Protector of the Flight (56 page)

With
a tight-lipped smile, Dora said, “Of course.”

Calli
and Marrec settled in front of the computer, while Dora turned on the TV.

Calli’s
skills were a little rusty, so she went slow, explaining to Marrec as she went
along in a mixture of English and Lladranan. With a glance at her father and
Dora, who were engrossed in TV, Calli pulled up Web sites on Boulder, where
Marian had lived and had been Summoned to, returned from and went once more to
Lladrana. Marrec stared at the photos, going so far as to touch the screen
showing the university campus and the Flatirons in the background. “I don’t
think…” He frowned, exhaled. “A place of Power, yes, but not for us. It…it…has
few notes in common with the crystal on the hillside.”

“You
remember that melody?” Calli stared at him.

He
rolled a shoulder. “Well enough.”

She
let her breath out. “Oh-kay.”

They
looked at Berthoud Pass. Alexa had been Summoned from that area, but, again,
they didn’t know specifics. Calli frowned, something teased at her memory, but
it faded away. Dammit! If they ever got back, Calli would make sure the women
damn well added directions of where they’d been Summoned from.

Touching
her hand on the mouse, Marrec said, “It’s time we look for land. We can’t stay
here for long.”

She
bit her lip and went to a horse properties Web site. Marrec looked to her dad
and Dora and back, then ran his fingers over the small images on the screen,
shook his head.

Calli
nodded and tried another site. On the sixth Web site, Marrec tapped the
computer. “Here.” His voice was low and strained. “Here is our best chance.”
His lips pressed together tightly, then he gazed at Calli. “It resonates a
little like the crystal, a few notes of my own Song, a little of Diaminta’s.
But much of you…and Jetyer the most of all.”

Her
heart gave a hard thump in her chest. “You think we could form a good ritual
there?”

His
gaze stayed firm, calm. “I think it’s our best chance.”

Sighing,
Calli pulled up the particulars, winced. “A big piece of property, just a
trailer for housing, stables for six horses. It’s costly.”

“Beautiful
mountains.”

“Yes.”
She clicked on various views of the place. The scenery
did
call to her.
It wasn’t here and it wasn’t Lladrana, but…

“Yes.”

T
he rain came in
the night, clouds opening with huge washes of fat, pounding raindrops and
rolling thunder. Alexa sat in the tiny pavilion of the Brithenwood Garden at
the Castle, watching the storm, cradling a cup of hot tea in her hands.

A
huge crack of sound smacked her. Lightning struck two feet from her, then
Marian stood where the blue-white light had seared the ground. Alexa choked on
her tea, coughed.

Marian
strode into the small structure and thumped her on the back.

Alexa
gasped, “Some way to travel. You really will have to teach me how sometime.”

“How
about now?”

A
squeak escaped Alexa as second thoughts rushed into her head. She noticed
Marian’s grim expression, reached for the teapot on the table.

“Actually,
I’d rather have brandy.” Marian lifted a window seat and pulled out a decanter
and snifter and went about pouring herself a stiff drink.

“What’s
wrong?” Alexa’s hand went to her baton.

“The
children are gone.”

“What!”

“Calli’s.
Children. Are. Gone.”

“Ohmygod!”

Marian
slugged down some liquor, shivered. “We were all at Bossgond’s Tower. Bossgond
and Jaquar and I were trying to locate Calli’s ranch through the
cross-dimensional telescope. The children were only a floor below.”

Still
stunned, Alexa blinked rapidly, trying to wring some sense to this story.
“But…but Bossgond has Powerful Shields around his Tower. No one of evil intent
can enter. At least I didn’t think so….”

“Exactly
right.” Marian’s mouth went flat. “There was no sound from the kidnapper. No
outcry by the children. Naturally, as soon as we discovered they were gone we
did a ‘Find’ Song. To no avail. Then we did a ‘Who Was Here Songspell.’” She
pulled up a chair and sat.

“And
you found out?”

“Luthan
took the children.”

Alexa
hopped to her feet. More and more fantastic. “Luthan!”

Marian’s
lip curled. “We couldn’t reach him. He’s at the Singer’s Abbey. Jaquar’s at
home, still trying to contact the Singer.”

“Luthan
took the kids to the Singer’s Abbey?”

“We
think so.”

“Why?”

Shrugging,
Marian said, “Who knows.”

“That
damn sneaky old bitch of a Singer.” Alexa paced. She wanted to hop on the
nearest volaran, take to the stormy skies and fly to the Singer’s Abbey. But
the oracle of Lladrana scared her spitless. “Hell.” She glanced out at the sky
full of wind and sleeting rain and distant shards of lightning. “You really
want me to ride the lightning with you?”

“We’re—Bossgond
and Jaquar and I—aren’t sure what to do. We thought we had a line on Calli’s
ranch. But someone should go to the Abbey tomorrow.”

Alexa
cleared her throat. “I guess that means you want to stay and keep looking while
I
confront the Singer.”

Grimacing,
Marian said, “Ayes. We really are close to finding Calli’s ranch. I think. One
more day…”

“Your
idea of close and mine aren’t the same.” Alexa huffed out a sigh. “I’ll go.”
Then she smiled. “With luck, I can guilt Bastien into going with me, though
he’s as nervous about the woman as I am.”

Marian
joined Alexa in her pacing. “This whole business, Calli’s strange Snap, the
volarans’ reluctance to Summon her and Marrec back—it all indicates great Power
at work—the Song or Amee or the Singer or all three. I don’t like it.”

“I
don’t, either.” Alexa licked her dry lips. “But I’ll go see what I can get out
of the Singer…”

“Merci.”
Marian went back out into the rain, and the droplets didn’t seem to touch her.
A whirlwind of air scooped her up and she disappeared.

She
hadn’t finished her brandy. Alexa poured it into her tea.

C
alli couldn’t
sleep. Her time here at the ranch grew shorter, and that was a concern…going
somewhere new…but she’d had dreams of her children crying and awoke, tears on
her cheeks. Marrec slept on and she was glad. She went downstairs for some
milk. When she opened the door to the kitchen she saw Will sitting at the
table. He looked up at her, stilled.

“Hi,
D—” She’d almost said “Daddy.” “Hi, uh, Will.”

He
didn’t look at her. “Calli.”

No
comfort from him. Never had been. Never. All her night fears and old angers
coalesced. She could do nothing about her children, but she could finally face
her father. “You sold my horse that I loved!” burst from her. That last
rankling betrayal.

Will
glanced away. “I’m sorry for that now. Sorry for a lot of things.”

Calli’s
knees trembled, weakened. She leaned back against the refrigerator. She blinked
until the dizziness went away, then stared at him. She launched herself at him,
hugged him tight. He stood stiff, touched her shoulder.

And
Calli knew. Despite that she’d loved him all her life, that he’d been the only
man in her heart before Marrec, Will’s heart had been scoured of emotion before
Dora. He had a limited capacity to love and only his wife touched him. He felt
affection for Roy, but nothing for Calli.

Nothing
at all.

She
stepped back, swallowed the last lingering hurt that she would inflict upon
herself over this man, forced the pain from her gut into the earth, away from
her, out of her forever. She wanted no bitterness in her life. She kept her
eyes wide so the tears wouldn’t fall, hoped her dad—Will—wouldn’t see them.
“We’ll be out of your way in a couple of days, as soon as we figure out our
plans.”

“Calli,
come back to bed,” Marrec said softly from the shadowed doorway. Calli turned
on her heel and went to him. His arm came around her.

Will
looked at them, held out his hand to Marrec. “Interestin’ meeting you.”

Marrec
shook. “And you. Calli and I are thinking we will go to Montana.”

Relief
passed through Will’s eyes. He nodded. “Plenty of pretty places in Montana.”

With
a return nod, Marrec ended the conversation, and they walked to the door to the
steep stairs up to their room. When it closed, Marrec handed Calli a bandana.
She blew her nose and wiped her eyes.

“I
love you,” he said.

She
flung her arms around him, pressed herself to him. He held her tight, his body
young and strong and vibrant against her. His sex hardened.

Their
loving was hard and fast and quiet…and near violent, from an excess of
feelings. Her hands roamed, aroused him ruthlessly, accepted no mercy from him.
They joined and their bodies slicked and their mouths fused and they rode to
staggering climax together. Pretending they were ready for another great change
in their lives.

C
alli woke to
find Marrec gone and her heart lurched. He hadn’t ever left the room before. Straining
all her senses, she found him riding to the north.
Wait!
She flung
everything into the one Lladranan word. Wait. Please. Whatever had gone wrong
with them, they’d been mending it. Yet now he was leaving—for good, oh, no, she
didn’t think that. Not her practical husband who knew he’d need her to navigate
the outside world, but he was on some errand of his own.

I
wait.

Calli
slipped on her clothes, ran down to the fence around the house acreage and the
cattle grate. There he sat, a dim figure in the dawn. Dressed in cowboy hat and
boots and jeans, he should have looked like a cowboy. He didn’t. Something
about the way he held himself would always be Lladranan. Had she looked that
foreign on Lladrana? She supposed so, but she’d defend him fiercely.

She strode
up to him, he tipped his hat and she almost smiled. “Where are you going?”

A
touch of color came to his golden cheeks. Looking peachlike. She’d never tell
him that.

“I
heard a call. It comes from that ‘spread’ next door.”

“Bert’s
place.”

“Yes,
the Honorable Bert who has the fancy horses. I think it is the horse herd Song
that is Calling me.”

Calli
rubbed her eyes. “You’re dressed in dreeth leather.”

“I
wish to impress him.” His gaze met hers with a darkly puzzled look. He stood
straight. “I think I will want the horses. Now.”

“We
hadn’t planned on buying horses yet. We need the property first. At that place,
we might be able to return to Lladrana, we shouldn’t buy horses yet—”

“The
horses Sing.”

She
scrutinized him. He was the most pragmatic, logical man she’d ever known. “All
right, then. I’ll go back to our room and get the check. We can sign it over to
him if we want the horses, and he’ll deposit any overage to our account. We can
trust him with the money.”

“Because
he is an Honorable.”

Blinking,
she said, “Yes, that’s his title. He’s a judge.” Once again something tugged at
her memory. Something in Alexa’s book?

But
Marrec was speaking. “A judge was in the building where you went to look at the
land records.”

“The
county courthouse. Several, I’m sure.”

“Judge
James.”

Her
brows went up. “You got around.”

He
nodded.

“Okay,
I’ll be right back.”

Smiling,
he shifted and sent his horse back toward the stable. “I’ll ready your horse.”

She
ran back to the house, her own lips curved. So many things to be grateful for.
Marrec. To be able to see this place again. To be free emotionally of her
father. As quietly as possible she hurried up the stairs. Her Pairling had shot
their plans to hell. If they bought horses, it was almost certain they couldn’t
afford the land. Snapping the hidden panel of the cabinet open, she jammed the
check into her pocket. She trusted Marrec’s instincts. Somehow they’d make it
work. Maybe they could rent-to-own the land. Maybe they’d find another place.

She
grabbed the check, decided she wanted to show solidarity with Marrec and
undressed, then yanked on her own Lladranan dreeth leathers.

Her
horse was saddled by the time she came back.

“Thank
you, Calli.”

They
reached Bert’s ranch in about a half hour. The sun had risen, but the day was
cloudy and gray. His arena had been repaired with new fencing freshly painted
and the paddocks showed some electronic fencing. That was the last thing she
noticed about Bert’s ranch.

The
horses were absolutely gorgeous. No high-strung, high-bred Arabians these—what
most folks thought of as “fancy horses,” but a breed that was more compact,
powerful. More baroque.