“Not now, they won’t,” Churr’um assured him. “Though at the Feast of Fertility, it will, of course, be a different matter.”
“It will?” Baslik demanded.
“Well of course—how else can we worship PASS’lix, our deity of fertility—the one who mixed the very first of our people, collecting seed from the One-Tail and eggs from the No-Tail to form them?” Feed’lix asked.
“Um…” I wasn’t sure how to answer that but it appeared to be a rhetorical question as we were now moving towards the entrance of the cave from which the three Fenushian emissaries had first emerged.
As soon as we got there I saw that it was quite dark—pitch black, in fact. Baslik seemed to have anticipated this, for he pulled out a pair of spectacles and put them on.
“Night vision,” he explained to Feed’lix, who was looking at him curiously.
“Can you not see in the dark, then?” the Fenushian Two Tail, (such an odd title!) asked him.
“Now I can.” Baslik smiled as he pushed the spectacles up his narrow nose.
“But what of your No-Tail. Er, your lady-wife?” Tam’lah asked, eyeing me with concern, for I was already stumbling as we moved into the darkness. The way was uneven and my high heels and the fact that I couldn’t see where I was stepping made me rather more than a little clumsy.
“Oh, I’m certain she’ll manage.” Baslik threw a nasty look at me over his shoulder—I could just see his sneer by the fading light.
At that moment, with a gasp, I fell, scraping both knees and the heels of my hands on the sharp stones. Tears sprang to my eyes at the sharp pain that shot through my wounded knees and hands but Sark was immediately by my side.
“Isla! My lady!” he exclaimed. “Are you hurt?”
“Just a few scrapes. I…I told you I was clumsy,” I said, blinking away the tears and trying to smile and make a joke of it.
“Yes, well let’s not repeat that performance, all right?” Sark growled.
Leaning down, he swung me into his arms and strode forward, carrying me as though I weighed no more than a pillow—which I have already established is not the case.
“Oh!” I exclaimed, for I had not expected to be suddenly swept into the air. “Are you certain you don’t mind carrying me, Mr. Sark?” I asked him. “And can you, er, see where you’re going?”
“I can,” he rumbled and I realized that his eyes were glowing faintly in the dark. “Don’t worry, sweetheart,” he added in a lower tone. “Kindred have excellent night vision. And there’s no way I’m letting you stumble your way through this cave in that ridiculous footwear and probably twist both your ankles as well as scraping yourself up.”
“Baslik made me dress up,” I explained in a whisper. “He said I had to impress the Fenushian emissaries.”
He barked a laugh.
“Well, considering how they’re dressed themselves, I don’t think a lace gown and high heels are going to impress them very much.”
I thought he was probably right and said so.
“Why don’t you relax, my lady?” Sark rumbled gently. “I’ve got you and I’m happy to carry you for however long as this cave system or tunnel or whatever it is goes on for.”
“You…you’re sure I’m not too heavy?” I asked uncertainly.
He laughed and again I saw that his eyes glowed very faintly in the darkness—as did the eyes of the Fenushians.
“Of course not. Relax—I’ve got you, my lady,” he murmured. “Take it easy and rest.”
I thought of protesting more, but as I was already tired from the long, tense trip and hurting from the tumble I had taken, I decided to do as he said. With a sigh, I let myself relax against him, pillowing my head on his broad shoulder. I breathed in his warm, comforting scent and—as I had not yet begun to experience the symptoms of the Second sign—I was able to drift off to into a light doze.
TWENTY
From the diary of Lady Isla, wife to Lord Baslik Le’rank of Telmar Two of the Orinthian System:
When I awoke from my light nap, it was because a greenish light seemed to be shining against my eyelids. I opened my eyes and saw with a start that everything around me had changed.
Sark was still carrying me but no longer were we surrounded by the barren landscape we had at first been greeted by. Instead, everything was lush and green—there were enormous plants everywhere and the light was green because it filtered down from above through their branches and leaves.
I felt as though I was in the middle of a tropical jungle—strangely colored exotic flowers bloomed everywhere and I could hear the chattering and rustling of small creatures in the branches above. There were bird calls as well and I watched as a perfectly enormous, feathered shape flew across the tropical landscape above us, its plumage every color of the rainbow.