ARGEL: Book Four - Warrior Women

By B.B. Humphrey

Troy and David, each now settled into a marriage, work the Union of Evolved Planets' assignments on Argel. Kyla runs from Crisiant to avoid the hurt caused by Prince Cymry, and the pressure from Asad’far. She is settled on the Owena compound, accepted as an honorary warrior woman. She is following her dream to educate the women of Argel and establishes her own family of misfits. Through her efforts, the Owena and the Ssh’fah women become a part of the Union’s efforts to establish a port and to improve the desert people’s lives. Avoiding the angry prince and the amorous Asad is complicated by the demands of the King and the Captain of the Adventurer. If forced to leave her school and meet those demands, her future will take a turn she thought could never happen. Will she chose duty over love?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Storymill Publishing
• Release date: Dec 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781939895172

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ARGEL

Book Four

Warrior Women

By B.B. Humphrey

Copyright 2013

Smashwords Edition

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Books written by B.B. Humphrey can be obtained at http://www.bbhumphrey.com/ and through select,

online book retailers.

Storymill Publishing

All characters and situations in this novel are entirely fictional and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Copyright © B.B. Humphrey 2013

All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever, including the right to copy, distribute and adapt the work.

Chapter One

_______________________

Lifted from her feet and thrown across the cabin, Kyla slammed into the wall of the rover. She sprawled on the floor of the rover groaning. Lights sparked behind her lowered eyelids. Her ears hurt and head throbbed. What happened? She slowly stood, working her jaw, hoping to relieve the pressure in her ears. Holding her temples, she staggered to the cockpit windows and looked out. Creation! Black smoke billowed from the landing field and the receiving warehouse. Something exploded within the warehouse shooting flames fifty feet in the air.

As her head cleared, she remembered having watched transports landing and backing up to the materials warehouse, one after the other with only minutes between each vehicle. She thought, with all the incoming traffic, Controls managed miracles in avoiding accidents. The moment the thought entered her mind, within the overhead spiraling transports, one overloaded transport wobbled, lost control, and dropped like a rock, crashing into the building. The concussion from the explosion flung the rover aside, knocking her into the reinforced plas wall.

She wondered what might have happened had she been outside. David! Is he scattered among the wreckage falling from the sky? Men still ran to safety while others lay in heaps across the open area between the rover and the buildings. Her stomach dropped. Awel. Little David. Tears threatened.

The new port spread out before her. Once an ugly bruise on the desert, the port now sparkled in the bright sunlight, a testament to UEP engineers. Kayla grimaced at the disrupted progression of traffic. Landing a freighter required little space, but dozens filled the sky over the port and she understood that hundreds made landing on a complicated schedule. Huge leviathans circled in holding patterns as crews scurried to unload the equipment and supplies of those already landed. She shook her head; it certainly looked a lot different than her last visit, when the engineers had yet to clear a landing area.

The main part of the port had taken a unified shape, although it would take years to complete. The water filtration plant, built first, produced purified seawater and serviced the area. She grinned. Someone with an artistic inclination planted beautiful palms at the plant’s base, hoping to distract from its utilitarian façade. She heard that the palms received the first salinized water while the place and the people thirsted. It almost caused an uprising.

Probably a mile from the center of the growing port, at least a dozen freighters, plus many personal rovers stood in rows waiting for inspection and repairs, if needed. Men quickly moved them one-by-one from the scalding heat into the cool garage. Off to the side, a long tent housed the armed men and workers. Kyla held her hands over her ears as a transport roared in causing a twirling sand storm to cover the glass-enclosed office tower in dust. How could anyone see through to the outside? Didn’t the planners take into consideration the sand? Everyone knew the Bari had fierce sand storms regularly. She looked up.

After the last debris settled, Kyla peered out the window. She could barely see David through the smoke and sand fog, his head down, headed her way. Thank Creation, he’s safe. An extremely tall, thin man ran beside him. Kyla waited until they reached the hatch before opening it. After they scrambled inside, she slammed it shut and tossed cold bottles of water in their direction. David’s companion, his face dark with soot, grinned at her as he caught a bottle. Thanks, it’s damn hot and dry in this hell hole.

David coughed to clear the sand and smoke from his throat. Kyla, meet Mac. He’s the one responsible for providing housing for the translators. Mac, meet the pride and joy of Captain Rachelle and King Craddoc. Kyla provides a much needed service for the port, as well as for the work going on down in the swampy area of Bari.

She gave him her hand and nodded. Pleased to meet you, Mac. His face, dark from the sun pleased her. Skin appeared close to the bone over prominent cheekbones, and deep folds creased his skin from nose to mouth. He had a look of honesty, accented by brilliant blue eyes that met hers.

It’s a pleasure to finally meet the woman brave and strong enough to escape the Ssh’fah. Your story has spread through space and made you famous. They are dangerous critters. We have to watch them.

Smiling, she said, I cannot take the credit for that. Have you met one of the Owena yet? They came into the desert, facing the possibility of a cruel death, and sneaked me away.

Okay, if you say so, but I understand it’s rare to escape that place with your life. Let me show you what you came to see—the accommodations for your students. It is temporary but permanent housing is in construction. For safety sake, I put them smack in the middle of the largest buildings. Guards will accompany them from the time they leave the job site until they return to work. All the women you’ve sent before are in medical and live there. The message is pounded into every worker’s head concerning the value of these women and the outcome if they are abused in any way.

That’s good; I worry about their safety among so many men. How many are there on this site? She worked her jaw side-to-side and grimaced.

I’m not sure, men arrive almost daily. Must be well over fifteen hundred. We need lots of translators, especially as we hire more of those desert men. It’s ziggy wild with all the different languages. Will the women fear the Ssh’fah?

"The Owena are unafraid of men. If one sneaks up on her, which will be difficult to do, he might overcome her. However, mercy help the man that attempts to hurt or molest her. We have worked hard to strengthen the Ssh’fah women’s resolve and courage, but they have many years behind them completely powerless, without any rights under the Ssh’fah men’s power and abuse. They may need the most protection; however, an Owena is paired with each for that purpose.

She noticed David staring at her face. What?

Did you get hurt from the crash. You are getting a hellacious bruise on the side of your face.

Yeah, the compression knocked the rover around, and I took a tumble. Must have banged my face then. I don’t remember.

Mac glanced outside. The debris is almost gone and the injured and dead have been moved elsewhere. Let’s go if you’re up to it.

They continued talking, picking their way through debris, without Kyla noticing their arrival in front of two medium-sized tents. Mac looked around. Thank goodness the accommodations were protected by the surrounding buildings.

An above ground tunnel connected the two tents. Off the tunnel, between the two a smaller tent clung to it like a mushroom. Tents? I hoped for better arrangements.

The disappointment in her voice spurred him on to dispel it. Don’t judge them from the outside. He opened a framed door in the front of one and let her precede him. Notice this. On one post, a control apparatus hung. He punched a number into it and cool air swept across her face. Administration informed me that the women would come in sets of two. Rooming together, each one has a comfortable air mattress, a closet to store her things, a desk suitable for their needs, and a comfortable reclining chair. In the middle, a curtain can be drawn for privacy.

Kyla spun around examining the tent’s features. This is really nice; I’m impressed, but how about bathing?

He laughed. This is the cream de resistance and the men are jealous. Follow me. He opened another wood framed door. Leaning over, he led her through an above ground tunnel to another opening. She stopped and stared. Its sides had a semi-transparent film featuring a pleasant sky

Mac chuckled. No one can see inside. Inside the bathroom, a row of sinks beneath a massive mirror made of plas, looked like marble. Turn on the spigots.

Goodness, hot and cold water in the middle of the desert. Why eight basins?

Positive thinking on the part of UEP planners. The showers are amazing. He directed her attention to two areas of the wall. From this central bath, we can connect four tents. That will make it possible for visiting without exposure to the elements. All we need for you to do is fill ‘em up. Every woman you’ve sent here works in Medical."

Could you add the other two tents within a couple of weeks? I have twenty graduating.

"That’s wonderful. I’ll start on them today. What a great surprise.

You’ve done a wonderful job; they may never want to go home.

They will have furlough just like the men.

Returning to the rover, a stream of camels leisurely strolled to a faucet outside a fence.

"David, look. What are they doing here?

When the Ssh’fah workers became aware of plentiful water on post, the word spread, and men on camels caused a problem by forcing past the guards. Finally, some bureaucrat with two brain cells came up with the idea. Give them a water source outside the fencing.

On the flight to Moray, Kyla said, I’m glad to get away from that mess. Thought we wouldn’t survive during that crash.

They’ll have it cleaned up in no time. A large temporary tent will appear within days and business will go on.

I wonder how many were killed. How did you and Mac avoid the fallout?

We stepped from the administration building and he looked up and saw the thing fall. Saved us. Jumped back inside the building.

I worried about you, my friend. Mac looks strong and healthy, but a bit old to work in such heat.

Yeah, he retires in a week or two. I’m hiring him to help on the ranch. A good man and extremely honest. Might not get much work from him, but can trust him to protect my family and help if they need anything when I’m gone.

After the busy day, Kyla, happy to be home, found Doma, Maggie, and the teachers in the kitchen. Doma asked, What happened at the port? Must have been a big explosion to affect us here. It shook the school a few seconds after the roar

Yes, a sky vehicle crashed into the mechanic’s building. David complained all the way here about the dents in his rover from flying junk. After telling them of her experience at the spaceport, she fielded questions. Mali and Shima left, anxious to tell the students what they had to look forward to when graduating. She snatched three cookies and took her tea to the office.

She had no more than settled when three Owena mothers burst into Kyla’s office. Zena, almost in tears, said, Pardon the intrusion. Maggie let us in. We need help.

What happened?

Wynda glanced at Zena, who now cried unabashedly. Zena’s partner, Mazie, our commander of expeditions, is in the icy regions of the northern Talar Mountains leading a group of sky men.

Confused, Kyla asked, What’s the problem and why would UEP men go with her?

They contracted for a trip to look for evidence of the famed snowmen above the snow line. Mother Mai said, They are in some sort of trouble.

How do you know this?

A Union officer came by and asked if we knew of any of our trackers in the Tarlar with UEP men. We had no idea why he asked this, but told him Mazie escorted a group up there. He informed us that station communications received static-filled, broken messages asking for help. They seemed to come from the ice caps.

Zena cleared her voice of tears. I immediately went to the commander’s office at the post to ask what they planned to do about his stranded men. Angry and red-faced, he rudely told me they planned to do nothing. The men were AWOL, got themselves in a mess and could get themselves out. She cleared her scratchy voice again. We don’t know if the men are hurt, our women hurt, or some of them dead.

Ordinarily, Mai said, we wouldn’t be frightened for her; she climbs like a mountain goat and takes excellent care of her customers. But, if the men are calling for help, there must be a dangerous dispute or an animal attack.

The bastards. Kyla bit her lip. However, the Union is always rough on men who leave their duty post without authorization. Give me a minute to think about this. She turned her chair and stared out the window.

She swiveled around to face the women. What does Mother Suisan want to do? How many men and how many women are involved?

Wynda sighed. We hope to keep this from her. At her age, shock and worry could stop her heart. As for the mountain climbers, there are four men and six women.

I want you to go home to take care of things, and give me time to see what I can do. I’ll send you a note by Padric. There’s no way I’ll tangle with the Union bureaucrats, and my psi talent is not strong enough to reach Crisiant. The Owena are an important part of the kingdom, and I know the king will try to solve the problem once he knows about it. I’ll use my wrist com to reach David. He can get to the castle in minutes.

Already there, David answered. You wouldn’t believe—

Chapter Two

_______________________

Kyla spoke over his words telling him the Owena’s story.

Great news you have there. Relates to mine in some weird way. Evidently, a young priestess has contact with one of the men and is almost hysterical worrying about him. She says he’s dying. We might have a direct line to him through her. The tower at Ogilbinn communicated with the tower here a few minutes ago to inform the king that they found an Elfin woman struggling toward them, up to her knees in snow, carrying a man on her back.

Has she explained?

No, she passed out when they found her. Probably from relief. The Ogilbinn healers are treating her for frostbite. Give me a few minutes and I’ll get back to you.

She called out for Doma. When the heavy woman hustled into the office, Kyla sat at her desk writing a note. Yes, what do you need?

Your son for an errand. Do you know where he is?

Out back with the builders; I’ll fetch him.

Once Padric left, she sat staring at her wrist. Come on, David. If he goes up there, I’m going with him. I wonder if those people came near the volcano where the crazy frydracos nest.

Hmm, that could be nasty.

The next hour became a tangle of messages back and forth. Finally, plans were finalized. The priestess in contact with a member of the expedition would come with David to find his location. A healer priest would accompany them. Men from Ogilbinn already trekked toward the ice line, but had no definite direction to go. They have a psi worker with them to serve as some kind of communication system, a mind-to-mind connection with David’s passenger.

Kyla mounted her hydd and raced to the Owena home the moment she knew what they would do. She leapt from the animal and ran through the door to the main gathering room. Filling the room, women clustered close together surrounded the mothers for solace. After she reported an effort to rescue the people on the ice would go forward, half the women wanted to go. "I’m sorry, there will be four

Reviews for ARGEL

[thomas rea · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Really a great example of people being around each other and how to get together with one another