The Crystal Sorcerers (23 page)

A sad smile crossed Leti's features. "We came here as friends and want to keep it that way," she said. To Mark's surprise, she bowed her head, dropping one knee slightly--an action he had only seen her and Storm do in Jartan's presence.

She held the staff out to the druid.

"Please forgive my impolite actions, but you just didn't seem to want to listen."

Puffing hard, the druid snatched the staff and then looked around, his pride obviously wounded.

"Well, next time just explain yourselves and we won't have all this fuss," the druid snapped.

Exasperated, Deidre dropped her shield.

"Would you mind if we gathered our things?" Leti asked politely. "I'm afraid we are going after Patrice immediately."

"Wait a minute," Kochanski said.
"After coming all this way?"

"Did you see what Patrice took from the harp case?"

"Three damn big crystals, two of them a match for the one that was belted at her waist--the third was much darker," Saito said, rubbing his burned wrists and coming to join the group.

"She now has the complete set of the Crystals of Fire," Leti said coldly.

"
Crystals of Fire?"
Mark asked.

"They were forged by her father, the Creator Bore. Upon his death, the council of gods decided that for the time being she would only inherit one of them. The others were to be put in safekeeping until such time as she had matured and proven herself to be trustworthy. She never has, and has always bitterly complained of that decision."

"Maybe it was the wrong one. Maybe if they had given them to her then, she would have demonstrated her ability to handle such power wisely--for the three together give her more power than anyone on Haven except the gods themselves. Perhaps that is why she has always been so sullen and withdrawn from the rest of us."

"Regardless of that, though," Leti went on, her voice betraying her anxiety, "she's obviously gone through some elaborate plot to obtain them."

She paused, looking at Imada, who was still kneeling by Vena's side.

"And it was done when three of the gods are away fighting Gorgon," Ikawa said quietly.

Startled, Leti looked at him. "I hope not even Patrice would be insane enough to seek such an alliance." She hesitated,
then
snarled, "By the gods, that must be it. Why else would she also have stolen Horat's Portal crystal?"

"Say, what the hell is going on around here?"

Mark looked over to see Walker, who had been knocked unconscious by the druid, starting to stir.

"There's been a fight and we're free," Saito said, going over to cut him loose.

"Damn. I miss
all
the fun,"
Walker complained, his voice still groggy.

"Maybe not for long," Leti said bitterly. "Anyone with
burns,
let me take care of them. Get our gear together--we're flying for home within the hour."

"Are you going after her?" the druid asked.

"That's the plan, once we find out what she's doing."

"I don't take getting cast aside like that lightly. I'm going with you."

"Grandfather," Deidre said quietly.

"Now don't go grandfathering me, you brat. Uldrasill can take care of herself for now. I haven't been out of these woods for a couple of thousand years. It's time I had a little adventure."

"We'll be flying hard," Leti warned.

"Do you need a couple extra sorcerers, or not?" the druid snapped, his pride obviously still smarting from the treatment he had received.

Leti smiled and nodded.

"Then we'll get some food and be on our way." The druid laughed.

"If we've got an hour, can I at least ask one favor?" Kochanski said nervously.

"What is it?"

"The
Stonehenge, the great circle."

Startled, the Druid looked over at Kochanski.

"Now I know you," he shouted. "You're the one who tried to sneak up on me, you,
you
..."

"Grandfather!"

"It's right over there, just on the other side of Uldrasill," the druid said, looking at Deidre.

"Should have strangled her at birth," he whispered as she took Kochanski's hand and guided him away.

"If you'll excuse me," Ikawa said, and he left the group and cautiously approached Imada. His heart tightened at the sight of the corpse.

The boy had been in love with a sorceress perhaps fifty times his own age.
Realization of the horrible treachery that had been played upon his innocence made Ikawa want to scream with rage.

What could he ever say to comfort him now? If the girl had truly been his lover, it would be one thing.
But not this--the treachery of betrayal compounded by the obscenity of a cruel seduction of youth.

Ikawa scooped up a blanket
laying
beside the pile of baggage and, kneeling by Imada's side, he covered the corpse.

"Come on, son," Ikawa whispered, taking Imada by the shoulders and helping him to stand.

The boy turned to him, and there was a cold bitterness in his eyes.

"There's nothing to be said, so don't even try." Imada's voice was flat and distant.

Pulling away, he turned and walked into the woods.

Slipping through the streets of Portus, Patrice ducked into a narrow doorway and slid the bolt shut behind her.

Three men stood, poised to strike, but as she threw back her cape they bowed low.

"Everyone in position?"

"As you commanded, my lady."

"I was successful," she whispered, and the three sorcerers grinned with delight.

"Are the communications crystals in place here?"

"We smuggled them in. We haven't tested them yet, as you ordered."

"Good. One never knows who's listening."

One of the men nodded to the back corner of the room, and she walked over to open a plain wooden chest. As she put her hand into it, a faint glow filled the room.

She quickly spoke a string of code words, waited for a response,
then
closed the chest.

The message would be leaped across the middle chain of floating islands, from agent to agent. Once it reached home, nearly half of her sorcerers would bend their strength to jamming all means of communication, cutting off those left in
Asmara from news of the events here. Within minutes, her battle team would be taking off from a boat anchored north of the middle chain of floating islands. She visualized the charts of the region, calculating the distance to be covered and the times of arrival.

In an hour it would be time to leave. For now, she had a few moments to relax.

She had flown for hours, filled with a deep fear that Storm and Leti would be in close pursuit. Yet the sky had remained empty, and the fear had gradually dropped away. The enemy would be hours behind her.

Yet why?
Surely they would have had the advantage; they were fools riot to press it. Whoever had reported that Storm had left Haven would pay for it when she returned.

"A messenger flew in from
Asmara this evening," one of the sorcerers said, coming up to offer Patrice a goblet of wine.

"Who?"

"We think one of Jartan's granddaughters."

"Were you able to get to her?"

"We think she's hiding somewhere in this town. We're making inquiries."

A granddaughter?
Could she take the time to hunt her down? She pondered the course; it'd only take an hour or two, but there were things far more pressing, and besides, whatever news she carried was not worth the bother of torturing out of her now.

"Let her go. Now bring me something to eat, and then we leave."

Struggling with exhaustion, Kochanski groaned with relief as his feet touched solid ground in front of
Stonehenge. Deidre had guided him around the huge tree and into the clearing while he babbled excitedly, telling her of the famed history of the artifact back on Earth.

And yet it was not exact, he suddenly realized.

All the lintels were in place, the circle truly complete, the outer ring of stones all standing as well. The stones were covered with swirling designs made of chalk and blue paint. There were other differences as well: two smaller circles of upright wooden posts were in the middle, one inside the other, each the height of a man and with holes carved, apparently at random, through the posts.

He had never thought that the
Stonehenge the druid would create would be the one he remembered from two thousand years ago, and not the one that was on the Salisbury Plains of today.

Making a link between the two would probably be impossible unless Kochanski could convince the crazy old man to knock half of his structure down. And the thought of making
his own
full-sized
Stonehenge now seemed foolish. Even if he did, what chance would there ever be of success?

Dejected, he sat in the middle of the circle, pouring out the story to Deidre. She agreed with his analysis, telling him that her grandfather had tried many times to find Earth, and had always failed. She then got Kochanski to talk about himself, and sat with rapt attention until Leti and the others arrived to announce they were leaving.

Stretching, Kochanski looked over at the dark-haired girl, who shook her head and forced a smile.

"A long flight," she sighed, and then to his surprise, she drew closer and slipped her hand into his.

"Kochanski!"

"Oh, shit," he whispered. "I know that voice."

He looked over his shoulder and saw Sara flying in from the west, escorted by two of the druid's sorcerers.

"And here I fly across a damn ocean looking for you, worried sick, and I find you with this... this cheap woman!"

"Now Sara," Kochanski said, looking from one girl to the other.

"And who is this loud-mouthed child?" Deidre retorted.

"I'm his lover," she snapped.
"His
ex
-lover."

"Lover?"
Deidre looked at Kochanski with wide-eyed shock. "So you seduce girls barely old enough to know better, is that it!"

She slapped him hard across the face and stalked away.

"I've never touched her!"

Deidre stormed off without replying.

Kochanski gave Sara a withering look. "Get out of my sight," he hissed.

"With pleasure, you cheater," she replied haughtily. "Now where's Leti?"

Kochanski nodded to where the rest of the group was landing.

"I'll never let you touch me now," she snapped, her voice choking.

"That's fine with me. I'd kiss a snake first."

She slapped him across the other cheek and stalked off.

Dazed, Kochanski stood in the darkness, swearing softly at whatever evil-minded god had ever conceived of the idea of creating women.

From out of the shadows Mark appeared. "Getting punched around a bit tonight, aren't we?"

"They can all go to hell."

"Both of them will want you even more now, if only to beat the other one." Mark smiled.

"God spare me." Kochanski rubbed his jaw.
"Just what the hel!
is
Sara doing here?"

"She was sent by Pina. I was just talking with her and Leti. It took them over a week to crack the security code into the treasure vault. They wanted to double check, just to make sure. And they found what we already know--some very valuable crystals were missing."

"Pina tore the place apart with a security check. Vena came up as a suspect so Sara was sent out here to tip Leti off and run a check. The girl was seen in the area the night before the keeper was found. No one ever suspected that he had been murdered until they got the vault open."

"Kind of risky, sending a kid out
like
that," Kochanski replied, unable to hide his concern.

"She can obviously take care of herself. And don't forget, she is pushing eighteen," Mark replied.

"Too bad she didn't get here a couple of days earlier."

Mark nodded in agreement. "There's something else, though."

Kochanski could sense his fear. "Go on."

"Gorgon cut behind Jartan's forces three days ago. We haven't heard a word from them since."

Kochanski was silent, knowing something more was coming.

"It was the confirmation for Leti," Mark replied. "It's no coincidence; she's convinced Patrice is in league with him, that this whole thing was planned, and the only glitch in it was our forcing Vena to come along."

"Then what the hell was she up to?"

"With the power of the three Crystals of Fire, and the portal crystal, she could break the barriers the gods have set about this world to keep Gorgon out. It looks like the entire war was a feint to draw the three most powerful gods away from the true threat. Patrice is going to open a portal and let Gorgon in. If she succeeds, he'll have his armies in Haven, perhaps even take
Asmara and the Heart Crystal before Jartan can get back."