Desert World Allegiances by Lyn Gala

Author:Lyn Gala [Gala, Lyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi

Chapter 14

THE Kelligan farm had long rows of verdant corn, rising from the ground, like wisps of grass in the shade of the darker amaranth, with their broad leaves. The cliff face offered very little shelter here, and there was a long strip of gravel where the rock met the fields. A few tiny pipe trap plants had thrown up pale leaves through the gravel and sand, but otherwise the strip was as barren as a moon. They had to run from one boulder to another as they tried to get closer to the farm where Naite was working… hopefully. Temar still thought this was a bad idea, but he didn’t have a better one.

“I could—” Shan started to say.

“No.” Temar crouched down so his nightshirt would cover more. He knew exactly what Shan was offering, but he would wait until they had a knife sharp enough for him to cut the rope himself. He didn’t need any more pity out of Shan. And if Shan saw the belt marks on his back and ass, pity would fill those dark eyes.

Shan sighed, but he didn’t say anything else. He leaned back against the boulder and pulled a pale pipe-trap leaf up. The plant was so young that it hadn’t yet developed its underground trap or started producing poison, so only a long, thin root came up with it. Shan started twisting it into knots.

So far, no one seemed to be searching the valley, but Temar had to fight an urge to just flee at top speed. Or, since he didn’t have shoes, flee slowly by picking his way over the rocks. When the council arrested someone, they always took a person’s shoes, and after a day of trying to cover the two miles between the cave where they’d spent the night and this far edge of the Kelligan farm, Temar understood why. The lack of shoes was a larger handicap than his bound hands.

Actually, he was starting to regret not taking Shan up on an offer to share his shoes, each wearing them for part of the day. However, once Temar had turned down the offer, he couldn’t bring himself to tell Shan he’d changed his mind. Temar rocked forward onto his toes to take his weight off his left heel, with its deep bruise. Maybe his pride needed to take a backseat to his abused feet. “If Naite doesn’t come out here—”

“Then he’s not working this farm,” Shan said firmly. “He walks the perimeter every night. It’s a ritual with him, as important to him as communion.”

Temar leaned against the warm boulder. His heel was slowly throbbing. Temar could really not imagine why anyone would walk the perimeter of a farm unless he had a slave owner standing behind him, making him. After working next to Ben and seeing how much workers had to do on a farm running at full production—something Temar’s farm had never done—Temar couldn’t imagine anything other than collapsing in exhaustion when the work was over.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.