Protector of the Flight (25 page)

“Oh.”
Calli grimaced. “I’ll definitely work with her.”

The
corners of his mouth turned up slightly. “She has a hard head, Bastien has
trouble making her listen.”

Calli
narrowed her eyes, glanced at the keep where Alexa was. “She’ll learn from
me.
”

Now
Marrec’s smile widened. “I have no doubt of that.”

They
spent the rest of the day becoming familiar with the remaining volarans and
training her horses, in an odd way. Calli spoke to the Castle stable hands,
figured out which two were the most flexible and began to teach, with words and
telepathy and Power.

Finally,
as the evening turned into night, they bathed again in preparation for the next
ritual. By this time, they were easy with each other. Calli didn’t think she’d
ever be shy around him again. She donned her old jeans and another sleeveless
shirt that buttoned at the shoulder and along the side. Marrec had such a shirt,
too, and new black leather trousers and tunic emblazoned with their heraldry.
Just the sight of him made her insides mushy.

Compared
to the Choosing and Bonding ritual, the Unbinding ceremony was almost
private…the inner circle of the older Marshalls, Alexa and Bastien, the
representatives of the other segments of society: Lady Hallard of the
Chevaliers, Sevair Masif for the Cities and Towns, Marian and Jaquar for the
Circlets and Luthan Vauxveau for the Singer.

The
ritual took place in a pentacle in the Great Temple, the huge round area where
Calli was originally Summoned. The place Sang of a thousand Songs, imbued in
the walls and ceiling and floor, quivering just under or over hearing,
vibrating against her skin.

Calli
and Marrec stood in a star traced on the floor, surrounded by a linked circle
of the witnesses. It sure felt like a wedding to her. She smiled, looked up and
met his eyes.

They
were fierce and she heard his mental chant of
Mine. My woman. Mine to keep.
Mine to…love.

As
soon as the bindings were dissolved, the images, the incredibly intricate
connection stopped. They both took a step apart. Dizziness had Calli’s world
tipping. She tottered. Marrec grasped her shoulders. He took her hand, and
their Song escalated between them.

The
Song of the Chevalier Exotique Pair. She blinked. Her left arm felt weightless,
free.

All
of her felt incredibly free. She was her own self again…with additions, maybe,
but her own self in her own head, no one watching. A sigh whooshed from her.

Eyes
narrowed, Marrec said. “I thought we’d fly our volarans together to our land.
Use distance magic to get there and back, but I don’t think—”

“Dark
Lance can carry us both. We can help him with the distance magic.” She touched
Marrec’s cheek. “I don’t know of anything that would please me more.”

His
gaze slid down her and she sensed he was thinking about sex, but he nodded.
“Yes.”
Dark Lance, we will fly to our new home. Prepare.

Calli
chuckled, shook her head, then instead of Equine, she sent pure feeling to the
volaran. Love. Anticipation of the ride to their land. Assurance that all three
of them would work as a unit.

I
want to go, too!
Thunder sent a visual of himself accompanying them, flying without a rider.

“Ahem.”
Alexa cleared her throat.

“Yes?”
Marrec asked.

“I
understand that you’ll be flying to your new estate.” Alexa gestured to a young
woman, her assistant. “Perhaps Marwey would like to ride Thunder and survey the
situation. With her help, you might be able to hire household staff, maybe even
some folks tonight. I know there’s a village on your land.”

Calli
hadn’t known. There must be papers or a Lorebook or something. Another thing
for her to read.

Marrec
arched a brow at Marwey. “What’s the price?”

Well,
that was blunt enough. Calli looked around to see if anyone was dismayed at
this conversation taking place in the house of G—of the Song. The witnesses
observed with interest and Thealia was walking toward a table where a wooden
chest lay.

Marwey
said, “I missed the last Chevalier training class, but Calli will be starting
training by herself with the rest of you tomorrow. I’d like to train with you.
My Pairling, Pascal, has already won his Chevalier reins.” She lifted her chin.
“We want to be Marshalls someday, but I must be a Chevalier first.”

“You
agree?” Marrec asked Alexa.

She
sighed. “Yes. I’d rather keep Marwey safe here at the Castle, but she and
Pascal are adamant in their wishes to become Marshalls. Marwey
has
‘called’ a volaran from the wild herd who has agreed to partner with her.”

Calli
eyed the young woman, surely in her late teens. “How long have you flown with
your volaran?”

A
tinge of red appeared on Marwey’s cheeks. “Not long, a couple of weeks before
all the volarans left. Once since they came back.”

Nodding,
Calli said, “Good. Perhaps you’d let me see how you work with your volaran and
if I might be able to improve your partnership.”

Marwey
grinned. “Ayes! But I can speak to the volarans. I have strong mind-merge
Power.”

“Even
better,” Calli said.

Thealia
walked up to them, accompanied by a large man carrying a heavy chest. She
gestured to the box. “The taxes from your estate for the last thirteen years
since the previous owner died. Also, your bonus for being Summoned.”

Nice.

“Steadier?”
Marrec asked.

Calli
nodded. He slid his hands down her arms, squeezed her hands, then dropped his
own, eyeing the chest with a glinting gaze. “I’ll take that, pull out enough to
pay…our people…up front for a couple of months—”

“Some
for getting the house ready, too,” Marwey said. “It’s been deserted.”

Marrec
nodded. “Then I’ll put it in Horseshoe Hall’s vault.”

“You
don’t need to do that,” Marwey said. “I looked around your rooms—I have
experience serving an Exotique—and saw a lock-cache.”

“Good,”
Marrec said. He brushed a kiss on Calli’s mouth. “Let’s get going, night will
fall soon enough.” He strode to the door and Calli watched him. His manner had
changed since she’d seen him enter the hall where she’d stood behind the
Choosing table. Then his lope had been easy, but diffident. Now he was a man in
charge. He’d changed, too.

Thealia
handed Calli the rolled long strips of linen that had been their bonds. “You
might want to keep these in a safe place, too. They sing with Power.”

Calli
nodded and tucked them into a pouch she carried. She’d like a little money,
too. Still, there should be more courtesy. She scanned the faces of the
remaining people and bowed. “Thank you for coming.”

There
was a round of returned bows, curtseys, nods. “May the Song fly with you
always,” someone said.

“And
you,” she replied, then spun and hurried out the door. Marrec and Marwey were
already nearly beyond the keep. “Marrec!”

He
stopped.

Calli
ran to them, delighted she could do so, that she felt totally healed. When she
reached them she wasn’t even breathing hard. “When you divvy up that zhiv, keep
some out for yourself and me, will you?” She handed him her pouch. “And put
what’s in here in the lock-cache, too.”

His
eyebrows went up as he weighed the little bag in his hand, felt the Power of
the bonds with their blood upon them. “Ayes.” Again he kissed her, this time
her cheek, then started off once more at a rapid pace. Smiling, she turned to
the door of the keep and wound through it to the door to the maze, then through
the hedges and to Landing Field, satisfaction filling her. She knew enough to
walk around on her own!

Sweet.

Thunder
and Dark Lance awaited her, saddled and bridled. She frowned, wondered how soon
the new tack would be delivered. The sooner, the better. Too bad she didn’t
know how to call down to the shop. Send a messenger? Use a crystal ball? Huh.
More stuff she needed to learn.

But
she grinned as she reached the volarans. She couldn’t wait to learn.

T
hey came out of
the Distance Magic bubble with a little pop. Calli glanced over to see Marwey
on Thunder pacing them. She and the girl exchanged grins.

Marwey
said something, her words vanished with the wind. She frowned, tapped her
mouth, then said something again. This time the words came clear.

“I
spent time reading up on your estate. It is well able to provide for a large
family.” She sighed as if that was one of her long-term goals, too. “Your land
is surrounded by other well-tended and productive estates. With the zhiv you
have, your people will be able to buy whatever you need from your neighbors.”

“Good,”
Marrec shouted.

Calli
nodded.
Marrec, you don’t know how to do that thing she did?

No.
He hesitated.
I
have become stronger in my Power since you arrived. Stronger still since we
bonded. There are many spells we will have to learn together.

It
will be fun.

I
hope so.

As
they circled down, a bell tower began to ring. “The announcement of our
arrival,” Marrec said in her ear. To Calli’s complete surprise, a brand-new
banner waved from the pole on the tower.

“The
Marshalls gifted it to us, I think,” Marrec said. “Sent it here by special
messenger this morning to announce that the estate had been reassigned—and to
the Chevalier Exotique. I’d imagine anyone within earshot of the bells who can
get here fast will meet us.”

Calli
cleared her throat. “Our ranch had about four hands. Not many people. I watched
my dad, of course—”

“His
style won’t be ours.”

“No.
And there were other ranchers, folks I admired, that I learned some from. I
hope.”

“We’ll
do it together.” His statement was almost a question.

They’d
have to learn how to work in harness, for sure. “Yes.”

As
soon as they landed and turned toward the house, Calli’s breath caught. It had
looked a lot smaller from the air, but it was a full three-story
mansion
made of gray stone, with columns. Behind it, peaks rose in rugged grandeur.

“Ours?”
she croaked.

Marrec
wrapped an arm around her waist. “Ours,” he said reverently.

She
glanced up at him, saw moistness in his eyes.

“The
house is everything I’ve ever dreamed of,” he murmured. Glancing down, he
squeezed her and his smile was full. “We’ll make a fine family here.”

She
turned a little to the northwest and range after range of mountains rose in
ever-higher rocky waves until they took up half the sky. Again she turned, due
north, and more mountains defined the horizon, the spur thickened. To the south
were peaks, too. She’d wanted mountains. She’d gotten them.

“It’s
so beautiful.” Her throat closed. This was
her
land. Not the Rocking Bar
T, not ever again, but this place. She didn’t have the ties to it that she’d
had to her childhood home, but the tingling beneath her feet, as if she was
ready to
really
plant roots, told her that it could take the place of
the land she loved.

“Beautiful,”
Marrec said. He was looking to the east and their own lush valley, the distant
roofs of village houses.

The
deep green of rich fields held his gaze.

“Come
along!” Marwey called from the wide porch of the house.

Marrec
frowned, slid his hand down to grasp Calli’s fingers and strode toward the
house. At first Calli stretched her legs to keep up with him, then she
discreetly tugged his hand and he slowed.

When
they reached the steps leading to the porch, Calli saw about twenty people
gathered there. A few were dressed in rich robes that proclaimed them the local
VIPs, most wore simple work clothes.

They
all stared at her, focused on her blond hair or blue eyes or pale complexion.
Marrec dropped her hand to wrap his arm around her shoulders.

“Excuse!”
a middle-aged woman gasped. Trembling, she bolted from the porch and
disappeared. She was followed by an older man who nodded to Marrec but didn’t
keep his distaste hidden.

Marrec
frowned.

“For
those of you who do not know about Exotiques, an instinctive revulsion upon
first meeting can be possible to the…less open-minded.” Marwey lifted her nose.
“If anyone else must leave, especially those who wished to work in the Hall,
please go now.”

A
few more people slid away.

After
that, the introductions got confusing. Since Marrec was paying attention to the
nobles and richer village folk, Calli concentrated on the people who’d come to
take care of her new home. The Hall. The
what
Hall. Or the Hall of
What?
She cleared her throat and everyone fell silent. “What is the name of this
place?”