Chapter 19

Time passes differently for the young and old. The preparations for the journey progressed but Nilsen was positive that nothing was getting done. His poise and maturity could fool most people but at the heart of it all Nil was still an eighteen-season young man and once something was decided he wanted it done now! Makro wasn't much better but at least she had this wonderful new toy to play with at night which had a tendency to keep her somewhat subdued during the day. In some respects it did the same with Nilsen, although his was due mostly to exhaustion more than anything else. The twins didn't seem to care one way or another when they left; they were just interested in playing all night and anytime during the day when they could get away with it. Then of course there was Lavender who insisted on her fair share ... Actually it was an amazing statement on youthful endurance that he could fume and complain as much as he did during the day.

"Nil, honey," Nesho told him patiently one day, "this has to be done correctly. Everyone knows this is vital, but it isn't time-critical. It's getting done just as it should; fussing and looking over everyone's shoulder is just slowing it down. If you don't settle down I'm going to ask Lav to take you out to the practice field and beat the hell out of you again today."

Ever since Lavender had begun to show her pregnancy ― not much but it was there if you knew to look ― Nilsen had demonstrated increasing reluctance to use any move that had even the remotest possibility of striking her. Given that, when he practiced with her, his sparring had become almost entirely defensive. A good defense is all well and good but you can't win with it as Lavender well knew. Not only did it anger her that he was slacking off in his practice but now he was treating her like some feeble, defenseless woman!

Her ire took the form of redoubling her attacks and generally resulted in a bruised and battered Nilsen. For some reason the salidin found no problem with this and other than one slight twinge when she first started doing it, it allowed her to beat him black and blue. It wasn't entirely true that he wasn't getting enough offensive practice ― he did spar with a number of the household guards and some Guild Warriors hired specifically for that purpose ― but Lav didn't like being treated like an invalid and must have rationalized this to herself enough to satisfy the salidin.

"Okay, okay," Nil protested, holding his hands up in protest. "I've had enough of that today." Giving the smiling giantess standing behind him a nose-wrinkling frown he turned back to Nesho and sighed. "I know, patience, patience. I just don't seem to have much of that virtue at hand."

"Patience is learned, son," she said with a smile leaning over to pat his hand. "I know you are anxious to go, but we are not so ready to let our little birds leave the nest quite so soon."

"You let us go to Salas by ourselves," he grumbled.

"Yes, a nice safe jaunt to our homeland," Nesho laughed. "And see what that got us. Besides, you have things you still need to do."

"Like what?" he asked.

"Well, we are meeting with the O'Techs this afternoon, for one," she said. "They think they have a way to protect the unbound and they're going to show us today."

"That's something," he said suddenly interested.

"And another: you must make a decision about Jarrah," Nesho continued.

"She won't even talk to me," he complained. "Besides, there's nothing to talk about. It isn't safe and the last thing I need is another sister with a collar around her neck."

"Nonsense!" Nesho admonished. "She was talking to you just yesterday. Think of this: If it isn't safe for her to go then what makes you think it will be safe enough for us to let you go?"

"She wasn't talking to me, she was screaming at me," Nilsen grumbled. Then he paused for a moment and considered Nesho's words. If he continued to insist it wasn't safe enough for his sister to go, there might be a real chance he wouldn't be allowed to go. "I suppose we will have to see what they have come up with," he grudgingly admitted. "But then I would be traveling with her without a collar. You don't suppose the 'protection' might include a gag, do you?"

"Enough of that!" Nesho chided. "If you two want to be treated like adults then you need to start acting like ones. You two work it out. I know you were told you can pick who goes, within reason, but the fact is you will need a healer; I insist on that. You and Jarrah may get along like fire and water but the fact is even given her youth she is a very good healer. Add to that she already knows about the crystal readers, she has a very strong case for being included. Make sure your decision is based on what is best and not petty spite." Then she added to soften her scold, "Or for the protection of your ears."

Laughing a little at that, Nil grinned and said, "You're right; I probably have no real choice. But think about that gag..."

Don teNeigho was old and at times he could even feel the age creeping into his body. The salidin around his neck under the high shirt collar helped keep his body in the best shape possible, but the aging process could only be slowed, not halted. He had been head of the O'Tech contingent in Harv'el for over twenty years. Seasons, he said to himself, they call them seasons here. He chuckled over the fact that although he had been here in the north for the last quarter of his life it hadn't changed the way he thought for the first three-quarters.

His task, assigned by his own liege those many years ago had been twofold. First came the public reason: to search out any and all technology from before the Change, study it and send it back to his superiors down south if possible. The second, more private reason had been to spread the use and culture of the salidin where- and whenever possible. Theirs was a perfect society of serf bonded to liege, living peacefully for the betterment of all and the detriment of none. Well, he thought ruefully, maybe not perfect, but a damn sight better than the chaotic mix of poverty and barbaric slavery found here.

For in the hypocritical manner that only a true believer can justify, Don abhorred the institution of slavery as practiced in these northern lands while embracing the image of a society where fewer than one in a hundred didn't wear the collar. A fact his friend the king pointed out on a frequent basis.

The old O'Tech Technician ― most of the outsiders around here still called them priests although they worshiped no gods ― had met the king when Dent had first arrived in Harv'el some twenty seasons before. Then the king had been a new member of the Warrior's Guild on his first assignment looking for nothing but a way to protect his aunt and cousin from the abuse normally heaped on the captives of the ocean raiders common at that time. Dent had known nothing of salidins or what they could do, but it was either have them bound with the collar or tattooed on the forehead in the Jeevelian custom. Loath to having his beautiful charges disfigured as was his opinion of the practice, he chose what was at that time a relatively new alterative: He had them collared.

Given the salidin enforced obedience and prevented any possibility of betrayal, King Dent now required all servants in the royal household to be so equipped even though he still publicly pushed for the abolition of slavery. A bit of hypocrisy that Don gleefully pointed out to the king, frequently.

Integrating the salidin into the northern societies had been making slow but steady progress. Although with the exception of specific households, such as the king's, Dom could see little change in the underlying culture. For the most part they were simply replacing one symbol of slavery with another. While progress towards a more stable society was slow, at least it guaranteed the O'Techs a firmer foothold; without them the installation of salidin or the transfer of ownership would be impossible.

At least it had been until now. The news about Durhorn was disturbing on many levels. Of primary concern was the inference that non-Technicians were now able to activate the salidins, something that Don had been taught to believe could never happen. Secondly, what was the source of these new salidins? Were his superiors in the south embarking on a new path for the conversion of the north without informing him? If not then where were they coming from? If in fact there was a new source of the devices, what potential danger did that portend for his own native land where the capture and binding of a mere handful of nobility could conceivably wrest the control of whole nations from their rightful rulers? Very troubling to say the least.

Even as he arrived at the king's palace for the afternoon's meeting, extensive reports were being drafted, later to be encoded and sent south by the quickest method possible. This project to protect the unbound, unthinkable just a short time ago, now became a matter of their own national security and not just a favor for a friend.

"Don, it's good to see you," the king greeted him warmly with a hug. "It seems like we never get to see you anymore."

"Ah well, Your Majesty," Don said returning the embrace. "You've been busy, I've been busy, but I have missed all of you, especially you, my dears." He had a special leer for Dent's four wives as each one rushed to embrace their old friend. "When is this miser finally going to let you four out to play with the rest of the world?"

"You old goat," Nesho laughed as she playfully slapped him on the arm. "As if we ever would. Besides, when would you ever be able to work us in, given that crowd of young acolytes you always seem to have fawning over you."

"Ah, it is a burden we older and wiser must bear," he answered with an exaggerated sigh. "Instruction of the young is one of our tasks. Although I will admit from your evident efforts to repopulate the world all by yourselves maybe you wouldn't need much instruction in that respect." Dent's ever-increasing number of children was also a favorite topic of Don's when they got together. "It would appear you have slowed down a bit lately though, unless you think I might want to test each of you for pregnancy again."

"We finally figured out what was causing these little devils and put a stop to that," Sosho said with a smirk. "At least for now."

"How sad for the king," Don said looking at Dent with a sorrowful expression.

"Oh, we didn't stop that," Sosho laughed. "We just put the baby factories on hold for a while."

"They were just jealous it took them twice as long to produce the same number of babies," Shasta chimed in.

Dent coughed behind them and when they turned to look at him he said, "Maybe we can talk about the royal sex-life at some other time. Or maybe, never." That got a laugh out of all of them.

"Yes, yes, you are correct as usual," Don sighed. Looking around he noted that Dent's five eldest children were present along with a couple of women he wasn't familiar with.

"Nilsen, good to see you, my boy," he said clasping the young man's hand. "And Makro, my dear I don't know what to say. To hear you were bound ... Well, I just don't know what to say."

"How about congratulations?" Makro replied going up on her toes to kiss the old man on the cheek. "Believe me, it bothers Nil and my parents much more than it does me. In fact I've found it to be quite enjoyable."

"May," Nilsen said with exasperation. She just giggled and moved over to put her arm around his waist. Moving on Don stopped in front of the twins.

"You two!" he said shaking his head. "I'd like to say I expected better, but I'd be lying. At least you're not your parents' problem anymore. Although I can't think of what Nilsen did to deserve you."

"That seems to be what a lot of people have been saying lately," Fobie said. "Maybe he was really good and we are his reward."

Don snorted.

"It's what we were born for," Deimie added solemnly. "Nil is our future as we are his. Even without these," she reached up to touch her collar, "we were destined to be together. These are merely a tool to further that destiny."

Don bowed slightly, acknowledging her statement. He had never understood any of Shasta's twins' unique abilities but he respected them. He had seen stranger things.

"Jarrah!" he said moving down the line. "What a beautiful young woman you have grown up to be, and such an accomplished healer I have heard. Congratulations!"

"I'm glad somebody thinks so," she snapped, looking over at Nilsen coolly. Nil just rolled his eyes but didn't say anything having seen the frown Clarise was giving her eldest daughter. Let someone else take the brunt of that sharp-edged tongue for once.

"Hmm ... yes, well, ah ... now who are these two lovely ladies?" he asked quickly moving back towards Nilsen where Lavender and Rabszolga stood a pace or two behind. Don looked up at the tall blonde giantess and then over at the more slender but equally well-formed Durhorn woman.

"Please, allow me," Nil said stepping forward. "This is Lavender Mist Bwejeri deSiso, my shield-maid, bond-mate and mother of my child. Lavender, this is Don teNeigho, head of Jeevel's O'Tech mission and a very old friend of the family."

"I am honored, sir," Lavender mumbled, pleased that again Nilsen seemed to feel no shame in acknowledging their child as his own.

"The pleasure is all mine, I assure you," Don smiled, "and please call me Don; I insist. Now who is this other lovely creature?"

"This is Rabszolga torSiso, late of Durhorn and now bonded to me," Nil introduced. "Her former ... liege ... was killed during the attack on us in Salas. She asked for protection and I granted it. She's been extremely helpful in gathering what little information we have on Durhorn. You've read the reports Mother sent over to you."

Rabszolga preformed a flawless curtsy and Don wondered what magic kept her large and very firm breasts inside the low-cut gown as he watched in appreciation. He also noted the giantess rolling her eyes and Rabszolga glancing over to her taller neighbor with just a hint of a smile. Don barely contained his laughter thinking that Nilsen's women were going to make his life very interesting.

"Yes I have," he said tearing himself away from the interesting but distracting interplay. "Which brings us to the reason for this visit: I think we have something that will meet your requirements." Snapping his finger, one of his assistants brought forward a wooden box similar to the ones they had seen holding salidin. Don placed it on a table in front of the crowd and opened it. Reaching inside he withdrew a band of woven metal about three times the width of a salidin and approximately seventeen to eighteen inches in length.

"A new type of salidin for my son?" Dent asked mildly.

"No more a salidin than a manikin is a man, Your Majesty," Don responded. "They may look similar but in fact are quite different. This is nothing more or less than what it appears to be: a band of woven metal. It is placed around the wearer's neck to protect it from being bound by a salidin.

"To protect against undesirable binding we first must understand how a salidin works," he continued. "Now, I won't pretend to know exactly how the salidin does what it does but we do have a fairly good idea how it interfaces with its wearer. I'm sure you are all aware that when a salidin is emplaced it creates a continuous band, or collar around the wearer's neck. Why not around a wrist, or an ankle? It's because of the spinal cord. The salidin actually becomes a part of the bearer's skin and taps into their spinal cord in a fairly narrow region between the neck and the shoulders. The 'where' is fairly easy to see; just look at someone who has one.

"The question is, can someone be protected from the salidin? Intuitively you would think if the salidin couldn't touch the skin it couldn't bind with the wearer. It turns out this is correct. If the salidin is kept from touching the skin above the spinal cord in this one narrow area the salidin will not bond with the intended bearer. Almost any obstruction that prevents skin contact over the spinal cord will suffice. This we obtained from the Warrior's Guild. It was an experimental flexible armor that turned out to be very flexible but not particularly protective. However it should serve adequately for the short term. You can see the little protrusions on each end; these are the teeth for the locking mechanism. I have two keys for this one." He held up very slim rods about three inches in length, or at least they appeared to be rods until you looked closer and could see they were flattened with several randomly placed bumps.