Tangled Engagements (The Memory Stones Series Book 4) Read online

  “Please hear me and help me, my lord. This wound is one that I do not understand, and cannot cure. It frightens me, and it grows. Can you treat it with your great power?” he asked.

  The obelisk began to glow, and Coriae gasped in surprise. She leaned slightly, towards Theus, as though seeking safety through her closeness to him.

  “The wound you have suffered is a grievous one,” Limber’s baritone voice rumbled from an unseen source.

  “Oh my god!” Coriae exclaimed in shock.

  “Theus rise and approach my mark,” Limber commanded.

  “Your injury is the mark of Donal and Ind’Petro,” Limber began to explain as Theus rose. “It is an infection; the knife that delivered the wound to you was stained with the evil power of Donal, and it seeks to not just harm your body, but to destroy your very soul.”

  Theus reached the obelisk and stood before it as it glowed.

  “I cannot heal you of this severe harm here,” Limber announced.

  “No!” Coriae shouted, rejected the god’s claim, as Theus felt himself grow numb with shock.

  “But I can cure you if you come home to Limber, to my temple in our city,” Limber added the comment that caused Theus to sigh in relief. “You must come home as soon as you can.

  “And from now until you return and are cured, you must wear this pendant in the niche in front of you,” the god told him.

  There was a niche, a shallow opening in the obelisk, chest high. Theus didn’t remember seeing it before, but it was right in front of him as he looked at the glowing stone. Upon the bottom of the niche was a bright red ruby pendant, a large, tear-drop shaped stone, attached to a fine silver chain.

  “Let your companion approach and place the stone over your head,” Limber instructed.

  “Does he mean me?” Coriae’s voice quavered.

  “Yes,” Theus replied, as he saw her starting to rise from her kneeling posture.

  “While you wear this stone, the evil influence of your wound will be held in check. You will not feel its ill-will influencing your decisions or actions or heart, and the spread of the corruption in your flesh will be removed,” the god’s voice explained.

  “But also, your ability to use the power of white magic will also be held in check; you will have none of the powers that you have been learning to master. The pendant is a filter that prevents you from touching any plane but your own – neither the worlds of the demons or the angels will interact with you as you wear this.”

  Coriae was beside him.

  “Shall I take the pendant?” she asked.

  “Yes. Theus, kneel before her,” Limber directed.

  Coriae reached gingerly into the niche, her hand glowing in the light of the stone obelisk as she grasped the thin chain. She lifted it and pulled it free, while Theus knelt on both knees in front of her, looking up at her.

  Her face was illuminated uniformly by the obelisk’s glow, light above and below and even with her features, so that there were no shadows. She was stunning to look at, Theus thought for the hundredth time. And her eyes were even more appealing, for instead of their usual intelligent challenge, they showed a devoted trust, a belief in the great power of the deity that was demonstrating his unfathomable ability.

  She pulled the loop of the chain wide with both hands, then dropped her hands down, and released the chain, as the stone came to rest on Theus’s chest. Without prompting, she bent at the waist and grasped the glowing ruby stone and tucked it inside his tunic, against his chest, then she tenderly kissed his forehead.

  “Come back to Limber Theus, to be healed, before you undertake the quest to kill the god Ind’Petro,” Limber commanded. The light from the obelisk flared, then diminished, and suddenly the sanctuary felt empty and dull.

  “Oh Theus!” Coriae exclaimed. She knelt in front of him, and her eyes searched his. “That was unbelievable! I’ve never felt anything so full of energy before! Life feels so much different – it’s full of potential and purpose, isn’t it?”

  He gave a gentle smile. “I’ve certainly come to believe that,” he agreed.

  “The things you’ve done – taking the jewel in my room, leaving Great Forks, fighting the black magician – you’ve done because the gods told you?” she asked.

  “I’ll tell you again, I’m so sorry I doubted you,” she leaned forward, then tenderly placed her lips against his. The kiss was a gentle one, but after a second of murmurs, it began to grow passionate.

  “I have to stop now,” Coriae’s voice was practically in his own mouth as she spoke, but then she pulled her head back, and closed her eyes.

  “You don’t have to stop,” Theus told her. He felt light-hearted, as though some shadow had been lifted from his heart.

  “I do; I must,” there was a struggle in her voice, and they were both silent, as she leant against him and rested her head on his shoulder.

  “Does that hurt?” she asked a moment later, lifting her head from the injured shoulder.

  “No, it doesn’t,” Theus replied with wonder.

  “Let’s look at it,” Coriae said. She lifted his shirt from the bottom, pulling it up over his head, and revealing his shoulder.

  “Look at it!” she exclaimed excitedly, though there was no need. They were both staring in amazement at the unfolding event beneath Theus’s skin.

  A thin red light outlined the entire black infection of his shoulder, and the red line was visibly compressing the darkness, shrinking the dark blot as the red pushed it back towards the wound that was the center of the darkness. As they watched, the black stain grew smaller and smaller, and in half a minute it was confined to the original wound itself, a black, oblong slice, with a glowing red fence that held the evil in check.

  The stone no longer glowed, but the protective line in his skin did.

  Theus spoke first.

  “Thank you for bringing me here,” he told her. He groaned as he rose to his feet, then offered a hand and helped her rise as well. He released his hold on her, then slid his shirt back over his head. “Let’s return to the mansion,” he suggested.

  “Through the back way, or the front door?” Coriae asked with an uncharacteristic giggle as they left the sanctuary.

  “We can go back in through the front door,” Theus answered without hesitation. He reached over and took her hand in his as they began to walk; she squeezed his fingers comfortably, and held tight, as they walked without further words.

  When they turned the corner to approach her home, Coriae removed her hand from his.

  “Appearances,” she vaguely offered an explanation.

  “My lord,” the guard at the gate spoke. “They’ll be pleased to see you, my lord. There’s been some concern about your whereabouts.”

  Theus and Coriae looked at one another, then walked up the drive and entered the main door of the house.

  “My lord, my lady,” Lorinse greeted them first, in the hallway that once again contained a crowd of officials waiting to speak to Lord Warrell. “We’re glad to have you back. May his lordship speak with you?” Lorinse asked.

  “Yes,” Theus agreed. “Thank you for taking me to the temple,” he turned and told Coriae.

  “I had a wonderful experience; I’m so glad we went,” she replied with a smile, then left to weave her way through the crowd and disappear into the house.

  “If I didn’t know better,” Lorinse murmured, then led Theus into the office where Lord Warrell was speaking to a pair of officials.

  “Theus!” Warrell brightened at the sight of the new arrival. “It’s so good to see you.

  “I’ve just received word that your friends from Greenfalls are gone, and the departing portion of the Southsand invasion is gone. Would you be able to lead your new Southsand followers out to the Greenfalls campsite, to remove them from the docks? It would make the merchants much happier.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Theus agreed. He could make the journey and be back at the mansion not long after nightfall. The day was turning in
to a wonderful day, he thought. He’d gone from pain and deadly infection and bickering with Coriae, to now being healthy and in a happier relationship with Coriae, and he had a chance to meet with his Southsand followers who were about to become Limber’s first army.

  He left the office and wove his way out of the mansion, then trotted back into the city center, and to the docks where the encampment of Southsand deserters remained in a warily peaceful situation. Theus spoke to the Great Forks guards outside the sequestered dock and explained the plan, then met his friends and their followers.

  He took time to explain what the next steps were – a movement outside of the city, then a return in the morning to the temple of Limber, and then, finally, preparations to start the long journey to Limber.

  “Your magical powers will make the trip easier, won’t they?” Montuse asked.

  “I won’t be able to use them until we get to Limber,” Theus admitted. “I need to be healed at the temple in Limber; Donal’s magic poisoned the knife I threw at him, the one that came back and struck me.”

  “But you’ll be okay?” Alamice asked.

  “Limber will cure me,” Theus assured him. Theus was walked through the camp to meet the other members of the Southsand military that had switched allegiances, and then he led them on the march through the wary town. They reached the trampled field that had been the impromptu camp for the Greenfalls soldiers, and they set up their temporary arrangements for the evening.

  When all seemed secure, Theus excused himself to return to the Warrell mansion. As he walked through the fading light after sunset, his hand unconsciously crept to his chest, to clutch the large stone that rested there. It felt odd to detect the weight against his chest when he thought about it, but it was also comforting. It was a gift from Limber, a gift that carried protection and safety for Theus.

  When he reached the mansion after nightfall, he went around to the back of the mansion, as was his practice of old, and entered through the kitchen, where the staff was still cleaning up after the final feeding of the city leaders for that evening.

  “Well, yes, of course for you,” the head of the kitchen replied when Theus apologetically asked if he could have a bite of dinner. The staff quickly filled a tray with food and a lit candle, and then reluctantly allowed Theus to carry it up to his room by himself, though two of the maids vied energetically to be allowed to carry it on his behalf.

  In his room, Theus used the candle to light his bedside lantern, then comfortably ate the food on his tray quickly and without regard for all the manners and conventions he had learned during his months of living in society. When he picked the last shred of meat from the chicken bones, he set the tray aside, then undressed, and removed the pendant from his chest, so that he could examine it in the light of the lantern.

  The jewel was not a memory stone. But there was something about it that was unusual. It wasn’t able to store memories, but he sensed that it had some ability to develop an affinity with its possessor. It had been a gift from Limber, so he had no doubt that it was a desirable object, in whatever fashion it operated. He set it on the nightstand beside his bed, then yawned mightily, and extinguished the lantern so that he could enjoy a restful night of sleep.

  Except that he didn’t. Sometime in the middle of the night he found himself awake, obsessed with thoughts about Coriae. She had been so beautiful, and so sincere after experiencing the divine intervention in Limber’s temple, that he had no doubt she had fully forgiven him and was ready to resume their relationship. If anything, the extraordinary events of the week, and the honest and raw exchange of emotions they had displayed in the street outside the temple, seemed to indicate to him that there was no reason to wait any longer.

  Even if it was the middle of the night.

  He was going to go to her room and talk to her, to declare his love, and ask for her hand in marriage, once he returned from his last great mission, assuming he did return.

  He pulled on his pants, and then softly crept down the hall. He had a sense of déjà vu, an eerie feeling that the experience was too similar to the time he had crept into her room to find the memory stone of white magic secrets.

  He saw a dim line of light showing under her door, giving him the relief of knowing that Coriae was still awake. It would be simpler to open the conversation, without waiting for her to awaken and recover her senses. Faint noises came through the door, and he smiled as he turned the handle and imagined the happiness the two of them were about to share.

  He pressed the door open, and heard two voices, making indistinct sounds, a strange occurrence that he didn’t understand until he slipped into the room and looked at the bed.

  Coriae was sitting on the edge of her bed, engaged in a passionate kiss with another man.

  The man had a mane of curly, long hair, foppish in appearance. Coriae was moaning soft utterances as the man kissed her throat, and Theus unknowingly cleared his throat in shock at the sight.

  Both heads turned to see him. He saw the face of the man, a man he recognized, a nobleman whose name he could not recollect. Coriae’s face showed first shock, then embarrassment, and then a calm acceptance.

  “Theus, I want you to meet my fiancé,” she said, as she disengaged in the embrace with the dandy and stood to face Theus. She wore her nightgown, a drape of cloth that was barely sufficient to hide her features as it shimmered and clung to her.

  “I say, what gives you the right to come in here without knocking?” the man asked as he turned to face Theus, a look of annoyance on his face.

  Theus suddenly found that he had a sword in his hand. He didn’t know where it had come from, but as he looked at the nobleman who was seducing Coriae, he felt a burning anger, and he knew he was about to act.

  “You’re the one who shouldn’t be here,” Theus bellowed, raising the sword.

  “Theus, your shoulder is black again!” Coriae pointed at his joint as he stepped forward.

  “And in a moment my sword will be red,” Theus growled in a low tone as he stepped forward.

  “Theus! Theus, wake up!” he felt a hand on his arm, and another on his cheek.

  “It’s just a bad dream; everything is okay,” he realized Coriae’s voice was speaking to him.

  His eyes fluttered open, and he saw Coriae standing over him as he laid in his own bed. A candle was on a stand that had been placed on the table across the room, giving insufficient light for him to see the features of the girl’s face.

  “There now, the bad dream is over. You can relax,” her voice was soothing. She sat down on the edge of the bed, then after a moment, she stretched out, lying on top of the cover as he lay beneath it, the lengths of their bodies pressed against each other with only thin cloth separating them.

  “It was a dream?” Theus asked. He lifted a hand from beneath the cover and rested it on Coriae’s back, then slowly and gently stroked her as she replied.

  “I heard you call out from my room, and I came to see what the problem was. Oh, Theus!” her voice changed to carry concern. “The black growth is on your shoulder again. Limber’s stone is failing.”

  “It’s not failing,” he managed to reply, while he tried to shake himself into the reality of the present. There had been no man in Coriae’s room; Theus hadn’t been in her room. It had been a dream.

  “Oh, I see it on the nightstand. Here, sit up,” Coriae lifted herself with one arm, while she reached out with the other, and Theus let his eyes covertly examine the deep shadows between her gown and her flesh, wishing he could see more.

  Theus raised his head, allowing Coriae to fumble one-handed to drape the silver chain over his head. As soon as the stone once again touched his chest, he felt an unrealized sense of anxiety disappear. He gave a sigh of relief.

  “Does it hurt?” Coriae asked, misinterpreting the sigh.

  “No, it feels better,” he replied. He felt his intuition jump to a conclusion. “The nightmare – I think the wound caused the nightmare. It’s poisoning my mi
nd and my heart along with my body,” he speculated.

  “What kind of nightmare was it?” Coriae asked, her body still lying next to him.

  “No, never mind. You don’t have to talk about it,” her hand slowly stroked his hair, and they both fell silent, her hand comfortingly stroking his head while his hand continued to massage her back.

  “Is this what it’s like to be married?” Coriae asked after minutes of silent comfort. “I hope so; I feel so comfortable like this,” she murmured sleepily. “I could let you rub my back all night.”

  Theus knew he had to reply.

  “I’d jump at the chance,” he smiled gently, then slid his other arm out from beneath her to encircle her in his grasp, as he let his second hand begin to join the first in loosening the muscles of her back. They rubbed in tandem, kneading the muscles, drawing moans of satisfied relaxation, until they reached the small of her back. He hesitated momentarily, and then let his hands began to move lower.

  “I better go back to my room,” she said immediately. “Imagine the scandal if someone saw us here.” She sat up, and slid off the bed, out of his reach. “Your shoulder looks better already,” she said comfortingly.

  He looked down and saw that indeed, the bright red line was once again shepherding the darkness back into a confined area in the immediate vicinity of the shoulder wound. He looked up and saw that Coriae was already at the door with her candle, and then he saw her slip away.

  He lay in bed awake, thinking of the feel of the muscles of her body under his hands, until he found that he was growing sleepy once again. He relaxed and remained soundly and dreamlessly asleep until the morning, when Coriae and Blanche brought a tray of breakfast foods into his room, awakening him.

  “You’ve still got your jewel on I see,” Coriae said as she sat in a chair next to the bed. “I don’t think you should take it off again for anything, until you’re back in Limber and are in the temple there.”