Protector of the Flight (6 page)

And
she was understanding, in her mind and by watching him—eyes, ears, mouth and
feet.

We
play games in the air.

Well,
that let her out. Volaran or not, she’d bet that, like horses, these equines
tested their leaders. She may have been welcomed by them, felt that wave of
love, but that didn’t mean they’d automatically elect her leader.

My
back is broad and I will be careful. Just a short ride…I will use no distance
magic.

I
will be in charge,
Calli replied, lifting her chin, getting the hang of the talking. She felt she
spoke horse better than any other language.

Of
course.
Was there a hint of slyness in that reply, in the dapple’s eyes?

It
didn’t matter. Anything other than a flying horse, Calli could have resisted.
But if this was a dream, she didn’t want to wake before she’d flown on a winged
horse.

Me,
too. Me, too. Me!
The filly gamboled about. Tossed her head, then blew out a little breath and
continued,
My Dam will fly with me. We will all fly together.

The
gray’s back rippled and a saddle appeared on it. Calli went up and checked the
tack. It was harsher on horse—volaran—than the bits and bridles and saddle she
usually used.

That
would change if she stayed…if she awoke and it wasn’t a dream.

No,
said the mare
to her filly.
Thunder and the Lady will fly high and fast and far. We will
stay here.

The
filly huffed and circled the courtyard.

Smiling,
Calli unsaddled and unbridled the volaran, leaving the equipment on the ground.
He watched her with an astonished gaze. So did the Circlets. Marian’s mouth had
fallen open. Calli sensed that both she and her husband rode horses and flew
volarans.

She’d
like a hackamore, but if she was going to impress the stallion, she’d go all
the way bareback. Hey, if it was a dream, all she’d do was wake up if she fell,
and if it wasn’t, well, maybe her life wasn’t too much to pay for a ride on a
flying horse.

Don’t
you humans need those things?
The stallion still looked at the
saddle.

Trying
to talk in her head and aloud, Calli said. “I didn’t like the tack I saw.”

“Oh,”
Marian said.

Calli
smiled. “Ever hear of natural horsemanship?”

Marian
relaxed and smiled, too. “Of course. I saw a few demonstrations.” Her face
clouded. “I never learned and my mother’s polo ponies—” She stopped.

“Polo.”
Calli huffed a breath. Were they from different backgrounds or what?

With
a determined nod, Marian strode to face the gray stallion. “Listen here.” She
gestured to Calli. “This is
your
Exotique. If you lose her, you will
have to explain to the Chevaliers why.
And
those who brought her here
will reconsider Summoning someone else if you have no respect for her.”

Calli
could have told Marian that she was wasting her breath. The volaran was paying
more attention to Calli stroking his ears than Marian’s words. A shadow in his
mind did hint at a concern of losing her and explaining that to the alphas in
Volaran Valley.

As
she continued caressing his ears, he relaxed, just as the horses she knew did,
lowering his head.

Smiling,
she relaxed, too, relieved. She
did
have knowledge that could apply to
volarans. She ran her hand from neck to shoulder, shoulder to withers and
barrel, again and again. His coat was silkier, softer than horsehair, as if
each individual piece was not a hair strand but a minute feather. He stood
quiet under her hands, yet pleasure emanated from him. Occasionally she sensed
a “nudge” to rub or scratch him in a particular spot.

Cautiously,
she set her hand on the upper edge of the muscular ridge where his wings
attached to his body, marveling again at them—their softness, the coloring that
complemented his coat. All the equine cues she’d read showed respect. With a
deep breath and a prayer in her heart, she set one hand in the dark mane, the
other in the small of his back and hauled herself up—nearly
flew
onto
him. Something inside her sprang open, imbuing her with energy and grace
and…and…magic?

She
rubbed up his neck, all the while realizing that he was extraordinary, felt
more
than horselike. His wings fluttered against the back of her calves, causing an
amazing feeling to well up inside her. As if here, on the back of this volaran,
was her true destiny. For a moment she just sat, eyes closed. He didn’t smell
horselike, but sweet and musky, like some crumbling amber she’d once had.

Interesting,
he said. The
neck muscles under her hand moved and she opened her eyes to see him staring at
her. He whinnied.
You feel good, you have great Power. Let’s go.
He
lifted his wings.

Calli’s
stomach dipped.
One moment.
She scanned the area. The courtyard was huge.

Now
she’d see if he’d obey her.
Back for a running start.

Don’t
need a running start.

Again
she stilled, let the beginning of her day rerun in her head, how she’d risen
with pain, negotiated the steps, called for her horse…the emptiness she’d felt
for months at not riding. Then she settled back, brought her legs forward
slightly, squeezed and released.
Back.

The
volaran backed, she even turned him so they had all the courtyard ahead of
them. Her mind seemed to touch his and it was almost as if they were one
creature and not two. He was calm and a little amused.

“Good
going!” Marian called. She and Jaquar had stayed near the door of the big
square building with the large round corner towers. All along the courtyard
people showed up in the walks to watch. Calli thought she saw money changing
hands. She chuckled. Maybe not too different from Ea—Colorado after all. For a
dream.

Finally,
they stopped in the shadow of the huge white round temple behind them. At the
opposite end of the courtyard was a three-story building with two small towers.

Another
big breath. Soon she’d find out just how well she’d healed. The courtyard was
paved with large gray stones. She leaned forward, whispering in the volaran’s
ear and in its mind.
Ready to run?

Yes.

Go!

He
ran. Elation flooded her. No pain! More, the volaran’s gait was smooth, his
body powerful under her. Strength and vitality flowed from hindquarters to
neck, sifting down to his wingtips. She
felt
his energy mingling with
her new extra sense. Before they were halfway down the courtyard his wings
lifted, caught the air and they were soaring!

Calli
gasped as they cleared the buildings, gasped again as she saw an additional
courtyard beyond the one that held the temple. They flew high, angling toward
the sun, and the moment was so huge, so incredible that it sank into her
forever like she’d been gilded with sunlight.

Once
again that day she lived in a moment of exquisite awareness, of total
brilliance. The blue bowl of the sky dusted with clouds whirled around her and
her mount. The entire universe centered around her and every wonderful thing in
it focused on
her.

She
was life.

She
was Power.

She
flew.

Song
filled her ears—wispy airs from the clouds, a hollow gonglike reverberation
pulsing from the sky, a small, erratic Song radiating from the eart—planet
below.

The
planet is named Amee,
said the volaran.

His
Song enveloped them, laughing, exhilarated. He swept through a cloud and tiny
particles shivered over her skin and cooled her.

She
laughed to herself.

I
am Gray-Clouds-That-May-Rain-Or-Thunder-Or-Clear.

The
English name sounded awkward in her head—the name was more than an image, it
was active motion. A sky billowing with gray clouds of infinite possibilities
which might change any moment. A future of many paths hung on that name. She’d
call him Thunder.

“Callista”
meant “most beautiful” and until now she’d never felt she’d lived up to that
name.

But
now, now, as they rode through the sunlight and shadow, wind tearing her hair
back from her face, caressing her body, atop the volaran, Calli was the most
beautiful woman in two worlds.

Finally
she looked down and her gut clenched. She held tight to Thunder’s mane. The
world below was green and fertile. And a long, long,
long
way down. What
had possessed her to fly without tack? Yes, she, a wingless human
did
need something familiar to hang on to, even if it wasn’t as horse-friendly as
it should have been.

She
could almost hear herself go
splat.
Then she
saw
what she was
flying over. Rolling green land. Fields. Woods. Manor houses. Villages. She
thought a couple of towers and spires on the horizon to her left might be a
small city. Land like this on Earth would be crowded with people.

Scents
rose to her—rich and summer and humid, lush with verdant plant life. Not
Colorado.

Was
she dreaming? Or had she really fallen through that crystal to another world
and was finally
living
the life always destined for her?

Too
much. Far too many exotic, exciting experiences today. She nudged Thunder to
circle and return to the Castle. He ignored her.

Panic
twinged each nerve, though she kept an easy, calm and confident posture.

Thunder
chuckled in her mind and she realized that flying on a volaran would take
different skills. She was used to thinking through any demonstration of horse
fears, staying positive. She wasn’t accustomed to some damn horse rustling
around in her mind. With a couple of breaths, she settled herself completely.
She
was
sure that she was the alpha in this situation, despite what
Thunder thought.

With
her legs, hands
and
mind, she concentrated on the pressure points of the
horse/volaran’s body. Horses were prey animals, always aware of their
surroundings. Calli didn’t sense that volarans here were as preyed upon as
horses had been on Earth, but they would have prey instincts.

Humans
were predators. She didn’t want to remind Thunder of that, she just wanted him
to accept her as the alpha of the herd. The herd of two here in the sky. She
kept her own concerns tightly reined. He might sense them, but he’d also see
that she did not allow them to control her.

She
reached out and touched the wing ridge of the side she wanted to turn.

He
dipped.

She
hung on and asked again for a turn.

He
glanced back, lowered his head, licked his lips and made a wonderful, sweeping
turn.

“Yee-ha!”
she shouted into the blue, rubbing Thunder’s neck.

His
mind melded with hers.
You are most beautiful.

Soon
a rocky promontory was in sight, and upon it, the Castle. She sighed,
definitely ready to return. Calli noted how big the Castle was, larger than
she’d thought. Frowning, she understood that there must be even more to it than
the two courtyards she’d seen. On the land below it—what direction?—was a large
town.

South
of the Castle is Castleton.

Castleton,
huh? Well, that made sense. And if Castleton was south, that meant they were
flying east toward the Castle and had been flying west to the…great lake? Sea?
Ocean?

The
Circlets have Towers on the islands off the west coast of Lladrana in the Sea
of Brisay.

Thunder
seemed eager to please, now. His mind was completely unruffled, and completely
accepting of her.

Calli
tried more telepathy.
I saw no one else flying.

The
horrors invade from the north.
Thunder tensed under her. He flew
faster, tucked his legs close to his body. A prey animal making himself a
smaller target. Whatever these horrors were, Calli got the idea that they ate
volarans. Predators.

You
will see,
Thunder said. He quivered and his thoughts disintegrated into images and shapes
and tones she couldn’t understand. True equinespeak that she could feel but not
completely understand.

The
Castle loomed bigger and bigger, with a wall about three stories high and the
square building with four towers rising an extra two.

Awesome.

Most
of it was gray stone, though part was of yellow, and she could discern the
round white building of the great Temple.

There
is a Landing Field.
Thunder’s ears flicked. It was more a question than statement.

We
will land from where we took off. I’m sure Marian and Jaquar are waiting for
us.
Now she thought of them, she could
feel
them, as if they’d connected
with her some way. During the healing? Probably. Wouldn’t folks who healed you
with magic from the inside be connected with you afterward? Made sense. She
might have a lot of bonds already, then. Huh.