Echoes in the Dark (52 page)

“We
can wait for an incursion of horrors, a
small
force, but one that
contains a dreeth, take you there.”

Jikata
nodded, but her palms went damp.

The
bonding with the other women had been easy, one task done. Integrating what
Friends were here and establishing good communication lines with them and the
Singer hadn’t been difficult once the Singer deigned to mind-speak with Jikata
again, another task finished.

Now
the rough projects loomed.

Alexa’s
mouth tightened, she said, “We’ll make sure that you’ll be surrounded by Powerful
Marshalls. Minimize risk.”

“We’ll
all go,” said Calli.

“No,
you won’t!” Jikata found herself saying in unison with the others.

“I
will guard her.” Luthan’s voice came from the threshold. Chasonette rode on his
shoulder, had obviously told him an important meeting was in progress.

His
voice was calm, his face impassive, but his Song reached toward her, unrolling
like a glittering, sparkling ribbon that tempted. “No horror will get by me.
I’m a warrior, I fight for what I want and that’s Jikata….” He paused. “Her
well-being.”

Jikata
glanced at him, away, wasn’t sure what he wanted, or what she wanted.
Chasonette soared from his shoulder to the back of the couch by Jikata’s neck.
The bird took a strand of her hair and gave it a gentle tug in affection, then
fluffed her feathers and squawked.
I do not think I will go hunt dreeths.

Calli
smiled. “Probably a good thing.”

Chasonette
stepped off the couch onto Jikata’s shoulder.
But I love my Jikata.

“We
love her, too,” Bri said, “and we’ll protect her from any dreeth.”

More
than affection welled in Jikata for all the women.

Luthan
prowled forward.

Raine
lifted her chin, swept a gaze at everyone. “We should do it ASAP.” Her voice
quavered.

Luthan
moved his stare from Jikata to Raine, frowning slightly. And in that instant
Jikata
knew
he’d had visions regarding Raine. What they were, she didn’t
know. She still hadn’t seen Raine at the end of the battle and didn’t know if
that was because Raine was on the Ship or had died.

“You’re
recovered from the ship-raising?” Calli asked.

“Oh,
yeah,” Raine said, flushing a little. Another glance around the room. “Faucon
and I are a Pair.”

“You
certainly are.” Calli smiled. “And I’d bet that he and both his teams will be
working with you to kill a dreeth.”

“Surrounded
by orange and red.” Alexa snickered. “Okay.” She fingered her baton. “We’ll
take both you and Jikata out the next time the alarm rings that a dreeth is
with the invading monsters.”

Marian
rose. “I’ll tell Jaquar to reprogram the alarm to notify us whether a
fire-breathing dreeth is among the horrors.”

“Reprogram?”
Jikata used the same English word Marian had.

Marian
flashed a smile. “It’s faster than saying, ‘remove the old alarm notification
spell and study it, change it to recognize new parameters.’”

“True,”
Alexa said. “But how…”

“The
alarm is tied into the magical fence and fence posts, and they gather and relay
the information by spell to the Castle, that’s forwarded here to the siren we
installed,” Marian said. “Do you need to know more? As Raine said, the sooner this
is done, the better. I have a feeling the Master may be up to something nasty
once the fence is fully active again.”

Jikata
hadn’t thought of that. She glanced at Luthan, he shrugged. Then he was
sitting, forcing himself into a too small place, making Jikata move over until
she was thigh-to-thigh with Bri on her left and squeezed against Luthan on her
right.

The
spark between them flared, their Songs meshed, the bond that had ripped wove
back together with remarkable speed. As if all they needed was to be in each
other’s presence. As if it were fated.

Alexa’s
fingers tapped a beat on her baton sheath at her hip. “Might be a good time for
me to change place with my under-study. Get the monsters and the Master
accustomed to
her
being in battle instead of me.”

She
flashed a smile at Raine and Jikata. “Bastien and I will still be there, but
disguised.”

“All
our disguise spells are prepared,” Marian said. She made a moue. “Alexa, you
don’t get red hair. That’s not a disguise. I can give you black with a deep
auburn tint. But we’ll all pass for Lladranans.” Marian Sang a quick pattern of
notes that Jikata barely followed, and Alexa’s hair and skin color changed.

“Jaquar
says you’re consulting,” Bastien said from the doorway. He smelled of the
volaran amber resin scent. He stared at his wife. “Alexa?” His eyes widened.
“Interesting look. Come with me. Our squires, I mean our new Marshalls, have
some questions. Whatever you’re planning, I agree.”

Luthan
watched them leave, his expression a mixture of admiration and love…and
sadness. Which made Jikata’s own heart twist.

She
drew in a breath. “Right. Now I should practice how to kill a dreeth.”

38

“F
lying to battle
and teaming, first,” Calli said. She looked at Marian. “I think we should all
go disguised from now on.”

“Good
idea,” Marian said. She swept her wand down herself and her skin and hair color
became very like what Jikata saw in the mirror, though Marian’s eastern
European features were emphasized.

“You’ve
been practicing,” Bri said. “Me next.” She grinned. “I want to shock my Sevair.
He’ll disapprove.”

Marian
inhaled deeply, shut her eyes as if visualizing images she’d formed in her
head…then they came strongly to Jikata, the “Exotique Gang” as Lladranans.
Tapping her foot to a beat, thinking of the notes comprising the spell, Marian
Sang.

Jikata
picked up on the third word, harmonized and refined Marian’s Song. She
certainly didn’t need any more Power behind it. All the Exotiques had an incredible
amount of that.

Eyes
popping open, Marian stopped the spell and stared at Jikata…as did everyone
else. Jikata had led practices on knots, but hadn’t just joined in on someone
else’s spell. She got the idea that her flexibility surprised them.

“She
is
a trained Singer,” Luthan said.

“Boy,
do we need you!” Bri said.

Jikata
put some steel in her smile. “So Calli and Alexa will be teaching me flying and
teamwork and fighting.” Her turn to flash a glance around the room. “Marian
will refine the City Destroyer spell. But
I
will lead that spell and
Sing the main part. Therefore those other activities will be done after our
three-hour practices.”

They
nodded.

“We
had
been rehearsing together, three and four of us,” Bri said, “Marian’s been doing
her best to lead.”

Jikata
glanced at Luthan. “Lucky for you, the Singer brought in her own understudies,
voices that resemble yours. I
have
practiced leading them. For hours.”
She studied the women. “Though I always knew the amount of Power would be off.
You all have a fantastic amount of Power, and we’re all from the States, not a
mixture of Lladranans and me. So our Song has been very different.”

“Three
hours a day.” Calli sighed. “Well we need all the practice we can get.”

“Ayes,”
Jikata said.

“Well.”
Marian huffed out a breath, caught Jikata’s eye then she and Jikata picked up
the songspell again. Bri, Calli and Raine changed before Jikata’s eyes. This
spell was like an illusion spell. Narrowing her eyes, Jikata could see the true
aspect of the women. Marian had even muffled and distorted their Songs.

“Very
good on every level,” Jikata said. “But I must be able to hear you all well
during practice.”

Marian
gave her smug smile, twiddled a couple of her fingers and the sound-illusion
portion of the spell vanished and the bright Powerful melodies of the Exotiques
returned full force.

“Excellent.”
Jikata smiled.

Bri
was examining her hands, turning them over to check out the skin tone.
“Beautiful.” She looked at Luthan. “The Lladranans are a beautiful people.”
Then she glanced at Marian. “How draining is this illusion spell? And how long
does it last?” Bri’s forehead furrowed. “I could probably change the actual
pigmentation of our skin.” After a few seconds she nodded. “Ayes, it could be
done.”

“And
changed back when everything is all over?” Raine asked.

“If
you want.”

Raine’s
half smile was brief. “I’m committed to the battle and living here and Faucon.
But I still cherish who and what I was—am. I’d prefer to be me.”

“There
have been instances of Exotiques who have yearned to be Lladranan so much that
over time their skin and hair and eyes have changed,” Marian said and they
stared at her. “I think illusion should work just fine.” With a snap of her
fingers, the illusion disappeared. “This whole expedition is an open secret.”

Marian
said, “We’ve been spreading rumors about what’s going on, and I don’t know why
anyone would betray us to the Dark—”

“Power,”
Luthan said, grim. “It’s happened before.”

“I
don’t understand that,” Calli said.

“Me
neither,” said Bri, “since it warps a person into a monster.” She shot a glance
at Jikata.

“I’ve
seen pictures of the Masters of the horrors in your Lorebooks,” she said.
“Ugly. Disgusting. Repulsive.” That was the wrong word to say.

Luthan
took her hand, lifted it to his heart that thudded more rapidly than it should.
“My deepest regrets.”
I have given you some time to be angry, to heal, but
time is at a premium. I want what we had.
His song sounded richer than
ever.

I
don’t think that’s possible, but we can go on from here, slowly. If you want.

I
want, but
not
slowly. We will make something new,
he said implacably, then turned
to listen, as Jikata was, to Marian.

“In
any event,” Marian continued with her point, you could count on her to do that,
“we’ll keep our disguises a secret.”

“I
agree,” Bri said, again turning over her hands, which had reverted to Caucasian
coloring, with the slight added aura of the green of a Powerful medica.

Marian
walked up to Jikata, smiled. “I don’t think we’ve formally welcomed you to the
club.”

For
a moment Jikata had a wild thought about Club Lladrana.

“The
Exotique Gang,” Raine said huskily.

“The
Exotique Invasion Force,” Marian said. She hugged Jikata tightly. “Welcome,
Exotique Singer.” Marian’s smile lit her eyes. “I’m sure Alexa has a cowboy hat
and boots for you.”

Luthan,
close enough for his breath to stir Jikata’s hair and make her remember loving
that began to stir her emotions, said, “I gave Jikata’s sizes to Alexa.”

“Good,”
Marian said. “I’ll go speak to Jaquar then and we’ll reprogram the alarm for a
fire-breathing dreeth. One should be enough for leathers for both Raine and
Jikata.” With a last nod, she left.

Calli
went over to Raine, who stood shifting from foot to foot, and took her hands,
kissed her on both cheeks. “I’m proud of you, Raine.”

Raine’s
jaw flexed. “Thank you,” she said.

“We’ll
do this together, Raine,” Jikata said. “Everything.”

“Ayes,”
Raine said shortly. She rocked forward onto the balls of her feet, glanced at
Jikata. “So we’ll have to be in on the dreeth kill.”

Luthan
looked at Raine, then Jikata. “It’s best if one of you, probably Jikata, makes
the killing blow.”

Jikata
flinched.

Killing.

Jikata
had never thought about deliberately killing anything bigger than a mosquito in
her life.

“It
will be trying to kill you,” Calli said.

Jikata
could make an exception.

“This
is war,” Calli said.

The
reality of war was suddenly inescapable.

Raine
muttered something under her breath that Jikata thought she was the only one to
hear: “We who are about to die salute you.”

T
he siren
screeched that afternoon while Raine was giving Seamasters a tour of the Ship.
Everyone froze in silence. Raine tried to figure out the pattern and whether it
told of a fire-breathing dreeth in the invasion. She hadn’t paid enough
attention to the alarm to know exact details. Her mind scrambled as she
considered logistics of getting off the Ship and to Faucon’s room where regular
battle leathers, chain mail, shield and helmet were awaiting her on a wooden
stand next to Faucon’s.

Then
Faucon was there, slipping his arm around Raine’s waist, an easy smile on his
face aimed at the Seamasters who were scanning the sky.

“The
alarm will be answered by those remaining in the Marshalls’ Castle,” he said.
“Our folk here are off standard rotation, and will only fly one more mission
for practice.”