Devil's Dominion Read Free Page A

frightened mass.
    Behind them, there was a good deal of commotion going on as the big priory began to go up in flames. Men were purposely throwing torches through windows to ignite the interior of the structure and great rolling flames could be seen billowing out of the windows near the chapel, lighting up the night. But at the rear of the priory, an army was gathered around the group of frightened nuns, waiting and hovering over the women like vultures waiting for the kill. As everyone seemed to stand around in tense and terrible silence, the Mother Prioress stepped forward.
    “Who art thou?” she asked loudly, though her voice was trembling. “Who wouldst sully our sanctuary with fire and terror this night?”
    No one replied right away, but one warrior on a beast of a warhorse separated himself from the group. The horse was scarred and nicked, wearing mail across its neck and hindquarters. The warrior dismounted the horse and moved towards the tiny, bird-like prioress, like a hunter stalking prey. There was something heavy and terrible about the way he moved, his massive boots hitting the earth like great hammers against an anvil, reverberating through the dirt itself.
    Even if the prioress hadn’t been a small woman, any woman or man or child would have appeared small compared to the size of the warrior that faced them. Several inches over six feet, he had massive shoulders, arms, and enormous fists the size of a man’s skull. Clad in well-used mail that grated wickedly when he walked, he wore a heavy leather tunic over the mail and a broadsword at his side that was almost as tall as the prioress herself. It probably weighed more than she did, too. His helmed head tilted slightly downward, the only indication he was looking at the prioress.
    “Who are you ?”
    The voice that emerged from the closed helm sounded like Death; it was deep and raspy. If the Mother Prioress felt terror at the sound, she didn’t show it. She bravely lifted her chin in response.
    “I am the Mother Prioress of Alberbury,” she said. “What is thy wish? Why hast thou done these terrible things?”
    The helmed head didn’t move. He was fixed on the Mother Prioress. “You have a de Velt here,” he said. “Where is she?”
    The Mother Prioress struggled not to look confused or intimidated by the fact that the man was asking for a woman in her charge, asking for her by name. It was enough to crack her composure.
    “A de Velt?” she repeated, puzzled. “How wouldst thou know this?”
    “It does not matter how I know,” the enormous warrior replied. “I have come for her. Where is she?”
    The Mother Prioress stared at him, shocked by the request. But it began to occur to her that this was not a random attack. This man wanted something and he wanted it badly enough to ransack a church to get to it. Apprehension clutched at her but she fought it off. She had never been one to give in to apprehension, anyway. It was an unfamiliar taste upon her tongue.
    “What doest thou wish of her?” she asked. “The lady is under my care and we are protected by God. Thou cannot have her.”
    The helmed head tilted slightly. “In case you have not noticed, God did not save your priory from my army,” he said. “I suspect he will not protect any of you if you do not provide me what I came for. I want the de Velt.”
    Fear began to spread through the women and a few of them turned to look at Allaston, although no one singled her out. Still, heads were moving about, including Allaston’s. She was terrified that this man, a man who had shown no fear in burning a house of God, had asked for her. You have a de Velt . Dear God, how would he even know that? More importantly, why did he want her? She struggled not to let fear consume her as she watched the exchange between the warrior and the prioress with a good deal of dread. It was an effort not to shrink back into the shadows because she knew that any movement would single her out. It was imperative