LITMIR.BIZ

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will drive instead.'

      `You don't have a licence so that's illegal, too.'

      `Is there a law for every action in this kingdom?'

      `Pretty much — and every reaction.'

      `Then you must procure a licence for me. Immediately.'

      `It would be faster for me to sober up, trust me.'

      `Very well, but just this once.' She grasped the side of his face and a tingling warmth spread from her fingertips, across his cheeks, down his throat to his chest and limbs until every nerve-ending fractured with energy. The buzzing in his ears faded and his mind cleared. `There.' She removed her hands. `The alcohol has left your bloodstream. You are sober and now legal.'

      `How did you do that?'

      `You have your magic, I have mine.'

      `Shahkara, we are still in trouble. As soon as Dad or Ike realises Jack's disappeared, they'll file a missing person's report. There'll be an investigation and they'll find blood in the house. We'll be suspects.'

      `Jack's blood will disintegrate once we burn him, but your concerns are not unfounded. As I said, you will only be safe when you're in hiding. The Taloners will try again.'

      She bent over Jack's body and held her fingers above his ripped abdomen. The torn flesh rippled to `life', crept over the gaping wound and fused. Only a slight, criss-cross scar was left in its wake. `This will reduce the blood loss in transit.'

      `You're like a superhero-wizard.'

      `We must go.' She bundled the corpse over her shoulder and gripped its head in her free hand.

      `There's blood running out of the…oh, yuck.' Max cringed as fluids dribbled to the floor. Nausea cramped his stomach and he yearned to run. Instead, he led the way to his Alfa Romeo coupe.

      `This is your carriage?' she asked as they reached the adjoining garage.

      `Well, it was Ethan's but, yes, it's mine.' Now.

      `Where is the beast that pulls it?'

      `It doesn't need a horse.'

      Fascination illuminated her face, easing his nerves, which made him wonder how she could touch him so completely with a beautiful but rarely-given smile.

      `Then what powers it?'

      He dug the car key from his pocket and clicked once. When the headlights blinked, he smiled at her. `You have your magic, I have mine.'

      Shahkara pushed, pulled and finally squeezed the cooling corpse into the boot. She wiped the blood from her hands before easing herself into the confined, front capsule next to Max. She glanced at him. How did he get beneath her skin so easily? He was like a spell cast by a runic mage.

      He was fiddling with a mirror above the broad front window but said,`Put your seatbelt on.'

      `I do not understand.'

      `Let me,' he said, reaching across her for something.

      She could sense his heart as it throbbed in time with hers, sending a skitter through her veins. And then alarm lashed her, as he bound her to the seat.

      `Release me!'

      Max raised his hands. `It's okay, I'm not tying you up! Look!' He pressed a button and the strap released her. `You can lock and unlock it yourself. See? We use them to keep safe while travelling. I'm wearing one, too.'

      Her head thrummed with confusion. `How do they protect us? Is danger common in these carriages?'

      `Not usually, it's just a precaution. It's a law. And it's a car, not a carriage.' He waved a tiny black box and the wide wall in front of them tilted upwards to reveal a large entrance way.

      What made the wall move? Magic or technology? On Gorias, they still relied on working animals to pull their carriages. She knew that had been Earth's dominant mode of transport three hundred years ago. Had the Taloner wars starved them of the progress that this world enjoyed?

      She shuddered as the carriage, car, roared to life and the panel in front of them lit up. Quivering vibrations rumbled through her. She gripped the seat. Only in the Twilight Mists had she experienced a similar rawness of energy and such throbbing power. The roar settled to a lusty purr as the car rolled smoothly through the open entrance and out on to the driveway. `What sort of magic is this?'

      `It's science.' He flicked at a rod and a small light clicked repeatedly as they turned on to the road they had walked along earlier. `Basically, the motor converts fuel to power.'

      `Fascinating.' She feared her tired body would be lulled to sleep by the soft humming vibrations, although the motion also caused a queasiness in her stomach which should keep her alert.

      He flicked at the clicking rod again and they turned on to another road. `Tell me about your world's magic.'

      `What do you wish to know?'

      `How did you remove the alcohol from my body?'

      `That was not magic but my Ainefire. It is a Taloner trait, an extension of my self-healing abilities. I can only use magic if it has been given to me, like the translation spell that allows me to know your Earthern languages.'

      `You can't speak English?'

      `I could not before arriving here. English does not exist on our world. It is one of your evolved tongues.'

      `What if the spell breaks? Will we be able to communicate?'

      `The magic vanished once the languages were embedded in my mind. They are now part of my consciousness, like any knowledge learnt at school.'

      `Magic is real! That's unreal.'

      She wondered again at this odd language, or his use of it, but only for a moment. As they entered a very wide road and their speed increased, she felt the need to give her full attention to gripping the seatbelt, particularly as many other fast-moving cars weaved this way and that around them.

      Not wishing to show fear, she kept talking. `But your world has magic, Max. There are lights that come on with a flick of your finger, and walls showing visions of far-away lands.'

      `That's really not magic, Shahkara. Again, it's science.'

      `They are the same — tricks that enhance human existence, though I suspect your science has been a greater ally against the Taloners. If they tormented your people openly like they did on our world, you could use your inventions to hamper them. For my people, the Elnara is our only hope.'

      `Elnara? What's that?'

      She bit her lip. Blast her loose tongue — and blast him for loosening her defences. `Nothing.'

      `Which means it's something.' He turned on to another road. `You can trust me.'

       She had little choice.

      `Is the Elnara a place or a force or thing that could be used against them?'

      `I cannot say.'

      `Is it a person or an object? You wouldn't say it's your only hope unless it could somehow thwart the Taloners.'

      `The Elnara is an ancient artefact, a death lantern crafted from the magic of Danu. It is foretold that once activated it will destroy all Taloners.' He already had parts of the puzzle; maybe telling him the truth was safer than letting him jump to conclusions. Or was that merely her justification for confiding in him?

      `Taloners everywhere? Your world and mine?'

      `I do not know, but I must activate it on my world to ensure the coven's destruction there.'

      `But if this artefact belongs to Earth, shouldn't it be activated here?'

      Regret nipped at her. `Our prophecies foretell of it saving our world — and our need is greater.'

      `But I've been attacked by a Taloner, and my mum and brother are buried in the Mount Gravatt Cemetery, most

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