Fire Margins

by Lisanne Norman

  “Why? Did they put these collars on everyone?” asked Kusac.

  “I’d rather know what you mean by remembering,” said Carrie.

  Kaid looked across at her. “I still don’t know,” he said. “I’m just aware that it’s something I used to know but forgot. And no, the collars were worn only by telepaths. It was to inhibit their ability to mind talk. I don’t know how it worked, but it was a Valtegan device.”

  “One which doesn’t appear to affect Humans, if I’m anything to go by,” said Carrie, picking it up again to examine the stone. “Where did you say Fyak dug up a stone?”

  “In the soil at the base of the plant. In among the roots. It’s the same color of green as the sap.”

  “The liquid in the phial the physician gave me was just this shade too,” she said thoughtfully.

  While the others discussed the two dreams Kaid had had of the caverns, Carrie continued to hold the collar and handle the gem. She knew there was a secret locked inside it, knew that it was up to her to find out what it was.

  It felt soft, almost soapy, as she rubbed her finger over it. She thought she felt a slight crack in the surface. Putting it up to her mouth, she first ran her tongue, then her teeth across the surface before going back to rubbing it. She’d been right. There was a crack. She reached inside it with her mind, trying to identify with its composition so she could match its natural resonance.

  It worked rather too well. Suddenly she was flung into a memory it had stored of the life of the wearer.

  The room was bare and antiseptic, the temperature way too high for Sholans, but the Valtegans had little tolerance for the cold. She sat huddled in the corner, watching as the Valtegan guards came in. There were four of them. Two stayed at the door, one with his rifle trained on her, the other on Rezac, as the other two advanced on him.

  Rezac had been pacing round the room, frustrated and angry that they’d been arrested so soon.

  “It’s too soon, Zashou. We shouldn’t have been picked up for another month at least!” He banged his hand hard against the wall in frustration. “Dammit! We could lose it now, just because of this! All those risks, all those lives wasted!”

  The Valtegans had only picked them up on suspicion. They hadn’t known for sure they were telepaths until they did the pain test. Then they’d both reacted, her worse than him. She’d doubled up retching while he’d managed to maintain his front of insensitivity for several minutes before he, too, had succumbed.

  She watched while the lizards took hold of him, placing the collar round his neck, then electronically sealing it on. He’d struggled, but it hadn’t done any good. The Valtegans were stronger than them. Released, he’d been flung into a corner as they turned to her. They’d made the mistake of not activating his collar first.

  She’d tried to sink back into the wall as they came for her but it had done no good. Cool hands grasped her, the nonretractable claws scratching her even through her pelt as they dragged her to her feet.

  As soon as they’d touched her, he’d exploded with rage, the anger coupled with an empty stomach keeping the pain sensitivity at bay for a time. One held her still despite her struggles, managing to collar her while the other dealt with Rezac.

  “Rezac, leave it!” she’d yelled, twisting in the Valtegan’s grasp so she could see her Leska. “Don’t! You’ll get hurt!”

  He hadn’t listened. Amazingly, one of his blows floored the guard and suddenly he was attacking the one holding her. Another lucky blow and that guard was sent flying.

  Rezac grabbed her collar in both hands, pulling at the ends till it snapped and fell to the floor. That was all he’d time to do before the stunner hit him full in the back and he collapsed against her, unconscious.

  She’d yowled in fear as they’d both tumbled to the floor. Then everything went black.

  She felt something ripped from her hands and a worried voice saying over and over again, “Carrie, come back. Come back to me.”

  Her vision cleared but she couldn’t stop shaking.

  “Carrie, come back. You’re at home in Valsgarth. Come back, Carrie.”

  Looking up she saw the fear in Kusac’s amber eyes. Reaching up with a trembling hand, she touched his face.

  “I’m back,” she said. “I saw Valtegans.”

  He held her close. “You keep doing this to me,” he growled in her ear. “Dammit, stop frightening me like that, Carrie! What the hell were you doing?”

  “I’ll tell you if you let me go,” she said, her voice muffled against his chest. The shaking had begun to subside now that she knew she’d left the other life behind.

  “Sorry,” he said, releasing her. “What were you doing with that damned collar anyway? You seemed to drift off mentally, as if you weren’t there. Are you sure it’s safe for you to handle it? You seem to have had an even worse reaction to it than the rest of us!” He sat back on his haunches but remained in front of her.

  “I tried to tap into it, and succeeded rather too well,” she said. “Where is it?”

  “I don’t know,” he growled. “I threw the damned thing to the other end of the room. It’s dangerous, Carrie.”

  “No, it isn’t. I saw the memories it had stored from its last owner.”

  “Who was it?”

  “It was Rezac and Zashou again. Kaid was right. The Valtegans used them to inhibit the telepaths, and to identify them.” A shudder ran through her again at the memory of the reptiles. “They were electronically sealed on so they couldn’t be removed, but Rezac managed to rip this one off Zashou before they’d closed it properly. How it got here, I’ve no idea.”

  She reached out to hold Kusac’s arm, looking over his shoulder at the other two males. “The Valtegans were there,” she said. “They’d taken Shola just as they took Keiss. If we go back, we’re going back to them! I don’t know if I can do it, Kusac. Not if there are Valtegans there.”

  “We shouldn’t be going anywhere near the Valtegans,” said Kaid. “Vartra and his people are trying to avoid them. That much is clear from everything we’ve read and experienced.”

  “Shola was crawling with them, Kaid! You told us they even had a hatchery at Chezy! They were here to stay as far as they were concerned!” The black terror of her sister’s death loomed in front of her again: the smell of blood and the feel of Valtegan claws touching her started her shivering once more.

  The knock at the door came so unexpectedly that Carrie found herself starting in fear and crying out.

  Vanna and Jack came rushing in.

  “What’s wrong?” Vanna demanded, moving quickly toward the little group. “What’s happened?”

  “Carrie’s had a scare, that’s all,” said Kusac, leaning forward to hold her again. “She picked up memories from that collar Kaid found, memories of Valtegans, and it’s started up her old nightmares. The knock on the door was the last straw, I’m afraid.”

  Vanna went round behind the chair and sat on the arm at her side. “Come on, cub. Everything’s all right, you know it is,” she said, reaching out to stroke her hair.

  Carrie suddenly felt embarrassed by all the fuss and, forcing the memories to the back of her mind, she pushed Kusac gently away. “I’m fine now,” she said. She turned to Vanna. “We’ve just discovered that back at the time of the Cataclysm, Shola was crawling with the damned Valtegans!”

  “And they want you to go back to those days,” said Vanna sympathetically. “I understand your fears, Carrie, but don’t look on it as going back to a time dominated by the Valtegans, look on it as going back to a time where the knowledge you have now can help those people against them! Perhaps your going back helped them finally overthrow the Valtegans.”

  “That’s probably where your memories are coming from, Kaid,” said Ghyan. “You’re remembering what you learned while you were in the past.”

  “You could be right,” he murmured, keeping a watchful eye on Carrie.

  Carrie was aware of his concern too, a quieter presence at the edge
s of her mind. “Hey, people,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “I’m fine, really I am. It’s Kaid who’s the invalid, not me.”

  “Are you sure?” asked Vanna as she got up from her perch.

  “Positive. It was just so real for a while, as if I was there with them, that’s all.”

  Vanna nodded and went over to Kaid as Kusac got to his feet and turned to welcome Jack.

  “Oh, I’ve just come over to bring myself up to date on what’s been going on, and to let you know what we found out about that drug,” he said, handing Vanna her medikit before heading for the nearest seat. Passing Kaid, he patted him gently on the shoulder. “Good to see you back,” he said.

  Kusac sprawled along Carrie’s chair arm, resting his hand on her shoulder, needing the physical contact with her. “So what did you find?” he asked.

  “It’s a narcotic derived from a plant extract, not native to Shola, and it has strong psychotropic properties. All of this I’m sure isn’t news to you, but we have something that is. When we evaporated some of the liquid off the drug, the residue formed a small green stone, similar to our Earth’s amber.”

  “The stones in the collars,” said Kaid. “No wonder they have mind-altering qualities! I’ll guarantee that that’s why Fyak uses them!”

  “But where did he get them from?” asked Carrie. “Could he have found them in the caverns at Chezy?”

  “Khezy’ipik,” said Kaid grimly. “Don’t let’s forget that place is a Valtegan hatchery.” He was aware that he was repeating himself, but somehow it seemed important, too important to ignore.

  “Your hand, please,” said Vanna as she hauled a small stool out from under the table and sat at his feet.

  “If that collar could be left for Kaid to find, what’s to prevent someone else leaving a large number of collars for Fyak to use?” asked Kusac.

  “Nothing at all,” said Ghyan, digging in his robe pocket for his comp pad. “I seem to remember a reference to the green seeds or something like that in the texts that Esken gave us.” He punched in a search command and the relevant text appeared.

  “Here it is. Secondly, Bless all contrivances of ancient days, that they become Holy, for they hold the Green Seeds of New Regret. If there were large numbers of these collars, or even large numbers of the stones around on Shola back then, likely there’ll still be some out there somewhere in the ruined cities. That’s why there are injunctions to be sure to “Bless” the old cities! Only by doing that can they be sure the stones have been destroyed!”

  “Where’s the one you pitched across the room?” asked Kaid as he sat patiently with his arm on Vanna’s lap while she cut off the old dressing.

  Kusac got up and went to look for it. “You aren’t going to believe this,” he said, coming back holding it carefully by the clasp. “The stone’s shattered. They must be very fragile.”

  “Let me hold it,” said Kaid.

  “You’re joking!” said Kusac, about to put it down on the table.

  “No, let him,” said Carrie. “It affected him most, so we’ll easily be able tell if it’s still working.”

  Reluctantly, Kusac passed it over to Kaid. Nothing happened.

  He handed it back. “Looks like a minor blow is enough to break it,” he said.

  “It didn’t break when Rezac ripped it off Zashou and threw it to the ground,” said Carrie. “However, I did feel a crack in the surface after Kaid dropped it in the cavern.”

  “Maybe it has something to do with its age,” said Jack. “After fifteen hundred years, I’d be somewhat fragile!”

  “Well, we’ll still treat it with respect,” said Kusac, putting the collar on the table out of harm’s way.

  “Mind if I take it to the lab?” asked Jack, picking it up and examining it.

  “Help yourself,” said Kusac. “I think we’ve got all we can from it so far.”

  Carrie was aware of Kaid’s sharp intake of breath as Vanna carefully removed the dressing from his injured hand. She looked over to him in concern. “How is it?” she asked.

  “I’m impressed,” said Vanna, giving the wound a quick visual inspection before getting her handheld scanner out and running it over him. “Noni’s done a good job. I couldn’t have done better myself. The fingers appear to be healing well. I can see the beginnings of new bone growth on the shattered one. If it keeps progressing at this rate, you should have a reasonable amount of mobility back in that finger, Kaid.” She put the scanner down and began preparing a fresh dressing.

  “I’ll leave the scanner with you too. Just don’t lose this one,” she said. “I haven’t quite forgiven you yet for your raid on my drugs and equipment!”

  “I apologize, Vanna,” he said. “I had to get out to Rhijudu as quickly as possible.”

  “No excuse!” she said, her tone belying the words.

  “Kaid, I think we need to speak to L’Seuli regarding the dreams set in the caverns at Khezy’ipik,” said Kusac. “He spent some time undercover there. If anyone can confirm what you saw of a temple and walls covered with carvings, it’s him.”

  “He can’t confirm whether or not I saw Fyak there at the same time as the Valtegans. The only way we can do that is for me to try to return next time I have a drug dream.”

  “I hate to put a damper on both your enthusiasm,” said Carrie, “but I hope Kaid’s dreams are finished once and for all!”

  “We all do,” said Kusac. “What concerns me is that not only we, but Esken and Sorli are sure there’s a link between Fyak and the past.”

  “Fyak preaches against the Demons of Fire,” said Kaid, his voice sounding strained as Vanna began to put a fresh dressing over the wounds on his hand. “He may well be an agent for the Valtegans, but if he is, he doesn’t realize it.”

  “I’m sure he’s acting for them in some way,” said Carrie. “His fanatical desire to destroy all telepaths fits in with the fact that in the past the Valtegans were marking them apart from the rest of Sholan society and using pacifiers to keep them under control. It’s no coincidence that Fyak is using the same mechanism to control Rhaid.”

  “Then there’s his social engineering with the tribes. He’s breaking down the tribal ties and their interdependence on each other till all that remains is the individual and the Faithful, with Fyak at the top leading them,” said Kusac. “It seems our decision to go to the Fire Margins is more important for Shola than we realized. Not only will we have won the right to set up our own clan, but we may get answers as to why we have close links with Humanity, and find out what the Valtegans and Fyak are up to.”

  “I’ve still no idea whether you’ll actually have a physical presence in the past or not,” said Ghyan, “but if what Kaid’s been through is anything to go by, then it looks as if you are flesh not spirit. That being the case,” he said with a sigh, “I suggest you consider taking the ritual as soon as possible, before Carrie’s pregnancy becomes too advanced for her to go anywhere safely.”

  Carrie felt her stomach turn over in fear as he spoke. She looked first at Kusac, then at Kaid, seeing and feeling a mixture of grim determination and fear in their faces and the set of their ears.

  “I think you’re right,” she said, surprised at how steady her voice sounded. “What’s the latest I can safely go, Vanna?”

  Vanna looked up from bandaging Kaid’s hand. “Safely?” she asked. “Leaving aside that no one’s ever survived the journey, how many weeks on are you now?”

  “Thirteen.”

  “Given that your Talent will disappear at sixteen weeks, and by then you’re so large that you’re never comfortable, no matter what you do, I’d say you have to go within the next two weeks at the latest. After that, forget it until after your cub’s born.”

  “I’ll be ready,” came Kaid’s quiet voice as Vanna refastened the sling round his neck.

  “Two weeks,” said Kusac softly, his hand tightening on Carrie’s shoulder.

  When their gathering broke up, Dzaka helped Kaid upstairs to his suite.
>
  “It’s time to talk,” said Kaid, sinking down with relief into one of the easy chairs in his lounge. “Will you get us a drink?”

  “What do you want?” asked Dzaka, going over to the dispenser.

  “Protein. I need to get back my strength as quickly as possible.” He watched his son dial the drink for him, then another for himself before he rejoined him.

  “Thanks,” he said, accepting the mug and waiting for him to sit down. “I see you’re wearing your mother’s Clan jewelry.”

  “I waited till you’d returned before putting the torc and buckle on,” Dzaka said. “They seemed …” He searched for a word, then shrugged. “pointless … if you weren’t there.”

  “You want to know what happened.”

  Dzaka stirred in his seat, obviously uncomfortable about the forthcoming discussion. “It’s not my business to know what went on between you and my mother.”

  “You made it your business,” reminded Kaid, lifting his mug to his mouth. “Some of it I can tell you now, but not all. I’m still oath-bound not to talk of it with you.”

  Dzaka looked up. “To whom? Who could be so involved with what happened between you and her that they could demand such an oath?”

  “That, unfortunately, is also part of the oath. At least you saw her, heard what she had to tell you, before she died. It’s more than I had. I remember my mother only dimly, and my father not at all, but you know that.”

  “Then tell me what you can,” he said.

  “Khemu drew males to her like a flower attracts insects,” he said. “Yes, she played us off against each other, but lightly, not seriously. She had a deeper relationship with about four of us, not sexual, but more intellectual. We’d talk a lot,” he said with a small grin.

  “Ghezu was one of the four. I forget now who the other two were, they weren’t important. After a few months, it became obvious she’d choose between me and Ghezu. He and I had been friends up till them, as Khemu told you. The night it all came to a head, she asked me to accompany her home. Ghezu heard her and the rest you know. We left while the others from Stronghold who were in the tavern delayed him.” He looked curiously at his son for a moment.