Heart Fortune (Celta)

by Robin D. Owens

  Oh, no! Lepid said.

  Continues to be not good, said Zem.

  How are we going to get out? Lepid demanded.

  I don’t know, Jace said.

  I will think on this, Zem said. I am going fishing in the lake, then back to my nest.

  We all will figure this out, Jace said. He walked over to the bed, sank onto the hard cushion. Lepid hopped down from his lap and began to pace, but the fox didn’t seem to be as afraid as he’d been before.

  But this time they really were trapped. The spell light Jace had been using faltered and he boosted it, but he wasn’t accustomed to holding an ongoing spell throughout the day. Even though the energy wasn’t too much, it was enough to drain him if he kept it up for more than a septhour or two. Soon they’d be in the dark.

  His fingers slid into his pocket and tightened on the tool with a wisp of hope that it could cut them out of there. “Let’s see if this will get us out.”

  He strode to the door, put his hand against it. No heat now, the fire had died fast. He stared at the large piece of sliding metal, not really sure how it worked. He didn’t recall seeing any protruding lock in the side of the door. Maybe it locked at the top or the bottom. With regular doors you could bash at the hinges. And was it just shut, or shut and locked, or even worse, fused to the jamb?

  Applying his tool to the tiny crack where it set into the wall, he sent a steady Flair to the cutting edge.

  He scratched the surface, no more.

  Lepid yipped. Uh-oh.

  “Yeah, not so good.” He would burn himself and the tool out before he dented the door. “Let’s look around for something to pry. Break the wall.” Probably futile. “Open the door.”

  Tail wagging, Lepid said, Fun!

  As the fox shouldered himself into the closet and began to paw around, Jace scrutinized the control panel again. It, too, was cool. Fried stuff, hole opening at the bottom of the wall that he couldn’t fit his hand into. Now he could feel lingering Flair from the timed explosion.

  He checked the wall on the left side of the door, no heat. He banged on the wall and the door, set his hands on the door and tried to slide it open. Nothing.

  The area still smelled of unwholesome smoke.

  I found a pretty! Lepid said.

  Jace abandoned his worthless efforts at the door and folded the accordion door to the small closet completely open. Lepid turned and trotted out, something gold in his mouth. Jace hunkered down. “Let’s see.”

  Lepid dropped it in Jace’s palm, wet with drool. The filigree brooch was beautiful, of no design that Jace had ever seen. In the center of the gold was a black stone and on that a white carving of the profile of a woman. “Beautiful,” he breathed. Fabulous find. This piece of jewelry could be sold for a huge amount of gilt. T’Ash, the blacksmith and jeweler, would like it, Jace was sure.

  And it could start a whole new fashion trend.

  Lepid sat, grinning. We can give it to FamWoman.

  Jace nearly dropped the piece. Bitterness coated his tongue. “This belongs to everyone who signed up to share in the venture. We have to give it to the Elecampanes.”

  Lepid’s ears drooped. Really?

  “Yes. And FamWoman and I are . . . not together anymore.”

  With a large sniff and a swish of his tail on the floor, Lepid said, Just argued.

  Jace’s jaw clenched. No, it hadn’t been a simple argument. Glyssa had walked away. But he had worse things to think about than that. “A beautiful brooch.” He laid it in front of Lepid’s paws. “But it won’t get us out of here.”

  Nosing it toward him, Lepid said, You keep it for FamWoman. He turned and pawed at a built-in unit containing drawers.

  Reluctantly, Jace picked up the brooch and pocketed it. “How many other items have you found?”

  Lepid scrabbled faster at the top drawer, didn’t look at Jace. Not many.

  Which meant more than one. “Did you give anything to Glyssa?”

  No. I gave a string to Zem for his nest.

  Lord and Lady knew what the “string” was. “And the others?”

  Nothing much that humans would like. Now the young fox abandoned the drawers, ran and hopped up on the bed, sniffed along the outline of the mattress.

  “Where are the other things you took from the ship?” Jace winced at what the scholars who liked to viz everything in its place would say.

  Lepid finally looked at him, twitching an ear. They are cached.

  “With your cached food?” He hoped he didn’t sound as appalled as Glyssa might have been.

  No, other caches. I think I remember them all.

  Great.

  Not only had Trago been thieving, but so had the fox. Jace and Glyssa had been accessories to Fam theft.

  Jace bent and opened the first drawer, nothing. He pulled out the second.

  I took some rags, Lepid confessed, sitting on the bed. The people took most of their good clothes.

  All of the drawers were empty. Jace glanced at the pegs in the closet that held a couple of forlorn-looking pieces of clothing for someone smaller than himself.

  Lepid hopped from the bed and tried to get under the mattress set on another cabinet . . . slightly lower than an average Celtan man’s height.

  Jace went over to help him. Not many other places large enough to hold something that would be useful as a good pry bar. Lifting up the mattress, he saw a couple of small, torn shreds of papyrus. Lepid whisked them out and Jace let the mattress fall with a thump. Lepid dropped the scraps of papyrus at Jace’s feet. He picked them up, saw handwritten unfamiliar words, and put those in his pocket with the jewelry. Who knew, the papyrus might turn out to be more valuable than the brooch.

  The cabinet under the bed was empty, too. A half septhour later they’d searched the whole room thoroughly and Jace had placed a few found items atop the dresser cube in the closet—a shirt, some small tight bent wires that Lepid said smelled like hair, an odd bottle they’d found in the cleansing cubicle that had dried stuff in it.

  Despite all the distractions the fox and the brooch had provided, the truth settled hard into Jace’s bones, coated his arteries. He and Lepid were trapped in a buried starship and it didn’t appear as if they could get out on their own.

  Only Zem and Trago knew where they were, and Trago would do his best to smear Jace and point people in another direction.

  Jace and Lepid could definitely die—either by hunger and thirst, or by desperately trying to teleport to an unsafe place. All the other tents in camp . . . all the walkways . . . anywhere he could think of . . . could have people in them, coming and going. A botched teleportation would be fatal to them all.

  Of course they had one last option, but Jace wasn’t quite ready to surrender to that.

  “Come sit with me while I think.” Jace sat on the bed, patted the mattress beside him. “I’m going to let the spell light go out now. I need to save energy.”

  Lepid shuddered, jumped onto the bed with him. I had to do that, too. Before. I am strong enough to make a light now, though.

  Jace petted him. “In a while. Let’s settle in.” He lifted his legs, flattened out on the bed. The mattress was no bedsponge, but some ungiving material . . . and weirdly enough, Jace could now feel the contours of whoever had slept there ages before. A smaller someone, both in width and length. Maybe female.

  Lepid stepped onto Jace’s chest, curled up. It is good we are together.

  The situation would be better if neither of them were there. Skull-shaped terror gibbered in the back of Jace’s mind, ready to bite. He kept punching it in the teeth. Didn’t stop the cold sweat coating him.

  Lepid whimpered. Glyssa is the only one besides Zem and you that I can talk to well. What about you?

  “Let me check.” Slowly he let the spell light trickle away, sighed when the small energy drain stopped. As they lay in the dark, Jace became aware of the scent of the fox . . . of other smells, residue of smoke and fire, those were Earthan. Now that he could
n’t see, he felt surrounded by alien stuff. The covering on the mattress was no Celtan cloth. Even the sound of their breathing and their small movements echoed strangely in a room of metal and fake wood and other Earthan materials he had no name for.

  He didn’t want to die here.

  Again he forced that fear away, breathed deeply and concentrated on the links, the emotional bonds, he had with others. The strongest was with Zem. . . . no, he lied to himself. The strongest, if the thinnest, was with Glyssa. Not surprising since he’d had that, even if he hadn’t known it, hadn’t discovered it, hadn’t admitted it, since the second Passage to free his Flair years ago. He’d had Passages, had made a HeartGift, but his Flair had never obviously manifested. He stopped himself from shifting.

  Glyssa had tended the bond at times when he’d been ignorant of it, when he hadn’t seen it or felt it. Unlike a few weeks ago, this time he knew the bond would always be there, would always be tangible.

  Of course the solution to this whole mess was to call Glyssa. Stupid not to have done that immediately.

  Especially since she was riding away from the camp with every second.

  But his pride, his very heart had been wounded by her. She’d shaken his world with her words, made him see himself in an unflattering light. Made him doubt his self-identity.

  Made him want to change.

  Change wasn’t bad, but he wouldn’t reach for Glyssa first, beg her to take him back. Not if he could get out some other way. Stupid to want to save his pride, or not want to aggravate a hurt to him, to her, but . . .

  He scanned his other ties, precious few. No Family, of course. A strong but thin white one to . . . Raz Cherry T’Elecampane. Jace winced. Calling that guy mentally would be worse than speaking to Glyssa if he wanted to keep the fact that he and Lepid had been here in the ship secret. Not much chance of that, but a sliver . . . if he . . . they called Glyssa. If they could hold out until she came. If they could work together to teleport them somewhere safe.

  And her arrival back here, maybe the return of the entire band led by Del D’Elecampane, would not go unnoticed, especially by Trago.

  Well, he had that unexpected inheritance from his father now that his word was foresworn and he’d broken the contract with the Elecampanes and the other shareholders and forfeited his stake.

  His father had loved him, had tried his fumbling best for Jace, and he should respect that. The thing was, just the idea was surprising. His father had been so in love with his mother, so bedazzled by her and under her thumb that Jace hadn’t realized he’d loved his son, too.

  Now the last trace of smoke, maybe the closeness of a snoozing Lepid’s fur and the dust from him, stung Jace’s eyes.

  And this wasn’t the right kind of thinking to get them out of here.

  One thing he did know, despite the new info on his father, and Jace’s unpleasant look at himself, he didn’t want to die here. He especially didn’t want to die slowly and watch a loved one die with him.

  Which meant he should continue checking his bonds. There was a fuzzy, nasty black sort-of thread that reeked of wrongness. What was that?

  Gently, gently he “touched” it. Shock! Stabbing pain. Anger.

  Fliggering fligger! shrieked a high voice in his mind. Trago.

  Jace lunged in disgust back from the tiny link.

  How could that be?

  He hates you. All his anger and pain is focused on you, Zem interjected. Easy for his BirdFam to say. He wasn’t stuck in the ship, hadn’t experienced the link viscerally.

  I felt enough, Zem said. Felt like the blazer shot that singed my feathers.

  Sorry, Zem. Jace considered the tie, didn’t think he could get rid of it. Had never heard of anything like this before.

  After some deep breathing, he could feel connections again. The shortest to the closest person was to Andic Sanicle. That man would stir up trouble for Jace. No links to Funa or any of the other women he’d slept with in camp. Nothing with Symphyta, though he’d spoken with her every morning when Zem was hurt, and they were friends.

  Glyssa would have stronger, deeper bonds than he, even with members of the camp who she’d recently met.

  Stop brooding. Act!

  The last one he traced was a faint blue link that surprised him. It resonated of male and headed in the direction of Druida and he understood it was Glyssa’s father. Not strong enough for him to contact.

  I could fly very fast to Glyssa, Zem offered. Even with a bad wing.

  Thank you, no. Jace rubbed Lepid awake. “We’ll, I’ll need to contact Glyssa. Lord and Lady knows how far away she is.”

  Lepid licked Jace’s nose. She will come. She will save us.

  She already had, both of them. Taken on a rambunctious fox kit as her Fam, Jace as her love.

  He still couldn’t acknowledge the HeartMate thing. That was on him.

  “Yes,” he said.

  Thirty-seven

  They’d stopped for lunch. Glyssa was given the task of finding dry wood to keep her from obsessing about Jace. Didn’t help her hurting heart, but kept her hands busy. Everyone seemed glad to take the break and that it would be long enough for a fire. The day had clouded over again, the blue sky septhours gone.

  She was sitting on a log with Camellia, greedily eating a meat and veggie kebob wrapped in a flour flexbread when Jace said, Glyssa. I need you.

  Tears welled and she battled them back.

  Lepid shouted into her mind. FamWoman, FamWoman. HELP! We are trapped in the ship!

  Glyssa bit her tongue, hard, nearly dropped her sandwich, squeezed it so hard a piece of onion popped out and lay on the ground.

  What? she cried out mentally to her lover and Fam.

  Trago is the mean person! He trapped me, and I called FamMan to help and he came and now we are both trapped in a little room in the ship!

  Her vision simply went white, the news was so contrary to what she’d thought. Jace and Lepid sure weren’t following her to apologize.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Camellia.

  Glyssa realized she’d swayed and her friend had put an arm around her waist to steady her. “Just a minute, Lepid’s talking to me. There are problems.”

  Glyssa, calm, Jace said. We won’t die soon.

  His mordant humor didn’t comfort her. You are all right.

  Hesitation, then, For now.

  I’m sure calling me was your last resort. Her reply came out snappish with bitterness and fear.

  That is true, Jace said.

  She’d flung her bond with him wide and could feel the horror in the back of his mind. Her insides squeezed. This couldn’t be happening!

  Unfortunately, it is happening, Jace responded to her thought. She sensed him petting Lepid who sat beside him on . . . a bed? She thought she felt him sigh, could almost see his lips curving in self-deprecating humor. But I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said. I would have contacted you soon anyway.

  She shuttered her mind against her snotty answer. She was less good in a potentially fatal crisis than she’d hoped.

  “Something’s terribly wrong,” Camellia whispered.

  “Yes.” Putting her food beside her on the log, Glyssa stood and moved to where Del was standing, talking to the cartographer.

  One glance at Glyssa had Del dismissing the man, sinking into her balance and waiting for bad news. “What’s up??

  Glyssa couldn’t prevent herself from wetting her lips, even so, her voice came out more squeaky than she wanted. “Apparently Lepid followed Trago into Lugh’s Spear.” She wasn’t sure of the details, why hadn’t she asked? Too late now, she had to speak as if she knew what she was talking about. She made her voice strong and steady, matched it with a serious, honest expression. “Trago is the villain who’s been sneaking around and raiding the ship.”

  She felt general agreement from Lepid and Jace tickle the back of her mind and continued.

  “Your fox went down into the ship,” Del snapped.

  �
�Yes, and Trago trapped him.” Glyssa lifted her chin. “Jace went after him.”

  Del grimaced, made a chopping gesture. “Let me guess, Trago trapped him, too.”

  “Yes, then packed up Jace’s tent and things and . . . disposed of them.” More affirmation from Jace and Lepid.

  “Jace’s tent had a spellshield. If Trago got through that, he’s more powerfully Flaired than we all believed,” Del said.

  “Strong enough to send a boulder, by Flair, into the girder hole and ruin the canvas and entryway for teleportation so my guys can’t get out of the room he trapped them in.”

  “Sounds logical,” Del said. Her expression hardened. “I will scry our guards to arrest Trago, but I will not authorize my people to go down into the ship after Jace and Lepid. I’m sorry, I will not risk anyone.”

  Fear jolted through Glyssa. She hadn’t expected this. She drew in a deep breath. “They’re my responsibility, I’ll go. I do want your permission to descend into the ship.”

  Del hesitated.

  Glyssa lifted her brows. “If it were Raz and Shunuk down there?”

  “Raz and Shunuk—” Del pressed her lips together. Glyssa knew the Elecampanes well, all of them burned with curiosity as much as she, they were just older and wiser and had more to lose than Jace and Lepid.

  “I’ll give you permission. I’ll let everyone know you’re coming and to give you help—short of going into the ship . . . at first.” Del raised her hand. “We let a lot of people go down there and we’re just asking for it to be looted.” She exhaled heavily. “More than, apparently, Trago has already. We cannot let the knowledge the ship contains be more contaminated than it has been. Lugh’s Spear might be able to answer many questions for us regarding our psi powers, our history, that Nuada’s Sword does not know. You go first. If there are problems, the Hollys and Raz and I will confer as to who else we might send.”

  Glyssa stood straight. “I understand.” She looked at the line of stridebeasts. “I’ll go back.”

  “I won’t turn this band around. Raz is expecting us at the Deep Blue Sea and it’s important to get these other settlers out of our way. Happy somewhere other than in our venture.”