Chapter Fifteen

     The sight that met Dolph when he returned to camp that evening
turned his blood cold.  Debris from their camp littered the countryside.  Of
the twenty men that he had left to guard the camp, three were still standing. 
The bodies of four lay in the center of camp, victims of the stampeding
animals that had destroyed everything in their path in their panic to evade
Vierig's ground-aimed blasts.  The rest had not returned to camp as yet. 
Who knew how far they might have had to run to get out of harm's way?
     Dolph went straight to the remnants of his tent.  Seeing no blood,
nor any sign of a body, gladdened his heart.  Still, he had no idea where
Star might be, or in what condition.  He searched about for Kirk, fearing
the worst.  He was relieved when he saw his little brother limping into
camp.  Dolph quickly went to Kirk's side.  When Kirk looked into his eyes,
Dolph knew something was very wrong.  Feeling his heart clench painfully
in his chest, he spoke in a stern, calm voice.
     "Where is Star?"
     Trying to be brave, Kirk ignored his blurry vision and stood straight
to face his commander and brother.
     "Vierig has her."
     A blade to the guts could not have devastated Dolph as much as
those three words.  He stepped back as though he had been struck.  Kirk
interpreted that movement as censure.  He had failed again in his duty to his
commander.  And he had lost the beautiful Star to a fate that would surely
be worse than death.  He hung his young head, cursing himself for the tears
that came to his eyes.
     "I am sorry that I failed you again, Dolph.  I have dishonored myself
and our father's name.  I will leave immediately."
     Through the haze of his sorrow, Dolph heard his brother's words. 
Dishonored?  Leave?  What was he talking about?
     "To go where?"
     Kirk stood straight, swallowing back his tears and raising his chin
proudly.  His voice was full of the passion of youth.
     "I will go to Vierig's camp and reclaim the lady Star from that
bastard!  I will make you proud of me, Dolph."
     Dolph dropped his head back to stare at the waning sun.  He
breathed deeply of the evening scents in an attempt to bring his world back
into perspective.  Star was not dead.  As long as she lived, there was hope.
     Taking Kirk a little off guard, Dolph pulled him into his arms,
squeezing until the boy felt some concern for his ribs.  Dolph spoke as he
held fast to his brother, glad that he was safe.
     "You did not fail me, Kirk.  If you know that Vierig has Star, then
you must have been with her.  And I know that you fought valiantly for
her."
     Dolph set the boy from him with a questioning look.
     "Did you not?"
     Kirk nodded, but his grimace showed that he thought he should
have done better.  Dolph placed his hand on his little brother's shoulder.
     "Vierig is a seasoned warrior.  The very fact that you still draw
breath shows that you did well."
     Kirk cast his eyes to the ground and shook his head.  His voice was
very small.
     "Star saved me."
     Looking up, his eyes blazed with remembered anger.
     "I would have fought Vierig, but I never got the chance.  Star
stepped between us and begged him for my life.  Vierig agreed, with the
condition that she go to his camp with him and stay there for a week.  I
would have fought him still if he hadn't blind-sided me."
     Again, his eyes sought the ground in shame.
     "When I came to, they were gone."
     Half-a-dozen emotions crossed Dolph's face as he listened to Kirk's
narrative of his run-in with Vierig:  Anger at Star for interfering in a
warrior's battle, and for trading herself for Kirk's life; fear for her, alone
now with the enemy; curiosity at Vierig's tactics.  What did he think to gain
by this?  Or did he just want Star for his own amusement?
     Dolph closed his fist around the hilt of his sword until his knuckles
whitened.  His mind clouded with visions of Star in Vierig's bed, beneath
him, crying out in agony as he viciously took her again and again until her
struggles, and breath, ceased.
     When Kirk touched his shoulder, Dolph nearly slammed the young
man to the ground before he could stop himself.  His rage was building to
near-berserker force.
     "Dolph, what are you going to do?"
     When Kirk looked into Dolph's eyes he knew why his brother was a
respected and feared commander.  The anger of the gods flashed in those
green spheres!  Dolph's handsome features took on an unnatural glow, as
though they had turned to some brilliant stone.  His jaw flexed, his lips
raised in a fierce snarl, his nostrils flared and he ground his teeth together in
animal rage.  When he spoke, his voice was soft, yet filled with so much
menace that Kirk pulled away from him to be sure it was still his brother
talking.
     "I am going to free Star and see that she is safe.  Then I will do as I
should have done long ago.   Kill Vierig!"
                      * * *
     Candy was a little surprised to find that Vierig's camp was almost a
twin of Dolph's.  She wasn't sure exactly what she had expected - black
tents dripping with the blood of their victims, women's pitiful wails coming
from behind their canvas walls.  Maybe even a blood-stained altar for
sacrifices to their violent gods.  Instead, there were neat rows of normal-
looking tents, a large bank of cooking fires in the middle, and a lot of
average, if there were such a thing, Vikings roaming about the camp.  They
laughed and joked with each other just like the men in Dolph's camp.
     Still holding tightly to the mane of the horse-critter, Candy shook
her head in mild disgust at herself.  Sure, it was easy to imagine the enemy
as some sort of monsters, feeding on the flesh of innocent babies.  Seeing
them as human would make it a little more difficult to cheer Dolph on each
day as he sallied forth to murder them.  Oh, well, she had hardly joined an
exclusive club.  Women had been justifying their men's actions for as long
as there had been men and women.
     Her musings were cut short as strong hands wrapped around her
waist and she was pulled from the horse and set on her feet.  She looked up
into Vierig's smiling face and, for about the thousandth time, wondered
what insanity had invaded her mind and caused her to promise him a week. 
The memory of her last sight of Kirk, his young face so peaceful, and
vulnerable, in enforced sleep, reminded her why she had given away her
freedom.  Candy gave a soft giggle, remembering how Dolph had stolen her
from her home and dragged her off to science-fiction land.  She hadn't
exactly had her freedom to give away, had she?
     The thought of Dolph caused a slight lump to form in Candy's
throat.  Was he alright?  Had he returned to camp?  Was he furious with
her for going with Vierig?  No, he would understand that she had done it to
protect Kirk.  Wouldn't he?  Men thought in such strange, distorted ways. 
Never logically like women.
     "What troubles you, Beauty?"
     Vierig raised his large hand and brushed Candy's forehead with his
fingertips before she could pull away.
     "A brow as beautiful as yours should never know such furrows."
     Candy did pull away now, scowling up at him.  Vierig gave her an
indulgent grin and held his hands, palms toward her, in front of his chest.
     "I mean you no harm, Beauty.  No matter what lies Dolph may have
fed you, hurting you is the farthest thing from my mind."
     His voice dropped to a seductive purr.
     "I wish to give you pleasure as only a man can.  Dolph is soft. 
What he has shown you is only a teasing taste of ecstasy.  I will give you a
full meal."
     As he spoke, he closed the distance between them.  Candy started to
take another step away from him, but his hard-as-steel arms wrapped
around her like a hungry boa constrictor who's just found lunch.  Once
again, as before in Dolph's camp, she was pulled up hard against Vierig's
black armored chest, the same seduced-into-submission lethargy trying to
settle over her.  'Why fight', her mind asked, 'you know he'll win.  He's
bigger, meaner, and much better armed than you.'  As usual, her little voice
was right, and as usual, Candy didn't listen.
     This time, as Vierig's lips descended to engulf hers, Candy
pretended to submit just long enough for him to think he had won, that she
was totally in his power.  As he forced his tongue between her slightly
resisting lips, Candy bit down as hard as she could.  Vierig made a
strangling sound and shoved her away from him so hard she stumbled and
nearly fell.  The horse was not very happy with the fact that she grabbed his
tail to steady herself.  The beast screamed in protest and raised his front legs
into the air.  Since Vierig was rather close to those flailing limbs, he had to
step out of the way quickly or risk getting his head busted.
       With a curse, Vierig grabbed for the beast's reins.  However, the
horse was no longer in the mood for human companionship.  It promptly bit
Vierig's hand, whipped its head and neck around to glare at Candy, who
wasted no time in giving the angry beast some space, then loudly snorted its
disgust with these creatures that had invaded its turf.  Kicking up its heals,
the furious animal ran off in the direction they had just come.
     Candy was recovering from the shock of the whole display and
thinking about laughing when she realized with a shock of horror that
Vierig had pulled a gun from somewhere and was leveling it at the horse. 
Without thinking, Candy jumped in front of the angry Viking.  She held her
hands before her in supplication and yelled, "No!"
     Vierig stared at her, his narrowed eyes blazing Hell's fire.  He
looked as though he might shoot her and then the horse.  Candy didn't care. 
She was not going to stand by and watch an innocent animal murdered by
this madman.  Not if she could help it.  Silence had never been one of
Candy's strong points, and this tense, dangerous situation was no different.
     "Vierig, don't you dare shoot that horse!  He was just upset because
I pulled his tail.  Besides,"  Candy lowered her voice, temporarily reining in
her anger and softening her tone to better defend the horse,  "you can get
another one."
     Vierig's black eyes still watched the retreating back of the beast that
had defied him.  He wanted its blood, to hear its screams of agony as it
died!  The fire of vengeance that burned in his blood was a pain that he
welcomed as an old friend.  A visitor that Vierig knew would leave only
when the scales of justice had been balanced blood for blood.  The
pounding of his heart in his ears was building to a crescendo.
     His blazing eyes zeroed in on Candy.  Did the woman have no
sense?  She dared to interfere?  The hand that held the gun shot out with a
life nearly of its own to connect soundly with Candy's jaw.  As she flew to
the ground, Vierig drew the weapon back up to eye level to regain his shot. 
He cursed vehemently as he realized that the horse had made good its
escape, turning in its flight and putting the row of tents between Vierig and
his intended target.  Furious, he threw the gun at the ground, barely missing
Candy, who now caught his full attention.
     "Very well, Beauty,"  Vierig spoke to the dazed girl lying at his feet,
as the lust of battle and vengeance shifted from his mind to his loins, "you
will now learn the fate of one who defies me!"
     Candy had never been hit so hard in her life.  She realized that the
slap Dolph had given her the day she had bitten Ulrich had been barely a
tap.  She was mentally questioning the soundness of her jaw when Vierig
loomed over her.  Trying to think of something witty and gritty to say, some
remark that would bring him to his knees, she jumped when he reached
down and grabbed her shoulders.  With what could only be described as a
snarl, the huge black-clad Viking warrior pulled her quickly to her feet. 
That sudden shift in altitude, coupled with the blow to the head that she had
just sustained, was all that her body was willing to tolerate at the moment. 
Vierig's glowering countenance was the last thing Candy saw before she
slipped from consciousness.