Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [147]
Grayson’s mouth dropped open.
‘Don’t look so surprised. How do you think I learned it?’
‘Witches’ business,’ he muttered.
‘Indeed.’
‘What’s next, Nell? Do we set out to find her?’
‘I’ve a pretty good idea of where she is.’
He tilted his head to the side. ‘The gorge?’
‘If I’m not mistaken, she’s hiding in the reeds.’
‘Keeping watch over Passillo?’
Nell nodded. ‘One of us needs to get back to Temple Los Loma. See what the mountains are doing,’ Nell said. ‘Like to volunteer?’
‘Good plan.’ He studied her face. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Right now? To sleep. You too. Neither of us has had a wink for days.’
Grayson yawned and nodded. ‘And then?’
‘I’m off to the heart of old Dumarka. There’s a High Priestess named Saphon I need to meet.’ She took up her mug and sat across from Grayson. ‘There are a few more pieces to this puzzle we’ve yet to fit.’
‘What can I watch for on Earth?’
‘A thief in the night, I’d say. And, Grayson, mind your thoughts. Pulling this off is going to take a lot of reaching back…’
‘To change the future?’
‘Precisely.’
Maudi, wake up. Someone’s coming.
Where, Drayco?
I smell horses, and witches. Upwind, on the far side of the gorge.
Rosette loosened her grip on Drayco’s neck and propped herself up. She had slept the night with her arms around him; the warmth of his body was pervasive but she’d still shivered and sobbed. Her eyes were puffy slits, and she blinked them, waiting for her vision to clear. On the opposite side of the gorge, two riders approached—one on a bay mare, the other on a golden warhorse.
‘Amarillo,’ she whispered. ‘That’s La Makee.’
Since when does she have dark hair and long legs?
Since she learned to be in two places at once. That’s the glamour, Dray. She was like that in the corridors when Jarrod was lost, remember? Rosette felt heat rise to her face, the hairs on the back of her neck standing out. She gripped her sword, pulling the blade a fraction from the scabbard.
She’s sensing this way, Maudi.
Got it.
Even though they were hidden deep in the reeds, Rosette wove a glamour around them, merging them with their surroundings. Through the tiniest peephole, she watched, using all her energy to keep the glamour up, and to keep herself from morphing into a winged lion and tearing out the witch’s heart.
We don’t know for certain that she killed Jarrod, Maudi.
That’s why I am still here, in the reeds, and not over there, my sword against her throat.
Do you recognise the other rider?
Rosette focused on the girl dismounting the bay mare. She had honey-red hair, shining like gold against her dark cloak. She walked as if she’d been overlong in the saddle, though she had sat the horse as smoothly as any well-trained equestrian. She might be from the portal that night as well. The girl with the dark eyes? Said her brother had died? Can you tell from here? It’s too far for me.
She has dark eyes and yes, it looks like her.
Must be Makee’s apprentice. What was her name?
Shaea?
Sounds right. Rosette tuned into the girl’s thoughts. To her surprise, she met with a strong mind shield.
Definitely an apprentice. But if she’s not aware of us, why is she shielding?
From Makee?
Interesting. She didn’t risk testing La Makee’s mind. That would give them away as quick as a shout. Rosette could learn more by observing. Besides, she knew what Makee was here for. She had come for the spell. She can’t get to it, Drayco. Not unless she empties the gorge.
Makee had handed off her mount to the girl and was climbing the rocks. The water was clear, the cairn that marked the spell’s hiding place visible at the bottom, at least two chains below the surface. Rosette had studied it the day before. She knew there would be no retrieving the spell unless she could morph into a fish, and even then she’d have no hands to clasp it.
Drayco had suggested morphing into a melesin, a mythic creature from the Rahana Island tales—half human and half dolphin. She’d laughed. Even if it were possible, she didn’t have the skill.
Anything is possible, if you can imagine it, Drayco had reminded her.
That