thefiremargins

by Lisanne Norman

  Tiernay picked himself off the wall and pushed through the curtain into the temple. A small group of students stood between him and a semicircle composed of Goran and the three indoor guards, their rifles pointed at something on the floor.

  Goran looked up at him. "Get blankets, Tiernay, and quick."

  Tiernay doubled back to his room, returning with several. As he pushed past the students, he looked down to see what the fuss was about. What he saw defied belief.

  He felt Goran twitch the blankets from him, then saw him kneel down to cover up the alien form that lay on the floor between two Sholan males. All three of them looked to be unconscious.

  "Where did they come from?" he asked when he finally found his voice.

  "According to the students, there was a noise like the wind blowing, followed by a blast of heat, then the air seemed to bend, and there they were," said Goran.

  A squall from one of the females drew their attention back to the people on the floor.

  "He moved! That one moved!"

  Goran signaled to his guards. "Clear this lot out," he said. "Last thing these folk need is to see dozens of faces staring at them."

  The guards moved toward the students who backed off, scuttling to their quarters to tell their less fortunate friends what had happened.

  * * *

  Kaid was the first to fight his way back to consciousness. He could feel Carrie's mental presence, and though not as strongly, he knew Kusac was there too. It wasn't enough. He had to see them.

  Groaning, he pulled his good hand to his side and tried to push himself upright. Everything hurt, he discovered, as he managed to raise himself enough to lift his head and look from one side to the other.

  Willing hands took hold of him, helping him sit up before putting a blanket round his shoulders.

  At first his eyes wouldn't focus, then gradually the blurring passed and he saw that they'd all arrived safely. Someone, thank the God, had covered Carrie with a blanket.

  There was a voice speaking to him, but he couldn't understand it at first. The aches and pains had resolved themselves now and he could tell that most of them were due to landing face first on the floor beneath him. He pushed the hands away and reached out for Carrie. If she'd landed the way he had ...

  He hadn't the strength to pull the blanket from her and check she was all right. Looking up, he saw the person who was doing all the talking. Why the hell couldn't he see that she needed help? Angrily, he turned on him.

  "In the God's name, shut up!" he said. "Check her! She fell. She's pregnant!"

  The talking stopped but there was confusion all around him. They didn't know what to do. Then the one beside him spoke.

  "We have. We could see nothing obviously wrong with her, but rest easy, a doctor is on the way."

  "Kusac. How's he?"

  "Your friend is unconscious. Has he been drugged at all?"

  "Yes. La'quo. That's what brought us here."

  "Not one we've heard of, I'm afraid. My name's Tiernay. You're at ..."

  "I know where we are," interrupted Kaid. "We've come to see the one called Vartra."

  "I'm afraid you'll have to wait," said Tiernay. "We don't know who you are or where you came from. You're a security risk at present."

  Kaid was beginning to feel more alert by now and as he looked around, his eyes lighted on Goran standing there, rifle at the ready.

  "I know you," he said. "Goran. You trained with Rezac. Where is he? Has he been taken yet?"

  Startled, Goran and Tiernay exchanged glances. "Taken?"

  "Carrie saw it. She read it from the collar they tried to put on Zashou. Has it happened yet?"

  "How do you know about Rezac and Zashou?" demanded Goran, stepping forward.

  A wave of lightheadedness swept through Kaid and he began to sway. Tiernay caught hold of him before he fell.

  "Look, we're not from now," said Kaid as nausea began to hit his stomach. "We've come back to warn you. The moon. It was hit by the warship. A meteorite is coming," he said, clutching hold of Tiernay's arm as the room began to darken.

  * * *

  "He's passed out," said Tiernay, making a grab for him before he fell. Carefully he laid him on the ground again.

  "Mad, that's what he is," said Goran, pulling a stim-twig from his pocket and sticking it in his mouth. "Here's the doctor. I'm keeping them under guard here. I don't trust them. Two males and a pregnant female alien turn up out of nowhere? Smells to me, that does. Mark my words, the Valtegans are at the back of this."

  Both doctors came running across to them. "What's happened?" demanded Nyaam, kneeling down beside Tiernay. "Let me see him."

  "They appeared out of thin air, if the students are to be believed," said Goran.

  "Dr. Kimin," said Tiernay, looking up at the female Sholan, "Will you look at this one? She's pregnant and one of the males is afraid she may have hurt herself."

  Kimin nodded and moved round to the side of the female. Pulling back the blanket, she let out a cry of disbelief.

  "What is it?" demanded Nyaam, breaking off his examination of Kaid to see what had caused his colleague to cry out.

  "She's an alien," said Goran, pushing his twig to one side of his mouth. "A furless one."

  "So I see," said Kimin, her voice a little faint as she began to check the unknown alien for any obvious signs of injury. "She seems all right, but I don't know where to start with her! I want her up in the infirmary and settled into a bed," she said, standing up and moving to the third body.

  "They stay here for now," said Goran. "That one hasn't moved."

  "They can't stay here!" exclaimed Kimin. "They need to be treated!"

  "Then bed them down here," growled Goran. "I don't like the way they suddenly arrived, nor what that first one knew about us."

  * * *

  Kaid surfaced again about an hour later. He looked across at the camp beds beside him and saw Carrie and Kusac were also there. With a sigh of relief, he sat up. They were still in the temple, and an armed guard sat watching them. When he saw Kaid moving, he got to his feet and, going to where the crimson curtain had been pulled back, he opened the door, speaking briefly to someone outside.

  While he was doing that, Kaid got up, pleased to find that this time he was steady on his feet. He padded over to Carrie's bed and quickly checked her pulse for himself. As he did, her eyes flickered and with a groan, she began to move.

  "It's all right, Carrie," he said quietly. "We've arrived safely. I'm just going to check on Kusac."

  Another groan and, as she pushed herself up, she opened her eyes. "Gods, if this is what time travel does to you, I don't think I'll do it again," she moaned, putting a shaking hand up to her forehead to push her hair back. "I feel awful, Kaid! How's Kusac?"

  "I'm just going to see," he said, leaving her side and padding over to Kusac's bed.

  "Hey! Get back into bed," ordered the guard.

  Kaid looked over at him, raising an eye ridge questioningly. "Or what? Don't be so damned stupid. You can see I'm only checking on my friends. It isn't as if I've got anywhere to conceal a weapon!" He turned his back on the guard and continued to check Kusac.

  Meanwhile, wrapping her blanket around her, Carrie had got up and was now standing beside him.

  "Can you sense him?" asked Kaid.

  "Yes, thank God," she said, reaching out to touch her mate's face. "Not like it was back at home." She looked at Kaid. "I'm sorry, Kaid. I know it was my fault that we all traveled, but I couldn't bear to be alone. Not being able to feel his mind in mine terrified me. I wasn't thinking."

  Kaid gave a lopsided grin. "You're pregnant. Pregnant females aren't expected to be logical in what they do," he said.

  "How is he?"

  "Your friend's unconscious," said a voice from behind them.

  They turned round to find themselves face to face with a female who was obviously a medic.

  "My name's Dr. Kimin," she said, mouth opening in a friendly smile.

  "
He isn't my friend," said Carrie. "He's my Leska and life-mate. We know he's unconscious. Is there anything else wrong with him?"

  The doctor's jaw fell further open in shock and she looked from one to the other of them.

  "Please," said Carrie. "I want to know how he is. He'd taken a drug ..." she looked to Kaid.

  "La'quo."

  "That one, before we left. How is he?"

  "Ah, I've never ... That's a new one to me," she said. "Your ... Leska is fine. He should waken any time."

  As Carrie turned back to Kusac, Kaid decided to try once more. "We've come here to see the one called Vartra. Is he here?"

  "Yes, Dr. Vartra is here, but he can't come to you at the moment," she said. "You haven't told me your names yet."

  "I'm Kaid, the Human is called Carrie, and her Leska is Kusac," he said.

  "When you say Leska, what exactly do you mean?"

  "You know what a Leska is, Vartra's been working on and with them! What else could I be talking about?"

  "But she's not Sholan! She can't possibly have a Sholan Leska!"

  "Tell her mate that! Look, it should be obvious to you that we aren't from your time. We've only just met the Humans, of course you've never seen them before! We need to talk to someone in authority here, preferably Vartra!" Kaid turned as the door open and a tall, slim male of middle years entered.

  "I'll talk to them, Dr. Kimin," said the newcomer.

  "You're Vartra," said Kaid.

  "I am. How can I help you?" he asked.

  "My name's Kaid. This is Carrie, and the third member of our group is Kusac, her Leska," said Kaid, suddenly feeling tired again. He lowered himself down onto his bed.

  "Surely she can't be his Leska," said Vartra. "No offense, my dear, but you aren't Sholan," he said, looking over at Carrie who had looked round at the mention of his name.

  "No, but if I'm right, you're the one responsible for the fact that I'm carrying a Sholan cub," she said. "We're from your future, fifteen hundred years in your future."

  Vartra's ears flicked backward in shock as he looked from her to Kaid. "That's impossible!"

  "Which?" asked Kaid drily. "That we came back fifteen hundred years, or that my friend is carrying the second cub to have one parent Sholan and the other Human?"

  The silence was broken by the sound of Kusac coming round.

  "He's going to throw up," said Carrie, her attention on Kusac again. "You'd best get him a bowl or something."

  Kimin moved quickly, but not quickly enough. Kusac just managed to get his head over the side of the bed before throwing up. By the time he'd finished, he was feeling and looking better. One of the students came to clear the mess up, and mumbling apologies, Kusac gratefully took the mug of water Carrie held out to him.

  "Are you all right? Our cub didn't get hurt, did she?" he asked anxiously as he reached out for Carrie, holding her close. "Why did you come too?"

  "I couldn't be without you," she said, relaxing against him. "As far as I know, our cub is fine." She looked over at the doctor.

  "I could see nothing obviously wrong with you," she said. "But I know nothing about your people."

  "You say you've come back to warn us. Warn us of what?" asked Vartra.

  Kusac had swung round and was sitting on the edge of his bed, facing them, Carrie sitting beside him.

  "Did the fighting start tonight?" asked Kusac. "Did you stand outside here with Zylisha and hear the blasts from the cities? See a glow in space where the Valtegan warship hit the lesser moon?"

  Vartra looked at Kimin, ears going back in surprise then righting themselves. "Yes, I did. Why?"

  "The debris from the moon will collide with Shola two days from now," said Kaid.

  "It'll will cause global destruction," said Kusac. "Tidal waves, earthquakes— clouds of thick dust that will stay in the sky for months, cutting out sunlight. A Cataclysm that will reduce this civilization to virtually nothing. But before that happens, the Valtegans that haven't already left Shola will discover you here."

  "How did you know that the Valtegans have been leaving? That isn't public knowledge yet!" demanded Vartra.

  "We know a lot," said Carrie. "This hill is full of crystals that are storing the events that are happening now. I shared the experiences of Rezac and Zashou when they went down with the fever that changed their genes. You had to put them together, pack ice round them to bring their temperatures down, didn't you? And you," she pointed at Kimin, "you argued with Nyaam over putting them together and releasing Rezac's restraints."

  Kimin looked at Vartra, her ears laid flat in distress as she looked for a seat to sit down.

  "They know it as if they were there!" she said.

  "And you blame yourself because they took the vaccine too soon," Carrie finished, pointing to Vartra.

  "How do you know these things?" asked Vartra. "You can't possibly, unless ..."

  "Unless what we say is true," finished Kusac.

  "You have to leave here," said Kaid. "And as soon as possible. If you saw the explosion on the moon tonight, you have to be in Stronghold within two days or you'll never make it because of the Cataclysm. You'll be cut off here till the floods subside."

  "You'll be safe at Stronghold. There's villages nearby for food and other supplies, and you'll have the Brothers to protect you," said Kusac.

  "Brothers?" Vartra looked like a person who had heard more than he could take in.

  "You're a God in our time," said Carrie gently. "The Brotherhood of Vartra is a semi-religious Warrior cult based at Stronghold. They'll guard the telepaths at a time when your people will blame them for the Cataclysm."

  Vartra shook his head. "This is utterly unbelievable, but it has to be true! What you know about us you could never have learned. It's as if you were there."

  "All very interesting," drawled Goran, walking into the temple. "I don't believe you yet. I'm not convinced. How do we know you didn't lift what you've told us from our minds? Give us a good reason to trust you."

  "You're a telepath," Carrie said looking at Kimin. "Touch my mind. You'll see that we're telling the truth."

  Kimin tried but after a minute or two had to give up. "You're just too alien, I'm afraid," she said.

  "Try mine," said Kusac.

  "Get Tiernay," said Goran to the doctor. "He's good at this."

  Kimin returned with Tiernay.

  Kusac lowered his shields, sitting patiently while he felt Tiernay's mind touch his. Carefully he guided him, letting him see the memories of their world.

  "He's told the truth," said Tiernay at length.

  "Him next." Goran pointed to Kaid. "They could have conditioned the other one's mind. The Valtegans are good at twisting people like that."

  Kaid looked over at Carrie and she could feel his panic. She reached out to touch his hand. "You'll be fine," she said. "Just lower your barriers and sit quietly, concentrating on keeping them down. Let him do the hard work."

  Reluctantly Kaid stilled his heart rate and began to recite the litany for clear thought. He concentrated on lowering his barriers, sensing them go down one at a time until he sat there feeling vulnerable and exposed. He felt Tiernay's touch. It wasn't subtle or gentle, but the young male was able to look at his memories.

  Gradually he felt his mind become numb and hazy until he almost fainted. Someone was holding him, telling him to wake up. He blinked, trying to focus, and eventually Kusac's face swam into view. He frowned, and put his hand up to rub his eyes.

  "What happened?" he asked.

  "You nearly passed out," said Kusac, letting him go. "How do you feel now? Are you all right?"

  Kaid nodded slowly. "I'm fine," he said, looking beyond him to where Vartra was talking to Tiernay and Goran. "Do you have your proof now?" he asked.

  "Yes," said Vartra, coming toward them. "Dr. Kimin will take Carrie and try to find some clothes for her. If you two will come with us, we'll see what we can find in the way of clothing for you."

  * * *

 
; Half an hour later, they met on the way into the common room. All three of them stopped dead just inside the doorway, looking over at the log fire crackling and spitting in the corner.

  "The old ties of family have broken down and we must survive as best we can" Kaid quoted. "Your loyalty can only be to each other, no one else. Those of you who survive ..." He stopped, having forgotten the rest.