Page 6 of Crossing Quinn

My mother took one look at her shattered teapot, the two dead thugs, and passed out again.

“Drekk. Get up.” Dolon threw a teacup at his remaining henchman.

It smacked him in the left eye. Rubbing at his rapidly swelling eye, the henchman got to his feet.

“Bind Lysis,” Dolon ordered.

His breath coming in rasping gasps, the henchman staggered toward my father.

I couldn’t allow him to tie Papa up. Arching my body, I flailed my arm and legs wildly as if I was having a convulsion.

“Xenia’s seizing. She needs medical care,” my father growled.

“Like I care?”

“If Xenia dies, Eleni will be of no use to you.”

“Drekk.” Dolon yanked me off the floor and hurled me at my father. “Fix her.”

Papa caught me.

I faked another seizure and managed to kick the henchman in the balls. All the color drained from his face as he doubled over in agony. His knees buckled, and he collapsed next to my mother.

Dolon studied me suspiciously. “Did she do that on purpose?”

“You think Eleni’s daughter is capable of attacking a male?” My father carried me over to the med unit.

“She’s also your daughter. There are rumors that Xenia shot and killed several Sandokan pirates two months ago.”

Papa smiled a smile guaranteed to make most males run for their lives. “I spread that rumor. My daughter is a beautiful female. A wise male now hesitates before approaching her.”

I wasn’t sure if Dolon bought the fib or not. “You should have let me shoot him.”

“An error I won’t repeat.”Papa ran the med scanner over me and injected a muscle relaxer to neutralize the effects of the stun beam.

I sighed in relief as the pain and muscle spasms stopped. I tried to summon a fireball, but nothing happened. Drekk. The energy blast from the stun beam was still playing havoc with my psychic abilities.

Papa threw an aggravated look over his shoulder. “How long before you can project an illusion?”

“A couple of minutes, but I don’t know how long I can hold it.”

“Hurry up,” Dolon spat impatiently.

“He’s not going to be pleased when he sees the dig site is nothing more than buildings carved out of rocks,”I said.

“I agree. Bringing your mother along is going to make things more difficult.”

My stomach knotted at the thought of Dolon hurting her out of sheer frustration. Mami had once pushed Bhikshuni, the devout religious leader of the Farins, to violence. After the incident, he had joined a remote monastery. “The gravesite has enough artifacts to keep Dolon busy.”

Mami suddenly bolted upright, looked around wildly, screamed, and keeled over again.

The expression on Dolon’s face was an exact duplicate of the one on Bhikshuni’s just before he lost it.

Papa stepped in front of me, shielding me with his body and said quickly, “I can take you to the dig site. Eleni will only slow you down.”

“She is an extremely troublesome female.” Dolon kicked his goon. “Get up.”

The henchman groaned.

---