Keeper of the Heart

Chapter 9

“I like that!” Martha’s voice was about as indignant as it could get. “Destroy me? Me.‘ Doesn’t that idiot man know how expensive I am?”

“I doubt he cares,” Shanelle replied absently as she looked for Corth, found him sitting beneath a tree not too far away, and signaled him that she was leaving now.

“Destroy me!” Martha continued in the same tone. “I ought to-”

“You’ll leave him alone, Martha. But while we’re getting around to complaints, were you really listening in the whole time I was in that tent?”

“Sure was, doll.”

“Then why didn’t you do something sooner? My father’s order was explicit, as I recall.”

“Ah, but it dealt specifically with difficulties with warriors. You chose not to choose a warrior.”

“I see,” Shanelle said stiffly. “Punish the child for not following teacher’s advice.”

“Now don’t get huffy. You’re still in one piece, aren’t you?”

“That is definitely debatable. I fainted, for Stars’ sake! And it wasn’t in ecstasy!”

“Well, how was I to know it wasn’t from pleasure? There’s a fine emotional line between the two, you know. And besides, I don’t think your Falon would have appreciated having you disappear from under him at such a crucial moment, though I might have had a good laugh over it.”

“That’s right,” Shanelle snapped. “Why don’t we joke about it?”

Martha chuckled. “If you think I don’t know what’s really bothering you, think again. You aren’t mad at me, you’re furious at the fates that made that gorgeous man too rough for you to handle. But you should have seen what was going on inside him from my view. He really did blow a circuit over you, kiddo. Just before you fainted, he was about to combust. Could be he merely lost control.”

“Could be it can happen again.”

“Well, far be it from me to talk you into settling on a visitor. Maybe now you’ll get serious and start looking over the warriors.”

“Not today I won’t. If you haven’t figured it out yet, I feel like I got run over by a solidite paver.”

“I can Transfer you to a meditech and you’ll feel good as new.”

“No, thanks. I want to remember this feeling for a while so I don’t make mistakes like that again. And besides, you know you’re not supposed to use Transfer out here in the open unless it’s an emergency. The Sha-Ka’ani don’t like having people pop in and out of their midst. It reminds them too much that they’ve been discovered.”

“I don’t think that’s much in doubt today.” Shanelle could wish that wasn’t so, and that there was one visitor she hadn’t noticed at all. Falon Van’yer, she was afraid, was going to be very hard to forget.

Falon was dressed and halfway into a bottle of wine when his brother joined him. He had been pacing about the tent and did not stop now just because Jadell had arrived. He carried the bottle in his hand. And his stride bespoke the agitation swirling inside him.

Jadell Van’yer made himself comfortable and watched Falon for a while without comment. Jadell was the younger by a year, yet the brothers were much alike, the same in height and coloring, though Jadell’s blue eyes were of a darker hue and his face was softer, more open and expressive. Their personalities greatly differed, however. Falon was the more serious due to his responsibilities, while Jadell was more carefree and easily amused.

He was amused now. He knew his brother well, and it was not often he saw him like this. Only two things could be the cause: their unanticipated delay in this visitor-infested town, or the woman. Jadell would place his wager on the woman, especially after what he had witnessed of his brother’s behavior when he first noticed her.

He had never seen Falon so completely snared, to where everything else around him ceased to be. Jadell had stopped trying to speak to him. Falon simply did not hear. And then to watch him enter that arena, not for an acceptable reason, but merely to impress a woman.

That would not have been so unusual, except that Falon did not do such things. And he had already refused to participate in the competitions. Jadell, Tarren, and Deamon had all decided to amuse themselves by testing their skills against these Kan-is-Tran warriors, since they had nothing better to do while they were delayed here, but Falon had scorned the idea and rightly so. His abilities had been proved beyond question when he had become shodan of Ka’al and had accepted all challenges for the position. Nine opponents he had defeated in a single day, the most able men Ka’al had to offer, and without rest between each challenge. Little wonder no others had come forward during the remaining four risings of the challenge period.

Falon had to be furious with himself for his foolish behavior, now that the prompting of lust had been appeased and he was returned to normal. He must also be appalled that it had been a visitor whom he had lost his senses over. They were creatures lacking all morals and honor, good only to be scorned.

The bottle of wine was again at Falon’s lips, nearly empty now. Jadell decided it was time to tease him out of his self-condemnation.

Coming right to the point, Jadell said, “It is understandable why you chose her, Falon. It is difficult to ignore a woman wearing your own colors.”

Falon did not stop pacing to reply. “She wore the colors of a shodan. Any cloak but that one and I would have kept her.”

“Kept her?” Jadell sat up, surprised that he had so misinterpreted the problem. “You cannot be serious.”

Falon stopped, turned, and met his brother’s amazed look directly. “Can I not?”

Jadell was no longer the least bit amused. “But you hate visitors!” he burst out. “We live with the results of their perfidy in our own house. I do not understand why you even agreed to come here to speak with them. The debt was mine to repay, not yours.”

“But the request was made of me, not you. The man saved your life, Jadell. I would have given him anything he asked.”

“You should have found out what he would ask for before you made the offer,” Jadell grumbled.

“True, yet is the matter done, and one I can no longer even regret. Were we not here now at his request, I would never have met the woman.”

“So you have met her, and had her. What, then-”

“I did not have her-at least, the joining was not complete.”

Jadell grinned. “Now does your anger make sense, yet the reason for it does not. She seemed willing enough to come here with you. Why would you let her leave if you were not finished with her?”

Falon’s eyes were suddenly blazing. “Because I allowed her Droda-cursed computer to best me with words!” The empty bottle went flying into the side of the tent. “Damn their machines and the powers they wield! I know not if the thing even spoke truth in its threats!”

Jadell’s eyes were wide with amazement, not because of Falon’s words, but because of his volatile reaction. There was humor in this situation, though he did not dare to show it. A measure of calm was called for instead.

“Another good reason why visitors are to be avoided. We can never know if what they say is so, because they have things that are inconceivable to us. Never would I have believed that their box called meditech could make wounds vanish, yet would I be dead now were it not so. With what were you threatened?”

“Transferring.”

It was Jadell’s turn to lose his calm. “Damn it, Falon, you know that is one of their more powerful weapons. It was used on Aurelet’s escort when she was taken, and they were never seen again. There is no defense against such an unseen power.”

“Visitors do not consider it a weapon, merely a means of moving from one place to another in mere seconds.”

“Yet can it kill if the place you are moved to does not support life, like the center of a mountain. You did not challenge this computer, did you?”

“No, but when I find the heart of it, I mean to kill it.”

“No… you… will… not!”

“Little brother.” Falon suddenly grinned. “Do you give me orders?”

Jadell’s bronzed cheeks darkened. “I did not mean-I would not-” Jadell sighed. “It is my hope that you will give the matter more thought when your anger has lessened.”

“The computer took the woman from me with its threats. That will not be forgotten.”

“Then find another way to best it. These men from Catrater want our gold. It is for that reason we are here. Let them destroy this computer as a condition to an agreement.”

“An idea with merit,” Falon said thoughtfully, “yet would I lose the pleasure in seeing the thing done myself.”

“Yet would you then be safe from Transferring.”

“True, thus will I consider it.”

Jadell relaxed somewhat, but was bemused to watch Falon begin his pacing again. “Was there something else bothering you, brother?”

“Why do you not go find Tarren and Deamon and plague them for a while with your inquisitive-ness?”

Jadell chuckled at that grumbling tone. “It must be terrible indeed. Best you tell me now and have done with it. Perhaps I can help.”

“Can you give me this rising to do over again?”

“To exclude your meeting the woman?”

“No, not that.” Falon sighed and came to join Jadell on the fur pelts. “It was her first time, yet did she not warn me of it. She lost consciousness, Jadell. When she awoke she was afraid of me.”

“Now do I understand why the joining was not completed, yet was her fear a normal thing. All women fear their first time with a-”

“She did not fear her first time,” Falon said impatiently, but then was forced to add grudgingly, “Not at first. Her fear came after it was begun, and only because I had no control of the passion she aroused in me. To my shame, I hurt her with it.”

“You lost-control?”

Jadell could not go on for the laughter that suddenly over took him. He rolled on the pelts, tears dropping from his eyes, and finally regretted his outburst when Falon’s knee came to rest in the center of his chest and he was looking up at the fist about to break his face.

“Consider it fortunate, brother, there is a meditech in this town.”

“Falon, wait! Have you no memory at all of our father’s words to you when you were given your first female slave?”

“What has that to do with your finding it amusing that I hurt the woman?”

“That is not what struck my humor, but that you lost control. Try to remember what father told you.”

“I have only a vague memory of it.” Falon frowned. “As I recall, I was too eager to experience my first time with a woman to pay attention to what he was saying.”

“Then listen carefully this time, for I was there for the telling so he would not have to repeat it again when I attained your age. He said, ‘Slaves are for a man’s pleasure, to be enjoyed but not to be taken seriously, for even if released from slavery, they never regain the spirit and pride of a free woman, which are qualities you will want for your children. The woman you will someday give your life to will be the keeper of your heart, and you will know you have chosen the right keeper when you must fight to control what she makes you feel.’ ”

Falon’s frown deepened. “You are suggesting I have found my lifemate? I wish to own her, brother, not join my life to hers.”

“You do not think it significant, what she made you feel?”

“I wanted her too much, is all. But she is still a visitor, and I would not bring home a visitor as anything other than a slave.”

“What if you can have her no other way?”

“I do not know if I can have her any way,” Falon growled, rising to his feet again. “It is that which infuriates me most, not knowing what I must do to make her mine. We know so little of visitors, no more than we ever did.”

“That can be easily seen to.” Jadell grinned. “You have merely to ask our host. His lifemate is a visitor.”

“His lifemate is the damn visitor who brought them all here when she discovered us.”