Not much chance of either, given that he was probably presumed dead.
He found the driver, a small pot-bellied man with a cap covering his obvious baldness and a seamed face that had been on the road for a lifetime, ostensibly checking the near-side lead horse, still visibly trembling in reaction, and with his attention wandering inexorably back to the road ahead.
Or what was left of it.
The road ran through the snow-covered rough northwest country, pastures and farmland nestled between rugged rock formations on which the dark stone of southern exposures had drawn the sun and left stark patterns of black with white-filled and shadowed crannies. Sparsely populated between towns, the land remained undisturbed by man during all but the most temperate times of the year, the brown ribbon of road the only sign that people came this way at all.
Now, in truth, that road twisted back on itself like a ribbon, crumpled into a ball and thrown to the ground to settle slowly down upon itself. The snow-covered rock formations lurched in gravity-defying angles, pocked with randomly melted areas that had nothing to do with sun and shadow.
Arlen stood by the driver a moment, neither of them saying anything; the horses had stopped only a length or two before the road, sheening with unnatural swirls of color, turned inside out on itself. Arlen squinted at it, trying to make sense of what he saw to no avail; his gaze skipped away, repelled by the foreign nature of the elements before him. He glanced at the driver and found the short man staring with such open-mouthed bafflement that there was no question about his own difficulties.
And while every whit of common sense Arlen possessed shrieked danger! at top volume, he took a step closer, and another, focusing on not the whole indescribable scene, but only that small part of it closest to him. A gyration of earthy colors in slick but uneven surfaces. Dirt and rock caught in a roiling boil and solidified in the moment.
But how ? And why ? The wizard in him immediately began sifting through spells, wondering what to combine with what to achieve this horrifying effect—while the very sensible man in him fought not to turn on his heel and run as far and fast—
To the side, the road burbled. It twisted, it warped . . . it slid toward him like oil slicking across downhill ice.
"Burn it right off ," the driver gasped as Arlen skipped backwards, all thoughts of wizardry vanishing and nothing left but the wisdom of escape. The spot subsided even as Arlen retreated out of danger, but from the corner of his eye he spotted another dark bubble of activity.
He didn't know what it was, he didn't know what had caused it . . . but he knew it was growing. And he knew, watching the process corrupt yet another precious few inches toward the front hooves of the snorting coach team leaders, that nothing living would survive that process. "Turn these horses around," he told the driver. "Get us back to the last connector."
Wide-eyed, the man said, "Look at this team—look at the coach! It's not made to turn around on road this width. It can't ."
"It can," Arlen said grimly. "It will , unless you want to be stranded out here on foot with . . . this." He waved his hand at the miasmic scene before them.
"I'll unhitch the horses," the man said. Behind them, the other passengers had disembarked and were milling uncertainly, all in one piece and apparently not willing to move as close to the oddity of the road ahead as Arlen. "We can take turns riding them back to town—"
"The coach can turn," Arlen repeated, calling on the authority of his Council voice for the first time since this trip had started, pinning the frightened man with a gaze full of certainty.
Realization crossed the man's tense features. "It was you," he said. "We should have tipped over . . . we didn't. That was you."
Arlen wasn't willing to say that much out loud. "The coach can turn," he said, imbuing his words with as much meaning as he could.
This time the man nodded, the lines of his face deepening with the difficulty of the situation. He said, "Sit up front with me for a while, be easier for you to work that way," and gave the near-side leader a pat; the horse was no happier than they to be so close to the unnatural remains of the countryside. Then he turned, reluctantly wading into the group of passengers to explain that the couch wouldn't be going any further, asking them to load up again so they could get themselves away from here. . . .
Arlen only half heard the querulous and frightened replies as he stood by the team of pretty matched bays, their snorts and bit-jingling as much a part of the background as his fellow passengers. None of it could compete for his attention, not with this strange magic in front of him. Magic, because nothing else could have caused these disruptive and surrealistic changes. Strange, because . . .
He hadn't felt it. There was no signature, no surge of magic. Just the stuttering creep and crawl of growing damage.
He wasn't yet sure just what had happened to the Council. But he suddenly knew where to start looking.
Strings of spellstones clattered softly against one another, dangling from Dayna's hand so thickly she could barely hold them all as she headed for the third floor meeting room where the travel team had quietly gathered supplies. Stones so Jaime—who planned to stay in Camolen—could trigger the message board she and Arlen had devised for quick information dumps between worlds, stones so each of them could return to Camolen, stones of protection, stones for every little thing Dayna could think of—and that she thought had the slightest chance of working when their strongest ties to Camolen's magic would come through her.
She'd gotten quite good at making spellstones in her year and a half of intensively tutored time here . . . and she'd gotten even better at it in the last day—especially when it came to choosing the right stones for the job. Even now she glanced at her collection of glimmering, active stones and gave silent thanks to Arlen for keeping such a complete stock of quality materials. Hard stones, crystals and gems—some of them drilled for chains, some of them set into wire harnesses. Small enough to be inconspicuous, light enough so carrying them was no great hardship.
The others, too, had been preparing. Jaime would stay behind to keep Anfeald running, and to supervise the stables; she'd been cribbing notes since the day before, at least until evening came and she found refuge from her strange new nightly malady in a heavily dosed goblet of wine. Jess had been gathering clothing for the palomino's use as a man, and for her own immediate use upon arriving in Ohio—for she, too, was starting the journey as a horse. And Carey . . .
Carey had spent his time communing with Jaime and Natt and Cesna, all of them talking as fast as they could to try to address all the necessary details to keep Anfeald running smoothly under any contingency—right up to the very possible arrival of a new master or mistress for the hold. Both Anfeald and Siccawei were prized precincts, and the new Council wouldn't let them go without wizards for long.
Dayna closed her eyes and shuddered off rising goosebumps at the thought of anyone but Sherra running Siccawei. The hold, the city . . . the very precinct had been infused with her quiet habits of celebrating life. Not so surprising, given her interest in healing . . . in providing people with a place to heal.
Like Dayna, newly arrived in Camolen, full of rogue magic and anger and self-defensive defiance.
It was all still there, of course—a year and a half was nothing on a lifetime's habits. But she liked to think some of her edges had softened.
Maybe.
Stones in one hand, a small personal duffle in the other—she wouldn't need to take much, not with a number of her things in storage at Jaime's farmhouse—she navigated the turn in the doglegged hallway and found the door to the room already open.
Not that they'd been trying to keep their plans especially secret—Natt and Cesna knew, had both seemed too exhausted to argue about it; Cesna, in particular, looked about ready to drop, and seemed more grateful than concerned about their intent to gather information from the palomino. But with Suliya in the mix, Dayna wasn't making assumptions about how quickly their attempts to be quiet would sh
ift to indiscreetly loud protests about this, that . . . and whatever.
To her initial relief, she found the room empty but for Jess, bent over the table with her long hair falling forward to obscure her features. And then on second thought, and at the heavyhearted look she found on Jess's face when Jess brushed her hair back and looked up to greet her, the relief fled.
Jess was, after all, the only one of them dead-set against this plan. Even Suliya thought it was a good idea; she just didn't see why she was part of it. But Jess . . . Jess came not to help them, but in spite of them. Because she couldn't stand the thought of the palomino facing the world as a human without someone who truly understood him.
Who knew exactly what he was going through.
"Ay, Jess," Dayna said in greeting, as cheerfully as circumstances allowed.
Jess hesitated, hands pausing as she folded a pair of loosely tailored pants they hoped would fit the palomino as a man. "You sound like Suliya."
Dayna wrinkled her nose. "It's catching, I guess." She spread the spellstone strings out on the table that took up half the room—it was already covered with clothing, letters from both Dayna and Jaime to people in Ohio—and as much gold as they thought they could safely and easily carry. They had no intention of being distracted by lack of funds, and with the slight difference in the value of gold on the two worlds, Arlen's petty cash easily covered what they felt comfortable taking. "Got some stones for you, Jess. Nothing heavy duty—just if you need to send a message back, or need to reach one of us in an emergency . . . that sort of thing."
Jess glanced at them, neatly placing the folded pants into the duffle assigned to the palomino. "I think I'll need another braid." She currently bore two—small, tightly braided sections of coarse sandy dun hair behind her left ear, holding the spellstones with her special personalized changespells along with the courier recall stone, the protection from hostile magic in use directly against her, the friend-foe spell . . .
Dayna didn't think any of them would be of much use in Ohio. She'd kept them as simple as possible, going on faith and the knowledge that previous stones had maintained at least a tenuous connection with Camolen.
She separated the stones into smaller bundles, leaving a bundle at each of the seats around the table.
"Carey's, Jaime's, mine, yours . . . Suliya's." Then she looked up at Jess, who was stuffing thick socks into a pair of nearly shapeless lace-up shoes. "Tell me again just why Suliya's coming? She obviously doesn't want to."
Jess gave her a flat look, her dark-rimmed brown eyes so expressionless that Dayna should have seen her reply coming. " I don't want to go. The palomino will say he did not want to go, when he is able. Suliya is like the rest of us . . . doing as events have said we must."
Dayna stopped in the act of untangling Carey's spellstones, opened her mouth—and closed it again, mustering her willpower to stem the words crowding on her tongue—words to underscore the potential danger Camolen faced, that they were the only ones who could travel to Ohio and hope for the slightest chance of success, that they were cut off from everyone else with no opportunity to convince the new Council that the travel was necessary in the first place—at least, not in time.
But she didn't say any of it, because Jess already knew it. She simply disagreed with it.
That she could , that she'd grown enough from her first moments of being human to this complex woman who could examine a multifaceted situation, come to her own conclusions, and stand by them— As far as Dayna was concerned, it was merely evidence that they were doing the right thing—that the palomino would adapt, and without the handicap Jess carried for her first weeks in Ohio—when no one knew who or what she was—would quickly be able to tell them what they needed to know.
But she didn't think she'd make points with Jess by bringing that up now. Instead, she said, "I meant, why Suliya . She obviously doesn't want to come; she'd rather stay here and ride for Anfeald. And she's not the easiest person to work with." Honesty compelled her to stop and add, "Of course, neither am I."
The smallest of smiles tugged at the corner of Jess's mouth. She said, "I thought about asking Ander, but with no dispatch and no travel booths, Kymmet is too far away. And they probably need him."
Ander. Tall, gorgeously blond, a little too certain of himself—but good in a pinch. Dependable. He'd saved Jaime's life the summer before, lost his heart to Jess in the process . . . and still counted her among the people he'd go far, far out of his way to help.
If he'd known she needed him. If he could get here.
Dayna shook her head. "You're right. I wish we could reach him . . . but he's too far away. But—"
Jess looked over at the door, as if reassuring herself that Suliya wasn't standing right there, then looked down at her hands. "We can't spare the others," she said. "They all know the shortcuts; they know the horses and the roads. And the palomino . . . I will need the help. Besides," and she gave Dayna a shrewd look, more shrewd than Dayna expected from this woman who started life as an honest and willing horse, "you saw her with Garvin. She has . . . a confidence. She'll need it."
"She has a confidence because she doesn't know how much she doesn't know," Dayna said by way of a grumble. "Including, I think, that sometimes life isn't fair—or should I say, sometimes it won't be fair to her ."
Jess gave her a questioning look at that last, picking up the strung spellstones Dayna had brought her and running them through her fingers in an absent, explorative way. She'd almost broken herself of the habit of investigating new things with her sense of smell and so didn't raise the stones to check their scent, but Dayna often saw her nostrils flare upon meeting someone new . . . and often caught Carey smiling at the impulse, an affectionate smile he'd only recently allowed himself.
It struck her then how well she understood and liked these people, and that with their world already turned upside down, maybe it was time to make other changes, to settle closer to them. After all, she had no idea who would take Sherra's place at Siccawei. Or Arlen's . . . or any of them. She hadn't known half of the deceased Council members, and although she'd caught some quick scuttlebutt before leaving Second Siccawei, she certainly didn't know the new Council members.
Or whether any of them would be the least interested in mentoring a woman from another world with a penchant for raw magic and an odd mix of skills—struggling with basics on some levels, soaring above most of her peers on others.
Jess, unaware of Dayna's wandering thoughts, said with honest curiosity, "How can you tell? You only met her days ago."
Dayna dragged her thoughts back to the conversation. Suliya. "Let's just say I know the type."
Jess made a noise to show she was thinking about that and tucked the spellstones into a small pouch.
"You really should wear those," Dayna said, sorting through her own, making swift decisions about how to restring and reorganize them.
With a slight shake of her head, Jess looked down at herself. "I start as Lady," she said. "When we get there, then I'll put them on." She looked abruptly at the door, and Dayna knew to expect someone; she wasn't surprised when Carey entered the doorway, stopping there to lean against the frame in a deceptively lazy way that let Dayna know he was actually good and ready to go.
"Jaime'll be here in a moment," he said. "Suliya's supposed to be here already. We're as prepared as we're ever going to be . . . let's get this thing started."
"Time to lock and load," Dayna said, rolling her eyes when Jess and Carey turned identically baffled expressions her way—although Carey almost immediately realized she was using an Earth expression, and dismissed it as not important enough to follow up on. His gaze fell on Jess for a long moment, and he said, "You just about ready?"
"There is no ready ," Jess said. "There is waiting, and then there is making the change. But I will never be ready to do this to him."
"I know," he said, watching her with a wistfulness Dayna rarely saw on the long angles of his face. "But you might try being ready t
o do it for me. For us. For Arlen."
Jess looked at him then, but it was a look full of thought, and far from conclusion.
Chapter 11
Suliya finally showed up with two heavy bags slung over her shoulder, eliciting much dry amusement from Carey. Just shy of a shouting match later, they'd whittled her supplies down to one bag—"It's spring there," Carey said more than once, eyeing the extra sweater she wanted to bring, "and we can get anything you need!"—and gathered up all the gear to head for the foaling stall from which they planned to depart, the barn almost entirely cleared of witnesses. Two horses and three people, all holding hands and clinging to lead ropes with the plan to avoid the separation Carey and Jess had experienced on their first journey.
Then again, Jess thought as she trailed the group down the aisle, on that first journey she and Carey had just pitched over the edge of a steep, vertical, dry riverbed, with Carey already flung from the saddle by the impact of an arrow. Since then they'd used more refined spells for the handful of visits to Earth they'd made, and had no way of knowing how much of the separation had been caused by the spell, and how much caused by the circumstances under which Carey had triggered it to save their lives.
Jess set her saddlebags down next to her changing stall; she intended to wear her harness with her bags—and clothes—firmly attached; she knew for certain her gear would come with her even if the travelers became separated, and if nothing else she wasn't going to end up in Ohio—off-trail in one of the area's nature parks, to be precise—without clothing to pull on. Nakedness had never bothered her in the least . . . but she'd learned to avoid the reactions from others when they had to deal with it.
She waited for Tenlia, one of Carey's couriers and tired-looking at that, to lead her second horse of the day down toward the door, lifting a hand in greeting to Jess on the way by; the woman didn't even notice the occupants of the foaling stall, although the travelers would wait for the barn to clear before acting. No wonder Jaime had been left with instructions to recruit riders if she could, to scour Anfeald for suitable horses, and to streamline the ride assignments—although Jess still harbored hopes that Jaime would decide to travel with them. Jaime, the one person who seemed to understand the depth of Jess's reluctance over their decisions for the palomino, the one who saw the goods and the bads of their plans clearly in spite of what she wanted or wished things would be.
Changespell Legacy Page 11
