Portals of Infinity: Book Four: The Sea of Grass by John Van Stry Page A

staked out early on by one of the females from the visiting group, and the older of his two sisters seemed to take affront to the attempts of the woman that had her sights set on him. For the entire evening she kept having her ploys foiled by Sist, Rees's older sister, and he appeared to be none the wiser for it.
    Or at least I thought so until I saw him walking away from her latest attempt and he gave me a wink.
    After the competitions and the demonstrations, we all sat down outside under the setting sun and ate. The food was wonderful, apparently the art of barbeque had been discovered here on Saladin by the Mowoks, and they were pretty damned good at it.
    Once the food had been cleared away the drinks and the miasha, which I guess was their version of marijuana, came out and as the children were put to bed the adults started to partake.
    I watched as the area around the fire was cleared and an assortment of drums came out and they all started to play and sing. As they sang several men and women stood up and started to dance. I watched them as they swayed, stomped, and twisted to the music and the beat. I was impressed, they really were rather good.
    After a while they all started to gravitate towards particular individuals, and that was when I noticed the hapless female that had been trying to win Rees's attention was dancing before him, and he was paying her rapt attention. When he reached up and grabbed her hand she smiled and looked like she's just won the lottery.
    Then again, maybe she had, I thought to myself as he got up and they headed off into the darkness together.
    Looking around I noticed all of the dancers had paired off, and some had left, while others were being a little less private.
    The beat of the music changed then, becoming slower, and a bit deeper. Looking up I saw several new dancers had started, and one of them was Rees' sister, Smoke Dancer.
    The other dancers had obviously been the warm up act, and these were the true masters. Serene Rider was dancing as well, but I don't think she got more than six feet from her husband, but Smoke came over and danced for me, her eyes never leaving me.
    I was beyond impressed with her dance, her movements were languid and flowing, the tassel like fringes that hung from the bands on her arms and legs added to the motions of her body and she really did seem to drift and turn like the smoke from the fire.
    Somebody passed me a pipe and I took a puff and passed it on, keeping my eyes on the motions of her body, her hands, and her legs. She was amazing, I wondered just how long it had taken her to learn to dance like that, and she was focusing it all on me. I looked up into her eyes and she was smiling. I smiled back and taking her hand I pulled her down into my lap.
    "I'm not looking for another wife," I told her and kissed her.
    "Don't give yourself airs," She giggled back, "you're cute, but you're not that cute!"
    I shook my head and laughed. "Well, will you at least protect me from the other women?"
    "And ruin their fun?" She laughed, a rather delightful sound. "I thought you were supposed to be a big fierce warrior?"
    "Well, I think it's fair to say you've beat me in this battle," I purred.
    "Good now, let's go someplace private so I can savor my victory."
     
    "Well, I can't say as I blame you this time, Will, she really is a lovely female."
    I was sitting in Fel's bar, across from him as usual. I sighed and shook my head. "Let me guess, you were a paragon of virtue as a champion?" I said a little sarcastically.
    Fel laughed, "Hardly. I wouldn't be surprised if they still tell stories about some of my bawdier exploits back in Hillshire. But you're the first I've ever know who actually feels guilty about it."
    I shrugged, "Yeah, but it hasn't stopped me much, has it?"
    Fel chuckled, "Don't beat yourself up over it too much. The race here is based off of felines after all, so the tendency for males to occasionally stray isn't all that shocking. Come to think of it,