by Jaleta Clegg
And then, like the hint of an icy wind, I touched the clean simplicity of a wolf.
Far away, on a mountain flank buried in snow and ice, the wolf raised his muzzle to the sky and howled.
The sound echoed across the miles, through my mind. In that instant, I became nothing more than the sound of a wolf's mournful howl. I rose through the sky, towards the distant stars, leaving the tumult of madness behind.
"Dace." My name, patiently repeated.
Arms around me. I had a body. I was more than sound. I touched the wolf's mind again. With a tongue-lolling grin of amusement, the wolf pushed me from his head.
Chaos reigned around me, mental and emotional and physical. I didn't want to return. I wanted the clean emptiness of ice and snow and the cold of space.
"Dace." My name again, an anchor pulling me back to my body.
Hadn't I done this before? When Mart died and almost pulled me with him.
"Quick, Scholar." That voice again, sounding urgent and concerned.
There was a sharp sting in my arm. Icy cold radiated from the spot, washing across my skin. It was followed by a warmth that left me limp. I felt the thick muffling curtains of the drug in my head.
The chaos of thought and emotion faded, blocked by the drug. My thoughts echoed in my head, bounced back by the shield, trapped inside. I tried to reach for the wolf and met only elastic resistance that sent the call shrieking into my mind. I cried out at the pain.
Hands touched my head, cradling my face. I felt Scholar's touch as he patiently built the shields in my mind. The echoing clamor in my head faded to a dull ache.
"We've got to get out of here," Scholar said urgently. "Kuran wasn't here. His forces are out looking for you two."
"Isn't it obvious where we are?" Paltronis answered.
"I think anyone with any shred of psychic ability is going to be aching for a week," Scholar said. "No one will believe it was one person behind it."
"How did you get away from Rian?" Paltronis asked as she and Scholar lifted me to my feet. I couldn't stand by myself. Every muscle was limp. They propped me up between them.
"Kuran attacked her troops near the food warehouses."
They dragged me into the hall.
"I slipped out in the confusion," he finished as they picked their way out the shattered main doors.
It was raining outside. I felt the water on my skin. I could have traced the path individual drops took. Every nerve was hypersensitive.
"In here," Scholar said.
I was lifted and placed on something soft. A moment later vibrations rattled my teeth. We were in a truck.
"She'll recover," Scholar said as he pulled a blanket over me. It was rough and scratched but it was warm.
"I don't know," Paltronis said. "She won't if we have to keep her drugged."
"There are ways," Scholar said. "And there are people who can help."
"Dace will fight them every step of the way."
"It's because she repressed her abilities so long. And so completely. Lowell thinks it was tied to the trauma of losing her mother. He would have sent her to a clinic eventually, where they could help her gradually lower her shields. This isn't what he had planned. He sent her here because he had no other choice."
"I talked to Lowell, too," Paltronis said. "He could have chosen differently. Dace deserves better."
It was quiet, except for the sound of the truck shifting gears. I drifted, fuzzy from the drugs but not asleep.
"How are we going to get off this planet?" Scholar asked. "I did some checking on that ship. It's a merchant ship, private registration. They aren't going to take us for free or for some promise of payment later."
"Lowell will send someone."
"What if he can't? Or what if it takes him months? Dace doesn't have months."
"I know that."
"Another two weeks on that drug and she won't be able to think straight ever again."
"Then we'd better find a way to get her out of here soon."
"Rian won't let her go."
"Rian will have to let her go."
Even through my muffled senses I heard the threat in Paltronis' words. I would have smiled if I had any muscle control. What had I done to deserve a friend like Paltronis?
Not much, I had to admit to myself. I promised I'd treat her better, when and if I ever woke up from the drug.
Chapter 40
Rian stood at the shattered window of the upper floor of the warehouse. Glass crunched underfoot. The room still smelled of smoke and blood. She stared into the night beyond. The rain had paused. Puddles glistened in the few lights still burning. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the smell of fighting. The smell of freedom, she told herself. Freedom came at a price. It had been steep today.
Footsteps sounded behind her, hesitant and wary. Her people tried to respect her grief. Lief had died that afternoon, in the crush of fighting. She felt nothing, only a numbness that sent her up here, seeking a moment of solitude. She turned, looking back through the darkness to the dim shape of the door and the man waiting.
"Yes?" she said.
"We didn't want to disturb you," the man said hesitantly.
"But you have reports and information I need to hear and act upon," she finished for him. She motioned him into the room. "There's a light on the desk."
She waited while he fumbled for the light. It finally came on, dim yellow. The power grid in Milaga was not working well, partly due to her saboteurs and partly due to Kuran's. Loss of power would cripple him more than it would her, which was the only reason it still functioned at all.
"Your reports?" she asked the man.
He fumbled with his hands, as if looking for a paper report. They didn't have any. She didn't want Kuran to know any more than he already did. She couldn't afford paper reports falling into his hands.
"What of today?" she asked the man.
"Thirty two dead," he answered. "Ten more wounded badly. But we kept the food supplies intact. We have enough for a week, maybe more."
"And Kuran? What of the raid?"
She had lured Kuran to the warehouse on purpose. It was a diversion for the real attack.
"We took the guards by surprise. The supplies are being moved to the south warehouse now."
"List the supplies."
The man recited the list of captured supplies added to their stores. More food, medicine, and more weapons. The loss would hurt Kuran badly. Rian allowed herself to smile. It was worth the risks she had taken with her own forces. Thirty two dead, though, one of them Lief, it would leave her shorthanded. But not for long, she told herself. Things were almost in place.
"There was a disturbance at the government headquarters," the man said, shifting to a new report. "No one is quite sure what happened. The reports make little sense."
Rian smiled. "What do we know for certain?"
"Citizen Atera escaped from the cell Kuran was holding him in. There was fighting through the building. We have seventeen new recruits, including Atera's assistant."
"Keep him under guard. I don't trust him, but we can use him."
"There were other reports," the man said. "Strange sounds and apparitions and other things in the building. Some are saying it's haunted by the mountain spirits the villagers whisper about."
"Rumors and superstition," Rian said dismissively. "Were our agents picked up? The Patrol ones?"
"All three returned safely."
"Three?" Rian said in surprise.
"The man, Scholar, slipped out when no one was watching. He went to aid the other two." The man shifted his weight. "Guards have been assigned to all three now. None of them will be left unwatched. Ever."
"Very good," Rian said, nodding her approval.
"We have reports from the work farms," the man continued. "It's confused out there, still, but several hundred of the military have joined forces. They're negotiating with the mountain villagers for supplies."
"What are their plans?"
"No one can get close enough to find out. They don't trust us or Kuran. We may be able to persuade them to join us."
"And the villagers? Any further word on their movements?"
"Some are coming here, most are staying in the mountains. They have contacts with the settlements to the east. Negotiations for food and supplies are underway but it may take a while."
"Good." Rian thought for a moment, assimilating the new information. "Take back my report. Tell Jerif he is now in command of the ground forces here. Send Olla to the farm with my authorization to negotiate with the military and the villagers. And have Neel bring me the inventory of today's catch."
The man hesitated. "There is one more thing."
"Yes?" She waited impatiently. What else? Everything was under control. She had less than an hour to her secret meeting with Tilyn to put into motion the last of their plans.
"We finally got the long range equipment running, out near the port," he said. "They ran calibration checks with it and picked up a ship. It's coming here."
"Identity?"
"We can't identify it. The equipment won't focus that far."
"Keep the technicians working on it," Rian said. "If it's Patrol, I want to know immediately."
"And if it's the Federation?"
Rian looked up sharply at the man. It was no secret that Potokos had started negotiations with the Federation. The question she faced was what to do about it. She wasn't sure she wanted the Federation here.
"If it's anyone else, I want to know everything you can get. As soon as you get it. And I want them kept locked up in the port. No contact until we're ready."
"And Kuran's forces?"
"Keep them away. Jam their signals if you have to." She smiled at a sudden thought. "Take that agent, Scholar, and have him work on the equipment. I want him to have full access. I want to know what Kuran is telling his people. And then I want Scholar to change those orders. Assign Balior to watch him and give him suggestions."
"And the ship?"
"Don't let him contact them, don't even let him know about it if you can. And keep him from the two women. We don't want the three of them plotting together."
She tapped her lip. She was forgetting something.
"Keep the woman who claims to be Zeresthina drugged," she said. "I want her sedated. At least until tomorrow afternoon. Then send her and the other one out with the raiding party. I want them in the front, scouting."
"You want them to be the ones to run into Kuran's troops."
"And I want the rest to fall back as soon as they're attacked."
He kept his face neutral, hiding what he thought of her orders. It was only appropriate for a messenger. He nodded and turned to leave. She made a note to have him watched. She couldn't afford to trust anyone. Not even her own messengers.
She smiled at her own cleverness after the man was gone. Let Kuran kill the Patrol nuisance and take the blame for it. Dace, or Zeresthina if she was to be believed, and her friends were proving troublesome.
Rian looked down at her hands. She hated bloodying them this way, but it was in the name of freedom, in the cause of Tivor. The ends justified the means. In ten years, she wouldn't be remembered for her ruthlessness. She'd be remembered as the one who had led Tivor to freedom in the name of Shadowing.
Chapter 41
I clutched the rifle, wishing I wasn't carrying it. I still felt fuzzy inside, but most of the side effects had worn off. I mentally probed my shields. Scholar had helped me and so far they were holding. As long as I kept some of the drug in my system I should be fine. He'd assured me of that. But I wasn't fine. I was sneaking down a deserted street on a rainy afternoon with a rifle in my hands.
Paltronis signaled from farther up the street. I slipped out of the doorway and ducked behind a tangle of broken furniture. I saw no sign of anyone at all in this section of the city, except for the two of us and the squad that supposedly was behind us.
The squad stayed back. I wasn't surprised. Nobody wanted to come anywhere near me, except Paltronis and Scholar. The rest of them heard what had happened at the government building. I was haunted by frightened, suspicious looks. Paltronis had argued with Rian, enough to keep the resistance people from throwing me out altogether. But not enough for them to accept me. Not now, and not ever.
Paltronis checked another doorway and waved me forward. I checked the windows above me and the alley next to me before moving. Other than a rat scurrying away, nothing moved. I ran across the road, through the tangles of broken furniture, to join Paltronis.
"I don't like this," she muttered when I reached the shelter of the doorway. Water dripped overhead.
"Why does she suddenly trust us?" I asked.
"She doesn't and that's what has me nervous." Paltronis leaned out of the scant shelter just long enough to check our backtrail. "They're hanging too far back, as if we're bait."
"Or suckers," I said, leaning against the wall. The rifle was heavy in my hands.
"Can you feel anyone out there?" Paltronis asked me.
"I'd have to lower my shields to know."
"Forget I asked, please." We both knew what would happen if I let go of my tight shields for even a few moments. My sanity was balanced on that slim margin the shields and drugs bought me.
"How much farther?" I asked. We were supposed to scout the buildings in this area and report back. So far there hadn't been anything worth reporting.
"Another six blocks and we can turn back," Paltronis answered.
I wiped water off my rifle, checking the charge levels. These fired pellets, more dangerous than a blast rifle because these would wound without necessarily killing. I hated the rifle.
"I could almost believe you really are Patrol," Paltronis teased.
"You helped me corner Lowell into making me an Admiral. Until he signs the release papers, I am Patrol."
"I'm sorry I ever did it, Dace."
I shook my head. "It wasn't your fault. None of it." She still blamed herself that she wasn't there on Trythia to rescue Tayvis. I'd been there and it hadn't made any difference. Tayvis was still dead.
The rain chose that moment to pick up. Water beat a tattoo on the street, splashing up the sides of the buildings.
"Does it ever do anything but rain or snow here?" Paltronis grumbled as she picked her way out of the doorway.
We moved silently, ghosts in the rain. That block was clear and so was the next.
We ran into the trap on the block after that in a warren of apartments with a central covered courtyard.
Paltronis approached it warily, every sense on alert. She must have smelled something. I slipped behind her as she studied it from one of the numerous doors that opened into it.
"This is the building Rian said we had to check. She was very specific." Paltronis searched the area with her eyes and ears before she entered it.
"I trust her as much as she trusts us," I said.
"Go back and see if the others have caught up."
I nodded and turned back, rifle still at the ready.
The hall we'd come through had several sharp corners and lots of doorways. The doors themselves lay shattered on the floor. I made it to the first corner. I stopped and peeked around the corner. Shots peppered the wall next to my head. I jerked back into the relative safety of the hall. Paltronis lunged back into the other end. Shots rang against the cement floor behind her.
"It's a trap," she shouted over the continued sound of weapons.
I didn't answer. I was fighting myself. I needed to shoot the rifle. I didn't want more blood on my hands. Once I started shooting I wasn't sure I could stop until they were all dead.
My hands shook, my knees wobbled, with the strain. All of it affected the shields on my mind. I could feel them cracking. I had to do this as quickly as possible, before I lost control.
I took a deep breath, pushing the awareness of bullets shredding the wall next to me out of my head. I took another breath, finding my center. The rif
le barrel came up. Shooting exercise, I told myself. Just like at the Academy. Another deep breath. I spun around the corner, the rifle up and aiming down the hall. My stance was perfect, I could feel the balance in the weapon in my hands.
I fired a dozen shots, each one striking the target I aimed at. Some of them had time to scream, but not many. Within a few heartbeats, they were dead or hiding.
I let out my breath in a long sigh, lowering the rifle. I glanced back. Paltronis was swearing. Blood ran down her leg but it didn't slow her reflexes. She squeezed off another round of shots.
"You have more ammunition?" she called. "I've just about used mine up."
I came wordlessly down the hall.
Shots still echoed in the courtyard area. I listened for a moment.
"Eight," I said quietly.
Paltronis shook her head. "Ten, possibly eleven. There's one hiding on the third floor, behind a railing."
I nodded. Another breath in, find my center, turn and step into the courtyard. Shot after shot rang out in quick succession. Nine people died. The other two escaped because they were hiding and my rifle jammed. I ducked back into the hall.
Paltronis watched me with an inscrutable look. "Remind me not to get you upset, especially when you have a rifle."
"I missed two," I said as I stripped the rifle down. The feed pins were bent. It was useless for anything but beating people like a club.
"Take mine." Paltronis tossed her rifle to me.
"How's your leg?" I asked as I transferred the pellets from my rifle into hers.
"Not bad," she said as she poked the bleeding hole in her thigh. "Blasters are worse."
I heard the other two creeping up on us. I stepped near the door.
"Go away and I won't have to shoot you," I called.
We both heard the footsteps pattering away across the tiled floors.
"Interesting technique," Paltronis commented. "What's to stop them from ambushing us again later?"