Christine Feehan - Dark Curse 19

She indicated them with her chin. «That's where the guardians live.»

«Bats with big teeth that will crawl out of their little holes and drop on us to gnaw our heads off as we descend,» Natalya said. «Great. Someone ought to make a movie.»

Vikirnoff grinned at her. «You and your movies. She has the worst taste in movies.»

Natalya blew him a kiss. «Just for that, you can go first.»

Lara shook her head. «Let me remove the ice cap and then I'll weave a holding spell. We should be able to get past them without too much trouble.» She sent Nicolas a faint smile. «And I'd rather have someone protecting me from above.»

She made a move toward the hole and Nicolas caught her arm. «You do your mage spell, but you do not set one foot in there by yourself. Vikirnoff can go first to make certain we land without too much harm and I will bring up the rear to protect you from above.»

Lara put a hand over her heart and sent a quick grin in her aunt's direction. «I love it when he does that.»

Natalya rolled her eyes. «He-Man and She-Ra.»

Nicolas frowned. «Who?»

Vikirnoff groaned. «Do notever make the mistake of asking.» He looked up at the night, took a deep breath. «The safeguards are down?»

Lara nodded. «In theory, you should be able to go right through the thin layer of ice and straight down the tube without disturbing the guardians. Once into the lava tube, avoid touching anything that might trigger a response.»

«Great, thanks,» Vikirnoff said. He shimmered into mist and slipped through the layer of ice covering the entrance.

Natalya followed him immediately.

«I will hold the image for you,» Nicolas assured.

Now that she'd had some experience with shifting, she knew what to expect so the sensation of her body disintegrating into vapor didn't alarm her and she just let it happen. Oftentimes, when caving in an ice cave, the ropes used could collect a thin layer of ice. There were hazards from falling icicles and great chunks of ice bursting out of the walls due to the tremendous pressures from the sheer weight. Becoming mist seemed so much easier.

The world beneath the earth, inside the ice cave itself was, to Lara, a world of uncommon and magnificent beauty. As she descended into the dark moulin, essentially a deep pit, she whispered a brief spell, calling for soft light to spill along the walls and floors wherever they walked. Using her childhood spiders, the only friends she had to light the way, she chanted softly.

Spiders, spiders of crystal ice, spin your webs of softest light. The little spiders appeared instantly out of the walls of ice, spinning and dancing to freely form a continuous fine web of translucent icy silk, covering the walls and rushing ahead of them down toward the floor.Spin and dance, surround and form, so our eyes may see to prevent all harm .

At once the tube turned blue, a beautiful, surreal world of ice. The water spraying continually from above had caused an avalanche of various sized ice balls to cascade down the walls so it appeared as though a waterfall of blue ice rushed downward, when in reality, the ice balls were stationary, attached to the thick

walls surrounding them. She was used to the sound of creaking ice punctuated by the thunderous roar as the tremendous pressure sent giant chunks hurling out of the wall to slam against the opposite side and fall to the floor below.

As she passed the darker holes, she realized the entryways were a maze of dwellings woven into the ice to allow the bats communal living. Through the thick window of ice, she could see bones and hair and blood from discarded carcasses. The cave dwellers feasted on their kill, lived for a while on the remains and then every so often swarmed to the surface to drag a hapless victim to their lair. Anything or anyone venturing too near at the wrong time was fair game.

They floated past a ledge that ran the circle of the tube, not very wide. Hanging below it was a variety of long icicles, each one coming to a lethal point.

We need to break those off,she told Nicolas.He'll use those against us and we don't want to be caught on the floor when they come flying at us .

At once sound echoed through the tube, a high note that set the icicles rocking. Some shattered. Others broke loose and fell to the cavern floor several hundred feet below. The sound was loud-too loud-too abrupt. The bats flew at their entrances, the movement frightening to watch through the ice, but Lara's safeguard held against the battering bodies. Tiny fire spiders rushed down the sides of the walls, using their silken threads of flames. As the bats emerged from the holes, using their wings like arms to creep out onto the sheer wall, the nets made of flames and silk dropped over them, consuming them entirely.

A noxious odor permeated the moulin. Despite being insubstantial mist, Lara felt sick.

Nicolas flashed into human form, waved his arms to create a breeze, and then before any of the falling debris could strike him, was back to vapor form.

Thank you.

He seemed to think of everything for her comfort and she was grateful, because this place brought back too many horrific memories. She had to steel herself to the idea that she would find her aunts dead and bring them home. She didn't want their bodies to remain imprisoned as they'd spent their lives that way.

The cave floor was just beneath her and she hovered there, studying the layout, the way the chamber widened and ran into a maze of galleries. She took her time, not wanting to miss the slightest taint of dark magic that would herald an attack. This was Xavier's private realm. She recognized the high ceilings and network of lava tubes leading to various chambers where he conducted his gruesome experiments.

We got lucky. This is Xavier's exclusive domain. The entire mountain is a maze of tunnels and chambers and we were lucky enough or crazy enough to find his private quarters.

Her voice shook and she pulled back to get a better grip on her emotions. She hadn't considered what it would do to her to be surrounded by Xavier. He was everywhere, his mark on everything. His smell filled her with dread. He had been there recently. No matter what anyone said, his pipe tobacco mingled with the pungent scent of blood smelled all too fresh. No matter how long ago it had been, she couldn't forget the difference between old blood and new and the way his tobacco intermingled, making her gag.

If at any time, Lara, you have to leave this place, Nicolas reassured,tell me and I will get you out. And I will come back and search for your aunts . He wanted to hold her, to wrap her up in comfort and make her feel beautiful and safe. No one was ever going to understand what it cost her to come to

this place, to be haunted by the torment of that young child.

Thank you. She sent him waves of warmth.He's been here, Nicolas. Very recently. And if he's still using these chambers, he would never leave them without serious traps. The floor is washed in magic. I think the entire room is a trap .

Nicolas shifted to the common Carpathian path.Do not touch anything. We should move on to the next chamber .

Lara tried to remember where she had seen the young woman miscarrying.Take the left tube and move slowly. Even the disturbance of air could trigger an attack .

The four of them went as carefully as they could down the twisting ice tunnel until they came to a series of smaller chambers. Lara sucked in her breath, the smells hitting her like a punch in the stomach. Water trickled from the walls, dripped from the ceiling and poured out in other places so that she heard a continuous echo, loud and growing even louder until it rang in her ears and filled her mind with confusion.

She remembered that sound from her childhood. The sound seemed to be an alarm, roaring through the chambers, or whispering quietly, but warning her of the monsters lurking everywhere. Her heart beat too fast and she could barely draw air into her lungs, but she kept moving, directing Nicolas toward the terrible chambers where the screams of victims drowned out the relentless sound of water.