Between Darkness and Light (Sholan Alliance)

by Lisanne Norman

  “It was never any use once I knew it was there,” he said to the startled Valtegan. “I shut it down in the punishment booth. You can give me my torc back now.”

  “Your son has it,” said Kezule, taking it from him, for once looking at a loss.

  “Gods! It looks like a slaughterhouse!” he heard Zayshul exclaim in shock moments before she pushed Kezule and Banner aside and crouched down beside him. “You had no right to let him do this,” she said angrily, looking up at them briefly. “And you’re a fool, Kusac! You’ve been injured, again! Let me see to those wounds right now!”

  “Not here. I’ll go to the sick bay. Can you help me up?” he asked Banner. “Your knife, I had to drop it. Should be beside Dzaou.”

  “I’ll find it,” said Banner, taking hold of his arm as Zayshul moved back to allow Khadui to take the other. “It was a good kill, if a little messy.”

  He grunted as he struggled to his feet. As well as the wound in his side, he hurt everywhere. “I should have done it sooner. Which reminds me.” He pulled himself free of Banner, looking around the room, seeing the other three Primes starting to pick up the scattered furniture. There was one last thing he had to do, one last debt to settle while Kezule’s people and his own were here to see it. “Kezule.”

  “What?” asked the General, turning to look at him.

  Kusac punched him hard on the jaw, sending the Valtegan reeling backward into a table.

  “That’s for sending the Ch’almuthian female to my room. Now the past between us is over,” he said with satisfaction as Kezule staggered to his feet, rubbing at his cut and bruised mouth.

  He felt the commandos instantly tense and move toward him but Kezule stopped them with a gesture. “Agreed,” he said, glancing at the smear of blood on his hand before accepting the almost clean towel Khadui held out to him.

  “Could you stand under a shower?” Zayshul asked him as he was helped toward the exit. “There’s so much blood on your tunic and pelt, I don’t know where to begin.”

  “Yes,” he said. A shower would help ease the aches—and give the wound in his side time to close. He stumbled in shock as he realized what he’d just thought. What the hell had been done to him that he could heal like that?

  Once in the sick bay, Zayshul sent Banner and Khadui off to reassure Shaidan—and get his torc—then help get the mess cleaned up. She and Ghidd’ah fussed over him as they helped him out of the remains of his tunic.

  “It’s completely shredded down this side,” said Ghidd’ah, holding it up to the light to see it better. “And there’s a hole in the other side!”

  “What?” asked Zayshul as she helped him limp into the nearest bed bay for the shower cubicle there.

  “He’s got a knife wound in his left side, Zayshul,” she said, hurrying in to join them. “High up, near his armpit.”

  “I’m fine,” he said, refusing to let her stop him to look for the wound. “Do you think I wouldn’t know if I’d been stabbed?”

  “Hold him still, Ghidd’ah,” said Zayshul, forcing the issue and bringing him to a stop. “I’m checking you now. You’re far too eager to get away from me, Kusac.”

  “It was only a prick,” he muttered, twisting round to watch as she gently ran her hands over his side. He shivered at her touch, not from pain, but from pleasure.

  She stopped, parting his fur carefully till she found it. “You’re fine—now,” she said, giving him a long look and letting out a sigh of relief. “It’ll need a dressing, but it’s not deep.”

  He reached down to touch it for himself, his eyes meeting hers. They both knew it had been a deep wound.

  Zayshul ducked behind him, looking at his other side where Dzaou had clawed him. He winced as she probed at the slashes. “These are nasty,” she said. “They’ll need stitches to close them. A shower will help, though, get any dirt from the floor out of them at least. Now let me see your thigh. That dressing is as bloody as the rest of you.”

  He checked his sides himself as he showered, trying to work out what had happened. The stab wound had healed to the point where it was only a shallow slice, but the slashes from the claws were unchanged. Could it be that his body was automatically responding to only life-threatening wounds, rendering them less harmful? It would explain his rapid healing of the last week or so, except that the blaster wound itself hadn’t been that dangerous. He dismissed the idea as fanciful. It was far more likely that there was still some Fastheal in his system.

  “Are you still alive in there?” asked Zayshul from outside. “You’ve been in long enough.”

  “I’m done,” he said, turning off the water and stepping out to take the towel from her.

  Once he was clean and dry, his wounds, old and new, treated and dressed, Shaidan was brought to see him and be reassured he was fine. While Zayshul took his son off to join the other children on the Command level, he replaced his torc and rested on the bed, waiting for his crew to arrive. There was still the matter of whether or not they stayed to be decided.

  “How bad?” asked Banner, eyeing the new bandage on his forearm as they filed in and settled themselves on the chair and the end of his bed.

  “Superficial,” he said, sitting up stiffly. He’d managed to scrounge something to eat once the two females had finished with him, and now the analgesic had begun to work, he felt a lot better.

  “It looked like he gave you a good mauling,” said Khadui.

  He dismissed the other’s concern with a small gesture, more interested in what they had to say. “Have you thought over Kezule’s request?”

  “We’re staying,” said Banner, glancing at the other two. “But I want to be with you when you send the message.”

  “Ask Ghidd’ah to call Security. Kezule’s waiting there for our answer. He’ll bring us a recorder, then take you up to the bridge to send it,” he said. “He has his own message for our government which you will hear before he sends it. What do you want me to say?”

  “Just tell it like it is,” said Banner with a faint smile.

  The Tooshu, same day

  Carrie looked up from the gaming console as Rezac came into the rec room. “It’s not time for third meal already, is it?” she asked.

  “No,” he said, trying hard not to grin. “Captain Shaayiyisis let me leave the bridge to give you the news personally.”

  “What news?” asked Kaid, looking up from the book he was reading.

  “Haven just called—with a message from Kusac and Kezule containing the coordinates for the Outpost. It is called Kij’ik, by the way, we were right.”

  “What?” asked Carrie unbelievingly, swinging her chair around to face him.

  “Where?” asked Kaid, putting the book down.

  “About two days from where we were. We were very close, but in the wrong solar system. Kusac is asking Haven to request help for Kezule from our government. They know all about the coup and ...”

  “Can we call them back?” interrupted Carrie.

  “No, but Kisha copied the message so you could hear it for yourselves,” he said, passing a pale green crystal to her. “In it, Kezule claims Kusac was on an undercover mission, training his people for just such an eventuality. The General says he wants to retake K’oish’ik and put Zsurtul on the throne. L’Seuli said Kezule’s statement about Kusac is just what’s needed to add to the statement he gave you to get him off the hook and refute the charges of treason against him. He says Konis Aldatan has already contacted Lijou and Rhyaz about it.”

  Kaid grinned. “So L’Seuli sent the message to Konis, did he? And Stronghold has agreed to do it?”

  “It’s as good as done. L’Seuli says he’ll send us a transcript of the press releases exonerating Kusac.”

  “Thank the Gods for that!” said Carrie with feeling.

  “We’re to go and help them, Kaid. And Haven’s sending our own ships within the next seven days. They were all there on the message—Kusac, Banner, Jayza, and Khadui.”

  “Dzaou?” asked Kaid.


  Rezac shook his head. “Khadui reports he’s dead. He’d been acting mutinously for some time, even making attempts to trap Kusac in life-threatening situations, but nothing could be proved. Finally he Challenged him, and thankfully lost. It was witnessed by Khadui and Banner, as well as Kezule, who all vouched for Kusac’s innocence during the message.”

  Carrie sat there feeling shell-shocked now that she knew that Kusac was safe.

  “Before you ask, Carrie,” added Rezac, putting his hand briefly on her shoulder. “I’m sorry, but the message was impersonal. There was nothing private for you.”

  “That’s to be expected,” said Kaid, getting up to join her. “It’s going to be all right, Carrie,” he said, squatting down on his haunches beside her. “He’s safe, and obviously on top of the situation at Kij’ik. We’ll be together soon.”

  “When do we leave?” she asked.

  “Captain Shaayiyisis is getting the Couana prepped now,” said Rezac with a large grin.