by P. C. Cast
“Nice job.”
His eyes sparkled and his sensuous lips curved in a smile. I remembered that Rhiannon had probably known him well. In the Biblical sense. I blushed and started hastily down the hall.
“Psssst!” I slowed down and motioned for Alanna to catch up. “Walk next to me, I can’t talk to you while you’re back there.” I whispered for her ears alone, “Did Rhiannon, um, well, boink that guard?”
“Boink?” she whispered back.
Sigh.
“You know.” I wiggled my eyebrows suggestively and winked. “Boink.”
“Oh!” She turned pink. “You can assume so. She boinked all of her guards.”
“Didn’t you say there are one hundred of them?” I forgot to whisper.
“Yes.”
“Damn, she must have been busy.” It boggled my mind.
“She was very dedicated to her men.”
I should say so.
“And she still had time to do goddess stuff?”
“She had many talents.”
We came to the door to my chambers and I couldn’t quit staring at the two guards as they snapped to and opened the door for me. It was like watching the aftermath of a car wreck. I wanted to look away, but I rubbernecked all the way into my room…
And right into the beautiful Staci-nymph.
“Oh, my Lady! Forgive my clumsiness!” She was bowing and quaking. I’m telling you, she looked like she was getting ready to prostrate herself at my feet.
I reached out to squeeze her shoulder and tell her not to worry about it, and she cowered down, protecting her face with her hands as if she expected to be beaten.
“I’m not going to hit you!” I blurted.
Her body was shaking and she peered up at me through her fingers. I looked at Alanna for help, and she mouthed what looked like the name Tarah to me.
“Tarah, please, it was my fault. I wasn’t looking and I ran right into you.” She blinked tears from her eyes and slowly her hands moved away from her face.
It amazed me how much she looked and sounded like Staci—shimmery, long dark hair, huge limpid brown eyes and bone structure a supermodel would die for (or, at the very least, commit bulimia for).
I smiled at her and held my hands very still, like she was a jittery colt. She smiled tentatively back at me.
“M-my Lady. I h-had your chambers set for your meal.” She wiped away her tears. “I stayed to see if it met your approval.”
I looked behind her and saw a lovely table setting for two. The chaise lounges were positioned so that the heads of the diners reclining on them would be very near one another.
“Everything looks wonderful. Just have them bring supper shortly after ClanFintan arrives.”
She bobbed a graceful curtsy and began backing to the door.
“And, Tarah.” She paused in her exit. “In the past I believe I have behaved badly.” Her eyes opened wide as I continued, “And for that I apologize. Things will be different from now on.”
“Yes, my Lady!” The responsive glow of her face made me even angrier with Rhiannon.
“Thank you, Tarah.”
Her grin lit up the doorway as she left.
CHAPTER 15
Alone again, I turned to Alanna.
“Did Rhiannon never control herself?”
“She is Epona’s Chosen. She did not have to control herself.”
“That’s crap. It’s that kind of thinking that allowed people like Caligula, Henry VIII and, well, certain presidents to make such asses of themselves.”
“Who are they?”
“More sluts.”
“Oh.”
“How the hell could Rhiannon keep people loyal to her if she was such a bitch?”
Alanna gave me a knowing look.
“I mean female people. It’s obvious how she kept her men happy.” My hands were planted on my hips and I was tapping my foot in time with my anger. (I looked very teacherish—as a matter of fact, I felt the sudden desire to reprimand a teenager. But there’s never one around when you need one.)
“Rhiannon was a very powerful woman.” She didn’t quite meet my eyes.
A thought came to me. “Alanna, you never did tell me how Rhiannon was able to exchange places with me through an explosive fire without either of us getting burned up.” That was assuming Rhiannon had survived, too.
“I am not completely certain. She did not reveal everything to me.” Her voice was hesitant.
“But you have a pretty good guess?”
Her sigh was deep and she raised her eyes to mine. “She went through several test rituals.” She shuddered in remembrance. “They weren’t successful. The people she attempted to exchange were…damaged…when they appeared. They did not live.”
I nodded at her to go on.
“Then she came upon the idea of sending something inanimate from this world, something that could carry some of her power, with one of the people.”
“The pot!”
“Yes, she sent a ceremonial funeral vase—one that had been used to pour libations over the graves of past generations of Epona’s Chosen.” She paused and swallowed hard. “Her next test was more successful.”
“More successful?” I didn’t like how that sounded.
“The servant lived. For a while.”
“Ugh.”
“Yes. Rhiannon went back to fasting and meditating. Then she seemed to have discovered an answer.” Alanna sat on one of the chaises. This time I poured her a glass of wine, then poured myself a glass and sat next to her. “She had a favorite servant—a Shaman named Bres.” She blanched visibly and her eyes darted nervously as she spoke his name. “He wasn’t like ClanFintan, he worshipped dark gods whose names are better left unsaid.”
“Well, don’t say them then!” This whole conversation was giving me a walking-over-my-grave feeling.
Alanna nodded in agreement and continued, “They performed a dark ceremony the day you came to this world. A terrible storm blew in.”
“There was a storm that appeared suddenly the afternoon of my accident.”
“She and Bres walked to a deserted area near the Loch at the edge of Ufasach Marsh. She always insisted that I be nearby, so I went with them, but it was hard for me to understand what was happening because of the wind and the rain.”
My Mustang and I understood exactly what she was describing.
“They chose an abandoned cottage to set afire. Even in the storm it burned with an unholy flame. Bres walked into the building, chanting an incantation that stung my ears with its intensity. He disappeared. Then another man, one with Bres’s form, but who was obviously not the Shaman, burst from the building almost hysterical with confusion.” Alanna stopped and took a long drink.
To save her the embarrassment of drinking alone I chugged with her.
“As he emerged, Rhiannon moved behind him and slit his throat. Then she caught his blood in a goblet and drank it. She spent the rest of the day speaking spells over his body. As dusk was falling she stripped off her clothes, flung her head back and arms wide, and moved into the still-burning building like she was embracing it.”
I shivered, remembering the weird mirror vision of myself I had glimpsed in the pot as it burst into a fiery ball.
“Then the building exploded into nothing. And I found you lying unconscious in its ruins.” She smiled bravely at me.
“I wonder if she was successful in getting to my world.” It felt strange to wish ill on someone who could be my twin, or more accurately my clone. But I did wish it, vehemently.
“She was successful.” Alanna’s voice had gone flat.
“How do you know?”
“She was always successful. She settled for nothing less than exactly what she desired.”
“Well, public school will be a rude awakening for her. I’d love to be a fly on the wall at her first parent-teacher conference.” Not even tenure would be enough to protect her. “At least we’re rid of her and that Bres character.”
“Yes.” We grinned at each other.
“Hey, was Bres tall and skeletal with real stinky breath and a fish belly–white complexion?”
“Yes!” She blinked in surprise at me. “Did you see him?”
“We met shortly before the storm hit. He was seriously creepy.”
We shivered in unison.
“I’m glad you found me.” I squeezed her hand.
“I am, too.” She squeezed back and the warmth of our friendship brought the color back to a world that had turned temporarily pale.
“How about showing me the map before ClanFintan gets here and starts messing with my mind?” And (I sincerely hoped) my body.
She stood, refilled both of our empty glasses and then moved to a door at the far end of the chamber. It opened to a tastefully decorated sitting room, complete with love seats, a reading table, a chaise lounge (obviously a hot item in this world), a fireplace with an elaborately carved marble mantel and walls lined with rows and rows of—
“Books!” I yelped as I rushed into the room, practically knocking Alanna to her butt. “I thought this door led to a closet.” I ran my fingers reverently down the leather spines. “God, I love books.”
“So did Rhiannon. She kept the scribes busy.” Alanna went to one wall and climbed to the top rung of a little wooden stepladder. She reached up inside the topmost shelf and pulled down a rolled-up map.
“This is Partholon.”
“Wow!” Which was an understatement.
The map unrolled until it almost touched the floor. It was a little like the screen for an overhead projector, but it was made of some kind of intricately woven material that reminded me of silk, only thicker. It was amazing—its beauty drew me near and I longed to touch its softness. I stepped close to it and ran my hands in a light caress over its surface.
“Uh!” It was as though an electric shock had passed through the map to my fingers, and my hands shot back from the fabric. “It zapped me!”
Alanna looked pleased. “There is the last of your proof. The spark that passes between the sacred map of Partholon and the Beloved of Epona happens only when the Goddess’s High Priestess touches it.”
I rubbed my fingers and took a wary half step away from it.
“You could have warned me.”
“Would you still have touched it?”
“Probably not.”
“That is why I did not warn you.”
“Smart aleck.” I grumbled a smile at her as I began studying the map from a safe distance.
Epona’s Temple was ornately marked by gold thread and situated in the southeastern part of Partholon, to the north of the wide vaguely east-west running river, which was labeled Geal River. The river originated in the northeastern end of the Trier Mountains as a split river, the west branch of which was labeled CalmanRiver, and it emptied into the sea as a split river, too. At the B’an Sea the northernmost branch was labeled Clare River. I was interested to notice a structure labeled Temple of the Muse was nestled near the joining of the rivers on the Calman’s western bank. My eyes were drawn to the far west of the map where the B’an Sea ran the length of the border, with cliffs of green drawn in dramatically. MacCallan Castle sat boldly near the edge. I sighed sadly and looked north from MacCallan Castle to see Guardian Castle situated in a cleft between huge white-tipped mountains. Looking down from Guardian Castle I was shocked to see a large blue lake labeled Loch Selkie (and I noted Ufasach Marsh hugged the eastern edge of the loch) between it and Epona’s Temple. Another castle labeled Laragon Castle sat north of the loch and southeast of Guardian Castle. I didn’t remember passing over a lake or another castle, and I felt a shiver of dread as I studied the area between Laragon and Guardian Castles.
A sudden noise broke my concentration.
“That will probably be one of your handmaids with word of ClanFintan.” Alanna smiled knowingly as a flush bloomed over my face. “I will tell her she may announce him momentarily.”
My eyes were drawn back to the map and I tried to take the rest of it in quickly. I could see at least three other castles labeled, but none as close to Guardian Castle as Laragon and MacCallan. I only had time to notice that the grassy lands which covered a great deal of the land outside Partholon were emblazoned Centaur Plains, when Alanna reappeared with a smile, followed by Staci-nymph.
“My Lady, ClanFintan asks if he may join you in your quarters.” She gave me a sweet curtsy.
“Thank you, Sta…um…Tarah. Please show him in and bring our dinner, too.”
“Yes, my Lady!” She certainly was cheerful.
Alanna and I went back into the main chamber (the one with my big bed in it).
“I’m a little nervous.” I tried not to fidget.
“Just be who you really are.” Alanna’s eyes were kind and she patted one of my loose curls into place. “He is already predisposed to love you, you know.”
I blinked in surprise. “No, I didn’t know.”
“You are Epona’s Beloved. The Goddess always fashions a centaur High Shaman to be your mate.”
A firm knock sounded and Alanna responded when I hesitated, “Enter!”
ClanFintan moved into the chamber and my stomach did several butterfly-filled flips. He’d obviously bathed. His coat shimmered like hot maple syrup and his long thick hair was brushed back and hung free in a dark curtain around his bronze shoulders. He wore a black leather vest embroidered with runes of gold that rippled almost as magically as his muscles when he moved.
Which made me realize he hadn’t moved since the door had closed behind him. He just stood there, touching me with his eyes.
“Welcome, my Lord.” I could hear the smile in Alanna’s voice.
“Thank you, Alanna.” The spell was broken and he moved gracefully into the space before me. “Forgive my silence, I was entranced by my Lady’s beauty.” He reached out and took my right hand in his, slowly raising my palm to his lips. Our eyes locked again and I felt my breath quicken.
God, he was big.
And muscular.
And hot (in all senses of the word).
“Good evening, ClanFintan. It’s good to see you again.” I realized as I said it that I’d missed him this afternoon.
“I find that it is good to see you again, too, my Lady.” His breath was warm on my palm and his lips lingered near the pulse of my wrist.
For a second I wondered if he’d bite me again (not that I’d mind). He didn’t and I sighed as he released my hand.
“If there is nothing else, my Lady, I will wish you a good evening and—”
“No!” Alanna paused in her flight to the door. ClanFintan looked at me, surprised by my outburst. “I mean, um, please stay until our dinner arrives. There are things we need to discuss.” They both stared at me. Under their confused scrutiny I walked nervously to one of the chaise lounges and refreshed my glass of wine. “I would like Alanna to hear your report and, well, she has some really good insights about, uh, things.” They were still staring and I looked to ClanFintan for understanding. “She is my friend, and I value her judgment.”
“Of course, Rhiannon.” That seemed to get through to him. “Then she should stay.” He took his place at the other lounge. Alanna moved around the pillar-like table to pour him a fresh glass of wine and I tried to telegraph a “relax and help!” look to her.
“Wine, my Lord?” She slipped easily into her servant role.
“Yes.” He sipped and I felt his eyes watching me over the rim.
I looked at Alanna and sighed. “Alanna, pour yourself some wine and sit here with me.”
She nodded, looking at me oddly, but did as I asked. I think that sometimes it takes her a few minutes to remind herself I’m not going to shriek at her and pounce. But then again, I’ve seen teenagers give me the same kind of startled look, so who knows…
My attention returned to the centaur. “So, are the troops getting ready for battle?” I hoped I didn’t sound too I-don’t-know-what-the-hell-I’m-talking
-about-ish.
“Yes. I’ve sent a call to the Plains, and the centaurs are gathering. They should begin arriving within the next few days. Your guard is, as always, ready to protect you and Epona’s Temple. I have called a war council in your name—by the end of the next seventh day the heads of all the Clans will arrive, then you may inform them of what Epona has revealed to you—” he smiled grimly at us “—and we will forge a combined strategy to combat the Fomorian evil.”
“ClanFintan, I would like you to lead that war council.” He started to interrupt and I hurried on, “I would feel secure knowing you are in charge of seeing to our safety.”
“But, my Lady, by right you should lead the council.”
Great.
“Yes, but as my mate I am asking you to assume that particular place of leadership for me.” I crossed my fingers (figuratively) and hoped what I was asking wasn’t creating an enormous war council faux pas. I glanced at Alanna and was glad to see she didn’t appear to be freaking out. Yet.
“If that is what you wish, I will, of course, do my best in your stead.” He sounded hesitant, but I trusted his abilities much more than mine. After all—we were going to war, not studying rhetorical theories of writing succinct essays about war (yawn).
“Thank you. And there is something else I’m worried about.” I looked at Alanna. “When we were studying the map I realized how close Laragon Castle is to Guardian Castle. Has Laragon been notified of what has happened?”
“Yes, carrier pigeons were sent the first day, and centaurs have been deployed to aid them in readying their defenses.”
“So, you think the creatures will not stay at Guardian Castle? You think they will attack again?” My skin crawled at the thought.
“I know little about them, but I do not think they will be appeased with what they have taken.” His words were haunted by the memory of my description of the horror I had witnessed.
“Does nobody know anything substantial about these…things?” Frustration shortened my tone.
“Fomorians.” Alanna helped me with the word.
“Yeah, Fomorians.” I looked from her to ClanFintan. “Didn’t you say you knew something of them from the legends?”