Fortune's Wheel

by Lisanne Norman

  Meral set the craft down at the front entrance and opened the hatch.

  "Keep the bag out of sight at the back," Taizia said to him. "We need to take it with us when we leave. Can you keep it in your quarters? I'm afraid that weapons in the Tele-path Guild House are likely to be discovered."

  Meral nodded, waiting until Kaid and the two females were out before following them.

  Carrie turned to Taizia as they walked round the front of the vehicle. "Do you think the other Terrans willhave ar-rived yet?" she asked.

  Taizia grabbed her by the arm, hauling her sharply to one side.

  "Hey!" exclaimed Carrie, stumbling against her in an ef-fort to regain her balance.

  An angry growl made her turn her head. In front of her stood Rala. Taizia had just prevented Carrie fromknocking the Sholan female down.

  Carrie stood frozen to the spot, facing a mental blast of rage as Rala took a long look at her and the torethat she wore.

  Rala took a step forward. Claws extended, she reached for Carrie.

  There was a blur of black and Kusac slewed to a halt, sending a spray of gravel in Rala's direction,making her start back in surprise. He rose suddenly to his hind feet, tow-ering between the two females,making Carrie's senses reel at the sudden change. His mouth opened in a warning snarl i and he made noattempt to control the lashing of his tail.

  Rala took another step backward. "I see now where your I tore is! She's changed you into a savage tocome at her beck and call," she hissed.

  Carrie stole a quick look at him. There was a kind of bar-baric splendor about him at the moment, cladas he was only I in the tore and knife belt.

  "How could you betray your own kind and place her I above me?" Rala demanded angrily. "I thought it impossible I for a Clan Leader's son to behave in a way that went against I the good of our race and his own honor, but you have!"

  "Those aren't accusations for you to make, Rala," said I Kusac's father as he emerged from the house.

  "So far my I ion hasn't done anything to let either our Clan or Shola ¦down."

  Now! now! now ! yammered a voice in Carrie's mind, a mixture of her own urgings and Taizia's.

  She stepped out from behind Kusac. "I Challenge you…" she began.

  Kusac, knowing her mind, whipped round to face her. Grasping her by the shoulders, he tried to shakeher into si-lence, but she continued, her voice getting stronger as she feared he would prevent her fromfinishing.

  "I Challenge your right to marry my Leska by the rules of En'Shalla!"

  Kusac released her. "You can't," he said flatly.

  "Accepted!" growled Rala, seeing her chance for blood.

  "Father," demanded Kusac, turning toward him, "tell her the Challenge can't stand."

  "I demand that it stands!" said Rala.

  "I'm afraid Carrie has the legal right to issue this or any Challenge," his father replied slowly, a concerned

  look on his face.

  "Telepaths can't be Challenged!"

  "Nothing says a telepath can't issue a Challenge," said Konis.

  "Then she'll have a Champion," said Kusac.

  "Oh, no," said Rala, "she's not getting out of it that eas-ily! She issued the Challenge, I demand she fights

  it!"

  Kusac glanced from the unholy glee on Rala's face back to his father.

  "I'm not sure of the law in this case, but I do know the last time this Challenge was fought it led to the

  banning of telepaths being Challenged," Konis replied.

  "Then how can she fight Rala?"

  "It's an anomaly. Although this incident made telepaths inviolate, the Challenge itself was never removed from the statute books as far as I remember. I'm surprised Carrie knew about it," said his father, frowning thoughtfully at Taizia.

  "The law in this case states that the Challenger and the one Challenged must be the ones to fight," said

  Rhyasha's quiet voice.

  "Father, this is nonsense! Stop the Challenge," pleaded Kusac.

  His father shook his head. "I can't interfere. As your mother says, the Challenge is valid, and legallyissued. It's also En'Shalla—in the hands of the Gods. No judge can stop it, only a priest."

  "In that case, I set the date for…" began Rala.

  Kaid stepped forward. "Liegena Vailkoi, the Challenge was issued by Carrie. She decides the place,time, and weap-ons." He glanced at Carrie and, receiving the barest of nods, continued.

  "It will be held here two weeks from now, and the weap-ons will be the ritual shield and short sword

  provided by the Liegena Taizia Aldatan. The time will be the fourth hour."

  "Those are the weapons from the shrine," exclaimed Kusac, turning on his sister. "They were used in the original Challenge! How could you suggest she use them when they've already caused two deaths? They're cursed!"

  "The weapons sound ideal," purred Rala, ears flicking in anticipation of the fight to come.

  "That's superstition," said Taizia. "Surely you don't be-lieve it?"

  Kusac turned away from her to Kaid. "Are the arrange-ments complete?" he demanded, his voice ascold as ice.

  "Yes, Liegen Aldatan."

  Kusac grasped Carrie firmly, ignoring her pain as his claws dug fiercely into her wrist. "We're leavingnow, Fa-ther," he said, walking toward the stairs and pulling Carrie with him. He turned briefly to Rala.

  "We'll see you in two weeks, Liegena Vailkoi," he said before stalking into the house, dragging Carrie

  behind him.

  "You may win your Leska, Terran, but watch you haven't lost his love," Rala called after her, laughing.

  "Damn you, Carrie," said Kusac, his voice harsh as he dragged her along the balcony and into their suite. "Why did you have to do that to me?" He changed his grip to her up-per arm as he activated the lounge door. Dragging her over to the settee, he flung her down on it, watching while she re-covered her balance and examined her wrist.

  Blood trickled slowly down her forearm, making him shiver with an icy premonition of worse to come. Acutely aware of her pain and distress as well as his own, he went over to her, crouching down on thefloor. He took her by the shoulders, shaking her more gently this time.

  "Don't you realize the risk you're taking, not just for yourself but both of us? I know the Challenge is to First Blood only, but something could go wrong. What possessed you to allow Taizia—and my mother—to talk you into this wild scheme?"

  "It's the only way to break the contract."

  "I would rather have disobeyed my father and left the Clan than risk you in a Challenge. The only good point, if you can call it such, is that if anything happens to you, I won't survive either," he said heavily, pulling her close.

  "Don't say that!"

  "It's a fact," he said, lifting her injured wrist and begin-ning to lick it. "No," he said in response to her

  look, "I don't like the taste of blood, but it'll help the wounds close. I'm sorry I hurt you."

  "I'm sorry if I did the wrong thing, but your mother and sister desperately wanted to help us. They're afraid of losing you if this bonding ceremony couldn't be stopped." She sighed, relaxing against him.

  "It was my problem, I should have solved it!"

  "Is there any other way?" she demanded.

  "No," he admitted, letting her wrist go. "Gods, cub, no one could say life with you was boring. What the

  hell am I supposed to do with you?"

  "Love me?" she suggested, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him close enough to kiss.

  His canines bit her lip a bit more sharply than usual. "I'm still angry with you." His voice was a low growl.

  "Come on, I want to be out of here within the hour. Go and pack."

  They arrived back at the guild to find it alive with excite-ment. The Terrans had arrived and were beingprocessed through Medical. A message on their comm told them to re-port to the Terran quarters to givewhat aid they could to Physician Vanna Kyjishi.

  They found her looking sligh
tly harassed, busily delegat-ing her nurses to record the Terrans' basicmedical details using the sampling units.

  "An interesting batch," she said in answer to Kusac's un-spoken question.

  "I'm glad you came. I didn't expect to see you for another couple of days. I have to talk to you when I'm finished here," she said. "Now that Terran over there," she nodded briefly toward a dark-haired male who was staring in their direction, "there's something about him, but I don't know what. Every time I turn round, he seems to be looking at me."

  "Strange," agreed Kusac, keeping a straight face. "Per-haps he just likes the look of you."

  Vanna shot him a half-angry look. "I doubt it," she said. "It's his turn now. Come over with me."

  They accompanied her over to the Terran.

  "This is Carrie and Kusac," she said to him, "the Leska pair you were asking about. You're… ?"

  "Brynne Stevens," he replied, smiling as he stood up.

  He was tall, about Kusac's height. Dark curly hair reach-ing to the neck of his sweater framed apleasantly featured face. Gray-blue eyes regarded them with interest. His jawline and mouth wereoutlined by a close-cropped beard and mustache.

  "You know what this does," Vanna said, reaching out to position his arm correctly in the molded sampler

  unit. As she touched him, she flinched, pulling back from him and al-most dropping the unit.

  "What the hell!" he exclaimed, catching hold of it. "That's some kind of static charge you've got!"

  Kusac's arm shot out to steady Vanna. "Are you all right?" he asked as she straightened up.

  "I'm fine," she said, passing a hand across her head be-fore giving herself a little shake. "Honestly, I'm

  fine." With hands that shook slightly she took the unit from Brynne.

  "You're overtired," chided Kusac, taking the unit away from her and calling one of the nurses over. "I'm sure you'll exeuse us, won't you, Brynne?" he said, handing the unit to the nurse and drawing Vanna away. "Now, where's your of-fice? You need to sit down."

  "Kusac, I'm fine," she protested as they went toward her room. While Kusac made her sit down, Carrie

  went for some c'shar for them all.

  "Why are you rubbing your hands?" he asked, taking hold of them. "Is there something wrong? What

  happened there?"

  "Nothing, I just got a jolt of static from him," she said, al-lowing him to look at her palms. "Honestly,

  Kusac, there's nothing to be concerned about."

  Carrie returned with a tray and three drinks. Vanna took one gratefully. "I am tired," she admitted. "Thisis the first break I've had since they arrived three hours ago. We've got a problem already," she sighed. "One of our young male telepaths on the Rhyaki was assigned to accompany the Terrans to Chagda Station, then return. He formed a friend-ship with a female Terran, the daughter of one of their tel-epaths. That in itself was bad enough in her parents' eyes, but they Leska-bonded when only a few days out from Earth!"

  Kusac glanced at Carrie then back at Vanna. "So there's another pair like us," he said. "That's not sovery dreadful for them, is it? I wonder why my father didn't mention them."

  "It is for these two," said Vanna, taking another mouthful of her drink. "Her parents will have none of it.

  They don't believe it's happened."

  "What about the girl? What has she said about it?" asked Carrie.

  "Not a lot. Her parents have shut themselves and her away in the Terran quarters upstairs and won't

  come out, not even for the medical checks."

  "Why don't you just go and get her?" asked Kusac. "They can't keep her locked up."

  "Oh, they can," said Vanna, "and they are, and we can't do anything about it. The Terrans are totally

  autonomous in their own section. We can't interfere."

  "How old is the girl?" asked Carrie.

  "Sixteen."

  "Damn. She's underage. Her parents have legal authority over her. She can't make the decision, to leave them. Unless she actually manages to escape and ask us for help, there's nothing we can do," said Carrie. "I'll happily go and talk to them and explain what a Leska bond is."

  "Thanks. We hoped you would," said Vanna. "We haven't got too long, though, from the state Raill's in. We've had some success controlling the memories with psychic sup-pressants but he's weakening fast."

  "I'll go and see her parents shortly," said Carrie.

  "I forgot to ask how your visit went," said Vanna.

  "We've had some excitement, too," said Kusac dryly, ears twitching as his eye ridges met in a frown.

  "I found out that Kusac was betrothed," said Carrie, cast-ing a frown of her own at him.

  "I've been trying to find a way to dissolve the contract my parents made," he explained hastily. "Carrie,

  however, with the help of my sister and mother, has Challenged my unwanted bride."

  "She can't, Kusac!" exclaimed Vanna, a look of sheer ter-ror on her face. "She mustn't fight or she'll lose

  the child!"

  Absolute silence greeted her remark.

  Kusac looked at Carrie, noticing that the blood had drained from his Leska's face. "You're saying

  Carrie's preg-nant," he said carefully, his voice questioning.

  "Yes," Vanna nodded. "I only found out a day or two ago and I haven't been able to reach you to tell

  you."

  "Then who is the father?" he asked Carrie, stunned. "I'll swear I was your first lover, so that means

  you've been with someone since then. Why didn't you tell me about it, or your wish to have children?"

  He was confused and hurt that he should have missed that need in her and sensed nothing when she tookanother lover.

  "No, Kusac," said Vanna, leaning forward to touch him. "You've got it wrong. The child is yours."

  "Mine? Don't be ridiculous," he said, looking sharply at her. "We're too different to breed. It's

  impossible."

  Vanna shook her head. "I've said nothing to anyone but Jack Reynolds, but I've been monitoring forgenetic changes in you both since the gestalt link on the Khalossa. I knew there would be far-reachingchanges, but I never expected you to be able to have children. It's scientifically and med-icallyimpossible, but somehow—I don't know how—it's happened."

  Kusac looked back at Carrie. "Didn't you know? Couldn't you tell you were pregnant?" he demanded.

  Some of the color had come back to her face. She shifted uncomfortably, unable to meet his eyes. "Ithought I might be," she admitted, "but I dismissed it as being impossible. As you said, we're two differentspecies."

  "You wouldn't have conceived if you hadn't wanted to," he said, his anger mounting. "Knowing you could be preg-nant, you still Challenged Rala!" He shook his head. 'You're carrying a child that by rights should never have been conceived, and you're prepared to risk it, and us, over a Challenge? Gods, what have I done to deserve a Leska with as little sense as you?" he demanded, getting to his feet and pacing across the room. He stopped by the door, his back to them.

  He ached inside. The shock of finding out that he'd fa-thered a child on his alien Leska—a child that hedesperately wanted to have with her—coupled with the knowledge that she was risking everything onthat damned foolish Chal-lenge, was too much for him to absorb coherently. He needed to get awayfrom her—from himself, too, if he was being honest—to give himself time to think.

  He pounded his fist against the wall, the momentary pain helping to focus the anger which he knew hewas wrongly directing at her.

  "Damn you, Carrie," he said, his voice breaking, "why must you keep getting me into untenable

  situations?"

  Carrie got to her feet. "Kusac, I…"

  "Just leave me alone, Carrie," he said, his mind and voice full of pain. "Leave me alone."

  "Dammit, Kusac!" she said, grabbing hold of him and pulling him around to face her. "I'm not the only one to blame. You had more than a little to do with it, you know! How on earth was I supposed to know this cou
ld happen? It's all right for you, you're not the one who's pregnant! And how dare you suggest that anyone else could be the father!"

  He reached out to touch her. "Carrie, I…"

  "Don't touch me!" she spat, shaking with rage. "Just. Leave. Me. Alone!" Darting past him, she wrenched

  the door open and fled.

  He stared after her retreating figure.

  "Nicely handled, Kusac," said Vanna, getting up. "Very sensitive of you. Sounds like Carrie's had a

  wonderful cou-ple of days."

  "What do you mean?" he asked, totally thrown first by Carrie's reaction and now by Vanna's.

  "First she finds out you're betrothed, then that the only way to break that contract is for her to fight a Challenge with your betrothed, and on top of it all, she discovers that the impossible has happened and she's pregnant. And who's to blame for all this? She is, according to you."

  "That's not what I said, Vanna!"

  "Isn't it? It looks that way to me. What about her feelings in all this? Did you think to ask her how she

  felt? Even, Gods forbid, to say you were glad she's having your child?"

  "She knew she was pregnant, she said as much, Vanna! Knowing that, what possessed her to issue the Challenge? That was utterly foolish of her! If she'd only waited a few more hours, none of that would have been necessary. If I can only father children with her then there's little point in me marrying Rala! The contract would have been dissolved."

  "I need to confirm that yet," warned Vanna. "Carrie cer-tainly can never have Terran children, but I need

  to run tests on you to find out if you're still fertile with other Sholans."

  "I'm sick to death of these tests, Vanna. Tell me what good they've done us?"

  "Suit yourself, Kusac," said Vanna with a shrug, sitting down again. "If you don't care, why should I? Tell

  me, though, aren't you worried about Carrie rushing off like that?"

  "No," he growled, angry with Vanna now. "She can go where she wants. You heard her tell me to leave