Deciding that they were going to be all right now, Kayla withdrew her hands and forced herself to relax before responding to Reed’s comment.
“Whatever are you talking about? Garth didn’t bring me to this world. I came on my own,” she told them impatiently. “He had nothing to do with it.”
“Oh, but you must be the one he’s been seeking. You’re Kyle McAddam’s child,” insisted Lori. “We overheard Garth and Caleis speaking. He’s been searching for you for many years now. He said that it was very likely that you had inherited your father’s powers. That you were the one that would open the Gateways for them!”
“That’s right,” agreed Reed. “Garth said that it was the least your father owed him.” He looked at Kayla curiously. “Whatever did he do to make Garth hate him so much?”
“I don’t know,” Kayla answered quietly, “but I certainly mean to find out.” She started to rise, determined to find an answer to this riddle.
“No! Wait, you must not let him suspect that you have discovered their plot. If Caleis knew, we would all be in great danger!”
Exasperated, but knowing that they were right, Kayla wondered, “What can they be up to, and why do they need me? Garth told me that he and my father had been life-long friends that they grew up together.”
Lori shrugged. “All we really know is that they have been seeking a way to carry Caleis’ tyranny beyond the boundaries of Docrain to the other worlds.”
“And Caleis has recently started increasing the size of his army. He’s given orders for them to be even more vicious and brutal than before. You must be aware that Caleis feeds on the misery and desperation of the population he controls, and the more he feeds, the more powerful he becomes,” said Reed.
“But,” added Lori, “even if he were to drain this whole world of its life force, he would be unable to gain enough power to open a Gateway of a size necessary to allow a creature of his type to pass and certainly not large enough for his armies to follow.”
“That would take a truly powerful sorceress. One of your reputed caliber to do so,” Reed told her flatly. “Garth believes that you are the one that is going to aid them in their campaign to destroy these other worlds. Is he right?”
“I would never aid a creature such as Caleis in anything,” Kayla said with a determined shake of her head. “I just can’t believe that Garth would deceive me like this, and I intend to find out what is going on here, but don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.” She got to her feet, but, like someone just waking from a deep sleep, she put a hand to her bare chest. “Oops, my clothes! They must still be in the pool somewhere,” she looked toward the water in confusion.
Shaking her head impatiently, she said, “Well, let’s try something.” Holding her hand out, Kayla blinked her eyes, and two small pieces of blue silk appeared draped across her open palm.
“It worked!” she laughed. “I saw that trick on some old TV show at home once.” Grinning broadly, she slipped into the wet under things.
The twins looked at each other questioningly and shrugged their shoulders at her capricious behavior.
“I think I’d better get back to Garth now, before he begins to think that I’m lost or something.” Tossing her head, Kayla ran her fingers through her nearly dry hair, trying to arrange the silver locks into some semblance of order as she followed the Lorilli along the narrow, overgrown path.
As they neared the end of the path, they could see Caleis reclining in his cushions, stuffing food from a tray held by one of the scaly attendants into his mouth between words as he and the High Warlock argued.
“I’m telling you, Caleis, you must control your impatience! If your intent is discovered too soon, we will never gain control of the key we need to open your Gateways! There are too few like this even born, never mind one of such enormous, untapped power!”
Garth’s voice was low and hard with suppressed anger.
“I will do as I please!” boomed Caleis disdainfully. “The people relish the entertainment, and you know what their religious fervor does for me, dear boy!” he chuckled, greedily licking grease from his fat fingers.
The entrance of a servant with another tray of food made them both look in the direction of the path and see Kayla and the Lorilli poised on the garden path.
Garth immediately broke off their conversation and went to greet them.
“I see that the twins have decided to share their little secret with you,” he laughed as he gathered Kayla into his arms for a quick hug.
The naked Lorilli took up cushions at the Emperor’s feet, stretching and making themselves comfortable in the manner of a pair of well-fed kittens.
“Well, my dear,” slurped Caleis between bites, “did you enjoy your swim?”
“Yes, I did. Reed and Lori are very interesting and entertaining. We had a lot of fun together,” she answered politely, but it took great effort to control the nausea his nearness was causing.
Without warning, she found his hand on her bare hip. She could feel the thick grease coating his sausage-like fingers smear across the surface of her brand and felt the heat of anger and outrage rise unbidden and unchecked through her body.
Nearly leaping from his seat in surprise, Caleis snatched his hand back.
“Awh-h-hh! She attacked me! GUARDS! GUARDS!”
The nearby pair of soldiers leaped to defend their liege, brandishing swords with the obvious intent of slaying the person so bold as to have offended him until they came face to face with the Lord High Warlock and the blazing blade of the sword gripped in his hands.
The guards slid to a stop, their eyes shifting from the fierce scowl of the warlord’s face and back again to the red, smoking glare of their Emperor’s eyes, waiting to see which would prevail in this test of wills.
“Damned your eyes, Caleis! I warned you not to try any of your games with her! She is bound to me and that is to be the end of it!”
Flames filled the air between the two, but neither seemed likely to back down until, unexpectedly, the Emperor threw back his huge, red-crested head and roared with laughter.
“Waa-haaha! Soooo, finally it has happened. The mighty Lord High Warlock has fallen under the seductive spell of this little bit of a witch! Waa-haaha! It is good that you are at last consumed by more than a passing passion,” laughed Caleis.
Kayla watched speechlessly as the monstrosity threw himself back into his couch, his recent pain and insult obviously forgotten. And as Caleis moved, the thin fabric of his tunic shifted over his great hulking body making it gape exposing the rolls of wattled skin hanging from his neck and a long, thin necklace of silver beads that glittered in the light.
And Kayla’s stomach heaved as she recognized the gleaming orbs for what they were. The coveted eyes of the Silver Eagles!
“I have other business to attend to M’lord! We will take your leave now!” Garth declared brusquely.
Bowing stiffly, he gripped Kayla’s elbow firmly and turned to leave.
“Yes, yes, be gone,” Caleis waved them away imperiously.
Immediately forgetting their presence and his recent rage, Caleis drew the naked Lorilli into his lap and began to stroke them.
Fighting the sickness lodged at the back of her throat, Kayla grabbed her dress and sandals from the bench as Garth jerked on her arm and dragged her from the garden.
Each lost deep in thoughts of their own, the return trip to Garth’s apartments was made in silence.
MySoultoKeep
Chapter Nine
Having discarded her soggy clothes in favor of the silk robe, Kayla emerged from the bedroom to find that Garth had not changed but only added a leather vest heavily decorated with silver studs and braided laces.
“Are we going out?” she asked in surprise. “It’ll only take me a few minutes to change…” she started to untie the robe.
Garth finished tightening the buckle on his scabbard with one hand and reached for her with the other one. “No, little one, not this time. I have
business to take care of. Troops to see to,” he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the mouth, pressing her slender body against his.
“Ouch!” she shoved with both hands against his chest to put a few inches between her tender skin and the sharp studs of his vest.
“Sorry, babe,” he chuckled. Slapping her bottom, he started for the door.
“Helene will see that you get some dinner and anything else you might like. Don’t wait up for me. I expect to be late.”
Pouting, Kayla wandered about the large main room for awhile after he left, picking up items and returning them, creating as much noise as she could without actually breaking anything.
Becoming bored, she finally returned to the master suite, where, with a great sigh, she threw herself into a couch covered with piles of colorful pillows and proceeded to toss the cushions, one at a time, at the head of a large, stone lion guarding one side of the hearth until Helene skulked into the room.
“Is M’lady ready for dinner to be served?”
“Oh, yeah, I guess so,” Kayla answered sulkily.
Looking up into Helene’s worn, unpleasant face, she put a hand on the woman’s arm and stopped her. “Helene, why do you dislike me so much? You don’t even know me. Have I offended you in some way?”
Hanging her head to conceal her eyes, Helene said, “I-I’m sorry, M’lady, I know th-that I shouldn’t be angry with you. You had no way of knowing, I do know that, but still…”
Raising watery brown eyes to stare into Kayla’s beautiful young face, she continued, “It is truly difficult to look upon the beauty of one’s successor without feeling the pain of jealousy!”
Tears leaked from the old woman’s eyes into the deep crevices of her wrinkled skin.
Feelings of pity filled Kayla as she realized that the poor woman was mentally unbalanced. She put her hands to the woman’s shoulders and shook her gently. “I’m sorry but surely you dream. Why, you must be old enough to be Garth’s grandmother. How could you possibly see yourself as his lover?”
“Old? Yes, I am old and used up now,” said Helene softly. Holding her face with both hands, she turned to stare into the mirror of the small dressing table. “It was not so long ago that it was I who sat here combing tresses of midnight and admiring my own fair reflection!” She swung around to face Kayla again and pointed with the silver-handled brush. “And you can see how beautiful I am now. At the ripe old age of twenty-four!”
“Twenty-four? That can’t be!” She jerked at the woman’s shoulder to make her face her again and demanded, “Tell me! How could this happen?”
The old woman’s desperate, sad eyes met Kayla’s for a moment, then throwing back her head, she cackled insanely, “Because to be loved by the Warlock is to be sucked dry of every ounce of life! Each time he touches you, more of your youth, your heart, your very will to live belongs to him!”
Confused and upset by the accusations, Kayla prowled restlessly about the room for a few minutes before facing Helene again.
“No, I don’t believe you. Now get out of here. Leave me. Now!” she raged.
Retreating as far as the door, Helene threw back one last dagger of information.
“You think your mighty lover does palace business tonight don’t you? Well, it’s not true! What he does do is feed on different meat this night!”
Seeing the look of jealousy serge across Kayla’s face, she laughed, “No, not another woman. Few are able to provide more than a passing thrill for the likes of him!” She cackled again. “Tonight he and his mighty Emperor dine on their favorite. For nothing will satisfy their appetites more than the sacrifice of those poor psychic children they’ve captured. They will broadcast their fear and pain oh so well, and die so very slowly under the bear’s teeth and claws! The only thing that will bring them more pleasure is the wave of terror and corruption emitted by the pathetic souls who come to witness it!”
Satisfied with the look of horror and pain on Kayla’s face, Helene disappeared through the curtained doorway.
The room having grown too small to contain her agitated pacing now, Kayla threw open the patio doors and moved out into the moonlit night.
“No! I will not believe it!” she told herself aloud. Trying to calm herself, she leaned over the balcony railing, letting the scent of the ocean and the sound of the waves against the rocks below soothe her raw nerves and ease the tenseness, trying to clear her mind so that she could at least try to arrange her jumbled thoughts.
How could I believe such horrible things about the man I love? Yet, Kayla reasoned with herself, she had known him for such a short time and there were so many things that just didn’t make sense!
“I must find the truth! I have got to see for myself!” she said out loud, as she pushed away from the rail.
“Yes, you must,” came a voice out of the dark behind her.
Kayla spun about, landing in a defensive crouch as she tried to adjust her eyesight and penetrate the deeper black of the balcony’s recesses.
“Please do not be alarmed, Lady. It’s only me, Troll.” He moved out of the shadows and into the light.
“Troll, what are you doing here? You nearly scared me out of my skin!” Kayla gasped at him in relief.
“I’m sorry to have startled you, but I didn’t want to be seen by the servants. They can not be trusted,” he told her. “I’ve been waiting out here until it was safe.”
“Did you hear what that old woman said about Garth? It can’t be true! Can it?”
When Troll didn’t immediately answer, Kayla grabbed the front of his jerkin with both hands. “It’s not, is it?” she asked softly but in her heart, she already knew the answer.
Troll stared into the soft eyes glinting in the moonlight with unshed tears and took her shaking hands in his. “Please, Lady, you must get control of yourself and be strong. You can not let him destroy you like he has so many others.” He led Kayla to the stone bench and drew her down to sit beside him.
“I stayed behind at Haven Farm to see what information I could garner from those who guard it and check out the validity of certain rumors I’ve been hearing.” He put a hand under her chin and made her look up at him.
“Unfortunately, I have learned that those witch children are not being safeguarded for the sake of charity. They’re being collected and preserved so that they might be properly trained to serve the Emperor’s needs.”
“You mean those sweet children an-and baby Starr. Sh-she’s to be u-used like the Lorilli children?” Kayla exploded. “No! He cannot be allowed to do that!” She sprang to her feet and would have run for the door, but Troll stopped her with a strong hand on her arm.
“Wait! Yes, you’re right, he must be stopped, but you’re not powerful enough to do the job alone, not yet anyway.”
Kayla slumped back onto the bench. “You’re right of course,” she said and was quiet for a moment as she searched her mind for alternatives. “If only I had more experience. I wish I could talk to Gram,” she wailed. “She’d know how to deal with this!”
“That’s it!” Excitedly, she threw her arms around Troll’s neck. “I’ll just go to this Vega 4 where my grandmother is, an-and I’ll take Starr back with me!”
When Troll didn’t respond with the expected enthusiasm to her solution, she leaned back to study his face.
“What’s wrong?”
He looked sternly at her and asked, “Can you find your way to Vega 4, Kayla? I know how much power you have, but can you use it?”
“I-I’m not sure. I think I can…” her voice trailed off as she searched within herself for answers. “Hawk! I need Shadow Hawk!”
“He’s already waiting for us with the babe, on the beach below the city. Come, let’s get out of here while the rabble are occupied with their little games,” he sneered.
Moving cautiously into the dimly lit bedroom, Troll checked the doors and hallway while Kayla searched the dressing room for her clothing.
Locating the freshly laundered an
d mended clothes stacked neatly on a shelf, she quickly pulled them on and stomped her feet into the lizard-skin boots. Troll returned as she was buckling her belt with the sheathed crystal knife fastened on one side. She had also slipped on the leather harness that held the crystal sword Garth had given her. The unfamiliar sword felt odd strapped to her back, but it was not totally uncomfortable. She’d considered carrying it wrapped in her pack but she had a feeling she was going to need both of her hands free tonight, and she did not want to leave it behind.
“Good,” he said, inspecting her outfit. “Put this on so all that light-colored hair doesn’t glow like a beacon in the night.” He tossed a large felt hat at her. Drawing his cloak close to cover his deformed body, Troll signaled her to follow him.
Troll seemed to know the palace passageways well, and Kayla soon found herself outside its stonewalls in a dark alleyway.
“This isn’t the way Garth brought me,” she said in a whisper that seemed to echo endlessly from the grey walls surrounding them.
Silencing her with a hand over her mouth, Troll hissed in her ear, “Don’t even think his name that he might hear you!”
“Sorry,” she apologized when he released her. “I’ll try to remember.”
“Come on, we leave by a side gate. I have friends here. They have to be careful, but they’ll get us out safely.”
They had just made another turn in the seemingly endless maze of alleyways when Kayla caught a quick glimpse of a dark form scuttling from the cover of a pile of debris. She put her hand to the hilt of the sword, but before she could draw it, Troll had pushed her aside and behind him. She heard the distinctive snick of his metal blade leaving its scabbard grate on the stillness of the night air.
The shadow shifted and a high, scratchy voice hissed, “Hold your hand! It’s me, Hacknose!”
“Is the way clear ahead?” Troll rumbled softly as he pushed past the shadowy figure to peer around the corner of the next building.
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