Dark Gods Rising (29 page)

Thunk.

Fox crashed to the floor in a disorganized heap, mostly landing on her head. Cursing, she rolled over and put a hand to her skull. Already, she felt a knot rising. She groaned, came slowly to her feet, rubbing her head and cursing her god. God or not, he couldn’t treat her like this. She wouldn’t allow it. If this relationship had any future other than god to slave, boundaries had to be set.

“By the gods! You son of a whore! Who do you think you are?” Glaring, Fox bared her teeth.

Dakar’s form darkened. A cold wind rose up around her, shoving her to her knees with a sharp crack. Fox whimpered.

“Little thief, who are you to call me a son of a whore? My ancestry comes from nobility so ancient your finite mind cannot even imagine the passage of years.”

His voice was cold and furious, his eyes blinding beacons of fire red. Fox didn’t care. No matter what, this meeting would be on her terms, not his.

Without warning, the cold wind ceased. Not being entirely stupid, Fox remained kneeling. “Would you prefer to be a son of a goat instead?”

The wind returned in force, knocking her to the ground. Fox landed on her side, bit down on a moan, and struggled to her knees again. She tried to rise to her feet. The wind shoved her back down. The smacking of her knees on the flagstones produced a yelp.

“Hurt does it?” Dakar asked. “How about I bounce you off my temple walls a bit and see if I can break something?” His visage grew darker, his smile more devious.

“Go ahead. Do what you want,” Fox replied. “For someone in desperate need of the best thief in all of Illian, you aren’t winning any friends here.” Still on her knees, Fox’s eyes narrowed. She spoke through gritted teeth. Let him threaten her all he wanted. She wouldn’t back down.

Dakar’s smile disappeared. His eyes became thin red slits. After a moment, Fox was allowed to rise.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” she said, rubbing a particularly sore spot on her elbow while finally managing to make it back to her feet. “You’re in desperate need of a thief. Why? And don’t play any games with me. You’ll get more out of me with the truth than some load of horse shit about divine destiny.”

“Clever. That’s what I like most about you.”

Fox snorted.

Dakar scowled. “And disrespectful.”

“I give it when I get it,” she retorted back, refusing to make this easy by playing the sheep.

Stepping down from the altar, Dakar walked over to a shadow shrouded wall before turning to look at her, a serious expression on his face. With a brief flicker of his fingers, he cast the shadows away. “Do you see this relief?” He gestured with his hand to a large tiled picture taking up nearly the entire wall.

The relief pictured Dakar locked in battle with a beautiful woman in white. Although she was not an expert, Fox thought the craftsmanship amazing. It looked like the woman’s gown rippled upon the wall as if blown by an unseen wind. Above, looking down from the heavens, other beings watched the battle, their faces stern, unforgiving. Dakar’s likeness looked pissed, the woman triumphant. She held something aloft in her hand which Dakar reached for, a rock maybe?

“Yes,” she replied. “What of it?” Fox folded her arms in front of her and sighed. Already she was tired of this game.

“You don’t know what it depicts?” He tilted his head to the side again and looked at her curiously.

“No, should I? Is this some sort of pre-test or pre-qualification for the job?” she snapped. The knot on her head throbbed. Her belly rumbled. Couldn’t he just get to the point?

An icy wind skimmed across her body as if she were naked. Her breath came out in white puffs. Fox’s teeth chattered. “H-hey— okay, s
‒
s‒sorry. T‒t‒turn the h‒heat back up.”

“I am a god, Fox. Time means very little to me. I have waited long for one such as you, but I can always make another who is your equal. I have been patient for thousands of years. What’s another twenty?”

Fox rubbed her arms and stamped her feet. “You n‒need to lighten up, oh d‒dark and d‒d‒devious one, and turn the damn heat back up. If you have waited a long time for me then you d‒d‒on’t want me walking right back out the door once I b‒break through it.” Her body ached. Her head throbbed. This was not what she imagined the meeting with Dakar would be. She had expected him to be more conciliatory. After all, she was doing him a favor. She could have left the guild and went about her business, ignoring him altogether.

Yeah, and that would have got you killed you half-wit
, the wise woman quipped. As usual, the bitch seemed to be having a field day with Fox’s misery.

The darkness walked/drifted over to her. “Let’s try this again,
Fox
.” His voice was a dark whisper echoing both in her head and around the room.

Clutching a hand at her aching skull, Fox scowled at the smoky image and took a deep breath. Yes, she thought, let’s try this again.

“What do you want from me?” she asked, lifting her chin defiantly.

He stood there a moment looking at her with an intense, still angry, gaze.

“I want my eye put back.”

“Your what?” Fox said incredulously. Did he just tell her he wanted his eye back? From where she stood, he appeared to have two. Was he supposed to have some secret third one hidden somewhere on his body? She stared hard at his head. Maybe he had one stuck in the center of his forehead at some earlier time.

“My eye, the one which once resided in my temple at Lost Falls in Yernden, the one stolen from me thousands of years ago by one of my followers when I was otherwise unavailable. The one recently returned to me by a credulous believer who thought I would reward his sacrilege of touching my eye without permission.”

Dakar faced her. His image blurred for a moment. His eyes flashed brilliant red. The temple’s temperature dropped several more degrees. Fox hoped he realized if it became any colder she would become a human icicle, and then what good would she be to him. She gave a violent shiver. “There is no such t-t-temple called Lost F-falls. There is no such p-p-place. Could you turn the heat back on? Pleeeseeee.”

Dakar appeared to struggle with his power and his own anger. The god’s appearance slowly became distinct again. The room warmed. “There is such a place as Lost Falls, though it has long ago fallen into rubble. It was once my gateway into this world. It allowed me to be more than a mere shadow here. Unlike the nano-created finite gods who arrived from the human birth world, I once roamed the entire universe, traveling between the voids, the shadows, knowing and seeing all.”

Fox stared at him, confused. “I don’t get it,” she admitted. The room started to sway a bit, reminding her sleep was something she didn’t do well without. “If you— wait! You’re here now, in front of me. I can see you just fine. You don’t look like a shadow. Besides, I’ve never had a shadow beat the crap out of me before.”
Scare
the living shit out of her, too.

“It was your own fault. We could have done this the easy way.”

Fox bristled at the sneer in his voice. “And what is the easy way? Me rolling over and saying ‘here, fuck me where it counts’?”

Dakar stilled. The fires in his eyes dimmed. Unexpectedly, he laughed gently. His laughter floated around the room, light, seductive. “Only if you would like me to.”

Fox blushed. She wasn’t sure why, but the thought of the two of them, human flesh and god shadow, engaged in—. She stopped her thoughts before they could get her in trouble. “Fine. Yes.” Tired, sore, and starving, Fox gave up. She would find a way out of servitude later. By her lights, it was better to live to fight another day than have the life kicked and frozen out of her by an irate and unreasonable god.

Dakar’s smoky image smiled. Reaching out, he caressed her cheek with the back of his fingers. Fox tingled to the touch. Her body warmed. Calm spread through her entire being, her mind slowed, and the need to escape disappeared. The desire to please him became paramount.

“Good, I have your word then that you will help me?”

Fox nodded. Of course she would help. He was her god, and he would reward her. “Yes, yes, my word.” Her voice had suddenly turned husky.

Dakar gave her a deep throaty laugh, thick with the promise of things dark and delicious. “For your service you will be granted great riches,” he whispered. “I will make of you my personal thief. I will show you treasures you never knew existed.” Stepping closer, he tilted her head upward and kissed her.

Fox sighed.

Smiling, Dakar’s hands slid down her arms. He gently gripped her elbows and pulled her to him. Fox rose up on her toes, placed her hands on his hard chest, and kissed her god again. His lips devoured hers. He felt so warm— so real. Only the slightest shifting of his lips indicated he was only a shadow.

Fox’s body tingled, and her belly tightened. Dakar’s shadowy arms wrapped about her body, slid down her back. Fox couldn’t believe how solid he felt, how sensuous his hands were as they kneaded her butt. Breaking the kiss, he lowered his face to her neck. Fox groaned at the sensation. His lips were warm and getting warmer. Dakar tightened his hold upon her. A pinprick of heat, intense, painful, burned into her skin just below her earlobe. Gripping him tighter, Fox cried out, half in pain, half in pleasure. The two sensations exploded within her. Her body clenched in ecstasy. With a shuddering gasp, she climaxed, and then her body went limp in his arms.

Dakar held her close, breathing hard. Fox felt the hard length of him pressed against her body. “By the shadows, you sure as hell feel real.” Fox closed her eyes, overcome by exhaustion. “I wonder what it would be like if you used more than your mouth.”

“Wait until I am fully able to come into your world, Fox. I shall grant ecstasy you have never known, give you riches beyond your imaginings. I will make of you my queen, my sweet, little thief.”

Fox wanted to object to being called sweet
but his voice was so soft, so relaxing. Closing her eyes, she drifted to a land far away, in a forest deep and quiet, and a temple long forgotten. One last thought touched her before she drifted away. He had promised to make her his queen. It was good to hear because she now knew even the gods could lie.

* * * *

Two months later, Fox stood on the deck of the heaving cargo ship as it neared the Port of Yylse and thought of doing a bit of heaving herself. Waves slapped viciously at the worn wooden sides. The slapping made her think of the slaves in the bowels of the ship being tended by the caress of their master’s whip. She
so
wanted to be home in Oria, the hidden city of the thieves’s guild in Illian. At this moment, she would give anything to be in her soft bed beneath the mountain, tucked in tightly with her lover, Taymor. But no, her god demanded she make this wretched passage across the sea to some foreign city named Yylse.

Fox’s stomach lurched when the ship crested another swell. She covered her mouth with the back of a hand. Bile rose strong and vicious up her throat, then unbidden, spewed out over the ship’s side. Clutching the railing with white knuckles, she cursed the fate that had brought her here. What had she done to deserve this? Why did her god pick her for this stupid voyage? Fox hated water. She couldn’t swim. The only time she ever wanted to be wet was while soaking in a hot, sudsy tub.

“Aye there, young master,” a rough voice said beside her. “Come away from the side. We’re heading into rough seas, and ye’ll want to be in yer cabin strapped down. Another day and we’ll be on Yernden’s shores. Not a good thing if ye ask me. Too many ill-fated things happening there.”

Shaking his head, the first mate patted Fox on the back. His deeply tanned, bare chest glistened with sea spray, and his long brown hair lay wet and curled against his head. In all, he was a tempting sight for a woman’s lust or would have been if she hadn’t been puking her guts out the entire voyage. Two weeks of unusually rough seas, tossing and thrashing her about in her cabin, had left her body abused and her brain fuzzy. If not for the rancid smell of her own vomit polluting her cabin air, she wouldn’t be above deck now.

Glancing at the first mate through slit eyes, Fox tried to appreciate his fine looks. At any other time, in any other place, she would have been hard pressed to keep her hands to herself. As it was, she didn’t want to ride on anything that might toss or rock, no matter how tempting. Besides, there was also the matter of Taymor to consider before doing anything so rash.

In all, about half the ship’s crew were fairly young and attractive, dark skinned and well-muscled. The others were older men whose looks could scare sea monsters back to their quiet, dark holes. It was the second half who worried her. They had been at sea so long they found anyone attractive, even a woman disguised as a man.

The first mate watched her intently, dark eyes lit with part amusement and maybe just a touch of sympathy. Mostly amusement, Fox decided. She scowled.

“Man overboard!”

Almost too sick to care, Fox lifted her head and watched as some poor bastard thrashed about in the water while the ship quickly left him behind.

“Damn, there goes another slave,” the first mate muttered. “Fool. Once the creatures get a whiff of him, he’ll be food.”

Fox felt sorry for the captives held below deck. She remembered what it was like to be a slave, to be used unmercifully. She understood the desperation for escape, but that time was in the past. Now, for this time, Fox served no one but herself. She was nobody’s pawn. Even the god, Dakar, paid dearly for her service.

Absently reaching up, she touched the warm spot on her neck just beneath her right ear where Dakar had laid his kiss.

“Come now, boy, let’s get ye battened down for the night. Plenty of time to become sick later. We wouldn’t want the king’s personal advisor accidentally getting tossed overboard.” The mate’s smile was open, inviting, and absolutely stunning, his chocolate brown eyes devastating. Gods, she wished she were not sick. But no, she wasn’t here to bring joy to either herself or any of these depraved, lust filled, gorgeous sailors, especially not the ugly toothless ones. She was here to suffer, to throw up her insides, and to carry Dakar’s stupid eye back to his stupid temple in the stupid mountains of Yernden.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, everything was stupid.

She eyed the mate again, wondering about future prospects. “What’s your name again?”

“First Mate Heldar, Lord Marwin,” he replied.

She smiled weakly. “I’ll remember to tell his majesty how helpful you were to me.” And if ever Taymor and she should part, she would hunt First Mate Heldar down with a vengeance— at least while they were on land.

He laughed. Such a joyful sound. Fox wondered how the hell anyone could be so happy on this sea while being tossed around like a sack of grain on market day.

“I thank ye,
mam
. Mayhap there be a little something extra for me in this before ye leave.” His smile morphed to knowing, and his gaze heated. “I came to yer cabin the first night ye boarded. The door was cracked, and ye warn’t quite…dressed.” His voice constricted. “I fancied to see ye had quite a nice...” His voice fading off, he allowed his gaze to drift downward to stare pointedly at her chest.

Fox narrowed her eyes. Cute or not, Heldar was pushing the boundaries. No one got the jump on her. “What kind of
extra
are you looking for?”

He shrugged. His smile slipped a notch. His eyes grew hungry. “From what I seen, yer a might beautiful woman. When ye’ve been out on the sea for as long as I have, a man’s
needs
get neglected. I know ye carry a great bounty with ye’, but I have money a plenty. Right now, I’d rather have the touch of yer hands on my body than anything else.”

Fox sighed, feeling resigned. Because her belly felt like it was splitting open, she didn’t particularly want to have to resort to sordid means while on the ship. On the other hand, she also didn’t want to give away her identity. Then again, she certainly didn’t want to betray Taymor’s trust either. Killing Heldar was out of the question as well. All things considered, the horny sailor left her no choice.

Fox smiled, slow and seductively, with a twinkle in her eye. “I see, First Mate Heldar. Since you seem to be an honest sort I suppose one night of
obliging
you won’t hurt, but seriously, I’m far too ill to be interesting.”

Heldar’s eyes grew large, his features excited. The muscles in his chest tensed.

“Well now, as to that, I have something’ll help with yer sickness. My shift ends in the wee morning hours. I’ll come to ye then an’ ye won’t mind so much as ye’ll be feeling better.”

Fox nodded, but she wanted to smack him alongside the head so hard his ears fell off. How dare he have something for her stomach the whole time and not bother giving it to her until he was in the mood for a tumble? The fool would be lucky if she didn’t leave him tied to the mast naked, covered in honey and bread crumbs.

Looking at the horizon, the darkening gray sky told her she didn’t have much time to come up with a plan. Night approached. Fortunately she was Fox. A plan would soon form.

Lurching from side to side on the unsteady deck, Fox followed her sex-starved sailor back to his bunk where he fished out a bit of a pasty substance wrapped in waxed cloth. When she tried it, the paste tasted absolutely foul, but strangely, her stomach seemed to settle almost immediately.

“Later,” the mate promised her.

“Later,” Fox agreed and headed toward her cabin. If all went well, she would be in Yylses’s port by early to mid-morning. From there she would travel across land toward Yernden’s capital city, Grace, before slipping from the trail and disappearing into the mountains.

Fox’s stomach spasmed at the thought of all that lay before her. “How in the dark realms did I ever get myself entangled in this farce?”

Greed my girl, greed
, whispered her inner wise woman.

Yes, greed was definitely a reason, but her renowned skill as the best thief in Illian was a larger factor. When her god, Dakar, had taken great notice of this skill he had recruited her to his cause.

Fox snorted. Recruited? More like pounded and threatened til she gave in. But again, she had only herself to blame. Her and her big mouthed, hugely inflated, self-delusional, and overly proud ego.

Upon reaching her cabin, Fox stumbled inside and locked the door before throwing herself on her bed. The ship rocked, creaked, and rolled and shifted beneath her aching body, making her hammock sway in ever increasing arc, proving the paste was only partially effective.

“If only the nightmare would end. I’d do anything to make it stop,” Fox whispered to herself, and then she tensed. Hadn’t saying she would do anything to keep from being caught during a botched job gotten her into this mess?

“Just kidding my dark, greedy, deceptive god.” She couldn’t afford to owe her god anything else.

If only she had run when the little fox on the door had spoken to her.