Strange Attractors - Kim Falconer [44]
Rall had called them her ‘encontras’, the opposed twins—though they were not linked by blood. One was light, with honey hair and a bright smile, her heart sweet as magpie chortles, the other dark, reticent, with no mental voice at all, not one that she could hear anyway. She sighed. Shaea and Xane had been her apprentices, though they’d never known it. Now Xane was lost. Rall shook her head. She only needed one of them, and hopefully Shaea was the right one.
She closed her eyes, tuning into the girl. She was waiting at the entrance as instructed. Good lass. Rall had one more trap to set and then the lot of them could spring. She broke into a jog. As long as she hadn’t been spotted, nothing could stop her. Rall turned the last bend of the long covered walkway and ran straight into an ambush.
A heavy net dropped her to the ground before she could respond. It carried a spell that burned her skin, searing through her fine robe and chewing her flesh. She twisted and turned, shrieking as she called in the Elementals to blast her way out. She had less than a second to escape. ‘Demons to you,’ she shouted.
There was a gap overhead and she morphed, shooting towards it with every bit of her strength, the blast of energy making her captors cry out.
‘Get the cage,’ one yelled. ‘And mind the wings! We have her now.’
Others were not so sure. They rubbed their singed arms, some still trying to open eyes that had been scorched by the shock wave of Rall’s transformation.
In raven form Rall strained towards the opening in the net but was slammed back, dazed by a blow. She heard the clank, an iron door locking, and she cursed, folding her wings over her back. Rall had not planned on this event, nor had La Makee.
Kreshkali walked her horse out of the portal, the mare’s hooves crunching in the gravel path that led from the corridors into the fresh night air. Jarrod followed with Teg behind in wolf form.
Lie down before you drop, she said to the Lupin. He limped after her, his tail dragging. I’ll wake you when we make a decision.
Teg didn’t protest but stumbled to a grassy hollow and circled a few times before collapsing, the tip of his tail covering his nose. He sighed, closing his eyes.
‘I’m glad I was never your apprentice,’ Jarrod said, shaking his head. ‘You’re a hard taskmaster, Kali.’
‘I’m meant to be.’ She was only half listening. The view of Temple Corsanon, a silhouette in the valley below, captivated her. She’d never seen it before the wars and the illustrations in the history books didn’t do it justice. There was splendour in the simplicity of its design. The landscaped pathways were lined with glowing lanterns, like twinkling stars from her perspective, and music played on the wind. It sounded like a festival night and the moon was indeed full overhead. What had brought An’ Lawrence here, she couldn’t imagine. If he’d been after a High Priestess for Rosette, he could have searched a lot closer to home.
She turned away, catching the wisp of smoke snaking towards the stars. A red ember glow pulsed beneath the highest turret in the city, expanding like a sunrise as she watched. Somebody had lit a match under Corsanon, and she had a fair idea of who that might have been. She leaned towards Jarrod and spoke softly. ‘That’s the citadel tower.’ She pointed towards the smoke. ‘It’s got his mark all over it, don’t you think?’
‘His, and hers as well, I’ll wager, but I don’t hear any alarms.’
‘Give it time.’
A whoosh cut through the air as the Three Sisters swooped in from the south, their voices muted, wings beating fast. Kreshkali had asked them to scope the city and not make a sound.
‘There’s a first,’ Jarrod whispered.
‘They can be quiet, if they have to.’ She straightened as one raven back-winged onto her shoulder, the other two finding perches in the beech trees beyond.
‘What do they say?’ Jarrod asked, stroking the fine black feathers as the bird tilted her head