Carpathian 05 - Dark Challenge

anywhere, waiting to carry off the women, and he guarded them accordingly.
    Desari closed the wound on Syndil's wrist, careful to leave no mark, then very gently pulled her own arm away from her brother, closing the laceration with the healing agent in her saliva. "Do you think he looks a little better, Syndil?" Darius was in the deep sleep of their people, his heart and lungs already shut down.
    "His color is not so gray," Syndil agreed. "We must get him to ground, where he will have a chance to heal. Where did he send Barack and Dayan?"
    "I do not know," Desari admitted. "I was unconscious."
    "In any case, you need to go to ground to heal also. I will have to handle the inquiries with the police. I will tell them Darius spirited you and the band out of harm's way, that all of you were injured but the attack on your life did not succeed."
    "They will want to know where we were treated," Desari objected. She was very tired, and the uneasiness in her was growing. She felt restless and unhappy, near tears, something unheard of for her.

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    "I can plant memories as well as any of you," Syndil said firmly. "I may prefer solitude, but I assure you, Desari, I am every bit as capable as you."
    Desari stroked back her brother's long dark hair. The silken strands fell past his broad shoulders in a shiny fall reminiscent of her own. Darius always looked so harsh and implacable when he was awake, a hint of cruelty about his finely chiseled mouth. Yet all that was gone when he was asleep. He looked young and handsome, without the tremendous responsibilities he always shouldered when he was awake.
    "I do not like sleeping so close to mortals, especially when we are hunted," Desari said softly. "It is not safe."
    "I am certain Darius took Barack and Dayan into the woods and ensured their safety. We will do the same for Darius. Desari, he may be wounded and tired, but he is powerful beyond even our knowledge.
    He can hear and feel things even when he is sleeping the sleep of our people."
    "What do you mean?"
    Syndil pushed at the thick braid falling over her shoulder. "That night Savon attacked me, Darius was deep in the ground healing from a wound. The rest of you were far away, hunting, and I had stayed to watch over his resting place. Savon called to me to met him in a cave to see a rare plant he had found."
    She bowed her head. "I went. I should have stayed to watch over Darius, but I went at Savon's call. I screamed for all of you to aid me, but you were too far to make it back in time. But Darius heard. Even from deep within the earth. Even from the healing sleep of our people, he heard and knew every detail; I felt him lock on to me. Wounded, he rose and came to save me."
    "Darius heard you while he slept?" Desari, like the others, had assumed Darius had risen while they hunted. By the time she and Dayan and Barack had returned, Darius had already destroyed Savon and was healing Syndil's terrible wounds even though he himself was weak from loss of blood.
    Syndil nodded solemnly. "He came when I believed there was no hope for me." She bowed her head, her voice soft, filled with tears. "I feel so ashamed that I cannot control my sorrow and ease his pain. He feels guilty. He feels he failed me."
    Desari lay her head protectively over her brother's chest. She knew Syndil was only half-correct. Darius believed he had failed Syndil, but he did not feel guilty. He did not feel at all. He hid his lack of emotion from all of them, but Desari was so close to him, she was well aware of it and had been for some time. It was only his intense loyalty and sense of duty that kept Darius fighting for them. It was not feeling.
    She knew Darius feared for their safety should he ever turn as Savon had. She was certain, as was he, that neither Barack nor Dayan could defeat him in battle. She doubted even their combined strengths could do so. She believed Darius was invincible. He could not turn. To her, it was that simple. Whatever darkness in him that was growing, spreading, whatever the lack of feeling in him, he would never allow it to turn him. His will was far too strong. Darius had shown that from the very first. Nothing could sway him from his chosen path.
    Unless, perhaps, he simply allowed himself to be honorably killed. That was Desari's prime concern, her deepest fear. She was frightened for all of them. Carpathian men had natures completely different from