She gave a yowl of surprise, letting him go to grab at the bedcover as she followed him onto the floor. They landed in a heap, the cover tangled round them. As T’Chebbi fought her way free, he began to laugh quietly. She glowered at him.
Still chuckling, he reached up for her and pulled her down beside him again. Carefully he pushed her hair from her face, stroking the soft fur on her cheek. “Spend tonight with me,” he said, his touch becoming a caress. “I find I like your company.”
Her face softened. “Perhaps.”
“So you were an Exotic. I always knew you were talented,” he murmured, catching her lower lip briefly with his teeth. “But I never would have guessed at the fire you carry in your belly. Or the power of that scent,” he added dryly.
“Have talents of your own, Tallinu. Now I know why telepaths prefer their own kind.”
He became still. “What is my own kind, T’Chebbi? Telepath? Brother? Then there’s Carrie. I don’t know what I am.” His present problems loomed ahead of him again. Wisps of what might be memories flitted through his head. “I should be long dead by now,” he murmured without thinking.
“You’re from the past,” she said. “Guessed that when I heard you were telepath.” She touched his arm. “You’re alive. Here and now, where you belong, Tallinu. Hold onto that. Is all you need. Did you meet her as a cub back then?”
He looked sharply at her. “How did you find out?”
“Research. Checked the Brotherhood and the Retreat.”
“Damn! If you can do it, others can!” He was angry now, angry that he hadn’t foreseen it.
“No.” She shook her head. “I altered the records. Now shows you as orphaned.”
He sat up, eye ridges meeting as he regarded her. The T’Chebbi he thought he knew bore only passing resemblance to the female he found himself with.
She looked away from him, down at the silver belt that still encircled her waist. Idly she toyed with the end that lay across her knee.
Faintly he heard the cry of Kashini from the suite next door. He shivered, remembering the vision, and reached out for T’Chebbi, winding his fingers through the chain where it encircled her waist. He pulled her up till she was in his arms again. She was part of the present, and he needed that right now. “I seem to have a taste for the exotic,” he said.
As she lay in his arms later that night, her fingers twined through those of his damaged hand, she said, “When she can’t come to you, and darkness brings memories you don’t want, we could share the night.”
“Perhaps,” he said, barely aware of her as the haunting echoes of what might be memories played within his mind.
Chapter 3
Kaid waited impatiently to be put through to the Guild Master’s office. Finally the Brotherhood sigil cleared from his screen and was replaced by the image of Lijou.
“Father Lijou,” he began, but the priest cut him short.
“Kaid, when do you want to come to Stronghold? We need to discuss in detail your meeting with Vartra, and I could do with your help regarding setting up training centers for priests of all denominations.”
He sat back, totally nonplussed. Lijou wanted his help?
Lijou frowned. “You were going to ask when you could come here, weren’t you?”
“Yes, but …”
“You worked closely with Jyarti in the priesthood for a good many years, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then you must be aware of how he organized his teaching. I was appointed to this position, not trained to it. Your input would be invaluable.”
“You plead an eloquent case, Father Lijou,” said Kaid. “However, I have my own reasons for wanting …”
“Of course, but your own studies shouldn’t occupy all your time.”
“I’ve other work to attend to as well. I’m going to Jalna with Carrie and Kusac. I’ll be peripherally involved in the training and planning of this mission.”
“Any help at all would be welcome, Kaid. Think of it this way. You want to avoid Esken and train here rather than at the Telepath Guild. I wish I could avoid him but I’ll be fighting him uphill all the way. An aide of your caliber would make life easier for me.”
Out of sight, Kaid began to drum the fingers of his right hand on the desk. His rhythm faltered, then stopped as he realized he’d tried to tap the missing finger. The damage that Ghezu had done to innocent people was impossible to measure. Was Esken another Ghezu?
“What help I can give is yours, Father Lijou,” he said.
“Thank you, Tallinu. I’ll organize your instruction personally. Your training will be complete by the time you’re due to leave for Jalna, that I promise.”
“What was all that about needing his help?” asked Kha’Qwa from her perch on the settee in the informal area of her Companion’s office.
Lijou got up from his desk and joined her. “It’s not entirely fictitious. His help will not only be useful but will shorten the time it takes me to get our proposed college up and running. However, it does make sure that he doesn’t have the opportunity to cut himself off from the world while he’s here. I want him to be kept busy, but without pressure. It’s too easy for someone who’s been through the trauma he has to cut himself off from reality.”
“And Kaid is a visionary as well. I see what you mean.”
Lijou leaned his head against her shoulder. “I’ve need of your skills, Kha’Qwa. I want you to monitor him, be aware of the state of mind he’s in. You’ll be tutoring him as well, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. From what I can gather, Kusac’s worried that he might be heading for a mental breakdown. That, coupled with Tallinu’s new awareness of his telepathic abilities, could be enough to make him dangerously unstable.”
“Surely not! He has his Brotherhood training to fall back on, and at least we know he had a good grounding there.”
“Don’t make the mistake of overestimating him. I’ve seen for myself how his self-control has become a thin facade lately. Do you know his background?”
“Beyond the fact he was born fifteen hundred years ago? No. You’ve never mentioned it.”
Lijou grunted. “He was found at Vartra’s Retreat and sent here to the temple to be fostered in the village. You know the M’zushi family? They offered to take him in as an act of charity. By the time anyone knew what was going on there, he’d become wild, uncontrollable by anyone except Noni. Always getting into trouble, disappearing for days on end till finally he never came back. A recruitment team picked him up from one of the packs, the Claws, if memory serves me.”
“What is his Talent?” asked Kha’Qwa, reaching for her mug of c’shar.
“Apart from telepathy, he has several, all of them making sense only when you realize that he’s unique, quite literally a throwback—one of the original fighting telepaths from the past.”
“So what are they?” She prodded him in the side with her elbow. “If I’m to get close to him, understand him, I need to know, Lijou.”
“Hunting and killing skills, basically. The Talents he used to survive in Ranz. He can sense his prey, follow their unique mental pattern till he’s caught them. He has the patience of a rock if he needs it, and can assess potential Talents quite uncannily. He’ll do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, to get what he’s after. He’s capable of being as cold and calculating as the Liege of Hell Himself. We can thank Vartra he’s not ambitious with it. Ghezu was bad enough, and he was only cunning.”
“The perfect Special Operative,” she said thoughtfully, finishing her drink. “How much of it’s innate, though, and how much is a protection against his childhood and early youth?”
“That’s what you need to find out. If we have to, I’ll send for one of the telepath medics who heal the mind.”
“No. Don’t do that,” she said, replacing her mug. “He’ll see it as a betrayal, and we’re his only chance now. Kaid must be capable of trust, or else he wouldn’t have worked with Garras. Leave it to me. I’ll speak to Noni
about it if we think it’s necessary.” She looked down at him, mouth opening slightly in a smile. “Sounds like he’s always been on the verge of becoming a kzu-shu warrior. I’m surprised you’re willing to let him come here at all.”
“I haven’t heard that one before. What’s it mean?”
“A red-mist warrior—one locked in the hunter/kill state. I’m not saying he’ll become one, just that the potential is there.”
“On that I can’t comment because it’s outside my experience, but letting him come here is a matter of faith for me, Kha’Qwa,” he said, sitting up. “I’d say he’s been touched by Vartra, but it doesn’t quite have the same ring when applied to him, does it?”
She laughed, reaching out to pat his hand affectionately. “But he has, Lijou, and years before he actually went back to meet him again as an adult. I’ve been over your records, and you know I agree wholeheartedly with your conclusions. From the time he started training under Jyarti in the ways of the priests, he became a focus for the God’s attention. The pattern is there, believe me. We’ll cope somehow. The Brotherhood looks after its own, and Kaid Tallinu is one of us.”
Later that morning, Kaid sat in the kitchen with Kusac and Carrie. In front of them were several piles of papers and a map of Jalna. He pushed two personnel records in front of them.
“Here are the Human telepaths who’ll accompany us. Both of them are male, both are unexceptional when it comes to resembling the natives of Jalna. I chose them because they’re ex-military and in their late thirties—old enough to have the experience we need yet young enough for the strength and stamina.”
Carrie picked up Conrad’s file, studying the attached photograph carefully. The face was rectangular; mid-brown eyes evenly spaced, the nose straight, and the mouth generous. Short, curly brown hair topped it, giving him a more youthful appearance than the age suggested. Then she checked the data concerning him.
Handing it to Kusac, she looked at the other file. He was quite different. The face was squarer with heavy brows and deep-set eyes. The nose was broad, suggesting that at some time it had been broken. The mouth was set in a hard line.
She pointed to the closely cropped hair. “They’ll both have to grow their hair longer, him especially.”
“Already seen to. Anything else?”
Quickly she scanned his qualifications. “Beyond the fact that I’d be surprised if they don’t both still work for the Human military, no. They’ll do.”
“They did for the first few months,” said Kaid. “What made you think that?”
She shrugged. “Just a hunch. And now? Do they work for us?”
“Let’s say the atmosphere at the Warrior Guild is more to their taste than that of their Forces. There are a few Human agents both in the Telepath Guild and the Warrior Guild. One we know was put there for us to find, the rest suspect nothing. It’s difficult for them to be mentally covert when they don’t have much faith in their own abilities as telepaths to start with,” said Kaid with a snort of amusement. “All it needs is a couple of good telepaths and a Brother or three. When it comes to interspecies spying, the Telepath Guild will swallow its high moral stance with the rest of us, especially since Esken is so suspicious of the Humans in the first place. We make sure the agents tell Earth what we want it to know.”
“These two,” said Kusac, tapping the files, “how did they come to be military telepaths? I understood Earth didn’t recognize telepathy at all.”
“Turns out they did, at least within certain top secret military units. They’d done work previously on seeing and describing locations from a remote source, sometimes half a planet away—analogous to what you and Carrie did when you looked for the life pod on Keiss. It’s all down in the files,” said Kaid. “I’m leaving them with you.”
“Have you actually met these men?” asked Carrie.
Kaid’s ears flicked momentarily before righting themselves. “Of course. I foresee no problems in our being able to work together.”
Carrie reached out to put her hand over his. “I was only asking, Kaid. I wanted your own assessment of them.”
“I’ve chosen them,” he said. “They both have previous covert mission experience and seem genuine enough.”
“Apart from you, are any other Sholans going with us?” asked Kusac.
“No. We’re pushing credibility having me on the outside anyway. If I’m caught, it could start the interspecies incident we’re trying to avoid.”
“Why can’t you come with us as a U’Churian?”
“I’m not black-furred, and we haven’t any operatives near enough the right color and build who are,” said Kaid.
“I don’t see the problem. All you have to do is dye your pelts black. They’ve already developed a drug which will increase the growth of Kusac’s fur so it matches the U’Churians’. Surely including you with us reduces the risk.”
Kaid stared at her openmouthed.
“What did you say?” demanded Kusac.
“Excuse me?” She looked from one to the other in surprise.
“Dye.” He repeated the English word. “What is dye?”
She realized she’d used the English term as no Sholan equivalent existed. “It’s a permanent color for hair. It grows out eventually, but if you keep getting the roots of your hair touched up, no one could tell it wasn’t your natural color. Don’t Sholans change the color of their hair?”
“No. Never,” said Kusac. “It’s considered immoral to conceal your identity. The younger females will occasionally use a brightly colored paintlike substance on their hair, but it brushes or washes out the next day.”
“Check at the Telepath and Warrior Guilds as well as among the archaeologists. There’s bound to be one of the Human females who uses a hair dye.”
“It’s so simple a solution, it’s brilliant,” said Kaid, leaning his chin on his hand. “If we can get hold of some of this chemical, then our scientists will be able to reproduce it.”
“You’ll have to test it first,” Carrie warned them. “Different hair types absorb dyes at different rates and sometimes the color goes badly wrong.”
“Badly? How badly?” asked Kaid.
“Blondes going green overnight, or bleached hair becoming so porous in certain areas that the color goes on unevenly. That kind of thing.”
He relaxed. That level of problem would be easily solved.
“We need more people anyway,” said Carrie. “There’s the five out at Kaladar to rescue, and the four the Valtegans sold to locate. I’d say we need two sizable groups.”
“Has there been any contact with the telepaths in Kaladar yet?” asked Kusac.
“None since they were first taken prisoner. It has to be said that they may already be dead,” Kaid said quietly. “I’m sorry, Carrie. I know you liked Jo.”
“They’re not dead,” she said firmly. “We’d know if they were. I, at least, would have sensed something from Rezac.”
“You’ve been otherwise occupied since our return,” said Kaid, busying himself with the papers.
“It hasn’t affected my Talents,” she said, a little sharply.
“It has tired you, though,” Kusac said placatingly. “Kaid’s right. You might have missed it.”
“Think what you want, but I know they’re alive,” she muttered, slouching back in her chair. “And tell me why we’re going in after them if we think they’re dead?”
“They might not all be dead,” said Kaid. “It’s only the telepath, Kris, we’ve lost contact with.”
“What about the four Sholans? There’s no mention of any contact with their two telepaths at all.”
“Jo’s group were told not to try and contact them.”
“I still consider it strange that out of five telepaths, not one has been heard from recently. What about our folk in orbit above Jalna? Haven’t they tried reaching the two captured by the Valtegans—Rezac and Zashou?”
“They’ve tried over the last few days, but without result.” Kaid looke
d up. “Yes, I agree it’s strange, but given the fact that the planet has been called hostile, we have to assume the telepaths, for one reason or another, haven’t survived, or are incapable of broadcasting. And yes, we’re facing the same risks.”
“I only asked.” Carrie’s tone was mild now.
“Worrying, though,” said Kusac. “What about finding the four sold as slaves? How do you propose we approach the problem of locating them?”
Kaid grinned, human-style, all teeth. “That’s your contribution, Kusac. T’Chebbi, Dzaka, and Garras are going to teach you both some specialized Brotherhood skills. Concealment, surveillance, information gathering, that type of thing. Then you’ll work out a plan, and we’ll discuss it. You’ve already got a start through your AlRel training. It isn’t that different in certain areas. Meral can join you. It’s a good opportunity for him to begin his training, too.”
“Uh huh.” He looked dubious.
“Field agents, that’s one of the prices of our freedom, and what the Brotherhood of Vartra do, unless you want to be based at one of the temples or the Retreat?”
“Not really.”
“Thought not. Carrie,” he looked over at her. “You can’t start the physical training yet, but you can work on the other Brotherhood skills.”
She nodded and pulled the map toward her. “Explain this to me.”
“These are the maps made by the Summer Bounty while it was in orbit, that Jo, Davies, and Kris were using,” said Kusac. “The spaceport is there, by the coast,” he pointed to the anonymous mark. “That’s the trade route they followed to Forestgate at the edge of the mountain range. From there to the end of the tree line is about sixty miles. After that, it’s uphill to Kaladar in the mountains.”
“Do we have to go via the crash site?”
“No. They got whatever there was to be had from there,” said Kaid. “We go straight to the city, hopefully across the plains. It’s an easier route.”
“Then what?”
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