Between Two Tiron (26 page)

she left the tent.

Shard and Kaleb were already gathered with some of their men near one of the tents. The

strategic posting of men throughout the camp kept any of the women from getting close enough

to hear any of the details of their conversations.

There was some relief in the camp when the transport came to pick up the researchers.

Their departure took away one of the worries. There was no longer any possible avenue of

information for the fanatics. The last threat, the few extremists remaining on the planet, was still

out there, but Shard and Kaleb were confident that they would catch them.

Lina hadn‟t been able to pry what they knew from them. They teased her unmercifully.

She did try to pull the information from them. It was hard to torture a man properly with the

active interference and disruption of another. Even when she managed to get one of them alone,

the other showed up to stop the questions before she made any progress. She frowned. That

mind-to-mind connection of theirs gave them an unfair advantage.

After the attack, Shard and Kaleb had kept her busy. They had had her install a link to the

Sendar and its weapons onto the handheld units the men used. She instructed all of them on the

various weapons. She had no idea what their plan was. Instinct and experience told her that they

expected trouble at the camp.

Life continued within the camp. Most of the men, including Shard and Kaleb, left the

camp each day to search the ruins for the
Thent’s
Seal. The women and the camp were guarded

by the small force which had been left there.

Lina sat at a table in the tent she shared with Shard and Kaleb. She had found the activity

in the camp distracting, hoping that just being unable to see it would help her focus. She needed

to work. The door to the tent was left open so that she could hear what was happening outside.

She wanted to be aware if there was trouble within the camp.

Jaksen stepped into the open doorway. The look on his face was utterly serious. “Lady,

go to your haven. There will be trouble.”

Lina didn‟t know if it was his tone or something about the look on his face, but she did as

he said without question. She thought about the haven and went. She didn‟t like it, but the men in

the camp had enough to worry about without adding her refusal to obey a simple order.

She sighed as she looked around the area. Slowly, she walked over to the
netria
tree and

sat under its shade. Eyes focused on a point beyond the trees, she couldn‟t stop her thoughts from

going back to those she had left at the camp. By the Gods, she hated waiting.

* * * * *

Shard waited in
tiron
form, concealed in the high branches of the tree. He and many of

the other warriors who‟d left the camp earlier in the day had made their way back to camp along

a network of connecting branches which created pathways through the trees. Kaleb, he knew,

was positioned on the other side of the camp. They‟d taken no chances. Just in case the men

thought to look at the search site, they had left enough men there to create the illusion of a

normal search team.

For two days, they‟d kept a silent vigil on the camp without results. It was only a matter

of time before the attack occurred. According to the information they had gathered, the fanatics

were convinced that their proof was housed within the shifter camp. With the drastic reduction in

their numbers, the men would be forced to choose a time when they thought the camp was

undermanned, without defenses.

Movement in the forest below caught his eyes. A man crept toward the camp. Shard

knew the exact moment he blithely passed the proximity sensor. The signal would alert those

within camp that someone was approaching. They would know that it wasn‟t a Santir.

Although Lina wouldn‟t like having to leave, she would go to her haven. She still didn‟t

understand the full importance of the haven. While she knew that it was meant to keep her safe,

it would allow the men to focus on the coming battle and keeping the other women safe while it

was fought. She didn‟t realize that it was something that provided reassurance to them as much

as it provided safety for her.

Shard moved along the limb slowly, following the man as he approached the camp. The

tiron
wanted to take him down now, not let him get a step closer to the camp, but the man within wanted to make certain that they got every man who came to the attack them, to settle this

finally.

One man has arrived here.
Shard kept his gaze on the man as he contacted Kaleb.
He has

tripped the sensors.

One here as well
, Kaleb‟s terse reply shot back along their link.
We wait. There will be no
way that these men can say they didn’t intend to attack us when they go before the Central

Command Court.

Shard agreed completely with that sentiment. These men wouldn‟t be able to say that

they had come to talk with the Santir in a peaceful gesture and had been attacked. They would be

allowed to show exactly what their intentions were. With the aid of some of Lina‟s small

devices, the men would be caught on vid. It would be used as evidence against them. These men

wouldn‟t walk away from their crimes free as so many of the other men who attacked shifters

had.

The man crept toward the camp. With stunner drawn, he cautiously moved along the line

of bushes, trying to get a shot at those moving within the camp. Shard kept the man in sight. He

would be given enough time to incriminate himself, but the risks to those within the camp would

be kept to a minimum.

He crawled slowly forward, careful to place his weight on only the sturdiest of branches.

He wouldn‟t give this enemy any hint that a trap had closed around him. With patience, he

waited as the man stopped behind a bush on the edge of camp.

In a rush, the man stood and began firing in a straight line across the camp. On the

opposite side of camp, stun rays shot from the foliage. A third man dashed into the chaos of the

camp, streaking toward the tents.

Shard moved swiftly along the branch. He leapt, shifting forms in the air, grabbing the

man‟s wrist as he tackled him. Shard‟s weight pressed the man back into the bush as they

crashed to the ground. With a rough impatience, he wrenched the stunner out of the man‟s grasp

and flipped him over onto his back. He pinned the man to the ground with ease. A swift swipe

with his fist rendered the man unconscious.

“Do you have him, Ardin?” Jaksen called, approaching the bushes. “We caught the

runner without trouble. He wasn‟t nearly fast enough to outrun us.”

“I have him.” Shard stood, lifting the unconscious man to his shoulder in an easy move.

“And Kaleb, did he get his man?”

“Ardin Kaleb caught the man coming from his direction.” Jaksen stood at the edge of the

camp as Shard strode out of the brush with the man tossed over his shoulder.

Shard dumped the man at the side of the one caught running through the camp. Kaleb

strode out of the bushes on the other side of camp, carrying the last man. This, they knew, was

the last of the men on the planet to find proof of their insane theory. The man that Lina‟s drones

had been tracking had been followed the day the researchers had left the planet.

With the spy gone, he had believed that there was no need for him to remain isolated. He

had joined his companions at a small cave and all three of them had been watched as they made

their trek here. The danger was now over.

“Did Lina go to the haven easily?” Kaleb raised a brow to Jaksen as the man stood

nearby securing the three captives.

“She didn‟t argue with me and she went immediately. She wasn‟t happy about doing it.”

Jaksen stood with a stunner drawn, guarding the unconscious men, should they wake. “A shuttle

is on its way from the
Ovian
.”

“Good,” Kaleb stalked toward the tent to put on some clothing. “We should be back with

Lina before it takes off. Take extra precautions in the transport and security of these men. I don‟t

want them to be able to take their own lives.”

Shard strode into the tent only a moment after Kaleb had done so. They dressed in brown,

mottled pants. With a surge of their magic, they went to get Lina. She was undoubtedly worried.

Lina sat in the shade of the trees. She smiled when she saw them appear in the grassy

clearing, but remained completely still in the shade of the
vetin
trees. Preoccupied with her own thoughts, she didn‟t know if she was ready for this confrontation.

She ran her eyes over her two warriors. Dressed identically in white shirts, brown

camouflage pants, and black boots, they looked gorgeous and dangerous, but in a very good

mood. She knew that what she was going to tell them would likely sour that feeling.

Shard extended his hand to her. She took it and rose to her feet, but pulled back when he

tried to pull her between them. As much as she wished to keep them happy, she couldn‟t let them

take her back to the camp without talking to them first. She tugged until he released her hand and

paced a few steps away from them.

“Is something wrong?” Kaleb frowned as she nervously clasped her hands together and

shifted from one foot to the other. “You act as if you expected us to be angry with you.”

Lina took a deep breath and then dove into the subject. This wasn‟t going to get any

easier. “I don‟t know if I can do this.”

Shard reached out and grasped her hands in his, hoping to reassure her. “What do you

think you can‟t do?”

She slanted her eyes to the side and then swept her gaze around the haven. “This… I

don‟t know if I can come here many more times. Every time I do I feel like a coward. I can fight.

I‟m in good health, strong, and I‟ve been in bad situations before. I should be out there helping.”

“By the Gods, never,” A low growl rumbled in Kaleb‟s throat as he stepped forward.

“You‟re no coward and are under a vast misconception. The other women may still be there, but

they don‟t get involved in the fighting. They gather in one safe place and wait for the fighting to

end.”

Lina looked up at him through her lashes. His face was drawn into intense lines, his green

eyes bored down into hers. “That‟s the truth?”

“I wouldn‟t lie to you about it.” Kaleb frowned down at Lina.

She grimaced. What he said was true. She would be able to tell if he tried just as any

other shifter would.

“The other women are protected and out of danger just as you are.” Shard leaned close

and looked into her eyes. “You are the mate of the Ardin. Any enemy who seeks to hurt us will

know just how important you are to us. That is why any Ardin with the ability to see to the safety

of their mate will create a place such as this.”

She thought about that. She could see their point. The Ardins‟ Lady would be a valuable

hostage. “I can‟t say that I will still agree, even in a few days, because running to shelter while

others do battle is so strange to me, but I‟ll come back here if there is danger.”

She felt an almost uncontrollable urge to laugh. They looked just as triumphant at that

concession as they had when they had arrived. Broad smiles spread across their faces and white

teeth flashed.

“You‟re ready now to return to camp?” Kaleb raised a brow and smoothed a hand up her

arm to her shoulder.

“Yes, but tell me something first. Why is it that only the Ardin know the old magic?” She

placed her hand on Shard‟s arm and took the hand that Kaleb had extended to her.

“Most Santir know the old magic,
i’ma
. If you‟re wondering why they don‟t create a

place such as this, the reason is that the spell requires two men, bound by
Tierna
, to perform it.”

Shard slipped his arm around her waist and hugged her. “Want to watch the short interrogation

of the men we captured?”

“Will I learn the reason they attacked the camp regardless of their willingness to talk?”

Lina raised an eyebrow and looked up into Shard‟s deep brown eyes. The men had teased and

tormented her for days about their knowledge and she wasn‟t up to another session.

“We‟ll tell you if they don‟t reveal it.” Kaleb smiled and squeezed her hand in

reassurance.

“Then what are you waiting for?” She stepped forward, tugging at them. “Let‟s go. I want

to know what they were after.”

A rich chuckle rippled through the glade as the three of them disappeared.

Lina sat between them on the way up to the
Ovian
. The captured men had already been

taken to the ship and prepared for interrogation. Everything waited for their arrival. She listened

as Shard and Kaleb gave her instructions.

“You will be seated in another room, watching it on a vid-monitor. The men will be

secured, but we don‟t want you to be anywhere near these men. They‟re treacherous. You‟ll see

and hear everything that we do.” Shard stroked his fingers up her arm and then traced the thin

strap of her white shirt in an almost absent gesture.

“That‟s fine.” She shrugged. Her location during the questioning didn‟t matter to her. “I

don‟t particularly want to be close to that scum. I only want the answer which you‟ve denied

me.”

“You‟ve denied us an answer for quite some time, my
rah’ki
.” Kaleb placed his hand on