Fire Margins

by Lisanne Norman

  “So?”

  He shrugged, ears dipping in acknowledgment of a point scored. “So I trust you. Tell me about the replays you’ve had, Noni,” he said, changing the topic. “I’ll read the files, but while I’m here, you might as well tell me.”

  Noni snorted in disgust. “Lazy is what you are!”

  “No, I will read the files, but you can save me a lot of time by telling me the points you consider important.”

  “Haven’t you had the replays then?”

  He shook his head. “Carrie has them, not me, though afterward I do experience them from her perspective.”

  Noni raised an eye ridge. “Now that does surprise me,” she said. “I was sure you’d have them as well.”

  “I did once, but they’ve stopped over the last couple of months.”

  “So, she’s more tuned in to them than you. Why should that be, I wonder?”

  “Tell me about the replays, Noni,” he said.

  *

  Lijou and Yaszho were busy when Ghezu strolled into his office. He stopped in front of the desk, looking down at what the two males were working on.

  “You really do intend to calmly hand over your Priesthood’s files to Chuz’s committee, don’t you? I trust none of them pertain to me or my warriors.”

  There was an edge to his voice that Lijou didn’t like. He looked up at him. “What can we do for you, Ghezu?”

  “I said, are you really going to hand over your files?”

  “I’d rather hand over what I’ve collated and edited, than suffer the indignity of having the actual files collected by the Forces.”

  Ghezu smiled gently. “You know, you’re actually cleverer than I thought. I have to admit that it didn’t occur to me to give them what I wanted them to have. Quite subtle, Lijou. Worthy of a Brother.”

  “A compliment indeed,” said Lijou, aware that Ghezu was trying to use his talent to charm him—and failing. His judgement, and his talent, was slipping badly. “Now, how can I help you?”

  “The female, Khemu, is dead,” said Ghezu, ambling over to the window. “Nice view you’ve got. Better than mine, I think.”

  Lijou put down his stylus and, clasping one hand over the other, sat back to watch Ghezu. “Oh? How did she die?”

  “Her own hand. Poison, the medic said. Actually one of our drugs.” He turned round. “Kaid gave it to her.”

  Lijou raised an eye ridge questioningly. “So Kaid went to her?”

  “Yes. Fyak’s people took him.”

  “Fyak’s people? What would they want with him?” Lijou was puzzled as to why Ghezu was offering this information.

  “Seems Kaid’s got a new master, Lijou. He dropped us for the Aldatan cub. Now he’s taken up with this desert prophet. Not only that, but I’ve had to put a contract out on his son now.”

  “Dzaka? What’s he done?”

  “He’s broken his oath, Lijou.” Ghezu returned to stand at Lijou’s desk, towering over them. “He sent word he’d left the Brotherhood. He’s hiding out on the Aldatan estate, but I’ll get him, you needn’t worry about that. Now I have all three of them. Khemu dead, Kaid a prisoner, albeit with Fyak, and Dzaka a walking corpse.” He snarled the last comment, his eyes taking on a tinge of fanaticism that was quickly masked.

  Lijou felt Ghezu’s glamour slip, then as it returned, he sensed the subtle difference in it. The darkness he’d felt creeping across Ghezu’s soul was echoed now in his gift. Lijou could feel himself being drawn toward the other’s world of hate and paranoia.

  “You were wrong, weren’t you?” As Ghezu rested his hands on the desk and leaned forward, Lijou saw the glint of a silver bracelet on his right wrist.

  “You thought you knew Kaid, that you could handle him. How does it feel to be so wrong, Lijou?” His tone now held a hint of gloating in it.

  Lijou felt Yaszho stir beside him, reacting to Ghezu’s dark glamour. He let his tail tip briefly touch the other male’s leg and felt him start in surprise. He shrugged. “So I was wrong, Ghezu. What does it matter to us now? We have what we wanted, our Guild status.”

  Ghezu began to laugh as he walked toward the door. “You wouldn’t make a politician, Lijou,” he chuckled. “You miss the obvious. Without Kaid, the Aldatan cub has no chance of going to the Fire Margins! He’s their third. Without him, they’re ours! Members of the Brotherhood. I have my fighting telepaths, Lijou.” Still chuckling, he opened the door and left.

  A cold shiver ran down his spine. “I fear our esteemed Guild Master of the Warriors has finally crossed over that thin edge between madness and sanity,” said Lijou. “We must get this news of Kaid and Dzaka out to Kusac immediately.”

  “It was so … seductive!” exclaimed Yaszho, flicking his ears in nervous reaction. “No wonder his bodyguards behave the way they do! I begin to wonder if remaining here at Stronghold is wise, Master Lijou. If you’re right about Master Ghezu, and after this experience I’m sure you are, he could actually incarcerate you without anyone being the wiser—especially now he’s had the whole complex fitted with psychic dampers.”

  “If I go, then all the Brothers in our Order are at Ghezu’s mercy,” said Lijou gently. “I appreciate your concern, but I cannot leave them at this time.”

  “You can’t help them if you’re dead.”

  “Nor can I help them if I’m not where they need me. You’ve done as you ought, Yaszho, warned me of the potential danger.”

  “There is an alternative,” Yaszho ventured. “The tide of feeling against Ghezu and his guards is becoming stronger every day, among both the lay-Brothers and the Warriors. It would take very little encouragement for them to turn against Ghezu.”

  “Absolutely not, Yaszho!” Lijou was shocked at the suggestion. “Doing that will only cause Brother to fight Brother, and I will not be responsible for that! Now, how do we get the information out to Kusac?” he asked, trying to regain his composure. “In your opinion, is the comm link secure?”

  “No, Master Lijou, I don’t think it is. If your call was intercepted, Ghezu could claim you were acting against the Brotherhood interests by giving confidential information to nonGuild members.”

  “He could,” agreed Lijou. “But we have to send the information nonetheless.”

  “We could encode it and send it direct to the temple at Valsgarth so they can see it’s delivered to the estate. Or you can send it telepathically.”

  “Long range communication isn’t easy, Yaszho. Apart from having the necessary degree of talent, it requires meditation and concentration. A little difficult when one’s ears are freezing off on the battlements of Stronghold,” he said, mouth opening in a gentle grin. He sighed. “It does seem the safest way, though.”

  “I see Master Ghezu has taken to wearing a bonding bracelet,” said Yaszho, tapping his stylus thoughtfully on the desktop. “Hazarding a guess, do you think it could belong to the dead female, Khemu?”

  “I think it very likely. And if Ghezu has it, then he must have been to Fyak’s lair since she died.”

  “That was my thought. Likely he’s also seen Kaid.”

  The two exchanged a glance. It was Lijou who voiced their common thought. “Kaid may no longer be with Fyak.”

  *

  The infocube from the mountain clans living in the shadow of Stronghold was a bonus none of them had anticipated. That evening, Kusac copied the data, passing the original on to his father, and taking the other to Ghyan at the Shrine the next day.

  Carrie was already there, poring over ancient books and more modern comm generated sheets while Ghyan worked at the other side of his desk on his personal comm unit.

  The room was typical of Ghyan, Kusac thought as he stepped carefully round the piles of books that perched precariously on the floor. Books lined every available piece of wall space, saving only the niche where his friend kept a small statue of the God, the votive candle burning with a cold flame through the walls of its blue glass container.

  The pale sunlight of early winter floode
d the room, brightening the dark wooden shelves and their treasury of books, making them glow with a warmth that prevented the office from becoming dark and gloomy.

  “Hi there,” Carrie said. “We’ve been waiting for you.”

  Ghyan looked up from his work. “At last! What took you so long?” He stretched across the desk, holding out his hand.

  “That’s a fine greeting,” said Kusac, handing over the cube.

  “First things first,” said Ghyan, fitting it into its slot in the comm. He waved his left hand in the direction of the hot plate. “Fresh c’shar, and coffee, over there. Help yourself.”

  “I will, don’t worry,” said Kusac, picking up Ghyan’s and Carrie’s empty mugs on his way.

  The mugs filled, he placed Ghyan’s on his desk, getting only a grunt in the way of thanks. Giving Carrie hers, he pulled up another chair and sat beside her. “How’s it going?” he asked in a low voice.

  “Fine. I’m actually working on historical records from Ghyan’s books and files. I decided to work backwards from the present as it gives me a benchmark on their accuracy.” She put down her stylus and sat back in her chair, stretching her arms. “Now you’ve arrived, I’ll leave this and start working with Ghyan on Noni’s data.” She gestured at the second comm unit beside her. “That’s linked in to Ghyan’s so we can access the same data sources.”

  Ghyan continued to study his comm in silence for several minutes more before he looked across at them.

  “I expect you realize the significance of what we have here,” he said. “No one ever suspected that these stories and visions existed! If the data’s accurate, and I’ve no reason to doubt it, at one stroke she’s given us more information about the Cataclysm than is probably known by all the Guilds combined! You’ve obviously had the time to look at this last night. What did you make of it?”

  “The replays,” said Carrie. “Those at Stronghold differ from those here. I’d say they’re location specific. The one I had at Noni’s was obviously set in Stronghold itself as people record having seen it there for nearly a thousand years virtually unchanged, and it isn’t one of those experienced at Valsgarth or Esken’s Guildhouse.”

  “I agree,” said Kusac. “There are common dreams of Vartra as a God from both locations, but the replays are different from the dreams. The ones that seem most significant are those concerned with Vartra being seen in the lower corridors of Stronghold. Noni says that in those days, and for many years after, Stronghold was mainly a subterranean base for telepaths and the warriors who protected them. A safe haven from a society that held them to blame for causing the Cataclysm.”

  “Did she know why they blamed the telepaths?”

  Kusac shook his head. “No. I think there are clues in the stories, but that’ll take longer to unravel.”

  “A thought, Kusac,” said Carrie. “What about contacting Kaerdhu, the storyteller, and asking him to interpret them for us? It’s his calling, after all, and we’ve all got more than enough work to deal with.”

  “Good suggestion. It would present him with a challenge he wouldn’t want to refuse. He’d have to approach Noni herself to ask permission if he wanted to incorporate them in his repertoire, though.”

  “Can you approach him regarding that?”

  Kusac nodded. “If I can’t, Mother can.”

  “Anything else catch your notice?” asked Ghyan.

  “There are several scenes where Vartra is visiting telepaths suffering from a fever that appears to change them significantly.”

  “Excuse me?” said Ghyan, visibly taken aback. “Do you realize what you’ve just said?”

  “Oh, yes,” said Kusac quietly. “Vartra also visited telepaths with deformed or brain-damaged newborn cubs. This seems to happen before he and his people relocate themselves at Stronghold.”

  “So they did live at Valsgarth first. But the cubs? How did they come to be born deformed?”

  “I assume the virus mutated them. What type of mutation isn’t mentioned in the replays or the folk tales.”

  “There’s definitely a sense of responsibility in Vartra’s questions to our new Leskas,” said Ghyan thoughtfully. “Mention of lives lost, sacrifices …” He stopped. “Why am I telling you? You know because you’ve experienced them. Could Vartra somehow have been responsible for this happening? If so, how?”

  “Genetic manipulation,” said Kusac quietly, “could cause that.”

  “The replay I had at Noni’s is one regularly repeated by the highlanders and the Brothers,” said Carrie. “While visiting Stronghold, Vartra told the folk there he wasn’t looking for a solution, and one of the Strongholders answered that no good comes of playing God, we were stronger before. Before what isn’t mentioned.”

  “A virus that swept through the telepathic community, rendering them weaker and unable to fight. A virus that contributed to genetic changes and damaged their cubs,” said Kusac.

  “And now, in our time, you meet Carrie, a telepath from another species, and when you return here, a naturally occurring Sholan virus caught by both of you mutates. It becomes an epidemic that leaves all telepaths, and those with any degree of talent, wild or otherwise, with enhanced abilities,” said Ghyan slowly. “Could it be the same virus, lying dormant till it met new conditions that favored its growth? Those new conditions being our meeting the Humans. The thought is terrifying.”

  “If it is, it’s already happened. Now we wait and see how it affects our cubs,” said Kusac.

  “But why Humans? Have we been acquainted with each other’s species before?”

  “I’ve no idea. It’s one of the answers we may have to find in the Fire Margins.”

  “I heard Vanna’s child has health problems.”

  “Only a minor one. A defect in the fourth heart chamber. He’s due to have surgery within the week. Vanna’s beside herself with worry for him.”

  “Our cub will be fine,” said Carrie, filling the silence that followed. “I know it.”

  “I’m sure she will,” said Ghyan quietly. “You have Noni to look after you, after all. Tell me, Kusac, how the hell did you get that stubborn old female to part with all this information?”

  “I didn’t,” said Kusac simply. “She just put the cube in my hand and said, There you are. She actually organized the recording of the data specifically for us. It wasn’t something she had anyway.”

  “I can’t believe it,” Ghyan said, absently picking up the spoon and stirring his c’shar. “It’s so out of character for her. She hates the Telepath Guild, won’t have anything to do with us, either as telepaths or priests.”

  “But she deals with individuals from the Brotherhood,” said Carrie. “I think you’ll find this has as much to do with Kaid’s disappearance as anything else. Look at what we’re doing: carving our own future separate from the guilds. That’s what she and the mountain folk have always done.”

  “Well, whatever her reasons, thank Vartra she did give us this cube! You and I are going to be busy, Carrie. Kusac,” he said, looking over at his friend as he lifted his mug, “I suppose you’re too involved with the dig to help?”

  “’Fraid so. We want to get as much information as possible before I have to hand it over to my father so the Earth archaeologists can be brought in.”

  Ghyan raised an eye ridge questioningly. “It’s that important?”

  “I think it could be one of the most important sites on Shola. Believe me, I’m not contemplating calling in the Terrans lightly, especially at this time,” he said, reaching out to touch Carrie reassuringly. “But Carrie agrees with me. She says she can cope, and our circumstances are very different this time.”

  “Where will they stay?”

  “We’ll make a cottage available here in the village. They’ll have to use our amenities, after all.”

  “What about security?”

  “Ni’Zulhu doesn’t see a problem.” Kusac grinned, showing his teeth. “Their cottage will be right beside the Brothers’ accommodation, aft
er all.”

  Ghyan laughed. “Neat. Very neat.” He glanced at his wrist unit. “You’ll have to excuse us, I’m afraid. I want to make a good start on this data and I’ve a service to take at fourteenth hour.”

  “I’ve got to get going, too,” Kusac said, getting to his feet. “I’ll see you at third meal,” he said to Carrie, his hand touching her cheek before he left.

  *

  Several days had passed since Kusac’s visit to Ghyan at the Shrine. The excavations had now reached the stage where he’d decided he had to call in his father. Though he didn’t want Carrie involved in the actual digging because of her pregnancy and the danger of cave-ins, Kusac had no objection to her accompanying him and his father on their inspection of the ruins within the hillside. When Konis arrived, he had Kitra with him.

  “I said I’d help make sure Carrie didn’t do any digging,” she said to Kusac, grinning up at her bond-sister as she greeted her with a hug.

  “You’re only coming because you think Dzaka’s at the dig,” laughed Carrie, tweaking her ear.

  “Not true,” said Kitra, flicking her ear free and dancing away from her.

  The mound of earth and rubble that had been removed from the main chamber was the first thing Carrie saw when they arrived at the dig. It seemed almost as high as the hill itself. In that cavern, the picture that was beginning to emerge was one of a final pitched battle. The remains of ancient wheeled vehicles lay crushed and tangled where they’d been found, their sides riddled with holes and burn scars from projectile and energy weapons. Cavern floor and vehicles alike bore a scattering of Sholan and Valtegan remains. It had been a battle with few, if any, survivors.

  Judging by the amount of rockfall from the ceiling of the cavern, Jack was pretty sure that a massive explosion had brought the roof down on defenders and attackers alike. Perhaps it had been a last desperate move to prevent them getting further into the complex.

  As her father followed Carrie and Kusac up to the next level, Kitra saw Dzaka. He was working at a different place that day, near the Human physician, Jack. He looked up briefly as she headed over to him.