thefiremargins by Lisanne Norman Page B

an alternative to being guildless," said Garras. "We must avoid that if at all possible."

"If you leave your guild and remain guildless, first you lose your profession," said Kaid. "Never again could you be legally employed as telepaths. Your guild companions will turn their backs on you; you would cease to exist as far as they were concerned. At one stroke you'd have severed contact with everyone you'd grown up and worked with. Second, your clans could choose to support you on their estates, but pressure would be put on them to turn their backs on you as well. You'd be total outcasts. I know. I've been there."

He stopped, looking round them. "Should you join the Brotherhood, even if only temporarily, you'd have their protection for as long as you remained members, and Esken could do nothing about it. If you survive the Margins, all that changes. You can stay in your guild yet be answerable only to the Order of Vartra, through the Head Priest, Father Lijou— not Ghezu. In the Brotherhood, the two disciplines are separate. The last option is to stay with the Brotherhood."

"Whatever else you decide, Vanna, I'd advise you to leave the Telepath Guild," said Kusac, looking over to where she still stood at the far end of the room. "You know what Esken did to you and Brynne on your first Link day. I don't yet know what he did to the kitlings my father had brought here, but obviously it was enough to convince him they were safer with us than with the Guild. Our family is headed for trouble with Esken irrespective of what I do. If you're still a member of his Guild, he may try to be revenged on us through you."

"Lijou said they have the facilities to help us train in both disciplines at Stronghold," said Vanna, moving back to the group. "What exactly did he mean?"

Kusac looked across at Kaid, catching his eye. "Tell us about the forgotten talents, Kaid."

Kaid nodded slowly, ignoring Dzaka's startled movement. "What you're talking about touches the heart of the Brotherhood," he said. "For as far back as our records go, we've recruited from three main sources. One is the Warrior Guild, the second is from wherever the Brothers find a Talent. The mountains breed a lot of the type of people we're looking for. We want people who first and foremost can fight, then we look for their Talents, their psychic talents. The third I'll tell you about later."

Kusac heard Vanna's sharp gasp of surprise. "Go on," she said.

"We have as wide a range of talents as the Humans do, only until now the Telepath Guild had forgotten they existed. They were so intent on their breeding programs to produce more and stronger telepaths they ignored any other gift. Every Brother can fight and is Talented in some way. The others have said I can speak for them," said Kaid, glancing round his people. "T'Chebbi has an extremely well-developed sense of impending danger. She can even pinpoint its direction. Rulla senses moods and whether people are speaking the truth." He indicated Meral. "We're in the process of assessing Meral's gifts but a sensitivity to people and his surroundings is what drew our attention to him." He stopped, looking pointedly at Dzaka.

"I'm an empath," Dzaka said with obvious reluctance.

Kaid raised an eye ridge.

Dzaka gave a low rumble of annoyance. "I'm also one of the special operatives hired by the Telepath Guild to assess rogue talents," he snapped. "As were Kaid and Garras."

Shocked, Kusac looked toward Garras.

"Truth time, Kusac," the once-Captain of the Sirroki said quietly. "Yes, Kaid and I worked together assessing telepaths with Talents that were uncontrollable, or who were themselves mentally unstable. Often they had to be terminated on the orders of the Telepath Guild. When we could, we recruited them for the Brotherhood where they were taught how to control their gifts. Termination was the last resort. We saved as many as we could, though Esken knew nothing about it."

Kusac could feel the blood draining from his face. His