Fire Margins

by Lisanne Norman

  “I wish I didn’t have to go now,” he said, gently nuzzling her cheek. “I wanted to be with you while Marak’s in hospital.”

  “I know,” she sighed. “But he’ll have the best possible medical care; Kaid won’t. I’d be with you myself if it wasn’t for that.”

  “Marak’ll be fine,” Garras reassured her. “Nowadays ops like that are commonplace, you know that.”

  “Yes, but when it’s your own child and he’s so young …”

  “He’ll be fine,” repeated Garras, giving her a fierce hug. “We’ll have a comm unit with us, you can contact me anytime. Now I must go.” He released her to look down at the cub that lay sleeping in the carrier on her desk.

  The little one lay stretched out on his side, the cover up to his arms. The fingers of the tiny pawlike hands lay open in relaxation. Garras reached out and touched his head gently, making his ears flick.

  “You must have looked like this when you were a cub,” he said, turning back to her.

  “Hmm,” she said, the tone mock-critical. “I think my markings weren’t quite so dark.”

  Garras laughed, gently touching her cheek. “I have to go now. I’ll call tonight if possible. Let me know as soon as you can how his op has gone.”

  “I will,” she said. “You take care! There’s no prizes for the worst injuries, you know.”

  He grinned, showing a flash of white teeth. “It won’t be us with the injuries, believe me!”

  *

  Carrie waited impatiently for Noni to open her door. “We’ve found him, Noni,” she said. “He’s at Stronghold. Ghezu has him.”

  Noni looked beyond her to the two males then flung her door wide. “Get in, all of you. The fewer people who see you the better! And you, child,” she said, grasping Carrie briefly by the arm, “you shouldn’t be running about like this! Get you over to my table and sit down at once!”

  “But, Noni,” Carrie began.

  “No but Noni’s from you! Go and sit down,” she growled.

  Noni’s living room seemed smaller by the time they were all seated round the table. The elderly Sholan looked across at Dzaka, narrowing her eyes. “Always thought you had the look of Kaid about you—and a bit of your mother.” She looked over at Garras. “Aye, I remember you,” she chuckled. “One of the livelier lads from Stronghold, you were.”

  Garras’ ears laid back and his tail flicked in embarrassment.

  “Always coming to me to get patched up after some brawl or another.”

  “Noni …”

  “I’ll say no more, never fear!” She looked at Carrie sitting beside her. “Now what’s this you were saying about Tallinu being at Stronghold?”

  “Ghezu has him. He’s badly injured, Noni.”

  “Then you’ll be needing me when you go for him,” she said decisively. “I’m letting none of those medics touch him. What did this Fyak do to him?”

  “He’s been flogged,” said Garras. “It happened just before Ghezu took him to Stronghold.”

  “There’s no love lost between those two. Let’s pray Tallinu is more important to Ghezu alive than dead.”

  “He’s alive, Noni,” said Carrie. “I saw him last night.”

  “Saw him?”

  Carrie felt Garras’ and Dzaka’s minds flare in interest. “I was in the Shrine when he just walked in. I even touched him. I don’t know how, but he was real, Noni.”

  Noni looked down at the table top, one claw tip gently tapping in thought. “I’ve seen him too. It was only a faint impression, like a pattern in smoke,” she said. “Something’s not right here. I don’t know what Ghezu’s done to him, but it’s not good. Not good at all.” She fell silent.

  “We’ve got to get him out tonight, Noni,” said Garras at length.

  “We will, we will,” she said, coming out of her reverie. “You need someone inside to let you in, don’t you? That mate of yours, I take it he’s joining us?”

  “Yes. He’s on his way back from Sonashi now. He’s got T’Chebbi with him,” said Carrie.

  “Then there’s four of you.” She began to drum the table with all her fingers.

  “If we can get someone inside Stronghold, they can open the internal door leading in from the tunnels,” said Garras.

  “You want to use someone who’s already there,” she said. “It’ll attract less attention. That Lijou male, what’s he like? Would he help?”

  Carrie looked over at Garras, who nodded. “Yes, he would,” she said. “He wants us to go to the Fire Margins. He’s been collaborating a lot with our family recently.”

  “Right, here’s what you do. Garras, I want you to go into the village, to the house at the end of the main street. It’s painted white, you can’t miss it. Knock and tell whoever answers that Rhuna has asked for Lokki to run an errand. It’s dark now so you shouldn’t attract any attention. We’ll send Lokki in with a message for Lijou, one that’ll make him contact me but won’t get Ghezu, should he find out, suspicious.”

  “What’s wrong with sending to him?” asked Dzaka.

  “Dampers have been put in,” said Noni. “The place is sewn up tighter than …” She caught sight of Carrie’s curious look and changed her mind. “Tighter than it should be. Even I turn off the damper most of the time! That one’s up to no good, I’ll be bound!”

  “He’s delivering weapons and drugs to Fyak,” said Carrie.

  “That explains the dampers. He doesn’t want any of the Brothers to know what he’s up to.”

  “I’ve brought a portable comm with me,” said Garras. “Why don’t we use the most obvious way of contacting Lijou?”

  “Try if you want,” said Noni. “If you were Ghezu, wouldn’t you have all incoming calls intercepted and monitored?”

  “What’s the message for Lokki, then?” sighed Garras.

  “Let’s see. Pass me the writing stuff out of that top drawer over there,” she said, gesturing to the other side of the room.

  Dzaka brought over the stylus and paper.

  “I know what to put,” she laughed. “He’ll call us so fast, you won’t believe it!” She scribbled a few lines, then passed it over to Garras. “You add the address of your comm.”

  Garras did as she asked, then pushed the paper back to her. Folding it, she returned it to him. “Give it to Lokki. They’re used to him running around Stronghold with my potions and messages. He won’t cause any concern.”

  *

  The comm finally chimed and as Noni answered it, three pairs of eyes, all beyond the comm’s pickup range, were focused on her.

  “What’s this all about, Noni?” Lijou demanded. “What’s this potion that you want collected by Kha’Qwa?”

  “She visited me the other day, Lijou, asking me for a potion for what ails her belly. It’s ready. She needs to come for it today.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with her.” He frowned. “Is there?”

  “You’ll have to ask her, Master Lijou,” said Noni in an arch tone. “I don’t discuss my patients with other folk!”

  “Then why send me the message?” he demanded.

  “Cos the lad knows you. He don’t know your Kha’Qwa, that’s why! Now, it’s got to be picked up this evening. It won’t keep.”

  “I’ll pass the message on,” he said tersely and reached for the comm switch.

  “And Lijou!” she said, reaching over for Carrie’s hand.

  “Yes?” He was poised ready to cut the connection.

  Noni pulled Carrie’s hand briefly into view. “Don’t let my work go to waste!” She cut the link.

  “Why did you do that?” demanded Carrie.

  “He had that look on his face,” she said, closing the comm and pushing it back to Garras. “He wasn’t going to come. Now he will.”

  “Wasn’t that dangerous if the line’s being monitored?” asked Garras.

  “They’ll have missed it, don’t worry. It’s the start of the call that’ll interest them, not the end.”

  “Now what?”


  “Now we wait for Lijou and perhaps even Kha’Qwa,” said Noni, sitting back in her seat. She looked up at Carrie. “You’re how many weeks on now?”

  Carrie looked confused for a moment, then flushed. “Twelve.”

  “And you’re still able to use your Talent?”

  “Yes.”

  “No change in it, is there? It isn’t becoming erratic or faint?”

  “No!”

  “That’s good. We’ll need to use that Talent of yours shortly.”

  *

  It was a good half hour before a knock sounded at the door. Instantly, Dzaka, Garras—and Carrie—had their weapons out, the two males standing to the front.

  “It’s Lijou and Kha’Qwa,” said Noni. “Don’t be so fast off the mark!”

  “I hope a time never comes when you’re glad of our speed,” said Garras, replacing his gun as he went to the door.

  Noni eyed Carrie as she put her weapon away in the folds of the robe she wore.

  “What you want with that, girl? The males can look after us.”

  “I prefer to be able to look after myself,” said Carrie.

  Lijou stood in the doorway looking at Garras with his mouth hanging open. Beside him stood one of the Sisters, anonymously wrapped in her grey cloak. Only her nose and eyes were visible.

  Garras reached out and grasped Lijou by the arm, pulling him into the cottage. He turned to the female but she’d already followed Lijou in.

  “It is you!” said Lijou, looking round the room. “You’re here for Kaid, aren’t you? I dreamed of him last night. Dzaka, Ghezu’s got a contract out on you. I’d have thought you’d have the common sense to stay on the estate where you’re safe.”

  “He’s my father,” said Dzaka. “I had to come.”

  “So you saw him, too,” said Noni. “I don’t like it. This has me worried.”

  Lijou turned to Garras. “You must get him out, Garras! I’m convinced that more than we realize depends on him.”

  “Kusac’s on his way here. We’re going to get him out, believe me, but we’ll need your help.”

  “What can I do?” asked Lijou, perching on the end of Noni’s bed.

  “First I need to know what the situation is like in Stronghold now.”

  Kha’Qwa unwrapped herself from her cloak and put it across the end of Noni’s bed.

  “Security’s tighter,” she said, “but not what you could call unreasonable given the state of things out in the desert. Ghezu’s had dampers installed in every public area till it’s become quite oppressive, though we can still be comfortable in our own quarters,” she said, glancing at Lijou briefly, “but our talents are useless for communication everywhere else. He said it was to make the telepaths who’d be coming to Stronghold feel more comfortable, but people like Vriuzu say there’s no need for what he’s done and they find it as oppressive as we do.”

  “What about incoming calls and visitors?”

  “Ghezu has his own people on the comm line in the office, and yes, we do get visitors, once Zhaya’s authorized them! We’re gradually being cut off from the world outside.”

  “Why hasn’t anyone reported him?” asked Carrie.

  “To whom?” Kha’Qwa asked, looking over at the Human. “We’re only just achieved Guild status. No one wants to lose it.”

  “I don’t believe there’s no opposition to Ghezu,” said Garras. “The Brothers can’t have changed that much in the last fifteen or so years.”

  “Talk, but nothing more yet,” agreed Kha’Qwa, moving round to take the seat Dzaka offered her. “One or two of the senior tutors have approached Lijou, asking him if he’d be prepared to take control, but there’s nothing really overt for anyone to complain about, that’s the problem.”

  “There is now,” said Garras. “He’s been supplying arms and drugs to Fyak. In just over ten hours from now, he’s going to be indicted for treason. We’ve got to get Kaid out before that happens.”

  “Ye Gods! Arming the desert people? And drugs?” She shook her head unbelievingly.

  “I knew he was mad,” said Lijou, “but I’d never have expected that of him!”

  Carrie raised her head, looking over to the door. “Kusac’s here,” she said, moments before they heard the knock. Dzaka answered it.

  Grim-faced, Kusac and T’Chebbi entered.

  “Noni, I apologize for descending on you like this, but we needed …” Kusac began as he approached the table.

  “Never you mind that,” Noni interrupted. “You get on with your organizing. I’ll see to getting something for you all to eat,” she said, beginning to rise. “My attendant’s gone home for the night but I can call him in if need be.”

  “No,” said Kusac, looking across at Garras as he approached the group round the table. “Better if we don’t eat first. I want to go in as soon as possible.”

  Garras nodded. “A quick in-and-out mission is best. My bet is Ghezu’ll have him in one of the holding cells in the basement level. They were hardly ever used even in my day. What do you think, Kha’Qwa?”

  She nodded slowly in agreement. “Makes sense. He’d have to be somewhere off the main trail for none of us to be aware of what was going on.”

  “We need to get into Stronghold without being seen,” said Kusac. “Suggestions? I don’t know the territory.”

  “Kha’Qwa, do you know the upper tunnel entrance? The one that brings you in on the west side of Stronghold?” asked Garras.

  “The one that was supposedly blocked off because it was unstable?” she grinned. “Who doesn’t?”

  “Can you get one of your friends to make sure that the door into Stronghold is open and our way in is clear?”

  “I can do that.”

  “Where will it bring us in?” asked Kusac.

  “The upper level back tunnels. They in turn lead to the floors above ground, or down to the basement levels.”

  “What can I do?” asked Lijou. “I feel partly responsible. I should have been aware sooner …”

  Kusac put his hand on the older male’s shoulder. “With the dampers on, how could you have known? Ghezu’s the only culpable one. What I’d like you to do is gather a few of the Warrior Brothers you trust and be ready to help if need be. Should we end up in a face-to-face with Ghezu, we may need you to rally the Brothers against him.”

  “One other thing you might do,” said Garras thoughtfully, “is get someone to disable as many of the damping units as they can without it seeming suspicious.”

  “We can do that,” said Lijou.

  “If you can, then we should be able to locate Kaid,” said Kusac, looking over at Carrie.

  “I’m coming too,” she said.

  “Carrie, you know …”

  “An injury to you will harm me just as much,” she said firmly. “If you want to guarantee my safety, you’ll have to stay here with me.”

  Kusac made an exasperated noise. “Very well, you can come.”

  “You can make arrangements for me too,” said Noni, glaring up at him.

  “You wouldn’t make it along the tunnels, Noni,” said Kha’Qwa gently.

  “In that case, I have to return with you, Lijou. This female of yours is more ill than you think, aren’t you Kha’Qwa?”

  Lijou frowned. “Yes, what’s all this about her being ill? She’ll tell me nothing!”

  Noni laughed. “Got you worried, didn’t it? Knew it would! You were out here as fast as a youngling in her first season, worried she’d got it wrong and was pregnant! There’s nothing wrong with her, but you wouldn’t be believing that now, would you? Kha’Qwa, you’ll find your bottle of oil over on the chest behind me.”

  Lijou looked baffled. “Oil?”

  “Sand fleas at Laasoi,” Kha’Qwa said. “I got an allergic reaction to the bites and Noni gave me something for it when we came back. I needed some more, that’s all.”

  “You’re an evil old female,” growled Lijou, frowning at her.

  Noni continued to chuckle. “You j
ust call Stronghold and tell them Kha’Qwa’s been taken poorly and I need to nurse her. Get them to send an aircar for us.”

  “It’s not a bad idea,” said Garras. “It would explain why you came out here so hurriedly.”

  “No. We need Kha’Qwa and Lijou working on the inside for us,” said Kusac.

  “Then Lijou can find someone I can visit when he gets back,” said Noni. “You’re not going without me!”

  Carrie took the old Sholan’s hand in hers. “Wait here for him, Noni. We’ll bring him back to you, I promise.”

  Noni pulled her hand away, grumbling under her breath. “I’ll not have those butchers at Stronghold treating him!”

  “They won’t.”

  “Actually, keeping Lijou out of the line of fire would be better,” said Garras. “He’s no fighter, and as you said, he’ll be needed to take over the Guild when Ghezu’s arrested. Kha’Qwa can easily ask for a friend to come to her and set it up that way. Noni returning with them helps dispel any doubt that the visit here was genuine, especially as it’s known she refuses to travel.”

  Kusac flicked an ear. “Very well. You’ve got a point,” he conceded.

  “Now that’s sorted, you and me got some work to do first, girl,” Noni said to Carrie, content now that her part in the proceedings was secure. “We’re going to try and reach Tallinu using that crystal he has.”

  “You can’t reach him, Noni,” said Kha’Qwa. “I told you, there are dampers on all over Stronghold.”

  “Stronghold’s full of these crystals,” said Noni, fishing one out of her pocket and holding it up for them all to see. “We’ll reach him, never fear. Makes sense to try and locate him first, though, then you don’t have to go searching for him.” She pushed herself up from the table. “We’ll go into my bedroom,” she said to Carrie. “It’s too damned noisy here!”

  *

  He was shivering, whether with cold or fear he didn’t know. He wasn’t even sure he was awake as there was only the darkness, and the pain. His scalp ached as did the side of his face that lay against the cold floor. That was nothing compared to how his right hand felt. It throbbed with an agony that dominated his senses just as much as the flogging had.