Guardian of Honor (13 page)

Sinafin was silent, her sprightly tune having faded. The
background music hardly murmured. The tree was silent. Nothing answered Alexa.

T
he next morning the Marshalls had no sooner taken their seats
around the Council table than the door flew open with a jar of harpstrings and
Reynardus, Lord Knight of the Marshalls, strode in.

They all stood, Thealia slightly slower than the others. Though
Reynardus marched to his chair at the head of the table and took it with a
haughty look, pallor showed under his skin. He'd dipped in the jerir. Had
probably swum back and forth the length of the pool, Thealia thought sourly.
She narrowed her eyes. His expression hinted at controlled emotion.

"Events have not progressed well in the hours I have been
gone. Hopefully now that I am back and can direct them, they will proceed
better. I want to know what has occurred. I see we are all here except the dead
Defau and Albertus's ailing wife," he said, still standing, knowing they
all must sit after he did.

Thealia inclined her head. "I am sure you have been updated
on all events."

"We lost Defau and nearly lost Veya. The Choosing Ceremony
failed. If we spend hours on training the Exotique, give her jewels and land as
is required, she might still disappear like this—" he snapped gloved
fingers, but the sound was still loud.

Thealia's temper simmered.

Reynardus continued. "Furthermore, I hear you opened the
jerir pool not only to the Marshalls and select landowners and Chevaliers, but
to
all
Chevaliers—no, let me amend—" He peeled the gloves from his
hands and flung them on the table. "You invited
anyone
to immerse
themselves in our precious jerir. The jerir that cost us great effort to move
from a natural pool to the Temple pool. With the right care it could have been
saved and used for a year—"

"I thought we had agreed to drain the jerir," Thealia
said. "But you were the one in charge of that. Did you have plans that the
rest of us didn't know of?"

A touch of red lined his cheekbones. "That is moot now. I
cannot believe you will let any scum off the city street use the jerir. I heard
a stable boy dipped last night, a
stable boy!"

Thealia looked at Mace.

His face hardened. "Your son's new squire," he said.

Reynardus's brows rose. "Luthan has a new squire?"

"Bastien," said Mace.

Someone turned a laugh into a cough.

Reynardus's nostrils flared. "I should have known he'd have
such poor judgment as to take a nobody stable boy for a squire, but for the
rest of you to issue a proclamation to all the Towns for use of
our
jerir—"

"We are the guardians of the land," Thealia said.
"Lladrana needs all the staunch men and women available to fight the evil
confronting us. One of the ways to recruit the people we need is to offer them
use of the jerir."

"As I said yesterday, I will be honored to train anyone who
dips in the jerir," Mace said. "Both your sons availed themselves of
the
jerir, as did some of the most important guild-people
of the Town. Every hour more Chevaliers arrive to take advantage of our offer.
We are building an army."

"An army of shopkeepers!" Reynardus sneered.

Protests ran the length of the table.

"With our magical boundary fields failing, more land than
ever is being invaded by the greater monsters. And even the Townspeople are
affected by the frinks falling in the rain, burrowing into the soil and turning
the weak-brained into inhuman mockers," Thealia said, pursuing the point
when the others didn't. "We need strong defenders. Lord Knight
Swordmarshall Reynardus, do you have any report of your Song Quest you wish
recorded in the Marshalls' Lorebook of Song Quests?"

Reynardus paled. He sat abruptly. "No." The moments it
took for everyone to sit were enough for him to regain composure. He swept a
piercing gaze around the table and verbally attacked. "I want a
moment-by-moment recitation of what happened here at the Castle in my absence.
I want a list of the names and ranks of those who have bathed in the jerir. I
want an update on our borders. Most of all, I want to know what you have done
to train our new Exotique 'savior' to control her Powers and to fight."

At that moment the doorharp sounded.

Reynardus scowled. Everyone looked at the door. Rapping came.

Thealia glanced at Reynardus. "It must be important."

He shrugged. "Come," he called.

The door opened only enough to let a Castle serving woman, Umilla,
slide in. She was a bowed, thin woman dressed in bright green that emphasized
her drab coloring. Her hair was streaked white and black—a sign of the greatest
of Power or the most fragmented.

Several Marshalls gasped at her presumption.

Umilla twisted her hands in the dress that hung from her frame.
When she spoke her voice was dry and whispery. "There's a feycoocu in the
Castle," she said.

Everyone stared at her. When the silence stretched, she turned and
shuffled away.

"Stop, girl," Reynardus shouted. "Say that again,
and speak up. I didn't hear you."

Umilla only turned her head. "There's a feycoocu in the
Castle." Her words were only a little louder, but the spells in the
Chamber amplified them and repeated them:
There's a feycoocu in the castle.
There's a feycoocu in the castle.

Reynard stood. He leaned forward, both hands on the table, his
Power focused on Umilla. "A magical shapeshifter? Are you sure,
girl?"

"Blessings. It's been more than a century since we've been so
graced. A good sign that our Summoning was right. A feycoocu can only help our
cause," Partis said.

Snorting, Reynardus said, "You always take the optimistic
road, Partis." He turned back to Umilla. "Serving girl, come
here."

Steps halting, Umilla did. When she lifted her head, her eyes
blazed. She ran a hand through her hair, emphasizing the streaks. "I know
every heart pulse in the Castle. Every soulprint. There is a new one. Fun and
new and happy and strange. It came after the new Exotique.
It's for
her."

"Who can tell what a feycoocu will do?" Partis murmured.

"As incalculable as Exotiques," Thealia said. "I
agree it's a good sign. Others will be impressed, especially the Singer's
Cloister, perhaps the Sorcerers in their Towers also." Thealia lifted her
eyebrows at Reynardus. "Don't you agree?"

He chewed at the corner of his mouth, then jerked his head in a
nod. With a flick of his fingers, he dismissed Umilla. She scuttled from the
room.

H
ello, Alexa,
Sinafin said.

She was a little mermaid swimming in a spherical aquarium hovering
under the canopy of Alexa's bed. "I'm dreaming," Alexa mumbled.

Yes.

"The Lladranans call me 'Alyeka.'"

Your name is hard for our tongues.

Two names. She'd get confused for sure. She had no ear for foreign
languages. During her childhood of foster homes, she'd changed schools several
times and had ended up lagging behind in Spanish, French and Latin, and
jumbling them all.

Sinafin flipped her emerald-green tail and waggled a fin.
Listen
and watch closely as I show you what happened yesterday.

The dream-movie as translated by Sinafin only rolled as far as the
Choosing and Pairing ceremony before Alexa was wide awake, struggling into her
new clothes of tights and tunic and tabard. This was far too much for her to
take lying down. Time to do something about the Marshalls who were arranging
her life in the pattern they wanted.

Stamping into some boots that had been made for a young Lladranan
girl, she ground her teeth. She had to wear "little girl's" clothes.
Anger already sizzled through her, and was fueled by her frustration over
dressing in strange garments.

Wait, Alexa, you haven't seen all!
Sinafin
said.

Alexa looked for Sinafin, but couldn't find her. "Are you
coming with me to confront the Marshalls?"

A beautiful tiny greyhound leaped to the top of the bed. Alexa
narrowed her eyes. "I don't think greyhounds come this small." The
feycoocu was only about a foot in length.

Sinafin sat and scratched her ear with a hind paw.
This is my
natural size. I can be much larger or smaller if I use magic. You see, you
don't know much about Lladrana.

"No, but I don't think all Lladranans are like the Marshalls.
I think I could take my chances in the Town. I work hard."

Sinafin cocked her head at Alexa.
You don't even know where the
Marshalls are,
Sinafin pointed out smugly.

Frowning, Alexa tested a heaviness in her mind, like a dark cloud.
The Marshalls. "I know they're here in the Castle and they're all
together, as usual."

Sinafin tipped her head to the other side and twitched an ear.
Reynardus
is back.

Alexa snorted. "You think I care?"

You should. He is very powerful and important to your future.

"Huh. I've seen lawyers like him before."

And what did you do?

"Minded my manners. Walked softly. But now I have a big
stick!" With a thought she called her Jade Baton, and it slapped into her
open hand. Her fingers curled around it and the bar warmed and glowed, the
bronze sculpted flames at the top blazing into real red and yellow fire. She
was impressed. She grinned, showing teeth. Oh, she'd tell those Marshalls.
Trying to "bind" her emotionally to a lover without her consent was
the last straw.

She licked her lips and studied the wand, wondering about its
powers. Maybe she could experiment. "Take me to the Marshalls," she
said to her Jade Baton.

It tugged on her hand, pointing to the door.

Alexa threw a smile at Sinafin. "Coming?"

The little dog hopped from the tall bed, her tongue lolled
briefly.
This may be fun.

Alexa set her shoulders and marched out the door, following the
inclination of her baton. She wound her way down the stairs,
still angry and hurt. She knew she was far from emotionally
accepting the changes in her life.

Even with Marwey to link with her mind, and Sinafin's
dream-movies, all she understood was that Lladrana's magic Marshalls had
Summoned her because they thought she could stop a great evil by making
fenceposts to keep it out.

And that she had powers that had killed a man. She choked. She'd
never thought that she could kill someone, not even in self-defense. If she
stayed here, she'd have to learn how to control these strange mind powers.

She started down a long, gray stone hall. With her free hand, she
wiped aside her tears and wondered if these people cried. Anger at the
Marshalls' manipulations was an emotion she could recognize, one she could
justify and act on. Grief at thoughts of her lost world, confusion and
frustration at her new circumstances, creeping blind fear at the unknown could
be squashed and hidden away and ignored. Anger was better.

Finally she reached a large pointed-arch door set in a stone wall
to her right. The door had a big golden harp on it; strange letters decorated
the harp. She bit her lip. She couldn't read them. She, who had been the
journal editor for her law school, couldn't read. It was infuriating. It was
humiliating. It was terrifying. With a cry of anger, she flung open the door.

7

R
eynardus sat at the head of a long wooden table. He glanced up at
Alexa. "Another interruption?" Then he turned to Thealia.
"Things have certainly deteriorated in the short time I was gone."

"Marshall Alekya has a seat on this Council and is welcome
here." Thealia stretched out her hand to Alexa.

Alexa stared. She could understand them! Sinafin pressed against
her leg and Alexa realized that the fairy—whatever—was translating for her, the
words' meanings coming to her mind a beat after they were spoken. She looked
down at Sinafin, who gave her a doggy grin. Alexa was torn. She could pick up
the miniature greyhound or hold her baton, but not both. She'd have to stand
still and rant. Too bad. It was much easier for her to keep her thoughts in
order if she paced.

Sinafin brushed Alexa's legs as she crossed to the table and set
the baton down. It faded to a dull dark green. Parting with the stick
was hard, but Alexa wanted nothing to do with the Marshalls
or their Tests or their hidden agendas for her. She picked up Sinafin, who
swirled a sweet-breathed tongue around her face, erasing tear tracks. Alexa was
grateful.

But then the small hound pointed her nose at the wand and shook
her head.
You do not want to do this.

"I
must
do this," Alexa said. The words came out
in English, then twisted into something else. She stroked Sinafin's ears.
"Can you translate for me?"