Between Darkness and Light

Table of Contents

 

“Ah, the cub,” said Kezule. “M'kou, bring Shaidan in. He's waiting in the corridor. You'll be pleased to know, Kusac, that he's been quite an asset to my staff.”

Heart racing, Kusac watched M'kou go to the doorway and gesture to someone outside. There was a faint scuffing sound, then his son appeared.

Looking neither to left nor right, Shaidan walked across the room to the General. Dressed in a white tunic, amid the uniformed Primes, he appeared even younger and more vulnerable than before.

Aware of his crew gathering behind him, Kusac glanced at Zayshul. Ever since they'd touched, his need to know more about her relationship to his son had been growing. Flesh to flesh contact carried potent messages and he'd sensed her deep concern for him and the cub. But her face betrayed nothing, and she refused to meet his eyes. Was Shaidan her son too? How had the Directorate gotten hold of him? Despite the risk, while everyone was watching Shaidan, gently he reached for her mind. Instantly, his torc began to vibrate warningly before suddenly blocking all but his passive abilities.

Shaidan's reaction as he stopped beside Kezule was immediate—his head raised fractionally, ears widening and swiveling toward his father.

Kusac's heart missed a beat as he saw that the metal psychic damper collar round his son's neck was missing. If it hadn't been for the torc's intervention . . .

Kezule's hand went from Zayshul's neck to the cub's shoulder. “What is it?” the Valtegan demanded, bending down to the child's level. “Did you sense something?”

“No, General,” Shaidan said quietly after a moment's hesitation. “It was a stray thought, nothing more.”

Zayshul closed her eyes briefly, the knuckles on her hands whitening as she clenched them in her lap.

Vartra's bones! His son was a fully awakened telepath and Kezule was using him to read them!

DAW Books
is proud to present
LISANNE NORMAN'S
SHOLAN ALLIANCE Novels:

 

 

TURNING POINT (#1)
FORTUNE'S WHEEL (#2)
FIRE MARGINS (#3)
RAZOR'S EDGE (#4)
DARK NADIR (#5)
STRONGHOLD RISING (#6)
BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT (#7)

Copyright © 2003 by Lisanne Norman.

 

All Rights Reserved.

 

 

Interior art by Michael Gilbert.

 

DAW Book Collectors No. 1244.

 

DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Putnam Inc.

 

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

 

 

The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal, and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author's rights is appreciated.

 

Detailed maps for Kij'ik Outpost and several of the ships used in The Sholan Alliance Series are available at Lisanne's web site:
http://www.sff.net/people/Lisanne

eISBN : 978-1-101-49825-5

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Printing, January 2003

DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED
U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES
—MARCA REGISTRADA
HECHO EN U.S.A.

 

S.A.

This book is for my editor and friend, Sheila Gilbert, and her sister, also my friend and copy editor, Marsha Jones. I could never have gotten here without the belief and trust in me that you two have shown. I feel very privileged to know both of you. You've helped me in so many ways that I can't begin to list them. I'd also like to make a sadly posthumous thanks for the wonderful help I received from Mike Gilbert who did all the interior artwork for me in my novels. He not only helped me personally by drawing my aliens for me so I could write about them more easily, but he helped to design some of them, notably the TeLaxaudin. Without his contributions, they could not have come so alive for me, and thus for you, the reader. I will mis him and his wonderful sense of joi de vivre.

I'd like to thank the friends below who've provided me with essential knowledge in a variety of fields that I don't possess. A special thank you is in order for ten-year-old Rowan Quadling for her help designing the weapon bays and cluster fighter launching system for the Valtegan Outpost of Kij'ik. Also to Banner and Jurrel for their patience while I worked on this for two weeks.

 

Brotherhood Research and Development—John van Stry, John
Quadling, Gina Quadling and Helen Lofting
Kij'ik Outpost Designs—Rowan Quadling, Josh Eastridge, John
Phillips, and Andrew Ellem
Alien Cartography and Architecture—Mike Gilbert
Sholan Pantheon Development—Adrian Nunenkamp
Brotherhood Litanies by myself, Michael Picray, Rachel Barkley

 

Litanies of Clear Thought, Relaxation, and Pain by Rachel Barkley Litany of Preparation by Michael Picray

 

Thanks must also go to members of The Sholan Alliance Fan Club and the fan club of Julie Czerneda for helping me with my research in fields as diverse as the nature of particle accelerator guns, injuries from them and projectile weapons, and the treatment for such injuries.

 

The Sholan Alliance Fan Club can be found at
http://www.sholan-alliance.org
and at
http://pub101.ezboard.com/bthebrotherhoodofvartra

SHOLAN ALLIANCE AND VALTEGAN EMPIRE

A MESSAGE beacon at the rendezvous point, responding only to Kusac's voice, had redirected them to new coordinates where the destroyer
N'zishok
was waiting for them.