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A woman was with him, with pale hair, eyes and skin. Both of them were unnaturally beautiful, even more so than any vampire he knew. When the woman looked toward the male, he saw her pointed ears. Incredulity warred with other feelings. Fae. He was with the Fae. While they and vampires weren't outright enemies, there was no love lost between them. They did not associate.
Uthe closed his eyes, uncertain if he was dreaming. He remembered the battle, seeing the carnage all too vividly. But he also remembered more now. A cloak being thrown over him that immediately cut the sun's piercing effect on his body. The battle had disappeared, as if he'd been born away in a swirl of magic. He remembered opening his eyes briefly to see this woman, a quizzical, distasteful look on her face. He'd heard her voice, quiet and muffled like the falling snow. "Father, why are we helping a vampire..."
"What became of the battle?" Uthe rasped.
"Your battle was lost," the male Fae said. "Decisively. No surprise to you, I am sure."
"My brethren?"
"Some died in the battle. Those who didn't, their heads were removed by Saladin's orders. Your Grand Master allowed himself to be ransomed. He gave away Gaza in exchange for his life."
The fury from the battle field echoed through him. Saladin depended on Egypt for supplies for his army. Gerard had put a high price on his worthless life, and a Templar wasn't permitted to be ransomed. It was against the Rule. It didn't surprise him to hear that Gerard had refused to adhere to it, though it didn't make Uthe's anger over it less sharp. He imagined the men he knew, Manfred, Leonard... all of them lined up, the sword coming down. Jacques...
"I am glad my brethren did not live to see that act of cowardice and shame. What of the squire I tried to save?"
"He made a good accounting of himself. He died with honor, without fear."
Hearing that shamed Uthe. It shamed him to be here. Shamed him to be alive. Shamed him to be glad to be alive.
As if the Fae could see it, he cocked his head. "They are not your people, vampire. You do not belong on the ground with their headless corpses."
"They were my brothers. Are my brothers. They watched my back, shared my beliefs and ideals. That's family. Blood means nothing."
"An interesting thing to hear a vampire say, on many levels. I am Lord Reghan. You are in the Fae world."
Uthe frowned. He knew little of the Fae but that they considered vampires crass and weak enemies. "Why did you save me?"
"That dagger provided you protection from the sun, gave you an advantage over your enemies. Yet you sacrificed yourself to save a friend, a comrade in arms. It intrigued me. That is all." The Fae nodded to the sheathed dagger. "Where did you get it? It does not seem to have any spell work attached to it, though it bears considerable power. Which means that its magic came from the original wielder."
"Yes. Another vampire gave it to me, before his death. It was given to him by the original wielder. Why did you not take it for yourself?"
In Uthe's current condition, the Fae could still do that. It was possible he'd left the dagger near Uthe to taunt him. But the Fae didn't look interested in playing such games. The woman with him was a different matter. She looked at him with a detachment devoid of empathy. If she had her way, Uthe expected he would even now be a pile of ash on the field.
"The Fae already have enough power," Reghan said. "And stolen power is a punishment waiting to happen. Which is how I knew you did not take the blade away from someone unwilling to relinquish it. That type of gift must be bestowed to retain its power. There are those in the human world, magic wielders, who know of you. They claim you were never supposed to be in that battle, that you are committed to a higher purpose."
It was a secret that had been zealously guarded for decades now, since those first days with Hugh in the al-Asqa mosque. Uthe considered the Fae suspiciously. "That purpose is known to very few. Especially not to the current Grand Master. He ordered me into battle and I obeyed, because I would not leave my brethren to die alone."
"Despite your higher purpose."
"I prayed upon it. I believed it was God's will that I be in that battle."
"Perhaps that is true, because our paths have crossed, have they not?" Reghan studied him. "The sorceress wants you returned to your world, but not from where you left. You will be returned through the portal that puts you in France. She needs you to come to her at La Couvertoirade. She has home repairs that need doing. She says it will occupy you better than these endless foolish Crusades."
He could hear the irascible old witch saying it. He wanted to protest, but Reghan's implacable look said Uthe was not being offered a choice. Besides which, she was right, was she not? There was nothing left for him in the Holy Land now. The truest of the Templars had died at Hattin. They'd lost Jerusalem and they'd lost their way. Their Grand Master was despicably living proof of that. Hugh had made clear what Uthe's primary charge was and always would be, until it was done. It was time to honor that fully.
Reghan was back to studying him with his penetrating green eyes. In certain lights, they were like jade.
"You have my thanks for my life," Uthe said formally. "I am ready to leave whenever you wish."
"It shall be done," Reghan said. "Fare thee well, vampire. We will see one another again."
Chapter Four
Uthe came back to the present. Mortified, he realized he was collapsed against the Queen's legs, his head in her lap. Fortunately, Keldwyn's hands were upon his shoulders, easing him back.
"So did you see more than you did before?" Rhoswen asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty. I..." He needed to stand, back away, but had to accept Keldwyn's help for that. The Fae moved him efficiently to the bench again, but instead of moving away, he sat down next to Uthe, hip to hip, shoulder brushing his, a sturdy brace. "I cannot remember if I properly thanked you for my life, all those years ago," Uthe said to the Queen.
"It was my Father you thanked, quite properly. It was his doing." Rhoswen shrugged. "I had no reason to save a vampire. He had been watching you for some time, finding you an interesting anomaly. My father had obvious interests in the vampire race that most of us Fae do not have."
While her voice was neutral, disinterested, Uthe felt a ping of danger from the casual words. The slight shift of Keldwyn's body next to him was a warning of the same. Since Lyssa's father had been executed for his association with Lyssa's mother, it didn't take a wealth of intuition to know it would be a sore spot for his Fae daughter, even now when the sisters had apparently reconciled.
"So what is it you need, Lord Uthe?"
"I'm sorry? I thought you requested the audience, Your Majesty."
"I did. When you touched my hand the first time, at the edge of the forest, you said 'I need your permission to...' And then you fell silent."
Uthe ignored the reactive clutch in his lower gut. "I apologize, Your Majesty. I think I spoke while gripped by the first vision. It is not clear to me what I need your permission for, but as soon as I determine its nature, I will certainly attend to that." Yes, he was sure the Fae Queen would grant him multiple audiences until he could flounder around and figure out what he needed from her. The coil of anxiety grew, refusing to be blocked. "With your permission now, I will leave your company to see to my lady--"
Rhoswen reached out, clamped a hand on his arm and slapped the other palm against his forehead, a shockingly familiar gesture. But Uthe didn't have a chance to draw back or mouth a protest. It was as if he'd been sucked straight down into a tunnel and was falling through it like an insane vertical amusement park ride. Had Keldwyn ever ridden a roller coaster? A Ferris wheel? Had Uthe? He should remember something like that, if he had.
Lyssa's father materialized before him, mostly translucent but clear enough Uthe saw him pointing to a shimmering wall of gray nothingness. "There, Templar. The Shattered World. It will be safe there until your sorceress has found her answer. That is all. You will not see me again. Just as in your own world, the fewer connections you hav
e, the harder it will be for any other to trace the path you must follow when it is time."
The Fae shimmered. Scarlet fabric wafted between the two of them, obscuring him from Uthe's vision. A spray of sand, and then the fabric broke into pieces, floating through the air. No longer cloth, they became petals. Rose petals. Uthe was staring at a rose bush in the desert. The red of the petals dissolved like blood, drying up into dust and blowing away.
Uthe turned and looked in the direction the Fae had been pointing, that massive grayness. He realized he was wearing his Templar mantle, his mail and armor, all his weapons. The short dagger was sure in his grip.
Yes. It was time. He knew where it was, and what he had to do.
This time when he surfaced, he threw up Mariela's blood and the few things he'd sampled in the ballroom. Thank the Lord, Keldwyn roughly spun him around so he vomited into the hedge. If he'd splattered Rhoswen's dress with blood and tea cakes, he wasn't sure how he would have fixed that. That gauzy, moon glow fabric probably didn't dry clean.
Keldwyn held him until he nodded shortly, indicating he was done. The Fae handed him a handkerchief from somewhere on his person so Uthe could wipe his mouth. When he looked over his shoulder, he was surprised to see the Queen still there. She didn't seem out of sorts with him. She and Cayden were speaking in low tones, but she cut off the conversation when she saw Uthe was with them again.
