“Thanks, Kapia,” Karma said.
“My pleasure, Sister,” Kapia said with a grin, very pleased with herself. “You were right, this thing works really well as a big stick.”
Karma smiled and got to her feet, panting slightly as she looked around to assess the situation. She was just in time to see one of Zakiel’s swords sink deeply into Saigar’s chest. A fraction of a second later, the other sword parted the cin-sahib’s head from his neck with such force that it flew into the sea. Zakiel turned slightly and kicked Saigar’s chest hard, freeing his sword and sending the body into the water as well.
“How are you doing?” Karma asked Nikura.
“Almost there,” Nikura replied, his voice sounding strained. Zakiel turned toward Karma and Kapia, his eyes raking over both of them, searching for injuries. Finding none, he wrapped his arms around them and held them tightly, so relieved to find them both unharmed that his knees felt weak.
“We did good,” Karma said, patting her husband gently as she shared a smile with Kapia that he couldn’t see. “And Nikura can move again.”
They turned to look at Nikura who shook his head and sat down, then raised one paw to his mouth and began licking it.
“Nikura, I thought that Marene’s magic would end with her death,” Kapia said as she watched him.
Nikura froze, his startled eyes flying to Karma’s.
“Crap,” Karma said softly as she glanced down at Marene’s body. The woman was dead. Absolutely and completely dead. There was no mistaking that.
“What then?” she asked Nikura.
At that moment the serpent demon shot out of the water, pulling itself free from one last orange tentacle. It had numerous deep wounds all over its long, sinuous body, but it was alive. Worse, it no longer had the same snakelike head they had seen when it arrived. Now, it had a gigantic, green, scaly version of Marene’s head with red eyes, long sharp teeth, and dozens of writhing snakes on its head in place of hair.
“Okay, that’s just nasty,” Karma said as they all watched the thing struggle to fly with one broken wing, and one that was torn nearly off. Its thrashing got it closer to the island, and from there it wiggled its way onto the rocks with help from it’s thousands of tiny legs.
“She has possessed the demon,” Nikura said, thoroughly shocked for once.
“That’s a new one huh?” Karma asked as she sent energy into the Ti-Ank, building it as fast as she could.
“I never imagined such an abomination to be possible,” Nikura replied.
“You really need to learn to look on the bright side of things,” Karma said lightly as she stepped away from Zakiel and Kapia so that she had a clear path to the Marene demon...thing.
“Bright side?” Zakiel asked as he pulled Kapia further back from the thrashing horror. “And what, my darling wife, is the bright side here?”
“There are actually two bright sides,” Karma said. “First, Marene is still trying to get used to her new body, so she’s a bit distracted at the moment. And second, the Ti-Ank sees this version of Marene as wholly demon.”
Karma had built the energy into the Ti-Ank until she could no longer contain it. Then she aimed it at Marene and released it.
A blinding flash of light shot from the Ti-Ank and fully encompassed the Marene demon for a long, endless moment. Marene froze, her blood red eyes fixed on Karma, wide with fear and hatred. She opened her mouth, displaying hundreds of teeth and a black forked tongue that vibrated with the force of her scream. Then the Marene demon exploded from within, sending bits of flesh, blood and bone flying high into the air and out over the sea.
“Yuck,” Kapia said after the remains of the demon stopped raining down on them. “Disgusting.”
“Look on the bright side, Sister,” Zakiel said with a grin.
Kapia glanced down at herself with a grimace, then arched a brow at her brother. “Which is?”
“Karma was right about there being a bright side.”
Kapia laughed, then threw her arms around Zakiel in a quick hug before turning to Karma and hugging her as well.
“Let’s go to the other side of this rock and see if the water over there is clean enough for us to rinse off in,” Karma suggested.
“Good idea,” Nikura said and took off at once. They heard a splash as he leapt into the water long before they reached the far side. They all joined him without hesitation, anxious to rid themselves of the remains of the demon Marene.
“What about Karaken?” Zakiel asked as they climbed out of the water a few minutes later.
Karma paused for a moment to listen, but heard nothing. “Nikura?” she asked.
“He’s all right, mostly,” the Sphin replied. “Marene stunned him with some dark magic, forcing him to release her. It’s probably one reason she was so slow to react once she escaped.”
“Why won’t Karaken answer me then?” Karma asked.
“I’m sure I don’t know,” Nikura said. “He’s a fish, remember? In general, I prefer to eat fish, not talk to them.”
Karma rolled her eyes and turned to Kapia. “I guess the next thing we need to do is get the Moon Orb.”
Kapia nodded. “At the top?”
“This is yours to do,” Karma said. “You need to follow your own instincts.”
“You’re right,” Kapia said. She took a deep breath and tried to relax. “At the top,” she said more decisively a few moments later.
Karma and Zakiel watched as Kapia started up the incline toward the top, following right behind her. Karma paused and looked back down at Nikura.
“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he said. She turned and followed Kapia the rest of the way up.
The top of the rock was a large, flat area that looked like nothing more than plain rock. There was nothing to mark any one spot or area as different from the rest. Karma and Zakiel stood at the edge as Kapia walked slowly around the entire area, then began crossing it back and forth. Finally she knelt down in one spot and placed her hand on the rock surface.
“It’s here,” she said.
Zakiel, Karma and Nikura walked over and stood around her, all of them staring at the area she’d indicated with her hand.
“Now what?” Kapia asked, looking up at them.
“Karaken said that only the blood of the Maiden of the Moon can claim the Moon Orb,” Zakiel said. “I think that means that your blood is the key to opening it.”
“Makes sense to me,” Kapia said. She reached for the dagger that Bredon had given her and slipped it out of its sheath, the shiny blade glinting in the sunlight.
“I hope it doesn’t need too much blood,” she said as she held one hand over the rock and held the blade over her palm. She froze, not moving for several long moments.
“Kapia?” Zakiel asked. “Is something wrong?”
“What? Oh, no, I was just...no,” she replied. She lowered the blade and laid it on the rock in front of her. Karma looked at Kapia and saw that her face was pale, save for two bright patches of red on each cheek.
“Kapia, what is it?” Karma asked.
“Remember when I said that Marene must be using my serpent ring to find us?”
“Yes,” Karma said. “We remember.”
“Well, it occurs to me that I have often petted and scratched Nikura since we began this journey. I’m sure I must have done it, at least a few times, with my right hand, which is where I wear the ring.”
Kapia raised her right hand and slipped the serpent ring off of her finger. “Don’t you think Nikura would have sensed demon arts on the ring if he was that close to it?”
Zakiel took the ring from Kapia and held it out to Nikura, who leaned over and sniffed it closely.
“There are no demon arts on this object,” he said after a moment.
“But Marene is dead now,” Karma said. “Wouldn’t that have removed any demon arts that might have been there?”
“Her death would nullify her magic,” Nikura said. “Not erase it, as though it had never been. Th
is soon after her death, I should still be able to scent any dark magic that was on it.”
Karma repeated what Nikura had said, shocking Zakiel. Kapia’s face paled even further, but she did not look surprised. She reached down and picked up the dagger that Bredon had given her, and handed it to Zakiel with a shaking hand.
Zakiel sucked in a harsh breath as understanding hit him. He reached for the dagger reluctantly and froze when Karma suddenly yelled “Stop!”
Kapia, Nikura and Zakiel all stared at her in shock, but Karma barely noticed as she reached for the dagger and took it from Kapia’s hand. “You touched it, the other night,” she said to Zakiel. “When you got so angry at Kapia for having it.”
Zakiel’s eyes widened and he jerked his hand back. “That’s why I got so angry,” he said. “I couldn’t figure it out. I even thought it might have had something to do with the Vatra.”
Kapia’s face was so white Karma was afraid for her. The only thing she could do was get this done as fast as possible. She held the dagger out toward Nikura, and held her breath.
Nikura started to lean toward it, then leapt back and hissed.
The noise that Kapia made was part sob, part scream, and sounded as though it were ripped from her very soul. Zakiel wrapped his arms around his sister, but Karma could see that Zakiel’s shock was hardly any less than Kapia’s. She dropped the knife and slid over, wrapping her arms around her husband and sister.
“Listen, both of you,” she said, “this does not necessarily mean what you both fear.”
Zakiel and Kapia both leaned back and looked at her, hope in their eyes. “Zakiel, your egora beads were corrupted with demon arts, yet you knew nothing of it,” she reminded him. “There is no reason to think that Bredon knew about this.” A moment later she found herself in the crushing embrace of both of them.
“Thank you,” Kapia said. “I was so afraid that..., thank you.”
“Yes, valia, thank you,” Zakiel said, leaning down to kiss her forehead.
“You’re welcome,” Karma said, moving gently back out of their embrace. “Now that we agree Bredon may be no less a victim than you, Zakiel, we must decide what to do next.”
“Shall we dispose of the knife?” Kapia asked uncertainly. Even though she didn’t want to touch it, she could not forget that this was the Mintaka-Til, and Bredon had entrusted it to her care. Could she simply toss it away?
Zakiel looked at Karma, who shrugged. “Nikura?” she asked. “No, wait.” Karma sent a thread of energy into the Ti-Ank so that Zakiel and Kapia could hear whatever Nikura had to say. “All right,” she said to Nikura once the glow of the Ti-Ank surrounded the Sphin.
“The knife allows the one who placed the magic on it to track it,” Nikura said. “We can leave it here, toss it in the ocean, or keep it, though I would not recommend the later.”
“There is something else,” Karma said, frowning at the Sphin. “Something else that bothers you.”
“Yes,” Nikura agreed. “I am certain by the scent that the demon arts were placed there by Marene.”
“But Marene is dead,” Kapia said.
“Precisely the problem,” Nikura said with a slow nod. “If she were dead, there would be a lingering scent of demon arts, but what I scent is active magic.”
“How can she not be dead?” Zakiel asked. “We all spent many minutes washing her remains from our skin and hair.”
“I cannot be sure, of course,” Nikura said, “but my guess is that she found someone to possess. She is fully demon now, as proven by the Ti-Ank’s reaction to her. I should also mention that I scented a trace of blood on the knife, though I do not know whose it is.”
Kapia gasped. “I know whose blood it is,” she said, her voice a pained whisper. “It’s Bredon’s.”
“Are you certain?” Zakiel asked.
“Yes,” Kapia replied. “He accidentally cut himself when he gave it to me. Just a tiny cut, on his thumb.”
“Nikura, would that be enough?” Karma asked.
“I am not well versed in the demon arts,” Nikura said, “so I cannot be positive. We have learned from what happened to you, Lady Techu, that demons do not always have to be invited, as we once believed. If they are given an opening, they can and will use it. Whether this is enough of an opening, I cannot say. I think that it’s a possibility that should not be ignored.”
Karma met Kapia’s fearful gaze and reached out for her hand. “Do not forget, Kapia, that I was saved from just such a fate by Zakiel’s love and strength. Hope is not lost for Bredon. He will need you. Do not give up.”
Kapia swallowed hard and nodded. “No, Karma, I will not give up. Not ever.” She straightened her shoulders and turned to her brother. “Zakiel, may I use your knife, please?”
He reached for the dagger he always carried and handed it to her. Without hesitation, Kapia drew the knife across her hand in a shallow cut which instantly began to bleed. She held her hand over the rock, unsurprised when the rock opened, revealing a dark space beneath the surface. She reached in and pulled out a round, white ball that glittered so brightly the moment the sun hit it that they all had to shield their eyes. Karma removed her vest and held it over the orb, shading it from the sun. It was still bright, but at least they could now look upon it.
Even shaded, the orb flashed and glittered with inner fire. Karma shook her head as she studied the object, unable to discern how such a thing could be.
“This is a diamond,” she said as she ran one finger across its smooth, polished surface. “A diamond that appears to be faceted from the inside out.”
Zakiel stared at the orb, not doubting Karma’s statement for a moment. There was far too much fire in the object to be anything but a diamond. A perfectly clear, intricately cut diamond with thousands of facets, all of them inside the orb. “I cannot imagine how such a thing could be made,” he said.
“It wasn’t made,” Kapia said as she, too, stared at the orb that was nearly twice the size of her fist. “It was created.”
“I don’t understand,” Zakiel said, frowning at Kapia.
“This is not a diamond that was found in the ground, cut and polished,” Kapia explained. “This was created using the natural power and energies of the people of Rathira, and those of Rathira itself.” Kapia looked up at Zakiel and Karma, then frowned. “I’m sorry, I can’t explain it any better than that.”
“It’s all right,” Karma said. “I think I understand you.”
“It’s very beautiful,” Kapia said. “And very powerful as well.”
“Yes, it is,” Karma agreed. “It also means that we’ve succeeded in the first part of our quest.”
“Do you know where we are to go next?” Kapia asked as she wrapped the orb in Karma’s vest.
“Not yet,” Karma said. “I’m sure we’ll learn soon enough. For now, I suggest we get back to land.”
Zakiel and Kapia both nodded in agreement. Kapia started to get up, then reached for the knife Bredon had given her, which lay on the rock where Karma had dropped it. She turned it over in her hand, careful not to touch the blade. She knew that she could not take it with her. If Marene was still alive, and it seemed that she was, the knife would reveal every step they made to her. Nor could she throw it into the sea, as Nikura had suggested. She’d given Bredon her word that she would take care of it.
Suddenly, she dropped it into the dark cavern that had held the Moon Orb for a thousand years. She stood, then backed away, watching the dark hole expectantly. Just as she was about to give up, the rock that had hidden the Cradle of the Orb reappeared, sealing the Mintaka-Til safely within.
Don’t worry, Bredon, she said silently, I will come back for it one day. This I promise. No matter what.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Laura Jo lives in the Arizona desert with her loving husband, their two children, one very large dog and two interesting cats. Laura Jo loves to hear from her readers. Visit her website at www.laurajophillips.com to see when the next installment in t
he Orbs of Rathira series is coming, and sign her guestbook. Or, email her directly at [email protected]
While you are there, take a peek at the ever growing Handbook of the Thousand Worlds which details lots of interesting information about the people, technology, governments, and other interstellar information about the worlds the Soul-Linked Saga takes place in.
Quest for the Moon Orb: Orbs of Rathira Page 40
