Strange Attractors (9 page)

He reached for her outstretched hand and struggled to his feet, his face contorting. ‘You lost them? You lost my flutes, my clothes…my sword.’

She let go of his hand and he fell back to the ground. ‘Don’t be stupid. They aren’t lost. They’re down there, in the depths of that rushing river, or perhaps at the bottom of the cave stream. You go right ahead and look for them, if you want to so badly. Dive down into that black hole and bring them up. Get my pack while you’re at it, and my sword, will you? I’ll be waiting over there, in the sun.’ She strode away. ‘Just don’t expect me to retrieve you ever again.’

His shoulders sagged. He could barely stand, let alone dive for sunken treasures. He followed her into the heat of the day, careful not to tread on the bees. The sun warmed him immediately though his knees were still wobbly. He collapsed in the thick grass, shading his eyes. ‘You don’t have any clothes either?’ He looked her up and down, keeping his expression neutral.

‘Let’s review, shall we?’ She made a show of looking around. ‘No. They must be at the bottom of the river too, where I had to choose between holding onto my pack and saving your life.’

He closed his eyes. ‘Sorry. I don’t remember what happened.’

‘Well I do. You didn’t come back. I stood at the edge of the cave pool and waited, counting my own breaths. When I knew it had been too long, by double, I dived in. You were right. It was a short swim to the other side but you had sunk to the bottom. I dragged you up, letting go of my pack to get you ashore.’

He covered his face with his hands. ‘It’s not how I planned it.’

‘Not my first choice either.’ She sat beside him. ‘You weren’t breathing and your skin was grey. I pounded on your chest and you revived. But to answer your question—you’re right. We have no clothes, no food, no weapons and no flutes. If we don’t get help soon, we’ll be as good as drowned.’

He groaned and sat up. ‘Do you see the mountain anywhere?’

‘Mount Pelt?’ She shook her head. ‘Nothing like it. I don’t think we’re on Tensar. Not any Tensar I ever scouted.’ She waved towards the horizon. ‘Does this look like Gaela to you, or Earth? Somewhere you and Rosette have been?’

Shane didn’t answer right away. So far it didn’t but he scanned the horizon, hoping something familiar would appear. ‘I don’t recognise it.’

She blew out her breath. ‘We need to find habitation before dark. The sun is already getting lower.’

‘If we do find anyone, how will we explain this?’ he asked, looking down at his naked body.

‘You’re the bard,’ she snapped. ‘Make something up. Come on. There isn’t much time left.’ She squinted towards the sun. ‘That way is east.’

He struggled to his feet, rubbing his hands together. ‘Or west.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Gaela’s sun sets in the west.’

‘Impossible!’

‘Rosette explained it but I didn’t quite follow. Parallel something or other.’

‘I suppose Rosette knows everything?’

He brightened. ‘When it comes to the sun and moon and stars, she’s…’

‘Never mind.’ She stopped him with a look. ‘If this isn’t Tensar, then where could we be?’

He shuddered. His toes burned with the returning circulation. ‘I have no idea.’

‘Then we’re lost, Shane MacVenton.’ She laughed and it made him shiver. ‘Come on. Let’s find a road out of here.’

R
osette swung the cast-iron pot away from the flames and built up the fire with fresh logs. The pot bubbled and she stirred the contents—red tomato soup with a rich blend of forest herbs, winter vegetables and pinto beans. ‘I’m famished.’ She blew on the spoon, testing it.

I don’t smell any rabbit.
Drayco stared at her.
Or buck, for that matter.
To the temple cat’s dismay, Rosette had taken an aversion to meat, leaving him to eat his quarry raw. He didn’t mind but he missed the aromas that used to fill the cottage at dinner time.

‘That’s because I haven’t cooked any.’ She tapped the wooden spoon on the side of the pot and replaced the lid.

Your litter has become mildly inconvenient, Maudi.

‘
She
, Drayco. I’m having one, a singleton, a little girl, and
she
has particular tastes.’ Rosette stroked her familiar’s back. ‘How about we go hunting in the
woods tomorrow? Just think—whatever we bag will be all yours.’

Drayco became preoccupied with grooming his forelegs.
I won’t say no.

‘Didn’t think you would.’ She rinsed their wooden bowls in the sink and set them on the rack to dry. ‘I need more snow root cream,’ she said, getting up on her tiptoes to search a top shelf. ‘Ah!’ She winced as she slid the last jar forward. She rubbed the herbal concoction into her cracked ribs and bruised shoulder.

You’ll find more on our hunt, no doubt.

‘It is the perfect time of year.’ She closed her eyes as the salve took effect, warmth spreading deep into her bones.

A rasping sound came from the rafters. Mozzie’s head dropped down, gliding towards her as he uncoiled, his body draping in loops the size of wagon wheels.

‘I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything?’ she asked the carpet snake.

If he replied, she didn’t understand it. The serpent’s language was a mystery, one only Nellion had solved. He scented the air around her face, though, his red tongue flickering. His thick coils wrapped around the beams, moving in slow motion as he wound his way towards the back of the cottage. She noticed a large lump in the middle of his body, the shiny green and yellow scales expanding to accommodate the meal.

‘I get it. You’re saying goodnight, aren’t you? Off to have a long, digestive sleep?’

Obviously, Maudi.
Drayco answered for the snake without opening his eyes.
Are you going to bed any time soon?

She sighed, pulling another textbook down from the shelves and returning to the table. ‘It’s a good idea,
but I’m not quitting until I make sense of this.’ Rosette was working on a horary chart, a horoscope drawn for the moment in time she asked a question regarding the whereabouts of the others. So far the chart described her question perfectly—
What happened to everyone when I entered the portal?

She’d been settled in Dumarka for weeks and still there was no sign of Teg, or anyone else. She had to know why, or—if they were in danger—if they needed help. The chart described the events surrounding her question, if she was reading it properly, but what about the answer? Where were they?

Neptune, the planet of mysterious events, confusion and drawn shades, was rising. No big surprise there. She was in the dark without a clue. And she certainly needed to let go of the struggle—the only creative way to respond to a prominent Neptune. Relax. That was the first step. What did surprise her, though, was the sign of the Archer, and its ruling planet Jupiter, falling in the tenth house. That usually meant travel, exploration and adventure, and it was conjunct her significator, making it doubly so. But where was she going? The answer remained obscure. She had no destination and no inspiration. Besides, she was meant to stay put.

What you are ‘meant’ to do has never been your strongest guide.

Rosette laughed. ‘That’s because there are two kinds of
meant
, Drayco. The kind you think you are supposed to do and the kind you know is right.’

And in this case, Maudi? Are we meant to go or stay?

‘That’s the problem. I can see merit in both choices.’

Are you thinking of the old rule, Maudi?

‘I am.’

When Rosette was a child growing up on the Matosh Estate, Jarrod and his brother Liam and she had made a pact. When diving in the coves of the Azul Sea, or hunting in the forest of Esperio Dell Ray, if they became separated they were to go to a designated place and wait. The same thing held true for the portals and she and Teg had made the same pact. If they lost track of each other, they would return to the cottage and wait.

When the Entity had landed her back in the Dumarkian Woods, she’d thought the others would catch up. But Teg hadn’t shown—she wasn’t even sure he and An’ Lawrence had got away from the Corsanons. Kreshkali and Jarrod were nowhere in sight and neither was Scylla. The temple cat had been racing towards the portal behind her and Drayco, but like the others, she never turned up. It was just her, Drayco and the huge golden stallion that stepped out into the Dumarkian Woods.

Rosette blew a stray hair off her forehead. The winter was setting in and she’d had no word or whisper. Not one of the Three Sisters had come home to check on her. Even Maka’ra had kept away. Mozzie said nothing—nothing she and Drayco could understand, anyway. Where could they all be? The chart wasn’t giving any indication, yet.

She checked again, running her finger over the aspectarian, the grid where the angular relationships between planets and points were listed for quick reference. There was no aspect, no link, between her—the seeker—and the others—the sought. The planets signifying them all were separate and not one connected to the other. She tapped her pencil on the table. ‘There
has
to be some relationship.’

Then there is.

She was about to reply when her eyes narrowed. ‘Wait a minute.’ She flipped through her notes as she half rose out of her chair.

Onto something, Maudi?

‘I am, and I think you’re right.’

She stopped on a page titled ‘Translation & Collection of Light’. She sucked in her breath as her eyes raced across the text. ‘How could I have missed it? Listen to this,’ she said, reading the notes aloud. ‘
When there is no relationship between the seeker and the sought, the two are like strangers that never meet, making void the question unless…
’

Unless?
Drayco prompted her when she paused.

‘Unless there is a Collection of Lights!’

Explain?

‘It’s simple, really. When the two planets representing seeker and sought apply to a third planet that is slower in motion and later in degree, the lights are collected and the missing one found. The third planet represents a third person who brings them together so that the question is perfected. I couldn’t see it before, Dray, but here it is.’ She pointed to Jupiter’s upcoming square to Uranus and Mercury’s approaching quincunx to the same planet. ‘This is a perfect Collection of Lights.’

Who’s doing the collecting, Maudi? Us?

‘Not us. We are ruled by Jupiter, but it’s someone we will meet. Someone Uranian.’

Uranian?

‘Unusual, zany, unexpected. Not what they appear to be on the surface.’

Interesting. Where do we meet them?

‘Challenge, danger or excitement? Definitely risk.’ She stretched her arms high, tilting back her head. ‘We won’t find out sitting here.’ She scribbled a list. ‘We need to get a few more bales of hay down from the loft
tomorrow, Dray, and see to the hens’ grain. We can open the goat paddocks to the creek and chop more wood.’ She topped up her tea when the kettle whistled. The cabin filled with the scent of mugwort and red raspberry leaves.

Is that what the chart says?

She chuckled. ‘The chart isn’t commenting on the stock feed, at least as far as I can tell. I’m just thinking ahead.’

Rats?

‘I’m sure we’ll come across some in the loft.’

I’ll help with the hay then.

‘Thank you. I was hoping you’d say that.’ She looked at the chart again, blowing on the rim of her cup.

Worried about the horse beasts, Maudi?

She shook her head. ‘They’ll be fine.’

Maka’ra then?

‘A bit. He was meant to be here.’

So were we. But we left.

‘True.’ Her eyes drifted to her sword which was leaning near the door. She’d been training every day, thinking the islander would arrive at any moment to test her skills. It had been quite some time since they’d sparred and she couldn’t wait to show him her new patterns. But he didn’t come. No one did. She was all alone.

I’m here.

She smiled at her familiar stretched out on the plush rug. ‘And I thank the goddess of the woods every day that you are.’

He purred.
Are you restless, Maudi?

She rubbed her belly; it was only slightly round even with the passing time and her enormous appetite. She picked up the chart again. ‘I’m keen if you are.’

Do we have a destination?

‘We haven’t, and that’s got me concerned.’ She frowned. The only planet in the seventh house, the designation for ‘the others’, was Mars, the warrior planet. That fitted, considering where she’d left Teg and the Sword Master, but it was square to Saturn—the hermit, the planet of hard work, ambition and boundaries—and Saturn was not well placed. ‘The boundaries are too tight,’ she said.

What’s that, Maudi?

‘Saturn can be restrictions, impediments.’

What are you suggesting?

‘They may have been captured.’ She stood up. ‘We’ve got to help.’

There’s a certain logic there. I follow it. But what about the litter?
He flattened his ears when she hissed.
I mean, what about the little girl? Kali didn’t want you travelling the corridors and that was two moons back.

‘My little girl seems fine, and very small. I’m hardly showing and aside from needing to eat half a hay field every day, I’m the same as ever.’

And you don’t like meat.

‘And that, yes.’

Drayco got up and bow-stretched.

Nell didn’t show much until the end either.

‘What?’

Nellion was the same with you. She didn’t get big until the end.

‘Drayco, darling, you can’t know that. You weren’t even born yet.’

It’s curious. I can’t know it, but I do.