Stolen Dreams (39 page)

 

The wooden door Odette had pointed to had a large
lock
on the outside. There was no key in sight, but the door did have a much
smaller door in its center which was probably used to pass food
through. Shara opened it and bent down to look inside.        
 

 

A
torch within the enclosed cubicle allowed Shara to see a little girl
curled up on a mat on the floor. She had long black hair and a white
gown was tangled around her brown legs. Shara seethed with anger. The
child couldn't have been more than ten years old! It didn't matter what
she had to do, she was not going to stand by and let Esters baby be
murdered.

 

"Rebekah," she whispered. "Wake up, little one. I
have a
message from your mother and father." The girl stirred, and Shara sent
her a mental message to bring her fully awake. The look of raw fear on
her face wrenched Shara's heart in half. "I'm a friend of your
mother's, Rebekah. She told me where to find you."

 

Rubbing her
eyes,
Rebekah sat up and tucked her feet beneath her. "Why hasn't Mama come
to see me?" Her voice sounded as though she would start crying any
second.

 

"Sh-sh. Let's keep our voices very quiet so that we
don't
wake any of the others. The soldiers won't allow your mama or your
father to come, but they want to very badly. They love you, sweetie,
and even Elo misses you."

 

"Elo?" Rebekah's eyes opened wide,
and for
a moment it looked as though she were about to smile, then sadness
clouded her expression again. "I miss them, too. But the man who took
me away said that this was a greater honor to my family than if I
remained with them."

 

"Rebekah, I want to help you, if I can.
Do you understand why you have been brought here?"

 

"Oh,
yes. I have been tutored on many things since I have been here so that
I will not displease the gods or King Jupiter during the ceremony. I
must do everything that I am told and I must not cry or
make noise of any kind, even if something hurts."

 

She
sniffled. "Being a virgin sacrifice is a very great honor. You see, I
am a woman now, and only little girls cry." Her voice cracked, and she
sniffled again. "The first part of the ceremony does not seem so bad,
but I have very bad dreams about the second. I am most afraid that I
will cry out and shame my family."

 

Shara desperately wanted to
reach
through the little door and pull Rebekah out so she could give her the
hug she obviously needed, then run off with her. "Your parents would
never be ashamed of you, no matter what you did, and they do not
consider losing you an honor. I promised them I would try to save you,
but I need your help. Do they allow you out of here at all?"

 

Rebekah
shook her head. "I will only be taken from here on the seventh eve."

 

"Have
you been told anything about the ceremony? You mentioned two parts."

 

"Do
you really think you might save me?" Rebekah asked, hope brightening
her features.

 

"If I have to fight the king himself, little
one."

 

That
made her smile. "I was told that when the seventh sun of the gathering
sets, I will be taken to the court and placed on the altar before the
statue of Poseidon. I am to make my body ready for King Jupiter while
the nine princes castrate the bulls they have brought to sacrifice to
Poseidon. Then each one drinks a cup of their animal's blood that pours
from the wound so that the bull's power flows into its master. Then the
king will take my virginity."

 

Shara tried not to react, but
Rebekah saw her concern.

 

"It
will not be too bad," she reassured Shara. "A man and woman have given
me many lessons in how to prepare myself and how to please the king. I
am not afraid of that." Her little mouth twisted back and forth. "Well,
not too afraid. But I do not believe that what he will do to me will
end my life. That is left to his bull."

 

Shara felt the meal
she had
eaten churning in her stomach and fought down the nausea. "I'm sorry to
ask you to speak about it, Rebekah, but I need to know as much as
possible if I'm to be of any help."

 

"I understand. When the
king is
finished with me, each of the nine princes will take pleasure from my
body. Then I will be put into the pit with the last bull—the one that
belongs to the king. It will already be upset by its confinement in the
pit. My virgin blood should excite it even more. I must not make it too
easy for the bull to take my life. If God is pleased by how I behave
with the nobility and the bull, He will make sure I pass on the first
time I am gored by the beast's horn. I pray that is the way it will be
because after the sand passes from the top to the bottom of the timing
vase, the pit is set on fire and the bull and I will go to Poseidon
together. The other nine bulls follow behind us. I know it is very
childish, but I am most afraid of the fire."

 

The horror of the
child's words was magnified by the fact that she had been told the
gruesome details, so that she could dwell on it for days before her
execution. The way she spoke of it, however, told Shara that she was
repeating the words, but not fully connecting them with herself.

 

No
plan came to mind immediately, but she hadn't had a plan to get the
hair samples, either. Now she understood why none of the higher nobility came
for her spell. They couldn't promise to abstain from sex for a week
when they had to perform in two nights before an audience. Perhaps
circumstances would simply work themselves out again. In the meantime,
she would stay as near to the girl as possible and take advantage of
the first opportunity that came along to free her.

 

"All right,
Rebekah. I will do whatever I can. I have a friend named Gabriel who
might be able to help, also. He's a very tall, handsome man with light
hair. You can trust him. Go on back to sleep now. I'll try to talk to
you again tomorrow."

 

She closed the pass-through door and went
to
the mat Odette had pointed out. The urge to lay down and close her eyes
was difficult to resist, but the lure of testing the hair samples
helped give her the impetus she needed to stay awake a little longer.
She got out her microputer and the samples and went to work.

 

Right
after beginning her work, she felt another sharp pain in her head that
slowly settled into a throbbing ache. Once the pain lessened, she
realized it wasn't her head that was hurting, but Gabriel's.

 

Gabriel?
What's wrong? She felt his mind clearing and opening to hers, and she
helped him block the pain.

 

I made a mistake.

 

I don't
understand.

 

Gabriel abruptly remembered why he had erred.
Sweetling, are you all right? Did that cretin hurt you?

 

She
smiled as his sincere concern flooded through her. I'm fine. I talked
him into a week of celibacy instead. He was so pleased with my sorcery,
he recommended me to his
friends.                 
 

 

I don't like you taking such risks! With effort, he
stopped himself from lecturing her. Any matches?

 

No, but I
haven't tested them all yet. Why does your head hurt so bad?

 

When
I thought you were in trouble, I tried to get back to you. As near as I
can figure, that soldier was an expert with a rock and slingshot. Got
me in the base of the skull with one try. I've been out for hours.

 

Where
are you now?

 

He sat up and looked around, careful not to move
his head too quickly. Holy stars! Can you see what I see?

 

Shara
closed her eyes and concentrated on seeing through his. He was in a
large field, cleared of all trees, and at least a thousand other men
were laying on the ground around him. The moon appeared to be a giant
spotlight placed in the universe for the sole purpose of illuminating
Jupiter's nearly completed monument—a pyramid of gigantic proportions.

 

That
one's larger than the House of Spiritual Renewal in Innerworld, Shara
thought.

 

And all the pyramids in Outerworld's Egypt put
together, Gabriel added.

 

Shara
recalled what both Jarad and Odette had said about the monument.
Gabriel, the slaves working there are beaten and killed. You've seen
the monument; now get back here.

 

He asked Beauty to give him
directions and distance to Poseidon's temple. I'm only about a
kilometer away, just outside the royal city walls. But that's not the
problem. My ankles are chained to the men's ankles next to me and
they're chained to the men beside them, and so on. It looks like I'm
here for the night.

 

Dear heavens! What are you going to do?

 

I'll
let you know as soon as I figure it out. Just stand by in case I need
to borrow your power of suggestion. For now, though, why don't you
finish your tests so we can both get out of here as soon as I'm free?
Beauty is picking up severe ground disturbances all over the continent.

 

He
stayed with her mentally while she checked the rest of the hair samples
and felt her disappointment grow with each failure. When she was
finished, she had checked off all but seven names on the list Misha had
given them, the most notable of those being Poseidon. She had no idea
how many other names he had not told them, or how many of the ones left
had remained among the nobility. There was also the possibility that
the two descendants she was looking for were among the women, since she
hadn't gotten samples from any of them yet.

 

One more day,
Shara. That's it. Gabriel sensed her pulling way. What is it? You may
as well tell me.

 

I saw Rebehah.

 

He knew he wasn't
going to like this. And?

 

She's just a little girl! She's
acting very brave, but she's terrified. She let him know what Rebekah
had told her.

 

He was sickened by the account, but it didn't
change his attitude. You know how I feel about this.

 

Yes,
I do, and you know how I feel. Ill help her escape if I can, without
your assistance. She lay down on the mat and mentally turned away from
him.

 

Gabriel started to do the same, but the movement caused a
wave of dizziness to wash over him.

 

Are you going to be all
right? Shara asked instantly.

 

Gabriel figured out how to
position his head on the ground for the least discomfort. I'll live. I'm
just not up to an argument with you tonight.

 

She sighed.
Neither am I.

 

I could really use that massage you promised me.
He could feel her smiling and it made him feel somewhat better.

 

You'll
have to come back to me to get it.

 

May I at least have a kiss
good night, then?

 

Shara
needed no further encouragement to set aside their difference of
opinion for another night. In her mind she pictured them as they had
been the last morning on the ship from Norona and invited him to
remember with her.

 

She imagined bringing his face closer to
hers and
pressing their lips together. Mentally, her hands roamed over the body
she now knew as well as her own. She felt his body hardening as his
mouth moved to her breast, and her desire for him swiftly ignited.

 

Take
me inside of you, sweetling. That's it. Hold me tight.

 

Yes! I
can feel you.

 

Sensations
of dreamy pleasure floated back and forth between their minds, carrying
them out of their physical bodies to a shimmering place they had never
been before. They hovered there together and discovered the unique
sense of oneness that could only come from a spiritual and mental
joining. Their release came not in a burst of physical energy, but in
gentle waves of peace and contentment.

 

Shara drifted off to
sleep, feeling his arms wrapped protectively around her.

 

Gabriel
gazed up at the stars. He couldn't sleep after such an incredible
experience. Having sought solitude for so long, it was extremely
difficult to believe
how sweet it was not to be alone anymore. He didn't understand how it
had happened, but Shara was now as much a vital part of him as his own
heart. As far as he was concerned, it no longer mattered that they had
not willingly joined. He needed her in his life and he wanted to remain
a part of hers.

 

But he knew she was still holding certain
thoughts
back from him. Was it simply that he sensed her continued intention to
alter history regardless of everything he'd said, or was it more? Did
she still harbor an underlying resentment for having her romantic
dreams destroyed?

 

He couldn't change the fact that they were
joined
in such an unusual manner, and he would never allow her to interfere
with history, so there didn't seem to be anyway to convince her to
open herself to him as fully as he wanted her to.

 

Until she
did
that, he couldn't shed the gnawing fear that she would one day leave
him, and he would be forced to return to his silent, lonely world again.

 

The
rising sun was accompanied by the rattle of chains as the slaves were
roused. Gabriel was very relieved to discover that the chains were
unlocked so they could move about somewhat freely. He discarded the
serving robe and rewrapped the material of his tunic around his hips in
the same manner as the other slaves. His paralyzer rod and Beauty were
neatly concealed, yet accessible.

 

Breakfast was a bowlful of
gray,
tasteless mush and a cup of water, but his empty stomach and parched
throat were grateful nonetheless.

 

The ache in his head was
impossible to ignore, but the painful stiffness in his muscles
distracted him a bit. He hoped Shara stayed asleep until he
got control of the pain on his own.

 

A
loud crack sounded behind him, and Gabriel turned to see a soldier
holding a long whip. All the men around him instantly hurried toward
the monument. The second it took Gabriel to comprehend cost him. Before
he could start after the others, the soldier cracked the whip again,
only this time it landed across Gabriel's back.