The Swords of Gregara - Jenala, a sci-fi romance (6 page)
Read The Swords of Gregara - Jenala, a sci-fi romance Online
Authors: Cynthia Woolf
*****
The previous day’s journey from town and moving the lumber through the house and into the mine took more out of her than she’d admit.
Jenala was exhausted and fell into bed.
The next morning she could barely move and her back was on fire.
She’d slept in a soft shirt of her father’s for modesty.
Normally she slept in the nude.
The shirt was stuck to her back and she knew that she’d bled through it when she saw the spots on her sheets.
“Santro,” she called.
She was a little anxious, hoping that she hadn’t ripped open the seam.
She didn’t want to have to sit through being stitched up by Santro without any anesthetic.
It would hurt like hell.
“Santro!”
“What is it?” he said from her doorway, rubbing his face and the sleep from his eyes.
“I think I opened the seam.
I need your help after I remove this shirt.
You’ll need to tell me how much of the seam has opened.
If it’s small enough you can just put a liquid sealer on it and redo the bandage.
Otherwise you’ll have to stitch me.”
“Are you sure you want me to do this?
Maybe we should go back to town.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.
The trip to town takes hours and we need to start work on the alarms and setting them up.”
She opened the shirt front and ripped it off her back from where the blood had dried.
She tried not to but couldn’t stop a small scream of pain.
She leaned forward, both hands on her dresser and rested.
Santro stood behind her, she watched him in the mirror.
He winced when she ripped her shirt, then he noticed the mirror and his eyes got wide.
She followed his eyes and saw he was staring at her breasts.
She fell forward on to her elbows.
His attention refocused to her back and he was all business.
“I need to clean your back before I can be certain what is open.
There is dried blood and some fresh from you ripping off your shirt.
It would probably be easiest on you if you could soak it off, but if it has come open flooding it with water may not be good for it.”
Jenala straightened and held the shirt in front of her.
She wasn’t normally modest and had only worn the shirt in case of a leak.
But it appeared her breasts were a distraction for Santro.
“The medical supplies are in the bathroom.”
Santro turned and went into Oliria’s bath with Jenala on his heels.
The bath was attached to the bedroom opposite the closet and mine entrance.
“The medical bag is in the cabinet under the sink.
You should find everything you need in it.”
“Come over here.
Let’s get it cleaned before we do anything else.”’
Jenala walked over and turned her bared back to him.
Santro turned on the water and got it warm before he soaked the cloth and pressed it to her back.
She sucked in her breath at the contact, but didn’t step away.
Though at that moment there was nothing more she wanted to do than move away from the gentle hands that washed her back.
She was surprised such a fierce man could have such a gentle way about him.
He was being exceedingly careful to hurt her as little as possible while he cleaned her wounds.
“Well, there is good news.
It doesn’t appear that you have opened any seams.
They seeped and that is why your shirt stuck to you.
I’m going to put some of this salve you have in here on them and then bind you tightly.
It will not be very comfortable, but it will help to keep the seams from seeping again.”
“Thank you.
I appreciate your help.
Let’s just get it done so we can get started on the alarms.”
Santro did his best to stay detached.
He’d been thunderstruck when she’d ripped her shirt from her back and then again when he saw her breasts in the mirror.
They were perfect.
High, round, tipped pale pink, perfect for his tongue to twirl around.
The long coil of bright red hair she’d thrown over her shoulder stood in stark contrast to her white skin.
Unfortunately for him it also covered one of her beautiful breasts.
The agony she’d tried to suppress showed in her dark blue eyes and forced him to focus his attention to her back.
The long, angry wound was covered in dried blood.
He soaked as much as possible from it.
“It’s a good thing you at least have the liquid bandage.
I don’t know if either one of us would survive my efforts to stitch you up the old fashioned way.”
“If we don’t get Zlaten, I will have to invest in a healing wand.
Probably should anyway.
This is not the first injury I’ve had that needed one.
It’s just the worst.”
He poured the liquid bandage on the part of the wound that had ripped open.
She hissed.
It was not a painless solution.
The liquid stung and smelled awful, but it did the job and closed the small tear in the seam.
He then covered it in the antibiotic salve from the medical kit, put bandages on the wound then bound her chest tightly.
It pained him to flatten her wonderful breasts with the tight bandage, but there was nothing else he could do.
The wound on her back needed to heal and would only do so if it could be immobilized.
He couldn’t see her staying in bed for days while it did that, so the tight bandage around her ribcage would have to do.
“Face me and lift your arms out so I can wrap the bandage.
If the bandage doesn’t hold…” he left it hanging in the air, both of them knew what would happen if the bandages didn’t hold.
She would have to be stitched.
Not a happy prospect for either one of them.
She turned to face him.
Her breasts firm and full, bare to him.
It required all his will power and concentration not to bend and take one taut nipple into his mouth and suck until she moaned in ecstasy.
“There, that should do it.
It needs to stay on tight for a couple of days and you will not be able to bathe during that time.”
He grinned at her, “I am preparing myself for you to start smelling like Lottie.”
She laughed, as he’d hoped she would.
Chapter 3
Zlaten and his men waited to enter the valley under the cover of darkness and then camped in the forest near the river.
That beast snarlot she called a pet nearly trampled their camp during the first night but had moved on before finding them.
He watched the house from a distance.
Watched Santro help the girl secure it, as if an alarm would keep him away.
He didn’t see them secure the mine, still didn’t know where it was.
He was sure that once he was done with that Santro would leave, go back to his hunt, never knowing how close he was to his prey.
But he was wrong.
Zlaten watched for days and Santro didn’t leave.
He stayed with the girl.
Appeared to be living with her.
Had he given up the hunt or did he know that his quarry was in the valley.
Had the girl told him about her father?
Obviously, she had and now Santro waited for him.
*****
Jenala and Santro designed and set the alarm system.
They knew Zlaten was camped in the valley.
He may have come in during the night but the smoke from his campfire was easily spotted in the morning.
Did he not realize that they would be able to see it or did he not care? They waited for him to make a move, while they worked in the mine.
Jenala insisted Santro help her rig the mine to explode should they lose the battle if there was one.
They figured that he would most likely try to ambush them when they were bringing in more timber, but wanted to be prepared for any contingency.
She was determined that even if she lost her life, Zlaten was not going to take everything she and her father had worked for.
“My bandages should come off tonight.
You’ll need to see if the wound is healed enough for me to stop wearing the wrapping.”
“Yes.
Hopefully we’ll be able to leave them off.
It should have healed enough in the last two weeks that the scar won’t need the support of the bandages any longer.”
“Thank you for taking care of my back.
I couldn’t have done it myself.
I would have had to do nothing when I got home if you hadn’t been here to bind me.
I’d guess this was not your first time having to play doctor.”
“Yes, well, the Valmud must be prepared for all things.”
“You were Valmud of the Otulas?
Should I be honored by your presence here?”
Santro laughed but there was no joy in the sound.
“I was never Valmud.
I lost the fight with Zlaten, when he threw a powder into my face.
He was very subtle about it.
It was laced with a substance that made my entire face feel like it was on fire.
I dropped my guard and his sword took my eye.
To this day I don’t know what the substance was.
His trickery went undetected and he won the right to challenge the Valmud, my father.
My brother, being the next in line, challenged Zlaten to combat instead.
Zlaten did the same thing to my brother, except Kreston was killed instead of just scarred.
The council saw the deception this time but Zlaten fled before he could be tried for murder.
He came here to escape me.”
“I’m sorry about Kreston and I do understand.
Zlaten thinks to start over with my mine but he is sadly mistaken.
My father may have turned his back on him, but I won’t make the same mistake.
Zlaten has no honor.
When he attacked me in the alley, he may have tried to get close enough to do something like that to me.
But I kept him at sword length and managed to keep my guard up.
At least until he slashed and ran…from you.
Will you challenge him to a duel?”
“I will.
I most certainly will not ambush him, which is what I believe he’s waiting to do to us.”
“He’s afraid of you.
He knows he can’t best you in a fair fight.
That’s why he’s waiting…watching.
I wish he’d go ahead a make his move.
The waiting is intolerable.”
“You find my company so terrible, do you?” asked Santro with a smile.
“No, of course not.
You know what I mean.
Stop teasing me.”
She laughed with him before becoming serious.
“It’s been two weeks and he still just watches.
He’s made no moves.
He and the five men he has with them act like they are on some vacation.
Camping out in my valley, fishing my river and eating the emul in my forest.
I’d stop them if I thought I could before they killed me.”
“I know.
It’s like something is in the offing and we don’t know what but he does.
Is there any way off this bluff, without being seen?
We could perhaps do some reconnaissance.”
“The only way would be using the cover of darkness then go out the back, across to Lottie’s barn and down the bluff through the forest on the other side of her barn.
We could actually follow behind Lottie on her nightly rounds.
They have to have gotten used to the noise she makes by now and won’t notice our movements.”
“We’ll try it tonight, if the moon isn’t too bright.
Agreed?”
“Agreed,” said Jenala.
*****
Mining was hard, back breaking work, when you were doing it all by hand.
You drilled a bit, then shoveled the rocks, then drilled some more.
Once the cart was full it was taken to the front of the mine and sifted, checking for kalcion nuggets or flakes.
They worked side by side all day, with very little to show for it.
A couple of minor cracks yielded enough ore to buy a day or two supplies.
The only other thing they had to show for their effort were sore, tired bodies.
Often, where there was kalcion there were hot springs.
That was what got her father set on mining this particular area.
Jenala’s father built a room above the hot springs that ran through the bluff.
“I’m done,” said Jenala, putting down her shovel.
“I can’t do anymore today and I’m not working tomorrow.
We need to rest.
Both of us have been working nonstop for two weeks.”
“I couldn’t agree more.
Why don’t you show me your valley tomorrow?
Who knows we may get lucky and run into Zlaten.
I’d be glad to get this all over with.”
“Yes, then you wouldn’t have to stay all winter.”
“Oh, I intend to stay the winter.
That was our agreement and whether or not I‘m lucky enough to kill Zlaten before then, I intend to stay.”
“Thank you.
I can certainly use the help.
And the company.
Are you ready to check my seams?”
“Yes, let’s go.”
Jenala removed her shirt and started on the bandage.
They’d changed it every third day and it was healing well.
Santro cleaned her back and then rewrapped it every time.
“Put your arms out to your sides and let me remove the bindings.
You would think,” he scolded, “after the number of times we have done this you would stop trying to unbind yourself.
You know you can’t do it.”
“One of these times I’m going to be able to do it.
I’m stubborn that way.
I keep after something until I master it.”
“Well, this you will not master, because you have been bound for the last time.
Let me clean your back to make sure.”
There was no dining room just a table and four chairs in the kitchen.
She sat backwards in one of the kitchen chairs leaning forward with her arms wrapped around the back of the chair.
Santro sat behind her and cleaned her wound.
She was complaining of itching, a sure sign of healing.
Every time he’d cleaned her back, Santro was torn between fury at Zlaten for his cowardly wounding of her and his own sexual excitement seeing and touching her breasts when he bound them.
He admired her.
Her mother had died when she was just five.
Raised by her father, she’d become like a son to him rather than a daughter.
She fought like a man, worked in the mine like a man and had no modesty, like a man.
She drove him crazy…just like a woman.
“Would you like to join me in the steam room above the hot spring?”
“Yes.”
He’d thought it was a great idea until he saw her in there wrapped in only a short towel.
He wore a robe and was now clutching the towel he’d brought in front of him, as his body responded to the sight of her.
Damn!
She didn’t have a modest bone in her body and didn’t have a clue how she affected him.
Actually, she was wearing a towel.
He thought that was a consideration on her part, until she dropped it before entering the pool.
“Come in.
The water is wonderful.”
She flipped onto her back and floated in the steamy water.
“Do you have any idea how awful it is not to be able to bathe for two weeks?
I
was
starting to smell like Lottie.”
She laughed heartily at her jest.
Santro managed not to gawk.
She stayed on her back.
All of her glorious body displayed, not for his pleasure, but for her comfort.
He tried to remember she was his partner, he’d seen her topless on numerous occasions when he changed her bandages.
This wasn’t much different.
Ha!
Who was he trying to fool?
It was totally different.
There was nothing medicinal about his thoughts now.
He wasn’t doctoring her, trying to cause her as little pain as possible.
Mesmerized, he watched her play.
Swimming backwards, diving under and coming up on the far side of the pool, her glorious red hair a shimmering cloak about her.
“Santro.
Santro are you listening to me?
Come in the water.
It will ease your muscles and make you feel better.”
He carefully weighed his options and turned around to leave the room.
She was too much temptation for the best of men and at that point in time, he was definitely not the best of men.
“Where are you going?”
“I, uh, remembered something I must do before our foray tonight.”
He wasn’t lying.
He had to get his wayward body under control.
“Oh, all right.
I’ll be out shortly.
Lottie will be ready for her tequati and will be heading for the river.”
That night they carried out their reconnaissance mission.
They followed Lottie down to the river as she made her nightly journey to forage for food.
They found Zlaten’s camp easily.
If he’d been trying to hide it, he failed miserably.
There were two men at camp.
Zlaten was not one of them.
Santro assumed he was doing his own recon of their house.
They would know soon enough if he tried to breech the house defenses.