Protector of the Flight (53 page)

Her
smile was slow and beautiful. “Yes. Yes, you definitely are.”

They
sat for a few minutes in silence and he found the world beautiful.

She
straightened and kissed him on the cheek. Determination was back in her eyes.
“The bank is opening. I want to check on my money, see how much I have and get
records for the last few years.” Her lips twisted. “For my personal account and
the ranch’s. It will be interesting to see if my father took me off the ranch’s
account.” She took a deep breath. “If he did—well, I’ll leave it for now, but
will come back if we don’t get what we want. Will you wait here?”

He
sensed her roiling emotions. She didn’t want to believe that they would have to
stay in this world, but she was planning as if they had to.

“Yes,”
he said, tried more words. “I’ll wait here.”

With
a smile and a nod, she walked to another stone building. He waited until she
was inside before he hurried to the shop with the white robe.

T
hat afternoon,
Calli and Marrec stood on the hillside, hands joined. She smiled up at him and
took a deep breath. “Here goes.”

Together
they placed the palms of their opposite hands to the crystal. A jolt of
electricity sizzled through her. She hissed out a breath and kept her hand
flat.

38

“A
lexa!” Calli and
Marrec shouted in unison, mind and heart and Song.

Nothing.

“Marian!”

No
response.

Calli
clunked her head against the crystal. The hard, unyielding crystal. “I guess
this proves that it only opens when the Marshalls do a Summoning ritual.” Her
voice was thick.

“I
guess so.”

“How
will we ever know? If we go away—and we’ll have to—how will we—”

“Shh.”
He took her in his arms. “Let’s not worry about that now.”

She
snuffled, cleared her throat. “All right. Let’s not cross that bridge until we
come to it.”

“A
good saying. We’re Chevaliers. We won’t quit fighting for the life we want.”
His lips twitched up in a smile. “We’re Chevaliers, though I haven’t spent as
much time as I wanted with those fascinating horses here. They are much more
intelligent and sensitive than the ones on Lladrana. English I am beginning to
understand. Equine I still know.” He took her hand and led her down the path.
“Earth Equine has additional nuances not known to their kind on Lladrana, and
not used by volarans. Another, quite beautiful, language.”

That
notion distracted her. “You’re right.”

“I
also now know why you use so much body language and cues—the effort to speak
mind to mind is considerable.”

“Also
true. I wonder if it will get easier, or if there’s some way to boost it.”

“A
question worthy of Marian.”

She
tensed behind him, realized she couldn’t go on ignoring references to their
life
then.
“Thank you.” But they both lapsed into silence until they
reached the corral where Will and Roy were with the horses. To Calli’s
amazement, she actually thought she saw relief in Will’s eyes. The horses were
greener than he’d anticipated when he’d bought them, and neither one of the men
were good trainers.

Between
herself and Marrec, they had the horses trusting them within an hour.

“Looks
like Calli’s been teaching you that natural horsemanship deal,” Will said.

“Yes.
She is an exceptional woman.”

Roy
narrowed his eyes. “I’ve heard of that natural stuff. Never paid much attention
to it, but you guys…” He shook his head. “What a display of horsemanship.
Horsewomanship. Those horses actually follow you around now.”

Marrec
bowed and said, “Thank you.”

Calli
said, “These are the basics. I’ll have to brush up on my skills to work them to
be cutters.” Then she heard what she’d said, caught the glance Roy and her dad
exchanged, and rushed on, “Just for a little while.” And felt stupid.

Taking
her hand, Marrec lifted her fingers—which smelled like horse—and kissed them.
“Until we move on. I need a shower.”

“Yes,”
Calli said.

While
they cleaned up and changed for supper, clouds rolled in, the wind whipped up
and the sky darkened to leaden gray. Summertime in the Rockies.

Dinner
was a stiff and silent meal. Dora had poked and poked at Calli until Roy turned
red and refused to look at Calli or Marrec, clearly unsettled by his mother’s
rude behavior. The older woman finally asked point-blank of Marrec what his and
Calli’s plans were. He looked at her coolly, then replied that they were still
considering.

At
that point, Calli pulled out Marrec’s new wallet from his equally new jeans and
put a hundred-dollar bill on the table. “This is for our room and board for the
rest of the week.” Surely they’d be back on Lladrana by then.

Roy
choked on a bite of food, her dad’s expression went stony, that she was paying
for hospitality that should have been free. It was an insult, but Calli
reckoned they’d be mercenary enough to take the money and ignore any hurt
feelings. Dora burst into tears and fled upstairs. Calli and Marrec remained
behind but didn’t speak.

When
the storm rolled over them, she could almost think it was there to relieve her
own tension. The sky was darker, the network of lightning huger than she’d ever
seen. She’d heard of boiling clouds, but had never believed in the phrase until
now. The wild wind puffed up curves of black clouds then tore them apart. She
shouldn’t be standing at the large plate-glass windows of the living room.

Beside
her, Marrec said, “Beautiful.”

“Yes.”
She frowned. Both her father and Roy were upstairs—with the hundred
bucks—soothing Dora. “I think we should check the stables. Let’s make sure the
horses are fine.” She pulled the curtains to protect the room from flying glass
if the window broke. She’d look in the storage shed to see if her dad still had
large pieces of plywood there.

A
crack of thunder, the pelleting of rain against the window, had her hurrying to
the mudroom. She pulled on her slicker and boots in record time, while Marrec
took her father’s coat.

They
ran through a pummeling deluge to the stable, grinned at each other when they
were dry. Together, they checked each stall. The horses were nervous, but a
touch of the hand, a murmured word soothed them.

Calli
opened the door wide enough for her and Marrec to look out at the downpour.

“Let’s
wait a little!” he shouted over the pounding rain.

She
nodded, then glanced up at the hillside. Lightning struck the hill again and
again as if
drawn
to it.

The
crystal! Their way back home!

Calli
plunged from the stable, slipping and sliding in the mud of the yard, running
toward the hill, wordlessly screaming her fear.

Marrec
tackled her. Held her down under his body as she fought and bucked to get away,
run to her hope of returning to Lladrana.

Finally
he pressed hard on her, every muscle of his body subduing hers. His wet hands
wiped hair and rain from her eyes, framed her face. “Look at me!”

She
blinked and did. His face was hard and impassive, as it always was when he felt
the most. Instinctively she listened for his Song and found it fast, like his
heartbeat, yet he wasn’t frightened—at least not about the crystal.

“It’s
dangerous there! You’re not going up.”

She
wriggled a little under his weight. He didn’t budge. “Promise me. We’re going
back into the house.”

Calli
realized he was speaking Lladranan. “The crystal!”

“We
cannot prevent whatever happens.”

She
didn’t want to believe that. “Our return home!”

Still
expressionless, he said, “We’ll discuss that later,
inside.
”

Hope
crumpled inside her. She’d once loved this land more than anything else in the
world, more than her father, even, but now it was no longer her home.
Everything she cherished was not in this world, her children, her
friends—except for this man, her husband.

Marrec’s
eyes, dark brown and steady—he was so steady—held hers, calmed her. He’d help
her get through this. They’d help each other. Their Songs surged and twined
together and all she could hear was
their
Song. The Song of the
Chevalier Exotique Pair.

He
leaned down and brushed her lips with his own. His warm tongue swept across her
mouth and she opened it. The kiss was warm and comforting, reminding her of
their bond, all the things they’d accomplished together. Now she put her hands
on his face and gave, letting her fears go. With her stroking fingers, her
mouth nibbling at his, she told this man she trusted him, she loved him. They
would find whatever they needed together.

It
was right.

He
ended the kiss, then rolled off her and pulled her to her feet in one quick and
easy move. They ran for the front door, opened it and stepped inside to drip on
the small linoleum square entryway.

Her
father, Dora and Roy looked at them.

“We
checked on the horses,” she said.

Roy
chuckled. “Looks to me like that wasn’t the only thing you did.”

She
stared at him, this interloper, this young man who would have everything she’d
ever wanted, the ranch, her father’s affection and respect. His aura showed he
was a good man, one who would take care of what once she’d considered hers.

Her
time here had passed, and she could give over her dreams of the ranch to
Roy—letting him make of the place whatever he wanted—in peace. She nodded to
him and smiled. “Maybe we copped a feel or two.”

He
cocked his head as if sensing her change in attitude. Then he grinned. “What’s
a good storm if it doesn’t stir us up?”

Since
it was exactly her opinion, she grinned back.

Dora
made a disapproving noise. “You’re dripping all over the floor. You should have
come in by way of the mudroom.”

But
the front door had been closest.

“Go
dry off and change,” Dora said.

Marrec
helped Calli off with her coat, then hung his slicker on the hook beside hers.
She turned away from her father and helped Marrec off with his beautiful boots.

When
she and Marrec entered their bedroom, neither of them turned on the light.
Calli went to the bathroom and pulled towels from the rack, drying herself,
then going to her husband and wiping him down, so their clothes would be easier
to take off. Though it was the end of summer and hot, being downstairs in her
wet clothes had chilled her. Up here was better. She handed him a couple of
towels and they both skinned out of their clothes, dried off and started
dressing again.

“The
crystal had been tuned. Maybe that’s why the lightning was attracted to it.”

She
blinked. “What do you mean?”

“The
crystal had been tuned. I have heard of Mirror Magic. Someone tuned the crystal
to be able to watch this place as well to be a portal on the Lladrana side of
the corridor.”

“Who?”

“I
don’t know. Someone Powerful.”

“But,
but I looked in the crystal all of my life, why didn’t it break before?”

He
frowned. “You must not have felt it when we came through, since you are part of
both Lladranan and Earthen Power, but I did. The crystal had been tuned on
this
side, too, more recently.”

Her
mouth dropped open. She definitely needed to suck in more air to make her brain
consider Earth Power. She’d read Marian’s story, but supposed she’d disregarded
the parts that didn’t make sense, like magic here on Earth. Calli hadn’t tried
to do much magic, only used what came naturally, like her “gift” with horses.
Marian was the type who’d consider experimentation.

“Been
tuned recently?” Her voice was high. “How recently?”

Marrec
shrugged. “I’m not a Circlet, I don’t know.”

“Before
I left or after?”

His
brows dipped deeper. “I think both.”

“Oh,
wow.” She dropped to sit on the bed in her underwear. “What does that mean?”

“You’ve
seen Lladrana through that crystal for years. I can only think that’s the
Singer’s doing.” He shrugged but it was more of a shudder, then he dragged on a
T-shirt and covered it with a chambray shirt. “That the crystal was tuned
recently…I don’t know if someone from Singer’s Abbey came through then went
back, or…”

“Or
what?”

“Or
there is someone here.”

It
was Calli’s turn to shiver. “Oh, I can’t think that’s right.”

“Okay.”
He sat down next to her and scooped her up and put her on his lap. They sat
there a moment. Calli wanted to relax against him, to hear the steady beat of
his heart, but she just couldn’t.

“But
I wish it were so.” She sniffed, wiped her face with the towel. “That someone
here knew how to get us back. What are we going to do?”