“Watch,” the voice commanded. “See the root of the fear which lingers in the heart.”
Then she was quiet but Kayla had another flash—an image of that same, huge praying-mantis looking creature leaning forward and watching them from some unseen vantage point with a hungry light in its wide, alien black eyes.
“What are we supposed to do here?” Bron growled impatiently, turning around in place.
“She said to just watch,” Kayla said. “She—”
“Hush—do you hear them?” Sorin put up a hand for silence and after a moment, Kayla did hear something—voices speaking in low, passionate tones. Then one of the corners of the room which had been in shadow up until now lit up and two figures were visible.
Both were young men—young Kindred, she thought—Blood Kindred if their blond hair and pale blue eyes were any indication. They were speaking in hushed, urgent tones and holding hands as they looked into each other’s eyes.
“We can’t go on like this, Taurin, you know we can’t,” one said to the other. “It’s forbidden. You know what they’ll do if they catch us! We don’t even have Lurina here to act as a buffer between us.”
“I know! But I can’t stay away from you, Lurell,” the other whispered passionately. “My heart cries out for yours. I need you.”
The other male—the taller of the two—gave a low, amused chuckle and reached down to palm the hard shaft that was straining against his friend’s trousers.
“I think your heart isn’t the only thing that cries for me,” he murmured, stroking gently.
“Gods help me—I can’t resist you!” Taurin grabbed the other male by the nape of his neck and pulled him in for a rough, luscious kiss.
“What is this?” Bron muttered in a low voice, though somehow Kayla doubted the two men they were watching could hear them. This scene felt like something that had already happened somehow—something they were supposed to watch that was being brought back from the past for some reason. She looked to one side and saw that Sorin was standing there transfixed, his pale eyes wide and his jaw clenched.
“What is it, Sorin, honey?” she asked with concern. “Who are these people—do you know them?”
“They are my older brother Taurin and…” Sorin swallowed hard. “And his lover. One of them, anyway. They were both to be joined to a female of their own age—Lurina—but their lust for each other was as great or greater as their lust for her.”
“What?” Bron demanded. “You never told me you had a brother!”
“I don’t,” Sorin whispered. His throat worked convulsively as he swallowed hard. “Not anymore. Not for a long time.”
“But what—” Kayla began but just then a door opened and an elegant-looking middle aged woman stood there. She had upswept hair the same pale silver-blonde as Sorin’s.
“Taurin,” she said. “Last meal is on the table and—”
Then she appeared to see what was going on and stopped abruptly, her hand going to her mouth.
“No,” she breathed. “No!”
The two young men, who had been completely involved in their passionate embrace, heard her and their blond heads jerked up simultaneously.
“Mother!” Taurin’s gasp was full of horror and guilt. “It’s not…we weren’t…”
“Don’t try to lie to me, Taurin.” The shock left her face to be replaced by a grim, cold anger. “Your father and I feared this might be going on when you asked to share a mate. The two of you spend much too much time together. Half the time Lurina isn’t even with you.”
“Lurina loves us both—she wants us to be happy together,” Taurin said.
“But we’ll stop!” the other male—Lurell—exclaimed. “We’ll never see each other without her again.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for that,” Sorin’s mother said, looking at her older son coldly. “This is what comes of Three touching as One. Your father must be told, Taurin. And after that, the Elders will decide what is to be done with you.”
“But we…we were only kissing,” Taurin begged. “No more than that, I swear, Mother. And you know what the Elders will say—what sentence they will pass. Please, Mother—do not condemn your own son this way!”
“You are no son of mine,” the blond woman said and Kayla thought that if her words were visible there would have been icicles hanging off them. Then she closed the door and left the two young men staring at each other in panic and pain.
Then the scene faded and Taurin and Lurell disappeared. The corner of the room was in shadows again and Kayla felt like her heart was in her throat.
“What… what happened to them?” she whispered, turning to Sorin who was still just standing there like a statue.
“See for yourselves,” Mother Pain’s voice hissed in their ears.
The shadowed corner lit up again and this time they saw a large stone full of people. At the head of that crowd were Taurin and Lurell, both bound, with their hands tied behind their backs. There was a girl with pale blonde hair standing beside them. Her face was hidden in her hands—her slim shoulders shaking with sobs.
She must be Lurina, Kayla thought, her heart going out to the girl. Poor girl—to lose both her men this way! She must be heartbroken. But what are they going to do to them?
Her question was soon answered.
As she and Bron and Sorin watched like silent spectators, a huge stone door was opened which clearly led to the outside. Kayla saw harsh sunlight shining into the huge cave—sunlight that was bouncing off a bleak and barren landscape covered in snow and ice. An icy wind whipped through the cavern, with a high, hollow, howling noise, making everyone shiver.
Suddenly a voice boomed out.
“It is the judgment of the Elders,” it said, “that these two males—Lurell Silverfield and Taurin Winterblade shall be cast out of the grotto for the unnatural acts which they have committed together in the sight of those who testified against them.”
“No!” Lurina cried, her voice high with despair. “No, please!” She reached for Taurin and Lurell but two older people, presumably her parents, came up and dragged her away from them.
“Oh my God!” Kayla whispered, looking at Sorin. “Did…did your parents testify against their own son?”
“They did.” Sorin spoke woodenly and his face looked like it was carved from stone, showing no emotion. But then Kayla saw a teenager of maybe fourteen or fifteen standing at the edge of the crowd. He looked like a much younger version of the Blood Kindred warrior she knew and there were tears standing in his ice blue eyes. As the young men were shoved out the door and into the cold, the teenaged Sorin turned away, his breath hitching in his throat, his face crumpling in pain. Then he ran, as though he was trying to get away from the sight of his brother being put out into the cold—ran and disappeared down a long, dark corridor until they couldn’t see him anymore.
That’s how he still feels inside, Kayla thought, looking up at the Blood Kindred. He’s just a little more able to hide it now. But this pain never healed—and the fear is still there too. Mother Pain was right.
“How could they do that?” she asked, as she watched the other members of the grotto—Sorin’s parents included—shut the heavy stone door, leaving the two young men outside to freeze. “It must be ten below out there and your brother and his, er, boyfriend aren’t even wearing coats or hats or anything!”
“That is why being cast from the grotto is a sentence of death.” Sorin’s voice was low and bleak. “They found them frozen in the snow the next day. They were…holding each other as though to try and comfort…” He shook his head, clearly unable to go on.
“That’s harsh, Brother.” Bron’s deep voice was gentle.
“I didn’t know the people of Tranq Prime were so homophobic,” Kayla whispered.
Sorin shrugged. “Not all are, but in my home grotto to love another male was death. That is why they do not favor two males sharing one female—they fear that Three touching as One will lead to the two males taking p
leasure in each other rather than the female they share.”
“Sorin, I’m sorry,” Bron rumbled. “Why did you never tell me?”
“The pain…the shame were too great to share. And by the time I met you, I was used to never speaking of him. We never… never mentioned Taurin again after that day. Any pictures or holos we had of him were destroyed by my parents.” Sorin looked away, his sharp features a mask of misery. “This is the first time I have seen his face in nearly fifteen cycles. Gods…”
“Oh, Sorin!” Kayla wanted to hug him—to hold him and try to make everything better but she couldn’t do it without Bron. “Help me,” she said to the Beast Kindred. “Help me comfort him!”
“Of course, small one.” As one, she and Bron reached for Sorin, who seemed withdrawn into himself… But before they could touch him, Mother Pain’s voice sounded again.
“Your pain and fear are very deep, Blood Kindred,” she said. “Now let us see your friend’s.”
And then the scene changed.
Eighteen
“Hey, what is this—some kind of a jungle? Why is it blue?” Kayla asked, looking around.
“This is Rageron,” Sorin said, his voice still tight with emotion. “I recognize it from my last trip here with Bron. But what is this place, Brother? Does it bear special significance to you?”
“You could say that, I guess.” The Beast Kindred’s voice was low and even harsher than usual. “This is where they found them. This is the clearing,”
“They?” Kayla asked, turning to him. “Who—?”
But just then a shadowy corner of the jungle clearing lit up just as the corner of the cave had lit up.
Like the stage in a play, Kayla thought. When the play is about to start. Then she heard voices again and three people appeared before them.
One was a woman with long, dark hair and full-figured curves. She was flanked on either side by two Beast Kindred males. Both had the golden eyes and black hair of their kind, but one was slightly larger, Kayla thought. The three of them had taken off their clothes and laid them on the grassy ground to form a kind of blanket and they were locked in a passionate embrace.
Kayla felt a sense of foreboding but she couldn’t help being transfixed by the sight of the three of them together. Was this what she and Sorin and Bron had looked like the night before? From where she and her guys were standing, she could see them clearly and there was a lot to see. Both of the males had their shafts deep in the female—one in her pussy and one in her rosebud—though neither had put their mating fist inside her.
“We should stop this, Yerx…Gaird.” the woman gasped as the three of them thrust against each other. “There’s been talk in the village. People are starting to notice that when the two of you go off hunting together, I’m quick to follow. They know you’re not just…helping each other out.”
She said the words with special significance which caught Kayla’s attention.
“Helping each other out?” she whispered to Bron, who was looking pointedly away from the graphic scene as though he couldn’t bear to watch.
“There’s a shortage of females on Rageron,” he explained in a low voice. “There always is, anywhere the Kindred have been established for more than a generation because our children are almost always male. So the need is great and it’s not like we have any fucking Pairing Puppets like they do on the Mother Ship.” He made a motion with one hand, still not looking at the passionate scene. “So often, two warriors who are friends will ease each other’s need. It’s not considered a big deal—mostly amounts to a handjob here or there. But it’s not permitted to do what they’re doing.” He nodded at the threesome in the clearing
“Sharing a female,” Sorin said softly. Unlike his friend, he seemed unable to stop watching. “It is barely acceptable in my society for the reason that it might lead to two males touching which is completely unacceptable.”
“Well it’s the other fucking way around on Rageron, all right?” Bron snarled. “Nobody much gives a damn about males helping each other out from time to time but sharing a female makes a male look weak…pathetic. It makes him less of a male.”
“Who are these people anyway, Bron?” Kayla asked. “Do you know them?”
“The female is my father’s sister—what you humans would call my ‘aunt’,” he said gruffly.
“Oh.” Kayla suddenly understood why he was looking away. Nobody wanted to see their relatives having sex. But still, since she didn’t know the people involved, the graphic but lovely scene drew her eyes. “They’re beautiful together,” she said softly. “It seems like she loves them both.”
“She did,” Bron said shortly. “They were Yerx and Gaird—two of the finest warriors in the tribe and friends of the heart to each other. Until they were found out.”
“Found out by who, Brother?” Sorin asked.
“By the worst person who could find out about them—the chief of our tribe. My sire.”
As Bron spoke, a loud, roaring voice filled the clearing.
“How dare you!” it bellowed. “I cannot believe the vile rumors are true!”
A big Beast Kindred—Bron’s size at least—came charging suddenly into the clearing. He was followed by more warriors—twelve or fifteen of them—and all, Kayla saw, were armed to the teeth with long spears and machete-like swords.
The three people lying in the clearing scrambled to get disentangled and grabbed for their clothes but it was too late—they were surrounded by a ring of angry warriors with Bron’s father in the lead.
“I heard rumors of this sickness between the three of you,” he snarled, glaring at them. “But I did not believe it. I did not believe that Eela, my own sister and two of my best warriors could be guilty of such a sin! How can you dare to share her? Why do you not fight for her as true males should instead of shaming and dishonoring her and debasing yourselves this way?”
“Forgive us, Broud!” Bron’s aunt gasped, doing her best to cover herself while both of the warriors tried to shield her as well. “We did not mean for it to happen. But…I was dreaming of them both and they of me and we just…came together.”
Kayla felt a little jolt at her words. Did Bron’s aunt mean she was Dream-sharing with both her men? She remembered the dreams she’d had of both Bron and Sorin. Could that have any significance to their relationship?
“You lie,” Bron’s father shouted. “A female does not Dream-share with two warriors at once! It is impossible—a sacrilege against the Goddess. And now the three of you will pay for both your lies and your actions.”
As Kayla and her men watched, Bron’s father forced the three of them to get up. They scrambled into their clothing, red-faced and ashamed and Bron’s aunt had tears in her eyes.
“Please, Broud, I—” she began but Bron’s father pushed her to the side.
“Rawl—hold her,” he ordered one of the warriors in the ring that surrounded the three forbidden lovers. “And now,” he announced, glaring at Yerx and Gaird. “As you have seen fit to debase yourselves and defile my sister, now you will pay the price and this wrong will be made right.”
“What would you have us do?” Yerx asked. “We cannot help that we both loved Eela. We wish to all be mated and live as one.”
“That will never happen in my tribe!” Broud roared, his face red with rage. “How dare you even suggest such a perversion?”
“Then cast us out,” shouted Gaird. “The three of us will leave and gladly. Then you need never see our faces again.”
“And let my sister become a fallen female with two mates? Fuck no,” Broud snarled. “That’s not going to happen either. No, we are going to make this right.”
“And how do you propose to do that?” Yerx asked.
A slow, angry grin spread over Broud’s face.
“You’ll fight for her,” he said, glaring at them both. “To the death. The winner gets to have her as a mate—by himself—which is the only respectable way. No fucking sharing!”
Yerx a
nd Gaird both tried to protest and resist but Broud grabbed his sister and held his machete to her neck.
“Do you see this?” he demanded, glaring at both of them. “Do you want her to die? Fight or she will—she’s disgraced anyway. I’ll cut her fucking throat and let her bleed out right in front of you!”
Kayla was horrified by what she was seeing.
“This is awful!” she whispered. “I thought Kindred were feminists who always protected women!”
“There are…exceptions in some of the more savage tribes,” Bron said heavily. “We’re not a perfect fucking people, Kayla. It’s one reason my mother sent me to be schooled off-planet. She didn’t want me growing up like my sire.” He nodded at Broud, who was gesturing to the two warriors, who were now armed with machetes of their own and were circling each other warily.
“Fight!” he shouted, glaring at them. “Fight, damn you, or she dies!”
The two warriors came together, their machetes clashing but they both had looks of misery on their faces.
They love each other as much as they both love Eela. Each of them would rather hurt himself than the other, I think, Kayla thought as she watched. I think they—
But just then the battle came to an abrupt end. The next time the two warriors clashed together, Yerx threw himself deliberately onto the outstretched tip of Gaird’s machete.
Gaird’s eyes widened as he realized what had happened.
“Brother, no!” he gasped, grasping the other male’s shoulder to try and hold him up.
“It must be this way.” There was a line of crimson trickling from the corner of Yerx’s lips. “Only one of us can live and I love…love you and Eela both too much to lose you.”
“So you would have us lose you?” Gaird cried. “No—please!”
“Take care of…our lady,” Yerx gasped and then he slumped forward and stopped moving.
“No, no!”
Eela shook loose from the warrior who was holding her and ran into the center of the circle. Together she and Gaird embraced Yerx’s body, their shoulders shaking with grief.
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