Destiny's Lovers

by Speer, Flora

  “Why don’t you put her in your hospital room along with Reid?” Osiyar suggested. “I am healthy enough now to move to an ordinary room. Janina will rest more easily knowing she is next to Reid, and you can watch over both of them. You will also be able to exert some control over Alla’s concern for her cousin and prevent her from exhausting Janina with her accusations.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Herne replied, sending another sharp glance in Osiyar’s direction. “You do need medical care, Janina. From what you have just said about your adventures, it’s plain to me that you’ve both been through an ordeal that would have destroyed many people.”

  “Don’t let it destroy Reid,” Janina pleaded. “He deserves to live, Herne. He fought so hard to be sure both of us would live. I would not have lasted one day without him.”

  * * * * *

  When the shuttlecraft landed at the lake, Reid was still unconscious. Two of Tarik’s colonists were waiting for them with a hoverbed, which Osiyar explained was propelled on a cushion of air. They laid Reid, still strapped to the foldable mesh stretcher in which he had been removed from the rocks, onto this floating bed and rushed him toward the headquarters building. Herne stayed with Reid every step of the way, monitoring his condition constantly. Alla ran with Herne. After rudely shouldering Janina aside, she kept one possessive hand on Reid’s shoulder.

  Feeling unable to face another confrontation with Alla, knowing she could be of no help to Herne, and certain he would tell her at once of any change in Reid’s status, Janina followed more slowly, with a limping Osiyar as her guide. She stopped when she saw the building to which they were going.

  “It looks just like the temple,” she said.

  “The designs are identical,” Osiyar replied, resting for a minute on his walking stick before moving on again, “but this place is very different from Ruthlen, as you will see. I should say, as you will feel, for it differs most in the relationships among its inhabitants, who are remarkably diverse.”

  They were met at the entrance by a pretty, brown-haired woman with a warm smile.

  “I’m Narisa, Tank’s wife,” the woman said, showing Janina into the central room. “We have been in constant contact with Tarik, so I know your situation, and I am so glad he found you. You will want a hot bath and some food.”

  “I just want to be with Reid,” Janina said, then stopped short at the sight of an obviously angry Alla.

  “You aren’t allowed in there,” Alla said, indicating a closed door. “No one is, except Suria. Herne ordered me out of the room. If I can’t be with him, you certainly can’t.”

  “Alla, we both care about Reid,” Janina responded. “We shouldn’t quarrel when we want the same thing - Reid’s quick recovery.”

  “If he dies,” Alla spat at her, “it will be because of you.”

  “It is true,” Janina said, “that if Reid and I hadn’t loved each other, we never would have been set adrift. Instead, we would have remained at Ruthlen, to die when the volcano erupted. Would you have preferred that, Alla? At least Reid is still alive, and he is here, where Herne can help him.”

  Before Alla could answer that, Narisa spoke to her.

  “Would you take over the computer-communicator for me? Gaidar has gone back to the Kalina to monitor a new volcanic eruption, so we need someone here to be in contact with him at all times.”

  “I would be most interested,” Osiyar put in, speaking to Alla, “if you would explain your communications system to me. I would like to understand how you knew what was happening in Ruthlen.”

  “It’s really very simple,” Alla began, sparing one last baleful glance for Janina before turning toward the computer-communicator, taking Osiyar with her.

  “Now,” Narisa said with a smile, “let me show you our bathing room.”

  If she had not been so concerned for Reid, Janina would have enjoyed the next hour. The headquarters building was so like the temple at Ruthlen that she felt perfectly familiar with it. Yet, as Osiyar had said, there was a vital difference between the two. Where she had been accustomed to severity, and in some cases constant scorn, here she was treated with warm concern. After a hot bath that soaked the last of the ocean’s chill from her bones, Narisa brought her a soft, pale green robe to wear and then fed her with vegetable stew and fresh, chewy bread. Tarik’s wife spoke freely about the new colony, answered Janina’s questions about the Chon, and explained how Osiyar had been found. Janina knew it was all an attempt to divert her from her fears for Reid. She was grateful, but nothing could dispel the knot in her stomach that tightened each time she looked at the closed door behind which her lover lay.

  When the door finally opened, Herne stuck his head out, saw Janina, and put one finger on his lips, signaling silence. Alla had not seen the physician, since she was still at the computer-communicator with her back to the door while she spoke to Osiyar. Herne beckoned to Janina.

  “Go on,” whispered Narisa with a conspiratorial smile.

  Janina slipped through the door as Herne closed it.

  “He’s conscious and lucid,” Herne said, “but he is still very weak, and I can’t get a diagnosis on that infection. He asked to see you. I think he wants to be certain you are really alive. You may have a few moments with him, and that’s all.” With that, Herne tactfully left them alone.

  The door was hardly closed behind him before Janina was at Reid’s side. Except for the spots of bright red on each cheek, Reid’s face was pale, and his hand felt icy-cold when she clasped it in both of hers.

  “You are here,” he said in a weak voice. “I thought Herne was just saying that to make me feel better.”

  “We only have a moment or two,” Janina began, intending to tell him how much she loved him. He interrupted her, and she let him speak, recognizing the great effort it was taking for him to get the words out, and knowing there must be something important he wanted to say.

  “I felt you slip away,” he whispered. “My hands were numb from the cold. I couldn’t hold on to you any longer. When you were gone, I wanted to die, too.” Janina saw tears in his eyes.

  “Tarik says I must have fought my way out of the whirlpool and into a minor current that took me away and tossed me ashore,” she told him.

  “If Tank hadn’t found us, we would both surely have died. And if Osiyar hadn’t had his vision of you drowning, they never would have looked for us where we were.”

  “Osiyar is here?”

  Janina answered Reid’s question with brief explanation.

  “I cried out to Tamat,” Reid said. “Do you suppose Osiyar heard me?”

  “It is possible.” Janina bent down to kiss him. Their tender moment was interrupted by a loud voice.

  “You can’t keep me out, Herne, so don’t try.”

  The door to the sickroom opened and Alla appeared. Janina drew away from Reid. She would not upset him by quarreling with Alla in front of him. Behaving as though Janina was not in the room, Alla went to Reid and took his hand, smoothing his hair with her other hand as she kissed him.

  “Herne says you will be better soon. Reid, I never stopped believing you were alive. I knew we would find you.”

  “Thank you, Alla,” Reid said in a weak voice. “Have you met Janina?”

  Alla’s back went rigid. She glared at Janina.

  “She,” Alla stated hotly, “is the cause of all this. It’s all her fault.”

  “I got lost,” Reid told her, making an effort Janina could almost feel, “when I deliberately separated myself from you and Herne because the two of you were quarreling and I was sick of all the talk. I just wanted a few minutes of peace. But the forest was too thick, and I couldn’t find you again.”

  “Are you trying to blame me?” Alla cried. “Reid, you are the closest thing to a brother I’ve ever known. I love you. I would never cause you harm!”

  “Perhaps you love me too much,” Reid whispered.

  “She is the reason you were almost killed!” Alla pointed an accusing fin
ger at Janina.

  “She saved my life. I love her,” Reid said, closing his eyes in obvious weariness.

  “Love her?” Alia gave a bitter laugh. “What about all the other women you’ve known? You never claimed to love any of them. Why this one?”

  “Since the first day I met her,” Reid said, forcing out the words, “there has been no one but Janina, nor ever will be. If she will have me, I’ll marry her. I love you, too, Alla, and I want to be on good terms with you, but you will have to accept Janina.”

  “Never!”

  “Alla,” Janina said, seeing how ill and tired Reid was and wanting to spare him further argument, “face the thing you fear most, and fight it. That is what I had to do when we met the sea monsters. Let Reid go. You will be alone for a while, and I think that is what you fear most. But in time you will find a new center for your life.”

  “Don’t you dare tell me what I ought to do! Reid is my cousin, my only relative, my closest friend. I will not let him go.”

  “If you cling to him, he will pull away on his own and you will lose him. If you accept me, Reid will remain close to you, and in time we can all be friends.”

  “Reid, I will come back,” Alla declared, “when you are alone and we can talk as we used to do.”

  “You will not be allowed back,” Herne said, coming into the room. “I’ll not have you two women fighting over my patient. Look at the man; you’ve drained what little strength he had. I want both of you out of here right now.”

  “Let Janina stay,” Reid whispered.

  “No,” Janina said. “I want to be with you, you know that. But Herne is right. You need to rest.”

  She wanted to kiss him good-bye, but Herne had his silver diagnostic rod out and Alla was glaring at her, so she only smiled at Reid before she left him.

  She was allowed to sleep in the hospital room that night, provided she did not try to talk to Reid. Herne stayed with them, periodically checking the lights and numbers on the panels behind the head of each bed. She slept better knowing he was there, keeping close watch over Reid.

  Reid was still asleep when she rose in the morning. Though Herne, still in attendance, said nothing to her about his condition, she noticed that the lights and numbers behind his bed were very different from those behind her own bed, and the thought of what that might mean nagged at her.

  When she had been to the bathing room and was dressed again in the pale green robe, she tried to re-enter the hospital room to see if Reid was awake yet. Narisa prevented her.

  “You may not go in,” Narisa said. “There has been a sudden deterioration in Reid’s condition. Herne and Suria are with him. Herne said to tell you he will let you know soon just what is wrong. He ordered me to make certain you eat something in the meantime.”

  But Janina could not eat. She paced back and forth in the central room, all her thoughts on Reid. When Alla appeared, Narisa gave her the news about her cousin. With a grim face, Alla took her position at the computer-communicator, having said not one word to Janina.

  Time passed with excruciating slowness until at last the door to Reid’s room opened and a woman came out whom Janina had not seen before, a woman with flaming red hair and a beautiful face, set now in serious lines.

  “I am Suria,” the woman said to Janina. “Herne wants me to examine you and take tissue and blood specimens for analysis. Reid has developed a raging infection, and Herne thinks it may be the same infection he detected in you yesterday.”

  “Do you mean she’s contagious?” Alla spoke from her seat at the computer-communicator across the room. “In addition to everything else she has done to Reid, she has also infected him with some unspeakable disease? Is that what Herne thinks?”

  “What Herne thinks,” Janina answered her, “is that the infection may have entered Reid’s body during our battle with the sea monsters. Because I only have a small welt on my wrist, I may have a lesser infection. That is what he told me on our way here.”

  “So of course poor Reid must suffer, after fighting to save you,” Alla cried, rising to come toward Janina. “Let me see this so-called welt.”

  “I am the one who fought off the monster when it would have eaten Reid,” Janina said quietly, holding out her left arm.

  She calmly faced a searching look from grey eyes unnervingly similar to Reid’s, before Alla turned her attention to Janina’s wrist.

  “Look here, Suria.” Alla pressed a slightly swollen spot, then bent closer to inspect a second area of darker red marks. “I’ll take a tissue sample here, and extract what fluid I can from this area of induration. I’ll analyze it at once. I may be able to make an antitoxin.”

  “Alla, Herne warned me to keep you away from Reid,” Suria said gently. “You are too involved emotionally to be a rational nurse.”

  “I’m not going to nurse him. I have to admit Herne is right about that,” Alla said. “But I am the one best qualified to investigate an injury caused by an animal. I’m the zoologist here. You do the examination and take the blood specimen; I’ll worry about these welts. Janina, will you give me permission to remove some tissue?”

  “If it will help Reid,” Janina replied, looking right into Alla’s eyes, “you may take my entire arm.”

  “Don’t tempt her,” Suria warned.

  “If I refused,” Janina said wryly, “she would probably hit me over the head and amputate my arm anyway, if she needed it. Wouldn’t you, Alla?”

  “Yes, I would.” With that matter-of-fact statement, Alla swung around. “Narisa, can you monitor the computer-communicator for a while?”

  “I am already here,” Narisa replied. She had taken Alla’s seat at the table in the center of the room. “Do everything you can for Reid. You are relieved of all other duties for now.”

  The two women took Janina to a small room that served as a laboratory. There Suria examined her with the silver diagnostic rod and took a series of specimens. Then Alla made Janina lay her arm on a sterile cloth while she removed from her wrist the fluid and tissue she needed to analyze the infection. Alla was not gentle about it, but Janina did not care. She could endure anything if it would help Reid.

  “It has been several days since we were attacked,” Janina said in answer to one of Alla’s many probing questions about the sea monsters. “I’m not sure exactly how long ago it was. I soaked my arm in cold sea water shortly afterward. It seemed to help.”

  “Salt water.” Alla pursed her lips. “What about Reid? Did he soak his legs?”

  “He was asleep. He was so tired, I guess he just ignored his injuries. It wasn’t until the next day that he got into the water, when we repaired the rudder. Do you think that is why I’m not sick and he is?”

  “I will know the answer to that question after I’ve analyzed these. That’s all, Janina. I’m finished with you.” Alla turned away, holding the tray with the specimens she had taken.

  “Thank you, Janina,” Suria said, smiling at her. “Why don’t you try to sleep now? Herne suggested that you return to the second bed in the hospital room so he can check on you regularly. And I’m sure you would like to be with Reid.”

  Alla said nothing. She was busy at a nearby counter, working on the specimens.

  Chapter 18

  Janina slept all that day, waking in early evening.

  “There is no change,” Herne told her when she sat up on the edge of her bed to see Reid better. He was unconscious. There were so many tubes and machines surrounding him that she was unable even to take his hand. She choked back a sob.

  “Osiyar is waiting for you in the central room,” Herne said, sounding annoyed. “Go talk to him. You can’t do anything here except get in my way.”

  She did as he suggested, knowing instinctively that Herne’s harsh manner concealed a depth of concern for Reid and for her. Tamat had sometimes treated her in the same way when she was worried about her.

  She found Osiyar just outside the hospital room door.

  “Herne suggested I take you
for a walk,” he informed her. “I will introduce you to the Chon.”

  “I think we’ve met before,” Janina said, recalling the large birds that had preceded Tarik’s rescue crew. “Reid spoke about them to Tamat. I would like to see them again.”

  They walked on the soft white sand, watching the birds at their evening fishing while the sun sank into pink-gold glory, its last rays setting fire to the burnished late-season leaves of nearby trees. Osiyar went to the water’s edge, where he stood silently for a while, until a large green bird lighted next to him.

  “You may touch it,” he said. “Open your mind, then put your hand on its wing.”

  “My mind will not open as yours does, Osiyar.” Nevertheless, Janina followed the mental ritual she had used over and over again at Tamat’s command. The bird stood watching her. Nothing happened except that Janina had an impression of patient politeness. She reached out to make contact with the stiff feathers of one wing. The bird let her touch it, then let her stroke the wing a few times, before it turned its attention to Osiyar. Janina saw Osiyar’s face go smooth and still, and she sensed that the two were communicating. Then Osiyar smiled, nodding, and the bird flew away.

  “I am in communion with them every day,” Osiyar said, his expression and his voice filled with wonder. “It is a privilege beyond anything I ever dreamed of in Ruthlen. This is a place unequaled in my poor experience, Janina. Here, for the first time in my life, I feel free. Here I sense wonderful opportunities waiting.”

  Janina bowed her head, understanding what Osiyar meant. She felt much the same way about Tarik’s colony. But there was a matter she could not let pass without discussion. She broke into the peaceful evening mood in order to obtain the answers she needed to know.

  “Explain to me what happened in Ruthlen,” she commanded boldly, knowing there would never be a better time than this to have the truth from Osiyar. “I have speculated frequently about Sidra - and about your relationship to her.”

  “Sidra was to blame for much of your unhappiness at the temple,” Osiyar said. “She not only criticized you directly, but also in private, to the other priests and priestesses, to me, and even to Tamat. She wanted you eliminated from our ranks because she knew that Tamat loved you. She was jealous of that love. After Reid arrived in Ruthlen, Sidra understood that you were more truly bound to him than you could ever be bound as a priestess. She feared the power of your love for each other, feared it would change Ruthlen and imperil her own plans. She believed Reid had guessed her decision to destroy both of you as soon as Tamat was dead, and she intended to make certain that Tamat died once she had completed the Sacred Mind-Linking with Sidra. Whatever Tamat’s true condition at the end of that Linking, Sidra would make it appear that the strain had killed her, so Sidra would never be blamed. In her own strange way, she loved Tamat, but after so many years as Tamat’s assistant she had grown impatient to assume what she believed was her rightful position. That impatience, coupled with her jealousy of you, led her to devise her evil plan.”