The Brothers Locke Read online

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  FOREWORD

  EPISODE 1: SOLAS

  EPISODE 2: DANGEROUS BURDENS

  EPISODE 3: THE GOLD OF CAPTAIN HORSEFLY

  EPISODE 4: YOU GET SOFT, YOU GET KILLED

  EPISODE 5: OLD DREAMS, NEW NIGHTMARES

  EPISODE 6: A HEEL AMONG US

  EPISODE 7: CACOETHES

  EPISODE 8: CHILDREN OF THE SPIRE

  WHO IS DORIAN DELMONTEZ?

  YOU CAN MAKE AN IMPACT

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  LEGAL

  CONTINUE THE JOURNEY ONLINE

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  FOREWORD

  The Brothers Locke: An Urban Fantasy Adventure is the first taste into the world of the Dea and the upcoming five part series Dorian Delmontez. A colorful passel of characters will populate this world over the coming years in full length novels. This urban fantasy adventure will give you a glimpse into the expanded world full of action, adventure, epic stories, and fantasy landscapes.

  In addition, our websites will further the experience of the Dea through interactive games, applications, videos and much more online. We hope to provide an experience that is both immersive and entertaining for you with a new mythology for those who love coming of age stories, fantasy stories and high adventure series.

  So get comfortable, grab a cup of your favorite beverage and enjoy this trip into a reality that is just outside the edge of your own but may be closer than you think.

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  - KC Hunter

  The Brothers Locke

  Episode 1: Solas

  Perry hated running. It hurt his feet, it hurt his knees, it hurt his lungs, and most of all it hurt his ankles. So when he got the call that a suspect was heading down to the main floor and he was the only security officer available, he knew when he caught this kid a beat down of historic proportions would follow.

  “Stop!” he shouted as he caught sight of the boy.

  Of course, the suspect didn’t stop, so Perry gave chase. He couldn’t imagine something more terrible than this. Not only did running make Perry ache all over, but he didn’t look particularly athletic doing it. His arms, which were short for his body size, swung at his sides and he had an upright posture that made it look more like he was running to the bathroom than giving chase.

  “I said stop!” he shouted again. “That means your legs don’t move anymore!”

  The kid clearly heard him but showed no intention of complying. Unlike Perry, the boy was athletic and putting more distance between them with every step. Leaping over crates, running through the food court, weaving between two jewelry kiosks, and hurdling over an incoming shipment of boxes, the boy and Perry provided quite a show for the patrons in the shopping center.

  They were in the main lobby now, and with few obstacles to get in their way, it was a clear sprint to the front door. Outside was a large crowd and Perry knew if the boy got there, he’d be impossible to find. However, he was feeling winded. Slowing his stride, Perry couldn’t go any farther and stopped to catch his breath. If he was ten years younger, this thief wouldn’t have stood a chance.

  “There he is!” came a voice from the nearby elevator.

  Three other security guards had arrived and immediately gave chase to the boy, allowing Perry to not feel so guilty about letting the kid get away. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, gasping for air and wiping sweat from his brow.

  “I wouldn’t feel so bad,” a heavy set man said nearby. “I wouldn’t have chased him at all, given your size.”

  Perry looked at his midsection, which was admittedly rotund, but then threw his critic a sarcastic glare.

  “Oh, I ain’t got room to talk,” the other man admitted, throwing his hands up in surrender. “I’m just saying, I feel for you.”

  It wasn’t until now that Perry recognized the large man. He immediately regretted his prior glare. “I’m sorry, didn’t know it was you, Sim Sam.”

  “Don’t worry about me being offended. I’m not that sensitive,” Sim Sam grinned. “Save that for the boss.”

  They both looked out of the front entrance to the shopping center and saw the boy fleeing through the glass doors and into the crowd. The security officers were in pursuit, pushing people out of their way and shouting instructions.

  “The boy’s gone,” Sim Sam noted as he pushed his square glasses up with his index finger. “When your fellow officers are done trying to find him in that crowd, tell them to come upstairs. I’m sure the boss wants to get clues. You come too.”

  Perry’s face grew ashen, and he stumbled in his response, “Y-yes sir.”

  “Don’t be afraid—”

  “I’m not afraid, sir. It’s just that… I’ve never met The Miscellany. I mean—”

  “You didn’t let me finish.”

  Perry cocked his head. Perhaps this wasn’t a summons for punishment, but something else. Their employer might actually be sympathetic to the issue.

  Sim Sam continued, “I meant don’t be afraid, yet.”

  Undeterred by the cryptic warning, Perry took one last deep breath and headed back to the guard’s control room. Sim Sam chuckled to himself and returned his attention to the glass doors, wondering if the other guards could possibly catch the thief.

  ***

  “He went down that way!” yelled one of the three guards.

  The trio ran down a nearby alley, pushing violently through the crowd of people gathered in the main courtyard who were all more preoccupied with the images on the massive video screens around them than the chase going on in their midst.

  This was the main square in Avidity, the largest city in the western part of the Dea. While the neighboring cities and towns were shrouded in darkness, this was a place of glittering skyscrapers and bustling sidewalks. But like any city, it had its secrets and shadows. In the darker corners, away from the hubbub, an entirely different world thrived.

  In such a place, it can be fairly easy to disappear. Unfortunately for the guards, it appeared that their thief knew this all too well. The alley appeared empty except for a few dumpsters and crates. Still, they did their job and searched as best they could.

  “I saw him go down here,” said one of the guards, a man named Taylor. “He has to be here. There’s no way out of this alley.”

  “If you say so,” Marc, a smaller guard, sneered. “This could all just be a giant waste of time.”

  “I don’t think so,” said Dod, the third guard.

  He waved to the other two and pointed behind a nearby dumpster. There, with his back to them, was the thief. He was dressed plainly in jeans, tennis shoes, and a gray hoodie that he had drawn over his head.

  “Put your hands up!” Taylor said, drawing his baton.

  The thief would not comply.

  “I said put your hands up! Now!”

  Cautiously, the suspect raised his hands above his head, making sure to keep his face concealed under his hood. At that very moment, another person emerged from behind another dumpster, dressed in an identical outfit.

  “Don’t move!” the guards all shouted. “You! Put your hands up! Now!”

  As the second person put his hands up, the first suspect lowered his. Taylor told him to put his hands back up, and as he did, the second suspect lowered his.

  “Do you think this is a game?” Marc asked.

  “Guys,” Dod nudged his co workers and directed their attention to a third figure, who stood atop a parked truck behind them.

  Just like the other two, he wore a gray hoodie, tennis shoes, and jeans. Not knowing which direction to focus their attention, the guards began to panic. They shouted out orders to all three suspects at the same time, telling them all to put their hands up. As one would put his arms up, the other two would drop their hands or cross their arms. It became a chaotic symphony of shouting voices until one of the suspects began to chuckle.

  “You, up there on the truck, stop laughing!” Taylor shouted, his temper now getting the best of him. “Take off that hoodie!”

  There was no response. All three of the guards now approached the truck, their batons gripped firmly. Once again, they called up to the third suspect on the van while looking back at the other two.

  “Take. It. Off.”

  With one last laugh, the suspect reached up and pulled back his hood. It was a boy, no more than thirteen, with olive skin and wavy black hair. His features were sharp: a long nose and thin eyebrows that sat above almond eyes. His lips were curled in a defiant smirk.

  “Who are you?” Marc asked. “Give us your name and get down from there.”

  The other two boys took off their hoods and revealed the final surprise. The same face, the same olive skin, the same sharp features. All three were almost exactly the same, triplets, except for the second boy who wore a tinted pair of glasses.

  “The Triplets!” Marc said in recognition.

  “Here’s a smart one!” the boy on the truck shouted.

  “He thinks he is, at least,” said the
triplet wearing glasses.

  The third, and first suspect caught by the guards, said nothing. Instead, he waved his hands around, making symbols with his fingers. It was sign language and the guards had no clue what he was saying to his brothers.

  “Good idea,” the brother on the truck said. “Echo, you know what to do. On the count of three, yes?”

  “Three, yes!”

  Taylor didn’t like what he was hearing. “Now wait a minute. Don’t do anything. I’m warning you—”

  “One!” the brother on the truck shouted.

  “I’m telling you one last time—”

  “Two!” the brother in glasses continued.

  “Get them,” said Dod.

  The three guards turned to the silent triplet, expecting him to give the sign for “three,” but instead they saw him slap his hands together. A blinding light flashed from between his palms, causing the guards to raise their arms to cover their eyes.

  “Get them! Just grab them now!” Taylor called out, his vision still a blob of white.

  “Do you see them? I can’t see anything,” said Dod.

  By the time their vision cleared, the brothers had disappeared. Taylor let out a curse, slammed his baton into the ground, and kicked the truck, only to injure his foot in the process. While he hobbled around grabbing at his boot, Marc looked down to the ground where the first suspect had been. There was a note left behind, written on a ripped sheet of notebook paper. He read it out loud, his face twisted into a frown.

  Do not be mad,

  You shouldn’t be sad.

  Do not pursue,

  We’re smarter than you.

  Please don’t sob,

  You’ve only been robbed,

  Much to your shock,

  By the Brothers Locke.

  ***

  “You know, they say adults are supposed to be smart and all, but I have to tell you… here… not so much,” one of the brothers mused.

  This was just one of many observations made by Mouth, the most vocal of the triplets, as the three brothers made their way beyond the borders of Avidity and into the open wastelands beyond the city limits.

  “Let’s not get too ahead of ourselves. It’s a long way back to the East and we better hope our ride is still out here. We are running late,” said the brother wearing tinted glasses, Echo.

  “Echo, come on, we’re master thieves! They didn’t stand a chance against us. We’re too smart. Too quick. Too good—”

  “Too arrogant,” the third brother, Sharp, signed to his siblings.

  “You have a point,” Echo replied. “Especially when you’re insulting Mouth.”

  “Really, brothers? Really? This isn’t going to work if you don’t believe in yourselves.”

  Echo laughed, “This is the first thing we’ve actually successfully stolen. I know we want to say we’re master thieves and all, but this was more luck than anything else.”

  “Luck is for losers,” Mouth boldly replied.

  “Again, I’m just saying that we should wait until we get back across the border to the East before we start patting ourselves on the back.”

  Sharp came to an immediate stop and motioned for his brothers to do the same. All three lowered themselves to the ground behind a cluster of dried out bushes. It was arid in the plains beyond the city and much darker. The West was always dark, but Avidity was one rare exception. The city’s light was artificial and could simulate dawn and dusk, but out here, away from electricity and view screens, it was perpetually sunset.

  It made it hard for anyone to see, except for Sharp who, despite being unable to speak, had nearly perfect eyesight and a visual spectrum beyond what most others possessed.

  All three Locke Brothers had an ironic (and useful) duality of disabilities and abilities.

  Echo Locke was legally blind and without the specially treated glasses he wore, he wouldn’t be able to see anything. His hearing, on the other hand, was beyond that of any other living person and if he stretched his abilities hard enough, he could hear everything from radio waves to the communication of animals.

  And of course there was Mouth Locke, who was hard of hearing but possessed a voice that could shake buildings if he chose to ever shout. It’s an ability he’d only used once in his life, for good reason, although he was best known for being boastful.

  Mouth, Echo, and Sharp were names they chose for themselves, as their birth names had been lost to them ages ago. The thirteen-year-old triplets had survived in the Dea with minimal help from others. Orphaned at an early age, they had to figure out very quickly how to survive on their own.

  In the years that followed, they tried desperately to fit in with the underground element of traders, pirates, bounty hunters, and thieves, but were mainly seen as scavengers who were good from time to time for small jobs. This was the first time they had been asked to do a major job and now it appeared that the very people who hired them were on their way to collect.

  “I see them,” Sharp signed. “They’re coming down the road over there in a beat up old car. Ten minutes tops.”

  Mouth looked out over the stretch of land ahead and saw nothing but tumbleweeds, dust, and dead trees. He smiled at his brother and patted him on the back.

  “Sharp, one day I’m going to tell you how amazing you are with that whole ‘seeing through time and space’ thing.”

  Echo opened the backpack he was carrying and started rummaging inside. Mouth grabbed his hand to stop him.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Well, I wanted to have a look at the thing before we hand it over to them,” answered Echo.

  “Look at…” Mouth began to protest, then stopped and sighed at the absurdity of his nearly-blind brother wanting to get a close look at anything. “Okay, let me. We’ll be here all night waiting for you to find it.”

  “Hardy har har,” Echo scoffed.

  Mouth unzipped the backpack. He reached inside and pulled out the wooden box they had stolen from Avidity. He hesitated only for a second before opening it. His eyes widened as his brain figured out what they actually had stolen. At this moment, Mouth wasn’t quite sure he wanted to give this prize over to their employers and motioned for his brothers to come hide with him behind some nearby bushes.

  “What is it, Mouth?” Echo asked. “Why are you so quiet?”

  “Brothers,” he said theatrically, “I think we need to get paid more for this!”

  “Too late,” Sharp signed to them. “They’re here.”

  Two vehicles stopped just short of the brother’s position. The car doors opened and out stepped a group of men in black robes and yellow head wraps. All of them were armed with heavy guns which caused even more suspicion from Mouth as to how well intentioned their buyer was. The brothers recognized one of them, a slender man with a handlebar mustache.

  “Well, do we hide or do we give this to them?” Echo whispered.

  “I’m not giving this to them without getting paid more. We’re getting gypped in this whole thing!” protested Mouth.

  “Mouth, this really isn’t the time—”

  “Heck yeah it’s the time! We’ve got the bloody Key to—”

  “They know we’re here,” Sharp signed. “They’re coming this way. We’d better meet them.”

  “But,” Mouth began to say again. His brothers glared at him before he could finish. “Okay, okay. We’ll do this, but I’m telling you we’re getting robbed.”

  “The irony,” mused Echo.

  The triplets carefully moved from their hiding spot behind the bushes and into the view of the robed men. The slender man approached them with a smile on his face, twirling his mustache between index finger and thumb.

  “Von Strauss,” Mouth greeted the mustached man.

  “The Locke Brothers,” Von Strauss growled, his accent heavily German. “You have what we asked for, yes?”

  “Of course. Was there any doubt?” Mouth answered.

  Von Strauss’ expression did not change despite the smile on Mouth’s face. That smile quickly went away as Echo and Sharp came forward with the backpack. Before they got too close to Von Strauss, Mouth raised his arm to stop his brothers.

  “Before we finish business here, I have a question,” said Mouth.