“Maybe. Maybe not. But he’s got the right idea.” The other put a hand between breasts. “I feel it here.”
Bri let her lips curve slightly, in sympathy at having to rely on feelings instead of facts. She tapped her right ear with two fingers. “Don’t you mean that you hear it?”
Raine’s face crumpled. She stumbled to the chair Bri had vacated and sat, rocking a little again. Bri walked up to her, stood close, within the personal space of an American woman—though she didn’t think the other one came from Colorado. Her accent spoke of east coast. “Let me help.” She opened her bag, saw the other eyeing her warily, drew out a stack of handkerchiefs. “They don’t have tissues.”
Raine took one of the fine linen cloths and pressed it between her hands, as if savoring the texture. Then she mopped her eyes and blew her nose. “Just as well,” she said thickly. “Don’t need any more trees cut down.”
“I agree.” Bri studied the woman. “Now let’s see about those bruises. What hurts the most?”
Raine lifted her tunic and chemise and Bri sucked in her breath as she saw the dark purple-black over the ribs. She’d been lucky they hadn’t broken but surely one or more must be cracked. She looked up to meet the other’s eyes. “You must have a high pain threshold.”
“I’ve developed one.”
Bri noticed the tension in her own shoulders, relaxed. Okay, take a step back in this little dance. “I’m Bri Drystan from Denver, Colorado,” she said again and offered her hand.
“Raine Lindley of Best Haven, Connecticut.” She stared at Bri, but Bri kept her gaze steady, sympathetic, her hand out. Raine slipped chapped fingers into Bri’s and a bright and whirling rainbow enveloped her. A long, lovely, mournful melody, speaking of wind and water and the sparkle of the sun on ocean waves spun between them. Bri let go. “You’re water.”
“What?”
Bri smiled. “The Power we have resonates with one element more than others. You’re water.”
Blinking, Raine said, “I guess. I build ships.”
“I’m water, too. I heal people.” Stepping forward, she slid her hands under Raine’s blouse, found the tender ribs, called the healingstream, a little push of lovely Power.
Raine gasped.
“Better?” Bri asked.
But Raine had lifted her top, and stared at her ribs. “It’s gone.”
“I heal people,” Bri repeated, thought of Raine’s words. “You build ships. Of course that’s why you’re here.”
Rain sniffed. “You just figuring that out? Slick knows that, too.”
Bri smiled. “I’m from Colorado. All the rest of us are.” She touched Raine’s cheek, sent healing to it, watched green flames dance as Raine’s bruise faded. “Most women from Colorado don’t think about building boats.”
“Family tradition,” Raine said. She ran her fingers through her hair, smiled humorlessly. “I didn’t want to stick with the old plans. I wanted new, to build different hulls, use metallic alloys. I wanted twenty-first-century cutting edge.” She looked around her. “Guess not.”
45
A couple of hours later, Raine sat in a cushioned deck chair with the rest of the Exotiques clustered around her. The chairs were set in a circle on a grassy terrace overlooking a cliff that plunged to the ocean. Faucon’s dock was on a tiny crescent of beach between the cliff to the north and a lower, rocky shore to the south. The path to his Castle rose steeply.
Four men also stood or lounged or sat nearby. She’d been briefly introduced to them, but didn’t recall their names.
She wasn’t comfortable. She wouldn’t be able to fight all these people and run away. She suspected if she escaped, they’d come hunting for her.
The women hadn’t gushed, but they seemed to think she’d accept them immediately and be friends. Ha.
Raine didn’t like the bitter resentment she held toward them and their easier lives, but couldn’t seem to shake it off.
Calli, the blond horsewoman—Volaran Exotique—met Raine’s stare. “We didn’t have it that easy,” she said. “All of us faced death in fulfilling our task on Lladrana.”
“We’ve been in mortal peril,” said Marian, the voluptuous redheaded scholar, nearly at the same time. She sat next to Raine—ostensibly to answer any questions—and nudged the stack of three books with her foot toward Raine. They were the same bindings as the books she’d been given in the morning, but these were in English. The top one read, “The Lorebook of Calli Torcher, Chevalier and Volaran Exotique.”
“We’ll help however we can,” Calli said.
“What you went through sucks.” Alexa’s eyes were hard. She fingered her baton. “I had to fight and kill a guy like that once. As soon as I got here, actually.”
Raine just stared at her, decided that she was telling the truth, but wasn’t sure what to say.
“We haven’t been stalked or attacked since then,” Marian said. “Those with the revulsion reflex usually stay out of our way.”
Faucon walked into view, accompanied by a man in white Chevalier leathers and a couple of other men with a roll to their walks that Raine understood to be wealthy Seamasters. Alexa, the little one with white hair, came over and stood beside Raine, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“In fact,” Alexa said, “Luthan—the man in white and the representative of the Singer and my brother-in-law—has the repulsion thing and it distresses him.” Alexa squeezed Raine’s tense shoulder. “Watch how a real man deals with it.”
Raine sat straight, stared at the tall man in white. He nodded to her politely, but when he was a few yards from her, he stopped, and a shudder passed through his body. Then he continued on and was formally introduced. He took Raine’s hand and bowed over it, didn’t drop it with haste, then moved a couple of steps away.
“That’s it?” Raine muttered from a corner of her mouth.
Another squeeze from Alexa. “That’s it. That’s all he ever shows. And in a couple of months he will know you well and the instinctive-revulsion-thing will wear off.”
Scrutinizing Luthan’s handsome face with the silver mark of Power at his temples, Raine noted his impassive expression, his cool gaze. She sensed his emotional withdrawal. More, she heard the ramping up of his heartbeat and strident notes in his Song. But he showed no outward indications that her presence affected him. He met her eyes, his own polite.
“An honorable man is a treasure,” she said.
He blinked. His lips curved slightly. “Thank you.” He was sincere. Raine was hearing Songs much clearer than she had before. Probably because these people were Powerful. She’d heard how magic touched people at the left or right temples and made streaks of silver—gold for the old. But this was the first time she’d seen it.
The delegation from the Seamasters had greeted the Exotiques’ men first, with sideways glances at the women. It was easy for Raine to know they worked on the water by the look in their eyes and the way they carried themselves. There was a short thin man and a big burly one, both honed tough by their life.
Marian stood, and everyone else followed. Even though none of them were actually touching, Bri could feel the energy and emotion cycling through them, uniting them. Alexa’s fury was driving the link.
Interesting, not like other men in different walks of life, Marian sent. Don’t antagonize them, she cautioned Alexa.
But Alexa had withdrawn her baton from her sheath and the end flared with flames.
Too late, Calli said.
Raine felt a little more secure that the people around her would take her part.
“Let’s sit,” Faucon said smoothly and Alexa reluctantly went back to her chair, scowling at the Seamasters. “Refreshments will be here shortly. I know all your tastes except Raine’s. What will you have, lady?” His smile was quick and superficial. “Tea, mead, ale, whiskey, brandy?”
The memory of the alcohol stench permeating the Opened Mouth Fish tavern and many of its patrons tickled her nose, though that place sure hadn’t had goo
d whiskey or brandy. Raine didn’t know if she could choke down alcohol.
“Orange juice for Raine,” Bri said.
“Done,” Faucon said. He took a tiny horn-shaped thing from his belt and spoke into it. Raine recalled a couple more of the horns in the cottage. So that’s what they were for.
Everyone sat. No one appeared casual or relaxed.
Alexa leaned forward, glare locked on the Seamasters. “Tell us about this failed Summoning last Winter’s Eve.”
The burly man’s eyes widened at that. “You know it was Winter’s Eve?”
“At the Seamasters Market Gathering,” Faucon said, stretching out his legs. “My cousin’s wife was having a child. Convenient for you,” Faucon continued smoothly. “Since you knew my cousin would report anything out of the ordinary to me, and I would most certainly inform the Marshalls that you had done a Summoning.”
“Wouldn’t have mattered if your cousin had been there if we’d succeeded,” muttered the burly guy. “Weren’t going behind everyone’s back, exactly.”
The thin man’s nose twitched as he stared at Raine. “A puny and pitiful thing we Summoned.”
“Perhaps because you did the Summoning incorrectly,” Marian said. She radiated fierceness, but Raine didn’t know whether it was on her behalf or the irritation at sloppy work.
“In order to acclimate to Lladrana, Exotiques must be attuned to Amee by the gong and chimes, which are sent to them for several weeks,” Alexa said. “That’s why the Marshalls always Summoned them.”
“One more thing the Marshalls failed to share with the Seamasters,” the thin man sneered.
Calli sat straight, said, “Wanted to do it on the cheap, didn’t you?” The English phrase translated perfectly into Lladranan.
Alexa met the thin Seamaster’s gaze coolly. “It is apparent that you Seamasters only decided to Summon someone after it was successful. Which means that I, Marian, and probably Calli were already here. You had only to ask for the information. We Marshalls and Chevaliers would have let you use the great Temple at the Castle. Would have helped. Fee negotiable.” She bit her words off. “You failed.” Her nostrils flared as she sucked in a big breath, nailed the thin guy with her hot glare. “You call Raine pitiful.”
Raine flinched, knowing everyone here thought of her that way and it was a blow to her ego. Not that her ego was more than the size of a pea lately.
“So she is, since she had no one to help or protect her. Obviously your Summoning circle didn’t work well as a team. Some of you must not have really wanted to Summon her. You didn’t look for her.”
“She didn’t come into the circle!” the burly one protested. “How were we to know she came at all?”
Marian spoke again. “That’s what the chimes are for. But you didn’t know that. What did you do, just half-heartedly perform a Summoning, hang around for a few minutes, then disperse to your fair? A good Summoning takes three hours. Idiots.” The last was only half under her breath.
“You didn’t even look for her,” Calli repeated.
“Then kept the whole thing secret,” Marian added.
“Didn’t tell us what happened until we asked. Then just said your Summoning failed so we didn’t know Raine might have arrived.” Alexa stood. “No details so we might figure out what actually happened.” She stared at the two men sitting stiffly in their chairs. “I don’t know that I can forgive you for that.” Then she took in a long breath and Raine saw her settle herself. “Since you don’t value her and we do, she is ours. We’ll gift her and take care of her. She’ll will have nothing to do with you. All we want from you is information so we can correct her health,” Alexa said and had the burly man shifting in his seat, looking uncomfortable.
The short man stood, was large enough by Earth standards, and Alexa short enough, for him to tower over her. “You can have her, and welcome.” He spared a disdainful glance at Raine. “Shows no sign Power to me. A dud.”
Alexa bared her teeth. “I was called that once.”
Bad phrasing on the Seamaster’s end. Raine was beginning to enjoy herself.
Faucon stepped between them, Alexa at his back. He nodded at the women. “Ladies.” He aimed a look at the big seaman who slowly stood. “Gentlemen. Why don’t I get every detail from the Seamasters in my study and keep tempers cool.”
“I’ll help,” Marian’s man said. He was a Sorcerer, a Circlet Raine had heard them called, but he didn’t look weak, though his smile was more sincerely charming than Faucon’s. “I have questions.”
Raine bet he did. He looked the sort to have endless questions.
The short man snorted as if he’d had the same thought.
“I also know the components of a Summoning exactly, so I’ll be able to postulate what went wrong.” Now there was an undertone of steel in his tone.
Little guy turned on his heel and walked away. He met the serving woman carrying a tray and snatched a short glass of whiskey from it and continued in the direction of Faucon’s Castle.
The big man nodded to Raine. “Sorry,” he said, and took off after his companion.
“Sorry!” Alexa hissed, not bothering to lower her voice. “They put you through hell and that’s all they can say. One effing word. ‘Sorry.’”
“Tea’s coming for you,” Faucon said, soothing, nodded to Marian’s man. “Let’s go.” They followed the Seamasters. When they reached the server, both men took brandy snifters.
“Good job, ladies.” Alexa’s man uncoiled from his chair. He walked up to her, picked her up and kissed her hard on the mouth, put her down.
Then he sauntered over to Raine. “I’m Bastien Vauxveau and pleased to meet you.” He held out a large hand. His callouses were different from a seaman’s, Raine noted, realized they were from holding a sword. She thought about bobbing a curtsey, decided against it. Everyone here thought she was an equal—she’d act it. “Pleased to meet you.” She put her hand in his, felt a wild buzz that stunned her.
Saw the blow to her chin too late.
It could have been worse. Much, much worse. Staring down at Raine, Bri felt her heart wring at the miserable shape she was in. Scrawny and malnourished, neglected and abused.
Everyone rushed around them, getting a carrier sling ready for Raine before she woke up from Bastien’s carefully calculated blow sizzling with Wild Magic. Neither Bri nor anyone else wanted to re-enforce the unnatural sleep. They could hope the poor woman was tired enough to stay asleep after she recovered from the shock, but didn’t know that for sure. Didn’t know exactly how Distance Magic—any additional Power—would affect her. They had to get her to the Castle and the great Temple before she awoke.
It was pretty damn evident that she hadn’t been near a person of more than average Power in all the months since she’d been improperly Summoned. If she had, that one would have noticed Raine’s own latent Power.
So Bri sat beside the new Exotique on the lush grass of Faucon’s lawn and kept a hand on her chest, monitoring her vitals. It was one of those there-but-for-the-grace-of-God-go-I moments. This could have happened to her. And more than Raine’s plight touched her heart. She stared at the woman and knew that Raine still had to perform her own task, suffer through the Snap. Bri could only hope that the toughest part of Raine’s time in Lladrana was past her, and Bri wouldn’t make odds on the woman staying.
Since Elizabeth had left, Bri thought it had been borne upon the Lladranans how lucky they’d been in Alexa and Marian and Calli. True, the Song would naturally Summon those who could stay—and how wonderful and strange it had been that the whole Drystan family might have crossed over to the different dimension—but so far most of the Exotiques had stuck.
Marian joined them, sinking gracefully to the ground. She stroked back Raine’s hair. “Poor thing.”
“We’d better watch that—in our words and thoughts,” Bri said. “No one wants pity for very long.”
“True.” Marian met Bri’s gaze. “Everything will be ready in a couple
of minutes. They’re improving on the makeshift net that brought Koz and Broullard home from battle.”
Bri snorted. “You’d think that that would have been done a while back.”
Marian inclined her head. “You’d think. If Circlets had been involved, it would have been.”
Bri sighed, glanced at the two volarans Calli had chosen to carry Raine and the half-real, mostly bespelled net lying on the ground between them. Alexa and Calli were working together to get the task done. “The Marshalls have been preoccupied with rebuilding their team.”
“Understandable.” Marian hesitated. “You looked sad.”
“I was thinking of all that Raine still has to experience.”
“Maybe designing and building a ship won’t be too dangerous.”
“I was hoping that, too. Wondering if she’d stay after the Snap. I can’t recall what portion of the Exotiques Summoned do.”
“Three-quarters stay. One-quarter leave.”
Bri shifted in the grass. “That means we might be safe.” She shook her head. “I don’t see Raine staying. Not right now.”
“We can only hope to persuade her.”
“Right. And if we don’t, two more will need to be Summoned, not one. Maybe more.”
“Let’s hope not. We’re running out of time.” Once more Marian hesitated. Looked down at Raine and blinked, swallowed, licked her lips. “If I’m right, she’s the descendant of the last Exotique before Alexa.”
Bri prodded her brain for details. “Came for the Singer, right? To teach her English?”
Marian nodded. “Ayes, Thomas Lindley stayed two weeks.”
“The Singer’s a quick study.” Bri rolled her shoulders. She’d heard enough about the woman to know she didn’t want to meet her. There was something else…“Didn’t the Singer and her Friends Summon that guy?”
Again Marian nodded. “Through mirror magic.”
Raine twitched under Bri’s hand. Her patient’s slow exhale held a hint of a moan. “Mirror magic,” Bri said.
Keepers of the Flame Page 41