A Brother's Price

sisters had been less than careful in chaperoning their cousin.
    Ren glanced to Halley then, who was in the same state. Actually, comparing the two, Halley outstripped Eldest. Ren was going to be wearing her new title of Queen Mother Elder a week or two before Eldest became Mother Elder Whistler. Ren found the fact surprisingly pleasing.
    Queen Mother Elder . Ren had been saying it often in attempt to get used to it.
    The Whistler women brought fiddles, banjos, fifes, drums, and dulcimers, aged corn whiskey, fine cigars, and a determination to have a good time.
     
    A royal circus, Ren had named their wedding, and Jerin marveled at how right a name it was. Admittedly, he had seen only one circus, when he was quite young, but certainly most of the elements he remembered appeared on his wedding day.
    There was the brisk music—trumpets, drums, and bagpipes—playing thundering songs. The royal family had their own melody, and apparently all the noble houses had a song too. It had stumped them for a while what to play for the Whistlers, and finally the fighting song of his grandmothers’ regiment was selected.
    There were the bright coaches—the royal carriages— gilded instead of painted yellow, but just as colorful as circus wagons. Ten in all, and then ten more of the Moorland carriages close behind, carrying the overflow.
    There were the matching horses—the princesses, his elder sisters, and his middle sisters all rode glossy black horses in two lines, one on either side of him. His mount was a fiery red stallion, its symbolism not lost to him.
    There were the colorful costumes—his wives-to-be in the dress red of the royal marines, his sisters in a balancing dark blue with gold waistcoats, he in a walking robe of white silk and seed pearls that gleamed in the morning light, with a cloak so long it nearly brushed the ground.
    And there were the crowds, an endless flood of women, their voices a constant roar of approval. Apparently everyone thought the crush too dangerous to bring out their own menfolk; the only men Jerin saw appeared in the upper windows of the buildings lining the parade route.
    “I wish we could have been married at the palace temple,” he told Ren.
    “The point of the day is for you to be seen,” Ren said. “When our daughter is born, we’ll become the Queen Mothers, mothers of the country. On a basic level, these are our children. We protect them, we settle their disputes, and we guide them as they grow. They have a right to know their father.”
    If Ren said it to settle him, it did not help. He could not imagine being father to this press of humanity.
    Eldest Whistler reached over from her horse and took his hand. “Chin up. Eyes front. Show no fear. You’re a Whistler—and your family will always be there if you need us.”
     
    So his sisters brought him to the temple, escorted by his wives, while all the world seemed to watch. Wives and sisters flanked him up the tall steps to the altar, and there his sisters fell back, leaving him alone with his wives, before the gods.
    It was not the marriage he thought he would have, so many months before, when the horse-faced Brindles seemed to loom huge on his horizon. They shrank away now, like a kite snatched by the wind, gone forever.
    Jerin reached out and found Ren’s hand with his right and Halley’s with his left.
    Surely, the gods were merciful and loving. Surely they smiled upon this union, and he and his wives—Ren, Hal-ley, Odelia, Trini, Lylia, Zelie, Quin, Selina, Nora, and Mira—would live happily ever after.
----
     
    Wen Spencer
    The Legend of Ukiah Oregon
     
    Alien Taste
    Living with wolves as a child gave tracker Ukiah
    Oregon a heightened sense of smell and taste.
    Or so he thought—until he crossed paths with a criminal gang known as the Pack. Now, Ukiah is about to discover just how much he has in common with the Pack: a bond of blood, brotherhood…and destiny.
    0-451-45837-0
     
    Bitter Waters
    Tracker Ukiah Oregon must put his skills to the ultimate test—because kidnappers have taken his son.
    0-451-45922-9
     
    Dog Warrior
    On the run from a fanatical cult, Ukiah Oregon is surprised to discover Atticus Steele, a brother he didn’t know he had—and who could end up getting them both killed.
    0-451-45990-3
     
    Available wherever books are sold or at penguin.com
    Roc Science Fiction & Fantasy COMING IN AUGUST 2005
     
    THE DOG FROM HELL by Cliri. Bund, 0-451-46039-1
     
    While escorting a group of