Her Master's Touch (28 page)

"Make it fast," Damon said. "I'll go on ahead
and locate the trail to the river and wait for you there. But
you've got to hurry. We're not out of this yet. We could be
discovered missing from our stations at the palanquin any time, and
those guards would not be long behind us." He gave Elizabeth's arm
a squeeze, and went on ahead.

Elizabeth lifted the tunic and began
unwrapping the band from around her, releasing a long sigh when she
could finally breathe freely again. She'd just lowered her tunic
when she heard the crackle of brush and thought she saw a figure
moving in the shadows near the dak. Moments later, a sharp pain
shot through her leg, drawing from her a shrill cry. And she knew
at once, she'd been bitten by the cobra.

Moments later, Damon was back at her side.
"What happened?"

"The cobra," she said, clutching at her leg
where the snake had bitten, already feeling the effects of the
venomous bite.

"Lay down and don't move," Damon ordered. He
reached into his pocket and grabbed the vial of
serpentina
and dumped most of the contents in Elizabeth's mouth. When she
appeared to do nothing, he said in a gruff voice, "
Swallow!
"
He pressed his fingers to her throat and felt the muscles contract
and knew she'd swallowed the antidote. He slid his palm under her
loose trousers and located her knife in it's sheath. Shoving the
pant leg up above her knee, he rubbed his hand over her leg until
he found a raised area. "Is this where you were bitten?" he
asked.

"Yes," Elizabeth replied in a weak voice. "I
feel so odd..." her voice drifted off.

Covering the snake bite with his mouth, Damon
sucked hard, drawing out what venom he could and spitting it on the
ground. After several more attempts to suck out the venom, he used
her knife to make several incisions around the bite area, then
tipped the vial with the last of the serpentina and rubbed it into
the wound.

Glancing around, he spotted the vague outline
of the breast-band and wrapped it around her leg above her knee,
using it as a tourniquet. Satisfied that he'd done everything he
could, he said to Elizabeth, "It's important that you not move at
all right now. We don't want that venom pumped through your body.
Even carrying you down to the river right now would be too
dangerous. We'll have to stay in the
dak
and hope no one
comes looking for us."

Elizabeth replied, in a thin voice, "I feel
so weak and dizzy. I just want to sleep…"

"That's the
serpentina
working. Just
put your head down and close your eyes."

Before carrying her into the dak, Damon
wanted to chase off the mice and lizards. Although the small post
houses were maintained by the government for travelers, they were
dirty, and always overrun with varmints. Still, it would be a place
where Elizabeth could rest for an hour or so, until the serpentina
made its way through her body and it would be safe for him to carry
her to the boat. If the boatman was still waiting, that is.

Once Elizabeth would be settled inside, he'd
make a quick trip to the river and inform the boatman that they
would be detained, along with giving him the assurance that there
would be a monetary bonus, worth his wait. Finding a key in the
latch, as was the custom, Damon pushed the door of the
dak
bungalow open, sending mice and lizards scurrying off. In the
darkened interior he spotted the indistinct outline of the bed.
Padding his palm over it, he knew it was stripped of linens. He
felt some consolation that there was mosquito netting hanging over
the bed though, which would be added protection from lizards
falling from the rafters above, as well as keeping out the
mosquitoes.

Returning for Elizabeth, he lifted her in his
arms and felt her dead weight, and knew she was sleeping off the
effects of the
serpentina
. Hopefully it got into her system
in time to offset fever and nausea other symptoms common to cobra
bites. After carrying her inside, he lowered her to the mattress.
She was so still, be placed his fingers on her throat to make sure
she had a pulse. It was strong, and her breathing was regular, and
he knew she was out of danger. But before leaving to notify the
boatman, he slipped his hand up her leg, and finding the pouch with
the opal, removed it and placed it under the bed out of view,
should someone come in and find Elizabeth there. But he didn't
expect to be gone long. After arranging the mosquito net around
her, he left the
dak
and headed for the river.

***

Elizabeth felt as if she were floating. An
odd sort of floating where she'd tip her head and turn in that
direction. But there were others present. A monkey. Breathing on
her. His breath stale. Pungent. Like blood. And water. Rivulets of
red water. Bloody water. Floating again. Floating and spinning.
Round and round. With the monkey. Water and blood and the monkey
curled around her, spinning and spinning...

Sitting abruptly, Elizabeth felt her stomach
convulse. She retched, expecting the contents of her stomach to be
ejected, but nothing came up. Feeling her head spinning, she fell
back and waited for the whirling to pass. Darkness closed in around
her. Stifling her. Disoriented, she reached out and felt a pad
beneath her.
Shanti Bhavan
?

She opened her eyes and looked up. Her mother
was peering down at her through a veil of netting. She saw her face
clearly. Her large brown eyes. The tika in the middle of her
forehead. And heard her mother's voice. "I did it for you,
Elizabeth," she was saying. "For Kali." Her mother reached under
the netting and touched Elizabeth's leg, her hand lingering there.
Her mother's fingers on her leg were welcome. Soothing.
Reassuring.

Then her mother was gone...

It seemed an eternity that Elizabeth lay
there, waiting for her mother to return. After a while, she opened
her eyes. But this time she stared into darkness. There was a pad
beneath her, but she wasn't at
Shanti Bhavan
. And the room
reeked of mice droppings. And mold. Still, the feel of her mother's
fingers on her leg seemed real. Bewildered, she placed her hand
where her mother had touched. And felt nothing...

Something skittered above. Like tiny feet.
Gradually things began to come into focus. The sharp pain in her
leg. The
dak
bungalow. Damon administering
serpentina
. Then everything went black... Until she saw her
mother's face and felt her mother's fingers on her leg. Absently,
she reached for the place where her mother touched. And everything
came into her mind's eye. The pouch. The opal. Her knife. All were
missing. And Damon was gone.

The realization came slowly, but surely.
Damon took the opal while she was unconscious and left her to die.
With her gone, he'd have the opal and
Shanti
Bhavan
—everything he needed to claim his birthright. He'd
killed his brother for Westwendham. He'd kill again to keep it.
She'd also have to find her way home. Alone.

Sitting uncertainly, the room tilting, she
lowered her feet to the floor and started for the door. But before
she could reach it, she heard the lock turning. Fearing
thugees
, she staggered back on wobbly feet and sank into the
corner behind a chair. And waited...

CHAPTER TWELVE

Slowly the door opened, and the shadowy
figure of a large man filled the doorway. He stood motionless,
saying nothing. It was so quiet, Elizabeth was certain he could
hear her anxious breathing. Then she heard footsteps crossing the
room and knew that whoever it was, was standing at the bed.
"Elizabeth?" she heard Damon call out.

Uncertain whether to respond—the knowledge
that he'd taken the opal and her knife still fresh—she said
nothing.

"
Elizabeth!"
he called again, his
voice fearful.

She stood on wobbly legs. "I'm here."

"
My God!"
He rushed over and took her
in his arms. "I thought someone had taken you," he said, his voice
troubled.

For the first time since she'd become his
wife, Elizabeth felt arms around her in a way that made her feel
special. Perhaps even loved. She rested her head against his chest
and said nothing. Maybe it was the effects of the snake bite. Or
maybe a reaction to the ordeal they'd just been through, but she
felt a kind of bond with him she could never have imagined two
months before. But like her marriage, it was transitory. Feeling
lightheaded, she moved out of his arms and sat on the bed. "Where
did you go?" she asked, wishing the room would stop spinning.

"Down to the river to tell the boatman to
wait for us," Damon replied.

"But... it seems like you've been gone for
hours," Elizabeth said, baffled. "Certainly it would have taken far
longer than you simply going down to the river for me to sleep off
the effects of the
serpentina
"?

"It has been hours," Damon replied. "On my
way back from the river I was approached by an Indian who suggested
we travel together to protect each other from robbers. Suspecting
him to be a
thugee
, I jumped him, and when I threatened to
slit his throat, he told me he was not a
thugee
, but was
hired by Cedric Hadleigh to steal the opal from me and make it look
as if
thugees
had taken it. Both the snake charmer and the
man with the monkey were with the gypsies, but the man with the
monkey—the jewel broker—also worked for Cedric, though Cedric had
no idea he was also with the gypsies. The broker passed on to
Cedric the names of people purchasing gems. Cedric's thugs waylaid
them, and the jewel broker resold the gems. Cedric's gotten away
with it for years, but soon he'll be cooling his heels in
jail."

Elizabeth pursed her lips. "I haven't trusted
that man since the first time I laid eyes on him, and he knew it,"
she said. "He knew I'd had a connection with gypsies, and that was
the reason he didn't want me around, though he tried to make it
look like he was just after your best interests."

Damon laughed. "You're right. But tonight, as
soon as the man who approached me would have discovered I didn't
have the opal, he would have come after you. He knew from the snake
charmer that you were here in the
dak
."

Elizabeth looked up at Damon, whose darkened
image was barely discernable, and said, "But... if you don't have
the opal, where is it? The pouch is missing from my leg."

"I hid it under the bed before I left for the
river," Damon replied. "If someone came in and searched you and
didn't find it, they'd assume I had it and come after me." He
squeezed her shoulders. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"The room is turning a little," Elizabeth
said, "but I think the worst is over. I'll just lay down for a few
more minutes. Where is the man who approached you?"

"Bound and gagged in the boat, along with the
snake charmer," Damon said. "Another reason I was detained. On my
way back here I found him trying to coax his snake back into his
basket. The snake is headless now, and the man is in the boat. The
boatman is watching both of them. Meanwhile, we'd better get the
opal and get out of here. We're lucky no one's discovered what we
did yet, but the moment they do, they'll be looking for us, since
they will probably have found the bearers and know exactly what
happened."

"I'm feeling very dizzy," Elizabeth said. "I
don't know if I can make it to the river."

"Then I'll carry you," Damon replied. "You
shouldn't be exerting yourself." He got on his hands and knees and
reached under the bed for the opal. Unable to locate it, he reached
further back. Nothing. "I don't understand," he said, puzzled. "I
put the opal behind the front leg of the bed, but it's not here."
He lay on his side and stretched his arm as far as he could reach,
fanning it over the floor, but finding nothing. "I locked the door
before I left and it was still locked when I came back, so no one
could have come in." He stood up and shoved the bed with Elizabeth
on it against the wall, then padded his hand around the area where
the bed had been.

"It could not just simply have vanished,"
Elizabeth said. "Light a lantern. I'm sure there's one on the
table."

"No. That's too risky," Damon replied.
"Someone could see the glow."

Elizabeth sat up slowly, then lowered her
legs over the side of the bed and got down on the floor and started
patting around. Feeling dirt and grime and mouse droppings
everywhere, she withdrew her hand, and said, "Feel around the room
for a broom. We can sweep the floor for it"

"I'll sweep the floor," Damon said. "You get
back in bed and stay still." He found a broom beside the door, and
although he couldn't see where he was sweeping, he did so
methodically, sweeping narrow strips at a time, until he was
certain he'd covered the entire floor of the small bungalow.
Staring into the darkness, he said in a dismal voice, "It's just
not here."

Elizabeth looked at the window and saw the
faint glow of light passing through and could tell that the glass
was raised slightly. "Did you open that window before you left?"
she asked.

Damon glanced at the window. "No. Once I got
you settled, I headed for the river."

Elizabeth stared at the partially-opened
window, her mind searching for something elusive... a shadowy
figure... small... a pungent odor... Ignoring Damon's order to stay
in bed, she went to the window and tried to raise the sash, but it
was stuck fast. Her fingers found something snagged on the bottom
of the window. She pulled it away. "It feels like a small hat," she
said, puzzled. "Strike a match."

Damon patted his hand over the table and
located the matches, then struck one close to where Elizabeth
stood. A small red hat emerged. "The monkey's hat," she said,
bewildered. Then everything seemed to come into focus. "He was
here. I could smell him when I was asleep. And I felt his
breath."