Dark Curse Page 0,140

blood. In direct contrast, the rest of the wall looked pristine and beautiful, like a great ice sculpture, thick and carved into a round tube of shimmering glass.

Lara caught Nicolas around the waist from behind and peered down into the hole, noting the darker spots lining the tube, most of which dotted the first two hundred feet of the shaft. The stains of grass and blood formed a distinctive trail to the scattered spots. They looked solid, but on closer inspection, that same sheet of thin ice that formed the window covered holes.

She indicated them with her chin. "That's where the guardians live."

"Bats with big teeth that will crawl out of their little holes and drop on us to gnaw our heads off as we descend," Natalya said. "Great. Someone ought to make a movie."

Vikirnoff grinned at her. "You and your movies. She has the worst taste in movies."

Natalya blew him a kiss. "Just for that, you can go first."

Lara shook her head. "Let me remove the ice cap and then I'll weave a holding spell. We should be able to get past them without too much trouble." She sent Nicolas a faint smile. "And I'd rather have someone protecting me from above."

She made a move toward the hole and Nicolas caught her arm. "You do your mage spell, but you do not set one foot in there by yourself. Vikirnoff can go first to make certain we land without too much harm and I will bring up the rear to protect you from above."

Lara put a hand over her heart and sent a quick grin in her aunt's direction. "I love it when he does that."

Natalya rolled her eyes. "He-Man and She-Ra."

Nicolas frowned. "Who?"

Vikirnoff groaned. "Do notever make the mistake of asking." He looked up at the night, took a deep breath. "The safeguards are down?"

Lara nodded. "In theory, you should be able to go right through the thin layer of ice and straight down the tube without disturbing the guardians. Once into the lava tube, avoid touching anything that might trigger a response."

"Great, thanks," Vikirnoff said. He shimmered into mist and slipped through the layer of ice covering the entrance.

Natalya followed him immediately.

"I will hold the image for you," Nicolas assured.

Now that she'd had some experience with shifting, she knew what to expect so the sensation of her body disintegrating into vapor didn't alarm her and she just let it happen. Oftentimes, when caving in an ice cave, the ropes used could collect a thin layer of ice. There were hazards from falling icicles and great chunks of ice bursting out of the walls due to the tremendous pressures from the sheer weight. Becoming mist seemed so much easier.

The world beneath the earth, inside the ice cave itself was, to Lara, a world of uncommon and magnificent beauty. As she descended into the dark moulin, essentially a deep pit, she whispered a brief spell, calling for soft light to spill along the walls and floors wherever they walked. Using her childhood spiders, the only friends she had to light the way, she chanted softly.

Spiders, spiders of crystal ice, spin your webs of softest light. The little spiders appeared instantly out of the walls of ice, spinning and dancing to freely form a continuous fine web of translucent icy silk, covering the walls and rushing ahead of them down toward the floor.Spin and dance, surround and form, so our eyes may see to prevent all harm .

At once the tube turned blue, a beautiful, surreal world of ice. The water spraying continually from above had caused an avalanche of various sized ice balls to cascade down the walls so it appeared as though a waterfall of blue ice rushed downward, when in reality, the ice balls were stationary, attached to the thick

walls surrounding them. She was used to the sound of creaking ice punctuated by the thunderous roar as the tremendous pressure sent giant chunks hurling out of the wall to slam against the opposite side and fall to the floor below.

As she passed the darker holes, she realized the entryways were a maze of dwellings woven into the ice to allow the bats communal living. Through the thick window of ice, she could see bones and hair and blood from discarded carcasses. The cave dwellers feasted on their kill, lived for a while on the remains and then every so often swarmed to the surface to drag a hapless victim to their lair. Anything or anyone venturing too