Shield's Lady

metal room not far from here. My plan was to use Targyn to neutralize it and then cut it up into marketable pieces. All of it. You see, unlike Targyn, I know what real power is and how it’s achieved. One does not own a continent with weapons, although they may be useful as a threat from time to time.” He smiled at Sariana. “I am an easterner at heart. I know that there is only one true source of power.”
    “Great wealth,” Sariana concluded for him. She was awed in spite of herself at what he was proposing.
    “Precisely, my dear.” Rakken raised his glass of wine. “To a future filled with prisma.”

Chapter
    17

    “SUPPOSE you give this to us in a straight line from the beginning, Rakken.” Gryph examined the food being set in front of him as he spoke and decided his host probably wasn’t going to poison him or Sariana. Not yet at any rate. He automatically reached for one of the eating implements left behind by the silent Miscroft and got his wrist jerked by the twist strap. It took a lot of effort to move with the slow deliberation required by the device. It was like having one’s reflexes chained.
    It wasn’t the pain of the twist that was worrying him the most right now, although he detested being treated like a border bandit. His chief concern was Sariana.
    He should have known she would follow him instead of heading back to Last Chance as ordered. Mentally he calculated the distance she had come. He didn’t know for certain when she had left the cove, but he was willing to lay odds on the time having been shortly before dawn. About the instant Targyn had sent that paralyzing blast of energy into his head.
    She must have found him by the same means he had traced her at the Little Chance fair, using the strange link that shimmered erratically between them.
    Gryph glanced at Sariana who was eating her food with all the fine manners she would use during a formal meal in the Avylyn household. From her calm, politely regal attitude a man would think she dined out in strange chambers lined with alien metal several times a month. She constantly amazed him.
    He knew from the fact that she had obviously been drenched earlier in the day that the loss of the sled had been a harrowing ordeal. He could only speculate on what had happened to the blade bow. It had undoubtedly been lost when the sled capsized.
    Ah, well, he chided himself. If it hadn’t disappeared into the river, Targyn would have taken it from her when he had discovered her climbing the canyon wall. There was no point tormenting himself with thoughts of how useful the weapon would have been in their present situation. A man had to work with what he had.
    Unfortunately, what he had at the moment was a very limited assortment of tools.
    “From the beginning?” Rakken mused as he served himself from one of the platters Miscroft had left. He poured another glass of wine for himself while he was at it. “Well, that would take us back to a little over five years ago when I first accepted the reality of my circumstances. It was clear to me that I was going to have to live in exile for the rest of my days. An unfortunate scandal back home ensured my sentence. I determined then that my exile would be as comfortable as possible, however.” He looked at Sariana with a faint smile. “For the past year I have urged you to accept the reality of your own exile, Sariana. But you insisted on clinging to your dreams of going home. If you had shown a realistic attitude, I would have taken you into my confidence much sooner. I have felt all along that you and I would make a good team. But you needed time to adjust to the notion of being stranded in the western provinces.”
    “She’s not stranded,” Gryph pointed out coolly. “Nor is she in exile. Not any longer. In case you’ve forgotten, she has recently married into a new social class. That class has a policy of looking after its own. That’s something you would do well to keep in mind.”
    Rakken’s mouth twisted slightly. “So you have become Shield business, Sariana. If you had shown some sense when I suggested a marriage alliance between the two of us you would not be in the situation you presently find yourself.”
    “What situation is that, Etion?” Sariana faced him with politely challenging inquiry. “Tell me exactly what is going on around here.”
    “Very well.” Etion sat forward, his expression becoming more intense. He sipped wine, ignoring his food. “Five years ago I set