Revenge of the Catspaw

by Helena Puumala

“When will we get to see him?” Moire asked the two Witches, the Eldest, and the Healer, after the greetings.

  “He's still sleeping,” Carlina said carefully, “and I don't really want to wake him until he wakes up on his own. What he's been through was brutal—there's no other word for it—so I'll not be surprised if he sleeps right into the daylight hours. We had to do a lot of psychic processing, and that can be exhausting to the patient. I thought that what we'd do is assume that he'll sleep into the day, but allow Sarah to share the room with him, so she'll be there when he wakes up. He should be ready for the rest of the world, including his parents, by the time the sun has set, and Lina has risen again.”

  “If you want to take a look at him sleeping, we can let you take a peek,” Marlyss said. “Everyone living here has snuck a quick glance, and no-one has woken him up, so I don't see a problem. Just try not to disturb him.”

  She led the way to the Infirmary, a very familiar place to Sarah. She was slightly bemused to realize that Coryn was in the same room in which he had, it seemed like a long time ago, now, relieved her of her virginity. Coryn lay on the bed on which she had lain in a coma while her mind had built a psychic bridge from the world Eden to come and join him in this one, convinced at last that he loved her. He looked peaceful and healthy in his sleep, a deep sleep, she was able to deduce with a quick mental probe.

  “It's hard to believe, from looking at him now, that there has been anything wrong with him,” said Moire, after Marlyss shut the room door on him again.

  “He'll be able to tell all about it to you and anyone else who will listen,” Carlina responded. “The way I work, the memories remain intact, they just don't cause him pain any more. He was an excellent patient to work with; he was so determined to get well again. That made it easier for me; I didn't have to fight the patient's despair. Sometimes that's the biggest obstacle that a Healer faces; the patient's assumption that he no longer has a reason to go on living.”

  “Is that why you put him into that particular room?” Sarah asked, blushing a little.

  There had been no real need to use the room. The Ferhil Stones Infirmary was not a busy place.

  “To remind him of the good times he has had in his life?” Marlyss queried in her turn. She looked at the Guru.

  “It was Johannes' idea,” she said. “And Carlina and I both thought that it couldn't hurt.”

  The three of them were grinning at her, while the other three with them looked on questioningly. Sarah found her face turning redder.

  “That's the room in which Coryn and I made love for the first time,” she said. “After I had come out of a coma.”

  “Then it must be a very lucky room for the both of you,” Moire said, leaning down to give Sarah a quick hug.

  “And it's going to get luckier yet, sometime in the coming day,” laughed the Guru.

  **

  Sarah, dressed in one of the plaid nightdresses that the women of Ferhil Stones preferred, had fallen asleep in the comfortable chair which had been pulled beside Coryn's bed to accommodate Carlina, while she had been doing the healing. Marlyss had offered to have a pallet brought into the room, but Sarah had refused it as not necessary. Coryn had sat in a chair beside her body when he had despaired that she would ever come out of her coma; for some reason she wanted to reverse that scenario, at least to some extent.

  “Sarah.”

  She awoke to the sound of his voice. She had always had trouble sleeping through the hot Kordean days, even when the room she was in was well-shaded, as this one was, by the thick-foliaged trees that crowded outside the single window. In the night time, the light of the seven moons, including Lina, did not penetrate much into the room, but it was a sick-room, so mostly that hardly mattered.

  “Coryn? Are you awake?”

  He made room for her on the bed. His lips found her mouth, and she became acutely aware of how much she had missed him, his touch.

  “I'm going to be clinging to you like a barnacle clings to the hull of an ocean-going ship,” she muttered when she came up for air.

  “Not so fast, beloved,” he said. “Carlina had to take my birth control clips out. She said that it shouldn't matter. Even a klutz of a healer Witch can set her body to prevent pregnancy.”

  She could hear the laughter in his voice as he spoke the last sentence.

  “But what if I don't want to prevent pregnancy?” she asked.

  The question had the desired effect. He stopped the motion of a hand which had been busy peeling the nightdress from her body. He turned his eyes on her face in the dim room.

  “Is that a serious question?” he asked.

  She thought for a moment.

  “Yes it is,” she finally said, her voice a tiny bit shaky. “I want us to have children.”

  “All right,” he said.

  His voice was soft but he did not resume the interrupted caress.

  “But don't you want to go on a honeymoon first?” he asked. “Remember how Fiana ended up stuck here on Kordea because she and Steph had thought that they'd have lots of time to make the trip before nature would take its course? You're planet-born just as Fiana is, and younger. You're probably at least as fertile as she was.”

  “Honeymoon sounds wonderful,” she sighed. “Okay, husband, you have convinced me.”

  She made a silly face at him and pulled out her Stone to do the little ovary manipulation which was one of the first things that the Apprentices learned. She remembered wondering, when she had been taught it, why women who were as sexually repressed as the greenhoods had seemed to her to be, bothered with something like that. Now she realized that it had to do with having control over one's own body, and fate.

  When she was done, he drew her close and resumed undressing her.

  “Okay, sweetheart, I'm all ready to be the hull, if you want to be a barnacle.”

  She didn't bother answering in words.

  **

  Jaime, Dian and Jerold hosted a celebration at the Institute of Kordean Studies.

  “The very first party at the Institute,” Jaime said happily as he welcomed guests. “We're calling it 'The Up and Running Celebration'. Since we're now up and running.”

  The Liaison Office's flits and flyers had been busy ferrying people to the party. Peter had flown the flyer with which he, Sarah and Coryn's parents had arrived at Ferhil Stones, over to the Institute, with the addition of Coryn, and a couple of more passengers—servants who had been asked to help out at the party. The Terrans were quite popular with Kordean servants, because they tended to be less dismissive of them than upper class Kordeans were—and that included the Witches. Thus, the Institute never had problems recruiting temporary staff from either Ferhil Stones, or The Stronghold of the Six, which was the nearest of the other Circle Strongholds, or both.

  Gen had picked up Marlyss, Carlina, The Guru, and a few of the other Greenhoods who had wanted to attend the event, after having first brought a flyerful of guests to the Institute from Trahea.

  “That Institute building is going to be crawling with people,” he had said to Peter's group, before he had climbed into the pilot's seat of the flyer under his control.

  That had been after he had enthusiastically greeted Coryn.

  “It is so good to see you looking so healthy,” he had said. “They said you were in a really bad way when you returned to Trahea from that kidnapping adventure.”

  Coryn had shaken his hand heartily.

  “It's good to be healthy again,” he had responded.

  “Why am I not surprised to see Mel Jourda here?” Sarah muttered when she alighted from the flyer onto the grassy expanse which fronted the big, old farmhouse which had been turned into the Institute.

  “Because he has his fingers in every important pie in the Diplomatic Corps,” Coryn, following her closely, replied.

  “And a lot of things have suddenly altered,” Sarah added sagely. “I wonder if there are going to be shifts of personnel happening? New alliances brokered?”<
br />
  “You would know more about such than I possibly could,” Coryn said. “I was, you might say, unavoidably out of circulation for months. Out of the loop.”

  He leaned down to plant a kiss on her nape, obviously unable to resist the impulse to touch her.

  “Now who's the barnacle, and who's the ship's hull?” Sarah asked him. “Try to keep your thoughts and hands decent while we're in public. Not that I mind, but the spectators might.”

  Just then they were descended upon by what seemed to Sarah like a crowd of people, who all wanted to shake Coryn's hand, give him a hug, or just wish him all the best while grinning madly. Sarah let them have him for the moment—she knew that she'd get him back before the party was over.

  Clarisse came to talk to her father, and to the Leigh couple. Sarah turned away, and found Dyron at her elbow.

  “So he's healthy again?” Dyron asked rhetorically, grinning broadly. “And you are a happy woman.”

  “Yeah, I'm a very happy woman,” Sarah agreed. “Maybe I'll get to stay that way for a while now.”

  “You know, you and your husband would be perfectly safe on my world, Naralusia,” Dyron said. “That would be so even if the Neotsarians manage to restart their amarto-reflecting-refracting machinery. We have ways of keeping our planet obscured from them; only ships that we want to penetrate the defences can do so.”

  “Something like what the Witches do, then?” Sarah asked.

  “Vaguely,” Dyron conceded. “Although we do it by having a lot of our people cooperate in the effort, rather than depending on a few very talented individuals. Grampa Johannes thinks, though, that we could learn a lot from you Kordean Witches.”

  “I think that I get what you're saying,” Sarah said. “And maybe it's something to think about. But first, Coryn and I want to travel to a few places here, within the Confederation, while we can safely do so. I want to see my mother, my sister, and grandparents on Earth, for one thing.”

  “That's understandable, of course,” Dyron conceded. “I don't think there's any hurry.”

  **

  Mel Jourda broached the topic to her and Coryn, later.

  “It would be a Diplomatic posting,” he explained. “But it would have an Agency connection, too. I've been having some discussions with Roland Harmiss, and he thinks the idea of sending Lindy Cass and your brother Cameron to help the movement for democracy on Yukoid is a good one. Jillian Ashton, apparently is impressed with this Shellion fellow, and Harmiss trusts her judgement.

  “I think, as a matter of fact, that if Harmiss becomes the permanent Agency Head, Kordea will lose Jillian. Harmiss is going to want her on ASC, so that he can train her for higher level work.”

  Coryn nodded at that.

  “She deserves a chance like that,” he said. “She's good. Only it's too bad for Peter if he loses her. But maybe a suitable replacement can be found in time.”

  “What about Nance?” Sarah asked. “She's going to be training as an Agent.”

  Coryn grinned.

  “She's definitely a possibility. As a homegrown talent, she'd very likely stay here for the long haul.”

  “So what say you, sweet Sarah?” he then asked. “Should we take this posting? After we do a little travelling first?”

  “Guru Johannes told me, when we were plotting this posting, to make sure to tell Sarah that Naralusia is a wonderful place to raise children,” Mel Jourda said with a grin. “And that he has almost persuaded Marlyss to retire there with him, once she passes on the torch. Which might be sooner than anyone expects; Dian is a remarkably capable young woman, and a Witch; she will be looking for a challenge before long.”

  Sarah grabbed hold of Coryn's hand.

  “We'll do it. Okay? It'll be a new adventure. But first I want to visit—well—Laurentia, for sure. I want to see Grandma, and Grandpa. And Mother, of course. And Maris,and her little Sarah Jane.”

  “For you, beloved—anything you want,” he said leaning to kiss the top of her head.

  THE END

  Also by Dodecahedron Books, on Amazon.com

  Novels, by Helena Puumala

  The Kati of Terra Series (Available in Print and E-book)

  Kati of Terra Book 1: Escape from the Drowned Planet

  - Kati and Mikal’s first adventure, their perilous and romantic escape from the slaver Gorsh. While stranded on the Drowned Planet, Makros III, Kati and Mikal are relentlessly pursued by the slaver’s minions.

  http://www.amazon.com/Kati-Terra-Book-One-ebook/dp/B00811WVXO

  Kati of Terra Book 2: On Assignment to the Planet of the Exalted

  - Their continuing pursuit of the slaver Gorsh leads Kati and Mikal to the dystopian planet Vultaire, where a degenerate elite has reinstituted slavery. In order to save the victims and themselves, they have to help save a world.

  http://www.amazon.ca/Kati-Terra-Book-Two-Assignment-ebook/dp/B00D0H15CC

  Kati of Terra Book 3: Showdown on the Planet of the Slavers.

  - Kati and Mikal face Gorsh and his allies on the slaver’s home world, the planet Wayward.

  http://www.amazon.com/Kati-Terra-Book-Three-Showdown-ebook/dp/B00KHBN8FG

  The Witches’ Stones Series

  The Witches’ Stones Book 1: Igniting the Blaze

  - Galactic war and peace depend on the fate of one young woman and the actions of the agent sent to rescue her from a terrible future.

  http://www.amazon.com/The-Witches-Stones-Book-ebook/dp/B008PNIRP4

  The Witches’ Stones Book 2: Love and War on a Dangerous Planet

  - The shadowy galactic force, The Organization, continues to threaten the planet Kordea and the entire Terra Confederation, with their combination of human technological prowess and captured Kordean psychic talents. Sarah Mackenzie and Coryn Leigh must thwart those ambitions, even as their growing passion for each other complicates their mission.

  http://www.amazon.com/Witches-Stones-Book-Two-Intrigue-ebook/dp/B00YGB2KC0

  Short Fiction, by Helena Puumala

  Love at the Lake

  - Will an eighteen year old beauty’s visit to the lake leave a ruined marriage in its wake?

  http://www.amazon.com/Love-at-Lake-Helena-Puumala-ebook/dp/B00IPSZKLS

  Love and Rebirth on the Prairie

  - A widow rediscovers love, in its varied and sometimes mysterious forms.

  http://www.amazon.com/Love-Rebirth-Prairie-Helena-Puumala-ebook/dp/B00TGOASEY

  The Boathouse Christ

  - Uncanny events unfold around a young woman’s religious experiences.

  http://www.amazon.com/The-Boathouse-Christ-Helena-Puumala-ebook/dp/B00JBRD90Q

  Where the Apple Falls, An Easter Story

  - A family is divided by lifestyle and religious belief, but an Easter Service and a freshly planted apple tree bring them together, along with a little paranormal help.

  http://www.amazon.com/Where-Apple-Falls-Easter-Story-ebook/dp/B00JSDW6XY

  A Christmas Miracle at the Lake

  - A heart warming Christmas tale, that follows the characters in her "at the lake" stories, as they spend Christmas at the snowed in confines of their summer cottages, where something wonderful happens on Christmas Eve.

  http://www.amazon.com/Christmas-Miracle-Lake-Story-ebook/dp/B00RAWMO32

  Beyond the Blue Door, A Halloween Story

  - Two haunted houses are involved in this tale. But where does the greater evil reside - in the safe family domicile of our everyday world or in the creepy old abandoned farmhouse?

  http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Blue-Door-Halloween-Story-ebook/dp/B00OX60XJU

  Northern Gothic Stories: An Anthology

  - An anthology of paranormal fiction, along with some crime stories.

  http://www.amazon.com/Northern-Gothic-Stories-Dale-Olausen-ebook/dp/B00AQT8IJ0

  Children’s Fiction, by Helena Puumala

  Nathan’s Adventure in the Other-Other Land (Print and E-book)

  - An illustrated children’s story. A boy from the regular world,
Nathan, must help Prince Roland save his sister Princess Pepper from the Black Dragon, in the land beyond the mirror, the Other-Other Land. But to rescue the princess, they must face many dangers: hungry tigers, malevolent mushrooms, swamp monsters and more.

  http://www.amazon.com/Nathans-Adventure-Other-Other-Land-Adventures-ebook/dp/B00PHAEFLS

  The Summer Cottage Mystery

  - Nathan, Ben and Scott must track down the whereabouts of a lost kitten, who has gone missing at the lake. Who stole the cat?

  http://www.amazon.com/Summer-Cottage-Mystery-Childrens-Story-ebook/dp/B00N0B4TYY

  Travel and non-Fiction and a Bit More Fiction

  On the Road with Bronco Billy, A Trucking Journal, by Dale Olausen

  - An account of a ten day journey through western North America during a working trip, delivering lumber from Edmonton Alberta to Dallas Texas, and returning with oilfield equipment. The writer accompanied a professional driver on a long haul, learning the ways of the trucking culture, observing the customs of working Canadians and Americans, and narrowly avoided major floods and tornadoes.

  http://www.amazon.com/On-Road-Bronco-Billy-Trucking-ebook/dp/B00X2IRHSK

  A Walk on the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, by Dale Olausen

  - An account of a five day backpacking trip, along the majestic Juan de Fuca Marine Trail, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013VKEXV2

  The Magnetic Anomaly, Part 1, by Dale Olausen

  - A young man is sent on a geophysical exploration in the far north, where he and his female geologist partner face danger from an unknown menace. But, is it extra-terrestrial or of this earth?

  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0176H22B4

  About the Author

  Helena Puumala was born in Finland, but migrated to Northwestern Ontario, Canada, with her parents and siblings, at an early age. There she learned to adore Nature, living as her family did, surrounded by it, miles from the nearest town.