“Damn,” Ronnie said. “I wish I’d brought my digital recorder.” Her face brightened. “I could run back and get it!”

I interrupted before she could leave me alone with this bastard. If she did, she’d just find him in pieces when she returned. And I couldn’t have that.

“Let’s just make plans to meet up again,” I said quickly. “I’d like to get back to camp and rest for a bit.” I turned to Dekker. “My zazul’s been working us since we got here. Don’t know about you, man, but I’m too old for this shit.”

Dekker grinned. “I’m right there with you on that, Cy.” He looked at Ronnie, taking her hand in his. “Say tomorrow around noon?” Before I could crush his spine (something my grandmother taught me how to do using my elbow), he bent to kiss her hand and strode off.

“You aren’t jealous, are you?” Veronica asked as we made our way to the camp.

“Of course not,” I answered. But I was. The thought of Dekker speaking intimately to her, touching her, drove me crazy.

“I think you are,” she teased, and took my hand in hers. It was soft and warm. Just like her body that first morning after making love all night. The tension in my shoulders released a bit.

“My shoulder is just bothering me,” I lied. “Zolbin threw me and I think I sprained it.”

Veronica frowned, then looked at my right shoulder. “Oh. Well, I’ll take a look at it when we get back.”

I laughed. “And just what are you looking for? Have you ever seen a sprained shoulder before?”

“No.” She winked. “But I’m sure Odgerel has something involving goat intestines and yak urine that I can put on it to make you feel better.”

I tightened my grip on her fingers. “Oh, I think you can do something better than that.”

“No. I promised Chudruk.”

This caused me to jerk to attention. “Chud? Why did you promise him that?”

“Because he has some money riding on your performance here.”

I looked at her sidelong. “I didn’t think a girl like you approved of gambling.”

“Well, let’s just say I’ve loosened up a bit in the last few weeks.”

“Maybe you could give me a demonstration of how loose you are willing to be?”

She pushed me away. “Not if I want to lose the money I’ve bet on you too.” Veronica laughed and ran toward our group. All I could do was stare. That woman was full of surprises.

Chapter Nineteen

[Dilios is putting a patch over his eye]

Spartan King Leonidas: Dilios, I trust that “scratch” hasn’t made you useless.

Dilios: Hardly, my lord, it’s just an eye. The gods saw fit to grace me with a spare.

– 300

Veronica Gale spent the rest of the day tormenting me with her orange-silk-wrapped body. Odgerel actually did have a paste made of yak urine and some other questionable matter for my shoulder. Ronnie didn’t even wrinkle her nose as she smeared the gunk on my shoulder. To my amazement, it worked.

The two of us wandered through the festival atmosphere of the naadam. Tomorrow the matches would begin, complete with opening pageantry featuring the rich culture of Mongolia. As we made our way through the maze of musicians, dancers, food vendors and people, I realized that I wasn’t feeling homesick. Not that I ever did. But I always had a sense of the fact that I was away from home. To me, home was my trailer. It didn’t matter where it was; that was my home.

Strange as it seemed, whenever Ronnie held my hand, I was transported back to my sense of home. Apparently, a flesh-and-blood woman was taking the place of my sweet, tricked-out RV.

I pondered that idea only briefly. Philosophers, as I’ve mentioned before, have a tendency to overthink things now and then.

The sun was setting and we needed to head back to the campsite. There would be a loud, raucous dinner followed by an all-night party that would not include Zerleg, Zolbin or me. In fact, Yalta insisted that the three of us share a ger during the festival to eliminate any distractions. I had the sneaking suspicion he included Ronnie as a distraction. To her credit, she graciously accepted Odgerel’s invitation to stay with her family. There would be no sex tonight.

It was difficult to sleep with all the noise around us. Okay, it was difficult for me to sleep. The boys passed out immediately and snored like they were dying. I tossed and turned. It was weird to share my living arrangements. Even worse, Sartre was staying with Ronnie. Sansar-Huu’s children were smitten with her. I didn’t even have the comfort of my pig.

Well, I knew one thing that would help me sleep. And I was pretty sure Veronica would give in if I could just get to her. I slid on my sweatpants and a T-shirt and slipped out of the ger.

In spite of the party that was still going on, it was pitch dark outside. No electric lights here. But that would make it easier to sneak into Sansar-Huu’s ger. Now, where was it?

I tripped over various things as I stumbled in the direction of the tent. Everyone must either have been asleep or have moved to another location. I hoped Ronnie had decided to get some sleep. Of course, if I had my way, there wouldn’t be much of that going on.

I was making my way around the side of the tent when I heard something behind me. There was nothing there. That wasn’t unusual. People were all over the place, and the ones still up were probably drunk. I turned my attention back to the door of the ger.

I heard something whisk through the air and then my vision was flooded with stars and pain. I shot my arm out behind me instinctively, and I managed to grab the weapon. But whoever had been on the other end let go and disappeared before I could identify him.

“Cy?” Veronica stood in the doorway wearing a T-shirt and shorts. She was vertical, then horizontal. No, wait, I was horizontal. At least, that was what I was thinking as everything went black.

The naadam field was packed. Following an exquisite version of the eagle dance, I turned to face my opponent and slapped my thighs. The giant guinea pig before me did the same and we approached each other to begin. It was hard to get a grip on his silky hair. And he looked so cute I didn’t really want to fight him. But I was here to win.

“Cy!” Chudruk must have slapped me. As I looked up into his face, I realized I’d been dreaming.

“I’m okay.” I started to sit up but a blinding pain forced me back down. There was blood on my hands. I had been hit.

Sansar-Huu held up a thick branch. “He hit you with this. We found you when Veronica screamed.”

Veronica was sitting beside me, her face twisted with concern.

“Someone hit me?”

“I didn’t see who it was.” Veronica grabbed my hand.

Odgerel started examining the wound on the back of my head. I could feel the heat from the lantern she held.

“You won’t need stitches, I think,” she said slowly. “But you should not wrestle.”

Yalta came into the ger, and everyone went quiet. He examined my wound and looked into my eyes. Then he spoke to Chudruk in Mongolian. I think he said my testicles should be fed to the marmots. Man, I really needed to work on my language skills.

“Pop says you do not need to wrestle. The decision is up to you, though,” Chudruk said solemnly.

I looked at all of them. It was generous of my zazul. And he did have two more athletes competing. On the other hand, I came all this way just to do this. I had trained for a month for an event that happened only once a year. These people-my friends-gave their hospitality to me.

“You shouldn’t compete,” Ronnie said firmly. “You have a concussion at the very least. You need to see a doctor.”

Sansar-Huu nodded and Odgerel clucked sympathy. Sartre peeked out of Ronnie’s hands and gave a firm, loud, “Wheek!”

I got up and shook my head gently. “When is my first match?”

Yalta spoke to his son.