Lone Star Magic (25 page)

“I can’t let you do that.” She hefted her
stick. “Side by side, dude. We fight them together or we go down
together. None of this `shelter the poor girl’ stuff.”

Alrick stared. “You refuse my
protection?”

Oh geez, wounded male ego. More birds,
circling, cawing. “We don’t have time for this.”

Tinth screeched and launched herself into the
air.

Above them, birds swirled. The hawk dived at
as many as she could, scattering them briefly, but despite her size
and ferocious nature, she simply was outnumbered.

Stabbing his stick into the fire, Alrick drew
his sword. When he had the torch blazing, he handed it to her, and
repeated the process with the other. Raising his sword in one hand,
he looked hard at her. “Get ready then.”

Her own torch gripped tightly, she raised it
and nodded. “I am.”

A flock of crows burst loose from a throng.
Moving in a swirling, black cloud, they dipped as one and
attacked.

Teeth bared in a grimace, Alrick leapt to
greet them. He swung his sword in a shining arc, torch blazing.

Carly braced her feet apart, mimicking him.
The birds surrounded her. She waved her torch, the stick connecting
with one, the fire with another. The smoke blinded her for an
instant and she concentrated on keeping the space around her clear.
She wished she had her Winchester. One shot and she’d bet the damn
birds would scatter and go away.

As if her thoughts were a gunshot, the crows
parted, retreating. The swirling throng of birds broke up, flying
fast, flying away, their cries fading in the distance.

The quiet was so sudden, so absolute, it felt
like a blow. Disoriented, Carly turned once more, still holding her
blazing stick out.

All at once, the birds had gone. Except
Tinth, who continued to circle in the clear, blue sky. Her screech
from high above them was a welcome sound.

“What the…?” Slowly, Alrick lowered his
sword. “What scared them off?”

Keeping her flaming torch raised just in
case, Carly searched the tree tops. “I don’t know.” They looked at
each other. They both noticed the ominous, gathering clouds at the
same time.

“The weather.”

“Crap.”

Now what? So far they’d had a tornado, a
flash flood, and a couple of fires. What else could a vengeful
nature throw at them?

The sky turned green. It seemed they were
about to find out.

“Let’s go.” Alrick tossed his torch to the
ground and stamped out the flames. Grabbing hers, he did the same
before scooping great handfuls of dirt to toss on the fire. That
out, they ran to the horses. Carly threw herself up on Merry,
unassisted. Urging her into a lope, then a gallop, they thundered
away from whatever repercussions the magic might have caused.

They rode hard, they rode fast. They kept
going until the horses were lathered and even then they only slowed
to a jog. Though clouds continued to gather and the odd green cast
of the sky deepened, nothing happened.

“Do you think we escaped it?” Out of breath
herself, Carly let Merry walk. Alrick did the same with TM.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s been awhile.” She couldn’t help
glancing over her shoulder. “Have you ever timed these things to
see how long the interval is between magic and weather?”

He looked at her like she was crazy. “No. But
we’ve ridden far from where we were. I’m hoping the weather will be
confined to that area.”

“Though I don’t like the clouds, I don’t hear
anything. So far, we always hear it first.” She listened again. “No
rumbles, no roars, nothing. Maybe we did escape it.”

A chunk of ice fell from the sky.

Then another.

Hail stones.

They were the size of quarters.

“No such luck,” Carly said. “We’d better find
shelter.”

“It’s just hail.” He caught a piece and
turned it around in his hand. “The horses aren’t worried.”

“Just hail.” She shook her head, brushing
away another small ball of ice. “Right now this might seem
harmless, but the way our luck’s been running, they’ll get bigger.
Around here when we get a hail storm, I’ve seen some serious
damage. They can be dangerous.”

Hail pelted the ground. The horses grew
skittish. Carly had to fight to keep Merry from bolting. Alrick had
similar trouble with TM.

“Dangerous—.” He shut up when an ice ball the
size of an orange took out a tree limb. “I see.”

“They can get even bigger than that. I’ve
seen them the size of grapefruits.” She looked around, praying they
were near some caves or something. Nada. “Damn it, there’s nowhere
to hide.”

TM reared as a hailstone struck him. The
ground was covered in white.The sound of falling hail grew to a
roar. They stung as they pelted her and Merry.

“We have the forest,” Alrick shouted, TM
dancing, the whites of his eyes showing. “Over there. Come on.”

The forest. As they rode pell-mell towards
it, Carly shouted at him. “What about falling tree limbs?”

“If I have to choose between getting hit with
a block of ice or dodging a tree branch, I’ll take the wood
anytime,” he yelled back.

He was right. Carly had seen the kind of
damage large hail could cause. Not only was it capable of taking
out windows and roofs, she’d seen hail stones go through metal car
doors.

They’d reached the line of trees. Quickly she
urged Merry into the woods, Alrick and TM close behind. As they
crashed through the undergrowth, she waited for her eyes to adjust
to the shadowy dimness – with the clouds blocking out the sun, the
added darkness provided by the trees made riding into the forest
like riding from day to night.

“Keep going north.” Alrick pointed.

“But the storm came from the north. We’ll be
going towards it, not away.”

“Through it,” he corrected. “Otherwise, it’ll
simply follow us. Maybe we can escape that way.”

As they plunged deeper into the thicket, the
sound of the hail thrashing the trees faded.

“Sounds like we’re outrunning it.” Alrick
brought TM to a halt. Beside him, Carly did the same with
Merry.

Under the canopy of leaves, the center of
this forest felt isolated, remote. “This feels like we’re in
another part of the state,” Carly said. “I didn’t know the hill
country even
had
places like this. These trees feel more
like east Texas, or at least east of here, like Conroe or
Cut-N-Shoot.”

“Cut-N-Shoot?”

“A town near Conroe. Liam had family
there.”

He nodded. “To me, this forest feels a lot
like Rune. Like home. Let’s keep going.” He urged TM forward.

As they moved on, the light grew brighter.
Above them, Carly could see blue through the twisted branches and
undamaged green leaves. The underbrush thinned, and ahead she saw
what looked like a sunlit pasture.

When they emerged from the thicket into the
field, a scattered herd of grazing cattle dotted the brown, grassy,
landscape.

“We’re on someone’s ranch.” Shading her eyes
from the now bright sun, Carly looked for the ranch house. She saw
nothing but rolling hills and cows. Trees to the south of them,
ranch land to the north.

“I don’t like this.” Alrick frowned. “We’ll
be too exposed. This is too open.”

“We can’t continue north.” Carly pointed to
the hills. “There’s sure to be a ranch somewhere that way. Most
people don’t take too kindly to trespassers.”

“Have you noticed everything has come from
the north? Someone or something, doesn’t want us to go that way. I
say we press on.”

She stared. “Are you saying you think the
Warlord’s been controlling the weather too? Can he do that?”

“I don’t know. But I have noticed a definite
pattern.”

“What’s north? What difference does it make
what direction we travel?”

He shrugged. “Maybe your future husband lives
that way.”

Future husband. Shaking her head, she studied
the hills north of them. “Then by all mean, let’s keep heading
north.” Without waiting for a reply, she and Merry moved
forward.

They rode on in silence for a few moments,
the only sound the quiet clip-clop of the horses’ hooves.

The sun blazed directly above them in the
summer blue sky. Waves of heat shimmered off the land, heat that
seemed magnified after the quiet cool of the forest.

“I’d like to get back where there are more
trees.” Alrick broke the silence. “We’re way too exposed here.”

She nodded. “This would make the Warlord’s
task of finding us much easier, though where we are doesn’t seem to
matter. He just shows up irregardless.”

“We’ve covered a lot of ground since the bird
attack and hail storm.”

“Far enough?”

He shrugged. “We can only hope.”

They found a leaning, three-sided shelter and
they stopped to rest. Near the shelter was a salt lick and a
half-filled, metal, watering trough. A rusted spigot on a steel
pipe fed it. “Definitely someone’s ranch.”

“At least we can water the horses and
replenish our own supply.”

“And we can let them graze.” Carly touched
her stomach. “Speaking of which…”

“I know. You’re hungry.” He grinned. “I could
use something to eat myself. Wait here.” He rode off in search of
food.

Dismounting, Carly led Merry to the water and
let her drink her fill. Holding the lead rope loosely, she let the
mare forage in the grass.

A few minutes later, Alrick returned. He took
care of TM first, giving him water and letting him graze near
Merry. There was a small, fenced enclosure near the shelter and
they turned the horses loose inside it.

They went to sit inside the shelter itself to
take advantage of the only shade. Still, the heat was
relentless.

“All I could find was pecans and a few
apples.” Spreading out the simple bounty on a rock, he sighed.
“Pickings are limited in a place like this.”

Carly grimaced. “I never thought I’d say
this, but I’d kill for a bowl of green beans or a hamburger and
fries.”

“Me too.” Alrick chuckled. “Not the
hamburger, obviously. But a salad or a nice pot of red beans and
rice would taste good about now.”

“Red beans and rice? I didn’t know you ate
Cajun food.”

He raised a brow. “Why shouldn’t I? Like
humans, the Fae come from all over. We also like fried rice,
fortune cookies, spaghetti, and sauerkraut.” He bit into an apple
with a resigned expression and chewed slowly.

The food litany made Carly’s mouth water.

“I miss coffee,” she reminisced. “And bagels
with sour cream. A grilled cheese sandwich, baked beans, macaroni
and cheese, garlic toast with butter.”

He swallowed, then played along. “Banana
pudding. A steaming bowl of vegetable soup. Lasagna.” Handing her
an apple, he reached for the nuts. “A peanut butter and jelly
sandwich.” Using a rock, he cracked the pecan shells one by one and
handed half the meat to her.

“Mexican food. Chips and queso. Cheese
enchiladas with white sauce.”

They ate their simple meal, all the while
imagining other foods.

When they’d finished, they retrieved the
horses and continued north, skirting the ranch house, breaking the
lock on a gate to leave their land, and crossing a dirt road only
to find they were blocked by a fence on the other side.

“Now what?” Hot, dusty, and exhausted, she
wanted to scream.

“We can jump it.” He eyed the earth on their
side of the fence. “We’ve got the advantage of a slight rise. We
shouldn’t have any problem.”

“Jump it? Are you crazy? TM doesn’t know how
to jump.”

“Yes he does. Instinct. He only needs Merry
to show him how.”

“Show him… Right. What about me? I’m not sure
I could stay on while she leaps over that fence.”

Alrick spoke with quiet confidence. “You can
do it. From what I’ve seen so far, you can do anything.”

She eyed him dubiously.

“I mean it, Carly. You won’t have a problem
in the world.”

“Why not?” Muttering under her breath, she
turned Merry and trotted down the road to give the mare a running
start. “Hell, Lance’s mother shouldn’t have a problem with
anything.”

They went at the fence at a gallop. Merry
soared over with room to spare. Leaning over her neck, Carly held
on to the mane and prayed. They landed heavily, but with all four
feet on solid ground.

“See, that wasn’t so bad.” From the other
side of the fence, Alrick gave her the thumbs up sign.

With a tight smile, she motioned back. “Now
it’s your turn.”

She watched as TM effortlessly cleared the
top rail. Alrick rode up to her, grinning. “Let’s go.”

The hills grew steeper the more they rode,
and the sparse trees a little more frequent, though nothing like
the earlier forest. The sun hovered on the eastern horizon, before
slowly sinking in a blaze of fiery glory.

Since they were so isolated, Alrick built
them a small fire. Above in the velvety sky, the crescent moon and
stars were clearly visible, unhampered by city lights, but
providing little actual light.

Carly’s sank to the ground gratefully. Her
entire body ached and even though she was used to working out in
the sun, without sunscreen, the day of riding had given her a bad
case of sunburn. Though the night air, while only somewhat cooler
without the heat of the sun, remained warm, she had chills.

“What’s wrong?”

“Sunburn. No problem.” Clenching her teeth to
keep them from chattering, she attempted a smile. “It’ll turn to
tan tomorrow. Always does, though the first night is always
miserable.”

“Here.” He handed her a cloth bundle of some
kind – a cloak or shawl or lap blanket – and she took it
gratefully.

“I saw some aloe vera growing over there. Let
me get you some.” Disappearing, he returned a moment later with a
large aloe vera plant. Squeezing the long, spiky leaves, she began
spreading the sticky gel on her shoulders and arms. “Thanks.”