Shadow Over Avalon

by C. N Lesley

  “I’m not sure I want spectators.” Now he worried. Shadow would have jumped on him for coarse words at any other time. He tried to keep his fear to himself.

  “You’re King. You hold the obligation to try first by right of rule.” Rowan’s grin got bigger until he turned to Shadow, and it faded to an expression of profound sorrow. “What about her? She’s a wreck. Dragon didn’t hold back his spite.”

  “My problem to deal with.” Hells, girl, why now? Aren’t you over him? “We’re all relocating to Haven for a strategy meeting. You’re traveling with us since we need her for protection. Fey brothers are Harvester targets.”

  Copper suddenly sensed a danger for all of them, and he guessed Rowan shared his vision since the brother looked skyward, then at the tree line, too. A strong sense of threat crushed down on him.

  “I think I’d better join another group,” Rowan decided. He immediately looked more relaxed. “I’ve never had an unsought premonition before . . . have you?”

  “Once or twice.” His own anxiety eased with Rowan’s decision, but the heat of the day increased in an oppressive wave. “Not nearly as strong as this one, though. Seems that we should part, since the feeling is less intense, now.”

  “Exactly what kind of protection is Shadow supplying?” Rowan glanced over at her, still kneeling by the water.

  “Same as the Shades: a shield for our fey powers being detected. When you find a group, stick close to a fish-man. One of us has to reach Haven.”

  “Point taken.” Rowan looked once more at Shadow, and then he made a hurried departure. The sound of his horse’s hooves pounding bone-dry ground echoed in the stillness of a hot, breathless day.

  Copper turned to Shadow. She stared in a mole-blind way at nothing. He knew her as well as he knew himself since their intense sharing. He retrieved their mounts from a thicket, stopping a few paces from her.

  “We need to make good time if we’re to reach the shelter I intend, and there’s a storm coming.” He decided to act as if nothing were wrong. “Why don’t I lead your horse while you keep an eye on the weather?” Shadow mounted up as if in a daze. Copper watched to see she was alert enough to keep her seat before he picked up the pace.

  Heat mounted in oppressive waves as they rode. Dark clouds began boiling overhead until a flash of lightning released an icy downpour. The storm gathered strength with each passing minute. Copper turned west to a line of hills, urging his horse faster. Rain washed away signs of their passage at the expense of soaking them through, and coldness spoke of worse to come. He headed to caves found by Brethren when hired to kill a saurian. Once, the cavern had formed a river channel through rock, but now water carved a deeper route to cascade in a large waterfall at the back of the cave. Always opportunists, Brethren cleared away bones and other rotting remains to equip the place as a way station. The place suited their needs, as it was located away from any trail, therefore unlikely to be found by any fort dweller. Big enough to house a saurian, the cave complex sheltered up to twelve Brethren and their mounts.

  A goodly clump of aspen shielded the entrance and provided a windbreak. Copper led them through the mouth just as hailstones the size of pebbles started slamming into the ground. The first cave was the larger of the two and fitted out with stalls for horses. A stake of hay lay in a manger at one end. Buckets for water hung on a bar hammered into the rock face. Other gear lay stacked in crates. They had everything they needed to last out a storm, including a water supply.

  Helping Shadow dismount, Copper decided he’d make her stop hiding from him, even if it meant she ended by hating him.

  Chapter 28

  Earth Date 3875

  Shadow shivered in the gloom while Copper lighted torches. He ached to send her to rest, but the horses must be tended before a chill set in. She responded in a wooden way to begin rubbing down her mount after he unsaddled the beasts and carried their gear to a living area. He was warmer by the time the horses were comfortable and feeding, but Shadow still looked cold.

  “Our turn now,” he announced. “I’ve unpacked and laid out our bedding rolls. Strip to the skin while I build a fire.”

  Mist from the waterfall and draft from light-shafts made this bolt-hole cool at the best of times. He brushed off the dampened ashes in the fire-pit and went to get kindling.

  Dry grass and tiny twigs caught quickly, but the larger logs smoldered. Smoke wavered for a moment, and then streamed up through a natural outlet created by waterfall from the surface river. Smoke, but no heat and Shadow’s teeth chattered behind him in time with his own shivers.

  Curse that mind sharing. Shadow’s thoughts continued to surface in his head. Copper froze as her actions in Avalon’s dark zone came to him. Of all the fool places to pry without good reason . . . and her plan for digging in ancient ruins . . . We’re going to fight. Just when I’d figured her out.

  He stripped to place his clothes over a drying rack set against a wall. Turning, he collected her clothes to hang alongside his. She had arranged their bedding rolls for joint use in her muddled state of mind. He tried not to grin as he slid under the covers to hold her close. Clarity returned to her expression.

  “You didn’t meditate.”

  “I don’t intend to die of the cold.” He blew her a kiss on his fingertips. Despite the hideous skin dye, she was still a lovely bedmate. “You’re not claiming shyness with me, are you?”

  She turned her face away.

  “Or do you still burn a candle for Dragon?” He held her tight when she tried to push him away. “You might as well tell me, because your thoughts of him will surface in my mind. Our joining left all the privacy doors open. You have no place left to hide from me.

  “I love him.” Her eyes blazed. “He is Boy’s father.”

  Sharp knives of jealousy speared through Copper. He’d started this, and he intended to follow it through. “What of me?”

  Another bout of shivering raged through her, and she melded to him. “You’re impossible. You spent all winter amusing yourself with the pleasure women, and then you used me to gain fighting skills.”

  “As long as we’re going to fight, why did you give me a night of love that spoiled me for every other woman?” Cold and angry, he needed her to know how much she had hurt him. “And I’m talking about the second time, when you ended up on top. You can’t do that to a man, and then kick him out of your bed.”

  “You’re too possessive. You smothered me.”

  Furious, he rolled on top of her to stop her turning away. “Untrue. I gave you more room than any other new recruit. Just you wait until my memories unfold. You’ll beg my pardon.”

  Cold air on his back raised gooseflesh, but a pulse in his loins gave him another problem. Oh shit. Not now.

  “You’re getting an erection.” Her voice came quiet, and she didn’t struggle against him.

  He eased over on his side, still maintaining body contact for warmth.

  “Is that fire never going to give off heat?” She peered over him at the hissing smoke pile.

  “The wood is damp. Once we have a decent blaze, I’ll get some food unpacked.” Copper had an idea that Shadow had just finished their fight. He lay looking up at the smoke and the patterns of green and yellow lichen on the rock face.

  “Since I’ve just been accused of teasing, I suggest a game of ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ to pass the time.”

  She’s trying to distract me with a childhood game. What point is she trying to make? The object of this game was for the questioner to win by dragging out ten or more queries while the answerer tried to achieve the final round in less than four.

  “Fine, but I demand a simple forfeit for the loser to make it more interesting.” He began to put his campaign together. He was determined to force her concerns into the open. “You ask first.”

  “Keys to the kingdom,” Shadow murmured. “Who rules?”

  “He who has strength,” Copper responded, wanting to strangle her. Her opening gambit was obvious. Wher
e was she going with this? He knew it pertained to the two of them.

  “Whence comes the strength?” She didn’t look at him.

  “From the wisdom to know right from wrong.”

  “Who determines?” Her voice sounded void of life.

  “One with conscience.” A worm of guilt stirred in his vitals. There was much he wished he could hide from her, but that was no longer an option.

  “Where derives conscience?”

  “From the heart of he who holds the keys to the kingdom.” He took a deliberate short cut. “I win, and I demand a kiss as your forfeit.”

  “Copper, I’m a mutant cyborg.” She sighed, closing her eyes. “Don’t try to be nice.”

  He suppressed a grin, well on the way to getting his victory. Now he had a take on her attitude. She had retreated into her shell because of what she was. “I want my kiss.”

  He took his forfeit, hovering over her to kiss her deeply without touching her body with his. He wanted her interested, not frightened. “Now call me possessive.”

  “I’ll wait for the memories before I beg your pardon.” She suddenly stiffened. “Last midsummer.”

  “What of it?” Copper’s heart sank.

  “The sharing . . . there were memories from you too real to be dreams.”

  Copper thought back to that fateful day. He remembered how angry he’d been when he found she had misused her gear as though she had chests full of replacement garments. She hadn’t begun the terrible change into final phase of sisterhood, so he gambled that she wouldn’t mind much if he repaired her clothes while she slept off his sideswipe. He found a very normal looking woman, and then he got curious. If she hadn’t roused enough to respond to him the way she had . . . well, he wouldn’t now be airing various reasonable sounding excuses. Then it occurred to him how pointless justification was in their current circumstance. Shadow had his memory, not her own. His reasons came along with the package.

  “You were promised to me.” He tried to explain away his actions, aware he didn’t look good. “I thought you would become a full sister, and I wanted what should have been mine just once.”

  “Why am I not surprised? Didn’t you consider seduction before rape?”

  ‘Live for today,’ he signed, more for himself than her. ‘Tomorrow is a dream that may never come.’

  “There’s always hope,” Shadow said. “If I understand aright.”

  “Hope is a horse with a head on each end. Riding such a beast is to chance misstep in any direction, so remain immobile, waiting on fate.” He wondered at her quietness of person, having expected a fight.

  “Yet you hope for a better future through alliance.”

  “Hope plays no part in last stands. Did Helga teach you nothing? Those who fight are lucky to die in battle. We sicken. Our lives burn away at a furious pace, and we don’t breed—without new members, we’ll be extinct in three years, possibly five at the most. Renascents are created to die.” Needing comfort, he reached out to take one of her hands, bringing it close.

  “Why have viability restored with such gloomy thoughts?” Shadow questioned after a few minutes.

  “Integration must take longer after the pounding you took from Dragon. I think I’d be dazed under those conditions, too.”

  “Evasion isn’t an answer.” She looked into his eyes.

  “And you’re not patient enough to wait?” He sighed, torn between unexpected rapport and the need for privacy. He felt threatened with her under his skin, in his soul, picking through his mind. The thought that she must feel the same way decided him. “Part a duty to lead, part male vanity. When I die, I want to die a man, not a gelding.”

  “Then you have no plans . . . ?”

  “The woman I want doesn’t see me as the same species. Maybe she’s right . . . maybe being a singleton is purpose in itself.”

  “Copper, self-pity is nauseating. What brought this on?”

  “How are you feeling, really feeling?” He searched her face for answers.

  “Confused, threatened, sad . . . and frightened. Shades have a word for proscribed joining of minds. I think . . . I think we had a forbidden union.”

  “Forbidden because it causes pain?” He reached out to touch her face, not wanting to let her turn away.

  “Such joining, taken to the ultimate degree, is irreversible and lethal. Both minds uniting into a single being have to be compatible for . . .” She broke off, shutting her eyes as if willing away the horror of their near miss.

  “For?” He needed to keep her focused instead of brooding. He captured her other hand to keep her attention rooted in the present.

  “Copper, this is something I acquired by accident while raiding a seer’s mind. I’m still picking though . . . give me a moment.”

  He knew she spoke truth. She’d stolen thoughts because she could, and skimmed over them with mild interest. Moments later her hands grew clammy.

  “Shadow?”

  “We were totally open to each other,” she said, almost in a whisper. “You trusted, and I didn’t bother blocking because I didn’t think you’d have access, the first requirement.”

  “There’s more.” He moved closer to wrap his free arm around her. She leaned into him seeming to draw courage from his nearness.

  “Psi powers, or their equivalent, must be equal, the second requirement. Copper, I think you must be as powerful in your field as I am in mine. Blending begins at once. If we hadn’t located Rowan so soon . . .”

  “There wouldn’t have been a later for us,” he continued her thought. “I have no premonition of danger now, and I didn’t then. Why not?”

  “Then, because we were fated to survive. Now . . . now both of us are on guard.” She looked into his eyes at last. “Is the threat to Brethren existence so serious?”

  “Harvesters target the fey brothers who are responsible for acquisitions. As near as I’ve been able to piece together, they started two years back. Our intake is already compromised. Given the new brothers we’ve lost by implication, I’d say the Wild Hunt boasts an army.”

  “So you divert attention from Haven by setting up battle camps away from it.” She looked away, staring into the flames again. “Any idea of how long surviving brothers will take to mature into fighting men?”

  “Point. Fancy taking on the job?”

  “I need an average age to work with, if I’m to make long term plans for our survival.”

  He followed her thoughts on a new generation, aware she’d changed topics.

  “I think I’ll run two studies . . . one on standard Outcasts and one on those with fey powers.” She shivered, moving nearer to him. “I’d like to include sisters and pleasure women too, if you can sweet-talk them into cooperation?”

  “Agreed, I’ll make that a priority.” Copper fumed inwardly, now aware from her memories that many sisters, and all pleasure women, gave her a hard time for being different. When he reached Haven harsh words needed speaking. Every individual, however unique, merited respect. He had implemented equality with ruthless determination since becoming King, and yet some dared to go behind his back.

  “Copper . . . I said sweet-talk, not berate. I’m not like them. They can’t help feeling uncomfortable.”

  “I didn’t . . .”

  “You tensed up. I know when you’re angry.”

  “Why didn’t you come to me with this problem?” He squeezed her hand in slight reprimand.

  “Because it isn’t important.”

  But it was. Now he understood why she lacked trust in people. Nowhere in her memories had he found the image of a single friend. Only now, first with Ector, then himself, had she begun to let down barriers caused by the isolation others imposed. He wondered how she felt about their total sharing in light of Dragon’s outburst.

  With Tadgell’s ruler, she’d blended into the background in her accustomed way, adapting to needs, allowing herself the temporary thrill of discovering sex. She had come to love the dread duke, for Dragon possessed in
credible charisma when he chose to use it, which he would at the first sign of female resistance. Having observed the man in action during past visits, Copper didn’t doubt she’d presented the ultimate challenge.

  “Uncomfortable with memory theft?”

  “Unhappy with words. We’ve covered every subject except what’s happened to us. Care to throw any more grist for the mill, or shall we play ‘Keys to the Kingdom’ again?”

  “Fine, if you don’t cheat.” Shadow bristled, moving a fraction away from him.

  “I always cheat. Why go through justice when the concept is dead? Keys are only useful if the doors they open reveal usable merchandise.”

  “You rule justly,” Shadow disagreed.

  “As long as I am strongest in a kingdom with very few doors.” Annoyed that she’d shifted the subject around again, he decided on another tactic. “Keys to the Kingdom rematch demanded, but I ask this time.”

  “I thought you wanted to talk.” She faced him with one eyebrow raised.

  “Who holds the keys to the kingdom?” he challenged, determined to draw her into thinking about their real problem.

  “The strongest.”

  “Name the source of strength.”

  “Wisdom to judge what is best for the kingdom.” Shadow added a twist of her own.

  “Who advises what is best?” Copper countered, ignoring a judgment part of the game, which only existed where fairness prevailed. He waited while she struggled in a trap of her own devising.

  “Those who are afflicted, if the best is not achieved.”

  “Who dares afflict workers in the kingdom?” Copper began to enjoy himself as she floundered. She had already lost because she couldn’t deliver the final gambit at this fourth question.

  “He who cares nothing for the good of the kingdom.” She glared at him.

  “For the good of the many, what must be done?”

  “The wise must hold council.”

  “Keys to the doors of wisdom are withheld by oppressors. The wise are muzzled by ignorance of plight.” Got you. “Who unlocks freedom?”

  “Copper, you’re cheating. That’s deliberately lengthening.”