thefiremargins

by Lisanne Norman

  "Yes, Liege," said Garras.

  Kusac looked round at his one-time Captain but as Garras crossed his arms over his chest and bowed his head in salute, there was no trace of sarcasm present.

  "Liege!" Dzaka was standing by Garras.

  "Yes?"

  "Thank you," he said, also saluting him. "I'll not give you or Garras reason to regret this."

  "I trust you won't. If I can command the same loyalty, however misplaced, that you gave to Ghezu, I'll be content." He moved away from the group round the aircar. "I'll meet you at the Shrine."

  Wake Father, Carrie. Tell him what's happened. He'll know if there's anything we can do.

  Why go to the Shrine for the oath? Can't you do it there? she asked.

  No, cub. Only an oath taken in front of Vartra will count as far as the other Brothers are concerned. Remember, he's the only one forsworn— he was never released from his original oath.

  Garras was still angry.

  "I'm sorry," said Dzaka as he got on the back of the hopper behind him. "I know you'd rather see me dead, but..."

  "You know nothing," growled Garras as the vehicle rose into the air. "If you were my son, I'd have beaten some sense into you long before now! How the hell could you believe Ghezu? You nearly killed Kaid that night, do you know that?" he said, increasing the speed of the vehicle as he banked round the bushes onto the roadway to the Valsgarth estate. "Would have, if I hadn't been there."

  "I didn't intend to harm him!" Dzaka had to shout to be heard above the noise of the engine.

  "You've behaved like a fool from the moment you heard he was your father! Did you stop to think how he felt? Imagine bringing up a son of your own, unable to admit to the relationship for fear he'd be killed outright by your Guild Leader! How would you have felt? Just think about that, Dzaka!"

  Thankfully, Dzaka remained silent for the rest of the short trip. Garras knew he was speeding, and that it was still too dark to see properly, but he was angry to the core with the younger male. He also knew, being honest with himself, that part of his anger was because Kaid hadn't trusted him enough to tell him about his son. Intellectually he knew why, but that wasn't enough.

  He slowed down as they approached the building, bring-ing the hopper down carefully. Dzaka got off and waited for him.

  As Garras stepped off and turned to face him, he saw the youth square his jaw and look him straight in the eye.

  "Get it over with, Garras," Dzaka said quietly.

  Garras opened his mouth to deny it, then changed his mind. "What the hell," he muttered, taking a backhand swing at the side of Dzaka's head.

  As Dzaka landed heavily on the ground, Garras gave a slight yip of pain and began massaging his hand.

  "I've got a hard head," said Dzaka, feeling his jaw carefully.

  "I should have remembered," Garras muttered, but his anger had broken, and with a faint grin, he stepped over and held his other hand out to him.

  Dzaka took it and let Garras help him to his feet. "Khemu told me Ghezu's Talent is glamour. He can make anything seem reasonable when he uses it."

  "He had you well and truly fooled, didn't he?" said Garras as they headed for the doorway.

  * * *

  The journey to Forestgate had been slow but uneventful. Their small caravan thankfully hadn't seemed attractive enough to any marauding bandits for them to risk their lives against the caravan's guards. The town, enclosed as it was by a wooden palisade, wasn't large. Dusk had been approaching as the caravan straggled tiredly through the gates and headed for the only inn.

  The following day they went in search of supplies to see them on the final leg of their journey. That done, they returned to their room to check and repair their kit, and equally important, for Kris to contact Vyaka. The Summer Bounty, the Chemerian merchant ship they had arrived on, was in port again. She was able to confirm that the weather in the mountains showed no signs of thaw. This meant they could take an extra day to fully recuperate.

  The next day, shortly after dawn, they set out toward the forest. It was bitterly cold— too cold for the luxury of speech as they trudged along in silence. Gradually the landscape around them began to change as they passed between the first of the trees. Small animal tracks weaving their way around the snow-covered tangle of bushes were all that marred the virgin surface, and as the undergrowth grew denser and interspersed with evergreens, gradually the force of the biting wind dropped.

  Jo was the first to unwrap her scarf from around her face and ears. She stopped, signing to the others to do the same.

  "Kris, can you check our heading?"

  He nodded and pulling off his mitts, dug the various sections of their compass out of his pockets and assembled it.

  "If we keep heading in this direction, we'll be fine," he said, squinting up at the pale sun above. "We've got another three hours before we need to start looking for a place to camp."

  Davies groaned. "Are you planning on building an igloo? Because that's about all that will keep us warm tonight!"

  Kris looked over at him, faintly amused. "Look around you," he said. "There are animal tracks— they manage to survive in this weather, so will we."

  "How?"

  "Lots of ways," said Jo, moving off again. "You should have tried to stay awake during the survival lessons."

  That night they camped in a sheltered hollow at the center of several tangled bushes. They constructed a primitive shelter by anchoring their lightweight groundsheet to the branches above and around them, leaving enough of a space for them to see through. A small fire built in a shallow pit, heated up enough water to make warm drinks and rehydrate the dried meat they'd brought with them.

  They'd underestimated how tired they'd be the day after a night punctuated by taking turns at sentry duty. Their tiredness, added to the thickening of the forest meant their progress was slower, and as the sky began to darken, they still hadn't come across a suitable campsite for the night.

  "Why can't we use a bush like last night?" asked Davies, pulling his pack off his shoulders and resting it on the ground.

  "Wrong kind of forest now," said Jo, leaning against a tree trunk. "Conifers. The ground's bare under them: no undergrowth worth mentioning."

  Kris looked around, weighing up their options. Davies groaned as he saw him look upward.

  "I'm not a bloody Sholan," he said. "They can shinny up a tree in no time flat, but they've got clawed feet to help them!"

  "It's a conifer, Davies," said Jo, pushing herself away from the trunk and walking over to join Kris. "It's easy to climb. Plenty of branches."

  "And that one has branches that are nearly level," said Kris, pointing to the one ahead of them. He pulled his pack off and handed it to Jo. "I'll check it out first," he said.

  They watched as he clambered up the trunk, reaching a height of some twenty-five meters before he stopped. Carefully, holding onto a thinner branch above, he began to edge along his perch. He stopped, looking down at them.

  "This one's fine," he yelled. "A couple of branches intersect here. It'll give us a narrow platform where we can spend the night. Throw the rope up to me. It's easy enough to climb but there's no point taking risks."

  "Up you go, Davies," said Jo.

  "I don't want to spend the night in a tree," he objected, slipping the coil of rope over his head.

  "I thought you'd prefer to once you'd seen the size of those paw prints," said Jo, picking Kris' pack up and moving closer to the tree.

  "Hang on a minute," said Davies, hurriedly joining her. "What paw prints?"

  "Didn't you see them?" she asked, letting surprise creep into her voice. "Sorry. Kris and I did. We just assumed you had too."

  "What was it?" he asked, getting ready to fling the rope upward to Kris.

  "We reckon something the size of a large dog— maybe even one of those we saw on guard at the spaceport."

  Davies' throw went wide and he turned to her, face pale. "You're kidding, right? Those brutes don't live wild out h
ere do they?"

  "Yes, they do," she said, serious now. "It's getting dark, Davies. I think you should hurry up and get that rope up to Kris."

  As if to add emphasis to her words, the air echoed to the sound of a hoarse howl that ended in a bark.

  "Bloody hell," Davies muttered, running over to retrieve the rope. Hurriedly he recoiled it and, aiming more carefully this time, flung it up to Kris. This time it reached him.

  Ten minutes later, they and their kit were all balanced on two broad overlapping branches. Kris had already taken some pitons out of his pack and was hammering them into the trunk.

  "We'll need to anchor ourselves and the kit to the tree, unless we want to wake up on the ground."

  "If there's packs of those wolf things roaming these woods, what chance have we got of reaching the mountains safely? As soon as we get down tomorrow, they'll be after us."

  "They're mainly nocturnal," said Kris, threading the rope through the straps of all three packs and lashing them securely to the piton and the upper of the two branches.

  "Mainly? Is that meant to be reassuring? Anyway, how the hell do you know that?" demanded Davies.

  "I read the guard at the gate. The animals are not much good during the day. They're too sleepy. Davies, stop chattering and get yourself tied onto the branch, while there's still enough light to see by. Jo?"

  "I'm doing it now," she replied. "It's going to be a cold meal tonight, and no hot drink either. Davies, it's your turn for a full sleep tonight. Kris and I'll split the watches."

  Somewhat mollified at the prospect of a decent sleep, provided he didn't fall out of the tree, Davies began digging another rope out of his pack.

  Huddled in their cloaks, they sat with backs pressed to the main trunk.

  "D'you know what I want most," said Jo, her tone taking a dreamy quality as she chewed on her piece of dried trail meat. "A hot bath. Maybe after an hour or two's soak I'll be able to get the cold out of my bones."

  "The Warrior Guild has nice baths," said Kris as he broke bits off his meat ration to feed to Scamp. The jegget was huddled inside Kris' jacket, against his chest. It was too cold for him to want to do more than stick his head and paws outside. "We could go there when we get back," he said, looking over at Jo.

  "Not me. I want a soft bed and a good, hot meal," said Davies. "I've got used to living in a house since the Sholans arrived on Keiss. I never did like camping out. What about you, Kris?"

  "Oh, a hot bath'll do me fine too," he said lazily, turning back to Scamp. "Not that I would turn down the offer of a meal and a decent bed."

  In the distance, another canine started to howl, his cry answered by another from a different direction.

  Jo shivered. "I thought they said all the large carnivores had gone down to the plains."

  "If there wasn't easy food there either, they'd probably return to their pack territory," said Kris, looking over toward her again. "Don't worry. We're safe up here."

  * * *

  Morning dawned, bringing with it the end of Vanna's Link day. Waking alone, she sighed with relief. Since the incident with Sara, she'd had no patience with Brynne and it was she who kept their time together as short as possible. To give him his due, Brynne had tried on several occasions to apologise but she'd refused to listen to him. He'd eventually given up and withdrawn from her. Now they talked as little as possible.

  She moved cautiously, pushing her heavy body up onto the pillows by dint of carefully using her hind claws for purchase on the mattress. Twisting round onto her back, she managed to sit up. A noise by the door drew her attention and she looked up to see Brynne coming over carrying a mug of coffee for her.

  "I felt you waken," he said, putting it down on the night table beside her. "I got this for you as well." He held out the plate he'd been concealing behind his back. "It's one of your favorite fruit pastries."

  Vanna was about to deny any hunger when her stomach betrayed her by grumbling.

  "Take it," he said, putting the plate on her lap as he sat down beside her. "I know you're hungry."

  Inwardly cursing her vanished telepathy, Vanna picked up the pastry and began to nibble round the edges of it. Though her advancing pregnancy had silenced her talent several weeks earlier, it hadn't diminished the need for their Link days. Now there was no mutual exchange of memories; for her, there was nothing but the physical pull toward him.

  "Look, Vanna, I think it's time we talked."

  "I've nothing to say."

  "I have." He hesitated briefly. "Our son is due in a few weeks. There's decisions we have to make about him."

  "I've made all the decisions." She narrowed her eyes as she regarded him. Lhea was outside in the main lounge. Vanna insisted on a guard being within calling range since the incident with Sara. She hoped he wasn't going to get difficult. "Let get this straight, Brynne. He's my son."

  "He's my son too, whether or not either of us likes it. I have a right to be involved, Vanna. I'd rather we came to an agreement."

  She had no idea what he was thinking, it was as if she was blind and deaf! She stalled, taking another bite of the pastry.

  "I want to stay at the estate for the next few weeks, Vanna, and I want to be there when he's born."

  "Forget it!" she snapped, eyes blazing. "Males don't come into the birthing room!"

  "They can, if invited."

  "I won't have you there. One biological act doesn't give you the right to demand that, or anything else, of me!" She put the pastry down on the plate and pushed it aside. "I should have known you wanted something from me! It'll take a damned sight more than this to bribe me into accepting your presence!"

  "I wasn't trying to bribe you," he said patiently, trying to catch hold of one of her hands. "I gave you that because I felt your hunger. I have the right to acknowledge our child as my son. I want to do that, so I need to be there when he's born."

  She pulled away from him, attempting to turn back on her side so she could get out of the bed and away from him.

  "You didn't want him, Brynne. You can't suddenly decide you want to be involved now, I won't have it! Your presence makes me tense. That's the last thing I need when I'm giving birth!"

  He leaned forward, taking her by the arms and holding her still. "I admit it, I didn't want him, but neither did you at first. I'm not trying to take him from you, Vanna, I just want what I have a right to by law. Garras may be your mate, but he isn't the father of your child. I will have him Validated as my son, and I also want the right to visit him regularly. That's not a lot to ask, Vanna."

  She felt vulnerable and trapped lying like this on her back. Her bulk meant that she had to lie on her side to get up, and pinned down like this, she felt like some shelled sea creature stranded upside down on the sand at low tide.

  "He's a cub, Brynne," she said, staring unblinkingly up at him. "You want to be his father, then first you have to accept that he isn't a Human baby, he's a cub!"

  Brynne released one of her arms to reach up and stroke her face. "Just like you," he said quietly. "I hope his pelt will be as soft as yours. He'll have to live with you on the estate, I know that. I'm not going to interfere between you and Garras. I only want it acknowledged that I'm his father, that's all. I won't let Garras claim him."

  "I wouldn't let Garras claim him either! As far as I'm concerned, he's my son, no one else's! Go and find a Terran female with a child to play fathers with, because you're not doing it with mine!" She pushed his hand away and began twisting round again.

  "If you do that, I'll have to approach Konis Aldatan as a judge and ask him to give me my rights," he said. "I don't want to do that, Vanna."

  She froze. "You'd do that? You'd humiliate us all by doing that?"

  "Only if you make me. Dammit, Vanna! Sending to Sara that day was stupid, yes, but I didn't meant to hurt either of you! And there hasn't been anyone else but you since then."

  "I don't believe you."

  "It's true nonetheless. Look," he said, helping her sit u
p again, "we got off to a bad start, mainly because of Esken."

  "Hah! So you say! It was your attitude that you wouldn't be forced into a relationship with any female that caused the trouble!"

  "I was also automatically enrolled into your military forces because of you! I'm stuck with a long-term job I would never have chosen myself, because you chose it," he said. "There've been mistakes and injuries on both sides, Vanna, we can't ever repair that, but we can at least reach an understanding, can't we? Be civilized about this?"

  "Why should I trust you? You've given me no reason to so far. Even now you're threatening me to get your own way in something that involves my body!" This new solicitude made her suspicious.