I was still reluctant to touch the black finger of stone, but I found myself backed up against it with Lucian and Drace standing in front of me protectively on either side. The growling was continuous now and behind me the humming of the stone finger had risen in pitch until it sounded almost like a woman singing a single, low, ominous note.
Suddenly a furry black form came slinking out of the jungle. It was hard to tell in the moonlight, but it looked kind of like a panther to me. Not just any old panther though—a huge one as big as a horse. I looked for the glitter of its eyes but I couldn’t see any—the sleek, black, bullet-shaped head moved blindly in our direction, the wide nostrils flaring as it scented us.
“Is that a kr’awn?” Lucian sounded like he couldn’t believe it.
“Shit!” Drace growled. “That’s fucking impossible. But yes, that’s what it looks like.”
“A…a kr’awn?” My mouth was suddenly so dry I could barely speak. “Isn’t that the predator you said nearly wiped out your race by…by eating all your women?”
“That’s the one,” Lucian said grimly.
“I…I thought you said they were extinct!” I whispered, my stomach clenching into a knot of fear. I was squeezing the Tanterine Key in my fist so hard I could feel it digging painfully into my palm but somehow I couldn’t loosen my grip.
“They are extinct. Or, they’re supposed to be,” Drace growled. He pulled out the brush cutter and lit it up. I wondered how much good the miniature light-saber was going to be against a huge horse-sized panther. If Drace could get close enough he might be able to cut off its head. But would he be able to get that close without it ripping him in two?
“What are we going to do?” I asked softly, my voice wavering in fear.
“Protect you,” Lucian answered grimly and Drace growled assent.
“Do you have your blaster, bond-mate? Between the two of us we ought to be able to take it down,” he muttered.
Lucian patted himself down and cursed. “It must be back at the ship!”
“Take this then—I brought a spare.” Drace drew another brush cutter from his pocket and handed it to Lucian who flipped it on. There was a buzzing hum and then both of them were holding the sleek light-weapons like swords.
“I’m ready.” When Lucian turned his face to me I saw his eyes were glowing and his fangs were fully extended—I guessed he was going into fight mode. Drace was changing too—he didn’t have fangs but his hair seemed to get shaggier and thicker, and it was sprouting along his shoulders and arms, almost as though he was growing a protective fur coat.
Was this the “second nature” they had spoken about earlier? I’d been imagining some kind of werewolf-like transformation but this was more like natural defenses coming into play. Like a cobra raising its hood or a lion shaking its mane.
“We can take it,” Drace repeated, his voice even deeper and growlier than usual. “There’s only one.”
Then the undergrowth around us rustled and another huge black shape emerged. Then another…and another…and another. Soon there were five of the sleek predatory kr’awn ranged in a semi-circle with the three of us in the middle. I bit my lip to keep back the sounds of sheer terror that wanted to come out.
We were surrounded and there was no way out.
Chapter Twenty-five
Rylee
I could feel my heart pounding in every part of my body at once and my breath was coming in sharp, terrified pants. The growling got louder and louder as the pack of kr’awn advanced on us. They had huge, long fangs that glittered white in the moonlight. I could see them every time the huge animals snarled—which they did a freaking lot.
Oh please, I prayed, though I didn’t know exactly who I was praying to. Please, this is really bad! If we can just get out of here I swear I’ll do the right thing. I’ll turn my life around! I’ll stop wasting time on things that don’t matter and make my life count.
“Get ready,” I heard Lucian say in a low voice. “They’re about to spring.”
“They’ll be aiming for Rylee,” Drace said in a low voice. “We have to keep between her and the kr’awn.”
“Agreed.” Lucian sounded tense and I felt a feeling of determination coming from him—from both my guys. I understood suddenly that they thought they were going to die here—that this was the end. But they wouldn’t leave me, even though I was the one the huge predators wanted. They would stay and protect me, even if they died doing it.
The thought brought tears to my eyes and I swiped at them quickly with one arm. The other hand—the one still clutching the Tanterine Gray Key—I put behind my back, trying to steady myself against the Goddess’s Finger.
The fist-sized, triangular rock in my hand scraped over the side of the black stone monolith and, to my surprise, a shower of sparks fell to the ground. They were long and bright and reminded me of the sparks that come from sparklers you light on the Fourth of July.
Then something shifted behind me and the note the Goddess’s Finger was singing got suddenly higher until it was almost a scream. Before I knew it, I was falling backwards as the solid stone behind me gave way.
“Ahhh!” I screamed—I couldn’t help it! I was falling into the monolith. A door had opened in its broad, sparkly black side right behind me. Only by grabbing the lip of stone around the door with my free hand did I stop myself from tumbling over backwards.
“What? What is it?” Drace demanded, his eyes never leaving the pack of kr’awn that had us surrounded. “Why are you screaming, Rylee? They haven’t even pounced yet!”
“A door—guys, look!” I babbled. “There’s a doorway and…and steps, I think.”
“What are you talking about?” Lucian risked a glance over his shoulder and I saw his glowing eyes widen. “Goddess above—what is that?”
“A door in the Goddess’s Finger. Come on—it’s the only way!” I tugged on their shoulders, the Key still clutched in my hand. “Hurry—who knows how long it will stay open?”
“Could be a trap,” Drace growled, also glancing behind him briefly.
“And it could be our salvation,” Lucian said urgently. “Come on, bond-mate—the kr’awn are about to—”
Just then the biggest kr’awn—the one that had come out of the jungle first— hurled itself at us. Or should I say at me because I was clearly his target. His blunt black bullet of a head was pointed directly at me as he sprang and I watched as he came towards me—everything slowed down to a horrible slow motion by the terror that was rising inside me like a wave.
“Now!” Drace shouted and I saw the two blue beams of light swing wildly, carving into the huge, black body as the beast came for me.
There was a humming hiss and the kr’awn snarled angrily as the laser blades bit into its sides. It leaped away—somehow changing direction in midair—and landed lightly on the other side of the semi-circle of hungry kr’awn where it growled its defiance at us.
Clearly it hadn’t been very badly hurt and just as clearly I would have been dead without my guys to protect me. But as brave as they were, they were no match for five hungry horse-sized predators.
“Guys,” I said to them urgently. “Come on—hurry! In here before they try again!”
This time they followed me without protest and the three of us found ourselves on a narrow set of steps that led down into blackness.
I felt better when we were all inside but Drace and Lucian were still on high alert.
“The door,” I heard Lucian mutter. “Do you think it’s wide enough for the kr’awn to enter?”
“I don’t kn—shit!”
I turned my head, afraid that Drace’s curse meant the kr’awn had gotten inside. Instead, I saw that the door in the monolith was closing. As we watched, the two moons and the snarling animals outside slowly disappeared. And then there was nothing but silence and darkness.
“Well…” I took a deep, shaky breath. “I guess that answers that question.”
“I have a lot of other questions, th
ough,” Drace muttered. “Such as how in the Frozen Hells do we get out of here?”
“We don't want to get out while that pack of kr'awn is still out there," Lucian pointed out. "Why don't we follow the stairs and at least wait until morning before we worry about exiting?"
“Sounds good.” Drace sighed. “Rylee?”
“Sounds good to me too,” I said. “But before we go any further, give me one of those light saber things so I can light the way. These steps are narrow and I don’t want to trip and break my neck.”
“Be careful,” Lucian said, passing me his. “Maybe you should let one of us go first in case of danger.”
“There isn’t room to maneuver,” I said, which was true. The staircase we found ourselves on was extremely narrow and tight—almost claustrophobically so. Both of the guys had to turn sideways to get down it because of their broad shoulders.
I took the laser tool and held it up like a flashlight as we went single file down the dark steps. It made me think of the Egyptian pyramids and how they were supposed to have secret passages that led into underground chambers. Some filled with gold…and some set with deadly booby traps. What would we find under the Goddess’s Finger?
I didn’t know but I hoped it didn’t involve any more chances to get eaten alive by horse-panthers, at least.
The stairs curved down and down for what felt like forever but finally they ended in a large stone chamber. Our footsteps echoed on the dusty floor as we came to a halt, not certain where to go next. The vast, empty chamber stretched out before us into an unknowable void. Looking at it, I couldn’t help thinking of all the stories I’d ever heard about miners getting trapped in cave ins or explorers losing their way in the subterranean depths and dying in some unexplored cave system when their light burned out. It was an awful thought and something I most definitely didn’t want to happen to me.
The guys seemed to be feeling a little less threatened, though. At least, Lucian’s fangs had shrunk back to normal and his eyes no longer glowed and Drace didn’t look like he was wearing a protective fur coat anymore. I considered that a good sign.
“Look,” Drace, who had the other light-saber said. “The walls—they have writing on them. At least—I think it’s writing.”
“Let me see.” Lucian walked to the closest wall and examined it. “Looks like some ancient form of early Denarian,” he murmured.
“You read early Denarian?” Drace raised an eyebrow at him.
“I wanted to be a scholar of antiquities once,” Lucian said a bit stiffly. “My parents didn’t approve—they wanted me to go into litigation.” He shrugged unhappily. “So I did.”
“We’ve both done things for our families we wouldn’t have chosen, I guess.” Drace sighed. “Can you translate this—see what it says?”
“I think so—with a little more light.”
“Here.” Carefully, I handed him my light-saber. (Yes, I knew they were mainly for cutting brush but I felt so much more bad-ass thinking of them as light sabers.)
“Thank you.” Lucian took it and began to walk slowly, following the line of hieroglyphic-type symbols that ran in a wavering line along the wall.
“Here is the tale of two and one that became three,” he read, pointing to the writing. Sure enough, there were two male figures with broad shoulders and narrow hips standing together across from a very obviously female figure with breasts and curves. There were marks and lines around the pictures which must be some of the words. I was impressed he could read the words of the ancient language and hopeful too—maybe now we could figure out what we were supposed to be doing down here.
“The evil and eyeless ones were devouring the females of the tribe for they found their scent delicious,” Lucian read, as we walked along.
On the wall were pictures of three, sleek black kr’awn, surprisingly vivid despite the ancientness of the artwork. They were crouching, about to spring on the female figure who was cowering in fear.
“The females were being taken and the people cried out in fear to the Goddess—save us! Save us or we shall surely all perish!” Lucian went on, following the trail of writing along the wall.
Here there were pictures of many stick-figure people bowing and bending, their arms upraised to a being in the sky. The being was represented by a pair of eyes—obviously female by their long, curling lashes. They eyes were watching from a shining cloud with rays of light coming out of it.
“The Goddess was sad and felt pity for the people,” Lucian continued. “She said to them—I have made you to be protective of your females and protect them you must. Two males must join with one female—lie with her and bond with her until the Three become One. Then the evil, eyeless ones will not be able to scent your females and you will be saved.”
As he read, we came to pictures that showed two male figures with a female between them. The ancient artist hadn’t been shy here—both of the men had their shafts out and they were in the act of impaling the female between them at the same time. Just looking at it made me blush and squeeze my thighs together.
“Okay,” I said softly as we finally came to the end of the writing—and the end of the wall because it ended in a corner. “I guess this is a kind of origin story of your people.”
“It must be.” Lucian was looking at the ancient symbols and writing with wonder on his face. “This is amazing. I wonder if the Chamber of Triune-bonding is down here?”
“That’s a myth,” Drace scoffed. “There’s no such thing as the Chamber of Bonding.”
“What kind of myth?” I asked.
“Supposedly it’s an ancient chamber where the very first Triumvirate bonded.” Lucian said. “Where their three-way union was blessed by the Goddess.”
“Hmm. And I suppose a chamber like that would be private…like it would have a door to keep people out?” I stepped forward to the wall the one we had been following had dead-ended into. “Like this, maybe?”
The rough, brown stone wall where I was pointing was abruptly broken by a smooth panel of blue wood.
“Amazing!” Lucian’s eyes flashed. “Look at this—it’s berra wood. But this place is ancient—it should have rotted away years ago. Yet, it’s solid.” He made a fist and rapped on the door, which gave an echoing, hollow boom.
“Don’t!” I exclaimed, feeling suddenly spooked by the loud noise in the empty, tomb-like space. “That’s creepy. Just push on it and see if it’ll open.”
Drace put a shoulder against it and shoved. The door didn’t budge an inch.
“Try pulling,” Lucian suggested. Drace did. Still nothing.
Lucian tried and then Drace and then both of them together but no matter how they pushed and pulled the blue wooden door was completely steady and refused to move.
“Fucking thing…” Drace stood back from the door, frowning. “I guess it’s not supposed to be opened.”
“Not by brute force, anyway,” Lucian said with a sigh. “But look…” His eyes lighted and he knelt on the dusty stone floor and pointed to the far corner of the door.
I leaned down to see what he was looking at and saw a little triangular knob of wood sticking out of the door. It was the same color as the rest of the door and easy to miss but once you noticed it, you couldn’t unsee it.
“Wow,” I murmured, looking at him. “Do you think…?”
“Think what?” Drace demanded.
“That this door opens only to the right key,” Lucian murmured. “Go on, Rylee—try it.”
I still had the Tanterine Key in my hand. Tentatively, I held it up against the triangular knob of wood. It slipped on perfectly and when I twisted it to the right there was a creaking sound and the blue door, which had seemed so solid and ungiving moments before, slowly swung open.
“Wow…” I breathed.
“Goddess above,” Lucian murmured at the same time Drace muttered,
“Holy fuck!”
We had a right to be amazed—the chamber in front of us was dark at first but when the door s
lid all the way open, lights blazed inside it. We were blinded at first but when our eyes got used to the sudden brilliance, we saw something that couldn’t possibly be.
In front of us was a large, circular bed, plenty big enough for three—even if two of them were as big as Drace and Lucian. The mattress was thick and piled with all kinds of furs and fur covered pillows. Seriously, it looked some kind of sexy-caveman porn setup. The fur-covered bed all ready for action and around it were placed ancient stone lamps that burned with soft golden flames, giving a romantic ambiance to the whole place.
But it wasn’t just the fur-piled bed that amazed us—it wasn’t even the first thing that drew our eyes. Standing on a pedestal, just inside the doorway, was a long, golden tool with four sharp points on one end. There was a kind of glow around it—like a force-field of some kind—that made it gleam and glimmer in a strangely hypnotic way. It was floating in midair with the sharp points poking towards the ceiling.
“What is that?” I whispered, feeling awed. It looked like a golden backscratcher, like the kind you can buy at the dollar store. Only a lot more golden and expensive and magical, than the dollar store variety, obviously. In fact, the way it was suspended in the middle of the glowing force field made me think of the dying rose in Beauty and the Beast.
“The Claw—it’s the Claw Tanta Loro talked about!” Drace exclaimed. “’The claw which can sever your bond’—that’s what she said!”
“She also called it a blight—a curse,” Lucian cautioned him. “I think we should be carefu—”
But before he could finish his warning, Drace stepped forward and attempted to grab the golden claw. The moment his fingers touched the glowing field around it there was a zapping sound like a taser and the brilliant light glowed brighter for a moment, as though emitting a blast of energy.
Drace cursed in pain and yanked back his hand. “What the fuck?” he growled. “Why put it right there if you’re not supposed to have it?”
“You’re not supposed to have it yet,” Lucian corrected him gently. “Look, there is more ancient Denarian on the walls of the chamber. Let’s see what it says.”
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