Starhammer Read Free Page B

appeared in the wardrobe where he worked. Solemnly they stripped him, examined him, and thrust him into the sack.
    He was dumped out upon the carpet before Lady Flaam's grim throne.
    "Why have you not done as I ordered?" She said.
    "I cannot gain entry to her bedchamber. She has a new favorite."
    Flaam's withered face screwed up in sudden rage. "You lie, I monitor her nightly orgies. She has no new favorite." She pressed a stud on the arm of her throne. A secret hatch opened in the floor, exposing a dark pit. He heard water lapping far below and something else—the excited hiss of bloodworms.
    Jon whirled abruptly and caught the nearest guard napping. His hand lanced out, his finger rested momentarily on the man's tiny forehead. Jon pressed down, hard. There was a little crack , a flash of pain, as the end of his finger burst, then the guard's head exploded and he fell like some human tree, to land with a heavy thud on the carpet.
    The other giant sprang forward, picked Jon up to crush him against the wall, but Jon bit down on the massive biceps. He felt his left canine crumple and spat furiously to eject any remaining poison. The guard fell backward with Jon atop his chest.
    The Lady Flaam produced a handgun and fired. The pellet singed Jon's cheek and exploded in the masonry behind him. He dove at her feet and knocked her flying.
    For a laowon of more than ninety-six years, Lady Flaam was remarkably agile. She landed well and spun to shoot at him again, but Jon had seized one of the guards' pain wands and hurled it straight into her face. She went down with a shriek and then he was on top of her, his hands around her throat, blood from his finger all over her face, his thumbs pressing deep into her esophagous. A red tide flowed across his vision, a roaring rose in his ears, and when he was finally done, she was dead. He stood up and stared about himself. Blood dripped steadily from his shattered fingertip, and more blood seeped from where her nails had raked his cheek. Quickly, he tilted the bodies into the pit and listened to them hit the water far below. The sound of the worms built to a horrible frenzy. He found the switch on the throne and closed the hatch once more.
    Sucking his finger to avoid leaving a trail of blood, he ran to Innoo's apartments with his news. Innoo was not there, an ominous departure from the agreed plan. Nor was there a response at Magelsa's suite. In desperation Jon ran from the palace and hid himself in the woods.
    The next day there was a hunt. Microcephals and sniffer grenk worked over the grounds of the estate. Jon ran farther into the hills. He lived wild, but his finger began to rot and after four more days he slipped into the township in search of medical assistance.
    Hut 416 on the North West Alley was empty. Its occupants had been taken away to expiate in the Agony Booth.
    All day, Jon lay under the floorboards of the Hut and wept. At night he moved silently into the palace and worked his way through the familiar corridors to the entrance of the secret passageway.
    In Magelsa's bedchamber the Princess and Lord Innoo quarreled furiously. She demanded to go home to Ratan. He demanded an heir.
    "Why do you persist in your refusal?" He bellowed. "My father suspects me of my mother's murder. We must give him an heir lest his favor turn to my brother Lajook."
    "Why should it matter?"
    "Why do you think House Firgize rots here on this empty world?" Innoo shouted passionately.
    She stared back silently.
    "Because we are watched! Because my father escaped death only by coming here. Because the Heir will not accept any possible challenge in court. Because Blue Seygfan wishes to fly alone."
    "But we're kiloparsecs away from court! We're beyond the back of beyond, we're almost in human space."
    "Superior Buro is here. Old Chalmes, the head valet. He is Buro, my father told me ten years ago. 'Watch your words around Old Chalmes,' he said and he was right! I have observed Old Chalmes at work, he is a