Page 15 of The Mentor
Magni’s body went rigid and the tension that emanated from him filled the room like a black haze of danger. The atmosphere had gone from playful fun to lethal in seconds, and when Archer responded to Magni’s narrowed eyes and low menacing growl by taking a fighting position, I had to interfere.
“I told you it was a stupid idea to talk about it and this just proves my point,” I said. “All you Nmen do is fight. It’s primitive and stupid.”
My provocation was strong enough to get their attention and my strategy worked; what better way to unite two enemies than to give them a shared target to channel their anger against. But just to be sure, I threw another insult at them. “You two can’t cooperate on anything. Least of all satisfying a woman.”
Magni turned his attention on me. “I don’t know what your game is but even if I wasn’t already married, I wouldn’t share my woman. If you were mine, I’d kill any man who touched you.”
“Hey, it wasn’t an offer,” I called after him when he walked out the door throwing a command over his shoulder.
“Come on, I’m taking you back to Boulder’s house for the night. You’ve had enough fun messing with our heads.”
Archer looked pissed too, but when I lifted my hand in a small wave and moved past him, he grabbed my wrist and whispered into my ear in a low gruff voice. “You might need two Momsiboys to satisfy you, but I guarantee I can do it singlehandedly if you let me.”
I didn’t know what to say, so I hurried to the drone without a word. Clearly my idea of fun had backfired. Nmen didn’t find sex a laughing matter, and I’d better remember that if I didn’t want to provoke another fight between these two highly lethal men.
CHAPTER 5
Marco and the Women
Archer
When Pearl returned from the Motherlands, she decided the solution to my and Kya’s not agreeing on anything, was to set up a school board with seven members: Khan, Pearl, Magni, Boulder, Christina, Kya, and me. All the women’s talk about democracy and sharing of power had me aging before my time. I was twenty-eight going on fifty after only days with all their “let’s talk about it” bullshit.
Marco, my assistant, finally arrived four days later than planned. He was stunned when he learned that not only would we be teaching a selected group of Nboys but ten children from the Motherlands too. I wished I could have prepared him better but for safety reasons the whole project was secret.
“But what does that mean?” he asked while he unpacked his bag and neatly placed his clothes in the closet.
I sat on a chair in his room. Boulder had built an annex on the grounds that offered us teachers a bit of privacy away from the students when we weren’t on night duty. It was a simple structure with a long porch and six rooms side by side.
“It means that we’ll be working with a few women from the Motherlands. Kya is the teacher and in a few hours her assistant, Shelly, will arrive with the first group of girls. Shelly is the older sister of one of the students and the daughter of a prominent council member.”
“So, there’s four of us? You, me, Kya, and this Shelly?”
“Actually, there’s more than that.” I rocked the chair back against the wall. “Magni, the brother of Lord Khan, is here too.”
“He is?” Marco’s eyes grew big. He had been one of my best students when I started out mentoring eight years ago. That’s why when he showed an interest in becoming a mentor last summer after graduating from college, I’d gladly agreed to take him on as my assistant.
“Magni is here because Lord Khan appointed him to protect the female teacher, Kya.”
Marco nodded. “And Shelly, who is her protector then – is it you?”
“No one. She’s only fifteen so it’s not necessary. We’ll all watch out for her.”
Marco’s eyebrows flew up. “Fifteen, that’s young for an assistant.”
“Yup, but apparently she’s some kind of genius.” I shrugged. “There’s also Christina and Pearl, who have volunteered to help when needed.”
“Wow, sounds like there’s more mentors than students.” Marco whistled.
“It’s just to begin with. Christina is an archeologist and she’s talking about digging up a part of the island that used to be a popular tourist destination. Pearl will be busy keeping an eye on Lord Khan, and Magni hopefully won’t be here long either. This is a secluded island, and once Lord Khan sees we have it under control and that Kya is not in danger from any of us, he’ll call off Magni, I hope.”
“You don’t like Magni?”
I didn’t answer that question, but said: “He’s going to be in charge of some of the fight training.”
“I thought you loved to teach fighting.”
“I do, and I’ll still be teaching the boys. Magni will focus on the students from the Motherlands.”
