Not everyone, she thought desperately. Reisz would take me back. He still loves me. He always will.
She thought of the woman-spider and its unexpected generosity, sparing Myrmeen's life when the beast easily could have taken it.
Perhaps that was the point, Myrmeen thought. This way I know it can have me at any time. I live or die by its wishes.
No, that was not it. The look on the woman-spider's face before it retreated had revealed that it had been as confused by its own decision as Myrmeen had been.
Thinking about the mysterious woman-thing caused Myrmeen to recall her strange dream, then she moved beyond such unpleasantness, to gentler memories of her parents and their life before that fateful morning that her father was convinced would change all their lives forever. He had been correct, but not in the manner he had anticipated.
Suddenly she remembered the lonely nights after his death, when bizarre nightmares plagued her and she woke up screaming. Don't abandon me! Don't go away! Don't leave me for the shadow people to come crawling up from the floor when the lanterns are blown out! Father, please don't-!
'I am finished,' Lucius announced.
Myrmeen looked up in shock, glancing away from the pulsing, hypnotic fires that were dimming in her hand. She looked at the pair of boxes on the ground, darted forward with the speed and ferocity of an animal, and clutched the sides of the arcane box holding the apparatus. Before Lucius, who was trembling with fatigue, could stop her, Myrmeen hurled the box over the edge, into the pit.
The lazy sound of swords scraping against one another rose from the darkness outside the niche. Myrmeen had heard the sound only a few hours earlier, in her room, when the woman-spider had tried to kill her. The creature appeared on the opposite wall, the box clutched in two human hands. Myrmeen looked over the edge of the niche and saw that, fifty feet below, the monster had spun an intricate web. When she turned her gaze back to the box in Tamara's hands, she saw that white, sticky strands clung to its sides.
'Sudden movement,' Lucius said, horrified.
Myrmeen spun in his direction to see the second box flaring with a rainbow of colors. The mage covered his mouth, his brow furrowed as he rifled through his vast mental library of spells, hoping to find one that would purchase their lives.
'The spell,' he whispered, 'was not yet fixed. No sudden movement, or it would all be undone.'
'By the gods,' she whispered, suddenly aware of the cost of her actions. The flames in her hand flickered out and several strands of lightning reached from the second box like newly awakened hands eager to explore. 'Lucius!'
Myrmeen was aware of nothing but the feel of powerful hands on her back as she was dragged back from the niche, into the darkened shaft. She was quickly carried upward as an explosion sounded from where Lucius had remained.
The walls of the pit shook and Myrmeen looked up to see that she was in the woman-spider's arms. Tamara desperately tried to hold on as clouds of light and smoke billowed up from beneath them. Suddenly they were at the rim, over the top, stumbling forward. A beautiful shaft of greenish white light shot up from the pit and licked at the cavernous theater's ceiling, charring the stone black before the stream of light faded abruptly and was gone.
There had been no sound. Lucius's body had been destroyed, and he had not even issued a scream. Myrmeen scrambled to her feet and clutched at Lord Sixx. He held her at bay with ease.
'Help him!' she shouted. 'Release your hold on his soul, before it is too late.'
'It is too late,' Lord Sixx said with genuine regret. 'I prefer to keep my word, but there is nothing to be done.'
My fault, Myrmeen thought. It's my fault he's gone, his soul wandering forever in torment. Lucius, I'm sorry.
Behind Myrmeen, Tamara had regained her human form. She approached Lord Sixx, the box containing the apparatus in her hands. Before she handed the box to her leader, she glanced in her husband's direction, hoping for a sign that he would be willing to take the box instead. Imperator Zeal stared at her in displeasure and angled his head in Sixx's direction. Tamara felt her arms grow heavy as she presented the box to Lord Sixx and withdrew quickly. Myrmeen stood beside the dark man.
'Now,' Sixx whispered as he held the ornately designed gold box high over his head, intoxicated by the end of the quest and the security this object brought him: No challenger would dare usurp him. 'Now we may begin again.'
A roar sliced through the theater surrounding the pit as the Night Parade creatures cheered Lord Sixx. Myrmeen ran to Krystin and embraced her. Tamara watched them, her arms folded over her breasts. She was the only member of the Night Parade whose gaze was not riveted to the object Lord Sixx held out to his subjects. Her husband, Imperator Zeal, glanced at her and hoped that Sixx would not become aware of the woman's distraction.
When he was certain that the moment had passed, Lord Sixx allowed his people to break off into smaller groups, friends and allies congregating to discuss in hushed, excited tones the importance of this event to each of them. Although the conversations were diverse, many conducted in languages spawned by cultures that had not originated on this world, the content of each was invariably the same: With the apparatus back in their leader's possession, the long delayed Festival of Renewal finally would be held.
Lord Sixx went to Myrmeen, who held Krystin tightly against her. 'You may live.'
'And my friends?' Myrmeen asked.
'Yes, whatever. I'm feeling benevolent, and you've certainly done me a service.' He gestured grandly. 'Zeal, Tamara, take them outside. Make sure they get what they need for their journey, wherever they wish to go. Any who harm the humans will answer to me.'
The fiery-haired man and his wife brought Reisz and Ord forward. Zeal gestured, and the creatures that had followed him in the hallway retreated from the corridor.
'Wait,' Krystin said, surprising Lord Sixx and Myrmeen equally. 'You owe her more than that. You should tell her the truth about her daughter.'
Lord Sixx's many eyes narrowed uniformly. 'Why don't you do that, child? You know as much as I do.'
'What's he talking about?' Myrmeen asked, despite her instincts, which told her to leave this place before Lord Sixx changed his mind and slaughtered them.
Krystin turned to face Myrmeen. 'I'm not your daughter. I never was.'
Myrmeen swallowed hard. 'When did you learn this?'
'Days ago, in Calimport. It's my fault they're here,' Krystin said, watching Myrmeen's features grow hard and cold. Despite this, she could not bring herself to stop. 'I led them here.'
'You didn't,' Myrmeen said flatly, becoming numb.
' Alden followed the traces of blood I left behind.'
Myrmeen felt as if she were about to pass out.
'In the beginning, all they wanted was for you to think I was your daughter and take me away,' Krystin said. She wrung her hands and explained in full the deception that Lord Sixx had perpetrated and the part she unwittingly had played in his schemes. Then she told Myrmeen of how the locket had related to her stolen and bastardized memories. Finally she spoke of the deal she had made with Lord Sixx to save all their lives in Calimport.
'You're a fool,' Lord Sixx said, aghast at the child's stupidity. He wondered how he could use it to his own advantage.
Tears soaked Krystin's face as she said, 'Myrmeen, forgive me, I'm sorry-'
'What she's told you is true,' Lord Sixx said, 'but it's not the whole truth. For example: What happened to your true daughter? I can tell you that.'
Myrmeen shook her head and said with a quavering voice, 'I don't want to hear any more lies.'
'You don't understand,' Lord Sixx said as he motioned for Zeal and Tamara to come closer. 'I also don't have any reason to tell you a damned thing. Give me some incentive,'
Myrmeen almost laughed. 'I'm not playing any more games.'
