They skimmed over the tops of the outlying adobe houses until the village center was ahead of them. Nikuu slowed the craft till it hovered a few meters above the ground, then brought it down to land.
As the dust settled, they saw the villagers approaching them. Nikuu released the canopy, letting it slide back. The hot, arid air of the desert hit them like a physical blow, sucking the moisture out of their lungs almost immediately.
The two Warriors got out first, rifles ready as they stood on either side of the hatch. Nikuu climbed out and waited for Khalmi to join her.
“We’ve come for the new Leskas,” she said, looking round the sea of tan-robed people, their heads covered by matching elaborately wound lengths of cloth. “Where are they?”
A commotion at the rear of the crowd drew Khalmi’s attention. Over there, he sent. Their priest is coming. He’s an-gry.
The crowd parted rapidly as they realized their priest was trying to come to the front. As a path opened up, Nikuu saw a Sholan of middle years, probably about seventy, striding toward them dressed from head to toe in flowing white robes.
He’s new. Don’t recognize him, she sent to Khalmi.
“What do you want with my people?” the priest demanded, coming to a stop in front of them.
“We’re here to collect the new Leska pair,” she said. She felt an immediate wave of fear from the villagers as their priest turned his head toward her and raised his arm.
Naira stepped in front of her in time to ward off the blow with his forearm.
“You dare to stop me striking an unbeliever?” the priest thundered, turning on the Warrior. “No female should dare to speak unless she’s given leave to do so by her mate!”
“No one is allowed to strike a telepath,” said Naira, taking up a defensive position. “If you attempt to harm her again, I’ll take you into custody. We’ve come here to collect the two new Leskas, nothing more. Bring them to us and we’ll be gone.”
“There are no new Leskas in this village.”
“Over there,” said Khalmi, pointing down the still-clear pathway through which the priest had approached. “That house there.” He started walking toward it followed by Zsyzoi.
“Stop! I have said there are no new Leskas in our village.”
The priest’s voice had a tone of command so strong that Khalmi stopped and hesitated, turning back to face him. “I can sense them,” he said. “They’re in great pain, they need treatment.” He held up his medikit.
“There’s no one there but two evil younglings who have been punished for their crimes. They do not deserve anything to alleviate their pain. They must learn that to disobey our laws means to suffer.”
“I’m treating them anyway,” said Khalmi, turning away. In front of him, the crowd had closed, blocking his way to the house.
The crowd’s turning nasty, sent Nikuu. Watch out.
The priest strode forward to stand between Khalmi and the crowd. “Leave our village. You have no right to be here since there are no telepaths involved.”
Khalmi regarded him calmly. “You’re lying. Why are you preventing me from seeing to these two?”
“They aren’t Leskas. You have no jurisdiction here. I’m trying to tend to the souls of those two youngling and the people of my village. You come here with your immodest females and insult us by their very presence!” He raised his hands above his head, speaking now to the crowd, not just to Khalmi.
“Society is tumbling down about our ears because of females like those with you! Can’t you see we must stop the rot before God returns us to the days of the Cataclysm? Believe me, that will be our punishment, and He will show no mercy to those who’ve been unfaithful to Him!”
“You’re talking rubbish,” said Naira, moving past him. Slinging his gun to the side, he drew one of his swords and advanced on the crowd. “Now which one of you will try to stop me?” he growled, showing his canines.
Nikuu had been looking carefully at the people gathered around them. The majority were males, with one or two older females standing at the edges. They stood nowhere near the males. She looked back to Khalmi and Naira.
“They’re going to attack if we try to reach the house,” she said quietly. “Can you and Naira take hold of the priest as a hostage? We’ve got to pick up those two. Khalmi says they’re badly hurt.”
Zsyzoi called a phrase to Naira as she unslung her rifle. As her partner swung round on the priest, she stepped forward, putting the barrel of the gun in the small of his back.
“Let’s all stay calm,” she said to him. “We don’t want anyone to get hurt, do we?”
The priest stiffened with rage. “You’ll burn in hell for this,” he hissed. “Your soul will be forfeit for all eternity!”
“I think not,” she said, moving aside so Naira could put a pair of restraint cuffs on his wrists. “Tell me, which God do you follow?”
“There is only one God! Kezule, God of the sun!” said the priest, struggling against the restraints. “How dare you lay hands upon the sacred person of His priest! He’ll take revenge on you, never fear!”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, grasping him by his cuffed wrists and pushing him forward. “You’re one of the Modernists. Who appointed you a priest anyway, eh? Don’t bother telling me, I’m not interested. Now, how about you take us to these telepaths that you’re holding,” she said conversationally.
Naira had returned his sword to its scabbard and was covering the angrily muttering males with his rifle. He aimed at the ground in front of the foremost male and pressed the firing button. A bolt of energy hit the dirt, kicking up a plume of dust.
Coughing and spluttering, the crowd began to back away and part. As it did, a figure came flying toward them and landed in a heap at Khalmi’s feet.
“Vartra be praised,” she said, reaching out to touch his tunic. “You’ve come for them! I thought he’d kill them with his beating. They’re not more than kitlings! For the God’s sake, take them away from this evil place!”
Nikuu moved forward to the woman, bending down to help her to her feet. See to the young ones, Khalmi. Quickly, then we can get out of here. The crowd is in an ugly mood.
“Come with me,” she said, leading her alongside Naira while Khalmi walked in front. “Are you the mother of one of them?”
“Of Rrai. He’s my son. But the priest beat Jinoe so badly, I don’t know if she’ll live,” the female said, wiping her forearm across her face to dry the tears. “The priest, he said they were evil but it wasn’t their fault they were so young. They couldn’t help it that the God chose them, could they? You’ll take them with you,” she said anxiously. “You won’t leave them here?”
“They’re coming with us,” said Nikuu. “You, too. What about the female, Jinoe? Where’s her mother?”
“Dead this past year. There’s only her father and he said the priest was right to beat the evil out of her.”
They’d reached the house and leaving the mother outside with Zsyzoi and the priest, Nikuu followed Khalmi inside.
“Oh, Gods, no,” she said, as she caught sight of the two small bodies lying curled up on blood-soaked rugs at opposite sides of the room. “Are they still alive?”
Yes, sent her Leska. Just. Send to Valsgarth Guild and tell them to expect us. I don’t know if the female will make it.
Nikuu went over to the male child, bending over him. What about the priest? If we take him in, we can’t take the mother, and if we leave her she’s not going to survive long.
We’ll report him once we’ve taken off. The Protectorate can deal with him. We’ll also report to Brother Lijou that there’s at least one nontelepath priest out here. He loaded his hypo, placed it against the young female’s neck and gave her a shot, then held it out to Nikuu.
“Here, give him some of this. Antibiotic and a heavy analgesic. It’s going to hurt like hell when we lift them.”
Nikuu came back over and took the hypo.
“Don’t cover his wounds,”
her Leska warned. “It’ll only have stuck to his flesh by the time we get to the guild.”
She pocketed the hypo and carefully eased the young male up against her chest, trying to get him partially over her shoulder to balance him. Holding him by his side and across the top of his thighs, she managed to stand up. He whimpered as she shifted her grip, but there was nowhere she could touch him that wasn’t covered in bleeding open weals.
As they came out with the younglings, Zsyzoi took one look at them and prodded the priest in the back with her gun. “Don’t even think about moving the wrong way,” she growled, pushing him ahead of her back toward the aircar. “Modernists like you make me sick with your crazy ideas! We taking him in, too?” she asked.
“We’re taking the mother,” said Khalmi.
“You idolaters! God will punish you for what you’ve done today! You perpetuate the evil He despises!”
Zsyzoi jabbed him in the back with her gun and twisted the chain joining his wrist restraints till he yelped at the sudden pain. “Just shut it, unless you want some real trouble!”
The mother followed Nikuu, tentatively reaching out to touch her son then backing off whimpering for fear of hurting him. Around them the angry muttering rose in pitch.
Gods, I hope we reach the ‘car before this lot explode!
Just keep calm, sent Khalmi. We’ll do it.
The crowd sullenly opened up again for them. Nikuu could hear the low-voiced comments about them not having the right to interfere in village business, but she ignored them and concentrated on trying to walk steadily toward their vehicle. Her burden was getting heavier with every step and it was with relief she finally leaned against the hull of the aircar.
Naira slung his gun over his shoulder and took the young male carefully from her. He climbed into the ‘car and placed him stomach down on one of the two floaters strapped to the side, then went back to take the female from Khalmi. That done, he returned to help Zsyzoi release the priest.
Nikuu had the vehicle fired up and ready to go as soon as they jumped in. The priest’s parting words were lost in the roar of the engines and the cloud of dust she made sure the vents kicked up.
*
Even after her call to Jack was over and she’d received the data he’d downloaded from the Eureka’s computer, Vanna was still shaking from her experience in the mess. Taking repeated deep breaths and trying to convince herself it was only the adrenaline wasn’t helping a lot, but at least the buzzing in her ears had stopped.
Contacting the front desk, she told them she was in to no one but the Liegen Aldatan and his Leska or Jack Reynolds, the Terran physician. She then requested a lab technician be assigned to help her.
Soon she was completely immersed in her work, comparing the Sholan and human data on gestation as she tried to find enough parallels on which to base what at best could only be an educated guess.
Her technician was run ragged because Vanna had no intention of leaving her office for anything. Finally, as Vanna had just about worked herself to a standstill, the younger female broached the subject of time.
“Physician Kyjishi, I should have gone off duty an hour ago,” she said quietly. “You should rest, too. You’ve been working without a break for the last five hours.”
“I hadn’t realized it had been that long,” said Vanna, checking her wrist unit. “You’re right. Off you go, I’ll finish up here. I’ll see you again in the morning.”
“The front office sent the list of the calls that came in for you,” she said, handing Vanna the comp pad she’d been using. “Good night, Physician.”
“Good night,” said Vanna, putting the comp down on her desk and running her hands across her ears and head. She began to massage her temples, hoping to alleviate the headache that had been threatening all afternoon. At least now she was on her own it was so much quieter.
She looked across at the couch on the other side of her room. She didn’t need to go back to the guest house to sleep, she could stay here in her office. The couches were intended to double as beds and in the drawer underneath it were several blankets and a pillow.
Sighing, she took another couple of analgesics from the bottle on her desk, pulling a face as she washed them down with some disgustingly tepid water from the jug.
There was a light tap on the door before Khafsa came into the room. “I thought you’d still be here,” he said. “I called you a couple of times, but the office refused to put me through so I thought I’d come in person.”
Vanna smiled tiredly up at him. “Sorry, Khafsa. I’ve been busy and I didn’t want to be disturbed.”
“Well, since you’re obviously finished for the night, I won’t feel so guilty about taking you to see a patient of mine.”
“Khafsa, I’ve got a splitting headache. I don’t feel like looking at patients at this time of night.”
“I really think you should come,” he said, walking into the room and leaning past her to switch off her desk light. “Besides, it’s on your way back to the guest house.”
“I was going to sleep here tonight,” she objected.
“You need to get away from your work, Vanna,” he said, helping her to her feet. “A change of scenery will do you good. You’ll be able to come back to it tomorrow with a fresh mind.”
Despite her protests, Khafsa gently but firmly led her out of her office and down the corridor toward the wards and single rooms.
“Who is it you want me to see?” she asked, too tired to feel anything but relief that the buzzing in her ears that she’d experienced earlier in the day hadn’t returned. “Why is it so important that I see them?”
“You know quite a lot about these sorts of cases,” he said, stopping outside one of the rooms adjacent to his department. “I’d value your opinion.” He opened the door and ushered her inside.
As the door closed behind them, she realized she’d been tricked and that Khafsa had been shielding her mind until now. The full pain of her headache exploded behind her eyes, making her feel sick and giddy.
“Damn you, Khafsa!” she said, trying to push past him to get out. “This has nothing to do with me!”
“But it has, Vanna,” said Khafsa quietly, taking hold of her and turning her back toward the room’s interior. “You know you’re the other half of the problem. It took us quite a long time to work out it was you. Full marks for hiding yourself so well.”
Weakly, Vanna tried to pull herself free. “I don’t need this, Khafsa! I don’t want it!”
“I’m afraid you have no choice,” he said.
The strength of Vanna’s mental call for help shocked him but it took the last of her strength. Moments later, she collapsed against him.
*
Konis led the way through the corridor to his study. “Did you know that the Sholan translator on Earth has also found a Leska?” he said, sitting down at his desk and keying up his comm screen. “I received the news yesterday morning. He and his partner are being shipped out here immediately. I’m issuing instructions to make sure they are kept as free of stress as possible so their relationship can develop at a more normal rate. At least they didn’t have any psychological or physical problems in consummating their Link.”
“I’m glad,” said Kusac. “Maybe it’ll get easier the more mixed Leska pairs there are like us.”
“Perhaps,” said Konis, turning round to look at him. “You probably haven’t heard yet, but there’s been a third anomalous Link on Shola. This last Link was two younglings barely old enough to pair. That wasn’t the worst of it, though. All three pairs come from tribes within the Ghuulgul Desert region. Khalmi and Nikuu— have you met them yet? No? You will. They were sent out from Laasoi Guild to fetch them in. We have to keep a mental watch on the villages in that region because they don’t report anyone developing telepathic talents to us. Khalmi picked them up as soon as their Link started, so they took two Warriors with them and went out to collect them. It’s a couple of years since we were last out there and they fou
nd that a new priest had installed himself in the village. He’s yet another of this new religious movement that’s suddenly started to gain ground out there. They call themselves the Modernists.”
“Modernist? What’s that?”
“Aspects of their beliefs are fairly predictable for people living out in the desert. They believe in only one God, Kezule, the God of the sun. The rest of us are idolaters who worship false Gods, of course. They believe that females should be subservient to their male relatives, and should only have the one mate for life. They’re completely against females in any occupation outside the home, more so since the destruction of Khyaal and Szurtha and, I’m sorry to say, your Link to Carrie.”
“What do the females say to that? I can’t see them being any too happy to accept such a restrictive religion.”
“That’s one of the worrying aspects of this movement. The females are agreeing to it. It’s based on the premise that the days of the Catacylsm are returning and all nonbelievers will perish at the hands of their sun God. The other worrying aspect is that when our team arrived there, they found that because the new Leska pair were so young, barely old enough to pair as I said, the priest had ordered them to be beaten until the evil left them.”
“You can’t be serious,” said Kusac, a stunned look on his face.
“I am. I was called in to witness their arrival. They were brought in just after dawn and quite honestly, we thought we were going to lose them. However, they’re bedded down in a Leska unit, on drips with constant I.C. nursing and so far, they’re holding their own.”
“I take it that they were found trying to pair.”
Konis nodded. “They’re still virgins, but thank the Gods their Link compulsion is minimal and we’re managing to keep them stable with psychic suppressants. The male, Rrai, his mother refuses to leave their sides. She said she and her son had been here some three months ago and they’d gone down with that ni’uzu virus you had a few weeks later. Now this. I wonder if there’s a connection. It was a mutated virus after all, and we don’t normally have as many Leska pairings in a year on the whole of Shola, let alone in that desert region.”
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