Dark Curse (49 page)

I call thee water in frozen form, hold your place though cracked and worn. Tiny particles of water, ice meld and mold, fit and splice.

The ominous creaking and rumbling faded to whispers, but the sound of water continued to surround them. This was it then. She took another breath and with all the hope and love and knowledge she had, she wove her next spell to open the ice block the spiders had cut for her.

Thrice around this ice do bounds evil sink into the ground. Little spiders of crystalline ice, hold your webs, keep them tight. Cast them round, protect and be, so I may reach those who sleep.

The spiders wove their silken fire strands through each bore hold and pulled the threads tight, sawing back and forth until chunks of ice broke free. They continued to work until they exposed the dragons, and then they carved holes around the bodies until the dragons slipped free.

The dragon carcasses slid out of their ice prison, still frozen, hitting the floor with a cracking sound.

Chapter 19

Lara crouched down beside the dragons, weeping. She put one hand on each of the ice-cold necks, bowed her head and whispered to them softly. "I'm setting you free. Just the way you did me, he doesn't have you any longer." Maybe it wouldn't matter to them in death, but it did to her. She would never want Xavier to have any part of her—in any form.

"Lara! Look at the web," Natalya said sharply. She peeked around the corner of the alcove and gasped aloud, staring in awe and dismay at the two dragon carcasses.

The ice spiders were making a mass exodus, rushing across the thick ice wall. The web they'd spun tight sagged in the middle by a few inches, but that was steadily increasing. The creaks and rumbling in the ice increased to an almost angry roar.

Nicolas rounded the corner of the alcove at a run and slid to a halt so fast that Vikirnoff, on his heels, bumped into him.

"You got them out," Vikirnoff said. "You found them and got them out."

Nicolas frowned and walked around the two bodies. He glanced at Vikirnoff. "They really are in dragon form."

"You knew they were," Lara said, "I told you. And you were with me…" She trailed off, glancing at Vikirnoff and Natalya, who were walking around the two dragons. Lara stroked loving caresses over the scales, usually shimmering with iridescent color, but now drab and dull.

"But they are part mage. How can they shift?" Nicolas murmured aloud.

"You said I could shift," Lara pointed out.

"You can, as long as I'm holding the image for you. Your Dragon-seeker blood is strong but…" He trailed off and looked at Vikirnoff.

Vikirnoff crouched down beside the two women. "Natalya, reach for them."

"I don't understand."

"Lara should. She's spoken numerous times with them telepathically," Nicolas said. "Lara, reach deep along the path you used to speak to them. Call them to you."

"You can't possibly think they're alive. Look at them. They're frozen solid. They're thin and drab."

"They are not mage," Nicolas said. "They are Carpathian. Fully Carpathian. How that came to be, I do not know, but they could not have survived all these years frozen, encased in ice,—and you said they were kept in ice even when you were a child—unless they are Carpathian. Mage would die. I do not know how I missed that. How any of us did. How could they be caught in the bodies of dragons?"

"You're saying they're still alive?"

"It is a possibility, yes," Nicolas said.

The ice continued to protest, crackling as icicles rained down on them, as large chunks sloughed off to crash to the floor. The trickle of water became louder.

Lara cleared her mind and reached. She knew the path intimately, had clung to it as a child, her only stability in a world of absolute madness. She reached with a mixture of love and hope.
Aunt Bronnie. Auntie Tatijana. Can you hear me
?

There was a weak stirring in her mind. Lara lost all color and gave a little cry. "I felt them. They're there. I felt them."

Nicolas looked grimly at Vikirnoff and then to the spiderweb, which was now sagging by at least a foot more. "I'm calling in aid. Let us go now."

Warrior to warrior! We have great need. We have found two of our women in the ice caves and we are under attack.

Nicolas sent the call and immediately levitated the dragon's bodies. "Let's get out of here. Vikirnoff, you take the lead, I'll hold the rear."

Vikirnoff glanced back at him in total understanding, and then turned and ran. The look that passed between them said a multitude of things. Nicolas was entrusting the other half of his soul to Vikirnoff. He was telling him not to guard his back, but to take the women to safety no matter what happened behind him. Vikirnoff accepted the responsibility of the women and also the consequences should Nicolas die in the ice cave protecting their flank.

Natalya grabbed Lara's wrist and yanked her into a blurring run, racing after Vikirnoff. Behind her, the bodies of the two dragons burst through the tunnels, sheering bits of ice off the walls.

Nicolas ran behind them, his senses fully alert for any movement, any danger. He had given Vikirnoff the responsibility of getting the women out of the caves. An army of Carpathian males were on the way and they would first go to defend the women so Vikirnoff's job was to get them as close to a meeting point as fast as possible. Relieved of watching out for the women, Nicolas was left with only one task. He would fight whatever came at them and see to it that Vikirnoff had the time needed to meet up with their relief forces.

The creaking and groaning grew to rumbles of protests. The rumbling became a roar of fury. The ice cave came alive, furious that they were escaping with Xavier's greatest treasures. Thunder crashed, echoing through the chambers, shaking the walls all around them. The pressure of the glacier, the weight of the ice itself, along with Xavier's wrath, forced out huge chunks of ice, squares and rectangles, several feet thick and wide, from the ice wall. The chunks shot out across the chamber, destroying everything in their path.

Vikirnoff shepherded the women back down along the tube winding through the chambers, leading back toward the entrance where they had originally entered the cave. Large chunks of ice slammed down, the caves crumbling as they ran. Nicolas waved his hand and stayed the huge weight, holding the ice chunks just the few seconds so the women could run through, towing the dragon bodies and then hastily staying the next series. It took tremendous concentration and timing to stay just ahead of the small group while he ran, too.

Water went from a trickle to a continuous pour, so that from every wall and the ceiling water flowed into their escape tunnel.

It will only take minutes for this to become a waterfall
, Lara warned.
The force of the water alone can kill. It's designed to sweep anything surviving back into his lair
.

Just run!

Nicolas had already figured out what the next attack would be. He was beginning to know his enemy. Xavier was mage, and mage, like Carpathian, used the elements and whatever was simplest and available. Xavier was a master at simplicity. Water was turning torrential, hammering down in a long fall from several steep places to roar to the floor.

The water kicked up an icy spray, the particles tiny such as Xavier had in his laboratory, so the danger was inhaling and freezing the lungs. It was Vikirnoff he warned, because he had to shut himself off from the danger to Lara in order to be one hundred percent focused on keeping them all alive.

Mask everyone.

Vikirnoff did so ruthlessly, not asking, simply constructing and fitting masks to everyone as they ran. Twice Natalya glanced over her shoulder as if she might fall back to help protect the flank, but Vikirnoff said something sharply and she renewed her efforts to drag Lara through the tunnel and with Lara, the two dragons.

The water burst through every wall, broke through the ceiling. Nicolas used the huge chunks of ice against it, hastily building ice dams several feet thick, staying the water from filling the tunnel. The waterfalls were cold, so it was the battering rather than the temperature that took the toll on the ice dam.

Vikirnoff veered off through a series of chambers. The moment they exited the tube, Nicolas sealed it—a temporary hold, but he only needed to buy them minutes. As he raced after the women and Vikirnoff, Nicolas noted the change in the feel of his surroundings. His scanning of the chambers ahead picked up movement, although nothing registered as a life form.

It is possible you are going to be running into shadow warriors again. Before entering the chamber leading to the entrance, back off and let me take the lead. I will draw their attention and let you slip past with the women.

Nicolas noted that the dragons were thawing along with the ice cave. The bodies were harder to control. He was going to have to give them completely into Vikirnoff's care.

They are awakening and will need to be reassured. You, Natalya and Lara will need to cope, Vikirnoff.

He glanced at the dragons as he put on a burst of speed and slipped past. The moment Vikirnoff halted their forward progress, the two bodies lay on the floor. As the blood began to unfreeze, the muscles locked and contorted. He couldn't imagine the pain they had to be in.

Lara knelt beside her aunts, murmuring reassurances, trying to touch their minds and let them know what was happening. Bronnie looked up at her, blinking her enormous emerald eyes, tears swimming there.

Auntie Bronnie. It's Lara. I came back for you.

The dragon turned her head and stretched to cover her sister with her chin, her touch gentle when her body went rigid, contorted and then relaxed again.
Starved
. The single word was a croak.

Can you shift to human form? Natalya can clothe you and we can give you blood
. The idea made her stomach lurch, but to save her aunts, she was willing to do anything.

The great emerald eyes blinked and then turned to look at Natalya.

She stared at her niece for one long, emotion-laden moment.
No strength
.

Put the images you need in Natalya's head and she can hold them for you. Vikirnoff will help send you strength. We have little time. Xavier is sending his guardians after us.

Natalya and Vikirnoff held the images Branislava provided and the dragons disappeared, leaving two women lying on the floor of the ice cave. Natalya had provided clothes for them, warm leggings and sweaters to help heat their bodies. Their hair was long and thick, far past their waists and Natalya hastily braided both with a wave of her hand and then covered them with warm caps to keep the strands from freezing.

Lara held their heads in her lap while Natalya immediately offered Tatijana her wrist. There was no hesitation. Natalya smiled at her aunt and murmured the ritual offering.

"I offer my life freely for yours."

Lara took a breath and held out her hand to Branislava. "I offer my life freely for yours." Her heart thundered in her ears. Her mouth went dry. Terror filled her mind, but she ruthlessly pushed it aside. This was her beloved aunt, who had sacrificed everything for her. She would save her and she would do so gladly. She meant her offering. She owed her life to Branislava and Tatijana—more, she owed her soul to them. Razvan's soul had been stolen by a madman and he could just as easily have used her, but at great cost to themselves, they had saved her.

Teeth bit down into her wrist. Her stomach lurched, but she held on, breathing through the need to be sick, grateful her aunt was too ill to notice. It took a moment to realize her aunt wasn't hurting her. The teeth didn't tear at her flesh, but rather pierced with two small holes. There wasn't the erotic feel that there was when Nicolas took her blood, but more of a giving, a sharing, an act of camaraderie, giving her a deeper connection.

Her aunt's body warmed faster with the influx of blood, but it wasn't enough for the shriveled cells and organs. As soon as Branislava swept her tongue over the pinpricks to close the wounds, Vikirnoff knelt beside her.

Branislava shook her head.
You need your strength to get us out of here
. Even that small effort exhausted her.

The continual sound of water became overly loud, drawing Lara's attention. She caught Natalya's wrist and gestured with her chin, not wanting to alarm her aunts. The water dripped onto the floor and ran along a crevice, forming a long, narrow tube. Within moments of hitting the icy floor, the water refroze, forming the long body of a snake. The moment one formed and slithered off, another took its place until a good portion of the floor was taken up by hissing snakes.

Tatijana swung her head toward them, although she was too weak to lift her neck to see.
Don't let him take us. Kill us if you have to
.

Lara tightened her arms around both of them. "He will never get near you again," she assured fiercely.

"I'll deal with the snakes," Natalya said. She raised her arms and gathered power to her. She was tired of Xavier's relentless pursuit and happy to find a target. "Those people on
Snakes on a Plane
should have tried this."