Goddess's Saga 1: Touch of the Goddess (17 page)

“Careful there, baby doll. Are you alright?”

She clung to him.

“I’m fine, thanks to you, but we have a problem.”

He chuckled and kissed her forehead.

“Just one? And what might that be?”

“Something’s blocking my powers. I never fall, you know I never fall, and I couldn’t steady myself.”

Oh crap.

He had wished for her to be dependent of him less than an hour earlier, and now when she was, he didn’t like it at all.

He had wanted to protect her, but what if he wasn
’t able to?

A
nything or anyone that could do this to her must be powerful indeed.

Can I tell her not to be scared, or is that too patronizing? It would be a lie, anyway.

He couldn’t even begin to imagine what she must feel. A being used to all that power, someone who could normally create a universe with a wink of an eye, was suddenly reduced to being human. More human than
he
was, even.

“
I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you earlier. Do you think we should go back?”

“
No, it’s too late for that. We’ve come too far to be allowed to leave.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

He relaxed his grip on her and searched his pockets until he found a small gun. Pressing it into her hand, he murmured, “Take this, and stay close to me, okay?”

She took the pistol and grimaced
.

“I’m a bad shot.”

“I know, but as long as you don’t shoot
me
I don’t care.”

Gazing into her eyes, he tried to sound calm and confident.

“We’ll be fine. Someday we’ll look back at all this and laugh.”

Maria mumbled,
“Yeah...”

She did not look convinced.

Stephan took the lead, climbing carefully while keeping an eye on the surroundings. Maria couldn’t hit the side of a barn without her powers. If anything tried to sneak up on them, he needed to spot it in time.

It’s too calm.

Behind him, Maria whispered, “I’m not too worried about the infected being here. They wouldn’t have much reason to come back as long as the village keeps them supplied with new recruits and food.”

Good point, but there might be other unexpected dangers. No harm in being prepared.

He was so focused on looking around, concentrating on protecting her from whatever might come at them, that he didn’t pay attention to the ground.

“Stephan, look out!”

She grabbed the back of his shirt and he teetered on the edge of an abyss for a long moment before regaining his balance. Once he managed to step back, she threw her arms around him and squeezed him hard.

I wonder if everything in here is a hallucination. Maybe she’s the only thing real.

Maria drew a deep breath and told herself to calm down.

She held Stephan too hard and she was in his way, but it was so hard to let go.

He ran a hand over her back and whispered, “I’m okay, it’s okay.”

“I know this place.”

He
glanced around.

“
How? From where?”

It sounded strange even in
her own ears, but she tried to explain anyway.

“
This is where he took her. That first man who fell in the lake, he took her down here and... well, he ate her.”

She didn
’t have to look to know Stephan made a grimace.

“
I remember you saying he killed
you.
Nice guy, huh?”

He stepped closer to the abyss and peeked down.

“He doesn’t live down that hole, does he?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, he must have ventured out of here in order to get to the others.”

Funny how I’m used to just knowing everything, and how hard it is to figure things out for myself.

“
Just keep your eyes open, okay. One single guard would be enough to do away with us if we’re not careful.”

“Okay.”

She probably wouldn’t be in any danger herself, even if her powers were suppressed at the moment. Stephan definitely was, and her human shell might be.

“
Do we have to go down there?”

Stephan
’s voice made her jump.

Taking a long glance around, she frowned. The
path didn’t really continue beyond the deep hole that almost took him moments earlier. It led up to this underground abyss like a highway, but on the other side of the gaping opening in front of them, bushes were taking over.

I so don’t want to go down there, but it’s the right way.

“Probably. This is where he went, where we’ve been led, and where everyone goes from the looks of it.”

Stephan
glanced at her from under the hair falling into his eyes, and she couldn’t help but think how handsome he looked.

Handsome, sexy, strong
, and all too vulnerable.

We
shouldn’t have come to this place.

“
Okay. I’m going down first. Be careful.”

“You too.”

What if I never see him again? I should at least tell him I love him.

It was too late; he was already gone,
climbing down a vine that hung into the hole in a manner a little too convenient for her taste.

She fidgeted with the gun as she looked aro
und, certain someone would jump out and attack her at any moment.

If that happens, what do I do? I’m completely useless.

She didn’t even realize she held her breath until she heard Stephan’s voice from below.

“
Goddamn it’s hot down here. You can come down, but be careful.”

Drawing
a deep breath, she tucked the gun into a pocket, took one last glance around, and started climbing, doing her best to concentrate on the practical task ahead of her instead of useless fears.

Lowering herself down was much harder than she expected. The body was so heavy, and the human arms so weak.

How the hell does he carry me? I weigh a ton.

She started to slip and struggled to hold on, all the while squinting at the peculiar orange light below her. The heat hadn’t seemed all that bad when she started the descent, but after just a few seconds it was like being boiled.

Finally, she felt Stephan’s steadying hands on her thighs. He reached over his head and lifted her down.

Even when I fail, he’s as strong and reliable as ever.

“I’d normally enjoy the view, but right now having you down here feels better.”

She wanted to stick her tongue out
at him for talking about her butt in such an irreverent fashion, but that would expose it to the heat.

Standing next to Stephan, she could relax enough to glance around.

I’ve seen this place before, but the vision didn’t make it justice. I can see how the poor girl who died down here thought she entered hell.

The cave stretched as far as she could see in every direction, and the heat was accentuated by
steam rising from geysers unevenly spread over the large area.

“Odd with a cave under a cave.”

Good point.

Pits looking like the mouths of volcanoes gaped
open filled with molten lava. The air was thick with fumes and sulphur, and to make the illusion complete, steam formed figures that could easily be mistaken for horned monsters.

She shuddered in spite of the heat, and mumbled,
“Lovely.”

“
Yeah, it’s a vacation paradise, if you’re a demon. Let’s go and get this over with.”

The path they’d followed continued in front of them, curving around pits of lava and pillars of steam.

*****

Stephan took the lead again, trying to keep his attention in all directions at once.

I wish I listened when she said she wanted to leave. If I get out of this alive, I will always listen to advice from deities, because they know best.

His clothes stuck to his body, pearls of sweat dripped into his eyes, and the sulphurous fumes made him want to cough.

“Damn this place stinks. The next time I don’t listen to you, hit me over the head with something hard and
make
me go with you.”

Maria
made a face and shook her head.

“
No, you were right. No matter what we might face down here, we have to try. It’s the right thing to do.”

Well I was right about one thing. Developing a conscience was a bad idea.

He moved forward again, but stopped after just a few steps.

“Maria?”

She stood frozen with a blank expression on her face, staring at a lava pit.

“
This is where he threw her in. He ate her heart, and threw the rest of her body into the lava.”

There were tears in her eyes,
but as tragic as the story was, he still expected a woman made of red-hot molten rock to rise up from the underground, pointing at them with a scorching arm dripping flames, claiming her revenge on them in the place of her long lost lover.

This place is too creepy. Nothing good can come from hanging around here.

He put a hand on her back and urged her forward.

“Come,
it’s time to go.”

They made little progress. They didn’t have any water
, she usually just created whatever they needed, and the heat and toxic air kept their speed down. He would have been able to move faster on his own, but she coughed and moved slowly.

“
I think we’ve walked forever.”

They had only gone a mile or so when he once more realized she wasn
’t right behind him. When he looked back, she sat on the hot ground between two smouldering pits.

If anything happens to her down here you won’t just lose her, which is unthinkable, you’ll also have to live with it being your fault. Can you do that?

The answer was easy: he could not.

He jogged back and hunched down in front of her.

“Babe? Babe, are you okay?”

The distant look on her face faded somewhat when she heard his voice, and she reached out a hand to grab his
arm.

“
There was once a mighty civilization here. They flourished for millennia, but were led to their downfall by a tyrant ruler. He knew these rooms held a secret, one he couldn’t get to, and he sacrificed most of his people trying. He would torture his people here. He’d string them up over the lava and lower them down, just a little bit at the time.”

This
is a much more elaborate and less obvious trap than I would ever have expected. I don’t see or feel anything, but I’m not a telepath.

She
moaned as if in great pain.

“
The entrance isn’t far now, but it’s hidden in plain sight. It shouldn’t be difficult to find for someone with the right eyes. Ooow, that really hurts!”

He
was so entranced with listening to her, and a bit dazed by the heat and the fumes, that he thought the new odour was something from her vision somehow drifting over to him. When he snapped back to reality, smoke rose from her shoes.

Oh crap.

Their time together had taught him anything not only could, but also should, be expected at any time. If his theory of a trap for telepaths was right, she might very well be re-living the fate of one of those tortured and sacrificed to the lava.

Maria
seemed to be in a place far away, hardly even aware of what was happening, and he cursed under his breath and burned his fingers as he ripped her shoes off.

It can’t be the ground. It’s hot, but not that hot, and she was fine walking on it earlier.

As the shoes came off and he waved his fingers in the air, trying to cool them off, her small feet turned red and blistered. Then, they disappeared. They somehow winked out of reality for a moment, and reappeared.

“
Okay, that’s it, we’re leaving.”

He scooped her up in his arms and tried not to notice
how her feet disappeared and reappeared once more as she moaned with pain, leaning her head against his shoulder.

She wasn
’t heavy to him, and he hurried down the path, feeling helpless and useless.

Please, if I have any favours left to ask in this life, let putting some distance between her and that pit of hellfire make this stop.

Every time he glanced towards her legs more of them seemed burned, and more of them flashed in and out of existence. They turned into charred pieces of coal, and the smell of burned flesh grew even stronger than the stench of sulphur.

She must be unconscious by now, and that’s a good thing.

She opened her eyes for a moment and mumbled, “He burned her. He sacrificed the Queen to get through the door, and without her, there was nothing to save the people. They’re all dead.”

Stephan
didn’t realize he started to run, not until he broke into a cough-fit and almost dropped her. The air wasn’t good enough for running, not even for him, and he forced himself to slow down. He almost dropped her again, as her legs suddenly disappeared all the way up to the knees, only to reappear a second later.

Fuck!

He stopped and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to calm down.

I wish we were somewhere else. Anywhere would do, I’d prefer a gruesome death in space to this.

“What door?”

If there was a door, he needed to find it.

The desperation in his own voice made him cringe, but she was dying, and it was his fault.

Maybe she
still was immortal, maybe she’d just reappear somewhere else if this body perished, but he couldn’t be sure of that, and he didn’t want to take the risk.

For all h
e knew she might not even die.

M
aybe she would be a prisoner in the cave for eternity, re-living the demise of other creatures over and over again.

S
tanding still for a couple of seconds, he convinced himself she had drifted off again, into a hopefully merciful oblivion.

“
That door. The one right there.”

She even lifted a ha
nd, pointing into nothingness.

Maybe she’s hallucinating. That wouldn’t be strange at all.

Thinking was difficult. His head pounded from the fumes, and the lack of oxygen in the air made him want to sink to his knees. If he had been alone he might have given up right then, but failing her wasn’t an option. What was it she said earlier?
The door would be easily visible to the right eyes.

Maybe
she
could see it, but he couldn’t.

Nothing could get worse from trying, so he set off to the side, in between a geyser and some bubbling tar. He wasn’t even surprised when a new path materialized under his feet
.

“I’ll be damned.”

There had been nothing to see in this direction, nothing at all except the same red-hot hell that stretched out as far as they eye could see. He had acted on blind faith, and now, a door blocked the path.

I
t seemed to have been carved out of a large slab of dark rock, and it had Gargoyles on the sides. It stood right in front of him, and he could swear it hadn’t been there a second earlier.

It couldn
’t have been; he would have looked right at it.