Dark Nadir

by Lisanne Norman

  “I’m going to put you down and take my hand from your mouth. One sound and you know what I’ll do.” He set her down, removing his hand from her mouth and grasping her by the throat. “Don’t try to pull away,” he warned letting her feel the tips of his claws against her flesh. “One squeeze of my hand is all it takes. Understand?”

  She nodded, putting her hand up to her mouth to stifle her cry of fear as she caught sight of him.

  Pulling her with him, he reached down to pick up the Sholan child. Slinging him over his shoulder, he dragged the female back into the trees just beyond the end of the garden. When he could no longer see the lights of the village, he stopped, dropping the unconscious young male to the ground. He could forget about him, he wouldn’t wake till dawn. He turned to the Human child.

  “In which house does the Human called Carrie Aldatan live?” he demanded.

  “I . . . I don’t know,” she said falteringly.

  He shook her like a rag doll, claws causing tiny wounds in her neck. “Which house?” he demanded.

  “The big one at the end,” she whimpered, tears running down her face as she caught at his hand, trying to pull on his fingers. “But they’re not there! They’re not back from Jalna yet!”

  He hissed with rage, hand tightening instinctively till he realized he was throttling her. He relaxed his grip. “Who stays there now? I saw people going in and out of it today.”

  “The doctor and his companion, Jiszoe, and Kashini, and Brother Dzaka. And the nurse.”

  “Who are they? Relations of the Aldatans?” He increased the pressure slightly. Relations would do, would force them to surrender to him when they returned.

  “Their baby and Kaid’s son. He guards her,” she sobbed. “Please, don’t hurt me! I haven’t done anything!”

  “You’ll take me to this house.” He needed somewhere to go, to hide out in safety with his hostages till the Aldatans returned. Then he remembered the hill and the ruins. “What are they doing at the ruins?”

  “It’s being excavated. There’s tunnels in it where Sholans hid from the Valtegans in the past.” She stopped, eyes widening even further in fear. “You’re a Valtegan!”

  He gave a short laugh. “Yes, I’m a Valtegan.” He let his tongue flick out close to her face. “I have nothing to lose, so make no sound and you will be set free once I have the people I want.” Reaching inside his robe, he pulled out the rope that was coiled round his waist. Turning her round, he quickly and efficiently bound her wrists behind her, cutting off the extra length with his teeth. He’d need that for the one called Dzaka.

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Mandy stood at the back door waiting for someone to answer Kezule’s knock. The light had already been on, and almost immediately, they heard footsteps making their way to the back door. It opened, casting a pool of golden light onto the path.

  “Mandy! What on earth are you doing out at . . .” Jack fell silent as he found himself looking at the muzzle of an energy pistol held by a Valtegan.

  Kezule waved him back into the house and, pulling Mandy with him, entered, shutting the door behind him.

  “Sit,” he ordered, pointing to the table where Jack had been working. He picked Mandy up and placed her on another chair as Jack resumed his seat. “Where is your mate?” he demanded.

  “In bed asleep,” said Jack quietly. “You must be Kezule. I had no idea you were free.”

  “Silence!” Kezule hissed, checking out the room thoroughly before looking cautiously through the doors to the adjacent main kitchen. Stuffing his pistol through his belt, he took a towel from the back of a chair and ripped it into strips. “The one called Dzaka, where is he?”

  “In bed asleep,” said Jack as his arms were pulled behind him and tied to the chair.

  “I want him and the child down here, now. Call him.”

  “No need,” said Jack as they heard a noise from the room next door.

  Pulling his gun, Kezule dived for the door, standing to one side as it burst open to admit a naked but armed Sholan male, a young child clutched to his chest.

  “Jack, what . . .” Dzaka skidded to an abrupt stop as he took in the situation.

  “Drop the gun,” said Kezule, aiming directly at the child. “Slowly.”

  Dzaka lowered his weapon, dropping it to the floor near his feet.

  “Kick it away,” ordered Kezule. “Then sit down at the table, there.” He pointed to the chair farthest from Jack and Mandy.

  Dzaka sent the gun spinning across the floor, then moved toward the table and sat down. “What do you want, Kezule?” he asked, shifting Kashini so his body shielded her.

  “You and the child. Put it on the table and place your hands behind your back,” he ordered, readying another strip of towel.

  Dzaka placed the unusually subdued Kashini on the table. “Leave the cub, Kezule,” he said quietly, putting his hands behind his back. “You have me, you’ve no need of her. She’d only be a liability to you.”

  “Enough talk,” said Kezule, binding his wrists individually, then together.

  “The estate is crawling with guards. You can’t possibly escape.”

  Kezule ignored him, unfastening Dzaka’s wrist comm and turning up the psi damper field to maximum before putting it on him again. Pulling the remainder of his rope free, he placed it round Dzaka’s neck, tying it in a noose with a rigid knot. He then tied a sliding knot at the other end. Turning to Kashini, who’d been watching the proceedings with curiosity, he scooped her up in one arm, tucking her inside his robe against his chest.

  “Your guards are so good they couldn’t keep me out,” he said, going round to Jack. He grasped him by the chin, turning his head to face him. “I am taking them as hostages till the Aldatans return. Tell your people that. They can contact me on their wrist communicators.” A blow to the back of his neck and Jack slumped unconscious to the table.

  Mandy began to whimper as Kezule turned to her.

  “Leave Mandy alone,” said Dzaka, beginning to rise from his chair. “There’s no need to . . .” but already she was sliding bonelessly off her chair.

  Grabbing Dzaka by an arm, Kezule pulled him to his feet, then slipped the other end of the noose round Kashini’s neck.

  “One sound and the child dies. There will not be a second warning. You are tethered to her. If you run, the loop will tighten and she will strangle. Do we understand each other?”

  Dzaka nodded. Kezule switched off the light and opened the door.

  * * *

  The journey through the woods had been a nightmare one. Dzaka had been ordered to lead them to the tunnels under the ruins. That was bad news. If Kezule got holed up in the lab area, he could seal them in by closing the steel doors. They were blast proof and virtually impregnable.

  The pace Kezule had set had been punishing and Dzaka hadn’t time to watch where he put his feet. As he stumbled for perhaps the twentieth time, he suddenly felt his footing go completely from under him. With a yell of fear, he began sliding and rolling down the side of a small gully. He felt the rope round his neck tighten painfully, then suddenly go slack as he caromed off a tree trunk, stunning himself, before finally coming to rest at the bottom.

  He lay there, head aching and spinning with the sick fear that Kashini was dead. Unable to get up, he had to lie there while Kezule slithered down to get him. Then he heard Kashini whimpering. Relief flooded through him.

  Kezule stood over him, knife glinting in what little moonlight there was as he returned it to its sheath inside his robe.

  “Lucky for the child I had that,” he said, reaching down and hauling Dzaka to his feet.

  Blood from Dzaka’s cut brow was running into his eyes and he had to shake his head to clear them. He groaned as pain stabbed through his temples.

  Grasping hold of the noose still round his neck, Kezule pulled him closer. “With one as clumsy as you, I cannot risk the child again. I want your oath of honor that you won’t try to escape.”

 
From the folds of Kezule’s robe, Kashini reached out for her bond-brother. Her fingers brushed his cheek before Kezule released him.

  “I swear,” Dzaka gasped. “Just don’t harm her!”

  They regained the path, Kezule holding him by the arm as they traveled parallel to it, keeping in the cover of the woods until they saw the opening to the tunnel ahead. It was in darkness. There wasn’t the need for the archaeologists to work round the clock any more, so no one was on duty. As they entered, Kashini began to whimper again.

  “Where are the torches or lights?” demanded Kezule, stopping just inside.

  “There, to your left,” said Dzaka, bobbing his head in the direction of the box on the wall. With any luck, someone would see the lights blazing out and come to investigate before Kezule got them holed up in the lab.

  Kezule opened the box, looking carefully at the labeled switches. “What areas do they light?” he asked. “And can they be turned off from inside?”

  “The top one is main lighting, the one below, emergency lights only. The others light individual caverns and tunnels.”

  Kezule’s hand hesitated over the top switch, then flipped the one below. Above them, subdued lights flickered briefly then came on. Kezule rounded on Dzaka, hitting him once across the face, sending him staggering backward.

  “Don’t lie to me again,” he hissed, crest rising briefly in anger. Grasping him by the arm again, they entered the tunnel.

  Licking his split lip, Dzaka limped on, leading the way up the slope to the first chamber, then across to the next tunnel. When they came out in the main chamber, he heard Kezule’s sharp intake of breath. There was a field kitchen here, complete with supplies, and even a couple of camp beds for their first aid station. It had just about everything he could need to stock up for a siege. Except raw meat.

  Kezule made a quick tour of the room before leading him over to the lab. Again he hissed in pleasure as he saw the steel door. Surveying the room quickly, he dragged Dzaka to the ancient microscope, securing him firmly to its massive base. That done, Kezule returned to the main chamber to gather the bedding and stores.

  Dzaka immediately began pulling at the bindings on his wrists, trying to get free, but the harder he pulled, the tighter they got till his circulation was almost cut off.

  Kezule returned for the final time. He’d located the kitchen generator and the feed for the lighting as well as several flashlights. Activating the flashlights, he stood them on the work surface nearest the door, then unplugged the lights and replugged them into the generator, switching it on. Heading for the entrance, he sealed the steel door. The sound of it sliding shut sent a shiver of fear through Dzaka.

  “Now we wait for them to discover you’re missing,” said Kezule, pulling Kashini from his robe and coming toward him.

  * * *

  Day 38

  Brynne awoke early to the knowledge that Dzaka and Kashini had been kidnapped and Father Lijou and Master Konis were on their way to see him. Banner was to report to Garras at the training hall as every able-bodied person was staking out the estate perimeter and the monastery hill itself.

  The name Kezule filled Keeza with terror, but she didn’t know why.

  “Stay upstairs,” said Brynne as he left their bedroom. “Between Father Lijou and Master Konis, very little happens on Shola that they don’t know about. I don’t want them recognizing you before we know more about your past.”

  She nodded, ears invisible in her halo of tabby hair.

  Jurrel was letting them in as Brynne left, and their voices drifted up the stairs to her.

  “Brynne, Father Lijou says you might be able to contact Dzaka. Something Derwent taught you. Would you try for me, please? I need to do something while we’re waiting for Garras and Ni’Zulhu to report back to us.”

  “Of course, Master Konis. There was no need for you to even ask,” replied Brynne.

  “There’s no guarantee it will work, Konis,” warned Lijou as they left the hall for the den. “Brynne said he can see, that’s all.”

  Keeza’s senses began to spin as the voices triggered more images from her subconscious. She clutched the doorframe as colors, scents and images exploded in front of her eyes, transporting her back to the military facility at Shanagi.

  Tall, green-skinned, his oval head totally hairless, the Valtegan Kezule had gone to the feeding cage where a terrified chiddoe squealed frantically as it tried to dig its way out. She’d watched as he’d taken the helpless creature out and with a single, quick movement, snapped its neck. Then he’d turned to the concealed viewing window and begun to dismember it before returning to his table. She’d watched, fascinated and horrified, as he’d skinned and eaten it. She’d shuddered then, and she did so again.

  The Brother had taken her to another room, one where the males whose voices she’d just heard waited for her. They’d spoken softly to her, and done something to her mind.

  Her head was pounding but the images didn’t stop. She remembered Kezule’s protuberant slitted eyes regarding her dispassionately as he handed her a plate of scraps.

  “You may eat,” he’d said.

  She had, ravenously, her face and body still aching from the beating he’d given her the day before for trying to steal his leftover food. She could still smell the stench of the fresh blood and taste the raw flesh.

  Memories were coming faster now, flashing before her eyes like a kaleidoscope of her life. Kezule taking her arm and sinking his teeth into it with great deliberation, telling her to watch him while he slept. Him waking, too weak to eat, needing her to feed him gobbets of raw meat. The blood had run down her arms, soaking into her pelt. The smell of the blood had made her hungry, but he needed the food more than she did now. In the shower, she’d sluiced the dead and flaking skin from his emaciated body, a body that was as smooth and hairless as his head. It was the first time she’d seen him unclothed. He was featureless, no sex, nothing. She’d lain with him then, after wrapping him in all their blankets for warmth. She’d felt the need to protect and care for him. He was hers, her male and beautiful in her eyes.

  * * *

  She moaned, slipping down to her knees, but it wasn’t over yet. An alarm had gone off and the guards and medics had come. She’d crouched over his unconscious body, protecting him from her own kind. Then suddenly, he’d awakened, grabbing the male medic by the throat. Blood had fountained everywhere, spraying the female, the walls, the ceiling. She’d gone for the guards then, while they looked in horror at Kezule. One she kicked, hearing his neck snap, glad that he could no longer threaten her male. The other she’d shot, holding the neural stunner on him till he died in agony, his screams meaning nothing to her in her greater need to protect Kezule.

  * * *

  The race through the building with their hostages, the escape to the aircar, and the flight out of the city to the forest clearing where they landed, his killing of the telepath, all flashed before her eyes. Sick and feverish, convinced she was dying, she’d headed into the forest with him, then he’d turned on her. It had been him. The male she’d fought, who’d raped her, had been Kezule. And now he was here.

  She pulled herself up, and returning to the bed, reached under Brynne’s pillows for his pistol. The two males she’d heard talking, they were the ones who’d put her in with Kezule.

  * * *

  “I forget myself,” said Konis, turning to Brynne and holding his hand out in greeting.

  Brynne had no option but to reach forward, touching fingertips briefly with him, knowing the Clan Lord would notice his cut palm and know he was now life-bonded. He’d want to know who she was. He could feel how tight a rein Master Konis was keeping on his emotions; none of them needed this distraction right now.

  “A marriage cut?” Konis held his hand, looking from the small healing wound to Brynne’s face. “This is unexpected. You have my best wishes, Brynne. I thought I sensed a new presence on the estate. I wish it had been Kezule I’d sensed!”

  “My cong
ratulations, too, Brynne. Do I know her?”

  Brynne was unable to answer. He stood there, swaying slightly, his eyes blank as his mind was flooded with Keeza’s memories.

  “Brynne?” asked Lijou, face creasing in concern as he put a hand out to steady him.

  “She’s been ill,” stammered Brynne, putting a hand to his aching head as his mental link to Keeza abruptly ceased. “Later, you’ll meet her later.”

  The door behind him opened and, as he was about to turn around, Konis spoke.

  “Stay very still, Brynne,” he said quietly.

  He spun round, knowing it was Keeza. He hardly recognized her, everything about her was different, from the way her tail swayed lazily to the set of her ears, and the gun pointing directly at him.

  “Get out of my way, Brynne,” she said, her voice firm and determined.

  “No,” he said. “This isn’t the way, Keeza. There must be a reason. Ask them.”

  “Oh, I intend to,” she said with a small, mocking laugh. “Move aside!”

  “No,” he said, taking a step toward her.

  She sidestepped him, aiming at Konis. “Don’t interfere, Brynne. I don’t want to hurt you if I can avoid it, but if I have to, I will. I want them to tell me why, what justification they have, for doing what they did to me.”

  She was on the edge of sanity now, Brynne could feel it, could see the hand that held the gun trembling slightly. It would take very little for her to kill again. He had to stop her, before Jurrel did.

  Simultaneously, he reached out with his mind as he leaped at her, grabbing her arm and pulling it and the weapon down. From behind her, Jurrel launched himself forward, but before he contacted them, a single, muffled shot rang out.

  For a frozen moment, Brynne and Keeza stood face-to-face, then Jurrel’s attack felled them both. The gun went flying from Keeza’s limp fingers to slither across the floor, landing at Lijou’s feet. Stooping, he picked it up, training it on the three figures on the floor.

  Brynne slowly sat up, gathering Keeza’s still form into his lap and looking over at Konis and Lijou. Jurrel rose, and meeting Lijou’s gaze, left the room at a run, heading for the medikit in his room.