by 1
His wife was standing, tears in her eyes. “He cried for three days.”
The mayor reached his hand out and caressed her cheek. “And you never let me eat spicy food again.”
His soul touched her and she closed her eyes. Leaning into the touch that wasn’t there. “I can feel you, Ehnyin. It is you.”
His eldest son was staring at the image of his parents’ contact. “It is really him?”
His mother grinned. “Yes. It is really your father and I want him to live.”
His son turned on Zeyan, “How are you doing that?”
“It is my talent. Some talents can be useful. It is something your father needs to keep in mind for the future.” She raised her hand and two of the bearers came forward, moving the mayor onto the stretcher.
“These men will take him to the medical tents at the spaceport. I will keep his soul intact and alive until they are able to purge his body of the infectious agent.”
“He will remain alive?” Bishya Skarrol smiled through her tears.
“They will keep his body alive and I will guard his soul. When the agent is purged, I will return him to his body, safe and sound.” Her smile was tight.
As they turned en masse to leave, she turned to the mayor. “It is time to join the others. Please, say farewell so that we can be on our way.”
He touched each of his children in turn and then stepped toward her. She watched him enter the orb and smiled as her mental inventory ticked over with one more.
As she reached out to take the arm that Orenn offered her, a hand on her arm stopped her.
Morcryn Skarrol looked into her face with sincere eyes. “If for whatever reason my father doesn’t heal, please call us so that we can say goodbye.”
She patted his hand, feeling the waves of talent in his flesh. He was powerful but unfocussed and she had no idea what he could do.
“We will notify you. But in the spirit of co-operation, if any of you begin symptoms, please come to the medical tent city so that treatment can begin immediately. Also, they have created an antiviral for this disease so if you can gain support for inoculation, it would be appreciated.”
He swallowed and reluctantly let her go.
She shared her acknowledgement of his talent with Orenn. He blinked in surprise but nodded imperceptibly.
They made their way out through the great doors and Zeyan smiled at the crowd that gathered. Their group was viewed with a combination of hostility, fear and hope. News that the mayor was being taken to the alien medical centre would spread like wildfire and the Sector Guard would have less of an awkward time in finding the holdouts.
The next three gatherings went off without a hitch. By the final one, they were down to two guards, Mist, Reset and Orenn.
Zeyan walked the path to the final house out of reflex. She could have found it in the dark.
She hesitated when she got to the door. Steeling herself, she opened the door and walked down the hall to the back garden. Her sister was lying on a chaise and her mother was sitting nearby. It took her three tries to speak.
“Excuse me, madam. We have come to take her to the emergency medical centre.” She looked at her sister’s soul and felt the surprise that was being broadcast.
“The Sector Guard has taken one daughter. I won’t let them take the other.” Zimyal Reven sat and didn’t even give them a look.
“You have no choice. A cure is being developed, but Zanalyin has little time.”
Her mother blinked back tears. “How do you know her name?” She finally looked up and stared at Zeyan.
“Soul Keeper. Agent of the Citadel. Her soul is standing near her feet. The illness pushes the soul from the body and keeps it from rejoining. I will guard the soul until they can heal her body, madam.” She tried to keep her tone steady, but she heard it waver.
“You are familiar. What kind of creature would you be that you have to wear a mask when the others around you do not?” Her mother was getting to her feet as she spoke.
“An unwanted creature. A foolish creature. A creature who knew that she would not be welcomed here.” Absently, she poured power into her sister and Zanny came into full view.
Rushing past her mother, Zanny threw her spectral arms around Zeyan. “I knew you would do great things.”
“I haven’t done anything yet. I am still in the process of trying a first assignment. Now, say something to Mama.” She couldn’t pry her sisters glowing arms from around her, but it was only because she didn’t want to.
Zimyal was staring at her two children, “Zey, you came back.”
“I was needed, so they brought me here. I promise you that I won’t return after I leave the next time, madam. You need not worry about dealing with me.” She inclined her head formally and the bearers loaded her sister on the stretcher.
“Where are they taking her?”
“They are taking her for treatment and when she is better, she will be whole again. Madam, are you all right?” She took a step forward but halted when she remembered her mother’s admonition never to touch her again. “Reset, could you?”
The female Kozue took a few steps forward and nodded before she made contact. “She is infected. We can walk her back to the med unit and start her treatment.”
The bearers nodded their willingness to be on their way. Zanny’s spirit was still standing nearby, waiting.
“Madam. Take Zanny’s hand and she will walk with you to the doctors.”
Zanny nodded and took her mother’s hand. “Lead the way, Zey.”
Zeyan chuckled sadly. “I have to lead the way. You can’t move around without me.”
The bearers started their journey back to the emergency medical unit and the rest of them followed. Zanny and Zimyal walked together, Zeyan walked behind them with the orb floating over her head.
Orenn was silent, but he kept his hand on her back, supporting the effort she was engaging in to keep her sister tangible.
They made their trek slowly, but as the bearers took her sister’s body into the tent city and her mother was gently steered away by medics, Zeyan felt a reluctance to let her sister join the others.
“Zanny…”
“No, Zey, you have to put me with the others. We will be fine. I know it. Despite what was done to you, you would not let anything happen to us. I love you. Now, let me join the orb. I can feel the others calling to me.”
Zeyan let her sister fade and be drawn into the orb. When there was no one left for her to watch out for, she slumped against Orenn and cried.
Chapter Ten
They were given a tent on the edge of the spaceport and every day, Zeyan and the others went out to bring in those who had left their bodies behind.
Every chance she had, she talked to her sister, deep in the orb.
Orenn remained at her side at all times, even curled around her in her sleep. She didn’t mind. She needed all the physical ties to the world she could get.
The moment that the treatment had had a positive effect, they called Zeyan and her orb to come.
Helsin was smiling with glee. “We have tried it on five patients who were fairly far gone before you got here and we need to test the efficiency of the cure.”
“Ah, you need the souls back.”
He grinned. “Soul’s, spirits, consciousness. We need to put something back in there to see if this worked.”
Five beds were lined up. At Helsin’s nod, the bodies were disconnected from the IVs.
Zeyan held the orb toward the bodies and a woman slipped free from her protection and made a straight line for her living flesh. Another left and the other three followed shortly. Each soul took up its proper position. Zeyan could see the flesh and soul slowly bonding together again.
One by one, the chests heaved and coughed. Eyes opened and glad smiles spread across their faces.
Helsin jumped in the air and clapped his hands. “Fabulous. Ladies and gentlemen, how do you feel?”
They cleared their throats, but eve
ntually one held his thumb up and the others copied him.
Zeyan frowned. “Do you have an after-treatment center?”
He nodded. “We do. Reset is there and she is watching for any signs of relapse.”
“When will you start waking the others?”
“Immediately. If you could hang around here today instead of going to look for more infected, it would be appreciated.”
She nodded. “Of course.”
The day turned into a whirlwind of releasing soul after soul from her care and back into their bodies. When the mayor woke, his family was at his side and he gave her a look that completely astonished her. He was embarrassed.
Brushing his waking aside, she released children, parents, grandparents, all one by one as the medical teams waked them.
Her mother had been treated before her mind and body separated completely, so she was at Zanny’s side when she opened her eyes again.
Zeyan wanted to be with them with everything in her, but there were fifty more souls in her care and they needed to return home.
She kept working until the last of the souls resumed its occupation of its body and she was able to dissolve the orb.
Orenn wrapped his arms around her and pressed a kiss to her temple the moment that it was over. “You did what you had to with calm compassion. They didn’t deserve it.”
“They did. Everyone deserves compassion. It is just weird knowing that if the folk here had had their way, I would be dead and so would they.”
“That rhymed.”
“Blame the meditative poetry class.” She relaxed into his embrace completely before turning in his arms and wrapping her own arms around his neck. She kissed him with everything in her. Her attraction, her loneliness, the companionship she felt and the deep and abiding love that had gone from a seed into full bloom when he held her as she cried.
He stood still for a moment before returning her kiss and wrapping one arm around her to simultaneously lift her and press her tightly against him.
“What are your intentions toward my daughter?” The crisp, icy tone was that of a mother catching a child in the arms of a stranger.
Orenn lifted his head but didn’t release his grip on her so her feet dangled above the floor. “I was told that she had been stripped of family, rejected, dishonoured and disavowed. That means she has no family.”
“That was then, this is now. Who are you?” Zamyil scowled up at him.
“Orenn Deliak. Telepath of the Citadel and your daughter’s anchor.”
“What is an anchor and why aren’t you putting her down?”
Zeyan kept her arms around Orenn’s neck. “Because I am hanging on to him, madam.”
Tears welled in Zamyil’s eyes. “You don’t call me Mama anymore?”
Zeyan sighed. “You said I was no longer your child. I thought you would prefer the other mode of address.”
Zamyil blinked. “I would never deny you. Who has told you this?”
“Madam, I was there in the courtroom when you told the court that you wished that a freak like me had never survived my first years.”
Orenn was staring at her mother and Zeyan felt his mind extend to contact Zamyil’s. “Zeyan, she has been touched by a talent.”
She pushed at his shoulders until he put her down. “What?”
“A talent was controlling her sometime in the last three months. There is a scarring within her thoughts, a blankness that should not be there.” Orenn’s face was intense as he stared at her mother.
“Why is he staring at me?” Zamyil looked at her nervously.
Zeyan reached out to touch her and smiled. “Because someone has been in your mind and my talent doesn’t work that way, Madam.”
Watching her mother reach up to touch the sides of her head gingerly, Zeyan cocked her head. “What is your opinion of my talent, Madam?”
Zamyil looked at her and smiled. “I always knew you were special and what you tried to do for your cousin proves it. She was so upset by her reaction, she missed the opportunity to speak to her mother once again.”
Seeing the truth in her mother’s eyes and the slight nod of confirmation from Orenn, she reached out and hugged her mother tightly, tears streaming from her eyes. “I thought you hated me, Mama.”
“I could never hate you, baby. Who is my little Zey?” She squeezed hard and Zeyan laughed.
“I am. We need to have you examined though, Mama. Someone was in your mind and twisted it for just long enough to ruin my life.” She brushed her mother’s hair from her face and watched the slight flinch that always accompanied her touch on an untalented person.
There was something about that miniscule motion that caused a memory to flare. “Orenn, I need to speak to the other Guardsmen to see if there is another wild talent popping up here.”
He nodded and walked toward the tents where the Guardsmen were speaking with the mayor and other surviving council folk.
“What did I say to you, Zeyan?”
Zeyan watched her partner disappear behind the canvas and turned to her mother. “You said that you despised me, you had wished I had not survived to adulthood. That my perversion of the Heschell way of life would come to a swift and final halt. Similar to what the mayor said.”
“I don’t remember it. Nothing about your trial or the court is familiar. I only know that you were arrested and then you were gone and my heart went with you. Now, what is an anchor?”
Zeyan sat down on a nearby table and wove a tale for her mother about the loss of a world, the fading of a life and the Admaryn crossbreed who stepped in to save her.
“You are bound together forever?” Her mother’s quirked eyebrow spoke volumes.
“Or until we decide that our needs are better served with another as my anchor. But I am hoping we are bound for life.” She smiled shyly.
“So, have you consummated your relationship?”
She blushed frantically. “No, we have not. Despite our need to share a bed to maintain the link, it has never crossed into a more physical linking.”
“I believe that he will be receiving a formal introduction to our family.” Zamyil grinned.
Zeyan felt Orenn returning and turned to face his approach. All of the Guardsmen were with him as were the mayor and his eldest son.
The blank expression in Orenn’s eyes warned her that the mind jumping was not a singular event.
The force facing her was powering up and she could feel the delight in the mayor’s child. He was the controller and he was out for blood.
“Mama, get behind me. And when you can…run.”
Chapter Eleven
The faces were completely blank, but every now and then, she could see the fury of a confined mind.
“What are you doing to them, Morcryn Skarrol?”
He jerked in surprise at being addressed. His father looked at her with wide eyes. “How long have you known, Zeyan?”
“That your son was one of the talents that you hate so deeply? Since we came to rescue you from the plague. Will he have the Guardsmen tear me apart?” She hid her hands in the cloak and crafted a holding orb between them. She had never done what she was contemplating and it would be amazing or horrible.
Morcryn smiled. “That is the plan. No one will know about you and your part in this.”
“My part in what?”
“The rescue of our people. Credit will belong to the council and my father, as it should.”
“And the Guardsmen will be charged with the destruction of one of their own and I will cease to exist?”
Morcryn nodded and his father smiled tightly. “It is politics. We need to keep control over our people. They can’t be running to the stars every time they need help. They need to be able to turn to us.”
“I understand.”
Orenn and the others were only a few meters away. It was now or never. She flung the cloak back and lifted the orb she had carefully crafted and with a surge of power, she pulled their souls into it, one by one.
Orenn looked at her and then the two slumped bodies on the ground. “What just happened?”
“Morcryn is a talent who is adept at manipulating others. He took control of you and was about to order you to collectively tear me apart. I removed both his soul and the soul of his father.”
“The mayor was participating?”
“It was politics. Having you kill me on Heschell soil would discredit the Sector Guard and convince the population that depending on their own was the only safe way to live.” She held the ball in her hands and tried to ignore the fury that was whirling under her hands.
Mist looked at her hands and the bodies on the ground. “Soul Keeper, you have just become a prison. Congratulations.”
She looked to Orenn, but his horror at being manipulated was sinking in. “Is there anyone from the Sector Guard on Heschell that was not just involved?”
Reset nodded. She turned and whistled sharply, bringing Hardcore and Green on the run.
Zeyan outlined the situation. “They are responsible for an attempt on my life, using the Sector Guard as tools. The father encouraged the son to use his talent to prod the Guardsmen into an attack. I have the souls of the pair contained, but we need to hook the body up to some kind of life support or they will die within three to four days.”
Helsin, Mist and Reset helped Hardcore and Green with the bodies. Apparently, someone on the ship had created a working immunity for Green.
“Is it all right to come out now?” Zamyil was brushing dirt off her clothing and Zeyan couldn’t imagine where she had been.
“Yes. It is fine. Why didn’t you run as I instructed?”
“I don’t take orders from you, Zey. I never have.” Her mother patted her on the cheek.
Orenn was still silent. Zeyan had to change that.