Arrows of Time - Kim Falconer [31]
‘She wasn’t there last time you checked.’
‘Sabbatical. She’d be back now. She’s never far from the Dragon Bone Chair.’
‘Even with the new High Priestess, La Teeka, there?’
‘Makee remains principal adviser, though she’s free to come and go, as she desires.’ Kreshkali frowned. ‘I wonder just how far she’s exercising that freedom.’
‘The coming or the going?’
‘Both.’
An’ Lawrence draped his arm over her shoulder. ‘When are you off?’
‘As soon as you agree on the name.’
He tightened his grip for an instant before letting his hand slide away. ‘You’re dead set on Los Loma?’
‘Temple Los Loma,’ she said. ‘It suits.’
He looked at the landscape. Beyond the surrounding oasis were endless barren plains, rent with cracks and tumbled red rocks, a desert without visible signs of life, though much dwelled there.
‘Doesn’t Loma mean “hill”?’ He opened his arms wide. ‘You may have noticed that there are no hills, dales or mountains of any kind here. It’s mostly as flat as my blade outside of this valley, and there certainly aren’t any snowcapped peaks, save leagues to the north. I don’t see the connection to Los Loma, Gaela.’
‘The name honours the Lupins, for one.’
He ground his teeth. ‘Anything else?’
‘The numerology fits.’
‘How so?’
‘Fives and nines,’ she said.
‘Please refresh me on the relevance, witch.’
‘Freedom, unconventionality and the gift to adapt and change as need be. Also, the skill to stand alone.’
He looked into the distance again. ‘We’ll certainly need that. There’re no other temples on Earth, are there?’
‘Not any more. None that I can detect, anyway.’
He exhaled a long breath, tapping his lips. ‘The lack of boundaries?’ he asked. ‘How will that relate?’
She glanced at him sideways. ‘So you do know your numbers, after all.’
‘I’ve had need to understand the nines,’ he said, a smile curling his lip. ‘It’s given me great comfort to study that one in particular.’
She cleared her throat. ‘Have you? It’s not necessary to walk you through it, then.’
‘Would you mind, though? I’m curious how it applies to a place as opposed to a person.’
‘Person, place or thing, all have an identity, an energy. You know this.’
‘And the number nine in Temple Los Loma?’
‘I see it as the link to the portals more than a loss of centering. We are in a fixed position here, but we travel to and fro via the corridors.’ She swept her arm towards the courtyard, empty now as everyone else sought shelter from the blistering midday sun. ‘We are a mix here, unlike any other. We come from different lines, different worlds. Our boundaries are truly blurred, mingling to create something new, something unique.’
He put his arm back around her shoulder and drew her close. ‘Let’s hope you’re right,’ he whispered in her ear.
‘So you agree?’
‘When you put it that way, Temple Los Loma it is,’ he said.
‘Thank you.’ She beamed, looking up at the sky. ‘I won’t be long.’ She stepped back, energy swirling towards her like a dust storm.
He felt a rebound wave hit his chest and when he blinked she was gone—a black falcon shooting up above the tree line and heading for the gates. Three ravens, squawking a reprimand, flapped after her.
‘You best not be,’ he said, though she disappeared as he spoke.
Scylla pushed her head under his hand, the purr in her throat vibrating his fingers. She manipulated you well.
What do you mean? It was my choice. She wouldn’t use the name if I didn’t agree.
That, Rowan, is true.
He roughed her neck. ‘Come, lovely, let’s find some food. I’m famished.’
And a cool spot? I can’t feel my full appetite in this heat. She panted as they walked out of the sun.
‘I know just the place. You’ll love it.’ He headed towards the shaded pool, his temple cat by his side.
TENSAR—TIME: CIRCULAR
CHAPTER 7
Rosette reached out into the darkness, taking small, cautious steps. The ground was uneven, the rock wall crumbling at her touch.
‘I can’t see a thing, Drayco,’ she whispered, keeping one hand on the hilt of her sword. ‘How about you?’
There’s a light ahead.
The voice of her familiar felt like a soft blanket that