Dark Nadir

by Lisanne Norman

  * * *

  Kitra was already at the villa, packing Kashini’s things, when her mother and Mnesu arrived. Within an hour, they were back at the site. Ni’Zulhu tried to take the bags from them, but Rhyasha came out of the semi-trance she’d been in since talking to Dzaka and resisted him fiercely, trying to push past him into the tunnel.

  It was Rulla who came to her rescue, “Let her through, Sub-Lieutenant,” he said to the security chief. “It gives her something to do, and she needs that right now,” he added quietly.

  “I don’t like involving civilians,” muttered Ni’Zulhu.

  “Civilians are involved,” said Kitra sharply. “My niece is one!”

  He let them through, scowling at Rulla as the Brother escorted them in.

  Upstairs, Garras had gotten an old jegget trap turned into a cage for eight terrified chiddoes. It sat on a wheeled pallet in the middle of the upper cavern. Beside it was an old metal collar and a bracelet, and two bright green la’quo resin stones. There were also several fuel packs for the heater and the lighting generator.

  As Kitra and her mother began unpacking the bags of clothing, toys, and foodstuffs, she looked pointedly at the collar and bracelet.

  “Kezule asked for them,” said Garras. “They were found in the lab in one of the cabinets. The ancient Valtegans used them to collar telepaths. Kezule needs the stones to make them work, he says.”

  She shuddered visibly. “Why give them to him?” she asked.

  “Because he’s got Dzaka bound otherwise. This is more civilized,” he growled. “I don’t like it, but Kezule got Dzaka to ask for them and he managed to let me know it was what he preferred.”

  “How barbaric is Kezule?” she asked quietly so her mother couldn’t hear.

  Garras looked at her curiously. “In a way, he’s not. I got hold of the Brotherhood files on him. He’s got his own code of honor, strange as it may seem to us. So far, he’s killed only when he needed to. The medic because he was about to give him a drug that would likely have killed him, and Zhyaf, because as a telepath, he was a threat to him. He spared the female hostages at Shanagi. I don’t think he intends to harm Dzaka or Kashini, unless we make him.”

  “I’ll push the pallet in,” she said as she finished putting out clothing for Dzaka.

  “No, absolutely not,” he said firmly. “It’s far too dangerous. I’m doing it. Now take your mother back to Rulla at the tunnel mouth.”

  Kitra stood back, watching while Garras spoke to Kezule. Minutes later, the steel door began to open just enough for the pallet to enter. Garras threw the coiled rope into the opening. It went taut and slowly, the pallet began to roll forward on its wheels.

  She waited until it was almost inside then began to run for the gap, yelling loudly, “Don’t shoot! Please don’t shoot!”

  Her mother screamed, and she was aware of angry shouts as she flung herself at the trolley, landing on top of it. Her sudden added weight made it shoot through the gap like an exploding bottle.

  She and it hit a wooden workbench, sending her and the contents toppling to the floor. The chiddoes shrieked, the door shut with a reverberating clang, and clawed hands grasped her by the scruff, hauling her up in the air till her face was level with his.

  She’d seen pictures of Valtegans, but it hadn’t prepared her for actually meeting one. Yellow, slitted eyes glared angrily at her. The mouth was open, showing dozens of small, needle-sharp pointed teeth, and a forked tongue was flicking out at her face. Her vision faded as she passed out.

  * * *

  “Kitra!” said Dzaka hoarsely. “Don’t hurt her! She’s my Companion!”

  Kezule hissed angrily at the limp form in his hand and turned to look at Dzaka. “Your female?” he asked, lowering her to the ground. “Why did she risk her life running in like that?” he demanded, stooping to retrieve the cage of squealing chiddoes and set them on the work surface. “Is she brain-damaged?” His wrist comm was buzzing but he ignored it.

  “Must be,” Dzaka muttered, relieved beyond measure that the Valtegan had apparently lost interest in her. “We looked after the cub together,” he added on impulse. “She came because of her.”

  Kezule looked at him again, frowning. “We shall see.” He returned to the unconscious young female, picking her up like she was a sack of grain, and carried her over to the camp bed on which Kashini was tethered.

  The cub had been crying off and on since they’d arrived in the lab, but on seeing Kitra laid beside her, she stopped and began to purr a little, reaching out to pat her face. Dzaka breathed a sigh of relief as he tried to ease his aching shoulders and wrists.

  “Pleasure noises,” said Kezule, watching her for a moment before turning back to the overturned pallet.

  The wrist comm continued to emit a low-key buzzing which he continued ignoring as he began to sort through the items. Dzaka saw him stop when he found the collar and bracelet. Picking them up, Kezule put the bracelet on the counter by the cage and began examining the collar.

  Dzaka was still fastened by both wrists to the solid base of the microscope, but the bindings had been loosened a little once Kezule realized how tight they’d become. Going over to him, the Valtegan placed the collar round his neck, snapping it shut. It was cold, and when Kezule released it, heavy against his collarbone. A chill ran through him. This was the control collar used on the telepaths of Kezule’s time.

  Cold steel touched his wrists and his heart almost stopped until he felt the knife begin to cut through the towel bindings. Suddenly freed, his arms fell to his sides, sending shooting pains through his shoulder joints. Groaning, he slowly pulled them around in front of him and began to massage his wrists and rotate his shoulders, trying to return the circulation to them as they throbbed and prickled.

  Kezule placed the tip of the knife under his chin, forcing it up. “Remember, I have your oath not to try and escape.”

  “You have,” said Dzaka, aware he now had two people depending on him.

  “I’m going to eat. You can see to your female, then sort through that mess,” Kezule said, putting the knife away and pointing at the pile of assorted clothes and packs of food.

  Dzaka pulled himself upright and staggered across to Kashini and Kitra. As he eased himself down onto the bed, the cub mewled uncertainly, leaving the unconscious Kitra to throw herself into his arms.

  “Hey, it’s all right, Kashini,” he said, holding her with one arm as she wound both hers around his neck, hugging him tightly. “Hush now, I’m here. Everything’s going to be fine.” With his other hand, he checked Kitra, pressing his hand to her neck for her pulse.

  The chiddoes screeched their terror as Kezule opened the cage to take one out. Dzaka clearly heard the snap of its neck breaking. The wrist comm had finally stopped buzzing he realized in the silence that followed as Kezule went to one of the trestle tables to eat.

  “She’s the Clan Leader’s daughter,” he said carefully, aware how easily the Valtegan could be angered. “It would do no harm to tell her Kitra and Kashini are safe.”

  Kezule looked up from his meal. “When I wish your opinion, I will ask for it,” he said mildly. “You will not venture it again. You will do only what you’re told to do, nothing else. Your main task is to see to the child. I will not tell you this again.”

  Dzaka looked away, concentrating on the cub. The tone might have been mild, but Kezule’s face wasn’t. He’d been told to go through the goods sent in by Rhyasha. Kashini needed to be cleaned and clothed. Doing that would give her some feeling of security at least, and keep him busy.

  Untying the tether round her waist, he took the cub with him, limping slowly down the aisle between the workbench and the steel shelving units that held the remains of the ancients’ data processing equipment. He noticed irrelevancies, like the fact that one of the old monitors was still there. The other was in bits somewhere in the lab. Behind where Kezule sat were old store cupboards, their contents emptied for examination months ago. They would make an i
deal place to keep the food and spare clothing.

  He could feel the Valtegan watching him.

  “You’re a telepath,” said Kezule. “Yet a soldier, too. How is this possible? I thought your kind couldn’t stand the pain of others.”

  “I’m not a telepath,” said Dzaka. “I’m an empath. I only feel other’s emotions, not what they’re thinking.”

  “Ah. And your female?”

  He hesitated, and decided honesty would serve them better. “Yes, she’s a telepath. So’s the cub, but she’s too young to be of any danger to you. She can’t even talk yet.”

  “The device round her wrist, what is it?” Kezule asked as, keeping to the other side of the workbench, he approached Dzaka to pick up the bracelet.

  “It’s called a damper. It prevents others picking her thoughts up. All children with a Talent wear it to protect the adults from their random thoughts. Kitra wears one, but hers is adjustable and can be taken off. The children’s can’t.”

  “Then we are private.”

  Dzaka nodded. “Yes.” Suddenly he found himself being held by the throat.

  Kezule slowly tightened the pressure, letting his claws prick into the back of Dzaka’s neck for emphasis. “Don’t ever lie to me,” hissed Kezule. “If I discover you have lied, it will not be you I beat, it will be your female. Are we private in here?”

  “Yes!” Dzaka could hardly speak. Then, just as suddenly, he was released. Massaging his throat, he began to back away from the Valtegan. How the hell had he moved so fast?

  “You have nothing to fear if you are honest with me,” said Kezule, going back up the lab to where a toolbox lay open. He sat down on the stool there and began to examine the collar’s control bracelet more closely. “Bring me the female’s damper now while she still sleeps,” he ordered. “I will disable it, then she will not be tempted to turn it off. Once I have done that, I will tell this Clan leader she is safe.”

  * * *

  Konis stiffened suddenly before leaping to his feet. “Kitra’s gone in with Kezule!” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Rhyasha agreed to a truce and to give him supplies. Kitra ran in when Kezule was taking them. I’ve got to go there, Lijou, be with her!”

  “Absolutely. We can drop Keeza off at the medical center on the way,” Lijou said briskly. “Use your comm to call a vehicle for us.” He strode to where Keeza lay on the couch and picked her up, slinging her over his shoulder.

  Chapter 16

  VANNA stroked Brynne’s forehead gently with her fingertips. His breathing was light now, he’d be waking soon. She’d never considered the possibility of him being exposed to any danger before. Unlike Carrie and Kusac, he’d spent more time in Valsgarth town than on the estate. She’d gotten used to him leading an almost charmed life.

  As she closed the door quietly behind her, she heard raised voices in the next room. Angrily she walked down the corridor and flung the door open.

  “What the hell’s going on?” she demanded. “This is a medical unit, people are trying to recover here!” She found herself facing the Head Priest of the Brotherhood. “Master Lijou!” she stammered.

  “You’re quite right,” he said. “Sister Jissoh is just leaving.”

  The Sister, her jaw set in a hard line, briefly inclined her head in his direction before stalking out, tail flicking angrily.

  “May I introduce . . .” he began, but was cut short by the female sitting on the bed.

  “Keeza Lassah,” she said, standing up. “And who are you?” She looked Vanna over with a manner the other found insulting.

  Seeing Jurrel hovering to one side, she put two and two together. She could feel her pelt start to rise on her neck and shoulders. “I’m Brynne’s Leska,” she snarled, voice deepening with her underlying rumble of anger. “You’re the one who shot him. Do you realize you put not only his life at risk, but mine and my unborn cub’s, too? But then, I don’t suppose that you’d care about that! Life is pretty cheap to someone like you!”

  “Hold on a minute, Vanna,” began Lijou, stepping toward her.

  Keeza thrust herself in front of him. “Just what do you mean by that?”

  “What’s the count so far? Since the Pack Lord, two soldiers and almost my Leska! Pretty good going for someone who’s officially dead, don’t you think?”

  Keeza began to growl deep in her throat as, around her face, her hair began to bush out in response.

  Jurrel moved quickly, placing himself squarely between them, his back to Vanna. “Keeza, she’s pregnant. The accident scared her, that’s all,” he said quietly, grasping her by the arm and shielding her from the physician.

  “Damned right I’m scared,” snapped Vanna, trying to push Jurrel aside. “Scared that this murderer tries it again! I want her out of here and off the estate, d’you hear me? Keep her away from my Leska!”

  “Vanna, you’re being unreasonable,” said Lijou, putting an arm across her shoulders and forcing her away from them. “She cannot be held responsible for her actions at Shanagi. Jurrel told you she was being slowly poisoned by Kezule’s bite and the herb he used on the food.”

  “Stop defending her, she’s a killer, for the Gods’ sake!” snarled the enraged Vanna, trying to twist free. “She was forcing you at gun point to tell her what you’d done! Nothing’s changed! Even if she isn’t responsible for the guards, she still killed the Pack Lord! Someone like her sees violence as the answer to everything!”

  “Someone like what, Vanna?” asked Brynne quietly from the doorway. “You know nothing about her. You’re making assumptions, just as the telepath at her trial did. Tell them, Keeza,” he said, holding onto the doorframe for support. “You’ve got a reason to clear your name now. Our cub.”

  Jurrel abruptly let go of Keeza to go to Brynne’s aid.

  Vanna froze. “Your cub?”

  “You shouldn’t have gotten up,” said Jurrel, slipping his shoulder under Brynne’s.

  Clutching his bandaged side, with his friend’s help, Brynne limped across the room to Keeza’s bed. “I heard these two squabbling like kits,” he said, gasping in pain as Jurrel helped him sit down. “I had to come.”

  Blood was beginning to seep through his bandage as he reached for Keeza’s hand. “I told you the truth, Jurrel,” he said, as the Brother knelt to check his dressing. “She only killed in self-defense.”

  “Keeza? Is this true?” asked Lijou, steering the stunned Vanna toward the room’s only chair.

  “Let them think what they want of me,” she said, her voice harsh. “It’s done. They got what they wanted, a murder conviction. Only one person other than Brynne believed in me without proof, the Brother who came to the prison for me. That’s enough.”

  “L’Seuli?” said Lijou in surprise. “He knows? Why did you offer no defense? You said nothing at your trial.”

  She returned his look with a steady one of her own but said nothing.

  “I’ll tell them,” said Brynne, clasping Keeza’s hand more tightly as his face began to turn pale.

  “No!” said Keeza. “Let it be, Brynne. My name’s dead anyway. I’ll take your Clan’s as is my right as your life-mate. I’ll be Keeza Aldatan.” Lifting her chin, she glowered challengingly across the room at Vanna.

  “He’s in shock,” said Lijou, noticing Brynne’s color. “You should be lying down, Brynne.”

  “I’ll see to him,” said Jurrel firmly, going round the other side of the bed to pull back the covers.

  “Life-mate?” Vanna echoed. He’d taken her as his life-mate?

  “Tell Master Sorli he needs to give the Court telepaths a shake-up, Father,” said Brynne as Jurrel, with Keeza’s help, eased him onto the bed. “They didn’t even recognize a latent talent in her. She hid the truth from them.”

  “Enough, Brynne!” said Keeza, straightening up and trying to pull away from him, but he grasped her hand again and held it firm in his.

  “You have Garras, Vanna, and his cub on the way. I’ve made my choices, accept th
em as I accepted your mate. Gratifying though it should be, I don’t want the two of you fighting over me again. At least give Keeza a chance.”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, Brynne Stevens,” Vanna said sharply, but his words hit their mark and she couldn’t meet his gaze.

  “I’m going to look into this matter, Keeza,” said Lijou. “You were determined to keep your own identity a few minutes ago. If I can prove your innocence, will you let me clear your name?”

  “Let him, for our cub if not for yourself,” said Brynne quietly, tugging at her till she sat down beside him. “Keeza Lassah is who you are, not Ghaysa, or any other name the Brotherhood might give you.”

  “It could prevent another—next time perhaps fatal—injustice from happening,” said Lijou.

  Keeza closed her eyes and leaned back against Brynne, hiding her face against his chest. Even Vanna picked up her memories of that last terrifying night in her cell, when she’d faced the certainty of her execution. Then L’Seuli had come for her with his offer of a pardon. She understood now what had made Keeza accept the Brotherhood’s terrible offer, and why they’d made it.

  Brynne looked over to Lijou and nodded.

  Vanna got to her feet. “Perhaps I judged her too quickly,” she said, her voice low. “But I was afraid for you, Brynne, and angry with her for risking our lives.”

  He nodded again. “It’s all right, Vanna. I understand.” His voice was quiet, very quiet. “I’d like to rest now, if you don’t mind.”

  * * *

  “No wonder Konis was in no fit state to help you,” said Rhyaz compassionately.

  “I have restored all Keeza’s memories, but it occurred to me that during this crisis, her knowledge of Kezule could be vital, so I asked her if she’d agree to wait till this is over. She agreed, and her help has already been of enormous value. General Kezule is first and foremost a soldier. He prides himself on meeting his responsibilities and being fair. Because Rhyasha gave her word to him, the cub and Kitra are now his responsibility. Provided Dzaka plays it straight and does nothing underhanded, they should all be safe—until Kezule realizes returning to his own time is impossible.”