Amber
Chapter 7 - Walk This Way
@copyright Jean G Hontz
and Sharon Pickrel
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Fiona awoke to the siren call of her trump. Someone was trying to talk to her.
Again. She froze. Not here. Lights aren't on, no one's at home. Move along, the
robots you are looking for aren't here.... Finally, after what felt like hours,
the caller gave up. She took a deep breath and dared to move again. She rubbed a
hand across her aching brow.
She was in the shower, pondering who'd been trying to call her, when her
guardian sent her a warning. What was up with this? Didn't whoever it was have
something better to do than send creatures out of his version of hell after
her? She left the water running and dropped to her knees, commencing to crawl
across the bathroom floor. She needed to ID what and who it was. She didn't
dare reach into shadow to retrieve her blade or even clothes, for that matter.
She had a feeling if she did, whoever was searching, and that, she realized, was
what was going on, would find her.
Thank god Sal wasn't in yet. It was still fairly early in the morning. The only
way he'd figure in all of this was his penchant for trying to protect her, not
unlike Cayden.
She waited, huddled, still dripping and still stark naked, in a corner using the
same sort of mind numbing thing that worked with the trumps. No one home..
Little Fiona is MIA. Too bad. You missed her. Don't bother to leave a message,
she'll call you.
Then suddenly they were crashing through the windows into the loft. Okay. Well,
stealth hadn't worked. Now she reached for power, pulling it from every spoke on
the ring she wore, uncaring about anyone seeing that power signature, nor did
she care if she blacked out all of Manhattan. Then she disappeared.
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The tapestry in Cayden's mind burst into brilliance, Fiona's design burning into
glittering life, so bright it almost burned his mind. Then the blankness
blacked it out and all that was left was the pain exploding in his head, driving
him to his knees. Behind his eyes stars burned into points of red and orange
and he knew she was in trouble...gone where he couldn't follow her and in
trouble.
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She was huddled, still naked but now a lot less clean, in a cave. At least she
was dry now. She had no idea how long she'd been unconscious, but her head
ached, and she was shivering from cold. She'd have to risk reaching out with her
mind for a weapon and some clothes, not to mention food. She called up the
pattern in her mind and put in her order. Then she got stiffly to her feet and
limped toward the place where the light seemed a bit brighter. She'd have called
up a spirit light, but then she couldn't look for the place where the light was
coming in. She followed a barely noticeable trail and found an opening where
the cave debouched out onto the side of a mountain. What mountain? She didn't
have a clue. Waiting for her, just outside the cave, were clothes, some food and
a few weapons. She wouldn't be as heavily armored as Cayden had been the night
before, but with the ring she didn't think she'd need all that much in the way
of hardware. She needed the weapons only for the off chance magic wouldn't work
in this Shadow. But, since it appeared the ring had brought her here, hopefully
because it was safe, it seemed as if magic of some sort would be workable here.
And she'd been able to reach through for actual materials.
She drew on the clothes then fumbled for a piece of fruit and a breakfast bar.
She munched while she looked out over the horizon. Aqua colored sand stretched
out for miles in front of her. The sky was orange the clouds touched with olive.
The rocks she stood on were mauve.
She washed down her food with the quart of orange juice and wondered just where
she was. No idea. And her with no trumps. Dammit, she'd have to give up
showers. She'd never heard of anyone trying to pull trumps through the aether
but it was worth a shot. And, if that didn't work, maybe she could reach out
somehow. She didn't much like the thought of a long walk through Shadows with
someone chasing her. Although maybe the ring could take her home again, but then
would they simply be waiting there? Decisions, decisions. And she needed to
warn Sal. No telling what the timeflow was here compared to Earth.
She stowed the weapons where they'd fit then finished off the food. She pulled
on the boots she'd ordered and began climbing down the side of the mountain.
The secret to walking in Shadow was just that. To keep walking,or crawling, or
driving or riding for that matter. It was motion that was required. And so far
as she could tell, speed didn't make much difference. You just had to be moving
forward. It was something like walking the Pattern or the Logrus, only without
the veils of resistance and the sparks.
Just before she reached the bottom of the rocky defile she'd been sliding down,
she willed there to be a clump of orange violets beyond that next rock. When she
reached it, no such flowers were in evidence.
Dammit! Okay, maybe a jog. She headed off in a direction toward the rising
sun. She couldn't tell if there was any civilization here and she'd already
tried the ring, and it was on a coffee break or something, and not taking
requests, dammit. Maybe she'd burned out all its magical circuits. Maybe she'd
blown up Manhattan.
She gave it a little time and tried again. There, behind that boulder would be
a small lizard sunning himself on a rock. When she reached the boulder she
heaved a sigh of relief to see that her desire was made manifest. From then on
it was just a matter of sheer determination.
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"Cayden." It wasn't exactly a voice. It was something in his head, but then not
quite. He blinked when he saw a face coming into focus. It was sort of like a
mostly transparent photograph. As he regarded it, it began to take on some sort
of depth and was more a hologram. "Cayden," Fiona said again, looking at him as
if through some sort of picture frame. "No idea how long I've been gone. Is Sal
all right?" Fiona's face leapt into full feature mode as if she were standing
right in front of him, but with a backdrop that might have been painted by
Salvadore Dali.
He ignored the surrealistic aspect as a sheer distraction. "Fine. Where the
hell are you?"
"Bring me through and I'll be right there with you," she replied extending her
hand.
Yeah, right. He reached out and grasped the hand, feeling the warmth and
softness. Then he gave it a tug, the feeling of pulling something real and
weighted adding to the surrealism.
Then she was standing right beside him, fully fleshed. Her face was dirty,
she wore leather, black and deep blue, and a sword was strapped to her
waist. She held a playing card in her hand. When he glanced down at it he
saw it depicted him.
"Thanks. It is a long walk back from that close to the Courts."
"Really?"
"You're angry," she commented. "I'll leave. Thanks for the lift."
One of these days he was going to turn her over his knee. "The natural
follow up to terror, or so I've been told. What the hell happened?"
"Wait, what do you mean terror? How did you know..."
"I just do," he snapped, male aggravation in the face of feminine idiocy
breaking through. "What. The. Hell. Happened."
Female irritation at the male imperative showed itself. "Some creatures came
at me. I had to get the hell out of there, or let them skewer me. I suppose
that's all right with you? Or should I have taken the time to give you a
ring so you'd know what was going on?"
"Be careful Fiona," he said, his voice soft and dangerous. "Right now I
want to shake you so hard your teeth will never stop rattling. Just because
you can't handle being cared about doesn't mean it doesn't happen. And no
matter what you think, I'm not stepping on your feminine independence or
whatever the hell you want to call it."
Her eyes narrowed. "Maybe you'd better explain to me how it is you knew I
was in trouble the moment I learned it."
He wanted to laugh. "Stop being afraid of me. I don't spy on people. I
know because power is real to me. I see it, hear it and feel it. When it's
used I know it and when it disappears I know it."
"Well, someone is spying on me. How else to time an attack to hit the
moment I'm totally vulnerable," she replied. "Where are we?" she asked,
looking around.
He leaned back against the dresser, biting back a smile he knew would get
her riled and folded his arms across his chest. "Guess."
"Oh," she said, looking behind her and seeing his bed.
"You got it."
She flushed. "I guess I wasn't gone long then, so that's good. If you were
worried you didn't have to be worried for long," she tried tentatively. "I
got in touch the moment I could. The trumps don't work too well when I'm
that close to Chaos. I had to walk through Shadows for a bit before they
gave me a good connection."
"A couple of days. Not as long as last time."
"Oh. Sorry. For me it's only been a few hours. How bad was my loft blasted?
Most of it was me, I'm afraid."
"So I deduced. You're definitely going to need to dust."
"I hate to dust," she muttered, and swayed a bit on her feet. "I should be
going. I'm sorry I worried you. But if they're watching me this isn't a
good idea."
He reached out to steady her. "Give it a rest, damn it. We've been through
this a dozen times. You'll stay here. It's safer. I'll have Henry get a
room ready, send up some food. Until then you can sleep in here."
She eyed him a moment then nodded. "I've got to figure out what's going on
so I can stop reacting and instead act. I've got to think, consider what
this means. Try to figure out how they're watching me..."
"Right now all you need to do is rest. I'll get Lynne to lend you some
clothes. There's a bathroom through that door, clean towels in the
cupboard." He stood up straight. "If you need anything else, the house
phone is the white one, the other will dial out."
She paled. "I could be putting Lynne and her baby at risk."
"No you're not," he said. "No one could possibly know you're here and this
house is a fortress. Stop worrying."
She nodded. "Thank you, Cayden. I'm not used to, well, asking for help. And
I'm almost as bad at accepting it."
"I know," he said as he slipped out the door. "I'm getting used to it."
Fiona watched him leave and sighed. She walked over and fell onto the bed,
keeping her sword in her hand she was asleep in an instant.
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