Having demonstrated what he wanted, Chami had them pair up once more and practice the move first on themselves, using their fingers as he had done. Then, turning over the pillows and drawing a new rear target, he had them try it with real knives, taking great pains to ensure that they did not stab their own hands.
More stuffing flew out.
"He's good with them," Gryphon murmured to me.
"That's because he's a child himself," I said, sotto voce.
"I heard that," Chami said. "No appreciation."
"You appreciate yourself enough for all of us," I retorted.
"You wound me, my Queen."
I snorted. "After that demonstration? Not likely."
Chami finally called a halt to the practice. "Enough for today."
"That was cool," Thaddeus said, handing me back my knife in the correct manner, blade pointing away from me.
"Come on, Jamie," Thaddeus said, the two of them totally at ease with each other now. "Let's go surf the Internet. I want to check out how much a dagger like that costs and where I can one."
"You're hooked up to the Internet? Awesome!" Jamie exclaimed, trailing up the stairs after Thaddeus like an eager puppy.
Gryphon and Thomas left to make their rounds outside as Tersa and Rosemary went into the kitchen, chatting about what they had learned. Above it all, I felt the fullness of the moon calling, beckoning us. We could be answering its summons soon.
Chami plopped himself down beside me. "Your turn."
"Mine?"
"Try calling your knives to your hand," Chami said softly.
I stood up reluctantly, knowing he was right. Many of the things I had done had been in the heat of battle. Some, like channeling the energy through my hand and searing Miles's flesh, I doubted I could reproduce. Unless I was fighting, power and the use of power made me uncomfortable. Still, I needed to know if I could call my knife to me reliably, as I had called Mona Louisa's blade when she had tried to stab Gryphon.
I concentrated. The silver dagger came easily to hand. Nothing happened, though, with my non-silver dagger.
"How do you call the silver dagger?" Chami asked.
"I think of silver. How it tastes, smells, feels in my hand."
"Do the same with your other dagger."
I brought the blade close to my nose, inhaled the faint metallic smell, stuck my tongue out and licked the blade, concentrated on the weight of the dagger, how it felt in my grasp. I resheathed it along the outside of my boot, and knelt down with my hand a foot away and concentrated.
It came to my call.
"Nice," Chami said. "Try it standing up."
A more concentrated effort but still it came. I felt the force of it as it left my boot.
Amber, who had remained with us, watching, handed me his forty-inch Great Sword. With my strength, the weight was not a problem so much as getting used to the feel and balance of the larger weapon. The smell was unique and the taste different from other metals—old, with the smell of ancient battle and spilt blood, as if it had absorbed some of its prey's pain and power.
I laid the sword on the glass coffee table, stepped back, and called it. It flew to my hand like a deadly giant winged bird, hilt first.
"Give me your silver dagger," Amber said and walked to stand with the distance of the room between us, about thirty feet. "Gall it to you."
A pulse of power and it flew to my hand, straight and true.
"Wow," Jamie said from the stairs where he and Thaddeus watched with fascination. The small surges of power had probably drawn them down.
"I've never seen anyone do that before," Jamie said.
"That's because no one else can," Chami said dryly. "Try my knife." He tossed his silver stiletto to Amber, who snatched it from the air.
With a burst of concentration, I called it to me. Silver blades seemed to be no problem. I tossed it back to Chami and he snatched it with an easy flick of his wrist, sheathing it.
"Not too bad," Chami said.
"Not bad? That was amazing!" Thaddeus exclaimed.
"You must familiarize yourself with all of our knives, milady," Chami said, "so that you can call any of them to you should the need arise."
"It's a good suggestion, Chami, but some other night," I said quietly and sank down onto the beige sectional sofa.
Chami acquiesced to my wishes with a nod, seeming to sense my discomfort at being the core of attention, and drew the boys' interest from me with an impressive display of twirling stiletto play.
If Jamie and Thaddeus felt the edginess restlessness, the eager anticipation the rest of us felt as the witching hour of the full moon brushed nearer, they showed no signs of it.
When it was almost midnight, Chami asked, "Would you like me to speak to your brother about tonight?"
"Please," I said gratefully.
Chami explained Basking to Thaddeus in his simple didactic manner, much the same way he had discussed dagger-fighting techniques.
"Any questions?" I asked Thaddeus after he had digested the information.
"No. I'd like to see it."
That was good. We needn't spare anyone then to guard Thaddeus, Jamie and Tersa. They could be there with us, close enough to protect during the ceremony.
Chapter Twenty Four
We stepped outside and the night greeted us, caressing us with cool ringers of airy wind. The refreshing scent of pungent pine filled our nostrils as we went deeper into the wooded lot until we reached a little clearing freshly made. A few trees had been uprooted and some brush cleared, just enough for our little group to stand together under the round pale glory of our mother moon. Thaddeus, Jamie, and Tersa stood a little apart and to the left of us.
The others looked to me. It was time.
The one other time I'd done this, I had sort of stumbled into it and it had just happened. Now my debut official performance was to occur before my newly found brother whose secure world had just been ripped apart by the death of his parents, and then turned upside-down once more by my entrance. Then there were the men I'd taken responsibility for, whose very lives depended on me. Shortened lives, if I couldn't draw down the moon's renewing little flutters of light. Plain, steadfast Tomas whose smile lighted his whole face. Neat, proper Aquila who would not have minded dying after a last honorable act if the Council had so decreed. Sly, wicked, oh-so-deadly Chami who teased and pushed, but was sensitive enough to deflect attention from me when it discomforted me. No pressure. Sure.
They should have offered a course: Fundamentals of Basking 101. Maybe I'd suggest it to the Council next time. Right.
I took a deep, cleansing breath, then another, opening myself to the night, unfurling my senses, reaching out further and further until it hit against something foreign and familiar. Something thai was other like us, but did not belong. Then it was too late.
They pounced. Not on me. Not on my men. But on the one sure thing to stop me, to stop all of us: Thaddeus.
Sandoor held the sharp edge of his sword against Thaddeus's fragile neck as another man shoved Tersa and Jamie toward us, centering us all. There were only five men beside Sandoor. I wondered what had happened to the other two.
"Well," Sandoor purred in a deep rumble, "we meet again. "
"What do you want?" I demanded.
"What do you think, little Queen? To Bask to begin with. Do not let us interrupt your little tête-à-tête. Pretend we're not even here." He pressed the sword's edge so that it indented Thaddeus's skin, his voice a clear warning and command. "Continue."
Anger flared along with my power and I felt something deep and wild stir within me, my beast wanting out, snarling that I caged it still.