"Maybe."
He kissed her again, a little harder, a little deeper. "Your charm works on me too. Your many charms."
The alarm claxon shrieked. Alexa was out of bed and dressed in two minutes, padding, mail and all, and heading toward the door, when Bastien snagged her arm.
"Wait."
"I can't." She struggled against his grip.
"Wait! You are Paired now, and so am I. We are Paired."
Alexa froze. "We fight together?"
"Yes," he said aloud. Urvey, my gear, now! he mind-called, and Alexa heard him.
This would take getting used to.
Since she was waiting, she did some stretches. Wearing chain mail hampered a person, even though it was magically "lightened." She loosened her baton and her sword in their sheaths.
Sinafin zoomed in through the window, no longer a pretty red bird with a long tail, but a hawk, ready to fight.
Jumpy at being made to stay when she itched to go, Alexa demanded, "Where have you been?" It was the first time she'd ever asked. She'd always figured Sinafin was entitled to her privacy.
The bird stared at her, at Bastien who strode to the door to open it for Urvey. Good. You have composed a Pairing Song between you. Now we will see real results!
"Yeah, sure." Today would be the day. The day she was no longer just Marshall Alexa. The upcoming battle would determine her status once and for all, and the longer she had to wait, the more anxious she became. It was so much easier to get into the middle of a fight and let her physical and magical training take over.
She went into her sitting room, where Urvey was garbing Bastien. Big, strong, tough. Her breath clogged in her throat. She was looking at a male in his prime, a man ready to defend his land with his life. It didn't matter that she was clothed the same way, she felt a primal wave of attraction of the female for a strong male protector. She shook her head at her reaction. She was a liberated woman, but her hormones kept tingling.
Bastien wore his new chain mail and a midnight-blue surcoat. The surcoat had his coat of arms and her purple flower embroidered on it. Alexa inhaled shakily. Paired. This man would work with her, fight with her, defend her. And she would do the same. Even now she felt the deep humming of the tune between them, signifying the bond that would make them a team as good as any of the Chevalier Pairs. Their energy would mix well, providing them both with strength; their communication would be flawless.
As he raised his arms for Urvey to buckle his swordbelt on, Bastien winked.
Alexa tried a smile.
He grinned, then lowered his arms and settled his sword in place. Alexa wondered which baton he would choose, if he Tested to be a Marshall. She was sure he'd pass. But would he want to Test? She frowned. He'd made no bones about not caring for the Marshalls. How would he work with his father? How would they?
She started her deep-breathing cycle, raising her magic, and knew that she and Bastien would outperform Reynardus and Ivrog. Perhaps even Thealia and Partis.
Bastien strode over, spurs jingling. His hands were still bare, as were hers. He grasped her fingers and brought both her hands to his lips, kissed her fingers, then released them and donned his flying gloves. "Ready to go, Pairling?"
Alexa made her smile brighter. "Of course." She'd rather crawl back into bed—or under it.
When they flew above the new incursion, they saw two groups of Chevaliers battling some horrors—slayers and renders, with only one soul-sucker. A few yards down the border, about fifteen monsters ran from the rocky outcroppings of their own land into Lladrana. Alexa gasped. This was the largest conglomeration of evil beasts she'd seen since coming to Lladrana.
She pointed, and Bastien nodded, his face grim. His volaran plummeted down near the new horrors.
Bastien's volaran whirled, dove, pirouetted—and lost Alexa. The flying horse's horrified neigh matched Bastien's clutching heart. He could not lose her, not after they'd had so very few minutes together.
Alexa found herself airborne. She drew in a huge breath of sharp, cold air and let it out in a shrilling "Eek" that was also a spell.
It slowed her descent, and seemed to slow time too, so she could think.
Being a lousy rider and flier, she'd known this would happen. Maybe often. So she and Madame had prepared for the worst. When Madame had asked what she would naturally say in the circumstances and Alexa had let out her "eek," Madame had looked appalled. Alexa always knew Madame was a tough cookie, but that had confirmed it. No doubt, Madame, if she'd been so clumsy as to fall off a horse, would have chanted "float like a feather." Alexa just figured "eek" was better than "shiiit."
She'd hit the ground and roll, had to be ready to fight.
Midair she pulled her broadsword, bespelled to be light and magical and very, very sharp.
She cut off upraised paws, then cleaved the render's body in two furry halves as her feet hit the earth. She blocked out the sight of spurting dark blood, of mutilated monster parts. The kill had steadied her landing. She spun and her sword sliced the abdomen of the slayer open, spilling slimy green guts.
Hearing a cry, she ran toward it, panting, scanning her path for monsters. Thealia shouted again, and took the head off a soul-sucker. The monster crumpled.
It materialized from a dark thickening of the air, wings flapping with a slow, scaley thunder.
"Dreeth!" Faith screamed.
The pterodactyl-thing dove for the largest volaran on the field—Bastien's.
Then Alexa was there, before it, encompassed by it, slashing its leathery underbelly, hacking at a wickedly clawed ankle. She didn't know how to fight it. Didn't know anything save it was huge and its stench choked her and she was terrified it would kill her and if she killed it first it would fall and crush her. Her baton flew to her left hand. She stepped in, closer to the underbelly.
Alexa! Bastien shouted-sang in her ear. A whirlwind of Power snapped between them, sounding like the roar of a cannon, blinding her, deafening her, bathing her in an eerie green aura.
She jammed the flaming end of her baton into the dreeth. "Die!" she screamed, and flung all that she had, all that she was, and all she could of Bastien, into the command-spell, pouring the dark horror of Power into its convulsing body until blackness claimed her.
It's falling! Help me get her! Bastien cried, desperate to link with the Marshalls and save his lover.
Power flooded into him, more than he'd ever had even in his wildest times of uncontrolled magic. He pulled his short-sword and directed the Power. "Burn!" he commanded. The sword did, and when he thrust it into a membraned wing, the dreeth went up like torched parchment. Bastien jumped from his volaran, scooped up his fallen woman—she was so small!—and ran from the flaming monster, which was burning like a small tower.
His volaran caught him by his neck and took off, carrying Bastien and his lady, flying only a few feet from the ground and then landing in the midst of the gathered Marshalls.
Bastien sank to the ground, cradling Alexa. She was pale, but breathing, alive and strong—he knew that from their link, the Song that reverberated to the depths of his mind, his heart. Her hand still curled around the Jade Baton, which looked completely unharmed. A marvel.
"Congratulations!" Reynardus grinned and slapped Bastien on the shoulder. "You have found your fate, Shield Bastien."
Thealia sent Reynardus a dirty look. "It has never been a dishonor for a man to be a Shield, for a team to be female Sword and male Shield."
"Of course not," Reynardus said, his tone clearly indicating the opposite.
Settling Alexa more comfortably in his arms, Bastien used trembling fingers to smooth her silver hair back from her face. Then he narrowed his eyes and looked up at his father with an equally mean grin, baring his teeth.
"It's been a long, long time since a Marshall Pair has brought down a dreeth."
Reynardus frowned. Before he could speak, Faith said, "Three centuries, since the last one appeared. A bad sign that it has come now."
&
nbsp; "But it is the biggest and the best of the kills." He glanced to where the flying monster still burned oily, as big as a house. "I claim the beak tip for my mate, Exotique Alexa Swordmarshall of the Jade Baton of Honor, and all the teeth that remain from the beak for necklaces for her and myself." To taunt his father. "To be used as daily ornaments."
Partis placed a hand on Alexa's forehead; he was the Marshall most skilled in medicine. "Power conduit concussion. Emotional turmoil from the battle Pairing." Just plain shock from terror, he added silently to Bastien. "She'll wake when she's better, but I doubt it will be before late this evening. I'd say that during one of those three immersions in the jerir—" now he sent a smirk at Reynardus "—Alyeka swallowed some of the stuff. It had to have helped her somehow." He stood and leaned on his staff. Like everyone else, he watched the dreeth burn.
Faith slipped her arm around her mate, Johnsa. "I think both the dreeth's acid sac and its heart remain after it burns." Faith gnawed at her lip. "I know all the remains have great Power, but what, I don't recall. I wish I had my books," she muttered.
Thealia laughed and squeezed Bastien's shoulder. "Whether you keep the remnants of the dreeth for their Power, or not, you do have the option of selling them to a Sorcerer or Sorceress. I'm sure they'd go for a fortune. You are a very wealthy man, now, Bastien."
"From what I know of her, my mate will only want to keep one tooth," Bastien muttered, still stroking Alexa's hair, his thumb brushing the pulse in her temple to comfort himself. "I'm a lucky man. If there's any part of the wing left, I'd like to have it mounted and hung in the Hall of the Marshalls. The best prize in the Hall."
Reynardus grunted and walked away, calling for his volaran.
"Chevaliers are arriving," Thealia said.
For the first time, Bastien realized how short the battle had been. A small group of renders, slayers and soul-suckers, outnumbered by the Marshalls, had been easily defeated. Then the dreeth...
Luthan strode up to them. Lady Hallard looked at the rest of the Chevaliers surrounding the burning dreeth wistfully, then at the group of Marshalls, set her shoulders and followed Luthan.
"Is she all right?" Luthan asked.
Bastien stood with Alexa in his arms. He wasn't going to let go of her. "She's fine, just sleeping off the shock of her first dreeth kill," he said with pride.
Luthan's eyes nearly bulged from his sockets, making Bastien laugh, easing his tension. "She killed the dreeth?"
"Yes, with this fair hand." Bastien indicated her fingers still holding the Jade Baton.
Luthan scrutinized the baton. "It looks no different."
"Interesting, eh?" Bastien inhaled deeply. "She's a Sword. I'm a Shield."
"Good!"
Bastien blinked.
"You have too many scars as it is, have been injured too often, too deeply." Luthan chuckled at Bastien's relieved face. "Do you really think anyone will even think to call you a coward, brother?" Luthan shrugged. "And if they do, you can always wear your ugly soul-sucker hat."
Feeling cheered, Bastien whistled his hat to his head. The brim shaded his eyes so he could get a better look at the flaming dreeth and the ever-increasing crowd of Chevaliers as he walked to his volaran. Reluctantly, he handed Alexa to his brother while he soothed his volaran, checked its strength and energy for the flight back to the Castle, and mounted. He scowled when Luthan continued to cuddle Alexa.
"A very nice armful, not quite as lean and tough as most Chevaliers. Very womanly," Luthan said.
"Give her back!" Atop his volaran, Bastien held out his arms for his woman.
Luthan laughed and helped Bastien arrange the limp Alexa in front of him, tying them together with spells using protection and love. "You are well and truly Paired," Luthan said.
Bastien settled his mate against himself, felt better with her body in his arms.
"When are you going to Test for Marshall?" asked Luthan.
Unlike every other time this question had been aimed at him during his life, Bastien remained silent.
"It's the only way to protect her, you know."
Bastien shuddered, remembering the curving beak of the dreeth bouncing off the shield he'd used to envelop Alexa, the punishing blow he'd taken. Better than the beak piercing her back. He recalled the awful, searing wetness of the acid the dreeth spewed, which would have covered her. Only his shield had saved her. Only their Pair bond, and the energy of the Pairing experience.
"I'll think about Testing for Marshall," he said, breaking a lifetime vow to himself.
Luthan eyed the dreeth bonfire, obviously wanting to take a good look. "A thing that big should burn all day—maybe tonight too. Nasty for the land beneath, though. Think that I learnedsomewhere that only those who killed it are able to handle the remains. Those trophies will be safe enough until you return."
That's what Bastien thought.
Grinning up at him, Luthan swatted the volaran on the rump. "Be interesting to see what baton you pick, little brother."
Bastien grinned at him. "Get lost."
Under the sharp eyes of Sinafin as warhawk, and of Umilla, Bastien undressed Alexa, clothed her limp body in a sleep-shift, and put her into a bed warmed by a spell and stacked with down comforters.
He sat next to her for a while, holding her hand, forcing his jumping heart and spiking emotions to calm. Seeing her in battle had been an enlightening and frightening experience, something he wasn't used to. He had good friends, and his brother, but he had never feared for them when they fought. He trusted the Song that they would come through—even after losing a childhood friend to the horrors.
But Alexa was different—very close to being a part of him now. Though he hadn't ever feared too much for himself, accepting if he died it would be at the right time, he was terrified for her.
Luthan was right. The best way to protect her was to be a full Marshall himself, but if he dwelt on that idea for very long it would make him sick. So he got up and got moving. If it had to be done, get it done now.
Alexa murmured in distress as he pulled his hand away, moved restlessly.
"Sleep, now. You are safe and will remain so. I promise you."
"Bastien," she sighed.
"Yes, Pairling. Sleep."
As he moved away, Umilla took his seat. Sinafin clicked her beak in approval, her eyes gleaming.
He squared his shoulders and left his lover's suite, winding down the stairs and to the Marshalls' Council Room, where they all proceeded to dissect the battle.
Alexa tossed and turned, but the dream images came, vivid and real. Bastien was marching to the Marshalls, ready to confront them about something. She tried to surface from the cocoon of sleep, but her mind and body protested and she was too weary.
Still, she tried to follow him, to help him. Or just be with him. She felt the warmth of his smile.
I thought to do this without you, by myself. For my own pride. He mocked himself. But you're here. I should have known that the tune playing between us wouldn't allow for such an important experience to be suffered alone.
I'm not here. I'm dreaming, she said solemnly.
Ah, is that the case? He sounded genuinely amused.
Yes. She wanted to nod, but she was asleep after all, so she squeezed the pillow tighter. It was so warm and comfortable here and she sensed she'd be facing a dreadful memory if she woke. She was tired, so tired she didn't want to open her eyes.
That's right, Bastien crooned. Stay here in the back of my mind, within reach, and sleep.
That sounded contradictory, but she didn't have the energy to ask what new magic was at work.
I cherish your presence, he said.
A very wonderful dream, she said as more than the bed gave her warmth—his words and the connection and the incredible feeling sang inside her.
Bastien felt Alexa sink into deeper sleep. He'd try to spare her his turmoil as long as he could. He'd dealt with his wild magic all his life; sometimes control had been possible, sometimes not. I
toccurred to him that handling Alexa would be very much like handling his wild magic—she would sometimes be completely incalculable. He grinned. Life would be constantly interesting. So this was the destiny the Song had had in store for him all his life.
But he'd lingered outside the door of the Marshalls' Chamber long enough. Time to face his fate. He strummed the doorharp back and forth and gave the door a rhythmic rap.
"Enter," said the cold voice of his father Reynardus.
Bastien opened the door and strolled in. Late afternoon light poured through the narrow, many-paned windows, illuminating the room and making the Marshalls look like an artist's study of privilege and power. He swept a bow, sent a glance around the table, then cocked his hip and hooked his thumbs in his belt.
"I've come to Test for Marshall."
"Blessings," murmured Thealia. "It's about time one of my godsons did that."
He grinned. "Too bad it isn't Luthan, eh, Godmama Thealia?"
She pokered up as he'd expected.
"Song seems to direct Luthan's flight path in another direction." Her brow knit. "But in the end, I think he'll be a Marshall too."
Reynardus rose. "You, a black-and-white, wish to Test for Marshall."
Bastien frowned. "No one told me you had hearing problems."
A stifled choking came from Mace.
Faith, the historian, stood. "I vote we accept the applicant for Marshall Testing and proceed with the Tests this evening and tonight, so the outcome will be determined immediately."
"I agree," said Thealia.
"And I," agreed Partis.
"Yes," said Bastien's uncle Ivrog, Shield to Reynardus, surprising Bastien.
He scrutinized his uncle and found the man's eyes clear ofdrink, unclouded, even keen. With surprise, Bastien realized his uncle was no longer a drunkard. Bastien opened his mind to the familial link. His father's tune was loud, strong, angry. His uncle's melody sounded like a rushing river, with depths Bastien had never considered.
Alexa murmured in his mind, Ivrog is a good man.
A new surprise. Somehow Alexa and Ivrog had met, and Bastien could hear simple notes exchanged between them.
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