enemies of Toth? What honor, what commitment to your vows.
Roderick returned his own question to the voice. What choice do I have? They changed me. I am somebody else now. Even this admission took effort. Sweat popped out on his forehead.
No choice? the voice answered. Is that what you learned in Sanctuary Tower? That you have no choice? What would your brothers say?
“My brothers be damned,” Roderick said under his breath.
They would soon enough join the dark wizard. He turned to follow his fellow ravagers, companions in death, agitation brewing at the thought of the battle, the voice forgotten for now. He felt a burning excitement that he had not felt before, a blood lust that boiled within. He clenched a mailed fist, anxious to begin the slaughter.
Chapter Seven
To Sofiana’s annoyance, Chantmer insisted that she be bathed, her grime removed by having slave girls rub olive oil into her skin and card it off. When that was done, he sent her to be perfumed by yet more slave girls. When they were done, the wizard returned to fetch her. At no time did they pass through or near the palace chambers where Marialla, Uncle Daniel, and the Balsalomians were staying. Now, standing outside the harem, she felt ridiculous and naked dressed in a pair of billowy silk pants that looked like sleeping paijams, a tunic roughly as solid as a spiderweb, and a pair of slippers that she could have torn in two with her bare hands.
The wizard told her he would leave her outside while he fetched a eunuch, but before he did, he touched her forehead and whispered a few words in the old tongue. A surge of confidence and energy flowed through her limbs. The hot breeze felt suddenly prickly against her skin, and the colors of the roses on the climbing vines seemed impossibly sharp. She could smell bread baking somewhere and hear girls whispering on the other side of the garden wall.
“There, now you’ll be brave no matter what happens.”
“I told you already, I’m not scared.”
He smiled. “Now we’ll be sure, won’t we? But don’t worry, you’re in no danger so long as you keep your wits.” He gathered his robes and passed through the archway, leaving her behind.
Chantmer, you wicked man.
He thought he was fooling her, but he wasn’t. Faalam was a dangerous man; she’d spotted him trailing her several times over the past few days, and whenever she tried to lose him, he somehow managed to find her again. No matter if she was in the vast labyrinth of cellars beneath the palace, or hiding in one of the gardens up the hillside, the eunuch always appeared as if drawn. What’s more, if the man wasn’t dangerous, then why didn’t the wizard administer the silver bite himself?
By the Brothers, it was hot standing out here. The silk, so sleek and smooth when the girls in the baths had dressed her, now clung, sweaty and damp, to her body. Her feet were perspiring, and she could use a drink of water. With the heat, even the whistler birds had fallen silent in their cages. In their place, cicadas buzzed from the trees, a sound that bored into her skull.
She was about to go in after Chantmer when he finally appeared. He was leading one of the other two eunuchs she’d spotted following her through the palace when Faalam was not around, a man named Lassitus. The eunuch was naked from the waist up. All the eunuchs were corpulent, but this one was fatter than the others, even though he couldn’t be older than twenty-five. His chest looked almost like a pair of flabby breasts if not for the few dark, curly hairs around his nipples.
“I don’t know what happened,” Lassitus told Chantmer. “I leaned against the wall for a moment and then I was asleep. If the master finds out—”
“Never mind that,” the wizard said impatiently. “Here’s the girl you’ll be presenting to Faalam.”
“What girl?”
“This one!”
Lassitus yawned, then glanced at her through beady eyes set above pudgy cheeks. “Do I
Roderick returned his own question to the voice. What choice do I have? They changed me. I am somebody else now. Even this admission took effort. Sweat popped out on his forehead.
No choice? the voice answered. Is that what you learned in Sanctuary Tower? That you have no choice? What would your brothers say?
“My brothers be damned,” Roderick said under his breath.
They would soon enough join the dark wizard. He turned to follow his fellow ravagers, companions in death, agitation brewing at the thought of the battle, the voice forgotten for now. He felt a burning excitement that he had not felt before, a blood lust that boiled within. He clenched a mailed fist, anxious to begin the slaughter.
Chapter Seven
To Sofiana’s annoyance, Chantmer insisted that she be bathed, her grime removed by having slave girls rub olive oil into her skin and card it off. When that was done, he sent her to be perfumed by yet more slave girls. When they were done, the wizard returned to fetch her. At no time did they pass through or near the palace chambers where Marialla, Uncle Daniel, and the Balsalomians were staying. Now, standing outside the harem, she felt ridiculous and naked dressed in a pair of billowy silk pants that looked like sleeping paijams, a tunic roughly as solid as a spiderweb, and a pair of slippers that she could have torn in two with her bare hands.
The wizard told her he would leave her outside while he fetched a eunuch, but before he did, he touched her forehead and whispered a few words in the old tongue. A surge of confidence and energy flowed through her limbs. The hot breeze felt suddenly prickly against her skin, and the colors of the roses on the climbing vines seemed impossibly sharp. She could smell bread baking somewhere and hear girls whispering on the other side of the garden wall.
“There, now you’ll be brave no matter what happens.”
“I told you already, I’m not scared.”
He smiled. “Now we’ll be sure, won’t we? But don’t worry, you’re in no danger so long as you keep your wits.” He gathered his robes and passed through the archway, leaving her behind.
Chantmer, you wicked man.
He thought he was fooling her, but he wasn’t. Faalam was a dangerous man; she’d spotted him trailing her several times over the past few days, and whenever she tried to lose him, he somehow managed to find her again. No matter if she was in the vast labyrinth of cellars beneath the palace, or hiding in one of the gardens up the hillside, the eunuch always appeared as if drawn. What’s more, if the man wasn’t dangerous, then why didn’t the wizard administer the silver bite himself?
By the Brothers, it was hot standing out here. The silk, so sleek and smooth when the girls in the baths had dressed her, now clung, sweaty and damp, to her body. Her feet were perspiring, and she could use a drink of water. With the heat, even the whistler birds had fallen silent in their cages. In their place, cicadas buzzed from the trees, a sound that bored into her skull.
She was about to go in after Chantmer when he finally appeared. He was leading one of the other two eunuchs she’d spotted following her through the palace when Faalam was not around, a man named Lassitus. The eunuch was naked from the waist up. All the eunuchs were corpulent, but this one was fatter than the others, even though he couldn’t be older than twenty-five. His chest looked almost like a pair of flabby breasts if not for the few dark, curly hairs around his nipples.
“I don’t know what happened,” Lassitus told Chantmer. “I leaned against the wall for a moment and then I was asleep. If the master finds out—”
“Never mind that,” the wizard said impatiently. “Here’s the girl you’ll be presenting to Faalam.”
“What girl?”
“This one!”
Lassitus yawned, then glanced at her through beady eyes set above pudgy cheeks. “Do I
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