“Don’t worry over me. I’ll survive. There’s not much honest work available for a woman. Everyone knows that. I took the only decent thing offered me.” LaRenna tried to pull away again, but Trazar held his solid grip.
“Don’t you have family?” He looked into her face.
LaRenna relaxed and squeezed his hand. No phase was needed to know Trazar’s intentions were noble. “None that will claim me.”
“Man?”
“The same.”
Trazar squeezed her palm before letting go. “If you need anything, anything at all, let me know.”
“Thank you.” From any other man the words would have sounded hollow, an attempt to wedge into her life and bed, but for some unexplainable reason, she could believe them from him. She smiled back. “I’ll try to remember that.”
Trazar winked and waved her away. “You’ll get in trouble if I monopolize any more of your time.” He watched as she went about serving the other tables, positive they were related though the rationale still evaded him.
“I think our valiant leader is sweet on the barmaid,” one of his sentries teased.
“That’s not it.” Trazar sipped his wine. “I know I’m related to her, and I think I know how. But how do I prove it?”
“See, I told you,” said the sentry who’d noticed the similarity.
“Think I’m a little sweet on her myself!” exclaimed another, a little too brash and tipsy for Trazar’s liking. “I’m going to wait around til closing and see if she has plans for the night.”
“You do”—Trazar turned to face him—“and you’ll find yourself rotated to night duty for a pass. Leave her alone.” Glass to his lips, he mumbled his suspicions to the crimson contents, the words disappearing on the wine’s surface. “I’ve got to find out more about her.”
Chapter Twenty
New lovers are seldom discreet. The desire is simply irresistible.
—Taelach saying
Starnes locked the doors behind the last customer, grabbed a handful of empty glassware, and carried it to the counter. LaRenna was close behind him, her arms laden with plates. She heaped them in the kitchen basin and returned, yawning, to the dining room.
“I laid you out a pallet in the storeroom.” Bane repeated her yawn. “Get some rest. We’ll finish this later.”
LaRenna shook her head and pulled him close. “Let me clean up now,” she whispered, “then send me to the wine stores at first dawn.”
“Why would I?”
“Shhhh.” LaRenna placed her hand over his mouth. “Listen, send me with a list and payment. Everyone knows the best supply is available in the morning. Say you had a regular customer request one of those odd fruit wines they produce on Saria Four. It’s an excuse for me to leave.” He mumbled something against her palm and nodded just as Cance stepped from the small bathroom located beside the bar. LaRenna dropped her hand and returned to work.
“I told the girl to go ahead and clean up.” Starnes thrust a wadded Autlach bill into LaRenna’s hand. “A regular customer requested a regional wine I charge premium for. The girl can get it at first dawn otherwise they’ll be out. Stocks always run low on odd lots.”
“Why don’t you go?” Despite a short rest, Cance looked tired. Prock gradually shifted one’s brain wave patterns, ruining all attempts at restful sleep.
“I have to tend Father,” Starnes stammered. “Let her do it. That’s what we hired her for, isn’t it?”
“I suppose.” Disgust added to Cance’s tired expression. “Clean up the privy first. It’s rank. There’s not a man alive who can hit his target after a couple of drinks.” She yawned and motioned for Starnes. “Come on, Starnie, let’s get some sleep.”
“In a minute.” Starnes gathered another stack of glasses. Cance, never to be disobeyed, lunged forward and hooked his collar.
“No, now. Let the girl do the work. That’s what we hired her for. Isn’t that what you said?” She pulled him to the stairwell, Cance slowing long enough to give LaRenna one last thoughtful glance. “Be quiet in your cleaning, girl. Don’t wake us breaking dishes. Hurry to the Stores and back to your bed. Use the funds Starnes provided you and bring back a receipt—and the change. I’ll check on things later in the morning.”
“Yes, sir.” LaRenna watched Cance force Starnes up the stairs and into the upper level. Being alone was easier, but the quiet proved lulling. To stay alert, she proceeded to scrub every inch of the bar, paying close attention to the table and chair bottoms Starnes seemed so concerned about. She was drying the last of the glassware when traces of morning began trickling through the bar’s high windows. Energies renewed by dawn’s radiance, she tossed the towel onto the bar and grabbed her wrap. Krell was waiting.
“There she goes.” The twins stood in the dark of an upstairs window, Cance cleaning under her nails with her blade. “Follow her, Brannie.” She waved the knife toward the street below. “Make sure she goes directly to the Stores and back. There’s something about her I don’t trust.”
“Anything to get out of here a while.” Brandoff slid down the banister, scurried out the rear entrance, and trailed LaRenna through the narrow streets leading to the Commons, becoming suspicious only when LaRenna failed to turn down the lane leading to the Wine Stores. LaRenna, looking back only once or twice, took a back alley to the perimeter of the Commons then trotted straight down a pathway leading to the beach.
“You scheming little tramp. Cance was right about you.” From a crevice in the path’s rock outcropping, Brandoff could see everything that took place on the sand below.
Krell was waiting where she’d promised. “Everything going as planned?” LaRenna nodded but said nothing. “Third Kimshee Belsas?” asked Krell as gently as she dared. “Have you slept since we parted?”
“No, First Kimshee,” she mumbled. “I’ve worked straight through.”
Krell looked above her apprentice’s head toward the water. LaRenna looked exhausted, but the sight of her caused Krell’s very being to ache. “Starnes was supposed to aid in your cover, not drive you. Was it worth your while?”
“Yeah, it was.” LaRenna smiled and stretched. “The tips were nice.”
“You know I don’t mean the money, Belsas.” Krell resisted the urge to ruffle her companion’s chestnut curls. “I meant—”
“I know.” LaRenna yawned. “They’re planning something concerning the Center’s Assembly.”
“Success so soon?” Krell seemed truly impressed. Most posts of this nature took several days, if not cycles, to gather any useful information. “Any idea what?”
“Not yet.” LaRenna stifled another yawn into her cloak. “I’ll try again tonight.”
“Slide your lenses back so your eyes can rest.” Krell’s breath steamed in the morning air. “It’ll keep you alert.”
LaRenna slapped away the phase that waited for her. I’m not too tired for a fight if that is what you’re wanting, First Kimshee.
Just a test. Krell dropped the phase after another rejected probe. “If that is all there is to report then return to your post, Third Officer.”
“Yes, First Kimshee.”
“Return here tomorrow for another report.”
“Yes First Kimshee.”
“Til tomorrow then.”
“Tomorrow, First Kimshee.”
Brandoff shoved her chilled hands in her pockets. She could kill LaRenna before she returned to the Waterlead, but there’d be no sport in it. Besides, Cance would want to question the girl. Brandoff sighed. Questions, questions, and more questions. Cance would want to know anything and everything about the infernal girl. But after that—the sigh turned into a chuckle. After that, the fun began. Brandoff retreated from the crevice and to the Commons, anxious to update her sibling.
When LaRenna turned to depart, Krell suddenly grasped her around the waist, spinning her around and pulling her close. She peered at the pathway, uneasy, inexplicably tense as she scanned the length of the trail above them.
&nb
sp; “Someone up there?” LaRenna looked over her shoulder to the path. Krell, now intent on the dark cliffs behind them, squinted and listened, the only sound the slow break of waves.
“First Officer?” LaRenna chirped anxiously. “Krell?”
“Shhh.” The noise came out sterner than Krell intended. “I thought I saw something.” She pulled LaRenna within the depths of her cloak then continued to scan the path, her racing heartbeat causing LaRenna’s neck hairs to stiffen.
Krell, stop. You’re smothering me.
After a moment, Krell relaxed her grip. She searched the path a final time then stepped back, not entirely convinced the danger had passed but unable to put a finger on the reason. “I must be seeing grass shadows. There’s nothing up there.”
LaRenna turned for her own search. “It could have been a rock goat. They’re up and grazing this time of morning. But, whatever it was, I think it’s gone. Besides, it’s almost second dawn. I’d better get to the wine stores.”
Krell pulled LaRenna’s wrap snug then dropped her hand, embarrassed by such an affectionate display. “Be careful.”
“I will.” LaRenna began to turn away but halted when Krell touched her shoulder.
“Pull out if there are any problems.” Krell released her touch one finger at a time, as if each would be the last. “I’ll be ready should you need me.”
“I know you will.” LaRenna scrambled up the rocky bank to the pathway, stopping at the crest to look back. Krell cut an alluring figure in the morning light. She stood on a boulder, one hand resting on her narrow hip. The ocean breeze caught the tail of her cloak, slapping it about. Krell snapped it back and looked up, reaching out and up with her hand. LaRenna, tingling with the relevance of the moment, held out her hand as if to accept Krell’s, pulled it to her chest, and offered her palm back to Krell, who completed the exchange by pulling back her arm and placing her hand on her chest. Drawing two into one, the exchange was a symbol long used by the Taelach to signal the pain of separation.
After a final glance, LaRenna turned back to her assignment. She replaced the Autlach lenses and climbed the hill to the Commons, ready to complete her post so she could return to this curious life she was beginning.
Brandoff was well ahead of her, blowing in the back door of the Waterlead, blaring the news, but not before downing half a crystal. Cance was waiting in the main dining room, also well into the drink, her face twisting with deceit as she lashed on a plasma bow.
“We had a visitor while you were gone.” Cance pointed to the body lying haphazardly across a table. It was Russ, Krell’s favorite waiter from the dining plaza. Blood trickled from his nose and his lifeless face retained the maddening effects of the relentless mind-picking pain phase that had murdered him. Cance pulled his head up to give his face an open-handed smack, jerking loose a handful of hair before dropping it forward. “And he had some very interesting things to tell me.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Never rest in the den of your enemy. Keep your mind and body alert, or comfort may overtake you, blocking all means of escape.
—Kimshee training wisdom
The Waterlead appeared deserted when LaRenna elbowed through the rear door. Her arms were laden with stock, the weight and awkward size of which forced her to take short, shuffling steps across the kitchen. Exhausted, she placed the boxes on the counter and collapsed on a high stool. Every fiber of her being screamed for the comfort of the bed. She undid her cloak and let it fall to the floor then, using the countertop for leverage, she pulled up, laid the change and receipt behind the bar, and stumbled to the storeroom, sleep engulfing her before she could do more than unroll the bedding.
Brandoff and Cance waited an hour before they crept downstairs, the quiet assuring them LaRenna was comfortably napping. As a final caution, Cance slid the storeroom door open and peeped in. LaRenna was indeed asleep.
“Well?” Brandoff was loud to the point of impertinence, bouncing thirstily, fists clenching and unclenching.
Cance pulled her head back. “Would you be quiet?”
“Yeah, yeah. So, she sleeping or not?”
“Yes, and soundly. She didn’t even stir at your screeching. Will you calm down? You get worked up over the damnedest things.”
“Shut up, Cance. You know I’ve been bored.” Brandoff’s plasma bow emitted a low whine that brought matching smiles from the twins. “Ready when you are.”
They pushed into the storeroom, silent as they took positions at either end of their intended victim. Cance nodded, gave a silent count of three, and watched as Brandoff sank her foot deep into LaRenna’s lower back. LaRenna wailed as a sudden nightmare invaded her much-deserved rest. She pushed up just as Brandoff landed another kick to her spine. The second blow careened her forward, smashed her head and knees into the wall, then bounced her back, bringing her face to face with her attackers.
“You!”
Brandoff pressed her bow into LaRenna’s temple, index and middle fingers spread to act as sights. “Don’t give me an excuse to kill you,” she said. “You’ve no wish to die prematurely of less than natural causes, do you—sister Taelach?”
LaRenna drew into the corner, choking back the fear and nausea that surged in her throat. “Taelach?” she gasped. “I’m not—”
Brandoff swung out with her bowed arm, the blow so vicious it tore open LaRenna’s jaw line. “Save it, bitch! I saw you and your lover on the beach this morning.”
Cance laughed at Brandoff’s graphic interpretation of what had happened. Brandoff somehow managed to reduce their final exchange to the point it sounded like some meaningless coupling with a prostitute, but LaRenna wasn’t ashamed. It was a simple, pure gesture and nothing could taint it.
“Now then, my pretty sister.” Cance swiped at the blood that had splattered her tunic. “I’m sure you know what these are and what they signify.” She displayed the telltale burn scars of the Branded.
LaRenna only nodded, hoping her silence would buy the time to slide her lenses back. Her phase was her only weapon so she must act now. Brandoff’s reply was just as swift, her finger sights pressing hard into LaRenna’s temple. “Don’t think so!” She grabbed LaRenna’s hair and pulled, forcing her eyes open. Brandoff focused on her and a sharp wave of excruciating heat raged down LaRenna’s back, so hot she bit her tongue to keep from crying out. It burned until she shook, steaming her insides, hurting like nothing she had ever felt, but she knew it was not beneath her own developing capabilities. A simple refocus of the energy direction sent the same wave spiraling back on Brandoff, loosening her grasp. LaRenna took advantage of the situation, jerking Brandoff off balance, sending her face-first into the floor.
ENOUGH! Cance threw a pain phase that was far above Brandoff’s. LaRenna grabbed the sides of her head as the sensation swallowed her. This power she knew nothing of and could not fight effectively. Every joint in her body was on fire! She choked then screamed, praying for it to stop or kill her at once.
“Hurts, doesn’t it?” Cance forced LaRenna’s eyes open. “Your phasing is intense for your age. Your mentor taught you well, but you’ve never been in a real fight, have you, precious?” LaRenna stared up blankly. What good would it do to admit to such weakness? Cance took the silence as confirmation, clutching LaRenna’s face as thought pierced the pain. Shame on the Kinship for sending such a child. Though, I do bow to your superior acting skills. Your size threw me off for a while as well. Never seen a grown sister as small as you. You’re quite different, little girl. I’m intrigued. Cance released the mind hold, grip still firm on LaRenna’s head as the rest of her body sank to the floor.
“Sorry, little Aut sucker.” Brandoff regained her footing. “Phase-burn me will you? Let’s get rid of those lenses so I can show her what kind of phase I really prefer.”
“Yes, indeed.” Cance forced another phase, not a painful one this time but a sickening pulse of unwanted pleasure. LaRenna slapped at the phase but it held, twisting her stomach even tighter
. You’ve pissed off my twin, pretty one. Not a smart move. She glanced at her double. “Little thing’s a fair shot. Bloodied you up nicely.”
“She’s not half as good as I am.” Brandoff grabbed LaRenna, pulled to full height, and jammed one knee deep into her stomach, the blow throwing her back into Cance’s arms. The force crunched ribs, jarring inward workings until LaRenna gagged, startling Cance into breaking her phase and tossing her to the floor. LaRenna barely made it to her knees before she lost control, her searing gut in spasms as she expelled mouthful after mouthful of bile-tasting spew.
“Now look what you’ve done, Brannie,” Cance teased. “The barmaid has a mess to clean.” Cance kept back and allowed their prisoner to empty her stomach onto the floor, sure the punishment was unfitting the crime but unwilling to censure Brandoff. When the retching subsided, LaRenna crumpled to her side, finding momentary peace until Cance pulled her to a chair in the dining room’s center.
Cance handed a roll of hide binding to Brandoff. “Truss her good but not too tight. Remember what happened to that Aut girl you took to on the way here.”
“How was I to know she’d die from that?” Brandoff, ignoring Cance’s reminder that far more than strangled limbs had killed that child, secured LaRenna’s hands and feet, double-checking for fit. “Pity.” She forced up LaRenna’s lacerated chin until their eyes met. “Such a delicious little thing to rough up so. Do us all a favor, beautiful, be a good girl and cooperate from here on out. Don’t make me hit you again.”
Cance’s fingers lightly brushed LaRenna’s hair. “My twin has a fetish for small ladies.” The touch sent chills down LaRenna’s spine. “Too bad for you.”
Brandoff moved closer, her mouth cold on their prisoner’s ear. “And too good for me.” She locked LaRenna’s head in her elbow then wrapped the other arm over her forehead, pulling upward so her brows drew up. “You phase me and I’ll be forced to snap your sexy neck before we get to have any fun.”
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