Song of the Saurials - Kate Novak [31]
Akabar knew she could hear his heart pounding. "How do you know these things?" he asked.
"The master told me" Kyre said. She raised her head and kissed the tip of his beard, then his chin.
As the woman's lips moved toward his own, the Turmishman suddenly caught sight of her orchid's tendrils, which twisted not about her hair but into her ear canal. Others had pricked her temples. The tendrils twitched and writhed beneath her skin, as if they were trying to get purchase on her brain. Akabar's stomach churned with revulsion, and his heart began pounding with fear. finally he recalled where he'd smelled the orchid's perfume before. It was the scent of one of Moander's sleeping drugs. Akabar cried out and thrust Kyre away from him.
Three tendrils shot out from Kyre's mouth like snakes lashing out at their prey.
These tendrils, tipped with pea-sized pods, were far longer than the orchid tendrils. As the green shoots curled and undulated in the air before the merchant-mage's face, he realized with horror that they might have easily slithered past his lips and down his throat if he had closed his eyes in anticipation of the half-elf's kiss. Suddenly the pods at the ends of the tendrils burst open, shooting tiny black seeds at Akabar's face. Then the tendrils collapsed as Kyre sucked them back into her mouth.
"Those seeds were meant for you to swallow," the half-elf said when her mouth was clear of the tendrils, "but don't worry. There are more."
Akabar sat up, shaking with terror, and tried to push Kyre away, but the woman had an iron grip on his elbows. As he struggled to free himself, Akabar felt other tendrils, incredibly slimy and as strong as rope, reaching inside his sleeves and entwining his upper arms.
"There's no use resisting, Akabar," Kyre said, still speaking in Turmish, only now her tone was cool and authoritative. "Your destiny is sealed." The half-elf slid her hands out of Akabar's sleeves. Her victim remained trapped by the plant appendages, which stretched from her wrists up his arms. The tendrils grew steadily longer, giving Kyre the freedom to move her hands up to Akabar's face.
The merchant-mage closed his eyes, revolted at the way the tendrils protruded from beneath the skin of her forearms.
"The Darkbringer desires to possess your body again and once more gaze into the sharp-edged crystal of your mind," Kyre said mesmerizingly as she stroked his beard. "You should feel honored"
"No!" Akabar shouted. He managed to rise to his feet, pulling Kyre along with him. Terrified, he screamed, "Alias! Help me!"
Kyre cut off his cries with a choke hold to his throat. "The Darkbringer would prefer that I deliver you alive," the half-elf snarled, "but if that is not possible, the Darkbringer will be pleased enough with your corpse." She released Akabar's throat, and, as the mage gasped for air, she drew out a slender dagger from her sleeve and pressed its point against his neck.
"You wouldn't dare," Akabar whispered hoarsely. "If you murder me, Alias will cut you to pieces."
"Alias will never know;' Kyre said. With her free hand, she pulled out an object and held it up to Akabar's eyes. It resembled a crystal the size and shape of a walnut, colorless but for a flickering dark flaw at the center. "Behold, Akabar," Kyre said. ''Inside this stone is entrapped an enemy of the master, a mage far more powerful than you. If you continue to resist, I will slay you and carry you to the Darkbringer within just such a stone. If, instead, you cooperate and come with me of your own free wil1, you will be rewarded well.
Moander will grant you such power as few men in the Realms have ever known."
Akabar stared into Kyre's eyes, thinking what a fool he'd been. Zhara had warned him he would be in danger the moment he saw the bowl of rotting fruit, yet, for all his faith, he hadn't acted quickly enough to defend himself. To add to his folly, he'd trusted Kyre, a complete stranger,