Venus Rising (26 page)

“Did you notice? There are a lot of extra
Service guards around the main entrance,” Narisa said. “Perhaps
Admiral Halvo has arrived early.”

Gaidar stopped walking.

“Admiral Halvo is here?”

“He is coming to meet with Tarik and his
father,” Suria explained.

“And you are taking me to the same house?
Halvo is the Cetans’ greatest enemy. He’ll cut me into little
pieces on sight. I’ll have no time to tell him about Starthruster.
I won’t go in there.”

“Gaidar, if we wanted you dead,” Suria
snapped, “we could have left you in Leader Tyre’s prison cell and
saved ourselves a lot of trouble, not to mention a most unpleasant
bath.”

“Ah, well.” Gaidar heaved a great sigh. “I
really haven’t any other place to go, have I? I’ll have to depend
on Tarik to protect me.”

“You don’t need protection,” Suria told him.
“The people around you do. Narisa, why are you waiting? Have you
forgotten the seal numbers?”

“I remember them.” Narisa had found the
garden entrance. “I was just wondering again about those extra
guards.”

She pushed the correct numbers into the
security panel, and the garden door slid silently open. After they
had slipped inside, it closed behind them just as silently. The
garden lay in evening shadow, deserted and almost completely dark.
They made their way along the path between wall and shrubbery until
they found the door to the house. Kalina had said she would leave
it unsealed, so Narisa pushed on it. It slid back, opening upon an
unlighted corridor.

Narisa’s nerves were tense as she sensed
something was not right within the house. She jumped at a movement
in the darkness. As her eyes adjusted, she recognized Kalina, who
stood with her fingers raised to her lips to caution them to
silence. Kalina stepped outside onto the path and drew Narisa and
Suria close to her so she could speak softly.

“We will be safe here for a little while. We
can’t be seen from the house, and there is no one in the garden. I
made certain of that. I have been so worried about you. There has
been some kind of secret alarm given. Leader Tyre has ordered extra
guards posted here, both inside and out. I thought it must have
been because you had succeeded in releasing the Cetan. The new
guards demanded to see you, Narisa. I told them you were overtired
from your recent ordeal and needed a long sleep. I had to invoke
all the privilege accorded to the household of an Assembly Member
to keep them away from the second floor, but they are everywhere on
the first floor, so we must be careful. Are you the Cetan?” Gaidar
had pushed between Narisa and Suria to hear what Kalina was
saying.

“I am,” he said, “and no enemy to the family
of Tarik Gibal.”

“I am Tarik’s mother.”

“I honor you, good mistress.” Gaidar made an
odd, formal bow. Narisa saw through the gathering darkness the
expression of surprise on Kalina’s face, for Gaidar had just used
the particular form of address Demarians reserved for highly ranked
dignitaries.

“Tarik has told me your mother was a
Demarian,” Kalina responded politely. “I see she taught her son
good manners. You are welcome in my house, Gaidar, for her sake and
your own.”

Now it was Gaidar’s turn to be surprised.

“My mother often told me she was dead to her
own people once she had been raped by her Cetan master, and I, as
the child of that rape, would never be accepted by Demarians.”

“I am afraid she spoke the truth, Gaidar. But
there are women, on Demaria and elsewhere, who consider that custom
too harsh and who understand a helpless captive cannot prevent what
is done to her. In any case I would welcome you because you have
dealt fairly with my son and have risked your life to warn us of
the coming Cetan attack.” Kalina paused, sniffing delicately.
“Forgive me the rude question, my friends, but is that smell coming
from you? I cannot avoid noticing it.”

“We had to hide in the sewage pit,” Narisa
explained, and almost laughed out loud at Kalina’s horrified
reaction. “We will tell all of you the entire story later. Have
Tarik and the others returned yet?”

“No, and I think you three had better be
cleaned before they do. Come with me.”

Kalina did not take them to the secure room
on the second floor where Narisa had expected they would go, but to
Narisa’s chambers. They went by way of the back corridors they had
used before. They met no one at all.

“I’m keeping the servants on the first level,
and I have sent Chatta to work in the kitchen,” Kalina told them,
ushering all three directly from the back corridor into Narisa’s
bedroom. “I have managed to deactivate the eavesdropping system
here and in the corridor immediately outside your door, so the
guards could not detect your absence. I gave them my word you were
asleep, and they accepted it. If my lie is discovered, no one will
ever believe me again.”

Narisa knew how precious the reliability of a
Demarian’s word was and how much it must have cost Kalina to lie
while swearing she was speaking the truth. She would have embraced
Kalina in thanks for that lie, but she had become uncomfortably
conscious of her unkempt state.

“Is the bathing room safe, too?” she asked,
and at Kalina’s nod led her companions into that room. “We will
need some clothing for Gaidar and Suria.”

“I’ll find something, and some food, too, and
try to think of a way to dispose of those disreputable garments you
are wearing without creating suspicion. Narisa, your Beltan clothes
are on your bed.”

Kalina left them. Without a word or any sense
of false modesty all three of them immediately removed every piece
of their clothing. At Suria’s suggestion they bundled all of it
into a large towel and tied it up so Kalina could take it away more
easily.

“First,” Narisa said, producing the razor,
“Gaidar must be shaved. Make no objection, Gaidar. If it becomes
necessary for you to try to escape again, a clean face and a
Service haircut are your best disguise.”

Gaidar did not argue. It took only a few
minutes. Afterward they made him sit on the lowest step in the
bathing tub while Suria trimmed his hair into a neat style
compatible with Service regulations. Lastly, they filled the tub
with hot water and cleanser. The women scrubbed Gaidar thoroughly
and then washed themselves. There was no time for playfulness while
they did this, for they did not know when the door to Narisa’s
chambers might burst open and Service guards appear in spite of
Kalina’s attempts to keep them away. They worked quickly and
efficiently. The tub was drained and filled again for a second
scrub before they were satisfied that the last traces of sewage had
been removed. By then they all looked like ordinary people instead
of fugitives, and they began to relax a little.

“It seems strange,” Suria said as they soaked
in the fresh suds, “to treat a Cetan as a friend after all the
centuries of fighting them. It’s difficult to disregard all I’ve
been taught and accept that idea.”

“On the Cetan planets,” Gaidar told her,
“warriors owe allegiance only to their warlords, who quarrel and
make peace as they please. It is common for a Cetan to fight side
by side today with yesterday’s enemies, against yesterday’s
friends. So it is not a strange thing to me.”

“We stopped that kind of treacherous warfare
centuries ago when the Jurisdiction came into being.” Suria’s voice
was full of pride.

“Which left you only Cetans to fight.” Gaidar
grinned wickedly. “And now you have to fight your own leaders to
regain your freedom from them. That is what you will have to do in
the end, you know, because you have been lazy and let the Assembly
grow too powerful and do whatever it wanted. It would never have
happened to Cetans.”

“Hush, don’t talk like that here,” Suria
admonished. “We can’t be completely certain Kalina was able to stop
all the eavesdropping equipment.”

“I will remain silent,” Gaidar promised, “if
you will use that green sponge on my back again.”

Narisa was only partially listening to this
conversation. Her mind was on Tarik. She hoped he was safe. She
thought he had to be, since Kalina had expressed no concern for
either husband or son. However, Narisa was not so distracted she
did not notice that Suria seemed to enjoy washing Gaidar’s broad
shoulders and arms, with special attention given to the scrapes and
cuts he had sustained, before beginning a second soaping of his
hair. Nor did she miss the appreciative gleam in the Cetan’s eyes
whenever he looked at Suria. She watched in some amusement how he
stepped quickly out of the tub when Suria had finished with him and
hastily wrapped a thick towel around himself. It was not hard to
imagine what he might have done had he been alone with the
voluptuous redhead.

Narisa herself was distressed by the many
bruises on Suria’s lushly curved body. They could not have come
from the day’s adventures. They were old bruises, and they were in
the wrong places. No one today had grabbed Suria’s breasts, or
pummeled her inner thighs and upper arms.

“Leader Tyre did it.” Suria answered Narisa’s
timid question calmly. “It excites him to hurt women.”

“0h, Suria, I am so sorry.”

“It won’t happen again,” Suria said. “My
actions today have freed me of him. Tyre and I are enemies now.
When he learns what I have done, he will want me dead, not least of
all because I might speak of the terrible things he does in
private.”

“Cetans do that sort of thing to their
women.” Gaidar turned to face them with his towel firmly fastened
about his middle. “My mother complained of it. She said women
prefer their men to be gentle and not hurt them. But when I tried
to be gentle with a Cetan woman, she called me unmanly.”

“It depends upon the woman,” Suria said,
looking into his golden eyes. “Perhaps you should ask first.”

“Perhaps I will,” Gaidar answered softly, and
Narisa felt as though she was intruding upon some private
ceremony.

To her relief, the mood was broken by
Kalina’s return. She had brought a tray of food and a Service
uniform for Gaidar to wear.

“It was my son’s,” she told him. “It’s the
only thing I have that could possibly fit over those shoulders of
yours. You are much the same size.”

“Not Tarik, he’s not this big.” Gaidar held
up the uniform jacket. “Have you another son, Mistress Kalina?”

“Halvo, my older boy. It’s the first uniform
he wore after he became a Service officer.”

“Admiral Halvo is your son? These foolish
women didn’t tell me that.” Gaidar swallowed hard and tried to give
the jacket back to Kalina. “Don’t you think he will object to my
wearing his clothes?”

“He’d object much more strenuously to your
appearance in a towel,” she said tartly. “Put it on, young man. And
comb your hair.”

“Only my mother ever spoke to me in that tone
and lived,” Gaidar growled. A sudden grin split his face, making
him look younger and less hard. “That was the first bath I’ve had
since she died.”

“Don’t try to shock me, Gaidar. It can’t be
done. I raised two sons of my own, remember. Narisa, Suria, into
the other room and dress there. Allow the poor man some
privacy.”

They ate while they dried themselves and
dressed. Kalina had brought them heated bowls of vegetable stew,
bread, cheese and wine.

“It’s a feast,” Gaidar called from the
bathing room, and Kalina smiled at his delighted voice.

Narisa was happy to put her Beltan clothes on
again. Comfortable in the simple garment and refreshed by her bath,
she brushed her clean golden brown hair until it swung in a short,
straight veil about her face. The only thing she lacked now was
Tarik’s presence. She hoped he would return soon. She had so much
to tell him.

There was a dark green dress for Suria, in a
similar style to Narisa’s. It was too long, but she bloused it over
a tightly cinched belt. In the months since her disgrace her red
hair had grown longer than Service regulations stipulated, and now
it curled almost to her shoulders. The green of her dress made her
eyes appear larger and greener. Her skin was creamy pale, and the
bruises were hidden by her clothing.

Narisa felt a quick stab of jealousy looking
at her, then brushed it away. Suria’s recent life had been nothing
to envy, and she could not want Tarik and still look at Gaidar the
way she did. There was nothing to fear from Suria.

When Gaidar walked out of the bathing room,
Narisa would not have known him had it not been for his eyes. In
the dark blue uniform jacket and trousers, he might have been a
young Service officer. His yellow hair was neatly combed, his wide,
square-jawed face was handsome. Even the once-broken nose did not
mar his appearance, but only made him look more interesting. Yet
the golden eyes were pure Cetan, fierce and searching. Narisa
reminded herself he was not a member of the civilized Races. He
might be almost a friend, and trustworthy, but he was still
different
She wished Suria would remember that. From the
expression on her face, Narisa did not think she would.

“You look quite presentable,” Kalina told
Gaidar. “My husband arid Tarik have returned. Come with me,
please.”

Had she not been trying so hard to keep from
flinging herself into Tarik’s arms in front of his parents, Narisa
might have laughed at the expression on his face when he looked
from her to Suria and back again. She saw plainly the uneasiness he
must have felt at finding his former lover and his present love
entering the secure room together with no sign of strain between
them.

Almaric seemed unaware of the tension in
Tarik’s carefully composed face and stance, for he had focused at
once on Gaidar.

“By what means,” he demanded, “has a junior
Service officer gained admission to my wife’s most private
chamber?”