River's Run(18)

Turning he growled low, “Watch them. I need to call for Torak.” He said as he left.



It was only as he turned to go he realized he had probably, no definitely, said the wrong thing. Watch them! He thought disgruntled, like the warriors could peel their eyes away from three beautiful women dressed in clothing that only accented their curves. The warriors would be watching them alright, with lust.



Moving into his office he pressed the com button.



“Torak.” Came a deep voice.



“My Lord, this is Zoran. I believe you should come down to the training level.” Zoran asked as his eyes followed the females.



“Is there a problem?” Torak asked surprised.



“There might be, My Lord. The three females are here.” Zoran replied. He couldn’t have said any more if his life depended on it. His breath was caught in his throat as he watched one of the females slide down one of the ropes and begin swinging while another did back flips on the narrow beams thirty feet above the floor of the exercise mats. He couldn’t see the other female from the angle he was at. He was afraid to see what she was doing.



“On my way.” Torak said tensely.





Torak called to Jazin and Manota to join him at the training level. He shifted when the lift he was in paused and Manota and Jazin stepped in.



“What is going on?” Jazin asked curiously. He could tell something was wrong from the sound of Torak’s voice.



“It seems the females are on the training level. Zoran just requested I come down. He sounded upset.” Torak replied, his lips forming a firm, straight line.



The three brothers had not seen the females since they retired to the rooms given to them. The females had been either asleep or Torak and his brothers had been in meetings with the councilmen from the Alliance over the past two days. It would seem they should have checked in on them sooner. In truth, the brothers were trying to stay away from them until they received the council’s approval of their request to claim the females. They would claim them with or without the council’s approval; it would just make life easier if they had the council’s support.



The three brothers strode down the corridor to the training level. The door opened automatically as they entered. Zoran, who looked more than a little flushed and distressed, met them at the door.



“Where are they?” Torak asked impatiently.



Zoran pointed up to the ceiling, “Up there.” He said hoarsely, his eyes widening at what he was seeing.



River, Jo, and Star were having a ball. They were swinging through the air doing one of their most strenuous acts. Jo was hanging upside down, her ankles the only thing holding her to the swing. Hanging from her hands was Star while River was swinging from the other swing. They moved faster and faster until River flew off the swing doing a triple flip in the air barely missing Star who was doing her own flip. Star caught the swing River had just left while Jo caught River by her ankles swinging her up into the air only to have River double back up until she was standing on the swing above Jo. The girls continued for another twenty minutes before both Jo and Star did flying flips that had all the warriors holding their breaths and cringing at the same time as they fell into the netting. Bouncing up, the girls did a graceful flip off the netting to the floor below. River continued to swing on the bar high above.



Jo and Star grinned at Torak, Jazin, and Manota as they moved graceful by them to pick up some small pieces of wood. Grinning again as they ran by them, they moved to different places around the training room. Torak, Jazin, and Manota were too busy watching as River did a series of flips and turns letting go of the swing and catching it at the last minute. It was only when she called out that the men turned to see what Jo and Star were doing.



The two sisters had handed a number of wood pieces to several of the warriors around the room telling them to hold them up above their heads and not to move them. On the wood pieces, Torak noticed small circles marked in black. His eyes widened when while studying one of the pieces of wood a knife suddenly appeared inside the circle.



Torak’s eyes jerked upward and he watched as River flew from one swing to another then to a rope throwing knives as she went, sometimes upside down or in mid-air, at the targets his warriors held. Ten knives were imbedded in ten targets. The warriors slowly pulled the targets around staring with pale faces at the knives then up at the female flying through the air. Torak watched River’s face as she moved through the air. She had a self-satisfied smile on her face and she looked joyful as she glided catching, twisting, and flipping through the air. Both of the other females watched River as she did one last flip then grinned as Torak cried out in surprised when River appeared to fall.