Page 28 of Seduction

Selena gasped as a bucket of cold water hit her in the face. Choking and retching, she stumbled to her feet then fell as a dizzying wave of nausea came over her.

She landed hard, her head cracking against a stone floor. Rough hands grabbed her by the hair and yanked her to her feet.

Selena tried to force her blurred vision to focus. She stood in a dark room built of stone. It was impossible to tell the size since the corners were thrown into shadow. Two men faced her, near enough to touch. Although barely over five feet tall, they were powerfully built. They had large heads with prominent brow ridges over deep-set dark eyes.

Fragmented bits of memories flashed through her mind. Hands grabbing her. Injections in her neck. She had no idea how many there had been, only that they’d come every time she struggled to break through the darkness.

Low guttural voices. Unintelligible at first. Then a word here and there, as the Tellex chip kicked in.

She’d been strapped into a spacecraft at some point. And had a strange dream after that, of being pulled through an endless tunnel that became narrower and narrower, her body stretching apart as though it would be reduced to passing through it one atom at a time.

“Doctor Reston.”

Selena’s head wobbled. A deep voice came from the shadows, somewhere in front of her. Gradually, her eyes adapted to the dim light.

“Doctor Reston.” The tone was harder. Sharper. “There’s no use pretending. I know you can understand me. You have a communicator in your head.”

He was right. Apparently, in the time since they’d taken her, even while unconscious, the chip had been assimilating the words she heard, translating this foreign tongue in the language center of her brain. She didn’t know what language it was, but she could understand it perfectly.

In front of her, five stone steps led to a raised dais dominating one end of the room. On it sat an elaborate throne, covered in gold. Massive horns from some great beast formed the curved arms. Another set of longer, sharper horns crossed each other, rimming the back.

“I am Balam, lord of the Tabun. Welcome to Skhul.”

The deep voice came from the man seated on the throne. Lord Balam made an imposing figure. He wore the fur pelt of an animal unfamiliar to her tossed over his shoulders as a cloak and a loincloth slung around his hips. His body was thick, muscles bulging in his bare chest and arms. Hair hung in a tangled mass down to his shoulders, jet black with a few strands of gray at the temples.

A wicked triple scar ran across one side of his chest, as though it had been swiped by a massive paw. Around his neck hung a string of claws on a gold chain. Selena wondered which of them belonged to the beast that had left its mark on him.

Like the others, he had eyes black as midnight set deep in his face below a prominent brow line. Wild bushy eyebrows made it stand out even more. Those eyes locked on hers. Selena swallowed, trying not to let her nerves get the best of her. She felt like a doe caught in the sights of a ruthless hunter.

Tabun. Her heart raced. Bloodthirsty Neanderthals, close relatives on mankind’s family tree, who had nearly killed off Homo sapiens before being banished from Earth thousands of years ago, sent through a star portal to a distant world. This one claimed to be Balam, the same Tabun who led the invasion of Gadolinium and nearly killed Haldor.

She raised her chin defiantly. “I think not. Balam is dead.”

The man on the throne stared at her for a few moments. Then he came down from the dais. Stopped so close she smelled the acrid odor of dried sweat on his body.

“It would seem that, like your Viking patient, reports of my death were premature.”

“Why did you kidnap me and drag me here?”

“You were honored by your people for bringing the Gadolinian back from the dead. News of your skill as a healer has spread throughout the galaxy, Doctor Reston. I have need of your services. You have only to perform the same magic for me that you did for him, and I will return you to your world with my gratitude and unimaginable wealth.”

He waved a hand. A row of men came out of the shadowy depths of the room, two by two, each pair carrying a wooden chest. They set the chests in from of her, knelt and opened the lids.

Selena gasped. How many worlds had Balam plundered to amass such riches? Not gold or diamonds. Those were too commonplace. These chests held rare crystals, any one of which would power a planet the size of Earth for years and iridescent elements with grains finer than sand, the primary building blocks for superweapons capable of wiping out an entire civilization. Desiccated body parts of long-extinct creatures, fabled for their legendary powers.

She had to tread lightly. At the moment, Balam was calm. Even cordial. But she’d heard Haldor’s tales about him. Knew his pleasantry was a thin veneer that hid a cruel nature and a vicious temper.

“Lord Balam, this treasure is incredible and far more than any one person could ever deserve, no matter what the task. But if you were near death, you have certainly recovered. You don’t look as though you have need of my services as a healer.”

“I did not summon you to Skhul to treat me.”

He spoke as if she’d come in answer to a polite invitation, but Selena didn’t challenge him. “Then why am I here?”

“Come with me.”

He led the way down a series of stone passageways lit by torches every twenty feet or so. The farther they went, the colder it got, until Selena’s teeth were chattering. Finally, the passage ended. He stopped in front of a massive wooden door set in the wall. Waved away a pair of guards.

“It is my son. Lord Atun. My only child. Heir to the throne, destined to carry on my blood and rule the Tabun people. Do your magic. Heal him, restore him to health as you did the Viking, and I will send you back to Earth rich enough to become ruler of your world.

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