Though everything else around him was blurred, he could see her perfectly. She looked vaguely familiar, but he could not place her. Her long hair was a rich honey shade. A straight nose, fine mouth, and strong jaw completed her face. She didn't move for several long minutes, fixing her eyes upon him with a wonderfully delighted expression. Her presence lent the chamber an otherworldly spellbinding charm.

Gulping, Kenneth tried to swallow past the lump forming in his throat. His spine stiffened. A hand of fear touched him, held him immobile. A ghost? Nonsense! Clearly he'd gone quite mad. Pain must have driven him over the edge and now he was hallucinating. He closed his eyes tight. But when he opened them, the specter still hovered.

The woman smiled warmly. Up close he could see that her skin was pale, almost translucent.

"Who are you?" he asked, the words fumbling past slack lips.

"I am Doma Atheia." She reached out, stroking the tips of her fingers lightly across his forehead. His heart skipped a beat. Her touch, though cool, was not unpleasant. Between her parted lips he could hear wisps of breath.

Kenneth trembled as his fuzzy memory produced a few vital pieces. "Tessa," he started to ask. "Where-" Again, he struggled to get up.

Atheia's hand moved to his shoulder and she gently urged him back. "She is fine."

Kenneth sank down, too tired to resist.

"I can help you," Atheia added. "If you will let me."

Fist clenched tightly, she lifted her right hand over his chest. Hand hovering, she unwrapped her fingers to reveal what she held-an oval amethyst about the size of a fifty-cent piece. The glow of an unearthly radiance seemed to emanate from its heart, as though it generated its own inner light source.

She smiled again, looking from the stone in her hand to his face. As she did, the crystal rose from her palm, powered by an unseen force.

A flash of intuition rea.s.sured him she would do him no harm. "Please . . ."

Placing the hand holding the stone palm down on his chest, she began to chant the words of a melodic spell.

Doma Atheia began to speak softly. "Elements of day, powers of the night, I call upon thee, G.o.ddess of light, heal his pain with all thy might."

As if generating some sort of lightning storm, fiery bolts emanated from the stone.

Closing his eyes to shield them from its glow, Kenneth felt tiny fingers of luminous warmth caress his skin. He could feel tense muscles relax as the warmth slowly advanced through his body.

For a long moment there was silence. He felt as if he were floating on air, his body buoyant, mind untrammeled. He was close to drifting off to sleep when a featherlight stroke across his cheek brought his eyes open. Immediately he could see that the stone with its mysterious healing light had vanished.

"Has your pain gone?" the Mer priestess asked.

Swallowing, his mouth suddenly dry, Kenneth nodded.

"It has," he affirmed. "How did you . . . ?"

A familiar figure knelt down beside him. "Kenneth? By the G.o.ddess, how do you feel?"

Kenneth gingerly propped himself up on one elbow. Rubbing a hand across his face, he did a quick mental check. "I feel pretty d.a.m.n good, actually. Better than good."

Tessa smiled, relief etched into her face. "I shouldn't have taken it out of you to begin with."

Vaguely aware that he lay on some kind of low pallet, Kenneth looked around. The huge stone-walled chamber was simply furnished, lit by a simple lamp made of a clay pot filled with oil and a wick. Around the room, clay pots of oil with floating wicks brightened and warmed.

He looked at the two women. "Where the h.e.l.l are we?" The last he remembered was lying on a cold stone floor in the obsidian-walled cell, praying he'd hurry up and die.

"We're in Thonissi," Tessa said. "One of the dead cities."

Sitting up, Kenneth swung his legs over the edge of the low couch. "Dead city? I don't understand."

The Mer who'd introduced herself as Atheia answered. "Thonissi was one of the first cities affected by the sickening," she explained. "It was abandoned a long time ago."

That answer definitely confused him. That and the fact she was speaking a language he could understand. "How is it I know what you're saying?"

Atheia laughed and touched her soul-stone. "Our soul-stones allow the Mer to communicate on a psychic level. That way we can speak with each other when we are unable to use our mouths."

"Like under water," Tessa put in. "And once we synchronize our soul-stones to the same wavelength, we can share information easily." She touched the small stone hanging around her neck.

"But you didn't do anything like that with Magaera, did you?" Kenneth asked, more than a little confused.

Tessa shook her head. "No. I didn't."

"Tessa was kind enough to share her knowledge of your language with us, so that we could speak with you without an interpreter," Atheia explained. "As for Magaera . . ." she said with a shiver. "Our queen knows ways of invading the mind without your consent." A fine tremor shook her. "To the rest of us, it is forbidden knowledge. But to a sorceress . . ."

Kenneth wasn't sure whether it made sense. The more he learned about the Mer, the less he understood.

He decided to ask a question that might get an answer he could make some sense out of. "So why are we in a dead place?"

Atheia laughed. "Because slowly but surely life has begun to return. We are learning to overcome the sickening, return life to our lands."

Tessa's smile backed up her words. "Come on. You must be hungry. We'll explain while you eat."

As if to second her words, Kenneth's stomach rumbled. He remembered what had first pulled him out of his comatose stupor. The smell of cooking meat. "I'm game. Take me to your food. Please."

After taking a few minutes to wash up and relieve his bladder, Kenneth followed the women through a series of broad corridors. In the lead, Atheia conducted them into a suite of rooms with wide fireplaces and shuttered windows. In a kitchen-type room, several women worked around a stone hearth, preparing the day's meal. Unlike the priestess, they weren't all perfectly blond and blue eyed.

More surprising than the domesticity of the Mer females was the sight of the men who worked beside them. Instead of cringing and cowing, shackled and whipped, these men stood confident. And free. And they weren't all blonds, either. They looked more like him-big, brawny. Just average men.

Atheia led them to a bench in front of a table. "Please sit. We will bring food."

Kenneth sat down. Tessa took the s.p.a.ce beside him. He leaned toward her. "Are we still in Ishaldi or am I really dead and don't know it yet?"

She nodded. "This is the way it was before the Mer began culling humans for slavery and breeding."

"Then these men-?"

"Are their husbands."

"I thought the Mer took mates only when they were ready to have their daughters."

Tessa's cheeks reddened. "It's still true. In their minds, a happy life is worth more than a long one."

He looked at her, wondering if she remembered the words she'd told him earlier, in the cell. He did. He'd never forget the moment she admitted she loved him.

But was it true, or something she'd said in the heat of emotion? People under stress often said things they didn't mean.

His gaze found hers. He hoped she remembered. And he hoped she meant the words. "That doesn't seem so far-fetched."

Breaking their gaze, Tessa rubbed her cheek. "I know." She looked around, drinking in every detail. "This is how I imagined Ishaldi would be."

Kenneth studied her thoughtfully. Without really thinking about it, he put a hand on hers. He squeezed. Just a little. "You're not locked down yet, Tess."

Her expression suddenly softened. To his surprise, she squeezed back. "I am," she admitted in a low voice meant only for his ears. "You just don't know it yet."

What? Kenneth looked at her closely.

But there was no time to think about it.

Several Mers delivered platters heaped with food. While he recognized some of the fruits, the first thing he noticed was that they didn't limit their diet to raw seafood. An animal that looked vaguely like a snake had been skinned and roasted.

Atheia held a dish toward him, indicating he should serve himself. "Please, have your fill."

Kenneth gingerly selected a piece. He took a polite bite. The meat was chewy, but flavorfully seasoned. "I thought the wildlife had died out here," he said after he'd swallowed.

A Mer with black hair nodded. "Most wild game has died out, and we try to preserve the little that remains. Most of our food comes from the water. What you are eating is eel from the reservoirs."

Kenneth blanched, trying not to pull a face. Food was food and he should be grateful he was getting a meal. He'd feel a lot better on a full stomach. "Tastes okay." Finishing off the first piece of meat, he reached for a second. He was hungrier than he thought and the eel didn't taste that bad.

"Our world would have a chance to survive if the queen and those who worship her would stop draining our natural resources," the woman added with a frown.

Atheia nodded. "Kallixeina speaks the truth."

Concentrating on his meal, Kenneth shook his head. "Queen Magaera told us the virus was unstoppable."

Another Mer with black hair stepped up. "It is unstoppable because they choose to make it that way."

"Kleio's right." Tessa munched her own selection, something that looked like a cross between an apple and a pear. "The sickening is the result of psychic burning," she began to explain. "In an effort to make themselves immortals, some Mer have begun to eschew the physical. They take in energy, but return nothing. Minerals form the basic framework of all life. Drain them away and everything dies. Stone begins to disintegrate, soil becomes sterile, plants and animals die. The viruslike disease killing Ishaldi are the Mer themselves."

"It is D'ema, the death magic," Kallixeina added. "And it is forbidden to use."

Kenneth thoughtfully chewed his meat. "Then why don't they simply stop?"

Everyone looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Such power is a disease itself," Atheia said slowly. "And now that the sea-gate is open again, the human world is vulnerable to Magaera's hungers. Soon, she and her army will go forth to continue the old war. Once they regain freedom in the seas, they will glut themselves."

Kenneth glanced at Tessa. The more he found out about the Mer, the worse the news got. He found it hard to believe such beautiful women could belong to such a vicious and destructive race.

As if able to read his thoughts, Tessa nodded slowly. "During the war between humans and Mers, Queen Nyala had to choose the human world, or her own. She chose yours."

Kenneth swallowed down the lump building in his throat. The food he'd consumed sat like lead in his gut. The remainder of his appet.i.te vanished. "Why would a queen turn against her own people?"

Tessa indicated the women and their mates. "Because Nyala, too, saw value in peace between our races. Her council would not let her end the hostilities. Her own life was in danger and she saw only one way out."

Kenneth nodded. "I can see how that would be lucky for us," he said, pushing away the leftovers.

Guilt flashed across Tessa's face. "And then I came along and ruined everything." Her hand settled on his arm, fingers digging tight. "With Jake's help, Magaera's legions will swarm the oceans. What they can't conquer, they'll kill."

Kenneth's shoulders slumped. Oh, s.h.i.t. He'd completely forgotten about Jake Ma.s.sey. "It would be just like that b.a.s.t.a.r.d to want to set himself up as a G.o.d."

Until that moment the men hovering in the background had been unusually silent, letting the women do the talking. Now one broke free from the group, stepping forward to speak.

Unable to understand the language he spoke, Kenneth shook his head. "I didn't catch what he said."

Kallixeina translated. "My breed- mate says we must stop Queen Magaera from vanquishing the land of his ancestors."

Kenneth didn't have to think about it. "Any reasonable man would say that."

Kallixeina gave her man a fond smile. "His reasons are stronger than most. For most of his life, Cydros has been a slave, a lesser in our society. Under Queen Magaera he has no rank and no rights. He may breed only a lesser woman because he is considered an inferior to mate with a Mer female. His son or daughter will also be a slave, and their lives will not be their own."

Kenneth understood. "I couldn't imagine living the life of an inferior. I've been treated like one and I didn't like it."

"Then you understand why we battle Magaera," Atheia said.

He nodded. "Of course."

Tessa put a hand on his shoulder. "Queen Magaera now has control of the sea-gate."

"That makes sense. With Jake advising her, she's probably got that thing on lockdown."

Tessa pulled a deep breath. "There's more. They're going to try to get us home. But we only have two very slim options."

He didn't like the sound of that one. "Which are?"

She gave him a long, searching look. "One, we win and get to live."

Kenneth clearly saw the conflict in her face. "And two?"

She grimaced. "We lose, we die."

Atheia looked at them both, her face taking on a drawn, grim expression. "Out here in the dead lands our numbers are still small, yet undetected by Magaera and her council. To fight we will need every person able to command a weapon. But once we step out, we will all be revealed. Every last one of us. There will be no place to run, no place to hide."

Listening to her speak, cold awareness rushed over him. Though her even, neutral voice had betrayed nothing, he had a sneaking suspicion that all h.e.l.l was about to break loose.

And we're right in the middle of it.

Kenneth looked at the small band of people around him, human and Mer. Somehow, amid the violence and devastation rolling through their world, they'd managed to carve out a reasonable semblance of life. Their world was torn by the strife of civil war, as many realms were, but they'd clearly managed to survive the conflict. Perhaps they would have flourished, given time.

But time had been taken from them when Tessa opened the sea-gate. Magaera and her ilk now had access to an unlimited source of energy-energy that would surely increase her power a thousand times over. She would also be goaded on by a man who would show her the ways of the human world-and how best to rape its almost limitless resources.

Magaera had the potential to become a G.o.d. First she would reclaim the seas. Then she would strike out for land.

And the world would crumble under her fist.

"If you're asking me to fight," he said evenly, "I'm in."