thefiremargins (78 page)

* * *

Half an hour later, they met on the way into the common room. All three of them stopped dead just inside the doorway, looking over at the log fire crackling and spitting in the corner.
"The old ties of family have broken down and we must survive as best we can"
Kaid quoted.
"Your loyalty can only be to each other, no one else. Those of you who survive ..."
He stopped, having forgotten the rest.
Tiernay leaped to his feet as soon as Kaid began to speak. From the other side of the room a small female came forward and with a noise of surprise, reached out to touch him.
"Rezac?" she said, then pulled back. "You can't be, but you're so like him!"
"Where did you hear that?" Tiernay demanded as they came further into the room.
Carrie stopped by the young female. "He isn't Rezac, I'm afraid. He's called Kaid. Thank you for lending me the clothes," she said.
Jaisa nodded, watching them come into the room.
"I heard it in here," said Kaid, moving toward the seats round the table. "We call them replays because though they come to us as dreams, we know they've really happened."
"Tiernay, I've spoken with them, so has Dr. Kimin. We're convinced that what they've told us is true. There's no other way they could have learned what they know," said Vartra. "Like the quote just now. It's of so little consequence, why would anyone know about it unless they were there?"
Kaid looked up at Vartra. "You knew I was there," he said. "You felt me." He looked to Tiernay. "Within the next few days, you'll sense me again in the caverns while you're loading the vehicles to leave here. You'll point me out to Goran, but he won't be able to see me."
"There's hot food over there for you, and c'shar if you wish it," said Vartra, breaking the mood. "Please, help yourselves."
"This is getting so weird," said Tiernay, going back to his chair. "I don't know what to make of it."
"We're going to have a meeting tonight," said Vartra, taking a chair near the fire. "Goran will be here. We'll listen to what our visitors have to say, then decide what to do."
Carrie,
sent Kaid.
I remember this place! It's familiar to me.

* * *

She looked sharply at him.
You can't, Kaid. You've seen it so often in replays and dreams, that's all. Don't let yourself get confused.
He didn't reply.
"You do realize you're talking about a journey of over thirteen hundred miles, don't you?" said Tiernay. "It isn't a short hop you know. Driving nonstop, even with several drivers in each vehicle, you're looking at a whole day!"
"I know," said Vartra. "Goran and I have discussed it before now. We're well aware of the distance and time involved."

* * *

It was late when the meeting broke up, but by that time all the questions had been asked and answered to the best of everyone's ability. What was left was a sense of purpose. They were moving to Stronghold, and they'd start packing in the morning.
Goran, Tiernay, and Vartra were last up.
"Look at it this way, Goran," said Vartra. "From the viewpoint of this coming cataclysm alone, we can't afford to remain here and be cut off from any sources of supplies. We're bound to be in the center of flooding because we're right on the coast. We aren't self-sufficient, we're dependant on Nazule for just about everything. It's a very different picture at Stronghold." He paused. "We should have realized this could happen when we saw the warship explode."
"I still think we're trusting them too easily," grumbled Goran. "But from a defense point of view, we're definitely safer at Stronghold. I've been saying that for some time now."
"We also don't need to move all the equipment," said Tiernay. "Their lab is at least as sophisticated as ours."
"More so," said Vartra. "I'll need those facilities if I'm going to be correcting the work I've done."
"What do you make of Kaid?" asked Tiernay. "Jaisa put her finger on it earlier when she said he looked like Rezac."
Vartra frowned. "I don't follow."
"He is like Rezac. And I told you what I saw in his mind. It's uncanny just how like him this Kaid is. The odd movement as well as the way he stands. Just every now and then I could have sworn it was him."
Vartra patted Tiernay on the shoulder. "He's not Rezac," he said with a grin. "He's too quiet, not impulsive enough, thank the Gods! One of him was enough."
"But we haven't got one of him, have we?" Tiernay reminded him.
Vartra looked away. "That had occurred to me already," he said quietly. "Let's leave it for now and see what happens."

* * *

The three of them had been left to sleep late. When they rose, it was Jaisa who took them to the student's dining room for first meal. That over, they joined everyone else in the lab cavern to help pack.
It was strange to see the caverns in use when all they'd seen previously were the ruins. There was the kitchen area, and the chamber full of beds.
"We've been sleeping here for the last month," said Jaisa. "The Valtegans are getting too good at finding telepaths. We think they have several of our people helping them."
"Why don't you use dampers," said Kusac, fascinated to see the lab equipment actually working.
"They're still experimental," she said, "and huge. We have one or two in use, down here for instance, which is why we're all sleeping here."
"Let me see what they're like," said Kaid. "I might be able to help."
"Sure, but we won't have time to do that until we've moved to Stronghold."
Tiernay saw them and came over. "We could do with your help," he said. "Come with me and I'll show you what needs doing."
"What about me?" asked Carrie.
"I think you're a little too pregnant to be doing much," said Jaisa as tactfully as she could.
Carrie looked down at herself. "I'm sure I didn't look this large yesterday," she said.
Jaisa laughed, linking her arm in the Human's. "My mother always said that once the cub moved and you know it's real, then you begin to look really pregnant!"
"You might be right. Where is your mother now?"
"She's dead." For a moment, the sun seemed to leave Jaisa, then she recovered with another smile.
"We can take some of the lighter items down to the vans, if you want," she said. "I've been asked to keep you company today, just to see you're all right. Did you really come from that far in the future? Shola must be very different."
"I don't know. I haven't seen anything outside the temple yet," she said. "It is really strange to see this place when all I know of it are the ruins."
A table had been set up for the fragile items. The older members of the community, and the two or three children who seemed to be everywhere at once, were ferrying those down through the tunnels to the vans.
After a couple of trips, Carrie was beginning to feel tired. Her back ached, and her arms; the small box of paperwork she was carrying seemed suddenly a lot heavier. She really wanted to sit down. She half-turned to Jaisa in the corridor.
"Can we take a break after this trip? I'm beginning to ache."
"No problem," said Jaisa. "Hey! Watch it!" she yelled as two of the children hared past her.
The lead one turned to look at her and crashed into Carrie, sending the papers flying everywhere. Staggering backward, Carrie caught hold of the youngster by the arm.
"Watch out," she said, then almost fell as his mind touched hers, flaring into a rapport that one so young shouldn't have been able to achieve.
Shocked though she was, Carrie had enough presence of mind to grab the cub's other arm and hold on to him.
"Kusac! Kaid!" she yelled, pulling the youngling closer till she had her arms wrapped firmly round him.
"What is it?" asked Jaisa. "Carrie, what is it?"
Strangely, the cub wasn't struggling to escape. Instead he reached out to touch her.
"Pretty," he said, running his fingers through the blonde hair that cascaded over her shoulders.
"I know ... Kaid ... Kusac, I need to see them now," she stammered.
"Put the cub down and we'll find them," Jaisa said, obviously concerned.
"No. No, I can't let him go," said Carrie, picking him up. "You don't understand ..."
Jaisa took her by the arm and led her the few feet back up to the upper cavern. "I do understand," she said quietly. "We wanted to see if you would."
Carrie was totally confused. "What?" she asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Just wait," Jaisa said, steering her over to a table by the kitchen area.
Kaid and Kusac came across the cavern toward her at a run. As he got closer, Kaid seemed to stagger slightly, then slow down. Seeing it, Kusac was torn between the two of them.
I'm fine, see to Kaid,
Carrie sent.
He stopped, turning back to his friend, helping him cross the rest of the space between them. Kaid stopped by a table a few feet from them and refused to come closer.
"What is it, Carrie?" Kusac asked, keeping an eye on Kaid. "Who's this?"
"Touch him, Kusac," she said. "Tell me who he is."
Puzzled, Kusac did as she asked.
The cub was indifferent, preferring to play with Carrie's hair.
"He's familiar, I don't know how, but that's all."
"It's Kaid," she said. "He's not from our time, Kusac. He's from here!"
"What?" Kusac looked from the cub to his friend, now sitting at the table resting his head on his arms.
"She's right," said Jaisa. "This is Rezac's son. We don't call him Kaid, though."
"You call him Tallinu."
Jaisa looked surprised. "You know? He must have remembered that much at least."
"No wonder he could bring us here," said Kusac.
"That explains his memories, too. Last night he sent to me that the monastery was familiar, he remembered it," said Carrie.
"I think you should let him go now," said Jaisa, reaching out to touch the cub. "Your friend's suffering too much. It can't be a pleasant experience being in two bodies at the same time, even worse when you're in the same room. We'll try to see Tallinu is kept away from him."
"How did he get to the future? Kaid definitely grew up in our time," said Kusac.
"We must send him forward," said Carrie. "He has to go, otherwise we can't be here to save the telepaths. But how did you know?"
"Tiernay saw Kaid's childhood in his mind, just before he nearly passed out. That's how we knew you were telling us the truth."
The cub solved the problem by squirming off her lap. With a flick of his tail, he was off, stopping briefly to look up at Kaid.
As he left the cavern, Kaid raised his head and looked over toward them.
"Rezac and Zashou patched up their differences then," said Carrie.
Jaisa smiled. "Not really. She couldn't accept what Rezac was, what he'd been. If it hadn't been for their Leska link that allowed them to hide nothing from each other, they might have had a chance. The cub isn't Zashou's. It's a child Rezac never knew existed. The Valtegans took them before the lad was sent to us from Stronghold. His mother died of the fever that changed us. Before she did, she gave him to someone to bring to Rezac, not knowing he'd gone. She was some female from Ranz that he knew, someone he visited just before the Valtegans arrived."
Carrie got up. "I'll go to Kaid," she said to Kusac. "You speak to him later."
He nodded, reaching out to touch her face before she left.
Jaisa watched her go, then looked back to Kusac. "It's good to know that all Vartra's tinkering will lead to what you and she share," she said. "We were Vartra's control group. The only Leska pair that developed among us was Rezac and Zashou, and they had it rough," she sighed. "She was just so damned prissy! If it had been me, now," she grinned up at Kusac. "Before all this, I was training in the warrior skills, but the changed genes put an end to that. Can you still not fight?"
Kusac pulled up a chair and sat down. "Until Carrie and I bonded, no, I couldn't, but our Link changed all that. Tell me, was Tallinu born before or after the virus?"
"Before. He hasn't caught it yet. Why?"
"Because Kaid's able to fight, and he doesn't have a Human Leska. He caught the virus in our time, but it only enhanced his abilities, nothing more."
"You need to tell Vartra that," said Jaisa. "The DNA of you three could be crucial to his project. He's determined to correct the mistakes."
"He will," said Kusac.

* * *

Kaid was beginning to feel better but he didn't want to move in case the nausea came back. He watched Carrie come over and sit beside him.
"I used to wonder," he said, "about the parents I'd never known. Wonder why I'd been abandoned, who to blame." He raised his head, giving Carrie a very strange Human smile. "Now I know. I also know why I feel about you the way I do. It's come back, Carrie," he said. "Everything was founded on these few minutes when I first met you. The dreams of a cub!" He felt empty and alone.
"Don't be so damned stupid," she said, reaching for the hair on the side of his neck and pulling his face closer. "What about you and Garras? The lives of telepaths that would have been lost, what about these people here? Their future depends on a cub of what age, Tallinu? Two, or is it three? Their future is in the hands of the cub you were. Stop being so damned sorry for yourself! Yes, you were a bastard cub, but look what you are now, what you have!"
Releasing him, she stopped for a moment, searching his face. "So you fell in love with me when you were two. How do you feel about me now you know that? Do you feel different? Cheated because meeting me today meant you carried my image in your mind all these years?"
He looked beyond her. Kusac had gone, so had Jaisa. With his good hand he reached out and grasped her neck, pulling her closer still so he could kiss her. Lowering his mental barriers, he let his open mind touch hers, sharing what he felt for her.
His mouth moved, nipping at her cheek and jawline till he reached her throat. "What do you think?" he asked, beginning to lick her till he felt her responding.
Do you still want me as your lover now you know who I really am?
She tried to laugh, to say yes, but with her throat pulled back, she couldn't.
Don't speak. I can hear your answer in the way your body talks to me.
His jaws closed on her throat and this time, she was aware of the full crushing power behind his bite, then it was gone and he was grinning at her.
His finger flicked her nose lightly. "So Sholan," he said. "So help me, if we were at home ..." He left the rest unsaid as his hand closed on hers. "You've given me the strength I need for what I have to do," he said more seriously.
"You're at peace with yourself," she said, sounding surprised.
He nodded. "I know now the goal I set myself wasn't unrealistic, it was obtainable," he said, twining his fingers round hers and lifting them to his mouth to nibble. "I have to get back to work," he said. "Wait here and I'll find Jaisa for you." He let go her hand and got to his feet.
Carrie nodded, then her face creased in pain and she clutched her belly.
"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned as he sensed some of her discomfort.
"Nothing. I'm sure it's nothing," she said, the color returning to her face. "I'll wait here for Jaisa, you go on."