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will not be after you. You should go on alone and leave me. You have struck a
mighty blow against the Shoba, and I am grateful. But there is no need for you
to die by torture.
You must. . . . "
Blade pressed his fingers across her lips to silence her. "No, Twana. I will
not do it that way. I will stay with you. Whatever danger comes after you will
also come after me. Two people can guard themselves better than one."
"Not with the sniffers . . . ."
"Yes, even with the sniffers on their trail. Now, let us talk no more of
this." He was about to say, "If all else fails, we can go over the wall where
the sniffers can hardly follow us." Then he remembered that
Twana was apparently in terror of the wall. There was no point in reawakening
fear in her now.
"All right," said Twana. "We shall go on. But let us not go to this village,
either of us. If we go in daylight, certainly they will see us. The Shoba's
men will come, and they will punish the village for helping us. They will
punish the village even without the iron dragons, by killing their animals or
cutting down their trees or throwing dung down their wells."
"Then we'll go on to the next village and wait until dark. I'll slip in and
get what we need, while you keep watch for the Shoba's men and the sniffers."
Twana nodded jerkily. Blade seemed to have convinced her that there was
something to do against the
Shoba's men beside curling up and dying. Now that she accepted this, she
seemed to be gaining courage and determination with each passing moment.
Blade looked at the sky. It was time that he and Twana moved on, to take
advantage of the remaining daylight. He took her hand and led her away toward
the south.
Chapter 6
They reached another village as the sun was setting. This village had a wall
of mud bricks topped with wooden stakes, but there were huts scattered around
the pastures and along the shores of a small lake.
These promised easier pickings for Blade, without getting the villagers
aroused and on his trail.
Blade and Twana waited in the shadows at the foot of the hills until darkness
came. The girl was obviously still nervous about being this close to the
Wall-the way she said the word made the capital W
obvious to Blade's ears. She kept looking upward, as though expecting
something to leap down upon them from above. Once Blade saw another gleam of
metal on top of the Wall, but it was miles away, and he could make out no
details in the fading light.
Darkness came, and Blade went to work. With Twana keeping watch outside, he
carefully went through each hut. By the time he'd finished, he had clothes,
footgear, blankets, and knives, for both himself and
Twana. He even found a goatskin water bottle and a long rope. He only stopped
because there was no point in taking more than he could carry away.
They moved on through the darkness until the last faint trace of light from
the village was lost behind them. At last, they came to a patch of low,
spreading bushes and crawled in under them. Neither men nor sniffers could
come at them now without giving warning of their approach and waking Blade.
Blade spread one blanket on the ground under them, then drew Twana close with
one arm and pulled the rest of the blankets over them with the other.
Gradually the blankets and their closely nestled bodies drove away the chill
of the night. Gradually Blade also became aware of another kind of warmth
growing in him. It was inevitable with Twana's supple, graceful body pressing
so closely against his. It was also something he would do his best to fight.
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After her experiences of the past few days, sex was probably the farthest
thing in the whole world from Twana's mind. Blade tried to pillow his head as
comfortably as possible on a rolled-up fur hood and found himself drifting off
to sleep. He'd been awake for nearly two solid days and on the move most of
the time. Even his iron frame needed a rest.
Twana also seemed to be falling asleep. Her eyes drifted shut, and her
breathing became slow and regular. One arm was thrown out across Blade's
massive chest.
Just as he was drifting off to sleep, Blade realized that Twana's hand had
begun to move with what seemed a life of its own. Her eyes were still closed,
but her fingers were creeping down across his ribs, stroking the tanned skin
and feeling for the layers of hard muscle under it. Those fingers were very
gentle, but very sure in their movements. The erotic warmth began to grow
again in Blade.
Twana sighed and, without opening her eyes, pressed her cheek against Blade's
side. He raised a hand and stroked her hair. Twana made a small sound that was
halfway between a sigh and a giggle and pressed herself harder against Blade.
Her hand now crept down over Blade's stomach, then dipped between his legs.
Blade gave a husky laugh. Apparently the last few days hadn't driven all
thoughts of sex out of Twana's mind after all! The warmth he'd felt was
beginning to center in his groin, and his breathing quickened as
Twana's hand continued its travels.
Then her fingers closed with delicate firmness on his manhood, and suddenly he
was swollen, erect, ready, with desire almost boiling over in him. He gasped
and rolled toward the girl. She gave a long
"Ahhhhhhh!" and threw both arms around him as they rolled together. Blade's
lips sought Twana's and found them, while his hands cupped the small, firm
breasts. The nipples had risen into long, almost jutting points that were as
firm as if they'd been something more than warm woman's flesh.
They caressed and kissed and pressed against each other for what seemed hours,
but could only have been minutes. Twana's breath was coming so quickly and so
hard that Blade could hear her over his own gasps. The mouth under his was
warm, almost hot, wet, demanding and seeking, but also giving generously at
the same time.
Twana whispered and rolled over on her back. As she did, she clamped her hands
in Blade's hair and drew his head down with almost painful force to bring his
lips to her breasts. He was more than happy to keep his lips there, and his
tongue as well. The nipples and the lovely breasts around them seemed to grow
warm themselves under his kisses and caresses.
Then the flame in Blade's groin was blazing so fiercely that he could no
longer bold himself back from trying to quench it. He raised himself until the
muscles in his arms stood out in knots and cords. Twana saw him above her and
saw that the moment had come. Her legs drifted apart, and she thrust her [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]