Men of Anderas II: Dak the Protector

by Cheryl Johnson

  "Intelligence separates us from the animals but it was pure desperation that drove me to find a way to escape.” Dak straightened, tossing his tea into the fire. "Even before we left Safe Haven I managed to … react, I guess is the best way to explain it. I knew by the expression on your face every time it happened that I had done something you weren’t expecting. Don’t ever gamble, little witch, your face shows exactly what you’re thinking. It took me a while to find the one common factor in each incident. Instinct. As long as my actions were unconscious, the stone didn’t completely control me."

  Kierin heard the words Dak spoke but it was the incredible depths of feeling in his voice that touched her soul with unbearable sadness. All of the "what-if" dreams of her heart withered. He would never understand her reasons even if she dared speak them. Her time with Dak was over. She’d have to find a way to live with that loss.

  "While you were arranging for our supplies Talon lectured me on gravity. At the time, I couldn’t imagine why he thought I’d be interested in a lesson in physical science. Last night," Dak shrugged, "I guess I was finally in the right frame of mind because everything fell into place. I climbed the tree until I could hang upside down from a branch and gravity took care of the rest."

  Careful not to touch the amulet, Dak lowered the stick holding the silver chain until the small, white stone sat on a larger rock at the edge of the fire pit.

  "This cursed rock will never again hold anyone or anything prisoner.” Dak picked up another rock from the fire pit and slammed it down on the crystal with enough force to shatter the amulet. Nothing remained but the mangled chain and powdered rubble. Tossing the stick and chain into the fire, Dak glared at Kierin.

  "As soon as we break camp, we're going back. Last night’s attack was just the beginning. Draagon knows where you are and his men will come after you. Find somewhere else to live, somewhere on the other side of the galaxy. It’s the only chance you have."

  "No. I have to go home."

  Dak couldn’t believe Kierin was so obstinate. They were very nearly killed just a few hours ago. "And do what? Hide behind your stone walls until your security system fails? Draagon has an army at his disposal. Anyone who gets in his way ends up dead. You’re not going home. You’re going back to the … where in the hell are you going?"

  "I’ve already told you. I’m going home."

  Dak watched in mounting frustration while Kierin calmly folded her bedding before tying it to her saddle. By the Beard of the Prophet, the woman was going to drive him insane.

  "Dammit, Kierin.” Dak surged to his feet and grabbed the heavy saddle from her hands. "Sit down and finish your tea. I have never known a more stubborn woman in my life. Just what do you have waiting at this fortress of yours that’s more important than your life?"

  If Dak hadn’t been watching her so intently he would have missed the flash of panic in her eyes before she dropped her gaze to her unfinished tea. What are you hiding, little witch?

  "I’m not hiding anything, Dak. I just want to go home. Surely, you can understand that. You’ve made you desire to return to Anderas known from the beginning. How long do you think it will be before someone comes for you?"

  Kierin’s response to his unspoken question surprised him but she was too intent on changing the subject and making a production of refilling her cup to notice. He’d been picking up on her thoughts since the transport but he assumed it was because of the amulet. She truly was telepathic. Dak settled back against his saddle, reached for his own cup and waited until she took a careful sip of the hot brew.

  And how long have you been reading my mind?

  Kierin gasped and choked on the tea. Coughing and sputtering, she finally looked at him. With her aqua eyes wide with shock, her hair coming loose around her shoulders and tea splattered down the front of her tunic, she looked like a bedraggled kitten. Dak fought the grin twitching his lips. He didn’t want to be amused by Kierin. He wanted to stay angry. He was the victim here.

  When her eyes narrowed he lost the fight. A chuckle started deep in his chest then erupted into full laughter. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed. Before Safe Haven, obviously. Damn, it felt good to just be able to feel again.

  "Just what is so funny?” She asked through clenched teeth.

  The kitten was spitting and showing her claws. She was on her way to being truly pissed. Dak laughed even harder. He honestly didn’t know if her attitude amused him or if his long-suppressed emotions finally boiled over like an over-filled pot on the fire. Whatever the reason, it felt great.

  Dak was holding his sides and wiping at the tears running down his face when a fleeting image of a water bucket flashed through his mind. In the blink of an eye, he was drenched with the coldest water he’d ever encountered. With a harsh gasp, he grabbed at his soaked shirt trying to keep the icy water from touching his body.

  The shirt was dry! A quick check of his head and face revealed the same condition. Kierin! The haughty smirk on her face sent his temper soaring.

  "We’re leaving in ten minutes.” Dak surged to his feet, grabbed his saddle and headed toward the tethered horses. The sooner he got back to the city and sent a message to JarDan, the sooner he’d be home--and rid of this infuriating woman.

  "You’re free to leave whenever you wish. I am going home."

  Dak threw the saddle on the ground. It was time she realized he was in charge now and there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. With his fists on his hips, legs spread for balance; he glared at Kierin until she lowered her head to avoid him.

  "I will not leave a woman alone in the middle of nowhere.” Dak’s voice sounded harsh even to his own ears. "You’ll go back to the city if I have to tie you to your horse. If you think I’m joking, use that witch magic of yours and read my mind."

  "It doesn’t work that way. The thoughts have to be actively aimed at the person receiving them. It’s not like opening a book. Forcing me back will only delay the inevitable. It won’t prevent me from returning home."

  Dak raked his fingers through his hair and rubbed at the ache at the base of his skull. How could one tiny little woman cause such a headache so early in the morning?

  "Then you better hire yourself an army because Draagon will be back. You can count on it."

  "I know."

  Kierin’s soft answer was filled with sadness and something else Dak found hard to classify but even harder to understand. Fatal acceptance.

  "It will take several days before I hear from JarDan. I’ll help find men who …."

  "Dak, I appreciate what you’re offering, but I can’t accept. It’s taken practically all the coins I had saved to make this trip. I couldn’t hire an army of field rodents if all I had to do was feed them."

  Dak raked his hands through his hair, pulling the long strands against his neck. Kierin managed to give him the king of headaches and she’d been awake less than an hour. "Just how in hell did you plan to support yourself if you’ve spent all your coins on this ridiculous scheme?"

  "I earn a decent income from my herbs and potions. It will just take me a little time to get them mixed and delivered. I’m in no danger of starving."

  "You’re right," Dak’s temper was still too raw, his control too tenuous to risk an argument so he took refuge in sarcasm. "Draagon will kill you long before you starve. What did you hope to gain by this stunt, Kierin? Besides a son?"

  "Time."

  Kierin’s whispered answer had the same effect as her mental cold shock earlier. It instantly stopped his train of thought. What kind of answer was that? What did she mean--time? Time for what? He would use force to get her safely back to the city, if necessary. If her little electric shock trick only worked while he wore the amulet. She zapped Talon but Talon was touching the chain at the time. He was still weighing his options when he realized Kierin was digging through her pack bag. An assortment of items fell into her lap--some practical and functional, some strictly feminine in nature. A stab of white-hot lus
t shot through his groin. Without the control of Kierin’s stone, he’d been fighting his arousal all night.

  You are in serious need of a Pleasure Station if the sight of a minuscule pair of panties and a couple of wrapped monthly pads gets you hot.

  Dak forced himself to breathe deep and slow and willed his body to behave. Kierin clutched a packet of papers tied with string in one hand and used the other to shove her possessions back into her pack. When she looked up, Dak tensed. He’d seen that look on her face often enough to know she was up to something.

  "If your offer of help is still open, I’d like to offer a … compromise."

  Every instinct Dak possessed screamed at him to run for his life but his curiosity often got in the way of his common sense. "If you’re going to start in about a son …."

  Kierin shook her head. "No. What I have to offer is more personal."

  Dak was intrigued. What could be more personal than creating a child? "Then by all means, continue. We can delay our departure for a while longer."

  Dak grinned at Kierin’s mutinous expression. He was enjoying their verbal sparring this morning despite everything she’d put him through. Last night, he’d given up all hope of escape, of returning to Anderas. Losing the stone didn’t just free Dak, the man, from Kierin’s captivity. It freed everything about him. He felt. Not just the negative emotions of his captivity and uncertainty about his crew--but every emotion--to the extreme. It was liberating. It was invigorating. It just felt plain damn good.

  "So, little witch, what are you offering this morning?"

  "Why do you call me that? You know my name, please use it."

  Dak fought the twitch in his lips. Her chin was tilted in her I-dare-you-to-argue-with-me angle. "Your compromise, Kierin?"

  The instinct to run hit him again. Hard. Her face went from militant to uncertain in the blink of an eye. Whatever she had on her mind was sure to cause him problems.

  "It will take me about a month to raise the coins necessary to hire additional protection. I would like to offer you the job until that time."

  "Kierin, I can’t. I have to let JarDan know I’m alive and I have to find my crew. I’ll see that you …."

  "Please, let me finish. I can’t pay you in coins but I have something more valuable to you than gold. If you agree to stay for one month, I’ll give you this."

  Dak glanced at the packet of papers but kept his focus on Kierin. "And this is?"

  "A list of purchases made from Murdock’s slave market for the past six months. If your men survived long enough to be sold, their names will be on these pages along with the names of who purchased them."

  For the space of a dozen heartbeats Dak fought waves of shock. He felt the kind of shock that makes a man dizzy with relief. The kind of shock that makes knees buckle. The kind of shock that makes a man throw back his head and roar at the fates. He managed to hide his reaction to Kierin’s announcement. At least he thought he did. Until, he reached for the packet and had to clench his fist to stop the tremors.

  "You … you’ve," Dak cleared his throat twice before he trusted himself to speak. "You’ve had this all this time?” Why would she keep this information from him? She knew how desperately he needed to discover the fate of his crew. "Why?"

  "I was going to give it to you after … you fulfilled the requirements of my original offer. I felt … it doesn’t matter. My reasons are no longer important. Do you agree to my terms?"

  Dak would agree to almost any condition she set to get his hands on that list but he’d keep that bit of news to himself. This felt too easy and that usually meant there was a hook hiding in the bait. "What’s to keep me from agreeing to your terms long enough to get my hands on the list then walking away?"

  "If you give me your word that you’ll stay, I know you will."

  Kierin’s soft smile and unconditional trust reached deep into his soul to a place he’d kept sealed away for most of his life.

  “I accept your compromise on two conditions.” Her steady gaze met his and held. The trembling of her fingers gave lie to her calm expression.

  “First, I want your promise that you will never put another piece of rock on or near me. Is that clear?”

  She nodded her agreement. “And the second?”

  “I want to know what you’re hiding in that fortress of yours and why there’s a death warrant with your name on it.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Kierin stared into the dancing red and gold flames. Dak was far too perceptive to risk looking directly at him. She had no problem with the first of his conditions. It was his last demand that was giving her the problem. For most of her life she and her family had guarded the secret of her mountain at the risk of their own lives. By telling Dak what he wanted to know she would be sentencing him to the same fate.

  "What’s it going to be, Kierin?"

  "You have no idea what you’re asking me to reveal, Dak. The consequences of that knowledge would follow you back to Anderas.” Kierin looked up into Dak’s dark eyes. She had to make him understand. "The men who are searching for what my father gave his life to keep hidden won’t care that you’re half-way across the galaxy. They will track you down and destroy you for no other reason than they think you carry this knowledge with you."

  "I’ve been stalked before, little witch. Believe me, Morandoni was about as evil as a man can be and still be human. If these men are as determined as you believe, it won’t matter whether I know your secrets or not. The fact that I’ve spent time with you will mark me as a danger to them."

  The truth of Dak’s statement shuddered through her body. How the Warlords might view her actions hadn’t entered her mind. They had two standing orders from the Prime Ruler. Retrieve the item and destroy anyone who has knowledge of its existence. There were no boundaries the Warlords recognized; no laws but their own; and no statute of limitations for her father’s crime.

  "Kierin?"

  "I agree to your terms, Dak.” Kierin’s heart twisted painfully in her chest. How she wished things could be different. "I give you my word that I will never place another crystal on you without your prior agreement, and I’ll answer all of your questions. Will you wait until we’re home? Sound carries farther than people realize and I can’t allow this knowledge to be made public."

  Kierin watched the play of emotions on Dak’s face. Standing between her and the rising sun, legs spread for balance and arms crossed across his chest, he was a formidable sight. Hair, dark as a raven’s wing, hung in a thick curtain to the middle of his back. He’d shaved his beard before they left Safe Haven, leaving the chiseled planes and angles of his face bare. She could easily see the muscles of his jaw work while he weighed the options of her offer. He was a man accustomed to having his instructions followed, not questioned.

  "Very well. I’ll wait until we reach your home.” Dak grabbed her saddle and headed for the hobbled horses. "If we hurry, we can make it back to the Communications Center before dark."

  "Uh … Dak?” Kierin jumped up and hurried after Dak. "We have a small problem with that plan."

  Dak tossed the saddle across the back of the first horse and slowly turned to face her. Suspicion and anger radiated from him like heat from the fire. His dark brown eyes never wavered from her face, waiting for her to change the rules--again.

  "What now?” He asked softly.

  Kierin shoved her hands into her pockets to hide their trembling. His docile attitude was a potent reminder of her Anderan’s self-control. "I don’t have enough to pay for the communication to Anderas."

  "That’s not a problem. I’ll reverse the charges. Why are you shaking your head?"

  "This far out into the frontier, communications must be paid in advance."

  "That’s ridiculous. Every Communications Center has that option, in case of emergencies."

  "I didn’t say it was impossible just that it’s not allowed.” Kierin raised her hand to stop Dak’s argument. "A few years ago, the miners at one of the remote outpos
ts devised this code system. Each call signified a different message, depending on whom they called and how they signed the message. The messages arrived without anyone having to pay for the call. It cost the communications industry an astronomical amount of money. When the Communication Center discovered the system, the Council of Ethics created a boundary. Any Communications Center outside that boundary was only authorized to place or receive paid communications."

  Dak speared his fingers through his hair, tilting his face to the sun. With a heavy sigh, he turned back to the horse, reaching for the cinch. "How long before we reach this fortress of yours?"

  "About ten days when I travel by myself.” Kierin hurried back to the fire pit to finish gathering their gear. She didn’t really want to know what Dak was mumbling under his breath. In less than an hour, everything was packed and loaded and the horses saddled.

  Dak led them back through the meadow. Carrion beetles were already erasing all traces of the bloodbath of yesterday. Seeing the small, black insects feasting on the blood and gore, Kierin was grateful she hadn’t eaten breakfast.

  * * * *

  It was the longest eight days of Dak’s life. Every mile took him farther away from civilization and any chance of contacting JarDan. Despite his growing frustration, he had to admire Kierin. He pushed them hard from first light until sunset, stopping only long enough to rest and water the horses. She never complained about the long hours and always did her share around the camp at night.

  Night. Now, there was a whole different set of problems. The first night after Draagon’s attack he’d been so tired he barely remembered making camp. Since then, sleep was a rare commodity for him. The evenings all started the same. He’d find a quiet, secluded spot for a camp and care for the horses. Kierin would start a fire and prepare their dinner. With the weapons Talon left he was able to supplement Kierin’s vegetable stew with fresh meat. After they ate and cleaned up the camp, the trouble started. It was all Kierin’s fault but the little witch was totally unaware of what she was doing to him. The minute he relaxed, his body took on a life all its own. All she had to do was look at him and smile and he had one raging hard-on. Instantly. It was like being fourteen again and his lack of control was obvious, uncomfortable and embarrassing.