Lone Star Magic (20 page)

“Good enough.” Alrick urged TM into the
underbrush. “Let’s do it.”

“Fine.” Clinging to Merry’s mane with a death
grip, Carly smiled gamely. Alrick admired her courage. There was
much he was coming to admire about Carly Roberts. She was
independent, headstrong, unfailingly loyal, and brave. He was
beginning to understand why a son of hers might be able to lead an
army of the future to save the world.

She was also sexy as hell. Immediately, he
shut down that thought. Mentally chastising himself, he told
himself he didn’t understand the attraction. As a prince of Rune,
he’d had his pick of beautiful, alluring, women. His skill in the
bedchamber was known far and wide and he’d never lacked willing,
eager partners.

Maybe this was why he hungered so for Carly.
The lure of the challenge, forbidden fruit and all that. Cheered by
this uncharacteristic self-analysis, he distracted himself by
wondering how long they would have to wait before the Warlord made
his next move.

Finally, the sky began to lighten. Faint
tendrils of pink colored the eastern horizon, bathing the hills in
a warm glow.

Kayo scouted ahead, returning every so often
to wag his plumed tail and watch them with bright, intelligent
eyes, tongue lolling.

Carly had fallen silent, and Alrick left her
alone to her thoughts.

As the sun climbed, so did the temperature,
and before long, both TM and Merry’s sides were lathered.

As they climbed the rolling terrain, they saw
no other houses, farms, or people. Alrick liked that. He didn’t
like the way the trees seemed stunted, twisted and misshapen as
though the relentless sun had beat them down. Even the grass
appeared to have given up; brown rather than green blanketed the
parched, cracked earth.

“Look.” Carly pointed to the sky. “That large
buzzard keeps circling overhead. That doesn’t bode well for
us.”

Alrick smiled. “We’re not dead yet. Anyway, I
think that’s a hawk, not a buzzard. If he watches anything, he most
likely watches a rabbit or other small animal.”

A quick look at her showed she wasn’t
convinced. “Carly, look at the good side. We’re still alive and the
Warlord has no way to track us.”

“Unless that buzzard belongs to him.”

“If it did, it would already have attacked
us.”

A reluctant smile appeared on her shapely
mouth. A smudge of dust decorated one creamy cheek, making Alrick
itch to brush it off. He restrained himself. “Think positive.”

She laughed. “You sound like my mother.
That’s been her mantra for years.”

He found himself grinning back. But the
momentary lack of attention to his mount nearly cost him. Suddenly,
TM reared, pawing the air, blowing hard out his nostrils. Carly’s
mare skittered sideways, nearly throwing her off. Alrick was too
busy controlling TM to help her. But by sheer dint of will she held
on to the mane.

Finally, when he had TM calm once more,
Alrick rode over to her side. She regarded him with a mixture of
awe and shock.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. But you – that was something else,” she
said, her voice shaky. “You and TM seemed melded, as though you not
only rode TM, but
became
him.”

He shrugged. “I told you, I have a way with
animals.” Keeping his movements controlled, he gestured into the
empty hills. “We’ve got another problem. Something spooked TM.”

“Where’s Kayo?” Shading her eyes with her
hand, she searched. “I don’t see him. I never heard him bark
either. If there was something in the trees, he would have warned
us.”

“Don’t call him. Not yet.”

Giving him a distracted nod, she continued to
try to see in the shadows of the small copse of trees. Her mare,
restless, shifted from foot to foot. “Look!” Carly pointed. “What’s
that?”

Peering through the dappled underbrush, he
could just make out a slash of bright color. Purple or dark blue,
not a color normally found in nature.

“Not flowers. Maybe it’s a rag someone
dropped?”

“No.” Alrick knew he sounded grim. “It moved.
That’s what startled TM.”

“Moved? How? There’s no breeze.”

“Maybe it’s Kayo.”

“If it was, why hasn’t he come back to us?
This doesn’t look good,” she muttered.

Privately, Alrick agreed. “Wait here.” He
slipped from TM’s back and handed the rope to Carly. Slipping into
the small glade, moving from tree to tree, he approached the
object, which now appeared to have gone still.

Once he got close enough, he used a large
bush for cover while he studied it. For all intents and purposes,
it looked like someone had tossed a threadbare purple blanket over
a lumpy pile of belongings.

Then the thing moved again.

And Kayo came crashing into the clearing,
barking.

Behind him trailed a scrawny, bedraggled male
child of seven or eight summers. He wore an odd type of clothing,
unlike anything Alrick had seen in Rune or here. His hair was an
odd burgundy color, a shade that would render him noticed anywhere
he went.

Kayo spotted Alrick and, wagging his tail,
stopped barking. The boy, who hadn’t noticed Alrick yet, crossed to
the lumpy pile and gently peeled away the blanket.

Another child, an older girl with ashen skin,
lay still and motionless on the ground, eyes closed.

When Alrick stepped further into the
clearing, the boy looked up. He tensed and lifted his fists. “Stay
back.”

“Ease down, lad.” Alrick kept his tone
gentle. “I have no intention of hurting you. Who is this lying
here?”

“My friend.” Green eyes burning in his gaunt
face, the boy tried to sound belligerent and bold. “I’ll kill you
before I let you touch her.”

“We mean no harm.”

“We?” Jumping to his feet, the lad turned in
all directions, his expression anxious as though he expected an
entire army to descend on him.

“There are only two of us. Myself and the
lady.” Alrick indicated Carly, just visible through the trees.
“This is her dog.”

Tail still wagging, Kayo barked once, as if
indicating agreement.

The boy took a step back, glanced at the
girl, and went still, his gaze shooting from Alrick to Carly and
back.

Alrick took this for a sign of encouragement.
“What’s wrong with her?” He reached to lift the blanket.

The boy charged him, knocking his arm away.
“Don’t touch her!”

The blow knocked Alrick back on his haunches,
surprising him. “You don’t look that strong.” Standing, he dusted
himself off. “What’s your name?”

The boy scowled. “My name is my own business.
As is my friend. Go away.”

His friend. Studying the motionless girl,
Alrick sensed great pain. Though her long blond hair was dirty, he
saw no blood to indicate a head wound. She must have a serious
illness then, or internal wound. Whichever, her plight was serious.
He could sense death hovering nearby, waiting.

“Your friend is in bad shape. If you will let
me examine her, I might be able to help her.”

As the boy opened his mouth to reply, Carly,
evidently able to see some of this and having decided to ignore
Alrick’s instructions to wait, crashed carefully through the brush,
leading both horses. Kayo barked and trotted over to welcome her,
tail wagging.

At the sight of her, the boy’s scowl
vanished, as did his bravado. Looking uncertainly from Alrick to
Carly, he tucked the blanket back around the thin shoulders of the
girl on the ground, despite the heat of the day.

“Who is this?” Carly asked, her tone soft and
non-threatening. “Good thing she’s in the shade. It’s pretty hot
out there in the open.” She wiped at her forehead with the back of
her arm.

The boy looked away and did not answer.
Alrick was startled to see tears make tracks in the dirt on the
child’s freckled cheeks.

“What’s your name?” Carly asked.

The child shook his head, sending his
burgundy hair flying.

“He doesn’t want to tell his name,” Alrick
kept his expression grave. “And he doesn’t want to let me help the
girl who’s so ill.”

“She is not sick,” the boy blurted, glaring
at them. “She’s been hurt. Wounded.”

“By the Warlord?”

The boy flinched. “How do you know him?”

“He’s after us too.” To Alrick’s surprise,
Carly crouched down and wiped the boy’s wet cheeks with her hand.
The boy froze and let her, his green eyes wide. More tears trembled
on his lashes.

“Don’t cry. Let us help.”

“You cannot.” The boy shook his head, his
chin jutting forth stubbornly. Then all at once, he lost his
fragile grip on his emotions, and began to sob in earnest.

Without hesitation, Carly gathered him close.
She held his stiff, skinny body, stroking his burgundy hair, while
his tears dampened her shoulder.

Alrick lifted the blanket. Ah, here was the
wound. A large crimson stain discolored the young girl’s abdomen.
“She breathes,” he said quietly. “Boy, how was she hurt?”

But the boy only continued to sob and would
not answer.

“Is she your sister?” Carly tried, her gaze
compassionate. The boy shook his head no, but his weeping began to
subside. He hic-cupped and, wiping his nose with the back of his
hand, pushed himself out of Carly’s embrace.

Above them, the bird continued to circle. If
it was a buzzard after all, now Alrick knew why.

The girl was dying.

One look at Carly told him she knew this too.
Catching his eye, Carly came closer. “Save her,” she whispered.

“I cannot.”

She lifted her chin. “You saved me. Take her
to Rune.”

He let himself touch Carly’s arm, wondering
at how much the touch comforted him, though he’d meant to comfort
her. “Would that I could.”

“You still have your magic. So we might have
to endure another freak act of nature. That would be worth it, if
you can save this girl’s life.”

“An earthquake or a tornado would take more
lives than save them.”

“We’re out in the middle of nowhere. Come on,
Alrick. Save her.”

“I can try…” He tightened his hand on her
skin, longing for more.

She allowed his hand to remain, reached up
and captured his fingers with her own, threading hers through.
“Please. Help her.”

Alrick tore his gaze away from the brilliant
green of hers to find the young boy watching them intently, his
eyes an identical shade.

When he noticed Alrick looking at him, the
lad stepped forward and echoed Carly’s plea. “If you are able, save
her.” The child’s gaze was as bright with hope as Carly’s. Hope.
Something he’d seen too little of in Carly’s face.

Though he knew any help he could provide
would be much too late, he could not deny either of them. “I will
do what I can.”

Dropping to his knees, he gently pulled back
more of the blanket. What he saw was not good. The stench of rotted
flesh made him swallow hard. Infection had set in. “You,” he
motioned at the boy. “Do you know where to get water?”

The lad nodded.

“Fetch some. We will need to clean her
wound.” Then, as the child scurried off to comply, Alrick called
after him. “Do you have a name?” But the boy vanished into the
forest without answering, Kayo trailing at his heels.

Carly knelt at the girl’s head. “She is still
alive.”

“Barely.” Alrick tried to keep his tone
light, but failed. “She lives, though I can’t see how.” He peeled
back the bloodstained cloth that had once formed a bodice.
“See.”

Her chest was a bloody mass covered with a
few strips of skin. Part of her rib cage was actually visible, and
one bone protruded at an awful angle.

Carly gagged. Turning away, her shoulders
heaved as she struggled to keep from vomiting. “Alrick,” she said,
her back still to him. “She needs a hospital.”

“No time. I will try to heal her. If that
fails, then all we can do is comfort her.” He smoothed tangled hair
from the dying child’s forehead, watching Carly. Always watching
Carly.

A sob escaped her. “Where is that boy with
the water?” The tears in her voice did not disguise her
desperation.

The girl’s breathing changed. Became a
rattle. Then silence.

Gently, Alrick replaced the purple blanket
and pushed himself slowly to his feet. “She’s gone.”

Shoulders heaving, Carly covered her face
with her hands. He went to her, unable to do more than hold her
while she wept for a girl she did not even know. He held her and
wondered what to say when the boy returned with the water and saw
his young friend had died.

Would the boy blame him?

From the corner of his eye he saw movement.
Keeping Carly wrapped securely in his arms, he looked.

The girl was gone. Vanished as though she’d
never been. All that remained was her purple blanket.

And the boy, left in search of water?

Too late, his skin tingled in warning.

Magic.

“Carly.” Though he pitched his voice low,
Alrick knew he had to make her understand the urgency. To her
credit, she stilled immediately, though when she lifted her head
from his chest, her face was still covered in tears.

“What is it?”

“Something is wrong. I sense magic.”

“The Warlord?” She pushed herself away from
him, rubbing at her eyes. When she saw the spot where the girl had
lay, her eyes widened. “Gone? Where is the boy? And Kayo?”

“What if he’s part of this? What if the
Warlord sent him?”

“Anything is possible. Though I can’t see the
reason.”

But though they search the woods, finding
even a fast-moving stream, they found no sign of the boy or
Kayo.

“He’s vanished too.”

Alrick nodded. “This must have been the magic
I sensed when the girl disappeared.”

“Great. So now we’ve got another weather
incident to look forward to. What’s it to be this time?”

“We can only wait and see. Hopefully these
trees will provide shelter.”