Guardian of Honor (6 page)

"Deshouse, Alyeka," Thealia repeated.

Alexa got the idea. They wanted her to choose a lover. So, they'd
"tested" her to check if she would let a baby drown. Was this another
test, to see if she'd have sex with someone she just met? Or was it more
complex than that? Would her choice of lover reflect on her?

She didn't know what it meant that she had chosen the jade wand.
Who had it belonged to, what traditions or history might it have?

What would it mean if she chose a person? Surely they didn't
expect her to have sex tonight! She didn't even know if she could
put one foot in front of the other to walk to the wall and
collapse on a padded bench and sleep.

"Alyeka!" Thealia was stern.

After licking her lips and clearing her throat, Alexa called.
"Marwey."

The girl said something to her boyfriend and patted his cheek,
then ran over to Alexa, who could only admire her energy.

"Marwey," Alexa croaked. "Bar? Test?"

Marwey's brow furrowed, then her face cleared. "Ttho, Alyeka.
Ttho bar."

"Huh," Alexa said.

Both Thealia and Marwey said it together now.
"Deshouse."

With great precision, Alexa turned her back on the line of people.
More than one sigh of relief came from behind her. She faced Thealia, met the
gaze of every other Marshall. "Ttho. No." She felt like a
two-year-old who only knew one word—no. Not exactly true—she knew
baton
and
Marwey
and
Thealia
and
Reynardus....
Her mind numbed into a
daze of weariness again. She
wondered if she dared sleep.
Maybe when she awoke she'd be in her apartment and this would all be a vivid
dream.

The jade in her fingers hummed and drew a faint chime from the
jewel-toned rainbow crystals.

While Alexa's mind floated, Thealia dismissed the others and only
the Marshalls and Marwey were left to stare at her. Then Thealia was holding a
purple cloak. It looked brand new. Embroidered on the left side was an
impossible-looking fuchsia flower. Alexa touched a finger to the silken threads
and stroked it, letting the texture of something beautiful soak into her—easing
the rough edges of the night.

"Exotique," Marwey said.

Alexa understood. The flower was exotique.
She
was called
"exotique." She didn't have enough energy to shrug.

The huge man appeared before Alexa's narrow range of vision. He
held a belt with a tube-sheath that was green with silver traced around in an
intricate, leafy pattern.

He bobbed his head, and with extremely deliberate motions, set the
belt around Alexa's waist, buckled it, then faded back beyond Alexa's sight.

Thealia settled the cape on Alexa's shoulders and fastened the
clasp. The cloak dragged on the ground. Sighing, Alexa tucked the baton in its
sheath and gathered the excess material in her hands.

Marwey put the strap of Alexa's fanny pack over her arm, then
grasped Alexa's elbow. "Ven, Alyeka." Marwey tugged.

They went slowly from the room. Someone opened the door and the
chill of a humid night hit Alexa. Mist curled over her skin and brought with it
an unpleasant odor of sulphur.

The walk seemed endless, up a curving ramp or two, down long
corridors, then finally Alexa found herself dragging up an interminable set of
narrow, twisting stairs.

She paid no attention to the rooms or furnishings around her,
except to get the impression of great age and great wealth. At the top of the
stairs was a half-circle room with a door straight ahead that had a little
table next to it, and a door to the right. Evidently they were in a large
tower.

The anteroom was done in purple. A thick rug of deep plum welcomed
her feet. The pointed wooden door gleamed with a maroon-purple grain. On the
purple-tiled tabletop was a purple fur muff to match her cloak. Alexa thought
that purple would soon be her least favorite color.

Marwey urged her to the door. A golden plaque caught Alexa's
attention enough for her to stare and blink. Diamond shaped, it had an inlay of
purple enamel, then an exquisite representation of her jade baton—down to a
tiny tube holding mercury at the
top and
bottom of the staff. Magic could certainly work beautiful—and quick—wonders.

There was also a set of wires on the door, looking like half an
egg slicer. Alexa tilted her head, but the fog of exhaustion in her brain
didn't let her even begin to figure this one out. Marwey ran a thumbnail over
the strings, producing a melodious run of notes. She waited a bit, then opened
the latch. Ah, a doorbell—door-sounder—doorstrings—Alexa gave up.

She took the muff and they went through the door and faced another
curving wall. This room was a narrow hall, rounding to the right and left out
of sight. Marwey tugged Alexa left and through another door to the bedroom. The
chamber was large and wedge-shaped, with a curving outer wall. Alexa calculated
that it was slightly more than the left half of the remaining tower. Long, dark
windows in the round wall reflected an elegant, richly provisioned room. All
Alexa cared about was that it held a nice, big bed. Marwey helped her off with
her clothes and into the bed. As she sank against soft pillows Alexa watched
the girl play with the zipper of her little fanny pack a few times, then the
teenager whistled away the light. The door closed softly behind her.

Alexa shivered as cold sheets and a fluffy mattress embraced
her—nothing like her own warm waterbed. "Warm," she muttered. Since
she was alone, she allowed herself to whimper. "Warm." To her
surprise a cocoon of luscious heat enveloped her. The orchestral music that
played in the background of her mind surged and whirled her into darkness.

A
s soon as the new Exotique was taken up to her bed and the
Marshalls were alone in the Temple, they relaxed...to an extent. The Summoning
had been more surprising than any had expected.

Thealia ran her gaze over the rest of the Marshalls. They'd all
seen each other bloody, covered in dirt, guts and inhuman matter, and other
disgusting substances. Only the most innately elegant or the most prideful sat
with spine straight.

She relaxed enough to lean against the tapestry-covered wall and
let out a soft sigh. Partis sat beside her and took her hand, playing with her
fingers. "It's been a very long night. It went well," Thealia said.
The room amplified her words so all could hear.

"Very well. All things considering," Partis said.

Everyone murmured agreement.

"I believe the Song was right," Faith, the Loremarshall,
said. "The Exotique will discover the key to raising new fenceposts to
protect our land."

Faith was the most prescient of them all. They stared at her, and
the mood lifted.

Thealia said, "I will remind you that it isn't often we can
afford a pool of protection. The fight will start in earnest soon. I urge all
of you to make use of it." Her gaze was drawn to the dark pool reflecting
slices of light from the crystals embedded in the rafters and the wheel
chandeliers.

It was mesmerizing.

Some grimaced. Mace rose. "My Shield and I will consider
it." He led his lady from the room. Others stood and slowly gathered their
belongings. It had been a long night of great effort, and though they'd
succeeded in their task, it was evident to all that a new and strange era had
begun.

Thealia started to rise too, but Partis pressed his hand to her
knee and she subsided. "We will stay and take the plunge," he said.

The others nodded to Thealia and her Shield as they filed out.

Thealia eyed the pool. She didn't want to feel every hurt burned
away, though her body would become stronger and more protected where her aches
had been. But it was the right thing to do.

Partis was already out of his surcoat and chain mail before she
unbuttoned her own robe at the shoulders.

"I wonder if the babe will heal now," Partis murmured in
his musical voice, helping her discard her armor.

"We'll find out as she grows. All we knew was that she wasn't
quite right in the head—nor were her Power paths clear and functional."

Partis touched the gold streaks in Thealia's hair. "Our
granddaughter is a black-and-white, either graced with great wild Power or
fragmented beyond repair. Still, it wasn't pleasant seeing the Medica drop her
in the pool."

"The babe was the best candidate for the Test."

"It was very clever of you to find a Test of the Exotique's
compassion that might also heal our granddaughter." He rubbed her
shoulders, and Thealia let out a whimper of pleasure.

"If baby Nyja—If the Exotique hadn't saved her, her fate
would have been better than living a life with flawed brain and Power,"
she said.

"Yes, dear. You don't have to convince me. It will be
interesting to see the results."

They were naked now and standing at the pool. Partis eyed it with
distaste, thinking about the pain to come. Thealia scrutinized her husband for
bruises and scratches. He did the same to her. Neither of them wanted the other
to bear the imminent agony.

"This isn't going to be easy," he said. No.

His lips curved into the charming smile that had won her heart so
many years ago. He linked his fingers with hers. "So we do it
together."

T
he minute Alexa woke the next morning, music filled her head. This
time it was quiet, susurrant, again like a movie score, barely noticed.

So she knew she wasn't in Colorado. Probably not even on
Earth. More than the resurgence of mind-music, the basic
scents were different. Even the atmosphere, the energy that pulsed around her,
wasn't the same as that of her old home. It was as if this world possessed both
magic and a different soul.

She stretched luxuriously. The sheets caressed her body in a soft
silkiness she'd never experienced from cloth. The bed cradled her in a pool of
comfort.

The coverlet tickled her nose and she inhaled deeply. Some sharp
yet soothing herbal fragrance flowed into her lungs. She opened one eye, then
the other. The room's walls showed the rosy reflection of dawn. It was light
enough to discern a bright purple canopy with fuchsia flowers above her. She
narrowed her eyes. This didn't look new, like her cloak. Somewhere in the back
of her mind she knew that they'd had people like her—from Earth—here before.
The whole setup indicated that.

Before she could face the situation, she had to find a bathroom.
Alexa pushed the covers aside and dangled her legs from the bed. She scowled.
It was too high. She slid to the floor. Her toes curled in the long plush loops
of the purple rug. Alexa grabbed the top of her long underwear and put it on. The
shirt came to her knees, which was decent enough.

She peeked under the bed skirt into shadows. No chamber pot.
Perhaps a good omen. Spying a door in the left wall, she went and opened it.
Clothes. A closet.

The far circular wall of the room comprised long-paned windows
arcing out, brightening more each moment with the rising sun. She wondered if
it was east, but didn't feel courageous enough to step to the windows and look
out onto a strange landscape.

The right wall held another little door. She hurried and opened
it. A triangular room held a toilet with the tank above it and a hand-pull to
the left. A tiny basin hung on the wall and a shower
stall was to the right. Another open door showed a large
sitting room.

Alexa frowned—no bathtub. But people from Earth had definitely
been here before—and had had some influence. Unless it had been the other way
around—people from here had been to Earth. In any case, these folks had indoor
plumbing. A very big plus.

Soon her relief that she was simply and gloriously alive would
fade and the reality would crash upon her. She sensed it coming like a huge
tidal wave—one the cobalt color of that dreadful pool.

It was only when she was back in bed, three pillows of the four
propped behind her so she could think, that she recalled the pink fairy.

T
he Marshalls sat in their Council Chamber in the morning. Bright
sunlight danced through the narrow windows, lighting dust motes until they
glowed golden, bringing out the streaks of burnished oak in the table—and
illuminating its scars.

Thealia could tell which of the Marshalls had availed themselves
of the pool. The strain of the Summoning was there in them all, but those who'd
used the pool of protection had an extra glow to their skin, a hint that their
energy would return redoubled. It made her blink in surprise. Could the jerir
in the pool be that powerful? Perhaps.

Bathing in jerir wasn't common, so she hadn't realized the effects
were obvious. She noted everyone studying one another and saw a dawning
awareness on the faces of those who hadn't taken the plunge.

Clearing her throat, she said, "The Marshalls' meeting is now
in session." She inclined her head to Faith to make sure the Lorebook
recorded the meeting. "Mistress Loremarshall, can you tell us how long the
jerir is effective?"