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They&039;d tried for hours to pick up soht a hint of his thoughts, his presence, in the places where the victims had been found, and in the theater, and in and around Shannon&039;s office The sense of hier where his physical self had been But their efforts got the it well
They returned to the house then, and Daain, to see the despair in her eyes, the fear of hier Maybe this time there would be hatred in her amber eyes, as well He had no idea what he could say to her She despised what he&039;d done, hated what he&039;d made her So how could she not hate hiain, let alone sleep another day under his roof? What would she say when he told her he&039;d failed, and asked her to stay with hiht to o until this threat was reh he was sure the hatred he&039;d felt eue had been directed at himself alone
Hell, he didn&039;t want her to leave at all, to be honest He couldn&039;t bear the thought of living a night without her vibrance to brighten it Irony tasted bitter He no longer had to fear he had becoer her And he no longer had to fear that death would tear her from him But he&039;d lost her all the same, hadn&039;t he?
He felt Eric tense beside hi, terribly wrong, of danger The knowledge that the rogue had been here
He ran to the front steps, up theer as old as ti the blade where it was, and struggled to read, but he shook his head "It&039;s not in any language I know"
Da the sheet of paper from him "It&039;s cuneiform script" The symbols on the paper were sio A cold shiver racing through hi of Uruk, lord of a people long dead, vile betrayer of the gods, immortal, demon, murderer For your role in the death of one who loved you, for your hand in her murder, for the life of Siduri, my betrothed, you will stand trial In the teht witness your sentence carried out No longer does the te sands of Uruk Still buried, yes, but not there Never to be seen by mortal eyes Brick by brick did I move it I await you there Your lover waits at my side Ready she stands to take your sentence upon herself in case you fail to heedhave I anticipated this reunion, man of old Anthar&039;"
Damien looked up from the note, to see the fear, the wonder in Eric&039;s eyes
"Gilga at Damien "My God"
"I&039;o now, fast"
Eric&039;s brows rose "But how? You&039;ve no idea where you&039;re going"
Daripped his arm "Your Tamara--"
"Will stubbornly erect a fortress around her mind rather than lure me into what she must know is a trap" Eric closed his eyes "I&039;ll try, but if she really doesn&039;t want me to knohere she is" He shook his head and tried to concentrate
"What the hell is this?" Shannon watched the huge doors slide slowly open, then jerked against the hands that tugged her into an elevator big enough to hold an elephant God, he was strong His bony hand gripped her arht he&039;d break it Tears streahtly she could barely draw a breath Her chest spasht him
She was afraid, terrified of what this skeletal man planned to do to her But more than that was the fear of what he&039;d already done To Taht at a speed that see Shannon&039;s face, screaround see, colorful blur And he&039;d just let Tao!
She hadn&039;t even screa And Shannon couldn&039;t see where she landed, because the bony bastard had still been speeding through space, still been clutching her tight But Shannon had screa until he&039;d hit her with a skinny fist and knocked her close to senseless
And now she was in this elevator, going down at a sickening speed, deep into the bowels of some kind of structure that seemed to sit in the middle of nowhere
The doors opened al stop The hand on her upper ar in pain, she stepped out into a stadium-size room where every step echoed a thousand ti wonder of ashed brick, gleaular ra upward A squared spiral at least forty feet high, topped by what looked like a teain
"Who is this Anthar?"
Damien shook his head "He must be from my time to noho I am and understand the cuneiform so well The ilade is ancient Sumerian And he must have known me once to have heard of Siduri"
"A woman?"
Damien nodded "I&039;ll explain later We have to hurry" Already a cold knot of foreboding twisted inside his heart He wished he could blink his eyes and be at her side But he knew better He was as attuned to her et, and all he felt was her fear It overwhel else There was a dim sense of the direction in which she&039;d traveled, and Da closer
Anthar Who the hell was he, and why this quest for vengeance? Damien didn&039;t know He knew only that if the bastard hurt Shannon in any way, no matter how small, Dahtened By Inanna&039;s ht her over by now She probably wished he&039;d simply let her die He&039;d wanted to do so much for her To show her happiness, to make up for all the sorrow in her life Instead he&039;d brought her into a world of darkness, and so far all she&039;d known had been fear
He&039;d get her out of this safely He would, if it cost hiive her what she craved Her freedom No matter how o
Eric had been silent for so enough to glance at theEric&039;s face He stopped, facing hiht, eyesThen faster And a round, cradling it in his are
Da bent at an unnatural angle, and one arm isted beneath her body Obviously broken Damien&039;s heart turned to ice as he saw Eric&039;s pain But her lovely black lashes fluttered, and she stared up at the man who held her with so much love in her eyes it hurt Dalad to see you"
"Tamara" Eric&039;s voice wavered He bent lower, kissed her face
"Gently, Eric Ithurts"
"I&039;ll kill him," Eric whispered "I&039;ll kill hi him When the hell had he beco to have to move her, Eric, pain or not Find her solanced around "Where the hell are we?"
"Solanced around him "There are houses I can--"
"No" Ta Eric&039;s aro on Find Shannon before that beast hurts her" She drew a pained breath "But be careful It&039;s you he wants"
"I know" Dahtened and stared off into the distance
"Go ahead, go after them," Eric said "I&039;ll take care of Tamara We&039;ll be fine"
"Are you sure?"
Tamara nodded "I&039;ll be okay after a day&039;s rest, Damien And we&039;ll join you with reinforceid "Tamara, you didn&039;t--"
"Ispree, Eric And we need all the help we can get" She relaxed a little, letting her head fall onto Eric&039;s knees "I pity that bastard if Rhiannon gets to hilanced back at Damien "I wouldn&039;t be too sure about that, Taain toward Shannon
He was forced to seek shelter when the sun rose But he resumed his search the instant it set, and he knehen he&039;d found her
His best guess was that the structure dead center of a barren field had once been a overnment to private owners when arms-reduction deals took the place of the cold war He approached the doors, and they opened Then the bastard knew he&039;d arrived Damien stepped inside what appeared to be an elevator, not caring if he alking into a trap as long as he could get to Shannon The car swept doard, clanged to a stop and opened as if to spit hi at the sensation of having stepped back in tihty and immaculate as it had been when it was new This same temple had been the center of his city once It had been filled with his people, his gods A h, whitethis way and that, a path to the heavensits way to the cella at the very top The teods, where sacrifices had been offered
He knew the telea desert sun Now it stood in darkness Appropriate Ironic
Mounting the first steps, Da the sao, only faster now, his strides more powerful than ever before And more desperate In seconds he stood at the entrance to the cella He stiffened his spine and went inside
A figure like a walking skeletoneach as he cath and lined with sconces on both sides, soon gloith a past Shadows fled the touch of the torchlight, ducking into the darkened doorways that lined the chamber Every few yards a smaller chamber opened off one side or the other But this was the rooods, the roo that the place had been so well restored The stone figures that depicted the worshippers were just as he reh as his knees, others smaller Male and fee, hands folded in prayer
Daures that represented his people Instead he focused on the emaciated man who&039;d stopped at the opposite end of the chamber, and turned to face him
"I&039;m here, Anthar I&039;ve done as you asked Where is Shannon?"
Anthar only shta hand beyond hiolden hair and beard had been polished until they gleamed, and his eyes, inlaid with lapis lazuli, danced with fierceness in the firelight At his sandaled feet, upon the stone offering table Shannon lay wide-eyed, treether on her stoether She was dressed in a white gown, fastened with a jeweled brooch at one shoulder, leaving the other bare Golden bands encircled her araze met hers, he felt her fear, her absolute misery He tried to convey reassurance, hope, conite the torches near her head and at her feet She cringed from him, and a sound of terror caed forward, but Anthar stepped into his path
"Look around you, Gilga to become one of them" He lifted the torch toward each of the deities that towered at Anu&039;s right and his left The goddess Inanna, whose name you cursed fros, friend to od of earth, wind and spirit, whood of war, furious with you now"
Damien held his temper in check with an effort "It seeods haven&039;t acted against me in all this ti"
"Their justice is at hand," Anthar said in a deep monotone
Damien shook his head "If that&039;s true, then I&039;et on with this, Anthar Release the woman now Whatever you have in mind, it&039;s a to free Shannon himself But Anthar reached to a ser, its handle inlaid with glittering jewels--emeralds aid sapphires, diae He held it poised at Shannon&039;s throat and she crea after she&039;d gone utterly still She stared at Da to his almost desperately
"If you move, blasphemer, I will hurt her Badly I will hurt her Likely she&039;ll bleed dry before you can help her"
"I&039;ue," Damien said softly, his voice oddly hoarse "Older than any, except Utnapishtiof Uruk Only aunt-faced man "He wouldn&039;t have--"