Beauty and the Beast (43 page)

Now that the crisis was over, Jamie was anxious to get back to her family, and Dresden could feel that. He decided to collect his things later, so he could accompany Jamie down the cavern wall. Jamie went into the cave and retrieved her quiver of arrows and was attaching her crossbow to it with the strap Mouse had fitted her quiver with. Before she could put it on her shoulder, though, Dresden took it from her.

Jamie stared at him. “What do you think you are

doing?”

Dresden smiled at her. “I’m not anxious to see you break that pretty little neck of yours trying to climb down with this on your shoulder.” Without waiting for her to give him permission, he shouldered her weapon and began climbing down to the floor of the cavern.

Jamie swallowed the protest that sprang to her lips, and instead, she found herself smiling at Dresden’s gallantry. She waited for him to get most of the way down, and then she began climbing down after him. Jamie was several feet above Dresden, who was now on the floor of the cavern when she lost her footing, and she yelped in alarm as she fell. Dresden whirled around just in time to catch her in his arms. Once more, she found herself looking up into his dark eyes, and she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his mane with relief.

Dresden thought, “Item number one on my wish list; Rescue the princess, so she hugs my neck!” Then Jamie looked into his smiling eyes again, and he just had to open his big mouth as he began walking with her in his arms. “Well, I guess I can carry you, if you insist!”

Jamie snapped back, “Put me down, you big Brute!” Dresden smiled mischievously, but he obediently put her down. Jamie shook her head. “I know! I’m adorable when I’m rattled. Well, I’m going to rattle you until your teeth shake loose, if you don’t stop teasing me!”

Dresden looked positively delighted. “That sounds like fun!”

Jamie was both amused and exasperated as she attempted to look serious. “That happens to be a threat! Some Heathcliff you’re turning out to be!”

With that, she whirled around and stomped off, with Dresden close at her heels, very pleased with himself for provoking another pretty tantrum out of this captivating little creature. He wisely decided, though, that he had better change tactics, or he was going to sabotage his own efforts to keep her interested. He thought to himself, “Heathcliff, huh! So, she likes the sober brooding sort.” Dresden’s long strides quickly put him beside Jamie, and then he asked her, “Where did you learn to shoot a crossbow like that? You really are very good!” As he asked the question, he handed her crossbow and quiver to her, and she put them back on her shoulder.

Jamie eyed Dresden suspiciously, wondering if another onslaught of teasing was forthcoming, but his expression was serious. So, she explained, “When I was growing up in the tunnels, I was always a tomboy.

Vincent used to read us the tales of Robin Hood. I was so fascinated by those stories, that it inspired me to make my first bow and arrows. They weren’t more than just toys then, but as I got older, Mouse made more sophisticated weapons for me. I loved practicing with them.”

Dresden was thrilled with his discovery that Jamie was truly passionate about archery. It wasn’t just a means of defense to her. It was also an enjoyable sport. “Well, all of that practice has certainly made you a force to be reckoned with!” Jamie lit up with pleasure at the compliment, and Dresden thought to himself, “She is such a pretty little thing!”

Then Jamie asked him about his weapon. “Tell me about your weapon, Dresden. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Dresden proceeded to explain the weapon to Jamie as Elisia had to Vincent. Jamie didn’t have a clue what Dresden was talking about, but she found herself enjoying listening to him explain it anyway.

Diana was brought back to consciousness by the acrid scent of smelling salts administered to her by Peter. When she opened her eyes, Joe was looking down at her as he held her in his arms, while he was seated on a boulder in the cave. She exclaimed, “Vincent was shot!”

Joe smiled at her as Vincent came up to them and said, “I’m fine, Diana. I don’t even have a scratch.”

Tears came to Diana’s eyes as she then said to Joe, “You’re all right! Were you the one that caught me?”

Joe smiled down at her. “You didn’t think I was going to miss out on an opportunity like that, did you? The damsel-in-distress fainted, and I got to catch her so she wouldn’t get a boo-boo!” He gently touched her face as he added with sad regret, “I wish that I could have prevented this too!”

Diana giggled as she sat up on Joe’s lap and hugged him, “My knight-in-shining-arm or!” Everyone had gathered around Diana as she came to. Father began

treating the cuts on her face as she spoke to Vincent. “I know that Adrian shot you! I felt the impact of the bullet when you were holding me. How is it that you aren’t hurt?”

Mouse spoke up and answered Diana’s question. “Kevlar vest! Mouse found long time ago. Vincent wore!” Vincent smiled and nodded. “I had put on Mouse’s Kevlar vest before Tanimus and I went looking for you. It was a good thing that Mouse thought to pack it. I was afraid that Adrian might start shooting. I knew that he was unstable and had no self-control.”

Diana then looked at Tanimus. “What did you do to Adrian? I almost felt sorry for him!”

Tanimus explained, “Before Dr. Vlas left us, he gave us a weapon to use against Adrian, if he ever threatened our world again. Dominik gave us a vision, from his own mind, of the one thing that Adrian is terrified of.”

Diana shook her head as she suddenly realized what that was, “His abusive biological father in Romania!” Tanimus nodded, “Yes, we simply flooded his mind with visions of that horrible man beating both Gabriel and Adrian, just as Dominik Vlas witnessed it happening in Romania, before he rescued the brothers. That was all we needed to cripple Adrian temporarily, perhaps even permanently. The psychological scars an abusive parent leaves on a child last a lifetime.”

Peter then asked, “What are you going to do with those men now?”

Tanimus looked at Joe. “Well, since they cannot be prosecuted and imprisoned without exposing our worlds, we will take them back to our world, and we will make sure that they never bother your world again.”

Diana spoke up at that point. “That’s a relief. Gabriel told me, before I killed him, that prison was a place to get stronger. He said that if he went to prison, he would just rule his empire from there. I’m sure that Adrian would have the same idea, if he wasn’t completely catatonic after this, and he has the means in offshore accounts to do just that if we sent him to prison.”

Joe chuckled as he looked at Tanimus. “Aren’t we under The Bronx now?” Tanimus nodded, and Joe went on, “Well, this is out of my jurisdiction anyway. If your people have a safe way of dealing with those criminals, so they can’t hurt anyone else ever again, then you will be doing the world a favor. What will you do with them in your world?”

Tanimus explained, “It is very rare, but on occasion, we do catch criminals in the tunnels whom we cannot send up top, or our world would be threatened like yours would. We keep them incarcerated in our world, in very comfortable facilities, and we are often able to rehabilitate them using our mental powers. Whether they can be helped or not we will care for those men. They will be blindfolded before being taken to our world, so even if they ever did manage to escape, they would become hopelessly lost in the maze of tunnels. We have never lost a prisoner yet, though, and some of them are now very productive and happy members of our community. Our prisoners cannot successfully deceive us by pretending to be rehabilitated, because the Tandins can detect changes in heart rate as well as emotional state, and we can smell the distinct perspiration odor of liars.”

Joe commented with awe in his voice, “Boy, what I wouldn’t give to have your people conducting my interrogations!” Tanimus chuckled.

The Tandin troops blindfolded a still-whimpering Adrian and his men, whose wounds had all been treated, and then they went ahead with their prisoners to the Tandin world. Now that they could finally relax, baths and a good meal were the group’s first priority. Then after a few hours of restful sleep, the group began gathering up their things to resume their journey.

Dresden was helping Jamie to put her backpack on when Tanimus came up to the couple. He chuckled as he looked at the completely moon-struck look on Dresden’s face. “Well, Dresden, it looks like you have finally been bewitched!”

Dresden’s eyes danced as he answered. “Isn’t she enchanting, Dad?”

Jamie stared at the two men in surprise as Tanimus replied. “She certainly is, Son!”

Jamie looked at Dresden. “Tanimus is your father?” Dresden chuckled at her surprised look. “That he is!”

Jamie then stated the obvious. “So, Vincent and Elisia are your cousins!”

Dresden nodded his head. “They are! I grew up with Elisia, though. She is really more like a sister to me. In fact, biologically, she almost is, since our mothers were identical twins, and our fathers were brothers.”

Before Tanimus left them, he caught sight of Dresden’s torn and blood-soaked shirt lashed to the outside of his backpack. He asked, “Dresden, is that your blood on that shirt?”

Dresden smiled at his father. “Don’t worry, Dad. I was only grazed by a bullet that ricocheted off a rock up on the ledge. This competent little nurse here patched me right up, and it has already started to heal.”

Tanimus looked at Jamie and smiled. “Thank you, Jamie!” Jamie smiled back.

Tanimus then went to help Vincent with Catherine’s gurney, and Elisia approached the couple. Jamie turned around to face Elisia. “I just found out that Dresden is Tanimus’ son.” Elisia smiled and nodded.

Dresden put his hands on Jamie’s shoulders, as he towered over her from behind, and he said to Elisia,

“Jamie is going to give me archery lessons!” Elisia had a puzzled expression on her face for half a second, until she saw Dresden furiously shaking his head behind Jamie, and he told her telepathically, “Don’t you dare say anything!”

Elisia smiled and said, “That should be interesting!”

Jamie was now the one who looked puzzled. “What’s the matter? Is he hopeless?”

Elisia giggled and said, “Oh, he’s hopeless, all right.

I’m sure that you are going to have a great deal of fun straightening him out, though!”

When Tanimus arrived to assist Vincent by keeping the gurney still while Vincent placed Catherine on it, he said to his uncle, “I guess I need some tutoring to learn how to tap into and use the mental abilities my sister has learned how to control so well with your help.”

Tanimus smiled at his nephew. “There will be plenty of time for that after we help you wake your little Catherine up. If you have room in your world for us, Elisia, Letha, and I could come to visit for awhile, so we can work with you. Your community is very anxious to get you both back. It wouldn’t be wise to keep you away from them while we teach you.”

Vincent chuckled, “I already miss them! There are plenty of extra chambers for you to stay with us as long as you like. It will be wonderful to see Aunt Letha again.”

With light hearts, now that the last threat to their safety and happiness was eliminated, the joyful group continued their journey. Two days later, they arrived at the Tandin world. When they stepped into the enormous cavern at the threshold of the Tandin world, everyone from Father’s world stopped and stared in childlike wonder.

Chapter X Into the Abyss

It took a few moments for Father’s people to realize that they were still below ground. The spectacular cavern they had stepped into was filled with light that was as bright as being above ground at noon. They had, in fact, arrived there at about noon.

Mouse, who was quick to notice anything technological exclaimed, “Full spectrum lights!” Studying the ceiling of the cavern, he then said, “Fine mist sprayer heads.” He looked at Tanimus and asked, “To simulate rainfall?” Tanimus smiled at him and nodded. Then Mouse added, “Love full spectrum lights! Use them at home—small scale—in William’s kitchen for herb garden.” He walked over to the complex timer inside the cavern doorway and studied it for a few minutes. “Set to adjust lights— simulate time of day and moon cycle!”

Tanimus was enjoying Mouse’s enthusiasm. “You are right, Mouse!”

Everyone else was completely speechless as they gazed in awe at this seemingly enchanted garden under the earth. Every beautiful flower imaginable was being grown here, all artistically arranged. They could all feel themselves relaxing from their long arduous trip as they breathed in the perfumed scent of the flowers. A thick carpet of lush dark-green grass outlined the flower beds, and there were polished stone paths throughout the cavern. There was an huge cascading fountain in the center of the cavern, and many lovely ice-green metal benches were everywhere. In the center of the far right cavern wall were six hives of honey bees.

Several Tandins were seated on the benches. They were obviously enjoying the reaction of Father’s people to this introduction to their world.

Father finally spoke. “This is beyond my wildest dream of what your world would be like!”

Peter nodded and added, “This is as beautiful as any garden I’ve ever seen in our world above!”

Elisia then told them, “We have four botanical chambers. This one is obviously the flower garden chamber on the south end of our world. On the east end, we have our medicinal botanical chamber. On the west end, we have our food garden chamber, where we grow our fruits, vegetables, and dried beans. On the north end, we have our orchard chamber, where we grow apples, peaches, cherries, pears, oranges, grapefruit, limes, and tangerines. There are bee apiaries in each of them as well. We have a composting chamber where we produce our own fertilizer, and it also contains the earthworm farm for our gardens. Above, we own dairy and goat herds, so between what we grow down here, the honey from the hives, and our dairy farms above, we are self-sufficient for food production. After we get Catherine taken care of, we can take all of you on a tour of our world before you go back home.”