Guardian of Honor (47 page)

Bastien flung open the door and strode through. She followed.

Reynardus looked up with irritation. Some of the other Marshalls
brightened.

Thealia smiled and waved toward their seats. "Welcome, and
sit."

"I have news. I recalled something the
thing
said to
me as it tried to kill me." Alexa couldn't bear to sit, not with the fear
rumbling through her.

Reynardus snorted. "Horrors don't think. Don't speak."

Alexa set her shoulders. "This one did." She repeated
his words.

The Marshalls looked stunned.

"It can't be," Faith said.

"How many?" snapped Mace.

Alexa placed a hand to her temple, trying to remember the shades
and shadows of the beast's mind. "It's more than a few. More than a
hundred. Maybe a thousand."

"There aren't that many," Reynardus scoffed.

"How do you
know!"
Alexa's temper heated.
"You only have the
Lorebooks, and the Lorebook of Monsters was wrong
about the thing that attacked me. You haven't sent any explorers North to find
out where the monsters come from or why, or how many there are."

"We haven't sent spies to their deaths for a century."
Mace's smile was wintry. "We lost ninety good Chevaliers, magical, noble,
powerful, and twelve Marshalls that way. I know because my family line was
nearly wiped out. It is against our family rules to volunteer to go
North."

"Inconceivable. This idea of yours," Reynardus said. He
steepled his fingers. "Do you wish to distract us from the fact that you
have failed in the task for which we Summoned you?"

Anger surged through her blood. She kept her voice even. "I
fully intend to fulfill my purpose and discover how to make the fenceposts. But
I am telling you we must prepare for an army of monsters, for a huge battle."
She looked at Thealia.

The older woman just shook her head. "They've never come more
than five at a time—except the minor demons."

"And we haven't had dreeths for a century either. Or the
web-thing," Bastien said.

Alexa looked each one in the face. "You don't believe
me." It hurt. Wrenching. She'd thought they had accepted her. Perhaps to a
point, and to a point they considered her a friend. But not enough to believe
her. "You don't believe me and you don't trust me, and you don't trust my
judgment."

"You were near death, attacked, being drained of magic, easy
prey for a lying insinuation. That is what must have happened." Thealia
smiled sympathetically.

"Why would it lie as it was killing me?"

"It's evil."

Shaking her head in disbelief, Alexa stared around the table.
"I know it told the truth—"

"As it knew it to be. Why should it know of this, and how, if
it's been in Lladrana for weeks?"

"As if a monster can think!" Reynardus exclaimed.

Alexa set her baton down on the table very, very softly. The
emotional pain was overwhelming. She'd never been more than a tool to them.
Definitely not an equal to be heard or listened to.

"I can't sit here in the Castle and do nothing. I stood by
when you told me not to worry about the creature in the Town. I will always
regret that. There are deaths on my head for that. I can't wait to see which of
us is right." Tears stung behind her eyes, tears of pain and horror,
making her voice raspy. "Bastien, can we build an army of
Chevaliers?" She looked up at him.

"I knew it would come to this!" Reynardus pounded both
his fists on the table. "I knew she would never work with us. Never was
acceptable as a Marshall. Now she will pander to those discontented, rebellious
Chevaliers and split our forces!"

Bastien spoke softly. "By telling the Chevaliers there is a
mass of monsters coming? And you will deny it, all of you? You have never
wanted others to have information, the bespelled weapons in your armories, the
powerful battle spells of the Lorebooks. You have kept them for yourselves—and
what do we have now? Fenceposts failing, the defensive border disappearing,
dreeths and web-things attacking."

On the table her baton had faded to the color of light green jade.
Alexa stroked it with her finger. "The Jade Baton of Honor. I can't,
honorably, stand aside and watch people die when I can prevent it." She
shook her head, forced her tears to dry. "Not possible."

She felt the touch of Bastien's fingers on the small of her back.

"Go gather your things. Get Sinafin. We'll leave for our
estates shortly," he said.

Nodding, she opened the door and left. Left the Marshalls she'd
begun to think of as family or friends. Left her baton.

Bastien closed the door behind her. Looked at the Marshalls.
"How did this happen, that you can't trust her, or yourselves, or the
Song?" He shook his head. "A Sorcerer from the Tower could stand here
and foretell an army of evil and you wouldn't listen."

He picked up the Jade Baton. The shock of energy—Alexa's
energy—was strong, pleasurable. He spun it into the air and caught it.
"I'm taking this. Be assured, we won't call ourselves Marshalls. Those
Marshalls who originally made the fenceposts, they were
more,
as Alexa
is more. Guardians. She is a Guardian. The Guardian of Honor." His smile
cracked. Whatever was in store for them, they were shaping it by themselves,
for themselves. "And I am Shield Bastien. Shieldchevalier Bastien."
He flipped the baton again, stuck it in his belt and swaggered off.

No sooner was he gone than Reynardus said in soft spell-voice,
"We will not speak of this. Never to anyone not in this chamber now."

Thealia felt the command settle uncomfortably upon her. It did not
fit. "She must be wrong," Thealia said, hoping beyond hope that it
was true.

Faith blinked rapidly. "I can't think she could be right. How
could she be right? The evil ones have never come in more than four or five. No
noble with lands bordering the North has reported any unusual conglomeration of
beasts."

"Beasts," Mace grunted. "We've always been plagued
with beasts. Not thinking-talking creatures. What was that thing this morning,
anyway?"

Reynardus sat. "Should we care?"

"It got away," Mace said.

They'd fallen into their old habits already, Thealia thought. When
presented with the inconceivable, they couldn't accept it. How
had
they
come to be so blind? So inflexible? As hidebound as a Lorebook?

She didn't know. And she didn't know what to do. These were the
people she was the closest to, bonded to until death, by blood-bonds of the
creatures they'd killed. She could not break that link, not even if it was
right to do so.

The Marshalls were still a fighting force to be reckoned with, a
team of fighters strong in magic, in training, blood-bonded as no other force.
She could not afford to smash that force, especially if Alexa was right. Bile
rose in Thealia's throat. She didn't like her actions, her thoughts, her
conclusions. She didn't like what she was. She didn't like herself. She felt
tears in her own eyes.

Under the table, Partis stroked her thigh, kept his hand on her
knee. He'd said nothing during the final confrontation and she didn't know
exactly how he felt, but he was by her side, touching her, offering support.

No one had spoken, as if they all were as wrapped in their own
thoughts as she. She didn't want to look around the table and see doubt or
anger, so she kept her gaze fixed on the closed door.

"It's time to consult the Tower, the Sorcerers and
Sorceresses," Thealia said. She matched stares with Reynardus. His lips
tightened, then twisted in a sneer. "Perhaps one will come when called.
Perhaps not. And perhaps they will inform us why our very expensive Exotique
did not perform her duty and mend the fenceposts."

Johnsa made a protesting noise, but shut up under Reynardus's
withering look.

"I suppose you intend to say 'I told you so,'
Reynardus," Thealia continued smoothly. "But before you do,
I
shall point out that we might have been much further along, might have
convinced Alexa to stay with us, had you not made Alexa's stay here so
difficult. I hold
you
responsible for this."

Before they could continue to pick at each other, Partis said,
"I
agree we should call in the Tower now, with all the
safeguards for the one who comes. Who says nay?"

No one did. Partis nodded to Johnsa. "Johnsa, an image for
Summoning, please."

Swordmarshall Johnsa inhaled deeply, steadied herself until her
energy aura pulsed rhythmically. "We call the Tower." The image
formed of the first Tower ever built by a Sorcerer on the islands off the coast
of Lladrana. No one inhabited it now, but the Call would be heard in every
Tower.

They Sang the ancient tune of Summoning for a Sorcerer or
Sorceress, and looked to the lower left corner of the room, where one would
appear if he or she chose to be Summoned.

A high pure note rose, deep red haze swirled, solidified into a
tall, rangy man with wide streaks of silver at both temples, wearing a maroon
robe. Despite the fact his features were slightly different from most of
Lladranans and his eyes blue—both indications of old Exotique blood. Jaquar
Dumont was a handsome man. He flung back his head to clear the long black hair
that tangled before his eyes, and strolled to the seat of the Representative of
the Tower, continuing to stand.

Amusement danced in his eyes, irking Thealia. She knew it irritated
the other Marshalls as well.

"We wondered when you Marshalls would Call on us regarding
the Exotique. I congratulate you, it has taken this group longer than all the
rest. And usually we are Summoned only when something dire has occurred."

He read it in their faces. "What has happened? All was well
at dawn." His eyes narrowed. "The Exotique still lives, only is not
to be found at the Castle. Interesting."

Reynardus stood. "First we want your oath that you will
disseminate this information freely and to all of your colleagues."

Jaquar flashed a grin but his eyes were watchful. He
ostentatiously scraped back the chair and lounged into it, then waved a hand.
"Done. You have my Word that I will tell all Sorcerers and Sorceresses of
what transpires here, fully and impartially. My first report will go to the
most powerful of us all, the ancient Bossgond."

Thealia licked her lips. That was not a name any of the Marshalls
felt comfortable whispering. "We have questions."

"Naturally. Anything regarding an Exotique will raise
questions, their Power and unpredictability being so much different and usually
more than ours. It is reasonable that this is so. They would be powerful in
their own land. Bring them through the Dimensional Corridor and they will
accrue Power there, especially if they have to face a Test, as Alyeka
did."

Blood drained from Thealia's face as she recalled they'd lost
Alexa for a few seconds during the Summoning. Alexa had not been safe! Why
hadn't she told them of the first attack? Because, with the Tests immediately
following, she must have thought the first too was of the Marshalls' making.

Jaquar sat straighter in the chair, his eyes and voice cool.
"You are much more ignorant than we suspected. Alyeka fought a render
between our worlds."

Partis put his hand on Thealia's fisted fingers. She didn't recall
having tightened them.

"So what transpired this morning?" asked Jaquar.

Faith cleared her voice and called her Lorebook of Monsters, which
appeared with a harder thump than usual on the table before her. The pages
flipped until they reached a picture of the creature they had thought was the
pest plaguing the Town along Alexa's journey. "We thought we were dealing
with a tournpench, a lesser evil."

"Watch," Johnsa said, and unrolled the events that
Sinafin had shown them.

Garbled swearing came from the Sorcerer as he saw the man-thing
poise above Alexa. He gave a sigh of relief when he watched the monster's
defeat.

They sat in silence for a moment after the retelling.

"Fools." Jaquar's eyes snapped. With a whistle, a book
three times the size and weight of Faith's banged hard before him. The pages
zipped by too fast to see, then stopped. "It's a sangvile. More dangerous
than a dreeth, which we've also heard has been found in Lladrana lately."
His lips thinned. He placed his hand on the book, lifted it. Copies of the
pages rose, floated over to Faith's book and wove themselves into it.

Jaquar continued. "In my considered opinion, the Exotique is
now the only being capable of killing it. With the Power from the sangvile,
cleansed by the feycoocu, added with feycoocu trace magic and the inflow of
magic from her Pair mate, she is stronger than Bossgond. You have created an
awesome warrior."

He inclined his head mockingly. "You also let the sangvile escape
and alienated Alyeka." He swept a glance around the table, a nasty smile
curving his lips. "The sangvile is too weak to follow her, which means it
will linger in the Castle, trying to drain the magic from the most powerful
person, turn that one into dust. That would be me. I'm leaving. All the Towers
must hear of this as soon as possible and I do not want to broadcast from
here."