Heart Legacy

by Robin D. Owens

  “I’ll handle that,” Draeg said.

  Lori nodded and settled into her balance. She closed her eyes, found the well of her inner peace, and sent it out to blanket the stable area. She always said good-bye to her stridebeasts this way. When her lashes opened she saw a near comical expression of surprise on Draeg’s face. His mouth actually hung open.

  Bringing her hands in front of her and pressing the palms together to continue the cycling of her energy, she teleported to the waterfall in her rooms. It continued to irritate her that, again, the Family had failed to recognize her as D’Yew in all but name and give her the MistrysSuite. They’d used her title since she’d been a toddler to beat her into compliance.

  Annoyance smudged the joy of her first time horseback. That she could blame herself for—not continuing with the pleasure of the ride and the peace of sending love to her beasts—and she even owed grudging gratitude to her Family for purchasing Ragan and Smyrna.

  Hot water pounded down on her and chased away the aches of riding a horse bareback instead of a stridebeast.

  As she dressed, she wondered if she could, if she should, slip out of Noble Country and into the more populated portion of Druida City tonight. When she’d started, it was to scout out a good path from the estate through the city and away. Since six stridebeasts would be with her when she finally made her escape, she had to choose her route carefully. No matter what hour, she would be remembered if they were seen. And six stridebeasts left a trail.

  Now escaping into the city, even if she only observed other people, was an adventure. Yet the more often she did it, the more chance she’d be caught. She’d noted that she wasn’t the only one of the Family leaving for city amusement. Her twin cuzes, Vi and Zus, had used the gleaming polished and refurbished Family glider to sweep into the city on several occasions. At least at first, now she thought they teleported to some place they knew to meet their friends.

  I wish to prowl the streets of Druida City together tonight! Baccat sent her.

  She grinned. Yes! Always a thrill in Druida City! We should go over the route once more.

  It is good that you continue to prepare diligently. I will meet you just within the east garden gate at Eire moonrise. Later, My FamWoman.

  Later.

  As Lori stopped to breathe and steady her hand applying the enhancements, she smiled, then sent to the Residence, who would have noted the spike in her heartbeat, a mental lie. I’ve been remembering my first horseback ride, D’Yew Residence. Thank you again for procuring the horses for me.

  You are welcome. A child should be rewarded for good behavior.

  Lori swallowed annoyance. The antique clock on the mantel of her sitting room chimed fifteen minutes before dinner. She had to leave now for all the little rites the Family insisted upon, and where most of them who taught her would scrutinize her. For proper behavior.

  * * *

  What had just happened? Draeg stared at the spot D’Yew had teleported from until Ragan stepped daintily up to him and nickered. He ran his hand down her back, noticed that some of her sores looked better, her coat a little healthier. Had D’Yew shared energy with her mount when they’d raced away?

  Maybe.

  Smyrna made a disgruntled sound, like she envied her stablemate. But Draeg had no doubt that whatever emotional balm D’Yew had sent through them all, Smyrna had felt, too. He stretched, his muscles feeling warmer and looser than he’d experienced in a long while. That was the physical effect he was perfectly able to admit to himself.

  He didn’t really know what the emotional—no, the mental effect was. He’d felt at peace . . . but also with a slight zing that seemed to travel like a ruffling breeze over his nerves.

  Interesting.

  He finished rubbing Ragan down—not that she needed much—and put both the horses in the last two empty stalls of the stable block, then moved the stridebeasts in from the paddock. All the animals had studied each other, and it seemed to Draeg that the stridebeasts wouldn’t mind having the horses in the corral with them tomorrow, and those animals were familiar to the horses. Time would tell.

  The one issue that nagged at Draeg during the rest of his chores was the simple fact that he’d seen D’Yew use a good amount of Flair, and she gave absolutely no indication that it had wearied her a bit. From observation, he had to think she had a great Flair, more than he—and the people who’d sent him here to check out the Yew Family—had anticipated. Too bad the Yews hadn’t allowed T’Ash, the best tester of the strength of Flair, near the young woman.

  And some tightening at the back of his neck told Draeg that Loridana D’Yew would be slipping out of the Residence and the estate tonight, as she’d done several times in the last two weeks.

  He’d be ready to track her and find out exactly what she did in the city.

  Four

  Baccat leapt down from the ivy-free spot atop the wall that Lori had cleared previously for him and into her arms, a tiny tradition of theirs, reaffirming their connection. The warmth and weight of him, and his purr against her heart, made her smile. He stretched and licked her chin, then said mentally, We do not need to traverse the roads through Noble Country tonight on paw and foot. Let us teleport through it.

  Lori raised her brows; she’d planned on walking the full escape route to set it in her mind, but that could wait for another time. All right.

  I have plans for Us, he said smugly. Let Us get beyond your substandard estate spellshields.

  They were substandard because the person with the best spellshield Flair disliked the Yews.

  The gate didn’t creak, didn’t even whisper against frost-stiff grass and old fragments of leaves dead since autumn. She and Baccat had slipped away from the estate over the last month when weather permitted, but being outside the Yew walls remained an adventure.

  They could teleport in small jumps if she used his visualization. Baccat often left D’Yew’s grounds, teleporting out and in, and he knew the city well.

  At first it had been difficult adjusting to his view of the world, though she’d had experience working with stridebeasts. But she and her Fam both desired to roam the city, so they practiced. They’d become adept at reaching Apollopa Temple in a midlevel Noble section of town with three hops.

  Baccat had chosen the refurbished temple, and told her unbelievable stories of the site and the nearby Turquoise House and murder and mayhem. She found the Temple soothing and thought that within a short time she’d be familiar enough with it to teleport to it directly from D’Yew estate.

  Soon they arrived in the Temple and Baccat’s loud rough purr echoed, adding to the atmosphere of solace. They’d used the main teleportation pad, a small area outside the circular ritual chamber, and she heard voices beyond the open double doors. She tensed until she understood the questions and responses and the singing lilt of a wedding.

  Baccat lay heavy in her arms, but his weight wasn’t as much as she wanted to hold. Her chest tightened. Suddenly her animals didn’t seem enough and she swallowed with a sudden need for a human love, a man in her life.

  Her whole body rippled with a wave of emotion. Stupid yearning. She had her own plans, her own life to live, her freedom to grasp; why would she want a guy messing that up? And she didn’t know one man outside of her Family, and the men she knew in her Family, the distant cuzes who worked in the Residence and on the estate, she didn’t respect.

  Wrong. The image of Draeg Hedgenettle rose to her mind, how he looked bare-chested, how he moved with masculine vigor and efficiency, his black hair shining in the sunlight, his blue eyes looking at her with appreciation as he smiled. Her next swallow was more of a gulp as heat flushed through her and settled moistly between her legs.

  She had to draw in a couple of deep breaths before her mind stopped buzzing.

  A third swallow as her throat tightened when triumphant musical notes surged, then segued into a ritual dance tune. People celebrating together, perhaps joyfully. She led and participated in the formal rit
uals of the seasons and the phases of the twinmoons, a celebration of her faith and religion, but not joyfully.

  FamWoman? Baccat sniffed and his eyes widened. There is food here! A full repast of wonderful dishes, meats and sweets—

  No, Baccat, Lori said, though she felt a rumble of her stomach. Keeping her hold on him, she stepped from the pad and reset the switch, indicating it was available. Baccat seemed happy to rest in her arms as she walked to the rear door and out into the straight path into the herb garden, trim and tended with deadfall cut away. Some beds held turned earth, others rows of tidy crocuses sprouting above the ground. She liked her own wild garden better.

  Sweet and savory spice smells of previous plantings in the tumbled dirt wafted around them and she relaxed more. She heard nothing from the temple and left unruly emotions behind, fixed her thoughts on her goals.

  “Now that we have horses that we’ll be taking with us, we should double-check the route to make sure it’s fine for them—look at the width of the alleys and streets.” A boon, for sure, having horses! Thank the Lady and Lord, but it did change her plans, and thank the Couple that she could alter her plans at this time and that the horses hadn’t appeared the day she’d decided to leave.

  But wait! Baccat leapt from her arms, set himself directly in the one-person garden path, and puffed up, raising his hair in emphasis. I would like to show you ALL of Druida City before We leave.

  “No,” she said aloud.

  You should SEE Druida City, KNOW it and its various cultural and historical places before We leave. To educate yourself. You should not believe just what the Yews and Yew Residence teach you.

  “I don’t,” she said curtly. “I haven’t since I was young and my nurse told me to think for myself, and not to believe people who were mean to me.” Since her Valerian nurse had been dismissed within a week of that warning, it had truly stuck with Lori.

  Along with the kindness of the old stableman who’d died when she was a child and finding her father’s memory spheres and recording spheres, she’d been able to block most of the toxic negativity of her Family and their teachings. Lately she’d considered that her heart and spirit had been saved from tainting by her nurse and the stableman, and her father’s spheres.

  But Baccat’s words that she lacked a wide education flicked her on a raw spot. It hadn’t been easy, analyzing the Residence’s and her teachers’ words and figuring out what might be true or not.

  She looked down at the cat. “I’m not interested in staying in Druida City. I’m determined to leave it. Living in the country at the Valerian estate my father left me will suit me fine. Once I’m gone, they won’t be bothered to come after me. They’ll have the power they want.” She snorted. “Every one of the Yews is distrustful and isolationist. I don’t know of anyone but the twins even coming into the city. No one will follow us.” Her lip curled. “And they won’t hire anyone to bring us back because they don’t trust anyone outside of the Family.”

  So we can spend a little more time in the city, not just tracing the route! Baccat gave her big kitty eyes.

  “The more time we spend near Druida, the more chance we will have of getting caught. And I don’t want to even think of the consequences of my plans being discovered.”

  Her memory shied away from the hardest punishments in her life—whipping when she was young and, after she’d developed her psi powers, having DepressFlair bracelets manacling her wrists. Both had been awful, first the physical and emotional hurt as she wondered why her mother would whip her when Lori hadn’t thought she’d been bad.

  Then, later, the psi-blocking cuffs used by Cuspid and Folia that shut off all sense of her magic, being unable to use an integral part of herself.

  How scary that there’d even been DepressFlair bands small enough to go around her nine-year-old arms.

  No, she didn’t want to discover what her Family would do to her if they caught her. “They might kill you, you know,” she murmured to Baccat. He hissed and hunched in energetic anger.

  Staring at him, she continued, “I’ll try my best to protect you. To translocate you away if we’re caught, but Cuspid and Folia, and especially the twins, can be sneaky.”

  I agree. They can be sneaky and mean. Your Family is mostly unpleasant and all are sneaky and mean.

  She sighed. “Yes, they are.” And she appeared to have gotten the sneaky gene. Maybe if she were away from her Family, she’d do better. A slight whoosh came and she glanced back at the Temple to see that the dome had opened to the starlit sky. “We need to move on.”

  I can show you the hidden sanctuary of FirstGrove, the PublicLibrary, The Green Knight Fencing and Fighting Salon, the Turquoise House—

  “No!” That came out louder than she’d thought, and she glanced around the Temple grounds, back at the door. Nothing stirred. “You’ve already told me about the Turquoise House. And we have a plan to implement if we’re leaving within two eightdays at the soonest, perhaps three if the weather doesn’t warm sufficiently. There’s no time to tourist around the city.”

  You have not even seen CityCenter, the great buildings of the new GuildHall, or GreatCircle Temple or the starship Nuada’s Sword.

  She set her teeth, shut down temptation. “Stick with the plan.” She’d be joyful if her scheme worked.

  I like CityCenter at night. Very attractive lights, and there are food trucks. He slid his eyes toward her in a sly glance. When was the last time you ate any food not prepared by your kitchen staff or from the Residence no-time storage units?

  No-times kept everything, particularly food, at the same temperature it went in, but, always, she’d only ever eaten Yew food.

  Her mouth watered and she ran her tongue around her teeth. “Never.” This time the word squeaked out as a whisper. The scent of food came from the open temple dome. And she’d also been thinking of food and the no-times since she and the Residence and Folia would be doing the quarterly inventory tomorrow.

  Imagine it. Baccat’s voice in her mind came as a whisper, too, a lilting, seductive one. You have never had fresh baked furrabeast meat pies.

  She swallowed again.

  With thick gravy and mushrooms and scallions grown on other estates than the Yews. Exquisite, DIFFERENT flavors.

  Lori had a weakness for mushrooms, their rich, earthy taste. Her stomach growled. The lure of Druida’s core tested her resolve to continue checking out the path she’d take with her animals. Her prospective route would take her nowhere near CityCenter.

  “All right,” she said aloud.

  Baccat trotted through the gardens and around to the front of the Temple and the street beyond and she followed—just in time to see the PublicCarrier to CityCenter pass by.

  We will teleport. He paused and licked his muzzle. I will show you the area of food carts.

  “Will we be seen?”

  Your padded winter clothes are long out of fashion, old and shabby; we will not be noted.

  “I don’t have any gilt with me.” She should have been full from dinner, but that had been septhours ago.

  Her Fam put a little swagger in his walk, a wave in his tail. I have credit with some vendors. From rat catching.

  “Zow.”

  Would you like to view the Turquoise House? It’s just up the street from here.

  “No, why would I? You’ve told me of the Turquoise House often enough,” Lori said. “Let’s go explore!”

  That shut the cat up.

  * * *

  They were gone. Both woman and cat. Good thing Draeg had a hook in the cat’s aura.

  He’d finished a round of the stables, mentally keeping track of the cat until the Fam had vanished. Then Draeg swore and used the scouring Whirlwind Spell to cleanse and dress himself in his mercenary leathers.

  He teleported outside the Turquoise House, where one of his brothers lived, just in time to feel Baccat and D’Yew move to the southern edge of CityCenter. She must be depending upon Baccat for images to teleport, and that wasn’t
an idea Draeg was comfortable with: trusting a cat, not even a Fam bonded to you.

  A few minutes later he found them and stood back in the shadows of a deep storefront doorway. He watched Baccat outrageously making up to a street vendor who sold meat pies, and D’Yew staying out of sight as she ate one. To Draeg’s surprise, the cart advertised food from Darjeeling’s Teahouse so the fare would be hearty and of good quality. His mouth watered, but the woman running the food cart handed over two pies to D’Yew as if they were the last of her inventory, paying more attention to Baccat as she closed up her mobile stall.

  Then Baccat and D’Yew stepped into darkness unlit by streetlamps or moonslight and disappeared.

  The carts and the shops in this area had shut for the night, and Draeg expected cat and woman to teleport back to the D’Yew estate after a small fling at CityCenter. But their next hop took them to a wide business street that was rarely used after the stores closed. A north-south directional street; they’d gone south.

  When he caught up with them, he saw D’Yew breaking off pieces of the pies and tossing them to Baccat, who tidily fielded them. She spoke quietly, and Draeg supposed she conversed with the cat, answering her Fam’s mental comments aloud.

  Baccat turned into a narrow way between two buildings and so did D’Yew, and caution prickled through Draeg. He didn’t like that the cat showed the naive woman the not-so-safe back alleys of Druida.

  Keeping his steps light, he prowled through the skinny crack, came into the alley, and turned after them. Ahead of the pair, lurking against a wall, he noticed a moving shadow—no, more than one!—freeze and wait.

  “I don’t know about this shortcut to that boulevard, Baccat,” she said.

  The cat yowled.

  “We can use it now, but not later.”

  She should get out of the place altogether. Draeg had just opened his mouth to yell at them, when two guys rushed him, one from the side, one from the back, and the fight was on. He dropped low, and neither of his assailants found him where they’d expected him to be. They tangled together and Draeg yelled a fighting cry and put them out with a few blows.