Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [3]
‘Strange indeed,’ she said, leading her mare closer to see for herself. ‘Look at the blooms. It’s not even spring.’
The smoke-grey branches sprouted small leaves clustered around tiny pink and white blossoms. Kreshkali leaned in to inhale the buds as her mare nipped a lower twig. ‘Oh, no you don’t.’ She backed the mare up, pulling the twig from the horse’s mouth. She studied it. ‘Rowan. This tree doesn’t just look like Gaela stock. It is Gaela stock.’ She eyed it closely.
‘Let me see.’ He pushed his horse’s nose away as he examined it. ‘Demons. It is.’
‘A new piece to the puzzle?’
‘It seems that way.’
What’s the fuss with the fruit tree, Rowan? Scylla approached, her shoulder blades rising and dipping with each stride. She rubbed her cheeks against his leg. The Lupins seem a more important consideration at the moment, don’t you think? And water. I’m thirsty.
A howl echoed in the distance and her hackles rose. An’ Lawrence stroked them down, feeling the vibration as she growled. The horses sidestepped, swivelling their ears to listen behind.
‘Scylla, are they inside the gate?’ he asked aloud.
No, but I suspect they will be soon.
An’ Lawrence ran his stirrups up and loosened the girth a notch. ‘Can you talk to your puppies, Kali? Tell them to back off? They’re making me nervous.’
‘They make everyone nervous.’
‘But not you.’
She smiled. ‘Not me.’ Her head tilted towards the gate. ‘You think you can bust us in?’
He passed his reins over as his horse minced forward and back. Kali was having similar trouble.
‘Perhaps a calming spell first?’ he said.
‘Good idea.’ She sent a waft of energy towards the mounts, light and soothing. He felt it from where he stood; it was like a warm breeze after a storm. Immediately the horses stilled, their heads lowering, ears relaxed. One cocked a hind leg and swished his tail.
‘And the Lupins?’ An’ Lawrence asked.
The howling sounded closer. Kreshkali looked over her shoulder and shrugged. ‘They aren’t listening to me much these days.’
‘Would they jump the gate?’ He pointed at the spiked entrance and the miles of head-high fencing on either side.
‘I don’t see why not.’
‘Best keep moving, then.’
Kali reached into her saddlebag and handed him an axe. The horses startled as a black shape darted behind them and disappeared into a ravine. ‘Steady, now. We’re going to hack our way through those locks,’ she said to the horses. ‘And find the estate on the other side. There’ll be water there, and shade, and splendid stables and a manor house, if the old photographs are any indication.’
‘You really think it still stands? It’s been centuries, Kali, and not kind ones,’ An’ Lawrence said.
‘Optimism, Rowan?’
He answered by raising his axe and letting loose a swing. He aimed to send the blade deep into the first padlock, but it bounced back, nearly flying from his hands. The sound reverberated through the wrought iron and into the ground. The green-broke mounts braced their front legs, eyes wide and nostrils flaring in spite of the calming spell. ‘Demons, Kali,’ he said after several more swings. ‘What’s this stuff made of?’
‘Titanium alloy.’
‘What?’
She smiled. ‘Throw a little magic into it, Sword Master. It’s just metal.’
He glared at her. ‘Are you mocking me?’
‘If you want to see it that way, be my guest.’
He shook his head and took a few more swings, boosting his strength with a blast of energy that lit up the axe like blue lightning. On the third swing, the axe flew clean out of his hands, sailing past Kreshkali and the horses to land in the serpentine rock behind them. The axe head was buried to the hilt.
‘Stop,’ she said, holding up her hand. ‘This isn’t working.’
‘You’re kidding. I thought I was getting somewhere.’
She led the horses down the fence line and tied them. ‘There must be a spell