Part 29 (1/2)

THIRD s.h.i.+FT.

16.00 HOURS.

Shan lifted his head, groping after the sound. Surely... Ah. The door chime.

”Come.”

The door parted, and she entered, slight and small, her face Liaden gold. ”Old friend.”

”Lina.” Memory returned with a force that shuddered pain through his misused head, and he was half out of the chair. ”Priscilla-”

”Resting. And well.” Her small hands flickered, soothing. He sank back as she came around the desk.

”More-she is herself. We spoke. She is rational; she knows what has transpired; she knows that necessity existed and that she acted as best she might.” Lina sighed. ”Much of the confusion you reported must be counted an effect of the drug-and of despair. Life has taught her to expect neither rescue from trouble nor surcease from pain. Healing had gone far, but that lesson is not easy to unlearn.”

Shan had closed his eyes. Now he opened them, and Lina felt shock at the depth of weariness there.

”She'll be all right,” he murmured, his beautiful voice blurred and uneven. ”Thank you, Lina, for coming to tell me. This is your rest s.h.i.+ft, isn't it?””And yours, as well,” she said briskly. ”Priscilla sent me to make sure you slept. You were angry, she said, and hurt.”

He rubbed his forehead absently. ”Stupid. Trying to scan the whole planet...” He tapped a sheaf of papers. ”Had to read Ximena's report. Mr. dea'Gauss... An act of heroism. She'll have to stop that, Lina. Get herself hurt. Saves three lives, using some sort of thing she wasn't taught yet. But she said the old soul-give 'em old souls, the Initiates, with the old names attached. Priscilla's soul was named Moonhawk. Very powerful lady. Much respected. Said the old soul had done it, for the glory of the G.o.ddess and-and... who knows? Long and short, she gets thrown out. All very well and good to have a tame dramliza on your hands, but when she starts demanding her due, that's dangerous.”

Lina frowned, noting the empty gla.s.s by his hand. ”Is Priscilla a wizard, Shan?”

”Very good chance. Should see her-no, I hope you don't see her. Does things above and beyond us mere Healers. Got a definite flair...” He rubbed at his face again. ”G.o.ds, G.o.ds, she's strong.”

She leaned forward and stroked the warm, thick hair. ”Shan. Come to bed.”

He blinked at her. ”Bed?”

”You are tired. You must rest, let yourself heal. How much brandy have you had?”

”Half a beakful,” he muttered, and then grinned. ”But it's quite a beak, eh?”

She laughed, between frustration and relief. ”Come to bed, denubia.” She grabbed the unbandaged hand and tugged. ”Shan, have pity! I have promised my cha'leket to see you resting. Would you have me turn my face from her need?”

”Cha'leket?”

”Priscilla herself named me sister. I find my heart agrees. Will you come to bed?”

”Since you ask so nicely. Not likely to do you much good though, my precious.” He wobbled to his feet but would not lean his weight upon her. Unsteadily, he laid his hand against the inner door.

She coaxed him to lie flat, unsealed the tight dress s.h.i.+rt, then sat stroking his hair and murmuring, weaving a net of warm comfort and loading it with the desire to sleep deeply and long.

After a time his eyes closed, his breathing lengthened.

Lina continued her weaving and stroking until she sensed that he had reached the first depths, where prime healing begins. She slid from the bed and spread the coverlet gently over him, dimmed the lights, and disarmed the alarm. Kayzin had agreed that the captain's rest should not be interrupted untimely.

Affairs ordered to her satisfaction, Lina bent and stroked his cheek. ”Sleep well, old friend.” And then she was gone.

CROWN CITY, THEOPHOLIS.

JUDGE'S HOUR.

The cab pulled to the edge of the pedstrip and stopped. The driver looked over his shoulder and said something in a barbaric garble. Sav Rid stared at him coldly.

”The vehicle can go no farther,” the driver announced in abrupt Trade. ”Pedestrian traffic only inside theport. The fare's fivebit.”

Sav Rid extended the proper coin silently and exited the cab. Behind him the driver spat between his teeth and muttered, ”Louse!” But the action was beneath Sav Rid's notice, the single word in Terran.

He walked cautiously through the crowded port, intensely aware of his lack of guard. Dagmar Collier had not been at the rendezvous point this morning. He wondered what might have happened to the creature, then put the thought away with an impatient shrug. Who, after all, really cared? If Dagmar Collier chose to jump s.h.i.+p before the run was through, that was certainly its own affair. Daxflan would make good use of the unclaimed wages.

A man was coming purposefully toward him down the pedstrip: older, with more gray than black in his thinning hair. Sav Rid froze.

His Delm continued briskly forward, then stopped at the proper distance and inclined his head.

”Kinsman. I give you good day.”

He managed a bow. ”As I give you good day, kinsman and Delm. It surprises me to find you here, so far from home and House.”

”No more,” the elder said dryly, ”than it surprises me to find you here, when the port master reports Daxflan absent.”

”We hold orbit about the fourth planet out, my Delm. It has been found more-convenient-to use another vessel to bring goods from Daxflan to prime orbit.”

”Indeed.” Taam Olanek extended an arm, smiling coolly. ”Walk with me, I beg you. I am curious about this so convenient method. Have you subcontracted your cargoes to others, Sav Rid?”

They walked a few paces in silence.

”It became necessary,” Sav Rid murmured, ”for Daxflan to purchase a subsidiary vessel to act as shuttle from Daxflan to berth. The method is quite simple, sir, and serves us well.”

”Am I to understand,” Plemia demanded, ”that you have made Daxflan, in essence, a warehouse?”

”Exactly so,” Sav Rid said, pleased.

His Delm drew breath. ”I see. Forgive my question, kinsman, but such a purchase as a trading vessel... It seems that I surely would have noted the pa.s.sage of a so large a voucher across my desk. Yet I recall nothing.”

Sav Rid smiled, triumphantly oblivious to the worry in the other's face. ”It was a small matter, sir; there was no need to resort to credit vouchers. We paid cash.”

”Cash,” Plemia repeated tonelessly. He was silent a moment or two as they walked. Then he straightened abruptly, renewing his grip on Sav Rid's arm. ”It only now returns to me, kinsman-that matter of which I wished to speak. I have heard from the port master that a member of your crew-one Dagmar Collier-has been found dead in the city outside the port.”

”So, that is what became of it,” Sav Rid said calmly. ”I had wondered. Well, it always had a quarrelsome nature.”

”Had she?” Taam asked softly around the sudden ice in his throat. ”And how long had Dagmar Collierserved you, kinsman?”

Sav Rid moved his shoulders. 'Two or three trips, I believe.”

”Ah.” Taam stopped, whirling on the other. ”Sav Rid, a woman who has been in your service these four years has died! Do you not at least go to the precinct house and claim the body, that it might be sent properly to her kin?”

There was honest puzzlement in the young face. ”No, why should I? I doubt it had kin. It was Terran, you see,” he explained more fully in the face of his Delm's further silence.

”Terrans are not all kinless folk, Sav Rid,” Taam murmured, his eyes filling as pity unexpectedly overtook dread. 'They are people, even as we are.” Still there was only puzzled confusion in the eyes watching his.