Fortune's Wheel

by Lisanne Norman

  They were expecting him. In the courtyard below, the landing lights were on. Automatically hecompensated for the gusting wind as he brought the small craft down to land vertically. It was nearlyalways blustery at the Stronghold because of the altitude.

  Powering the craft down, he released his safety harness. Getting to his feet, he reached for his gray cloak,flinging it round his shoulders and fastening it in place. A traditional-ist, he still preferred cloaks to coats inmost circumstances. They were more easily taken off and could be used many different ways in both adefensive and offensive manner.

  The landing lights flicked off as he stepped out into the courtyard. He closed his eyes, waiting till theeidetic images died before opening them again. The light from the windows threw a faint glow that gavehim more than enough visibil-ity. Moving across the yard to the main doors he heard the faint sound of afootfall on the gravel nearby.

  He gave a small growl of annoyance. They weren't still playing that old game, were they? In one fluidmove, he stooped to pick up a handful of gravel, then swung toward the noise, releasing his smallmissiles.

  A sharp yelp of surprise rang out. Kaid straightened up with a laugh. "Too noisy, youngling. You needmore prac-tice."

  Still chuckling, he continued walking toward the doors, pushing the left one open just enough for him toslip inside.

  The hall was as he remembered it, not that he'd expected it to be different. At the far end sat the massivestatue of Vartra, flanked on either side by glowing braziers from which curled opaque coils of smokeheavy with the scent of incense.

  His shadow flickering before him, Kaid walked down the length of the hall. On either side, torches set inancient wall sconces lit his way. Stopping in front of the statue, he re-garded it critically for a moment. He'd never been able to decide whether the God was laying down his weapons or was about to pickthem up.

  Crossing his forearms over his chest, he bowed his head in tribute to the image, then stepped forward topick up a small block of incense from the stand beside the brazier. Softly saying the ritual words, hetossed the incense into the hot coals. Moving to the right, he stepped past the statue to the great crimsoncurtain that hung down behind it from ceiling to floor. Twitching at the folds, he found the opening andstepped through into the alcove.

  The metal door in front of him slid silently aside, allow-ing him to enter the brightly lit corridor beyond.

  Blinking as he stepped through, he was aware of the door closing behind him. He continued walking,

  coming to a stop at the first doorway. Knocking gently, he entered.

  The Leader sat behind his desk. On a chair to one side of him was the head of the cult of Vartra, thepriest and tele-path, Lijou.

  "Leader Ghezu," murmured Kaid, inclining his head to-ward him as he approached the desk. "Brother

  Lijou."

  "We've waited impatiently for your arrival," said Ghezu, indicating that Kaid should take the empty seat

  facing him. "What news have you?"

  Unwrapping himself from his cloak, Kaid sat. "You've had my reports," he said.

  Ghezu made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "You know what we need to hear."

  "I don't know that I can tell you, Ghezu," said Kaid.

  "What do you mean?" demanded'Ghezu sharply.

  "He means that his contract is not now under your juris-diction," said Lijou with a smile. "Isn't that so,

  Kaid?"

  Kaid inclined his head. "My contract with the Clan Leader, and you, is fulfilled. I came to remind you ofthis."

  "There are questions I need answered, Kaid. Your reports were too brief," said Ghezu.

  "How so? I told you all that you requested."

  "We didn't realize that the matter was so complex," said Ghezu. "Now we're aware of that, we know

  how much in-formation we're lacking."

  "I understand your predicament, but it's out of my hands now," murmured Kaid, examining his claws.

  "What about your duty to the Brotherhood?" Ghezu asked. "You know how important this is to us."

  "If you remember, I was retired from the Brotherhood some time ago," said Kaid quietly. "I owe no one

  anything now, except the client who gave me my current contract."

  Ghezu made a noise of exasperation and sat back in his seat. "You always were too much of anindividualist, Kaid," he said. "I'd forgotten how much of a mixed blessing your early retirement was for usall. Why the hell did you kill all the dissidents on the Khalossa?"

  "The Commander wanted the matter brought to an end. I told you in my report."

  "You could at least have interrogated one of them before termination."

  "Why? I knew all there was to know about them. Again, it was all in my report."

  "Softly, Ghezu," said Lijou, smiling again. "You know you can't fault Kaid. He was protecting his client's interests. What we need to discover from him is what he's prepared to accept in return for the information we seek."

  Ghezu narrowed his eyes, ears giving one slight flick.

  "What is it you want, Kaid?" continued the priest.

  Kaid looked up from examining his nails. "A steady source of information in Valsgarth and beyond. I'mnot con-vinced my clients' lives aren't still at risk."

  "Ah, here we have one piece of information for free," purred Lijou. "You're still protecting our Liegen and

  his Leska."

  "That was never in doubt, was it?" asked Kaid, raising an eye ridge.

  "Very well, what do you wish to know?" asked Ghezu with a sigh.

  "Do I get my back-up?"

  "Yes."

  "What's been the grass roots reaction to his link with the Terran female?" asked Kaid.

  "The average person doesn't care one way or the other," said Ghezu. "You know they view telepaths as a breed apart anyway. Everything they do is strange. Granted having an alien Leska is more strange than usual, but there's no under-current of feeling beyond curiosity about the Terran and her relationship to Kusac Aldatan. The Attitude Indoctrination program was run on the public channels and seems to have been effective."

  "What about the Clans?"

  "That's another matter," said Lijou. "There's a lot of mut-tering among the Clan Lords. The next sitting of the council isn't for two months yet, but by then I predict there will be several complaints about the fitness of Kusac as a candidate for the Clans' Lordship because of his alien Leska."

  "Vailkoi has been muttering loudest on behalf of his daughter Rala. He sees this Terran as a threat to his

  daugh-ter's position and wants the life-bonding date to be set as soon as possible," said Ghezu.

  Kaid nodded. "That much I expected. What of the reac-tion to the discovery of the Terrans and the

  Valtegans? Does anyone believe the Terrans were involved in the destruction of Khyaal and Szurtha?"

  "None that we've heard. Nearly every clan has lost some-one on the two colonies, but they hold the Valtegans totally responsible for the destruction. There was no obvious anti-Terran feeling that we noticed, and as I said, the A.I. pro-gram would have rectified it if there had been any."

  "How did the reporters cover the topic?"

  "Factually, for a change," said Ghezu. "Though today when they reported your arrival on Shola, there was specu-lation as to the nature of their relationship—I don't need to tell you how they love to trivialize things."

  Kaid nodded. "Thank you. That answers my most press-ing questions for the moment."

  "I need to ask a few questions," said Lijou. "My guild is not being forthcoming with information about them. Are they truly Leskas in the sense that we understand it? Do they have a real telepathic Link with each other to the exclusion of anyone else?"

  "Yes, their Link is real. In fact it's more demanding and tying than the Links our people have," replied

  Kaid.

  "I've heard rumors to the effect she's more powerful, more Talented than he is."

  "As to that, I can't comment. She certainly has more Tal-e
nts than we have, which is why the Forces

  have sent them to the Telepath Guild for her to be assessed."

  "If they can devise tests for abilities we know nothing about," said Lijou dubiously. "Do they know yet

  why the Leska Link occurred between them?"

  Kaid shook his head. "No, but others of our kind find the Terrans attractive. There have been severalnontelepath pair-ings already. Their personal physician thinks it's due initially to similar pheromones. Beyond that, your guess is as good as mine until your guild comes up with the answers."

  "Is it true that the female can fight without any of the physical problems that our telepaths suffer?" asked

  Ghezu.

  "Yes, it's true, and so can Kusac now," said Kaid. "On Keiss he killed four Valtegans without a second thought, and on the Khalossa he was involved in a bar brawl in her de-fense against the other Terrans on board."

  "Against the Terrans? What had they done to cause him to attack them?" asked Lijou, ears flicking in

  surprise.

  "Some of them were reacting with species prejudice to-ward her for having a sexual relationship with one

  of us." Kaid shrugged. "As it happens, she didn't have such a rela-tionship with him at that point."

  "So Kusac is now free from all the inhibitions that pre-vent us from fighting," said Lijou.

  "Yes. There has been a crossover of her abilities to him," said Kaid. "What she can do, it now seems so can he. The Warrior Guild want to study them as well because the Sholan High Command sees their potential for military use. It's my belief that if this Link proves successful and they can isolate the reasons for it happening in the first place, they will try to reproduce those conditions using other mixed species pairs."

  Lijou turned to Ghezu. "This will upset the balance be-tween both our guilds," he said thoughtfully. 'Thepotential repercussions of telepaths who can fight are enormous. It will affect our social structure at everylevel."

  Ghezu shifted uncomfortably. "It seems you were right. They are a force for change, whether or not wewant it. Vartra knows where this will lead."

  "The God's hand can certainly be seen at work here," said Lijou. "There's nothing else we can do but g6

  with it until we see what His plan is, because take my word for it, there is a plan!"

  Ghezu stirred again. "You should return to them now. We'll see that you're provided with the informationyou need. In return, keep us informed on their progress at both guilds. I've issued a directive that we areaccepting no neg-ative contracts concerning Terrans or Leska pairs where one partner is Terran."

  Kaid nodded and got to his feet, collecting his cloak from the back of the chair. "That'll certainly help. I'llkeep in touch through my contact. I take it if I need support, I can call on the Brothers?"

  "Of course," said Ghezu.

  Ghezu waited till Kaid had left. "Well, I hope you're sat-isfied," he said. "We could have gotten as muchinformation from our people already on the Khalossa."

  "Not really," said Lijou, sitting back in his seat with a sat-isfied look on his face. "We've achieved more

  than you re-alize, Ghezu. I always told you that you didn't have enough depth of vision."

  "What are you rambling on about?" demanded Ghezu, his tone irritated as he tapped his stylus on the

  desk.

  "While Kaid needs us, we still have someone close to the pair who will feed us information on them. If he wants our help, it'll cost him. Had we used your people on the Khalossa, then we wouldn't have that, would we?"

  "Very well, I'll concede that." Ghezu's tone was far from pleased. The stylus he was holding broke with a

  loud snap.

  Seeing the thunderous look on his face, Lijou forbore to comment on his colleague's lack of self control.

  "There's more," he said. "Kaid's let this become personal."

  That shocked Ghezu. "Are you sure?"

  "Positive. I couldn't pick up any more than that, but it's enough. We know we can use it if we need to. It

  gives us an advantage over him."

  "It's as well we have Dzaka, then."

  Lijou frowned. "I don't understand this desire of yours to set him against Kaid. It's foolish in the extreme.

  You're try-ing his loyalty to us too much."

  "I'm not setting him against Kaid. He's the best we have. He's also the only one who has a chance of

  besting him if it came to it."

  Lijou snorted his derision. "Do you really think he'd ter-minate Kaid? Then you're a bigger fool than Ithought you were, Ghezu!"

  "He'd do it, if it's presented properly to him," smiled Ghezu. "You've forgotten how he feels about Kaid

  leaving him with us when he was expelled."

  "That was no more than the hurt pride of a youngling, Ghezu! He got over that years ago."

  "Did he?" It was Ghezu's turn to purr with self-satisfaction. "We'll see, Lijou. We'll see. For the moment

  I'm content to leave the Aldatan cub and his Leska alone. Both Kaid and Dzaka said that at the momentthey're stable and have no ambitions. We'll watch and wait. I want proof that they can fight. When wehave it, then we can think about possibly moving to recruit them. With them on our side, Esken and hisguild won't dare to block our request for full guild status at the council meeting. Because if we do manageto pull them to the Brotherhood, they'll be fighting against the Telepath Guild themselves. We're thelogical place for them to belong. Your guild can't cope with the mentality of fighters, and the Warrior Guild hasn't the facil-ities for telepaths. We, on the other hand, can offer them both."

  "Don't risk everything on just one pair, Ghezu," Lijou warned. "Yes, we want them, but we can't risk

  generations of work on just one pair. Wait and see if there are more."

  "I'm not a fool, Lijou," said Ghezu, getting to his feet. "Of course I'll wait."

  Chapter 12

  She slept lightly, her mind drifting calmly in the gray mists of peacefulness, more secure with her ownidentity now they had begun to edit their common memories. As always she could feel his presence,

  relaxed like her in sleep: quiet, qui-escent.

  In the distance twin flickers of light caught her attention, beckoning her. They flared brightly, then dieddown again, but in that instant she saw a shape beyond them, a presence that called to her.

  Curious, she let herself be drawn toward the lights. Who was it that could touch her subconscious mind? The torches flared again as she drew nearer. Blinking, she tried to peer beyond the glow, straining tomake out the details of the seated figure beyond.

  With her still new night-sight, she saw the being begin to rise sinuously to its feet, its movement bringingthe smell of incense drifting toward her nostrils.

  She wasn't afraid, she realized. Whoever or whatever was coming toward her intended no harm. Therewas a presence, but she couldn't feel the mind: there was no sense of iden-tity, no ongoing stream ofconscious thought.

  Puzzled, she waited as the figure continued to approach. It stopped between the braziers of fire. Theflickering flames picked out a feature here and there—the ears pricked toward her, the nose with thebifurcated mouth below it, a sugges-tion of high cheekbones—before dying down, once more leaving himanonymous in the gloom.

  "You are one, now," said a voice, its tone low, the Sholan strangely accented. "Is it well between you, or

  do you regret your bond?"

  She hesitated before replying. "It's well. I regret nothing. But who are you?"

  The voice continued, ignoring her question. "So many lives changed, so many lost." The voice was awhisper as the reflection of the flames briefly highlighted a face, leav-ing deep shadows where its eyesshould be. "It is good to find the few who are happy from the first. Often the price you have paid for your Talent has been too high."

  The voice died to nothing as the figure faded back into the shadows.

  "Wait!" She stepped forward, the braziers behind her now, but the presence had gone leaving only a
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  dark form sitting on the ground, the glint of metal by its feet.

  The gray mist returned, roiling turbulently around her feet, spreading rapidly upwards, blanking outeverything.

  "Wait!" she cried, arms reaching out to grasp… nothing.

  "Where are you?" she cried frantically, looking round the darkened room, terror now beginning to creep

  into her soul.

  A groan from beside her, a sudden movement in the dark as a hand damp with sweat grasped her barearm, claws pricking her in his urgency to reassure.

  "I'm here," said a voice groggy with sleep.

  "I can't see you… I can't see anything!" she said, turn-ing her head blindly from side to side.

  The light came on, its brightness making her cover her eyes.

  Strong arms pulled her close, the familiar feel and smell of his damp fur calming her instantly.

  I'm here, cub, he sent, pushing aside his own nightmare to reassure her through their link. Open youreyes, you'll see me now.

  She peered through half-open fingers, letting her hands fall away as she saw his face, brows creased andears flick-ing in concern.

  Images jostled in her mind for attention. "Where were you?" Her voice held a residue of panic.

  "I was here," he said as she clutched his arms for the physical reassurance she needed.

  "I couldn't see you through the mist." She was confused, unable to sort between the images. "There were

  flames, incense…"

  "A dark figure beyond them…" he said, smelling her fear mingling with his own.

  "Yes!" she said, turning to him eagerly, "talking about our Link! You saw him, too?"

  He shook his head, sensing what she had seen. "My vision was different. I saw only a shadowy figurewho asked if I was content, nothing more."

  "Who was it, Kusac?"

  "I don't know. I'm not sure… I had a friend—Ghyan. He was like a brother to me. He left here for the

  temple. Per-haps he's still there. Maybe he can tell us."

  A shiver ran the length of his body, making his hackles and hair rise. Consciously he tried to relax themuscles, lay his fur flat. He tried to ignore the small voice from his up-bringing that still believed insuperstition.