Keepers of the Flame (8 page)

Jaquar,
wearing an ankle-length midnight blue velvet robe and looking every inch a very
masculine man, took a seat on a long leather couch. Bastien hitched a hip onto
the arm nearest the confrontation of Bri and Alexa opposite him. Marrec sat on
the other end of the couch, as if leaving space for Calli and Marian. Still,
Elizabeth could almost
feel
that these men trusted each other, more,
were bound together through their wives. And their love for their wives?

Bri
and she had grown up with parents who deeply loved each other and their
children.

“We
can go home!” Bri’s choked exclamation echoed in mind and words.

“It’s
not that easy,” Marian said from the hall. Calli held a plate with one hand and
the door knob with the other. Marian carried a large tray.

“You’d
think with all the magic you have here, you could just beam that over,” Bri
said.

“It’s
not that easy,” Marian repeated.

The smell
of eggs and coffee and ham made Elizabeth’s mouth water.

“Alexa,
your omelette. With cheese and mushrooms,” Marian said.

“But
you haven’t been gone very long, and the food looks fresh, so magic
was
used,” Elizabeth said.

“That’s
right. Magic, which is called
Power
here, and more like the extension of
psi powers—”

“Power
can heat the food, but it’s harder to translocate things,” Calli said.
“Especially more than one item at a time. And there’s an energy cost. You
always have to figure what energy you might need for something else later.” She
handed Elizabeth the plate. “Sit. We can talk over breakfast.”

“We
often have breakfast discussions with our parents,” Elizabeth said.

Everyone
looked at her then Bri.

“You
have parents.”

“Of
course,” Bri said impatiently. “Will one of you pass me my plate, please?”

Calli
had gone directly to a gate-legged table against a wall. Marrec joined her in
setting up the table and soon there was a crowded table for eight. Opening
lower drawers of a cabinet, Calli set a cork hot plate down for the tray, then
brought out dishes, mugs and silverware. Marrec took chairs set around the room
and placed them. Everything looked familiar.

“There’ve
been Exotiques from Earth here in Lladrana before,” Marian said. She’d found
thick glasses that looked handmade and poured water into them.

“And
Marrec went to Colorado,” Elizabeth said.

“It’s
part of the Snap,” Alexa grinned. She still stood near Bri and the cooler.
“That’s Marian’s topic.”

“Let’s
eat,” Bastien said in the French-sounding Lladranan that Elizabeth barely
understood.

Jaquar
frowned at Bastien. “I told you we refined your language potion.” Since Jaquar
still spoke English, Elizabeth deduced that Bastien had been following the
conversation.

Bastien
grunted, moved to a chair that had its back to the foam chest and held out his
hand to Alexa.

She
looked at the cooler. At Elizabeth. At Bastien. At Bri. After tapping her foot,
she sighed and walked to Bastien, took his hand and stood tip-toe to brush a
kiss over his mouth. But she moved to a chair where she could still see the
chest.

Bastien
rolled his eyes, shook his head and sat next to her. “I have eaten, but my
belly can always accommodate one of these.” He unfolded the napkin on a large
basket. Letting out steam from flaky croissants, he took one, set it on his
plate, then ripped it into large pieces.

Alexa
cut a third of her omelette and put it on Bastien’s plate, then she dug in.

Doesn’t
look like they’re going to poison us
, Bri sent mentally to Elizabeth.

Not
since we survived the first night, but I’m sure they have plans for us
. Images of the
people they’d healed came to her mind, were matched by Bri’s memories. The flow
of emotion between them was stronger than Elizabeth had ever experienced. Of
course they’d had “hunches,” intuitive feelings about each other, but nothing
like this connection that seemed to have thought sharing and definitely
included telepathy.

Elizabeth
shifted in her seat, picked up a fork, cut into the omelette and ate.
Fabulous—and delicately flavored with spices she didn’t quite recognize.

“So,”
Alexa said between bites, “welcome to Lladrana. You are now known far and wide
as the Medica Exotiques Summoned for the Cities and Towns.”

“Already?”
asked Bri, brows lowering.

“Already.
The Sorcerers and Sorceresses, Circlets they’re called, had a contingent here
for the Summoning. Some have flown back to their islands. All of them have
crystal balls for communication.”

“Interesting,”
said Bri.

Marian
finished pouring coffee all around except for Alexa and stared pointedly at the
Swordmarshall. Alexa chewed and swallowed, drank some water, met Elizabeth’s
eyes, then Bri’s.

“I’m
the background person, since I fight the horrors every week.” An unamused smile
flashed, then was gone. “I was originally Summoned a year ago to help defend
Lladrana, that’s this country, from invading evil. Centuries ago some
warrior-mages made a boundary of magical fenceposts with an energy field strung
between them to keep the horrors—inhuman monsters—out. The fenceposts started
falling and the desperate Marshalls consulted the main oracle-prophetess here,
the Singer. The oracle said that if the Marshalls Summoned someone from the
Exotique Land, that’s Earth, she’d re-discover the method of making fenceposts
and re-powering the boundary.” Now her smile crinkled her eyes. “To everyone’s
surprise, it worked.”

Bastien
leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Not surprising.”

“Yeah,
it was.” Alexa’s face hardened. “I was the first Summoned in a century. Alone
with the Marshalls. Tested immediately to prove I could handle the job.” She
swept a gaze around the table. “You weren’t there. None of you.”

Marian
sighed sympathetically. She pushed back her chair and went to the sofa where
Calli’s guy, Marrec, had placed the books he’d carried in. Dividing the stack
in two, she put one on the table beyond Bri’s plate, then one set near
Elizabeth. The top cover was dark black hide Elizabeth didn’t recognize, with a
green wand topped with flames embossed on it. The spine said, in English,
Lorebook
of Exotique Swordmarshall Alexa Fitzwalter.
Underneath was a dark purple
book showing sheet lightning on the spine with the words
Lorebook of
Exotique Circlet Marian Harasta.

“Circlet?”
murmured Bri.

Alexa
answered as Marian resumed her seat and drank the excellent coffee. “The
society here is fragmented. The Circlets are the Sorcerers and Sorceresses of
this place. They usually live in Towers they raise by magic as
their
final test on islands off the coast. Lladrana has one coast, the west.”

Alexa
sipped her water, set the cup down, and smiled again at Marian. “But like all
academics, the Circlet politics were vicious—”

“We
simply did not cooperate well before Marian,” Jaquar said, haughty brows raised
over blue eyes.

“Blue
eyes,” Elizabeth said.

He
inclined his head in a nod. “Yes, there has been some interaction between our
cultures. Somewhere in my bloodline there was obviously an Exotique ancestor.”

“I
understand the Lladranan people are golden-skinned and dark-haired with dark
eyes,” Elizabeth said, observing the silver waves of hair that Jaquar and
Marrec had at their temples, “but aren’t there other cultures here with lighter
coloring?”

“Excellent
observation,” Jaquar said. “Yes, occasionally we have traders, and it’s true I
spent my formative years in the south, but blue eyes are most indicative of
Exotique blood.”

“Okay,”
Bri said. “So most people look like Marrec and Bastien.”

“Ttho,”
said Bastien in a mock-offended tone, bridling back and staring down his nose.
“
No
. I am a black-and-white.” He indicated his striped hair.

Alexa
pinched a bit of buttered croissant from his plate, waved it. “Black-and-whites
are those whose Power—that’s magic—is fractured, and they usually have mental
problems.” She grinned and popped the croissant into her mouth.

“Bastien
has been irritatingly brilliant all his life, but…” Jaquar said.

“A
loose cannon,” Alexa said with relish. “I still like using English idiom. Most
people look like Marrec.”

Elizabeth
and Bri stared at Marrec, his golden skin, black hair with silver streaks over
the temples, dark brown eyes set at a very slight angle. He sat stoically under
their gaze.

“Yes,
our patients had the same cultural features,” Elizabeth said.

“I
fixed Bastien,” Alexa said, stretching to plant a noisy kiss on his jaw.

“Ayes,”
Bastien said. A side of his mouth quirked up. “Well and truly,” he said in
English. His eyebrows lifted at Marian’s and Jaquar’s stares. “I have been
practicing.”

“Me,
too,” said Marrec.

Alexa
huffed. “Let’s get my part over with. Marian was Summoned by the Marshalls for
the Circlets to help battle the Dark—that’s the really bad entity running the
show—making the monsters and sending them here for some physical object that we
still haven’t figured out.” She smiled winningly at Elizabeth and Bri. “In
addition to curing the sickness, that could be your task for the world, Amee.
And the Snap doesn’t happen until you fulfill your task, usually about two
months. The Snap is the way back to Earth.” Alexa shook her head. “We knew it
would take six to fight the Dark in the ultimate battle at the end of this
summer. Didn’t think of twins. Thought of three more Summonings, the City, the
Seamasters, the Singer. With us—” she gestured to Calli and Marian “—that
represents the six core factions of Lladranan society.”

Bri
said, “I’m not sure I followed all of that. But we certainly can’t stay until
the end of summer. That would drive our parents mad.”

Silence
shrouded the table.

“You
assume that time passes on Amee at the same rate that it does on Earth,” Marian
said.

Fear
squeezed Elizabeth’s heart. “No! Don’t tell me we’ve already been here years!”
Bile rushed up her throat, her stomach contracted.

“Marian!”
Calli scolded. She was sitting next to Elizabeth and put an arm around her
shoulders in a tight squeeze. “Yes, time passes the same.”

But
Elizabeth was trembling. Bri shoved back her chair with enough force to knock
it over, marched with unsteady steps to Elizabeth, stood beside her chair and
flung her arms around her. She turned into Bri and grabbed her hard in return.

“That
was nasty,” Bri said thickly. “Get out.”

“I
didn’t mean—” Marian said.

“Marian,
sometimes you’re just too clueless in that smart brain of yours,” Alexa said.
Another chair thumped and Elizabeth felt stroking on her head from small hands,
and a strong feeling of calm coming from both Calli and Alexa.

“I’m
sorry, I’m sorry,” Marian said, a sob in her voice. Elizabeth sensed the woman
hovering around Bri and her, as shaken as the rest.

“We
women from Earth have one major rule around here,” Alexa’s voice was soft, but
steely. “We don’t hurt each other. That means we don’t manipulate each other
and we support each other.
We stick together.
There are enough problems
here for us all without infighting.”

“I
didn’t mean to,” Marian whispered.

“I
know,” Calli said. “You were just saying that when a person finds themselves in
a new dimension, old rules might not apply. The academic approach. That wasn’t
what was needed.”

“I
know,” Marian said.

“You
owe them for scaring them,” Alexa said like a judge laying down the law. “Big
time.”

Elizabeth
was breathing easier, the aftereffects of a strong adrenaline rush fading so
she could act normally.

I
notice that we are all girls in this group hug.
Elizabeth heard
Bri’s light tone and knew her twin was settling down.

Jaquar
and Bastien have gone to the windows. Marrec has his hand on the door knob,
Marian’s
telepathic tone sounded shaky. Her hand had closed over Elizabeth’s shoulder as
if to steady them both.

Men,
Alexa’s voice,
the first time Elizabeth had heard it in her head. Had the other women been
courteously holding back, or was it because they were all touching?

Because
we are all physically connected,
Bri said.

“This
isn’t unexpected,” Alexa said. She stopped smoothing Elizabeth’s hair and
Elizabeth missed it. She heard the sound of furniture moving. Lifting the
chairs back, probably.

Alexa
continued, “Live here long enough and you begin to believe in fate—in the Song.
The Marshalls and Circlets and Chevaliers and the Cities all had requirements
for the people they wanted to bring to Lladrana. Being able to mesh with the
individual group and the culture was the primary one. Since we previous
Exotiques have assimilated well with the culture, it’s only logical that we’d
be friends.”