Keepers of the Flame (50 page)

You
see, sh-he does not speak English well.

“Maybe
because it’s a baby.”

Sh-he
is not an it. Sh-he has not chosen sh-he’s sex yet.

“Oh.”

The
kitten stretched. Clumps of long pink Persian hair were mixed with short hair
that seemed to be turning calico: orange, white and black. Bri took a step
back.

Tuckerinal
clapped his little paws together, grabbing her attention again.
Sh-he needs
nuts.

“That
would be my extra PDA batteries.”

And
the camera.

She
put her hands over the pocket holding the camera, protecting it. “No. Not the
camera.”

And
memory, too
.
He raised his nose, pointed at her backpack.
You have memory in the yummy
bag.

“I
suppose you’d like me to give you this.” The strap was making indentations on
her hands. She didn’t relax her grip.

Squealing,
Tuckerinal jumped up and down, his hamster mouth opening in what could be a
smile. “Oh, ayes!”

“Not
going to happen. I need it to power the camera.”

Another
mew, this one sounding pitiful. Bri glanced at the kitten. It was now wholly
short-haired and calico, with two big splotches of black over its eyes. She
pressed her lips tightly together. It looked like a kitten she’d had as a girl.
The cat had lived to old age and passed away sleeping in the sun. Ever after,
Bri had always wanted to slide into death that way. Seemed she was going to
fade agonizingly instead, unless she and Elizabeth found a way to prevent it.

Maybe
these creatures could help. Magical shape-shifters. Feeling weak with hope, she
walked to the bed and sat on it, stared at the creatures. Everything she had
was worth her life. “What do you know of the disease?”

Tuckerinal
squeaked sadly.
Only what all know. And that you have the sickness.

Bri
decided to reply mentally, since her throat was dry.
We don’t want anyone
else to know that. It is important.

He
made a bow, and it appeared only slightly silly.
We have honored your
wishes.

The
kitten hopped from the ledge to land on the bed, rolled and rolled, making Bri
smile. It tumbled close and she scooped it up, heard dancing windchimes and
felt a little zing. The deep ache in her bones vanished for a split second.
Interesting.

Gently,
she set the kitten aside. Held out her arms to Tuckerinal.

He
waddled to the ledge, hopped down, rolled once, scuttled to Bri. She picked him
up. He was lighter than he looked, weighed less than a
groundhog-hamster-whatever should have. She held him, warm and full of that
effervescent feycoocu energy, banishing her sickness for a moment as she
smudged his Song, drained him for a moment. She placed him on the bed.

Something
about you and the baby stops the sickness in me.

Good.
Learned enough to give the baby nuts?
He looked at the small puff of fur.
Kitten
didn’t move her, try puppy
.

Bri
snorted with laughter that became a yelp when Tuckerinal nipped her hand.

How
many nuts do you have?

You
thought I had, what, two?

Four.

I
have more.
She wasn’t about to enumerate them, but she’d added a memory card to her PDA,
and carried extra batteries and memory for her music pod and even more for the
digital camera.

A
little noise came and Bri glanced over to see a pale pink puppy all long ears
and stubby tail, mouth open, tiny tongue lolling, grinning at her.

She
sighed.

So
did Tuckerinal.
Sh-he likes pink. Sinafinal and I don’t know why. We believe
she has spent too much time in Alexa’s dreams.

Alexa
dreamed in pink? The whole thing made no sense. Bri stood and walked to the
wall paneled in exquisitely carved wood.
You promised not to eat any of my
nuts. Baby must promise, too.

Baby
will promise not to eat any nuts you do not give sh-he.

The
little feycoocu wriggled with joy.
Nuts! Nuts! Nuts! Nuts from
Tuck-er-in-al’s land!

Which
made Bri wonder if baby got to chose a name, too, or whether sh-he had a name
they weren’t telling Bri. Names were power, here. She wondered if the Dark had
a name.

No,
Tuckerinal
answered her thoughts.
The Dark does not have a name, but the new Master
does. You should remind Sevair and the others of that.

Bri
made a mental note to do so. She opened the safe and looked into the dim stone
square. How much should she give them? How much did the baby need? How much did
she
need? Last night was the only time she’d listened to tunes lately.
The Lladranans prized music so, that she’d thought when she left she’d give
Sevair—her bones ached more. Wearied her. She yearned for Denver, missed her
parents desperately. The thought of never seeing them again was unbearable. She
was sliding into love with Sevair. And all that was moot if she died.

She
sorted through her stuff. The PDA had appointments that had already passed,
addresses of people who one minute were bright in her memory, then next dim as
if she’d left them far behind. All backed up on her laptop. She weighed the PDA
in her hand. A good, solid piece of technology. She’d gone with an off-brand
for a big screen to read ebooks. She only had four on there now, light pieces
she’d downloaded for the trip. There were a few tunes, nothing she couldn’t
live without.

Her
hand closed around the padded sleeve tightly. It should be a very good “nut”
for the baby feycoocu. As long as she was feeding it, she should feed it well.
She scooped out the extra batteries and memory for the PDA, for the music pod.
She touched the camera, left it, and the memory. Left her solar-paneled
backpack. The feycoocus could have them if….

Slapping
the door to the safe shut, she locked it with a mental password and twist of
tune and went back to the bed, set the feast in front of the puppy. Sh-he dived
in, burbling as it ate plastic casing and all.

Bri’s
fingers touched stiff foil and she remembered the cat medicine. She popped two.
It hadn’t helped but who knew?

Tuckerinal
turned over one of the batteries as if it were something interesting, but his
desire for it had faded. He’d been hungry on behalf of his child.

“Is
this enough for sh-he to thrive and prosper?”

The
hamster hesitated, sighed, inclined his head. “Ayes.” His mouth opened and
closed. “Since you have helped me I will say that you must not work so hard to
find the answer that will come to you if you allow it.”

Bri
wrapped her arms around herself. “There’s hope, then.”

“There’s
always hope. Good hunting.”

The
outside tower door slammed below. Sevair grumbled,
We are wanted at the
Castle for another damn meeting.

When
she turned back to the bed it was empty of all nuts and magical beings.

38

L
uthan stood in
front of the whole contingent of the Castle—Marshalls, Nobles, Chevaliers,
Soldiers and Support Staff. He seemed easy with the fact that every eye was
upon him, Elizabeth thought. A natural leader.

Ttho
, Alexa
whispered in Elizabeth’s mind.
A man always conscious that as a child
someone was always watching him and reporting to his father, and his father was
judging him.

Elizabeth
winced.

All
the Exotiques were there, sitting together. Their auras held a blue-green tinge
of Earth under their personal colorful layers. Elizabeth shared this with Bri
as they linked hands. Bri sent back the intricacy of Song between them, the
notes of folk tunes that they all shared. Songs they recognized from each other
but didn’t personally have. All knit them close. They had more in common with
each other than any Lladranan, except for the men, who were learning to
understand them.

Luthan’s
face was stern, but his expression naturally fell into those lines and from the
general joshing and loud talk going on among the company, no one felt this was
a serious meeting. But Bastien’s muscles were rigid as he watched his brother,
a smile on his animated face that hadn’t moved since he’d walked into the room.

Luthan
clapped once and the room fell silent. Elizabeth had seen Command Presence
before—the stance, the manner, the one sound that ordered a room. He paced from
one side of the room to the other, then back to the middle, garnering
everyone’s attention, but Elizabeth met Bri’s eyes, the man was nervous, and
not about addressing this company.

“Amee
is in danger of dying,” Luthan said.

The
silence deepened with utter shock, with terror.

“As
everyone knows, the rains and cold lasted far into summer instead of ending
with spring. Amee has expended some of the heat of her core, some of her great
Power, to warm the land and our country and keep our seasons more natural.” A
mass shudder went through the crowd.

Sevair
stood. “We would rather not—”

“Please
sit, Citymaster. It is done, and Amee is stubborn about this. Those of Lladrana
need her support and she is giving it. Because…” He stopped. Elizabeth thought
she’d never heard such an absence of sound. Seen such a flaring of aura, bright
enough to light the hall. Bri rubbed her ears. When she focused, Elizabeth
heard the screeching of fearful souls.

“Quiet,”
Luthan said, and the mental tunes stopped, though the personal Songs were
charged with seething energy.

“The
Singer and I believe Amee used her Power so our country would be strong and
ready to free her from the Dark. That the battle in the fall will be decisive.
That if we fail, if our Exotiques fail, Amee will die.”

Bri’s
hands flew to her throat.
Oh, man,
she whispered in Elizabeth’s mind, in
the minds of all the girls.
Nothing like a little pressure
.

“So
be aware that we fight not only for Lladrana, but for Amee herself.” The skin
over Luthan’s face tightened to show good bones and steel determination. “Make
every blow against the Dark count. An expedition to the Dark’s island nest
will
take place and must not fail, even if we all must give our lives. Those of you
who wish to go, test your skills.
When
we win, we will free Amee from a
leech which has fastened upon her for eons, and she will survive and prosper.
It is for that result that Amee spent her Power to make our summer less cold.”

He
swept the room with a probing glance and Elizabeth knew he saw her, measured
her, as he saw and weighed each person. Definitely a natural leader.

“One
last word. Cherish our Exotiques, because they will lead the way. They have
sacrificed their old lives on their strong Exotique Terre to fight for
Lladrana. Protect them, for they are our hope and our symbols.”

Everyone
turned to look at the group of alien women.

Bastien
had pulled Alexa into his lap, shielding her with his body.

A
blank check
,
Bri said mentally to Elizabeth.
Why do I wish I didn’t get it?
But if
she could have cashed it in for the knowledge of how to cure her sickness she
would have. Negativity again. She tried for a joke.
Why do I have the
feeling that I will never be able to go to the bathroom alone again?
Not
that Elizabeth or Sevair left her alone much.

“Later
this month we’ll choose the invasion force,” Luthan said.

Faucon
shifted and murmured so only their group could hear. “What of a ship?”

Then
Luthan continued, “One last matter. The Singer believes there was a great
magical ritual during the shortest day, but has seen no results.” From his
ironic tone, Elizabeth was sure that the Singer wasn’t sharing any more
information than what Luthan had pried out of her.

“I
have consulted—”

“A
ritual by the Dark!” someone cried hysterically.

“No,
this was a Lladranan ritual.” He raised a hand. “Not of an evil bent. Had that
been so, the Singer would certainly have notified the Marshalls to handle the
problem. As I was saying, I believe this was a Summoning ritual by the
Seamasters that failed. Be aware that in the future, great rituals may very
well sap the Power of us all and refrain. The Seamasters have been so notified.
You are dismissed.”

The
alarm claxon screamed.

“The
Dark sensing our great emotions, sending horrors,” Luthan shouted over the
siren and the noise of bodies rushing from the room to fight. “Let it sense our
unity, too.”

The
incursion was small and easily handled with no casualties. No Chevalier
returned with the sickness.

As
soon as that glad news was verified, Bri collapsed.

W
hen Bri woke in
the keep’s healing room, terror inundated her. So many Chevaliers she’d tried
to heal here, so many had died. She realized immediately that Elizabeth had
told the others what was happening. She heard the pair-songs of the Exotiques
and their men. Her twin. Faucon. Sevair.