Viking Ecstasy (25 page)

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His eyelids fluttered briefly, and Kahlid emitted a low, ominous monotone. Then, suddenly, his eyes opened wide and he looked directly into Neenah's frightened eyes as she sat at the opposite side of the table from him.

"I fear we will all discover that the foreigner and his men bring with them grave danger for all in the palace," Kahlid said softly, his voice carrying with it all the sadness and concern that he could manufacture.

Neenah was literally aquiver with fear as she listened carefully to Kahlid's every word. She could hardly breathe she was so scared for the lives of her husband and the people she loved who lived in the palace and the village.

"And High Priestess Tanaka has changed, too," Kahlid continued, sensing that Neenah was receptive to anything he had to say. "Since her return, the influence of the foreigner has been apparent to all, has it not? She has usurped power that was never hers, and she has complained and criticized all who labored to do her work in her absence."

Everyone in the palace knew that Tanaka was furious with the way the records had been kept by Kahlid and his minions, and she'd made no effort whatsoever to spare anyone's feelings when discrepancies were discovered. Gold, wine, perfume, and other precious goods such as grain and dried fish in the palace warehouses were missing. Though some suspected Kahlid had fattened his own purse with the goods, no one —not even Tanaka —dared point an accusing finger without irrefutable, undeniable proof.

Kahlid had immediately initiated his own rumors, complaining that the errors were in Tanaka's accounts, and perhaps it would not be out of line to inspect her personal accounts.

So when Kahlid mentioned Tanaka's attitude shift since her kidnap and return, Neenah was sadly forced to agree that she had, in fact, changed greatly from the happy, young high priestess who had been ripped from their loving embrace so many months earlier.

"Do you think the foreigner is responsible for this change?" Neenah asked, needing to hear the words from a priest, someone she could believe without question.

"Very likely. ... his power over others is great. ... it is almost unworldly the power he has—"

"Power from the underworld?" Neenah gasped.

Kahlid had carefully led Neenah to the conclusion he wanted without having to push her. And now that she was there, it took almost no skill at all to push her over the edge.

"Perhaps. ... I cannot see where his power comes from. ... I am a spiritual man . . . powers that come from the underworld . . . their source is murky to my inner eye. Evil from that source blinds me."

Neenah was openly shivering now. The thought of a huge Viking like Tabor wielding powers from the underworld shook the foundations of love and tolerance that Neenah had long prided herself in.

"Tanaka . . . the high priestess. . . . she has changed, but she is not completely to blame for all that has changed. . . . she is under a power ... a great, evil power . . ."

And then, with a heavy sigh, Kahlid slumped forward, dropping his head onto his forearms as though greatly fatigued by the visions he had seen.

He said nothing for several minutes, letting Neenah ponder the suspicions he'd sown on the fertile soil of her mind. Though Kahlid had initially intended to have Neenah killed when Moamin and Tanaka were executed, he thought now of letting her live. It might be easier for the soldiers to believe that he was governing by divine right if someone from the pharaoh's family was at his side. Neenah believed in him completely, never questioning anything he said. If he could convince her that Tabor was responsible for all the murders, Neenah could serve as a figurehead. Otherwise, the villagers and soldiers might come to believe that Kahlid was behind the deaths.

Of course, to follow this plan meant that Lysetta must be murdered with the others, but this caused Kahlid only a moment's displeasure. Though Lysetta was a stimulating bed partner, he'd been growing tired of her. Assassination was as good a way as any to rid himself of a mistress that had outlived her usefulness and excitement. Besides, his spy had said that Lysetta had gone to the pier and was seen kissing the Viking barbarian. Kahlid did not believe that he should be true to just one woman, but he insisted on fidelity from his mistress.

T
abor looked at Kahlid, who met his gaze unflinchingly. The two men did not like each other, though harsh words had never been exchanged between them. As they sat now in the anteroom waiting for Tanaka to finish her tarot reading for Moamin, there was no reason for either of them to be more than civil.

"What is it about me that bothers you so?" Tabor asked suddenly. He always preferred confronting problems and people directly, and the bluntness of his question had the effect on Kahlid that he'd wanted —it threw him off balance.

"Nothing," Kahlid answered. Then, quickly, he regained his composure, leaning forward on the granite bench to place his elbows on his knees. He scratched his chin, pulling at the small beard there. "Actually, there is much about you that I do not like, if we are being honest, but since what I do not like has no bearing on the pharaoh, or this palace, I see no reason to put my feelings to words." He smiled then, the devilish smile of someone very much pleased with himself. "What is it about me that bothers you, Tabor? I've seen in your eyes the hatred you feel. It'll do you no good to deny it."

Tabor had to control his temper to keep from grabbing the priest by the front of his fine robes and shaking him the way a cat does a mouse. But he'd promised Tanaka he would never use violence against any of her people.

There was another reason why Tabor did not let his baser instincts dictate. He believed that Kahlid was an enemy far more dangerous, perhaps, than any enemy that sailed the seas near Hedeby. Kahlid's power and wealth were enormous, and if he was indeed foe, then Tabor did not want to let his true feelings be known.

"I deny nothing," Tabor said in his quiet, rumbling way, speaking the Egyptian language slowly. "All in this palace know I have feelings for the high priestess, and that she has spent her days and many of her nights working with you and not with me."

Kahlid grinned then, nodding. "As the palace high priestess, she has many duties that must be fulfilled. I am the next highest ranking spiritual advisor, and there is much that we have needed to consult on together. You needn't be jealous of me. I have no designs upon Tanaka."

Tabor nodded and looked away, as though contemplating what Kahlid had just said, a jealous man trying to come to grips with his own irrational fears. Actually, he was wondering exactly how badly Kahlid wanted to be the palace high priest, a position he had filled—badly so, according to Tanaka—when Tanaka had been kidnapped and away at sea.

"Sometimes, when a woman fills your heart with unease, the best way to make your heart feel good again is to be in the arms of another woman." Kahlid grinned lustfully, as though he was a good friend of Tabor's and they were sharing a licentious joke. "But surely, you know what I mean."

Tabor nodded, but he was thinking,
You and Lysetta deserve each other. I don't know which one of you is more treacherous than the other.

"Perhaps, when you have the time, you might like me to read the cards for you," Kahlid continued. "You will find the tarot can tell you things about yourself and your future that no one else can."

Tabor shook his head. "I do not believe the tarot can tell me anything," he said, intending offense. "If ever I have so much time with nothing to do, perhaps I'll find a beautiful Egyptian woman to spend it with."

An icy hardness slid over Kahlid before he forced the false smile of camaraderie back to his lips. "Of course."

Silence surrounded the two men as they sat outside the huge room that Tanaka used as her private temple, the room she felt had the greatest spiritual energy. Then the huge door, made of cedar and reinforced with bronze and copper, opened smoothly upon its well-oiled hinges, and Pharaoh Moamin Abbakka stepped out, flanked by Tanaka.

"Most enlightening, Tanaka. Most wonderfully enlightening," Moamin beamed.

"I try to be of help when I look at the cards," she replied modestly, clearly happy that she had pleased her pharaoh but uncomfortable with his effusive compliments. "It is a gift. I really can't accept credit for the visions myself."

"A gift from the gods," Moamin said, his voice hushed as though he feared that speaking such words might cause the gods to take away Tanaka's powers — powers which the pharaoh counted on when he made decisions of state.

With barely a nod of recognition to Kahlid and Tabor, Moamin turned and entered a circle of his most trusted bodyguards and advisors.

"It's good to see you here," she said, her tone conversational, as though she could trick Kahlid into thinking that her relationship with Tabor was just that of a spiritual advisor to a man needing counsel. "Won't you please come in?"

Kahlid began to follow them, but Tanaka stopped him. "You won't be needed," she said.

Kahlid had come to the temple hoping to be of service to Moamin, only to be snubbed when the pharaoh asked that Tanaka read the tarot cards for him. And now, after waiting nearly two hours, he was being cast aside once again.

"You may leave. But I do thank you for your consideration," Tanaka continued, hardly glancing in Kahlid's direction, able only to look at Tabor.

When Tabor and Tanaka were alone in the temple room, the door closed and the bolt thrown, Tanaka threw herself into his arms, kissing him full on the mouth.

"Thank you for coming to me," she said, her hand resting lightly against his cheek. "I have so wanted to read the cards for you, and it seems like my duties consume all my time . . ."

She let the words trail away. Would it be some hideous offense to the gods if she should make love to Tabor here, in the temple room? she wondered. She thought it wouldn't be. She had searched the cards, her heart, her soul. She had looked deep inside herself for an answer, and nothing that she could see indicated that sharing her heart and soul and love with Tabor was wrong—even if that sharing took place in the temple room.

Taking his hand in hers, she led him across the great room illuminated with countless candles and oil lamps made of gold. There were sections of the temple room for the reading of tarot, for prayer, for the writing of holy dictates and royal decrees. Only the elite of the palace were granted entry to this room, but this was not known to Tabor.

"Sit there," she said, indicating the pillows on the floor in front of a short-legged wooden table. She sat opposite him shuffling rectangular pieces of papyrus stiffened with beeswax and intricately painted.

Tabor watched Tanaka's hands and the tarot cards. He did not believe, but in an effort to find common ground with Tanaka, whom he had not seen nearly enough of lately, he had agreed to let her read his tarot.

"Lay your hand upon the cards," Tanaka instructed, placing the papyrus down on the table before Tabor. "Think of the questions you would most like to have answered."

Tabor placed his hand upon the tarot cards, but he was looking at Tanaka as he did so. "What I most want to know is when Kahlid plans to betray you."

The words spilled from Tabor's mouth before he could stop them, and as soon as they were spoken, he was filled with regret. Tanaka stiffened, her face turning first angry, then hurt. Tears pooled in her large, dark eyes as she stared, unblinking, at Tabor. Tension thickened in the room.

"And. . . . and I was foolish enough to think that you'd actually come here for me ... to be happy . . . with me!"

Tabor wanted to take her into his arms and say the gentle, loving words he knew she wanted to hear. But what she wanted to hear was not what she needed to hear. Tabor had no proof but his gut told him Tanaka was in danger. Grave, mortal danger. He believed the forces came from within the temple—forces quite likely controlled by Kahlid, a man who stood to gain a great deal if once again Tanakah were unable to serve as high priestess to Pharaoh Moamin Abbakka.

"I do want to be with you," Tabor said at last. "I want to make you happy and keep you happy. I don't ever again want bad things to happen to you. That's why I must stay on my guard, Tanaka. Treachery and deceit are everywhere."

Tanaka sprang to her feet, a flurry of purple and white, ebony hair flying. She had planned an exciting, romantic tryst for herself and Tabor, something she felt they both desperately needed. Now he had turned that new tryst into an old argument.

"Treachery, treachery! Treachery and deceit are all you can see!" she shouted, backing away from Tabor as though he might leap at her any moment. "This is not your homeland! Can't you understand that we do not behave that way here?"

"Can't you understand that you are not as loved as you think you are?"

"Certainly not by you!" Tanaka shot back. And then the tears began to flow because there could be no denying now that Tabor did not love her. If he did, she reasoned, he would not try so hard to destroy every gentle moment the two of them might share.

"That is not what I said."

"You didn't have to say it! You say it all the time in everything you do!" Tears streamed down her cheeks. Tabor moved around the table toward her, but Tanaka held her hands up to ward him off. "Leave! Leave me now! Get out of my temple, you barbarian!"

It was the first time that Tanaka had ever called him by the name with damning intent. It was an insult not only to Tabor, but to everything he was and everything he stood for.

She watched a muscle flex in his jaw. His huge hands, capable of violence and tenderness, were balled into enormous, threatening fists.

Without another word, Tabor turned and left the room. Once alone, Tanaka slumped onto a mound of pillows, giving in to the sobs and tears that shook her body, feeling further away from Tabor than she ever had.