Chosen Bride of the Seven Dark Princes

Byron sat on a hammock, swinging lazily on the limbs of a huge poplar tree that was hovering above Peoria.

The tree was ancient, planted at least two hundred years in the past, when huge flying clods of dirt were the popular thing to have magically floating about the lands.

The art of creating flying islands was not lost. There were still a few who tinkered with creating them, namely his two fool brothers, Jared and Jason.

It was just a flaming pain to keep them from deteriorating over time. There was also rain and snow and high winds, all of which wrecked the island unless there was someone who was there all the time to maintain the floating island and to protect it from the elements.

Nowadays, all those who had the means simply had a cruise ship built. Much easier to maintain, and far less costly.

But of course, nothing could beat lying on a hammock strung between the limbs of an aged tree, floating hundreds of feet above the ground.

Byron sighed and tried again to call up Leonardo. He had been trying to reach the man for over a week, but Leo was either so busy that he was refusing contact from his own family on purpose—or something was very wrong.

It had gotten to the point where, even if Byron was bogged down with Embassy work to stabilize relations between the birds and Erenveil, he was going to need to personally go and find Leo. There were monkey wrenches that still needed to be thrown.

"Where in heck are you?" Lucas asked, looking around at Byron's background.

Byron laughed and switched views so Lucas could see the scenery that he was looking at.

"Oh, it looks like you're on a floating island, like what the twins have."

"Close, but no cigar. This island is much larger than the twins' floating clod of dirt. There are a dozen homes located on here, along with a large mansion for the visiting royal dignitaries."

"Hmmm. Is that where you've been put up?"

Byron nodded. "Peoria is a land of flying birds. They enjoy living above the clouds so there are far more of these flying islands than Erenveil." He indicated with his hand.

"But you see where I prefer to spend my time." He pulled back the view to show his perch on the tree hammock.

"Yikes!" Lucas squawked. "A gust of wind can just blow you off that hammock and you'd go plunging out of the sky!"

"And? It's not like I can't just sprout wings and fly."

Lucas grimaced. "So what's up? I'm sure you're not just calling me to brag about being on top of the world in Peoria while I'm down here in Erenveil with the natives."

He panned out to show a school of porpoises dancing on the waves beyond his surf board.

"Lucas." Byron watched the porpoises playing with a serious face. "I can't get in touch with Leo."

"What?" Lucas' face came back onscreen. "Isn't he on his hospital ship?"

"Yeah, which one?"

Lucas scratched his head. Leonardo had hundreds of ships.

"I bet Slate knows where he is."

Byron sighed and waved a hand to connect to Slate.

Within a matter of minutes, the Prime Warrior of Erenveil popped up on a split screen next to Lucas, his eyes red-rimmed from lack of sleep.

"What's going on Byron? Lucas?" Slate gave a weary smile.

"You heard from Leo lately?" Lucas jumped into the crux of the matter without preamble.

Slate shook his head. "Situations have been tense all over the galaxy and I've been putting out fires everywhere. Latest emergency was the uprising on the dragon world of Avalia. I haven't had a chance to do much else."

"We can't get in touch with Leo." Byron interjected.

"What?" Slate waved a hand, sending a hailing frequency at Leo.

No answer.

A few more unsuccessful attempts and Slate grimaced. "Just great. This would have been a good time to connect via Candace's mind space."

Lucas sighed. "Except he's the only one she hasn't had a chance to mind-connect yet."

"Listen, I'm the only one right now who's got freaking nothing to do." Lucas waved his hand at the paradise he'd been stuck on for weeks.

"I've been here on my island, surfing every day, eating kalua pork and lomi salmon, and sleeping till noon. I can go find him."

"What a terrible existence, Lucas." Slate grimaced with jealousy.

Byron rubbed his jaw. "He's gotta be at one of his hospital ships. All we have to do is start making calls to his people and they will know where he is."

Slate nodded. "Do it. And let me know what you find."

The brothers nodded in agreement and parted ways with Lucas and Byron splitting the number of ships they would contact.

Lucas gritted his teeth and started calling.

"Hi! This is Lucas. Is my brother Leo on the ship? No? Okay thank you!"

"Hi! This is Lucas. Yes, yes. Prince Lucas. Would Leonardo happen to be—no? Okay thanks!"

"Hi! This is Prince Lucas—"

Halfway through Lucas' list, Byron called him back.

"Found him."

"Where?"

"Not far from where you are, but for some reason, he's not keen on talking much."

"What do you mean?" Lucas gave him a suspicious look. "Leo has always been an open friendly kinda guy."

Byron took a deep breath. "Something is wrong. We need to go check on him, Lucas."

"You and me both?"

"Yeah. I would go alone, but you're his closest brother since you both have the same mother. I'd feel better if we both went together."

Lucas nodded. "Okay. Let me get dressed and I'll meet you there."

"I'll come by your island and pick you up. Be ready in an hour."

Within the hour, Byron's transport pod had made the trip to Lucas' semi-deserted island out in the middle of Erenveil's Baria Ocean.

He had barely landed when a deeply tanned, long haired white-blond beach bum ran up, his hair whipping in coarse straw-like strands around his face.

"Oh my Lord, Lucas. What have you done to yourself?"

Lucas scratched his head. "I haven't done anything. All my pink dye faded from my hair, maybe that's why you think I look strange."

"No man. I think you look strange because you look strange. Like some homeless beach bum!"

Lucas laughed. "I have another week before Candace returns from Avalia. I'll clean up myself by then."

Byron cleared his throat. "You're gonna need a lot of help to get back to being the best looking prince of Erenveil. Right now, you just look kinda like a grungy surfer dude."

Lucas laughed.. "Let's go."