Fire Margins

by Lisanne Norman

  Dzaka nodded. The Human had got the problem by the tail.

  “Has it something to do with Kitra?” Jack asked. “I’ve noticed how she’s been following you around lately.”

  He nodded again, taking a mouthful of his drink, trying to delay having to answer. No warrior liked to admit to having been beaten up, whatever the reason.

  “It wasn’t a mistake, was it?”

  He needed to talk to someone! All the anger and fear and frustration was building up inside him with no way to release it. “No, it wasn’t,” he admitted. “They were warning me away from Kitra.”

  “Warning you away from her?” Jack raised a questioning eyebrow. “Why?”

  “Her age, the fact she’s our Liege’s sister, and because they think I’m trying to use her to get close to Kusac. Do you want any more reasons?” he asked, his voice low and angry.

  “She’s the one following you around!”

  “I know,” he said, looking up at Jack. “That doesn’t matter. It’s me they’re warning.”

  “Kitra’s mature enough. She’s nearly a year older than Jinoe and Rrai. You only have to look at her coloring to see she’s coming into her adult pelt!”

  “I hadn’t noticed,” said Dzaka, looking back down at his mug.

  “Have you told anyone about the attack? I’m sure Kusac wouldn’t allow it to go unpunished.”

  “No, I haven’t. It’s not exactly the kind of thing I want known, Jack. I’m one of the Brothers. It shouldn’t have been that easy for them.” His embarrassment was acute.

  “Come off it, lad! Four onto one isn’t fair odds!”

  “I should have been able to handle it.”

  “Not when they jumped you from behind, Dzaka! No one can cope with that kind of assault. They hit your skull pretty hard, you know. You’re lucky not to have had concussion.”

  “I’ve a hard head,” he muttered, taking another drink.

  Jack sat back in his chair. “I heard you’d met your mother. What was she like?”

  Dzaka looked up in surprise. “How did you know?”

  “Carrie mentioned it. We go back a long way, Carrie and I. She was like you, you know. Trying to live up to her twin, forgetting that she was a totally different person and just as important to those who loved her.”

  Dzaka was intrigued. “I know nothing about the Liegena’s past,” he said.

  “Ask her some day. She’s easy to get on with.”

  “I know that, but …”

  “Your mother. What was she like,” interrupted Jack.

  “Spirited,” he grinned. “She didn’t let Kaid get away with much.”

  “I heard you’d been given her family jewelry.”

  “I’ll wear only the knife until he’s home.” Dzaka’s face darkened as he remembered Kaid was still missing.

  “I can understand why,” nodded Jack.

  “Why did I believe Ghezu? If I hadn’t, if I’d gone to Kaid and told him … everything would be different now!”

  “There’s no point blaming yourself for it, lad. From what I hear, that’s Ghezu’s gift. Making people believe him.”

  “They blame me! She said it. She said I’d known my father for thirty years, so why was I believing Ghezu’s lies rather than Kaid! And she was right!”

  “It’s easy to say that afterward, Dzaka, not so easy at the time. You’d been told too many new things, and thought because of what Ghezu said they were lies. I’d have done exactly the same.”

  He hardly heard Jack. “And now this allegation that I’m trying to seduce the Liege’s sister to get close to him! Kaid will skin me for it when he gets back!”

  “Why should he skin you for it?” asked Jack. “You haven’t done anything. The fact that Kitra’s interested in you should be a compliment.”

  “You don’t understand! Relationships and work don’t mix, Jack. They must be separate if you have a relationship at all. Kaid never mixed them!”

  “You’re not Kaid, lad,” said Jack gently. “Don’t try to be. Just be yourself. You have your own value.”

  Dzaka put the mug down and got to his feet. “I’ve got to go. They’ll be waiting for me at the villa. Thank you for the drink.”

  Jack watched him leave, shaking his head. If Dzaka didn’t let go of some of his feelings soon… .

  *

  Their den, located at the back of the villa, was a comfortable room that captured the sun for the larger part of the day. Built on two levels, the upper one had a working environment with a comm and a personal resource storage area. The lower level was designed for relaxation, with a large screen entertainment viewer and console and several concave settees and chairs. Comp books and real ones were scattered on the low circular table within easy reach of all the seats. Like the more formal lounge next door, it had clear doors that opened out onto the garden beyond. At this time of night, they were closed and covered by dark crimson drapes.

  The floor and walls were dark paneled wood, which, broken up as they were by brightly colored rugs and tapestries, gave the room a feeling of secluded comfort without being oppressive.

  It was here that Kusac joined Carrie. Of all the day rooms in the house, this one had quickly become their favorite.

  “Zhala says third meal will be ready shortly,” she said as he came in.

  “D’you want a drink?” he asked, heading for the dispenser.

  “Got one, thanks.” As she watched him, her mind began to wander. The run-in with the Humans had reminded her how ill at ease she was among them. Not so with her people. Even in Dzahai village, though they’d never seen her like before, there was a courtesy about their friendly curiosity: an acceptance that was lacking with the Humans.

  Finished, he turned away from the unit then stopped, head cocked to one side, regarding her questioningly as his tail swayed leisurely from side to side.

  The daily sight of Sholans was so familiar to her now that when she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, her own outward form seemed somehow alien. He was wearing his favorite olive tunic, she noticed with a smile. The soft material stretched more tightly across his chest and shoulders these days, a result of all the training. It fell to mid-thigh level, again showing the difference that hard physical activity had made to him. Naturally stronger than the Humans to start with, Kusac now looked—and was—as muscular as any of the Warriors or Brothers on the estate.

  “What is it?” he asked, moving over to join her on the settee.

  “Just that I think you need new tunics,” she said, leaning against him as he sat down. “You’ve grown!”

  He lifted his arm and put it round her, balancing the mug in his other hand as he did so. “I’m older. In fact, I reach official adulthood with my next birth day this spring.”

  “You’re not an adult now?” This surprised her.

  “Yes, and no. Telepaths and Warriors, and the Brotherhood of course, are all exempt from military service. We have to mature sooner—learn to control our aggression and our sexuality—because we stay on Shola where such behavior can’t be easily redirected. So, from about twenty-five or so, we’re considered mature enough to accept responsible positions within our guilds. However, thirty still remains the age of adulthood for the majority of Sholans. It’s also when we males achieve physical maturity.”

  “Ah, I’ve found the memories now.”

  “You have it all there, somewhere. Now, what was it you had to tell me,” he asked, lifting his mug to his mouth.

  She chose her words carefully. “Someone came into the Shrine room while I was there. Someone who if it wasn’t Kaid, was his double.”

  He sat up, almost spilling his drink. “What? You saw Kaid?”

  “I’m sure it was him.”

  “How? Where is he? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” His questions came tumbling out one after the other.

  “Let me tell it my way,” she said, taking the mug from him and putting it on the table. “He came up to me and asked how long he’d been gone. Six weeks,
I said. Then he asked when he’d returned. I couldn’t believe he was really there, so I reached out and touched him. He was real, Kusac. Flesh and blood, I swear he was!”

  “Go on. I believe you.”

  “He said he’d been at Stronghold.”

  “Stronghold! Not Fyak’s?”

  She shook her head. “Stronghold. He took my hand and said that I felt real so he must be here. Then, he just disappeared.”

  “Disappeared?”

  “One moment he was there, the next gone. He seemed to fade—lose solidity—then he vanished.”

  Kusac said nothing, just looked at her.

  “I went to the room that Dzaka keeps ready for him and I could smell his scent strongly there. I’ve no idea how or why it happened, but he really was there.”

  “But how? How did he get there, and why did he leave so suddenly? Why didn’t he stay?”

  “I’ve been trying to work that out myself. Remember when we were trying out all those skills in the encyclopedia? Maybe he teleported.”

  “But how? To do that he’d have to have a powerful talent.”

  “You do realize that he and Garras are the only ones who didn’t tell us what their talents were,” she said.

  He gave a negative flick of his ears. “He said he was at Stronghold?”

  “Yes. I remember that clearly because of Lijou’s message. There was something else. He looked ill, and thin. And his wrists had been badly hurt. I’m worried for him, Kusac.”

  “If Ghezu’s got him, so am I. At least we know he’s still alive.”

  “But for how much longer? I know I shouldn’t have, but I reached mentally for him, and I sensed nothing. Not a trace.”

  “He might have been asleep, especially if he’d just teleported here.”

  She made a derisory noise. “You don’t believe that any more than I do! Now we know he’s at Stronghold, not Chezy, what are we going to do about it?”

  He said nothing at first, and Carrie watched as his ears began to flick with worry. Where his tail lay on the settee beside her, the tip was doing the same.

  “We can’t go running all over Stronghold looking for Kaid,” he said at length. “Nor can we demand that Ghezu returns him to us. The fact that we know he’s there could be enough in itself for him to kill Kaid.”

  “So what do we do? I’m sick of sitting here doing nothing!”

  “No more than me. First we need proof that he’s there, then we can look at our options.”

  “Our options will still be the same,” she said. “Either we do nothing for fear Kaid gets killed, or we leave him where he is and he gets killed anyway! I know what he’d want us to do.”

  Kusac took her hand in his. “So do I, but he’d wait for the best time to be sure of succeeding. At least with him at Stronghold, we aren’t risking a civil war.”

  There was a knock at the door and an attendant came in. “Third meal’s ready, Liege, Liegena.”

  *

  Kaid was still crying out as Carrie faded from his sight. His world had shattered only to resolve itself into an unfamiliar room. Hands grabbed him by the shoulders, slamming him painfully against the back of the hard chair in which he sat.

  “So,” said Ghezu, from his perch on the edge of the table. “How are you enjoying your visions? They seem to be displeasing. That’s unfortunate.”

  Kaid struggled against the grip, trying to lift his hands only to find they were bound in front of him.

  “You’re not real,” he said, relaxing back into the seat. “None of this is.”

  “Oh, I’m real, believe me,” said Ghezu. “And I want some information from you.”

  Kaid raised an eye ridge. “I don’t think so.”

  He watched Ghezu spin a small knife between his fingers. The overhead light flickered off the blade and the silver bracelet that he wore.

  “What was it you saw, Kaid? I hear you were to be the third for the Aldatan brat and his alien female. Am I right?” He stopped, cocking his head to one side, watching him.

  Involuntarily, Kaid’s ears flicked back. Ghezu was touching him on a nerve that was very raw. It had seemed so real that he could still smell her scent.

  “Yes.” The word was drawn out, like a hiss. “Was it her you saw? Did she turn you down? Or perhaps she didn’t. Maybe the dream was cut short, was that it, Kaid? Were you torn from her arms? Or perhaps her bed?” He stood, looking Kaid up and down. “No, not from her bed.”

  “It has nothing to do with you,” Kaid snapped angrily, pulling away from the restraining hands. He didn’t like being touched at the best of times. It was an intimacy he seldom invited and Zhaya’s hands on his shoulders were becoming more than an irritant, it had become a physical problem.

  “Hasn’t it? I think you’re forgetting the fact that you’re my guest, Kaid. With you here, they can’t have their Triad, and without you, they can’t reach the Fire Margins and survive. Had you thought of that? Hmm? Then they’ll remain members of the Brotherhood, and under my control.” He walked round to the side of his desk, flicking the knife into the palm of his hand.

  “Bring him here,” he ordered Zhaya. “Yes, I can confidently say you’ll never bed that particular female, Kaid, unlike that qwene, Khemu.” He said her name as if he were swearing.

  Zhaya grasped Kaid by one arm and pulled him over to the desk.

  Reaching down, Ghezu pulled Kaid’s bound wrists onto the surface. “Hold them there,” he said.

  Zhaya leaned against Kaid, pushing him forward against the desk, making him spread his hands out for support.

  “I told you I want some answers, Kaid. I want to know the security codes for the Aldatan estate. I’ve got some unfinished business I need to attend to. You know Dzaka’s there, don’t you?” he said conversationally as Kaid glared up at him. “He’s a renegade too. Like father, like son, eh? There’s a contract on him and I want to see it’s fulfilled.”

  “Go to hell,” Kaid snarled, his lips curling back from his teeth in anger.

  The knife thudded into the desk between the forefinger and thumb of his right hand.

  “I said I want those codes!”

  Kaid continued to stare at Ghezu as the Guild Master reached out and pulled his knife free of the wood.

  “What kind of fool do you take me for, Ghezu? You’re not just after Dzaka—you want Kusac and Carrie as well. With them gone, you think you can control the others. You’ll get no codes from me. I’m no oath-breaker, unlike you.”

  Ghezu’s hand lashed out, catching Kaid across the side of his face, making him reel.

  Lifting his head, Kaid stared at Ghezu, ignoring the blood trickling from the claw marks across his cheek. “What does that prove?” he asked quietly.

  The knife point touched the underside of his jaw and as Ghezu lifted his blade, Kaid was forced to tilt his head up, exposing his neck.

  “I want those codes, Kaid, and I want them now,” snarled Ghezu, pressing the point harder against his throat till it just pricked the skin.

  “You’ve had my answer. Go rot in hell, Ghezu.”

  The pressure under his jaw disappeared and as his head dropped down, he caught the flash of silver before agonizing pain from his hand exploded through him. The unexpectedness of it made him yowl in agony.

  His knees buckled under him, but his fall was brought up short when Ghezu grasped a handful of his hair. As he struggled to stand, through the red mist of pain he heard Ghezu’s voice.

  “I told you it was real this time, Kaid. I will have those codes from you if I have to destroy you an inch at a time,” he said conversationally. “Now, are you ready to talk yet, or shall I start on the next finger?”

  *

  Dzaka had no sooner entered the villa’s grounds than he saw Kitra standing by the doorway, obviously waiting for him. He stopped dead and began backing away.

  “Dzaka,” she said, “don’t go. I want to speak to you.”

  “I’m busy, Kitra,” he said, still moving backward. “I’m going
to the Shrine.”

  “I’ll come with you,” she said.

  “Kitra …”

  “I want to talk to you, Dzaka,” she said.

  “Oh, leave him alone, Kitra,” came Mara’s drawling voice from behind him. “You shouldn’t be out at this time of night anyway.”

  Dzaka spun round and without a glance in her direction, headed toward the Shrine.

  Kitra continued walking toward the archway, ignoring Mara.

  “Goodnight, Kitra!” said the Human from her perch on the small ornamental wall outside the villa.

  Kitra stopped and turned to look at the girl. “Why do you want Dzaka to stay away from me?” she asked. “Why should it matter to you?”

  Mara laughed. “Go home, Kitra. You’re too young to understand grown-up matters.”

  “What’s grown-up about this?” she asked, ears flicking and betraying her confusion. “What has it to do with age? You’re a youngling, too.”

  With an exasperated noise, Mara jumped down from the wall, landing in front of Kitra. “You don’t know anything about us, do you?” she said. “You should, especially with a bond-sister who’s Human! We mature far earlier than you do.”

  “So?” Kitra frowned, no wiser.

  “Dzaka wouldn’t be interested in you, Kitra. You’re too young for him. He’s more likely to be interested in someone older, who’s been with other males, not some kitling who’s still wet behind the ears!”

  “What has being wet behind the ears got to do with who Dzaka likes?”

  “You really don’t understand, do you?” Mara shook her head. “Forget it, Kitra. Just take my advice and go home. You’re not in the running at all when it comes to Dzaka. If he wants a female, he isn’t going to look to a cub like you!” She pushed Kitra aside and was about to head after Dzaka when she stopped, a frown appearing on her face. With an angry exclamation, she stormed off in the opposite direction.

  Kitra had sensed Mara’s Leska, Zhyaf, contacting her, telling her to return to the house they shared on the edge of the village. She sighed, glad that Carrie was so different from Mara. She didn’t call her a child and exclude her from parts of her life any more than her brother, Kusac did. He was always pleased to see her. Maybe it was because Mara wasn’t happy with Zhyaf, but Physician Vanna wasn’t happy with her Leska at times and it didn’t make her behave unpleasantly.