We'd barely left the area of the condo when a group of magpies arrived -- a strange sight in the middle of a snowy night. They swept onto the bare branch of a tree, knocking snow off as they paced back and forth, more nervous than cold.
"Found you!" they shouted, almost in unison. "Riders, many riders, in the hills. Not real and suddenly very real -- faster than before. Many!"
"Thank you," I replied, adding this information to my vast array of tidbits. I hoped something made sense soon.
They took to the air, heading away from the city. I told Adrian what they'd reported.
"I think everything is gaining momentum." I worried what this new information meant -- but found myself giving an unexpected shrug. "If they're getting stronger, I guess it means this mess will be over soon."
We walked carefully to the store, avoiding the riders who appeared to be as unhappy with the weather as Adrian and me. They might not be working as hard as they had been when they were more ghost than real.
At the store, I found a half dozen sleeping cats, happy to be in out of the weather. Gaylord took one look around and buried himself back into my jacket.
"I'll just stay nice and close to you, boss," he decided. His muffled voice drew a few cat eyes blinking in my direction.
I drew him out and put him on a high shelf with Shakespeare. They nestled in close to each other, Shakespeare giving the cats a stare which apparently stopped a few of them from considering a little dinner on the wing.
I went and got the cats more food, just in case.
Caring for them was a way to pass the time, really. Adrian settled at one of the tables with a magazine on backpacking. I finally found a spot near the wall and sat on the floor with a couple of the cats, letting my eyes close for a little while. We were as safe here as anywhere, I admitted. I even napped, though not for long.
When Adrian found me awake he went into the store and came back with everything, including a tablecloth, to make a little picnic for the two of us.
"I was starting to feel guilty about taking the stuff," he admitted. "But I can pay them later. Hell -- you, me, the birds and the cats -- we're saving the world. I figure it cuts us a little slack."
"Yeah, I guess so," I agreed. We had a nice little meal, and I wished for a real picnic with him, somewhere out in a field, with flowers and birds, and maybe a few chipmunks coming by to steal food from our basket. I looked forward to such a day.
And in accepting the thought, I also accepted we would win.
"Thank you." I slid over to hug Adrian. "You did just the right thing."
"I'm glad." He pulled me closer, and we kissed.
And I heard Cato snigger. Nothing can kill a romantic mood faster than a cat laughing at you. Well, maybe a bird making kissy sounds is right up there, too.
"I don't have a lot to report," Cato said. His nose twitched a little as he stepped closer to the food. "Two cats went out into the desert. No one's seen them since, so we assume they can't return."
I silently wished them luck, wherever they went. At least they would probably be warmer.
"Tamerlane is camped with his troops -- do I smell roast beef?"
I dug some out of the packet Adrian had brought. Cato practically inhaled the first piece, and sedately ate the second.
"Almost as good as tuna." He gave me a hopeful glance.
"Maybe later," I promised. "Anything else?"
"Before she came to the condo, Aletta finally broke through the ward at our house. Don't worry. Apparently she didn't have time to do more than knock over some books and yell a lot. Wish I could have seen her reaction, in fact."
I smiled at the little bit of vengeance, forcing her to spend time and energy to break into the house, thinking I hid there. "We'll have to be careful when we go home though. She might have left a trap."
Cato nodded and settled into the middle of the tablecloth, paws tucked in, tail curled up to his chest. He appeared quite sphinx like.
Sunrise would come too soon. I didn't know what I would do during the day. I feared by midnight tomorrow there would be considerable more trouble. We might even face the true battle.
I didn't have an army to fight Tamerlane's.
"We need to find a weakness, especially with the riders," I said. "Their numbers will win over us, if nothing else."
"I wasn't going to tell you this yet, but. . . ." Cato stopped and looked up at me, his eyes narrowed. "A few of the cats have been attacking the horse and riders. Some haven't survived. But they did learn something important. The riders have some sort of string tied around their wrists. If you tear it off, they melt away and their horses disappear with them."
I remembered attacking some of the riders and watching the one melt. I had hit the arms and probably accidentally cut the strings. With this added information, I could finally see a weakness. A true, real weakness. "That's good to know. That's very good to know. Tell the cats I don't want them to attack any more, though. I don't want the enemy to realize I know the secret."
Cato nodded his eyes bright.
"What do you think the string is?" Adrian asked.
I didn't have to disappoint him since I'd seen the magic before, though not quite the same way. "The string is used as a line to draw magic to them and keep them whole. They might not need the magic after a while, though. Cato, do you think the others -- especially Tamerlane and Aletta -- know we learned about the strings?"
"Probably not. The cats have been very good about finding riders alone. Chances are they might think you killed the soldiers like you did the others, in battle. We think the attacks might also be keeping Aletta confused about where you are."
"Damned smart cats," Adrian said with a smile.
Cato gave him a regal bow of his head. I hadn't considered Cato's work until now, but I suddenly realized he must be a sort of general for the cat army out there. I didn't doubt he'd set the others to find out if they could kill the riders. He made certain cats reported to me, and he created relays of cats to pass information our way. I hadn't realized how much I relied on him.
"Thank you, Cato, for everything you're doing. I know you have kept things going out there."
He gave a little snort. "Me? I'm just a pudgy little house cat."
I gave him another piece of roast beef.
Contrary to how things should work, magic began to grow as dawn approached. I could feel the power moving in a wave washing over us. All the cats leapt to their feet, fur bristling. Adrian, who had been reading, dropped the magazine with a start.
"Honey," he said, startled. "The world is suddenly filled with honey."
"Yeah, we all felt something. I'm not sure what happened, but --" I reached out and found a trail of magic. "Something is definitely out there and moving."
"And we need to find out where and why," Adrian said.
I stood. He quickly took the magazine back to the rack and grabbed his little pack, shoving some food in with the camera. I picked up all the debris we had around and cleaned the place before we left.
"The cats can stay here unless a human arrives," I told them. I saw relief in their faces. "Don't get caught going in and out, guys."
They agreed. Shakespeare came and rested on my shoulder and Gaylord slipped inside my jacket, squirming a little. I wished I weren't so ticklish -- but he settled quickly. Adrian had Cato in the crook of his arm.
As I opened the door to the store, the brisk cold wind blew in our faces. I quickly closed and locked the place. The alarm no longer worked, of course, but everything else would reset when power came back and the world returned to normal.
I had to believe normal would happen.
I easily followed the trail of magic though a town where the facade of Samarkand had started to fade. We didn't see any horses and riders out today and I suspected they worried the local populace would spot them. Good. It meant they weren't ready to move yet.
Oddly, the magic led us straight to the Zamond Inn. I hurried toward the door, Adrian saying nothing unt
il we got inside. He put a hand on my arm and shook his head.
"Honey," he said. "I can taste honey very clearly again. Can a person put on weight this way? Cause I think I'm going gain a lot of weight before this is over."
"I think even if you did, you'll be walking it all off with me," I said.
He gave an amused nod of agreement and I carefully moved forward. People slept on the lobby sofas, on the floor, some leaning against the walls, and some stretched out, with the only clear space by the door and the huge front window, which must have been cold.
None noticed our entrance. My sleep spell still held, but would start to fade in the light of day. I could feel an incredible amount of magic somewhere nearby. Maybe I had tracked a fae here, and I only hoped this wasn't the one who had met with Aletta.
Adrian put Cato down and drew the digital camera out of his pack. "CNN loves this stuff, if I can get a chance to upload to a picture or two," he said softly.
I nodded and moved aside, making certain I kept my power in check. I couldn't find what we had followed here, though the magic felt strong. I tried to see if anything had gone up stairs -- but if so, he didn't hit Aletta's trap.
I glanced at Adrian as he moved to the side, careful not to disturb anyone, and finally took the picture. He glanced at the camera screen --
"What the hell?" he said, and more loudly than I expected.
I crossed, dampening my magic even more, and took the camera.
A bright blue spot glowed in the middle of the picture. Magic. Something magic right there --
I turned in time to see someone stand, a dark cloak wrapped around her. I could only see part of her face: eyes of emerald green, slanted and wild --
She spread her cloak and everything blurred. A wind hit us, knocking Adrian and me down as she swept over us and headed out so fast she broke the huge front window.
Everyone awoke at the sound -- children crying and men cursing. Jordan Fuller came out of a back corner, wiping sleep from his eyes as he walked to the window with a shake of his head, as though he hadn't thought anything else could go wrong. If they had all stayed asleep, I could have fixed the glass with magic. Now I didn't dare do anything except make sure none of the children charged into the shards.
"Kat -- and David, right?" he said.
"Adrian," he corrected.
Jordan looked startled. "I don't know why I thought David." I almost laughed. "I didn't see you two come in last night."
"You were busy," Adrian replied. He turned to the window. "Someone better get the glass swept up."
"Damn weather -- wind and the cold must have been too much for the glass." Jordan shook his head. Nice, the way humans can always find such easy, logical answers for the inexplicable.
"What are we going to do about the window itself?" a tall woman asked. I realized she was the hotel manager. She glanced at the bird on my shoulder, started to say something -- no doubt about hotel policy -- and then changed her mind. She turned to the window with a little despair and shivered as a sudden wind blew snow inside. "This is going to sap what little heat we have."
"We need something to make snow bricks," Adrian said. He walked over to the window, glass crunching under his boots. "And a ladder for the higher levels as we build the wall."
"Will snow bricks work?" Jordan asked, following him.
"Should help. I was part of a team in Siberia a couple years ago where we made a huge snow palace. The place was surprisingly warm inside, as long as you got enough snow to make sure you have a good insulation."
"Yeah. Okay. We need something to make the bricks." Jordan and the manager went in search of such things and Adrian started organizing some of the people to help. Others cleaned the area of glass.
Good people, all of them.
Cato let the children pet him and Shakespeare went and sat on a fake tree, letting everyone admire him while he quoted bits of Tamerlane to them.
I undid my jacket, realizing we would stay for a while. Gaylord tumbled out and barely righted himself before he hit the floor.
"A little warning, you know?" he said sleepily and fluttered up to sit on my shoulder. "Small humans. There are small humans here. I'm going to stay out of reach."
"Good plan," I agreed.
At least one of us had a good plan. I fretted over the woman with the green almond eyes, wondering what the hell we had in the game now. I didn't know. I couldn't guess. The magic hadn't been fae-like when she swept over us. There were other magical beings, of course, but this one had powers I didn't recognize.
Happily, Adrian hadn't asked about her yet so I didn't have to admit I had no answers -- again. We had enough problems I couldn't solve already. I didn't want to consider another one . . . but the image of the jade-eyed woman stayed in my mind.
Chapter Twenty
I helped build the wall of snow, reinforcing the haphazard pile of icy bricks with magic. The work was easy, there being so much magic in the snow itself. I even made the area on the interior a little warmer. I didn't see any reason why the people should be cold when I could do this so easily.
Many people in the hotel were starting to get antsy and a few bad tempered. Cell phones no longer worked, even if they had power. The hotel's generators were fine, though I gave the machine a little reinforcement as well -- difficult to do, matching technology with magic. I had done the same for the hospital generators a few years ago, though, so I knew how to help. I also put up a ward against peripix, though they seemed to have stopped wandering around, at least.
"Some of the guests are starting to suggest we're at the start of a nuclear winter or something," Abigail, the manager said. She at her desk, with me in a chair across from her. She gave me a nice cup of hot cocoa, so all couldn't be wrong. "Your pets are very well trained. We had a yapping little dog in here last night and we finally had to stick it in a closet with his owner. I didn't think birds and cats could be so well behaved, especially together. And they're entertaining the children, bless them."
"They're an exceptional group," I said, and tore off a little piece of marshmallow for Gaylord to try.
"Tastes good, but too gooey," he said with a shake of his head.
I smiled.
"You know, he acts as though he's talking to you," she said and watched Gaylord with a little wonder. "That's kind of neat."
Voices rose in the outer room. She started to stand, but everyone quieted, and she sat once more, looking very tired and nearly hopeless.
"Food is running low," she admitted softly. "I hope we can get some brought in today. We have several hundred guests plus all the people who wandered in out of the storm. I've been here for ten years. I've never seen weather like this -- though I haven't said so to anyone else."
"I think the storm is going to break soon," I said. I even meant those words. Seeing the kind of trouble she faced, I knew I'd have to do something to bring this insanity to a stop. "Another day, maybe. Things will be better soon."
I thought about the peripix who would come out again when the snow went away. Even if I found a way to settle this trouble and get rid of Aletta and her friends, I had the feeling the peripix would continue to be a problem for a while.
Abigail didn't seem to notice my own preoccupation, and I was glad to leave her to her thoughts and work. Gaylord settled into my lap and I leaned back in the chair, letting my head rest against the back.
I napped.
"Kat?"
I blinked and looked at Adrian who frowned, his face a little red with anger, which had to mean trouble. I didn't want to know what had gone wrong this time.
"Aletta is at the door."
Not at all what I expected. I stood, frowning as much as him. Abigail glanced from Adrian to me and started getting worried as well.
"It's all right. Aletta is my cousin and a pain in the ass -- but it's a personal problem. I don't know what she's doing here. And she can be unthinking about others." I stood and stretched, grabbing my jacket from the chair, and putting Gaylord in
the inside pocket this time.
"Hey, a nest! I didn't know this thing had a nest!"
He made me smile, but the pleasure passed as we walked out into the lobby.
Aletta stood there in all her dark, fae-bred and magic-made, beauty. She had the attention of everyone, of course. The glance she gave Adrian held more than a hint of worry, though. Oh yes, I could see why she might be upset to meet with the man she tried to destroy by giving his body to someone else.
"Kat -- we need to talk," she said softly. "Alone for a minute."
"Not without Adrian," I said.
She looked around --
"I'm Adrian."
"Oh. Uh. I thought --" But she stopped and shook her head. "All right. Out here. There are things you need to know."
"We know a good deal already," I said. "About you and Tamerlane, for instance."
She snarled, but spun and headed out into the cold. Adrian and I followed, though I did a check to make certain nothing worse waited out there. Aletta stopped, just outside the door, in the alcove where the wind didn't hit so hard. Snow fell in the same white veil I had gotten far too used to seeing.
"Yeah," she said, turning to me. "I have been with Tamerlane. My mother sent me to find out what he was doing."
"After what you did to Adrian, do you expect --?"
"I didn't do anything. I don't have that kind of power. I stuck with him, because I knew Tamerlane had gotten into him somehow. When you came to the hotel I thought you'd figured it out. I thought you were there to help."
"And how about when you attacked me?" I asked, wondering how she would talk her way out of that one.
"Are you an idiot?" she said, sounding angry this time. "If I had seriously attacked you, do you think I wouldn't have won? I was trying to gain Tamerlane's trust. And the trick worked better than I could have hoped, because Tamerlane lost his hold on David --"
"Adrian," I corrected.
"Whomever. His hold on the human." She waved in a dismissive gesture towards him. "You got him back and Tamerlane had to rely on me to help him reach safety. The bird attacking was uncalled for. Have I complained to you, though?"
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