Protector of the Flight (10 page)

Jaquar
looked at Calli and Thunder. “I’m opening the door to retrieve and examine Bastien.”

Keeping
a hand on Thunder, who was only slightly disturbed, Calli nodded. Her mind was
with Thunder’s. She could keep him from fear.

The
door opened soundlessly, and Jaquar, Alexa and Marian dragged Bastien out. He
tried to move himself.

With
a whoosh, a large hawk swooped into the stables. It lit on Bastien’s head.

“She
says it’s his wild magic that makes him react so,” Alexa said.

She?
Who?

Thunder
stepped forward until he was nearly out of his stall and into the crowded
corridor.
Feycoocu.

“Feycoocu?”
Calli asked.

“A
magical shape-shifting being,” Marian said absently.

Oh.
Of course.

The
hawk pecked Bastien on the head. He yelped and grabbed at it. It flew away.
Thunder followed it with his gaze.
I would like to talk to the feycoocu.

Calli
decided she wouldn’t. The day was rapidly becoming overwhelming with the huge
input of information.

Bastien
shook his head and stood, helped by the other three. “Gonna lie down,” he said
in heavily slurred English. “Bed.”

“Let’s
get you there,” Jaquar said.

Bastien
rubbed his temples. “Horrible headache. When did you say this would wear off?”

“Always
too reckless for your own good,” Alexa scolded.

He
closed his eyes. “Oh, that’s bad. Can be nagged at in two languages. No. I
don’t like this.”

Jaquar
said, “I’ll get him back to your suite, Alexa. You two should brief Calli on
what she needs to know about the Summoning, the Choosing and Bonding ceremony,
and the Snap.”

None
of that sounded good to Calli. But one thing she knew, she wasn’t drinking any
potion.

W
e made good
impression,
Dark Lance said smugly.

Marrec
had used the last of his energy and Power to groom every inch of his volaran,
murmuring compliments with each stroke. He didn’t want Dark Lance to ever leave
again. Now he leaned against his mount, breathing in musky fragrance and
thanking the Song that Dark Lance was back.

All
around him other Chevaliers, even Marshalls, lingered, spending more time with
their volarans. Especially those who could mind-speak with their mounts, even
if only a few images. Especially those who only had one volaran. Those like
him.

He
shuddered again at the remembrance of loss. Not just of his best companion, but
of his entire future. He did well enough with horses, but didn’t own any,
didn’t know if he cared to. He’d have been penniless, with no decent way to
support himself, if Dark Lance hadn’t returned. He hadn’t truly faced that fact
until the volaran was gone.

One
of the female Chevaliers sobbed, and Marrec had to gulp hard.

Cheek
stings.

“What!”
Marrec straightened, went to Dark Lance’s head.

Yours.

“Oh.
Yes.” He pulled out the tube Bastien had given him, opened it and dabbed
healing cream on his face. He chanted one chorus of a spell and the hurt
diminished. That was different, too. Usually it would have taken three verses
to repair the light soul-sucker wounds. He rubbed his hand over his cheek. No
bumps.

More
Power.

“Yes.”

More
Power means more status.

“I
hope so.” He cleared his throat and asked what he’d heard whispered in many
stalls around him.
Will you go away again?

No.
Head Stallion called. I obeyed. Back here now.

“Thank
you,” Marrec repeated.

We
together.

“Yes.”
He wanted to ask why the volarans had left and why they’d returned, hear the
answers for himself, but Dark Lance’s mind-tone had been forbidding.

Rustling
came from several stalls. Some of the Chevaliers were going to sleep with their
volarans. Because they were afraid the winged horses would fly away again? He
was torn, he wanted to stay, for the sheer comfort of Dark Lance’s presence.
But if he did, he’d show the volaran he didn’t trust him.

After
one last rub, Marrec left. He had to tally up his zhiv, plan for the future.
See how long it would take to accumulate enough to buy a small piece of land in
the north.

T
he tasty dinner
Calli was tucking into seemed real, too. So far the normal things her senses
understood—grooming, eating, peeing, made what she was experiencing real. But
the
strange
events outweighed them. Falling through the crystal, waking
up healed, moving without pain after a nap, hearing folks speak a different
language.

Flying
on a winged horse.

That
had been the best.

As
the plates were whisked away by Alexa’s serving woman, Calli studied her fork.

“We
believe there’s always been sharing between our culture and Lladrana,” Marian
said.

“Yes,”
Alexa said, wiping her mouth with her napkin. “There have been Exotiques
Summoned before, but not for a century.”

“I’m
working on a Lorebook,” Marian said. “That’s what they call their reference
volumes here. Lorebook on building Towers. Lorebook of Community Rules.” She
made a face. “Before I started my own work, the Lorebook of Exotiques was a
short one-page list.”

Alexa
grunted. When Calli met her eyes, the Marshall held her gaze and said,
“Lorebook on Summoning. Lorebook on Monsters.”

“That’s
why I’m here,” Calli said. “To fight monsters.”

“That’s
why we’re all here,” Marian said. “We were Summoned here by the Marshalls, and
you by the Marshalls and Chevaliers, because the Song said we could vanquish
the invading Dark. The dimensional corridor that links Earth and Lladrana is
close. We deduce that there will be six of us Summoned.”

“So
that’s the Summoning. Understand?” Alexa asked.

“Why
me?” Calli asked.

Marian
answered, “The Chevaliers had specifications of the qualities that they wanted
in their Exotique, particularly after the volarans left. The Summoning would
only be heard by a person who matched their needs—you.”

Alexa
said, “During the Summoning ceremony, the Song is sent back in time on Earth to
find and prepare a person to come to Lladrana.” She waved a hand. “Don’t
suppose you heard chants and chimes and a gong over the last month, did you?”

Calli
fell back against the plush dining-room chair.

“Thought
so.” Alexa smiled.

“So
you have all the qualities the Chevaliers wanted—someone the volarans would
love, courage, determination.” Marian waved a hand. “You’re flexible in mind to
accept the Summoning, probably don’t have deep emotional ties to Earth—” Calli
kept her mouth shut “—or would consider staying permanently in Lladrana.”

“Fighting
monsters, I don’t think so.” Calli crossed her arms. “Assuming I’m not in a
coma from banging my head against that crystal.”

“What
crystal?” Marian started.

“Stay
on topic,” Alexa said.

Alexa
stood. Her deliberate movements kept Calli watching her. She walked to the far
corner of the room, where the wall separating the bathroom met the curving
outer wall of the tower. Slowly she pulled her baton from her sheath. Green
jade glowed above and below her fingers. The top of the wand had sculpted
bronze flames. Nerves jittered under Calli’s skin.

“Calli,
call it to you.”

Her
breath stuck in her chest. “What?”

“Want
the baton in your hand. Feel it in your hand. Reach out and say, ‘Baton!’”

“I
don’t think—”

Coward.
It came in her
mind. In stereo. Alexa and Marian.

“You
can do it,” Marian said.

“Why
would I want to?” But she rose slowly and faced Alexa.

“Why
not?” Alexa’s smile dared her. “Especially if it’s only a coma-dream.”

Marian
frowned. “I’m not sure people in comas dre—”

“On topic,
Marian.”

The
atmosphere of the room became heavy and charged. It wasn’t only Alexa’s and
Marian’s minds brushing hers, but Thunder’s and other volarans’, some people’s
linked to them, too. All added to the anticipatory pressure around her.

“Fine.
Baton,
come!
” Calli ordered.

It
flew across the room and slapped into her open hand, stinging. And everything
took on a solid reality that she couldn’t deny, as if her mind, her body,
completely focused. The baton belonged to Alexa,
vibrated
like Alexa,
but was real and solid in Calli’s hands. And magical. There was a force within
it that compelled her to believe, to face the fact that she was no longer in
Colorado, on Earth, like a door slamming shut behind her.

New
place, new rules.

Before
her eyes the metal flames atop the stick bloomed into real fire. She dropped
it. Instead of hitting the ground, it shot back to Alexa, who sheathed it at
her left hip. “There, you see? You have great magic. That’s another reason
you’re here. We all have great magic. Cool, huh?”

“Magic,”
Calli repeated.

Marian
joined her. “Look.” She pulled a finger-length wand from her sleeve. Flicked
it, it became larger, flipped it in her hand and flicked it again and the wand
elongated into a walking staff. Calli’s mouth fell open.

“We
all have magic here,” Marian repeated. “We have magic on Earth, too, it’s just
very hard to access it. Earth is also a more visual culture. The Songs can’t be
heard or Sung as easily.”

Alexa
went to a love seat, sat and crossed her ankles. “I wouldn’t know. I didn’t
return to Earth when the Snap came.”

Calli’s
knees went weak and she crumpled into her chair. There was another one of those
strange phrases.

At
that moment a white, long-haired cat strolled in from the bathroom. Calli
stared. She could have sworn the door was shut.

“A
cat from my past. Actually, my magical shape-shifting feycoocu companion.”
Alexa grimaced. “A cat. I hate when this happens. You get nothing out of a
cat.”

Marian
sighed.

The
cat went up to Alexa, stropped her ankles and began a purr that only increased
as it leaped onto Calli’s lap. It turned around a few times and settled. Calli
found herself petting it. Its fur was as soft as volaran feathers, and she felt
oddly comforted. “The Snap?” She managed a squeak.

Drawing
up a chair next to Calli, Marian said, “At some point in time, Mother Earth
will call to you, strongly enough to pull you back home. You’ll have a choice
to stay or go.”

“When?”

“No
one knows,” Marian said. “There isn’t enough data for a hypothesis. Perhaps
after you experience it…”

Alexa
said, “We do know that time passes the same here as on Earth. If you’re here
for, say, three months, the same amount of time has transpired in Colorado.”

“The
ranch!” She’d lose the ranch. Her dad would think she’d just walked away. Her fingers
tightened in the cat fur. The feline grumbled.

“Sorry.”

The
cat jumped down and went to sit in the middle of the floor and groom.

Calli
wouldn’t walk away from the ranch, but her dad would think her cowardly enough
to do so, dammit.

Both
the women appeared sympathetic.

“The
shortest amount of time before the Snap came was two weeks, the longest was
seven years and three months, the average is about two months,” Marian said.

Two
months.

Alexa
smiled. “We have examples of the Bonding ceremony—” she waved at Marian “—and
the Choosing and Bonding ceremony, an older Marshall Pair, coming later.”

“This
is the marriage thing?” Calli asked, attention diverted from her dad and the
ranch.

“Yeah.”

“I’d
like coffee,” Calli said, going to the sideboard. She made the drink dark and
sweet.

Alexa
cleared her throat and sat, but didn’t relax. “You know that the Chevaliers
want you to stay. It’s easier for a person to stay if you’re paired or bonded—”

“Involved
with someone,” Marian said, “but to be precise, they don’t have just a Pairing
ceremony in mind.” She tilted her head. “I think a Pairing would correspond to
an affair and engagement.”

“Yeah,”
Alexa said. “They want you to agree to a
coeurdechain,
which is like
soul melding or something.”

Marian
chuckled and her eyes went dreamy. “It’s more.”

“But
they want a quick marriage, and to do that, they’re willing to use, uh—” She
threw a look at Marian.

“Another
magical ritual,” Marian said. “I blood-bonded with my tutor, and also with
Alexa. Then Jaquar and I decided we wanted the whole deal, minds, souls,
bodies.”