He stared at Calli, a small man with a gray goatee and a round paunch. “What’s she doing here?”
They didn’t answer and were across the room and into a keep hallway in a couple of minutes.
“Did he seem suspicious to you?” asked Calli.
Marrec grunted. “Everyone seems suspicious to me.”
Calli’s blood chilled.
Breakfast wasn’t in bed. It wasn’t an easy meal at all. She and Marrec were surrounded by some Marshalls, Lady Hallard, Koz and Faucon. Everyone watched her like a hawk—including the two hawks—to make sure she was eating, and she managed to swallow some eggs. Even the flaky croissant didn’t have much taste to her, and she caught herself peeling the layers and eating in little bites.
A grim Thealia Germaine detailed past events for her. Calli got the idea that Thealia herself had swept through the Castle, including Horseshoe Hall, the home of the Chevaliers, investigating everything, demanding answers, and nothing had shaken loose. Lady Hallard sat stiffly, radiating displeasure that the Lord Knight Swordmarshall had made this a matter for the Marshalls and not just the Chevaliers.
Looking at Calli with darkly piercing eyes, Thealia said, “We will find this miscreant and punish him.” She sent a chill glance at Marrec. “Your bondmate will guard you, and everyone close to you—your new squires—and the volarans have been cautioned to keep an eye on you.” Her lips thinned. “These attacks won’t remain secret for long, unfortunately.”
Thealia looked at Lady Hallard. “The Chevaliers insist you remain with them in the Hall.”
“I’m the Chevalier Exotique,” Calli said. “Of course I must live in Horseshoe Hall. I love our rooms there.” Lady Hallard eased a little.
“I’ve called Jaquar and Marian. They’ll be coming in to look for more magical traces,” Alexa said.
Both Thealia and Lady Hallard looked sour.
“Those Circlets were here when Calli was Summoned, for the Choosing and Bonding, yet they didn’t notice anything, either,” Hallard said.
Alexa narrowed her eyes. “None of us were looking. No one knew someone in the Castle threatened Calli.”
Lady Hallard snorted.
Bastien said, “Morning’s passing.” He gave Calli a charming smile. “Ready for your first Chevalier training lesson?”
Calli’s stomach tightened and she wished she hadn’t eaten at all. What if she lost her breakfast, training?
Marrec squeezed her hand, spoke to her mentally, You won’t.
Calli envisioned volaran quick liftoffs into the sky, steep banking, loop-de-loops. “You’re sure?”
As they stood, Marrec whispered, “I’ll take any nausea you have away through our link.” His expression sobered. “You’ve already learned to Shield.”
A shiver traced up her spine. She didn’t want to remember the fall. Now that he mentioned it, a headache lurked, buzzing in both temples, no doubt from the forceful tweaking of her Power by the volarans. “A Shield,” she said neutrally as they went to the private stairway off the room.
“You form a force shield around yourself and Thunder, Dark Lance, me.” He patted her shoulder. “I can build one for me and Dark Lance when we go into battle, but lately I’ve been sharing a Chevalier who prefers to be a Shield with some of Lady Hallard’s other Chevaliers.” They climbed the stairs from the second floor to the Castle wall walkway that ran from the keep to Horseshoe Hall.
They were alone, and Marrec stopped and turned to her, stroking her hair, his serious gaze meeting hers. “You’re very Powerful. You’ll have modified the Shield Song to suit yourself soon, probably by the end of the first teaching verse.”
“Thank you,” Calli said. She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him. She wanted to say she loved him, but was too shy, and everything that happened that morning had reinforced that she was a stranger in a strange land. The guy was her husband, was closer to her than anyone else in the world…but they were still finding their rhythm together.
They walked to Horseshoe Hall and down the stairs near the stables. There, her squire held out a different tunic for her, this one made of padded leather.
“Thank you,” Marrec said, taking the item. He frowned at all the volarans in the Landing Field, grouped according to their herd status, Dark Lance and Thunder closest. Thunder shifted. “Go to Thunder,” Marrec told Calli’s squire, a young man.
Marrec slipped the tunic over her head, tied the sides. “This will be all you need this morning. Your chain mail should be ready by tomorrow.” His hands stroked, more the leather than her body beneath.
For the first time she noticed that he, too, wore new flying leathers. She touched his shoulder. “Nice expensive clothing.”
He smiled at her. “We landed in sweet hay.” She heard the end of that mental thought. After all these years. Dark Lance echoed agreement.
Their feelings echoed her own, and she was comforted. This was the kind of man she knew and would treasure, and the volarans were already part of her heart.
But as she strode the couple of paces to Thunder, her pulse began to beat hard in anticipation. All the volarans were here, which meant all the Marshalls and Chevaliers. Ready to watch her during her first training flight. She’d never wanted an audience less.
Thunder was still unsettled from the excitement of her fall. Calli frowned. Now that she thought of it, most of the volarans were uneasy, tense and restless. Hmm. It would be a good way to see how well the Marshalls and Chevaliers partnered the winged horses, which people she might help improve their flying skills.
And wasn’t that arrogant?
It is truth, Thunder said as she gave him half a carrot to nibble. You and I fly as if we were raised together and you are the best Chevalier I have ever seen.
“Huh,” she said and used Marrec’s cupped hands to mount. She leaned down and kissed his cheek. He smiled and went to speak with their squires.
Are you sure you want to be my fighting volaran? she asked Thunder. It means danger and death.
He flinched. His whole body rippled under her in an equine shudder. She sensed panic and used her Power to sooth his mind. Hold it, like her own, away from paralyzing fear.
I am the best for you. It was barely a whisper, as if he doubted. She didn’t know how he’d been chosen for her, but she loved him.
I love you, she said, stroking his neck. She didn’t want to see him hurt or killed, and kept that notion firmly away from where their minds touched.
I love you, too. I am the best for you. His mind voice came stronger, certain now.
All right. We will fight together.
He shivered again. Together. With Dark Lance and Marrec.
Yes.
We will probably be the Shield team, he said, sounding comforted. His natural Song took on harmonics that fear had suppressed.
So I’ve heard.
Dark Lance is a big volaran. He can fight. Calli almost smiled, hearing the unspoken “instead of me.” But she didn’t want either of them to have illusions. She’d had enough illusions in her previous life. There will still be danger, and times we must fight and kill.
Thunder shifted. I have never been in a battle with someone on my back, led by humans.
Neither have I. We’ll learn together. That will make us a stronger team. She held confidence firm in her mind. Marrec’s Song wisped through her and she turned to see him murmuring to Dark Lance, settling him. Marrec smiled at her. “Let’s fly together. Dark Lance and Thunder did well yesterday,” Marrec said. “Follow me in sky play.”
Excellent idea. If these had been horses, she’d have worked with them on the ground until their fidgets had gone.
“Sky play.” She grinned back. That sounded fun.
He winked.
Thealia came over, holding inch-long many-pointed starlike crystals. She placed one on Thunder’s head, the other on Calli’s right shoulder. “These will record your flight.”
Video. Great.
Others had mounted. Alexa a
nd Bastien on Alexa’s stallion, almost as large as Dark Lance.
Bastien would be teaching Calli how to be a Shield. She’d never seen a tougher guy, obviously Shield didn’t mean wimp. Swordmarshall Thealia and her Shield, Lady Hallard and another man and two pairs of Chevaliers who wore her colors. People who would have worked closely with Marrec.
This time when they rose into the sky, she was very aware of others around her. Marrec sent Dark Lance into a wide curve to the left with no more than the tiniest shift of his body and aura to the left. This man could ride! He’d given no mental image to Dark Lance, Calli figured that the two were so in accord that the volaran read Marrec’s intention in his mind as well as body. Yet Marrec used his body to cue the flying horse, as he would a regular horse. As she and Thunder followed Marrec and Dark Lance, she settled into her balance; more, she easily found that special place where her energies and Thunder’s merged in balance.
They flew patterns, dipping and curving. The cool summer breeze lifted her hair. Her headache had dissipated, her muscles had relaxed, yet she knew from the thoughts around her that the swooping and curving, the quick, rapid lifts, all were used on the battlefield. But the pure freedom of it, of not being tied to earth, of flying, moving in three dimensions filled her until she felt as if she was pure joy. As if she glowed.
Yet she could feel the links between herself and everyone in the air. She was a vital part of a team, yet individual. This was what she was born to do.
She caught Marrec’s smile at her reaction and grinned. With a slight finger motion, he indicated they’d get down to business. Which was doing figure eights, horizontally, vertically, at a slant. When all the volarans were in tune with their riders, Marrec began games with first one pair, then two, then added the rest. Calli smiled as she realized he used not only his sensing of the Songs, but her skill at seeing auras, to judge the moment when all the fliers were integrated with their mounts.
The sun rose higher, got hotter, but Calli kept up. When she’d mastered all the beginning moves, understood the way she needed to shift her body to cue Thunder for three-dimensional flying, she began to watch the others. It was easy to tell those who had telepathic communication with their volarans, flying horse and human auras were merged. The abundance of colors amazed her. Not only were there individual colors, but that of Pairlings, and the colors of fliers and volarans. In very well-integrated fighters, such as Swordmarshall Thealia and her Shield, all volarans’ and fliers’ auras were the same malachite green. She looked down at herself and blinked. She was sky blue, so was Thunder. Glancing at Marrec, who was now riding slightly in front of her, she saw he and Dark Lance were the same color.
Calli turned her aura-sight to Alexa and Bastien riding his stallion, and bit her lip. Bastien and the volaran were blue-green, Alexa was tense—and polka-dotted.
Oh, yes, she’d teach Alexa to fly.
Then Thealia and Lady Hallard were zooming straight at Marrec and her. Thealia whipped out her baton. Threatening green-black light shot out. Lady Hallard came, face fiercely smiling, sword ready.
Marrec moved to meet them, his sword out.
Shield! The order came from Bastien, with a sharp two-note whistle that pierced Calli’s shock. The high-pitched sounds reverberated in her mind.
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Calli Sang the two-note Shield spell echoing in her head.
An iridescent, egg-shaped soap bubble formed around Marrec and Dark Lance, around Thunder and herself.
The fliers attacked, Thealia and Lady Hallard against Marrec.
Black-green baton Power struck Marrec’s bubble, hit him in the chest.
No! Fear fueled Calli’s spell. Shield! Not whistle, gong tones.
The bubble flashed around Marrec—stopped Lady Hallard’s sword, shoved both volaran pairs back!
Lady Hallard’s mount tipped sideways, fliers appeared around her, manipulating the air to steady the winged horse. Thealia shot upward, her own Shield-bubble glowed milky white, strengthened by her Pairling.
You are a Shield! Alexa’s mental shriek of glee battered Calli along with the adrenaline reaction to the attack.
A natural one, Bastien agreed.
They rode to her left.
Marrec was still ahead of her, his sword drawn, fighting another rider midair.
Calli’s mouth dropped open.
The Shield of a well-matched pair does not impede the person Shielded, Bastien said.
She could see that. Her husband fought with efficient grace, face a shade more serious than usual.
Disengage! Thealia ordered, circling down to their level again. Practice over.
The rider fighting Marrec dropped. Marrec sheathed his sword.
Calli trembled. Everything had happened so fast! Had seemed so deadly.
We did it! Thunder trumpeted. He swung up and over, legs tucked, in a loop-de-loop.
Calli shook, clamped her legs around his barrel, grabbed her saddle, handled the loop. Dizzy-headed, she sent to Thunder, Calm.
His head came up, but his ears rotated, as if paying attention.
Back to the Castle, Marrec sent matter-of-factly, with pride in his undertone. He and Dark Lance turned a tight left, and Calli saw many of the Chevaliers they’d worked with streaming ahead.
They go to tell all that we were wonderful. That we will learn to fight quickly, Thunder said. If he’d been on the ground he’d have pranced.
A few minutes later, they circled down toward an open space in the middle of Landing Field, which was flooded, as usual, by volarans. It appeared that all the humans of the Castle had turned out, too.
With the beauty of a falling leaf, they landed. Thunder lifted his head and his wings in pride…and to cool himself. Calli noticed her underwear was sticking to her.
Dark Lance spread his nostrils in greeting. Marrec dismounted, smiling faintly. That was like a shout of triumph from her taciturn husband—bondmate. Calli found herself grinning. When he stepped forward and put his hands on her waist, she let him lift her from Thunder and whirl her around, feeling giddy with triumph and love.
He hugged her, then let her go. “My very good Shield Pairling,” he said, squinting against the sun and down at her.
“Thanks.”
With one arm around her waist, he turned to the volarans. Their squires had already appeared. Marrec nodded at them. “Treat our mounts well.”
The two bowed to him, then to Calli, with another to the volarans. We will be nice to them, projected Dark Lance.
Since it was obvious that each squire had a favorite treat for the volarans, Calli didn’t doubt that.
“Good going!” Alexa yelled from a few yards away. The volarans parted as she ran toward Calli, pulling her helmet off and shaking her silver hair out, beaded with sweat at the roots. “Really excellent,” Alexa puffed. Calli shook her head. She wasn’t quite used to hearing Americanisms translated into Lladranan.
“You mastered the Shield spell on the first try. Oh, yeah, you’ll be a good fighting pair in under a month!”
Calli’s gut tensed, but she kept her smile steady. Then it became real again as she said, “And I’ll teach you to be a good flier within that month, too.”
Alexa narrowed her eyes. “Deal!” She flung her arms around Calli and squeezed her hard, then turned to Marrec and did the same. His eyes widened in astonishment and wariness.
Bastien joined them, looked at Marrec. “Get used to it.”
Thealia Germaine, Lady Knight of the Marshalls, strode up with Lady Hallard, who plucked the crystal stars from Thunder and Calli. Lady Hallard said, “We will be reviewing this morning’s training in the Noble Dining Room in Horseshoe Hall.”
From Thealia’s narrowed lips, Calli got the idea that she’d lost the argument.
Marrec grunted.
Calli supposed she needed to do this. It wasn’t as if she’d never watched her own performances time and again to see what she could have done better in a thirteen-second ride. She’d even seen the last tim
e, seen Spark slip, her own fall, his fall on her.
She shook off the memory.
Lady Hallard swept a gaze over the Landing Field. “Everyone who flew the figures today, please attend.”
Chevaliers glanced at each other.
“Not many of us are accustomed to the Noble Dining Room,” Marrec whispered as he took Calli’s elbow. “Faucon and Koz, who watched from the ramparts, are coming. They’re both nobles.”
She sent a subtle probe through her bond with Marrec and sensed that though he’d once been a little envious of the two, a little anxious that they’d win her hand, those emotions were gone.
A greeting by Marwey pulled her from her thoughts. The young woman looked pleased with herself. Thinking back, Calli recollected that Marwey had been one of the fliers doing patterns. Seeva nodded to Calli, then linked arms with Marwey, and the two began discussing the training session in excruciating detail.
To Calli’s relief, Lady Hallard kept the review quick. Seeva had progressed another level in her training. Calli and Marwey had immediately become Shields to their Sword bondmates, Marrec and Pascal. The patterns had been flown well, the teamwork between Chevaliers had been good, but she was assigning new foursomes and sextiles to ensure everyone linked with everyone else. Never knew who you’d find yourself with in a battle. She dismissed the bunch with that chilling reminder.
Just as they were about to leave the dining room a voice asked if the rumors about Calli being in danger were true. The chamber grew quiet, more, Calli sensed the question had echoed throughout Horseshoe Hall and everyone waited with held breath.
“Yes,” Marrec said roughly. “Calli’s in danger. Someone’s trying to destroy her Power.” The silence deepened. “Steps are being taken to protect her. And when I find out who harmed her, I’ll strip ’em and stake them out for the horrors.”
Over the next two weeks, Calli’s days became structured and full…just the way she liked them. Chevalier training in the morning, then she schooled the horses a little in the afternoon, then worked with Alexa and others who aspired to flying volarans.
Protector of the Flight Page 20