02 The Obsidian Key by Thompson Eldon

Author:Thompson, Eldon [Eldon, Thompson,]
Format: epub
Published: 2010-04-10T22:27:44.146000+00:00

"Keep that in place," she instructed, "until I tell you to remove it."

Torin nodded as the Nymph rose, still without looking at him. "Thank you," he said, as she turned away.

Dyanne stopped in her tracks to peer back at him. For a brief moment, she frisked suddenly in place, rocking back and forth as if in tune with a frolicsome melody only she could hear. Her hair swished with the movement, and an unabashed smile lit her face. "The pleasure was mine, Immortal One," she teased.

She stepped away from him then, to where Holly had arranged her blankets by the fire. Torin was left behind, momentarily breathless. He couldn't shake the image, so unexpected, so revealing, a mere peek at the depthless, freedom-loving spirit this girl possessed. His eyes flew after her, hungry for another glimpse, but Dyanne was already curled up in her bed of moss, with night's curtain come between them.

"I'll take first watch," Holly offered.

Torin nodded, though he should have refused. It should

have been he who had taken that watch. For despite the long hours and the many trials of that day, he found himself refreshed, invigorated, unable to close his eyes and even pretend at sleep. Whenever he did, Dyanne was there to greet him with that smile ... that dance ... A vision he could not have dispelled had he wanted to.

*****

Necanicum sighed as she fit the lid to its jar and tied it in place. It had taken her some time to wipe clean each Tongue of the Teldara. So many grooves within their hard-shelled bodies. So many jointed legs. She hadn't even needed them for the telling, for on this matter, the Teldara spoke willingly. But in order to draw his blood, she'd had to play at performing the ritual of forced communion.

Do not forget the phial, they told her, those who lived within.

She looked at.it, the tiny container she had filled with his blood. Preserved by the necessary incantation. Stoppered and secured for the journey that lay ahead. Such a little item, upon which rested the fates of so many.

Hurry, they urged.

"Don't rush me," she muttered back. "There is still time."

But none to waste. The Leviathan stirs. We must act before He does.

They were right, of course. They always were. She had learned that lesson long ago, though not a day went by that they didn't remind her of it. Still, better to take her time, check her inventories, ensure that nothing that would be needed was forgotten.

If the Immortal One learns what he is up against, he might simply turn away.

"I should think so. But we didn't tell him now, did we?"

That cannot happen.

"It most certainly can," she warned, "if what you've told me is correct." And she knew that it was.

That must not happen, they amended.

"I suspect it won't."

Did you see the way he looked at her?

"I'm not blind," she mumbled. "Sometimes I think I see these things more clearly than you."

She couldn't remember now how it had happened, whether they had chosen her or she had chosen them.

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