Far From Home Two: The Monster's Heir-- a M/M/M fantasy romance

2- Secret Weapon

EMBER—

The man was absolutely huge and frustratingly gorgeous. His skin was light as all the El'kahrians, but he was tanned heavily by the sun. He was probably a decade my senior, his hair and neatly trimmed beard salt and pepper blonde. His hair hung in waves around his gentle face, most of it having fallen out of the braid he had pulled it back into, his pale blue eyes watching me with barely disguised approval.

So not all El'kahrians were prudes. Nice to note, I supposed.

He was about my height, maybe an inch or so taller, but he outweighed me by at least 50 pounds. His muscles screamed of hard work rather than battle, and his clothes spoke of humility. He wore heavy leathers and thick but worn boots. His clothes were well made, but hard worn. Not the clothes I had come to expect from the nobles of El'kahr.

Even their general had worn jewels and thin, embroidered silks to war. It was pathetic.

This man wore clothes that showed he had worn them through many battles and for many years. His hands were proportionately large and they were covered in calluses, scars, and dirt.

This was not a man afraid to get his hands dirty.

The thought sent a spark of something I refused to name up my spine.

"Captain Sage?" I asked, turning my attention to the smaller man beside him, who had his fingers around his sword at his waist. I spared him barely a glance— the arm his captain had held out across his chest would hold him back from attacking me just fine.

And if it didn't, it would be one more dead El'kahrian. I had no qualms with that.

"I'm Sage," the large man growled, his voice so deep it sounded as if it was coming from deep in his belly, somewhere near his spine. "You're Ember?"

"I am. My men are just behind. Make sure yours don't do anything stupid when they see them coming, will you?"

Sage grunted, but shook his head. "They know you're comin'," he answered with a shrug as he finally dropped his arm from the other man's chest. "This is Aron, my sergeant. We've been—"

"— You've been trying to negotiate with monsters," I cut in, rolling my eyes as both men tensed at my tone and words. I refused to be polite to men who would have gladly cut my head from my body only a matter of a few months ago. And likely hadn't lost that inclination, if the way Aron was glaring me down was any indication. "We're here to end negotiations. You've allowed a monster to continue to harm children for far too long. Whether they are El'kahrian or any other nationality, they are children. They don't deserve us turning a blind eye any longer."

Sage cocked his head at my words, studying me, before nodding. As he began to speak, I could hear my men arriving behind me, but I kept my attention on the captain.

"Agreed. Heartily, believe me. But I worry, if you simply go in with full force, they may kill the children before we can get to them. I don't know about you and your men, but I wanted no more bloodshed to mar my soul if I could help it... Especially that of children."

I felt shame at his lack of anger for my obvious contempt, that had so obviously blinded me to the logic of his words. My shame was only compounded by his calm in the face of my angry contempt.

"You're right," I muttered grudgingly. "But we have something they don't know we have. Something that will make it very easy to break through their defenses."

"Yeah?" Sage asked, and his question was genuine. He was simply going to ignore my antagonism. He genuinely only wanted to help the children. I could tell from how he would set aside his own pride, at being unable to break through the gate, and listen to men he had only recently considered enemies; look to them for a solution. "What's that?"

"Brin," I called, smiling when Sage's eyebrows shot up at the young woman who dismounted and came up beside me. She was tall and wiry, but her mates, Count and Fern, dwarfed and flanked her as she cocked her head up at Sage. She wore the leathers and heavy cottons of a warrior, her trousers clinging to her thick thighs, her boots rising up to her knees. Her full breasts were covered by a blue cotton shirt and thick leather tunic.

Count and Fern were not related in any way, but looking at them, they could be brothers. They were the same height, had the same dark hair, same shade of cinnamon skin, wore the same dark shirt, heavy tunic, and thick fur boots I knew Brin had made for them. She was one of our best seamstresses.

And one of the only people in my tribe with wild magic. It was said my tribe had bred with the El'kahrians so much it had sullied our blood, and we were punished with less wild magic.

"This is..." Sage whispered, his rumbling voice confused as his sergeant cut in when he was unable to finish.

"Is this some joke? You bring a bitch whore with you, and that's supposed to be some secret—"

The man was forced to cut off his words, for he had both Count and Fern's daggers pressed to his throat, just above and below his prominent adam's apple.

Neither man spoke El'kahrian, but there are some words that they had heard often enough that the meaning was unmistakable.

"Calm, mates," Brin murmured in Akari, moving up between the two men, her hands on their muscled arms to pull them back. They reluctantly lowered their daggers, their eyes fierce as they glared the sergeant down. The man swallowed when he was freed, and was held back from yanking his sword from its scabbard by a barked growl from Sage and a raised arm.

Sage glared the man down, his expression fierce, before he turned to Count and Fern, bowing slightly.

He met Brin's eyes and said firmly, "I apologize on behalf of my sergeant. We are frustrated we have made no progress, and tempers are high."

With my tribe being on the border of El'kahr, we sometimes did trade with the nearby towns and farms, so many of my people spoke El'kahrian. Brin was one of those, so she smiled sweetly, her hands still on her mates' arms, holding them back.

"Thank you. I understand your frustration. We're all here to help the children."

Sage nodded, then stepped back and I noticed with a jolt he had managed to move just a bit in front of the other man. Was it to protect him from us, or the opposite?

"Now, can you please explain— how will you assist in getting us into the castle?"

"I have wild magic," Brin answered simply, shrugging. "I'll get in, and I'll open the gate."

"If we go during the darkest part of the night," I cut in, "we can sneak in, take out the guards and any who are loyal to Butcger. And no children will be harmed, because it will be a stealth mission. They won't know we're there until our blades are at their throats."

Sage was silent for a few moments, and I could see what was likely a highly intelligent mind working, moving through various paths, seeing all of the possible outcomes.

"Alright," he finally said, his eyes moving from me to Brin and back again. "Can you explain what you meant. What is wild magic?"

Brin laughed, and her mates seemed to relax just a bit more as she leaned into them, still trying to calm them with her warm, pliant body against theirs.

"You'll see, El'kahrian."