Something had gone horribly wrong with Elspeth’s party.  Ardath had not been invited, but that fact was not slowing down the four men in clamshell body armor and large weaponry who were bound and determined to bring Ardath to it.  

          “Wait.  What’s going on here?”  She demanded, panic insuring a complete transition from dead asleep to wide awake. These were not her uncle’s guards. These were strangers.  Normally her uncle’s men at least played at treating Ardath like a member of the family, and due that level of respect.  These did not… the two in front each had Ardath underneath her armpits and carried more than escorted her along the hallway, her bare toes skimming a couple of centimeters above the floor.  

          Ardath struggled to make sense of the impossible.  This shouldn’t be happening.  Except for the almost painful grip the two men had on her, she could almost dismiss this as a horrible dream that she was going to wake up from soon.  The great doors to the ballroom hung open, the light from within spilling across the foyer floor.  The two hundred people invited to Elspeth’s party stood within, but the revelry was long dead… The fifty extra not invited had seen to that.  They wore the same unrelieved black as the four that escorted Ardath, and each was as armed.  Even someone as sheltered as Ardath could put a name to this occurrence, even if she wished she couldn’t.  Shinneri raid.  Here.  It would be impossible if it weren’t happening.

  “The lady Ardath.”  The man on her left identified, and they both dropped her to her feet in front of an enraged Elspeth.  

  Ardath’s glance flicked over her cousin, who was understandably upset by this, to the man standing at her side… the man she had apparently been brought to.  He was a complete stranger; for all that he wore the correct clothing of a close servant.  His bearing, however, did not hold that position true.  He was in charge of this.  

  “Ah.  Ardath.  We meet at last.  It has not been easy to gain access to you.  You’ll have to forgive the scene.”  He had a rolling accent, one completely unfamiliar to Ardath’s ears.  She was willing to bet it was Shinneri, however.  

  “Why?”  She demanded, and he blinked.

  “Why forgive the scene?  Well, I suppose you’re correct, it’s probably unforgivable and about to get worse…”

  That was more information than Ardath really wanted in that direction, and not nearly enough in the direction she wanted.   “No. Why do you want to meet me?”  There really wasn’t a reason.  He had Elspeth standing a mere meter away from him…she was the true prize.  

  He chuckled, stepping forward, his eyes cataloging every detail of Ardath’s appearance as he did so.  “Ardath Miranda Krakenbuhl.” He breathed, lifting the tail of one of Ardath’s braids and raising it to his nostrils.  “Only offspring of Lord Simeon Krakenbuhl and Miranda Sinclair.  Niece to the Great Bull of the Public…”

  Elspeth, daughter of the Great Bull of the Public, bristled in barely constrained rage, but the fascinated attention of at least three of the men with guns kept her from exploding.  

  “Tell me, Lady Krakenbuhl…” He smiled, and Ardath was certain it wasn’t a pleasant one.  “Any young male suitors?”

  “Nooooo.”  That was Elspeth’s territory, and one she protected with great viciousness.  Liam, responsible for Ardath’s upbringing, was also bitterly cautious over that.  He’d prefer that she live her life as she had, protected and cloistered in the Krakenhold, leaving the limelight for his daughter, Elspeth.  

  The man ran his fingers along his chin, fascinated and not bothering to hide it.  “So, you’re claiming purity.”

  “No!”  The voice did not come from Elspeth, but out of the crowd of invitees held at bay.  It took Ardath a moment to recognize Andrew Munro’s voice, but that’s who it was.  The young scion of the family whose lands neighbored Krakenhold pushed forward, to the edge of the armed men.  “Ardath!  No.”

  The man glanced between Andrew and Ardath, arching a brow.  “Boy.  All I have to do is lift her up, spread her, and find out for myself.  It’s not difficult.”  

  “The Bull will hunt you down and drench the ground with your blood if you harm me.”  It would have been a flamboyant statement from Ardath, who appeared to be the one actually threatened at that moment, but Ardath was speechless.  The words came from an indignant Elspeth.

  The man in charge only shrugged at the threat.  “I’m not here for you, Elspeth Krakenbuhl.  You’re not worth my time.  I’m here for her.”  He pointed unerringly at Ardath, who was now quite certain she wanted him to be here for Elspeth instead.  She didn’t want to be valuable.  She’d been perfectly happy to let Elspeth be the valuable, sought after one.  

  “What?”  

  “We’re here for Ardath Krakenbuhl.  Keep your mouth shut, and you won’t be hurt.  However…” He stepped up to her, and unclasped the necklace she wore, running it through his fingers thoughtfully.  “This… doesn’t go with your coloring at all.”

  “That was my grandmother’s.”  Elspeth hissed, and the man chuckled, resting the warmed gold against Ardath’s throat as he clasped it around her neck.  

  “Your grandmother.  Her grandmother.  You are cousins, after all.”  He rested a gentle hand on Ardath’s shoulder, his eyes on hers.  He let go of a fluid mass of syllables, an order to one of the men holding her.  There was a sudden prick in her arm, and the world went furry, dark and warm around Ardath.  She was unconscious a moment later.  

  Lord Simeon Krakenbuhl, better known as Flight Commander Krakenbuhl, took the entryway steps three at a time.   The great doors of Krakenhold were shattered, their structural integrity destroyed by an explosive device.   “Liam!”  He yelled, breaking into the ballroom.  What had once been regal and graceful had been desecrated, broken.  The walls were blackened, their hangings burned, paintings piled up along the wall, also burned.  The air hung with smoke and the unmistakable smell of death.  

  The Great Bull of the Public, Simeon’s older brother, Liam, turned at the hail.  He was poised at the gallery level, about three meters higher than Simeon’s current position, and across the shattered room. He did not move, but waited for Simeon to close with him, climbing the gallery stairs to his vantage point.  “I heard…”  Simeon stuttered to a beginning.  He’d heard a lot, often contradictory, but the main, and most unbelievable appeared to be true…the Shinneri had attacked Krakenhold.  Attacked the Krakenbuhl home with both girls in residence.  Ardath and Elspeth.  Simeon’s mind refused to encompass that.   He couldn’t conceive of a more terrifying prospect than Ardath falling into Shinneri hands.  “Ardath?”  

  Liam stared out over the ballroom, hands clasped behind his back.  “They took her.”  He confirmed the worst in a dead, dull voice.  

  “Elspeth?”  God, no.  They’d taken Simeon’s little girl.  His only.  

  “They left her.”  There was little relief in that statement, and Simeon’s mind could fill in the blanks.  They’d left her, but she had not been unmolested, uninjured.  Shinneri raids were all too well known… they’d walked off with Ardath, and probably any items of value they could get their hands on.  Everything else would be despoiled.  

  “How?”  A raid… on Dubois, of all places.  It would have taken great planning, and the Shinneri weren’t great planners.  

  “They hired help.”  

  That was even better planning, and completely and totally out of character.  No self respecting Shinneri would hire help for a raid.   It showed a distinct lack of valor, even had it been successful.  What could they have gained that was so valuable that they would accept the loss of face inherent in it?  

  “Hired.  Help.  What were they after?”  Krakenhold had nothing that valuable.  Nothing worth that indignity…

  “Apparently. Ardath.”  Liam breathed.  “I was not here and not supposed to be here.  You were not here and not supposed to be here.   Elspeth…”  Liam shrugged.  Elspeth was not supposed to have been here, either.  Her presence was a fluke.  Of the family, only Ardath could have been assumed to be in residence.  There shouldn’t have been anybody here; it should have been quiet and almost empty… Elspeth had brought these people here to allay her boredom.  

  “Ardath.”  Although Simeon loved his daughter dearly, she should not be worth this sort of an attack.  She was just one little girl.  She was hardly an Elspeth… but they’d taken her, and left Elspeth behind.  

  “Ardath Krakenbuhl.”  Voigst identified, and James Diesen nodded.  It had been difficult to get any sort of information on the Kraken’s daughter, difficult, expensive and time consuming.  James had paid for and authorized the raid to take her on very little but a leap of faith.  He stared through the one way glass, his anxiety somewhat settled.  Simeon’s daughter was stated to be lovely, and the young woman nervously sitting beyond was indeed lovely.  Lovely well beyond Elspeth Krakenbuhl.  

  “She is, indeed, a virgin.”  Voigst confirmed, and James nodded.  With such sketchy information, Ardath’s habits had been impossible to pin down.  He was relieved she didn’t share Elspeth’s promiscuity; it was easier to justify the resources he’d spent to gain her.  But from what he saw, she might have been worth it even had she not been untouched.  “Is she what you wanted?”

  “Definitely.”  She was young.  Beautiful.  Untouched.  And Simeon Krakenbuhl’s daughter.  What more could James ask for?  He nodded.  It was time to pour more money into her, more time, and more attention.  That was fine… unlike most Shinneri males, James was patient.  He knew what he wanted and was willing to spend what needed to be spent.  He wanted Ardath Krakenbuhl, and he’d gotten her.  Now, he needed Ardath Krakenbuhl to be the absolute pinnacle of Shinneri femininity, and he knew exactly how to accomplish that as well.  By the time he was done with her, the only thing that would remain of her Public birth and early years would be her family name.  

 

  “Lord Diesen.”  

  Rikard raised brows thoughtfully, “What exactly are you asking me?”  He asked.  Someone had thrown clan resources in on this.  He just didn’t happen to know who… or why.  It had to be someone with the Diesen name, someone in Rikard’s own household.  That left precious few; the Diesens had never been a prolific line for a Shinneri clan.  If he bothered to seriously think about it, he could probably figure out who was responsible, and probably why, but he didn’t see why he should bother.

  “The whereabouts of Ardath Krakenbuhl.”  

  “I don’t know.”  Rikard answered truthfully.  If he didn’t know which of his relatives had taken her, then he didn’t know where she was.   Nor could he make an educated guess on what was happening to her.  

  “Could you find out?”  

  “Probably.”  Definitely was more accurate, but Rikard was intrigued as to why one of his own would have done this, and he’d like to see this play out to its conclusion.  And he was annoyed with the Confed’s prying in his clan’s business.  Ardath Krakenbuhl had been taken, fair and square.  It wasn’t his business to meddle in it.  

  “Would you?”  The minister of foreign relations was exasperated, and beginning to show it.  

  “Why?”  

  “Lord Diesen.  Ardath Krakenbuhl is a civilian.  She’s a child.  The civilized thing to do is to remove her from whichever Shinneri male has claimed her as a broodmare and return her to her family, unharmed.”  

  “We’ve never claimed to be civilized.”  Rikard noted slowly.  In fact, the Shinneri clung to their barbaric ways with a vengeance.  The more uncivilized the civilized cultures of the area called them, the happier they were.  “And the Bull has not shown himself to be above civilian casualties in this.”  

  “She’s a child.”

  Rikard shrugged.  Until this morning, he had not been aware that Simeon Krakenbuhl had a child.  The man had been extremely cautious with his offspring, protecting her much better than Liam Krakenbuhl did with Elspeth.  He didn’t know anything at all about Ardath.  “So?”  He asked.  She couldn’t be that old… Simeon was only thirty three.  Barely marriageable for a Public male… the child must be a wild oat.   So, someone in his clan had decided to mount an ambitious raid, deep in Public space, to gain possession of a child so protected and coveted that Rikard had been unaware of her existence.  There was no reason why he’d want to meddle in that.  It was more intriguing than anything else. Of course she was young, probably young enough to sway.  This hadn’t been a raid for a blood hostage.  This had been a raid to gain and keep Ardath Krakenbuhl for his clan.  Whoever had balls big enough for that deserved to keep his prize.  May he breed fine, impetuous young sons on her worthy of the name Diesen.  

  “So?”  The man echoed the word with the disapproving overlay that Rikard was accustomed to hearing from Confeds trying desperately to change their allies into a civilized and palatable force.  

  “I’m not going to take her away from whoever has her.  They went to a lot of trouble to get her.  I’m impressed.”

  “What am I supposed to tell the Krakenbuhls?”  

  Rikard raised his eyes from his scrutiny of his coat tails. “Tell them we’re at war.   It’s enough of an answer.”  

  “Put this on.”  Ardath’s second captor, a taller, thinner, young man than the one who had taken her from Krakenhold, ordered, thrusting a pile of fabric to her.  She was certain he was going to watch, but he spun and studied the blank wall.  So far, none of this had gone like the appalling movies that Elspeth watched and had made certain Ardath saw as well.  She hadn’t been raped, in fact, she had not been touched.  She’d been well fed, in fact, better than at home.  She’d been kept comfortable.  She had no complaints, except for the nagging uncertainty of her new life.  She changed from the nightgown she’d been wearing when she’d been snatched into the clothing he’d offered up.  

  “Okay.”  She said when she was done, and he turned, scrutinizing her carefully.  

  “Much better.”

  Ardath wouldn’t necessarily agree with that judgment, this outfit shared nothing with her normal clothing.  She dressed to blend in, to avoid notice, and the dark cherry red dress he’d given her showed off what she tried to hide.  

  “Come with me.  Do not speak to anyone.  Do not leave my side.  Keep your eyes down.”  He led the way through the empty ship, and out into the bright sunshine.  Ardath blinked against the assault, half raising a hand to shade her face.  Dubois could rarely boast this kind of sunshine, the home of the Krakenbuhl family was dark and blustery, not fair and warm as this planet was.  

  “Where am I?”  She asked, watching a pair of Confed officers walk by, both studiously ignoring her and her captor.  There’d be no help there… the Confed and Shinneri were allies.  Even Ardath knew that.  

  “Valderay.”  

  A Confederation world, not one of the Shinneri Cliabhan Worlds.  So she was still within the bounds of civilization, if not within the Public.  But the Confed were probably not going to intervene on her behalf.  

  “Oh.”  She considered asking more, but decided against it.  Too many people were watching her, and it made her decidedly uncomfortable.  She wanted to go home.  Cloister herself in her room, as she’d always done, safe and distant on Dubois, the only world she’d ever known.  She followed him as he had ordered, silent and downcast, as he walked.  

  His path ended at a gate set into a featureless wall.  He straightened his coat, cocked his walking stick, and beat the knocker.  A woman answered it, stylistically dressed a lot like Ardath was, only her clothing was much more embellished and ornamented.  

  “James Diesen.”  She identified Ardath’s captor, who had not bothered to introduce himself.  “On Valderay.  How odd.  What brings you here?”  She asked, pulling the gate open to allow admittance.  Ardath was herded through, and he shut the gate behind them.  

  “You bring me here.”  He stated, folding his walking stick in his elbows.  “I’ve come to gain your services.”  

  “Really.  How fascinating.  Come inside.”  The woman led the way through a beautiful walled garden, warm and fragrant, and to the door of a home.  The door hung open, exposing a hallway of fine sandstone and bright light, and the woman took them into the first door on the right, into a sitting room of russet and gold.  “Sit, young Diesen.  I must admit, I’m intrigued.”  Her eyes coasted to Ardath, who stared back.  The woman was not young, but a carefully and gracefully kept older… perhaps as old as sixty.  “And you come with a girl.  Most men who come to me expect me to provide the girls.”

  Ardath blinked in sudden, comprehending horror.  That was not a comment to keep her comfort level high.  

  “This is Ardath Krakenbuhl.  She is a gift for the Ardtirne.”  He stated smoothly, and the woman’s face reflected sudden trepidation.

  “You’ve lost what little mind you had, James.” She stated, staring at Ardath. “She’s a child.  She’s a Publican.  She’s a Krakenbuhl.”  

  “She’s sixteen.  Older than she looks, but young enough for you to still teach her.  Of course she’s a Publican…who else am I going to steal a gift from?” he asked it as if it were the most obvious question in existence.  “And she’s a Krakenbuhl.  Simeon’s daughter.  Rikard respects Simeon.”

  “Well…yes.”

  “She’s got perfect bloodlines for him.  She’s Simeon’s daughter, by one of his pilots.  She’s young enough to be taught.  She’s beautiful.  She will give Rikard sons to be proud of.”  

  Ardath flushed.  She was aware that the Shinneri stole young women to use as breeders.  But she was not expecting the callous honesty that he approached it with.  

  “Ainemaire.  I have to try.  With Rikard childless, without an heir, the clan is in danger.  There’s just me and him, and he’s the right choice… or she’s the right choice.  For either of us.  There has to be a mother in this.  Rikard isn’t making that choice.    I am his dara, therefore, I must.  And she is my choice.”  

  The woman nodded as if that statement made perfect sense.  “Tell me what you know of her.”  She sighed, standing to move behind Ardath and running fingers over Ardath’s mass of auburn waves.  

  “Not much.  Even throwing great money at it gave me little.  She’s Ardath Krakenbuhl.  Simeon’s daughter by one of his pilots.  She’s been raised at Krakenhold, very, very quietly.  Most people, even the Public, don’t realize she exists.  She’s sixteen.  She’s untouched.  She’s been calm.  She has mother written all over her.”  

  “Rikard is not the type to take an unwilling woman.”  She gathered up Ardath’s hair and bundled it into a knot.  

  “He doesn’t need to.  Right now, Ainemaire, we’re desperate enough to resort to doctors if that’s what it takes to give us an heir.  The clan is restless.  They watch Rikard try to commit suicide every day, knowing there’s no heir.  Just teach her what she needs to know to be a mother for us.  Rikard, preferably.  Me, if all else fails.”  

  “Fine.  I will do this.”  The woman straightened the necklace that Ardath still wore, her grandmother’s, taken from Elspeth’s neck.  “For the clan.  For Rikard.  And indeed, for you.”

  He smiled in relief, standing, and bowing.  “My greatest thanks, Ainemaire.  Ardath.”  He reached out to her, smoothing her hair.  “I know you do not understand this yet.  I can only pray you give us the chance to show you what an honor we mean to give you.”  

  Ardath let her doubts show, and the woman chuckled.  “All in due time, James.  Stay for dinner… I need to get her settled in, and then I’ll be down.  Say your goodbyes.”

  “Goodbye, Ardath.  Until we meet again.”