Dark Slayer Page 0,80

in the midst of it all sat Ivory, her wounds massive, yet she sought to heal the man lying in her lap. Two spears still remained in his body, while four lay broken and bloody a distance from him. His body was hacked nearly to pieces, with his arm in segments.

As they neared, it appeared as if Razvan was still breathing and Ivory's voice sang the healing chant softly, interspersed with another song none of them had heard before.

This cannot be, Gregori whispered in awe. He cannot still live. No one could live through that. He listened to the ebb and flow of Ivory's voice, melodic and tuned to the very heartbeat of the earth.

Mother, dear Mother, I plead with thee now. Daughter to mother, heal me and mine somehow. I am his light, he is my warrior strong. Challenged and scarred, he stood alone so long. Mother, I beg you to look deep within, try to see My soul gives light to his darkness, setting him free. Lifemates we are, two halves of a whole. Standing united, fighting evil, aged and old. Mother, dear Mother, hold us close in your arms. Provide us with shelter, with healing, hold off all harm. Mother, please bring balance, darkness to light Allow us to live, go forward to fight.

Ivory sang the words in the ancient tongue, the notes moving in and out of the rippling earth, twining with the ebb and flow of the sap in the trees and the heartbeat that was the earth itself. As she sang, the soil moved over their bodies, as if a living blanket, or the tide itself, always in motion, pouring over and around them, flowing into their wounds and encasing them in rich, black loam.

CHAPTER 10

Razvan floated in a sea of pain. He had been there many times before, but nothing like this. His body felt as if all the parts weren't connected. He couldn't move. Maybe he was just afraid to move, to worsen the agony ripping through his body. He felt movement around him, as if insects and other nameless things crawled over him. Or through him. Even that wasn't enough to induce him to try to move.

He heard whispers, so low at first he thought he was hallucinating, but the voice grew stronger in his mind. Soft. Feminine. Determined.

I am with you. You are not alone. I watch over you and protect you. I will not leave you alone deep within Mother Earth. Do you feel her surrounding you? Holding you in her arms? Welcoming you? Feel her, lifemate. Feel her when all else seems lost.

He was certain he was hallucinating. Xavier would never allow him to sink into the rich soil to be rejuvenated. There was only pain and suffering. An endless life of it. He couldn't let go. He forced his will to obedience. No matter how much his heart stuttered or his lungs fought to draw breath, no matter the pain, he couldn't let go. He had promised-her.

He remembered her, although she might have been a dream, another hallucination. He considered that when he could get his mind to work through the waves of pain. He doubted he could have conjured her up even in his wildest imagination. He tried to picture her, but he found he couldn't think, so he just lay listening, trying to hear her voice again.

Far off he could hear a chant, spoken in the ancient language, voices raised, both male and female. It was impossible to sort through them to find one single voice, and he was certain she wasn't chanting with them. He felt her, not surrounding him, but merged with him, sharing his body. He didn't like the idea. If he felt so much pain, was she sharing that as well? He didn't know the answer.

Again his mind drifted, as if, because he couldn't do anything to prevent her from feeling the terrible pain, he didn't want to know if she was with him. He had spent too many years causing those he loved distress and he refused to think he was doing the same to her.

No, my love. I am with you by choice. I asked to be bound to you. I share your body willingly. Hear me, Dragonseeker, you must hold tight to me. Never let me go.

If he could have smiled, he would have. Where was he going to go? He couldn't move. He could only lie there, believing himself insane. The only consolation was her voice.