Heart Fortune (Celta) (35 page)

The cabinet under the bed was empty, too. A half septhour later they’d searched the whole room thoroughly and Jace had placed a few found items atop the dresser cube in the closet—a shirt, some small tight bent wires that Lepid said smelled like hair, an odd bottle they’d found in the cleansing cubicle that had dried stuff in it.

Despite all the distractions the fox and the brooch had provided, the truth settled hard into Jace’s bones, coated his arteries. He and Lepid were trapped in a buried starship and it didn’t appear as if they could get out on their own.

Only Zem and Trago knew where they were, and Trago would do his best to smear Jace and point people in another direction.

Jace and Lepid could definitely die—either by hunger and thirst, or by desperately trying to teleport to an unsafe place. All the other tents in camp . . . all the walkways . . . anywhere he could think of . . . could have people in them, coming and going. A botched teleportation would be fatal to them all.

Of course they had one last option, but Jace wasn’t quite ready to surrender to that.

“Come sit with me while I think.” Jace sat on the bed, patted the mattress beside him. “I’m going to let the spell light go out now. I need to save energy.”

Lepid shuddered, jumped onto the bed with him.
I had to do that, too. Before. I am strong enough to make a light now, though.

Jace petted him. “In a while. Let’s settle in.” He lifted his legs, flattened out on the bed. The mattress was no bedsponge, but some ungiving material . . . and weirdly enough, Jace could now feel the contours of whoever had slept there ages before. A smaller someone, both in width and length. Maybe female.

Lepid stepped onto Jace’s chest, curled up.
It is good we are together.

The situation would be better if neither of them were there. Skull-shaped terror gibbered in the back of Jace’s mind, ready to bite. He kept punching it in the teeth. Didn’t stop the cold sweat coating him.

Lepid whimpered.
Glyssa is the only one besides Zem and you that I can talk to well. What about you?

“Let me check.” Slowly he let the spell light trickle away, sighed when the small energy drain stopped. As they lay in the dark, Jace became aware of the scent of the fox . . . of other smells, residue of smoke and fire, those were Earthan. Now that he couldn’t see, he felt surrounded by alien stuff. The covering on the mattress was no Celtan cloth. Even the sound of their breathing and their small movements echoed strangely in a room of metal and fake wood and other Earthan materials he had no name for.

He didn’t want to die here.

Again he forced that fear away, breathed deeply and concentrated on the links, the emotional bonds, he had with others. The strongest was with Zem. . . . no, he lied to himself. The strongest, if the thinnest, was with Glyssa. Not surprising since he’d had that, even if he hadn’t known it, hadn’t discovered it, hadn’t admitted it, since the second Passage to free his Flair years ago. He’d
had
Passages,
had
made a HeartGift, but his Flair had never obviously manifested. He stopped himself from shifting.

Glyssa had tended the bond at times when he’d been ignorant of it, when he hadn’t seen it or felt it. Unlike a few weeks ago, this time he knew the bond would always be there, would always be tangible.

Of course the solution to this whole mess was to call Glyssa. Stupid not to have done that immediately.

Especially since she was riding away from the camp with every second.

But his pride, his very heart had been wounded by her. She’d shaken his world with her words, made him see himself in an unflattering light. Made him doubt his self-identity.

Made him want to change.

Change wasn’t bad, but he wouldn’t reach for Glyssa first, beg her to take him back. Not if he could get out some other way. Stupid to want to save his pride, or not want to aggravate a hurt to him, to her, but . . .

He scanned his other ties, precious few. No Family, of course. A strong but thin white one to . . . Raz Cherry T’Elecampane. Jace winced. Calling that guy mentally would be worse than speaking to Glyssa if he wanted to keep the fact that he and Lepid had been here in the ship secret. Not much chance of that, but a sliver . . . if he . . . they called Glyssa. If they could hold out until she came. If they could work together to teleport them somewhere safe.

And her arrival back here, maybe the return of the entire band led by Del D’Elecampane, would not go unnoticed, especially by Trago.

Well, he had that unexpected inheritance from his father now that his word was foresworn and he’d broken the contract with the Elecampanes and the other shareholders and forfeited his stake.

His father had loved him, had tried his fumbling best for Jace, and he should respect that. The thing was, just the idea was surprising. His father had been so in love with his mother, so bedazzled by her and under her thumb that Jace hadn’t realized he’d loved his son, too.

Now the last trace of smoke, maybe the closeness of a snoozing Lepid’s fur and the dust from him, stung Jace’s eyes.

And this wasn’t the right kind of thinking to get them out of here.

One thing he
did
know, despite the new info on his father, and Jace’s unpleasant look at himself, he didn’t want to die here. He especially didn’t want to die slowly and watch a loved one die with him.

Which meant he should continue checking his bonds. There was a fuzzy, nasty black sort-of thread that reeked of
wrongness.
What was
that?

Gently, gently he “touched” it. Shock! Stabbing pain. Anger.

Fliggering fligger!
shrieked a high voice in his mind. Trago.

Jace lunged in disgust back from the tiny link.

How could that be?

He hates you. All his anger and pain is focused on you,
Zem interjected. Easy for his BirdFam to say. He wasn’t stuck in the ship, hadn’t experienced the link viscerally.

I felt enough,
Zem said.
Felt like the blazer shot that singed my feathers.

Sorry, Zem.
Jace considered the tie, didn’t think he could get rid of it. Had never heard of anything like this before.

After some deep breathing, he could feel connections again. The shortest to the closest person was to Andic Sanicle. That man would stir up trouble for Jace. No links to Funa or any of the other women he’d slept with in camp. Nothing with Symphyta, though he’d spoken with her every morning when Zem was hurt, and they were friends.

Glyssa would have stronger, deeper bonds than he, even with members of the camp who she’d recently met.

Stop brooding. Act!

The last one he traced was a faint blue link that surprised him. It resonated of male and headed in the direction of Druida and he understood it was Glyssa’s father. Not strong enough for him to contact.

I could fly very fast to Glyssa,
Zem offered.
Even with a bad wing.

Thank you, no.
Jace rubbed Lepid awake. “We’ll,
I’ll
need to contact Glyssa. Lord and Lady knows how far away she is.”

Lepid licked Jace’s nose.
She will come. She will save us.

She already had, both of them. Taken on a rambunctious fox kit as her Fam, Jace as her love.

He still couldn’t acknowledge the HeartMate thing. That was on him.

“Yes,” he said.

Thirty-seven

T
hey’d stopped for lunch. Glyssa was given the task of finding dry
wood to keep her from obsessing about Jace. Didn’t help her hurting heart, but kept her hands busy. Everyone seemed glad to take the break and that it would be long enough for a fire. The day had clouded over again, the blue sky septhours gone.

She was sitting on a log with Camellia, greedily eating a meat and veggie kebob wrapped in a flour flexbread when Jace said,
Glyssa. I need you.

Tears welled and she battled them back.

Lepid shouted into her mind.
FamWoman, FamWoman. HELP! We are trapped in the ship!

Glyssa bit her tongue, hard, nearly dropped her sandwich, squeezed it so hard a piece of onion popped out and lay on the ground.

What?
she cried out mentally to her lover and Fam.

Trago is the mean person! He trapped me, and I called FamMan to help and he came and now we are both trapped in a little room in the ship!

Her vision simply went white, the news was so contrary to what she’d thought. Jace and Lepid sure weren’t following her to apologize.

“What’s wrong?” asked Camellia.

Glyssa realized she’d swayed and her friend had put an arm around her waist to steady her. “Just a minute, Lepid’s talking to me. There are problems.”

Glyssa, calm,
Jace said.
We won’t die soon.

His mordant humor didn’t comfort her.
You are all right.

Hesitation, then,
For now.

I’m sure calling me was your last resort.
Her reply came out snappish with bitterness and fear.

That is true,
Jace said.

She’d flung her bond with him wide and could
feel
the horror in the back of his mind. Her insides squeezed. This couldn’t be happening!

Unfortunately, it is happening,
Jace responded to her thought. She sensed him petting Lepid who sat beside him on . . . a bed? She thought she felt him sigh, could almost see his lips curving in self-deprecating humor.
But I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said. I would have contacted you soon anyway.

She shuttered her mind against her snotty answer. She was less good in a potentially fatal crisis than she’d hoped.

“Something’s terribly wrong,” Camellia whispered.

“Yes.” Putting her food beside her on the log, Glyssa stood and moved to where Del was standing, talking to the cartographer.

One glance at Glyssa had Del dismissing the man, sinking into her balance and waiting for bad news. “What’s up??

Glyssa couldn’t prevent herself from wetting her lips, even so, her voice came out more squeaky than she wanted. “Apparently Lepid followed Trago into
Lugh’s Spear.
” She wasn’t sure of the details, why hadn’t she asked? Too late now, she had to speak as if she knew what she was talking about. She made her voice strong and steady, matched it with a serious, honest expression. “Trago is the villain who’s been sneaking around and raiding the ship.”

She
felt
general agreement from Lepid and Jace tickle the back of her mind and continued.

“Your fox went down into the ship,” Del snapped.

“Yes, and Trago trapped him.” Glyssa lifted her chin. “Jace went after him.”

Del grimaced, made a chopping gesture. “Let me guess, Trago trapped him, too.”

“Yes, then packed up Jace’s tent and things and . . . disposed of them.” More affirmation from Jace and Lepid.

“Jace’s tent had a spellshield. If Trago got through that, he’s more powerfully Flaired than we all believed,” Del said.

“Strong enough to send a boulder, by Flair, into the girder hole and ruin the canvas and entryway for teleportation so my guys can’t get out of the room he trapped them in.”

“Sounds logical,” Del said. Her expression hardened. “I will scry our guards to arrest Trago, but I will not authorize my people to go down into the ship after Jace and Lepid. I’m sorry, I will not risk anyone.”

Fear jolted through Glyssa. She hadn’t expected this. She drew in a deep breath. “They’re my responsibility, I’ll go. I do want your permission to descend into the ship.”

Del hesitated.

Glyssa lifted her brows. “If it were Raz and Shunuk down there?”

“Raz and Shunuk—” Del pressed her lips together. Glyssa knew the Elecampanes well, all of them burned with curiosity as much as she, they were just older and wiser and had more to lose than Jace and Lepid.

“I’ll give you permission. I’ll let everyone know you’re coming and to give you help—short of going into the ship . . . at first.” Del raised her hand. “We let a lot of people go down there and we’re just asking for it to be looted.” She exhaled heavily. “More than, apparently, Trago has already. We cannot let the knowledge the ship contains be more contaminated than it has been.
Lugh’s Spear
might be able to answer many questions for us regarding our psi powers, our history, that
Nuada’s Sword
does not know. You go first. If there are problems, the Hollys and Raz and I will confer as to who else we might send.”

Glyssa stood straight. “I understand.” She looked at the line of stridebeasts. “I’ll go back.”

“I won’t turn this band around. Raz is expecting us at the Deep Blue Sea and it’s important to get these other settlers out of our way. Happy somewhere other than in our venture.”

“I’m still returning to the camp.” By herself, alone in the wilderness, for septhours. She swallowed her own incipient panic. This had to be done. She’d lectured Jace about facing his shortcomings, time for her to do the same. Only the celtaroon nest had been a threat in all the septhours they’d traveled.

We will be with you, FamWoman!
Lepid said.

You’ve never been on the trip to the Deep Blue Sea,
she said to her Fam.

I have.
Jace remained calm.
The path is always visible.

Del was speaking, “I’ll contact my HeartMate first, then my guards. Then we’ll decide what to do.”

“I’m leaving as soon as possible,” Glyssa said.

“I’m going with her,” Camellia said.

“No.” Del looked straight at Camellia. “You are a FirstFamily GreatLady, I dare not take any chances with your health. I forbid it.”

“That’s strong language,” Camellia said, taking Glyssa’s hand. “Glyssa’s my best friend.”

“I will not allow you to leave, D’Hawthorn. If you force me to take measures to keep you here, I promise you, neither you, your husband, nor any of his investors, settlers, whoever is associated with him, will be welcome in this part of the world. None of you will get the aid you will need from us.”

Glyssa turned and hugged her friend. “Stay safe with D’Elecampane.”

“I’ll worry about you.”

“I know, but we have a bond. As I do with the Elecampanes. Everyone can advise me.” All the voices in her head could drive her mad, too.

“Glyssa is barely able to make this trip on her own,” Del said. “She doesn’t know the area. She has no survival skills in traversing or camping in the wilderness.”

Glyssa suppressed a wince, stood tall. “You can’t talk me out of it.”

“So I see. At least you are accustomed to the camp and the area. You know, in general, any dangers.”

Glyssa wished Del would stop talking and feeding her imagination. “Yes,” she said.

Del examined her from top to toe, sighed. “You don’t have any weapons.”

“Nothing physical. I assure you I can defend myself with Flair.”

“And I have taught her a few self-defense moves,” Camellia said. That was true, though from the evidence a while back with Sanicle—the last time she’d needed self-defense—Glyssa hadn’t recalled a thing.

“We’ve only been gone a few septhours.” Del waved a casual hand. “The path is well marked. You should be fine. Shunuk will accompany you.”

Del’s FamFox yowled in protest. Del frowned at him. “You will go with Glyssa. You know the way back to the camp as well as I do.” Del slid her gaze to Glyssa. “And Glyssa will pay you with special foods for your gluttonous nature.”

The Fam was reasonably thin, but Glyssa had heard that he liked his food.

“I have some particular fox treats that Camellia brought me from Danith D’Ash,” Glyssa informed Shunuk. “Fresh treats.”

His tongue swiped over his muzzle and he walked stiffly to one of the stridebeasts—not the one she’d been riding.

Del sighed. “You’re right, Shunuk. Glyssa should take the steadiest beast, and the one who likes the camp the best. The mare will be happy to head for the stables.” Del gestured to a groom. “Transfer Glyssa’s light gear to Millie.” Del met Glyssa’s eyes. “The provisions you have for two and a half more days on the road, we will keep.”

“Fine,” Glyssa said. “I’ll be back in the camp well before dark. You
will
inform your HeartMate of everything?”

“You can be sure of that.” Del’s mouth twisted. “We’ll probably be talking about this all afternoon, and coordinating with the guards back at the camp.” With a jerk of the head, she walked away.

Shunuk bounded away from the stridebeast, headed over to the log where Glyssa had been sitting and snarfed up her food. He grinned as he masticated.

Glyssa’s stomach gurgled, but she had no appetite. Jace and Lepid were trapped in the ship and she was about to ride alone, except for a FamFox, into the wilderness . . . not to mention that Trago was still at large. Anything could happen. The earth could swallow the ship once more and her HeartMate and Fam could die. A grychomp could get her. She could stumble into a celtaroon nest. She gritted her teeth and stopped a shudder.

“The stridebeast is ready,” the groom said.

Camellia wrapped tight arms around Glyssa. “I love you. You can do this. I love you.”

Glyssa let herself rest against her friend for a moment, bask in the warmth of love given and returned, in the loyalty, the deep faith they had for each other. “I’ll see you in a little while,” she said.

“Yes.” Camellia squeezed until Glyssa hurt. “As soon as I can talk someone into flying me back to the camp, I’ll be there. Blessed be.”

“Blessed be.”

A large sneeze and a snort.
COME ON,
said Shunuk.

Glyssa reluctantly let go of her friend, dredged up a smile then, but steel sincerity in it. “I’ll get to camp, save the guys, and see you later.”

“Later,” Camellia said with a strange perky smile.

Shunuk nipped Glyssa’s ankle. “Hey!” she protested.

He turned and ran toward her new stridebeast, jumped to his pad behind her saddle. Sighing, Glyssa shook out her legs . . . then there was a short line of people from camp to hug that had prickles rising behind her eyes. They all wished her well, gave her blessings, and wore extremely doubtful expressions.

And then Del was there to help her into the saddle. “No problem going back. Nothing to worry about,” the explorer said. Her mouth flattened and her gaze shadowed. “We’ll do all we can to help.” She muttered, rubbed the back of her neck. “Any deaths, especially in the ship, will put an end to this project for generations. Raz pointed that out to me. Damn
curse
and bad luck nonsense.”

“Merry meet,” Glyssa said.

Del blinked, smiled. “And merry part.”

“And merry meet again.” With that last word, she nudged the stridebeast toward the dirt path between grasses. The mare trudged unenthusiastically.

BYE FAMWOMAN, I WILL BE CAREFUL. I LOVE YOU,
shouted Shunuk.

Glyssa winced and turned the stridebeast back the way they’d come a few minutes ago. The mare wuffled, her ears pricked up and she went faster. Glyssa could swear she got smudged images from the beast’s mind of
food
and
warm stables
and
no stupid big water close
.

As soon as they’d rounded a curve and lost sight of camp, Glyssa contacted Jace and Lepid.
I am on my way back and making good time. I’ll be there as soon as possible.

We’ll be here,
Jace said, still too calmly. He hadn’t narrowed their bond—his only bond with the outside world?—and she
felt
how the atmosphere pressed upon him, how he controlled the panic skittering along his nerves. How he petted her Fam, grateful for the fox.

She swallowed hard.

We are in the dark,
Lepid whimpered.
And we are not moving around and it is cold.

The temperature in the ship, like most caverns, was steady, but not nearly as warm as the earth touched by sun. Glyssa bit her lip.

Shunuk and I are coming. The Elecampanes know of your plight.

She felt Jace wince.

Suppose that was necessary.

Snideness would not help the situation.
I prefer to have all the support that I need. Where’s Zem?

I am here, FamWoman,
said the bird’s cool voice in her mind.
I did not descend into the ship.
To him the ship symbolized a deadly bird, ready to kill, and now he felt both vindicated and fearful.
I am not with my beloved FamMan.

Jace choked. His fear rose, then settled.
I am glad you are free and in the open.