LITMIR.BIZ

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do you have against volarans?” asked Calli.

      “I didn’t ride before I came.”

      “City girl.”

      “You got it. And since—” she scowled at the stables “—I’ve broken both my arms twice, I don’t care for flying. I. Fall. Off.”

      “Oh.”

      “I know you’re laughing.”

      Calli cleared her throat. “Did it occur to you that you might have better luck with different tack?”

      Alexa slanted her a surprised look. “City girl. No.” But she appeared to be considering, and her expression lightened.

      Calli, Marian and Alexa walked from the stables through Horseshoe Close and the Chevaliers who were in the courtyard all stopped and stared at them, many bowing. Calli followed Alexa’s lead and nodded to them.

      The walk down to Castleton was pretty and she found the town just that, an odd little place that wasn’t quite a city, definitely nothing like Old West ghost towns she’d seen, or the old center of modern Western cities.

      “More like late Renaissance or early industrial age than medieval,” Marian said.

      “You should know. But I wasn’t thinking in medieval terms, either. I want to visit a blacksmith and tack and saddle maker first,” Calli said.

      “Okay,” said Alexa.

      “Why don’t you have blacksmiths and artisans up at the Castle?”

      “We do.” Alexa shook her head. “But the best live in the city. Don’t want to be under the Marshalls’ and Chevaliers’ thumbs, I suppose.”

      “And there’s the fact that until a couple of years ago the Marshalls and Chevaliers usually lived on their estates—before the fence posts began to fall and the situation became dire,” Marian said.

      Calli sucked in a deep breath. “You’d better tell me about these monsters.”

      “We’ll take you to the Nom de Nom,” Alexa said.

      “The what?”

      “The tavern where the Chevaliers hang out.”

      “Oh,” Calli said.

      “It has trophies…heads and other body parts,” said Marian.

      “Oh.” The hollow tone was back in her voice, along with a nice sick feeling in her stomach. “I’m going to have to fight these things, right?”

      “Right. But I think you’ll find you’re a natural,” Alexa said. “We’ll train you…and when you Choose and Bond with a Lladranan, you’ll become a fighting pair. A Sword for offense and a Shield for defense.” Alexa tapped her chest. “I’m a Sword, Bastien is my Shield. I fight with magic and magical weapons. He protects me magically. Here’s the saddle maker, right next to the smithy.”

      Neither of those places looked like anything Calli had ever seen, though the inside of the small shop smelled like fine leather and wood. She spent some time drawing what she considered the perfect saddle, hackamore and other tack for the craftswoman who kept darting fascinated glances at her. It took twice the time it should have since neither Alexa nor Marian knew the proper Lladranan words for such specific items.

      All of them watched the blacksmith for a time. Marian and Alexa seemed to like seeing how he worked with metal and magic. The heat sizzled around them.

      Squinting up at the sun, Calli wiped her sleeve across her forehead. She judged the time as late morning.

      “She needs a cowboy hat. A Stetson!” Alexa cried. “We all need cowboy hats! Oh, yeah, I can see us now. The Exotique Gang.” She did a little boogie and her boots kicked up dust. Then she lifted a foot. “And some of those excellent cowboy boots, worked in patterns and colors and stuff. We need to show these people our cultural heritage!”

      Calli and Marian laughed together, and it felt really good to laugh with other women.

      Marian gestured to her robe. “Can you see me in a cowboy hat and this?”

      “Well, it can’t be any worse than that hat Bastien designed, which is all the rage.”

      “And Jaquar wears the original all the time and looks like a dweeb. All too true.” Marian shook her head.

      “It’s time you get tailored leathers, Marian. A cowboy hat and boots would complete the ensemble.”

      Calli nudged Alexa with her elbow. “You ever had a cowboy hat, city-girl lawyer?”

      Alexa scowled. “No, but only because I could never find one to fit me.”

      She was awfully small. “You could have had one made to order.” Calli didn’t say she could have bought a girl’s size.

      “Yeah, like I had the dough.” Alexa snorted, then jingled money—zhiv—in her pockets and beamed. “But I do now. I’m not leaving this place until I order a cowboy hat!” She frowned. “You have any idea how they make them or the design dimensions or what, Calli?”

      “I’ve worn them all my life, had a few droop with rain, freeze with snow and generally get trampled under hooves. I think I can give the hatmaker a good idea of what we want.”

      “Good, off to the leathers tailor,” Alexa said.

      “Combat cuirtailleur,” Marian murmured. Catching Calli’s expression, she said, “The fighting-leathers tailor.” Her lips quirked. “Naturally Alexa patronizes only the best.”

      “Oh,” Calli said. She walked with them three abreast on sidewalks along a spacious street, until they reached a large shop with wide windows. There she got measured for several sets of leathers and her blood chilled as she thought of fighting. Marian stood by and translated for her.

      Calli pointed to a pile of “leather” squares on the counter. “What are these?”

      Alexa glanced at them, went over and inspected the stack, flipped through and shoved each square at Calli. “Soul-sucker,” a thick gray lizard-like skin. “Slayer,” yellow with long yellow fur and strange round bare spots. “Render,” thick, tough skin with a black pelt the consistency of steel wool. “Snipper,” something like Calli suspected rhinoceros hide to be. “Dreeth,” a fine, thin but incredibly strong skin of fine snakelike scales “Dreeth?” Alexa looked up at the old, wizened tailor. “Where did you get dreeth? And how much do you have of it?”

      He bowed deeply. “Your Shield, Bastien, brought it in. We have an understanding.”

      “Serves me right for not paying attention,” Alexa muttered.

      “I will have the Chevalier Exotique’s leathers ready by this evening.” He bowed again.

      “Please send them to me at the Castle,” Alexa said, “and put them on my account.”

      “I’ll pay you back!” Calli said when Marian translated.

      Alexa shrugged, smiled and replied in English. “A gift. Many people will be giving you gifts to get in your good graces. Expect something from the Citymasters and the Singer, too. Let’s head to the Nom de Nom for lunch.”

      “You’ll love it,” Marian said and Calli couldn’t tell whether that was being sarcastic or not.

      10

      They walked up to a shabby, narrow stone building with a sign that changed magically from black letters on a white background to white letters on a black background.

      This was the place that held monster trophies. Calli didn’t think she was ready, but it would be better getting used to dead monsters hanging on walls than live ones attacking.

      Alexa said, “Acclimatizing you, Calli. The Nom de Nom is one of the main hangouts for the Chevaliers, so you’ll probably

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