fortuneswheel

by Lisanne Norman

  He flicked it away from her, eyes beginning to focus again.

  “Block it, Kusac,” she ordered. “You’ve done it before, do it now.”

  Moments later, she sat back. “Can you carry her?”

  He nodded, accepting her help as they lifted her between them.

  “Keep her injured arm around your shoulder and take her to the aircar,” she said, moving aside.

  Kusac started walking— toward the house.

  “Damn you Kusac! The aircar,” said Vanna, pulling at him, trying to make him change direction. “I can’t treat her in the house! All my equipment’s in the aircar.”

  He pulled free, continuing to walk to the house.

  “Do you want her to die?” Vanna shouted, dancing beside him in anger.

  “If she dies, it’ll be in our home.”

  She whirled round, turning on Chena and anyone within reach. “What the hell are you standing looking for? Get my bloody equipment! Get everything since His Lordship wants me to treat her in the house!” She turned to run after them, slowing long enough to shout over her shoulder, “Get the blood and the drip set up first!”

  Taizia, Meral, and T’Chebbi raced after Chena, taking the equipment she handed them and heading for the house at a run.

  Kusac’s father watched bleakly as his son lifted Carrie. Both of them were drenched with her blood. He knew she was still alive, but for how long? They had all felt Rala’s death agony and that psychic shock had been severe enough without the addition of Carrie’s pain. He gathered his thoughts. There were things he had to attend to now. There was an eternity for grief later, if grief was needed.

  He went over to where Rala’s brother, Talgo, was bending over his sister. One of their warriors had removed the sword and tried to arrange the body. He stood up as the Clan Lord approached.

  “Clan Lord Aldatan,” Talgo said, schooling the grief from his face. “I had no idea my sister intended this. To lose the fight then illegally re-Challenge was utterly dishonorable of her. She was only using the Challenge to hide her desire for revenge. It won’t help, I know, but we apologize for what she’s done.”

  “No blame is placed on your family. Your apology is accepted. Neither my bond-daughter nor my son has done anything to warrant facing a Blood Rite Challenge from anyone. Just take Rala’s body and go.” He gave a brief bow and left him to see to his sister’s body.

  Entering the house, he called for the main attendant.

  “Get that arena cleared,” he said, his voice harsh with grief and anger. “I want no trace of it left. Plant it with something, anything, so long as it ceases to exist!”

  He found his wife in the study, curled up in one of the chairs, crying.

  They’re still with us, he sent, placing a hand on her shoulder. We’ll wait here, out of the way. If they need us, we’ll know.

  *

  A quarter of an hour later Kaid arrived back at the Challenge circle. Already two Clan members were removing the blood-soaked sand with shovels. The metallic tang of blood permeated the air: she’d lost too much. He knew she still lived, but it would be touch and go.

  Garras moved forward to meet him, reaching out to touch him on the shoulder when he saw the narrowed eyes and the gray skin round his friend’s nose. “She’s still alive,” he said. “They took her upstairs into the house. Vanna’s working on her now.”

  Kaid nodded, face and body impassive.

  “The shot missed her, Vartra be praised. I think it may have hit Kusac, though.” Garras hesitated. “I’ll send a couple of people to fetch the trooper.”

  “No need. I destroyed the body.”

  Garras felt ice run down his spine. This wasn’t like Kaid. “Because of her?” he asked, suddenly defining what was different. There was no response. He took a deep breath. “Go inside,” he said. “I’ll take charge out here.” When Kaid still hadn’t responded, he pushed him toward the house. “Go. I’ll keep watch outside with the others. At least you’ll know sooner if you’re in there.”

  “There aren’t any more of them,” Kaid said. “He couldn’t get anyone to follow him.”

  “Can you be sure?”

  Kaid looked round at him, eyes bleaker than midwinter. “Oh, yes,” he said softly. “I can be sure.”

  “Kaid, while she’s still alive, she needs you guarding her. Go.”

  Kaid went, heading up the stairs at a run. He reached their lounge in time to have a quick glance through the door before it closed. She was still alive.

  Taking a deep breath, he sank down into the nearest chair and began the litany to focus his mind. He needed to think clearly, not be distracted by feelings he’d learned long ago to live without. Ghezu and Lijou had their proof now and the cost had been too high. Anger started to rise within him and he stilled it, concentrating only on the litany.

  *

  Carrie was whiter than the sheets that Kusac had laid her against. As Vanna went into the bathing room, she shielded her anger at having to treat Carrie up here, knowing that more guilt was something Kusac didn’t need. The minute or two she had lost wouldn’t really make much difference one way or the other now. She dried her hands and returned to the bedroom where Chena had finished cutting Carrie’s clothing free of the wounds.

  Getting Chena to hold the bag until the portable stand arrived, she started the blood transfusion. The girl’s pressure was dangerously low.

  Kusac sat on Carrie’s right, out of Vanna’s way, holding her hand. Now that she was unconscious, her pain was not affecting him so strongly, but he was swaying again despite the stimulant. He moved his shoulder, trying to ease the discomfort there, confused that it hurt.

  “Monitor her, Kusac,” said Vanna, laying out her suture equipment while Chena carefully released the bandage and wiped the area with an antiseptic.

  “Why not use a plasmagraft?” Chena asked, belatedly putting a pad under the wound to catch the flow of blood.

  “Clamp the arm above and below the injury,” ordered Vanna, turning to check the oxygen and gas mixture on the small anesthetic tank. “We haven’t used plasmagrafts on Terrans yet. I can’t be sure it’ll be compatible.”

  “She’s slipping away, Vanna,” said Kusac. His voice was full of fear as he felt Carrie’s presence getting weaker and weaker. “I can’t hold her much longer.”

  “Yes, you can,” Vanna said savagely, swabbing the blood from the wound and starting to work on the severed artery. She spared a glance at her monitors. “Use that damned gestalt if you have to, I’m not having her die under me!”

  Kusac tried to trigger the gestalt, his fear mounting when nothing happened. At last it began to build slowly, its power a fraction of what they had experienced before. Using it, he strengthened their Link, trying to draw her closer to him, willing her to live.

  Vanna finished on the artery and ordered Chena to start using the anesthetic while she released the lower clamp first. The joining held, and Vanna sighed with relief, turning her attention to the rest of the wound.

  She was only halfway through stitching the torn muscle when the door opened quietly. She looked up to see Brynne.

  “What do you want?” she demanded, turning back to her task. “I told you to stay away.”

  “You’re going to need me,” he said, stepping up to her and looking to see what she and Chena were doing.

  “I haven’t the time to argue. Just leave before Kusac notices you’re here,” she said.

  Kusac was sitting as if in a trance, ears back, eyes closed, the visible flesh on his face gray and drawn.

  “She’s going into shock,” said Chena quietly, “and it looks like she’s beginning to abort.”

  Vanna swore. “Just what we need!” She looked at Brynne, a question forming in her mind.

  “Yes, I can handle the anesthetic,” he said, moving round to Chena’s side and taking her place.

  “Chena, get Kusac out of here,” she said, “then get back and deal with this miscarriage. I have to finish closing her wounds
.”

  The door opened and Taizia stood there. “I brought Brynne upstairs,” she said quietly. “I was waiting in case there was a problem with him being here. I’ll see to Kusac.”

  Vanna nodded. “Take him downstairs and see he stays with you,” she said abruptly.

  Taizia went over to her brother, taking him by the arm.

  “Kusac,” she said, shaking him gently. “You have to come with me.”

  Carrie began to move, trying to curl up as her abdominal muscles started to contract.

  Kusac’s eyes opened wide in fear as they all felt a tiny presence that was barely there cease to exist.

  “I know,” soothed Taizia, “but you can’t help. Come with me. They can work more easily without you here.” She pulled him gently, urging him to his feet.

  “I can’t leave,” he said brokenly. “My fear caused this to happen, I can’t leave her now.”

  “You must,” said Taizia, leaning forward to unfasten his grip on Carrie’s hand. “You can still sense her from downstairs, you know that. They have to stop your emotions from affecting her now. Don’t let her feel your sense of loss on top of everything else she’s suffering.”

  Kusac allowed himself to be led from the room. His father was waiting on the stairs for him. He was taken to the study, sat down in a chair, and a drink placed in his hand. He sat looking at it, ears now lying flat against his head.

  “It’s my fault,” he said, his voice low and taut. “If I hadn’t triggered the gestalt with my own fear, then she wouldn’t have been injured and lost the cub”

  “You can’t say that, Kusac,” said his father, pushing the glass toward his mouth and making him take a drink. “Your fear was perfectly natural.”

  Kusac coughed, tears streaming from his eyes.

  “What’s this?” he asked, looking at the glass for the first time. “What are you giving me?”

  “Neat arrise.”

  “I don’t want any more,” he said, trying to hand the glass back.

  It was pushed toward him again. “Drink it,” his father ordered. “You need it. We haven’t any medics to spare for you. As for the gestalt, obviously I wasn’t there the other times, but from experiencing it today, I’d say that the initial effect is lessening. I expect that in time there will be no disorientation at all.”

  “But if it hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t have been injured.”

  “Undoubtedly, but do you really want to go through the rest of your lives blaming yourself for the loss of this cub? If you do, you’ll also be constantly reminding Carrie that she should never have Challenged Rala. Can she live with that? Leave it alone, Kusac. You’re not to blame, the circumstances are.”

  “I don’t know,” he said, putting down the glass and burying his face in his hands. “I’m just so afraid, and there’s nothing I can do to help! With all our abilities, I have to sit here and wait!”

  His mother got up and went over to him, wrapping her arms around him. “She’s not going to die and neither are you,” she said, hugging him fiercely. “You’ve faced death before, on Keiss, and coped with it.”

  “That’s just it!” he said, pushing her away. “I’m not the one facing it this time. She is, and that makes it worse for me.”

  “Take your drink,” said Rhyasha, putting the glass in his hand again. “It’ll numb your mind just enough to be able to cope. It was used before we developed suppressant drugs.”

  He tried to fend the glass away, but she grasped his hand in hers. “She’ll live, I tell you! I can already feel her strength coming back. When she comes round, she’ll need you there to give her the will to go on, not suffering from useless self-recriminations.”

  She sat back on her heels, letting his hand go.

  “Now drink it. It helps no one for you both to suffer the same pain.” She looked at her hands and frowned, then reached out to touch his shoulder. He flinched, spilling a little of the drink.

  “You’ve been hurt,” she said, disbelief in her voice.

  “He was shot,” said Kaid’s voice from the open doorway. “It was one of the assassins who killed Sevrin. I’ve got a medikit here if you’ll let me use it.”

  A moan of fear escaped Rhyasha as she got to her feet and moved aside for Kaid.

  “He’s dead, Clan Leader,” said Kaid, kneeling down in front of Kusac and opening the kit. “It’s over. There are no more of them.”

  *

  More than two hours passed before Kusac was allowed to rejoin Carrie, the longest two hours of his life. Vanna was in their lounge talking to Kaid, taking a well earned break.

  “Good God! What happened to you?” she demanded, seeing the dressing bound round his shoulder.

  “It’s nothing. How’s Carrie?”

  “She’s stable, and conscious. You know she lost the child.” It was a statement. They’d all felt the cub’s death. She hesitated. “I need to take the body back to the guild to study it. Do you mind?”

  “No, she remains here,” he said flatly. “I’m sorry, Vanna, but she’ll be cremated here on the estate.”

  “As you wish, of course,” she said. “Will you at least let me take blood and tissue samples? I promise I’ll do it gently.”

  He hesitated then nodded.

  “Thank you. Now, what happened to your shoulder?”

  “There was a sniper, the one that got away when Sevrin was killed. We were lucky. He shot me as I ran toward Carrie. Kaid killed him.” He stopped, unsure how to put what he wanted to say. “Vanna, thank you,” he said simply.

  She got up, turning away from him and going toward the bedroom. “I saved her, that’s thanks enough,” she said tiredly. “You’ll find her in a bit of a mess,” she said. “We haven’t had time to clean her up properly. Speaking of which,” she said, glancing back over her shoulder at him, “you could do with a shower and a change, too.”

  “Once I’ve seen her. If it’s safe, I’m sure Taizia and my mother would help with Carrie.”

  “If they could, that would be wonderful. Chena and I are dead on our feet.” She stopped outside the door. “Brynne’s here,” she said. “Without him she could have died. He handled the anesthetic when she started to abort.”

  Kusac frowned. “Does Carrie mind?”

  “Funnily enough, no, she doesn’t seem to mind, and he’s been marvelous with her.”

  “Then what I think is unimportant,” he said as she opened the door.

  Carrie was lying propped up against several pillows, her eyes enormous against the pallor of her face. Her injured arm was held elevated in a sling across her chest. The other was firmly bandaged over the site of the drip catheter. Vanna had managed to find a fresh shirt for her to wear.

  She smiled faintly as he came across to her. “I’m afraid I’ve really been in the wars this time. What happened to you?”

  He found a space beside her on the bed, leaning forward to stroke her hair. “Nothing worth talking about,” he said quietly. “I’m just grateful you’re all right.” He touched his cheek against hers, gently licking her ear.

  “I can’t touch you back,” she complained. “I need to hold you.”

  He laughed, feeling a sudden relief from the fear and grief that had gripped him far too tightly these last three hours. Carefully, he put his arms behind her and moved closer until she could put her head on his uninjured shoulder.

  She rubbed her face against his neck, taking comfort from the feel of his fur and his warmth. “Did Vanna tell you I lost the baby?”

  “Yes, but we still have each other and that’s more important,” he said quietly. “For the last five or six months we’ve led a life with very little privacy. I promise you that once you’re well enough to travel, we’re going away somewhere on our own with no Kaid, Meral, or T’Chebbi. Much as I like them, I want you to myself for as long as possible. Whenever we’re among other people, all my plans concerning you go wrong.”

  “What plans?” she asked, her voice sounding drowsy.

  “Those
concerning our betrothal and lifebonding for a start,” he said, grinning. “I’d planned it very differently, then we ended up in circumstances that gave me little choice but to do it quickly.”

  She chuckled. “I don’t think I could ever forget either of those two occasions even if they didn’t happen according to your plans. We got there in the end, though,” she yawned.

  Vanna came over. “If she’s going to have that wash, and some clean bedding, it had better be now. I want her to sleep for the rest of today.”

  Kusac gently hugged Carrie again before carefully letting her go. The fingers of her sound arm reached for his hand and he held them briefly before getting up. “I won’t be far away. Send if you want me,” he said, giving her cheek a gentle lick before leaving.

  Kusac left her, following Vanna back into the lounge where Brynne and Chena were replacing the equipment that was no longer needed. He staggered, feeling suddenly weak and faint, reaching for Vanna to steady himself.

  She caught hold of him, realizing as she did that he was beginning to shiver convulsively. Feeling his palm, she called for Kaid to help her. Between them they guided him to the settee and made him lie down.

  “Brynne, get a couple of blankets, please” she said, propping Kusac’s feet up with a cushion. “There’s a chest full of them at the end of Carrie’s bed.”

  A quick check of his eyelids while she took his pulse told her what she’d suspected. “Don’t worry,” she said, “you’re only suffering from shock, a compound of your own injury and Carrie’s. You’ll be fine and it won’t affect Carrie.” She wrapped one of the blankets round him when Brynne handed it to her. “I thought we’d gotten off too lightly with you. Rest and warmth is what you need. We’ll get a bed made up for you here. Does your shoulder hurt?”

  He nodded, teeth chattering as he tried to keep his limbs still. He nodded again, jerkily, clutching the blanket closer.

  Vanna threw the other blanket over him. “Chena will give you something for it while I go down to see your mother. Kaid, will you get him out of those clothes, please? He can’t be comfortable in them. I’m afraid your shower will have to wait.”