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Reluctantly he took it, sniffing the contents. "It has been cooked," he said, surprised. "It's some kind of stew, not raw meat."

Jeran was given his. It wasn't worth the beating that would ensue if he refused it. He raised the beaker to his lips.

As he drank, the medic came over and deftly grasped his arm, pressing the hypo gun against it, then he was gone. A brief surge of giddiness, then almost immediately he felt a warm glow spread through him.

"It's some kind of sedative," he said, watching Miroshi flinch as the lizard touched her. There was no point in objecting.

The guard collected the empty beakers then followed the medic out, leaving the soldier with his rifle trained on them.

Tesha sat down suddenly. "I don't feel so good," she said faintly.

Jeran looked up, seeing her inner lids beginning to show at the edges of her eyes. "You'll be all right," he said, aware that he should be feeling more concerned than he was. With an effort, he kept his mind on what he wanted to say. "You know their drugs do strange things to us, especially you. It's not lethal. They wouldn't kill us like that. There's no amusement for them in it."

"If you focused your thoughts, you'd be able to control the effects of the drug," said Tallis.

"I can't, you know that," said Tesha, wrinkling her nose. The skin visible around her eyes had an unhealthy greenish tinge.

"You just won't ..." began Tallis.

"Stop it, both of you!" said Miroshi tiredly, sinking back onto the floor. "Must we fight among ourselves? All we've got left is each other, and we may not even have that for much longer! In Vartra's name, shut up!"

Jeran moved over to Tesha, the chain dragging behind him. "Leave it, Tesha," he said quietly. "Just ignore Tallis. Being telepaths, it's been worse for them. Every time they've been touched, they've been mentally tortured, never mind what they've done to them physically. It's only when they use drugs on us that Tallis and Miroshi can feel they're fighting back."

"I know," she muttered, leaning her head against his shoulder. "It's been bad for all of us. What do you think our chances of being rescued are?"

"If they know we're missing, they'll make an effort to find us, but from the size of those craft we saw around Szurtha, I'd say they'll have a lot more to worry about than the four of us."

"They're coming back," said Tallis, ears flicking in distress as he moved closer to the other three.

    CHAPTER 1

     
    As Kusac opened the door to the staff lounge, he caught the tail end of their conversation.

"You gave him the right to decide, Kaid," Rulla was saying. "No one made him choose Stronghold." Hearing the door open, he looked up.

Kaid sat at the table reassembling his rifle.

"What's going on?" Kusac asked, watching Rulla's eyes flick from him back to Kaid.

"Everything's under control, Liegen," Kaid replied blandly, snapping the power pack into place. "There's nothing for you to be concerned about."

Kusac could feel the tension in the room. Something wasn't right. He shut the door behind him, mentally scanning Rulla's surface thoughts. "Where's Vanna?" he demanded. "I know this concerns her. Where is she?"

"She's paying a brief visit to Stronghold," replied Kaid, getting up and turning to face him. "I'm on my way to collect her now."

"Stronghold? What in the name of all the Gods is she doing visiting there at this time of night?"

"That's what I intend to find out," said Kaid, his voice grim as he picked up his rifle. "I'm afraid one of my people took her there." He walked toward Kusac, stopping in front of him, obviously waiting for him to step aside.

"I'm going with you," said Rulla, getting up and moving over to join him.

"No, you're not," said Kaid, throwing a glance at him over his shoulder. "You could be concussed after that blow on the head. You'll remain here. I'm going alone." He looked back at Kusac. "Excuse me, Liegen."

Kusac shook his head. "I want to know what's going on. Who hit Rulla? Vanna's been