Beast Master's Circus

by Andre Norton

  "But will Brad find anything more? That's the question."

  Logan snorted. "You don't know my father. Once he's on a trail he's relentless. If there's anything at all he'll find it."

  The girl took a deep breath. She'd thought about this all night and had talked it over with Prauo. She would gamble now with both their futures, trusting that what Tani and Storm had offered earlier was true. Logan liked her, maybe he'd see that promises made to her were kept.

  "I have to tell you this, Logan. You know I'm bonded to Dedran?" He nodded silently, waiting. "He's made me break laws for him. Me and Prauo. We've had to do burglaries. He said that I'd obey him or he'd take Prauo away. When I still argued he said he'd sell Prauo to an arena, or kill him for his skin. I couldn't let him do that." Her mouth trembled.

  "I always planned to get away. Prauo stole credits he found on some of those jobs and gave them to me. Sometimes Dedran threw me a few part-credits as well. We've saved for years. I've enough saved now to manage for a while once the bond ends and I'm free." She shivered, waiting. "Do you hate me?"

  Logan remembered the things Brad had said. Bits and pieces about the De Pyall camps. One night he'd mused aloud, and quite graphically, on what it must have been like for a small girl left alone, shifted from camp to camp, struggling to survive. To Logan it sounded like horror. He could only marvel that Laris had survived and done so with her courage intact. He reached out, curled her into the circle of one arm, and looked down into deep brown eyes.

  "I don't hate you. Brad told me some of what it must have been like in the camps. Even after all that you could find a half-dead cub and love him back to life. Care so much you'd do things you hated to keep him safe. Dedran's a lousy clicker."

  A flash of amusement showed in the eyes which surveyed him. "More than that. He's guild, I think."

  "Is he? Versha would be interested in that. No," he corrected as she startled. "We'll keep that quiet. But if all this falls apart it might help get her on our side." He hugged her hard. "Go and do your show. I'll see you afterward." They spent time together later as she cared for the animals. Once he'd gone she vanished to check Surra. Cregar would be taking care of the other hidden beasts.

  In a secret room Cregar cradled meercat babies again, his heart filling with love. Hing blinked sleepily at him. The babies scrambled, churred, and trilled affectionately, ending up in a jumble in his lap. His hands slid over small, firm, warm bodies. The faint mind-touches from them were growing stronger. If battle-fortune favored him, in a few more weeks he would have part of a team again. At least two of the babies would accept him as their beast master.

  His conscious mind worried at the problems they faced. Baris and Ideena were gone. But Larash-Ti was more energetic than ever. Dedran seemed to have no idea of how to deal with events. Worse, the local Thieves Guild patrons complained that all the peacekeeper activity was inhibiting their business. It wouldn't take much more before the local patrons leaned on Nhara to close the circus and provide a scapegoat.

  Also Cregar had found a reason why Dedran seemed so smug about lack of proof. It wasn't that it didn't exist as of now. But when he wished it to stop existing it would. Cregar didn't like that idea. Not considering what it meant. He'd come into this business on a promise and a belief. It looked as if the promise was hollow. The belief was possible but without the promise, he'd still have little. So where did that leave him? He could think of answers to that question and he didn't like them any better.

  He should act. But he wasn't sure which direction was the best way to jump. He'd wait a while longer. Observe, be ready. Keep an eye on the kid and her cat too. He didn't want them hurt and Dedran was a great believer in clearing away loose ends. Cregar stroked the meercats and allowed his mind to run free, to a time long ago when he'd been more than he was. When one had been many and many one. The enemy had slaughtered his team and Terran Command had refused him another. They'd claimed not to have enough beasts but he was sure they'd lied.

  Driven by need he'd done something stupid and after that there was no chance for him to ever regain what he'd had. Then Terra was gone, and, as he'd feared, all hope of a second team with it. If he could have remembered how to pray he'd have prayed then. To have back, even for an hour, what togetherness had once been his. Belief, hope, consciousness faded. He slept as the furred ones snuggled close.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Two days later Storm woke to an urgent beeping. He rolled over and peered at the wall chrono. Great Spirit. It was barely four in the morning. What message had that importance? He touched the comunit to life and mumbled at it. The unit squawked cheerily in response.

  "Up and awake, my lad. I'll be with you in ten minutes bearing news."

  "Versha?"

  "The same. Move it." The unit clicked off and she was gone. Storm groaned as beside him Tani stirred.

  "I heard that," she said sleepily. Her eyes cleared as she sat up. She focused on the time. "Better do as she said. If it wasn't important she wouldn't have woken us this early after such a late night." She yawned widely. "Last night was worth it though. I enjoyed myself."

  Storm could only agree. They'd gone to a place Anders knew. It served lightly frothed fruit drinks, tart and delightful to the tongue. The entertainment was provided by one of the allied alien races, a team of half a dozen who sang, juggled, and ran a very clever and amusing beast show. Afterward Storm and Tani had stayed a while talking to them and swapping animal tales. They'd had a wonderful time even if they had only returned three hours before Versha had woken them again.

  Tani was moving swiftly, brushing her hair and watching the time as she hurried into her clothes. Storm followed suit. It was just on the promised ten minutes that both appeared from their room to meet Logan erupting blearily from his.

  "Awake too, little brother?"

  Logan surveyed him indignantly. "If that's what you'd call it. Do you know, Versha woke me just now and it's only four A.M." He sagged dramatically and gave a hollow moan. "I'm not used to this. It's too much of a shock to my system. I need restoring."

  Storm's eyes were amused. Tani laughed. "You two. You'd think that you'd never been up this early before. At home you're often awake and away by dawn."

  "Very true," Logan assured her. "But not after we'd only gotten to bed three hours earlier. If I'm riding at four I'm in bed by eight or nine. I like a decent length of sleep. This had better be worth it."

  "I suspect it will be." Storm sobered. "Versha wouldn't wake us this early unless it was something important." He headed for the small kitchen attached to the suite. "I'll start drinks. Swankee for everyone?" He gathered the nods and began to spoon the powder into mugs. They heard Versha run up the stairs as he passed around the steaming drinks.

  "Up and awake. Good. That swankee? Great. Give me a cup, sit down, and I'll tell you a few things." She was all quick movement, her eyes glowing as she accepted the swankee and spread papers on the small table. The others sat and allowed her to begin as they sipped the hot chocolate-tasting drink quietly.

  "First thing. Those tigerbat samples that Logan got us, Lereyne contacted me directly about them a couple of hours ago. The pair checked were definitely obtained illegally. Samples indicated that the animals are the offspring of two of the tigerbats held in the reserve. The reserve people say that their records list when the animals went missing. At the time it was feared they had strayed somehow from the reserve.

  "As you may know, the reserve there is in mountain foothills. An apparently natural break in the force-field fence was found and the reserve staff thought the young tigerbats had escaped and vanished into the mountains. They could find no trace of them but hoped they'd turn up when they matured sexually and came back to look for a swarm. It looks instead as if the pair were darted and stolen. Possibly the swarm was sleep-gassed and this pair chosen to order. Lereyne wants them back. If Dedran can prove he purchased them legally from the thieves without knowing the beasts were stolen, then he'll be compensated."
>
  "If he didn't and we march in, they'll guess somebody's talked. I don't want Laris blamed." Logan was worried.

  Versha grinned. "Quite true and I have no wish to get the girl into trouble. I'll go. You can be there already just visiting. But I have the readout for the tigerbats DNA records from Lereyne. I plan to say that Lereyne has heard of the tigerbats, insists on DNA matching because tigerbats have been stolen, and that I'll have all of them cross-matched on patrol authority. I shall be very official when this pair show up as matching reserve records."

  "Is that it?"

  "No, I'm afraid it isn't." She sat fingering a sheaf of papers. "Storm, you were a beast master, and Tani, you were involved at the beast master breeding and recuperation center to some extent before you left Terra. Do either of you remember a man called Jason Regan? He was a beast master whose team was killed by the Xiks. He returned to Terran Beast Master Command but at the time they were short of beasts for new teams. They said he would have to wait but apparently he didn't want to do that." She snorted in exasperation.

  "Instead the idiot convinced a trainee to try some trick called meshing. It was supposed to enable both humans to control the one team. They failed, the trainee died, and Regan's abilities were partially burned out. Regan was court-martialed but the court decided that the trainee had acted as he did of his own free will, and there wasn't any specific law to prevent Regan from doing as he'd done. However he was discharged, he left the service, and disappeared."

  Tani wrinkled her forehead. "I remember hearing talk when I was small about what a dangerous thing it was to do that. I don't think I ever heard that name."

  "Storm?"

  He nodded reluctantly. "I didn't have much to do with him. He was older. Like Tani's father. They took beast masters where they could find them during the Xik war and there were never many with the beast master abilities. I did hear about Regan though. There was a rumor at the time that meshing could open you right up. Give you a team channel which was twice as good. Someone was supposed to have done it and got that result, so this pair tried and Regan was burned out."

  "What does that mean exactly?"

  "They weren't sure," Storm said slowly. "At the time it meant that Regan couldn't touch any of the beasts mentally. He couldn't keep working as a beast master. They thought that the channel might heal in time. You have to know, Versha. All this was experimental. It was war, they couldn't keep him and hope that in five or ten years he might be useful again. They offered him a commission in another unit. He refused. There was talk that he'd suffered some brain damage in the memory areas. He resigned from the unit and before they could conscript him somewhere else or order treatment he was gone." He waved at her papers. "Do they have any more?"

  "Yes, and it's interesting. They finally discovered that he's been with Dedran's circus most of the time. Calling himself Jas Cregar. The surnames are just similar-sounding enough that he'd learn to reply quickly. Not give himself away. The few family records we've accessed from his time in the unit say that he came from Ishan. His grandparents emigrated there from Britain with the third settler wave.

  "His parents had a daughter about ten years younger than Regan. No record of what happened to the family but they're all likely dead. As you know, Ishan was overrun by Xiks about fourteen years back. Most of the men and a lot of the single women died holding off the Xiks to get the other women and kids clear. The remaining defenders died when Ishan was incinerated. So this Regan probably has no family we can use to appeal to him to help." She grimaced.

  "We may need help. I've talked to patrol HQ. They've had a man in the guild this last couple of years. We've likely lost him now. He's gone silent. But before that he was able to reports rumors in the guild that a patron called Nhara has a scam going. What it is he's never found out but there have been hints the guild initially expected great things from it and it involves animals."

  "The circus," Tani said. "They have illegal animals. They have a burned-out beast master. Logan says Laris told him Dedran could get fake papers for any animal if he wanted them. Is there anything else which could point to the circus?" Versha picked out a paper with care and handed it to her. Tani read and handed it on so that Storm and Logan read it, heads together. Then they all looked at Versha.

  "It isn't proof, my Arzoran friends. But yes. They found a tiny scrap of Terevian peavine on Baris's clothing. And the only place we could find that is currently using that is the circus. They use it as animal bedding because it's lighter than many other forms of bedding and it's edible for the animals in an emergency. Of course there's nothing to say Baris and Ideena weren't animal lovers, or fond of the circus and went to watch the show. But it's another clue."

  Logan was thinking furiously. They had more than clues. Laris had told him she believed a guild patron was involved with Dedran and the circus. Dedran had her and Prauo burgling for him. And she'd opened up further about that the next night, once she'd seen he didn't condemn her. It looked as if Dedran was into stealing industrial secrets for resale. If the description of some of the items he'd had Laris and Prauo steal for him was accurate, such thefts could also tie into the guild. He didn't want to hurt or betray Laris, but this could be a chance for her and Prauo to get away. He spoke quietly.

  "It's more than a clue. Laris talked to me after I told her her parent's names. Versha, she's terrified Dedran would manage to hold title to her cat. That he'd use the chance to kill it and punish her if he even suspected she'd talk. He's been using her to commit crimes by threatening to torture and kill Prauo in front of her. If you can get her clear with the cat and get her clear title to the beast she could give you a lot."

  "Would she come in and talk to me?"

  "No, not unless she was sure Prauo was safe first."

  Versha sat thinking. "I was going to raid the circus for the tigerbats. What if, as an apparent afterthought, we collect the girl and her cat as well? Anders could say that we want to check her and the cat because there had been a minor outbreak of disease elsewhere which may have been started by a similar animal. Once we have her clear we should be able to sort something out. If she talks and her information's good we can hit the circus again with a full-scale raid. Anders would be happy to supply the men." She chuckled.

  "He's still so mad about losing Baris and Ideena you can see steam coming from his ears when he thinks about it. We can take the tigerbats, the girl, and the cat, using just a couple of Anders's men, and get the animals and the girl out before Dedran knows that's what we're after. It should work if we make it clear we're confiscating animals suspected of being illegally on Trastor, and that so far as the girl and cat are concerned, National Disease Control is in charge. Logan, you find the girl. Tell her the idea. I don't want her thinking we're going to take her cat away for real and having her panic. Okay?"

  "I'll go as soon as they'll be about. That's around seven."

  "Good. I'll go and talk to Anders. Tani, I suggest you and Storm wander along to the circus around midday. That's when we'll hit them. It could be useful to have you there. Logan, don't tell the girl anything more than we're getting her and the cat out in payment for talking freely to the patrol. She isn't to know about Baris and Ideena, peavines, or a later raid. Understand?" He nodded agreement. "Right. I'll see you all in a few hours."

  She hurried away, the papers clutched in one long-fingered brown hand. She also wanted more information on this Regan's background. If they could turn him into an informant she knew they'd find out enough to make a real dent in the guild.

  Storm stood, Tani joining him as they headed for their room to dress for the outdoors. Logan was behind them. He'd dress properly then get something light to eat. He couldn't manage a real breakfast, he was too excited. He'd grab a snack, then make for the circus.

  At seven Laris would be cleaning the animals' cages. She'd be busy with that for a couple of hours. The other staff had their own work and she'd be alone for most of that time. He'd showed up a number of times to help and ju
st spend the time with her. No one would think it odd. But with no one around he could tell her not to worry, explain what was to happen, have her prepared to walk in at just the right moment with Prauo and be scooped up and away before Dedran could prevent it.

  Laris was terrified of what her owner might do if he had any reason to believe she'd talked about his affairs. But then from some of the things she'd confided, Dedran was indeed both violent and a killer if he thought he was threatened. Logan wasn't exactly terrified of the man, but he did share Laris's belief that Dedran, cornered, would be very dangerous.

  As for Cregar, Laris had made it plain the man had been a half-friend to her and Prauo. For that Logan was ready to hope the man wasn't involved. He ate slowly, thinking of how best to handle his actions at the circus, then, after clearing away the debris of his meal, he summoned a hovercab. It dropped him at the entrance to the roped-off circus area. The circus tents showed pale against the early sky as Logan made his way unobtrusively to the animal lines and found Laris sweeping. She looked up and her face broke into a wide, happy smile.