Chapter Forty-four

“Oh, my Stars, they’ve brought in the big guns and haven’t even bothered to dress them appropriately,” was Rourk Ce Dell’s alarmed comment before it dawned on him that the giant was standing in his living room. “Wait a minute. How did you get in here?”

“He’s with me, babe,” Tedra said, stepping out from behind Challen.

“Tedra!” And she was pounced on for a hug that swung her around the room. “Oh, babe, it’s good to see you! But when did you… why are you… dammit, Tedra, it’s too soon. Nothing’s changed yet.”

Before she could answer, she was separated from Rourk, who was still holding her, the entire span of Challen’s arms. Rourk, understandably, lost his train of thought. All he could do was stare at the warrior, who was giving him a don’t-touch-my-woman-again look.

Tedra shook her head, snapping her fingers in front of her friend’s eyes. “You’d be surprised what has changed, Rourk. He’s not one of them, he’s mine, and there’s more where he came from.”

That got Rourk’s attention back real quick. “What do you mean, yours? Who is he, Tedra?”

“Challen Ly-San-Ter, shodan of Sha-Ka-Ra on the planet Sha-Ka’an.”

“You mean Sha-Ka’ar?”

“No, I mean Sha-Ka’an. You suggested I do a little world discovering while I was gone, remember? Well, guess what I discovered?”

With another glance at Challen, who looked nothing at all like the uniformed warriors still in control of Goverance Building, Rourk hit it on the nose. “Their mother planet? You actually found their mother planet? Where?”

“Not in Centura Star System, that’s for sure. I believe we named their system Niva, but they don’t call it anything, not knowing too much about other worlds, theirs or anyone else’s. I was only the second sky-flyer to pay them a visit, you see.”

“The first being?”

“Those miners who made the mistake of thinking captured Sha-Ka’ani would make good slave labor. By the way, according to Challen’s father, who is a Guardian of the Years, it was a penal village that got taken. All they knew was the entire village disappeared three hundred years ago. Naturally, they weren’t too upset to have their worst element taken off their hands.”

“Criminals?” Rourk laughed. “Sha-Ka’ar founded by criminals? No wonder they kept no records of where they came from.”

“Yes, well, they might have been criminals, that original bunch, but they were still Sha-Ka’ani warriors to start with. And their descendants might be familiar with advanced worlds, but they haven’t advanced all that far themselves. They’re still sword-wielders, and what better way to defeat sword-wielders than-”

“With sword-wielders,” Rourk finished for her, beaming. “Do you really have more like this one?”

“This one has a name,” Challen said stiffly.

“Ah, sure, Challen,” Rourk said uneasily. “You’ve just been so quiet, I-ah-”

“Don’t stick your foot in it.” Tedra chuckled. “If my warrior’s not saying much, it’s because he’s suffering a little cultural shock. He saw visuals of modern cities on the Rover, but it’s not the same as actually being inside one with air cruisers and fleet-wings flying all over the place. We Transferred down right to your front door, but that one brief look really-”

“You have made your point, woman,” Challen complained gruffly, a little too gruffly as far as Rourk was concerned.

The Kystrani forgot Challen’s earlier annoyance over his familiarity with Tedra and pulled her aside to whisper, “Are you nuts, teasing him like that? The man’s a farden gia-hey!”

He got picked up this time, and held up, and Challen was about to shake him, too, when Tedra got mad. “Dammit, warrior, that’s my friend you’re scaring the hell out of! Put him down right now!”

“Tedra, really, it’s all right,” Rourk insisted, more alarmed by her ready-to-fight tone. “Let him do whatever makes him happy.”

“It would make me happy did you keep your hands off my woman.” But Challen set him down as he said it.

“Sure. Whatever you say. I don’t even know her.”

“Cut it out, Rourk,” Tedra said in disgust. “And as for you”-she poked a finger in Challen’s chest- “you’ve got to get this thing under control before someone gets hurt. Now, I love it that you’re capable of feeling jealousy, but it’s groundless. Rourk is to me what Tamiron is to you, no more, no less, so I think you owe him an apology.”

Rourk almost choked on that one. “Tedra, please-”

“For Stars’ sake, Rourk,” she cut in, exasperated, “will you stop thinking the man’s going to flatten me? He’s not, you know. He’d die before he’d even put a bruise on me.”

“He would?”

“Certainly I would,” Challen said indignantly.

Rourk frowned then, at both of them. “What the hell’s going on here? And what is it with all these possessive ‘mys’? Did you adopt him, Tedra?”

“Real cute, babe. Give the man a little reassurance and he gets nasty. No, I didn’t adopt him. I signed up for double occupancy.”

“You didn’t. You did? With him?”

“I don’t know if I like your tone, Rourk.”

“But, Tedra, he’s-”

“Yes?” Her tone got menacing.

“He’s-”

“Yes?” Her tone got really menacing.

“Well, I don’t know how you could miss it. He’s a farden giant.”

“No kidding? My, how did I miss that? You see how blind love can be.”

“You love him, too?”

“You know, I think I’m going to kill you tonight, Rourk.”

Challen chuckled and pulled her to his side to wrap an arm around her waist. “I think I will believe now that you are only friends. He would not tease you otherwise.”

“You tease me all the time,” she pointed out. “And we’re much more than friends.”

“You will not attempt to provoke my jealousy again, woman.”

“You just can’t break that habit of telling me what to do, can you, even though my challenge loss debt has been paid in full.”

“Do you wish to challenge me again?”

“I just might.”

“I don’t believe I’m hearing this,” Rourk said, looking on in amazement. “Tell me you didn’t really challenge him, Tedra.”

“Of course I did. He’s not much bigger than that warrior Kowan was, and I took him down, didn’t I?”

“Not much bigger?” Rourk grinned. “Only about a foot, I’d say. How quickly did you lose the fight?”

“Oh, shut up.”

“Who is this warrior Kowan?” Challen wanted to know, the signs of jealousy back in place.

Tedra rolled her eyes, while Rourk put a hand over his mouth to pretend he was coughing. But Challen was still awaiting an answer.

“Didn’t I tell you about Kowan, babe? I could’ve sworn I mentioned the handsome warrior who wanted to make a slave of me. But if you want to get at him, you’ll have to get inside Goverance Building, so why don’t we get down to discussing that, instead of all this nonsense? That is why we came here, remember?”

“Stars, Tedra, it’s just occurred to me that if we had a few more like Challen here, we might be able to get inside Goverance-”

He ran, but Challen held Tedra back. “Very funny, you jerk.” She glowered at her friend. “Now can we get serious? What is the current situation? Has Crad Ce Moerr relaxed enough to come out in public yet?”

“No, he’s still playing it very safe. And the situation is about what we anticipated. The bulk of the women were taken in the first three weeks. It’s slowed down, with a ship leaving for Sha-Ka’ar about every other week now, the cargo being kept at Goverance Building until departure.”

“And the rest of the female Secs from the outer areas?”

“We were able to warn only four. I’m sorry, Tedra, but they got the rest.”

She waved that aside. “We’ll get them back, and every other Kystrani.”

“How?”

“I’ve got an idea, but first we have to free Garr. Have you had word on him? Is he being treated okay?”