“Your medikit please, Dzyash,” said L’Seuli, grabbing a vacant chair.
Rhyaz nodded a greeting to them and took the chair L’Seuli had procured.
“Master Rhyaz, your hand, if you please,” he said, placing the kit on the counter and opening it.
Rhyaz held his hand out and turned his attention to the window, watching Keeza. She was pacing the room, her tail flicking angrily from side to side.
“She’s been like that for the last half hour,” said Zhyaf.
“Angry, is she?” he asked, wincing as L’Seuli wiped the cut with antiseptic.
“Rage would be a more appropriate description. He may be a captive, but she feels we’re treating him as if he were also a criminal.”
“We don’t treat criminals like this,” said Rhyaz.
“Don’t expect logic from her, Master Rhyaz,” warned Zhyaf. “Psychologically she’s in her own world, one she shares with him. Her current state is such that you should alert the guards to be careful of her when they take him back.”
“Do it,” snapped Rhyaz, trying not to hiss as L’Seuli sprayed his knuckles with the standard anti-inflammatory and antibiotic spray. It hurt, but he’d rather it did; he didn’t want to go the way of Ghezu.
“I think you’ve chipped or cracked the bone,” said L’Seuli. “It’s going to be painful for a good few days, I’m afraid.”
“It’s painful now, dammit,” he said, snatching his hand back. “What’s she planning to do?” he demanded of Zhyaf.
“Her thoughts are jumbled … Too confused,” apologized the telepath. “All I can say is her mood’s unstable.”
“Order the guards to shoot her if necessary.” He heard Zhyaf’s sharp intake of breath followed by L’Seuli’s quiet answer as he turned his attention to what was about to happen on the other side of the viewing screen.
“They use stunners, Zhyaf. We don’t risk more powerful weapons around Kezule.”
Her senses stretched to the utmost, Keeza heard the faint sound as the door began to open. Swinging round from her position by the table, she watched two guards come into the room. Rifles trained on her, they took up positions that covered her but left the doorway clear.
They brought Kezule in next, his limp form supported by two more troopers. She began to growl deep in her throat as she saw the condition he was in. Never taking her eyes off them, she watched as they deposited him on the bed and backed away. One of Fazzu’s assistants followed, carrying a tray of first aid equipment. Nervously he edged past her, put down the tray, and was about to leave when she attacked him.
Kezule had begun to stir as they laid him down, and the sound of her enraged roar was enough to make him painfully turn his head to see what was happening.
“Vartra’s bones!” swore Dzyash, watching as she knocked the medic to the ground and pulled her arm back, claws fully extended, ready to strike him.
The beams from two stunners hit her simultaneously in the back and, yowling in agony, Keeza collapsed to the floor.
Rhyaz stood up. He’d seen enough. “L’Seuli,” he said in an undervoice as they left the control room, “I’m going to make damned sure Raiban pays everything that Keeza Lassah is due, and then some!”
“Yes, sir,” his aide murmured, following him along the corridor.
Kezule drifted in and out of consciousness for the next few hours. When he finally surfaced, the female was still lying where she’d fallen. Every breath sent fire across his chest, causing him to gasp. They’d concentrated on his ribs again. He found slowing his breathing was of little help this time, it barely touched the pain he was suffering. He needed to exert some control, and that would take him dangerously close to a laalgo level, but he needed to be able to concentrate if he was to assess the damage they’d done.
He slowed his heart rate to the point where he began to feel light-headed, then, increasing it a fraction, waited. Gradually the pain of breathing began to recede. Now he could turn his mind inward. The God-King be praised that they knew nothing of his abilities to control his body functions.
What he found left him shaken. This time, the fact that they knew so little about his physiology had worked against him. Damage, serious damage, had been done to those parts of his internal system that allowed him to boost his ability to repair himself. And his reserves were too low to rely on time alone. Though they didn’t know it, this last session of questioning could cost him his life.
“I can’t tell what the hell’s going on here, Zhyaf,” said Dzyash, turning to look at him. “The readings are all over the place. First his blood pressure drops like a stone, then it’s up! Now, from the looks of it, he’s about to go into shock. I want a physician on standby. I’m not prepared to be responsible for him.”
“Call one, then,” said Zhyaf. “Don’t look to me to make your decisions, Dzyash. You’re in charge of the bio-readings. If you think he needs a medic, call one.” He saw the other’s look, felt his purposely unconcealed anger, and decided he’d better explain. “Send for the medic now,” he said, turning to give the youth his full attention.
“I apologize for sounding brusque, Dzyash, but I’m constantly monitoring Keeza, and I’m concerned about her. You have to use your own judgment here. Situations can develop in seconds, giving us no time to confer. You wouldn’t have been picked for the project if you didn’t have the necessary skills.”
Dzyash nodded. Turning his gaze back to the bio-readings, he asked, “How is she? Will she come around soon?”
“She’s moving toward consciousness now. Just coming out of a state akin to a very powerful dream, but I can’t make sense of it. Her thoughts are even more confused than they were before. I get wisps of memories of her experiences before she was processed, but not enough to cause real problems. I am concerned as to her mental well-being, though. She is seriously disturbed, but then, going through this, what can I expect? It’s utterly barbaric!”
“We’re getting results, though,” said Nayla. “In this case, surely the end justifies the means?”
The door opened and Fazzu, still on call, entered. “What’s up?” he asked, going over to Dzyash’s work station to look at the traces. “Looks reasonably stable to me.”
“He is now, but the readings suggested he was about to go into shock a few minutes ago. I’d prefer it if you stayed until he’s really stable.”
“Very well,” said Fazzu, putting his medikit on the counter and pulling a chair up beside Dzyash. “I’ve no other patients tonight.”
As she came round, Keeza’s muscles spasmed involuntarily, making her moan with pain. Her limbs were a mass of prickling tingles as the circulation began to return to them. She remembered Kezule and raised her head, looking over to where he lay on the bed.
He was facing her, and she could see the angry swelling around the blood-encrusted cut on his cheek. “Come,” he hissed, gesturing her over with an unsteady hand. “Need help.”
She got to her feet, unable to stop herself mewling in pain as she forced herself upright. Stopping at the table, she picked up the tray of antiseptics and bandages.
“Later,” he said, pushing it aside as she stood beside him. “Get food. Need food now. Must eat to heal.” His words were punctuated by small hisses of pain.
“How? How can I get food?” she asked.
“Ask. They monitor us. Ask!” The word was a long, drawn out hiss.
She looked round, wondering where the listening device was, where she should direct her words.
“Just ask!”
“He needs food!” she said, turning round as she spoke. “D’you hear me, you bastards? He needs food, or he can’t heal!”
“What now?” asked Dzyash.
“She believes him,” added Zhyaf, looking at Fazzu.
The medic frowned. “Food, to help him heal? It’s possible, I suppose. When’s his next meal due?”
Nayla checked her wrist comm. “Not for two hours.”
“We need someone to go in and talk to them, and i
t isn’t going to be me,” he said. “Is Brother L’Seuli still here? Send for him.”
The food finally arrived. Keeza dispatched and prepared it quickly and efficiently, covering it liberally, as he’d asked, with the ground laalquoi powder. Supporting him, she fed it to him a piece at a time till it was all gone. When he was finished, she fetched him water.
“More food,” he said, pushing himself up on his elbow. “Need more.”
This time, when L’Seuli came, two guards backed a growling and spitting Keeza into a corner while a third covered Kezule at close range.
“Why the need for extra food, Kezule?” L’Seuli asked, pulling a chair over and sitting near his bed.
Kezule hissed a sentence in Valtegan, baring his needle-sharp teeth. He was caught this time, didn’t have an option. He needed the food, his life depended on it.
“You want extra food, you need to cooperate with me,” L’Seuli said, leaning back and folding his arms. “I don’t intend to wait long, either.” His tail swayed lazily.
What would be the least damaging piece of information to give him? He’d not anticipated having to discuss his physiology, hadn’t any half-truths prepared, and he was too ill to think coherently. “I can speed my healing, but need food. Laalgo uses body reserves. I have none.”
L’Seuli raised an eye ridge. “You can speed up your ability to heal? Useful, but hardly necessary, Kezule. You and I both know you’re not that badly hurt.” He got to his feet and turned to go.
From her corner, Keeza let forth a flood of invectives that contained a few even he hadn’t heard before.
“You want I die?” Kezule asked, lying down. “Is fine. No future for me here anyway.” He had to tell them or die. He began to cough, each intake of breath convulsing him with pain.
“You’re not dying, dammit!” said L’Seuli, striding over to the bedside. “Stop the acting!”
Kezule reached out and grasped L’Seuli by the jacket, pulling his face level with his. “You damage me this time in ways you not know!”
The guard stepped forward as L’Seuli’s fingers grasped Kezule’s palm, twisting it back against the wrist, but the Valtegan had already released him and the hold was unnecessary. Both pulled away, Kezule to fall back on his bed, coughing again.
“When you recover, you will explain how we managed to hurt you, and how you speed up your healing processes,” snarled L’Seuli. “Give him what he wants!” With that, he turned and strode out of the room, the guards following in his wake.
“Don’t go that close to him again,” said Rhyaz, his voice quiet as L’Seuli joined him in the control room.
“I’m sorry, Guild Master,” said L’Seuli, ears dipping in apology. He knew he’d acted foolishly, and Rhyaz’s quiet censure was worse than the chewing out he knew he deserved.
“Fazzu, once he’s had enough to eat, and when they’re settled, use the sedative gas,” said Rhyaz. “I want a full range of tests run on them, including body scans for him. I want to know exactly what damage he’s suffered. Compare them with the originals. There must be some obvious differences, swellings, internal bleeding, anything to let us know what’s happening.”
Fazzu nodded. “Any treatment? What do you want done with them when we’ve finished?”
Rhyaz looked surprised. “Return them exactly as they were. No treatment, I don’t want them knowing they’ve been disturbed. Keeza is showing signs of violence that I don’t like. I want to know why. On second thought, better scan her as well. She might have sustained a head injury from that beating a fortnight ago.”
“Yes, Master Rhyaz.”
Once Kezule had gorged himself into a stupor, Keeza began bathing his cheek. He stopped her, grasping her by the wrist and pulling her arm in front of his mouth. Slowly, he sank his teeth into her, making sure that those that carried the serum penetrated deeply enough to inject it. She mewled in shock, unable to pull free of his grasp. When he was done, he opened his mouth, taking care not to tear her flesh.
As she looked at the dozens of tiny oozing puncture wounds in utter shock, he pulled her closer, till he could speak into her ear and not be overheard.
“The bite is nothing, but it is poisoned. I need to go into laalgo to heal. There is no Sholan word for it. You watch me; watch me well. When I waken, then I take the poison from you.”
He released her. “Now, help me out of the clothes, then see to the wounds,” he said, lying back tiredly. It wasn’t a poison exactly, but he needed her to think it was. For him, it was as drastic a step as going into the laalgo state. He couldn’t remember if he’d seen any of the Sholan pets with bite marks, but he knew it worked on the females of some of the slave species. She needed to be focused on him, protective of him to a greater degree than she already was, because while in laalgo, he’d be utterly defenseless.
The cut on his face and the visible bruising treated with antiseptic and salve, he had her cover him with the blankets, telling her to press them close against his naked body.
“Your blanket, too,” he ordered. “Stay close, lie on the bed against me. I need the warmth. I’ll be in laalgo for several days. When I wake, you give me water, then food. Let no one touch me or try to wake me. You understand?”
She nodded, standing there holding her blanket clutched in front of her.
Again he reached out and pulled her close. “They try to wake me too soon, it could kill me. If I die, so do you. Only when I wake will I stop the poison.”
“But what if it kills me first?”
“Won’t kill you quickly,” he grinned humorlessly. “Make you feel sick, maybe, but I’ll wake in time.” One day, the tables would be reversed. This new indignity was already added to his list.
“What’s taking so long?” fretted Fazzu, pacing the control room. “Is he performing some damned ritual or something?”
“I don’t believe it! She’s lying down with him!” exclaimed Nayla. “I saw the tape of what happened last time she approached him! You’d think she’d have learned her lesson.”
“He’s asked her to join him,” said L’Seuli from his perch on the edge of the counter. “Her body language is too confident for it to be her idea. Zhyaf? What do you say?”
“Her fear’s abated, certainly but she’s still nervous. I’d have to agree with you, though. This looks like something he’s told her to do.”
“Why?” asked Dzyash. “We know he hates the thought of any intimacy with alien females, so why is he inviting it now?”
“Why do people lie close, apart from for paring?” asked L’Seuli. “Warmth. He’s had her add her blanket to those on his bed, now he wants her lying on the top beside him. Not for sexual reasons. Some desert tribes males allow their favored herding beasts on their beds at night in the winter, especially the pregnant females. Remember, he sees her as a pet.”
“His readings are falling,” said Dzyash suddenly. “Falling rapidly. Heartbeat, respiration, temperature, the lot!”
L’Seuli leaped down to get a better view of the screen over Dzyash’s shoulder. “What’s happening?” he demanded.
“I think we’re about to see him go into a hibernation state,” said Fazzu. “It’s a theory we’ve been discussing, given that he’s got similarities to our reptiles, but I didn’t expect it to actually happen.” He pointed to the screen. “Look, increased brain activity. He’s certainly doing something to himself.”
“What about the sedative gas?” asked Nayla.
“Leave it till he’s stabilized. If we interfere in what’s obviously a natural process for him, it could be fatal. For now, we watch and wait.”
Mentor Sorli had been allocated an office on the ground floor: one of the reception rooms which would be converted for him. He’d refused, deciding instead to have one of the Leska suites.
It was his favorite part of the building, reached by a narrow spiral stone staircase. Dubbed the bird run, the corridor that connected the half dozen or so suites was wooden floored—not stained, highly treated wood, but r
ough, scarred by generations of clawed Sholan feet and bleached almost white by scrubbing and sanding. It was where the newly Linked Leska pairs lived while learning how to cope with their partner and combined abilities. It was also where established pairs would stay while visiting Valsgarth. They were isolated to a degree from the bustle and hubbub of the daily life of the Guildhouse.
He’d chosen the suite at the end of the corridor. Coincidentally it had what he considered the best views of the grounds. His office looked out across the plain to the woodland, beyond which the ornate white-domed roof of the temple was visible.
As he stood by his desk, the door burst open, admitting Esken. Sorli’s aide, Maeshou, trailed unhappily behind him trying to apologize for the disturbance.
“Tell this assistant of yours not to try and keep me out of your office again, Sorli,” snapped Esken. “I’ve had a bad enough day without her adding to it.”
Sorli gestured to Maeshou, letting her know there was nothing more she could do.
“Master Esken, won’t you take a seat? What brings you here?” he asked, indicating the comfortable chairs just beyond his desk.
Esken was already on his way there, grumbling. “D’you know what Challa’s doing now? Redecorating my apartments! First she moves in—despite my direct orders not to, mark you—then her damned cubs join her! They could board downstairs like the others, but no, that’s not good enough for her! Now this! I can’t move for painters and carpenters hammering and sawing everywhere.” He stopped as Sorli sat down opposite him.
“Why the hell did you have to have your office up in this Gods’ forsaken bit of building?” he demanded. “Must have climbed at least a hundred steps. Damned inconvenient of you, Sorli.”
“Not a hundred, Master Esken,” Sorli murmured. “About thirty-nine in all. I’m sorry to hear of your troubles, but to what do I owe this visit?”
“This is no call to exchange pleasantries, Sorli. I’m disappointed in you, damned disappointed. I expected a report from you concerning the latest happenings with the mixed Leskas. Instead I have to hear the news from Khafsa when the female’s brought into the medical center because she’s lost her Talent! And I knew nothing about the Aldatans testing all the telepaths! They’ve taken some thirty from all over the continent to live at their estate! Just what d’you think you’re doing, Sorli? Do I have to remind you that I’m still the Guild Master here? You’ve let your promotion go to your head!”
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