Protector of the Flight (8 page)

Calli
blinked as she unraveled that sentence. She wished Marian had spoon-fed it to
her in little bites.

But
maybe she was just in an elaborate dream. Maybe a coma. Damn! Not more medical
bills.

Jaquar’s
penetrating stare pulled her from her thoughts. “But the Chevaliers fly to
battle. They are our—” he frowned as if searching for a word “—knights. They
would expect you to fly, train and fight with them.”

Marian
put an arm around her and squeezed, a small smile on her lips as they met each
other’s gaze. “I know it’s difficult to believe you’re on another world, let
alone understand what’s going on in a few short hours.”

Rubbing
her temples, Calli didn’t answer—but something else was telling her she might
not be in a dream. “Is there a toilet around here?”

The
Circlets smiled. Marian said, “We don’t know the Castle well, there’s one in
Alexa’s guest suite and in the Circlets’ Apartments, both in the Keep.” She
cleared her throat. “You’ll be staying there tonight. The medica recommended
you be close, and both Alexa and I would like to talk to you.”

Indoctrinate
her. “I’m not staying.” If she was really here. Still, her bladder was full…but
she’d had dreams about that, too.

“It
took all the Marshalls and the Chevaliers to bring you here. How do you think
you’ll get back?” asked Jaquar.

Calli
could feel her expression set into pure stubbornness. She didn’t care.

What
could these dream people do to hurt her? She shifted. She didn’t want to know,
but confidence and fearlessness were as important in relation to people as they
were to horses. “I don’t know, but I’ll think of something.” A thought struck
and her smile widened. Horses didn’t lie in any of their body language and she
believed volarans couldn’t either. “And I can double-check anything you tell me
with the volarans, can’t I?”

Jaquar’s
eyes twinkled. “That you can.”

“I
promise you I won’t ever lie to you,” Marian said. Her aura throbbed with what
Calli sensed was pure truth.

“Okay,”
Calli said.

“On
my word of honor,” Marian said.

Calli
nodded. “Right.” She turned to the door.

“One
moment,” Jaquar said. An extra lilt in his voice caught Calli’s attention. He
sure was learning English quickly. She glanced at him.

“Behold,”
he said.

Marian
coughed.

He
waved and huge chunks of the map went golden yellow. “These are the unoccupied
and unclaimed estates of Lladrana. Many are very prosperous. You will be
allowed your choice.”

Breath
caught in her chest, Calli stared. Land of her own. Everything in the mountains
of the north seemed empty, but so did a bunch of other places in the real
“green” part of the land.
Big
pieces of land.

Walking
to the map, Marian pointed. “This is where Alexa and Bastien live. Her estate
was vacant. She’s very wealthy now. As am I.”

“Money’s
not everything,” Calli muttered.

“Alexa
wanted a real home. She has that, and a man she loves. I have a husband and a
tower I built myself with magic. I have great magical ability—Power. I’m free
to research whatever I want, whenever I want and I’ll be founding a school in
the future.

“What
do
you
want? I’m sure whatever it is, we can accommodate you,” Marian
asked.

They
couldn’t give her children. No one could do that. Calli wanted to whirl on her
heel and walk away, but her gaze was still stuck to the map. She wanted a
spread of her own…and look at all that land! Part of her dream could come true.
But land was the least of what she truly wanted. She wanted family. And her
family, what there was of it, was back on Earth and had rejected her.

Now
the watery gob in her throat was more from sadness than surprise and dazzled
greed. “I gotta pee,” she said. She headed out the door and across the
courtyard to the keep building. The Circlets paced her.

“What’s
your vocation?” Marian asked and Calli knew she meant it in the widest sense of
the word, what job really drew her.

With
a lift of her chin, she replied, “I’m a horse trainer.” She’d meant to be. When
she returned to Colorado, she would find a way to make that dream come true.

Marian
smiled. “I bet you’re more of a ‘horse whisperer.’ But you can do that here.
And I’m sure volarans need to be trained, too.” Marian waved a hand. “Or people
and volarans need to learn how to partner each other better.” She glanced back
at the Map Room. “To better vanquish the Dark. The Marshalls and Chevaliers and
Circlets are working on that.” Marian looked at Jaquar. He lifted and dropped a
shoulder. Calli smiled. Obviously academics. Didn’t look at all like nerds or
geeks or whatever, but they sure were more interested in more brainy things
than physical.

“The
volarans talk to some others, too, most primarily Bastien. He’ll know what
Chevalier-Volaran needs are,” Marian said.

A
few minutes later, Calli was checking out the large round guest suite in
Alexa’s tower. There was a toilet, one of the old kind with the tank on the
top, and a shower. She yearned for the shower but wasn’t about to take her
clothes off. The way this day was going, anything could happen and she wasn’t
about to be naked and vulnerable if it did.

When
she returned to the main room, the Circlets smiled at her with identical gleams
in their eyes and Calli didn’t like it. Especially when she saw Jaquar shaking
a dark purple bottle about two inches high. “What’s that?”

“The
language potion,” they said in unison.

“Nope.”

Jaquar
sent her a winning smile. “You see how it worked for me.”

“Like
a charm,” Marian said.

“Nope.”
Calli wanted to slip her hands in her pockets but thought she should keep her
hands free.

“You
could try just one drop,” Marian said. “That would be temporary.”

Again
shaking the bottle, Jaquar said, “There’s about three months’ worth of potion
in here. The magical properties fade with time, so you learn the language
gradually. After three months, you should know Lladranan.”

“So
you know English now, but if you don’t use the language every day, it will fade
away?” asked Calli, intrigued.

Jaquar
frowned as if he didn’t like the idea of losing a skill. “True.”

“Pillow
talk,” Marian said. “And if you marry a Lladranan and bond with him mind to
mind, you also learn the language, the more, ah, intimate you are.”

“Many
pathways are opened during sex.” Jaquar grinned again.

That
sounded even more frightening. “Absolutely not.” Calli smiled herself. “I’m not
convinced this isn’t a dream.” She looked around at the color of the
furnishings. “Though there’s more purple than usual in my dreams.”

“That’s
the heraldic color assigned to Exotiques, especially Marshalls. Alexa’s suite
was mostly purple, she’s switched out a lot of furniture from there to here.”

“Purple
is
not
my color,” Calli said.

At
that moment a triangle rang. Calli sensed an inrush of bright and healthy
volaran minds.

“The
Marshalls and Chevaliers have returned!” Marian said. Jaquar stood and pocketed
the bottle.

Calli
ran to the window where she’d caught sight of beating wings. The whole army
swooped down to the landing field out of her sight.

I
am here, too,
Thunder called.

Calli
exited the opulent rooms without a backward look, running down the tower stairs
to the outside door. She flung it open only to face the tall hedges of a maze.

6

A
young woman in
her mid-twenties, dressed in buff-colored Chevalier leathers, but obviously not
a fighter, hovered between the hedges. Shifting from foot to foot, she smiled
and bowed to Calli, then pressing her fingers to her chest, she said, “Seeva
Hallard.”

Calli
nodded, probably a relation to Lady Hallard, daughter maybe. “Hey, Seeva.”

Seeva
swept a hand toward the interior of the maze and said something in the
French-like language. Once again the strangeness of this place struck Calli,
but when the woman took off through the maze, Calli followed. It took longer to
wend their way through than Calli anticipated. Impatience to see a
lot
of volarans again nibbled at her. She let her mind
reach
and knew all
the winged horses were fine. Thank God.

Finally
she and Seeva made it to the field, and all the volarans, even those being led
away by grooms, stopped and turned to Calli.

Thunder
pranced up to her. His hide rippled.
Grooming time.
The strong scent of
amber rose from him. Volaran sweat, Calli guessed.

I’m
sure,
she replied to him.

I
would like a rubdown.

He
was demanding, but Calli felt indulgent. “I can do that,” Calli said, sending
images of standard grooming. He whickered.

Three
people separated themselves from the rest and walked toward her—Alexa, Bastien
and the older Chevalier who Calli had heard was the “representative to the
Marshalls.” She wore yellow and gray. Her tunic, which Calli recalled as being
pristine, was stained and torn. Yeah, she’d been fighting.

Against
monsters that Calli hadn’t seen. Yet.

The
woman shot orders to Seeva, who ran across the landing field. Calli recalled
the older woman’s name was Hallard.
Lady
Hallard. If Calli remained in
this dream, would she get a title, too?

“Exotique,”
Lady Hallard said with a little bow.

Oh,
she already had a sort of title. Exotique Calli. Exotique Alexa. Exotique
Marian—Calli had heard all three of them called that. Women from Earth.

Lady
Hallard sent a stream of rapid-fire words to Alexa, who winced and kept
nodding, a pained smile on her face. Then Alexa bowed to Lady Hallard, answered
in a mild voice and talked a while.

After
she ended, Lady Hallard nodded, bowed again to Calli and strode away, leaving
her volaran to grooms. Calli saw several people who wore her colors on an
armband bow to her. The older woman waved casually to them.

Bastien
shook his head. Alexa sighed. “She said that she was told Thunder gave you a
good report and she wants you to be integrated into the Chevaliers’ ranks as
soon as possible. And you shouldn’t be up at the Marshalls’ keep.” Now Alexa’s
smile-grimace was aimed at Calli, who wanted to pay more attention to all the
volarans inching closer to ring them. The flying horses still seemed as
fascinated with her as she was with them.

“I
insisted that you stay in my tower tonight,” Alexa said.

“All
right. I need to groom Thunder,” Calli said.

“Fine.”
Alexa rubbed her gauntleted hands together. “Calli, do you want Marian and me
to lay all this out at once or drop it on you in little bits?”

Calli
sent Alexa a crooked smile as she stroked the exquisite softness of Thunder’s
near wing. “I think this is all a dream and I’ll wake up in my own bed tomorrow
morning.”

“Not
going to happen,” Alexa said.

Bastien
spoke and Alexa nodded again, this time with enthusiasm. “The more you bond
with the volarans, the more you are physically aware of this world—like by
grooming Thunder—the more you’ll believe you’re here. So Bastien’ll take you to
the stables and teach you. Later we’ll eat in my tower with Marian and Jaquar.”

“Jaquar
speaks English.”

“What?”

“They
made a potion—”

“Of
course they did,” Alexa said.

“—and
he tried it out. So he can speak English.”

Alexa
looked up at Calli. “Wonder how that works.”

“Me,
too.”

Bastien
gently jostled Alexa aside and offered his arm to Calli. She didn’t need it
this time. She made a lead-the-way gesture.

He
grabbed Alexa and kissed her hard, patted her butt and sent her off toward the
maze. Apparently she didn’t groom volarans. But then, she didn’t ride them by
herself, either. Interesting.

Bastien
sent a loud mental message that showed the stables. Once again the volarans
began to move to the large building at the opposite end of the Landing Field.
Calli blinked. Was that really the stables? It was huge. Big enough to house
every volaran here, for sure.

They
walked through a corridor of volarans, with people standing behind the winged
horses, staring. The folks wore a mixture of expressions. Everything from
irritation and resentment to…awe? She didn’t want to be awe inspiring.

As
Calli passed, she felt soft muzzles sliding against her, sniffing. Once again
overwhelming approval came as she sensed the volarans’ feelings. She smelled
wonderful.
Different. She’d flown with Thunder and smelled of him, too, and the mixture
was lovely. She smelled sweet.