Keepers of the Flame. Robin D. Owens

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СКАЧАТЬ and she had grown up with parents who deeply loved each other and their children.

      “We can go home!” Bri’s choked exclamation echoed in mind and words.

      “It’s not that easy,” Marian said from the hall. Calli held a plate with one hand and the door knob with the other. Marian carried a large tray.

      “You’d think with all the magic you have here, you could just beam that over,” Bri said.

      “It’s not that easy,” Marian repeated.

      The smell of eggs and coffee and ham made Elizabeth’s mouth water.

      “Alexa, your omelette. With cheese and mushrooms,” Marian said.

      “But you haven’t been gone very long, and the food looks fresh, so magic was used,” Elizabeth said.

      “That’s right. Magic, which is called Power here, and more like the extension of psi powers—”

      “Power can heat the food, but it’s harder to translocate things,” Calli said. “Especially more than one item at a time. And there’s an energy cost. You always have to figure what energy you might need for something else later.” She handed Elizabeth the plate. “Sit. We can talk over breakfast.”

      “We often have breakfast discussions with our parents,” Elizabeth said.

      Everyone looked at her then Bri.

      “You have parents.”

      “Of course,” Bri said impatiently. “Will one of you pass me my plate, please?”

      Calli had gone directly to a gate-legged table against a wall. Marrec joined her in setting up the table and soon there was a crowded table for eight. Opening lower drawers of a cabinet, Calli set a cork hot plate down for the tray, then brought out dishes, mugs and silverware. Marrec took chairs set around the room and placed them. Everything looked familiar.

      “There’ve been Exotiques from Earth here in Lladrana before,” Marian said. She’d found thick glasses that looked handmade and poured water into them.

      “And Marrec went to Colorado,” Elizabeth said.

      “It’s part of the Snap,” Alexa grinned. She still stood near Bri and the cooler. “That’s Marian’s topic.”

      “Let’s eat,” Bastien said in the French-sounding Lladranan that Elizabeth barely understood.

      Jaquar frowned at Bastien. “I told you we refined your language potion.” Since Jaquar still spoke English, Elizabeth deduced that Bastien had been following the conversation.

      Bastien grunted, moved to a chair that had its back to the foam chest and held out his hand to Alexa.

      She looked at the cooler. At Elizabeth. At Bastien. At Bri. After tapping her foot, she sighed and walked to Bastien, took his hand and stood tip-toe to brush a kiss over his mouth. But she moved to a chair where she could still see the chest.

      Bastien rolled his eyes, shook his head and sat next to her. “I have eaten, but my belly can always accommodate one of these.” He unfolded the napkin on a large basket. Letting out steam from flaky croissants, he took one, set it on his plate, then ripped it into large pieces.

      Alexa cut a third of her omelette and put it on Bastien’s plate, then she dug in.

      Doesn’t look like they’re going to poison us, Bri sent mentally to Elizabeth.

      Not since we survived the first night, but I’m sure they have plans for us. Images of the people they’d healed came to her mind, were matched by Bri’s memories. The flow of emotion between them was stronger than Elizabeth had ever experienced. Of course they’d had “hunches,” intuitive feelings about each other, but nothing like this connection that seemed to have thought sharing and definitely included telepathy.

      Elizabeth shifted in her seat, picked up a fork, cut into the omelette and ate. Fabulous—and delicately flavored with spices she didn’t quite recognize.

      “So,” Alexa said between bites, “welcome to Lladrana. You are now known far and wide as the Medica Exotiques Summoned for the Cities and Towns.”

      “Already?” asked Bri, brows lowering.

      “Already. The Sorcerers and Sorceresses, Circlets they’re called, had a contingent here for the Summoning. Some have flown back to their islands. All of them have crystal balls for communication.”

      “Interesting,” said Bri.

      Marian finished pouring coffee all around except for Alexa and stared pointedly at the Swordmarshall. Alexa chewed and swallowed, drank some water, met Elizabeth’s eyes, then Bri’s.

      “I’m the background person, since I fight the horrors every week.” An unamused smile flashed, then was gone. “I was originally Summoned a year ago to help defend Lladrana, that’s this country, from invading evil. Centuries ago some warrior-mages made a boundary of magical fenceposts with an energy field strung between them to keep the horrors—inhuman monsters—out. The fenceposts started falling and the desperate Marshalls consulted the main oracle-prophetess here, the Singer. The oracle said that if the Marshalls Summoned someone from the Exotique Land, that’s Earth, she’d re-discover the method of making fenceposts and re-powering the boundary.” Now her smile crinkled her eyes. “To everyone’s surprise, it worked.”

      Bastien leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Not surprising.”

      “Yeah, it was.” Alexa’s face hardened. “I was the first Summoned in a century. Alone with the Marshalls. Tested immediately to prove I could handle the job.” She swept a gaze around the table. “You weren’t there. None of you.”

      Marian sighed sympathetically. She pushed back her chair and went to the sofa where Calli’s guy, Marrec, had placed the books he’d carried in. Dividing the stack in two, she put one on the table beyond Bri’s plate, then one set near Elizabeth. The top cover was dark black hide Elizabeth didn’t recognize, with a green wand topped with flames embossed on it. The spine said, in English, Lorebook of Exotique Swordmarshall Alexa Fitzwalter. Underneath was a dark purple book showing sheet lightning on the spine with the words Lorebook of Exotique Circlet Marian Harasta.

      “Circlet?” murmured Bri.

      Alexa answered as Marian resumed her seat and drank the excellent coffee. “The society here is fragmented. The Circlets are the Sorcerers and Sorceresses of this place. They usually live in Towers they raise by magic as their final test on islands off the coast. Lladrana has one coast, the west.”

      Alexa sipped her water, set the cup down, and smiled again at Marian. “But like all academics, the Circlet politics were vicious—”

      “We simply did not cooperate well before Marian,” Jaquar said, haughty brows raised over blue eyes.

      “Blue eyes,” Elizabeth said.

      He inclined his head in a nod. “Yes, there has been some interaction between our cultures. Somewhere in my bloodline there was obviously an Exotique ancestor.”

      “I understand the Lladranan people are golden-skinned СКАЧАТЬ