Icestorm

by Theresa Dahlheim

  Patrick also kept his breeches on, and he gasped, then smiled, as he submerged himself. “Perfect,” he sent. “I’m never getting out. The sun can rot in hell.”

  While the pond was a little colder than Graegor expected, it wasn’t as bad as Jeff had implied. It was certainly warmer than when they’d been here just after the Equinox. As Marcus climbed the tree that held the end of the rope-swing, Logan lay on his stomach on the grassy bank and looked down into the water.

  “Don’t lose that,” Graegor sent to him, meaning his charm, which dangled on a leather cord from his neck. Graegor himself never wore any jewelry when he went swimming, not even his Saint Carlodon medallion or the Torchanes signet ring that he seldom took off otherwise. None of the others wore any either because of past losses. But Logan was never without the tiny charm he’d worn since he was a baby.

  “It’s thaumat’argent,” he sent in reply, unconcerned. “I can find it again.”

  “You hope.”

  Logan dipped his arm into the water. He pulled up a handful of squishy mud and let it spill out through his fingers. “Women pay for jars of mud,” he sent thoughtfully.

  “Not just any old mud,” Jeff sent.

  “As far as I can tell, it is just any old mud. Velinda uses stuff on her face that I swear isn’t any different from this right here.”

  “Why does she put mud on her face?” Graegor asked.

  “To clean it.”

  “What?”

  “Jeh. She’s deranged.” Logan painted a stripe of mud across his forehead, then down his nose and along his chin. “Aren’t I lovely?”

  “It’s an improvement,” Jeff noted.

  Logan smirked, said something aloud in Thendalian, then slithered down into the water on his belly like a salamander. Graegor glanced over at Jeff. “I really hope he gets over her soon.”

  “He will.” Jeff seemed quite sure of that.

  “Might want to move,” Marcus called from the tree. He had both hands and one foot on the rope swing and was preparing to push off, so everyone edged to the side of the pond to give him the middle. He swung and let go at the highest point of the arc. It probably would have been a mighty splash, but Graegor had spun his gen into a net, and it caught Marcus in midair just before he reached the surface. Marcus grunted, and the others whooped and shouted insults, since he was hanging partly sideways, mostly upside-down. “You’re hilarious.”

  “Just making sure you don’t land on a rock.” There were submerged rocks here, just at the base of the rope-swing’s tree.

  “Let me down before I puke,” Marcus sent, and Graegor dropped him into the water.

  They’d brought four balls, two that were just leather-covered twine and another two that were made from Medean rubber trees and bounced really well, especially with magic. Using specific rules for magic and for water, they played versions of white-wheels, tagger, and Rahad’s Square, and they also spent considerable time discussing which tree should be considered the measuring stick for the height of the splashes when each of them hit the pond after swinging from the rope. Logan lost his medallion, but found it again near some wild blueberries. They ate those with the other fruit and the nuts, meat sticks, cheese, and bread they’d brought along, and they passed around Patrick’s whiskey bottle, although Graegor still hadn’t acquired a taste for the stuff. They held swimming races, and Marcus won all of them. They were just starting another game of white-wheels, using all four balls, when they heard the faint but clear ring of female laughter.

  Graegor was standing hip-deep in the pond, not far from the clearing where their horses grazed and dozed. He lowered the ball he’d been about to throw and turned his head toward the sound, which seemed to be coming from down the trail.

  “Who is it?” Logan sent.

  “And how’d they get up here?” Marcus added before Graegor could.

  No one answered, although the sense Graegor had of Jeffrei in the link was suspiciously nonchalant. In a few moments he saw the movement of horses, which was really confusing because only a sorcerer could move the boulder out of the way to allow riders past it. Was it Ilene and Arundel? Neither of them commanded earth magic well, though he supposed they could have worked together. There were more than two horses, though, and by the new peals of laughter, more than one girl. Tentatively, he extended his magic, and with a cold stab of horrified embarrassment, he realized that it was Koren. And Rose. And three other magi girls he couldn’t immediately identify.

  “What are they doing here?” he demanded of Jeffrei, throwing the ball at him hard and hitting him on the shoulder, while the girls’ horses wound through the trees toward the pond.

  “As if I know?” Jeff pulled himself up onto the grassy bank and shook out his hair. “Rose,” he called out, “I’m terribly sorry, but we were here first.”

  Rose was in the lead, riding the same chestnut mare that had been left in Contare’s stable. She wore a pink linen dress with divided skirts, and her dark brown hair was tied back. “You’re not going to make us leave after we’ve ridden all this way,” she declared. Behind her were two Telgard girls on grey geldings, and behind them was a worried-looking Adelard maga on a red roan mare like Whiskey. Koren rode her blue roan at the rear of the procession. Graegor could not see her face, and he didn’t dare reach for their link.

  “Only for the sake of the horses,” Patrick said, wading forward. Graegor glanced at Marcus and Logan, who had both crouched down in the water.

  Rose dismounted. “Of course for the sake of the horses.” She took the reins and guided her horse forward for a drink. The two Telgard girls did the same, grinning boldly at Jeff, but Koren and the Adelard girl hung back. Patrick got out of the pond, and he did not seem the least bit upset as he patted Rose’s horse and murmured to it.

  Dear God. Tabitha would kill him if she found out about this. She got irritated whenever he—anyone—even mentioned Koren’s name. She still hadn’t forgiven him for helping Koren defend herself against Ferogin at Solstice. It was all too easy to imagine how she’d react to this.

  He had to leave. This was not something he should be doing.

  Graegor glanced at Marcus and Logan again, but they were no help; both of them were now watching the scene on the bank with focused interest. The two Telgard girls dismounted, exchanging comments with Jeff and Patrick as casually as if they were meeting in the library, even though neither Jeff nor Patrick had bothered to put their shirts back on. Graegor realized that the shorter girl was Errie, the one who had found the fishing boat for him on Solstice. She had light brown hair in braids and a round face, and she was the single most aggressive flirt he had ever encountered. Tabitha could not stand her. He watched her pull off her short boots as she allowed Jeff to take her horse’s reins. The taller Telgard maga had short, sandy-brown hair, freckles across her nose and cheeks, and a lean build. She was of the nobility, he knew, but he could not remember her name or her family.

  “We can go.”

  The words came with a sense of green; they were from Koren. She still sat her horse close to the path. He could not see her clearly with the other horses and people in the way, but he thought she might be looking toward him. She had obviously moved the boulder. He’d never realized how strong in earth magic she was.

  “We can go,” she repeated mildly, as if it was all the same to her. “I’m sorry. I should’ve realized you were here. The dirt under the rock was shifted.”

  Suspicion flared in Graegor’s mind, and Koren caught it immediately. Had Jeff and Rose planned this? It seemed like too much of a coincidence otherwise. “Jeff wanted to come here, specifically,” he sent.

  “So’d Rose. I’m sorry. We’ll water the horses and go.”

  Graegor hesitated. Nothing inappropriate was happening, yet. Maybe nothing would. The girls would only be dunking their feet, like Errie was doing now. They wouldn’t actually come into the water, would they? No, of course they wouldn’t. Nothing was happening, and he didn’t want anyone to think he
was an insufferable prude. “Give the horses a little time. It is really hot today.”

  Koren still did not move from her spot by the path, and neither did the Adelard girl beside her. Then Graegor saw Patrick come up to them, saying something and gesturing for both horses’ reins. After a moment, Koren dismounted, and after another moment the Adelard girl did too, though neither relinquished the reins to Patrick. Instead they followed him toward the clearing where the other horses were picketed and where Jeff had already led Errie’s gelding.

  Graegor stayed low in the water, drifting backward a little, as Rose, Errie, and the other Telgard girl—Selena, he remembered now, her name was Selena—sat down on the grassy bank not far from the tree with the rope swing. They dipped their bare feet and ankles into the pond, exclaiming at the chill. Graegor could not sense anything from Marcus or Logan, but they both seemed to have recovered, since they had stood up and started tossing one of the leather balls back and forth. They were even edging a little closer to the bank.

  Then Graegor saw Patrick unsaddling Rose’s horse. Unsaddling was different from just watering. Unsaddling meant the horses would be staying to rest and graze for a while. Jeff was leading Selena’s gelding to the clearing too. The blue and red roan horses stood together, both of them with white patches and dark spots on their rumps, and Koren and the Adelard girl stood between them. By the way Koren’s red head was moving, he guessed that they were actually talking instead of sending. They didn’t have a telepathic bond? Who was this girl? Was she even a maga?

  Girl. It didn’t matter who she was—all that mattered was that there were girls here. Graegor tapped his link with Jeff. “You knew about this.”

  “I thought it’d be fun.”

  “I have to go.”

  “Relax.”

  “Tabitha wouldn’t like this.”

  Jeff unbuckled a saddlebag from Selena’s horse. “Tabitha’s not here.”

  Graegor started drifting toward the pond’s opposite bank, hoping to stay unnoticed. If he faded into the trees, then came back around while everyone else was distracted, he might be able to get Sable saddled …

  “You always leave.” Jeff set Selena’s saddlebags down on top of Graegor’s. “Whenever any girls come to the tavern, or to the lawns, or anywhere we are, you leave. Stay for once.”

  “I’ll stay next time.”

  “You can’t slip away from here without explaining yourself. Everyone will know that she—” Abruptly, Jeffrei cut himself off. He unbuckled the saddle’s cinch strap and sent, “That she has so much control over you.”

  If that was the tactful way to put it, he was glad he didn’t know what Jeffrei had really been about to say. “She doesn’t ‘control’ me.”

  “Prove it.”

  Graegor knew that Tabitha never let her magi talk to her like that, and that she didn’t understand why he let Jeffrei and his other friends do it. Of course she didn’t understand; no one had ever talked to her like that in her entire life. She had always been the highborn lady to whom everyone deferred. Graegor, though, never wanted to think so much of himself that his friends couldn’t tell him when he was being stupid. Was he being stupid now?

  He stayed low in the water. Marcus and Logan volleyed the leather ball back and forth, alternating between hitting it with their hands and their magic. Koren and the Adelard girl got their horses unsaddled and picketed, and then joined the other girls at the grassy bank. They sat back from the edge, though, and kept their legs tucked under their skirts. The Adelard girl was almost as small as Koren, and her brown dress matched her brown braid. Marcus seemed to be looking her when he glanced that way, but she didn’t seem to be looking back at him, or at anything except the grass.

  “Who’s the Adelard girl?” Graegor finally asked Jeff.

  “Her name’s Brigita. Rose says she never talks.”

  “Why did she come?” He thought he understood the others—Errie and Selena were known to be brash, Rose would go along with Jeff’s schemes, and they’d needed Koren to move the boulder. But why invite this one?

  “That I don’t know.” While Patrick continued to fuss with the horses to get them situated, Jeff ran and jumped back into the pond, and he sent up a splash that fell across the three girls at the edge. They cried out with either laughter or dismay as their pale linen dresses clung wetly to their chests, and Graegor looked firmly away.

  But he didn’t want to leave. He didn’t want to get out of this nice cool pond and go back to the muggy city. He didn’t want to put his shirt back on just because some girls were here now. He didn’t want to be the only one who was too uptight to have fun. The entire situation was improper, but if nobody else was going to point that out, neither would he.

  There was no reason for Tabitha to find out about this anyway.

  Patrick returned to the pond and climbed up the tree to the rope-swing. He took a little time getting himself set to jump, which prompted Selena to shout, “That’s amazing! I wish I could stand on a branch and do nothing, just like you!”

  “He really is the best at nothing,” Logan said. “No one does nothing quite like him.”

  “Shut it,” Patrick called down. “Showing off this blatantly requires concentration.”

  Jeff, Marcus, and Logan immediately started whooping and making noise, and Errie and Selena joined them. Patrick waited until a moment of silence between one catcall and the next, and then he pushed off the tree and double-flipped into the air.

  “That wasn’t terrible,” Selena said after Patrick had resurfaced. Errie and Rose applauded with Jeff and Marcus, while Logan made his way to the tree.

  “Give me a boost,” Logan sent to Graegor as he climbed.

  “What?”

  “Just a little extra on the jump.”

  To impress the girls, of course. Graegor rolled his eyes. “I thought you were above that kind of thing.”

  “Please?”

  Fortunately, Graegor had been using his telekinesis for this all day, and had a good feel for it. “Fine, show-off. A little extra. They’ll sense it otherwise.”

  “I owe you.” Logan reached the branch with the rope and pulled on it telekinetically to grab the loose end. Graegor watched, holding a thread of his gen, and as Logan pushed off, he wound the thread around Logan and pushed him higher. It worked—mostly. Logan managed to complete one full backflip before he hit the water, but he hit too hard and went all the way to the bottom on his rear end. But the girls cheered, and were still laughing and clapping when Logan resurfaced, so the objective was accomplished. “That’ll do,” Logan sent cheerfully. “Thanks.”

  “Sure.”

  “Did you see where Marcus threw the ball last?”

  “Over there, I think?”

  As Jeff took his turn climbing the tree, Logan swam over to the embankment where Graegor thought the ball had landed and started searching through the ferns and roots. Graegor didn’t know what his friend was up to, and he himself remained where he was, not far from the spot where the pond met the clearing where the horses grazed. He was glad that none of the girls had looked at or spoken to him directly yet, but he also wondered about it. Had Jeff told them to ignore him? And why should that bother him? That was what he wanted, right?

  Jeff and Patrick had both jumped again before Logan found the ball and lobbed it back toward Marcus. But he didn’t rejoin the group; instead he crouched in the water and studied the bottom, feeling at it with his hands.

  “What are you doing?” Graegor heard Selena call. She was looking Logan’s way.

  “I lost my medallion,” Logan called back.

  “The bottom’s all mud. You’ll never find it.”

  “Come help me and maybe I will,” he invited.

  “All right.” Selena set her hands on Rose’s and Errie’s shoulders and pushed herself up to stand. She walked along the edge of the bank, circling past trees in the way, and when she reached Logan, she waded right into the pond. Her split skirts billowed on top of the water for a
moment before she pushed them down against her legs and asked Logan something.

  Now they weren’t just dunking their feet. Now one of the girls was in the water. With Graegor. She wasn’t anywhere near him, but she was in the pond and so was he. Now he couldn’t tell Tabitha that he hadn’t really been swimming with girls.

  If she found out. There was no reason for her to find out. Except she would. There were too many people here. Someone would say something to someone else, and word would make its way to Tabitha’s friends, and then to her.

  Now Errie was standing up and heading for the tree with the rope-swing. Rose was shaking her head at Jeff, and Graegor heard her say, “You know I’m afraid of heights.”

  “It’s not that high,” Jeff said.

  “Yes it is,” Errie called down as she pulled herself onto the branch everyone had been using. “This is a lot higher than the one at my cousins’ pond.” But she didn’t seem nervous.

  “Then come down,” Jeff said.

  “Oh, I will.”

  “Watch the rocks!”

  She jumped, flying out and then down without trying anything fancy. She shrieked the whole way and didn’t make much of a splash. But most everyone cheered anyway, and she was grinning when her head broke the surface. She swam back to the shallows and stood up, wiping water from her eyes, and her soaked dress clung to her chest, hips, legs, and rear end like a second skin.

  “Relax,” Jeff sent to Graegor.

  “I need to go now.”

  “She’s already going to be mad at you, right?” When Graegor didn’t answer, Jeff went on, “Stay just a little longer. Then you can go without it seeming like you were chased away.”

  Jeff was right. Graegor didn’t want it to seem like he was leaving because of the girls. “All right. A little longer. Then I’ll say that Contare needs my help with something.”

  “Fair enough.”

  “You wanted Logan to meet Selena? That’s what this was about?”

  “Partly.” Jeff started spinning in the water, dragging his arm across its surface and sending a spray of water up onto the grassy bank. Rose squealed and held her arms over her face. “I also like looking at wet girls.”