Chapter 201 – Just the Facts
Minx walked into their bedroom and smelled roses before she even saw them. There were rose petals scattered all over their bed. She heard water running and went into the bathroom. The tub was filling with water and Sil was adding bath salt.
"Have I told you how much I love you in the last five minutes?" Minx asked, chuckling as Sil jumped.
"I didn't here you come in! The girls said you'd be back soon, so I wanted to surprise you with something nice," he smiled his beautiful, innocent smile that always melted her. He then chuckled, "I'll never tire of hearing about how much you love me."
He looked back at the water level in the tub and turned the water off.
He captured his wife's eyes with his, removed her clothes, picked her up and placed her in the tub.
She gasped as her body hit the water then leaned back.
"Too hot? Are you okay?" Sil asked quickly.
She shook her head with her eyes closed. "Perfection."
He grinned and went to the kitchen. Shalt was guarding their bedroom door. Sil opened the bag of food and pulled out the top container.
"This is for you, Shalt. I really appreciate you for helping my wife. I wish I could be here more. I'm going to keep her occupied for the rest of the night." Sil held out the container.
Shalt took it from him, "she really loves you, you know."
Sil smiled brightly, "She's the most amazing person. I love her so much. I want to make sure she never doubts how much."
Sil carried the bag into the bathroom after making sure the bedroom door was closed.
Minx was tired and marveled at her husband's stamina, not for the first time; especially since her stamina was abnormally high. She didn't think to take into account that she had just run to the other side, used her ability for a while the ran back. She deserved her rest.
"It smells really good," Minx said.
"The ladies in the traveler's center brought us something to eat."
Minx started looking around as her mouth started to salivate.
"Stay there. I wat to feed you while you rest."
Minx giggled but stayed put. It had been a long time since she had no worries. Her care-free days seemed ancient at this point even though it was only a year ago.
After they were done eating, Sil asked, "So, where did you go?"
"To the other side. I wanted to see if I could find any more information on Arthur."
Sil caressed his wife's beautiful blond hair, "did you find anything?"
Normally she looked up toward his face to speak to him. Her not doing so told him something was up.
"He came back then went into the vampire settlement and left again. Those who were waiting on his decision left as well."
Sil nodded. "Joined them or overpowered by them and taken away?"
Minx shook her head, "don't ask me to speculate on that," her voice cracked as she ended the sentence.
Sil swiftly picked her up and put her against the wall, holding her tight. "It will be okay. We'll get through this."
Minx nodded, "he's so strong and he's in this position. Our list of strong allies is shrinking."
"I'm here. I will always be here," Sil looked into her eyes as he spoke.
Minx chuckled.
Sil smiled at her, "what?"
"You are your walls…" she chuckled at him.
Sil's face beamed, "I like using them…"
An hour later, he carried her from the bathroom all squeaky clean and placed her between the sheets and crawled in behind her.
Sil wrapped his arms around her, "you were very tense. What else happened?"
"I met a little girl named Minny. She was waiting for Arthur to come out of the underground area. He taught her not to go there, calling it a bad place."
Sil nodded.
"I talked with her a bit about her father. Her mother Ruby runs the shelter. They have been here since the creation of the shelter. I learned things… Sil… I think the military has more fingers in my life than I thought."
Shocked, he sat up and leaned over looking at her face. She didn't look happy, so he laid back down and held her closer. He didn't like it when his Minx wasn't happy.
"Fact 1: The military came to this planet after an energy spike."
"Fact 2: My mother, and the two of us, were found by the Bree a few days later. The shelter wasn't even built yet."
"Fact 3: Ruby and Roger didn't have kids and offered to take care of us until mom was well again."
"Fact 4: The military sent the most shady of their soldiers to have us adopted out."
"Fact 5: The area the energy came from was too dangerous to land a ship, so they needed to send people in on foot."
"Fact 6: It's beyond the desert that surrounds this area."
"Fact 7: Minny was an infant when Roger went missing. It took him 10 years to get to the other side, if he got that far. They gave him a bunch of Rank A travelers for the trip. They kept dying."
"Speculation 1: The high-level military, meaning Oscar, kept a cursory eye on us. That would be why Sed came to the orphanage, to us."
"Speculation 2: Their catastrophic failure is the reason the military sold me this planet, though they said it was because of Mona Bree's negotiation skills."
"Speculation 3: The military is waiting for me to find what's there so they can steal it."
"Speculation 4: Mom crossed from there to here somehow. Whether it was across the surface or underground is unknown."
Sil asked, "are you thinking underground?"
Minx nodded. "Kinda hoping actually so it can't be tracked so easily."
"So potentially, you are not as safe as you thought you were."
Minx nodded and scooted closer to him as if that was possible.
Minx took a deep breath. "I think I need to figure out my soul weapon soon… I only figured out one of the items."
"Items? Show me." Sil sat up, curious.
She produced her items and picked up the metal circle. "This one, if I hold it so the circle's edge is fully in my palm, using my fingers to hold it in place but not down passed the rim, it acts like a cluster bomb. Or in this case, a cluster missile. It enters the target then splits into many pieces and makes the enemy into many pieces."
Sil looked impressed, "and these others?"
Minx held up the black spheric thing, "this looks like a seed of some kind, but I have not played with it yet."
"This third thing, the drawstring bag is metallic and there are shavings inside. If I'm right, it's phosphorus shavings."
"WHAT?!"
Minx chuckled dryly. "yeah…" she focused on the items and they went away.
"I wish I had a soul weapon…" Sil sighed.
"Use Quinn's soul weapon machine."
"But the Blades don't have soul weapons," Sil responded.
"Since when are you a normal Blade?"
Sil curled up to her and kissed her neck, "I guess, never."
"So, what are your plans for your mother's lab and area the military wants access to?"
"I don't know yet…" Minx sighed, "I need time to think on it. I'll work with the sword for now, go on expeditions to practice my ability, get stronger once that armor is ready."
Sil nodded. "Sounds sensible… But you'll be in a dangerous area, won't you?"
Minx chuckled, "I'll use my soul weapon if need be. But yes, I am a bit worried. It will have to be the party I had with me last time unless you are available. They know Shalt is a vampire so he can use his full power."
"Why do they know he's a vampire?"