Fire Margins

by Lisanne Norman

  “Excuse me?”

  “This stone,” Jack said, picking up a small, sealed culture dish, “we grew from a sample of the drug Ghezu administered to Kaid.” He placed the dish in front of Garras. “And that’s the drug,” he said, tapping the rack in which the almost empty phial of emerald green liquid sat. “We think it might be responsible for him being able to physically visit Carrie at the Shrine while he was actually in Stronghold.”

  Garras reached for the rack, lifting it up to examine the phial closely. “Is this the original phial?” he asked.

  “Yes. Why?” asked Vanna.

  “I’ve seen one like this before,” he said. “I can’t remember where. Give me a minute,” he said, putting it down. “I’m sure it’ll come back to me. That red banding round the top is quite distinctive.”

  “The stone doesn’t affect us,” said Jack. “I’m running comp simulation tests on the drug now to find out if we’re also immune to it.”

  “Makes sense,” he said. “Vanna, can you find out if we get any drugs from off-system companies? Not necessarily Sholan drugs.”

  “That’s not a problem. I’ll call the medical center at the guild. They’ll have the details there.”

  Garras got up from his stool. “I’m heading home,” he said to Vanna, reaching out to touch her cheek. “I want some breakfast. I didn’t eat before I left.”

  “Aren’t you going to call on Kaid?” she asked.

  “Later,” he said, turning to leave. He stopped by Marak’s carrier to check on him on his way out. “He looks peaceful enough,” he said.

  “Little jegget should be!” said Vanna, watching him. “He kept me up most of last night!”

  “See if Rrai’s mother will watch him tonight,” he said before leaving.

  He’d just gotten outside when he stopped dead as he felt the familiar touch of Kaid’s mind, a touch far stronger than any he’d felt before.

  I owe you an explanation, Garras. Will you come and listen to it?

  The shock he felt rendered him incapable of replying, and as if in a daze, he turned and headed for the villa.

  Dzaka met him at the door. “It’s the Liege and Liegena’s Link day,” he said. “My father’s upstairs. He’s in the suite opposite the staircase. I left the door open, you can’t miss it,” he said.

  “Father now, is it?” Garras asked.

  Dzaka’s ears flicked self-consciously a couple of times but his eyes were steady as they regarded him.

  “Yes, it’s Father when we’re not on duty. Because we both want it that way.”

  Garras nodded, then turned away and headed for the stairs.

  Kaid was still in bed with his arm in a sling, he noticed as he stood at the bedroom doorway. An easy chair had been placed close to the bed for him to use.

  “Thank you for coming,” said Kaid, opening his eyes and pushing himself up against the pillows.

  “Since when did you become a telepath?” Garras asked as he came over.

  “I found out for sure two days ago. Carrie told me.”

  “Carrie did?” He raised an eye ridge, curious despite himself.

  Kaid touched the remote unit set into the arm rest at the side of the bed. The outer and inner doors closed.

  “We go back a long way, Garras. Let me tell it my way.”

  “Go on,” he said. He sat down and listened while Kaid told him.

  *

  “If I’d told you at the time who Dzaka was, I could have placed your life in danger too,” Kaid finished. “After you left, there was no point in telling you.”

  “And your refusal to be the third member of the Triad was due to that forced rapport with Khemu?”

  “Yes. It … she … Carrie had become too … important to me to risk that happening with her,” Kaid replied, unable to meet Garras’ eyes.

  “Had become?”

  “The Triad’s complete now, and before you ask, yes, it did happen with her.”

  “What did she do?”

  “Showed me how to prevent it happening again.” He looked up. “Do you remember when we told Kusac and Vanna why I was on the Khalossa? How Vanna reacted to your profession? Imagine that all you are and have been, everything you’ve ever done, was suddenly forced into Vanna’s mind by yours, and you couldn’t stop it happening. That’s what I did to her, and to Khemu.”

  Garras couldn’t prevent a shudder running through him at the thought. “Vartra’s bones, Kaid, no wonder you were afraid of it happening again! So how does that leave you with Carrie? I’m not blind: I know you too well. I can see what she means to you.”

  “The one thing I’d forgotten was what made all the difference. She’s not a Sholan Telepath who feels too much pain if she’s near violence. It should have been obvious to me.”

  “With how you were feeling about her?” snorted Garras. “I’ve never seen you like that over a female. Wanting her so much and terrified to go near her at the same time!”

  “It must have been quite amusing,” he said dryly.

  Garras leaned forward to put his hand on Kaid’s. “No. Far from it. I wish I could have helped. Don’t get me wrong, that wasn’t a complaint. I would have done the same as you in the circumstances. And I understand your fears for Dzaka. You did what you thought right, I can’t fault you for that.”

  Kaid turned his hand to clasp Garras’. “It was never lack of trust in you,” he began, but Garras cut him short.

  “Enough. It’s in the past, leave it there.” He gripped Kaid’s hand again before withdrawing it from his clasp. “So what’s the state of things between you and Carrie now?”

  “Whatever we want to make of it,” he said. “She’s got what it takes to be one of the Brotherhood, I’ll say that for her—so’s Kusac.”

  “We knew that already.”

  “It only needed us to be together once, Garras. Now our minds have been joined, I can reach her easily.”

  “How does she feel about you?”

  “I didn’t ask.”

  Garras felt his confusion. “I expect you told Kusac that.”

  “Well, yes,” he began.

  Garras sat back in his seat with a noise of disgust. “Was that it? Just one pairing? Was that all you wanted?”

  “Of course not!” he snapped. “What do you take me for?”

  “A fool. If you won’t ask her for yourself, I damned well will!”

  “You damned well won’t!” said Kaid, taking hold of the covers to throw them aside.

  “Stay put,” said Garras, reaching forward to prevent him getting up. “You need to rest. All I’m trying to say is this isn’t only your decision. You haven’t the right to make it alone. You have to ask her what she wants. You’re always saying how Sholan she is, so why deny her the Sholan right to choose for herself? Unless, of course, she behaved in such a way as to show you she didn’t want to be with you again.”

  “You’re too damned clever at times for your own good, Garras,” Kaid grumbled, relaxing back against his pillows. “You always were. No, she didn’t. She behaved as if she were taking me as her lover, but she isn’t Sholan! I can’t assume she knew what signals she was giving me.”

  Garras gave him a long look before he spoke. “How long has she been with Kusac? Do you really think she’s that naive? Stop kidding yourself. Ask her.”

  “All right, I will!”

  “Good. Now do you mind telling me how you’ve managed to be a Telepath and fight? And how did you manage to survive what Fyak and Ghezu did to you? Any normal telepath would have been long since dead!”

  “I’ve no idea, Garras. Right from the start I always had to fight for everything. I suppose I just got used to it. After the Brotherhood took me in, my training would have reinforced those childhood lessons.”

  “Sounds plausible, I suppose. Now, how about bringing me up to date on what happened yesterday? Vanna mentioned that you got the door open, and Jack showed me that collar, and the drug Ghezu gave you.”

  “They’ve got some o
f the drug? How much is left?”

  “Virtually none. Why?”

  “Damn! I need more of it. I’ve got some tests of my own I want to run on it.”

  “Vanna’s checking at the guild medical center for suppliers of off-world drugs, Sholan or others. I recognized the band round the phial, but I couldn’t remember where from.”

  “What was it like?”

  “Red, with gold wavy lines on it.”

  “Chemerian,” he said. “Definitely. Their authorities are trying to trace a black market trade in certain drugs, so they’re labeling their legal ones very distinctively. I suspect they come from their undisclosed new trade area where the Valtegans sold four Sholan captives several months ago.”

  “This is news to me. Where the hell did you get that information from?”

  Kaid grinned. “One of my sources. There’s more. The world’s called Jalna, and the Chemerians trade there with several species for items they describe as “species-specific.” There’s a recon unit on the planet now. Three Terrans. Jo and Davies from Keiss, and a Terran telepath.”

  “They’ve sent Terrans? Why?”

  “The Jalnians look like them. They’ve gone down to investigate a Valtegan craft which apparently dropped something on the surface before it crashed while attempting to take off.”

  “So where do the four Sholans come in?”

  “They don’t, this time around. They were sold as slaves in the spaceport. The next expedition will be going down to get them out. They’re planning to send Kusac and Carrie, but they haven’t told them that yet!”

  “Nice of them,” growled Garras. “I take it that Carrie’s pregnancy put their plans out a little.”

  “It did. That’s why Kusac’s on semi-active duty now. He’s being trained up for the mission.”

  “Don’t you think you should tell them?”

  “No. The Fire Margins and their cub are enough for them to be concerned with for now.”

  Garras nodded. “You’re right,” he said.

  “Going back to the drug, what Ghezu used on me isn’t the same as what Fyak uses for his trances when he communicates with this Kezule. Apparently Ghezu got it when he was obtaining supplies for Fyak. I think it was responsible for me going to the Shrine, and back to the time of the Cataclysm.”

  “You’re getting ahead of yourself, Kaid. All of what you’re talking about is news to me.”

  “Wait. There’s a Chemerian merchant trading in Valsgarth. Can you go to him—take the phial with you—and see if he recognizes it? And try to … encourage him to obtain at least another two doses.”

  “I can do that. Now, for the God’s sake, tell me the news!”

  *

  The next day Kaid was up and about before anyone. He headed over to the Shrine where, some time later, Ghyan found him sitting at the foot of the statue of Vartra.

  “I’d heard they’d brought you back to the estate,” he said, coming over to stand beside him. “How are you?”

  Kaid squinted up at him. “Not bad,” he said. “It isn’t a bit like Him, you know.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Kaid pushed himself to his feet with his good arm. “Vartra doesn’t look like this. Have you come across a reference to Varza, God of a Warrior priesthood that existed back then? The statue up on the hill was like this, like the one at Stronghold. He’s your real God.”

  “A moment, Kaid,” said Ghyan, reaching out to take him by the arm.

  This time, Kaid made no effort to conceal what he was feeling from the priest, and no sooner had he touched him, than Ghyan drew back in shock.

  “It’s different when you feel for yourself the effect you have on others, isn’t it?” Kaid said. “Perhaps now you’ll see me, not what you think I am. It makes no odds to me, but it would make it easier for us to work together.”

  As he stepped over to the side braziers, he could feel Ghyan’s utter confusion. Taking a piece of incense, he crumbled it over the coals, quietly repeating the ancient ritual. Having finished, he decided to take pity on the priest: he was just being overprotective of those he loved.

  “I told you, Ghyan, we’re both working for the same goals.”

  “Kaid, if I misjudged you, I apologize,” said Ghyan. “If it’s any consolation, after the last time you and I talked, Father Lijou held up the same mirror you just did.”

  Kaid raised an eye ridge in surprise.

  “He’d read what his predecessor wrote about you. I hadn’t realized you’d been attached to the priesthood for so long.”

  “I had Dzaka to care for, I needed to stay on Shola for him. It wasn’t all religious work, though, I had secular duties as well during that time. That’s how Garras and I became a team.”

  “With your telepathic talent, no wonder you became a Special Operative. It must have helped enormously in locating those with rogue talents, and in assessing whether or not they could be helped at Stronghold.”

  “You have been talking to a few people, haven’t you?” said Kaid with a slight grin. “What’s past, is past, Ghyan.”

  Ghyan’s ears flicked in assent. “You mentioned Vartra. Have you seen Him?”

  “We all did, but it was Kusac’s dream. You’d best ask him.”

  Ghyan shook his head. “You tell me. What’s He like? Those who’ve seen Him in dreams or visions never seem to see Him clearly.”

  “Tall, and slimmer than most. More like a priest, certainly no warrior,” he said. “Plains born, with the narrower ears and a dark tan pelt.” Kaid gestured to the statue. “Certainly not with muscles like those!”

  “I don’t understand you, Kaid. You’ve consistently had visions and dreams of Vartra, and you’ve spent years as a lay-Priest. Why do you still burn incense for Him if you believe He’s only a person, not a God?”

  “He did what the legends tell us,” said Kaid, shivering despite the long woollen robe he wore. He suddenly felt bone-weary. He realized that coming to the Shrine had been too much for him. “He may have started out no different from us, but the things He achieved!” He shook his head thoughtfully. “He is the one who speaks to us in our Visions, Ghyan. Only a God can do that. I have no problems with His having been a mortal, in fact, I prefer it. Godhood should be earned, not conferred at birth. If Gods are born,” he added as an afterthought. “We have to work closely now, Ghyan. We travel to the Fire Margins within a fortnight.”

  “I didn’t realize you’d finalized it. I’ve studied the texts on the Pathwalking used for the Margins. I can handle it. I think we could all do with a couple of practices first, though.”

  “I know the Path, Ghyan. We’ll need you here to guard us while we’re traveling.”

  “How do you know the path? You couldn’t have been there, surely!”

  “All three of us have been there at some time,” he said. “Whether it was a replay, or a vision, we saw His world. I’ll describe it to you, and you can monitor us. When we travel, if need be, you can reinforce what I’m showing them. But not now. Not today. I’m sorry,” he said, reaching out to hold onto the stone pillar for support as a wave of nausea and lightheadedness swept through him. “It’s too soon after …”

  “You don’t look well. Let me help you,” said Ghyan, slipping his arm under Kaid’s sound one.

  *

  Carrie was in the den at the time. Sensing that Kaid was reaching the point of collapse, she went looking for Dzaka in the staff quarters. There was no reply when she touched the buzzer, so she went in, heading through the tiny sitting area to his bedroom door.

  Dzaka lay sprawled across his bed, dead to the world. The lightweight cover was tangled round his limbs—and Kitra was nestled in against his side. Kitra had obviously stolen down from the main house to be with him, only to find she was unable to wake him.

  Stopping at the foot of the bed, Carrie ran her fingers down the pads of Dzaka’s foot, making him jerk in his sleep. Repeating it, she watched in amusement as he began to wake, then feeling the warmth of someone else beside
him, discovered Kitra, then her.

  He sat bolt upright, looking from one to the other, mouth open in an “Oh, my God!” expression.

  She laughed at his confusion. He obviously wasn’t used to being disturbed when he was sharing his bed. “Dzaka. Kaid’s overdone it by going to the Shrine. Will you take the floater chair over and fetch him back, please? Once you’ve returned you can go back to bed if you want. You’re not on duty till evening,” she said, unable to hide another grin.

  Dzaka carefully untangled himself, throwing the cover over Kitra once he’d gotten up.

  “Sorry, Liegena, I didn’t know she was there,” he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he staggered over to his shower cubicle.

  “It’s not a problem, so long as Rhyasha knows she’s here. I thought she’d been visiting less often.”

  “She has, now she’s gotten things into their proper perspective. She’s still a kitling, after all.”

  “True. I’ll leave you to it. Let me know when you’ve got Kaid settled,” she said.

  *

  Carrie had just finished organizing Zhala and first meal when Kitra came bouncing into the family kitchen.

  “May the sun shine on you this morning, Carrie,” she said, heading for one of the chairs in preference to the benches. “Can I eat with you?”

  “Does your mother know you’re here?” asked Carrie, pouring out some coffee for herself and Kusac.

  “I always leave a comm message for her when I come to see Dzaka,” she said archly. “And if it’s night, then one of the guards brings me.”