The Conqueror's Shadow Read Free Page A

of luck down, um, down there.”
    Rebaine nodded, and swung down into the passage.
    /We’re being watched, you know,/
the unseen speaker informed him idly.
    â€œWhat?” Rebaine glanced down in annoyance. “Any particular reason you waited this long to tell me?” His heavy boots landed with a resounding clang on the ancient stones paving the floor. Unhesitating, he set out toward the north.
    /You were having such fun conversing with the young lady, I felt it would be inappropriate to intrude./
    Rebaine snorted. “Of course you did.” He brushed an enormous cobweb from his path, then chose the leftmost of three identical passages. “Watched how? Seilloah assured me she could block any scrying spells sent our way.”
    /Seilloah lacks imagination. It’s not a scrying spell. Someone—it tastes like Rheah, though I won’t swear to that—has sight-linked herself with a fairly large and exceptionally ugly beetle. It was lurking in the corner of the room upstairs, and it is now scurrying along the wall some few feet behind you./
    Another pause as he glanced at the relatively unmarked walls around him. Which intersection was this? He’d studied the map for days, but it was impossible to be certain.
    Right this time, he finally decided. Then, “How can she see anything? It’s rather dark, or hadn’t you noticed?”
    /Why, so it is. How foolish of me to have missed that. I surely can’t imagine how the little creature might be able to see us down here./ A
sudden gasp sounded in Rebaine’s mind.
/You don’t suppose she’s using
magic
, do you?/
    The heavy sigh echoed in the depths of the hideous armor. “I imagine you think you’re funny, don’t you?”
    /Well
, I’m
amused./
    â€œOne of us ought to be.”
    /Shall we kill it already?/
    Left turn, straight ahead twice, left again. “Deal with it, if you wish. I have no concern but your happiness.”
    /Of course not./
The crystal pendant hanging beneath Rebaine’s breastplate warmed faintly, and a sudden crunch echoed through the hall behind them.
    Rebaine continued, frustration mounting each time he stopped to think about his position on the map. It would have been convenient to have it with him now, but he’d burned it once he’d memorized it to his satisfaction. Despite the chill in the air around him, he lifted his helm now and again to wipe the sweat from his brow.
    â€œWhy do I wear this bloody thing?” he snapped finally.
    /Something about fear and terror among all who see you,/
the voice replied drily.
/Or that was your claim, anyway. Me, I can’t picture any of your kind being all that frightening./
    â€œFear.” Rebaine shook his head. “This would be so much easier if they’d just cooperate. I wouldn’t
have
to terrify them all.”
    /The girl didn’t seem all that scared, toward the end there./
    Rebaine once again saw the girl—Tyannon, he corrected himself—the fear in her eyes burned away by her sudden anger. “She’s got spirit, that one.”
    /She does indeed./
A pause.
/You should kill her before it spreads./
    â€œI don’t think so, Khanda.”
    /I’m serious. This sort of thing is dangerous. Let her stand up to you, and others may decide they, too, can get away with it. You need to put a stop to that immediately./
    Another head shake, this one forceful enough to send the helmet clanking against the armor’s shoulder spines. “I don’t kill children, Khanda.” Although Tyannon hardly qualified as a child; she certainly showed more maturity than most of her elders in that chamber.
    /Of course not. You just have your armies do it for you./
    Rebaine swallowed the enraged comment working its way into his throat, choking it back in a tide of bile. There was nothing to be said, no reply he could make, that wouldn’t play right into Khanda’s hands. Nor was this a