Free The Long War 02 - The Dark Blood by A.J. Smith Page B

nobles and many of them involuntarily closed their eyes as months of enchantment waned in an instant. The haze was quickly replaced by murderous anger directed towards the assassin. Glenwood’s hands shook and he was breathing fast, his feet now willing him to run for the window.
    ‘Kill him!’ shouted Archibald Tiris, with a crack in his voice.
    Rham Jas grinned as fifty men drew their swords and advanced. He darted backwards and took a forward roll away from the dead enchantress, avoiding the clumsy nobles in their plate armour as he dived down the stairs.
    Glenwood again lost sight of the Kirin as he sprinted in zigzag lines, avoiding the multitude of men trying to apprehend him. With shaking hand, the man of Leith closed the door to the side room.
    He could hear shouting as he reached the window and, as he climbed out and hung from the window sill in the cool night of Tiris, a bell began to sound from the knight marshal’s barracks.
    * * *
    Saara grabbed the sides of her head and cried out in pain. A dozen faces entered her mind and each one burrowed in further, causing a pain the like of which the enchantress had never experienced before. Each was a man whom Katja had enchanted, and each now belonged to Saara. She could feel the shadow of Cardinal Mobius, Lord Archibald Tiris, Animustus Voy and many others intrude upon her own thralls. Each of the men was now a little weaker, a little closer to the edge and a little harder to control. It might be a day, or a week, but if Saara didn’t focus her thoughts, she knew that they would all begin to lose their own minds. With both Mobius and the king as her shadow thralls, the Mistress of Pain needed time to plan and to ensure that the invasion of Ranen took place as she desired.
    ‘My sweet,’ Kamran Kainen said gently from next to her, ‘what has happened?’ They were still in bed and the sun had yet to rise.
    ‘I am... not myself,’ replied Saara, ‘please leave me.’ The pounding in her head made conversation difficult and she wanted her lover to go while she accustomed herself to her new shadow thralls.
    Kamran stroked her naked shoulder and kissed her neck tenderly. ‘I can serve, my lady. As you like...’
    She pushed the wind claw away and clenched her fists, attempting to shut out the pain. ‘Leave!’ she shouted; she had not even the strength to enchant the man. He frowned but rose quickly and pulled on a black robe to cover his muscular body.
    Saara closed her eyes and held her head. Try as she might, she could not shut out the men enchanted by Katja. She was overwhelmed with fear, rage, frustration, pride... a hundred emotions felt by her new thralls.
    As Kamran neared the door to her bedchamber, Saara felt a predatory urge.
    ‘Kamran,’ she said quietly, ‘come here.’
    The wind claw turned.
    ‘I need you.’ She looked up, letting the satin bedclothes fall from her naked shoulders.
    Kamran waited a moment, letting a smile come to his face and his robe fall to the ground before he crossed the room to kiss her. She returned his kiss, then gripped the sides of his head and stared into his eyes.
    The wind claw did not realize what was happening at first and continued smiling as Saara’s grip became firmer, until Kamran’s eyes betrayed a hint of anxiety. ‘Shh, my sweet,’ she whispered, ‘I need your strength.’
    It happened slowly. Kamran tried to move away, but he was helpless in her grasp. His face became a mask of terror.
    ‘My lady...’ His words were strangled as Saara slowly drew his life force into her, rejuvenating and cleansing her fractured mind. He flailed in her grasp as she slowly destroyed his mind. Blood appeared from his eyes, nose and ears, staining the white sheets. Saara cried with pleasure.
    He died slowly and she used every morsel of the pain he felt to bring herself to the edge of ecstasy. She writhed in his blood and strangled every ounce of life from the man.
    When Kamran Kainen had stopped screaming and lay