Sorceress of Faith (14 page)

“Not
much.”

Chuckling,
Alexa said, “It’s only been a couple of days since you arrived—but I’m sure
they’ve been jam-packed with experiences.”

“Oh
yes,” Marian said fervently. “I remember a nice forest path and a peaceful
meadow a few minutes away—will that suit?”

“For
sure.” She tilted her head. “I’m connected mentally to my husband, Bastien.
He’s giving us privacy and hiding from Bossgond. He says he’ll talk to the old
mage when he’s ready.”

Marian
led the way from Bossgond’s Tower. They paused at the forcefield for Marian to
open a “door” for Alexa. Outside Bossgond’s sphere of influence they stood in
the sun and studied each other.

“I
like the looks of you,” Alexa said.

Marian
felt relief from an anxiety that she hadn’t known she was feeling. “I like the
looks of you, too.”

She
held out her hand and they shook, then Alexa turned Marian’s arm over to see
her wrist. Alexa’s eyes sharpened.

“You’ve
blood-bonded with Bossgond?”

“Yes,
as Master and Apprentice.” Marian pouted a little.

“Won’t
be long until you’re a Circlet,” Alexa said casually, confidently. “The Song
only Summons the best.”

Marian
liked her more and more.

Alexa
held out her left arm and pushed her sleeve up, showing her own tattoo: crossed
wands. One was green with flames coming out of the top, the other black with
silver twined around it. “This is my Pair-bond with Bastien—it’s a blood-bond,
sex bond, love bond. We haven’t had a formal ceremony—like a wedding—the full
binding—yet, though. We’re both a little nervous about that.”

Then
she flipped open the short sheath and drew out the green stick shown on the
tattoo. It looked like jade.

“It’s
my baton—do you want to see it?” The offer was cheerfully made, but her gaze
watchful.

As
soon as Marian touched the cool jade, a hard shock jolted up her arm. She hung
on as the energy—Alexa’s energy—whirled through her, then settled, itchy, under
her skin. As she stared at the baton, carved figures appeared, and the flames
at the end danced.

Alexa’s
eyes widened and she nodded incisively. “Good. I thought you might be able to
handle and use it. My husband, Bastien, can hold it for a couple of minutes,
use it once, but that’s all. It’s good to know that you could wield it in an
emergency.”

“What
emergency?” Marian said faintly, her stomach tightening, watching mercury flow
viscously in a glass tube under the flames.

“On
the battlefield, if I fall,” Alexa said.

Marian
dropped the baton. Alexa caught it—or rather, it flew into her hand. Marian
stared at the woman, fit and strong, with the scar running down her cheek and
somber eyes. Alexa heaved a sigh.

“I
was afraid that they’d leave this to me. That miserable old man. But maybe you
won’t be fighting. Many Circlets don’t.” She shrugged, but her voice was
faintly condemning. “Let’s walk and talk.”

“I’m
not staying here. I have a life back home.”

“Which
is?”

“Boulder.”

“Ah.”
Alexa’s smile was quick and charming, but she covered the ground rapidly.
“Thought I pegged you for an academic.”

“I’m
working on my doctorate in Comparative Religion and Philosophy,” Marian said
stiffly.

Alexa
halted in the small meadow. A couple of large rocks graced the center, looking
like seats. She turned to Marian and tapped herself on the chest.
“Swordmarshall Alexa Fitzwalter, Esquire, Attorney at Law.”

“You’re
a
lawyer?
” It was the last thing Marian would have guessed.

“Was.”
Alexa hitched herself up on one of the rocks and wiggled to get comfortable.
“Nice seat, warm from the sun.” She smiled serenely at Marian. “Now I do all my
fighting on a battlefield, not in a courtroom.” A shadow lingered in her eyes.

Marian
wasn’t ready to hear her story. She had to make something else very clear,
first.

“I’m
not staying. I can’t. I have a life I must return to.”

Alexa
lifted her chin. “I have a life I crafted here.”

“I
have a brother with MS.”

“Oh,
I’m sorry.” Alexa held out her hand, and Marian took it—this time a sweet comfort
flowed between them.

“It’s
progressive regressive MS, so it comes and goes. I’m hoping to find a cure to
take back. Maybe I can become Powerful enough to cure him with magic?”

Alexa
just shook her head. “I’m not sure how healing magic works here. I’ve seen
great wounds healed.” She grimaced. “But it usually takes more than one person
and some serious spellchants. For a disease, I just don’t know.”

“My
mother is back home, too,” Marian said. She ran her hands through her hair as
she took the rock seat next to Alexa. It felt as if many had sat there
before—to talk, to eat, to watch the stars at night.

They
sat in silence for a moment before Alexa spoke. “I suppose you’ll return to
Earth when the Snap comes, and stay. To be honest, I don’t know how much of our
magic here will translate to magic there.” She waved a hand. “I never made it
all the way back home during the Snap—”

“The
Snap?” Marian asked.

“I’ll
tell you about it later.”

Marian
sighed. “All right.”

Alexa’s
hazel eyes appeared greener. “I didn’t have any family at home, nothing much to
go back to, not compared to what I have here.” She shrugged and her smile
quirked. “Though a vision I saw indicated I’d become a federal judge if I went
back.”

Marian
didn’t doubt it. The woman was walking determination.

“I
can’t stay,” Marian said. “I can’t leave my brother.”

“All
right. But I’d better tell you what’s going on, anyway.”

“That’s
a very good idea.”

9

“L
et me tell you
why you were Summoned,” Alexa said.

“As
long as you don’t expect me to stay,” Marian cautioned.

“Too
bad. Lladrana needs all the help it can get, and I can tell by your aura that
you’d be
a lot
of help.” Alexa slipped from her rock to sit on the
sun-warmed ground.

Marian
did the same and tried not to think about bugs.

Her
expression completely serious, Alexa said, “The fact is, Lladrana is in deep
trouble. There are monsters invading from the north.” She shot Marian a glance.
“I’m not talking about other people with differing belief systems, but real,
live, evil monsters. The Lladranans usually call them ‘horrors.’”

Bossgond’s
images of monsters came to Marian.

Alexa
frowned. “Watch.” With a sharp indrawn breath and narrowed eyes, the air
between them hazed. A huge, vicious-looking creature hulked into view. It had
long, sharp teeth that dripped saliva. Curving, knifelike claws extended from
its lifted forepaws.

“Render,”
Alexa said. She kept the image up and rotated it, until Marian had to swallow
hard.

The
second monster was worse. Bigger even than the render, it had putrid yellow fur,
horns and spines along its arms, head and back.

“Slayer.
It can shoot the spines. They’re poisonous, of course.”

“Of
course,” Marian said faintly, wondering if she was turning a shade of green.

The
slayer vanished and a third horror appeared. Worse. This one had lizardlike
gray skin, a round knobby head with burning red eyes and a hole for a nose.
Each shoulder sported an arm and two tentacles with suction cups.

“Soul-sucker,”
Alexa said. “But it really just drains your life-force.” She waved a hand.

Just?
Marian thought
she squeaked, but Alexa showed no evidence of hearing her.

The
next horror that appeared metamorphosed between two shapes. A black weblike
substance and a dark manlike thing with rudimentary head, arms and legs.

“It
has a penis, too,” Alexa said unsteadily. “Sangvile. One tried to rape me as it
sucked my Power from me.”

The
thing turned its head and its burning gaze struck Marian like a blow.

This
vision disappeared once quickly, as if Alexa didn’t like remembering it. Marian
couldn’t think how anyone could survive an attempted rape by the hideous being.

“Dreeth,”
Alexa said on a sigh, and something Marian recognized formed. At her
exclamation, Alexa smiled.

“They
look like pteradons, don’t they?” Alexa said.

“More
like a quetzalcoatluses with big bellies.”

“Quetzalcoatlus.
That sounds like the Aztec god.”

“Yes,
they were the largest of the flying dinosaurs.” In her studies, she’d found
that many cultures had stories of dragons.

“Okay.
They’re dreeths here, as big as a house. A couple of them nearly fell on me as
they died. Bad,” Alexa said so casually that Marian stared at her in pure
amazement.

She
sorted out the implications. “You battle these things?”

“Pretty
much every week.” Alexa stroked the scar on her face.

Marian
couldn’t imagine it. “You?”

Alexa
met her gaze with fathomless eyes. “The Marshalls Summoned me to be one of
them, the best magical warriors in the business.” She shrugged. “Like Joan of
Arc.”

“Must
have been a shock.”

“Yeah.
In Denver I’d taken one personal defense course from the free university,
several years ago. Big change in lifestyle.” Now she smiled. She waved a hand
down her body and suddenly Marian saw a rope of purple and silver. The link
throbbed with life and vibrated with a pretty melody. “But I’m well
compensated. This is my bond with my Shield, Bastien. As for financial reward,
I have wealth and an estate—you’ll get your pick of land, too, if you stay. And
Bastien—” she grinned “—he’s rather like a certain rogue mercenary with a
spaceship in the movies.” She sighed. “I miss the movies.”

“You—they—the
Marshalls, don’t expect me to become one of them, do they?”

“Nope.
The Marshalls Summoned you for the Tower Community, the Sorcerers and
Sorceresses—the major ones are called Circlets.” Alexa grinned again. “No
wonder they reached Boulder. Mostly scholars, I think. Though Jaquar is one
prime man.”

Marian
hadn’t forgotten the hunk who’d appeared in the pentacle with her.

“He’s
had it rough, lately, though. The sangvile ate his parents.”

“Ate
his parents!”

Alexa
waved her hand. “Okay, to be exact, the sangvile drained his parents of their
Power, turning them into husks that crumbled into gray dust.”

That
didn’t sound any better.

“He’s
really grieving. I’m sorry for that,” Alexa said quietly. “I know what he’s
feeling.”

Not
wanting to think about the man or his hurt, Marian said, “So the Tower Summoned
me.”

“The
Tower had the Marshalls of the Castle Community Summon you,” Alexa corrected.
“The Circlets do not play well together.”

“What
do they expect me to do?” Marian asked plaintively.

“I
don’t know. But there’s plenty of work. The Marshalls are just dealing with the
monsters as they invade. That doesn’t address the underlying problem of where
they’re coming from or why, or how to stop them.”

Another
image coalesced between them, this one of a topographical map. “The country of
Lladrana. Note the northern border,” said Alexa.

Marian
studied it. Bright yellow glowed at points, and between the lights wove a blue
line.

“Magical
fence posts and shield along the boundary,” Alexa said, explaining further
Marian’s vision from Bossgond. She always preferred the maximum amount of
facts, and appreciated Alexa’s visit. “The old fence posts were wearing out,
the shield failing, and the Marshalls didn’t know how to make new fence posts
or power the boundary. That was my task.”

“Sounds
incredible.”

“Yup,
but I did it.” Alexa beamed with pride. “Now we know how to create fence posts
and the boundary, but it isn’t easy or quick. You can see we still have big
gaps in the border. Thus the continued fighting—building up the army, which
consists of Marshall Pairs and Chevalier Pairs—Chevaliers are like knights, or
singletons. We’re equal-opportunity employers. There are fifteen Marshall Pairs
now.”

“So
few!”

Alexa
glanced at her. “There were six when I came a couple of months ago. We’re
ramping up as fast as we can. But we lost three Pairs before and during the
first big battle.”

There
wasn’t anything Marian could say. She stared at the tiny glow of the fence
posts and boundary line. So fragile to keep a land safe. Magic and muscle,
physical courage and a willingness to fight were the only weapons being used to
defend Lladrana now.

“It
sounds to me,” Marian said carefully, “as if the Lladranans are missing a lot
of knowledge.”