Lone Star Magic (11 page)

Not that any of this mattered – she had no
choice. Either wear the dress or appear naked. Easy decision.

She stepped from the closet – or whatever the
small room was – with her head held high. At least if she looked
hideously foolish, she wouldn’t know. Alrick was too much of a
gentleman to tell her. Unless – she frowned – it showed in his face
when he saw her.

But Alrick was already waiting for her as she
emerged from the room. When he saw her, he smiled. His amber eyes
began to glow. Warmth suffused her. The hand she’d lifted to wave
at him, she let fall to her side. Even though it had been a long
time, Carly recognized male appreciation when she saw it. For a
moment she let herself enjoy the feeling. Then, feeling absurdly
guilty, she gave Alrick her blackest scowl. “What? Don’t look at me
like you’ve never seen a woman in a dress before.”

“I’ve never seen
you
in a dress
before, Carly Roberts.” His deep voice sounded almost like a growl.
“You look beautiful.”

“Gorgeous,” a second male voice said. Then
Alrick number two stepped around the corner.

Looking from one to the other, Carly gaped.
“I didn’t imagine you?”

They both laughed.

“Now I see why you’re so possessive of her,
brother,” the second Alrick said.

Brother
? As his words registered,
Carly looked to Alrick number one for confirmation.

“Twins,” he said. “Remember? Carly meet
Cenrick, my brother.”

Instinctively she held out her hand to him,
meaning to shake his. Instead, exactly as Mort the Mage had done,
Cenrick lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them.

Carly snatched her hand back, but not before
she felt a shiver all the way to her toes. “Cenrick.”

“Carly.” He spoke her name like a caress.

She looked from him to Alrick. “Something’s
different…”

Alrick narrowed his eyes, but said
nothing.

“That’s it. The eyes. You, Alrick have brown
eyes. And you have… purple?”

“Lavender.” Alrick’s tone was cutting. “Most
of his ladies call them lavender.”

“Or violet, or plum…” Cenrick put in
helpfully, smirking at his brother.

Alrick glowered.

“Ahem.” The mage cleared his throat.

“You!” Carly jabbed her finger at the mage’s
chest, ignoring the older man’s wince. “Why didn’t you tell me
Alrick had a twin?”

“It wasn’t important.”

“Not important?” Cenrick chortled. “I’ve been
called many things in my life, but unimportant was never one of
them.”

The mage ignored him. “Are you ready to eat?”
He held out his arm to Carly.

Food. Damn. She’d somehow managed to forget
all about food, despite her hunger. Her stomach growled again, loud
enough that she thought everyone might have heard it.

“Yes. I am,” she searched for the word,
“famished.”

Long sleeves trailing behind her, she placed
her fingers on Mort’s arm and swept past Alrick and Cenrick. She
felt like an extra in a movie like
Camelot
. “Bye guys.”

Open-mouthed, they both stared after her. She
was glad they didn’t immediately follow; in her overdressed
frou-frou, there was no way she’d feel comfortable stuffing her
face with them looking on.

Mort led her to an empty room, empty except
for unbelievable mountains of bright-colored food. The spread
reminded her of a fancy banquet she’d attended once in Austin. One
side of the room had a long table piled high with bread. Rolls and
pastries of every conceivable kind were heaped on sparkling
platters. There were also pots of various soups, which smelled
heavenly. Carly took a step closer and read the labels – split pea
soup, black bean soup, cream of potato, cream of lettuce, and cream
of tomato soup. Her mouth watered just at the scent of them.

What else? No meats, but a chocolate fountain
ran continuously on one corner. Underneath were the most succulent
looking strawberries, kiwi slices, pineapple, grapes, and other
assorted fruits she had ever seen. And marshmallows! Giant, plump,
marshmallows, perfect for dipping in the chocolate.

“Goodbye diet,” Carly muttered. Chocolate was
her particular weakness – one of the reasons she refused to keep
the stuff in the house. Not that she could afford it, even if she
wanted to.

“Dig in,” Mort ordered. She needed no second
urging.

Loading down her plate, she noticed
gratefully when Mort did the same.

“You haven’t eaten yet?”

He shook his head, managing to look mournful
and mischievous all at the same time. “I broke my fast long ago.
This will serve as a mid-day snack. One of the benefits of
age.”

“What about Alrick and his brother?”

Mort shrugged. “If they’re hungry, they’ll
eat. Do you require their company?” The old man sounded so serious,
he made Carly nervous. If she said she did, would he magically
summon them and make them sit and stare at her while she wolfed
down her food?

“No thanks.” Eying her heaping plate, she
decided she’d go back for chocolate and fruit when she’d finished.
She grabbed a crystal goblet of some sort of juice and took a seat
at one of the long, banquet style tables. Like her room, everything
here appeared formed from the same icy material. Yet no
fingerprints marred the sparkling tables.

“How do you keep it so clean?” she blurted,
right before popping a honey-coated pastry in her mouth.

Mort laughed. “Magic, how do you think?” He
wiggled his silver eyebrows, nearly making her choke on her
food.

When she had eaten her fill – going back for
seconds and then thirds, while noting gratefully how Mort too had
made short work of cleaning his plate, she leaned back in her chair
and licked the last bit of chocolate from her fingers. “Thank
you.”

“You’re welcome, my dear.” Mort inclined his
head. A small bit of chocolate that clung to the edge of his goatee
marred his mage-like expression.

“You’ve…” Carly made a swiping motion with
her napkin (at least she hoped that was what the gauzy squares were
for). Catching on, Mort dabbed the spot away.

“Better?”

“Yes.” She eyed him speculatively. He seemed
a harmless elderly man, but according to Alrick, he had all the
answers. And answers were what she needed most of all.

“Are you the one who sent Alrick to guard
me?”

He nodded.

“And you came from the future? Is that
right?”

Mort’s brows rose. “No small talk, eh?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude. But I’d
don’t really understand what’s going on.”

“I instructed Alrick to tell you.”

“Oh, he did. But everything he’s told me came
from you. I’d like to get the scoop from the horse’s mouth, so to
speak.”

If her analogy seemed strange to him, Mort
didn’t show it. “What would you like to know?”

“Why me? Oh, I know I’m supposed to have some
miraculous son, but I’m not even married. The chances of me getting
pregnant any time in the near future are slim to none.”

Before the Mage could answer, Alrick and his
twin brother entered the room. In all the pale colorlessness,
crystal and glitter, their vitality made them stand out. Instead of
going to the food, they headed straight for the two remaining
chairs at her table.

“Yes, Mage of Future Rune.” Alrick’s voice
sounded grim. “I too would like to know more specifics. If this
Warlord is so blasted powerful, why can’t he summon enough energy
to remain once he travels through time?”

“He is the only one who can do this. He is
the one who discovered how to ride the river of time.”

“That makes no sense.” Cenrick leaned back in
his chair, crossed his feet at the ankles, and watched them, his
violet eyes serious. “You’re here from the future.”

“I am here because the Warlord sent me.”

Alrick straightened. “What?”

Feeling like she was watching a tennis match,
Carly glanced from one to the other. “You are the Warlord’s
ally?”

“Not ally, prisoner,” Mort corrected. “He
sent me here as a test, to see if such a thing as time travel was
possible without destroying the body.”

“He used you as a guinea pig?” Carly was
horrified. “Not knowing whether you’d make it or not?”

Mort bowed his head. “He knew, if I lived,
that once I came here to this time, I could not return to my
own.”

“That makes no sense. The Warlord has
appeared several times in this era. He seems to have no difficult
going back and forth between times.”

“Yet he cannot stay. He must have learned how
to come and go once he sent me here, but you will notice he never
fully materializes. If he did, he would be trapped here. He could
not return to his own era.”

“Learned more? Are you saying he may yet
discover a way to show up here fully, take care of business, and go
back to the future?”

The Mage grimaced. “With one as powerful as
he, anything is possible.”

“You speak of learning.” Wrinkling his
forehead, Cenrick spoke up. “Yet where did he obtain such
knowledge? I have studied the possibility of time travel for years
and learned little.”

“This, I do not know. Some have whispered he
has aligned himself with dark forces. Others talk of a book of
spells, one which he discovered and kept hidden. But no one knows
for certain.”

“You are a Mage.” Suspicion colored Alrick’s
tone. “You have access to knowledge and power the rest of us only
dream of. Now you tell me you attempted to fight him and lost,
letting him take you prisoner and use you in a bizarre and
dangerous experiment. You should have been able to best this
Warlord, yet could not. Why?”

“I was occupied with other things.”

Expression bleak, Alrick crossed his arms.
“Other things. While you haven’t told me specifics about your time,
I understand you were already battling this Warlord. Tell me, what
so distracted you that you let your guard down and the Warlord was
able to capture you?”

“The veil fell.”

Alrick’s head snapped up. “What?”

“With a spell, the Warlord made the veil
between Rune and the human world disappear.”

Cenrick leaned forward. “That must have been
some powerful spell.”

The Mage nodded. “No one knows how he did
it.”

“But why?” Alrick began to pace. “Why would
he want to tear down the veil?”

“He had hopes for a joyful sort of melding
between humans and Fae. But the opposite happened. In fact,
humankind regarded us first with suspicion, then outright terror.
The wars began.”

Carly’s head hurt. Rubbing her temples, she
tried to assimilate all the bizarre information.

“How can this be possible? If my son is to be
a contemporary of the Warlord, these events can’t be too far in the
future. Wouldn’t we have had some warning that all this was going
to happen?”

“I keep up with your world. All your
country’s intelligence gathering is focused on terrorists,” Cenrick
pointed out. “Guys with bombs and guns who kill in the name of
hatred. Who’s going to believe some guy who wants people to believe
in Faeries, for Myrddin’s sake?”

Put that way, she saw his point. She looked
at the Mage. “What about me and my son? Where do we come in on all
of this?”

“I can see you’re tired.” Mort rose. “And the
story is a long one. Suffice to say your son will lead a group in
opposing the Warlord.”

“A leader.” Carly felt the strangest sense of
déjà vu, then realized she was thinking of an old movie,
The
Terminator
. “My son will be a good man, a good leader,
right?”

“Yes. And you might as well know, his name
will be Lance.” Mort smiled at her. “Your son.”

Where before the idea she would have a son
was nice, it was in the abstract. When she’d tried to picture this
mysterious, future offspring she saw only a wavery, blurry image of
an infant wrapped in blankets. But
this
… Now…

“You’ve given him a name.” She spoke softly,
hearing the tears in her voice. “My child. Lance.”

Alrick covered her hand with his. Surprised,
she looked at him, grateful for the gesture of support. “Now do you
see why I must protect you?”

Slowly, she shook her head. “This is all too
confusing. And weird.”

“But at least you understand the severity of
the threat?” This from the Mage, with one hand on the door.

“I think so.” She squinted at him. “Though
I’m sure I’ll have more questions later. Thank you, Mort. Thanks a
bunch.”

“Mort?” Both brothers exclaimed.

“That’s his name.” Carly stuck out her chin.
“Though he prefers ya`ll call him Mage.”

As one, they turned to stare at the Mage.
Though the tips of his ears blazed red, he appeared unruffled by
her disclosure. “Explore the castle, the grounds. Rune is a
beautiful place. Alrick can show you around.”

“Am I safe here?”

“Oh yes.” Mort’s smile widened. “As powerful
as the Warlord is, even he wouldn’t dare show his face in
Rune.”“Why not?” Cenrick asked. “Our people are unprepared, not
used to violence. They have grown complacent and lazy, preferring
to spend their time playing and partying rather than learning new
spells or perfecting their magic.”

Alrick started to protest, but a sweep of the
Mage’s hand cut him off.

“True, but there is little to thwart him in
the human realm.” He grinned. “Unless you count the weather, and he
doesn’t stick around for that.”

“I imagine what he’s doing must take a lot of
magical power.”

“Yes.” The Mage’s smile faded. He pinned both
Carly and Alrick with a look. “But watch out. If he ever learns how
to materialize fully, he’ll be a hundred times more dangerous.”

“Unstoppable?”

“I didn’t say that.” Moving back into the
room, Mort crossed to Carly and touched her arm. “You must
understand, my dear, you are our only hope. Your son must be born.
This is why Alrick has been charged with keeping you safe. If there
is no Lance, the Warlord and his followers will destroy mankind and
Fae both.”