Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [103]
‘Nothing a long meditation won’t fix, but I can’t say the same for the guards we left behind.’
‘That bad?’
‘Drayco ripped through a dozen Corsanon warriors before we bolted to the portal.’ Teg looked behind him. ‘I’m just glad the Entity got him to you so quick, Rosette, and kept the Corsanons out.’
‘I can’t imagine what they are thinking now.’
Maudi, I had to find you. He rubbed his face with his forepaw, flakes of dried blood falling to the ground. They tried to stop me.
‘Oh, Dray.’ She hugged him tight. ‘It was a calling spell, an accident really. Kreshkali was looking for Janis Richter’s journals, her notes to help us bring Jarrod back, and it turns out they are in my blood.’
Kreshkali did this to you? His tail snapped.
‘She meant no harm.’ Rosette stroked down his hackles. ‘I’m so sorry this happened to us both.’ Rosette wanted to ask Hotha something about La Makee but he was having a private exchange with Teg. The younger Lupin did not appear comfortable, whatever was being said. ‘Come, Dray.’ She gave her familiar a playful slap. ‘Let me bathe you and find us both a meal.’
‘And then we best see what this fracas has caused in Corsanon,’ Hotha said.
She exchanged looks with Teg. Trouble?
You could say that.
‘What a wondrous woods!’ Shaea turned in circles, her arms outstretched, her head tipped back to the dark green canopy. Beams of sunlight streaked down, dappling her skin. Her cloak was laid out over a boulder to dry and her hair flowed behind her in long strawberry-gold streams.
Shane watched her before taking in the tall, red-barked trees; their tips seemed leagues above him. The warm scent of the forest was a refreshing change from the cold desert land of Corsanon. Clay and the girl seemed curiously unconcerned by their new surroundings but he was not so naive. He recognised the scent and ambiance of the Dumarkian Woods, but when he looked for the meandering stream and the high arched bridge that led to the temple, it was nowhere to be seen. Where once there were open walkways and broad stone steps that led to the turreted meditation hall there now stood a few tumbled columns and a long granite slab covered with brambles and vines. This was not the Dumarka he knew, and he didn’t recall asking to be taken here in any case.
‘Wondrous and strange,’ Clay said to Shaea. He tuned his guitar and picked a sweet melody, the lightness of it floating away on the breeze.
‘It may be more strange than wondrous,’ Shane said. ‘It’s not how I remember it. What happened at the gates of Los Loma? Did either of you speak to the Entity?’
‘I did.’ Shaea stuck out her chin.
‘What did you say?’ Shane and Clay asked at the same time.
‘I said, get us as far away from here and the filthy streets of Corsanon as you can. And look!’ She spun around again, her dress opening like an umbrella. ‘We are in a beautiful green forest the likes of which I’ve never imagined.’
‘Someone’s imagined it,’ Shane said, grumbling.
She stopped spinning, letting her hands fall to her side. ‘Why so glum? We’re free!’
‘Are we?’ He looked at them both, stopping Shaea as she began another twirl. ‘We’ve no supplies, no idea of where or when we are. No idea of what might befall us after sundown.’
‘What do you mean when?’ Shaea asked.
‘Long past this temple’s day for sure,’ Clay said as he continued to play.
‘Exactly. What do we do now?’
‘Explore,’ Shaea said. She frowned back at him. ‘Don’t you want to investigate?’
A single kite cried out above them and Shane sighed. ‘I don’t see that we have any choice.’
‘There’s always a choice,’ Clay said.
‘Is there?’ Shane crossed his arms. ‘I’d love to hear it. What are our choices in this matter? Sit and play music until the sun goes down only to be eaten by bears at night?’
‘I suppose that would be one choice.’ Clay laughed. ‘But that’s not one I’m considering.’
‘Do share,’ Shaea said.
‘First up, we can always go back into the portal and see where else it will take us. Maybe it was just fulfilling Shaea’s wish, to experience some land far from Corsanon, lush and green. I suspect we only need