Shades of Gray (68 page)

Kuvaa reached into a pouch on her harness, pulled out a pad with the data on it, and read it out to Unity.

“Have any others asked you for a private conference and to conceal it from the rest of Unity?” asked Shvosi.

“Unity, increase your own security, with guards if necessary. These rogue elements put us all at risk,” said Khassis.

“Include Azwokkus in our group,” said Shvosi, “and a private Unity channel among only us would also be useful.”

This can be done,
said Unity.
There is a precedent for it. One was created when there was conflict over inviting the Cabbarans to join the Camarilla.

“Then reinstate it for us,” said Khassis. “How did they not only conceal this captive but appear as Kuvaa to Giyarishis?”

“Speculation only,” said Kuvaa, “but I believe they have found a way to make Unity overlook their presence in that location.”

“Then we must shut it down,” said Khassis. “And prevent this ever happening again!”

This I can do, Elder Speaker, now I know the location,
said Unity.

“Very well, do it. But release the Entity and return him to his own realm first, minus memories of this. That will be all, thank you, Unity.”

“This will end with the Hunters joining us,” said Naacha, “or destroying us.”

“As I predicted from the start,” said Annuur.

CARRIE reached for another piece of their still warm baked reptile from the night before’s supper as Kusac filled up their mugs with more coffee. The day’s heat was already reaching into the cave, although it was only midmorning.

“You’re very thoughtful,” he said, handing her her mug and leaning back against the crate behind him to finish eating.

“I’ve been thinking through the memories we exchanged last night,” she said, rearranging her overtunic and resuming her position against his side.

Kusac’s ears flattened as he put an arm around her shoulders. “There’s a lot I’m not proud of,” he muttered.

She gave a negative shake of her head. “You were in an intolerable situation. You acted more honorably than I think I would’ve done. That wasn’t that I was thinking about; it was how much Kezule has changed. I think of the two of you, he’s been manipulated more by drugs, or mentally.”

“That was my thought too.”

“The old Kezule refused to tolerate any females near him. Marrying one of the independent Primes would have been unthinkable.”

“I know. I believe the Primes did that, though. Without those changes, he wouldn’t have been able to live among them.”

“Not just the Primes. Those who worked on your brain and mind, after the implant, were the TeLaxaudin and then the Cabbarans. What made you actually pass out yesterday down at the new settlement?”

“I told you at the time, someone lashed out at me mentally.”

“Who?”

“I’m not sure. Not one of the Cabbarans. But the TeLaxaudin . . .”

“Aren’t telepaths.”

“The TeLaxaudin seemed to use technology to build the way the Cabbarans do mentally. I went down there because I needed to see for myself what they were doing. They had some kind of artificial Link set up between them. I had just sensed it when I was knocked out.”

“They can produce a form of communal telepathy using technology,” she said. “There were no Cabbarans on Kij’ik, were there?”

“None. Could the changes in Shaidan and me be due to the TeLaxaudin?”

“They’re certainly involved, especially as Kezule continued to alter quite considerably while you were on Kij’ik.”

“Some of it was due to Zayshul’s influence, and his sons and daughters, I’m sure.”

“Mmm ...” she agreed with a smile. “We females always have a good effect on our mates.”

“Sure you do,” Kusac grinned at her, leaning forward to lick the tip of her ear.

“Then there’s the whole Vartra business. He was very active on Kij’ik, and then suddenly he was gone.”

“That’s very like the Entities,” said Kusac.

“Is it? Again, it happened on Kij’ik.”

“Only Giyarishis was there, Carrie. He’s not one of their top people.”

“He doesn’t need to be if he can communicate, privately or secretly, with other TeLaxaudin. How did the birthing tanks arrive there, and the supplies? And why weren’t you curious about that?”

Kusac went still. “Because my conscious mind was made to forget about it,” he said slowly. “And that has only happened on Prime ships, Kij’ik, or in the City. The TeLaxaudin have been with them for fifteen hundred years, genetically modifying them, controlling them, and they did the same to Shaidan and me! The jigsaw is finally beginning to take shape.”

He reached out to kiss her.
I didn’t realize how much I needed you and your tactical mind until now.

Only that?
she teased.

The kiss swiftly became more than passionate. It would have been so easy to have given in and claimed their twenty-eight hours together, but time was too short for that. Already K’hedduk could have sent another tithe ship to Ch’almuth, and that ship was the core of any plan to rescue Zhalmo. Reluctantly, he pulled away from her.

“We have to call Kaid to pick us up soon. But first, I need you to understand what I’m going to do to us all.”

She tilted her head to one side and regarded him quizzically.

“I know how to manipulate Leska Links.”

“Well, obviously. You did what we thought impossible, re-formed ours and joined Kaid with T’chebbi, who isn’t even a telepath!”

“She is now,” he said soberly. “I should talk to Rezac. I seem to be able to do many things now that only the First could do.”

“Like what?”

“Later. I need to change our five-day dependence, cub, and to make it last less than twenty-eight hours.”

Already he’d brought Kaid and T’Chebbi into a Link with them.

I’m changing our five-day compulsion to mate and the need for twenty-eight hours together,
he sent to them all.
Among the four of us, our Link will be interchangeable because we’ll be like one Leska pair. If we are all apart, we can dampen our need for several weeks. The transfer time for memories can be shortened by being able to do a little at a time, nightly, or every other night, the choice will be ours—every fifth day if we wish, or more often. Nothing else will change—the magic, the mental and physical joining until each pair becomes one entity—that will remain the same. Our Links will just be more flexible, less life threatening if we’re separated. The downside is we will be subliminally aware of the other pair all the time.

How subliminally?
asked Kaid.

You’d need to consciously look for it,
he sent.
Are you all agreeable?

If it’s reversible, we are. There’s so much to do right now, we can’t afford one day in five off,
sent Kaid.

Only if I can have my fifth day back when this is over,
she replied.

Kusac sent her a private mental chuckle and a memory from the night before.
But of course, cub.

This must be kept from everyone else,
he said to them all.
Once we’re comfortable with it, I can change the others if they wish. And, Kaid? You’ll have to teach T’Chebbi about being a Telepath, as we taught you.

Aye.
That he might need help was unsaid, but both Kusac and Carrie sent them the reassurance that help was always there.

He reached mentally for the other two, bringing first Kaid, then a very bemused T’Chebbi deeper into his and Carrie’s Link. Once they were all relaxed, he strengthened the bonds among them, enfolding them inside his own consciousness. A momentary panic here, an irritating itch there, were gently quieted until their minds were fully opened to him. He watched their thought patterns as they all began to meld into one, and then he triggered the gestalt. Brain activity flared, sending pulses of energy flowing through their joined minds and bodies. He grasped it firmly, harnessing it before loosening control on their melded minds, letting each of them regain his or her own identity while still Linked.

Carrie’s fear built, and he suppressed it with hardly any effort. The gestalt felt like holding a huge squirming eel, one that kept trying to double back on itself and attack him, and he knew he had to act swiftly. Mentally, he fought to program it, to command it to seek out that area in their brains that controlled the Leska Links, and to alter it just enough to allow them to control it, rather than be controlled.

Carrie, follow what I do to Kaid and T’chebbi,
he sent.
I need you to help me change myself.

With no more thought, he aimed the now quiescent gestalt at Kaid and T’Chebbi, following it as it flowed first into Kaid’s, then T’Chebbi’s consciousness like a living thing. Moments later, it was done, and it turned to Carrie.

Ready?
He was weakening quickly now with the strain of the work.

Yes. Go for it,
she sent.

He felt her gasp of shock; then it was his turn as she grasped what remained of the gestalt and turned it on him. It lasted only a moment, but it seemed far longer as what felt like a nest of snakes squirmed almost painfully around inside his mind. Then it was over, and he and Carrie began to dissipate what remained of the power.

They threw it at the force field, and though he heard the spitting and popping as it tried to absorb the extra energy, he saw nothing. Exhausted, he toppled over onto the sleeping bags, the Link among them all breaking apart.

“Kusac!” Carrie bent over him, checking his pulse and his breathing.

“Fine,” he whispered as she eased him into a more comfortable position. “Took more strength than I anticipated. You?”

“Tired but fine; so are the others,” she replied, pulling the second sleeping bag over him. “You need food. I’ll get some protein drinks for you.”

Tell Kaid I won’t be fit to travel till late afternoon,
he sent.

“Done,” she said a moment later as she activated one of the self-heating drinks for Kusac, then one for herself. “You didn’t ...”

She helped him sit up and propped the pillow from her sleeping bag behind him before handing him the drink. “And the gestalt?”

She hid a huge yawn behind her hand and, emptying her can, waited for Kusac to finish his.

“Do you want another?” she asked, taking the empty containers and stashing them in their garbage sack.

“No, I need to sleep now.” His voice was barely above a whisper, and his eyes were already closing as he slipped down between the sleeping bags again. “You need some too. We spent much of the night awake.” A pleased smile played around his lips.

With a chuckle, she slid in beside him, happy to be pulled within his arms and close against his side. She could feel the silky softness of his belly fur against her skin and with it, the warmth of his body.

“Yes, there is a rightness about this,” he agreed, touching his lips to her forehead then her throat. “I finally feel I’ve come home to my family.” The hard knot of pain in his belly that he had lived with for so long was finally beginning to dissolve.

T’Chebbi hadn’t come with Kaid to pick them up, but she was waiting on the landing pad for them with a small aircar when they arrived back at the City.

“Now I can welcome you properly into our Clan,” said Kusac, giving her a warm hug and nuzzling her ear.

“Huh, you males too good at making decisions for us! Might have asked me!” She took a mock swipe at his ears as he released her.

“Would you have refused?” He raised an eye ridge at her.

“Is principle,” she said haughtily, allowing an amused Kaid to link his arm through hers and draw her into the single cabin.

“It’s been over three weeks since Zhalmo was taken,” said Kaid. “We need a rescue plan, Kusac, and one to deal with K’hedduk sending another tithe ship to Ch’almuth.”

“I’ve been working on a few,” he said. “I’ll get Kezule to call a meeting later today, and we can discuss them properly. Meanwhile, consider this. You’re K’hedduk. You believe the legitimate heir, Zsurtul, is dead. You married his mother to legitimize your claim to the throne, but you get the chance to take Zhalmo, one of the descendants of the last true Emperor before the Fall. What’s your military priority?”