Page 74 of Sapphire Flame
“I’m getting the same thing,” Natalie added. “What is Elegance doing with a sandpit and a very old one, I must say.”
“Move there. Both of you and I’ll tell you.” He gestured with his hand toward the center of the pit.
Grant saw what Landris was after. He wanted them in the middle. He didn’t hesitate to take his place. Natalie joined him.
Grant might not like Landris and he had some hesitation about giving a man so much power over their minds and their safety. But despite it all, he trusted the wizard on analterlevel, something he couldn’t explain.
Landris made a slow circuit around them, levitating a few inches above the sand. Once he’d completed his path, he flew to a breach in the wall and disappeared. When he returned, his arms were laden with eucalyptus branches.
He began to lay them out with the tops of the leaves pointing away from their feet. “I was one of the firstalters,so try to imagine what I’ve seen and experienced in the past thirty years. A formidable wizard by the name of Caltrop, built this pit for a single purpose: To torture wolves.” He met Grant’s gaze. “The blood of your species runs deep beneath this sand.”
“I don’t sense wolf-death here, though.”
“I’ve cleansed it repeatedly. It tends to come back at times. I’ve had powerful witches aid me as well. But the hundreds of deaths that occurred in this pit have also created a certain kind of spiritual element that enhances the abilities of my spells to lock onto the required subjects.
As Landris set the last of the branches in place, Grant felt a column of power flow from beneath his feet and up through his body, as well as Natalie’s.
“Do you feel that?” she asked quietly.
“Yes. My God.”
“Do you feel the wolves now?” Landris asked.
“Yes, as though they are crying out in agony.”
“The eucalyptus has culled their memories and with it their combined power. The firstalterwolves were wild and uncontrollable. They were savage, brutal, killing without mercy.”
“So, I’ve heard.”
“But so were all the species at that time. Five Bridges was a new world. We were all so angry at what had happened to us. We are more civilized today because much of the darkness has been driven underground. It lives in places throughout the five territories that mostalterspecies know nothing about. Kryder is one of the rulers of this underground. The depredations he commits on your pack is but a small sampling of the atrocities he perpetrates at his end of the Dark Corridor. I haven’t seen it for myself, but he built a belowground club which he keeps invisible.”
Grant experienced a sinking sensation in his gut. Here it was again. Kryder’s special project. “We recently learned Kryder owns a place called The Sapphire Club. Is that the one?”
“Yes. Kryder paid several hundred grand for the spell and he continues to pay installments to keep it in place.” He glanced from one to the other. “I agreed to help you because Neil believes in you both and because you have a chance to act against an enemy that I cannot. Kryder operates in Savage exclusively. I don’t go there since I’m keeping my identity a secret.”
“Are you suggesting we search out this club?”
Landris shook his head. “I want you forewarned, that’s all. My guess is that if you seek Kryder out, for whatever reason, you will eventually land at The Sapphire Club. It’s a fortress and heavily guarded. Once there, you must be invisible if you want to survive. But I’ll remind you of what I said earlier, that your chances of survival are slim. Now might be the time to reconsider, maybe give yourselves another year to explore and enhance your abilities.”
Grant hesitated, but Natalie said, “Now is the time. I’m certain of it. If death comes, so be it. The lives we live here in thealterworld are mere shadows of human life. Now that I know that Kryder, himself, turned me into analterfae, I’ll risk death at this point. I don’t pretend to have the answers. The best I can do is assess and move on. Right now, I’m prepared to take my chances with the invisibility spell and with Grant against Kryder.”
She then turned to Grant, her complexion high. “But what do you want here, Grant? I won’t speak for both of us. If you want to walk away, you know I’m fine with that.”
Grant felt his lips quirk. “Yeah, except for one thing. You’d continue on without me, wouldn’t you?”
“You know I would.”
He chuckled. “Fifteen percent sounds damn good to me.”
“We can be careful, too,” Natalie added. “I’m not a hothead and you have a scientific mind. We can calculate, we can use your dreamglide and my futurism. My wolf has already proven to be a guard-wolf.” She then smiled. “What more do we need?”
“A shitload of luck,” Landris interjected.
“So be it.” Natalie responded.
Grant shifted in the wizard’s direction. “Load us up, Landris. Seems we’re ready.”
“As you wish.” He seemed neither pleased nor distressed by their decision. He’d no doubt seen everything during his three long decades in Five Bridges.
