“You think on it a bit. I’ll check back in a moment.”
He slept again, but fitfully, dreams haunting his rest. Maralt chased him throughout, taunting him, constantly reminding him how he ran.
Dynan jerked awake, gasping, and pushed himself up. He drew up his knees, leaning on them, holding his head while the terrible visions faded. A callused hand touched his shoulder, and he jumped, banging into the wall as he shied away.
“Easy, son. Easy now.”
A man sat in Viana’s usual place, and she was right, Riegle Marleen wasn’t much to look at. His weathered brown skin, wrinkled from too much sunlight, matched his rusty hair. Dark, penetrating eyes met Dynan’s, and held them for a long moment.
Slowly Dynan relaxed, easing back against the wall, trying to regain his composure, and slow his racing heart. Riegle regarded him a moment longer. His hair was closely cropped. Dynan imagined a frown at the length of his own. Reputable, decent men didn’t wear their hair long. Riegle must think him some sort of rogue.
“How long...” His voice faltered, and he couldn’t speak.
“All day yesterday, and today,” Riegle said, guessing his meaning, and surprising Dynan with the answer. Riegle poured him a glass of water, handing it to him. “Viana seems to think you need watching, but she’s busy with the evening meal now. I heard you in here muttering again. Bad business, it would seem, with your brother and all. I lost a brother a few years back. We were close, so I know how it feels. I’ve got six more to share the burden. Maybe that’s helped. Maybe not. You have other kin?”
“No,” Dynan whispered, and again the swift, stark realization struck him that he was truly alone. The only relative he had left was an enemy he wanted to kill. He looked down at his hands, and found them shaking. With a start, he realized his rings were missing.
“I’ve got them here,” Riegle said, and produced them from his shirt pocket. He drew out the chain with the crystal ball as well, and the white stone Bador had given him. “I’ve wondered since you came in, looking about as far from a rich man as I’ve ever seen, yet you have these baubles, your ship carries more gold than I’ve set eyes on in a life time, and that’s a right fancy sword you have. No, I won’t ask for an explanation. As long as you can look me in the eye, and tell me you haven’t stolen any of these things, I’ll leave it at that.”
“I didn’t,” Dynan said, looking at him, as requested. Slowly, he put both rings on his finger. He looked at the crystal a moment before slipping the chain over his head, followed by Bador’s talisman.
“You’ve killed a man or two in your short life, I’ll wager.” Riegle would never know how much Dynan wanted to deny that, more memories clouding his mind, from the first night he ever found it necessary to kill, to the last man he’d killed in rage and fear. Riegle nodded to the scar predominant on Dynan’s chest. “And by the look of you, nearly died more than a few times from the trouble you’re in. Bad business indeed that I don’t want to know more of. Not much to do except move on as best you can. Maybe you’d like to come out, and take your meal with us. Might help take your mind away from it.”
Dynan started to shake his head. He didn’t think he could stand that long, and the thought of food turned his stomach.
“Or I could come in here, and make you eat something.” He stood, and went to the chest, drawing out a set of clothes. “We brought these in from your ship.”
Dynan watched him, really resenting that this man, a total stranger, expected him to do as he was told, or would see to it by force. He grabbed up the clothes, and while Riegle regarded him, struggled to put them on. He stood too fast, in anger. Riegle caught him quickly, and kept him standing until the dizziness eased. Dynan felt ashamed then for the unnecessary display of anger. These people had kept him alive, like it or not, only because they were kind, caring and decent people who dealt with what they were given with little complaint. Riegle didn’t seem to be troubled by the outburst.
Riegle opened the door for him, and then stayed near, holding him lightly by the arm. Dynan guessed he probably looked a little unsteady, and in truth, he felt that way. There seemed a lightness about his movements that spoke of infirmity. His leg in particular, where he’d been stabbed ached with every step. He was led from the front of the house into a long narrow hall that had other doors, which he guessed were bedrooms, then through a large living room that opened onto the kitchen and eating area.
“Riegle, he’s not nearly—” Viana started when she saw them.
“Relax, Mother. He’s been in that room too long and besides, he insisted.”
Dynan stared at him. Riegle’s weathered face broke into a quick grin, and he helped to seat Dynan at the table. They ate in an extension of the kitchen next to the sitting room where a big stone fireplace and mantle dominated the room. It held mismatched pieces of well-made furniture, some of them obviously crafted right here on the farm. There were plenty of chairs, but no couch. The pelt of a large white bear hung on the wall next to the mantle, and a woven rug covered the wood floor.
The table was equally large to seat the entire family with a few guests if need be. Dynan was introduced to all the children, but he could hardly think of them as such. They were grown or nearly grown. Elana was the youngest at eighteen, preceded by Broq by a mere fourteen months. Rorin and Drey the older boys, were closer to his age. Rorin seemed older. Both were large young men in their prime, strengthened by the hard work they managed on the farm, and Dynan sensed not enthusiastic about his presence, even when they greeted him politely.
During all the introductions the food was put on, and a mad sort of free for all ensued, where food was heaped on plates, bowls passed, biscuits and butter, and a large jug of wine that he got a watered down, half-glass of. Viana served his plate, piling it with more food than he’d seen in one sitting. The moment the plates were filled, she paused in the bustle, and everyone quickly settled, heads bowing, hands crossing over hearts. Dynan prepared himself for the standard blessing, surprised when that didn’t happen.
“Praise be to the Gods who watch over us, and provide our daily lives with plenty, and for bringing back to health our friend and brother. Praise be.” Viana nodded her head. Plain, simple and to the point. Dynan thought he rather liked it.
A breath after the responding “praise be”, everyone dove into their meal. Dynan sipped his wine instead, trying to bring up some sort of appetite. The food looked good, especially the slab of roast meat, dripping in juice. Stirred potatoes with gravy, cut corn and beans, cheese and apples, and three different kinds of bread rounded out the meal. It all smelled incredibly good.
At first, he couldn’t eat more than a bite or two. His stomach hurt, but he began to realize the pain he felt was gnawing hunger. He saw Viana smiling, and then noticed the same expressions around the table as he ate. Riegle was the only one who seemed uninterested.
Each day he grew stronger. To Dynan it seemed to take a long time, making progress in small increments. He couldn’t stay out of bed for more than a few minutes at a time, usually long enough to eat, before weariness sent him back to rest, occasionally overtaking him where he sat. He found speaking difficult, but no one seemed to care. They were all aware of the loss he’d suffered. They never asked him about it, but when they found him staring vacantly at nothing, or waking from a nightmare, they smiled sadly and patted his arm, or sat with him until he fell back asleep.
There were still many days where he didn’t think he could stand it, existing without his brother. There were days he didn’t want to, stayed in bed and wouldn’t have eaten except for Riegle Marleen. As the days and weeks went by, those days, the horrible, black days of despair and grief grew fewer in occurrence.
Nothing he did, no amount of concentration eased the constant headache he had. He discovered that looking at the dragon crystal helped lessen the pain he was in. Frequently he ended up inside it, curled up in the interior of the orb, surrounded by a soft golden yellow light where nothing could touch him
. He couldn’t feel anything, pain or grief, and slept without dreams or nightmares. When he ended up staying inside it for days in a row, he realized the danger of using it too much to escape what had to be faced. After that, Viana made a point of forcing him awake every morning.
Slowly, he was able to stay up longer, and finally felt well enough to do something other than sit. He started helping around the house, and Viana allowed it, but at first she hovered near at hand. Everyone in the family had chores to perform, and Dynan took a few on himself. The Marleens didn’t seem to suffer any lack, but he felt he placed a burden on them anyway.
Where he proved most useful, according to Viana, was in helping her children with their studies. Broq, in particular appreciated the assistance. He was studying to become a pilot. Dynan learned a thing or two in the process, a fact that pleased Broq no end.
Elana enjoyed the attention for different reasons, which Dynan tried to ignore but found difficult. She was an enticing young woman, and she apparently thought the same about him, but other than at her once weekly lessons and meal times, he didn’t see much of her. He wondered if her two oldest brothers weren’t keeping her away on purpose.
Not that he’d given them any cause, or at least Dynan didn’t think he had. He did recall a few nights when helping Elana with the dishes when he might have stood closer to her than was necessary, or perhaps it was the other way around. He knew he felt attracted to her, but he also knew he didn’t intend to do anything about those feelings. She was too young anyway, and the last thing she needed was to get too closely involved with someone like him. Besides there was the oath. He was afraid to test the theory that it was more than words he’d said, but enforced by a power he didn’t understand and didn’t like to think about. Most of the time, he avoided thinking about girls at all.
So as he got stronger, Dynan spent more time with Broq as the days passed, and saw less and less of Elana. Finally, one day he got up the courage to go out to the XR-30.
The path of destruction amazed him, finding many trees cut off near the tops, and more completely smashed the closer they came to the ship’s resting-place. He saw that some work had been done already to clear the wreckage away. The ship itself remained covered by branches. The arrangement of brush led him to believe it was done on purpose, but when he looked to Broq, he acted like he didn’t notice. The XR-30 stood unevenly, half slid up over a pile of boulders, its nose crumpled, and a lot of sophisticated equipment destroyed.
Dynan soon discovered that the way the ship had landed was the least of his problems. He knew he was in trouble when the ramp wouldn’t open all the way or close. Inside was worse. He couldn’t get any of the controls to function. The ship was dead.
Broq showed more enthusiasm at the situation than Dynan thought possible, or could understand. The prospect of completely rebuilding the XR-30’s circuitry held no appeal for him, but Broq looked at it as a tremendous opportunity for him to learn how a ship like this worked and was put together. Dynan didn’t know where to even start.
Dain would have, the thought intruded. He would have attacked the problem the way he attacked everything.
“You all right?” Broq asked, watching him.
Dynan blinked, then nodded. He moved to the ramp, meaning to leave. He’d seen enough. Broq seemed disappointed, but came along without comment. For two days Dynan refused to do anything more about the XR-30, not even to think about it, but Broq proved persistent. Reluctantly, Dynan returned to begin the long, arduous process of making repairs.
After two weeks of frustrating failures to get the power back up, they finally managed it, but for moments only. In that time, Dynan was able to figure out what else needed to be done, and the next day, the XR-30’s internal power came on and stayed that way.
Broq’s enthusiastic reaction was contagious, as was his optimism that they could fix the ship. “Better than new,” he said.
Dynan put his energies to good use, and sent him to the nearest town, Gesta, to obtain or in most instances to order parts. They used the guise of his studies, so that no one would wonder what he was doing with a lot of mismatched engine components. Many parts couldn’t be ordered, because Trevan had designed and built them. The low frequency transmitter was an unfortunate example. Without that, Dynan knew Carryn couldn’t track him.
They spent every morning out at the ship, and the afternoons catching up on Broq’s chores. Rorin and Drey tolerated their brother’s absence, but showed no interest in getting involved with the ship repair project. They were more suited to the farm work they rooted their lives in. It was clear they would eventually take over for their father, and already shouldered the majority of the work.
One day late afternoon, nearly three months since Dynan’s arrival, thinking that it was getting time for him to move on since the repairs to the XR-30 were mostly complete, he went to the barn looking for Broq. He heard a good deal of rustling overhead from the loft, and climbed the ladder to see what was happening, but found Elana instead. She struggled with a huge pitch tine, loading piles of hay down the feed shut, swearing under her breath as she heaved another load. Dynan thought he heard his name mixed in with her grumbling while she berated her brothers at the same time, and his earlier suspicion was confirmed.
She turned sharply then, stopping when she saw him. Her cheeks colored, and she turned with equal quickness back to her work. That she was angry about something was more than apparent.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, moving to help her.
“As if you didn’t know,” she said, pulling away. She continued muttering under her breath, viciously stabbing big chunks of hay, and tossing them down below.
He thought he knew, and he saw that along with anger, her pride was at risk. He wondered how many times over the past few years, as her blooming womanhood had become more apparent, her brothers had chased away the boys her own age who came to court. Then he’d come along, a man, not a boy, perfectly capable of fending off her overprotective family, and he hadn’t. It must seem to her that he didn’t want to, or want her. In that she was mistaken, and he thought it would help if he made that clear to her. At the same time, he also had to make it clear what wouldn’t happen.
“Elana.” He stopped her gently, turning her to him. She tossed her hair defiantly, dark eyes smoldering up at him. He met the gaze evenly, until the gentle scent of honey drifted up to him, and he found he couldn’t remember what he meant to say.
Slowly her expression changed. A wondering smile spread across her lips. Her eyes softened, and she moved closer to him. A step only, and he couldn’t contain the shiver her touch caused, or hide it. She moved against him, head tilted back, lips parting, and against all reason, he leaned and kissed her.
“You do. I knew it. Ever since I saw you, I knew it,” she said, kissing him again, her arms tightening around his neck. His better judgment left him, and he lowered her down into soft, inviting hay. Instead of just telling her he found her attractive, he did a fairly good job of showing her.
She moaned softly beneath him, responding to his touch, driving his desire to a peak, and he hadn’t even managed to remove any of her clothes. He started to correct that situation, undoing the lacing of her blouse, kissing the soft curves of her breasts as he went. In the back of his mind, it started, the perpetually vigilant voice whispered to him, no. This he was not allowed. He had to stop or he would be stopped. He ignored it.
Below them, footsteps stomped into the barn. “Elana!”
They both jumped, and she gasped silently, sitting up abruptly. “Yes, Father.”
Quickly she brushed the hay off her clothes and hair, repaired her blouse in record time, then stood, grabbing the pitch tine as she moved to the edge of the loft. She peered down the ladder, smiling easily at Riegle while Dynan lay frozen where he was, knowing if her father came up and saw him, there would be big trouble. He had to admire her composure. His was completely gone.
“What are you doing, girl?”
She fro
wned at him. “I’m pitching hay, Father.”
“Well, your mother needs you in the house.”
“All right. I’m almost finished here.”
“See that you don’t take all day. I’ll be out in the fields.”
She waited a moment until she was certain he was gone before turning. Dynan started to shake his head, hardly recovered from the real fear that Riegle would catch him with his daughter, but Elana wasn’t so easily denied. She stopped his protests with another exquisite kiss.
He felt a sense of desperation in her, apparent in the way she almost forced herself against him, as if she thought this her last chance. He didn’t want to disappoint her. He didn’t want to get caught either. Above all that, he knew he wouldn’t be allowed. For whatever reason, he was bound to the oath he’d taken, willing or not.
“Elana.”
“No, please, don’t say it. We have time.”
“Time to do it all wrong.” He smiled, folding her hands in his to stop her. There were only so many times he could say no, he thought, before it might kill him. “That’s not what you want. It’s not what you need, and more importantly, it’s not what you deserve.”
It was about the most he’d said at one time since his recovery. She seemed a little surprised at the string of words. “No.”
“Some things are just not meant to be.”
“Because of my brothers.”
“Because of you, and your family. They love you, and don’t want to see you make a mistake you can’t take back. You won’t have to wait much longer, not with such stunning beauty. Your brothers won’t ever like the idea, but eventually a man will come along who’ll have time to deal with them.”
“Meaning you won’t.”
“Meaning I can’t. I’m not staying here. I can’t stay. I’ve stayed too long as it is. You don’t need that, and I think you know it.” He stood before he lost his resolve completely. “Your mother is waiting. I’m more afraid of what she would do to me anyway.”
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