Kat nearly cried in relief but from the look on Lock’s face, they weren’t out of trouble yet. He was still talking for all he was worth, gesturing eloquently, as though trying to make a point. The male behind Kat, who was holding her arm, replied but she got the feeling that Lock wasn’t convincing him to let them go.
Her feeling proved to be justified when her captor came around in front of her and looped a thick strand of rough rope around her wrists.
“Lock,” she asked, careful to keep her voice low and nonthreatening. “What’s going on?”
“I’d like to know as well,” Deep growled. He was eyeing the short, stocky male who had captured Kat in a most unfriendly way and the pupils of his eyes were still more red than black.
“They’re taking us to meet their chief,” Lock said in a low voice. “Apparently we stumbled into their holy meadow and the usual penalty is death. But I told him the lady Kat was a lost sun goddess looking for Moons blossoms to cure her illness.”
“Very poetic of you, Brother,” Deep said, frowning. “But a sun goddess?”
“She has sunfire red hair and she’s an elite,” Lock shot back. “It was the best thing I could think of at the time.”
“So that’s it?” Kat asked as the natives bound both Lock and Deep’s wrists with the same rough, faded pink rope. “We’re just going to go with them?”
“I’m afraid we have little choice, my lady,” Lock said ruefully. “They all have poisoned knives. One scratch will introduce a neuro-toxin into our systems so deadly we would never get home alive.”
“All right.” She nodded and swallowed hard, trying not to think of how close the knife point had come to cutting into her throat. “But what will they do to us when we get to their chief?”
“I think I’ll be able to talk to their chief,” Lock said. “They seem impressed that I know the Elder Tongue. Hopefully I’ll be able to make some kind of bargain.”
“Hopefully,” Kat echoed faintly. When I get out of this, I’m going to have some story for Liv and Sophie.
She just hoped she lived to tell it.
Chapter Eighteen
They threw Kat into a cave. Not just any cave, either—a dark, dirty cave full of very sharp rocks. The only light was from some glowing blue fungus that grew on one wall. There was a large flat boulder not far from the luminescent wall and Kat dragged herself to it and collapsed on it.
Oh God, my head…my head. The pain was back, just as Mother L’rin had predicted and this time it felt even worse than Kat remembered. She wished now that she hadn’t been too proud to tell Lock and Deep what the wise woman had said and ask for help. Stupid…I’m so stupid. But it was too late to be sorry. The brothers had been taken somewhere else and she was on her own.
Kat tried to think about escape but really, where would she go? Even if she could bear to stand upright and try to sneak past the guards at the mouth of the cave, what then? Of course, a heroine in one of her favorite romance novels would have been feisty and smart enough to hatch a plot to save both of her guys and get them all away to safety. But I’m not smart, Kat thought with a groan. Or I would have told Deep and Lock what was going on to begin with. And I’m pretty much the exact opposite of feisty right now. I’m miserable and weak and drained.
She didn’t know how long she lay on the cold, flat boulder. The pain in her head and the weakness that had come over her were so debilitating she could barely move. Her consciousness seemed to come and go in waves and the glowing blue wall at her side flickered in and out like a bizarre kind of neon sign.
“Kat?” The deep voice echoed in the darkness some unknowable length of time later. “Kat? I know you’re in here—I can feel how upset you are.”
“Here,” she managed to whisper feebly. “Who…?”
“It’s me.” Deep came suddenly into view, picking his way toward her over the fallen rocks. “Lock and I felt your distress and he managed to convince the natives that one of us had to be in here with you at all times. Sorry it turned out to be me, but he has to keep talking to their chief so I’m afraid you’re stuck with—” He broke off abruptly, obviously getting a good look at her for the first time. “Gods, Kat! Are you all right?”
“Just peachy.” Kat managed a weak smirk. Despite her pain she was still reluctant to admit the extent of her disability to Deep.
“Why are you lying there like that? What’s wrong?” he demanded, crouching beside her.
“Just getting a little rest.” This is stupid—just tell him! But somehow she couldn’t. “Being kidnapped at knifepoint by aliens who speak in obscure forms of poetry always tires me out.” She tried to smile but it was apparent Deep wasn’t fooled.