Nuworld: Claiming Tara (6 page)

“You act as
if you want me married, or claimed, as you
call it.”
“Well my dear, you can’t very well experience our culture
as a female if you’re not claimed. There’d be nothing else to
do with you at your age but to show you off for a claiming.”
Reena smiled at Tara. “I’m an old lady, my dear. I daresay
you’ve brought excitement to my life.”
“I don’t want to be claimed.”
“You better keep thoughts like that to yourself. You’d be
suspected as odd for sure if you say something like that
out loud.” Reena clucked her tongue but glowed when she
glanced at Tara.
The two were silent as Reena drove slowly through the
town. Tara looked out the window at the community,
watching the people on the streets. Young women worked
in gardens with children running around them. The houses
were clean and well kept. It was odd that people would
want to raise children in the same place their entire life.
Tara had spent many cycles in one location before, but
there was always a sense of excitement when it was time
for her clan to move to a new location. These people would
never experience that. The thought wasn’t too appealing.
“I daresay this must all seem so strange to you.” Reena
seemed as if she’d been reading Tara’s thoughts.
“I was just imagining what it must be like to live in one
spot all your life.”
“You’ll probably never know that feeling, sweet child.
You’re a Runner. I can dress you like a Gothman and teach
you how to act like a Gothman, but the Runner is in your
blood. You must forgive an old lady. I’ve spent the morning
going on about my niece come to stay with me. It’s a
pleasant thought, and you’re quite the young lady to be
showing off. I guess I got a bit carried away. I wouldn’t
know what to say if I weren’t talking about getting you
claimed. That’s what we do with our young ladies.”
Reena had now driven through
the
town and
was
turning onto a paved road winding up a hill. Their next
stop would be Lord Darius’ house.
Tara wondered if he would be there. The man was
strong,
not only
physically,
but he’d appeared more
intelligent than she’d originally given him credit. He ruled
all of Gothman and hadn’t been the designated heir. He
had taken the right to rule. Tara guessed he would also be
manipulative and shrewd.
There were also the facts that he believed women didn’t
have the intelligence to do anything other than birth babies
and raise them. He was not a fair man. And hadn’t she
already determined that the warrior skills of his men were
inferior to her own? Tara frowned and scolded herself for
finding him appealing. Obviously he had a lot to learn.
The road ran past beautifully landscaped scenery. The
grass on the ground was cut short and tall pine trees were
scattered through the yard.
As they approached the house, Reena watched Tara.
Tara had grown up living in trailers, never having a piece of
land to call her own. Reena knew that Runners were proud
of their nomadic existence. She wondered if the home they
were about to visit might alter Tara’s perspective.
Perfectly nestled among the foliage, a large stone house
stood proudly
before
them.
A
wide
front
open
room
wrapped around both sides of the front of the house.
Wooden swings on chains hung from the flat roof on each
end, and sharply carved stone stairs led down to a pebbled
walkway that travelled out to greet the road. There were
thick, square pillars made of stacked stones on either side
of the stairs that led to the door. More pillars held the
extended roof that covered the open room. It was the same
kind of roof that was over the entire home. The house itself
was several stories high with a large veranda off the third
floor.
Tara studied the vantage point offered by the veranda,
guessing that it enabled Lord Darius to survey his land and
ensure its safety. Standing watch on that ledge probably
gave him a great vantage point to see all of his town.
Two large men wearing brown leather pants and jackets
stood in the front yard and walked to the groundmobile.
Reena slowed to a stop.
“My apple pie as promised.” She smiled at the large man
leaning over, peering through the groundmobile window.
Tara remembered seeing him at Reena’s home the night
before. He had been one of the Lord Darius’ warriors
looking for her.
“Who do you have here?” The man tossed a toothless
smile at Tara. “I daresay his lord will like this much more
than your apple pie.”
The other man stepped forward and leaned down to see
in the groundmobile as well. He didn’t look familiar. He was
younger, with an unshaved, round face. Both men were
particularly ugly.
“She is my niece,” Reena said coolly. “Will you announce
us? Or
are
you going to stand there
with your jaws
hanging?”
“How you’ve lived to be an old lady with that mouth of
yours is a mystery to
me,” the
man Tara recognized
snarled, and straightened. He spoke into a black box that
he pulled from his waist.
Reena knew how she’d lived to be an old lady. She was
protected. Her one and only love had seen to that. She
wasn’t sure if Lord Darius knew the history behind why his
papa had declared her unavailable for a claim. He’d upheld
his papa’s wishes though, and for that she was grateful.
She looked at the beautiful young woman sitting next to
her in the groundmobile, whose sapphire eyes made her
appear too wise for her winters. Tara was watching the
guard speak to the lord through his walkntalk. Reena
doubted Tara had ever seen the Gothman communication
device before. This was a young lady who digested and
analyzed everything she saw, and Reena saw the qualities
of a natural-born leader in Tara. Nothing she did to make
her Gothman would hide that quality in the lass. Reena
knew how strong it ran in Tara’s blood.
Lord Darius would claim Tara instantly. In fact, he
might already have done so. A man didn’t always tell a
woman immediately when he claimed her. She would find
out soon enough. Tara would fight it, but Reena knew it
had to happen. They were meant to be together. Tara would
help Lord Darius realize his potential. The lord would teach
Tara a thing or two as well. Even as her heart tightened,
Reena knew Patha had been right.
Tara struggled to hear what the guard said into his
black box, wondering to whom he might be speaking, but
the groundmobile’s motor made it impossible to hear. She
watched with fascination as the man held the black box to
his mouth, and his thumb moved to press a button on the
side when he spoke.
A minute or two passed before the man returned to the
groundmobile window. “Pull over to the side.” The guard
pointed to an area off to the left of the large stone home.
“Of all things, I know where to park.” Reena waved the
guard away and drove her groundmobile to the side of the
house.
“Grab the basket out of the backseat, child,” Reena
instructed Tara as she looked toward the door up those
stairs in the
open room. “You ever seen anything so
magnificent?”
Tara reached for the basket then turned. “It looks so
permanent.”
The front door opened and a lady about the same age as
Reena walked out onto the open room. “Reena, I’ll be, it’s
so good to see you again, my friend.” The woman reached
out and hugged Reena. “I daresay it takes the scare of a
Runner to bring you to my doors these days. What to think,
I wonder.”
“I stay quite busy with the way this town is populating
itself,” Reena said, and the two women laughed together
and hugged again.
“Ah, so here she is.” The woman took Tara’s chin in her
hand and turned her head from side to side. She glanced
sideways at Reena and wrinkled her brow. “She’s the
spitting image of you at her age. And she’s your niece, you
say? Well now, you’re definitely related, that much is true.”
Tara smiled politely and glanced at Reena. She stared at
the smooth, crushed pebble floor and no longer smiled.
Tara wondered how a friend of Reena’s who’d apparently
known her most of her life, wouldn’t know how sensitive
she was about never having children.
“I’m Hilda Bryton.”
The lady didn’t notice the look on Reena’s face but
focused on Tara. Hilda was a large woman, taller than
Reena. She wore a long loose frock flowing below her knees.
Her silver-gray hair was wrapped in a bun behind her
head.
Tara pictured Hilda raising Darius, and Torgo, the young
boy from the alley, and she had two more sons, one of
which was dead. She wondered how much influence the
Gothman woman had in their upbringing. Or had their
papa controlled the way in which they were raised?
“My Lady,” Tara said quietly with her eyes lowered. She
offered a slight curtsy.
“You know how the gossip flies through this town. I
heard she was quite the beauty, but the words do her no
justice. You’ll be mighty proud of this one, won’t you?”
Hilda patted Reena’s arm.
“I hadn’t seen her myself since she was a baby. Until
just last night. She is beautiful.”
“Ah, my manners, to entertain you in my open room.
What am I thinking?” Hilda laughed and opened the front
door wide. “Please, do come in for a visit. Reena, when have
we last sat and had a good talk of the goings on. I’m sure I
don’t remember.”
Tara followed the two old women into the house. She
gasped when they walked through the door and she caught
her first look at the magnificent home. At that moment, if
someone were looking for a Runner in disguise they would
have immediately suspected her. She had never been inside
such a structure. The most shelter she’d had from the
elements throughout her life were the trailers Runners
lived in while with their clan. How could anyone ever be
safe, or comfortable, when they had no way of hearing the
sounds outside? They would never know if the weather
changed, or if someone were approaching.
Tara wanted to run her hands along the walls. They
looked so solid. This house had been built to stay right
here on this land, never moving. Runners moved when the
weather changed, when trade agreements improved in a
different area, or when news of a dispute or challenge in
another area came forth.
But not the people of Gothman. They ignored Nuworld
and focused only on themselves. This house would be an
excellent place to ignore the outside world. The arched
ceilings allowed for a wide stairway to show all of its glory
as it climbed in front of them to a second floor. Tara
remembered seeing windows outside indicating more rooms
on a third floor. She wondered where another staircase
might be. Glancing at the ceiling gave no indication.
As they left the entryway and walked through two glass
doors, Tara found herself in a large room with glossy
wooden floors and a large area rug so thick that her feet
sunk in it. She felt how soft it was through her thin cotton
material shoes.
This room was as large as her entire trailer.
Beautifully carved
wooden chairs had
forest green
cushions resting on them. There was a long sofa made out
of the same dark green material. The wood on the tables on
either side of the couch, as well as the oval one in front of
it, were polished to the point that Tara saw her reflection in
them. She almost did a double take at the strange-looking
woman staring back. It wasn’t often she gazed at her own
reflection, let alone without her headscarf.
“So, sit down and tell me all the goings on,” Hilda
directed.
Reena made herself comfortable
on the
well-padded
couch. “Be a dear, Tara, and set the pie on the dining room
table.” Reena pointed to the room adjoining the one they
were in.
Tara placed the pie on a long wooden table and walked
over to one of the long glass windows. She stared out at a
sprawling, well-groomed yard with gardens, and heard the
muffled voices of two men working in the yard. They were
pulling something off a trailer attached to a sturdy-looking,
much more modern groundmobile than what Reena was
driving. There was mud splattered on the sides, as well as
caked to the wheels of the groundmobile and trailer, as if it
had just come a distance to get here.
Lord Darius walked
across
the
yard
toward
the
groundmobile. Her gaze followed his every move. His long
stride and tall features sent a warm sensation through
Tara’s body. It had been a long time since she’d seen a man
so sexually appealing.
Her attention shifted from him to the truck.
The men struggled to lift something from the bed and set
it on the ground—her motorcycle!
Tara groaned. They wouldn’t be able to start it, since it
was coded, but they’d found it and brought it here. A lot of
good it was going to do her if it was stuck up here! She
watched the men lift the bike and carry it to a shed before
she turned to join the women. Those solid stone walls
seemed to close in around her, trapping her and preventing
her escape.
“Enjoying the scenery of my backyard, are you girl?”
Reena grinned as if she knew Tara’s thoughts.
The old woman would never know how wrong she was in
guessing what was in Tara’s mind.
“I daresay it’s my son you’d be admiring.” Hilda looked
at Tara but then turned to Reena. “They would make the
most handsome claim in all of Gothman. Can you imagine?
We would be sisters for real.”
“Just think of those gorgeous grand babies to show off.”
Reena clasped her hands together as if it had just been
finalized.
Tara glared at the two women as she joined them in the
living room and sat on the end of the couch. Her future was
ready and waiting for her. She had worked hard to deserve
the title of heir to rule all Runner clans, and no one would
take that from her. Especially two scheming old women
with nothing better to do than play claim-maker with two
people who were strangers to each other. Learning all there
was to know about Gothman, and Lord Darius, would
make her that much better of a leader.