Calli plunged from the stable, slipping and sliding in the mud of the yard, running toward the hill, wordlessly screaming her fear.
Marrec tackled her. Held her down under his body as she fought and bucked to get away, run to her hope of returning to Lladrana.
Finally he pressed hard on her, every muscle of his body subduing hers. His wet hands wiped hair and rain from her eyes, framed her face. “Look at me!”
She blinked and did. His face was hard and impassive, as it always was when he felt the most. Instinctively she listened for his Song and found it fast, like his heartbeat, yet he wasn’t frightened—at least not about the crystal.
“It’s dangerous there! You’re not going up.”
She wriggled a little under his weight. He didn’t budge. “Promise me. We’re going back into the house.”
Calli realized he was speaking Lladranan. “The crystal!”
“We cannot prevent whatever happens.”
She didn’t want to believe that. “Our return home!”
Still expressionless, he said, “We’ll discuss that later, inside.”
Hope crumpled inside her. She’d once loved this land more than anything else in the world, more than her father, even, but now it was no longer her home. Everything she cherished was not in this world, her children, her friends—except for this man, her husband.
Marrec’s eyes, dark brown and steady—he was so steady—held hers, calmed her. He’d help her get through this. They’d help each other. Their Songs surged and twined together and all she could hear was their Song. The Song of the Chevalier Exotique Pair.
He leaned down and brushed her lips with his own. His warm tongue swept across her mouth and she opened it. The kiss was warm and comforting, reminding her of their bond, all the things they’d accomplished together. Now she put her hands on his face and gave, letting her fears go. With her stroking fingers, her mouth nibbling at his, she told this man she trusted him, she loved him. They would find whatever they needed together.
It was right.
He ended the kiss, then rolled off her and pulled her to her feet in one quick and easy move. They ran for the front door, opened it and stepped inside to drip on the small linoleum square entryway.
Her father, Dora and Roy looked at them.
“We checked on the horses,” she said.
Roy chuckled. “Looks to me like that wasn’t the only thing you did.”
She stared at him, this interloper, this young man who would have everything she’d ever wanted, the ranch, her father’s affection and respect. His aura showed he was a good man, one who would take care of what once she’d considered hers.
Her time here had passed, and she could give over her dreams of the ranch to Roy—letting him make of the place whatever he wanted—in peace. She nodded to him and smiled. “Maybe we copped a feel or two.”
He cocked his head as if sensing her change in attitude. Then he grinned. “What’s a good storm if it doesn’t stir us up?”
Since it was exactly her opinion, she grinned back.
Dora made a disapproving noise. “You’re dripping all over the floor. You should have come in by way of the mudroom.”
But the front door had been closest.
“Go dry off and change,” Dora said.
Marrec helped Calli off with her coat, then hung his slicker on the hook beside hers. She turned away from her father and helped Marrec off with his beautiful boots.
When she and Marrec entered their bedroom, neither of them turned on the light. Calli went to the bathroom and pulled towels from the rack, drying herself, then going to her husband and wiping him down, so their clothes would be easier to take off. Though it was the end of summer and hot, being downstairs in her wet clothes had chilled her. Up here was better. She handed him a couple of towels and they both skinned out of their clothes, dried off and started dressing again.
“The crystal had been tuned. Maybe that’s why the lightning was attracted to it.”
She blinked. “What do you mean?”
“The crystal had been tuned. I have heard of Mirror Magic. Someone tuned the crystal to be able to watch this place as well to be a portal on the Lladrana side of the corridor.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. Someone Powerful.”
“But, but I looked in the crystal all of my life, why didn’t it break before?”
He frowned. “You must not have felt it when we came through, since you are part of both Lladranan and Earthen Power, but I did. The crystal had been tuned on this side, too, more recently.”
Her mouth dropped open. She definitely needed to suck in more air to make her brain consider Earth Power. She’d read Marian’s story, but supposed she’d disregarded the parts that didn’t make sense, like magic here on Earth. Calli hadn’t tried to do much magic, only used what came naturally, like her “gift” with horses. Marian was the type who’d consider experimentation.
“Been tuned recently?” Her voice was high. “How recently?”
Marrec shrugged. “I’m not a Circlet, I don’t know.”
“Before I left or after?”
His brows dipped deeper. “I think both.”
“Oh, wow.” She dropped to sit on the bed in her underwear. “What does that mean?”
“You’ve seen Lladrana through that crystal for years. I can only think that’s the Singer’s doing.” He shrugged but it was more of a shudder, then he dragged on a T-shirt and covered it with a chambray shirt. “That the crystal was tuned recently…I don’t know if someone from Singer’s Abbey came through then went back, or…”
“Or what?”
“Or there is someone here.”
It was Calli’s turn to shiver. “Oh, I can’t think that’s right.”
“Okay.” He sat down next to her and scooped her up and put her on his lap. They sat there a moment. Calli wanted to relax against him, to hear the steady beat of his heart, but she just couldn’t.
“But I wish it were so.” She sniffed, wiped her face with the towel. “That someone here knew how to get us back. What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know.”
“I can’t do a ritual like Marian. I’ve never made one up. Have you?”
“I don’t know how to return us to Lladrana.” That sounded torn from him. She circled him with her arms. Calli bit her lip, hard.
His body was tense, he held her tight. When he let out a breath some of his fear went with it. “We will teach ourselves. Find a place of Power.”
She thought a minute. “There’s Marian’s apartment.” She grimaced. “Though she never wrote of the actual address, and it’s probably rented.”
“Perhaps.”
“I won’t give up,” she said fiercely. “We may be forced into some sort of normal life, but I won’t give up. If I have to study to be a damn Circlet.”
“We will never give up,” he agreed. “But for now, there’s only one thing we can do. Proceed with plans here.”
“As if we’ll stay forever?” She could barely say the words.
“Aye—Yes. And plan for the next few weeks.”
She licked her lips. “The next few weeks…You don’t know how to get us back, and I don’t either. So we’ll have to hope they want us…” She tried not to think of her father, of rejection, of circles and cycles in life. “And Summon us home.”
“Best not to hope too much.”
They loved, then slept.
Alexa called a meeting midmorning the next day. They gathered in the shady cloister, in the corner where the keep wall met the round wall of the northeast tower. The men weren’t yet concerned about Calli and Marrec going to Earth, so the group was all women. Alexa herself, Marian, Lady Knight Swordmarshall Thealia and Lady Hallard.
Tea and cookies were served, and like the fighters that most of them were, they ate when they got a chance. After inhaling two cookies—they were snickerdoodles, which weren’t her favorite—Alexa brought up the topic. “How are we going
to get them back?”
“I’m not sure that is the correct question,” Thealia said. “The question can very well be, ‘Should we bring her back?’”
“That’s cold,” Marian said.
Thealia merely raised her eyebrows. “She is an excellent trainer, but some of us now know her techniques—”
“I wouldn’t bet on that.” Alexa stuck out her chin.
“And she has already found and surveyed the Dark’s location for you, hasn’t she?” Marian’s voice was soft with disgust.
“For us all,” Thealia said evenly. “And since she has left we’ve had no threats within the Castle to anyone, and no battles of any kind.”
“I think that’s significant in itself,” Marian said.
Lady Hallard snorted. “So, Swordmarshall, it doesn’t look as if the Marshalls will try a Summoning.”
Thealia’s nostrils flared before she answered. “The last ‘return’ Summoning of you, Marian, was made possible because you were performing a ritual yourself. That effort included Marshalls, Chevaliers and Circlets. And we paid for it.”
“And I paid for it, too. Both before and after. In full.” Marian sat with straight and perfect posture in her chair. She blinked, then a little frown line formed between her brows. “But I’ve read the notes Calli has been keeping for her Lorebook of Exotiques. She came through a crystal. A portal to the dimensional corridor, perhaps.”
“That’s something you Sorcerers and Sorceresses can work on,” Lady Hallard said.
“We will!”
“But in what time frame?” Hallard stretched, crossed her legs at her ankles. “We Chevaliers don’t have the teamwork, experience or Power to Summon Calli on our own.”
“And Marrec!” Alexa snapped.
“Calli and Marrec,” Lady Hallard agreed. A small smile played about her lips. “But every single day that Calli was here, we heard how she was the Volaran Exotique. Let them bring her back.”
Alexa’s mouth dropped open. She glanced at Marian to see her rapidly blinking, considering all sorts of plans, options, spells, Songs, but she seemed surprised, too.
Rapid hoofbeats sounded and they turned to see Thunder trotting down the cloister walk. Even Thealia’s eyes went wide.
He stopped and snorted, his head going up and fixing his dark gaze on them all. And so we shall. Perhaps. At the proper time. We, too, can form a Circle. We, too, can Summon.
“Then why didn’t you before?” Lady Hallard jerked from her slouch.
Humans had to want her, too. Chevaliers. To work with us. To work with the Marshalls and the Tower. He beat a little tattoo on the flagstones, causing sparks, then ran and jumped out the next open cloister window.
Mouth twitching, Alexa said, “Guess that told us.” She turned to the others. “Marian, are the children still with you?”
“For the moment.”
“Good.” A touch of glee spritzed through her as she stood. “It will be interesting to see when and how the volarans bring our Volaran Exotique and her bondmate back. But then, we might not see it at all. Now the matter is completely out of our hands. Thealia and Lady Hallard, you might want to remember in the future that no Exotique is ever without options…or friends. Whether here or on Exotique Terre.” When a thought occurred to her, she spoke to Marian. “Exotique Circlet, what number of us Exotiques do you think it would take to Summon another?”
“How many Exotiques does it take to screw in a lightbulb?” Marian murmured in English.
Alexa choked a laugh.
Marian lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know,” she replied in Lladranan. Then she lifted her brows. “But I will definitely figure that out.”
Nodding, Alexa shoved her hands in her pockets. “You might want to draft a Summoning Song for us.”
“Ayes, ayes.” Marian was already scribbling on parchment. “Songs for groups of three, four, five of us. I don’t think just the two of us could do it now, without more connection.” She glanced up at Alexa, eyes serious. “It’s too bad Calli didn’t bond with us, too, before she left.”
“Uh-huh,” Alexa said—an English phrase she’d introduced into Lladranan and was now well known. “I bet Calli is thinking that, too.”
39
That same idea had occurred to Calli late that afternoon and she cursed.
“What?” asked Marrec.
“How many people are you bloodbonded to?” she asked. They were up on the hillside. Only shards of the crystal remained, none of them larger than three inches. Nevertheless, they’d tried reaching out to Lladrana again.
Marrec rolled his shoulders in a shrug. “Some bloodbonding occurs when you fight on a battlefield and you and another share a kill, or drip blood on each other. That’s the least amount of connection. In that way, quite a few. I swore an oath to Lady Hallard, but did not actually bloodbond with her.”
“Were you ever an apprentice?”
“Stable boy,” he said shortly. “Never noble enough or well connected enough to be a squire. My master is long dead.”
“Oh-kay.” She shook her head. “I should have bonded with Alexa and Marian. With that bond…”
Marrec placed his hand around the nape of her neck. “You gave of yourself to many.”
“To too many, you thought,” she said gruffly.
“True. Had I but known…”
“Yeah.” She kicked some of the crystal off the cliff. “Well, no use hanging around here, do you think?”
“No.” He squinted into the distance. “They will either Summon us or not.”
“Let’s settle everything about the ranch tonight, then.”
He turned to her, cradled her face in his hands. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. We’ve talked about…about how much we want from Dad. I called Bert yesterday and the investments have done well.” A long sigh emptied her breath. She put her hands on his wrists. “We should have enough to buy a ranch, start a training program.” Stepping back, she scanned the land she loved. “Not here. Not in Colorado. Montana. Idaho, maybe.” She managed a smile. “We can look for properties on the Internet tonight. Wait ’til you see that.”
Waiting got on Alexa’s nerves—and it showed in her work with the horses and volarans. They were all pretty much irritated with her by midafternoon. She sat alone in the indoor arena and watched the mare teach the only filly in the Castle some flying patterns. Since the filly was learning just like her, and since the little volaran was supposed to be her destined steed, Alexa figured that she provided moral support to the youngster. And it was cool in the arena. And private.
Clip-clip-clip. Alexa didn’t have to look to know who was coming. Of course, their sister bloodbond preceded Marian, too, but Alexa recognized her from her footsteps. Only Marian could make soft slippers sound like professional high heels.
“Ayes?” she asked when Marian stopped next to her.
“I think we should fly to Volaran Valley.”
Alexa felt waves of curiosity and anticipation emanating from Marian. “You think so?”
“You’re impatient.”
“Tell me about it.”
“So am I.”
Standing, Alexa said, “You think we should get this show on the road?”
“I think events need a little prodding.”
“Okay.”
“And,” Marian said, “since we’re the only ones who are concerned, I think just we two should visit the valley.”
A laugh bubbled up from Alexa. “No guys allowed.”
Marian sniffed. “They don’t seem to be taking this seriously.”
“I’ll meet you in the Landing Field in half an hour.”
Alexa waited for Marian in the deepest shadows of the Landing Field. Their winged horses stood quiet, with a lot less tack on them than usual. Since this was what Calli had considered best for rider and volaran, and since they were going to the home of the volarans, Alexa deemed it politic to follow Calli’s instructions.
Marian arrived without notice, touche
d Alexa’s arm, and she jumped. “I’m ready,” Marian said.
“Me, too. Jaquar?”
Marian’s smile gleamed. “Sleeping the sleep of the very well satisfied.”
“Great minds think alike. So’s Bastien.”
“Shall we go?”
“Let’s ride.”
Even using Distance Magic, they didn’t drop through the Volaran Valley security shield until a half hour before sunset. The place was breathtaking, shades of green dotted with colorful flowers. The herd of volarans—all ages—looked incredible.
Their descent was very slow, made of ever-narrowing circles. Providing the maximum visibility, Alexa thought, and knew her mount was speaking telepathically to the others—maybe one, maybe many, but Alexa wasn’t conversant enough in Equine to catch the stream of thought. She looked over to Marian, who shrugged.
They lit in the middle of the field. As soon as they dismounted, their steeds deserted them, and the rest of the herd turned toward them.
They stood alone.
Alexa wasn’t entirely sure, but she thought that Marian’s knees trembled just as much as her own. Well, maybe not. Marian had owned horses, after all. Or her mother had. Duh. She, herself, was dithering.
But she didn’t think she’d ever seen such an awe-inspiring sight in her life as a herd of volarans closing in on her from all sides.
Marian reached out and fumbled for Alexa’s fingers. “Thanks,” Alexa muttered from the corner of her mouth. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who’s nervous.”
“Not at all,” Marian said, her voice higher than usual.
Alexa swallowed. “Volarans are littler than regular horses, right?”
“Mostly. Dark Lance is larger—They’re galloping straight toward us!” She ended on a squeak.
“I see that.” Alexa herself had nearly lost her voice as her mouth dried.
“What should we do? We can’t be aggressive!”
“Shut our eyes?”
Marian snorted, caught dust, coughed. “Impressive, oh, Exotique Swordmarshall.”
“Yup. ’Zactly what I’m going to do. Shut my eyes. Good decision.” She did, and immediately noticed Marian’s personal Song spiraling high, wide and loud. Alexa clung to Marian’s fingers and kept her other hand from her jade baton.
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