“I will go,” she said.
Shiona didn’t smile, but she did smack the table enthusiastically. “Good! The sooner the better. We must find swift horses to get us to the portal before nightfall. We shan’t be able to enter tonight, but we can camp outside and enter at first light. I wish there were an inn closer to that portal.” Shiona wasn’t complaining, but Kayla could understand her feelings. The thought of sleeping on the grass didn’t particularly excite her either.
“Where is the portal?” Kayla poured the last of the cider into her cup and took a large swallow.
“Just outside of Driane,” Shiona answered.
Kayla choked on her cider, then began to laugh. “Driane?” she asked when she could breathe again.
“Yes.” Shiona seemed confused by Kayla’s reaction, which made her laugh all the more.
“Well, if your Guardians are arranging things to get the keystones together, they are doing a fine job of it.” She tried to smother her laughter. “It so happens that King Rojan has just made me the duchess of Driane. I own the manor there. If you don’t want to sleep on the grass, it looks as if your wish has been granted.”
Councilwoman Shiona’s jaw dropped at Kayla’s revelation, then slowly picked itself up and broke into a wholehearted smile. At that point she, too, began to laugh.
There was a lot to do before they could leave, but they did it quickly. Graylin and Hadril chose not to continue on with them, so instead, Kayla begged a favor.
They stood beside the boxcar, absent of customers for the moment, while she spoke with them. “Which direction are you heading next?”
“We usually take a circuitous route that will lead us back to Dragonmeer, then on to some of the coastal kingdoms. Why do you ask?” Hadril said.
“I wondered if perhaps you could do something for me when you reach Dragonmeer.”
“Anything,” he answered, and Graylin nodded his head in agreement.
“I want to implant a memory, a route memory, into the mind of the horse that belonged to Brant so he can find his way back to Brant’s casket and lead his family there. Would you be willing to give the horse to his family and deliver this letter to Duke Domanta for me? I have no idea how long it will be until I return.” She hated having to ask, but Brant’s family needed to know what had become of their son, and Kayla knew she would not be welcome there. She’d spent a good hour composing the message and telling the duke all that had happened, knowing he would want the truth of it, hard as it would be to hear. The duke could choose what he would tell others.
The brothers looked at one another, and this time Graylin answered. “Lady Kayla, you have done more to help us than anyone ever has. We will honor your wishes with pleasure, despite the heaviness of the news.”
Kayla’s eyes brimmed with tears and overflowed. “Thank you,” she choked out, handing him the sealed letter addressed to Duke Domanta.
With nothing else to say, she hugged each man and said her good-byes, then moved to the white stallion that was Brant’s engagement gift from his father. She wasn’t sure how to implant the trail into the horse’s mind, but she knew it was possible. She put her hands on its head and tried to stare into its eyes, but nothing happened. She could feel the power of the flute, but it seemed just out of reach. Exasperated, she called Brant’s name. He was immediately at her side, standing actually inside the horse, his head and arms poking up from its body. It was a bit unsettling, but she tried to ignore it.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Brant, I’m trying to tell the horse how to take your parents to your ice casket, but I don’t know how. Can you tell me what to do?”
He grinned his usual Brant smile. “I can do better than that.” He took three steps forward until his head overlapped with that of the white stallion. It startled up at first, then settled down and into Brant’s head. It looked very odd. Kayla shivered, but after a minute or two, Brant stepped to the side. “There. Done. The horse can take them there now.”
Relief flooded Kayla. “Really? That simple?”
“That simple,” he responded. Then, showing a bit of his human warmth, he said, “Thank you for thinking of them and making this right. It will mean much to them, I am sure.”
Brant disappeared before she could answer.
Finally, all the preparations were made and Shiona, Kayla, and T’Kato saddled up and rode to the south toward Driane. It was a few hours’ travel, but the company was nice, and the roads in good condition. The sun was just beginning to set when they arrived at what would someday be Kayla’s home.
Driane was a large, blocky castle made of reddish sandstone. It wasn’t the prettiest castle she had ever seen, but she could envision the changes that would make it a home. A beautiful home, with her mother’s touch.
Thoughts of her mother made her just a bit homesick, but her heart was already so full of ache and loss that homesickness was just a raindrop in a hurricane. Such a small thing to deal with when she felt so lost. It was good to have a purpose and something to do. She needed the distraction more than ever before.
The sun was falling behind the western mountains when the group rode up to Driane Keep. She led the group into the courtyard as if she knew what she was doing, when in reality she knew nothing of her new home, and only hoped the king had sent a stablemaster or at the very least a groomsman to ready things for her after he gave her the duchy.
She was in luck, for before her feet touched the cobbled ground, a young boy ran up from the west end of the building. “Are you Lady Kayla?” he asked her. She smiled and nodded as he took the reins of her mount. “It’s good to meet you, Duchess. My name is Tobyn and I’m your stableboy.” He bowed at the end of his little speech. “Would the rest of you like to follow me, or have me come for your mounts as soon as I get this one settled?”
T’Kato looked at Shiona, then answered the boy. “We’ll just leave them here, if you don’t mind. We’ve been on the road for quite a while, and I know the ladies would like to clean up before dinner.”
Tobyn bobbed his head. “No problem at all, sir. I’ll be right back and take good care of them for you. Will you be needing them again tomorrow?”
Kayla was about to say yes when Shiona spoke up. “No, Tobyn. We’ll be departing for a while, but the mounts will stay here. They won’t like where we’re going.”
Tobyn grew serious at that, but bobbed his head once more and turned to lead the horses down toward what Kayla assumed were the stables.
Kayla wanted to ask Shiona about that, but the woman turned and entered the building, where a lovely young maid curtsied. “So nice to meet you, Duchess Kayla,” she said to Shiona. The tall woman chuckled and gestured toward Kayla with her chin. “I’m not the duchess, just an old mage on her way home. The duchess is the pretty, young blonde in the back.”
The girl blushed, then turned to Kayla. “Pardons, Mistress, I just assumed. Welcome home. It’s good to have you here,” she said, leading the group upstairs. “We’ve done a lot of cleaning in the past few days and we have just enough rooms for you. We would have better prepared if we’d known you were coming.”
“It’s all right,” Kayla said. “We didn’t know we were coming until this afternoon. I’m sure it will be just fine.”
They climbed the stairs, rounding up to the top floor. The maid turned and smiled. “Let me show you to your rooms, and then I’ll take you to the baths and the kitchens, if that is all right. If you’d like a tour, duchess,” she said, now directing her words to Kayla, “I’d be happy to escort you.”
Kayla thought about it. “Yes, actually, I think that would be nice. Perhaps after dinner?”
The girl nodded. “Excellent. We’ll have things ready for you.”
“What’s your name, maid?” Kayla asked the girl as they approached the first door.
“I’m sorry, duchess, I didn’t even think—”
“No need to apologize. And no need to call me duchess all the time. Lady Kayla or Mistress are fine for now
. I’m not quite used to the duchess title as of yet,” Kayla said, thinking of Brant’s mother. She would forever be the duchess in Kayla’s eyes.
“I can imagine,” the maid said. She opened the door on the right and beckoned T’Kato forward. “This one is for you, and this one,” she said, opening a door across the hall, “Is yours, Magemaster,” she said to Shiona. “It’s got the longest bed. I thought you might appreciate that, considering your height.”
This girl reminded Kayla of Sarali. She immediately liked her. Shiona answered, “How delightful! If there’s one thing I hate, it’s a short bed,” she said, then entered her room and began to examine it, Kayla saw, before she moved on. The girl still hadn’t told them her name.
She went to the end of the hall, where double doors stood. “This is the master suite. It’s got two rooms, though I know you’re only one. That is all right, isn’t it, duchess—I mean, Lady Kayla?”
Kayla smiled at her correction. “Yes, that should be just fine . . .” she paused expectantly.
The girl reddened. “Ah, I apologize, Mistress. My name is Elayna.” She curtsied. “It’s grand to meet you.”
“As it is you, Elayna,” Kayla answered. The girl opened the double doors and took Kayla on a tour of the suite. The entryway held a sitting room and a fireplace, with doors to each side leading into large bedrooms. There was even a mage-spelled water closet so she wouldn’t have to go outside in the night.
After a bath, they were seated around a large butcher block table just inside the kitchen and served a delicious stew and fresh bread light enough to float away. Kayla slathered it with butter and dropped a dollop of sour cream in her soup.
After sopping up the last of her broth with some of the bread, she sat back and looked at the group surrounding her. T’Kato was so protective of her and the flute, and he had treated Sarali with so much tenderness and respect, it was easy to overlook the tattoos and fierce appearance to see the man underneath. And Mistress Shiona, a mage councilwoman who had already impressed Kayla—now she would take them to the Wolfchild. When Kayla’s father had told her to find the birthplace of the flute and the Wolfchild, she had thought it an impossible task, and now this woman had come to her, opening the door where she could not see one before. The Guardians must truly be guiding their people. There was no other explanation for what was happening.
Suddenly exhausted from the week’s events, Kayla scooted back her chair. Elayna was immediately at her side. “Would you like to see the books tonight, Mistress?”
Kayla shook her head. “No, not tonight. To be honest, I’m exhausted, and we’re leaving in the morning and I’m not sure when I’ll be back. When I return, I’d love a more thorough tour, and hopefully, at that time, I’ll be staying. In the meantime, do you think someone could pack up some rations for us to travel with? Perhaps a week’s supply? And any coin we can spare.”
Elayna’s smile left her face at the mention of Kayla’s departure, but she nodded her head. “I’ll get on that right away, Mistress. Is there anything else you would have me do?”
“No, I imagine that would be it. If you’ll just have the stable boy watch our mounts until we return.”
“Absolutely, Miss Kayla. You can count on me.” The girl curtseyed, then spun and walked across the room to speak with the cook.
Kayla turned back to her companions. “I’m exhausted. I’m assuming we’ll be leaving with the sun?” she asked Shiona, who nodded once. “Then I’m off to bed.” She pushed her chair in and leaned on it. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
They all said good night, and Kayla made her way up the stairs and to the end of the hall to her room. She took the door on the right, leaving the left side empty, and undressed. She left her clothes in a pile on the floor and pulled on the night dress that had been laid on the end of the bed for her.
After using the water closet and washing her face, Kayla went back to her room and put her satchel on the chest at the end of her bed, pulling the Sapphire Flute from its depths. She went around the side of the huge bed, climbed up on it, and sat down in the middle, the glowing blue instrument pulsing in her lap. She tried something different for a change, and placing her hand on the instrument, she hummed rather than playing the flute, like she had in Sarali’s kingdom.
Brant spiraled out from the flute as if she had placed it to her lips. This time when he spun out, it was quite literally. He looked like a dust devil or a small tornado, and rather fierce at that, reminding her once again of what he could become. Once he was settled before her, he resumed his normal human shape, but the blue sparkles still spun around him as if in a current of air.
He continued to change, and so quickly. Kayla brushed away a tear that escaped down her cheek, and smiled at her love. He didn’t smile back this time.
“What did you need, Kayla?” he asked, his voice echoing. Even the sound of it was changing. She couldn’t bear it. Having him so close was almost worse than knowing he was gone.
She choked on a sob. “You. I just needed—you,” she said, then buried her face in her hands.She felt a light breeze brush by her, then a slight weight settle beside her as Brant’s almost solid hand brushed back her hair and rested on her head. It was cold, but still so familiar.
“I know, love,” he said, sounding more himself. “But you can’t have me anymore. I’m here, but I’m changing. The flute needs to use me, and I’ll be here for you, always, but I won’t be the same me you’ve always known.”
“But why? Why can’t you just be you?” she asked, the pain pouring out of her like steam from a kettle.
“Because I’m dead.”
The bluntness of it shocked Kayla. She raised her face from her hands and turned her head to look at him. The blue sparkles still spun around him, though they didn’t stir her hair. He repeated, “I’m dead, Kayla. Much as you hate it and we would both change it if we could, that’s the truth of it. You have to let me go.” He said the last tenderly, but she knew he meant it, and she understood what he was saying.
“There is so much more out there for you, Kayla,” he continued. “It’s not the end. You will love again.”
“I feel so lost without you. Why did you have to die?” she asked, the bitterness leaching away the tears.
He put his hand over her fist, so cold. “Because it was my time, love. The flute has let me see things I’d never imagined, including little bits of the future, and believe me, you have so much more in store for you than to rule a small duchy at my side. You, my dear, are one of the chosen ones, created to play this flute you love so much.”
Kayla was confused. “But what about the player? I’m supposed to give it to the Wolfchild, aren’t I?”
Brant shook his head and grinned his usual mischievous smile. “No. You are the player. You are the chosen one.”
Kayla’s head was swimming. “But how can that be? The Wolfchild is the chosen one. I’m just an outcast half-Evahn nothing. I’ve never been chosen for anything.” She tried to run her hands through her hair and found it still in a bun. She yanked out the sticks and pins, needing to do something, anything, with her hands.
“You were given the Sapphire Flute,” he said. “There can be more than one chosen one,” He slid off her bed and faced her. “You are part of a group of chosen ones, Kayla, and it is your destiny and purpose to play the flute, standing beside the Wolfchild, not subservient to her. She is the point of the arrow, but you and the others are the shaft and the fletching. You are all part of one whole.” Brant was fading, but it seemed intentional this time, that he was truly leaving her, at least in the capacity she had always known him.
“Wait!” she said before he could disappear altogether. “How do you know this? How can it be true? Don’t leave me, love! I need you!”
The sparkles spun more quickly around him now. He smiled and placed a hand on the side of her face. “You can and will live without me. I’m here, just changed. The flute needs me to be your guardian, and I can’t do that while we are s
till so emotionally attached. Everything I said is true, Kayla. Trust it. Trust me. Now let me go,” he whispered.
The tears streamed down Kayla’s face. She knew he was right. She couldn’t keep loving a dead man, not like this. Nothing would come of it. Though it tore her apart to say it, she knew she had to speak the words. She had to let him go for either of them to progress. “I release you, love. Just stay my friend?”
“Forever and ever,” he said, the wind spinning around him now as he prepared to rejoin the flute. “I am here whenever you need me, but as time goes on, I shall be more elemental and less human. Be prepared, Kayla. Friend I can be. Warrior, protector, and guardian I am. Good-bye, Kayla. Find the one who is meant for you. Just remember me fondly,” he said, then with a blast of wind that stirred her clothes and hair, he surged upward and dove into the flute.
Chapter Forty
C’Tan pulled her hands out of the cavern’s floor with a sigh. Exhaustion was settling in and she was happy this was the last fissure they needed to widen and direct to destroy the mage academy. She stumbled backward and leaned against her dragon, waiting for Kardon to finish. He fell out of the wall, rather than stepping out of it, and C’Tan was afraid he had used all his strength and was going to die right there. It wouldn’t have been a bad death, really, but he got up and staggered to his dragon just as she had, then met her eyes across the cavern. They still burned fiery red from the magic he had worked.
“You were hoping, weren’t you?” he asked, almost casually. If C’Tan had a soul, she would have felt guilty for thinking exactly that. She gave him a tight-lipped smile and leaned against her dragon.
“It might have crossed my mind, I must admit,” she said.
He snorted. “You wouldn’t have been my star pupil if it hadn’t.”
C’Tan hated the reminder. S’Kotos may have drawn her in like a fly to a trap, but it was Kardon who had chiseled her into the person she was. She chose not to answer, and instead mounted her dragon, strapped herself in, and waited for him to do the same. It took him longer than it once did, but at last they were ready and flew back out of the mountain’s belly. C’Tan glanced to the east and saw that Devil’s Mount was pumping out more ash and smoke than it had when they’d started this process. From here, it looked as if S’Kotos’ plan was working. Now it was just a matter of finding a place to rest while they waited for the action to start. They flew back to Karsholm and found a spot high in the mountains. It was cold up there, but there was no chance they would be spotted from the ground.
The Armor of Light Page 32