Noolgoi returned. “I found Luzaarak at the office, my Lord. He said that the Inquisitor will make a new appointment with you at a later date.”
“Thank you, Noolgoi.”
“So you’re General Nayash now,” said Telmaar, raising his glass in salute to him. “If the Emperor is replacing his ancient monuments with younger Generals, perhaps my turn will come soon.”
“I’m sure it will,” said Kusac, toasting him back. Now we know what he’s after, he sent to Rezac.
Be interesting to see what he offers you to further his cause, was the reply.
CHAPTER 3
Shola, same day, Zhal-Zhalwae 18th (May)
NONI was not happy, and everyone knew it. Muushoi, Stronghold’s physician, was at his wits end as he paced up and down Lijou’s office.
“You have to do something about her, Master Lijou!” he said, stopping by the window to look down onto the valley below. “She’s not only upsetting me and my staff, but the patients. It has to stop!”
“I shall see to it, Muushoi,” said Lijou, putting a hefty dose of soothing thoughts behind his words. He was gratified to see the physician visibly relax and not a bit repentant at his use of his abilities to achieve that end. “You go back to your patients, and I will talk to Noni. Where is she right now?”
“She was reorganizing my stillroom when I left her, telling my apprentices her way to prepare the herbal remedies we make here in Stronghold.”
Lijou got to his feet. “I’ll go and talk to her now. You have to understand that she is under some pressure herself . . .”
“Then she should take herself off to the Prime world,” Muushoi snapped. “This aversion to traveling is just an affectation, like her walking cane—she doesn’t need it any more than she needs to avoid traveling. I have no sympathy for her this time!”
“Understood. Physician Muushoi,” said Lijou, reaching out to touch the other briefly on the shoulder. “May I suggest you retire to the senior tutor’s staff room and take a well-deserved break for half an hour? By the time you’re finished, I should have everything back to normal.”
Muushoi sighed. “Very well, Master Lijou, I will take your advice,” he said, letting himself be guided gently to the doorway. “This has been a most trying experience for me and my apprentices.”
“I can see it has,” said Lijou.
The door opened abruptly. “Lijou, I need to talk to you about . . .” said Rhyaz. “Oh, I see you’re busy. It can wait,” he added, backpedaling slightly away from the entry.
“Muushoi was just leaving,” said Rhyaz. “Good day, Physician. Remember, take half an hour break, then all should be well.”
“Good day, Master Lijou, Master Rhyaz,” said Muushoi as he slid carefully past the leader of the Warrior side of Stronghold.
“Come in, do,” said Lijou, grasping his friend by the forearm and jerking him into his office before shutting the door firmly to stop him escaping. “I’m glad to see you. You can help me solve a problem.”
“I have one of my own,” said Rhyaz, straightening his sleeve when Lijou let him go.
“Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Noni?”
“How d’you know? Oh, silly question,” the Warrior leader said with a grin.
“She’s everyone’s problem today. What did she do to you?”
“Had a go at our young Brothers working on their massage skills training. Told them they were doing it all wrong. We have to do something about her, Lijou. She’s gotten worse in the last two weeks. Is Conner not talking to her or something? What is up with her?”
“He calls her every two days and hasn’t missed once, as far as I know. I think it’s as simple as she just misses him.”
“Why the hell doesn’t she go and join him, then?” demanded Rhyaz testily, leaning on the high back of an easy chair. “She really isn’t being helpful right now. Her apprentice Teusi is fully trained and can take over from her. We can do without all the chaos she’s causing here.”
“Never say that to Noni; she knows she’s indispensable, and she is, but . . .” he sighed. “But not in the state she’s in now.”
“Well, you seem to have a good grasp on the situation,” said Rhyaz, standing up and edging toward the door. “I’ll let you carry on with it.”
“Hold on, I am not confronting her alone!”
“I’d be no use to you She still likes to see me as the cub with a black eye and bleeding knuckles from dorm fights. Or to berate me as not being a proper Telepath despite my Leska link to Alex! You’re far better suited to talk to her on such a weighty matter. I mean, head of our Telepaths and all that, and married.”
“Coward! You have a human partner just as she has.”
“Aye, but are she and Conner Leskas? No one actually knows, so it makes no difference. Too right I’m a coward in this. I save myself for fights I can win,” he grinned. “Come to my office afterward, and I’ll promise to put salve on your bruises and feed you coffee if Kha’Qwa isn’t around to do it for you.”
“My wife is in town, and you know that because she’s with Alex! Oh, go on, dart off to your den and leave me to face the monster alone! I’ll have my revenge on you one day, and you know it.”
“You usually do. Remember, keep her on your right side; it’s your stronger one,” laughed Rhyaz as he opened the door.
“Begone, and stop laughing at me,” said Lijou as his chuckling friend left.
* * *
Noni was in the stillroom, sitting on a high stool at the desk at the side of the room, lording it over six young Sholans who were standing at the long lab benches with heating units, making a batch of their ubiquitous bruise and cut salve.
“Keep stirring it,” barked Noni. “It mustn’t be allowed to burn even though it’s in a double boiler. You, the female at the end!” she raised her walking stick to point at the offending female. “Yes, you, blondie! Why you using a metal spoon to stir this with? Haven’t you been told the metal will alter the efficacy of the ointment by tainting it?”
“Yes, Mistress Noni! I’m sorry,” The spoon clattered to the table as she dropped it and ran to one of the implement drawers to get a wooden stirrer.
Lijou entered, followed by Teusi. “Noni, a moment of your time, if you please,” he said, looking down the room toward her. “In private.”
“I can’t leave now, Rhyaz, they’re at the crucial stage.”
“Teusi can take over,” he said, indicating the youth. “If you please, Noni. It is a matter of the utmost importance.”
Muttering and grumbling, Noni eased herself out of the high chair and back down to ground level as Teusi walked down to meet her.
“May the sun shine on you, Noni,” smiled the young male. “Have you any instructions for me with this class?”
“Just the usual. Stop them taking shortcuts, and be sure they put that extra healing pizzazz into it as they make it. Too many of them think it’s like making scrambled eggs! Even scrambled eggs taste better with a few good thoughts for yourself and whoever else is eating it!”
“Quite right, it does, Noni. Maybe we should let them try this as an experiment—the taste of eggs cooked with bad intentions compared to those cooked with good ones.”
Noni glowered up at him and reached out to tap him sharply on the forehead with a knuckle. “Do not mock me, youngling! You know what it tastes like, you’ve done that experiment with me.”
Teusi grimaced slightly and rubbed his forehead. “I meant no disrespect, Noni. It’s nearly lunchtime. I thought they would benefit from trying this out. A practical demonstration of the power of thought while making healing salves.”
“Or anything else. Very well, then. You carry on with the class while I see what Master Lijou needs me for.”
“Be safe, Noni,” said Teusi as she began to walk up the corridor beside the benches to the door.
Noni stiffened briefly but didn’t stop walking.
Inwardly, Lijou groaned, sensing Teusi’s apologetic “Oops!”
As they began walking down the main corridor to the elevator, Noni looked over at Lijou. “Wondered how long it would take you to get around to coming to the class,” she said. “That gutless wonder Muushoi ran to you with his complaints, I take it.”
“I know you don’t like him, but he has his uses here, Noni. We need a licensed physician, which he is, and he’s also our surgeon. That’s something you cannot do. Professional differences are one thing, but undermining each other is not right.”
“Making the herbal remedies is my domain,” she snapped. “He’s the one with the pharmaceuticals from the big companies. I deal with the natural world.”
“It’s his class, Noni.”
“Then he should teach it! Not leave them alone to make a mess of things. Using metal stirrers! I ask you what will it be next?”
“This exercise was supposed to show up faults in the students like this. They were deemed advanced enough to make the ointment without constant supervision. Anyway,” he said, stopping at the elevator. “That’s not what I came to talk to you about. I need you to go on a mission for me.”
“A mission?” Noni raised one white brow ridge as she looked up at Lijou.
“Yes, a mission. It seems we need an urgent dispatch of seeds and growing mediums to be sent to the Prime world. As some of the plants are already shooting, they need to be monitored during their journey to ensure they don’t die. They are plants from the Prime world Ch’almuth, ones that were indigenous to K’oish’ik. I need you to escort them.”
“Me? You know I don’t travel, Lijou!”
Lijou looked down at the elderly Sholan standing there in her blue robes with the multicolored shawl round her shoulders, and her long white braid hanging down her back.
“Noni, you’ve been doing a lot of things you never do recently,” he said gently. “I need you to escort this cargo to the Prime world, and you will do this for me.” He took her by the arm and reached out to press the elevator call button.
“Teusi has packed a bag for you, and the Watcher ship is waiting at the space station for you to board. You are welcome to stay there as long as you like.”
“I’m needed here,” she said, trying to pull away from him. “You can’t make me go.”
“I can and I am,” he said quietly, drawing her firmly into the now waiting elevator. “You signed up to work with us, Noni, and this is a command from both me and Rhyaz. We need you on the Prime world. Conner needs your expertise there—there are six very special cubs who could do with your singular brand of upbringing.”
Noni let herself be drawn into the elevator. “Six cubs, eh? Are they those cubs?”
“Yes, those cubs. We need your assessment of them.”
“In that case . . . It seems there is a lot that only I can do out there.”
“We also have a more pressing problem. The new bride of Emperor Zsurtul was kidnapped by K’hedduk. She’s been rescued, but Kusac had only minutes to mind wipe the torture she underwent at K’hedduk’s hands before she was on the ship heading back to the Prime world. We need you to make sure her mind has not been harmed, and that she never remembers the memories she has lost.”
“Who is she?”
“General Kezule’s favorite daughter, Zhalmo. From all I have heard, a very nice young female, and obviously very important to the young King Zsurtul. So much relies on this new royal couple; we have to be sure she remains mentally healthy.”
The elevator door opened opposite the entrance desk of Chaddo, doorkeeper at Stronghold for as long as anyone could remember.
“Morning, Noni, may the sun ever shine on you,” said Chaddo, lifting a bundle of items from the shelf under his desk. “I have your mission package ready for you.” He reached for the shelf again only to bring out a holstered gun. “We always issue at least a stun gun to every agent going on a mission. May I suggest you have one? There are some dangerous beasts on the Prime world. Plus, they have had the odd assassin, too.”
Noni looked at the gun in disgust. “If I have to carry one, at least give me one that works properly, not some child’s toy!”
Chaddo glanced at Lijou and, getting a nod in reply, laughed and put the stunner away, replacing it with a small blaster.
“You know how to use it?” he asked, handing it to her.
“Mountain born and bred, I probably know how to use guns you’ve only heard of,” she said, hooking her walking stick on the edge of the desk as she pulled out the energy pack and reinserted it, then checked the sights. “It’ll do. What else is in the bundle?” she demanded.
“Standard issue to every agent—backpack, emergency field rations, gun cleaning kit, two uniforms, one of dress blacks, you name it,” said Chaddo, packing the items into a small holdall and accepting the gun from Noni.
“Bag it, please,” she said.
“You don’t have to wear the uniform, Noni. They’re there as emergency clothing. As I hear it, there are a great many stores in the Palace, and in the market outside the city walls. You won’t suffer from a lack of a wardrobe.” Lijou signed for Chaddo’s assistant to carry Noni’s bag out to the courtyard for her.
“And how’s a poor old Sholan like me supposed to afford such finery?” she demanded. “Like as not there is nothing useful in the bag Teusi packed for me.”
Lijou suppressed a slight smile as he led the way down the steps to the courtyard. “You’ll get your salary as usual while on the Prime world, Noni, with the bonus for being on a mission for us.” He reached into the pocket in his robe and drew out a message crystal which he handed to her. “Here is your briefing with all the details on what we are doing to replenish the flora and fauna of K’oish’ik. You’ll get your briefing on the other matter from Kitra and Dzaka Aldatan. I can’t risk putting anything in a data copy at this time. We need to know if the cubs pose a threat to us in any way at all. Have we a school of demon fish in our midst, or are these just precocious youngsters who appear to be ten years old but have only been alive for barely one year?”
Noni nodded, “I can see that this question would worry me as well as it must worry you and Rhyaz,” she said. “How long will the journey take?”
“Three days. It is a Watcher ship. We’re lucky that the one with Tirak’s crew on it dropped in today with reports for us. They’re on their way back to that sector and can easily detour to drop you off.”
“Tirak and Annuur, eh? Let’s hope I don’t have any adventures on the way!”
“You’ll join them at the space station, Noni. This shuttle will take you there. Have a good trip and say hello to Conner from us,” he said, stopping by the craft.
“Don’t you think I don’t know that you and Rhyaz cooked this up to get me to Conner,” she said gruffly.
“We really need you there, Noni. It was only when looking at reasons to send you that I realized you could be just the person we need for the cubs, and to help Conner with replanting.”
“Plus with us both there, no need for you to worry about how long it will take us to complete this job.”
Lijou handed Noni up into the shuttle. “I know you hate traveling, but this should be an easy journey.”
“How often do you want my reports?”
“Weekly, if you please. Not about the cubs, or Zhalmo, we need to be careful with anything pertaining to them. Only we know about their existence. By the way, see if you can find out why the Watchers have disappeared from our radar over the last few weeks, only for Annuur’s to suddenly reappear today. I want to know what they’re up to, and he’s not talking.”
“I’ll see what I can find out. Well, I’ll say good-bye for now then, and I had better get there in one piece if the trip is only three days!” she huffed as she turned to make for her seat.
“Good-bye, Noni, and safe travels.”
M’zull, later the same day
It was late afternoon by the time Kusac and his small staff of five returned to the estate. “Laazif, bring the relevant munitions factory documents to my office as soon as you can,” he said, heading up the stairs two at a time for that room. “You and I will have to go over them, see where we can increase output for the Emperor. Some refreshments would also be welcome.”
“Certainly, your Lordship. I took the liberty of calling ahead as soon as I knew your plans. There will be some light refreshments waiting for you now, and dinner will be served within two hours.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Laazif,” said Kusac as the steward bowed and hurried off to the kitchen regions.
“Gods, that Palace was so oppressive,” muttered Rezac as he followed Kusac upstairs. “I am so glad to be back here.”
Get used to it, sent Kusac, opening the office door. We’ll probably be there at least half the time. Right now, we need to inspect the munitions factories, but that will only give us a couple of days’ grace here. Then we’ll have to head back.
Once inside, he gestured to Noolgoi and Cheelar to start checking the room for any surveillance devices, but they already had their readers out ready to scan the room.
“All clear,” said Cheelar a few minutes later, putting his device away in its hidden place inside his uniform jacket. “What now?”
“We decide on a region for Rezac to take over, somewhere nearby and preferably friendly to Nayash.”
“Needs to be a youngish Lord. I don’t intend to pretend to be one in his dotage!”
“Agreed. An older one would restrict your movements by too much. M’yikku, did you and Noi’kkah manage to pick up any useful intel by mixing with the soldiers in the main courtyard and cavern area?”
“Gossip, mostly, but we did find out who your neighbors are. If you can pull out that map of the area, the smaller scale one that has the city in it, I can show you,” replied M’yikku.
Circle's End Page 10