Protector of the Flight by Robin D. Owens Read Free Book Online

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