Free Beyond the Edge of Dawn by Christian Warren Freed Page B

the desert is mine.”
    Habrim shifted his gaze up to the hate-filled eyes leering down on him. “You were never a brother. Our mother gave birth to us, but any relation ends there. Once I’m dead, you’ll soon follow. You have no idea the wave of violence you’re about to unleash.”
    Adonmeia hissed at the insult. He rose and nodded to the executioner. Sword in hand, the black clad man kicked Habrim in the back and forced him down until he was laying prostrate on the platform. The crowd tensed.
    “Have you any last words, brother?” Adonmeia snarled.
    Habrim placed his forehead on the platform and quietly began to pray. The executioner had a clean blow to the neck. Adonmeia raised his arm high. No one breathed. Pirneon’s fingers twined inside his tunic. The cool leather on the dagger hilts tingled on his fingertips. It felt good to be touching a weapon again. He looked right. Bradgen’s eyes widened with unfettered joy. Time slowed. The moment was now. Adonmeia dropped his arm. The sword came down. Silvered steel gleamed in the lantern light. Blood splashed on golden robes. Bone and flesh were torn. Habrim’s head rolled away. Soldiers howled in delight. A lone man slipped out unnoticed through the back. The executioner reached down and snatched Habrim’s head by the beard and handed it to Adonmeia. Triumph etching his face, Adonmeia presented the head to his warriors.
    The world exploded.
    Bradgen spun on the Caliph and plunged a table knife deep into his belly. Adonmeia gasped in shock and pain as Bradgen stabbed repeatedly. The killer behind Pirneon rose swiftly and closed on him. In one fluid motion, Pirneon whirled out of his chair and attacked. His dagger pierced the killer’s throat before twisting sharply and ripping a wide vertical gap. Hot blood sprayed across the floor. Pirneon was already moving as a pair of killers shifted to block his path. Bodies struck the ground. Adonmeia’s head nearly clipped Pirneon’s heel as the Vengeance Knight lunged at the killers. Both fell with daggers in their hearts.
    Soldiers were moving. Many were frozen in shock, but a core group had secretly secured the exits and was striking down those known to be completely loyal to the Caliph. Pirneon tried to use the confusion and make his escape when a bone-jarring blow struck across the back of his head. Darkness took him.
     
     
     
    Pirneon awoke to the sharp sting of being slapped in the face. His head pounded unlike anything he’d experienced before, and it took a concentrated effort just to open his eyes. His vision was blurred, and he saw three of everything. Another slap jarred his senses.
    “Wake up, dog.”
    Much as he tried, Pirneon drifted back into unconsciousness.
    He finally awoke some time later and discovered he was in a dark tent. A single low-burning torch illuminated the far corner by the tent flap. He sensed more than saw the pair of guards watching from the shadows. Every small movement sent shivers of pain through his body. Pirneon tried to place a hand over his eyes, but they were bound by heavy chains. Without any hope of breaking his bonds, he could only wait for one of the guards to make a mistake.
    He felt more than heard the tent flap brush back. There was little doubt as to who had entered.
    “At long last, our mighty Gaimosian Knight is in his proper place,” Bradgen crooned. “You should never have come here, old fool.”
    Pirneon struggled to laugh. “I agree. Be a good whelp and send me on my way, then. We can both forget this episode ever happened.”
    “You’re about to be sent somewhere, just not where you wish. Perhaps in the next world you can meet some old friends. The desert no longer has need of your services. You and your kind are nothing more than cheap mercenaries acting on a bankrupt honor code. There is no place for you in the new world.”
    Bradgen paced. Dark blood stained his tunic.
    “Much like the departed Adonmeia,” Pirneon said.
    “Adonmeia was simplistic at