The Sheik and the Siren (Elemental Series) (14 page)

Chapter 18

The sun was already sinking low on the horizon by the time the Paradigm docked at the port of Tamaris. Ace looked out at the guards hurrying up the wooden plank leading to the ship. His stomach was in a knot and he felt very uncomfortable being here at all.

The last time he was here he was escaping Tamaris on a ship. Now he was returning – and by his own will to the very place he’d almost met his demise
. And also to the very man who had ordered the execution of his mother.

“Get your filthy hands off of me,” he heard Juturna scolding one o
f the guards who had hurried onto the ship, followed by a half dozen others.

“State your purpose here,” said the guard to her in the Tamarian language. Of course she didn’t understand and continued to struggle agai
nst his hold. Sir John and Willis hurried to her side, their weapons in their hands.

“We are here to trade with the sheik of Tamaris,” Ace called out in his native tongue, coming to Juturna’s side.
“We mean you no harm, nor do we expect any from you.”

He was praying the man hadn’t recognized him, but then again the sheik had many new guards all the time and Ace did not remember
this particular one.

The guard looked over to Sir John and Willis, shaking his head and laughing, calling out to the other guards that they needn’t be worried because the ship was filled with women and half-men.

“Put down your weapons,” Ace said in a low voice to his men, glad they did not understand the foreign tongue or they would have reacted to the insults.

Juturna shook her arm free, scowling at the man.

“Why are you, a Tamarian, traveling with such an inept and foreign crew?” the guard asked in Tamarian.

“I’ve collected them along the way to do my bidding,” he said, forcing a smile. “They don’t eat as much since they are half-men.”

The guards laughed, and Ace hated himself for making fun of his new friends, but he had to do something to gain the Tamarian’s trust. He was only thankful the others had no idea of what he was saying.

“Fi
ne,” said the guard then show us your wares. And I warn you they’d best be fit for a sheik or we would kill you and your crew, because I still am not convinced you are really here on trade.”

“Look for yourself,” he said, splaying his hand toward two barrels tied to the main mast. The guard warily nodded to his own men and then one of them walked over and used his sword to open the top of the first barrel.

Ace’s men as well as Juturna remained silent and for this he was thankful.

“Fine silks,” said the guard, holding one up and inspecting it. Then he flipped open the second one and reached in and gr
abbed a handful of saffron, holding it high and letting it slip through his fingers. “Expensive spices as well.”

“Good,” said the h
ead guard with a nod. “But not nearly good enough for a sheik.”

Ace held up an or
nate, precious golden necklace embedded with gemstones – part of the trade Boots took that was to be delivered here. “This should please the sheik,” he said, holding it up high for the men to see. “And there are more where this came from, much more aboard the ship.”

The guard smiled and went to grab for it, but Ace snatched it away.

“Two barrels and one piece of jewelry does not prove anything. Where is the rest?” The guard was becoming suspicious and Ace didn’t like it.

He felt his body tensing and he was starting to sweat. He tried hard to maintain his composure so as not to give away their secret
. They were so close to getting ashore yet something as minute as this could keep him from ever seeing Ebba again.

“I have fifty tuns in the hold just like thi
s, as well as weapons too,” he lied.

“Well, then mayhap we should just check, should we? After all, I need to inspect the wares for the sheik before you go ashore.”

“Go right ahead,” Ace said, once again speaking the language his crew would understand. “Boots, show these men the wares in the hold, please.”

“Captain?” asked Boots, confused, as he knew as well as everyone else on the ship that the only thing in the hold was apples, rotten fish and a few
extra weapons.

“Go on, Boots,” said Ace. “Show these men the goods.”

“Aye, Captain,” he said slowly, pulling open the hatch that led to the hold. His whole crew looked at each other with wide eyes as the guards made their way across the deck. Ace silently and slowly laid his hand atop the hilt of his sword, giving a small nod of his head for his men to be ready to attack at his command.

This was not going to be pretty, but he knew his men would fight heroically in the end. There was nothing else they could do at this point.

“Lord Ace,” called out Juturna, “mayhap these fine gentlemen could help bring the cargo from the hold as it is very heavy and the crew has a hard time moving it, being that they are missing limbs and all.”

Ace wasn’t sure at first if these men could understand any language besides Tamarian, but when they stopped in their tracks at Juturna’s words and suddenly turned back, he knew they understood perfectly.

“He is fine,” said the guard in the language they could all understand. He dismissed his men with a wave of his hand and looked over to Ace. “Proceed with your trade, then.”

“Of course,” said Ace, thankful for
the very first time of Juturna’s habit of speaking up and saying whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted as well. He knew now he’d done the right thing by bringing her along. “And can you tell me where to find the good sheik this time of night?” he asked.

“You would
have to wait until morning to bring your goods before the sheik,” he said. “For he is preoccupied this evening.”

“I see,” said Ace, forcing a smile. “I understand. After all, the sheik does keep busy with his harem.”

The guard smiled and took a step closer, speaking once again in Tamarian. “He has just taken a new harem girl to his tent in the desert. And when he goes there, he sometimes does not return for days.”

“Aye,” Ace said, trying to gain information.
“This new harem girl must be to his liking.”

“She is. He is fascinated with not only her large breasts and tight buttocks, but her blue hair as well. My men and I have been longing to feel her pleasures, as we hear she is a siren of the sea and lives for lust.
I could tell you stories about sirens.”

Ace wanted
to kill the man for talking about Ebba this way, and bit the inside of his cheek in order to keep his composure.

“Aye, well mayhap we can have a drink later and you can tell me all about it. But right now I need to get these barrels up out of the hold and that is going to take most the night with this crew.”

That got rid of the man quickly, as he retreated from the ship with his men without another word as soon as he thought Ace was going to ask him for help.

“Thank you for your quick thinking, Juturna,” said Ace. “If it wasn’t for you, we’d be in the midst of a battle right now.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” she said, nodding toward a man heading toward the ship. Ace looked over the edge of the ship to see Malik, the sheik’s brother coming their way.

“Damn!” said Ace. “I knew this was going to
o smoothly.”

“Who is that?” asked Sir John.

“That is Malik, my uncle. And there is no way in hell he’s not going to remember me.”

Chapter 19

“Stay here,” Ace told the others, hurrying down the plank to meet his uncle halfway up the docking pier.

“Asad?” The man looked up, a very surprised look upon his face. “Is that you?”

“Uncle,” he said, nodding quickly to the man.

“I heard from the dock guards there was a Tamarian aboard and came to see for myself what this is all about.”

“I have come on trade,” he said quickly. “Your men have already inspected the cargo.”

“Have you now?” He looked behind Ace, and Ace didn’t need to turn
around to know his crew had ignored his instructions and followed him down the docks anyway. “I find it odd that you’d come back here since when last I saw you, you were fleeing from here for your life.”

“Things change,” Ace said. “Time heals all wounds,” he added nonchalantly.

“Not all wounds,” he said, nodding to the misfit men behind them.

Ace knew he could no longer go on with the charade. His uncle had
already seen through his guise and trying to keep up the act was not going to help anything.

“All right, I am not here on trade,” he admitted. “Or at least not for goods. But I do come to strike a deal with my father.”

“Your father?” Malik raised a brow. “I thought the reason you were sentenced to be executed was because you were not the sheik’s son after all.”

“I didn’t think I was, but recently I’ve learned otherwise.”

“Really?” he said with a slight laugh. “And how did you magically come to this conclusion?”

“By looking into this.” Ace pulled the crystal dolphin from the pouch at
his side and held it up for Malik to see.

“
What is that?” the man asked.

“’Tis the crystal dolphin of the lost city of an ancient civilization. It holds the power to see the past, present and future.”

“And because of this trinket you now know for certain that the sheik is your father?”

“I do. I saw it in the crystal.”

“And you bring it here – why?” he asked curiously.

“To trade to the sheik for the life of a certain girl.”

“She wouldn’t happen to be a siren and have blue hair, would she?”

“Aye, she is the one.”

“Well, which one are you looking to trade for it?”

“Which one?” he asked, confused. “I come looking for my lover, Ebba-Tyne.”

“Ah, so you want the girl and not her mother?”

“Her mother? By the gods, are you saying the sheik has her and she is still alive after all this time?”

“Asad, I think you need to come with me.” His smile had changed to a darkened frown.

“Of course,” he said, putting the crystal back in the pouch. “Stay here,” he told his crew, and fol
lowed the man down the dock and toward the palace.

“Excuse me, Sir Sheik,” said Juturna, hurrying after them.

“I said to stay there,” Ace grumbled over his shoulder, aggravated that no one seemed to heed to his orders anymore.

Ace’s uncle stopped and turned around, the corners of his lips turned up in amusement by her proclamation.

“I am not a sheik,” he told her. “That title belongs to my older brother.”

“Aye, but if something were to happen to him, you would take the title, would you not?”

“You are a bold woman, and women do not speak to men like that in this country,” he warned her.

“She is an old woman, and addled,” Ace said quickly, “please just ignore her.” He then took Juturna by the shoulders and turned her around to face the ship, “go back now, old woman, I warn you.”

“No, wait!” said Malik, holding up a halting hand. “I am intrigued by the question of the old woman. Why did you ask that, and what is your name?”

“I am Juturna, a healer and seer,” she said, turning around.

“And have you seen something you’d like to tell me about?” he asked curiously.

“I have only seen that you have blood on your robes, Sir, and
being a healer I offer you my assistance.”

He looked down and wiped a hand over a splatter of blood across his chest. “So I do, but ’tis not my blood and I am not the one in need of assistance.”

“Then would there be another I could assist instead?” she asked.

He looked at her for a moment and then surveyed the crew standing there silently, their weapons in hand, and then back to Ace. He nodded his head slowly. “Aye, perhaps there is,” he said. “Come with us, old woman, and I would show you to her.”

“Her?” Ace asked nervously, thinking that something may have happened to Ebba.

“Her,” Malik
said, studying Ace’s face. “That is, the woman with the blue hair who sings like a siren.”

He turned quickly and heade
d away with Juturna right at his heels. Ace felt frozen to the spot, unable to move. Thoughts of five years ago standing in this very spot but aboard Lord Drake’s ship flashed through his mind. This is where he was when he saw the executioner carry out his father’s order and behead his mother right in front of him. His stomach lurched and he felt as if he were going to wretch. Nothing on the battlefield had ever affected him, but seeing his own mother beheaded and dying in front of him was something he’d never forget.

“Are you coming, Asad?” Malik
shouted up to him.

“Aye,” he answere
d, and headed after them slowly, praying that he was not here to witness another horrifying death of a loved one. For the last thing he wanted by coming back here was to open old wounds and relive the horrors of the past.

* * *

The guards threw Ebba and her mother into the tent in the midst of the desert, far from the palace and the rest of the harem, and way too far from water. Ebba felt her strength leaving her already, the hot, arid air hitting her in the face, drying her skin and sucking the moisture from her eyes as well.

“You will bo
th stay here and wait for the Sheik,” said the guard. “And don’t even think of escaping as the door to the tent is guarded heavily.

Ebba sa
nk down to the pallet, one of the only things in the tent. But the pallet was lush and large enough for three people with colorful pillows thrown along the back. It was raised off the ground which was a sand floor, the wooden frame of the pallet sitting atop a large square fine woven rug for comfort. Several candles in standing brass holders were interspersed throughout the tent for light. A large ornate jar filled with perfumed oils sat next to the pallet.

“What is this place?” asked
Ebba, so dry she could barely speak.

Her mother sat on the pallet next to her and put
her arm around Ebba’s shoulder.

“This is where he’s brought me every time I’ve tried to escape,” she sai
d. “’Tis far from water of any kind, and puts me at his mercy.”

“I’ll not be at anyone’s mercy,” Ebba protested.

“Ebba, darling, you don’t have a choice. We are in the desert with no water in sight. This is exactly what can kill an elemental of the water and he knows it.”

“But why do you let him treat you like this?” she asked. “You could have helped me earlier and we could have defeated him together.”

“I no longer have the will to fight,” she said sadly. “I have been an empty shell since the day the sheik killed your father. And after laying with the man as he tried desperately to sire a siren, I no longer know who I am.”

“You are a good woman,” Ebba said, holding her mother’s hands. “You did what you had to in ord
er to survive, naught else. You have to stop hating yourself for who you’ve become.”

“I would
never stop hating myself,” she said sadly. “And I would not allow him to harm you, do you understand?”

“Nay, I don’t understand you, Mother,” she protested. “If you want to keep me from harm then you need to intervene and do something to stop this evil man.”

“Perhaps you are right,” she said, looking to the floor.

“Let me through,” came a woman’s voice from the door of the tent. And then in a puff of dust, Juturna appeared in the doorway.

“Juturna!” Ebba sprang to feet to greet the woman, and about fell over as her head dizzied.

“Sit, child,” said the old woman, helping her back to the pallet.

“Juturna, this is my mother,” she said, happily presenting her to the old woman.

“I know,” she said with a nod. “And I am here to heal that cut on her cheek.”

“Thank you,” said Doria feebly.

Juturna pulled her bag from her side and also a flask of water. She used the water to wet a cloth and used ointments to sooth the sting of the pain and close the wound.

“Here,” said Juturna, holding out the flask of water to Ebba. “’Tis not much but I was lucky to be able to sneak that in.”

Ebba grabbed it greedily wanting naught more than to pour it down her throat and over her head as well. But she stopped and instead held it up to her mother.

“You take it,” she said. “You are weaker than me at the moment.”

“Nay,” said her mother. “You will need your strength in order to fight.”

“You both take some,” said Juturna, holding the flask up to Ebba’s mother’s mouth and ordering her to drink. “My goodness you two remind me of Asad and Drake when they try to best each other by acting like neither of them need my healing herbs after a battle.”

“Where is Asad?” asked Ebba, using his real name, though it felt foreign on her tongue.

“He is here with the rest of the men,” she said.

“What? They all came?” she asked with a smile.

“We came on the Paradigm. The men are the only crew, and we were under the guise of being here for trade but the sheik’s brother just learned the truth.”

“That’s unfortunate
,” said Ebba.

“Your lover is here?” Her mother asked her.

“Aye, Mother and you would get to meet him. You would like him, I promise you.”

“I am glad I would
get to meet him before I leave this world. I only wish I could have the chance to see my grandchild too.”

“Stop sounding like you are going to die,” said Eb
ba, “because you are not. I would see to that.”

“Grandchild?” Juturna questioned. “Is there something you want to tell me, Ebba?”

“My mother, being a fae, has the ability to know that I am with child.”

“Well, how nice,” said Juturna. “And I am sure Ace will be happy to know as well.”

Ebba didn’t say anything and Juturna dabbed at Doria’s wound and spoke without looking. “You are planning on telling him, aren’t you?”

“I would
– when the time is right,” she said.

“Oh, I don’t understand you elementals at all,” complained Juturna.

Just then, the flap to the tent opened and the sheik walked in followed by two servants and a man with a flute in his hand. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Juturna.

“You are not one of my harem, old woman, what are you doing here?”

“She’s here at my request,” said Malik as he ducked and entered the tent. “She is a healer and I asked her to tend to the siren’s wound.”

“Brother, you don’t need to follow me around. I am here to spend time alone with the two sirens as I will bed them both at the same time and hopefully sire a siren child out of this.”

“Ov
er my dead body!” Ace ducked through the opening and entered the tent next, getting a surprised reaction from the sheik.

“Ace!” Ebba cried
out.

“So, Asad, I see you
have more lives than I can count.” The sheik pulled his sword from his side.

“Put away
the sword, Brother,” said Malik. “Asad comes to you to make a trade for the girl.”

“I would not trade her.” He looked to the man with the flute and instructed him to play. Then he clapped his hands and Ebba’s mother jumped to her feet but Ebba stayed sitting on the pallet.

“You would both dance now for the pleasure of me and my guests,” said the sheik.

When Ebba did not move, he looked over to the door
of the tent and called out loudly. “Kamil. Teach her a lesson.”

Ace was surprised to see Kamil
walk into the tent next, his whip in his hand. He saw Ace and his eyes opened wide. “Asad, you have returned to claim your true title.” The man bowed to him, having always been loyal to Ace’s mother and a friend to Ace as well.

“Kamil
,” Ace said with a nod to greet him. “I am here but to claim my woman only.”

“Your woman?” asked the man
, then looked over to Ebba and understood exactly.

“Whip Ebba-
Tyne for her disobedience,” ordered the sheik.

Ace could tell Kamil was uncertai
n of what to do, but when the sheik commanded him again, Kamil lifted his whip in the air, being the ever-obedient servant. Ace was about to strike out with his sword and stop him, but Ebba jumped to her feet instead.