Children of the Healer

by Barbara Ann Wright

  “Who was she?” Shiv asked as she followed. “Why did you help us?”

  Miriam did not answer, leading the way down the hall and occasionally looking over her shoulder. Simon had told her that Miriam would help if needed. She had saved them, and she bore a child that was Evan’s kin. But Shiv did not know her. Best to seek out true allies.

  Shiv waited until they reached an intersecting hallway, then ran. She resisted the urge to limp and ordered her sapling to cling to her so she could get a better grip on Little Paul. She would find Simon, and they could turn their attention to their enemies together.

  Shiv barreled through the hall and dodged into the first room with an open window. Someone in the room cried out as she barreled through, but the window was tall and wide; she cleared it easily, even with all her charges. She hit the ground outside and ran, sprinting through an area covered in grass before charging down another hall, through a large room, and then into the open air just inside the gates of the temple. She ran through those, too, making the humans who had come to see the yafanai dive out of the way. She did not stop until she reached an abandoned street, the kind humans called an alley. Then she hid the children behind a stack of wooden boxes and rested her aching leg.

  Little Paul was crying softly, but Evan seemed to disregard any need for secrecy. He wailed, and Shiv bounced him as she had seen Pakesh do. He quieted slightly, but she knew it would not be long before he needed food or grooming. All her charges were young, but they were heavy at the same time. She could not continue to carry them all and go as fast as she hoped.

  What had she thought about Simon? He should have carried Evan on his back. Shiv put the sapling down and bade Little Paul and Lyshus sit on its roots. “You will remain here,” she said sternly. Little Paul nodded, sniffling. Shiv commanded her tree to hold its branches forth, close as a basket, and she laid Evan within.

  She crept to the end of the alley, to the busy street. No one had seemed to notice Evan’s cries. That was good, but perhaps if she carried him close to her body, he would make less noise. She saw a swath of fabric hanging above a nearby doorway. A stack of boxes stood to the side. She kept to the shadows, her back to the street so no one could see her face, and sidled close to the boxes. She waited until there were only a few people passing then leapt atop the boxes and tore a strip from the fabric.

  “Hey!” someone shouted, a man across the street.

  She did not wait to see what he wanted but ran, heading for the alley. She tied the cloth around herself and was about to put Evan inside when the man ducked his head inside the alley’s mouth. “You can’t just—”

  She turned to him and hissed, displaying her claws.

  He staggered back, falling. “Drushka!” he cried. “The drushka are back!”

  Shiv ignored him since he did not seem capable of a fight. She wanted to carry Evan on her back, but perhaps he would be better in the front. She situated him in the sling, and he quieted slightly.

  “I want Shi’a’na,” Little Paul said, sniffling again. Though Reach had not borne him, he seemed to accept her fully as his mother, even using the drushkan word.

  “You will have her soon enough,” Shiv said. Lyshus gnawed on his wooden nini, seemingly unconcerned. Shiv tore a ragged piece of the cloth and quickly tied it around her knee. She slung Lyshus over her shoulders before picking up the sapling and Little Paul.

  As voices in the street grew behind her, she hurried away, threading through alleys. How to find shawness Simon amongst all these scents? She could not keep to the streets. There were mind benders who wanted to attack Evan and people who seemed afraid of drushka. She needed a safe haven. High ground?

  She looked up to the tops of the buildings. An easy climb for her alone, but with all her charges? No, better to stay on the ground where they could not fall. She could run for the swamp or the plains, but that would be replacing human predators with animal ones. She cooed to Evan in drushkan and tried to think. If she could not find shawness Simon, she would think as he did. He would urge her to search for allies, someone she knew.

  In a gap between buildings, she spied the Paladin Keep and grinned. Liam would be there. He would protect these children. But the idea also carried worrying thoughts. Shiv had avoided Liam these past weeks, not wanting to be distracted from her duties as a queen, but she needed somewhere to go. And he had fought to protect her and her family before. He would always be her ally.

  She threaded her way in that direction, trying to keep to alleys and dashing across streets. At a street bustling with humans, she stole an enormous hooded shirt and slung it around all of them to disguise her and the children. She wondered how it made her look with all her charges: no doubt short and very squat. The idea made her chuckle, but still she hurried on. The sun grew harsh in the afternoon, becoming a friend as it drove the humans into their dwellings.

  As she hurried past one storefront, someone called, “Hot enough for you in that jacket?”

  She ignored him and went on. By the time she reached the keep, all her charges were whining, even Lyshus, and Evan had built to a harsher cry.

  The front of the keep was largely deserted, so unlike the first time she had seen it, when she had come to warn the humans of the boggins. Now all the metal skins were gone. Shiv sprinted through the courtyard and into a massive central room. She caught Liam’s scent and followed it up the stairs, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  What to do? Evan would no longer be soothed, and she could not hide while he cried. People were already stirring in these halls. She ran for the office that smelled so much like Liam’s mother and hid inside. She closed the door and arranged the children on the floor behind the furniture.

  When someone pounded on the wood and demanded she come out, she yelled, “I will only speak to Liam!”

  She readied herself for battle, just in case. She felt wound up inside, twisted like an old tree, but she would not give up her charges. The safety of her hands meant something. When she heard several people talking outside the door, she called, “Send Liam or risk the wrath of two queens and Simon Lazlo!” She felt safe adding the anger of Shi’a’na. Even if her mother never accepted Lyshus or never forgave Shiv her deception, she would not deal lightly with anyone who harmed her daughter.

  The voices withdrew. Shiv tried to soothe Evan, but his cries were growing frantic, making Shiv feel even more twisted. By the time Liam’s voice came tentatively through the door, she felt ready to burst. She flung the door open and nearly leapt into Liam’s arms.

  At the last moment, she stopped, stumbling to a halt. She had a tribe now; she could not go melting into the arms of her human lover over simple troubles. Liam stepped forward, his face shining with hope. When she backed away, he stopped and stared confusedly at the children.

  “Um, hang on a sec.” He turned and had a few words with someone outside before he leaned back in. “I’m sending for reinforcements.”

  So they were to be attacked. By whom? Shiv breathed deep. It did not matter. “I am ready.” She had the sapling lean over the children. “Stand by my side, Liam. We will strike as our attackers come through the door.”

  He frowned in confusion before his eyes widened. “Sorry, not those kinds of reinforcements.” He ducked back out.

  Shiv sucked her teeth. She had thought she knew that word. Humans could be so confusing. But she was here and safe. Evan was still crying, and Liam kept himself beyond the door, but everything would be well. Shiv picked up Evan again, promising him all he desired if only he would quiet.

  At last Liam returned with a man and a woman who held a human baby of their own. “Who are they?” Shiv asked, holding Evan close. But then she looked from the one human baby to the other. Perhaps like could comfort like?

  Liam gestured to Evan. “They can look after him while we talk.”

  Shiv thought of the mind bender looming over Evan’s crib, but she had to do something to soothe him. She nodded to the back of the office, where these two could not es
cape with Evan without going through her. “There, where I can see.”

  The couple smiled, and that made Shiv happy. She seemed older than him, her hair graying as it did when humans aged. That meant she had more knowledge, and the way they linked fingers and held their baby close spoke of devotion. They sat at the desk with Evan. Little Paul and Lyshus stayed in the corner with the sapling, though Paul eyed the couple as if sensing someone who could care for his needs, too.

  Shiv stood just outside the office with Liam. She crossed her arms over her chest, not trusting herself to keep her hands off his beautiful body or kiss his pliant lips.

  “I missed you,” he said.

  Shiv ducked her head, cursing him for being exactly what she wanted. She glanced at Lyshus to find him watching her. Liam followed her gaze and frowned. Lyshus looked from one of them to the other as if trying to understand what was happening. He had to be sensing emotions from her, but he would not know what they meant, only that she was in turmoil. She sent him love, and he wrinkled his small nose.

  “Your mother told me a little bit about what’s going on,” Liam said. “About you having a tribe now. That’s why you’ve been avoiding me, right?”

  “It is not…personal, as Sa would say.”

  “Yeah, I tried to think that way. But it feels as if you don’t trust me to have room in my heart for you and Lyshus both. If you’d had a child when we met, that wouldn’t have bothered me, either.”

  “He is more than a child to me.” But how to explain? Even if he knew the pull of parenthood, she still did not know what she could say. “A tribe is…a bond. Like your telepaths, ahya, but for me and Lyshus, it is only we two, and it is powerful. And you cannot share it. You would always feel me pull away.”

  “So you thought it better to ignore me instead of trying to explain?”

  He was angry, and her own anger flared in return. She thought back to their beginning, to her hunger for a lover. She had enjoyed him, but part of her had always known their time would not last forever. She had thought she felt that way because she was drushka and still had a very long life ahead, but now she knew it was because she was a queen and had a longer life still. And a tribe to care for.

  She tried to think of what Shi’a’na would say and spread her hands. “We may still be lovers from time to time, if you wish it, but I cannot be yours alone. I am sorry if you ever thought I could.”

  His nostrils flared, and he seemed as if he might have angry words, but he bit them back and paced. She let him move alone, hoping it would ease his frustration.

  When he leaned against the wall, he crossed his arms and glared at her. But instead of starting a fight, he said, “Tell me what happened.”

  She sighed and told him all. Speaking was far better than pining for his touch.

  * * *

  Simon heard a telepathic call on his way back to the temple with Jacobs and Pakesh. He froze, thinking it might be Horace, but no, this call was weak, far beneath Horace’s ability.

  And it was a call for help.

  “I can feel it,” Pakesh said. “Someone needs you.”

  Simon broke into a jog, and Pakesh filled in Jacobs as they ran.

  Jacobs kept up with Simon easily, her stride loose as if she could jog for miles. “This could be a trap!”

  “It’s hard to lie in a telepathic call, especially one this urgent.” When the temple doors came into sight, he broke into a run, skidding to a stop as Miriam met him just inside. “What’s the matter? Is Evan—”

  “Last I saw him, he was fine.” She pushed her hair off her forehead, the wispy strands slick with sweat. Her dark eyes were as unyielding as ever. “I tried to help your friend, but she ran.”

  “Who…Shiv?”

  “Someone attacked her in the Storm Lord’s rooms, and she ran from both of us.”

  Simon turned down the hall, heading for his room.

  “She’s not there!” Miriam called. “You’re not listening, just like him!”

  Simon spun around. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  Miriam put her hands on her hips. “The Storm Lord never listened, either. He’d also bull into something before hearing everything I had to say.”

  Simon took a deep breath, trying not to snap at her, especially since she was right. Half-cocked was Dillon’s forte. “All right.”

  “What happened?” Jacobs asked.

  “Someone attacked your drushkan friend, a macro. She was standing over Evan’s crib when I caught her.”

  “A kidnapper?” Simon asked, chilled at the thought.

  “Evan is the Storm Lord’s firstborn,” Miriam said. “I suppose someone might find value in that.” She shrugged. “The macro wasn’t pregnant, but maybe one of the other mothers hired her because she wants her child to be the eldest.”

  The thought nearly made Simon throw up. “You can’t be serious.”

  She gave him a hard look. “That’s one of the reasons I gave him to you. I thought you’d protect him.” She frowned hard. “I’ve heard rumors, and I didn’t want him to be hurt. He’s innocent, much more so than his father.” When Simon gawked at her, she shrugged again. “I fell for the Storm Lord’s words, his eyes, but I’m not blind. We were all taken in. And I’m the most powerful telepath in the temple now. Believe me when I say I know what’s going on.”

  Simon shuddered as he remembered Caroline, the way she’d subdued his mind. He frowned, his suspicions rising. “Did you help Caroline control me?”

  She shook her head quickly, looking almost as disgusted as he felt. “I was on special assignment until very recently, helping people deal with their trauma and grief after the boggin attack.”

  He tried to picture her as a therapist and failed. Maybe her bedside manner was better in a professional setting. “I can’t believe Dillon would let his second most powerful telepath waste time helping people.”

  She smirked. “He didn’t know how powerful I am. If you don’t want to be a tool for someone like the Storm Lord, don’t broadcast the true depth of your ability.”

  “I see.” And he was beginning to readjust his thinking as she surprised him yet again.

  “And you can believe me when I say a lot of people will be looking to use Evan. You shouldn’t have left him behind!”

  He glared at her, fighting the urge to rant about how Evan wasn’t his responsibility, but she didn’t see it that way. And he was beginning to agree with her. “If you had told me all this in the beginning, I wouldn’t have left him! Now, which way did Shiv go?”

  Miriam frowned but seemed slightly mollified. “She ran outside. I don’t know where. I can’t track her mind.”

  “Don’t try.” Anytime a human had tried to break into drushka telepathy without an attachment to them, it went badly. Horace had told him that. Simon went back out and looked at the streets, trying to think like Shiv. Maybe she’d gone looking for him, but how would she have found him in such a large place? There weren’t many people she knew, not many places to go to ground, but he could think of one.

  “Liam,” he said. “She’ll head for the keep.” Liam wasn’t a paladin anymore, but Simon couldn’t remember if Shiv knew that, and she’d met him at the keep before.

  “I’ll stay here in case she comes back,” Miriam said. “Her attacker got away, but I’ll ask some questions.” Before he could thank her, she headed back inside.

  Simon started toward the keep, hearing the others follow. He only took a few steps before he was running again, helping the others keep up. When he arrived at the keep, he barged inside and shouted, “Is there a drushka here?”

  A private pointed him upstairs. When he saw Shiv standing in the hall with Liam, all the kids gathered in an office behind them, he couldn’t help a smile. “Shiv!”

  She turned, her own smile breaking over her narrow face. “Shawness Simon!” She threw her arms around him. He hugged her back, and she buried her face in his chest, inhaling deeply as if she wanted to memorize his smell. He looked pas
t her and saw the children being tended by a couple he didn’t recognize and their own child. He didn’t sense any animosity.

  “You beauty!” Simon said as he held her. “You did wonderfully!” He sensed the wound in her knee and healed it with a thought, easing her aching back, too.

  She wrinkled her nose away as she stepped back. Liam was glaring at them jealously, and Simon cleared his throat. Things must have gone truly rotten between them if Liam was envious of a hug.

  For a moment, everyone stared at one another. Jacobs cleared her throat. “So…is everyone okay?”

  “Shiv, what happened?” Simon asked.

  “Perhaps elsewhere, shawness,” Shiv said. “Evan has been fed, but the children need rest.”

  And by the slightly panicky look she gave him, she didn’t want to rest in the keep…or maybe she didn’t want to be anywhere near Liam. “Um, okay.”

  She nearly ran into the office and came out with the three children and her tree. Liam was scowling as Shiv pushed the sapling into Simon’s arms, then handed Little Paul to Pakesh. She eyed Jacobs doubtfully and kept Evan in a sling while Lyshus clung to her back.

  Simon sent his power over all of them: calming, relaxing waves. Evan fell asleep immediately, and Little Paul laid his head on Pakesh’s shoulder.

  “Thank you,” Shiv said to Liam before she herded them down the stairs. Liam, to his credit, didn’t try to follow. He only watched with a stricken, jealous look.

  “Can I carry your…tree, Doc?” Jacobs asked.

  “I’ve got it, thanks.” He didn’t think Shiv would appreciate him handing it off. He waited until they were outside before speaking again. “Well, now there’s the question of where to go. The temple seems out, and the keep…” Shiv gave him another look. “Is not a good idea.” For some reason. He searched through the places he knew in Gale, and one house in particular popped into mind: the most comfortable place he could think of, home of the former mayor, Paul Ross. He didn’t think Cordelia would mind.

  * * *

  Cordelia felt as if she was flying into a windy canyon as she passed into the ground. Drushkan telepathy buffeted her like a physical force. Even to her spirit eyes, the cavern was dim, but dots of phosphorescent light showed a mass of roots, so much larger than Pool’s. They covered the ground in a writhing, boiling mass.