Protector of the Flight

“Back,” Marian said firmly. “You can’t prepare for something this life altering too early.”

Calli’s burger turned to lead in her stomach.

“Just gonna dump Sevair?” asked Alexa.

“If he’s going to put a token on the Choosing table, he’ll have to prepare, too,” Marian said. She gestured around them. “The place is almost empty. Most of the Chevaliers are probably up in Horseshoe Hall meditating and bathing and Singing.”

“Singing?” asked Calli.

“Praying,” Marian said.

“Oh.” It would probably be a good thing to do a bit of that herself. Calli didn’t consider herself a very spiritual person. Her dad certainly didn’t truck with any sort of religion, so she wasn’t quite sure who she’d pray to. The closest she’d come to a spiritual experience lately was flying on Thunder. That decided her. “I’d like to see the volarans again.”

“Shoot,” Marian said, digging into a pocket of her gown and dropping a couple of gold coins into Alexa’s outstretched hand.

Alexa winked at Calli. “I won the bet that you’d want to fly again before this evening.”

Calli stared at Marian. “You’re the one who was there when I took off and landed yesterday. You like volarans better than Alexa, why would you think I wouldn’t want to fly today?”

“You fell off yesterday. You don’t have the tack you like. You should be thinking of the Choosing and Bonding ritual and preparing for it.”

“I won’t fall off. Thunder wouldn’t let me. Bastien’s bringing a variety of tack for me to examine, so I’ll find something acceptable. As for preparing for the Choosing and Bonding, I’d rather keep my mind and hands occupied. Furthermore, I think the most spiritual experience I’ve had in my life was on the back of that volaran yesterday.”

Marian’s expression softened. “I understand.”

“So do I,” Alexa said, smiling.

“I am the volarans’ Exotique,” Calli said.

Masif wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin, then stood. He’d eaten very efficiently. All his turnip fries were gone. Without ketchup. There was no hope they’d link up together. He stood and slid from the table, offered Alexa a hand.

Alexa opened her fingers and picked out a gold coin. Masif curled her fingers back over the money and said something. He nodded to Marian and Calli.

On the other hand, the guy was obviously treating them. A gentleman. She could go for a gentleman.

Alexa and Marian murmured thanks in Lladranan. Calli waited and said, “Thank you,” matching his serious expression.

He set several gleaming silver coins on the table, bowed once more and walked away.

“Nice guy,” Alexa said.

“Very serious,” Marian said.

“Yes, we seem to prefer the rogue and charmer types, huh? How about you, Calli?”

“I’d like a man who’d love me.”

Again those warm smiles. “That’s what’s important,” Marian said. She stood and Calli followed her, glancing around the place, not looking at the trophies. Not many people lingered. Two gay couples, one male, one female, all of whom smiled at her, and a grizzled old man, stood at the bar. The other booths were empty.

“One moment,” Alexa said. She went toward a door on the wall.

“I’ve never been in there,” Marian said, following.

Feet slow, Calli asked, “More trophies?”

“Not exactly.” Alexa pushed open the door. The room was dark but the minute she walked in, light came on. She waved to roughly faceted quartz crystals sitting in brackets.

“An older lighting system, interesting,” Marian said. She stopped and looked up.

Calli entered the room and looked up, too. It wasn’t a large room, but it was high-ceilinged and held hundreds of flags in several rows from the top of the room to just above a tall Lladranan man’s head.

“Heraldic banners of Chevaliers and Marshalls who’ve died the last two and a half years fighting the Dark,” Alexa said.

Looking closer, Calli saw many were ripped and torn, showed brown stains of earth and blood. A couple were burnt and eaten away as if acid had spilled on them. Other colored stains, green, yellow or black, also decorated the flags.

Calli gulped.

Alexa stared at a big maroon banner edged in gold except where a chunk was burnt. Her expression was inscrutable. “That one belonged to Lord Knight Swordmarshall Reynard Vauxveau, Bastien and Luthan’s father.”

Swordmarshall Thealia held that title, Calli knew, the greatest title in all the land. So the most powerful man in the country had died.

Marian said, “We must return to the Castle.” She walked back into the barroom. Alexa did, too, leaving Calli alone.

Calli stared at the flags, hanging still and solemn. Her heart tightened in awe and fear. All these people had fought against the monsters displayed in the other room, and lost. Died.

Soon Calli would bind herself to a man who’d fight. She’d be expected to fight, too. Or defend with magic, Shield to the man’s Sword. Risk limb and life and volaran. Volarans must have died, too. She put a hand to her throat.

She wanted a husband and a family and a ranch and beautiful volarans.

This was the price.

11

As they were leaving town, Calli heard the worst thing in the world, horses’ terrified cries. She ran in the direction—more by feel and the screeching notes of mental noise than by ears. It was farther than she expected, through the town to the outskirts. There she saw a small round pen where a man flailed at two horses, a black and a bay, with a snapping whip, raising blood.

A protective force field rippled around the man with the whip, but Calli could see his aura beneath—a nauseating yellow-green color. In the shadows of the building another chartreuse glow pulsed with meanness and excitement as he watched the abuse.

“Stop!” Calli shouted, running fast. Fury burned in her so hotly she thought her hair crackled out from her head.

The men turned to her, sneers on their face. Then they froze. The guy with the whip dropped his arm, openmouthed.

Alexa, breathing hard, caught Calli’s arm. “You slow down. Calm down. I’ll translate for you, but watch yourself. Your Power is out of control, shooting off sparks!”

Alexa’s strong grip gave Calli pause. Her words penetrated the red haze. Then she blinked, seeing what Alexa said was true. Little fire-bright sparks rose from her skin.

The man in the shadows bolted.

Alexa’s baton flew into her hand. She pointed it at the men and yelled, “Arret!”

This time the men really did freeze, midmotion, their eyes rolling as wildly as the horses’. Satisfaction surged in Calli. Super powers at work. Excellent. She found herself grinning and knew part of the assholes’ fear was because of her. Really good.

She reached the paddock where the horses still circled in fright. “What do you think you’re doing?” she said softly to the men. Alexa translated the question, her voice full of threat.

The men said nothing. Calli got the impression they couldn’t speak. Alexa waved. “Parly.”

Calli leaned against the wooden rail, waiting until it was safe. The man in the pen gauged the horses’ gallops and ran to escape when they were on the far side of him. He scrambled over the fence.

“Well?” asked Calli, lacing menace into her tone. The guy in the shadows cringed back, tumbled into speech, gesticulating.

Alexa looked at Calli, disgust on her face. “He said the horses wouldn’t go.”

“They’re goin’ now.”

“That’s for sure,” Marian said, joining them. She sent the men an icily aristocratic look that had them bunching together.

“What’s the law about animal abuse?” Calli asked.

“Don’t know,” Alexa said, “but I’ll find out.”

“Tell ’em that I want ’em gone. Now,” Calli said.

That didn’t go over well. The men raised their own voices, waved their hands. Calli thought they were using the old “these animals are my property and I can do whatever I want with them” defense. Mid-tirade she swept an arm out toward them and banged them up against the outbuilding wall.

Alexa grabbed her arm. “Don’t do that again. Your Power is out of control.”

She was right. Calli trembled from more than her anger. Power rushed through her like a flooding river. She had to dam it, use it. For good. Not to whup some stupid asses who had skulls too thick to ever learn how to treat a horse, egos too solid to ever think that someone else could teach them. Even a lesson in fear wouldn’t last with them very long.

But, oh, how she wanted to give them that lesson in fear. Terrify them until—Sparks jumped from her skin again, and gave her a quick, shocking backlash, sizzling a few of her nerves.

“Wow,” Alexa said. “Lock it down, Calli.”

Dam it. Right. She sucked in a deep lungful of summer air.

Marian had been coolly watching. “I think it would be best if we paid them off for the moment. Bought the horses. Are you all right with that, Calli?”

“Yes, but I don’t have any money.”

“We’ll take care of it,” Marian said, keeping her eye on the men. She said something, sounded like a price. The men shook their heads, their voices becoming louder again.

Marian looked down her nose, gestured to the horses, obviously telling the guys the animals weren’t in good shape.

They argued more.

“Arret,” Alexa said, crossed her arms and glared. “Take it or leave it, but get away from here.”

The man who’d been in the ring spat in the dirt.

“Too stupid to live,” Marian said in a tone of wonder. “Facing the three most Powerful women in the country and arguing over a few coins.”

Calli turned to the two men, considering what else she might be able to do with magic.

Marian touched her arm. “You’re very Powerful. You’ve proven your point, you don’t need to intimidate them further.” She handed Calli three small gold coins.

Sending a scalding look at Marian, Calli shook off her hand. Motioning to Alexa, she strode up to the men. “You tell these…turds…that they had better not ever treat another horse this way or I’ll skin their hides.”

With a smile that showed all her teeth, Alexa fingered her sheathed baton and repeated the words. The men paled. Calli’s smile matched Alexa’s.

“Bastien and I will make sure they pay,” Alexa growled. The two weren’t looking happy now. In fact, their eyes had gone wide and round as they looked from Calli to Alexa to Marian.

Calli threw the gold coins at the men’s feet. “Go.”

They scooped up the gold and scrambled away without a backward glance.

Now she was faced with the task of transporting two terrified and abused horses up to the Castle. She didn’t know how she’d manage. It usually took her a minimum of two and a half hours to work a green horse into trusting her, let alone a mistreated one. “We need to get the horses to the Castle.”

“Or stash them somewhere until you can come back to them,” Marian said.

“That could work.” Calli’d rather have them close. These animals she understood. The familiarity of horseflesh, even their scent, reassured her, reminded her that she was a damn good horsewoman.

“Try whispering to them,” Alexa said.

“I’m not going near them just yet.”

“With your mind, Calli,” Alexa suggested gently.

Shit, what did Alexa think Calli could say? “Here, horsey, horsey,” like some tenderfoot? Calli leaned on the rail and closed her eyes. She brought the equine language she’d learned a bit of yesterday to mind and mentally reached for the horses. She heard fearful shouts. Men. Will kill me. Will eat me. Run. Run. Run.

Calm, she tried radiating the feeling. Come to me. I will help. I will protect. She said that in her mind but kept up a flow of completely confident and serene emotions to them.

The sun bore down on her, making her shirt stick to her back. Her scalp dampened. This was hard!

The horses’ hooves slowed from a gallop to a canter, then a walk. Finally they calmed and lowered their heads to sniff around the ring.

Come see me, she coaxed.

Their eyes rolled as they saw her—or maybe it was the three of them, not quite in the shades they might usually see.

But now Calli could sense their thought patterns—or equine images. Of course, they weren’t intelligent like volarans. But they were curious. Especially about her smell, which was volaran and horse and different-horse. And predator, but the meat-eater was behind a fence and the bad bad-men predators were gone and the other littler predators smelled interesting, too.

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