Gage was the one to rouse her from her trance-like state. His arm snaked around her shoulders, and he pulled her close, nuzzling her ear. Liane stiffened. If not for the tight grip he maintained on her she would have pulled away.
"Easy now," he breathed into her ear. "This is all part of our little act. We've been standing here long enough. It's time to move on before the watchmen get suspicious."
Liane swung her attention to the heavily armed guards patroling the area. Gage was right. There was no point lingering at these particular pits. If Karic were here, she didn't know it. A niggling doubt eased into her mind. What if she were unable to sense his presence? What would she do then?
The possibility was too horrible to consider. If she couldn't pinpoint his exact location she'd have to go down into each pit, one by one. The thought filled her with terror. What if she became trapped in there, unable to escape?
Liane swallowed hard. She mustn't think about that. It didn't change anything anyway. If she died, she died, but she couldn't go on living if she left Karic here.
Together, they moved on to the next set of pits. There was no sense of Karic being there, either. Tension spiraled through Liane. The precious time Gage had allowed her was slipping away, and they still had three more sets of pits to examine.
They visited one more before Gage finally called a halt to her search.
''It's well past your half hora, femina," he reluctantly but firmly informed her. "I'm sorry."
Tearful eyes looked at him, and she managed a brave little smile. "I understand. You've been more help than you can ever imagine. Now, what would you like me to do to help you?"
He stared down at her, indecision flickering in his striking dark eyes. He didn't like the idea of her coming back here alone, if she even made it safely inside next time. But dare he risk trying the final two pits, knowing his own time in the mine was rapidly slipping away?
Gage dragged in a breath. "I'll take you by the last two, if you promise you'll give up and never come back here again."
"You know I can't promise that." He scowled darkly. "Curse you, femina! You're too stubborn for your own good." His arm moved against her shoulders, urging her on. "Let's go."
As they approached the next pit a strange sensation washed over Liane. It was hauntingly familiar, heavy with the feel of experiences shared and of unspoken emotions. She knew, with a certainty that both startled and gladdened her, that it was Karic's presence.
"He's here," Liane whispered. She raised joyous eyes to Gage.
Her blond companion cocked a skeptical brow. "Are you sure you're not imagining it because you want it so badly?"
"No," she firmly shook her head. "It struck me before I even had the chance to search for it." She indicated the first pit with a surreptitious wave of her hand. "He's in there."
Gage glanced around, the casual movement of his head masking the intentness of his scrutiny. "There's no guard about just now. After I get you in past the force field, the rest is up to you. It's an hora until darkness. You've got until then to find your friend and get him to the entrance. If you can't, be back here by then. I can't linger too long without arousing suspicion."
"I understand, Gage. If I'm not back in time, go on without me."
His dark eyes narrowed. "Liane, he's either in there or not. An hora is more than enough time to find him. Promise me you'll be here in an hora."
She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Gage, I can't promise you that. If Karic's sick or hurt, I won't be able to leave him. We'll find a way out somehow, later." "Whatever you say, femina," Gage sighed. "Just remember. I'll be back in an hora."
"I will, Gage." She hesitantly touched his arm. "Take care of yourself."
"Don't waste your worry on me. I've done this kind of thing a hundred times."
He strode over to the pit and slid his pass into a slot in the metallic archway that encompassed the entrance. The force field shut down. With an impatient wave, Gage motioned her in.
Liane never looked back, for if she did she might lose her courage. Before her loomed a blackened pit, slanting steeply downward. She swallowed hard against the gorge that rose in her throat and blanked out her fears. With a hand on the stone wall to guide her, she strode into the darkness.
Karic jerked awake. He'd been dreaming of Liane, of holding her in his arms, of mating with her. And it had been sweet, so very sweet.
Sleep was his only escape in the past sols of his captivity. It was the one release from the endless labor in the damp, nearly airless tunnels, from the miners, safe in their armored mine diggers, relentlessly driving them onward with their neural prodders, from the periodic explosions that left slaves writhing in agony, their cries echoing endlessly throughout the tunnels.
Sometimes Karic tried to imagine it all part of a horrible dream, one that he'd awaken from and find himself free, high on a windswept peak, overlooking a magnificent panorama of verdant mountains and craggy summits. Then he'd gaze up at the sky, brilliant and blue in the bright sunshine, and thank all that was sacred that it hadn't been real. But most times he faced it for what it truly wasa living death with no hope of escape.
He had tried the force field several times already, ut the electronic barrier was tamper proof. Evidently they'd worked that out cycles ago. And there was no way to slip through when the barriers were down, even cloaked, for the proper number of visitors to the mine had to be programed in, coming and going, or the barriers automatically raised. No, there was no way out of the mine. All that lay before him was the certainty of eventual death after sols, monates, perhaps even cycles of backbreaking labor in endless, heavy, smothering darkness.
Though his Cat's vision normally allowed him the ability to see, back here in the deeper recesses where the slaves worked and slept, it was pitch black even for him. It didn't really matter. There was nothing worth seeing anyway, save the pitiful, tortured faces of the other slaves.
He lay back and sighed. If only he knew Liane had made it away safely it would almost be worth it. Then he could return to the comfort of his dreams and endure, until it was finally over.
As Karic sat there immersed in his morose thoughts the strangest, most pervading sense of Liane's presence washed over him. It must have been the dream, he told himself. The eerie sense of her was stronger than it had ever been before.
Karic tried to relax and slip back into that blessed oblivion where he'd found her, but the feeling continued to grow, setting his nerves on edge. He climbed to his feet and followed the haunting attraction. The feeling became almost palpable, as if around the next bend in the tunnel he'd find her, awaiting him. Though he knew it was impossible, even the contemplation of such a thing sent his heart pounding.
Suddenly, his Cat-sensitive ears picked up a new sound, one foreign to the tunnels. Footsteps, light and hesitant, were moving toward him. He shook his head to clear it. Surely he was beginning to hallucinate, for it sounded like Liane. The soft breathing was hers, too. He'd know it anywhere.
He slammed up against the stone wall. By the three moons! He must be going mad, wanting her and missing her. It was the only explanation.
Her scent, fresh and sweet as a forest glade of wild violets, wafted to his nostrils. It was a trick, Karic tried to reassure himself, some torment devised by his keepers to break him. Yet, the certainty grew. A naked desire flared until he thought he'd scream from the psychic pain. He had to end this charade now, before it was too late.
Summoning all his will power, Karic stepped out and strode around the bend. In the dark tunnel, illuminated by light so faint as to be barely discernable, he saw the outline of a female form. Whether it was one of flesh and bone or an unsubstantial hologram, Karic couldn't discern. He stealthily crept closer.
She was alone, whoever she was, moving hesitantly through the darkness. He could hear her breathing, uneven and rasping, and he sensed her fear. It was raw, barely controlled. Suddenly, with a surety that overwhelmed him, Karic knew it was Liane.
With lithe agility he slipped behind her. In a quick movement Karic covered her mouth with one hand while, with the other, he pulled her back into him. She gave a small, muffled cry and began to struggle.
"Shhh, femina," he breathed into her ear. "It's me. Karic." She immediately relaxed. He turned her into his arms, clasping her tightly to him. Liane's hands slipped around Karic's trim waist, pulling him into her soft curves. They stood there, hearts pounding, bodies clinging. Then, with a superhuman effort, Karic forced himself back from her.
"What are you doing here, you little fool?" he demanded in a mixture of joy and angry concern. "And how were you able to get this far without being caught?"
She moved back to him, her hands entwining about his neck. "I've come to rescue you," she murmured against the hair-roughened planes of his chest. "I found a friend to help us. His name is Gage Bardwin. He'll return soon to get us out."
"Good." Karic stroked her back and felt her stiffen. He remembered her wounds.
"How's your back?" he whispered. "Still paining you?"
"It was healing well until this sol. II had an accident, and the wounds broke open. They'll heal again."
She disengaged herself from his arms, Suddenly warm and strangely light-headed. She'd felt that way more and more as the sol wore on, but now it was even worse. Perhaps the relief of finding Karic was doing strange things to her.
"II don't feel so well. Perhaps I'd better sit down."
"Yes, perhaps you should." Karic quietly agreed as he lowered Liane to the ground and sat down beside her. He studied her with Cat's eyes. "Are you all right?"
"Of course," she was quick to reply, banishing the unpleasant weariness with the force of her will. "It was a moment of dizziness, that's all. I feel better already."
Karic frowned. "If you say so."
He watched Liane pull a perpetual flame box out of her pocket and place it on a ledge above them. In the next instant, a soft, red glow bathed her features. "And now what?" Karic demanded, forcing himself past her distracting beauty. "Since you seem to have some sort of plan, you'd better fill me in on it."
"Gage has a miner's pass that can activate and deactivate the force field at the entrance to this pit. He had business of his own to take care of, but he promised to be back here in an hora's time. It's hard to know how long I've been looking for you, but I'd guess it to be no more than a half hora or so. We need to get back to the entrance and wait for him."
"And then what?"
She stared at him quizzically. "Why, we leave the mines as inconspicuously as possible. Gage has a stunner, just in case."
"Yes, but
then
what, Liane? Are you his femina now, this Gage you speak of? Will you go away with him?"
Did she detect a note of jealousy in Karic's voice? Before she even realized it a wild joy spiraled through her.
She fiercely shook the sweet hope from her. She didn't dare trust her feelings, didn't even want to. When all was said and done the deep fear of him, that he'd lose control again and turn into some vile, lust-maddened animal, still managed to overshadow everything else. No matter what he had told her about that nocte, Liane couldn't find it in her heart to trust that it would never happen again. She just couldn't. Whatever had driven her to rescue himloyalty, a sense of fairnessit changed nothing.
Perhaps his reaction was from some other motive besides jealousy. Perhaps Karic had changed his mind and meant to take her back to his lair. He might still feel he owed his people her breeding services, no matter what he'd told her in the cave before his capture. Perhaps he was just trying to ascertain if he'd have to fight Gage to do so.
The thought of those two powerful men battling over her filled Liane with a sickening sense of horror. The fight would be savage and bloody, for she knew no quarter would be asked or given. But how could she, in all good conscience, set such a terrible confrontation into motion? If Karic meant to take her back she'd have to find some other way to circumvent him, other than involving Gage. She'd already caused the blond tracker enough trouble as it was.
Liane met Karic's gaze. "No, I am not his femina, and I won't go away with him." She hesitated. "I no longer need his help. You promised to take me anywhere I wished to go. Do you still mean it?"
Anguish churned through Karic. So, nothing had changed, had it? She still despised him and had rescued him only so she could make use of him. Yet, for a fleeting moment when he'd first held her, he could have sworn the utter joy he'd felt had been returned. Fool!
"I gave you my word, Liane," he rapped out in a cold, unfamiliar voice. "I'll stand by it. Where do you want to go?"
Liane recoiled from the harshness of his tone. She'd angered him. Well, if he didn't want to be burdened with her, it was fine with her. She was quite capable of going on alone. "I journey to Lyrae." She forced her voice to sound as strong and sure as her words. "If it's too inconvenient to take me there I won't hold you to your offer."
"No inconvenience at all," he growled. "And the sooner you're safe, the sooner you'll be free of my loathsome presence."