Rezac lunged past the alien for the floor of the stasis cube base unit, trying to reach a pistol that lay there. The alien reached out and stopped him.

No, don't. He'll have us killed before you reach it. You're weak from being inside that cube. You both nearly died. Wait for now.

Shocked not only by the sending from the stranger, but by his sudden weakness, Rezac let himself be pulled back till he sat on the ground by his Leska.

"Search, then bind them. Bring them up to the Lesser Hall," ordered the one in charge.

One at a time, Kris and Davies were taken from the small chamber, searched for weapons, then bound. There were cries of delight when a gun was found on the latter. Then Jo's turn came.

"Hey, this one's a woman!" yelled the guard searching her.

Jo struggled in the grasp of her captor as he began to search her again, an ugly leer on his face.

"What's a woman doing with a bunch of thieves? One of them your master, eh?"

"Leave me alone!" said Jo, pulling frantically away from his grasping hands.

Help came from an unexpected quarter-- Zashou. With a rumble of anger that quickly rose to a growl, she pushed aside their guard and leaped into the corridor. Her lips pulled back from her teeth revealing large canines as she loomed protectively over the smaller Human female.

Jo felt a stab of pain as her mental shields were ruthlessly penetrated by Rezac and her mind quickly read. Then he was gone, leaving her confused and even more terrified.

"Leave her! Or lose your life!" said Zashou in halting Jalnian. Her claws were extended, the deadly talons curved toward the guard.

Jo was suddenly released as the man stepped back in fear, fumbling for the crossbow slung on his shoulder.

The two holding Kris and Davies instantly came forward, quarrels pointed directly at Zashou and Jo.

"Enough! Turn around with your hands behind your backs," ordered the lead one.

We must comply. They will kill us otherwise, came the quick mental command from Zashou. The two females did as they were ordered.

Rezac was another matter. Realizing his Leska was being bound was enough for him. With an ear-splitting roar, he emerged from the room at full tilt, looking for someone to attack. What would have been a bloodbath ended abruptly as the lead guard stepped to one side, allowing the enraged Sholan to run past before hitting him soundly on the back of the head with his crossbow stock. Rezac fell like a stone.

By the time they'd been dragged through the great hall and up the stone steps to the Lord's private hall, Rezac, held securely by two burly guardsmen, was beginning to come round.

"Untie our guests," ordered Lord Killian, lifting his arm to allow his attendant to continue stripping off his padded body armor.

"Excuse the harsh welcome, but I didn't want you leaving before we'd time to get better acquainted."

At the sound of the voice, Rezac raised his head just enough to peer at the speaker through the hair that fell over his face. A growl began to build low in his throat as he tugged at his bonds.

"May I suggest you reassure your large friends they're in no danger. I'd prefer not to have to shoot them to preserve the lives of myself and my men." As the protective jacket was slipped from his chest, he indicated the half-dozen crossbowmen ranged at the top of the stairwell down to the main hall.

"I understand you," growled Rezac, lifting his head fully and shaking it till his mane of hair was cleared from his face. It settled like a dark cloud around his shoulders. "Release me, then we will listen to you."

Killian gestured to the guards, and Rezac's bonds were cut. Pulling his arms forward, he ripped the remaining ropes free and massaged his wrists.

"I'm Lord Killian. Please, be seated," the burly man said, gesturing to the large wooden table that dominated the center of the room.

As Rezac moved toward the far end of the table, he glanced around the room, quickly assessing its windows and exits.

Opposite the opening for the stairs was a fireplace in which burned a generous log fire. There were two large windows, paned with small rectangles of thick glass. The other four, spaced along the outer wall, were mere narrow arrow slits covered by wooden shutters. Two doors flanked by tied-back curtains led off from either side of the fireplace. Against the third wall, the one with the arrow slits, a similar curtain was closed. Even as he looked at it, the lower edge flared outward. Probably a third door, Rezac surmised. One to the outside.

Facing the stairwell, its back to the fire, was a large, ornately carved high-backed chair. Obviously Killian's seat.

As Rezac sat down, he saw the Human female begin to move as well, the others following her. She was their leader, then. Strange that it wasn't one of the males. Quickly he searched through the information he'd taken from her downstairs. There was more than he'd realized at the time-- too much to make sense of yet.

Later, sent Zashou. Let's focus on now.

Rezac turned to look more closely at their three Human companions. The differences between them and the Jalnians were subtle. He only noticed them because he'd touched the female's mind. They were newly into space, these Humans, and by their own endeavors: far more advanced than the Jalnians. Their skin had a slightly different cast to it, and their bodies moved differently, hinting at a dissimilar musculature and possibly skeleton beneath the flesh.

Movement by Lord Killian drew his attention away from them, and he watched the large male as he circled the table to take his seat. Placing hands almost as big as Rezac's own on the table, Killian looked at them all in turn.

"Time for you to introduce yourselves," he said, his voice deceptively mild. "Perhaps even to tell me why you're here."

Jo tried not to glance at her two male companions before she began to speak. "I'm afraid you've made a mistake, Lord Killian. We're nothing more than thieves...." Her voice trailed off into silence as the guard Killian gestured to approached the table and spilled onto it the bundle of possessions taken from them during the search.

"I think not," said Killian, picking up the energy pistol lying in the midst of the pile. "This doesn't belong to Jalna."

He fiddled with the weapon for a moment or two, then pointed it at Davies who was sitting opposite him.

"Don't point it at me, it's got a hair trigger!" he exclaimed, visibly blanching. "It'll discharge at the slightest pressure!"

Killian turned the gun on its side and studied it again before replacing it on the table. "Indeed. Then let's hope I don't have to use it on any of you. We were discussing your names and why you'd come to my castle."

Jo had let out an angry exclamation at the sight of the pistol. Now that it was no longer threatening him, Davies glanced over at her.

"Sorry, Jo," he muttered. "I know I shouldn't have brought it."

"So you're called Jo, and you're the leader. Now we're getting somewhere," said Killian, sitting back in his chair and clasping his hands across his stomach. "Please continue."

Rezac could sense his satisfaction.

Jo indicated them each in turn. "Davies, Kris, Zashou, and Rezac." She hesitated before continuing and Rezac could feel her uncertainty, then her acceptance that there was nothing to be gained from lying when the truth was obvious. "We aren't from Jalna. We came to find out what was on the crashed scouter."

"Not to rescue these furred ones?"

"Sholans," Jo corrected him. "We didn't know they were in the stasis cube."

"What is stasis cube?" Killian copied the Human words carefully.

"The cube you brought here. Inside it, time was frozen for our friends. In stasis."

"Frozen?"

In his mind, Rezac echoed the word. So that was what had happened to them! The last thing he remembered was them running from the Valtegan palace guards.

The lab! We ran into a laboratory! sent Zashou. The cube must have been there!

Later, replied Rezac, refocusing on the audible conversation. It's difficult enough to follow them without getting sidetracked. "A person is a stasis cube has no idea of the passing of time," said Kris, looking to Rezac and Zashou for confirmation.

Rezac flicked an ear in assent.

"For them, when they're released, it's as if nothing has happened. Rezac and Zashou have also been moved. They're no longer where they were when they were imprisoned in the cube."

Killian scratched at his beard. "How long were they in this cube?"

Rezac was suddenly aware of Jo's compassion for them and her reluctance to say more. She looked at them before answering. "We think one thousand and five hundred years," she said quietly.

Rezac's ears flattened in shock and briefly the room began to fade around him. How long? He could barely comprehend what she'd said.

"A long time," said Killian, his voice slightly faint at the concept of that many years. "I presume your enemies placed you there. You must be formidable warriors indeed if that was the only way to remove you. Who were you fighting?"

"A species called the Valtegans," Jo replied. "They trade at the Spaceport occasionally."

Zashou's sudden despair swept through Rezac. It was all for nothing! We failed!

Enough! Rezac's mental tone was harsh.

Killian shook his head. "Never heard of them. No matter. What were you hoping to find on this crashed vehicle? Weapons?"

"Information," said Jo. "Information about the Valtegans-- where they come from, what they left behind on Jalna, where they were going."

"And did you find this information?"

"Ah." Again Jo looked over at Rezac. "Partly."

"Obviously you found out what they left," said Killian, gesturing toward the two Sholans. "But the rest?"

"No," said Kris. "We found nothing. The craft was too badly damaged."

"There were no bodies. How can such a vehicle move with no one to drive it?"

"Remotes," said Rezac. "From a distance," he added, realizing how inadequate the Jalnian language was to explain technical matters.

Thoughtfully, Killian sat back in his chair and began stroking his beard while his gaze flicked from one to the other of them. "Now, I presume, you wish to return to the Spaceport and leave Jalna for your own worlds."

"That was the general idea," said Davies, speaking for the first time.

"Unfortunately that won't be possible," said Killian, his tone regretful. "Another blizzard is due tonight and the pass will be blocked by morning. I'm afraid you'll have to accept my hospitality until the weather improves."

He's lying, Kris sent to Jo.

We can't prove it, Rezac replied.

The only outward sign of both Kris' and Jo's surprise at Rezac joining the conversation was a slight tensing of their bodies.

Good, thought Rezac to himself. At least they're skilled in concealment.

Jo's reply, when it came, was slower and fainter. What do we do, then?

Go along with him for now. We have no other options yet, Rezac replied while sending a private thought to Kris.

Later, the Human replied.

"In return for my hospitality, perhaps you can help me," said Killian, oblivious to their mental exchange.

"In what way?" asked Kris.

"Bradogan, who rules the Spaceport and its surrounding lands, is hungry for power. Those Lords he can't ally to himself with bribes of off-world goods, he wages war on. It's only a matter of time till his eyes fall on Kaladar. I want an edge, something to keep him away from my lands. Something like this weapon here." He indicated the pistol. "You could help me by making more of them."

"Those weapons are highly sophisticated, Lord Killian," said Kris. "They require manufacturing methods not available on Jalna. We couldn't make them for you, even if we knew how."

Killian raised an eyebrow quizzically.

"We know how to use them, but we don't know how to make them," said Jo.

"You know how they work, you can make them." Killian's voice had grown cold.

"You misunderstand us, Lord," said Kris. He pointed to one of the guardsmen behind them. "They can use their crossbows, but could they make one?"

"You misunderstand me. You will provide me with off-world weapons," said Killian uncompromisingly. "If not that one, then others that fulfill a similar purpose."

He pushed himself to his feet. "Escort my guests to their chambers," he ordered his guards. "Think about it overnight. I'm sure you'll see the wisdom of mutual cooperation. We'll talk again in the morning."

They were escorted through the curtained doorway out onto an external balcony. The air was bitter as it blew fresh flurries of snow into their faces. Dressed as they were, Rezac could feel the cold hit Zashou and he moved closer to her, holding an arm out in invitation to her to share his warmth.

He felt her mental retreat as she shied physically back from him. Only a step, but it was enough. Their long sleep hadn't changed anything then, he thought with a sigh.

Are they going to lock us in some dungeon? asked Jo, trying to control the chattering of her teeth. Maybe he wasn't lying about the blizzard after all!

I don't think he'll put us in a dungeon tonight, sent Kris. Likely it'll be somewhere comfortable. He's reminding us how cold it is to persuade us that cooperation is worthwhile. If we don't, then tomorrow it'll be the dungeons.

I agree, sent Rezac.

The two males proved to be right. The rooms they were shown to were in a small tower set near the center of the castle. A suite for visiting dignitaries, or noble prisoners.

The main chamber boasted a fire almost as large as that in Killian's private quarters. Opening off it were two smaller bedrooms, both of which had beds hung with heavy drapes and fires burning in the grates. There was also a small closet that served as a privy. In the larger, a pile of blankets and three pallets lay next to the fire.

Once their escort had left, a search of the suite showed that the exit was guarded. The windows were shuttered, but in any case they were too far above ground level to make escape through them a practical proposition.

In front of the main fire, the table was set with food and wine.

"Ever get the feeling you were expected?" asked Davies, strolling over to the food and helping himself to a piece of meat from some type of fowl.

"We weren't betrayed," said Jo shortly.

Rezac turned to his Leska. "You should eat, Zashou. It's been a long time since our last meal."

She flicked an ear in reply and headed slowly for one of the dining chairs by the fire. He could feel her tiredness affecting him.

"You, too," he said, looking at the remaining two Humans. "We must all keep our strength up. No telling when or where our next meal will come from." As he turned toward the table, he felt a hand on his arm. Abruptly he turned back, teeth partially bared in a snarl.

Jo didn't flinch, but she did release him very slowly. "We're allies of Shola," she said in his language. "They brought us here undercover to examine the Valtegan scouter. There are four more Sholans imprisoned on Jalna. We have to work together, Rezac."

He turned away from her and continued over to the table. Lifting the flimsy knife, he began trying to hack some meat from the cold joint in the center.

"You've been to Shola?"

"Yes, briefly," replied Jo.

"Where?"

"Valsgarth Telepath Guild and the Warrior Guild in Nazule."

"What about Ranz, on the plains?" He sensed Kris joining him at the table.

"Don't you mean in the Dzahai Mountains? I've been to Vartra's Retreat too."

Startled, Rezac looked round. "Vartra's Retreat? So he did go to the temple at Stronghold after all."

"The temple at Valsgarth is the main one now, but yes, there's also a temple of Vartra at Stronghold."

"Temple?" asked Zashou, looking up at Jo and Kris. "What has Vartra to do with temples?"

Rezac watched the two Humans exchange glances.

"You've a helluva lot of catching up to do," observed Davies sitting down. "On the Shola we know, Vartra is the major god of warriors and telepaths. He was responsible for saving them from the Cataclysm." He reached out for another piece of meat.

"He was a person? You knew him?" Jo sat down opposite Zashou.

Shocked once more to the core, Rezac let the knife fall from his grasp and sat down heavily. "A god? How?"

"It seems we've outlived ourselves," said Zashou. "You were right the first time, Rezac. Let's eat. We can talk of these matters later, when we're stronger." They can't tell us much if they were only there briefly.

"I lived there for six months, Zashou," said Kris, taking the seat next to Jo.

"You can hear us mind-speak to each other?" demanded Rezac.

Kris smiled. "We Terrans have one or two Talents of our own. That's why I was living on Shola."

A small chirrup of sound drew Rezac's gaze to Kris' jacket pocket. From its depths popped a white-furred face, muzzle and ears tipped with brown, large eyes glancing rapidly round the assembled faces. A trill of pleasure as it saw Jo, and a sniff of disdain at the two Sholans, and Scamp emerged. Scrambling up Kris' arm to his neck, it raised its front paws to pat his face then leaped down to the table to run to Jo.

"A jegget!" exclaimed Zashou. "You brought a jegget with you?"

Rezac began to laugh. "You've got more than Talents if you can befriend a jegget!" Now he knew they came from Shola-- and more: as the only other telepathic species on their world, no jegget would go near a person it didn't trust. In fact, the little creatures were notorious for that. Get a nest of jeggets in your barn, and you'd never get rid of them! They knew when you were coming, knew where your traps were.

Scamp, meanwhile, was twining himself and his dark-tipped bushy tail round Jo's neck, chirruping and purring for all he was worth.

Aware of his pet's feelings, and a large part of the reason for them, Kris glanced over at Rezac.

Please, say nothing. The Valtegans ruled Jo's world, using females like her for sex. I need her trust. If she realized what I feel for her...

Rezac cut him short with an affirmative gesture. It's not my business.

Reassured all was well with Jo, Scamp returned to Kris, looking and sniffing hopefully in the direction of the meat.

"Feed him," said Rezac, gesturing at the plate as feelings of ravenous hunger stole into their minds. She doesn't sense him. Why not?

Jo is only a latent telepath. She chooses not to train her Talent. She's a linguist-- she studies languages and was responsible for compiling the first Valtegan lexicon.

So the Valtegans are still at large.

There are no Valtegans on Shola. Your people came across them on our first colony world, Keiss. They rescued the colonists-- Jo was one of them. We don't know where the Valtegans are now, or what they're doing, that's why we're on Jalna. That's how we found you.

Rezac, later, sent Zashou. Catching up is not important. Eating and sleeping is, so is deciding what to do about Killian and the weapons he wants.

You're right.

"How did you avoid Scamp being found when we were searched?" Zashou asked Kris as she tore off a lump of bread from the loaf and handed the rest to Jo.

Kris grinned as he pushed some small pieces of meat to one side for Scamp. "I suggested to the guard that he didn't really want to touch me. Strangely enough, he agreed."

"They'll find out soon enough," warned Davies.

"I don't think they'll care," said Kris.

"You said you'd trained at a warrior guild. We had something similar in our time, but it taught you to fight unarmed and with traditional bladed weapons."

"Now it also teaches you the use of modern energy weapons. I can strip and maintain most Sholan weapons with the best of them, but build one from scratch?" He shook his head.

"Davies is the electronics genius," said Jo.

Rezac looked at him. "Could you build a weapon?"

"Depends what they've brought here from the shuttle. The good Lord Killian had the craft stripped of just about everything that might have been useful, and naturally, they didn't know what they were doing!"

"What kind of vessel was it?"

"A scouter. Space to ground vehicle."

"From a Valtegan warship?"

"Do they have any other kind?" asked Jo wryly.

Rezac grinned slightly. "No. Then the scouter will be armed. It will have its own weapons system. We could dismantle and use that."

"Should we even be thinking of giving them a weapon at all?" asked Zashou. "I'm sure they've discovered enough efficient ways of killing each other on their own."

"We haven't a choice," said Kris. "You heard Killian."

"Besides, it doesn't have to work for long," said Davies. "Just long enough for us to get out of this place!"

"Fuel sources alone will limit its life," agreed Rezac. "Unless I'm mistaken, there should be a backup battery that stores energy for it to use."

"You know a fair bit about the Valtegans, don't you?" said Jo.

"Should. We were prized pets of theirs for a year," growled Rezac, the grin vanishing.

"You mentioned a palace. What palace?"

"The Emperor's. God-King of the Four Realms." He tried, but couldn't control his hate and anger at what they'd suffered during their captivity.

Zashou winced. "Rezac," she said warningly. "He's dust now, they all are. Let the rage go."

With an effort, Rezac pushed the anger to the back of his mind and refocused on the business at hand.

"That was fifteen hundred years ago, though," said Davies. "How much use is that knowledge to us now?"

"How much can a people change in that time?" Jo asked Rezac.

"Valtegans, not at all," he said shortly.

"You seem much the same as your modern counterparts," said Kris. "I imagine the basic Valtegan species traits will have remained unchanged too."

"Well, you'll be able to tell, won't you?" said Rezac, aware his tone was somewhat snappish but unable to stop himself.

"I was sent on this mission because I understand the Valtegans more than anyone else at present," said Jo. "Your knowledge is invaluable. Will you both share it with me?"

"If it'll help, of course," said Zashou, glancing angrily at her Leska.

"Assuming this shuttle is military and has a weapons system on board, then we'll need to look for it, with no guarantee that the Jalnians haven't ripped it apart," said Kris. "That should buy us some time at least."

"Agreed," said Rezac. "However, it will be bolted into the structure of the vehicle and I doubt the Jalnians would have been able to work those panels loose."

"Were your people in space when the Valtegans came?" asked Davies.

"Only just. They arrived without warning and in such vast numbers that there was little we could do to fight them."

"So how come you know so much about their Üxwspacecraft?"

"I don't, but I was communicating with those of our people who were on warships in space."

Zashou leaned forward to touch Davies on the arm. "On Shola, telepaths were hunted by the Valtegans as live trophies and kept to show how important a person was. Anyone of high standing had a Sholan telepath as a pet," she said quietly. "That was the crux of their downfall. It took time, but eventually there were enough of us on the four Valtegan home worlds and in their galactic fleet to strike. It was we who coordinated the communications between the ships and the worlds-- the slave worlds, too. We gave the order to strike."

"To strike?" asked Davies. "You're supposed to be unable to fight!"

Zashou shook her head. "Rezac can, for a short time, then the nausea gets to him, too. But I didn't mean that way. The nontelepath slaves and the other species, they fought. What we had done was to subvert the Valtegans' minds, cause them to doubt one another, Challenge for position-- and more. We used our abilities to destroy them, weaken them for the civil war that followed. We turned Valtegan against Valtegan. So we know them, know their weaknesses-- and their strengths." She shuddered briefly at the memories, still fresh for them, and sat back.

"Did you say the Valtegans had four home worlds?" asked Jo.

"Yes, plus some three other slave worlds."

She moaned quietly. "Four worlds full of Valtegans! There's no way we can possibly win against them!"

"We thought that, but you say Shola's free of them now," said Rezac. "It wasn't how many we killed, it was who we killed. Take out the bridge crew of a warship, barricade the doors, and within minutes you can crash the ship into the rest of that fleet and all for the loss of one person."

"That's suicide on a mass scale!"

Rezac looked calmly at Jo. "Yes, it was, and it was the price we all, us included, expected and were willing to pay."

"You communicated over interplanetary space?" Kris asked quietly.

"Were we not answered by telepaths from Shola?" asked Rezac. "The skill has obviously lived on."

"Those who answered you weren't exactly Sholan telepaths," said Jo.

Rezac frowned. "Of course they were. Who else could it have been? Not Humans-- the minds were Sholan."

"They would seem so," said Kris. "The one who answered you was Human, a Human female with a Sholan Leska."

"Impossible!"

Jo shook her head. "No. He's telling you the truth. There are several Sholans with Human Leska partners now, but Carrie and Kusac Aldatan were the first."

"Aldatan?" exclaimed Zashou. "That's my family name! But how...?"

"Vartra," said Rezac. "His tinkering with our genes led to that. Your sister must have been enhanced, too."

"Sister?" asked Jo.

"My sister Zylisha was Vartra's Companion when we were taken by the Valtegans," said Zashou. "The enhanced genes must have passed on to their children. Vartra did what he originally set out to do."

"He did more than that from the sound of it," said Davies dryly. "Carrie and Kusac would have had a child if she hadn't lost it when she was injured. Another mixed Leska pair were expecting one when we left Shola."

"Cubs," said Zashou faintly. "Human and Sholan cubs."

"No wonder he's achieved godhood!" said Rezac. "Maybe Shanka had the right of it after all. Without Vartra playing god with our lives, none of this would have happened."

"Leave Shanka out of this, Rezac! Just remember, when I offered you the serum, you chose to take it! You could have refused."

Rezac snorted angrily. "What good would it have done? Once you'd taken it, we were all going to catch it."

"What does it matter now anyway! It's history-- ancient history!"

At that moment, a knock came at the door. It opened to admit an obviously self-important man dressed in long robes, followed by a peasant woman carrying a large pile of clothing.

"I am Durvan, in charge of the smooth running of Lord Killian's house," he said, gesturing to the woman to follow him as he approached their table. "My master has asked me to bring you these clothes. He insists that you wear them as he doesn't want to advertise the fact that he's, shall we say, entertaining off-world visitors." His mouth split into a too-cheery smile that showed off his teeth.

Rezac began to growl low in his throat.

Humanoids show their teeth when they smile, sent Kris. It isn't threatening-- usually. In his case, I'd make an exception.

"Put them down on a chair," Durvan said sharply to the woman as he strolled over to Jo, eyes roving across her face and those parts of her anatomy he could see. "The red dress, I think, for this lady," he said, holding his hand out for the garment.

Hurriedly the peasant pulled the dress from the pile and handed it to him.

Taking it from her, he advanced on Jo, ready to hold it against her.

Kris rose to his feet in front of him. "I'll take that," he said, reaching out for the garment.

Durvan frowned but handed it over. "I was merely going to hold it against her to see if it suited her coloring." He stepped back and looked around the little group. "I was told there were two ladies. Where is the other?"

"Just leave the clothes," said Kris. "We're capable of working out who should wear what ourselves."

"I'm sure you are," said Durvan. "However, the servant will remain to show the ladies how the dresses are fastened."

"We can manage ourselves," said Jo.

Still angry, Rezac decided to put an end to the intrusion. Slowly he stood up, stretched his arms, and flexed his claws. "I think you should leave," he said, his voice a low rumble that carried to every part of the room. "We're tired and wish to sleep."

Durvan had begun to back away from the table as soon as the Sholan moved. The servant fled with a squeal of terror. Realizing he was alone, the steward beat a hasty retreat. "Should you need help, ask the guard," he said before closing the door behind him.