A hand grabbed at her foot and she stomped on it just as the dagger swung, barely brushing the flesh of her ankle. She felt a frantic kick of her child, and she turned and ran back into the cave. Instantly, she was cast into total darkness, except for the small stream of light coming from her flashlight.
Keeping one hand on the inner wall to guide her, she wondered if Alex was alive. Would he recover? Suddenly, the vision of Myrdd in the sea filled Valeria’s vision. She wondered if Alex would survive only to be killed, with her and their child.
No!
She forced the thought away.
She continued through the labyrinth, wishing that Alex was beside her. What if she never saw him again? She choked back a cry. Then she heard Kristiana, singing the haunting lullaby from her nightmare.
“Kame nana na kimithis...Kame nana na kimithis...” The contrast of the sweet lullaby of a mother calming her child’s fears in a slightly off-key rendition, as she came to murder another mother and child, was terrifying.
Valeria picked up her pace and wondered how many circles she had run. She desperately wanted to cry out for Alex, but she didn’t want Kristiana to hear her. She moved faster, feeling the terror building within her.
Her foot hit a rock and she tripped. Valeria caught herself on her hands, but her small cry alerted Kristiana, who released a mad cackle. Then Kristiana continued her song—as it transformed into a battle march.
Picking up her pace, Valeria realized that she had felt an occasional knob on the side the cave. She had passed two of them. They must identify the circles. That would leave five circles remaining. She felt herself moving deeper and deeper into the mountain; as her claustrophobia began to take control, she forced it away. She thought about Alex, but now it wasn’t just their love and their lives that mattered anymore. There was only one thing that mattered and that was keeping their child safe!
Valeria’s hands were covered in sweat and the flashlight slipped out of her grasp. As it hit the ground, the light went out and she fumbled around desperately searching for it. When her foot kicked it, she followed the sound until she found it. Rubbing her belly, she whispered, “I won’t let her harm you!”
She passed another bump in the wall—three more circles—as she listened to the sound of Kristiana’s lullaby. Over the sound of her heart pounding it seemed as if she had increased the distance between her and Kristiana. Then she wondered if it was just the change in acoustics with the increased number of turns in the wall.
She thought of Alex again and prayed that somehow she might see him again. Already the emptiness was nearly overwhelming. She wondered how she would keep her promise to her child.
The memory of the bloody hole in Paolo made her nauseous and she wondered if he would recover. Despite everything, he had become a friend. Then she thought of Myrdd and how easily Kristiana had slaughtered him. Suddenly she had a near-paralyzing thought—if Kristiana had thrown Alex over the cliff, he would drown and that would be the end of him. A pain hit her chest. She couldn’t think that! She had to believe that Alex was safe—that they would all be safe.
Valeria counted, one more circle. The distances were shorter and shorter around each turn now. At last, the cave opened to a circular chamber the size of the large living room. There was nothing in there except for a large metal crate with intricate symbols carved into it. Valeria recognized some of the symbols, including the triquetra and another three-pronged symbol. The crate stood waist high and a light shined down from the roof of the cave on two carvings of labyrinths, just as she had seen at the cave’s entrance. Kristiana’s voice was even closer now. Myrdd had told Valeria to remove something. She remembered the rules, she had to turn the labyrinths, but not too far, or she would have nothing. As she rotated the knobs on the box, they slipped through her fingers—her hands were too sweaty.
Using the bottom edge of her shirt, she wrapped it over the knobs. Turning them with all of her might, she felt them give, and then she heard a latch release. She lifted the lid of the box and inside was a large book with an infinity symbol painted in gold on the cover.
“You must remove it!” She remembered Myrdd’s words—was this what he was referring to? She could still hear Kristiana and knew she would be there in less than a minute. She began reading the pages as quickly as she could. There had to be some clue that would tell her how to protect herself and her child against Kristiana.
“Val!” She heard Alex’s frantic cry through the tunnels and she felt immediate relief; he was alive, even though, he was too far away to help her now. She shook the thought off and continued to read. Flipping back several hundred pages she read as quickly as she could. Just then, the volume of Kristiana’s song increased.
Valeria read a line and lowered her brows. “A blinding sword?” She lifted the tome, but there was no sword to be found. She set it back down. Valeria knew that she would not attack Kristiana with a sword, but perhaps she could somehow defend herself and her child.
The speed of Kristiana’s song increased with the volume, “Na
meroni na ksupna, na megaloni o...”
Suddenly, Valeria was keenly aware that the singing had ended and she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise at Kristiana’s presence. She needed something to protect herself from the dagger she knew Kristiana still had, and so she lifted the tome. When Valeria turned she was stunned to see that Kristiana’s once beautiful face had withered, with black patches marring its surface from her brief moment without the crystal.
“In all of these years, I have only had the pleasure of killing you myself but twice. The first time you returned, my husband saw the vision of you in the river. Fortunately, he told me how and where I would kill you before I had even decided. His mistake was that he took the time to pack...I did not!” Kristiana sighed happily. “I would like for him to know that he caused your death this last time.” She tapped her foot impatiently and growled, “Call to him!”
“Alex!”
His voice was a cry of desperation.
“Val!
Are you okay...is she...” Kristiana laughed hysterically and it echoed throughout the tunnels.
Valeria could hear his struggled breathing as he raced to her and it broke her heart to know that he would see the inevitable.
“I’m bored.” The corners of Kristiana’s face rose in a macabre smile as she grabbed her dagger and hurled it toward Valeria. Lifting the book, Valeria successfully blocked the blade from her chest.
The room filled with an enraged battle cry as Kristiana ran at Valeria and knocked her to the ground. Then, pulling her dagger from the tome, Kristiana thrust it at Valeria in rapid-fire succession, while Valeria tried to block the blows.
The thrusts stopped and Valeria felt extraordinary and immediate relief when she saw Alex and Paolo grab Kristiana and pull her away.
Alex took the dagger and Paolo locked Kristiana’s arms behind her, as Alex ran to his wife. Valeria sat up slowly. She had lived!
“Alex?” she said wrapping her arms around his neck. He held her close and she could feel the pounding of his pulse.
Kristiana craned her neck back to look at Paolo. “Paolo, my sweet boy...you live!”
His voice came as a whisper. “Yes...” Then his eyes filled with tears. “I am sorry, Mother.” He reached to her neck and, suddenly, Kristiana acquiesced and leaned her head against Paolo’s chest.
“My beautiful boy!”
Kristiana said softly as Paolo yanked off the leather cord that held her lifeline.
In that instant, her eyes filled with horror. Her skin began to wither, turning green and brown and then, finally, black. Kristina’s voice was almost like an echo, as she hummed her haunting lullaby that eerily continued a moment after her body turned to dust.
They stared at her remains in a mix of shock and relief. Alex’s expression went from relief to sudden horror as he stared at Valeria. She saw Paolo staring at her with the same expression.
“We’re safe now,” she said. But she didn’t feel safe. She felt a strange feeling as if the world was moving away from her. She glanced down and saw blood gushing from dozens of wounds in her chest.
Gathering every bit of strength she had in her, she brushed her hand over Alex’s face. “I’m sorry,” she whispered before losing consciousness.
Alex picked her up. “Hang on, Val! Hang on! We’re going to get you out of here!” A sob caught in his throat and then he said, “Doc’s going to fix you up! Paolo! Let’s go, Paolo!”
Paolo seemed in shock, but then picked up Valeria’s flashlight and ran back into the labyrinth. Alex followed carrying Valeria in his arms.
“She’s still breathing! Hurry, Paolo!”
The circles seemed endless, but finally they saw the light. Mani and Lita, having received the silent communication from Alex, were at the entrance to the cave with supplies and a blanket to act as a stretcher. Mani wrapped gauze tightly around Valeria’s wounds and then they carried her along the rugged trail.
By the time they got her to the car, she was drenched in blood and had stopped breathing. Alex began CPR, while Mani tried to stop the massive hemorrhaging.
On the jet, Lita hooked Valeria up to equipment that kept her heart and lungs working as they took off toward home. Alex sat helplessly by, clinging to Valeria’s hand and refusing to believe anything except that his love would survive.
A few hours later, they arrived in Innsbruck and a medical helicopter transported them to Morgana.
The romantic bedroom where Alex had first proposed to his beloved no longer looked quite so romantic—as it continued to fill with even more hospital equipment that Mani ordered. Still, Alex consoled himself knowing that it was better than the hospital where he had been barred from entering her room due to the quarantine.
Alex listened as Mani performed an ultrasound; he closed his eyes, praying for the familiar, reassuring sound. A moment later, Alex heard that rapid heartbeat. He opened his eyes and stared at Mani. He couldn’t bring himself to ask him if the baby was all right.
“The baby appears to be unharmed,” Mani said flatly.
Caleb and Tavish sat in the great room by the fire, lost in their pain. Paolo sat by himself until an hour later when Daphne arrived and held him tightly.
Alex didn’t ask Mani how his wife was—he knew. He had watched her die too many times before. It was late in the evening when Camille and Jonah arrived. Most of the family had not met Jonah, but there were no hugs or introductions—only a shared grief.
Finally, Alex felt Mani’s hand on his shoulder. “Alex…”
Shaking his head, Alex covered his face. “Don’t, Doc!” Alex tried to stop the trembling in his chest.
Mani rubbed Alex’s arm.
“I am sorry, my friend. These are just not injuries that will heal.”
It was a few minutes later when Camille came in, sobbing, and hugged Alex, who didn’t want to be hugged. He didn’t want anything except for his wife to open her eyes and smile at him. After all the centuries of waiting for her and despite all of their enemies now being conquered, he had failed her.
Mani cleared his throat. “She is breathing on her own for now. She may even regain consciousness briefly and rally. But at this point, my only goal is to keep Valeria’s heart going for at least another week to improve the chance of the baby’s survival.”
Alex held on to his sobs. “I can’t talk about that now.”
Later that evening, Lita came in and rubbed Alex’s back. “I thought you would like to know that Myrdd has recovered. Ava and Lars are bringing him back.”
Alex nodded and then crawled into bed next to Valeria. He brushed her hair back from her face. Her eyes were still open, but he could see no life that was Valeria in those beautiful oracle blue eyes. He brushed his hands over her lids to close them.
Camille tried to find something to say. “You don’t think about it now…but,” Camille swallowed, “let’s just pray that…well, you know…” Alex tried to distance himself from the emotion—unwilling to accept that this was the end.
∞
The next morning, most of the family waited on the porch or in lawn chairs under the newly blossoming trees. The grass was green and Homer and his wife brought baskets of pansies to hang from the porch.
Alex had fallen asleep and when he woke, he saw a faint light back in Valeria’s eyes.
“Thank, God!” he choked as he brushed her hair back and swallowed. She tried to speak from under the oxygen mask and he pulled it from her face.
“Is it spring yet?” she whispered.
When Alex nodded, she closed her eyes and smiled.
“Can
I…”
“What beautiful?
Anything you want—anything.”
“I…I want to
lay under our tree.”
“I think you should take it easy right now! Let’s get you recovered first!” Alex said.
Mani approached Valeria’s bed as Camille went to the door, relieved.
Mani smiled kindly at Valeria and said, “Alex, I think if we all help, we can take Valeria outside. The weather is quite pleasant.” Alex looked at Mani as if he were insane.
“But, Doc—shouldn’t she...”
“Sometimes the needs of the soul outweigh the needs of the body,” Mani said.
Lita touched Camille’s shoulder and whispered, “Camille, she’s rallying.”
Stepping into the great room, Camille asked, “What does that mean? That’s a good thing, right? I mean...she’s conscious!” Camille said quietly, so that Alex couldn’t hear. But when Lita shook her head softly, Camille repeated, “She’s...conscious, though!”
“She needs to say goodbye,” Lita whispered softly. Camille began to sob as Lita held her.
Mani, Alex, Paolo, and Tavish, gently lifted Valeria onto a stretcher and then carefully carried her out the front door, down the steps, and then around the side of the house to her ginkgo tree where a million diamond shaped leaves had recently sprouted on nearly every inch of the branches. Valeria kept her eyes closed until she was there. She looked up and smiled at her ginkgo tree and the blue sky beyond, as she held Alex’s hand.
Mani patted Paolo and Tavish on the back. “Let’s give Alex and Valeria some time alone.” Reluctantly, Paolo went back to the porch where he could continue to see her, his face frozen in a mask of despair. Caleb and Elliot returned to their game of chess, while Daphne and Tavish competed in archery.
“See how it’s thrived here? I always knew it would,” she whispered.
“How could it not? When it’s surrounded by so much love,” he said.
“Promise me...” she said, as a tear escaped. “You won’t be so sad that you forget...her.” Valeria ran her hand over her stomach.
“
You and I
will take good care of her! You and I will,” he said as he battled his emotions.
Her eyes closed for a moment.
“Val?”
Alex cried out.
She nodded and opened her eyes as a tear rolled down her cheek. Then she looked at him with wonder. “Do you know how beautiful you have made my life?” she said brushing her fingers over his face. Alex kissed her palm. Then she lowered her brows and tightened her jaw, battling the tears. “I’m so...sorry for this. I know this won’t be easy.”
“You’re going to be fine, now,” Alex choked. “That, my love, is our destiny.”
She closed her eyes again and nodded. He wasn’t ready for the reality.
“Will you come for me?”
“Please don’t go!” Alex cried.
“Promise you’ll come for me,” she whispered.
“Please don’t die!”
“My love...” She opened her eyes and they were crystal clear as she smiled. “We never really die.”
He kissed her once more as she released her last breath.
∞
The family gathered around Alex as he lifted his wife—his symbolon—and carried her back into the bedroom in the cottage he had built for her. Then he stepped back as Mani and Melitta tied down her limbs and inserted a tube down her throat to automate her breathing, while hooking up another machine to compress her heart and keep her alive long enough to safely deliver the baby.