The Saga Begins [Nuworld 1] (5 page)

“Ah, Reena, it’s nice to see you, it is.” A plump older woman standing behind the counter looked up and smiled when the two women entered.

A short man with gray whiskers and a potbelly remained sitting on a stool next to the counter. “And who might this young lass be?” He looked Tara over as if she were a side of beef he might purchase.

“Thelga, it’s good to see you, it is, and Garg, you’re looking well.” Reena nodded her head to the couple. “I’d like you to meet my niece, Tara. She’s come to stay with me just this other day, she has. I daresay she’s quite an aid to an old lady.”

Tara nodded her head to the couple, but kept quiet just as Reena had instructed before they had left the house.

“Ah, what a comfort for a woman with no children,” Thelga said, clasping her hands over her large girth. “I daresay you’ll have her claimed before the week is out. She’s quite the looker, she is.”

Garg grunted and then got up and walked toward the back of the store without a word of goodbye.

“To be certain, I know she is.” Reena winked, apparently not daunted by Garg’s departure. “Her Papa’s a mite bit picky though, if you ask me. But who asks an old lady? Turned down a claim, he did. She’s his only daughter, you know. So, now she’s with me.” Reena clucked to herself as she moved toward the fresh produce. She took a basket from a stack by the door and handed it to Tara.

Tara wandered past barrels of produce as she followed Reena, and watched with curiosity as the older woman poked and sniffed, pinched and shook each vegetable before selecting what she wanted. Evidently, it was quite a task for Reena to find produce that suited her needs, but finally she seemed satisfied with her choices, paid for the items, and nodded good day to the Olgoods.

“Well now, that’s done,” Reena said as she chuckled to herself. “Thelga’ll be quite busy letting the town folk know of your arrival, she will. I swear to you now that half the town’ll come down with some ailment or another just to come see old Reena’s niece.” She laughed out loud and wrapped her arm around Tara’s. “You did mighty fine in the store, you did. Now I need to pick up some more yarn. Sirlah Maken’s shop is just up the street. I’ll be going in alone. It won’t do to have them noticing your lack of seamstress skills. It’ll be there that I tell them you’ll help with the young ones at the quilting. I’ll point out we have enough quilters and too many wee ones. It’ll make sense, it will. You wander around, if you like.”

Reena left Tara on the sidewalk and hurried down the street.

Tara was amused by how much Reena seemed to be enjoying herself. Left alone, she walked slowly down the street looking into each store window. She smiled as shyly as she could to anyone who saw her.

So
these
were the women she’d wondered so much about? They lived a life of domesticity, completely oblivious to anything outside their daily routine. They grew up, anxiously waiting to be claimed, and then fell into a role of servitude and inconsequential gossip. So far, she wasn’t too impressed. How could these women go through life with no say in matters that involved them? How could they feel complete when they needed a man simply to exist?

Tara passed a gap between two of the stores. It was wide enough for a vehicle to move between them. The tall buildings cast shadows, and she realized this was not a place where the townsfolk walked. It was full of trashcans and the smell reflected that fact, along with the flying insects hovering over the bins.

Tara’s keen eye caught the movement of several figures at the other end of the alley, and she stopped to watch them. Young boys obviously hoping not to be detected clung to the shadows. They were probably supposed to be in school. She started to look away, a smile creeping up on her face, when she spotted several other children entering the service road behind the first group.

“There they are!” one of the boys yelled.

She slipped easily enough behind a large trashcan and squatted unnoticed as she continued to watch the boys on the dark road.

“You’ll be dealing with me now.” A large youth of thirteen or fourteen winters walked with sureness toward the group Tara had first noticed. “Let’s see if you can fight, Torgo.” He was almost twice the size of the younger boy whom he addressed.

Tara realized quickly that the younger boy had very few fighting skills as he backed awkwardly down the alley.

His comrades spread away from him, the hope of escape obvious in their faces.

“Don’t be telling me we have a coward here?” The large boy laughed, lunging at the younger one as he feigned a punch. “It couldn’t be, I would think.”

Torgo turned and made an attempt to run, but he was quickly overtaken and thrown to the ground. He tried to yell.

But the older boy sat on him and put one hand over Torgo’s mouth. With the other, he started hitting Torgo. “Not only can you not fight, you would cry like a baby for help, would you?” The large boy laughed again; the other boys stood around watching.

Tara removed the small laser from her dress pocket and shot at a trashcan next to the group of boys. The metal can sliced into two pieces that flew down the alley in opposite directions. Its lid slammed against the wall. The pieces made a horrific sound, the screeching sound echoing off the buildings, which intensified the effect.

The frightened boys jumped and scattered down the side street.

Torgo tried to get up and run, but fell awkwardly back to the ground.

Tara rose from behind the trashcan and walked over to the boy.

“You know, son, often if you act like you’re willing to take a challenge, a bully will back down, he will,” Tara said, in her best Gothman accent. “Let me see you now.” She held up his face and looked at the scratches that were starting to bleed. “It’ll be hard to explain how you got those while studying in school.” She smiled at the child.

He smiled back cautiously. “How did you do that?” Torgo sputtered.

“I’m not rightly sure. I threw a rock. I was trying to hit the boy that was pounding you. That trash can had to be rotted clear through.” Tara rolled her eyes and the young boy laughed. She hoped no one inspected the destroyed can too closely.

His laughter stopped quickly as he looked past Tara toward the sidewalk.

Tara turned and saw a man sitting on a motorcycle, watching. Blond curls fell to his shirt. His expression revealed none of his thoughts, and dark, penetrating gray eyes stared at her without blinking. His appearance was rugged…distracting…but more than that.

He was captivating.

The man shifted his attention to the boy, then looked at Tara again with a bit more interest.

She returned the gaze with an equal amount of regard. She could tell by the size of the motorcycle he was straddling that he was fairly tall. He wore a dark plaid shirt with a brown leather jacket over it. It was unbuttoned and successfully displayed a broad, muscular chest. She noticed a crest embroidered on the sleeve of his jacket and the matching crest on his motorcycle.

“They challenged me. What was I to do?” Torgo stood as tall as his young body would allow as he spoke to the man.

“Back to school with you. We’ll talk about this later, we will.” The words were barely out of the man’s mouth before the boy took off running as fast as his legs would take him.

Tara stood silently, continuing to watch the man’s eyes as they surveyed her. She assumed the boy was his son, and she would never allow herself to show interest in a married man, but his look possessed her and it was hard to look away. After so long, she was finally standing face to face with a Gothman warrior…a gorgeous one at that.

“Who might you be, lass?” The man’s voice was softer now. He studied her, as if memorizing her features, or perhaps trying to remember where he might have seen her before.

“I’m Reena’s niece. My name’s Tara.” Tara finally remembered to lower her eyes and quickly did so. For some reason, her heart pounded, and she felt her palms grow damp.

“I haven’t seen you before, that’s for sure.”

“I’ve just arrived and came into town with her today for the first time.”

“I see. Well, Tara, Reena’s niece, I’ll be thanking you for breaking up the fight for my younger brother’s sake.”

Tara returned her gaze to his before she could stop herself.
Younger brother, not married?

His expression didn’t change nor did he bother to say who he was. He also gave no indication if he thought it odd that a Gothman woman prevented a fight. He looked at her a minute longer and then drove down the street.

Tara exhaled slowly, willing her heart to stop pounding as she walked to the sidewalk and stared after him. Had he said
thank you for breaking up the fight?
Had he seen her shoot the trashcan?

Reena walked down the sidewalk toward Tara, the older woman’s attention moving from the departing man to her
niece
. “Well, child, don’t it figure, your first day in town, and you’ve the honor of meeting Lord Darius himself.” Reena sounded absolutely delighted.

“
That
was Lord Darius?” Tara asked quietly as she stole another glance at the handsome man disappearing down the stone road.

“Yes, my dear. What’d he say to you?” Reena handed the bags of yarn to Tara and started walking to the car. “Come now, tell an old lady everything. He hasn’t claimed anyone yet, although I daresay the rumors are that he’s been with each girl in this town, he has. Now he’s seen you, maybe that will change. Ha, it’s plain to see you are a mite prettier than any other girl this town has to offer.”

“He said ‘thank you’.”

Reena turned to Tara, a puzzled look on her face. “A bit strange, but then he always has been odd, he has.”

The two reached the car, and Tara put the bags on the floor behind the two seats. Her mind raced. What should she do if the ruler of this land
had
seen her with a laser that was more sophisticated than any Gothman had ever created? He had to be the same man who instigated a search for a Runner on his land the night before, and she credited the man as intelligent.

Eventually, he would put two and two together and uncover the identity of the Runner who had eluded the guards.

Letting out a gasp, Tara realized her next move in this community had better be carefully thought out if she were to stay alive.

Chapter Three

“There were some children fighting in the alley. One of them was hurt and I was going to help the child when Lord Darius showed up and told the child to go back to school,” Tara explained as Reena drove through the remainder of downtown. “I didn’t know it was Lord Darius.”

“Well, now you know who he is and he most certainly knows who you are, there’ll be no mistaking that.” Reena seemed quite pleased. “Imagine the lord, himself, taking a fancy to you. And I might add, I saw the way you were looking at him, I did.” She nudged Tara with her elbow and let out a low chuckle.

“You act as you want me married, or claimed, as you call it.”

“Well my dear, you can’t very well experience our culture as a female if you’re not claimed, that’s for certain. There’d be nothing else to do with you at your age but to show you off for a claiming.” Reena smiled at the young girl. “I’m an old lady, my dear. I daresay you’ve brought excitement to my life.”

“I don’t want to be claimed.”

“Ach, shh, you better keep thoughts like that to yourself, love. You’d be suspected as odd for sure if you say thoughts like that out loud.” Reena chuckled some more and glowed as she glanced at Tara.

The two were silent as Reena drove slowly through the town.

Tara looked out the window at the community, watching the people she saw on the streets. Young women worked in gardens with children running around them. The houses appeared clean and well kept, for the most part. She wondered at a lifestyle in which the people lived in a home all of their lives and raised children.

This was all so new to her. She’d spent months in one location before, but there was always a sense of excitement when it was announced that her clan would be moving to a new location. She couldn’t imagine living in the same place all her life.

The thought wasn’t too appealing.

“I daresay this must all seem so strange to you.”

Reena brought Tara back from her thoughts. “I was just imagining what it must be like to live in one spot all your life.”

“You’ll probably never know that feeling, sweet child. You’re a Runner, you are. I can dress you like a Gothman and teach you how to act like a Gothman, but the Runner is in your blood. You must forgive an old lady. I’ve spent the morning going on about my niece come to stay with me. It’s a pleasant thought, and you’re quite the young lady to be showing off, you are. I guess I’d say I got a bit carried away. I wouldn’t know what to say if I weren’t talking about getting you claimed. That’s what we do with our young ladies, it is.”

Reena had now driven through the town and was turning onto a paved road winding up a hill. Their next stop would be Lord Darius’ house.

Tara wondered if he would be there. The man appeared strong, not only physically, but mentally as well. He ruled all of Gothman and hadn’t been the designated heir. He had taken the right to rule. Tara imagined he would be intelligent, manipulative, and shrewd in his methods.

There were problems also. This man believed women didn’t have the intelligence to do anything but birth babies and raise them. He was not a fair man. And hadn’t she already determined that the warrior skills of his men were inferior to her own? Tara frowned as she chastised herself for her previous thoughts of finding him appealing. Obviously he had a lot to learn.