Barbarian Prince (16 page)

Beyond that, his situation absolutely horrified her. She’d been appalled
before
she’d considered that it might actually affect her own life, but when Drak appeared to have reversed his earlier decision not to breed her and seemed to dedicate himself to doing just that she began to feel far less confident that it was beyond his ability to impregnate her.

What if a child did result from all the sex they had almost nightly now? What if that child was a boy? Apparently, they had no interest in the females except for breeding and never took the girl children, but she didn’t think she could bear it if she had her son torn from her arms as this child had been torn from his mother. It didn’t matter that Drak seemed to treat him well enough. Children needed
love
! Not to be taught how to be skilled killers!

She didn’t think she could risk such a thing!

But how could she prevent it?

If he did manage to get her pregnant, he would be back in a few years to collect his son if she bore one for him!

Drak hadn’t said she could visit the teller, but he also hadn’t said she couldn’t—and Noelle was careful not to ask in case he forbade it, because she was determined to speak with the man. With her new anxieties over getting pregnant dominating her thoughts, she decided to take the first opportunity to speak to the teller to find out if the things Jules had told her were true or not.

She
needed
to know and with Jules to show her the way, she headed out to the treasure room the first time she had the chance to go alone with Jules and then took the route to the teller instead.

It didn’t take nearly as long to find him as she’d feared.

He had quarters, it transpired, in the lower regions of the castle not too far from the treasure room.

It took Noelle a few moments to realize that the reason the teller seemed to look straight through her was because he couldn’t see at all. She was so stunned and horrified all she could think about at first was how the poor man could even survive without his sight, but she discovered he was actually fairly amazing about finding his way around—at least within his own domain. He welcomed them and offered them seats and refreshment before he settled to talk.

“
You are the woman they call the star-child that Drak has taken as his woman?”

Surprise, an odd sort of happiness, and embarrassment flooded Noelle and vied for dominance. “I’m Noelle,” she responded finally.

The teller nodded as if he’d known that all along. “What is it that you’ve come to me for?”

“
Drak—Prince Drak told me that you were the … uh … keeper of the history of the people. I’d hoped you would tell me.”

“
We were a great people once—star children ourselves,” he responded sadly. “But that was in the before. In the time of the old ones. We are not children of the stars now. We only have the relics of the past to show that we were once great.”

“
What happened?” Noelle asked.

The teller settled himself more comfortably. “The Prince has approved the telling?”

Noelle bit her lip, wrestling with her conscience. She didn’t want to get him in trouble but she was feeling pretty desperate for reassurance. “He didn’t say I couldn’t come. He lets me go most everywhere now and he’s the one that told me about you.”

The teller smiled. “So he didn’t approve.”

“
I didn’t ask him,” Noelle responded a little glumly.

The man chuckled. “I will make the assumption that he would have forbidden a visit if he did not wish you to know—or would not have mentioned me to start with. We will both hope this will not transpire to be something that will displease him.”

He fell silent for several minutes, apparently deciding whether to speak at all or where to begin. “I do not know if our sister world belongs with our family or not,” he said after a brief silence. “I’m not certain even the ancestors knew. I do know that she did not have the place she now claims. Something stirred her and she changed her path and, by doing so, she forced Aiper from the path that he had walked throughout the long history of our people.

“
And destruction followed in her wake. There are no records of how many died, but certainly most did. There was only a handful that was left. When they saw that the world that had all but destroyed our world was a green and fertile jewel, they used the ships that had managed to weather the destruction to carry the women and young to safety. And there they stayed while the men returned to try to salvage what could be recovered of our destroyed civilization.”

Noelle frowned when he stopped, considering everything he’d told her. “That actually makes complete sense. I could see that happening if they were able to get any of the ships going. It would be … sort of like lifeboats or escape pods in a disaster situation, either at sea or in space. To prevent more loss of life among the weak, they would have wanted to take the old and young to a safe place and they would’ve needed the women to nurture the sick and the young. My people would have done that.” Her frown returned. “What confuses me is why it’s still that way. I mean, I got the impression from things I’ve heard that this happened a very long time ago—beyond living memory. Even beyond the memory of the grandparents of the people alive now.”

The teller looked both confused and sad. “Alas, there are almost as many tales of why and how that came about as there were survivors of those times.” He shrugged. “I assume there is some truth to pretty much all of them, as well. It wasn’t one thing that brought it about unless one counts the great cataclysm as that single thing. And that certainly set events in motion.

“
One tale was that it was so long before the men returned everyone on the sister world had made a new life without them and refused to return. There was even a tale that they warred over it—that may or may not have happened.

“
It is true, however, that for a time no attempt was made to connect with the people of that world and then, after many of the women who’d elected to stay here with their men died from illness or injury or just the hard life, the men decided to take what they needed and they began to raid.

“
They are well aware, however, that this is no life for the very young and the weak. They take them back come spring when they’re certain they have impregnated the women and the children are born on K’naiper.”

He hesitated. “Well, mostly that is the way of things now. Drak the Dark broke with that tradition, but it ended very badly and I think it unlikely anyone would consider trying it again.” He sighed. “I do not even have a son to pass my tales to. I was blinded in my first battle and I’ve never had the chance to breed a son. When I die, there will be none to carry on the history … and none to care, I don’t suppose. Almost no one comes to listen anymore.”

“
I come!” Jules piped up for the first time. He frowned. “I would remember your stories for you, but I’ve decided that I want to learn about the machines with Noelle.” He smiled after a moment. “Maybe I could do both?”

“
Or maybe we could find a recording machine among the treasures and get it working?” Noelle suggested. “I saw something that made me think it might be that. And if it is and he recorded his stories then they would never be lost as long as the recordings were protected. And we could make many copies and keep them in different places to make sure they’d be safe.”

They left then and headed to the vault to search although Noelle was intrigued by the last comments the teller had made. She was certain he must have been talking about Drak’s father or maybe his grandfather, but she itched to hear what it was all about … because it was Drak’s personal history, she was sure. And it might help her to understand him better.

She was vastly relieved when they managed to make it back to the vault without anyone, apparently, realizing that there had been a good hour delay between the time she’d left the Prince’s suite and the time she’d arrived to work on the treasures.

She wrestled, briefly, with her conscience over trying to pry into the Prince’s personal business, or considering trying, but once her imagination had been fired with the possibility of learning about his past she couldn’t put the fire out.

She wasn’t even sure of why it seemed so vital to her. She’d learned what she needed to, discovered that what little Jules had told her was absolutely true. The men brought the women here to breed them and once they had they returned them and waited until their sons were old enough to be trained in war and then they took them.

No way in hell was she going to let that happen to her son!

Supposing she got pregnant and supposing she had a son.

They were definitely male prejudicial—firmly entrenched in the belief that only men could do certain things.

Women just weren’t equipped to do them!

She was just surprised he’d allowed her into his precious treasure room to touch his precious mechanical treasures!

And to taint the young men he’d sent to learn from her with knowledge learned from a female!

Unfortunately, although she had a clear enough picture now to realize that she didn’t want to chance getting pregnant by the Prince even if it was possible, there didn’t seem to be anything she could do about it. According to the teller, they returned their brood mares in the spring and she had a bad feeling that that was still months away—with lots of opportunities for Drak to breed her if he was of a mind to.

And he certainly didn’t seem to be against the idea!

Nearly a week passed before she got another opportunity to visit the teller and had an excuse to make it seem reasonable.

“
We found a recorder!” Jules announced before Noelle could, having led the way.

The man seemed shocked but excited. “You did? And it’s working?”

Noelle and Jules exchanged an unhappy glanced. “Not at the moment,” Noelle answered, “but it’s actually in surprisingly good shape. I’m fairly confident that I can get it to work. I just hope I can locate the recording medium.”

The teller frowned. “I don’t think I understand.”

Noelle considered it, but she didn’t know what the device was called by the people who’d built it or the recording medium either. “Imagine it as the device being the pen that records words to the book. The medium it would record on would be the history books of the people of Aiper.”

The teller looked vastly disappointed although he tried hard to look hopeful. “Oh. What are the chances, you think, of being able to locate a book to record on?”

“
Well, there’s one in it. I just don’t know if it’s still any good or if it’s already used. So I at least think I know what it looks like … which will help. And the one that’s in it might have valuable information on it—or it might be blank and ready to record. Or it’s possible that we would be able to record on it even if it has been used if the information isn’t important enough to save.”

He nodded and offered them refreshment as he had before. “Will you stay a bit? Or did you only come to give me good news?” he asked, smiling.

His voice was even but there was a wistful note that made Noelle feel guilty for seeking him out for her own ends.

Of course, she was giving him company—which he clearly missed having—and Jules was, but she still felt bad about her motives.

“
I wanted to ask you about something you mentioned when we came before.”

“
Yes?”

“
You said that Drak the Dark broke the tradition of impregnating the women and returning them to the sister world?”

The teller shifted uncomfortably. “This would not be something that the Prince—Prince Drak the Fair—would like us to discuss.”

Disappointment turned Noelle’s hopes to bitter ashes. She heaved a great sigh of disappointment. “Oh. Well, I certainly don’t want to take a chance on getting you into trouble.” She hesitated. “This Drak the Dark was the Prince’s father?”

“
Yes. His father.” He was silent for several moments, but when Noelle started to rise and make her excuses and leave he spoke again. “It was a great tragedy and preventable if he hadn’t broke with tradition.

“
There are reasons for the traditions! And refusing to honor age old traditions is just asking for trouble! That’s what his advisors told him, anyway, and considering the way things turned out …. The advisors didn’t lose their heads for pointing that out to the Prince, but it was a near thing.

“
It was whispered that he was enamored of her—although not everyone believed that, but for whatever reason he decided to keep his woman until she delivered his son—his heir. He ignored his advisors when they pointed out that it was always possible to determine his seed from the others—a Flaxen
always
knew his offspring by scent—knew the scent of the woman he’d impregnated. Even if it transpired that the child favored his mother in appearance rather than his father—a rare thing!—a man would know his offspring by scent!”

The teller made a sound of disgust. “Pure myth—or balderdash, whichever way you want to describe it. This is a tale men have made up over the centuries because they want to believe that its true. Despite the myths, however, a man does
not
always know his child—sometimes, yes, but there is no absolute certainty except when the child looks like a copy of the father. It rarely matters, however, and that is why most men are content to adhere to the centuries old tradition. Unless a man has valuable possessions or property that he wants to ensure is passed to his son, there’s no reason to be particularly concerned about whether the child actually belongs to them or not.”