Uleni's Gamble (19 page)

Nicole pulled him into the tent after dinner, and made him forget all about enemy kingdoms and the fact they would be facing off with a god in just twenty four hours…

*

Nicole wouldn’t admit it to Justin, but her plan scared the crap out of her. If she were wrong about it, they would all die. Justin, her, all the other mates and their unborn children, just gone. Still, it was their best and possibly only chance at success.

She lost herself in his arms and opened her body and soul to him as they made love. She just couldn’t imagine this being the last time. It couldn’t be, she wouldn’t allow it. When he angled his stroke and started hitting her g-spot, she stopped worrying about anything, for quite a while…

*

They packed up in silence, all of them lost in their own thoughts. Justin found himself praying to Cytherea, but she wasn’t giving him any hints either way on if it would work or not. He hoped they would be able to snag the books and find another way, although he doubted it would make a difference. If there was another way, the goddess would not have needed to create his talent in the first place.

They were barely traveling for an hour when Nicole landed in front of them, a couple of hundred yards out and changed. They slowed and stopped and he wondered what the heck was going on now?

Nicole reported, “There is a group of large soldiers a half mile ahead, blocking the road. I also saw a couple of people dressed like the mages do here.”

Nora asked, “Is there a way around, should we just avoid them?”

He pursed his lips in thought and said, “Let’s go see what they want. I was expecting this on our way out, not on the trip in.”

No one looked thrilled at the idea, but they walked that half mile at a normal pace. He was all set to respond quickly to any attack and trying to keep his anger at bay. The people of Uleni were starting to really piss him off, and for him and his magical talent, that was a deadly mistake.

When they came in sight of the road block, one of them started to walk toward them. As Nicole had told them, he could see the man was dressed as a mage. As they got closer together he could make out the mage’s expression, it was neutral, and a little nervous. Still, he didn’t relax all that much.

When they were close enough not to shout the mage said, “Greetings, I’m mage Stephen. We had reports you were coming back, and that there was a confrontation yesterday that was averted? King Luis sent me to escort you the rest of the way to avoid misunderstandings, and he thanks you for showing forbearance in dealing with the mage and guards.”

The mage continued after making an apologetic face, “Some of our law enforcers can be rather… insistent. He had assumed when you returned Ross would be with you to smooth things over, and he only recently got word of what happened there.”

He looked at Sara and she shrugged and nodded. He wasn’t too happy about an escort, it would be exhausting watching their backs constantly, and it would slow them down. He didn’t really see an alternative though, outside of starting another war.

“Very well, it would be good not having to worry about a repeat of yesterday. Do you know how long it will take us to get back to the capitol?”

Stephen looked surprised by the question, then a rueful look came over his face, “I wasn’t very clear was I, by escort I meant travel. If you agree I can have us outside the capitol in moments. The soldiers behind me are local to the village straight ahead, I am the escort.”

Perversely, now he was panicking about there not being enough time. He had his mind set on having the day before facing the task of the altar. He was more or less resigned to the battle for himself, but his emotional reaction toward putting his mates in danger so soon had him reeling. He managed to keep it from showing on his face, but it wasn’t easy.

Stephen gave an understanding smile, completely misinterpreting their reactions. “I’ll give you time to talk it over, but I assure you it’s completely safe.”

When he was far enough away not to hear Katrina asked, “Is it safe?”

Sally said, “It should be, he can’t do anything to us without doing it to himself anyway.”

Trina chimed in, “I have travelled a couple of times, it is uncomfortable, but not dangerous. It can be for the mage on their first attempt, but once a mage learns to do it…”

They talked about it for a minute, but they all knew they really didn’t have much of a choice. They called Stephen back over. He warned them not to move around too much, or panic at the sensations, then started.

It was strange, he felt something like a tube wrapped around him, crushing him, but before he could even start to worry something was going wrong, the feeling receded and they found themselves a few hundred yards from the city walls. It was a bit jarring as his mind caught up.

He blew out a deep breath and said, “That was different.”

Stephen smiled. “You did well, most of the time people get vertigo the first time when their surroundings change like that and empty their stomachs. Just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll escort… walk you to the palace.”

Now that the mage mentioned it, he did feel a little queasy. They did a quick check of their gear as they recovered. Everything seemed good.

“Lead the way…”

At first the streets were crowded, some people gazed at them fearfully through the guard that escorted them from the gate, and others looked suspicious as they cleared out of the way. But a short way in, word must have travelled ahead because the crowd thinned out and they were able to travel faster.

It was a tense walk, he was pretty sure if they were going to do anything, it would be after the altar was taken care of, yet, people often did the unexpected. The soldiers were fairly close to him, and he felt like he was on a hair trigger. But the soldiers stopped at the castle gates and Stephen led them by himself up the stairs and into the large structure.

He felt a shiver go through him, as he once again felt the altar against his magic. It felt like a cold steel blade was held against his throat, and he could swear he could feel blood dripping down his neck. It was eerie. He wondered how anyone could live here when he noticed he wasn’t really seeing anyone. Maybe they had abandoned the place for now?

Stephen had a hitch in his voice, “This is as far as I go. Take those stairs down and follow the corridor, you won’t miss it. Your witch can take down the stone wall we put up. Good luck.”

He watched as Stephen went back the way they came in, at almost a run. That answered his question on if anyone was still in the castle.

Nora said, “Well, at least we know we won’t be ambushed right away, there isn’t anyone here to do it.”

They started down the stairs, and when they were halfway down it felt as if the blade at his neck was digging into his skin. He embraced his talent, but sparingly, surrounding him and the ladies in a thin cover of dancing white flames. He took a deep breath and continued down the stairs and followed the corridor. When they reached a wall in the corridor, Sally took it down, and they stepped through the exposed door.

They looked around the room with the altar in it. It was well lit, another reminder this was not a dark god they faced, but a true god of their universe. It was also the treasury, so they saw gold, jewels and what must be important papers. They did not see any books.

The books were gone.

He just stood there, looking around the room again, mad at himself they did not at least destroy the books last time they were there. They had agreed it was too dangerous to do so when they weren’t ready to face the altar, but that was scant reassurance in the face of having lost the opportunity to destroy them.

He sighed, letting go of the anger, it wouldn’t help them right now, or ever.

“Are you ready?” he asked, not quite hiding his nerves.

Chapter 15

They surrounded the altar and held hands. Without the books there was no choice, he was confident it would work, but not certain, and that bugged him quite a bit.

Sally said, “Wait! The ceiling is spelled to collapse when the altar breaks. I can barely feel it with the aura of the altar messing with us. I would have missed it had I not been so sure they would betray us.”

He flared his power, pushing out white flames to cancel any nearby magic.

Sally looking relieved said, “Good, you got them, and probably others that I couldn’t sense.”

He said, “Ready?”

They all nodded and he bowed his head to pray to his goddess as the others did the same.

Nicole’s plan was simple if incredibly risky. If him giving up his free will to the goddess gave her great power and the ability to act, how much more powerful would she become if they all did it? The sacrifice of their family, bound together by love, their mate bonds, and his magic as the Flame of Cytherea.

Of course, there were risks. If they failed, they would all die. The other issue was they all had to mean it, it wouldn’t be a sacrifice otherwise, they all had to be willing to die, and give over their souls to Cytherea’s care. The last concern was the power that was channeled through him last time was almost overwhelming; would his body be able to deal with six times the power? That was even assuming the rise in power would be linear, it may be more than that.

He had no more time for doubts though, and gave everything he was to the goddess in hope and love. He closed his eyes at the bright white light that filled his vision, but it was so blindingly bright closing his eyes didn’t make much of a difference. He felt power, and the love of the goddess fill him, but his body screamed in pain at the same time as if he was being burned from the inside out. He thought he heard a scream of rage and the altar crack as he lost consciousness.

*

Katrina caught Justin as he collapsed. Justin had been the focus of all the power so the rest of them had at worst, spots in their eyes from the light. She noticed the books against the wall and pointed them out.

Sally said as Nicole burned the books to ash, “Ares must have hidden them somehow in the altar’s aura. I guess he was trying to preserve a chance to get back here if we succeeded.”

Sara looked down at her and the unconscious Justin with concern and said, “I feel people approaching, coming in the castle doors now. What do we do…”

She understood what Sara had left off at the end, what could they do without Justin able to protect them? They might hold their own for a while, but eventually… His body felt warm in her arms, too warm really, as if he was in a fever.

She knew how Justin must have felt that day when she looked to the door, and saw Trina staring at them all with awe and reverence on her face.

Trina said, “Follow me, I think I can get us out of here.”

They heard from out in the hallway, “The structure is still intact, the spells didn’t work, go get more soldiers and mages, hurry.”

She gave Justin to Nora and transformed, darting into the hall quickly she saw there were only three people there. Two were mages, and much more powerful than she would ever be.

But she was quicker. Spells take the marshalling of thought and will, her claws, speed and instincts won out as she mauled all three in a blink. Perhaps that would give them some time. She wasn’t sure how long others would wait before checking up on the three she killed.

Trina shook her head and said, “This way,” and led them deeper into the underground hallways.

*

Nora carried Justin in her arms and held her magic tightly in her mind’s grasp. She reminded herself over and over he was still alive. They hadn’t been able to wake him though, and he was the only one who could heal his injured body. She very carefully tried not to let that panic her.

Nora had forgotten that since Trina was once an assassin for Uleni, she would know the layout of the castle. She tried to focus on what was going on, rather than the life in her arms that was far more precious to her than her own. King Luis had made a mistake only sending a few people to verify their deaths, hopefully that would be enough for them to escape.

Although she was tempted to turn around and fight, without Justin they would have no chance against the numbers Uleni could bring to bear.

*

When they came out of the tunnels they were behind the city. They made for the tree line and entered the wilderness away from any roads. Nicole knew they needed to find a place to hide and plan, but it still bothered her they were going the wrong way, deeper into Uleni. They travelled for most of the day on foot, not using magic at all, and made it maybe five miles into the forest before setting up camp.

She watched as Sally cast her magic on the tent, hiding it and them from magical detection. She was relieved when Sally explained.

“Even if a mage flies over as a bird, he won’t detect our magic, as long as we aren’t using it.”

She checked on Nora and Justin, he was still out. Nora was trying to get some water into him and she was a little freaked out by everything, and angry. They hadn’t planned for this at all. All their plans had assumed they would either be dead, or all okay, no one had guessed Justin would be struck down.

“What should we do?”

Nora shrugged, “Lay low until Justin recovers…”

They all went to bed reluctantly when Justin didn’t stir for the rest of the day, if only he would wake up, she knew he could heal his body…

*

Sally woke early and got Justin to drink some water, using a trickle of her magic to make sure it went down the right pipe. They really hadn’t had time yesterday in it all, but she couldn’t help the awe she felt at her experience. All the goddess’s power went through Justin, but they had all felt her presence, and the love she felt for them all. It had been a life changing experience for her.

She knew of course the goddess loved her, she felt it each time she used her magic, but yesterday’s experience had been so much more… intimate. As if her soul was cradled by the goddess herself. She struggled to truly define it.

Now if only Justin would wake, it would all be worth it.

Sara woke up, so she asked her, “We still alone?”