Death of an Adept

"The reason I've called you all here," he went on, "is to hear from Taliere himself regarding our coming operations. Earlier today, he took time to examine the dagger I obtained from the Head-Master. After reflection, he has some recommendations to make regarding its future empowerment. Tao-iseach!

The old Druid set his fingertips together in a narrow triangle, regarding them with eyes the color of peridots.

"Each of the Lords Elemental has his own realm and his own tongue," he began, with ponderous dignity. "As a servant of the Wood, I have little grasp of the language of fire. Nevertheless, at the behest of your chief, I sought audience with the lord Taranis and was granted it after a fashion. No words passed between us, but I have been given to understand that the Great One is willing to look with favor on the prospect of renewing your former alliance."

This announcement drew murmurs of approval from his listeners.

"What must we do to secure this alliance?" Richter asked.

"Lord Taranis will dictate his terms directly to those desiring to take part in the bargain," Taliere declared. "In so doing, he will set his seal upon them, so that thereafter they may understand and obey his commands. To receive his instructions, the ancient methods of divination must be employed, as prescribed by the Druids in ancient times. The eve of the Winter Solstice shall be the appointed time, some four days hence. Listen closely, for this is what must be done."

Chapter Three

"I'm taking you back to my apartment first," Ximena murmured, as she and Adam embraced at the USAir gate in San Francisco after his late-morning arrival. "I want some time for us before I share you with my family."

She did not mention her father as they walked arm-in-arm to the baggage-claim area, chattering a little too single-mindedly about heavy traffic on the way in and the expected ordeal of trying to retrieve Adam's luggage amid the pre-Christmas crowds. It was only as they made their way out to the airport car park that she even skirted the unspoken question that lay between them.

"Oh, Adam, if I've learned nothing else during these past months, it's how much I miss your company," she blurted, as they wheeled his luggage trolley out of one of the car-park elevators. "I'm so glad you're here."

The glance she directed his way spoke volumes, as did the taut caress of her hand against his, just before she gestured down the next aisle in the car park. Feeling the tension, and all too aware of his own long-banked yearnings, Adam only smiled and said, "So am I."

Her manner turned brisk again as she directed him toward a black Honda Prelude neatly inserted in a space between two larger vehicles.

"Well, this is my current bus," she said, as she opened the trunk to accommodate his bags. "It isn't a Morgan, but it's never let me down."

One of the things Ximena had left behind her in Scotland was a yellow Morgan sports car, presently collecting spider webs under a dust-sheet in one of Adam's stableyard garages.

Watching her buckle up, he was obscurely glad she hadn't had the heart to get rid of it. As they pulled out of the car park and headed northward on the freeway from the airport, it was clear that she had lost nothing of her flair for driving.

"Thanks for not asking questions that I'm not ready to answer," she said over her shoulder, as she overtook a pickup truck pulling a sailboat on a trailer. "I'll make sure you don't regret this. Just promise me something."

"What's that?"

"Promise me that for the next few hours you won't speak of anything that doesn't apply directly to us. There's time enough for - the other."

He could not see her eyes behind the sunglasses she had donned before taking to the road, but her grip on the steering wheel was stronger than it needed to be.

"I promise," he agreed, and simply reached across to touch a hand to her knee before subsiding into companionable silence for the duration of the drive to her apartment.

By common consent, neither of them allowed any shadow of the future to intrude upon their lovemaking. Initially wary of giving full rein to his passions, Adam had been moved beyond words to find himself courted with a fervor equal to his own. Sheer physical delight, long denied by their separation, washed over him in a dazzling torrent. Temporarily bereft of all intellectual reservation, he surrendered blindly to their shared ardor, finding in that union a rare moment of release.

The intensity of that pleasure left behind a lingering glow of profound well-being, but precious as that sensation was, Adam would willingly have exchanged it for the burden of care he knew Ximena must shortly resume. Time was moving on, and there was nothing he could do about it. But if he could not keep her from the grief that lay ahead, perhaps he could still offer her a prospect of happiness beyond.