Free The Queen of Thieves: The Line of Kings Trilogy Book Three by Craig R. Saunders, Craig Saunders Page A

carnage
remained as proof.
     
    *
     

 
    Chapter
Twenty-Three
     
    'Who was that?' asked Rena,
staring in awe at the place where the woman had stood not a second before. 'Selana?
Is that supposed to mean something? You know her?'
                Asram shook his head.
'I know her. I didn't know she knew me - not by sight, but I'm not surprised.
People say she knows everything. I confess, I'm glad to have met her, even more
glad that I'm still alive.'
                'Why do you say
that?'
                'She is the Queen of
Thieves...rumour has it there is no more terrible a woman on the face of
Sturma.'
                It was Rena's turn to
shake her head. 'She has such power...yes...but she saved us...'
                'She did, but have no
doubt it is for her own ends,' said Asram.
                'I do not know,' said
Rena. She fell silent, mulling this over for a time, simply walking, as the
three of them headed alone the track, back the way they had come.
                They walked past the
bodies of the dead, leaving the scene of the slaughter behind. The villagers of
Haven, the Hierarch warriors and the mage, too. Neither one of them looked at
the bodies anymore as they passed. Rena concentrated on looking down, smiling
at her babe, as though he were a talisman to ward against the sight of the
dead. Maybe he was. He was a beautiful, bold boy. Too young to speak, but he
made himself known when he wanted to. It seemed now, since the Queen of Thieves
had held him, that he wanted to play.
                It suited Rena, as
while she played scoop with her baby, she put one foot in front of the other.
Nothing more.
                She was not a
stranger to power - she had known Tulathia, and she was a fledgling witch
herself - but the Queen of Thieves was something else. She was almost too large
a thing to think about.
                So she resolved to
put it from her mind.
                So Asram and Rena walked
for a long time, their journey feeling almost aimless as they left the track
for the outskirts of the forest. But Rena followed Asram's lead and never once
questioned that he knew where they were going.
                Eventually, she spoke
again. 'Asram?'
                'Rena?' he answered,
and she smiled, unbidden.
                'How do you know her?
Selana?'
                'It is a long
story...I owe the Thieves' Guild. I...owed a debt. In exchange for money she bid
me - through a man named Garenhill - to serve the Lord Protector.' Asram
shrugged. 'I could make the story sound more interesting, I think, though the
truth is I was a gambling man, and a drinking man, and a killer of men by
trade.'
                She thought on this a
while, walking slightly behind him, watching him scan the trees.
                'I think you're a
good man, Asram,' she said, finally.
                Asram laughed. 'I'm
not the best.'
                'Who is?' she said,
and he turned and grinned at her.
                She looked at his
strong back, his bow slung once again. He had long hair, curling at the nape of
his neck. He was filthy, too, and smelled bad...
                But then whatever he
was, why he was her protector, what made him willing to give his life for hers,
she did not know. And, she realised, she had never, until now, thought to ask.
She had just taken it as her right. Standing surrounded by men, creatures, who
wished to do her and her babe harm, she finally understood that this man's
protection was not her right.
                It was an honour.
                'Asram?'
                'My Lady?'
                'Rena, please,' she
said.
                'Rena, then.'
                'Thank you.'
                Asram stopped and
turned. He smiled, a big grin. He nodded, then