Kelric's thoughts snapped back into his mind as abruptly as they had jumped outward. He and Dehya stumbled onto the dais in the War Room, and people surged around them. With a groan, he sank to his knees, reeling with vertigo. Doctors knelt around him, monitoring him with scanners and asking questions he couldn't hear. Dehya collapsed a few paces away, and one of her huge Jagernaut bodyguards knelt protectively over her while people crowded around.
Kelric didn't realize his bodyguards were also on the dais until Najo brushed his shoulder. Looking around, Kelric saw Strava on his other side, her stoic face impassive, and Axer behind him, huge and bulky, a giant with a bald, tattooed head.
Chad Barzun, the commander of the Imperial Fleet, knelt next to Kelric. Even as short as he kept his iron-grey hair, it looked disheveled, as if he had raked his hand across it. Wrinkles creased his blue uniform, though it was designed from smart cloth that could smooth out normal crumples. Dark circles showed under his eyes.
Kelric's mind swam, thick and woozy, with a sense of mental dislocation. Chad was talking, but Kelric couldn't understand him. It wasn't that Chad spoke out of phase, but rather that Kelric had spent so long in a distorted space-time, his mind couldn't readjust to his natural universe.
He looked past all the people and commotion. At the edge of the dais, his mother Roca and his brother Eldrin stood waiting—with a tall woman whose regal face would have caught his eye in any crowd. Ixpar. His wife. He had never seen her so pale. He didn't know how long he had been gone, but during that time, she would have been stranded in a place she had little context to understand and where she knew almost no one. She had taken the irreversible step of breaking Coba's isolation, risking the well-being of her people, even their identity, all based on his vow that he could protect them. And what had he done to honor her tremendous act of faith? Vanished the day after she came to him. Gods only knew what she thought now of his promises.
An ISC doctor was wrapping a med-string around Kelric's arm to monitor his blood pressure. Another medic was studying holos of Kelric's body that rotated above a screen he had unrolled on the floor. Kelric couldn't follow the discussion of the doctors at all, and Chad had given up trying to talk to him. The admiral was just sitting on the floor, an elbow on his bent knee, watching the doctors and Kelric.
Bolt? Kelric thought.
I'm here, his node answered.
Relief washed over Kelric. Can you communicate for me? I can't understand anyone.
I will access your gauntlets.
Good. Also, how long was I in the Lock?
I don't know. The singularity disrupted the atomic clock in your biomech web.
See what you can find out.
A deep voice came out of the comm on his right gauntlet. "Admiral Barzun, can you understand me?"
Chad jerked, then peered at Kelric and at the gauntlet with that alert, wary style of his that Kelric knew well. When the admiral answered, his words were garbled and indistinct.
Do you understand him? Kelric asked.
Yes, Bolt answered. It's muddled, but I believe he said, "To whom am I speaking?"
Explain it to him.
"I am the primary node in Imperator Skolia's biomech web," Bolt said to Chad. "He is having trouble hearing you. I will interpret. Also, he wishes to know how long he has been gone."
As Chad answered, Bolt thought, He says you went into the corridor four days ago and Pharaoh Dyhianna about three.
No wonder I'm so hungry. He should have been starving; he needed huge amounts of food to fuel his large body. Is Dehya all right?
Bolt relayed the question. He says the pharaoh is having less problem communicating. However, she won't tell anyone what happened.
Kelric glanced at Dehya over the heads of the people around them. She was sitting up and talking to another doctor. Her guards hulked over her, dwarfing her body.
Dehya, Kelric thought. Can you hear me?
She glanced at him. Are you still out of resonance?
Resonance with what? And why doesn't it affect you?
I think whatever damaged Kyle space threw the Lock here out of phase with our universe. My mind adjusts faster than yours, that's all. It's probably the price you pay for all that power. She paused as someone spoke to her. Then she thought, Kelric, we need to talk. We have to get rid of all these worried people.
Worried indeed. The people around them were pretending they didn't notice the pharaoh and imperator having a silent conversation. Although he and Dehya were trying to be subtle, it was hard not to use gestures or facial expressions when they communicated; he did it reflexively. It was awkward, like whispering in front of others, but at the moment he had no other option.
We can't talk just yet, he thought, tilting his head toward Roca, Eldrin, and Ixpar. We must see to our families.
Yes. Her face gentled as she gazed at Eldrin. He looked calmer now than when she had come out of the corridor, but Kelric could imagine how frantic he must have been after she vanished. Guilt washed over him for the worry he had caused.
Dehya's thought rippled. You didn't do it. Something happened, I don't know what, but it's not good.
It's still affecting us.
Can you speak at all with the people here?
Kelric turned his attention to the admiral, who had sat back on the floor. "Chad, do you understand me?"
Everyone around him froze, and the people tending Dehya turned with startled jerks. Ixpar had been lifting her hand to her face, probably to brush away a fiery tendril of hair, but now she stopped with her arm in midair.
For flaming sake. Bolt, why is everyone staring at me?
Your voice sounds odd, Bolt thought. It is unusually loud and it echoes. I believe it is the type of sound humans associate with an elevated being.
Elevated, my ass.
It wasn't until Dehya laughed that he realized he hadn't shielded his mind from her. When he glowered, she thought, I doubt your gluteus maximus has anything to do with it.
Funny, he growled. Her doctors were asking if she was all right, probably because she had laughed for no obvious reason.
He climbed stiffly to his feet, his joints crackling and his knees aching. He towered over everyone. Chad and his doctors stood up as well, and the doctors backed away. Although Chad stayed put, sweat sheened his forehead.
"I'll need to meet with you and the other joint chiefs," Kelric said to him. From the way the admiral blanched, Kelric thought his voice must still sound strange.
"I'll take care of it, sir." Chad's answer had an oddly distant quality, as if he were far away. But he spoke with the same efficient confidence Kelric had always appreciated. Chad Barzun might not have Admiral Ragnar Bloodmark's brilliance, but Kelric would far rather have Chad backing him than Ragnar.
Kelric rolled his shoulders to ease his sore muscles. "Chad, did anyone try going into the Lock to find us?"
"We've been trying," Chad said. "No one with a trace of psi ability has been able to enter the corridor. Normally they can walk a short way before they have to turn back, but this time they couldn't even go under the archway. The path, well—disappeared. We sent in people with a zero Kyle rating, and they found the path, but they couldn't reach the end. They just kept walking. They couldn't communicate with us, either, until they came back. We finally found someone with a negative rating. She reached the end, but the chamber was empty. No singularity. She waited a day, until she ran out of water, but she never found a trace of you or Pharaoh Dyhianna."
"Gods," Kelric muttered.
"It was bizarre," Chad said. "No sensor registered either you or the pharaoh as anywhere on the Orbiter."
"Doesn't that always happen when we go in the Lock?"
"I don't know," Chad admitted. "We have so few records of anyone using this one."
It was true, Kelric realized. He and Dehya called on the Lock as sparingly as possible, for they had no idea what, if anything, might stir a backlash. Exactly what that backlash might be, he neither knew nor desired
to find out.
"Sir, what happened in there?" Chad asked.
A good question. "I'm not sure. I'll brief you at the meeting." Kelric wanted to speak to Dehya before he discussed it with anyone else. He could also see Ixpar watching him, which made it difficult to concentrate on Chad.
The admiral followed his gaze and smiled. "Shall I see you at the meeting then?"
"Yes, that would be good." Kelric started toward his wife, but as soon as he took a step, one of his doctors blocked his way.
The man's face paled as he looked up at Kelric, but he didn't move. "I'm sorry, Lord Skolia. But we don't know if your phase shift can affect your family."
That gave him pause. He wasn't sure what was wrong with him, but he certainly didn't want to shift anyone out of normal space or cause some other bizarre effect. After a moment, he said, "Please tell my wife what you just told me. It's her decision as to whether or not she will come over."
Ixpar was watching him that intense quality of hers, as if she were barely contained energy. Her red hair had escaped its braid and was curling about her face. It reminded him of her personality, civilized on the surface, but with the atavistic queen simmering just below. She had always fascinated him, a study in contrasts, an enlightened leader dedicated to the advancement of her people with the soul of an ancient warrior burning within her.
Although the doctor was obviously uneasy, he went over to where Ixpar stood with Kelric's mother, Roca. Eldrin wasn't there anymore. Glancing around, Kelric saw Eldrin embracing Dehya, his head bent over hers, tears on his face. Kelric was feeling worse by the moment for causing all this upset.
He turned back to see Ixpar walking toward him in her graceful, long-legged gait. She didn't look the least perturbed by the prospect that her husband might suddenly phase out of space-time. A smile curved her lips. She might be the newcomer here, submersed in a culture strange and sometimes inexplicable, but if she felt any apprehension, neither her posture nor her mood revealed it. But then, Ixpar had never been easily daunted.
Roca stayed back. Kelric doubted she was worried about Kyle space anomalies; more likely, she knew he wanted to see Ixpar alone. It was an aspect of her personality he had always appreciated, for all that she frustrated him at times. However much she might want to talk to him, she stayed back, respecting his privacy. Although she had raised her mental shields, he could sense her response to Ixpar. She approved of his new wife. As well she might; they were both formidable women. He detected more than that, though. She had always feared he would overwhelm his loves with the sheer force of his personality and mind. With Ixpar, she had no worries.
Ixpar stopped in front of Kelric, almost eye to eye with him. He wanted to embrace her, but he felt restrained with so many people on the dais: doctors, bodyguards, telops, and mech-techs studying the entrance to the Lock Corridor. He had never had Eldrin's ease with expressing his emotions even one on one, let alone with other people present.
Ixpar brushed a curling tendril out of her face and spoke in formal tones. "It's good to see you."
His voice softened, as it so rarely did nowadays. "I'm glad you're here."
"Kelric—" Her self-assured exterior slipped, and in that instant her worry for him showed. Then she took a breath and once again became the composed queen.
The hell with restraint. Kelric pulled her into his arms, feeling the smooth sweep of her hair under his cheek. With a sigh of release, she put her arms around him, supple in his embrace. She felt like a tiger, slim and sleekly muscled.
"I thought I had found you only to lose you again," she murmured.
"Ai, Ixpar, I'm sorry. I had no idea that would happen."
"Where did you go?"
"I'm not sure." He drew back, his arms around her waist. The faint sprinkle of freckles across her nose was almost impossible to see, except this close up. "You sent that message. The Quis dice."
She touched the dice pouch hanging from her belt, though he didn't think she realized she had taken that reflexive action. "No one could send you messages," she said. "Your officers tried to contact you, but it didn't work."
"You didn't send me mental images of Quis dice?"
"I wouldn't know how."
He realized it was true. Although she empathized strongly with others, he didn't think she was a full psion, certainly not a telepath who could send mental pictures. If she hadn't done it, though, then who? Neither his mother nor his siblings knew anything about Quis.
"Were either Rohka or Jimorla here?" he asked. He had been silent about his children for so long, it felt odd to say their names, as if it made both him and them vulnerable.
"We've been taking turns." She shifted her arms, and her muscles flexed against his back, stirring pleasant memories of their evening together on Coba.
"Hmmm." Kelric drew her closer and nuzzled her cheek.
She laughed softly. "We have an audience, you know."
Well, hell. He lifted his head with reluctance and let her go. "Were either of them here just before Dehya and I came out?"
"Rohka was here until a short time ago," Ixpar said. "She was tired, though. In fact she almost passed out. Your mother sent her to the house so she could rest."
Perhaps his daughter had almost passed out because she had reached between universes to contact him. She had the Ruby power, but no training; such an effort would probably exhaust her. He didn't know who else besides Jimorla would send images of dice, and he didn't think Jimorla had the Kyle strength.
"Has she ever talked about mind pictures?" he asked.
Ixpar shook her head, her brow furrowed. "Nothing. If she has a talent like that, she lets no one know."
It didn't surprise Kelric. Cobans didn't believe psions existed. If Rohka talked about what she could do, they would think her daft. He doubted she had told anyone here, either. Being sixteen years old was difficult enough even without the culture shock she was facing. She had no context to understand her gift. The moment the speaker at the Promenade had given her name as Skolia, almost everyone across three interstellar civilizations had understood its import—except Rohka herself.
"I need to talk to her and Jimorla," he said.
Ixpar's face gentled. "It would be good. They need to see you're all right."
Kelric didn't know if he could assure them of that. He feared none of them were all right, that what he and Dehya had discovered in the Kyle threatened the stability of space itself.
XXIII
The Lost Covenant
Corbal's yacht landed at a private spaceport in the Jaizire Mountains on Eube's Glory, capital planet of the Eubian Concord. Jaibriol had no doubt Corbal told his crew to make sure no one notified the empress. Corbal's spies would triple-check their security to ensure she didn't know her husband had come home.
Tarquine was at the port, of course.
She had come with a flyer, ready to whisk Jaibriol away to his private retreat in the untamed forest of the high peaks.
Corbal scowled as he stood in Jaibriol's cabin, watching the emperor prepare to meet his wife. "You should return to the palace," Corbal growled. "Not gallivant around the mountains."
Jaibriol shrugged into a conservative black-diamond shirt and sealed it up the front. Corbal was trying to unsettle him with the direct speech, but his cousin should know by now it wouldn't work.
"I need a rest, remember?" Jaibriol said. In truth, he was heartily sick of resting. His vertigo had receded, and he felt almost human again.
Corbal crossed his arms and leaned against a table. The furniture was genuine wood, a rarity on any space-faring vessel. Jaibriol liked it, though not for the reason most Hightons approved of such extravagance, because it showed their wealth. During his first fourteen years of life, he had lived on a world where his family had only what they made themselves. He didn't know if the planet had been terraformed or developed flora on its own, but the mountains had been lush with trees. His family had built everything they needed from that wood. He would never tell his cou
sin the true reason he liked the tables on Corbal's yacht: they reminded him of home.
"Hiding in the hills will hardly present a courageous face to your subjects," Corbal said. "They want to see their emperor hale and hearty." Dryly he added, "And alive."
Jaibriol fastened his elegant sleeves with carnelian links at the cuffs. "Surely you don't suggest they know I might not have been alive." If someone had already leaked news of the murder attempt, he would have their hide. Not literally; he wasn't that much like his ancestors.
"No." Corbal straightened his posture, which in Highton meant he intended to convey a supposed truth. "But they will suspect problems exist if you don't attend your duties."
"Robert is going back with you." He cocked an eyebrow at Corbal. "If any dire duties come up that need attending, I'm sure he'll let me know."