strongholdrising (24 page)

* * *

For Kusac, the days in Vanna's ward had passed in a slow, repetitive haze. He found he hadn't either the interest or energy to do much beyond lie on his bed watching whichever entertainment channel the nurse switched on for him each morning. A small part of him was aware that this was due to the medication he was given twice a day, but he knew the futility of arguing over it so he endured. It wasn't till Carrie and Kaid came for him that he roused himself, and then it was only because of his cub.
With a delighted squeal, his daughter launched herself at him, landing on the bed then scrambling onto his chest where she fixed her claws deep into his pelt, pulling herself up to reach his face. Anchoring herself with hind legs and one hand, she began to lick furiously at his face, purring loudly. Something inside him began to stir as he held her close.
They'd brought a choice of clothes for him: the Brotherhood robe or one of his civilian tunics. He looked up at them blankly, incapable of making a decision.
Kaid picked up the tunic and handed it to him. "Wear this. It's hot outside. The robe will likely be too warm."
He accepted it from him but continued to sit there holding Kashini.
Carrie reached out and took the cub from him amid loud protests from her. "I'll hold her while you dress," she said quietly.
He was halfway through obediently putting his tunic on when the first spark of resentment woke. He quashed it and finished dressing, anxious to hold his daughter again.
In an awkward silence they walked down the village main street till they reached the villa. Kusac was barely aware of the furtive stares thrown in his direction by the odd passersby as he concentrated on holding Kashini close, feeling her tiny heart beating against his chest.
A hand touched his arm, bringing him to a stop as they entered the grounds leading up to the front of the house. Carrie: he'd forgotten she was there.
"You can put her down now," she said. "She likes walking and the ground here's safe for her feet."
Again, he found himself obediently about to disentangle his daughter's hands from his tunic, and stopped abruptly.
"No," he said, shocked by his own boldness. "She wants to be with me. Why didn't you bring her to see me sooner?"
"I couldn't, Kusac. Vanna wouldn't let me till today."
Kaid put a hand on his shoulder, making him look around sharply at him.
"She said you needed to rest, Kusac. You were very ill with a brain fever for two days."
He looked at Kaid, narrowing his eyes against the glare of the sun. Vague memories of being pushed down a long corridor on a floater came to mind, then they were gone, lost in the haze.
"Let's get you in out of the sun," said Kaid. "It's too hot for any of us after the time we've spent on air-conditioned ships."
He nodded slowly, letting the other male urge him on toward the house. Once inside, he followed Kaid to the den, pausing on the threshold and looking past him down to the lower level.
T'Chebbi looked up from the small comm unit she'd been using. "Look lot better than last time I saw you," she said, mouth dropping in a smile. "How you feeling?"
"Better," he agreed, trying to hide the surprise he felt at finding her in the private inner sanctuary of his home. He looked around the den.
Sunlight filtered in through the fine muslinlike drapes that hung over the clear doors leading out onto the garden beyond. The dark paneled wooden floor and walls were broken up by the brightly colored rugs and tapestries that he remembered so well. All was as it had been— before— but it no longer felt like
his
place of refuge.
Kashini touched the still tender scar on his neck, painfully drawing his attention back to her. Flinching, he reached up and took her tiny hand in his. "I'll take Kashini upstairs," he said, turning away from the room.
"I'll come with you," said Carrie.
"No!" he said sharply. "I want some time alone with my daughter."
Let him be alone,
sent Kaid.
We both have bio-monitor alerts and Vanna said we didn't need to keep a close watch on him provided we know he's taken his medication. He needs time to adjust to being home again.
The door shut behind him with a finality that made Carrie shiver. "It's like he's shutting us all out," she murmured, walking down the steps into the lower level.
"He kept to himself even on the
Couana,
" said T'Chebbi. "Last time he saw me I was yelling at him and making him throw up. Maybe I should leave, go back to Brotherhood house in village."
"No, I want you to stay," said Carrie, touching her friend on the head gently as she passed her. "You have every right to be here, you're Kaid's Companion, and family."
T'Chebbi closed the comp down. "Can come visit me nights you want to, can't you Kaid?" She grinned at him as he came down into the room. "Like old times, eh?"
"Carrie's right, there's no reason for you to leave," said Kaid, going over to the hot plate. "Kusac has to get used to being among people again. Better he does it here with those he knows and trusts."

Shola, Zhal-Ghyakulla 17th day (June)
"HE does nothing but stay in the nursery," said Carrie in exasperation. "Dzaka and Kitra have had to move out and go live at the main villa. I can't get him to show a spark of interest in anything but Kashini!"
"What about the estate?" asked T'Chebbi, wiping a piece of bread round her plate to mop up the last of her egg yolk.
"Tried that. Says Garras is doing a better job than he could."
"Training?"
"Too tired, yet he sleeps when Kashini sleeps, which is most of the day and all night!"
"The Touibans?"
"Says it needs a telepath to work with them and Mara's coping, plus his father wants her to train up in AlRel. I've tried everything I can think of!"
"The digging in the hill?" persisted T'Chebbi.
"Again, too tired! This lethargy isn't right, T'Chebbi. Vanna's drugs are too strong. They need to be reduced." She thumped her mug down on the table.
"Then speak to Vanna about it," said Kaid calmly. "I think the dose is right, for now at least. You're just getting wound up over the arrival of your father."
"I won't have him see Kusac in this state," she said. "That is, if I can pry him out of the nursery in the first place!"
"Speak to Vanna," he repeated. "You've a couple of days before your father arrives. That should be time enough."
"I'm doing this for Kusac's sake," she said. "It isn't fair my father should see him so brought down by medication. Not just that, he needs to get an interest in life here again. He needs a reason other than Kashini to live."
Kaid reached across the table and placed his hand over hers. "I understand," he said quietly. "And you're right. In the long term, he does need to take up what he can of his old life. But he also needs time for his mind to heal, without pressure from us. I'll come with you to see Vanna."
"Thanks," she said. "I'd appreciate that."
Kaid gave her hand a gentle squeeze before letting it go and looking over at T'Chebbi. "You should feed yourself better," he said, knowing her tendency to skip meals when she was staying in the Brotherhood house. "Or move back here. How are Rezac, Jo, and Zashou settling in at Ruth's?"
T'Chebbi's mouth dropped open in a slight smile as she pushed her plate aside. "Well, Jo needs Humans around her even more because of the cub," she said. "Ruth's so practical, she's just what all three of them need. As for Rezac, he's taken to training with Garras like one born to it. Can see where you get it from," she grinned at Kaid. "We got Zashou up at the diggings with Touibans. Great help her knowing where everything was, what used for. Bodies and vehicles confuse her, though. As she says, they left monastery for Stronghold. Remains are nothing to do with them, so whose are they?"
"I've been thinking about that," said Carrie. "There were members of Zashou's family who refused to leave, non-telepath members. Perhaps it involved them."
"Perhaps, but remember, the floods came within two or three days of us leaving here for Stronghold. Whatever it was happened almost immediately after we left," said Kaid.
Carrie nodded. "Vartra's people left partly because of our warning that the remains of a firefight had been found. There were Valtegans posted nearby, in a city called Khalma. Zashou said the small peninsula it was on was destroyed in the Cataclysm, washed away by the tidal waves. The Valtegans knew what was coming. What if some of them who couldn't be evacuated headed here as the nearest high ground? And the Aldatans would head there. That gives you the reason for the fight."
"You could be right. We may never know unless Zashou recognizes something among the belongings we found with the Sholan remains. Has she been shown them?"
"Not yet, but Jack said he'd show her today. Any news yet on what's happening with Ambassador Taira's attempted abduction of Kate and Taynar?"
"Falma helped them write out affidavits which they then swore with Konis as the local Judge. They've been sent to the Chief Protector at Shanagi. He's preparing a special warrant ordering the ambassador to attend a hearing the day after the new ambassadors arrive. Shola's hosting the Allied Worlds Council for the next two years."
"I thought Taira had diplomatic immunity."
"He has, but I don't think any of the other Alliance Worlds will support him when he complains. Abducting minors of any species is a serious crime on every world. My gut feeling is that the others will see the possibility of it happening to them and will uphold the warrant. Especially as they'll all know about the Chemerians withholding knowledge of the Free Traders from the Alliance and passing off Trader imports as their own goods. The Chemerians can't deny that charge when members of the U'Churian and Cabbaran worlds are sitting opposite them."
"What about the Primes and the TeLaxaudin?" asked T'Chebbi.
"The Primes are a special case. We can only grant them Associate membership in the Alliance at this time, though if all goes well, I'm told their status will be reviewed at the end of a year," replied Kaid. "They'll join Earth and Jalna round the table at a lower level of discussions on Alliance policy and trade. We can't afford to take chances with them. The TeLaxaudin are due later this month."
"Glad they're being so cautious," said T'Chebbi. "Was afraid Primes'd be granted full status and be privy to defense plans against Valtegans."
"The Primes are Valtegans," said Carrie, her voice hard. "Am I the only one to remember that?"
Kaid sighed. "No, but we need them, Carrie. It was only one faction that was responsible for what happened to us, not all of them."
"I want to find out exactly who else was involved and if they've taken samples from us for a breeding program." She looked from Kaid to T'Chebbi. "You do realize what we're talking about here, don't you? The possibility that they may use those samples to create hybrid cubs. They'd be our cubs— yours, Kaid, and mine and Kusac's, as well as Rezac, Kate and Taynar's!"
"They need a female Human or Sholan to implant any fertilized eggs into, Carrie. We've been through this," said Kaid. "Without a host, they can do nothing beyond observe early cell division. No embryo has been successfully grown in an artificial womb."
"Not on Shola," she corrected.
"Not on any Alliance world— the old Alliance at least, but I doubt that the other species have managed it either. And even if they had, they'd have to duplicate our hybrid womb environment, not use a Valtegan one, or a TeLaxaudin." Kaid pushed his chair back. "Father Lijou and Master Rhyaz are dealing with it, Carrie. If there's anything to find out, they'll find it, believe me. You're getting yourself worked up about nothing. Why don't we head over to Vanna's now and talk her into coming to see Kusac?"

* * *

It was the third time in the last week that Kaid had called Noni. As the comm screen cleared, once more he found himself facing Teusi.
"May the sun shine on you today, Tallinu," Noni's apprentice said.
"And you," said Kaid automatically, trying not to let his impatience sound in his voice. "Where's Noni?"
"Unavailable, I'm afraid. I have passed your messages on to her."
"And what did she say?" he asked, ignoring the slight note of reproach in the other's voice.
"She'll get back to you when she can. She's very busy right now, setting up the new surgery at Stronghold."
He frowned, eye ridges meeting above his nose. "She's avoiding me, isn't she?" he said, angry now that he was having this conversation with Teusi. It wasn't Noni's way to let Teusi deal with callers, and certainly never him.
"I'm afraid that isn't for me to say," replied Teusi, keeping his voice and expression carefully neutral.
"Dammit, Teusi! Stop giving me the runaround!" he snapped. "I know her well enough to recognize when she's avoiding me! What I don't know is why!"
"I'm afraid I..."
"Teusi," said Kaid warningly, clenching the edge of the desk out of the other's line of sight. "I need to know. One way or another, she's refused to speak to me since I got back from Haven. What's up?"
"You invoked kin on her." This time the unspoken reproof was noticeable in the set of his ears as well as his voice.
"That's why I want to talk to her." He hadn't missed the slight movement of Teusi's head to one side.
"You had no right to..."
"I have every right," he interrupted. "This is none of your concern. I know she's there. Tell her I brought kin of hers, and mine, back with me from Jalna."
"She has none."
"Not from this time," said Kaid. "But then neither am I."
"Who you brought back with you, boy?" Noni's voice demanded harshly from off-screen.
"Rezac Dzaedoh."
Teusi disappeared to be replaced by Noni. She stared out of the screen at him, brown eyes almost black with anger.
"I'm listening."
This was a Noni he'd never met before. He'd seen her as angry with others, but never him. "He's my father, Noni. He's the one we went to Jalna to rescue, whose mind touched Carrie's here on Shola as Jo's team released him and his Leska from the stasis cube. He's from the time of Vartra and the Cataclysm."
"I remember," she interrupted. "You said nothing about him being my kin."
"I didn't know myself till we rescued them."
"How do I know you're not lying?"
His ears flattened to his skull in a mixture of anger and disbelief that she could accuse him of such a thing. "I've never lied to you, Noni," he said. "Taynar Arrazo asked him his clan name, in front of all my people."
She snorted contemptuously. "Then he's lying."
"Why are you trying so hard to deny the relationship?" he asked, realizing she was attempting to manipulate him through anger. "I think it's time you gave me some answers, Noni. Why did you take an interest in a cub found abandoned near Vartra's Retreat when you were known to dislike all younglings? Why let him come plaguing you every day with his questions till you started teaching him your craft, taking him on walks to learn the plants for healing, showing him how to make up the potions and salves? You kept that interest in him over the next twelve years to the point where you even made him your apprentice." He dropped his voice. "Why did you help him escape the Protectors when he killed his foster father? Why go to the Brotherhood and persuade them to find him, pull him from the heart of the Claw Pack in Ranz, make him one of theirs and have the Protectorate wipe his slate clean? Why did you do all that for someone who meant nothing to you— unless you felt the pull of blood, Noni?"
"You still ask too many questions, boy! Always causing me trouble, you were." She scowled at him, eye ridges meeting in an annoyed frown. "Haven't changed, have you?"
"Neither have you. You never gave me any answers, that's why I keep asking," he replied. "I won't be put off this time, Noni."
Her gaze looked straight through him. "Why should I tell you anything?" she asked crossly. "I owe you nothing, boy."
He looked away from the screen for a moment, wondering what she wanted him to say— what he could say that would make her talk. "Carrie's pregnant by me," he said at last, looking back at her. "You were right. We're sharing a cub— a daughter."
Noni raised a quizzical eye ridge at him. "Oh?" she said, her tone suddenly neutral.
"I know you've been told Carrie and I Leska Linked while on the Prime ship," he said, letting her hold his gaze this time. "The Primes healed her, but they removed her implant."
"I want to hear those three words again," she demanded.
"You were right," he sighed. "I was wrong, Noni. There will be a cub."
"Cubs," she corrected him, but her voice was gentler. "There will be cubs, I said. I remember it well. You called me an old fool, you did."
"Cub. One," he said firmly.
"There was T'Chebbi's," she reminded him.
"All right!" he snarled, irritation getting the better of him as his ears flicked angrily. "How much groveling do you want me to do, dammit? I had the right to invoke kin on you, and you know it!"
"That remains to be seen, when I've met this Rezac and his Leska."
"You still haven't answered me! Why did you always look out for me?" he demanded. "You must have felt something, suspected there was a blood tie between us!"
"Why should I tell you? Seems to me you're still more trouble than you're worth!"
He bit back another angry retort, knowing it was what she wanted— to divert him. Then he remembered what had worked well in the past. Lowering his ears to half height, he tilted his head to one side and looked up at her, widening his eyes slightly. "Because I'm asking nicely?" he said, softening his tone.
Noni began to laugh, a deep, belly rumble that lit her face all the way to her eyes. Eventually she subsided into chuckles and wiped her streaming eyes on her sleeve. "You always knew how to reach me, you did. You got your own measure of Glamour when you put your mind to it, Tallinu. Vartra warned me, you know. Said I'd get more than I bargained for when I got you back. He was right. You trying to charm me, your cub on the way, and your father!"
"You went to Vartra about me?" He righted his ears, the revelation astonishing him.
"You were missing," she snapped acerbically. "What was I supposed to do when I knew the Valtegans had you? Wring my hands and weep?"
"You bargained for my return?"
"He gave me no choice. I was owed a favor. He gave me you."
"The price?" he asked quietly, dreading her answer. "What did it cost you, Noni?"
"Just told you! I lost my favor! A favor from an Entity isn't to be chosen lightly, and I had to go waste it on you," she grumbled, scratching herself vigorously behind one ear.
He knew he'd won now and pushed the point home. "Why do that for me unless you suspected we were kin?"
Her face softened and she reached out to touch the comm screen with her hand. "Vartra said it, Tallinu. You were the cub I never had. Yes, I suspected something when they brought you to me the day they found you. It frightened me, that's why I didn't dare keep you. Vartra knows, it was the biggest mistake I ever made. I've been paying for it every day since you came to me saying you'd killed Nuddoh M'Zushi."
As she closed her eyes, Kaid could see how much the confession was costing her. For a brief moment, he felt her mind touch his. Instinctively, his hand went out to his own screen.
"I chose to live alone because my work as a Guardian meant everything to me— more than a mate or cubs. I wanted no distractions. Then you came along, so small and hurt— too terrified to even speak for that first month. You smelled and felt like kin, and you Challenged the life I'd chosen. I had to give you up."
"But you didn't." He let his hand drop back down to the desk. "You watched over me, gave me hope, an escape from Nuddoh."
"Not well enough, or I'd have known what Nuddoh was doing to you! I should have seen what was happening!" She took her hand away from the screen, ears laid back and a look of distress on her face.
"We're only mortal, Noni," he said quietly. "I couldn't stop the Valtegan priest raping Carrie, nor did I believe her when she said Kusac was still alive. You couldn't have known what Nuddoh was doing till it was too late. We both need to accept what we cannot change, what we had no control over, and let the guilt go."
She nodded slowly. "It isn't easy, though. What's this father of yours like?" she asked, her voice becoming crisper. "Too like you for comfort, I'll be bound. Arrogant, self-opinionated, takes a personal responsibility for everyone! Am I right?"
"Well, I know where
you
got it from," he grinned.
"Cheek of you! Just remember one thing, Tallinu. No matter what time you come from, you're still young enough to have faint cradle marks on your arse! I'm still Noni to you!" Her eyes twinkled at him. "More so since you're going to make a grandmother of me again."
He raised his eye ridges in mock defeat. "Yes, Noni," he said. "Rezac's formed a Triad with Jo, a Keissian friend of Carrie's. They're expecting a cub shortly. His Leska, Zashou, wasn't my mother, though. It was a female called T'Chya, someone from Ranz that he knew before the Claws claimed him."
"The same Pack you ran with. History repeats itself. You claiming to be brothers, I suppose."
"The blood-tie is there, Noni, neither of us can ignore it. As brothers, we can cope. But it's really about Kusac that I contacted you."
"I got the medical reports. They don't look good, Tallinu. I doubt there's much I can do," she sighed. "I wish there was."
"You'll come, though? Rezac wants to meet you and I know Carrie would like to see you again."
"Nice to be so popular. I'll come, but not till next week. Maybe at least I can give him something better than the drugs that Vanna of yours is giving him."
"She's just cut them down. He was so sedated, there was no life left in him."
"And your Telepath Guild medics can do nothing for him, I'll be bound. Well, maybe I can, we'll see. In a week then, Tallinu."
Kaid touched his fingers to the screen in thanks. "Thank you, Noni," he said, aware that now her nickname of Grandmother meant more to him.
Zhal-Ghyakulla, 19th day (June)
He opened the den door, stalked past Kaid at the work console, down the stairs into the lower leisure area and over to the large entertainment comm. Ignoring Carrie, he switched it on, then turned to look at them.
"Why didn't someone tell me the Valtegans had landed on Shola?" he demanded.
Kaid stopped working and turned to look at him. "I didn't think you'd be interested."
"I've been watching reports of their arrival yesterday. The newsvids all paint them as white as our honored dead! Sorli's really got his Guild working overtime with subliminals!" His rumble of anger was getting deeper.
"Yes, the government is using subliminals, within the allowed parameters," said Kaid placidly as the large screen came to life showing the Governor's Palace at Shanagi. "All the new ambassadors arrived yesterday. And they aren't Valtegans, they're Primes, not the ones who..."
"There's no difference," he snarled, hand going to his neck to massage it as he began to pace in front of the screen. "Has everyone but me forgotten what they did to us?"
"Of course not," said Carrie, getting to her feet and going over to him. "How could I? But it was only one Prime who separated us. Remember the doctor who helped you?"
"You can't have seen the vids," he said, stopping to point at the newscast. "Look at that! A state reception for them, with a full Warrior honor guard! I refuse to believe that Chy'qui and J'koshuk could torture us without their Commander being aware of what was going on!"
"Relax, Kusac," said Kaid, getting up and coming down to join them. "They have no military, their command structure is very different from ours. I scanned the Commander during the treaty talks. He had no idea of what was happening, believe me. Besides, all this happened yesterday."
He stared at Kaid for a moment then looked away. Kaid, who'd not known he was a telepath until a short time ago, was now doing what he should be doing. He rubbed his neck harder, kneading it in an effort to stop the tingling sensation. He knew he was letting his anger get out of control but could do little about it.
"They're manipulating the public to make them accept the Primes as allies," he said slowly. "They didn't do that when Carrie arrived on Shola. We had to defend ourselves against prejudiced dissidents."
"We had Kaid and the Brotherhood to protect us," reminded Carrie.
"The estate was fortified— it still is," said Kaid. "Both Chy'qui and J'koshuk are dead, Kusac. We have to accept the Primes as allies now. We need their help against the real Valtegan enemy."
He turned away from them to stare at the screen, forcing himself to breathe more slowly, to recite the Litany for Relaxation. He was damned if on top of this insult, the sight of those Valtegans was going to get him in such a rage that it triggered the neural pain. It was humiliating to suddenly find himself lying on the floor unable to stop whimpering.
On the screen, the autovids had homed in on the Sholans standing waiting to greet the Prime Ambassador and his party as they walked toward the Palace entrance. Standing among the Sholan High Command and representatives of the World Council, were Master Rhyaz and his father.
"I don't believe it!" he began, the hair on his neck starting to rise as the tingling became a definite pain. "It's my father and..."
He got no further as Kaid grasped him firmly by the shoulder and pressed a hypodermic to his neck. The sting barely had time to register before the drugs hit him and he began to sway.
"Easy there," said Kaid as he and Carrie supported him over to the nearest seat. "As Head of Alien Relations and one of the signatories to the treaty, your father had no option but to be there, Kusac. If it's any comfort, Father Lijou refused to go and Rhyaz was only there because he'd other business to attend to."
Carrie knelt in front of him, taking his hands in hers. "I'm sorry we had to drug you, Kusac. It's fast acting but won't last long. It's better than suffering all that pain."
"Your father," he said, forcing the words out. He could barely keep his eyes open. "That's why he's here."
She nodded, glancing up at Kaid. "The trade treaties were signed yesterday by all the Alliance and Associate members. Like Rhyaz, he didn't stay for the banquet. He said he wasn't associating with the Primes any more than he had to because of what happened to us. He stayed with Rhyaz in his apartment at the Palace last night. We didn't tell you about the Primes because we didn't want this to happen."