Desert World Allegiances by Lyn Gala Page B

man to the council for all the luck in the stars. He was a good man.” Ben fell silent, his sorrow appearing so real that Temar had trouble believing his eyes.  Then Ben seemed to pull himself out of his grief as he pointed a finger. “But George had better be ready for a fight if I don’t get my full water share. If he takes one drop from me, I’ll petition to have him doing labor days.” Ben poked his finger in Cardan’s direction, and Cardan smiled.
    “George Young doing a hard day’s labor prepping the ground?” Cardan outright laughed at that thought. “That would mean moving his own sorry ass or hiring out the work.”
    “Or getting Cyla Gazer to do it.” Ben made an unhappy face. “There wasn’t anyone bidding her slave price when I left town, so the council might be forced to hand her over to Young.” Ben practically threw the last book into the incinerator and then slammed the door with far more force than it needed. “I don’t like the idea of her over there with that man. He’s not one to show anyone human respect, and he definitely wouldn’t respect a slave.”
    Temar almost choked on the irony of that. Right now, Temar would far rather have himself and his sister in Young’s hands. He might take his fury and frustration out on them, but Ben frightened him far more.
    Cardan patted him on the arm again. “Don’t think that we’ll let him do poorly by your sister,” he offered reassuringly, his voice deadly serious.
    “Perhaps we can retire the northwest corner from pasture for a few seasons, turn the goats loose in there.”
    “It’s not scheduled for livestock for another four harvests.”
    Ben’s mouth curved into a slow smile. “Ah, but if we have goats so far from the house, I imagine some would get through that old fence on a fairly regular basis.”
    “Which would lead to us having to ride up to Young’s place, looking for our missing stock. I wouldn’t mind catching that bastard being a bastard.”
    “Me too.” Ben sounded so honest in his desire to protect Cyla that Temar thought, for a moment, that maybe he’d imagined the whole scene in the bedroom, maybe he’d hallucinated the entire hellacious week. How could a man appear so honest one moment and—Temar’s thoughts froze in a white storm of horror as Ben turned the incinerator on. The heavy machine thunked and hissed and then gave a mighty roar as it devoured all his work and then sent the ashes down to become fertilizer.
    “We may lose stock to the pipe traps.” Cardan continued the conversation, never knowing that he was witnessing the end of Temar’s hopes. His father would forever be remembered as a fool, and he and his sister would be water thieves for the rest of their lives.
    “Don’t you think it’s worth a few stock animals to make sure that Cyla doesn’t end up like that girl in Blue Hope?” Ben asked.
    Cardan’s face hardened. His jaw bulged, and he pulled his lips back, so that the white of his teeth shone against his dark skin. “They should have done more than exile that man. What he did was an abomination.”
    “Let the sandcats eat him. Some people are just born wrong.” Ben pressed his lips together into an angry line and shook his head. “I won’t have that happen here. If Young gets that girl, we will be keeping a close eye on her.” Then Ben turned to Temar and gave him another of those fatherly smiles that turned Temar’s guts to ice. “Don’t worry. We’ll make sure we keep tabs on your sister.”
    “That we will, boy,” Cardan agreed, slapping Temar on the arm. “We’ll keep an eye out for both of you.”
    Ben’s smile suddenly looked far more dangerous. Temar fought an instinctive urge to run away, because clearly he wouldn’t get far. Even if he’d been free and ungagged, he’d never convince people that Ben Gratu was a water thief and monster. “It looks like Temar has calmed down some. Why don’t you head back out to the barn, and I’ll see if I can’t get