razorsedge by Lisanne Norman Read Free Book Online Page B

startled.

"For a day or two. She'll be staying at the main house with my parents until after Kashini's Validation."

"I'm impressed. Now the Margins. What did you find? Did you see Him?"

"We found Vartra," said Kaid. "He's not what you'd expect, Lijou."

"Just tell me!" There was a glint in his eyes.

"Things were different then, Lijou, very diferent. No Guilds. Instead they had places of learning where many things were taught all under the same roof. Vartra was a physician who worked there teaching genetics to younglings. Not a Physician like we have, but a doctor of research. There were a few telepaths then, too few in Vartra's eyes. He was working on a way to enhance their abilities and increase the likelihood of Leska links happening so as to breed more. He thought himself unTalented, but he wasn't. Carrie said he forced the genes into the patterns he wanted. Which is why the result was unstable, and also why no one can duplicate it."

Lijou let out his breath with a hiss. "So what are we, the very fabric of our being as Telepaths, is due to Him, and it's unstable?"

"Not necessarily," said Kusac, putting a reassuring hand on the Head Priest's arm. "When we left, he was working on a way to stabilize us. We may well be the result of that stabilization."

"Where do the Humans fit in?"

"He took a blood sample from Carrie. Going back to the Margins contributed to our future and my own Link with her."

Lijou sat silently for a moment. "It's ironic, isn't it? Our fears of the future you and Carrie represented are what drove you back to the past to create what we feared."

"It had to happen, Lijou, because it did," said Kaid.

"I know," he sighed. "And I was right about you," he said, wagging a finger in his direction. "You were chosen before them!"

"Not quite, but I won't argue the point," Kaid murmured, trying not to let Kusac catch his eye.

"So how did He become a God— or is he?" This was Lijou's crucial question and they could see and feel his anxiety. Was their whole faith based on sand— or rock?

"He's a God now, that's indisputable," said Kaid. "I believe it was a mixture of guilt and His Talent that caused it. I don't know how Gods are formed, Lijou. That's your department."

"Guilt?" Lijou looked from one to the other.

"It wasn't completely his fault," said Kusac. "His students used the serum before it was fully tested. It's as well they did, because that generation of enhanced telepaths were all that stood between Shola and the Valtegans. He had to send his best people out on what was virtually a suicide mission. He hated having to do that."

Kaid stirred in his seat. "Lijou, there wasn't time to ask many questions. What we did gather was that the telepaths allowed themselves to be captured by the Valtegans, then somehow managed to place themselves next to important leaders. It was Rezac and Zashou who gave the signal for their attack to begin. What the nature of their attack was, we don't know, but a Valtegan starship, out of control because the telepaths on board created dissension among the command crew, hit our lesser moon. That caused the wholesale destruction on Shola that we call the Cataclysm."

"Fyak wasn't that far wrong, was he? We were significantly involved in causing the Cataclysm," said Lijou thoughtfully. "When you say Rezac and Zashou, you do mean the same Rezac who sent the message to Shola that Carrie intercepted, don't you?"

"The same," said Kusac. "They're on Jalna, with Jo, Davies, and Kris."

"Konis said they'd been captured by the Lord there. We must get them back safely to Shola. What they can tell us will be invaluable! Most of what we've discussed must not go beyond these walls," he said, looking from one to the other. "These are matters for our Order, not for the world at large."

"Raiban will know about some of them already, Lijou. We brought back a Valtegan general— Kezule. The one who convinced Fyak he was a god."

"Then we must decide now what Raiban should be told," he said.