Skull Gate Read Free Page B

quicker.
    â€œHell of a country that puts a child on its throne,” she muttered.
    Tras Sur'tian agreed. “The choice was not mine or yours to make."
    â€œI can't stay with her any longer, Tras.” She touched her old friend's shoulder. “I was thinking of leaving anyway, but now my presence is a threat to her safety. Aki mustn't be in the way if my enemies try again."
    Tras Sur'tian nodded understanding. They moved quietly up the last of the stairs. When they reached the door to Aki's bedchamber, Frost pushed. Locked from the inside, as she had instructed. She called out.
    No answer.
    Again she called, and a third time. Tras Sur'tian's hand clamped on her shoulder. “Let me try,” he said. One time only he called Aki's name, his booming voice filling the narrow corridor. Then he slammed his massive frame against the wooden door. It shook on its hinges, but held. A second assault broke the bolt; the door sprang open.
    A sickening stench of brimstone and sulfur boiled into the passage, filling her lungs with choking fumes. She staggered back coughing, nearly tripping over a man who had fainted behind her. Smoke stung her eyes. Someone bumped roughly into her, gasping for breath: Tras Sur'tian.
    She took a deep breath, covered her face with a corner of her cloak, and rushed into the room. No trace of Aki. The walls were scorched and blackened as if a fire had raged through. Wisps of thick smoke clung to everything. Yet despite the smoke, the walls, all evidence of fire, nothing was burned. Furnishings, carpets, tapestries were all intact.
    Tras Sur'tian pointed to the silken sheets strewn upon the royal bed. The canopied veils were thrown back. Five long, charred streaks ruined the fine material. The sentries all pressed closer for a better view.
    â€œIt has the shape of a large handprint,” one guard observed.
    Indeed it did.
    â€œSorcery,” whispered Tras Sur'tian. He made a hasty pass in the air. “The work of demons."
    The soldiers imitated his passes, invoking the protection of the One Korkyran God.
    Frost leaned on the windowsill and drew a clean, slow breath. The spires and minarets of the sleeping city made dark silhouettes on the star-speckled horizon. The sudden wind that stirred her hair did nothing to cool the flush of anger that ignited her heart. Her gaze swept the courtyard below, then the palace boundaries and beyond, as if from her high vantage she might penetrate the gloomy shadows that swallowed up the streets and alleys.
    Tras Sur'tian came to her side. “Come away and let me tend your arm.” His voice was low, thick with fear and sorrow. “There's nothing more to do here."
    She shook him off. It had been her job to protect the child-queen. She had failed. The blame was hers. She gripped her sword-hilt until her knuckles went white and threatened to break the skin.
    Where was Aki?
    She looked up at the moon for an answer.
    The pale crescent was still a smile in the night sky.
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    Chapter Two
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    There was no sleeping that night. She spent the time interviewing guards and combing the palace grounds for any clue to Aki's disappearance. Little hope, she told herself bitterly. Not by physical means had the little queen been stolen from under their noses.
    As dawn began to unfold in the east, she made her way back to the tower and the chamber she shared with Aki. A pair of sentries stood watch at the door, set there by Tras Sur'tian. They saluted sharply as she passed between them.
    A vague odor of brimstone still lingered in the room.
    Beneath her bed she kept a chest containing her few possessions. She retrieved it and, kneeling began to rummage through. There were traveling clothes of gray leather; she spread them on the bed. There was a silver circlet inset with a polished, gleaming moonstone; she placed it on her head to hold back her hair.
    â€œVery pretty."
    She glanced over her shoulder. For a heavy man, Tras Sur'tian could