Sorceress of Faith (15 page)

Nodding
approvingly, Alexa said, “That’s right. They’d depended on the boundary for
centuries, killing the monsters as they straggled over or through weak points.
The Lladranans didn’t find their enemy, learn its flaws, formulate a plan to
defeat it, or destroy the threat once and for all.”

Marian
closed her eyes. “That’s exactly what must be done.”

“Yup,”
Alexa said with an exaggerated Western twang. She stood and brushed off the
seat of her pants, but since the leather looked as if it would deflect an oil
well, no dust or grass had stuck to her. Old habits, Marian mused. No matter
that she’d become integrated into Lladranan society, much of Alexa would always
be pure Earthling.

She
held out a hand to Marian. Marian put hers in it, her fingers far larger than
Alexa’s. With a smooth pull, the smaller woman drew Marian easily to her feet.

“Um,
Marian.” Alexa colored.

“Yes?”

“I
think it would be good for both of us if we—uh—had a closer connection so we
could call each other mentally if need be, for instance.”

“A
blood-bond? Like I have with Bossgond?”

“Yes.”

“About
that bond with Bossgond. Do you think it was the wrong thing to do?”

Alexa
shrugged. When she met Marian’s eyes, hers were serious. “I’ve relied heavily
on my instincts here. I think it might serve you well to do the same. After
all, the Song sought you out, so you have what is needed to mesh with the
Tower, to stay here on Amee.”

She
lifted her hand before Marian could speak. “I know, I know, you need to get
back to your brother, but I have the feeling that the Song—that’s fate, God,
Goddess, whatever—doesn’t make mistakes, and it chose you.” She hesitated. “Be
careful of the Singer—the oracle—though. She’s a sneaky old witch.”

Apparently
having said all she was going to on the matter, Alexa withdrew a wicked-looking
dagger from her boot. She turned over her left wrist and nicked the vein, then
glanced at Marian. “You ready?”

No.
But she held out her arm anyway.

Alexa
was quick and careful. The knife had little bite. Marian watched blood well from
her wrist. Alexa took Marian’s arm and held it against hers.

A
wash of visions flowed from Alexa to Marian—recent ones of battles on Lladrana
that caused Marian to sway in horror, but mercifully they flashed by.

There
was Alexa hearing the same gong and chimes and chant as had Marian. A lovely
blond woman dancing in the sunlight down Denver’s 16th Street Mall. Graduation
from law school. Classrooms. Alexa growing younger in a series of foster homes.
Each picture brought a spurt of emotions—terror…grief…triumph…resignation.

Marian’s
sight dimmed. Her knees collapsed and she was on the ground again. She flung
out her left hand and it hit Alexa’s rib cage.

“Oomph!”
Alexa protested.

“Sorry,”
Marian said weakly.

“No
problemo.” Alexa sounded as dazed as Marian herself. “Didn’t expect this to be
so strong. I saw your brother, Andrew. You love him very much.”

“Yes.”

“Your
mother would never take care of him.”

“No.”

Alexa
sighed. “Can you see yet?”

Marian
blinked. Everything was cloud-thick gray. “No.”

“Neither
can I. Guess since we’re not doing anything, I’ll tell you about the Snap.”

“That
would be good.”

“The
Snap is when Mother Earth calls you back—”

“I’ve
lost my connection with Mother Earth.” To her horror, Marian’s voice rose.

“Well,
I never knew I had a connection until I got here,” Alexa said. “I thought I’d
lost it, too, but it
did
pull me back. I’m sure somewhere you still have
a link to our home planet.”

“Go
on.”

“It’s
hard to describe—a pull. More, it’s a choice—stay or go. Like I said earlier, I
was given visions of what my life might be if I went back, but I never actually
left Lladrana. I could have, if I wished—just wished to be back, I guess. But
by that time I’d made a life here. I had too much emotional commitment to
Bastien and the Marshalls and Lladrana to leave Amee.”

Before
Marian could ask questions, a man’s honey-smooth voice purred, “Well, well,
well. Look what I’ve found, beauties basking in the sun. I wonder what I’ll do
with them.”

Terror
froze Marian. She was blind, helpless.

“Bastien,
that’s not funny. You’re scaring Marian,” Alexa said.

There
was an instant of silence.

“My
apologies, Marian,” said the man. He was closer now—on the other side of Alexa.

“Salutations,
Pairling.” His voice crooned now, full of tenderness and love.

Marian
still couldn’t see the outer world, but a beautiful glow came from her left
side. Her tense muscles relaxed. Then she chided herself. Knowing Alexa as she
did now, if there’d been danger, the woman—blind or not—would have been up and
swinging.

“I’m
having trouble seeing or moving, Bastien.” Alexa sounded very drunk—her bad
Lladranan accent—and pissed.

“Always
impatient.”

Alexa
snorted. “As if you aren’t.”

“Hey,
another person is here who needs help,” Marian said.

“Ladies,
join hands and I’ll aid you in clearing out your systems of the aftereffects of
an ill-prepared blood-bond. Pairling—” his voice lowered dangerously “—I don’t
suppose you researched the blood-bond before you did it with Marian?”

Another
silence. Then Alexa said, “Uh, no. It came to me that it would be good to have
a blood sister. I
like
Marian. I thought it would be best for
everyone—for Lladrana, even—if we blood-bonded.” She spoke faster and faster,
slurring her words, as if trying to convince them all of the impeccable logic
of her impulsive act.

“Somehow
I think Marian would have researched the blood-bond before initiating it,”
Bastien said, humor in his voice.

Marian
groped for Alexa’s small hand, found it, squeezed.

“We’re
in this together,” Alexa said with dignity, and Marian wondered which “we” she
meant.

Marian
had no intention of staying in Lladrana, despite Alexa’s yearning for a
sister-friend. Then she felt a pulse of clear, bright silver—Bastien’s energy
to Alexa, thundering through the smaller woman, then rolling into Marian. A
flash enveloped her. When it faded, she could see deep blue sky with fat white
clouds.

She
turned her head to check on Alexa, but her gaze went straight to the man. Alexa
had called Jaquar a prime man, but this one exuded charm and virility from every
pore. His hair was striped black and white and the murmuring sound coming from
him was like nothing Marian had heard in this world. Bossgond had said
something about his being a “black-and-white,” and…

“Unfortunate?”
she whispered, incredulous.

Alexa
grinned. “Yeah. He really looks unfortunate, doesn’t he?”

“He
looks like a bad boy to end all bad boys.” He was a rogue to the bone—with or
without a spaceship.

He
winked at her. “Actually,” he said, grinning at her with too much devilment,
“I’m better with volarans.”

Bastien
had read her thoughts, and she picked up images of winged horses from him.
She’d been contemplating sitting up, but remained still. All the new input was
beyond her.

Alexa
jumped up and into the man’s arms. From there she looked back at Marian. “Your
initial questions answered?” she asked Marian in Lladranan.

Marian’s
mind was unfortunately blank. She should have a thousand more questions, but
none surfaced. “I suppose.”

“Anything
else you need right now?”

Only
one thing came to the forefront of her mind. “We need a cook. Someone who’ll
get along with the grumpy old man, doesn’t like to socialize and would love to
live on an island.”

Alexa
nodded. “That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll find someone for you. I have
connections in Castleton.”

Bastien
squeezed her and whirled her around in a circle. She shrieked.

“If
you think you’re going to Citymaster Masif alone, you’re wrong,” Bastien said.
His voice was steady despite his exertion. The man was buff.

Marian
managed to rise somewhat gracefully, curtsied to the both of them, then left
Alexa and Bastien to their pastoral idyll, feeling a little melancholy. The
woman had certainly landed on her feet—though there was that comment about
falling in battle. Perhaps she wasn’t much to be envied after all.

Angling
off toward the ocean so as not to intrude, Marian considered what she’d
learned. At least she could still go back, with the Snap. She hoped fervently
that she could return to Earth before Andrew got worried. She could check on
him through the binoculars, and if she had the Power that everyone thought,
that she
felt
, she’d discover the knowledge to help him
and
force
her return before he was finished with his retreat.

She
was listening to the ocean, absently watching spray as the tide pummeled fierce
rocks, when she stumbled into it. A tide of full orchestral sound flowed over
her, heavy on the strings. She stopped. She stood in a large glade, green with
grass. The sky seemed bluer, the clouds whiter, the view of the ocean perfect.
She turned in place. The panorama was exquisite.

Her
heart thudded with recognition.
This was her place
.

She
acknowledged the thought, then added a caveat. This
could
be her place,
the location where she’d build her Tower,
if
she stayed in Lladrana. But
she wouldn’t.

Though
the world tempted her. During her time with Alexa, Marian had sensed that the
Swordmarshall had a great need to be useful, contribute meaningfully to
society. The idea echoed in Marian.

And
there was the fabulous magic. If she stayed, she could become a Circlet at
controlling the weather. Was that cool, or what?

But
not at the cost of losing Andrew. She could never live with herself if she
turned her back on him, chose this place instead of him. An inner, awful trembling
came at the thought.

So
she determinedly left the glade and went on.

As
she drew up to the front of Bossgond’s Tower, she saw a large frog sitting on a
paving stone in front of the door. Maybe it was a toad—she didn’t recall enough
biology to distinguish them. It was green and about a foot long. Big, dark eyes
watched her.

“Well,
look at you.” She smiled. She liked frogs.

“Ribbitt.”

“You
do
know that you’re blocking my way to the Tower?” she said, feeling a
little like she was in a fairy tale.

“Ribbitt.”

Laughing,
Marian said, “I hope you don’t expect me to kiss you.” There was something
intrinsically beautiful about the frog.

No
, it said in her
mind.

“Excuse
me?” She didn’t believe she’d heard it.

You
do not have to kiss me. I wanted to see and speak with the new Exotique. I am a
feycoocu
.

Marian
stared, mind scrambling, though she recalled Bossgond and Alexa talking about
the magical being.

I
am Alexa’s companion
.

That
reassured Marian a little, so she let her shoulders relax, closed her eyes and
sighed. So many new things! Something to learn every minute.

When
she opened her eyelids, a fairy the size of the frog perched on the door
lintel. Marian stared. “You’re not a frog.”

No,
and I am not really a fairy. I took that image from Alexa’s mind and yours. You
have a different idea of fairies, though
. She glanced at her gossamer wings, the
long black hair that floated around her and her sparkling light-blue dress. She
smiled in satisfaction.
Good, I am not all pink. Being pink was a pain
.

She
sounded like Alexa. Marian grinned.

You
are very Powerful
.

The
fairy’s changing eyes mesmerized Marian. She fell into the gaze and was caught
in a cloud, between dimensions, then abruptly landed with a jolt. She shook her
head and blinked.

You
will do
.
The feycoocu’s voice appropriately sounded like windchimes. She launched
herself from the door and pirouetted in the air.
You will do very well. But
it would be good if you had a companion
.

Marian
swallowed. She wasn’t sure that she could deal with a magical sidekick. “You?”

No,
I love Alexa and will stay with her
. The fairy’s smile bloomed, dazzling
Marian.
But you have just taken care of that matter yourself
.

“What?”

Instead
of answering, the feycoocu gestured and a small golden sphere appeared to hover
between them.
Take this and feed it to him
.