Prince of Fire

by Linda Winstead Jones

  It would certainly take a great evil to transform so many of the Caradon people into monsters set on violence, and he still did not sense great evil from this woman. That didn’t mean she was telling the truth.

  “So, according to your prophesy, we become lovers and the rest falls into place? Seems a little bit too simple to me.”

  Keelia wrapped her fingers around the bars of her cell. She gripped those bars tightly. “I have dreamed about you, too. I have been dreaming about you for years. Years, Joryn.” For the first time, tears shone in her eyes. “But I do not want you. I want what my parents have found, what every Anwyn is entitled to. I want a mate who will remain beside me for life. A male who is in essence the other half of me. I want loyalty and fidelity and love. As Queen, I am obligated to produce children. Since my mate has not come, it has been expected that I will take lovers until he shows himself to me. But I have not taken a lover. When my fertile time comes and my body demands release, I put myself into a trancelike state and find that release in a rich and almost real fantasy, but I have never—”

  “You’re a virgin?” He didn’t mean to sound horrified, but he did.

  “Yes,” Keelia answered softly. “Do not be led astray by the words I have spoken about the prophesy. I do not want you. I want to be touched only by the Anwyn who is meant to be my mate. I want a forever love, and that is something with which the Caradon are not well acquainted. The fact that we are not meant to be lovers doesn’t mean we aren’t destined to work together, to fight against the evil that threatens your people and mine. I think that perhaps the identity of my mate has been hidden to me until I accomplish this important goal.”

  So, maybe she wasn’t trying to seduce him, after all.

  Joryn turned his back on the Queen. He could not look at her face and be logical. He could not maintain his determination in the face of her fiakedness. He did not know the truth, and there was only one way to find out.

  Nighttime was best for his excursions into the in-between land where lost spirits roamed, but since tonight he would be mountain cat, and he did not wish to wait until tomorrow night, this afternoon would have to suffice. The Grandmother had warned him not to utilize this part of his gift unless he was in her presence. She did not think he was ready to go on alone, and there were many dangers involved in crossing between worlds. Without the Grandmother’s ancient magic to pull him back if something went wrong, there were many risks involved.

  Not only did he have no control over exactly where he would land when he crossed over, but he knew there was no guarantee that he would make it back into this world, not without the Grandmother’s assistance. If he stayed too long, he might be trapped in that in-between world. Forever.

  If it was true that a new evil was threatening the world and his people, then it was a risk he had to take.

  In the open, rocky area just beyond the cave’s entrance, Joryn adopted a rigid pose, hands lifted, palms up. Fire grew on the palms of his hands, growing hotter and higher with every passing heartbeat. The power, the hot energy that fed the flame, came from a place at the center of his soul. His magic resided there, sleeping until called upon. Resting until awakened.

  When there was sufficient power in his hands, he directed the fiery energy onto the ground. The two balls of fire immediately swirled together and flames leapt high, twining and growing and swirling. They grew together until they were one, and then the doorway was formed. To another’s eye, the wall of flame would look simply like a brilliant fire. To Joryn, it was a gateway to another world, one he leapt through without fear.

  He landed on the other side in a cool green meadow where spirits caught between life and the afterlife awaited him. They were dead, but for some reason they had not moved to their final reward—or punishment. Those who were caught here had something undone in the world they had left behind, or else the Angel of Death had not yet decided where they belonged.

  Usually there were one or two spirits waiting, spirits who were willing to speak with him for the few moments he was allowed to stay in the world in-between, bat today there were many. Too many. Joryn searched the crowded meadow. Hundreds of spirits faced him, solemn and on edge.

  Though the land in-between was not paradise, it was a peaceful place for those who waited. There was usually little solemnity here, and he had never felt this sort of tightly coiled energy before, not even from the most restless of spirits.

  One male spirit, dressed in a brilliant white robe and carrying a large gray feather which had some meaning Joryn did not understand, stepped forward. “I have been chosen to speak,” he said. “There is no time to tell you all you will need to know, but hear me well. The Red Queen speaks the truth. She did not curse your people. You share a common enemy, and you must trust her.”

  “She is Anwyn,” Joryn said simply. The very idea of trusting an Anwyn was foreign to him, almost unthinkable.

  “She is good, and so are you. Everything else must be put aside, until the Isen Demon is defeated.”

  “Isen Demon,” Joryn repeated.

  The gray feather trembled. “It is an eater of souls that will destroy the world you live in, and when that is done, it will move here, where no evil was meant to tread.”

  “Eater of—”

  “Yes! He is on a path of utter destruction, and if he makes his way to mis place, the walls between your world and this one will fall. The walls will crumble, and nothing will ever again be as it should be. You and the Queen must unite your people. Together.”

  Joryn shook his head. “Impossible.”

  “You’d best hope, as we do, that it is not. Now go,” The spirit gave Joryn a shove. “You cannot come here again, not until the evil has been stopped. The dark energy the demon creates in your world disrupts the doorways, and it is not safe for you to use them again.”

  “But if I need guidance …”

  “The Red Queen will guide you. Listen to her.”

  Joryn was horrified by that prospect, but he had no time to argue. The spirit gave him another, more forceful shove, and he fell backward toward the narrowing doorway. Before he could fall through to the place where he would begin this journey, something caught his arm. Something strong. Whatever stopped him had been in this land a long time—longer than was usual. Otherwise such strength would not be possible. A male spirit’s taut, pale face hovered above Joryn’s for a moment. Time seemed to stop.

  “Find my sons. They are rightful heirs.” His expression softened. “Find Liane. Tell her I’m waiting.” The hold on Joryn’s arm was suddenly gone, and he fell backward through the fiery doorway. He landed on the ground with a thud, just as the moon began to rise. With his gaze on that moon and his mind reeling with questions, his bones began to shift.

  *

  The last night of the full moon passed with more alarming and vivid dreams. Keelia began to wish for the horrid and violent nightmares which had been disturbing her sleep for the past few months. Those night-marcs left her shaken and uncertain, but she was able to dismiss them because the subjects of those dreams didn’t arrive in person scon after—or before—she awoke.

  This morning sne woke to find the subject of last night’s dream staring at her. Staring as he always had, and yet—differently. He seemed more skeptical than angry. More uncertain than she had seen him to this point.

  He held a key in one hand.

  As he rammed the key into the lock in her prison door, he began to issue orders. “Dress yourself, Your Red Supremeness. We’re going for a long walk.” His head snapped up before he unlocked the door, and those green eyes warned her. “Unsheathe your claws to threaten me and I will burn you, I swear it. Can we call a trace, you and I?”

  Keelia nodded as she jumped to her feet and reached for the gown which had been neatly folded and placed on her cot “Yes, a truce most definitely will be necessary to accomplish that which must be done. And please, I did ask you to call me Keelia.” Your Red Supremeness simply would not do.

  “What happened
to the edict that I should address you in a manner to which a Queen is entitled?”

  “I was angry,” she explained. “You had kidnapped me, so I believe I am entitled to a moment of annoyance.”

  “A moment,” Joryn repeated.

  “Or two,” Keelia said softly. She could not lose her temper and ruin this new treaty with the Caradon. If she was right, then the reason she had not yet found her mate was because she had this duty to accomplish first. Unite the Anwyn and the Caradon, save the world, and then she would be free to discover who her Anwyn mate was meant to be.

  The door opened with a squeak, and Keelia could almost taste freedom. She’d been in this prison seven. days, and she longed to see the sun and the moon, to breathe fresh air and bathe in cool water.

  “Put on your clothes,” Joryn ordered.

  He backed away from the doorway, and Keelia stepped into the stone-walled corridor, the filmy gold dress draped over her arm. “I wish to …” she began sharply, and then she took a deep breath. She had to remember that this man did not respond well to commands. In order to get what she wanted, she needed to be more genial. “Would it be at all possible for me to bathe first? You said there was water nearby, and I am in desperate need of a bath.” This time of year the water would still be cold, and she was in need of that chill as well. Not only to ease the Anwyn warmth that always ran through her veins, but to ease the heat her captot, aroused.

  Joryn sighed as if she were causing trouble with her simple and very pleasant request, but he reluctantly agreed before leading her down a snaking corridor toward the sunlight that grew stronger with every step she took.

  Outside the cave, Keelia stopped and took a deep breath of fresh air. Only then did she take the time to survey her surroundings. No wonder her army had not found her! She was much farther from The City, much deeper into Caradon Territory, than she had imagined.

  “You carried me all this way” she said.

  “You are very small, and I am very strong.”

  “Still, I remember nothing of the journey.”

  Joryn smiled, and Keelia’s heart reacted with a flutter. Just as in her dream, there was a deep dimple in one smooth cheek.

  “You did something to my neck.” She touched the place on her throat where she remembered that initial pinch as he’d approached her—surprised her—from behind.

  “And I will do so again if you give me any trouble,” he warned.

  “I have never given anyone a moment’s trouble,” Keelia responded.

  Joryn did more than smile at that. He laughed out loud. “You are selfish, haughty, spoiled, demanding, and when offended, you strike out with deadly claws at the end of a delicate and seemingly innocent arm. Not a moment’s trouble?” He leaned toward her, reaching out to pat her cheek … not the one on her face. “My Arrogant and Beautiful Highness, I doubt that very much.”

  *

  They were many days from the Grandmother’s hut, even if all went well. The trip might take weeks if he ran into resistance along the way.

  So far, the Queen did not seem to be considering resistance or flight. In fact, she seemed oddly set on this unlikely union. Caradon and Anwyn, fighting together. He had never even considered the possibility, but if she was right—and according to the spirits he had spoken to, she was—then a temporary union would be necessary.

  They’d had only one real argument since beginning this journey. The Queen wanted to return to her palace in The City in order to gather her soldiers and plan the coming war and the coming truce with the Caradon. He insisted that they go to the Grandmother’s hut first as he had promised the old woman he would do. He would be an absolute fool to walk into the Anwyn City alone, no matter how oddly genial his captive had become in the past few days.

  In the end he had won the argument. The Queen had given in. Not easily, but she had acquiesced. Maybe the psychic in her realized that he was right in this.

  Joryn remained slightly behind his captive as they moved along a rocky portion of the trail. At least she was clothed once again, after having herself a quick swim in the cold mountain lake. Human females often covered themselves completely from head to toe, no matter what the weather, but the Anwyn Queen did not. The gold gown draped almost clingingly over her body, her arms and a goodly portion of her chest were bare, and he could swear the fabric moved in an unnatural way, as if it were an actual part of her body.

  He had simply been too long without a woman; that was the only logical explanation for his wandering thoughts as he watched the Queen hurry along the path as he had directed her. It had taken him many days to build the prison, to formulate the plan, to call upon the Grandmother’s magic in order to sneak into and out of the Anwyn City unseen. Many, many days, days in which he had neglected the necessary pleasures of the flesh in order to complete his mission.

  In the days ahead he could lie with his captive if he desired. The Queen might say that she was waiting for her mate to arrive, but she was drawn to him in a way he could see and smell and almost taste. It would not take much in me way of seduction to get her to open herself to him, to unite Anwyn and Caradon in a entirely different way than she had planned.

  But he would not. The Queen was also a witch, and he was already too near to being enchanted by her. In his dreams she whispered something of great consequence in his ear. Perhaps those words were part of a spell meant to keep him bound to her, a curse that would take away his blessed freedom and tie him to the Anwyn Queen.

  No, that would never do.

  It was essential that he keep his focus on the matters which had taken him to capture the Queen, not the way her body moved.

  He touched the bracelet at his wrist, silently thanking the Grandmother for her gift. At least with this enchanted silver in place, the seer Queen couldn’t see into his mind. It wouldn’t do for her to know that she was in his thoughts so often. Besides, it was best that she use her talents to lead them to the answers they sought.

  Joryn increased his step and was soon striding beside the Queen. “Tell me what you know of the mutated creatures which were once Caradon.”

  She glanced over and up at him, and again he was taken aback by the delicacy of her features, the fragility of her appearance. He had to remind himself that she was anything but fragile.

  “There is a demon,” she began.

  “Yes,” he said impatiently, not wanting to waste time on repeated information. “The Isen Demon.”

  “He steals the souls of those who are dark, of those who are touched with evil.”

  “Are you telling me that the Caradon who were affected were all evil?” he snapped. “That must be easy for you to believe, but I find it unlikely.”

  “If you constantly interrupt me, then this conversation will not be done until the next full moon!”

  “Cease your rambling and get to the matter at hand.”

  His captive, the beautiful Red Queen, stopped walking and placed her hands on her hips in a pose of pure impatience and disgust. The thin gold gown hugged her breasts and her hips. “Rambling and explaining are two different things, you infuriating, kidnapping, mocking Caradon scoundrel. Just because I have agreed that we have a task to accomplish, that doesn’t mean I will tolerate your continuing disrespect. I am no longer your prisoner. I am now your partner. No, I am your superior, and you will treat me as such. I have attempted to be amiable, but my efforts apparently mean nothing to you.”

  She took a deep breath, and her face flushed in anger.

  Joryn sighed. So much for his promises to himself, like it or not, he would lie with her before this was done. He was drawn to the Queen in such a way that he could no longer deny the blaze that danced between them. Jfe was male, she was female, and before this journey was over, they would share that which they both so obviously needed.

  With that in mind, he decided that perhaps it would be best if he did not annoy her overmuch. Women could be quite spiteful when it suited them. Still, he could not allow her to take control of the
situation. “Partner, I can tolerate. Superior, I cannot.”

  Her eyes narrowed slightly. “Unlikely as it seems, I can be your partner, but you must treat me as such. I am no longer your prisoner, Joryn.”

  “I apologize for my angry words. I am simply frustrated, Keelia.”

  She nodded, and he could tell by the expression on her face that he had been forgiven. “Very well, then.” She continued walking down the path, and he remained beside her.

  “Some things which should be clear to me are not,” she said, “but I have been getting quick and sporadic visions as we move deeper into Caradon Territory. Flashes of truth. Pictures from a mind not my own. The Isen Demon has allied with a vile Caradon wizard who has been practicing dark magic for many years.”

  “Caradon do not practice dark magic.”

  Keelia snapped her head around. ‘This one did, and does. I know it is difficult to face, but you do not know every member of your species. This one has been hiding for years, building his skills and … and murdering Anwyn and Caradon alike.” She shuddered in obvious distaste.

  He wanted to believe that his people were inherently good, but he knew there were some who had chosen a wilder, darker path. “I suppose for now I have no choice but to take your word on the matter.”

  “That will do,” the Queen said gently before continuing. “At the demon’s instruction, this Caradon wizard made and cursed a number of talismans. He placed these talismans around the necks of Caradon, males and females, who were neither dark nor light, but somewhere in between. They possessed gray souls until the stones of the talismans touched their flesh. When that happened, the demon took their souls, and they …” She shuddered, as if she saw and felt all that had happened. “They transformed into soulless creatures trapped between human and cat. They move at the silent instruction of the wizard who made them, and the wizard is under the control of the demon.”