Mars Colony

Dagan tossed a knapsack on the ground before Master Nazzar, then sat down with a long sigh. Dagan didn't have much of an appetite now, even after ten days away from the Winner residence. He had caught a few birds and roasted them during the time that he traveled with the brigands, and managed to find a few wild chicken eggs. Dagan had been looking forward to a good meal and for Oxana's company upon their return, but even before he reached the mansion, Dagan realized he wasn't all that eager to see Oxana. So he filled his belly at the table first, afterwards he still didn't feel like spending time with Oxana. Asking one of the men to deliver a message of regret that he would see her the following day when he was rested, Dagan started to leave to check on the clinic and the doctor. But then he realized he was being inconsiderate in not speaking to Oxana himself, so he returned. She had likely been locked in that room the entire time he was gone and was starving for some company.

When he approached their room, he noticed that the guard was gone, so Dagan concluded that she must have given Winner some type of promise to stay. Where could she go anyway? Oxana would not cause trouble. But when he was standing before the door, he discovered the real reason for her freedom. He heard a man grunting and groaning, and pushing open the door, Dagan saw Magnar stretched out on the bed his limbs entangled with Oxana's. Dagan might have rushed in to save Oxana from his obscene attentions if she hadn't been controlling the whole activity with a great deal of enthusiasm. So Dagan quietly closed the door and walked away with a surprising feeling of relief. Dagan didn't feel any anger, only disillusionment.

"You are troubled," remarked Nazzar as he opened the knapsack and withdrew a roasted chicken leg.

Dagan sat with his back against a tree. "You can read my mind so you know the reason."

Nazzar chuckled with his mouth full. "Your eyes are open now."

Dagan frowned. "How long have you known about her?"

The old man shrugged. "The moment you brought her to my home."

"Why didn't you tell me?" demanded Dagan angrily. "I made a fool of myself!"

He reached into the bag for more food.

"I brought that for me for later," Dagan told him with annoyance. "I don't want to go back there."

"You weren't planning to feed your esteemed master?" Nazzar's white brows were raised.

"I believe you have been feasting on beetles and worms. I thought maybe the Calabrians had turned your appetite away from more traditional Bayman fare."

Master Nazzar snorted. "You would do well to learn to eat what is available as the Calabrians have. Then I wouldn't have to listen to your stomach growl as much at night. As for Oxana, she came into your life under false pretenses, but I chose to let you discover that on your own. The man that she claimed was her father, was actually her procurer. She sold her body to the men he brought to their home and they shared the profit. I suspect she got greedy, or upon meeting you she realized you were the goose who would lay the golden egg for her. Causing her 'father's' death was quite easy for a woman of her ambition. "

"You could have warned me!" insisted Dagan resentfully. He was disgusted with himself for having been so thoroughly fooled.

"There are some lessons you need to learn on your own."

"The only lesson I have learned is that I am a ignoramus where women are concerned." Dagan closed his eyes. He had misjudged Oxana and placed a higher value her than Shamara. What kind of an idiot was he?

"A very great one," snickered Nazzar.

Dagan snatched the bag of food from him. "Go look under a rock for your food, you old goat. I am not sharing with you."

Master Nazzar sighed. "Hard to believe that you used to revere me!"

"That was before I realized you were laughing at me for sleeping with a whore!"

Nazzar shrugged. "I thought her extensive experience might be helpful to you in the future."

Disgusted, Dagan pushed himself up and walked away. He was ashamed of his own stupidity. Oxana had even tricked him into believing she had never been with a man before! All the while she must have been laughing at his foolishness. He wondered now what she would do if he never went back to her. A woman like Oxana would probably find another protector. He did not doubt that she spent his absence enjoying the full hospitality of Quatre Winner. That would explain why she had not been harmed.

"It's dangerous to be walking alone in the forest."

Dagan looked up to see Shamara sitting on a branch swinging her legs like a little girl on a swing. "What are you doing back here? Are you really here?" He looked around, trying to determine if this was a trance or not.

"I am not here. I am on a transport leaving L12 Colony about several hours from Mars Colony."

"If you are with Lord Duo, then you must insist that he turn the transport back toward Calabria. This place is unsafe." Dagan could see by the stubborn set to her features that she wasn't about to comply. He sighed with exasperation. "You are like a disobedient dog who will not return home!"

She hopped out of the tree and landed gracefully in front of him. "I cannot go back. I have returned to take you back to Calabria with me so that we may be married."

"Married?! I thought we had decided not to go through with it." Yet as Dagan looked down on the young woman before him, he realized that being married to her might not be all that unpleasant.

"I don't want to marry you any more than you want to marry me," she declared, "but for my sister's sake, I will do so."

If Dagan had much ego left it might have deflated to hear the beautiful young princess' statement. "What has this got to do with your sister?"

"She is in love with Avar of Teralon. In fact, I didn't have the heart to tell her that she is already carrying his child. She is a silly girl!"

Dagan wondered how any female could be sillier than the one standing before him. "What does her foolishness have to do with me?"

"Avar is in love with her," Shamara told him as if that was going to answer his question.

Dagan shrugged. "Avar falls in love with many women. I still don't understand why I have to become involved in his love-life."

Shamara blew out her breath in exasperation. "Aren't you listening? My sister and Avar must marry. I really don't trust him, but once he marries into the imperial family of Calabria, he would not dare dishonor her because that would bring dishonor to my father's house."

Dagan was acquainted with Avar because Bayman had long-standing trading contacts with Teralon. Not until Trey became emperor and used the knowledge he had gotten from the humans were the Calabrians able to contact other worlds. He didn't think Avar would risk insulting Emperor Trey. "If Avar truly loves your sister, then he will not dishonor his vow. He is honorable."

"That is the problem!"

"That he is honorable?" Dagan wanted to shake the rest of the story from her. "Am I missing something?"

She put her hands on his shoulders and leaned in so that they were eye to eye. "Listen carefully, Prince Dagan. You must return with me to Calabria and make a prior claim to my hand in marriage."

Dagan had no objection. She was standing so close that he could feel the heat of her body and smell her scent. "Lead the way, princess." He circled her tiny waist with his hands and drew her against him. "I am ready and willing."

She twisted from his grasp. "You will have to fight Avar."

Dagan stopped admiring her lovely body and looked at her face. She appeared to be determined. "You had better explain to me why you need me to fight Avar. He is a champion warrior on his planet."

"I know, and you are sadly lacking in martial skills! But you must do so. Avar has already agreed to lose."

Putting up his hand to stop her speaking, he shook his head. "Princess, what haven't you told me?"

She took a breath, then said, "Avar and I made an oath to marry."

"You made an oath?!"

Shamara nodded. "Before many hundreds of people from Calabria, Teralon and the far corners of the galaxy."

Dagan took a step back. "By the gods, you are all but his wife! I would not dishonor him!"

Shamara stamped her foot. "Haven't you been listening?"

"What kind of despicable cur tries to take another man's wife?"

"I am not his wife! Besides, what kind of despicable cur pledges to marry one sister while mating with another?"

She had a point. Avar should not have made a pledge to marry Shamara when he had feelings for her sister. "Well, I suppose I could challenge Avar, but only if you are sure Avar is in agreement with this plan. You realize that he will be disgraced by this fiasco?"

"Better disgraced than beheaded by my father!"

Dagan nodded. "Well put, princess." He shot out his arm, catching her around the waist and dragging her to him. "I think we should get better acquainted." Before she could protest, and she was getting ready to speak, he put his lips to her half-open mouth. She stiffened against him, and her eyes were wide as she stared in his face in shock. That was hardly the response he was expecting, so he released her.

"What did you do that for?" she demanded as she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"I'm sure I have no idea." Shamara was not as hot-blooded as her sister was.

"I heard that!" She swung her open palm and he felt a sharp sting to his face. "Do not have such disrespectful thoughts about my sister!"

"I beg your forgiveness." Shamara needed to a little more yielding with her future husband.

"I heard that too!" She wiped her hands nervously on her clothing. "But I understand that you are going to be my husband, so I suppose I can allow you to kiss me from time to time."

She closed her eyes, raised her face to his and puckered her lips. Dagan stared down at her for a moment, but when he thought about how he would soften up that sweet mouth of hers, he noticed the eagle flying in the sky. He wondered if the wolf were near by.

"Dagan?" he heard Shamara call after him as he dashed through the alien forest. As he ran, he kept the eagle in sight. Shamara was behind him, and he was glad because he felt more at ease when she stayed with him during the trances. Dagan guessed that the gods' will was that they be together. Could that be why they made Chaela more alluring to Avar? What man would choose any woman over Shamara? Only a fool.

He finally broke through to a clearing, and Dagan recognized the cave they had been to in another trance. As he remembered it, Dagan rubbed his jaw, and Shamara broke through the clearing and slammed against him. They both tumbled to the ground, and Dagan was pleased that Shamara ended up on top of him. This was how they were positioned before the emperor put an end to their fun.

"You are eager!" She couldn't retort, because Dagan rolled her onto her back and pressed his lips to hers. Shamara resisted him at first, and then she softened and slipped her arms around his waist and he felt her hands slide up his back to his shoulders. She was warm and pliant, and when he lifted away from her to find and undo the sash that kept her clothing together, Shamara released a soft sighing moan. Dagan jerked off his own shirt, then brought her to his lap to kiss again. Now he ran his fingers through her hair and down her bare back and she did the same to him.

He suddenly felt something wet slide across his neck, and he knew it wasn't Shamara's tongue. Then Dagan remembered that the cave lead to a boreworm nest, so he jerked away from her, grabbed her wrist and leapt back, fumbling for his sword. He heard Shamara giggling, and he turned to see the wolf sitting on its haunches panting, its tongue hanging out the side of its mouth.

"Is that a sign from the gods?" asked Shamara with wide eyes, but he could see that she was holding back her laughter.

Dagan snatched up his shirt to put on as she re-tied her sash. "You may laugh, princess, but I believe this is, indeed, a sign."

"I think she was jealous!" Shamara giggled as she patted the wolf on the head.

The wolf suddenly growled and turned to the cave. The eagle screeched.

"The gods wish us to enter the cave," he stated.

Shamara gasped. "Are you demented? I have seen the creature that lives in there!"

"Then I shall enter alone!"

But Shamara followed him closely when he entered the cave. He found some sticks and put them together as a torch. Shamara was looking at the marks on the wall.

"This is very old Guerani script," she told him. She pointed to a symbol that was carved in several places. "This is the mark of Camridaeus."

"We can study it later," he said as he moved further into the cavern. This time he was aware of the pitfalls, and Shamara stayed near him as they continued downward on the sloping, rocky path. Although they were headed further from the surface, instead of being chilly, the cave was growing warmer. The walls were slippery with the glowing green slime that Winner valued so highly. He noticed that Shamara was covering her nose with fabric from her garment, and Dagan also found it difficult to breathe from the horrendous stench that arose from the creature's byproducts.

Dagan was unsure of the gods' will. Then again, when had he been certain of anything the gods had wanted of him? If this was a test, he was determined not to fail them or to shame Shamara.

They came to a wide cavern, and waving the torch around, Dagan saw the exit on the other side. He began to edge along the wall, but suddenly Shamara released his arm and dashed to the middle of the wide-open space.

"Do you see it! Dagan! Look!" But suddenly the floor gave away and Shamara disappeared downwards with a mountain of rocks and soil. The cave-in left a ledge around the rim of the cavern, and Dagan clung to the side until the landslide ended.

"Shamara!" he called and waved the torch. He could not even see the bottom of the black pit. "Shamara!"

He heard a moan and was relieved that she was still alive. "I'm coming to get you!" But Dagan knew that he couldn't go down the same way she had. He was likely to break his neck. Shamara was alive only by some miracle. The gods' will.

So Dagan moved carefully along the edge of the wall, and as he was about to enter the passage he had earlier noted, he saw what had excited Shamara. On the wall there were symbols carved, but he could read them for they were written in strange script, both of Calabria and Bayman: Welcome to Shamara of the Guerani. Dagan shivered although it was anything but cold, then he plunged into the passage.

Almost immediately he almost lost his footing as the ground became very steep, but Dagan kept his balance and hurried downward as fast as he could without tumbling end over end. When he emerged from the narrow passage, he almost didn't have time to react as a boreworm shot into the cleared area, its mouth open intending to make a meal of him. But Dagan tossed aside the torch and raised his hands to blast the beast with such energy that it was thrown against the far wall, its huge body bursting and splattering the cave.

Dagan looked around the cave and saw at least a dozen entrances from different directions. Either the beast traveled quite frequently or he had stumbled onto a nest. The latter proved to be true as another boreworm slithered in from a different direction, and Dagan was able to finish it with at least as much mess as the first. If he hadn't been worried about Shamara, Dagan would stay to finish a few more, but he could hear her moaning, closer now, so he ducked into one of the passages.

Traveling in the dark was difficult because he could only use the sounds Shamara made as a guide. He might fall through another hole and be lost forever, but Dagan had to trust in the gods. Finally he came upon the chamber where Shamara lay. He could hear her, but he could not see even with the glowing green ooze that made befouled the air. Dagan blasted a corner opposite from where he heard Shamara, and he was able to light the area.

When he saw Shamara, he gasped. Although the debris from the trap was several feet away, she was lying on a pile of round objects that Dagan realized were eggs. She was plastered down by the same green muck that covered the walls.

"Dagan!" she cried out. "Dagan help!"

He hurried to her although he had to stop once when his foot crashed through an egg and was caught in the embryonic slime. Finally he reached her and saw that she was trapped and could not move, so he began the unpleasant task of clawing off the noxious fluid from her.

"How did you get here?" he asked as he removed the last of it and pulled her to him.

She winced in pain, and he looked down to see that she must have sprained her ankle. "The creature dug me out! I was afraid it was going to eat me, but it placed me in here and sprayed that on me to keep me here."

Dagan realized why when two of the eggs began cracking open. She had been left to nourish the young. "Let's get out of here." He lifted her and started to leave, but he paused at the exit and turned back. There were hundreds of eggs, and judging from the many entrances, he concluded that this was the boreworm nest. Dagan knew why they had been drawn to this place. The gods wished for him to rectify one of their mistakes.

After gently placing Shamara on the ground, Dagan raised his hands. Asking the gods for their power, he blasted the room until he had turned it into an inferno. Then he pulled Shamara up and began to run back up the passage he had taken downwards. Luckily they were not pursued, but the fire was spreading through the cavern, running along the walls. He was able to dive from the cave into the open air and roll over Shamara just as the cave exploded and rocks rained down from the sky.

"We are back where we started," whispered Shamara.

"Except that you do not smell so sweet now, princess," he said in her ear.

She pushed him off, and Dagan was expecting her to leave in a tiff, but she smiled and untied the sash of her soaking, stinking clothing. Dagan couldn't remember to breathe as she peeled off the layers until she was standing bare in front of him.

"There is a stream just over there." She smiled at him. "I will let you wash me off."

The gods were finally cooperating! Dagan dashed to the stream and fell to his knees as he pulled off his shirt and soaked it in the water. She joined him at the stream, but she dipped her clothing in and began to scrub it. He watched her fine body at work until she turned to look at him, then he pulled his soaked shirt from the water.

"Lay back, princess." He hoped she didn't realize how eager he was to do this or she might get frightened and run away.

But she did as he asked, then smiled as he lifted a leg to wash. "Now do not forget to get every inch or I will have to punish you."

"You will not get the chance to punish me, princess," he murmured as he moved the cloth up her leg. "Because I intend to get inches you didn't even know you had."

"Wizard!" Dagan felt a booted foot in his backside. "Get up you lazy lout!"

Turning, he found that Magnar had drawn him out of the trance. "Did you not hear the explosion? Winner wants us to check it out."

As Dagan stood and brushed dirt, leaves and twigs from his clothing, he wondered if Winner had interrupted Magnar and Oxana. He hoped Magnar was as annoyed as he now was. Dagan wanted to shake his fists at the gods. He imagined that they were laughing at him.

"What is so funny, wizard?" asked Magnar.

Dagan followed behind him as they went, but he was chuckling to himself. At least this time Shamara would be as disappointed as he was.

He recognized the route, and they soon came to the clearing with the now obliterated cave. Magnar grunted. "Winner won't be happy. This was the only boreworm nest we have been able to find. We won't know for weeks the extent of the damage to the adults."

Dagan turned to leave with Magnar, but he saw a scrap of cloth, and reaching down to pick it up, he discovered that it was the sash to Shamara's garment.

Smiling, he stuffed it inside his shirt.