Read Online Demon Lord by T C Southwell - Free Book Online Page A

he
relaxed, then faded away.
     
    Bane woke with a pounding
headache and a furry taste in his mouth. Sunlight slanted in
through the torn curtains to dapple the carnage with spots of gold.
Spying a cup of his soothing drug before him on the table, he
slugged it back. The girl slept curled up on the floor, her head
pillowed on a pile of torn curtains. He scowled, an ugly mood
settling on him to accompany the hammering in his head and the sour
bubbling of his gut. She was his prisoner, yet he suffered more
than her. Her bondage barely seemed to trouble her, and she even
slept in his presence.
    As yet, she had not pleaded for
food or water, denying him the satisfaction of listening to her
beg. Rising to his feet, he swayed as his head throbbed and his
vision blurred. Nausea overtook him, and he staggered to the door
and vomited. When he returned to the table, another cup of the drug
awaited him upon it. He drank it, then went over to the girl and
grasped the rope around her neck.
    The girl woke with a gasp as he
dragged her to her feet, the rope cutting into her neck. The cord
grew tight on the table leg, and Bane broke it with a jerk. He kept
pulling, forcing her onto her toes, then the rope started to choke
her. She gazed into his eyes as her breath stopped, remaining limp
and docile, apparently resigned to her fate. Her knees buckled, and
Bane smiled as she sagged, watching her skin mottle and her face
swell with deep satisfaction. A few more seconds, and she would be
dead, yet still she did not suffer. With a growl of rage, he sent
her flying with a backhand blow.
    The girl crashed into the
furniture, unconscious, and sprawled under a table. Bane hauled her
out and shook her until she came to with a gasp.
    "You will not escape me that
easily, witch," he snarled. "I shall see you suffer before you
die."
     
    His evil power made Mirra's skin
prickle. With a shake that rattled her teeth, he dragged her
outside, wincing and shielding his eyes from the sun. Spotting a
loitering soldier, he yelled, "You there!"
    The soldier jumped and backed
away. "Lord?"
    "Take this piece of trash and
torture her! Make sure she suffers! I want to hear her scream!"
Bane shoved her, sending her to stumbling into the man. "If I do
not, I will make you suffer in her stead."
    The soldier gripped Mirra's arm
and bowed to Bane before pulling her away down the street as Bane
re-entered the inn. The man led her to a house several streets
away, whence raucous singing wafted. In the house's courtyard,
fifteen men feasted on looted food and wine. They sat or lounged
around an ornamental fountain amidst smashed furniture and ripped
curtains. The fountain still played its musical tune, but the
plants around it were trampled and crushed, the water filthy.
    Two men snored in a corner, the
rest seemed to have partied all night, and most were too drunk to
stand. Glad cries arose when the soldier entered with his ragged
captive, and many rough hands dragged her amongst them, plucking at
her robe. Mirra was speechless with shock at their rough handling
and lecherous leers, frightened by the glint in their eyes. She was
unused to such treatment, having never been accosted in this
manner. Before she could protest and identify herself, a man by the
fountain stood up and walked over.
    "Wait." His companions
hesitated, looking at him, and he stared at Mirra with bleary brown
eyes. "She's the healer."
    Mirra recognised him as one of
the men whom she had healed at the camp in the meadow, and smiled.
The others were strangers, presumably men who had left just after
she had been captured. They growled, angered that their fun had
been curtailed. Several argued that she was not a healer, since she
wore no white robe. A bearded man with a bandaged arm came to her,
holding out the injured limb. She kissed his hand, healing him. The
soldier took off the bandage and stared at his arm with awe.
    Someone untied her hands, and
she turned to smile at the brown-eyed man with a square,