Circle's End

by Lisanne Norman

  Kusac nodded, dashing the tears away from his eyes on his forearm as he helped Carrie to her feet. “Let them work,” he said, pulling her into his arms as they stepped back from their son’s small broken body.

  * * *

  Mrowbay knelt down beside Kaid and began taking over from him. “I have a shot for the pain,” he said, putting the hypo against T’Chebbi’s thigh and pressing it.

  T’Chebbi hissed in pain. “Hope Annuur can help Shaidan,” she said between gritted teeth. “No cub deserves to have life cut this short, especially Shaidan.”

  “You’re going to be some time recovering from your own wounds,” said Mrowbay, putting the syringe aside and checking the bandages on her arm and side. He looked over his shoulder at Kaid who was hovering between her and his father. “Go see to Rezac,” he said compassionately. “T’Chebbi is in no danger now.”

  “See to your father,” echoed T’Chebbi, the relief that the drug gave her from the pain visible on her face. “I’m fine.” Her voice had degenerated to a slow drawl by now. Closing her eyes, she drifted into unconsciousness.

  Mrowbay looked up at the others clustered round them. “Get me something to put under her head,” he said.

  * * *

  Kaid knelt down in front of his father. Rezac was fading fast now as he was pulled closer to death by the strength of the Leska link he’d had with Jo.

  “Father,” said Kaid, his voice low as he reached out to hold him close. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

  “I’ve only known war, Kaid,” Rezac said quietly, lifting an arm to put round his son. “Now it’s time for me to have peace. I loved Jo, you’ve no idea how much.” He gave a little laugh. “I reckon you do know how much at that. I can’t let her travel to the other side alone. I’ve had a great gift in knowing you against all odds.” His hand cupped Kaid’s cheek before it fell away back to his lap. “Look after your T’Chebbi. I love you,” he whispered.

  * * *

  Still holding Carrie close, Kusac turned to Kaid. “I am so sorry,” he said quietly. “I had no idea the cost would be so great to us.”

  “It had to be done,” said Kaid, rubbing his hands across his face, wiping away the tears. “It was never just about Shaidan, it was also about a body of people determined to run our lives. We had to stop them. We still have to. Once our wounded have been treated, and our dead sent home, we have to go back to that meeting room and give them hell!”

  Captain, I am Unity. I can take care of your injured and dead until you are ready to take them home, said a voice they had never heard before.

  Unity! Kusac swung round, looking for an outlet for the voice.

  Giyarishis stood up from where he was taking possession of some of the armaments dropped by his enemies. “I opened a node for Unity, Captain. Have need of its help if you want to leave here and travel back to the Camarilla Council chamber.”

  An insistent tugging on his arm finally got Kusac’s attention, and he looked down at Carrie’s tearstained face. “What is it?” he asked fearfully, looking across at the huddle of Cabbarans.

  “It’s Shaidan,” she said, her voice a disbelieving whisper. “Look!”

  He looked, but Shaidan was still almost completely hidden by the four Cabbarans who ringed his still form. He heard the cub gasp for air once, then a second time, then begin to cough and moan.

  Kusac made to move forward, but Tirak forcibly held him back.

  “No, wait till Annuur says it’s safe,” the U’Churian Captain said.

  “How is this possible?” asked Kusac disbelievingly.

  “They manipulate matter, Kusac. All matter, including living tissue. It’s like what you did when you healed King Zsurtul, only on a greater level.”

  Gradually, the four Cabbarans pulled back and on the floor between them, Kusac and Carrie could see their son’s body beginning to move.

  “Still hurt is he,” said Annuur in a voice that was a thread of his usual one. “But now he will live.”

  Kusac and Carrie fell to their knees beside their son.

  Shaidan’s eyes flickered open. “Papa, Mama” he whispered, reaching out toward them. His small hand closed on Kusac’s. “Annuur made me better.”

  “We can’t thank you enough,” said Carrie, reaching out to touch Annuur on the head. “Shaidan is very special to us.”

  “As all our children are,” said Annuur tiredly. “Now we will see to T’Chebbi. Less we can do for her because drained we are working on Shaidan.”

  “Anything you can do for her is appreciated,” said Kusac before Kaid could. “I owe you for this, Annuur. I’m sorry I ever doubted you.”

  “Not always have our goals been the same, but compatible always they have been,” said the Cabbaran, leading his sept over to the unconscious T’Chebbi.

  Kusac carefully lifted Shaidan up into his arms. The cub was still covered in blood and all the visible skin on his face—around his eyes and nose, and inside his ears—was paler than usual, but he was alive and conscious.

  “You shouldn’t have run between me and that shot,” said Kusac, holding him close.

  “I had to,” whispered Shaidan. “We need you alive to deal with the Camarilla,” he said with the logic of a child.

  Jurrel came up to them and handed Carrie a blanket for Shaidan. Kusac took it from her and while Carrie helped to remove the pieces of his torn and bloodstained tunic, he carefully wrapped their son up in it.

  “We nearly lost you today,” said Kusac. “You will not do that again,” he said sternly.

  “I’ll try not to, Papa, so long as you aren’t in danger again,” said the cub, cuddling up to his father.

  “No conditions,” said Kusac, putting a finger under his chin and making Shaidan look him in the eyes.

  “Yes, Papa.”

  “Good. Kaid.” He turned to his sword-brother. “We need to go to the Camarilla Council chamber,” he said gently.

  “I won’t leave them here,” said Kaid, looking up from where he crouched beside T’Chebbi. “Not Rezac and Jo, or T’Chebbi.”

  “I’m not asking you to,” Kusac began.

  Captain, I can take your dead to my core where they will be safe and untouched by anyone till you request them, interrupted Unity. Lieutenant T’Chebbi will be able to walk when Agent Annuur and his sept are finished.

  “She can visit with my sept,” said Annuur. “She be safe there, can see our younglings.”

  “Can make up own mind,” said T’Chebbi, conscious again, her tone acerbic despite the tiredness apparent in her voice. “I go with you.”

  “Would that be acceptable for Rezac and Jo?” asked Kusac.

  Kaid nodded silently, watching as his father and Jo faded slowly from their view.

  All honor will be shown them, said Unity.

  “Your sword,” said Carrie, handing it to Kusac.

  One-handed, he slipped his blaster into his holster and got to his feet, taking the sword from her. “Form up on me,” he ordered. When they had formed a V shape behind him, he spoke to Unity. “Take us to the Camarilla.”

  They materialized where they had before, on the raised area by the podium, the large screen showing the potentialities at that moment, their backdrop of angry roiling reds, oranges, and blacks.

  Waiting for him were M’yikku, Noi’kkah, J’korrash, and Kushool, supported by the two U’Churian females, Sheeowl and Thyasha.

  “I said I’d return,” he said loudly. “I said I’d rescue my son, and I have. Tell me who else is responsible for his kidnapping and torture!”

  Khassis got slowly to her feet. “The Isolationist party were the only responsible ones,” she said, her humming and clicks translated into Sholan. “Arrested them we have. In cells are they, along with the one who was traitorously aiding the false sand-dweller Emperor.”

  “I demand they be turned
over to face trial for their actions,” snarled Kusac. “A war crimes jury will be assembed by the Alliance species and they will appear in front of it!”

  “Agreed, but we must also be represented,” said Khassis.

  “And us,” said Nkuno, a Cabbaran Elder, getting to her feet.

  “Diplomatic relationships are already underway with both your people,” said Kusac. “Our Ambassadors will decide these matters, not us. As far as I’m concerned, you are all guilty of meddling in our lives!”

  He stopped to hand Shaidan to Kaid, who was waiting at his elbow to take the cub. “Who pushed the M’zullians into reforming their empire?” he demanded, stepping forward and extending his sword to sweep it in an arc around the assembly. “You had one of your people—Lassimiss—installed in K’hedduk’s court! They had a matter transformer from you to make the nanites that utterly wiped out all the people on the planet of J’kirtikk! You spied on us on the Kz’adul, on the Prime world, and the Gods know where else! Somehow, far in both our pasts, you mixed our DNA with the U’Churians! And that is only what I know about, I’m sure there is more!”

  Nkuno the Cabbaran, sat up on her haunches, rubbing her face in embarrassment. “Was us who adapted the U’Churians, our Children, in order to prevent them from dying out as a species,” she said. “This was before we joined the Camarilla. Solar flare did genetic damage, we repaired it best we could.”

  From the corner of his eye, Kusac saw Tirak’s shocked reaction to this news.

  “The TeLaxaudin took some of our people and transplanted them here,” said Tirak. “There are generations of U’Churians who don’t even know about Home, or the trading ships we live in, don’t know about our links to the Cabbarans!”

  There was a shuffling sound as dozens of the U’Churians stationed round the room as guards, moved their positions, turning briefly to look at each other.

  “Not all these decisions were taken by the Isolationists!” snarled Kusac as once again the energy coursing through him could be seen crackling in his sword. “Few of these decisions benefitted those affected by it! Give me any good reason why you should be allowed to continue in this selfish way?”

  “Not all our decisions were selfish,” said Khassis.

  “Saving the U’Churians was altruistic,” said Nkuno. “It benefitted us not at all at the time. Only thousands of years later were we able to help them into space and form trading families with them. Their use by the Camarilla was not our doing.”

  “That was ours,” admitted Khassis. “We needed strong backs and sensitive dispositions to help do that which as fragile beings we could not do.”

  “So you made servants of them!” said Kusac.

  “Not so! They are trusted members of our households. Many own and run their own businesses as they are a trading people by nature.”

  “Show me any independent U’Churians here who own their own ships, or who can go off planet if they wish to!” interrupted Tirak, stepping forward. “There are none!”

  Kusac turned to look at the large screen behind him, pointing his sword at it. “I see two large centers of movement there, and guess they are right in this Council chamber.”

  “You are correct. They are the nexuses representing you and your son,” said Khassis.

  “You plot disasters before they happen, with no real knowledge of if they will! Just looking at this representation makes me think that to stop this disaster you foresee, all you need to do is kill me! Only I have no intention of lowering myself to the level of your Isolationist Party and assuming you will try to do that. You spy on people you suspect of being a nexus, never taking into account properly that perhaps, just perhaps, your interference will make what you fear happen! Events need to play out in most cases. Not every event that initially looks bad will be a disaster.”

  “We try to let events play out. Most of what we do is gathering information on situations that potentially could . . .” began Khassis.

  “. . . affect you and the Cabbarans,” said Kusac. “That has to stop now! I grant you may have fallen into complacency over the centuries.” He lowered his sword till its tip rested on the ground. “I will tell you how it is going to be for the Camarilla from today! All our species matter as much as any one. It’s time that you admitted all the other races whose lives you have been playing with. The U’Churians for one, and ourselves and the Primes. For too long you’ve had a say in how our lives will be run, time the favor was returned.”

  Azwokkus rose to his feet from the midst of the Reformist Party. “Agreed,” he said. “For this have we been working.”

  “Too soon is it for the inclusion of junior species,” began Htomshu, leader of the Moderates.

  “This is not open for discussion,” said Kusac, glaring at the TeLaxaudin female. “It is what will happen!”

  As he spoke, Kusac was aware of two things. He felt a cool breeze that smelled of summer flowers, and those who were facing him, who’d been standing, suddenly either sat down, or began to back away.

  Kusac swung round, raising his sword again, only to face a group of three Sholans, one of whom he knew.

  “Vartra!” he said in shock as the Entity moved toward him, holding out his hand for the sword.

  “Indeed, it is me,” said the black-clad Sholan, taking the sword from Kusac’s now limp grasp. “So you decided to be their savior, not their destroyer. I’m glad my confidence in you wasn’t misplaced.” Vartra turned, and with a bow to his two companions, he handed them the sword.

  L’Shoh, the dark Entity of the afterlife, took it, planting it point first onto the ground, and resting his hands on the quillons.

  There was an aura of power about the Entity, and Kusac was aware of his visage changing, altering subtly, to become first U’Churian, then Cabbaran, and finally TeLaxaudin before returning to that of his Sholan self. He was sure that each species saw the Entities in their own form.

  “Your Camarilla has overreached itself when it went as far as to imprison our brother, Vartra. It’s time that your monopoly be ended and that the younger species have as much of a say in the running of your group. Diverting disasters is one thing, meddling in the natural progression of a species is not acceptable. The Sholans have earned their place among you, as have the U’Churians for their loyalty.”

  Ghyakulla took a step forward, setting her hand on Vartra’s bowed head. “Your geas is ended, faithful one,” she said slowly in a voice obviously unused to speaking. “The Valtegan problem is solved once and for all. Choose your future as mortal or immortal.”

  “You can live out a normal span of years, or choose to become an immortal,” said L’Shoh. “If you choose to join us, you will have to decide whether or not to remain as the consort of Ghyakulla.”

  Vartra knelt before Ghyakulla and reached out for her hand, which she gave to him. “I choose to remain as your consort, if you’ll still let me,” he said. “Like you, I’m tired of the constant conflict between myself and Kuushoi. It’s time I chose, and I choose you.”

  Ghyakulla smiled, raising him to his feet and setting him beside her. “Keep an eye on this Council you will, guide them if they overstep again,” she said.

  “And you, Kusac,” said L’Shoh. “Now your time as the Avatar of Justice is over, what would you do?”

  “Go home to my Clan and be a father to my people,” he said instantly, reaching for Carrie, Kaid, and Shaidan. “Take the extra abilities away, I don’t want them, I only want to be me!”

  “Hey, I like being able to shape change into a Sholan,” said Carrie, tugging on his arm.

  Ghyakulla smiled and reached out to touch her cheek. “Then once a year at midsummer, little Human, you can become Sholan for a day, if you wish. Time now to return to the Prime world with honored dead and injured. Much to see to there before you can go home.” She gestured, and a gateway appeared just beyond where Kusac stood.

 
“Vartra, now as Avatar of Justice, will see to it that those responsible will be dealt with through your judicial system,” said L’Shoh.

  Kuushoi’s realm

  Kuushoi passed her hand across her viewing pool and stepped back among her Dzinaes. “Well, that was mildly amusing,” she said to Gihaf. “Pity they didn’t fight for longer, I wanted to know who would win. But their son stopped it.”

  “You’ve watched the fight several times now, Lady,” said Gihaf, fingers idly twining around one of the many fine braids he now wore framing his face. “Did you find what you were looking for?”

  She frowned, reaching out to smack his hand away from the braids. “So you’re copying our Avatar’s hair, are you?”

  “Only a few braids,” he said, putting the back of his hand to his lips and licking it where she had hit him. His deep blue eyes gazed at her all the while. “I like the look of them. Nefae did them for me.” He turned his head so she could see the back of his long hair. “See, the rest is as you like it, long and loose.”

  “Hmm,” she said, pulling one fine braid. “It’ll do for now,” she said. “Yes, I found what I wanted. The look on his face when the little Human appears, and when she attacks him, is priceless!”

  “Lady!” Rojae’s voice was high-pitched in concern as she came running into the viewing room, closely followed by Nefae. “He comes, Vartra comes for you!”

  “That’s Lord Vartra now,” said Vartra as he swept into the room, his long gray robes just reaching floor level. “You are to present yourself before your husband, Lord L’Shoh, for judgment. Your untimely meddling in the affairs of the Avatar was not appreciated.”

  She pouted. “You make such a fuss over it. I was only amusing myself because I was bored. It’s summer and you aren’t with me.”

  “I won’t be with you again,” he said, reaching for her arm and taking hold of her. As he did, she saw the sword that hung on his hip, the Avatar’s sword. “I am released from my geas and have chosen to be Ghyakulla’s consort. Another will play the part of Winter’s Father and Child. Now come, L’Shoh is not pleased you interfered with the human called Carrie.”