Carpathian 17 - Dark Curse

has been cast to control and be hidden, can be undone by the song of a maiden .
    Within the icy walls, a face and form of a young girl began to take shape, and then a perfectly formed ice sculpture of a young girl emerged. She appeared to be reaching down into the ice. As she bent over, she began to sing and the notes appeared like a cold wind, blowing across the walls and up across the tube itself, coating the dark streaks with ropes of ice so that each streak froze solid. Her notes pitched higher and higher until the frequency shattered the ice ropes and they fell, harmless to the floor. The maiden climbed back into the ice and disappeared.
    Nicolas grinned at Vikirnoff. \"That\'s my woman.\"
    Natalya smiled at her, pride on her face. \"You really know your stuff.\"
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    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    \"The aunts taught me everything. It\'s all them.\" Technically, they were her great-aunts and Natalya\'s aunts, but Lara would never think of them any other way. \"I have to find them.\"
    \"We will, sÃ-vamet , we all want to find them and bring them home,\" Nicolas assured.
    Still the shadows on the walls continued to grow and lengthen. The male Carpathians put the women between them, deadly snarls on their faces. The danger in the tunnel was palpable. The shadows swirled on the blue-white walls, pushing through the layers of ice so that smoke drifted out.
    Natalya gasped. She gripped Lara\'s wrist. \"I know what this is.\"
    Both looked at one another, horror on their faces. \"Shadow warriors,\" they whispered together.
    Nicolas drew in his breath and looked up and down the long tunnel. They were in the middle of the tube and all along the walls, in front and behind them, smoke began to push through the cracks in the ice. \"Not even the most seasoned hunter can hope to escape the shadow guardians,\" he said. \"We have to get to the next chamber before they emerge from the wall. If we are caught in between them, we die here.\"
    \"Movement attracts them,\" Natalya pointed out.
    \"I would have to say they already know we are here,\" Nicolas replied.
    \"If we can get to a safer place and give Natalya some time,\" Vikirnoff said, \"then she can perhaps deal with them, but it takes time.\"
    \"I could because I had mage blood running in me, I think,\" Natalya said. \"I\'m not as certain I could control them now.\"
    \"I have mage blood,\" Lara said.
    \"Talk later! Run now!\" Nicolas caught Lara\'s wrist and, without waiting for an argument, put on a burst of preternatural speed.
    Vikirnoff and Natalya stayed right on their heels, all four blurred they moved so fast, but the action caused a reaction from the whirling shadows. The dark smoke poured even faster from the ice wall and began to form into life-sized apparitions of swirling smoke, shadow and substance.
    They barely made it to the entrance to the next chamber before the shadow warriors were after them, gliding silently through the twisting ice tube, swords raised high. The smoke swirled and shifted, often revealing an armor-clad warrior, face obscured completely, but sword gleaming and polished.
    Nicolas kept moving to the opposite side of the chamber, heading for the left entrance, but several warriors spread out quickly through the room, cutting off that escape route. The only choice they had was a narrow right passage, still leading up, but away from the 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.
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    Christine Feehan: Dark Curse
    \"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.