Chapter Fourteen

     Vierig watched from his perch high in the hills above Dolph's camp
as the silver-haired beauty leaned over to speak to the old warrior cooking
breakfast.  His field glasses gave him a close-up view of anything he wished
to see, and right now he very much wanted to observe Dolph's little Star. 
When she threw back her head and laughed, the open collar of her jumpsuit
revealing a great deal of her firm assets, Vierig felt the blood explode into
his loins.  A look of surprise fleeted across his hard features.  He hadn't
been aware that his desire for the wench had grown so fierce.
     He shifted his position, relieving some of the tension in his loins,
and scanned the camp for his old friend.  Vierig's lips tightened into a
menacing line as Dolph emerged from his tent.  Looking about for his lady,
the blonde warrior moved to stand beside her, wrapping his muscular arm
possessively around her shoulders.  They gazed into each other's eyes with a
look...Vierig released the field glasses and let them drop to the end of the
cord around his neck.  So, Dolph had given his heart to the girl.  And she
appeared to feel the same about him.  Vierig snarled.  Women were fickle. 
Their hearts went where the most comforts were to be had.
     Rubbing his black-bearded chin between his thumb and curled
forefinger, he considered this new information.  Was there a way to use
Dolph's softened heart against him to turn the tide of the battle in Vierig's
favor?  Perhaps.  He chuckled deep in his throat, a sound not unlike a
growl.  How amusing it would be if the whole course of this battle hinged
on the silver-haired vixen.  Vierig rubbed a hand over his swollen crotch,
sucking a breath through clenched teeth as he squeezed in an attempt to
relieve some of the ache in his loins.  He had desired the wench since she
had blundered into him in Dolph's camp, wanted to taste her, to hear her
soft cries of pleasure, or pain, depending on what mood he was in at the
time.  Now, he wanted her as much to hurt Dolph as to feel her soft body
yield to him.  And Vierig always got what he wanted.
     The dark Viking warrior scanned the countryside, looking for
inspiration.  There had to be a way to get Star away from the protective
web that he was certain Dolph would have woven around her.  Vierig's
perfect teeth gleamed white in the bright morning sun as he spied the
answer he was sure the gods had delivered to him, and a devious plan took
shape in his mind.  He lifted his clenched fist to the sky and silently made
his vow to Odin:  By nightfall, Star would be his!
                      * * *
     Breakfast was finished, the tent was clean, it was too early for
school or starting dinner.  Candy sat on the bed and watched Silky preen
himself with a total lack of enthusiasm.  It was so hot!  She had opened her
jumpsuit as far as decency - hers not the Vikings', they had none - would
allow.  Still the sweat trickled down the valley between her breasts and
settled beneath them.  When she looked down and saw Silky panting she
decided she'd had enough.
     "Come on, little guy, we're gonna get some air."
     As Candy reached for the handle, Silky obligingly hopped into his
little cage.  She closed the door for his safety, and, if she were honest, her
own piece of mind, and went outside.  Sitting in the shade of one of the few
trees that dotted the countryside, she watched as the warrior whose job it
was to baby-sit her today cleaned and oiled his sword.  That was fascinating
for about two minutes.  Candy sighed and leaned over to speak into the little
wire cage.
     "Oh, Silky, this place is so boring.  Lord, isn't anything exciting ever
going to happen to me again?"
     As if in answer to her prayers, her guardian warrior stood, tilting his
head and craning his neck toward something, as if he were listening.  Candy
couldn't hear anything.  Wait.  There was something.  It sounded like a fast,
deep heartbeat.  Her guard turned to her and pointed his index finger in her
direction, the classic you-will-obey-me-without-question gesture that never
failed to make her grind her teeth.
     "Return to the tent.  I'll go see what's happening."
     Fully expecting his order to be followed immediately, the warrior
headed toward the center of camp.  Candy decided she was comfortable
right where she was, the idea of returning to that hot stuffy tent nearly
nauseating her, so she leaned back on her hands and waited, figuring
nothing was really wrong.
     That notion lasted about two minutes, until the noise grew louder,
becoming a pounding beneath her hands.  It felt as though the planet had
suddenly developed a heartbeat.  Silky began mewing nervously.  Candy
was about to open the cage when Kirk came to a dust-kicking halt in front
of her.  He grabbed Silky's cage in one hand and her arm in the other and
pulled her to her feet.  Naturally, Candy resisted such treatment.
     "What's the matter, what's going on?"
     Kirk started running and if she wanted to keep her arm Candy didn't
have much choice but to go with him.  He yelled to her as he ran.
     "Something is coming toward camp, fast!  We must find some kind
of shelter."
     Candy wasn't exactly clear on what was happening yet.  Something
coming toward camp?  What?  Visions of an old western she had seen on
TV when she was a kid suddenly entered her head.  There had been a cattle
stampede and people had run for cover.  Some hadn't made it, and her
young mind had painted visions of trampled, mashed bodies that had given
her nightmares for weeks.  She grimaced and poured on more speed.  She
did not plan to end her days under some rabid spacecow's hooves.
     It seemed as though they had been running for hours.  Candy's legs
were about to give out.  She had lost track of everything but Kirk.  Her
driving force was to keep up with him and stay alive.  The pounding of
unknown hooves was becoming louder and louder.  She was certain that if
she turned around, she would see the crazed red eyes of some hideous
creature.  She even imagined that she could feel its hot breath across the
backs of her legs.
     Kirk suddenly jerked her to the side, nearly dislocating her shoulder
in the process.  He flung her behind a fallen tree and tucked her beneath his
body just as the crazed herd of large horse-like animals caught up with
them.  The beasts jumped over the log, tearing on by in a fear-fueled
frenzy, their hooves mere inches from Kirk's head.
     When Candy thought she couldn't take it any longer, the thunder
began to subside.  Kirk raised his head to see if the danger had completely
passed.  The sight that greeted his eyes was the one he had dreaded since
Dolph had returned from that last fateful journey with his old friend: 
Vierig.  The black-armored Viking stood on the other side of the log,
holding the reins of one of the great beasts that had nearly run them down.
     Kirk jumped to his feet, prepared to sacrifice his life, if necessary, to
protect Star.  Vierig arched one jet-black eyebrow and lifted one corner of
his mouth in sinister amusement.  With a sinking heart, Kirk expanded his
vision to include the dozen or more mounted warriors that surrounded
them.  He clenched his fists and crouched in a fighter's stance over Star. 
His young voice cracked as he yelled in defiance.
     "Vierig, you cowardly cur, come and get me, if you think you can!"
     Vierig smiled and looked around at his men, shaking his head.  He
stuck one finger in his ear and twisted his hand.
     "I'm a sword's length from you, boy, there's no need to yell."
     Candy chose then to stand up.  It had taken her a minute to get her
wits about her, and another to realize what Kirk had said.  She wasn't sure
she had heard him correctly until she heard that self-satisfied cat's purr of a
voice.  She could never forget that voice.  Vierig!
     When Star rose and stood before him, Vierig felt a rush of victory
that nearly undid him.  By the gods, the vixen was even more beautiful than
he remembered.  The defiance in her eyes was enough to heat a man's
blood.  She faced him with no fear in her lovely face, her creamy breasts
straining the opening of her jumpsuit, her hands planted on her hips in
anger.
     "Don't you people have any rules?  That was our camp you just
trashed, and you probably scared several of those poor...whatevers...to
death!"
     Vierig paid close attention to her face as he slowly slid his golden
sword from the leather loop at his side.  She dropped her gaze to the sword,
then her blue eyes flew up to lock with his lethal black orbs.  Vierig rolled
his shoulders, expanding his chest, and felt his blood sing as he saw fear,
the source of all power, finally enter her expressive eyes.
     Kirk pushed Star behind him, shielding her from Vierig.  Candy
picked up Silky's cage, the frightened mewing coming from inside
reassuring her that the little feline was okay.  She pressed the wire cell close
to her chest, wondering if the cavalry was going to make it in time to save
the damsel in distress.  She didn't think so.
     Candy looked around at the battle-hardened, leering faces of
Vierig's men.  For the first time since Dolph had appeared on that
California road to kidnap her into this insanity, she felt true fear.  It was that
fear that made her determined to figure a way out of this predicament.  As
she looked over Kirk's shoulder at the man who held their lives in his hands,
a thought struck her.  If Vierig had been Dolph's friend once, maybe she
could find a tiny thread of that lost friendship and weave their way out of
this alive.
     Vierig stepped forward, his sword pointed at Kirk's chest.  The boy
hit at the sword with his hand, unwilling to make battle maneuvers so close
to Star.  Vierig laughed and thrust at Kirk's mid-section, anticipating,
correctly, that the boy would use the same defensive move.  At the last
minute he twisted the sword so that it slashed the boy's palm.  Kirk pulled
his wounded hand to his chest and took an involuntary step backward.
     Star moved around Kirk and jumped over the log so quickly that
Vierig had to lower his sword to his side to keep from slicing her.  She
stood in front of him, her hands up in a supplicating gesture.
     "Vierig, please don't kill him.  It might devastate Dolph, but it
wouldn't win you any points with your warriors.  I may not know much
about you guys, but I do know that you abhor cowards.  In my book, a
warrior who cuts down a kid without a sword is a coward.  Besides, what
fun would it be to skewer him?"
     Vierig tilted his head to one side, raising one eyebrow and lifting the
corners of his mouth in a smile of sarcasm.  Candy continued, using her last
weapon.
     "Please, Vierig, if you ever cared about Dolph, don't kill his little
brother."
     Vierig watched and listened as Star made her impassioned plea for
the boy's life.  When he felt something dangerously akin to sympathy enter
his heart, he brought visions of his own blood on the enemies hands to his
mind and quickly squelched it.  His features hardening, he realized that
achieving his desire where Star was concerned was going to be pitifully
easy.
     "Very well, Star, I will let the boy go..."
     Candy smiled gratefully, but as Vierig continued, she dropped her
gaze to the ground, fear and anger warring inside her mind.
     "...if you will accompany me to my camp and remain with me for
one week.  This war will end within that week, Beauty, and it would be a
shame for you to be in the enemy camp when it is taken.  Lovely as you
are, you might be ill-used many times before I could control my men.  I
would protect you from that."
     There were several throaty chuckles from the warriors who still held
them within a circle of stomping, nervous animals.  Candy swallowed hard,
unsure what to say.  She couldn't let him kill Kirk.  But there was no doubt
in her mind what would happen to her in Vierig's camp.
     Her thoughts had her wound so tightly that she started when Vierig
touched his fingertip to her chin and raised it so their eyes met.  Candy
couldn't read what she saw there, and that frightened her even more.  What
was going on in this man's mind?
     Shifting his sword so that the sun glinted off its golden surface into
Star's sapphire eyes, Vierig pressed.
     "Well, Star, does the boy live?"
     Pulling her bottom lip between her teeth, Candy nodded.  She
jumped back as Vierig raised his sword to the sky and yelled, his face the
mask of the victorious warrior.
     With a cry of, "No!" Kirk stepped over the log only to take Vierig's
fist square on the jaw.  Unconscious, the boy never heard Star call out to
him.  He slumped to the ground, a tiny trickle of blood coloring one corner
of his mouth.
     Star turned on Vierig, slapping him hard across the face before he
could discern her intent.  Ebony black met flashing sapphire, warrior's
temper clashed with woman's outrage.
     "Why did you do that?  You said you wouldn't hurt him if I went
with you."
     Vierig grabbed her wrists and pulled them behind her back, bringing
her flush against his hard, black body-armor.  He imagined how she would
feel pressed so with flesh against flesh.  The thought cooled his temper
somewhat, even as it fired his lust.  Glaring down into her angry face, he
spoke quietly.
     "I said that I would not kill him.  A man can lose a great deal
without losing his life, Beauty."
     Star's eyes flew wide open and Vierig knew that Dolph had told her
of his torture.  His smile was truly evil, lighting the depths of his hard, cold
eyes with sinister glee.  Star shook her head and tried to pull away but he
held her fast, enjoying the feel of her small hands pushing on his chest,
gauging her strength.  And her weakness.  He chuckled deep in his throat. 
Since the gods had been so kind as to give him the boy, he might as well
make use of him one last time.
     "If you wish me to leave the boy unharmed, Beauty, convince me. 
Give your lips to me with the passion of your anger and the boy lays as he
is.  If you refuse, I shall have to amuse myself in some other way."
     Candy looked at Kirk lying there so helpless, with nothing between
him and this madman's torture but her.  Narrowing her eyes, she glared
viciously into Vierig's face.  She slid her hands around his neck, tangling
them in the black hair that feathered down his back nearly to his waist, and
pulled his face down.  Swallowing back the urge to gag, she brought his lips
to her own.
     As soon as their lips met, Star lost control of the kiss.  Vierig took
her head in his large hands and held her still, grinding his lips against hers. 
He turned her head so that he could reach any part of her that he wanted. 
He forcefully pushed his tongue against her teeth until she had no choice
but to open her mouth and allow him entry.  He moved his tongue about in
her mouth, as he slid his lips back and forth across her lips.  When Candy
decided she'd had enough, she nipped at his tongue.  He chuckled, the
sound vibrating through his tongue and into her mouth, then withdrew his
tongue.  Just as Candy thought the ordeal over, Vierig sucked her bottom
lip into his mouth and Candy remembered how he had bitten her the first
time he had kissed her in Dolph's camp.  She stiffened, waiting for the pain. 
Vierig's teeth grazed her ever so lightly, sending involuntary shivers down
her spine.  He raised his head and gazed into her eyes, his expression so
ablaze with lust, Candy wondered how he was still standing.
     "If you ever strike me again, Beauty, be sure to kill me.  If you do
not, I will make you suffer the tortures of Hell before I allow you to die."
     Candy gasped as he swung her into his arms and placed her on the
back of the horse-beast he had been riding.  She wrapped her fingers in the
prancing animal's mane, visions of broken bones dancing in her head. 
Vierig held the reins as he gave orders to his men to return to camp.  Candy
gave a sigh of relief as she realized that Vierig was going to keep his word
and leave Kirk alone.
     Vierig jumped onto the 'horse', for lack of a better word, behind her
and wrapped his arms around her, protecting and caging at the same time. 
With one last look at the unconscious boy and Silky's little cage lying by the
log, Candy took a deep breath and forced herself not to cry.  Would she
ever see them, or Dolph, again?  Disgusted with herself for such weak
thoughts, Candy stiffened her back and made a promise to herself:  She was
going to make it out of this and back to Dolph, come Hell or high water!