The Abulon Dance (11 page)

“You were always so damned independent,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll make the announcement now.”

During the performance, Triani could shut out everything. Once the curtain came down, the pain was back. He was surprised to find how far Cham had crawled inside his private, secret space. Cham’s almost ethereal beauty haunted him. The uncertainty gnawed at him constantly; not knowing what had happened, imagining what might have happened….

After the show, Triani spent a long time getting out of his make-up and changing into his street clothes. He sat at his dressing table, staring into the mirror, seeing Cham smiling up at him as he had so often, the big, gold-flecked grey eyes so trusting and full of love. He sighed wearily. The great dog lay at his feet, the third eye covered with a thick coat of metallic paint. Triani was glad to have the wide collar to hang on to as he stepped out into the night. There wasn’t far to go but it was dark, the shifting shadows making the way unfamiliar. The Merculians usually went home in a group, carrying torches and making a party of the whole experience. Tonight Triani did not feel like a party. “I bring disaster to anyone I let get close to me.” He thought bleakly of the pretty, vivacious Savane with whom he had had a short but stormy relationship, ending with the birth of his beloved child. The baby Triani had wanted ruined Savane’s career and all the money Triani sent could not compensate for being relegated to the ranks of a second-rate company in the provinces. And then there was Lucius. Triani swallowed hard and blinked back the unaccustomed tears angrily. And now the pattern was repeating itself all over again with Cham, gentle, loving, trusting—“Shit! What’s wrong with me? It’s my fault! It’s always my fault!”

He tightened his grip on the dog’s collar as they came abreast of a shadowy figure leaning against one of the stunted trees that lined the boulevard. The dog growled low in his throat but Triani shushed him and patted his head. He had recognized Luan, gazing up at the lighted windows of the Merculian apartments, high above him.

“How can you pick out Benvolini’s window from this distance, sweetie?” asked Triani, curiously.

“It’s easy,” replied the boy.

Triani studied him. It was hard to make out his features in the shadows. “Listen, I don’t want to go home alone tonight. You want to come with me?”

The solemn dark eyes looked back at him a moment. “I know what it’s like to be lonely,” he said. “I’ll come.”

“You don’t mind standing in for someone else?”

“Not if you don’t.”

Triani slipped his arm around the boy’s waist. “So long as we understand each other, sweetie. I hope you’re not under age or anything.” It occurred to him he didn’t know the rules in this place.

“I won’t make any trouble for you.”

“I was thinking of your father.”

The boy shrugged. “He doesn’t care what I do.”

When they reached Triani’s apartment, the emptiness hit him like a physical blow. He hesitated, unsure for a moment how to continue. He offered Merculian sherry to Luan who tasted it with caution and finished it with pleasure. Triani started lighting candles. He knew there was no point. They wouldn’t be staying in this room for long, but it gave him something to do while he organized his thoughts.

Luan was watching him with sad eyes. The three strings of amber beads he wore glowed against his dark skin. “I was there tonight, in the theater. You’re a terrific dancer.”

“I know.” Triani took a drink of his wine. “What part did you like the best?”

“Oh, I couldn’t pick just one part. It was all…wonderful. And you…you’re pretty sexy, in a different sort of way.”

“That’s why you came home with me.”

“Partly. I heard the announcement, too. I thought you might be lonely.”

“You’re all heart, sweetie.”

“Perhaps I made a mistake.”

“I don’t think so. I’m good at more than dancing.” He ran one hand across Luan’s bare chest and felt the desire throbbing just under the skin. “You’re just dying to lay a Merculian, aren’t you?”

“I guess we both know that.”

“I don’t know what to make of you, Luan. One moment you’re all awkward youth and the next you come on total self-assurance.”

“I’m the son of the Great Chief. As long as I can remember, people have tried to use me to get to my father. You’re doing it now.”

Triani nibbled at his ear. “Relax, baby. Don’t be so uptight.”

“It’s no use,” Luan went on. “I can’t help you. I want to, but I can’t.”

“Can’t, or won’t?”

“I have no power.”

“You’ve got to have more faith in yourself, sweetie. Come on. Let’s go to bed.” Triani undressed with his usual care, folded his clothes neatly and put away his shoes. He felt numb. He didn’t want to think about what he was actually doing. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea. He looked at the boy who lay naked on the bed, waiting. “Do you mind if the lights are on?” he asked.

Luan shook his head.

Triani lay down beside him feeling very small and unusually vulnerable. He wished Luan would take him in his arms and surround him with his young, masculine strength. Instead, Luan sat up and studied the Merculian’s smooth, muscular body with frank interest. Triani felt a stab of annoyance.

“What’s the matter, sweetie, don’t you like what you see?”

“I…ah….” Luan hesitated, threw back his hair. “I didn’t know what to expect.”

“Now you know, baby. For you I am a woman, okay? Isn’t that what you want?”

Luan shook his head slowly, his dark eyes fixed on Triani’s face. Gently he laid his hand on the small, shell-like fold of skin that nestled like a snail in the crisp, black hair that curled thickly between Triani’s legs. “Ah-h-h.” Triani reached for Luan’s head, guiding it gently, firmly, twining his fingers in the long coarse hair so different from Cham’s. He trembled as he felt the boy’s warm mouth opening against him. Luan’s tongue began to caress the delicate, fluted membrane that covered the core of his masculinity, and Triani closed his eyes as the first melting waves of pleasure swept over him. He felt the gradual emergence of his sex as it opened out slowly, like a flower unfolding from a bud.

Luan drew back, watching in delighted fascination. “Wonderful!” he breathed as he stroked the flexible stalk that pulsed gently in his hand. “You’re really something,” he murmured and took Triani in his arms, kissing him hungrily, his mouth, his eyes, his hair, his hard, smooth body. With a sudden movement, he flipped the dancer onto his stomach, pressing his open mouth into the warm neck.

But Triani twisted around onto his back again, his agile body slippery with sweat from his exertions. “No! This is on my terms!” His black eyes glittered as he fastened his powerful legs around Luan’s waist. “Now!” he said with an abrupt movement of his hips.

Luan was taken by surprise. He felt himself grasped, engulfed, pulled deep inside Triani. He cried out, his back arched, his head thrown back. Then he collapsed, gasping for breath. Triani pushed him off.

“Are all Merculians like you?” Luan asked finally, rolling onto his back.

“We’re all made the same, if that’s what you mean. I’m just more muscular than Benvolini.” Triani smiled at him lazily. “Have I taken away some of the glamor?”

“Oh no!” exclaimed Luan. “It’s really…exciting.” He propped himself up on one elbow and studied the small figure beside him. “I don’t think that was much fun for you, though, was it? Tell me what you want me to do.”

Triani shook his head. “Just don’t leave me tonight, sweetie,” he said, moving closer to the boy. He slipped his arms around Luan’s waist. “I don’t want to be alone.”

“Tri-ani.” Luan said the unfamiliar name carefully, almost tenderly, as he embraced the small figure beside him. “Nobody wants to be alone.”

TEN

The next morning, Luan was very talkative. He sat cross-legged on the bed beside Triani, eating biscuits and honey and drinking
pamayo
juice brought from Merculian.

“It’s nice waking up with someone, isn’t it?” he said.

Triani nodded absently.

“You know that kidnap thing with your flaxen-haired beauty is all political, don’t you?”

Triani sat up alertly. “No, I don’t. Tell me about it. And don’t get crumbs all over the bed.”

“Well, my guess is that Yonan has him in the mountains somewhere. He wants to embarrass my father in front of the Alliance and he’s found the perfect way to do it.”

“You mean someone took him for ransom?”

“If it was money you would have heard already. I think it’s Yonan. He’ll get in touch eventually and spell out exactly what he wants.”

“Who is this Yonan?”

“He’s the rebel leader. He and my father hate each other. Yonan could have been elected to the Council and then stood a chance of being in line to be chosen as Chief, or at least a Minister. He’s from the right clan, like a lot of the Advisors, but he wouldn’t wait. Instead, he tried to overthrow my father and found he didn’t have as many followers as he thought. Some say he was betrayed. I don’t know, man. That was five years ago and he’s been fighting in the hills ever since.”

“Why didn’t anyone tell us about this?”

Luan shrugged. “My father thought he could keep it quiet.”

Triani jumped out of bed. “Cham was kidnaped because your shitty father wanted to keep things quiet? Is that what you’re telling me?”

“Don’t shout at me. I’m trying to help.” He smoothed the bed invitingly.

Triani climbed back in and sat down again, chewing his nail thoughtfully. “What’s this Yonan character like?”

“I don’t know, man.”

“Stop calling me ‘man’! You should know better than that by now.”

Luan was carefully brushing the crumbs onto the floor. “We hear only the bad things about Yonan, like the bombings and the android raids, but he can’t be all bad. A lot of people admire him. Even the First Minister, in a kind of a way. Then again, it might be one of the splinter groups who took your friend.”

“Holy shit! What’s going on in this place? Civil war?”

“Not really. There aren’t that many of them.”

“More than enough to raid and pillage,” Triani muttered. “And we were told it was safe here!”

“It is. Usually. I really don’t know all the ins and outs of the rebel thing. It’s kept pretty much under wraps.”

“I bet.” Triani added sherry to his pamayo juice and took a long drink.

“You know, I’m glad you picked me up last night. I was really aching.” Luan laid his dark head on Triani’s shoulder. His long hair fanned out over his chest. One brown hand slid down between Triani’s legs. “Let’s do it again. Please,” he pleaded.

“You help me, I’ll fuck you. Agreed?”

“Hmmm.” Luan’s tongue began making circles on the Merculian’s smooth chest. Triani let his body go limp as Luan slipped a strong arm around him and lifted him further down on the bed. It was a long time since anyone had handled him as easily as this. Triani closed his eyes and let himself drift, feeling the urgent hands, the hot breath, the fluttering beginnings of pleasure. He didn’t hear the knock or see the door open.

Eulio stood there, staring at Luan’s dark body entangled with Triani’s pale limbs. “You don’t believe in letting the bed get cold, do you?” he said in a voice tight with anger. He turned and slammed out the door.

“Shit!” Triani jumped up and grabbed an orange robe from its carved peg on the wall. He was trembling with rage. “You stay put, Luan. I’ve got a few choice words to say to that prying bastard!”

Triani stamped out the door and along the corridor to Beny’s spacious apartment. He flung open the door unceremoniously. Eulio spun around as he came in.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, bursting into my bedroom like that, you bastard!” shouted Triani.

“It never occurred to me that you’d have anyone with you! I thought you were asleep.”

“Then what did you want? A change of pace, sweetie? Is that it?”

“How dare you!” Eulio stamped his foot. “I thought you might be interested in a message about Cham. Remember him? Or has he been replaced already?”

Triani hit him hard across the face. Eulio fell back on the sofa, his mouth open in disbelief, tears of shock and pain in his eyes. “Stop!” Beny stood in the doorway, fastening his belt, his reddish curls damp from the pool. “If you ever touch him again, Triani, I’ll knock you cold. You’ve gone too far!”

Triani sank down on a fur-covered chair, his head in his hands. “God, Eulio, I’m really sorry! But you shouldn’t have said that. You don’t understand this.”

“You’re right,” Eulio agreed. “I don’t understand.”

“I’m not like you, sweetie. I wasn’t born with a gold chain around my waist and a title in front of my name. I wasn’t even born on the right side of the law. I was the product of illegal self-insemination. It’s not just for fun that I only use one name.”

“I thought it was for publicity.”

“You were wrong. I’ve been a hustler since I was twelve years old. At Cham’s age I had picked out a lover with enough clout to get me guest spots dancing with the best company on Merculian.”

“But that’s ours.”

“You said it, baby. My lover was Nevon Bantino, the then up-and-coming young director everyone was raving about. I used sex then and I’m using it now. I’m going to find Cham and this is the only way I know how. My name means nothing to these people. Sex is all I’ve got.”

Eulio picked up a small box from the table and handed it to Triani. “Do you want a tranq stick?”

“Thanks. You said something about a message. Tell me about it.” He glanced at the Ambassador.

Beny was still standing in the doorway trying to deal with the anger that flowed through him. “The personal history is informative, Triani, but it does not excuse your actions. You are behaving like an animal. You do realize that I could bring charges against you for this? You could be suspended from the company.” Triani dropped his eyes. His long fingers tensed on the arm of the chair. After a moment of silence, Beny came into the room. “Don’t let it happen again.”

Triani clenched his jaw. “Okay, Benvolini, what does it take? Me on my knees? Shit! Just let me know so we can get on with it! The message, remember?”

“Talassa-ran Zox found it this morning when he went to open the office. Cham’s yellow fringed sash was with it.”