PRINCE OF THE WIND (19 page)

There was just a touch more pressure, a slight grinding as the fierce mandibles moved against the sorcerer’s wrist, then it released Atramentous’ hand and put its head back on the ground.

Atramentous uncorked the vial and held it to the creature’s mouth. He held his breath until the massive jaws opened and the thick pink tongue lolled out. He poured the potion into the creature’s maw.

There was a hard shudder, then another, but nothing changed. The beast remained and the human male locked within its furry body was still trapped. A hopeless whimper pushed from the creature, and it began to whine.

"No," Atramentous said, running his hand along the coarse head. "It’s not as simple as drinking the potion and changing back. There is one more thing you must do and one thing you must continue to do until the end of your days." He paused, running his hand tenderly, comfortingly over the hard muzzle. "You will not like this, Riain, but it has to be."

The scarlet eyes closed again as the pitiful whining continued. The creature did not move as the sorcerer got to his feet and walked to the door.

Atramentous reached through the bars and took the bucket Lo Ching had brought from the slaughterhouse. He looked into his servant’s eyes, and held the crippled man’s expectant gaze for a moment.

Lo Ching picked up the crossbow he had also brought from the slaughterhouse. The weapon was loaded, knocked with a thick metal quarrel. The servant brought the weapon to his twisted shoulder and eased his finger to the trigger. If the beast should go for his master, Lo Ching had been given orders to make sure Takei’s death was an honorable one and not met at the sharp claws of a ravaging beast. Atramentous nodded, then resolutely turned away.

When the scent of fresh warm blood reached the creature’s nostrils, the snout puckered and the red eyes flashed open. The paws twitched, the tail thumped hard. Even as Atramentous advanced, the beast sprang to its feet and backed away, a growl of warning to keep away rumbling from its throat.

"You must," the sorcerer insisted.

He was somewhat surprised when the beast shook its massive head from side to side. It looked as though the beast seemed more intent on escaping Atramentous than attacking him.

"If you do not take the Sustenance, Riain, you will go mad from the hunger. Already you are feeling the pain of it in your gut. Am I right?"

The beast shook its head again and crouched, slinking along the ground with its tail tucked between its quivering back legs. Its head was down, the ears in a position of surrender.

Atramentous stopped a foot away and set down the bucket. Keeping his attention on the creature, he moved back to the cage door.

"This is what she wanted, Riain," he said in a hard voice. "She wanted you to know the hatefulness of being a beast. This is how women like Dearg Dul and Suzanne de Viennes view men. They think of them as nothing more than rutting beasts and this is what they have turned you into. If you allow yourself to remain in this fashion, you will prove her right."

An angry growl reverberated from the creature’s throat.

"If you remain a beast, you will never be with Maeve again. Beasts do not go to her when they cease to exist. They go beyond the Abyss and remain there for as long as time stands. Is that what you want?"

At the mention of the Morrigan’s name, the creature howled as though in great pain.

"Then drink, Riain Cree! Drink and become a man again. We will find a way for you to be with her. I promise—nay—I swear to you we will! Do not let the bitches win! You have to fight back, and to fight back, you must be more than a beast. You must be a man!"

It was all Atramentous could do to stand perfectly still as the beast rushed forward. It lunged at him, reared up, and placed its massive paws on the sorcerer’s shoulders. Looking eye to eye with the creature, staring into the scarlet red orbs that seemed to contain the fires of hell in their chatoyant light, Atramentous felt his knees threatening to buckle. The creature’s hot, rancid breath washed over his face in stinking waves. The heat from its body was suffocating and the stench of the coarse fur made his stomach turn.

But the sorcerer managed to stand still, meeting the ferocious gaze. Although he could feel the sharp indention of each claw wrapped over his collarbones, he made no sound, concentrating only on drawing as calm a breath as he could.

For what seemed like an eternity, the creature stood on its hind legs, staring into the face of the man trying to help it. It took the human’s measure, then gently, almost with good humor, it flicked out its tongue and licked the sorcerer’s face before pushing away and dropping to the ground. With a flick of its tail, it walked to the bucket and began to lap at the blood.

Atramentous let out a tremulous breath, then turned and met Lo Ching’s worried eyes. He unlocked the cage and walked outside.

"How long before he changes, Master?" Lo Ching asked, lowering the crossbow.

"An hour, perhaps less," the sorcerer replied, relocking the cage. "Let me know when the Transition has finished."

With a calmness he did not have, Atramentous headed to his keep on legs that felt rubbery and strange.

* * *

Riain sat hunched before the fire, hands tucked between his thighs. The things he had learned this evening stunned him, and he was still having trouble accepting all the sorcerer told him.

"Here, drink this," Atramentous said.

Riain took the goblet of brandy without comment, an indication of his trust of the man with whom he had passed the last four hours.

Atramentous smiled as Riain gulped the expensive Chalean brandy, then began to cough, his eyes flooding with tears. "Such elegant liquor is meant to be sipped, young one, not poured down the gullet like water."

With the fiery brew burning a hole in his throat, Riain gasped for breath. He fanned his mouth, feeling the fumes in every tooth.

The sorcerer shook his head, then stretched his long legs in front of him. "Such are the lessons all young ones must learn."

"You could have warned me," Riain accused, swiping at the tears.

"I could have." Atramentous grinned.

"That stuff is lethal."

"To you, it isn’t."

At the reminder of his changed state, Riain looked away. "There has to be a way for me to die."

"There are poisons that will do the trick, but in order for them to work, you have to make sure neither Suzanne de Viennes nor Dearg Dul lay hands to you before they can work. Else they’ll force an antidote down your unwilling throat and then…" He shrugged. "Well, you will have to start all over again and the poison is painful. It is called Maiden’s Briar and the kiss of that poison is a thousand times worse than the most potent Chalean brandy."

Riain got unsteadily to his feet and walked to the window. He pushed the drapery aside, saying nothing as he stared into the darkness. His gaze wandered over the campfires beyond the locked stronghold gates. "Does this keep have a name?"

"I call it Chantilon. In the language of The People, it means a haven where all are welcome."

Riain looked around. "The People?"

Atramentous shrugged. "I am of The People. That is neither here nor there and of no import."

Sensing he had stepped onto ground the sorcerer did not want uncovered, Riain returned his attention to the night.

"Riain, there are more things you must be told, but they can wait until morning. Now, you must sleep. At first light, I will send Lo Ching to fetch you. We will be leaving for another keep for a few days."

"My father and Duncan also?"

"Only you and I."

Riain let the drapery close. He drew in a long, tired breath, then met the older man’s eyes. "I have no real recourse, do I?"

"We all have choices, young one. It is what we do with our choices that make the difference. Even destiny is a matter of choice, not chance, most of the time."

"And was it my destiny to fall into the hands of a pair of crazed women?"

"It could have been avoided. But that is neither here nor there, either."

"You promised you would see that Maeve and I will be together. Was that an empty promise to get me to drink that vile potion or was it true?"

"I never lie, young one. That is one of the reasons I was thrown out of the Brotherhood of the Domination." He pressed his fingertips together and rested them under his chin. "I have told you one day you will join her, and you shall, but we will not discuss that now. You must rest."

"Why does my heart still beat if I am…?" He could not say the word.

Atramentous sighed. "The blood inside you must circulate to feed the revenant worm. It likes fresh blood, not the stagnant, congealing blood of a corpse."

Riain made a choking sound and hung his head.

"Try not to dwell on it," Atramentous advised.

Riain was tired and his body ached in a hundred places. The headache from hell that throbbed inside his skull was his own fault, he knew, as he headed for the rice paper panel.

"Perhaps you will think twice before butting your head against an iron bar next time," the sorcerer commented.

"I doubt it."

"I doubt it, too, young one."

* * *

Long into the night, Atramentous sat in his study, his eyes unblinking as he stared at the fire in the grate. The red coals reminded him of the vibrant glow in the eyes of the prince, and a hard shudder rippled down his lanky body.

"I stared death in the face this day, Alel," he whispered. "I looked it in the eye and it passed me by."

"Soon," was the whisper of wind drifting through the room.

"Pray not before I have set the young one’s feet on firmer ground."

"We will see."

Atramentous closed his eyes, wondering if Riain, sleeping restlessly a few yards away, sensed he was no longer a living being.

Did the boy know the woman he loved was as old as time?

Raven McGregor pulled against the iron manacles securing him to the cold stone wall and cursed. His wrists and ankles were bloody from his efforts, but there was no way he could get free. With a snort of disgust, he let go of the manacle chain and dropped to the straw pallet on which he’d spent the last three days. Ignoring the squeal of protest from an unseen rodent, he stretched out on the filthy straw and flung an arm over his eyes. He was worried sick about Miyoshi, terrified she was incarcerated in a similar vile place. Though he had strained his voice to the point of losing it while calling her name, he had heard no reply and his fears gnawed at him.

The slattern who brought his daily ration of stale bread and tepid water refused to answer the questions he had flung her way concerning Miyoshi’s whereabouts. With two burly guards stationed at the cell door, the hollow-eyed girl would not even look at him when she deposited his meager vittles on the floor just out of his reach.

"Please, just tell me she’s alive!" he begged nightly, but his words fell on deaf ears.

He turned, dragging his heavy chains with him, and squeezed his eyes shut. Drawing up his knees to his chest as far as the wicked leg irons would allow, he shivered with the cold and began to pray, pleading with Alel to keep Miyoshi safe. So intent was he on his prayer, he almost did not hear the heavy door at the end of the corridor scrape open.

Soon, the faint scent of gardenia drifted under his nose. Snapping open his eyelids, he was stunned to see Miyoshi standing beside his pallet.

"My love!" Raven cried and scrambled to his knees, unable to rise completely because of the chains. He threw his arms around his lady’s legs and held her, his cheek pressed against her skirt. "I have been so worried!"

"Shush, now," she said, smoothing the matted hair from his high forehead. "All will be well."

He felt hands on his wrists and leaned back to see the guards unlocking his manacles. His breath came in excited pants. He looked up into his lady’s face and was greatly relieved to see her smiling tenderly. "We are free?"

She nodded as the tight bands fell away from his wrists and the guards unlock the bands from his ankles.

"Where are we?" he asked, searching her lovely face for a hint of any pain or torment she might have experienced.

"We are with friends. Do you recall how we came to be here?"

Raven shook his head and a thick lock of wheat-colored hair fell into his eyes. "I remember the sky growing dark, then a whirlwind coming at us. I remember having you torn from my arms, then nothing." He tore his gaze from her to survey the room. "The next thing I knew, I awoke here, attached to the wall."

"A misunderstanding," his lady said as he felt the guard’s hands under his arms. "They thought you were Riain Cree."

"Why would they think—"

"I will explain later, my love, but we needs get you to a healthier place."

Gently, the guards helped Raven to his feet. The men kept him braced as his knees threatened to buckle from lack of exercise and the restriction of his leg irons.

"Whose keep is this?" he asked.

"All will be answered in time, my love," Miyoshi replied and cupped his cheeks. "First, you need a bath and decent food." She trailed one slim hand down his chest and leaned against him to press her lips against his.

Raven felt a wild stab of sexual hunger pierce his belly. He groaned, needing desperately to hold her, to lie with her in his arms, and erase the memory of the last three horrible days from his memory.

"Our hosts cared well for you?" he asked.

"I am treated like a queen here, my love." She nodded to the guards, who started forward slowly to give Raven time to adjust to walking.

"Where will you be?" he asked, craning his head so he could look at her.

"When you are presentable, I will come to your room. You need rest and nourishment, Milord, before the Joining."

"Joining?" Raven questioned, his brows drawing together in shock.

"Our host has sent for a priest. We’ll not spend another night apart, Raven McGregor. Come midnight, you and I will be one."

A smile of sheer delight spread over Raven’s face. "We are going to be Joined at last?" he asked, trying to keep her in sight as the guards escorted him down the corridor.