Echoes in the Dark

Koz strode in, a big man with big bones. He was roughly handsome but nothing to compare with Luthan or Faucon. His face was animated, showing a lively mind behind the dark brown eyes. An Earth mind. The Lladranan body carried an Earth soul.

He greeted them, pulled up a chair and looked at Raine.

“Salutations, Koz,” she said belatedly.

Nodding, he said, “Hey.”

She found her fingers had twined together tightly. “Mirrors for my family?” was all she could force out.

He hadn’t brought anything with him.

8

Koz said, “Yes, I can establish connections with Earth through my mirrors. Links I think will even survive when the Dimensional Corridor shifts and Earth is no longer accessible from here.”

A mirror set in her father’s house! Or one of her brothers’, or even all of her brothers’! She hadn’t really hoped for so much. She gasped. Calli came and rubbed her shoulders.

Reality cleared her mind. “There is no way my father or brothers will believe in mirrors that suddenly appear in their houses, in talking mirrors, in any of this.”

“Doesn’t mean we can’t get something there, and you can’t check up on them once and a while,” Koz said. He lifted his forefinger. “However…”

Raine tensed.

“I can’t place the mirror or mirrors myself. Bossgond must do that.”

Raine’s spirits sank.

She’d had a few sessions with the most brilliant Sorcerer in Lladrana—the cranky old man. She didn’t think the CIA could debrief better.

“Sorry.” Koz gave her a half smile.

Marian coughed. “Maybe he’ll be reasonable….”

Everyone stared at her.

She shrugged. “All right, he won’t, but we should try, and right now.” Pulling out a small crystal sphere from her pocket she called Bossgond.

The ball hummed for about a minute, then came a voice but no image. “What! I’m working!”

“Koz and Raine have a project for you.”

A heaved sigh, then wisps in the ball solidified into the image of the skinny, wrinkled Sorcerer. He sat with arms crossed and listened as Koz explained what he needed.

Bossgond sniffed. “It will cost you.”

Raine had anticipated this, but anger spurted through her anyway. She jumped to her feet. “Cost me!” Glaring at him, she said, “Am I or am I not the one who spoke to you for hours about every little detail of my Summoning here and my life? Haven’t I given you masses of information about…stuff. My grandmother’s mirror that originally came from Lladrana. The Summoning. Living here on my own. Travys who had the innate repulsion.” She waved her hands. “Whatever. You should owe me!”

“She’s got a point.” Koz rocked on his heels, grinning.

“Excellent strategy,” Alexa said.

Another big sigh from Bossgond, though Raine thought she saw the eternal curiosity that marked a Sorcerer in his eyes. “You can locate your father’s home?”

“My father and four brothers.” Raine stuck out her chin. It didn’t matter that none of them would believe in talking mirrors or interdimensional communication. She wanted a connection to them all.

Bossgond let out an undignified squeak. “Five!”

“Yeah, tough,” Raine muttered. “I love them all, and they love me.” Even if there hadn’t been much understanding among them. She’d wanted to take the family shipbuilding company into the second millennium with double hulls and metallic alloys. The guys had insisted on staying with wooden sailing ships. She probably would have left the company by now, but that was all in the past. Her future, for the moment, was on Lladrana.

“I want to get a message to them that I’m okay, too.”

Koz gave a little cough, gazed at Raine, then switched to Bossgond. “I have an idea.”

“Ayes?” asked Bossgond.

Koz looked Raine in the eyes. “Are your father and brothers honorable men?”

Raine had rarely given that phrase much thought on Earth. Here in Lladrana it was important. “They’re known for always keeping their word.”

“Right.” Koz nodded. Again he swept a look from Raine to Bossgond. “What say we send the mirrors to their attorney. You know their attorney?”

“Yeah, I know him well.”

“You could locate his office,” Koz said. A gleam came into Bossgond’s eyes. He loved discovering new places of “Exotique Terre.”

Raine shrugged. “No problem. They’re a family firm, too. A family firm run by men doesn’t often change drastically. They’ve been in that building for twelve generations. The Lindleys were upstarts in Best Haven at four generations.”

She looked around and Marian anticipated her, whisking a piece of paper and pencil in front of Raine. With a few quick strokes Raine laid out the plan of the office.

Koz took the layout with a low whistle. “You are one good draftsman. Draftsperson.” He studied the map for a couple of seconds. “What if we deliver five mirrors to this attorney, along with money, saying it’s an inheritance from your great-grandfather’s lover’s estate…”

“That would be the Singer here on Lladrana,” Raine said. She still marveled that her great-grandfather had been an Exotique, the last one Summoned before Alexa.

“Yes. A mirror for each of your brothers and your father. To be hung in their living rooms for…say…three generations. With the mirrors will be some sort of payment. We’ll think of that later.” He waved a hand like a man who’s never known poverty. “Like helping convince my sister that I should be on the invasion force.”

“I can’t—” Raine started.

“How soon do you wish this project to be done?” asked Bossgond from the crystal ball.

“I have a stock of mirrors ready,” Koz said.

The older man raised golden brows. “Ayes? You don’t want to consult the Singer on her mirror, one that can be tuned to the Dimensional Corridor, too?”

Marian said, “You old fox. You just want Koz to do some research for you.”

Bossgond pursed his lips, said, “The Singer does not answer my calls to her crystal.”

“What of her Friends?” Koz asked.