Realm of Light Read Free Page B

come here at once.”
    But she turned her
back on him, not certain she could control her composure much longer. She
walked away, ignoring his call, her head held high and her back straight.

Chapter Two
    “Who serves the empress
sovereign?” called out a strong, masculine voice over the general noise.
    Sudden silence
fell over the cavern. Men’s heads turned. They craned to see.
    Recognizing
Caelan’s voice, Elandra stopped in her tracks and stood still. Her breath came
raggedly in her throat. She dared not glance back at the emperor.
    “What?” said
Kostimon from behind her. “What? Who said that? Who speaks?”
    “Who serves the
empress sovereign?” Caelan called out again. His voice rang off the walls.
“Without both emperor and empress to rule, this land is fallen. Which man of
you will leave her behind? Which man of you is both traitor and coward?”
    A growl of assent
broke out among the soldiers. Sergeant Baiter and Captain Vysal exchanged
glances, then looked at the emperor. Elandra herself stepped aside as Caelan
came striding forward from the shadows.
    He carried his
drawn sword in his hand. His cloak swirled about his ankles with every step. As
he walked into the circle of torchlight, he looked somehow taller, leaner, and
more fierce than he had ever appeared before. His blue eyes blazed with a wrath
that was all the more terrible because of its coldness. Elandra saw something
bleak and deadly in his face. It was the same look he had worn when he refused
to serve as her protector. Yet here he came, to save her once again.
    Triumph blazed
inside her, and her head lifted higher in renewed confidence. This man served
her. No matter what he said, he was her protector.
    The soldiers
parted at his approach. Even Balter stepped back. Caelan strode past Vysal,
then past Elandra without glancing at her. A few feet short of the emperor, he
stopped and stood towering over Kostimon, fierce, proud, and grim.
    The emperor
stepped back. “Who are you? How dare you bring a drawn sword into my presence?
Hovet—”
    Kostimon’s voice
choked off abruptly. He glared a moment, his jaw working. Chagrin warred with
anger in his face.
    Then his gaze
snapped to General Paz. “Who is this man? How dare he speak to me unbidden?”
    The general glared
at Captain Vysal. “Identify this man at once.”
    “You know me,”
Caelan said before Vysal could respond. Caelan’s gaze never left the emperor’s.
His youthful strength and vigor made Kostimon look shrunken and almost feeble.
    Glaring, Caelan
said, “You know by what right I speak unbidden. I brought your Majesty warning
of this attack, and you heeded it not. I told your Majesty the Madruns were
coming, and you ignored me. You had time to send for your armies, but you did
not. I told your Majesty there were traitors close to you, men who would open
the secret ways of the palace to your enemies. You sat and did nothing. Nothing, until now when your throne has been shattered and your palace
burns. Your Imperial Guard has been massacred, and you bleat like the coward
you are.”
    The emperor’s face
turned nearly as white as his hair. He glared at Caelan. “That is your death
sentence, knave! You cannot talk so and live. Sergeant! Kill this man, who
dares insult me to my face!”
    Elandra drew in a
sharp breath. She wanted to cry out in protest, but she dared not speak.
Violence glowered in the faces about her. Every man’s hand gripped the hilt of
his weapon. The wrong move, the wrong word would set off a fight like a torch
thrown among straw.
    “Sergeant!”
Kostimon roared. “Kill him!”
    Baiter did not
move. He stood at attention, as rigid as stone.
    Silence spread
over them all, broken only by the soft jingle of bridles and the stamping of
the horses. None of the guardsmen moved. Captain Vysal’s fingers tightened on
the hilt of his sword until his knuckles were white, but not even he drew his
sword.
    Kostimon looked
around at them all, his face strained and