by C. A. Farlow
Snow grasped Lauren’s right arm in her mouth and pulled her down the slope. “Come on.” Ice came up and pushed her along. Lauren staggered to her feet, struggling to keep up with the wolves. Reaching the gate, Lauren watched as Ffrwyn pulled the sled through the opening. Lauren, with Snow and Ice, followed them into an enclosed yard.
The three robed figures continued to hover around the sled. More people filled the courtyard. Everyone seemed to speak at once. One voice rang out demanding quiet. Silence fell over the courtyard. Through a break in the crowd, Lauren saw the guardsmen lift Alex from the sled and place her on a floating palette. The robed figures led the palette away toward one of the buildings that rimmed the inner courtyard.
The last of Lauren’s energy drained away in a rush, and she collapsed. Her mind fogged over, and her vision blurred. She didn’t know how long she sat there in the darkness. When she finally became aware of her surroundings, she was alone. Only her sled remained, left where Ffrwyn had pulled it.
The three companions were gone. Alex was gone. She began to remember events as her mind cleared. Alex taken away by the robed figures. The companions being led away. The weight of the silence was crushing her soul. Reaching out with her mind, Lauren called out. Nothing, only a roaring silence filled her mind. I can’t stay here, doing nothing. I need Alex. I must find Alex.
A thought touched her mind, just grazing the surface. A feminine voice, “Patience.”
“Patience, really! We were ambushed and shot. I have a freaking dragon crawling under my skin. Alex and the companions are gone. And you want me to be patient,” Lauren screamed. She searched the courtyard in a methodical pattern. I’ve got to find Alex. There was only one door, the door used to take Alex away. After banging on the oaken door to no avail, Lauren sighed. Great!
Knowing she couldn’t stay out in the open, out in the cold, Lauren went to the sled to pull some warmer clothing on. Her parka was gone. She remembered using it as a pressure bandage on Alex’s wound. It disappeared with Alex. Tears streamed down her face as she pulled gear bags out. She found another fleece and pulled it over her head. A dim glow radiated from the depths of the sled. The sword. How did that get here? I thought I dropped it at the shield boundary when my arm was burned. Lauren pulled the sword out of the sled.
The blade reflected the dim moonlight, scattering moonbeams around the courtyard. Lauren noticed that all the blood was gone. The blade scoured clean. The dragon was missing from the blade. No, now it was in my arm. Must’ve been from the shield energy. Grabbing up the scabbard, Lauren resheathed the blade and placed it back in the sled. Picking up the sled pulls, Lauren turned and dragged the sled back to the Postern Gate. There she found a small niche, just large enough for herself and the sled. Probably where a guard stands so he can be out of the wind and weather. But its function didn’t matter. What mattered to Lauren was it was sheltered and reasonably warm. She took the remaining gear out of the sled and piled it to the side. Then she flopped down into the sled and pulled the down bag over her body. She held fast to the blade—her only connection to Alex—as exhaustion captured her. Before she could form another thought, she slept.
Chapter Nineteen
SOMETIME IN THE EARLY morning, Lauren woke. Not knowing where she was, she panicked, thrashing to escape the folds of her sleeping bag. Okay, okay. Calm the heck down here. I’m in the gate, at the Keep. Then other things came rushing back, Alex, her blast injury, the mad dash through the tunnel, opening the shield. She pulled her fleece off her sweating body. Clad only in her wool underlayer, Lauren saw a faint yellow and blue glow through the thin fabric.
“What the…?”
Pulling back the left sleeve, she watched Alex’s dragon slowly roll under her skin. Its piercing ice-blue eyes searching. Its eyes pulsed with a strange double beat, like the sapphire in the pommel of Alex’s sword. Lauren continued to stare at the rolling dragon. The shield energy must have transferred the rest of the dragon to my arm. Just like the brand on my hand when Alex fell and I touched the blade. Oh gawd, Alex, where are you? Are you alive?
It may have been denial, but Lauren knew that Alex still lived. I know I would’ve felt her passing if she had died. Her stomach rumbled. She rummaged in her gear bags for a snack. Trail mix would do. With her stomach appeased for the moment, Lauren again tried to call the companions. Reaching out mentally, Lauren tried to contact them.
“Snow, Ice, you out there? I really need to hear you. I need to know how Alex is.” Nothing, just like last night. A void of silent darkness expanded in her mind. “Horse, you there? Leave all the good hay alone, and talk to me.”
Getting up, Lauren left the confines of her niche and stepped into the courtyard. Nothing, no signs that anyone had even been in the yard last night. Even her foot prints from her search about the courtyard were gone. The snow was a smooth sheet of unbroken white. Panic rose in Lauren once more. Where was Alex? Where did they take her? I’ve got to find Alex. I can still feel her pulling on my life energy. She’s alive. I know it!
The door opened in the inner building, and a figure stepped out. The figure slowly scanned the courtyard. Then her gaze settled on Lauren. “There you are.” A woman’s voice. Although she wore the same robes as the figures from last night, Lauren knew that this person was not one of them. Her walk was different. Her robe glowed, but its silver was muted and shot through with darkness.
Stepping silently across the yard, the woman approached Lauren. A few stray thoughts brushed Lauren’s mind. “Such an impudent child and causing so much trouble.” For some reason, Lauren knew she shouldn’t let this woman know she could hear her thoughts or converse with mindspeech. So she waited in silence. Carefully constructing a wall in her mind just as Alex taught her while the figure approached.
When the tiny woman came close, Lauren demanded. “Where is Alex? How is she?”
“Alex is not your concern. She is where she needs to be and with those who care for her.” The diminutive woman looked up at Lauren from the depths of her hood.
“I want to see her. I want to see Snow and Ice and Ffrwyn.” Lauren took a step forward, causing the woman to step back.
“You will not see anyone, you impudent child. You are the cause of all this strife. You will take your unworldly things and leave here now.” The figure swept her arm out to encompass all of Lauren’s belongings stacked in the sled near the gate.
“Not before seeing Alex, I won’t. Take me to her now,” Lauren said, anger filling her as she towered over the figure. She felt the dragon roll over, lightening burning under her skin.
The woman was not impressed. “Gather your things and be gone. Alex does not need nor want you. No one here wants you. You have one hour to be gone, before we seal the tear in the shield you created. Once that is done, the shield will cleanse away anything, or anyone it does not recognize!”
Lauren realized she had stopped hearing the woman’s thoughts. Was her rage blocking her ability to ‘hear’ what this one was thinking? Slowly, she released her anger and opened her mind to the psi-energy swirling around her. Snippets of thoughts chased across her mind from all directions. “She is injured badly…torn.” “The flesh is melting.” “Stop the bleeding.” But the figure before her was a blank, her mind now closed and impenetrable.
“I will speak to Ice and Snow and Ffrwyn before I leave.”
“You will speak to no one. One hour. Then we will allow the shield to kill you.” Spinning on her heel, the woman stormed back across the yard in a billow of darkened robes.
Dropping her head in her hands, Lauren sank to her knees. She tried the mindlink again. Only silence greeted her, nothing remained of her companions. I’m not leaving here without seeing Alex. The other woman said to be patient, that she would speak to me this morning. Lauren stood, energy renewed with her defiance. I will only go if Alex wants me to.
Lauren felt it before she heard it, a scream of such pain that her heart stuttered. Her chest felt like it was being torn apart. She gra
bbed her side to hold herself together. Was that Alex? The pain-driven mindenergy blast tore through her body and mind again, and drew more of her lifeforce to it.
The scream resolved into a shout. “Go now…leave…no…more…alone…leave me.”
Lauren ran across the courtyard toward the mindvoice. “No, please don’t send me away. Dearest, please no. We hold half of each other’s soul. We are only whole together.” She reached the inner building and began pounding on the oaken surface of the door. “Let me in! I have to see her!”
But no one came. Her mind slowly closed down against the pain, shutting out the continuous screams in self-preservation. Her heart began to rebuild the walls she had dropped because of Alex. Had it all been a lie? No, the connection they shared couldn’t be a lie. But Alex told me to leave. Dropping her head Lauren turned back to the courtyard defeated. She would honor Alex’s wishes.
Not knowing how much time was left in her hour ultimatum, Lauren hurried back across to the Postern Gate. Throwing the rest of her gear into the sled, she moved out into the meadow and stepped into her skis. She grabbed the sled pulls, and turning to look back at the Keep, she realized that a metal door had closed. The Postern Gate had closed behind her. That left only one direction to go. Back through the tunnel and out through the arch and then, Colorado. She would try to find a way back home. No. Not home. Her home would always be here, with Alex and her furkids, here in this reality. With those she loved.
The black mouth of the tunnel loomed before her, as Lauren began the long climb up the slope. She had no feelings left, except pain—pain of separation—pain of loss. Reaching the tunnel, she turned for a final time. The sun painted the crenulated towers a blood-red, and a light flashed from deep within the Keep toward the sky.
“Alex, I will never forget you or your companions. Be well.” Lauren turned her back on the Keep and entered the black tunnel—alone.
Memory is deceptive because it is colored by today's events.
Albert Einstein
PART III - Coming Home
Chapter One
“YOU HAD NO RIGHT!” Anger poured off of Alex in waves, as she stood gripping the parapet with white knuckles. She gazed to the north, a direction that drew her focus for some reason. She longed to go in that direction, but her injuries prevented travel. And she doubted she would be allowed out of the Keep after her last disastrous trip. Her gray robe billowed in the early morning breeze. Its color matched the somber gray granite of the battlement and her rapidly deteriorating mood.
Merilyn moved to face her. “I had no choice, Alexandra. Without invoking the Ruler’s Rite you would have died from that blast injury, from that molecular disruptor. And then where would we be.”
Whirling around, Alex yelled, “It took my memories! What kind of healing is that if you cannot remember anything about the injury when you are well? It feels like a piece of my soul is missing.” She absently rubbed her chest.
“Well, you were hit with a blaster.”
Alex took a step forward. "Really, sarcasm? That is your response? You had no right!”
But Merilyn stood her ground. Alex knew Merilyn was a woman who didn't take anything from anyone. She exuded power from her glare and stance. Her silver robes glowed all light and reflected energy. Whereas Alex's black mesh-armor absorbed light and reflected nothing, this robe formed an aura around Merilyn. An aura of strength pulsed around the woman. An aura that enlarged her personal space. Power. But it did not intimidate Alex.
Merilyn took a step forward into Alex’s personal space. “I am Seneschal and have been in service to your family for more than four generations. I did what was needed in the name of your mother. Had she been here, she would have done the same. I will not let that upstart of a Hebridean witch win. She will not be ruler of Fuar Ćala’s through an act of fraud.” She placed a small, worn hand on Alex’s forearm.
Merilyn’s touch calmed Alex, somewhat. "I understand. But the cost was too high. I barely remember my name. If the Council knew that, I would be ousted regardless. Why was I out of the Keep in the dead of winter, and why did I travel so far?”
"I will tell you what I know. But you must calm down. This anger is not good for healing.” Merilyn's voice lowered. “You left to find a nexus to the Comin world, and when there, to look for information on their bioweapon. I do not know if you were successful in your mission, but it seems the nexus membrane was opened. As I understand it, we have a Comin patrol on this planet. Somewhere nearby.”
Rubbing her head in an attempt to clear the cobwebs from her brain, Alex replied, "I cannot remember anything but the pain and the cold. But in my sleep I see…a face. Auburn hair. Emerald eyes!"
"I understand, but you are alive to handle these challenges. We will take things one at a time until your memories return."
Alex dropped her personal concerns, and focused on the Keep’s needs. “Most important is finding the Comin. We cannot let them roam around. And we must determine if the nexus is still open. An open gateway between our worlds would spell disaster."
"You are in no shape to go gallivanting around the countryside, or getting into another battle situation. As to the nexus, my understanding of the physics is that without constant energy input, your energy signature to be exact, the nexus would spontaneously close. So the nexus is closed, the Comin patrol is trapped here, on this side.”
“But we need to be sure. Did I find the information I sought?”
“We know you opened the nexus, but we do not know if you went through or not. We have not found the datanode amongst your personal belongings. It was not in Ffrwyn's saddlebags. So we have no way of determining if you completed your task.” Merilyn pulled a small device from within her robes. “This may be from the Comin. It is not our tech.” She held the device out to Alex. “We cannot seem to make it work, or read the language that appears.”
Alex reached for the tablet. Turning it in her hands, she commented absently, “It is an eReader that stores books and reference materials. There are some entertaining stories within its database.”
“How do you know this?” Merilyn demanded.
“I haven’t a clue how I know this, but I do.” Alex continued to turn the tablet over, her fingers activating it. She scrolled through the digital material by rote. Tucking it into her robe pocket, she stated, “Our first priority remains. And that is the capture of the Comin patrol. Then we must look for that node. Perhaps the companions will know something."
"Let your Black Guard take care of that. They left this morning at first light and should be reporting back anytime. Guardian McLaran the Elder is with them, so we will be able to maintain contact. Once we hear from them, we will be able to plan our next steps."
"I need to be out there. I do not want anyone else hurt. Doing something, anything, may bring my memories back.” Alex’s agitation increased. She paced the battlement, her robes whipping about her ankles.
Merilyn released a sigh. “Alexandra, please calm yourself. This stress is not good for healing, and neither is this cold. Come inside and sit down. I will call for some tea.” Merilyn turned to leave the battlement and enter the solar that filled the top of the western tower.
With another longing look to the north, Alex followed Merilyn into her rooms. She threw herself down on one of two leather chairs arranged before the large stone fireplace. “I feel so lost, so alone. Something important is missing, and I do not know what it is.” Alex shook her head. “Where are my companions anyway?”
“Snow and Ice will be here soon. They are out hunting their morning meal. Ffrwyn is in the stables with poultices on her injuries.” Merilyn sat in the other chair, stretching her feet to the roaring fire. “The healing technicians assure me that your mindspeech will return as soon as your body recovers enough. It seems you were barely healed from an earlier injury before you were shot again. Though the wounds from the first injury were healing well, I have no idea how you made it as far as you did with injuries as bad as you had. Nor how
you treated yourself.”
“Nor do I.” Ice and Snow padded in, interrupting their conversation. The wolves immediately approached Alex. Alex could not hear them. She knew they were trying to communicate with her. She reached out and gathered Ice into a hug.
Snow settled beside Merilyn and leaned into the chair, she seemed to be seeking some scratches of her own. “Snow, go lie by the fire. You will tip me out of this chair if you keep pushing on it like that.”
“Snow, come over here, leave Merilyn alone. You know she does not want to smell like a wet dog all day.” Alex leaned back in her chair. Like a wet dog? I would never call Snow a dog. Where have I heard that phrase before?
The tea was delivered with the morning posts. Alex and Merilyn began sorting and prioritizing the needs of the Keep. Hours moved toward midday as they worked. Alex was glad for the company and glad for the work. She felt a nuzzle on her hand. Ice had risen from her nap by the fire. “What, Ice? I do not have time now. I will give you a brush this afternoon. Let me finish with the posts first.”
Alex watched Ice bolt from the room. “What Snow, where is Ice going?
Snow turned sad eyes toward Alex and whiffled. Alex turned back to her work.
Alex continued to brood throughout the afternoon. She wanted her memories back, and she wanted these feelings of loss and emptiness to resolve. She hardly noticed when Snow, curled up by the fireplace, gazed longingly at the door. One way or another she knew she would have to get her answers and soon. The sun painted burnished shadows across the Keep, when Alex noticed Merilyn stiffen in her chair. “What is it now?” Alex demanded.
“Just a minute Alexandra, Guardian McLaran is calling. I’ll try and share as much of the conversation as I can, but let me hear what he has to say.” Sitting back in frustration, Alex didn’t have a choice. She couldn’t hear him call.
