Fury left Red Claw numb. Then burning with a desire to kill. To maim. Destroy. He gingerly tested his ability to change, but Mato’s presence was still absent.
Chanting softly, Red Claw constructed a simple spell. One of earth, air, and natural magick. He wound the spiritual sinews of Earth and Tir na n-Og tightly together, forming an invisible braid…searching…
There! A deep, blood-red thread twisted around his own copper light. Pulsating like a blackened beating heart.
The sorcerer had amazing strength. But it was contained in his ability to manipulate his own danu awen. Garethan could not call upon natural forces, as his spirit was dead to this land.
“Wakan Tanka hear me,” Red Claw said through clenched teeth. “Do not allow this creature to desecrate your land. Help me find a way.”
Garethan dropped his hand. “Your gods will not help you, Terran.” He strode forward, his body half in, half out of the doorway. Red Claw hissed as a wave of loathing knifed through him. Garethan smiled. “The gods have not been interested in the matters of men or elfkind for eons.”
“The Phoenix has an interest,” he reminded him.
The sorcerer scoffed. “Anelees? She is not a Goddess. Merely an eternal creature. Bound by laws and nature.” His eyes seethed like bottomless pools of stagnant water. “As are her brethren.”
Brethren…
A current passed through Red Claw and Eristta’s face swam into his mind’s eye.
Garethan paused, his expression curious. “When you think of her, shaman, there is a peculiar spark that ripples through the daerie currents. Something beyond your emotional connection.”
“It is nothing,” Red Claw stated, his face impassive.
Garethan turned his back to Earth’s golden light. “I think not.”
Red Claw braced himself, his magick still twisting around the crimson cord that bound him to the doorway, looking for a weak point. Sweat beaded on the back of his neck, but he kept his intent focused, his body calm. Within five strides Garethan stood in front of him, head cocked. “I do believe there is something else at work. I have sensed it these past hours, but thought it merely an undulation from the decaying magicks. But I was wrong.” Garethan’s eyes narrowed. “It is coming from you.”
“And me.”
Garethan spun and Red Claw’s body jerked in shock.
Eristta!
She stood within the circle of light—on Earth.
Eristta! Leave now! Red Claw growled in mind-speech.
Acting as if she hadn’t heard, his beloved strode forward, her slender form flowing like quicksilver.
Red Claw stared at the claw hanging from her neck and understood. Her portal. She’d opened her doorway then stepped through! But how had she located his doorway?
Eristta stopped only an arms length from the sorcerer. She smiled wickedly. “You wish to visit the terran world?” Removing the claw from around her neck, Eristta held it out. “Enjoy your time exploring a world devoid of magick. A world where you would simply be another eternal creature bound by laws and nature.”
Garethan snarled. “Lies.”
She shook the pendent. “As my bond-sister would say: try me.”
With one hand, Garethan reached for the pendant.
Now!
Mato’s shout roared in his mind and his presence exploded within Red Claw’s chest. With teeth and claws, the shaman drove his energy into the crimson cord, ripping viciously. He felt Eristta’s silver light blend with his, giving aid—strength.
Together they worked at its tight woven threads, fraying them, unraveling them from around Red Claw’s golden bronze. Foulness erupted in his mind and spirit.
Do not stop! Mato rumbled.
We will not, came Eristta’s quick reply, and with renewed force; they found the final tainted strand and severed it.
A rushing sound hit their ears a fraction before a concussion of light exploded outward, launching Eristta and Red Claw through the air—then into blackness.
Chapter Eleven
“Hmmm…”
Selena nestled tighter against Serosen’s bare chest, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth for the first time in days. She moaned as a warm hand cupped her breast beneath the keffa silk throw. “We don’t have time to do this again, do we?” she asked. Her fingers teased at the silky hair at the nape of her lover’s neck, her eyes caressing the powerful lines of his neck and chest.
“Unfortunately, no.” Serosen sighed, his fingers circling his wife’s burgundy areola. “Our rest is at an end. Now we march.”
Arching her back, Selena pressed her full breast further into Serosen’s hand. “Damn it. Why haven’t we heard from Red Claw or Eristta?”
Serosen growled, and throwing back the blanket, loomed over his wife. “Woman, how can you ask serious questions and seduce me with your luscious curves at the same time?”
With a seductive grin, Selena rose up on her elbows and kissed the corded muscles of his neck. “Because no matter what dire circumstances need my attention, my body and spirit need you more.”
Crushing to her to his chest, Serosen captured her lips, drinking in her sweet essence. He still did not sense the Phoenix’s presence. She’d been curiously absent for the past few days. Releasing her lips reluctantly, Serosen leaned back, his thoughts burdened with what lie ahead. “I think it is time we do a little exploring, wife.”
Selena raised a finely arched brow. “Oh? You would allow me to accompany you?”
Serosen tweaked his wife’s bared nipple, earning a gentle slap as he grinned. “In this. Yes. I think we need to—”
A palpable concussion rocked the daerie currents, causing both Selena and Serosen to gasp. Selena scrambled to her feet, a hand pressed against her abdomen. “Ser! What was…”
Serosen gripped his wife’s elbow, concern etching deep lines into his aquiline face. “Breathe, wife.” He closed his eyes and reached with his danu awen, testing the currents, searching for the source of the disturbance. “A doorway has been breeched, and closed unceremoniously.”
Their worried gazes locked. “Red Claw?” Selena whispered.
A nod, and Serosen released Selena and dressed quickly.
“Can you tell which portal was activated?” Selena asked as she pulled on her own clothes with haste.
Serosen paused before answering. “It wasn’t one of the sacred portals. I believe it is one of his own making.”
Selena gripped his arm, her expression fierce. “I knew it. While the Phoenix speaks of him with respect, she keeps her thoughts on Red Claw partially hidden from me. I suspected he had skills beyond what we have seen.”
“Yes,” was Serosen’s only reply. He’d always known Red Claw possessed an ability to bridge worlds. He also knew he had halted his travel between Tir na n-Og and Earth since Garethan’s rise. Why would the shaman decide to open one now? And what had caused the abrupt collapse?
Stepping back, Serosen strapped on his sword and bow then pulled Selena in for a rough kiss. “We march.”
* * * * *
Eristta knew something hard and cold lay beneath her. No wait. That was her arm. And leg.
With a groan, she forced her eyes open. Pain shot through her entire body. Everything looked fuzzy, and after a few blinks, Eristta realized it wasn’t her eyes. The air was filled with dust and grit.
Coughing, she struggled to sit up. Warmth trickled down her thigh, and Eristta watched as a sluggish river of her own blood dripped from a gash on her leg onto the gray soil beneath her.
The doorway.
Garethan.
Red Claw!
Forcing her limbs into motion, Eristta moved into a crouch. She reached for her kriss, but it wasn’t there. Unable to see more than a few feet in front of her, Eristta searched with her danu awen. “Red Claw!” she called, uncaring who might hear her.
She had to find him. He had to be all—
Wastelakapi.
Eristta cried out and moved toward the faint signature
only feet away. “Red Claw!” She fell to her knees. The shaman lay on the ground, struggling to rise. “Do not move.” Eristta placed her hand behind his head. “Where are you hurt? I know few healing spells, but there are some I—”
A warm hand covered her mouth before another pulled her down to his chest. Their eyes met, deep brown to violet, and Eristta felt a sob build in her throat. She swallowed it, ashamed of her weakness, her fear for the man she could not imagine living without.
Do not be afraid, wastelakapi. A sad smile. I yet live.
Eristta collapsed onto his chest, her face buried against his. Shaman, I should punish you severely.
She felt his inner chuckle, then his attempt at masking a flare of pain. Eristta drew back to study him. Where are you injured?
Keeping Eristta tight to his chest, Red Claw ignored her question and sat up. We cannot risk staying here. The collapsing doorway likely had the same effect on the sorcerer, but he will not stay down long. He palmed Eristta’s chin. He must not take possession of the pendants. Your words, about the magick on Earth, it is not—
“True,” Eristta finished aloud, her fingers pressed against his lips. She raised one brow and smiled. “I know, shaman. But I had to say something to distract him.”
“There is much you have to explain, wastelakapi,” Red Claw said softly. “Later. Once we have met up with Serosen and Selena’s forces. It is our only hope now. To join them. Let them know about Ferra’leen’s absence—and the prophecy.”
The prophecy.
The faerie’s words sang through Eristta’s mind: Perhaps the most important question you should be asking now is how you might achieve your heart’s desire…
Why did the faerie queen’s words haunt her? And why did Ferra’leen feel her advice was just as important in their battle against Garethan as the prophecy?
As they helped one another to their feet, Eristta looked around in disbelief. “Red Claw,” she whispered. “How did we survive?”
All plant life within a fifty-yard radius had been decimated, and the air was so chocked with dust, the Summer Kingdome sat dull and lifeless under a graying sun.
Brushing ash from Eristta’s tunic, Red Claw’s nostrils flared. “I do not know.” His gaze swept her from head to toe, stopping on the cut on her leg. He knelt and reached for his satchel. “It would seem we have luck on our side. Or a protector.” With quick fingers, he opened the leather bag and smeared the cut with a thick green paste. Eristta felt instant relief, the sting fading.
Eristta stared at her lover’s bent head, confusion and desire warring within her. My heart’s desire… How can knowing that help defeat Garethan’s demon armies?
Unease settled in the pit of Eristta’s abdomen and she coughed as Red Claw stood and plucked a hair from his scalp, then did the same to Eristta. Her skin tingled as she sensed the shaman’s power build.
Closing his eyes, he wound the two strands together then held them up into the dreary rays of afternoon light. His words flowed, and while Eristta didn’t understand them, she knew them to be a prayer of thanks. Of appreciation.
His fingers parted and an errant breeze whisked the strands away. When they were gone, Red Claw fixed her with a somber gaze. “I do not sense Darous.”
Eristta wiped a hand through tangled hair and cast around for her kriss. “Nor I. I could sense him when I…” She paused, her thoughts near to bursting with her short experience in the terran world. So many questions! And the power she had felt there… “I sensed his energy on terran soil. It was faint, but present. Now—I cannot.” Their gazes met. “Like Vigil. And my father. They are there, yet not.”
Red Claw nodded. “We will find them all. But right now we must save ourselves.” With quick fingers he shed his loincloth, keeping only the narrow holster that held his knife strapped to his lower thigh and the satchel around his waist.
“Can you run?” he asked.
Eristta raised a brow as she admired the delicious beauty of his bare loins. “Can you change?”
He inclined his head once, and Eristta instantly sensed the bear’s presence. A current, as before, flowed through her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She spied her kriss half-buried in ash and returned it to her boot. “The golems are close to Tee’amon, Red Claw.”
Red Claw grunted as he threaded the claw he’d used to open the doorway onto the leather thong. He held out a hand, and realizing that she still clutched her pendant, she opened her palm. He took the claw and slipped it alongside the others before placing the choker over his head. “We will find them in time. “
Stepping back, Eristta watched in fascination as man changed into bear. It was shockingly beautiful…body and bone melting into fur and claws.
Come, princess.
Drawing what energy she could from the damaged land, Eristta sprinted after the bear’s fast retreating bulk.
* * * * *
“We cannot, Red Claw!”
Eristta gripped the bear’s ruff, her thoughts tangled. “Serosen and Selena need us in one piece, shaman. Not scattered to the four winds.”
The bear grunted and shook his massive head. Feeling the currents around them change, Eristta released his coarse fur and sidestepped, allowing Red Claw room to shift. As bear morphed into stunningly naked man, Eristta breathed deep, trying to still her unpredictable emotions.
They stood before an artfully shaped standing stone, its face creased with ancient symbols and oghms. “It is the only way, wastelakapi.”
“It is forbidden,” Eristta murmured. “And while breaking rules is something I have an affinity with, being irreparably shredded by wild magick is not.”
Red Claw took Eristta’s chin. His eyes captured hers, his rich scent filling her nostrils. “I would never let anything happen to you.”
“You have been using the portals?” Eristta whispered, her hand lifting to his jaw. Wondering at how much she did not know about her terran warrior. How far reaching his skills and talents were.
“With the pendants, the portal’s volatile forces can be redirected. We can be at Serosen and Selena’s side before the sun shifts to night.”
Eristta leaned in, allowing herself to appreciate the reality that they were still alive. That there may yet be a chance for Tir na n-Og. But how? What could they possibly do to ensure the golem’s defeat?
With her lips touching his chin, Eristta couldn’t resist a taste. Her tongue snaked out and traced the contours of his bottom lip. “We must find a way to turn them back.”
The shaman’s muscles rippled with pleasure at her touch. He released her chin and wound his hand to the nape of her neck. She leaned into his palm, her clit dampening, her heart expanding at their flesh-to-flesh contact.
“I believe we will find a way,” he murmured against her hair. “We must unravel the prophecies. Perhaps the Phoenix and Selena can help.”
The Phoenix…of course!
Eristta pulled away reluctantly, her arm braced against Red Claw’s chest. Why had she not thought of it before? The Phoenix would help her decipher Ferra’leen’s obscure declarations and the firewhit prophecy.
Eristta grabbed Red Claw’s hand and drew him toward the standing stone.
The shaman’s brows rose. “You are willing?”
Stopping, Eristta reached up and brushed her lips across her lover’s. “I trust you, Red Claw.”
With a few quick words, the shaman placed his hand against the shallow indentation and stepped back as the standing stone shimmered, then dissolved into a misty blue doorway. Before either could step through, a bolt of variegated green and gold flared from portal, fishtailing wildly toward the nearest tree. Eristta watched in horror as the tree bent and twisted under the wild magick’s assault.
“Eristta.”
She turned back to Red Claw, eyes wide.
“Come.” He held out a hand. “The land will absorb the magick.”
Before she could change her mind, Eristta took the shaman’s hand and stepped thr
ough.
Chapter Twelve
“As soon as I opened my doorway, I felt you.” Eristta slid her hand down Red Claw’s chest to his solar plexus. “A cord existed between us. It pulled me—physically as well as spiritually.”
Red Claw’s groin stirred at Eristta’s touch. Images of their lovemaking filled his mind, and he breathed deep, working to control his primal urges.
They’d had little trouble navigating the sacred portal, their travel quick and uninterrupted. But once they’d exited into the Spring Kingdome, the portal behind them refused to close. They could not abandon the doorway and risk one of Garethan’s mages—or Garethan himself—breeching it for their own use.
So they’d settled in, hoping the doorway would seal itself—soon. Eristta had drawn on her power long enough to show that they were within an hour’s hard travel of Selena and Serosen’s forces. They had both agreed that mind-linking with either was too risky with Garethan lurking.
Red Claw was still perplexed on how the sorcerer had located him so quickly. It was if he’d known they’d be opening the doorways. The thought was disturbing at a core level, and as Mato was curiously silent, Red Claw suspected that there was much more at work than any of them had anticipated.
“Tell me again, wastelakapi, exactly what happened after you opened your portal.”
Eristta continued to trace the contours of his chest as she spoke. “As you instructed, I envisioned where I wanted the doorway to open. I pictured the lands you spoke of. The broad, grass-filled plains. The snow-capped mountains, crystal lakes and shady pine forests.” Pausing, Eristta closed her eyes, remembering. “I felt the power of the pendant respond. It was as if we were one, the land, my danu awen, and the claw. As I repeated the words of opening, light burst forth and the doorway formed.” She opened her eyes, their violet hue flecked with silver. “It was beautiful, shaman. Your world. It was then that I felt your doorway and your pendant.”
Red Claw waited, knowing there was more she had not told him. Eristta looked out over the newly leafed elms and taosa ash that surrounded the small clearing. “I focused on your energy and ran. It was as if I flew on a wire, tied to your center.” Her gaze refocused yet her expression remained guarded. “As I traveled, it was as if…”
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