Free Wrath of the White Tigress by David Alastair Hayden Page A

if she wished. Everything he possessed he owed to her devoted service. She had rescued him from certain death when he was a defeated mercenary captain. With her help, his talent as a military tactician had blossomed. Over the next few years, he had amassed a force of his own and took over village after village then smaller city-states and at last conquered all Hareez, with assistance from the palymfar.  
    "Tell me again, Nalsyrra, why do you serve me?"
    She spoke in her strangely accented, sibilant voice. "The Star Spirits said I should, my lord. It is my destiny."
    "Entertainments such as this do not satisfy me anymore. Only you. Day by day, my need for you grows. I cannot clear my mind of your presence."
    "I am only your humble servant, my lord."
    "You are more than that. Far more. You are an…"
    "Ojaka'ari," she whispered with reverence.  
    "Yes, but will you at last tell me what that means?"
    "I can say only this of my past, my lord, that I hail from the faraway Mountains of the Stars bordering the Yundragos Plain."
    The same answer as usual. Every few years, she would give some new detail about herself. Sadly, this wasn't such a time. Karphon took heart, though, that she belonged to him alone. He trusted no one except her, and she guarded him well against betrayal.
    Unannounced, Mardha entered the grand durbar and strolled down the center toward the Hmyr. The dancers reeled in confusion as she pierced their circle with her guards brushing them aside. Such entrances were intended to prove that her father wielded more power than Karphon. But that didn't rattle him. In fact, Karphon liked her entrance better than Bavadi's. The Slayer would suddenly appear at the dais, sending Karphon's guards into fits and causing his security officers to rework their plans. Nalsyrra, of course, was never surprised by him. Catching her off guard was impossible.
    Bavadi disturbed Karphon. The man had strange manners and an unwholesome gleam to his eyes, even for a killer such as him. When he mentioned this once to Nalsyrra she replied cryptically, "He is a demon of light lost within a great shadow." She had not explained the statement, and the tone she had used still made him shiver.
    Mardha and the two masked palymfar accompanying her bowed at the foot of the dais.  
    "What brings you, High Priestess?"
    "I'm here to speak with your bodyguard. I have need of her abilities."
    "She may serve you in that capacity, but only if she wishes to."
    Nalsyrra bowed. "I will look to the stars for you, High Priestess. You have come seeking information about the Slayer. And I can say already that he is not dead."
    Mardha frowned, and Karphon nearly leapt to his feet. The Slayer's condition was unknown? There was risk that he had perished? And yet, Mardha didn't look relieved to know that her lover was alive. Had the Slayer betrayed them? Karphon couldn't believe Nalsyrra had not told him of this.
    "Are you certain, Nalsyrra?" Mardha asked.
    "I have already seen it in the stars, every night for the last week."
    "That information would have been helpful to us!"
    Nalsyrra shrugged.  
    "What else have you seen?"
    "Little that I could understand. But I can check again for you. It is a clear night."
    "At your master's convenience," Mardha said tersely.
    Karphon stood. "The proceedings here can go on without me."
    "That is well, my lord, for now is the best hour to view these portents."

A vaulted dome capped the highest tower of the Palace of the Hmyr. On its interior surface were painted the stars and planets of midnight on the Winter Solstice. Along the walls star charts hung between shelves overflowing with scrolls and books. The room possessed no windows, only a single door that led to a balcony. Two small tables sat in the center and were surrounded by plush cushions. Here Nalsyrra studied her secret arts and divined whatever schemes occupied her time while Karphon developed his military stratagems for conquering the East.
    Mardha knew her father