Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

Under the swarm of bats, the deer rolled over, legs up in the air and then sank beneath the earth. The ground was quiet again. I think we\'ve just met the guardians of the gate , Lara said. And they aren\'t going to be alone .
    \"Did you see the teeth on those things?\" Vikirnoff asked.
    \"Maybe we should try another way in,\" Natalya ventured.
    Nicolas watched Lara closely. She moved in a semi-circle a few yards from the patch of green grass, pacing back and forth, counting beneath her breath, one hand out, palm facing down toward the earth.
    \"What\'s she doing?\" Vikirnoff asked.
    \"Testing the strength of his safeguards,\" Natalya said. \"Mage magic is all about elements and energy. She\'s obviously extremely sensitive to Xavier\'s signature. Every mage has one and when you work with them you get to know their particular fingerprints.\"
    \"That\'s why she can detect the microbe in the women?\" Vikirnoff asked. \"You\'re mage. And you\'re actually Xavier\'s granddaughter. She\'s his great granddaughter. You knew him, too.\"
    Natalya shook her head. \"Not like Lara. I stayed away from him. I was good at mage spells, Razvan wasn\'t. I was more mage, and I thought Razvan wasn\'t mage or Dragonseeker, but I was wrong. I was wrong about so many things.\"
    Vikirnoff stroked a caress down the length of her hair. \"He wanted you to be. He misled everyone on purpose to protect you.\"
    \"It seems he did that all the time,\" Nicolas said.
    He stayed close enough to Lara to protect her, but far enough away to allow her to get a good feel for the traps Xavier left behind to safeguard his lair. He noted her hair banded, the red stripes moving through the blond.
    Tiny electric sparks gathered around her and he felt the buildup of energy as she gathered power to her. She lifted her arms into the air.
    Air, earth, fire and water, hear my call. See your daughter...
    The air grew heavy with the combination of elements gathering and spinning into a combined force.
    Air unseen, seek that which is closed. Earth that does hold open, unfold. Fire that burns, eat that which would harm, water that flows, break open this door.
    As she spoke, the ground beneath their feet shook. The mountain rumbled in protest. Rocks and snow rained Page 176

    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    down, as though hurled from above, showering the entire area where Lara stood, but she didn\'t move, trusting Nicolas to keep her from harm.
    He waved his hands to form a protective shield over her, careful to give her room to work. Her hands moved in a graceful pattern, parts of which he recognized. She was reversing the tight weave of a safeguard, reversing the spell so she could open the entrance.
    The wind rose to a piercing whine. The earth quivered and then shook in earnest. Fire spiders webbed along the base of the mountain right above the patch of green. Racing along tiny, unseen cracks, fire rained down on the patch of green. Right behind the silken strands of orange-red flame came a flood of water to pour over the blaze and into the cave entrance to finish eroding the safeguards.
    Lara\'s hands continued to flow gracefully. That which was set in place to harm, now give forth a warning alarm . A fine-spun pattern began to appear. Spiders, spiders of fine-spun ice, hear my call, spin and splice.
    Create a web of finest thread, to give a warning against harm and dread . The pattern burned brightly in the air for a brief moment and then slowly faded away.
    Stone creaked and groaned as if rubbing against itself. Snow slid from the mountain in a long rush of white.
    The patch of green sunk in so that dirt, snow and vegetation fell in on itself, revealing the deep hole penetrating the earth.
    Nicolas caught Lara and shoved her behind him as he and Vikirnoff examined the entrance. Even as they watched, a thin layer of ice stretched and then covered the hole so he appeared to be looking through a window into the black interior. The ice walls were textured in spots with mud, grass and a dark stain that could only be 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