See Prologue (A) for Disclaimers

Chapter One

The Mydlands were a complex place.  Mountains to the west, broad plains to the north, dense forests to the east and most of the south.  The land stretched out for thousands of leagues, habitats for a hundred tribes or more.  And yet, that vast stretch of land had one thing in common: the Terrons.  One tribe that existed for the sole purpose of making everyone else miserable.

They were ruthless, renowned as butchers and thieves, taking pleasure from the wholesale slaughter of tribes who stood in their nominal way.  Such had been the fate of the Kintiri, the Pylwen, and most recently, the Sula.  Of those three tribes, each numbering over a hundred, only five people had survived.  From the Kintiri, there had been one woman, from the Pylwen two, from the Sula a woman and a man.  Of those five, only one was free: Dar, known as the BeastMaster.

Zad, self-named king of the Terrons, was very eager to get his hands on that young man, both for his abilities and his life.  But there were others who dared Zad's wrath and the ruthlessness of the Terron punishment for runaway slaves.  One of them was Tao, a young Eiron who had escaped with the BeastMaster's aid and journeyed with him.  The other was the young woman who was slowly making her way across a shallow river-bank fifteen leagues from the Terron camp.  Her name was Miren.  She had been a slave of the Terrons since birth, the rape-born child of the only Kintiri to live through the Terron attack on that tribe.  That was the meaning of the name her mother had given her: "survivor."

Miren was pretty in a subtle way that, after the first six years of her childhood, was more often than not disguised by the harsh lines that pain and the utter absence of hope provided her young face.  She inherited her mother's slender frame and the fey look of her large eyes, but her coloring of fair skin, brown hair and dark blue-gray eyes came from her unclaimed father.  That same sire provided no protection from the attentions of the Terron warriors who "shared" the slaves.  She was small and slight, an easy target for the warriors who liked to play rough games.  She learned quickly to not fight -- that took the fun out of it.  But that did not stop the men or their interest.  Beauty was not of importance to a Terron when it came to a pleasure slave: all they required was a body, preferably unwilling, be it young or old, sometimes even were it male or female.

Miren had lived up to the meaning of her name for eighteen years before the day she discovered she herself was with child, and she continued to live up to it for the past two months since she ran from the camp.  Her child would not share the fate of the other Terron children, that much she had decided from the first instant of discovery.  It took her two weeks after that day to plan her escape, not daring to share her hopes with anyone, but she waited until she was in the fourth month of her pregnancy.  At that point, it was obvious to everyone that the slender girl was with child, and no one would expect such a quiet girl that far along in her pregnancy to run away.

The fiasco of Zad's attempt to steal the last unicorns of the realm provided the perfect cover for her escape.  She ran in the middle of the great Sorceress' fury-induced storm, before the BeastMaster arrived to free the mystical creatures.  A month later found her far from the false trail she had laid, and the second month hopefully clear of pursuit.  She had taken the more difficult path of the mountains, having laid a trail into the forest, knowing the fact of her pregnancy would have been relayed to the men.  If luck was with her, the warriors Zad sent after her would assume she couldn't travel far and focus their attention on a smaller distance.

Unfortunately, living in the Terron camp, while it had toughened her against almost anything that might come her way, had not taught her of the single-mindedness of Zad's warriors when they were set to a task.  Zad thought little of women; to have one attempt escape was bad enough, but for that escape to have been successful -- and for it to be a chit of a pregnant girl -- was unacceptable.  Honor and fury demanded that he find her, bring her back, and make her an example.  Those were his men's orders, along with the threat of suffering a fate similar to the one planned for Miren if they failed to catch her.

Sharak, the great black eagle spiraling high over the area, knew nothing of Miren's story.  All he saw was a lone woman fording a shallow river, and the glint of metal weapons from the group of recognizably Terron warriors approaching from the western edge of the woods, unseen by her.  If Sharak had still had his human form, he would have frowned.  His friends were a short distance away on the same side of the river, but a ways higher in the woods.  He didn't know about Tao, but Dar and the tiger Ruh could reach the woman quickly.  None of them liked the Terrons or what the tribe did to women.  Sharak let out a short cry, hoping to catch the woman's attention so she would see the Terrons as well, then  reached for Dar's mind.

As always, it was a unique experience, like touching the surface of warm, sunlit waters.  Dar's thoughts slid just below the surface, and the water reflected the images and thoughts Sharak sent to the human.   Terrons at the western edge, he added as he showed Dar the traveler from his vantage-point.   They'll reach her as she comes out of the water.

He felt Dar's surprise, concern, and assent.   We're on our way.  Ruh will get there first.  Help distract them?

Sharak chuckled on the surface of Dar's mind.   I rather think Ruh is far more capable of a distraction, but I will do what I can.

He felt Dar's amusement, then shut off the connection between them.  He angled his flight down towards the river.  The woman had glanced up at his cry, but missed the warriors.  She caught sight of them just as she reached the shore.  As soon as she saw them, she turned and started back the way she had come, but the warriors rushed down too quickly.  One of them reached her, splashing through the water to grab her arm.  He tried to grab about her waist, but she struggled fiercely, knocking an elbow into his face.

The warrior fell back and Sharak silently cheered her.  But another warrior had reached the river as well, and the delay was long enough for him to reach her.  A vicious backhand across her jaw knocked the woman off her feet.  The second warrior grabbed her, joined by the first in dragging her out of the water.  Sharak gave a scream of anger and sent an urgent message to Dar.

~*~*~*~

Miren fought with everything she had, but the grip of those hands were too strong.  She screamed in absolute fury and denial, but Joris backhanded her again.  She went down onto her knees, only Likar's grip on her keeping her from hitting the ground completely.  So close . . . she had been so damned  close.  Tears gathered in her eyes, from anger as well as the pain of the river rocks that ground into her knees.

Kres approached them almost lazily, grinning at her.  "Well, well," he oozed.  "Look what we have here.  The little slave girl who thought herself smarter than us."

Miren glared at him.  "It took you two months to find me, Kres," she reminded him, firmly pushing back memories of what he liked to do to his pleasure slaves.  "What does that tell you about the accuracy of what I thought?"

Kres smiled, stepped up close, and grabbed a fistful of her hair to drag her back to her feet.  Miren refused to cry out as he pulled her up.  He smiled down into her face.  "But we did find you.  King Zad will be most pleased.  He was not very happy about you running away."  He tightened his hold on her hair, pulling on the long strands cruelly.  "No one runs away from the Terrons."

Miren didn't look away.  "I will die before I go back," she whispered fiercely.

Kres laughed.  "No, little one.  You'll die  after you go back.  Eventually."

"So I'll die as I have lived.  You think I'm afraid of that?"

Kres' smile grew brighter.  "Oh, I'm sure that will be part of it, but that's hardly making an example of you.  No, King Zad has new ideas.  He's been wanting to see if certain . . . stories . . . are true about the possibilities of what a woman's body can handle in mating."  His eyes gleamed with anticipation and something terribly far from madness as he added, "And he has a new stallion he'd like to put to the purpose."

Miren paled but refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing her fear.  "Someday, Kres, someone will repay the Terrons for everything they've done."

Kres and the other three warriors laughed.  "Like who?" Kres asked.  "The BeastMaster? We'll find him too.  And no matter what happens, little girl, no one's going to save  you."

As if in answer to that bold statement a low growl echoed off the rocks.  The group turned as one to see a very large, very angry tiger standing a frighteningly short distance away.  The men paled slightly, but Kres kept hold of Miren's hair as he nodded at his subordinates.  "So we get two gifts for King Zad," the leader of the Terron group smiled.  "This is a fine day indeed."

The other three men spread out slightly, taking out their swords as they moved to encircle the great beast.  Miren's eyes narrowed slightly as she took in not only the tiger, but the eagle that screamed and began a rapid dive towards Joris.

As the warrior let out a shout and tried to bat away the dangerous talons that were searching for exposed human flesh, Miren's eyes went to the forest behind the tiger.  A suspicion was forming in her mind, but she was almost afraid to hope that her defense by such a pair of beasts was more than coincidence.  One of the Terrons, Likar, was beginning to creep nearer to the trees, his back to the forest.  Miren smiled as a figure appeared from within the woods.

~*~*~*~

Ruh was angry.  Dar could sense that through the bond, but the reason wasn't clear until the tiger showed him the layout of the scene before him.  Four Terrons surrounding a lone woman, one of them with his hand wrapped tight in her long, dark hair.  The woman was at least six months pregnant.  Dar felt the burn of anger start in his own mind and sped up his pace.  Tao was already several yards behind, but both he and the scholar knew that was for the best.  While Tao was learning to defend himself, he still was no real use to Dar in a fight, especially when the safety of a third person was at stake.

Ruh was distracting the Terrons, drawing three of the men towards him and angling them to have their backs to the forest.  Sharak was aiding him by attacking one of the warriors, driving the man to the ground as the Terron tried to fend off Sharak's powerful talons.  Dar smiled as he slipped between two massive trees, as silent in his approach as Ruh himself had been.  Before the Terron in front of him could even turn around, Dar's staff whipped out, blunt end sweeping down to crash against the other man's skull.  It was an easy blow, no great skill required, but Dar wasn't interested in showing off his prowess -- he wanted to take down the second Terron and then get the last one the hell away from that woman.

The first task was accomplished easily, with a minimum of energy expended as he knocked the man's sword away with the flat of the staff's honed blade then let momentum carry the blunt end up and into the Terron's jaw.  The man went down with a satisfying  thud.  Sharak swooped back up into the sky, leaving his own target for Dar to finish off with a quick blow to the head.  That done, Dar spun the staff to a ready position behind his shoulder and turned his attention to the last Terron.

"The BeastMaster," the man growled.

Dar smiled, his expression dangerously pleasant.  In the forest behind him, he could hear Tao running towards them, not nearly as silent as his friend.  "You are far from your camp, Terron."

The man glared at him, his stupidity keeping him from feeling fear.  "Just picking up something we lost."

Dar looked at the woman and realized with a start that she was little more than a girl.  Her frame was too slender despite her pregnancy, and her eyes were wide with fear; Dar's anger grew proportionately.  "I think she'd prefer to stay lost," he observed.  He managed to keep hold of his temper, but it was no easy task.  "I suggest you leave her here, now.  Before Ruh over there decides to have you as dessert."

The Terron glanced over at the tiger, who was quite calmly settling his jaws around the throat of one downed adversary.  While Dar might not prefer killing, Ruh saw no sense in letting an enemy walk away.  The Terron holding the girl swallowed hard, but still looked defiant.  "What is she to you, BeastMaster?"

"Just a girl."

The Terron started to reply, but the girl in question moved.  With a speed belied by her rounded belly, she slipped a dagger of sharpened bone out of a fold of her dress and turned, extending her arm to slash up and sideways as she did so.  The result was a startled yell as a long, bloody gash appeared on the tall man's cheek.  He released her hair in his shock at her attack and the pain.

Her turn completed and the girl ducked away from him, slipping slightly on the rocks as she threw herself back towards the river.  Dar smiled in approval.  Given her pregnant state, the buoyancy of the water would provide her a quick and easy way to avoid any violence should the Terron choose to fight.  In this, at least, she knew the Terrons well.

The man tried to grab her as she slid into the river but missed, and turned in anger towards the BeastMaster.  Dar shrugged.  "I told you.  She would prefer to stay lost."

"What belongs to Zad will be returned to Zad!" the Terron growled.

Dar shook his head and easily fended off the warrior's first attack.  "No human belongs to another," he answered.

The Terron laughed.  "We'll see about that."

(continued)

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