Dark Curse Page 0,149

direction they wanted to go.

Shadow warriors were made of whatever elements were available, molecules and water. Once the most skilled and honored fighters of their time, their spirits were ripped from them and forced into service by the dark mage. They were already dead, insubstantial and nearly impossible to defeat in battle.

The warriors fanned out and the Carpathians retreated farther into the narrow corridor of ice. The men kept the women firmly behind them, walking backward, facing the enemy.

"They'll have to face us one at a time," Nicolas said with some satisfaction.

Natalya tried to stem the flow of shadows into the room. She halted and raised her arms.

Hear me now, dark ones, torn from your resting place. I call on earth, wind, fire, water and spirit.

The warriors should have put down their swords and waited for commands, but instead, they rushed toward the two women, the smoke going from gray to black.

"That's not working so well without the mage blood," Natalya said. "Run!"

The Carpathians whirled and ran again, using their blurring speed. Lara had a difficult time keeping up, although Nicolas was pulling her along and her feet didn't really touch the ground. She kept forgetting to regulate her body temperature and it was so cold, she ached and shivered continually. Her legs and arms felt stiff and her chest hurt from the cold. As they continued up the narrow corridor, the air changed, warming a bit, which gave her some relief, but she worried with the temperature a few degrees warmer, the ice might melt.

Lara glanced over her shoulder and saw that the warriors had finally come to a halt. Perhaps the holding spell Natalya had cast had finally taken, or they were guardians of a specific area and could not go any

farther.

"They aren't following us," she announced.

The others stopped to look back. The warriors had halted at the entrance to the tube and stood, smoke whirling around them, swords raised.

"Keep moving," Nicolas said, his hand on the small of Lara's back. "Who is to say they will not attack again? Let's keep going, but look for a corridor leading to our left and we can take that and get back on track to find your aunts."

Lara checked the ice surrounding them. Even a few degrees difference in temperature could trigger large chunks of ice to come flying out of or off of the wall. This tube was narrower than most and lined heavily with rows of dagger-sharp icicles. On either side of them, above and below, were two solid rows of icy stilettos in strange colors of faded brown, very unusual for an ice cave. The floor was covered in round ice pods, also very unusual. The slightly raised bumps were everywhere, as if some strange form of bacteria grew along the floor of the tunnel.

As they continued, it grew darker and she realized the ice spiders were not emerging from the walls to light the way with their luminescent silk. The floor curved upward and with each step there were more of the pods and the temperature increased.

"Stop." Lara took a careful look around.

She had good night vision, but the Carpathians could see in the dark without any light and it looked as if a few more steps would take them over the slight rise and into pitch blackness. Before she went blind and had to rely on the others, she wanted to check out the stability of the ice. She noted two particularly sharpened, curved icicles-one on either side of them near the opening-were dripping. Each drop was yellowish in color and formed a small pool before running along the base of the icicles on the floor. The liquid fed the small ice pods, slowly staining them a pale amber. As the pods went amber, she detected movement, tiny microbes wriggling inside the pods.

She swore under her breath. "This isn't good."

Nicolas had continued forward a few steps in order to put the light far enough behind him for his night vision to kick in. At the top of the slope he peered down into the darkened tunnel.

"The sounds are different," Natalya said. "I don't like this."

Vikirnoff moved up beside Nicolas, surveying the only way open to them. "What do you think?" Both scanned all around them continuously.

"Something is down there waiting for us," Nicolas said. "It is unfamiliar to me, but I feel movement. I think the shadow warriors herded us into this tube for a reason and the reason is crouched in the dark, ready