Echoes in the Dark

by Robin D. Owens

  Marian said, “As if the Dark knows a final showdown is coming.”

  Thunk. Back to reality. Being here at the Marshalls’ Castle would always do that. She shifted her shoulders. She felt a lessening of a burden. One of her tasks that kept her on Lladrana was fulfilled.

  Then Faucon disappeared from sight.

  Castleton

  Raine just couldn’t stay in the Temple or the Castle. With Enerin trotting beside her as a miniature greyhound, Raine walked with Calli and Marrec and their children to their suite at Horseshoe Hall. They invited her in, but she declined, too itchy under her skin to be with them.

  Faucon hadn’t flown to battle since they’d been lovers. She wouldn’t have wanted him to stay—hell, yeah, she wanted him to stay—but she wouldn’t want him to forsake his duty, couldn’t ask him to do that. That unquestioning attendance to his responsibilities was something she deeply admired.

  But she didn’t like him gone to battle.

  He will be fine, said Enerin.

  Raine stopped in her tracks on the way to the stables, stared down at her companion. “Do you really know that or are you just being sympathetic?”

  Enerin sat down and scratched her ear with her hind leg, tilted her head, gave a puppy grin. I really know that.

  Letting out a pent-up breath, Raine said, “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome. Where are we going?”

  Raine hesitated. “Back to the house in Castleton.”

  “Good.”

  “I have stuff there.”

  “Ayes,” Enerin said.

  Blossom was waiting and nuzzled Raine, greeted Enerin with a whuffle, and the two-mile flight to the house was quick.

  I will stay at the end of the street instead of going to my stable, Blossom said. Since we will be returning to the Castle.

  Everyone expected that Raine would be in on the discussion of the gong, and of course she would, but she sighed.

  When she walked through the house to her bedroom everything seemed different. It wasn’t the house, this beautiful place crafted for the City Exotique…Bri, before she found her own home in a local tower. Raine knew it was herself.

  She looked at the house differently.

  No longer was it a refuge from the awful months of living like the lowest of the low. Nor was it a prize, a symbol that she was someone special, an Exotique.

  In the few weeks away, she’d changed.

  This was no longer home. A beautiful house, but not her home. She sat on the bed and looked out the window to the pretty park, the lovely houses surrounding the greenery, the passersby cheerful and prosperous.

  Looked around at the room with the pitifully few personal items she could call her own. Atop the handcrafted dresser was her cowboy hat—“the Exotique gang”—that could still make her smile. On the desk was a stack of books, all the others’ Lorebooks, including a copy of Elizabeth’s book. She’d read it and it hadn’t revealed many of Elizabeth’s feelings for Faucon. It was more a factual account than anything else, and focused on the plague and the Chevalier’s sickness that she and Bri had to whip. But one thing was for sure, Elizabeth’s actions had changed Raine’s life, even though they’d never met in person.

  If Elizabeth hadn’t been in the picture, would Faucon have loved Raine? Raine thought so. He had an innate attraction to Exotiques, and heaven knows, Raine was attracted to him. But Elizabeth had made Raine’s and Faucon’s coming together more difficult.

  Sitting in the lovely house, Raine realized that was no bad thing. Because Faucon’s heart was tougher now, wasn’t it? He’d believed Raine when she’d said she would return home to Earth, as he hadn’t believed Elizabeth.

  Home to Earth. She thought of her little cottage and the boats she’d made and how she’d been dissatisfied with her family and her work. She’d had an offer from a French firm….

  But she was no longer that Raine Lindley. She had grown far beyond that young woman, and she didn’t know now if the cottage could remain her home.

  She’d lived several places on Lladrana. A few inns, ever closer to the sea until she stayed at the Open Mouthed Fish on a pier where she’d gotten a job as a potgirl through the kindness of the gruff female owner. A night at Faucon’s deckhouse, then a room in the Marshalls’ Castle, finally this beautiful house.

  But not one of them was home.

  The image of her rooms in Faucon’s castle came—that was the closest place that had actually felt like home.

  She went to her desk, opened Elizabeth’s book, looked at the medical doctor and her new husband. Obviously Elizabeth loved that man, had had an affair with Faucon on the rebound from a previous breakup. Had gone back to Earth where her love was. Bri, Elizabeth’s twin, had stayed with her love, Sevair, as had all the other women. They’d made lives here on Lladrana.

  None of them were Raine.

  She snapped the book shut. She didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know what life on Earth or here would hold.

  Enerin trotted in with a small bag of toys, the strap in her mouth. I am ready to leave.

  “How did you know we were leaving?”

  You are the Seamistress. Your place is at the coast.

  True enough—Earth or Lladrana, her home, when she found it, would be on the coast.

  Enerin sniffed. You are not packed yet.

  Raine narrowed her eyes. “That sounded like a cat sniff to me, a cat comment. You are a puppy, loyal and true, happy to be with me.”

  Plopping down on her butt, Enerin let the strap fall from her mouth and lolled her tongue, made big eyes. I love you.

  “Oh.” Tears burned behind Raine’s eyes. She forced them back. “I love you, too.” Raine hauled out a duffel, folded clothes into it from the wardrobe and dresser drawers. Squeezed in the books, a few knickknacks the Exotiques and their men had given her. She’d been given everything…or had worked for it. She didn’t recall actually buying anything.

  She put her hat on her head and felt weird, as if she really were part of the Exotique gang and would be staying, but where else would you carry a hat?

  Blossom neighed outside and a few seconds later the Castle klaxon rang. Raine tensed, listening to the pattern she’d learned to distinguish. The horrors had been killed, a new fence post raised, no Lladranan casualties. Her knees felt weak and tension drained.

  The Chevaliers and Faucon will be back soon, Enerin said. You should move your things to Faucon’s rooms so we can all talk about the gong.

  Raine wasn’t sure she wanted to talk about the gong.

  Enerin nosed under her pantleg and slurped on her ankle. You did very well. You discovered what no Lladranan, no other Exotique had. You know what the Dark wants.

  She did. The Dark wanted death.

  Still, Raine shouldered her duffel, and left the house, saying a silent farewell to it. Once again she’d changed and outgrown a place. Her time here was done.

  There was a man sitting in the park. His manner and dress seemed rougher than what was usual in this part of town. When she passed him and nodded a greeting a look of pure revulsion twisted his features so he resembled the guy who’d stalked and attacked her.

  Her step froze, then she moved on, though a chill slid along her spine. She just wasn’t used to this reaction. The house on the square had been chosen for Bri, the Exotique Medica, because none of the locals had the revulsion reaction.

  The incident added to the rest of her unease and she called Blossom, then hurried to the end of the street.

  Her mind went back to her tasks. She may have accomplished one, but she had two more to go—integrating the Seamasters back into Lladranan life and raising a ship—before she went home.

  Wherever that would be.

  23

  Singer’s Abbey

  Jikata was awakened from an after-dinner doze by a feeling of tugging strings inside her and a ringing in her ears that made her think she’d heard something in her sleep. She listened but no unusual sound came. There was sibilant whisper
ing outside her door and a sense of activity in the Abbey compound.

  With a little four-note hum, she swept the muzziness from her mind and rolled her shoulders as she rose from the chair she’d fallen asleep in. Marian’s Lorebook was on the side table.

  Stretching, Jikata walked to the outside door of her rooms where someone hovered, and opened it to her maid. The young woman’s face cleared.

  “What is it?” Jikata asked.

  “The Abbey bell echoed the Marshalls’ Castle alarm.”

  That took a few seconds to sink in and when it did, Jikata tensed. “The Marshalls and Chevaliers are flying to battle?”

  “Ayes,” her maid said and stepped forward to enter the rooms. “We’ve been told there have been small incursions of the horrors, but nothing triggered our alarm.” She hurried to a cabinet in Jikata’s sitting room, opened the top narrow map drawer, lifted out a built-in frame, pulled out the second drawer and snapped the whole in place. A piece of tapestry taut on the wood turned from blank linen to a Lladranan map, then became animated.

  Jikata stared. Looked at the maid. “Is this a map like that one in the Marshalls’ Castle?”

  Her maid nodded. “But this is much smaller.” She stood straight. “The Singer’s Abbey has everything the Marshalls’ Castle has—” she paused “—except the gong. But we have the Caverns of Prophecy. That’s why the Abbey was built here. And because it’s in the south, well away from the invading horrors.”

  Jikata nodded, drawing close to see the map. Little shields were moving from the Marshalls’ Castle northwest to the coast.

  The maid sucked in a breath. “I thought we’d replaced those fence posts. It’s not good that we’re fighting in the northwest.” She frowned. “It must have been the very last one, don’t you think? I heard the land was weak there, it might have crumbled into the sea.” When Jikata stared at her she flushed, knotted her hands in her apron, glanced around. “I thought you should watch.” She lifted her chin. “You are an Exotique, too. You should see what the others are doing.” With a roughened finger the maid pointed to blue-green shields. “That’s Alyeka and Bastien.” The maid frowned. “I don’t see Calli and Marrec, so they remain at the Castle with their children. Marian isn’t going, either, though she does occasionally, probably not a big enough challenge for her. Bri is a medica and only went to battle once so she could train other medicas. Last I heard, Raine was on the coast.”

  Jikata grabbed onto the topic, the first time someone had mentioned the other Earth women. “What of Elizabeth?”

  The maid’s eyes widened and she put a hand over her mouth, as if realizing she’d been indiscreet.

  Jikata gestured to the books. “I’m reading them all, so you can tell me of Elizabeth.”

  “She returned with the Snap,” the maid said in a hushed voice.

  “Alexa and Marian have written of the Snap.” Jikata tapped the map, the largest island. “This is where Marian’s tower is.” She didn’t know for sure, but knew it was Bossgond’s island and that there was a spot on that island that attracted Marian, so it was a good guess. “More about Elizabeth, please.”

  “She was—is—Bri’s twin and went back to Exotique Terre. I didn’t know that she’d written a Lorebook.” Suspicion was in the maid’s gaze.

  “The Singer gave me all the books,” Jikata reminded her.

  “Ayes.” But the maid retreated to the door. “Watch the battle in the north. You should see that.” She opened the door and snicked it shut behind her.

  Jikata stared down at the little animated map. There were a lot of shields moving around the northwest edge of the country. Some pairs were long and pointy, and different colors with tiny bars on them, like wands. The blue-green shield with the green bar was Alexa’s, the black-and-white one, Bastien’s. Definitely Marshalls. The shorter, squatter shields would be Chevaliers then. There were a lot of orange-and-red ones milling around.

  Then there was a flare of bright light that dimmed down to a steady blue, sent a ray of blue light to the east, and Jikata’s eyes widened. She’d just seen a fence post made! The blue line with blue dots must be the magical border that kept the horrors out. It ranged all the way across Lladrana with a tiny gap here or there, and a ragged opening in the east. If Alexa and the Marshalls had replaced the entire fence over the last couple of years, it was an impressive feat. And a lot of battles.

  A sweet bonging of the bell tower came…and the sound almost made sense. On the map the shields were winging south. To the Marshalls’ Castle, where the action was. Never as far south as the cloistered Abbey.

  Marshalls’ Castle

  Raine and Enerin and Blossom flew back to the Castle. To Raine’s surprise one of Faucon’s squires met her at the Landing Field and cooed at Blossom, leading the volaran to the stables. The squire looked at Raine’s cowboy hat, winked, then took her duffel. “You’ll want to be going to the Temple.”

  Not really, but she did, anyway.

  There were people in the Temple, Chevaliers and Marshalls who had not been on the fighting rotation, soldiers of the Castle, even the odd little guy who ran the Assayer’s office. The doors of the place were not quite shut, letting in the night air to mix with incense someone had lit. Low talk filled the Temple. People had filed up to inspect the gong but none of them touched it. What had been a common object taken for granted had suddenly become dangerously lethal.

  Marian and Jaquar were still near the gong, and Raine couldn’t tell whether they’d remained the whole time. They were affably answering questions.

  Then Alexa’s bootsteps rang on the stone, no mistaking that sound. Raine turned and the doors opened for her. She was followed by Bastien and Faucon.

  Faucon’s face was ruddy from the cool flight, but his grin was wide, his eyes a trifle wild. Raine ran to him and didn’t stop when she scented monster gore. He grabbed her, whirled her around, and she figured that would be their new standard greeting. His body was warm under cold armor, his breath puffed against her ear. “The new fence post is mine! I was the one who killed the horror and planted the post!”

  “A great honor,” she said.

  “Ayes.” He kissed her. “My luck has been in lately. I now have four posts in the border.”

  He didn’t look like he had a scratch on him. Some dirt and sweat and a bit of sea-scent, but no blood. Her last, lingering fear for him vanished. She kissed him back, dimly hearing Alexa’s yell for attention.

  Faucon slid her down his body and she felt his burgeoning arousal. With easy strength he set her on her feet beside him.

  “Listen, all! We will discuss the gong. Those of you who want to stay are welcome, though I recommend only those who have made the invasion force remain. Bastien will be invoking a no-tell spell.”

  Bastien swept the space with a penetrating gaze, and most people were moving out the doors. “The spell will last until your death and will only be able to be removed by me or a Circlet.”

  No chance at all for gossip, then.

  “From now on, a no-tell spell will always be a requisite at our conferences.” He took Alexa’s hand. “We Marshalls have been more open than ever before about our plans, but that ends now.”

  Alexa frowned but said nothing and Bastien continued, “The stakes are too high. All our lives, our land, our world.”

  The tenor of his voice, backed by his strange black-and-white magic, rippled through all of them in a spell. Then he smiled. “Feel free to speculate ten different ways when you talk and spread rumor.”

  Even more left, some nodding, some raising a hand in farewell. A few people settled on the colorful fat pillows gracing the built-in stone seats: the Captain of the Castle Guard, a couple of Townmasters, but as was happening most often, only the core group remained.

  Everyone who was anyone was there, clumped around the gong. All the Exotiques and their men, Luthan, and Koz, Marian’s brother, along with some nobles—Marshalls and Chevaliers—and Citymasters. And Bossgond, the greatest sorcerer of thei
r age.

  When the doors were closed, Bastien raised his voice in the no-tell spell, and they all joined in. The Power of that songspell was such that no one in the room could communicate in any way about what occurred with anyone who was not there.

  Alexa stalked around the nine-foot gong, mouth a thin line, jade baton out. “Could something so small hold such a Powerful thing as the Dark?” she asked, doubt in her voice.

  “Look at you,” Bastien, said. “You’re small and Powerful.”

  “I don’t eat planets,” Alexa pointed out.

  “Mass doesn’t always equate with Power,” Marian said.

  Alexa’s face scrunched. “A ship.”

  “An interdimensional ship that surfs the winds in the corridor,” Marian said on a shaky, horrified breath. Raine had never seen her so pale. “Or a compass or a key. We still don’t know, but it must be valuable to the Dark if it’s tried to retrieve it from Lladrana for centuries.”

  “I think it made a mistake,” Luthan said quietly.

  They all turned to him. Bastien said, “Tell us.”

  Luthan said, “It plans to leave. One of the futures—a less likely one—is it leaving as it came, strong and looking for a tasty planet. With or without creatures living on it.”

  “The mistake?” Alexa asked.

  “Amee is richer than most in Power, but she wasn’t quite as weak as the Dark believed, has fought more. Her atmosphere is colder, less hospitable to it.”

  “We all know of Earth’s global warming,” Alexa said grimly.

  “But Earth doesn’t have a great deal of Power,” Marian said.

  “Not magic,” Marrec, Calli’s husband agreed. He was the only Lladranan man who’d been to Earth. “But it has some other power. There was a tang, a metallic taste in the air.”

  Koz, Marian’s brother, also from Earth, stared at everyone, then said, “Nuclear power. Fusion. What could a being like this do with that sort of power?”

  “What it has done for millennia, to Amee and other worlds. Leech on it, feed, until the world is dying or dead, move on.”