The Hag of Calix

Chapter Fifteen

  WHEN FELIC returned to the bay where the Sun-Eagle rode at anchor, he was dejected by his failure to rescue Chessa. He spotted a small Maijad dugout canoe half hidden in the brush along the shore line and he paddled it out to the yacht.

  Gwenay greeted him with affected intimacy. "Hello, my wonderful lover...you have returned at last!" She reached out to help him over the rail. "Where have you been all night?"

  Felic brushed aside her offered hand. He tied the canoe to the anchor chain and swung himself onto the deck. His face was unyielding. "You drugged me!" he accused her.

  Gwenay feigned bewilderment. "I don't understand..."

  "You understand well enough. You put the powder of the striped beetle in my wine." She started to object but he stopped her with a gesture. His voice was soft but deadly. "Do not lie to me! I want nothing from you...no tender apologies...no sweet endearments...just stay away. Do not come near me. Do not speak to me!"

  Gwenay backed away, her hands over her mouth. He turned his back and strode aft to the quarterdeck. After a moment she followed him.

  "All right," she apologized, "I will admit that I added a love-potion to your wine. Is that so wicked? Is it not an honor to be chosen as a queen's lover?"

  He did not respond. He stood at the rail, staring at the shoreline with morose indifference.

  She tried again. "Felic... it's more than just last night. Being with you these last few days has aroused emotions that I thought I would never feel again. I have felt love growing in me...for you. It's a wonderful feeling, and one that I thought had dried up, never to return." Her voice faltered and her eyes grew moist. "Don't you understand what that means, my love? I am a complete woman again. Not just a young body disguising an ancient soul. The Qalandor has made me young in mind as well as body. I didn't know that before...not until you came into my heart. We could give each other so much. I can give you the immortality that I have, and with the power of the completed Qalandor we can rule all Antillia--a god and goddess, forever young. I would show you how deep a love could go, Felic. You would never tire of me. I would make your days and nights a succession of endless delights." She waited for his answer. There was a long silence before he turned from the rail and spoke.

  "Chessa has been captured by the Maijads."

  A swift flush of anger suffused Gwenay's face. "I offer you the greatest gift a mortal could ask, and this is your answer? You worry about your brainless little playmate?"

  Felic faced her calmly. "The greatest gift? Yes, I suppose you do. But I love Chessa and I intend to get her back."

  "You are a fool to concern yourself. The Maijads will kill you and then what? What of the gem?"

  "I am no longer interested in you or the gem." He hesitated a moment, then their eyes clashed. "You sicken me, Gwenay!"

  She recoiled from his words, shocked and hurt. She watched him in heavy silence as he wiped the moisture off of Battle Flasher. Then he coiled tangled lines, putting the deck shipshape, before he stretched out on the planks to catch up on the night of lost sleep. She waited until he slept. All the while her mind churned over the humility of his scorn. Her eyes were feverish, narrow slits of hate, as she stole forward to stand over him. She knelt silently by his prone body, clutching a cruel, long-bladed stiletto with both hands. She tensed herself and prepared to plunge it into his beating heart.