Protector of the Flight (29 page)

“I’ve
called Jaquar and Marian. They’ll be coming in to look for more magical
traces,” Alexa said.

Both
Thealia and Lady Hallard looked sour.

“Those
Circlets were here when Calli was Summoned, for the Choosing and Bonding, yet
they didn’t notice anything, either,” Hallard said.

Alexa
narrowed her eyes. “None of us were looking. No one knew someone in the Castle
threatened Calli.”

Lady
Hallard snorted.

Bastien
said, “Morning’s passing.” He gave Calli a charming smile. “Ready for your
first Chevalier training lesson?”

Calli’s
stomach tightened and she wished she hadn’t eaten at all. What if she lost her
breakfast, training?

Marrec
squeezed her hand, spoke to her mentally,
You won’t.

Calli
envisioned volaran quick liftoffs into the sky, steep banking, loop-de-loops.
“You’re sure?”

As
they stood, Marrec whispered, “I’ll take any nausea you have away through our
link.” His expression sobered. “You’ve already learned to Shield.”

A
shiver traced up her spine. She didn’t want to remember the fall. Now that he
mentioned it, a headache lurked, buzzing in both temples, no doubt from the
forceful tweaking of her Power by the volarans. “A Shield,” she said neutrally
as they went to the private stairway off the room.

“You
form a force shield around yourself and Thunder, Dark Lance, me.” He patted her
shoulder. “I can build one for me and Dark Lance when we go into battle, but
lately I’ve been sharing a Chevalier who prefers to be a Shield with some of
Lady Hallard’s other Chevaliers.” They climbed the stairs from the second floor
to the Castle wall walkway that ran from the keep to Horseshoe Hall.

They
were alone, and Marrec stopped and turned to her, stroking her hair, his
serious gaze meeting hers. “You’re very Powerful. You’ll have modified the
Shield Song to suit yourself soon, probably by the end of the first teaching
verse.”

“Thank
you,” Calli said. She slipped her arms around his waist and hugged him. She
wanted to say she loved him, but was too shy, and everything that happened that
morning had reinforced that she was a stranger in a strange land. The guy was
her husband, was closer to her than anyone else in the world…but they were
still finding their rhythm together.

They
walked to Horseshoe Hall and down the stairs near the stables. There, her
squire held out a different tunic for her, this one made of padded leather.

“Thank
you,” Marrec said, taking the item. He frowned at all the volarans in the
Landing Field, grouped according to their herd status, Dark Lance and Thunder
closest. Thunder shifted. “Go to Thunder,” Marrec told Calli’s squire, a young
man.

Marrec
slipped the tunic over her head, tied the sides. “This will be all you need
this morning. Your chain mail should be ready by tomorrow.” His hands stroked,
more the leather than her body beneath.

For
the first time she noticed that he, too, wore new flying leathers. She touched
his shoulder. “Nice expensive clothing.”

He
smiled at her. “We landed in sweet hay.” She heard the end of that mental
thought.
After all these years.
Dark Lance echoed agreement.

Their
feelings echoed her own, and she was comforted. This was the kind of man she
knew and would treasure, and the volarans were already part of her heart.

But
as she strode the couple of paces to Thunder, her pulse began to beat hard in
anticipation. All the volarans were here, which meant all the Marshalls and
Chevaliers. Ready to watch her during her first training flight. She’d never
wanted an audience less.

Thunder
was still unsettled from the excitement of her fall. Calli frowned. Now that
she thought of it, most of the volarans were uneasy, tense and restless. Hmm.
It would be a good way to see how well the Marshalls and Chevaliers partnered
the winged horses, which people she might help improve their flying skills.

And
wasn’t that arrogant?

It
is truth,
Thunder said as she gave him half a carrot to nibble.
You and I fly as if we
were raised together and you are the best Chevalier I have ever seen.

“Huh,”
she said and used Marrec’s cupped hands to mount. She leaned down and kissed
his cheek. He smiled and went to speak with their squires.

Are
you sure you want to be my fighting volaran?
she asked Thunder.
It means
danger and death
.

He
flinched. His whole body rippled under her in an equine shudder. She sensed
panic and used her Power to sooth his mind. Hold it, like her own, away from
paralyzing fear.

I
am the best for you.
It was barely a whisper, as if he doubted. She didn’t know how he’d been chosen
for her, but she loved him.

I
love you,
she said, stroking his neck. She didn’t want to see him hurt or killed, and
kept that notion firmly away from where their minds touched.

I
love you, too. I am the
best
for you.
His mind voice came stronger,
certain now.

All
right. We will fight together.

He
shivered again.
Together. With Dark Lance and Marrec.

Yes.

We
will probably be the Shield team,
he said, sounding comforted. His
natural Song took on harmonics that fear had suppressed.

So
I’ve heard.

Dark
Lance is a big volaran. He can fight.
Calli almost smiled, hearing the
unspoken “instead of me.” But she didn’t want either of them to have illusions.
She’d had enough illusions in her previous life.
There will still be danger,
and times we must fight and kill.

Thunder
shifted.
I have never been in a battle with someone on my back, led by
humans.

Neither
have I. We’ll learn together. That will make us a stronger team.
She held
confidence firm in her mind. Marrec’s Song wisped through her and she turned to
see him murmuring to Dark Lance, settling him. Marrec smiled at her. “Let’s fly
together. Dark Lance and Thunder did well yesterday,” Marrec said. “Follow me
in sky play.”

Excellent
idea. If these had been horses, she’d have worked with them on the ground until
their fidgets had gone.

“Sky
play.” She grinned back. That sounded fun.

He
winked.

Thealia
came over, holding inch-long many-pointed starlike crystals. She placed one on
Thunder’s head, the other on Calli’s right shoulder. “These will record your
flight.”

Video.
Great.

Others
had mounted. Alexa and Bastien on Alexa’s stallion, almost as large as Dark
Lance.

Bastien
would be teaching Calli how to be a Shield. She’d never seen a tougher guy,
obviously Shield didn’t mean
wimp.
Swordmarshall Thealia and her Shield,
Lady Hallard and another man and two pairs of Chevaliers who wore her colors.
People who would have worked closely with Marrec.

This
time when they rose into the sky, she was very aware of others around her. Marrec
sent Dark Lance into a wide curve to the left with no more than the tiniest
shift of his body and aura to the left. This man could ride! He’d given no
mental image to Dark Lance, Calli figured that the two were so in accord that
the volaran read Marrec’s intention in his mind as well as body. Yet Marrec
used his body to cue the flying horse, as he would a regular horse. As she and
Thunder followed Marrec and Dark Lance, she settled into her balance; more, she
easily found that special place where her energies and Thunder’s merged in
balance.

They
flew patterns, dipping and curving. The cool summer breeze lifted her hair. Her
headache had dissipated, her muscles had relaxed, yet she knew from the
thoughts around her that the swooping and curving, the quick, rapid lifts, all
were used on the battlefield. But the pure freedom of it, of not being tied to
earth, of
flying,
moving in three dimensions filled her until she felt
as if she was pure joy. As if she glowed.

Yet
she could feel the links between herself and everyone in the air. She was a
vital part of a team, yet individual. This was what she was born to do.

She
caught Marrec’s smile at her reaction and grinned. With a slight finger motion,
he indicated they’d get down to business. Which was doing figure eights,
horizontally, vertically, at a slant. When all the volarans were in tune with
their riders, Marrec began games with first one pair, then two, then added the
rest. Calli smiled as she realized he used not only his sensing of the Songs,
but her skill at seeing auras, to judge the moment when all the fliers were
integrated with their mounts.

The
sun rose higher, got hotter, but Calli kept up. When she’d mastered all the
beginning moves, understood the way she needed to shift her body to cue Thunder
for three-dimensional flying, she began to watch the others. It was easy to
tell those who had telepathic communication with their volarans, flying horse
and human auras were merged. The abundance of colors amazed her. Not only were
there individual colors, but that of Pairlings, and the colors of fliers and
volarans. In very well-integrated fighters, such as Swordmarshall Thealia and
her Shield, all volarans’ and fliers’ auras were the same malachite green. She
looked down at herself and blinked. She was sky blue, so was Thunder. Glancing
at Marrec, who was now riding slightly in front of her, she saw he and Dark
Lance were the same color.

Calli
turned her aura-sight to Alexa and Bastien riding his stallion, and bit her
lip. Bastien and the volaran were blue-green, Alexa was tense—and polka-dotted.

Oh,
yes, she’d teach Alexa to fly.

Then
Thealia and Lady Hallard were zooming straight at Marrec and her. Thealia
whipped out her baton. Threatening green-black light shot out. Lady Hallard
came, face fiercely smiling, sword ready.

Marrec
moved to meet them, his sword out.

Shield!
The order came
from Bastien, with a sharp two-note whistle that pierced Calli’s shock. The
high-pitched sounds reverberated in her mind.

21

C
alli Sang the
two-note
Shield
spell echoing in her head.

An
iridescent, egg-shaped soap bubble formed around Marrec and Dark Lance, around
Thunder and herself.

The
fliers attacked, Thealia and Lady Hallard against Marrec.

Black-green
baton Power struck Marrec’s bubble, hit him in the chest.

No!
Fear fueled
Calli’s spell.
Shield!
Not whistle,
gong
tones.

The
bubble flashed around Marrec—stopped Lady Hallard’s sword, shoved both volaran
pairs
back!

Lady
Hallard’s mount tipped sideways, fliers appeared around her, manipulating the
air to steady the winged horse. Thealia shot upward, her own Shield-bubble
glowed milky white, strengthened by her Pairling.

You
are
a
Shield!
Alexa’s mental shriek of glee battered Calli along with the
adrenaline reaction to the attack.

A
natural one,
Bastien agreed.

They
rode to her left.

Marrec
was still ahead of her, his sword drawn, fighting another rider midair.

Calli’s
mouth dropped open.

The
Shield of a well-matched pair does not impede the person Shielded,
Bastien said.

She
could see that. Her husband fought with efficient grace, face a shade more
serious than usual.

Disengage!
Thealia
ordered, circling down to their level again.
Practice over.

The
rider fighting Marrec dropped. Marrec sheathed his sword.

Calli
trembled. Everything had happened so fast! Had seemed so deadly.

We
did it!
Thunder trumpeted. He swung up and over, legs tucked, in a loop-de-loop.

Calli
shook, clamped her legs around his barrel, grabbed her saddle, handled the
loop. Dizzy-headed, she sent to Thunder,
Calm.

His
head came up, but his ears rotated, as if paying attention.

Back
to the Castle,
Marrec sent matter-of-factly, with pride in his undertone. He and Dark Lance
turned a tight left, and Calli saw many of the Chevaliers they’d worked with
streaming ahead.

They
go to tell all that we were wonderful. That we will learn to fight quickly,
Thunder said.
If he’d been on the ground he’d have pranced.

A
few minutes later, they circled down toward an open space in the middle of
Landing Field, which was flooded, as usual, by volarans. It appeared that all
the humans of the Castle had turned out, too.

With
the beauty of a falling leaf, they landed. Thunder lifted his head and his
wings in pride…and to cool himself. Calli noticed her underwear was sticking to
her.