Dark Nadir

by Lisanne Norman

  “Your sister might have laughed at me, but you won’t,” he hissed, grasping hold of her sleeping robe.

  Terror filled her, but on the edges of her mind, she felt the gestalt hovering. She reached for it, feeding it with all the energy she had left, and screamed for help.

  * * *

  Lying in his bed, terror exploded in Kaid’s mind. He saw the hand descending, felt the blow to his face, and was suddenly caught up in the memory of the rape dream, watching as the male advanced on him again. He didn’t need the warming of the crystal to tell him that this time, it was no dream.

  His gasp of pain alerted T’Chebbi, who could only sit and watch in stunned horror as his cheek began to swell and a gash appeared on his forearm.

  “Rezac!” she shouted, but the door burst open before she’d finished crying out.

  Kaid gasped again, like a drowning man coming up for air, then clutched at Rezac as he bent over him. “Help me up!” The contact with Carrie had been brief, but it had been enough to give him back some of the strength he’d lost. He hauled on Rezac’s arm, pulling himself into a sitting position.

  Rezac caught Kaid’s thought and nodded, helping him to his feet. “I know,” he said. “I felt it, too.”

  “What the hell are you doing?” demanded T’Chebbi. “You’re not going anywhere in that state! I sent for you to help, Rezac, not make him worse!”

  Kaid reached out and touched her face. “He is. I need to call the Primes.”

  “You’re not strong enough,” said Rezac. “You’ll collapse. Take some energy from me.” He held out his hand.

  Kaid looked at him, hesitating.

  “You’re wasting time,” he said, grabbing Kaid’s hand himself.

  The rush of energy made him briefly light-headed. He staggered, to be caught by Rezac, then it was over. Turning, he ran for the door, colliding with Manesh.

  “There’s an alarm going off outside,” she said.

  * * *

  On the floor of his cell, Kusac felt the pull of the gestalt as briefly, his mind was swept up with those of the other two. As abruptly as it came, it was gone, but it left something behind. A glimmer of his Talent had returned. Not much, but it was more than he’d had before. With it came a cold fury that he knew could only be satisfied by killing J’koshuk. In the distance, he heard the alarm begin to sound.

  * * *

  Kaid hammered at the outer door, yelling for the Primes, attempting to force his mind through the barrier to try and contact Carrie again. T’Chebbi had come hurtling after him, medikit at the ready to dress his wound, but it was ten minutes before he’d accept that no one was coming and gave up. Slumping against the wall, he finally let T’Chebbi tend his wound.

  “Just dress it,” he said hoarsely.

  She did as he asked. “What caused this?” she asked, winding a bandage over the dressing.

  “Later,” said Rezac, touching her on the arm.

  She turned her head to look up at him as behind them, the door opened. A Prime guard stood at the entrance, rifle held ready.

  “The Seniormost wishes to see you,” he said, pointing it at Kaid. “You will come with us.”

  Kaid got to his feet and stepped out into the corridor. Flanked by two guards, he was led down to the stasis room. A Seniormost and several more guards were waiting for him.

  “I know my mate’s been hurt. Take me to her now,” he demanded.

  “There has been an unfortunate incident.”

  “Just take me to her,” he snarled, his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

  “It was not due to us,” the translator interrupted. “It was our Interface, the one called J’koshuk. He abused our trust and attacked the female. He has been punished.”

  A footfall from behind made him swing around but not before a hypo had been fired against his neck. It stung, and he resisted the impulse to rub it, reaching out for the Seniormost instead. He heard the sound of weapons being powered up and stopped dead, looking around the ring of guns trained on him.

  “What the hell’s going on?” he demanded, rounding on the Prime again. “Where is she? I want to see her!”

  “It is for that you were brought,” said the translator. The Seniormost indicated one of two doors in the opposite wall. “She is in there. You may take her with you. She was not thriving even before this incident. We intended her no harm.”

  “What?” He wasn’t sure he’d heard right. He felt light-headed for a moment as their Link reestablished itself, then he knew what had happened. He’d been drugged, his Talent suppressed!

  “Take her with you and return to your room.”

  Hesitantly, he began to walk toward the indicated door, then he ran. A low whimper of fear greeted him as he stepped inside. She was crouched in the far corner of the room, clutching a blanket.

  She looked up, eyes filling with tears. “Tallinn?”

  He was at her side instantly, lifting her up and wrapping what he could of the blanket around her.

  “I have you now. You’re coming with me.” He turned and walked back to the stasis room, stopping in front of the Seniormost. “If I see J’koshuk again, he’s dead. You understand?”

  “You will not see him again,” said a voice from behind him. “No harm was ever intended to you or any of your crew.”

  He turned, squinting to see the figure against the glare of the light. He thought he caught a flash of gold.

  “Take your mate, Kaid. You and she will not be separated again, you have my word.”

  “Why are we here? Why haven’t you released us?” he demanded.

  An armored glove grasped his shoulder. “You will return now,” said the translator as he was tugged around.

  “Let us go! We’ve done nothing to warrant this treatment!” he shouted over his shoulder as they were led firmly from the room. “We were never your enemies!”

  * * *

  As he was let back into their suite, shocked exclamations greeted him. “T’Chebbi, get me the medikit,” he said, pushing past everyone as he headed for their bedroom.

  Once inside, he knelt down, placing Carrie carefully in his bed. She clung to her blanket when he tried to take it away.

  “No! Leave me! I’m fine,” she said fiercely. “I want to shower, that’s all.”

  “Carrie, I need to see what he did to you,” he said quietly. “I want to be sure your wounds are clean. Vartra knows what kind of infection you could catch.” He knew she at least had an arm wound because he’d suffered it, too.

  “No! I’m fine!”

  The door opened and T’Chebbi came in, followed by Rezac.

  Kaid frowned at him. “You’re not needed, Rezac,” he said, taking the kit from T’Chebbi.

  “I can help her,” Rezac said, coming over and squatting down a little distance from them. “Let me help, Kaid. I have more experience of this than you.”

  “What can you possibly . . .” Kaid began.

  “Listen to him,” insisted T’Chebbi. “Go talk over there.” She nodded toward the doorway.

  Kaid’s face froze, ears going into the sideward position of anger.

  T’Chebbi leaned forward. “Talk,” she insisted. “What’s important here?”

  Reluctantly, he got to his feet and accompanied Rezac to the door, keeping his eyes on Carrie all the while. “Well? Keep it short.”

  “I’ve helped Valtegan rape victims before, Kaid. I know what to do.”

  “What can you do that I can’t?” he demanded.

  “For a start, I’m not her mate. She doesn’t want you to see her injuries. Don’t forget Jo has gone through this. Between us, we can help her more than you can right now.”

  He stared at the younger male, saying nothing.

  Rezac sighed. “Look, I know we’ve got a personality problem between us, but dammit, for once trust me! Let me get Jo.”

  “Leave him alone, Rezac, for the Gods’ sake! He’s got enough on his mind without you hovering round him,” said Zashou from the hallwa
y.

  T’Chebbi exploded from the room, leaping up at Zashou and grabbing her by the neck of her tunic, pushing her back into the hallway. “Why you behave like this? Do you have to always be so jealous of Rezac? Some love yours is! Only thing between them is . . .”

  “T’Chebbi, no!” Kaid called out angrily. “This isn’t the time!”

  She glowered at him over her shoulder. “Yes! No more No, T’Chebbi! You cause more trouble by saying nothing!” She turned back to Zashou, giving her a shake. “You want to know what’s between them? I tell you, foolish kitling! Rezac is Kaid’s father, that’s what you sense!” She pushed Zashou back till she collided with the wall. “He’s his father, and somehow Rezac senses it, that’s why the bond. Now leave them and us alone!” Turning her back on her, she pushed past Kaid and Rezac, returning to Carrie’s side.

  “You’re from the past, too?” Rezac asked, a dazed look on his face as pieces of the puzzle suddenly began to fall into place.

  “I haven’t got the time for this right now,” said Kaid, turning away from him, but Rezac grabbed his arm.

  “I need to know.”

  “Yes,” he said, unwilling to look at him.

  “That’s why the questions about my past—about the female in Ranz.”

  “My mother died when I was two. A fever they said. I was sent to relatives and ended up with Vartra’s people at the monastery.”

  “Vartra’s fever,” said Rezac in a numbed voice, his ears folding back in shock. “That’s what killed her. She had psi abilities. We used the serum too soon, didn’t know it wasn’t stable enough. It killed a great many people.”

  “It was unstable because Vartra was using psi abilities he didn’t know he had to bind the genes the way he wanted. Carrie noticed it. Her blood sample with our altered genes made it possible for him to correct the worst mistakes.” Even though he hadn’t known it, Vartra had shaped his life almost from the start.

  “When you went back as an adult, you met your child-self.”

  Kaid nodded, still unwilling to catch his father’s eyes. “I sent him—me—forward because I’d been brought up as a foundling in this time.”

  Rezac’s ears righted themselves and he seemed to pull his scattered wits together. “Dzaedoh. That’s my name, and yours, and explains the similarities between us. Hell, I’m just getting used to the idea of being a father. I don’t need a son older than myself!”

  Kaid looked up then. Noni’s kin? He was Noni’s kin? “You’re a grandfather. I have a son. Dzaka. He’s older than you are, too.”

  “Shit!” Rezac shook his head, grinning wryly. “I can see why you didn’t want to tell me.”

  “T’Chebbi can see to me, Kaid,” said Carrie from the other side of the room. “You and Rezac need to talk.”

  Kaid raised a questioning eye ridge at Rezac, who shook his head. “I’m through.” He returned to her side, taking her face in both his hands, trying not to hurt her bruised cheek. “You’ll follow my orders, Carrie. If you don’t want me to help, you’ll have Rezac and Jo. They can do more for you than I can right now. T’Chebbi can stay, if you wish.”

  She nodded, covering his hands with hers. “Stay close.”

  Leaning forward, he flicked his tongue gently across her cheek. “Of course. Where else would I be?”

  He joined Rezac back at the door. “I’ll fetch Jo, but remember, Carrie’s pregnant, and we’re only hours from our Link day,” he said quietly.

  Rezac reached out impulsively to touch Kaid’s arm. “We’ll be especially gentle with her,” he promised.

  * * *

  Kaid sat outside the door in the corridor, feeling every touch as if it was happening to him. As each scratch was treated, he saw and felt not only the present pain, but the remembered pain of how it was inflicted. By the time Rezac came out, Kaid was fit to be tied.

  “Did you have to be so rough?” he growled, but Rezac knew how to take him.

  “I treated her like a newborn!” he protested. “Jo, too! Look, I can do more. I can make her forget it happened. It might be best for her.”

  “What does she say?”

  Rezac sighed. “She says no.”

  “Then you have your answer. Are you done?”

  “Yes, but, Kaid,” he began, catching hold of him.

  “What?” he asked, anxious to be with her.

  “I know you said it’s your Link day, but leave it as long as you can. Tomorrow would be best.”

  Kaid glowered at him, outraged. “What d’you think I am? Some thoughtless youngling?” he demanded.

  “No, but you’re new to Leska Links,” he said candidly. “It isn’t easy denying them for even an hour, let alone a day.”

  Kaid growled and shut the door firmly.

  * * *

  “How is she?” asked Tirak as soon as Jo and T’Chebbi rejoined the others in the main room.

  “She’ll be fine, physically,” said Jo, as they headed over to the dispenser to get drinks. “I think they got to her pretty quickly. J’koshuk was known for his sadistic tendencies more than anything else.”

  “Mentally?”

  Jo joined Tirak at his table. “She’ll cope. Being strong-minded helps.”

  “Carrie’s strong-minded for sure,” agreed T’Chebbi as she sat down.

  “And Kaid’s wounds? Where did they come from?”

  “Ah,” said Jo, taking a sip of her drink and wondering how much to say. “Well, you could best describe them as sympathetic injuries. That isn’t a normal occurrence even for us.”

  “Where’s Rezac?” asked Sheeowl, looking around for him.

  “Gone to see Zashou.”

  “Then all this time travel stuff really happened?”

  “It happened, Captain,” said T’Chebbi. “I was there when they left. Was their souls that went, their bodies remained. Got new bodies as they arrived in past.”

  Tirak stared at her.

  “True,” she insisted. “Was a religious ritual. Been done many times before. Except, they were the first to come back. Others just died.”

  Tirak made a noise deep in his throat. “Well, I hope she’s all right. Damned shame they didn’t find Kusac as well.”

  * * *

  “I hope you’re satisfied now,” said Rezac, pacing back and forth in their room. “Thank the Gods neither I nor Kaid rose to your taunts. All you did was make yourself look extremely foolish.”

  “I know,” she said quietly, examining her hands.

  “T’Chebbi was right. You’ve made it quite clear you don’t want me and wish our Link had never happened, so why must you keep following me around and intruding where you don’t want to be in the first place? It’s got to stop right now, Zashou.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll leave you alone.”

  He stopped in front of her. “You’ve gotten most of what you want now Jo’s pregnant. My Link with her is stronger than ours, so you only need to have occasional Link days with me. Who knows? You may be lucky and our Links will stay as they are. You can have your own life, Zashou, like you always wanted. Just let me have mine.”

  “Yes, Rezac.”

  Surprised at her cooperative and subdued reaction, he could only say, “Good,” and leave before she changed her mind.

  Once he’d gone, Zashou curled up unhappily in her bed. She wasn’t used to rejection, and Rezac, for the first time since she’d met him, had just rejected her completely. She didn’t like it, and didn’t know how to deal with it. Why hadn’t she listened to her own good advice when she’d first realized what she was doing?

  * * *

  Dzaka stirred. The noise had been faint but even in sleep he’d recognized it. Kashini. Still more asleep than awake, he staggered from his bed to her cot. When she saw him, she stood up unsteadily, her arms held out to him, and began to wail. Leaning down, he picked her up.

  He knew that cry. He’d heard it the night her parents’ ship had gone missing. She clung to him, fingers wound deep into his pelt, head resting on his shou
lder against his neck, and sobbed. Holding her close, he returned with her to his own bed where he sat stroking her back rhythmically, making soothing noises.

  “Hush, little one,” he whispered, beginning to rock her gently. “I know. It’s your Mamma again, isn’t it? She’ll be fine, don’t you fret about her.”

  Gradually, the sobs stopped and she began to relax, sliding lower in his arms. He reached for the drawer in his night table, pulling out the small piece of her old blanket he kept there, and put it into her hands. It was grabbed instantly and she began to chew on it.

  Yawning, Dzaka carefully edged his way into bed, cradling the drowsy cub till he could lay her down beside him. Curling protectively round her, he pulled the cover over them both and was almost instantly asleep.

  * * *

  Brynne woke more suddenly. Still caught by the dream of being attacked, he reached slowly under his pillow for the pistol he’d put there earlier. Keeza lay motionless beside him, deeply asleep. A movement against his other side sent fear racing through him till he realized it was Belle. Mentally, he scanned the room. Empty apart from themselves. He ranged wider, to the rest of the house, then the garden beyond, but apart from Banner and Jurrel, nothing. He began to relax. No intruder was looking for Keeza.

  He slid the pistol back, thinking through the dream, needing to be sure it wasn’t more. It was the one he’d shared with Keeza, the one when she’d been attacked. There was something different about it this time, though, a flash of color where there’d been none before. Red. It had looked like red. He replayed it again in his mind, trying to remain detached, not get drawn into it. Yes, he had seen red, and more, a hand. If only it was like a vid and he could rewind and stop the images! Once more he endured it, watching this time for the image of a hand. It was there, and the sight of it burned into his mind, making him slide from the bed and grab his robe.

  Stuffing his arms into the sleeves, he belted it as he ran down the stairs, heading for the den and his comm. Within moments, he was keying in the special code for Stronghold, the one reserved for the Brothers. He slid into his seat, waiting to be connected. The duty officer answered him.

  “Brother Brynne. What can I do for you?”