Jayne Castle [Jayne Ann Krentz] (35 page)

beside the fire. He was wearing only his trousers which he had kept on for warmth.

The firelight gleamed on his shoulders and was reflected in his eyes. There was something strange about

him tonight, something she sensed with every fiber of her being. Something had happened. Tonight he

was the Other. Everything in him that was opposite to her was suddenly starkly visible to all her senses.

Just as that realization struck her, Ridge got to his feet and came toward her. With his back to the fire his

face was in deep shadow. Kalena could see only the gleam of his eyes. She edged back as he came

across the room with the lazy stride of a prowling hunter.

Kalena looked up and knew beyond any doubt that a bizarre transformation had taken place. This was

not the man to whom she had bound herself, and yet it was Ridge. In the shadows he looked at her in a

way she half recognized, even though she had never seen such an expression on his face before. He

wanted her, but there was no sensuality in this male predator, only a hunger that fed on conquest and

violence.

"Ridge, you must stop," she breathed. She sat up and scrambled backward on the pallet until she was

against the wall. "Please, stop."

He didn't halt until he was next to the pallet. "Are you afraid of me tonight?"

Her head lifted proudly as she crouched in front of him. "Yes, Ridge, I'm afraid of you tonight."

"Why?" He sounded more amused than curious. But there was no warmth in his amusement. The

laughter in him was as cold and ruthless as the hunger in his eyes. All trace of the warm fire that

characterized the man was gone.

Whatever drove him tonight, it wasn't passion, Kalena knew. She had witnessed his passion, even when

it was laced with his anger, and never had he been like this. She had never seen him so utterly and

completely cold. Always before, Ridge had been a man of heat and fire when he reached for Kalena in

bed.

"Please don't touch me, Ridge."

"I can do anything I want with you." He said the words thoughtfully, as if the fact had just occurred to

him. He put one knee on the pallet and put out his hand to slide his fingers along her throat. "Anything at

all. I can take you and use you and when I'm finished ..."

Wild fear gripped her. Kalena was trapped between him and the wall. He was beyond reason. The gold

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in his eyes was frozen. Gone was the familiar warmth that characterized everything Ridge said or did.

Something was shadowing the fire in him, something that could turn water black and dim a firegel lamp.

Something that was a product of the darkening mist that surrounded the shelter.

"No, Ridge!" Kalena caught at his hand. "You're my husband. I wear your lock and key around my

throat. You are honor bound to protect me, not hurt me. I'm your wife, Ridge."

She thought she saw some sign of response in his eyes and hope flared within her. He was staring at the

amber lock and key with a faintly puzzled expression, as if a part of him sought to comprehend it.

"My wife," he repeated. His hand slowly fell away from her.

"My woman," he added in a harsh whisper. "My responsibility is to care for you ..."

"You would never hurt me, Ridge."

His eyes lifted back from the lock and key to her strained face. His frown deepened. "No," he agreed,

still sounding vaguely puzzled. "I would never hurt you. You belong to me. You're a part of me." He

shook his head as if seeking to clear it.

She was reaching him, Kalena thought. In some way she was getting through to him. Whatever it was

that had tried to control him was failing.

"Ridge, we must get out of here. Even if it means going through that fog. We must leave this place at

once."

And then all hope died in Kalena as the door crashed open, striking the wall with a violent clatter. A

blast of cold air shot through the small room. The fire on the hearth dimmed, but it did not die out

completely.

Kalena looked over Ridge's shoulder and wanted to scream, but her voice was trapped in her throat. A

figure stood in the doorway, a black, hooded cloak swirling around him. In the faint light she couldn't see

more than the shadow of a man's face under the wide brim of the hood.

"Go ahead, Fire Whip. Take her if you wish." The hooded man's voice was harsh and brittle. "I'm sure

my master would not want to deprive you of one last tumble with the woman."

Ridge turned slowly, as if the small action required a great effort. He confronted the apparition in the

doorway, his hand resting on the sintar in his belt. "Who are you?" he rasped.

"One who wears the black glass. There are more of us, Fire Whip, and we have need of you. There is a

need for the woman, too, but only for a short while. Soon she will be useless. So take her if that is what

you want. Perhaps when you are finished, I will enjoy some sport myself. It has been a long time."

The arrogant, derisive words seemed to free Ridge from whatever force held him partially in thrall. The

sintar suddenly appeared in his hand. He moved toward the cloaked figure in the doorway with savage

intent. "No one touches her but me. No one."

"I was warned you might make this difficult."

Kalena saw the blade in Ridge's fist begin to glow, and a part of her was violently glad. The fire in him

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was not yet completely quenched.

The figure on the threshold fell back before Ridge's silent advance. Kalena's flash of relief lastedonlya

split second. In the next instant a roiling black mist poured through the doorway, swamping the room

before Kalena could even shout a warning. The firelight winked out.

Kalena thought she saw a faint glimmer from the sintar before Ridge and everything was lost in the

whirling, seething mist. She opened her mouth to cry out as the darkness seized her, and then she was

flung into an endless night. All consciousness fled.

The first thing Kalena became aware of was the cold. The sensation was relentless, no matter how much

she tried to retreat back into unconsciousness. She had heard somewhere that one fell into a deep sleep

before one froze to death. But this chill seemed calculated to keep its victims awake while they suffered.

She opened her eyes to the pale gleam of a lamp hung high above her on a rocky wall. Starkly flaring

shadows danced on the stone around her. For a moment she thought she was back in the spa cavern at

Hot And Cold. But there was no warmth from the bubbling waters, and this subterranean room was a

different shape than the one in which she had been trapped several days earlier. This was a smaller cave,

lit by only one lamp. An arched entrance that had been hacked out of the rocky wall was sealed with a

barred gate. Beyond the bars she could see an uninviting corridor of stone that vanished into darkness.

Kalena tried to sit up and discovered that she was bound hand and foot. The hard, stony floor on which

she had been tossed like a sack was damp and cold. As she struggled to elevate herself slightly she could

feel the stiffness in her muscles. There was no way of telling how long she had been lying in the small

chamber.

"Ridge? Are you here?" She peered into the thick shadows cast by the single lamp.

"You're awake."

His voice came to her from the depths of a shadow formed by a large boulder on the opposite wall.

There was almost no inflection in his words.

"I'm awake," she acknowledged. "Are you all right?"

"I'm not bleeding anywhere and nothing's broken, if that's what you mean. But I'm not all right." He

shifted position, emerging slightly from the shadow as he used the surface of the boulder to brace himself

in a sitting position. He, too, was tied. Across the short distance of the chamber his golden eyes were

brilliant, but as unreadable as his voice. "What about you?"

"I'm not hurt," she murmured. "Just stiff and sore. Ridge, where are we?"

"I don't know. I only woke up a few minutes ago. That black mist that came through the door ..."

"It was like the mist that trapped me in the pool caves at Hot And Cold."

"I was afraid of that." There was a faint pause. "I should have believed you that night. I thought it was all

your imagination."

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"Given the circumstances, it was perfectly logical for you to think that way."

"Dammit, Kalena, don't go polite on me now. I know this is my fault. If I'd listened to you back in Hot

And Cold, maybe none of this would have happened."

"I don't see what difference you could have made. We still would have gone on to the valley and we still

would have been trapped on the way back out of the mountains. You were sent to find out what was

happening around here, Ridge. It looks as though you've begun to get the answers to Quintel's

questions." "I'm beginning to wish Quintel had never asked the questions in the first place." Ridge

groaned. "I should have known

that a cut of the Sand trade was going to cost me more than a quick trip into the mountains and back."

They both heard the scrape of boot leather on the rocky floor of the corridor outside the cave chamber,

then saw a flash of lamplight. The barred gate was unlocked and a cloaked and hooded figure stood in

the arched opening. When he spoke Kalena knew it was the same man who had entered the shelter

during the night.

"Answers are what we all seek," the cloaked man said, holding his lamp so that the light added a bit

more illumination to the shadowed room. The reflected glare made a mask of his hooded features. "Final,

absolute, powerful answers. You, little whore, are going to help provide them, although you will never

have the ability to understand what you have done."

"Only a fool would insult my wife," Ridge said softly. "I will remember every word."

The hooded head turned in Ridge's direction. There was a low chuckle that held no grain of real humor.

"I am called Griss, and I am anything but a fool. You deserve that label. You have grown soft because of

her, Fire Whip. It is dangerous to consort with women. Their power may be weak, but it is insidious and

subtle. An unwary man, blinded by his own lust, too often falls victim to it. Fortunately, the damage is

usually not permanent. It can be undone. Soon you will understand what I mean."

"I assumed that all those fancy magician's tricks with that black mist had a purpose," Ridge said bluntly.

"You've gone to a lot of trouble to get us here. Those were your men back in Adverse? The ones who

wore the black glass pendants?"

"A case of overzealousness, I fear. The fools thought to please their master by delivering you ahead of

schedule. You were not meant to be taken until we had proof that the woman was the one who could get

through the barrier that guards the Healers' valley. The two in Adverse paid for their disobedience."

"You could say that. They're dead."

The hooded figure nodded somberly. "Of course. Death is the reward for disobedience as well as

failure."

"Were they the ones who killed Trantel?" Ridge asked.

"Ah,
yes.
Trantel was asking too many questions. He was learning too much, you see. He questioned

what had driven the hook vipers out of the mountains and he wondered at certain disappearances that

have occurred in the neighboring foothills. We needed men, you see. There was work to be done. The

Cult of the Eclipse prefers complete secrecy, however. When he began snooping around it became

necessary to get rid of him."

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"The black mist in the caves at Hot And Cold," Kalena whispered. "You caused it?"

"The caverns at Hot And Cold are linked to these caverns. Over the years we of the cult have explored

most of the passages and not long ago we found the ones that lead from the core of the mountains to the

pool caverns. We wished to test the black fog. It is a recent creation of our master's, and we were

curious to know if it could counter the residual power that flows in the water of those hot springs. It

would have been interesting to see its effects against you, too, although we did not intend to take you that

night. As I said, it was necessary to see if you could get into the Healers' valley before any move was

made."

"You learned that the black mist couldn't overcome even the minor power of the Light Key that is in the

water," Kalena observed with satisfaction.

"It is only a matter of time. The mist is being perfected daily. It was finely tuned enough to affect the Fire

Whip in the shelter, was it not? You yourself saw that. Of course, it has an affinity for males. Against

women it is a weapon. But when used on men it enhances all the power in them that comes from the

Dark end of the Spectrum. That power grows daily among those of us in the Cult of the Eclipse. When

the Light Key has been destroyed, nothing will stand in our
way."

Kalena shivered. "You can't be serious. Nothing can destroy the Light Key"

"So stupid females such as the High Healers would have us all believe. Women know nothing of real

power. They exist only because of the indulgence of males, although in their arrogance, women refuse to