. 
Mia rushed forward. "Who's Amelia?"
"You have got to kidding me!" Malakai marched over to him, his face
bent into a deep ugly scowl. "First you brought this yapping woman
along with us and now you brought your
sister-in-law
to seal the deal? I
thought we agreed to do this fucking thing alone!"
Mia rolled her eyes and yanked on Gideon's sleeve, finally getting
his attention. "What's going on?"
Then something dark and blue came dashing through the thicker side
of the bushes and all three spun to look what it was when a sharp
blade went hurling and was positioned tip-first against Malakai
Baamel's throat. 
Mia yelped, taking a wise three steps back while Malakai, even when
undergoing his current near-death experience, managed a belittling
smolder and sighed. And holding that blade was the raven-haired
blue-eyed vixen Gideon called his sister. 
"Amelia, relax. This isn't what you think it is," Gideon attempted
to coax her, slowly and deliberately lowering his voice. "Put the
sword down."
Amelia scoffed. "I
know
you can't be serious." She then inclined her
head, glaring up into the face of Malakai Baamel. "I could smell
this one from miles away. And now that I'm here, I don't think I
could ever forget the face of one of the front-men who had been
planning on my death years ago."
"With all due respect, sweetheart," Malakai drawled, seeming bored
by her little speech. "Your scent ain't so thrilling either but
since I'm apparently a stinking snake, let's just call it a truce,
eh?" 
Amelia's frown deepened. The bastard had the gall to patronize
her...and smile about it too! Glancing at Gideon, she raised a
brow. "Should I just slice his fucking head off right now or take
my time?"
Gideon sighed, his lips twitching uncontrollably. Leave it to
Amelia to bring a little amusement in a time like this. "Why don't
you just lower the weapon and let me explain things to you?" When
she made no effort to do as he'd asked, Gideon sighed. "Come on,
Amelia. You know you can always trust me. Don't you?" 
That one got her. Issuing out a blazing set of expletives over
Baamel's head, she eased back a few feet before lowering her sword.
"I'm listening," she said, never taking her eyes off the enemy.
"And you'd better have a good explanation for this, Gideon."
Gideon chuckled and slapped a gentling hand on Amelia's shoulder. A
good explanation? Well, he wasn't too sure about that. "Malakai's
helping me find Esyth."
"What?!" Amelia swirled around, her eyes round with suspicion and
anger. "Surely, you don't expect me to believe that
shit!" 
"Yes. I do. Can we go talk about this in private?"
"And leave the Kankul wandering? I don't think so." She flung a
finger in his face, her usual reprimanding stance. "I don't know
what shit you've been feeding on, but this is a Kankul soldier
we're talking about. You know, the same asshole who'd been
alongside Deorci that night at the Hub?" Amelia then huffed and
glanced at Mia who was staring at her as if she was some goddess
come to claim her to a distant land of paradise. "Who's the human
girl?"
Gideon swore beneath his breath. Amelia would never shut up now,
and the sooner he explained things to her, the sooner he could get
on with his journey. He sighed. Besides, he knew just the right
thing to say to make her bite her tongue. 
He eyed her carefully before grabbing her by the wrist and dragging
her a good distance from their other two onlookers. Thankfully, his
sister-in-law hadn't tried to stop him. When they were behind the
security of a wide upstanding tree, Amelia yanked her hand back and
pouted. 
"You'd better be glad I love you as if you were my own brother,"
she said, massaging her wrist. She then glanced around her once
before continuing, "So are you ready to explain things a little
better now?"
"It's exactly what I told you. Malakai Baamel is helping me find
Esyth."
Amelia's eyes narrowed to slits. "Why?"
"He wants Deorci's head."
A long fierce whistle escaped her lips. "And you mean so say that
Deorci's first-in-command is now a hater?"
"Exactly that."

“
And
you're sure about that,
because
?" she asked, eyes lit with
dubious curiosity. 
"Instincts," he smiled. "Pure instincts." And Gideon said nothing
more about that for he knew Amelia knew the importance their people
placed on instincts. It was a part of their lifestyle, really. It
was a part of everything they did. 
Sighing and shaking her head, she glanced up at him. "I'll still be
keeping my eyes on the Kankul soldier."
Gideon chuckled. "I knew you would."
She nodded, glint of mischief in her eyes. "So should I assume the
mortal girl belongs to either of you?"
Almost choking on a momentary inhale of breath, Gideon coughed once
and hissed. "I'm trying to find Esyth. You know—"
"Hey. Relax. I'm just kidding." Flashing him an adorable smile,
Amelia then looked up into the light blue sky overhead, the tiny
cottony whisks of cloud floating around and barely shielding the
hot morning sun. She then averted her gaze back to her
brother-in-law and shrugged. "Hadaen will be pissed when he hears
this."
Gideon turned towards the beaten tree that Malakai had just fallen,
lying on the ground. He knew she was right. Hadaen would be angry.
Very angry but Gideon supposed that it would all be worth it in the
end; finding Esyth and destroying Deorci. Whichever was the case,
he must could be able to earn back Hadaen's good graces with such
results. 
Gideon sighed. "I know." He then looked down at her, watching him
back as if expecting him to say more. Then he chuckled and decided
to goad her. "Speaking of my uptight brother, it's kind of nice of
him and all to let you come all the way here. And
all
by yourself, I
mean."
If Amelia's face could get anymore red, Gideon vowed he'd want to
be the first to see it. Biting back a laugh, he crossed his arms,
waiting for her answer. 
But instead of giving him her usual hot-tongued lecture about his
sense of sometimes annoying sense of humor, Amelia none but smiled
sweetly up at him and said, "My husband has no idea that I'm here,
if that's what you're asking. So I would
dearly
appreciate
it if you did not try to contact him about
it."
Gideon finally released the laugh he'd been holding on to for so
long. "You and I are in the same boat, sister. Hadaen might yell my
head off and cut me off for a few weeks or so but you...? You
wouldn't be able to escape him if you wanted to."
"Oh shut up. Shouldn't you be continuing on. Now that I'm here, I
think we have a better chance of finding Esyth."
Gideon cleared his throat. "We might have already found the
location." And he told her about their incident back at the Baamel
village and the mysterious letter that was left by someone bearing
coordinates to a specified location. He also told her about the
meeting with Deorci's onetime right-hand-man and how the 'mortal
girl', Mia, had come to be in their company. 
"Interesting," Amelia murmured. 
"Yeah. But, hey, I still don't understand how Hadaen hasn't missed
you yet."
"Let's just say I haven't seen him since he went all giddy on me
about an invitation from Noble Rally. About a hour later he came
back, grabbing his cloak and muttering something about Sienna. Then
he stormed off saying not to wait up for him. I've contacted him a
few times and he says everything's fine." Amelia shrugged. "He's
alright."
Gideon thought on her words a moment. So there was something
surrounding Sienna that might be key to discovering Esyth as well,
but what was it? He had kept his assumptions ever since the day
Abel Macintosh had spoken of the red-haired beauty. Maybe he needed
to pay closer attention to it. 
"Okay. We'd better get going then. We have to get inside that
dungeon by noon tomorrow."