Bound in Darkness (19 page)

“Tell me what I want to hear,” he demanded of her.

She shook her head.

Damn her she was so stubborn! But he wasn't going to let her get away with pretending he didn't matter. He didn't understand why, didn't bother to examine the impulse too closely in the moment, but he was determined to have all of her or none at all.

He turned to swim away from her, but realized belatedly that she still had her hands wrapped around him. How could he have forgotten? She'd been driving him mad since the very first touch.

“Let go of me,” he murmured when his movement did not break her hold. She silently shook her head, not meeting his eyes, staring at his chest.

“Do you have something to say to me?” he asked.

She mutely shook her head again.

“Then let go. Face up to what you're doing. You're making the conscious choice to let me go. So make the choice.” He reached down to cover her hands beneath the water where they held him and her grip tightened, though not yet painfully. Still, she literally had him by the balls and it would almost be amusing if it weren't so serious.

“Fine,” she whispered.

There was a pause, a long breath where he waited to see what she would do next. Waited and wanted.

“It's you,” she whispered. “Not anyone else. I want you.”

Then she let him go and swam away, leaving him shocked and surprised. Shocked she had admitted it, surprised she had then left him. It took him a moment to wake up and swim after her. By the time he caught up with her she was hauling herself up onto the riverbank. She hurried to where she had left her clothes and he was hot on her heels.

“Why are you leaving if you just said—?”

“Where are my clothes?” she asked him accusingly.

“Wherever you left them I imagine,” he said impatiently. “But you're not getting dressed. You're going to stay with me and we're going to—”

“No, we're not,” she said definitively.

“But you just said—”

“Yes. And that's the reason why it's not going to happen. The fact that no one else will do tells me that I am foolishly getting too attached to you. It tells me that I need to protect myself, not open myself up to further attachment.”

“But why? I don't understand what is so bad about a little attachment.”

She looked at him as if he had sprouted five heads. “This coming from you?” she asked incredulously.

She had a point. Why wasn't he running away like she was? He should be terrified of the idea of anyone getting too attached to him. His was a cursed existence. He had no right to get close to anyone. And he had a goal that would very likely be the death of him. He should be encouraging her to leave—to leave the group entirely—rather than risk her getting too much attached. But…

“Do not assume to know what I want. All you need to know is that I want you, Airi. Whatever comes tomorrow will come tomorrow and we will deal with it when it does, but for right now…I want you in my bed.”

She bit her lip and seemed to hesitate. But then, “No, Maxum, you'll only hurt me.”

“Yes,” he said quickly. “I probably will. People always hurt one another and I will not lie and make promises otherwise. But when you find a little joy, a little pleasure with someone, you have to take advantage of it. You have to have something to make life worth living, something to create a little balance in your life.”

She couldn't help herself, she smiled. Give him a few minutes more and he might start quoting poetry. She tried to remind herself that he was just saying these things to get his way, to get her body under his. And the truth was that she was on the verge of letting him have her. And that was why she wanted her clothes so she could run back to camp and be around other people; hoping that would deter him for at least another day.

“Where in the eight hells are my clothes?!” she cried out in frustration as she looked for them. Then she noticed something else. “Where in the eight hells are
your
clothes?”

Maxum looked around on the ground where he had left his clothes and boots.

Nothing. They were gone. Except for…a piece of paper. He picked it up and read what was written aloud.

“Please forgive me, I had no choice. Sarda.”

“Sarda took our clothes? Why in the eight hells would she do that?”

“Because it wasn't just our clothes. Didn't you have a saddlebag with you?”

“Oh my god! She stole all my things! My
gold
!”

“This is what happens when you start trusting strangers, Airianne!” he barked out at her.

“You're the one who said she could stay!”

“Only because you were making those puppy eyes at me and saying ‘Oh please, Maxum! I am using your attraction toward me to get my way, so please let her stay!' And then you batted your lashes at me or some such shit.”

“I never batted anything! And I wasn't taking advantage of your attraction to me!”

“Ha! Examine yourself more closely, Airi. You'll find the truth. Just as I know the truth is I gave in to you because of that attraction even though my gut said otherwise. My gut told me another woman, especially a weak one, would be nothing but trouble. I should have listened to myself instead of letting my dick do the thinking for me.”

“Oh! You are such a…a…a bastard!” she said at last, unable to come up with anything stronger because she felt too much truth in his words. But she'd be damned if she was going to admit it while she was standing cold and naked in the middle of the forest.

She wrapped her arms around herself and began to shiver violently. Maxum saw her and immediately stepped in to her to pull her close and she tried swatting him away.

“Come on! Let me warm you up!” he said forcefully. “Stop fighting for once and do something that's good for you for a change.”

She quieted when she realized he had a point. She was fighting just for the sake of fighting him…of not giving in. The truth was she needed his warmth badly and she had to accept it or risk freezing to death.

“Let's go back to camp,” Maxum suggested. “I have clothes there we can use.”

“Wait.”

S
he had gone still in his arms, her shivering dropping to a low shuddering, and she placed a hand on his chest and nodded to the east. There, standing at the edge of the trees, stood a white stag. It was the largest stag she'd ever seen, even larger than the one she'd saved from Kilon's arrows.

Suddenly everything clicked in her mind. She pushed out of Maxum's hold and walked toward the stag. The moment she moved toward it the stag began to slowly walk into the woods and away from camp. It didn't bound away in fright, it simply walked. Airi followed it, taking a moment to grasp Maxum's hand and pull him along with her.

“What are you—”

“Shh! Don't you see?” she asked him in a low, excited whisper. “Don't you see the parallel to the story of Isa? The boy stole her clothes while she was in the waters bathing and then she came upon the temple of Meru. Maybe she didn't just happen upon it…maybe something led her there. Just as the stag led her to the young man's house.”

“So we're going to walk naked through the woods because of a white stag?” He was questioning, but he also saw the brilliance of her conclusion. She was right! This could be the way they had been looking for.

“Do you have any better ideas?”

“None at all,” he said with a chuckle. “But I hope it's not far. If I step on one more twig…”

“Hush. The last thing we need is for you to break the enchantment by complaining. We are dealing with a very delicate balance of circumstances here.”

He nodded and said nothing further. The stag led them quite a distance, but soon they emerged into a beautiful glade and there, in the center, was a small marble temple, a marble statue of the goddess Meru standing inside the atrium. Airi led Maxum up the steps and into the atrium. There, standing off to the right, stood a beautiful woman in the crimson robes of a Meru mem. She was taller than most women, her figure strong and sturdy, her curves round and lush. She had hair the color of honeyed wheat that was plaited in one long braid that swept the floor. Her eyes were a vivid forest green.

“Meru,” Maxum said.

It wasn't a guess, she realized, or even a supposition based on the story. He spoke it as if he had met Meru before and now recognized her.

Airi immediately dropped to her knee and bowed her head. She tugged on Maxum's hand to get him to do the same, but it took a long minute before he knelt as well. He did not, however, bow his head. He never once looked away from the goddess's face.

“Airianne the elf,” Meru said, “you have come searching for me?”

“I have. I am searching for…for the Dagger of Truths.” She figured honesty would be best here.

“And you feel you are worthy of it?”

“I…I don't know about worthy…but I believe I could put it to some use in my life.”

“And are you a truthful person?”

“No,” she said honestly. “Life has made it necessary for me to lie.”

“I can see that it has. But if you wield the Dagger of Truths or even carry it on your person you will not be able to lie. Are you prepared to give up your need for falsehoods?”

Airi hesitated. Significantly. She was a thief. Lying was an essential part of her life.

“Will I be compelled to blurt out the truth even when not asked for it?” she said.

“No.”

She could work with that.

“Then yes. I am prepared for that.”

“Good.” She lifted a hand and suddenly in a flash of light a dagger, in a gleaming ebonite sheath, appeared in her extended hand. The blade handle had no gems or jewels encrusting it, just simple silver metal worked into delicate scrolls on the hilt and a grip wrapped in simple red leather. “Here is the Dagger of Truths. You have passed the tests and proved yourself to have a pure heart and so I take comfort in handing it over to you. It has been a long time since it has been wielded, no others save Isa proving to be of honest enough heart to wield it.”

“Tests?” Maxum asked.

“The child in the village. The stag in the woods. The helpless girl you know as Sarda. These were all tests I have sent to you.”

Meru waved her hand and their clothes appeared on their bodies. They felt warm, as if they had been dried over a fire.

Then Meru turned to Maxum. “You have not passed the tests, so you may not wield the blade. I know this was your intent but the blade may only be wielded by the chosen one—and only by a woman. This is the way of things.”

Maxum felt a wash of disappointment run over him, but he would not allow this opportunity to pass him by.

“Meru, I have come to beg your assistance,” he said.

He felt Airi's surprise, but to her credit she said nothing.

Meru methodically walked forward and laid the Dagger of Truths into Airi's hands. She took it, bowing her head in thanks.

“What is it a god may do for a mortal?” Then she tipped her head. “But then again, you are not mortal, are you?”

Again Airi twitched with surprise. Again she made no comment.

“I am going to kill Sabo, but I need the help of Weysa's faction to do it.”

Meru laughed, a light but rich sound. Everything about her had that feeling of richness to it. A feeling that there was so much more than what they saw on the surface.

“You think you can kill a god?”

“Can't I?”

Meru looked at him and tilted her head. She narrowed those grass green eyes on him. “It is possible. Perhaps. But there is much risk in killing a god. There is much in the way of consequences when such a thing happens. Are you prepared to accept those consequences?”

“I have no choice.”

Her eyes turned hard. “That is not an answer. Certainly not one worthy of my help.”

“I only meant to say…I will do anything to see Sabo destroyed. It is the only way I can be free of my curse.”

“Are you sure it is not revenge you seek? Vengeance for the many years you suffered at his hands? Suffer still?”

“No. Not vengeance. I deserved my punishment. But now I believe I deserve to be free of it. The only way that will happen is if Sabo reverses the curse…or is killed. We both know Sabo will never willingly release someone from pain and suffering. He is the god of pain and suffering. He thrives on it.”

“Yes. He is cruel and has taken his powers to a cruel place. All of the gods have known this for some time. But none of us can touch Sabo. Only a human being can unseat a god. If all of his followers were to suddenly renounce him he would be destroyed.”

“That isn't likely to happen,” Airi said, looking from Meru back to Maxum. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had so many questions and they were multiplying with every second.

“No. It is not.”

“There must be another way,” Maxum said. “I can do battle with him.”

“Yes,” Meru said thoughtfully. “That is possible. But you will only get one shot at it. If you fail it will be up to the gods to punish you for your hubris once again. It will not be hubris if you prove yourself worthy by winning, but if you fail to back up your claims of greatness…well…”

“All I need is for you and Weysa's faction to keep the rest of Xaxis's faction away from me as I battle Sabo.”

“It is true, Xaxis will not want to lose a member of his faction and will not honor the code of challenge. Very well, when you are ready you will call to me. Go to any temple of mine and pray to me. I will bring you to Sabo and Weysa's faction will surround you. You will do battle with him and whatever will be will be.”

“How will I know if I am ready?” Maxum asked, sounding suddenly unsure.

Meru regarded him thoughtfully. “You are almost ready now. You have invisibility, which will help you catch him off guard. You have invulnerability, which will protect you from harm. And you have Weysa's Champion—the god-made sword Weysa intended for your brother, her champion, to wield. But you will need two further items before you will be ready.”

“What items?” he asked, with an eagerness to his tone Airi had never heard before. It was clear how badly he wanted this. That it meant life and death to him. “Faya's Wrath?”

“No. You have a sword much more powerful than Faya's Wrath already. Weysa's Champion was forged by six gods. It was meant to slay even the strongest of Weysa's opponents. I would safely say that includes a god. In the right hands at least. Will your hands be the right hands?”

“They will,” he said strongly.

“Again, is it hubris? Did you learn nothing from your time in the earth? Or are you a true champion meant to rid the world of man of a cruel and vengeful god?”

“I've learned that immortality comes at a price but that price has been paid. Several times over. My brothers are free from their curses, so should I be.”

“Your brothers have found the way to true freedom from curses and everything else. Women. Their wives are their salvation. Their truth. Is this woman yours?” Meru asked, looking to Airi.

“I—”

But Maxum cut her off. “She is a woman without equal; you have seen that for yourself otherwise you would not have given her the Dagger of Truths. And she is mine.”

“You are in the presence of the blade of truths and so you cannot lie to her,” Meru pointed out, leaving Airi shocked into silence. “Very well. It is clear. Here is what you will do. You need two more items of magic if you think to defeat the god Sabo. One is the Ring of Strength. Only with this ring will you have the strength to fight a god and land a killing blow. But be warned, the ring is in a labyrinth deep in the Killing Forest and is guarded by a great and terrible beast. A beast birthed by the gods themselves.

“Next you will need the Cuff of Cadence. It can change the speed at which you move, and can alter the speed of others. Only in this way will you be able to slow the speed of a god and to quicken yourself to battle him. But this cuff is worn around the arm of a demigod named Xzonxzu who lives in the city of Gorgun. A wealthy and well-protected man. It will not be easy separating it from him since he can use its power any time so long as he is wearing it.

“Find these things and bring them to the temple with the sword, the ring of invisibility, and the talisman of invulnerability. Together they will be enough to defeat a god…provided you are warrior enough to complete the tasks before you.”

“I will prove myself worthy of your trust,” he said solemnly.

“I do not trust you, champion. I honestly do not see you succeeding but if you were to succeed it would deal a deadly blow to Xaxis's faction. We have been planning for some time to find the opportunity to free Kitari from Xaxis's guard. She has been forced to fight on his side, but we have been sent signs from her that tell us she is only a hostage and she wishes to be free. In fact, your brother gave up his immortality to provide one of those signs.

“We will use your battle with Sabo as an opportunity to free Kitari. It will keep the other gods from interfering in your battle and whether you win or lose we will still have freed Kitari. This is the only reason I am supporting your cause. No man should have the power to destroy a god…and yet you will. But I do not believe you will succeed…unless this woman is by your side. Only with our true mates can we be whole enough to accomplish the impossible.”

“You are the goddess of women, your wisdom is keen. I will heed your advice in all things.” This time Maxum did bow his head.

Confused and overwhelmed by all she was hearing, Airi had been struck mute. She was staring at a goddess—a goddess!—and had listened to a plot to kill a god! She couldn't even begin to know how to deal with something like that.

Meru came up to her, lifted her chin with two fingers and peered down into her eyes…into her soul it seemed.

“Just remember, my little chosen one, the dagger cannot lie. Sometimes there are truths too painful to bear, and sometimes there are truths we are not yet ready to hear. Be careful what questions you ask. Be certain you want the truth that will be spoken. And the dagger will make people deal fairly with you, but make sure you deal fairly with them in return. The dagger is yours for as long as you live, but it can be taken away if your heart becomes impure or unjust.”