The Darkness Before the Dawn - By Ryan Hughes Page 0,100

her wine glass in toast. “To the Jura-Dai, may they never run afoul of our likes again.”

Jedra wasn’t sure he wanted to toast the tribe that had kicked them out into the desert to die, but he supposed, now that he had survived the ordeal, he could let bygones be bygones. So he raised his glass and said, “May we never run across their likes again, either.” He drained his glass, amazed at how the sweet white wine flowed so smoothly down his throat. He refilled both his and Kayan’s glasses from the bottle and took another swallow.

“Have I ever told you how beautiful you are?” he asked.

“No,” Kayan said. “Why don’t you?”

Jedra laughed. “All right. You’re beautiful. I like the way the candlelight sparkles in your eyes. And I like the way your mouth turns up at the corners when you’re waiting for me to embarrass myself. And I like the way it puckers out when you’re about to kiss me.” He leaned forward and puckered his own lips in exaggerated fashion. She giggled, but she kissed him.

“I like the way your hair falls forward around the sides of your face,” he went on. “It makes you look dark and mysterious.”

“Does it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“What else?”

Jedra laughed. “Let’s see…” He examined her face the way they had examined the vendors’ wares earlier that afternoon, squinting one eye and tilting his head. “Oh, yes, your nose. I like it. It doesn’t look a thing like a beak.”

“Oh, thanks!” Kayan leaned back and drank more wine, trying to hold a scowl.

“And your mind,” Jedra said. “Haven’t I mentioned your mind? I like that, too.”

“Beast!” she said. “You haven’t once mentioned my curvaceous body or my slender legs.”

“I was working my way down. Don’t be so impatient.” They looked at one another for a moment, then both burst into laughter.

The innkeeper, a thin, tall elf with a perpetual grin of his own, wound his way through the tables to theirs. “Do you need more wine?” he asked.

Jedra shook the bottle, amazed to find the wine nearly gone. “I’d love it,” he said, “but unfortunately I think we’d better keep our wits about us tonight. We have a big night ahead.”

“Ah, I see,” the innkeeper said. “Well, then, enjoy your meal.” He turned away, his smile even wider.

Kayan mindsent, He thinks we’re going to—to—The mental picture that came with her thoughts said what she couldn’t bring herself to.

Jedra blushed, but he said, I’d certainly rather do that than go up against a nobleman’s entire army.

Kayan appraised him silently, her eyes wide and dark in the dim light. “What, are you nervous?” she asked. He noticed she said it aloud, so he couldn’t tell if she’d intended a double meaning or not.

So he said, “Who wouldn’t be?” and took another bite of cloud ray.

* * *

They emerged from the inn at dusk. A few stars were already showing in the deepening sky, and a glow in the east promised a moon before long. Jedra and Kayan didn’t plan to wait for it. They wouldn’t need the extra light once they were mindlinked, and the darkness might help. They hiked up the hill on which the Rokur estate stood, trying to look like slaves returning home after a long day in the fields. They would have tried looking like nobles, but Jedra would have failed miserably at that, and Kayan had at least a little experience being a slave.

They found the compound easily enough; the landmarks they had memorized from their psionic inspection guided them directly there. Finding a secluded spot from which they could work proved more difficult, but they finally found a dark corner in the servants’ alley that led to the back entrance of the compound, not far from the point in the wall nearest Kitarak’s quarters.

As they squeezed into the shadows, which Jedra expanded with his light-manipulating ability, Kayan mindsent, This is exactly the sort of place the innkeeper expected us to wind up tonight, isn’t it?

Something like this, Jedra admitted. He was definitely nervous now, and not because of Kayan’s proximity. He touched the crystal he wore around his neck for luck, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then took Kayan’s hands in his own. Let’s do it before I get too scared, he said.

Yes, let’s, she said. Here goes. She leaned forward to kiss him, and at the same time as their lips touched, so did their minds. Mmmm. They separated their consciousness from their bodies and drifted through