CHAPTER 19

 

MOVING ONLY HER EYES, Leesa shifted her gaze slowly from one giant snarling cat to the next. The six sabre-tooths all looked remarkably similar—identical, in fact, as far as she could see. She could find no identifying markers to individualize them anywhere on their sleek, golden-brown coats. The beasts had obviously come from the same litter, but Leesa had seen plenty of litters of cats, and none looked even close to as similar as these creatures did.

She felt Rave’s arm tighten slightly around her lower back. Had he somehow sensed that the cats were about to attack? Leesa had detected no change in their posture, but volkaanes were far more in tune with animals than humans were. Her already rapid heartbeat ratcheted up another level.

“They will not harm you,” said a female voice from behind them.

Leesa’s first impulse was to spin around at the sound of the unexpected voice, but she still didn’t trust the intentions of the cats. Instead, she slowly twisted her neck to look behind her. What she saw almost made her eyes pop out of her head.

She was staring straight at a female centaur—a very beautiful female centaur. Leesa turned slowly around for a better look.

She had seen centaurs before in books and in a movie or two, but she had never seen one like this. The centaurs she had seen were usually male, though not always, often with beards. And they had always been brown.

This one who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere behind them was white—a beautiful, shining white so pure she almost seemed to glow in the pale light.

Long, snowy-white hair cascaded down over her shoulders in smooth waves, reaching almost to her waist. Her flowing horse’s tail was equally white and silky, as was the shiny coat covering the horse part of her body. From the waist up, her skin was smooth alabaster almost as white as her hair. Her powerful-looking horse half made her slightly taller than Rave.

The only garment she wore was a small top of a soft, white material that covered her small but firm-looking breasts and little else. Intricate silver bracelets circled both her wrists like tiny vines wrapping around a twig, and a delicate silver chain dangled from her neck. Hanging on the chain was a small, sparkling starburst pendant. The only thing marring her flawless beauty was a round white bandage in the center of her forehead.

Leesa wondered if this could be the “horse lady” Ralin had seen in his dream. It almost had to be. It would be too much of a coincidence otherwise. Ralin did not know the word “centaur,” so he had called her the horse lady.

The thought of her son so far away sent fresh pangs of anguish through her heart, but she pushed them down. Homesickness and longing would not reunite her with Ralin any faster. They would only get in the way.

The sudden appearance of this strange and beautiful centaur almost made Leesa forget about the sabre-toothed cats, but another series of low growls reminded her. She glanced over her shoulder—the beasts had not moved, but they were still watching closely. Rave had turned around halfway, so that he could see both the cats and the newcomer.

“I know you said they won’t hurt us,” Leesa said to the centaur, “but could you do something about them, please? It’s hard to concentrate with them watching us with such hungry looks on their faces.”

The woman smiled. “Of course.” She waved her hand slowly in front of her body. “How’s that?”

Leesa looked back behind her. The cats were gone.

“What happened?” she asked Rave.

“They just vanished,” he replied. “Without a sound or any other trace.”

They both turned around to face the centaur. Leesa was not at all surprised to learn the woman possessed magic, not after everything she had seen so far in this place.

“Where did they go?” she asked.

“That’s difficult to say,” the centaur replied. “You see, they never really existed.”

Leesa’s eyes narrowed in puzzlement. “Huh? What do you mean they never existed? We saw them. We heard them.”

“They were illusions, meant to serve as a distraction for any strangers who somehow make it through to here.” The woman grinned. “I’d say they do their job quite well, wouldn’t you?”

Leesa’s lips curved into a wry smile as she remembered how frightening the cats had looked and sounded. At least now she understood how they had managed to come upon her and Rave without Rave’s volkaane senses detecting them.

“Yeah,” she replied, nodding. “I’d have to agree, for sure. They were totally distracting.”

“What are your names?” the woman asked.

“I’m Leesa. And this is Rave.”

“I am Ariandre. Welcome to my home, Leesa and Rave. It’s clear that you two are far from your own home. How did you come to be our world?”

Leesa and Rave looked at each other in confusion. Instead of answers, so far all they were getting were more questions.

“We thought perhaps you brought us here,” Leesa said.

It was Ariandre’s turn to look puzzled. “No, I did not—not intentionally, at any rate.” She studied Leesa and Rave more closely. “You are from the world of the Seven, I can see. Yet you seem so very different from them.”

“The Seven?” Leesa thought about that for a moment. It was all connected to her dream, it seemed. “Do you mean the Miracles? Leah and her friends?”

“Yes, the Miracles. I opened a portal for them, so they could cross from your world into mine.” Ariandre frowned. “But I opened no portal for you, and I know of no one else with the power and skill to do so. So how did you get here?”

“We don’t know,” Leesa said, sighing. “We don’t even know where ‘here’ is.” She explained about her dreams, and how Ralin had seen the same vision. Then she described Ralin’s uncontrolled magic and the green explosion that preceded their arrival in this place.

Ariandre listened closely. When Leesa was finished, the centaur thought for a few moments.

“I sent out many magical calls for help,” she said finally, “not knowing where or how one might be answered. Perhaps that is the explanation, though this is totally beyond anything I could have expected. Somehow, your son’s magic must have combined with my message to transport you here. I did not know such a thing was possible. His magic must be quite powerful indeed.”

“It is,” Leesa agreed. “He inherited both my magic and Rave’s. We’re only beginning to learn some of the things he can do.”

“What sort of magic do you two possess?”

“I’m a wizard and Rave is volkaane, if you know what that means. We could show you, but something about this place has greatly weakened our magic.”

Ariandre smiled. “Oh, yes…I had forgotten about that. It’s for my protection, just like the cats and the forest.” She waved her hand in front of her again. “That should take care of it. Your powers should work normally again.”

Leesa didn’t feel any change, but she hadn’t felt any change when her magic diminished, either. The first thing she did was to call up a shield, just to make certain she could. To her delight, the barrier formed quickly and easily. Her magic had definitely been restored.

“I sense that you just used magic,” Ariandre said. “But I cannot see it. What did you do?”

Leesa let her shield dissipate. “Oh, sorry. I created an air shield, just to be sure I could do it again. It’s the thing that alerted me to the weakening of my magic in the first place—when the one I was using to protect us from the dangers of this world disappeared, and I couldn’t create a new one.”

Ariandre smiled. “There are indeed many dangers in our world. Cast a shield again, please. Right here between us. I wish to test it.”

Leesa called up another shield, placing the barrier a foot or so in front of her.

“It’s there,” she said. “Right between us, as you requested.”

Ariandre held out her index finger. A narrow, pointy beam of bright silver light extended an inch or so from her fingertip, almost like the focused blue flame Leesa had seen Rave use when Ralin’s arm had been stuck in the wall. Ariandre eased her finger forward, until the tiny beam contacted Leesa’s shield. The light flattened against the invisible barrier, unable to pass through.

“Make your shield as strong as you can,” she instructed.

Leesa doubled the thickness of the barrier, creating as strong a shield as she had ever cast.

“Okay,” she said. “I’ve done it.”

The light on Ariandre’s fingertip grew slowly brighter, glowing so intensely now that it was almost white, like the magic Dominic commanded. Still, the beam failed to penetrate Leesa’s shield. Instead, it spread over the invisible surface like a rapidly growing magical cobweb.

Ariandre let the light go out. “Very good,” she said, smiling. “Very strong indeed. I think perhaps at full power my magic could penetrate your shield, but it would not be easy.”

Leesa wasn’t sure she liked hearing that Ariandre might be powerful enough to break her shield—not because she feared the centaur, but because that meant there might be other things in this world that her shields would not protect Rave and her from.

“What else can your magic do?” Ariandre asked, clearly impressed with Leesa’s display so far.

Leesa thought for a moment. The grass at her feet looked similar enough to the grass back home that she thought she could probably make it grow, but she doubted that would seem like much to a woman who seemed to have controlled the branches and underbrush in the forest behind them. Leesa considered firing an energy beam at something. Glancing around, she saw nothing she would wish to destroy. The trees were far too beautiful, and there were no fallen trunks or boulders she could bore holes into.

Finally, she had it. She silently mouthed a levitation spell, allowing herself to float upward until she was five feet off the ground and looking down at Ariandre. Next, she focused her telekinesis on a nearby tree. Since the tree was too solid to move, Leesa was pulled toward it instead.

“You can fly!” Ariandre shouted excitedly, clapping her hands together once. “And without wings!”

Leesa turned around and focused her telekinesis on one of the trees at the edge of forest, pulling herself back toward Ariandre and Rave. When she reached her original position, she let herself float down to the ground.

“It’s not really flying,” she told Ariandre. “It’s a combination of levitation and telekinesis. After I use a levitation spell to make myself lighter than air, I focus my telekinesis on something too big to move, like a large tree. Since the tree won’t budge, I end up being pulled toward it instead.” She smiled. “It’s not as cool as really flying, but it’s proven useful a time or two.”

“Very clever,” Ariandre said approvingly. “One of the Seven possesses telekinesis.”

Leesa nodded. “I know. She’s called Plush for some reason. I saw her in my dream.”

Ariandre turned to Rave. “What about you, Rave? Your magic feels very different to me than Leesa’s. What does your power do?”

Rave shrugged. He wasn’t used to talking about his volkaane fire with strangers. Still, he figured he should show the woman something.

He spread the fingers of his right hand and let his blue fire flash outward a few inches from each finger. Each tongue of fire was as tightly focused as Ariandre’s silver beam had been.

“I have volkaane fire inside me,” he said. “It can get pretty hot.”

Leesa grinned. “Pretty hot is an understatement,” she said to Ariandre. “In our world, Rave uses his fire to slay vampires. He can fry one to ashes in less than a minute.”

Ariandre smiled. “Then it must be very hot indeed. We have vampires here in our world, so I know how dangerous they can be.”

“Rave is also incredibly strong and fast,” Leesa added. “Stronger and faster even than Kai, at least as far as I could tell from my dreams.”

“Strong and fast can be useful qualities here,” Ariandre acknowledged. “I’m sorry you two were brought here without your intent. I would return you to your world if I could, but alas, I fear I cannot. Not until something that was taken from me is returned, at least.”

Leesa was disappointed to hear that Ariandre could not help them right away, but not really surprised. In her experience, things were seldom as simple as you wanted them to be—especially where magic was concerned.