Jayne Castle [Jayne Ann Krentz] (39 page)

mountains. The promise of light was everywhere in the ice chamber. It was reflected in the elaborately

carved formations of frozen crystals that hung from the ceiling. It danced faintly on the white floor and

gleamed from the surface of the high table that stood in the middle of the room. It hinted at a dazzle that

could blind. It was energy and power and life waiting to be released.

Waiting for her touch, Kalena thought in sudden realization. She would release it and give it focus. It was

her destiny. The knowledge went through her with brilliant clarity, touching all her senses.

Kalena's gaze fell on the table and she went toward it slowly. It was carved out of a single block of

opaque ice that had been hewn into a strong, powerful design. It didn't rest on legs, but was solid from

the floor to the surface. Kalena came to a halt in front of it and found herself looking down into a pool of

clear ice thatfilled the interior of the structure. At the bottom of the ice rested a case made of silvery white

metal.

Kalena knew beyond any doubt that for untold generations nothing had penetrated the clear ice in which

the case was imbedded. How long it had lain in this cave was anyone's guess. The Healers had protected

it well, although Kalena was not sure the case had ever really needed much protection. There was

something forbidding about the simple case frozen in ice. If her need had not been so great, if her inner

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knowledge had not blossomed forth with such fierce certainty, she could never have brought herself to

even attempt to retrieve it.

She examined the surface of the ice, wondering what it would take to melt it. Perhaps she would need to

go back outside and ask Valica for a pot of firegel.

Kalena was tentatively considering that action when she lightly put her gloved hand on the ice. It

trembled slightly beneath her fingertips, startling her. Hastily she removed her hand. A faint indentation

had been left where she had touched the clear, crystal hard surface.

Cautiously, Kalena removed her glove and tensed herself. Then, very slowly, she let her bare hand rest

on the ice.

The frozen liquid quivered again, sending a shudder through Kalena as well as the ice. She nearly jerked

her hand away as the jolt went through her whole body. But it was too late. The pool of ice trembled,

fractured and splintered beneath the touch of her warm palm. She felt nothing more than a slight coolness

that was far from the burning cold of solid ice. Even as she stared down into the crystal clear pool, it

dissolved completely. Her hand was immersed in transparent water.

"By the Stones!" Kalena's gasp of amazement echoed softly in the cave as she yanked her hand out of

the water. The liquid should have been icy cold, but it was only pleasantly cool, just as the ice had been.

She wondered if it was not really water at all, but some other clear medium used to shield the silvery

case.

Kalena gazed down into the liquid, examining the object at the bottom of the pool. It was only an arm's

length away. All she had to do was roll up the sleeves of her cloak and tunic, reach into the water or

whatever it was and remove the case. Simple. Perhaps a little too simple.

Kalena paused to gaze speculatively around the ice chamber, but she saw nothing that would aid her in

removing the casket. Reluctantly, she pushed up the sleeve of her cloak and then rolled back the long

sleeve of her tunic. Her bare arm felt the cold of the chamber until she immersed it cautiously into the

crystal liquid.

A few seconds later her fingers closed around the metal casket. Kalena waited for the world to crumble

around her, but nothing happened. She took a deep breath and pulled the case out of the water with a

quick movement.

A sweeping sense of power washed over her. It was unlike anything she had ever known. Life, energy,

the future was hers to command.

Excitement sang in her blood. The Key was hers.She was indeed the one meant to wield it. She no

longer felt any doubt. It was part of her, an extension of herself. It belonged to her in a way that was

impossible to describe. She was the one meant to command the Light Key.

Dazed with the heady, dazzling thrill, Kalena tried to examine the case she held.

It was obvious the object in her hand was very, very old. As old as the legends of the Dawn Lords.

Kalena looked at it wonderingly. The case was about three quarters of a meter long and not particularly

heavy. It was thin and chased with an elaborate pattern that might have been the characters of an

alphabet. If so, it represented a language as old as the case itself, certainly no modern one. When Kalena

looked at the individual marks very carefully she thought one or two seemed oddly similar to the common

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alphabet of the Northern Continent, but she couldn't really identify any of the curving, angled shapes.

She realized as she stood staring at the casket that she was merely assuming she held the Light Key.

Perhaps this wasn't the object of her quest. The only way to know for certain was to open the case.

Kalena wondered just how she would know the Light Key if she saw it. Would it be shaped like the tiny

key she wore at her throat? Like a door key? The key to a jewel box? Her fingers fumbled eagerly with

the silvery case, seeking a way to open it. What a devastating joke if she had come this far only to

discover she couldn't open the box in which the Key was held.

Kalena stood with the casket in one hand, prying at it with questing fingertips. She was quickly becoming

impatient. She had come this far, and she would not abandon the task. She had already failed in her duty

to her House; she would not fail in this. Ridge was waiting. Her future was waiting.

The casket lid came open as if her thoughts alone had breached some hidden lock.

At least some of her questions were answered immediately. The Light Key was identifiable on sight. It

was also unlike any key Kalena had ever seen.

Kalena looked into the case and found herself looking into liquid white fire. The writhing flames were

pure white, dazzling to the eye as they burned in an outline that was wedge shaped. Kalena knew

instinctively that the Key had been burning inside its case since the Dawn Lords had locked their

dangerous treasure in ice.

Now she had to find a way to take the Key of white flames in her bare hand and use it. But Kalena had

no real doubt that when the moment arrived she would be able to handle the Key.

She had been born to master it.

Ridge stood in a vast chamber of black glass and gazed into a pit of fire that burned in the center of the

glass floor. The flames fascinated him. They were the exact color of his sintar when his fury made it glow

He lifted his gaze and looked into the eyes of the hooded man who stood on the other side of the fire pit.

Griss was wearing Ridge's sintar on his belt beneath his cloak. A half circle of deadly silent men dressed

in black, hooded cloaks stood behind Griss.

The black glass caught the light of the angry, leaping flames that burned in the center of the chamber and

reflected back the fire in a thousand mirrored images. If it had not been for the countless reflections, the

chamber would have been almost completely dark. The only other light in the room were the firegel

lamps that had been left to mark the entrances. Those passage-ways were sealed now with the same

glass that lined the rest of the room. Without the lamps it would have been impossible to tell where the

hidden doorways were. The black glass was everywhere. It lined the cavern ceiling, the curving walls and

formed the floor beneath Ridge's feet.

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The cloaked men who had brought Ridge to this chamber had unbound him, but his freedom was useless

under the circumstances. The ranks of cult members surrounded him, and he would need time to figure

out how to open the sealed glass doors. The cowled men would be upon him before he could even begin

to work on that problem.

He had not been given anything to eat for what he estimated must be more than a day. He couldn't be

sure of the time, but after he had slept for a while, his internal sense of time seemed to indicate that at

least a day had passed.

He wondered if Kalena was safe in the valley. He could only hope that the Healers would keep her there

when they learned her plan. Ridge didn't try to fool himself too much. He knew Kalena would not obey

his last instructions. She would make every effort to return with the Light Key.

Kalena of the House of the Ice Harvest was his wife, bound to him by her own vows as well as the

sensual ties Ridge had tried to impose. But there was more involved. Her destiny was entwined with his

own. They were each other's future. She would try to return for him or die in the attempt.

Ridge cursed himself for having brought Kalena to the heart of danger, and then, abruptly, he ceased the

silent chastisement. The force of his own fury was a potent weapon, not to be wasted on fruitless,

self-directed anger. He would channel it against those who held him captive.

Most especially he would focus it on the bastard who had labeled Kalena a whore.

Ridge's unbound hands clenched briefly at his sides, his fingers automatically craving the handle of the

sintar. Deliberately, he forced himself to relax. He was unaware of the brutal effects of the firelight on his

features. He only knew he was controlling an anger that was threatening to burn higher than it had ever

burned in the past. The struggle to leash that fury held him almost immobile.

"What would you have me do?" he demanded in a harsh whisper of the one called Griss.

"Reach into the fire and withdraw the case that holds the Dark Key. It is yours, Fire Whip. You alone

can control it."

"But you want to control it, don't you, Griss? You and the others who wear the black glass. Do you

think you can do it after I've pulled it out of the fire for you? You're a pack of idiots if you believe that."

"Do as you are told," Griss ordered.

"Why should I bother?"

"Because the woman is already on her way back from the valley of the Healers with the Light Key. The

only weapon you will have with which to try to protect her and yourself is the Dark Key" Griss' voice

was oily with mockery. "And you do want to protect her, don't you, Fire Whip? At least you think you

do. You'll discover that your true feelings are much different when you actually hold the Dark Key in your

hand. But in the meantime, your motives for pulling the Key out of the fire are not important to us. You

want a weapon, any weapon. You crave a weapon. It is your nature to be armed. Very well, we offer

you a weapon unlike any other you have ever held. It's yours if you have the courage to take hold of it."

"I don't see any weapon in the flames."

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"Look close, Fire Whip. It's there. It's been there since the Dawn Lords hid it in the pit of fire."

"All these centuries it's been here in the same mountains as the Light Key?" Ridge was stunned by the

information.

"It was buried deep, Fire Whip, sealed in fire at the bottom of a crevasse that appeared to have no

ending. But our master knew the black opening had to have a floor. It took time to locate it using the old

books. And after the so-called bottomless crevasse was found it required years of effort to retrieve the

case that held the Key. When it was hauled to the surface here in this cavern it was discovered that the

Key was still encased in fire. It sits in the center of those flames and no one can pry it out. The fire which

protects it is not natural."

"How many men died retrieving this thing, Griss?"

"The numbers are not important. Recently, when we ran short of men to carry on the task, we took

those we needed from the neighboring villages. The goal was achieved."

"Not quite. You still can't figure a way to lift the Key out of the flames, right?"

"We have found a way, Fire Whip. You are the tool that we will use. Once the Dark Key has overcome

the Light Key, the power in it will be drained for a time. Perhaps for years. During that time my master

will be able to study it. He will learn to control it himself. By the time the Key is fully charged again, he

will be its master."

"What happens if I choose to let it stay in the flames?" Ridge asked, knowing the answer already.

"You will die. And as soon as the woman arrives with the Key she will die, too."

"If I manage to hold the Dark Key, what will prevent me from using it on you first?"

"It cannot be wielded like a sintar, fool. It will react to the presence of the Light Key and must be used

against it before it can be used for anything else." Griss' eyes glittered in the shadow of his hood. "But

when your task is accomplished you will hold a potent weapon, Fire Whip. You are a man who has

bought your own life and the lives of others with weapons in the past. You will not turn down the chance

to do so again, no matter how great the risk. It is not your nature to do nothing in a critical situation. You