thefiremargins

by Lisanne Norman

  Once among the bushes, Khyim sent one of his people ahead to scout the entrance to the tunnels.

  As they waited impatiently, Kusac shook Carrie's arm, pointing toward the horizon. High above them, a second sun was glowing red in the sky, shining brighter by the minute as they watched. Behind it, like a vapor trail, were the smaller fragments of debris.

  "Goran," said Kusac. "Look up."

  Goran glanced up. "The meteor," he said.

  "The double sunburst," murmured Carrie.

  Kusac nodded. "You're right. We haven't got long now."

  "How long?"

  "An hour or two, three at most before it hits."

  Goran nodded and passed the word up to Khyim.

  The scout returned to the arch of the bridge, signaling that all was clear.

  In pairs, they sprinted over to join him. Ducking under the archway, they edged sideways along the narrow path that led to the drainage tunnels. Kusac was still carrying the now protesting and squirming cub. As he and Carrie reached the safety of the entrance, he put the cub down with relief and stepped over to where Khyim was talking quietly to his scout.

  Aware that her mate was getting irritated, Carrie took charge of the cub. Squatting down as best she could, she put herself at eye level with him.

  "Look, Tallinu, you've got to understand that you must do as you're told. We're trying to sneak into the Temple up above without the Valtegans seeing or hearing us. We can't do that if you're making a fuss because you have to be carried."

  "A game!" he said with relish. "I can play that!"

  "Er, not exactly a game," she said, casting a glance over at Goran and Kaid. "It's more serious than that. Did you ever play hide?"

  He nodded solemnly.

  "Good. This is a game of hide. We mustn't let the Valtegans find us, so we have to move as quickly and as quietly as we can. Understand?"

  There was an impatient noise from behind her and an arm reached forward to grasp the cub by the tunic front, lifting him bodily into the air.

  "Hey!" said Carrie, pushing herself upright again and turning to confront whoever it was.

  Kaid was holding him at arm's length while the cub, ears back in terror, held onto his hand like grim death.

  "Do you want to grow up to be a warrior like us?" Kaid demanded.

  The cub nodded.

  "Then you've got to follow orders, starting now. Understand?"

  Again the cub nodded.

  "She's in charge of you, so do everything she tells you, or else ...!" He left the threat open as he returned him to the ground. Immediately the cub clung to Carrie's leg, looking up at Kaid with huge eyes.

  "I know," Kaid said with an embarrassed shrug. "Tell me who wasn't a brat at some point in their life!"

  She laughed, reaching out to stroke his cheek before taking the cub by the hand and starting up the tunnel after Kusac.

  Dank and dark though the tunnels were, the smell was nowhere near as bad as Carrie had feared. Her makeshift foot coverings were sodden, but at least it was only stagnant water. A halt was called when they reached a grating that blocked their way forward.

  "What are we going to do now?" Carrie asked Kusac. "You realize this is one of the worst places to be caught during an earthquake or flooding, don't you?"

  He nodded. "So do they," he said, indicating Goran and Khyim who were checking round the bases of all the metal rods. "They're hoping to find some loose ones."

  "Let me," said Jaisa, pushing to the front. "I might be able to help."

  Kusac raised an eye ridge at Kaid, who shrugged in response.

  Intrigued, Carrie stepped forward, the cub held firmly by one hand as she watched what the young Sholan female was doing.

  "I don't know what you hope to achieve ..." Khyim began, but Goran cut him short.

  "Don't underestimate our telepaths, Khyim, nor our females," he said. "Jaisa here, she was doing pretty well at Warrior training before this all started. She's still good," he added.

  Kusac looked at Carrie. What's she doing?

  She's vibrating the molecules! Shaking them loose! I didn't know that could be done.

  They might not be able to fight, sent Kusac, but if the others are like her, they've a few tricks we could do with learning.

  Tiny puffs of dust were coming up from the cement that held the bars in place, but they could see by the strained set of her ears how much it was costing her.

  Standing behind her, Kusac put his hands over hers. "Draw on me," he said.

  Startled, Jaisa lost it for a moment, then Carrie felt Kusac push some of his energy to her. Within moments, the bars came loose in her hands.

  "Hey! Well done!" said Khyim, slapping Jaisa on the back as she stood there with a surprised look on her face and a steel bar in either hand.

  Goran took them from her and laid them down at the side of the tunnel. "Let's keep moving," he said, stopping to say "Good work," to Jaisa as he climbed through the gap.

  "Nice trick," said Kusac. "We'll have to remember it."

  "I couldn't have done it without the boost from you," she said as she stepped through after the others.

  "Yes you could, it would just have taken longer," he said, turning round to pick up the cub and hand him through to her. Carrie he swung up into his arms, and ducking, carried her through.

  "How are you coping?" he asked quietly, setting her down on her feet again.

  "I'm fine," she said, leaning against the grill for a moment or two. She gently massaged the top of the lump that was their daughter. She was so tired, and her insides felt bruised with all the kicking. Pinning a grin on her face, she said brightly, "We'll soon be home now anyway. Another couple of hours at most."

  Jaisa came over, Tallinu in her arms. "I'll keep him for a bit," she said. "We're not likely to need my rifle skills down here."

  Carrie nodded her thanks, and, holding onto Kusac, started walking.

  * * *

  It wasn't long before Khyim called a halt again. Shining his torch upward, he pointed to a drain cover above.

  "That's it. We're under the Temple kitchens. It's coming up to second meal, so there's likely to be people up there now."

  "If the Valtegans are in charge, the kitchens will be empty," said Carrie. "They prefer freshly killed meat. With warm blood in it if possible," she added.

  Khyim looked across at her. "We've had them here for over a year. I think we should know about their eating habits by now."

  "We had them ruling our colony, Keiss, for ten years," said Carrie. "Where our people lived and worked beside them, yes, they made a pretense of cooking their food. Not on their bases, though. Not there. The kitchens were nothing more than slaughter houses."

  "Ten years?" said Goran, mouth hanging open. "How did you get free of them?"

  "That's another story," said Kusac. "However, Carrie does know about the Valtegans, believe me."

  "Kusac, there's an easier way to check," she said. "Let's search for them. It's what we did before."

  "Search?" asked Vartra, ears pricking up.

  "I can read their minds on a basic level. At least, I could do it with the ones in our time," she amended.

  "Give us a little space," said Kusac, putting his arm round Carrie and drawing her over to the ladder. Putting his foot on one of the rungs, he turned her round so her back was leaning against him, partially supported by his leg.

  Just relax. We can do this as easily as falling off a branch.

  Carrie wasn't so sure. Maybe. That officer on the Khalossa was very different from any of the other Valtegans we met. If they still react to my Sholan mind, we could get nothing. Worse, we could alert them to our presence.

  Just try, we can't do more, he sent encouragingly.

  She closed her eyes, trying to slow her breathing until she felt his mind completely synchromeshed with hers. From then on it was easier, as she was able to concentrate on reaching out to find the nearest mind while he controlled their body rhythms.

  If she'd been a
sked to describe what she was doing, she couldn't have. It felt like a focussing of energy in the front of her mind, and a reaching, a projecting of that energy outward until it found what she was searching for.

  Then she sensed it; the movement of thoughts, a life force. Latching gently onto it, she drew on Kusac and together they examined the mind she'd found. It was Valtegan, but it was different from any Valtegan mind she'd experienced on Keiss or the Khalossa. With a quick mental thrust, she'd penetrated his mind and insinuated herself into his thoughts at a level too deep for the Valtegan to be aware of.

  Looking through his eyes, she saw the inside of the temple. He was bored, and kept flicking his gaze from place to place, never still long enough for her to get a good mental picture.

  He knew they were only marking time here until the General's other pet arrived, but this was boring, no fit job for a warrior people! Once he'd been and gone, then they could leave for the mountains till this damned meteor strike was over. After that, it was their time! He looked forward to it. There would be fighting enough for all of them, even the hatchlings, safely in their shells at present. They'd be old enough to make their first kills by then.

  His eyes stopped on his nest-comrade. At least he didn't have to keep company with the stinking mammals! His nostrils flared in disgust. He could smell the mammal from here. It wasn't his place to criticize his superiors, but why the General had to keep this slave when all the other treacherous mind readers had been slaughtered, he had no idea!

  The mammal was looking at him now. He was glad that the slave wore one of the new collars! His mind would be safe from that one, doubly so since he was wearing one of the controller devices. A pulse against his wrist made him look more closely at the slave. The stone in his collar was glowing! How dare he look at his mind! A loud hiss escaped him as he triggered not only the pacifier circuit, but the pain one too. The mammal gave a cry of pain, and, clutching at his collar, fell writhing to the ground.

  Carrie backed off hurriedly before her presence was detected by the Sholan telepath above. She shuddered as she returned to her own mind. It had never been pleasant to look inside Valtegans.

  You weren't found, all's well. Kusac's thoughts were soothing, a balm to her mind. She felt exhausted now.

  "Kusac, he was ..." She started to tell him what she'd found but he hushed her.

  "You were speaking his thoughts, cub. We know what you felt," he said. "You did well."

  "So he's got a tame telepath up there," growled Khyim. "And worse, hatchlings! Kezule plans to wait the cataclysm out up in the mountains, does he? Then they'll just come marching down and take over!" He looked over to where his two fighters stood with their backpacks. "Chelgo, you got enough flexi and detonators to blow this place?"

  "If I can put it where I want, yes. No problem."

  "We need to take out their transport too," said Goran. "The hatchlings could be on board already."

  "Eggs," said Kaid. "And they'll be somewhere warm to incubate them."

  "Have they got females that sit on them?" asked Nyak laughingly.

  "No. Believe me, you don't want to see the females," said Kaid with a shudder.

  "You've seen them?" asked Vartra. "What are they like? Why haven't we seen them before now?"

  "There's only five on Shola— or there were," he corrected himself. "All I had was a quick glimpse. They're larger than the males, heavy, and built for violence. If their Emperor has his top unit guarding the hatchery, my bet is that all the eggs but those Kezule stashed away left Shola. Obviously he stayed behind for reasons of his own."

  "We're wasting time," said Kusac. "We know the kitchen is empty now so let's go while we can."

  "You're right," said Khyim, gesturing them out of the way.

  When he reached the cover, he very carefully lifted one edge of it, peering out into the kitchen beyond.

  "It's empty," he confirmed quietly. "I'm going in."

  Sliding the cover back to one side, he flipped his rifle round, ready to use, as he climbed up the last few rungs into the kitchen.

  They waited impatiently till they saw his face blocking out the light.

  "All clear," he whispered. "Move up!"

  Once they were all up, Nyak opened the door and slipped into the corridor beyond. He was back in moments.

  "I heard two voices in the office, just to the left of here," he said. "Likely that's Kezule and his senior officer. Ahead of us is the curtain through into the main temple. The other side of that is where the telepath and the two guards are."

  "There's a passage that leads up onto the rear of the balcony," said Kaid. "If we can get someone up there, it'd be like picking off the weak in a herd of rhaklas."

  Khyim looked at Chelgo. "He's right. I'd forgotten about that passage. I remember using it when I was here as an acolyte. We can get there from down below. I know the way."

  "Jaisa, you think you can mark one?" asked Chelgo.

  She nodded. "I can take out one, two if I have to, then the pain they'll broadcast will affect me," she said apologetically.

  "Then go for kills," said Kusac. "Think of it as saving them the pain of an injury."

  "What a novel approach," she murmured. "I'll try it."

  "Lift the route from my mind, Jaisa," said Khyim, "then you'd better get going. Send to Kusac when you're in place."

  "Make it tight beam," Kusac said as she turned to go back down the ladder. "One word only. We'll get it."

  "When you're in place, we'll tell you when to take out the guards. If you need to, kill the telepath as well," Khyim said. "The four of us will hit the office, the other two will head into the temple to back you up. When you're done, get down here as fast as you can."

  Chelgo and Jaisa nodded, then began their descent back into the tunnel.

  * * *

  Carrie found sacks of flour and vegetables in the store room and decided to wait there, as even a lumpy seat was a seat. As luck would have it, the pains in her belly struck just as Jaisa put her head round the door.

  Before she knew it, she'd become the center of concern for Kusac, Kaid, and Jaisa.

  "I'm fine," she said angrily. "It was only a momentary pain. It's gone now. Your fussing is worse!"

  Khyim came in to see what was happening, and when he heard, insisted on feeling her belly.

  "It won't do any good," she said, refusing to let him near her. "You're not a medic, what can you tell?"

  "I could tell from the feel of you whether your cub's about due," he said. "I've got four of my own at Stronghold! From the look of you I'd say you've got three, maybe four weeks to go, which if you're having pains, means it could be any time in the next ten days or so."

  "I'm not a Sholan though," she said. "And my cub's not due for another nine weeks!"

  Khyim shrugged. "It's your cub. Let's break this up and get back into the kitchen. They shouldn't be much longer."

  She could feel Kusac's fears for her and his worries that their cub could be born too early.

  "Stop worrying," she said, pushing herself up from the sack. "I'll last the course. Kashini won't be born too soon."

  "Her freedom's not worth her life or yours," he said. "We shouldn't have come till after she was born."

  "I think her freedom is worth the risk," said Carrie, looking him straight in the eye. "You ask Kaid if it's worth dying for. You know he'll say yes."

  With a low, rumbling growl, he waited for her to precede him into the kitchen area. About to follow her, he stopped in midstride. "They've reached the balcony."

  "Good," said Khyim. "Goran, you and Kusac take the temple, Kaid, you, me, and Nyak will go after the two in the office."

  "Wait!" hissed Carrie. "Someone's coming! It's the telepath!"

  There was a general flurry of movement as everyone went for the nearest cover, except Carrie.

  "Move!" hissed Kusac, reaching out for her.

  She batted his hand away. "Surprise! He'll be thrown when he sees me!"

  Then it was too l
ate as the door handle began to turn.

  Halfway into the room, he saw her, and froze in shock.

  "Hello," she said, raising her gun and firing. Her voice was the last thing he heard.

  She sidestepped as he crashed to the ground, then moved as quickly as she could to close the door. "He's only stunned," she said as Khyim leaped across to check him.