Another man took it up. “Sweet and succulent, with the right preparation.”
“Such a waste, to find such a tender morsel while hunting,” still another said.
This last generated so much laughter among them all, even Challen, that Tedra had to wonder about the underlying meaning. What difference if she’d been found while the barbarian was hunting? How was that a waste?
“A waste of what, Challen?” Tedra asked aloud, only to set them all off on another round of guffaws.
This went on for a few more moments; then the barbarian dismounted, rather clumsily since he was still beset with chuckling. His hands were sure, however, when he lifted her down from the hataar. That was when she noticed all the dead animals strung up in the nearby trees, some already skinned, some simply strung up to drain blood. It was revolting, but she had known to anticipate such antiquated means of food gathering on other planets. She had even, in the back of her mind, known that the taraan and the two smaller animals tied to the hataar were destined for consumption. Just because Kystran had stopped killing its animals for food hundreds of years ago didn’t mean all cultures had advanced to the use of other food sources.
“Your fear comes late, woman.”
Tedra turned to see who had made this comment. She had to look up. This was going to get tedious after a while, but just then she smiled. The warrior had light brown hair and eyes, and was almost as handsome of face as Challen. He was certainly as handsome of body, and she let her gaze move slowly down his, then back up, noting when she met his eyes again that she’d managed to disconcert him.
The other men had drifted back to whatever they had been doing, all except this one. “What fear is that, warrior? If you think I was taking seriously that bit of nonsense about my making a tasty morsel for the stew pot, think again. Besides the fact that you fellas would choke to death on me if you were cannibalistic, the barbarian here might object to losing my month of service.”
“Of course, you would not object yourself, would you?” Challen put in dryly.
“Me?” Tedra said, wide-eyed. “Argue with barbarians? I wouldn’t dream of it, babe.”
She saw him stiffen at her persistence in calling him babe, but she was saved by the other warrior’s question. “From where does she come, Challen, that she speaks so strangely?”
“An excellent question, that.” Tedra grinned. “I dare you to tell him my version instead of yours.”
“You may do so yourself, kerima. As I told you, Tamiron enjoys a good tale as well as I.”
Tedra made a face of disgust. “You’re no fun at all to goad, warrior,” she complained. “He isn’t going to believe me any more than you did, so tell him whatever you like. I’ll save the truth for your shodan. At least he ought to be smart enough to let me prove what I say, unlike some people I know.”
“Challen—” the other warrior began, only to be cut off abruptly.
“She is Tedra, a woman of Kystran, which she claims to be a world other than Sha-Ka’an.”
“A sky-flyer?” Tamiron said in amazement.
“So she claims.”
“Wait just a farden minute,” Tedra demanded. “Either I’m dense, or you’ve just admitted you’ve heard of other world travelers before. If that’s so, then why did you—”
“It is not a new tale, woman, just one that cannot be proved.”
“But I can prove it. Just give me my phazor and I can—”
“This I will not do.”
“But—”
“No.”
Tedra ground her teeth together. She knew an adamant, no-getting-around-it no when she heard one, and she’d just heard one.
“Have it your way, barbarian,” she said sourly. “But when my month of service is up, I’m getting on with the business of world trade and mercenary hiring, and you can bet your farden fembair that you won’t stop me.”
“Again does she mention limited service,” Tamiron said to Challen. “Yet is she bound as a captive. Surely you do not mean to relinquish such a splendid prize?”
When Challen failed to answer immediately, Tedra smirked. “What’s the matter, babe? Having regrets now that you must admit you fought—”
“There is my tent, woman,” he interrupted her with a nod toward the tent behind her. “Inside it is where I sleep. I have no regrets.” Tedra was flushing with that reminder as he went on to say to Tamiron, “The woman was claimable, but refused to accept my claim. She challenged me instead, and I did not offer the same refusal.”
“She challenged—?”
That was as far as Tamiron got before he burst into laughter. And Tedra knew he wasn’t laughing over the fact that Challen had accepted the challenge, but because she had been, no doubt in his opinion, foolish enough to challenge a warrior. That was, if he even believed it. But Tedra had been laughed at one time too many that day.
“How much trouble would I get into by showing him that wasn’t a joke?” she asked Challen in all seriousness. “After all, the element of surprise is everything, as you found out for yourself.”
He stared hard at her. He must have realized she was referring to how easily she had tossed him on his backside when he wasn’t expecting such a move, for after a moment he took hold of her arm and, without a word to either her or Tamiron, safely remove her from the temptation of causing trouble.
“Was it something I said?” Tedra purred sarcastically before she was ensconced inside the barbarian’s tent—and once again in a place where he slept.
Chapter Thirteen
It was a good-sized tent with ample head room and some kind of thick material for walls well staked to the ground. Tedra came to know just about every inch of it as she paced the interior waiting for the barbarian to return. She was hungry, irritable at being left alone the rest of the afternoon with only the fembair to keep her company, and even more annoyed that she’d been ordered to remain there.
Because the order had been given in a “place of sleep,” she had to obey it. But it had come to her after she was alone that Challen’s place of sleep was also his living space, that the tent was just one large room, which meant he could order her about all day long rather than just at night when he retired, as she had assumed would be the case. The only time she wouldn’t be subject to complete obedience was outside the tent, but if he wouldn’t let her out ... They were definitely going to have a talk about this, among other things. This finding things out when it was too late for her to do anything about them was not the way she operated.
The white fembair had remained, stretched out on the floor in an upright position like the king of beasts it likely was. Occasionally its long tail would swish as those great blue eyes followed her every movement. When her belly had begun to growl, she had wondered if the feline wasn’t getting hungry, too, and she developed a definite wariness as the hour grew later and the interior of the tent darker.
When the tent flap did finally open, Tedra felt enough relief to temper the irritation she’d experienced. Seeing a plate of food in Challen’s hands further appeased her. But she didn’t quite smile in welcome. He had ignored her for several long hours, after all, left her with nothing to do and a great beast to guard her. The guarding had been unnecessary. She’d told him she would honor her service to him, and as she understood the rules, that meant obeying him whether she liked his orders or not.
“Why have you not uncovered the gaali stones, woman?”
“If I was supposed to have uncovered something, you should have said so. I’m not a snoop to go through someone else’s possessions when they’re not around.”
She had been tempted, however, not that he had many possessions to snoop through. A large fur rug or blanket, however you chose to use it, was laid out on the floor; one well-stuffed fur sack by it and a small wooden box were all that sat on the big square of material that covered the floor area, more of the stuff the tent was made of.
“You like the dark, then?” he asked her, coming forward to set the plate down on
the floor next to the fur blanket, which he sat down on.
“What’s the dark got to do with rocks?” she wanted to know, only to hear him sigh.
“Truly do you try my patience with this pretense of ignorance of everything natural to our world.”
“Your world,” she corrected. “I keep telling you it’s not mine.”
“So you say. And I suppose you know not what is a gaali stone box?”
She grinned now. “Sure. That’s got to be one there next to you, since it’s the only box in here. Now what’s a gaali stone?”
He didn’t tell her, he showed her, opening the box. Tedra gasped as the tent filled with light. She dropped down to her knees beside him for a closer look and saw the five smoothly rounded stones inside the little box, each glowing with a bright blue light. She could stare at them without her eyes hurting, yet they gave off such light that the inside of the tent was as if it were lit by the sun.
“Amazing,” she said in fascination. “It’s some kind of energy source, right? I wonder how it would compare with crysillium, which was discovered just a few hundred years ago. Before that, our ships could travel only at hyperspeed. Now we get stellarspeed, which is ten times faster and makes it so much easier to visit neighboring Star Systems. But these stones look like pure energy. Are they hot?”
Challen had been staring at her in vexation as he listened to her, but she didn’t know that. He answered her question now by picking up one of the gaali stones and placing it in the palm of her hand. It was actually cool to the touch, which was even more amazing, and seemed almost weightless. And when he closed the box on the other four stones, the tent was then lit only with a dim light by the one stone still uncovered. The more the brighter, obviously, and Tedra had to wonder what a really big stone could do.
She suddenly became all business as she glanced at him. “This is something I could trade for, Challen. Is there a lot of it on Sha-Ka’an? Is it easily obtainable?”
He took the stone from her, set it on top of the box, and moved the box away from her. “Eat the food I have brought you,” was all he said.
“All right, so maybe you don’t have the authority to trade with me, but you could at least answer my questions about your gaali stones.”
“You will not speak to me of trade, woman. You will eat now; then will you work upon my body as I did earlier mention.”
The reminder that she was to give him a massage sent all thoughts of trade right out of Tedra’s mind. She felt her body come alive with arousal just from the thought of touching his. She squirmed where she sat back on her heels, glanced at the plate piled high with large chunks of roasted meat and some type of root vegetable, and wasn’t hungry anymore.
“Why don’t we do the massage first?” she suggested, only to see him shake his head.
Her disappointment was almost palatable. Well, what had she expected? He was made of stone, after all. What had made her think that a massage might arouse him enough to finally share some sex with her? He didn’t look any more interested in sex-sharing now than he had all day.
She picked up the plate and stared at the food in an effort to get her mind off the question of whether she was going to get breached tonight or not. There were no utensils to eat with, so she hesitantly picked up a chunk of meat with her fingers, trying to ignore the fact that it had been a live animal not so many hours ago.
Challen had leaned back on an elbow on the fur, but watching her, he couldn’t help but see the face she made with her first bite. “You have no liking for kisrak?”
“I suppose I’ll get used to it since I’m going to be here at the very least a month.”
“And where do you think to go when a month passes?” he asked indulgently.
“You told me not to speak of it.”
He snorted. “There is other meat roasted if kisrak suits you not.”
She was surprised at the offer. At least it wasn’t in his plans to starve her, which was reassuring after she’d waited so long for this nourishment.
“Thank you, but one kind or another isn’t going to make any difference, since it’s the meat itself I’ve never had before. We have stuff that tastes like your kisrak. We even call it meat, and it comes in a variety of different tastes, textures, and colors. But it’s not real meat. We stopped killing animals for food centuries ago.”
“Unreal men, and now unreal meat. What else is unreal in your Kystran?”
She gave him credit for concealing his disbelief behind a bland expression. But she’d take any opportunity she could to tell him of the wonders of the modern worlds. She never knew when she might hit on the one thing that might convince him she wasn’t just spinning tall tales for his amusement.
“There are lots of things, I guess, though I pretty much take them for granted. Take pets, for instance. Since many of our animals became extinct during the Great Water Shortage, the few remaining live animals suitable for pets are so outrageously expensive that only the really determined are willing to pay the price, especially when mechanical pets are so much cheaper. Now, I’m not talking about pets like your fembair there, but something cute and cuddly, with all the behavioral qualities of the animal it’s meant to resemble.”
“You own such a pet?”
“I’ve got Martha, who gives me all the trouble I can handle. What do I need with a mechanical dog programmed to dump on my carpet every so often?” At his blank look, she made a face. “That was a little humor, barbarian. Actually, it was a toss-up for me between buying a house in the suburbs and buying a pet. I chose the house, wanting a little privacy more than companionship, since I did already own Martha, who is a companion of sorts, just as Corth is. But I would love a pet as soon as I can save up enough exchange tokens again to afford one.”
“A real pet would cost as much as a place to live?” He was no longer hiding his disbelief.
“Just about.” She grinned. “Aren’t the rare things here more expensive than what you have in abundance? What about your gaali stones? Are they very—”
“Now do we change the subject,” he said shortly.
So much for slipping that by unnoticed. “Very well, but I’ll change it. I have some questions for you anyway. What would happen if I ask for protection of another warrior before my service ends? Would you two end up fighting over me?”
“Do you seek to cause deliberate mischief, woman, you will be punished.”
She smiled at his set look. “I was only curious, babe. How else can I learn the rules unless I ask? You seem too content to wait until I break them before telling me about them. That’s rather late from my point of view.”
He ran a hand through his hair, actually seeming flustered. “It is strange, having a woman not know the laws. All women know the laws from the earliest age.”
“In other words, you haven’t deliberately tried trapping me with my ignorance? Why, barbarian, I guess I owe you an apology, then.” This was said too dryly to be taken seriously. “Now let’s try this one on for size. What happens if I challenge someone while still under challenge loss to you?”
He sat up, an indication he wasn’t pleased with the direction her thoughts were taking. “This you will not do, woman.”
“I won’t? Who says I won’t? For that matter, what if I feel like challenging you again?”
“You will lose; thus will your service be extended for another month.”
“But if I won, you’d have a month to look forward to Tedra-getting-even, wouldn’t you? Now that’s a sweet thought. Would it make you think twice before punishing me again?”
“No.”
“You could at least have hesitated a little before answering that,” she said sourly.
He smiled at her now. “I have told you what you must do to avoid punishment; thus should there be no more.”
“ ‘Should’ is a far cry from ‘will.’ Now don’t get me wrong,” she said when his smile disappeared. “I have every intention of obeying you when I’m supposed to. ... Speaking of which,
these living quarters of yours are going to have to be redecorated if this is where I’m to live for the next month. There’s going to have to be some kind of divider rigged up to make only one section of this tent the place where you sleep.”
“That will not be necessary.”
“Then we’ve got a really big problem, friend, because nothing was said about you keeping me all day long in your bedchamber. If that’s the case—”
“It is not. This is merely the camp we have used while hunting in this area. On the new sunrise do we return to Sha-Ka-Ra, the town where we live.”
“In houses, I hope.”
“Yes, in houses.” He grinned. “We are not as primitive as you would make us.”
“That’s debatable, but I’m willing to reserve judgment,” she said, pointedly looking at her greasy fingers.
This caused the barbarian to burst into laughter. “Come, kerima, I will take you to the stream where you may wash.”
“A cloth will do. Until you come up with one of those chauri for me to wear, or at least a belt to make this covering halfway decent, I’ll stay in here—if it’s all the same to you.”
“It is not,” he replied, though he wasn’t annoyed with her for trying to get out of what had been in effect a command. “You must also relieve yourself.”
“Oh,” she said, but charged through her embarrassment by adding, “Well, that changes everything. Silly me, for thinking the bathroom was going to pop out of the walls of a tent.” At his stare, she grinned. “Never mind. I’ve amused you enough for one day with the wonders of my—Kystran. Lead on.”
Tedra set her plate aside and stood up, but before Challen joined her, he drew to him the fur sack and took out of it the rope he had earlier removed from her wrists. She scowled at it, then at him, but held out her hands anyway. He grinned as he stood up, then wrapped the rope around her waist, tying it together for her, and even pulling the sides of her covering closed so that they would stay closed.
She looked up at him and managed a smile herself. “Thanks. I guess you’re not so unlikable after all.”