Stolen Dreams (22 page)

 

"You may remain with your sect or
join
up with another group. My brother, Hades, needs twelve brave volunteers
to assist him in setting up distractions while the rest of us are
moving into position for the takeovers. Those willing to take a slight
risk should meet him in the barn. Once the teams are set, the captains
will give each of you individual instructions."

 

Zeus paused
and
scanned the sea of anxious faces, then shouted, "In two hours we will
march to victory and freedom!" Again he punched his fist skyward and
held it there as the gesture was imitated throughout the room. Excited
cheers and whistles echoed off the walls as the outer doors were thrown
open and everyone began pushing toward the exits.

 

Gabriel
searched
for Shara in the crush of bodies. He had been so enthralled by the
proceedings, he hadn't noticed what part of the room she was in.
Suddenly he caught sight of her near one exit. Her worried face and
frantic hand gestures as she spoke to people passing by alerted Gabriel
to trouble. As quickly as possible, he fought his way through the crowd
to her.

 

"Please listen to me," she was saying to no one in
particular. "Just slow down and think about what you're doing. Someone
could be hurt!"

 

Gabriel grabbed her arm and jerked her toward
him. "What the drek do you think you're doing?"

 

She
made an attempt to free herself, but the crowd held her captive as much
as Gabriel. "I'm trying to save lives! Zeus got them all so stirred up, they're ready to commit suicide for this cause of
theirs."

 

"That's right," Gabriel murmured sternly next to her
ear. "And you can't stop them."

 

"At least I can try!"

 

He
quickly looked around and was relieved to see that no one seemed to be
paying attention to them. With her in tow, he elbowed a path through
the crowd to an empty corner.

 

"You're manhandling me again!"
Shara glared at him as he blocked her escape with his body.

 

"You
wouldn't have come with me if I'd asked nicely."

 

She
opened her mouth to contradict him, but she knew he was right. "I was
only trying to get someone to listen to reason before they—"

 

He
cut
her off by giving her shoulders a slight shake. "It's you who has to
listen to reason, not them. This is the way it happened then and you
weren't here to stop anyone. You can't interfere with what's already
done."

 

"But you told me people were killed, children were
maimed. We could spare some of them if we just—"

 

"No,
We can't take that chance. What if you spare one who should have died
and another dies who shouldn't have? Think, Shara. Use that analytical
mind of yours. By interfering with what actually occurred, you could
cause the elimination of someone whose descendant was important to our
history. Without that rebel's survival, the descendant would never be
born."

 

She could hardly argue with that theory, since she had
returned to this time to prevent Khameira from being born on Earth in the future. "I don't like
this one bit."

 

"Are you ready to go back?"

 

She
straightened her shoulders and shook her head. "No. Not yet. I have to
run tests on all the samples I collected this morning and check the
names against the list. I'm sure I'm missing some."

 

"Then at
least
get the tempometer belt and put it on. Everyone's too busy to notice
it. I'd like to be able to make a fast exit if—"

 

Before
Gabriel could complete his sentence, Zeus walked up to them with a
curious look on his face. "Is there a problem?"

 

As Gabriel had
feared, Shara had been observed. He shook his head and gave Shara a
hug. "Just a case of nerves, I'm afraid."

 

Zeus
nodded as if he understood and patted them each on their shoulders, but
his eyes revealed a continued wariness. "Do not worry, friends, your
oath to postpone your joining in support of our cause was a worthy one,
and you will be well rewarded for your sacrifice very soon now. Since
you have no loyalties to a particular sect, I would be delighted to
have you march alongside me."

 

 

Gabriel's
instincts
told him this was a test. He tried to think of a reason to decline that
wouldn't raise Zeus's suspicions about them even further, but Shara
spoke before he could come up with one.

 

"It would be our
extreme pleasure," she said with a shaky smile. "I'll just get my bag
and we'll be right with you."

 

Zeus
waved a hand at her. "Not necessary. Arrangements have already been
made to provide everything we might need. Come. Time is wasting."

 

As
they followed Zeus outside, Gabriel whispered to Shara, "Why did you
agree?"

 

"I had a queer feeling about the way he was looking at
us."

 

"Me,
too. According to history, the Tribunal received advance notice of the
attack from someone who had been at the Summit. Undoubtedly Zeus would
have been on the lookout for an informer. He might think we're spies
for the Tribunal, since we're not connected with any known sect. In
which case, it would make sense for him to keep us close, or at least
make sure someone is watching us at all times. But I certainly would
have felt a lot better if we had the tempometer with us."

 

Shara
didn't like leaving her microputer behind, either, but Zeus hadn't left
them any choice. Thank the stars she had decided to stow her supplies
and hair samples in her bag or he might have noticed the bulge in her
tunic and questioned it. She looked around at the people separating
into groups. If there was such a spy, he or she probably would have
slipped away during the commotion at the end of Zeus's speech.

 

Athena
called Zeus over to her group to ask a question, and Gabriel and Shara
took the opportunity to move out of anyone's hearing range. Still,
Gabriel kept his voice lowered as he said, "Shara, I'm very serious
now. Please keep in mind what I said about interfering and stick by me.
We're marching into one of the most violent situations in Noronian
history, and even though we weren't around at this time, our lives can
be ended all the same."

 

"Terrific," she said with a grimace.
"Well,
I suppose we could look on the bright side. You'll be going back with
recordings that will have the academic community standing on its head
for priority viewing."

 

"True, but I'm accustomed to taking
risks to
get to the facts. You aren't. Perhaps my going would be enough to calm
Zeus's suspicions. He might accept an excuse of jangled nerves or
cowardice from you, and you could stay here. That way at least one of
us would be able to get back to our own time."

 

"Cowardice! No,
thank
you. That would probably convince him that I am a spy, and he'd leave
one of his henchmen behind to eliminate me. Besides, not knowing
whether you were safe would drive me insane."

 

He lifted her face to his for a quick kiss. "How
nice. You do care."

 

"I don't ... well, I do, but not ..." She
paused to control her fumbling. "I was thinking about the fever."

 

Gabriel
winked. "Of course you were." He locked his fingers through hers and
guided her back to Zeus. When she tried to free her hand, he held it
more tightly. "We're supposed to be madly in love with each other,
remember? I think it would be a good idea to act as if we really are
... for Zeus's sake, if nothing else. He might decide to make sure
we're two of the casualties today if we're not convincing in our roles."

 

Suddenly
Shara felt as though a needle had been inserted in her brain. She
instantly blocked the intrusion, but the unexpected pain caused her to
stumble.

 

Gabriel braced her as she swayed. "What's the matter?"

 

"Someone
just tried to probe me again. And none too gently, I might add." She
glanced at the group around Zeus and noted the curious expression on
Athena's face. The first time Shara had felt a sharp prick of mental
invasion like that, Athena had been present. "I think this time it's
Athena. She's probably been planting suspicions in Zeus's head because
she can't get a reading from either one of us."

 

Gabriel
pretended to
be checking Shara's temperature and peered into her eyes. "Can you make
her believe she got through to you and that we're loyal Friends?"

 

Shara
angled her head at him. "Probably, but I thought—"

 

"Just do
it," he ordered tersely.

 

Shara
forced the suggestion into Athena's mind and a second later Athena
nodded to Zeus. The relaxed smile he gave them as they approached
confirmed Shara's suspicions.

 

"Athena needs two more soldiers
for
her team," Zeus said. "She will be taking control of one of the
councilors' residences. It is larger than the others and he has a staff
of employees there with his mate and children who will need to be
guarded. At any rate, you will see more action marching with her. My
team will be the last to arrive in the city, since I have to see
everyone else off to the right posts first. Good luck to all of you."

 

He
strode off before Shara or Gabriel could protest. She wanted no part of
anything in which children might be hurt. Regardless of the warnings
Gabriel had given her, she could never stand by and do nothing but
watch.

 

Shouted orders caused everyone to look toward the barn.
Four
large horses plodded out pulling a long wagonload of wheat tied in
bundles. An adolescent boy controlled the reins and next to him on the
seat was a younger girl. Hades jogged along beside the wagon until it
was in the midst of the teams of people. He then told the boy to halt
and pounded on the side of the wagon.

 

Shara was completely
surprised
as one side of the layer of wheat lifted like a hinged door. The wheat,
adhered to a thin layer of wood, formed the lid for a box beneath it,
and a group of men and women were opening it from inside. Everyone
cheered as Hades' team propped the lid open and began passing out
weapons.

 

"Don't be concerned," Athena said, noting Shara's
expression. "The arms are to give an illusion of force only. There will be no need to resort to actual
violence."

 

Gabriel
pulled Shara away as her mouth opened to protest. In a hushed voice, he
issued a stern reminder. "Unless you're anxious to turn all this
negative energy against us, you'd better start controlling your
reactions."

 

He was right; it was just so difficult knowing
what the
future held. She reluctantly nodded and turned her attention to the
activity around Hades' wagon. Somehow Shara had imagined that with
their objection to technology the Friends would have used something
rather primitive. The arms being distributed weren't as sophisticated
as Gabriel's paralyzer rod, but they were considerably more advanced
than bows and arrows.

 

Gabriel identified the weapons for
Shara. Most
of them were shooters that used caustic ammunition and could be tucked
into the rebels' belts, but there were also larger armaments, such as
the pipe guns that ejected balls of fire. To his knowledge, the only
people permitted to own weapons of any kind were those employed in the
Security Services. Thus, these must have been illegally obtained.

 

When
everyone who wanted a weapon had one, Hades joined the team inside the
wagon, the lid was lowered, and the children drove it off toward the
city.

 

As promised, precisely two hours after the Summit ended,
Zeus
gave the signal for the march to begin. The plan was that by the time
the various sects neared their destinations, Hades' group would have a
distraction of explosions and fireworks ready to blow. Gabriel told
Shara it sounded as though he would be detonating incendiary devices by remote
control—another odd concession to technology.

 

The
four-kilometer walk was going much too quickly for Shara's peace of
mind. With Athena walking beside them, she and Gabriel refrained from
discussing anything more important than the beautiful weather the
Friends had been granted for their strike. It took a superhuman effort
for her to act as excited as everyone around her when the truth was she
was terrified.

 

The only thing that kept her from taking off in
a
panic was the way Gabriel held on to her hand the whole time—giving it
an occasional squeeze, stroking the back of it with his thumb, or
bringing it to his lips for a light kiss. The adoring way he looked at
her when their eyes met almost made her wish it wasn't just a role he
was playing for Athena's sake.

 

But he'd made it abundantly
clear
that she would be the last female he could ever fall in love with. She
had mental abilities that he resented, she wasn't a seasoned journeyer,
she lacked the mild disposition and good sense of humor he preferred,
and she had convinced him she was not interested in coupling with him.

 

Of
course, the last negative quality wasn't true, but he didn't know that.
And she'd only lost her normally mild disposition after she met him.
The fact remained, however, that even if she could change all of those
things to please him, he still didn't want a mate in his life and so he
would never willingly accept a soulmate, who would take up residence in
his mind.

 

Gabriel squeezed her hand. "Are you all right?"

 

She
forced a smile. "Yes, why?"

 

He shrugged. "For some reason I
just got the impression you were sad about something. It felt
strange, as if I were feeling it for you."

 

She
turned her eyes away from his. "I'm worried about what's coming, that's
all." Shara told herself Gabriel had probably not picked up an actual
emotion from her. More than likely he was reading her facial expression
or eye color. After all, he wasn't empathic or telepathic, and they
weren't joined, so he shouldn't be able to sense what she was feeling.