Prince of Fire (8 page)

Joryn increased his step and was soon striding beside the Queen. "Tell me what you know of the mutated creatures which were once Caradon."

She glanced over and up at him, and again he was taken aback by the delicacy of her features, the fragility of her appearance. He had to remind himself that she was anything but fragile.

"There is a demon," she began.

"Yes," he said impatiently, not wanting to waste time on repeated information. "The Isen Demon."

"He steals the souls of those who are dark, of those who are touched with evil."

"Are you telling me that the Caradon who were affected were all evil?" he snapped. "That must be easy for you to believe, but I find it unlikely."

"If you constantly interrupt me, then this conversation will not be done until the next full moon!"

"Cease your rambling and get to the matter at hand."

His captive, the beautiful Red Queen, stopped walking and placed her hands on her hips in a pose of pure impatience and disgust. The thin gold gown hugged her breasts and her hips. "Rambling and explaining are two different things, you infuriating, kidnapping, mocking Caradon scoundrel. Just because I have agreed that we have a task to accomplish, that doesn't mean I will tolerate your continuing disrespect. I am no longer your prisoner. I am now your
partner.
No, I am your
superior,
and you will treat me as such. I have attempted to be amiable, but my efforts apparently mean nothing to you."

She took a deep breath, and her face flushed in anger.

Joryn sighed. So much for his promises to himself, like it or not, he would lie with her before this was done. He was drawn to the Queen in such a way that he could no longer deny the blaze that danced between them. Jfe was male, she was female, and before this journey was over, they would share that which they both so obviously needed.

With that in mind, he decided that perhaps it would be best if he did not annoy her overmuch. Women could be quite spiteful when it suited them. Still, he could not allow her to take control of the situation. "Partner, I can tolerate. Superior, I cannot."

Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Unlikely as it seems, I can be your partner, but you must treat me as such. I am no longer your prisoner, Joryn."

"I apologize for my angry words. I am simply frustrated, Keelia."

She nodded, and he could tell by the expression on her face that he had been forgiven. "Very well, then." She continued walking down the path, and he remained beside her.

"Some things which should be clear to me are not," she said, "but I have been getting quick and sporadic visions as we move deeper into Caradon Territory. Flashes of truth. Pictures from a mind not my own. The Isen Demon has allied with a vile Caradon wizard who has been practicing dark magic for many years."

"Caradon do not practice dark magic."

Keelia snapped her head around. 'This one did, and does. I know it is difficult to face, but you do not know every member of your species. This one has been hiding for years, building his skills and ... and murdering Anwyn and Caradon alike." She shuddered in obvious distaste.

He wanted to believe that his people were inherently good, but he knew there were some who had chosen a wilder, darker path. "I suppose for now I have no choice but to take your word on the matter."

"That will do," the Queen said gently before continuing. "At the demon's instruction, this Caradon wizard made and cursed a number of talismans. He placed these talismans around the necks of Caradon, males and females, who were neither dark nor light, but somewhere in between. They possessed gray souls until the stones of the talismans touched their flesh. When that happened, the demon took their souls, and they ..." She shuddered, as if she saw and felt all that had happened. "They transformed into soulless creatures trapped between human and cat. They move at the silent instruction of the wizard who made them, and the wizard is under the control of the demon."

"Their numbers are increasing."

"Yes. The evil that infected them has become a disease, spread through their bite. Their saliva enters the blood, and in that way the curse is spread." She looked up at him, and her already pale face went snow white. "It can be spread to Anwyn as well as Caradon. If we don't find this wizard and stop him, the Mountains of the North will be overrun with soulless creatures from your people and mine, and nothing will ever be right again."

* * * * *

Sitting cross-legged on the stone floor of his cave home high in Caradon Territory, eyes closed to shut out the distractions of the things around him, the wizard Maccus smiled. He could feel the Red Queen coming closer, as if there were an invisible tug between them. His blood seemed to burn as it rushed through his veins; it seemed to dance in anticipation.

The power he had been promised by the Isen Demon was so near he could taste it on the tip of his tongue.

Knowing she was moving near, as he had always known she would, he ended his meditation and leapt to his feet. He had made a fine home, here in these connected caves. All the comforts any man might want were here. They were his. Soon they would be hers, too. He walked to the table where he often worked, and lifted the medallion which was resting there. It was a circle of silver adorned with a protruding gem. He had infused that stone with his power, with his enchantment, every day since the first full moon of winter. With an anxious finger, he caressed the stone. It was meant for the Red Queen. It would make her his in all ways.

Maccus wore a similar medallion against his own chest. It was through that metal and stone that the Isen Demon infused him with an incredible power that had seemed unimaginable just a few years ago.

There were times when the wizard was certain that the demon was actually inside him, but those feelings never lasted long. They did connect on occasion, when the demon had commands to issue, but Maccus's soul remained his own, at least for now. He had a feeling that would riot be true much longer.

The power he had always craved was finally his, and the cost did not seem too high, not to Maccus. What he had accomplished was remarkable, but when the Red Queen arrived, he would be elevated to a status higher than he had ever imagined possible.

Again, his biood danced, and the stone in the medallion which hung from his neck sparkled, green and black and bottomless.

4

There hadn't been a single day in her life that Keelia hadn't felt different. As an Anwyn, as a psychic, as a woman... always different. It would make sense that she'd become accustomed to those things whichHet her apart from others and embrace the fact that she was unique, but in truth the reality that she was not like others grew more painful with every passing year. She spent most of her life in human form, and yet she was not entirely human. Her Anwyn blood set her apart, so that even though she might appear to be of the same species as her many lowland cousins, she was in fact quite dissimilar. While it was true that there were lowland humans as well as Anwyn among her ancestors, both of her parents had Anwyn blood. That was unusual, or had been before her mother's arrival in The City had changed everything. It was expected mat she and Giulia would continue the tradition and produce more children who could be called pure Anwyn, but that could not happen until her mate presented himself. Her Anwyn mate.

She longed for a touch of normalcy in her life.

Inking a Caradon as her mate, as the prophesy had mistakenly said she would, would only set her farther apart from the others. No, her supposition that the destined union was a purely political one made more sense than the idea that she might spend a lifetime with this creature who had kidnapped her. Even if she did experience sensations she had never felt before when she looked at him, even if the dreams did tell her that there would be more than a political alliance between them, she could and would be the mistress of her own fate. She,was in control and could choose not to follow the natural—or unnatural—instincts.

Traveling with Joryn proceeded more smoothly than she had imagined it would on this, the first day of their journey. He had some dried food and hard bread in a small rucksack he carried over one shoulder, and carried fresh water in a wineskin, for those days when they might not find good drinking water along the way. The dagger at his waist would likely provide fresher meat at some point in the journey, if he did not hunt with balls of fire. For today they existed on the provisions he carried.

If he'd expected her to behave like a frail female who needed constant attention and care while traveling on foot, then she'd surprised him. She had energy and strength, and did not mind calling upon all she had in order to accomplish her objectives.

And she did try to be well mannered.

Keelia lifted her bound hands gently. "This is not necessary," she said in an emotionless voice. "I want to stop the darkness that has invaded these mountains we call home as much as you do."

"Why?" The fire Joryn had started with a flick of his fingers illuminated his face in the dark of night. The line of his jaw was tight, tense. Like Anwyn males, he grew no hair on his face or chest, so that jaw was smooth, as always. His lips were thinned, his eyes hooded. "Your people have not been affected."

"Not yet," she whispered.

She saw that they would be if the unnatural Caradon creatures were not stopped in time. The disease which distorted their bodies and stole their souls would spread if they didn't find the wizard responsible and... and... Keelia closed her eyes. She could see the wizard, working in a cave much like the one Joryn had made her prison. His face was unclear, and she wasn't sure if the darkness she saw around him was caused by his evil or his coloring. Did he have black hair, or was that his energy she saw? All she could see well were his hands, strong, male hands, neither young nor ancient, which cupped a green stone that glowed on his palm. She caught only a brief glimpse of that stone, but she immediately realized its importance.

If they destroyed that stone, the spell would be reversed.

Long, strong fingers closed over that stone in her vision, as if the wizard realized the enchantment was threatened and sought to protect it.