Strange Attractors (50 page)

Drayco sneezed.
If you say so…Maudi, they are asking about the baby. They want to know where it is. They don’t understand what happened.

I know. Thank you, Drayco.
She pressed her head into her familiar’s neck and closed her eyes. When she turned to Shane and Clay, tears streamed down her cheeks. ‘He died.’ She shook her head. ‘My baby died.’

Shane placed his hand on her knee and studied a pebble he’d picked up from the ground. Eventually he kissed her forehead and skimmed the stone towards the entrance. ‘Where to, Rosette?’ he asked, finally looking at her face.

She couldn’t hear the words but his gestures were obvious. His expression made it look like any destination was going to be wrong. She rubbed her eyes, wiping her nose. ‘We need to get a bird’s-eye view of what’s happening.’

Clay answered but she couldn’t read his lips. He stood to the side, leaning against his horse’s shoulder, pensive.

Dray?

He says it sounds like a good trick, getting a bird’s-eye view. He’s very sorry for your loss.

‘Thanks, Clay.’ She looked towards the sky. ‘I couldn’t do it when we were friends but I’ve got it down now.’

‘You can shape-shift? Fly?’ He made the motion with his hands.

‘I can.’ She passed her fingers over the plasma field, the purple zaps of energy tingling her palm.
To the North Seas portal, my lovely Entity.

Maudi, didn’t Nell say to head straight back to Temple Los Loma?

Really? I didn’t catch that.
She could smell the ocean before the thought was out and she knew the Entity had already chosen. It was a bit of a concern, one she would have to ponder later. For now, they were where she wanted to be, out of the way enough to avoid conflict yet close enough for her to get a good look at what was going on. With the spell safe in its amulet around her neck, she led them out into the afternoon light, her cloak streaming behind her as the wind greeted them.

They were well south of Romanon Bay, near the Goregan outlet, hundreds of feet above the pounding surf. Drayco scented the air, his mouth partly opened. Shane and Clay led their horses into the tree cover, the cypresses sculpted by the wind.

I’m going up, Dray. Checking it out. You keep an eye on the boys?

Drayco winked at her and sauntered into the woods, his tail in the air.

‘I won’t be long,’ she said aloud and waved. ‘Mind your eyes.’

Leaning into the headwind, she leapt, morphing into the form of a falcon. She flapped hard to gain altitude then found a thermal and rode it high to the clouds. The air streamed past her face, her wing feathers rippling, the whiffling sound punctuated by her high-pitched call. When she came upon the foothills of the northern Prietas, she hovered, watching the scene below.

An’ Lawrence rode in the lead, heading east, Scylla with him. He led one hundred horsed warriors, and a few Lupins. She thought one must be Teg but she didn’t try to speak to him. She wanted to check the
lie of the land first. With her telescopic vision, her eyes trained on a group of riders a distance away. An’ Lawrence was heading straight for them.

Some scouting party you have, Sword Master!

She was about to warn him when the group disappeared. It had to be a glamour, and quite a good one. An’ Lawrence and all his warriors went past without a glance in their direction. Even Teg. She saw them safely away and shot west, searching for Hotha’s clan. Not far in her flight she found him, joining up with Rashnan’s Lupins. The gates of Los Loma Gaela must have opened wide. She’d no idea there were so many Lupins. They were headed in the same direction as An’ Lawrence.

Who’s minding Dumarka?

She shot east again, unable to spot the group of Corsanons she’d seen before the glamour went up. Tracking further still she found An’ Lawrence, only to come upon legions of Corsanons less than a league ahead of him.

She screamed into his mind.
Get out of there! The Corsanons are headed right for you!

Teg was doubling back. An’ Lawrence got the message from both of them it seemed. He had his troops hidden to the south in moments, Teg heading east. She followed An’ Lawrence.

They tricked you with a glamour. Watch out, Sword Master. I can’t tell where they are.

Far below, An’ Lawrence tilted his head skyward.
Rosette? What are you doing here?

Keeping you from falling into a ditch. What are you doing? Dumarka is the other way!

Kreshkali’s seeing to Dumarka. We are circling around the Corsanons, rounding them up like a herd of grunnies.

Great idea, but you’ve let the bulls out of the pen! And, by the way, you’re ridiculously outnumbered.

Lucky for them. It’ll make things more even.

He galloped on through the sparse trees. She caught a glimpse of him, the black mare’s neck crested, her mane flowing over his hands, the hilt of his sword glinting in the sunlight.
It’s a distraction, Rosette, so Kreshkali can get the spell.

Already done and well done, Sword Master. I’ve got it.

You? Where’s Makee?

I don’t know, but there’s a legion of Corsanon warriors riding hard to Temple Dumarka, and I can’t spot a one of them.

There’s not much I can do about that until we subdue this lot.

Bangeesh and Timbali are marching north, according to Clay and Shane, but they have to get through the pass before they can join you.
She kept flying east over the foothills.
No sign of them yet.

We’ll play cat and mouse until they arrive.

Just make sure you’re the cat!

And where are you going?
he asked.

She stalled in the air, letting a thermal spin her around.
To find Kreshkali.
She made like an arrow back to the North Seas.

N
ell landed on a rocky outcropping, folding her wings to her back. She spotted the Three Sisters working hard to catch up.
Stay high, my lovelies. Keep out of the trees.

The Three Sisters cawed in unison, circling overhead. Nell waited until she spotted the Lemur raven before she morphed. Makee flew to the top of a nearby oak, hopping down the branches until she landed on the ground, the green clover covering her black claws and tail feathers like a shallow sea. She morphed, the shock wave making Nell’s hair dance about her face.

‘Who was watching us back there?’ Nell asked.

‘So you don’t think it was an excuse to lure you away?’ Makee flicked a down feather out of her hair.

‘Of course not. I felt it too. Bangeesh scouts? They’re marching on Corsanon, you know, thanks to your antics.’

‘As well they should. Corsanon is out of control. You’ve seen what they’ve done.’

‘We’d put a stop to it. Turned it around. The Entity was healed, Earth coming good. Why are you meddling? And don’t think that I’m ignorant to what you’re doing on Earth. Every mountain on the planet is about to blow. It’ll be the end.’

La Makee chuckled. ‘Exactly. The end of ASSIST. The end of the witch-trackers.’

Nell’s face blanched. ‘Witch-trackers?’

‘You didn’t know, did you! You’re so busy getting in my way that you missed it. ASSIST is up and running. They aren’t just tracking your Temple Los Loma clan, or the coven at Half Moon Bay. They’ve come through the portal again. They’re searching for Jarrod and the spell. If they haven’t got Rosette already, they will soon, and you too. You’re tagged.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘They’ve got you scoped, Nellion, and I’ve been re-arranging events to make sure they never find any of you ever again.’ She drew in her breath, pointing her finger at Nell’s chest. ‘I’m closing the door on Earth. ASSIST will be finished. Buried under molten lava, the portal shut forever.’

Nell took a step closer, leaning in. Her voice was a whisper. ‘You would destroy Earth?’

‘Aye. A sacrifice, I admit, but worth it.’ She laughed. ‘Think of it this way. Most of your clan are out now, so how much could really be lost?’

‘How much?’ Nell straightened to her full height. The faces of those she knew passed before her—Annadusa, Grayson, Maluka, Zero, the new apprentices, their hopeful eyes waiting for a word, the Lupins, the wildlife, the familiars, the mountains, the seas that were beginning to recover, the hundreds and thousands of saplings ready to plant, streams and waterfalls running
clear and clean, the beings of the entire world—plant, animal, sky and stone—all re-creating their lives in new and beautiful ways. ‘How much could be lost?’ she said again, her voice gaining volume. ‘Makee, you ignorant, interfering, short-sighted fool of a witch. You have no idea how much!’

‘I’m setting things straight. A few will be die but what is death…’

Nellion Paree bellowed out a string of words, a guttural chant, her hand slicing through the air. ‘
Consisto statim! Consisto…consisto!
’ A wake of energy followed and everything froze. The trees were caught in mid-sway, pebbles stopped in their path as they trickled down the cliff face. Sparrows flitting in the sky were now painted there, dabs of brown on a blue background. Ants halted in their march, leaves hovered midair. All sound vanished.

‘Enough,’ Nell said. ‘That will be enough.’

Makee’s mouth was open, her eyes straining. She could hear every word, Nell knew, but could not move a muscle. Nell had a mind to leave her like that forever. She leaned towards her, her face a hand’s width from the invisible barrier. ‘I’m going to say this once, La Makee, so listen close. If you thought that Earth was some foreign place, some other land disconnected from Gaela, I want you to think again. The many-worlds, the portals that link them, the branching paths that come into existence with every single choice ever made, they are pearls on a string. Mirrors of mirrors of mirrors.’ She braced her hands on her knees, dropping her eyes level with Makee’s. ‘You crack one of those mirrors, you get much more than seven years’ bad luck.’

Nell fluttered her fingers in the air, producing a black pearl necklace. She pinched one of the beads until it was crushed to powder. The string broke and
the pearls fell in slow motion, bouncing off the rocks and disappearing into the grass. ‘You cut the string, Makee, and it’s done. Lost. Every single pearl will fall. They’ll roll across the floor and under the bed. Darkness, Makee. Isolation. Disconnection. Do you know how to string them up again? Can you mend the mirror? Bring them all back together?’

Nell stepped away, dropping to one knee. She took a last look at Makee; the other witch’s face was still frozen, eyes wide, staring. The only movement was a single tear falling down her cheek. ‘I didn’t think so.’ Nell sprang into the air, morphing into falcon form, making straight for the portal in the foothills of the Prieta Mountains. As she sped away, Makee’s voice sounded in her head.

You can’t leave me like this! The trackers…

A fitting end, don’t you think?

Nell, listen. I didn’t know. I can help.

You’ve helped quite enough, thank you.

But you don’t understand. The girl, Shaea, she’s your blood.

Nell wavered.

She can carry the spell, Nellion. She has the DNA.

How?

Let me free. I can make it right. There’s still time, but you can’t let Rosette use the spell. She’s marked. The trackers will spot her the moment she does.

Nell screamed a high-pitched whistle.
Lies, Makee. I’ll not trust you again.
She had the portal in sight and barely slowed as she flew in, her wingtips touching the plasma Entity before she stalled to a halt. The Three Sisters swooped in after her.
Temple Los Loma! Entity, please hurry!

Shaea rode the golden warhorse at the trot, leading the mare. She figured it was the one chance she had to see the world from such a perspective, and she took it. The stallion was tall, his gait smooth, effortless, like floating downstream. She sat the animal as if she were a queen, her back straight, hands soft, face lifted to the sky. She was following the line of flight Makee had taken. It had been a day and there was no sign of her.

‘That bitch,’ Shaea said, cursing the air. ‘She leads me to the realm of Corsanon and dumps me. It was her plan the whole time. I see it now.’

Shaea wrinkled her nose. It might have been her plan all along, but why would she leave the horses? None of this made any sense. She urged the stallion into a canter, the syncopation tapping out a beat as his hooves hit the ground, one-two-three, one-two-three. She rocked with the motion, the strain in her legs easing. She was saddle sore, for sure, but the palomino was ever so much easier to ride, quite a contrast to the jarring beat of the mare. Her head was off with the muses when she heard the Entity call.

Shaea! Why haven’t you answered me!
The voice was like sharpening knives.

Entity?

Who else, you feckless girl!

I didn’t hear you, Entity. I’m sorry. I’ve been busy with…

Never mind what you’ve been doing. I’ve a task for you.

Another? Because, really, the last one with Rall wasn’t good. She’s gone and…

This is more important.

It is?

The Entity didn’t answer for some time. Shaea wondered if it was talking to someone else.

I want you to head west, back the way you came.

I’m on the road now.

Which horse are you riding? Amarillo?