Lara hadn't considered that. She was at home in ice caves. They felt natural to her and the mage spells flooded her mind, faster and faster the more she used them. The aunts had prepared her for any trouble, it seemed, and more than ever she was determined to bring their bodies home. In life, maybe they'd been prisoners, but not in death.

"Keep the venom and parasites off of me, Natalya," she said.

"You got it."

Lara took a breath and let it out, lifting her hands and weaving a pattern in the air directed at the shadow warriors.

Ancient warriors of the past, who stood with honor and favored tasks. Now controlled by the dark and unseen, I call to you-listen to me. Bound by darkness that has no honor, I call to your spirit-fight once again as warriors. I send to you strands of strength, allowing you the ability to think. I ask a boon and release your souls, stand as one that has been froze.

The shadow warriors froze, dropping their swords, points toward the icy floor. Through the swirling smoke, Lara caught glimpses of the red pits for eyes set into black masks where their faces should have been. Facing the mirror of ice, the warriors remained frozen, staring sightlessly into that which reflected their empty souls. It saddened her that these men, who had lived their entire lives with honor, could be commanded by one so evil as Xavier.

Lara lifted her hands once more and began to weave a pattern, this one even more intricate and detailed than the one before.

This time when she chanted, her voice rang with respect.

Those who have suffered evil wrongs, who have fought in battles standing strong, look into the ice and see, that which may be reclaimed by thee.

Holding her breath, she waited as each warrior began to move, awakening as if from a long sleep. They stretched their arms toward the mirror of ice.

Lara continued to chant softly. Warriors of strength, time and valor, take back that which is yours and ascend with honor.

The ice began to form and give birth to floating lights, each a different color and shape. As the lights descended, the warriors stepped into them, glowing for a moment. Then each, bowing low toward Lara, simply vanished.

The moment the last of the shadow warriors disappeared, Lara called to Nicolas. "The way is clear. We have to get out of here.

Don't step on the pods."

Vikirnoff and Nicolas joined their lifemates, hurdling over the snapping teeth to get out of the mother parasite.

"That was well done, Lara," Nicolas said, sending a small salute after the warriors. "You honored them and rightly so."

"What are we going to do with that?" Vikirnoff asked, as the hideous creature snapped her jaws at them. She couldn't move, frozen as she was, her body part of the ice cave.

"Destroy it, Lara," Nicolas said. "I cannot call down the lightning here, but you can destroy that breeding machine. It sits there waiting for victims to feed to its young. You command all the elements."

"So do you." She tipped her head back and studied his face. He wanted this for her-to feel powerful and in control. He wanted her to know she could kill the monster that preyed on his people. She nodded. "I wish we'd had time to think of a way to destroy his laboratory."

Nicolas's smile held no humor, he simply bared his teeth in a wolfish way. "I'm giving it some thought. It is necessary to see where he is slipping the infected microbes into the soil."

"He has to be using the glacier to deliver them to either the soil or the water," Lara said. "My guess would be the soil because the villagers don't seem to be infected."

"We will find it now that we know what we are looking for," Nicolas said with confidence. "But in the meantime, destroy that creature."

Lara looked back at the ice monster with its bloodstained teeth and dripping venom. Xavier had created the perfect mother for his parasites.

Lara needed fire, and air to feed the fire. She lifted her arms and faced the monster, while the others stood back, knowing Nicolas had given her a perfect opportunity to thwart Xavier. Destroying his parasite factory would set him back a great deal.

"This is for Razvan and Gerald and Terry," she whispered softly and held up her arms, hands sketching a pattern in the air.

I call on the power of the west, air hears my call I draw on the power of the east, fire come to me.

A rushing of wind could be heard as small, flickering particles began to gather, swirling round and round, creating a wind tunnel.

The faster it turned, the higher the flames leaped, gathering more and more particles until it became one large tube of fire. Lara gave a flick of her hand and shot the fire funnel straight and hard at the monster breeding the horrific parasitic worms, enveloping it entirely.

That which is mother and bound by deed, let fire consume the parasites that feed.

The great jaws gaped open in a silent scream and the fire hissed and fought against the ice, blazing white-hot, incinerating and melting the creature fast.

Nicolas blew Lara a kiss. "That is my woman," he said. "Let's get out of here."

They used their blurring speed to move through the passageways. Xavier's ice caves were well aware of their presence and were beginning to fight back in earnest. The sun would be rising soon and they had to leave. They needed to find the bodies of the aunts and get out before they were trapped by their own weaknesses.

They used blurring speed, not touching the ground, moving fast through the twisting, sometimes very narrow tunnels, always going to the left and up.

Lara's heart began to pound. This is it. This is the chamber where I last saw them and they helped me to escape.

Immediately, Nicolas halted. Natalya and Vikirnoff stopped as well, looking around.

Lara recognized the cathedral ceilings and the two rows of tall, intricate crystal-and-ice-carved pillars running the length of the room. Globes of various colors sat in niches built into the columns. Life-sized ice sculptures of various mythical creatures were scattered around the room, looking like fierce guards. The sculptures had frightened her as a child, especially when she'd seen them come alive at Xavier's whim and stalk her across the floor. Set inside chiseled archways were bloodred pyramids that gave off an unholy glow."Don't look into the globes, especially the cloudy ones. They come alive and can trap you." Lara reached for Nicolas's hand, needing the contact.

"Natalya and I have been here before. I pushed the ice through the opening to close it in order to prevent the prince from coming down here to aid us," Vikirnoff said. "Xavier had set a trap for Mikhail using vampires to help him. We were forced to close the opening to protect him, and Natalya and I barely made it out alive."

"We went through the floor," Natalya said. "He has trapdoors built in to escape."

Beneath the ice floor was a starburst, squares and pyramid pattern that ran through the floor. In the center of each shape were hieroglyphics, each symbol carved deep into the various shapes.

"And I saw the dragons encased in ice," Natalya said. "The ice around them was several feet thick. They looked like water paintings. At first we didn't realize there were two of them."

Lara nodded to her right. "There's an alcove just through there." Now she could barely breathe. Would the bodies still be there?

And if so, where had the blood come from? They couldn't still be alive, could they?

"Do you want me to look for you?" Nicolas asked.

She shook her head. This was her quest-her promise. She would do this herself. She squeezed his hand and let go, straightening her spine and forcing her body to put one foot in front of the other. Vikirnoff, Natalya and Nicolas fanned out to protect her, watching the room closely for an attack-certain one was imminent.

Lara crossed over the ice squares, ignoring the horrific memories pouring into her mind. Deliberately she reached for the good- and there had been good-all because of two women. She'd never seen them in their human form, only the dragons, but their voices had kept her sane, made her feel loved, taught her everything she knew and then some. These women had been her only real family and she desperately wanted to bring them home. Xavier couldn't have them any longer.

Please. Please. Her throat felt swollen. Her heart hammered loudly. Her chest was tight and her eyes burned. Please. It was a litany. She wasn't certain she could face not ever knowing. They had done so much for her, kept her sane, given her values, taught her right from wrong, given her a chance at life, sending her out into the world with as much knowledge as they could give her. They had loved her, and because of them, she knew what love was.

I am with you, Nicolas assured.

She realized he was merged with her, his strength and love flowing into her, bolstering her. Lara clung to him for a moment and then rounded the corner to enter the alcove. Her breath exploded out of her lungs and silent tears tracked down her face. She could see Aunt Bronnie, one beautiful emerald eye staring at her through the thick wall of ice. Scales covered the serpentine neck and ran up the wedge-shaped head. One claw was outstretched, had obviously been digging at the ice before she froze.

Behind her, shielded as usual by Branislava, was Tatijana, her body almost impossible to see.

They're still here, Nicolas. If I can get their bodies out of the ice, can you float them? They're enormously large and impossible to carry.

Whatever you need.

He wouldn't tell her the cost to his strength while he was keeping her warm and scanning constantly for the enemy. He never would and she knew that. She also knew it was getting closer to dawn. They had to get out.

Lara stood back away from the wall and lifted her hands. This would be the most important spell she would ever cast. She had to command her spiders to bore through the ice, to cut huge chunks away to release the dragons, but she also needed to stabilize the ice so it wouldn't collapse in on them.The ice constantly groaned, reminding her just how unstable it really was. First, she needed to know if the walls were moving, because she was fairly certain they were. She took a breath. She needed a web stretched taut from wall to wall to warn her if the passage was narrowing.

Tiny spiders of crystalline ice, weave your web, make it tight, cast your silk from wall to wall, making sure no ice shall fall. Spin your patterns, weave them tight, watch your lines command the ice.

The spiders raced out of the ice, spread across the thick walls and began to weave and spin their luminescent threads until the shiny, glowing web was stretched in an intricate pattern from wall to wall. Satisfied, Lara wove a pattern with her hands, graceful and loving movements, tracing each weave carefully, her voice thick with emotion as she commanded the spiders to begin boring holes into the ice all around the dragons, like a giant cutout.

Spiders, spiders, form a line, use your skills, cut-bore-and bind.

The spiders swarmed over the wall encasing the dragons. It took some time to bore several feet inward and around such a large area.

"Hurry, Lara. The globes in here are changing colors, swirling with what looks like blood through each orb," Natalya called. "We have to get out of here."

Lara refused to hurry her next spell. This mattered too much. She wouldn't chance losing the aunts when she was so close. She added a holding spell for the ice, knowing it wouldn't last too long against the tremendous pressure of the glacier and Xavier's wrath that she could already feel in the ice itself.

I call thee water in frozen form, hold your place though cracked and worn. Tiny particles of water, ice meld and mold, fit and splice.

The ominous creaking and rumbling faded to whispers, but the sound of water continued to surround them. This was it then. She took another breath and with all the hope and love and knowledge she had, she wove her next spell to open the ice block the spiders had cut for her.

Thrice around this ice do bounds evil sink into the ground. Little spiders of crystalline ice, hold your webs, keep them tight. Cast them round, protect and be, so I may reach those who sleep.

The spiders wove their silken fire strands through each bore hold and pulled the threads tight, sawing back and forth until chunks of ice broke free. They continued to work until they exposed the dragons, and then they carved holes around the bodies until the dragons slipped free.

The dragon carcasses slid out of their ice prison, still frozen, hitting the floor with a cracking sound.

Chapter 19.

Lara crouched down beside the dragons, weeping. She put one hand on each of the ice-cold necks, bowed her head and whispered to them softly. "I'm setting you free. Just the way you did me, he doesn't have you any longer." Maybe it wouldn't matter to them in death, but it did to her. She would never want Xavier to have any part of her-in any form.

"Lara! Look at the web," Natalya said sharply. She peeked around the corner of the alcove and gasped aloud, staring in awe and dismay at the two dragon carcasses.

Previous Top NextThe ice spiders were making a mass exodus, rushing across the thick ice wall. The web they'd spun tight sagged in the middle by a few inches, but that was steadily increasing. The creaks and rumbling in the ice increased to an almost angry roar.

Nicolas rounded the corner of the alcove at a run and slid to a halt so fast that Vikirnoff, on his heels, bumped into him.

"You got them out," Vikirnoff said. "You found them and got them out."

Nicolas frowned and walked around the two bodies. He glanced at Vikirnoff. "They really are in dragon form."

"You knew they were," Lara said, "I told you. And you were with me..." She trailed off, glancing at Vikirnoff and Natalya, who were walking around the two dragons. Lara stroked loving caresses over the scales, usually shimmering with iridescent color, but now drab and dull.

"But they are part mage. How can they shift?" Nicolas murmured aloud.

"You said I could shift," Lara pointed out.

"You can, as long as I'm holding the image for you. Your Dragon-seeker blood is strong but..." He trailed off and looked at Vikirnoff.

Vikirnoff crouched down beside the two women. "Natalya, reach for them."

"I don't understand."

"Lara should. She's spoken numerous times with them telepathically," Nicolas said. "Lara, reach deep along the path you used to speak to them. Call them to you."

"You can't possibly think they're alive. Look at them. They're frozen solid. They're thin and drab."

"They are not mage," Nicolas said. "They are Carpathian. Fully Carpathian. How that came to be, I do not know, but they could not have survived all these years frozen, encased in ice,-and you said they were kept in ice even when you were a child- unless they are Carpathian. Mage would die. I do not know how I missed that. How any of us did. How could they be caught in the bodies of dragons?"

"You're saying they're still alive?"

"It is a possibility, yes," Nicolas said.

The ice continued to protest, crackling as icicles rained down on them, as large chunks sloughed off to crash to the floor. The trickle of water became louder.

Lara cleared her mind and reached. She knew the path intimately, had clung to it as a child, her only stability in a world of absolute madness. She reached with a mixture of love and hope. Aunt Bronnie. Auntie Tatijana. Can you hear me?

There was a weak stirring in her mind. Lara lost all color and gave a little cry. "I felt them. They're there. I felt them."

Nicolas looked grimly at Vikirnoff and then to the spiderweb, which was now sagging by at least a foot more. "I'm calling in aid.

Let us go now."

Warrior to warrior! We have great need. We have found two of our women in the ice caves and we are under attack.

Nicolas sent the call and immediately levitated the dragon's bodies. "Let's get out of here. Vikirnoff, you take the lead, I'll hold the rear."Vikirnoff glanced back at him in total understanding, and then turned and ran. The look that passed between them said a multitude of things. Nicolas was entrusting the other half of his soul to Vikirnoff. He was telling him not to guard his back, but to take the women to safety no matter what happened behind him. Vikirnoff accepted the responsibility of the women and also the consequences should Nicolas die in the ice cave protecting their flank.

Natalya grabbed Lara's wrist and yanked her into a blurring run, racing after Vikirnoff. Behind her, the bodies of the two dragons burst through the tunnels, sheering bits of ice off the walls.

Nicolas ran behind them, his senses fully alert for any movement, any danger. He had given Vikirnoff the responsibility of getting the women out of the caves. An army of Carpathian males were on the way and they would first go to defend the women so Vikirnoff's job was to get them as close to a meeting point as fast as possible. Relieved of watching out for the women, Nicolas was left with only one task. He would fight whatever came at them and see to it that Vikirnoff had the time needed to meet up with their relief forces.

The creaking and groaning grew to rumbles of protests. The rumbling became a roar of fury. The ice cave came alive, furious that they were escaping with Xavier's greatest treasures. Thunder crashed, echoing through the chambers, shaking the walls all around them. The pressure of the glacier, the weight of the ice itself, along with Xavier's wrath, forced out huge chunks of ice, squares and rectangles, several feet thick and wide, from the ice wall. The chunks shot out across the chamber, destroying everything in their path.

Vikirnoff shepherded the women back down along the tube winding through the chambers, leading back toward the entrance where they had originally entered the cave. Large chunks of ice slammed down, the caves crumbling as they ran. Nicolas waved his hand and stayed the huge weight, holding the ice chunks just the few seconds so the women could run through, towing the dragon bodies and then hastily staying the next series. It took tremendous concentration and timing to stay just ahead of the small group while he ran, too.

Water went from a trickle to a continuous pour, so that from every wall and the ceiling water flowed into their escape tunnel.

It will only take minutes for this to become a waterfall, Lara warned. The force of the water alone can kill. It's designed to sweep anything surviving back into his lair.

Just run!