by Penny Jordan
'It would be nice to have some fresh air,' she conceded, trying to keep her voice steady. 'Perhaps I could sit by the oasis whilst you unpack everything?'
'Of course you can, my dear,' Richard agreed, smiling at her. 'Let's go and find somewhere comfortable for you, shall we?'
She mustn't give up hope, Katrina told herself stoutly five minutes later. Richard was escorting her to the oasis, his behaviour more that of a jailer than a would-be lover.
'This will do,' he announced, indicating one of the palm trees, but as Katrina walked towards it he held back. When she caught the warning chink of metal on metal she knew immediately that it was the handcuffs he had shown her earlier. Without stopping to think, she started to run, her flight from him as panic-stricken as that of a delicately boned gazelle. Fear drove her forward, towards the narrow pass between the steep rocks, oblivious to the sound of vehicles being driven fast over the bumpy terrain and the cries of warrior horsemen. Too late to realise what those sounds were, she burst through the pass and into full view of the group of fugitives.
They were led by El Khalid, but it was one of his young lieutenants who saw her first. He swerved the battered Land Rover he was driving round so hard that he almost overturned it.
Behind Katrina, at the pass between the rocks, Richard fell back in terror, and then turned and ran towards his own vehicle, ignoring Katrina's plight. He leapt into it and started the engine, driving back in the direction he had come as fast as he could.
Katrina, though, was oblivious to his desertion of her.
The air around her was thick with choking dust, the last dying rays of the sun striking blindingly against the metal of the vehicle racing alongside her. The driver was leaning out of the window, one hand on the steering wheel, the other reaching for her, a lascivious grin slicing his face.
Immediately she turned to run back the way she had come. Unwanted though Richard's attentions were, she could deal far more easily with him than she could with what she was now facing, but to her horror she recognised that her escape route was already being blocked off by the horse and rider bearing down on her even as she still tried to run from him.
The sound of his horse's hooves mingled with the fierce cries of the men surrounding her. He was so close to her that she could feel the heat of the horse's breath on her skin. Her heart felt as though it were about to burst. She saw him draw level with her and bend low in his saddle, his hand coming out, and then unbelievably she was being lifted off the ground and swept up onto the horse's back in front of him, as his prisoner.
Sobbing for breath, her heart pounding sickly, her face pressed against the coarsely woven cloth of the tunic he was wearing, she could do nothing other than lie there, forced to breathe in the smell of the fabric, with its faint lemony scent. Katrina stiffened. She now realised the lemony cologne, like the scent of the man himself, were both immediately familiar to her. The drumming of horse's hooves became the drumming of her own heart as she straggled to twist her body so that she could look up into his face.
As she had expected all she could see of it were his eyes—gold-flecked, reminding her of a tiger's eye. Her heart leapt and banged against her chest wall as she looked into them and saw them flash gold sparks of molten anger back at her.
Quickly she turned her head, too shocked to withstand the contempt in his eyes. In the distance she could see the four-wheel drive disappearing as Richard drove himself to safety, having left her to her fate. Tears welled in her eyes and one rolled down her face to land on the golden warmth of the male hand holding the horse's reins.
His mouth hardening, he shook it away. He murmured to the horse as he wheeled round and started to head back to the group of men watching them.
As he did so out of nowhere, or so it seemed to Katrina, a vehicle appeared, driven at frightening speed right at them. In the driver's seat was the man who had first pursued her, his face contorted with savagery as he shook his fist at her captor and mouthed some words in a dialect she could not understand before driving off again, reaching the waiting onlookers ahead of them.
There were a hundred, no, a thousand questions she wanted to ask, Katrina acknowledged, but before she could do so he was reining in his mount in front of a powerfully built man of medium height, who was gesturing to him to dismount.
Katrina shivered to see the powerful-looking rifle he was wearing slung over one shoulder, an ammunition belt around his waist, into which was thrust a wicked-looking traditionally curved dagger.
At his side was the man who had pursued her, gesticulating angrily as he pointed towards her and burst into a rapid speech, of which she could only catch the odd word.
A brief inclination of his head from the man at her side told Katrina that the man with the gun must be the leader of the men. But whilst he obviously commanded the obedience of everyone else, she was aware that her captor's body language was subtly emphasising his own independence.
'Why did you let the man get away?' Katrina heard the leader demand angrily in Zuranese.
There was a brief pause before her captor answered him coolly, 'El Khalid, you're asking me a question you should surely be asking another! A man on horseback, even when that animal is as fast as any mount in the Ruler's fabled stable, cannot hope to outrun a four-wheel drive. Sulimen could have caught up with him had he not decided to pursue an easier prey.'
'He has taken my prize and now he seeks to discredit me. The girl is mine, El Khalid,' the driver of the Land Rover protested hotly.
'You hear what Sulimen says, Tuareg! What do you answer him?'
Katrina had to bite down hard on her lip to stop herself from turning to her captor and begging him not to let Sulimen take her. The leader had called him 'Tuareg', using only his tribal name, whereas he had used the more intimate Sulimen for the other man. Did that mean he would favour the other's claim? Katrina felt sick at the thought.
Why didn't her captor say something… ? She could feel him looking at her, but she could not bring herself to lift her head and look back at him. She was too afraid of what she might see in his eyes.
'I answer him that I have the girl and he does not. She will earn me a fat purse when I take her back to Zuran City and ransom her back to her people.'
'No one is to leave this camp until I say so,' came the harsh response. 'I have gathered you all here in this place for a special mission. Our success in it will make us all very rich men.
'Since both of you lay claim to the girl, then you might fight one another for her.' He gave a small jerk of his head, and before Katrina could protest she was being led forcibly away by two fierce-looking armed men.
Anxiously she turned round just in time to see El Khalid removing the glitteringly sharp-edged hooked dagger from his belt and throwing it towards her captor.
The breath left her lungs in a rush as he caught it and he and Sulimen began to circle one another. Sulimen already had a similar dagger in his hand and almost immediately he jabbed savagely at his opponent with it. The other men had begun to form a circle around them.
Standing behind them between her jailers, Katrina could only catch maddeningly brief glimpses of the two men as they fought.
Not that she liked watching men fight—far from it—but on this occasion she had a very strong reason for wanting to know which one was going to be the victor. Whilst the men had dragged her away, the two opponents, whilst retaining their headgear, had removed their cloaks and tunics and were fighting bare-chested as they circled one another barefoot.
It was now dark and lanterns had been lit to illuminate the scene that to Katrina looked like something from another world.
The light from one of the lanterns glittered on the daggers as they were raised in clenched hands, and the sickening sounds of human combat echoed the thuds of bare feet on sand.
She heard a low grunt of pain and heard the watching men roar in approval; above their heads she could see the hand holding a dagger aloft, the light catching the tiny droplets of blood th
at fell from it. Her stomach heaved. Was the man with the golden eyes badly wounded? Ridiculously, given all she already knew about him and all that she didn't, her anxiety and concern were not for her own plight and safety, but for his, and she knew that had she been able to do so she would have rushed to his side.
She heard another groan and another roar of approval, but this time it was the name 'Tuareg' the watching men were calling out in praise.
The fight seemed to go on for ever, and Katrina was becoming increasingly sickened by the thought of such violence and cruelty. She was simply not programmed to find anything about physical violence acceptable, Katrina acknowledged. Her initial anxious need to see what was happening had been overlaid by relief that she was spared witnessing such a loathsome spectacle.
But at last it was apparently over, the watching men cheering loudly as she was pulled through their ranks to where the two antagonists stood in front of El Khalid.
Only one of the three men commanded her attention, though, and her stomach churned with a mixture of nausea and guilty relief as she heard the crowd chanting 'Tuareg' and saw that in his hands he was holding aloft both of the daggers, whilst his opponent slumped despondently beside him.
But then he turned round and Katrina sucked in a shocked breath as she saw the blood-beaded wounds on his flesh. One had slit the taut skin of his face along his cheekbone and dangerously close to his eye, another was carved just above his heart, and blood was dripping from a third on his upper arm.
A feeling of sick dizziness began to threaten her, but she ignored it, dragging her gaze away from the sweat-gilded expanse of taut male chest in front of her. Sulimen, in contrast, did not appear to have any wounds at all, which puzzled Katrina a little since 'Tuareg' was obviously the victor.
'Here is your prize,' she heard El Khalid telling him. 'Take her.'
Was it her imagination or was the slight bow her captor made in El Khalid's direction more cynical than respectful? If so, no one else seemed to have thought so.
He still hadn't so much as acknowledged her presence, turning to toss El Khalid's dagger back to him, and then turning back to lean forward and scoop up his discarded tunic.
Out of the corner of her eye Katrina saw Sulimen go to sheathe his own dagger, but then terrifyingly, instead of doing so, he lunged violently towards her captor's unprotected back, the dagger clenched in his raised hand.
Katrina heard her own sharp sound of shocked warning, but it seemed something else must have alerted 'Tuareg' to the danger because he had already whirled round, and in a movement so fast that Katrina's eyes could not follow it he had kicked out at Sulimen's raised hand, dislodging the knife.
Immediately three men seized Sulimen and dragged him away. As though nothing at all out of the ordinary had happened, her captor picked up his tunic and pulled it on before indicating with a brusque inclination of his head that she was to join him.
'Come,' he said peremptorily. He took such long strides that she had difficulty in keeping up with him, but the moment she reached his side he stopped walking and turned to look down at her.
'You will not walk at my side, but behind me,' he told her coldly.
Katrina could hardly believe her ears. And as for walking behind him! The traumas she had endured were forgotten, in the full fury of her outraged female pride.
'I will do no such thing,' she refused hotly. 'I am not your…your chattel… And besides, in Zuran men walk alongside their partners.'
'This is not Zuran, it is the desert, and you are mine to do with as I choose, when and how I choose.'
Without giving her the opportunity to answer him, he turned away and continued to walk swiftly towards the pitched tents, which were cleverly concealed from view in a protective natural enclosure of steep-sided rocky outcrops.
Several fires had been started in a clearing in front of some of the tents and dark-robed women were stirring the contents of cooking pots. The rich smell of cooking food made Katrina realise just how long it was since she herself had eaten, and her stomach growled hungrily.
Predictably, she felt, the tent her captor had led her to was set apart from the others.
A battered-looking utility-type vehicle was parked alongside it and behind that his horse was tethered, happily munching on some food, watched over by a young boy. But Katrina wasn't given any time to study her surroundings; a hard hand in the middle of her back was already pushing her into the tent.
She had of course seen similar tents set up for display and educational purposes on a cultural education site in Zuran City, but she had never imagined she might occupy one of them! Several lamps cast a soft glow over the tent's main living area, with its richly patterned carpets and traditional divan. There were several cushions on the floor and a low wooden table with a coffee pot on it.
All at once the events of the day caught up with her and reaction swamped her, causing exhausted tears to fill her eyes.
'What are you crying for? Your lover? I doubt he is wasting any tears on you, to judge by the speed with which he abandoned you.'
Katrina stared at him. 'Richard is not my lover! He's a married man…'
'But of course. Otherwise, why would he bring you to such a remote place?' A cynical smile hardened the narrowed eyes.
'I did not allow him. He…he forced me…'
'Of course he did!' he agreed mockingly.
Katrina lifted her head and looked challengingly at him.
'Why are you pretending to be a Tuareg when it is obvious that you are not—?'
'Silence!' he commanded her angrily.
'No. I will not be silent. I remember you from the alleyway in Zuran City, even if you don't.'
She gave a small breathless gasp as his hand closed hard over her mouth, a menacing look glittering in his eyes as he bent towards her and said softly, 'You will be silent.'
Katrina had had enough! She had been kidnapped, bullied, threatened, and now this! Angrily she bit sharply into the hand covering her mouth, more shocked by the salt taste of his blood than by the savagery of the oath he uttered as he wrenched away from her.
'Woman, you are a hell-cat!' he stormed as he frowned down at the tiny pinpricks of blood on the soft pad of flesh just below his thumb. 'But no way will I allow you to poison me with your venom! Clean it.'
Katrina stared at him in disbelief, her face starting to burn. What she had done had shocked her. Outraged female fury stiffened her whole body. And yet shockingly there, deep down inside her, was a vagrant acknowledgement of intoxicatingly dangerous awareness of the sensuality of her own thoughts. Thoughts that mirrored her own actual desires? Desires she secretly wanted to turn into actions?
Absolutely not! She could feel his breath against her ear, and she took the cloth he was handing her, dipped it in the bowl of water next to her and dabbed the wound.
Abruptly he released her and stepped back from her, his voice both harsh and somehow distorted as he demanded thickly, 'No! Why should I give you the opportunity to inflict even more damage?'
'Why are you behaving like this?' Katrina demanded tremulously. 'Who are you? In the souk, you looked European.'
'You will not say such things. You know nothing about me!'
She could hear the savage rejection and hostility in his voice. 'I know that you are not a Tuareg,' she persisted.
'And you would know, of course,' he taunted her, his anger replaced by mockery.
'Yes, I would,' Katrina confirmed bravely. 'I have studied Zuranese history and culture and no true Tuareg male would ever uncover his face in public the way you did the other day in the alleyway…'
There was a small telling silence before he said quietly but oh, so menacingly, 'If I were you, I would forget all about Zuran City and its alleyways.'
Katrina took a deep breath and then exhaled it raggedly. 'So, are you going to tell me who you are?'
For a few seconds she thought he wasn't going to reply. And then he gave a small dismissive shrug. 'Who I am does not matte
r. But what I am does. Those of us who have given our allegiance to El Khalid have strong reasons for doing so. We live outside the law as you know it and you would do well to remember that.'
'You're a criminal?' she guessed. 'A fugitive?'
'You ask too many questions and, I can assure you, you would not want to know who and what I really am.'
It was hard not to allow herself to shiver in reaction to those menacing words, and to demand instead, 'Well, at least give me a name that I may call you. You cannot really want to be called Tuareg. I would certainly not want to be called English!'
To her astonishment he laughed.
'Very well, then. You may call me…' Xander paused. To give her his real name of Allessandro was impossible. It was far too easily recognisable. Here in the rebel camp, where a man's lawful identity was respected as his own private business, he was known by everyone only as 'Tuareg' and had given himself the very common family name of bin Sadeen. But 'Tuareg' wasn't the name he wanted to hear falling from this woman's lips, although just why he should feel like that he wasn't prepared to analyse.
'You may call me Xander,' he heard himself telling her. Xander was the shortened version of his name used only by those who were closest to him, his half-brother and sister-in-law, and so would not be recognised by anyone else.
'Xander?' A small frown etched Katrina's smooth forehead. 'That is very unusual. I do not believe I have heard it before.'
'It was my mother's choice,' he told her curtly. 'And what am I to call you?'
'My name is Katrina Blake,' she informed him, hesitating before finding the courage to burst out anxiously, 'How long will it be before…before I can go back to Zuran City?'
'I cannot say. El Khalid has given orders that no one is to leave the oasis until he permits it.'
For a moment Katrina was tempted to ask him what had brought them to the oasis, and indeed the question was already on the tip of her tongue, but cautiously she decided not to ask it.