But worse than that, there was no Roman, as if all traces of him had been completely erased!
Chapter 11
Shara was momentarily frozen with fear as she stared at the woman she had awakened. The last thing in the world she wanted was to be caught in Zeus's private cubicle. Just as Shara was certain the woman was going to alert her lover to their unexpected visitors, the woman's gaze focused on Gabriel and she smiled her willingness to have him join their group.
As she held out her hand and her mouth opened to speak, Shara threw a mental suggestion at her. Instantly the woman's hand dropped, her eyes closed and she fell back to sleep.
As quickly as possible, she had Beauty confirm the two women's identities and collected hair from all three of the sleepers. Hurrying out of the cell to run her tests, she noticed the way Gabriel was glaring at her and guessed the reason. However, she couldn't risk defending the misuse of her ability while they might be overheard.
By the time they'd visited every cell in the loft, ninety-two names were checked off the list without a match turning up. They eliminated a dozen more on the ground floor before their luck ran out. Gabriel saw Hestia climbing down the ladder and motioned for Shara to hide the microputer. She barely managed to get it into her bag before Hestia walked up to her.
"Good day," Hestia whispered. "You're up very early."
Palming her miniature scissors, Shara smiled and kept her voice hushed as well. "We thought you might need help in the cookhouse extra early, with the Summit set for dawn."
Hestia beamed her gratitude and waved for them to follow her. On the way out, she nudged several people who must have been assigned to help with breakfast. That started a chain reaction and before long, everyone was coming awake despite the early hour.
Shara and Gabriel were given the chore of scrambling eggs and cooking them in an enormous frying pan over one of the fires. As he began cracking shells, she hurried back to her bag for a quantity of static paper and a pencil and tucked those items and the scissors inside her tunic. Though she wouldn't be able to refer to the list or run the test, she could still collect samples if she was careful and quick enough.
As soon as she returned to the cookhouse she told Gabriel she'd be moving around all morning trying to get to people they'd missed and that he shouldn't be concerned about her. When he did no more than nod and look away, she knew he was still upset with her. "I know you don't approve of what I did, but I didn't think I had any other choice under the circumstances."
Out of the side of his mouth, he murmured, "I could have put her back to sleep with my paralyzer."
"My way was faster and ensured that she wouldn't remember seeing us." He was only partly convinced.
"All right. I panicked. I never use that ability... well, hardly ever. And you know I can't use it against you as long as you're wearing the jammer. There was no harm done. Why are you so angry about it?"
"Because my sister had the same skill and she wasn't the least bit discriminating about how she manipulated other people with it. I was one of her favorite targets, since I had no way of sensing what she was up to. Of course, you wouldn't have had to use it at all if you'd been paying attention to what you were doing instead of fantasizing."
His change of attack made no sense to her. "I beg your pardon?"
Rather than answer, he transferred the cooked eggs into a large bowl and carried it into the lodge.
She had another batch started before he came back. "Explain your last comment about my fantasizing," she demanded.
"If you didn't limit your relations with men so drastically, Zeus's overendowment may not have distracted you. I'm sure if you're curious about just how big it could get, he'd be more than willing to give you a private demonstration."
"Gabriel Drumayne! You're being a dolt. I was stunned, not fantasizing." She remembered what he'd said earlier about feeling jealous. After what she'd put him through last night, he probably had reason to be a little insecure if he thought she was aroused by a man with greater proportions than his formidable self. However, it was still surprising that his ego could be shaken so easily.
"Listen to me, Professor, and listen well because I am not prone to flattering men very often. You are the most attractive, appealing man in this whole place, including the lovely Apollo. If I wanted to couple with someone I did not have an emotional bond with, you would be the one I'd choose, even without the fever. You have absolutely no reason to be jealous."
"Jea—" His scowling expression turned sheepish. "Oh. I apologize. Once again, I'm afraid the fever has me behaving in very unfamiliar ways."
"It's partially my fault," Shara admitted. "I've been acting as if my feelings in this are the only ones that matter. I believe my attitude has made a difficult situation worse." She touched his cheek to make him look at her. "From now on, I'll try not to be part of the problem."
He took her hand in his and kissed her palm the sensual way he had done before. An almost imperceptible shiver let him know Shara liked that more than she would admit. With a teasing grin, he said, "And I'll try to remember that I'm the most attractive man around."
"You're going to make me sorry I said that, aren't you?"
He gave her a wink and took another bowl of scrambled eggs into the lodge.
Gabriel felt as though he were a boat caught in a terrible storm, being helplessly tossed to and fro. The only thing to do was ride it out and pray for salvation. There was some relief in Shara promising to change her attitude and admitting that she found him appealing. He didn't welcome the symptoms of the mating fever any more than she did but fighting it was not the answer.
He hated what she had forced him to do last night, but it had helped him understand something she had said before. Where she didn't want to share her body without an emotional bond, he had coupled with women after little more than an exchange of smiles. What he and Shara had done shouldn't have bothered him in the least.
But it had, because with Shara the physical release wasn't enough. He wanted her to like him. He wanted her to like touching him. He wanted her total attention.
He wanted more than she was willing to give.
That realization stopped him in his tracks. He had always backed away from females who wanted more from him than a pleasurable hour and he had never had the desire for more than that from any of them. He supposed this possessiveness with Shara could be another side effect of the fever but it still had to be dealt with until they received treatment.
"Gabriel!"
He was startled out of his reverie by the realization that Shara was standing in front of him and had apparently asked him something. "I beg your pardon?"
"Take this," she said pushing a platter of meat into his hands. "Are you all right? You were standing there with a strange look on your face."
He nodded. "I'm fine. Just daydreaming a bit. This is all pretty incredible for a history fanatic."
As he helped carry the rest of the cooked food inside, he purposely thought about the unique opportunity he'd been given and what priceless information he was gathering. Within moments however, his mind drifted back to Shara's admission.
Surely her finding him appealing was a step toward the kind of bond she felt was so important. The fact that they had helped each other survive their sojourn in the Frozen Era and were now working together on her personal project should be another big step or two. What else would she need to allow herself to enjoy coupling with him?
She had mentioned wanting to having a lot in common with the man who would be her soulmate. From what he could tell so far, they had absolutely nothing in common... except the fever. Everything, from their upbringings to their lifestyles to their careers to their mental abilities, was at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Considering just how opposite their mental abilities were made his stomach clench and he felt as though he were on a storm-tossed boat. Shara possessed the one ability he feared most. If he didn't have his jammer, she could twist him into anything she wante
d, dangle him like a marionette from strings she carelessly controlled and he would never know she was doing it.
That was what Janna had done to him for years, until their parents found out and mentally ostracized her for a week. The same silence Gabriel had hungered for had frightened his sister so much, she abided by every rule from then on.
When he had misbehaved in an attempt to earn the same punishment, they took pity on poor untalented Gabriel and waived the usual ostracism. He couldn't win then and his luck didn't seem to have improved in all these years.
The first female that he desired to spend more than an hour with also made him want to avoid involvement with her at any cost.
Again he ordered himself to concentrate on his work. That was why he was here, not to moon over a woman like some lovesick adolescent. But his research—the one and only passion in his life—had abruptly taken a second position behind his preoccupation with Shara.
He knew it wasn't logical but he resented her more for that than any of the things she had done to him consciously. If she would at least stop fighting him about coupling, perhaps he could get his mind back on his work.
As they sat down to eat, he decided that Shara seemed to be suffering from a similar contradiction of wanting and not wanting, though their mutual discomfort was little consolation. He remembered her heated response to their first kiss in the biodrome and how she had welcomed his body into hers when they had first landed in the Frozen Era.
With her mind on saving his life, she hadn't refused his touch and by allowing that, her passion flared before she had a chance to analyze it to death. On reflection, giving her a chance to think was what had ended the interlude in the biodrome.
She had asked him not to touch her more than necessary last night. Actually, she had voiced objections to his touching her from the minute they met. That fact presented an interesting supposition.
Perhaps it was her own passionate nature she was fighting, rather than his. Wanting him without that bond would go against her personal moral code. Understanding why she acted as irrationally as she did, however, did not help him figure out a way around that code. There had to be something they had in common that would put her at ease about this peculiar relationship they'd been forced into. However, as long as they disagreed on the subject of altering history, he wasn't sure that it was possible for him to put her at ease.
The first hint of daylight interrupted his further contemplation of their dilemma. Everyone pitched in to clean up so that the Friends could get on with the morning's business. He chuckled to himself when he noticed how quickly Shara took advantage of the commotion to get a few more samples. Without anyone being the wiser, she stole a hair, stuck it to a piece of static paper, and wrote a name beneath it. If she didn't know someone's name, she simply introduced herself first and then found out.
As more people arrived, he accompanied Shara to the entranceway so that Beauty could record the multitude of introductions. He then stayed by her side, helping with identification, shielding her actions from onlookers and keeping conversations going while she labeled each sample she acquired.
The crowd inside the lodge swelled to capacity by the time the sun was fully above the horizon. The sect leaders gravitated to one end of the hall while everyone else milled around, exchanging information and opinions. As chairs were being placed in a row atop one long table, Gabriel let Shara know he was leaving her to claim a spot in front for Beauty and himself.
One representative from each sect climbed up on the table and took a seat, with Zeus commandeering the center position. At his sides were Odin, Isis, Scot, Albion, Danu, Pele and three more men Gabriel hadn't met.
Odin motioned to his son standing below him and the younger man pounded on the wooden table with a large mallet. The banging continued until everyone quieted and faced forward.
"Thank you, Thor," said Zeus in a booming voice that easily carried to the back of the room. "And thank you all for coming to this Summit. I wish you friendship, peace and love." He struck his left breast twice and offered his hand in the gesture that stood for their beliefs. Almost in unison, the motto was repeated and the sign returned to him by everyone in the lodge.
"Please extend our greetings and appreciation to all of the loyal Friends who remained behind to tend your communes while you tended to their futures. For those of you who just arrived in our region, I will bring you up to date."
For the next half hour, he detailed the various endeavors made by the representatives on the dais. They had tried every method available to voice their concerns and protest Tribunal actions through the legal system. They met with regional councilors to state their objectives, filed a multitude of petitions, and submitted the proper forms to request a hearing in front of the Ruling Tribunal.
Repeatedly the Tribunal refused to grant them an audience, thereby refusing to recognize the Friends as a legitimate interest group. Two of the councilors had attempted to speak to the Tribunal for the Friends, but they too were refused admittance to the private chambers of the powerful triumvirate.
Zeus had remained seated as he outlined their activities in a flat, rather bored voice and the people in the room grew restive. But when he paused and rose to his full, imposing height, they immediately stilled.
"Yesterday we met with those two councilors who had been sympathetic to our views. Although they say they still believe in the Friends' movement, they are no longer willing to risk their positions for us. They feel our battle is lost."
"Never!" shouted a man from the back of the room. A chorus of voices called out their agreement until the chant of "Never" was accompanied by stomping feet and the lodge walls trembled from the emotional uproar.
Order was restored with the help of Thor's hammer.
Zeus raised his voice a bit more and allowed his hostility to filter through. "They say we cannot manage our own lives apart from the Ruling Tribunal and its suffocating laws!" His audience protested but Zeus's words thundered over them. "They say we cannot use our mental abilities to their fullest extent, that only the Tribunal has that right. They say we cannot have the freedom we've requested so peacefully!"
"Freedom!" became the chant of the angry crowd and Zeus made no attempt to calm them. Gabriel could feel the raw excitement building in those around him. Knowing what was about to happen enhanced his fascination with how it had come about.
Like a symphony conductor, Zeus made a slashing motion to silence everyone then roared, "The decision is in your hands this morning. Do we settle back and allow the Tribunal to prod us from place to place like the cows in our pastures?"
"No! No! No!"
"Then what say you to your elected representatives seated here before you? What is your desire?"
A hushed murmur passed through the crowd like an electrified wave as the row of men and women on the makeshift dais glanced at one another in anticipation and uncertainty.
"Revolt!" a woman cried a few feet away from Gabriel. It was Hera, Zeus's sister, and the look that Zeus gave her spoke of his admiration.
"Revolt! Revolt!" The shout was deafening, as one by one the leaders stood up to endorse the cry.
In an exaggerated gesture, Zeus slowly curled the fingers of his right hand into his palm, thumped his breast twice, then shot the mighty fist upward and held it there.
Each of the other leaders imitated his action. Within seconds, the identifying hand signal of the Friends had changed from a show of friendship, peace and love to defiance, war and rage.
"We have a plan ready to be implemented immediately," Zeus told the crowd. "But its success depends on each of you. If there are any among you who are not prepared to commit their lives to the cause, let them depart now, for there can be no turning back once we begin."
Like those around him, Gabriel turned to see if any cowards dared to make themselves known. None did. But history had it that someone betrayed the Friends from within.
Zeus clapped his hands together once and proceeded. "Excellent. The m
ain thrust of this plan is that, through surprise, aggression and limited violence, we will lay siege to the First Province Administration Building and the Ruling Tribunal's headquarters. Our opponents will discover what it is like to have their freedom withheld. At the same time, we will invade all of the councilors' private residences for the purpose of holding their family members hostage. They will become pawns in the negotiating that will commence once the Tribunal realizes how strong and determined we are.
"We will now go outside to divide up into teams. Captains have been preselected and given specific assignments to carry out."
Those words prompted everyone on the dais and a number of people in the audience to don purple headbands. Gabriel had to admire the smooth choreography of Zeus's show.
"You may remain with your sect or join up with another group. My brother, Hades, needs twelve brave volunteers to assist him in setting up distractions while the rest of us are moving into position for the takeovers. Those willing to take a slight risk should meet him in the barn. Once the teams are set, the captains will give each of you individual instructions."
Zeus paused and scanned the sea of anxious faces then shouted, "In two hours we will march to victory and freedom!" Again he punched his fist skyward and held it there as the gesture was imitated throughout the room. Excited cheers and whistles echoed off the walls as the outer doors were thrown open and everyone began pushing toward the exits.
Gabriel searched for Shara in the crush of bodies. He had been so enthralled by the proceedings, he hadn't noticed what part of the room she was in. Suddenly he caught sight of her near one exit. Her worried face and frantic hand gestures as she spoke to people passing by alerted Gabriel to trouble. As quickly as possible, he fought his way through the crowd to her.
"Please listen to me," she was saying to no one in particular. "Just slow down and think about what you're doing. Someone could be hurt!"
GABRIEL (The Innerworld Affairs Series, Book 4) Page 15