Fractal Mode

Chapter 12

"No, that"s not it," Stave said, following her perfectly. "But the wind was taking your hair and skirt. Maybe if I try it up at the brink." He walked to the verge, faced out as she had, and tried the steps again.

The wind caught at him, as it had at her, and the sound of the sea seemed to grow louder. Stave danced-and it seemed almost that he was getting it. Certainly his tunic was flaring; if it went any higher she would have to avert her gaze. Then he misstepped, and teetered on the brink.

Nona screamed, and Cougar barked. At the same time, she exerted her magic, drawing him to her by a spell of attraction. Just enough to prevent him from falling outward. Stave caught himself, and dropped to the ground, catching his fingers in the sod for support.

Nona ran up, her heart pounding. "I thought you were going over!" she said, dropping to her knees beside him.

"So did I," he confessed. "I almost got it, but then-"

"Enough! Get away from the edge. Don"t dance any more. If-if you want something of me-"

He glanced into her decolletage as she leaned toward him. "I do. There is no other woman I wish to impress. But I think-I think it is f*******n. Get your bosom out of my face before I forget."

She straightened up, smiling contritely. She had come to him in genuine alarm, thoughtless of her appearance. The tunics of the theows tended to be too large in the neck region, so that women normally held them closed with one hand when bending forward. Certainly she had given him something to see! She was no longer embarrassed; the horror of his near fall over the brink had banished that. But she played the innocent. "f*******n?"

He got up and dusted himself off, then extended a hand to help her up. "Will you answer one question?"

Had he felt the faint presence of the Players? Suddenly she feared that he had. He might not have been able to attune well enough to dance, but he might realize that something was there. She didn"t want that. Neither did she want to discuss it, because the despots could be eavesdropping with their magic.

So she did not answer. Instead she stepped up close and drew his head down for a kiss.

She could tell by the way his body didn"t give that she wasn"t fooling him. He did suspect.

Then he put his mouth down by her ear. "I felt it," he breathed, his moving lips actually touching her ear. "I felt your magic save me. You can trust me."