Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [4]
A wind rippled across Drayco’s fur. I can.
Oh, demons. Here it comes! ‘Teg! To me!’ She clutched his arm and pulled him down. ‘Drayco, get in here!’ Rosette conjured a dome of energy and they crouched, shielded from the blast. It hurtled towards them—a fireball taking out everything in its path.
The force ripped by, knocking the Corsanon warriors back like tumbleweed, even the dead ones. In spite of the shield, some of the blast whirled into their shelter, sending her hair streaming back from her face, eyes watering, sand stinging. Teg gripped her tight and Drayco’s head pressed into her lap. As the wave subsided, the surviving warriors scrambled away, racing back towards the city at the sound of the retreat. Rosette lowered her shield, locking eyes with An’ Lawrence as she stood. She crossed her arms, ignoring the sea of bodies, blood and gore between them. ‘What in the demon’s pit of gnash are you doing? Trying to kill me?’ she shouted.
Rosette! You’re alive. He answered back with a mental message. His voice sounded thick in her mind, as if he was choking.
‘Barely, after that blast, Sword Master.’ She made a show of straightening her clothes and tightening her sword belt before heading towards him. ‘What in all the worlds are you doing here?’ She swept her arm across the field. ‘And when is this, anyway?’
‘Corsanon’s past, I think.’ He flicked blood from his blade and sheathed it then waved them in.
‘And why are you here?’ she asked again.
‘I was searching for Makee, to help you. Last time I looked, you were in desperate need of a High Priestess and Kreshkali was nowhere to be found.’
Rosette laughed. Cupping her hands to her mouth and shouting as if he were hard of hearing, she yelled, ‘I’m fine now, but thanks anyway.’
Maudi, is this conversation wise? We are still in the middle of a battlefield and the enemy isn’t far off.
At that moment an arrow shot from the pines and before Rosette could warn him, An’ Lawrence flicked his round shield behind him. She heard the shaft sink deep into the wood. A dozen more followed.
‘Run!’ An’ Lawrence shouted. He flashed his sword and several arrows rebounded off the blade, returning full speed towards the archers. He disappeared down the other side of the knoll, emerging on a golden warhorse with a flaxen mane and tail. He urged it into a collected canter, picking his way across the battlefield towards her, shield slung to his back.
‘Where did you get that horse?’ Her mouth hung open as it came towards her.
‘A parting gift from La Makee. Get moving!’
‘La Makee?’ As she turned towards the portal, a score of riders appeared on the horizon. ‘So much for the retreat.’ Looking back at An’ Lawrence, she caught sight of a full complement of archers, also on horseback, charging at the gallop. In a matter of seconds they would be trodden into the ground.
‘Shift!’ An’ Lawrence snapped her out of her stupor.
She took the form of a black wolf, a better shape for fighting than her customary falcon. The portal’s cut off! she screamed into his mind.
This way. He rolled the horse back and shot westward.
Teg had already changed into his alternative Lupin form—wolf—and was racing after An’ Lawrence. The warhorse swerved, and they headed northwest at a dead run.
You can’t mean to race all the way to the Prieta Mountains, can you, Sword Master? she asked as she leapt over bodies and abandoned weapons.
That’s our only way out. He stood up in his stirrups, looking down at the three as they caught up. Since when does ‘shift’ mean anything but a black falcon to your line?
You like it?
No.
Well, I do. Rosette accelerated, running ahead of the others, blazing the way towards the foothills of Los Loma Prieta.
CHAPTER 2
CORSANON FIELDS, GAELA
‘We’re too late,’ Kreshkali said, gazing over the battlefield. There was little movement save the wind through the distant pine trees. It wafted over the ground, lifting red hems and ruffling the crows’ feathers as they hopped from