Read Online Dark Legion by Paul Kleynhans - Free Book Online Page B

A nightmare I could deal with, but this was no mere nightmare. It was a near perfect recollection of one fateful night twelve years ago.
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    Armored men surrounded the palace as I arrived, and others wore robes. Some red; some white. My father stood in an open doorway, shaking his head. Three flaming arrows flew through the night. They took forever to make their way to the palace.
    One hit a wall and bounced off, falling to the ground; another found purchase in the roof; and the last flew through an open window. I heard a scream and saw my mother through a window on the upper floor. My father turned his head to look at the men, shook it again, and ran upstairs. “Get Mother,” I whispered. My father was in there a long time, but when he emerged, it wasn’t with Mother. He dragged a heavy chest through the door and left it a short distance away. He looked at my brother Shakir and me for a long moment, and I felt his eyes pierce mine. He turned and ran back upstairs. All the while, more flaming arrows rained down, and bottles of Eagle’s Fire were shattered against the wall, coating the palace in flames.
    I saw them embrace through the window as flames licked at the walls. Mother was shaking with it all, and I thought I saw him weeping. A white-robed figure approached my brother, Shakir, kicked away his blade, and tied him up. A large fat man came for me and did the same. I did nothing to resist him, I was in shock. I barely paid attention to what was happening around me, my eyes locked on my parents and the flames. The fat man dragged me away and licked at my face. “I am going to enjoy you,” the man I would later know as Angus said. His breath stank of drink, and I was about to pull away when I saw my father cut mother’s throat, then stab a blade through his own guts and yank it up sharply, falling out of sight as well.
    A man laughed to my side. The sound was so at odds with what I’d just witnessed that it snapped me out of my state. A man in decorative armor sat on a large black steed. He laughed again. I had never seen the man, but I knew of him. Emperor Solas.
    I screamed.
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    I woke from the dream, a cold sweat coating my skin. I had turned that memory over in my mind countless times, but the sharp edges were never worn smooth. When my nerves settled, I closed my eyes, drifted off, and relived that night again.
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    The next morning I enjoyed the best breakfast I had in a long time. I found it odd to eat from a ceramic plate. It seemed too delicate, fragile, like it would break beneath the pressure of my fork. The tin dish I’d eaten from for so long was certainly more durable, and equally functional, if less glamorous.
    The meal left me in high spirits, but the coffee—that really made my day. The warm sweet coffee sliding down my throat was like a missing piece of me finally returned. How I’d managed to live without it for so long, I did not know.
    Neysa came stomping down the steps and out the door. “I wonder if she ever just walks,” I said, staring after her. Marcus smiled at me as he finished his coffee. He looked like a new man. We both had long overdue baths that morning, and Marcus combed his hair out and trimmed his beard. Combing my own would have required an imagination that bordered on insanity, but I shaved the shadow forming on my scalp. The neat and tidy look did not sit right on Marcus, clashing with my image of the man. He looked ridiculous.
    â€œYou look happy,” Marcus said. “I like the happy Saul, much less complaining and sneering.”
    â€œI’m sure it won’t last. So, what’s the plan for today?”
    â€œLet’s stop by the dock, take another look. We need to start watching for when the guard changes are, patrol routes, that kind of thing. See if we can spot any important-looking ships. I also need to stop by the blacksmith’s—my girls are in desperate need of some love from a big sweaty