Lady Lure (27 page)

“I did not know that.”

“You of the Jurisdiction know little of my
kind. It is not your fault. Long before you were born most
telepaths left the Jurisdiction, or were killed because they would
not leave.” Osiyar did turn then to smile at Dysia and shake his
head at her weapon. “Did you sense that I was receiving a message?
Is that why you followed me?”

“You had a peculiar look on your face. What
message? Are the Regulans up to something we should know
about?”

“Not the Regulans. If you will put away your
weapon, you may come with me. The Chon do not like weapons of any
kind. Centuries ago, too many Chon were killed by Cetans using
similar weapons.”

“The Chon?” Mystified by the unfamiliar name,
Dysia lowered her weapon.

“They are large birds.” Quickly Osiyar
explained about the intelligent, telepathic creatures. When he
headed for the opposite side of the island, a fascinated Dysia went
with him.

They came out of the trees onto a rough
beach, with the lake spread before them. In this northern
hemisphere it was autumn, and so the few leaves still clinging to
the trees that in places grew right down to the water’s edge were
brown or gold, with an occasional flash of scarlet. In the far
distance a single, snowcapped mountain rose. Not far from the
island and to the left of where they stood reared a sheer stone
cliff.

“That is where the Chon live, in those
caves,” Osiyar said, pointing to the cliff.

Some of the birds were fishing in the lake. A
few were in the air, circling the island. As Dysia watched, one of
them detached itself from the others to land on the beach just a
few feet away from Osiyar. With a faint rustling sound the bird
folded its wings and stood quietly regarding the two humans.

Dysia caught her breath. Never had she seen a
bird so large or so beautiful. Its feathers were green as the
finest jewel, its bright, dark eyes were undeniably intelligent,
and its manner was perfectly calm when Osiyar approached it. The
telepath put out a hand to lay it upon the bird’s smooth breast,
and the bird allowed it. Osiyar’s eyes closed. There was silence on
the beach, yet Dysia was aware of a humming vibration in the air,
and she understood that she was witnessing telepathy in action.

With her Jurisdiction training, Dysia should
have been disgusted or frightened. Instead, she was thrilled by the
simple, apparently quite natural demonstration of an awesome power.
She stood perfectly still, listening to the hum, feeling the
vibration, until Osiyar broke his physical contact with the bird.
Man and bird separated, each standing quietly, Osiyar with his head
bowed as if in deep thought. After a few moments the bird spread
its wings and, with a graceful flutter, soared away across the
lake. With its departure, Osiyar appeared to go limp. Dysia hurried
to him.

“May I touch you?” she asked, reaching toward
him in case he needed to lean on her. “Are you ill? Is there
anything I can do to help you?”

“Thank you for your concern. I would not have
expected it from a member of the Jurisdiction Service.”

“We are not all oafs and bigots,” she said
rather sharply.

“No, you are not.” His sea-colored eyes
seemed to pierce to her very soul. She was not even offended when
he did not use her official title. “I am not ill, Dysia. It is only
that when I break my communion with one of the birds, it takes me a
moment or two to adjust my thoughts, to recall that I am only a
man, who cannot fly as they do, who cannot remember each detail of
a complicated scene after but an instant’s glance at it.”

“I suppose there are benefits to being a
bird.”

“Indeed.” Osiyar chuckled. “There are times
when I wish I were one of the Chon.”

“You can’t mean that!”

“Of course not.” But Osiyar’s smile was
mysterious. “We ought to return to the others. I have learned a few
facts that will be of use to Tarik and your Captain Jyrit.”

As they turned back toward the headquarters
building and began walking along the path they were met by a
dark-haired, intense-looking woman.

“Here is Alla, my mate,” Osiyar said,
introducing the woman, who immediately slipped her hand into the
crook of his arm in a possessive way.

“I have just witnessed an amazing
demonstration,” Dysia said to Alla, forcing herself to squelch the
irrational sense of disappointment she felt at the unexpected
introduction. She did not know Osiyar. There could be no connection
between them. A friendship with a telepath could only be
detrimental to the career that meant everything to her.

“How lovely for you.” Alla began pulling
Osiyar along the narrow path, leaving Dysia to walk behind them.
“Osiyar, my dearest, do hurry. Tarik is eager to leave as soon as
possible.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Dysia muttered,
believing they were far enough ahead so they could not hear her. “I
can find my own way.” Feeling decidedly left out, she was only
partially cheered when Osiyar looked back to smile at her as if in
apology for Alla’s rudeness.

“That is all of the information conveyed to
me by the birds,” Osiyar said a few minutes later when he, the
still clinging Alla, and Dysia had all rejoined the group in the
headquarters building, where preparations for the search were
nearly complete. “The Chon have confirmed that the
Space
Dragon
did land safely. The man and woman outside the ship
appeared to be in good health.”

“I thank all the ancient gods of Demaria for
that.” Kalina closed her eyes for a moment, “Osiyar, did the bird
tell you anything more about Halvo? About his physical condition,
perhaps?”

“No.” Osiyar paused. “There was something
strange, though. The bird was aware of the woman’s attempt to make
contact with it.”

“A Regulan telepath? Impossible!” Kalina
scoffed. “More likely, that scurrilous pirate was planning to harm
the bird in some way and the bird sensed it. At least we now know
in which direction to search.”

“The birds will fly with us,” Osiyar said.
“This will not be the first time they have guided us to a
rescue.”

“Then let’s move,” Tarik said, heading for
the door. “We want to reach Halvo before the Regulans take it into
their heads to begin a search of their own, if they haven’t done so
already. Jyrit, I assume you are still coming with us? If so, I
will send my men, Reid and Pelidan, along in your shuttlecraft in
case we need reinforcements.”

There followed a purposeful bustle as the
last of the medical supplies, weapons, and food and water were
loaded onto the waiting shuttlecraft. Kalina insisted on being as
well armed as the other members of the expedition.

“I remember that you do know how to use one
of these,” Tarik said, handing her a weapon. “Just choose your
target with care. Until we find them, we can’t be absolutely
certain of the identities of those two people the bird discovered.
We only have the word of the Regulans that they are Halvo and his
captor. You don’t want to make a hasty mistake.”

“I won’t.” Kalina tucked the weapon into her
belt. “But I give you fair warning, Tarik. If the second person on
the
Space Dragon
proves to be the same dreadful young woman
who kidnapped my poor Halvo, I may personally end her miserable
life before the Regulans can get their hands on her!”

Perri knew she was dreaming, but she could
not make herself wake up, no matter how hard she tried. In her
dream she was back in space, in the badly damaged
Space
Dragon,
and she was all alone. Not even Rolli was with her. It
was taking all of her energy and her newly-learned piloting skills
to keep the ship steady while she rocketed through the star-strewn
blackness. Most of the instruments were malfunctioning and she knew
she could not continue much longer. Already the
Space Dragon
was losing speed. Soon it would stop altogether. Then, while she
lay helpless and unable to defend herself, her pursuer would
overtake her. She could see his face on the viewscreen, and she
could hear his laughter mocking her efforts to escape him.

“What do you want with me, Elyr?” she shouted
at his image. “I am gone from your life. I will never return to
Regula. Why don’t you leave me alone?”

“You know why not,” he said in the
maddeningly superior way he habitually used with her. “The answers
you want are in your own mind. If you would pause to think, Perri,
instead of constantly asking futile questions, you would understand
everything.”

“I understand that you never loved me,” she
cried. When he shrugged as though his love or lack of it were of no
consequence, she added, “I tried so hard to love you because my
parents wanted us to marry. I thought I had succeeded, but I know
better now. I tried to love you, Elyr, and I was always completely
loyal to you. But in spite of your solemn and unbreakable oath to
take me as your wife and cherish me, you were loyal only to
yourself.”

“Oaths are made to be broken,” Elyr said.

“If that is so, what good are they? Who can
believe in any promise? Elyr, you disgraced both of us when you put
me into a position in which I was forced to become a pirate in
order to save your life,” Perri said. “You were willing to see me
killed without any chance to defend myself. Worse, you would have
seen Halvo killed, too, because he would never have kept silent
about what he knew of your plot. Why, Elyr? Why did you do it?”

“Halvo should have remained ignorant of the
truth,” Elyr said. “You were instructed to tell him nothing. You
never could obey orders properly, Perri. It is a great fault in you
and most unwomanly.”

“Your complaints about me cannot hurt me
anymore. Answer me, Elyr! Why did you and the Chief Hierarch
concoct this plot against me? Why did you include Halvo?” When
Elyr’s only response was another maddeningly indifferent shrug,
Perri screamed at him, “Before you kill me, I have a right to know
why I am dying. Why? Why?”

“You think it was all about you, but as
usual, you are wrong,” Elyr said with a smile that degenerated into
a smirk. “It was Halvo. Pirates and Halvo, you stupid girl.”

“Pirates?” Perri said. “I don’t understand.
What are you saying, Elyr? What pirates? Where? Elyr! Elyr, answer
me!”

“Perri, wake up!”

A hand was shaking her gently; a supportive
arm was around her shoulders. Perri went trembling into Halvo’s
secure embrace.

“You were having a nightmare,” he said. “You
were screaming about Elyr and pirates.”

“He was going to kill me. He still wants me
dead. I know it.” Clinging to him, shaking from a terror she could
not dismiss, Perri recounted her dream. “He will kill you, too, if
he can.”

“Hush,” Halvo said. “It was only a
dream.”

“On Regula, we believe dreams have meaning,”
Perri said. “That book I read about space flight spoke of the
dreams inflicted on travelers in the Empty Sector, dreams more real
than reality, dreams that can drive the most stable personalities
into madness. Is that what is happening to me? Was my nightmare the
effect of being here in the Empty Sector?”

Perri sat up straight, pushing herself out of
Halvo’s arms, leaving him to lie upon the narrow bunk while she
looked wildly around his cabin, trying to reassure herself that the
walls were solid, that there were no other strange effects
occurring.

“Or was it the bird?” she whispered. “When
that huge bird flew so close to me I saw something, Halvo, a scene
clear in my mind. Am I going mad?”

“You are more likely suffering the aftermath
of severe, prolonged stress,” Halvo said. When he tried to pull her
back into his arms Perri stiffened her spine and refused to accept
the comfort he was offering.

“Elyr said pirates,” she repeated. “‘Pirates
and Halvo, you stupid girl.’ Those were his exact words.”

“You are not stupid,” Halvo said. “Just the
opposite, in fact. Perri, is it possible that while you were with
Elyr before you left Regula, you overheard something or saw
something that he might fear would put him into jeopardy if you
were to reveal what you had learned?”

“Elyr kept me ignorant of the most important
aspects of his life,” she said. “I spent my days inside his house
or in its garden, with his mother and the servants, and they did
not speak freely to me. I was always aware of their reserve. They
never told me what Elyr was doing when he left the house, never
explained what I needed to know about – about intimate matters.”
She paused, blushing a little.

“So you have said.” Sitting up beside her,
Halvo linked his fingers into hers and Perri did not resist the
gesture. “With Elyr a secretive type and everyone in his household
being so cautious, it is unlikely that you could have stumbled on
anything he did not want you to know. What about contacts outside
his home?”

“I seldom left the house,” Perri said, “and
then only with Elyr’s mother or her most trusted maidservant, and
also with Rolli in attendance. I was protected from all unpleasant
influences. That is what they called it. At the time, I believed
they meant well and I accepted the restrictions. Now their
protection seems to me like a form of imprisonment.”

“It was,” Halvo agreed. “All right, then. As
sources of forbidden knowledge we have just eliminated Elyr, his
mother, their servants, and what they would doubtless consider
pernicious outside influences. If Rolli knew anything she would
have said so long ago in hope that together she and I could keep
you safe from Elyr and the Chief Hierarch. Which leaves your
interview with the Chief Hierarch himself. Did he say or do
anything that struck you as unusual?”

“The entire interview was unusual, beginning
with his consent to see me.”

“Think, Perri. Did he mention pirates?”

“Well, of course, he did. I have told you so
before, Halvo.”