Dark Slayer(116)

"You said there is always a balance of good and evil, Ivory," Razvan reminded.

"Yes, but I deal with what is natural. Xavier twists what is natural into something evil. The microbes started out good, not evil, or at least neutral. They were not put on this earth to harm Carpathians. Xavier changed them for his own evil purposes. Had they been naturally poisonous, I would have no doubt that the cure would be close to them, as is always the case with nature. I can reverse his spell. I am certain I can, given the time to study it. But to find something to destroy what he has wrought . . ."

"It is here," Razvan insisted stubbornly. "I feel it."

She looked around her. She had utilized the precious metals and called the gems to her for her weapons and her warning system. She had used the soil for her bedchamber, painstakingly transporting it until she had a full basin. Occasionally she replenished the soil with new, fresh earth, although the healing properties had always remained as powerful as within the cave itself.

She believed in feelings. Ivory was very tuned to the earth after spending so many centuries deep within its rich beds of healing soil. If the metals and gems were the very veins and blood and bones of the earth, perhaps the organisms were her heart and soul.

Razvan had experienced the same connection to the earth. Mother Earth had accepted him, attached her veins to his and encased him in her gems and minerals to save his life. She flowed in his veins in the way she did Ivory's. Perhaps, with his newfound life, he was closer to the soil and could feel the minute differences in ways Ivory hadn't explored yet, but that still didn't make sense. She'd spent centuries in the earth, hooked to the ebb and flow of the earth's lifeblood and she couldn't detect what he thought he felt.

"Clear your mind of everything," Razvan suggested. "Sit like this." He lifted his left foot and placed it on his right thigh and tucked his right foot onto his left thigh.

Ivory sat facing him, assuming the position without question.

"Spine straight, relax your shoulders. That is right." He nodded his approval. "You want to make an oval with your hands, left hand on top of right, with your thumbs together and your middle joints of your middle fingers together. Let go of yourself. Similar to what you do in healing, but mind and body as one, and just let information flow into you. Take it in and let it out. Do not try to hold on to anything. Just be still. Breathe. Match the flow of my breath and then let yourself forget that, too."

Ivory did as he asked, giving herself up to the moment. To the cave. To the earth. It was not only the connection to the earth, she decided later, it was this-Razvan's stillness, his peace, the way he was one with everything around him-that allowed her to first feel the presence of the organism.

She drew in her breath and slowly lifted her palm, using her body like a divining rod. She slowly turned and found that she'd picked up the existence of the life-form in every direction, as if the soil was saturated with it.

"It is everywhere," she said, letting her breath out, a little shocked at the widespread dispersion. "I have to figure out what it is."

"Can we take a sample?"

"We have an entire basin full," Ivory reminded. "We sleep in it every day."

Razvan frowned and ran the soil through his fingers again. "I think we should take a new sample, to make certain it was not contaminated in any way by us."

"I always ask permission before I take anything from this cave," Ivory warned. "If the answer is no, we go with what we already have. The earth has been more than good to us and we cannot allow greed to creep into our hearts, not even for a good cause."

"The earth is a mother, Ivory, she saved us. She will want to save the children of her people," Razvan reasoned.

Ivory smiled. She loved the way Razvan had such faith. Where had it come from? He had been tortured by his own grandfather. His people had believed the worst of him, yet he still had faith in the goodness of the world.

Razvan caught her looking at him with that look on her face she reserved only for him. Tender. Loving. Proud. She probably didn't even know she had that particular look, but it made him soft inside whenever that expression crossed her face, no matter how fleeting. It was enough for him that she knew him and understood why he did the things he did. No one else had to know, only Ivory.

Ivory lifted her hands and closed her eyes, using a melodic voice to plead their case. She was startled when Razvan joined in, harmonizing in his deeper male voice.

Mother, oh Mother, we come to you for aid. Hear our children, hold them close, never let them fade. Mother, oh Mother, our children are dying Catch our tears, we plead with you, stop our crying. Listen to our plea, see what is in our hearts. Hold us together, don't let us fall apart. We ask for the life in the soil to bring strength to our young Heal their wounds, protect our special ones.