Crystalfire (30 page)
Authors: Kate Douglas
For a moment, the only sound was the spatter of rain on rocks, and then even that ended. The dull rumble of thunder rolled across the mountain. An occasional drop still fell, and it was obvious this tiny shower was a precursor to a much larger storm.
It was time. Shrugging off the last, lingering frisson of fear, Taron climbed around the side of the boulders. He reached back, grabbed Willow’s hand and easily tugged her over the tumbled rocks.
On this side of their shelter, they could hear the demon’s curses. Taron glanced at Willow. “You ready?”
The look she gave him was pure fire and heat. He sensed her anger and resolve when she nodded. “I am.”
Taron glanced toward the dark trail and drew his sword. The blade remained dark, but CrystalFire pulsed in Taron’s hand. Together, following the sound of the demon’s guttural voice, they headed up the side of the mountain toward the closed portal.
Chapter 23
It was the same dream he’d had, over and over again on so many nights of his long captivity. He awakened with the taste of her on his tongue, his body sated from release, his heart pounding out a rhythm that grew slower in the waning rush of sexual climax. He lay there, loathe to give up the sense of peace, the pure beauty of post-orgasmic bliss.
The freedom of his dreams had always been such an amazing counterpoint to the reality of his interminable imprisonment.
Warm lips covered his. His eyelids popped open.
In the pale glow of a single small lamp, Crystal smiled around her kiss. “I do hope that sigh was for me, my love.”
“Crystal?” Artigos shoved himself into a sitting position as the cobwebs of sleep fluttered away from his mind. “You’re real?” He reached out to touch her long, silvery hair, but she twisted upright and sat beside him, knees akimbo.
“I certainly hope so.” She grabbed his hand, kissed his palm, and held it to the side of her face. “I’d hate to think I imagined this delicious sense of fulfillment.”
She laughed, and it was the crystalline sound of her joy that brought him out of the dream and into the real world, though he still couldn’t seem to get his thoughts in order. His memories of the hours past were too much the stuff of fantasy, this beautiful woman in his bed the one he’d dreamed of for all those years.
“I thought I dreamed you,” he said. Her cheek was warm and alive beneath his palm. He reached out with his free hand, stroked her shoulder, and ran his fingers through the long, sleek fall of silvery hair that covered her arms, draped over her breasts, and pooled beside her on the rumpled sheets.
She leaned into his touch. “No, Artigos. Dreams should have only happy endings, and this ending is an unknown. I am fearful of the outcome, but the battle begins. I find I cannot sleep when our future lies in so few hands.”
“Should we call the others?” He leaned close and kissed her, and in his mind’s eye recalled where all those other kisses had led just a few short hours ago.
She ended the kiss and nodded. “Though there’s nothing any of us can do, we all have a stake in this. I think we may be allowed to observe as the fight unfolds. Call the others. Have them come to the great plaza.”
He pulled Crystal into his arms first, kissed her soundly and held her close. She fit his embrace so perfectly that it was difficult to let her go, but she was right. So many had given so much in this terrible fight. If it was at all possible to share the final chapter, they had to be there, to see what their future held.
Would they witness an ending to all they held dear, or possibly a new beginning? The next hours would tell. He sent out the call—to Roland and the Lemurian Guard, to the Paladins, once their Forgotten Ones. He called Alton and Ginny, his son Artigos II and Gaia, his wife, Dawson Buck and Selyn, and Dax and Eddy.
And then he pulled Crystal into his arms and made love to her once again. If the world as they knew it was about to fall, he wanted to end his days with the taste of Crystal on his lips.
Alton and Ginny arrived at almost the same time as Alton’s mother and father. They nodded without speaking, and went in search of seats. Dawson and Selyn showed up a few seconds later, and then the others began to straggle in. A few of the guardsmen had been on patrol when the call from Artigos had reached them, and they were busy setting up row after row of long benches for the citizens of Lemuria. Those men were alert and awake, but just about everyone else had obviously been awakened from a sound sleep.
“Any idea why your grandfather called us here?” Eddy yawned and stretched her arms over her head. She looked better than she had a few hours earlier, but she probably could have slept the clock around. Dax didn’t look much better, hovering over Eddy as if he feared losing her again.
Alton shook his head. “Not sure, but he said it was urgent. Let’s get seats up front.” He headed toward an aisle that would give them access to the front rows. “I wonder where Grandfather is?”
“Nine hells and then some.” Ginny’s soft curse reminded Alton of Taron, but before he could worry about his friend, he followed Ginny’s stunned gaze and almost choked.
“Who the hell is that?”
His grandfather walked beside an absolutely stunning woman. Both wore traditional Lemurian robes of senior office—brilliant white edged in gold and precious gems—but it was the rapt expression on Artigos’s face that left Alton speechless.
The man looked as if he walked beside a goddess, and if the woman actually was who Alton suspected, he nearly did. “Mother Crystal?” he whispered, nudging Ginny.
She nodded. “That’s what DarkFire says. Take a look at your sword.”
He glanced over his shoulder at the scabbard holding HellFire. The blade rippled with shimmering color—not just the clear blue-white fire of diamonds, but every shade of every crystal from the crystal caves below. When he checked out the swords of the others around him, those belonging to the Paladins and guardsmen as well as his companions, the rainbow of colors was almost blinding.
Artigos led his companion up the few short steps to the main stage, where the two of them stood quietly until everyone in the plaza had taken a seat. He looked out over the crowd, and then he focused on Alton, smiled and nodded.
Alton gave him a “thumbs up” and squeezed Ginny a little tighter. His grandfather had looked exhausted when they parted only a few hours earlier. Now he looked like one of Alton’s contemporaries—the sparkle in his eyes belied the gray in his hair. Alton could hardly contain his curiosity—he wanted to know more about the woman standing so majestically beside Artigos.
Artigos raised his hand and the room fell silent. “I apologize for calling so many of you from your beds at this hour, but events are unfolding that cannot wait—events that members of a democratic society need to be aware of. For those of you who were with me in the caverns just a few short hours ago, please accept my sincere apologies. I know how exhausted you are.”
He chuckled softly and his arm slipped easily around the woman standing next to him. It was such an unconscious gesture, yet so comfortable, so intrinsically
right.
Alton nudged Ginny and she flashed a huge, understanding smile his way.
right.
Alton nudged Ginny and she flashed a huge, understanding smile his way.
All right, Grandfather.
Artigos obviously heard him, but he didn’t miss a beat. “All of you are aware of the crisis that has been building within our world, the fact we have been at war with demonkind for thousands of years, even when we thought that war long ended. The attack within our walls just a little over a week ago brought that truth home to us in a most unnerving fashion.”
He slanted a quick glance at the woman on his right, and there was no doubting his feelings for her. He tightened his arm around her waist and grasped her right hand with his left. She raised her head and smiled at him, and her expression was one of timeless, endless love.
Artigos stared into her eyes for a long, emotion-laden time. Then he raised his head and cleared his throat, almost as if this most controlled of men struggled for composure. “I want to introduce someone who is not only special to me, but to everyone in Lemuria. This woman has been a silent warrior for all the years Lemurians have inhabited this planet. I know that the full story of our past has made the rounds, so it should be no surprise to any of you when I mention the fact we are from a world far from this one. Nor should it be surprising that our ancestors, those brave souls who traveled to this world in a desperate attempt to escape a dying planet would bring what spirits they could, their beloved gods and goddesses—those few spirits willing to travel into an unknown future—with them.
“Mother Crystal is one of those spirits, a demigoddess, to be exact. She is from our long-lost home world of Lemuria, she was with us on our island continent before the great move, and she is here with us now. Crystal is the keeper of the souls of our sentient swords, our link with the spirit world and one of our last links to our home world. She has joined with me, as my friend—the one who kept me going all those long years of captivity under demon rule—and as my consort, to stand beside me as we once again face uncertain times.”
His grandfather’s sigh was audible. Ginny’s hands tightened around Alton’s arm. He leaned close and kissed her. “It’ll be okay,” he said, wishing he believed himself. He didn’t like the discouraged tone in his grandfather’s words. The man was usually a lot more upbeat, more optimistic. The optimism was sorely lacking in this speech.
“In a matter of minutes,” Artigos said, “in Earth’s dimension, a battle will be waged for our future as a free and honorable society. The war between Lemurian and demon, between those who stand on the side of all that is good, those who exist in this dimension, in Eden’s and in Earth’s, and those whose rule is rooted in evil, those denizens of Abyss ... that war will end with only one side victorious. We have one man who represents all of us, one Lemurian who has been chosen as our champion. Not chosen by any single one of us, not by a committee or even our own Lemurian Guard—he has been chosen by fate. Many of you know him—Taron of Libernus. He is not a warrior, but he is an honorable and brave man.”
Artigos shook his head. Alton wanted to leap up and yell at him, tell him not to be discouraged, to have faith in the scholar with a warrior’s heart.
But Artigos was still speaking. “Taron will fight the one known as the demon king. Once a child of Eden who chose evil, he is a canny and powerful warrior in his own right. The victor will determine our future. If the demon wins, he will have the power to open the gates of Abyss and give demonkind power over all worlds. It is more than a battle between a Lemurian and a demon. This is a fight that will determine the future for our very souls.”
There wasn’t a sound to be heard in the huge plaza. As if collectively they held a single breath, and waited. Artigos’s expression was grave when he gazed down at his consort. He released her hand and stepped aside, giving her the floor.
Crystal stepped forward. Her voice rang with such perfect clarity the sound sent chills along Alton’s spine. She held her hands high, as if proclaiming a benediction; however, her message was anything but. “Something I must add to what my beloved Artigos has told you. Much of what happens is determined by fate—some things can be changed, others are immutable. For whatever reason, the choice of a champion is not always ours to make—Eden sent Dax to fight demonkind. It was their choice to call on an ex-demon as their champion, and he fought honorably and bravely, but his was not to be the final battle.”
She smiled at Dax, and then turned and gazed at Eddy. “Eddy was chosen, a woman of Earth who had never carried a weapon until she carried crystal, and then Alton of Lemuria, and Ginny Jones, a human descended of Lemurians.” She turned her smile from Eddy to Alton and Ginny and finally to Dawson and Selyn. “Then a gentle healer from Earth and the enslaved daughter of a woman warrior were chosen as our champions, and once again they prevailed, but their brave efforts did not end the fight. There are others, brave souls all, who most certainly did not wake up in the morning and say, ‘I think I’m going to battle demons today.’ That’s not the way it happens, unfortunately.”
She laughed, and the audience laughed with her. And they waited. What else did she have to say? Crystal turned with her hands clasped in front of her and gazed at Artigos. The emotion passing between the two of them drew a soft sigh from those watching. Artigos looped both hands over her shoulders and drew her close. In front of the citizens of Lemuria, he embraced her.
She was small, barely rising past the middle of his chest, but Alton sensed great power in her. He felt her love as well, and thought how bittersweet, that his grandfather had finally found someone to share his life, when life as all of them had grown to know it could be facing a horrible change.
He glanced around the huge plaza and recognized so many faces. Roland, once a sergeant, now the new Captain of the Lemurian Guard, sat with his wife, Chara, and their son. Former slave Isra sat beside Nica—the two Paladins were surrounded by their fellow warriors, some of whom had been slaves, others their wardens—all now serving Lemuria.
His world was on the cusp of so much that was good! Alton sent a silent prayer to the gods, praying for Taron’s victory.
Crystal stepped out of Artigos’s embrace. “Though this battle is between a Lemurian and a demon, it is being fought in Earth’s dimension. For whatever reason, Earth has long been the chosen battleground, its citizens more often the ones who are caught between the age-old struggle between good and evil, yet with very little say in the outcome. Earth’s people are unaware of the war being waged on their soil, but we in Lemuria will, with the help of the gods, have the opportunity to observe. This is why you’ve been brought here, as witnesses to this terrible fight.”
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