She took the smoothest stones of rose quartz and ametrine from the pouch and gave them to Raven and
Savannah to hold in their hands and rub while the ceremony took place. Next she took braided cowrie shells and placed them around both pregnant women's necks, another call to energy. She scattered rosebuds over the rich soil and added pomegranate to aid in the ceremony of renewed life.
Once Francesca had prepared Savannah and Raven, she took up a small drum, hand painted with a map of the shadow world and various animals of power and wisdom. She took a soft mallet and began to thump in a monotonous beat, using the rhythm of the women's collective hearts.
Lara seated herself close to Raven and Savannah, forming a triangle, while around them, the other Carpathian women formed a tight circle. Now, braids of sweet grass and copal tree resin were added to the smoking sage on the hot rocks along with herbs so that the room surrounded them with the scents of nature. Lara inhaled the scent, allowing the fragrance to carry her jitters away.
This was the most important task she might ever accomplish and she had nearly ended her own life. Had she succeeded, how many children would be lost? She felt she had been put on earth to fulfill this moment, to make this journey and save the three children. Xavier had destroyed so many lives and she was determined that he would not take these women and children as he had so many others.
Rubbing her fingers over a clear quartz crystal for clarity and focus, she pushed all thoughts away and allowed the waves in her mind to come and go and then recede altogether until her mind was a calm body of water, lapping at the edges relentlessly, ready to expand.
In her calm state, she sifted through her memories, long forgotten, and found the faint tracks of mage. She followed the path until she could open the door she needed. Dragonseeker blood might flow through her veins, but she was mage-her mother from a pure line. The mystic ran strong in her and everything she had been taught by the aunts was ready to feed her instincts should she need aid. This underground chamber the ancient women had instinctively chosen to use for their rituals was a place of power where the physical world merged with the spiritual realm. She felt the energy flowing into her, heard the rhythmic sound of a drum and the distant feminine voices chanting. The melodic notes carried her deeper into another sphere.
Smoke filled her vision. Clouds of mist and fog drifted in the smoke. She inhaled sharply, drawing the smoke and air into her lungs, as she set her soul free to travel. She found herself at the border of the two worlds, the chamber where she sat composed and tranquil, at the first stage of travel.
As her vision cleared, she could see a large tree with a labyrinth of roots and a jungle of wide-reaching branches standing before her. Mist of varying colors swirled through and around the branches. Leaves rustled as if alive, silvery green in color, fluttering in the soft breeze. The wind was just strong enough to stir the mist, not dislodge it, so that the she caught glimpses of the thick twisting trunk, leading upward toward the sky and down beneath the soil.
Lara concentrated on the tree. The trunk appeared quite old, grayish in color. There were a few dark knots in the trunk and branches and one or two places where it may have lost a limb over time, but the tree appeared healthy. She continued moving over the ever-expanding meadow toward the tree, her bare feet skimming the fresh grass. As she moved across the field, flowers sprang up under the soles of her feet as if she scattered seeds along the fertile ground. The closer she got to the tree, the more missing branches she spotted, and beneath the tree, held within the cage of roots, old dead limbs lay like broken bodies in a mass grave.
As she approached the tree of life, she heard voices crying out, the sound of weeping, and she felt wet drops on her upturned face. Tears rained down on her, the tears of ancient women who had gone before,
losing child after child to the unknown killer. The tears splashed on the ground to form a stream, each tear merging with another until the stream became a river.
Lara waded through the rising water to get to the wide, thick trunk so she could examine it up close. Faint, shallow marks were burned into the trunk leading up toward the branches where new life waited. Raven's son. Savannah's two daughters. Their souls clung to the gently rocking limbs far above her. She could see the two branches were blackened and hollow, twisted from some disease. Above them were several other brand-new souls as well, clinging to relatively healthy branches, but she could already see signs of the unknown disease eating at the limbs. These then, were the most recent Carpathian pregnancies. The killer had targeted Raven's child first and then Savannah's, but these children were in jeopardy as well.
There was a taint to evil. Xavier had used the dark arts against the Carpathians, corrupting his gift, twisting it for his own purpose and now she could see not only the faint track marks, but smell the odor of the malevolence along the trail of dark alchemy. The path led up toward the high branches, but also followed the trunk down to the maze of roots below the earth. She went down the trunk and followed the root system, seeking the source.
Lara drifted down the long trunk, pursuing the tracks, using scent and sight. Once on the tangle of roots, the trail was much more difficult as the tracks appeared everywhere. Shadows leapt out at her, great greedy claws, extended toward her. Moans and wails rose around her. The river of tears continued to rise.
She pressed the pads of her fingers deep into the smooth surface of her crystal and waited patiently. The croak of a frog drew her attention. The small creature floated to her on a lily pad. It leapt from the streaming water to the trunk of a tree, looking at her with large, earnest eyes.
She smiled and greeted the creature formally and with respect, her spirit guide in the underworld realm. Frogs were amazing, magical creatures, potent in both land and water energy. To Lara, the frog symbolized everything the Carpathian women sought. Transformation, rebirth, the bond of mother and child and Mother Earth to her daughters. Unblocking the energy and creating a path for a smoother flowing so healing could prevail, ridding the earth and water of all toxins was exactly what Lara wanted to do. And the symbolism continued further; when frog populations were strong, the ecosystem was in balance and harmony was restored. She was on the right path.
She followed with even more confidence. The frog hopped easily along the root system, moving from stalk to stalk until he found one extremely large and twisted root that seemed to lead away from the rest. It bored deep into the earth and the farther down it went, the more twisted and black it became. Holes pierced the root and the stalk wept black tears.
Lara traced the faint footprint of evil farther, spiraling down the long taproot. The impression of hatred and despair grew stronger until she was caught in its flow and felt the influence pressing on the mother's body to reject the small intruder nestled in her womb. The illusion was strong, mother hating child, wanting it to leave, to get out, that thething inside was a monster not a beloved child.
She resisted sending the little boy reassurance. That wasn't her job. Far away she could hear melodic voices singing a lullaby softly. She concentrated on the heartbeat, on the crystal in her hand that kept her focused on her journey.
The shadows grew stronger and darker. Waves of despondency washed over her. Threads of hatred and rage mixed with the flow of desolation. A weave of incredible power, but restrained, so subtlety was
at work here. She knew that touch. She'd felt that touch all too often as a child. Xavier had humiliated her. He'd made her feel weak and defenseless, unwanted and unloved. He had made her feel as if the people who had brought her into the world rejected and despised her. This was his work. His signature was everywhere. Whatever microbe he had devised to carry out his cunning conspiracy was very close. She was nearing the home of the killer.