Lone Star Magic (3 page)

Once he was out of sight of her home, he let
himself sink to the ground, yanking off a stalk of grass to chew
on. Carly Roberts puzzled him. She ran a ranch, yet she’d seemed
afraid of her own, young stallion. Even the horse had sensed this,
embellishing his own performance to play on her fears.

Alrick knew Carly worked her farm alone, yet
had only one horse. He’d counted less than four cows roaming the
dried and burnt fields. He had seen only her small garden, no crops
growing in her neglected fields. Though she had a sheepdog, he’d
seen no sign of sheep. He shook his head. This was no way to run a
farm.

Yet, according to the Mage, this tiny,
emerald-eyed woman with hair the color of flame held the future of
Rune in her hand.

Alrick could scarcely credit such a thing.
Yet he’d risked crossing the ever-thickening veil to reach this
place. To reach her. And she clearly thought him crazy. He dug his
hands into the dry, hard, clay and let the earth sift through his
fingers. He’d been giving the task of saving a woman who did not
want to be saved.

The task. When the Mage of a future Rune had
appeared, asking help from the King, Alrick’s father had listened.
And when his father had announced that one of his twin sons would
need to cross the veil into the mortal world and guard a woman
there, Alrick had promptly volunteered. Also, he’d suggested what
had seemed like the simplest solution – bring the woman to Rune
where she would be safe.

Both the Mage and Alrick’s father had
promptly vetoed that idea. When Alrick had asked why, he’d been
given some nonsense about messing with destiny.

Fine. So she had to stay in her own world. He
would make this work. He would prove to his father he was fit to be
named heir. Fit to be named heir, fit to become the next King of
Rune. No harm would come to Carly Roberts, not while he lived and
breathed.

As the blazing sun sank lower into the
horizon, coloring the sky a brilliant red, Alrick made ready to
rest. The night was cool and the breeze gentle. Carly would be
safe, at least for this eve, for the Warlord had not remained.

At the first light of morning, Alrick stood
and stretched, then crossed the unkempt fields to her farm, the
place a hand-carved, crooked wooden sign proclaimed The No Name
Ranch.

First, he inspected the perimeter, sniffing
for telltale hints of magic, looking for magical signs left by the
Warlord. Whatever energy sustained him, the Warlord had not yet
fully made the transition to this time. They were safe, for
now.

But the Warlord would return. Carly, and what
she meant to his world in the future, was too important.

Her house still looked dark. Most likely she
still slept. Her dog greeted him silently, tail wagging. Instead of
presenting himself at her door, Alrick slipped into the barn, where
the horse named TM waited. As soon as Alrick slid the warped wooden
doors open, the young stallion whickered.

“You have not eaten?” Moving closer, Alrick
looked around for the grain. “Perhaps your mistress yet
slumbers.”

TM snorted his agreement, bobbing his
well-shaped head up and down. Energy burned in him like a
flame.

Finally, Alrick located some sort of feed.
Made to look like green rabbit pellets, Carly kept the stuff stored
in a large, faded plastic can. Inside was also a plastic scoop, for
which he was grateful since Fae skin was burned by the touch of
metal. He’d brought gloves just in case.

“He gets two of those.” Carly’s voice, still
rusty with sleep, made him turn. “And two of the grain. He’ll have
hay as well. That’s his regimen twice a day.”

Alrick could not take his eyes off her. With
her tousled hair and sleep-swollen eyes, she looked at though she
had just tumbled from some man’s bed.

He cleared his throat, forcing away the heat
such thoughts brought. “May I feed him?”

She gave a short nod, sending her flaming
curls flying. “Go ahead.”

Hope flared in his chest. Letting him tend to
her horse sounded as though she’d decided to let him stay.

While he busied himself gathering the feed,
he felt her eyes on him. She tracked his every movement, like a
hawk watching a sparrow.

TM nickered his impatience, pawing at the
ground.

“Be still,” Alrick ordered. Immediately the
impatient young animal quieted.

Behind him, Carly snorted.

Once he dumped the pellet and grain mixture
into TM’s feed trough, and the horse was munching happily, Alrick
turned to face her, crossing his arms.

“Well?”

Swallowing, she looked away. “Where did you
sleep last night?”

“Sleep? In the field beyond those trees.”

“Don’t you have a car?”

“A car.” He repeated the words, remembering.
Metal machines. “I don’t have a car.”

“No pickup?”

Despite the fact Alrick had no idea what on
earth a pickup might be, he shook his head. “I feel quite certain I
don’t have one of those either.”

She frowned at that. “Either you do or you
don’t. Are you homeless?”

“I have a home, though it’s a long journey to
there.”

If anything, his words seemed to make her
even more unhappy. Her frown deepened. “Hmmmm.”

He squared his shoulders and looked her in
the eye. He felt like one of his father’s overlords, defending
himself against some imaginary insult. He had his sword and his
bow, though compared to the weapons of her world, they were
nothing. And he had his magic.

“You’ve got to leave,” Carly said.

“Leave?” His heart sank.

“Yes. Now.” She pointed east, towards where
the rising sun colored the clouds a bright pink. “I’m sorry, but I
can’t help you. There are lots of other ranches in this area. I’m
sure you can find one that’ll hire you.”

“Dragons teeth—.” He took another step
closer, halting when she held up her hand.

“You’re creeping me out. Please just go.”

“But—.”

“Look, Rick, Al, whatever your name is. I
don’t need any help.” She scrunched up her nose in such a way that
he knew instinctively she was about to tell a big, fat, lie. “I
have, er, six strong brothers. Football players, all. They come
over every morning and help me work the ranch. As a matter of fact,
they should be here any minute. You need to leave before they see
you.”

He smiled. “What happened to the high school
kids?”

Her mouth fell open and he knew she’d
forgotten her earlier lie. “They are. High school kids. My
brothers, that is.”

In his stall, TM reacted to the edge of
hysteria he heard in Carly’s voice. He reared up, giving a shrill
whistle, and kicked the padded side of the stall.

Alrick crossed to the stall door and pulled
it open.

“Don’t go in there.” Carly actually sounded
worried.

“He won’t hurt me.” He slipped inside the
stall.

Showing the whites of his eyes, TM stood
still, sides heaving, nostrils flaring.

Alrick spoke three short words, all in the
old language, the one still used by animals.

TM let his breath out in a snort. He lowered
his head, tilting it sideways so Alrick would have better access to
his ears.

With a soft chuckle, Alrick obliged.

“I don’t know how you do that.” Carly’s voice
sounded hushed, though he could still detect her simmering anger.
And fear. Though why she would be afraid of him, he couldn’t
fathom. Most women wanted to bed him, not chase him away.

But then the Mage had revealed Carly was not
like most woman.

Alrick looked at her over the stallion’s
lowered head. “I’ve spoken nothing but the truth. I told you I am
skilled with horses, didn’t I?”

She nodded. “Yes, but I still can’t let you
stay.”

“Why not?”

“I—.”

A crash sounded. Thunder in a cloudless sky?
Alrick felt that familiar prickle along his skin that meant
magic.

Magic? Here, now, again, so soon? Surely the
Warlord realized how careful he had to be not to disturb the
balance of this world. Awful disasters of weather had been known to
occur as the result of misused magic in the human realm. Even
coming from the future, the Warlord would know this as well. Most
likely he simply did not care.

Carefully, Alrick left the horse’s stall and
closed the door until it clicked.

“Did you hear—?” Carly pointed up, in the
general direction of the sky.

Again he felt the hair on his arms raise. He
cursed the Warlord, even as he sensed what was about to happen.

There was a flash as lightning struck the
roof. A second later, another boom of thunder. The rear of the barn
erupted in flames.

Alrick spun, pushing Carly away. “Get out,”
he shouted.

She hesitated, her frantic gaze darting from
TN to him and back again. “TM…”

“I’ll get the horse.” With another urgent
shove, he pushed her towards the door. “Go. Now.”

Carly ran.

The fire spread quickly, devouring the dry
wood like a starving demon.

TM screamed, panicked. Alrick tore off his
tunic, running to TM’s stall. The stallion reared, the whites of
his eyes and his flared nostrils showing his terror.

Alrick spoke in the old tongue, swearing to
get the animal out safely. This quieted TM enough for Alrick to
wrap his tunic around the horse’s head. Gripping his mane, Alrick
prodded the stallion forward.

The roaring fire leapt along the roof,
crackling. Close enough that Alrick felt the heat singe his hair.
Thick black smoke billowed around them, stinging his eyes, tearing
up his throat. Coughing, he tried again to make the stallion move.
TM balked.

From somewhere outside, Carly screamed his
name. He could hear the dog’s frantic barks.

No time to think, Alrick brought his hand
down hard across the stallion’s hindquarters.

Instead of lunging forward, TM struck back
with his hooves. Twisting, Alrick dodged the kick. “Stubborn animal
– you’ll get us both killed.”

TM reared, as though he believed Alrick was
the threat, not the fire.

“Damnation.” Alrick used his fistful of mane
to vault himself on to TM’s back. Digging his heels into the
terrified horse’s side, he held on a TM rushed blindly forward.

Carly, he had to get to Carly. Make sure she
was safe.

Running in bucking jumps, they made it to the
open door.

Fresh air. The heavy smoke poured out of the
barn.

Eyes stinging, Alrick slid off TM, dodging
another furious kick. “You and I will settle this later,” he
promised the young horse. Ears flat against his head, TM lifted his
lip. Alrick ignored him. Right now, he had to find Carly.

He ran.

* * *

The water from her garden hose wasn’t nearly
enough. But it was all she had. Looking over her shoulder at the
burning barn, Carly yelled again for Alrick to bring TM out. The
barn roof looked like it was about to collapse any second, with
Alrick and TM inside.

Kayo paced frantically, barking
encouragement.

Then TM emerged from the thick, black smoke.
But Alrick… Carly stared – Alrick rode TM out! TM wasn’t even what
horse people called “green broke”. He’d never even had a blanket on
his back, never mind a rider.

As she watched, TM bucked. Like a burr to
wool, Alrick hung on. Then, in one fluid motion, he slid to the
ground. Kayo stopped barking and ran to him.

Continuing to spray the roof, she felt a
spurt of satisfaction as she managed to extinguish one hot spot.
Only to see another blaze to life. She fought a losing battle. As
she thought this, the roof collapsed.

Alrick came running.

As he did, another bolt of lightning snaked
down from the cloudless sky, striking the roof of her house.

Flame erupted, catching hold of the dry wood
and feeding hungrily. She turned the hose on her roof.

“The Warlord.” Alrick shouted. He said
something else, in a language she didn’t understand and gestured
with his hand, several motions, too quick for her to follow.

Suddenly, something blocked the sun. She
looked up. A huge dark cloud had formed in the previously cloudless
sky – directly over her house. The kind of cloud that should have
accompanied the thunder and lightning earlier.

Rain poured down on her roof. The kind of
rain that caused flash floods, the type of rain that came with a
Category Four hurricane to the coast. Only over her house and barn.
Nowhere else. Dousing the fire.

Dry, she stood and stared as Alrick, gave her
a triumphant grin. His brown eyes glowed. She glanced at TM, who’d
stopped his prancing and watched also, and at Kayo, who sat near
Alrick’s feet, his coat gleaming in the sun.

In the sun. There were no other clouds
anywhere in the brilliant blue sky.

As she realized this, the shadowy cloud blew
apart. One moment, torrents of water rained from it, the next it
was utterly, totally gone. Vanished, as if she’d only imagined it.
The morning sun again beamed bright. Her house still stood, the
roof slightly charred, no doubt waterlogged, but mostly intact.

Alrick grinned. “There. The weather’s
reaction to his magic worked against the warlord. I was about to
try and call the rain when the storm appeared. At least it saved
your home.”

“Magic?” Again she raised her face to the
sky, feeling the warmth of the sun on her face. “Magic had nothing
to do with that. That was the rain from the same storm that sent
the lightning.”

His gaze narrowed. “The storm was the
weather, reacting to the magic.”

He really
was
crazy. Great. Maybe
she’d better humor him. “Ah, magic. Right. Magic caused the
rain.”

He gave a slow nod. “Yes, lucky for you. The
water kept the inferno from engulfing your dwelling.”

“Taking this one step further,” she crossed
her arms. “I didn’t have any problems with weather until you
appeared. Was it your magic that brought the thunder and lightning
that destroyed my barn?”