Free strongholdrising by Lisanne Norman

lack for lovers either, should he wish to look elsewhere. Apart from that light pelt of his, he's almost indistinguishable from us. It isn't as if he were really alien, like one of the Sumaan or a Chemerian, or even a Human."

"I just hope the Captain isn't going to want our hides," said Mrowbay morosely. "If he believes our interference has driven his niece away from any kind of mating with our people, we'll be in for a hard trip home."

"You're just so damned optimistic these days, aren't you, Mrowbay?" snapped Sheeowl, getting to her feet. "Well, I'm not sitting around waiting for Captain Tirak to come and yell at me over this. I'm going down to the Profit now. I've got work to do, and so have the rest of you if we're going to leave on schedule tomorrow."

     
    * * *
     
    The debriefing had been a long process, taking several hours for Vriuzu's questions to slowly draw the details of his captivity from him. But he'd not told the telepath everything. He'd managed to keep one or two incidents, like his night with Zayshul, locked deep away.

The experience had been intensely painful, and he'd been glad that he'd refused to allow Carrie or T'Chebbi to remain. Rezac had stayed with him, keeping a watch on Vriuzu and encouraging him when the memories became too painful to describe. He felt drained and exhausted, unable to even look Rezac in the eyes.

When it was over, wearing the fresh black robe Carrie had fetched for him, he let himself be led from the sick bay to a private bedroom nearby. Glad though he was to be leaving there, after the quietness of the sick bay, the noise and bustle of the corridors was almost too much for him. When loud voices, followed by the sound of running feet broke out, he began to panic.

Two small white shapes streaked around the corner, heading straight toward him, obviously closely pursued by several people.

"What the hell?" began Rezac, instantly hauling him to one side as he reached for his gun.

Unable to stop in time, the lead figure collided with T'Chebbi, almost knocking her to the ground. As the others rounded the corner, they managed to dodge aside at the last moment.

"Hi, Carrie, Kusac. The jeggets, where did they go?" demanded Brynne, sliding to a stop on the stone floor.

"They didn't," said Jeran, looking down the corridor behind him. "They're still around here somewhere."

"Sorry, T'Chebbi," said the other male Human as he untangled himself from her. "Belle and Scamp suddenly decided to go run-about." Now upright, Kris reached out to help her straighten her jacket.

She batted his hands away, frowning at him. "Haven no place for animals. No business bringing them here in first place," she grumbled, returning her gun to its holster.

"Had no choice. You know I took him with me to Jalna," Kris replied, crouching down to look along the floor.

As Rezac released him and put his gun away, he leaned against the wall, trying to gather his wits together after the shock of the encounter.

"Hello, Kusac," said Brynne quietly, abandoning his search. "It's good to see you in the flesh at last. How're you feeling?" He extended his hand, palm up, in the telepath's greeting.

He looked at Brynne mutely, knowing he should respond but unable to do so.

"It's all right, I understand." Brynne withdrew his hand, clasping him briefly on the shoulder instead. "Must be a hell of a shock after what you've been through to suddenly have us descending on you like this." Brynne glanced down at Kris. "You can stop looking, Kris, I found them." He turned back to Kusac, mouth widening in a grin. "Seems our jeggets have taken a fancy to you, Kusac. They're hiding behind your robes."

Pressing himself back against the wall, he stared wide-eyed at the Human. J'koshuk had shown his teeth in the same way when he'd smiled. He shuddered, remembering what the Valtegan's smile had meant. Anger, quickly suppressed, flared briefly. Dammit, why was he so afraid of something as simple as a Human's smile?

Brynne's smile