A Warrior's Quest

  A

  Warrior’s

  Quest

  Book Eleven in the Dardanos, Co. Series

  Calle J. Brookes

  Other Titles

  By

  Calle J. Brookes

  Paranormal

  The Blood King

  Awakening the Demon’s Queen

  The Healer’s Heart

  Once Wolf Bitten

  Live or Die

  The Dardanos, Co. Omnibus: 5 In 1

  The Warrior’s Woman

  The Seer’s Strength

  The Wolf’s Redemption

  Romantic Suspense

  Watching

  Wanting

  Second Chances: A PAVAD Duet

  Hunting

  Calle Jaye Brookes is first and foremost a fiction writer. She enjoys crafting paranormal romance and romantic suspense. She reads almost every genre except horror. In her day job she is a fiction content editor for an epublisher that opened in 2011. She spends most of her time juggling family life and writing, while reminding herself that she can’t spend all of her time in the worlds found within books. Calle Jaye loves to be contacted by her readers via email and at www.CalleJBrookes.com

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please return to Smashwords and purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to your chosen retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, or locations, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Copyright © 2013 Calle J. Brookes

  All rights reserved.

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  Chapter One

  She was going to die. The question was just when. No one heard the Beansidhe’s cries and lived. No one. Why should she be the exception?

  She’d escaped once by entering the demon realm. But that had only bought her time; time was something she’d had an eternity of. She’d reached her 415th birthday two months prior, and she doubted she’d see 416.

  Even in the realm of the deities—Levia—war loomed. They needed warriors to protect those who couldn’t fight for themselves. And war equaled death for so many. That was something she could respect. A warrior’s death.

  Would that be the way she went?

  She was an Adrastos, was she not? Her people had been warriors since the dawn of their family. She was no different.

  Her room at Levia was beautiful and on the floor reserved for only the families of the god and goddess’s chosen ones. Rand and Jierra were safely settled into their suite down the hall from her, probably cuddling their twin infants and laughing and loving together. Together.

  That was her biggest sorrow.

  Her Rajni, her mate.

  What was he doing now? Did he even realize how she longed for him, or what she had given up because of her death sentence? Did he even know that they had been destined to be together? Would he even care?

  She’d never heard of a demon and Dardaptoan pairing. No one had, not even the goddess responsible for pairing her with the big demon jerk in the first place. It had just happened, and the goddess Kennera couldn’t—or wouldn’t—explain what had led her to whisper Aureliana’s and the big demon’s names together four hundred plus years ago. Had she ever paired a mere woman up with what amounted to a deity from another realm?

  Something else Kennera had refused to reveal. And Aureliana wasn’t about to push against the very creator of her people. People could end up dead from that.

  Her suite was too small, the four walls of the beautiful space closing in on her. She wanted to run, to return to her home realm. Gaia was beautiful. Colorado was beautiful. The family wing where she had lived for so many years in the Dardanos hotel was beautiful.

  And she’d never see it again.

  That was another great sorrow. All of the people she had left behind to come here—her brother, his Rajni, their future children, young Briken, barely eleven. People—her people—so far, with no guarantees she’d ever see them again.

  Would the grief ever not be so raw?

  She cursed the Beansidhe that had attached itself to her, and not for the first time. Or hundredth time.

  The Beansidhe had robbed her; that was something she would not deny. It had robbed her of time with her Rajni, robbed her of her home land. Robbed her of her friends, her family, even of spending time with her Rajni’s young daughter.

  The ache of empty arms hurt her more than she would dare tell anyone.

  She finished dressing, then grabbed the sword she’d been gifted with centuries ago. Her uncle Rodulus had died without children, having never found his Rajni. He had passed his legendary sword, a smaller xiphos sword inlayed with citrine, amethyst, and gold on to her. It had been in her family for more than three thousand years, and had never been owned by a female. Until her. Rodulus had told her that she had a great destiny, despite her gender. And the sword had felt right when she held it. She’d defended herself and those she cared about with the blade, and knew she would probably die with it in her hand.

  She’d been in Levia for one month, and was comfortable with the palace. Not so much with the wooded world surrounding it. She knew nothing of what was out there. What type of threat she could—would—face outside the gates.

  Not that she had much call to go outside the gates.

  Here, in the castle, she was often sequestered, protected—smothered, if she wanted to be honest—by the males of this world. Especially the Wolf god Eiophon. He was obsessive about keeping his female—the goddess Kennera—protected from all who would threaten her. And Aureliana understood that. The goddess had delivered two of the four newbirths, divine creatures capable of both unbalancing the realms and of putting every world in total harmony. Quite a big calling for two small babes. And these were the children that Jierra’s infants would grow up with as playmates.

  It was because of Jierra that Aureliana was in Levia in the first place. She had helped raise the little babe into the woman she was. And Jierra’s mother couldn’t be with her daughter now. As Kindara’s best friend, Aureliana had stepped in to the void. Like she always would.

  Kindara was in the demon world with her lover, Rathan. King of the Demons.

  And brother of Aureliana’s Rajni.

  Damn Renakletos, and damn herself. Damn them both.

  She missed him. And that was her worst sorrow of all.

  ***

  He would fight until he died defending his brother’s home. But fighting was not what was called for in this situation. Diplomacy was not his strong suit and Renakletos Malickus, Prince of Demonkin knew that. But he would suffer through.

  The man in front of him was the only entrance he had into the world where his mission lay. He had to make peace with the wolf, or he would never gain the entrance to Levia that he sought.

  His sister-in-law had sent him on this task, and for that woman he would succeed. He owed her no less. She had restored his family to the throne of their kingdom, and now carried the true heir. He would die protecting her and that babe. That she had sent him to fetch her closest friend as her time to birth his brother’s spawn neared was but a small task.

  And he would be honest with himself; he wished to see that closest friend again. He’d done her a great wrong, and he needed to reas
sure himself that she was well. Recovering.

  He hadn’t meant to injure her. Had he known she was so fragile, he would have treated her thusly. Would have protected and coddled her the way a female should be. He should not have run her through with his sword in a battle she had had no true business fighting.

  She played at being a warrior woman, but he knew the truth—she was a fragile Dardaptoan being just like Kindara. That she had refused his offer of protection and joining in consort mattered not to him. He’d been refused before, by stronger warrior females.

  It had been a spur of the moment offer in the first place.

  Seeing her playing with his daughter, holding small Cerridwen so tenderly, it had had him thinking with the lower part of himself, rather than the rational head he had on his shoulders.

  A woman like her was not for him. A woman of her Kind was far too fragile for the Prince of Warriors.

  The months since he’d last seen her had reinforced that belief.

  Today he would fetch her, carry her to his sister-in-law, and then be done with her.

  “We waited for you,” the wolf before him said. He was no more powerful than Ren but he had far more arrogance. He had spawned an entire Kind of beings in the Gaian realm; Ren was certainly capable of the same actions had such behavior not been banned in his home of Relaklonos. Powerful beings such as he and his brother were far more careful of what actions they took than these Gaian gods and goddesses.

  Actions had consequences, after all.

  “Why is that?”

  “The female. The warrior woman, she will be the one to bridge between our worlds. It is time she assumed her destiny.”

  Why did Ren get the feeling the wolf was not being entirely open and truthful with him? What was the other male hiding? “How is that so?”

  “There is a war coming, a war of realms unlike any we have ever witnessed. It will encompass both of our worlds more so than any other. We need to band together to stop that.”

  “Does Rathan know?”

  “We have discussed it. Here, we make preparations. In Gaia, our Kinds are gathering. It is left to your world to begin preparing.”

  “Who? Who do we battle?” His hand gripped the sword he was always in possession of, as his skin began to darken to a deep purple to match the darkness of the woods in which they walked. “Which threat?”

  The wolf hesitated. “We do not know. There is a darkness coming. One that will affect all beings in all involved realms. I’m not sure if any realm will be a safe haven. I had hoped our Levia would be protected somehow. But it is not to be.”

  Now Ren suspected the wolf was telling the truth. “When?”

  “Sometime by the end of next year, I think. That is what the prognosticates of my female’s Kind believe.”

  “Soon, then.” Why had his brother not spoken of such? Had the last one hundred years of distrust caused Rathan to shut him out of something so important?

  Ren would not let the hurt affect him. “The female, why her?”

  “That I cannot say. We just know that it has to be her. We were expecting someone from your realm to collect her soon.” The wolf hesitated as the palatial home came into view.

  It was a beautiful place, whiter and more shimmering than his own home, but he still preferred his home over this place. “What is it?”

  “The girl...she does not know of her role in the upcoming tribulations. My female feels that her not knowing is best for her.”

  A sharp arrow hit Ren’s chest. Fear “Will she live through it?”

  The wolf stopped walking. Looked straight at Ren. “That is something else we simply do not know. What we do know is that the fate of our worlds rests on her shoulders. And hers alone.”

  Dear demons, he so hadn’t expected that.

  She was that vital to a war that would not happen for close to eighteen months. And she had a Beansidhe calling out for her soul. “She must be protected then.”

  “At all costs. If she dies before she fulfills her destiny, the realms as we know them will become dark and death-filled. No world will go untouched—Gaia, Levia, Relaklonos. Some realms will simply cease to exist. And we have no way of knowing which.”

  Ren said nothing else as they walked up the path to the castle. The girl, the stubborn, infuriating, beautiful girl had the fate of everything on her narrow shoulders.

  And he’d just made it his mission to see to it that no one ever harmed her.

  Chapter Two

  Aureliana swung her sword high above her head, then brought it down in an intricate move that was designed to distract her enemy. The Lupoiux wolves she trained with were in awe of her skills, and she knew it.

  None of them were over fifty years in age. She had eight times that. Eight times as many years to perfect her skills. She would do her best, along with her partner Belnus, to train these young pups in the art of fighting. It would be the only chance of survival many of these men had. And she could not shake that thought from her mind.

  Even young Uriah, the boy she had rescued months ago from his own father, fought a partner with a wooden sword. So young to face the threat of a war he could not begin to understand.

  Belnus feinted toward her and she parried. They had sparred together many times over the last three hundred fifty years or so. She knew his moves as well as he knew hers. They were cousins of sort, their families merging somewhere in the Dark Ages, and other than Kindara, he was her closest friend. She loved him, and his Rajni Amaia, and his seventeen-year-old daughter Rosslen. They were her family.

  She was thankful they’d chosen to make the move to Levia with her and with the other fifty or so Dardaptoans who had left their home in Dardanos, Colorado to come to this Land of the Deities.

  Having Belnus around made her a little less lonely.

  She missed Kindara. They had been near constant companions since girlhood. They had only been a few years apart in age, which to their Kind was negligible. Had they ever been separated for so long?

  She did not think so. Even when Kindara’s late Rajni Iavius had taken Kindara on their expeditions all over the American continents, Aureliana had gone with them. She and Kindara were closer than sisters.

  How did Kindara fare in the world of demons? The last time Aureliana had been in Relaklonos the castle of the demon king had been battered with canon fire. She’d had the misfortune of being in the room next to the one hit. Kindara was now the demon king’s consort, and was carrying the demon’s baby spawn, heir to the throne. Was she safe?

  Aureliana had to admit she didn’t quite trust the demon to keep his promise of protecting Kindara.

  He’d failed before.

  “Come, Auri. It is late. I wish to have my dinner with my family before too long.” Belnus put his sword down. The two of them had long grown past the point of using wooden practice swords. “Have you exorcised the demons plaguing you today, yet?”

  He had always been able to read what was bothering her. They waited until the Lupoiux trainees had started dispersing toward their own quarters before starting toward the castle. “I don’t believe, my friend, that I will ever be able to erase those demons. We both know what faces me, and probably soon.”

  “Did the goddess claim it so? None of us, save the prognostics like Theo, can claim to know our futures.”

  “None survive the Beansidhe. We both know that.”

  “Yet you already have, once. If a miracle occurs once, it can occur again. And she was not even a full Beansidhe, after all. She may have weaknesses.”

  She’d learned months ago that the Beansidhe that had attached itself to her was an Encantado—a humanesque creature capable of assuming the guise of a dolphin—and Beansidhe halfling, something that was exceedingly rare. Had Belnus a point? Was the Beansidhe weaker than other Beansidhe? Would that work in her favor when she inevitably faced the creature again? She was afraid to even hope. “She might. But I cannot gamble on that. No, this place is my new home. I can never return to Gaia. I will nev
er see my home again.”

  He hugged her. “Do not fret, Auri. You will see home again. I feel confidant of that.”

  She could only pray that he was right. But how could she pray to the goddess when she’d had several occasions to ask the goddess for intervention directly, and had been given no satisfactory answer, other than to have faith?

  They were the last ones to enter the palace, as was custom. They were the teachers; it was their responsibility to ensure everyone was where they were supposed to be.

  A small crowd was inside the foyer. So the Wolf god had returned then.

  Eiophon had been in Gaia, rendering the justice Rand had pronounced on a Florida pack of Lupoiux. From what Aureliana had put together from Jierra, the sentence had not been good. Had any of the pack survived? Uriah and his brother Elias were the only survivors of a small branch of Red Gothan wolves, the same pack that had kidnapped Jierra and nearly killed Auri months ago. They’d also kidnapped a host of other women, including Rand’s sister Rebecca and his aunt Jordan. Those two Taniss females had been bitten, and were now full-fledged Lupoiux females. Jordan had relocated with the Taniss Pack at the same time Auri and Jierra had entered Levia. Jordan was at the center of the crowd.

  There were children, all appearing under the age of twelve or so. Where were their mothers? Had the mothers survived, or had Eiophon struck them down?

  Jierra—a former elementary teacher—had put herself in charge of all the displaced children of the Lupoiux people. Auri often helped with the foundlings, ensuring they were settled, either with other Lupoiux families who had room for them, or in the children’s ward she, Jierra, Jordan, and the goddess Kennera had built within days of Auri’s arrival in this beautiful but different place.

  She’d had little time to explore this realm—the girl goddess, the deity she’d worshiped her entire life, stayed pretty close to the castle and her children. Aureliana could understand that—if she had two small infants, so powerful and important to the world, she’d be sticking close to them, too. And the babes were the goddess’s children. How could she not stay with them?