Authors: Robin D. Owens
He made her feel as unusual as the horrors surrounding them, and
Alexa had an awful vision of herself stuffed and mounted. She couldn't bear it.
She ran around him and hit the round-arched wooden door at top speed, falling
into a stone-paved courtyard open to the sky.
At least it wasn't raining. The sky was a deep blue that reminded
Alexa of home. She breathed air that was fresher than any the mountains
provided, without the slight sulphur tinge she'd noticed when it rained.
She leaned against the stone wall next to the door, face in hands,
trying to compose herself. "Was that really necessary?" she asked
Sinafin.
Yes. Those are what threaten our lives. Those are what invade our
land daily. Those...and worse.
Alexa couldn't contemplate what could be worse.
We need you. Wait and watch.
Again the note of warning.
With deep gasps, Alexa settled herself. She shoved fingers through
her hair and wasn't surprised to find it damp at the roots from terror-sweat.
She looked around the courtyard. The Assayer's Office seemed to be
on the right side of the main yard. The Temple dominated the far end, sitting
in the center of the wall. Diagonally to her left and across the courtyard,
tucked into a corner, was a gatehouse—in the direction of the Town.
Her breathing had just returned to normal and she was ready to
leave again when she heard bells jingling from above her. She looked up to see
a winged horse flying over the outer wall. Her mouth dropped open. The light
brown horse spiraled down, blood welling from three claw marks on its neck. Claws
like that had scratched her. Marks like that had crisscrossed the body of the
man the night before—new wounds and silvered scars.
Render. The name fit.
The horse landed with a clatter of hooves, then tossed up its head
in a lost, mournful cry that penetrated Alexa's very bones. She whimpered.
It fixed its gaze on her, then stared at Sinafin, its head lowered
and feathered wings folded trembling against its heaving flanks.
The courtyard erupted with people. Doors Alexa hadn't noted were
flung open around the square; some soldiers wearing the Castle livery jumped
the low walls of the Cloister opposite her, into the yard. With a
yip,
Sinafin
leaped into Alexa's arms.
The big Marshall—Mace—got to the horse before the others. His jaw
tightened. "We've lost Perder." He stroked a soothing hand down the
horse's neck. Two soldiers stopped and stood waiting for his orders. He nodded.
"See to the volaran."
Volaran. Flying horse. Right.
More bells jangled. Like everyone else, Alexa looked up. Two
struggling winged horses—
volarans
—with slumped riders whinnied and
jostled. Even she could tell all four were in trouble.
Mace flung out his hand to the Marshalls near him.
"Link!" A lady wearing the same dark burgundy surcoat as he, and
Thealia and Partis in malachite green, joined hands. They frowned upward, and
Alexa saw an opalescent white sphere coalesce around the volarans and riders.
The horses stopped struggling.
Mace's woman gasped and fell to her knees. The sphere failed on
one side, drooped like a deflating balloon. Volarans and riders screamed.
Alexa flung out a hand and jade-green energy poured from her
fingers, hitting the sphere, making it round again.
"Bring them down fast!" Mace shouted. Sweat rolled down
his face.
The sphere descended in a controlled fall and hit the ground—and
the magic disappeared.
Suddenly weak, Alexa stumbled to a bench next to the Assayer's
Office.
A metallic clatter came as one of the riders flung off a helm and
let it hit the stones. Her long tangled black hair blew in the wind. She leaned
over to hold the other flyer, tears streaking her face. "Help! Farentha,
my mate, she's dying. The jerir! Healing spells, anything. My lifeblood for
you. Anything!" She sobbed.
"Keep linked. Send energy to Farentha," Thealia ordered.
Her gaze caught Alexa's. Thealia said, "We must take Farentha to the
Temple for the jerir and healing. Will you help, Alyeka? We need your
strength."
Alexa had planned on leaving these people, but she couldn't. Not
right now when someone needed her, when she could save a life. Heart thudding
in her chest, Alexa walked to the knot of people around the winged horses.
She'd never been able to refuse a request for help.
Farentha's arm hung loosely, showing muscle and sinew and the
round bone of the shoulder-ball. Alexa swallowed, glad she'd had no breakfast.
Sinafin jumped from her arms, leaving them empty of warm, living comfort.
Other Marshalls came, linking hands in a circle and stretching
their arms into the center to form a living pallet for the injured rider.
Thealia broke her link with Mace and slapped Alexa's left hand into Mace's,
then grabbed Alexa's right hand, hard. Alexa shuddered with the force of the
current that shot through her. The energy spiked, then evened out as Thealia
directed it.
Partis began to sing a powerful healing spell—that knowledge
dribbled to her from the others. The rest of the Marshalls supporting Farentha
joined in the Song. A wave of warm, bubbling energy swept from Thealia into
Alexa's torso, tingling her nerves. She felt as if she stood in the strong flow
of a river. Her head grew light with champagne fizz and giddiness. Then the
force moved from her, taking the effervescence, letting her think again.
To her left, Mace jerked and whispered an oath. He glanced down at
her with wide, brilliant black eyes. He was huge, his life-force incredibly
strong. A big, trained knight. He could probably kill her with a blow. Yet awe
at
her
shone from his eyes.
She shivered, and as the current of energy passed through her
again, trembled more. Partis's Song segued into a chant that pushed her feet.
The Marshalls moved in unison to the opposite end of the courtyard and the huge
round Temple dominating the yard.
Alexa found herself humming with the others. She winced. She
wasn't much better at singing than at languages. Her verbal skills were less
than her written ones. The thought made her miss a step—sent the energy into a
ragged beat. Thealia glared at her and
smoothed it
out. Then a golden glow of honey-sweetness from Partis soothed Thealia and
trickled in to affect Alexa. She smiled.
They were healing the wounded one and she was helping! Through
sheer willpower and magic. Wonder touched her. This was the bright side of the
magic that could kill—the Power to save.
"Huh!" Reynardus snorted as he stood under the Temple's
portico, at the entrance. "What do we have here?"
If Alexa let her mind rest, didn't try to force the sounds into
words, she could understand him through her connection with the others.
Partis was spinning the healing songspell, Thealia handling the
combined energy. And Mace was the strongest personality after Thealia.
"We have Farentha, close to death," Mace said, "and
Dema, her mate, injured also. The Temple holds the jerir and is the best place
to heal them. Let us pass."
Reynardus's face hardened. "They are independent knights,
paid in coin. Why do we waste precious spell-energy and strength on such a
couple? Neither of them has more than one volaran—and no land."
Anger surged in Alexa and she was surprised to feel it matched in
Thealia. Thealia gripped Alexa's hand and clamped control over both of their
emotions. To Alexa's amazement, Thealia siphoned some of the fury-heat into the
healing spell.
Reynardus looked at the wounded woman they carried—pallid skin,
face plain and round. His eyes lingered on her injured side, the arm aligned
but wound gaping. He scowled. "She should be dead with such an
injury." His gaze fixed on the other rider who was part of the Marshalls'
circle. "And you, Dema, with that leg you shouldn't be able to walk. What is
going on here?"
"The Exotique Alyeka," Thealia said softly. "She
has the vitality and magic to keep them both alive."
Everyone looked at Alexa.
As all gazes turned to her, Alexa smiled weakly. For once she was
glad she didn't know much of the language. She had
no
clue what to say.
Sincerity radiated from the older woman. Everyone felt it. Even Alexa. Even
Reynardus.
The harsh lines on Reynardus's face deepened as he frowned.
Alexa broadened her smile. She liked seeing the man nonplussed. In
the light of day and without the haze of anger clouding her vision, he reminded
her of a particularly pompous attorney she'd had to work with during her
internship at a large law firm in Denver. Reynardus was tougher on the outside,
solid fighting muscle, but Alexa would bet his mind was just as crafty, his
will just as forceful as that of the lawyer she'd known. Oh yeah. She'd trust
this guy just as far as she could throw him.
Partis's voice broke on a note and Thealia sent a mental command
to concentrate on the injured Farentha. They inhaled as one, and the circle
squeezed into a lozenge as they prepared to enter the door to the Temple.
Rhythm picked up as they marched through the door from the bright light of the
courtyard into the Temple's dim, incense-laden coolness.
Oddly enough, Alexa sensed the person watching her most intently
was Dema, lover of the deeply wounded Farentha. Alexa met Dema's eyes, and
though the other woman lowered her gaze, curiosity hummed from her.
The Medica joined them. In an exquisite blend of physical and
mental management, Thealia and Partis rearranged the circle until only they,
the Medica and Dema supported the fallen rider.
Legs shaking, Alexa backed up to the stone bench lining the
circular wall and collapsed onto a plush pillow to rest and watch the drama.
She'd wait until she felt stronger, and see what happened before she abandoned
the Castle for the Town. She wanted to know whether the woman she'd helped
would live or die.
"Jerir...Chevalier Farentha," Reynardus said.
Since Alexa wasn't connected with the Marshalls, those were the
only words she understood. But she read his tone, gestures and stance well
enough. He didn't think the woman would survive. She looked bad off, but the
guy last night had been just as bad, and
he'd
made it. Hadn't he?
Of course he had. Sinafin would have told her if he hadn't. For
reasons of her own, Sinafin took an interest in the man.
Alexa looked around for the feycoocu and saw a large purple furred
muff a foot away from her on the curving bench. The same muff that had rested
on the table outside her suite door the first night she'd come.
"Sinafin?" she whispered.
I have to be invited through the door of a person's living space,
Sinafin
answered.
You brought me in as a muff that night.
Just like a vampire, Alexa thought. She couldn't help herself: The
image of a tiny, fairy-size vampire with white skin, long black hair and teeny
pointed teeth, wearing a red-satin-lined black cape over a full-length black
dress formed in her mind—A fairy vampire? A vampire fairy? A—
"Exotique Alyeka," Reynardus sneered.
Hearing her name jolted Alexa. She glanced over to the tableau.
Reynardus stood, legs apart. With a broad gesture he pointed to
her, then to the wounded women, then to the pool of jerir.
S
tanding by the pool, Reynardus again pointed to Alexa, then the
liquid.
He'd done that twice. How rude.
As far as she was concerned, she'd done enough dunking in the
jerir. The others could take care of the injured flyer. They were the locals,
and they had the experience and knowledge. She'd be an observer, not a
participant.
Alexa rose and mimicked Reynardus's stance. She jutted her chin,
pointed to herself, then to the pool of jerir and held up two fingers, then
raised her eyebrows and pointed to Reynardus.
Vrai...true,
said Sinafin, and Alexa could tell by
the others' expressions that they'd heard the feycoocu.
A rumble came from Mace, and an unenthusiastic agreement from the
Medica. Alexa stared at Reynardus until his cheeks darkened a bit and he peeled
off his gauntlets. She smiled sweetly. She'd won that round with him.
She kept the smile pasted on her lips as he continued to strip
until he was naked. Obviously he didn't want to subject his clothes to the
jerir. Alexa wasn't too comfortable with nudity, but she sure wasn't going to
show embarrassment.
Alexa eyed Reynardus. His honed, muscular body was impressive, and
she'd have said he had an impressive amount of scars too, if she hadn't seen
the man last night.
Then Reynardus turned and his body was limned by a shaft of
torchlight. Alexa jolted. He looked like the guy last night. She blinked and
stared, but the fleeting likeness was gone. She knew she wasn't mistaken. The
man last night must be a close relative. Probably his son. Now that she studied
his face, the resemblance was obvious. She wondered what it said about her that
she only figured out the connection after she'd seen them both naked.