Lone Star Magic (8 page)

Distracting thoughts. All to keep her from
facing what she’d already committed to doing. Taking off down the
road with a strange man, fleeing for her life from some magical
weirdo from the future.

Were she to tell this to anyone, they’d think
she’d finally lost her mind and institutionalize her.

Might as well get on with it. She marched
over to the pickup and climbed behind the wheel. Alrick got in on
the passenger side. He’d adjusted to riding in the motor vehicle
quickly – so quickly in fact, Carly had been slightly
suspicious.

“We can see your world from Rune,” he’d said,
correctly interpreting her narrowed gaze. “We’re aware of all your
inventions and machines.”

“Yeah, you already said you don’t have them.
That’s seems weird to me.”

“We have no need. We have our magic.”

She clicked on the radio. The announcer was
talking excitedly about some freak hurricane that had struck the
east coast. Mere hours after the 6.0 earthquake that had taken out
parts of rural California.

“Oh my God.”

Alrick looked equally grim. “Such is the
consequence of indiscriminate magic use in your world.”

She swallowed. “The Warlord caused that?”

He turned down the volume. “I believe so. And
things will only get worse as he continues to use spells against
you.”

“And this is why you don’t want to use your
own magic to fight him?”

“Not unless I have to.”

“You say you can only tell the truth. I want
to know who’s more powerful, you or him?”

“Until we face each other in battle, I could
not say.”

Fair enough. She supposed she ought to be
glad he hadn’t said the Warlord was more powerful. If that was the
case, she supposed she was doomed.

“Where to?” Once they reached the highway,
they could go west to El Paso or east towards Louisiana.

Alrick shrugged. “Somewhere not so…” he
gestured at the rolling hills around them, “open.”

“You mean trees?”

“Yes. It’s much easier to hide in the
forest.”

“All right, country roads it is.” She
concentrated on driving until they’d reached the highway. Choosing
the right lane, she set the cruise control. “We’ll take this for
while, then I’ll exit and we’ll go up into the hills. I assume you
have a plan. Time you filled me in.”

“A plan.” He sounded expressionless. Like a
commando, trying to be dispassionate about his next move. Or so she
told herself.

“Yes. I mean we can’t continue to run from
this guy. We’ve got to face him sometime, right?”

He was silent for so long she wondered if
he’d fallen asleep. But a quick glance at him showed him
wide-awake, studying the terrain as they flashed past.

“Alrick?”

“I’m to protect you.” He sounded weary.
“Until the Warlord manifests enough strength to bring himself fully
here. Then he and I will do battle.”

“But you think you can take him?”

“I am a warrior as well as a prince. Once he
is all the way here, in this time, I will best him in any
fight.”

“I wish I had my rifle.”

He scowled. “Your attitude grows wearying.
I’ve already told you your weapon would be useless against
him.”

“Whatever. I’d feel better if I were armed. I
didn’t ask for this. I was minding my own business, doing the best
I could to live the life I had, then boom. You show up, the
fireball tries to fry me, lightning hits my barn, my house is
covered in fire ants, and I’m on my way to nowhere with a guy I
barely know.” To her horror, she nearly started to cry. She choked
back the tears, but her strangled voice gave her away.

“How do you know?” His quiet voice held its
own kind of reluctance. “How do you know you weren’t the only one
who got plucked from their everyday existence? My life in Rune is a
good one. Until the Mage showed up from the future, I believed
nothing would change. I didn’t seek this task. Yet here I am.”

Swiping at her eyes, she sniffed. “So we’re
both being dragged into this against our wills. Question is, what
can we do about it?”

“We? You can stay hidden. I will take care of
killing the Warlord when the time comes.”

“Hey, I’m a part of this too.”

He regarded her curiously. “You think you can
kill him?”

She tightened her hands on the steering
wheel. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

He continued to watch her.

Finally, she groaned. “All right, maybe not.
I can barely kill a spider, for Pete’s sake. I’m not sure I can –
no, I’m
positive
I can’t – kill anyone.”

“Even if it comes down to your life or
his?”

Miserable, she nodded.

“What about the life of your child? Would you
kill to protect him?”

“I have no child.”

“You merely split hairs. But, since you do,
let me rephrase my question. This is no game, Carly. You might have
to defend yourself. Would you kill to protect the life of your
unborn child?”

About to give a flip answer, the intensity in
his voice made her pause. “I… I don’t know. Probably. I think. But
I have no unborn child. I’m not pregnant.”

“Yet.”

She swallowed. “Since you know the future,
how far away am I from carrying this miracle child?”

“I was not told this. Nor who will be the
father.” He sounded bitter. “The Mage only told me what he deemed I
needed to know, no more.”

So Alrick was as much of a puppet as she.
Carly kept this thought to herself as she forced herself to
concentrate on driving. She turned up the volume on the radio,
listening grimly as the announcer elaborated on the devastation
caused by the two simultaneous natural disasters. Finally, she
couldn’t take it anymore, and clicked the radio off.

Alrick continued to stare out the window as
the landscape flashed past. “We must be careful,” he said. “If the
Warlord cannot find us, he won’t be able to use magic to try and
kill you.”

“Right.” She drummed her fingers on the
wheel. “Now that we’re on the run, how would he find us?”

The look he spared her was quick.
“Magic.”

So much for enlightenment. “Magic how? I
don’t understand about magic – we don’t have such a thing in my
time. Does he have some sort of tracker, like a GPS system or
something?”

“Again you refer to machines – things of
which I’m unfamiliar.” He shook his head. “Our worlds are very
different. As to the Warlord, he will trace your energy pattern,
and mine.”

She frowned, then forced a smile. “I talk
about Global Positioning Satellites and you mention energy
patterns. I guess in a way they’re kind of the same.”

“Are they?” He turned to look at her, his
dark eyes glowing. For a moment she stared, transfixed, then she
snapped her attention away, back to the road.

“Stop that!”

“What?”

Though he sounded innocent, Carly wasn’t
fooled. She’d bet a dime to a dollar that he knew what he was
doing. She’d like to call him on it too, but there was no way in
hell she’d admit to him there were times she found him unbearably
attractive. Like now.

He had to be magically making himself look
good, didn’t he?

Instead, she changed the subject. “I figure
we’ll drive as far as we can before we take a break. I’ll need to
let TM out and walk him, as well as make sure he and Kayo get
water.”

Hearing his name, Kayo whined. Carly reached
down and petted him. The border collie settled back down, resting
his head on Alrick’s knee.

Alrick looked out his window. The rolling
hills of the Texas hill country were beginning to give way to the
flat, prairie. “When we stop, make sure there are trees. Better
shelter.”

She liked the way Alrick absently stroked
Kayo’s back. So did the dog, whose blissful expression indicated
he’d found doggie heaven.

“Trees. I’ll try.”

“Tell me what you know.” Damn, she hadn’t
meant to blurt that out like a directive. “About me, about my son.
I know you said you weren’t told a whole lot, but I’d like to hear
what you do know.”

“I’ve already told you everything.”

“No, you haven’t. For example, I’m kind of
fuzzy on exactly how my son is supposed to save the world.”

“Not the world, Rune.”

“Yeah, but you insinuated what affected Rune
would affect the regular world as well. My world – in the future.
My son. Come on, don’t you think since I have to play a major role
in all this that I should know?”

Alrick smiled. “I couldn’t agree more. I feel
the same way, and have said so many times to no avail. The Mage
spoke mostly to my father, the King. My brother and I were sent
from the council chambers.”

Her stomach sank. “So all you know…”

“Is all I’ve told you.”

“Great.”

He patted her hand. “Before we can worry
about what we do and do not know, we’ve got to vanquish the
Warlord.”

“Back to killing.” She heaved a sigh.

“Sorry.” He patted her arm.

They exchanged smiles. For the first time
since this nightmare began, Carly realized she actually liked
Alrick. As a person, he didn’t seem all that different from her.
Even if he was a faerie. She chuckled.

“What?”

“Faerie. The thought of you being one…”

He frowned. “Why?”

“I picture little people in tutus, dancing
around among flowers or something.”

“Those are sprites. We are more like those
elves depicted in your legends.”

“Elves?” She raised a brow. “With pointy ears
and all that?”

“No pointy ears.” Lifting his hair, he
pointed to his own, well-shaped ears. “I know not how some of your
myths got started.”

“Creative license, I guess.”

Outside of Fredericksburg, she pulled off at
a rest stop. “Hey, it’s deserted. That can be good or bad, but this
time I think we’ll take it as a good omen.”

“Why here?” Alrick didn’t like the looks of
the place. A squat concrete building was the only structure.

“There are more trees here than anywhere
else.”

While she backed TM out, Alrick stood by to
walk him. She handed the lead to him and clipped a leash on Kayo’s
collar.

“Come on boy, let’s go stretch our legs. They
followed Alrick and TM to the clearing behind the rest rooms.

When she was thirty yards away, her pickup
truck exploded.

THE FORCE of the explosion knocked Carly to
the ground and sent Kayo flying. Alrick turned in time to see Carly
go down. He looped TM’s lead over a tree branch and went
running.

Kayo jumped to his feet and ran with him,
barking. Black smoke billowed into the air.

Carly didn’t move.

Heart pounding, Alrick lifted his gaze
skyward. Though he hadn’t sensed the other’s magic, the Warlord had
tried again. Had he so quickly succeeded?

“Carly?” Lifting her wrist, he felt for a
pulse. There. Light, but steady. She lived. He checked her for
injuries, finding only one bloody scrape on her elbow where she had
hit the ground. But when he lifted her head, his hand came away
crimson with blood.

Head wound. How serious? Quickly glancing
around the deserted rest stop, he heard the wail of sirens in the
distance and knew within minutes they would have company. Should he
let the humans heal her? Could they? He couldn’t risk it.

The pickup continued to burn. Flames leapt
into the sky, the smoke another beacon.

Alrick cursed. The Warlord had grown more
powerful. This time, he hadn’t felt any prickle of warning, any
awareness of the Warlord’s magic.

Carly lay so still. Bleeding. Kayo whined,
licking her face. With a toss of his head, TM broke the loose knot
keeping him tied to the tree and trotted over, whickering.

The sirens grew louder. Closer. Down on the
highway a huge tractor truck pulled off onto the ramp leading to
the rest stop, no doubt attracted by the fire.

The relentless Texas sun beat down on them.
Waves of heat shimmered off the blacktop.

He would have to use magic – he saw no
choice. Alrick would cast a spell and take them all to Rune.

With one hand, he took Carly’s arm. With the
other, he touched TM’s leg. Kayo seemed to understand and came
around to rest his shaggy head against Alrick’s thigh.

Alrick spoke the words.

The rest-station, the heat, the fire, and the
smoke shimmered and vanished. He knew a second of disorientation,
then felt the blessed moist air of Rune. Kayo lifted his head to
look at Carly and whined again.

“We’re here.” He spoke the words into the
shadowed stillness of a leafy glade. Relaxing somewhat, again he
checked Carly’s pulse. Though uneven, her heart still beat. He
breathed a sigh of relief. Here, the Warlord could not so easily
travel. Here, Carly was safe. Now to get her healed.

Kayo growled. A second later, a hunched man
in a silver robe came crashing through the underbrush. No doubt
notified of their arrival by the disturbance in the fabric of
reality, the Mage from the future hurried over. He skidded to a
halt, glancing first at TM, then Kayo, before he looked at Alrick.
He gasped when he saw Carly, unconscious on the ground.

“You brought
her
?”

“I had to.” Quickly, Alrick explained what
had happened. “She wasn’t safe.”

The older man nodded.

“Can you heal her?”

Coming closer, the Mage knelt down and
examined Carly. “I believe so. `Twould appear she has hurt her
head, and that can be tricky.”

“I will call my brother so we can move her
into the palace.”

“I am here.” A second voice spoke from the
shadows under the trees. Moving silently, unlike the mage, Alrick’s
identical twin brother Cenrick stepped forward. Alrick again
experienced the familiar shock of seeing himself as others saw
him.

“By the Blue Matusas, it’s good to see you!”
Rising, he clasped Cenrick on the arm and grinned. “Well met.”