“I’m glad you’re pleased,” Kalena said gently.
“Very pleased, wife. Very pleased, indeed.” He kissed her soundly again. “Is that the last of the surprises you have for me this morning? Is it safe for me to finish my tea and get dressed so we can get out of here?”
“You don’t like surprises?”
“You’ve thrown enough at me since I met you to make a strong man weak.” He gave her a playful slap on her rear and climbed off the pallet.
“Uh, there’s just one other thing, Ridge…”
He halted halfway to the privacy chamber but didn’t turn around. “Let me have it fast. I can’t stand it when you string it out.”
“It’s not a surprise. Just a question,” she assured him.
He glanced suspiciously over his shoulder. “Well?”
She hesitated and then asked in a soft little rush, “Do you think I’m too old to enter training as a Healer?”
Ridge looked relieved. “No, I do not think you are too old. I think you would make a very fine Healer, Kalena. I would be very proud of you.” He chuckled. “But then, I already am very proud of you.”
She smiled brilliantly. “Thank you, my husband. I am very proud of you, too.”
His expression became more serious. “We will make a good marriage, Kalena.”
“Yes,” she said softly, “I think we will.” She would give him everything, she decided, love, respect, loyalty, passion and even a certain amount of wifely obedience.
The last thought made her smile again. Not too much of the wifely obedience, she told herself. She didn’t want the Fire Whip to grow bored with her.
The creets must surely be getting tired of the trail to the Healers’ valley, Kalena decided with a private smile later that day as she led Ridge and the birds through the shimmering white veil. But the creets apparently took the attitude that human ways were too irrational ever to be understood; they seemed to want to ignore the curious events of the past few days. They moved obligingly along the trail into the fertile valley below.
Kalena was aware of Ridge’s uneasiness. She knew it would always be this way for him or any other man in this valley. The sooner she got him back out, the better. Glancing at her stony faced husband, she remarked with a sly smile, “Quintel is always going to need women for this particular trade route, isn’t he? Men are never going to be comfortable here.”
Ridge shrugged with a deliberate vagueness. “A man feels out of place here. He knows he doesn’t belong.”
“Exactly,” Kalena retorted. “And for that reason, males will always make lousy traders here. Only women will feel at ease enough to strike good bargains with the locals.”
Ridge’s mouth twitched. “I can see you have learned something of the ways of trading on this venture.”
“I’ve tried to pay attention,” Kalena murmured. “It seems to me that since women are so vital to this route, they should be given the largest portion of the trader’s commission.”
“Uh, Kalena…”
“Furthermore, I think it would be a good idea if women were given a wider role in trading ventures in general. If they’re useful on this route, they might be useful on others. What’s more, I’ll bet they could handle some of the clerical tasks involved.”
“Now, Kalena, you can’t just start making sweeping changes in business.”
“The world is changing, Ridge.”
“There are times, lady wife, when I get the impression you are out to change it single-handedly,” Ridge said with the age-old groan of the long-suffering male.
“From what you’ve told me, you will be operating this route for Quintel when we return,” Kalena went on enthusiastically. “That would put you in a position to make many changes.”
Ridge slanted her a very male grin. “It will be interesting to see what position you assume when you try to convince me to make these changes. I shall look forward to the negotiations.”
Kalena flushed. “Ridge, I’m talking about business, not sex.”
“Sometimes it’s hard for a man to tell the difference.”
“As I once said, you males are a simpleminded lot.”
Valica, Arona and the others came toward them as the cry announcing their arrival went up across the valley floor. By the time Kalena and Ridge reached the first of the cottages, most of the residents of the valley were on hand.
Kalena dismounted, the Key case in her fingers. Ridge made no move to help her. As long as she carried the case he could not touch her. He stayed in his saddle, holding the reins of Kalena’s creet while she went forward to meet Valica.
The older woman smiled with a brilliance that held almost as much light as the Key itself. “We knew you had been successful. We were sure of it. Some wanted to dissolve the white mist that guards the trail, but I thought it would be best to leave it in place until you returned. Come. The Key must be taken back to its proper place. You can tell us everything that happened on the way.” Without any hesitation, Valica turned, striking out for the path on the other side of the small valley that led to the ice cave.
Kalena glanced at Ridge. “It will take a while. Perhaps a couple of hours.”
He nodded brusquely. “I’ll wait here.”
She turned away to follow the others. Only Arona hung back for a moment. She stood in front of Ridge’s creet and examined him with unreadable eyes.
“There is food in the cottage if you wish it.”
He inclined his head with a minimum of politeness. “My thanks.”
Arona gave him an odd half smile. “You needn’t fear, you know She’ll be returning to Crosspurposes with you.”
“I know”
Arona hesitated. “She would do better to stay here, but she has a sense of duty and honor that forbid it. She feels her contract demands that she stay with you until the end of the journey.”
Ridge answered her coldly. “I am aware of Kalena’s sense of duty and honor. But she stays with me for reasons that go beyond our contract.”
“And you? Why will you stay with her?”
He did not like this woman, Ridge thought. “I, too, have learned that there are forces that are stronger than even those of honor and duty. Hadn’t you better join the others? They’re already some distance ahead.”
Arona shrugged and turned away without another word. Ridge watched her go, his eyes following the loose cluster of women as they made their way up a mountain path. He kept his eyes on Kalena until she and the others disappeared around a bend in the trail.
His creet stamped one clawed foot with mild impatience and Ridge dropped easily from the saddle. “All right,” he murmured soothingly. “I get the point. Let’s go find something to eat. Not much else a man can do in this valley.”
Eighteen
On the long ride out of the mountains, Ridge allowed himself to examine his memories of the last chaotic scenes in the chamber of black glass.
With deliberate intent he made himself go through the last few minutes in careful detail. He was bothered especially by his clear memory of glancing back just before they fled the chamber and seeing that one of the firegel lamps on the opposite side of the chamber seemed to be carried not in panic and fear, but with calm determination. Ridge was certain a figure in a swirling black cape had retrieved the light and disappeared through an exit with it.
Someone else had escaped the black glass chamber.
Ridge considered that possibility. Even Griss, the master’s captain, had been too overcome with the shock of failure and a sick rage to make any effort to save himself. His last goal had been Kalena’s throat, not escape. The others had been totally overcome with the consequences of their failed attempt to seize a power they did not understand. But one other man had kept his head.
That man had to be the unknown master of the cult, Ridge realized. The mysterious leader had to be a man wealthy enough to finance the cost of operating the cult as well as the expense of going after the Dark Key. He had to be a man powerful enough to keep t
he cult a secret, as well as a man brilliant enough to learn its location from the ancient manuscripts. Such a man had to understand the qualities required to handle the Keys and have the patience to search until he had located a man and a woman who had those unique qualities. He had to be a man clever enough to find a way of putting Ridge and Kalena together so that they could both be used for his ultimate, secret purpose. He had to have access to the kind of inside information required to know Ridge’s journey plans. Such a man would have kept his head during the last traumatic moments in the cavern, even though he was seeing his life’s work collapse before his eyes.
Without being aware of it, Ridge’s hand moved to rest on the handle of his sintar.
“Ridge?” Riding next to him as they left the foothills, Kalena saw the telltale movement of her husband’s hand and a small shock of anxiety went through her. “What are you thinking about?”
He glanced at her and then back at the trail in front of them. “I was remembering all that has happened,” he told her quietly.
“Ah.” Kalena nodded in sudden understanding. “So that you can make a full report to Quintel, hmm?”
“I always make a full report to Quintel.”
She didn’t understand the distant quality in his voice. It was new, a tone she had never before heard from him. Kalena found it strangely disturbing. She was seeking ways to bring him out of the strange mood when Ridge spoke again.
“Will you miss the Healers’ valley, Kalena?”
She thought about it. “No, not really. It is an interesting choice for a woman, but it’s not my choice. In any event, it’s not lost to me. Surely I can return to visit occasionally.”
Ridge’s mouth kicked up at one corner. “Only with me along for company.”
She smiled. “Afraid I would be lured into staying if I were to return there without you?”
“Let’s just say I would prefer to be with you to remind you of the one thing you could never find in the valley.”
“And what would that be?” she challenged laughingly.
“You’re a woman of strong passions, Kalena. You need a man to satisfy them,” he stated bluntly.
“You?”
“Me.” He nodded once, unequivocally, then shot her a speculative look. “Going to deny it?”
She shook her head, her eyes glowing. “Not for a moment,” she murmured. “You have taught me too well about passion. You are a magnificent lover, Fire Whip. You must know that.”
To her astonishment, he hesitated. Instead of gloating, he said with pained honesty, “The truth is, I didn’t know it. Not until I had taken you to bed and felt your response to me.”
“What are you trying to say?” Kalena asked gently.
She could have sworn she saw a dull red flush of embarrassment on the high bones of his cheeks. Ridge cleared his throat, not looking at her.
“Kalena, I spend a lot of my time on the trade trail. When I get where I’m going, I usually have my hands full doing whatever it is I’ve been paid to do. Afterward, I spend a lot of time cleaning up whatever mess is left. Then I head back to Crosspurposes. I usually stay there only a short time before heading out on the next assignment. I’m not around long enough to establish any kind of, well, long-term arrangements, if you know what I mean. I’m not saying there haven’t been women, but there haven’t been that many of them, and the, uh, associations are short-lived.” There was a distinct pause before he concluded, “I think I’ve been a matter of curiosity to some…”
His voice trailed off and Kalena stared at him, remembering the jokes Arrisa and some of the other women had made about the steel of Countervail. For an instant she was torn between sympathy for her husband and a wave of glorious feminine amusement. The amusement won out. Kalena started laughing.
Ridge muttered something under his breath and then added, “I’m glad you find it funny.”
“I do,” Kalena gasped between giggles. The creets cocked their heads inquiringly. “I think it’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard in my life. Arrisa and some of the others back in Crosspurposes tried to make me promise to tell them whether the steel of Countervail really glowed when you…when you—” She broke off, unable to speak the words. Her laughter bubbled forth again. “You see, Ridge, they have a joke about the real steel of Countervail being that which hangs between…uh, never mind. I couldn’t possibly explain!”
Ridge drew his creet to a halt and reached out abruptly to stop Kalena’s bird. She wiped the tears of laughter from her eyes and tried to assume a more sober expression. It didn’t work. Ridge sat scowling at her while Kalena dissolved into another fit of giggles. At last he spoke, his tone weighted with male authority.
“Say one word to Arrisa or anyone else about whether or not the steel glows when I take you to my pallet and I give you my solemn oath I’ll make your sweet backside glow hotter than the steel. Understood, wife?”
Kalena tried to nod without giving way to more laughter, but failed. “Yes, my lord husband,” she gasped meekly. “I understand. I wouldn’t dare discuss such matters outside the privacy of our sleeping chamber. You can rely on my absolute discretion.”
“Oh, I do, Kalena.” A slow grin revealed his teeth, and Ridge’s eyes gleamed. “I have complete faith in your sense of wifely discretion. Just as I assume you have complete faith in my willingness to follow through on my promises.”
“You mean threats.”
“I mean promises,” he reiterated.
“I don’t doubt you for a moment, husband.”
“Excellent. Now that we’ve arrived at an understanding on that topic, we will drop it. We have a lot of ground to cover before nightfall.” Ridge urged his creet into a brisk pace, leaving Kalena to catch up with him.
“Ridge?”
“What is it, Kalena?”
“Will you still be doing Quintel’s trail work after we return to Crosspurposes?” Kalena asked anxiously. “Will you be going away for long periods of time?”
He shook his head with grave certainty. “No, I’m a married man now. I have a family to care for. I’ll also be busy enough managing my slice of the Sand trade. There will be no more of Quintel’s kind of trail work for me. Ever.”
Kalena wondered at the emphasis on that last word.
Much later that evening, when Kalena was seated beside Ridge in front of the trail shelter hearth, he brought up an entirely new subject.
“What happened when you took the Light Key back to its hiding place?” He stared into the flames.
Kalena remembered her trip back into the ice cave. “Not much. I did what you had done with the Dark Key. I put the Key, case and all, back where I had found it. In a pool of ice.”
“Ice? How did you get it into hard ice?”
She smiled briefly. “It was liquid until I put the case back into it and then…”
“Then what?”
“Then suddenly it wasn’t liquid anymore. It’s hard to explain. As soon as I withdrew my hand, the pool froze solid again, just as it had been when I first found it.”
Ridge studied the flames. “Do you think anyone else could get it out?”
“I’m not sure. I don’t know what it takes to melt the ice at a touch the way I did. I don’t think it’s ordinary frozen water.”
“The fire that holds the Dark Key isn’t made of ordinary flames, either.”
Kalena nodded. “There is something in us that can unlock the Keys. It’s possible there are others with the same ability, but I think it’s rare. The Healers implied as much.”
“It’s possible we’re the only two people in this generation who could do it,” Ridge concluded. He stretched, his muscles moving smoothly beneath his shirt. “But even if someone could handle the Keys themselves, I doubt that it will be easy to locate either of them a second time. Griss told me it took years and a lot of lives to locate the hiding place of the Key and haul the pit of fire out of the bottom of the crevasse in the mountains. Even when the cult got hold of it, no one
in the group could even take the case from the flames, let alone handle the Key. The Healers seem to have done a good job of protecting the Light Key for generations.”
“They can’t touch it, either,” Kalena said. “But they guard it well. They said that even the Dawn Lords feared the Keys. They couldn’t handle them; they could only try to hide them. There’s no knowing what disaster would be caused if the Stones of Contrast were ever unlocked with the Keys.”
“If and when that time comes, perhaps there will be others who will know how to control both the Stones and the Keys. In any event, I don’t think we’ll have to worry about it in our lifetime. Or the lifetime of our child.” Ridge cast a meaningful glance at Kalena’s slim waist, his eyes glowing with new fire.
Kalena met his gaze. “What are you thinking now, Ridge?”
“That I burn for you, my lady. That I am destined to burn for you all the days of my life.” He reached for her and Kalena went joyously into his arms.
Two eightdays after their return to Crosspurposes, Kalena stood beneath the glitter of a magnificent crystal firegel chandelier and watched her husband slip quietly out of the ball full of elegantly dressed people. He had said nothing to her about where he was going, but she knew his destination with a certainty that sent a chill down her spine.
Kalena’s second wedding celebration was being provided by the same man who had provided the first: Quintel. This time, however, the crowd was not composed entirely of members of the Traders’ Guild. It was true that Arrisa, Vertina and several of Ridge’s acquaintances had been invited, but a great many of the guests came from the most powerful Houses of Crosspurposes. When Quintel had issued the invitation to his peers, none had refused.
It was partly curiosity of course. The fact that the Fire Whip had reopened the vital Sand trade route was no secret. That route supported a good portion of the region’s economy, and none present tonight was unaware of that fact. Many had come to meet the man who now owned a slice of the Sand trade. They were also interested in meeting the trade wife with whom Ridge had signed a permanent marriage contract.