Storm Crow

by T. A. Creech

  Alegan wished he had the courage to face Catli as he said that. “Such wisdom,” he murmured, his tone light as he could make it.

  The shrug moved them both and Catli planted a kiss to the hinge of his jaw. Catli pulled away and Alegan growled with disappointment when his lover crawled backward off the bed. The wince as Catli found his feet soothed a little of his ego.

  “Alegan, we have a matter to attend to.” Catli held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. Alegan’s eyebrows shot up.

  “What?” He took Catli’s hand and was pulled to his feet. The ground shifted under his feet. Bliss weak knees were the cause, Alegan knew this, but he stumbled until he was stable. He looked up. His lover was already pulling clothes off the shelves.

  “We have to see Zusah before the morning, if I want to still see the challenge through.” Catli shoved half the stack into Alegan’s hands, then pulled on underclothes.

  He wanted to growl again and pull Catli back to bed. “I don’t understand.”

  “There is a tradition, among the Fire Stars, that newly Bound mages are given a fortnight to stabilize their Bond before they resume their duties to the villages.” Catli yanked his trousers on as he talked. “The tradition comes from the old belief Bonds needed to be solidified. We know this is no longer the case, but the tradition persisted here.”

  “I still don’t understand. Why is this a bad thing?” Alegan pulled his shirt over his head and tightened the strings. He may not get what the hurry was, but Catli wanted to see Zusah about this. Alegan would oblige.

  Catli smiled as he dealt with his own shirt. “I want to deal with Eshe now, instead of having her hanging over our heads when the time is up.”

  The logic was easy to follow. “That way we can enjoy ourselves without the tension.”

  Alegan checked himself over in a matter of seconds while Catli did the same. The wear on the island might be simple, but that was no excuse to be sloppy. Slim fingers brushed his cheek on their way back, tucking a few strands of his hair behind his ear. His lover gave him a quick once over when Alegan looked up from his own inspection.

  “Handsome,” Catli murmured.

  “You, more so,” Alegan couldn’t help responding. There was something almost unearthly about his lover. Besides the physical beauty and raw power.

  “Thank you.” Catli blushed a darker hue and took up Alegan’s hand in his own. “We have to go, before you distract me.”

  They tumbled out of the house and into the cool patter of rain. Fat drops cratered the dirt around them. More was to fall before long, the scent of ozone strong enough to overlay the faint whiff of sea and sulfur always present the rest of the time. Alegan laughed as the drops hit his hair and face, too cool on his skin. His Bonded joined in and then they were running across the open spaces toward the far side of the village, though Alegan didn’t have any idea who was pulling who forward. The rain felt like the cleansing he needed so much. The final torrent to wash away the last dreadful ties of his old life.

  His family had a piece of him, forever. His hope was they would be happy for him, if they saw him from beyond the gray rains that separated this life from Serena’s warm presence. Alegan’s memories of his wife and girls were all he had left of them, besides the couple of trinkets he brought. Perhaps it was for the best. Nothing left to obsess over, to draw him down into the darkness of grief again.

  Zusah’s big hut loomed out of the night. Light glowed in the windows, but none under the front overhang. Alegan had learned a light at the door meant the occupants welcomed visitors, but Catli skidded to a stop before the door, Alegan crashing into him. They chuckled as they righted themselves from their near fall, and Catli shushed him with a smile even as he smacked the door with the flat of his palm.

  Footsteps echoed inside for a couple seconds. The door wrenched open and Zusah stood tall and scowling on the threshold, a robe kept closed with a balled hand, half off her shoulders. A man stood in half shadow further back, naked from the waist up. He didn’t look any happier to see Catli and Alegan than Zusah did.

  “I hope one of you is dying, Catli, or I will skin you for interrupting my evening.” The tone was quiet, but it only made the Latten’s words more menacing.

  “Apologies to you both, but this couldn’t wait.” Catli tugged Alegan to his side as he spoke, hushed and quick. “I can promise to take a moment, at most, of your time.”

  The scowl deepened. “Do I have to invite you in for this problem?”

  “No.” Catli waved his hands in between them and Zusah. “We have come to inform you of our Bond.”

  “Congratulations to you both.” Zusah gave them a narrowed look. She settled back on Catli and huffed out an annoyed snort. “I’m assuming you want me to uphold the challenge.”

  “Yes and I need you to intercede for my right to face Eshe, instead of allowing for the reprieve,” Catli said.

  “But how did you know?” Alegan couldn’t help himself. The question begged for him to ask it.

  Zusah chuckled, shaking her head. “Oh, you sweet man.” She threw a look over her shoulder at her companion, who smiled back at her, full of teeth. The smile had morphed into a mirror of her paramour’s, which Zusah bestowed on Alegan. “When a magpie looks to steal, the crow follows it until the crow has taught the magpie some manners.”

  Not a response Alegan expected, but Zusah shooed them off with a jerk of her chin. “I will uphold your right as challenged and allow the contest to happen. Begone.”

  Catli snatched up Alegan’s wrist and drew him back into the dark rain. That was fine. Alegan wanted to continue their night. He had desires to fulfill.

  Chapter 9

  Dawn found Catli on the edge of his bed, hypnotized by the watery sunlight falling across his Bonded, gilded in gold. The man in his bed was a far cry from the half dead mage he carried from Toa’s Eyes, though more in mind than body. The light played a trick on his mind. His lover wasn’t golden, pallor from the backlash still there, but sun and care had made Alegan less of a specter and much more alive. Enough to fool people into believing his healing was complete.

  He had no illusions. Time and effort would help Alegan more than anything in Catli’s possession. And love. Catli had that in abundance and he was happy to give all he had to Alegan. Only time, again, would tell if his love would be enough. Brilliant stars shone between the fair tendrils of hair scattered over Alegan’s brow, the black lines only making the red more vivid. For better or worse, regardless of Catli’s heart, Alegan was now his. Regret had no place in him, but fear he would fall short? The feeling was compressed and hidden deep in his soul.

  Dark, liquid eyes fluttered open. Alegan smiled for him, crooked, a little shy in the day after. “Why are you awake so early?” Alegan’s voice was guttural, though warm from sleep.

  “I have to meet Eshe down at the Phantasm soon.” Catli leaned over and offered a chaste press of lips to his lover. “Already, the sun has been raised two hours. We need to get dressed. Unless you wish to stay here?”

  Alegan rolled onto his belly and pushed up until he was on his knees. “And miss this? No.”

  While he didn’t say so, Catli was glad Alegan was willing to be with him. Some had no stomach to watch a competition like the one he was about to have. There was no shame in excusing one’s self from observing, but he felt like he needed Alegan to be in the crowd.

  They dressed in silence, shared touches and soft kisses traded instead of words. Catli had nothing to say. The rest of their lives hinged on this one event. When he won, which he would, Catli hoped Alegan agreed to help him with the duties of Koah. If, by some stroke of terrible luck, he lost, they needed to figure out what to do with their lives. Until he had a victory in hand, Catli locked the conversation away, much like his fear.

  Alegan stayed with him, at his side, as they passed through the village and down to the beach. When they turned to the west, Alegan touched his fingers to the back of Catli’s hand. There was a confused smile on his face. “A
re we going to the big shallow cave carved into the mountain? The one in all black?”

  “The Phantasm, yes. Tests of power have been conducted there for a long time. Since the second or third Latten, I believe,” Catli answered. History wasn’t a strength.

  “I’ve been to it.” Alegan gave a wink, like he shared a secret. “Jari took me there when I asked for a place to practice my magic.”

  Catli smiled in the face of his Bonded’s infectious good mood. The shallow cave’s far edge flashed in the morning sun ahead of them, a crowd already clustered on the shore close to the water, waiting. In that moment, Catli stopped Alegan with their joined hands and cradled his lover’s face between his palms. The result of this challenge with Eshe didn’t matter in the end. He would find a new path if he failed. Alegan was the only part of his life that meant anything, now that he had found him. Failure held no fear for him. It was a heady feeling, to know his duties weren’t his top priority anymore.

  The grin dimmed on Alegan’s face. “Is something wrong?”

  “No,” Catli whispered. He pressed a quick kiss to Alegan’s mouth and a happy sigh escaped him. “I simply want to hold on to this moment, at the edge of the rest of our lives together.”

  “That’s…” Alegan’s face twisted into a thoughtful silence. “Rather romantic of you,” Alegan finished.

  Catli chuckled at his lover’s confused expression.

  “I mean, I enjoy your romanticism,” Alegan’s word rushed out. “I was just surprised. You seem to hold your feelings close.”

  There was some truth to his lover’s observation, though not entirely accurate. “With most, it’s true to say I am pretty reserved with the feelings that make me vulnerable. People like Eshe are why.” Catli stepped into Alegan’s space and lowered his voice into a more intimate volume. “With a limited few, that’s not the case at all.”

  Alegan hummed, the scent of wood fire building between them. “I see.”

  Catli took up his hand again and they wandered over to the crowd, pace slow. And why not? He didn’t have a care in the world about the outcome of the contest between himself and Eshe. Yes, Catli would give his all to prove his fitness for his position, because he wasn’t about to let some upstart chase him away. His happiness didn’t rely on his usefulness to the village anymore, on the other hand. Alegan was there to help him find a new way.

  The whole village seemed to have turned out to see the spectacle. People parted before Catli and Alegan, a sea that reflected the shades of the sunset on the ocean. At the front was Zusah, Eshe next to her. Catli’s challenger wore a scowl directed in his general direction, but he thought the expression might be for the villagers. They showed him respect for his position and more, since he was usually the first to help or intervene in an issue, regardless of her support among them.

  Catli didn’t offer any sort of genuflection to Zusah, she hated such displays for reasons known only to her, though he raised his hand in a greeting. Next to him Alegan did the same, content to follow his lead from the look of things. Eshe’s scowl deepened when Alegan came into view.

  “You’re not early, for once,” Zusah said. Her eyes jumped between him and Alegan for a moment. “I can see why.”

  “Be thankful I’m not late,” Catli answered, flippant. Jealousy didn’t enter into his words at all. They all knew Alegan was his, the same as he was Alegan’s, though her appraisal boosted his ego, just a little. Alegan was very handsome, from his secretive brown eyes and silvery scars, to his delicate ankles and surprisingly broad feet. The black lines around both of their carnelian red stars was all Catli ever needed though. People were free to admire, so long as they kept their hands to themselves.

  Eshe most of all.

  The crowd twittered around them, sprawled in a loose semi-circle to either side of the Phantasm. Among his people, married persons were tattooed around their ring fingers, both hands, with a design created by the couple or group. Groups were rare, but not unheard of. All of those marked understood the joke, while those who frequented many beds didn’t quite get the joke. Maybe in time they would find that one, or possibly more, that made them loath to leave their bed.

  As Zusah raised her hands to draw the attention of the crowd, Catli lifted Alegan’s hand and feathered a kiss to his fingers before Catli let go. He stepped up to the Latten’s side while she laid out the rules.

  “Three tests will be held,” she called out above the murmur of the excited people. “Best two out of three will win. First, a test of power!”

  Sound swelled from all sides when the villagers cheered. This was the easy test for him, bar none. He turned to the great cavern, a black darker than the night sky without the moonlight, and dropped his awareness into the center of his magic. It glittered and popped like the great heart of Toa, and he let the seductive heart subsume every sense. The heat expanded, raced to the very edges of his flesh. Magic burned down every heartbeat, every thought, every impulse. Catli wrenched his magic out of every pore and let if rage as it willed around him. He was the throated roar of the volcano. Time lost all sense.

  A darker flame wound around the flames of his whole self. It tasted of the deep woods and warm hearth, pine needles after a lightning strike. A gentle murmur was carried on the edges of the intimate heat. Alegan.

  For one beat of the world, Catli’s power fought his control. He tried to douse the eruption in his body and soul, but the conflagration spurned him now that it was free of constraint. He sent a wordless plea. Consumed in his own magic meant no more Alegan, no more wood fire power to mix with his own if he continued.

  The heat slacked off and the fire tapered off, the volcano at the center of his power satisfied. Catli groaned in relief as the flames finally died. He dashed the sweat from his forehead, panting the last of the hot air from his lungs. Sea air tasted like life on his tongue.

  A body slammed into Catli’s back. Arms caged his chest in and the point of a nose buried itself in the crook of his neck. “That was amazing,” Alegan breathed into his ear.

  Shouts accompanied Alegan. The dull ring in his ears, Toa’s infinite voice, receded until the noise rendered into words. A word. His name.

  Catli glanced to the sides, the only parts of the crowd he could see with Alegan hanging on to him like an octopus. Yes, they were chanting his name, cheering and throwing their fists in the air. A grin broke through his exhaustion. He loved his people.

  From the corner of his eye, he caught Eshe’s gaunt disbelief. Her eyes were wide, wild, whole face slack with surprise. It was gratifying and he would be lying if he said he didn’t feel a little smug pride.

  “Look what you did,” Alegan breathed into his ear. His right hand moved away from Catli’s body and indicated something on the Phantasm’s wall.

  There was something wrong with the glassy surface, distorted the mirrored image of the villagers and sea behind them. He walked out of Alegan’s embrace before the thought even occurred to move. The air still in his lungs.

  The stone had melted like wax; long loops drooped down the interior walls. It stretched the reflections in some parts, others shortened by the imprint of heat billowing against the black glass. Warmth radiated from the wall to a dozen steps. Catli looked overhead. The ceiling bulged. If he hadn’t stopped when he did, he was sure the ceiling would have rained down on their heads like rainwater.

  Catli backed out of the depression in the wall, unnerved. He never had cause to test the limit of his own magic, but here was the result, indelible, set in the very stone of the volcano.

  Alegan came to his side and pulled him away with a gentle hand on his shoulder. His lover’s expression was knowing and sympathetic. Catli took solace in Alegan’s apparent understanding, of exactly how dangerous even a master mage was. He had never been forced to see his magic like that before.

  “You are dangerous if you refuse to learn and control,” Alegan offered as he tucked Catli close to his side.

  The words were a cool balm to his fear and Catli
marveled. His Bonded managed to say exactly what he needed to hear, whether Alegan knew it or not. He pasted on a smile. It wobbled at the edges, but Alegan was kind enough to ignore it, if he saw the trouble Catli had at all.

  They stopped in front of the crowd and turned to watch Eshe.

  She moved into the cavernous space, a few steps deeper than Catli had. There was a determination Catli admired in his rival. Even though, by now, she must know she was outmatched, Eshe wasn’t backing away from her challenge. Maybe she thought she could still best him in the other two tests.

  Red swirled and coalesced around her form in a second. Heat rebounded from the smooth surface of the stone and heated the air, Catli felt it wash over him from where he was standing. Flames licked along Eshe’s bare arms first, and then covered the rest of her body in a sudden conflagration. Tendrils of it leaked along the sand and rose high, far above and around her. The heat didn’t rise above the pleasant warmth though. Stone didn’t bow and warp to her power.

  Zusah stepped in at last and called Eshe. The flames disappeared as if they had been doused with a water bucket. For another long moment, Eshe stayed turned away from the crowd, but the slump in her shoulders was clear as day. She knew she had lost this part of the contest.

  When she finally faced them, she gave a short nod to Catli. An acknowledgement of his win. Alegan smiled and Catli dipped his head in a respectful thanks. Perhaps some good might come from this folly.

  Already, Zusah was speaking to the gathered villagers. “Catli’s power is greater. Now we see who will have better command of their magic.”

  A test of precision, if Catli remembered right. It was a simple test, but not easy at all. Catli was no artist when it came to creation of anything. He eyed the two big logs of wood Zusah’s helpers laid down in the center of the Phantasm. Alegan made a sound of his curiosity, a little harrumph, in his ear.

  “I wish for a flower,” Zusah commanded of Catli and Eshe. “Whichever one pleases you to make.”