Between Darkness and Light (114 page)

Nausea and dizziness gripped him and he let the dressing fall into place again. Swallowing convulsively, he rolled back and reached for the water—he had to replace as much as he could of the fluids he was losing—as far as he could tell, Kezule didn't intend him to get any medical treatment in the near future. Fever dream or not, he was going to try that healing trance idea, he decided as he gulped down the water.

Vartra sighed, rubbing his temples as he got to his feet and stepped backward into his own realm. He was weary, with a tiredness he found impossible to shake off. Since the TeLaxaudin's power failure on Kij'ik, he'd been watching and waiting for this small window of opportunity to help Kusac. His head hurt with the effort of it, but he was beginning to form a small understanding of how and why he was being manipulated and used.

Beneath his feet, the grass felt good after so long on stone or metal floors. He'd chosen early summer since it was a time of year he'd always enjoyed. As he began to walk through the clearing to his cottage, he let one hand fall to his side and breathed deeply, smelling the blossoms of the fruit trees and the bushes that surrounded him. Insects buzzed in the distance, their sound usually a comfort to him, but right now their noise was exacerbating his headache. Even the scent of the nung trees, wafted over him by a gentle breeze, didn't help.

Something white dashed in front of him, stopping suddenly just to his right. As he looked, another lithe shape darted past him, joining the first. Then together, they bounded out in front of him, leaping and gamboling with each other, their long bushy tails trailing behind them like pennants in the wind.

“Jeggets,” he muttered, still massaging his forehead. Since the Human had taken one back from a pathwalk, Ghyakulla in Her wisdom had seen fit to introduce them to his realm. Granted they weren't the pests here that they were elsewhere, but there were times when ... He stopped, watching the little creatures, realizing that every few steps he took, they would run to him before returning to their game. It was as if they were encouraging him to follow them.

Looking ahead, he thought he saw a faint rippling, a distortion as if the boundaries were weakening between the realms. Once again the jeggets returned, rearing up on their hind legs and chittering before dashing off toward just that spot. Picking up his pace, he followed, stepping into Ghyakulla's garden.

Her garden was like no other. To most it would seem a wilderness, a profusion of wild flowers and overgrown bushes, but he knew that She rotated the plants so each species could have its turn being close to Her. Each time he came to Her garden, it was different. Today, it was high summer. For a moment, he basked in the warmth of the sun, smelling the heat rising from the rich earth around him: it was like feeling Her breath, he thought. The jeggets tumbled and rolled with each other for a moment, waiting for him, then set off down the pathway, chittering at him in encouragement.

The low-growing herbs he crushed beneath his feet scented the air with a lemon freshness that began instantly to help his aching head. He heard the sound of voices ahead, and rounding a bend, found himself in the middle of a small clearing of raw Earth. She was there, on Her haunches, greeting the jeggets. She looked up, mouth dropping in a smile, reaching an earth-covered hand up to brush a stray lock of Her hair from her eyes. Standing up, She gestured for him to look at the newly planted areas. He saw bushes bearing strangely intricate flowers, with petals that folded and curled into each other in a way he'd never seen before. Every bush was of a different color—reds, yellow, pinks—the varieties seemed endless. Curious, he moved closer, smelling their sweet perfume almost immediately. Breathing deeply, headache almost forgotten, he reached out to touch one delicate flower head. He saw the thorns and wondered at them, but knew that in Her garden, he'd no need to fear anything.

He glanced back at Her, taking the hand She held out to him, following as She showed him Her collection of new flora.

The voices sounded closer now, and as they passed a small gap among the taller bushes, he caught sight of two figures crouched on their haunches as she had been, chatting amicably as they patted the soil around the new plants. He stopped dead, blinking, hardly believing what he saw. Noni, but as she was now, not her usual younger self, and the Human, Conner.

He looked at Ghyakulla questioningly and found his mind filled with a sense of loneliness ending and companionship found for those who had served Shola and Earth so well. He turned to look at them again, watching Conner rescue the end of Noni's long white plait from the muddy soil. They laughed, then he reached out to run his fingertips gently along her jaw, then touch her neck. He turned away, guilty at disturbing their privacy.

“Noni and Conner?” he asked as She drew him onward.

She nodded, letting him know it was Her gift of healing to them both.
Your gift will come later.

He wondered briefly before realizing what She meant, and why he'd been called here today.

Delphiniums. Lavender.
As before, their names came to him as he passed each new species. Ghyakulla never spoke in words, She always communicated through images within his mind.

The colors and the scents dazzled his senses and when they came at last to Her fountain, he was almost glad of the respite.

Made of natural stone, it rose to a height of four feet. Water, from gaps set at irregular intervals, ran gurgling and chuckling into a basin at its foot. At the top, it sprayed up in a delicate fountain only six inches high. Around it, the air was cool and refreshing.

Drink.
She handed him a mug made from the clay of Her garden.

Leaning on the edge of the fountain, he held the mug under the cascading water, watching as, at his feet, the jeggets put their brown-tipped noses into the pool and lapped thirstily.

He hesitated, knowing only too well what Ghyakulla's water could do. It could bring forgetfulness, or visions. She shook Her head gently as She chuckled, Her eyes lighting up with humor.

He drank, feeling the tiredness, the headache, and the weariness of the TeLaxaudin and all they represented begin to slough away from him.

“Thank you,” he said, returning the mug to Her. His eyes caught Hers, seeing green, verdant forests that stretched forever in their depths. He drew strength from Her, felt renewed and refreshed, able now to face what he knew was still to come.

Jayza joined Banner in the lounge area. “Any news on the Captain?” he asked, straightening the sofa cushions before sitting down.

Banner shook his head. “None,” he said, making sure he kept his voice calm.

“He looked to be in a bad way.”

“He was. The wound went clean through his upper thigh just missing the hip. I'm praying it didn't hit the bone or he could lose that leg.”

“Ouch,” Jayza said, wincing. He sighed. “Well, at least we know why he was so close to Shaidan, and so secretive about everything. There's one thing I don't understand, though.”

“What?” asked Banner, holding out his pack of stim twigs.

“Thanks,” the youth said in surprise, getting up and coming over to take one.

“Sit beside me,” said Banner in a low voice, using the Highland dialect. “If they didn't have the vid com spying on us before, they sure as hell will now.”

Jayza nodded and sat next to him. “I thought everyone was out of stim twigs. What I don't understand is how Shaidan can be Kusac's son,” he said, lowering his voice.

“All the cubs are hybrids, and were grown in tanks by the Directorate,” said Banner, putting the twig in his mouth and biting down on it. The slightly bitter taste was in tune with how he felt right now. “Their existence is a political nightmare.”

“Ah,” said Jayza. “Stronghold wouldn't have harmed them, would they?”

Banner shook his head. “They'll still be at Haven. Our government can't afford to have them go to their parents because of the risk of blowing this wide open. By coming here with Kusac, we now know about it. He was trying to get us to leave before we found out.”

“So we're now a political embarrassment,” said Jayza slowly, his ears folding down.

“More. We didn't know it, but for Kusac to take the mission, he had to be branded a traitor because of stealing the
Couana.
Now that we know about the cubs, I think we share the same charges.”

Jayza stared at him. “Shit,” he said quietly. Then he shrugged. “No matter. I wouldn't allow the Captain to face those charges alone anyway.”

For the first time in several hours, Banner smiled. He said nothing because it wasn't needed.

“What do we do now?” Jayza asked after a few minutes. “Did they get everything we made?”

“Not all, but we can't get to anything while we're kept in our rooms, and only you and I can access this lounge. I was surprised to see what you'd all been making.”

Jayza grinned. “I guess we all got bored,” he said with an attempt at levity.

“What happens next depends on what Kezule does,” said Banner. “It's just possible he'll let us all go, including Shaidan.”

“You don't believe that any more than I do,” said Jayza, glancing sideways at him. “What
is
Kezule likely to do to us?”

Banner shook his head. “No idea, but if he causes Kusac's death, I'll kill him,” he said coldly.

Jayza nodded. “Did you see him fighting Kezule?” he asked, changing the topic. “I thought we were supposed to be slower and weaker than them. Sure didn't look like Kusac was.”

“Kezule's older than those we've been training,” said Banner. He knew that age hadn't slowed Kezule, that somehow Kusac actually was as fast and as strong as the Valtegan Warrior, but he was keeping that to himself for now, just as he was keeping the fact that he was damned sure it had been Kusac who'd mentally killed the guard who'd shot him.

Knowing about the scent marker, who Shaidan was, and that Kusac faced charges of treason on his return, answered a lot of his doubts about his Captain, but not those concerning how changed he was in other ways—like his increased speed and strength, and the return of his Talent. What had Annuur and Kzizysus done to him?

“Silence!” said Khassiss from the Speaker's podium. She waited till the chittering of the Cabbarans and the humming of her own people had faded before continuing.

“The Unity net on the sand-dweller Outpost has been damaged, this is not in doubt. Cannot contact Giyarishis, this also not in doubt. Decision before us is how we remedy situation.”