Protector of the Flight (51 page)

The
clock in the living room bonged five.

“It’s
suppertime and they’re lat—” Dora started.

Pulling
the door open, Calli went into the kitchen. All places were set. With flowered
paper napkins, too.

“Good
evening, folks,” she said.

“Good
evening, folks,” Marrec echoed.

A
fter dinner,
Calli showed Marrec around the ranch, helped with the evening chores and
introduced herself and Marrec to the new horses—cutting horses, appropriate for
a cattle ranch.

If…if
they couldn’t get back to Lladrana…nerves jumped in her stomach…but she shoved
that thought into a little box and locked it away, because otherwise she
teetered on the edge of panic. Continued to plan for a future here on Earth.
Had to. Keep moving forward.

But
there was no way she’d get the ranch now that Dora had taken possession.
Everyone in the area would favor her dad and his new wife over Calli. Calli was
younger, would be expected to make her own way, live at her husband’s home. She
swallowed hard. How she wanted that.

She’d
fight, but didn’t expect it would take long. Only the time to talk to the
bankers, negotiate with her dad, probably three weeks at the most. Three weeks
to find a way back through the crystal to Lladrana…after that, the best Calli
could do would be to walk away with money in her pocket to find a new place,
another Power point to reach her home.

Time
and again, Calli touched Marrec—more often than she ever had since those first
few days in Lladrana. And each time, he returned her affection…even if it was
only a warm look in his eyes.

Her
fears calmed. She wasn’t alone with people who disliked her, had no use for
her.

She
gave Marrec the penny tour of the house, too, noting with wide eyes that the
place now had
three
computers. The one she’d installed for the ranch
business was replaced by a much newer, fancier model, and the desk papers
looked arranged in a different pattern than her dad used—Roy, or Dora. Another,
smaller desk made an L and sported another new computer.

Roy
had a computer in his room, the spare room on the second floor. From what she
could see at a glance, he had a stack of college texts—mostly on agriculture
and ranch management.

As
soon as it was dark and the others had gone to the living room and switched on
TV, Calli took Marrec up to her room. She wasn’t up to explaining television,
and Marrec, who’d been doing pretty well around the ranch, showed strain lines
dug in near his eyes. He’d spoken little but observed everything. She got the
impression that he was learning English quickly.

They
showered, bumping bodies and making love, then went to bed after another try to
contact Alexa and Marian, and a language lesson, with Marrec asking questions.

There,
in the dark, Calli could whisper her real concerns. “Do you think we’ll be able
to get back through the crystal? Do you think they’ll be able to Summon us
back? Do you think they’ll even try?”

He
didn’t answer her for long minutes. “The survey of the island must have been
your task. You completed it. And have trained people to partner with volarans.
It will depend upon the volarans, if they leave like they did before.”

She
cleared her throat. “There was something else. Something I showed the
volarans—how to turn invisible.”

He
jerked beside her. “What?”

So
she told him of the flight over the Dark’s nest, how she’d triggered an
instinctive response in Thunder—for invisibility. She even took Marrec’s hand
and tried to enter the same state of consciousness, but was too disturbed and
tense. She almost laughed. She could manage to enter a different mind-set above
an evil that gnawed at a planet, yet couldn’t throw off her own fears in a
house that she’d known all her life.

She
gave a watery sniff, rolled close to him, welcoming his hard body against hers,
his arms around her. “Surely they wouldn’t think that I’d,
we’d,
abandon
our children, would succumb to the Snap. They
must
know something went
wrong.”

He
stroked her hair. “I don’t know, Calli.”

T
hat night, after
Calli was asleep, Marrec lay in the small, lumpy bed and felt the tension
they’d released explosively in lovemaking claim him once again. He was
petrified down to his toenails and trying hard not to think that they were
stuck in this very strange world. Yet he had little hope. The Marshalls didn’t
consider Calli essential. They had their own Exotique. Calli had fulfilled her
task, and her techniques for training volarans had been taught to others.

She’d
even shown the volarans how they could protect themselves. Whatever her task
had been, she’d fulfilled it. Them. Exceptionally well, of course. Would they
want her back? The Chevaliers were still an independent force and he didn’t
believe they would muster the desire and the zhiv to pay the fee the Marshalls
would want
again
to return Calli. If the volarans left again…but would
they? They loved Calli, but she’d given them something new, too, would they
consider that enough?

Did anyone
even realize that the Snap had gone wrong? That Calli hadn’t left of her own
free will?

He,
of course, was of no importance whatsoever and wondered how much Power it would
take to open the crystal in the mountain from Lladrana. He knew enough from the
time he’d spent this day to understand his Power—and Calli’s—was much less
here.

He
tried not to think of his children, of how Jetyer would feel abandoned. Nothing
he could do there. He’d tried on his own to contact his son, to no avail, and
was hesitant to ask Calli to send to Jetyer. Would people believe the boy if he
said he’d heard his father and mother? Somehow Marrec didn’t think so. They’d
put it down to grief.

Marrec
pulled Calli closer, closed his eyes as they prickled when she snuggled close, threw
a leg over his, as if to keep him near. He was glad he was with Calli. Despite
the way it appeared, with him knowing little of the language and nothing of the
society, he sensed she needed him more than ever.

This
little trip had certainly unblocked his hearing in some ways. The air here was
different, with an odd metallic tang he didn’t like. The sky was not quite the
correct color blue, and the
machines
he’d seen were frightening. He
hadn’t much cared for the food, and had listened hard to the quiet Song between
himself and Calli to sense what was going on. Just from the abrupt and sharp
tones others used with her, he’d known she was fighting battles where he could
only stand beside her and offer support, not even understanding.

All
this time, he hadn’t fully comprehended how hard it must have been for Calli on
Lladrana. She’d seemed to fit into life—his lifestyle—so easily. He was smart
enough to figure that the Song would Summon only those people who
could
adapt to Lladrana, but still it was a major accomplishment that he hadn’t given
her credit for.

When
they’d had that argument, he’d been right. Their priorities should have been
with their children, and Calli wanted to please everyone. He could see why that
was, now, with that hard old man who didn’t care a brass coin for such a lovely
daughter. But she’d also felt as if there were other duties she had to
fulfill—which he hadn’t truly realized.

He
had been the one most at fault. He’d embraced his new life, wanted to be the
best landowner in Lladrana. Wanted his estate to be considered a model for
others. Wanted to implement every good idea he’d dreamed of over the years.

Underneath
everything, he’d still been looking for status. His motives hadn’t changed,
only the means—which Calli had given him when she’d chosen him. He’d drawn away
from Calli—as much as a Pairbonded person could—and now he regretted it.

Now
he could make amends. His life had changed once more, for the worse, riding
down the wheel of fortune instead of up, and he
knew
he’d be lost forever
on his own. But Calli would never leave him. The idea wouldn’t even enter her
mind and he Sang a quiet prayer for that blessing. If they had to, once again,
they would make another start together.

He
slept little that night, woke as soon as he heard stirrings below, yet he
didn’t get up. He wasn’t ready to face this world on his own, not even to
stride across a room that wasn’t too different from those at home. Calli opened
blurry eyes and smiled when she saw him. “Marrec.” She rolled a little closer,
her gaze sharpened and he saw the joy drain from her.

No,
this was not a good place for her, either.

She
rolled back and stared at the ceiling. He’d studied those cracks himself.

“I’d
forgotten.” She blinked hard and he saw tears on her lashes. “We aren’t home.”

She
awoke and it all came rushing back. Her children had been torn from her.
Curling up in a ball, she moaned. He held her as she cried, sobs shuddering
through her body. He let her weep for them both. Wiped her tears with a handful
of funny soft cloth from a box on the bed, and kept her close, stroking her
back, making soothing noises.

Finally,
she sat up and rubbed her eyes, glanced at a flat circular thing on the wall.
“I want to know where I stand, and don’t want to take anyone’s word for it. We
need to visit town—Bellem—to look at land records and go to the bank.” Her
words were a mixture of Lladranan and English, but he got the drift.

He
was glad she’d said “we.” He picked up her fingers and pressed a kiss on them.
“Pairling.”

That
made her face soften, a smile curve her lips.

“I’ll
follow you, just as you followed me.”

She
looked stricken, her gaze fell. “I didn’t. I didn’t follow you on Lladrana.”

He
cleared his throat. Brushed his lips to her fingers again. “You did those first
days.”

She
snorted. “We were bound together.”

Brushing
hair back from her face, he said, “True, but later you followed your Song, and
did what was needful.”

“As
you did.”

“Calli,
I’m sorry. I should have been less demanding.”

Sighing,
she said, “There weren’t any good answers, once we adopted the children. But
now it’s different. If—when—” Her lips quivered. “We’ve done enough and we have
a family. We can contribute by training, on our estate, not by fighting.”

“I’m
glad you see it that way.” He kissed her, long and slow and deep. His body
readied. So did hers as he tested it.

“Breakfast,
Roy!” called Dora.

Calli
flinched.

Marrec
gritted his teeth and accepted that he’d find himself in a cold shower shortly.
Still, he wanted her happy. So he kissed her brow tenderly. “We will go into
this Bellem, then check the crystal again.”

She
rolled out of bed, all business. “Yes, Koz transferred money for gems and
brought them to Lladrana. I can do the same, but I need to know how much I
have…and…” Her eyes were too bright when she rushed into the little bathroom.

He
knew what she meant. If they couldn’t get back to Lladrana.

37

M
arian knocked on
Alexa’s door in her Castle tower.

“Entre!”
shouted Alexa.

Opening
the door, Marian saw Alexa pacing. The Swordmarshall hadn’t been still since
Calli’s and Marrec’s volarans had returned to the northern camp without them.

“How’re
the children?” Alexa asked.

“As
well as can be expected. Settled here in the Circlet Apartments with us. Thank
the Song the feycoocus used major magic to bring us back, and you and Bastien,
too.”

“I
tell you, she’d never leave those kids of hers. And wouldn’t take Marrec,
either.”

“Marrec
had to go, he’s Pairbonded,” Marian said.

Scowling,
Alexa said, “And how does that happen? I thought a Pairbond was a pretty damn good
guarantee that an Exotique stays.”

“We
know hardly anything about the Snap.”

“Don’t
give me that shit.”

With
a weary sigh, Marian sank into a plush chair. “It’s true. I’ve gathered
journals, letters, other papers and items from previous Exotiques.”

“Really?”
Alexa looked a little distracted from her worry.

Marian
smiled. “Yes, I’ll let you have them as soon as I’m finished.”

Alexa
scuffed the carpet with her foot. “I still don’t read Lladranan well,
especially handwritten cursive. What’s with the Pairbond Exotique thing,
though?”

“You’re
right, as far as I can tell, no Exotique, male or female, who was bonded to a
Lladranan returned to Earth.”

“There’s
something screwy going on here,” Alexa said, fiddling with her jade baton.

“There’s
always something strange going on.” Marian sighed again, clasped her hands,
unclasped them. “Every day something new happens that I’m not prepared for.”

Alexa
grunted. “Got down to every few days with me, ’til lately.” She walked to the
curved windows of her suite, staring to the west, where shadows still draped
the land. “She wouldn’t leave the children.” Her face set in stern lines of
determination. “I want her back. Her and Marrec.”