Jayne Castle [Jayne Ann Krentz] (38 page)

that must be done first."

Kalena yawned and stretched her arms high over her head. She felt good this morning, strong and

renewed and full of life. "What things?"

"The Key ..."

"Ah, yes, the Key. When do I get it?"

"You must go into the ice and retrieve it yourself, Kalena. None of us can touch it."

"Ice? So it is hidden in ice just as the legends say. Does that mean that the Dark Key is hidden in fire?"

Arona dismissed Kalena's curiosity. "Probably. The damn legends seem to have been more or less

accurate so far. Pay attention, Kalena, please. I don't think you should do this. The Keys are dangerous.

Everyone knows that. If you don't feel you are the one to handle the Light Key, then you may be right, in

spite of what Valica says. You shouldn't take the risk. No man is worth it."

Kalena thought for a moment, trying to come up with a reason Arona could accept. "There is more to

this than a man's life, Arona. There is a matter of honor involved."

"Honor!"

Kalena drew up her knees and rested her chin on folded arms. "I'm afraid so. I am a married woman,

Arona. A married woman does not desert her husband unless the alliance between them has been

officially ended. I have been somewhat lax in matters of dutylately," Kalena went on with a sigh. "I

wonder if Aunt Olara knows yet just how poorly I've done."

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"Kalena, you have a right to think of yourself!"

"I know. I've been telling myself that for a long time." She smiled wryly at the other woman. "I know

what you're thinking, Arona. I understand what you're trying to say. But you must try to comprehend

what it's like to grow up as a member of a Great House. You can never really escape the obligations

imposed on you. The honor of the House must always be upheld. From the cradle onward, children are

taught that they hold the House honor in their hands. They must protect it. The burden is on the women of

the House as well as the men. Under normal circumstances, a woman's obligations are carried out in

traditional ways. She is obedient to her father when she is living under his roof and faithful to her husband

when she marries. As a wife she respects her House lord's authority, bears his children and is responsible

for instructing them in the ways of honor and responsibility. Usually it's all very simple and

straightforward, if rather dull."

"Kalena, you are not bound by the traditional obligations. You are the last of your House," Arona

argued.

"Yes, well, I'm afraid all that means is that my obligations were a little untraditional. They didn't just fade

away into thin air. Since the summer of my twelfth year, Arona, I have known exactly what was required

of me. I failed in my duty. Because of that failure I find myself married and surrounded by a whole new

set of responsibilities. I'd prefer not to fail my responsibilities a second time. It is hard enough to live with

the knowledge that I failed once. I am bound to Ridge. I cannot abandon him."

"Even if what you are going to do will get you killed?"

"If I don't succeed in freeing him, then I myself will never be free. Think about it, Arona, for you are no

freer than I. You would die to protect this valley and your friends here, would you not?"

Arona blinked once in abrupt understanding. "Of course."

"You see? There is precious little freedom once the basic choice has been made. I'm beginning to think

that freedom isn't the important issue. The crucial thing is that we are all given somedegree of choice.

After we have made our decisions, we must live with them." Kalena grimaced and decided to change the

subject. "Are you sure I can't have something to eat? I really am very hungry."

"Oh, Kalena, I wish I could bring you a meal, but . . ." Arona's anxious voice trailed off as Kalena

grinned at her.

"But you can't because you have a sense of honor and duty, too, Arona. You owe yours to the women

of this valley and especially the one you have chosen to lead you. Valica says I don't eat this morning so

you can't possibly bring me any food. Sometimes life is very simple and straightforward."

Reluctantly Arona smiled. "Sometimes it is. I imagine it gets more complicated when there is no longer a

clear-cut knowledge of duty to guide us."

The silence that fell between the two women was broken by another knock on the door. When Kalena

called a welcome, Valica appeared on the threshold. She glanced at Arona, her eyes softening slightly in

unspoken understanding and then she turned to Kalena.

"You are ready?"

Respectfully, Kalena stood up. "As ready as I will ever be."

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Valica came into the room and closed the door behind her. "In a little while we will go to where the Key

is hidden, but first we will burn some Sand." She removed the delicate brazier from her belt and held it

out to Kalena.

Kalena stared at the object in surprise. "But I am not a Healer."

"Only because you lack training. As I told you, I believe you have the Talent. We will find out soon

enough when you burn the Sand."

Confused, Kalena took the small brazier from Valica's hand. "But why? What will this prove?"

The older woman raised an eyebrow in mild amusement and lowered herself to sit cross-legged on a

pillow near the small table. She waved Kalena to a seat beside her. "It is not meant to prove anything,

only to give you some confidence and understanding." Kalena sat down slowly, staring at the brazier and

remembering all the times she had longed to test herself with the Sand. "My aunt told me she was certain

I didn't have the Talent."

"Olara lied to you because she had other goals for you. It is very difficult to turn a young girl with the

Talent into an assassin. She could not risk exposing you to the Sand. If you had been allowed to develop

your Talent, you would have become a very poor instrument of revenge."

Kalena touched the brazier, captivated by the fine workmanship of the device. "I allowed her to keep

me from trying the Sand, but I disobeyed her on another matter. I slept with my husband. Afterward, I

knew at once that I had been weakened in some way. I hope that weakness will not affect what I must

do now"

"You were not weakened by the act of sharing the pallet with the Fire Whip. The bond you established

with Ridge was one involved with life. It countered the bond of death Olara had placed on you. It made

you stronger, not weaker. Burn the Sand, Kalena. You will see just how strong this new bond has

become."

Kalena hesitated, uncertain for the first time since she had awakened that morning. "I'm afraid," she

heard herself whisper.

"There is nothing to fear, Kalena. Not yet, at any rate." Valica took a small, embroidered pouch from

her belt, untied the thong that held it closed and handed it to Kalena.

Kalena's fingers shook slightly as she accepted the pouch. In spite of what her aunt had told her, she had

always been drawn toward the Sand, had always been very curious about it. She remembered the fierce

resentment she had experienced over not knowing exactly what to do the night the woman in the inn had

given birth. Now, at last, she was about to find out for certain if she did, indeed, possess some measure

of raw Talent.

"Only a pinch," Valica instructed softly. "Too much of the Sand at once can be dangerous. Ignite the

firegel in the brazier and then throw just a bit of Sand into it. When the smoke rises, inhale it and look into

yourself. I cannot explain the process more clearly. It will explain itself."

Carefully, Kalena set the brazier on the low table, moved the tiny lever that let the catalyst into the gel

and waited for the glowof heat. When the tiny pool of firegel flared with light and warmth, Kalena took a

pinch of the white Sand and cautiously dropped it into the brazier. At once a tiny plume of white smoke

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appeared.

"Now," Valica murmured.

Kalena leaned forward and took a deep breath. The smoke stung her nostrils the way hot spices sting

the tongue. She closed her eyes and inhaled again.

"Enough." Valica touched Kalena's shoulder and pulled her away from the white smoke. "Only a very

little is required. Remember what I said. Too much can be dangerous, not only to you but to those

around you." She reached out and snapped the cover over the tiny brazier. The firegel died and the

smoke disappeared.

Kalena sat perfectly still, kept her eyes closed and waited. She wished she knew exactly what it was she

waited for. Perhaps there would be a lightheaded sensation or maybe she would feel unusually alert. The

truth was, only a trained Healer knew what to expect. If she had no real Talent after all, Kalena knew she

would feel nothing.

"Yourself, Kalena. You are the patient. You must look into yourself."

Valica's voice seemed to come from a great distance. Kalena obeyed, turning her attention inward,

trying to focus on the last daughter of the House of the Ice Harvest.

There was a timeless moment during which Kalena felt as though she were standing on one side of a

curtain. Mentally she put out a hand to sweep the veil aside. The barrier seemed to disintegrate even as

Kalena touched it, and she saw what had been hidden.

Diagnosing this patient was no trick at all. Nor did she need any Healer's training to evaluate what she

saw. Kalena of the House of the Ice Harvest, temporary trade wife to a man who could claim no House

or respectable heritage, was pregnant.

Pregnant. The raw energy of a new life burned within her. A life she had created with Ridge, the Fire

Whip.

The shock of it brought Kalena out of her small trance as abruptly as if she had been doused with ice

water. Her lashes lifted quickly and she found herself gazing directly into Valica's understanding eyes.

"I'm pregnant." The stark words hung in the air.

"I thought it might be so." Valica nodded in quiet satisfaction. "But how could it have happened? There

was only one night when I failed to take the selite powder."

"One night is all that is required, as a great many women have discovered to their everlasting

amazement." Amusement tinged Valica's words as she carefully resealed the Sand pouch. "Don't chide

yourself. I think it was meant to happen."

Bewildered, Kalena glanced at the unlit brazier. "But why?"

"Because you are about to take up the Light Key. And even though you are the one born with the

heritage and the talent to do so, it will not be an easy task. You must be as strong as it is possible for a

woman to be." Valica touched her hand. "Kalena, you must know that right now you are at the height of

a woman's power. You hold the future within you. It is a direct counterpoint to the chaos and darkness

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that marks the opposite end of the Spectrum. It is time to take the Key from its hiding place."

Kalena nodded once, accepting, even welcoming the inevitable. She knew herself ready in a way she

couldn't explain. "It is time."

In silence Valica led the way out of the cottage. The first, faint gray of dawn was just beginning to touch

the peaks that guarded the valley. Kalena followed the older woman unquestioningly. Arona fell into step

behind her, and as the three of them made their way through the gardens and rich, planted fields, other

women joined the silent procession.

Valica took a path that climbed out of the valley into the biting chill of the coming dawn. The trail was

different than the one Kalena and Ridge had followed in and out of the valley. This path was steep, rising

swiftly into snow and ice. The women climbed for over an hour, Valica in the lead. No one spoke.

When Valica at last came to a halt, the gray of dawn was giving way to the first tinge of color. The older

woman stood with her cloak wrapped around her and nodded toward an opening in the ice.

"The ancient manuscripts say the Key is hidden in there, Kalena. No one I know has ever been inside

the ice cave. I cannot tell you what you will find, only that the time has come to discover it. Go and bring

it forth. We will wait for you."

Kalena hesitated, waiting for some last words of wisdom or guidance. None were forthcoming, and she

knew that she was on her own. Valica and the others could not help her. Slowly, she turned and walked

toward the yawning entrance carved of ice.

The white tunnel was not pitch dark. As the sky overhead continued to lighten, so did the interior of the

ice cave. Light filtered dimly through the ice, providing a shadowed path. Kalena followed that path,

stepping carefully on the icy floor. As long as she was careful she did not feel in any real danger of

slipping. The floor of the cave seemed to have been paved with small blocks of ice. The tiny ridges

between the blocks gave her feet a purchase.

A few meters inside the cave the tunnel curved. When Kalena rounded the bend she found herself in a

large white cavern. The interior was still shadowed, but it lightened steadily as dawn came to the