“If that sniper is still around, you might wind up needing them yourself,” she told him.
Teray’s awareness of Coransee’s link had dulled, was nothing more than an annoyance now. It kept Teray tense, made him do more looking over his shoulder than necessary, but that was just as well. The canopy of his awareness, spread as he had vowed it would be, covered even less of the area around him than it normally would have covered unassisted. This was not only because he had given part of his strength to help Amber, but because he was tired himself. He was worried about the Clayark sniper. If the creature fired again from as far away as he had when he hit Amber, Teray would have no chance of sensing him.
Then there was the possibility that Teray had not had time to think about. The possibility that Coransee had been more right than he knew when he suspected that the Clayark had been aiming at Teray.
They made camp that night against a long rocky ledge. They had not heard or sensed anything more from the Clayarks, but one of Coransee’s women had sensed a doe back in the hills and lured it out. After everyone had eaten, Teray called Coransee aside.
The Housemaster had apparently gotten over his anger—or he remained angry only at Amber. He followed Teray away from the group far enough along the rock ledge to be out of earshot. There he told Coransee of the Clayark he had talked to before leaving Redhill.
“Lord, it recognized me,” he finished. “It knew me as a son of Rayal.”
“So you think the sniper today really was shooting at you specifically, rather than at the handiest Patternist.”
“I think it’s possible. And I think it might happen again—to either of us. After all, they’ve captured at least one of your mutes, so they probably know you’re a son of Rayal too. They might even know just how near death Rayal is.”
Coransee frowned, thinking. “They’ve captured more than one of my mutes over the years, but that last one … you’re right. He would have had quite a bit to tell them. But as for the Clayark who identified you, you did kill it, didn’t you?”
“No.”
Coransee raised an eyebrow.
“I should have, but I didn’t. No excuse.”
Coransee looked away, exasperated. “You know, those four extra years in school didn’t do a damn thing for you.”
Without a word, Teray turned away to go back to the fire. He had delivered his message. Only hours before, Coransee had made a mistake that had almost cost Amber her life. A mistake that the Housemaster not only did not want to be told about, but that he had not yet bothered to correct. He had certainly not linked with Amber to widen the range of his awareness.
“Brother!”
Teray looked around at him.
“Back,” said Coransee simply. As though he were calling an animal, Teray thought. Or a mute.
“Brother!”
Teray trudged back.
Coransee leaned against the ledge, relaxed. “You will send the woman to me.”
Teray stared at him, speechless, for a moment. “Amber?”
“Of course Amber. You will send her to me.”
It was his right since he had claimed Amber. No woman of his House had the right to refuse him. His women could refuse any other man if they wished, but not him. “If you want her,” said Teray, “call her yourself.” Coransee could have called her without moving from where he was or saying a word aloud. But he preferred to humiliate Teray.
Coransee smiled. “She’s less likely to do anything foolish if you send her to me.”
“You’re the one who’s doing something foolish. You’re pushing her even though you know that if she attacks you out here, miles from anywhere, you might kill her, but not before she’s mortally injured you.”
“I’m pushing her all right. I’m pushing you, too, brother.”
Teray glared at him, hearing the challenge, ignoring it.
“You stood beside her today and tried to talk her into attacking me. You offered to help her. Do you expect me to thank you for that? If you were anyone else, you’d already be dead. Now go and convince the woman to come to me quietly—unless you want to find out just how badly I can hurt her without being hurt myself.”
Teray completely surprised both himself and Coransee. He smashed his fist hard into the Housemaster’s face.
Caught off guard, Coransee stumbled and fell to the ground.
Teray turned and, without hurrying, walked back to the group. He was tensed and ready to defend himself if Coransee attacked, but surprisingly the Housemaster let him go.
Amber was not beside the fire. He looked around and saw her preparing their pallet a short distance away from the others against the ledge. He went over to her and she turned to look at him apprehensively.
“I couldn’t help feeling some of that through the link,” she said. “From the emotions on both sides, I thought you two were going to have it out now.”
“He wants you,” said Teray tonelessly.
She was on her knees on the blankets, looking up at him. Now, after a moment of surprise, she rose and walked a few steps away and stood with her back to him. The contained fury he sensed in her alarmed him. He went to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She turned and was in his arms.
“I’d like to break his legs and leave him here alive for the Clayarks,” she muttered. “I’m sorry, Teray.”
“Sorry for what?”
“Sorry to be of use to him against you.” Her voice grew bitter. “He doesn’t give a damn about me now except to break me. He’s doing this to humiliate you.”
“I know.”
“And that’s not all he’s doing. I finally realize how he was lying to you. I should have seen it from the first.”
“Yes?”
“He’s not taking you to Forsyth to be judged by Rayal. He’s already judged you himself. He’s taking you to Forsyth to kill you. He’s as wary of you as he is of me, and he wants someone around to heal any damage you might do to him. Meanwhile, he’ll make do with just humiliating you.”
“You interpret the little you got from his mind to mean all that?”
“Yes. And it fell right into place. I know him, Teray. I know how he lies. You should, too, by now.”
“But he could have killed me back at Redhill.”
“Why should he have? You were still being a good, respectful outsider. Still doing as you were told. There was always the chance that you might come to your senses and submit. But then you had to go and run away—to Forsyth, yet, and with me.” She took a deep breath, slowed down. “Well, think about it. I admit it’s guesswork, but I couldn’t be more positive that I’m right. If you decide you agree with me, you’d better start thinking about what you’re going to do.”
She bent to pick up a blanket. He caught her arm. They straightened, facing each other.
“You haven’t said it all,” he told her. “There’s enough anxiety coming through the link to tell me you’ve left out something important.”
Without speaking she severed the link.
Solitude came to him jarringly. “Why did you do that? What’s the matter with you?”
“You want me to stay linked to you while I’m with him?”
Understanding Teray grimaced. For the second time that day, their extreme closeness made the link a handicap. “All right,” he said. “You had reason to break the link. But you didn’t break it soon enough. I know something else is bothering you.”
“It’s personal,” she said. “My business.”
From anyone else, that would have been enough to stop him. But he knew her better than he had ever known anyone else. He did not believe she really wanted him to stop.
“Tell me,” he said quietly. He was still holding her arm and she wrenched away from him.
“You’re as big a fool as I am,” she said. “Looking for more trouble when you’ve already got plenty.”
“What have you done that you consider foolish?”
She gave a short, mirthless laugh. “It’s only my timing that?
??s foolish, Teray. I decided that I wanted a child by you. And since I didn’t know how long we’d be together, I didn’t want to wait.”
For a moment Teray’s surprise left him without words. Finally, “You mean you’re pregnant now?”
“Oh yes. And believe me, I wouldn’t have told you if Coransee hadn’t already found out. He realized it when he made me open.”
“But you’ve opened to me and I haven’t seen …”
“You don’t snoop the way he does. It’s practically an art with him. Open to him and he lifts your whole life.”
“He’s the last person who should know.” Teray frowned. “Hell, he has the right to kill it if he wants to—since he claims us and he hasn’t given us permission to have a child.”
“It’s barely a child yet. It’s only a few days old—just a ball of cells growing.”
“You should have told me. I can’t understand why he hasn’t killed it already.”
“I haven’t let him,” she said. “Because the way things are going, I wasn’t sure you’d be around to replace it.”
Teray winced. “That’s encouraging.”
“Just don’t let him get you to Forsyth.”
“How did you keep him from killing the baby?”
“I let him see how determined I was to have it. He decided to let me wait until we get to Forsyth, too.”
“He told you he would kill it in Forsyth?”
“No, he withdrew without comment. He withdrew in that special way of his that means, ‘Later.” She sighed. “I think he only wants to kill it out of vindictiveness—because I refused to have a child for him.”
Teray frowned. “I should let you know that I’m not ignoring the warnings you’re giving me about Forsyth.”
“I didn’t think you were. You don’t have to say anything more about it.”
“Good. And I want you to know that I consider protecting an unborn child a responsibility for two. If Coransee reads that in your thoughts, fine.”
“I’d feel the same way,” she said softly, “if you and I had talked about it ahead of time. If we had both decided that it was a reasonable responsibility to assume at a time like this—which it isn’t.”
“No, it isn’t.” He hugged her and suddenly found himself smiling. “And I wouldn’t have asked it of you until we were a lot more secure. But I’m glad you did it. Why did you refuse to have his child?”
“He waited too long to ask me. He waited until I had gotten to know him.”
Teray laughed softly. She had given him a kind of victory. Not a large victory but one he could savor. One that Coransee’s humiliations could not destroy. And the child would be a living link between them even if Teray was unable to convince her to stay with him. Or it would be a part of him that survived even if Coransee succeeded in killing him. But he did not want to think about that last. Living suddenly seemed more important than ever. Living and keeping Amber and the child alive.
“Teray?”
He looked at her, knowing that she was about to leave him.
“What did you do to Coransee a while ago? I felt him almost lose consciousness.”
He told her.
She smiled a very small smile, kissed him, gathered up a blanket, and went to Coransee.
Chapter Eight
AMBER RETURNED TO TERAY before breakfast the next morning. She was quiet and withdrawn. She seemed to relax a little when he asked her to link up again. But through the re-established link he could feel her smoldering anger.
“Did he make you open again?”
“Yes.” The anger flared for a moment.
“Are you all right?”
She did not answer.
“Is the child all right?”
“We’re both all right … for now. I have to go back to him tonight.”
Now Teray felt anger of his own. “If he’s alive tonight.”
“God!” she whispered. “Don’t tell me anything.”
“I don’t know anything to tell you. I’m just waiting for my chance. He has to know that much already.”
“He does. He knows everything I told you last night. He wasn’t even surprised when he read it—and he didn’t deny any of it. Look at him.”
Teray looked toward the main group and saw Coransee standing encircled by his people. He was talking to them, and though Teray could not hear what he was saying, Teray felt suddenly apprehensive.
“We now have eleven enemies instead of just one,” said Amber.
“Is he linking with them?”
“No. That’s our edge. It wouldn’t do him any good to link with them. He can’t use a link for anything but an alarm. He’s just ordering them to watch us. If one of us attacks him they’re supposed to sit on the other one. That way, we can be almost sure that whichever one of us takes him on alone will be committing suicide. He’ll be sure of taking someone with him even if he gets killed.”
Teray nodded. “I can’t blame him. That’s what I’d do.”
“You wouldn’t hold free people prisoner and put yourself in the position of having to do it.”
“Why can’t he use a link with them—at least some of them—to borrow strength? I know they’re not close to him, and it wouldn’t be very pleasant, but he should be able to stand it. I could.”
“If I had to,” said Amber, “I might be able to take a few of them myself. But Coransee can’t. He’s too close to succeeding Rayal.”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“He can’t take strength from anybody until he can take it from everybody. I was with him the last time he tried, and I can’t tell you in words how close he came to losing control. He almost made a grab for the Pattern.”
“Almost provoked Rayal into killing him, you mean. Rayal isn’t going to give up his power a day sooner than he has to.”
“That’s just it. When Coransee and I were on better terms, he told me he would try to snatch the Pattern from Rayal if he weren’t so sure of having it handed to him soon. But to get killed trying to snatch it away now would be worse than stupid.”
“All right, so he can’t use his people in the way they’d be most effective. All that means is that I’ll have to fight him in the way I intended to from the first. Alone.”
“Either you will or I will.”
“I will, if for no other reason than that there are two of you.”
“It doesn’t matter much,” she said.
He frowned at her, surprised. He had expected an argument.
“If you kill him, well and good,” she said. “But I can feel that even you don’t think much of your chances. And if he kills you, he’ll still claim me. He’ll kill our child and then he’ll have to kill me. I’d rather be dead than be his property anyway.”
She wasn’t just angry, he realized. She was bitter and resigned. Her last sentence reminded Teray of what he had said when Michael asked him whether he could ever accept Coransee’s controls.
“Listen,” he said softly, “if I can’t kill him, I’ll cripple him. I’ll hurt him as badly as I can. I’m not as quick as you are at that kind of thing, but I’ll do what I can to soften him up for you. If you’re able to break free of his people … you’ll have an advantage.” He wondered what the chances were of her breaking free often Patternists. They had to be far worse than his chances of killing Coransee. “I’m sorry,” he said.
“Sorry for what?”
He did not answer. Their eyes met in understanding.
“He’ll be watching you,” she said. “Be careful.”
As it happened, though, Coransee, like everyone else, was kept busy enough watching for Clayarks. The Clayarks were apparently closing in for the kill.
At least one sniper was with the Patternists constantly—sometimes more than one. The creatures kept out of sight, traveling through the hills. And they kept out of range—just out of Teray and Amber’s combined range. It had occurred to Teray that one of the reasons Coransee still permitted him to link with Amber was the unusua
lly wide range of their awareness. That and the knowledge that no other linked pair was as anxious about Clayarks, after what had happened the day before.
The group had come a short distance inland, crossing a small peninsula. In the clear air, they could see the ocean in the distance as they rode over a slight rise. There were Clayarks in the hills alongside them, firing uselessly. The Patternists had become used to them. But as the Patternists reached the top of the rise and looked down at the land and the vast expanse of ocean, a single deeper, louder shot thundered out.
One shot. Teray knew nothing more than that the sound seemed to have come from ahead of them, and that neither he nor Amber had been hit. He snatched more strength from her, reached, stretched, extending their combined perception as far as he could ahead of them, sweeping a wide area, finding and killing a single Clayark. There was only one in range.
Teray shifted his attention back to the Patternists and realized that they had stopped. Coransee had dismounted or fallen from his horse. He was kneeling on the ground, Amber approaching him, others dismounted, going toward him.
Teray swung down from his horse quickly and strode over to the Housemaster.
“I’m all right,” Coransee was saying to Amber. “I’m fine. Even I’m healer enough to handle this.” He turned sharply as Teray approached. For a moment they stared at each other. Teray assessing the damage with his eyes alone. His mind was suddenly tightly shielded. Coransee said softly, “Try it, brother, and the Clayarks will make a meal of you.”
Teray relaxed slightly, cautiously. Coransee’s wound was not serious. The bullet had only torn through the flesh of his shoulder. He was not incapacitated mentally, not forced to give large amounts of his attention to keeping himself alive. He was no more vulnerable for his wound.
“You would have done it,” said Coransee with surprise. “If you had come up and found me fighting for my life, you would have finished me off.”
“As you would have finished me in the same situation, brother,” said Teray softly “I learn from you. And you have no idea what a good teacher you are.”