"And this is Reah, my new assistant, who worked in the Kifirini Groves before moving here," Keedan introduced me as we sat down. The seat at the head of the table was empty, but servants were waiting in a wide doorway nearby, hovering in anticipation of their lord and master's arrival so breakfast could be served.
"What did you do for the Kifirini groves?" Drennen of the eastern groves asked.
"Everything," I said.
"Everything?" He lifted an eyebrow skeptically.
"Yes," I said. "I've even been known to lay new water pipes or repair the sprinkler system from time to time, although I don't like digging trenches to lay new lines. We didn't own a trencher for a while and digging by hand always makes my back ache."
"How can they sell their fruit as organic?" Crofford of the southern groves asked. "Surely they use insecticides for pests."
"I can assure you that they don't, they use a natural repellent," I said. Crofford huffed out his disbelief.
"Everyone here? Great." The boss had arrived. I stared at him. He was looking at the others at first, giving them a smile. Until he came to me. His mouth dropped open the moment his eyes rested on my face. He covered the gaffe quickly, however. I had no idea who he was, but my heart was suddenly pounding a click a tick, and that most certainly shouldn't be. He was tall—at least six feet. He had thick, dark-brown hair that curled slightly and bright, hazel eyes that would likely cause any girl to swoon, should those eyes smile in her direction.
Of course, his actual smile with beautiful, even white teeth would make her swoon again. A pale hint of freckles might have been on his face, too, but I was too busy staring at his eyes and smile. I think every female at the table was hoping to wiggle her way into the boss's good graces; I realized that right away.
With the way my heart was racing, I was frightened that I might have joined their ranks. Settling myself with a sigh, I pulled out my comp-vid and made ready to take notes if necessary. Pregnancy notwithstanding, I had too many mates already and none of them had thought to pay attention to me for a very long time. I wasn't prepared to take on another, who very likely would do exactly the same.
"This is Edward Pendley, owner of EastStar Groves," Keedan introduced the boss with a smile. I smiled at the boss as best I could, taking his hand when it was offered and giving him my name. We sat down after that, breakfast was served and we got right to business.
"We're caught up now," Keedan said. "We've hired a really good replacement crew and they've made up lost time after we fired the others." I learned that his previous assistant had been one of the terminated crew. Likely the ringleader, unless I missed my guess. I wasn't about to question Keedan about it. If he wanted me to know, he'd tell me.
"How did you do it so quickly?" Phelpas asked.
"Fired the slowest ones first day and then told the rest they had to keep up with the fastest picker," Keedan grinned. I mentally gulped. That had been me. I hadn't known he'd set me up as the example. I'd have to come out of my own thoughts more often. Plates of food were set in front of us, along with coffee, juice and water.
"Do you have decaf?" Keedan placed a hand over my coffee cup as he looked up at the server.
"We can make it," the young man said.
"Do it. She's pregnant," Keedan said. My cheeks went pink immediately. I was glad when they all started talking business again. I set my comp-vid on record so I could get all the information in case I needed it again. They spoke of how much fertilizer would be needed after the harvest, discussed new groves that had been planted and which trees required grafting to produce sooner. The discussion also turned to how many new employees to keep on the payroll to mulch, prune and spray.
"What did you use to fertilize on Kifirin?" Crofford asked. He seemed unnaturally interested in the Kifirini groves for some reason.
"Cow manure compost," I said, "after the harvests. We composted in between and added that mix when it was time. The Crown owns vast cattle herds, and as you know, the Crown also owns the gishi fruit groves. It was an easy exchange; the only cost was getting the manure to the groves. We worked compost into the soil and the trees thrived on it, with a little natural bean crop mixed in."
"I understand that most of the farms and ranches on Kifirin are owned by the Crown," Edward observed. He'd been quiet for the most part and seemed content to eat and listen to what his supervisors had to say.
"They are," I nodded, pushing the eggs around on my plate. The food was standard fare—nothing special. "A few people on Kifirin own land and grow their own crops, but most are employed by the Crown in some way or another. The exceptions are the artisans, weavers and such. Kifirin produces very good quality hand-woven cloth and handmade pottery and glass."
"And it's expensive," Keedan agreed. "I saw a bowl in Adrixx priced at five hundred credits. And it wasn't even their top of the line, according to the shop owner."
"You have to forgive the feudal system they have," I said. "It's much better now than it used to be. They're slowly making their way toward the light, I think."
"Sir, I hate to interrupt," a middle-aged man walked into the dining room. "But there's a fire in the southern grove."
Everybody was up and rushing toward the back of the house. A wide deck was there, overlooking the southern portion of EastStar's massive groves. Edward Pendley began to curse—in English. "I'm going down there," he shouted in common and disappeared, just like that.
"Fuck!" Keedan muttered beside me. "Somebody get a hovercar here. We need to be down there, too."
"I can take two," I said, grabbing Keedan and the first one of the others I could reach, (which turned out to be Crofford) and skipped directly to the spot in the groves where the smoke curled toward the sky.
"Get the sprinklers on!" I shouted, dumping Keedan and Crofford before racing toward the manual control. Those were located every quarter click or so within the groves. Turning the wheel as quickly as I could, the sprinklers came to life, spraying water everywhere while the smoke thickened, forcing me to cough in an attempt to get it out of my lungs.
I couldn't imagine what might have started a fire—the groves were moist enough from rain and the sprinklers that came on during the evening hours. Keedan and Crofford had raced in the opposite direction to get the sprinklers on the other side turned on. I had no idea where Edward had gone; he wasn't there when we arrived.
After only a few moments, we were left with a few smoldering trees, smoke that still hung knee-high above the ground and a mystery as to how the fire had started. Edward had finally shown up, looking angry. I understood that look—at least a dozen trees had been destroyed, and each gishi fruit tree was worth around a million credits over its lifetime.
"They were already gone," Edward muttered. He'd gone after the arsonists while we'd hurried to save the trees. We followed him, then, until we found the origin of the fire. Two trees were now reduced to cinders, and they shouldn't have burned that quickly unless they had help.
"Do you have warlocks or sorcerers for enemies?" I asked, crouching down to examine the white, ashy stump that remained of a gishi fruit tree.
"I wasn't aware of any," Edward said dryly, crouching next to me. "At least we got the fire out quickly."
"We?" I turned to look into his hazel eyes.
"All right, Keedan and Crofford." The hazel eyes twinkled with teasing mischief.
"Uh-huh," I muttered, standing up.
"How did you get us here?" Keedan asked while Crofford nodded in agreement.
"It's called skipping," I said.
"I've only heard of a handful of races that might be capable of that," Edward said, curling a hand around the back of his neck and watching me with a puzzled expression.
"I've only heard of one," I replied.
"Which one is that?"
"Mine," I said.
Chapter 3
Phelpas, Drennen and all three assistants came along in a hovercar while Keedan, Crofford, Edward and I directed grove employees to dig up the burned
trees and haul them away.
"This is the third time in three moon turns," Phelpas pointed out, but stepped back and remained silent when Edward glared at him. The boss didn't need the reminder, it seems.
"How many has he lost so far?" I asked Keedan.
"Nearly a hundred trees the first time. We had a better watch the second time, so we only lost about thirty. This time we cut it to eleven. We worry that they'll attack during the night, but every time it has been in full daylight."
"Round up the employees and we'll ask questions," Edward directed. That's how we spent our afternoon, with Keedan making sure I had something to eat and drink between questioning. Three employees weren't being truthful. Somehow, Edward pulled the same three out and let the others go.
"Now," he said, as all three sat in front of him, "tell me everything you know about this."
I was thankful Edward's office was large enough for plenty of seating to be brought in; we were at the questioning until night fell. Keedan asked me twice to communicate orders via comp-vid and I did so, telling Garthe to get the employees to do their best and make sure their quotas were filled for the day. He contacted me around sunset, saying that they'd accomplished just that. He also asked about the fire, but I told him we'd have information when we saw him the following day.
It turned out that two detainees had committed theft and the other had damaged a tree without reporting it. None knew anything about the fires. All three were terminated and escorted to the front gate so they could take a bus to Adrixx.
"Let's get something to eat," Edward said. He'd ordered the kitchen crew to go to bed earlier, since we'd been at the questioning for hours on end and now it was very late. We followed him into the kitchens, assistants and all. Edward rummaged through the fridge.
"Let Reah see what she can do," Keedan suggested. Edward's head jerked up and he looked at me. Stepping aside, he gestured grandly toward the open fridge. I went to see what was inside.
"I can't believe this," Phelpas sighed. They'd gotten pasta with chicken and a mushroom sauce that could be put together quickly. I'd found a long loaf of bread, sliced it lengthwise, buttered it and sprinkled it with herbs. It was toasted and served with the meal. Then I cut up fresh redberries and served them with sweet cream for dessert.
"You could get your Master Cook's license," Crofford sighed, finishing off his dessert.
"I have one," I said. "Will someone else clean up? I'm tired."
"You have a Master Cook's license, and you're here?" Drennen looked skeptical.
"I do. I own Dee's Restaurant in Targis on Tulgalan. I told Keedan that I'm here because I need peace and quiet."
"What were you doing on Kifirin, working in their groves?" Crofford stared at me. The three assistants were sitting beside their supervisors, waiting for this story to unfold, I'm sure.
"I started those groves," I said. "King Jayd laughed at me when I suggested that we try gishi fruit as a money crop on the Southern Continent. He's not laughing now."
"You're a member of the Royal Family on Kifirin, aren't you?" Edward looked surprised.
"Not that they've noticed, but yes," I agreed. And since nobody else made any move to do so, I began to clean the dishes.
"And she's the wife of the founding member of the Campiaan Alliance," Teeg appeared in Edward's kitchen, making me wince.
"Master San Gerxon," Edward bowed politely to Teeg.
"Don't bow to him. The rat," I said.
"You're calling me a rat?"
"I could call you worse."
"Please don't. Reah, you need to come back with me. Nefrigar says you're still fragile, and we have to think about the baby."
"Oh, now that it's your baby, I'm fragile," I huffed.
"Reah, you know what I'm talking about," Teeg grumbled. He was right; I'd just been able to shove most of that aside for the past three eight-days or so, in favor of picking gishi fruit. The trees got my attention. My thoughts and problems didn't.
"Where's Astralan?" I asked. "I'd like for him to look at a spot where somebody burned gishi fruit trees earlier today."
"Will you come home with me if I call him?" Teeg's nearly-black eyes were begging.
"I'll come," I muttered. "I don't think I can stay here, now, since they know we're married and all."
"Reah, every mate you have is worried to death about you."
"Must be a new experience for them," I snapped.
"How many do you have?" Keedan asked.
"Nine," Teeg answered for me. "Reah is extremely rare. Only seventeen females exist in her race."
"No kidding?" Keedan turned his eyes to me.
"Six of those are my daughters," I blushed and hung my head.
"There's our girl," Astralan appeared at Teeg's elbow. "What do you need, baby?"
"I want you to look at a spot where a fire started in the groves today," I said. "I think a warlock or power holder of some sort started it."
"Then we'll take a look," Astralan smiled. "As long as you come home with us."
"I already said I would," I grumped.
"Good. Let's go."
"I'm coming along," Edward insisted.
"Then we'll all go," Teeg agreed amiably, and Astralan and Teeg folded everyone in the kitchen to the burned trees.
"Definitely a power wielder," Astralan nodded after examining the burned spots. "If I'm correct, not a powerful one. Used the sun as a heat source, just turned it up some to dry out the wood and start the fire."
"Can you locate him or her?" I asked.
"Not a problem," Astralan grinned and disappeared. He came back, hauling Landor with him. Teeg took over then, ordering him with compulsion to explain what happened.
"He's a member of the Dondl family?" Edward stared at Landor. Dondl was one of Edward's rival grove owners. Landor's uncle owned the groves, but the moment he learned that Landor had a bit of power, he'd recruited the boy to his purposes.
"What shall we do with him?" Keedan asked. "I hesitate to turn him over to the authorities; Dondl will retaliate somehow."
"I'll remove his power," Astralan grinned. "And Teeg will remove the memory that I removed it. You'll make a fine employee, won't you?" Astralan pounded Landor on the back. Edward stared in amazement as Astralan did remove Landor's power, and then Teeg placed compulsion, telling Landor that he wouldn't remember. That, of course, resulted in even more compulsion—Teeg didn't want Edward or his supervisors to remember that part, either. I shivered when it was all over.
"Go back to your barracks," Keedan ordered. Landor trotted off obediently.
"Now, we go home. Mr. Pendley, will you be so kind as to send her things to my palace?" Teeg asked.
"I'll have them shipped tomorrow," Edward sighed. "But I have a request."
"Yes?"
"I'd like to visit the palace after the harvest is in."
"Feel free. You've been invited several times. I thought you weren't interested."
"I am, now." Edward stared at me. Teeg gripped my arm and Astralan folded us away.
* * *
"No. Absolutely not," I snapped, the moment Kevis Halivar appeared inside my room. I was tired, out of sorts and a little angry. Somehow, Teeg had tracked me down. I was perfectly happy in the gishi fruit groves on Avendor. I'd even gotten a promotion. Now, I was right back in therapy with the one whose nurses had sold me to the Alliance and made me a laughing stock.
"Reah, I've taken a leave of absence from Sea Winds so I can work with you exclusively," Dr. Halivar said.
"Work with me? You want to peel potatoes or something? That kind of working with me?"
"No. You know very well what I mean."
"Where's nurse nasty?" I asked belligerently.
"Ceerah's under house arrest," Lendill appeared. Teeg was still inside the bedroom, and now it was getting crowded. I was feeling dizzy, too.
"She's going down," Kevis Halivar shouted from somewhere far away. Everything went black after that.
* * *
; "Obviously she feels more comfortable in those surroundings," Kevis pushed his point. "If you take her to the plantation and allow her to work freely among the citrus groves while you visit and I work with her, perhaps it will turn out best for all involved."
"Farzi, is there enough room for us?" Gavril looked to the reptanoid for answers. Farzi and Nenzi were both very much in favor of having Reah come to them. Their plantation was more than large enough, with plenty of room inside the main house and more guesthouses located nearby.
"Yes. More than enough," Farzi nodded.
"Bring Reah soon," Nenzi agreed.
"How is she?" Rylend Morphis appeared, accompanied by Corolan and Erland.
"Sleeping. She overextended today," Kevis sighed. "I've been chewed out by Dad already for not checking her when they brought her in, so don't start."
"Wasn't thinking about it," Ry smiled. "I'm just glad to know where she is and that's she safe."
"We're thinking about moving her to the plantation, since she went straight to Avendor to work in the gishi fruit groves," Gavril said.
"Can I see her?" Tory arrived with Lok and Aurelius. "And we're prepared to move in, bro, so be warned."
"Move into the plantation house, I think we're taking her there," Gavril sighed. "Dee, make arrangements."
"I will." Dee wore a slight smile but said no more on the subject.
* * *
Reah, my love? I'm here, sweetheart. Are you all right?
Was I dreaming? I thought I was dreaming. But the voice sounded real. Huh? I sent sleepy mindspeech.
No, love, I can feel your weariness. Go back to sleep. Sleep now. You have no idea how long I've searched for you. The words were sent with the gentlest of touches. I wanted to tuck myself against that touch. Let it soothe away what troubled me. Something did trouble me. It frightened me at times and woke me, gasping for breath, on most mornings. Sleep, the voice came again. I allowed it to unravel my thoughts and carry them away.
* * *
"Reah, it's your Auri." I was curled in a ball on a bed somewhere. It was a good bed—a soft bed. A bed that pillowed and fluffed around me, cradling my body like a womb. I didn't want to leave it. Didn't want to wake. Wanted to allow it to hold me a little longer. "Reah, it's time for breakfast. Wake and come with me." I answered by huddling tighter beneath the blankets.
Demon's Dream (High Demon Series #6) Page 4