“Ayes.”
The gatekeeper opened the gate and watched them jog through.
Following Marrec, Calli moved fast. Her greetings to the equines were brief, her reunion with Thunder abbreviated. Within fifteen minutes they were rising to the sky.
Calli, you’re back? Marian’s voice came strong and clear in Calli’s mind.
Ayes!
Marian laughed with her.
Jaquar and I attended a meeting on Parteger Island and we want to see you!
Fly to our home. Too much to explain about the Singer and everything else, though Calli sensed Marian’s curiosity.
Marian sent, All right, we’ll leave immediately. See you later.
All too soon, Marrec was gesturing for Calli and Thunder to engage a Distance Magic bubble. She sighed, she’d barely gotten a taste of true flying.
Marrec glanced at her. I feel the yearning in your heart. Soar and play, Pairling. I will go ahead.
I should not. But she yearned to fly.
His chuckle came to her mind. I will give you an excuse. All the volarans are linking with Thunder, to hear whether their Volaran Exotique has taken any harm from her days away. How she has changed. Give them the reassurance they need.
Calli found herself grinning. Very well. We’ll catch up. She watched Marrec and Dark Lance waver as the Distance Magic orb engulfed them, then set Thunder climbing steeply into the sky.
The sheer delight of being back, being home and flying was something she wanted to savor with her entire body, feel the movement of the volaran beneath her as his wings flapped, the amber scent of him. It felt good to stretch muscles used in flying, her mind in telepathic communication, her Power.
Thunder whinnied, matching her joy. He paused to do some spirals upward, catching rising thermals. She shrieked in glee, leaned close and said, Loop de loop!
Tucking his legs in he soared, whipped over, extended his wings on the downward circle to catch the wind at just the right angle to glide.
She saw the first star wink into the evening sky.
Perfect.
Since she was alone, she raised her voice in Song. She sang an old Chevalier flying song, enjoying the Power that buzzed around her, the deepening blue of the sky bowl around them.
She grew cool, and added this observation to the rest—the seasons were changing. They’d reached the edge of summer and would soon be into fall. Autumn would have its own Song—Songs—and she relished learning them.
She’d just finished a breathless dive and spin when she caught sight of a small blue-gray volaran coming her way—with two even smaller forms mounted on it.
Her heart lurched in her chest. Marrec! she called.
What!
The children are here!
The children?
They’re riding Sapphire.
He cursed. I will return.
No, you go on.
I will return. Nothing is more important at this moment than the children.
He reached her just before the children flew the last few lengths up to them.
Pa! Pa! Pa! Diaminta squealed both mentally and audibly, waving her arms. She was strapped to Jetyer, and they were both strongly bespelled to the small mare.
Jetyer’s face was set and a little pale. Calli could see a few of his freckles. He looked a lot like Marrec, with that expression. His gaze was bruised. He’d thought they’d abandoned them. He had paid the most for the Singer’s little jaunt. Calli hated that.
So she opened her heart and her mind and let her joy at seeing him, at being home, her love for him bubble forth. Her Song brushed her children, enveloped them, sank into them—and not her Song alone, but Marrec’s, too. And their shared Song. All the bonds between them opened to exchange feelings, brief images of the last few days. Jetyer’s tense body eased, his lips curved and his eyes shone with dampness. He knew that she’d—they’d—been forced away from their children.
And then there wasn’t much need for words at all.
Marrec jerked his chin southward. “Can’t send them back by themselves, and since we don’t know what the Singer put in her letters, I think we’d better both confront Swordmarshall Germaine and Lady Hallard.” One side of his mouth lifted. “They aren’t going to be happy that we’re retiring. I’d just as soon have all my family with me.”
Jetyer cheered. Diaminta screeched joyfully.
Dark Lance circled the children’s mare, sandwiching her between the two stallions.
Drawing Power from her joy at seeing her children again, Calli helped Marrec settle a Distance Magic bubble around the mare and headed onward toward the encampment.
About a half hour later, Calli realized Thunder was faltering.
What’s wrong?
His neck bent and he rolled an eye at her, blinked in embarrassment. I was at our home last night, then went to the encampment this morning, then to the Castle….
Then came to the Singer’s Abbey and we played and now we are off to the encampment. A lot of Power usage.
He blew out a soft breath. Ayes.
She sighed. She should not have taken the time and strength to play.
Calli? questioned Marrec.
Thunder is tired…. I am, too. I think I must try pulling those replenishing energy spells from the sky and land. The ones she’d just learned before she left.
She sensed Marrec’s hesitation.
Go on! Get us the life we deserve. Care for the children. I’ll be along as soon as I can. The ladies can both link with me, if they need to, understand that I’m on the way.
Very well. Do what you must.
She’d spent some time playing and now it was time to…not work, because none of the time spent here on Lladrana except when she fought was work…but definitely time to pay attention to important matters.
And events had swept over her with relentless force again. Her lips twitched up in a rueful smile. Only here a few hours and they’d been packed with strange and unusual occurrences. That almost felt normal now. And she’d had Marrec this time.
God—by the Song—she loved him. She couldn’t think of her life without him. If she’d kept him from panicking and sane on Earth, he’d been invaluable to her, too, given her someone solid to lean on, kept her grounded in what was important—not winning her father’s love, which was something she’d never be able to do, but planning their future.
Now they had a future, and it was definitely time for her to implement it. Thunder had said nothing to interrupt her musings. She sensed he’d been content to be in her company. Their current speed and energy outlay gave him time to recover. She frowned in consideration. She seemed more aware of sunlit motes of Power around her, as if they were drawn to her—or sent to her. Same difference, she supposed. Anyway, Thunder was using that to strengthen himself, as she should be.
You know the Live in the Song Spell, she said.
Of course. The flick of his wingtip was smug. Volarans always Live in the Song. It is only unaware people who cannot master it.
Enough with the insults. I’ve only been back a few hours!
He shook his head as if brushing off insects. I did not like you gone.
I didn’t like being gone, but it wasn’t my choice.
A long breath escaped him, as if he’d needed that reassurance as much as her children had.
They wouldn’t let me Call to you, try and get you and Marrec back.
They?
His head came up and pointed to the left. Two hawks flew near them. The feycoocus?
A ripple of Thunder’s irritation shivered his muscles. Everyone. Only the Exotiques tried to get you back.
“Huh.”
Everyone else said you and Marrec were where you were supposed to be, he grumbled, and Calli got images of the head volarans, of Thealia and Lady Hallard.
Marrec’s voice came. The children and I are above the camp and going down now. Everything looks very calm. Dark Lance says there have been no night battles in months.
Start
led from her thoughts, she looked around to see the sun setting quickly, and they were still quite a ways from the encampment. Distance Magic would rectify that, but she had to move now. She’d been thinking too much and not doing—or perhaps putting off the time when she’d have to try a spell that had always been hard for her to master.
All right, she sent to Marrec and Thunder and reinforced her own confidence. She could do this, would do this.
She heard her magic teacher and Marian’s previous instructions in her head. “Open yourself to all the elements, to the land of Lladrana and the whole planet of Amee.” But that didn’t seem right to Calli, so instead of opening herself, she tried something different, she imagined sluffing off layers of protective shields—around her mind and heart.
Not opening.
Letting go.
Releasing her fears, her expectations, living in the moment. Living in the Song.
The air around her held the last warmth of day. She drew it into her, felt as if sparks traveled up and down her muscles. The wispy clouds above, tinting pink with sunset, held cool ice crystals, with the Power of mountain wind and sky water. That, too, she brought into her, and the Power was like silk slipping along her skin. She kept a little and sent most of it to Thunder and his wingbeats grew stronger. She felt him revitalize, gathering and storing energy for use in spells.
She lifted her hands from her saddle, held her arms away from herself to find the waves of energy from the land below. The rich, heavy feel of earth, the pulsing planet. This was harder than fire and wind and water. Hard to feel, hard to harness. She thought of landing but brushed the idea aside. No time. And she wouldn’t let the tension of a deadline distract her. She settled deeply into her seat. Closed her eyes. Yes, the last touches of the sun and the water suspended in the air and the wind itself was easier to feel than the land. She let her mind flow down with a breeze, play with leaves, ruffle grasses, sift into the ground, and through that connection, she pulled the land’s Song into herself, let it sink, rich and coating, into her bones.
Then there was simply the Song of existence itself—of life and space and time. Something Calli had rarely heard but now knew. The Song of her new home and a future shaped the way she yearned for. Deep down, she’d been afraid to believe in it, so hadn’t been able to accept the Song and the Power. It caressed her now, poured through her, like thunder rolling in her veins.
One last deep inhalation, one last expelling of breath.
Our Song. She sent the energy to Thunder, for him to use, felt refreshed and full of vitality herself. With a hummed couplet she formed an orb of Distance Magic around them, and they flew fast and far with Power.
A moment later she saw something ahead. A horrible yellow-green-gray cloudy smudge against the horizon, blocking star-shine. If she didn’t know better, she’d have thought it was smog. She sniffed, smelled only a trace of a noxious odor. What’s that? Can we avoid it to reach the encampment?
That is the encampment, Thunder said.
What is that cloud?
What cloud?
Calli scowled. She didn’t want to go down there. All her instincts warned her that evil lurked ahead. Marrec! she called.
Ayes? he asked with his customary calm.
What’s going on? Why is the camp so foul?
What are you talking about?
It’s not bad down there?
Humor came through their bond. We are still being cheered. Everyone gathered to greet us, and all the volarans want to say hello. I gave the letters to Swordmarshall Germaine and Lady Hallard. They are not pleased but cannot deny the Singer. They want to see you before they release us.
He sighed and his exhaustion came through. The children are tired. We will wait for you in our tent. Pride suffused his thoughts. Jetyer has cared for his volaran. He flew well, has done everything well.
Everything’s okay? she persisted.
Fine. We only wait for you before we fly home.
I’ll see you soon, she sent to him, but aloud she grumbled to Thunder, “I don’t like this.” The smog trailed upward in wisps and hugged the ground close. Her man and her children were down below. She had no choice. Keep your senses open.
Thunder snorted.
They entered the wisps of cloud. Now they were in it, it seemed unthreatening, insubstantial. There was no nasty smell. Yet Calli had to keep herself from shifting in unease, which would give Thunder wrong cues.
By the time they reached the ground, the events of the day weighed upon her, like a burden of weariness. Only a couple of volarans lifted their heads and gave her a whicker of greeting. That disappointed her a little since she hadn’t seen many of them for what seemed like ages and she’d expected them to crowd around her. None of the other Chevaliers or Marshalls had waited for her to land, either.
She dismounted, shrugged and stretched, trying to work out kinks she hadn’t noticed before. Using more Power than ordinarily, she did a quick groom of Thunder so he’d be ready to leave again shortly. He folded his wings and dropped his head. I am very tired and want to sleep. The volarans around them were all dozing.
She stumbled through the gate and kicked over an empty metal feed bin. The sound shook her. She felt it reverberate through her foot to her legs, her chest, ringing in her ears. Her wits sharpened a little, and she kicked it again.
Clang! It echoed subliminally, like the very gong that had been used to Summon her here.
Amazed, she slipped against the fence and some bridles hanging over the top rail clinked. Sort of like the chimes. Again she felt the noise.
Something was wrong.
No.
Everything was wrong.
Marrec! she shouted with her mind. Then realized what she’d done. She’d kept her mouth shut, hadn’t yelled for him with breath from her lungs.
No answer.
Thunder!
She got an Equine grumble. Sleeping, here.
Don’t sleep too deep, we’re getting out of here as quick as can be.
She left the volaran area fast and quietly. The fug of the camp staggered her, no longer benign to her senses but a gray, filthy atmosphere that rasped into her lungs. She wrapped a bandana around her face that still held the sweet scents of the Colorado Rockies and managed a little smile as she recalled that she’d cherished Marrec’s handkerchief at the ranch for the opposite reason. She blinked and blinked again as her wits fuddled. Walking was like pulling a boot out of thick mud, taking a step and sinking knee high, and repeating the process.
She saw no one, and that tinkled an alarm in her mind. She had to get to their tent, had to get to Marrec. Had to reach her babies. That fear was strong enough to dissipate cotton-headedness, have her picking up her feet faster, holding the cloth closer to her nose and mouth. Hum a protective Shield and watch it form around her. Yep. The Volaran Exotique was back.
Inside the Shield, she still swayed. It wasn’t enough. Closing her eyes, she pulled at her energy, her Power, deep inside her, yanked it up sluggishly through her body, stalled somewhere around her heart. Her eyes didn’t want to open, she wanted to crumple where she was into the arms of sleep. Though she’d prefer Marrec’s arms. She sighed. Marrec! Her brain was definitely half a bar slower. That wouldn’t do.
Oddly enough, a commercial came to mind. Some cleaning jingle. She gathered her power and whisked the sleepiness and complacency away. Spun the muggy effect of another spell from the inside of her egg-shaped Shield.
And came back to her senses, shivering in the cold, crisp air inside her Shield. She narrowed her eyes, surveyed the camp. No one stirred.
This was bad. Very, very bad.
Why hadn’t anyone told them that the camp was bad?
Because the dark spell had worked slowly, incrementally, like poison…and the Circlets hadn’t been living at the camp since they’d taken the children for protection. And another layer—the final trap—had been sprung when Marrec and the kids had landed.
By her secret enemy within the ra
nks of the Chevaliers and Marshalls.
This time she could feel the evil.
The evil one who had wanted to kill her.
The evil one who had bespelled the camp and everyone in it—including Calli’s children and husband.
The evil one with great Power linked to the Dark itself.
She found Jetyer in their tent sleeping on a cot, but not Marrec or Diaminta.
45
Forcing her hand shaking with fear to write, she penned a note to Marian, struggled to form words, write them. She lifted the boy, ran from the tent, casting her mind about for any volaran patterns. Sapphire was sleeping just a row away.
With drunken strides, Calli found the volaran, strapped Jetyer in as if he’d been a wounded Chevalier…and he was. Wounded already in this battle with evil that shrouded Lladrana and not yet nine. She vowed this would not happen again while she lived.
Shouting in Equine, Calli sent enough fear spurting into the volaran to rouse her. The mare tossed her head, rolled her eyes, backed.
Calli infused Sapphire with steely determination to leave the camp and fly to Marian and Jaquar. The winged horse remembered the Circlets. She could find Marian’s and Jaquar’s Songs, especially aloft and flying. Marian had been kind. Jaquar had had an interesting smell. She would find them. She would deliver Jetyer to them…and the warning about the bespelled encampment. She would save herself and bring help! Sapphire, the hero.
Heart thumping hard, Calli watched her soar, disappear too soon into the sky. A spell definitely lay upon this place like smog.
She’d rescued Jetyer, done the best to warn others.
But her husband and baby were missing. Her blood pumped sluggishly in her veins, cold with terror. The camp was so unnaturally quiet, Calli thought she’d run into the Dark lurking around the next tent corner.
She could feel the evil one—and accomplices—like a burning on her skin, against her Shield. The closer she got to them, the more her skin heated to bubbling. She gritted her teeth and pressed on.
At the break of a row, Calli stopped in horror. Before her was an open gathering space around a fire. The flames flickered cheerfully against the darkness—and illuminated the three people all too well.
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