Ruby Shadows (34 page)

“
Um…hi.” Her eyes kept
wandering to my shaft and I realized the fact that we were both
naked was making her nervous.

“
Forgive me,” I said
wearily. “I will conjure some apparel for both of us presently. But
for now, I am at the very limits of my power.”

“
Oh, of course. Here, come
sit by the fire!”

Taking my arm, she led me to the fireplace
and we both settled on the cold, rough stone floor together.

“
Thank you,” I said,
smiling at her.

“
Of course. I’m sorry it’s
so hard and cold—there’s a blanket on the bed and I thought about
sitting on that but who knows
what
kind of fleas or lice or whatever it has in it.”
She shivered. “I figured a cold butt was better than getting
demonic bedbug bites on our asses.”

I saw she was making an effort to overcome
her self-consciousness for me which warmed my heart.

“
I agree,” I said. “I am
very glad to find you well,
mon
ange.”

“
Not half as glad as I am
to find out you’re alive!” she exclaimed, turning to me. “How did
you do it? That huge demon you killed—Gorlock—said he saw the
Skitterlings, uh, finishing you off.”

“
So they did,” I said
quietly. “I was forced to abandon that form forever in order to
appease them.”

“
What does that mean,
forever?” she asked, frowning.

I sighed. “It means I can never again assume
the form of a wyrm—a dragon. I had to give it up and with it, much
of my power. I am stripped—laid bare as you see.” I spread my
hands, indicating my naked state. “I could not even transfer myself
from one spot to another which is normally as easy as breathing to
me.”

“
Oh, Laish—that’s awful!
I’m so sorry!” Her green eyes were wide with remorse. “And all
because I stomped on that chipmunk-spider thing.”

“
You didn’t know,” I said
wearily. “My power will return in time, of course, but for tonight
I think it is best that we stay here so that I can recover a
bit.”

“
But then…how did you get
here just in time? If you couldn’t teleport, er, transfer
yourself?”

“
Kurex,” I told her. “He
reached me just as I was abandoning my wyrm form to the
Skitterlings. Apparently he also brought me back at a most
efficacious time from your point of view as well.”

“
You’re not kidding!” She
shivered. “That huge demon…what he wanted to do to me to get my
soul…” She looked at me. “You never said a, uh, soul could be
gotten that way. I thought a soul-hook had to be
involved.”

“
No, that is simply the
most polite way of extracting a soul—if there can be any polite way
of doing such an intimate thing.” I frowned. “Remember I told you
the process can be sexual. That is because it almost always
is.”

“
Oh…” She looked down at
her knees which were pressed modestly together. “All right. I
didn’t know.”

“
Now you do.” I sighed and
stretched towards the fire. The warmth of it invigorated me,
bringing back a little of my power. Closing my eyes, I concentrated
and conjured a warm, thick fur rug beneath us.

“
Oh!” Gwendolyn gave an
awkward little jump at the feeling of fur beneath her bottom. “I
thought you were all worn out. How did you—?”

“
The warmth of the fire,”
I explained. “Because of my nature it helps to restore my
power.”

“
Well, this
is
nice.” Gwendolyn
stroked the soft, white fur. I had called a rather large rug
because after her assessment of the bed I surmised we would be
sleeping before the fire that night. She looked at me hopefully.
“Can you make me something else? Something, uh, warm to
wear?”

I shook my head.

“
Give me a few more
minutes. Every time I call something from my own estate into
another circle it takes a vast amount of energy. “There is one
thing I can do, however, which requires a slightly smaller
expenditure. Do you still have that leather satchel of yours with
your drinking bottle?”

“
Of course. I’m a lot more
careful to keep hold of it after what happened with the devilkins.”
She got up and searched by the door, returning shortly with the
familiar leather satchel. Opening it, she took out the plastic
water bottle and took a drink. Then she offered it to me. “Are you
thirsty?”

“
No thank you,” I said,
taking the satchel from her. “There is something else I need from
it.”

As I rummaged in the satchel, I couldn’t
help noticing that the change of clothing she’d brought from the
Mortal Realm was soaking wet.

“
Gwendolyn?” I said,
raising an eyebrow at her and lifting a sodden article of clothing.
“What happened?”

“
Oh, um…” Her cheeks were
getting red and I knew she didn’t want to tell me.

“
Gwendolyn?” I asked
again.

“
I, um, sort of fell into
one of the pools,” she admitted in a low voice. “Or, well, I guess
you could say I was
dragged
in.”

“
What?” My heart started
beating triple time in my chest. “How?”

Her cheeks flamed. “It was just me being
stupid and trusting. One of the, uh, lost souls begged me for help
and I didn’t think. I went to help her and she tried to drag me
down with her. That’s how I got so wet I had to take off my clothes
in the first place.” She indicated her bare skin, which looked
lovely against the white fur.

“
What?”
I demanded again. “You went
into
one of the Drowning Pools?
Gods, how did you ever get out again?” It amazed and terrified me,
the thought of her slipping beneath the icy surface of one of those
deadly pools. They had a kind of pull to them—almost a magnetic
force for souls that made escaping from one nearly
impossible.

“
Kurex,” she said. “The
girl—the lost soul—had me by the throat but he kicked her head in
and dragged me out by my dress.”

“
Oh,
mon ange…”
I pulled her against my
chest. If she only knew how close she’d come to death and eternal
damnation! Even seeing the huge demon standing over her threatening
to hurt and take her hadn’t frightened me so much. Even I could not
have pulled her out of the pool if her head had gone under. Kurex
had acted quickly and bravely—I promised myself again that the big
horse would have whatever he desired once it was in my power to
provide it.

“
I guess it was more
dangerous than I thought?” Gwendolyn said, looking up at
me.

I nodded. “Very. It is extremely fortunate
that Kurex was with you and acted as he did.”

“
He’s been wonderful,” she
agreed. “I wonder…could he live in the Mortal Realm? I’d kind of
like to take him with me when this is all over. Although I don’t
know what Grams would say about it. He’d probably eat us out of
house and home.”

“
It is a possibility,” I
said, nodding thoughtfully. “But speaking of eating…” I reached
back into the satchel and pulled out what I’d been looking for—the
plate and black-handled sacrificial knife. I had slipped them into
the satchel after our noonday repast in Minauros—a repast which, I
remembered, Gwendolyn had not taken part in. This time I was
determined she would eat.

Taking the plate, I put it on the fur rug
before me and cut into my wrist with the small, sharp blade. The
pain was worse than usual—probably because of my weakened state—but
I managed to keep my face impassive as I let three drops of blood
fall to the plate.

As before, the blood turned to fresh fruit,
cheese, and warm, crusty bread. I let another drop fall and several
pieces of the confection that humans call chocolate appeared as
well. Then I pressed my other hand to my wrist firmly, staunching
the flow and willing the small but painful wound to heal.

Gwendolyn had been watching everything I did
silently. Now she looked at the plate and then up at me.

“
Laish…” she
began.

Just then the tiny white lily-moth fluttered
down out of the air and lit upon a piece of fresh fruit—a
strawberry. Its pure white and gold wings looked lovely against the
warm red of the fruit and I saw that it was taking tiny nibbles of
the strawberry with apparent hunger.

Gwendolyn’s face broke into a smile.

“
Oh, hey little girl!” she
exclaimed, crouching down to look at the little moth. “I forgot all
about you. You must have had a wild ride, holding onto me after
everything that happened today.”

“
They are very resilient
creatures for all they appear so delicate,” I remarked. “And as I
told you, they will rest only upon pure things.”

“
I remember.” Gwendolyn
picked up a piece of fruit and popped it into her mouth, much to my
relief.

I raised an eyebrow at her.

“
So now you trust me and
the food I offer? Because the moth does?”

“
No, I trust you because
of everything you’ve gone through for me today.” Gwendolyn’s voice
was soft and she looked down at the fruit as she spoke. “And I made
a little promise to myself while I was trying to get out of that
awful pool that I would listen to you from now on.” She looked up
at me. “I was going to eat the food, even before the moth landed on
it. I just wanted to apologize first for being so…so stubborn and
mean about it earlier.”

“
That is all right,” I
said, taking one of her slim hands in mine. “I can understand why
you feared to trust me.” I raised her hand to my lips and pressed a
gentle kiss to her palm.

“
Um…” Gwendolyn flushed
and drew her hand away.

“
I see,” I said softly.
“You trust me in some things but not in all.”

“
It’s just…it scares me
how much…how much I’ve been feeling lately. For you, I mean.” She
shrugged uncomfortably. “It’s dangerous.”

“
For both of us,
mon ange,”
I murmured.
“More than you know.”

She looked up at me quickly. “What is that
supposed to mean?”

I shook my head. How could
I tell her that in giving up one of my most powerful forms, I had
also given up a piece of my evil? That I had given up a piece of
that which made me
me?
I didn’t want her to feel worried or guilty so I simply
picked up a piece of fruit and popped it in her mouth.

“
Eat,” I said. “You must
be starving.”

“
Mmm…I
am
hungry enough to eat a bear,” she
remarked after she swallowed.

“
Really?” I raised an
eyebrow. “Well, that can be arranged. I simply thought fruit and
cheese would be more to your liking. But if you wish—”

“
No, no!” She was laughing
now, a genuine laugh that bubbled up from inside her and seemed to
warm me even more than the fire. “It’s an
expression,”
she explained.
“Something Grams says sometimes.”

“
Oh, well…” I shrugged.
“That’s fine. But just know that if you wish for something in
particular to eat or drink, I can accommodate your
request.”

“
How do you do it,
anyway?” she asked, taking a bite of cheese. “I mean, how can you
make things to eat out of your own blood?”

“
It is one of my powers—to
be able to use the essence of what I am to make other
things.”

“
And what
are
you?” Gwendolyn
asked quietly, taking another bite. “Why is your blood red, not
black like all the other demons and creatures I’ve seen here? You
said you weren’t always as you are now—what were you before,
Laish?”

“
That need not concern
you,” I told her, looking away. “For I am not what I was before and
I can never be again.”

“
You sound sad about
that,” she said softly. “Wistful, almost.”

“
Do I?” It tried to laugh
but the sound that came out was harsh and cynical. “I think you are
reading too much into my words, Gwendolyn.”

“
Am I?” She sounded
thoughtful. “I don’t know about that.”

I didn’t like being put on
the defensive—didn’t like being made to feel so many tender
emotions when before I’d met her the strongest feeling I’d had was
of everlasting boredom. She had come into my life and forced me to
feel things—forced me to
care.
It was irritating in the extreme
sometimes—especially since I still couldn’t figure out
why
I cared so much for
her.

“
You needn’t concern
yourself with my past,” I said coolly. “I prefer not to talk about
it but if you wish to disclose secrets I will gladly tell you mine
when you tell me yours. Who do you wish to punish with your spell,
Gwendolyn? Who was he and what did he do to you and those you
love?”

Her face closed at once and she scooted away
from me.

“
Never you mind about
that—it’s my business.”

“
And my past is mine,” I
said, shortly. “Now perhaps you should try to get some rest. We
still have a tiring journey ahead of us tomorrow.”

“
So we’ll be back on the
road?” she asked neutrally. “I thought you needed time to rest and
get back your power.”