Robin Owens - Protector of the Flight

She rubbed up his neck, all the while realizing that he was extraordinary, felt more than horselike. His wings fluttered against the back of her calves, causing an amazing feeling to well up inside her. As if here, on the back of this volaran, was her true destiny. For a moment she just sat, eyes closed. He didn’t smell horselike, but sweet and musky, like some crumbling amber she’d once had.

Interesting, he said. The neck muscles under her hand moved and she opened her eyes to see him staring at her. He whinnied. You feel good, you have great Power. Let’s go. He lifted his wings.

Calli’s stomach dipped. One moment. She scanned the area. The courtyard was huge.

Now she’d see if he’d obey her. Back for a running start.

Don’t need a running start.

Again she stilled, let the beginning of her day rerun in her head, how she’d risen with pain, negotiated the steps, called for her horse…the emptiness she’d felt for months at not riding. Then she settled back, brought her legs forward slightly, squeezed and released. Back.

The volaran backed, she even turned him so they had all the courtyard ahead of them. Her mind seemed to touch his and it was almost as if they were one creature and not two. He was calm and a little amused.

“Good going!” Marian called. She and Jaquar had stayed near the door of the big square building with the large round corner towers. All along the courtyard people showed up in the walks to watch. Calli thought she saw money changing hands. She chuckled. Maybe not too different from Ea—Colorado after all. For a dream.

Finally, they stopped in the shadow of the huge white round temple behind them. At the opposite end of the courtyard was a three-story building with two small towers.

Another big breath. Soon she’d find out just how well she’d healed. The courtyard was paved with large gray stones. She leaned forward, whispering in the volaran’s ear and in its mind. Ready to run?

Yes.

Go!

He ran. Elation flooded her. No pain! More, the volaran’s gait was smooth, his body powerful under her. Strength and vitality flowed from hindquarters to neck, sifting down to his wingtips. She felt his energy mingling with her new extra sense. Before they were halfway down the courtyard his wings lifted, caught the air and they were soaring!

Calli gasped as they cleared the buildings, gasped again as she saw an additional courtyard beyond the one that held the temple. They flew high, angling toward the sun, and the moment was so huge, so incredible that it sank into her forever like she’d been gilded with sunlight.

Once again that day she lived in a moment of exquisite awareness, of total brilliance. The blue bowl of the sky dusted with clouds whirled around her and her mount. The entire universe centered around her and every wonderful thing in it focused on her.

She was life.

She was Power.

She flew.

Song filled her ears—wispy airs from the clouds, a hollow gonglike reverberation pulsing from the sky, a small, erratic Song radiating from the eart—planet below.

The planet is named Amee, said the volaran.

His Song enveloped them, laughing, exhilarated. He swept through a cloud and tiny particles shivered over her skin and cooled her.

She laughed to herself.

I am Gray-Clouds-That-May-Rain-Or-Thunder-Or-Clear.

The English name sounded awkward in her head—the name was more than an image, it was active motion. A sky billowing with gray clouds of infinite possibilities which might change any moment. A future of many paths hung on that name. She’d call him Thunder.

“Callista” meant “most beautiful” and until now she’d never felt she’d lived up to that name.

But now, now, as they rode through the sunlight and shadow, wind tearing her hair back from her face, caressing her body, atop the volaran, Calli was the most beautiful woman in two worlds.

Finally she looked down and her gut clenched. She held tight to Thunder’s mane. The world below was green and fertile. And a long, long, long way down. What had possessed her to fly without tack? Yes, she, a wingless human did need something familiar to hang on to, even if it wasn’t as horse-friendly as it should have been.

She could almost hear herself go splat. Then she saw what she was flying over. Rolling green land. Fields. Woods. Manor houses. Villages. She thought a couple of towers and spires on the horizon to her left might be a small city. Land like this on Earth would be crowded with people.

Scents rose to her—rich and summer and humid, lush with verdant plant life. Not Colorado.

Was she dreaming? Or had she really fallen through that crystal to another world and was finally living the life always destined for her?

Too much. Far too many exotic, exciting experiences today. She nudged Thunder to circle and return to the Castle. He ignored her.

Panic twinged each nerve, though she kept an easy, calm and confident posture.

Thunder chuckled in her mind and she realized that flying on a volaran would take different skills. She was used to thinking through any demonstration of horse fears, staying positive. She wasn’t accustomed to some damn horse rustling around in her mind. With a couple of breaths, she settled herself completely. She was sure that she was the alpha in this situation, despite what Thunder thought.

With her legs, hands and mind, she concentrated on the pressure points of the horse/volaran’s body. Horses were prey animals, always aware of their surroundings. Calli didn’t sense that volarans here were as preyed upon as horses had been on Earth, but they would have prey instincts.

Humans were predators. She didn’t want to remind Thunder of that, she just wanted him to accept her as the alpha of the herd. The herd of two here in the sky. She kept her own concerns tightly reined. He might sense them, but he’d also see that she did not allow them to control her.

She reached out and touched the wing ridge of the side she wanted to turn.

He dipped.

She hung on and asked again for a turn.

He glanced back, lowered his head, licked his lips and made a wonderful, sweeping turn.

“Yee-ha!” she shouted into the blue, rubbing Thunder’s neck.

His mind melded with hers. You are most beautiful.

Soon a rocky promontory was in sight, and upon it, the Castle. She sighed, definitely ready to return. Calli noted how big the Castle was, larger than she’d thought. Frowning, she understood that there must be even more to it than the two courtyards she’d seen. On the land below it—what direction?—was a large town.

South of the Castle is Castleton.

Castleton, huh? Well, that made sense. And if Castleton was south, that meant they were flying east toward the Castle and had been flying west to the…great lake? Sea? Ocean?

The Circlets have Towers on the islands off the west coast of Lladrana in the Sea of Brisay.

Thunder seemed eager to please, now. His mind was completely unruffled, and completely accepting of her.

Calli tried more telepathy. I saw no one else flying.

The horrors invade from the north. Thunder tensed under her. He flew faster, tucked his legs close to his body. A prey animal making himself a smaller target. Whatever these horrors were, Calli got the idea that they ate volarans. Predators.

You will see, Thunder said. He quivered and his thoughts disintegrated into images and shapes and tones she couldn’t understand. True equinespeak that she could feel but not completely understand.

The Castle loomed bigger and bigger, with a wall about three stories high and the square building with four towers rising an extra two.

Awesome.

Most of it was gray stone, though part was of yellow, and she could discern the round white building of the great Temple.