The Prince's Angel

Chapter Eight - A Father's Return

Atara plummeted, and Stefan screamed.

"No!"

Alemeth kicked Romulus into a dive, and the cryovon flew straight down, screeching in a very un-lion-like sort of way. He seemed to gain speed and momentum at a startlingly fast rate. Stefan almost passed out. In front of him, Torin's head lolled forward.

Behind him, Alemeth slid backward. With the uneven weight, Romulus tilted sideways, and Stefan held on for dear life, his heart pounding like a drum. He couldn't breathe for the gusts of wind suffocating him. What was Alemeth doing? If they didn't pull up soon...

Romulus swooped forward, and before Stefan knew what had happened, Atara dropped from midair onto the cryovon's back, splayed out and panting.

"Hold on, we're going down!" Alemeth gripped her tightly under the arms, and Romulus headed for the ship, barely shuddering from the weight of four people on his back.

As soon as the winged lion's paws touched the deck, all of its passengers fell off. Breathing hard, Stefan tried to right himself, but tripped and landed on his knees. He was so dizzy, he couldn't think...

The last thing he remembered was Da's face coming into view above him, and he said something that Stefan never thought he'd hear again. "Stefan! Torin! Are you alright?"

()()()

Stefan watched Da pace around the captain's cabin, not saying a word. His father been completely baffled when they had tumbled from the sky on a cryovon with their nanny and a strange Tisidoni man. Stefan didn't remember much that'd happened after getting on the warship Seabright a few hours ago.

Atara and Alemeth sat at the oak table in the corner, both bearing sheepish looks. Since being hastily introduced to Alemeth and barely recognizing Atara, Da hadn't said two words to either of them. Torin was still unconscious, laying on a pile of blankets. Stefan had only just awoken with a racking headache and an upset stomach in time to hear Alemeth tell his story.

"So. Let me get this straight." Da turned to face Alemeth, his steely look just short of a glare. "You are an acclaimed Tisidoni bounty hunter and escort for the royal Malaaca family. You purposefully join up with bands of slave traders and lead them to towns to kidnap and steal, making them believe you're just a guide. You then foil their plans with your flock of winged lions and turn them in to the local government?"

"That's about it. Sire," Alemeth added as an afterthought.

"Good. Since you say that these cryovons are extremely smart and listen only to you, I shall send you back to Semora and tell my soldiers to detain the slave traders. There will be a reward coming to you for organizing their capture."

"My beasts will keep them at bay, Your Majesty," Alemeth chuckled.

Da glanced at Atara. "And you. You took the boys on a picnic in the woods. It was by a waterfall?"

"Yes, your Highness."

"Might I suggest that when you picnic again, you take some protection along with you?" Da spoke with the tone of a concerned friend, not as the uptight father Stefan had known him to be.

Atara lifted her chin ever so slightly. Her momentary meekness had faded. "I had a knife with me, sire. I wouldn't have hesitated to use it, but the attack was unexpected."

"And you are alright? You were not taken advantage of?"

"No, my lord. They shoved us around, but we'll recover, I'm sure." She cast a relieved smile at Stefan.