Bradley, Marion Zimmer - Novel 19 (42 page)

 
          
And
then she felt his thoughts turn to her, embrace her with a tenderness and
warmth she had never guessed. Knowing that here, in the presence of the
Builders, her thoughts lay open to him as his to her, Cendri was for a moment
ashamed, then, willingly, turned to Dal and embraced him. This it was, then,
that Dal felt for her; an acceptance, a respect, a tenderness, which had
nothing, or very little, to do with sex; it came from caring, from shared work,
from their long time of learning about one another. And as she held him,
feeling her own love, so long forgotten in the irritations of daily life, flood
back through her, she thought; we have found each other again.
Dal, Dal,
let's
never Jose
each other again...
and she knew she was crying in
his arms.

 
          
Rhu's
thoughts blended into theirs, hesitant. I know now
what it is that
I
have
been seeking ail my
life. Our society
does not recognize this,
derides it, says it does
not
exist, yet when I came to Jove Miranda, J
knew
it must
exist somewhere, and now I know
that the dream Miranda
and I dreamed was real, even if we cannot share it in this
world. Cendri
felt him lay his soft hand on her arm, on Dai's. Then he let them go, and went
to the very foot of the ship. He said, and as he spoke the words Cendri felt
them resonating in her mind, with the strength of the thoughts opened here:

 
          
You
know what I am. You know
what 1 feel. I want nothing for myself. But in my
blindness,
mistaken, I
betrayed Miranda into the
hands
of those less idealistic
than
I.
Help me to restore
her
to the arms of her mother and the
women
of
her household, and then
Vaniya may do
with me as she will.

 
          
A
long
silence,
and Cendri was aware of the warmth, the
tenderness surrounding them, aware of the strength of Rhu's love. And at last,
when the glow died, she heard Rhu whisper, "Thank you, oh, thank
you!"

 
          
The
cold dawn wind was around them, and the ruins filled with sunlight, glaring on
the towers. The three of them were alone in the ruins; the presences had
withdrawn. Rhu said, "Miranda— Miranda—" and suddenly staggered. Dal
reached out and caught him, holding him upright. He said, concerned, "Are
you all right, Rhu?"

 
          
He
wasn't,
Cendri thought. He was a ghastly color, his
face greyed, his breath coming in gasps; but he leaned on Dal only a moment and
pulled himself upright. He said, "Miranda—she is in the center warehouse
where lumber and building cement are stored! We must get there at once—" he
glanced at Dal and Cendri, gasping, his long slender hands clutching his chest.
"You heard—you heard Mother Vaniya say—those warehouses, not even to
search them, that they were used only for storing lumber and cement, they will
be left to break the force of the waves before they strike on the strengthened
dikes elsewhere—Goddess!" he gasped, "if she is alone there—"

 
          
Dal
and Cendri tried to reassure him as they hurried out of the ruins and toward
the car. Surely Miranda would hear the search, the heavy machinery moving
elsewhere in the construction site, would know that something was afoot. Surely
even her captors would not abandon her in the direct path of a tidal wave!

 
          
But
Rhu was white with terror. He said, "I do not know—I am afraid—so many of
the men here—it is ignorance, not evil intent, but they may panic and never
think to save her, or they may be so full of anger and resentment, she may
suffer for their hatred of Vaniya—"

 
          
"Look,"
Dal said, "from what we heard that wave isn't due till sometime late in
the day, and it's not more than an hour or two after
sunrise
now. We've got plenty of time to get back to the construction site and start
hunting for her. She'll be out of there hours before the wave hits. Come
on—" he supported Rhu's staggering steps, helped him into the car.
"You'd better let me or Cendri
drive,
you're in
no shape to do anything! Rhu, you've done enough! Cendri, can you drive this
thing?"

 
          
"Oh,
certainly, I've watched Miranda,
it's
simple
enough," Cendri said, then, looking at Rhu's collapsed face, thought: he's
used
to
seeing women
take
over
all the time,
and in a
gesture of pure love, said, "You drive, Dal. You're a better driver than I
am." He wasn't; but it would do Rhu a lot of good to think so. And, she
thought, here on
Isis
it won't do Dal any harm either!

 
          
Dal
climbed behind the wheel, swung the car around, headed down the gravelled road
toward the dam site, the surface car eating up Standard Kilometers at a
considerable clip,
The
car rocked and jounced; it had not
been designed for rough country roads, but for the streets of Ariadne. It was
intended for the sedate rounds of the Pro-Matriarch on her official duties.
What they needed was some kind of heavy-duty all-terrain vehicle, but these had
all been commandeered for use at the site.

 
          
Cendri
sat wedged in beside Rhu, all three of them crowded in the driver's
compartment. Suddenly the car shot over an enormous bump—a bump? A section of
the road had somehow heaved itself up in front of them; Dal jammed on the brake
and they rocked and swayed to the edge of the road.

 
          
"That,"
said Dal, with tight control, "was absolutely all we needed.
Another earthquake!"

 
          
Rhu
said, "I cannot see how we needed..." and broke off at the sight of
Dai's stormy face. Dal climbed out, examining the road ahead and the wheel of
the car.

 
          
"No
harm done to the car," he said, "at least none that I can see. The
road is something else." He stood looking at the crevasse, not much more
than a foot wide, which had shoved up a hump of earth before the wheel.
"Just have to push the thing around it, I guess. Lucky the people of
Isis
go for small surface transit, the enormous people-movers
we use on Pioneer couldn't be budged by fewer than ten or twelve men!"

 
          
Between
them, they shoved and hoisted the car around the obstacle. Cendri put her
shoulder to the wheel with the men; seeing Rhu's drawn face, remembering his
bad heart, she tried to discourage him, but he said angrily, "I am a
Companion, Scholar Dame, but I can do my part when I must," and Cendri
gave in, muttering under her breath, damning the male fetish of strength and
pride in their muscles on Pioneer and Isis and every other damned planet under
the sun! Any sun!

 
          
The
sun was high and they were all dripping with sweat by the time the car was
steady on its wheels in the road, and Dal had to lash up a door-handle which
twice burst open, with Rhu's belt-thongs before it was safe to drive. But
finally they were on their way again, although the car wobbled ominously and
Dal said that some arrangement of springs or shock-absorbers meant to steady it
underneath had come loose, so that they had to go at a slow pace or it
threatened to vibrate itself to pieces. The sun was blinding hot, and Cendri
worried at the passing hours; she had not been told precisely at what hour the
tidal wave would strike, she had no chronometer in any case, but she knew the
margin of safety could not be all that great.

 
          
When
they finally came within sight of the construction area the car was stopped in
the road by a series of wooden barriers. A woman wearing a badge of office
advised them that the site was closed, that it had been evacuated, and that no
one was allowed inside, except those working with the final removal of heavy
machinery from the endangered area.

 
          
"Where
is the Pro-Matriarch Vaniya?" Rhu demanded.

 
          
"She's
still inside the site," the woman said, laughing scornfully, "but I'm
sure she can get along without her Companion for the afternoon, little fellow.
Just go back where you won't get hurt, why don't you? She'll come looking for
you when the danger's over."

 
          
For
a moment Cendri thought Rhu would strike the woman. Frightened, she grabbed as
his arm—any male who
attacks a
citizen can be summarily destroyed
..
.But Rhu's conditioning held. He drew back and said,
"Respect, but I insist, I have an important message—"

 
          
"Do
get out of our way and stop annoying us," said the woman impatiently, and
Cendri realized what she must do. She got out of the car and came around to the
official
..
.although it was hard, she thought, with a
fraction of her awareness still focusing on Unity standards, to think of this
woman as an official when she was wearing a pink flowered pajama suit! But by
the badge pinned to the suit she knew the woman was in charge. Cendri said
severely, "I am the Scholar Dame Cendri Malocq, and Vaniya sent us on an
important mission concerning her daughter and heir; let us through at
once!"

 
          
The
woman pursed her lips. "Right; I did hear her daughter was missing,"
she said. "Go right ahead, Scholar Dame, but you'd better leave the men
here. There are a few rough laborers working on the site still, but Companions
and children are supposed to be kept out."

 
          
Cendri
said coldly, "I will be responsible for their safety," and the woman,
though she still looked hesitant, said, "Well, you know best, Scholar
Dame, though I'd advise against it." As Cendri passed the barrier, the
woman reached out and touched her on the arm. "The Pro-Matriarch Vaniya is
near the edge of the dam's inner wall, supervising the last of the machinery
being removed. The quake a little while ago cracked the outer seawall, and they
gave up trying to strengthen it to survive the waves. The whole line of machinery—
they pulled it back to try and strengthen the inner dike, so there will not be
so much to rebuild. But it's a risk. Within the hour—" she consulted a
timepiece pinned on her belt, "we have to have every last human being, man
or woman, out of there, and every piece of machinery we have to be sure we're
saving!"

 
          
Suddenly
Cendri recognized the woman. Two days ago, as the sun rose over the shore, this
woman had lain next to her and Laurina on the shore, they had embraced as
sisters. She saw that the recognition was mutual; the woman quickly put an arm
around her shoulders. She said, "I'll go with you, they'll let you through
without any more trouble if I'm there. Come on, hurry—do we really need the men
with us?"

 
          
Cendri
nodded, not explaining, and they hurried down the barricaded road, moving to
the edges as heavy machinery lumbered through. With one piece she saw the
Pro-Matriarch Mahala, who called, "Everything from the North level is out,
Larida!"

 
          
Cendri's
companion nodded, hurrying her along. She said, "There's not much to go
now. Is it true they've found a new way to predict quakes and tidal waves,
then, to give us advance warning?" Cendri nodded and she said,
"Wonderful, we can start to fight that way. Come along, this way—"
she looked back at Rhu with concern. "I don't think it ought to come.
Nobody's going to have time or energy to carry it if it faints."

 
          
"Rhu,"
Cendri said, concerned by the pallor of Rhu's face, "Why not stay here? We
can take the message to Vaniya!"

 
          
Stubbornly
the man shook his head.

 
          
They
saw the inner sea-wall now,
  dikes
piled high
with sandbags and heavy reinforcements, and withdrawing from them with the last
of the machinery, the tall heavy form of Vaniya. Cendri ran toward her.

 
          
"Vaniya!
Vaniya," she called. "We know where
Miranda is held! She is here—have you found her?"

 
          
Vaniya
stopped, looking at Cendri in disbelief and dismay.

 
          
Here?
Cendri, she cannot be, every building has been searched!"

 
          
"The
three warehouses of lumber and cement, the ones you said not to go near—"
Cendri gasped, "she is being held in the center one—quickly,
quickly—"