Crystal Shadows

by Joy Nash

  His senses filled with the memory of Gina’s kiss. A kiss he had so unwisely teased from her, while he’d been swept away in the fantasy of once again belonging to the Baha’Na.

  He pushed the illusion away. It was time he accepted reality. Neither he nor Gina belonged here in the wilderness. Yes, he ached to love her, but no good could come of it. Her presence fueled the Blight. Any bond between them would only serve to make their parting that much more difficult.

  He couldn’t afford to lose sight of his goal, no matter how confused his feelings had become. He would open the web and send Gina home—the fate of his world depended on it.

  He stepped away. “Come. We will be needed in Zera’s dwelling. She’ll stay with Deehna this night.”

  Gina nodded. Together, they left the dying flames.

  * * * * *

  The pale blue crystal flashed a pattern. Three long bright bursts, then two shorter sparks. Ariek ran one hand over his head and waited, his gaze intent on the stone’s blank surface. After several long, pulsing seconds, he muttered a curse and turned away.

  Derrin had promised to send a signal from the mate of the blue crystal, but now it seemed as if he’d vanished into thin air. Ariek stared sourly at the lifeless crystal, his apprehension flaring into fear. What in Tarol’s Inferno had happened to Derrin?

  He slammed out of his workroom and entered the hallway, trying to remember the details of Derrin’s accusations concerning Balek—accusations Ariek had once dismissed as fancy, but now was beginning to credit. The Madness and the Blight were aspects of the same malady, Derrin had insisted. It seemed unlikely, yet…

  “Master Kaltir! Meerak!” Ariek hurried to catch up with the two wizards who had entered the passageway a short distance ahead. They turned at his greeting.

  “You’ve been scarce, Ariek,” the younger man remarked.

  “I’ve been busy.” Ariek fell into step beside Meerak and his mentor. “I’ve developed a hypothesis. I’d like your opinion. You’ve both spent a good deal of time studying the Blight. Is it possible the Blight and the Madness are one disease, springing from a common source?”

  Kaltir raised one bushy gray eyebrow. “There is no reason to think it. Do you have evidence to support such a theory?”

  “Uh…nothing definite,” Ariek faltered, “just a feeling.” At the sight of Meerak’s incredulous stare he added, “They appeared at about the same time.”

  “My dear Ariek,” Kaltir said, “if two men arrive in Katrinth on the same day, it does not necessarily follow that they journeyed from the same town. The Blight and the Madness are two very different maladies. One affects the forest and fields, the other strikes the minds of men. It is not probable that they arise from the same source.”

  “It is an interesting theory, though,” put in Meerak. “One that could be studied. If you wish, we could work together to devise a series of experiments. My schedule is full until after the next Lower House Council, but afterwards—”

  Ariek cut him short. “Thank you, Meerak. I’ll give that some thought.”

  Kaltir snorted. “Set your mind to more pressing matters, Ariek. Such simplistic reasoning is beneath you.”

  Chagrinned, Ariek turned away. He had wanted to test Derrin’s theory and had feared just such a reaction. It would take months of research and analysis before he could hope to present enough evidence to convince the Upper House to consider Derrin’s idea. How much longer would it take to prove Balek’s activities were the cause of the Blight?

  On the other hand, maybe Derrin was mistaken. Ariek had to agree with Kaltir—precious little in the way of hard fact existed to support his friend’s speculation. Derrin, however, had a talent for uncanny leaps of perception. His improbable prediction of communication via twinned crystals had proved accurate. But a five-sided crystal? Impossible. Such an object couldn’t exist. Still, there was the question of Maator’s amazingly pure crystals…

  Without allowing himself time to reflect on his actions, Ariek turned his steps in the direction of Balek’s chambers. The High Council was in session, and Ariek had seen Maator leave the Stronghold a short time earlier. He might as well take the opportunity to have a look around.

  He unlocked the door and eased himself into the long workroom. Once inside, he searched every shelf and storage area, fighting back a feeling of utter foolishness. Did he expect to find the improbable stone? His gaze passed over countless crystals of all types. Some were incredibly pure, but none resembled Derrin’s description. Ariek turned to leave. As he moved toward the door, the faint outline of a pentagram caught the corner of his vision.

  He moved closer to get a better look at the pattern etched in the center of the gleaming black worktable. His fingers touched it. The ebony slab slid back. The shallow compartment below contained a single yellow crystal.

  Ariek blinked and bent closer. Each sharp plane of the crystal had five edges. He slid the stone from its resting place and turned it over in his hands. An uneasy feeling of wonder clawed at his stomach. The crystal did indeed have five sides, each a perfect pentagram.

  His throat went dry. Somehow the impossible, the insane, fit together with perfect logic.

  He studied the anomaly, but could not fathom its structure, and his mind refused to acknowledge it. There was only one way to understand the nature of the stone. Ariek stretched his mind toward it. His concentration flickered on the surface of the paradox before plunging inside.

  Madness exploded, flinging fragments of reason to the outer reaches of his consciousness and beyond. The room spun. He stumbled against the table, gasping, his sanity reeling in the maelstrom. With a desperate effort, he grasped at the last shred of his will and wrenched his mind free.

  He stared at the crystal, chest heaving. Raw power shimmered in waves around the stone, a wild, primitive force unmoved by logic. Ariek’s doubts vanished. Derrin was right. This obscene crystal was indeed the source of the sicknesses ravaging the land. He would stake his life on it.

  Footsteps sounded in the hall. Quickly, Ariek returned the crystal to its niche and closed the pentagram. He pulled out one of his own crystals and uttered a silent command. He faded into shadow as Balek and Maator entered the room.

  He dared not remain. His concentration had been shaken by his plunge into madness and wouldn’t sustain the shadow for long. He edged toward the open door. Once safe in the passageway, he breathed a sigh of relief.

  * * * * *

  “He’s gone.” Maator stole a glance at Balek. His mentor was in a particularly foul mood.

  “Tarol’s blood! I cannot believe he broke free of the webstone.” Balek’s tone was sharp. “What have you learned? Does Ariek know where Derrin has hidden the woman?”

  Maator knew better than to show fear in Balek’s presence. He stared at the faint pentagram etched on the worktable and shrugged with a nonchalance he did not feel. “I’ve been watching him. The man knows something.” Maator dared a glance in Balek’s direction. “He will be the first person Derrin contacts when he tires of hiding.”

  Balek did not answer, but his displeasure showed in the cold glint of his eyes. Maator racked his brain for some scrap of information to keep his master’s anger at bay.

  “Ariek is concealing more than Derrin’s whereabouts, Master.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He spends many of his nights in the Temple of Lotark.”

  Balek’s brows shot up. “The Temple? How curious.”

  “But true. Ariek is the Bride of Lotark’s secret lover.”

  Balek stared at Maator for one startled moment. Then he started to laugh.

  The mirthless sound sent a shiver up Maator’s spine.

  “Brilliant.” Balek chuckled, stroking the gray-gold strands of his beard. “Brilliant indeed. That information, Maator, may prove quite useful.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The night was hot.

  Gina gave up on the pretense of sleep. There’d been no need for a shelter, but Derrin ha
dn’t extinguished the fire at nightfall, choosing instead to let it smolder as a deterrent to insects and other, more dangerous beasts. As a result, rivulets of sweat pooled between her breasts. Her dress clung limply to her sticky skin.

  Rolling onto her back, Gina watched the stars wander in and out of the clouds, keenly aware of Derrin stretched out little more than an arm’s length away.

  She concentrated for a moment on the rise and fall of his breath. Still awake. She’d been his sleeping partner long enough to tell. Odd, having spent so many nights with a man who wasn’t her lover.

  Her lover. Slow heat infused her body at the thought. She rolled onto her side and peered at Derrin. He lay with his back facing her, one arm tucked under his head. She extended her mind to him, but as usual, she could feel nothing. He was guarding his emotions well. She sighed. She wished she could do the same.

  They’d left the Fire Clan early this morning. Once alone with Derrin, Gina had been plagued by the memory of his kiss. It had awakened every cell in her body and set them vibrating, clamoring for more. Unfortunately, though there’d been plenty of opportunity, Derrin hadn’t kissed her again. He hadn’t even drawn close enough for her to touch. She’d tried more than once to ask him about it, but the words had stuck in her throat.

  An owl hooted, somewhere far above. Despite her vulnerability during the Na’tahar—or maybe because of it—Gina wanted Derrin. She wanted him with a longing she’d never before experienced. And when she thought of making love to Derrin, she didn’t think of candlelight and flowery declarations. She didn’t think of tenderness and respect.

  She thought of raw power and possession. She thought of being helpless in the face of his lust and reveling in it. She thought of giving him everything, holding nothing back, letting him drive her harder and further than she’d ever gone before.

  The thought was both exciting and terrifying.

  Gina focused on his motionless form and imagined reaching out to skim her fingers over the corded muscles of his shoulders and over his powerful biceps. She almost extended her hand to try it.

  But at the last moment, she pulled back. A biting apprehension stopped her from offering herself to him. What if he refused her? Even worse, what if he accepted her offer and found her lacking? Michael had.

  As Gina’s relationship with her ex crumbled, he’d never lost an opportunity to point out her deficiencies in bed. Gina had come to dread sex. She tried to avoid it, claiming she was too tired or had too much work to do. Unfortunately, Michael wasn’t a man to take no for an answer, especially when he had a hard-on.

  He told her it was her fault their marriage was falling apart. She hadn’t tried hard enough to please him. His accusations rang true, so she’d closed her eyes and tried to respond to his advances. It didn’t work. Stretched out under him, her body had turned numb. When he entered her, it hurt.

  She kept trying until she came home early one day to find Michael in bed with one of his students.

  After their breakup, she’d tried a few times to date, but found herself going numb when her date tried to kiss her. It was as if her body had relearned its response to sex. What if she tried to have sex with Derrin and her body shut off? What would she say to him? What would he think? Traveling with him afterward would be a nightmare.

  Gina rolled over onto her back and shut her eyes. Best to play it safe.

  * * * * *

  Derrin came to her in a dream.

  This time Gina knew it was him, and knew it wasn’t real. He stretched out beside her, pressing every inch of his hard body to hers. Bare skin, slick with sweat, caught and slid, creating delicious friction. The spark of desire in Gina’s belly caught and blazed.

  It was only a dream.

  Derrin’s hands moved down her back to cup her buttocks. His thigh parted her legs. The rough hairs on his leg scraped her tender skin, pressed hard against her clit. She bucked against him, a satisfied moan tearing from her lips as she rode his leg. His palms on her ass guided, urged.

  His teeth caught on her neck, igniting small bites of fire along her shoulder. He smelled of woodsmoke and loam, mystery and darkness. His cock was hard—she could feel it nudging her hip as she moved against him. But when she would have shifted to take him in, his grip tightened, holding her back.

  Her arousal spun higher. Her rhythm quickened. She rubbed her clit against his thigh, mindless with the pleasure of it. For once, her body did not betray her. This was a dream, nothing more. She was safe. She could let herself go, let herself imagine, and Derrin would never know.

  Her climax broke swift and hard, leaving her gasping. She came awake as it washed over her, her own hand pressed on her pulsing mound. Oh God. It took all her will to keep from crying out.

  She lay still, struggling to keep her breath even, waiting for the trembling of her limbs to subside. When it did, she rolled to one side, trying not to rustle the dried leaves under her.

  She darted a glance at Derrin, and let out a sigh of relief.

  He was asleep.

  * * * * *

  The midday sun beat down on the still landscape, dropping its weight like a blanket over the valley. The staccato rhythm of insects battered Derrin’s skull. He scowled at the blue sky, then quickened his pace through the thick underbrush, lengthening the distance between himself and Gina.

  The most sensible course of action would be to wait out the hottest part of the day near a shady stream, but Derrin couldn’t bring himself to stop walking. It would mean having to talk to Gina, and after the mind-shattering dream they had shared the night before, he wasn’t sure he was up to the task.

  The night joining had been awash with Gina’s pleasure—pleasure she had no idea he’d given her. After the dream had faded, he lay awake, unwilling to risk closing his eyes again. He’d never been so happy to see the dawn.

  But it hadn’t taken long for a black mood to descend. The result, no doubt, of his restless night. Vivid images of Gina, naked beneath him, had haunted his waking moments as thoroughly as their dream had permeated his slumber. In his mind’s eye he saw her writhe as he drove himself into her body so powerfully his balls slapped against her buttocks.

  He hadn’t been able to look her in the eye once she’d risen. If he had, he would have taken her in the dirt. His control was that fragile.

  All morning, he kept a careful distance between them—it was the only way he could resist his craving to touch her. Even so, the memory of her kiss on his lips was driving him insane. His palms tingled. He wanted to kiss her again, to slip his hand beneath the hem of her dress and stroke upward. He wanted to part her slick folds, find the hard bud where her pleasure centered and urge her to…

  No.

  With a foul curse, he reminded himself again that Gina was from another world. She was a woman who would soon be gone from his life. A woman he had already violated. A woman who by all rights should despise him in the flesh, even though she welcomed him in her dreams.

  His efforts were useless.

  He could no longer think of Gina as a stranger to his world. She moved through the forest with stunning grace. She laughed and cried with his mother’s people. She no longer spoke in her own alien tongue, but in the language of the Baha’Na. Yet Gina understood Derrin’s life in Galena as no woman of the clans ever could. She knew all that he was, all that he had lost. She had seen the worst part of him, suffered because of it, and forgiven him for it.

  He wanted her. The intensity of his desire staggered him. He wanted to tear out his heart and offer it to her. He wanted to feel the rise and fall of her breath against his body as they lay beneath the stars. He wanted to suckle her breasts like a newborn babe.

  He wanted to throw her on the ground and fuck her like a Galenan whore.

  But how could he form a bond with Gina when her very presence fueled the destruction of his world? New evidence of the Blight confronted him everywhere. The symptoms were not as obvious as in Galena, where entire forests had been stripped of foliage, but t
he signs were clear to anyone who knew the wilderness. Sudden shifts in temperature, trees and shrubs that hadn’t set fruit, a particular birdsong absent from the chorus at dawn.

  Anger and frustration gripped him. Each Na’lara in turn had refused to aid him in opening the web. They accepted the changes in the wilderness as the will of the Goddess. They would wait patiently for the Great Mother to rescue them, but Derrin knew better. No miracle would be forthcoming. The source of the Blight was a man’s greed. The plagues would not abate until Balek’s webstone was destroyed, and Derrin was the only man capable of doing it.

  He would stop the high wizard, no matter the cost. Sending Gina home was his first step. Zera had told him she had dreamed Gina would cross the web at the next full moon. Though he dreaded the hour of Gina’s departure, he hoped, for the sake of his own sanity, the Na’lara’s vision had been true.

  “Derrin, wait!”

  He stopped and turned. Gina was struggling through a dense patch of brush. He watched, torn between a desire to help and a reluctance to place himself so close to her. As a compromise, he shouted instructions to duck under the higher branches and follow the animal trails close to the ground.

  Gina crawled from the thicket flushed and panting. Her arms were scratched. Thorns had snagged her braids and dress. Perspiration dripped from her forehead and down her cheeks, leaving trails on her dirty face.

  He turned without a word and continued on the trail. The thick vegetation soon gave way to a steep, rocky slope. Waves of heat rose from the rocks as he climbed.

  “Derrin!” Gina yelled again.

  He stopped and waited for her to catch up.

  “Why are you in such a hurry?” she said, panting.

  “I’m not hurrying. You’re slow.”

  She glared at him. “I’m doing the best I can.”

  “That may be true, but it’s not much.” He was baiting her, he knew, but he couldn’t seem to stop himself. His sexual frustration, combined with his fear that the Blight would soon consume the wilderness, battered his tenuous control.