Crystal Fire (40 page)

She came to him, her arms entwining around his neck. Her head lowered to rest upon the broad expanse of his bare chest. It was so good to hold him, to be with him one last time.

"We can't fight it," she mumbled. "Our warrior's skills are useless against it. The Crystal's too strong, Brace. Too strong."

"Too strong for any one being," he rasped, "but not for two joined as we are. Our love will see us through this, as it has all along."

"No," Marissa moaned, clasping him all the tighter. "It's too late. Too late."

Two callused hands grasped her face, lifting it to his. Dark, beautiful eyes stared down at her.

"Listen to me, Marissa. I've beaten the madness. We've only to face the Crystal together and it will all be over. You'll not desert me now, will you?"

Tears stung her eyes. Her throat constricted. How could he ever think such a thing? To turn from Brace, to let him face the Knowing Crystal without her? "Never!" Marissa breathed, her hands capturing his to hold them tightly. "We are one, until death separates us!"

They turned then, clinging to each otherand faced the famous stone of power. It lurched erratically above them, its light flickering, its hum harsh, jarring, but suddenly lacking in power. Almost as if . . . Marissa thought . . . as if it were confused. Defeated.

Fierce, triumphant joy filled her. She smiled up at Brace. "Call the Knowing Crystal. You are truly its master now. Call it to youfor your father, for Vates. For us all."

He glanced down at her, and for a fleeting moment his eyes misted with memories. Then his jaw hardened. Brace turned, back to the hovering stone.

His hand lifted, opening.
Come
.

With a harsh grating sound, the stone hesitated in its wavering gyrations, then obeyed, moving through the air until it came to rest in Brace's outstretched palm. He turned to Marissa then, the light of victory gleaming in his eyes.

"The quest. Our quest. We've won."

She nodded, smiling. "Yes, my love. We've won.

They climbed to their feet, then made their way to the edge of the pool. With a powerful backward coil of his arm, Brace flung the Knowing Crystal into the churning crystal fires. It sank, disappearing from view.

The swirling liquid never changed. The hiss- ing steam continued unabated. Brace felt a fleeting stab of disappointment. The famous stone of power had sunk away like some common bit of refuse.

Then the ground began to shake. Shards of rock tumbled loose from the cliffs rising around them. Brace was thrown backward, nearly falling. Quickly regaining his balance, he turned to Marissa, taking her into his arms.

"Brace," she cried, clinging to him as the earth shuddered beneath them. "What's happening?"

"Gods, Marissa, I don't know!"

The rumbling heightened to a dull roar. The ground heaved. With a frightening cracking sound, the far edge of the pool split in two. The swirling liquid sank lower and lower into the crevice that slowly formed. The chasm then spread to all the pools in a series of tremendous, shuddering cracks.

As Brace and Marissa watched in fascinated horror, the molten crystal fires drained away deep within the center of the planet. Bursts of flame shot up to explode in a shattering of sparks and glowing liquid stone, then sank back into the chasm from which they had come. Water mingled with the superheated lava, evaporating in a sibilant hiss. The heavy mist intensified.

Then, suddenly, there was nothing left. No pools. No Knowing Crystal.

With a sound like the clap of thunder, the crevices closed. The sun slipped out from be- hind the clouds, bathing Brace and Marissa in a weak, golden light. Save for the waterfall high overhead, it was silent. As they watched, the pools filled again, this time with clear, sparkling water.

"It's over then," Brace's deep voice finally rumbled.

Marissa turned. "Yes, I suppose it is."

Their gazes locked, a look of relief mingling with the heated intensity of their love. Brace's hand moved, threading through Marissa's tumbled hair to clasp her head to his breast. She came to him, molding tightly to his hard-muscled body, clinging to Brace as if still afraid she might lose him. His head lowered to rest atop hers.

She inhaled deeply of his heady scent, her fingers stroking his broad, hair-roughened chest. Would she ever get her fill of him, sate the desire that smoldered even now for the passionate ecstasy of their matings? It was so good to be his woman. To know he was her man.

Yes, it was indeed over, yet Marissa struggled still with the newness of it. The sudden absence of strife, of pain and fear, was too fresh to accept. The only reality was the warm touch of Brace's body, the reassuring beat of his heartand the knowledge that they were alive and together.

It was enough for a time, but finally Brace stirred. He glanced down at her, and there was a glimmer of his old devilish smile in the look he gave her. ''About that partnership," he began. "For future quests, I think a sixty-forty split would be fair."

She arched a slender brow. "Oh, and who gets the larger portion?"

"Why, you. Provided, of course, you do all the cooking. A good trail cook is well worth the extra expense. Interested?"

"Perhaps." Marissa stroked the strong line of Brace's jaw. "Does this offer also include the commitment of a life mating?"

He grinned. "Most assuredly, sweet femina. Most assuredly."

"Good. I'd hate for our twin girls to be fatherless."

Brace gaped in open-mouthed surprise, speechless for once in his life.

She smiled and gently crooked him under the chin to close his mouth. "You
did
say you wanted children, didn't you?"

"Y-yes," he agreed carefully, "but one at a time is the usual way to begin."

Marissa shrugged. "We'll manage. We may have to put off further quests for a time, though."

Brace managed a wan smile. "Yes . . . I suppose so."

She chuckled, amused at his lingering befuddlement. "Good, then that's settled."

Marissa paused, a tiny frown puckering the smooth expanse of her brow. "Just one final question."

"Yes?"

"Your madness. What did you find when you faced it?"

Brace hesitated. "Myself."

"I don't understand."

"I found myself, sweet femina. My madness was nothing more than my own self-doubts and fears, my lack of trust that the human spirit could overcome anything if it just had the courage of heart and mind. Once I faced that, it made all the difference."

A fleeting look of sadness crossed his face. "If only Fatherand my brother Feroxhad done that. Things might have been different . . ."

"They weren't strong enough, my love," Marissa murmured. "They weren't like you and Teran."

"Perhaps. I don't know." Brace inhaled a shuddering breath, a wondering light gleaming in his eyes. "Strange, but I feel healed, whole again. And the bitterness is gone."

He paused, a smile of remembrance quirking his lips. "Vates tried to pound that truth into both Teran's and my head all the cycles of our youth. I think it has finally gotten through to the both of us."

"He came to me again," Marissa said, "when I lay here on this ledge with the Knowing Crystal trying to kill me."

"Vates? Did he now?"

"Yes, he did, Brace Ardane," she muttered, stung by his teasing note of skepticism. "He came to me when I needed him most, and told me I'd finally learned the answer."

"And that answer?"

"The answer was that I couldn't succeed without you and the strength of our love."

"Indeed?" He thoughtfully stroked his jaw. "And where have I heard that before?"

Marissa shot him an exasperated glance. "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"Yes, sweet femina," Brace chuckled, deciding it was time to soothe her ruffled feelings. "It did indeed. In the end, that's all that matters."

She eyed him steadily. By the Crystal Fires, how she loved him! Yet at times he could be so aggravating, so typically male!

"He also said to tell you his thoughts would always be with you," Marissa persisted stubbornly.

The words sent a shiver down Brace's spine. Vates's thoughts had indeed been with him. The voice that had spoken to him during his final battle against his madness had been the old white-robe's. He recognized that now. And, in retrospect, his teacher's words had been so propheticand so like Vates.

Perhaps Marissa
had
seen the old man after all. Brace found a strange comfort in the thought.

He pulled Marissa back to him, clasping her tightly. The wind gusted in frigid blasts to swirl around the pools. Marissa shivered. For a moment longer, Brace held her close. It was time to go.

His glance scanned the area one last time and alighted on the form of Rodac, still sprawled beside one of the smaller pools. Brace smiled, gently pushing Marissa back from him.

She glanced up.

He extended a hand. "Come, sweet femina," he said huskily, motioning to where Rodac lay. "There's a long quest called life ahead, but first we've a friend who needs us."

Eyes shining with love, Marissa took his hand.