Destiny's Lovers (33 page)

There was something she had to tell him,
something urgent. She felt a small flutter inside her mind, a faint
recognition of waiting life that Reid needed to know about. Another
flutter and it was gone and nearly forgotten as she sank still
deeper into blackness…emptiness…nothingness.…

Janina, love…

Reid?

Stay with me.

Reid, where are you?

Beloved …

Beloved. My only love …

Never leave me, beloved.

Reid!

Something caught her, held her mind, while
the vortex spun downward and moved around her. She fought the new
entity at first, because it was not Reid. Or was it? She sensed his
presence, but now he was joined to another. And he was weak, even
weaker than she. She wanted to cling to Reid, but he was separated
from her by that other presence.

Osiyar! He was holding her, preventing her
from falling further into the vortex. She felt the cool precision
of his mind, and his calm assessment of the situation. He was
holding Reid as well as Janina, keeping them from falling to the
uttermost depths of that lightless black thing, and the effort was
draining him. It would not be much longer before all three of them
began to sink, and when they did, they would never return to the
outer world.

Help me, Janina. Use your Gift, or Reid will
surely die.

I have no portion of the Gift.

Tamat believed it was buried deep. The
whisper in her mind faded. Osiyar was growing weaker.

She felt herself beginning to sink into the
vortex again. Reid and Osiyar would fall with her unless she did
something to stop what was happening.

Janina…

Reid?

Try, love…try…open your mind…and your heart.
. . help Osiyar…

Reid, I don’t want to lose you. I won’t lose
you…

She tried. She fought with her own mind until
suddenly what she sought came to her - a golden, singing power that
pushed the black walls of the vortex away and filled her with joy
at its unfolding.

She knew how to use it; she remembered the
rules Tamat had drilled into her for useless years of unproductive
hope. Now Tamat’s hopes were fulfilled. This time, at last, Janina
would not fail her.

Janina felt Osiyar’s presence again, felt him
growing stronger when they wove their minds together to protect
Reid. Reid was so weak, so terribly weak, and he needed all the
strength of both of them to support him, to keep him alive.

She had no sense of time. She and Osiyar held
Reid away from the vortex with their linked minds, keeping him safe
until she sensed a lightening of Reid’s weight and felt him
drifting away from her. Then she knew Herne had him in suspension
and she and Osiyar could let him go.

Even as she knew it, she felt Osiyar begin to
separate his mind from hers. It was as though he took her hand and
led her out of the widening vortex, which now was filled with
golden light.

Rest, Janina. Osiyar’s thoughts removed
themselves from hers and set her free.

A pearly-grey mist drifted through her mind,
a soft, opalescent mist. When it faded, she knew nothing more.…

She was walking through a meadow,
hand-in-hand with Reid. Yellow and white and purple flowers starred
the long grass, while blue butterflies skimmed from blossom to
blossom, sipping the sweet nectar they offered. The purple-blue sky
arched cloudless overhead, and a gentle breeze blew. A short
distance away the rippling river flowed, with their boat rocking
lightly at anchor in the cove.

Janina wore a long white gown and flowers in
her silver-gold hair. Reid was in his orange treksuit. He had left
it open at the neck, so she could see the beginning of the dark
hair on his chest.

She knew that when their walk ended at the
beach beside the cove, they would lie down upon the vines that
covered the gravel and there they would make love. But first she
had something to tell him, a surprise to delight him and turn his
fierce grey eyes soft with tenderness and joy. She had never been
so happy. She would wait no longer. She would tell him now.

She stopped walking and caught his other hand
in hers, turning him to face her. They stood among the flowers and
the blue butterflies, hands linked, a tall, dark man with broad
shoulders, and a small, slender woman whose pale hair streamed down
her back.

“I love you,” he whispered, and began to
fade.

“Don’t go,” she pleaded. “I have to tell
you…”

He was gone. He had disappeared and yet he
was everywhere, in her and around her, filling her heart and mind,
her very soul.

The beautiful landscape faded away as Reid
had, leaving Janina in a white-walled hospital room where Reid’s
body lay encased in an oblong, pale blue bubble.

Had her walk with him been a dream, or had
their minds in some mysterious way linked again to return to the
place where she had first experienced freedom and joy with him?
Certainly he was gone from her now. Through the translucent
material surrounding him, she could just barely make out his
profile. There was no movement at all within the bubble, and no
sound. The lights on the panel behind his bed no longer blinked;
they just stayed lit, and the flashing numbers did not change.

What the outcome of the suspension treatment
would be she could not guess, but she was certain that Reid was,
for the time being at least, safe under Herne’s care. She had been
with Reid, she had touched his mind, and he knew how much she loved
him and wanted him to come back to her. Now she would have to be
patient and wait.

She turned her head a little and saw Osiyar
lying on a hoverbed with his eyes closed.

“He is sleeping,” Suria said, moving into
Janina’s line of vision. “How do you feel?”

“I’m not sure. I’m light-headed. My thoughts
are still fuzzy.”

“That was to be expected. You had a severe
allergic reaction to the antitoxin,” Suria said.

“Did Reid?” Janina asked at once.

“No. We were afraid he might, after what
happened to you, but Herne said we had no choice, we had to give
him the injection. Reid had no adverse reaction at all. After the
injection, Osiyar helped him into the suspended state, which is why
Osiyar is sleeping now. He was completely worn out after finishing
with Reid.”

“Yes, I remember.” Seeing Suria’s curious
look, Janina shook her head, realizing that her new friend could
not understand all that had happened while Osiyar’s mind was linked
to Reid’s.

“If you want, I will bring you something to
eat,” Suria offered.

Janina was ravenously hungry. She quickly ate
everything Suria gave her, before falling asleep again. She wakened
to find Reid’s condition unchanged, but Osiyar and the hoverbed
were gone.

“He’s by the lake, with the Chon,” Herne said
in answer to Janina’s question. “You may get up if you want. You
are perfectly healthy now, though you will probably feel weak for a
day or two. Go on, the fresh air will be good for you. There is
nothing new to report about Reid, so for the moment think of your
own health.”

She found Osiyar in communion with the Chon.
She was tempted to try to communicate with them as he did, but when
she would have opened her mind to them, she suddenly felt sick and
dizzy. By the time she had recovered, Osiyar was standing before
her, looking worried.

“I thought if I could touch them,” she said,
“then I might be able to reach Reid, too.”

“Do not even think of it,” he commanded. “You
cannot wake your portion of the Gift by the ordinary discipline
most telepaths use. You are different.

“Janina,” he said with a quiet confidence
that reminded her that he had once been a High Priest, “after my
experience with you and Reid, I am convinced that your portion of
the Gift is buried so deep within you that it can only be released
by artificial means. It was released the first time after Tamat
prepared the potion for your Testing. The second time was when you
received the antitoxin Alla made. Perhaps the two mixtures were
similar in some way. But let the Gift rest where it is. Reid will
not think any less of you, nor will anyone here, including me, if
you cannot function as a telepath.”

Janina nodded agreement, knowing he was
right. Nor would he have accepted thanks for what he had done for
her and for Reid. His help had been only what was expected of a
High Priest of Ruthlen, and her thanks would have been as insulting
as an offer to pay him.

But whatever Osiyar or the others might think
of Janina, there was one on that island who did not like her at
all. When she and Osiyar turned to walk back to the headquarters
building, Alla stood blocking their way.

“I see you are fully restored to health,”
Alla said in a provocative tone of voice. “While poor Reid lies
immobilized, you are free to go wherever you want.”

“I wish with all my heart that I were in
suspension, and Reid was standing here on the beach,” Janina
cried.

“Of course you do,” Alla said in the same
tone.

“Alla, there is an important fact that you
should know,” Osiyar told the angry woman before them. “When you
and Herne were lost in the forest near Ruthlen, it was Janina who
finally convinced Tamat to let Tarik know where you were so you
could be rescued. She saved your lives, Alla.”

“How generous of her,” Alla sneered. “Yet she
kept Reid in Ruthlen for herself, didn’t she?”

“She begged Tamat to let him go. Janina loves
Reid enough to want to see him freed from a situation that was
making him unhappy, even though his leaving would have broken her
heart. It was not Janina, but Tamat, who told me this,” Osiyar
said, when Alla would have interrupted again. “That is love, Alla -
to be willing to sacrifice what you want for the good of the loved
one. Perhaps you ought to think seriously about Janina’s
example.”

“I thought you knew nothing about love,” said
Alla, and then fell silent. Osiyar motioned for her to walk ahead
of him and Janina. The three of them took the path to the center of
the island.

“Tell me,” said Osiyar, one foot on the first
step leading to the great double doors, “have you opened the safe
stone yet?”

“What stone?” Alla asked.

“Tell her, Janina,” commanded Osiyar with
what Janina considered an astonishingly mischievous smile. Though
Alla stood puzzled and frowning by the doors, Janina knew what
Osiyar meant. She answered his command promptly, wondering as she
did so just what he was planning.

“If this building is like the temple at
Ruthlen and like the pavilion in our sacred grove,” Janina said,
“the stone just behind the third step as you walk to the entrance
will open. It is traditionally a safe place to hide the most
important documents, those that must never be lost. Under both
stones at Ruthlen, there were medical supplies for any emergency,
along with a map showing the way to Tathan, the old city. Tamat
used to tell us there was a map beneath the safe stone of every
building the original settlers erected.”

“The only information we found here was on
the computer-communicator the telepaths left behind,” Alla said.
“There are rather cryptic directions to the old city, but no map,
and we have been unable to locate the city using the
directions.”

“Have you looked beneath the stone?” asked
Osiyar.

“How could we?” Alla snapped. “We didn’t know
about it.”

“Janina, will you ask Tarik to join us?” said
Osiyar. As Janina disappeared into the building, he knelt to push
hard at the end of one of the smooth white stones at Alla’s feet.
“Alla, help me. It has been six hundred years since this stone was
last moved.”

Alla was on her knees beside him, pushing on
the stone with him when Janina returned with Tarik. Tarik got down
on the steps with Alla and Osiyar, to grab at the slightly raised
edge opposite the spot where the other two were pushing. After a
good deal of straining, the stone finally swung open. Within the
space now revealed lay a packet wrapped with smooth, shiny fabric.
Tarik lifted it out.

“We will open it inside,” he said, his face
alight with excitement.

After he had unwrapped the document inside
the packet, he carefully unfolded it, spreading it out on the table
where they usually took their meals.

“There,” Osiyar said, one finger hovering
just above a line of delicate writing on the aged, cracked piece of
fibrous material. “That is where Tathan lies. Shall we visit the
city of my ancestors, Tarik? As you can see, it is near the
equator. The coming cold won’t matter there. If we leave quickly
enough, the expedition members can escape the worst of the winter
storms and will have no difficulty traveling.”

“Using a shuttlecraft and this map, it
wouldn’t take long to reach,” Tarik agreed. “Yes, I will consider
it.”

“So close to this planet’s equator, there
will be new varieties of tropical plant and animal life to
discover,” Alla mused, her eyes on the map.

Janina saw Osiyar’s humorous glance resting
on Alla. Later, after Tarik had refolded the map and stored it in a
safe place, and after Alla had gone into her laboratory, Janina
drew Osiyar away from the other people now in the central room.

“Thank you for diverting Alla and giving her
something else to think about besides Reid and how much she
dislikes me,” she said.

“I plan an even longer diversion for Alla,”
Osiyar told her. “It will not be difficult to make certain she goes
on that expedition.”

The venture to Tathan was proposed to the
assembled colonists that evening and was enthusiastically agreed
upon. Within a day, preparations were under way, though no
participants had yet been chosen.

The autumn days passed slowly. Janina
recovered completely from her ordeal on the sea and from the
adverse reaction to the antitoxin, but she continued to suffer
occasional bouts of nausea. Finally, during one of the frequent
examinations Herne insisted upon, she mentioned her problem to
Suria.