"Not as pretty, though, as Homefree." Storm reached over to squeeze Mark's hand.
How lucky he truly was, he thought, letting the warmer thoughts push aside the nightmare images. It was still hard to believe that he lived in luxury far surpassing even the most palatial mansions he had visited back in England. In fact the gently rolling countryside and the orderly villages and formal gardens around his new estate of Homefree did remind him of England in the springtime.
In many ways he was now like a baron, living in splendor.
But it was a position that matched more into his American sensibilities than the old feudal system of Europe. There were eight villages in his fiefdom, each ruled by an elected town council. He could advise, and act as a judge to settle disputes, but if his decision was not satisfactory it was within the villagers' rights to go straight over his head to Allic. Though they paid him the respect he was entitled to as a warrior and sorcerer, he was expected to serve in turn. Allic had made it clear that any behavior disrupting the orderly management of his province, or any mistreatment of the people, would not be tolerated.
"We'll be home before you know it," Storm said, as if reading his thoughts. "Assimilating Sarnak's realm and following through on this latest incident will take some time, but I dare say you'll be rotated back in a couple of months and we'll have plenty of time to be together again."
Mark sat back without comment. Storm laid down alongside of him, her eyes filled with concern. But he didn't want to talk about the turmoil inside him, the gnawing fear that the hell he had glimpsed was the fate awaiting him.
"You folks care for a swim?"
Mark looked up to see Leti and Ikawa standing hand in hand before him.
"A splendid idea," Storm cried, coming to her feet and pulling Mark up alongside her.
Mark looked over the edge of the cliff to the vast lake below. It was hot; perhaps a good swim would be just the thing to cool him off.
"Let's do a little underwater exploring while we're at it," Leti suggested.
Surprised, Mark said, "That lake is sheer-walled and looks to be a couple of hundred feet deep."
"Silly, you can fly through the air, why not underwater?"
Now this was a twist, and the idea certainly was appealing. There had been reports that the Italians had perfected a method of underwater breathing learned from some Frenchman. They had used it to remarkable effect in sinking several British ships. He had always wanted to try it out, and now he realized there was nothing to stop him from doing it on this world.
"It's simple enough," Leti explained. "Compress your shield in tight to your body, and allow it to be porous enough for air to get through, but for the water to stay out. Your shield will act as the gills on a fish, and your creativity will automatically make oxygen for you to breath."
"How deep can we go?" Ikawa asked excitedly.
"For now, keep it at several hundred feet. Every thirty feet is roughly equal to one atmosphere. Until you've mastered the skill you might have a leak break through when you go much above ten atmospheres. And don't let your shield rupture. Your pressure inside the shield is the same as on the surface; the sudden change would kill you. After some practice you should be able to reach five, even six hundred feet deep. Just imagine you're flying. The principle is the same."
The two men looked at each other excitedly.
"Well, let's get in the water," Storm announced.
Without hesitation she untied the simple belt around her waist and pulled her shift up over her head with Leti following suit. A moment later both were naked except for the crystal belts around their wrists and waists.
Mark and Ikawa looked at each other nervously. They had grown accustomed to the relaxed sexual mores on Haven, but since their involvements with Leti and Storm they now felt slightly uncomfortable at the naked presence of the other's partner.
A bit shyly, the two disrobed--to chuckles of amusement of the two women.
"Well, let's go skinny-dipping," Mark cried, and leaped off the cliff.
Plummeting down the face of the cliff, he snapped up his shield as Leti had told him to. Extending his arms outward, he slammed into the water, his shield protecting him from the impact. For a moment he felt a slight twinge of panic as he continued to streak downward and held his breath.
Tentatively he breathed in and exhaled. Around the edge of the shield he saw a sheet of bubbles break away and rise up.
He took another breath and exhaled, and another ring of bubbles raced to the surface.
Three dull thuds snapped through the water, and Ikawa, Leti, and Storm came streaking down toward him.
Fascinated, Mark watched as they spiraled around each other, drifting through the water with the same effortless ease as flying through the air. Yet everything down here seemed to be taking place in slow motion, with graceful, languid movement replacing the sharp, rapid-fire maneuvers of flight.
Delighted, he started to laugh and watched as the three descended past him. For all the world he suddenly felt as if he were in a vast cathedral of blue, the three other swimmers drifting down like angels dropping from heaven. The pale beams of sunlight filtered about them like light through the stained glass windows of a cathedral.
Rolling back over, he watched as they drifted down into the darkness, their halos of bubbles rising around him in ever-expanding circles.
Following his friends downward, he was fascinated as the pale turquoise blue of the upper region slowly transformed into a darker blue like the early evening sky, which interplayed with the shimmering beams of sunlight.
An iridescent column of yellow forms came spiraling up out of the depth and he almost cried out with joy as the column broke into a spiraling circle of thousands of yellow fish, striped vertically with slashes of violet.
Blending in with the school, Mark found himself surrounded in a shifting kaleidoscope: One moment the fish were all swimming end-on, presenting razor sharp images; then in an instant the school would shift, and the dark blue of the ocean would become a rainbow of color.
Downward the school turned, mixing with another column of fish. Mark followed, shifting as they did, looping and arching. Colors gradually dropped away into yet a deeper blue, as if the gentle mantle of night was washing over his world.
"Mark, can you see me?"
Snapped from his reverie by the voice from his communication crystal, he looked about. His three companions were nowhere in sight.
He felt a vague uneasiness in this twilight world.
"Hold up your offensive crystal and set it as a diffused beacon of light."
As Storm had instructed, he raised his right hand. A wide beam shot out, illuminating the fish so that their colors seemed to explode. Under the glare of the beacon, the thousands of fish which had surrounded him, and had appeared to be dark green in the muted light of the deep, suddenly stood out in high contrast, revealing a rainbow swirl of reds, yellows, and burgundy, so that the water seemed almost on fire.
Again his attention drifted as he observed the alien world about him.
"Still can't find me?" Storm said playfully, with a slight note of chiding in her voice. "It's a skill you should learn."
Mark swung his beacon back and forth but could not locate her.
"Your farseeing ability, silly."
Nodding to himself, Mark shifted his focus, channeling his attention.
The world about him seemed to shift slightly, and then from below, at five o'clock, he could detect three blips.
"Just like sonar!" he cried.
"A little sub chase," Ikawa laughed.
He rolled over into a dive, rapidly picking up speed.
Two of the blips remained motionless, but the third broke away to the left in a tight spiral turn.
Suddenly Ikawa and Leti flashed into view, illuminated by his crystal. With a cheery wave he shot past the two, who were laughing with delight at his antics.
Storm continued to dive, jinking to the left and right. Doggedly he followe
d, still picking up speed. He could sense the bottom racing up and, broadening his search, he could easily detect Storm swinging among the towering boulders that littered the lake bed.
In an instant he was skimming along through a swirling forest of kelp, dodging up over boulders, and traversing beneath arching caverns that plunged into darkness and then back into opaque light.
Trying to lose him in the clutter, Storm would dodge behind a boulder, out of his view, and then scurry around the far side.
Once she simply hit the bottom and remained motionless so that he shot right past her. A taunting laugh echoed through his crystal, and looking over his shoulder he saw her rise up, wave playfully and then streak away.
Grinning with delight, Mark arched straight up and over and shot back down on her tail. Gradually he closed in on her, so that he was able to track her by the bubbles given off by her rapid passage through the water.
Finally his beacon locked onto her, revealing her slender form cutting effortlessly through the tranquil depths. Tantalizingly, she stayed just out of reach as they played through the fairytale forest of boulders. Then she arched straight up, racing for the surface, sunbeams dappling her long black hair. Straight out of the water she shot, soaring heavenward. Bursting clear of the lake, he followed her upward, the warmth of the early evening air a sharp contrast to the cool waters below. At last she punched through a faint wisp of cloud and disappeared.
The cloud, rimmed with the first faint glow of pink from the setting sun, filled his view. Slowing, he drifted up and through.
Hands reached out, covering his eyes. Playfully he pulled her over and tumbled back into the puffy blanket. Her lips closed over his in a lingering kiss, their bodies intertwining into an embrace as they drifted out of the shelter of privacy back into the light below.
From far away they heard a hoot of delight, and looking down they saw several Japanese floating through the sky in their direction, laughing delightedly at the strange spectacle of the two embracing while floating in the heavens.
"Hard to get any privacy up here," Mark said, feeling a bit self-conscious about the two of them flying naked where the whole world could see them. Storm pushed away from Mark, her eyes glowing with passion. Taking his hand, she leaned over and plummeted downwards. The lake rushed up as if to hide them. Slashing through the surface, they knifed downward into its cool, protective mantle. Slowing, they looked about, like two adolescents furtively making sure that no one was watching before they kissed.
Storm drew closer, and made her shield blend into his. Eagerly they drew each other closer into a passionate embrace.
They had made love atop a cloud before, but this was the first time for them underwater. There was a wonderful sense of weightlessness as the water held them. Laughing they gradually rolled end over end, one moment prone, the next as if standing, then a moment later inverted, as if hanging suspended. And with each gentle turn and sway, their passion grew.
"Did you just hear something?" Ikawa asked, looking over at his beloved.
"Bit like thunder," she said, a wicked smile lighting her features.
"Well, at least you're quieter about such things," he said laughingly, drawing her close as if to start again what they had just finished.
"Shall we go exploring a bit first?"
He felt torn--what he had just shared with her beneath the waves was the stuff of dreams--but he could not hide the fact that he was curious to see this new world.
Giving him a playful wink, she drifted from his embrace, and, taking his hand, started downward.
Beneath them, vast schools of fish would dart away at their approach. Gradually the world grew dimmer, as the light from above shifted through the red of the setting sun, to be replaced by the golden glow of the twin moons rising together to the east. Switching on their crystals, they continued to explore the bottom, looking into crevices and then into a vast array of caverns that dropped away into darkness.
A gentle game of tag developed as the two lovers would break away and lazily chase each other. Ikawa found that he enjoyed the chase almost as much as the catch, as he skimmed behind Leti, watching her lithe naked body twisting and turning through the water.
Before them, a sheer wall suddenly loomed up. Having crossed the length of the lake, they came to a stop beneath the vast cliff, which soared straight upwards to the towering battlement of Sarnak's keep. The wall before them was dotted with caves.
"Close your eyes, turn off your sensing, and count to ten," Leti commanded. "Then practice trying to find me."
He felt a vague uneasiness, but the playful mood still held sway and he followed her command. She was gone when he opened his eyes, so he used his sensing ability to sweep the area--first out behind him, but there was no one there. He shifted his attention forward, scanning the caves.
Nothing.
Suddenly there was the slightest flurry of movement to the right, at the mouth of a cave right on the bottom.
"Got you," he cried, and zoomed for the entrance. The narrow opening closed around him, plunging him into blackness lit only by his crystal.
There was movement straight ahead, and eagerly he pushed forward. The cave doglegged to the right, and he slowed to turn the corner, ready to reach out and grab her, for he could sense her presence lingering just on the other side.
Ever so cautiously he came up to the edge, turning his beacon down to a narrow slit of light so as not to betray his presence. Lying on the bottom, he reached around to grab her by the legs. His hands grabbed something smooth, rounded, and cold.
A scream of horror escaped him: In his hands was a human skull, shreds of flesh still dangling from it's face.
The water swirled around him. Recoiling backward, he kicked out blindly, the water boiling around him in his frantic struggle.
A demon that was the sickly pale white of a rotting corpse rose above him, its phosphorescent green teeth bared and its yellow eyes glowing with malevolence.
Instinctively he raised his hand, a slash of light snapping out. The water boiled as the bolt of energy slammed through, catching the demon in the arm.
The demon roared in pain and fury, its voice hollow and ominous in the watery depths.
Pushing away, Ikawa rolled and twisted as the webbed talons cut through the water, catching him on the leg and pulling Ikawa toward his gaping maw.
Curling up in a ball, Ikawa aimed another shot, catching the demon full in the face. The booming scream abruptly stopped as the beam tore its head off. The hold loosened and he kicked away, bolting for the pale light of the cave entrance.
Half-blinded by terror he shot from the hole.
"Ikawa!"
Leti swung in alongside, a look of horror in her eyes as she saw the blood trailing from his leg.
The caverns around them seemed to explode in a maelstrom of enraged nightmares.
Leti fired three quick shots, each ripping a demon's body asunder. But still they came on.
"Can you swim?" she cried.
"I'll make it!" Ikawa grated, and the two raced through the water, two dozen or more pale forms swinging in behind them.
"Leti, Ikawa, what is it?"
"Get out of the lake!" Leti shouted. "Water demons!"
"We're coming over," Mark yelled.
"Ikawa, head for the surface," Leti cried, her voice full of concern.
Ikawa shook his head. The panic was under control and now replaced by a grim anger at having been caught so off guard.
The two continued to retreat, pulling the demons in behind them. Looking over his shoulder, he could see them swimming, their webbed hands and feet moving with smooth muscular strength, the vestiges of what had once been wings now undulating in a rippling motion like the movement of a giant ray flying through the water.
He was amazed to see that their power in the water equaled his own, and in fact the strongest of them was rapidly closing in. Clumsily he tried to aim over his shoulder and fire a bolt. The water boiled around him as the lightni
ng shot snapped out, disappearing into the darkness, wide of its mark.
Leti swung wide, and then cut an arc across the front of Ikawa, firing twice. Her first shot missed, but the second caught the lead demon in the shoulder, sending him into a downward spiral.
The fighting here was far different, Ikawa realized, his analytical mind examining the nature of this combat even as he fled. In the air, range of firing could reach out a quarter mile or more. Down here fifty yards was probably the maximum range of an energy bolt before its power was drained off by the surrounding water. Movement was far slower as well. A close-in fight would be short and extremely deadly.
Suddenly, from straight beneath him, three forms shot up out of the depth. They had cut in front of him!
He fired a bolt at the closest demon, killing him, but could not turn back in time to handle the other two.
Swinging upward, he tried to cross above them, and they reached up eagerly to grab him.
There was a blinding flash of light, and the first demon seemed to explode. A second and third flash struck the other pursuer in the back and front at almost the same instant. The water around Ikawa was an explosion of steam and light, with the world washed in the roar of angry demons and the hissing shriek of hundreds of gallons of water vaporizing into steam.
Storm shot past, her countenance a terrifying visage of rage, with Mark at her side.
Spinning around, Ikawa and Leti now went over to the attack. At the sight of another demigod appearing as if from nowhere, the demons broke away, scattering in every direction. Two more fell to her fury, the water around them boiling and foaming as her bolts shot out. Forming into a triad, Ikawa, Mark, and Leti fell in on two more demons who were madly racing back to the caverns. As if guided by a single thought, all three fired at the same time, and an instant later, Ikawa found himself swimming through the charred and boiled remains of his victim, the nauseating stench of burnt demon leaking through his shielding. The cliff wall now loomed above them, the last demons scurrying into its protection.
Frustrated, Ikawa started after them.
Crystal Sorcerers Page 6