Keeper of the Heart

  She slowly shook her head. She knew he was angered by Martha’s inclusion in their little party, but she wasn’t sure he understood what a Mock II was capable of, especially one in control of an entire spaceship. She almost felt sorry for the frustration he was going to experience—almost.

  “Turning Martha’s voice off won’t make her go away, Falon. She’s been with me all along because she’s housed right now in a Transport Rover and is in control of all the ship’s systems, including scanning and monitoring. That means she’s able to hear me and anyone around me, and keep track of our movements, whether this computer-link unit is on or off.”

  “She has heard—?”

  “Everything, big guy,” Martha cut in with another chuckle. “And I must say I was impressed, especially since only warriors are known to possess your kind of barbarian dominance. You never got around to saying, but I’d sure like to know what planet you hail from, because probables tells me it’s either this one or Sha-Ka’ar.”

  Falon didn’t appear the least bit embarrassed over knowing that their joining had been monitored, but Shanelle had assumed Martha had given her a little privacy for that, especially since she hadn’t been Transferred out of Falon’s tent when she had first wanted to leave. She was red-cheeked now, but not so embarrassed that she missed the deduction Martha had drawn.

  She didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to her, since she knew the Sha-Ka’ari had come here to visit their mother planet before. Tedra always hated it when they did, despising the Sha-Ka’ari for what they had done to her own planet all those years ago, and she always had Martha keep tabs on them until they left Sha-Ka’an. But Martha hadn’t been here to do that for these competitions. And Sha-Ka’ari warriors might not reach the seven-foot category after so many years of mating with slaves from their planet and those captured from others, but they were still exceptionally big and tall men— and they could be black-haired and blue-eyed.

  Shanelle was appalled, knowing her mother would have fits if she’d given herself to a Sha-Ka’ari warrior, unknowingly or not. She was about to have some fits of her own. They were slaveholders, for Stars’ sake...and the worst kind. There might be a few countries on this planet that enslaved women they captured, but they were rare and far from Kan-is-Tra, and their own women were still free. On Sha-Ka’ar, there were no free women, of any kind.

  With her amber eyes glaring at him accusingly, Shanelle demanded of Falon, “Martha’s right, isn’t she? You’re from Sha-Ka’ar.”

  “Woman, I have never even heard of such a place,” he replied, annoyance still strong in his voice.

  She could no longer accept everything he said as the literal truth. “Martha, what does his body say?”

  “That he’s not lying. But I don’t know what you’re getting all upset about. This was something you should have found out before you got involved with a visitor.”

  Shanelle was relieved enough merely to say with a sigh, “I thought I asked you to put the lectures on hold until later.”

  “Asking doesn’t always get—”

  “All right, Martha. Let’s stick to immediate, like getting me out of here.”

  Martha managed her own sigh. “If you insist.” And to Falon, “It goes like this, Mr. Van’yer. Shani failed to mention a few of the more interesting things I’m presently in control of. Like most Transport Rovers, our ship is equipped with Molecular Transfer. Are you by any chance familiar with Transferring, or do you require a demonstration?”

  Falon was silent for a moment, possibly because Martha’s voice had turned positively smug, giving him an indication of what was coming. “I have heard of Transferring,” he finally gritted out.

  “Well, that saves time,” Martha purred. “And I’ll even show you my let’s-be-fair program and leave the choice up to you, the choice in this case being, you let Shani walk out of here or I Transfer you elsewhere. And since the elsewhere will be at my discretion, you’re probably looking at being stranded about a hundred miles from the nearest telecomm. So what’s it to be?”

  Shanelle worried at her lower lip with Falon staring at her while he made his decision. But there was nothing to decide. Martha’s let’s-be-fair program wasn’t fair at all. Shanelle would have to insist he not be stranded in the middle of nowhere if he chose to be stubborn and see if Martha was bluffing.

  But he didn’t turn stubborn. He didn’t even sound mad when he finally said for Martha’s benefit, “I would prefer it did she stay, but the woman may go.” What he seemed like was defeated, and he was still staring at Shanelle with those lovely azure-blue eyes.

  It wasn’t surprising that she felt a moment’s indecision. No man had ever affected her like this one did. She even took a step toward him, only to be halted by Martha’s voice raised at full volume.

  “Hold it right there! I didn’t get you out of this mess for you to hop right back into it. He may not look it to you, but that man is absolutely furious right now. Stay the hell out of his reach.”

  “The computer is very astute,” Falon said wryly.

  “No, she’s just monitoring your emotions,” Shanelle replied as she slowly worked her way around to the exit. But that “absolutely furious” still disturbed her. “Don’t be angry, Falon, please. I had to ask Martha to help. You knew you had no right to keep me.”

  “I would not have kept you long—”

  “I know—only until we joined again. But I would have fought you and ended up getting even more hurt.”

  “No!”

  “You’re wasting your time, Shani,” Martha interjected tactlessly. “He’s not going to see it any way but his way.”

  “I’m saying good-bye, Martha,” Shanelle snapped irritably. “Do you mind?”

  “Hell, yes, I mind, but you’re going to do it anyway. Stubborn, just like your mother.”

  Shanelle glared at the computer unit, but no other noise came out of it. When she glanced at Falon again, it was to find him actually smiling.

  “You really do have it under control now, don’t you?” she said to him with some surprise.

  He didn’t have to ask what she referred to. “You needed proof. Now you have it.”

  “But without guarantees. I’m sorry, Falon, but I’m not going to take the risk again. However, I want you to know I regret that it didn’t work out between us, more than you can imagine. You were—are—really something.” She had resisted it all this while, but she finally let her eyes roam all over him for a final time—and ended up groaning, “Oh, Stars. Good-bye, Falon.”

  “Shani?”

  She wouldn’t have stopped if he hadn’t used her name for the first time. Still, she had her back to him now. She wouldn’t look at him again.

  But she didn’t have to turn around to hear him promise, “Know that if there is a way to obtain you for my own, I will discover it—then will I destroy your computer.”

  Shanelle continued to walk out of there, thanking the Stars and the Sha-Ka’ani Droda that the man didn’t know who she was.

  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.’ ”