Authors: Anne Bishop
Before Zeela and Zhahar realized something was wrong—or worse, before the a Zephyra Tryad realized something was wrong—Sholeh blurted out, “What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to ask me what I’m doing,” Glorianna replied with a smile.
Stunned, Sholeh looked into Glorianna’s eyes.
The heart has no secrets.
She’d heard those words when Lee and Glorianna were fighting in the mud, but she hadn’t considered the significance of those words.
Glorianna knew. Sholeh wasn’t sure
how
she knew, but Glorianna knew why she was hesitant to ask questions.
“Borders and boundaries,” Glorianna said. “A boundary is a place that connects two landscapes that belong to the same Landscaper or connects landscapes that resonate with each other but belong to different Landscapers. Those require a bridge in order to cross between one part of Ephemera to the other. Borders are places that connect two landscapes that belong to one Landscaper and that resonate with each other. No bridge is needed.” She gave Sholeh a considering look. “Until we have a chance to discuss what challenges your people may face when crossing a bridge, having a border is the safer choice. Limits where you can go, but my sense is what you need first is a solid connection to another part of Ephemera.”
Sholeh nodded, struggling to sort through all the words. “Borders,” “boundaries,” “landscapes,” “bridges.” Common words that had uncommon meanings. Lee had talked about these things, but talking about them wasn’t the same as seeing physical things appear and disappear just because someone spoke a few words.
“Give it time,” Glorianna said. “It will make sense. Right now, some decisions need to be made.”
“I—” Sholeh looked back at Medusah, who didn’t step forward. “What kind of decisions?”
Glorianna wagged a finger in a “come here” movement. When Sholeh stood beside her, she pointed at the ground. “This is one end of the border. You stay there.” She took several long steps, then pointed again. “This is the other end. Which means this one is wide enough to accommodate a wagon.”
“Aren’t all of them?” Sholeh asked.
Glorianna shook her head. “Some are narrow enough that only a person on foot or horseback could use them. Even some bridges are nothing more than a couple of planks over a stream—sturdy enough for a person and maybe a horse or cow. How two landscapes connect depends on a lot of things. This”—she moved her finger to indicate the space between herself and Sholeh—“needs to be identified in some way so that people who want to find it can, and people who aren’t intending to cross over don’t find themselves in a strange place.”
Sholeh looked at the ground. “How?”
“At some borders, we use cairns to indicate the spot without calling too much attention to it. The border between the Merry Makers and the Den uses Sentinel Stones because those are common in Elandar, even if they usually indicate a resonating bridge. What we want here is something that would have significance to your people.”
“A triangle of stone,” Sholeh said without thinking. Then she winced. The Tryad had needed to be careful about how much one-faced people knew about them, and they used the triangle for so many kinds of secret communications.
Glorianna thought for a moment, then nodded and said quietly, “Ephemera.”
Two triangles of rough-hewn stone rose out of the ground. The base of the one next to Glorianna faced them. The one next to Sholeh showed the point.
“Coming and going,” Glorianna said, sounding pleased as she examined her triangle. “Walk around to this side and take a look.
Around
, not between.”
Sholeh jerked to a stop. Or, more accurately, Zeela jerked to a stop, preventing them from darting between the triangles.
“Between is the border,” Glorianna said sternly. “And no one walks through it until I do.”
Blinking back tears, and self-conscious because she’d been reprimanded in front of Medusah, Sholeh scurried around the triangle.
“Do you see?” Glorianna pointed as if nothing had happened. “The triangles point in opposite directions. That’s good.”
“We’re still in Tryadnea,” Sholeh said, noticing how Medusah warily came around the stone to join them.
“And that’s how it should be,” Glorianna said. “You’ll remain in your own land unless you walk between the stones.” Now she looked at Medusah. “You should come with us, since there are decisions that will have to be made for your people. You may want to leave some guards here until you have time to explain what this is and what it does.”
“We’re still not sure what it does,” Medusah said.
“The first time you cross over, you’ll understand.” Glorianna walked around the stones and raised a hand to the three riders. “And it looks like it’s time to confirm what’s on the other side of the border.”
L
ee itched to cross that border and find out what was taking Glorianna and Sebastian so long to confirm that Ephemera had connected Tryadnea to the Den, but he waited with the others.
He wanted to go home, was ready to go home. He yearned for the familiar landscapes he’d wanted to leave a few months ago. He wanted to spend time with his mother, even wanted to talk to that ripe bastard Michael. And he wanted to talk to Yoshani about the truths he’d seen about himself in the past few days.
He wanted those things. At least for a while. And all that separated him from those things were a couple of steps across a border.
The Knife and the Apothecary stepped up to him.
“Does it usually take this long to make a connection?” the Knife asked quietly, glancing over to where Zhahar was talking with Morragen.
Lee shook his head. “A border was made the instant two landscapes connected with each other.”
And what is made in an instant can be broken just as quickly
, he added silently. “None of us have dealt with a race like the Tryad, so Glorianna is taking extra care to be sure people won’t be harmed when they cross over.” He didn’t mention that this was the first landscape she’d
brought into her garden since she tore her heart in half, and he suspected that was a good part of the reason she was taking so long to do something she’d been doing since she was fifteen. “And since this is the only place where Tryadnea is connected to the world, no one is going to be cavalier about securing it to the Den.”
“What about us?” The Apothecary wagged a thumb to indicate himself and the Knife. “Will we be able to get back to Vision?”
“I don’t know. But if it can be done, my family can do it.” He hadn’t considered how much skill that extended family had now, between Sebastian’s recently awakened power as a wizard and Michael’s different way of connecting with Ephemera, not to mention his mother’s and Caitlin Marie’s talents as Landscapers. And Glorianna Belladonna, Guide of the Heart.
“Lee?”
He turned to find Zhahar standing nearby. He smiled and held out a hand to her. She took his hand but didn’t return the smile.
“If you’ll excuse us?” Zhahar said, looking at the other men.
“Problem?” Lee asked when the Knife and the Apothecary stepped out of hearing.
“Maybe. How…carnal…is this Den?”
“Very. It’s a dark landscape that welcomes the incubi and succubi. Sex is a commodity, so it isn’t hidden, if that’s what you’re asking.” She was troubled, but he wasn’t sure why. Working as a Handler, she’d seen her share of naked men. Then he glanced toward her mother. Mothers. Which did the Tryad use? “Are you worried about Sholeh? Lynnea and Caitlin Marie don’t have a problem being in the Den, so I don’t think Sholeh will have trouble being there.” Of course, he was assuming that having Zeela for a sister had broadened Sholeh’s intellectual experience with regard to sex—and her physical experience as well? Not a discussion he wanted to have with Zhahar while Morragen Medusah a Zephyra watched them.
“Not Sholeh,” Zhahar said. “Kobrah. Something happened to her before she came to Vision. Something bad. She hates men and reacts badly to seeing male parts.”
“Guardians and Guides,” Lee muttered. The Den of Iniquity was what it was. A quick chat with Philo would keep his specialties off the table, but
there was nothing they could do about the erotic statues that decorated Philo’s courtyard. And that was a quick brush of what she might see. “Kobrah?” He waved her over to them.
“Lee,” Zhahar warned. Or maybe that was Zeela, since he was suddenly hearing two voices.
Kobrah looked at the space between the stone triangles. “Did something happen?”
“No,” Lee said, “but I need to know if you can handle being in the Den. It’s an edgy place with a lot of sex.” He still had trouble seeing subtle expressions, but he had no trouble seeing the loathing on Kobrah’s face. “The rest of us need to go, but maybe you could stay here with Zhahar’s people.”
“Of course you could,” Zhahar said quickly.
Kobrah shook her head. “I’ll go. You might need my help. I can stand it as long as I don’t have to touch any Chaynes.”
“You don’t have to touch anyone or anything you don’t want to,” Lee said. Then he added, “Teaser lives there.”
And Yoshani likely will be present.
“Teaser?” The loathing faded from Kobrah’s face. “I like Teaser. He’s not a Chayne, even if he is a sex demon.”
Good to know.
“Then you already have a friend you can look forward to seeing.” Lee added finding out what a Chayne was to the list of things he wanted to discuss with Zhahar.
Sebastian suddenly reappeared, startling everyone. He nodded at Lee. “The border is solid. Tryadnea fits like it’s always been there.” He waited until Morragen joined them. “We’re ready for you to cross over, but I’d like to limit the number of Tryad coming to the Den this first time.”
Lee thought he could see Morragen’s temper rising—and the way Zhahar clamped her hand around his fingers confirmed it.
“Why?” Morragen and Medusah asked coldly.
Sebastian gave her a sharp-edged smile. “Because we get enough crap from the daylight landscapes about corrupting their youngsters. I don’t need that in triplicate from parents in your landscape.”
Lee huffed out a sigh. “Yep. I’m home. Morragen, until you’ve seen the Den, it would be prudent to restrict the visitors to adults.” He paused. Thought. “Experienced adults.” Then he tightened his hold on Zhahar’s
hand, since it occurred to him that he might have just excluded two-thirds of her Tryad and he didn’t know how many toes he’d just stepped on—or how many women were annoyed with him.
Glorianna returned and stared at them. “Problem?”
“Sebastian is sounding like a prissy prig, and Morragen is still deciding if she should feel insulted on behalf of her people,” Lee replied.
“I am
not
a prissy prig,” Sebastian growled.
“And I am not insulted,” Morragen snarled.
“Then it’s settled,” Glorianna said. “Only the people involved in the discussions about Tryadnea and what do to for the city of Vision are coming to the Den. Everyone else stays on their respective sides of the border. Sebastian, did you tell these men to bring the wagon and their horses?”
“We didn’t get that far,” Sebastian replied.
“Then get that far.” She pointed at Zhahar and Kobrah. “You two. Come with me.”
“Glorianna,” Lee protested as Zhahar released his hand.
She turned to him, but it wasn’t Glorianna who looked at him.
“You know better than to create dissonance this close to a border, Bridge,” Belladonna said. “Or have you forgotten Lighthaven and the White Isle?”
An island that held a Place of Light. A land that had been whole until two women passionately rejected each other—and by doing so, split Lighthaven from the rest of the White Isle so completely the two pieces
couldn’t
be connected anymore.
Lee’s heart leaped into his throat. Fool to forget something so basic—especially when Morragen’s will and heart seemed to guide Tryadnea like a tiller provided direction for a boat, and Sebastian was the Den’s anchor, the heart that kept the Den protected and kept it from turning dark in ways that would make it too dangerous.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have needed the reminder.”
“Neither should I.” Sebastian sounded embarrassed.
“Now that we have that settled…” Belladonna turned and walked between the stone triangles—and disappeared.
“You and Kobrah should go,” Lee told Zhahar. “We’ll catch up to you.”
“Is your sister upset with you?” Zhahar asked.
“Us,” Sebastian said, looking at Lee. “She’s upset with us.”
“And she’s right to be,” Lee acknowledged. “We come from this part of Ephemera. We know better than to let emotions run without considering consequences.”
“Don’t keep her waiting, Zhahar,” Morragen said. “We’ll gather what we need and be along.”
Zhahar took Kobrah’s hand, and the two of them walked across the border.
“Do we need supplies?” Morragen asked.
“Not food and water, unless you need something special,” Sebastian replied. “A change of clothes and toiletries should be sufficient.”
She walked away, followed by the Knife and the Apothecary.
“Are you uneasy about coming back?” Sebastian asked.
Lee shook his head. “A moment’s stupidity. We’ve been running for the past two days, and getting away from the men the wizards sent after us.…It was too close. And if we don’t find a way to help the Shamans defend Vision, the surviving wizards and Dark Guides will be able to turn at least some of it into another Wizard City—a stronghold from which they’ll feed the Dark currents in a way that will change a piece of the world.”
Sebastian laid a hand on Lee’s shoulder. “You all need to rest. We all need time to talk and think and consider what can be done.”
“They need us. The Tryad. The Shamans. They need us.”
Sebastian took a step closer to him. “We need each other. I’ve missed you, cousin.”
Lee hugged Sebastian. “I missed you too.”
Holding Kobrah’s hand to offer encouragement and contact, Zhahar trailed behind Glorianna, watching the world playfully change. Glorianna walked a dozen steps, then pointed at the ground. Moments later, a boulder pushed out of the earth. The result was a string of markers from the stone triangles to a dirt lane that began in the middle of a field.