Taran halted the group. “We’ll stop here for a bit.”
Hope flopped to the ground and stretched out her legs, wiggling her toes to ease her aching feet. They’d been traveling for four solid days. Only a healthy dose of sheer stubbornness had helped her make it through each day. And she was too bone-weary to muster a protest when the men in the group took turns carrying her pack, but didn’t offer the same courtesy to Maya or Varaya. Frankly, she was grateful for the special treatment.
Aside from herself and Dayamar, the Dayamari contingent consisted of Blayne, Cayl and Maya, Willem and Varaya, Taran and Lukas, his apprentice. The Usehani were represented by Daryon, Naytan and Breanna. Dayamar had “bubbled” them all as near to the Valley of Lights as he dared, and insisted they travel the remainder of the journey on foot. No one argued. Hope guessed Dayamar wanted to minimize the chances the Big Bad lurking in the cave would sense them approaching. And in a rare private moment, he admitted large outputs of psychic power disturbed the atmosphere, and were easy to track if one was adept.
Despite his assertion they were only attempting to confirm the location of the valley, Hope knew in her bones they were heading toward a confrontation.
Taran urged them all onward again. “At our present rate we’ll reach the entrance to the valley by nightfall,” he said.
Hope struggled to her feet. Please gods, keep us all safe….
~*~
Taran led them through a stand of trees and let everyone stop to catch their breaths. Blayne draped an arm about Hope’s shoulders as he described the hills ringing the valley. The tension in his body put her even more on edge. She wasn’t the only one feeling the strain. Even the normally irrepressible Cayl was unnaturally quiet and subdued.
With each passing mile, Hope’s footsteps dragged and grew heavier, until it seemed like there were leaden weights attached to her legs. Finally, as dusk fell, Taran called a halt. “Best we make camp here. We shouldn’t attempt the descent in poor light when we’re tired. The path down into the valley is more treacherous than it appears.”
Dayamar agreed. “We’ll make the descent at first light tomorrow. That will give us maximum daylight hours to locate the cave.”
Silence descended as they went about the now familiar routine of establishing a camp. Hope tried her best, but found it difficult to concentrate on even the simplest of tasks. She was under siege, battered by a welter of emotions: fear, despair, longing for home, fury at being forced on this pointless journey. Finally she’d had enough. Hands on hips and feet apart for balance, she lifted her chin and shrieked, “Stop it right now!”
“Stop what?” Varaya whispered.
“All the negative things you’re thinking! They’re driving me crazy. Don’t you all realize what’s happening?”
“What are you talking about?” Blayne gripped Hope’s forearm but she shook off his hand.
“Remember Taran saying he thought he’d been ‘encouraged’ to explore the caves? Something is messing with your minds. It wants you to leave. It doesn’t like you being here and it’s trying to scare you off. Don’t you feel it?”
“She’s right,” a voice boomed.
Blayne dragged her behind him, and Hope detected the ominous scrape of hunting knives being drawn from leather sheaths.
“Tell us who you are.” Dayamar had infused his voice with a strong compulsion.
“Uh uh, Sehan,” the stranger said. “None of that.”
Hope recognized the voice. “You!” She stepped out from behind Blayne but he hooked an arm about her waist and jerked her back against his chest.
“It’s all right, Blayne. He won’t harm us. Will you, Chryss?”
“Right again, girl,” the man said. “You did good bringing her to Dayamaria, old man.”
“How could you know about Hope?” Dayamar sounded flummoxed—something Hope had never imagined she would witness in a million years. “And more to the point,” Dayamar said, “Hope, how do you know this man?”
Chryss gave a deep rumbling chuckle. “I know many things. I sensed it when you opened the gate between worlds and brought someone through. Took a lot of strength to do that, eh, old man? I knew when the seer-power took her, too. Didn’t take a genius to figure out there was a new adept in the land. And she’s a strong one. Very strong. That’s how she contacted me. Missed the Third Settlement by miles and reached me instead, didn’t you, girl?”
“Why didn’t you tell me about this, Hope?”
She hadn’t meant to deceive Dayamar. In truth, she’d had so many other things to worry about the encounter had slipped her mind. Rather than admit it, she ignored Dayamar’s question. “I didn’t call for help but I’m glad you’re here, Chryss.”
“Happens you did call me, girl. Your mind has been roaming willy-nilly ever since you set out on this journey. Three days ago I felt your call. Figured you were headed here and decided to meet you.”
“I have a few questions—”
“I bet you do, old man. So I’ll tell you this for free: Ferreting about in my head is a waste of your energy. I hold my secrets close. All you need to know is I’m here to assist. Ask your little apprentice. She knows.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Hope said. “I don’t understand how or why I know, but we need him.”
“And thirteen is a luckier number than twelve, don’t you think so, old man?”
Dayamar’s muffled imprecation provoked Chryss to roar with laughter.
“I wish someone would let me in on the joke,” Cayl muttered.
Blayne’s slow exhalation ruffled Hope’s hair. “I trust Hope’s judgment,” he said, and squeezed her arm. “Let him stay.”
“Good choice, Panakeya. Not that you could force me to go, in any case. Now let’s see what we can do about this negative energy affecting everyone’s mood. Time for you and me to put our heads together, Sehan Dayamar. If you’ll excuse us a minute?”
Dayamar was wary of the newcomer—Blayne could tell from his fiercely knit brows and the tension in his spine as he followed the big man. But after a few minutes of listening to whatever Chryss had to say, Dayamar relaxed. And by the time the big man had finally stated his piece, Dayamar’s face sported a smile.
Good. Blayne hadn’t relished the prospect of backing Hope over Dayamar if the old Sehan had decided to reject Chryss’s offer of assistance.
He beckoned everyone into a huddle so they wouldn’t be overheard. Hope seemed preoccupied, so he left her to her thoughts. “That’s two of us he’s won over. Be honest, what do the rest of you think of him?”
“I back Sehan Hope, no question about it.” Taran scratched his beard as his gaze drifted to Chryss. “Even if he’s not Sehani, it appears the man has powers of his own. Might be useful having another adept around.”
Blayne understood the implications behind the tracker’s words. They were relying on an old man and a pregnant blind woman to protect them from whatever was in the cave. Not overly good odds, no matter how skilled Dayamar and Hope might be. And Hope’s powers were often unpredictable.
“I agree with Taran,” Naytan said. “We need all the help we can get.”
Willem was not so easily swayed. “I don’t trust him. And I won’t until he proves himself. I’ll be keeping a close eye on him.”
“I’m with you, Willem,” Cayl said.
Varaya flipped her braid back over her shoulder. “If this Chryss has anything to do with how much more positive I’m feeling right now, I’m happy for him to stick around.”
When the others had nothing further to add, Cayl said. “Anyone hungry?”
Maya sighed. “How you can think of your stomach at a time like this is beyond me. All right, let’s get some food organized. Hope,” she called. “What do you feel like eating? Hope?”
Blayne pivoted, and his stomach performed a lazy roll. Hope’s face was pale, eyes wide and unfocussed. She swayed slightly, as though buffeted by an unseen breeze. He’d taken but two strides, and was reaching out to steady her, when a voice resounded loudly in his mind.
No! Don’t touch her.
Blayne whipped back his outstretched hand and let it fall to his side. His fists clenched. “Why not?” he asked, dark and dangerous.
She’s entranced, Panakeya. Right now her mind is linked with ours. She was eavesdropping and inadvertently joined us. If you disturb her, her mind will snap back to her physical body and she’ll be left with a killer headache she won’t thank you for.
“What can I do for her?” he asked. “How can I help her?”
“Who are you speaking to, Blayne?” Maya’s gaze darted about, seeking an unseen presence.
Blayne flung up a cautionary hand. “Chryss says not to touch her.”
We’re nearly finished here—it goes more swiftly with her assistance. She’ll come back to herself in a minute or two. Just watch.
“You’d better be right,” he growled and heard Chryss chuckle before his mental voice faded.
“Blayne?” Maya batted his arm. “What’s going on?”
“Hope’s mind-linked with Dayamar and Chryss. I’m told she’ll be back with us shortly.”
“You’re told? How—? Never mind. I’ll stick to things I can understand. Like cooking a meal for my bottomless pit of a life-partner.”
Naytan sauntered up to nudge Blayne in the ribs. “Never a dull moment with Sehani, eh?”
Blayne grunted. “Try being Promised to one.”
“I can imagine. Look. She’s coming around.”
Hope blinked. Blayne closed the gap between them and touched her arm. He exhaled in a relieved whoosh as her eyes focused in his direction. “Hello, you,” he said. “You’re back. Everything okay?”
“Yes.”
“Hungry?”
“Mmm.”
“Let’s go eat then.” Tucking her beneath his arm, he led her back to Maya and the others. He caught Naytan’s expression as he turned away. Right now the healer was probably hoping that if he ever fell in love, it would be with a “normal” woman. But Blayne wouldn’t have Hope any other way.
Dayamar and Chryss rejoined them. “Thanks for your assistance, girl,” Chryss rumbled. “But next time, ask first.”
Hope hung her head. “I’m sorry. I was curious.”
“Hmph. You know what they say about curiosity, don’t you? It killed the cub.”
She lifted her chin, eyes flashing at the big man. “Point taken. And my name is Hope, not girl.”
Chryss guffawed. “Feisty, aren’t you? All right. Point taken, Hope. How’s everyone feel now?”
“Much better, thanks,” Varaya said.
“We do good work, don’t we, old man?”
“Indeed we do, Chryss.” Dayamar had recovered his composure. “It was a pleasure to work with you.”
“Likewise,” the big man rumbled. “What’s to eat? I’m starving.”
“A man after my own heart,” Cayl said.
~*~
Hope had curled up beside Blayne in a spot close to the fire. Indulging his curiosity, he asked her to explain what Chryss and Dayamar had done.
“They didn’t want to alert the… whatever, by negating its influence,” she told him. “Instead, they disguised us—made us seem part of the scenery, like trees and such. So now the influence just ignores us and passes us by.”
“Clever.”
“Yes.” She yawned. “I don’t know what to make of Chryss. He’s… unusual.”
“What do you mean?” Blayne levered himself up on one elbow but she’d already closed her eyes. He tucked the bedroll around her shoulders and then scanned the campsite, cocking his head to listen intently to the sounds of the night. Reassured that all was well, he was about to settle down again when he sensed he was being watched.
He glanced around and caught Chryss’s gaze. The big man had offered to keep first watch during the night and was hunkered down on the outskirts of the camp. He gave Blayne a thumbs-up sign and turned away.
Blayne’s last conscious thought before fatigue dragged him into sleep was that he could have sworn Chryss’s brown eyes had flashed to gold.
~*~
Hope and her companions all woke within minutes of each other and quietly went about breaking camp and preparing a light meal. When they’d finished their tasks, they stood about in the faint dawn light until the silence became awkward.
“Don’t look at me,” Chryss said. “Dayamar’s in charge of this expedition. I’m simply along for the ride.”
“Why didn’t you wake me to take my turn at watch?” Daryon asked, his tone coldly suspicious. “You look far too alert for someone who sat up all night.”
“Don’t need much sleep when you get to be my age.”
“And what age is that?” Varaya had to ask.
Hope delved into her friend’s surface thoughts… and justified the intrusion by telling herself it was necessary. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t read Chryss at all. Psychically, he was the equivalent of a block of granite. Perhaps using physical sight, courtesy of Varaya, would reveal something to satisfy her curiosity.
Seen through Varaya’s eyes, Chryss was a weather-beaten bear of a man, heavily muscled and topping around seven foot. A mop of shoulder-length curly blond hair contrasted with his red-gold toned beard. Deep-set brown eyes, an almost too-large nose sprinkled with freckles, and a generous mouth completed the picture. He was garbed in patched and worn leather, and Varaya thought he might efficiently fade into the background if he didn’t want to be seen. She estimated him to be somewhere between his fourth and fifth decade, though he exuded a sense of great age that both repelled and attracted her.
Chryss’s eyes glinted. “Too old for the likes of you, girl, that’s for sure. I’m much older than you can imagine.”
And you won’t learn anything about me by lurking in other people’s minds. Didn’t the old man teach you any manners?
Hope gave a startled squeak and left Varaya’s mind in such a rush she nearly lost her balance.
Blayne steadied her with a hand on her forearm. “What’s wrong?”
She blushed. “Nothing. I, uh, tripped.”
Dayamar neatly diverted Blayne’s attention by suggesting they be on their way. And if the old Sehan had learned anything of interest about their new traveling companion he kept it to himself.
The sun approached its zenith by the time the party reached the floor of the deserted valley. No one had spoken during the descent. Hope’s skin felt paper-dry, her mouth parched. Tension thrummed through her muscles and adrenaline flooded her veins. Her body was preparing for that most basic of human instincts, fight or flight. But flight wasn’t an option.
She forced each muscle to relax and flopped to the ground, coughing as she kicked up a cloud of fine dust. “Will someone please describe this place to me? I want to know if I’m going mad.”
Cayl’s thought came through loud and clear. That’s all we need—an insane Sehan.
Hope snorted. “Don’t worry, Cayl. I’m not losing my mind. I simply want to know whether this place looks as bad as it feels.”
“It’s awful,” he finally said.
“I agree.” Breanna’s voice startled Hope, forcing her to fight to school her expression. Unless spoken to directly, Breanna had remained mute throughout the journey. It was a huge surprise that she would volunteer information.
“There’s not an ounce of moisture in the place,” Breanna said. “It’s completely barren.” She paused to gather her thoughts. “This valley looks like it’s been fired at some stage. But there are no signs of the regeneration one would expect from a natural burning. No plants or foliage, no animals or insects… nothing living at all. We’re standing in the only relatively clear area. The rest is littered with boulders and rubble. By all reports this place has been here for generations, so the rocks should show some signs of weathering from the elements. But each piece of rock is jagged and sharp, like it’s been newly split by someone. Or something.”
Hope suppressed a shudder. “I get a sense of being surrounded by something menacing.”
“We are surrounded,” Taran told her. “By massive boulders. They loom over us like they’d be delighted to crush us. It’s a warped and twisted gods-forsaken place. Nothing looks natural.”
“I suppose this is where I come in, Sehan Dayamar,” Breanna said. “What do you want me to do?”
“We’re looking for a cave of a particular structure. With your permission, I’ll insert the picture directly into your mind.”
“Go ahead.”
The wait seemed interminable. And then Breanna said, “I’ll see what I can do.”
Hope listened carefully and heard the scuff of Breanna’s boots as she slowly paced the dry dusty ground. She halted, and a monotonous humming drifted to Hope’s ears. She had the sense of Breanna communing with the stone. This time, Hope kept a tight rein on her curiosity despite her desire to See what the woman was doing, and learn how she wielded her talent.
When Breanna finally spoke her voice was barely louder than a whisper. “It’s here, beneath us. The entrance is over there.”
For Hope’s benefit, Breanna described a small cleft partially obscured by a large boulder. “It leads to a large tunnel that’s perhaps wide enough for two people to stand side-by-side. The tunnel goes down for quite some distance before spiraling around itself and widening into a huge cavern, directly beneath our feet.” A hesitation and then, “It doesn’t seem possible it could be a natural formation at all.”
“Are you sure this is it, Breanna?” Daryon said.
“Have you known me to be wrong yet, Leader Daryon?”
“Er… No.”
“Do you think the Sehan might have constructed it all those centuries ago to hide those six people?” Naytan asked.
“This area is much more ancient than that, Healer,” Chryss told him. “Though the girl is correct: It’s not a natural formation. More than that I can’t tell you.”
“How did the Sehan get them down to the cavern?” the ever-curious healer wanted to know.
“Likely he dragged them down one-by-one,” Blayne said. “It would have taken him quite some time, I imagine. And afterward, he blocked the entrance to make it difficult for anyone to explore.”
“It’ll be a tight squeeze,” Daryon said. “But if we work out a way to push aside that boulder, we should all fit—”
“We must not disturb the entrance,” Dayamar interrupted.
“But—”
“We don’t want to alert it to our presence if we can avoid it.”
“Then how—?”
“Full of questions, aren’t you?” Chryss chuckled. “Remind me of myself when I was a youngling—ready to jump in the deep end without much thought for the consequences.”
“Uhhh!”
Hope guessed from Daryon’s grunt that Chryss had given him a hearty slap on the shoulder, which had most likely almost knocked the Usehani leader off his feet. “What next then?” Daryon asked.
“You’re not going to like this,” Dayamar told him, “but only three of us are going into this cave.”
“And those three would be?” Blayne’s tone was flat and emotionless but his aureya roiled.
“Myself, Hope, and Chryss.”
Before Blayne could respond, Daryon exploded into laughter. “Hope and Sehan Dayamar I could see squeezing through that gap. But him?” His snort indicated he was referring to Chryss’s massive form. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“We have our methods,” Dayamar said.
“If that was your plan all along, why drag the rest of us along?” Naytan asked, frustration and anger clipping his words. “I could have stayed behind to help Kaylia with the survivors.”
“You’re all important to the outcome of this confrontation, Healer,” Chryss rumbled. “And yours is a harder task than ours, I think.”
“What task might that be, big man?”
“To wait. You’re here because you’re important to Hope. She needs you all close by.”
Daryon snarled. “I don’t like this at all.”
“I don’t like it, either.” Blayne rounded on Dayamar, the full force of his strong-willed personality centered on the old Sehan. “What makes you think I’m letting Hope go with you?” This time he hooked both hands firmly around her middle and pulled her close to his chest.
“What makes you think you can stop me?” Hope countered softly, tilting her face upward. “This is what I was brought here to do. I have to do it. I have to try.”
“What happened to ‘just going to take a look’?” Cayl demanded. “When did it turn into a ‘confrontation’, eh? And how do you know so much about all this, big man?”
“That’s a conversation for another time,” Chryss told him. “We need to move fast. I have no desire to be down in that cave when darkness falls. It’s now or never, Dayamar.”
“Now,” Dayamar said. “Hope?”
“I’m sorry Blayne. I have to do this.” She turned in his arms and stood on tiptoe to press a kiss to the side of his mouth before pulling away.
He grabbed her hand, tugging her back to face him. “Promise me you’ll come back to me, Hope. Promise me.”
“I promise. I love you, you know.”
With one last squeeze he released her hand. “I know. And I love you, too.”
He could see the same fears he strove so hard to hide etched on her face. And he yearned to grab her hand again, to keep hold of her and never let her go. But he knew she couldn’t allow his fears—or her own—to sway her from the task ahead.
“Whatever happens, don’t try to come after us,” Dayamar told him. “You’ll soon know whether we’ve succeeded.” He turned his attention to Hope. “I’ll lead. Hope, you go next, and Chryss last.”
Blayne backed away, his gaze fixed on the trio now standing to one side of the large boulder disguising the cave entrance.
Dayamar gripped Hope’s hand. “I’ll lead you through the process this first time.” He stepped into the solid rock and it seemed to slowly absorb his body until he’d almost disappeared from view. Only the hand that still clutched Hope’s was visible, protruding from the stone like a severed limb.
Cayl shuddered. “Gods. That’s just… unnatural. I can feel my hair standing on end.”
Blayne watched the woman he loved slowly melt into the rock. And then Chryss dived in and disappeared from view.
Beside Blayne, Willem sucked in a sharp breath. “I can’t sense Hope through our link. It’s like it’s been pinched off.”
Blayne tore his gaze from the bleak uncompromising stone and strode away, fists clenched at his side, jaw working. He’d never felt so useless, so powerless.
~*~