Destiny's Lovers (9 page)

“We were only talking,” Janina declared,
feeling like a naughty child under Sidra’s mocking gaze.

“Tamat needs you,” Sidra said. “While you
have been wasting the day with Reid, our High Priestess has been
waiting patiently for her neglectful attendant. As for you, Reid,
go to Osiyar and ask of him the questions you were asking Janina.
I’m sure he can give you more intelligent answers than she ever
will.”

“We will talk again, Janina,” Reid said.

“No,” Sidra told him, “you will not, for if
you do, I will see to it that Tamat punishes both of you.”

“How?” snarled Reid. “By taking away my
nonexistent freedom?”

“Ah, Reid,” Sidra replied with a soft trill
of laughter. “You have no idea what punishment means until you have
been punished by a telepath.”

“Reid,” Janina said, trembling now in as much
fear for him as she had earlier been afraid of him, “please obey
Sidra. You must learn to follow our customs.”

With Sidra close at her back, Janina hurried
toward the temple.

“I’ll be watching you,” Sidra said.

“I know,” Janina replied. “You always watch
me, to catch me in any mistake.”

“Insolence is not the proper way to deal with
me,” Sidra murmured as they went through the double doors and into
the central room. “I require from you the respect due to my
position.”

“Yes, Sidra.” It was useless to defy the
woman. In any contest of wills between Janina and Sidra, Sidra had
always won. Janina thought she always would.

“Dear Tamat.” Sidra’s voice was suddenly
khata-sweet when they reached the door of Tamat’s private chamber.
“I have found our errant scholar priestess in the courtyard,
exchanging mysterious confidences with Reid. You will have to ask
her the subject of their talk, for she won’t tell me.”

Janina felt a stab of guilt at the frowning
look Tamat bent on her, but she made no effort to defend herself.
There was nothing she could say. Sidra was too clever for her and
would twist anything she said to make an innocent conversation with
Reid appear as something unbecoming to a scholar priestess.

In a way that Sidra apparently did not
suspect, that day’s talk with Reid had not been innocent at all.
Janina feared he might put himself into danger if he decided to
attempt an escape. She could not let that happen. She wanted Reid
safe, and, if possible, she wanted him happy. Later, when Sidra had
gone, Janina dared to question Tamat’s edict about Reid.

“Do you think it’s wise to keep him here
against his will?” she asked.

“There is nothing else I can do,” Tamat
answered. “His presence in Ruthlen is an accident. He has done
nothing to warrant setting him adrift, and if I were to banish him
into the wilderness, he would only find his friends again. Then
they would all intrude upon us here, to destroy our peaceful
life.”

“He’s terribly unhappy. He wants to leave.
He’s like some great sea bird beating its wings against a cage.
Tamat, I’m certain he would swear never to reveal the location of
Ruthlen, if only you would let him go. Tell him about the other
passage through the mountain, the one we use when we go to gather
herbs in the ravine, and let him leave that way.” Janina gulped
back a lump in her throat, for there was one thing she did not
want, yet for Reid’s sake she would suggest it and make herself
accept it. She spoke quickly, before she could change her mind.
“You could even block his memory so he can’t remember anything
about Ruthlen or anyone he has met while here. His friends would
think he had been wandering around lost for all those days, and so
would he.”

“No,” Tamat said emphatically, “I will not
block his mind. I would not do that to Reid. It would destroy his
latent - I’ll not harm Reid’s mind.”

“You are harming him by keeping him here
against his will,” Janina cried. Then, seeing that Tamat was
immovable on the subject of Reid, she asked, “If you will not let
him go, will you at least save his cousin and his friend? Knowing
they have been rescued will comfort him, I’m sure, and make him
more content to stay with us. Part of his need to leave us is his
concern for his kinswoman.”

“That is well-reasoned,” Tamat admitted.
“Reid is so important to the future of Ruthlen that the effort I
must expend to touch his commander’s mind would be justified if it
would result in his contentment. I will think seriously about your
suggestion, Janina. Here, take this food away. I’ll eat nothing
until I decide what to do about Reid’s lost companions. I want to
rest now. Let no one disturb me.”

Janina thought Tamat would grant her request.
Everyone within the temple complex ate sparingly and, except at the
twin moons festivals, drank no stronger brew than the herbal dhia,
in order to keep their minds clear and their bodies healthy. They
believed this regimen improved their telepathic powers, and always,
before making some great telepathic effort, they fasted. Tamat’s
refusal of food was a sign that she was preparing to contact Reid’s
friend Tarik.

“Why are you so happy?” Sidra stood in her
way, looking at the untouched tray of food. “Is Tamat ill? Is that
why she does not eat?”

“She wants to be alone, to rest.” Janina knew
even Sidra would not have the effrontery to intrude on Tamat.

“I hope she ordered an appropriate punishment
for you, to teach you not to meet alone with men.”

“Reid and I were in the courtyard, in plain
view of anyone in the temple complex or on the road outside,”
Janina said quietly. “That could hardly be called meeting him
alone. I told Tamat what he and I discussed, and she
understood.”

“Which means you will not be punished.”
Sidra’s perfectly arched brows drew together in displeasure. “You
will not always be treated so leniently, Janina. There will come a
time when Tamat’s favoritism toward you will cease, and you will be
under my rule.”

“Yes, Sidra.” Janina bowed politely. “If you
will excuse me, I will return Tamat’s tray to the kitchen.” She
could feel Sidra’s piercing blue gaze fastened on her back as she
crossed the central room and entered the kitchen.

“I knew we would find you here,” Tarik said
triumphantly, helping Alla into the cargo bay of the hovering
shuttlecraft and steadying her while she unfastened the rescue
harness from the ropes.

“Where is Reid?” she snapped, not bothering
to thank him.

Tarik did not answer. He was busy helping
Herne through the open hatch in the deck. As soon as the physician
was aboard, Tarik closed the hatch and moved forward into the main
cabin.

“Well done,” he said to his wife, who had
been piloting the shuttlecraft while he lifted his lost colonists
to safety. Narisa flashed him a bright smile, then relaxed, letting
Tarik take the controls.

“Tarik, I asked you a question,” Alla said,
following him into the cabin. “Where is Reid?”

Narisa’s smile vanished. She seemed to be
giving all her attention to the navigational instruments as she
laid in a course for headquarters. Nor did Tank look up from the
controls.

“Someone answer me,” Alla demanded, her voice
low and deadly calm.

“Sit down and fasten your safety harness,”
Herne advised, taking a seat himself. “We are going home to a hot
meal and a comfortable bed. It’s about time, if you ask me. What
took you so long, Tank?”

“We’ve been looking for you for days,” Tank
said, “ever since we first lost contact with you. Why didn’t you
use your communicators?”

“Because they stopped working,” Alla
responded from between clenched teeth. “Tank, where is Reid?”

“Please sit down, Alla.” Narisa half-turned
in her seat, and Alla saw the pity and concern in her expression.
“We have looked everywhere for Reid, as well as for you. We’ve used
the heat sensors, and the magnetic tracking gauge set for the
frequency of your communicators. When neither of those instruments
showed anything, we tried high-resolution image-screening to search
literally every inch of territory between the desert and the sea.
We found no trace of anyone down there.”

“If that’s so, how did you locate us?” Herne
asked.

“It’s an odd thing,” Tarik said. “I woke up
this morning convinced we would find you in just the spot where we
did. I suppose it’s possible the Chon were able to seek you out by
some means known only to them, and then put your location into my
mind. But it’s strange, because I thought those birds stayed away
from this part of the continent. Anyway, you were where I thought
you would be, and I’m glad of that.”

“Did you ask the Chon about Reid?” Alla
persisted.

“Days ago,” Narisa responded. “We asked them
about all of you. They knew nothing.”

“Are you sure you searched the entire
forest?” Alla could not let it go. Her voice was tight, her eyes
blurry with hot tears. “We have to find Reid.”

“Narisa told you,” Tarik said patiently. “We
have checked any place he might be. There is not an inch of land we
haven’t searched. The forest grows right up to the edge of the
cliffs, the cliffs drop off abruptly, and the sea begins. There is
no beach, just the end of the land. And we’ve covered all the area
back to the stony desert. There is no trace of him. I’m sorry,
Alla, but we have been forced to conclude that he’s dead. Narisa
and I both firmly believe that.”

“It’s what I’ve been telling her for days,”
Herne said in an irritated voice. “She won’t listen to me. She
refuses to believe we won’t find him.”

“You are right about that,” Alla said through
tight lips. “I’ll never believe Reid is dead, not until I see his
body. We will keep on searching, Tank.”

“Let it go, Alla,” Herne urged. “It’s a
tragic loss and a miserable shame, but it can’t be helped. This
sort of thing happens occasionally to exploratory teams. It’s part
of the risk, and you ought to have been prepared for it when you
signed on to come to Dulan’s Planet. Reid was my friend. I will
miss him, and I’ll grieve for him, but he’s gone and there is
nothing we can do to change that fact. You will just have to accept
it, as the rest of us will.”

“I won’t,” she declared stubbornly.

“We cannot keep on looking,” Tarik told her,
using the commander’s voice he seldom employed on this planet. “We
have done everything reasonably possible to find Reid. I cannot
afford to commit more personnel or supplies to a fruitless venture.
Unless we discover some new and highly credible evidence to suggest
he’s still alive, the search for Reid is ended as of this moment. I
will record that he is missing and presumed dead.”

“He is not dead.” But Alla sat down, pulling
the safety harness around herself. She saw Tarik and Narisa
exchange a glance of agreement and knew they would not listen to
anything more she had to say on the subject. They knew how much she
loved Reid. They would think that was why she couldn’t believe he
was dead, or accept Tarik’s decision. But Alla knew in her heart
that Reid was still alive. She vowed she would not allow herself to
sink into despair or depression, because some day, something would
happen, the new evidence Tank insisted upon would appear. When it
did, she would seize on it and use it to make him understand that
he must resume the search for her cousin.

* * * * *

Hoping he would find information that would
show him how to leave Ruthlen, Reid decided he would learn as much
as he could about the isolated crescent of land that was protected
by both natural barriers and the mental powers of Tamat’s
priestesses. He quickly discovered Tamat felt so secure behind the
blanking shield, and so certain he would never find a way to breach
it again, that she was willing to answer any questions he put to
her. Thanks to Tamat’s orders, Osiyar and Sidra were also valuable
sources of information.

It did not take Reid long to understand the
uncomplicated way of life led by most of the citizens of Ruthlen.
Their ancestors had been ordinary people, not the leaders of the
original city. Tamat had told Reid they were charcoal-makers and
herb-gatherers, and now their descendants farmed, using only the
simplest of machinery, or they fished. Because of the almost
constant sunshine they were able to use solar power to heat their
homes, for hot water, and for lighting units, but over the
centuries they had apparently forgotten the more advanced
technologies which the original telepaths had understood and which
were so clearly displayed at Dulan’s old settlement where Tank made
his headquarters.

While their material existence was remarkable
for its lack of complexity, their mental capabilities had not
degenerated over the centuries and were far beyond Reid’s
comprehension. Within a few days of his arrival, he knew he would
never be able to sort out all the laws, conventions, and etiquette
surrounding the use of telepathy which ruled their lives.

Easily the most remarkable of the telepaths
was the High Priestess, Tamat. Though Reid disagreed with her
decision to keep him in Ruthlen, Tamat’s devotion to her people and
her obvious honesty soon earned her his deep respect. It was not
hard to understand Janina’s attachment to the elderly woman, nor
the awe with which priestesses and villagers alike regarded
her.

“Why,” Reid asked her one day when they spoke
alone, “do you people bother talking when you communicate with each
other? Wouldn’t telepathy be quicker, easier, and less subject to
misunderstanding?”

“What you say is true, and there was a time
when we always communicated in that way,” Tamat answered. “But the
Gift was too often misused, and at last it was used by those who
possessed stronger abilities, to control others who were weaker.
That was soon after this temple was built. Finally, following a
period of terrible strife, there arose a great High Priestess who
made the laws we still live by today. The first of those laws is
that mind-to-mind contact must be by mutual consent, except in
severe emergency. The exception is so we may help anyone who is too
badly injured or ill to give consent. Whoever is High Priestess is
granted right of free access to anyone’s thoughts at her
discretion, but the selection of a male Co-Ruler who is also High
Priest has set additional limits upon the power of the High
Priestess.