Crystal Enchantment Read online

  She picked up the comm to see if he might be on the bridge, but she was told that he wasn't, so she went to check his cabin, which was just down the hallway from her own. He answered her knock very quicklyjust as the boat was lifted suddenly.

  Jalissa put out a hand to steady herself against the door frame, but Miklos slid an arm around her and drew her inside. "We're just coming out of the harbor. The boat will settle down in a few minutes."

  He led her to a chair and released her. She sank into it, but would rather have had his arm around her. She hated herself for feeling so safe and protected with this man she couldn't trust. It seemed that she'd become too Vantran: unwilling to accept any weaknesses in herself.

  "I've been thinking about our plan to go into the town and try to blend in," she told him, trying to ignore both the boat's movements and the remembered feel of his arm around her.

  "You said that I would have no problem fitting in, so I think that I should go into the town alone. My crystal will still work even if it's concealed, and if I'm careful, they may not realize I'm using it."

  "No!" he said, rather more sharply than she would have expectedand apparently more sharply than he'd intended. "I won't put you at risk."

  "But you said that the Dradars aren't hostile," she pointed out.

  "I didn't say the same about this Warlock." "Miklos, I'm Tevingian. He'll see that immediately and he'll trust me."

  He said nothing as his green eyes bored into her.

  "The problem is that you don't trust me," she said softly. "I have to trust you if I send this message. You could easily change it and use it to build a case to discredit me."

  His expression altered slightly, and it seemed to her that he was surprised. But was he surprised that she should have guessed his intentionsor had that never been his plan?

  "If I wanted to discredit you, I already have evidence: your act with the Daks."

  "An act you yourself suggested," she flung at him angrily. "Miklos, you know that what I'm suggesting makes sense. There's no way you can disguise yourself adequately, and if we find him, he will know immediately that you're Vantran."

  "I will consider it," he said begrudgingly.

  "Fine," she stated as she got to her feet. "I'm going to my cabin to write that message."

  Nearly an hour passed before there was a knock at her door. During that time, Jalissa had composed her message. Most of it was very straightforward. She said that she was virtually certain that the man they sought was in fact a Warlock, and therefore the Coven must still exist. She said that it could not be assumed that his attempts to foment rebellion had the Coven's blessing, but that she hoped to determine that when she found him.

  Then she finished with a reference to the High Summer festival she would soon be attending, adding that she wondered if the Dradars played certain games she mentioned by name.

  The message would go to Malvina, and would definitely establish that it came from her. The games in question involved magic, and despite their Tevingian-sounding names, were played nowhere else but among the Coven. When she read it, Malvina would realize that Jalissa now knew that she too was a Witch.

  Jalissa opened the door and found Miklos there. She stepped aside to let him enter, then gestured to the small table. "I have written my message. It is to go to Malvina Taran, a Deputy Administrator at Trans/Med. She's also Tevingian, and will recognize those games as being ones that we both played as children at High Summer festivals."

  As he picked up the message and read it, a sudden thought struck Jalissa. By sending the message to Malvina, she could well be casting suspicion on her. Why hadn't she considered that?

  Perhaps it didn't matter. If the Special Agency discovered that Jalissa was a Witch, every Tevingian in the Federation services would soon be suspected as well.

  He folded the note and put it into his pocket. "I'll send it immediately." Then he regarded her solemnly.

  "I have decided to let you do as you've suggested, though I still don't like it. Have you considered just how dangerous this Warlock could be, Jalissaespecially if he's acting on his own? The fact that you're Tevingian may not make a difference. In fact, he might well believe that the Coven has sent you after him."

  "I realize that, but it's a chance I must take. Regardless of whether he's acting under Coven orders, I don't believe he would harm me."

  "Just as a precaution, I'm sending one of the ship's crew with you. He can pass easily enough for a Dradar, and he'll pretend to be a deaf-mute. According to the captain, such defects are not uncommon on this world, given their excessive inbreeding and lack of modern medical technology."

  "Where is he from?" Jalissa asked, unhappy at this turn of events but unable to think of a way out of it.

  "His father is Tevingian, but his mother is from Tarlogga. Fortunately for our purposes, he looks Tevingian."

  "That should work, then," she said, wondering how she could manage to get rid of the man. If he were Tevingian, she wouldn't be too concerned, but a man of divided loyalties couldn't be trusted.

  Miklos was pacing restlessly around her cabin, his usual Vantran reserve nowhere in evidence. Jalissa regarded him curiously, wondering what it was that was bothering him so. Probably he disliked being forced to stand aside while she went to seek the Warlock. It was undoubtedly a novel situation for a Special Agent.

  Suddenly, he stopped and stared at her. "Are you doing this because you feel you have to prove something?"

  Startled, she shook her head. "What would I want to prove?"

  His green eyes continued to bore into her, and then he shook his head and made a dismissive gesture. "Nothing."

  He turned abruptly and walked out of her cabin, leaving her to stare after him in confusion. Did he believe she felt the need to prove her braveryor her loyalty to the Federation?

  The more she thought about it, the more she was inclined to think it was the latter. He might well have guessed that she knew of the Special Agency's suspicions, and was undertaking this mission to prove that her loyalties lay with the Federationnot the Coven. Even as a Tevingian, she would be suspected of divided loyalty when it came to the matter of the Coven.

  And if that was what he suspected, he was right, she thought uneasily. Her loyalties were badly torn right now. She wanted to protect the Covenbut she also wanted desperately to prevent a war that could destroy the Federation.

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  Jalissa did not see Miklos again until he appeared at her side as the boat made its way through choppy seas into the more serene waters of a small cove. Off to the starboard side, the land bulged out, making it impossible to see beyond the low, thickly forested hills. Presumably, the town lay in that direction.

  The cove was a pleasant place, where the waters lapped gently at a narrow strip of duncolored sand. When Miklos appeared, she asked him if the strip of beach continued all the way to the town.

  "Yes. That's the way you'll take. As soon as you get around that bend, you should be able to see it, though you'll have to walk several miles. Do you have your stunner?"

  She nodded. In fact, she had two of them, one in each pocket of her long, full skirt. She was dressed in coarse, dark clothing, topped with a thickly padded and unpleasantly bulky jacket, the crystal now resting between her breasts beneath the clothing. On her feet were heavy leather boots. She felt awkward and clumsy, but didn't doubt that she would fit in with the native population. Even her lustrous black hair had been plaited into two thick braids in a style common to women of this world.

  Miklos looked her up and down approvingly. "The costume is perfect. Just remember that women here are inclined to be submissive." He added the last with a definite gleam of humor in his eyes, then added that she should take care to walk several paces behind the soldier who would be posing as her husband.

  "Avoid making eye contact with anyone, especially men. No Dradar woman would do that. Your safety lies in the fact that the town will be crowded and a lot of th
e townsfolk will be drunk. As long as you do nothing to draw attention to yourself, you shouldn't have a problem."

  "What about money to buy food and such?" she asked.

  "Canar has that. As your husband, he would make any purchases. Ahh, here he comes now."

  Jalissa saw a man coming toward them, dressed much as she herself was, except that he wore slim-fitting pants. He was only a few inches taller than she was and slim, and his features showed none of his Tarloggan heritage. Miklos introduced them, then indicated a small boat that was being hoisted from its cradle at the stern.

  "We'll go ashore in that."

  "'We'?" she queried, fearing that he'd changed his mind about coming along.

  "I'll wait on the beach. The boat will sail back up the coastline and return for us. If it hung about here, it could arouse some suspicions."

  "But what about you?"

  "I'll haul the boat out of the water and hide it in the woods, then stay out of sight. I want you both back here by dark. Is that clear?''

  Canar issued a crisp "yes, sir," but Jalissa said nothing. Miklos turned to her, arching a blond brow questioningly. "Jalissa?"

  She ignored him and started to the stern, where the little boat awaited them. The three of them climbed in and were hoisted over the rail and lowered into the water. Miklos aimed the small craft at the beach, and within moments they bumped into the soft sand. As soon as they had climbed out, he told Canar to drag the boat into the woods far enough that it couldn't be seen from the water. Then he turned to Jalissa.

  "I want you to promise me that you'll stay with himand come back here before dark."

  "Stop giving me orders, Miklos! You're beginning to sound like a native."

  A smile flickered across his face, then dissolved into seriousness again. "I'm only thinking of your welfare."

  "I'm quite capable of thinking about that for myself."

  He lifted a hand and touched one of the thick braids that curved around her neck and fell nearly to her breasts. She drew in her breath sharply and her eyes raised to meet his.

  "Are you angry about what happened on Dakton?" he asked softly, his fingertips now grazing her cheek.

  "No," she said huskily as the images floated in her mind's eye and her bones began to melt from the heat that was spreading through her.

  He began to lower his face to hers and her lips parted eagerly, already feeling his imprint. Then he suddenly glanced behind her and quickly straightened up again. She turned and saw Canar coming out of the woods toward them.

  Jalissa turned just before they rounded the curve on the beach, and saw that he was still there, watching them. Then she put up a hand to touch her lips, thinking about the kiss that hadn't happened and knowing that if circumstances had been different, the kiss would have been only a prelude.

  Then she turned away as Canar emitted a low whistle. In the distance, they could see the town, sprawling across a series of low hills. But it was the harbor that had drawn his attention. It was completely filled with boats, so close together that it appeared from here that the occupants could simply walk from one deck to another all the way across the huge harbor.

  "I guess we don't have to worry about anyone paying much attention to us," he said as they continued to walk along the beach. "I wonder if the 'Warlock' will be there."

  Jalissa noted the derisive way he spoke of their quarry. "Were you raised on Tevingi, Canar?"

  "No, on Tarlogga. But my father used to talk a lot about the Coven. It seems to me that anyone from Tevingi could imitate a Warlock pretty well."

  "That may be true, but Mik . . . Agent Panera and I believe this man truly is a Warlock. And that could make him very dangerous."

  He half-sneered. "Warlock or not, I'll get him."

  Jalissa came to a stop, and after taking a few more steps, he did too. "We are to bring this man back alive, Canar. Surely Agent Panera told you that."

  "He didbut he also said that if I had to kill him to protect you, that's what I should do."

  "I'm sure that won't be necessary," she stated firmly. And by the time they reached the town, she had decided that she had to find some way to get free of this over-zealous soldier. It was clear to her that not only couldn't he be trusted, but he had also taken Miklos's orders too much to heart.

  The town was as crowded as they'd expectedand then some. Jalissa had more trouble than she'd anticipated in portraying herself as a shy Dradar woman. Accustomed to walking tall and erect, she constantly had to remind herself to adopt the hunched, head-down manner of walking that she noted in the women they passed.

  Furthermore, the noise level was horrendous. People were talking excitedly, merchants were hawking their wares and children ran free, creating their own distinctive noise. Her crystal proved to be of only limited use as she strained to catch the translations of those speaking around her. Under ordinary circumstances, the crystal would translate the speech of only the person to whom she was addressing herself; now she was forced to try to filter out the background noise in order to hear anything.

  Words and phrases came to her, but as they moved through the crowds, she heard nothing about a Warlock. Still, it seemed likely to her that he would show up here. On a world where people rarely gathered in large groups, this could be his only opportunity. He wasn't likely to try to travel the seas from boat to boat.

  Market stalls were everywhere, and items were being offered from individual homes as well. Jalissa saw some lovely weaving, and was entranced by a stall filled with tiny carvings of people and animals. At first, she didn't know what they were made of, but then she realized they must be fish bones. The workmanship was wonderful and she tugged at Canra's sleeve as he scanned the crowds, clearly uninterested in the wares being offered.

  "I'd like to buy a few of these," she told him, speaking softly in Tevingian.

  Without bothering to turn to her, he withdrew a pouch containing gold coins from his pocket and handed it to her. She approached the slender, dark-haired youth behind the stall and indicated her selections, then asked the price. The youth's gaze went from her to her "husband" in surprise. She hurried to explain that he was a deaf-mute, and the young man nodded, then told her the price. She added an extra coin, and told him that they'd heard a rumor that a Warlock would be here, saying she hoped that he might cure her husband of his terrible affliction.

  "A Warlock?" he said in surprise, drawing Canar's attention. Jalissa shot Canar a warning glance, reminding him that he shouldn't have been able to hear the merchant's words.

  But the young man apparently didn't notice as he called out to a man at the next stall, repeating her words. Jalissa winced. She knew how word traveled, and now, thanks to her mistake, she'd be hearing a rumor she had started. She hurried on, forgetting that she was supposed to be following Canar instead of leading him. He caught up with her quickly and leaned close to her.

  "You shouldn't have done that. Now we won't know if what we hear is true."

  "I know," she replied. "I didn't think until it was too late."

  Rather to her surprise, he grinned. "I'm not very good at being deaf either. Agent Panera would have both our hides. Have you heard anything at all?"

  She shook her head. "It's very difficult for the crystal to work properly in such a crowd."

  "What did you tell him when you asked about a Warlock?" She explained and he nodded. "That's good thinking. If he does show up, we can use that to get to him."

  "Not if you continue to forget that you're supposed to be deaf." She smiled, giving back to him the bag of coins from which she'd managed to extract a few for herself.

  They continued to stroll through the town, moving slowly through the ever-thickening crowds. Within an hour, Jalissa was growing tired and uncomfortable in her bulky clothes and stiff, heavy boots. They bought food and drink at a stall, and found a spot to sit down on an old stone wall that lined the market square. Canar kept an eye on the crowds while she lowered her head shyly and concentrated on listening to the talk
around them.

  Suddenly, Canar grabbed her arm and pointed. She looked in the direction he indicated and saw a group of people crowding eagerly around an older man, who was gesturing wildly. They both got up and hurried over. As they reached the edge of the group, Jalissa saw an old woman make the sign of the Coven. Then the people began to move together off down a narrow street. Following along in their wake, Jalissa strained to catch their talk.

  Canar needed no translation. The words "Warlock" and "Coven" were being shouted by everyone as they poured through the street. Jalissa turned and saw that even more people were now following them.

  Within moments, they were caught up in the eager, pushing mass of Dradars, and Jalissa saw her opportunity to get away from Canar. When they reached a corner and turned, she slipped out of the crowd and darted into the narrow space between two buildings. There was no way Canar could turn and follow her, even assuming he knew she'd left the crowd.

  She peered out from her hiding place, astounded at the number of people now hurtling past, eager expressions on their faces. She could only hope that it wasn't a false alarm precipitated by her earlier question to the merchant.

  Withdrawing more deeply into the shadows until she couldn't be seen at all from the street, Jalissa composed herself. She had no idea where the people were going, and so decided to 'port herself up onto the hillside above, where she hoped she could see better.

  She closed her eyes, willed herself thereand she was there. After quickly checking to see that no one was around to see her suddenly materialize, she looked down on the central part of the town. The crowd she'd been part of wasn't difficult to spot. The lead group had reached another, wider street and was now headed up the hillside toward her.

  Jalissa scanned her surroundings once again, and this time saw what appeared to be an open space, a sort of meadow, not far away.