Dark Nadir

  CARRIE SLEPT THE SLEEP OF WINTER,

  her body, like the ground, lying rimed with frost, her thoughts stopped between one impulse and the next.

  Slowly, slowly, the images began to form within her calm world, taking on harder edges, emerging from the frozen mists that seemed to surround her. She saw a patchwork of forests and plains, leading toward the coast, a coast she knew well. There was a patch, a stain on the land: a greenness too bright for grass or forest. Almost iridescent, it crept away from the Taykui Hills, migrating toward the forest that surrounded her home.

  The stain inched forward toward the tree line that marked the boundary of their estate and there it stopped for the moment. When it began to move again, the memory flooded back. It was as green as the drug la’quo that Kezule had used to travel through time!

  Carrie could hear the sound of her cub crying. Kashini! She tried to move, to scream—anything to draw attention to herself. Pain lanced through her, burning, searing pain in her right side as she became aware of the distant sound of a klaxon. The realization she was in a cryo chamber came to her then. They must be waking her, how else could she feel the pain of her wound? Let them be quick, she prayed. They had to know that Kezule was loose and heading for her daughter!

  DAW BOOKS

  is proud to present

  LISANNE NORMAN’S

  SHOLAN ALLIANCE Series!

  TURNING POINT

  FORTUNE’S WHEEL

  FIRE MARGINS

  RAZOR’S EDGE

  DARK NADIR

  STRONGHOLD RISING

  BETWEEN DARKNESS AND LIGHT

  SHADES OF GRAY

  Lisanne Norman

  DARK

  NADIR

  A Sholan Alliance Novel

  Copyright © 1999 by Lisanne Norman.

  All Rights Reserved.

  Cover art by Romas Kukalis.

  Maps by Michael Gilbert.

  DAW Book Collectors No. 1114.

  DAW Books are distributed by Penguin Putnam Inc.

  Published by DAW Books, Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious

  Any resemblance to persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  The scanning, uploading and distribution of this book via the Internet or any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  ISBN: 9781101663721

  First Printing, March 1999

  DAW TRADEMARK REGISTERED

  U.S. PAT. OFF. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES

  —MARCA REGISTRADA

  HECHO EN U.S.A.

  Version_1

  This book is for Judith Faul Dumont, who is one of the very few people who can journey to Shola with me when I’m writing. Her help and support over the years have been tremendous as well as great fun.

  It’s also for her husband Chris, a very talented Game Master who’s helped me solve a tricky problem or three over the years. Thank you both very much.

  A few special thanks are in order, as usual.

  To James Chorlton, aka Merlin, and Helen Lofting for letting me consult them on matters as diverse as the composition of space fleets and designing starships to tactics and very dirty tricks—and rescuing my computer when it crashes!

  To John Van Stry for information on rearing large felines.

  To Josh for his knowledge of military trauma medicine and ballistics.

  Thanks also to the many friends who’ve sat and brainstormed with me at conventions—Sherrie, Keith, and Pauline to name only three.

  And finally, thanks to Mike Gilbert for his drawings of my aliens which truly inspired me when I came to write about them.

  Prologue

  NO sooner had the young Sumaan pilot, Ashay, landed the shuttle back at the Hkariyash than he was ordered to return to the U’Churian vessel, the Rryuk’s Profit.

  “They have need of the Human medications on board their shuttle,” said Captain Kishasayzar, speaking to him in their own language over the comm. “Carrie Aldatan has been seriously injured. Place yourself under Captain Tirak’s orders for now. Their vessel may need protection until this fighting stops.”

  “As you command, Captain,” replied Ashay, regretfully eyeing the groups of guerrillas and Bradogan’s troops still engaged in sporadic fighting around the port gateways. “Do you not need protection?” he asked hopefully, lowering his long neck until his head was level with the view screen.

  “Negative. Like all other Traders, we’re keeping to ourselves. This is an internal matter now that they are no longer targeting us.”

  With a sigh, Ashay lifted off and headed down to where the Profit was berthed. The news of Carrie’s injury saddened him. He’d liked the small Human female.

  “Shuttle Venture to Rryuk’s Profit,” he said, toggling the comm unit. “Permission to land for protective duties. Requested medical supplies on board but need your crew to unload.”

  “Profit to Venture, permission granted. Our people will be waiting for you,” came the reply.

  * * *

  The next half hour saw a nonstop procession of personnel carrying supplies from the shuttle to the sick bay. Jo, the Human female, supervised the proceedings, rushing between the two locations, relaying what little news there was on Carrie’s condition to Ashay to pass on to their companions on the Hkariyash. As soon as the transfer was completed, Captain Tirak ordered Ashay to clear the landing pad and return to his own ship.

  * * *

  In the sick bay, as he worked frantically on the unconscious Carrie, Kaid was vaguely aware of the sounds of the ramp retracting and the hatches closing as the Profit began to ready herself for takeoff. They’d reach their rendezvous in two weeks. Only two weeks, half the normal time, but it would be too long for Carrie unless she was put in one of the Profit’s cryogenic units.

  From the moment he realized she’d been injured in the fight with the spaceport officials, he’d locked his feelings behind a wall. The life of this fragile Human female, and that of her partner Kusac, lay in his hands. Kusac: her Leska, his sword-brother—together the three of them were the first Human and Sholan En’Shalla Triad, bound telepathically to each other. Without them, he was incomplete.

  He fastened off the dressing, touching his fingertips briefly to her flesh. Still too hot. The drugs should have brought her temperature down by now. For an instant, he felt curiously disembodied as he saw his dark-furred hand against her pale skin. With a wrench, he pulled himself back. There was no more he could do; she would only deteriorate if he waited any longer. She needed surgery, and she couldn’t get that until they reached their rendezvous. Sighing, he carefully disconnected the drip from the cannula and picked her up, carrying her over to the far side of the room where two of the cryo units stood open and waiting. Placing her on the contoured mattress, he stepped back. He’d done all he could. The rest was up to the U’Churian medic, Mrowbay. Now it was time to treat his sword-brother.

  Kusac sat watching him on one of the adjacent beds. For a wonder, he’d managed to remain conscious despite suffering the full measure of her pain through their Link. The Venture’s basic medikit lay open on the bed beside him. He’d dosed himself with an analgesic, but Kaid knew he hadn’t taken nearly enough. He looked bad. Against the blackness of his pelt, the skin surrounding his nose and eyes was deathly pale and his ears were lying back, invisible among his hair. The mental link Kusac and Carrie had meant he would also have to travel in cryo.

  “Kusac, let me give you the premed now,” he said, reaching for the hypoderm from the medik
it.

  His friend’s amber eyes, though dulled with pain, held his steadily. “No, Kaid. I want to be aware of her till the last. I’ll wait till Mrowbay’s done.”

  Reluctantly he laid the hypoderm down and sat beside his sword-brother. “She’ll be fine—you both will. Two weeks, then we’ll have the facilities and surgeons of the M’Zekko to treat her.”

  Kusac nodded slowly. “Wake me first. I don’t want her coming out of cryo and not sensing me immediately.”

  “When you’re ready,” Mrowbay said finally, looking round at Kusac.

  After giving Kusac his shot, Kaid helped him to his feet, supporting him as they walked slowly over to the second unit.

  Kaid, I know you’re blocking us out now, sent Kusac, but later, if you sense her pain, for the Gods’ sake, don’t try to cope. Use the third cryo chamber. Let T’Chebbi watch us. She’s got Jo and Rezac to call on if she needs help. Vartra can’t have meant the U’Churians when he spoke of you making a pact with the Liege of Hell.

  Stop worrying about me and my visions, I’m fine, Kaid reassured, helping him climb into the unit. Just rest. Lowering his mental barriers, he reached in, touching his friend’s hand. Already the premed had taken effect and he could sense Kusac drifting toward unconsciousness.

  “Two weeks, Kaid.” Kusac’s voice was barely audible and Kaid had to lean forward to hear him. “Find out what Tirak was up to in that time. I’ll want to know.”

  Chapter 1

  Day 1

  CRYO, the long night without end, the cold from between the stars. Heartbeat and breathing decelerate as the chill gradually seeps deep into flesh and bones, robbing them of warmth, of movement. Thoughts slow, messages no longer being sent to limbs and organs as the mind pulls itself back, retreating from the bitter cold till all that remains is a tiny spark of consciousness poised between life and death. Cryo sleep, the temporary death, where nothing stirs, no breath, no thought—no dreams.

  * * *

  With Nayash, his pilot, recovering from a wounded flank, Captain Tirak had asked Kaid to help out on the bridge during takeoff. Now that they were under way, Kaid needed to check up on his people. The mess area where they were waiting was adjacent to the sick bay, but inexorably his feet led him back there. Saying he was checking up on Zashou would fool no one, least of all himself, but he had to see them once more—had to know that Carrie and Kusac were all right. He’d grown so used to their presences within his mind that their absence left him feeling unsettled. These feelings were so foreign to him that it was with relief he saw that Zashou was still asleep. It was hard enough for him to cope without having to explain it to someone else.

  It was Carrie’s unit he went to first. He looked through the cover, feeling instantly protective of her. She looked as if Khuushoi, Goddess of Winter, had embraced her, turning her flesh as pale as the snow on the Dzahai Mountains. Memories of taking Carrie there to visit his home sprang into his mind. It was there, once he’d fully accepted his place in their lives as their third, that he and Carrie had finally become lovers.

  Through the pale cream fabric of her shift, the bloodstained dressing across her belly and side showed up starkly. Instinctively his mind reached out for hers, pushing aside the barriers behind which he’d been hiding. He could sense nothing. His hand shook slightly as his fingertips brushed the surface of the unit, caressing it as if it were her he touched. Mrowbay had spread her long blonde hair carefully on the pillow. He remembered how soft it felt, so unlike his own Sholan hair. Then he sensed the U’Churian captain watching him from the doorway.

  “Mrowbay says she’s stable,” said Captain Tirak, “and safe. But you know that since you treated her. Excuse my curiosity, but you obviously care very deeply for her. Are you and her mate related? Brothers, perhaps? I know they’re a mind-linked pair.”

  “Brothers. Yes,” Kaid replied distractedly as a prescient fear he’d never known before swept through him. Turning to look at Tirak, he did a double take, thinking for a brief moment he saw Kusac standing there. The outward physical similarities between their species were uncanny. Pushing his fear aside with an effort, he retreated again behind his mental shields. “Her mother died in cryo when her family journeyed to their colony world.”

  Tirak made a sympathetic noise, his mouth creasing in a Humanlike grimace. “A tragedy, but it couldn’t happen on the Profit, believe me. Any disruption of the cryo system is instantly reported by the computer. The units even have an integral backup system, capable of lifesupport in space in the event of a disaster. They can be launched automatically from the bridge, or manually from in here.” He pointed to the wall behind the units.

  A very Human scream, long and drawn out, sounded from outside the open door.

  Gun instantly in his hand, Kaid leaped past Tirak and was in the corridor before it stopped.

  “False alarm, Captain.” Sheeowl’s voice on the ship’s comm echoed throughout the deck. “Was only Kate. She just met her first Cabbaran.”

  In the center of the corridor, standing almost upright on its haunches, was indeed a Cabbaran. Kaid recognized it instantly from the description Captain Kishasayzar had given them. Kate stood facing the alien, her body frozen in horror.

  “We have more passengers, Annuur.” Tirak spoke calmly to the Cabbaran. “Badly injured ones. That’s why the change in destination.”

  As Annuur turned slowly to face them, Kaid understood Kate’s reaction. Standing just short of four feet tall, the being before him was unlike any he’d seen before. Obviously a quadruped, and certainly vegetarian, his long, yellow incisors were just visible behind an almost prehensile upper lip. Forward facing eyes regarded him steadily from beneath a narrow stiff crest of dark hair that ran the length of his skull and down his neck. The same hair was spread out in a ruff across his shoulders and again over his flanks. The sandy body fur had been shaved from the sides of his face and shoulder so that the intricately colored tattoos could be clearly seen.

  The lip quivered and Kaid heard him begin to chitter. A flat, mechanical voice started to speak in U’Churian.

  “Nourishment dispensers empty,” Annuur’s translator intoned. “Is breach of contract, Captain.”

  “See to it, Sheeowl,” Tirak ordered the crew female hovering beside the frightened girl. “Take Kate to the mess first. My apologies, Annuur. As I said, we had injured to see to and needed to depart from Jalna quickly. There was no need for you to leave avionics, you could have used the comm—or were you just curious about our guests?”

  The ruff of fur across the Cabbaran’s shoulders bushed out for a moment before settling again. Annuur’s teeth made a clicking noise and his top lip curled expressively. A sharp burst of sound followed. The translator remained silent.

  “Captain.” Nayash, the white dressing over his wounded thigh vivid against his long, black pelt, now stood where Kate and Sheeowl had been. He raised an arm and flung something through the air to Tirak who caught it deftly.

  “You won’t need your weapon,” Tirak said quietly in an aside to Kaid as he stepped past him. “This is Annuur, leader of our Cabbaran navigation sept. All right, you opportunist,” he said, his tone becoming lighter. “One pack—and only one—to make up for your discomfort.” He held his hand, palm open, out toward the Cabbaran. In it lay a brightly decorated tubular container.

  The mobile lip curled upward in disdain. “Your insult remains,” intoned the translator.

  Tirak gestured to Kaid to join him. Holstering his gun, he did so.

  “This is Kaid, the leader of our guests.”

  The whiskers on either side of Annuur’s nose twitched as he leaned forward and sniffed audibly at Kaid. “One of those you kept in cryo.” He turned his attention back to Tirak, giving Kaid a clear view of the exotic tattoos.

  The hand that reached out to take the captain’s bribe was spatulate in shape, with four fingers tipped by broad, horny claws. Almost delicately, the fingers closed around the tube and removed it.

  “Candy
. A children’s treat back on Home,” Tirak said softly to Kaid. “They can’t get enough of the stuff. Comes in useful now and then.”

  Kaid noticed that Annuur wore a multi-pocketed utility belt not unlike the one the Sholan Forces used, save that the Cabbaran’s was held in place by shoulder straps. It was into one of these pockets that Annuur placed his tube.

  “Maybe talk later,” he said, lowering his upper body to the ground before sedately trotting past them and down the corridor to the main access elevator.

  “Time we talked,” said Kaid, his voice grim. He wanted to know what Tirak had been doing with a mixed Leska pair not only on board his ship, but held in cryo until a couple of hours ago.

  “The rest of your people are next door in the mess waiting for you,” said Tirak, gesturing in the same direction the Cabbaran had taken. “When you’re satisfied they’re safe, one of my crew will escort you to my office so we can talk.”

  * * *

  Remaining near the closed doorway, Kaid looked over at T’Chebbi. “Report,” he said, in the highland patois that they’d both grown up using.

  “All rescued personnel save Zashou seem healthy but undernourished—want them checked up in sick bay because of laalquoi levels in food they ate on Jalna. Younglings were waiting on Keiss for transport to Shola when were kidnapped by a Valtegan officer. Killed him, but cost them their captain and damaged the scouter. Were found by Ambassador Taira’s ship. Tirak rescued them from Taira at Tuushu Station—where we’re going. He put them in cryo while on Jalna to stop us contacting them telepathically.”

  Kaid moved into the center of the room. Kate was about Carrie’s height, her pleasant round face framed by a mass of short mid-brown curls. The male, Taynar, was barely older than her. He’d obviously inherited the warm gray-brown pelt coloring of his family. “What did the Chemerians want?” he asked, though he could make bets on what the answer would be.