The Bone Scroll: An Elemental Legacy Novel

by Hunter, Elizabeth

  Hirut knew what Saba had done to Benjamin. She knew about Johari and the Night’s Reckoning. But like Lucien in California, Hirut was a servant of her sire. She would not cross Saba.

  “I heard you have a new sister,” Tenzin said. “From Zanzibar.”

  Ben turned to face them but didn’t say a word.

  “My mother has cured many,” Hirut said. “I admit it has created… a complex family situation.”

  Because there were vampires who had taken Saba’s cure, and then there were Saba’s true children who had taken her own blood and shared her amnis. The cure was made from Saba’s blood, but it didn’t carry Saba’s amnis the way that a naturally sired child would. In effect, Saba had two families now, an army of vampires loyal from her cure, and her true children.

  Immortals sired directly from Saba’s blood would have greater status and fulfill greater roles in her clan. Vampires like Johari, on the other hand, were more disposable. It was a recipe for rivalry and conflict.

  “Your sister from Zanzibar…” Tenzin never let her gaze waver from Hirut’s. “I understand she was injured when she was in Asia.”

  “She suffered to send a message to my mother,” Hirut said. “That message was received.”

  “There are many kinds of thieves,” Tenzin said. “And many kinds of treasure.”

  “I cannot disagree with you, daughter of Zhang. But know that my mother values all kinds of treasure, and gold is… not high on the list.”

  “Tenzin, why don’t we finish giving these items to Hirut?” He pasted on a smile, but it was fake. Hirut probably couldn’t tell. “We still have a lot to take care of tonight, and I’m sure she’s busy too.” He passed her the black duffel bag. “All the items are packed as carefully as we could manage. The manuscripts, in particular, should not stay in the paper sleeves for too long. I’m sure you have librarians or archivists who specialize in all that.”

  “We do.” Hirut took the bag and held the gold crown in her other hand. “My thanks on behalf of the people of Ethiopia. You have done us a service tonight. These items will find their rightful place, I assure you.”

  Tenzin bowed more deeply. “We were happy to perform a service for our host. I pray it will not be forgotten.”

  “I promise you it won’t.”

  They were packing the last of their backpacks when Mika tapped on their doors. “Ben? There’s a Dr. Liya Tegegne here to see you?”

  Tenzin saw Ben fist pump. He actually pumped his fist up and down several times.

  “Yes!”

  “Mika only said she was here,” Tenzin said. “Not that she was here to help. Don’t count your ducks in a row.”

  Ben frowned. “What?”

  “Don’t count your ducks in a row.” She waved a hand. “You know, do not count on things that have not happened yet.”

  “Chickens before they hatch.” Ben smiled. “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

  “Oh, that makes much more sense.” Tenzin set down her backpack. “I told Sadia she was mistaken, but she told me she was very sure it was ducks.”

  Ben put a hand on the small of her back and nudged her toward the door. “Okay, let’s go see what Liya has to say.”

  “I admit,” she said, “if she can help us, I will be relieved. The search area is massive.”

  “I know.”

  Liya was sitting under the mango tree, sharing a glass of wine with Mika. When she saw Ben and Tenzin, the archaeologist broke into a huge smile. “Why weren’t we meeting at your compound all along? This place is beautiful!”

  “Thanks.” Ben looked at Tenzin. “We’re actually heading to Lalibela tonight, so we were curious—?”

  “Tonight?” Liya shook her head. “Rich people. You must have a private plane or something.”

  “Something like that,” Tenzin said. “Have you thought any more about my offer?”

  “I have, and I checked out the library you mentioned. It wasn’t easy to find outside sources, but I talked to the librarian in Puglia, along with a couple of friends of mine at UCLA, and it sounds like it’s all legitimate.” She reached into her bag and took out a manila folder. “Even with all the special circumstances, I still feel strange handing these over to you.” She pressed the envelope to her chest. “You have to promise me that you’ll be careful.”

  “We will use as light a touch as you have ever seen,” Ben said. “The team we have with us is second to none. I promise.”

  She still looked doubtful, but she handed the folder over. “I’ve listed nine sites on there, but I believe the top four are the most likely locations based on the criteria you described to me. They’re all former treasuries from the Aksumite dynasty. Two of them are active church or monastery sites, so please respect the wishes of the priests in those places. If they tell you you cannot dig, you must promise to listen to them. They have their reasons.”

  Ben flipped through the folder, and Tenzin said, “We understand.”

  She understood, but she promised nothing.

  “Okay.” Liya took a deep breath. “Okay, I’m trusting you.” She nodded at Tenzin. “And I’m expecting you to follow through too; I really need that funding for the Nile dig.”

  “And you will have it.” Tenzin held out her hand. “I’m looking forward to working with you, Doctor.”

  21

  Ben and Tenzin flew out of Addis near midnight, when the traffic in the streets had finally died down, working people had returned to their beds for the night, and the only activity was the street dogs trotting down the avenues and the clubs in the Bole district still pumping music into the air.

  As they rose over the city, Ben surveyed the fascinating place. It was a place of diplomacy, commerce, and all the strange ways in which they overlapped. It was a place of religious devotion where churches and mosques were often only divided by a road or an alleyway. It was a young city but a growing one, bristling with concrete towers that rose higher every year.

  Tenzin glanced down. “I will not miss that city.”

  “You don’t miss any city, Tiny.”

  She tucked herself under his arm in a position she often took when they flew together. “I know. I am craving quiet.”

  They headed north to Lalibela, a small town in the mountains of the Amhara region with a population of less than twenty thousand people. Lalibela had been a previous capital of the empire during the Zagwe dynasty, which had followed the Aksumites, and it was known as a place of pilgrimage because of the eleven monolithic churches carved from rock.

  Ben had only seen pictures of the place, but he knew the churches were spectacular. Also spectacular? Its location as a launching area for their explorations in the north. Lalibela was within three hundred miles of most of the sites they planned to explore, and all the major ones, which meant they could get there easily within a night. They’d have to camp out to give themselves time to search, but according to Daniel, there were plentiful caves and natural light safes in the region.

  They flew directly north, following the path of a river they could see from the sky, climbing higher and higher as they followed the valley. They flew over sleeping villages and small towns where only a few lights were burning. The air lost the scent of car exhaust, trash, and humanity. Clear, crisp breezes twisted around them, welcoming them to clear, cold skies.

  They took shelter for an hour in a cave high on a forested peak when a sudden storm swept through the valley. Ben spread a camping roll along the stone floor and a blanket from his backpack. Waiting at the mouth of the cave, Tenzin stared into the curtain of rain.

  “There is a wildness here that reminds me of Tibet.”

  Ben patted the seat next to him, and Tenzin joined him on the cushioned floor.

  “Tibet?”

  “Even though people have lived in those mountains for thousands of years, the hills have not changed. The people change themselves to the environment, not the other way round.”

  “That’s a beautiful thought.” He rested hi
s chin on the top of her head. “Tell me about Tibet.”

  “There is a valley, narrower than this one, and the mountains are very steep. There are wild sheep on the ridges, and people climb very narrow paths to hang flags along the top so they will flap in the wind. They believe that every time the wind moves the mantras written on them, a prayer is offered up.”

  “The rainbow flags you see in pictures?”

  “Yes.” She smiled a little. “They are very colorful. And there is a cave high on the cliff there where the local people give me offerings.”

  “A cave with offerings?”

  “More like a shrine, I suppose.”

  Ben blinked. “They think you’re a god?”

  She shrugged. “Or some kind of holy person. I was there for hundreds of years and I didn’t age, so I imagine it makes sense to them.”

  Ben murmured. “They literally treat you as a goddess.”

  “Yes.”

  “This explains so much.” He squeezed her shoulder. “So much.”

  “And in the valley below the cliffs there is a river. It’s very cold, and on the banks there are birch groves. I love to fly over them. The leaves are beautiful when the wind moves.”

  Ben frowned. “I think I remember something like that. Maybe you’ve told me that before.”

  “Perhaps.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “I can rest there, my Benjamin.”

  “Good. I want to see the place that gives you so much peace.”

  “You will.”

  They watched the rain pour over the eucalyptus trees outside the mouth of the cave, and the fresh, astringent scent filled the air around them.

  “I love that smell,” Ben said. “It reminds me of flying along the coast in California.”

  Tenzin turned to him and captured his mouth with hers. “I want to show you everything.” She kissed along his jaw. “When I see things with you, it’s like they are new again.”

  Ben slid his arm around the small of her back and lowered her onto the blanket. He slowly kissed from her forehead, down her temple, and along the rise of her cheekbone. He nudged her chin up and peppered her neck with soft kisses, resisting the compulsion to sink his teeth into her neck.

  His fangs ached in his jaw, but he focused his entire energy on Tenzin. He listened to her breath and the gentle cues when she experienced pleasure. She was a quiet lover, and he’d had to become an expert in reading the subtle signs she gave him. It was another language he hadn’t spoken before he loved her.

  The sudden exhale when he kissed the side of her breast. The shiver in her thigh when he scraped his teeth along the inside of her knee. The way her body twisted under him when she approached climax and the satisfied sigh when he entered her.

  Her skin was damp from the mist and his kisses. Ben lay over her, their bodies locked together, and he pressed his cheek to hers.

  “I love you,” he murmured. The enormity of his emotion nearly overwhelmed him. What he felt for her was so much bigger than anything he’d felt before. He could feel his amnis kissing her body, whispering in her blood. His body felt like it could explode, not with pleasure but with the pain of feeling so damn much.

  “I love you,” he said again. He braced his arms up and rocked their bodies slowly in the darkness. “I want you to be my mate.”

  The grey of her eyes seemed to darken and change. “Ben—”

  “Just think about it.” It was the only thing that seemed to capture the enormity of his feelings. He needed some tie to her, something permanent. He wanted to claim her in a fundamental way. “I love you.”

  He lowered his mouth to hers and stole her breath before she could speak again. Then he reached down and hitched her knee up, going deeper as they made love.

  There it was, the language her body used to speak to him. The way her eyes grew darker and her skin prickled beneath his fingers. The subtle vibration of her blood and the fangs she bared when pleasure overtook her.

  Tenzin came with a small cry and an arched back. He held her in her pleasure, watching her face as she lost control. For a few seconds, she let go and it was glorious.

  Then her eyes became fierce and she locked her legs around his hips, driving him deeper as she wrung the climax from his body.

  Ben groaned his release, bracing himself over her so that he didn’t collapse, but Tenzin pulled him down until his chest was nearly crushing her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him.

  “Stay,” she said. “You’re not going to break me.”

  No, but she might break him. Ben buried his face in her neck and inhaled her scent. He ached for her blood. He wanted it so much his mouth opened without thought and his fangs scraped along her skin.

  “No.” She pinched his neck. “Not tonight.”

  He quickly closed his mouth. “Sorry.”

  “I understand,” she said. “I want it too. But there are things… We should talk about what it means.”

  “I know what it means.” Ben rolled off her and felt the cold stone of the cave against his back. “I was raised by a mated vampire pair, Tenzin. I know what it means.”

  “You know, but you cannot know truly until you have experienced it, Benjamin.”

  A bitter taste came to his mouth, and he spoke without thinking. “Like you and Stephen?”

  Tenzin said nothing, but she slowly stood and walked to the back of the cave where her backpack was tucked in a corner.

  Shit. He was an ass. “Tenzin—”

  “I don’t want to talk about Stephen.” She rubbed a small towel over her body and cleaned up before she clothed herself in a tunic and leggings again. “The rain has let up. We should go so we’re not caught before dawn.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  Her eyes were blank. “Don’t be sorry. We have to talk about it. I just don’t want to talk tonight.”

  She made mating sound like some kind of chore or task, not the romantic bond he’d always imagined it to be.

  Ben caught her hand as she walked past. “Remember, I’m still a little impulsive and I say shit I don’t mean to because of it. But I love you.”

  She cupped his cheek in her hand and rubbed her thumb across his lips. “Baina min khar.”

  “Are you ever going to tell me what that means?”

  She shrugged. “It doesn’t really translate into English.”

  They left the river valley and flew northeast, cutting across wider valleys and high plains. They were nearing Lalibela, crossing a plain between two rivers when Tenzin stopped.

  Ben turned and flew back. “What is it?”

  She frowned. “There’s something strange.”

  He turned and sent his senses out. “I don’t feel anything.”

  “Wait for a minute.” Her gaze was fixed on the dark horizon. “They are coming.”

  He saw it seconds after, a dark whirlwind in the distance, sweeping across the plain and twisting high in the clouds.

  “Ziri.” Tenzin narrowed her eyes. “He likes to make a show.”

  “Tenzin, there’re more.” He rose in the sky and watched through the clouds. The stars were obscured over a far greater area than just a single whirlwind. It was as if a cloud was gathering as a wall across the high plain. “Holy shit.”

  Tenzin flew higher, joining him in the clouds. She made a face. “It’s Inaya. Ziri’s little girlfriend also likes to make an entrance.”

  “Where are they going?” He asked. “And who do you think—”

  “Saba would have asked Ziri to travel with her to be faster,” Tenzin said. “Remember, she’s an earth vampire. She’s just as slow as Giovanni and Beatrice without flight.”

  “And why would Inaya—? Oh. Arosh.”

  “Yes, he’ll need an escort too, though I’m surprised he didn’t simply recruit one of his children since all of them are sired to wind.” Tenzin watched the wall of wind and dust move across the valley. “Saba must have called in a favor, because Inaya is no one’s errand girl. They must be paying her wel
l or promising something in return for her cooperation.”

  “They’re headed north too.” Ben saw them sweep across from the west and head in the same direction Ben and Tenzin were going; only they were heading there much faster. “Do you think Hirut told them who we were talking to in Addis?”

  “I have no way of knowing,” Tenzin said. “It’s possible Liya could have talked to Hirut and she would have no idea. Hirut could have wiped her memory. She could have sent someone to spy at the university.” Tenzin looked at him. “I told you, this is her territory. Every vampire holds allegiance to Saba.”

  Ben’s heart began to sink. After their success in Addis, after breaking into the embassy, finding Desta’s crown, and narrowing the search area in the north, Ben had actually felt like this long-shot quest wasn’t quite as improbable as he’d thought.

  Tenzin’s words poked a hole in his hope balloon.

  “Come on,” Tenzin said. “Let’s keep going. Seeing them like this? When you think about it, it’s good news.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yes.” She smiled at him. “That means my father was wrong, at least in part. Arosh doesn’t have the bone scroll. He and Saba are looking for it too.”

  22

  The compound in Lalibela was situated on the top of a hill that overlooked the old town and the steep valleys below. Everything in Lalibela seemed to be built on an angle. The roads wound around steep slopes, and fresh vegetation, newly sprung from the season’s rain, clung to the mountains like the stubborn goats that grazed on it.

  Human residents walked up and down the narrow roads, dodging bright blue tuk-tuks that beeped as they ferried residents through the mountainous village and over bumpy cobblestones.

  But the sky was brilliantly clear and the stars shone brightly when Ben and Tenzin finally landed on the dark road that led to the compound. Ben raised his fist and pounded on the metal door, which opened with a great, rasping groan.

  Dema was waiting for them. “You could have just flown in.”

  “And risk your machete for surprising you?” Ben shook his head as Tenzin ducked under his arm and into the compound. “No, thank you. Is there water?”