Echoes in the Dark (59 page)

“Sshhh,”
Bri said, soothing. “Let me care for you.”

Raine
didn’t dare close her eyes. She felt the heat of Bri’s healing hands. Must have
broken bones, then. Her cheek, maybe, her rib. Her arm hurt, too…so she
concentrated on the little drama going on down the deck.

“How
did he get on the Ship?” Faucon spit out. Anger radiated from him, being
matched by Bastien and Sevair. Faucon glanced at Raine’s attacker, then came to
her, settled beside her so he could hold her in his arms.

Bri
cast him a glance of approval, but a whimper escaped Raine as she was shifted.

“How
did he get on the Ship?” Bastien repeated.

Jean
stood straight, but his voice was as cool as the brine at the depths of the
sea. “He passed the trials with flying colors, same as everyone else. I saw no
sign of that hatred reaction at any time. He masked it well.” Ire spiked Jean’s
personal Song.

“He’ll
be punished,” Alexa said. “You,” she said. Raine got the idea that she nudged
the man with her toe. He was conscious then, not as hurt as Raine was. Anger
spurted through her. Faucon kissed her forehead.

“You
piece of shit, you’ll be punished.” Alexa’s voice went silky. “Where there’s
one, there might be more. Covering for you as you hurt us, eh?” She chuckled
and it wasn’t pleasant. “We’ll make you talk. By the time you’re finished
you’ll sing us a pretty Song about this business.”

“You
can’t,” Raine’s attacker said.

“Think
not?” Marian said. “We have the Power of all the elements. Power such as you
have never known. We have the feycoocus, also strange and disturbing to folk
like you. We have,” her voice lowered, “the roc.”

Bri
smiled as her hand circled Raine’s wrist, sent heat there. Raine gritted her
teeth against the pain.

There
was a whisk of feathers and a short, melodious but threatening whistle.
I
like men guts,
said the roc as it landed, forcing others to move aside as
it took up much of the deck.

Raine
distantly noted a splash as if someone went into the sea. Good riddance.

“Another’s
gone,” Bastien said.

“The
water is cold here,” Jean commented. “He may not make it to shore, or once
there, die of hypothermia.”

“We
can only hope.” Alexa fingered her baton.

“The
volarans won’t help him. They won’t attack, but they won’t help,” Calli said.

“Not
even volarans accept what these mutineers have done,” Alexa’s voice rang out.
“Their names will be noted for all time as betrayers, creatures of the Dark.”

Raine’s
attacker thrashed. “Ttho! We are
more
loyal to Lladrana than you. More!
We do not incite the Dark to kill us all!”

Alexa
squatted next to him. “Tell us everything.”

He
hesitated.

The
roc clicked her beak in what sounded like anticipatory smacking for food.

Words
rushed from him.

The Echo, Strait to Doom

T
he attack on
Raine had slowed their pace. They’d stopped at the mouth of the strait while
she slept and healed, and they’d sent her attacker to shore with a few
supplies.

Midmorning
when she awoke there was a council of war. All the Exotiques and their men
crowded into the main cabin. It was a well-run meeting, and Alexa had the names
of the two men who’d left, and Luthan had checked each and every person for any
innate revulsion. There was one female medica who had had it, but like Luthan,
had overcome it. So she stayed.

The
general consideration was that there were no more betrayers on the Ship and
that they’d lost two good sailors who would have been with the invasion force.
That was the outer conclusion. From the glances Raine got, everyone was worried
about how it would affect her.

So,
to lighten the mood—her own as well as others—Raine revealed her secret.

With
a smile she raised her arms, and Sang.

The
Echo
disappeared.

Not
really.

She
was a twenty-first-century woman and had worked on many metal-hulled ships. She
hadn’t stopped learning once she came to Lladrana, had studied Koz’s mirrors.

The
Ship was nothing but reflective surfaces. The sails the same, thin mirrored
fabric.

So
the people in colorful Lladranan clothes were shown in an eternity of images,
but the Ship itself—masts, hull, even ropes—seemed to have vanished.

And
as she Sang that spell, as all the others wondered at her skill,
The Echo
silently pushed through the Dark’s shield.

Raine
and Jikata and the Ship were not totally of Lladrana.

Then
she simply concentrated on sailing. In itself, the Strait to Doom wasn’t
difficult to navigate. It was narrow and twisted and turned between great
cliffs, and when sailors Sang, or Raine and the other women practiced, the
reverberation was incredible. They went through it fast, the wind from the
southwest filling the sails. Lladrana was left far behind as they sped toward
the Dark’s Nest.

T
he last full day
before the invasion was a short one. Circlets gathered in a group listening to
the Dark and the Master through the spy eye, making sure the Ship went
unnoticed. A pall of silence fell on the Ship and people spoke in whispers and
orders became telepathic instead of shouted out with cheer. The “fun” part of
the adventure, the forging of new companionship and community, was done.

The
“hard” part of the adventure, the fighting and dying, was about to begin.

Tomorrow.

Though
Raine thought some fighters were looking forward to it, like Koz, to her
surprise. They were checking their weapons for the umpteenth time, planning on
going out in a blaze of glory. The Chevalier Representative to the Marshalls,
Lady Hallard, and her Master of Volarans were like that.

Raine
wanted to stay on the Ship and feel the swell of the ocean under her feet,
Faucon’s arms wrapped around her from behind and sail away beyond the horizon
and forget war.

Trouble
was, the outcome of this war, this battle, affected every living thing on Amee,
and the planet herself. Not something that could ever be forgotten.

N
ight fell and
Jikata sensed an outrush of relief from everyone.

“Of
course the Dark or the Master or the horrors can still sense us and attack at
night,” Alexa said quietly.

“But
they attack fifty percent less at night than during the day,” Marian pointed
out. “We’ve studied the horrors and their eyes aren’t that good.”

“Now
we move the Ship to within striking distance,” Raine said.

She’d
Captained the Ship so efficiently that it amazed Jikata, not even the toughest
sailor, or her brilliant second-in-command, hesitated when she gave an order.

Probably
because Raine listened to the ocean all the time, her head slightly tilted. She
heard tones and undertones and low notes that no one else did. Jikata and the
others knew that. When they’d linked to practice Songs, they could sense what
she heard clearly. She’d bring the might and force and Power of Amee’s oceans,
waters that
surrounded
the island to the City Destroyer spell. A huge
benefit.

With
little noise, everyone moved to their accustomed duties and the Ship was under
full Power—both magic and wind. The sails caught the wind and bellied out,
full. Sailors spared a glance at each other, a look Jikata now understood. The
wind was being unusually accommodating on this trip. Having a planet on your
side in a fight was a good thing.

Too
bad it couldn’t get rid of the Dark itself. But the huge, evil alien being had
insinuated itself into the volcano, latched onto Amee’s life force before she’d
known it.

Marian
eyed the sails of reflective fabric with a critical eye, nodded, held out one
hand for her bondmate, Jaquar, and the other for her brother, Koz, the mirror
magician. She turned and gazed at Jikata with an encouraging smile and Jikata
felt her stomach dip with more than the smooth ocean roll.

On a
breath, she set her expression in the one she used just before performances and
stepped into the circle as everyone except the working sailors did. They were
going to shroud the Ship in illusion and move it as close to the island as they
could with the Power they had tonight, and bring energy to keep it cloaked all
night.

She
waited until everyone linked hands and looked to her, then set the first note
high, only three voices followed her to that sound. Then she scaled down and
people joined as they came within their range. When she’d gathered all the
voices, held them on a sustained note in a mighty chorus, she met each person’s
eyes and began the spell chant.

It
was different than Singing with the Friends, or a small group, or even her
experience with all these people before. The Song cycled around, and each time
a tiny bit of the energy stayed with her. She understood with a shock that
these people were not only Powering the illusion spell, but they were also each
giving her their magic—and their blessing, their confidence—for the terrible
spell she would Sing tomorrow.

Emotion
flowed through her as well, the predominant one was of determination, but there
was affection, caring, love. Even a trace of passion from Luthan, who stood on
her right.

She’d
never felt so connected with friends, humanity, the universe itself.

A
sphere of shadow, blacker than the night, rose as a bubble in the center of the
circle, lifted to the tip of the highest mast, and draped itself over it like
the folds of a huge cloth. Stars blinked out as it settled over the Ship,
flowed over the sides and brushed the waves, ended a few inches into the water.
Inside the “tent” sounds were hushed, the vague outlines of the island and the
far shores were blurred into barely seen smudges against the night.

Jikata
could only hope that the Ship had become one with the night, too.

43

The Echo,
offshore the Dark’s Nest

J
ikata ended the
spell and people folded onto the deck. Though she might feel energized, she
knew the others had used much to move the Ship and cloak it. She let her own
legs loosen and take her onto the planking.

Sailors
brought sleeping bags up from below, for everyone, Jikata noticed. They’d all
bunk here for the night, not separated by any distinctions of Power, or rank,
or status or whether they were sailor or Exotique. A community.

No
one wanted to forgo the fellowship before battle? That spoke of deep
connections. Connections that Jikata dimly remembered from her parents. They
hadn’t been a demonstrative family, but Jikata had loved her mother and father,
known she’d been loved in return.

She
listened
to the background music, the soundtrack, and could not tell sailor from
townsman from Friend.

No
matter how many survived, and Jikata
knew
some of each segment of
Lladranan society would survive, they would take that sense of community back
to their lives and spread that feeling of community to others. Whether the Dark
was destroyed or not, Lladrana had come together, and she had had a part in
that great undertaking. Something to be proud of, and a good thought to fall
asleep on as she snuggled into Luthan’s double bag and smelled the scent of the
sea and her lover…and utter determination.

A
lexa was the
first one to stir in the chilly dawn. Since she’d been softly snoring every
time Raine jolted out of sleep, Raine figured the Marshall had slept through
the night. Must be nice.

Raine
had a terrible feeling about this day, her insides were gnawed by fear and
cowardice, and she wondered again if she would be able to stay the course, if
she’d drop out at the last minute, her fear too huge to bear. No one would
blame her for it, and the spell might be all right without her. They’d
practiced with people gone, all the way to only three—and different trios—all
with Jikata. Just in case.

Discreetly
she stretched. She should have gotten more sleep, she
knew
it, but that
was easier said than done and she was taut as a rigging cable under full sail.
Nerves. They’d probably last all day and get her through…
whatever
she
had to face.

Steadying
her breathing, she didn’t move, just scanned the heaps around her. There was a
gray veil between her and the sky that she blinked to penetrate, then realized
it was the cloaking spell. Closing her eyes, she listened to the currents of
the ocean against the shore, the eddies of water across shoals. From her last
glimpse of land the night before, they were very close to the island, no more
than a few hundred yards, closer than any had anticipated. A good omen. Since
she was waking on a creaking deck instead of in heaven or hell, they must have
been overlooked by the Dark, the Master and all the horrors.

The
feycoocus as birds were perched on the railing, staring at the island that they
could see, muttering among themselves.