Guardian of Honor (22 page)

When she reached the door with the fancy writing she couldn't
read, she felt a twinge of anxiety again. Well, she'd learn to read, and to
speak, and to fight, and she'd do her best...until the Snap. She grinned. Her
best had always been good enough to scrape through, and the Marshalls hadn't
seen her in action!

She flung open the door and marched in.

They were all standing. Reynardus touched his baton and the ivory
flared white. "This meeting is adjourned. We all have much to do."

If she'd been paranoid, she'd have thought they had deliberately
finished before she could participate. Maybe it was just that they'd always
done things one way, that they weren't used to her being there.

Maybe.

The room was long and narrow, with tall multipaned windows inset
with stained glass in the center showing coats of arms. The large wooden table
had fifty chairs, with the Marshalls clustered at the near end. One of the
wooden chairs had a carving on top of a knight riding a volaran; another, a
woman reaching upward, mouth open; a third, a Tower with lightning around it; a
fourth, a town; a fifth, a ship. Representatives' chairs, Alexa figured. All
the other chairs alternated—a sword or a shield carved on them. The last one
had a carved shield—and a stack of cushions. Yep, the Marshalls had expected
her and had noticed she was small.

All except Thealia and Reynardus filed out. Since she was
irritated, Alexa hitched herself to sit on the huge table. With a final flutter
of wings, Sinafin sat on Alexa's shoulder.

Alexa swung her legs. "Mind telling me what was
discussed?" she asked the two.

"Since we had no Representatives today, we decided what
information we would give them," Reynardus said.

The pompous jerk. She knew "spin" when she heard it. She
kept her voice mild. "I hope you decided that the best policy is full
disclosure." Dammit, now
she
sounded like a politician. "Tell
them everything."

Reynardus's heavy eyelids lowered.

Before he could make a snide remark, Alexa pushed ahead.
"From what I could tell from the map, and what the feycoocu has
shown me, you are fighting a losing battle. Your defenses
are falling and you don't have the army to stop the, uh, creeping evil."
How different the evil here in Lladrana from that spouted by politicians in the
States.
This
was evil.
These
were true monsters, not humans with
differing beliefs. "You need all the help you can get. Arm the Chevaliers
with magical weapons, give them the right spells to use in battle." Were
these words really coming from her mouth? They should have sounded silly; she
should
have felt
silly. She didn't. She felt determined, fierce. And it
was good to have a passion again.

She heard Reynardus's teeth click together.

"There are several problems," Thealia said. "We
don't have the time to train them in battlespells. It takes more Power to prime
the magical weapons than we can spare."

"If everyone had knowledge of our battle spells, there would
be worse fighting amongst the Chevaliers and in the towns," Reynardus
said.

It sounded to Alexa as if they'd done too little, too late, and
time was running out. Alexa stared at the Marshalls. "Am I allowed
any opinion, any input to the Marshalls at all?"

"Of course," Thealia said.

Reynardus curled his lips.

Alexa had magic enough to gain their ranks, but not enough, yet,
to have them listen to her. It would take time, but she'd be like a faucet drip
and wear them away. Deep inside, she knew that was one of her functions here,
and she would follow her instincts.

"I ask that you tell the other Marshalls my concerns."

"It will be done," Thealia said.

Alexa fixed her stare on Reynardus. "You don't have a very
high opinion of the Chevaliers and townspeople. And they don't have a good
opinion of you Marshalls either. Don't you think someone needs to mend fences
here? To be honest, I think the Marshalls, who are in the ultimate position of
power, should be able to bend. That's my recommendation."

"We'll discuss it—" Thealia choked.

"We
have
discussed it, and nothing will change,"
Reynardus said.

Acid pitched in Alexa's stomach. She wished she could pound some
sense into their heads, but she was the youngest and most inexperienced. Too
new. Too Exotique.

"What else was talked about?"

Thealia's expression softened. "We decided to open Marshall
Testing and increase our team to forty. We already have a few applicants."

Reynardus grunted.

This was news to Alexa. She perked up. With an increase of
Marshalls, especially younger Marshalls, she bet she'd have a better chance at
change. The balance of power within the Marshalls could shift. She could only
go along now, make sure she was accepted and fit in. Later, she could help the
Marshalls steer a new path.

"That sounds good."

"And we are inventorying the magical weapons in our armory in
case we wish to disperse them in the future. The batons are the fiercest
weapons, but we have several swords—broadswords and short swords. A mace or
two, and some quarterstaffs like Partis uses," Thealia said.

Again, too little, too late. And too late for Alexa to do much
about it.

Thealia looked at Alexa. Like this was supposed to placate her?

"Speaking of estates," Thealia said, "we also dealt
with Reynardus's fine for oath-breaking and gifting you with your estate.
Reynardus and I were on our way to the map room."

A thrill ran through her at the idea of land of her own. She
could hardly believe it—it seemed to be coming to her too
soon and almost too easily. Discreetly she wiped her suddenly damp palms on her
tunic. Then Alexa looked at Reynardus, maybe not so easily. She figured she'd
have to battle him every inch of the way.

He looked as if he had tasted something bitter.

"According to the Lorebook, Reynardus must be fined lands or
volarans for his oath-breaking."

Now Reynardus didn't look happy with following ancient tradition.

"Two square miles or seven prime, war-trained volarans,"
Thealia said.

"I told you I only have six," Reynardus said.

"So we agreed on the land. I believe that my ancestor sold a
bit of land to yours in nearly that amount."

"One-point-eight," Reynardus said.

"That will do," said Thealia.

Reynardus huffed a breath and strode from the room. Thealia
followed.

Sinafin-butterfly rose to flutter in the air and Alexa slid from
the table to her feet. "We're going to the magic map room that shows Lladrana
and those falling magic fenceposts, right?" she asked.

Yes. You will be guided by me, Alexa. It's important.

Sinafin flew ahead of her, pink and silver wings flickering in the
gray corridor. They exited the Keep and crossed the courtyard to an opening in
the Cloister walk that led to the small map room.

Reynardus stood stiffly, hands clasped behind his back. A big
chunk of land in the middle of Lladrana glowed fox red on the map. It was far
from the long northern border where the horrors came from.

Since she often accompanied Thealia to the map room, Alexa
knew the placement of the fenceposts. None had fallen
during the night. She sighed with relief.

Thealia tapped a small portion of red land that intruded on her
green-tinted estate. "I accept. I'll have Faith draw up the papers for you
to sign, Reynardus." Thealia smiled broadly. "You
do
have a
time limit, according to past Lorebooks."

"You studied up," Reynardus snapped.

"I had Faith brief me. I can invoke a penalty if you don't
make the transfer within twenty-four hours." Thealia smiled sweetly.
"The usual penalty is a hundred acres an hour. The oath-breaking was
serious."

Boy, were they gouging him. Alexa made sure her glee didn't show
and tried not to think what would have happened to her if the guy had fried her
with magic. At least the Marshalls were taking this seriously. It nearly
satisfied her.

A tic jumped near Reynardus's right eye. "I'll sign the land
over as soon as the ink is dry on the contract."

"Now for a more joyful land transfer." Thealia beamed at
Alexa. She walked to the animated map. As large as a king-size sheet, the map's
backing was stiff, but the colors were vibrant, the northern border glowing and
with minute peglike fenceposts. The outlines of Thealia's and Reynardus's
estates faded.

Thealia picked up a huge book from a shelf on the wall.
"Currently the Marshalls oversee several vacant estates." She waved a
hand and different portions of Lladrana lit up.

Alexa had a bad feeling about how they had become
"vacant," but the deep yearning for her own home kicked in. She
wanted this so much she could taste it like her lost tea. And if the price was
forsaking everything else she'd ever known, it was higher than she'd ever
expected. But it was a price she would pay.

She looked at the mountain range to the north. She'd like living
in view of the mountains again, but didn't want to be on the
front line of invasion. Since most of the North was
"vacant," she figured others felt that way too, or had died trying to
preserve their land.

There was a little curve of mountains to the east. Hard to think
of mountains in the east, but still...

Sinafin flapped in front of the map, indicated with an antenna a
decent-size chunk of land.
Here, Alexa, pick here.

It was in the west, several miles in from the coastline. Since the
map had reverted to the green-brown of a geographic-altitude map, the land
Sinafin pointed to showed green with rolling hills. Alexa thought that meant it
would be good for farming. And pretty to walk on.

"A very good choice," said Thealia.

It wasn't anywhere near Reynardus's estate. That was a point in
its favor.

Thealia found a page in the Lorebook. "It was an Exotique's
land many years ago, and has a four-story brick manor house, three villages and
a good annual income."

Would people who once lived with an Exotique be more friendly than
those who hadn't?

Here, Alexa!

She shrugged. Sinafin hadn't steered her wrong yet. She nodded.
"Ayes."

Sinafin pulsed pink and silver like a flickering neon light.
"Si— Feycoocu, you're hurting my eyes." Alexa remembered Sinafin
didn't want the Marshalls to know her name almost too late. Sinafin stopped the
light and zoomed around the room. Alexa had never seen a butterfly zoom, but
Sinafin managed it, and as she did so, she inserted images into Alexa's mind.
Green grass and large deciduous trees, a pretty red house with bay windows on
several floors.

Alexa swallowed hard. This looked like a place she'd only dreamed
of. "Yes," she whispered.

Hers.
A place of her own and a high place in this society if she
fulfilled her potential, and she was used to fulfilling potential that only
she
believed in. Others had expected that she'd spiral downward from the foster
homes; instead she'd climbed upward. Steady and determined. She could do that
here too. Win a home and land and even the
hearts
of some people. She
could make friends. She could finally fit in. "Yes!"

Six mornings later Alexa cracked open an eye to see the bright
landscape out of her turret windows. She wanted to roll over and sleep, but her
new waterfall chiming clock wouldn't let her. She dragged her weary and aching
body from the soft comfort of the bed and donned her new clothes.

She wished she was back in law school. It had been easier. The
classes for the bar, the shared anxiety, the camaraderie and Sophie—all had
gotten her through. Her lessons hadn't been as hard and her memory hadn't been
as taxed as it was here in Lladrana.

Her brain felt as if it would leak out of her ears any minute. And
nothing compared to the bruises and aches of her body as she learned how to
ride and fight with the other Marshalls.

She had no real friends except Sinafin, who absented herself from
the boring daily grind-Alexa-into-the-mud to play and take care of unknown
feycoocu business. The little shapeshifter still experimented with forms for
Alexa. Sinafin seemed to enjoy plucking images from Alexa's brain and trying
them out. Alexa had shared her rooms with everything from a Gila monster to a
penguin. Mercifully the foot-long cockroach had only lasted an hour.

Since Sinafin wanted Alexa to learn the language, she didn't visit
Alexa in her dreams to explain things. Even riding wasn't as bad as struggling
to speak, read and write Lladranan. Alexa knew
gloomily
that she'd always have an accent. And if it never got any better, it would be
an accent that people laughed at. Apparently she sounded drunk.

Since her voice was a tool of her trade, she was painfully aware
when she slurred her words. But if she wanted to speak in any sort of natural
manner, she had to accept that her tongue would mangle words. She could only
hope that with use and time, her verbal skills would improve.