Читать книгу Keepers of the Flame - Robin D. Owens - Страница 11

No one fell into the room. Instead, with twinkling eyes and a smile as wide as Bri’s, Alexa strolled in. “Good morning. The greeting here in Lladrana is most often ‘Salutations.’” She waved to the men following her. “I don’t know if you remember the guys. Bastien, the one with the black-and-white streaked hair and the baton at his hip is a Shieldmarshall and mine. The taller one with blue eyes—ancient Exotique blood mixed with Lladranan—is Marian’s soulmate, Jaquar, a Sorcerer-Circlet, as you can see from his gold headband.”

Jaquar walked in, and like Bastien, gave the room and the open doors a quick scan. Neither of them would miss anything. Then Jaquar bowed, first to Bri who still held the door, then to Elizabeth. “Salutations,” he said. He spoke English well.

The last man was equally tall and had an easy amble that Elizabeth recognized was similar to a cowboy’s walk. He carried six books.

Deceiving, that last one, Calli’s man. He’s even more aware than the others, Bri said to Elizabeth.

Hands on her hips, Alexa studied them. “You’re talking to each other telepathically, again. Rude.”

“We think we should have all the advantages we can get,” Elizabeth replied. “And you will no doubt be speaking Lladranan before us.” She gestured. “Make yourselves at home.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Alexa said, heading for the angle between walls where the chest sat with the leftovers from their father’s birthday dinner.

Bri jumped in front of it at the last minute. “Ours!”

The third man holding the books gently closed the door. He made a short bow. “I am Marrec. I am with Calli.” His expression turned considering. “You will read in Calli’s book that I was in Co-lo-ra-do with her.”

With an effort, Elizabeth kept her mouth from falling open. Possibilities spun in her mind. “If you were in Colorado, then there’s some way to get back and forth. We can go home.” To her surprise, her heart didn’t leap in her chest in delight. She blinked and took a few instants to probe her own feelings. She wasn’t sure she wanted to go home right now.

Jaquar, wearing an ankle-length midnight blue velvet robe and looking every inch a very masculine man, took a seat on a long leather couch. Bastien hitched a hip onto the arm nearest the confrontation of Bri and Alexa opposite him. Marrec sat on the other end of the couch, as if leaving space for Calli and Marian. Still, Elizabeth could almost feel that these men trusted each other, more, were bound together through their wives. And their love for their wives?

Bri and she had grown up with parents who deeply loved each other and their children.

“We can go home!” Bri’s choked exclamation echoed in mind and words.

“It’s not that easy,” Marian said from the hall. Calli held a plate with one hand and the door knob with the other. Marian carried a large tray.

“You’d think with all the magic you have here, you could just beam that over,” Bri said.

“It’s not that easy,” Marian repeated.

The smell of eggs and coffee and ham made Elizabeth’s mouth water.

“Alexa, your omelette. With cheese and mushrooms,” Marian said.

“But you haven’t been gone very long, and the food looks fresh, so magic was used,” Elizabeth said.

“That’s right. Magic, which is called Power here, and more like the extension of psi powers—”

“Power can heat the food, but it’s harder to translocate things,” Calli said. “Especially more than one item at a time. And there’s an energy cost. You always have to figure what energy you might need for something else later.” She handed Elizabeth the plate. “Sit. We can talk over breakfast.”

“We often have breakfast discussions with our parents,” Elizabeth said.

Everyone looked at her then Bri.

“You have parents.”

“Of course,” Bri said impatiently. “Will one of you pass me my plate, please?”

Calli had gone directly to a gate-legged table against a wall. Marrec joined her in setting up the table and soon there was a crowded table for eight. Opening lower drawers of a cabinet, Calli set a cork hot plate down for the tray, then brought out dishes, mugs and silverware. Marrec took chairs set around the room and placed them. Everything looked familiar.

“There’ve been Exotiques from Earth here in Lladrana before,” Marian said. She’d found thick glasses that looked handmade and poured water into them.

“And Marrec went to Colorado,” Elizabeth said.

“It’s part of the Snap,” Alexa grinned. She still stood near Bri and the cooler. “That’s Marian’s topic.”

“Let’s eat,” Bastien said in the French-sounding Lladranan that Elizabeth barely understood.

Jaquar frowned at Bastien. “I told you we refined your language potion.” Since Jaquar still spoke English, Elizabeth deduced that Bastien had been following the conversation.

Bastien grunted, moved to a chair that had its back to the foam chest and held out his hand to Alexa.

She looked at the cooler. At Elizabeth. At Bastien. At Bri. After tapping her foot, she sighed and walked to Bastien, took his hand and stood tip-toe to brush a kiss over his mouth. But she moved to a chair where she could still see the chest.

Bastien rolled his eyes, shook his head and sat next to her. “I have eaten, but my belly can always accommodate one of these.” He unfolded the napkin on a large basket. Letting out steam from flaky croissants, he took one, set it on his plate, then ripped it into large pieces.

Alexa cut a third of her omelette and put it on Bastien’s plate, then she dug in.

Doesn’t look like they’re going to poison us, Bri sent mentally to Elizabeth.

Not since we survived the first night, but I’m sure they have plans for us. Images of the people they’d healed came to her mind, were matched by Bri’s memories. The flow of emotion between them was stronger than Elizabeth had ever experienced. Of course they’d had “hunches,” intuitive feelings about each other, but nothing like this connection that seemed to have thought sharing and definitely included telepathy.

Elizabeth shifted in her seat, picked up a fork, cut into the omelette and ate. Fabulous—and delicately flavored with spices she didn’t quite recognize.

“So,” Alexa said between bites, “welcome to Lladrana. You are now known far and wide as the Medica Exotiques Summoned for the Cities and Towns.”

“Already?” asked Bri, brows lowering.

“Already. The Sorcerers and Sorceresses, Circlets they’re called, had a contingent here for the Summoning. Some have flown back to their islands. All of them have crystal balls for communication.”

“Interesting,” said Bri.

Marian finished pouring coffee all around except for Alexa and stared pointedly at the Swordmarshall. Alexa chewed and swallowed, drank some water, met Elizabeth’s eyes, then Bri’s.

“I’m the background person, since I fight the horrors every week.” An unamused smile flashed, then was gone. “I was originally Summoned a year ago to help defend Lladrana, that’s this country, from invading evil. Centuries ago some warrior-mages made a boundary of magical fenceposts with an energy field strung between them to keep the horrors—inhuman monsters—out. The fenceposts started falling and the desperate Marshalls consulted the main oracle-prophetess here, the Singer. The oracle said that if the Marshalls Summoned someone from the Exotique Land, that’s Earth, she’d re-discover the method of making fenceposts and re-powering the boundary.” Now her smile crinkled her eyes. “To everyone’s surprise, it worked.”

Bastien leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Not surprising.”

“Yeah, it was.” Alexa’s face hardened. “I was the first Summoned in a century. Alone with the Marshalls. Tested immediately to prove I could handle the job.” She swept a gaze around the table. “You weren’t there. None of you.”

Marian sighed sympathetically. She pushed back her chair and went to the sofa where Calli’s guy, Marrec, had placed the books he’d carried in. Dividing the stack in two, she put one on the table beyond Bri’s plate, then one set near Elizabeth. The top cover was dark black hide Elizabeth didn’t recognize, with a green wand topped with flames embossed on it. The spine said, in English, Lorebook of Exotique Swordmarshall Alexa Fitzwalter. Underneath was a dark purple book showing sheet lightning on the spine with the words Lorebook of Exotique Circlet Marian Harasta.

“Circlet?” murmured Bri.

Alexa answered as Marian resumed her seat and drank the excellent coffee. “The society here is fragmented. The Circlets are the Sorcerers and Sorceresses of this place. They usually live in Towers they raise by magic as their final test on islands off the coast. Lladrana has one coast, the west.”

Alexa sipped her water, set the cup down, and smiled again at Marian. “But like all academics, the Circlet politics were vicious—”

“We simply did not cooperate well before Marian,” Jaquar said, haughty brows raised over blue eyes.

“Blue eyes,” Elizabeth said.

He inclined his head in a nod. “Yes, there has been some interaction between our cultures. Somewhere in my bloodline there was obviously an Exotique ancestor.”

“I understand the Lladranan people are golden-skinned and dark-haired with dark eyes,” Elizabeth said, observing the silver waves of hair that Jaquar and Marrec had at their temples, “but aren’t there other cultures here with lighter coloring?”

“Excellent observation,” Jaquar said. “Yes, occasionally we have traders, and it’s true I spent my formative years in the south, but blue eyes are most indicative of Exotique blood.”

“Okay,” Bri said. “So most people look like Marrec and Bastien.”

“Ttho,” said Bastien in a mock-offended tone, bridling back and staring down his nose. “No. I am a black-and-white.” He indicated his striped hair.

Alexa pinched a bit of buttered croissant from his plate, waved it. “Black-and-whites are those whose Power—that’s magic—is fractured, and they usually have mental problems.” She grinned and popped the croissant into her mouth.

“Bastien has been irritatingly brilliant all his life, but…” Jaquar said.

“A loose cannon,” Alexa said with relish. “I still like using English idiom. Most people look like Marrec.”

Elizabeth and Bri stared at Marrec, his golden skin, black hair with silver streaks over the temples, dark brown eyes set at a very slight angle. He sat stoically under their gaze.

“Yes, our patients had the same cultural features,” Elizabeth said.

“I fixed Bastien,” Alexa said, stretching to plant a noisy kiss on his jaw.

“Ayes,” Bastien said. A side of his mouth quirked up. “Well and truly,” he said in English. His eyebrows lifted at Marian’s and Jaquar’s stares. “I have been practicing.”

“Me, too,” said Marrec.

Alexa huffed. “Let’s get my part over with. Marian was Summoned by the Marshalls for the Circlets to help battle the Dark—that’s the really bad entity running the show—making the monsters and sending them here for some physical object that we still haven’t figured out.” She smiled winningly at Elizabeth and Bri. “In addition to curing the sickness, that could be your task for the world, Amee. And the Snap doesn’t happen until you fulfill your task, usually about two months. The Snap is the way back to Earth.” Alexa shook her head. “We knew it would take six to fight the Dark in the ultimate battle at the end of this summer. Didn’t think of twins. Thought of three more Summonings, the City, the Seamasters, the Singer. With us—” she gestured to Calli and Marian “—that represents the six core factions of Lladranan society.”

Bri said, “I’m not sure I followed all of that. But we certainly can’t stay until the end of summer. That would drive our parents mad.”

Silence shrouded the table.

“You assume that time passes on Amee at the same rate that it does on Earth,” Marian said.

Fear squeezed Elizabeth’s heart. “No! Don’t tell me we’ve already been here years!” Bile rushed up her throat, her stomach contracted.

“Marian!” Calli scolded. She was sitting next to Elizabeth and put an arm around her shoulders in a tight squeeze. “Yes, time passes the same.”

But Elizabeth was trembling. Bri shoved back her chair with enough force to knock it over, marched with unsteady steps to Elizabeth, stood beside her chair and flung her arms around her. She turned into Bri and grabbed her hard in return.

“That was nasty,” Bri said thickly. “Get out.”

“I didn’t mean—” Marian said.

“Marian, sometimes you’re just too clueless in that smart brain of yours,” Alexa said. Another chair thumped and Elizabeth felt stroking on her head from small hands, and a strong feeling of calm coming from both Calli and Alexa.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Marian said, a sob in her voice. Elizabeth sensed the woman hovering around Bri and her, as shaken as the rest.

“We women from Earth have one major rule around here,” Alexa’s voice was soft, but steely. “We don’t hurt each other. That means we don’t manipulate each other and we support each other. We stick together. There are enough problems here for us all without infighting.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Marian whispered.

“I know,” Calli said. “You were just saying that when a person finds themselves in a new dimension, old rules might not apply. The academic approach. That wasn’t what was needed.”

“I know,” Marian said.

“You owe them for scaring them,” Alexa said like a judge laying down the law. “Big time.”

Elizabeth was breathing easier, the aftereffects of a strong adrenaline rush fading so she could act normally.

I notice that we are all girls in this group hug. Elizabeth heard Bri’s light tone and knew her twin was settling down.

Jaquar and Bastien have gone to the windows. Marrec has his hand on the door knob, Marian’s telepathic tone sounded shaky. Her hand had closed over Elizabeth’s shoulder as if to steady them both.

Men, Alexa’s voice, the first time Elizabeth had heard it in her head. Had the other women been courteously holding back, or was it because they were all touching?

Because we are all physically connected, Bri said.

“This isn’t unexpected,” Alexa said. She stopped smoothing Elizabeth’s hair and Elizabeth missed it. She heard the sound of furniture moving. Lifting the chairs back, probably.

Alexa continued, “Live here long enough and you begin to believe in fate—in the Song. The Marshalls and Circlets and Chevaliers and the Cities all had requirements for the people they wanted to bring to Lladrana. Being able to mesh with the individual group and the culture was the primary one. Since we previous Exotiques have assimilated well with the culture, it’s only logical that we’d be friends.”

Elizabeth wanted to see. She drew away from Bri, straightening in her chair and Bri let her go. Both of them back on an emotional keel.

Alexa cleared her throat loudly, stared at the cooler once more. “Anything perishable in there?”

Bri met Elizabeth’s eyes. The fruit salad. You handle this. You’ve always been better at negotiations, at haggling in the local markets, than me.

“Fruit salad,” Elizabeth said. “Leftovers from our father’s birthday party. Melon, papaya, grapes, kiwi, pineapple…” She waved.

Bri strolled over to the cooler, opened it and took out a big plastic-wrapped bowl. She blinked rapidly. “Mom’s bowl,” she said, placing it on the table and removing the clingwrap.

“Wedgwood,” Marian murmured.

“A special celebration,” Elizabeth said.

“Well, the fruit won’t keep,” Bri said. She dished servings out to everyone.

Alexa sat, took a bite and hummed in pleasure. She scooped a portion of Bastien’s off his plate, swallowed and said, “You really shouldn’t eat this. You might develop a taste for it, then where would we be? Not sure any of this grows here.”

“Grapes do,” he said, and left them on Alexa’s plate as he took more back, and they all dug into the food.

As soon as she took her last bite, Alexa stared at the cooler again, licking her lips. “Two sacks of spuds, white and red. Pretty big cooler. What else is in it?”

Bri wiped her hands on a napkin and went back to the chest. She lifted the plastic-wrapped casserole out and set it aside.

“Oh, man. Oh, man,” Alexa breathed. “Is that what I think it is? Potato casserole?”

“With sour cream and onions and loads of cheese,” Bri returned sweetly.

Alexa’s moan was nearly orgasmic. Bastien’s eyes gleamed. “I know my woman and her tastes. Whatever that is, it is wonderful.”

“That can go pretty bad if not eaten quickly, too. Probably really excellent for breakfast,” Alexa pointed out.

“Yes,” Elizabeth said. She lifted her brows. “There’s no refrigeration available?”

Marrec said, “There is a keep-cold twiddle-spell and we have ice.”

Jaquar said, “We can bespell the cooler free of charge.”

Bri said lightly, “Then we might invite you to eat the casserole with us at a later time. You have to talk to Elizabeth about that. It’s her cooler.” Then Bri lifted out the large dome-covered plate. She smiled, cocked an eyebrow at Elizabeth. “Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.”

The words caused a lengthy silence. All the women’s gazes locked on the plate. The three once-Earth-now-Lladranan women nearly quivered.

“I know this choc-lat.” Marrec rolled the word on his tongue. “It is good.”

“Damn right,” Bri said. “Homemade birthday cake. Now we’ll talk about returning to Denver.”