This week’s memorable moment is from ESCAPE TO MAHJUNDAR and it’s a scene in the female main character’s mother’s tomb. The princess and the main male character (plus several supporting characters) are trapped in the tomb and desperate to find a way out. It gave me goose bumps to write at the time so here we go:
“Now listen up, we’re going to try a long shot in the crypt. We’re thinking Kajastahn may have ordered a secret passage constructed between his tomb and this one. Trouble is, we already searched for a door with no luck. Shalira is going to ask her mother—” He raised his hand to forestall the question Johnny was plainly going to ask. “I know the whole idea sounds crazy, but then everything on this damned planet is slightly nuts, right? We’ve got forty-five minutes or so left before our only option is the grand suicide rush out the front door funnel of death here.”
“Okay, I’m game for conducting a séance. It’s as good a way as any to spend the last hour of my life.” Holstering his gun, Johnny followed Mike.
The sergeant stood quietly at the edge of the chamber while Mike guided Shalira to the foot of the effigy. Annoyed at himself, Mike realized he was averting his eyes from the statue’s cold face. “What we want to see will be a spark of red light,” he explained over his shoulder to Johnny.
“Right.” Thumbs hooked in his belt, leaning on the wall, his cousin made no effort to keep his skepticism from showing.
“Ready, Shalira?” Mike squeezed her hand as she nodded. “Then let’s go for it.” He stepped away but stayed close enough to catch her if she became light-headed.
“I hear the doubt in your voice, Sergeant Danver, but channeling the powers and spirits is my gift,” she said. Not waiting for a response, she began a low-pitched chant. She extended her arms, hands palms up in supplication, as before.
This time her song droned on for three or four minutes, endlessly repeating the same phrases, but there was no answer whatsoever. The effigy remained uncaring, cold stone, no soft sighs disturbing the air. Shalira broke off mid-verse, swallowed hard, began singing again, her concentration obviously slipping under the strain. Choking a bit, she compressed her lips, shaking her head. Hands on the edge of the bier, head down, breathing hard, she said, “Mother, much as I regret disturbing your rest twice, I need your help. Please.”
Mike caught a whiff of intoxicating perfume which hadn’t been present before, so intense it robbed his lungs of the already scarce oxygen, leaving him dizzy and short of breath. A dim red spark flickering between the fingers of the statue caught his attention. “Keep trying,” he whispered. “I think this idea is going to work.”
Echoing through the chamber, a loud crack heralded intense shaking as if an earthquake had begun. Thrown forward, Shalira struck her head a glancing blow on a corner of the bier and fell lifelessly to the floor. Mike tottered against the rolling ground and managed to pick her up, checking the pulse at the base of her throat.
“She’s alive.” Eyes narrowed, he glared into the face of the statue, locking eyes with it. “Come on, don’t condemn your daughter to die in here. Don’t let the empress win—show us the goddamn way out.”
As if spurred by his curse, the ground below his boots heaved. Mike put out a hand to steady himself and his precious burden against the bier. Touching the cold stone, his fingers burned as if doused in acid and he yanked his hand back. Red sparks flew from the edges of the bier, whirling together like a dust devil, higher and higher, drawing his attention to meet the eyes of Lindia.
There was intelligence in those eyes this time.
Depositphotos
He could have sworn Lindia’s effigy blinked. Her lips struggling to say something, the beautiful face shifted and shimmered, as if someone or something was trying to animate the cold stone into a semblance of life.
“Just—show—us—the way—OUT,” he said, hardly able to form intelligible words, horrified by what he was seeing, “and we’ll leave you to your peace.”
The red sparks flew, crashing against the wall next to a white-faced, open-mouthed Johnny, promptly winking out. After one more paroxysm, the ground was quiet.
Mike stole a glance back at the statue and he felt as if his heart stopped beating for a moment.
Instead of gazing straight ahead so anyone entering the tomb would immediately see the image of Lindia full in the face, the statue’s head was now turned in the direction of the western wall, where the sparks had flown to mark a destination only she’d known.
Carrying the princess, Mike retreated, one cautious step at a time, eyes locked on the statue, until he felt the wall at his back and Johnny’s hands catching at his arm.
“Lords of Space, what the hell happened? Did you see–”
Mike shook his head impatiently. “Not now.”
“Yeah, maybe not ever,” Johnny agreed, swallowing hard.
VS: Johnny by the way is one of my favorite supporting characters ever and I did finally write him his own book…
MISSION TO MAHJUNDAR
This one was partially inspired by The Far Pavilions by M. M. Kaye and the poignant situation of a man escorting the woman he loves to her arranged marriage. I was also inspired by a dear friend I had in college who was blind.
An attempted assassination left Princess Shalira blind as a child and, now that she’s of marriageable age, her prospects are not good because of her disability. She’s resigned herself to an arranged marriage rather than face life under the thumb of her cold stepmother. But then she meets Mike Varone, a Sectors Special Forces officer sent to Mahjundar by the intergalactic government to retrieve a ship lost in her planet’s mountains. After Mike saves Shalira from another assassination attempt, she arranges for him to escort her across the planet to her future husband. She’s already falling hard for the deadly offworlder and knows she should deny herself the temptation he represents, but taking Mike along to protect her is the only way she’ll live long enough to escape her ruthless stepmother.
Mike, for his part, resists his growing attraction to the princess; he has a mission on this planet and rescuing the vulnerable but brave princess isn’t it. No matter how much he wishes it could be.
But what should have been an easy trek through Mahjundar’s peaceful lands swiftly turns into an ambush with danger around every turn. Shalira’s marriage begins to seem less like an arranged union and more like yet another planned assassination. The more they work together to survive, the harder it becomes to stop themselves from falling in love. Caught in a race against time, can they escape the hostile forces hunting them and make it off the planet?
MISSION TO MAHJUNDAR is part of the SECTORS SF ROMANCE SERIES. Each story in this series takes place in the same world of hunky space soldiers and the competent ladies who love them. You can read the books in this series back to back, or as individual, stand-alone books.
Amazon Apple Books Kobo Nook Google Play
Audiobook: Amazon Apple Books
