Protector of the Flight (54 page)

“I
don’t know.”

“I
can’t do a ritual like Marian. I’ve never made one up. Have you?”

“I
don’t know how to return us to Lladrana.” That sounded torn from him. She
circled him with her arms. Calli bit her lip, hard.

His
body was tense, he held her tight. When he let out a breath some of his fear
went with it. “We
will
teach ourselves. Find a place of Power.”

She
thought a minute. “There’s Marian’s apartment.” She grimaced. “Though she never
wrote of the actual address, and it’s probably rented.”

“Perhaps.”

“I
won’t give up,” she said fiercely. “We may be forced into some sort of normal
life, but I won’t give up. If I have to study to be a damn Circlet.”

“We
will never give up,” he agreed. “But for now, there’s only one thing we can do.
Proceed with plans here.”

“As
if we’ll stay forever?” She could barely say the words.

“Aye—Yes.
And plan for the next few weeks.”

She
licked her lips. “The next few weeks…You don’t know how to get us back, and I
don’t either. So we’ll have to hope they want us…” She tried not to think of
her father, of rejection, of circles and cycles in life. “And Summon us home.”

“Best
not to hope too much.”

They
loved, then slept.

A
lexa called a
meeting midmorning the next day. They gathered in the shady cloister, in the
corner where the keep wall met the round wall of the northeast tower. The men
weren’t yet concerned about Calli and Marrec going to Earth, so the group was
all women. Alexa herself, Marian, Lady Knight Swordmarshall Thealia and Lady
Hallard.

Tea
and cookies were served, and like the fighters that most of them were, they ate
when they got a chance. After inhaling two cookies—they were snickerdoodles,
which weren’t her favorite—Alexa brought up the topic. “How are we going to get
them back?”

“I’m
not sure that is the correct question,” Thealia said. “The question can very
well be, ‘Should we bring her back?’”

“That’s
cold,” Marian said.

Thealia
merely raised her eyebrows. “She is an excellent trainer, but some of us now
know her techniques—”

“I
wouldn’t bet on that.” Alexa stuck out her chin.

“And
she has already found and surveyed the Dark’s location for you, hasn’t she?”
Marian’s voice was soft with disgust.

“For
us all,” Thealia said evenly. “And since she has left we’ve had no threats
within the Castle to anyone, and no battles of any kind.”

“I
think that’s significant in itself,” Marian said.

Lady
Hallard snorted. “So, Swordmarshall, it doesn’t look as if the Marshalls will
try a Summoning.”

Thealia’s
nostrils flared before she answered. “The last ‘return’ Summoning of you, Marian,
was made possible because you were performing a ritual yourself. That effort
included Marshalls, Chevaliers and Circlets. And we paid for it.”

“And
I paid for it, too. Both before and after. In full.” Marian sat with straight
and perfect posture in her chair. She blinked, then a little frown line formed
between her brows. “But I’ve read the notes Calli has been keeping for her
Lorebook of Exotiques. She came through a crystal. A portal to the dimensional
corridor, perhaps.”

“That’s
something you Sorcerers and Sorceresses can work on,” Lady Hallard said.

“We
will!”

“But
in what time frame?” Hallard stretched, crossed her legs at her ankles. “We
Chevaliers don’t have the teamwork, experience or Power to Summon Calli on our
own.”

“And
Marrec!” Alexa snapped.

“Calli
and
Marrec,” Lady Hallard agreed. A small smile played about her lips.
“But every single day that Calli was here, we heard how she was the
Volaran
Exotique.
Let
them
bring her back.”

Alexa’s
mouth dropped open. She glanced at Marian to see her rapidly blinking,
considering all sorts of plans, options, spells,
Songs,
but she seemed
surprised, too.

Rapid
hoofbeats sounded and they turned to see Thunder trotting down the cloister
walk. Even Thealia’s eyes went wide.

He
stopped and snorted, his head going up and fixing his dark gaze on them all.
And
so we shall. Perhaps. At the proper time. We, too, can form a Circle. We, too,
can Summon.

“Then
why didn’t you before?” Lady Hallard jerked from her slouch.

Humans
had to want her, too. Chevaliers. To work with us. To work with the Marshalls
and the Tower.
He beat a little tattoo on the flagstones, causing sparks, then ran and jumped
out the next open cloister window.

Mouth
twitching, Alexa said, “Guess that told us.” She turned to the others. “Marian,
are the children still with you?”

“For
the moment.”

“Good.”
A touch of glee spritzed through her as she stood. “It will be interesting to
see when and how the volarans bring our Volaran Exotique and her bondmate back.
But then, we might not
see
it at all. Now the matter is completely out
of our hands. Thealia and Lady Hallard, you might want to remember in the
future that
no
Exotique is ever without options…or friends. Whether here
or on Exotique Terre.” When a thought occurred to her, she spoke to Marian. “Exotique
Circlet, what number of us Exotiques do you think it would take to Summon
another?”

“How
many Exotiques does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” Marian murmured in
English.

Alexa
choked a laugh.

Marian
lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know,” she replied in Lladranan. Then she lifted
her brows. “But I will definitely figure that out.”

Nodding,
Alexa shoved her hands in her pockets. “You might want to draft a Summoning
Song for us.”

“Ayes,
ayes.” Marian was already scribbling on parchment. “Songs for groups of three,
four, five of us. I don’t think just the two of us could do it now, without
more connection.” She glanced up at Alexa, eyes serious. “It’s too bad Calli
didn’t bond with us, too, before she left.”

“Uh-huh,”
Alexa said—an English phrase she’d introduced into Lladranan and was now well
known. “I bet Calli is thinking that, too.”

39

T
hat same idea
had occurred to Calli late that afternoon and she cursed.

“What?”
asked Marrec.

“How
many people are you bloodbonded to?” she asked. They were up on the hillside.
Only shards of the crystal remained, none of them larger than three inches.
Nevertheless, they’d tried reaching out to Lladrana again.

Marrec
rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “Some bloodbonding occurs when you fight on a
battlefield and you and another share a kill, or drip blood on each other.
That’s the least amount of connection. In that way, quite a few. I swore an
oath to Lady Hallard, but did not actually bloodbond with her.”

“Were
you ever an apprentice?”

“Stable
boy,” he said shortly. “Never noble enough or well connected enough to be a
squire. My master is long dead.”

“Oh-kay.”
She shook her head. “I should have bonded with Alexa and Marian. With that
bond…”

Marrec
placed his hand around the nape of her neck. “You gave of yourself to many.”

“To
too many, you thought,” she said gruffly.

“True.
Had I but known…”

“Yeah.”
She kicked some of the crystal off the cliff. “Well, no use hanging around
here, do you think?”

“No.”
He squinted into the distance. “They will either Summon us or not.”

“Let’s
settle everything about the ranch tonight, then.”

He
turned to her, cradled her face in his hands. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.
We’ve talked about…about how much we want from Dad. I called Bert yesterday and
the investments have done well.” A long sigh emptied her breath. She put her
hands on his wrists. “We should have enough to buy a ranch, start a training
program.” Stepping back, she scanned the land she loved. “Not here. Not in
Colorado. Montana. Idaho, maybe.” She managed a smile. “We can look for properties
on the Internet tonight. Wait ’til you see
that.
”

W
aiting got on
Alexa’s nerves—and it showed in her work with the horses and volarans. They
were all pretty much irritated with her by midafternoon. She sat alone in the
indoor arena and watched the mare teach the only filly in the Castle some
flying patterns. Since the filly was learning just like her, and since the
little volaran was supposed to be her destined steed, Alexa figured that she
provided moral support to the youngster. And it was cool in the arena. And
private.

Clip-clip-clip.
Alexa didn’t have to look to know who was coming. Of course, their sister
bloodbond preceded Marian, too, but Alexa recognized her from her footsteps.
Only Marian could make soft slippers sound like professional high heels.

“Ayes?”
she asked when Marian stopped next to her.

“I
think we should fly to Volaran Valley.”

Alexa
felt waves of curiosity and anticipation emanating from Marian. “You think so?”

“You’re
impatient.”

“Tell
me about it.”

“So
am I.”

Standing,
Alexa said, “You think we should get this show on the road?”

“I
think events need a little prodding.”

“Okay.”

“And,”
Marian said, “since we’re the only ones who are concerned, I think just we two
should visit the valley.”

A
laugh bubbled up from Alexa. “No guys allowed.”

Marian
sniffed. “They don’t seem to be taking this seriously.”

“I’ll
meet you in the Landing Field in half an hour.”

Alexa
waited for Marian in the deepest shadows of the Landing Field. Their winged
horses stood quiet, with a lot less tack on them than usual. Since this was
what Calli had considered best for rider and volaran, and since they were going
to the home of the volarans, Alexa deemed it politic to follow Calli’s
instructions.

Marian
arrived without notice, touched Alexa’s arm, and she jumped. “I’m ready,”
Marian said.

“Me,
too. Jaquar?”

Marian’s
smile gleamed. “Sleeping the sleep of the very well satisfied.”

“Great
minds think alike. So’s Bastien.”

“Shall
we go?”

“Let’s
ride.”

Even
using Distance Magic, they didn’t drop through the Volaran Valley security
shield until a half hour before sunset. The place was breathtaking, shades of
green dotted with colorful flowers. The herd of volarans—all ages—looked
incredible.

Their
descent was very slow, made of ever-narrowing circles. Providing the maximum
visibility, Alexa thought, and knew her mount was speaking telepathically to
the others—maybe one, maybe many, but Alexa wasn’t conversant enough in Equine
to catch the stream of thought. She looked over to Marian, who shrugged.

They
lit in the middle of the field. As soon as they dismounted, their steeds
deserted them, and the rest of the herd turned toward them.

They
stood alone.

Alexa
wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought that Marian’s knees trembled just as much
as her own. Well, maybe not. Marian had owned horses, after all. Or her mother
had. Duh. She, herself, was dithering.

But
she didn’t think she’d ever seen such an awe-inspiring sight in her life as a
herd of volarans closing in on her from all sides.

Marian
reached out and fumbled for Alexa’s fingers. “Thanks,” Alexa muttered from the
corner of her mouth. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s nervous.”

“Not
at all,” Marian said, her voice higher than usual.

Alexa
swallowed. “Volarans are littler than regular horses, right?”

“Mostly.
Dark Lance is larger—They’re galloping straight toward us!” She ended on a
squeak.

“I
see that.” Alexa herself had nearly lost her voice as her mouth dried.

“What
should we do? We
can’t
be aggressive!”

“Shut
our eyes?”

Marian
snorted, caught dust, coughed. “Impressive, oh, Exotique Swordmarshall.”

“Yup.
’Zactly what I’m going to do. Shut my eyes. Good decision.” She did, and
immediately noticed Marian’s personal Song spiraling high, wide and
loud.
Alexa clung to Marian’s fingers and kept her other hand from her jade baton.

The
thunder of hooves came closer and closer.

Then
stopped.

Her
eyelids flew open. A volaran was inches from her—face-to-face. She stumbled
back and was shoved to her feet by a long head hard in her back. “Uhn!”

All
around her volarans
laughed,
mentally, rolling their eyes, and making
noises that had bubbles coming from their noses and drool dripping from their
mouths. Disgusting.