Destiny's Lovers (32 page)

Osiyar fell silent. Janina did not interrupt
his thoughts, and after a while he began to speak again.

“In her deepest heart, Sidra had nothing but
scorn for the restrictions of the Chosen Way. Once she was High
Priestess, she intended to use the Gift in forbidden ways to gain
absolute control over Ruthlen. After the Sacred Mind-Linking was
completed and she had the ancestral memories, Sidra would have been
stronger than any telepath in our history. She would have been
unstoppable by any of the rest of us. Tamat knew that.”

“Tell me about Tamat’s end,” Janina said.

“I was linked with her at the moment of her
death, until the final instant, when she broke free so that she
would not take me with her,” Osiyar revealed. “She wanted me to
live. She forgave me for my foolish involvement with Sidra, and
forgave Sidra, too, though she would not relent in the imposition
of Sidra’s required punishment. Tamat’s last thoughts were of you.
She loved you, Janina, and had done everything she could do to help
you escape safely.”

The quiet sincerity of his explanation drove
out of Janina’s thoughts any idea that Osiyar might have harmed
Tamat. She had been wrong to imagine such a thing for even a
moment. Whatever his faults, Osiyar had always been loyal to Tamat,
and to the Gift they both revered.

“Where is Sidra now?” Janina asked.

“Dead,” Osiyar told her. “The entire village
and the temple were destroyed. Herne and Alla were with Tarik when
I was found. They will tell you I speak the truth.”

“Then you and Reid and I are the only
survivors?”

“We are, unless someone escaped without our
knowing,” Osiyar said, adding, “I am going to remain with Tarik’s
people. I want to begin a new life.”

“So do I.” Janina smiled at him, forgiving
any part he had played in what had been done to herself and Reid.
“I have changed, Osiyar. There is much to be said for setting
people adrift and letting them find their own way.”

“You will not be my enemy?”

“No. Tamat was fond of you, and I value her
judgment. She said you were lost.”

“Lost?” Osiyar gave a short, bitter laugh.
“Adrift? Yes, I was. Now, perhaps I can find my way, too.”

The shuttlecraft landed on the beach as
Janina and Osiyar approached the headquarters building.

“Tarik has been to the spaceship Kalina to
exchange personnel,” Osiyar said, watching the hatch slide open.
“Come and meet Gaidar.”

A tall, burly man with yellow hair and a
short, neat beard jumped onto the sand behind Tarik. His handsome
face was punctuated by a nose that looked as though it had been
broken several times, and a wide grin that reminded Janina of a
naughty little boy.

“So, you are the rescued heroine?” he rumbled
in a deep voice. Janina’s extended hand disappeared into his.
“Tarik tells me you saved Reid. Alla will be jealous of you.” Even
white teeth flashed as he laughed. He had golden eyes. With a
frightening chill, Janina recalled what golden eyes meant. This man
could only be -.

“Gaidar is a Cetan,” Osiyar told her,
watching her closely to observe her reaction when he confirmed her
fear.

Janina began to tremble. She stared at the
man before her, not understanding why he was with Tarik, or how
apparently civilized people could permit a rapacious, violent
barbarian to live among them. Gaidar tightened his grip on her
hand, not letting her withdraw it. His smile certainly did not look
evil. In fact, it conveyed warmth and friendliness.

“He’s perfectly safe,” Tarik said, having
noticed the expression on Janina’s face.

“No one is perfect,” Gaidar noted. “Least of
all me. But I promise I will not harm you, little Janina, and Suria
is not at all afraid of me, so you needn’t be, either.”

“Suria?” Janina spoke in a weak, cracked
voice, not quite believing what she was hearing and seeing.

“My mate, soon to be my permanent wife. You
have met her, I think.” Gaidar dropped Janina’s hand to put one
huge arm around her shoulders and hug her. The embrace stopped just
short of crushing every bone in her upper body. “Welcome to
headquarters,” he said.

When Gaidar released her, he and Tarik
started toward the building in the center of the island. Janina and
Osiyar followed them.

“A Cetan lives here,” Janina murmured, still
unable to believe it. “He lives in peace and friendship with these
good people.”

“I had the same reaction when I first met
him,” Osiyar confided. “But I like him now, and I believe him when
he says the Cetans will abide by their new treaty to wage war among
the planets no longer.”

“We in Ruthlen expended so much energy
guarding against Cetans. For six hundred years, every day and every
night the priestesses kept the blanking shield in place. They might
have used the Gift for so many other things. And all those virgin
lives, wasted.”

“The shield was necessary when first it was
begun,” Osiyar replied. “Now is a different time from then.
Ruthlen’s great fault was that nothing ever changed there except
the seasons. Tarik tells me it was the same in the Jurisdiction
until recently. I have changed, too, Janina. I have learned that
non-telepaths can be my friends, and that not all Cetans are
barbaric marauders.”

“And so you thought it amusing to introduce
me to Gaidar without warning me.” She shook her head, realizing
that she was not the least bit angry with him for the trick. “You
have developed a sense of humor, Osiyar.”

“I never had anything to laugh about before,”
he said.

* * * * *

Janina and Osiyar, Narisa and Tarik, along
with Suria and Gaidar were all sitting around a large table eating
their evening meal when Herne came out of the hospital room with a
grim face that told Janina the news was not good. At the same time,
Alla appeared from the laboratory to join him.

“Come with me, Janina,” Herne ordered
abruptly. “Suria, I will need you, too.”

“Of course.” Suria rose, starting toward the
hospital room door.

“What is it?” Tarik pushed aside his plate
and stood, too. “You may as well tell the rest of us, Herne. We are
all Reid’s friends and we’re concerned about him.”

“My guess was right,” Herne said. “Alla’s
tests have confirmed it. Reid is suffering from an infection
contracted during his battle with the sea monster.”

“I fought the monsters, too, but I’m not
sick,” Janina said, unwilling to dwell on the possible meaning of
Herne’s somber expression.

“Yes, you are; you just don’t know it yet,”
Alla told her. “But you will before much longer if you don’t have
treatment.”

“Unfortunately, she is right,” Herne said.
“The welt on your arm is much smaller than either of those on
Reid’s legs, and the ice-cold sea water you soaked your arm in
helped to cleanse your wound. By your account, Reid did not put his
wounds into water until the following day. You do have the same
infection he has, though in a milder form. Untreated, you will
probably be miserably sick for a few days, after which, barring any
unforeseen complications, you ought to recover. Reid will very
likely die.”

Janina could say nothing. She looked from
Herne to Alla, seeing in Alla’s grey eyes bitter confirmation of
Herne’s words, and a world of blame. In that instant Janina knew if
Reid died, she did not want to go on living. He was her true mate.
Without him life had no purpose. Oddly, it was Gaidar the Cetan who
seemed to understand what she was feeling. He came to her, and with
a rough gentleness that touched her deeply, put one arm around her.
She leaned against him in gratitude, trying desperately not to cry.
Then she straightened and Gaidar let her go, again apparently
understanding how she felt. She could not give way to tears or
weakness. She had to be strong and ready to do whatever Herne might
require of her. She would do anything necessary to help him save
her love.

“Herne, what do you propose to do for Reid?”
That was Tarik, cutting through all discussion and fearful emotion
to reach the vital question.

“Alla has concocted a potion she insists is
the antitoxin for this infection,” Herne said. “I will have to
trust her when she tells me it will work, because there’s no time
to test the stuff. I must admit her data seem accurate enough. We
will give a small dose to Janina, to be certain she doesn’t become
as sick as Reid is, then give the rest to Reid and hope it doesn’t
kill him at once. After that, I want to put him into total
suspension for twenty days. It’s the only chance he has to live
long enough for the antitoxin to work and his body to heal
completely.”

“No!” Alla took a menacing step toward Herne.
“You never mentioned total suspension to me. It’s too dangerous. I
won’t allow it.”

“Do you want him to die?” asked Herne.

“My antitoxin is enough. It will work,” she
insisted.

“Reid’s condition is so critical he won’t
survive the antitoxin,” Herne asserted.

“What is this total suspension?” Janina
asked.

“It slows all the body’s functions,” Herne
explained. “It will give the antitoxin time to work and lessen any
side-effects the medicine might have. It is Reid’s only
chance.”

“You are going to kill him!” Alla
shouted.

“Suria,” Tarik ordered, “give us your
opinion.”

“Personal or professional?” Suria asked
dryly, looking from Alla to Herne before meeting Tarik’s serious
gaze. “Alla would never do anything to harm Reid, so the antitoxin
must be safe to use. And in spite of his sour personality, Herne is
the best physician I have ever met. But I think we should also ask
Janina’s opinion. Reid is her mate.”

“She has no right to say anything about
Reid!” cried Alla.

“She has every right,” Tarik responded. “Your
remarks are out of order, Alla. Janina, tell us what you
think.”

“Herne, you are the doctor here. Do whatever
must be done to help Reid live,” Janina said. “Alla, if you need
another specimen from my arm, take it. If draining all my blood and
using it will help, do it. But please believe that I would rather
die than see any harm come to Reid.”

“I take it that means you vote for
suspension,” Herne said. “I’ll get started at once. Suria, come
help me.”

“Just a moment.” Osiyar stepped forward. “Is
Reid conscious?”

“Not really,” Herne answered. “He’s
semiconscious every now and then. He does seem to know me.”

“I have some training in healing,” Osiyar
said. “Let me help you ease Reid into this suspended state you
propose for him, and later ease him out of it. If I can touch his
mind and thus take away some of his fear and confusion, he will
heal faster.”

“Tarik?” Herne looked at his commander. “I
won’t allow this without your express permission. If I were in the
Jurisdiction and let a telepath near a patient of mine, I’d be
forbidden to practice medicine ever again. However, I believe
Osiyar just might be able to give Reid an extra chance to
live.”

“Permission granted.” Tarik spoke without an
instant’s hesitation. “Thank you, Osiyar.”

“Janina?” Herne’s gaze was on her. “Will you
agree to this?”

“Yes,” she said. “I trust Osiyar. And I trust
you.”

“Alla?” Herne asked.

“No.” Alla looked defiantly into Osiyar’s
eyes for a long moment. “Oh, all right. Yes, do it. But if Reid
dies because of you, I will personally slit your throat,
Osiyar.”

“You may try,” Osiyar said calmly.

“Come to the hospital room, Janina,” Herne
ordered. “I want to connect you to the life monitor, just in case
you have an adverse reaction to Alla’s magic potion.”

Reid was breathing through a long green tube
attached to a machine. His face was so waxy-white that she would
have thought he had died while they argued over his treatment, were
it not for the panel on the wall behind his bed, where lights
blinked and numbers constantly changed. This was not the Reid she
knew, not the tough, determined man who had sailed into dangerous
and uncharted waters without flinching, nor the passionate,
generous lover, either. She wanted to throw herself on his inert
body and beg him to come back to her, but she feared that if she
did, she might disconnect some of the tubes and harm him. She
turned resolutely away from his bed, leaving him to the healing
skills of Herne and Osiyar.

“Lie down here.” Suria led her to the other
bed in the room, the one Janina had been sleeping in each
night.

“Let Alla give me the antitoxin,” Janina
said.

Suria looked surprised, but nodded. Alla
looked even more surprised. Janina saw her frown a little, then
shake her head, and she knew Osiyar had touched Alla’s thoughts
without seeking her permission because this was an emergency.

“She may dislike me, but she won’t kill me,”
Janina said to Osiyar, who now stood with Herne beside Reid’s
bed.

“No, she won’t,” Osiyar agreed.

Alla held a short cylindrical object against
Janina’s upper arm. When she pressed a button at the top, the skin
beneath the cylinder stung, then went numb.

“How do you feel?” Suria asked.

“Strange. Nauseated,” Janina whispered. She
began to choke and struggled to gasp out her next words. “Suria, I
... can’t. . . breathe.” From a great distance she heard Herne’s
voice.

“She’s having a severe reaction to the
antitoxin! Suria, give me—”

Herne’s urgent order faded into a loud
roaring noise. Janina’s head was spinning. The room went black. She
was whirling through a lightless, soundless vortex where she could
not breathe, or see, or hear anyone speaking to her. There was no
pain, only blackness and a never-ending loneliness. She was swept
deeper and deeper into the vortex. She knew it was useless to try
to break out of it. She would never get out, never see Reid again,
never be held in his arms, never tell him - what?