"Worthwhile huh? Well I have to deal with the ribbing when you're not there. And these guys just don't give me any slack."
“You act like you never got picked on before,” Rebekah said shortly. Ian nodded.
“In my old neighborhood, being picked on meant you lost your life. It didn’t come with embarrassment.” Marcus could sympathize, but he was more preoccupied with Ellis and his reactions in class. Whatever was going on with the boy, it was outside of Marcus's normal realm of experience. “I’m just glad not to be the only target.”
"You mean Ellis?" Ian half-nodded. "Do I have a sign on my forehead that says 'Attack Me'?" he asked after a moment. Rebekah gave his head a quick look and shrugged.
"I think you look great." Marcus gave her a glare and tried not to smile. Rebekah just batted her eyes at him.
"No seriously," Marcus said as a smile crept onto his face. Rebekah was doing her best to cheer him up, and to Marcus's surprise, it was working. "I swear that kid acts like I beat up his little sister." Ian nodded a little.
“Would make more sense if you had,” Rebekah droned.
"Kid's got a lot of problems," Ian stated quietly as the group turned and walked towards the paladin office building. "That's what I hear anyway." Marcus made his way for the entrance. He had a little work to do, evaluating performance from yesterday's class. He found that the simplest way to do that was to ask Miss Valtierra nicely if she would help. And Miss V was generally willing, especially if it kept her mind off of Jacob. Marcus could feel for her. She knew that Miss V and Jacob were and on again, off again item. Someday, he was going to have to have a long talk with Jacob about just up and marrying her, once they got around to figuring out where he'd disappeared to. The Council still had no news about Marcus's former mentor.
"Do you know what any of those problems are?" Marcus asked after a moment. Ian could only shrug.
"Sorry. He just won’t open up. Jack thinks he's just a jerk."
"Jack would," Rebekah countered. Marcus didn't like that. Ellis was a loner even though he was never seen without Mary, Uther or Jack. "I think he's anti-social." Marcus wasn't ready to discount the possibility. But in the end, he had a feeling the Ellis's problem was rooted deeper than just his attitude. Somehow, Marcus knew it was far more serious.
"We can’t assume anything,” Marcus said. “The Council gave me this assignment because these kids have special problems they think I can address. But Ellis is different somehow. Whatever it is, I think he's heading for trouble. He's not gonna get anywhere if he's acting this way." Rebekah volunteered her opinion.
"What if he doesn't want to?" Marcus slowed a little. "Get anywhere, I mean. What if he just doesn't want to be a paladin?" That wasn't a question that Marcus had even considered.
"Then why is he here?" Ian asked. Marcus quickened his pace. He didn't want to think about that. He was new to teaching, but he liked it. It was something he showed a simple ease at doing. It beat going out to all corners of the world and getting shots taken at you. Teaching was low-stress by comparison.
"Again Ian, that's easy for you to say. You actually want to be here," Rebekah griped. Ian had heard that at least a dozen times since arriving in Littlefield last year. It was true. But Rebekah made it sound like she wanted to be somewhere else.
“And you don't, with your boyfriend latched to your hip all day long?” Rebekah tilted her head, not having an argument against that. The situation could be worse.
“She’s not latched,” Marcus started.
“You could be,” Rebekah responded. That got another smile out of Marcus.
“Not with me here you don’t.” That got him a weird look from the two of them. “I don’t want to be near you if you decide to act like Jack and Sydney.” Rebekah grimaced at that. “What’re you gonna do about Ellis?”
“I'll see if I can squeeze any more information out of Cecil about it. Maybe he'll let something slip.” Marcus started up the marble steps in front of the paladin office building. “You've got a class I believe,” he said to his pupil. Ian nodded grimly.
"A class I'm failing I think." Ian slumped a little and headed back toward the classrooms. "Lady Safira and her blasted mathematical theorems and formulas." Rebekah and Marcus watched him walk away for a moment before turning to each other.
"Want me to come with?" Rebekah asked, pushing her deep honey-brown hair away from her eyes. Marcus gave her hand a slight squeeze and shook his head.
"You do and I'll never get any work done."
"Promise?" Rebekah smiled at that and gave Marcus a quick hug. They were still on the no kiss rule, seeing as the press had found renewed interest in their relationship. Marcus didn't like that they had decided such, but he didn't want to give the media or the Innova any ammunition to use against them.
"I'll meet you for dinner at the Landing."
"Hey, Rebekah." She stopped turning with a smile. "You picked that training program.” Rebekah nodded. “What was all that about you and that wizard?" Rebekah gave Marcus a sly smile.
"I'll tell you some other time." Marcus rolled his eyes.
"That's not an answer you know." Rebekah started off toward the women's barracks and her quarters.
"I know. But I've got to have some secrets, don't I? You know too much about me already." Marcus stood there for a moment, drinking in her beauty as her athletic body swayed out of sight. Marcus shook his head to clear the images that were creeping in around the corners of his mind. He didn't need those kinds of thoughts right now.
"Trust the boy!" Marcus shot out of his bed, screaming in terror as the blade cleaved into his neck. The lights didn't come on. Marcus's hands scrambled to his collar to see if his head was still attached. It took a moment, but his mind registered what his hands knew. He was alive. He was moving. He was breathing.
The darkness of his bedroom slowly abated, the lights rising slowly from dim to medium in a few moments. Marcus had programmed them to do just such so that he would not damage his eyes with a sudden burst of light. But after the nightmare he'd had, his eyes were the least of his worries.
His heart was still thundering in his chest two full minutes later, letting him know that what he had seen was at least real enough to be terrifying. He couldn't seem to pull the images together. None of them made sense. Rebekah had died. At least, he thought she had. Ian was babbling about numbers. Jennifer had wanted to dance. One of his students, Uther had stood before him, bathed in a pillar of purest white light. There didn't seem to be any cohesion to the dream. No thread that tied it all together. Instead, Marcus was left confused and panic-struck.
But the image that had jolted him from sleeping was crystal clear. Noganus had struck down his friends, and had turned on him. The hands of the dead rooted down Marcus’s feet and he could not raise his blade, as though it had been cemented into his scabbard. He looked right at Noganus, who mumbled something indistinct in his direction, then screamed for him to trust the boy and finally cut Marcus down like a dead tree.
Marcus wasn't sure what to think at the moment. He'd had prophetic dreams, but never of death before. His dreams had always been so literal. If this was a prophecy for him, then it was in need of interpreting. But Marcus wasn't one to interpret dreams. He didn't have that gift. And since his panic had pressed some of the finer details from his mind, he was sure whatever he told anyone wouldn't make any sense either. He lay back down and decided it would be a mystery for another time.
But as the lights dimmed back down to nothing, Marcus could've sworn he saw the hulking shadow of Noganus Xandra in full Dread Paladin regalia, standing in the window to his room. I'm imaging things, he thought finally, and closed his eyes, praying silently for more pleasant dreams.
Chapter 2
Heart of the Echo
Jennifer Burton pushed back from her computer and tried to smile. It was finished. Finally, she had put fingers to keyboard and penned the last pages of her experience. It had been profound and difficult to explain, but she had ma
naged at last to tell her story as she recalled it. She only hoped that what she wrote was significant enough to help other people.
It had begun almost immediately after Marcus had returned from his first assignment as a Paladin. Jennifer wasn't one to hold grudges, but the life of a Paladin had taken her mother away, and now it had taken her wedding day and her fiancé as well. She didn't really resent Marcus, just the choice he had made of his life as a paladin over his life with her.
Jennifer had said a final goodbye to Marcus in a letter. She would not face him, fearing that she would change her mind. She had felt compelled to just go, rather than give herself a chance to change her mind. And Drew had been very insistent about leaving without a word. Jenny had written her feelings for Marcus, and had promised that when the time was right, she would come back.
Funny thing was she hadn't said when that would be. Instead, she had left the timetable empty. That felt best to her, because she knew that at any moment, she might be suddenly compelled to return without any kind of warning or reason. The tour she was on was scheduled for a full eighteen months. But that could change at the drop of a hat. She had put the weight of the whole thing on Marcus's shoulders, a place she felt that it all belonged.
She hadn't written anything about his choices or whether she blamed him or not. That wasn't something she wanted to settle by mail. She had meant to tell him in person when she returned to Littlefield. But that had been sixteen months ago. The letter was at least that old. She couldn't be sure that Marcus had read the letter, or accepted it for what it was.
In the last year, Jennifer had become something of a household name. When people spoke of music lately, it was generally Jennifer’s music that fell from their lips. She was the most popular teen icon in the eastern region, and was held highly in the west. Though Rebekah Norik still ranked higher there, Jenny chalked it up to a case of hometown hero worship.
Despite all the success that Drew had managed to procure for Jenny and Echo-chamber, the life away from the Academy was a lot more hectic than she was used to. The world seemed to spin so fast it almost felt as though she would fly apart. And Jennifer had to get used to the idea of dealing with people whose motives were not right out there for her to see. She'd spent a great deal of time around paladins, whose honesty was the stuff of legend, if not always their humility. So many people away from the Academy were two-faced and duplicitous. It had taken some time to re-learn that what people said was not always what they meant. Home in Tanru Province had been similar. At least, in high school it had.
The first several months, Jenny just took it. She figured she could power through as she had before moving to Littlefield. And she did, after a fashion. But as the year wore on, it took its toll. Jennifer felt tired and lonely. She was around Drew so much that sometimes she didn't think she knew anyone else. The band had been sympathetic, but the auditorium owners had not. Drew's deal was ironclad, which gave Jenny little room to wiggle when she needed a break. So, Jenny went on, night after night, and performed her heart out.
Drew's drive for Jennifer and Echo-chamber to be the best was well intentioned enough. Between concerts and public appearances, interviews with the media, parties, recording sessions, practices, sound checks, photo shoots, fashion consultations and any number of other activities that could not be done without Jennifer's presence had started to take their toll. Drew was hard on the band. But not nearly as tough as he was on Jen. Every missed note, every flubbed word, every botched step in her dance routines was noted and discussed until Jennifer felt her head would twist right off her shoulders. But it was all for their good. They were successful. Jenny attributed it to all the hard work. And everything seemed like it was just fine.
That is, until she collapsed on stage one evening. The rumors ranged from drugs to an assassination plot. Exhaustion and mental strain were the diagnosis finally. The doctors proscribed a long rest, though Drew figured a few sleeping pills would probably do the trick. Another example of his drives overriding his concern for Jennifer's well-being. Jenny took a week off, locked in her hotel room with a TV and a lot of junk food. She didn’t want anyone near her. But anywhere outside was out of the question. She wanted to be where the press could not find her and where the other members of her entourage wouldn't bother her. It was on a chance visit from her bass player Sylph, that she was introduced to what he called green meditation.
At first, Jennifer wasn't sure how sitting and thinking about not thinking was going to help her. It seemed like a perfect waste of time. But as she gradually began to learn what it was that Sylph was teaching her, she found that she could mentally rest for hours at a time, and never actually sleep. Sleep had made her tired lately so the new meditation techniques seemed to be doing her a world of good.
Jennifer thought for a moment about her progression. She'd been so young when she’d left the Academy. Not that she was that much older. Just beginning her twenties really. But the time away from familiar places had aged her emotionally. She thought back on Marcus now without malice. She thought fondly of him really. She knew it wasn't his fault that he hadn't shown at the wedding. And inside herself, she forgave him.
Not that she was going to tell him that right off the bat. Marcus was going to have to win her back when she did return. He was going to have to prove his worth to her and he was going to have to show that she meant as much to him as he claimed. Jenny wasn't sure how just yet, but she was going to get him to see things a little more her way.
Only once in the last year had she truly considered going back to Littlefield. That had been when a story had shown in some tabloid rag that Marcus and his ex-girlfriend, the ever-popular Rebekah Norik, were apparently back together. Jennifer hadn't put a whole lot of stock into the story, but the image of the two sitting at Ellen's Landing on Strebor's Rock had cut at her just a little. In the end, it had been Drew, of all people, who had talked her down and made sense of it all.
Jenny saved the manuscript on her computer, then sent it to her anxious publisher and closed the small console. It was time to go to the auditorium for the sound check before the concert tonight. And Jennifer didn't want anyone messing up her acoustics. With a quick check of her appearance and the addition of a heavy coat and dark sunglasses, Jenny steeled herself and headed out, knowing that within a footstep of the door, the paparazzi would be there with a million lousy questions.
"She's late," Drew Anger lamented, looking at his watch for the hundredth time. He hated tardiness. He prized punctuality. But more than that, he hated making his customers wait for something he'd promised. It made him look bad.
"She's always late Drew," Sylph James said simply, tweaking the strings on his bass. "That's part of her charm." Sylph was a long-haired, long bearded, long winded, old hand at music. He'd seen every trend in music there was, and a few he'd just as soon forget. Drew wasn't all that keen on him, but Jenny kept him around because he was the best at what he did, and was the only one of them who could claim to have seen it all, and then back it up.
“I’m charmed. Happy?” No one said anything. “We've got a gig tonight and we can't perform without a proper sound check and practice.” Drew made no bones about it. They had to practice, even though Jenny despised it.
“Actually, I've seen a lot of successful bands that never practiced," Valerie Espina said from behind her drum set. She had a long mane of straight black hair that seemed to hide half of her very pale face. Val didn't say much most of the time, keeping the mystique of her character in the band. But every once in a while, she had something that seemed valid that she needed to express.
"Really," Drew said with a snort. "Name any one of them that are still around." Val left it at that, not wanting to get into an argument with their pseudo-manager.
"Jeez Drew. You act like you own the band." That was Bill. Not that Bill was his actual name. Bill's name didn't have any vowels in it, and not a one person in the band had any clue how to say it. So, he had chosen the name Bill, because it was
simple. Being a mountain dwelling Lupine lent itself to such things. Bill looked like a werewolf of sorts, but without the unkind disposition. He was tall and lean, with a well-groomed coat of fine red hair.
Unlike the others of his ilk, Bill had courtesy enough to wear clothing, so as not to make the rest of his human hosts nervous. He was the only non-human in the band, but was also the best violinist and harmonica player on the two continents. And that was strange enough, since the harmonica didn't fit properly in his enormous mouth. Drew gave Bill a grave look. He didn't like the Lupine very much. Something about the fangs.
"I do, to a certain degree. Jen's given me charge over the schedule for the group, and I intend to run a very tight and efficient ship." That's when Jenny pushed her way into the room, while a very large and silent bodyguard shoved press back out the door.
"We're a group of musicians, not a bunch of deckhands on a tuna boat Drew," she said airily. She hadn't intended to eavesdrop, but Drew was speaking a little louder than usual. Jennifer's very powerful sense of hearing was certainly in play today. "We play music. I gave you charge. But I have the last say about practice," she said as she tossed her coat down on the stage floor and searched the lower portion of the stage wings for her mic cord. “I have the last say about everything in Echo-chamber.” Drew gave her a stern but relieved stare.
"Where've you been?" Jenny frowned as she walked out from behind the curtains, shedding her shades. She ruffled her hair a little bit and stepped up onto the stage, tapping her mic to make sure she had power. A dull thump echoed in the hall. Jenny could hear the quality of the sound in its echo. The place was well designed.
"It’s nice to see you too." Drew folded his arms and waited. Jenny met his gaze for a moment, fiddling with her mic stand. "I was finishing my book. You know something? Fall Memoria's been really pushy about this whole book deal." Drew's posture said he wasn't buying it. "I needed a little time to send the final manuscript off to the publisher, and then I had to duck the press." Val looked at the door as the bodyguard tried to hold it closed.
The Paladin Archives Book Two The Withering Falseblade Page 4
