Hotter Than Hell

by Kim Harrison

  When Lanc tried to struggle up again, Bern knocked him unconscious.

  Ginger rushed up to him “Are you all right?”

  “Oh, yeah.” He grinned, and kissed her, pulling her tightly against him. “Never better.” The loincloth left nothing to her imagination about how he was feeling. The cheering crowd faded away from his attention as he concentrated only on the woman in his arms.

  Her hand brushed against the erection straining against the soft leather. Then she pried herself out of his tight embrace. “Not yet.”

  “Oh, come on!” he complained. But he understood when she pointed toward the sword buried in the ground. He laughed. “Right. Well, at least I don’t have to pull it out of a stone.”

  “Uh…”

  “What?”

  She looked at him strangely, and asked, “Doesn’t Bern mean ‘bear’?”

  “Yeah…” He crossed to the sword. Bits of earth clung to the blade as he pulled it out and held it up for all to see. He waited for the cheering to die down, then shouted, “For Britain and the White Lady!”

  The roar this time was deafening.

  “Must have sounded good,” he murmured.

  Ched came up to him, taking both him and Ginger by the hand. A trio of young women accompanied him. One of the girls held a stag-horn headdress. The other girls made quick work of stripping off his and Ginger’s clothes.

  After fastening the headdress on Bern, Ched turned to the crowd and proclaimed, “Behold the queen and king of summer. This mating will bring fertility to the land! Let the festival begin!”

  “You know, I’m beginning to think—” Ginger started.

  “Don’t.” Bern grabbed her and kissed her.

  He swung his naked lover up into his arms and covered her mouth with his. While his tongue probed inside that sweet, responsive warmth he carried her to the cloth-covered mound of grass and flowers that was to serve as both bed and altar for them to mate upon.

  “Put me down!” she demanded.

  “Don’t chicken out on me now,” he pleaded.

  Ginger laughed wickedly. “Not a chance.” She remembered his directions to just look at him, but the crowd was the last thing on her mind at the moment. She wanted to taste him, and that was what she did.

  The crowd cheered. A wave of raw sexual energy washed over her. The lust channeled by the masses shot through her, and she projected it back to the people around them. In that moment the goddess filled her, and she worshipped the god of summer and king of the land with all the fervor and passion due him.

  Bern pushed her gently onto her back on the soft, fragrant altar. He knelt over her, poised at the moist opening of her vagina. He waited while her hips rose pleadingly.

  “Now!” she demanded.

  But he didn’t move until her gaze finally met his. “The night is just beginning,” he told her.

  Then he entered her, and his worship of the goddess began in earnest.

  “Ahem.”

  The embarrassed throat-clearing, followed by a second voice demanding, “Cover your shame, woman!” was the last thing Ginger expected to hear after the night she’d enjoyed.

  Besides, she wasn’t sure how shame was supposed to be covered, especially when what she felt was marvelous. All right, she was sore and tender in places, and rather hung over, though not in the having-drunk-too-much-alcohol way. Who knew too much great sex could make you groggy?

  Could you have too much great sex?

  If it could be done, she’d done it tonight.

  “Colonel, sir,” the embarrassed voice whispered. “Excuse me for waking you up, but—”

  “Rouse yourself, man!” the other voice boomed.

  Ginger giggled. “Please don’t,” she murmured. “Not on my account. Not just yet, anyway.”

  “Wha? What?” Bern muttered.

  She felt his breath brush her cheek when he spoke, and realized that he was the warm weight lying half on top of her. The cool morning breeze skimmed across the rest of her, teasing one bare nipple to a hard peak. Maybe that was the shame the guy was talking about. Was that any way to talk to the goddess’s own—

  That voice…There was something familiar about it…

  “Is that you, Dr. White?”

  Ginger’s eyes flew open and she caught sight of a familiar, concerned face.

  “Sergeant Kaye?” Oh, good Lord, she was naked in front of a colleague! She didn’t recognize the man standing next to him, but the stranger was frowning down at her with utter disgust written all over his face.

  “His name’s Percy Perkins, and he’s a jerk,” Bern whispered. He sat up and said, “I hope you brought us some clothes, Kaye.”

  The sergeant held out the dress Ginger had worn last night, and a long tunic for Bern.

  “Of course you realize that I intend to report this infraction,” Percy said.

  “Infraction of what?” Bern asked. “There’s no rule against team members fraternizing.”

  “You led an orgy! Your disgusting behavior roused the indigenous population to—”

  “He didn’t get any, sir,” Kaye put in.

  Bern scratched his jaw. “I can see how that might make him cranky.”

  “Not to mention being named Percy,” Ginger added. “That alone probably put the guy into years of therapy. Could you sue your parents for giving you a name like that?” she asked Bern.

  He shrugged. “Ask Percy.”

  “Well?” she said.

  Percy declined to respond. But his posture, though it seemed impossible, became even more tense.

  “I could use a shave,” Bern said. “And a bath.” He sprang to his feet and helped Ginger up. “How about you, sweetheart?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Have the team meet us at the bath, Kaye. But give us a few minutes, will you?”

  They could hear Percy spluttering as they walked away.

  She slipped the white dress over her head, and they walked arm in arm across the field toward the villa, frequently stepping over and around still-sleeping revelers.

  The spring ceremony had apparently been a great success.

  Kaye went off to his assignment, and Percy followed behind them, making the occasional disapproving sound. The morning sun shone down, the sky was blue, the earth was green, birds sang, and Ginger was happier than she’d ever been before. They had the blessing of the goddess, she supposed.

  They passed the old bishop preaching to a small group of revelers who looked thoroughly hangdog and hung over. Myrdyn gave them a pleasant nod when he saw them pass him by.

  “We must be good for business,” Bern said.

  “If he baptizes all those people, the energy in the pool is going to be whacked out for days,” Ginger said.

  “That is hardly a scientific explanation of a temporal malfunction, Dr. White,” Percy complained.

  They both ignored him.

  Once they reached the bathhouse, Ginger led them into the preparation room where oils scented the bathers’ bodies before they got into the hot water of the bathing pool. Benches lined the walls, and the floor was tiled in a beautiful leaf-patterned mosaic.

  “This is where I meant to bring you yesterday,” she told Bern.

  He pulled her close. They looked into each other’s eyes. “It was worth the detour.”

  “You two are being disgusting,” Percy said.

  Bern sighed. “You know, this time I think I agree with him.” He let her go. “We do need to make plans.”

  “We have work to do,” she said.

  “Do I detect some professionalism at last?” Percy whined.

  “Shut up, Percy,” Ginger and Bern said together.

  “And that’s an order,” Bern added.

  Ginger took a seat on a bench against the back wall. Within a few minutes Kaye and the rest of the team joined them. Bern allowed his people a few minutes of teasing him before the introductions.

  “This is Gareth and Lamorak.”

  Ginger smiled. “Of course
they are.”

  He didn’t understand what amused her, and didn’t ask. “Let’s get down to business.”

  “Now that we have recovered Dr. White, it’s time to continue surveying the nexus points,” Percy said immediately.

  “Percy’s a douser,” Bern explained to Ginger. “He’s working on a new nexus map. But he hasn’t yet found a spot with enough energy to get us home.”

  “It’s hardly my fault that this island is swamped with more energy points than anywhere else on the planet, especially in this area. It was a mistake to send a team this far back, and especially to this geographic location.”

  “Yeah, I think we’re all aware of that,” Gareth said. “We noticed the problems. And that’s before you started telling us every five minutes.”

  “We have one more man to find,” Lamorak said. “That’ll round out our mission.”

  “Finding the exit point is far more important for our own survival,” Percy said. “We should cut our losses and concentrate on finding a functioning nexus. Perhaps Dr. White could conjure up a vision of where we should go,” he added. But not as though he meant it.

  “What’d I ever do to you?” was Ginger’s response to this rudeness. “See if I tell you if I find it!”

  Bern liked that she refused to be intimidated by the jerk. “No one gets left behind,” he reminded Percy. “We’re still looking for Owens.”

  “But his transpond—” Percy started.

  “What does your gut tell you, sir?” Kaye jumped in. “You found me—”

  “Your transponder was working—” Percy cut him off.

  “Intermittently. It was Colonel Bern’s instincts that really found me.”

  “Balderdash,” Percy scoffed.

  “Does anyone really say balderdash?” Ginger asked.

  “Just Percy,” Bern replied.

  “The colonel’s gut led us here and we found Dr. White,” Gareth said. “So what do you think about Owens, sir?”

  Bern considered for a moment, sensing more than thinking. Finally, he said, “I think that most of the population in the area is camped out around this stronghold. If I was Owens, I’d be here too.” He swept his gaze around his team. “Break up. Go look for him. Reconvene here at noon.”

  There were nods, and people turned to leave.

  Before he left, Percy just had to ask, “And what will you be doing while we’re searching?”

  Bern put his arm around Ginger’s shoulders. “I’m going to be standing at the Lady of the White Bird Spring’s side while she seeks a vision to help us find a way home.”

  “Good, Bishop Myrdyn hasn’t used the place yet,” Ginger said as they entered the empty shrine.

  Now she didn’t have to regret insisting that they get cleaned up before coming to the spring. Her skin felt fresh and tingly, and all the aches from strenuous bouts of sex were soothed. Her hair hung in a damp braid down her back, and Bern had shaved.

  “If only we had coffee, I could face anything,” she said.

  “Find us the right nexus and I’ll buy you your own Starbucks,” he replied.

  He wouldn’t be able to do any such thing, of course, even if she could somehow pull the right vision out of the sacred pool. It saddened her to know that she would return to her point of origin, and he would return to his, which was six months further along the main timeline than hers. She would remember what happened, and six months later he’d read a report filed by her, and learn what he’d done in the past. It wouldn’t be proper to record their sexual encounters in the official record, even if the dry bureaucratic tone of reports could use spicing up a bit.

  He’d probably never even know who she was.

  But she’d remember forever.

  “What are you smiling about?” he asked.

  “Nothing.” She turned her smile briefly on him, and then dropped to her knees. “I doubt this will work,” she warned. “I don’t normally see anything dealing with my own future.”

  “You saw me, didn’t you?”

  “I saw you in response to Lord Ched asking who the next king would be. By the way, there’s something important you should know about that,” she added.

  “Not now. As soon as we conclude the search for Owen, I’m taking you and the rest of my people out of here.”

  “But—”

  “You’ll find me a nexus. I know it. Look into the water. Calm yourself. Concentrate.”

  “I know how to summon the visions, Andrew.”

  He put his hands on her shoulders and gently began to massage them. He communicated his faith in her through his touch. Damn, but she was going to hate losing this man! She appreciated the moment, refused to feel sorry for herself, and set about doing her duty.

  At first, of course, all she saw was a pool of water as still and clear as a looking glass. But the calm, peaceful water changed quickly.

  Bern grew worried when Ginger’s muscles went suddenly tense. “What?” he asked. “What do you see?”

  “Fire,” she answered, her voice distant and dull. “Fire on the hill.”

  “What hill? What’s burning?”

  “There’s a battle,” she said. “You have to defeat them. It’s your destiny.”

  A battle? He didn’t like the sound of that. “What does any of that have to do with getting us all safely home?”

  Lord Ched came running into the sanctuary before she could respond. “They’re coming!” he shouted. “The Saxons are coming.” A guard followed him in, pushing a woman ahead of him. Ched looked at the woman. “Tell him,” he commanded.

  The woman was crying. “Mercy, my lord! I did come back to warn you.”

  “Yes, yes,” the chieftain said. He pointed to Bern. “Tell the king what you told me.”

  Everybody looked at him. Bern wanted to yell at them to cut out calling him king, but even Ginger had come out of her trance and was looking at him like he was the hero of the hour. And, damn it, the thought of disappointing her made him feel like a jerk. He gritted his teeth, and nodded for the woman to go on.

  “It’s true I helped my lady Morga and her man escape. I’ve taken care of the girl all her life, and I understood how she’d been with the last Year King long enough to think of him as her husband and not to want to bed a new man.” She looked Bern over. “Though I think she would have gotten the better part of the bargain had she stayed and done her duty.”

  “Get on to the important part,” the chieftain urged.

  “The pair of them were angry and affronted at being forced to run from their home. After we made camp last night they talked about how they would betray the secrets of the stronghold’s defenses to the Saxons.”

  Ched rubbed the back of his neck. “But that is the secret—we have no defenses.”

  “But the invaders aren’t aware of how weak we are,” the guard said. “They’ll march straight for us now.”

  “They will be arriving soon,” the woman said. “I had to come back to warn my people that their doom approaches.”

  Bern wished she hadn’t put it like that. It made him feel sorry for the indigenous population. Even worse, the way they all looked to him to take command made him feel responsible for them. These people were going to be easy pickings without some help. Bern thought of all the defenseless people camped out around the stronghold. They’d come here for a religious celebration, not to be slaughtered.

  “How will you defend us?” Lord Ched asked him.

  Ginger came forward and put her hand on his arm. “I was studying the pool for advice on that very subject when you arrived. If you would let us continue with the divination, the king will meet with you afterwards, better prepared to save your people.”

  The chieftain and his people left without another word.

  When they were alone, Ginger grabbed the front of Bern’s tunic, held on tight, and talked fast. “You listen to me, Colonel Bern. I will not have you quoting rules and regs about noninterference and the possibility of changing history. We don’t have any solid histo
ry from this era to go on. But we do have myths and legends, and, hon, I think I know what’s going on here. You have to fight the invaders. You. You are the element necessary to slow down the incursions and give the native culture more time to recover from Roman rule. That way, when the Saxons do take over it’ll be overlaying a British-based culture rather than a Roman one. In our time we’ll have England the way we know it. If you duck this battle we won’t. It’s your duty take on the invaders here and now. You were meant to do this.”

  Bern gaped at her. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You said it yourself, last night, ‘at least I don’t have to pull it out of a stone.’ You pulled the sword from the soil of Britain and claimed the kingship. You are—”

  “Don’t you dare put that on me.” He’d finally figured out where this was going.

  “Bern means ‘bear,’” she went on. “One of the translations of—”

  “No.”

  “And then there’s your men’s names. There’s Kaye and—”

  “You’ve been drinking that spring water too long, as well as looking into it, haven’t you?” His tone was doubtful, but his instincts were shouting at him that she was right.

  He knew he’d hurt her feelings, but they were interrupted once again before he could apologize. This time it was the rest of the team that came into the sanctuary.

  “Look who we found, boss!” Kaye crowed. “Your gut was right again.”

  “Stop looking smug,” he ordered Ginger. “Welcome to your rescue, Professor Owen,” he said to the newcomer.

  “I’m grateful the Project sent a team for us.” Owen gave Ginger a nod and smile. She smiled back. “And if rumor is correct, you’ve come to the rescue just in the nick of time.”

  “We’ve heard that the Saxons are heading this way,” Kaye told him. “Time for us to bug out, right?”

  Bern waited for Ginger to protest, but she crossed her arms and bit her lower lip instead of nagging him. Damn it! That made it even harder for him to say no to her.

  “I took an oath to protect these people last night,” he told the team. “The least we can do is give the locals a chance at getting away.”

  “What precisely to you mean by ‘we’?” Percy spoke up. “At no point do I recall having signed a social contract with these people. Going native is not one of our options.”