Ruby Shadows Read online

  The heat was really getting to me and I had to admit I was glad of the white wrap Laish had given me to wear. It seemed to reflect some of the merciless sunlight which beat down on my head like a golden hammer, blow after silent blow.

  “Oh, I’m so stiff!” I moaned as I swung myself down from Kurex’s saddle. Laish didn’t hold out a hand to help me—maybe he knew I would refuse his offer. He simply sat down on a low rock in the shade of the tree.

  The tree was dead black with large, black waxy leaves that looked like sleeping bats—or maybe that was just glaring sun making things look strange. It grew at the center of an oasis of sorts—though not a very nice one. A pool filled with black, sluggish water that looked a lot like the water of the river Styx was surrounded by flat gray rocks. These made natural seats and after I had walked around some, I came and sat on one that was deep in shadow.

  “It’s past time for a noonday meal,” Laish remarked. He was already pulling things out of the air—a bag of feed and a large bucket of water for Kurex which he explained would never go empty as long as the big horse was thirsty—as well as some food for himself. Then he got out a black-handled knife like the one he’d had before and a plate. He poised one wrist over the plate and held up the blade. “What will you have?”

  “Nothing.” I shook my head. I still wasn’t certain if I should have eaten the piece of ripe, juicy cantaloupe that morning. Would it condemn me to Hell for a month every year? I certainly hoped not.

  “Come, Gwendolyn—you must eat something,” Laish said reasonably. “You cannot keep going in this heat without anything in your stomach.”

  “Actually, the heat is what’s keeping me from wanting to eat,” I said, lying only a little. “I can never eat when it’s this hot. And besides, I’ve been drinking so much I’m completely full of water.” I raised my Zephyrhills bottle and shook it at him. It was still full of cool, clear water—a fact I was very grateful for.

  Laish looked like he might try to change my mind but then he simply shrugged his shoulders.

  “Very well—I know better than to argue with you when you are being stubborn, mon ange.”

  “I wish you’d stop calling me that.” I sat down across from him, trying to ignore the food he had conjured for himself which was mostly fresh, juicy fruit. “I really don’t—oh!”

  My little gasp of surprise was due to the fact that I had taken off the white wrap he’d given me to wear. As I did, something flew out of my hair.

  “What the—” I looked at the tiny white thing flitting around—it almost seemed to glow in the shadow. I ran my fingers quickly through my hair but didn’t find any more, thank goodness.

  “Well, well—it appears we have a stowaway,” Laish remarked. He leaned forward to examine the little thing though he was careful not to touch it. “A lily-moth! I haven’t seen one of these in untold millennia.”

  “A what?” I leaned forward too, staring at the little thing. It flitted about and then settled on my knee.

  “A lily-moth. They live in the Celestial fields just outside the gates of Heaven. They drink the nectar of the flowers that grow there which are mostly lilies—hence the name.”

  I looked closer at the tiny thing which looked more like a butterfly than a moth to me. It was about as big as my thumbnail and pure white except for faint gold lines that formed curving patterns on its miniscule wings.

  “I wonder what it’s doing here if they’re native to Heaven,” I said.

  Laish shook his head. “I do not know. Be careful not to hurt it—like all Heavenly creatures it is entirely pure. It must have been attracted by the purity of your soul and seen you as a refuge.”

  “Aww, poor little thing,” I murmured, looking at the moth. “How did you get so far from home, huh? And what in the world are you doing here?”

  “As to that, who can say?” Laish murmured. “Lily-moths will touch only what is pure so it must have had a long, weary journey before it found you to cling to.”

  I felt sorry for it if I was the purest thing it could find to hold on to. The Goddess knew I don’t exactly have the best track record—what with the dark arts I’d dabbled in, in the not too distant past. But apparently here in Hell just not being damned was enough to make you look squeaky clean.

  “Do you think it’s thirsty?” I asked, pouring a capful of my Zephyrhills water out for the little creature.

  “I suppose we’ll find out.” Laish sounded amused.

  “What’s so funny?” I demanded as the lily-moth crawled down my hand and went to investigate the water.

  “You are, mon ange. You and your affinity for animals. I thought it strange at first that the beasts of Hell seemed drawn to you—first Cerberus, then Kurex. But now it appears that the creatures of Heaven find you irresistible as well.”

  “You said yourself, the poor little thing is just trying to find someplace safe to land.” I nodded down at the lily-moth who was crouched over the capful of spring water. I couldn’t tell if it was drinking or not but its feathery little antennae waved up and down as it touched the surface. “Besides, witches have always had an affinity for animals. They trust us more than other people because they know we understand them.”

  “Truly a heartwarming display,” Laish said. His words were sarcastic but his voice was soft and thoughtful. “What will you do now with your little stowaway, I wonder?”

  “Well, keep her, of course,” I said. The moth seemed finished with the water so I put the cap back on the bottle and transferred the delicate little thing carefully to my shoulder. She was so light I couldn’t feel her at all but somehow I knew she was there. “She can ride with us if she wants,” I told Laish. “Maybe I can even get her back home with me. I mean, I know it’s not Heaven but it’s got to be better than this place.”

  “Her?” He raised an eyebrow at me.

  “I don’t know—she seems like a girl, that’s all,” I said defensively. “Look how delicate and beautiful she is.”

  “Truly, she is,” Laish murmured but when I glanced up, those ruby red eyes were trained on me, not the moth.

  I felt the blood rushing to my face and looked quickly away.

  “Lunchtime’s over. We need to get moving if we’re ever going to get out of this awful desert.”

  “If you knew what awaited us in the next circle, you might not be so eager to leave Minauros,” Laish remarked, standing and brushing crumbs from his lap.

  “Why? What are we up against next?” I felt a surge of apprehension.

  “Stygia, as I told you, is a frozen waste. But before we get there, we must go through the Jealous Heart and that is a place…”

  “What?” I asked when he trailed off. “What’s so bad about it?”

  Laish sighed. “Let us just say it is a good thing you are not terrified of insects.” He nodded at the moth.

  “What?” I felt my stomach do a slow flip. I’m not exactly afraid of bugs—I’m a Florida girl, after all which means I see a lot of them. But I don’t exactly love them either. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’ll see,” he said ominously. “All too soon, I fear. Come—let me help you back up into the saddle.”

  “No, thanks, I can manage,” I said coolly. I stepped out of the shade of the oasis, intending to take the huge horse by the bridle and lead him to one of the taller stones so I could mount in style. But I never made it.

  “Gwendolyn, no don’t—” I heard Laish say and then my foot slipped through the sand and I felt myself falling. Suddenly all the sand around me was gone and I had a confused notion of darkness filled with spots of white below my feet.

  I barely had time to scream before my fall was stopped by a jerk that made my teeth click together. I looked up and saw that Laish had me by the arm. There was a grim look on his face.

  “Hold still,” he said tightly. “I must bring you up slowly so as not to crumble the lip of the sand trap.”

  “Sand trap?” I gasped. “What…how…?”

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