by Speer, Flora
“My sweet, precipitous enchantress, can you wait just a little longer?” he asked.
“I will try,” she whispered, “though my knees may give way at any moment.”
“My own problems lie in other areas,” he murmured, his face alight with laughter and another, warmer emotion that sent a thrill through her and made her tremble.
Halvo’s method of putting Rolli to bed consisted of pushing the disconnect button, after which he and Perri lifted the robot back into the Space Dragon, settling it in the cockpit for the night. That done, Perri expected Halvo to take her in his arms at last and lead her to his cabin or hers.
“A bath is next on the schedule,” he said, peeling off his jacket as he spoke.
“A bath?” Perri said blankly. Her own hands were at her belt buckle in expectation of immediate disrobing. She tried to remind herself that Halvo had his own ways of doing things, but she wanted him. She was quivering with longing. And he knew it.
“There is plenty of water in the stream.” His eyes were glittering when they met hers.
“That water is icy cold,” she said.
“Stimulating.”
“Admiral, you are a sadist.” She saw the smile he quickly repressed as he stepped toward her.
“Actually, I have recently become something of a sensualist.” He wound his hands through her hair, pulling her closer. She put up both hands to fend him off and they landed on his bare chest. Beneath her fingertips she could feel his strong heartbeat.
“If you grow cold in the water, I will discover a way to warm you quickly,” he promised.
“Couldn’t we just stay warm, as we are right now?”
“We were both overheated during the landing,” he said. “A bath will be refreshing.”
“Will it stiffen your resolve?” Pushing away from him, Perri headed for the private cabins. Behind her she heard his full-throated laughter, but he did not follow her as she hoped he would.
“My resolve is firm enough already.” Halvo moved to the exit hatch. “Don’t be long, Perri. Daylight is waning fast.”
To her own surprise she thought of a clever response to his words, but she did not make it. She was not used to jokes and teasing, and she was not yet certain just how far she could go with Halvo. More than that, she was startled by the workings of her own mind. Halvo was bringing out a sense of humor in her that she had not known she possessed.
In her own cabin she undressed, and then, recalling Halvo’s remarks about the blue sheets, she pulled the top sheet off her bunk and wrapped it around herself in lieu of a robe. She had no personal belongings with her except the clothes she wore by day. All of her intimate needs – cleansers, comb, tooth cleaners, and such – came from the regulation supplies kept in all spaceships. For the first time, Perri wished those supplies included perfume and face paint.
On leaving the ship a short time later she discovered that both moons were high in the sky, though the sun was still shining above the horizon, sending long rays of orange-gold light across the sea, turning the foaming whitecaps to gold and touching the land with mellow late day warmth.
The air was still soft and warm, but the stream was cold and shallow. Halvo stood in rushing water up to his knees with his back to Perri. She dipped a tentative toe into the water and shivered. The stream wended its way across the meadow from the higher land in the south and after feeling it, Perri was convinced the water had only recently melted from the ice and snow on the tallest mountains. Undeterred by the chill, Halvo was splashing water about, washing himself with his hands.
Perri dropped the blue sheet and stepped into the stream. At once her teeth began to chatter, but she went to her knees and stuck her head under the surface, then began to scrub at her hair. She had to admit it was an invigorating experience, especially when Halvo noticed her presence and came to help her. His hands were gentle on her back, sliding along her spine, downward to cup her hips. He pulled her against him and though the rest of him was as cool as Pern’s own skin, the rigid part that prodded at her buttocks was deliciously warm.
With Perri leaning against his chest, Halvo’s hands slipped around to caress her abdomen before moving upward to her breasts. There he played until Perri was gasping and it seemed to her the stream must be boiling. Halvo’s lips were on her shoulder and her throat, her head was thrown back against his shoulder, her hips were writhing. When he let his hands slide downward again, across the water-slicked skin of her abdomen and into the heated place between her thighs, Perri cried out her raging need.
“So soon?” he murmured, tasting the edge of her ear with his tongue. “Well, then, if you insist.”
“I must insist? If I did not want you so much, I would hate you,” she said, pulling away from him.
“It is your uncontrolled passion I find so irresistible.” With an unexpected swoop of his arms he lifted her off her feet and lightly set her upon the grass before climbing out of the stream himself.
Perri stared at him, surprised by his easy movements, waiting for the inevitable complaint about his back, but all he did was bend to spread out the sheet she had dropped. Halvo lay down on the sheet, waiting for her. Perversely, she decided to make him wait. Realizing that her long hair was dripping, Perri began to twist it, squeezing the water out onto the grass.
“When you are ready, come to me,” Halvo said, his patience apparently still intact, though his readiness was indisputable. “Come freely because you want what I can give you and because you want to give me what I so desire.”
How could she hesitate when her every sense urged her to throw herself upon him, when she was half mad with the need to feel his hardness inside her?
“You are under no obligation to me,” he said.
She tightened the coil of her hair in an absentminded way, wringing from it the last few drops of water while she regarded his naked length stretched out in the blue twilight. Awaiting her. Wanting her. Refusing to take her unless she wanted him, too. And she understood that while he could find physical release in her, for him there would be no soaring joy unless she was with him in heart and mind when they came together.
“There is no greater gift than the gift of freedom,” Perri said, falling to her knees beside him. “Halvo, my longing for you is a constant ache, not just in my body, but in my heart, too.” Perhaps she should not have said so much. She thought she saw a shadow pass over his face at her words. Or perhaps it was only the deepening evening light.
Putting out one hand she let her fingertips trace the contour of his mouth. His eyes reflected the silver glow of the moons above them.
“I want to be one with you,” she whispered. “It is my wish, my own true desire. There is no coercion in what I do here. I only ask that you wait no longer, for if you delay, I think I will faint and then I will be of no use to either of us.”
With a broken laugh he seized her in his arms and rolled with her across the sheet. Her hair came undone from its tight coil and lay in dark, damp strands over the pale fabric. As the sun sank lower there was a growing chill to the early evening air, but Halvo’s mouth was warm and his hands seemed dipped in fire when he caressed her. And then at last the empty, aching place in her was filled with Halvo’s hot, masculine strength. Perri’s hands clutched his shoulders, her lips opened to his thrusting tongue. Her hips moved in rhythm with his, slowly, gently at first, but after a while with a hard need, a wild, ecstatic passion. Her cry rent the still night, followed immediately by Halvo’s shout of triumph. And for a little while they were truly one, joined in freely chosen joy.
* * * * *
Perri lay beside Halvo, looking up at the heavenly dome above them. The moons hung side by side at the very zenith of the dark sky, their combined light washing the meadow with silver, making the water in the stream glitter as it flowed.
The scene was so peaceful and Perri was so relaxed and content that at first she paid no attention to the fluttering movement just at the corner of her vision. When it happened again, she turn
ed her head with a lazy sigh, expecting to watch a cloud drifting across the sky to partially obscure one of the moons. But the undefined shadow was too low to be a cloud, and it was moving too rapidly. There was more than one shadow. Squinting against the direct moonlight, Perri watched the strange objects for only a moment more before she nudged Halvo.
“Wake up,” she whispered urgently. “Something is coming. I can’t see it – them – clearly. Halvo, do you hear the noise?”
“Where?” He was wide awake and on his feet in an instant.
Perri could see that there were three objects flying across the sky. They appeared to be heading directly toward the meadow. The noise they made told her what they were, but recognition did not lessen her fear. Her eyes still on the sky, she scrambled to her feet.
“Birds?” she cried, moving into the protection of Halvo’s arm. “I have never seen birds so huge. They must be dangerous.”
“I do not think so.” Halvo was amazingly calm. “My brother told me once about the birds that live on this planet. They are intelligent and telepathic.”
“That’s impossible!”
“Not on this world. In the Empty Sector few things are impossible.” Dropping his arm from her shoulder Halvo said, “Stand a little apart from me and hold out your hands as I am doing.”
“Why?” Perri was still afraid the giant birds would prove to be enemies. Now that they were closer she estimated that, if one of the three were to alight before them, it would prove to be as tall as Halvo. She could not guess how wide the wings were.
“So they can see what we are,” Halvo said. “Think of an island in the middle of a lake, Perri. Think of a settlement called Home.”
“I don’t know what the colony looks like,” she cried.
“It doesn’t matter. Just concentrate your thoughts. The birds ought to receive some sort of message from us, and they may pass the message on to Tarik.”
She tried to do as he wanted. She tried to think of the birds as friendly creatures, though their size frightened her. She fought to overcome her distaste for the very idea of telepathy, which was forbidden within the Jurisdiction. Nor could Perri deny her reluctance to be discovered by Halvo’s brother. Still, this was what Halvo wanted. For his sake, she would do as he asked.
Slowly the birds circled the meadow, turned, and came back, flying closer to the ground on this second pass. Perri imagined the lead bird was aiming itself directly at her to attack her. Near panic, she forced herself to think of a peaceful lake with an island in the middle of it. There would be trees on the island and a beach, perhaps a shuttlecraft to ferry the colonists from the island to the spaceship Kalina in orbit above.
She could see it! As the lead bird flew over her head, coming so close to her that if she had the courage to do so she could have reached up and touched its green feathers, there came into Pern’s mind a vivid picture of a lake, an island, even a gray Jurisdiction shuttlecraft sitting on the white sandy beach. There was a round white building in the very center of the island, with a row of white columns along its circumference and a domed roof above. Then the birds and the picture were gone. Perri saw the three winged shapes soaring off toward the east. She stared at them, transfixed, until they had disappeared into the night.
“Perri?” Halvo touched her arm. “Are you all right?”
“It was green,” she said in a slow, low-pitched voice.
“Two of them were. The third was blue. You don’t have to be afraid of them. According to Tarik, they are friendly unless you display violent behavior.”
“I am not afraid.” It was true. She was filled with wonder, with awe and amazement, but she was no longer afraid. She spoke with complete assurance. “They will tell your brother you are here.”
“I believe they will,” Halvo said. “We should return to the Space Dragon now.”
“Yes.” Still in a strangely peaceful daze, Perri caught up the sheet and wrapped it around herself, while Halvo collected his trousers.
Once inside the ship he closed and sealed the entrance hatch, which for ventilation purposes had been left open since just after their landing. By now the air inside the ship was clean, though it remained several degrees warmer than the breezy temperature outside.
They retired to the cabin Halvo had been using during their travels. There, as she drifted toward slumber, Perri was aware of Halvo’s fingers combing through her hair, spreading it out across the sheet, and then of his mouth warm and tender on hers, before he laid his head into the curve of her shoulder and closed his eyes.
Chapter Sixteen
Standing beside the shuttlecraft from the Krontar, Armaments Officer Dysia stole a quick look at her surroundings. The sun was a remarkably bright shade of orange, the air was cool enough to make her shiver in her uniform jacket, but the trees covering the island, though mostly bare, appeared to be normal. Nor, so far as she could see, was there anything unusual about the blue water in the lake or the white beach and the striated brown rocks scattered about the shore.
Never had Dysia dreamed of entering the Empty Sector, much less of actually landing on one of the mysterious planets within the forbidden area of space, yet there she was, with both of her booted feet firmly planted on a world where, if the legends about the Empty Sector were to be believed, anything might happen. However, at the moment it appeared as if the first thing that was going to happen would be a family quarrel.
“And so there are two Regulan warships in orbit above us, waiting for you to discover what this female pirate has done with Halvo?” There could be no doubt that Tank was angry. His handsome features were marred by a frown and his fine, dark blue eyes were colder than the autumn wind off the lake. With a single companion at his side Tank had come to the shore of his island headquarters to greet the shuttlecraft in person. His delighted surprise at finding his mother aboard had quickly changed to outrage when he heard the story that Kalina, Captain Jyrit, and Dysia had to tell him. But his anger seemed to be directed more toward his mother than toward the villains in the shocking tale. “You knowingly led those Regulans here? How could you do this?”
“Do not take that superior tone with me.” Kalina shook a finger at her son. “You look and sound just like your father when he is annoyed.”
“I am far more than annoyed, Mother. You, of all people, know how important complete secrecy about the existence of this outpost is to the success of our treaty with the Cetans. Let them hear one word of our presence so near their space, one single hint that we do not completely trust them to live up to the terms of that treaty, and they could take offense and start another bloody war and claim it is the fault of the Jurisdiction. Yet you have brought not only a Jurisdiction vessel to Dulan’s Planet, but two Regulan warships as well!”
“I will not be lectured by you, Tarik. We have just explained why we are here. Halvo is still recuperating from his injuries and beyond any doubt he is in danger. I intend to rescue him and take him back to Capital, where he will receive the best possible medical care to correct whatever further damage has been done to his already fragile health by that malicious creature who kidnapped him.”
“Fragile? Halvo?” Tarik gave a harsh laugh, to which Kalina responded with a stern look. “I would do the same for you if you were lost and injured, Tarik.”
“I know you would, Mother. I am not jealous, only amused by the way in which you persist in regarding your grown sons as children in need of your help.” Tarik’s troubled expression cleared enough to allow a smile, and he put his arm around his mother. “Which reminds me that you have not yet seen your grandson. Come inside while we prepare for the search. Captain Jyrit, Lt. Dysia, you are both welcome, too.”
As Tarik drew his mother toward the round, white building at the center of the island, Kalina came face-to-face with the man who had accompanied her son to the shore, whom Tank had introduced simply as Osiyar. Kalina looked him over with great interest and Dysia, whose previous attention had been on the conflict between mother and son, spar
ed her first full glance for that person.
Osiyar was blond, with sea-blue eyes and a perfectly chiseled, remarkably handsome face. Between his burnished eyebrows was a small blue tattoo in the design of twin crescents facing each other, the crescents topped by a round blue dot. Dysia thought he was the most intriguing-looking man she had seen in years.
“We have not met before,” Kalina said to Osiyar, “but I do know who you are. Your name was in one of Tarik’s reports. You are the native telepath.”
“That is true, Lady Kalina.” The man responded to Kalina’s curiosity with a charming smile. “Tank has admitted me to his colony, and to his friendship.”
“Yes, I know.” Kalina looked into Osiyar’s eyes with no trace of fear. “I have never met a telepath before.”
“Tank has told me of your efforts to have the Jurisdiction Act of Banishment against telepaths rescinded,” Osiyar said. “For that kindness I thank you in the name of all telepaths.”
“It is not kindness. It is a matter of common sense.” Kalina put out her hand and Osiyar took it. “Perhaps you can be of use to us in our search for Halvo.”
“I hope so, Lady Kalina.”
The appearance of the First Lady of the Jurisdiction in their headquarters building was greeted with surprise by the colonists and with open joy by her daughter-in-law, Narisa.
“How I have missed you!” Narisa cried, hugging Kalina. “You know most of the grownups, of course. Now come and meet the children.” Kalina went readily, laughing and talking with Narisa as they caught up on family news.
“I never thought to see such a sight,” Jyrit murmured to Dysia a short time later. His eyes were upon Kalina, and Dysia had been watching her, too. The usually dignified First Lady of the Jurisdiction, clad in a bright red tunic and trousers, was down on the floor playing with her grandson, a toddler with his father’s black hair and intense blue eyes. A second boy with orange-red hair and golden eyes, whom Narisa had introduced as the child of colonists Suria and Gaidar, was with them and it was obvious that the two children were close companions. Taking off her gold necklaces, Kalina draped one around the neck of each child. The boys pulled and twisted the shining links, clearly delighted with these new toys.
