Free Blinded by the Sun (Erythleh Chronicles Book 4) by Catherine Johnson Page A

some tail?" he quipped.
     
    Kavrazel was about to tell him where to stick his question, but his mind snagged on the thread of trying to find the actual answer. He thought for a pause long enough that Girogis turned to him with an eyebrow raised in question. "I'm not sure I remember," he admitted ruefully.
     
    Girogis' eyebrow did not lower. "Just you and your hand, huh? That doesn't sound like a healthy state of affairs."
     
    "It's enough." Kavrazel's tone was curt.
     
    "It fucking isn't, and well you know it. A man needs some real company now and again."
     
    "So Shinu keeps telling me."
     
    "I'm sure he has something suitable in his stable, a choice little bird."
     
    Now it was Kavrazel's turn to be surprised at his friend's response. Shinu was the Blood Father. He took overall responsibility for all the servants in the castle, but particularly the blood slaves. He was their manager, he saw to their duties and resolved their petty disputes, he ensured their comfort and well-being.
     
    "Shinu is an uncle to them all, he's no pimp. Anyway, that is not their purpose."
     
    Girogis shrugged. "Might as well make use of them."
     
    "Is that what you've been doing?" Kavrazel asked archly.
     
    The smirk he received in reply was sly. "There's a bonny blonde lass. She's quite taken with me."
     
    Kavrazel pulled up short. There had never been an explicit ruling in the castle about the use of the blood slaves, because he hadn't thought one was needed. Most people paid the slaves no mind until they were required at meal times. The group made themselves useful helping with the castle duties to keep themselves occupied when their veins were not needed. He had thought that his personal views on the use and misuse of slaves was well-heeded.
     
    "Calm yourself," Girogis soothed. "She came to me. What's a man to do when a pretty miss drops to her knees in front of him?"
     
    "Tell her to get back to her room."
     
    "Poor thing was lonely and scared of the dark."
     
    "I'm sure she was." Kavrazel started walking again. He didn't believe Girogis for a moment.
     
    "If it offends you that much..."
     
    Kavrazel released a heavy sigh. "No, as long as she's not under duress. Have your fun."
     
    "You think I'd force her?" Girogis was beginning to sound offended.
     
    "Not at all." Now it was Kavrazel's turn to soothe. "But I think a slave little knows when they have the ability to refuse a service."
     
    Girogis let out a harsh bark of a laugh. "You sound like one of the malingerers in the marketplace, one of the clucking hens who think we should free the slaves and deny the toast of Taan."
     
    "You know what I think of them."
     
    "Fools." Girogis echoed his unspoken sentiment, and emphasised it by spitting into the dirt.
     
    "They think if they can persuade the people to give up the blood toast that they will be able to depose me as king. They believe it is the blood that gives me the ability to raise the dead."
     
    "Isn't it?"
     
    "In all honesty, I have never truly tested the theory, since there has never been a time in my life that I have denied Taan. But no, I don't believe it does. I believe the ability is inherent in my own blood, not dependant on that of some wretch from Nari."
     
    "Perhaps the experiment is overdue?"
     
    "Not with the giants knocking at our doors."
     
    "How do things go on that front?" Girogis asked. "Should I increase our training schedule?"
     
    "Maybe," Kavrazel sighed. "I expect an answer soon."
     
    "Maybe we should give up our hunt of that arrogant buck and return to the city. It sounds as though is not a time to be away too long."
     
    Kavrazel couldn't disagree, but he knew that he had needed this brief respite to clear his mind for the coming trials. "You would let the stag best us?"
     
    "I would let him fuck his fill and rule his herd another year. His rack will hang in the castle as well next winter as it would have this season."
     
    "Do the giants make you so nervous?" Kavrazel asked his