‘I meant…’
‘It sounds like the only way, for now,’ Nell said. ‘We can’t risk you either, Jarrod.’
Rosette laced her fingers and put her hands on top of her head. ‘What are you guys talking about? Who’s following? Kreshkali? Are you saying I’ll always be hunted? Always on the run?’
‘Not if we can get you off this world.’ Jarrod turned to face Rosette.
‘Off this world?’ Rosette wrinkled her brow. ‘You mean through the portal?’
Nell hushed them. ‘Before we contemplate that, we have to deal with La Makee. She’d lead them straight to us.’
‘Lead who? What trackers?’
‘What if they think Rosette was lost under Los Loma?’ Jarrod asked.
‘You mean dead?’ Rosette drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. ‘Sounds like I’d be better off.’
‘Think about it,’ Jarrod said. ‘No-one knows what happened in that avalanche. And no-one knows I’m here at all, so far.’
‘What are you suggesting?’
‘Nell, you and An’ Lawrence return to Treeon with the vial. Say that’s all of the spell that you got. It won’t do any harm and it might satisfy La Makee, at least while she tries to work out what it is.’
‘And Rosette?’ Nell asked.
‘Say that she and her temple cat perished in the tunnels under Los Loma. It’s not a far stretch and there’s the landslide to prove it.’
‘They’ll send scouts,’ Nell said, nodding.
‘It’ll buy us time, and put off any other…pursuit.’
‘It’s nothing new,’ Rosette said, closing her eyes. ‘I’ve been playing dead since I was sixteen.’
He leaned closer to her. ‘I won’t be left behind this time. I’ll sail with you. It’ll be all right. I promise.’
‘This will work,’ Nell said. ‘I’ll catch up with you in the islands, once Makee is satisfied.’
Rosette straightened her back.
Drayco? It seems we’re on the move again.
I heard. Could be fun?
Maybe. How do you feel about boats?
On the water?
Generally, yes.
I don’t mind, as long as I can stay dry.
I’ll make sure you do, lovely. You can count on it.
Rosette added more wood to the fire, watching the flames until her eyes began to close.
‘Get your coat. I need you to come with me.’ Nell’s voice brought her out of a daze.
She yawned, following her mother out of the cave. The wind raged, whipping her hair about her face. The warm orange tones of the shelter vanished as she closed the flap, immersed now in the pale blue-grey of the moonlight. Nell’s face was covered in shadow. ‘Forgive me, daughter,’ she said. ‘It was always the hardest thing to live with…’
‘What’s that?’
‘Living without you.’
‘It wasn’t to be,’ Rosette said, her teeth starting to chatter.
‘Not angry any more?’
Rosette wrapped her arms around Nell and gave her a brief hug. ‘I think I’ll always be a little angry—something to live with. I’m proud to have Nellion Paree of the Dumarkian Woods as my mother. As far as I can see, you saved my life.’ She felt Nell’s tension ease.
‘My little Kalindi Rose, my Rosette. Those times you came to stay with me were the best of my life.’
‘Mine too, Nell.’
They embraced again until Rosette pulled away.
‘It all makes sense now!’
‘What’s that?’
‘My birth data’s correct, isn’t it?’ Her voice was a challenge. ‘You didn’t alter that?’
‘It’s exact. Bethsay timed it to the second.’
‘Then this explains my natal Moon in the sign of the Water-bearer conjunct Oraneus. It never really fitted before. You know, things like “Sudden and unexpected separations and reunions with the mother, disruption in the home, need for emotional freedom as well as intimacy and closeness…unconventional mother, strange family roots”. I’ve always tried to comprehend that in context with my life in Lividica, as a Matosh, and it never sat right. Now that I know the truth, it makes perfect sense.’
‘Always believe the horoscope, not…’
‘Not the history,’ Rosette laughed, finishing her mother’s sentence. ‘You gave me all the hints in the world, didn’t you?’
‘A few.’
She rubbed her hands together and thrust them into her pockets. ‘It’s freezing out here. Let’s go back to the fire.’
‘First, the vial.’
Rosette loosened her coat and reached into her bodice. She felt the ornate facets of the crystal nestled between her breasts and pulled it out, holding it up to the moonlight. It emanated a pulsing glow.
‘What is it, Nell? Not Passillo.’
‘No, not Passillo. That spell is woven into you now. This is a sample of your aura, a by-product of that weaving you did when you put Kreshkali to sleep.’
‘Can I do without it?’
Nell chuckled. ‘What do you think?’
‘I think I already have. Will it satisfy La Makee, though? Surely she will know it’s not Passillo.’
‘It’ll occupy her for a time, until she works it out.’
‘Then what?’
‘I’m not certain.’
‘That’s not really comforting.’
‘Rosette, it’s going to get…challenging.’
Rosette thought of the meeting with the Lupins, the release of magic that had dropped her to her knees, Drayco in the snow unconscious and the Sword Master face down, Scylla’s blood turning the ice red…Kreshkali’s strange words. Her escape. The avalanche.
She pursed her lips. ‘
Going
to get challenging?’
Nell laughed. ‘Keep that sense of humour, girl, and you might just come out in one piece! Can you sleep?’
‘Yes, if everyone would leave me alone.’ Rosette yawned massively.
‘The good thing about the northern nights is they last for so long. You’ll be able to get eight hours before dawn if you can keep your hands off Jarrod.’
Heat flushed Rosette’s cheeks in spite of the glacial wind. ‘I’ve always had a strong attraction to him,’ she said through violently chattering teeth.
‘I know.’ Nell led the way back to the warmth of the cave.
‘We all have,’ she added under her breath. ‘He’s in our blood, too.’
Rosette ran her hand across the furs that Jarrod had laid out. ‘Can I sleep with you?’ she asked.
Jarrod unlaced his boots and placed them next to the hearth. ‘That would be my pleasure.’
Rosette snuggled in, pulling the furs up to her chin. ‘I’m so tired,’ she yawned.
Jarrod buried his face in the back of her neck. She turned her head to kiss him. The sweetness of his lips
on hers, his hands shifting to the small of her back and the brush of his eyelashes on her face sent a rush of warmth through her body.
‘Thanks for the rescue,’ she said, her eyes closing.
‘When we’re out of danger, you can thank me properly.’
But she barely heard him. She was already walking in her dreams.
There’s a handclap, or is it thunder?
A voice in the dark speaks to me.
‘I want to show you something,’ it says.
It’s a strong voice and masculine—I don’t recognise it, but it’s so familiar…
‘Who are you?’
‘You’d call me the Entity.’
‘I doubt it. I don’t know anyone by that name.’
‘I believe you do.’
It’s misty and humid, the ground sodden and the air thickened by a brown fog. My skin tingles, nostrils burn.
‘Where is this place?’
‘You don’t know?’
‘I wouldn’t have asked if I did.’
‘Come,’ the voice commands. ‘Come and see what has happened to your world.’
I know this isn’t my world. It looks dead, and Gaela is not dead.
The fog gives way to a dark street. Rain is falling and the droplets sting. There are pools of brown water in the potholes. I’m glad I’ve got my boots on.
‘Keep your eyes covered. Don’t let the water touch your lips.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because it’s acid.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘It’s poison.’
I flip up my hood and keep my eyes down. I’m walking along the edge of a street under enormous buildings. Very ugly. They are ominous in the dark, some of them glowing with eerie lights. It feels like eyes watching.
‘If the water is poison, how does anything live?’
‘It doesn’t.’
My head lifts at a sound in the distance.
‘Something lives. Look there.’
A dark figure with booted feet approaches—a man, I think. As they come closer, another figure, slighter in build but just as tall, slips through a strange wire fence and is blocked by the man. They’re struggling. Then a sound explodes in the air like a firecracker and the man drops to the ground. The other bends over him, going through pockets, taking things.
‘What is this place?’ I whisper the question this time.
I feel the Entity pull at my mind.
‘Earth.’ It tugs harder. ‘Quickly,’ it says. ‘She’ll not be pleased that I brought you here.’
‘Who won’t be pleased?’
The Entity ignores my question. ‘I want to show you how things can be—a different possibility.’
In an instant the street and towering buildings blur. Everything turns into tiny little squares, opaque puzzle pieces that slowly brighten with colour and light. The scene in front of me opens into a broad expanse of parkland. There are flowers and vegetables spilling out of their beds, young trees stretching towards a bright sun and fountains of water gushing up, refracting the light into countless rainbows.
‘Much better,’ I smile.
‘You can let this water touch your face.’
I push my hood back, laughing with the Entity as I stand in front of the fountain. Reaching out my hand, I let the water flow over it like a blessing.
‘What has to be done to…to make it…’ I struggle with the question.
‘To make this possibility “real”?
’
‘I guess.’
‘You have to activate the Spell.’
‘What spell?’
‘You have to take it back to Earth.’
The Entity sounds desperate, agitated.
‘How?’
There was no response.
‘How!’ I demand.
‘Ask Jarrod,’ the Entity finally replies. It sounds a long way away.
‘Jarrod? What’s he got to do with it?’
When Rosette opened her eyes, the fire had burned low. Jarrod’s arm was around her, his chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm against her back.
I’ve got to remember this dream…
She closed her eyes again and fell asleep.
‘
P
ick up the pace,’ Nell called out as she urged them along.
Rosette leaned forward in the saddle, blowing her breath into her hands. It took almost a day and a half to get to the wide banks of the Nadian tributary. The tidal river skirted the wooded lands, eventually winding its way to the granite pools of Treeon and the Terse River below. The waters were high this time of year, crested with whitecaps. They’d been following the downstream course for over an hour but still could find no safe crossing.
‘It’s too deep, too cold,’ An’ Lawrence said over the raging sound of the water. He was doubling with Nell on one of the mountain ponies, his arms wrapped around her waist, Scylla draped between.
‘Shall we take a break?’ Jarrod called back, spray from the river moistening his face.
‘We
can get a fire going and warm up. Have some food.’
Nell agreed, pointing at a group of tall granite boulders before she dismounted. ‘They’ll block the wind.’ She led her horse, An’ Lawrence still astride, towards the standing stones.
I feel like fish. How about you, Maudi?
Drayco sent the message on the run, loping towards pockets of
whirling eddies along the banks of the river. Rosette and Jarrod followed Nell to the boulders, loosening girths so the horses could have a good breather.
‘How close are we to Treeon?’ Rosette asked, looking out towards the distant valley from the shadow of the giant stones. ‘I don’t recognise any of this.’
‘Not far now. We’ve got to find a crossing, then go around the foothills to the east. By then, we’ll be within a day of the temple,’ Nell said, following her daughter’s line of sight.
‘
You’ll
be within a day of Treeon Temple,’ Rosette said. ‘Jarrod and I are turning off and heading for the western sea coast.’
‘So this is it?’ Nell looked at her daughter and Jarrod, walking away before either replied.
‘This is it,’ Rosette said, watching her retreat.
She took the horses to a quiet eddy, watering them and redistributing the supplies. Nell and An’ Lawrence would need food for one more day at the most; she and Jarrod would go through four times that much before they reached Morzone. She occupied herself with the details of it. Keeping busy, to her, was the same as keeping calm.
A flash of movement upstream caught her eye. She smiled. Drayco sat stock-still on a rocky outcropping, his right paw periodically darting into the stream, raking the churning eddy with lightning speed. Three enormous fish already lay flapping on the river bank.
He purred happily in her mind.
‘Catch us something, did you, Dray-Dray?’
Salmon! Lots of salmon. I love pink fish.
Me too.
‘You’re the best temple cat in the entire world!’ she said aloud as she secured the last saddlebag.
A hiss from Scylla turned her around. At least the Sword Master’s familiar was feeling well enough to protest that statement. Nell and An’ Lawrence had
eased her down from the mountain horse and placed her by the fire. Nell had it blazing already.
‘The best
male
temple cat in all the world, Drayco. Tell her that’s what I meant.’