"Then why did you stop so close to it?" Jedra asked. "You knew it was there."

The tohr-kreen shuffled from foot to foot, his pack squeaking madly. He obviously didn't want to answer. Had he planned to lead them past it and see what they did when it attacked? Jedra didn't like that thought.

He picked up another couple of rocks and tossed them toward the flailer, careful not to hit it this time. He just wanted it to know they hadn't forgotten about it. It hissed again, then turned around and lumbered away.

"I don't like tests," Jedra said to Kitarak. "And I don't like fighting, especially when it's not necessary."

Kitarak bobbed his head in an exaggerated parody of a nod. "Point taken," he said. "I will remember that." He began walking again, making a wide circle around the flailer.

The tohr-kreen was tireless. They stopped for a break only once that afternoon, just long enough to eat a few strips of dried z'tal meat and wash it down with a swallow of water, then didn't stop again until Jedra and Kayan finally called a halt long after sunset.

"We can't go any farther tonight," Kayan gasped, leaning against a rock for support. Jedra felt completely drained as well, worse than after a long convergence with Kayan.

"What?" Kitarak said indignantly. His tall, spiky body stood out in sharp silhouette against the night sky. "Certainly you may rest, but not all night. We have many miles to travel yet."

"We can do it in the morning," Kayan said. "Right now we're cold and tired and we need to sleep. Don't you?"

"Tohr-kreen do not sleep."

"Great. Well, humans do, and so do half-elves. You can stand guard."

Kitarak clicked and rasped in agitation, but it was obvious his traveling companions weren't going to move any more until they had rested. "Very well," he said. "Sleep then." He lowered his pack to the ground, removed the piece of tinkercraft he had recovered from the ruins, and began polishing its tarnished mirrors with a strip of cloth.

Jedra and Kayan found a low spot where a few inches of sand had filled in a hollow in the rock, and after making sure nothing else had claimed it ahead of them, they lay down to sleep. Kayan faced away from Jedra and pressed her back against him. He put his arms around her without prompting this time, even drew her close to him and folded his body alongside hers.

I never thought I'd say this about sleeping on the ground, but this feels wonderful, Kayan mindsent. Kayan mindsent.

It does, Jedra replied. Jedra replied.

I could sleep for a week. She paused, then added, She paused, then added, Do you trust him to keep watch? Do you trust him to keep watch?

Jedra tried once again to sense any danger from the tohr-kreen, but he felt only the alien presence behind them. It was muted somehow-evidently Kitarak was already preoccupied with cleaning his treasure. When Jedra concentrated he felt an oddness to Kitarak's psionic impression, a sense of something more beneath the surface, but whatever it was, it didn't seem hostile.

I don't feel anything to worry about, Jedra said. Jedra said.

Good. I don't think I could do anything about it now even if you did. She tilted her head back. She tilted her head back. Good night. Good night.

Good night. They kissed. Her soft, warm lips drew all of Jedra's attention, and suddenly he felt himself slipping into convergence with her. They kissed. Her soft, warm lips drew all of Jedra's attention, and suddenly he felt himself slipping into convergence with her.

It flooded over them in a sudden rush of sensation, warming and tingling their entire bodies. They were no longer two people kissing; they were the kiss itself, a focus of energy swirling through that point of contact until their entire being existed only where their lips met.

Startled by the intensity of it, they pulled back. The link broke, but not with the devastating letdown of before. A far more primal connection was being forged. They paused with their lips just brushing, feeling each other's breath against their cheeks, tasting the delicious memory of the kiss.

Starlight twinkled in Kayan's eyes. "Wow," she whispered.

Jedra didn't trust himself to speak, not even with his mind. So he kissed her again.

Whether they mindlinked again or not, he couldn't say. There was no sudden transition, no moment of otherness-just an incredible rush of sensation and excitement.

Mmmm, Kayan sent. Kayan sent. Just wait until I get you alone. Just wait until I get you alone.

Jedra opened his eyes and looked at her. That almost sounds like a threat, That almost sounds like a threat, he said. he said.

She smiled mischievously. Considering what just happened, it might be. Considering what just happened, it might be.

He brushed her hair away from her neck and kissed her there. That's a risk I'd be willing to take. That's a risk I'd be willing to take.

Mmmm. Me, too. But not tonight. Not when we're already exhausted and with Kitarak watching.

Reluctantly, Jedra said, Yeah, you're probably right. I wish you weren't, though. Yeah, you're probably right. I wish you weren't, though. He sighed and lowered his head to rest on his arm. Kayan turned away and pressed her back against him again. He sighed and lowered his head to rest on his arm. Kayan turned away and pressed her back against him again.

Sweet dreams, she said. she said.

His dreams started out sweet enough. Jedra imagined himself and Kayan all alone in the king's palace, romping playfully through the lush gardens and splashing one another in the fountains. After a long chase, he finally caught her around the waist and pulled her to him in a wet embrace, but she began to change, becoming a scaly, snarling reptile with ripping claws for fingers and thousands of sharp, triangular teeth in a wide, leering mouth.

He jerked awake with her snarl still in his ears. Another voice split the night: Kitarak shouting "Yeeahh!" in alarm.

Jedra heard the snick snick of the tohr-kreen's expanding gythka, and seconds later another snarl came from the darkness. Something was attacking! of the tohr-kreen's expanding gythka, and seconds later another snarl came from the darkness. Something was attacking!

The stars provided just enough light to see two ghostly silhouettes locked in battle: Kitarak with his gythka lunging at something long and low and reptilian that dodged faster than the tohr-kreen could swing his weapon. Jedra scrambled to his feet and grabbed the b'rohg spear. Kayan was even faster; she'd still been enfolded in his arms a moment ago, but by the time he could whirl around and aim the spear toward the source of the noise she was already in front of him, running straight for it.

"No!" He shouted. "Kayan, get back!"

She answered with a scream of terror from behind him. Jedra turned to see her right where they'd been sleeping, struggling to stand while slapping frantically at her arms and legs. How could that be? She'd been in front of him a second ago.

She was still there, too. Jedra swung around with the spear again and saw her joining Kitarak in battling the lizard, but she had no weapon! Jedra watched, horrified, as she leaped at the creature with her bare hands.

"No!" he screamed again and ran forward with his spear ready to throw, but Kayan was in the way. And as he watched, helpless, the creature lunged for her. With one snap of its powerful jaws it tore her belly open clear to her spine. She fell to the ground like a rag doll, and the creature backed off, its mouth glistening with her blood in the starlight.

"Kayan!" Jedra screamed. He flung the spear with all his might, but he overshot the lizard's scaly head. Worse, Kitarak chose that moment to attack, and the spear sailed straight into his side, punching halfway through his lower thorax and adding a ghastly parody of a third pair of arms just below his real ones.

The tohr-kreen turned his head toward Jedra in surprise, then with a rattle of exoskeletal limbs he collapsed on top of Kayan's still-quivering body.

But another Kitarak still fought! He swung his gythka at the lizard again, and this time its multiple blade tore a gouge across the thing's left flank. The lizard screeched and whirled around, whipping its tail out and knocking the gythka out of Kitarak's grasp.

Jedra shook his head to clear it. Behind him, Kayan screamed again, and when he looked toward her he saw her standing where she had been before, clawing at her back as if something were biting her there, just out of reach.

When he turned his head once more, the Kitarak and the Kayan who had died were gone. Jedra's spear was wedged into a cleft in the rock beyond the creature that was advancing on Kitarak, whose gythka lay on the ground between Jedra and the lizard's scaly tail. Jedra rushed forward and picked up the strange metal weapon. The blade on one end looked perfect for chopping; he swung it high over his head and was just about to bring it down on the lizard's back when Kayan leaped between them again.

"Get back!" he shouted, but she stood right in his way. "Strike it!" Kitarak yelled, backing frantically away. "I can't!" Jedra jumped to the side, trying to get around Kayan, but she stepped between him and the creature again.

He risked a look behind him. She was still there, slapping at herself as if she had a whole hive of insects crawling over her. Yet there she stood in front of him, too, right where he would hurt her if he made any kind of attack on the lizard. This one couldn't be her, it wasn't possible, but Jedra couldn't bring himself to strike down whoever or whatever it was.

Growling in frustration, he tossed the weapon over her head toward the tohr-kreen, who snatched it out of the air and swung it at the lizard's head.

Something seemed to be interfering with Kitarak's aim as well; what should have been a sure blow merely glanced off the thing's scaly hide. The creature lunged toward him, and Kitarak barely escaped its teeth by springing away with a powerful kick of his hind legs.

Jedra ran back to Kayan. "Link up!" he said, but she was so preoccupied with slapping and tugging at herself that she didn't hear him. He grabbed her arms. "Link up!" he shouted.

She struggled to break free of his grasp, and the look in her eyes was one of pure terror. Her face had twisted into a mask of agony, and her screams had dwindled for lack of breath to an almost constant moan of pain.

"What's wrong?" Jedra asked. "Kayan, what's the matter?"

"Agony beetles!" She writhed free of his grip and slapped at herself again.

"There's nothing there." Jedra grabbed her arms again. "Stop it. You're hurting yourself."

Another snarl from the lizard split the night. Link up, now, Link up, now, Jedra mindsent. He held Kayan tight against him, trying to establish the link on his own, but he couldn't. Jedra mindsent. He held Kayan tight against him, trying to establish the link on his own, but he couldn't. Fight it! Fight it! he sent. he sent. It isn't real. It isn't real.

Kayan stopped struggling. Her body quivered exactly as if she were still being bitten, but a moment later Jedra felt the mindlink form.

It was like being dropped into liquid fire. Pain shot through every nerve in his body. If this was what Kayan had been feeling, then no wonder she'd screamed. It was hard to maintain the link while such agony coursed through him, but this was their only weapon. Even though their intellects weren't completely melded this time, they were still more powerful than if they fought alone.

The creature's doing this, Jedra thought. Jedra thought. It's gotten inside our minds somehow. It's gotten inside our minds somehow. He willed the pain to stop and felt it respond to his command. It didn't go away completely, but it no longer filled his entire consciousness. He willed the pain to stop and felt it respond to his command. It didn't go away completely, but it no longer filled his entire consciousness.

He and Kayan turned their attention to the lizard creature. It wasn't a creature now; it was Kayan who stalked Kitarak, easily dodging his wild swings with the gythka. Kitarak flailed at empty air a few feet to her side, stabbing and slicing exactly as if something were there. Obviously he was having trouble distinguishing reality as well. Their psionic vision overlaid the starlit scene. In it, they saw the creature as a glowing knot of light, long colored ropes of it that stretched out to entwine around Kitarak and themselves.

Cut those, Jedra thought, imagining himself slicing through the light with his hands. The ropes flickered when he struck them, and the pain he and Kayan felt fled, then returned. The image of Kayan disappeared momentarily as well, but the tendrils of light reestablished themselves and the image and the agony returned. Jedra thought, imagining himself slicing through the light with his hands. The ropes flickered when he struck them, and the pain he and Kayan felt fled, then returned. The image of Kayan disappeared momentarily as well, but the tendrils of light reestablished themselves and the image and the agony returned. Forget this, Forget this, Kayan said. Kayan said. Let's just squash it flat. Let's just squash it flat. Jedra winced at the thought. He knew it wasn't really Kayan out there, but all the same, he couldn't bring himself to attack whatever it was that fought in her image. And since it was his telekinetic power that their union amplified, Kayan couldn't initiate it herself. Jedra winced at the thought. He knew it wasn't really Kayan out there, but all the same, he couldn't bring himself to attack whatever it was that fought in her image. And since it was his telekinetic power that their union amplified, Kayan couldn't initiate it herself.

Smash it! Kayan insisted, but he couldn't do it. Kayan insisted, but he couldn't do it.

The Kayan thing leaped toward Kitarak, and this time it grabbed Kitarak by his left leg. Kitarak screamed and stumbled to the ground, and for just a moment as the creature concentrated on its attack, the image flickered backed to reality. In that instant, Jedra struck with all the force he had, greatly augmented by Kayan's presence. He imagined a huge hand swatting the lizard, crushing its body and blotting out its tendrils of light.

The ground shook. Thunder boomed, and the light flared bright, then died. The intense pain Jedra and Kayan had felt ceased instantly. Something else flared around Kitarak, though, a different kind of light. A halo of bright blue radiance surrounded him in a glistening cocoon.

Jedra and Kayan unlinked, and looking with their normal eyes they saw Kitarak getting slowly to his feet. There was no halo of light in the real scene; here the tohr-kreen's body itself glowed blue. His light was strong enough to illuminate the ground a few yards around him, and by its glow they could see the crushed body of the lizard creature lying flat as a shadow at the bottom of a shallow depression of pulverized rock. Cracks radiated out from it in all directions, but where Kitarak stood they veered away, and the ground looked undisturbed in a tight circle around him. Kitarak himself looked healthy as well, except for the blue glow.

"Are you-are you all right?" Jedra asked him.

"It clawed me on the leg," Kitarak said, limping slightly and using his gythka for support as he stepped toward them.

"No, I mean the light."

Kitarak clicked his mandibles together. "Ah, yes, that." He ducked his head. "It's ah... it's... I'm fine."

"You're glowing blue," Kayan said. "How can that be fine?"

Kitarak looked back at the crater with the lizard at the bottom of it, then at Kayan again. "I am radiating the energy from your blow," he said. "It will fade soon."

"You what? How can you do that?"

Kitarak held his hands out in a four-armed shrug. "Ah... psionics," he admitted.

Jedra and Kayan looked at one another. Psionics? Psionics? Jedra mindsent. Jedra mindsent. I thought he didn't like psionics. I thought he didn't like psionics.

"No, it's magic I disdain," Kitarak said. "Psionics follows the rules of tinkercraft."

"You-you heard that?"

You should be more discreet with your sending. The voice in Jedra's head was definitely Kitarak's. The tohr-kreen crouched down carefully next to Kayan, leaning to the side to keep from squashing his abdomen. He laid his gythka on the ground. The voice in Jedra's head was definitely Kitarak's. The tohr-kreen crouched down carefully next to Kayan, leaning to the side to keep from squashing his abdomen. He laid his gythka on the ground.

"All right," Kayan said, bending down to examine his leg. Its glow bathed her face in blue light. "We'll see if it works."

"Wait a minute," said Jedra. "Did he say something to you?"

She looked up toward him. "Yes, didn't you hear it?" "No. But you-" he spoke to Kitarak "-you hear whatever we say to each other?"

"Yes," the tohr-kreen admitted.

"You've been listening to us all along?"

Kitarak clicked his mandibles, then said, "'Don't let him know we can communicate without speaking. Or mind-merge. We may need the advantage if he's not what he seems.'"

Jedra balled his fists angrily. "You... you lied to us!" Kitarak ignored his threatening posture. "I most definitely did not. You never asked if I knew psionics, and I chose not to tell you. I figured I I might need the advantage." might need the advantage."

Jedra didn't know what to say to that. While he fumed silently, Kayan bent over Kitarak's injured leg and passed her hand along the deep gouge the lizard had made in his hard exoskeleton. The blue glow made the bones of her hand show up like dark shadows beneath her skin. "I don't know if there's much I can do here," she said. "I can heal the tissue damage underneath, but most of the surface isn't alive in the first place. I can't heal that. Your leg will still be weak where it's been clawed."

"That will heal on its own, in time," Kitarak said. "In the meantime, I will simply be careful with it. Repairing the inner damage will be fine for now."

Kayan nodded.

"What was that thing that attacked us?" Jedra asked while she worked. "Another one of your little tests?"

Kitarak leaned back on his arms. "If it had been a test, I would not have been careless enough to let it reach me.

No, the tokamak was a surprise to me as well. I was too engrossed in repairing the jernan to notice its approach."

"Tokamak?" Jedra asked. "I haven't heard the name before."

"That's the tohr-kreen name for them. I have heard your kind call them id fiends. They project fear at their prey, so you find yourself tormented by whatever you are most afraid of."

"I kept seeing Kayan getting hurt," Jedra said. "That's why I couldn't hit it; Kayan was always right there."

She looked up at him. "With me it was agony beetles. They were crawling all over me, going for my back so they could tap into my spinal cord and burn out my nerves."

That would explain her frantic slapping. Jedra looked to Kitarak, who merely said, "Tinkercraft. Magically animated tinkercraft. I was able to see through most of the effect, but even I couldn't block it entirely."

"'Even I'?" Jedra asked. "What do you mean by that? Who are you, anyway?"

"I am Kitarak," Kitarak said. "Tohr-kreen noble of the House of Antarak." He paused. "And psionics master."

"Psionics master?" Jedra sat down heavily. "You knew all this time that we were looking for someone like you, and you didn't say anything?"

"Seek and ye shall find," Kitarak said. "You made a false assumption when you met me. I looked powerless and helpless, so you assumed I was. I allowed the deception to continue, for it gave me opportunity to study you."