Lucian: Dark God's Homecoming (27 page)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Neither Vorthan nor I moved a muscle. Unbearable tension hung in the air, a palpable, tangible thing separating us. Long seconds ticked by, stretching out like eons.

Then Karilyne stepped out of the anteroom. Her long, thick, black hair was bundled up in a ponytail—a sight that gave me pause momentarily, nagging at my mind somehow, though for what reason I could not guess. A silvery, silken robe was wrapped about her in place of her usual armor. She carried a brown mug in one hand, sipping something steamy. Seeing us, she nodded toward her new guest.

“We have company,” she said. “He arrived during the night. You can probably guess why he has come.”

I took in Karilyne’s wardrobe and the fact that Evelyn and myself had not been awoken earlier, and allowed myself a moment’s idle speculation about what else had been happening during the night. But I dismissed those thoughts quickly—I simply did not want to know.

Vorthan did not move or speak. He sat there, a dark statue, waiting.

“You called him?” I demanded. “You’re selling us out? Going back on your word?”

“I did not call him,” Karilyne replied softly.

“Then how—?”

Karilyne gave me a look, shaking her head slightly.

I started to say something else, but thought better of it, and instead paused, considering. If Karilyne had not told Vorthan, or presumably Baranak, of our presence on her world, then someone else…

Seconds crawled past. Karilyne turned and walked to the table, lifted a spoon and added something to her drink. Evelyn looked from one of us to the other, surely wondering what this new development could mean for us, for her friends, for herself. Vorthan merely continued to watch me, silent and menacing as all hell.

“I am glad to see you survived the demon attack,” I said finally, growing weary of these games.

Vorthan nodded once. Then, without a word to me, he stood and turned to face Karilyne. The fire blazed brighter behind him.

“You will of course turn them over to me now,” he said.

Karilyne frowned, looked away from both of us.

My face twisted with the disgust I felt for Vorthan and for Baranak.

“So you are an errand boy, now?” I laughed. “The golden god cannot be bothered to do his own dirty work?”

Vorthan shot me a withering look but addressed Karilyne instead.

“I could ask you why you have not reported their presence to Baranak.”

She said nothing, merely continued to stir her drink.

“I could even present a case whereby you might be considered an accomplice, should it come to that,” he added.

“This is pathetic,” I said then, anger rushing through me. “I know you and your master back in the City are desperate to gain custody of me, but—“

“He is not my master,” Vorthan growled.

“—But leave Karilyne’s reputation out of it. She captured me—and pretty handily, I might add; something you and your cohorts have been singularly unable to accomplish.”

“Enough of this,” Vorthan boomed.

He looked at Karilyne, his eyes cold and deadly.

“I shall be taking them back with me now.”

He took something small from a pouch at his side and held it up. It was one of the red gemstones.

“Lucian, I have developed a method using these stones of yours for containing and limiting one’s access to the Power. I will require that you submit to this procedure, so that I may safely convey you to the City without concern for any attempts at escape.”

He smiled.

“It is not, I am afraid, entirely painless, but it is quite effective, and the effect lasts for some hours. That should be more than sufficient to secure you inside the dungeon once more.”

I glared at him, furious, and prepared to summon the Power. If I had to fight both of them, I would certainly lose—hell, I might well lose to either of them, individually. But I would most assuredly go down fighting.

Vorthan strode towards me.

“Time to go now.”

To my left, Karilyne flexed her arms, then stretched them out over her head. Her silken robe shimmered, vanished. In its place, she was now clad in her imposing armor. In her left hand she carried her axe, and in her right her sword stretched out, in Vorthan’s general direction.

“I think not,” she said.

Vorthan looked at her, incredulous.

“What?”

“They are my guests. I have given them my protection, and sworn not to hand them over to anyone else, so long as they obey my rules, until I deem the time has come to do so.”

Her eyes narrowed, focused sharply on Vorthan.

“And, given the conflicting stories I have heard from various parties in recent days,” she added, “I do not yet feel that time has come.”

Vorthan’s complexion darkened.

“This is outrageous,” he growled, his calm demeanor evaporating, his voice becoming like rocks scraping together in a well. “Baranak has ordered—“

“I care not what Baranak has ordered,” she replied quickly. “Do I dwell in the City? Do I hang upon his every word, bend to his every decree—as some do?”

Vorthan blanched at this, his fists clenching.

“Woman, you—“

Karilyne breathed in deeply and exhaled, a look of pain moving quickly across her face before she reflexively banished it.

“I have ultimate authority in this house. I say again: Lucian and his friend are my guests. I will decide if and when they are handed over, and to whom.”

Vorthan just stared at her, his mouth opening and closing soundlessly. Karilyne had instantly moved up in my estimation by leaps and bounds. This from a woman I had felt certain was about to kill Evelyn and me a mere day earlier.

“I would say the matter is settled, for now,” I added.

Karilyne glanced at me; I could tell she was still not on firm footing with her actions, but was growing in confidence by the moment.

“Unless you have other business here?”

The engineer god scowled at both of us, visibly shaken by this unexpected resistance.

“Baranak will not look upon this insolence of yours with favor, Karilyne,” he seethed. “You had better think twice before—“

“You had better think twice before threatening me in my own home, god of toil,” she shot back sharply, “whether in Baranak’s name or your own.”

“This is far from settled,” he barked, moving brusquely toward the front door. By custom and good manners, we had always observed the courtesy of opening our travel portals out of doors, rather than appearing and disappearing in the midst of one another’s homes. Vorthan’s anger overcame him, though, and he halted short of the door, gestured angrily with his left hand, and ripped open a blazing red portal. Without a look back, he stomped through it and was gone.

“Good riddance,” Evelyn said. “That guy gives me the creeps.”

Karilyne favored her with a smile.

“I have always thought so, too.”

She turned her attention to me then, and the smile vanished.

“Lucian, let none of what just transpired and what was said cause you to think that I have taken your side in this dispute, or that I believe your story over that of Baranak and the others. I merely know them well enough to understand that if you are handed over to them now, you will never have the opportunity to prove that what you say is true.”

She leaned closer towards me, her eyes flashing.

“And if you, prince of lies, have been lying to me now, then my retribution will be swift and terrible. Far worse than anything the golden god has planned for you. That I can assure you.”

“I believe you,” I replied—and I did.

# # #

We sat on a broad terrace overlooking the valley, far below. The sky, streaked with gray clouds, was not terribly bright for midday, but with the additional glare from the snowy slopes behind us, it provided ample light for a picnic lunch.

Around a small table cut from the ice we sat, various sandwiches and other snack foods arrayed before us. The ladies both ate, but I had no appetite. In truth, I had yielded to Karilyne’s suggestion of an elaborate, alfresco meal with great reluctance. Time now seemed of the essence, yet with my oath to the silver goddess still in place, I could not flee, and could think of no other action I might take, while remaining in her custody, to protect myself. Evelyn and I were completely at her mercy, and she surely liked it that way. The problem was, she could not seem to understand that she was, in turn, now at Vorthan’s mercy, and therefore at Baranak’s. I had tried to explain this to her as soon as the god of toil had stormed out, but her legendary stubbornness, as I saw it, prevented her from fully accepting the facts. So here I sat, on the terrace, cool winds blowing around me, watching Karilyne as she behaved as if she had not a care in the world. And, for my part, I leaned back some distance from the table, hands folded before me, fingertips steepled at my lips. And I brooded.

The most buoyant vessel must, at some point, notice a heavy anchor that has been tossed over the side, dragging at its progress. Karilyne finished a small sandwich, set her palms down flat on the table, and turned to me.

“Lucian,” she said. “Relax. Eat.”

“Relax?”

I regarded her with equal measures of surprise and bewilderment.

“Do you not understand, Karilyne? They know where I am, now. Vorthan will be back. Or perhaps a contingent from the City. Maybe even Baranak and his Hosts.”

I spread my hands wide.

“Do you wish to have them knocking at your gates? Perhaps even storming in here directly?”

She nibbled at another sandwich, then shook her head.

“You exaggerate the situation, Lucian. None of them would dare such an action. Not here. Not in my refuge, with my own honor pledged to your safekeeping.”

“Once, that may well have been true,” I replied, as calmly as I could manage. “But not any longer, I fear. You do not fully appreciate the intensity of their animosity toward me, nor the level of their desire to recapture me, and to lay the blame for every ill that has ever plagued the City upon me.”

I breathed in and out deeply, forcing my taut muscles to unwind somewhat.

“With me here,” I concluded, “you and your people are not safe.”

“That is just what Vorthan told me this morning,” she said with a wry smile.

“In that, he was correct. But the source of the danger was not what he surely intimated.”

Karilyne nodded her head once, then motioned for a servant to pour more water for each of us.

“I understand all of this, Lucian. Frankly, I am somewhat offended that you would suggest I do not.”

“Then why—“

“Nevertheless,” she continued, raising her hand, “I must continue to observe the forms of conduct in such matters. I have pledged your safety here, and the others must respect that, until I have made my decision regarding your disposition, and that of your friend. And you, in turn, must continue to abide by the terms of your oath to me. That is the beginning and the end of it, for now.”