Strange Attractors (36 page)

‘It’s simple really. I think I could have done it without the translated notes but it’s not there, so it doesn’t matter. Jarrod is gone—as far as I can see, forever.’ She was panting between her outbursts. Drayco jumped up onto the bench and snarled, knocking over inks and needles.

‘Drayco, easy. Please. Deep breaths, the both of you.’ He nudged the temple cat down and sent soothing energy to them both, righting his ink bottles, straightening papers.

Slowly Rosette’s hands opened, and she let out a sob. ‘He’s gone, Grayson. He’s gone.’ Tears ran down her cheeks. ‘Jarrod is gone.’

He took her into his arms and this time she didn’t pull back. He brushed his lips over her ear, whispering, ‘You can’t be certain.’

‘The CPU is gone, Grayson. It’s not there.’

‘You looked at the notes?’

‘I did and Drayco and I did a calling too.’

‘You what?’ He held her at arm’s length.

‘Just a weapons calling. I had to be sure he wasn’t wandering around with amnesia, or dispirited. But nothing came. Nothing but a broken arrow that had never been in his tulpa anyway. He’s not there, in Corsanon. I’m sure of that now.’

Grayson held her close again and she sobbed.

‘I found the notes and did the ritual, only nothing happened. I couldn’t visualise Passillo.’

He exhaled, releasing her, though she lingered, her body leaning against his. ‘Rosette, that can only mean one thing.’ He searched her face, hoping he was somehow wrong, knowing he was not.

‘What?’

‘It means you never actually had it.’

‘But I did.’

He nodded, sitting down and offering her the seat beside him. She took it. He rubbed his temples. ‘You had it when you were in Cryo. I saw the slides myself.’

‘Could Everett have done something? Could he have taken it?’

‘I don’t see how, but I couldn’t get him to come with me to Los Loma. He was paranoid.’

‘You said.’ Rosette looked out the window into the dark.

‘It’s nearly midnight. Nell will be here soon and she might have some answers.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Rosette, we haven’t had time to talk.’

‘About?’

‘About us.’

She lifted her head. The look in her eyes made
him wince. ‘We did, Grayson. You said you couldn’t handle the uncertainty of relating to me. Perfectly understandable. I’m fine with it.’ She stiffened. ‘Why bring it up now? There are much more important things to consider.’

‘Not more important to me.’ Immediately he wished he hadn’t said that, but it was too late. He hurried on. ‘I didn’t know you were pregnant, Rosette.’

‘That only makes things more uncertain, Gray, not less. Anyway, our relationship isn’t about the obligation you felt when you heard I was pregnant. We are friends. I’m glad of it. But right now it’s your knowledge I need.’

‘Sweetheart, please listen to me. When I realised you were pregnant I felt…’

He was cut short by the sound of boots clipping down the hall. Rosette pushed out of her chair.

‘Nell!’ she said, opening her arms.

Drayco bounded out of the room only to return immediately with Nellion Paree. Rosette raced to the door, embracing her mentor, her mother, tears flowing down her face. ‘I’m so glad you’re here.’

‘Me too, my darling, though it’s not like I was ever gone. You’ve had Kreshkali. You know we are one and the same.’

‘You are one, but not the same, Nell.’

Grayson stood, waiting to be introduced. ‘I’ve heard so much about you, Nellion Paree.’ He reached out his hand and she drew him into a warm embrace.

‘Are you coming to the Dumarkian Woods with us then?’ she asked, looking first at Grayson and then Rosette.

‘Nell. We have to talk. Something’s happened.’ Rosette waved the query aside.

Grayson sank back to the bench.

Nell felt Rosette’s swollen belly and checked her pulse. ‘Indeed, though you’re not ready yet. This baby girl wants to be born in Dumarka and no doubt under the Water-bearer’s moon, like her mother.’

Rosette smiled. ‘I think so too. But it’s not that, Nell. It’s not the baby. She’s fine.’

‘What then?’

‘It’s the spell.’

Nell’s eyebrows went up.

‘It seems it’s gone, Nellion,’ Grayson said. ‘As if it never was.’

Nell stepped closer to Rosette. ‘How do you know?’ she asked, her voice low and potent.

Rosette closed her eyes, swallowing. ‘I looked in your…rather in Kreshkali’s grimoire. I read the transcription notes.’

‘You read the notes? In my grimoire?’ Nellion’s voice cut through the workshop, sending the rows of coloured inks jumping on the shelves.

‘I knew that would be the more upsetting news,’ she whispered.

Grayson noticed the perspiration on Rosette’s forehead. He started to speak but a tilt of Nellion’s head silenced him.

‘You activated the spell?’ Her voice rang like a town bell.

Rosette covered her ears. ‘I tried to activate the spell. It was my risk and I was willing to take it. It’s not like I haven’t been dead before. But it doesn’t matter. Nothing happened. The CPU is gone, the base molecules are empty.’

Nell looked at Drayco. ‘And you were in on this?’

The temple cat stared back, unblinking.

‘Where’s An’ Lawrence?’ she shouted.

‘Sleeping.’

‘Wake him up!’ Nell clapped her hands. ‘Get to the kitchens, now! I want coffee, a strong pot, and something sustaining. We’ve much to consider.’ She eyed her daughter. ‘And you have a fair bit more explaining to do.’ Nell stormed out of the room, leaving a palpable wake behind her.

‘We’ll meet you there,’ Rosette called out, her hands clasped behind her back.

Grayson looked at her. ‘So that’s Nell?’

Rosette nodded.

‘Not so different from Kali after all, I guess.’

‘Not tonight.’ She shook her head and followed Nell to the kitchens.

Xane shaded his eyes, scanning the woods. He felt a presence there, though he couldn’t spot it. As he concentrated, the scene in front of him changed, the blurred outlines coming into sharp focus and the colour shifting to red. There it was—a wolf peering from behind a tree. It was watching him! Xane’s horse shied, more a response to his excitement than from the sight or scent of the creature. They were upwind and the wolf a long way off. Xane rubbed his neck, feeling the scab. It was confounding, spotting the creature—possibly the same wolf that ran with the temple cat. He was also disturbed by his inexplicable vision. He didn’t understand it but if it was real and not illusion, he had to consider it a boon.
If that’s what it takes, getting shot in the neck with a hemlock-dipped arrow, to wake up my magic, then I’ve no regrets.

He urged the mare forward, turning off the road and entering the woods. His eyesight remained infused with the strange red-shifted colours, a grid mapped over the top of everything. It was some spell, this vision
enhancement. As he honed in, the wolf disappeared, vanishing into the thick tree cover. Xane frowned, realising he was calculating streams of numbers—the variables of direction the animal might take, based on an infinite number of possibilities within a 360-degree radius, each degree endlessly divided in half.

He stopped his horse.
Infinite? I don’t even understand what that means.
‘Come on, Rose. He’s gone. Nothing to fear,’ Xane said, about to turn around. ‘But we best let Willem know.’ He hesitated. There was something compelling about the wolf that made him want to follow. He looked over his shoulder. The scouts had moved on, fanning out around the foothills of the eastern Prieta Mountains, leading the way for the foot soldiers. ‘I guess it wouldn’t hurt to track him a bit, would it, Rose? After all, we’re here to report as much as we can. No sense going back saying I think I saw a wolf and it might be like the one at the gates.’

He smiled and his vision returned to normal as he headed deeper into the woods. He didn’t know what kind of magic was going on in his head, but he was learning how to turn it on and off. He searched for tracks but found none. It must have been imagination after all.

Rosette refilled the coffee cups, pouring ginger and mint tea for herself. She propped her elbows on the table, holding the mug under her chin, pungent steam warming her face. An’ Lawrence argued with Nell, but it was different from the way he and Kreshkali fought.
How can it be, Teg? Kali and Nell are the same person—different glamours—but then again, they are not.
Rosette turned to him.
Are you finding this strange?

Teg stretched his arms over his head and yawned. She wondered when he last slept. It couldn’t have been recently by the look of him. He leaned towards her, sending his thoughts directly to her mind.
It’s all about viewpoint.

You mean Nell’s is different than Kali’s?

Well it would be, wouldn’t it? Kreshkali stayed on Earth, for the most part, and from what I gather her work was grim, the environment horrible; quite a contrast to the beauty of the Dumarkian Woods and Treeon Temple. Nell had the admiration of all her peers, at least until she nicked off with Passillo. Kreshkali was shunned, under constant threat of death just for being a witch. Her closest confidante betrayed her. Jaynan, was it?

Right, Jaynan…You sure know a lot about it.

We talk.
He shifted in his seat.
She told me about Jaynan. She turned out to be a tracker. Kreshkali killed her in the end, her best friend. Horrid, really.

I think I get it. Nell and Kreshkali experienced different realities and it’s given them—the same person—different perspectives. Is that what you’re saying, Teg?

I am. It’s like when I take wolf form. I have a kind of meta-awareness that both shapes—man and wolf—house my consciousness. I’m detached enough to know that my point of view has shifted, but I still have two distinct points of view. Don’t you, when you swap with Drayco, or fly off as a falcon? Run as a wolf?

I worry less, that’s for certain.

And think what would happen if you swapped for years, or shifted for years. How different would the two aspects of you become?

‘That makes sense,’ she said aloud.

‘So you’re siding with him, Rosette?’ Nell looked at her, waiting for her response.

I want to congratulate you both on your mind shields.
Nell sent the message to Rosette and Teg.
I have no idea what you’re prattling on about, but if you can’t stay focused, there’s no point in you being here, is there?

Rosette blew on the rim of her mug and took a sip. ‘Can you repeat the question for me please, Nell? I drifted off, I’m afraid.’

Nell chuckled, levelling her eyes at Teg. ‘And you? Did you drift off too?’

‘I did, Mistress. The coffee will help.’ He took a gulp and blinked his eyes. ‘I’d best have another.’

‘I wish I could have one,’ Rosette whispered.

‘Pregnancy can make you a little vague, sweetie,’ Nell said. ‘How are you feeling?’

‘My legs ache a bit…’

Nell patted her thigh and Rosette offered her bare foot. Nell nested it in her lap, massaging her toes. ‘Shall we recap?’

‘Please,’ Rosette said, though her eyes were closed. Drayco purred.

‘Since Teg’s news of the march, your father’s wanted to join ranks with Temple Dumarka and fight the Corsanons.’

‘Of course, that does make sense,’ Rosette said.

‘You agree?’ The Sword Master’s brow went up.

‘It’s what you did, isn’t it? Fight the Corsanons, but I was thinking it might be the perfect diversion.’

‘Good to have you back with us, Rosette. Diversion for what?’

‘It’s clear to me that Makee, or Rall if that’s who she really is, wants the spell so badly she’s been willing to change events to the point where you never got it,
and you never passed it to me. That’s what we suspect, right?’

Nell nodded.

‘So the spell is still in the gorge. Maybe battle would be the perfect diversion. We can slip in there and retrieve it again, before she does.’

‘Makee didn’t stop the wars,’ An’ Lawrence said. ‘She’d planned to delay them long enough to get the spell.’ He drained his mug. ‘That must be why she tipped me off to the Corsanon warriors. She knew if I were captured, it would bring you looking for me, Rosette.’

‘But I was dead at the time. You were looking for a High Priestess.’

‘For all we know, Makee may have put that falconer Jacko in my path,’ Nell said.

‘She saved you, so you could save me, so I could save An’ Lawrence?’ Rosette shook her head. ‘That’s planning. I’m starting to think she’s Virgo rising, not Leo.’ Rosette stiffened. ‘I had to be in the same place and time in order for the spell to be gone from me and still in the gorge.’ She looked up. ‘It’s my fault we lost Jarrod!’

‘It’s no one’s fault, Rosette.’ Nell squeezed her foot. ‘I’m beginning to see just how deeply La Makee has orchestrated this. Corsanon wouldn’t be marching on the Dumarkian Woods if a temple cat hadn’t slaughtered half their gate guards.’

‘Drayco did that because you called Richter’s journal notes and I vanished.’

‘And you called them because Jarrod was lost.’ Teg put down his mug.

‘She wanted Jarrod gone!’ Rosette’s voice rattled the glasses in the hutch. Drayco was up, growling. ‘She destroyed his tulpa and whisked us away!’ The temple cat roared and everyone covered their ears.

‘Easy, all of you.’ An’ Lawrence put his hand on Teg’s shoulder.

Nell motioned Drayco to her side and stroked his back. ‘It may be true, but for now, La Makee will have a hard time retrieving the spell, distraction or not,’ she said.

‘The gorge?’ Rosette said, sitting on the edge of her seat.

‘The spell was buried under leagues of water. I changed the course of five rivers to reveal it.’ Nell closed her eyes and smiled. ‘I’d like to see her pull that off in a hurry.’

‘She’s got the hang of being in two places at once,’ An’ Lawrence said. ‘I didn’t see that coming.’

‘I think she might have shoved Jarrod off the cliff,’ Rosette said. ‘If she wants to activate the spell and bring him back, she must have some powerful reason. I can’t believe I was sucked into her trap.’ She looked at the Sword Master. ‘We actually saved her in the citadel! Both of her!’