Becker met her gaze. "We had to lose them out there, or we could have brought them right where they wanted to go-into this secret stronghold." He thought about what Nadhari could be going through, and the concern in his eyes mirrored what Acorna was feeling. "Maybe she's fine. Maybe Edu's too busy to be giving Nadhari much trouble right now. That was a heck of a sandstorm, and the Federation flitters aren't as well able to withstand turbulence as that slick little model your people made."
Acorna explained the problem to the high priest, who said, "Our people will search for survivors of the storm. But we would not bring anyone we find back here. Only, perhaps, the woman who is your friend, Khornya."
Acorna was momentarily startled by the priest's use of her Linyaari name and yet, if Aari had foretold her coming, that was the name he would have used.
Tagoth said, "Holy one, I have much to tell you about the plots of the Mulzar Kando. Among the news, I must tell you that Brother Fagad was a spy for the Mulzar. I confess that I killed him before he could reveal holy secrets to the Mulzar."
The priest's face grew grave. "You should have reported his treachery to us, rather than killed him yourself."
"I had no time. I had to act," Tagoth said.
"Brother Fagad was a very holy person among our people, and we have had no indication he was other than as we knew him," the old priest said. "You have committed a very grave crime." He nodded to the flock of other wizened little priests who had accompanied them. "Please interrogate this man and report back to me."
Acorna began to protest, but the priest patted her hand.
"If he had just cause in his actions, no harm will come to him. If he is telling the truth, then we will merely learn that which he wishes to tell us. You, Khornya, have a greater purpose in being here. I must show you something that only I, of all the priesthood, am privileged to know, and only my predecessor knew before me. This is a treasured secret of my people and ensures that a successor will always be named before the demise of the previous high priest. Come."
Acorna looked at her friends.
Becker said, "I think I'll bunk down in the flitter, Princess. I'll work on the com unit and see if there's anything I can do about it from this end."
The old priest said, "I regret, Captain, that if you choose to return to your flying animal, you will be unable to enter the Temple until morning. The crater entrance is secured and locked at night."
"That's okay. I just want to be ready to roll in case Acorna gets any more mental messages from our missing friend." He tapped his temple. "You'll give me a heads-up if you get any vibes from her, right?"
"Of course, Captain," Acorna agreed.
After Becker, the high priest, and Acorna left, Miw-Sher stood staring at the lake.
A priestess laid a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder.
"I want to look at this forever," Miw-Sher said wonderingly.
"I have the perfect room for you. Do you see that little balcony?" the priestess asked, pointing up to the outside of the Temple, which was a bit more ornate on the lake side, studded with stones only slightly smaller than the magnificent ones these Temple priests and priestesses wore around their necks. Miw-Sher nodded. "You may sleep there. The guardians will sleep where they choose, of course, but there is room there for the kittens and their mother, and any others who choose to stay with you. We will help you make a bed there. But first, before you rest, I think you must have something to eat. Come."
Twenty
Kando grabbed for Nadhari, but his fingers found only a blast of sand exploding through the open hatch. Her triumphant laughter choked off in a blast of sand.
He wasn't about to go after her in the storm. Such a dreadful waste, but it was her own doing. She'd had her chance to be his consort. Now her bones would bleach on the desert sands-and he suspected she would be scraped down to the bone in a matter of minutes in this storm.
He punched the hatch door and it closed again, but not entirely, and not before it had admitted a layer of sand over an inch deep that covered the controls. But he was able to access the controls-thank goodness he remembered that much from his Federation training - and get the flitter off the ground again before it was completely buried in the storm. Beside him, Macostut stirred and muttered. Edu dragged the man to his feet by the hair and put him in the pilot's seat. He slapped him to wake him up and get his attention.
"Get us out of here."
"Okay, okay." Macostut engaged the engine and the flitter lifted jerkily. "I'll try to gain some altitude. The higher we go, the less sand there will be."
"That beats sitting here being buried forever in a sand dune," Kando snapped. "Let's go."
With much bucking and creaking, the flitter gained altitude. Once Macostut tried to climb so sharply that the flitter almost flipped backwards, but an adjustment of the incline eventually took them up until the sand was little more than a sheer veil over the night sky. The turbulence diminished.
The flitter finally outdistanced the storm. As the sand cleared, the full effect of the shadow-bisected moons stared Kando and Macostut in the face.
Macostut swore. "I never saw them do that before," he said, his voice quivering very slightly with awe and-could that be fear? Kando grinned.
"Really, Dsu, you should have been raised here and I should have stayed in the Federation. It's just a cosmic event, probably a trick of the ring shadow that happens every hundred years or so. Or so I'm informed by the more learned among my pious brethren. It is NOT, however, the Star Cat or anything else supernatural."
"Of course not," Macostut said gruffly. "I'm perfectly aware of that. It just took me by surprise. Must have been being kicked in the head by your charming cousin."
"I'm very glad to hear that, because although it isn't supernatural, it is something else far more helpful."
Macostut seemed to be tiring of his role as executive officer to Kando s command. He said, "I assume you're going to enlighten me." He did not sound friendly.
"It is a navigational aid. If, while the moons are arranged on the horizon exactly as they are now, you head straight for the place between them, you will come in time to the Aridimi Strong-hold."
"You know this to be true?" Macostut asked.
"It says so in all of the legends and holy books," Kando told him.
"Why haven't more people found the Stronghold, then?"
"The moons are in this configuration only once in a hundred Standard years. And it takes time to follow the omens across the desert. By the time any of us made the crossing, the moons would be in some other phase. It's poetic information, but hardly useful in a primitive culture with so many restrictions. But that's no reason to suppose it's inaccurate."
They flew toward the moons without speaking. Kando filled the time by unpacking the chemical bombs with which he intended to treat the lake. These were used in the galactic mining of the cat's-eye chrysoberyls, and should also serve to either poison the priests or drive them out of the stronghold, where they would perish in the waterless vastness of the desert. True, they were used to doing without much water, but they would not be able to survive with none at all. He wondered if the Temple would make a decent initial processing plant and packing facility.