Sorceress of Faith

by Robin D. Owens

  “At my Tower,” Jaquar said.

  “I have them,” said Bossgond at the same time.

  “Spread all over the countryside as usual,” Marian muttered.

  Bossgond glared at Jaquar. “You rent a volaran and gather all Marian’s possessions in your Tower. I,” he continued grandly, “will tell my cook to pack your things. Jaquar can fly to Alf Island, pick up the rest and deliver them here.”

  Jaquar narrowed his eyes but said nothing.

  “Don’t you want to check on your dimensional telescope?” Marian asked.

  Bossgond’s face went blank. The hair on the back of Marian’s neck rose. He was definitely keeping something from her. She popped from her chair and gripped the front of his tunic. “Andrew is all right, isn’t he?”

  The old mage patted her hands. “He is alive and as well as can be expected.” He craned to scowl at Jaquar. “What are you waiting for?”

  Lifting an eyebrow, Jaquar said, “I have another task I must complete before I leave. I will, of course, follow your orders.”

  Marian got the distinct feeling that both Bossgond and Jaquar himself were punishing him for his actions. It made her uncomfortable.

  Jaquar glanced at her, and she saw that despite his casual manner and cool words, his eyes were stormy. Was he watching her to see if she approved of him flagellating himself?

  “You are welcome to stay in my Tower, ever and always, Marian.”

  “Circlet of the Fifth Degree Marian,” Bossgond said pointedly. “When she returns she will be raising her own Tower, and I know she’s chosen a place on Alf Island, with me!”

  “The stress in this room is certainly beyond what my frail nerves can stand,” Marian said. She spared a sober look for each of them. “I do want to return, but it will depend upon my brother Andrew’s needs. It isn’t certain that I—or Andrew and I—will come back to Lladrana, or that a second Summoning will be a success.”

  Marian couldn’t settle down. She paced the tower suite. It had been decorated for Marwey, who now lived with her Pairling, Pascal, and reflected the innocence of a gently bred young girl. Marian didn’t think she’d ever been that young or naïve, so the room evoked a vague discomfort in her.

  Tuck had found a fluffy white pillow rimmed with lace on the bed and claimed it as his own. He snored peacefully in the center of the pillow, as if he were a living jewel or a gift ready to be presented to a dignitary. She smiled briefly, then drummed her fingers on the windowsill and stared into the maze below, tracing the path from the Keep entrance to the Landing Field, then the brithenwood garden. Her mind felt trapped.

  No. Not just her mind. She felt constrained. People here had moved her around at their will. Events had been happening to her and she’d reacted. She wasn’t in control of her life, wasn’t even in control of her pet hamster, who had turned into an amazing entity.

  Was she such a passive person?

  She’d been learning.

  She’d been developing her Power.

  She’d been changing—she hoped.

  Her will had been strong—at all times she’d acted with the foremost thought of helping Andrew.

  There were times when she’d taken an active role. She had chosen Bossgond over the other Circlets when she first came. She had taken a lover. She had fought the master.

  At no time had she acted impulsively. Was that a virtue or a failing? Perhaps she should have acted impulsively.

  It was her wish to be Sent back to Boulder. It was her wish to return to Lladrana if at all possible, and with Andrew, too. Surely that wasn’t passive?

  Perhaps she couldn’t sit still because she’d studied so hard that now she felt she needed to act. She prowled each room of the suite, looking out the windows at the day, scanning the clouds to check the weather. Maybe she could find a good frink storm to annihilate. She puffed out a breath and shivered when she recalled the feel of the creatures against her skin—but it would be something to do.

  Again her gaze fell on the maze and the Landing Field beyond. It might be interesting to have a flying lesson.

  At that moment she heard the strum of her doorharp and everything in her stilled. It was Jaquar. She knew without stretching her senses to hear and feel his Song.

  She’d instinctively been waiting for him. Somehow she’d unconsciously understood, through their shared glances and body language, that he would come to her.

  That she was his last task before he set out on the errands Bossgond had given him.

  She cleared her throat. “Come in.”

  Jaquar entered, closed the door behind him and just stood and stared at her, yearning and torment in his eyes. “I need to talk to you.” His jaw set and he held his body tight as if awaiting dismissal or rejection.

  Marian shrugged with more casualness than she felt. Her heartbeat had picked up when he was outside her door. Her nerves now quivered at the sight of him.

  He took a pace or two into the room. “I know it is too soon for you to forgive me.” He shuddered. “I can’t imagine what being in the maw was like. I deserve your disdain.”

  “I will say,” he added in a low tone, “that when the sangvile led me to the nest, I was mad to get in there, to destroy it.” His mouth curved down. “I tried. I’d have given my life to do what you did.” He inhaled. “I was ashamed that I’d started the whole matter, and once I knew you, I didn’t want you to find out and lose respect for me. So I planned on stopping it and you’d never know of my dishonor.”

  “You’ve explained yourself. Are you done?” she asked quietly.

  Flinching, he said, “No. I wish to apologize deeply for my part in the ordeal you faced, to ask your forgiveness.”

  Marian nodded slowly. “I accept your apology.”

  He dipped a hand in his pocket. “This is not a bribe for your forgiveness. It is a gift. And since I know you are more concerned for your brother than yourself, it is for him.” He withdrew a small golden stone like a tiger’s eye that shone with Power. He cupped it in his palm.

  “What is it?”

  “Energy, to help your brother cross with you.” He shrugged a shoulder. “I drew it down from the Castle Temple’s storage crystals. Just imagine, energy from the strongest Rituals of the most Powerful team on Lladrana is captured here.” He offered it to her. “They won’t miss it.”

  She took it without touching his fingers. His face tightened.

  The stone was warm from his hand and the bit of his aura clinging to the tiger’s eye sank tingling into her skin. He said, “The Medica told me they gave one to the baby after her dunk in the pool, and it might help with jerir.”

  “Thank you.” She rolled it in her hand. The crystalline structure was full of Power in every lattice. “Though, I don’t think I can convince a healer on Exotique Terre to drill a hole into my brother’s skull and pour jerir onto his brain.”

  “Whatever you want of me, I’ll provide. Before you go to Exotique Terre and after you return.” He hesitated. “You do plan to return?”

  She met his gaze. “Yes, if my brother agrees. I believe I have friends enough here who have the Power to Summon us back.”

  “You have more than a friend in me.” His voice remained quiet and husky. He took another step forward, closer to her, just beyond arm’s reach.

  Marian stepped back.

  Jaquar stilled. “What do you think the odds are that you will be able to convince your brother to come with you?” he asked carefully.

  Slipping the stone in her other pocket, Marian stared out the window. “It depends upon his disease. If he is doing well, and there is a better prognosis for him, then we may stay.”

  “I cannot wish him ill, but my life will have lost something precious when you leave, Marian.”

  She really didn’t want to hear that. Was he trying to win her over because of his shame, because he didn’t like people thinking poorly of his character? That would be the basest motive.

  “Thank you for the stone,” she repeated.


  “There was another reason I wanted to speak with you,” Jaquar said.

  “Yes?”

  Jaquar shifted. “I haven’t had many women in my life. But you are the most amazing, and I deeply regret what has happened between us. The Song between us was extraordinary. It developed so quickly, was so strong and complex.” He braced himself. “I want…I want a bond between us again. Even if it is only acquaintances, only friends, I need that link.” Once again his cheeks took on a darker color. “Please?” Then he stepped forward, stretched out his hand, palm up.

  Marian swallowed. No one had ever said such things to her. She wanted to believe him.

  “Please?” he whispered.

  She lifted her hand.

  He reached out and touched her fingers—and the Song between them mended instantaneously. Not a tiny link of affection, but a full-blown symphonic poem of respect, deep friendship, like minds, hearts that beat in tune. It echoed like fate along her nerves.

  Then it happened.

  Fog enshrouded her.

  He started fading.

  She saw him start to grab for her, then curl his fingers into fists and step back.

  The Snap.

  She let it take her.

  Suddenly she was in the Dimensional Corridor with fierce winds whistling around her. She had no idea of the reason for the winds or what would happen if she calmed them, so she formed a forcefield around herself, using the Power that swept her around.

  For a moment she let herself spin. Her life had just altered again. Her mind scrambled to keep up. She needed time to think!

  On one of her spins, she saw a flash of bare flesh. She stopped her turn just in time to peer down the corridor and see her past self pulled by a red ribbon through the door the Marshalls had opened with their Summoning.

  Shock hit her.

  She was seeing the past! Those doors behind her opened on the past!

  Marian wondered if she could go farther back than her own original experience in the corridor. Could she travel to where Alexa was being Summoned? Would there be some way for Marian to help Alexa defeat the monster who had attacked her? And if she did, would she change history for Alexa and even herself? Scary idea.

  She moved away from the shining portal to current-day Earth, opposite the one she’d exited. She turned into the dimness of the past.

  Marian hurried to the old door that had opened for her previous self, but it had closed. Marian-of-before was gone—now landing on the stone floor and meeting Jaquar and the Marshalls.

  Her heart remembered the fear and pain and confusion. The door to her right—to Earth—closed into a small black crack, then vanished. A few feet into the future there was still a door.

  A tiny rattle attracted her. Tuck in his hamster ball! She had to concentrate, focus if she was going to achieve her goals.

  She scooped up Tuck, looked at him through the clear ball.

  Bright unintelligent animal eyes gazed back at her. If she kept him now, would he develop as she had? She didn’t dare change the past.

  The wind whisked her gown around her ankles.

  She had no time!

  Always, always she was distracted and missed the optimal moment to act. She turned to the “Lladranan” side of the corridor and stared at the next door.

  A passage she hadn’t understood in the notes of the interdimensional traveler finally made sense, echoing in her mind. “One can never go through a previous door. An opening is available for only a single use.”

  Beat. Beat. Beat. She heard the rushing in her head and didn’t know if it was her blood, the winds of the corridor or the pulsing of many world-Songs.

  Perhaps it was time itself.

  She pressed against the door and it opened on a bright rainbow. Why the rainbow? Because it was the past? Was it an omen for her? Would the rainbow appear just to her, or for certain Powered people? Or for everyone?

  Focus!

  She stood on the threshold, drew in a deep breath and felt as if fizzing champagne entered her body—what would it do to her? Focus!

  Her hands gripped the plastic ball, relaxed.

  Blowing on it as if it were a bubble, she set it gently wafting on a small breeze, watched as the ball—and Tuck—settled into the flowered meadow where she’d found him. A kaleidoscopic twist of her sight and she saw her former self speaking with Sinafin.

  The door snapped closed.

  Marian pivoted, fought against a huge wall of pressure that constricted her lungs, forcing air from them. Five steps into the past. Her eyes stung. Squinting, she saw that the door to her apartment had closed. The next dark door began to shrink.

  She jumped at it, was struck with hard blows. She kept the image of her Earthly home strong in her mind. She slipped. Fell.

  Into her apartment.

  32

  Gasping for air, Marian lay still, pulse thundering in her ears. Her senses dimmed and panic overwhelmed her for an instant as she viscerally recalled the grayness of the Dark’s lair where she’d also lost all sensation.

  “Uh, uh, uh,” she moaned. Her limbs convulsed and she curled into a fetal ball.

  Smell returned first—the scent of lily-of-the-valley incense.

  Distantly she heard her clock chime, her phone ring.

  She blinked. Haze parted before her eyes. All the colors were brighter, more vivid, yet sounds, Songs, came faintly, were muffled. All except dear Mother Earth’s Song.

  Marian rocked to her hands and knees. Shook her head to clear it. The phone rang on and on. She stood and staggered until she reached it. The receiver felt odd in her hand—plastic, alien.

  Bracing herself, she answered it. “’Lo.”

  “Marian, what are you doing still home!” her mother, Candace, shrilled. “You should be on your way. Must you irritate me at every turn!”

  The sweep of innate love she’d had at the sound of her mother’s voice vanished as Candace’s words sank in. Marian leaned against the kitchen wall and stared at the calendar, the clock, the moon chart. It was only a couple of hours—no later—from the time she’d left.

  “Marian, do you hear me?” Candace persisted.

  “Ayes,” Marian said. “Mais oui.”

  “That’s not funny,” Candace said. “I don’t appreciate you being snide.”

  Marian rubbed at her temple. She was undergoing serious culture shock—something she hadn’t anticipated.

  “Get yourself down here at once, or I won’t deposit the second half of your college fund. I did teach you to honor your word.”

  By the Song! “Sorry, Mother, I’ve been, uh, in an intense French seminar the past, uh, couple of days—”

  “Just get down here as quickly as you can.” Candace sounded furious. She hung up.

  Setting the phone carefully back in its cradle, Marian pressed both hands to her head. Her mouth was dry—her whole body seemed thirsty. With measured steps she opened the refrigerator. The cold air blasted her and she flinched, she was so unused to it. Her hand curled around the filtered water pitcher, her fingers chilling at the touch. She kept her hand steady as she poured a tumbler full of water. Then she drank it down. And another.

  She needed more—a full immersion, a bath. She might have time for a shower. Automatically, she undressed.

  Candace was right. It was rare for Marian to break her word. She didn’t recall ever doing so with her mother. Yet she’d done it when she’d left. Because of Andrew.

  So much had changed, but her priorities remained the same. She wanted Andrew cured and only hoped that he could be convinced to come to Lladrana with her.

  She also wanted a loving mother.

  That wouldn’t happen.

  She’d once had hopes that she and her mother could build a mutually satisfying relationship. Now Marian had limited time to find words to reconcile with Candace. Marian’s gut told her it couldn’t be done. She’d have to leave one of the major threads of her life dangling, untidy, unfinished, never to be perfect.

&nbs
p; It hurt.

  Candace was already furious with her. It would be difficult for Marian to work her out of her stubborn anger.

  The shower water cooled as it cascaded over her and Marian reluctantly turned the faucets off. She used minimal makeup and shimmied into her black evening dress. It fit better than ever. She’d toned up a bit in her weeks away—all that stair climbing.

  She wound her hair into an elegant twist, grimacing at the new wide streak of silver over her left temple. Then she checked the small black beaded evening bag that she kept prepared for her mother’s events.

  And hesitated.

  Her mind boggled at the thought of driving a stick-shift in the dark from Boulder to Denver. The traffic! She didn’t know if she could do it.

  But when she entered her living room again, the pentacle glowed. She saw it with new eyes. It held Power.

  Marian closed her eyes. She held Power, too. She could feel it surge through her. It wasn’t as strong as when she was on Amee, but she’d be able to do wondrous, magical deeds.

  Slowly she moved into the middle of the pentacle. She knew the building where the fund-raiser was taking place very well. It was Candace’s preferred place for charities, an old, elegant hall. That had once been a Scottish Rite Masonic Temple. Marian’s lips curved. Plenty of star symbols there.

  Even as she thought of that, a neon-blue star appeared in her mind—it was in a mosaic on the wall of a large balcony.

  Perfect.

  With a small chant, Marian raised her arms, Called the Wind and chanted that she wanted to be in the hall. The zephyr picked her up and whirled her. There was an emptiness, then her feet hit solid ground and her left hand touched small tiles. When she opened her eyes, it was to see her fingers in the center of the star.

  Her breath rushed from her and she leaned against the wall. It hummed with the aftermath of Power. The remaining energy soaked into her and she accepted it gratefully. It was one thing to be a Circlet of Lladrana and practice magic there. It was completely different to do something magical on Earth, where she’d always considered herself a rational person and where magic didn’t seem to exist.

  The babble of cultured voices rose with the scent of costly perfume from the floor below. Marian let dislike of the event tremble through her, then set her shoulders and pushed away from the wall to walk with staggering steps. She barely made it a few paces down the hall to the ladies’ room. It was blessedly empty.