Desert World Allegiances by Lyn Gala Read Free Book Online Page A

mouth. Ben pressed the fabric in.
    “For someone so smart, you have some things to learn about life.” Ben placed the second strip over his mouth and pulled it around to the back, tying it tightly. Between the gag and Ben’s weight on him, Temar struggled to get air into his chest. Gray blurred the edges of his vision until Ben finally rolled off him.
    For a second, Temar could only lie in his childhood bed and gasp air through his nose as his body tried to get oxygen back into all the places that needed it. Ben’s strong hands flipped him over to his stomach, and Temar was too weak and trembling too badly from fear and lack of oxygen to argue. The leash that dangled from his bound wrists was brought up between his legs and then tied tightly to the back of his belt, so that when Ben flipped him over again, Temar could only blink up helplessly.
    His breathing still came in ragged gasps, and Ben reached over and pinched his nose shut. Temar panicked, flopping like a dying sandcat caught in a pipe trap. The hand released him, and he gasped for air again.
    “Listen, young idiot!” Ben shook his shoulders, and Temar stared up at him in terror. He’d throw up, only he was afraid Ben would leave him gagged, choking on his own vomit. “Take one deep breath,” Ben ordered.
    Temar tried. He got some air in, but just when his body demanded that he push it out and gasp for more, Ben pinched his nose shut again. “I won’t have you hyperventilate. Slow down. When I let go, breathe out.” The fingers released his nose, and Temar blew the air out, hurrying to get more in right away, but Ben pinched his nose shut too quickly. The gray started fuzzing the edges of his vision again.
    “Deeper breath this time,” Ben said, letting go. For long minutes, Temar lay on the bed with Ben pinching and releasing his nose, until Temar finally figured out that he could only get enough oxygen if he breathed as Ben ordered him to. His vision cleared, and his breathing evened out, but the terror still clawed at him.
    “I knew you were trainable,” Ben said with a friendly slap on the arm that made Temar flinch away. Immediately, a hand was around his neck. “You don’t ever flinch away from me, understand?” Ben’s eyes were hard, and his fingers pressed into the soft of Temar’s neck painfully until Temar gave a small nod. All he had to do was play nice until he could talk to someone, ask them to send word to the council. The farms might be isolated from the town, but there would be unskilled workers on the farm all the time. Young’s workers would pass by on the road to get to town, skilled workers would have to come out to calibrate solar equipment and test water. He could get word out somehow. Right now, he just had to keep Ben happy.
    Ben smiled down at him and then used the hand he had wrapped around Temar’s throat to pat him on the cheek. “Good boy.”
    Ben sat up, and then, as if testing Temar, patted him first on the arm and then the stomach and then the thigh. “You never flinch from me, boy,” Ben said again, but this time he sounded far more friendly. Of course, this time Temar had held himself still as Ben did as he liked.
    Reaching into his inner vest pocket, Ben pulled out a communicator and slipped the listener into his ear. Temar’s eyes went wide.  At one time, communicators had been common enough, and most people had grandparents or great grandparents that still grumbled about missing them, but very few still worked. The search team at White Hills had two and the council at Landing kept one for emergency searches, but no one owned one. Ben pulled one out as casually as one might pull out a handkerchief.  A few taps, and someone on the other end must have answered.
    “The Gazer boy has evidence. A lot of it.” He waited as he listened to the answer. “No, he was such a good little boy that he didn’t tell anyone other than his sister.” Ben smiled down and gave Temar another pat on the cheek. For a