Protector of the Flight (18 page)

Lady
Hallard grunted. She eyed a clump of people waiting to file into the keep,
including some townsmen. “What are they doing here?”

“The
Choosing and Bonding is open to all,” Seeva reminded.

“But
this one is
our
Exotique. We paid the Marshalls to Summon her, and took
part in the Summoning ourselves.”

“The
Marshalls thought it best for there to be the greatest possible number of
suitors,” Seeva murmured.

“I
wonder if the Marshalls will refund our zhiv if our Exotique chooses someone
other than a Chevalier.”

“Just
shows how important the lady is,” Marrec said, “and
we
Summoned her, so
she should be more attuned to
us
and
our
needs.”

“True,”
Lady Hallard said. “It’s a compliment to us that our Exotique has a large
showing today.”

Marrec
refrained from saying that most of the Chevaliers, including himself, hadn’t
believed in the old ways or in a Powerful Exotique and hadn’t shown up for
Alexa’s Choosing and Bonding ritual. Like others, he’d wished he’d done so now.

As
soon as they entered the keep he felt the hum of excitement in the air, sliding
along his skin, and heard a distant rush of voices raised in anticipation.

They
wound their way through the building to the far northwest corner and an old,
large hall with great faded tapestries emphasizing the starkness of the gray
stone walls.

After
one sweeping glance around the chamber, Lady Hallard snorted. “Nothing’s
happening. Looks like this ritual is going to be late. The Marshalls can never
get anything done on time.”

They
could fly and fight in unison well enough, and were usually the first at a
battlefield, but Marrec didn’t say so. After all, Lady Hallard was the
representative of the Chevaliers to the Marshalls’ Council; she interacted with
them a whole lot more than he did. He wondered if they usually started those
meetings on time.

“Maybe
the delay is due to the Exotique—” Seeva began.

“Calli,”
Marrec corrected, then flushed a little when both women looked at him.

Seeva
nodded. “Maybe it’s Calli. Or the other Exotiques. They use a drug, you know,
to heighten the victim—uh, person’s Power, so she’ll chose the right partner.
Maybe they’re having trouble with the drug, like the Marshalls did with
Alyeka.”

“I
am perfectly aware of the procedure,” Lady Hallard said, not even looking at
her daughter. Hallard loosened her shoulders. “It’s packed in here. I don’t
know why we couldn’t have had this Choosing in Horseshoe Close. Bunch of
nonsense, deciding to have it in the oldest room of the Castle.” She started
weaving through the crowd. Seeva had already slipped away to put her personal
token on the Choosing table. Hallard jerked a nod to Marrec. “Let’s go out onto
the terrace and talk.”

He
didn’t want to go out onto the terrace, but Lady Hallard was right. The room
was crowded, and with more men than women. The atmosphere seethed with the
exhilaration of competition. For an instant, Marrec wondered what Songs Calli
would hear, what she would sense and feel when she entered, how the pressure of
being the object of such male desire would affect her. He didn’t like it much
himself, how would she?

But
Lady Hallard had opened the door and walked out to what the Marshalls called a
terrace. It was just a bunch of flagstones surrounded by a low stone wall set
on a sheer outcropping of rock, no wider than the room. No one else was there.

The
lady glanced out at the beautiful prospect with a gaze that scanned more for
danger than studied the pretty view. She stalked to the low wall, hitched a hip
on it and said, “So what do you want?”

“T
ime,” Thealia
said in a voice that echoed around the room. Calli knew that word; she heard
the older Marshall splashing from the water in the pool on the other side of
the screen. Calli ducked under, bobbed up, walked from the tub and dried off
briskly. “I’m ready.”

“Your
dress.” Thealia stuck her arm around the screen with a flow of glittering
royal-blue shades darker than Calli’s eyes. A dress that would set off her
coloring to the max.

“Mine?”
It was the most beautiful fabric Calli had ever seen. She took the sleeveless
dress. It didn’t look like much, but she knew it would cling.

“It’s
magic, has a built-in bra,” Marian said. “I wear them all the time.”

“Is
this like your dress this morning?” Calli asked.

“A
little. It will mend small tears, will mask any perspiration odor with herbs.”

There’d
been enough herbs in the bath to plant a garden.

“Think
of it as a wedding dress.”

A
high squeak escaped Calli. She dropped the dress, then had to pick it up, and
watched water spots on the fabric fade before her eyes. Her breath came
quicker.

“Marian!”
Alexa scolded.

“Sorry,”
said Marian.

Calli
pulled the gown over her head. It slipped down her body as fluid as water, then
shifted. The bodice lifted her breasts until the upper curves rounded in the square
neck. Only a couple of wide straps held up the top. Killer dress, and yeah, it
clung. She laughed nervously. “A
take-me
dress.”

“Well,
let’s
see
you!” Alexa demanded.

And
with that reminder of one sense, Calli became aware of the sound all around
her—light ripples, deep ocean sonic-type melodies, Alexa’s and Marian’s unique
Songs. Her skin prickled. She’d be more aware of music once she stayed.

One
last chance to decide whether to trust these people or not. This was a matter
of trust. She knew they wanted…everything…from her. But they also seemed to
give her everything
she
wanted.

And
if the whole thing went to shit there was always the Snap. The thought was a
wisp in the back of her brain.

Again
she felt the fabric, stroking it over one hip, though there were no wrinkles,
would never be any wrinkles. No sleeves, the better to stick a tube in her
wrist. She gulped.

“You
sure this transfusion thing will work? What about blood types?”

Marian
stuck her head around the screen, saw Calli was covered and walked in. “I’ve
done several bloodbonds—with Jaquar to bond in marriage, the coeurdechain like
you’ll do. Also with Bossgond as his apprentice.” She shoved her sleeve up and
showed her left wrist. There was a series of tatts—two golden circlets
entwined, a yellow bird and a green wand…

“We
did a blood-sister thing, too,” Alexa said. With a wave, the screen folded back
into the wall. She displayed her own wrist with a tattoo of crossed batons and
a book. “Like I said earlier, Bastien and I don’t have a coeurdechain yet.” She
nibbled her bottom lip. “I’d like to do a blood-sister thing with you, too,
Calli.”

“And
I,” said Marian. She looked down at her wrist and grimaced.

“Good
thing you have long arms. By the time we bond with all the other Exotiques,
we’ll have a mess of pics,” Alexa said, “like program icons on a computer
desktop.”

“That’s
so…eloquent,” Marian said.

“Hey,
I ran the law journal, I can speak well if need be.” She grinned. “And
legalese.”

“Just
what I missed the most about Earth,” Marian murmured, smiling.

The
exchange relieved a mite of Calli’s tension. She enjoyed these women. Then she
reran the quips. “Other Exotiques?”

“You’re
three of six,” Alexa said casually. “Dress looks great.”

Marian
nodded. “Your suitors will be very impressed.”

Alexa
grinned. “Their tongues’ll roll out and they’ll pant.”

That
wrung a little laugh from Calli.

Alexa
stepped close and looked up at Calli with serious eyes. “Really, the man who
gets you will be lucky beyond belief.” Then her lips curved again in a lopsided
smile. She winked. “Trust me, baby.”

Thealia
jerked her head toward the stairs leading upward. So they left the pretty,
tiled baths and walked up the stairs in pairs. Thealia first, Alexa and
Clua—Calli kept her eye on the goblet full of the drink that would heighten her
Power to make sure nobody slipped anything in it. Then Marian and she followed,
with the rest bringing up the rear. A fine quivering trembled her insides. She
felt as if she was facing the most important race of her life, a championship
event—win or lose all.

With
every step she took, Calli changed her mind. Stop this! No, go ahead, she had
nothing to lose and everything to gain! No, look things over, check out the
“suitors,” make the rounds of the room,
then
decide if she liked what
and who she saw, if she could live with this Lladranan man or that one…Speak to
the volarans!

But
she continued to walk next to Marian, who was blessedly silent. Calli didn’t
know if the other woman sensed her turmoil, but at least they weren’t
dissecting it in an academic manner, or speaking of it at all, and for that
Calli was grateful.

And
it wasn’t as if Calli
hadn’t
talked to the volarans, who were all in
favor of this step, or the feycoocu, who was equally in favor. Speaking of
which—or thinking of which—they reached the top of the stairs and an exotic red
bird with a long tail flew in and settled on Alexa’s shoulder.

A
grunt came before them and Calli looked down to see a huge hamster. She thought
it must be a hamster, though it was about a foot long and looked more like a
prairie dog. Without breaking stride, Marian scooped it up.

“Hello,
Tuck,” Calli said hollowly. Couldn’t they, like, take
one
step that
didn’t reek of magic?

Oh,
yeah, she was on her way to a Choosing and Bonding ritual that was nothing
but
magic.

At
that moment the red bird on Alexa’s shoulder turned her head and stared,
beady-eyed and
full
of magic, at Calli.
If you need our help in
Choosing, we will give it. We promise you that we will not let you choose
unwisely if you are guided by us. Tuckerinal still has some Exotique Terre in
his soul. He will ensure the man you choose will be adaptable enough to love
all of you.

Oh,
God. Calli wanted to turn and run, but they’d reached a wide hallway and a
flood of excitement washed over her, rushing down every vein.

They
all wait for you,
came a squeaky mind-voice from her left—Tuckerinal. His eyes were equally beady
and he clasped his paws together and beamed at her.
It’s an adventure!

Just
what she wanted. An adventure. Ha! That’s not what she wanted at all. She
wanted love and a settled life, especially after all her rounds of following
the rodeo circuit, of going into the hospital for yet another surgery. But here
she was on Lladrana. Looked like this was one more of those situations where
she’d have to live through adventure to get what she wanted. This time she
hoped it worked, since her rodeo money hadn’t earned her father’s love or built
the ranch she’d wanted.

As
they turned down another corridor, the anticipation in the atmosphere fizzed
along her nerves. At the far end of the hall was a clump of people hanging
around a doorway. Her stomach did another nervous jump. Everyone was focused on
her. For once in her life she was the center of attention, the main event. She
didn’t like it much. She sure wished it was over already.

The
slight babble she’d heard when they entered the hallway faded; everyone watched
as they walked closer and closer. Calli saw men and women dressed in their
best. They were beautiful, every one, with their golden skin, brown or black
eyes, shining black hair with tints of chestnut or brown or raven’s-wing.
Beautiful. They bowed or curtsied and their movements were full of grace. She
didn’t recognize anyone and was frozen inside, so all she did was nod, and
received huge smiles. Their teeth were good, too.

Before
they reached the door at the end of the hall, Swordmarshall Thealia flung open
a door to the left. A narrow, rougher stone corridor curved in a huge arc.

“This
is the northwest round tower of the keep,” Marian said, “the oldest part of the
Castle. It’s on the same side of the keep, the west, as Alexa’s tower.”

“Uh-huh,”
Calli said, as if she cared.

They
walked around nearly a good half of the tower before they came to another door,
this one made of wood so old it looked like it had turned to stone itself. A
pattern of iron diamonds decorated it. “The door to the anteroom of the old
Great Hall,” Thealia said. She hummed a couple of pretty measures and the door
opened. Calli got the idea it was keyed only to her voice.

So, could
Calli run if she wanted? She eyed the other women. Would they let her run?
Maybe. Could she outrun them? Probably everyone except Alexa. That one was
little and quick.

The
room Calli entered was paneled in an aged and mellow wood. Lightballs shone like
miniature suns, giving off a comforting yellow light. The very walls sent off
an aura of peace. Calli began to relax.