The Darkness Before the Dawn - By Ryan Hughes Page 0,67

the same lack of enthusiasm. He couldn’t imagine how it could do anything, much less run anywhere, but he would take Kitarak’s word for it.

“Nice,” he said, then went back to his own room.

Power-storage crystals, eh? He tried tapping into one, imagining its energy flowing into him, but nothing happened. Maybe it was more like a mindlink. He tried that, and this time he got a glimmer of contact. It felt as though there might actually be something to link with, as if there were more than simple energy inside. He tried a little harder, pushing for linkage…

Hey! Kayan’s angry shout startled him out of contact. What do you think you’re doing? she demanded.

Trying to mindlink with one of these crystals, he said.

Sure you are, she said, acrimony oozing from her voice. You’re trying to force yourself on me. Well, where I come from, that’s called mindrape. And the next time you try it, I’ll squish your filthy intrusive brain out through your ears, you got it?

Kayan, that’s not what I—

Stay out of my head!

Sudden pain flared in Jedra’s skull. He clutched his head and rocked backward in agony, then Kitarak’s training took hold and he shielded his mind from her attack.

A thump and a crash sounded from the workshop, then Kitarak stomped into the great room. “What is going on here?” he bellowed, his voice amplified psionically until it rattled the stones in the roof.

Jedra leaned out through the doorway. “I, uh, I was trying to link with those crystals, but I evidently slipped and pushed myself on Kayan instead.” She stuck her head out from the library, and he told her, “Really, Kayan, that’s what happened.”

“Sure.”

Kitarak looked at Jedra, then at her. “You made me ruin the gear I was making,” he told her.

She hung her head. “I’m sorry.”

“You should be.” Kitarak rasped his arms against his sides loud enough to make Jedra and Kayan wince. “You two have the worst control of anybody I’ve ever had the misfortune to tutor. Jedra, your attempt to mindlink—whether aimed at Kayan or not—was the clumsiest I’ve felt since I stepped on a baby tembo. No wonder she blasted you. I was just about to do it myself. But you”—he looked back at Kayan—“your unfocused tantrum was even worse. It had all the subtlety of a detonation spell. I am ashamed to call you students if this is the way you use my teaching.”

“I’m sorry,” Kayan said again.

“Me, too,” said Jedra, nearly writhing with embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to bother anybody.”

“Well, you did,” said Kitarak. “And so did you,” he said to Kayan. He rasped his arms again, then stepped farther into the room. “Sit down,” he said, gesturing at the cushions. “Join your minds. I will teach you control or die in the attempt.”

Kayan lingered in the doorway. “I don’t think I—”

“Sit down!” Kitarak’s voice jerked her into action, and she practically leaped for the cushions. Jedra didn’t wait to be told a second time.

“Converge,” Kitarak told them.

Jedra looked at Kayan. Her eyes smoldered with pure hatred. All the same, Jedra felt the familiar tingling in his mind that signaled her presence, so he closed his eyes on her physical form and let his mind touch hers.

They linked, but their agitation kept them from merging completely. I’m really sorry, Jedra said as soon as he realized he hadn’t lost his identity in the union this time.

I bet, she replied.

Kitarak’s mind joined them, a cold, dark, alien presence even less comforting than their own uneasy intellects. Calm yourselves, he said. We will start with a simple probe. Both of you, see if you can find what I’m visualizing. Kitarak’s presence winked out as completely as if he had never existed. He had shielded himself.

Kayan? Jedra asked.

What?

I really wasn’t trying to—

Drop it. Kitarak’s waiting. Are you going to try to break through his shield, or are you going to just sit there whining?

Damn it, I’m trying to apologize!

I don’t want your apology. I don’t want anything from you, understand?

The emotions boiling through the link hurt far more than her words. Jedra felt her contempt for him like a physical wound in his guts. Worse, he felt her own pain and knew he had caused it. He had hurt her deeply with his foolish remark about slumming.

She turned her attention to Kitarak, but Jedra stopped her. It was almost instinctive, the way he wrenched her mind back into contact with his. Look, he said, forget him fora minute. Probeme. Then you’ll see what