Part 26 (2/2)

They ate dates and dried jerky, and sipped the water carefully. She shook the water skin. There wasn't much left. Gian hugged his knees under the burnoose. She could feel his discomfort. But the moment the sun sank below the cliffs he had them moving again.

”None of these chasms looked like the one in my vision,” Kate fussed, mounted again on the horse. She'd been walking for three or four hours when Gian had insisted that she ride.

”It's got to be one of these eroded wadis. The temple was cut into a chasm wall.”

She thought back. ”This was filled with sand. There was a huge fan of sand coming out from the cliffs.”

”You mean like that one?” He pointed down the cliff face.

Kate could see nothing. ”Where?”

”It's several miles away yet.” His voice was excited.

”You can see that far?”

”I see well in the dark.”

Of course he would. He took the horse's reins and pulled him forward. She could feel Gian's antic.i.p.ation. It was more than an hour before they reached the fan of sand and scree. Was this it? Could there be two such formations'? She slid from the horse's back and took the emerald from the pocket of her breeches. Holding the stone out in front of her, she closed her eyes. The emerald surged and tumbled from her hand. It rolled a little way up the incline of sand.

She hurried to pick it up. ”Well, that's a first. It rolled uphill.”

”You have your answer,” Gian muttered. He was looking up the incline. His excitement had faded into... what? Apprehension?

Kate swallowed and peered up the wadi in the dark. There was a bend in the ravine. She could see nothing but the fan that seemed to gradually fill the chasm. Gian pulled the horse up the incline. It would be tough going, slogging through the loose sand.

Kate followed. What was it about this gorge that made the back of her neck p.r.i.c.kle? ”Uh, Gian, you never said what the Temple of Waiting was a temple to. I mean... waiting for what?” Her voice sounded small echoing back from the walls.

”It was all only a legend until Rufford confirmed it.” She heard him clear his throat. The gorge was that silent. ”You'll think this is crazy.”

”Crazier than stones that drive you mad and want to go home?”

”I'll grant you that.” His voice drifted back on the dry night air. ”There was a race here before us. They weren't like us. They were tall and gaunt, with features not quite human. When men came along, they were benevolent rulers and taught us much. The Companion existed in their blood. One of them infected a spring in the Carpathian Mountains with the parasite, has he wandered the world whether by accident or on purpose no one knows. That was thousands of years ago.”

”How many thousands?” she whispered.

”Ten, maybe, or eleven. Anyway, a tribe of men drank from the spring. Most died, but one did not, and his blood could help others survive infection.”

”Like immunity. If you have the pox, you can't get it again.” That part sounded plausible.

”Something like that.” He shrugged. ”Anyway, his people punished him for his lapse in infecting the spring. When it was time to go and they gathered together from all parts of the world, they accused him. Then they left him behind when they went away.”

”Went away... where?” The skeptic in her readied itself for the reply.

”One can only guess.” He looked up at the stars, cold and glittering, with speculation in his eyes. ”But the legend says they left from this desert. And the one remaining built a temple in the rose-colored stone of a chasm wall, where he could wait for them to return. He supposedly built a signal so they could find him again, a pulsing fountain of... jewels that sent out light and energy.”

Kate frowned. ”And these stones are from his signal?”

”I think they are.”

A signal built of jewels? Hardly. She was breathing hard from struggling through the sand that rose ever higher in the ravine.

Still... ”So Rufford says this was true?” Rufford didn't seem like one to tell wild tales.

”Yes. He found the temple.”

”And the mummy of the one who was left behind?” Like Egypt and the pyramids. All this was really just conjecture on Rufford's part. There was no way to know the tale.

”Oh, the Old One was still very much alive, waiting in the temple.”

Kate blinked. My G.o.d-for... for ten thousand years? Impossible. Would Rufford lie?

”His blood is very strong. He gave Rufford a cup of it so Rufford could best Asharti.”

No. She couldn't imagine Rufford lying. The unbearable sadness of being the last, left behind, waiting, struck her. ”How...

horrible.” She wished Rufford's story wasn't true. Maybe he was just... wrong. But Rufford did not seem easily deluded either.

They turned another corner in the chasm. The walls were perhaps only twenty feet above the sand that filled it. And there, in the side of the wall, were... were stairs. There was no other word for them. They were cut out of solid rock, even, flat, smooth.

They couldn't be natural. But they were unnatural in another way as well. The risers of these stone stairs must be more than three feet high. What kind of creature used stairs like that? A giant, or... Gian stopped behind her, staring.

This changed everything.

”So... so what happened to this temple?” she asked.

”The Old One destroyed it. Rufford said there was some kind of vortex inside and... it just exploded and buried the entire place.” He looked around at the sand. ”Hold out a stone.”

They were walking over who knew what, right this very minute. The thought made her want to shudder. She retrieved the ruby and held it tightly so it wouldn't escape. This time her arms shot out, pointing along the ravine. ”Very well. We're not there yet.”

They stumbled on through the deep sand again, ever upward until the walls of the chasm were no higher than their heads. The walls opened out onto a wide, sand plateau.

And there, ahead, was a striped tent, flags at each corner fluttering in the sirocco. Was it red and gold? She couldn't quite tell because the moonlight leached the color from it. One thing was not in doubt. This was the tent she had seen when she looked into the ruby. Four camels nestled in the sand to one side. Gian and Kate went still.

The tent flap opened and out stepped Elyta, followed by Illya, Federico, Sergei, and another. The air hummed with energy. They did not have red eyes, but Kate knew they could bring up their power in an instant, and that they would be too much for Gian, even if he was not still depleted from their previous cruelties.

”Welcome, Urbano, and your little scarred friend too.” Elyta motioned the others forward. They positioned themselves around Gian and Kate. ”I've been waiting for days.”

”How did you get here before us?” The muscles in Gian's jaw bunched.

”She told me you were taking the stones home. That could only mean to the temple. You did not know its location, so you would go to Rufford in Algiers. Therefore, we sailed on west and landed at Oran. We came up northeast as you were trekking down.”

She strolled forward, the aubergine of her translucent robes ruffling in the breeze. They were lined with thin gold braid and she had gold loops in her ears and a chain laced with gold beads across her forehead. She looked every inch the Berber princess, except for her milky skin. ”Now,” she said to Gian, ”give me the stones.” She held out a long-nailed hand.

”You can have them, Elyta,” Gian growled. ”And me. Just let Kate go.”

No, she wanted to shout. You can't give them to her after all we've done to keep them from her. Maybe he was buying time. She could see he hadn't given up. His eyes flashed, not with red, but with a glint of anger.

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