Wizard of the Grove (35 page)

“Good.” He twitched his leather tunic straight. “Remember it.” And stomped off.

*we*

*are leaving also*

*watch well large ones*

“We shall.”

And then the pool was empty.

“You have,” C'Tal intoned, “our thanks for discovering a solution to the problem. And you will,” he continued, “I am sure, not only watch but take steps to ensure there is no abuse of power should such a situation occur.”

“We shall.”

“Then we also will be departing.”

The three centaurs bowed in unison then, still in perfect synchronicity, whirled and galloped away.

The two giants sat quietly while the spray of snow from the centaurs' departure settled. Then they sat quietly for a few hours more while the pool iced over and the sun disappeared behind the silver-gray of a winter's sky.

“You didn't tell them why you went only a short way into the tower,” said the larger at last.

“No.”

“Nor did you tell them that you can't go farther than you did and that if the wizard does, she must go alone.”

A curious jay landed on the broad ledge of the smaller giant's shoulder, making a bright patch of blue against the brown. She shrugged carefully so as not to disturb him. “Everyone is happy and I saved much time that would have been spent arguing. The tower must be dealt with. I'll know by then if the wizard must.”

“And if she must?”

“I will deal with it. But I see no reason to worry now.”

And again they exchanged slow smiles, then sat motionless until the jay grew bored and flew off.

E
ven with two pulling and one behind, the sleigh seemed to gain in weight on every uphill climb.

And these damn mountains,
Jago thought to himself, putting his shoulder against the rear crossbar and shoving,
are more uphill than down!
“Chaos!” The last he cried aloud as his feet lost their purchase and he slammed to his knees on the heavy crust. He reached out to grab for the sleigh then changed his mind as, unbraced, it slid back an inch or two. He heard Crystal gasp and Raulin swear as they took up the extra weight. Moving carefully, for the light cover of dry powder made the crust doubly treacherous and the footholds the two pulling had chopped were out of his reach to either side, he got one foot under him, shifted his balance, fell flat on his back, and slid twelve feet back down the mountain to slam up against a granite outcropping.

Kraydak's Empire had not been a pleasant place to grow up in, but some things are better learned in adversity. Jago took full advantage of his education as he cursed the sleigh, the snow, the rock, and then his brother.

“Should you be laughing” Crystal murmured to Raulin as they carefully backed the sleigh down the mountain. On this footing neither could hold the weight alone so the other could go for the brake and Crystal had promised the brothers that, for her own sake, she would use power only when the problem could not be solved in mortal ways.

“He's okay,” Raulin grunted. Leaning back against the drag of the sleigh had twisted the harness so the straps cut into his armpits. Jago
deserved whatever damage he'd done himself for that extra discomfort. “Fortunately, it sounds like he landed on his head.”

Jago scrambled out of the way as the sleigh eased up against the rock. When it rested securely, he grabbed one of the handles and gingerly pulled himself to his feet.

As the pressure eased off the straps, Crystal freed herself and hurried around to his side. She wore Jago's spare pants, one of Raulin's shirts, and an old green sweater both of them laid claim to.

“We know it isn't much,” Jago had explained when they'd laid the clothes out for her, “but at least you'll be protected if you lose control again.”

She reached out one hand and lightly touched their offering. Although not enough for warmth
—
no matter, a wizard, even an unstable one, was not at the mercy of the elements
—
it was enough to cushion flesh in a way that clothes woven of power could not when the power was no longer there. “I can't shift when I'm so confined,” she said slowly. “If I wear these, I'll be bound to this form.”

“Suits me.” Raulin smiled and winked.

His words made the decision easier for her and she wondered if he'd known that when he spoke; wondered if the seemingly careless words actually held care. She dressed and then sculpted herself a pair of soft gray boots from woodsmoke.

“Function follows form,” she explained, slipping them on. “Or at least that's what the centaurs always told me. I could as warmly go barefoot, but this will keep my mind from the task and yours from my feet.
”

And both brothers had shuddered at the vision of bare feet on snow.

“Hey, I'm okay,” Jago protested as Crystal reached for the strings that tied the heavy fur cap to his head. “I barely felt it.” He knew better than to try to push her hands away. Early on, they'd discovered that her physical strength at the very least matched either of theirs. Occasionally, Jago wondered if she held back for fear of doing damage to their tender male egos.

Tossing the hat aside, Crystal probed the back of Jago's skull with
gentle fingers. She shook her own head in irritation as he winced and tried to hide it when she found the tender spot.

“Don't worry,” she reassured him, although exasperation touched her voice as well. “I use more power than this breathing.” Her eyes flared briefly as she healed the bruising and blocked the incipient headache.

“Don't suppose you could do something about the significant lack of grace while you're in there?” Raulin called, sinking down on the front end of the sleigh and not bothering to unhook.

“This from a man who trips over shadows,” Jago snorted, jamming his hat back on and securing it. He half-smiled his thanks at Crystal, too tired to get his entire face to cooperate, and pulled his heavy overcoat out from under the loose bindings that secured it. Now that they were no longer working, he was beginning to feel the cold. He yanked Raulin's coat free as well, and threw it at his brother's back. Without turning, or removing the harness, Raulin shrugged into it. It bunched up where the traces connected the harness to the sleigh, but it covered him enough to provide warmth.

All three of them looked up at the twelve feet they'd lost. It seemed like a hundred. The shadow of the mountain turned everything, path, sleigh, spirits, to a bleak and unyielding gray.

“Trouble is,” Jago sighed, leaning against the sleigh and scrubbing at his face, “the man following has no traction.” He waved at the axes Crystal and Raulin had been using to break through the ice. “He doesn't have his hands free to chip footholds, and that crust is too damn thick to stamp through.”

“Trouble is,” Raulin echoed, “the man following is a lout.”

Jago's violet eyes narrowed. “Crust isn't the only thing that's too damn thick around here.”

The underlying good humor, usually present in the brothers' bickering, was noticeably absent. Tempers were short, particularity the more volatile Raulin's. Crystal suspected that only the numbing exhaustion of the past few days had kept things from exploding all over the mountainside. They needed some kind of release from the drag of
the sleigh and the constant cold, and, she was forced to admit, the tension her presence caused.

Physical attraction—not quite desire, not yet—stretched between her and Raulin like a bowstring. Explored, it would be easier to live with, but they hadn't had that chance. For the sake of warmth during the bitterly cold nights, the three shared a bed, her wizard's body generating enough heat for them all. If she used power to create privacy, she doubted she'd be able to contain Avreen once they began. If Jago would only take a walk for a couple of hours. . . . But they couldn't ask. Not in the winter. Not in these mountains. And Jago. Healing him was like healing herself, everything just seemed to fall back into place. The bond with him was a comfort—not a torment, not even an itch—and that was a relationship that needed defining as well.

Now this.

She glared back up the mountain.

Three hundred feet, maybe less, and they'd reach the pass and be on level ground for a while.

She kicked at the crust.

And then again.

“I think,” she said slowly, “I may have an idea.”

Both men turned to look at her, faces blank. Below her feet, the snow began to steam. With a crack, the crust broke and she sank up to her ankles in the softer snow beneath.

“No,” they said simultaneously.

“Look,” she explained, stepping out of the hole, “it's no more than I do at night when I raise my body temperature. You two pull and I'll push, melting myself a stairway as I go.”

“It might work,” Raulin said thoughtfully, pushing down his scarf and pulling bits of ice from his mustache.

“No,” Jago repeated. “It's too dangerous for you to bleed off power. We can't risk the goddesses getting free.” He met her eyes. They were the only green they'd seen for the last two days. “No. We'll think of another way.”

Raulin twisted around and glared but remained silent.

Crystal bit back a sigh. Lately, it seemed she was the only thing they
didn't actually fight over. She recognized the stubborn set to Jago's jaw and realized she was just too tired to muster the enthusiasm necessary to change his mind. Let the mountain change it for them, she decided, and pulled herself up on the rock to wait.

So they thought about other ways. Every now and then, one of the brothers would snarl something, the other would growl a negative reply, and silence would fall again. Crystal let them keep it up until she knew they could feel the cold creeping in under their furs and then she said softly, “There is no other way.”

Raulin muttered an obscenity under his breath, then stood, tossing his coat back to Jago as he did. Jago ducked the heavy fur, letting it fall on the sleigh, slid out of his own, and secured them both. He walked up front and buckled himself into the other harness. Without speaking, in no way acknowledging each other's presence, they began to pull the sleigh away from the rock. When there was enough room, Crystal slipped in behind and began to push.

The first twelve feet went quickly, for only Crystal had to break the crust, and then they slowed as Raulin and Jago began to swing the axes once more. Still, with all three on firm footing, progress was neither as arduous nor as slow as it had been.

Safely in the pass, with the brake shoved deep into the snow, they collapsed.

“I say we make camp here,” Raulin panted. “I'm beat.”

“Still a couple of hours of day left,” Jago argued, getting slowly to his feet. “I'd like to see what's on the other side of the pass.”

Moving carefully, Raulin stood as well and began to unlash the gear. “Life is too short,” he growled, yanking at a knot, “to waste it by dying of exhaustion.”

“And we get little enough daylight to waste it because
you
can't make it get any farther.” Jago stretched, leaned against the rock wall of the pass, and crossed his arms. “Getting old, Raulin?”

One step, two, Raulin moved toward his brother. His lips pulled back from his teeth and his hands clenched into fists.
Smart-assed little snot. Had as much of that smug, pompous smile as I can take . . .

Jago straightened and dropped his weight forward onto the balls of his feet.
Time that arrogant asshole learned he doesn't run my life . . .

Should I stop them?
Crystal wondered.
Perhaps this is the release they need.

Mortals, snorted Zarsheiy's voice in her head. With Crystal's power turned to heat, the fire goddess stayed close to the barriers that kept her penned.
You'll never understand them.

Watching Raulin and Jago circling for an opening, Crystal admitted Zarsheiy was probably right.

The tension built until even the mountain seemed aware of it. A deep rumble, felt rather than heard, drew all gazes upward. Another rumble sent one or two tiny white balls dancing down the weight of snow poised above the pass.

“We can't stay here,” Crystal said softly, voicing the obvious in case the brothers were too wrapped in anger to realize. “It isn't safe.”

The tableau stayed frozen a moment longer, then Raulin spun about and grabbed up a harness.

“Try and keep up,” he snarled as he jerked the sleigh into motion.

Jago snatched up the second harness and fell into step. They crossed the three miles of the pass in silence.

Late afternoon sunlight bathed the northwest side of the mountains, giving everything a rosy glow. A long, smooth expanse of pinkish-white snow spread down from the pass for a mile, maybe more, unbroken by rock or tree, and ended in a dark line of forest.

For a long moment the brothers just stood and stared, at the light, at the color, at the lack of gray. From her place behind the sleigh, Crystal saw some of the stiffness fall from their shoulders.

“Forest'd be a good place to spend the night,” Raulin observed at last, squinting into the sun. “We'd have lots of wood and a good sized fire for a change.”

“'Course we'd have to get there before dark,” Jago added, kicking at the snow. It was still crusted, though covered by about six inches of powder.

“Angle's a little steep. Stopping could be tricky.”

Jago grinned at him. “Worry about that when we get there.”

Raulin Shrugged and returned the grin, the last few days suddenly forgotten. “Why not.”

With a whoop that echoed back from the peaks above them, the brothers yanked off their harnesses and tossed them on the sleigh. While Raulin checked to make sure everything was secure, Jago pulled their coats free. Crystal stood watching, openmouthed.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“Trust us,” Raulin told her, doing up his coat and wrapping his scarf more securely about his head. “You steer?” he asked Jago.

Jago nodded as they pulled the sleigh to the edge of the slope. “Suits me.”

Careful not to start things moving too soon, Raulin scrambled up onto the load, settling himself as securely as possible. “Okay, Crystal, come on up.”

Crystal began to get the idea. She looked down the mountain. A steep, straight run into a wall of trees. She looked at Raulin and Jago. They flashed her nearly identical, maniacal grins.
I'm as crazy as they are,
she thought as she climbed on and eased herself down between Raulin's legs.
Release is one thing but this . . .
She leaned back against his chest and felt one arm go around her.

“Hang on,” he said into her ear.

All things considered, that seemed like good advice, so she did.

“Okay, Jago, let'er rip!”

The crust that had worked against them all the way up the mountain worked for them now. Jago threw his weight against the crossbar and the sleigh began to move. It picked up speed. Running full out, Jago tightened his grip and yanked himself forward, up onto the backs of the protruding runners.

Faster and faster. The runners roared against the snow.

Crystal squinted into the wind and the stinging load of snow it carried. Pushed back against Raulin's comforting bulk, she realized they were totally at the mercy of the slope. The thought terrified, but was at
the same time strangely exhilarating. She stared ahead and tried to remember to breathe.