Kitra yowled in fear, leaping down to his side, trying to cradle him in her arms.
“Don’t touch me,” Dzaka gasped, flinching away from her. “It still hurts.”
“Just a demonstration,” said Kezule, slipping the bracelet on. “I can intensify the pain, and make it last as long as I wish. He will tell you the rules while you get food and drink for the three of you.”
Dzaka could sense Kitra readying herself to shout her anger at Kezule. Despite the pain, he reached out, grasping her arm with his unsheathed claws, making her start. “No! He means what he says. I can’t take that again, Kitra.”
On the other camp bed, Kashini had awakened and was mewling in distress.
“Don’t antagonize him, for Kashini’s sake, if not mine,” he whispered, trying to push himself up on his still shaking limbs.
Kitra steadied him as he got back onto the camp bed. “I’ll see to Kashini. You’re not up to it,” she said as he collapsed on his side.
Going over to the cub, Kitra untied the rope and set her down on the floor, holding her hand as they walked slowly back to Dzaka. As Kashini climbed up to sit with him, Kezule spoke again.
“I said eat now. Unless you want to miss the meal altogether?”
Kitra shook her head in answer, not sure if this was an occasion when she could speak or not.
“The food’s in the cupboards on the far wall, behind Kezule,” said Dzaka, as Kashini cuddled up to him, making crooning noises as she stroked his face.
Giving Kezule a wide berth, she went over to the cupboards and dug around in them choosing three self- heating field ration meals. Finding a box of Kashini’s cereal biscuits, she took it, too. Grabbing three spoons, she headed back to them.
A wrist comm buzzed and Kezule answered it.
“General, there’s no point you sitting in there waiting for the Aldatans to return. They’re lost, we don’t know where they are. But we’ve made contact with a ship belonging to your people. They’re from K’oish’ik, your Emperor’s world, and they’ve offered to take you on board. Will you accept this? We guarantee you safe passage to them,” said Garras.
“I don’t believe you. I’ve told you, I wish to return to my own time. I’ll wait for the Aldatans.”
“They’re missing, probably dead, Kezule. We couldn’t return you to your own time, even if they weren’t. The way back has been destroyed.”
“Stop bothering me with your lies and fictitious offers,” Kezule hissed. “I will wait, or I will get the two I have to take me back.” Cutting the connection angrily, he glowered over at Kitra and Dzaka. “Is it true? Are they missing?”
“Yes,” said Dzaka. “They failed to make a scheduled transmission five weeks ago. No one can find a trace of them.”
Kezule picked up one of the green resin stones. “Then you will take me,” he said.
“We can’t take you,” said Dzaka. “It took three powerful telepaths, my father and the Aldatans, to go back to your time. I’m not even a telepath, and Kitra’s barely more than a child.”
Kezule looked over at her. “She’s your female, so she’s of breeding age. That makes her an adult. As for you, what’s the difference? You have a mind talent.”
“I can’t read minds! I only know how people feel,” he said in desperation. “Telepaths are far more powerful than me.”
Kezule bared his teeth and hissed in rage. “Again I must deal with females! What worm has eaten into the minds of your kind to allow them such freedom?”
“It’s the way it is with us, General,” said Dzaka. “Females are our equals, different from us but never inferior. We value their differences.”
“The female takes charge then,” snarled Kezule, getting up to go to the cupboards for a bowl. “I care not which of you does it, so long as it’s done. I have the drug we need.”
“But I can’t do it,” wailed Kitra. “I don’t know how or where to go! Without that knowledge, we could all die.”
“I know. I will tell you,” said Kezule angrily. “No more discussion. I will make up the drug now. You’ll eat and feed the child, then get ready to sleep.”
* * *
Ruth had been in a flap since she’d awakened and discovered Mandy and Daira were gone. The fact they’d been found safe and well, apart from bumps on the head, half an hour later, had done little to ease her mood. She was still imagining all the things that could have happened to them at the hands of Kezule and giving both kids, in Mara and Josh’s opinion, a really hard time.
Another loud spat had just died down when the doorbell buzzed. Relieved to have something to do, Mara went to answer it. It was Toueesut, accompanied by his swarm of males. At least, she assumed they were the males. She still couldn’t tell the two sexes apart.
“Mara of the bright singing, we have heard of your troubles and come to you with offerings of help for you all,” he said before she could open her mouth. “The small ones they were trying to see within our hive when they were apprehended by this most deceitful of persons, who now holds two of your people deep in the mountain of diggings. Our ladies have said they would wish to have the little ones and their mother come and see inside our hive, then their curiosity will not cause them to do foolish things again and put their safety at risk. This is not as a reward for getting caught by the deceitful one but as a help to their mother, who must be suffering greatly with the worries. This our ladies are fully understanding and would like to ease her burden of responsibility and remove a temptation from her little ones’ lives.”
Though the barrage of singsong words took her by surprise, out of habit, Mara was able to focus her mind almost instantly on what Toueesut was saying.
“You’re inviting the children and Ruth over to visit?” she hazarded.
Six bristly whiskered heads bobbed in enthusiastic unison.
“That’s very kind of you, but I don’t know if . . .”
“Excuse us please, we will deliver our invitation,” said one of the others, slipping past Mara into the house.
Too surprised to do anything but turn and stare, she saw the other four Touibans quickly surge past her, leaving her and Toueesut alone on the doorstep.
“Uh. Would you like to come in?” she said, realizing as she said it that it was a little late.
Toueesut grinned from ear to ear. “Of a certainty,” he said, darting past her.
Aware that Josh was deriving great amusement from her surprised reactions, she shut the door, feeling the proverbial horse had not only bolted but taken its own tack with it for later.
Mara found Ruth surrounded by the swarm of Touibans, being verbally assaulted from all sides by trilling riffs of sound. She looked across to Mara with a totally bemused expression on her face.
“Mara, what are they saying?”
“It seems their wives have invited you and the kids over for a visit . . .”
“And much eating, drinking, and pleasure in each other’s company,” added one of the others.
“. . . and a meal,” added Mara. “They’re doing this for you because they understand how worried you are, and it will satisfy Daira’s and Mandy’s curiosity about them.”
“That’ll really scupper their plans to creep out at night and spy on the neighbors again once the fuss has died down,” said Josh, picking up Ruth’s cardigan and going over to hand it to her. “Think of it, Ruth. Where’s the fun in sneaking out at night to see into a house you’ve already been invited to look around? I know you’ll have a great time. Don’t worry about us, we’ll see to our own dinner tonight.”
It sounded like a herd of elephants coming down the stairs but it was only Mandy and Daira.
“Woah! Touibans in our house! Wait till the others hear about this!” said Daira, claws gripping the carpet as he skidded to a halt.
“How many times have I told you not to do that?” demanded Ruth. “You’re digging holes in my carpets, young man!”
“It’s better than that,” said Mara, grabbing hold of the young Sholan
with one hand and Mandy with the other and pushing them toward the door. “You’ve been invited to visit them for dinner. Best behavior, mind, and don’t give your mother any more grief, you hear me?”
“Yes, Mara,” they chorused as two of the Touibans detached themselves from the group surrounding Ruth and headed for them.
Mara opened the door as the other two, fingers twined in Ruth’s hand and in the cardigan that hung from her arm, began to shepherd her out. She ignored the pleading look Ruth gave her.
Think of the honor, Ruth. You’re the only folk other than Rhyasha and me to be invited into their hive, and to dine with them. You’re a family ambassador, paving the way for other such social gatherings.
Mara! How can you spout such claptrap? Ruth sent reprovingly.
Okay. You need the break, and frankly, so do we and the kids, sent Josh. You’ve carried on at them too long, Ruth. Go enjoy yourselves. I wasn’t joking about the visit removing the temptation for them to go nocturnal spying again.
Mara gave a wave and shut the door firmly with a deep sigh of relief, then turned to find that Toueesut was still there. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, going to open it again.
“No, no. I have more help to give you,” he said. “Understanding I am of these tellings off. When you have six mothers very intense it gets.”
“Gods, six mothers!” said Mara, trying to imagine it. “I suppose you did. My mother and I never really got on,” she said awkwardly.
“Ah, a sadness this is for you,” he said, face creasing in sympathy as his hand took her free one and began to gently massage it in comfort. “More help we bring as I am saying. At the landing port we have our ship. Knowing I am that you will be needing one shortly, one of great speed and fastness. Augmented ours is by the Chemerians and one of the best around.” He gave her a sly look, eyes twinkling. “Sholan craft good, as are Touiban, but Chemerians have tricks or six up their sleeves for civilian craft, and our hive can take advantage of them as we are in a financial position to do so. I sent for our craft a while ago, and now it is here but is not allowed access to your estate. Needing permission to land it is, then it and the pilot Captain Shaayiyisis a Sumaan of friendly demeanor are at the disposal of your people.”
She looked over to Josh and he nodded, going off to the lounge to call Father Lijou.
“Toueesut,” she said slowly, “I’m sure your offer will be greatly appreciated, but how do you know so much about what’s going on? We’ve not excluded you from information,” she added hastily, “only tried to make sure you and your people haven’t been put at any risk from this Valtegan.”
He winked broadly. “Having our secrets we all are, sweet singer Mara, and I am not going to be letting you know what they are. Think only that we are allies on the same side as your family. We are part of your hive now. This means all to us.” He pressed her hand firmly before releasing it. “Our resources are yours.”
“I don’t know what to say,” she murmured, aware that the Touiban had just told her he considered himself and his swarm Sholan in all but shape.
“Then the matter is settled. Going home I must be lest I am the one getting the tellings off from six wives!” He pulled a wry face, mustache bristling, and tugging the door open, left. A gentle scent of flowers and desert springs remained behind him.
Josh returned to find her leaning against the door, a faraway look on her face. He touched her face in a Sholan gesture, bringing her back to reality. “They never cease to amaze us, do they?” he said. “Father Lijou is contacting the gatehouse to allow the ship to land—somewhere. We don’t even know how big it is.”
The air was filled with a deep whine and a shadow fell across the windows. Mara opened the door and looked up. “I don’t think it’s going to be landing,” she said faintly.
Josh looked out. “No problem,” he said, watching as the craft passed over the village toward the excavation site, its shadow gradually following. “One that size will just hover there till we need it.”
* * *
Yesterday had been their Link day, but it had been a tense and awkward time for both of them as they tried to conceal from each other their deepest fears and emotions. By some stroke of luck, Carrie’s damper, along with her other possessions that had been brought from the Hkariyash, was still in the locker store where Kaid had left it. Their dampers had helped, a little. When Kaid woke that morning, he was almost grateful to find he was alone. Her mental presence was there, but not intruding.
He went to the mess, expecting to find her there, but apart from Rezac, it was empty. A faint disquiet began to stir within him then, but he pushed it aside. Carrie obviously wanted to be alone right now, and he’d respect her wishes.
Having chosen something from the food dispenser, he joined Rezac at the table.
“You look tired,” said Rezac, pulling a stim twig from the pack in front of him. “I guess you had a bad day.”
Kaid glanced up at him. “Bad day?”
Rezac nodded. “They happen from time to time. When you’ve had a fight to end all others, it can’t be quickly put aside just because it’s your Link day. It has to be resolved. And of course, everything’s heightened then. This shorter jump’s not helping anyone either. Tempers are getting frayed, even among Tirak’s crew. Giyesh and Jeran just clawed some fur off each other.” His mouth split in a slight grin. “It’ll heal. They don’t usually stay out of sorts for long.”
Kaid grunted and began attacking his food.
“Zashou and I’ve been Linked for more than three years,” Rezac continued, nibbling the end of his twig. “I might be able to help.”
“Who says we have a problem?” Kaid said around his mouthful.
“I can feel it,” he said quietly. “Look, I know as well as you that the situation between us is ridiculous. I must be half your age, but I’m your father. I can’t ignore what I feel for you—the need to help you, to protect you. Hell,” he grinned embarrassedly, “I should be feeling it for a cub, not someone like you who probably doesn’t even want, let alone need me! But I’m stuck with it. And I reckon you’re stuck at the other end of it, too, with the emotional bond of a son toward me. So, either we mess ourselves up trying to ignore it, or we find a way to live with it.”
Kaid heard him out in silence. It had been on his mind for the last few days. “I used to wonder about you when I was a cub,” he said, pushing some more food onto his fork. “About the father who was never there. I hardly remember my mother. She’s just a shadowy figure who was ill, and who eventually sent me away.” He stopped to put the forkful of food in his mouth and chew it. “I wasn’t at the monastery for long before I met Carrie and my adult self.”
“It must have been hard for you, growing up as an orphan, thinking yourself abandoned by both of us,” said Rezac, lowering his ears. “I swear I didn’t know you existed, Kaid. Your mother and I were together only a few months before the Claws started trying to recruit me. I had to leave her, for her own sake.”
Kaid looked up, aware of Rezac’s need to be believed.
“T’Chya. She was called T’Chya. She lived with her family in the center of Ranz. I can’t honestly say if we’d have stayed together had my life been different. I know she wanted that, but I wasn’t ready to settle down. She was a quiet person, but determined in her own way. Maybe that’s why she conceived you,” he added quietly.
Kaid remembered the fork poised in front of his mouth. He had a name for his mother at long last. “I appreciate you telling me,” he said. “And your honesty.”
“There’s no point in lying after all this time,” said Rezac. “So, what do we do about us, Kaid?”
It was difficult to suddenly turn around his beliefs and feelings toward the father he’d thought had abandoned him and his mother so long ago. But there was a blood connection between them that they couldn’t ignore. For males, the natural emotional link to their cubs was strong: their family was everything to them. The solution he’d come up with would mean exposing
his origins in the past, but it also meant that no one would try to walk the Fire Margins again.
“Brothers,” said Kaid, pushing his empty plate aside. “If we think of ourselves as brothers, then it allows us to acknowledge the blood tie between us.” He felt as well as heard the other’s sigh of relief, and realized his father had expected to be rejected.
“Thank you,” Rezac said with feeling. “Now, will you let me help you, if I can, with your Link problem? I’ve been where you are now.”
Kaid felt the hairs on his neck and shoulders begin to stir and immediately forced his mind back to calmness. Letting anyone get involved with his intimate relationships wasn’t going to come easily. He reached for his hot drink, nodding once.
Sticking the twig in a corner of his mouth, Rezac leaned his elbows on the table. “I was with the Claws for a good two years before the Telepath program picked me up. Like you, I was a fighter. I’m sure nothing much has changed in the Packs, so I don’t need to tell you what that meant. I didn’t want to be with the Claws and resented it and everyone around me for making me join, but I couldn’t show it. So I cut myself off from them all, became good at what I did, just to survive. Then suddenly I was out of it, in the protected world of the University at Khalma, where I met Zashou.” He fell silent for a minute, taking the twig out and reaching for his own drink.
“With the Claws, I’d quickly learned that I had to see everyone as a potential enemy, males and females both. To get emotionally involved with a female would alter how I reacted in the next fight. So when I found myself drawn to Zashou, I thought it a weakness, something that would take the edge off me as a warrior. When we Linked, that fear was even worse, especially because she hated what I was. I got the female I wanted—body and mind I got her—” he sighed, shaking his head. “And resented both it and her for the demands our Link put on me. How could I be a fighter when I had to spend every fifth day alone with her as her lover? What kind of fighter is that, for the God’s sake, I’d ask myself.”
Kaid stirred uncomfortably. Rezac had put his finger right on the pulse of his problem.
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