No such luck. She continued to rummage, beginning to despair as she drew out dress after dress. Surely she could find something less frou-frou to wear for now. The tunic and slacks had better get here fast if Mort expected her downstairs in an hour.
Down in the very bottom of the chest the last dress was a slinky silver number, blessedly free of flounces and gauze. Sleeveless, the glittery material clung to her every curve, but at least it was stretchy and she could move freely. Even better, unlike the evening dresses, this one had a short hem, hitting above her knee. Perfect for running, though not so good for camouflage. A perfect Halloween super hero costume though. The thought made her smile.
With the silver dress on, she crammed the others back in the trunk. Wanting to eat something before she left, she debated waiting on the pants and shirt, then decided she could go eat and return to her room to change. As she slipped into the hallway, she made a mental note to ask Alrick for a weapon, maybe one of those sharp crystal knives she’d seen some of the other Fae women carrying. If she was going to be a sitting duck for this crazy Warlord guy, she’d better be armed. Maybe Alrick could even teach her how to use it.
Many twists and turns later – how did these people stand all this colorless glitter – she found the dining room, grabbed an apple and a muffin, and ran back to her room.
No tunic. No pants. Damn it.
Without a watch, she had no way of knowing how much time had passed. An hour? Or forty-five minutes? Why didn’t the Fae use clocks either? One of these days, if she lived long enough, she’d make a list of inane questions about Rune and make the Mage answer them. For now, she gobbled down her breakfast and made her way downstairs.
As promised, the Mage waited with Kayo and TM in the great hall. The other horse, a beautiful gray mare with a flowing white mane, stood docilely on TM’s other side. The thought of bring horses inside the pristine building gave Carly pause, but this wasn’t her palace, so she didn’t suppose her opinion mattered.
Her dog spotted her and broke into a dead run, barking.
Jumping on her and spinning in circles, Kayo’s tail wagged joyfully. By way of horse greeting, TM even snorted.
The only one missing was Alrick. She thought about their kiss and for a moment she wondered if he’d decided not to come with her. But he’d promised to protect her. Alrick didn’t appear to be a man who’d make such promises lightly.
A moment later, he entered the hall. The ever-present light sparkles played in his dark hair, but his complexion looked ashen. Was he ill?
“Are you all right?”
Looking up at her voice, he winced when he saw her dress.
“What are you wearing?”
With a shrug, she gave a self-conscious tug on the material. “Mort brought me a case of dresses. This was the best of the lot.” Glaring at Mort, she grimaced. “No one ever showed up with my pants and shirt either.”
“Sorry.” But Mort didn’t appear regretful. “I didn’t have time to find any.”
“You can’t go riding around in that.” Alrick said.
Immediately she decided she liked the dress. “Oh yeah? Why not?”
“Because you’re half-naked.” The way his bloodshot eyes smoldered told her part of him liked it and this infuriated him.
“Too damn bad. I’m ready to go.” She turned to Mort. “Are you sending us?”
“No.” He sighed. “My power is used remaining here, in this time. Alrick will do it. Link hands and touch the animals, please.”
Alrick grabbed her hand and took TM and Merry’s leads. Carly touched Kayo’s ruff. They were all connected.
“Ready?” Alrick asked.
Carly nodded. “Let’s go.”
Chapter Nine
ALRICK BEGAN to speak the words of the spell. Carly shivered. Not from cold, but because this time she felt the magic arrive. Like a gust of warm air, a buzzing started in her head, snaked through her body, and exploded at the soles of her feet, making her toes tingle. Concentrating, going with sensation, she experienced her body’s rapid disassembly, then the equally miraculous reassembling, molecule by molecule, blood and bone and muscle and skin – all of her. Amazing. Like something out of a science fiction movie. Magic.
Her feet found solid ground even as the rest of her body materialized. Still tingling, she clung to Alrick, liking the solid feel of him. As soon as she realized this, she pushed herself away.
The air felt different. But a quick glance around showed her they were home, back on her ranch.
TM whinnied, a sound of alarm. Merry, always docile, attempted to rear, showing her teeth. Alrick released them, and they took off together for the far end of the pasture, then began running back and forth. As though looking for a place to hide.
Kayo too, appeared uneasy. Ears flat against his head, plumed tail down, he slunk away.
“Something’s wrong.” Making a slow turn, Alrick met her gaze. “I feel… pressure.”
“Look at the sky.” She pointed. Against the overcast slate of the western sky, a bank of ominous wall clouds gathered. “That looks exactly like late spring. Tornado season around here.”
As soon as she spoke the words, she knew. A second later, she heard a loud rumbling – exactly like a freight train, how about that – and a swirling vortex dropped out of one of the huge clouds.
“Tornado!”
Her house had been built in the early 1900’s and had a storm cellar. Kayo, apparently remembering the last time they’d taken refuge in it, stood by the double doors set a foot above the ground, and barked once.
“Come on.” Grabbing Alrick’s hand, she ran. He couldn’t help her with the steel cellar doors, but she managed to unbolt and yank them open. Still tugging Alrick, they clattered down the dark steps, Kayo slipping past ahead of them. Stopping halfway, she pulled the doors down. They slammed shut and she bolted them from the inside before continuing on. At the bottom she collided with Alrick.
Gasping, she reveled in the solid feel of him before pulling away and groping on the floor to the right, looking for the lantern she always kept there. Connecting with the dusty plastic, she found the switch and flicked it on.
Alrick seemed to fill the tiny shelter. He looked around, taking in the unpainted shelves and concrete walls. “It’s like a tomb.”
Above them, the roar grew louder. The ground trembled.
“Damn that Warlord. If he takes out my house…”
“I don’t think this is the Warlord.” Alrick crossed his muscular arms. “Remember I told you disturbances happen when we use magic in your world?”
“But they’ve always been far away. This one is—.”
“Right here. I realize that. Small uses of magic send out shock waves, like sound or light. They build up force, stopping only when they encounter something solid. Thus the previous earthquakes and the hurricanes.”
“Why is this different? It’s concentrated here.”
“The amount of magic from the large spell we used to return must have caused an immediate reaction in your atmosphere.”
The very earth shuddered. The wind began to howl.
“Great.” She kept some old lawn chairs down here,
along with the requisite disaster rations of bottled water and canned goods. Setting the lantern on a dusty shelf, she located the chairs and unfolded them. “I hope the horses are okay.”
“They’ll be fine. Animals seem to know instinctively how to avoid bad weather.”
“Yeah. They run. The last time I had a bad storm, TM ended up two miles from here.”
Rain began to pound the metal doors. The howl of the wind became a shriek.
Whining, Kayo sidled up to Alrick. He reached down and stroked the dog’s black and white fur. Satisfied, Kayo turned a circle, curled at Alrick’s feet, and put his head on his paws.
The deafening freight train sound drowned out any further attempts to talk. Above them, the steel doors clattered and shook as the storm’s fury battered them.
�
�This should take care of the fire ants,” Alrick said.
Blinking, Carly gaped at him. “Somehow, in the midst of all this, I’d forgotten them. Do you suppose they were still here, so long after we left?”
“Time passes differently in Rune. What might have been days or weeks to us there can be mere hours of human time.”
“Wonderful.” Setting down the lantern, Carly rubbed her arms. “Just thinking about them makes me itch.”
“If we can get in the house later, I want you to get your antidote.”
“My self-injection kit? I will, if there’s anything left of my house.”
As quickly as it had begun, the roaring abated. The merciless pounding of the wind and the rain died, cut off as abruptly as if a giant hand had swooped from the heavens and wiped the earth clean.
Into the absolute silence, Kayo barked.
Carly looked at Alrick. He laid his hand on her shoulder. “Wait another minute.”
Heart pounding, she nodded. His touch had disturbed her nearly as much as the tornado.
Finally, Alrick removed his hand. “I think we’re safe. But just to make sure, once you get the door open, let me go out first.”
Expelling her breath in a whoosh, Carly debated arguing, then decided actions spoke louder than words. Even Kayo had his own ideas. The black and white collie raced past her on the stairs and outside. One backward look over her shoulder at Alrick, and Carly followed.
Behind her, Alrick shot out of the cellar like a bullet. “I told you to wait,” he growled.
“I know.” She dusted her hands on her bare legs. The glimmery silver dress now appeared to be the color of ashes. “If I can get in my house, I’m also getting my jeans.”
The sky was blue and cloudless. The blazing, late-afternoon Texas sun felt searingly hot on her arms. Far off in the north end of her pasture, she spotted TM and Merry, grazing peacefully.
Turning on wobbly legs, she took in the blackened soot where her barn had stood and then, half-afraid, she forced herself to face the house. It appeared normal, white paint peeling from the wooden sides, and blessedly ant-free.
“The storm didn’t touch it and you’re right, the ants are gone. The house looks… normal.” Taking a step forward, she felt like falling to her knees in gratitude. Normal. What a word. As if there was a chance someone somewhere would admit they’d made a colossal mistake. Then all this running and fighting and magical wars could end and she could return to her normal, uneventful life.
And maybe pigs could fly.
Kayo, tail arched over his back in a buoyant plume, took off towards the house, barking. Carly started after him, Alrick beside her. She moved closer more cautiously, but still moving. Home, her heart kept singing, and with each halting step, to her shock and disbelief she realized she’d truly come to regard No Name Ranch as her home. Beside her, Kayo ran in circles, barking agreement.
“Maybe the dog is warning you.”
“No.” She gave him another quick look. “That’s not his warning bark. Kayo’s happy. I’m happy. Everything’s fine.”
The closer she got to her house, the more all appeared to be like it had always been. No ants. No fireball. No lightning bolt or black cloaked man lurking outside the window. Blessedly normal. Blessedly sane.
She stopped, letting the feeling of thankfulness wash over her. “Maybe the warlord has given up.”
“Only when he’s dead.”
“Spoilsport.” Still, she smiled. If she could smile in the middle of all this, things couldn’t be too bad.
“Carly?” Alrick s voice, still worried. “Are you all right?”
“I’m good.” Giving in to impulse, she lifted her arms to the sky and twirled like a little girl playing ballerina. Her own form of celebration, unused since Liam died. “You never know, it’s possible the Warlord realized I wasn’t here and moved on. Maybe he’s looking for me somewhere else.”
“I greatly doubt that.” Having proclaimed his doom and gloom statement, Alrick shouldered past her and examined the peeling paint on her back door. “No ants.”
“We’ve already covered that.”
“No matter. This time,” he shot her a narrow-eyed look. “Let me go in first.” Feeling curiously adrift, she let him. Pushing open her back door, he entered her kitchen. She followed so closely she could have wrapped her arms around his waist, like she’d used to do with Liam. Confused, she shook her head. This was Alrick, her warrior-protector, not her slender, long-dead, husband. She was a widow, but no longer alone. Alrick stood in front of her, legs spread like some huge warrior. Her life might never be normal again. She cursed under her breath.
He stayed silent for so long she began to worry. “Well? Do you sense any magic or anything bad?”
“No.” He didn’t look at her, but continued scrutinizing the kitchen, moving slowly forward. “I sense nothing. But the Warlord is a powerful opponent. The last few times, he was able to use the element of surprise in his favor.”
That didn’t sound good. “So what you’re saying is you can’t sense him? He’s got some kind of magical shields?”
“I don’t know.” Grim-voiced, one hand on the chipped, butcher-block counter, he looked over his shoulder at her. “But I want you to remain here while I search the inside.”
“Here?” Attempting humor, she feigned terror, making a big play out cowering from the huge window over the kitchen sink. “You’d leave me unprotected, in front of this gigantic window, knowing the Warlord might appear?”
His eyes narrowed, though one corner of his mouth twitched in an effort not to smile. “Do you want to come with me?”
“Of course.” Then, when he opened the door, she breezed past him into the den. This was her house, after all.
She let Alrick check out the den while she did her own inspection. At the sight of the room, with its warm, homey rag rug and worn, overstuffed couch, her heart stuttered. More than any place else, she felt Liam in this room. The huge ceiling fan he’d installed still whirred overhead. She crossed over to the scarred wooden mantle and picked up the teak framed photo there.
“How long were you and Liam married?”
She jumped, nearly dropping the frame. “You scared the hell out of me.” Feigning nonchalance, she made a production out of placing the picture back on the mantle. Alrick’s smile looked grim. “I’ve been standing here a while. You were too engrossed in your memories to notice.”
Was that a trace of self-reproach she heard in his tone? Carly studied him, wondering why he’d even care.
When she didn’t immediately answer, he crossed the room to her side and picked up the frame to examine it. The photo inside was a particular favorite of hers, taken on a cool October day at the State Fair, the day after she’d accepted Liam’s proposal of marriage. They’d been laughing then, heads close together – hers the brilliant red of the new autumn, his the bright gold of eternal summer. The glorious promise of their future had still stretched endlessly out before them. False hope.
She swallowed past the lump in her throat. That was then. This was now. Less than three years later it was all gone. Shattered by a drunk driver who’d run a red light. Now she had another future, one she hadn’t chosen, one she wasn’t even certain she wanted.
Blinking back tears, she shook her head to clear it and forced herself to focus on Alrick. “You wanted to know how long we were married, right?” Her voice came out clear, unclouded by her jumbled emotions.
“Yes.” Carefully he replaced the frame and watched her. “If you’ve already told me, I’ve forgotten.”
“Nearly three years.” Turnabout was fair play. “Have you ever been married?”
“No.” He seemed about to say something, then stopped.
“What?”
“How long ago did Liam die?”
Miraculously, talking made her feel better. “A year ago next month.”
“I see.”
But she knew he didn’t, not really. He’d never even loved enough to mar
ry, never mind experienced the shattering agony of losing a beloved spouse. If anything, she ought to be the one feeling sorry for him.
Especially since Alrick was a prince. Most likely he would marry an arranged bride. He’d not have the luxury of marrying for love.
This newfound melancholy wasn’t welcome. Carly crossed to the window, turning the blinds to let the last of the light in. Outside, the dying sun slipped below the horizon, tell her it was well after nine. The days stretched into the night in the summer.
“We missed an entire day, coming here from Rune.” Her voice sounded bright. Too bright. She made a great show of flipping on the front porch light and yawning.
“Or we gained one.” Still looking grim, Alrick continued to watch her. “When traveling across the veil, you never know.”
“It’s late.” It was barely nine-thirty. “I’m tired. I think I’ll go to sleep.”
When Alrick didn’t reply, she chanced a glance at him.
Face still inscrutable, he’d replaced her picture and crossed his massive arms.
She sighed and turned to go. “Well. Good-night.”
“Let me inspect your bedroom.” He moved to intercept her. In the early evening light he looked dangerous, as a good bodyguard should. Unfortunately, just like in the movies, her body reacted to all that testosterone.
While she stood staring, lost in her thoughts, he moved closer. “Carly? Are you sure you’re all right?”
She blinked to find him near enough to touch. Damn it. “I’m fine.” Shaking her head to clear it, she tried to remember what they’d been discussing. Oh yeah. Inspecting her bedroom. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to inspect my bedroom. Remember what happened the last time I let you near my bed? Bad idea.” God, she wished she hadn’t brought that up. Just thinking about kissing Alrick made it hard to breathe. Her entire body felt flushed.
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