Keepers of the Flame (31 page)

“Something
she picked up on the battlefield,” Alexa said. “I’ve spoken to her friends. She
was healthy before the battle, has been in the Castle all year so wasn’t
exposed to the frink sickness. We have no frinkweed here. She took only a minor
wound, a small lash of soul-sucker tentacle.” Alexa pointed to a suckered welt
along the woman’s neck. “I’ve had plenty like this myself. But once she came
back from the battle, she went to sleep, she fell ill and feverish and never
awoke.”

“Check
out the wound from the inside,” Elizabeth said.

Bri
sent her vision to the slight wound, saw a gray slime and a small nodule like a
kidney bean.

Elizabeth
said, “I would extrapolate that this is a modification of the frink sickness in
a more toxic form.”

“Sounds
right,” Bri said. As Elizabeth once more covered the body, Bri stepped away
from the table. As experiences went, this hadn’t been too bad, though the young
Chevalier’s pretty face touched her and she grieved for the loss of life.

“The
conclusion is that we have an additional danger on the battlefield now,” the
Chevalier leader said. “A fatal disease. How and why she got it, we don’t
know.” Her lips compressed. “No one else seems to be ill, but I want the
medicas to examine
everyone
who was in that battle.” She stumped out.

“A
good idea,” Bri said. She stared at Alexa.

The
smaller woman huffed. “Oh, all right.”

It
took only a hand on Alexa’s forehead for Bri to know the woman was at the peak
of health.

Alexa
sighed. “That’s the examination?”

“What,
you want more?” Bri asked.

“No.
But now I know what’s involved, I’ll let you check Bastien.”

Bri
glanced at Elizabeth, managed a smile. “Elizabeth will give Faucon an in-depth
examination.”

Elizabeth’s
smile was slight. “He’s healthy.”

Marian
knocked on the wooden doorjamb, then her bright blue gaze went past Bri and
Elizabeth to the still form on the table and the auburn-haired Circlet’s face
folded into sad lines. Her face softened. “I have news of your parents. It’s
better if I tell you in the Circlets’ Suite.”

Bri
nearly shot from the room, headed toward Marian and Jaquar’s suite. She walked
backward a little until Marian turned down the corridor and Elizabeth left the
room, too, moving with an efficient, determined stride, a doctor’s stride.

Marian
wouldn’t say a word until Bri and Elizabeth were seated with drinks in their
hands. Tea, for both of them. It was quickest and easiest, though neither of
them took more than a sip. Bri would rather have been pacing the room.

“Tell
us,” they said in unison, as Jaquar served himself and settled onto a couch
with his wife.

“We
found your parents exactly where your itinerary noted they would be, at the
Buddhist temple.” A smile lit Marian’s face. “Your father enjoyed the bell. He
was easy to pinpoint. Your mother was close by.”

A
load of worry released and Bri let it out with a long breath, relaxing in the
love seat. Elizabeth, next to her, sighed at the same time.

“They’re
well,” Bri said.

Marian
glanced at them, away. “From what I could see, they’re better than well.
They’re wonderful.”

“Yes,
they are,” Elizabeth said crisply. “But they won’t be once they discover their
beloved daughters have disappeared.”

Tension
infused Bri again. “Can we get back home before they return?”

“How
are you progressing on discovering the cure for the frink sickness?” asked
Jaquar, taking the role of bad guy.

Elizabeth
held herself stiff and answered. “A third of the Marshalls and Chevaliers have
gone to destroy the plants.”

“—which
may eventually stop the original infection,” Jaquar said. “And the Circlets are
also working on ways to kill the plants, but that doesn’t help those who have
already contracted the disease and are dying.”

Bri
couldn’t sit still. She put down her tea with a little clinking of china, stood
and circled the room. “So far only we and Zeres can cure the sickness. I
know
there’s a way to do this, but I haven’t been able to figure it out enough to
teach others.”

Elizabeth
said, “The medicas and I have been studying the disease. It seems to be more of
a…non-physical illness. The sickness is not vulnerable to anything any of us
have continued to try—vitamins, herbal remedies, regular healings. Medicine. I
doubt even antibiotics would help.”

“It’s
a disease caused by the Dark,” Jaquar said softly. “Preying upon the light of
the Song within us all, using the darkness we all have inside us to spread and
kill.”

Elizabeth
made an unintelligible noise as if she wanted to dispute his words and
couldn’t. She placed her cup and saucer carefully and quietly on a side table
and stood, joining Bri.

Bri
stopped her circuit of the room, glared at Jaquar, then Marian. “You won’t send
us back.”

Jaquar
raised a hand. “We simply don’t have the energy to do so. The Power.”

Bri
narrowed her eyes. She didn’t know if she believed him.

“Perhaps
we do,” Marian looked at Bri steadily, then to Elizabeth. “We might be able to
find the Power, Marshalls and Chevaliers and Citymasters and volarans and all,
to return you home. If we bankrupted our sources and left ourselves completely
vulnerable to the Dark. Don’t think for a minute that the Dark wouldn’t sense
what was happening and be ready to pounce.”

Bri
shared a look with Elizabeth, saw the torment she felt reflected in her twin’s
eyes.

Elizabeth
lifted her chin. “Then we must send a message to our parents, for when they
return home.”

But
Marian was shaking her head.

“I’ve
read your book,” Bri burst out, heard Elizabeth’s same words echo with her own,
let her twin go on.

“Marian,
the Circlet Bossgond retrieved your PDA. Surely he can send a note.”

“Bringing
something here, something of a person you have a bloodbond with and who is
standing next to you, is completely different from sending an object.”

Bri
felt a scream well inside her. Horror at the agony they’d put their parents
through. Anticipated anguish.

“Then
you’ll have two very distracted healers,” Elizabeth said.

“Surely,
you of all people, Marian, should remember how anxious a person can be for
someone at home,” Bri pleaded.

Marian
sighed, leaned against her husband. He took her hands in his. “I knew this
conversation would be like this. Bossgond is working on sending objects through
the Dimensional Corridor.” Her mouth compressed, then she said, “But he will
need a secure location.”

“My
condo!” Elizabeth said.

“Ayes.
So you will need to come to Alf island with us to show us the location.”

“Then
we will,” Bri said.

Marian
stood. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we are trying our best. We will inform
you when the time is right for you to take part in our experiment.”

Elizabeth
and Bri stood, too.

They
ARE trying their best,
Elizabeth sent Bri, unhappily.

And
it might not be enough
, Bri admitted. Neither of them liked failure, both
of them had experienced it. Bri usually walked away, but Elizabeth had been
stuck. How courageous her sister was.

We
need to give them an incentive,
Bri said.

The
idea came to them both at once, Bri saw it in her sister’s mind.

Bossgond
likes good food,
Elizabeth said.

Yes,
give them the chocolate cake.
Bri didn’t think she could look at her
father’s birthday cake again, let alone eat it.
And it’s time to check on
the taters.

Elizabeth
turned to Marian and Jaquar, a not quite amused smile on her lips. “You take
the cake.”

“I
beg your pardon?” Marian straightened. Jaquar looked confused.

“We’re
giving you the chocolate cake.”

Marian’s
eyes widened. She licked her lips and swallowed, gripped Jaquar’s hand. “Thank
you.”

“For
Bossgond, too,” Bri said.

“Thank
you.”

Bri
forced the next words out of her mouth, at the same time as Elizabeth. “Please
help us.”

D
uring the next
three days Elizabeth established a schedule for herself and Bri that Bri was
content to follow. They’d discussed contacting their parents for hours with
Marian and Jaquar and the other Exotiques, then they both tried to put it out
of their minds. All that could be done was being done, and the sooner they
finished their own jobs, the Snap would come and all this might be moot.

On
alternate mornings Bri went to the Castle with Zeres, still irascible, and
suffered through learning and healing circles with the medicas. Otherwise she
stayed in Castleton in the morning and worked with Zeres and his
“unconventional” teachings. Since all medical science on Lladrana was strange,
Bri had trouble discerning the differences in technique. Elizabeth didn’t.

Elizabeth
stayed up at the Castle, and, as far as Bri knew, slept in Faucon’s bed, or he
slept in hers. From the happy glow and sound of her mental thoughts and
emotions, he was loving and supportive. Her self-confidence was reviving, and
everyone at the Castle thought the affair was a good thing. Bri feared she or
Faucon would be hurt, but kept quiet. Her twin was happy and that was the most
important thing.

There
were no more calls to battle, and the Chevaliers had divided into two camps
regarding the strange sickness. One ignored it, like all the other horrors and
dangers. The other seemed to dwell on the fact that something they couldn’t see
to fight might kill them later.

In
the afternoons, Elizabeth flew down with Faucon on his volaran and held healing
sessions—office hours—at the Castleton house. While they were working, Faucon
was seeing to the business of his seaside estates.

Bri
and Elizabeth and Faucon and whoever dropped by after the healing, ate early
dinners. Visitors included Citymasters, guild heads, town and Castle medicas,
Circlets, Exotiques, a whole host of interesting people.

Then
Faucon and Elizabeth would return to the Marshalls’ Castle and Bri would take
part in the evening saunter that Castleton folks liked. Or fly with Nuare.

Her
second flight hadn’t been long, either, just around the pleasant rolling hills
and plains near the Castle, but had kept her eyes wide. Calli rigged a harness
and seat for Bri that didn’t bother Nuare. She knew she had no hope of
controlling the big bird. So far her only options had been to deny the bird and
herself flight, or to ruffle Nuare’s feathers by choosing Mud. At least the roc
respected her now. She thought.

Sevair
wasn’t quite underfoot, but definitely made his presence known. Often he ate
with Elizabeth and Faucon and her, giving details of his work on the city hall
or the city temple or the city walls, showing plans of new buildings or houses.
Or explaining the renovation of Bri’s tower to Faucon. The work on her
place—Bri was careful not to call it her home, even in her own mind—proceeded
well. Nothing too major was involved except for the garden-level bathing area.
That had been so dank and dark that Bri had only gone to the bottom of the
stairs, taken one glance and returned to the upper levels. She’d never liked
living below ground, always wanted somewhere she could look out over a town.

When
Bri had spoken of transferring furniture from the town house, Sevair had nixed
the idea. Instead, he’d had the Citymasters turn out their attics and the
Castle chief of staff check the storage areas for good, solid furniture of the
period when the original Circlet had lived there. Refinishing had taken only a
couple of days. When the pieces were delivered Bri made a big deal over them,
satisfying the Citymasters. Most didn’t understand why she preferred the tower
to the lovely house, but were happy that she’d found a place in their city.

And
Bri had a housekeeper-maid! That was an unexpected pleasure. A young, large,
simple, striped haired woman who liked working for an Exotique, was fascinated
by the roc, and thought living “in a room of her very own” on the second floor
of the tower was the best thing that ever happened to her. She liked having the
small kitchen to herself, too, no one to direct or criticize her. One of the
Citymasters had officiously assured Bri that the woman was reliable and a hard
worker. As for Bri, the woman’s delight at the wonders every new day gave her
pleasure.

Then
the Exotiques had pressured her into a party, to show her gratitude for the
people of Castleton. Bri couldn’t say no, and Elizabeth had reacted to the idea
with amusement and enthusiasm. Bri
really
couldn’t say no then. She
invited everyone she’d ever met.

The
party was a success. The guests seemed to accept that this living in a city
wall tower was just another Exotique quirk and not a specific-to-Bri-oddness.
Though she’d always prided herself on her uniqueness, acceptance felt good. She
was in such a responsible position and felt for the first time that she should
be an example for others. There was pride in that, too, that her gifts were
recognized and prized here.