Forged In Flame (In Her Name: The First Empress, Book 2) Read Free Page B

away.
    “Keel-A’ar.”
    His face grim, Ayan-Dar nodded. “As it pleases you, child. But we cannot tarry long, for the eyes of the Dark Queen are fixed upon that place.” 
    He held out his hand, and she took it, a sudden stab of fear running through her heart, for she realized what was coming. She knew those of the priesthood could travel instantly wherever they wished, merely with a thought. But where they traveled in that instant was said to be infinitely dark and cold. She had always thought her first trip beyond the walls would be on the back of a magthep . Never in her life had she imagined this. 
    “Whatever you do,” he told her, “you must not let go.”
    She took a deep breath, her eyes locked on his, and tightened her grip on his hand.
    Then the world around her disappeared.
    ***
    Syr-Nagath stood on the balcony of the keep in the city that had before that morning been the seat of the greatest kingdom on the continent of Uhr-Gol. Warriors were still dragging away the bodies of the last defenders from the room, while porters of water were hard at work cleaning the blood from the floor. She had let her warriors take most of the glory, but it was her right to take whatever blood she wished, and she had killed everyone in the keep by herself. She was covered head to toe in blood and gore, and was idly licking the blood from her lips as she stared out at her latest conquest. 
    Beyond the keep, the city was quickly returning to life as the vanquished joined with the victors and the dead were fed to the pyres that burned in the fields beyond the shattered walls. Much of her army, which was only one of many, stretched halfway to the horizon. Most of them had not been needed in the actual attack, but served to give pause to the defenders. 
    The builders were already repairing the walls that had been breached by the great siege engines she had used to take city after city. Even the strongest walls were unable to withstand the machines her builders had created using the blueprints provided by the keepers of the Books of Time. Once the walls were battered down, she unleashed her hordes to satisfy their honor in battle. While it had been a bloody conquest, in truth far more enemy warriors had lived than died, for her goal was not to kill, but to conquer. Where quarter was asked of her warriors, it was freely given. Thus did her armies grow ever larger.
    The same did not necessarily apply to her, of course. Some of those who had defended the keep had held their swords aloft in pledge to her, but she had been in a fierce killing mood and had slaughtered them all, warriors and robed ones alike. There had been a time when those who served her had taken her to task for such behavior, abhorred under the teachings of the modern form of the Way that the fools followed. But after cutting the braids of enough of those who spoke out, casting their souls into eternal darkness, the others who might have taken issue with her methods either kept to themselves or committed suicide. It was little consequence to her either way.
    Now, Uhr-Gol was all but taken. Several kingdoms remained defiant, but they were a trivial matter that she could leave to her underlings while she set her sights on the final prize: the island continent of Ural-Murir. Already her plans were in motion, for she had warriors aplenty and even builders to spare to create the fleets she needed to carry the war across the great and perilous Western Sea. Those preparations were nearing completion, and it would be but a moon cycle before they were ready to set sail.
    She was about to turn away when she felt a stirring in her blood, a rise of excitement from one of her small army of chosen ones. They had all been warriors once, but with the aid of magic so dark and so ancient that the priesthoods would have hunted her down had they known she possessed it, she had taken their very souls in her hands. They were hers to do with as she willed, and through their eyes and ears,